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Screaming was the first thing North heard when he arrived at Outpost 33-A. Not gunshots or anything like that. Just plain old screaming coming from the Blue base--and he wasn't anywhere near the actual base itself. He'd only arrived from the dropoff point and had shut his Warthog down when he first heard the noise. Naturally, he was wiser than to just walk into that blind and he had some time before he was due to report there, so he carefully climbed along a stony ridge overlooking the jungle basin where the outposts had been set up. He was eternally grateful for his suit's temperature regulators; he'd already be sweating according to the heat/humidity readings on his HUD.
Unfortunately, because of the thick fronds and branches forming a rather tight canopy over the bases, he would have to go in closer in order to observe the situation. According to Command, the Blues had lost a couple team members recently, but hadn't heard a thing from Red base yet. He had to go in and evaluate the Blues before inspecting Red base and then reporting in on his findings. It all seemed...a little too easy. This was the sort of assignment he'd gone on years ago when he first joined up with the program, so he couldn't quite shake the feeling that there was going to be one hell of a twist set up for him. The Counsellor wasn't known for going easy on them--that went double for the Director--nor, uh, doing conventional things either.
Once he was below the canopy, he quickly found a slightly broader ridge that wouldn't potentially give way at any moment because of his weight. Had a pretty good view of the base in the distance too. Quietly, he pulled his sniper rifle off his back and started to have a look around.
The back of the base showed little sign of anything awry or any of the carnage that had happened; then again, it wouldn't show much since the original incident had occurred a week ago and surely the Blues had buried their dead and cleaned up since then. Why he was only just being deployed there, he had no clue. He didn't have any control over that sort of thing. And just as he thought, there were the distinct shapes of two burial mounds not too far from the base. As for the other two simulation soldiers...
He adjusted the range of his motion tracker, expanding it until he saw two dots appear. They'd gone awful quiet in the past few minutes, and even replaying his audio log, North still couldn't quite decipher what the yelling had been about. Even Red base across the basin seemed quiet. There wasn't a single scout to be seen there.
"Agent North Dakota calling Command," he said, pressing a button on the side of his helmet.
It took a second for him to receive a reply, but he soon heard a somewhat curt female voice say, "Go ahead North, we have you."
"I've arrived at Outpost 33-A. At this time, I can verify that Blue team did lose two soldiers recently, and things went silent soon after my arrival." He figured he'd report the screams properly later on.
"Roger that. Locate the two Blue soldiers and see what they know. Report back in when you know more. Command out." The long range radio clicked off soon after.
He rolled his shoulders slowly, his plan of action already decided upon. "Well, time to give them a neighborly hello," he muttered to himself as he put away his sniper rifle. Still though, he didn't quite like the feeling of going down there without a weapon on-hand, so he checked the safety on his SMG and double-checked he had a fresh clip in there. It'd do.
Kicking off the ledge, he leapt across to the nearest tree, catching its trunk with his free hand. Down he slid, controling his descent with both his grip and angle of his boots. The poor tree would lose a substantial amount of bark in that one area, but that was about it. Once he was within a safe jumping distance, he pushed off from there, kicked off another tree, then landed, bending his legs to absorb the shock. A split-second later he stood, shook his legs out, then quietly sprinted through the plush undergrowth. He did everything he could to minimize contact with the branches and large fronds, but this area of the base hadn't been cleared. The entire time he ran, he kept an eye on his motion tracker, watching to see when and if the Blues would both hear or see him, but they showed no signs of having noticed him.
The closer he got, though, the more he could hear murmurings of a very heated discussion going on, and once he was near one of the base's openings, he stopped and brushed aside the front-most branches. Only when he was he clear did he finally turn on his external radio comm and spoke up.
"Hello Blue team? Come on, I know you're in there," he added after receiving no response. "I've been sent from Command. I heard you needed some back-up, so...here I am."
