[IC] Before RvB there was; Project Freelancer

[Argetlam350]

"Well strength isn't everything but thanks for the compliment," Montana said with a chuckle ",Though if we are best of the best then this should be an interesting competition for that board placement. Still doesn't hurt to be able to take a few hits though, I do enjoy a good fight." A slow silence then filled the void between the two freelancers. Montana had never been much of a talker, at least unless it involve yelling and breaking someone's nose. He didn't mind the conversation so far but he was starting to get slightly uncomfortable himself with it, unsure what else to say.

"Well, I guess it was good meeting you Louisiana, or Lou for short, that will be easier to remember," he said ",I'm going to keep wandering until that med call comes in for the AI. That's going to be new, having an AI in battle. Wonder what that will be like."

[Heroic]

West sighed as he walked away from Arizona. "Man, Arizona..." He muttered to himself. "Dry and unforgiving. Both the state and the person." He shook his head. Hopefully he could go get his team. And not for Garret's sake, but for his own sake. In West's experience, people like that are the first to go. "I just want my armor ability..." West truly was more concerned about his new "superpower" than his new partner. Just as he was thing this, however, the intercom blared just as he walked past it, making him grab the side of his head.

"Agent W-"

"Gee Whizz, people!"

"-est. Please report to the Medical bay for your procedure.

"Booyah!" Hood dashed down the hall, eager to get his upgrade. When he arrived at the medical bay, he simply greeted the doctors with a nod. When he was offered the waiver, he quickly skimmed over it and gave it the A-okay. With his signature. He took his set of pills, just as all the agents before him, and fell unconscious.

Upon his awakening, a green figure stood in front of him. And now, this would have probably been another freelancer, but a few things were off. The guy was floating, for one. He was also glowing and green and, above all, no bigger than West's forearm. "Hello, Agent West Virginia. I am Delta, your new AI and partner."

"Woah. Fa rizzle?"

"Yes. And I must tell you a few things. First off, you and I are now partners. Second, I am not to interact with any other agent's AI at any time. Third, your vision enhancement ability is now activiated. This grants you X-Ray vision, thermal vision, night vision, telescopic vision, and tracking vision."

"Wowzers."

"Now that those are out of the way, shall we carry on with some training?"

"Right after mealtime, Delta-bud. Now I'm hungry." West got up and went to the cafeteria to grab some grunb.

[datadogie]

"See ya later." Ruby says, finishing the form. She lifts the glass and the pills to her eyes, and looks at them closely, for some reason finding it entertaining to examine the pills. A minute or so later, Kansas was called in, and she walked in. She sat down where she was told, and took the pills. "Yuck. I never liked wat-" She didn't get to finish saying the word 'water', as she fell unconscious, her head landing on the table like a dropped plate with a groan.

Even in her dreams, Ruby heard a buzzing sound. Although, it wasn't so much hearing it, more like feeling it. She felt what felt like ice flooding her head, and then suddenly, nothing. Kansas waited to see what would happen next, but nothing happened.

A while later, Ruby's eyes began to flutter open. The first thing she noticed was the pain in her head that felt like someone had drilled inside and filled it with acid. The second thing she noticed was that there seemed to be a figure leaning forward, looking at her. At first, Kansas thought it was a Freelancer, however after a second she saw that the figure was small. Very small, and seemed to be gray. She guessed that it was her AI, and she began to smile. Her helmet was on, so she guessed that it couldn't see her smile, though it could probably sense her enjoyment. As if to prove her theory, the AI waved it's hand in front of her visor. "Hello. I am Iota." It says, it's voice having a tinge of... What? Ignorance? Annoyance?
"Hello, Iota." Kansas says. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Ruby, but you're supposed to call me Kansas." She smiles. Iota seems to cock his head.
"Before we 'get to know eachother', I would like to say a few things."
"Please do, my new friend."
"Firstly, I am not allowed to communicate directly with any other AI units. Secondly, we are now partnered. Thirdly, I have been told to inform you that your disruption ability has been activated. This ability enables you to disrupt electronics, and has an additional side effect of causing nausea and headaches. Not to you, but to hostiles around you."

