(A/N) Hey guys, sorry about the delay for this one! Had a little mix-up with the DocX system, but we've got our latest update ready for you now! Another fantastic North chapter, written by the Amazing Spide– I mean, by the amazing StormBlue! Also, for those still not aware, we are currently looking for applicants for Agent Texas, so if you're interested head on over to our forum or send a PM my way! We are also taking votes for deserving fics in a variety of categories, so please head on over to our forum, pick out your favourite from our nominations and PM me your votes!

Enjoy!

Chapter Thirty-Seven – Kobayashi Who?

Agent North Dakota

Written by StormBlue

"We learn from failure, not success!" - Bram Stoker, Dracula

Things were not going well. The advantage of surprise had long since been lost, and the Innies now had the upper hand. North looked for the other Freelancers, whom he had long since lost sight of, hoping for something that could turn the tide of the battle in their favour. On the outskirts of the city they were still able to hold off the oncoming forces, but it wouldn't be long before they got closer to the thousands of civilians who the UNSC were still trying to evacuate.

Here and there pillars of smoke rose into the air, turning the sky dull and hazy, and sounds of combat echoed everywhere around him. They were running out of time, the UNSC soldiers dwindling with every minute that passed, but the heart of the city remained untouched. As long as that didn't change, the team could pull this off. He reached up to his helmet, activating the radio.

"Report," he ordered, needing a progress update. Each Freelancer there was in charge of their own squad of Marines, but he hadn't heard anything from a few of them in a while, and he was beginning to get worried. There was a moment of silence before a voice replied, one he recognized as Connie.

"They were waiting in ambush, I don't know if I can get to the missiles in time!" Her voice was strained, and he had no doubt she and her team were under fire. Just outside the city were the anti-aircraft missiles, which she had been trying to get to by going around the main area of combat. While North wasn't terribly surprised that an ambush had been laid out for them, they should have had it covered.

"Where's Utah?" he asked. Utah had been sent with her so they could back each other up.

"I don't know," Connecticut replied. "Our groups were cut off when we were attacked."

That was bad. And if Utah wasn't responding to the radio, something must have happened to him. Another feminine voice spoke up on the com line.

"I'm pinned! There's a lot more enemy soldiers here than intel reported!" 'Rado growled, anger permeating her voice.

Kent's voice joined hers. "Yeah, there's a ton of bad guys here. In a minute, we're going to have to, uh… what's that word for 'run away in the opposite direction, screaming for your life?'"

"Ditto that," West said, chipping in. "But it looks like the others are worse off than I am."

They were quickly being overpowered, and there was very little North could do to help. He also noticed the lack of responses from not only Utah, but Nevada, Nebraska, and Jersey as well. But then another voice joined them, one that he was happy to hear.

"Alright people, listen up," Carolina spoke, her voice still carrying authority over the radio. "West, fall back. Make your way to Connie's position and help her. We need those missiles online because that bomb carrier will be here any minute. Kent and 'Rado, regroup. You'll be able to hold them off for longer."

"And how do you suggest we do that without getting killed?" 'Rado demanded.

"By creating a diversion," Carolina responded coolly.

North's attention was diverted from the plan when an explosion rocked his feet, raising a cloud of dust near his own position. As far as he knew, there was no one in that direction, and he felt wary, yet hopeful. Maybe they hadn't lost as many troops as he had assumed. He walked forward, not bothering to conceal his position but keeping his rifle up and ready to fire. The dust was slowly settling, and a few figures could vaguely be seen, their silhouettes and armour configuration marking them as Insurrectionists, and North fired without hesitation, each bullet hitting its mark.

He ignored the bodies hitting the ground and instead scanned the area until he saw movement. There was a person underneath all the rubble and he was struggling to get out. It took North a moment to identify him as Utah, as his once-white armour was now covered in dirt, and he quickly rushed to his side, preparing to pull his teammate out. Utah instead shook his head in objection.

"I already tried," he said, his breath coming in short gasps. "It'll just crush me even more."

"We need to get you out of there," North insisted. Even if the city was nuked, he was determined to do at least that.

"Thanks, but I don't think there's time. This non-building is very heavy."

He was right and North knew it. Even now, they could hear the distant rumble of the aircraft that carried their doom closer. Utah continued to talk.

"I tried to help Neb and Jersey, but then I was separated. Nev was with me, but then more Innies came at us and they blew up the building. They were trying to make sure I was dead when you came along," he explained what had happened to him. "Are… are the civilians safe?"

North nodded. "The ground troops have been closing in, but so far the others have been able to hold them off. None of that is going to matter though unless Connie and West can get to the anti-aircraft missiles."