He waited for a long moment outside, lightly tapping his palm with the SMG. Honestly, this was the part he hated the most about missions to the outposts. The soldiers there always assumed he was from the other side and there was this whole password process he had to go through, and he did not like standing out in the open when he didn't know what sort of trick was waiting for him. Granted, there were always the ones who couldn't give two shits about protocol or anything, but there were the jumpy ones. The paranoid ones. The ones with itchy trigger fingers. The unstable ones were the ones they had to be extremely careful with or else a routine training mission could get nasty in no time flat. And since he was alone for this one, he was feeling a little more cautious than normal.
His eyes flicked back and forth between the entrance to the base and his motion tracker. He watched the two dots circling each other, their voices raising, and finally he was able to pick up a snatch of what was being said. Slowly, he stepped closer, bringing his weapon up and bracing the butt of the SMG in the crook of his elbow. Just in case, he switched his thermals on and immediately spotted the two soldiers in question.
"--vate, you need to calm down, or--!"
That would have been the moment he would have spoken up again, but several bursts from an assault rifle interrupted him, followed by an anguished cry of, "Son of a bitch!" and one of the dots blinking out on his tracker. He cursed loudly and switched on his voice amplifier, his voice stern. There was no way he was rushing in there now.
"Attention Blue team! This is Freelancer North Dakota. I'm ordering you to come out here with both hands raised in the air. And no funny business!"
He could feel his heart begin to beat just a little faster as he patiently waited and watched the lone figure traverse the inner portions of the base. The soldier appeared to be injured from the slight limp in his gait, or so it seemed with the thermal's image of him. Also didn't seem to be armed, but then again, he wasn't about to take any chances. Just to be on the safe side, he melted back into the brush and crouched down, sticking the muzzle of his SMG in between a pair of fronds. His eyes never left the base's entrance.
Finally, the figure emerged, the soldier's royal blue armor splashed with red from head to foot. "He-hello? Mister Freelancer?"
"Stay right there and don't move," he said, not moving himself. "I'm coming right out."
He didn't immediately, though. Just from a glance, it didn't seem like there were any breaches in the soldier's armor that could explain the limp, so he could at least rule out a gunshot or knife wound. Probably twisted it, North figured. He also didn't see any weapons on the soldier's person. Then again, he couldn't completely verify that. There was always the slim chance that the soldier had put a pistol or SMG on his back. It was highly improbable, though; the simulation troops weren't known for their intelligence or craftiness.
Once he was satisfied the soldier wasn't an immediate threat, he stood and walked through the brush. The soldier visibly took a step back into the base when he spotted him. North couldn't blame the guy for being a bit jumpy; he still was pointing his SMG at him.
"You're the Freelancer that Cap--Captain Grenfield called?"
"That's me," North replied. "Mind telling me what just happened here, soldier?"
The Blue soldier nodded, clinging to a ridge in the entranceway to the base. "I...he just came at me. Started yelling at me and claiming I'd done something horrible, but it wasn't me! I didn't do it!"
He held up a hand and slowly stowed his SMG away, the magnetic system kicking on and holding the weapon in place against his thigh. "Okay, slow down," he said in a calm voice. "Why don't you start from the beginning?"
"No way, not here! We're not safe out here!" the soldier exclaimed, his voice shaking with fear.
A soft sigh escaped his lips. "All right, all right, we'll seek shelter in the base, but I need you to start talking right now."
With a nod, the soldier started walking backwards as he explained the situation. North followed him in, making damn sure not to let his guard down. He didn't like this one bit, but he had a feeling the solider would be even more useless if he continued to incite his panic.
A week before, according to the soldier, Private Hoople, it had been a normal day around the base. The Reds were being dirty, no-good Reds, and were plotting their next invasion no doubt, so the Blues split up, one pair sent to spy on the Reds and the other did an inventory of their weapons and strategically planned for the attack. Only...the scouts were taking a long time getting back, so Hoople was sent to see what was holding them up, only to see a big, fearsome creature running away from their position, leaving behind his friends' dead bodies. And since then, Hoople kept hearing that creature, its growls and moans following him around.
Then just that morning, Hoople was watching the Red base to see what they were up to, but saw no one around. Both Capt Grenfield and him had thought they'd take advantage of the squad size and attack them--but they didn't. So, at personal risk to himself, Hoople snuck over to Red base to see what was going on and found that the monster had attacked them all too! That was when he ran back and started to scream about there being a monster and how they were next.