"That sounds fun, although I wonder if the headaches they get are as bad as the headache I am currently having." Rose says, her smile still on her face. She reaches forward, and holds her hand open. Iota looks at her hand for a moment, and then he 'sits' in her hand. Rose giggles.

[cerozer0]

'Lou? How stupid.'

"A-Ah, right. Nice meeting you. I suppose we'll all be called down to the med bay eventual-" She froze as the intercom came on and off, ordering many of the freelancers to the infirmary. Seemed like her time was coming up swiftly. Louisiana rose her hand in a silent farewell before brushing passed the larger man, towards the med bay, just as her name buzzed through the intercom. Her armor moved stiffly as she rose her head high, walking passed many white-suited workers until she was met with the crowded med-bay. Hands ushered her into a sudden enclosed area, and a pen and paper was shoved into her hands, which she attempted to read slowly, to take in whatever they were about to do to her, but was rushed by pleading, tired eyes and excited whispers. She eventually just signed her name and sat back in the chair they had offered to her.

"Miss Chris Valentine, please." Louisiana felt her eyebrows furrow once her name was mentioned, they rose curiously when a cup of pills and a cup of water was pushed up into her vision. She glared down at the cups, taking both very carefully, and after a moment of mental preparing she downed both and allowed her body to relax. The chatter of the nurses began to simmer down, a door was shut, and Lou began to fade in and out of consciousnesses. Her gray eyes sweltered with worry, staring up at the florescent-bulbed ceiling, just before she felt nothing at all.

It was dark, too dark. Chris Valentine hated the dark. She hated not being able to see anything. She hated not being able to trust anyone, anything. She hated plenty of things. In that darkness, with her head feeling like mush and her mouth unable to form coherent sounds, she though about all the things she hated. Each sentence within her brain swirled lazy, making anagrams while her brain whirred heavily. There was a sudden, sharp pain, and a buzz in her ear, and then a light. Pale yellow, and off in the distance, if she cared enough to reach for it she would have, but Chris Valentine was much too tired and scared. Instead of moving, she faded again, back into the scary, scary darkness.

Louisiana slowly opened her eyes to see the familiar white ceiling of her room. Her head was buzzing and aching, while her body was currently sweating up a storm within her armor. Her helmet, which had been taken away before the surgery, was placed delicately at her bed side table. She slowly sat up, gripping her head, when suddenly words filled her mind. Not her own words, but short, cheery, mechanical words.

"Hel-lo. My nam-e is Zeta!"

Lou felt her eyes widen, and then a sudden yellow figure appeared in front of her. No bigger then a cup, and looking forward with the mannerisms of a child, Louisiana felt her mouth open slowly and then close. Was this an AI? It's so... Tiny. Zeta cocked it's head slightly, tittering voice forming short, soft giggles as it once again repeated its greeting. Lou watched it with an intense interest, then she slowly let her back lead against the wall behind her bed, gray eyes tired, annoyed, and uncomfortable.

"Hello, Zeta. I'm Louisiana. Are you an AI?"

"Y-es! I am Ze-ta! I am your AI! I'l-l always he-lp you when you nee-d it!"

Louisiana rose a hand to her her temple, rubbing the flesh gently,

"Alright, so do you, uhm, have any rules?" The AI vanished from standing right in front of Lou's face to on her shoulder, sitting down with a loud sigh, nodding as they began to explain their general protocol. Lou listened intently, grimacing every so often as she attempted to get used to the whispers in her brain, and the idea of this thing constantly looking in on whatever she is doing. Eventually, the conversation became a bit more interesting, as Zeta mentioned her new armor ability.

"Holograms? Sound... Fun." Lou smirked slightly, gray eyes gleaming with inspiration, but it faded as a sudden pang filled her mind. She clenched her teeth, then turned and shoved her face deep into her pillow. A concerned sound from Zeta made the headache worse, and after Louisiana let out a soft cry, they both stopped talking, and silence filled her head and room.

'How the hell... Am I gonna deal with this...' She thought, eyes slammed shut. Might as well just sleep for the rest of the day, recover. Lou had no taste for anyone right now after all.

