(A/N) Hey guys, time for the latest Phase Two: Betrayal update, featuring the full cast of new Freelancers, brought to you by anna1795 through the very first POV chapter for the second Virginia, West, as Project Freelancer finally get back on track! Just a quick reminder, as before, that we're still looking for writers and characters for the second half of this fic, so if you're interested head on over to our forum and fill out the relevant application forms or get a PM over to me for more info. Just remember that apps close on the 1st of January, 2014!
Enjoy!
Chapter Seventeen – Welcome Aboard
Agent West Virginia
Written by anna1795
"It is wonderful how much time good people spend fighting the devil. If they would only expend the same amount of energy loving their fellow men, the devil would die in his own tracks of ennui." - Helen Keller
West was practically bouncing in her seat on the Pelican as it flew through empty space on the way to her new home for the foreseeable future. It had nothing to do with turbulence, but from the energy and excitement coursing through her. Finally, getting away from regular grunt work and onto something a little more her style: actually going after Innies. Oh, West wasn't a fool or bloodthirsty, just excited and happy to go into battle when she knew it was helping people.
"You're bouncing around so much, I keep wondering if we've hit an asteroid field!" the pilot, who had introduced herself as 201-PT, commented through the ship's radio. It wasn't a reprimand per se, just a good-natured observation.
"Oh, you know; just excited and all that," she called back up to her. "Just good to go someplace different, meet new people, am I right?"
"Sure, I getcha," she responded back in kind. "Just don't be too excited; you won't have enough energy for later on."
"I'll remember that, thanks!"
There wasn't anyone else in the Pelican, unfortunately, so West didn't have any sort of idea what sort of people would be in the Project, aside from her sister. Were they just like her, pretty much an Amazon goddess who inspired fear in all those around her? Were they like the Greek gods of old that she had heard about from Earth's ancient mythology, tall and brawny with an insatiable blood thirst and libido? Were they super-smart geniuses, top of the class and good with weapons, like she herself was? Whatever the case, they'd probably all be superheroes, with more drama than a space opera.
Maybe there'd be some cute boys there.
The Pelican took a steep bank, and West held onto her harness tightly while her legs dangled in mid-air. "Sorry!" 201-PTshouted to her, a little too cheerfully. "Asteroid. Had to dodge it."
"No worries!" West happily ignored her churning stomach. "How far away are we?"
"3-2-1…Ma'am, welcome to the Mother of Invention!"
West shoved her harness off and climbed towards a window. A behemoth of a ship was quickly approaching, coloured in space by lights and flitting ships, maintaining the outer hull. Other ships flitted in and out of the main hangar that they were heading towards, and she could see the static- blue barrier blocking the vacuum of space from compromising the pressurized interior of the ship.
"I'd hang on, if I were you!" 201-PT shouted back to West. "I always do my lucky manoeuvre before going in." West ran back to her seat, and just in time too. She gave a whoop of delight as PT shouted, "And… DO A BARREL ROLL!"
The Pelican turned completely upside down, and West felt her stomach try to lurch up into her throat before the spacecraft righted itself again. There came a groan over the radio, but PT was cleared for landing. West felt the pressure in the Pelican changed as they docked, and she unlatched her harness again when PT came back to shoo her off. She grabbed her duffel bag and scooted down the ramp and into the bay. Personnel ran to and fro, loading supplies onto the ship and carrying reports here and there. There was a small crowd of non-armoured people in a corner, and West bounced over to join them, fuelled by the adrenaline from the barrel roll.
"Hi there!" she greeted them as she got to the fringe of the group of six other people. One of them, with long auburn hair, turned to look at her and blinked her green eyes twice.
"Umm, hello to you too." She had a very confused look on her face, but extended one hand for a handshake. "I'm New Jersey. And you?"
West took the extended hand and let go of it in shock. Had it just been her, or was the hand cold and metallic? She looked down and saw that New Jersey's hand, as well as her entire arm, was a prosthetic limb. Jersey saw the reaction and pulled her hand back slightly, but West got excited, and was quick to the punch. "No, no, it's fine! Cool robot arm." She gave a friendly smile and took Jersey's hand again. "I'm West Virginia." Jersey looked slightly shocked, but returned the smile. She automatically jumped up ten places in West's book of friends.
There came a bit of a snort, drawing West's attention to another woman in the group. She had brown hair and green eyes, which were narrowed at West for some reason; she couldn't imagine why. She and Jersey detached, and she held out a hand to the shorter, brown-haired woman. "Who're you?" she asked, putting a smile on her face. It was not returned.
"Colorado," the shorter woman replied curtly, giving a single hand shake before releasing. She looked up at West's blonde hair and the black strand that floated in front of her face. West fought the urge to push the dyed strand behind her ear.
