(A/N) Hey guys, sorry about the late update, was working late last night and just went to bed the second I got home. Here is the latest update for Phase One: Genesis, sparking off our sixth arc, and bringing us ever closer to the end. This chapter was written by the incredible ParabolaOfMystery, as promised, and, of course, features our Number One, Agent Carolina.

Just a quick little breakdown for everyone concerning our current updates. Phase One: Genesis updates every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday (ish), Grifball: Running Rampant every Friday, and X-Ray and Vav every Thursday. There may be some change on that front coming up soon, but I'll let you know.

This goes without saying, but, enjoy!


Chapter Sixty-Six – Battle Royale

Agent Carolina

Written by ParabolaOfMystery


"What does it mean to be the best? It means you have to be better than the number two guy. But what gratification is there in that? He's a loser—that's why he's number two." ― Jarod Kintz, This Book is Not for Sale


"All agents report immediately to the training room floor. Thank you."

Carolina glared up at the ceiling as if she was glaring at the Director straight in the face. A training session now? It seemed unusual after two successful (although admittedly, close to disastrous) missions. Usually the agents were permitted time to rest and nurse whatever wounds they acquired, mental or physical.

She groaned. Whatever this was, it was not going to be fun.

"What, not in the mood to be the best today?" York joked from beside her. They were sitting on one of the lounge's sofas together. Carolina had her back against an armrest, her legs reclined in front of her, her feet almost resting on York's lap. "I know about fifteen people that would love to take your place."

Carolina pushed herself up. "I'm just tired."

"What? Carolina, the one woman army, is tired?Let me write this down for the scientific journals."

She kicked him in the arm. "Shut up, York, or I'll beat you up."

York chuckled, but was quiet. After all, he knew that she could beat the shit out of him if she wanted to.

They left to go put on their armour. In the locker room, the others looked confused about the training session. Carolina noted that some of them still looked exhausted from their recent missions, and understood the feeling. Sometimes it took a while to recover from a particularly hard mission, and that was even without injury. South, however, looked ready to fight. Carolina didn't particularly like her. She was overly aggressive, overconfident, and didn't work well and teams. All in all, she was a bitch. Carolina caught South sneaking glares at her from across the room as she put on the many plates of her armour.

"What do you think we'll be doing?" Virginia asked as they walked down to the training room.

Massa, who was walking next to her, shrugged. "Maybe something in teams, since there's so many of us."

I wouldn't be so sure,Carolina thought. If there was one thing the Director liked, it was pitting his agents against each other.

In the end, she was right. As the Director stared down the line of agents, she saw a smirk in his eye as he announced that they would be facing off in a battle royale.

"A what?" Ark asked. "Like that one old Japanese movie where they all fight to the death?"

The Director fixed his gaze on him. "I don't understand that reference, but the idea is similar. You will all be fighting in a free-for-all combat exercise. The winner is the last man standing. Once you are down for five seconds, or receive a blow powerful enough to result in the incapacitation of a foe without access to your armour, you are out. Your armour will go into lock mode, and you will remain there for the rest of the exercise. Any questions?"

"What about weapons?" Minnesota asked.

"You will be tested in hand-to-hand combat, so no weapons are permitted." At this, Penn chuckled. I'm going to have to watch out for him, Carolina thought. Penn would probably be one of the last ones standing. If he didn't go for her straight off the bat, she would undoubtedly have to fight him at some point during the battle. She snuck a glance down the line of agents. She would have to look out for Maine as well, and probably twins. South had been glaring at her the moment the Director announced the battle royale, and if South had it out for her, she would probably bring North along with her.

Once they were all spaced evenly around the outside edge of the room, the countdown timer began from twenty. Carolina took a moment to scan who was around her. To her left was Georgia, who was tapping his fingers on his knee. He was nervous, and had reason to be- hand-to-hand wasn't exactly his specialty. To her right was Michigan, who didn't seem to be eying her as a target- she seemed to be having a nonverbal conversation with California. Carolina guessed that the two were going to team up. Even though they'd brought down Maine between the two of them, they were still low-ranked, and probably nothing to worry about.

