North looked up curiously when Cal mentioned he was going to look for South to see if he could help her. He hadn’t really thought that the man was into that kind of stuff, but then again his words made sense. However she had asked not to be disturbed, and he knew how she could get when she was focused on her computer stuff, sometimes she spent days locked away, barely eating or sleeping. It was almost like she was in a trance sometimes. He was about to advise Cal against it when he brought up the reason he hadn’t slept well.

Instantly his face flushed a slight red and his mouth, which had been open to speak a moment ago, closed quickly in a small grimace and he simply turned to look at his food, taking a few, unenthusiastic bites as Cal spoke to Alaska before wheeling off. Eventually he looked up to Alaska and offered her a small, shy smile, still feeling the redness in his cheeks cased by Cal so boldly stating why he was off his game. “He’s not wrong.” He eventually said, trying to shrug it off now that it was just Alaska and himself. It was just her, he supposed, Alaska always seemed very in control of everything.

She rarely had a moment that he’d noticed where she’d lost her cool and did anything other than what a good soldier should do. It put him off a little, because she did intimidate him slightly if he was being honest, especially since Cal had just outed why he hadn't slept well. He doubted Alaska would have been affected by such a thing. “Feel like joining me for a bit of training?” North eventually offered, giving her a careless and easy smile now. “I could probably brush up on my close combat if you’re keen?”

“Sounds like fun, give me a buzz when you’re up for it I’d be more than happy to do some tech work,” She saw him wheel off and she shouted over to him, “Hey Cal, maybe while we’re at it we can put some indicators on your wheels, make you street safe.” She laughed a little. She saw North’s reaction, he looked almost nervous “It’s alright mate, we all have our flaws, just some more than others, and trust me on this you’re not the only one who didn’t sleep too well after Cal’s speech, I think we were all bit concerned.” Alaska knew that if it wasn’t for her Brothers calming words the night before she could have easily been in the same boat. She finished off her breakfast and stretched as she replied “I’m not exactly the best at fighting North.”She thought about it for a moment, “Hell to it, I don’t see why not” She got up and disposed of her rubbish and made her way to the locker room with North. “My brother, if he’s awake, should be over there right now. It would be good to give him some competition.”

Wash looked at Iowa, He was a man you could trust and Wash knew that, but trusting someone with his feelings was different, he was a soldier, his feeling were irrelevant, at least that was what he had always been told and so far it was right. Wash honestly didn’t know if he should go ahead with it. In the end after much mental debate he did, “I don’t know any more. That’s what’s up.” He started gearing up. “You ever wanted to get out of the military Iowa? Have you ever wanted to live your life as a free man, without orders or a hierarchy?” He paused to think about what he was saying, “I’ve given up everything for my career; my family, my friends, Hell even my own sister And now I wonder what it’s about to give back" He finally clicked his helmet into place and cleared his throat. “I appreciate your kindness Doc, but sometimes things just have to stay inside. Now then, how about I show you how a real man fights?” He chuckled to himself as he waited behind the door for Iowa.

Alaska entered the locker room “Ah you are alive then! I was thinking that you might stay in bed today.” Alaska said, laughing at her own joke. “You think I’m going to miss some fighting? I think you forget who won the boxing championship back at home. And enough about me, what on earth are you going to do in close combat?”Wash said proudly. “You were 10 back then Wash, I’d like to see you win one now.” She chuckled indicating to his weight, “And I think you’ll be very surprised what I can do.” She got geared up and made her way next to him. She surveyed North and Iowa, “And anyway Wash, I think you’ll get a fair game here.”

Iowa listened closely to what Wash was saying, “I think we all have Wash, but look at where we are, the amazing things that we’re able to do if I had stayed a marine. This is some intense stuff. And I’m sure you’re right about your reward. ” He paused as he got back up, “And I recommend you aren’t so cocky about your strength, you’d be surprised what some of us are capable of.” He clicked his helmet into place and loaded up his data chip and ran some final checks on his gear. He saw North and Alaska walk in, “Good morning you two, any word on Cal or South yet?” He knew that Cal was as stubborn as a mule, and so he’d most likely already be moving about. “Actually you know what I might be best if I didn’t know where he was. So, are we all here for some fighting? I’m good for that. It might be best to go in pairs; it would just make it less confusing. I’ll see you down there.”

Iowa left the locker room and moved to the training hall. He’d forgotten how big it was. “F.I.L.S.S, can you set up a Sparing scenario, we’ve got four members, so two matches, should be good. And keep it to fists.” there was a brief pause before the AI spoke again, “Understood Agent Iowa, Rearranging the training floor”. As she finished her sentence the floor started moving, blocks starting to rise and others falling low, Eventually creating an almost tennis court like structure on two sides of the room. If Iowa was being honest, he was very impressed by the engineering. He set up a random draw for the contestants and waited for the others to arrive before picking who would be fighting who.

