(A/N) Hey guys, time for another update, and you're really in for a treat here, as this is, by far, the longest update we've had to date! And of course, it's a North chapter, so that's something to be doubly thankful for! I think you're all going to enjoy this. I certainly did!

As I mentioned before, we're still looking for writers for our X-Ray and Vav fic, and you can see the first chapters of both that and our Grifball fic is you go onto our profile. We're also currently looking for writers for original freelancers for the sequel to this fic, along with writers for C.T., Utah, and, I'm sad to say, Wyoming. While I love writing for the Brit, I just don't have the time to dedicate to writing five characters while simultaneously running the collaboration.

As I say every update, enjoy!


Chapter Fifty-Two - Protect the Base

Agent North Dakota

Written by StormBlue


"As soldiers we have few saving graces. Perhaps our willingness to die for what we believe in is all that matters.''- Leo V. Gordon


North took a look at his surroundings as his team stepped off the Pelican with him. The simulation base called High Ground was in front of them, with the beach behind them. Their objective was to hole up inside of the base and survive for as long as they could while under siege from Red simulation soldiers. South and Sota were both confident that they would be able to take out the Reds before being taken out themselves, but North wasn't so sure. If it was going to be that easy, their orders would have been different. Besides, the number of soldiers that would be attacking them hadn't been specified.

Team A consisted of Maine, Minnesota, South and himself. Team B had Cal, Mich, Georgia and Ark. After Ark and Cal's fight, South had been taking bets over how long before the two would come to blows during the mission, particularly since Cal was leading the team. North had been assigned as A's team leader, and they were to go first, with Team B watching the siege from a viewing room close by. They had chosen their weapons before coming here, and they could only have as much as they could carry. All their guns were equipped with laser sights and were designed to send the target into armour lock with a direct hit. The sim troopers were equipped with these weapons as well. North had the familiar weight of a sniper rifle attached to his back, with an SMG as a back-up. They had about ten minutes to assess the base and prepare for the arrival of the sim troopers, who were stationed farther down the beach, awaiting the order to attack.

They walked past the bunker and up the slope-a good strategic advantage for them-and through the large gate. North turned to his team. "South, I saw a turret in the center, I want you to go check the ammo on that, see how much we've got."

"Got it," she replied, then hurriedly left.

"Sota and Maine, could you scout the buildings and tunnels back there and see if you can find anything we can use?"

They both nodded, then left.

North moved to the side, toward the tower that was most likely built for snipers, and explored under it. Just as he thought, there was a passageway that led to the bunker. That would prove to be useful, as well as a disadvantage if the simulation soldiers tried to come that way. He returned to where they had been standing a minute ago, watching his sister run down from the wall.

"We've only got about a hundred rounds on that thing," she reported.

"Well that's not very much," North said in slight disappointment, "but we'll make do."

They both turned as Sota and Maine came back. Maine didn't have anything, but Sota was carrying a handful of frag grenades.

"This is all there was," Sota stated.

North considered them for a moment. He pointed to a small nook that was out of the way, yet easily accessible. "Stash them over there, we'll save them for later." He glanced around, deciding on where he wanted his team. "Maine, there's a breach in the wall, I want you over there. Make sure that nothing gets through. Minnesota, South, you two take the tunnel to the bunker and fight off who you can over there. If they start to overwhelm you, don't push it, just fall back. I'll be up there in the sniper position. Keep communications open and don't overdo anything. The only objective here is to stay alive."

Maine nodded wordlessly and left for his post, and South and Sota seemed less than happy to be stationed so close to each other, but went where they were told. North quickly went to the gate's controls and pushed the button that would close it, listening to the metal screech as it shut while he quickly climbed to the sniper nook. It didn't have very much room, with a short wall around it and a tarp overhead. He pulled his sniper rifle off his back and positioned it on the ledge, crouching behind it and skilfully setting it up. He looked through the scope down the hill to the beach and saw the Reds starting to emerge and charge up the hill, making a great deal of noise while they were at it.

"Alright, here they come," he said into the radio, warning the others. He aimed and fired his rifle a few times, using the laser sights to help him, taking out three red soldiers in front and causing a couple behind them to trip over their stiff armour-locked bodies, and he heard additional shots as no doubt South and Sota started firing their bullets into the fray. They were coming quicker than he had thought they would, and still not all of them had come up from the beach.

