To Be A Freelancer- Ch. 1

I do not own Red vs Blue, nor any of the characters used in it.

Summary: What if Church/Alpha was sent to training, then recruited into the Freelancer program so the Director could keep an eye on him? How would that change the plot of the Freelancer arc?

Like if you want more!

-PA

"Hey Wash. Wait up." North called out. He caught up to Washington, who paused for him. "Listen, I heard you had a meeting with internals." They walked along at a slow pace together.

Wash glanced at him. "Oh, you did?"

"Yeah. Do you mind if I ask what it was about?"

Wash tilted his head slightly. "Mm. I'm not really supposed to talk about that," he answered, shaking his head.

"Help me out here," North coaxed. He hesitated slightly, stopping his walk to turn and look out the window. "I'm… still getting heat about using equipment in the field."

Washington turned around sharply. "You did? Really?" He asked incredulously. "Without a pipeline back to the Command server?"

North shrugged. "I had to improvise. We had a problem."

Wash smiled teasingly inside his helmet. "Let me guess- are you related to this problem?"

The other agent chuckled, waving him off. "Okay, now I don't wanna talk about it," he commented.

Wash paused, then spoke wonderingly. "Equipment in the field…" His voice took on a note of warning. "Don't forget what happened to Utah during training. You're lucky it didn't kill you," he advised, catching up easily.

"If I was lucky," North interjected," I wouldn't have needed to use it at all."

Wash sighed. "Well, you can relax." At North's questioning look, he continued, "Internals didn't ask about you. It was something else… Lots of questions about the Insurrection and transmissions coming out of our-"

He was cut off by a soldier accidentally bumping into him, and at that moment, the two Freelancers noticed the multiple soldiers running in one direction together. "Sorry, sir!" The soldier apologized.

"Hey, what's going on?" Wash questioned. "Soldier, where is everybody running?"

"There's some new agents. They're squaring off against Maine, Wyoming, and York on the training room floor. We're going to watch!" He took off again, calling out to his friends, "Hey guys! Wait up!"

The two agents paused, then looked at each other before North spoke. "Three on two? Doesn't seem very fair."

Wash grinned. "I gotta see this."

North nodded as Wash headed off, trailing behind him. "Yeah, right behind you."

—–

Three. Two. One. Round begin. The three Freelancers in the training room ran together, each carrying a pugil stick. One of the two other Agents, armor entirely black, swept all three of them off their feet in one go– along with her hapless teammate in blue. The four flew through the air, and hit the ground hard.

"Owww… motherfucker!" The blue one groaned.

Up in the training booth, Agent Carolina called out, "What's going on down there?" to her fellow Freelancer, Agent South Dakota.

The other woman answered, "There's no training sessions on the schedule-it's impromptu."

"Who the hell is that?"

South shrugged. "Some new recruits."

Back on the floor: York, Maine, and Wyoming got up, and charged back at the black-armored Agent. An instant later, they were swiftly beaten back. Just as the new blue-armored recruit got up, Wyoming slammed into him and knocked him off his feet again; eliciting no less than a few dozen cuss words directed at the black-armored one.

Wash chuckled. "Wow. The one in black sure doesn't move like he's a recruit- neither of them do."

South looked to him sharply. "Why do you assume it's a guy? She's," she gestured to the black one, "a girl."

Wash stumbled. "O-oh. I didn't really mean that he- I mean it- I mean, her-"

"Just shut up."

"Right…And the other one?"

"Totally a guy," Carolina chimed in. "Both of you, can it."

South smirked. "Sounds like someone might be a little concerned about their position…"

"Hey South? Pay attention. You might actually learn something if you stop running your mouth for a minute," Carolina sassed back.

On the floor, York and Maine slowly got to their feet, as the black-armored Freelancer approached with Wyoming pinned to her back via her pugil stick.

Maine thumped the blue Freelancer in the chest with one end of the stick; pinning him down for another few moments. It was ultimately unnecessary, because it didn't look like he was planning on getting up in the first place.

In one fluid movement, the black Freelancer both electrocuted and whacked Maine and York, sending them off into the air again.

