Happy Holidays, everyone! I bring joy to you all in the form of the next chapter. Sorry I haven't posted in over three months. A lot of things happened to me that required my attention. For one, I've had to move all the way from Korea back to the US for reasons I can't specify. Two, I'm adjusting to working in a whole new environment with a completely different work flow and its taken time to get adjusted to. And finally, I was struggling with writing this latest chapter. I was constantly getting distracted with gaming, especially with Total War: Warhammer II, StarCraft II, and Halo, especially Halo 5, in which I am attempting to reach Level 152 before Halo: Infinite comes out (I'm currently Level 149, but less than 500,000 XP away from leveling up). So yeah, a lot of things on my plate for the last few months. I hope you can all forgive me for being behind schedule.

Hope you all enjoy. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!


On All Frequencies

Location: Praetor Northlands

Time: 1437 Hours

Date: June 23, 2557

The relay station looked rather inconspicuous if Carolina was being completely honest. Bland, grey, nestled deep in the saddle of two mountains, it really wasn't much to look at. Hell, if it wasn't for the fact that they had been so close to it when they saw it, they'd have probably missed it altogether. Now that she thought about it, maybe that was the whole point.

"Looks… smaller than I expected," commented Tucker, kneeling next to her, scoping out the place with his rifle.

Carolina raised an eyebrow at him. "What were you expecting?"

"I dunno," he shrugged, "something more sinister and evil. Like a hidden lair or something. Not whatever this is." He gestured to the facility in general.

She looked back down at the facility. While on the one hand she wasn't expecting anything super-high tech or blatantly malevolent, she also wasn't expecting their find to look so clean. All the footage she recalled being shown had the Insurrectionists hiding out in shady warehouses and inconspicuous caves. The whole place looked professionally constructed, like a legitimate company came through and built it from the ground up. The thing must've taken years to construct. They were gonna destroy it in far less than that.

"I'm going down there," she said.

Tucker gave her a look of disbelief. "Please tell me you didn't say what I think you said."

"No, you heard that right. I'm going down there," she repeated.

"Are you crazy?" he asked, his disbelief quickly turning into exacerbation. "You have no idea how many guys are down there."

"I can handle them," Carolina answered confidently.

"How?" he continued pressing. "'Cause as far as I'm aware, you're still dressed in… teal, aqua, seafoam, look I don't know what it is, but a bright-ass blue like me. You'll stick out like a sore thumb, a sexy sore thumb, but a sore thumb nonetheless."

Carolina raised an eyebrow but refrained from commenting. Instead, she answered confidently, "No I won't."

Tucker noticed the lack of doubt in her voiced and asked, "Why not?"

"Because," she answered, a smirk forming on her lips, "I'll be going in like this." Suddenly, the color of her armor shimmered, changing from her bright and distinct cyan and white to the muted grey of the structures below.

Tucker jerked back in surprise. "Since when have you been able to do that?"

"Quite a while, actually," she replied, a bemused tone lacing her normally serious voice.

"Got any more nifty tricks I should know of?"

This time she didn't even try to hold back a chuckle. "Every girl has to have their secrets, Tucker."

As Carolina began stepping towards the cliff that dropped down to the base. Tucker suddenly stepped forward, catching her attention. "Maybe I should come with you," he suggested.

The Freelancer gave him a look. "Tucker…"

"Hey," he said, "I have a sword that can cut through just about any material known to man. I can do quite a bit of damage with this thing."

"Then give it to me," she told him. "You have no way of being able to even remotely hide yourself down there, unlike me."

Tucker shook his head. "Sword doesn't work like."

Carolina gave him a weird look. "…What?"

"Yeah," he said, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly, "I think the sword is genetically coded to me or something like that. It's little better than brass knuckles for anyone else that uses it. Trust me, others have tried."

"Then you stay up here and provide overwatch until I need you," she ordered and continued on towards the cliff.

Tried as he might, he couldn't exactly argue with that logic. There was no way he was going to be able to hide himself inside of that base and his gun was much better suited for long range support than close quarters fighting, although he wasn't uncomfortable with using it in such a way. Without any intel, they also had no idea just how many Insurrectionists there were inside. They might be collectively better than a squad or two, but there could potentially be a whole company or battalion's worth of soldiers just waiting to swamp them. Still, it might be worth saying something to her, even if just to assuage his growing anxiety at what was waiting for them.

Just as she was about to step off the cliff, he grabbed her arm. She stopped and looked at him. "Just… be careful, alright?" he asked. "Don't need you leaving me alone on this planet or anything like that." He wasn't worried about her, right? Damn, he meant that to sound more like a joke than him being worried. Should've been more confident about it.

Thankfully, if she noticed, she decided not to comment, instead giving him a curious look before nodding once. Or maybe it was a look of exasperation or even contempt. It was hard to tell with her body language.

She shrugged off his hand and stepped off the cliff, dropping to the facility below.


