(A/N) Hey all, time for a slightly delayed update for Phase Two: Betrayal, and I'm sorry about that – getting back into college now, so still getting used to juggling my free-time around. Don't worry though, we have some pretty cool updates on the way, starting with this chapter, and that's all I'm going to give away.
AgentOregon4: I couldn't agree more about backstory, and I think we'll be getting some more bits and pieces of it in the chapters ahead! As for the main Freelancer group appearing…well, just have a read of this chapter.
Also, guys, we're opening up applications for Agent Connecticut (C.T.) for the second half of Phase Two and beyond, as Lana has, unfortunately, been AWOL for quite some time now, and we're looking for someone to pick up where she left off, and join our little team. Those interested should fill out an Author Application form, and we should have an Application form for C.T. set up by tomorrow. Both of these will be found on our forum – The Freelancer Collaboration. PM me any questions!
As always, enjoy!
Chapter Seventy-Nine – What Lies Beneath
Agent West Virginia
Written by anna1795
"I heard someone say once that 'you work your whole life for something, and you have to fight to keep it.' I've worked to keep Jennie's love all my life, and I'll be damned to hell if I don't fight to the death to keep her alive and safe."
– Extract from Agent Virginia's private logs
"Man, I need a haircut," West muttered as she looked in the mirror next to the toilet in her gilded cage. Her blonde hair had always grown unusually fast, and it now lay shaggy and limp on her head, reflecting lack of a real shower. She occasionally got a wet handcloth passed to her through the door with a meal, but it certainly wasn't anything special, just enough to wash her face and arms. A pale face stared back at her from the mirror, with bags under her eyes from the stress of captivity And…was that a wrinkle?! Sure enough, a crease was forming at the corners of her eyes. Before she could continue to hyperventilation, West plucked at the skin of her eyes, then checked the rest of her face and finally her hands. The slow return to its normal state had her calm down a bit. "Oh, good. Just mild dehydration."
A massive shake rocked the building, making the furniture rattle and for West to bounce up and down on the ground. "W-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a!" Her teeth rattled as the aftermath of the explosion above rocked through her body. She dropped onto her knees as light poured through the bars of her window, and specks of black blossomed in her vision as the light subsided. She hastily rubbed at her eyes, trying to see more clearly from the assault on her retinas. West picked herself up off the ground again, staggering over to the window and looking out. A sharp gust of air tossed her hair behind her as the enormous shadows of two Pelicans dropped from the sky and towards the cliff face above. A smile spread across her face. "Finally, the cavalry has arrived."
West wasted no time. She tore the dishevelled cover off of her bed to reveal three sharp wooden stakes, the pitiful remains of the chair that Harper had smashed against her wall over a week ago. I suffered through countless splinters for you guys, she thought murderously as she picked up the three sharpened weapons. Let's hope that you do the trick. She whipped around as the door to her room was torn open by two CS guards.
Shit.
"Kill the bitch!" one of them ordered his partner, and she recognized the disgruntled Russian who had tried to manhandle her on her ride to this hellhole. He had his rifle pointed at her directly, but his buddy seemed rather hesitant to do so.
"But-but Viktor!" he whined, shifting from one foot to the other nervously, "Harper said that Penn told him that Ark ordered us not to kill them."
"Yeah, could you listen to your buddy, please?" West asked sweetly, staring at the two with the best puppy dog face that she could muster, complete with pouty lower lip. "I don't want to die today."
"You, shut up!" Viktor growled at West. "Jerry, nobody's going to care if one of them is killed in the crossfire."
"I'll care."
"Shut up, Freelancer swine."
"I…I still don't know…" Jerry stammered, clutching his rifle with such inexperience that he looked like a ten-year-old girl carrying her father's hunting rifle and not knowing which way was up. If West's life wasn't flashing before her eyes, she would've laughed.
Tink…tin tin tin tin…tink CRASH!
West wanted to sing hallelujah, for outstanding comedic timing, to whoever in the universe was scripting her life as the metal door came flying into the room, causing both Crimson Sun soldiers to whip around in shock. A blur of dark green and red barrelled into the room and collided with Jerry, and West took advantage of the distraction to leap at Viktor, the shiv in her hand and ready to kill. The Russian had barely a moment to fire a stray shot into the air before giving a sickening gurgle, the shiv stuffed between his collarbone and throat. Blood poured from the wound like a geyser, coating West's hands in sticky red liquid.
"That…felt good," she said, breathing in deeply, standing up from the body of the Russian and almost tripping over Jerry's eviscerated corpse. "Eww…"
A pair of arms wrapped themselves around her and pulled her into a stifling metallic embrace, making her squeak as the air rushed from her lungs. "I missed you too, Virgie," she croaked, weakly patting her older sister on her armoured back after a moment of straining her arms to reach around Virginia's bulky body. "Could you please let go? I can't breathe."
