Stained (Red vs Blue)

Stength And Brutality

Before The Storm

The next game wasn't... as leisurely as the first one. The moment we stepped off the pelican, i knew something was off. I just didn't know what. I couldn't tell what the 'game' would be, I didn't know what to expect. Hell, I was nervous. It didn't help that I had a bad feeling that Tracer would come into the picture soon.

I looked around at our surroundings. It was night. The moon shone directly over our heads. We were outside a large facility that was mostly made out steel. There were many buildings that I saw, but the layout was rather straight forward. I cocked my pistol. Iowa tapped my shoulder, and I turned to look at her.

She motioned to a terminal, and I nodded. We walked to it, and the screen flickered on, and the face of the Creator appeared. I still couldn't place where I've seen him. I just knew that i've seen his face before. Somewhere before. But where? I sighed inwardly, pushing the thoughts out of my mind. I needed to focus on the 'game'.

"Ah, Freelancers. Just head straight down the path to your right. The game is pretty straight forward, and you don't many details. Goodbye," He finished, and the screen shut off. He sounded like he was in a hurry to do something. Iowa and I glanced at each other. I think she noticed it to.

Alaska sighed. "I guess we don't have another choice. Let's just listen to the man," He said, and he turned down the path. The rest of us shrugged, and followed soon after. As we walked, I kept glancing over my shoulder. I didn't like the feel of the place. To quiet. To... open. But, then again, I didn't like any enemy base. I never have, and never will.

I tried to kept my mind clear of wandering thoughts, but the occasional thoughts of C-O, Montana or Zeta slipped through my block. And they all came back to the Creator and Tracer. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. The floor that we were walking on was more like treads than flooring. The raised lines in it kept making me think that I stepped on something other than floor.

"Well, here we are," Michigan said from in front of me. I looked up, and saw that we were standing in front of two large metal doors that had a control panel to the right of them. Michigan walked over to the panel, pushed a button, then the doors slid open with a horrible screeching noise caused by stratching steel doors on steel flooring.

I was glad when the doors finally fully opened, and the noise stopped. It made my ears hurt. I knew we all hated that sort of noise. The building looked smaller from the outside. The whole place was open, at least fifty feet by fifty feet, and, from where I was standing, I could see a door on the far side, suggesting that there was another room.

"Damn," Was all Iowa said when she gazed around the room. The walls were painted black, with red lines running across them at the top, and the floor was the same dull steel from outside, except smooth, not bumpy. In the middle of the floor, there was a device that looked familiar, but I couldn't place it.

As we got closer to it, it beeped at us. I jumped, and looked at it. A holographic image of the Creator appeared. He was dressed in a suit, but I couldn't tell what color it was because the holograph was just varying shades of blue. "It will be clear what the game is after you pass through that door up there, but I should be kind enough to tell you know," He motioned to the door in the far back.

"Kind my ass..." I muttered, and it earned me a glare from the Creator. Iowa slapped my arm. I rolled my eyes, but I looked at the Creator. He cleared his throat and continued. "Well, to put it bluntly, I will call this game 'Strength and Brutality'. This game is for you three," He paused, and looked at Alaska, Iowa and myself. "I know you did the last one, so these three need a challenge," He said, and looked at Michigan.

"Proceed through the door, and you'll get the game," He finished, and the hologram disappeared. I sighed, wondering what he was going to put us through this time, and how many games we were going to play.