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Vale Agricultural District, Corner of Cutter and W Glider, 1:27 AM, two weeks later..

CT

Connecticut stepped into the passenger seat of the car with a couple cups of hot chocolate, handing one to her partner-in-boredom. "Peppermint and cinnamon." She grinned.

Utah looked away from his Scroll, which currently was the size of a rectangular stone oven pan, and smiled. "My favorite."

"I copied you, know you can't bear the smell of coffee… weirdo." CT teased.

Utah nodded, deciding to let the jab go, and looked out to the street. "How'd patrol go?" He questioned.

Same as the last thousand times for the past two weeks, nothing suspicious, except how the owner of Dusty Crops is still alive. I mean, the woman has to be in her late 90s, at least."

Utah sighed. "Yeah, I can't see how a bunch of Dust robbers would want to steal Dust in this district, it's mainly agricultural. No Fire Dust, though there is Light Dust and Water Dust. Plus Dead Dust, which is basically fertilizer and dead organisms. Manure in a capsule."

CT grimaced. "And you can smell it from 50 yards out…"

Utah grinned and tapped his helmet. "Filter in the helmet, if the car recirculator stops working." He chuckled as he received a slug in the shoulder, then glanced down at the different cams down below, not even seeing a single soul. "Been nothing on here except that shakedown that I told you about two hours ago."

His co-captain sighed. "Nothing but time to kill." She looked over at Utah. "Conner?"

"Yeah?"

She paused, wondering if she should continue. "What are we going to do when we're done? When York says the New Freelancers are finished, or we just get tired of all the fighting?"

Utah took a breath. "I'd say we could always get hitched."

She turned to him in shock and surprise and he continued. "Of course, I'd have to get some more funds, weddings and all that goes with it are a lot of money, but that was always my pl-" He was cut off by a pair of lips against his, and he moaned as CT leaned over the seat to cradle his cheek.

"I'm just gonna assume that means you agree?" He grinned, leaning in for round two. A small beep sounded and South Dakota came on the comms. "We got a squad of the new threat in our area, need reinforcements, North is down, I repeat North is down!"

Utah cursed as he started up the car, sailing towards the waypoint that Delta sent to his HUD.

"About time." CT hummed. "Afraid we'd scared them off."

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Commercial District, Dust and Deals, 1:35 AM

UTAH

Utah stepped out and equipped his main mechashift weapon, Vocationem Bellum, a combination between a longsword that could split into katanas, which shifted into a .30-30 and a Shiloh Sharps 1874 model long rifle with a 34" barrel. Both were fitted with an ACOG Sight that he'd converted to show heat signatures and night vision.

CT was already rushed towards the fight, drawing her two SMGS, one of which split into two folding hatchets, the other splitting into two long combat knives.

He lifted the sword up, easy considering his augmentations and armor enhancements, and shifted it to the guns. He slid the Sharps off and looked through the ACOG scope to see figures firing towards a car, where his HUD identified as the location of North and South Dakota. He loaded a round into the rifle, and the sharpshooter sighted on a man who had turned to fire a large grenade launcher at CT as she bulldozed another. The Sharps sounded loudly as Utah was already loading another round, the man already falling as CT fired into two other criminals.

The attackers all wore black clothing with at least some article of clothing that was blood red, all wore balaclavas, though he could tell two were Faunus.

"This is York, joining the fight now. Maine, cover me while I get those two some first aid." His comrade's voice crackled through the comm system. Utah grinned and fired another round, the bullet whizzing into its target, a woman in heavy armor wielding a flamethrower that was bathing the area in fire. The bullet hit the tank on her back, which exploded, tossing her into the air with a horrible scream. Utah winced, then sighed. "Mess with the fire, you get burned."

"That was terrible." York stated. "The situation was ironic, though."

Utah shook his head as CT fired both SMGs into the chest of a large man, nearing the size of Maine, wielding a large Viking axe. She leaped to dodge a swing, then landed straight in his face, kicking him back while she flipped, spinning in mid-air to take out two more thugs.

Utah sighted on the Viking and fired, the bullet impacting with the man's dominant arm, and CT followed through, sheathing one of her SMGs to split one into hatchet mode and spinning like a tornado into the man's chest, blood splattering as he fell.

As Wyoming took position, Utah shifted from his sniper rifle to his .30-30, deciding to join in, up close and personal. Only a few remained, and Maine had already beaten down and knocked out the leader, which they were keeping alive for questioning. The rest were fair play.

Utah sprinted in and slid under a grunt wielding a giant sword as the crony slashed, firing twice in his unprotected back. The white Freelancer rolled to his feet and switched to sword mode to engage with a woman wielding a rapier and cutlass, ducking back to avoid a blow and quickly countering with a right slash, retracting it to cross against hers as she retaliated.

To his right, York had drawn his own blade, Firestorm's Dawn, and was fighting a man with a longsword. Maine had just pummeled the last available man, leaving the two Utah and York faced.

"Take them together?" York proposed.

Utah nodded, collapsing both swords into their usual combined form. "Switch!"

Utah engaged with the man, deflecting a strike to the left and striking forward to slice the opening, but his opponent deftly stepped back and to the side, slashing from left to right from below.

York's foe had waited for the Freelancer's preemptive strike, a forward step with a left shoulder slash, before dashing to the side, quickly delivering a blow that glanced off of York's armor, to which the tan Freelancer countered with a powerful blow from the right against her unprotected side.

Sirens sounded as the woman fell with a cry, clutching her new wound as Utah disengaged temporarily with his own foe.

"Give up, you're outnumbered." Utah offered.

The man chuckled as he sheathed his blade, then threw down a flashbang and smoke grenade that went off immediately. When the air cleared and the New Freelancers could see, a blue van was speeding off, Utah's foe, the leader, and two of the interlopers had disappeared.

York cursed, kicking a car tire. Its alarm went off, and Utah smiled.

"Language."

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217 Ironrose

York

York slammed his helmet onto the table in the center of the room. "So basically, we're back where we started!" He raged. "No idea who this new contender is, now idea where they strike next, and next time, they'll be ready for us!"

North Dakota deactivated his own armor and he placed a hand on York's shoulder. "Easy, man." He reassured. "There's still the survivors of last night, being held in police custody. Florida and Delta have already arranged a meeting with one of them tomorrow, see if we can get anything."

York breathed, regaining his composure. "Okay. Maine, Utah, you guys go down to the precinct and see what they know tomorrow, Delta, North, we'll check the cameras and police files for anything we can use, see if we can track these scumbags."

"What'll the rest of us do?" South growled, "I'm not gonna just sit around on my ass."

Utah coughed into his hand, and the Dakota twin shot him a glare.

"We need to restock on supplies, ammo, food, tech so we can finish the suits, et cetera." York told them. "We're planning for another fight, so I want us to be ready, understood?"

The Freelancers nodded, and York sighed. "Get some sleep, team. Even though they got away, we did good today." He told them.

With that, the Freelancers dispersed, heading toward their respective housing, and into beds to sleep the night, or morning, away.