[Argetlam350]

Montana continued to wander around the ship, not running into any other freelancers as he waited to be called down to the med bay. When it seemed like he was about to crack and had to hit something was when his name was finall call, saving whoever was going to have to face his impatience.

"Agent Montana, report to the Medical Bay for your procedure."

"About damn time," he said gruffly as he made his way down more hallways and shoving past several people who rather then protest, just tried to stay clear of his path. Upon reaching the med bay, he saw it to be rather crowded, filled with several white suited men and women. When some seemed to notice his arrival, he was ushered off to the side, and in annoyance he complied. He was led off to another room where he was forced into signing his name on a few papers which he did, rather then keep on having to deal with these people. If he had to hear them tell him to hurry and write his name once more he was going to throw one of them across the room.

For a brief few minutes after signing his name he was left alone, and told to remove his helmet, which he did, revealing his face which shockingly didn't look as bad as some thought for how he acted and always kept his helmet on. He merely preferred keeping his identity to himself. Shortly the white suited people returned with a cup of pills and water. He ignored the water and down the pills, just hoping this procedure was going to happen shortly. It didn't take long for the pills kicked in, voices became distant and his vision slowly blurred and faded out into absolute nothingness, until darkness remained.

He awoke what felt like seconds later to him within his own room, a mind splitting headache accompanying his awakening."Oh what the hell did they do to me, feels like I was punched by a building," he grumbled.

If that knocks you down, you are weak, a gruff and agitated voice said startling him to full alertness.
"Who said that?" he questioned and was greeted by a small gray AI.
I did, I am Omega, the AI said still with the same voice of agitation. His form was gray and black in color with a hazy effect, like smoke has to it, the AI seemed to wear an EVA helmet, with a security (left shoulder) and grenadier (right shoulder) shoulder piece, a grenadier V2 chest piece, and air assault knee pads.

"All right, Omega, so what's your deal? What do you do?" Montana asked with the same agitation in his voice looking straight at the AI
I enhance your strength and hand to hand combat techniques along with your weapon capabilities and skills, Omega stated as fact ,I'm also to instruct you of rules the Director has. With that the AI went on about the specifics on what was expected with the AI and other rules to follow.
"Well that's a lot of stuff to remember but I hope the director knows that on the battlefield there are no rules," Montana said a smirk on his face as he grabbed his helmet ",This will be an interesting partnership."

[Nytefall]

Washington stood up out of his bed holding his head in his hands. "Hey Epsilon? Is my head supposed to hurt this much? Feels like someones pounding away at my helmet with a sledgehammer. Stumbling he made his way out of his room. A few staff moved out of the way as Washington bumped shoulders with them. "Sorry"

Epsilon spoke in a cheerful tone female tone. "Don't worry there pal, the pain is just your subconscious and mine becoming one. It's going to allows you to recall a lot of memories that your brain normally can't however-" An ear splitting scream filled his ear, Washington crashed through the door of the Canteen knocking over a bin as he cried out in pain. The noise stopped as suddenly as it had started. His ear ringing, Washington slowly and painfully got to his feet.

"Epsilon? You there buddy?" A voice suddenly filled his head.

"But sir you have no idea what effects this will have on the A.I.. The A.I. was entrusted to you. It was going to help you with your research."

Washington recognised the next voice, it belonged to the Director. "That is right Corporal it was entrusted to me. Not you, not him. Me! You do well to know your place. Prepare the Architect. I've already had project freelancer accepted by the board of directors. I want the A.I. ready."

Then there was silence. Washington was now lying against the wall of the canteen. Epsilon appeared. "Sorry about that Wash, had to reboot. Some kind of bug in my system. Should be gone now. Wash? You alright."

"I just heard voices in my head"

Epsilon was silent for a moment. "Well then I'll have you booked to see the doc-"

"I'M NOT CRAZY! What I meant to say was. I heard the director talking to someone in my head, about something called the Architect"

Epsilon was silent again however this time when she spoke her voice was full of static and her speech was slow as if every word was a mile. "The Architect, I recognise that name for some reason. But I can't place my finger on it."

Washington sighed. "You don't have any fingers. It doesn't matter. As you said it was just a glitch and it shouldn't happen again. Lets get something to eat." Looking at the bin he had knocked over he pointed at the first staff member that walked in. " Come on man pick up this mess you made!" The man confused began to clean up the mess that he thought he had made as Washington walked up to the canteen serving area chuckling as he did so.

