Agent North Dakota

AI: Theta (Innocence)

"Oh," Nevada murmured.

"Well," Lou agreed.

The Mother of Invention simply didn't have enough personnel to allow for the Flood to have a substantial force everywhere, even if they took over most of the people on it. But because of the personnel's habit of banding together, they didn't have to. Whether the Flood were really getting intelligent or not, they were still capable of splitting into large groups and attacking areas with lots of people around.

This allowed relatively easy passage for the team from the elevator to the area where the pilots were holed up. Now that they were so close, however…

Aside from the innumerable small Beach-Ball forms of the Flood that had proved they could appear as quickly as they were destroyed, North counted about ten Infected forms that he could see in front of the barricaded entrance to the pilot's rec room just down the hall.

From their position about twenty metres away from the rec room, peering around the corner of a junction, Lou was scanning the area for the best way to go about attacking them. Here the strange organic substance that coated walls, floors and ceiling wasn't as widespread with the cold metal of the ship shining through in most places. If nothing else that made their surroundings a little more recognisable.

Nevada at this point sat back and let the two more experienced agents do the planning. She kept watch behind them and avoided making the corner more crowded and uncomfortable than it already was. North, who had Lou standing above and leaning over him to get a good view into the hallway before them, appreciated her consideration overruling her curiosity.

"Ok," Lou began, "I say we set a trap. How many mines did you say you had, kid?"

"Six," Nevada replied, scooting a little closer to the other two to keep the conversation as quiet as possible.

"Even one of those could cause massive damage," North reminded them, wary of Lou's plan. "We should use them sparingly, in case we run into trouble later."

Lou, very clearly exasperated, replied, "I know what those things do, North. I'm the planner, remember? It's my job to know what does what."

North nodded for him to continue, at least a little placated.

"Now those things are targeting the pilots, right?" Lou seemed to actually be waiting for a response, so Nevada and North nodded. "That means we might not be able to draw them very far away. Thing is, we don't need to. There's another junction, not ten metres away from the things straight ahead. Kid, you can set those things before you place 'em, right?"

"Yeah, I just need to activate them once they're placed," Nevada said, glancing around every few seconds as if she expected a horde of Flood to appear from nowhere and surround them. Given previous experiences, this wasn't exactly an irrational fear.

"And we've seen you activate them remotely with that datapad of yours," Lou continued, gesturing to the small, sturdy pad Nevada had attached to the armour on her hip. "So you rig one or two of them to blow, North goes around the long way and attaches them to the wall near the other corner, and runs right back here, catching their attention. You set them off the second enough of them are near to it."

"What about you?" North asked.

"I'll stay here with the kid and help shoot those little ones that'll be closing in on you the second you show yourself, before any of the big guys can even begin to stumble towards us," Lou replied simply. It was hard not to imagine him with a cigar in his mouth as he finished his plan, speaking in a strong Southern accent.

"Right," North nodded. "So, Nev–"

"Working on it," she replied, pulling a mine from the black bag/pouch thing and beginning to fiddle with it.

North looked around the corner at the Flood again. The barricade was still holding up, but seemed to be buckling. North had no idea how many people were in there.

"Anyone have any idea of how long they'll be able to hold out?" North asked as Nevada worked.

Lou shrugged, although the question made him tense. "They won't have to for more than five minutes."

"Then we should hurry," Nevada murmured, handing North the mine carefully and watching as he attached it to the back of his armour. "That barricade won't hold up for much longer. Now, press these three buttons in this order to activate it."

"Got it. Now, what makes you so sure?" North whispered. He sure didn't disagree. The barricade was not designed to hold for long… more for immediate defence. But hearing Nevada, the one who was supposed to be all optimistic, dismiss it so easily?

Nevada, in turn, shooed him on. "It's my job to know how hard things are going to be to blow up. I wouldn't waste more than a grenade on that thing," she replied. "One more thing. The blast'll probably take down the barricade too. You'll have to draw as many as possible away to limit the risks to the pilots. Now go!" The last was whispered as loud as could be without drawing attention to themselves.

North made his way back the hall they had come through, going around the Flood-riddled hall ahead of them. When he got to the corner, he cautiously looked down the darkened corridor.

Empty.

He turned the corner, now out of sight from the other two. It was only about twenty metres he had to walk. If he could keep quiet and remain unseen for twenty metres, he was in the clear.

