Sean slowly sat back on his heels. The man attached the adrenaline shot to a pouch on his thigh, then extended his hand for the sniper. Sean handed it over without a fight, trying to think strategically. The man draped the snipers strap over his body and Sean tried to discreetly reach for his pistol. The man was more observant than he had given him credit for though. Once his sniper was set, he extended a hand, ordering him casually. "That one too." Sean removed his pistol carefully from the holster on his thigh. Part of him wanted to take the risk of shooting him, but the other part of him wanted to wait. He passed his pistol to the man and he grinned. The man holstered his own pistol, reloading Sean's pistol as he asked him sweetly. "What's your name?" Sean chuckled, answering coyly. "In game or out?" The man almost blushed, replying innocently. "Both. I'm Trooper, but they call me Troy out of game." Sean extended a hand to shake his hand, politely telling him. "I'm Jackieboy, but they call me Sean or Jack out of game."

Trooper shook his hand, pointing his pistol at his chest as he told him happily. "Nice to meet ya, Jack. Now if you'd kindly lead the way. Go that way." Sean shrugged, starting to walk back where he had come from. Behind him, Trooper chuckled out. "How the hell did you even get into this level with a rank like that?" Sean pointed to Nate who was just now crawling his way out from the maze. Trooper grabbed the back of Sean's vest to stop him, addressing Nate in a firm voice. "Hey man, I got a proposition for you." Nate stopped crawling to look up at them. Sean gave Nate a small shrug as Trooper told Nate bluntly. "Tell you what. You go back and bring your flag to us and I'll give your boy back. Otherwise, I can kill him and run down there to get it myself... but He's not really worth the points at his rank. No offense." Sean shrugged, answering honestly. "None taken." Sean silently tapped his empty gun holster, giving Nate a discreet wink. Nate let out a heavy sigh, telling Trooper in a defeated voice. "Alright. But I'll have to kill the other two members on my team to do it... So, I'll be needing Jackieboy's gun."

Trooper handed the pistol back to Sean as he drew out his other pistol. Sean slowly moved forward and kneeled slightly slanted to hide his holstered thigh from Trooper's view. Handing the pistol off to Nate, he told him casually. "See you soon." Nate huffed with a smirk, then adjusted a bit to show that he was reloading the pistol. Trooper waved Sean back and he obeyed. Nate began to crawl away again, when a woman stepped over him to tell Trooper grimly. "I hate winning this way..." Trooper gave her a disappointed sigh, grumbling out. "I know... but I've got to get going to pick up my sister from the airport. If I'm not there she's going to freak." Sean let them direct him through the maze, asking curiously. "How old is your sister?" Trooper's voice was full of brotherly love as he told him. "She's seven. She's been visiting our grandmother while my parents sort out their divorce. If I had noticed the time, I wouldn't have started this round." Sean playfully chuckled over his shoulder to him. "You know... You could always forfeit the match to us?"

Trooper laughed sarcastically, stating out. "And have my team go down a rank for it? No. I'd rather lose the match than forfeit. At least then, we just loose a tier item." Sean blinked asking softly. "How does that work?" The woman with them grunted, nicely informing him. "Think of it like three strikes. You lose three games in a row and you go down a rank. You forfeit a match and you go down a rank. You lose a single match and you just lose a tier item, but not your rank. Gives you a chance to gain your item back with a win. Keeps people from trying to cheat the system to hold onto their ranks." Sean nodded, then his eyes lit up. They brought him to their base, and he could see the shiny blue flag in the center. The woman with the shotgun stepped out from behind a wall, telling Trooper in a loving voice. "Hey, baby! You missed my best shot!" Sean inhaled silently, finally getting why Trooper had waited to use the shot to revive. He was defending more than just the base. He was looking out for his girlfriend.

The woman bounced excitedly in place and Sean smiled. They were at least having fun. The woman with the rocket launcher moved forward, telling her slightly stern. "Stop bouncing around. You're making us look bad in front of the enemy!" The woman stopped bouncing to stick her tongue out at the other woman, allowing Sean to read her name tag. 'RumTumTigger.' Sean tried to suppress a snort, but game her points on creativity. The woman with the rocket launcher growled softly, then muttered out under her breath. "You are the worst soldier." RumTumTigger jumped closer to the woman to wrap an arm around her, cooing out innocently. "But I'm the best sister." Sean grinned, finally getting a look at the other woman's gamertag. 'LadyKiller.' RumTumTigger moved away from her sister to look over Sean with big eyes, while asking Trooper. "He's cute. Why bring him here?" Trooper gently pushed Sean over to a barrier wall, informing her about his ransom. Meanwhile, Sean scanned the area for their fourth player. He didn't see anyone. Although, loud machine gun fire from below suggested that the person might be downstairs.

When Trooper finished explaining his plan, he told LadyKiller happily. "I told you that adrenaline shot would be worth it." LadyKiller rolled her eyes, playfully shoving him as she headed back out. Over her shoulder, she told them coolly. "I'm going to see if Simon needs help." Trooper raised a hand to stop her, commenting casually. "Hold up. If you're going back out, take this with you." Trooper reached down to pull the adrenaline shot pen from his thigh pouch, only to just now realize that it wasn't there. Trooper's eyes shot up to stare at Sean in shock, before he smirked and said softly. "You sneaky son of a bitch." Trooper raised his pistol to shoot Sean, but Sean dashed around the barrier before the beam made contact. The area erupted into chaos as Nate leapt out to shoot LadyKiller is the back with one pistol, then Trooper in the chest with the other. RumTumTigger got off a shot, but Nate quickly ducked back behind a barrier. The others were crawling toward the flag to revive themselves. So, Sean ran out to snatch it.

