Chapter summary: Washington tracks Tex to Blood Gulch.

Main Characters: Washington, Texas, Tucker

Author's Note: I'm not sure how the timeline for this would work out bc RVB timeline is fucked constantly. Let's just pretend it would work out.

When choosing a person to be implanted with the Alpha there was a lot to take into consideration. Everything had to be perfect in order for the Alpha to remain hidden.

They had to be healthy enough to handle the permanent implantation, but needed to be weak willed so the Alpha would have complete control of the body, they had to have no one that would go looking for them if they disappeared, and the Alpha had to not realize that this body was not his own. Because the Alpha was based off the Director, a man who looked similarly had to be chosen. It would do no good for the Alpha to realize it's true nature simply because it couldn't recognize it's face in the mirror.

No doubt Jimmy could pass as the Director's twin.

Agent Florida found it slightly unnerving to see the director's face and have to give orders to him instead of the other way around. Stranger even, was the drastically different personality and lack of southern United States accent the Alpha adopted.

Captain Butch Flowers didn't take into account dying of an aspirin overdose, of all things to die of in war. With VIC malfunctioning, and sending another sim trooper instead of a freelancer, everything slowly started to spiral out of control.

Bad news for Project Freelancer, good news for Rouge agents. Like Texas.

Tex spent days observing the box canyon before she came to the conclusion that there were no freelancers monitoring it.

Then based on radio communication she easily hacked into, she came to the conclusion the Alpha didn't know he was an AI, and he had somehow been implanted inside of a human body without a host personality present. She wondered if that was a manufactured version of what happened to Maine.

It was all quite boring. Despite the yelling from both sides and the whole active war zone thing.

The most interesting news so far was that both sides were getting another sim trooper. Interesting because, the team Alpha was on had one less person than the other side, and yet both teams were getting one rookie.

She was about five days into monitoring the situation and trying to decide what to do when Omega alerted her to movement closing in behind her.

With a literal desert of flat sand and no coverage around her, the only place to hide was in the canyon. So she made the logical move to cloak herself and hide within it.

Omega, as usual, was displeased with her lack of bloodlust.

Tex wondered if Omega even cared in the slightest about the Alpha like the other fragments or if he was made of nothing but rage.

Agent Washington, now Recovery One, was finally getting close to another rouge agent after his meeting with South where he was forced to kill her or be discovered as betraying Project Freelancer.

With this mission, he had been given instructions to "avoid contact" and to "relay in" the second he had sights with the Rouge agent, to be off coms to try and avoid detection and to not make contact with any simulation troopers in the area. Strange instructions, they were obviously hiding something big from him. Whoever he was tracking must had had some serious Freelancer tech.

Based on maps of the area it seamed like whoever he was tracking was laying low in this simulation trooper base. It was the only place that provided cover in several clicks of the surrounding desert. He hoped it wasn't the Meta he was following, but based on the fact that everyone in the area seamed to be breathing, he was thinking it was someone else who was just trying to lay low.

The box canyon certainly looked like a place someone could stay in for years and never be found. There was no reason anyone would ever visit this place. There was nothing for miles. Just sand.

Figuring being told that he was not supposed to make contact with the sim troopers was a part of whatever unethical experiment they were doing this time, he chose to ignore that order. It's not like command could track his movement now that they had given him an order to cut all communications.

Attempting to contact this area's "dumb" AI proved less then helpful as it appeared to be broken somehow. Not entirely surprising, but annoying nonetheless. It did however tell him that there was a shipment coming in soon, and blue team had one less member then red team.

Unfortunately Washington was unable to find any evidence leading to a specific area of the canyon where whoever he was tracking was hiding, so he decided to go to one of the sim bases and ask around for information there. Unfortunate because he hated directly interacting with sim troopers.

Besides the fact that they were essentially being used as less then human punching bags for Freelancers, and leaving that alone is hard, they were difficult to talk too because they took the red vs blue war so seriously he felt like he was losing braincells just by being in their presence.

Blue team only had two members currently, so he decided to try there first.

Less people ment less of a headache.

"Do you think we'll get any chicks?" Tucker asked.

"Even if we do, I doubt she'd fuck you." Church responded, irritated.

They both were bickering from on top their base while watching the Reds, as usual. With Church hogging the sniper rifle. As usual.

"Hey, I got a better chance then you asshole, at least it would make this place more interesting."

".. ugh whatever idiot. Just keep it in your pants and don't be disappointed when it inevitably a dude."

"Disappointed? Me? Never."

"Hold on I'm getting a call from command." Church said holding a hand to his helmet and standing there in silence for a few moments.

"We getting a chick?" Tucker loudly said, hoping it would be picked up."

"Shhhhhhh..." Church said then added after a moment, "No, not you."

Tucker hated that he always got left out of things. Couldn't he put command on speaker at least?

"Vic said Command is sending someone to us that needs our help." He got off the call and relayed what he had been told.

