Chapter 1:
"York!" Delta's strangely electronic voice cut rough the fog in York's head."Wha..." York said, his head was still fuzzy and unfocused from the wounds he had sustained and his chest throbbed with a dull ache."What's going on? Where am I?" he asked. Delta's voice answered "At Wyoming's island fortress, you were shot and have sustained two wounds to your upper left chest."York sighed "I feel like hell," he groaned "what happened to Alison?""Agent Texas was able to best Wyoming in combat and has since departed.""Will she be back?"York painfully hoisted himself up and sat with his back against the low wall behind him."I predict a ninety-five per cent chance that agent Texas believes you to be dead and will not be returning." Delta paused for a moment "It would appear that your plan has succeeded."York smiled and removed his helmet, grimacing as he did so."Course it did Dee," he said, using Delta's nickname "you gotta start having a bit more confidence in me.""York, this plan was highly reckless and contained many unnecessary risks that-""But it worked." York cut in "Project Freelancer thinks we're dead and now no one will be after us trying to track down this equipment... Or you." he finished his sentence by gesturing towards his armor clad body and the transparent green form of Delta. Delta considered York's statement for a moment or two, the green light from his form illuminating the area around them."Anyway," York said, chuckling "we're not out of this yet.""Agreed, your armor sent out a distress call and a recovery agent is most likely already en route." Delta said in his usual logical way."So all that's left to do is fool the recovery agent and we're clear," York puffed out his cheeks as he breathed out "I wonder who'll they'll send, Wash? South? No, not South, she's too far away, it'll be Wash for sure."York began to strip his armor off, taking extra care around the chest piece. His progress was slow but, after thirty minutes, he had assembled his armor, without him in it, on the ground beside stood up with a sigh, his newly donned jacket, which he had hidden along with other clothes before the assault, flapped in the wind."Hey Dee, I need you to make a back up of yourself, you know like you did when we were at the Longshore Shipyards." Delta flickered briefly."It is done," he said "I have programmed the copy to activate once the recovery process is initiated.""Good, now all that's left is to make that," he motioned towards the deflated suit of armor "look like I'm still in it."York pulled his pistol out of the waist of his jeans, placed the muzzle in the neck hole of the helmet less armor and pulled the trigger. The lockdown paint took effect immediately, the armor inflated and hardened and York placed the helmet over the neck, clicking it into place. The armor now looked like it was suddenly flared a bright red."Alarm!" he said in a higher then usual voice "A recovery signal has been detected in the area, suggest immediate relocation!""Well they sure didn't waste any time." York vaulted the small wall in front of his 'corpse' and sprinted, pressing one hand against his chest to stem the flow of blood, down to the beach where he crouched down low amongst the rocks that crowded around the stealthily made his way through the maze of rocks until he reached a point where, if he crouched, he could observe the section of the fortress where he 'died' without being seen himself. He took a deep breath and gazed intently at the grey figure walking towards his corpse.