#pfmeridian

Is this the UNSC, or a modelling agency? Jesus.

When can we leave?

Richmond laughed at the smiley face he drew on each note before he slipped them under each and every agent's (and their A.I.) hotel room's door. He had yet to meet most of the members of his future team, but he knew that smiley face alone would confuse them more than the note itself.  He took a deep breath before making his way out of the hotel and to the location he had given them. Would they all actually show up? Most Alpha members still didn't even know there would be a new leader joining them in the Equinox, and while others didn't react as badly as he expected, he was still nervous about the rest. Not only was he meeting them for the first time tonight, but he would be taking them out into a maze full of obstacles and potentially terrifying challenges, how exactly are they going to react to that? The future Alpha leader reached his destination about an hour earlier, intending to prepare the course for the exercise. The UNSC was kind enough to provide the best technology they could to assist Richmond with his "team-building exercise", holographic simulators hidden behind every corner of the immense maze that stood within the dark forest.  The maze spread across a 3.4 mile radius in the middle of the wilderness, with both natural and man-made architecture forming its seemingly never-ending walls. Every wall of the maze was made out of dark-hued crystal pillars with vines and moss creeping up. Even though the maze was made out of crystals, much like everything in the city of Meridian, it didn't quite reflect light like you could see in the city. The area surrounding the maze seemed to suck out every bit of light coming from the skies, making the maze incredibly dark. Almost pitch black. Richmond was perfectly aware the darkness would be one of the biggest challenge for some of the members. The agent was slightly surprised at how many members of Alpha arrived in time, and once his watch hit 1901, he began to speak.  "I'm so glad to see you guys made it!" he smiled, studying each of the agent's, and A.I's, faces. "Some of you may remember who I am, while some of you have no clue to begin with. Well, I am Agent Richmond and I will be joining you all in Team Alpha, as your new leader." Richmond decided to drop that bomb at the very beginning, and continued to speak before they could even react.  "You may be wondering why I brought you out here tonight. Well I thought it would be nice for us to have a little team-building exercise, and I felt like this would give us an opportunity to see exactly how well we can communicate with each other. Behind me there is an incredibly large maze, and all you guys need to do is come out alive." he laughed softly at his little joke but pressed on.  "As you can see on the ground before me, there is one backpack for each one of you. These backpacks contain the only things you will need to get through this: some water, a flashlight, and a radio, no weapons. There will be simulated enemies within this maze, but you will not, I repeat, you will not be fighting these enemies.I requested for you all to leave any weapons behind, but if you happened to miss my request and brought any with you, throw them on the ground right now. If any of you fail to follow orders, there will be consequences." Richmond's tone changed to a much more serious tone of voice, a tone of authority.  "There are seven different entrances to this maze—" He pointed at each one around him, "—we will all enter the maze through a different one. Like I said, the point of this exercise is to come out of this maze alive, and to do that, we will all need to communicate with each other using these radios. Even though some of the challenges you will encounter in this maze are mere simulation, there are many dangers in there that are real. The wildlife in this planet is quite brutal, so you all need to be extremely careful, and again, communicate with each other so we can all come out of here feeling better about our amazing team!" he smiled and laughed again.  "Take your equipment, prepare yourselves, and let me know when you are all ready to begin. Oh, and another thing, whoever is not out of this maze by sunrise will also face consequences. The first person to make it out will get a nice little reward." 

Orion: Helena, I need... Assistance.

"Time starts on my mark."