"Wow, really? I feel bad for them."

"Shut the fuck up Tucker, you asked for things to get interesting and we just had something to do drooped into our lap."

"Damm, hope its a girl that can be dropped into my lap."

"Tucker I swear to god-"

"Oh shit fuck- they're already here." Tucker said pointing a someone in grey with yellow stripes quickly approaching their base.

"Wow, Vic was not kidding when he said they would be here fast."

"You're from command?" The one in cobalt asked before Washington could speak, then quickly added. "Why aren't you in blue?"

"It's... specialty armor." He replied looking up at the two simulation troopers on the small base, he had forgotten how seriously they took the red vs blue thing and hoped they would be too stupid to notice.

"Aw, dammit, I was hoping you'd be a chick." The turquoise one said looking down at him.

"Yeah whatever, I'm... Captain Church and the unreasonably horny one is private Tucker."

"My name is agent Washington, I am here

because-"

"Ahh, fuck," Church suddenly said, "you're a Freelancer."

"What, how did you know that, you need to tell me immediately." Washington demanded. Was this why command didn't want him interacting with them? "Hold on, I'm coming up there."

Sim troopers were not supposed to be aware of freelancers unless notified by command. For one of them to immediately recognize Washington as a freelancer likely meant they had been in contact with another before him.

Maybe it had been the person he was looking for.

When he got on to the top of the base Church said, "Do I look like and idiot to you? All the freelancers have state names, duh. Then under his breath he said, "idiot rookie."

"... excuse me?" This sim trooper knew far to much then the average one. Most of them weren't smart enough to put that together.

"Yeah, I know you freelancers love to be all high and mighty, but I didn't think any of you would forget about me. Telling me not to talk to you all the time and to get outta the way."

Washington had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.

"You were on Freelancer's home base? You know the other freelancers, What?" This was strange to put it lightly. There was definitely something going on, and Washington had not even made contact with the rouge agent yet.

"Dude what the fuck are you both talking about." Tucker said, but Washington had no patience for him.

"Solider, go inside."

"What, you can't-"

"That's an order." He said in a stern voice.

"... Fine, I didn't want to talk with you idiots anyway."

Thankfully Tucker listened and went inside the base.

"God I wish he would listen to be like that." Church said as soon as he was out of earshot.

"Don't change the subject."

"Who put a stick in your ass?"

Ignoring the sim trooper's less then respectful words Washington asked, "What freelancers do you know, how do you know them, and did any of them beside me come here?"

"Uh no, dude your the first of those idiots to come around and say hi."

"Who do you know."

"Hey buddy, you're getting kinda intimidating there."

"Stop avoiding the question."

"God alright, alright. It's just kinda personal." He said. "Look I kinda like, dated Tex for a while."

"Um, how does a person..." From Elipson's memory's he knew Agent Texas has been an AI. He also knew that no one had dated Agent Texas or had been close to her besides the Director himself.

Nothing in this situation was adding up. It was like there were too many pieces to the puzzle and none of them fit with each other. The sim trooper spoke with such conviction in what he was saying, he definitely believed in what he was saying, but none of it made sense. If they were making all this up, how did he know all of this information to begin with?

"God, at least it was you that showed up and not Wyoming, that guy really doesn't like me."

"... This is, a lot to take in. I don't ever recall seeing you on home-base."

"Hm, that's weird, I think I might remember you rookie."

Agent Washington was alive and he was speaking with the Alpha. The rookie had somehow been tracking her down. Following her path. On who's orders, if any, she did not know. Currently he wasn't acting aggressive towards Alpha but that could change quickly. She wondered if command set him here specifically to check on the Alpha?

Either way killing him would likely alert command, and they would send in a team to investigate and move the Alpha again.

Tex would have to stay in wait and observe his actions. She hoped he would get on the local coms and listen in. Otherwise she would soon loose track of him if he went in the base.

"You just gonna ask me questions all day? Cause we're pretty fucking busy, got a rookie coming in tomorrow and everything."

"Yeah. You look really busy." Sarcastically Washington spoke and gestured to the open desert void of any movement.

"... I gotta, get a room ready. Yeah gotta get the bunk all nice and cozy for the newbie putting him in Tucker's room, that place is a mess, and then I need to go to bed so I can get up nice and fucking early tomorrow." He obviously made all this up on the spot.

"Alright, why don't you be accommodating for me as well." He said testing the bluff. "Command sent me after all, and I've been traveling on the hypothetical road for a while." Recovery One had not in fact slept on a bed in a while, although he likely would not use it for more then an hour or two because he needed to keep an eye out on the rouge agent.

"Ah shit, alright, I'll show you the extra bunk in my room. The one in Tucker's is for the rookie, and let me tell you, you are lucky I'm not making you bunk with him."

"I'm sure."