Carolina landed on the steel floor with a thump, the dampeners in her boots preventing her from making any noise that could attract unwanted attention. Immediately she dashed to a nearby warehouse, pressing her body against the wall and scanning for nearby Insurrectionists. It never hurt to be careful, especially on what was a solo op like this. Well, not strictly solo since she had Tucker shadowing her from above, but the principle was largely the same. Same as South back in the day, she supposed. Only difference is that she had been on the oil rig to extract information about the Sarcophagus while Carolina was there to destroy a target, although she supposed she could try and grab some data if the opportunity presented itself. Erring on the side of caution would do wonders to preventing the same outcome that had caused North and South Dakota's mission to go loud.

She snaked her way along the wall, her eyes occasionally darting to the many alleyways and streets that made up the relay facility. Every once in a while, she would stop abruptly, checking to see if someone was masking their presence with her footsteps, however light they may be. And every time, she was met with silence.

It was a subconscious action at this point, checking her back, seeing if she was being stalked, where she was prey to a hunter's eyes. Just part of the ingrained training of Project Freelancer, where they were taught self-reliance, resilience, and focus on the objective. It was hardly the first time she had been on a solo op and she'd had to watch out for herself rather than rely on any teammates. Yet, ever since she'd stepped foot onto the base, she couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching her, just out of sight, out of mind. It was unsettling to say the least. More than once she had reached for one of her plasma rifles, her reflexes ready to take over. And more than once she had been met with nothing.

She eventually came around a corner, leading to a pile of storage crates of various sizes, obscuring an otherwise open plaza, the primary relay network jutting out of the middle like a strange statue. It stood on four legs, the entire skeleton casted in steel, with the top pointing into the sky like a giant needle. Overall, it didn't look any different from the thousands of other antennae towers found across human space. But looks could be deceiving when it came to human tech, or just about any tech from any species if one thought about it hard enough. It was at least capable of jamming surface-to-orbit as well as local transmissions. Carolina would need to destroy it if she and Tucker had any chance of getting to the All or Nothing as well as finding the status of the missing Reds and Blues.

That's when she heard it: a light patter of footsteps. Darting her eyes around, she tried to pinpoint the source of the noise, but continued to come up empty. She even looked down at her motion sensor to see if it was getting anything, but all it gave her was blank space. The cyan Freelancer backed away from the tower slowly.

The footsteps got louder, even though they still seemed muted and distant. She jogged back down the way she came, hoping to find a better hiding spot or vantage point to see where the noise was coming from. She quickly hooked around the next corner…

… and collided against something. It happened so suddenly that at first Carolina didn't even register what she had hit. However, she had run into it with such force that she nearly fell over. Fortunately, she was able to catch herself before she could.

The Freelancer noticed a shimmer in the air before her and immediately drew her plasma rifles, the reticles on her visor focusing on the shimmer of air, yet unable to detect any trace of hostile presence.

Before she could fire, the shimmer spoke. "Jesus, kid, you should really learn to check your corners better."

Carolina recognized the voice instantly, the grip on her weapons slacking slightly. "Tex?"

"Yep, that's me," the black Freelancer confirmed, fizzling into existence. She could see that the other Freelancer had a pair of SMGs aimed directly back at her. "Is Church with you?"

"No," she answered. "But I got Tucker with me waiting on one of the cliffs above us. You?"

"Negative," Tex said. "Got most of the Reds and Blues with me, waiting just outside the perimeter. Grif and Four are with the crashed Pelican right now, trying to get it operational."

"But that still leaves Epsilon missing." There was an amicable silence as the two Freelancers processed the information, a noticeable sigh coming from Tex. It seemed almost… resigned, depressed. Something that was so unlike the normally aggressive Freelancer. It was slightly jarring.

"So, you gonna lower your weapons?"

"Only if you do it too," Carolina answered, her weapons still trained on Tex even if not with as much intent as a few seconds ago.

Tex merely shrugged and magnetized both of her weapons to her thighs. Carolina hesitated, the urge to shoot the other Freelancer still at the forefront of her mind, her finger itching to squeeze the trigger. Tex didn't deserve to be here. She didn't deserve to be alive while so many of her own teammates were not. South, North, CT, Wyoming, Florida, Maine, York. All of them should've been alive and she shouldn't have. Her friends should've been here, helping her take down the Director, not a squabble of former Sim troopers who she had no connection with, try as some of them might.

But, ultimately, her more levelheaded rationale won out, telling her that now was neither the time nor the place to let her feelings get in the way, and she put hers away as well. Tex peered out around the corner of the building before waving her forward. Carolina could see that she was scoping out the area around the tower, just like she had. She noticed the rather open area, perfect for any sentries to have plenty of time to spot them before they could make it across.

"Hm," she grunted, obviously thinking of a way to get to the base of the tower.

"What're you thinking?" Carolina questioned, airing her own concerns.

"If we had some explosives, we could blast the whole thing apart."

"But a rocket doesn't have the punch to destabilize a structure of that size," the cyan Freelancer pointed out. "We'd need too many for them to have any effect on it. We have to plant some shape charges or thermite on it…"

"And that means getting close," Tex finished. She nodded her head in agreement. "I can do it with my camo."

"I'll help," Carolina volunteered.

Tex looked at her. "No, you won't."

