West was still lying on the ground of the forest. West was still unconscious and in great pain. West was still with Delta, the stolen AI from Project Freelancer. West was still in a forest that continued to pour rain. West was still fighting for her short, miserable life.

West was, however not alone in the forest. Her recovery beacon had not gone unnoticed, even though the recovery beacon was brief. It had caused some interest in a pair of lost soldiers. These two soldiers came in an old, junky Warthog that had lost its turret in battle. They were hopelessly lost in the forest after a wrong turn from their squad. They had been arguing for hours about whether or not to stop and ask for directions, or to continue on their way.

"I'm telling you, all we need to do is turn around in the next clearing and head back in the opposite direction." The passenger soldier nagged to the driver.

"What clearing! You keep telling me that there'll be a clearing just up ahead. But there never is one!" The driver told his partner in an Irish accent. "I say we stop and ask for directions!"

"Look around you! There are no people around to ask!" The passenger exasperatedly cried. "At least my idea has some progress."

"Yes, we are progressively getting more lost. We will eventually find a local village and ask someone there." The driver insisted.

"Dude!" The passenger said through gritted teeth, his arms motioning to the forest. "We are on an alien planet, battling for our lives, and the lives of billions back on Earth. I don't think it's a great idea to stop at an alien town and ask them where a human base is."

The driver stopped the Warthog abruptly. He was hearing something on the radio. The driver motioned for his partner to listen too. However after a couple seconds, whatever they were listening to had stopped and the radio was silent once more.

"That sounded like a recovery beacon from back in the day." The Irish sounding driver stated. "They don't use it anymore."

"Maybe our platoon is using it this one time to reach us and for us to follow them?" The passenger hoped.

The driver nodded, "I was able to get the coordinates, let's go."

And so the pair of rookie soldiers unknowingly headed towards West. Their bickering ended as their hopes got the better of them. Through the rain and vegetation, they inched their way closer to the injured Freelancer. Sooner than later, they spotted West's now mangled beyond repair Mongoose. Without much thought, the two soldiers turned off the old Warthog and exited it. With their guns cocked, they walked towards the ruined Mongoose. They poked it with their Assault Rifles, like little boys poking a dead frog that had both of his eyes popped out.

Delta, who was online and currently studying West's statistics and condition, didn't notice the soldiers until they started to speak up. And when they did, they gave Delta such a fright that he almost jumped out of West's body himself. Even though that was impossible for him to do.

"Dude, this looks beaten up, as if was in the front line." The soldier without the accent pointed out. He then coldly chuckled, "So much for our squad trying to find us . . ."

"Where's the soldier who drove it. It could not have been out here long; it is not covered in moss." The Irish soldier rationally explained.

"Let's take a look around. Maybe he's around here looking for help. He could be hurt." The other said.

They nodded their heads and split up, searching for the soldier who had crashed the Mongoose. Both search in the worst places to look; between rocks, under ferns, and even under their Warthog. They didn't see the wounded soldier in bright blue armor right in front of the Mongoose that was just under a tree.

After ten minutes of the stupid investigation, Delta decided to give the two eggheads a hint of West's whereabouts. He didn't appear in his holographic form. That would be too risky. Rather, he just used West's built in megaphone, and used the same frequency of West's voice.

"Help . . . me." Delta said as weak as he could in West's voice.

"Did you hear that?" The Irish soldier yelled from a distance.

"Yeah, I think I heard it over here!" The other soldier called back from about twenty feet away from West.

One of the soldiers ran directly passed West as he headed towards his partner. To Delta, this was just getting ridiculous. The AI noted that these soldiers were exceptionally moronic. Delta was becoming angrier than he ever had before. It even got to the point where he questioned whether he was the Omega AI construct instead of Delta.

"Over . . . here." Delta used West's voice again.

Finally, but not after some great difficulty, the two soldiers stumbled upon West's injured body. Both dropped their Assault Rifles at the sight of her. Shocked, they quickly looked at each other before bending over West's body. The Irish one grabbed her feet while his partner took her shoulders. Steadily, they carried West over to the Warthog.

"Thank God that she's not heavy." One said, "It is a she, right."

"Sure sounded like one." The Irish one answered. "She sounded pretty hurt; we need to take her back to our base for a medic to look at her."

"That sounds like a great plan! Let's just go back to our base. Just one problem . . . We don't know where the hell it is!" One of the soldier pointed out. In the process, he dropped West's shoulders and she fell to the ground harder than a box of rocks.

"Uh, oh yeah, right . . ." The Irish soldier muttered, following suit and also dropping her feet.

Delta was dumbstruck. Were these actual soldiers, or simulation soldiers? Either way, the simulation soldiers that Delta had encountered before his capture were way smarter than these two morons. Again, Delta was forced to give them a hint. West may not like it, but she needed medical attention, and these two idiots would bring her to it. Delta was monitoring her heart rate; it was still beating, but it was irregular and fast.

"My Mongoose . . . has coordinates out of here." Delta again used West's voice. "Just follow them . . ."

"Thanks lady." The Irish said, "Now rest, you'll need your energy for later."

Carefully, they picked West up again and then put her in the back of the Warthog. More specifically, where the turret once was. West's unconscious body rolled around a bit due to the jeep being on a decreasing slope. Once they were sure she was safely inside the Warthog, they went to check on the Mongoose. Sure enough, there were coordinates that led out of the wet forest.

"Oh, and look, they are in the direction we were going." The Irish soldier pointed out.

"Shut the fuck up." His partner muttered, angry that the idea of turning around would not have helped them. "Let's just get that Chic a medic."

