Thoughts of a Dying Agent
By The Villain
I ran. It was all I could do to stay alive. I had to put distance between me, The Meta, Wash, and anyone else who wanted to kill me. I had almost made it out of the base when I felt something rip through my armor and into my leg and shoulder. "Aggh, Sonofa---!" seemed to suffice the pain I felt rush through my body as I fell heavily to the ground. I looked over my shoulder to see who the fuck shot me. Wash and The Meta were too busy with themselves, so it had to be either Church or that other Blue. My only thoughts on this were Gotta get…outta here! I did my best to try to bring my aching body to crawl away, but with a bum arm and leg, movin' seemed to be not an option. Oh great. Now whoever wins, I lose… "How…did it come to this?" I asked myself quietly. My mind went back in time, back to where it all began…
---
If there's one thing Agent South Dakota knew, it was this: Survive…at all costs. And so far, it was working. Until, of course, being recruited in The Freelancer Experiment. At first, it seemed easy enough, because if her brother could get in, then she should have no problem. She was better. She knew she was better. The best, even. She just needed to show everyone else that.
In all their training, 'The Dakota Twins' North and South excelled over all. She was the brains, he was the brawn. They made the best team. Everyone always said they were on the same wavelength, same page, etc. Then came the moment they were waiting for, South in particular: Implantation. Only the best got AI's. She knew she was already guaranteed one. The only frustration she could see is that only one agent could be implanted per week, to give them a chance to adjust. But at the time, it didn't really matter. Anything that gave her the edge to survive just a little longer was worth whatever price to her.
Her brother got his first. Theta he was called. She wasn't happy with it, but she dealt with it. Just another week, and I good. she told herself. The days past agonizingly slow for her. Her brother noticed her edginess. "Something wrong, Sis?" he asked politely. She turned to him and nearly screamed "NO, nothing's fucking wrong okay!? He was more than surprised by this. "Jeez! Sorry I asked!" South curbed her anger and apologized. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell. I'm just on edge." "About what?" he asked. "It's taking forever for my damn implant." "Ohhh." he said, now understanding the reason for her mood. He put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "Just relax. It'll only be a little longer, 'kay?" She huffed. "Fine."
When the day finally came, she headed to the IR in the fastest power walk she humanly could. When she got in, her breath was slightly ragged. The man behind the front desk looked up. "Agent South Dakota, I presume?" he asked. "Yes sir. I'm here for my AI…sir." she told him with a full-fledge smile on her face. There was a moment of silence before he answered. "I'm sorry, but I can't give you one." Her smile was gone in an instant. "Whaddaya mean you can't fucking give me one?" "Agent Washington encountered a serious problem with his AI Epsilon, so now all further implantations are suspended until further notice." He replied, keeping an even tone.
South was furious. She didn't say anything. She just left, heading back to her room. This is FUCKING unfair! Dammit, Wash, did you have to go and fuck everything up? My own brother gets one, and I don't? He doesn't deserve it! She got to her room, opened the door, got in, and slammed it shut. Then she just got into her bed and prepared for a fitful sleep. I'm going to get an AI, one way…or another.
Weeks mentally past by, and both Dakotas have been assigned to hunt down a rogue agent named 'The Meta', who had, strangely, only been killing other agents with AI's. They were sent to its last known location to search for any clues to its whereabouts, some ruins in the middle of nowhere. They searched the entire area and found nothing at all. "Well, that was helpful." North said sarcastically. "Yeah, let's just call it in" his sister replied. She opened up a radio channel. "This is Recovery Two, callin' Recovery Comm---" She was interrupted by a volley of grenades, landing all around her and her brother. She managed not to get hit, but he wasn't so lucky. One grenade exploded right next to him, hitting his side with fire and shrapnel, and sending him flying.
South turned to see her brother hit by the explosion. He landed on the edge of the ruined building they were inspecting. He tried to move, but his leg was too messed up from the explosion to work. He turned to his sister. "Sis! Help me!" he screamed at her. She ran to him, grabbed him and began to drag him away, but then she saw it. There was someone, a white and brown Spartan, walking towards them, a bizarre bladed grenade launcher in one hand, and a pistol in the other.