"Planting those charges will take time if we want to actually destroy it. And your armor ability can't run indefinitely," she pointed out. "So if we want to make the most out of it, then we'll need speed as well as stealth to get across that open ground."

The former AI crossed her arms. "And how do you suppose we do that?" she asked, an edge of irritation lacing her words.

Carolina looked past Tex, up at the tower itself. "We'll need to distract the guards around the base somehow, find a way to draw their attention. I was going to use my speed boost to grab everyone's attention. That is unless you have a better suggestion."

A smirk formed on Tex's face. "Actually, I know just who we can use for that."


10 minutes later…

"So let me get this straight," Simmons said as he checked his gun to see if the magazine was loaded properly, "you're telling me that we're supposed to create a distraction loud enough to draw as many guards from the base as possible, even though we have no idea how many there are, what they're carrying, or where they're coming from?"

Tex glanced back at Carolina, who simply shrugged. "Don't look at me. This is your idea."

She turned back to the assembled Reds and Blues, which now included Tucker among them. "Yeah, pretty much."

The team was now assembled outside one of the warehouses around the outermost layer of the base, with Donut and Lopez watching the perimeter for any hostile presence. So far they had seen two or three squads moving around the general area, but none had chosen to approach their position.

"Sounds almost like you're throwing us to the hounds," Sarge grumbled as he rifled through a nearby ammo crate they'd opened up, searching for both explosives and shotgun shells.

"No," Carolina answered, uncrossing her arms and stepping up next to Tex. "You're giving up an opening so we can destroy that tower, the reason why we weren't able to contact each other over the radio, why we can't find Epsilon, and why we can't reach the All or Nothing and get support from Wash."

The rest of the guys looked at the pair of Freelancers uncertainly mid-search. Clearly none of them were up to the idea of getting into what could amount to a suicide mission. They were all trained soldiers, much better trained than before, but that didn't stymie the fear of death any more than before, especially given the nature of the task assigned to them. At least this time they would have a fighting chance of surviving, rather than relying on pure dumb luck as usual.

"Look," Tex said, attempting to assuage their doubts and fears, "we'll try to get that tower down as quickly as possible. If things look really bad, we'll double time it back to you guys before you get overrun. I'd rather not lose anyone else on this planet if I can help it."

They all knew exactly who she was referring to. Over the past several days there had been a noticeable tension around Tex, a subtle shift in the way she did things. Her nerves were frayed, she was alert, the closest thing they'd seen to 'jumpy' from her since, well, forever. Once or twice she'd snapped at them when they'd made a seemingly harmless comment, well, relatively harmless when it came to them, which was normally part of their M.O.. They could tell she was thinking about Church whenever they weren't moving, and even sometimes when they were. She slowed down, even froze at seemingly random intervals. They could all see that she wasn't her normal badass self, that they needed to get him, find a way to reach him, or at least be able to find his location. Just for her sake.

Which is why what she said to Carolina came to no surprise from anyone except Tucker, but even he had gotten better at reading the black Freelancer mood from years of experience. Carolina said, "The mission comes first, Tex. Taking out that tower is priority, even above your friends here."

"This is nonnegotiable, Carolina," the Freelancer twisted around, jabbing a finger in her direction. "I don't care if I have to end up abandoning you to the wolves or not and have us end up getting stuck here for who-knows-how-many more days. The first sign that they can't handle what's coming to them, we go back. Is that clear?"

The cyan Freelancer didn't answer. "Is that clear?" Tex hissed.

Carolina stared back at her, fingers clenching into fists. For a brief moment, it looked like a repeat performance of their first encounter aboard the All or Nothing was about to take place, such was the tension coming off of the other hotheaded Freelancer.

Finally, after what felt like ages, though it couldn't have been more than a minute, she answered. "Crystal."


Several minutes had passed since the Freelancers had found the necessary equipment to complete their task and left. Within that time, they had gathered whatever ammo and explosives of their own they could find, enough to cause a ruckus that would grab the attention of the Insurrectionists. Now they were finding an area where they could hold out. They had considered a small building or room where they could funnel the enemies into a single killzone. But the main problem lied in the fact that a single heavy weapons team or like a rocket launcher or warthog chaingun could overpower their rather limited armaments. They had no machineguns of their own, nothing good at long range besides Tucker's DMR (something he himself claims was only relatively okay at using), and Simmons's rocket launcher only had two rockets left, only good in case of emergencies.

So, instead, they would be relying on their maneuverability to maintain the upper hand. Throughout the warehouse part of the base, corridors zig-zagged and crisscrossed at seemingly random intervals, leading to an almost labyrinthian layout. Not only would this provide the funnel they needed to prevent too many enemies from swamping them, but it also allowed them greater maneuverability so that they wouldn't get pinned down as easily.

To further avoid getting completely boxed in, the team decided to split up into pairs. Sarge had Simmons, Tucker had Caboose, and Donut had Lopez. Ideally, this would force their pursuers to split up into much smaller fireteams that were much easier to deal with. This would also allow for the teams to provide overlapping areas of support, so that if one team was caught, another could come in and break them out before they were overrun and killed.