"No…" Virginia complained softly, still hugging her sister. "Don't scare me like that again."
"I can't scare you if I'm a slightly crushed corpse," West protested, wriggling around. As much as she liked hugs, she'd rather have her armour on so that she didn't have to worry about cracked ribs. Finally, Virginia released her, and West took dramatic gulps of air.
"Interesting kill tactic," Virginia remarked dryly as she stared at where Viktor's corpse was still bleeding out onto the ground. "What made you think of using a wooden stake?"
"I watched some 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' for sociology class, gotta love the classics, after all" West replied with a smile, delighted with her sister's approval.
"You probably won't be doing this again."
"I suppose," she shrugged noncommittally, "but I could make a killing in prison." There was a very pregnant pause between them, only permeated by the sounds of gunshots elsewhere in the building. "Shall we get going then?"
"That was just awful."
"I know," she whined to her older sister, stepping over the blood-stained door and into the eerily abandoned hallway with Virginia behind her and a rifle in her hand. "What took you so long?"
"The Director was an ass-hat and said that we had to wait," Virginia growled as they jogged along, passing numerous corpses of soldiers that had tried to get in the way of the 'efficient' older sibling.
"What a douche."
"That's what I said." An armoured arm reached out and pulled West back roughly before the barrel of a sniper rifle appeared from behind her and flashed with the explosive propulsion of a round into an Insurrectionist up ahead. She watched with adrenaline-fueled glee as the enemy woman's head caved in from the impact before exploding in a shower of cranial matter, bone, and blood.
"Geez, you just don't fool around," she snickered while her older sister passed her around the corner and she followed her as closely as possible. There was only a grunt in response from behind that impassive amber visor. "Wait!" West exclaimed suddenly, hearing a familiar voice up ahead. "I think that's Jersey." The two of them halted at the open cell door up ahead.
"Geez, watch it, bitch!" another female voice snarled in there. Apparently, South was in a good mood today.
"I said I was sorry!" Jersey retorted angrily before the two of them exited the cell and came face to face with the Virginia sisters. Nobody said anything for a second.
"So…what happened?" West asked cheerfully to break the stony silence, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
"I almost jumped Grumpy here with this when she blasted the door open," Jersey mumbled with a side-long glance at South Dakota, holding her robotic arm limply next to her, evidently in some discomfort. "You doing okay? You're bleeding."
"Oh, this isn't mine," West remarked nonchalantly, now examining the full extent of the blood dripping off the black rubber suit she wore. Parts of her arm had it dripping off her rather liberally onto the floor. "I kind of went all Buffy on some guy."
She paused as Jersey tried to ply a small round device from the shoulder of her prosthetic arm, which she apparently couldn't move. "What happened to your arm?"
Jersey looked up, slightly bashfully, and shrugged with her one good shoulder. "Ark slapped some kind of chip onto my shoulder – it stops my arm from working. Been trying to get it off ever since, but the damn thing won't budge!"
"As nice as this is, we're rendezvousing with the others in two minutes," South barked, interrupting the rescued prisoner's conversation.
"Way to kill the mood," West pouted to the orchid-armoured Freelancer. "I was just going to ask her out, next."
"Let's go," Virginia ordered, pushing West ahead gently as though she were a collie shepherding a reluctant sheep. South took the lead, followed closely by Jersey and West, with Virginia following from the rear. "The Weapons Locker should be up ahead on this next right!" she called up, giving directions for them to turn.
Like a single body, they curved around the corner and paused.
Ten soldiers were just lounging by the doors, and each group stared at each other in surprise. The next minute, ten bodies lay on the floor and the walls were stained with bullets and blood. It was like if Picasso had gotten a hold of some bad video game, something salvageable, and had redesigned the graphics, and West was living the experience. It certainly warmed the cockles of her heart…
The door ahead of them opened, and a beige helmet stuck out from the crack to look at the carnage. "You were almost late," York chuckled, letting them in.
"They are late," Carolina snapped from where she stood by the apprehended Freelancer armour. North Dakota, Alaska, Cal, and Wyoming were in various positions around the room (though none of them were compromising, to West's disappointment), keeping watch. Utah, Kentucky, and Nebraska were already snapping on the last few pieces of their armour, and Jersey and West rushed over to join them. For some odd reason, Nev's armour was missing. Maybe she'd already put it on and was headed to an extraction Pelican?
"So sorry, Carolina," West pouted, grabbing at her helmet like it was a lost pet that had finally come home. "This place is somewhat lacking in clocks."
