The Tenth Class

Chapter 1: Unexpected Delays

It was a relatively quiet evening in the mountain areas of the Appalachians. The air was moist and cool, the wild life was going about their normal business. Eventually, there was a faint humming of an airplane in the distance. Not a very big commercial one, just a small one, locally owned. The plane itself wasn't all that interesting as the cargo that was aboard. One young woman, late twenties to early thirties.

This young lady was about 5 foot 9 inches tall, and had a bit of a hefty build to her. Wide shoulders that led way to about a medium sized waist, and a good hip size. She had medium length, dish-water blonde hair that she always wore in a ponytail. She was dressed in her normal blue denim jeans and a plain red t-shirt, with a camo baseball cap topping off her attire.

She sat quietly in her seat in the small airplane, looking out the window at the serene picture of the mountains. In one of the valleys, she thought she saw some wooden buildings, but when she looked again, she couldn't see anything. She sat there for a few minutes when a familiar voice called her name.

"Rose?" a British accent called out. The young woman broke her concentration to turn her head to a small, blue holographic projection of a lean man. "Rose, how much longer do you think we have 'till we get there?"

"I'm sure we have an hour at most left before we get to the airport, Wheatly. You just have to be patient," Rose stated calmly.

"But I'm booored..." the little holograph complained.

"Well, just look out the window at the scenery. That's what I've been doing to pass the time," she reassured him.

"Ugh, I already did that. It didn't help," Wheatly complained even more.

"Well, then I don't know what to tell you friend," Rose said. Wheatly gave a slight sigh.

"Well then, just wake me when we get there. I'm going to power down for a bit," he said.

"Okay, that I can do," Rose confirmed. And with that final comment the little blue hologram disappeared.

Rose went back to looking out the plane window, looking at the mountains as they passed by, enjoying the quietness that was given to her.

Rose didn't get much of that, given her job. She had been working with a few secret organizations for a few years, but got out of that game and became a type of freelancer, work for hire. Before any of this, she was a computer engineer and technician for Aperture Science. But after they tried to steal her work for creating an artificial intelligence unit from scratch and implementing it into another persons mind via neuro-adaptor on the back of one's neck, she left the company to pursue other things in her life. She trained a bit in the martial arts field, teaching herself the basics on self-defense, as well as tinkering with all sorts of mechanical and technological wonders that the rest of the world hasn't even seen yet.

Wheatly was one such creation. She had made him while she still worked for Aperture, and he has been her only companion ever since. Creating him was basically giving birth to another human, since AI's are normally based off of another persons personality. The only problem she saw with that is that AI's like that only have a life span of about seven years, and start to deteriorate after eight. So Rose came up with an idea of making an AI that would last twice as long, if not longer, but doing so means that she would have to create a program that emulate the same principals of giving birth, writing out the different traits that would come with her new AI. And thus, Wheatly was born.

About thirteen minutes passed by when Rose heard something coming towards the plane. She looked out the window some more but couldn't see anything, she could only hear the object coming closer. She grew a tad nervous and decided it was best to get Wheatly online in case something was about to happen.

"Wheatly..." she began, but then was immediately interrupted by a sudden explosion that seemed like it came from the front of the plane.

The plane shook violently due to the explosion and almost knocked Rose out of her seat. After the explosion, the plane took an immediate nose dive to the ground below.

"WHEATLY!" Rose yelled at her AI.

"What! What's going on! All I was doing was taking a nap!" he said innocently.

"The plane's going down! There was an explosion!" she stated.

"OH! Oh my...um, okay what do you want me to do?" Wheatly asked.

"I want you to give me an estimated time to impact, while I head towards the cockpit and check on the damage!" she barked.

"Okay can do! Oi and try to find a parachute along the way, ya? I'm too handsome to die now!" the holographic AI blurted.

Rose smiled for a second while she got up and made her way to the front of the plane. She got up to the door and noticed that it had been a bit smashed up due to the explosion.

"Rose?" she heard Wheatly call out.

"What's the status?" she replied.

"Impact in less that three minutes! We aren't going to have enough time to get out!" he shouted. "You need to find a paracute and get off NOW!"

"Ugh..." she sneered. She wanted to check on the situation in the cockpit, put knew she didn't have enough time. "Fine."
She turned around and made a climb for the back of the plane. On the way she tried to find herself a parachute, but to no avail.

