479er and another soldier were in the hanger bay of the Mother of Invention. The soldier was moving a crate as 479er was fixing something on her Pelican. She then sees where the soldier is putting the crate and corrects him. 

"No, no! This one goes here, that one goes there." The trooper grunts in annoyance. Carolina, York, North Dakota, and South Dakota walk into the hangar talking. 

"We ready?" Carolina asks. 

"Just about. Running final checks now." 

"Alright, you heard her! Everyone onboard!" Carolina motions towards the Pelican. 

"C'mon D. Let's go. It's about time. Let's get this mission goin'." Delta follows York towards the Pelican. 479er then notices the green AI. 

"Woah, woah, woah. Hang on a minute, what is that thing?" She points at Delta. 

"This is Delta. Our new addition." York explains. 

"Your new addition is pretty small." 

"I said the same thing." Wash chuckles. 

"Delta is a computer program. He helps us figure stuff out. He's an A.I." 

"Oh A.I. huh? What's the A stand for?" 479er asks sarcastically. 

"Artificial." 

"I know what it stands for. What's it doing here?! Isn't it like one of those robots who takes people's jobs and puts them out of work?" 

"I don't think so." York says thoughtfully. The soldier moving crates looks over at the Freelancers and 479er. 

"What are you looking at?! I said put it over there, pay attention!" She says pointing. The soldier groans before moving it in the direction she ordered.

"Hey guys, get a move on." Carolina orders. 

"Hang on a minute. You. Green guy. Do you know how to fly a plane?" 

Delta shakes his head. "No, I do not." 

"Huh, right. We're cool then. Everybody on board!" 479er motions for them to enter the Pelican. The soldiers grunts in annoyance as he's moving around the crate.

"Not over there, over there! Just quit screwin' around and put that thing back where you found it." 479er says before entering her ship. The soldier slams his head onto the crate. "This is Four Seven Niner. We are wheels up and engines hot. Leave a light on for us, Command." 

"Roger that, Four Seven Niner. Good luck." Command responds. 

"Thanks, Command. Four Seven Niner out. Man, I would hate to have that guy's job." 479er starts the Pelican and they jettison from the hanger bay. 

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Zone was punched in the face and fell to the ground. Headcase cracked his knuckles as walked up and turned Zone so he was lying on his back. "You probably have to be the most stubborn prisoner we've ever interrogated." 

"Probably <pant> want to <pant> change your methods." Zone says exhausted. Headcase then kicked Zone in the stomach, making him cough blood. 

"Boss, CT says you and her need to get a move on." Rambo says on the comms. 

"Tell her I'm coming." Headcase then dragged Zone till they came to where they had had him cuffed originally and activated them, pulling him up. Zone let his head fall forward. Headcase lifts his head up and makes him look into his visor. 

"Once we're finished getting the information we need, I'll kill you myself." Headcase then pulls out a knife and slashes Zone's left eye. Zone yelled in agony as the blood from his eye spills to the floor. Headcase then exits the room. Zone looks up and watches him leave. 

~Good riddance. Kill those idiots for me guys.~ Zone was feeling drowsy and let his head drop again, passing out. 

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

479er was piloting her Pelican until she cut the engines to a stop. 

"We parking?!" York called from the bay. 

"Indeed, we are. The enemy base is right below us." She answers back. 

"How far below?" Wash asks. 

"Do you really wanna know?" 

"Probably not...do I wanna know?" 

"Seventy-five thousand feet." 

"Uh, that's high." Wash then clutches the bottom of his seat for dear life. 

"No wonder you guys need computer programs, yes, that's very high." 479er says annoyed. 

"That is approximately fourteen-point-two miles." Delta calculates. 

"Thanks, D. You don't need to do that anymore." York advises. 

"Automatic conversion routines, offline." 

Carolina dismounts from the co-pilot seat before asking, "What's the plan?" 

"Well, we know they're ready for us, so I figure they have defenses pointed in every direction. Except..." 

"Except they're probably not looking straight up." Carolina finishes. 

"They're probably not looking straight up." 479er repeats. 

"You thinking about a dive-bomb?" Wash walks in when he hears that and clutches his stomach at the thought. 

"Oh no." He then returns to his seat. 

"Sort of, but if we did a dive bomb, our engines would register on their thermals. Let them know that we're coming. I'm thinking... something else." Carolina walks into the bay. 

"Probably wanna tighten that harness." She suggest to Wash. 

