43Wash was taken back to the surgical bay, and Penn was sent to the med bay. After the two had been removed from the area, most of the soldiers simply left. The crowd like mass of soldiers slowly started to dissipate, and only a few Freelancers now stood in the room.
"Man, I just….man." York says. Nobody replies for a few seconds, as the shock of what they had just witnessed wore off.
"What happened while we were gone?" North says to nobody in particular. Out of the entire group, Carolina and Tex were the least affected by the event. And since Tex had walked off for no reason (Although nobody would ask anyway) Carolina spoke next.
"I don't know, but the Director should." The Director had just entered the room, and the Freelancers snapped him a quick salute.
"At ease agents." His southern drawl says, and the Freelancers relax.
"Sir, what happened here?" Carolina asks.
"Well agent Carolina, it would seem two of our agents had a disagreement. We have handled the situation, and I would suggest you leave it at that."
"But sir, Wash and Penn were friends why would they-"An icy glance from the Director causes York to stop midsentence.
"I will expect you agents to leave this matter be, am I understood?" The sentence has an edge to it, and that's enough to keep anyone from digging into the matter any deeper.
"Yes sir!" The Freelancers salute again. The Director leaves the room, leaving the agents by themselves.
"Hey, has anyone seen Tex?" North asks.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()
Tex walked down the hall, and thought about the events of the past few weeks. First, Penn shows up out of nowhere. Then he gets an AI, and somehow becomes an incredible fighter. Then he starts going crazy, and then even goes completely insane!
Now this thing with Wash? Tex has had enough of this mystery agent. She's going to find out more about him, she's determined too. When she finally reaches her destination, Tex steps into a large classroom type room.
This is the same room where they have their classes on AI's. It's also the only place where Tex can pull up agent files. Typing in a few commands on the computer, a window pops up. Inside are the files of every Freelancer, of every person on the mother of invention.
Familiar names pass by as she scrolls through profiles, York, North, Carolina, but no Penn. Tex cycles through the list again, but with the same results. How can this be? Every single agent is listed in this file. Tex starts digging deeper into the projects files.
Most files are open for agents to read. The Counselor thought it was a good idea to let them read up on each other. All it really led to was pranks and teasing. Take Wash's bedwetting part for example. Whenever York read that, he wouldn't stop bothering Wash about for weeks.
Eventually Tex came to the part of the system that was off limits. She hadn't found anything about Penn at all. Not a single piece of information on any of the files. This had peeked her interest and she wasn't stopping now.
"Using some hacking skills (Tex didn't even know she had) Tex manages to get into the system. New files open up, some of which arise some concerns for her. It's the stuff only the Counselor and the Director look at. If Penn was in this section, it can't be good.
Most of the files are things like armor research and development, and armor ability testing. Tex looks through most of these files, but nothing. Then, a certain file caught her eye. It was labeled "Experiments" Which was weird, considering the other files varying contents.
She opened up the folder and started reading. Most of it was about the Spartan program and other genetic mutation serums or organizations. She was about to leave, for she didn't want to get in the system, when she saw something that made her stomach flop.
At the back of the folder, was a single agent file. The file of agent Pennsylvania.
()()()()()()()()()()()()
The other Freelancers had all decided to relax in the rec room. Relax being used lightly, as nobody was very calm. They were all curious about what had happened between Wash and Penn. Or more importantly, why the Director had tried to cover it up.
York, North and Maine were all sitting on a couch, and C.T. was in the chair across from them. Wyoming was in another chair, next to the couch. Carolina was leaning against the wall. South had left a few minutes prior, ranting about random stuff that pissed her off.
"So, what are we doing exactly?" York asks.
"Were waiting." Carolina responds.
"Waiting for what?" York asks again. Carolina sighs before answering.
"Eventually either Penn or Wash will be released, and we can ask them what happened."
"So until then, we just sit here?"
"Yes York, we sit and wait." Carolina says, getting annoyed with York's questions.
Just then Tex walks into the room. Nobody is overly excited about this, except Carolina.
"And where were you, agent Texas?" Carolina asks, pushing herself off the wall, and stepping closer to Tex.
"None of your business Carolina." Tex says, venom in her voice. Carolina takes another step forward. She's now face to face with Tex's black helmet.
"Where were you?!" Carolina practically growls.
"Unless you want to go a few rounds on the training floor, I would suggest you backup agent Carolina." Tex says, sending a glare that could been seen through her helmet.
"Arg!" Carolina growls, before storming off. York gets up from the couch and starts to walk after her.
"I should calm her down." He says, before walking off. Tex sits on the couch, where York had just been.
"What is wrong with you two?" North asks Tex.
"I don't know what that bitch's problem is." Tex responds. "And why are you in here?"
"Carolina said we had to wait." North says.
"Wait? Wait for what?" She asks.
"For Penn or Wash." Tex shakes her head, and stands up.
"C'mon, were leaving." She says to the group.
"Why?" North asks.
"Were going to check on Penn." She says, before exiting the room.
()()()()()()()()()()
They walked into the med bay, and looked for their teammate. However, each bed was empty, and there were no signs of Penn anywhere.
"Well, where'd he go?" C.T. asks.
"I don't know." Tex responds before spotting a medic. She walks over and asks him where Penn went.
"Your friend was released half an hour ago." He tells Tex.
"Do you know where he went?" She asks.
"No, he didn't say anything."
Tex stops and thinks for a second. Then she realizes where he is. Without informing the others, Tex walks off.
"She's a weird one, old chap." Wyoming says, patting North on the shoulder.
Tex walked through the halls of the mother of invention. She had a single destination in her mind, and she was almost certain Penn would be there.
Walking into the observation deck, Tex's suspicion is confirmed. Penn is on the training floor, beating up some robots. Beating being the correct term, for the robots didn't really stand a chance against him.
It's a close combat fight, all melee. Its four bots against Penn. The robots have done a flanking maneuver, where two are at his sides, and one behind and one in front of him. The robot behind him decides to start by running straight at Penn's back.
Before the bot ever makes contact, Penn snaps his right leg out, and his armored foot catches the bots chest. This causes the bot to topple backwards, and also causes the rest of the bots to attack.
Penn blocks a punch aimed for his stomach by the bot on his left, and counters with a quick left hook, sending the bot sideways. He feels his legs taken out from under him, and falls to the floor. Two bots loom over him.
Spinning his legs around, he catches on of the bots. It falls to the floor and before it can get back up, Penn kicks it straight in the head, decapitating its robotic cranium. Jumping to his feet, Penn faces the last bot. It charges at him, and makes its final mistake.
Penn strafes sideways, and the bot completely misses him. The bot loses its balance while trying to turn around, and Penn grabs its head snapping it counter clockwise. Letting the bot hit the floor, Penn turns to the blast door that just opened.
Tex walks in, and walks up to him.
"You know you aren't really allowed to be doing this?"
"Who the hell cares?!" He spits at her. But his voice doesn't contain anger, it has slight hint of worry.
"You're in luck, cause that's not why I came here. I need to show you something."
"Show me later."
"No, now." Something I her voice causes Penn to listen.
They walk off the training floors, and down the hall. They keep walking until they come to the AI classroom. Tex shows Penn to the computer, and opens up a few files. She tells Penn to sit down. He does, and looks at the screen in front of him.
It's a single file, labeled "Experiment code name: Pennsylvania"