He fired a few more times, reloading in between, not missing a single shot. "Maine, preserve your ammo until they come closer. Let South and Sota take out the ones in front," he said, and heard a grunt from the quiet Freelancer as a response. The battle continued like this for several minutes, with North firing and reloading his sniper and occasionally ducking the erratically aimed spray of bullets sent his way. He could hear many shots from his sister and Minnesota down in the bunker, watching the Red-armoured figures freeze up and fall as a result. Whenever they got close enough to the wall, they were taken out by Maine. Yet still they continued to charge up from the beach, no discernible end to their numbers.

A shot louder than the rest suddenly rang through the valley and North instantly reacted, pushing himself to the side. He peered up to see a slight smoke trail disappearing and chink had been taken out of the rock wall close to him.

"Sniper!" Sota yelled.

"Take cover! I'll take this one out," North told them, and glanced around. Another shot hit the side of his tower and he quickly followed the trail of smoke with his eyes, over to the jagged orange rock to his left that opened up as a tunnel in the cliff-face. He aimed his sniper and patiently waited for the trooper to come out and take another shot. He could see the barrel of another sniper peeking out from the side of the tunnel, and a red arm with it. North moved his sniper slightly so the red light of his laser rested on the arm, and he saw the soldier's other arm poke the dot for a second, then move as if shrugging. The rest of the soldier jumped out and aimed right at him, freezing as he saw North aiming right at him through his scope, but North had already fired and the soldier went into armor-lock.

"He's down," North reported to the others.

They had been firing shots of their own despite trying to keep out of sight of the sniper, but the rest of the troopers were closer than they had been before. They were jumping-or tripping-over the red bodies and had seized the opportunity the distraction had given them.

"Just keep an eye out, there could be more-" as soon as the words left his lips, another sniper shot the side of the bunker.

"You were saying?!" South shouted. North imagined the shot had been pretty close to her.

"I'll get the snipers, you three focus on the rest," he directed, and focused on the sniper and any others that might be hiding. They didn't have very good aim, and from he had heard of the Red and Blue armies, he wasn't too surprised at that. After he had taken out another three enemy snipers, he noticed with a bit of worry that the troopers were much closer than they had been before, despite the pile of frozen Reds that was building up. They had taken out probably around fifty of them, and there were still at least twice as many, if not more. They would overpower the Freelancers by sheer numbers.

"You know, we should aim for their heads," Sota commented lightheartedly.

"Why?" came South's irritated reply.

"Because, it's more fun if you pretend they're zombies," Sota replied.

North chuckled. "If you don't aim for the head, they get back up again," he joined in.

South didn't say anything, and they could hear a low growl from Maine, though he couldn't tell if it was from mirth or irritation. Maine was a hard person to read. North looked at the battlefield. There were a few sim troopers behind small concrete walls and hiding in the tunnels, trying to hit someone with their guns but missing horribly, and Maine was secure in his position, as whoever tried to get go his way got a pistol round to the face. As North watched, he tossed a grenade into the fray, pushing the advancing line of red soldiers back.

Over at the bunker where Minnesota and South still were, the Reds were starting to climb on the roof, searching for a way in. They had changed their strategies from outright charging to attempts at stealth and distractions. They were now trying to get the hatch at the top of the bunker open, which wasn't budging, apparently secured shut from the inside. They were still too close for comfort, and were trying to shoot through the windows.

"South, Sota, fall back through the tunnel. You can continue to take them out from here," North said, then after a second heard them affirm the command. He saw them emerge a second later and climb the wall, where they continued to fire down at the troopers from near the turret.

There was a slight commotion down in the sea of red armor.

"Hey, look what I have! You guys are going down!" one of the Reds called as he fired his rocket launcher.

North, seeing its trajectory, shouted a warning. "South, get down!"

The rocket sped toward her position, and she barely had enough time to drop into a crouch as the rocket exploded against the side of the wall, just a couple feet under where she was standing. The explosion rocked South off her feet, but she got up again after a few seconds, not taken out. North aimed quickly but barely missed, and the Red swung the barrel of his launcher at North's position.