[Heroic]

West saw Washington heading toward the canteen area as he walked in. "I recognize that fella... He's the one who got his gut utterly demolished by the first robot we saw. He seened like a decent guy." West said to no one in particular, but Delta responded anyways.

"It's a brilliant idea for you to try to get to know your team." Delta reinforced.

"Yeah, I thought so too..." West responded. "But at least one on our team doesn't feel the same."

"Something happen?"

"Just nearly had an altercation with Arizona, just because he doesn't like people. Supposedly."

"Sounds like a rather interesting character."

"Yeah. That's one way of putting it." West muttered and looked down and off to the side. His helmet was still on, but he didn't notice. The guy never payed attention to that and tended to forget since he was just so accustomed to having it on. "Hey, man. What's up? I'm West Virginia. You can call me West." He said to Washington and offered a handshake as he stood behind him, waiting to be served. He tried to sum the guy up. People like Washington tended to not be much, but when you take into consideration that he was just here, a supersoldier in a project dedicated to supersoldiers, he had to say that the guy seemed like he could handle himself. Of course, Garret could too. And he always liked using the fact that he is a sniper to make people assume that he couldn't handle himself in hand to hand combat, when the reality was that he'd never been "outmarksmanned" or beaten mano a mano.

[MaskedHeroZ]

'Wow, that guy really needs to get his head out of his a-'

"Agent Arizona please report to the Medical Bay."

The loudspeaker blared, ruining any chance for him to finish his disgruntled thought. It still didn't mean he wasn't going to irk him all the way there. Luckily for him it was only down two of the many hallways. Most of the people he passed seemed respectable enough to ignore him and he did the same for them. Eventually finding himself in the Medical Bay. It was too crowded for his tastes, people dressed in white suits going every which way.

It was disorientating for him among other things, even more so when he was ushered aside into one of the adjacent surgery rooms. Datapads forced into his field of vision for him to sign and give his consent, with some reluctance he did so. Dry swallowing the prescribed pills, it took some time before he felt their effects. His vision growing darker until he fell into unconsciousness.

He had a dream, or more like a singular memory play out for him. He couldn't grasp any definite details, like an abstract artist recreating everything he had known, but he could feel what it was. The cold ground underneath him, the weight of the bodies he had taken cover underneath. The taste of copper in his mouth.

Needless to say, Arizona woke up screaming, a powerful jolt of pain hitting his head that quickly put a stop to it. He looked around wildly, his eyes wide and full of fright beneath his helmet, still in those few precious moments where reality and dream still sort themselves out into their proper places. He thankfully realized he was back in his room. The tacky color scheme oddly being comforting sight for him despite his initial reaction to it.

"H-Hello." A sickly sweet voice asked, it was obviously feminine, or rather young. That much he could tell. He looked around himself and his room. It sounded close, but there was nothing there. Experimentally, he waved a hand near his faceplate, silently saying hello as well.

"You don't like to talk a lot, do you?" The voice asked, Arizona could only assume it was the A.I he had received or he was finally going through a mental breakdown. None of the voices that could potentially be in his head would never really ask that question.

"Why can't I see you?" He asked bluntly, still searching around the room for the program's avatar.

"Do you see the mirror in the corner? Walk towards it." He sighed, doing as he was told. Mostly out of a sense of curiosity than actually obeying the A.I. He wasn't surprised to find his own yellow armor staring back at him. What did get his to flinch in surprise was when it suddenly changed into an Indigo color. His head suddenly shifting to the side as if he was getting a good look at himself. The A.I's voice filtering out of his helmet through it's radio.

"Better? Because, I can change it for us too. I mean, if you want." It did so, going through a veritable rainbow of colors and patterns. Honestly, it brought a moment of terror to Arizona, but only a moment. An A.I hijacking his body for dress-up was the least irritating part of the day he had been having.

"Not exactly, no." He replied dryly, wrenching his head back from the position it had taken. Interestingly, also turning his armor back into it's original color. "I'm going to go out on a limb here and presume you're the A.I they stuck into me."

