(A/N) Hey all, time for another Phase Two: Betrayal update, this time written by the wonderful anna1795 and featuring Agent Virginia! Gonna keep this short and sweet, and let you get reading!
Enjoy!
Chapter Sixty-Eight – Pulling a West
Agent Virginia
Written by anna1795
"The most absurd and reckless aspirations have sometimes led to extraordinary success." – Luc de Calpiers
Virginia felt almost bored as her knife slashed through the throat of the Crimson Sun soldier in her grip.
Fighting had her going on an adrenaline high accompanied by a brief strain of sadistic glee, but quickly died down after about the third or fourth enemy was hit by her bullet, or hacked to bloody pieces with one of her knives. They just don't make soldiers like they used to anymore, she lamented internally, letting the enemy drop from her invisible arms and land in a pool of his own blood. She gripped the bloody blade in between two fingers and threw it with deadly accuracy to land in the chest of another soldier, who was aiming his rifle at Nevada's back. This isn't like the good old days, sneaking through ceilings and hiding behind walls to catch them by surprise.
While running away from Penn, Harper, and their goon squad (as much as she had wanted to turn around and stick a knife through Penn's heart), the team had run into another unit of CS soldiers trying to hack the door and grab the doctor. Catching each other by surprise, it had resulted in a rather one-sided bloodbath. While Nevada ran through the carnage to finish hacking the keypad, she, Carolina, North, and South had engaged the squad of soldiers without too much competition. They were just cleaning up now, with Carolina firing a magnum round into someone's chest and North and South just finishing off their own attackers.
A bullet whizzed right past her visor, and Virginia uncloaked briefly to grab the nearby offender by the shoulder and shove her fist through his own visor. She dropped him from her grip and grabbed her sniper rifle from her back. South turned and probably glared underneath her visor. "Showoff," the orchid-armoured agent snarked as they collected close to Carolina and Nevada, but Virginia chose to ignore her. Maybe she'd find another time to shove South's face into some mashed potatoes, but they had a mission to accomplish, and personal feelings had no place on the battlefield (even if North looked very sexy when he was shoving a sniper rifle in another soldier's face).
"Got it!" Nevada called as the door swished open in front of them.
Virginia had a knack for detecting things that may have been out of the ordinary, but there didn't seem to be too much wrong with the room. It was long, cluttered with desks and computers, and was slightly L-shaped, leading to another secure door. The panels along the wall were too large to be able to move in case the door was blocked, and the ceilings were too high to be able to reach. That left the one door as their only way out, unfortunately. She hated the idea of only one-way out, but if that's how it was, then so be it. At least the wall partially separating the main room from the door would provide some cover. She started making her way over to Carolina to regroup and report.
"Are you completely sure that I'll be able to get out of here alive?" Dr Grace pressed the question to a Carolina, and Virginia was surprised to see that the aquamarine freelancer seemed slightly irate with the doctor.
"My team and I do our best to ensure that," Carolina reassured her, and backed out of the way once Virginia was in sight with an 'excuse me'. "Report?" she asked.
"Can't take out a wall panel to sneak through the ventilation, and the ceiling's too high," Virginia answered quickly. "The only option is the door to the back, and that wall will give us at least a little cover if we get a nasty surprise."
"Any way that Penn and his men can surprise us, other than how we came in?" Carolina hissed quietly, less out of annoyance and more out of not wanting to be overheard.
"Not likely," Virginia confirmed after a second of thought. "Unless they had a welder, and we'd have plenty of notice if they did."
"Keep up the distance work, and be ready to have your cloaking on in case we're ambushed," Carolina ordered, and seemed a bit surprised when Virginia didn't argue. "You seem a lot less argumentative lately. What, waiting for the opportunity to show me up?"
Not this, Virginia thought in annoyance. "I'm here to follow orders and complete a mission, Carolina. Fighting with Number One isn't going to get Dr Grace out alive."
