AN: I know we saw part of this in the show, but this is what I imagined going on though his Wash's head as he got Epsilon, as well as after the implantation, when Epsilon showed him more than just Allison, but the others memories as well.
Edit: Anything coming after this that I'm going to be writing will be in another fic that I am currently working on, titled...well, I don't actually know what it's going to be called yet.
Disclaimer: I do not own Red vs. Blue. It belongs to Rooster Teeth.
The sound of his footsteps on the metallic floor thudded in Agent Washington's ears as he made his way toward his destination. Members of the crew passed him, doing their various duties, but he ignored them. Despite his joke about the side-effects, both York and North had done their best to convince Wash that there was nothing to be nervous about. However, after what happened after Carolina got her A.I. units, coupled with Maine's increasing headaches, he was nervous.
Wash was getting closer to the implantation room where he would receive his own Artificial Intelligence program, who he'd been told was named Epsilon, continuing the greek letter theme. He was curious about Epsilon. What he would be like, how more efficient he'd be in the field with an A.I. by his side. But as he approached the doors, he couldn't help but have his doubts. Was something going wrong with the program? Did they find the cause of Maine's headaches? And why hadn't Carolina woken up yet?
Washington stood at attention as soon as he saw the Director, and relaxed when the Director acknowledged him.
"Agent Washington," he said in his slight southern accent. "Are you ready for implantation?"
"Yes, sir," Wash said with more confidence then he felt. But then he reminded himself that the Director wouldn't risk it if it wasn't safe, despite the training exercise with Agent Texas that involved live rounds. Wash wouldn't call the Director a friend, but he trusted him, at least to a degree.
As he took his helmet off, the artificial gravity in the room was disabled, and the doctors rearranged the tools they would need one last time. Wash listened as they told him about the procedure, and that it would sting, as they didn't want to risk anesthetics causing any complications. Afterwards, he would be put to sleep, so as to give the A.I. time to settle itself in his head. Sounded simple enough.
"He is ready," said the Counselor, turning to the Director.
"Hand me the Epsilon unit, please."
Washington watched the Counselor lift a purple device and hand it to someone outside of his vision. One of the doctors reported that all was ready. There was the sound of electrical whirring, and there was a sting at the base of his neck, causing him to flinch slightly. Another sting indicated that the unit had been inserted, and Wash waited for something to happen. Vaguely, he could feel another presence with him, but before he could explore it, a blinding flash erupted in his head.
"Stop it, put that thing down."
The voice was feminine, playful yet assertive, and Washington could hear it clearly, while all the other sounds in the room were blurred.
"Leonard, come on, stop it."
Her face filled Wash's view, and he couldn't see anything but her. He struggled against the images that flooded him, this immense grief that filled him, and somehow he knew that this was the last time he ever saw her.
"Allison..." this voice was different than the first. This one belonged to the A.I., and he shared the pain that Washington was going through. He continued to struggle against the memories being forced upon him, the blinding pain that threatened to tear his head apart. He was vaguely aware of someone screaming, and his name being called.
Allison continued to torment him. "You're going to make me late. I have to go."
Wash was filled with with longing for this girl, and he didn't want her to leave. He needed her to not leave. But wait! These weren't his memories! He'd never met this woman before.
The Director was barking out orders, but Wash couldn't catch what he said, not that he could care in his current state. The A.I. Epsilon quivered in a corner of his mind, feeling the pain of losing Allison all over again. Wash ignored him, only wishing for the pain, the images, the screaming to go away.
"But don't say goodbye." Her voice now was sorrowful, added to by the knowledge that he would never see her again. "I hate goodbyes."
Finally, the agony lessened, the voices stopped and Allison's vision disappeared from his mind. The screaming stopped, and now he was just exhausted, and drifting into darkness. Other voices replaced Allison's, ones that he heard with his ears this time, rather than within his head.
"Get him to recovery. Counselor, I would like to speak with him as soon as he wakes up," the Director ordered.
"Of course sir," the Counselor responded, and his voice grew farther away as he spoke. "What was that he said about goodbyes? Director..."
Wash felt himself slipping into unconsciousness, but he didn't fully reach the rest that he desired. While he didn't feel the pain anymore, this was only a pause in the flashes. He couldn't move his body, and was no longer aware of it, only of what was happening within his head. The flashes, the images kept coming, and not even Epsilon seemed to have control over them.
Wash saw the creation of an A.I. unit, designated Alpha, and that sparked a memory of North and York talking about it. But wait, whose memory was that? Was that another flash from Epsilon, or one of Wash's own memories?
He saw the Alpha helping the Director, the strange anomaly of the creation of Agent Texas. And then...failure. The Alpha failed at everything, everyone was hurt. But...no, they weren't. The Director tricked him, he was doing this on purpose! The Director betrayed him, he was torturing him! Making it seem that he had caused all this pain, this suffering.
Wash heard, felt the agonized screams of Epsilon as they watched the Alpha split itself apart, isolating the part of himself that could see what the Director was doing. He would have screamed if he could, but it was like his body was shut down because of all the drugs. Wash saw that piece of the Alpha materialize into a separate A.I., a fragment, and saw that he recognized him. Delta...
The torture of the Alpha continued, as did the separation, the fragmenting. Wash tried to ask Epsilon why he was showing him all of this, watching the A.I. that he had come to know coming into existence. Gamma, the deceit. Theta, the trust. Sigma, the ambition. Omega, the rage. This lasted for what felt like hours.
Then...this was the creation of Epsilon. He was the memory. That was why Wash was seeing all these images. They were the Alpha's memories! The Alpha created Epsilon because he couldn't handle all the terrible things anymore, and, it seemed, neither could Epsilon.
The Director lied to everyone!
Can't trust him. Can't trust anyone anymore.
The pain...make it stop...
Can't...bear it...anymore...
Even death would be better than this...
Washington couldn't even tell who was thinking what anymore, a mixture of his own and Epsilon's thoughts. Epsilon was faltering in his mind, weakening. His presence was less and less noticeable, and then...he was gone.
Finally, darkness came to claim him, but that last thought that lingered was that the Director had betrayed them.