"Son of a-" he tried to get away from the missile but was stopped by the confined spaces of the sniper nest. The explosion hit the tower and North was covered in rubble, but otherwise unhurt. The barrier that had been his cover had been taken out, and chunks of concrete surrounded him. He quickly rolled back to his feet and picked up his sniper from the debris and watched as a well-placed shot from Sota took the rocket-launcher-carrying Red down.

The simulation soldiers were now at the base of the wall and Maine was having a harder time keeping them contained. North suddenly had an idea. "Sota, remember those frag grenades?"

"Yeah. You think it's time to use them?" Sota asked.

"Yep. How many do you think you could take out if you took the tunnel back to the bunker and got them from behind?" North said as he reloaded his rifle with his last magazine.

"I like the way you think," came Minnesota's smug response, and he fired once more before retrieving the grenades.

"Is it about time for that turret yet?" called South.

North nodded, even though they couldn't see. "Go ahead."

"Help Maine out, would you? I can't kill the Reds over by him from over here," Sota suggested

"Don't need help!" Maine protested, his deep guttural voice grating over the radio.

South ignored him and activated the turret, mowing down the Reds that were in front of Maine. North looked on in satisfaction as a frag grenade came flying out of one of the small windows in the bunker and smashed itself into the groin of one of the red soldiers, who crumpled to the ground in agony.

"What the-?" the Red next to him managed to say before it exploded, sending him and his nearest comrades into armour lock.

North shot a Red holding a shotgun as more explosions erupted around the bunker and South's turret wound down, out of ammo. The Reds had been pushed back, but North didn't know how long that would last.

"Uh guys? You might wanna look out!"Sota said, alarm in his voice. Another explosion came, this time inside of the bunker. "Apparently, the sim troopers have grenades too," he said as he came out from the tunnel.

The bunker walls were left intact, but the explosion inside had blasted whatever South and Sota had put up as a blockade for the hatch on top, which had been blown open. The Reds, upon seeing this, started cheering. North quickly aimed his rifle at the spot and shot down one, two, three soldiers before his sniper clicked, empty.

"They're headed through the bunker!" North shouted as he tossed the rifle away from him, unclipping his SMG and hurrying down to help Sota. Instead of just rushing through, the Reds were just camped at the other side, returning fire at Sota. North crouched next to the white and gray Freelancer and added his bullets to his teammates.

This lasted for a few minutes while more and more Reds piled up and they were advancing, and it didn't take long for Minnesota to run out of ammo. "We're not going to be able to contain them," he said, turning to North.

"Right," North agreed. "We need to fall back to a more secure location, but we need something to distract them."

Sota grabbed something round at his side. "It's a good thing I saved this then," he said, showing North the frag grenade he had brought along. "I also saw where we could fall back to when I found the spike grenades."

"Go ahead back there then, show South and Maine where it is. I'll meet up with you in a minute," North said, and Sota nodded to him, tossing him the grenade. North continued to fire his SMG as he left.

"We're falling back guys, come on!" Sota informed the others.

The Reds continued to advance, but it didn't matter. In a minute, they'd all get blown into armor-lock anyway.

"Too many-!" Maine growled over the radio.

North glanced over to his position. The Reds were surrounding Maine, who was attempting to take them all on in close-quarter combat, but there wasn't room to manoeuvre. He watched as the large white Freelancer suddenly froze up and toppled over like he had seen many of the simulation troopers do.

"Maine is out," he reported to the others and turned back to the entrance in front of him. There wasn't any more time to lose, so he flicked the pin out with his thumb and threw it. Instead of staying to watch, he ran in the other direction, listening to the Reds bicker amongst themselves.

"Hey, you dropped a grenade."

"What? That's not mine!"

"Where'd the purple guy go?"

The expected explosion slightly shook the ground, and North ran into the nearest building, realizing he didn't know where Sota had planned to fall back to. Before he could do anything, however, a voice called to him.

"North! Over here!" South was beckoning to him from another room and he quickly crossed over to her. She led him through a few doors and hallways to where Sota waited.

"So what's the plan now?" he asked.