As soon as F.I.L.S.S. announced the start, Carolina dove at Georgia. He seemed to be expecting it, and ducked as her kick swung over his head. He swept his own leg across the floor, taking Carolina's planted foot with it- he was quicker than she'd expected- but she'd grabbed his helmet as she crashed to the floor and slammed it against the cement as hard as she could. Maybe a little harder than she'd intended. Georgia tried to push himself up, but Carolina slammed him down again, and his armour flickered as it went into armour lock. Sorry about that.Maybe she would apologize once the battle was over. Maybe not.

As Carolina stood up, she heard someone yell, "Behind you!" and she sidestepped just in time for a fist to just catch the edge of her helmet. She spun and kicked, her heel catching the centre of her opponents back, and finished the turn to see South fly forward. Another almost identical body flew forward to join her- North- and Carolina heard someone approach her from behind. She spun, fists ready, but saw it was York. Dammit.She swung, but didn't correct herself when he didn't move. She wanted to see what he would do, and true to form, he dodged her attack and then held his hands up reassuringly.

"You need my help to take out those two," he said hurriedly, motioning to the twins, who were getting back on their feet.

Dammit, York, she thought. "I don't need anyone's help," she managed, just as North and South charged. She deflected a swing with her forearm and forced her aside. South aimed a kick, but it was too high and Carolina caught it and twisted, knocking the other freelancer off balance. Before she could do anything else, an arm was wrapped around her neck. She hit at it, but when it wouldn't move, she kicked off the floor as hard as she could. Her attacker landed hard on his back with Carolina on top, and she rolled off North as he tried to catch his breath. Meanwhile, York was aiming punches at South.

"I thought you had my back!" She yelled at him.

"I thought you didn't need my help!" he yelled back. Carolina ran to join his fight with South, but was intercepted by North, who had gotten up quickly. She and North circled each other, anticipating the first move, until South yelled, "Leave her to me!" Unfortunately for the female twin, the moment she stepped between North and Carolina, Carolina delivered that first move- a wicked right hook that caught South directly in the side of the head, and her armour was shifting to lock mode even before she hit the floor. At the same moment, York tackled North around the waist. York seemed like he could handle the purple freelancer, so Carolina took a moment to scan her surroundings.

Of the sixteen Freelancers, only six of them were down so far, including, surprisingly, Maine. Mich and Cal were surprisingly still fighting against Massa, who seemed to be getting overwhelmed. Their teamwork was more effective than Carolina thought it would be, and sure enough, they took her down, and high fived as she went into armour lock. Virginia and Wyoming were in a calculated battle, and Pennsylvania, Alaska, and Arkansas seemed to be in a three way fistfight. Carolina looked their way just in time to see Alaska and Penn hit Ark and the exact same time- had they teamed up?- sending him flying and into armour lock. A moment later, Mich and Cal jumped into the fight. It seemed to be a stupid move, since they were way out of their league against Alaska and Penn, but that wasn't her problem. What was her problem was Virginia, who had won her fight with Wyoming and was charging her and York.

Carolina charged at her, feeling York right behind her, and dove to the ground at the last second in a slide to take out her legs. Virginia almost managed to evade it, but tripped on Carolina's shoulder and met York's fist at her stomach. She doubled over, and Carolina shot to her feet to kick her in the back, forcing her again into York's fist. Another spinning kick from Carolina was all it took to finish her off.

"Tell me next time you do that slidey move thing," York grunted, shaking out his fist. "Almost missed it."

"Fine," Carolina said, scanning the room. Now all that was left was her and York and Penn. Mich and Cal were crumpled on opposite sides of the room- Carolina was slightly curious as to how that happened- and Alaska was only just flickering into armour lock. If Penn and Alaska had teamed up for the fight, it seemed like Penn wasn't hesitant to end their alliance. Penn faced them, cracking his knuckles. The giant seemed ready for another fight, and Carolina could tell that it was going to be a rough one. While she was an expert on hand-to-hand combat, Penn still had his brute force and size on his side, whereas she was significantly smaller. She would have to be quick about it.

"You ready for this?" She asked York.

"Not really," he answered.

The two of them spread out so that there was one on either side of the huge freelancer. Penn glanced from side to side, anxious to see which side would strike first.