She pushed her helmet onto her head and checked the internal readings that popped up on her visor. Everything seemed to be in order, but she wouldn't want to rely on them too much in case they'd been tampered with. Her leg armour came next, then the chest of her torso and abdomen. She was just shoving on her gauntlets when another door to the room slid open, and Maine rushed in with a body over his shoulder and both Connie and Florida close behind. Everyone looked up in a panic as Colorado lay in Maine's arms. West's gut twisted uncomfortably at the obvious signs of treated injuries on 'Rado's arms. One arm had been bandaged, but the white tape seemed old and was peeling away, revealing charred, peeling skin.
"What happened?" Carolina demanded, keeping the others away from the injured Freelancer with a hand gesture. Colorado blinked weakly from Maine's grip before allowing her face to blossom into ever familiar rage.
"When I get my hands on her, I'm gonna tear her heart out through her asshole!" she shrieked, twisting in Maine's grip, but the giant kept a tight hold on her. "The useless traitor-"
"Who are you talking about?" Carolina asked, asking the question that everyone else was wondering.
"Nevada! That cunt's with them now," 'Rado hissed. It was like the entire room had had all the breathable air sucked out of it. West barely noticed that her knees were shaking and knocking together, her mind was just a whirlpool of thought and emotion. Nevada…was a traitor? It couldn't be true! Sweet, kind, innocent(ish) Nevada was with Harper, Ark, and Penn? No…no, that couldn't be right. She wouldn't, would she?
"We can't stop now," Virginia yelped suddenly as a flickering light entered the room. One of the doors that York had sealed looked like a welding flame was being placed to it.
"Might I suggest you guys try a lightsaber?!" West shouted through the door to the Crimson Sun soldiers on the other side. "Oh…wait, that just brings back some bad memories. Never mind!" The welder stopped for a second before starting again, already a third of the way down the door. West blinked at her own joke. She had no idea why she said it just now, what with the intensity of the situation. Hmm…psychoanalysis might be something she needed to research next.
"Divide into two teams," Carolina ordered the assembled Freelancers while Virginia and North started opening up grated weapon lockers and tossing firearms to the newly rescued agents. In addition to the stolen rifle, West was tossed a magnum, and she tossed a shotgun over to Utah with a smile under her helmet. "We have two Pelicans, and extraction's going to be a little tight. The exit's narrow, so one Pelican has to leave before the other."
"Why don't we split up?" All eyes turned to Alaska. "It'll be easier than letting us get pushed into a funnel and picked off like fish in a barrel."
"I remember seeing another docking bay to the north of where we landed," Virginia said, contributing to the discussion. "I can get 343-R to swing around and pick some of us up there."
"What happens if all the soldiers decide to go after one team, though?" Florida asked with concern from behind Carolina. "That won't be a good time for anybody."
There was a pause before a couple hundred lightbulbs illuminated in West's head at once. If the situation wasn't so desperate, she'd probably have to take some Tylenol for the resulting headache. "My amour enhancement!" she yelped. "I can send off a static burst that will distract a good number of Innies, and that should help balance things out."
"Director, are you hearing this?" Carolina asked through the radio, and the Director's voice crackled through all their radios at once.
"It's an interesting strategy…and the most plausible to come out with the least amount of damage," he drawled. "Go ahead, Carolina."
"Yes, sir," and Carolina's radio snapped off. "Virginia, you take the team to the north extraction point, and I'll take the rest of them to the west. We've got Colorado."
"I'm on it!" West immediately followed her sister, who was radioing the pilot to bring his Pelican around to the other side of the Innie base. Alaska, Utah, North, Kent, South, and Jersey followed the taller woman, and a blooming sense of pride added itself to the maelstrom of emotions already in West's head. Her sister, a natural leader…finally being able to lead a team.
The door behind them creaked ominously as the welder inched ever closer to the floor. "Move it!" Virginia called, running through a new door with the others following quickly behind. "West, your static burst thing!"
"One Static Shock, coming up!" West giggled excitedly as she activated the indicator on her gauntlet. A small fizzle in her ear was the only notice she had that her enhancement was on, but she was sure that somewhere, some Crimson Sun monkey was watching the video cameras, and he'd start wailing and banging his cymbals together as soon as his cameras and microphones started going ape-shit insane. Sure enough, additional alarms started blaring overhead, and red siren lights stained the halls even more so than the blood spilling out from the enemy soldiers being blasted apart by the determined Freelancers.
"Chaos is a wonderful, wonderful thing," she sighed wistfully, remembering a line from one of her favourite cartoon characters.
