Simmons ran at Mr. Caine and tackled him. The man, slightly bigger than Simmons, fell backwards onto the ground. They slid across the floor and Simmons began to wail his fists into the man's chiseled face.
The Reds, Blues and Freelancers all dispersed, rushing into the crowd of armored soldiers and began to fight.
Carolina rushed towards a grouping, rolled forward and did a spin kick to the back of a soldier. As he flew threw the air, she shot at the surrounding ones left over.
Wash slid across the ground, under the mechanical arm as it waved overhead. As the arm knocked out a group, Wash kicked out the feet from under a few soldiers.
Tucker whipped out his alien sword and ran at a group as he screamed with anger.
Dr. Raini began to panic, seeing the chaos that was unfolding in front of him. Fearing for his life, he turned to run to safety. As he turned, Dr. Raini ran into an arm; being clothes-lined across the neck and collapsing onto his back.
Dr. Raini wheezed as he fell onto the ground, feeling something pop in his back. He weakly opened his eyes and looked up to see a familiar suit of armor standing over him.
"Hey, asshole. Where do you think you're going?" Agent Virginia asked.
"Sienna?!" Simmons looked up from Mr. Caine after hearing that familiar voice, seeing Virginia standing perfectly fine and in one piece.
She looked over to Simmons and watched as Mr. Caine pushed Simmons off. As Simmons fell backwards, Mr. Caine crawled over to snatch at the katana. His fingers curled around the sheath and he drew it quickly. The blade was being directed at Simmons, but Virginia got to him quicker and stepped on his hand.
"Nu uh. I don't think it's smart that you play with sharp objects, Mr. Caine." Virginia taunted in a playful tone.
The mechanical arm lowered downwards toward Virginia, and she stepped away to allow the clamp to grab hold of Mr. Caine. It rose into the air, holding Mr. Caine around the waist, several feet in the air as he flailed wildly.
"Thanks, Lopez!" Virginia hollered up to the control room.
"¿Puedo hacer estallarlo?/Can I pop him?" Lopez asked over the speaker. Virginia chuckled.
"Just don't kill him." Virginia smirked.
"O.K." Lopez replied.
The soldiers retreated as Dr. Raini scrambled to his feet and ran out of the hanger - aiming to go for the escape pods.
"Come back here!" Carolina screamed as she ran after the doctor. Wash, Ten and Nevada followed behind her.
"Yay! They're retreating!" Donut cheered.
"I want treats." Caboose whined. "Why do they get treats?"
"No, no, sweety." Donut corrected him.
"Virginia, Lopez, you're alive?!" Tucker's voice rose with excitement as he ran over towards them. Lopez eventually made his way down to the hanger, allowing Sarge to greet him with a pat on the shoulder.
"There's my robotic amigo! I'm glad to see yer in one piece! He he." Sarge chuckled, sounding relieved.
"How the Hell did you survive?!" Michigan asked Virginia.
"Lopez had a built-in parachute. As he was falling, he took hold of me and I was able to get out of my harness. He deployed the parachute and we were able to get to the ground... somewhat safely." Virginia explained. "We did get snagged in some trees, though." She reminisced for a moment about how they dangled in the trees for an hour.
"Heh. I totally forgot that I built that into Lopez's new body. Along with a safety raft in case we were faced with the potential of drowning again." Sarge admitted.
Simmons took Virginia into his arms and hugged her tightly. Virginia wrapped her arms around his neck and allowed him to lift her off her feet.
"I thought I lost you..." Simmons whispered, enjoying the feeling of having her in his arms.
"So did I." Virginia admitted.

Carolina shot at Dr. Raini, letting the bullets ricochet off the wall. Dr. Raini froze in the hallway, raising his hands.
"P-Please..." He pleaded.
"You're not going anywhere." Carolina growled. "You and your friend are going to jail." Dr. Raini glanced over his shoulder.
"Please... don't."
Carolina suddenly yelped when a bullet grazed her wrist. From the adjacent hallway, a soldier fired at her. She ducked back behind the wall as Dr. Raini jumped into the escape pod room.
"Dammit!" She cursed.
"We can't let him get away!" Wash yelled, chucking a grenade down the corridor. He heard the explosion and all the Freelancers charged at the room. The door was barred shut.
"We're gonna have to blow it off its hinges." Ten mumbled.
"Here's a solution." Nevada pulled out a sticky grenade and stuck it to the handle of the door. "Fire in the hole!" He yelled as he backed away.
The door buckled against the explosion and everyone rushed in with their weapons ready, but it was too late.
An empty pod corridor was reflecting back at them, its shuttle and rider gone from view.
"Dammit!" Carolina cursed.