"At least we're on the same page, for once," Carolina responded in turn, then turned around when Nev and the others started over with their own reports.
I'm only here for one reason, and you don't factor into my equation, Virginia thought to herself as she stared at Carolina's back. Me and Penn, though… I've got a score to settle, and nobody's going to get in my way.
An alarm blared on the door that Nevada had coded shut, and it rumbled ominously as something collided with it, and Virginia has a brief flashback to Penn, physically throwing himself at his enemies. "We gotta go!" Carolina shouted as the UNSC grunts aimed their guns at the oncoming horde. "Dr Grace, with me!" The greying woman ran alongside Carolina as the freelancers made their way, as one unit, towards the door. Nevada immediately attacked the door panel with a fury, and Dr Grace was pushed securely against the wall for her own protection. "North! Virginia! Cover fire!" The two snipers moved just behind the barrier and aimed their drawn sniper rifles at the other door.
"Do or die?" North asked Virginia jokingly, and she looked out of the corner of her eye at him.
"Let's not die, how about that?" she shot back with a grin, gripping the rifle with steady hands. Only way I'm dying is if Penn goes with me.
With a flash of light and sound, the door on the opposite side of the room gave way with explosive force, shrapnel and blunt force killing most of the pre-emptive UNSC squad at the other end. Being sure to fire over their heads, Virginia squeezed the trigger of her rifle in rapid succession and fired a hail of bullets into the smoke cloud, not that it did much to help. A return volley from assault rifles and magnums caught the remaining UNSC soldiers in the chest or head, and they crumpled to the ground in a heap. Virginia ground her teeth together in frustration as her clip ran out, and she ducked behind the wall to grab another magazine out of her Bag of Tricks to reload. North moved next to her, and she unconsciously passed another round to him.
Under her rubber suit and against her chest, the metal plates of Massa's dog tags were almost uncomfortably cold and pressed against her skin. In her ringing ears, the only thing that registered was the sound of stomping, loud footsteps that she'd heard in nightmares for far too long, an aura of hatred and unbridled killer instinct that she'd shuddered at too many times before, all belonging to the one person that she had sworn vengeance against.
Massa's killer. Penn.
With a shout of excitement from Nevada, their escape route opened up, and Carolina yelled at them to move. Instinct to obey ruled over instinct to kill and avenge, and Virginia rushed after South's retreating back with North on her heels. The door closed again behind them, barely giving them a head start. At least Dr Grace was fast on her feet, and they provided a protective barrier around her, moving in time with her steps through the abandoned hallways. Right behind them, Virginia heard the door blasted off its hinges once again.
"We'll rendezvous with Wyoming's team at the planned LZ!" Carolina shouted as they made twists and turns to lose their pursuers. "Keep moving, and don't stop! Someone call in 343-R!"
"I'm on it!" Virginia shouted as they ran, finding her communicator. "343-R, we need you down at the LZ, over."
"Copy that," the male pilot sounded back. "It might be a few minutes, though. Looks like they've got their own birds up here."
"Ten-four," Virginia acknowledged, and relayed his message up to Carolina.
"We're almost there," Carolina called back to them, and it was a good thing, too. Virginia was a strong runner and wouldn't feel exhausted until long after this, but Dr Grace was slowing down and breathing heavily, and the UNSC soldiers that accompanied her were not doing much better. Up ahead, Virginia saw open hangar doors leading to a large landing strip, perfectly sized for a pelican. Unfortunately, no pelican was there to greet them.
"Where the hell is extraction?!" Nevada shouted as they slowed to a stop just inside the base.
"It must be taking a bit longer than expected," North yelled back over the rush of wind from the doors flooding into the base. Carolina started talking into her communicator, most likely to Wyoming, and they spread out in front of the rasping doctor, providing a protective barrier between her and the threatening jumble of noises coming from down the hallway.
