Virginia lied on the operating table as they wheeled her to her cell. The other Freelancers peered out of their viewing window, noticing her lying completely still. Her helmet was fastened back onto her head, leaving them to wonder what was being hidden underneath.
"Virginia?!" Nevada cried out, banging on the door.
"What did you fucks do to her?!" Ten cried out.
"You'll pay for this!" Carolina barked.
The guards in black armor opened Virginia's cell, picked her limp body up from the table and laid her on her cot. She slowly hugged her knees up to her chest, curling inside of herself. The guard shut the door and looked at his partners.
"Alright, the Doctor wants another one."
"Any volunteers?" One of the guards snickered.
"Yeah, I volunteer you to suck my dick!" Nevada snapped. The guards all laughed and made 'Ooooh' noises, pretending to be scared and offended.
"I think we have a winner, gentlemen." The guard went to the door while the other two aimed their rifles at the doorway. The guard opened the door, seeing Nevada standing perfectly stiff.
"Alright, turn around, face the wall and put your hands behind your back." The guard directed, pulling out his set of handcuffs.
"Sure." Nevada said calmly and turned his back towards the guard. The guard reached over to take hold of Nevada's wrist, but the moment he did, an electric current ran up his arm. He could see the blue jagged line of electricity as it circled around his arm and up to his face, causing him to fly backwards into the wall.
The other two guards watched as their comrade hit the wall, and then looked back to see Nevada as a complete blur.
Nevada sprung into the air, throwing a foot into the face of one guard and a fist into the other. The guards simultaneously dropped back against the wall. Nevada kicked one in the head, making sure he was knocked out, as the other guard attempted to scramble to his feet. The guard went to point his rifle up, but before he could pull the trigger, Nevada grabbed hold of it, pointed it upwards and sent an electrical current down to the guard's hands. The guard yelped and Nevada took the gun out of his hands and smacked him with the butt of it. The guard collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
"Nice job, Nevada. 9.5." Oregon said.
"What? Seriously? I thought it was at least 9.8." Nevada responded, ripping the key for the cells off the guard's hip.
"Nah, I say 9.3." Ten commented.
"You're hard to please." Nevada shook his head and unlocked Carolina's cell first.
"Not bad." Carolina chimed in. "But not a perfect 10." Nevada sighed at the criticism and went to unlock the other cells.

Caboose was the last to drop down from the rafters and into the emergency pod room.
"Alright, everyone. Remember, we got to be quiet." Tucker whispered, narrowing his eyes at Caboose. Everyone in the group turned to Caboose, who stood in silence for a moment.
"...Okay..." Caboose whispered when he suddenly realized they were staring at him.
"Should we split into teams?" Sarge asked. "We can cover more ground."
"No way, and then have to send another party to find the rest of the team?" Tucker replied. "We stick together."
"Fine." Sarge huffed, and then went on to grumble about missing a chance of Grif getting lost.
"Looks like the coast is clear." Simmons whispered as he peeked out the door.
"Alright everyone, let's move." Tucker gave an approving nod and everyone slunk into the hallway.
"How do we know which way to go?" Grif asked in a whisper. "This place is huge."
Simmons cleared his throat and tapped a metal plaque that hung on the wall. On the plaque was the word 'DIRECTORY' capitalized. Listed below the directory were the following places: Bridge, Mess Hall, Sleeping Quarters, Holding Cell and Operation Room.
"Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me." Grif huffed.
"It points that the 'holding cell' is this way." Simmons said and he began to hustle in that direction.
Everyone matched his pace, keeping as quiet as possible on their feet. As they came to a four-way parting in the hallway, they heard the abrupt sound of marching feet.
"Quick. Hide!" Simmons whispered harshly. Everyone looked around in a panic and flung open the nearest doors to dart in to.
Simmons, Tucker, Sarge and Caboose found themselves in one room, while Donut, Doc and Grif slid into another.
"Great, a broom closet." Doc whispered.
"Donut, get off my foot." Grif snapped.
"This reminds me of that one time in college." Donut whispered.
"Oh, shush." Grif sighed.
Simmons was gawking at the equipment that laid before them. His stomach began to turn when he realized they had stepped into the operating room.
Perched on the nearby surgical table was the familiar katana that Virginia was wielding. Simmons went over, his hands trembling. He picked it up and clipped it to his back while gulping down a lump in his throat.
"She'll be okay." Tucker whispered to him, trying to reassure and quiet his thoughts. While Sarge acted as a look-out, Simmons found his way to the computer station that was set-up by the table. His fingers began to tap rapidly on the keyboard.
"What you doing?" Caboose asked.
"I'm going to see what I can access." Simmons replied, still whispering. Multiple file folders popped up on the computer, but the red lettering of 'DENIED' kept popping up. Simmons sighed, unable to access anything.
"The coast is clear." Sarge announced in a gruff whisper.
"Come on, man. We don't have time." Tucker said, pulling at Simmons' shoulder. Simmons nodded and walked away from the computer.

