Tex let out a hollow sigh and tapped a foot impatiently on the ground as she waited by a steel container for Hunt to get herself ready. She pondered what was taking her so long. Surely it didn't take half an hour to get ready? Back in the Freelancer days, Hunt was always the first out to training in the mornings and last back in the quarters at night, Tex remembered clearly. So what was she doing now? The black armoured Agent drew in a deep breath.
"Hey Hunt, are you nearly done back there?" She shouted into the darkness on the exhale. There was no response, not even a grumble or a clattering of metal in acknowledgement. Tex called again more forcefully, but also with slight concern. "Huntingdon? Are you all right back there? Because we kind of need to get going soon!"

Still silence. Tex sighed again. She knew Hunt often had antisocial swings, but now really wasn't the time. If she was having a swing...then, friends or not, she would have to beat some sense back into Hunt. Pushing off the crate she was leant up against, Tex wondered off into the darkness to go and find Hunt. It didn't take her long to find the ex Freelancer in the darkness, surprisingly. She was sat on small crate, helmetless, with a hung head and something in her hands. Tex wondered briefly if she ought to approach or not. Even though she was her comrade, she had never been good at dealing with her mood swings. York, she noted, was always the one for that. Tex decided it would be best to try anyway.
"Hunt? Are you all right?" She asked, unusually tentatively. Her fellow soldier did not respond, however; instead, Rho appeared in a flash of grey light.
"I do not think she wishes to talk." He answered Tex bluntly. "My scans indicate she is...remembering something."
"Remembering what?" Tex asked the A.I., concern growing a little.

Before he could reply, Hunt turned around, and Rho vanished. The first thing the Freelancer noticed was her companion's hardened expression. The second thing she noticed was that there were scars over her left eye and the eye itself was pretty much missing. Tex cringed mentally, and had to force herself to keep her stomach in check. Never had she seen such a brutal injury, not even in all her time in the military. It made her injury of York's eye under Omega's influence look like a bruise.
"Wow, that's messed up." Tex somehow managed to find her voice. It was the only thing she could say.
"No better than how you are looking." Hunt's remaining emerald eye narrowed, indicating Tex's still muddy armour.
"What cockbite fucked that up, then?"
"Agent Maine."
Tex was surprised at Hunt's bitterness. "I thought you and him were friends?"
"That was before he became mentally unstable and went rogue...and I don't mean the you or I kind of rogue, either." Hunt snorted in reply. "He attacked me. Tried to steal Rho for some reason. When I made it clear I wasn't giving him up without a fight, he battered me into submission and he..." She cut herself off.
"All that stuff you said as the girl...you were talking about him?" The black armoured Freelancer shook her head. "I know Maine went rogue and everything and I heard he was chasing Freelancers...but I didn't think he was that bad. How'd you get out?"
"The same way I tried to fool you. I had Rho summon my Illusion enhancement after I stabbed him in the ankle so I could turn into an ice bear for better speed. I ran away, jumped off a cliff, landed in a river, and washed downstream 'til I ended up here. A tribe healed me up, gave me a new helmet and I hid out here. I've been here ever since until you found me."
Underneath her helmet, Tex's face twisted into a frown. For the first time in years, she let a greater amount of emotion slip than she normally would and put a sympathetic hand on one of Hunt's shoulders. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be. It wasn't your fault." She pushed the hand off her shoulder. "It's all past now. I just need to forget about it." Hunt paused, tied a black eye patch over her missing eye before grabbing her Energy Swords and shotgun, placing them out of the way in the correct places of her armour. Her steel façade returned. "Right, then. Let's go."
"Your helmet." Tex's serious mask slipped back on.
"Oh...yeah." Hunt picked up the silver-grey object and placed it over her head. The end result gave her a rather intimidating visage. "How do I look?"
"Ready to mess up a load of Project Freelancer ass."
"In that case, after you."

Tex and Hunt soon found themselves outside again, where the sky had now clouded over and a steady drizzle of rainfall had started. The two soldiers, however, paid no attention to the precipitation and instead discussed plans about how they were getting to the rendezvous point Tex had set up with the other rogue Freelancers.
"So, we eventually agreed that the best rendezvous point would be in the mountains, north of Sandtrap." Tex explained, pointing to Rho who was currently posing as a holographic map for the pair. "Trouble is, it would take us a week if we walked there from here, and I was supposed to be meeting them in a few days."
Hunt surprisingly laughed and slapped Tex on the back. Hard. The motion sent her staggering forwards a little and a half glare formed beneath her visor, until Hunt spoke: "Haha, Tex. Who said anything about walking? Rho, deactivate. Come with me."
As the map faded away, Hunt turned on the balls of her feet and began to walk towards one of the smaller buildings of the ruin, with Tex following behind curiously. The pair soon stumbled across a workshop like facility, which contained:-

"Ghosts?" Tex was surprised at the presence of the two hovering vehicles in the building.
"It took me ages to find all the parts to fix the pair of these things up." Hunt nodded, smiling underneath her helmet. "I figured that you would eventually find me, so I repaired them. You always seem to find me."
The black armoured Freelancer hopped onto one and started it up, seemingly satisfied when she heard the hum of her vehicle's engine. "Are you going to stop talking, or are we going to do some butt kicking?"
The other soldier quickly sat on the other vehicle and started it up. "Race ya."
"What?" Tex asked, slightly confused, but Hunt had already sped off without her. She quickly pursued, knowing that Hunt, despite all she had been through, hadn't really changed at all. She knew that, even after all these years, Hunt knew her mindset and knew exactly what to say to her when. Tex laughed and called over the radio, "All right, you're on!" as the pair of them disappeared into forest under lightning cleaved skies.

It was good to feel so young again.