FREELANCER MEDICAL BAY, MANY YEARS AGO... 

We are in the Point of View of Minnesota as he wakes up with a groan. 

"Huh?" Minnesota asks confused as he looks around and sees that he's in a medical area. "Oh, right." Minne looks to a nightstand next to him and he sees his helmet.

Minne grabs his helmet and puts it on and we move to a Third point of view. 

Suddenly a pink figure appears in front of Minne and it looks around the room with her teal eyes. 

Her eyes land on Minne and she yells in surprise. "Ahh!"

"Ahh!" Minne yells in surprise.

"Ahh!"

"Ahh!" Minne trips and falls, on his way down he hits his head on the edge of the bed on the way down.  "Ow!"

The Pink figure looks down to Minne. "That looked like it hurt." She says.

York, North and Wash enter the medical area.

"Hey, Minne we're-" York starts and he sees the scene in front of him.

North and York chuckles.

"Minne, are you okay?" Wash asks.

Minnesota gives them a thumbs up.

Cut to Washington, Minnesota, and York staring downwards between North Dakota's legs.

"I expected it to be... bigger." Wash says.

"Why?" York asks. "You've seen mine. It's small too."

"And mine." Minne says. "It's also small."

"Yeah, but he's green and she's pink." Wash says.

"I-How does that even make sense?" York asks

"Hey Wash?" North starts. "Quit staring. You're making it nervous.

"Yeah, it's just..." Wash starts. "They're so small."

"Hey, don't size shame." Minne says.

"Small, yeah." York begins. "But you wouldn't believe what it can do."

"It's amazing how useful it can be." Minne says.

"Besides, you better get used to it." North says. "You're gonna have one of your own soon enough." 

"Then we can see how small yours will be." Minne says. "I can't wait to see it."

South comes over.

"Ugh." South groans. "Give me a break."

South walks off.

"It's alright, Theta." North says. "Come on out."

"People just wanna say hello to you." North says.

"I dunno." Theta says. "There's so many of them. They're so... big."

"You see?" Wash starts. "I-I'm not the only one who thinks size is important."

"I'm just gonna let that one go." York says.

"I bet they can get bigger." Minne says.

"It's okay Theta. They're all friends of mine." North explains. "For reasons beyond my comprehension."

"They're looking at me." Theta says.

"That's because they want to meet you." North tells Theta. "This is York, Minne, and Wash."

"Hey there little... computer... dude." Wash says.

"Really?" Minne questions Wash.

"Give it a rest, Wash." York says. "Theta, I have a friend just like you. So does Minne."

Minnesota walks up next to York.

York continues. "His name is Delta."

"Mine's, Xi's." Minne says.

"Really?" Theta questions.

"Yeah! Here, yo-you wanna say hello to him?" York asks.

"Um... York?" North says. 

"It's okay man. Just for a second."

"It'll be really quick." Minne says.

Xi appears also.

"Hello Theta. Xi," Delta greets. "I am Delta."

"I am Xi." Xi greets. "It's nice to meet you."

"Hello." Theta says shyly. 

"See? Everybody here is nice." North says. "Isn't that right, Delta? Xi?"

"Agent North." Delta starts. "I do not feel qualified to make a judgement about humans with whom I have only limited experience. Also, nice is a rather subjective term-"

"Delta." York warns.

"Oh yes. Everyone here is... nice. Within standard acceptable deviations." 

"Delta!"

"Everyone I've met has been nice." Xi states. "Though there are still a few Agents I have yet to met."

"And there's my sister over there, South." North says. "We're twins."

"We have another sister." Theta says.

"You do?" Wash asks.

Minne looks to his A.I. "Really?"

Xi nods.

"We have many siblings." Theta explains.

Xi suddenly disappears.

"What do you mean by sib-" Wash starts but is cut off by the Director.

"Hello everyone." The Director Greets.

The Director and Counselor enter the room. The Freelancers line up and Theta disappears.

"I hope you are ready to begin our tests." The Director finishes. 

"Delta!" The Director yells. "I believe you know the protocol about communicating directly with other A.I. units."

"I apologize, sir." Delta apologizes. "I will log off."

Director: Don't! I want you to help administer the test. Gentlemen, if you will take the floor.

Theta appears in front of North

North: Ok, just like we practiced.

Theta: Are they all going to watch?

North: Of course! They want to see if you're as good as I said you are.

Theta: Really? Well, I guess that's okay.

North: That's the spirit! Come on, let's do this!

They exit to the floor

Director: Delta, I expect you to follow protocol at all times.

Delta: We were only attempting to make the new unit more comfortable.

York: It's my fault, sir. I asked him to. New kid seems kind of shy.

Counselor: Agent North was paired with Theta for a reason. His nurturing nature is best suited to care for Theta's....unique personality.

York: Yeah. He is used to looking out for people, isn't he?

York glances at South

Counselor: Quite. Delta, your skills are more... analytical in nature.