"Oh no." Wash says as Carolina sits next to him. The metal harnesses come down over them and they grab the bars. 

"Express elevator goin' down!" 479er cuts the engines and the Pelican immediately drops. The Freelancers all hold onto their but not as tightly as Washington. 

"I think I'm gonna be sick!" Wash announces. 

"You know these suits are supposed to eliminate all wastes! You could probably throw up in your helmet and it would take care of it for you!" Carolina jokes. 

"Yeah! You should test that, Wash!" York agrees laughing. 

"You two are complete jerks!" 

"Actually York, we were never able to get the vomit disposal patch beyond beta. Agent Washington would likely drown." Delta states. 

"Yikes. Way to kill the mood D." 

"Hey York, send that little green guy up here." 479er calls from the cockpit. 

"D, you heard her! Front and center!" Delta appears in front of 479er. 

"May I be of assistance?" He asks. 

"Hey buddy, I need you to tell me when I can fire the jets at the last possible second. You know, to avoid crashing." 

"Please don't say crashing!" Wash begs. 

"I understand. To prepare, I will need to calibrate for your reaction time." 

"Fine, go ahead." 

"When I say "mark", you say "sync". Mark." 

"Sync." 

"Mark." 

"Sync!" 

"Calibration complete." 

"So, we're good?" 

"I have high degree of confidence we will be able to complete this maneuver." Delta assures. He then flashes. 

"Wait a second, why did you just blink like that?" 

"That was just a standard maintenance routine." 

"Dude! Did you just make a backup of yourself?" 479er asks shocked. 

"Confidence is one thing, but it is always prudent to prepare for failure." Delta explains. 

"That's a stupid move, green guy." 

"I apologize if I have offended-" 

"Stupid. Move." 

"Prepare to fire engines on my mark. Five, Four, Three-" 

The pelican fires its engines, landing right behind some Insurrectionsists scaring the daylights out of them. 

"First floor! Everybody out!" 479er orders. The Freelancers jump out of the Pelican one by one. 

"Okay, go, go, go!" York says jumping first. 

"Why are we always jumping out of this thing?" Wash complains following. 

"Let's move people!" North follows after his sister. 

Carolins readies herself to jump. "Yeah, let's move." 

Carolina jumps off the ceiling of the Pelican, landing inbetween Insurrection soldiers and leading the Freelancers into battle. Two Warthogs drive up and fire at the group, the Freelancers dodge the blast. Carolina jumps off one of the Warthog onto the platform. 

"South! Stay behind me!" North says as they take cover behind a container. He fires his sniper drawing the Warthog's attention. 

York and Washington run ahead from another container.

"York, move up!" Wash orders. 

"On it!" Then York is blasted back by an explosion. 

"Stupid grenades..." York groans. 

Wash avoids another Warthog round, he then slams his hand into the ground sending an EMP blast at the attacking vehicles. The gunner of one of the Warthogs gets off only to be shot down by South as she takes out the other gunner. Wash and York then advance. 

Underneath the base CT and Headcase are watching the attack on the base on a computer screen. 

"They're here! I didn't think they'd find me so quickly!" CT tells him. 

"It was only a matter of time. Let's deal with this!" Headcase walks up to an intercom and starts speaking. "All hands topside! We are under attack, this is not a drill! Let's go people, move!" 

Carolina fires her plasma rifles from behind a crate at an Insurrectionist until she is pinned down by sniper fire. Wash and York, who are below take cover behind a wall, from a Warthog.

"We've got to time it just right! Wait for my mark!" Wash reloads his rifle. 

"Call it." York orders. Four Insurrectionists are on another platform firing at Carolina with sniper rifles. Deadeye then walks in behind them. 

"Okay, what have you got for me?" He asks as he takes aim. Deadeye fires his sniper rifle nearly hitting Carolina. 

"Woah!" Carolina holsters her plasma rifles and moves to the other side of the crate.

"Alright, boys. Me first!" She calls out. Carolina throws a grenade at the snipers but Deadeye shoots it in mid-air. 

"NOW!" Wash and York then come out of cover to fire at the snipers, only to be pushed back by a Warthog that was manned by Sweetheart and Rambo. 

"No, wait! Not now, not now!" Wash and York duck back avoiding oncoming bullets. 

"Come on!" York says frustrated. 

Carolina avoids another sniper shot. 

"Dang it! North, we're pinned down, I need you to take them out!" 

"I can't get a line of sight on the target from here. But I might have a way to contain them." North and South are behind a Warthog as South is firing at a group of Insurrectionsists and narrowly dodges a sniper round.