Meanwhile, Wyoming crashed to the ground behind her. He got to his feet- only to swiftly find himself in a one-on-one fight. They clashed staffs for a few seconds before she scored a hit to his face.

As Wyoming went down, York snuck up behind the black freelancer-only for him to go flying off again a moment later as he received the same fate as Wyoming.

After just a few seconds, Maine was next. He felt a lot like a baseball that got hit by a major league baseball player as he was hit with her pugil stick to the face, breaking it in the process. Texas cast off the other end of the stick, walking off as Maine managed to stand up for a few seconds, then collapsed again. As he fell, FILLIS's voice echoed through the arena.

Round one, over. Pugil sticks training complete. Point awarded to Texas and Colorado. The current score is Team 1, 0…

—

Back in the booth, Washington glanced back. "Texas, huh?"

Carolina crossed her arms. "I thought that name was reserved."

"She's got nice moves."

"It could be luck," South interjected.

"We'll see," Carolina concurred.

FILISS's voice came over the intercom again. Beginning hand-to-hand combat.

Wash grinned. "The other one- Colorado, was it? He's totally gonna get his ass handed to him."

—

Round two in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… Round two begin.

All Freelancers on the floor slipped into fighting stances, squaring up and raising their fists.

New York spoke, "Okay you guys, this one should be easy. Let's just play it by the book. Maine, how about you flank left and-" He never got to finish, as said Freelancer took off, then subsequently got knocked back to the floor before he could finish talking.

Both Wash and Wyoming looked over, then looked back at Texas. "…Or, you could just charge in and get immobilized first." York adjusted his stance and looked to Wyoming. Okay. Wyoming, let's stick together and-" Just as he started to speak, Wyoming shot forward, and received the same treatment as Maine. " "What's the story? Am I the only one on this team that knows how totalk?" York griped to himself.

"I don't think talking's your problem," a new voice spoke.

York turned around. "Oh, no." Just as he went to punch her, she struck first, sending him careening backwards as Maine and Wyoming stood up. Wyoming got kicked backwards, then Maine got punched, grabbed, and thrown across the floor.

"I could use a little help here, Colorado!" she called out as York s

"Nah, I think you got this!" the agent responded from his stance a few yards back. "I'll just stay here… you keep.. doin' what you're doin'."

—

"Wow. Okay, that was pretty impressive," North said up in the booth.

—

York managed to stand up, looking around. "Okay, guys. That obviously didn't work so well," he commented as he dropped back into a defensive stance. "How about this time we stay in formation, instead of- damn it." He dropped off with a curse as Maine and Wyoming charged Texas. "Can't believe I actuallyvolunteered for this crap," he grumbled under his breath as he followed them. Maine got hit back first, taking a few kicks to the torso. Wyoming then attempted to hit her, only to get knocked back by a solid punch to the visor. York then stepped in, attempting to land a few hits, only to find them all countered with ease and was punched to the floor on the back of his neck. Maine attempted to come at Texas from behind, only to get tripped onto his back as Texas dodged a hit from York.

—

"Dude, why the hell isn't Colorado fighting?" North wondered aloud. At the curious look he received from South, he elaborated, "Look at him. He's literally just hiding in the corner!"

"Maybe he doesn't want to fight. Or maybe he's a wimp."

"A wimp, a Freelancer?" Carolina scoffed. "He couldn't have gotten this far in the Program without being at least decent."

"Good point. He should at least try to fight, though…" North trailed off.

—

York put up his fists, mirroring Colorado. "So, why haven't you been joining in the fight? I figure, you must be half as good as Agent Texas over there if you got paired up with her," he mused.

Colorado laughed self-deprecatingly. "Dude, are you fuckin' kidding me? Texas is scary as hell. Nobody is as good as her. I've just been staying out of the way so she doesn't accidentally murder me.

"You… have a point. She is pretty good, huh?" York asked. Before Colorado could answer, he struck, landing a blow directly on Colorado's shoulder.

