Assault (Red vs Blue)

7: Slip Ups

7: Slip Ups

Many Years Ago: The Mother of Invention (Primary freelancer facility/aircraft)

FREELANCER CASE FILE 01.045
//LEVEL 2 CONFIDENTIAL [ŒDOCUNET]
MISSION: FAILURE, ALL OBJECTIVES

CT just stared at the message displayed on the tablet in her hands. She sat next to Washington in the bay area of the pelican. Carolina, York, and Wyoming were also on the ship — the Director had only set out a select few for that day's mission. It should've been easy; running recon was never meant to be necessarily difficult. The Director had sent her and Wash along to give them some more time in the field. Though, she felt like it was more for her benefit than Wash's. Unlike her, he'd been getting sent out on more missions lately. CT had found herself staying behind with Florida and Maine more often than not.

But today had been her day to go out in the field, and she'd blew it. A simple recon mission had turned into an all out firefight — one none of them were prepared for. It was a fact Carolina seemed to like continuously pointing out. CT was almost at her breaking point with listening to her team leader complain. She knew Carolina had the right to be frustrated; that wasn't the issue. But her not shutting up about it being CT's fault was irritating the freelancer to no end.

The brown clad freelancer knew the mission had failed because of her. She'd given away their positions while York had been trying to crack the lock on the door to a data room. She'd gotten jumpy and pulled the trigger, firing off a couple quick shots down the hall. Said shots caught the attention of every soldier in the immediate area. The team had been forced to temporarily separate to escape. But during the escape, CT and Washington had managed to down a wrong hallway thanks to her getting turned around. The two of them had almost ended up cornered. However, thanks to some quick thinking on Wash's part, they'd made it out fairly unscathed. All for of them were going to have to be patched up in some way or another once they returned to the Mother of Invention.

"I can't believe we failed," Carolina said irritably for what had to be at least the eighth time. She looked over at CT, her arms crossed and hands balled into fists. "You're supposed to know how to act under pressure. So why in the hell did you slip like that?"

"I made a mistake. I've apologized to you too many times to count already. What more do you want from me?" CT asked her team leader.

"I don't want apologies from you. I want an explanation!" Carolina snapped.

CT went rigid as she looked at the other freelancer. "Well I don't have one, boss. Sorry to disappoint you."

Carolina rose from her seat, her whole body visibly shaking with anger. "You better start fucking thinking of one. You're mistake almost cost us big time. Do you realize how close we all came to getting killed? All because you couldn't keep a cool head on your shoulders!"

"Hey, back off!" Wash interjected, standing up as well. All CT could do was look at him in surprise. "I think she gets the point, Carolina. CT made a mistake. Any of us could've done it; we're only human. Humans make mistakes. Yes, the consequences could've been bad. And yes, we didn't complete the mission. But forget about the mission for a minute and just be thankful we all got out alive. At the moment, that's what's more important. Just let it go, okay?"

Wyoming — who, alongside York, had been staying quiet during most of the flight — finally decided to speak up. "I believe the lad has a point. While a blunder was made, there's nothing we can do about it now. It's best to just move on."

"Listen to them, C. There's no use in starting a fight now. The Director's already gonna be on CT's case about what happened. She doesn't need you too," York told the cyan armored soldier.