The minute the words left his mouth, the radio crackled to life again, carrying Connie's triumphant cry.

"We've got it!"

As North watched, a missile was fired into the sky and it disappeared into the ceiling of smoke, locked onto its target. The resulting light from the explosion reached them within seconds, disturbingly close. But there was little that could be done about the amount of damage this battle was causing now. He glanced back down to Utah, only to find that his friend wasn't moving. The purple Freelancer held onto him for a moment longer, then stood, looking around. That part of the mission was complete, but that didn't really matter, with as many soldiers that they'd lost and how many enemies still remained. Maybe it was time to pull out now, as he didn't see any reason to keep going.

He glanced back at Utah, and sighed. "You can get up now," he informed him.

Utah lifted his head, no longer trapped. "The non-building is gone?"

North extended his hand, which Utah grasped, and he pulled him to his feet.

"Reset," Carolina's voice rang out, and everything else around them flickered out of existence. The city behind them was gone, as were the bodies and all the smoke. They now stood in a simple debriefing room, with a table in the centre, showing a holographic map of the city. Each of the third-wavers were there, slightly disoriented from the sudden change, and Carolina stood with her hands on the table, watching them all. North moved to stand next to her.

They were running the newest Freelancers through a series training exercises, putting each of them in charge of their own group of holographic Marines and giving them different challenges to overcome while North and Carolina observed and instructed. It was more than just simulation missions though, as they were drilling tactics with large numbers of soldiers.

"Does anyone care to tell me what went wrong?" Carolina asked, not impressed with their performance.

A couple of the third-wavers exchanged glances. After all, they thought they had saved the city. Nevada spoke up.

"We completed the objective, didn't we?"

"You stopped the aircraft from bombing the citizens," North started to explain, "But the enemy troops were overcoming yours. The alternate objective of this mission was to hold off long enough for everyone to be evacuated. You need to continue to work on limiting casualties as well, since half of you are now dead," he added.

'Rado stepped forward. "There were more Innies than we were told. The intel you gave us was wrong," she accused.

"That was part of the exercise," Carolina corrected. "Sometimes the intel you receive will be faulty. Always be prepared to be met with forces larger than you expect." She straightened up. "Now, the plan we had in the beginning was a sound one, so someone tell me how it could have been executed better."

Nebraska made a gesture toward the map, stepping a little closer. "Perhaps if we had been spread out a little more, they wouldn't have been able to come around to the sides so easily," he noted.

"Going on the defensive might've helped us to hold out for longer, instead of trying to press forward like we did," Jersey added.

North nodded at the points they made. "Alright, let's run another." Reaching forward, he swiped the hologram away, and it was replaced by another. This one was what looked like a heavily fortified military base, completely surrounded by a tall concrete wall and topped, classically, with barbed wire. "This will be a bit of a turnabout from the last one we did. The Insurgents are holed up inside this base, and they have a number of prisoners in there. The primary objective is simple: get in there and get them out."

"The secondary objective is to disable their anti-aircraft weapons, in order to allow the Pelicans to fly overhead and help in the destruction of the base," Carolina added. "And you'll have to be quick, before their reinforcements have a chance to arrive."

"Where are we starting out?" West asked, looking at the map.

North pointed. "Right there."

"That's right in front of them," 'Rado objected. "We won't have time to do much of anything before they'll be right on top of us."

"So you better start strategizing now before we send you in," Carolina said.

"I could set some charges and open a hole in that wall," Kent piped up, trying to be helpful, eager to go back into the action.

Neb tilted his head thoughtfully. "The prisoners are likely to be weak, and won't be much help. If we're going to get them out alive, it'll have to be away from the fighting."

"So someone will have to be a distraction?" Utah concluded, looking at them questioningly.

"If we start here," Jersey began, "and most of us stay here and keep their attention, a smaller group might be able to sneak around and get inside."

"And once inside we could split up, have some get the prisoners and others disable the weapons," Connie added.

A couple minutes later, the strategy had been decided upon, and they were once again plunged somewhere else. North didn't think he would ever get used to his surroundings changing so suddenly and drastically. Once again, a large number of additional UNSC soldiers stood with them, providing backup and following their orders.

The groups split up immediately, with Team B being Nevada, Kent, Neb and Connie, and a group of around twenty soldiers and going one way, while the rest – Team A – simply moved closer. The alarm was sounded within as the Insurrectionists realized the attack, and North and Carolina stood back to watch.