"Just do it!" Carolina orders. 

"Theta!" North calls. Suddenly a dark purple and pink AI appears next to North's head. 

"Ready!" He says. 

"Putting up a hail-mary! I need you to guide me!" 

"Okay!" Theta vanishes. 

North backs up from the Warthog, holstering his sniper rifle. He pulls out a device and prepares to throw it.

"They say the best offense, is a good..." North tosses the device over a nearby building "...defense!" 

The device lands behind the Insurrectionist snipers and suddenly a domed energy shield activates, surrounding the snipers. 

"Hold your fire people! Stand down." Deadeye orders. 

One of the snipers holsters his weapon and pulls out his SMG. "I got this." 

"No, Wait!" Deadeye tries to stop him but he already fires his SMG and is immediately killed by the ricocheting bullet. The dead Insurrectionist continues firing, sending bullets ricocheting all over the inside of the shield killing the other snipers as Deadeye ducks. Some of the other snipers are hit and a couple of them fire as well, intensifying the gunfire. The inside becomes covered in blood. The domed energy shield deactivates and the snipers all fall to the floor. 

"Did I get 'em?" North asked on the radio. 

"Yeah, North. You got 'em." Carolina confirms. 

"Thanks for the help, Theta." North smiles. 

"You are welcome." Theta then disappears. 

"Okay we're movin'! York, you guys can handle it from here right?" 

"Handle it?" York questions. "Sure. I mean, I nearly got blown up a minute ago, and now I'm paired with the squad's second worst fighter. But sure we can handle it." 

"Great! North out." 

"You really think I'm the second worst fighter?" Wash asks. 

"No, I was being nice. You're easily the worst." Suddenly York is punched to the side by Guns. 

"You were saying?" Wash then looks at Guns as they face one another. 

"Uh oh." Wash is knocked next to York. The Freelancers notice that he is carrying a rocket launcher and are blown back by the shot. Wash then manages to shoot the rocket launcher out of his hands. Then Sweetheart aims the Warthog's turret at Wash.

The Warthog backs up and drives towards the steel and yellow Freelancer. Wash manages to get up and begins running away.

"Car!" He yells. 

"Dang it!" York fires his shotgun at Guns but his arm is knocked away. York and Guns the tackle each other. Carolina begins to fire at him from the upper platform. Guns rolls away from the oncoming shots. Carolina's plasma rifles overheat and she notices the Warthog chasing Wash, putting him inbetween a crate and the Warthog.

"Oh, crap! No you don't!" Carolina leaps off the platform and kicks Sweetheart off the Warthog's turret. She then jumps on her but is kicked off. Regaining her footing, Carolina fires at the her, but the bolts are stopped when the Rambo backs the Warthog up to block them. He then raises his a shotgun with his robotic arm at Carolina. 

"'Sup. It's payback time!" 

Rambo fires his shotgun but Carolina gets out of the way only for Sweetheart to attack her with dual pistols. York gets up and runs for his shotgun, Guns tres to grab the shotgun as well. York pummels him and sends him to the side. Grabbing his shotgun, York hits Sweetheart with the butt of his shotgun and prepares to fire at her. She ducks as the Rambo drives over her and uses the side of the Warthog to knock York into the crate that Wash was hiding behind.

"Oh, my head..." York groans. 

Wash moves to the other side of the crate and pulls out a pad.

"Okay! Time to fight fire, with fire!" He then throws it behind the ODSTs. 

Rambo who is still in the warthog, Sweetheart and Guns all charge at Carolina. Wash then presses something on his arm piece. A red laser homes in on the pad he threw onto the ground and begins to beep rapidly until a drop-pod lands right on top of it. Sweetheart and Guns turn around. The hatch pops off, sending it towards the soldiers. They both look up to see Maine exiting the pod and standing in front of them. A red and orange figure that appeared to be on fire appeared next to Maine's head. This was Sigma, Carolina's original AI which she had given to Maine to be able to communicate with his fellow Freelancers. 

"Agent Maine, isn't that the soldier from the freeway? The one that shot you in the throat?" Sigma asks. 

Maine growls and turns to face Guns. 

"I thought so. Sic 'em." Maine lunges forward at the ODSTs. 

(IT WAS AT THIS MOMENT THAT THEY KNEW, THEY SCREWED UP...MAJORLY! GET READY MAINE VS GUNS AND THE RESCUE OF ARIZONA!)