A military-subsidized education to get her into the golden world of digital security was an opportunity for a Jersey girl with three brothers, no mom and a mechanic for a dad. Project Freelancer was an opportunity for a soldier with serious talent and skill, including when it came to getting her dumb ass into trouble. And when everything else around her burned to the ground and left her in a hole she sometimes only wished were six feet deep, now this -- this is a real fucking opportunity.
Felix and Locus are an unknown quantity, but so had been Project Freelancer, and right now she doesn't have much of a choice. Locus is pretty inoffensive -- quiet, ruthlessly businesslike, almost reminds her of Maine before he went off the fucking deep end, except with manners. Felix, on the other hand, is dangerously smart, and he reminds her of every overcompensating frat boy she met in college, except somehow he makes that work for him, which is an achievement in itself.
Admittedly, after several years in prison, she's not too picky about company. Especially knowing what she knows now. Hearing that Wash and Carolina are not only both still alive but apparently never bothered looking for her, seeing that article about the victory over Project Freelancer -- what, that victory hadn't been in the fucking courts? The ones where they'd sentenced her to hard time, while Wash and Carolina got a handshake and a pat on the ass? Her moral compass was never too tightly calibrated, and years ago she wouldn't have joined up on an op as ruthless as what they're pulling on Chorus. Years ago, she wouldn't have been able to sleep at night thinking of the countless lives lost in pursuit of profit. But she's just not all that picky anymore, and there's good payout in it for her, and more than anything, she wants out. This will get her out for good.
It's Foxtrot now. She hasn't gone by York in a long time -- couldn't really stand to, after the trials, but Foxtrot-12 had been a UNSC designation, not a Freelancer one, and that doesn't sting so badly. But York? The name doesn't have such a nice ring to it these days.
She's aware, to an extent, that Felix is using her resentment for Carolina and Wash to get the job done. She'd have to be more than half-blind not to see it. But the thing is, she just doesn't care. All that means is that Felix is getting what he wants while she's getting what she wants, and what she wants right now, more than anything, is revenge, payout, and retirement, in that order.
The firefight was already underway by the time she dropped planetside, but it's not hard to pick out Carolina in the chaos -- she still favors the same armor as she did all those years ago, almost bitingly familiar. Foxtrot's not in any armor Carolina would recognize, and her stance is even a little different these days, carrying more tension in the shoulders after too many rounds in the prison yard, where glibness didn't count for half as much as it did on the outside. But she favors the same rifle as the old days, and she still compensates for the partial blindness in her eye the way she did before Delta when she fires on Carolina. Back in the day, she'd have opened with some light banter at the very least, but now? Now, she's just feeling a little impatient to get things started.
There's one good thing about wearing bright aqua armor in the middle of a firefight between black clad mercenaries and the white and tan forces of Chorus. It makes her a target, an attractive one for anyone looking to carve out a place in the hierarchy. It also gave the outmanned and outgunned Chorusian soldiers a chance to retreat with a minimum of casualties. The reds and blues were coming soon to help cover a retreat. Epsilon was feeding her a constant stream of data to keep her ahead of the pirates trying their best to kill her.
Hey C, next time you decide to drop yourself in the middle of a fucking brawl can I not be dragged along for the ride- Asshole on your six, drop in three seconds.
"Will you stop complaining if I let you pick what we watch next movie night?"
That offer might be more enticing if there weren't four movies to choose from on base.
She went for incapacitating wounds, just enough effort put in to wound the pirates. Better to make them a strain on Charon's resources than to put more blood on her hands. There's enough of that already. The two of them have been so focused on the guys around them that the first shots of the rifle catch her in the shoulder, carving a furrow through the aqua armor. The pirates all start to back off, orders flowing in from on high to give Foxtrot some space to deal with the freelancer. They weren't retreating but they knew getting in the middle of a fight like this wouldn't end well.
Who the hell is this asshole? Epsilon asks, appearing over her shoulder in a burst of blue pixels.
"I don't know, but they're mine." She pulls out a pistol, laying down some covering fire as she feels Epsilon warming up her speed boost.
She's never really been an angry person. Annoyed, yeah -- Wyoming did occasionally make her want to punch him, like, really badly -- but anger? That had always been more Carolina's deal. And South's. And Maine's. And -- okay, so there were a lot of angry Freelancers, but York was never really one of them. Then again, she's not really York anymore.
And seeing Epsilon flicker into sight at Carolina's shoulder, just the way Delta used to with her, that's an angry thing. She fires off another shot, this one aimed at Carolina's knee, before she shifts stance. Carolina's fighting style hasn't changed all that much, and after all those hours in the training room, she knows how Carolina moves. Turning always seemed to be the speed boost's weakness, and if she can just sidestep Carolina and shoot her in the back, that'd be a good start.
It's not that Carolina is careless, she's the type of fighter who tries to plan for a hundred scenarios, but after so many charon mercs who were no better than a UNSC soldier fresh out of basic it takes her by surprise to be up against someone who's actually good at what they do. Felix and Locus are one thing but this one is an unknown quantity. She throws herself across the battlefield, the speed boost pushing her even further until-
The bullet hits the knee joint in her armor and sends off a spray of sparks as circuitry struggles to keep up with the power being pushed through it. It had already taken some damage in another fight a few days prior and there hadn't been enough time to properly repair it before the alert went out for this.
Shit, careful! I don't think a head on fight is going to work here!
It's too late for that, though. At the last moment when the newcomer dodges out of the way of Carolina's charge the sudden attempt to break and turn ends with the unmistakable sound of circuitry and armor tearing. Carolina skids across the ground, breathing through the pain while Epsilon scrambles to queue up the healing unit.