"T-minus 90 seconds Rose!" Wheatly shouted.

"Ugh!" She growled as she continued to make her way to the back. "No use trying to find a 'chute! I have to brace for impact!"

"WHAT?! Are you sure that's such a great idea?"

"I don't really have much of a choice!" She snapped. Once at the back she took cover between the las two rows of chairs, and waited for the massive impact.

"T-minus 30 seconds!" Wheatly stated.

"We'll get through this..." Rose said calmly.

"I hope for our sakes, you're right..." Wheatly replied. "Here we go! 10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2..."

"Rose..."

Rose could hear a distant voice. She felt like she was just floating in darkness, not able to move her body, if she even had a body.

"Rose..."

There was the voice again. This time it sounded closer; a bit clearer.

"Rose! Rose, wake up! Please, wake up!" the voice said frantically. It was much clearer now. She then began to feel her body wake up from the darkness, as she began to slowly open her eyes.

"Oh...ow, oh man...I feel like I was hit by a train..." she grumbled as she began to move around.

"Oh ho, thank goodness you're alive!" the voice said. It was Wheatly. She lifted her head slightly from the ground and began to look around. She noticed a glitchy holographic projection of Wheatly standing just a few inches from her face.

"Are you okay? How do you feel? On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your pain?" Wheatly asked.

"Ugghh...I would say a solid 20..." Rose said as she began to slowly pick herself up from the ground. "Hmph, oh yeah...definitely a solid 20..."

"Well, at least you're alive! Can't say to much about the pilot, of course, but he was already dead from the explosion anyways, right? Hehehe...uh..."

"And at least you're still the ray of sunshine I remember," Rose teased.

"You better believe it missy!" He pointed and shook his holographic finger at Rose, who was now finally on her feet.

"Did anyone see the crash?" She asked.

"Well, I am detecting some life forms coming in from the northwest of the crash, and coming at an alarming rate I might add. Matter of fact there is one really close by," he informed her.

"Wheatly?! Why didn't you tell me sooner?" she said as she began to frantically look for a hiding spot.

"Well sor-ry for being more concerned for your well-being then about who I on their way here to help out!" he snickered.

"They might not be coming to help," she pointed out.

"We don't know that!" Wheatly said.

"Exactly," Rose retorted as she hid behind some thick foliage. She found a spot where she could see the whole wreck, but no one could spot her right away. "I like to play it safe."

"Psh, fine. Play it your way," Wheatly whined.

"Thanks for your permission, I will," she replied. "Now shush."

As the two became quiet there was a rustling in the bushes to the far left of them. After a second, they stopped, as if someone had either fell silent or climbed out of them. Not even a full five seconds passed buy as a man uncloaked from no where. 'Cloaking, huh? Better watch out for him,' Rose thought to herself. The man was wearing a red suit, that had light gray, vertical lines on it. He also wore a maroon ski mask, so Rose couldn't quite identify any bodily features. A few minutes passed by and a young man jumped from out of the same bushes, sprinting at full speed, pistol ready in hand. He came to a sudden stop right next to the masked man.

The you man was wearing a grayish-black baseball cap, with an ear piece on top of it. He also wore a red t-shirt, almost like Roses, but not as torn up and muddied, and a small backpack that hung from his back. He wore some sort of gray Capri shorts that went just below his knees and some knee-high socks with some running shoes to finish the outfit.

'Huh, this kid looks like he's going to a baseball game or something,' Rose though with a smile.

"What took you so long?" the masked man said.

"I was in the middle of drinking my soda, thank you very much!" the young man retorted. From the sounds of it, the young runner sounded like he was from Boston, and the masked gentleman had a French accent to him.

"Zhat never stopped you before," the Frenchman teased.

"Hey, I don't have to explain myself to you, fancy pants!" the Bostonian said with a bit of frustration in his voice. "Anyways, what da hell is going on here?"

The young man looked towards the massive pile of metal that used to be an airplane.

"It's a plane crash," the masked man stated.

"Well duh, Spy, I figured that much!" the young man said. 'Huh, he just called him "Spy." Is that his name?' Rose thought, a bit confused.

"Really? Because it looked like you needed a bit of help," the man named Spy said.

"Alright you two, that's enough bickerin'," a Texan voice said out of no where. Rose looked back at the bush to find about six more men come out to look at the wreckage.