Sarge's plan was originally going to be for the teams to poke in and out of cover and individually take potshots at the enemy in some sort of strange and convoluted rhythm, like in some sort of strange carnival game. Everyone immediately vetoed against the idea. Using the maze of boxes to outmaneuver and confuse the enemy would be the ideal strategy. Donut actually claimed that he and Pink team used it a handful of times when being pursued by overwhelming Covenant splinter group pursuers. Given that their level of skill was likely higher than of those in the base, it was the best one they had.

Now Sarge had a detonator in his hand, thumb flicking the cap on and off the activation button. He always hated the wait before a battle, before the carnage could truly begin. This was the time before the bullets went flying, before blood was spilled. This was usually when the big 'what if's would play in someone's mind, where it wasn't uncommon to wonder just who would come out of the end it in one piece. Sarge had stopped wondering about most 'what if's for a while at this point in his career. At this point, he only cared that the plan, usually one of his ingenious ones, went exactly as planned, and that Grif would miraculously die in the process. Sadly, because he wasn't there with them, the latter was out of the question. Now all they could do was execute their alternative idea. He didn't like the idea as much as his, but that no longer mattered. They had a job to do: draw as many of the Insurrectionists to them as possible so Tex and Carolina could destroy the relay tower and get their communications back online. And maybe they could get some real action.

Sensing that the time was up, and that everyone was in position, he flicked the lid off permanently, thumb hovering over the button that would push them past the point of no return. He would do it for duty, for honor, for glory. For the Reds and Blues.


The explosion came just as predicted, a few minutes after the Freelancers had departed to fulfill their task. Almost immediately, warning klaxons went off, an alarm sounding as multiple teams emerged from what was undoubtedly a barracks building a short distance away from the tower, armor and equipment being hastily strapped on and weapons being quickly loaded and readied.

Outwardly, Tex had confidence in her boys' ability to hold them off for as long as she needed them to. On the inside, however, she still had her doubts. They weren't Spartans or Freelancers. Hell, only two of them counted as any sort of Special Forces, Sarge being an ODST and Donut being part of Pink Team. She was slightly nervous that her boys couldn't handle it.

But she had to have faith that they wouldn't let her down. Though unexpected, they had survived so many situations where, by all accounts, they shouldn't have. It was hard to keep track at times. Hopefully, their streak of luck wouldn't run out here.

Once the stream of Insurrectionists tapered off, the Freelancers moved towards the relay tower. Carolina used her speed boost to dash across the open ground easily, allowing her to get to the base of the metallic structure first. Tex used her active camouflage to move across without being seen, only deactivating it when she too had reached the base of the structure.

For the next few minutes they carefully placed a series of charges across each of the tower's legs. Each worked in tandem with one another, covering each other and doubling down on any spot the other missed. Having a second pair of eyes to make sure they were thorough was never a bad idea. Tex hated to admit it, but they were completing the task much more efficiently than she would have if she had decided to go solo. Doing their job meant they could get back to the rest of the boys and help them from whatever trouble was currently heading for them.

They were about ninety percent of the way there with the fourth and final leg when a voice called out to them. "Hey, you," it said.

Carolina froze and turned around slowly. In their haste neither of them had noticed what was undoubtedly another squad of rebels approach their position. "Hi," she greeted kindly.

The head of the squad, no doubt their leader, approached her, rifle raised. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"Uh…" Carolina stalled, turning slowly at the bombs around her, not seeing Tex anywhere. She jerked her head around, seeing if she could find the black Freelancer. No such luck on that front, unfortunately. Out of the corner of her eye, she did see a faint shimmer. The corner Carolina's lip twitch into a smile, even if only brief. Leave it to her to be the quick thinker and use her camo before she was spotted. "Maintenance," she finally answered.

Two of the squad members gave each other weird looks, but otherwise kept their weapons trained on her. Good. That would give Tex all the time she needed to get into position. "Maintenance?" one of them questioned.

"Yeah," she continued. "Command said something was wrong with the tower. Called me to fix it."

All of the men gripped their weapons tighter, obviously not buying her story. "I didn't know there was something wrong with the tower."

"There isn't," Tex answered as she appeared from behind the two soldiers in the back. They jumped away in surprise. "And that's the problem."

None of the soldiers had time react before she was upon them. Both of her fists immediately lashed out, connecting with the two nearest soldiers' heads. Carolina heard two sharp cracks as their skulls fractured and went flying in opposite directions. Before the remaining members of the squad raised their weapons, Carolina attacked, striking the leader in the head with a roundhouse kick.

The Freelancers sprang into action, Tex rolling forward and under the guard of another squad member before rising to deliver an uppercut to his jaw. Simultaneously, Carolina cartwheeled at another pair of them before twisting into the air, delivering a kick to the both of them at the same time.

Tex dashed towards another enemy, angling her torso low and shoulder bashing him with enough force to crack his sternum. She threw his body off of her and into another one, causing him to stumble just enough for her to jumping on the air and perform a Superman punch that went straight to the top of his head.