"Ow, holy fuck! Damn, man, you hit hard!" Colorado complained loudly. He held his hand to his arm, jumping back as York proceeded to hit him multiple times, Colorado only barely managing to block the blows.

"Come on, Colorado! You can't just keep hiding in a corner!" York chastised him.

"Betcha I could."

"No, you can't." York stepped back. "Hit me."

Colorado did a double-take, looking at him incredulously. "Do what now?"

"Hit me."

"Wh- no! I'm not gonna hit you!"

"Goddamn it, Colorado, HIT ME!"

"FUCK, fine!" Colorado lurched forward, aiming a few punches to York's arms and torso, only to find them blocked. He grinned, then threw himself fully into the fight, attempting to sweep York's legs out from underneath him, then blocked a hit from above as York had aimed a punch at him from above. They continued until York landed a final hit to Colorado, hitting him firmly in the back of the neck and knocking him down, out for the count.

Just as York thought he'd won, he turned around, and saw Texas standing behind him with her hands on her hips.

"Aw, son of a bit-"

—

Up in the booth, Washington grimaced in sympathy. "Ooh, that must havehurt." As he spoke, FILISS called out over the intercom. Round over. Point, Texas and Colorado. Hand-to-hand combat complete. Now resetting the floor for lock-down paint scenario.

"Ugh, I hate that paint," Washington complained as he turned around and leaned on the windowsill.

"Heh, tell me about it," South agreed. "Stings like a bitch."

"Turns your armor hard as a rock," North chimed in.

"I wouldn't know," Carolina said. The others turned to look at her incredulously. "It's not bad if you don't let it hit you.

"Thanks. I'll try to remember that," Wash said sarcastically.

—

Round 3 in five, four, three, two, one. Round three begin.

Team 1 walked up to the table of guns, Wyoming putting a hand to his back with a slight pain. They hid behind the provided cover, while on the other side, Colorado and Texas took guns as well.

Texas eyed Colorado's choice of sniper. "You sure you know how to use that?" She queried.

Colorado chuckled. "I may be shit at fighting, and I may have some pretty shit eyesight without my glasses, but I can use a fucking gun. Trust me on this one- I've got your back." He climbed up into one of the hidden sniper spots, checking over his rifle one last time.

"All right. I'm counting on you," she warned him.

"Don't worry, Texas. I've got you." He watched from his spot as Texas shot Maine a few times before punching him backwards, knocking him head over heels, then turned and got Wyoming in the face as he staggered backwards. He saw York slip out from cover, grumbling to himself, and grinned as he lined up his shot. He didn't shoot yet, and only would if Texas couldn't handle it, so he kept watching through the zoomed-in scope.

Colorado almost laughed out loud as Texas started messing with York, running from cover to cover so fast that York couldn't see her until a few moments too late. He winced in sympathetic pain as Tex inflicted a blow to York's helmet, then kneed him in the groin twice before shooting him point-blank, knocking him over and ending the round.

What followed after was continuous win after win for Colorado and Texas, with Texas doing most of the ass-kicking and Colorado only having to step in a few times to further solidify the opposing team in paint. He could almost see the frustration on York's face as no matter what strategy they tried, Texas kept handing his ass to him on a painted platter.

However, as the final round began, Colorado noticed something as he checked out the other team. Something seemed… off. As Wyoming and Maine passed each other, Wyoming slipped a round into Maine's hand, who then proceeded to exchange the cartridges. It looked like Wyoming had simply gotten an extra round for Maine, so he wouldn't have to get it himself, but it seemed strange. Colorado shrugged it off, then quickly switched out the ammo in his rifle.

However, everything changed in a matter of seconds when the bullets that came out of Wyoming and Maine's guns were actual bullets and not paint. Colorado swore violently and looked for Tex, but she was avoiding all the bullets easily as he overheard the people in the booth discussing amongst themselves. He shrugged and figured it was something normal for the final round, but couldn't help the feeling of worry as the bullets started decimating the cover blocks.

While he was thinking, Maine bust out of the paint block Texas had gotten on his hand, and tried to land a punch on her before he himself was thrown back. He still managed to flip the pin on a grenade, and threw it at Texas.