"Oh no…" she whispered. Fear gripped her. She didn't want to die. She tried to think of a way to get out of there. Wait…it's not after me. she realized. She looked down at her brother. It's after him. After some thought, she dropped her brother and began to slowly back away from him and the approaching. "Wh-what the hell are you doing?" he asked incredulously. She turned to him slowly and said coldly, "Survival of the fittest. And you just don't cut it." And she turned and ran. "No…" He whispered. He shook his head, not believing what he just heard. He turned his head and saw The Meta only a few yards away, just standing there. "No…" he tried to crawl away, but he could barely move. "NOOOOO---!" *Bang*. The shot echoed throughout the ruins.
South hid behind some broken wall, and waited for a good hour after her brother's cries and the gunshot. She got up and looked around. No sign of the white rogue. She kept thinking back to the unspeakable horror she had just done. Better him than me she told herself, over and over again, trying to stow the horrible feeling in her stomach. After a little while longer, she walked back to where her brother laid. Before she got there, she heard a snarl. She stopped dead in her tracks, and slowly turned around. She only caught a glimpse of it before it pistol-whipped her across the face, knocking her out cold.
When she came around, she was somehow laying right next to her brother. She tried to lift herself, but couldn't find the strength to do so. Then she heard the approach of footsteps. Fearing it to be The Meta checking on his corpses, she played possum. Who or whatever it was stopped just short an Assault Rifle's distance from her prone position. "…Hey, you o.k.?" the thing asked. She knew that voice. The one who ruined her chances for survival. "Wash?" "Yeah South?" "Couldya not just stand there and give me a hand?"
He pulled her up into a sitting position on the ground. "What happened here?" he inquired. South tried to remember the events before, but nothing came. "N-no, it's all fuzzy. What about him?" She motioned towards her brother, "Is he gonna be o.k.?" There was an ominous silence for a moment before he replied: "South…he's dead." And that's when it all came back to her. The search, the attack, and her leaving her brother behind…the gunshot…everything was clear again.
She vaguely heard Wash asking her questions, but she didn't try to listen. I…I killed him. She could've saved him, but she didn't. She was the reason there was one less Freelancer in the world. That she no longer had a brother. One who cared for her deeply, who would've done anything for her. All for some fucking little computer program. All out of jealousy and fear. Then she finally became aware that Wash kept calling her name. She peeled her eyes away from her brother's limp form and up at the grey Freelancer. She couldn't tell him. There's no way in hell he'd let her live if she did. So she did what she did best: She lied, just to live a little longer.
---
*Bang* "…Your dead now, remember that." "I don't understand any of this, and my ears are still ringing from that shot you fired." South rubbed the side of her helmet to get the point across. "It had to sound good for the radio." She thought back to when he 'killed' her. South thought it rather crazy for Wash to shoot right next to her head, but Command did say Wash was… different after losing Epsilon. At the moment, there wasn't much to do while Wash talked with Delta about whatever, so doing pot-shots at traffic cones seemed better than nothing. Of course, that's not what all she was doing. She'd had radioed Command earlier, letting them in on their entire conversation. And now Command gave her the go to continue extracting information from Recovery One.
"Now South, I need you to test something." Wash finally included her in the conversation. "I have concerns about our next action" the A.I. said, his little green projection coming from a nearby Warthog. "Agent South never rated for something like this." "Rated for what!? What have you gotten me into!?" South exclaimed. She played her part as the helpless damsel almost too well. "Agent Washington believes that something has been hunting the Freelancers down." So they never told him, huh? Just proves how much they trust you, Wash. South thought to herself. Wash went on about all of his findings, most of which she already knew.
What surprised her though was when he inadvertently reminded her of the three things in for each dead agent: the A.I. was gone, the Agent was dead, and the armor enhancement was taken from them. When she realized hers was missing too, she almost lost her composure. Oh, you fuck... "I see now, that is why you want me to implant in South." "Excuse me? In who?" Apparently, South lost track of the conversation.
---
Now here she was, with an A.I. implanted in her head. What she wanted this entire time. Then why didn't she feel happy? Perhaps it was that no one told her how hard it was to adjust to another mind inside your head. Besides a strange cooling sensation in her skull, everything kept speeding up and slowing down, sounds became painfully loud and whisper quiet, her vision went from fuzzy to painfully sharp...and Delta just wouldn't shut the hell up…all of this at the same time.