The Freelancers ran back to the group, embracing the moment of welcoming Virginia and Lopez back.
"You are one lucky son-of-a-bitch!" Oregon chuckled as he patted Lopez on the back. Ten picked up Virginia and hugged her tightly.
"You need to play in the lottery." Ten laughed as he put her down. Virginia smiled under her helmet.
The ship suddenly rocked back and forth, and everyone took to a fighting stance.
"What the heck was that?" Doc asked.
A grumble could be heard on the opposite side of the hanger door, and everyone watched as Chorus soldiers started flooding in.
"Are you alright, sirs?" Jenkins asked as she was the first to reach the group. Kimball came rushing in with the troops and approached the team.
"I got your distress call. Is everyone alright?!"
"Yes. Man, am I relieved to see all of you." Carolina admitted.
"We got your distress call and came as fast as we could. Who is that guy?" Kimball pointed up to the man dangling in the clamp.
"He's known as 'Mr. Caine'. He was running some experiments on us and trying to revive Project Freelancer." Wash explained.
"Well, not working out so well for him." Kimball scoffed.
"Sadly, his goonie got away." Oregon whined.
"Goonie?"
"Yeah, his mad doctor." Ten explained. "He was the one doing the experiments. His name was Dr. Raini."
"Dr. Raini of Raini Technologies?!" Kimball gasped. "He is well known for helping with armor development and technology assistance during the Great War."
"Yeah, well... he's apparently nuts." Tucker informed her.
"The UNSC will be here shortly." Kimball announced. "I'll be sure to explain everything to them. They will not be pleased to hear about that doctor." Kimball turned to look at her platoon.
"Everyone, fan out and arrest every soldier on board and bring them down here."
"Yes ma'am!" The soldiers echoed and stormed out to the several hallways of the ship.

Everyone sat and waited patiently for the UNSC to arrive. They arrested Mr. Caine and hauled him off, and then sent several ships out to look for Dr. Raini. The Chorus military captured several of the soldiers that worked underneath Mr. Caine and had them handcuffed and ready to be transported by the UNSC.
"We got to stop meeting like this," chuckled the Colonel of the UNSC.
"Do you think you'll find Dr. Raini?" Carolina asked, ignoring his joke.
"We're hoping so. We know if his base on another planet and a base on Earth. We'll be looking for him."
While everyone was talking, the Lieutenants of the Chorus Military: Palomo, Jensen, Bitters and Smith were surveying the bridge.
"Hey, what's that countdown timer?" Bitters asked.
"Um... that can't be good, right?" Palamo asked. Jensen got into the loud speaker.
"Uh... 'scuse me? There seems to be a... ugh... countdown timer on this computer..." She announced in her lispy tone.
"Timer?" Kimball was the first to respond and looked at the screen. "Oh shi-!" She reached for the button and nearly screamed over the intercom. "Everyone evacuate immediately! This place is set to detonate!"
Kimball ushered the lieutenants out of the hanger and everyone began to flood onto their ships. The Reds, Blues and Freelancers all boarded the same ship and watched from the bay window as the distance grew between them and the former prison.
The computer timer dinged on its last three seconds... and a massive ball of orange and red rippled out from the center of the ship. Debris shot out in all direction, causing the fleeing ships to falter and rumble in the aftershocks.
"Thank goodness, we made it." Virginia sighed as she leaned her head against Simmons' shoulder. Exhaustion quickly took over and she found herself nodding off.
"I wonder if that doctor set off the timer?" Washington thought out loud.
"Covering his tracks." Tucker replied.
"Wherever he is... let's hope the UNSC gets him." Nevada added.

Dr. Raini's pod followed its trajectory to a remote location on Earth. Once he touched down, he knew he had to prepare.
They'll come for me...
His building, Raini Technologies, stood as a two-story facility, but he was thankful that nobody knew of its secret tunnel that rang along the underground.
He accessed the hidden elevator behind a bookshelf and went down several hundred feet into the Earth's crust. Once the doors slid open, he sighed with relief to see the base was intact and untouched.
On display in two separate rows, were his babies.
He walked along the rows, running his fingers along the protective glass that kept his projects.
"Mr. Caine was careless... but that doesn't mean it has to end." Dr. Raini smiled at what was on the other side of the glass, staring blissfully. "Nobody needs to know that you're down here, my beauties."
He finished walking along the row and approached a computer screen. On display was the 'Gears of Time', completely dismantled and floating in space as a dispersed mess of machinery. Alongside the screen was a dome that flickered with a red hue. Underneath the dome showed a flicker of a being sprouting up from the center. Two long legs kicked out as a hour glass silhouette danced and sprouted out two delicate arms.
"The two I was able to harvest will have to be suffice, for now." He grinned to himself, victoriously. "I have all I need..."