"Wyoming's on his way, but Penn's too far ahead of him," Carolina said as she drew her shotgun. "Looks like we've got a fight on our hands."
"We're going to die," one of the UNSC soldiers rasped in utter fear. "We're going to die."
"The only ones going to die today are those sons of bitches!" Virginia shouted in reply, more to bolster her own confidence than calm the panicking soldiers. She checked the clip in her rifle and had another one at the ready when she inevitably ran out. Her blood was running hot in her veins, and she could practically feel the adrenaline pumping into her system. Now was her chance to pay back her friend. Now was her chance to take on and (hopefully) kill Penn. Now was the chance to put her soul at ease.
An explosion of movement burst out of the end of their hallway, and a small crowd of Crimson Sun soldiers lined up at the top of the ramp that they had just sped down, aiming their weapons at the freelancer team. Walking up leisurely behind them, a hulking mass of muscle, spikes, and red armour strolled up behind his team to face them, a couple hundred pounds of menace and rage. The red-visored helmet glinted down at them menacingly, reflecting the red starting at the edges of Virginia's vision.
"Give up, Dr Grace, and your death will be quick," Pennsylvania growled over the wind in their corridor. The doctor took a step back, but didn't reply, though Virginia couldn't help but notice, with a hint of smugness, how white her face had turned.
"Not a chance, Penn," Carolina retorted, priming her shotgun and aiming at his face. "We're taking you out, first."
"You're no match for me, Carolina. None of you are!" Penn said confidently and menacingly as he glanced at them all in turn. "I almost snapped your spine like a twig once, and I can do it to all of you again."
His words were registering all too clear in her head, but Virginia didn't care. She felt her own body shaking with barely-suppressed anger and rage, her fists clenching over her rifle as she stared at her mortal enemy. He'd taken her best friend, her only friend, without remorse, and he was within firing distance. It was so tempting…so exhilarating…one shot, and it'd all be over-
"Get 'em!" Penn shouted, and his squad of six leapt forward in a menacing line with their leader charging behind them. Virginia started firing at Penn's head, but the bullets all pinged off with no effect except to infuriatingly chip at the black paint. He started for her, and she leapt out of the way of his spiked fist.
"Wow!" Virginia exclaimed. "You must be really scared about what I'm going to do to you if you're spikier than a porcupine!" She dodged a spiked gauntlet and aimed another round at Penn's torso, with no success. "And you can't even hit me! Running with the Innies hasn't done much in terms of brains, traitor!"
The rush of adrenaline, her infuriating catcalls and her constant brushes with Penn's fists of death, this was the rush that she'd been dreaming of, coveting for the long months since Massa's death and Penn's betrayal. Normal battle and infiltration paled in comparison to the enormous satisfaction that meeting Penn face-to-face was bringing, and Virginia loved it! The red from her rage made everything more defined, clearer, slower and easier for her to dodge and attack, however much it was in vain. She'd been apprehensive of her uncontrollable rages in the past when she was in the heat of battle or facing off against an aggravating teammate. Now, however, she freely embraced it.
A flash of aquamarine moved into her field of vision, and the red cleared up enough to show Carolina going at Penn with her stun baton, moving just fast enough for the giant murderer to not catch her and for her to jab at the few gaps in Penn's armour. NO! She's taking MY kill! Virginia moved forward to rejoin the fray, but something black obstructed her vision: a female soldier in recon armour, carrying a sniper rifle, with goggles over her eyes where a visor should be.
"Oh, this is rich!" Virginia snarled at her new opponent. "I've always heard that mimicry was the finest form of flattery. Penn, I didn't know you cared!" she shouted over to the red-armoured giant, who didn't seem to register her words.
"I'm the real deal, old-timer," the female soldier retorted with a snarl. "The name's Scope."
"Congrats, no one cares," Virginia deadpanned. "You're, what? Thirty-five? Forty?"
The other sniper seemed to bristle. "Twenty-four."