The man that spoke wore a yellow hard hat with goggles around his eyes, as well as overalls with a worker belt around his waist. He was brandishing a shotgun pointed to the ground with a workers glove on his right hand. He also had a symbol of a wrench that showed on his shoulders.

The next fellow that followed behind him was a scholarly looking man, who wore thin, round glasses and a white lab coat with what looked like a white shirt with a red tie underneath. He had a belt around him that was being held by some overall straps. He wore long gray pants that were tucked into some black gray boots. He also held a big gun in his hands, but it didn't look like it shot any bullets. This "gun" was connected to a big mechanism that was strapped to his back, and just like the man before him he had a symbol on his shoulders, but this symbol was a healing symbol signifying that he was a medic of some sort.

After him was a big and burly, bald man, almost twice the size of the gentleman before him. 'Holy crap, that guys is huge,' Rose thought as her eyes widened. This giant of a man had a red shirt on, with a black vest on top, that also had a strap with bullets on it on top of that. He too had black pants that were tucked into his boots. The gun he was carrying was a massive mini-gun that was about as big as he was. On his shoulders was a symbol of a fist.

"What are baby men crying about now," the giant man said, with a deep Russian accent.

"None of ya business, big guy!" the young man retorted. The larger gentleman burrowed his brow as if he was about to charge the younger man.

"That's enough, maggots!" shouted a husky voice. Rose looked to see whose voice that belonged to, and it was a man who looked as if he was a soldier of some sort. The only problem with that was that Rose didn't recognize what branch of any military. He wore a metal helmet loosely on his head and had a sash on his chest that held two grenades. All of that was on a red over-coat. He also wore black pants that tucked into the boots he wore. The weapon in particular was what caught Rose a bit off guard; it was a hulking rocket launcher that he had resting on his right shoulder. And, just as the other three before him, he had a symbol on his shoulders, and this one looked like a rocket.

'Hmmm, these guys just get more and more weird..." Rose thought to herself. After the soldier had passed by to join the rest of the group, there were two more guys that followed to join. One was in a fire-retardant suit (also in red), who had a black gas-mask on his head. On his chest he had three cans of what Rose assumed were some sort of fire-starting grenades. He also carried a giant flame thrower with a gas tank on his back. His symbol on his shoulders was a flame. Unlike the others, this one ran straight over to the wreckage and admired the dancing flames that engulfed it.

"Oi! What 'appened 'ere!" shouted a Scottish voice. Rose looked toward the last man, where the voice came from. This man was a black man, who looked to be a bit tipsy. Rose could tell this because he kept tripping over his own feet from time to time. He wore a black beanie and had an eye-patch over his left eye and carried what looked to be a grenade launcher in one hand and a bottle of some alcohol in the other. He wore what looked like to be somewhat of a bomb suit that had red grenades on straps that came over his shoulders, which also showed a symbol of a spiked bomb.

"Well, your drinking obviously made a whole plane crash, Demoman," the French spy said mockingly. The demoman looked at the bottle he was holding with a wide eye, believing what the masked man had said.

"Your drinking didn't cause the plane to crash Demo," the Texan reassured him. "Spy's just messin' with ya."

A calming look came across the demoman's face, then he looked towards the spy with contempt in his eye.

"If I wasn' drunk, I'd kick ye right in the * hiccups * arse," the Scottsman said, slurring his words and taking a step forward. But before the French spy could say anything, the demoman fell flat on his face. Everyone just looked at him, not even batting an eyelash to wake him up. 'Yup, a weird bunch indeed,' Rose thought to herself, amused at what was going on.

"Well, now zhat zhat is taken care of, where is zhe bushman?" the Frenchman asked. 'Wait, there's one more? How many of these guys are there?' Rose thought.

"Oh, Sniper?" the Texan responded. "You know him, he likes to keep his distance."

"Hmph, typical," the spy said with contempt in his voice. "Anyways, it didn't seem like there were any survivors from this crash."

"Ya, it seems that way doesn't it," the Texan said.

"Hey! I found the pilot! I think..." yelled out a Boston accent. "And I found some extra luggage of some sort!" The men made their way to the right of the crash where the young man went to; well, everyone except the drunk and the one Rose assumed to be a pyromaniac.