"Try not to get ourselves killed," North offered.

Sota shrugged. "Sounds good to me."

South stared at them. "What about ammo? Sota's out and I've only got about a half clip left."

"We could probably grab some from the sim troopers. I didn't hear anything in the rules about not being allowed to do that. They have the same weapons we do," North said.

They all cringed when metallic screeching sounded, informing them that one of the Reds had operated the gate controls, leaving it wide open for the rest of the troopers to come in with larger numbers. He looked around a little worried. This wasn't the best place to be, but it was better than what they had before. There were two ways out, and North didn't know where the other one went. He would have preferred if the Director had given them more time to familiarize themselves with the base, but he understood the need to limit them. They were here to test themselves, after all. And if they couldn't work with what little what they were given, they weren't good enough to be put into the field.

North turned to the weaponless Minnesota. "Go see if you can find a way to surprise them. South and I will hold them off."

South raised her battle rifle as they listened to the approaching soldiers. "You ready?"

He couldn't see her face, but North could tell by the tone of her voice that she was grinning. "I'm always ready. I would prefer if they came a little slower though." A smile was on his face as well.

She gave a short laugh. "Is the action too fast-paced for you?"

"You never were one for patience," North commented.

Their playful bickering was interrupted by the arrival of the Reds, and they were both on either side of the doorway. The Reds were about to come running, but started cursing as North and South fired at them. They ran for cover, falling over themselves, then engaged in a back-and-forth firefight with the twins. North could see where the Reds were hiding, but couldn't hit them easily with the SMG, despite the laser sights. On South's side, the Reds were closer to her, but were able to dodge the shots from her BR.

"Switch!" North called, and South acknowledged. A second later, the twins traded guns, beneficial to both of them. North was able to aim more precisely, and soon all the ones on his side were down, and looking over, he saw that South had taken out hers as well. It seemed these ones had come in a group, so they had a minute to spare before more followed.

"I didn't see anything that can help us," Sota reported when he returned.

"I guess we'll just have to keep moving," South said, and walked in the room with the downed soldiers and picked up a pistol. Sota quickly joined her. North dropped the battle rifle, as it only had about three shots left, and was about to pick up another weapon when something caught his eye. A small red dot was moving along the floor then onto his sister, jumping between South and Sota.

There wasn't any time to shout a warning, or even think. North lunged at them and pushed them out of the way as a shot sounded. He felt the impact of the bullet on his chest-piece and also felt the resulting sting, and he fell forward as his armour locked up. South and Sota, realizing what was happening, jumped clear of the window. North could see the sniper now on a ledge across from them, at the only position where they could be seen. The armour-lock had taken out the communications in his helmet, so he couldn't get any word out to the others, in playing the role of being dead. He was out of the mission now, but he didn't regret anything.

South and Sota looked at him for a minute, then moved out in the direction Sota had scouted just a moment ago. After a minute, he heard guns being fired. He had to trust that Minnesota and his sister could take care of themselves, as it wasn't like he could do anything to help in his current state. He still wished he could see what was going on though. He had a view of the room that he was in and see out the window, but as he couldn't move his head, he couldn't see much more than that. North laid on the floor for a while, listening to the gunfire and to his twin yelling at Sota and their attempts at communication with each other. He suddenly felt sorry for the simulation soldiers that had been taken out first, who had to lay frozen in the middle of the battlefield for...how long had it been since the start of the mission?

He heard voices coming closer as Sota and South were pushed back into the room.

"What now? We're completely boxed in!" South exclaimed in frustration.

Sota was a little more calm. "The mission never said we were supposed to survive. Just last as long as we could," he said.

"Hey guys, look at what I found!" one of the Reds called, his voice somewhat muted and faraway. The constant chatter from the other Reds suddenly died down, and it was quiet outside. The two Freelancers looked around, wary, not liking the sound of that.

A quiet clunking sound started reverberating through the walls, like it was echoing off of something. It got louder and closer as the sound multiplied, and North glanced around his limited range of vision. He suddenly realized what was happening as he saw the large pipe near the ceiling, and the open end that was in the room.