"Keep breathing," he told her. "Hearing my voice internally can be jarring at first. I am told that it helps clear the mind to concentrate on one thing, and I suggest that you try---" "Can you please not talk for a second? That might help!" She yelled at the voice in her head. "Technically, I'm not talking." He pointed out. "DELTA…PLEASE!" the purple agent snarled. "My apologies." She took a breath in and let it out. "Okay…I'm feeling better." "Remember to keep breathing" Delta reminded her. "I'll try to keep that in mind! How many enemies!?" she yelled at her A.I.
He told her that he could not sense any, but the opposing fire on Wash's position told otherwise. There was nothing he could do. "So far, you don't seem to be all that helpful." She told him internally. She ran to Wash's position. "I have functions that could assist in battle. Would you like me to run the tutorial program?" the computerized voice asked. "Are you kidding me!?" She yelled out loud.
When she got to Wash, she was prepared to hold off The Meta with him, but he had other plans apparently. He told her to run. Now, she was all for that, but she knew now that thing was after her. She would be dead before she made it halfway to the Banshee that was parked across the open space they fought in. Wash was already injured pretty bad, so---wait… let's make this about him then… she smiled to herself. "What are you doing?" Delta asked her. "Sync!" she yelled. "Move!" he yelled, running towards their enemy. South turned to him…and did something she would regret later on: she shot him in the back like a coward, just to live a little longer…or so she thought.
---
After she escaped The Meta's clutches, she cut off all ties she had to Command. She stayed by herself for the next two months in an abandoned base a ways from the beach, her only companions were Delta, and the Blue assigned there, who did not know of her existence. Another week past, and guess who shows up from beyond the grave? Wash. And also another Blue. They talked to… Church, if she remembered his name correctly, about another A.I. named Omega, his Agent partner Tex, and some ship that crashed. Then they left.
On a whim, South decided to go after them, and finish the job. They came out of their broken down bunker, their home. "I still believe this course of action is dangerous. If we are following Agent Washington, logic dictates that others will be as well." Delta warned her. They heard a 'thump' from behind them. She turned and drew her rifle to the sound…right at The Meta. "…Oh shit…" South cursed. Then the battle began.
The Meta held her down pretty well, but she wasn't called the brains of the Dakota Twins for nothing. She managed to sneak behind him while he kept firing at the spot she was at last. Then she jumped him. Unfortunately, she definitely wasn't the physical prowess of the Twins. The Meta grabbed her while still in the air, and slammed her into the rock beside him. Then he threw her, but not before she could rip out a chunk of his left shoulder piece. When she landed, she checked in her hand what she had taken from The Meta. My shield! Finally, some good luck! She picked herself up and ran behind a rock for cover, dodging the explosive fire coming at her. From behind the rock, she managed to insert the shield enhancement into her shoulder slot. "Installing 'Dome Shield' Enhancement…one moment…" Delta told her. "Oh, come on!" She whined to her A.I.
The Meta came around the side of the rock and shot at her with its grenade launcher. "Fuck!" She screamed as a shell went past her helmet. She sprinted away from her adversary, trying to buy time for her shield to work. "Done. The shield is ready." The voice in her head told her. "Finally!" She yelled, stopping in her tracks. She directed her suit's power to the shield unit. The bubble field materialized just before a grenade hit her. It blew up on the shield harmlessly.
She watched as The Meta weaved back and forth for the next 4 minutes, firing a never-ending volley of grenades at her. "Delta", She spoke to her A.I., "report." "Your suit's energy reserves are nearly depleted. Your shield will---" "How much longer!?" She screamed at him. "The Meta will breach our barrier in 60 seconds. I suggest you prepare your grenades while I divert power from your armor's nonessential systems." Delta suggested. "No" She told him. "…You have a better plan?" he asked. "Keep the shield up as long as you can." She told him. "When it starts to falter, transfer yourself to the storage unit." "I think I would be more useful in my current state" he replied. "I'll dump my shield generator at the same time. There's no way that thing can resist the both of you." She knew she regret losing her shield and A.I., but at least she'd get away.
"Your… abandoning me?" Delta asked, not believing what his audio receptors were picking up. There was a slight silence, as if South was picking her words carefully. "It's my best chance to get outta this." The Meta continued his seemingly unending barrage on their shields.