Delta: If I may disagree, Theta has made double the number of declarative statements since my appearance. That indicates 100% increase in confidence since we modified our interaction strategy. I think that speaks volumes to my caring algorithms.

Counselor: You make an excellent point, Delta. Let's begin the test.

Delta disappears. Camera pans down to the training floor while the Freelancers watch from an above window. North enters the floor with a sniper rifle in hand.

Director: Begin the test.

Theta appears above North's shoulder.Turrets surround North and open fire. Immediately, a Domed Energy Shield activates around North. Cut to the spectators.

Counselor: As you may recall, Agent North used his equipment in the field on a previous mission.

Delta Appears

Delta: He was able to successfully maintain the deflective shield for 3.4 seconds in order to block an explosive projectile attack.

Director: And he somehow managed not to kill himself in the process.

Delta: The maneuver only had a .1% chance of success. Had he performed it 999 more times, I'm rather certain he would've been obliterated on each one.

York: Hey, I'd rather be lucky than good any day.

Wash: You usually are.

"I wish I was lucky." Minne says as he rubs his right shoulder.

Director: Luck will only take one so far. I am in the business of getting results. Let's see what Theta can do. Delta, reduce shield strength by 50%.

Delta: Modifying.

The Domed Energy Shield surrounding North and Theta begins to flicker.

North: Power dropping! Theta, use remaining power to compensate for critical tiles!

Theta: Okay.

Theta takes control of the Domed Shield and separates it into tiles, blocking the turrets' incoming fire.

Director: Add variables.

Delta: Acknowledged.

The turret beams begin to gyrate, moving around and above North and Theta. Theta follows the turrets and maintains critical shield tiles where they are needed.

North: Great job, Theta!

Theta: Stop talking to me! You'll mess me up!

North: Right. Sorry.

Director: Reset.

The floor resets and the Domed Energy Shield becomes fully restored to 100% power.

Director: Agent North. Your objective now is to eliminate all targets.

More turrets appear.

Director: Begin.

Wash: I thought the shield works both ways. There's no way for him to attack.

North: Theta, analyze turret rate of fire. Adjust shield to match.

Theta: Okay....Done.

North: Firing. On my mark.

Theta: Ready!

North: Mark!

North fires his sniper and the bullet is seen moving in slow motion. The shield flickers open just enough for North's sniper bullet to pass through and then immediately reseals. The bullet takes out a turret. North and Theta repeat this method for the remaining turrets.

Delta: All targets eliminated.

Director: Test complete. Excellent work!

The Domed Shield deactivates.

Wash: WOHOW!!!!!! WOW! That was incredible!

York: HAHA YEAH! What did I tell ya?

Minne laughs. "I hope I can do something like that!"

York: HAHA YEAH! What did I tell ya?

Wash: And we're sure they don't get any bigger?

York: Dude, you are killing me with that!

Cuts to the Reds at Zanzibar.

U.N.S.C. WIND POWER FACILITY, PRESENT DAY.

Grif: Sarge, how come every time the Blues get involved in something stupid and dangerous, we get dragged along too?

Sarge: You know what they say. Keep your friends close and your enemies within range of your primary firearm!

Simmons: Sir! I realize-

Sarge: So you can shoot em!

Simmons: ... I realize that we agreed to help Wash and Carolina, but how do we know that they're gonna help us?

Grif: What do you mean?

Simmons: I mean, if we run into trouble, do you really think they'll stick their neck out for us?

Sarge: Well, for a back-stabbing, double-crossing, no-good, dirty-rotten Blue, that Wash fella isn't too bad.

Grif: What a ringing endorsement!

Simmons: I'm more worried about Carolina. What if after all of this is over, she decides to get rid of us?

Grif: Why would she do that?

Simmons: I don't know! To tie up loose ends? To cover her trail? Don't you watch spy movies? They love that shit!

Sarge: My God, man! Get a hold of yourself! You're making us look weak in front of the enemy!

Camera cuts to show Caboose.

Caboose: Hello.

Sarge: Listen! I don't want to hear you talk about secret double-crosses, or mysterious subplots, or Freelancer conspiracies anymore! We've had enough of those going on around here as it is.

Sarge runs away.

Simmons: But don't you think that-

Grif: Sorry, sorry! I can't really talk right now, Simmons. I have got to go secure a perimeter over at the, uh, shady spot over there.

Grif leaves Simmons with Caboose. Awkward silence. Simmons turns toward Caboose.

Simmons: I liked it better when we only had to fight you.

Caboose: Yeah! Blue Team is pretty awesome right now. Right Tucker?

Caboose turns to see that Tucker is gone.

Caboose: Right Church?

Church is also gone. Caboose turns to Simmons.

Caboose: Hello.

Simmons: Uh.... where's the rest of your team?

Cut to Tucker watching the entrance of the facility. Epsilon appears next to him as they watch Wash and Ash enter the facility.

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07-18-2022