Kimball was hospitable enough to board the Reds, Blue and Freelancers in a separate housing facility; allowing everyone to rest, shower and get some food.
Dr. Grey checked on everyone's physical state, and then checked Carolina and Virginia on their mental state. Once proving that their metal state wasn't compromised, she gave them a clear bill of health and sent them on their way.
Virginia returned to the room that she was sharing with Simmons, feeling as if she could pass out at any second. As she stepped into the bedroom and removed her helmet, she found herself looking at a spread of red rose petals laid out on the floor. Simmons was smiling sheepishly, out of armor and in comfortable clothes, holding a single rose in the human.
"Aw, babe..." Virginia gasped, setting her helmet down on a nearby shelf. "Where did you find the time to get roses?" Simmons chuckled.
"I sent Jensen out on a special delivery." Simmons cheeks were red as Virginia slowly undressed in front of him. She was relieved to feel the weight of the armor fall off of her as she carelessly disrobed.
Simmons swallowed and adverted his eyes, but decided to watch her in his peripheral. Virginia opened the wardrobe and stole one of Simmons' t-shirts and quickly put it on over herself.
Simmons plopped down on the bed and extended his arms as she walked to him. He wrapped his arms around her frail waist and hugged her close to him. Virginia planted small kisses along his forehead and bridge of his nose.
"I thought I lost you..." Simmons admitted, his eyes saddening as he looked at her. Virginia gave a nod as her fingers ran through his short hair.
"I thought I was a goner." She put her lips to his, gently kissing him. Simmons pulled her down into the bed and they each let out a breath, enjoying the moment of being wrapped in each other's arms.
Simmons watched her face as he stroked her freckled cheek.
"Do you... want to talk about it?" Simmons asked nervously, watching the change in her facial expression. Virginia sucked in her bottom lip while letting out a hum.
"Yeah... I do." She admitted as her eyebrows furrowed. "That machine he had... showed me my worst fears... and brought up my worst memories." Virginia's fingers curled into Simmons' shirt as her eyes slowly watched the lump in his throat fluctuate. "I saw that everyone, all of you, including you, hated me..."
"That could never happen." Simmons cut in stroking her hair as he watched her face.
"I know... but it's just a fear I have... that everyone that I love, will someday turn against me and I'll be left alone... again..." The last word came out almost as a whisper. "I had to relive West's death... and then..." Virginia swallowed.
"You can tell me." Simmons assured her.
"I hope you don't hate me for what I'm about to tell you." Simmons felt a swell of anxiety in his chest as she stared into his eyes.
"Never."
"Good... I kept a secret about something from my past..." Virginia began to say. "When I was 17, my mom had a boyfriend that wasn't so nice... he'd put his hands on her..." Virginia began to explain. "One night, I was in my room and they were fighting. I went out into the hallway, seeing my mom totally defenseless. I... went and got my mom's pistol..." Virginia's lips pressed together as she replayed that night in her head.
"...Sienna...?" Simmons asked softly, trying to break her thought.
"I shot him and killed him." Virginia admitted. "I never fired a gun in my life before, but in that moment, it was like... I knew what to do. I fired and..." Virginia sighed and closed her eyes.
"You did it to protect your mom." Simmons said, continuing to slowly stroke her hair. "That says nothing bad about you." Simmons pressed his lips to her forehead. "How did you enlist if you...? What happened with...?"
"My mom took the blame. She said she killed him in self-defense and the police bought her story. Once I turned 18, I enlisted... but when it came to Project Freelancer, the counselor tested us, completed a lie detector test... he knew I had killed before, and that made me an asset to them."
"I'm sorry for what you went through..." Simmons whispered to her and brushed his nose alongside hers.
"I'm sorry for not telling you sooner about that." Virginia held his cheek, looking sadly at him.
"I don't think any differently of you... I still want to marry you." Simmons smiled. Virginia chuckled and kissed his chin.
"Well, I'm relieved to hear that." Virginia closed her eyes and buried her face into the crook of his neck. She wanted to get up and take a shower, but the warmth of Simmons' body quickly overtook her and she found herself dozing off.