Ch 3
Noble 6 quickly aims his rifle at the squad leader and pulls the trigger, a large purple needle round embedding itself in the head. Quick as a bullet, he ran forward and jumped towards the mini gun, easily reaching it. He rips the gun off the mount and proceeds to beat any soldiers close to him to a bloody pulp with the large weapon.
The remaining soldiers quickly backed away, not wanting to die a gruesome death. Unfortunately for them, Noble 6 started to gun them down with the mini-gun, forcing the survivors to retreat into the icy fortress.
"What the fuck's with this guy?" North wondered, as Noble 6 slaughtered the insurrectionist soldiers.
Another soldier came behind 6, startling him. He turned around and pointed the minigun at the enemy as if he were holding a simple rifle.
"Woah. Calm down." The soldier said, her armor changing color to a teal color.
"Who are you?" 6 asked.
"Agent Carolina. Nice work, 6." Carolina said.
"Thanks. Where's our ride?" 6 asked.
A pelican appeared out of nowhere and opened the back door.
The 4 agents quickly got inside and the pilot took them away from the base. Noble 6 put the mini gun on the floor and sat on a chair.
"Are all Spartans that lethal?" North asked.
"Yes. We're made to be the perfect killing machine. Took down plenty of covenant bastards on Reach." 6 said.
The ice facility suddenly blew up, the remains sinking into the ocean.
"We didn't set any explosives, did we?" 6 asked, as he and south headed to the back of the ship.
"We got company!" South shouted, as two longsword fighters came into view and started firing at the Pelican.
"Shake them off!" South shouted at the pilot.
"I'm working on it." The pilot growled as she forced the pelican into maneuvers it wasn't built for.
"Work harder." South complained, as bullets raked the armor of the pelican.
An alarm ran in the cockpit, and 6 reached into the upper bulkhead of the troop bay and pulled down a large briefcase.
"Take evasive action!" south shouted.
"Hey south, do something for me." The pilot said.
"Do what?" south asked.
The pilot shut the door in the agent's face.
"You stupid bitch!" south shouted.
"Hold on!" 6 shouted, as the Pelican barrel rolled to avoid the missiles heading towards it. South was thrown into a bulkhead and was knocked out.
"North, 6 get them off our tail." Carolina said.
The two agents climbed up a ladder and stood on the top of the Pelican, seeing the longsword fighters approaching. 6 aimed the rocket launcher at the closest one and pulled the trigger, firing the two rockets.
The rockets hit the fighter, but it wasn't enough to destroy it.
"One last thing." 6 muttered, as he aimed the mini-gun and hosed the fighter with a lethal spray of 20mm.
"How long do you think that'll work?" North asked, when the mini-gun quit firing.
"North, you better have something up your sleeve." 6 said.
The fighters fired their air to air missiles at the pelican, intent on bringing it down. North kneeled and slammed his hand into the hull of the pelican; a domed energy shield appeared, stopping the missiles dead in their track.
"Hold on!" 6 shouted, pressing North into the hull as they plummeted towards the earth.
The pelican pulled up just in time, with the fighters still on their tail. A loud noise is heard, and one of the fighters violently explodes.
"Woah!" the pilot exclaims.
6 and North look up, seeing the mother of invention come out of the clouds. The MAC cannon fires again, destroying the second fighter.
"Glad that's over with." 6 said, as he and north headed into the pelican. They docked in the hanger bay, and walked out, meeting the director.
"Did you accomplish your mission?" the director asked.
"We did. Here's the data file." 6 said, handing a chip to the director said.
"Good work, 6." The director said.
With a plate with food, 6 started to eat his food when Wash and North sat next to him.
"North says you kicked ass out there." Wash said.
"It's what I do." 6 replied, as he shoved a potato in his mouth.
"Well, glad you're on our side. I think Carolina might be a little ticked off." Wash said, as Carolina stole a glare at the Spartan.
"We completed the mission. Why would she be mad?" 6 asked.
"What do you see on the walls?" North asked.
"A ranking system." 6 said.
"Exactly. We're supposed to be competitive, for some reason." Wash said.
"That'll get troops killed in the field. Your unit is supposed to cooperate, have total faith in one another. Remember, a link of chains is as strong as the weakest link. This freelancer competition is a load of bullshit. I'm surprised South didn't get killed during the mission." 6 said.
"You're going to make some enemies if you keep that up." Wash warned.
"The only enemy I'm worried about is the Innies. But if a freelancer turns out to be an enemy, I've no qualms of killing them." 6 said, not noticing that CT briefly winced at that remark.
"Nice to know." North said.
6 stood up and headed to the barracks, where Carolina was waiting for him.
"Can I help you?" he asked.
"Tomorrow morning, 0800 hours in the training room. Me and you. We'll see how tough you are." Carolina said.
"Just remember. You'll reap what you sow." 6 calmly replied.
Carolina glared at 6, then walked away.
"They wouldn't last 5 seconds against the covenant." 6 muttered to himself.
"Freelancers North, South, 6, and Carolina. Please head to the ready room." The director said.
"Wonder what that's about." 6 muttered, as he headed towards the briefing room.
Entering the room, he noticed the other agents already there.
"The data you recovered has pinpointed the location of a very important target for project Freelancer. Excellent work." The director said.
"Thank you, sir." The freelancers said.
"Counselor, please update the board." The director said.
The counselor typed in a few commands into his data pad, and the large ranking board switched a few names. Noble 6's name was between Wyoming and North Dakota, at number four.
North Dakota was just beneath him, followed by South.
"I thought the mission was a success, sir." South Dakota growled.
"One of the mission objectives was stealth. Your carelessness revealed our intentions and made our next mission more difficult. They'll be ready for us. Dismissed." The director coldly said.
"Thanks to you, we're going to get our asses shot on the next run." 6 coldly added.
"Think I should talk to her?" Carolina asked.
South punched the door control and walked out of the room; the control falling to the ground.
"Maybe we give her a minute." North said.