"Mhm. I'm Kappa. If that's alright with you, I'm sure you can always just replace me too." It said with an odd mix of enthusiasm and barely hidden self-loathing. Once more controlling his armor to talk. It was becoming annoying when it did that, but it's words actually tugged at what was left of Arizona's heart.

"I'm Arizona, and as long as you don't mess with my body anymore, I'll keep you around."

"Oh, okay. Well, it's nice to meet you Agent Arizona." It replied, once more using his body to speak. "Oops, I'm sorry."

"Just. Just tell me the rules you have." Arizona gritted his teeth to avoid snapping at the thing, he guessed it wasn't it's fault. He would do the same thing if he could hide his appearance, which apparently he now could from what was being told to him. The rules also seemed straight forward, it wasn't like he wanted to talk to any of his fellow peers anyways.

"That's basically it, I'm sure one of the other A.I's would tell it better though."

"No, it's okay. I got most of it. I just need to lay down for a couple more hours. Feel free to turn me invisible." Invisible naps were something no man was ever supposed to have and yet here he was about do just that. Of course, he didn't notice a brief flicker of Indigo across his armor as he laid down, nor Kappa's timid whispers as he closed his eyes to sleep.

[PhoenixEye9]

"We need Agent Oregon to report for implantation,"
Milo looked around he was definitely wasn't the last but he also wasn't involved in today's morning wake up, but oh well he wasn't going to question them wanting him in surgery. Now he was a little slow though wandering for a bit before he found the med bay.
"Alright Agent Oregon come over here and sit down," One of the many doctors said leading him to a chair. Immediately after Milo sat down he was bound to the chair and anethstesia (Yes it is spelled wrong) was already going in.

A few hours later Milo woke up in his room, a glowing white... person in front of him. "Hello, I am your assigned A.I, I am known as Gamma"
"Hi Gamma, so like... what are you in my head for I never really got that memo?"
"Well, my purpose is to help you in combat, and provide other support. Example did you know the sky is pink?"
"... The sky isn't pink though..."
"Or is it?"
"It's not it has always been blue,"
"Oh really?"
"YES!! YES IT IS,"
"Are you positive?"
".. No.. I think.."
"My point exactly,"
"Whatever, my head hurts, you blew my mind, I need to meet the team.." Milo said getting up and walking towards his room door completely forgetting to look around the room he has never been in before.

[Nytefall]

Washington turned to West's greeting. He had just taken his helmet off as he grabbed a handful of food from the canteens serving table. Stuffing a lump of bread in his mouth he looked at West for a moment. Swallowing he spoke. "Sorry about that, we weren't supposed to eat or drink before the operation so I am STARVING!" Placing all the food on a plate he motioned for West to follow him as he found a place to eat in the canteen.

Crunching into an apple he smiled at West. "My name's Agent Washington. You can call me Wash for short or just Agent Wash. Hmm, i suppose you could call me Agent Washington. Anyway i'm getting ahead of myself. You're West Virginia. Man what a codename. I will call you Agent West or just West for short. You're the Sniper right? Glad to see someone likes to keep safe. Most of us are all close combatants. You're A.I. must be Delta then. I took a quick peek at everyone's files when the Director left his office un-atteneded. Needless to say I was caught and received a right bollocking. I have Epsilon. Apparently they're not supposed to talk to each other but a quick hello never hurt anyone."

Epsilon appeared on table and waved at West. "Hey there West"

Washington rubbed his rough beard slowly. "I find it weird how my A.I. looks like me. Well armour wise yet has the voice of a woman. That, is really strange." Epsilon shrugged in response.

"Well Wash I feel like there's a part of me missing maybe a corrupted memory file? We are experemental A.I. after all.

[Heroic]

Gathering his food from the plethora of options, he mostly stuck to his meat filled diet. He laughed at Wash's response about being starving, and frankly the hunger hit him rather suddenly as well. As he followed Wash over to the table, he breathed a sigh of relief. At least one other person on the squad was okay with being social, and even appeared to be a good teammate.

