"When it goes off, I'll be fine. It only affects computers rememer? And I am a motherfuckin' ghost."
I felt a sudden pain and my eyes opened in a flash, I sat up and grabbed my head, letting out a small groan. When I looked around I found myself surrounded in darkness... What happened?.. Where was I?...
...Who am I?...
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Washington sighed as he left the Freelancer base, Alpha... Church... had sacrificed himself to stop the meta, the ex freelancer brute, and all the other AIs were gone. Destroyed by the EMP... Well at least almost all of them were gone. A part of Washington felt bad, Church was his friend, but he kept telling himself it had to be done, the Meta had to be stopped from taking the AIs. His first priority was done, now was the time to go to his secdond task, turning the director in for everything he did. Washington had the evidence, he had Epsilon, all he had to do was turn the AI in. It would show all the wrong the Director did and at least keep him and the others out of trouble.
Washington remembered what Church had told him before... "Take care of my team for me." He wanted Washington to take over as leader of the blue team... The Freelancer wasn't sure how he felt about this... Sure he had some fun with the group, he was close to them, and he couldn't leave Caboose alone to fend for himself against the reds, but at the same time he had a job to do... Maybe he could take the group with him, he could use the help... but they seemed to screw up the easiest jobs... Washington could always just get them settled down somewhere and leave...
He let out a groan, why did his morals have to get in the way? Washington shook off the thoughts and started looking for the warthogs the group left on. When he found them the warthogs were over a hill and everyone was surrounding Caboose, who seemed to be holding something.
"What's going on?" Washington asked. The group stepped back a little and looked at Washington, the Freelancer stepped closer and saw Caboose was holding the memory unit Epsilon was in, it was glowing cobalt signifying the AI was online. Washington's eyes widened and he felt anger pulse through him.
"What's happening with Epsilon?" Caboose asked, Washington ignored him, he glared at the memory unit. Now that the AI was online he could leave the unit and cause trouble again... He could get loose, and then there goes the evidence... Washington narrowed his eyes, was it even worth it to keep the AI now... Epsilon was broken, insane. If he was online then it wasn't worth it to keep him, evidence or not, the risk ISN'T worth it.
"Wash?" Sarge asked snapping the Freelancer out of his thoughts, Washington looked up at the group, they were all staring at him, waiting for him to explain what was going on with Epsilon. Washington was about to speak up and just tell them to destroy the unit, since it was the only way to keep the crazy Epsilon from getting loose and reaking havok, but was cut off when the sound of soldiers came from the distance.
"Shit." Washington said, he didn't expect them to be found so soon after acitvating the EMP.
"We need to go." The Freelancer said, he was about to go but was stopped by Caboose.
"Wait, where's Church?" The blue spartan asked, Washington froze.
"He's... He's gone Caboose..." He said softly. Surprisingly enough the blue spartan seemed to understand right away that Church had sacrificed himsself to stop the Meta. Washington looked back, he saw the soldiers in the distance approaching.
"Come on." The Freelancer said, he jumped into one of the Warthogs and started the engine.
"What should I do with Epsilon?" Caboose asked, Washington's eyes narrowed.
"Leave him here." He said flatly, the soilders will no doubt find him, then either two things would happen. They would turn the AI in as evidence, or the option that was more likely was they'd destroy Epsilon. Either way, Washington won.
The Freelancer started the other warthog and got everything ready, he looked back at the group to see them talking. Washington's anger and irritation rose, the soldiers were almost to them, they were even starting to shoot at them now, and they were just standing there talking?!
"COME ON!" The Freelancer yelled, he then jumped into the drivers side of the warthog. THe reds jumped into the other warthog, Caboose took a moment before he jumped into the passenger side of the warthog that Washington was in. The blue spartan looked a bit nervous, like something was up. Washington shook off the thought, Caboose was probably just upset about CHurch being gone. The Freelancer changed gears and sped off, the reds followed behind, they had gotten away just in time. A part of Washington felt bad for leaving Epsilon behind, but he quickly reminded himself of what the AI had done to him. EPsilon was insane, he couldn't ever be a normal AI.
************************************************** ********************
"Hey what's that computer thingy doing?" A gruff voice asked, I perked up. Where was that voice coming from?
"The memory units glowing." Another voice said, this one more nerdy. Memory unit... That sounds familiar... Am I... Am I in it? Are they talking about me?
"Whats going on?" A familiar voice asked. I felt a spark of irritation run through me, I don't know why but that voice... upset me... Did I know who it belonged to? God dammit, why couldn't I remember anything?! I looked around, there was a moment of silence before another voice spoke up.
"What's happening with Epsilon?"
...Epsilon... I think... I think that's my name... I'm... I'm an AI... an artificial intelligence... I'm stuck inside this memory unit and they're talking about me.
"Shit." THe familiar voice said. I heard muffled gunshots.
"We need to go." The voice said after a moment. I looked around the darkness, I wish I could be out there to see what was going on.
"Wait where's Church?" Another voice asked. Church, Leonard Church, why was that name familiar too...
"He... He's gone Caboose." Why was I sad about this? I didn't know that guy... did I?
"Come on." I bit my lip, whatever was going on out there was not good.
"What should I do with Epsilon?" I froze. Weren't they taking me with them? What WAS going to happen to me...? There seemed to be something bad going on, I could sense there was danger, they wouldn't just leave me to be destroyed would they?
"Leave him here." The familiar voice said, fear struck through me. There was a moment of silence before a voice spoke up.
"Caboose, leave him, we need to go." The gruff voice from before said.
"But this is the last thing we have left of Church." A voice, which I'm guessing was Caboose, said.
"So what, are you going to go behind Wash's orders and bring him?" The nerdy voice asked. I heard the familiar voice in the background yelling for the group to 'come on.'
"Don't say anything." Caboose said and with that I felt myself being carried off. I heard the rumbling of an engine and was placed down somewhere. I think I was in a car... I sat down in the darkness and sighed. If this Wash guy found out I was brought along he'd be pissed... but you know what... Fuck him!