"But Grenfield didn't believe me! Said I was going soft in the head!" the soldier continued, knocking the side of his helmeted head. "But that can't be right, can it? It's still solid!"
The story was...interesting, but North felt like he wasn't getting the whole truth. Oh sure, there was parts he believed; the evidence of at least part of the story was right outside in two six-foot deep graves. And as far as he knew, the indigenous species in the jungle basin were fairly docile and nowhere near murderous on that level, even when provoked by idiots.
Something else caught his eye just then: a slight twitch of the Captain's finger. No, it was a series of twitches, some short, others long. He nodded ever so slightly to acknowledge that he'd seen the gesture, and suddenly said, "Private Hoople, I don't suppose you could rustle up a cup of water and something to eat? It was a long journey here."
Hoople nodded, his shoulders slumping in a way that made him seem relieved to have an excuse to leave the small mess hall. "Right away! Hope you like brownies. It's all we got left until the next shipment arrives."
As soon as the soldier had gone, North quickly went over to the Captain and knelt down, removing the man's helmet. The second he did this, the Captain began to cough. North immediately covered the man's mouth with his gloved hand. His eyes kept darting to the motion tracker to keep an eye on Hoople's movements. "I'm sorry I couldn't speak sooner," he whispered to the man, and very gently removed his hand, ignoring the blood.
"Don't..." Grenfield gasped, his lips laboring to form words that his voice just couldn't come. The man's lungs were probably filling with blood. It was any wonder how he was still alive.
"It's okay. Just do what you did before. Use the Morse code, but hurry, he's coming back." Carefully, he slipped the helmet back on and stood, his eyes focused on the Captain's hand. It didn't happen often, but every now and again, one of the simulation soldiers would have a semblance of a brain. The message the Captain passed along before his hand finally stopped moving had been more than enlightening. The second Hoople came back, North loudly cocked his SMG and aimed right for the man's head.
"Whoa!" he cried, dropping the packet of standard issue brownies and a bottle of water. "I'm a friendly!"
North took a step forward, sincerely pissed off now. "Oh yeah? How about I ask Privates Fowler and Smyth? I'm sure if I checked their video logs, I might see just how 'friendly' you are. Or how about I ask the Reds? See what they have to say?"
"Mister Freelancer," Hoople said, squatting down to pick up the discarded rations. His voice was a more relaxed than it had been moments ago. "I don't...understand. What are you talking about?"
He allowed the movement but only so he could verify whether Hoople was still unarmed or not. But even though he proved to be the former, North certainly didn't trust him. A dying--and now dead--man had no reason to lie, not when that last message was, "Hoople insane. Saw him kill reds with own eyes."
"Don't give me that innocent act," North snapped, the sights of his SMG still fixed on the soldier. "You lie worse than my sister."
Hoople was silent for a moment as he put the rations calmly down on the table nearest him. "...You think I did it too. Even though I told you what happened?"
"Yep. The next time you decide to team-kill someone, you should make sure they're dead." The silence continued between them. It wasn't quite a stand-off; North stood closer to the discarded assault rifle though he didn't doubt that Hoople was weighing his chances of reaching it, and all weapon storage was supposed to be on North's side of the base. He had the clear advantage, and from Hoople's lack of action, the soldier must have figured this out too. "So this is how we're going to do this," he began after another moment had passed. "You're going to put your hands on the back of your head, turn around, and together, you and me are marching out of this base. And there, we're going to wait for extraction. I'm going to let Command deal with you."
Hoople froze mid-turn at the mention of going outside. In an instant, that nervousness in his voice was back. "Wa-wait, can't we just...stay in here until someone else from Blue Command comes?"
"Nope, that'd be too easy." He gave the soldier's shoulder a nudge with the muzzle of his gun. "Besides, it's a nice day out there. You don't want to be all cooped up in here, do you?" But that wasn't a question. The farther away he had Hoople from any other weapons, the better.
"No, you don't understand," the soldier said very urgently, turning around again, "It's going to--!" But a rough shove cut him off as he stumbled forward. North quickly followed, not wanting to leave him alone for a second, and grabbed hold of the soldier's wrists.