She lunged, making herself the target. As she ducked Penn's fist, York assaulted Penn's other side, while he hardly seemed to notice. She blocked punch after punch, but wasn't prepared for a kick to the chest that sent her sprawling.

She pushed herself to her elbows, trying to remember how to breathe. Five seconds. I need to get up.Her knees shook as she got to her feet, and looked up just in time to see Penn pull his fist back. Her arms flew up just in time to protect her head, and he sent her backward again. She landed flat on her back, losing her breath for the second time in a row.

What am I doing? I'm laying here like a freaking turtle.She was half-aware of Penn walking toward her to finish her off. Why aren't I getting up?

Penn grabbed her by the front of her armour and lifted her. She squirmed, but her head was still muddled from the last hit. Holy shit.She hit feebly at the hand on her armour. If I lose right here…The arm swung back… and something slammed into her side and knocked her onto the ground.

She glanced up to see York take the hit. Right at the side of the head, and Carolina knew it was just her and Penn. Her body ached from Penn's hits, but she pushed herself to her feet. Penn cracked his neck, ready for a second round. Maybe if I tire him out…

She let Penn make every move, dodging most, while some managed to just catch her. The only thing she concentrated on was not letting him land anything. If she took any real hit, she was going to go down, and knowing Penn, it wouldn't be pretty.

It seemed to take forever until Penn's punches started to slow. She felt sweat sting her eyes from inside her helmet. Penn seemed to actually be getting tired, and Carolina saw her chance when a punch went clumsily wide. Time slowed down, and she was aware of every muscle in her body, every vulnerable point of Penn's. Her mind was clear.

She grabbed Penn's right forearm, twisting at the elbow until she heard it pop. Penn roared and swung with his other arm, which Carolina grabbed again. She jumped, twisting her body so she flipped up and over him, twisting his shoulder backward. There was another pop, and now both arms hung at terrible awkward angles.

Penn roared and tried a kick at her, but with his arms hardly being any use, had skewed balance and the kick missed by a lot. Carolina took the opportunity to make a jumping kick at his head, knocking him to the ground.

She took a step back, panting, and waited to see if Penn would get up. For three and a half seconds, he stayed down on the ground. At the fourth, he pushed himself up with his right shoulder into a kneeling position.

"What are you waiting for?" he growled.

What wasshe waiting for? Him to get up? Or to stay down?

"Good point," she mumbled, and kicked him in the helmet.

"Match over. Winner: Agent Carolina."

She glanced up to see the Director in the observation deck, expressionless.


There were a lot of people in the med bay that night. Just about everyone was treated with significant bruises and breaks, especially Penn. He was avoiding Carolina as the medics worked on him, while Carolina didn't mind. South was avoiding her as well, only sneaking death glares as her brother tried to comfort her.

The medic Killian Jay was scanning her with an x-ray pad, looking for breaks or fractures. "You've got two broken ribs," he said, "but otherwise it's just some major bruises. We can take care of those right away, but you might want to take tomorrow off."

"Fine," she muttered. As soon as the battle was over, everyone's armor lock had shut down, allowing people to get to their feet. Some were still knocked out- York, for example- but the rest limped off to the med bay by themselves or supporting others. Carolina had found it difficult to keep standing; the adrenaline that got her back on her feet to face Penn had worn off, leaving her sharp pains in her chest and to her surprise, Georgia had come to her aid, supporting her on her trip to the med bay.

"Why are you helping me?" She had asked him, gritting her teeth.

"Don't really know," he replied cheerily. "I just assumed it was nothing personal when you took me down. I was the one closest to you, after all."

Now Georgia was holding an ice pack to his head, chatting away with some of the medics about their equipment. On the bed next to her, York groaned and sat up, holding his head, which was wrapped with bandages and stuck with ice.

"Dear god," he groaned. "This is like the worst hangover ever." "Remind me never to help you, ever again."

Carolina chuckled. She had to admire his ability to still crack jokes at a time like this. "What if I forget to remind you?"

"Then I'll probably die trying," York mumbled.

It was hard to find something to say to that.

York pushed himself up on his elbows, not noticing her silence. "Can I get a medic over here? I need drugs. Lots and lots of drugs."