Shorts, sandals and a tank-top was an incredibly unusual attire for Richmond—ever since he joined the UNSC he had grown used to more formal clothing. His uniform had become his go-to outfit for most occasions, but as his final days in Solace drew closer, he decided it was really time to let loose. He had worked hard enough during his time in the Solace base. And after the Equinox landed on the planet, he had dealt with enough 'Freelancer' business to last him for months. Unfortunately, he knew he would have to deal with everything a lot more than he had up until this day.  However, today was a beautiful day in Solace, and he had every intention in enjoying every last minute of it. Richmond spent most of his morning in one of the most beautiful beaches he had seen in his entire life—though he could probably count all the beaches he had seen before with just one hand. He swam for what seemed like hours, chatted with some of the natives while catching some sun and just relaxed. Relaxing felt nice, though slightly foreign to him. It had only been a couple of days since the Equinox landed, and he had relaxed plenty with his younger brother before that, but after all that had happened, relaxing felt incredibly foreign to the older man.  It was around noon when he finally decided to leave the beach and find something else to do. Food was the first thing on his mind as he slowly made his way off the beach, only to be distracted by what looked like a Volleyball tournament being held right at the beach. It wasn't too far from where he had been sitting, why hadn't he noticed it before? A large crowd of people circled around a table where three judges sat down, handing out small sheets of paper. So the tournament hadn't actually begun yet. As he made his way closer, he could hear everyone's chatters and conversations about wanting to join the tournament, and join certain teams. Richmond wasn't familiar with the civilians of Solace, but it seemed like there were already teams formed that were notorious for winning tournaments like these. It seemed like everyone wanted to be on one of those teams.  Richmond walked up to the crowd of people, simply curios to see exactly what the tournament had to offer. He had a decent amount of experience with the game of Volleyball, so maybe he would participate if he saw a prize worth playing for. Grabbing one of the sheets of paper that were being handed out, he read over the rules and the prizes. Third Place: an autographed Volleyball. Second Place: an exclusive dinner with a guest of choice to Solace's—and possibly all of the galaxy's—most sought-after restaurant.  First Place: an extended stay at Solace's most exclusive hotel. After seeing the prizes, Richmond couldn't help but laugh. How could they go from a useless Volleyball, to extremely expensive prizes like an exclusive dinner, or an extended vacation? This tournament sounded crazy, but he wondered if he could stay in Solace a while longer if he won the tournament. Would winning a Volleyball tournament be a good enough excuse to stay in this planet for just a while longer? He laughed again at the idea, how stupider could he get? He used to enjoy playing Volleyball as a child, but he really had no reason to participate in that tournament. Nashville wasn't even with him, so it would be no fun. He didn't know any of the people that were currently signing up. He crumbled up the paper into a small ball of trash and began walking to a nearby trashcan when he was addressed to by a slightly larger man. "Hey fuckface!" he heard someone say from behind him. Turning around, he realized the man 'speaking' to him was a man he recognized and a sigh immediately escaped his lips. This was the same man he—or rather, Pippa—had beaten to a pulp in a club. His face was still incredibly banged up, he even had a bandage on his left cheek, and his eyes were black.  "Are ya' too scared to participate? You ain't got yer girlfriend with ya', so I'm guessin' ya' can't compete by yerself!" the man continued to instigate him, and all Richmond could do was shake his head in disappointment. "Too much of a chicken, ain't ya? Got yer girlfriend fighting yer battles, and now yer even too scared to get yer ass beaten by me in this tournament!" Richmond laughed, he completely missed the part where his crumbling up the sign-up sheet meant he was too scared to participate. Let alone too scare to go up against this guy.  "First things first," Richmond began, his tone entirely calm and collected, unlike the other man's. "Pippa is not my girlfriend. Nor did I need her to beat your pathetic ass into a pulp. Second, I've no reason to be scared to go up against you, because I'm positive I could kick your ass in this game, just as I would outside of it. I just have no time to waste in petty tournaments like this." he finished, and he could already see the rage building up within the man. He was incredibly easy to agitate. Richmond could deduce about thirty-five different reasons as to why that man could be the way he was. Every one of those reasons made the older man laugh.  "What da fuck did'ya say?!" the man yelled. Why was he always yelling? "Ya couldn't do shit if you tried, pretty boy. But if yer so confident, why don't ya go ahead and sign up?" The man began to move closer to Richmond, a bit too close for comfort. Richmond really had no desire to participate, but this guy was getting on his nerves. All he wanted was to shut his mouth, making him grab another sign-up sheet and sign it almost immediately, all in the heat of the moment.  After he signed his name 'Damien' on the sheet of paper, he realize there were five other spaces right beneath his name. He needed a team, shit. How did he forget that to play Volleyball you needed a team? Nashville wasn't with him, none of the other Freelancer agents he had met were with him, so who the fuck was going to play with him?  "Nice to see ya grew some balls, fuck face. I'll see ya on the court if ya can even find a team to join yer ugly ass." the man said and finally walked away from Richmond, laughing. Did he honestly believe the words he kept spitting out of his mouth were going to upset Richmond? If anything, it only made him want to beat him even more. Richmond was almost disappointed in himself for actually stooping so low as to join a tournament just so he could shut the mouth of a man possibly twenty years younger than him. It wasn't personal, but maybe Richmond also needed to blow off some steam.  There was a more immediate subject at hand, however, Richmond needed to find a team. Most of the competent looking teams around were already full, so his only chance was to build one of his own. But that was a tough task when he knew none of the people around him. He scanned the beach, talked to a few bystanders, and quickly found four other guys to join him, leaving just one more spot needing to be filled. They all looked like they might be decent players, but he was quite frankly taking anything he could get.  Richmond scanned the beach once more, and finally spotted another athletic male that could potentially be of use to him. He was tall, muscular.. dark hair, light blue eyes, attractive face.. Okay, you're losing focus, Rich! he yelled at himself in his mind, there was no time to be thinking about trivial things like that, he needed to fill up his team and get their asses into gear.  "Hey, you!" he shouted at the younger man, quickly running up to him with the sheet of paper in his hand. He was praying on the inside for this man to sign the last spot. "Any chance you'd wanna play some Volleyball? I got this great team and we just need one more guy—" He might have exaggerated about how great his team was, he had no idea how good they would be, but he had to sell it like it was fucking priceless. "—we would love to have you! You look like you could kick some serious ass out there." he laughed and held out the piece of paper, a wide smile spread across his lips. 

It sure as hell put things in perspective, anyway.