West sat down across from Washington. "Great to meet you, Wash. It's a good thing our nicknames don't entail out-of-combat jobs. For your sake," he chuckled at his own joke. "But yeah, I'm the sniper. And more importantly, I never miss my mark." He took a bite out of a chicken wing, savoring the taste, then spoke when he swallowed. "But I'll warn you now, I can also handle myself if I need to be up close and personal juuuuust fine."

"Oh, and yeah, you saw my record right. Delta's my new partner in crime. Say hello, Dee."

The small green man appears standing on the table next to my tray and says, "How do you do, Agent Washington. Epsilon."

Hood took another bite out of his drumstick, then his green beans. Yep, I'm definitely going to like this guy. He thought to himself.

"So what'd you think of that little test? You know, with the robots and all." West pondered.

[PhoenixEye9]

Oregon walked into the cafeteria, seeing two people neither one he knew, but both with A.I meaning they had to be in the cool kid club... but were they really... Anyone could have just got it put in. Cautiously Oregon walked up, "Hello" he said eying the two men, "how are the two of you?" he said still eying both of them. Thats when Gamma came out, "Hello Agent Washington, Agent West Virginia. Also hello Brother and Sister."
"So you two are agents, just like me. Well I'm Agent Oregon..." his voice trailing off,

[Heroic]

"Another Agent is approaching." Delta said before Oregon started to speak.

"Huh?" Responded West, and he turned to his side as Oregon got there. After Oregon spoke, West smiled at him. "'Tis always a pleasure to meet a new teammate." he said as he stuck out his hand for a friendly handshake, then offered the man seat next to him. "Say, I didn't see you on the training field. Are you a veteran Freelancer here?" he asked curiously. If this man was an experienced Freelancer, then he probably knew his crap. And probably wouldn't put up with any either. Though, with the help of Delta's calculating nature, West figured the man wasn't after he remembered him trailing off upon introducing himself.

[Nytefall]

Washington looked at the other agent when he approached the table. Waving he swallowed the mouthful of chicken he had been devouring. "What's popping player?!"

Washington had finished the mountain of food that he had prepared for himself and had been about prepare another plate when the intercom came to life. The voice of the Director could be heard over the intercom. "All Agents are to report to the briefing room immediately. That is all"

Washington's shoulders sagged. Wiping his mouth he placed his helmet back on his head, Epsilon disappeared from the table as well. "Well fellas, it seems as though the mighty Director has called for are eyes and ears in the briefing room. Best not to disappoint him." Getting up off the bench he stretched his arm behind his head and burped. "Alright let;s go then. Epsilon where is the briefing room?"

Epsilons voice chimed in reply. "Updating your HUD now.

Winking inside his helmet he followed the red dot that appeared in front of him. "Thank you Epsilon." It didn't take Washington long to get to the briefing room arriving he found the room empty being the first there. It didn't take long for the room to fill with agents. Once everyone was here the Director and his right hand man the Counselor in tow. The room went quiet.

"Good afternoon agents of Project Freelancer. I am the Director and this is the Counselor. We are currently updating your A.I.s with the Mission brief as well as the location. You will leave at 22:00 hours and begin your mission. That is all, you are dismissed. The Director and the Counselor walked off the stage, leaving the room quiet for a moment as everyone's A.I.s explained the mission details.

"Alrighty Agent Washington got a tough mission coming up from my calculations there is a; 20% chance that you may die. However let's not think about that.

The mission is simple; Insurgent forces have attacked the Power plant on Research planet Delta-6B, they have sabotaged and disabled the nuclear reactor and have possibly overloaded the reactors core to critical levels. Their main objective seems to be disruption of the research facility located on the planet. We are to stabilize the reactor and rescue any survivors we find, eliminating any threats to the mission that may arise. There are several key characters involved in this attack:

George Relph: The Insurgents Second in command he is a deadly man who is skilled in many different martial arts.
Simmons Westford: Well known hacker. Wanted for Cyber Crimes as well as sabotage and terrorism.
Finally there is Beth a Mercenary skilled with the Covenant Energy sword. She is known for using alien tech in battle and is possibly the most dangerous of the lot.

Apart from that there is a force of probably over 100 insurgents armed with various types of weaponry as well as Freelancer Armour abilities. It seems Agent Washington that your in char of this mission. Best go up there and talk to the troops!