The emergency lighting cast shadows everywhere, but North took comfort in the knowledge that anything that saw him would probably attack right away rather than hide in the dark. He was unlikely to be stalked by these things.

The absence of the disgusting substance that had coated the walls, floor and ceiling on the lower level helped him move quietly.

This proved useful when, right down the corridor past the intersection, the small Flood creatures crawled towards the barricade to assist in its destruction. They were focused enough to ignore North.

I hope it stays that way… whimpered Theta.

Theta. If North was infected, did that mean Theta would become as corrupted as Eta?

He couldn't let that happen. Not when North could feel Theta's faith and trust that he would make things better somehow.

He reached the corner and, with one more wary glance at the scurrying infections, moved out of their sight.

There. Ten metres away from the hallway right in front of the rest of his team, where he would plant the mine and run. He removed the mine from the back of his armour and recalled the way to prime it, allowing Nevada to activate it remotely.

He peeked around the corner, towards the barricade and its attackers. He attached the mine to the wall there.

The small snick it made as it stuck drew some attention.

One of the larger ones and some of the small ones came rushing his way immediately. North reached for his pistol, but the Beach-Balls popped as they launched themselves at him.

"Hurry it up!" Lou yelled, firing with his AR to keep the creatures at bay.

North quickly set up the mine and ran right into the corridor, keeping as out of Lou's way as he could. He faced the Flood and backed away as quickly as he could, desperately trying to take out the small infection forms that rushed him with only his pistol. Lou had managed to take out most of them, but North was in his way for some.

Deciding it was better to just get the hell out of range (with a fearful agreement from Theta), North turned on his heel and ran the rest of the way to his teammates, almost jumping over the crouched down Nevada and joining Lou in holding off the Flood.

The Flood seemed more than happy to comply with their plan, most now heading towards the Freelancers. They either didn't see the mine or didn't understand its significance.

"Anytime now, kid," Lou grunted as another wave of Beach-Balls burst before him.

"I only want to get the most devastating effect," she mumbled, staring at the oncoming Flood and presumably considering her options.s

The first few big guys had reached the mine, and North glanced down at Nevada to see what exactly she was doing.

The small Freelancer seemed to be nodding to herself, finger hovering over the command that would send the signal to the mine.

More infected personnel reached the mine, and she nodded one final time, decisively.

"Take cover!" she yelled, loud enough for those behind the barricade to hear.

Lou, North and Nevada jumped back behind the corner they had come from.

Nevada tapped her data-pad once.

An explosion sounded through the walls, followed by a wet splatting sound and several cries of fear and confusion from the pilots as their barricade crumbled.

A small amount of infection forms turned the corner and launched themselves at the Freelancers. Lou shot and destroyed three in the air, while North managed to take one out by punching it in mid-air. Nevada ducked under the attack of her aggressor, shooting it as it landed on the ground behind her.

Shouts and gunfire sounded from down the hall as the pilots fought with their attackers. North and Lou jumped ahead to help with the brawl, Nevada following once she had the datapad back in its place on her hip.

Between the bustle and girth of the Flood, flashes of pilot-white could be seen. A dark blue also shone through, and North yelled 'Freelancer!' once he caught sight of it.

The presence of another Freelancer comforted North, especially on the pilots' end of the hall. It would take a while for his team to fight their way through to them, and he wanted to get through this with the least amount of casualties as possible. As he shot a path through the Flood, Nevada picking off any he'd missed and Lou taking out any that tried to get behind them, North ran through the list of Freelancers with dark blue armour.

The exact shade looks like Colorado's, Theta informed him happily. Theta had decided he liked Col the day Col distracted Maine (and also Sigma) from him when they were being scary.

North grunted in acknowledgement, Nevada glancing at him in confusion for a moment before shrugging it off. She had her own AI, and was likely familiar with the feeling. Instead, she focused on taking down an Infected… person who was getting a little too close for comfort.

The team was almost to the halfway point of the hall, where another intersection spread out from it. North frowned, knowing that if the Flood were going to try anything, forcing the team to fight in three (four, if they managed to get a decent force behind them) directions would be it.

Lou seemed to realise this as well. "Think we can clear a path any quicker?"

"Incendiary grenades could be effective against this group," Nevada mused. "Unfortunately, even if we had any, there's no guarantee the pilots could avoid the blaze."