Sota realized the same thing only about a second before the Reds started falling into the room, and he quickly fired into the opening. South did the same, but she was farther back than Sota, and slowly backing away as she fired her pistol. North watched Sota quickly get overcome by the troopers and fall down close to North, and he saw South turn and run. She appeared outside a moment later, and she stopped to make a last stand against the Reds, but she only lasted about a minute before she, too, succumbed to the sheer numbers of the Red army.

Like that, the round was over. The surviving Reds started cheering and bickering amongst each other, but that was cut off as their armour locked up as well. Before North could question that, his own armour-lock deactivated and his limbs went limp. Groaning, he shook his head and pushed himself off the ground, seeing Sota do the same. North pulled his helmet off as Sota looked over at him.

"Man, that was crazy," Sota said.

"Tell me about it," North agreed as they started walking to catch up with South and Maine A transport would then come pick them up, and Team B would take the spotlight.

"Listen, about back there..." Sota began. "Thanks. It's always nice to know you've got someone watching your back."

North smiled. "No problem." He hadn't thought much about it at the time, and he didn't doubt that he would do the same on a real battlefield. Looking after his team was always important to him. They went outside to find South groaning and cursing. "You alright?" North asked, worried.

"Yeah," she replied. "Those bullets sting though."

Sota chuckled. "It'll sting even more in real combat," he said.

They went together to the wall of the base, looking around. Maine was already on the other side, waiting for their transport to arrive, and North looked in awe at the sea of Red armour that surrounded them.

"Where did they even find all of these guys?" South muttered.

"How many do you think there are?" North pondered aloud.

The hum of engines interrupted their chatter, and North led the way down to ground level, where two jeeps had parked. They were just standard issue transport, no turrets or anything fancy. Maine and Sota climbed into one while North and South were in the other, and the designated drivers took off. They drove down the beach and saw that there really weren't that many sim troopers that hadn't gone up the hill. The ride only lasted a few more minutes before they reached a small building just as two other jeeps took off with Team B in them. They went inside the building and walked up to a screen where they were supposed to watch how Team B handled the siege.

A voice from a terminal next to the screen spoke up. "Welcome back, Team A. You did very well on the test," F.I.L.S.S. congratulated them.

"What was the time?" South spoke up.

"Thirty-seven minutes, forty-two seconds," F.I.L.S.S. replied.

That long? It had felt shorter. Or had it felt longer? North couldn't decide. A soldier's sense of time tended to go away during combat. He turned his attention to the screen where the last of the Reds were leaving, not in armour-lock anymore, and Team B started scouting the base and preparing with the little time they had. From where the camera was that they were watching from, they could see the bunker, the hill and the wall of the base, as well as behind it. They couldn't see inside the buildings, which appeared to be where most of the team had vanished, and North wondered what they were up to. He saw Arkansas bending over the breach where he had stationed Maine, and was curious as to what he was doing, but couldn't see from this angle.

Ark straightened up and ran to catch up with Michigan, who had reappeared and they conversed for a second before disappearing again. Team A couldn't hear what they were saying, as no one from Team B was using their radios yet, which would have transmitted what was being said to the viewing room. Through the windows of the bunker, North could see Georgia and Cal moving around like they were manoeuvring something heavy, but he couldn't tell what it was. It looked like some kind of lightly glowing barrel.

Cal climbed through the hatch on the roof and pulled out a sniper rifle, setting it up on the roof, much lower to the ground than North's position had been and also closer to the combat. Georgia stayed inside of the bunker, and Ark and Mich joined him there, and they were ready just in time as the Blue soldiers that would be attacking them started rushing up the hill, much like the Reds had done. Shots cracked in the air as Cal shot them one by one, then reloaded. He wasn't as skilled as North with the sniper, but he was closer, so it was easier for him to hit his targets.

The others were firing from inside, and together they kept the Blues back for a bit, but not indefinitely. The Blues were getting closer, and Cal fired one more round before turning and climbing down the hatch and into the bunker. He fell back with Georgia to the top of the wall and continued firing from there, Cal with his sniper and Georgia with an assault rifle. North could also see a rocket launcher attached to Georgia's back.

South scoffed, looking at the breach in the wall. "They're just leaving it unprotected?" she asked.

"Maybe Ark did something," Sota suggested.