"Hmm, well don't that beat all," a Texan voice called out.

"Zhere was probably another passenger," the Frenchman retorted, "but I don't see a body anywhere."

"They probably survived," the Texan said.

"Zhat vould be very unlikely, Engineer," a German accent stated. "A crash of zhis magnitude would surely cause any passengers on board to die instantly from zhe crash."

"Well then, smart guy, where's the other body?" the Bostonian asked curtly.

"Hmm, I vould say somevhere inside that flaming rubble," the German said.

"Well, guess we'll have to put out the fire to find out, huh fellas?" the Texan said.

"Mmmphmm!" an angry muffled voice sounded. Rose looked to see that the muffled voice came from the pyromaniac. 'Great, a mute,' she though.

"Well, I guess we could leave it 'til morning. The fire doesn't seem to be too significant to cause any damage to the trees or anythin'," the Texan stated.

"Alright men! Back to base! And no stragglers this time, maggots," the soldier demanded.

With all the commotion behind them, the big, burly Russian grabbed the demoman by the back of his collar and started to drag him along while they all walked back the way they came, with the Scottsman still sound asleep.

"Are they finally gone?" Wheatly asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Rose answered.

"Oh, thank goodness," Wheatly said. Rose stayed put for a bit longer, though. Wheatly noticed this and found it rather odd since all the men left.

"Why aren't you moving?" he asked.

"They have a sniper out there," she answered.

"Huh? What do you...ooohh," he said, realizing what the Texan and the Frenchman had said. "Well, when do you think the coast will be clear?" Rose didn't move or say anything. "Rose?"

"It should be fine now, but just in case, Wheatly, I need you to be able to do a quick heat sig scan to see if the same people are near by," Rose instruced.

"Yes ma'am!" Wheatly said. He then went quiet for about a minute and then finally came back. "Okay! So apart from the normal wildlife, there are no human forms within about a good mile!"

"Good!" Rose said as she slowly got up. As she straitened out, a sudden pain shot through the upper-front pf her torso. "Ungh!" she grunted as she bent over in pain.

"Rose! Are you okay?" Wheatly asked urgently.

"Yeah, I...I'm fine," she tried to reassure him.

"No...no you're not. My scans indicate a broken rib on the left side of your torso. Rose, we need to get you some medical help. That fellow with the German accent seemed like a doctor..." he began to suggest.

"No! We have no idea who those men were. Did you see their weapons?" Rose interrupted.

"But Rose..." Wheatly began again.

"NO! I don't want to risk anything, Wheatly!" Rose said, raising her voice. Wheatly went quiet, and for a moment they were both quiet. Then Rose proposed an idea.

"But...if he is some sort of doctor, then that means he has a medical office, right?" she stated.

"Yeah..." Wheatly responded slowly.

"And if he has a medical office, then he might have something that could help until we get to an actual hospital. One where there are no men with giant guns," Rose pointed out.

"Hmm, I guess that could work," Wheatly said. "Okay then, lets go!"

"That's the spirit! Now, which way did they go?" Rose asked.

"Um..." Wheatly began, "I think they went northwest through those bushes."

"Alright, can you detect any type of structures nearby?"

"Hmm, there is a facility about 1.5 miles northwest from here."

"Good. We need to start moving. It's starting to get dark out."

"What's this 'we' thing? You're the one with the legs remember?" Wheatly teased.

"Oh shut up, you know what I meant," Rose snapped, jokingly.

And with that, Rose made her way to the bushes the eight men came through, picked up her small backpack that survived the crash and headed towards the facility Wheatly had mentioned, leaving the flaming pile of metal rubble behind. She made a good pace, and was able to reach the outer part of the facility. 'Hmm, I should probably get to higher ground so I can get a better view of what I'm getting myself into,' Rose thought to herself. Wheatly kept relatively quiet while she made her way up the back of a cliff that overlooked the facility. When she got near the top, she got on her hands and knees, slowly crawling to the edge, then she poked her head over the edge. What she saw almost took her breath away as she overlooked the massive facility that lied below. As she looked around, her eyes came across a light flicker on the other side where there was another cliff overlooking the facility. Rose froze, holding her breath as she realized what it was.

"Rose? Rose, what's wrong?" Wheatly asked, noticing h Rose's strange behavior.

"Sniper," Rose said curtly.