“As much as I get the sibling rivalry thing, I’d prefer not to get my butt kicked too hard.” North said as they moved off into the training room. He wasn’t saying his hand to hand was bad… everyone here was selected because they were the best of the best; against any other soldier he’d feel fine. But Wash was known for his hand to hand; whilst he knew it was one of his personal weaknesses. Then again maybe stuff like that ran in the family. He knew South was a natural with a sniper, even if she was reluctant to use one.

Maybe hand to hand was the same with these two and he was making a horrible mistake. However when he got to the floor and found out Iowa had set up a draw all he could do was shrug. Ideally he would have liked to be paired with Alaska, and that was not because he thought he had any advantage over her in any way, especially not because she was a girl. It was just that she had been the one he’d come here with, he hadn’t even expected the other two to be here. As it were luck was not on his side and he drew Iowa.

Holding up the card he glanced over to the man and shrugged slightly with a small smile as he moved off to one side of the room, leaving the siblings to fight it out.

"Well then my good friend let's do this thing." He walked over to his allocated area. "Remember North no knifes, we may have little shields but it'll go straight through them, and we don't want another Cal situation", he took his knife out of the holder in his armour and threw it on the floor. The timer ticked down from 5, Iowa Readied up lifting his arms into a defensible position. He always preferred the more stealthy style of approach of combat instead of full on sparring. The timer finally ticked down to zero and the match begun. Iowa went full out; if he was going to do combat he was going to do it properly. The match began. Iowa moved towards North, keeping in a combat stance. He swung first aiming for the head then he threw two more at the lower chest. He knew they wouldn’t all hit and so moved back into his defensive position.

“You ready for this big brother? I suppose we'll see who really is the better sibling” Alaska stated with confidence when she picked up her piece of paper. “Indeed we will, just don’t start crying when you end up on the floor.” They both readied up Wash already knew his plan of action before the round had begun, he understood that Alaska was a good fighter; after all he had helped train her, He knew all her flaws she was too aggressive too upfront, if Wash went on the defensive the chances of his success would be increased 10 fold. Alaska followed Wash’s judgement to the letter. Her plan was to run full out and tackle him to the floor; an opponent is at his weakest when he was on the floor.

The round began and the buzzer sounded Alaska sprinted at Wash. Her shoulders hit his chest with force knocking him flat on his back. Wash wasn’t the lightest guy in the galaxy, and landed with a thud that could be heard all across the training floor. Wash was taken by surprise by Alaska’s strength and courage. Alaska got up first and tried to pin him down, sitting on his chest, she got two glancing punches on his chest before Wash pushed her off. Both opponents squared up again. Wash broke up the confrontation; he moved forward and launched a volley of punches at Alaska. He aimed for the chest then moved his target to her head. His fast firing shots winded Alaska causing her to drop her guard he then launched one final punch to her head causing her to stagger backwards. Alaska was out of it she was worn out and losing hard. She dropped down to one knee in order to regain her strength, but there was no way in hell she was going to lose to her brother. She recovered and got back up. And fronted up to wash she started her wave of attacks the first couple were dodged within seconds of being thrown and the last one was caught and pushed backwards causing her topple over. Wash knew that if he had applied anymore pressure he would’ve dislocated her shoulder, which was not something he wanted to do, it may have been a fight but she was still his team mate Alaska on the other hand didn’t share his view. She was going to win no matter what it took. She rose back up with more determination than before. She rolled her shoulders and took a deep breath. She took off her helmet and threw it to the side. She spat out some blood and continued the fight. She ran forward towards Wash, catching him off guard. Alaska hit him multiple times in the chest. Wash was taken aback by Alaska’s sudden attack and couldn’t dodge any of her attacks. Her punches were weak but they were fast she managed to get quite a few in before he kicked her away.

Wash was worn out, but he could still go on, he had always had this sort of drive it was genetic both siblings felt a yearning to beat one another. “C’mon then sis,” he paused to take off his helmet “Let’s see what I’ve been missing out on.” He threw his helmet to the side. And Alaska followed suit. “Why don’t you come here and find out?” Wash moved up to her and attacked by throwing 4 punches at her head, all of them blocked by her arm. Once the punches were deflected Alaska struck him in the groin with her leg causing him to double over. She then slammed her elbow down on his head. “Had enough yet?” She asked with a smirk. Wash spat out some blood and didn’t reply, he wasn’t the most acrobatic but he had a few tricks up his sleeve. He ran straight towards her and jumped over her grabbing her shoulders to propel him over her. Once over the landing he then grabbed her neck and pulled it down to the ground slamming her down with all his force. She quickly got back up, she was losing her strength quickly she tried to kick at wash’s side but it was slow and Wash caught it mid-air with her foot in hand he spun it around dislocating the hip. She fell back with a scream. Wash lay on her and the timer ticked down from 5.

