( I have an important announcement to make.

I am putting Red vs. Blue: Before the Recon, Eleven's prequel, on hiatus. It needs a lot of work and I will keep you updated on its progress.

Other than that, this story will continue as normal, so fear not. Don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions. :D

Much love,

Stella

P.S. If you ask questions in reviews that I can answer, make sure not to make them anonymous or I won't be able to reply! XD )

"Okay, it's time!" Theta piped up. "The patrol will disappear around the eastern wall in 3... 2… 1..."

Meta and Tex barreled toward the prison silently, and I followed close behind, staring at the front entrance. I prayed that the Freelancers would not notice the other visitors the prison had attracted. Thankfully, they seemed to be distracted by getting into the detention facility through the eastern edge, killing guards silently as they went. The Freelancers' stealth training really had paid off; we entered the prison through a small first-floor window without incident. For one wild moment, as I followed behind them, I jerked my hand to my left forearm in order to activate a specific holographic keyboard and begin a new status report.

Shaking that thought from my mind, they continued down the hallway, moving only when Theta calculated the guards would not be on patrol. To my horror, we were making our way toward the front, exactly where I had seen certain soldiers.

I tried forming a plan, wondering desperately how to get the Freelancers away from the Reds and Blues. Just as I was about to activate my voice changer to try and communicate with them via fake Gamma, a shrill siren went off and we were suddenly drenched in water.

"A fire alarm!" Tex gasped as Meta snarled, slicing at the smoke detectors with his brute shot. "What the hell—!"

All of the AIs started speaking at once, making Meta drop his weapon and hold his head, growling angrily. Tex started whispering at them to shut up, but doors leading into the hallway banged open as Caboose-colored soldiers began pouring into the hallway, confused between the fire alarm, the strange intruders, and the buzz of the AIs.

Amid the melee, I ducked down and began scooting between the guards, attempting to escape. I finally wormed my way out of the chaos and took off down the next hallway, heading toward the entrance.

As I reached it, I skidded to a halt. Twenty other guards turned their heads and seen me before I had time to hide, and I was immediately at gunpoint.

"Freeze!" one of the guards commanded, walking toward me. "Listen, I don't know what the hell's going on, but you'd better have an amazing explanation for this! You are breaking and entering!"

My mouth went dry. That had been stupid. I had assumed all of the guards would be dealing with the wet hallway. Now I was caught, and I had only one option left.

To tell the truth.

"Do you know who I am?" I asked commandingly, crossing my arms.

"How would I know who—"

"Exactly," I interrupted icily. "It is my job not to be recognized by the likes of you."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

I reached over carefully and took out my ID.

"I'm Agent Eleven," I said brusquely. "I'm here to—"

"Listen, I don't care what weird-ass name you have," the guard said impatiently. "You're breaking the rules."

I glared at his interruption. "What's your name?"

The guard stared. "…Razi."

"Yes. You have a normal name," I replied coldly. "And do you know why that is?"

"Uh… why?"

"Because you aren't a damned secret agent, that's why," I hissed, forcing him to hold my ID. He stared down at it. "I am a Senior Officer and Head of Intraglobal Reconnaissance and Affairs at the CIA. Do you realize you are interrupting a covert operation?"

"I—Senior Officer?" Razi faltered. "You—you're running this show?"

"Of course I am," I responded haughtily. "Any good guard would recognize a covert operation if he saw one." I trained my eyes on him, my eyebrows up.

"Well—I—of course," he stammered back.

"Hey," another guard added. "That number—Eleven—aren't you the Agent who brought down the Director? Got the warrant for his arrest and all that?"

"...Yes," I replied, praying they didn't know anything else about what I'd done in the past.

"Oh," Razi said, blinking. "Well. That changes things. You have this situation under control then, Numbers?"

"Well... for the most part," I admitted. "The two soldiers in the hallway over there—you have to try to detain them. I need to access your system database."

"We have programmers from Command in there right now," a third guard told me uncertainly. "They said there was something wrong with our modem or something."

I had a sneaking suspicion about the identity of these soldiers, but I said nothing as I knocked on the door leading to the technology center.

"Will you help me with those fugitives, then?" I called back to the first guard.

"Sure thing, Numbers," he replied. I suddenly felt bad for being so cold with him. He had just been trying to do his job. "We're on it."

"Uh—" I heard from the inside of the computer room. "Just a second, please! We're almost done with our... editing!"

Oh. I definitely recognized that effeminate tone.

"This is Senior Officer Agent Eleven with the CIA!" I called. "Open up!"

Silence rang from the inside of the room for a moment before the door creaked open. I only saw a flash of pink armor before I was hauled inside the room, the door snapping shut sharply behind me.

"Eleven!" a chorus of voices exclaimed in every color of the rainbow. I gazed around at them, open-mouthed. Every single Red and Blue was present, even Caboose.

"You—you're here!" I stammered, gazing at them open-mouthed, completely forgetting about the mission for the moment. Without another word, I strode to the red soldier next to me and threw my arms around him.

"Sarge!" I gasped, backing away from him as he clutched his weapon in shock. "Your shotgun! Yes! Oh my God, you need to go and shoot something. Right now. Like… really violently."

I turned to Donut and ripped his helmet off, grabbing his face ecstatically. "Dear Lord, you really can't pull off a full beard. Never try to grow one," I hummed happily.

The others were staring at each other wordlessly.

I almost melted in relief as I saw Tucker. "Oh my God! Tucker! You can sleep with whomever you want now!"

His jaw hung open in surprise.

I pranced up to Wash. "Hey, cop."

"I am not a cop!" Wash growled.

"I know!" I squealed excitedly at his response. "This is great!"

After hugging Simmons violently for cracking expertly into the prison's computer system and almost crying with happiness when I didn't understand what Caboose was talking about, I turned to Grif.

My face turned serious as I remembered exactly what had happened in my mind.

"We are never getting married."