Washington nodded Stepping up onto the stage he motion to the agents to listen.

" Hey, I'm agent Washington and as you've heard I'm in charge of this mission and I. Have a plan! The only way we're going to beat these guys is with team work. I think a stealthy approach is necessary with a sprinkling of distraction and chaos to make the stealthy part easier. West you will be Overwatch and Sniper support. Your job will be to keep an eye on our enemies positions and also ours.

We will split into two groups. Myself, Agent Kansas, Agent Arizona and Agent Louisiana will head to the reactor and ensure that it is stabilized returning power to the facility and to its defences. The research facility operates a Skeleton crew of about 12 scientist who use robots similar to the ones we fought for defence and manual labour. Once power is returned we will search for the Scientist.

The rest of you will work on distracting and drawing away the enemy from the reactor. Once the defences are back up the robots should help out making it easier to push back the Insurgents and force them off the planet or, wipe them out."

Taking a deep breath he looked at the agents. "Any Questions?"

[Heroic]

West responded instantly to the call for the agents, and he got up and went with Washington to the designated area, but Delta put a waypoint up anyways. When the Director updated everyone's AIs with the objective, West had Delta relay the key details to him.

"I've calculated that the average chance of survival for this mission amongst all soldiers is about 65%. Luckily for you, there are no known soldiers that even come close to matching you in marksmanship ability, on their side as well as ours. You have a 95% chance to survive."

"Booyah! What else you got for me, D?" Delta said, and he relayed all the important information to him, as well as the mission objective. Then Washington started to speak. Upon his mention of everyone's jobs, West pumped his fist. "Booyahgain!"

"Did you just combine 'booyah' and 'again'?" Delta asked.

"That means that I get to save some lives. This will be great fun." West remarked, smirking. "And with you and my Supersight, no one is sneaking up on anyone." He high-fived an unenthusiastic holographic projection of Delta and looked around, realizing that he was going to be a lone if all went right through the entire mission. "But being alone sucks..." He muttered, then slumped his shoulders for a moment before shrugging it off.

[Tracker]

The last thing Nevada remembered before the world went dark was a blinding light in his hands, and the sound of something expensive blowing up. Then there was nothing.
Am I dead? was his first thought. Probably not... Just unconscious. What happened?
“Your gun blew up and knocked you out.” Said a voice.
Aaah... good. So, why is there a voice in my head? This is my private place!
“I'm not in your head. And you're waking up. So open your eyes and look around.” The voice said.
Nevada didn't trust it at first. He still felt like resting. But he groaned and opened his eyes. He was in a medbay, it seemed. But what was more out of place was the tiny, floating, violet man in front of him. “So... who, and what, are you?” Nevada asked, running a hand through his short, blonde hair. “And where is my helmet?”

“I'm Theta, your AI partner. I can help you monitor your teammates' vitals and positions. And you could hear me while unconscious because I am implanted directly into your head.”

“So, they put a computer in my head?”

“In a way, yes. And your helmet is over there.” Theta said and pointed at the green helmet on a nearby counter.

“Great. So, did any cute nurses see my face?” Nevada asked as he got out of the bed, picked up his helmet and put it on.

“Depends on what you consider cute. Also, the briefing for the first mission of project Freelancer is starting shortly. I'll lead you there.”

Running around the ship for a little while, Nevada found the briefing room. And only slightly behind schedule. He managed to hear how the teams were to be split, and pondered it for a few seconds.

“Yeah, I have a question. Why am I not on the first team? You'll be needing an engineer, right?” He said, finding a seat.

[Nytefall]

Washington had nit spotted Nevada entering the room and in fact he had not taken into account Nevada at all in his plan. Tapping his helmet he looked at Nevada talking to himself he said. "Yo Epsilon, what's the skinny on this guy. Background, personality and fighting style if you would."

Several images of Nevada appeared on his HUD as well as several files. "Hmmm seems that Nevada's history is off limits, no surprises there. All of the agents have their history kept secret for their own safety and anyone they know. But the other things you asked are all here. What he says is true, he's a skilled engineer and would be a valuable member for your reactor team. Seems his A.I. is Theta-" Epsilon cut out and went silent. Tapping his helmet he heard the directors voice again.