Colorado's eyes widened as the grenade missed but rolled next to York, who was still recovering. He caught on to Texas's plan to cover York in as much protective paint as possible, and fired at him as much as he could before the grenade went off. Immediately, the booth descended into chaos, people yelling to FILISS that a medical team was needed on the ground floor. He ditched the sniper rifle and jumped down, rolling into a run as he hit the ground.

—

"York. York!" Carolina called out to the prone body on the ground. "Get over here, now!" she yelled at a nearby medical officer.

Colorado jogged up, asking quietly, "Is he gonna be okay?" When he was ignored, he decided to hang back and let them figure out what was going on.

"Come on, York. Hang in there," Carolina murmured.

"What I can't believe is that you guys did that to him!" South yelled, pushing back Colorado. "What the fuck were you two thinking, sacrificing him like that!"

"W-whoa, I-" Colorado stumbled backwards, putting his hands up as Washington stepped in.

"You know, South, it's likely they saved his life. Lock-down paint hardens the armor, remember?"

"Quick thinking, you two," North commented.

"Yeah.. really quick," Carolina said quietly, looking over to where Texas was being attended to by a med team.

"Everyone, stand down. Now!" The familiar voice of the Director called out, and the Freelancers standing around shot up and slid into a line. "You should be ashamed of yourselves," he continued, berating them as he walked down the line. "I expect you to act as a team."

"They used live ammunition on the floor, sir. That's against regulations-" Washington protested.

The Director focused on Wash. "Do you think our enemies will care about regulations on the battlefield, Agent Washington?" he interrogated. The line of Freelancers stumbled back slightly in shock.

"So… you're not punishing them?" Wash asked.

"Ingenuity and adaptability are admirable traits," the Director explained. "You should all learn something from this."

"Dismissed."

As the Director walked off, CT quipped, "Yeah. We should learn something, all right."

"I can't believe this!" Washington cried out disbelievingly.

"Don't forget to check your place on that list, Wash!" CT said as she stalked off. Carolina turned around to look at Texas as she refused help from the medical team surrounding her, then turned to glare at Colorado.

"What are you lookin' at?" he said, obviously upset. He turned and walked away, obviously angry about something, though what it was, she couldn't tell yet.

—-

Colorado yelled out as he got to the common room of the apartments the main Freelancers shared. He punched the door, then paused and stopped as someone else in the room cleared their throat.

"Ahem."

He spun around, looking at the people who were gathered in the common room. "What?! What do you people want?!"

…There was dead silence in the room as the Freelancers were completely baffled.

Colorado snarled. "What-fucking-ever. If anyone goddamn needs me, don't. I'm going to my room." He stalked off, unlatching his helmet as he entered. He sat down on the bed, looking around his provided quarters- unadorned and as if nobody had ever been in there. He put his head in his hands, searching his brain for why the hell was he so upset? He had no reason to be. He'd been on the winning team, had earned a couple points, and he had no reason to be so fucking angry. He got out of his armor, knowing there would be a few days until the next mission. Slowly, he climbed into a pair of sweatpants and an old UNSC t-shirt, then slid onto his bed before grabbing his datapad and started working out a complicated equation that had been bugging him. For some reason, doing hard math equations and working out scenarios had helped keep him calm- that was part of the reason why he'd been recruited into Project Freelancer. He had an uncanny knack for setting up military scenarios and teams that would work out missions rather well, with complementing personalities within the operatives that would tend to work out and minimize internal conflict. He started setting up one of those such scenarios, running a hand through his scruffy hair and adjusting his glasses.

Knock knock knock. He glanced up a few hours later, checking the time as he yelled out, "It's open."

"Hey. I saw you fight York today- you were pretty good," a girl with bright red hair said as she entered the room.

Colorado chuckled. "And you are…?"

"Carolina. Agent Carolina. And you're Agent Colorado, right?"

"Yeah. Anyway, do you need something?" he asked.

Carolina leaned against the wall. "I just thought you might like to know that York is out of emergency and he's awake."

