Nothing Out Of The Usual
He meets Allison the first time he meets the Director. Long before Epsilon is implanted. When he's still David, a soldier pulled from the front lines to join Project Freelancer.
Seeing someone who is dead is nothing out of the ordinary for David. They have always been there, for as long as he can remember.
Allison is different though. Sometimes she follows her husband whispering soft pleas, sometimes she yells at him, berating him, and sometimes she is with Carolina, staring at her with an unreadable look in her eyes.
Sometimes she talks to Washington; David no longer exists in any Database.
She talks about her husband, how his brilliant mind slowly turned against him; how he would not give up false hope. And for the longest time Washington does not understand what she means, nor does she explain.
When Agent Texas shows up, Allison follows her around for a while, then returns to the Director's side yelling at him; pleading with him to stop. But the Director cannot hear her, nor is Washington going to talk to him and relay the words of his dead wife.
With Agent Texas showing up everything slowly falls apart.
Connie strays away from the Project, and in hindsight, Washington should have seen it coming. He listens to the ghosts on board of the Mother of Invention talk. Whispering about the Alpha; pleading with Crew members to just leave, pleading with him to talk to their loved ones; but mostly warnings of dangers still to come.
He knows he should have listened, but what choice does he have? No one ever left Project Freelancer alive, and it's better this way. This way he won't wake up at the front lines with the ghosts of his comrades standing over him.
When Connie dies, she doesn't show back up at the Mother of Invention. Nothing to hold her there. And Washington wonders what happened to her, if she passed on or is following someone around, whispering warnings in their ear.
Then there is Epsilon, and for a while the ghosts leave, having been replaced with another ghost of a different sort.
It does not take long for Epsilon to tear through his brain and leave nothing but ruins in his wake.
For a while everything is quiet.
They removed Epsilon, they tell him. There was a crash, they tell him. His teammates defected, they tell him. They left him behind.
There are no ghosts for a little while, none that concern him.
And then one day York shows up.
For a moment he falters, staring at his former teammate.
He should have known, after all he had destroyed York's body. He'ss surprised that York had chosen him of all people to come back to.
"What happened?" York asks, looking around. "Wyoming attacked me and then everything went black. Am I back at the Mother of Invention? Did they capture me?"
"You died." Washington says. New ghosts rarely know what was going on and often refuse to believe their death.
"Yeah, no way. I'm obviously right here. Talking to you." York says, waving his hand. "So what's going to happen next? Are they going to interrogate me?"
"No, they won't." Washington replies. Some selfish part of him is glad that York is back, even if he's just a ghost; even if he left Washington behind in the first place. "You're dead."
"Wash, that joke wasn't funny the first time around." York is about to launch into what appears to be a tirade of some sort when the door opens and Washington's handler walks in. Right through York.
"No... that can't be right... I'm not..."
The lights start to flickering, and Washington's handler looks at him. He shrugs and blames faulty lighting or whatever.
"Where you talking to yourself just now?" his handler asks. "Do you need to see medical?"
"Oh yes, of course. I was talking to the ghost of Agent York. Explaining to him that he's dead." Washington replies with a completely flat voice. "You know, the usual. Someone might want to check that out."
"Agent Washington, your sarcasm is not appreciated." His handler shoves a datapad at him. "This came just in. It appears that Agent North Dakota's and Agent South Dakota's beacons have just been activated."
So Washington leaves. Leaves York behind in the room, leaves him shaking his head and refusing to believe his own death.
When he arrives North is standing over his sister, trying to shake her awake, but his hand keeps passing through her. He looks up when he sees Washington approaching, but then turns his attention immediately back to South.
"C'mon, kiddo. Get up." he begs, and tried to wake her again.
"She can't hear you." Washington explained. "Or see you."
"But you can." North notes, and Washington nods.
"I'm dead." North states in a matter of fact tone. "She left me to the Meta."
Washington pauses for a moment, considering his options. It would be easy to leave South behind, or even kill her. She had, after all, gotten her brother killed. But North doesn't look like he's bearing any grudges.
He wakes South. He lets her say goodbye to her brother and decided to hunt the Meta.
Everything goes wrong.
South turns on him. Shoots him in the back and leaves him for dead.
The whole time North stays with him. Alternatively pleading with him to hang on, apologizing for South, and comforting him. Sometimes he tries to put pressure on the wound only to phase right through him. Wash flickers in and out of consciousness.
York and North are sitting next to his bed when he wakes up. And just for a split moment he forgets that they are dead and reaches out for them. A nurse comes in, stating that he probably sustained head trauma somehow when he asks why they are allowed to join him in recovery, and puts him under again.
The next time he wakes up North and York are still beside him, but he makes no move to reach out or talk to them.
"I'm so sorry, Wash. I should have known. I should have stopped her." North says.
"There's nothing you could have done." York says bitterly. "We're dead."
Washington turns towards the wall and closes his eyes.
He could have left her alive. Could have taken the risk, but he doesn't.
North watches as he burns his sister's body and then blows her up.
"You son of a bitch!"
South comes charging at Washington, phasing right through him.
"Can't say I blame him." York remarks. "I would have done the same."
South and North disappear for a while. He doesn't really know where they went, nor does he care. York still keeps him company.
"It wouldn't kill you to lighten up a bit." he says, poking his finger through Washington's chest. A very annoying habit that he had developed after figuring out that he could do that. "You still got me."
Washington pays him no mind. He has plans. Epsilon left him with everything he needed to know. How to take down Project Freelancer. If he's going to die in the process, so be it. At least there'd be no more ghosts, and maybe some peace and quiet for once.
He winds up in prison. York stays with him. At some point North and South show up.
"This place gives me the creeps." South says, after she meets another ghost of a serial killer. "Couldn't they at least kill you? Maybe then we could finally pass on."
"South... seriously?"
"What? Can you blame me?" she asks. She turns in a circle. "Take a good look. We're stuck here with him. Not like there's anywhere for us to go."
"Just shut up." Washington says tiredly. "I'm trying to sleep."
"Oh no. No, you don't." South says, and starts rattling his bunk.
North and York never figured out how to touch something, but South is much closer to a Poltergeist than either of them, so it comes as no surprise that it takes her less then a month to get it right.
She mainly uses her abilities to keep Washington awake, destroy his belongings, and generally do everything in her power to make his life as stressful as possible.
He is released, and given a chance to redeem himself.
He does things he is not proud of.
He teams up with the Meta, kills a sim soldier and tries to capture Epsilon.
Everything goes wrong. Nothing out of the usual.
The sim soldiers save his life.
Caboose has taken a shine to him. South thinks it's hilarious. Caboose means well, but whatever he does usually ends in flames or explosions. South is more than willing to help the flames along.
Tucker is less welcoming than Caboose. He doesn't want Washington on his team, doesn't care about him. And it takes them a while to get along. Their relationship is not the best, but it's steadily improving.
York and North spend a lot of time spying on the red team and reporting back to Washington.
Washington settles down, gets used to a quiet life. He is the leader of blue team. No more Project Freelancer.
Then a ghost of a different kind shows up.
Carolina.