The simulation bases were much emptier then any regular army base would have been. These bases were made to comfortably fit eight people, four in each of the two bedrooms, but until now they were only housing two people, so they had been able to take an entire room to themselves.

The room Church has claimed as his own was not surprisingly bare with a table and two bunkbeds; the one on the bottom left had untucked blankets and two pillows, one of which has been taken from the bed above it. Unregulation, unsurprising.

"You're on the right, got the whole thing to yourself. Make yourself comfy, or not. Doesn't matter to me."

Then Church took his helmet off.

Washington had to do a double take, because at first he had almost thought he was looking at the Director himself. If it weren't for the messy hair and untrimmed stumble, he would almost be an exact copy.

"Who are you?" Wash let the words come out without thinking.

"I already told you my name fuck face. Did you forgot already?" Church said with a crease in his eyebrows and curl of his upper lip that was just like the Director's when he was irritated.

Then Church turned around to put his helmet down on the table, and Wash saw an AI port on the back of his head. High tech, expensive. With Project Freelancer's name stamped onto it.

Then everything clicked into place.

All AI's were based off a person. The Alpha, was no exception.

This is it. Washington thought. This is the Alpha. This is where it was hidden away, this is what caused everything, this is what the Meta was after. What the fragments obsessed about. What was so secret even the top agents didn't know about.

And Recovery One had been sent here tracking a Rouge agent.

Project Freelancer was screwed. They had just given him exactly what he needed to tare them down.

Washington was positive that if he captured the Alpha and brought it to the UNSC he would be acquitted of all charges and let free, and the Director and his Project Freelancer would crash and burn behind him.

But the Alpha didn't know it was the Alpha, it didn't know it was an AI at all. They had somehow broken, fractured, fragmented the AI so far it didn't know what it was.

"What the fuck are you staring at me like that for." The Alpha, who was calling itself Church said.

If Washington ripped the AI chip from this body's neck would the Alpha figure out how to jump to another system, or would it be trapped?

Would it be better to drag the Alpha like this to the UNSC and show them one of Freelancer's unethical experiments. If he told the Alpha what it was, could the AI even handle that information? Would it go rampant?

"How would you like to get out of this canyon?" Washington asked, but the inflection made it sound more like a statement.

The sim bases were getting a shipment soon. That meant there would be a pelican he could hijack and hightail it out of orbit with. He was sure they could floor it to the nearest UNSC base faster then Project Freelancer could even figure out what had happened.

"You asking me out? No offense man, I don't even know you, and you're like really fuckin' weird and standoffish."

"No, that's not what I- how about we ditch this place forever, get us out of this canyon. I know a place that could really use someone like you."

Tucker was out front waiting for the new rookie. While Washington and Church were semi hidden in back. All it took to make the aqua solider wait patiently out front was telling him a woman was being dropped off.

The pelican arrived right on time, dropping off a tank from its undercarriage before quickly landing to let the new sim trooper off.

Likely there was just a pilot to take care of. Washington readied his weapon. There would only be a few seconds for him to take the shot.

"Dude, are you gonna kill everyone onboard and steal it?" Church asked. "You didn't mention this part of the plan. Count me out, you Freelancers are crazy, I'm not helping you kill our own fuckin' men, I'm staying here."

"You don't get to back out of this." Washington spoke. "Turn away and I'm shooting you in the leg and dragging your body onboard after I kill the pilot."

"... Fuckin' Freelancers man."

It seamed like the Alpha took the threat seriously. A bit disappointing because Washington would very much like to put a bullet into the body that looked too much like the Director.

Washington's aim was perfect. In three shots he pierced the glass and killed the pilot inside. The moment after the action, Wash himself was shot in the leg from behind.

"FUCK!" Church yelled, but made no move to run or take cover.

"Not so fast Wash." The unsettlingly familiar voice of Agent Texas spoke as she uncloaked from invisibility.

Washington was right in his assumption that whoever he was tracking wasn't the Meta and had serious equipment. Agent Texas has been the best of the best. It was no wonder why Command didn't want him engaging with her at all. But it was ridiculous of them to not tell him who he was after.

"What the- Tex?" Church said. "What are you doing here?"

"You really think you and the Director can take him from me just as I find him again?" She spoke, ignoring Church.

"I'm on your side, I was going rouge, wanted to move him, use him to take down Freelancer, give him to the authorities." Washington choked out despite the pain.

"Well then, this is awkward." She stressed on the word is but did not move to take her gun away. "I'm not gonna go on about an let you hand 'em over to the UNSC, but I do appreciate you turnin' on the Director." Tex frankly explained. "I think we'll get along just fine, if of course, you'll get rid of that plan of turnin' him in."

"Turn me in? What the fuck did I do?" Church gracelessly interrupted, but was sure not to get in way of the pointing guns.

"Yeah, that's fine, good by me." Wash said to Texas.

"Good..." Tex said. "Now what was that part where we get the hell out of this canyon."