"Don't mind 'Rado," a tall man pushed past the shorter woman and gave West a smirk-grin. He had brown hair neatly brushed and twinkling grey eyes. "She's a little bit of a spoil sport. I'm Nebraska." Ignoring an irritated snort from 'Rado, Nebraska took West's hand in a gentle handshake. Her smile returned, which was reflected in Neb's eyes.
Another woman, a little shorter but athletically built and with short, black hair, also came forward and nearly shoved Neb out of the way to excitedly shake West's hand. "Hi there!" she exclaimed happily. "I'm Nevada, but call me Nev, please!"
"Then you can just call me West," West replied, responding in kind to the handshake. A guy with dark hair gave her a friendly wink and introduced himself as Kentucky. His friend, tall and muscly, was introduced as Utah, and he gave her a friendly yet somewhat vacant "Hello!" West could tell that this group was going to be very interesting and loads of fun…for the most part ('Rado didn't count just yet).
Another Pelican arrived in the hangar with a roar, blowing all their hair in a whirlwind before the craft shut off. The ramp lowered, and a pale woman with cropped brown hair staggered off the ship slightly, looking shy. She shuffled over to the other new Freelancers, looking at the papers in her hand, and gave them a small wave. "Hi," she said softly. "I'm Connecticut."
West offered a hand to Connecticut. "I'm West Virginia, but you can call me West." She introduced the others to her, ignoring Colorado's glower. "Nice to meet you."
Connecticut offered her a smile, though it seemed weak and rather forced. West didn't pay much mind to it, instead looking over to where a set of doors opened and two men in armour came forward. The one in dark purple armour had platinum blonde hair and a bright smile on his face, youthful and excited. The other, in thinner blue armour and sporting greying hair, also had a smile, but was slightly marred with the age lines across his face. Still, they both exuded a friendly aura that acted like a magnet to West, automatically pulling her towards them. She was sure that they knew her sister as well.
"Hi there," the blonde greeted them first, and the hodge-podge group focused their attention on the newcomers. "Welcome to the Mother of Invention. I'm North Dakota, but you can just call me North."
"I'm Florida," the older man greeted them as well. "We're here to take you on a tour of the ship and talk about Project Freelancer with you guys. Feel free to ask any questions." He caught West's eye, gave her a bright smile, and nudged North. The taller blonde looked to where Florida was pointing subtly, his eyes widened, and he gave North a meaningful glance before nodding at West. Florida coughed and said, "If you want to follow us, let's get started!"
West bounced in the middle of the group with Nev, led by Nebraska and Jersey, and followed up by Connecticut, Kentucky, and Colorado. Florida and North were taking turns explaining different stuff, most of which went in West's ear and out the other. She was too busy looking through the steel-grey hallways at all of the locations. There was a mess hall, then the locker rooms, then the pool. They started passing by a series of doors close together with plaques on them, when one of them opened and two men in white armour came out. One, the shorter of the two, had a head of thick brown hair and the most AWESOME moustache that West had seen. She just barely resisted the urge to touch it. The other, a behemoth, was pretty much a wall of muscle, with a bald head and fierce eyes.
"Oh, hey Wyoming! You too, Maine!" Florida greeted them cheerfully. "We're just taking the new guys around the ship."
The shorter of the two cast an appraising eye over their heads, and West stared back at him evenly. The lip-caterpillar gave the slightest twitch. "Don't seem like too much to me," he said in a thick British accent, then gave a shrug. "Just as long as they stay out of the way and they know your place. Your thoughts, Maine?" The giant Maine seemed to give a growl, before only responding with a deep "Yep." His gaze seemed mostly focused on Utah, who was fairly close in size and strength.
"Hey, dude!" Kentucky spoke up from the rear of the group. "Sweet 'stache!" Wyoming's face crinkled with into a wry grin before tipping his head and stalked off, Maine close behind him.
"Yeah, some people here can be…interesting," North said after a minute of thought. "You'll make your own friends while you're here, though, and it helps with being a team."
"You've already been assigned rooms further down here," Florida pointed to the furthest end of the rooms. "Everyone except for…Utah?" Utah came forward with a happy "That's me", and Florida pointed him to a room with a plaque that had Utah's name and someone named "Georgia" in the same room. "You're here with our resident technician."
"Excuse me," someone tapped her shoulder, and West turned to see North Dakota looking down at her. "You're West Virginia, right?" She nodded excitedly. "Thought so. You look like Virginia." He pointed to a door behind him with a smile. "You get to bunk with her. That cool?"
"Always happy to be around my big sis," West responded happily, and she opened the door. There was a neatly made bed in one corner of the room and a mattress on the floor of the opposite end. Since the area occupied with the solitary mattress had various pictures and drawings, she tossed her bag hastily onto the unoccupied bed and shut the door.