And so the two bumbling idiots hopped into the Warthog. The Irish soldier started the jeep and drove around the damaged Mongoose. But in the process, they ran into it, and suddenly a plumage of fire and smoke pillowed out of its engine. The two soldiers paused and looked at each other, dumbfounded about what just happened before continuing.

After a couple minutes, the Warthog picked up speed. Unlike the Mongoose, the car didn't have to weave through rocks, it just drove over them. The result was an extremely bumpy ride. Agent West Virginia, and Delta along with her, was thrown around like a ragdoll in the back. If West didn't already have a concussion, she probably did now.

The two moronic soldiers continued to argue as they slowly made their way out of the forest. Minutes passed, and soon the ground became smoother. Delta guessed that they must have reached the road. To be honest, Delta didn't think they would have gotten that far.

But Delta had more important things to worry now. Delta shifted his attention to West's condition. West had sustained no injury to her legs or torso, but Delta could make out that her head was damaged. He could not tell how badly injured West Virginia was until she woke up. And he had no idea when that would be.

"Agent West Virginia, it is of the utmost priority that you regain consciousness." Delta informed West, trying ever so nicely to arouse her.

His call was not answered. Delta was then forced to use more drastic measures. Once Delta gained control of her healing unit, he pumped minuscule amounts of adrenaline into West's blood stream. Hopefully, that would wake her up.

As minutes ticked by, and the rain starting to disappear, Delta became more nervous. If West Virginia was not awake, the medics would eventually find out that he was being stored in West's AI compartment. They would take Delta out and Agent West Virginia would die.

And Delta would be taken away, and then used for more brutish experiments.

"You leave me no choice, Agent West Virginia." Delta warned West internally, "I once again have to be your punisher. Your Bringer of Justice."

And with that, Delta forced more adrenaline in West's system than regulation's standard. And to his amazement, West's heart rate spiked up so fast, it was like a bullet.

But perhaps it was a bit too fast. Delta could actually hear her heart racing; something that should not be heard for an AI of his position. As fast as he turned the adrenaline pumps on, he turned them off.

Quickly, he checked her vitals for any ill side effects. Fortunately, there were none. Her heart was still beating faster than it ought to be. But even that was slowly becoming normal. Now he only had to agonize over West's head trauma.

"West Virginia, please wake up now." Delta thought.

And to his amazement, Delta could feel her brain patterns falter. A sign that she was gaining consciousness. West's breathing became irregular as she felt the adrenaline in her system.

"Ungh . . ." West incomprehensibly muttered her thoughts.

"Do not move unless I tell you to, Agent West Virginia." Delta ordered.

West instinctively obeyed. Even on the brink of death, West's training kicked in and she remained motionless. However, her body tensed as she realized that she was moving.

"What happened?" West asked.

"In your attempt to exit the forest, you crashed your Mongoose caused great damage to your head." Delta informed.

"I already fuckin' know that. I mean what's happening now."West said.

"Two soldiers, apparently simulation soldiers left by Command, stumbled upon you and are now taking you to their base for medical treatment." Delta said.

"Shit." West whispered aloud. She quickly caught her mistake, but the two moronic soldiers didn't notice. They were currently arguing about the best kind of pizza toppings.

"I still need to run a check up on your systems." Delta told West. "You know the drill; please wiggle your toes for me."

West did as ordered. As unnoticeable as she could be, West wiggled both her toes and ankles. This did not surprise Delta, for he knew that no damage was taken on that part of Agent West Virginia's body.

"Now the fingers." Delta said.

West tried, but only her left hand was able to move along with the fingers. West then focused entirely on her right hand. But her hand remained motionless. West furrowed her eyebrows and put as much energy as she could on her right arm.

Nothing.

"What's wrong, Delta?" West mentally went to pieces.

"You sustained some damage to the left hemisphere of your brain. This has caused your right arm to become paralyzed. It is quite common with head injuries."

"Is it permanent?"

"In most cases, yes. However, from what I can understand from your brain waves, your left hemisphere, along with your arm, will only remain paralyzed for nineteen days, approximately."

"Is that usual?"

"No, but that is because your standard healing unit will help speed up the progress."

"What if I obtain an advanced healing unit?"

"The time of healing would roughly decrease to eleven days."

That seemed to quiet Agent West Virginia as she planned a way to find the advanced healing unit that some Freelancers were usually granted. However, in her mentally damaged state, West's plans were poorly made and destined to fail.

One of her plans even involved a llama.

Delta realized that she would be a threat to her own health and the health of others in her current state. She did need medical attention badly, no matter how badly she wouldn't want it.

"I can't see out of my right eye . . ." Agent West Virginia said after a couple minutes of silence. She sounded somber, and weak, something she wouldn't admit to.

"Also temporary. However, it will take more time healing than your arm." Delta stated.

And then, without even meaning to, both West and Delta thought of York. No words formed, but the mental image of their friend and companion appeared. West shed a single tear from her sightless eye. She now realized how York had spent the last years of his life, she never thought how horrible it was, not seeing half of what she should have. Even after the few minutes after realizing it, it drove her mad.

Delta was, of course, used to this. But it did bring back repressed memory files about the accident caused by Agent Texas. Delta again felt a deep feeling known as frustration. Thoughts about what he could have done to avoid the accident swirled around his figurative head.

It was silent in their shared head for a long period of time. However, that too was shattered.

"I see you have a plan for getting us out of here." Delta noticed

"Yeah, I do. But I'm going to need you to help me." West half heartedly asked.