Delaware was bouncing on the balls of xyr feet and one could just feel the grin xyr helmet hid. Maine, too, was feeling a slight confidence boost, knowing that there were now no electrified weapons to amplify his opponent's undeniably inferior strength. As was his unshakeable strategy, he lunged first, into the waiting knee strike of the green agent, who then switched feet and kicked him an impressive distance given the circumstances. Del ducked once again to dodge the next group of hits, this time headbutting him in the stomach, punching him in the same spot several times with more power than the spectators above had expected, and finishing him off with an elbow strike to the back.
"Round over. Point awarded to Agent Delaware. Hand to hand combat complete. Resetting training floor for lockdown paint simulation. Round begin in ten..."
North was chuckling excitedly, and most of the rest of them were at least smirking at this point. A few of them looked to each other, but none said anything. They didn't need to.
After loading their paint guns, the two freelancers stood on opposite sides of the room, moving behind the nearest block as F.I.L.S.S. began the round. Del wasted no time in weaving xyr way forward, smiling widely as the first shot whirred past their head. Maine couldn't resist revealing himself, it seemed, and it seemed also that Delaware was finished messing around, because there wasn't even a fight this time. He was down in seconds. Next round wasn't much different.
The third and final round, Maine was determined, however, and managed to get a nice shot in that got Del in the leg, putting an end to the previous speed advantage xe'd had. It looked like he was going to win this one, finally, and the agents watching were already making little disappointed noises to themselves, with the exception of Carolina, who was simply waiting to see how Delaware would turn it around.
Xe chucked xyr own weapon at his helmet, punched the gun out of his hand, and promptly shot him several times with it.
"Round over. Point awarded to Agent Delaware. Final score is: 6 points Delaware, 0 points Maine. Congratulations, Agent Delaware," F.I.L.S.S. chimed.
Delaware had proven xemself to be good. It earned them the spot of number nine on the leaderboard, under every agent who had proven themselves in an legitimate combat situation, and above Florida, who had recently made a rather large mistake and been shamed as well as moved down a rank. It was for this reason that it was unexpected, but not surprising, when they saw Del's name on the roster for their next mission.
Next chapter will be longer and will include Delaware's first interactions with the top freelancers. Reviews are very much appreciated. Thank you for reading!