"Listen," he said in a stern, but even voice. "Nothing is going to get you. The only thing that can harm you now has his hands behind his head." With a squeeze of the soldier's wrists, he urged him forward with a push. The closer he got to the other entrance of the base, the more Hoople began to resist each step. He couldn't deny that something definitely had the soldier spooked, but he wasn't going to stay in a place where the soldier could potentially get his hands on some more weapons. In a private comm chat with Command, he recommended a drug test and full psych evaluation for the guy, though he knew asking for an evaluation was like asking if the sun would rise each morning. No doubt they'd do more than just the one.
"P-please, don't make me--don't make me go out there, oh god, oh god, oh god no!" Hoople whimpered. The soldier began to writhe in his grasp and had practically dug his heels into the ground. "It's going to eat me. It's going to eat us both!"
"I'll eat you if you don't go out that damn door!" He knew how stupid the threat sounded, but he knew the soldiers were told outlandish stories about the Freelancers. Usually, the stories just involved how the Freelancers were mercenaries for hire and would do anything for the right price, so perhaps "outlandish" wasn't quite the right word to describe them. But it all depended on the base and whatever those soldiers had been told. He'd heard some...interesting interpretations about the Freelancers from the others.
Whether rumors of cannibalism had been spread around this particular outpost or not, North had no idea. Hoople reacted accordingly and started to began walking through the entranceway--albeit with extreme reluctance.
But nothing attacked them once they made it out in the open. A bird called from somewhere across the basin, but that was nothing else.
"See, that wasn't so bad, was it? Now have a seat, we have to wait a bit," he said, his tone not as stern as it was before. Though he told the soldier to sit down, he decided not to wait and see if the Blue soldier would listen to him or not. So, to help him a bit, he knocked the back of Hoople's knees so they gave. Hoople let out a little surprised cry, but North still had hold of him and he kept the soldier from falling down on his face as he finally was set on the ground. It would have served him right if he had just let him drop. But so far, the soldier hadn't actually threatened him with anything--not that he gave him the chance to, however. And besides, he knew a worse fate must be waiting for him back in Command. "Now, no moving unless I tell you to," he said, releasing his hold of Hoople's wrists at last. "Understood?"
The soldier nodded and immediately tucked himself into a ball--or as much of one he could manage to make while in body armor. Murmured, panicky words began coming out of him again as he started to rock back and forth. Wisely, North took a few steps back in case Hoople suddenly--
But that was when they both heard a snap. North didn't see anything on his motion tracker, but from the direction the sound came from, it was due west--right in front of them. Quietly, North switched guns while Hoople's chantings became a bit louder. Even with the sniper scope, he couldn't see much of a difference. None of the brush rustled with movement, nor was there any suspicious shadows flitting about. And his thermals only told him there were small animals nearby, but yet there was nothing that could have made that loud of a snapping noise.
North began to wonder if anyone else had been sent on the mission with him and he didn't know it. Carolina could possibly be using an ability to blend in, but she wouldn't be able to disguise her heat signature. No one he knew had anything to mask that, but there were ways to trick the thermals. It was a possibility that someone had caked themselves in mud or some other method. A river ran through the middle of the basin, effectively dividing it for the bases. They could've been hiding in there.
"We're fucked, we're fucked!" Hoople began shouting when another snap came from the same direction.
"Be quiet!" he hissed, his muscles tensing. Still nothing on any of his readings. Though he did spot one thing. He hadn't taken much note of it before since the area he first arrived in had been devoid of them, but now that he was out front... "Hoople, did any of your people eat those berries?" He didn't get an answer. "Hoople, focus! Did you eat those berries?"
"S-so hungry," the soldier finally said. "Captain kept all the good things for himself. We've been out of rations for two weeks. Oh god, why isn't it attacking us yet?"
It all made sense now. North recognized those berries from some of his earliest training sessions and knew them to be poisonous. But if someone were to consume them gradually over a few weeks, using them to stretch sparse rations until there was nothing left but the berries... No wonder Hoople had lost it. Probably hallucinated the big creature killing his friends and the Reds as a way for his mind to cope what was happening to it. North actually felt sorry that this had happened. If the soldiers had known what fruit wasn't safe to eat--well, they probably did know or were told at some point not to and just didn't remember. What a waste...