They were at the hangar now, but almost as soon as they got through the doors, a flood of Crimson Sun soldiers started running towards them, shouting in battle-fuelled fury. The Pelican was just on the other side of this bunch of soldiers, freedom was so close! There was some unheard order between the eight Freelancers, and they flew into the fray, gunshots whizzing through the air as enemies and their body parts started flying in the mad dash to freedom.
West rolled over Virginia's open back and blasted a tall, lean guy in the throat with her rifle before spinning around and frog-kicking him into two of his fellows. She rolled to her side, and Virginia's hands planted solidly on her back while she side-leap-frogged into two soldiers at once, her knives finding new occupancy in their necks. "Why aren't you using your bow?" West called over the bloodshed around them as Virginia blasted a soldier away with her sniper rifle.
"I couldn't get it cleared for the mission," her sister grumbled angrily. "Not for lack of trying!" She took out her frustration on another unfortunate soul who found his head in her heads before there was a resounding crack from his neck.
"Pelican!" someone shouted, and West's head shot up excitedly as she watched the large aircraft hover over the entrance, the back door sliding open. She pistol-whipped the last guy that she could reach and fell in behind Utah as the rest of them raced for the Pelican.
"Virginia!" Carolina's voice sounded strained. "Ark and Penn aren't here! They must be at your door!" West skidded to a halt in shock, looking around. A flash of coral and red were disappearing into a Falcon close by, and it looked ready to take off. The side of it was still open though, and Virginia was reaching around for her sniper rifle to take the shot.
"West, get to the Pelican!" Virginia shouted, not looking around at her, and West didn't need telling twice. She started sprinting towards the waiting Pelican, which already looked like it was getting ready to take off-
She cried out as her foot exploded in pain, rocketing upward from the arch and spreading through her entire leg. West hit the ground with a solid thud, and her helmet cracked against the concrete painfully. She clutched her leg and screamed in pain from where the freaking bullet had found a weak spot in her boot and was embedded in her foot. Tears perched on the edge of her vision from the agony. She'd had gunshot wounds before, but nothing quite like this. It was absolute torment-
A flash of green and red flew past her suddenly, and West watched in macabre fascination as Virginia moved to the back of the bastard who had taken the shot. With gruesome grace, her foot slammed into the guy's shoulders as she pulled up on his head with such ferocity that under-armour and skin tore, leaving blood, flesh, and pearly white bone exposed from where he'd been ripped open. West's breath was stuck in her throat, and she gagged for a second to try and breathe again. Wow…just- what was that?
"Virgie, what-" she tried to ask, but gloved hands grasped her around her middle and shoulders, and West was flying through the air. Everything was happening in slow motion…the ground was falling away, there was a smoking sea of carnage, blood, flesh, and bone– And then she was in Utah's arms, and he was setting her onto the floor of the Pelican. Someone was reaching for a med-kit.
Virginia leapt into the retreating Pelican with the deadly ease of a panther, and she shouted something up to 343-R to get them out of here. West's helmet was pulled away while the hatch closed, and she groaned in pain. "Son of a bitch," she cursed under her breath, and Virginia's face loomed in her blurry vision. Her face was impassive and flat, professional while she wrenched the med-kit open with equal ferocity. Nobody was saying a word while she pulled out two packets of medical fluid.
"Who puts aloe vera in emergency packs anymore?" Virginia growled at the package of green liquid as if it had done her a personal wrong. "I mean, what is this shit? 'Rub medicated liquid into the victim's neck should a wound to the foot occur"? Who writes this crap?" Virginia pulled West's foot into her lap and wrenched off the boot with slightly less urgency, inspecting the damage. "You'll be alright," the dark-haired Virginia sister mumbled, spreading the Bio-Foam over the wound and holding it steady while West thrashed in pain from the sting and dull throb of the wound. "Dr Jay will make sure you're alright."
"Are you alright?" West gasped, trying to distract herself from the pain. Virginia flinched slightly, but gave a slow nod. That seemed good enough at the moment.
"Virginia, did you take them out?" Carolina's voice echoed out from the radio of West's discarded helmet, and she crained her neck to look at it. "Did you take out Ark, Penn, and Harper?" There was a pause. Virginia picked up her helmet and slid it over her head again, covering her impassive face.
"No, Carolina."
"Did you get any of them?"
"No."
There was an irritated sigh from over the radio. "Damnit…the Director's not going to be happy."
"To be honest, Carolina, I don't give a fuck." Virginia turned off her radio deliberately, but didn't take off the helmet. That impassive amber visor turned back to West again, disguising black hair and an impassive tan face that, itself, disguised a ruthless killing-machine.
Then again, West mused while she lay on the floor in silence, trying to keep herself conscious, aren't we all killing-machines? She thought for a moment while her stressed brain started losing the fight. No, that armour doesn't cover a machine-
-it covers my sister.