"Twenty-five. Age before beauty."
"I'm gonna gut you where you stand, cunt," Scope growled as she pulled her sniper rifle up. Oh, this is going to be good.
"Old dogs still got new tricks, skank," Virginia crowed, and her cloaking ability came on. Everything was just right: her opponent couldn't see her, the wind was to her back and on her side, and she was well equipped to take down any opponent she needed with her supply of knives and explosives. She started firing at Scope with no hesitation, ready to blast the bitch apart where she stood.
It was much to her surprise when Scope managed to dodge her bullets and came at her again, forcing Virginia to drop her cloak and parry the oncoming sniper with the long barrel of her weapon. Must be the goggles, Virginia reasoned as the two women put their weight into breaking the other's grip or their gun. Gotta get them off her. With a rush of force, Virginia moved forward and knocked Scope off her balance, then clipped her sniper rifle to her back in favour for a pair of knives from her bag. She cloaked again and moved around to try and get behind Scope, but the other sniper seemed to move with her. Even if she can't see me, she knows where I am. Am I that predictable? Virginia switched directions suddenly and rushed forward, knives slashing. Scope ducked below her blades, and she cursed at her misfortune. Come on, come ON! With a few more repeated slashes, she caught part of the strap for Scope's goggles, making it rip slightly.
The other sniper screamed in fury and slammed the butt of her rifle at where Virginia was before she sidestepped, aiming a punch at her back. I don't. Want. Her. To. SEE ME!She missed again, but her fist caught the strap as Scope ducked, further dislodging and ripping at the enemy's goggles. With one final tug, the lenses went flying into a corner, and Scope caught Virginia in the stomach. Barely fazed by the blow, she returned the gesture in kind by kneeing Scope in her stomach and bringing both fists down on her back. The black-armoured enemy crumpled to the ground, out cold.
It gave Virginia the right opportunity to run at the goggles in the corner, and she barely brushed them with her fingertips before a blade came down towards her head. She snagged the fabric with her fingers and rolled out of the way of the katana blade, crouching on one knee and grabbing her rifle again. A masked soldier rushed at her with the durasteel sword, and Virginia barely had time to react to dash out of the way before the blade came down again. Gotta go silent, gotta go silent! She muttered internally as she ran for it and turned her cloak on once again. Blending towards the back of the fight, she watched the CS soldier run towards her before being knocked back by the flying body of a comrade (she couldn't tell who).
The fight was absolutely brutal. North was exchanging fire with a tall, muscled man laying cover-fire for Penn's team, and South was taking on some skinny dude who was cackling and throwing explosives left and right. Nev was covering Dr Grace with her assault rifle, and Carolina was blocking Penn's enormous fists. His back was turned to her, and she saw some tubing running from his torso down to a unit at the base of his spine. Interesting, she thought, and saw an opportunity. Time to pull a West. Grabbing her knives again, she ran forward and started slashing at the tubing at the base of Penn's spine. The first one came away after feverish sawing from Virginia and thrashing from Penn. As it came away, the giant stumbled slightly. Oxygen, eh? Too bad the opportunity had passed, because Penn swung around to get at his new assailant, and she had to rush to get behind the spiked fist and gauntlet. With little hesitation, she leapt up, fastened her arms around Penn's neck, and began squeezing. Hard.
Her old teammate began thrashing around, trying to dislodge her chokehold and get Virginia off his back, but she stayed on determinedly, blindly probing with her hands to find a gap where she could stick her knife into. Penn's lack of oxygen was beginning to make him more erratic, though, and he started backing up towards a wall. Oh boy,Virginia thought, bending her knees. Don't crush me against the wall, don't crush me against the- wall. Her knees slammed forward into Penn's armoured back, making them throb, and one of her ankles jammed as her feet prevented her from completely being squashed. One of Penn's shoulder spikes soared backwards and managed to knick her upper arm, but it was barely superficial. In his attempts to both dislodge her and block Carolina's blows, Penn lurched forward and back, arms swinging around. He lumbered around, and Virginia couldn't keep a good grip. One arm got dislodged, and she hung on for dear life. With one arm free, she raised her dagger up, seeing a gap where his neck was. This is for Massa-
…am I dead? I can't feel anything. Oh wait, there's my nervous systemOOWWWWWWWWWWWWW!