Carolina swept her leg low and toppled the next Innie before her own fist down, slamming him into the ground with a sickening crunch. She heard a sharp slice and turned to face the last squadmate, only to find that there was a knife jammed into the side of his head. The body of the man fell over to reveal Tex, her posture suggesting that the knife came from her and that she had thrown it.

Looking around, she could clearly see that the entire squad had indeed been eliminated by their hands, all without a single shot being fired. Carolina looked back at the enemy that had been killed by the knife, then up at Tex. She had saved her from getting shot by the last enemy, from potentially alerting any other nearby enemy squads.

Tex nodded and moved to retrieve her weapon. "Last of the charges are set," she commented. She must've set them just before the squad got to them.

"Then let's blow this thing and get back to the others," Carolina said.

The Freelancers began running back to the Reds and Blues, weapons drawn. They disappeared behind a nearby barricade, believing it would be adequate protection against the blast wave. Tex drew the detonator from one of her pouches.

She looked at the tower. Approaching the base was another squad, this time driving from two Warthogs. She could see that they were surveying the fallen squad that had first met them. One of their teammates curiously approached the base. A few seconds later that same Insurrectionist jumped back in surprise. He saw the bombs.

Tex press down on the detonator's activation button and the legs went up in smoke and flame, the team disappearing into it. She smirked in satisfaction. She always did like looking at her handiwork, especially when it came to using explosives.

The tower itself didn't quite fall, but she could clearly hear the groaning of metal as the tower struggled to stay up. They must've just barely missed the amount needed to send it tumbling down.

However, it might've been enough to break the jamming device inside of it. Tex activated her helmet comm and called out. "Tucker? Sarge? Anyone there?"

There was silence at first and for a moment Tex was worried that they hadn't done what they had originally set out to do and would need to go back and finish the job, this time up to a much more structurally unsound metal tower. Much to her relief, however, someone finally answered. "We read you loud and clear, Tex," Tucker said.

Tex allowed a smile to form on her lips. Not a sinister grin like she usually did, but a genuine, heartfelt smile. Looks like they had finally broken through. Now they could contact Wash and Four-Seven-Niner. Now they could finally get around to finding Church. "Stand by. We're on our way back to you now."

"Roger that," Sarge answered, a shot from his shotgun reverberating through his mic. Sounds like their distraction was working.

Her moment was shattered as a bullet ricocheted past her head. The Freelancer whipped her head around just in time to see yet another squad of Innies rush around the corner, weapons blazing. The leader had ODST gear on him, with a series of metallic red lenses protruding from where the eyes normally were. He held a DMR in his hand.

Instinctively, Tex dashed into cover, her back against a crate. Carolina did likewise, sliding against a series of stone barricades. As one, they fired into the opposition, Carolina unleashing torrents of plasma fire while Tex fired with meticulous bursts from her Battle Rifle. A handful of the squad fell before them, but the rest remained unfazed by the gunfire, instead calmly and collectively taking cover while simultaneously returning fire.

Eventually the Freelancers were forced to duck back down as their shields ran dangerously low. Sensing the need for it, Tex activated her camouflage unit, attempting to peek out once again. Almost immediately, a marksman rifle round hit her in the head, only a sliver of shield remaining. She managed to fire off a single burst at one of the soldiers, killing him, before a second DMR round hit her in the exact same spot, popping her shields and forcing her back into cover.

Carolina peeked over her cover, spotting the ODST with the strange optics on his helmet. Whatever sort of equipment he had, it must've able to see Tex's cloak without any trouble. At least that's what the accuracy of the shots told her.

Immediately, the ODST snapped a shot off at her, triggering her shields and forcing her back into cover. Whoever this man was, he was quite the crackshot. Shots continued to rain down on the Freelancers, only lightening up as some enemy soldiers reloaded while others covered them.

They had to move, she realized. The longer they stayed put, the more likely hostile reinforcements would bear down on them from a different direction, forcing them into a crossfire and negating their cover.

When her shields were fully charged, Carolina dove over to Tex's side. She landed with her back against the wall. Tex looked at her quizzically. Carolina jerked her head in the direction of one of the side corridors. The other Freelancer got the message and they both vacated the area posthaste.

They weren't able to get far before yet another squad of Insurrectionists found them. They weren't able to react fast enough, however, as the Freelancers charged into their formation. Limbs were broken and chests were shattered as the women made quick work of them, Tex landing punch after punch against them while Carolina cartwheeled and kicked like a deadly acrobat.

They had only just finished off the last combatant when the squad they had fled from showed up behind them again. The Freelancers fired at them again and went to cover, repeating their last encounter.

Once again, the cyan and black Freelancers retreated, popping shots behind them as they did so. This time, however, a second squad was able to reinforce them before they could turn the corner. Two of the soldiers brought their weapons up, a pair of SAWs, and fired at them again. The Freelancers ducked behind a small cluster of shipping crates, the only source of cover they had left.