"It's all right, nothing's going to attack us," he said, lowering his gun. "Just sit tight, okay? I'm going to grab some of the Captain's rations and then I'll be right back. I think you could use them more than he can now."
"But can't I come with you?!" Hoople asked, twisting around to watch him. "You can't leave me out here like this!"
"Yeah, I can," he said in that same calm, patient voice he'd use if the soldier had been a child. "I'm ordering you to hold your position, Private. Keep an eye out for the Pelican, all right? And don't move. I'll know if you do."
Hoople looked back towards the brush and began to say something again, but North had already moved. Thankfully, the Blue base wasn't too big or complex, so he found the Captain's quarters easily enough. North let out a whistle when he saw what had been crammed into the Captain's footlocker. The man must have had one hell of a sweet tooth and a penchant for jerky. He could only imagine what had been left for the others.
And that was when he heard a bloodcurdling scream drowned out by a deep, ferocious roar. "The fuck--?!" he exclaimed, dropping the rations he'd picked up. As he ran back to the base's entrance, he could see Hoople's dot heading for the same place, but North was faster. He got there in time to see Hoople running straight for him--and then he was gone, tackled by a huge creature with two very sharp and very long talons on both front paws. North watched for a moment, stunned. The creature batted Hoople around like he was a small rag doll, but North knew the moment his head struck one of the trees, the soldier was gone.
That realization brought him back to his senses. He immediately aimed for the creature's head, and began shooting it before it had a chance to decide it wanted North as a second toy. It roared angrily at him after the first shot, waving its tusks in the air before it started to charge him. But North stood his ground and unloaded the rest of the clip into its head. By the fourth and final shot, the wounds finally seemed to register in the creature's mind and it simply dropped like a heavy boulder.
Unsure of whether this creature had any friends in the area--or if, god forbid, this was the baby of something much larger--North quickly hurried over to Hoople to verify he was dead. From the odd angle his neck was bent at thanks to his head being stuck in the cliff wall, he figured it was safe to assume he was dead. Still, he didn't want to leave the poor soldier dangling like that, so he reached up, grabbed Hoople's legs, and pulled. North was extremely glad he came out in one piece.
"Command, do you read? This is Agent North Dakota with another update," he said as he sprinted back to the base, the soldier's body slung over his shoulder.
"Go ahead," came the same, impartial tone of voice from the comms operator.
"All soldiers in Outpost 33-A are dead. The last remaining survivor was attacked by an unknown creature. Sending video logs now." And he did so, the other side filled with silence. The silence was fitting, he felt. He made his way into the barracks and deposited Hoople's body down on one of the beds. He should have had the soldier come in with him, but the possible risks were too great.
His fist tightened. Why the hell hadn't he been told about this species? If it was completely unknown to the program, he'd just killed the one living specimen they could have used to study.
"--orth, do yo copy?"
"Sorry, please repeat that." He turned away, unable to look at Hoople any longer.
"Excise a tissue sample of the creature and finish your mission. Report back once you've examined Red base. Do you copy this time?"
"Yeah. I read you, Command."
"Good. Command out."
It didn't take long for North to retrieve a sample of the creature's tissues--and made sure he grabbed a big enough sample--and soon made his way to Red base. It wouldn't be the first time he would be grateful for his own life support systems. Just from the flies buzzing around Red base, he could only imagine just how bad it stank with four dead bodies. Thankfully after that, he was free to leave and no other creatures found him. He climbed out of the basin from Red base's end of it, made his way back to his Warthog, and even his wait for extraction was uneventful. It had still been a fairly easy mission, all things considered, even if no one else had lived. Part of him wondered if their living wasn't the point of it. That he wasn't meant to be protecting them but instead was supposed to use them as bait for that creature.
If that was the case, he sure as hell succeeded...
Still, he couldn't wait to see the Counsellor's face when he slung the creature's taloned paw out for him to see.