Assault (Red vs Blue)

15: Test Your Might

15: Test Your Might

Present Day: Location of the Mystery Coordinates (The planet Chorus)

To say the remainder of the drive had been eventful was an understatement.

In the morning, after the visit from Ireland the night before, Carolina and the others had contacted the Director. They explained everything that happened, to which the Director told them to simply keep their guard up and stay sharp. While the others had complained at his response, it made Carolina concerned. Her father usually had a lot more to say than that; not to mention he was usually more than willing to state his opinion and give out orders. But something had seemed off — the Director had sounded distracted when they were speaking to him. When Carolina had tried speaking with him after the others had left the call, the Director denied anything else was going on. She didn't believe a single word of it, but her father made it very clear that he wasn't going to say anything else on the matter.

Trying to get back on the road had been a challenge as well. It wasn't even that getting everything packed had been the problem — putting the equipment and such back into the jeeps had been the easy part. What created the issue was Tucker, who was once again trying to get someone to switch vehicles with him. When no one was willing to trade, the aqua clad soldier started going on and on about how it wasn't fair that he always got stuck with Caboose and that everyone else just hated him. It took both Church and Tex laying into him about how none of that was true and telling him to suck it up before Tucker finally gave up and got into his jeep. Carolina could still hear him grumbling and complaining as she walked away and got into the passenger seat of the lead vehicle.

By the time the group was actually able to get back on the road, they were almost an hour behind schedule. It made Carolina extremely anxious. Being behind wasn't a luxury they could afford; not with the mercenaries most likely being on the move. York had tried to calm her down, but quickly realized it was a losing battle. Carolina was the type of person that didn't like being behind schedule for anything. She'd always been that way. And when it came to missions, Carolina always made sure she had time to spare if she could help it. So running an hour late due to stupid reasons was driving her insane.

"Well, according to my HUD, we're gonna be coming up on our destination," York announced. He glanced over at the other freelancer briefly before returning his focus to the road. "All things considered, I think we made pretty good time."

"We could've made even better time if we hadn't stood around arguing about vehicle assignments," Carolina muttered. "Why did it have to be such an issue? That stupid argument put us an hour behind. What if the mercs are there when we show up? If they have any other soldiers with them, it could be bad for us. We'd be outnumbered."

"I know what you mean. We really didn't have the extra time to waste. But let's try not to get too far ahead of ourselves just yet. We'll just have to be on our guard," he said.

"I just wish there was one time where we didn't have to be constantly looking over our shoulders," she muttered.

The other freelancer looked over at her. "I know. Trust me, I get it. It'd be great to be able to do a mission and have everything go smoothly. But it just doesn't seem like we're ever that lucky. But I don't think the mission is the only thing bothering you."

Carolina tore her gaze from the road and turned it to him. "What are you talking about?"

"I mean you've been acting weird ever since you talked to the Director. Something happened when you spoke with him privately. You wanna tell me what's going on?"

"It's . . . nothing. Well, at least it's nothing that's important right at this second. And now isn't exactly the time to discuss it, anyway."

"If you're this bothered by it, it's clearly not nothing. But if now's not the time, I'll drop it. But once we're done here, we're talking about it. Whether you like it or not."