Well, how convenient is that. Carolina does her one better by going down all on her own — a little farther out of range than Fox was banking on, but she's actually got a chance at getting the upper hand here. Carolina might have outranked her on the leaderboard, but hand-to-hand combat is the one arena where Fox is sure she stands a chance against her.
She doesn't miss a beat; she holsters her rifle and moes at a dead run to close the distance between herself and Carolina. Once she's in striking distance, she launches herself off the ground, arm pulled back to deliver a merciless punch to the side of Carolina's helmet with her entire body weight.
All she needs to do to knock Carolina off her guard is to make her feel a little too challenged. Fox is pretty sure she's up for the job.
Edited (im sorry i had to update this with new icon) 2025-06-22 03:48 (UTC)
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sunchime2016-12-27 10:11 am
for carolina
A military-subsidized education to get her into the golden world of digital security was an opportunity for a Jersey girl with three brothers, no mom and a mechanic for a dad. Project Freelancer was an opportunity for a soldier with serious talent and skill, including when it came to getting her dumb ass into trouble. And when everything else around her burned to the ground and left her in a hole she sometimes only wished were six feet deep, now this -- this is a real fucking opportunity.
Felix and Locus are an unknown quantity, but so had been Project Freelancer, and right now she doesn't have much of a choice. Locus is pretty inoffensive -- quiet, ruthlessly businesslike, almost reminds her of Maine before he went off the fucking deep end, except with manners. Felix, on the other hand, is dangerously smart, and he reminds her of every overcompensating frat boy she met in college, except somehow he makes that work for him, which is an achievement in itself.
Admittedly, after several years in prison, she's not too picky about company. Especially knowing what she knows now. Hearing that Wash and Carolina are not only both still alive but apparently never bothered looking for her, seeing that article about the victory over Project Freelancer -- what, that victory hadn't been in the fucking courts? The ones where they'd sentenced her to hard time, while Wash and Carolina got a handshake and a pat on the ass? Her moral compass was never too tightly calibrated, and years ago she wouldn't have joined up on an op as ruthless as what they're pulling on Chorus. Years ago, she wouldn't have been able to sleep at night thinking of the countless lives lost in pursuit of profit. But she's just not all that picky anymore, and there's good payout in it for her, and more than anything, she wants out. This will get her out for good.
It's Foxtrot now. She hasn't gone by York in a long time -- couldn't really stand to, after the trials, but Foxtrot-12 had been a UNSC designation, not a Freelancer one, and that doesn't sting so badly. But York? The name doesn't have such a nice ring to it these days.
She's aware, to an extent, that Felix is using her resentment for Carolina and Wash to get the job done. She'd have to be more than half-blind not to see it. But the thing is, she just doesn't care. All that means is that Felix is getting what he wants while she's getting what she wants, and what she wants right now, more than anything, is revenge, payout, and retirement, in that order.
The firefight was already underway by the time she dropped planetside, but it's not hard to pick out Carolina in the chaos -- she still favors the same armor as she did all those years ago, almost bitingly familiar. Foxtrot's not in any armor Carolina would recognize, and her stance is even a little different these days, carrying more tension in the shoulders after too many rounds in the prison yard, where glibness didn't count for half as much as it did on the outside. But she favors the same rifle as the old days, and she still compensates for the partial blindness in her eye the way she did before Delta when she fires on Carolina. Back in the day, she'd have opened with some light banter at the very least, but now? Now, she's just feeling a little impatient to get things started.
no subject
Hey C, next time you decide to drop yourself in the middle of a fucking brawl can I not be dragged along for the ride- Asshole on your six, drop in three seconds.
"Will you stop complaining if I let you pick what we watch next movie night?"
That offer might be more enticing if there weren't four movies to choose from on base.
She went for incapacitating wounds, just enough effort put in to wound the pirates. Better to make them a strain on Charon's resources than to put more blood on her hands. There's enough of that already. The two of them have been so focused on the guys around them that the first shots of the rifle catch her in the shoulder, carving a furrow through the aqua armor. The pirates all start to back off, orders flowing in from on high to give Foxtrot some space to deal with the freelancer. They weren't retreating but they knew getting in the middle of a fight like this wouldn't end well.
Who the hell is this asshole? Epsilon asks, appearing over her shoulder in a burst of blue pixels.
"I don't know, but they're mine." She pulls out a pistol, laying down some covering fire as she feels Epsilon warming up her speed boost.
no subject
And seeing Epsilon flicker into sight at Carolina's shoulder, just the way Delta used to with her, that's an angry thing. She fires off another shot, this one aimed at Carolina's knee, before she shifts stance. Carolina's fighting style hasn't changed all that much, and after all those hours in the training room, she knows how Carolina moves. Turning always seemed to be the speed boost's weakness, and if she can just sidestep Carolina and shoot her in the back, that'd be a good start.
no subject
The bullet hits the knee joint in her armor and sends off a spray of sparks as circuitry struggles to keep up with the power being pushed through it. It had already taken some damage in another fight a few days prior and there hadn't been enough time to properly repair it before the alert went out for this.
Shit, careful! I don't think a head on fight is going to work here!
It's too late for that, though. At the last moment when the newcomer dodges out of the way of Carolina's charge the sudden attempt to break and turn ends with the unmistakable sound of circuitry and armor tearing. Carolina skids across the ground, breathing through the pain while Epsilon scrambles to queue up the healing unit.
Who the fuck is this guy?!
no subject
She doesn't miss a beat; she holsters her rifle and moes at a dead run to close the distance between herself and Carolina. Once she's in striking distance, she launches herself off the ground, arm pulled back to deliver a merciless punch to the side of Carolina's helmet with her entire body weight.
All she needs to do to knock Carolina off her guard is to make her feel a little too challenged. Fox is pretty sure she's up for the job.