Colorado sat bolt-upright. "He's okay?" he asked. Carolina stepped back carefully.

"They're letting him have visitors in a little while. He… he lost the use of his left eye for the most part," Carolina said carefully.

Colorado sighed and rubbed at his face. "Well, fuck. Will he ever get it back? No, no, don't answer that." He stood up, pulling on some boots and tucking his sweatpants into them. "Either way, I have some calculations to go do for the Director. If anyone needs me, I'll be lurking around the ship." He grinned sadly at her, then slipped out the door before she could say anything, shutting and locking the door after making sure she was out, then headed off, his datapad tucked under one arm.

Lost one eye, huh? he thought to himself. Damn, that must be rough. Hopefully, his A.I. will help him out. He pulled up a holographic display of the mission the Director was having him set up- though for what reason he still wasn't entirely sure. As he walked, he arranged certain things on the datapad, playing around with variables and operatives for the mission, then set it away for further contemplation as he arrived at the medical bay. By the time he'd arrived, he found out that York was able to have visitors now, and requested to see him. His request was approved, and he slowly walked in, setting down the pad on a nearby table as he sat down in a chair beside the bed.

"Hey," Colorado said lamely. "Sorry… about… you know-"

"Stop, man. You and Tex saved my life with that strategy," York interrupted. "As much as it's gonna be a pain in the ass, I'll be fine. Delta can help me out, right, D?" At the prompt, the green A.I. appeared, hovering above York's shoulder. Colorado shuddered slightly looking at Delta, as if someone had dragged nails on a chalkboard along his spine.

"Of course, Agent York. I would be happy to help compensate for your missing eye. May I ask, who is your new companion?" the polite A.I. spoke, looking at Colorado.

Something's wrong.. GET OUT OF THERE! Every instinct in Colorado's body was telling him to run the fuck away from this AI for some reason. He backed up slightly, only now processing that Delta had spoken to him. "Wh-what? Y-yeah… I .. uh, I have to go… Uh, feel better, York." As he backed away, he knocked into the table holding his datapad, then grabbed it as he rushed out the door. He leaned against the wall on the other side, breathing heavily as he tried to figure out why the fuck an AI prompted such a violent reaction. He tried to wave off a medical officer, but couldn't speak when they asked him what was wrong. He slid down the wall, his breathing laboured as the medical officer flitted around him nervously, trying to get him to talk.

"I- I'm fine…" He stumbled to his feet and unsteadily walked out of the medical bay, holding on to the wall until he could get his breathing back to normal. He managed to make it back to the common room, which this time was thankfully empty. Colorado crashed down onto his bed, realizing that no, he wasn't fine, and his last thought before he blacked out was: I really hope I'm not needed for any missions anytime soon.

—

"Director?"

The Director turned around from his view of the planet to see Carolina standing behind him, along with the other Freelancers the mission was requiring. "Yes, Agent Carolina."

"The team is ready, sir," she said.

The Director clicked his tongue, then replied, "Excellent. Let us begin." As he walked past Carolina, she trailed after him. "Agents," he continued, "your mission today is by far the most important you've undertaken to date. As our number one, Carolina will be leading from the field." As he spoke, Carolina walked around the table to stand at the other end, and pressed buttons on the keypad to set up the mission hologram.

"Okay. Here's what we have. As you may have heard," Carolina began, "there has been suspected Insurrection activity in this area." Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed CT look at her sharply. "Our intel says that members of the UNSC loyal to the Insurrection have acquired a high-level asset in this secure location." She brought up a schematic of the building they were to break into, explaining, "It's a 110-story building in the middle of an urban environment.

Wyoming asked, "What does security look like?"

Carolina answered sarcastically, "They have enough enough troops to fill a 110-story building."

"So that's a lot of security."

Carolina shrugged. "We're up to it. Our job is to infiltrate the building, work our way up to the floor where the sarcophagus is being held, and secure it."

North looked at her skeptically. "The sarcophagus?"

The Director spoke up. "That is what we're calling the primary objective," he explained.