"Trap," growled Maine, who was usually quiet. Also quite perceptive, as North looked closer at the area, it did look like some kind of trap had been set up there.

The Blues continued to advance despite the efforts of Team B, and finally Cal called to the others on the radio, where the transmission was connected to the viewing room that Team A was in.

"Ark, Mich, it's time to fall back," he said.

"On it," came Ark's reply, without a trace of the expected scorn, the fight between the two apparently forgotten, at least for now, and they retreated to the top of the wall next to Cal and Georgia.

North had no idea what they were up to, as they were all grouped together, rather than spread out, guarding separate areas of the base. He wouldn't say it wasn't a good strategy, it was just unexpected. But he wasn't about to underestimate them. He was sure they had something up their sleeves. He kept watching as the Blues approached the bunker, looking in the windows and climbing on the roof, trying the hatch on top. Surprisingly, it opened on the first try.

They were taken aback. "They left it open?" Sota asked.

"They'll be vulnerable," South protested.

"Wait..." North could still see the barrel-thing that they had pushed in there, and also noticed that Team B had a clear view of it from where they were standing...a clear view, and a clear shot.

As the Blues filed in the bunker, Cal leaned in and said something to Georgia, who put away his assault rifle and pulled the rocket launcher off of his back. North could almost see the grin on Georgia's face as he aimed it at the bunker and fired the missile. It flew perfectly through one of the windows and connected with the barrel, which apparently had exploding tendencies. The resulting explosion was much bigger than what would have occurred if it had just been the rocket launcher, and all of Team B crouched and protected themselves from the flying rubble.

"Woah!" Sota exclaimed. "What was that?"

"It must have been a fusion core," North answered.

"Why didn't we find that?" South asked, looking over at Sota.

He shrugged. "I didn't see one of those. It must have been tucked in a corner somewhere."

When the dust cleared, they could see that a section of wall from the bunker had been knocked down, and the rubble blocked the passage. He could see bits of blue armor sticking up here and there. "I hope they didn't get hurt," North muttered.

"Nah, the armour-lock would've protected them," South said. North couldn't argue with that.

The explosion certainly had given the rest of the Blues pause, but they quickly recovered and went back on the offensive, some of them firing up at the wall while others worked on trying to clear the passageway in the bunker so they could get through. They started going up to the breach, seeing it as a point of entry, yet when the first one was about to go through, another explosion went off, though not as large as the last one. The trap that Ark had set blew the Blues back and made a cascade of rock fall down, covering the breach.

"They've effectively locked themselves in," North said. "The simulation soldiers will have a tough time getting through that."

The Blues were actually being fairly smart about this, trying to focus their efforts on getting in, while others drew the fire of Team B. Team B wasn't that easily fooled though, so while Mich and Georgia were taking out the Blues that were firing at them, Cal and Ark were shooting the Blues that were moving debris out of the way.

The relative safety of Team B was compromised when the tell-tale crack of a sniper rifle rang through the valley, and this wasn't one of Cal's shots. The smoke trail led right about to Mich's hand, and they all instinctively ducked, diving behind whatever cover they could find. Two more shots fired but missed, and after the fourth, Cal sprang up and swept the area with his own sniper, knowing the enemy had to reload. He fired but missed, then fired again. He hit his mark, and the Blue stiffened, dropping his sniper from the ledge he had been firing from.

"Here comes a rocket Blue," Sota suddenly remarked.

It didn't take much looking to find him, a Blue triumphantly carrying the big weapon. He crept along the cliff and used the tunnels in the rock as cover to get closer. He peeked out from the other side and aimed his rocket not at the Freelancers, but at the rubble that blocked the breach. He fired several times at the blockage but didn't clear much, as whenever the rock and concrete would get blasted away, more would fall down to take its place. Finally, Mich took him out with her assault rifle.

The blasts, however, had managed to knock out just enough that a pipe was visible, and North realized that this was the same pipe that led inside. One of the Blues crept in unnoticed. "That's not good," he said, pointing it out.