It took a minute before Virginia could get some dim collection of her surroundings. She was on a sort of slope, one arm bent awkwardly beneath her, and everything hurt. He must have knocked me off with the ramp, she thought before being consumed by pain again. Her head was throbbing, and everything seemed muted. Quite possibly, she had gotten a mild concussion. With blurry vision, she heaved her upper body up and tried to look around. Flashes of red, aquamarine, white, maroon, and purple were everywhere, and it took a few moments' thought for her to recognize them as armour…very familiar armour.
Alaska, Wyoming, North, and Carolina were aiming fists and kicks at Penn, still handicapped by the lack of his oxygen equipment. Cal was exchanging blows and words with Harper, who must have turned up while she had been knocked down, and freelancers everywhere were fighting tooth and nail with Crimson Sun soldiers. Evidently, Carolina had called in some backup. Virginia propped herself up against the wall, trying to assess her injuries. Her visor was partially cracked, she felt two stinging cuts on her upper arms, and one wrist was at least sprained, if not outright broken. Not to mention that her chest felt oddly squished, and it hurt to breathe.
It took a moment for her to realize that something was blaring in her ear, and she concentrated extra hard to make out the words. "…right outside. Only got a small gap, so let's go!" She needed to get their attention. The pelican was there.
"H-" she tried, and immediately started hacking and wheezing. It hurt to breathe, and she tasted coppery blood in her throat. She tried again and attempted to move an arm. Why didn't her body want to listen to her?!
A white-ish body came into her vision, and she recognized Nebraska as he bent down next to her. "Virginia…" his voice seemed to warble and go up and down in volume. "virGINia, staY WITH mE," his voice sounded strange in her ears, and she tried to nod her head while pointing at the hangar door limply. His eyes followed her hands, and he saw what she was trying to say. "PELICAN!" Nebraska shouted, and the freelancers finished engaging their adversaries to run towards the trip home. "Maine, help me out here!"
A flash of gold obstructed her vision, and Virginia saw Maine's domed helmet before feeling strong arms support her tingling spine and throbbing knees. Air rushed past them as Maine ran for the pelican with the others, carrying Virginia bridal-style. She bounced gently in his grip as he hurried up the ramp to the pelican before hearing it shut behind them over gunfire. She was laid down on the floor and her cracked helmet removed.
"Oww…" she rasped, trying to sit up before being pushed down again. It was a good thing too, because everything hurt. A lot. "Anyone get the name of that semi?"
"What were you thinking?" Carolina bent down next to her with packets of biofoam in her hand. She started squeezing them into Virginia's open wounds, but she didn't have the strength to grimace at the pain. "I didn't think you were that stupid."
"Old dog…can learn…new tricks," Virginia sputtered, spitting some bloody saliva out of her mouth. Everyone looked down at her, most still with their helmets on. "I…just…had to pull…a West."
"Next time, don't be so reckless," Carolina growled as she finished covering the wounds in her arms with the vile medical substance. "Still, though…good job."
Virginia weakly chuckled. "Have I died and gone…to heaven? Did I just hear…Carolina say 'good job'?" Everyone seemed to laugh at that, and Carolina waved it off.
"We're heading back to the Mother of Invention," North knelt down next to her, taking her hand. "We'll get you all fixed up soon."
"Thanks," Virginia hissed tiredly. "Just…wanna sleep now…not gonna die…"
"You're too strong for that," North muttered, but Virginia didn't hear him before everything went black with blessed unconsciousness.