Tex and Carolina continued to duck quickly in and out of cover, getting off extremely small bursts of fire at the enemy before their shields popped and the were forced to duck down against the oncoming storm of firepower. Tex herself peeked out to fire a single burst from her rifle before a DMR round smacked into the back of her armor, bursting her shield and causing her to stumble. She let out a small cry as she quickly dragged herself behind the crates. Carolina fared little better, firing off a burst of plasma fire, a shot or two landing, but not enough to significantly put a dent into the enemy's ranks. Her shields flared and she yelped in surprise as she flinched, following the same motion as Tex and crouching down.

"Damn it," Carolina hissed. Her weapons were starting to run low now, the battery packs reaching to slightly under a quarter of charge left. She could see Tex was having the same difficulty, her SMGs running dangerously low on ammo. By the looks of the ammo counter, she was already out of Battle Rifle rounds.

"I'm almost out," Tex told her.

"Same," Carolina nodded in agreement.

"Got any ideas, kid?"

She shook her head. "No. You?"

The black Freelancer shook her head as well, audibly sighed at their current predicament. "Looks like this is it," she said. "The end of the road."

Carolina cocked her head in confusion. She'd never seen Tex just give up so easily, even in as sticky a situation they were. "We'll figure something out."

"How?" she inquired. "We're running out of ammo and caught between two squads of enemies, one that can see my cloak and another that can fill the air with more bullets than you can dodge."

"I don't know," Carolina said. And it was true, all of what Tex said. All she knew was that she wouldn't die here. She couldn't die here, because that would mean that all of her friends' deaths, they would mean nothing, and she'd be damned before she let that happen.

"I just wish I got to see Church one last time," the black Freelancer said with a sense of finality.

For a brief moment, over the din of the combat, a strange peace fell over her, a tension leaving her body that she'd never felt before. Maybe this is what it felt like moments before one's death. She'd never felt it before, not when the Pelican crashed in Valhalla, not when the EMP went off, nor any time before or since. It felt liberating in a way.

"Your wish may be granted to you yet, Tex," a voice called over the radio.

Tex's head snapped up as she immediately recognized it. She hadn't heard it in such a long time, she'd thought she'd forgotten it. The voice was unmistakable, though. Because the voice belonged to-

A sharp bang went out and one of the SAW gunners went down, a gaping hole in his forehead. The squad briefly stopped as the man fell, just for a second round to go through the other Insurrectionist with the SAW. Two more rounds went off and sent the remaining three men to their deaths, one of the rounds catching two at the same time.

Tex and Carolina peeked out from cover just in time to see a man in green and blue armor rushing the other squad. His shotgun barked and the closest squad member died. Wasting no momentum, he body-checked another one with his shoulder. The ODST tried to change targets, but he was already under his guard, knocking away his DMR and kicking him against the wall. The man didn't have time to finish him off as the rest of the squad raised their weapons at him. A handful of shots pinged off his shields, but he remained unperturbed and charged at them as well.

He reached them in two great strides, shooting one of them with his shotgun before bringing the elbow of the arm holding the pistol grip around and smashing him in the face. Only two of the squad were still alive, the ODST included, and they both attempted to hit him in melee, the ODST brandishing a knife. The new arrival hit the other one first, twirling around and placing the weapon on his back to keep his momentum. His twirl had managed to successfully sidestep the first Insurrectionist and he retaliated, hitting him with a wicked reverse punch to the side of the head. The man fell as his skull caved in from the force of the blow.

The momentum was also enough for him to be able to face his last opponent as he charged forward. It became immediately apparent that the ODST was much more proficient at range than melee, as he went for a strike to the throat from the beginning. The green-and-blue man, however, merely grabbed his wrist with his right hand and guided the arm over his own before stabbing him in the gut, holding a knife with his left in a reverse grip. He withdrew the blade just as quickly before driving it up through the bottom of the ODST's jaw.

The Insurrectionist's body went slack, and he pulled the blade out, letting the corpse fall unceremoniously onto the ground. He put the knife back in its sheath by his side and drew the other weapon on his back, a sniper rifle, and reloaded it. The other Freelancers, for their part, rose up from cover, weapons draw, scanning for any other enemies. Realizing that that was probably the last of them for the moment, they finally got a good look at their savior.

"Illinois?" Tex asked.

The green-and-blue Freelancer looked back at the women, a warm smile on his lips, even if they couldn't see it. "Hey there, Tex." He nodded to the other Freelancer. "Carolina."

"What are you doing here?" the cyan Freelancer asked.

"Straight to business as usual, I see," Illinois muttered under his breath before addressing her. "Was in the neighborhood. Thought you could use the help."

"How did you get here?"

"I'll explain later," he said. Illinois looked at Tex. "In case you're wondering, your boyfriend is alive."

Tex's heartbeat quickened and she gripped her weapons tighter. "Where is he?" she asked, attempting to hold her excitement, or perhaps it was relief, in check.

If Illinois noticed the change of tone in her voice, he didn't say anything. Instead, he told her, "Helping those other Sim troopers you used as bait."

Tex felt her heart beat harder against her chest. He was alive? And close? She felt a weight lift on her chest that she'd had for the last several days. Church was here, alive. She would be able to see him again after all.