Zero sounded and he got up. He put out his hand towards her. Her competitive instinct told her to leave it, but at her heart she knew he was going to help her. She grabbed it. Wash pulled her up allowing her to share the weight. “I’m… I’m sorry about that; I don’t know what came over me.” Alaska was spiteful she had lost, she had poured everything into that fight, and yet she found no victory. Wash didn’t want the medical teams to get wind of what he’d done. He had a feeling that they were being watched of course, that observation room was so ominous. He moved Alaska to a nearby bench and sat her down. "I’ve only done this once or twice so uhhm, this is probably going to hurt Okay?” She only nodded. Wash went to her hip it wasn’t one of the worst dislocations he’d seen. He popped the joint back into position. “There, see that wasn't so bad was it?” He went to grab their helmets and he sat down next to her. Neither sibling spoke to another whilst they waited for North and Iowa.

North simply looked at Iowa with a mocked- shocked expression. “Hey, pretty sure I was the one who suggested hand to hand.” He challenged as the other man moved into a fighting stance. He glanced over to Alaska worriedly as her and her brother did the same and, with a small sigh he readied himself. The match began and Iowa came in surprisingly fast, North was just able to get his defences up against the three swings before replying with a jab of his own, but Iowa had obviously been expecting such a move because he’d already moved to defend.

They continued on like this for a few minutes, blows finding their marks every so often. However when Alaska cried out, all of North’s concentration flew out the window. He could argue that he wasn’t in the right mind-set because it was just training and he hadn’t expected anyone to get hurt. But the reality was that his protective side had come out and he had simply been very easily distracted. The next thing he realised he was on the ground, Iowa holding him in a somewhat painful lock. “Okay, okay you win.” He conceded before standing up, giving a worried glance over to Alaska and Wash to see what the damage was. “Next time, you can fight him.” North said to Iowa with a small chuckle. Not that he really thought going against Alaska would give him anymore of a chance of winning.

Cal slipped quietly out of his room and headed door towards the training, he just in time to watch North get beaten. He smiled and clapped. "North I'm pretty I could take from this chair, your skills are in long range." He sighed. Looking between them all, he didn't like having to keep a secret but he would.

"Hey mind is I borrow Alaska, I need her help working on the Mech. She likes vehicles so I figured she'd be useful, oh I heard you guys might have a mission again soon... I might not be healed enough to go out when we do." He sighed looking back towards the door before continuing. "Anyway if anyone else wants to come help out I'm thinking we can get the Mech working then put an A.I. in it. A support unit that doesn't endanger us." He smiled at the thought.

He yawned and sighed. "Anyway Alaska I need to wheel all the way back to my room and get my tools, you can head down and meet me there or not." He turned his chair and started back for the door.

Stopping he looked back at North. "Oh and South is fine North, I saw her before she had to turn in the data, commands getting her to help with something." He started back towards his room.

She chuckled at Cal’s comment, she had always had a sweet spot for him. She looked at her shoulder she knew was probably wasn’t in a good condition to do much at the moment, but she continued away, Wash wouldn’t be much help to her at the moment had if she was being honest she needed to take her mind of the fact she had just lost. “’Yeah I’ll join you, I suppose I’ll see you down there” She replied. “AI?” she asked, before taking back her question, “You know what never mind,” she stated bitterly. She exited a long side him, Hey Cal, careful you don’t break the speed limit on that thing, and it could be dangerous. She chuckled as he wheeled himself off.

Wash could tell that she was obviously in a better mood, her leg wasn’t much better causing her to walk with a small limp, unnoticeable if you hadn’t known her beforehand. “So then lads, I’m not sure about you, but I fancy a different game, maybe we do some gun work? I mean that is your speciality after all.” He knew this place would have the facilities, after all it was a very high tech room, “So what do you say? Free for all?” He smiled as he asked.

Alaska didn't really speak to many people on her way down to engineering She acknowledged a few people saluting as she went by. She reached the bay where The mech was being held and waited for Cal,

North chuckled slightly at Cal’s comment and nodded his head slightly, “hey you don’t need to tell me. I know what my strengths and weaknesses are.” Of course he could probably still beat most military personnel that weren’t in the top ranks of the Freelancer Project, but at the same time it was important to know your strengths and weaknesses and have a realistic expectations on what your own limits and skills were. He was good, he wouldn’t be here if he wasn’t, but his friends were better. North couldn’t help but feel a small pang of… something when Cal asked to take Alaska away.