Trooper glanced over his shoulder, shouting out to his girlfriend. "BABE, THE FLAG!" She turned to fire and Sean bolted for the closest barrier. She leapt over her boyfriend, aiming her gun at Sean. Sean flinched, expecting the gun shot... but her vest went off first. She made a playfully theatrical fall and Nate came around the corner to tell him with a bright grin. "Come on, let's go. I'll cover you." Sean bolted to his feet, racing out through the maze with Nate at his heels. Sean reached the stairs, telling Nate breathlessly. "I don't know where their fourth member is." Almost on cue, Nate shoved Sean forward into a wall with his foot and opened fire on someone hiding in a high window. Sean crouched down against the barrier as Nate quickly joined him, saying excitedly. "Found him." Sean huffed sarcastically, muttering out. "You think?" The guy came around the barrier and Sean mumbled out timidly. "Oh, that's just not fair..." The guy was holding an assault rifle in one hand and what looked to be a tactical swat shield in the other.

Sean shoved Nate out from around the cluster of barriers as the guy opened fire on where they were seconds before. Nate shot back, but only cursed when the shield blocked the hits without suffering damage. They crept from barrier to barrier as the guy chased after them, all while Nate told Sean grimly. "God damn it! I hate those things... We don't have any weapons powerful enough to destroy that!" Sean pulled the grenade out from Nate's pocket, remembering that he had picked it up from earlier and asking Nate curiously. "Or do we?" Nate gave him a weary smirk, stating out. "You'll never get him to stay in one place long enough." Sean slammed his back against another barrier, peeking over the barrier as he told Nate. "Not both of us. Here, take the flag. I'll distract him." Nate glanced down at the flag, then snatched the grenade and took off. Sean groaned in frustration, but admired Nate's faith in him. Sean waited behind the barrier as Nate activated the grenade and slipped it into his pocket. Nate cautiously approached the advancing man and peppered with him loud gunshots.

Sean smirked to himself. Nate had been right. The pistol was O.P., because he could fire it so rapidly that the man didn't notice his vest was flashing in warning. The guy was too busy trying to fend off Nate's bullets with his shield, waiting for a chance to open fire on him. When Nate's bullets ran out, he walked out from the barrier and lowered his hands. The guy peeked his gun out from the shield to open fire on Nate. Nate's vest went off... but so did the grenade. The guy's vest went off and he lowered his shield in shock as Nate pulled the red blinking grenade from his pocket. They both laid down across the floor and Nate shouted out. "NOW SEAN!" Sean dashed out from behind the barrier to head for their base as fast as he could go. Time was ticking down on the large clock. The match would soon end. Sean leapt over a low barrier and held up the flag as he rushed between his two other teammates to keep them from shooting him. Jumping up the pyramid mound, Sean quickly hooked the flag to their own with only two seconds left on the clock.

The alarm sounded, ringing out over the arena to announce the end of the round and Sean collapsed by the flagpole. He couldn't believe how fast he could run when he really wanted too. His teammates cheered loudly as they ran for their team door to find out their scores, but Sean waited. Slowly sitting up, he smirked when he saw Nate making his way over to him. Although the battle had been fake, Sean was overjoyed to see him walk through the hazy mist of the arena. Nate walked up to him with a warm smile as he told him. "I knew you could do it." Sean shook his head, retorting in a sincere voice. "I didn't do anything. You won this. I couldn't have done it without you." Nate blushed, but replied smugly. "I didn't swipe the dude's adrenaline shot while he wasn't looking. That was all you." Sean rolled his eyes, feeling like that didn't really count. Nate reached out for his hand and Sean took it happily. Together they walked through the door to see their commander showing them on a tv screen the highlights of the match.

The commander gave Nate the win for most kills but gave Sean the win for zero deaths. Sean gawked in surprise, seeing in the highlights that their other two teammates barely fended off the shield guy at the end. The only thing that saved them from losing the flag was that their teammates could easily touch the flag to revive themselves. While the shield guy had to back off to use his adrenaline shot on the center of his vest to revive. Sean pointed to the screen after the shield guy went down, asking Nate. "Why didn't he use the shot to revive himself and shoot at me?" Nate smiled telling him sweetly. "That's the catch with grenades. If you die by grenade, you can't revive yourself. A teammate has to do it." Sean flashed Nate a guilty smile and they both chuckled. The commander handed Nate a ticket for a free small pizza and handed Sean a velcro patch for his vest and a pin with a piece of paper to fill out. Sean stared at them confused, when the Commander saluted him and told him clearly. "You're promoted soldier. Congratulations. You have jumped up to the rank of Master Sergeant. Please choose the three tier weapons you wish to have on your next mission."

Sean playfully saluted, then let Nate lead him out into the dining area. He wanted to play again, but Nate told him that he thought they should eat and fill out his card first. Sean grinned as Trooper came down a set of steps and headed for them. Trooper gave him a pat on the back, telling him excitedly. "Good game, guys. Sorry I can't stay, but I'd love to match up against you again some time." Sean waved to him as he left, them smirked as RumTumTigger and LadyKiller dropped down at their table. They were eager to play again, but the talk about food gave them the munches too. So, while they ordered food, Sean looked over the tier items chart. He had never been so excited to play again. Which only grew more intense as he realized from the round lists that there was more than just one mission to do and lots more arenas to try out. The one that caught his eye the most was a time travel mission to prehistoric times. To Be Continued...