She was snapped out of her reverie as she heard a loud groan. Looking towards the tower, she could see the metal behemoth swaying heavily to the side. A few seconds later, it began to fall. Metal screeched and steel tore as it came down before finally crashing down, the tip of the structure landing against the side of one of the mountains before caving in and landing on top of the rest of itself. A great plume of smoke came up, covering the body in grey and brown dust.

The rumbling didn't stop, however, and the Freelancers looked above where it had landed. Tex's heart dropped to her stomach. She could see clouds of white rolling down from the top of the mountain. It didn't look like much at a distance, but she wasn't fooled. Beneath those clouds, dozens of tons of ice and rock were rampaging their way down the steep slope. In a little while dozens would become hundreds, possibly thousands. It would bury the mountain base and everyone in it.

Their radios lit up. "This is Four-Seven-Niner on approach to the relay station. Does anyone read me? I repeat, is anyone reading me?"

The newest Freelancer answered immediately. "Four, this is Agent Illinois. We read you loud and clear."

"Illinois?" Four asked, her confusion overriding standard radio protocol. She seemed just as surprised as the other Freelancers were feeling at the moment. "What are you doing here?"

"No time to explain," he told the pilot. "Listen, there's an avalanche coming down the mountain right now. I need you to divert your course and pick up the Reds and Blues first, the larger of the two groups of I.F.F. tags. Do you copy?"

"I copy," Four acknowledged. "I'll get the rest of you guys as soon as possible, over."

"Roger that. Just make sure you stay clear of that avalanche. Out."

The mountain continued to rumble as the tide of snow came barreling down towards their position. "Four's not gonna get to us before the snow does," Tex commented.

"No," the male Freelancer agreed, "but she will be able to pick up the Reds and Blues and that's good enough."

"What're you thinking?" Carolina pondered.

Illinois looked off to the edge of the base. Less than a hundred yards from them, the platform dropped off. Roughly three hundred yards below it, the side of the mountain inclined to a slope, one that could be traversed foot and properly equipped vehicles, both tracked and anti-grav. It would have to do.

"We jump," he said.

"What?" the cyan Freelancer questioned.

"The Reds and Blues can't outrun that landslide," Illinois pointed out. "We can. We run down the mountain, keeping ahead of it until Four can catch up to us and pick us up. That is unless you ladies prefer we wait here for our inevitable demise. I don't care either way." He chuckled at the last sentence. Tex knew he was joking.

"Well then," Carolina said, motioning towards the cliff, "let's get going." As if emphasizing her point, the mountain jumped in the intensity in which it rumbled.

The Freelancers moved towards the edge of the base, Illinois reloading his shotgun as they went. Off to the side, they could see Four-Seven-Niner's pelican swaying around to grab the Reds and Blues. Good. Unlike the Freelancers, he doubted they had the stamina to outrun a literal avalanche of snow and rock. He knew between the three of them, however, they could keep pace, even if just barely. Carolina and Tex were two of the fastest Freelancers he knew, and he was a Spartan as well as a Freelancer. They could go until Four was ready for them.

As they got within a dozen meters of the cliff, Illinois put his shotgun on his back and increased speed, adrenaline pumping through his heart and into his veins. He became painstakingly aware of the speed in which the clouds of debris were approaching but put that information to the back of his mind, not letting it cloud his judgement and impair his thinking. He could not so much as see, but feel, the Freelancers do the same. It was a sort of instinct that he couldn't quite describe, but he knew from experience that they were feeling the same thing as him.

Finally, they jumped, Illinois facing his head down and arching his body like a spear. The female Freelancers mimicked him. As they came down, Illinois's Heads-Up Display began automatically marking safe areas for them to land. Curiously, he saw a handful of red dots ping further down the mountain.

"Shit," he said. "Contact!"

Tex and Carolina saw them too and prepared to grab their weapons. He could make out at least a small company's worth of soldiers, including at least three hornets and a handful of warthogs. They must've been reinforcements for the base. Too bad for them.

As one, the Freelancers rolled at the last seconds, letting their backs be the first things to touch the ground. When the came back up they didn't stop and began making bounding leaps towards the enemy. They used their momentum to close the gap, preventing their opponents from using range to their advantage.

They were among the Insurrectionists before they could react. Illinois acted first, drawing his shotgun and firing into the nearest foe. Going with the momentum, he slid forward and fire another two shots at the two soldiers' direction in front of him. He didn't even bother looking to see if they were dead. If he didn't kill them, the snowy landslide certainly would.

In the corners of his eyes, he saw the lady Freelancers follow suit. Tex fired her SMGs into a small cluster of enemies, not even slowing down as she charged into the grille of a warthog. The vehicle flipped from the sheer force of momentum and crushed another pair of hapless soldiers behind it. Tex merely backflipped over it and continued downward.

Carolina, on the other hand, briefly activated her speed boost. She slide right past her first two enemies, sweeping them with her leg before dashing to the side and crushing a trio of hostiles that were hiding behind a rock with her gravity hammer.

She looked up as she saw one of the hornets aim its weapons at her. It was too high up for her to jump to and hit. She cursed at moments like this where she wished she still had her jetpack. But it had been too severely damaged from the fall from orbit and would've served no purpose to her anyway.