"How do you think they'll do on this one?" North asked the aqua Freelancer, watching as the large gates opened and a few tanks came rolling out as the first line of defence. Utah climbed onto the back of a Warthog, manning the turret while a pair Marines took the driver and passenger seats, trying to get close enough to cause damage to the tanks while, obviously, avoiding getting hit.

She observed the team going around to the other side. "If they're found out too quickly, the entire base will be on top of them."

North watched Kent kneel down, setting the charges that would get them in. "They're bound to hear the explosion when that goes off," he muttered, hoping they had the sense to wait a little longer for the action to get into full swing. By then, everyone would be too occupied keeping the main force out of the base to concentrate on the smaller team.

But they didn't wait for as long as he would have liked before moving ahead, and part of the protective wall crumbled away. Machine gun turrets were turned to their position, and the team was forced to get inside to the nearest cover. Carolina looked on in disapproval.

"If Kentucky can't control his impatience, he's only going to be a liability."

"You've got to give it to him, though, he certainly knows his way around explosives," North remarked. After all, you never knew when a demolitions expert would come in handy.

He turned his attention back to the main gates. One of the tanks was inactive and smoking, and as he watched, West had managed to sneak behind another one and got close enough to plant a grenade. However, the tanks had already done their deal of damage, and the Marines were down to about two thirds of their original numbers, though none of the Freelancers had been hit yet. They pressed forward, getting within the compound, but their advance was slowed at the ground troops that were stationed in wait.

Sniper shots rang out, originating from one of the roofs inside, and a group of Innies ran out of one of the warehouses carrying rocket launchers, complicating things. But as long as Team A could hold their attention, they'd be able to retreat as soon as Team B completed the objective.

With some well-placed shots and a couple grenades, Team B had taken care of the turrets and quickly got moving before another group found them out. They only had a few Marines with them, however, and by the looks of it, a few of them were injured. Neb and Connie went one way to get the prisoners, while Kent and Nev went the other way to take care of the missiles. Rain started to fall from the sky, though it was widely ignored by everyone.

"Colorado shows a lot of determination on the battlefield," Carolina noted. "Though she could do without the attitude. Same goes for New Jersey."

North gestured to how Nevada was handling herself. "She's doing well," he said. They hadn't given her much credit for being taken out at the beginning of their first training session.

"They'll all figure out their places in the team soon enough," Carolina huffed. "They're actually starting to work together."

He nodded slowly. The team dynamic was always changing and hard to keep up with, and not everyone was always happy with it. He sighed. There wasn't much that could be done about that, however. There was a hum of engines, and through the sheets of rain that were now pounding into the ground, he could see several Warthogs approaching the base as the first wave of reinforcements for the Insurrectionists.

West saw them, giving everyone enough of a warning that they were able to have a minute to face the back, and they were now facing enemies from two directions. Utah -whose own Warthog had been disabled- was a little too slow to react and was clipped by one of the mounted machine guns. Carolina gave a slight shake of the head, noticing every little mistake they made, but didn't say anything.

On the other side, North could see Nebraska and Connie re-emerging, prisoners in tow. They were spotted and a few of the UNSC captives were caught in the crossfire, but Neb shot down three of the attackers, while Connie took out another two in close combat. That was one half of the objective… Kent and Nev hadn't gotten to the missiles yet, as they were pinned, and the Marines they had with them were downed.

A cobalt figure broke off from the rest of the group and sprinted inside, barrelling past the Innies in her way, headed for Nevada and Kentucky's crouched figures.

Carolina clenched her fists. "She's being reckless, she'll never make it. The snipers won't allow her to even get close to them."

North's brows furrowed. The snipers should have singled her out and taken the shot by now, but something was preventing them. "It's the rain," he said. "It's distracting, makes it hard to see."

Jersey had taken off in pursuit, and 'Rado was almost there now, but a sniper round got her in the leg, causing her to stumble. She couldn't afford to stop, however, and forced herself to keep moving. Jersey closed in behind the Insurgents who had them pinned, taking down two before being tripped by a third, but 'Rado quickly shot that one and Kent and Nev came out from their cover. Together, they plowed their way to the missiles, 'Rado watching the rear, and the made a protective circle around Kent, who caused as much damage to the weapons as was possible in a matter of seconds.

"I'd say their teamwork has improved," North said in admiration. They had pulled that off rather nicely, despite that they were now separated from everyone and surrounded by the enemy. They'd be lucky if they could get out of the mess they were now in alive, much like last time. He turned to Carolina. "Are we going to tell them that these simulations were designed to be pretty much impossible?"

Carolina didn't look at him. "It's the impossible that improves their skills," she said calmly. She turned away from the base. "Let's run another."

So in other words, no.