"Any possible ways we can clear a path any quicker," North clarified. Nevada could be very smart when it came to explosives. But also quite impractical… maybe that was just a habit that all demolitions and explosives experts had. Certainly all the ones he'd seen.

Before anyone could speak, a fire spread from the barricade's end and travelled throughout the shrieking, fearful Flood forms.

"Looks like someone had incendiary grenades," Nevada noted. Smugness was not her way, but it was clear she was happy about her idea being used.

"And because we aren't backed into a corner, we have a better chance of avoiding their effects," Lou agreed. As he nodded along with the plan of the pilots (and Col), he slowly drew back, away from the crazed and fiery creatures, some of which were still trying to get a few hits in.

The fight wound down after that –the small Infection forms lasted only seconds in the heat, and their larger Infected kin were distracted and taking constant damage from being on fire. As the last fell, the two groups looked at each other.

"North," Col said, nodding at him in greeting.

"Col," North returned.

Within seconds, the tense atmosphere dissipated and all that was left was relief –relief at being rescued, and relief at finding other survivors in a now hostile area.

As the two groups approached each other, greeted and mingled a little, North snapped back to the situation.

"Ada, Lou," he said, "keep an eye out for Flood. There's probably more on the way if they know we're here."

"We'll help," one pilot said, speaking for all of them. North was happy to recognise 479-er as she directed her pilots to spread out along the intersections and keep a look out. Ada and Lou separated and each took one of the less fight-experienced pilots under their wing.

Col looked at North. "So, you got a plan?"

"We head back down to the armoury we were staying at," North explained. "We take the elevator –South and Illinois are keeping the hall clear around there. Should be enough room for all of your friends."

"There shouldn't be," Col said bluntly, but nodded. North winced at the reminder of how many they had lost. In any case, now was the time to be focusing on the people they still had, so he gestured for the lookouts to fall in and he and Col led them back to the elevator. Nevada and Lou brought up the rear while the pilots with the best weapons and most experience using them carefully enclosed their weaker and, in many cases, younger colleagues.

Col called the elevator as the rest of the group took cover where they could, prepared for a burst of Flood to attack them. The rescue team had imparted their last run-in with the elevator as they went.

No such thing happened, though, and North gestured for the pilots to enter first. As 479-er counted heads and gave North the thumbs-up, Lou followed them in.

Then things went wrong.

The Flood apparently hadn't been able to catch up to them until they'd almost completed their escape, but they were here now. Sweeping in a wave down the corridor, they barrelled forward, those that had weapons firing shots as they went. Nevada hit the switch on the nearest door to her and took cover in the doorway, firing back as well as she could with her pistol. Col shoved North back into the elevator.

"Go," he snapped, jumping back to avoid the shots. North was forced to duck behind the elevator doors, surrounded by pilots doing the same. Nevada and Col were fighting back, but both risked being hit if they tried to make it to the elevator. Lou, across from him, shook his head. He didn't want leave the two other Freelancers behind.

From his position, North could just see Nevada, who had swapped to her battle rifle and was calmly firing back at opponents that North couldn't see from his position. She turned to him briefly, and nodded. Kappa flickered into existence by her side and made a shooing gesture.

He says that the room she's in is secure when the door's closed. When you're gone, she, Kappa and Col can hide in there, Theta informed him. He was a little scared. Nevertheless, he had confidence that his brother, Nevada and Col could take care of themselves.

North pressed the button that would take them down to the armoury.

As the doors closed, he caught a glimpse of Col jumping towards Nevada, reaching the cover of the door unharmed (as far as North could see).

Lou glared at him through his helmet. "What the hell were you thinking, abandoning them there?" he demanded. The pilots didn't move, not wanting to draw the enraged Freelancer's attention.

"They'll be safe," North said calmly, hoping it was true. "They made the decision to stay behind and keep them off our backs."

Heta appeared next to Lou, his hologram taking shape between him and North. "Kap says they'll try to meet up with us later. If not, they'll just hang out in the lab they ended up in."

Lou still scowled, and very clearly disapproved of the situation. He did, however, realise he seemed to be spooking some of the pilots and made an effort to calm himself down.

"Fine," he muttered, and that was the end of that.

The elevator doors opened around the same time North realised he'd have to explain Nevada's absence to Illinois.