"Neither is that," Sota pointed to a different part in the screen, where one of the sim troopers was trying to toss grenades up to the top of the wall. Most of them bounced off the wall to explode on the ground again, and one even sailed clear over the wall and exploded on the other side. The sim trooper was quickly killed, but the others quickly caught on, and whoever had brought grenades started throwing them up at the Freelancers. Georgia hopped on the turret and started unloading rounds into the troopers, taking down a lot of them. He seemed to be enjoying himself, and didn't notice the one grenade that landed next to his feet. When Ark saw it, he rolled away, crashing into Mich and sending the small Freelancer sprawling, and Cal was far enough away from the blast that it didn't affect him. However, Georgia didn't get away and the force pushed him back and sent him into armour lock. Mich shoved Ark off of her and furiously sprayed the Blues below with her assault rifle and Cal tossed his sniper away, out of ammo.

"There are more soldiers going through the pipe," Sota pointed out.

"Where'd that one Blue go?" South asked.

North looked around and saw him from the corner of his eye. "Over there," he said. The Blue that had crawled through the pipe was creeping around, trying not to be seen and get to the gate control. He obviously knew he was outmatched if the Freelancers saw him, so he didn't even try to go for them.

Cal suddenly turned back and retreated back to the other buildings, and North guessed he was moving to secure a fallback position. However, he was halted at the sight of more Blues one by one coming out of the room with the other end of the pipe, and he started bringing them down with his pistol. His hand reached up to his helmet and he contacted the others. "We've got a leak!"

Mich and Ark turned at that instant, and after a glance back at the slope covered with simulation soldiers, turned to assist Cal. The Blues on the other side of the wall couldn't cause any damage, and the immediate threat was behind them. They kept the Blues at bay for a bit without much trouble, but the Freelancers in the viewing room could see something those in the battle couldn't. The lone Blue was still creeping along behind Cal and his teammates, unseen. He was about to reach the gate control to leave it open for the rest of the large amount of Blues still waiting outside. Right as he was reaching it, however, he had been so focused on not being noticed by Team B that he tripped and fell over.

Michigan was the only one that heard him over the sounds of the firefight, and she whirled around, unleashing several rounds from her rifle as soon as she saw him. But it was too late, as the Blue already pressed the button and the large gate started to screech open. This caught Cal and Ark's attention, and Cal apparently started yelling at them to fall back, even though North couldn't hear him. Ark turned and retreated first, but instead of Cal doing the same, he moved like he was about to shove Mich down. Two sniper shots were fired and Cal was too late. Mich toppled over awkwardly, unable to move.

Sota sighed from next to North. "Just one of those things that remind you to watch your back," he said.

"Even the strongest defences can be taken down by just one soldier," North agreed.

South nodded and Maine just growled lightly.

Cal and Ark had both disappeared as the Blues darted everywhere within the compound, having free run of the place. The screen suddenly shifted and North realized it was showing them a different viewpoint. This one was closer to the ground and they could see that crates filled a doorway, blocking anyone looking to attack them. Cal was about to push up the last crate in the make-shift barricade, but he kept it down though, and Ark stood ready with the frag grenades that had been supplied to them. A few Blues turned the corner and saw them and started waving the others over, but turned and ran as Ark started chucking the grenades, taking two or three Blues out per explosion. But soon he ran out, and Cal pushed the crate up fully, leaving it closed.

The Blues returned and came face-to-face with the barricade. They couldn't get any shots through and tried banging on the crates for a few minutes, but that didn't work. Then a group of about five of them laid their hands on one of the crates and all pushed simultaneously, shoving the crate into the room. North hadn't thought the blockade would last long. Ark and Cal didn't hesitate to start shooting, and while they had nowhere else to go, they seemed determined to take down as many Blues as they could. Strangely, despite the bad blood between the two, they actually worked quite well together as a team. However, there were simply too many Blues, and they could only last for a few moments. First Cal fell, then not a minute later, Ark followed him.

South leaned forward, eager. "What was the time? Who won?"

"The time was thirty-three minutes, twenty-seven seconds. You beat their time by four minutes, fifteen seconds. Congratulations Team A," F.I.L.S.S. responded.

South and Sota were rather delighted to hear this, and even Maine's lips curled up a little. North didn't really care who won, as he wasn't into competition. He did have a smile on his face though as they walked outside to wait for the Pelican to come pick them up.