Resurrection (Red vs Blue)

27: Get Acquainted

27: Get Acquainted

Many Years Ago: The Mother of Invention (Primary freelancer facility/aircraft); 7 B.B.G. (Before Blood Gulch)

North was in the training room, working with the holo-targets. Having such a high tech facility with top of the line training equipment available to him at all hours of the day still felt weird. He'd been on the Mother of Invention for a few weeks now, and there were times it still didn't seem real. How had he gone from basic training right into a highly secretive new program meant for the best soldiers in the galaxy? How did he fit into that category?

"Round complete," F.I.L.S.S., the ship's on board A.I. announced just as he finished. "The round was completed in fifty seconds — a ten second improvement from the previous round. Do you wish to go again?"

"No thanks, F.I.L.S.S. I think I've had enough training for right now," North told the A.I., taking a moment to catch his breath.

"Very well. Good day, Agent North Dakota," F.I.L.S.S. said, then the training room was quiet.

North turned and started making his way toward the locker room. Hearing F.I.L.S.S. address him as "North Dakota" was yet another thing he wasn't quite used to. For his whole life he'd only ever answered to "Jonathan" or "Jon." Then, when he joined the military, it had always been "Private St. Clare," or on occassion, he'd be called by his first name. Yet here, he'd been given his new alias; it was taking a lot of getting used to.

As soon as he was in the locker room, North took his helmet off and inhaled deeply. The air in the room was cool; it was always cool, which felt great after an extensive training session. He walked over to his locker and opened it, setting his helmet on the top shelf. He was the only one in the locker room at the moment — being alone in the long expanse of the room felt weird.

However North's moment of solitude didn't last long. He was just hanging his chestplate on its hook when he heard voices coming down the hall. They grew louder and louder until finally two of his new teammates entered the room. He recognized them fairly quickly; after all, the three of them usually ended up in a group for training. None of them were really good with remembering each other's codenames, despite the fact that they'd been on the ship and training together for two weeks already. Then again, when you didn't interact with anyone outside of training, it didn't exactly make it easy to memorize names.

The one in the tan armor spotted North as soon as he and the other soldier walked in. "Hey, you're North Dakota, right?"

North nodded. "Yeah, that'd be me. You can just call me North, though. You're New York, aren't you?" He turned his gaze to the man in the steel and yellow armor. "And you're Washington?"

New York gave a nod, then removed his helmet. "Call me York. And feel free to call him Wash. I like our shortened names better; it's not so formal. What were you up to just now?"

"Uh, I was doing some solo training," North answered. "What about you guys?"

"We were just in the hangar checking out some of the drop ships and runners," York said. "Those pelicans sitting in there are some real top of the line pieces of equipment. Just like everything else in this place."

"They were awesome," Washington put in, taking his helmet off as well. He walked over to his locker — just a couple spaces down from North — and began removing his armor. "You should come with us the next time we decide to go exploring."

"Sounds tempting," North said, removing the rest of his armor and tucking it away. He removed the protective under layer and hung it up, then straightened his clothes. "I guess the next time you go wandering, let me know."