Project freelancer: The Forgotten Agent

Encounter

Saturday rolls around. South had the training room until 4:00 then shadow would be able to train for the first time in two weeks. It was 2:00 now. Lately she has been eating more foods with higher protein and eating a lot more healthy foods. She keeps her strength up.

While South trains, shadow heads toward the gym. Usually the agents would wear their work out clothes in the gym and armor in the training room. Since Shadow wanted to gain her muscle back, she decided to keep it on because armor adds about 15 more pounds.

Whatever will get her muscle back, she'll do it.
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After about an hour of working out, she was ready to train. She wasn't even tired. Shadow was ready to show everyone that she was back in the game.

It was 3:30. 'Might as well get a drink' she thought. Everyone was doing their usual thing. Either working on new files or training. It's like everyone was separated lately. Nobody really talked to anyone these past 2 days.

Shadow walked into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water. Maine was standing there in the corner of the room. He was just staring at her.

"What are you looking at?" She said as she took a sip of her water. He continued to stare. Shadow began to feel uneasy of the situation. Maine begins to inch toward shadow.

'No, not this shit again' she thinks to herself. She gets into fighting stance. She's ready to fight another battle. Maine continues to advance. Soon he is about 3 feet away from her. 'As soon as he walks one more foot' she thought, 'I'm going to beat him up' he moves his foot another step. She has her arms up ready to punch. She pulled back her arm and...

Nothing. Her armor had locked right then and there. She was almost frozen.

"My my my... What do we have here?" Sigma appears next to Maine, "oh look at you... Pathetic." He almost spits with his words.

"What the hell do you want from me Sigma? Why are you doing this to me? To all of us?" She stood there as still as a rock. Sigma came near her visor.

"I... I mean we just wanted to give you some advice young child."

"I'm not a fucking child!" She yelled. Maine advanced and grabbed shadow. Her armor unlocked for a split second. She kicked and kicked. Maine pushed her against the wall and grabbed her by her neck. He lifted her up about a foot above the ground almost chocking her. She could still breathe but only shallowly. Her armor locked in place once more.

"We wouldn't want to attract any unwanted attention now, would we?" He tapped his fingers together. "We are here to give you a warning. Agent, if you ever get in our way again. We will be more than happy to finish you. You do not want to mess with us again."

"Maine, you need to listen to me buddy. Washington told me how you were before. Although you did kill my parents, you had a heart. Now you're just a monster." Shadow managed to slip the words out.

Maine felt a sharp pain towards the back of his head. He let go of shadow and her armor unlocked as she fell on the ground. She began to cough as the air that had escaped her lungs came back. She was on her hands and knees.

"One more thing Agent Arizona." Shadow twitched at the name. Sigma came closer again. "Watch your back." Both of them began to walk out of the kitchen.

"Hey Maine." He turns around. "You know, we could have put everything in the past. I'm pretty sure we could have been friends. But no. You let a stupid piece of machinery take control of you." He gave her one last glance and walked away.

"Damn." Catching her breath she stood up. She checked the time. "Shit it's already 4:05." Shadow ran to the training room.
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"Sorry sorry, I know I'm late. Just get me in there." She quickly ran into the elevator and stepped into the arena. 'Its nice to be back.' She thought.

"Alright shadow. We're going to work on your accuracy. That means we need to see you shoot the bulls eye." North says through the intercom.

"Alright. Time to show them I still have what it's got." Shadow walks toward the table that has all the weapons that she needed. 3 knives, a magnum, and a sniper rifle.

Across the room, 9 targets appeared. All 6 feet apart from on another. Of course, this wasn't going to be easy. They all began to move and circle around shadow. She was in the center of the room.

Shadow gripped the knives and threw them at each target. Each time hitting them in the middle. She then pulled her magnum out of her holster. She shot and again, hitting each one directly in the middle. For the sniper rifle, it was different. She moved toward one side of the room and the targets lined up at the other side. They began to move side to side. She shot all three.

Shadow felt free again. She felt unstoppable.

"Great job!" North exclaimed with enthusiasm. "Next, robotic targets." The targets she shot went back into the floor and a door opened on the opposite side of her. The targets moved as if they were human. 10 of them. 'Well, I guess they're not going to go easy on me.' They were armored and held magnums and assault rifles. Their ammunition was the paint while shadows was live ammo. Several barriers appeared from the ground. "Ready?" North says through the intercom.

"Ready." She heard the robotic limbs move in various areas of the arena. She rolled to the next barrier and heard one behind her. She stood up and shot. 'One down.' She crouched down again. Everything was going well.

"Um shadow?" North called through the transmitter in her helmet.

Shadow pressed her finger on a button in the side of her helmet "Yeah?"

"It seems that we may have a problem." He says with concern. The robots began to act more strange. They became more hostile.

"What type of prob.." She didn't finish her sentence. One of them shot the barrier almost hitting her head. She crouched down lower.

"They're malfunctioning! Get out of there!" Shadow quickly stood up again and shot another target. It fell to the floor with a thud. She ran toward the elevator. She pressed the button and nothing happened. "Dammit! Come on!" Nothing was working. 'This cannot be happening again' sigma appeared on the screen.

"What's wrong Agent? Are thing getting a little complicated for you? Hahahaha." His face pixelated and then dissolved.

She pounded her fist on the screen. "Fuck you Sigma!" Shadow saw that the robots were closing in on her. She pressed the button in the side of her helmet. "North! Get York in here! He knows how to handle this type of shit!" He quickly called York.

Each robot pointed their guns at her. She wasn't afraid of the paint but she knew that each robot was programmed with the ability of hand on hand combat. They won't stop until she's dead...

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Ohhhh, cliffhanger. Just letting you guys know before hand. I may not be able to update this upcoming weekend. I'll try though ^-^