"South," Delta said, "Protocol violations aside, this seems to be a very short term solution. The Meta will only grow more powerful by obtain---" She didn't want to do this but… "Program Override: acknowledge last directive" She ordered. "…Acknowledged." Delta complied. "Preparing Storage Unit" "Get ready." She told him. "Shield Failure in 5…4…---" "Get ready to eject…" "3…---" "Transfer to storage." "2…---" "On my mark…" "1…" "NOW!!" She screamed. Another grenade hit their shield, and it when down. When The Meta saw this, he ran full-speed towards them.
"There they are!" South heard from…Aww crap, not now! The Meta turned towards his new foes, Wash, Caboose, and Church, riding in on Mongeese. "Don't let it get near her!" Wash yelled to his Blue allies. Wash got off his bike and ran towards The Meta, while Church and Caboose's swiped a tree and knocked them off. South saw as her chance to escape while keeping her shield and A.I. Wash saw her begin to run and yelled to them, "Don't let her get away!"
---
And that's pretty much it. I must of missed the fight, because it was Wash and the other two just standing there talking. I didn't bother to listen, but I heard it anyway. "Why didn't you tell us it could use equipment!?" "Why didn't you tell me that Wyoming was on the ship!?" "And why didn't someone give me something to yell about!?" I tried to move again, but I got outta it was pain. They turned to me and came. "Delta, are you here?" Wash asked. Of course he doesn't care about me. I'm just dying here!
The aforementioned A.I. appeared in his green glow. "Affirmative. I am undamaged. However, Agent South is seriously wounded. May I suggest moving me to a new host." "Roger that. I don't trust her anyway." Wash replied. Yeah, I hate you too, Wash. He turned to the Blues. "One of you two take it." "Umm," went the cobalt armored soldier, "I don't think that I can---"He was interrupted by the blue one's cheery "I'll do it! I like meeting new people." He walked over to me, reached behind my head, and gently pulled out Delta. The cooling sensation I had come to enjoy faded away. He looked at it with a face that looked like a man finding an old Cheeto under his couch one day, before sliding into the slot in the back of his helmet.
"Delta, what happened?" Wash asked once everyone got situated. Delta projected himself from Caboose's armor. "I agree with the simulation soldier. The Meta has most likely acquired both the temporal distortion and an A.I. capable of running it. In this case, Gamma." He replied coolly. "Well," Wash aksed, slightly annoyed, "why didn't it kill us then?" "I am sorry but I do not have enough data to formulate an answer. I think we should simply be happy it is gone." Church turned from Delta to Wash. "That makes sense to me." "I also agree with the glowing person." Caboose chimed in. Then he looked at each of his friends worried and asked, "Everyone sees a glowing person, right?"
"It is possible The Meta is injured in some way and has retreated to repair itself." Delta continued on. "So," Wash replied, "if we can find it before it does, we may actually stand a chance of beating it." "Either way, I don't we should be hanging around here." Church came in with his opinion. "Then let's get moving." Wash said to the gang.
By now, I managed to pull myself into a kneeling position, on my good knee, of course, but I was far from being able to go anywhere. "I can't (pant)…I can't walk on my own." I told them. "Well I guess you better start crawling. If you think I'm leaving you here to escape then you gotta 'nother thing coming." He said coldly. Heartless ass. "Agent Washington, if I may," Delta cut in, "Before you arrived, South attempted to turn me over to The Meta to save herself." What!? The little shit is ratting me out! "(Scoff) Really?" Wash replied. "Much like she wounded you to escape in our previous encounter with it. And as I have learned in our travels, her brother suffered a similar fate." …Oh shit… "What a team player." The grey agent remarked. "It is highly probable that she will turn on us again soon. And in her current physical state, she will only hamper our progress." …double shit… "What are you suggesting?" Wash asked. I knew what was coming… "That we do not allow her to hamper our progress."
At least you learned something from me: Survival of the fittest. I gave myself a look-over before I finished my thought. And I just don't cut it. "Okay." Was all that Wash said, spinning towards me, pistol in hand. "Oh, come on, Wash!" I was delaying the inevitable. "Whaddaya gonna do? Shoo---" *Bang*. "Yes. Good suggestion." Wash thanked Delta "Your welcome." Was all he said. Church looked from me, to Wash, and back. "…Dude… you guys are some cold motherfuckers…" He said. Yeah, if only you knew the half of it… And then the world faded to black.
The End
Author's Notes-
I did a little re-editing on this. You probably won't notice much, but it made me feel better to fix it here and there.
R and R,
The Villain