He pouted slightly in confusion, however this vanished and was replaced with confusion as Cal suddenly mentioned South. He looked to the others as the pair exited the room, still with the same baffled look on his face until Wash suggested they move on to a new activity and he eventually shrugged, giving them a reluctant smile. “Sounds more like my game.” He confirmed with a small nod.

***

South’s eyes flickered open and she sat up with a small yawn as she stretched out, looking around the room. For a moment she was confused as to being alone but eventually her senses returned to her and she shrugged it off and stood, leaving the room and heading down the hallway. She slowed, a smile appearing on her face as she saw Cal rolling towards her, eventually stopping as they met up. “Hey,” she greeted. “Where are you headed?” It was kind of obvious where he was going, though she was more interested in the why it seemed polite to ask where first.

Cal stopped and smiled at South, he was glad she had gotten some sleep. The poor girl deserved a break, a civilian tossed into military life, she was out of her league here. He leaned back against his chair, wheeling slowly towards his room. "Just getting some tools, going to meet Alaska down in the motor-pool work on the Mech. You wanted to nickname him Freckles right?" He said as he opened the door to his room and began to collect tools. "You ought to go see your brother he's probably very worried about you. He's training so you can find him their, if you want your welcome to join Alaska and I." He said gathering the last of his tools.

Wheeling himself back out he headed back down the hall and down towards the motor-pool, the engineers and even the head tech moved aside from Cal. They didn't mess with him, he was respected mostly because he knew as much as them and maybe even more. Their was also the fact he treated vehicles much better and helped them fix whatever was broken. Finding the mech heaped in a pile he groaned the limbs were shot to hell, the cock pit still had scaring all over it, and worst of all was the fact that it's rocket pods were jammed shut. It would be an all day job, he was glad Alaska was here.

He smiled at her and wheeled over looking over the broken mech. "We've got quite the job ahead of us, I guess first thing to do is fix the cockpit and get the limbs back on it. After that you can walk it around, check all of the systems then we focus on armor upgrades, new weapons and pry that missile pod off their. I'm thinking we put some Armor piercing and high explosive in instead." He grinned. "I'm leaving the piloting system in for now, but if South can get her hands on an A.I. we could have a remote back up system to cover us. A heavy assault bot with no personal risk." He said wheeling over he set up and arc welder, preparing to cut loose the broken armor plates. "You mind getting the limbs up and putting them in the work cranes. Your in armor so it'll as easy and lifting me over your head." He chuckled and set to work.

Iowa listened in to Cal when he arrived; He still never understood how people could find mechanics interesting. When he mentioned about Alaska coming down with him he noticed something that he couldn’t quite put his finger on, he looked over the North, and it seemed that he’d noticed it too. He ignored it for now and replied to wash when cal had left; “Well I’m up for it, I could use a bit of ranged training. Well it seems we’re all in agreement” “F.I.L.S.S., boot up a Free for all please, 3 contestants, I think magnums with amour lock rounds, let’s go for best of two rounds” The scene changed the boundaries surrounding the main fighting areas sank into the floor and multiple stacks rose eliminating the line of sights. “Ready up guys, and try not to get too stiff” He said slyly. He went to his corner and picked up his pistol, The counter ticked down as he cocked the magnum, he took a deep breath and ran to the nearest post.

Alaska ready to start a project like this, she hadn’t started a building project since she passed her Basic training. “I think it would’ve been better if you maybe hadn’t got shot so much,” she chuckled as she looked over to the limbs on the ground, “I’ll get on it” she took off her helmet and it to the side. She tied her hair back. And picked up the first arm, he wasn’t lying about the weight; she crouched down and put it on her shoulder moving it over to one the multiple service cranes dotted around the place. She hadn’t been down to this area too often, she’d been down to take a look at the Pelican that she was going to fly but that was only a minimal visit. Once she had locked the limb in the crane, she moved it closer to the mech. She looked over the arm, she opened the service hatch checking the wiring, and main systems, “I have no clue how we’re going to manage this, the most of the wires are fried, the pistons are not functioning,” She stopped for a moment looking at the service hatch “do you have a soldering kit by any chance? I think I have a plan” She said.

“I suppose it won’t do too much harm,” Wash had never been too keen on ranged combat, he admitted that it was an integral part of being in the military, but always thought of hand to hand combat as more skill, He always explained to his old squad in the same speech; “When you’re in CQC you seen the whites of your enemies eyes and feel the blood pumping in your veins, you’re both dancing an intricate ballet of death, of which only one man will return.” He readied up when the signal was sent and ran blistering out from cover firing wildly in Iowa’s direction although to most others this would seem insane, it was all a part of his, plan, create a wall of crystals to cover you from one side so you only have to worry about 1 person and not getting flanked He held up his pistol and stayed on his guard for north