Everyone filed out of the rooms that they were hidden in, slowly slinking their way down the hallway.
"I heard them saying they're all heading to the mess hall for grub." Sarge whispered. "So we got limited time before meal time is over."
"Ugh. Food." Grif whimpered, hearing his stomach growl.
"Not now, fat ass." Simmons whispered.
"It says the holding cells are this way." Tucker said, rounding a corner to the left and sliding to a stop. "C-Carolina?"
"Tucker!" Carolina gasped.
"Oh, thank God. You're okay." Tucker sighed with relief. He looked over her shoulder to see the other Freelancers coming out of their cells. On the ground were three unconscious guards.
"What timing." Ten said.
"Where's Virginia?" Simmons asked, his voice panicked.
"She's in there." Ten nodded his head into the cell. "I don't think she's in any condition to walk." Simmons quickly rushed into the room, finding her curled up on the cot.
"Sienna...?" Simmons talked softly as he walked slowly to her. Her head picked up slowly.
"Simmons?" Her voice sounded soft, like a whimper. Simmons put his hand on her, seeing her flinch.
"Hey, hey. It's okay." He removed his hand from her and removed his helmet. "It's me." His green eyes started to red with tears. "You're safe. We're going to get you out of here."
Virginia gave a nod and slowly reached out to touch his face. He kissed her hand, not caring that it was gloved. He wanted to just cover her with affection, and not let go.
"I still feel weak..." Virginia admitted. "They drugged me." Her voice sounded sad. Simmons put his helmet back on and looped his arms under her body.
"I'm going to carry you, okay?" He lifted her with ease and she allowed herself to fold into his body. Ten held the door open for Simmons as he walked out.
"She okay?" Caboose asked, sounding concerned. Doc went over and checked her vitals.
"Drugged up like Wash." Doc responded. "Definitely in no fighting condition."
"Carolina, how you feeling?"
"I'm ready to knock some heads together." Carolina responded, her voice agitated.
"Well, I guess that's a green for go. Let's get out of here." Tucker said as they all began to hurry down the hall from where they came.

Doctor Raini stood in the brink, watching Mr. Caine as he typed on the computer.
"The download is getting started for the second one." Mr. Caine announced, smiling at the screen. "A splendid job you did on this one."
"Thank you. The mental status of both Carolina and Virginia have seemed to been... hmm... compromised?" Doctor Raini thought about the perfect word to describe their status. "They have endured quite a bit. Loved and loss... unable to meet standards... the feeling of loneliness..." Doctor Raini rambled as he pulled out a file folder and read through the documents. "It was easy to bring out their anger. Their need to self-destruct was overwhelming. When they can't meet their goals or standards, it's easy to pull out the brick to make their tower crumble."
"I like your analogies." Mr. Caine grinned as he looked back at him. "Are you going into surgery for another?"
"Ah, yes. The guards will be hauling him up from their cell any moment now. I'll leave you to your work." Doctor Raini turned to leave the room, listening to the 'tap tap tap' of the keyboard behind him.

Everyone got back to the emergency pod room, sighing with relief. They could almost taste freedom.
"Okay, I'm going to help you up." Simmons explained to Virginia as Tucker opened the hatch in the ceiling.
"Hand her off to me." Tucker said, climbing up into the hatch and reaching a hand down. Virginia was pushed up to Tucker, who held her her arm and began to carefully ascend the railing.

