Stained (Red vs Blue)

Excessive Training

Before The Storm

---Back to Nevada's POV-

...One Year Later...

It's been one whole year since I lost Zeta. Not much has happened, besides the fact that I got re-implanted with a memory unit, which Chi was transferred to. Michigan was moved up to fifth, and C-O took sixth. C-O has gotten a lot better, when it comes to fighting. She's fast, and she likes to psych people out.

Eta's anger towards me became apparent only a few days after I lost Zeta. He began avoiding me, and when I stayed with Iowa for along time, he threw fits, and basically hurt Iowa. We've had to be separated for long periods of the day because of it. The most I see her anymore is when we're in our dorms.

Eta's attitude is even reflecting on the other A.I.s. Because Epitaph, Zeta and Eta combined, was the original, and strongest A.I., he had attachments to the other A.I. Right now, I've managed to keep a mental barrier between Chi and the others. I couldn't work with an A.I. that would get mad at me at random times.

The barrier. It takes a lot out of me, but I've managed to keep my position, and so has Iowa and Alaska. At least Eta has been getting better about controlling his attitude, knowing it hurts Iowa. I've heard her explaining that it wasn't my fault that Zeta was taken.

Chi found data in Ash's dog tags. Nothing that would help us in our search, that we know, but something that I hold dear. The pictures she's taken from her helmet's visor were all stored there. Some were of the beautiful scenery, others were of the Freelancers. She had at least one of all of us, including the one's we've lost in previous years. I almost cried looking through them.

In all my years as a Freelancer, we've lost several people. We we're all friends once. I guess that's the price I had to pay to become a soldier. We all lose people. But our two latest, Oregon and Ash, probably hit me the hardest. Oregon has always been my friend. Him, Iowa, Alaska, and I all knew each other before the Freelancers, so out bonds were stronger than others.

All these thoughts swam across my mind as my practice started. I was in a private training room. The Director only used this when he truly needed to test our skills. He didn't want us to get rusty. He and the Counselor were the only ones watching from the observatory area above me.

I stood in the middle of the room, directly in the center of the Freelancer emblem. "Good morning, Agent Nevada. For today's assignment, you will attempt to take out all turrets stationed at different points in the arena. We will be using live rounds, so be careful. it will start in exactly one minute," FILSS announced, setting a timer on the board.

Several turrets raised up. Quite a lot were stationed in a wide circle around me, and a few were on the walls. I nodded. "Chi, I need you to ready the speed enhancement," I said. She didn't answer for a minute, then said, "Ready," I nodded, and grabbed my sniper rifle. This is going to be fun... I thought to myself.

"Match starting in five, four, three, two, one. You may begin,"

I took off to my right, the bullets raging past me. Still running, I pointed my sniper at one turret, and fired. It collapsed to the ground with a thud. I had to roll to avoid fire from one of the ones on the wall. I quickly made a plan as to how to get up there.

I ran at the closest ground turret, jumped off of it, breaking it. I had the right speed and jump height to reach the one that was off the floor. Instead of firing at it, I broke it down to the ground, using the butt of my sniper. I jumped of the wall and fired twice at two different turrets, taking those out. I was getting better with a sniper rifle.

I rolled again, pointed my sniper at one on the wall, and fired. it fell to the floor. I took out two more on the floor. I aimed at the final one on the wall, and took it out. I kicked one, and broke it. I jumped and flipped backwards to avoid more fire. This is definitely a work out.