"But," Carolina cut in, "since this is a high-level asset, we need to access a key code to open the sarcophagus."

Wash asked, "I'm guessing they don't keep that just taped to the side?"

"It's held by an official of the program who will be moving in a vehicle along the freeway between inspections." She changed the layout of the hologram to include a road and moving car. "That's when we'll hit the facility. We need to acquire both targets within minutes of each other." She looked seriously at her team. "If we fail that, the remaining target will enter lock-down, and we miss our window."

"We will not have another chance at this," the Director intoned.

Washington said, "So… that means two teams."

"Two teams," Carolina agreed. "Team A will consist of me, Wash, and Maine. We will work infiltration on the package's storage facility. York is still in the infirmary, so Wash," she explained, looking at the aforementioned Freelancer, "you will have to pull lock picking duty."

Washington shifted his weight hesitantly. "Um… okay? I guess I'll reread my field manual in the transport," he muttered. Behind him, a door opened with ahissssss.

"Hey," a voice none of them expected to hear. "Don't be so quick to give away my job," York said.

"Yeah, and what about me, fuckers?" said Colorado, who was standing beside him with a sniper rifle strapped to his back.

"York?" Washington asked disbelievingly.

Carolina took a few steps toward him. "I thought you were in the hospital?"

"According to their records," York chuckled, "I am. This one," he nudged Colorado, "caused enough of a distraction to where I could escape the smell of infirmary."

"How's your eye?" she asked as Colorado walked toward the table and leaned on the wall.

"It's okay. Docs are letting me out tomorrow," York answered confidently.

"Tomorrow, huh?" Washington asked him skeptically.

"Look, I couldn't let you guys have all the fun without me. Besides," he said, leaning his hands on the table, "you need somebody to get you in."

Washington walked carefully towards Carolina. "Listen, I'm happy to see him too. But this mission… I don't know-"

"Hey," she cut him off, "York says he's good, then he's good."

Wash sighed. "It's your call, boss."

Carolina walked up to him and spoke in a hushed tone, "You're good… right?"

"Okay, look. I said I was okay. Good might be overselling it a little," he answered wryly.

"It's settled, then." the Director spoke. "York will join Team A and get them in the facility."

"Thank you, Sir."

"Transport will be two lightly equipped Pelican dropships," Carolina said, getting back on track.

"We're rigged for fast running only, people," 479er said. "No heavy armaments."

"Team B will be North, Wyoming, and CT. You will act as recon for Team A, and once we enter the building you will disengage to attack the target on the freeway," Carolina explained. "North will lead Team B."

"Got it," North said.

"Hey, what about me?" Colorado asked.

"You're with me in the air," 479er said. "You get to hang out with that rifle of yours if things get a little hairy."

"Hey, what about Agent South?" CT asked.

The Director answered, "Agent South will not be accompanying you on this mission."

"Hmm. I guess the world's a tough place when you move down a rank," CT said sardonically. "And where's our other new recruit? Will she be joining us?"

"That's enough questions, Connecticut," the Director said firmly.

Under her breath to Washington, she said, "Noticed he didn't say no?" in a sing-songy voice.

"Team B should be simple," Carolina cut in. "Stop the vehicle and grab the case. Team A, you have more of a challenge. Mainly, the sarcophagus is anunknown."

"…How unknown are we talking?" Washington asked hesitantly.

"Unknown in that we don't know its size or weight or dimensions," Colorado stepped in to explain. At sharp looks to him, he continued, pulling up a new graphic on the hologram, "All that we know is that it will have these markings somewhere on the exterior."

North spoke up. "I saw those same markings on the oil platform…"

"Correct," the Director affirmed. "That facility created the primary objective."

"Do we know what's inside it?" Washington asked.

"Yes. We know."

"How do we know what's in it… but not know how big it is?" CT asked. At a look from the Director, she lowered her head apologetically. "Sorry, sir."

"We have a job to do, people," Carolina said. "Let's do it right and come home safe."

"That is all," the Director agreed. "You are dismissed."

At those words, all the Freelancers stood at attention and simultaneously chorused, "Yes, sir."

—