"We're all good?" North asked the new Freelancers as they finished dropping off their bags and learning who their roommates were. Connecticut seemed slightly overwhelmed by Nevada's forthrightness; Nebraska had that same calm smile while Kentucky looked positively gleeful; and New Jersey scooted away from Colorado quickly as they left their own room, gravitating more towards West. North did a once-over of the crowd, checked that Florida and Utah were back, then started leading them further through the ship.
"Now, we're gonna take you to get your armour fitted," Florida explained as they started making their way towards a set of double-doors. "The techs may be a little rough with you, but you won't have to bother with them much. The armour's gonna be with you for the rest of your stint in Freelancer, and it's gonna save your skin more times than you can count."
As they walked through into a bright white room, a group of people in technician's colours paired off and approached the new Freelancers, taking them one by one to various stations. An older man and a grey-haired woman almost shoved West to where a crate sat with a series of tools on a bench. They didn't say much, only yanking on limbs that they wanted her to stretch out so they could check their measurements and giving her hair a strange look, like they didn't approve. Finally, with a curt nod, the old man snapped for West to hurry into a black body suit they offered her so that she could get her armour on. She took it and looked around for some form of restroom to change into.
"Umm, is there any way that I can go someplace to change in privacy?" she asked. With a disgruntled snort, the old man pulled a thin nylon curtain around the station and stood outside while his female counterpart watched West with hawk-like intensity. She hurriedly stripped and shimmied her way into the body suit, not really liking the way that it squeezed her chest and legs. She felt especially self-conscious with the female technician still looking at her like that. The woman helped her zip it up, grabbed her clothes, and shoved them down some sort of chute.
"They'll be cleaned and returned to you at a later time," she said to West's protesting gasp, then shoved the nylon curtain back so that the other technician could help open the crate. Inside were a jumble of bright green pieces with neon orange highlights, which they took out and started to force her into. West didn't really know why they were so glum about it, but she didn't complain as the chest piece dragged down her chest uncomfortably before sitting just right. The arm pieces fit just right, as did the gloves and the boots. It was at the leg armour that the female technician started grumbling with the difficulty of latching the pieces together.
"Geez, lose a little weight," West heard her mutter under her breath, and she got that self-conscious feeling again before determinedly shoving it down. Finally, a green helmet with an orange stripe down the centre and an amber visor was shoved into her hands, and she retreated back to the safe companionship of Florida and North with a quick thank-you to the techs.
Connecticut had slightly bulkier chocolate-brown armour and a helmet that looked sort of like a human face, and Colorado had slightly bulkier blue and white armour with a helmet that looked like a thick-bearded guy, which West immediately mentally dubbed the "goat armour". The others had Mark VI armour just like West, but with different colour schemes: Nevada in green and black, Utah in white, Jersey in orange, Nebraska in grey and white.
"Great!" North said happily. "That didn't take long at-" He was cut off by a couple of raised voices from another room beyond theirs, and an angry blonde woman in orchid armour stalked through the door without a helmet, practically seething. "Umm, South, are you okay?"
"Yeah, just fan-fucking-tastic," the woman called South grumbled, before she stood still and looked at the new people in armour. "These are the recruits?" she asked incredulously. She didn't sound very impressed. Did she have some sort of problem with them?
"Yeah, these are the new guys," Florida said with a smile, though it seemed to West that it was rather forced, like he didn't much like talking to South. "They look pretty impressive, huh?"
"Whatever," South flipped her hair. "I bet they won't even make it into the top ten, let alone the top six." West, and pretty much everyone else in the new group, looked at each other confusedly. Top ten? Top six?
"Oh, South is talking about the Leaderboard," North explained to the group. "It shows your ranking in the Project based on skill, number of kills, your ability to lead and follow orders-"
"It basically shows who's the best and who's the worst," South said with a sneer on her face. "It's used to keep the worst of us in their place, and to decide who's to be assigned on particular missions."
"So," Colorado spoke up finally, "you don't think we have what it takes to be the best of the best?" West could tell that the shorter agent was practically seething.
South gave a snicker. "I don't think, I KNOW," she emphasized. "You're just going to get bounced off the board faster than a plasma bolt."
"That's not very fair!" West had finally mustered up the guts to move a step closer to South and look at the other blonde, despite North's and Florida's exchanged glance. "You haven't even seen what we can do yet."
"It's not like you'll be bringing anything new to the team," South pointed out, looking down at the shorter West Virginia, particularly her dyed hair streak. "What exactly are YOU good at, small fry?"