Luckily, Illinois also saw it and swapped his shotgun for his sniper rifle. Even despite the speed they were going, it wouldn't be a difficult shot. Quickly adjusting the weapon in his hands, he fired off a single shot at its cockpit. The glass automatically cracked, and he saw it begin to spin out of control, its pilot being alive the only thing keeping it airborne.

Down and down they went, shooting bad guys and smashing vehicles. They were going so fast that by the Innies couldn't get a proper bead on them before it was too late. A few of them looked past the speeding Freelancers and saw what they were running from. Realizing the doom bearing down on them, those with any sense of self preservation turned around immediately and moved with all haste, fleeing for their lives. Some of them, however, decided it would be better to try to bring down their adversaries instead of waste time trying to live.

None of them, however, would ultimately succeed. The Freelancers could see Four-Seven-Niner's pelican as it veered around to them, its nose gun shooting at pair of warthogs. The vehicles were reduced to rubble before their turrets could fire at anyone.

Unfortunately, the hornets had no such trouble. A pair of them immediately opened fire on the large troop transport with their rotary cannons, forcing it to move from a position where the Freelancers could safely board.

"Shit," they heard the pilot said over the radio. "Damn hornets, just die already."

The aircraft continued their annoyance and the larger ship was forced to bob and weave around the gunfire. The Freelancers, for their part, kept going, killing anyone who got in their way and destroying any vehicle that was trying to assist its airborne comrades, whether by sniper round, SMG, gravity hammer, or just sheer brute force.

It was once they had cleared the dozenth warthog that Illinois saw it. Less than a thousand meters down, the slope ended in a sheer cliff. He couldn't see how far down the floor was from there, which was never a good sign.

"We have a problem," he called out.

The other Freelancers looked down and saw it too. Carolina immediately attempted to contact the pelican pilot. "Uh, Four, anytime now."

The pelican swung around, firing up at the hornets that were still hounding at it. The shots went wide and the ship turned around again, trying to not crash into the ground or any jutting outcrops at the same time. "Kinda busy, Carolina."

"We're almost out of room," she replied urgently.

"I know," the pilot jabbed back, irritation lacing her voice. Mixed in with it, however, was a hint of panic. She knew too. If they didn't make it, they would fall and be crushed by the avalanche that was fast approach.

Illinois heard Tex curse under her breath in frustration. He could understand her pain. Over the last several days, he'd spent his time with Church, catching up on what he and the gang had been doing over the years, including him and Tex. He was well aware that the two had become close again, especially in recent days. He was also aware of who those two were, what they had been before they were able to get fully-functioning living bodies. And he was honestly happy for them.

But he also knew Tex very well. He knew she was driven, focus, direct, and sometimes ruthless. He also knew that when it came to Church, she became focused, almost to the point of near obsession. She would do anything to get back to him, to protect him. He was her crutch, just as she was to him. It would push her to insane levels. In fact, it had. Several times.

Emphasizing his point, she rushed up the side of a rocky outcrop and, with all her might, launched herself at one of the hornets. She successfully grabbed the side of the VTOL and hauled herself up, coming face to face with its pilot. Relentlessly, Tex drove her fist through the protective glass, shattering it instantly, before grabbing the pilot and violently yanking him from his seat. Immediately the small ship began to nosedive, all without a pilot. Tex simply jumped off, rolling as she hit the ground, and continued downward with the other Freelancers. She tried to jump at the other one as well, but it moved out of her flight path every time she tried.

They were now nearing the end of the line, the distance between the cliff and front of the avalanche rapidly closing. Four couldn't close the gap, the last hornet still blasting at her with its armaments. She couldn't afford the thing taking damage. Even after all the time she and Grif had spent repairing it, they had only just been able to get it off the ground by the time the relay nexus was destroyed. She couldn't risk it taking it punishment or else they would all die too. It looked like this would be it, that this was where the Freelancers would finally die.

A rocket shot out through the air and collided with the last hornet. Briefly, the hornet let up its fire, but didn't fall like its brothers. It did begin to sputter with fire around its turbines, however, and it was slowing down.

Another voice was on the radio, one that the Freelancers never thought they'd love so much until that very moment. "You guys need a ride?" Agent Washington asked.

In front of them, another pelican can into view, its rear door opening as it lowered itself onto the ground.

"Wash, you son of a bitch," Tex laughed, more than a little jovial at the realization of who their savior was.

The pelican lurched over the cliff suddenly and the Freelancers jumped, following it. It had slowed down just enough for them to get in. The second they had indicated they were all in, Wash closed the bay doors and immediately pulled at the controls, the ship lurching back as it attempted to reverse directions. The avalanche was almost on top of them now, looming over them like a dark storm cloud.

Wash punched it and the pelican shot upward and outward, emerging victoriously from the cloud like a majestic fighter jet.

The Freelancers let out an almighty cheer as they continued to climb, and they could hear the Reds and Blues doing the same over the comm. They had finally done it.

They made it.


Fun fact: For those who are curious, the last bit of the chapter was heavily inspired by the opening to Halo 5: Guardians, probably the only good thing to come out of its campaign IMO.