"Listen to me that man thinks he can report me for doing what I want with something given to me?! Who the hell does he think he is?! Bring him here." The sound of heavy feet against metal grating could be heard by Washington returning with another set of footsteps.

"What is the meaning of this? Let go of me!" A brief struggle and heavy breathing then a gunshot and silence. The Directors voice spoke.

"Nothing will interfere with Project Freelancer, dump the body and make it look like an accident. Prepare the Architect for Alpha."

Washington was silent as the recording finished. Epsilon continued from where she had suddenly stopped as if nothing had happened.

"It seems that he would work well in your team Agent Washington. Washington? Are you okay?"

Snapping out of the silence he chuckled. "Yeah. I'm. I'm fine." Jumping down off the stage he walked up to Nevada and hugged him. "Sorry about that buddy, you weren't in the list of active agents. You must of been a late OP. No matter, your on my squad here's the details of the mission" Sending the mission details to Nevada he looked over the rest of Agents silently wondering what these, recordings mean.

[datadogie]

Agent Kansas woke due to what seemed like a buzz in her head. "God, damn, what is that noise?" She mumbles. The noise stops. "Sorry, had to wake you up. Mission briefing, over here." She sees a marker appear on her HUD, and quickly ran toward it, exiting her room and rushing down the hall. She had arrived with the other agents, panting. Throughout the briefing, she wondered something. If the insurgents had attacked a power plant, and were smart enough to disable the robots and shut down the reactor, they wouldn't be stupid enough to leave the mainframe unguarded. Activation of the reactor would be computerized. Nobody would want to stand in the generator and give it a shove or two to start it. Of course, they would probably have external defenses; insurgents guarding the access. However, they had a hacker on their team. Ruby raises her hand.

"You said they had a hacker on their team. They managed to shut down a reactor, which is normally computer controlled. The hacker isn't going to be stupid enough to not place a firewall of some sort. Do we know what type of other insurgent activities that Simmons Westford has been involved in that has involved hacking into a computer?" Ruby asks. She wanted to know what kind of firewall she may have to hack into to get the reactor back online. She hears a small scowl, and a voice inside her head. "Do you really need to ask that much? You could've just asked me." Iota says in her head, to which she replies with a quiet sigh. Ruby sees that Washington was hugging Nevada, and cocked her head slightly, watching the interaction while she waited for an answer.

[Heroic]

West looked around at his team. It was everyone from the robot simulation plus this Nevada guy. "Called it. We're all a team," he said matter-of-factly. He wondered how that Arizona guy felt about having to be involved with others. "So we have an antisocial ninja, an engineer, a hacker, a marksman, and a plethora of CQC specialists. Great lineup, in all honesty. I think we'll do just fine."

"Agreed. If you all work as a team, everyone is highly likely to come out alright on this mission."

"Hmm... Wait a sec. I need time to get a spot, and get a feel for the area." West muttered. "In order to be an Overwatch guy, I need to be in place the moment the team gets there. How do I put in a request for predeployment with the director?"

"I've already submitted your request."

"Oh... Thanks, Dee. You're the bomb."

"I'll inform you on the Director's decision when it comes in."

"Awesome." And with that, Garret turned his attention back to the real world once again. Washington was hugging Nevada. At least he's a caring leader. he thought to himself. He leaned up against the wall nearest him and smirked under his helmet at his new teammates. He was sure this bunch wasn't going to die on him anytime soon.

[Argetlam350]

Zeke had made it to the briefing on the nick of time after he had got done with speaking with his new AI Omega. Hearing how he would be part of the second team that would be taking care of enemy forces he smiled under his helmet. He could use a good fight and now with an AI he couldn't wait to see what he now could do on the field of battle.

"So second team will get to have all the fun it sounds," he said cracking his knuckles ",Take all the time in the world getting to the objective. The more people I get to down the more fun I get to have."

I'll also be able to see if you are worthy enough to be partnered with me, Omega growled within Zeke's helmet.

"Yeah and like I told you, I'm the best of these chumps anyways so you should be honored," Zeke replied back to the AI in a low enough voice so no one else could hear him.