Doctor Raini entered the operation room, noticing that something was amiss. He looked around, noticing the katana had vanished. Where was the new patient?
Doctor Raini rushed over to the intercom and slammed his palm onto the button.
"Will the Escort Guards please call me at the operation room, immediately." Doctor Raini's voice strained with tension and aggravation. He pondered if a guard came into the room and helped themselves to the katana...
A red button blinked next to the intercom and Doctor Raini pushed it.
"Hello?"
"Ah, hello, sir." Came the shaky voice of a guard.
"What's the status of the prisoner?! He was supposed to be escorted here!" Doctor Raini screeched.
"Um, well, sir.. I was not part of that group. I just found them on the floor-" The guard began to explain.
"What do you mean 'found them on the floor'?"
"I found them, knocked out. The guards that were supposed to be escorting the prisoners. And all the prisoners' cells are open."
"WHAT?!" Doctor Raini screamed.
"They're gone." The guard explained.
"Sound the alarm. Search the place!" Doctor Raini could feel a migraine growing in his temples. He knew that Mr. Caine would not like this news...

An alarm echoed along the hallways. The Reds, Blues and Freelancers knew they had to quickly get out of there. They heaved themselves out of the hatch, turning on their jet packs. Lopez positioned the plane to face them and lowered down the ramp.
Simmons carried Virginia up to the ramp, having Kai reach out and help steady her as she walked to a seat. The harness was placed over her, keeping her in place. Simmons quickly took the seat next to her.
Ten ran to Lopez and gave him a pat on the back.
"Alright, bud. Good job. I'll take over from here." Ten said, taking the seat immediately as Lopez stood up.
"Bueno. De todos modos no iba a recibir propinas/Good. I wasn't going to receive tips anyway." Lopez replied as he went back to the end of the ship with everyone else.
Everyone that could sat down on the seats and dropped the harness over them.
"Hold on to your butts, everyone!" Ten hollered from the front. He began to power up the ship, when an alarm started going off.
"What's that?!" Grif screamed.
"They're targeting us! They got gun turrets!" Ten replied, trying to activate the camouflage in time, but it was too late.
The side of the ship began to get riddled with bullets, and Ten punched the power to the ship. It lifted off of the 'Gears of Time' and sped off into the nothingness of space.
"They're sending company!" Oregon announced as he peeked out of the back hull of the ship. Several, black ships flew out from the hanger of the 'Gears of Time' and began firing in their direction.
"The cloaking ability is damaged! We're taking substantial hits!" Ten announced, and twirled the ship into a barrel roll.
Everyone screamed as they gripped onto the harness bars. The Freelancers activated the gravity on the bottom of their boots, so they wouldn't topple around.
"I'm gonna be siiiick!" Wash whined from his seat.
Ten pushed the lever down, causing the ship to nose dive towards a nearby planet.
"We need to return fire!" Ten yelled. Carolina rushed to the gunner position.
"I got you!" She replied as she flipped at the switches. A wave of rockets launched out from the sides of the ship, aiming at the fleet of spacecrafts that tailed at them.
Some avoided the rockets, and two were hit, causing them to sputter and hover still in space.
Their ship continued to nose dive, burning up in the atmosphere as it started its quick descent into the atmosphere.
Simmons swallowed hard and looked over at Virginia.
"Sienna, if we make it out alive after this, will you marry me?!" Simmons cried out over the commotion. Virginia turned her head to him.
"What?!"
"Will you marry me?" Simmons repeated, his hand stretched to hers. He sounded to sure of himself; so confident. He didn't stutter, nor change his tone. He was direct and honest.
"Y-Yes..." Virginia felt a smile come across her lips as she went to reach for his hand.
BOOM!
The ship bucked as it was hit, and in that moment, a hole tore into the wall. Virginia, seat and harness, were sucked out into the hole.
"VIRGINIAAA!" Simmons screamed, stretching out his arm but could only grab air as she was seen falling to the earth.
"MIERDAAAA/Shit!" Lopez was sucked out of the same hole, falling quickly through the sky.
"LOPEZ!" Sarge cried out.
Alarms blared from the multiple impacts of rockets. The ship jerked and rocked violently. The powerful gust from the gaping hole in the ship beckoned to suck more soldiers out.
"Hold on tightly! We're going to crash!" Ten screamed.