"She's best at distracting enemy soldiers so that I can take a shot at them," a dangerous female voice murmured behind South. Everyone craned their heads and South whipped around to see a tall (shorter than South by a little bit), skinny woman in black clothes, with long black hair and a neon-blue streak staring at the antagonizing Agent with fierce blue eyes. "She's also good at making friends and helping others…not something that you're used to doing, South."
"Piss off, hermit," South growled down at the unarmoured agent who had her arms crossed. "I think I'm a pretty good judge of abilities at this point."
"You're not even giving them a chance," her opponent pointed out calmly. "We gave you guys a chance when you got here, didn't we? They might just surprise us like you did."
South snarled as the dark-haired woman walked past her and up to where Florida and North stood. "It looks like they've got a lot to offer, don't you think?" she asked, and they nodded fervently. She turned to the new guys. "I'll be eager to see what you can do," she said to them before walking towards the door. West stopped her sister partway there and hugged her tightly before releasing her and exchanging a grin with her older sister's slight smile. She clapped her hand on West's shoulder before leaving again.
South had gone by the time West reunited with the group. North had introduced Virginia to the group while she was gone, and there was some quiet muttering going on; North and Florida were having a brief conversation, Colorado was saying something like "we can handle ourselves" to CT, and Nevada, Kentucky, Jersey, and Nebraska were all having their own conversation in a huddle. Utah was just standing on his own, his smile slightly smaller as he processed the argument that had just gone on in front of him.
"Anyways," North finally said, "time to show you the last place for today. Let's get going," he ushered them along, and they hurried away from the site of the argument and further down the maze of hallways to where there were a set of stairs that led up to a set of doors. They made their way through obediently, and West entered a room with a glass wall overlooking another, much larger room. It was rather plain, with high-reaching walls and a stone floor made up of neat squares.
"This is the training room," North explained as they stood in a neat line. "It's where we face off against various obstacles or each other to improve on our abilities. There are also occasional grudge matches in here for people who need to blow off some steam. Our on-board A.I., F.I.L.S.S., monitors the training room, provides practice weapons, and sets up obstacles for our training in here."
Florida took the mantle as North walked out the door for no apparent reason. "Further down the road, you guys will be given armour enhancements to help you on simulation missions and in real fights against the aliens and Insurrectionists. You'll test them out and practice with them here."
Kent eagerly shot his hand up into the air like an excited school boy. "Excuse me, sir," he asked politely, "What sort of enhancements are available?"
"Excellent question, laddy!" Florida exclaimed, and West saw Colorado roll her eyes in annoyance. "You won't actually get to choose your enhancement; it'll be assigned to you by the Director and the Counselor. It can be anything from a Domed Energy Shield to a Speed Unit, to a Camouflage Unit, to an Invisibility Unit, and so much more!" West's heart escalated at the thought of receiving such a power boost to help in a fight. She thought briefly about what sort of enhancement her sister had before she noticed a figure in dark purple armour walk out onto the training room floor below.
North gave Florida a thumb's up, and the older man turned back to them with a smile. "We wanted to see if one of you wanted to try out against North while were here, see what the training room is all about. You'll be going up against North in a gun fight with paint rounds. Who wants a go?"
"Me," Colorado immediately said, stepping forward. West could sense the annoyance and irritation rolling off the shorter woman in near-palpable waves. Colorado directed her through the door while the ones left behind pressed themselves up eagerly against the window. West got a good look down at the training floor, where North was doing some stretching while a stone table laden with weapons sprung up in front of him, and she noticed all the chips in the floor. Her mind started racing all of a sudden.
Virginia gave a startled yelp as she toppled off a pillar while trying to aim her bow at a moving clay target, aggravating an old back injury and leaving her winded for a second-
Virginia, fully clad in armour, snarling while her armour froze up as someone in aquamarine armour tossed her aside bodily-
"Hey," someone touched West's arm, and she turned to see New Jersey's helmeted face looking back at her. "You okay? You seemed to zone out for a second."
"Yeah," West said, putting a grin back on her face reassuringly. "I'm fine. Just thinking about something."
Satisfied, Jersey turned back towards where Colorado was just walking out into the room below.
"F.I.L.S.S., set up paint-round practice session," Florida said into a microphone. A chirpy female voice spoke in response from the speakers.
"Yes, Agent Florida. Preparing Training Room for paint-round practice session."
"You're gonna be in for a real treat," Florida said excitedly as he leaned against the wall. West's attention focused on the pair of Freelancers below as the countdown began.
"3." The old part of West's life seemed to fall away as she got ready for the next step of the war.
"2." North and Colorado chose their weapons and got ready to fire at each other, while West tensed at the knowledge that she was going to be a totally different person after this.
"1." Like North and Colorado starting towards each other, West started towards taking on this Project: Freelancer and coming out as one of the best.
"Round Begin."