(A/N) It's Monday, and that means you guys get another healthy dose of Project Freelancer. It's also International Mother Earth Day, but I think our update takes precedence. Sorry Earth. We still love you! With my exams coming up soon, there might be a few odd fluctuations in our stream of updates, but I'll do everything I can to prevent that from happening. Hope life's going well for all our readers, and hope you'll all keep until our Wednesday update. It'll bring to an end our third batch of chapters, and you guys know who'll be coming in over the course of our fourth batch!

Enjoy!


Chapter Twenty-Nine – No Turning Back

Agent New York

Written by Maple Alycia Hood


"The defence of New Delphi was our first real mission against the Insurrectionists. Despite previous... setbacks involving our teamwork, we managed to successfully hold the city and also achieve our main objective of taking out Colonel James Allen, the Insurrectionist Leader of that time. But on the planet itself, holding off the ground forces, it was the first time for many other things too. Chief on the list... Well...

It was the first time Agent New York had to kill someone. At first I didn't think he could do it. I'm glad I had faith in him, otherwise... as much as I hate to admit it... I wouldn't be here right now." – Log Entries of Agent Carolina, post Project Freelancer.


"Carolina!"

York could barely see anyone amidst the crowd of UNSC soldiers that they were currently working with. Gunfire and explosions ran clear in his ears, and he was pretty sure he couldn't hear himself, never mind hoping that Carolina would be able to hear him. So he would have to do things the old fashioned way – on foot. He leaped over numerous barricades, occasionally stopping to help a wounded soldier get to his feet and head off, or be helped off, back to the interior of the base they were guarding, in which Massachusetts was using her medical skills to see what she could do to help.

Despite looking everywhere in the mass of grey, green and silver, there was no sign of the familiar aqua blue armour that belonged to their current leader. Most likely she was at the front of the line, pounding some Innies back so Team B had chance to do their job without too much interference. Nothing bad had come through the comm. link yet, so he could assume that all was going well.

For now.

York was caught off guard, though, by a pair of armoured rebels that had flanked the defence and tried to attack from the side. A fist met the side of his head and he was sent flying sideways, landing with a grunt. He just about staggered onto his feet, holding up his own hands to fight back, but with one of the Innies holding two magnums and the other holding a shotgun, things didn't look so good.

That was, until a sniper round went through the head of the shotgun holding Insurrectionist. His startled companion made to retreat, only to meet the barrel of Florida's shotgun, a loud boom silencing any plea that he might have made. The tan armoured Freelancer breathed out a sigh of relief, nodding briefly to his comrade and giving a mock salute to Virginia, who stood on the edge of one of the tall buildings nearby.

"Any of you two seen Carolina?" he asked over their private comm. links so that they could both hear him.

"She's up front helping Colonel Grant keep the Innies at bay," Virginia responded, to which York gave a thankful wave and set off again, Florida close behind him. He was glad for the support, to say the least.

"You heard news about Team B?" he asked the blue Freelancer as soon as his tomahawk had stopped being embedded into the chest of an Insurrectionist scout and the two of them could move on again.

"Not so far, I'm afraid," Florida answered. "The comms aren't exactly noisy as of late. Just the occasional update from F.I.L.S.S."

"Seems like the Director doesn't really wanna get too involved." York remarked quietly. No doubt the man in charge was listening, but he could always pass it off as a harmless statement. War could make a man say stupid things, after all. Although, to be fair, he probably wouldn't get away with that.

Up ahead was the sign he'd been looking for. A brief flicker of aqua armour told him that Carolina wasn't too far ahead. Neither he nor Florida hesitated in joining her fight – surrounded by God knew how many Insurrectionists wasn't the best fate for one sole person. Besides, they were meant to be working as a team now, right? That was the whole point of their previous training exercises.

"I thought I told you to watch the back way?" his female teammate demanded as they came back to back, hitting anyone that came close.

"I was," he grunted back as he landed a kick to a rebel's chest. "But it got kinda quiet and I thought you might be lonely up here."

If she found that statement funny, she didn't make any sort of hint towards it. Nor did she snap at him, playfully or otherwise. Then again, she wasn't exactly paying attention right now. The crowd of Innies began to thin out, but they stuck close just in case. Florida had made their back to back into a triangle, then a line, as they began to push back the onslaught.

But neither man saw it coming. From the side of their blockade a lone scout lashed out and knocked Carolina to the ground. The two wrestled to try and pin one another, and the scout came out on top, a magnum in his hand, desperately trying to get the aim straight against the redhead's strong grip.

"York! A little help here!" she called to him, and York turned, aiming his shotgun.

He hesitated though, despite having been sure that all doubts had gone from his mind. This... this was still a person, right? With a life. With feelings and thoughts. With a family, perhaps? He didn't know this scout. None of them did. Did anonymity make the killings they committed any more right?

Were they honestly doing the right thing now?

"York!"

As much as he hated to have the words circulate around his head, the fact remained clear – he valued Carolina's life over this scout's. With a small flicker of guilt, he pulled the trigger, the shells slamming straight through the scout's back, and he slumped, eventually pushed off by Carolina, who he helped pull to her feet. The sound of Florida's shotgun no longer firing told him that this side was clear, but his gaze was fixed on the dead body of the man he'd just killed.

"We'll talk about this later," the woman next to him muttered in an even tone. She probably wouldn't shout at him. She had to make a first kill at some point, right? She'd understand. So all York could do was nod in response, and the three turned and ran for the next barricade.

Hopefully Team B would be near to their objective by now. Agent New York wasn't sure how many bullets they had left.

"Hurry up!" Colonel Grant called from his position on top of one of the supply crates. "They're breaking through the East side barricade!"

"Not for much longer," he heard Carolina mutter darkly under her breath, her statement reinforced by the sniper shot that smacked into the chest of the first of the next group of Insurrectionists. And so they started the process again, and York found himself scared by how much easier killing people was becoming.

Well, there was no turning back now.