"I wasn't the one who went crazy... My AI... Malfunctioned..."
I opened my eyes, awakening from my nap, the roaring of the engine had stopped. I assumed we had reached our destination. I got up from where I was lying, darkness still surrounded me. I let out a sigh. I needed to find a way out of this unit and learn more about who I was. That guy Wash was a good person to start questioning, he seemed to know a lot about me. I perked up when I heard a door open.
"Just stick in there for a little bit, Church, I'll be back for you later." I instantly recognized the voice as Caboose, the one who 'saved' me and brought me along.
Caboose was weird, I could tell his intelligence was at a low level yet he seemed to have this mastermind idea of releasing me so I could be his best friend... I don't know what his problem was, for some reason he kept insisting I was Church, who ever that was. The name seemed familiar but I knew for a fact I was NOT him. I was an AI, not a person, and I had just woken up, I didn't remember anything. I let out a groan and looked around me, I was going to find a way out of here. I had to.
************************************************** ************
Washington looked around him, they were making camp at Vallhalla. Though it was a good place to stay, with two bases and the supplies they needed, he knew they couldn't stay here, it was too obvious, the UNSC soldiers would find them. When it was day time they would move on and look for some where to make a 'home.' The freelancer looked over his shoulder and saw Caboose checking out something in the trunk of the car.
"What are you doing?" Washington asked stepping towards the blue spartan, Caboose instantly shut the trunk and turned to Washington.
"Nothing!" The blue spartan said, Washington raised a brow suspiciously, he walked over to Caboose and turned to the trunk. He placed his hand on the handle about to open it but was cut off when the reds came over.
"Please tell me we're stopping for the night." Grif said as they walked up to the Freelancer and blue spartan.
"Yes, we'll leave in the morning." Washington said with a sigh, he didn't notice when Sarge walked over to Caboose, who still stood near the trunk of the warthog.
"Is he in there?" Sarge asked, Caboose nodded and stared at the trunk intently.
"I have to find a way to get him out." The blue spartan said, Sarge made a small grunt.
"Well... I can help you, just you'll owe me later." The red spartan said, Caboose smiled.
"I would really like that Mr. Sarge Sir." The blue spartan said, Sarge stiffled a small chuckle, he looked over to Washington, who was arguing with Grif about how long they were going to stay at Vallhalla, for a moment before returning his gaze back to Caboose.
"We'll have to do this after Wash falls asleep though. He wouldn't be too happy if he found out what we were doing." Sarge said, Caboose nodded in response, excitement filled him. He was going to get his best friend back.
"We are leaving in the morning and that's final!" Washington said loudly, he was annoyed with Grif. The freelancer turned to Sarge.
"You and your team take red base, Caboose and I will take blue base... I can't deal with Grif's constant complaining." Washignton said before walking to the base, Caboose shared a glance with Sarge before going off to follow Washington.
Washington slid down against the wall of the base, he was exhausted. Caboose came in and sat in front of him, rather quiet. Washington felt a pang of guilt, knowing that the blue spartan probably was upset with Church being gone... They had known eachother for years, it's not a friendship you can forget, even if you are Caboose. Washington was about to open his mouth to ask if Caboose was okay but was cut off when the blue spartan spoke up.
"Why do you not like Epsilon?" Caboose asked, Washington was caught off guard by this but quickly regained his composure.
"Let's just say, Epsilon and I ... Have a past... " The Freelancer replied.
"But he was the last AI right? Why jsut leave him?" Caboose asked. Washington's eyes narrowed, a little suspicious to why the questions were being brought up, he quickly shook off the feelign. Caboose was just being his curious self, he probably didn't understand this.
"Epsilon... Is different from the other AIs... You know how Delta was the logic and Omega was the anger... Well Epsilon was the memories and the memories weren't too great... This made him unstable, and since he was a combination of all the other AIs he was very powerful... One of the strongest and most dangerous... The only reason I was going to hand him in as evidence was because I thought he was offline... But I thikn the EMP woke him up, and I couldn't take the risk of letting ihm loose, not when he can snap at any moment." Washington said, Caboose nodded but looked like he didn't take any of that in. The freelancer sighed and lied down, he was too exhausted to continue this conversation.
"Night." Washington murmered.
"Wait-" Caboose started but the freelancer cut him off.
"Goodnight Caboose." Washington said sternly and with that he let sleep was over him.
Caboose sighed, he wanted to ask more about Epsilon but Washington fell asleep. He quickly perked up realizing now was his chance to get Epsilon out of the memory unit. Caboose quietly got up and sneaked out of the base, he went to the warthog and grabbed Epsilon who was now glowing white. The blue spartan crossed the canyon and went over to Red base, he found Sarge outside dozing off with his shotgun in hand.
"Seargent!" Caboose said, he placed Epsilon down and shook the Red leader.
"Huh? What?" Sarge said sitting up, Caboose grabbed Epsilon and held him up.
"Oh yeah... Okay follow me, I set some stuff out back that may help us." Sarge said getting up from where he was sitting and leading Caboose around the base where there was a pile of different materials and equipment.
"Don't worry Church, We'll get you out of here." Cabosoe whispered before getting to work.
Washington woke up when he heard a loud bang, he quickly got to his feet. 'No... that can't be the UNSC souldiers, we were only here for a couple hours...' The freelancer told himself, he felt a pang of panic as he ran outside. Washington squinted when the sunlight met his face, he had forgotten to put on his helmet.
"I thought Ais were holograms and couldn't touch stuff!" Washington heard Cabosoe exclaim, the freelancer started to head around the base but was frozen in his tracks when he heard another voice speak up.
"We are mostly holograms... But we can actually take a solid form and interact with things like you do if we focus real hard."
Washington felt like he couldn't move... There was no way that could be... He had told Caboose to leave him... Yet there was that oh-so-familiar voice of his old AI. Another lud bang shot Washington out of his thoughts.
"Keep it down Epsilon, you're goign to wake the others!" Caboose said, barely audible enough for Washington to hear. The Freelancers intial anxiety turned to anger and he slowly started heading towards the two.
"So, I don't care if I-" Epsilon was cut out off when a bullet went through him, his cobalt hologram glitched for a moment before turning back to normal and he dropped the metallic box he had been messing around with on the ground letting out another loud bang. Both him and Caboose looked over to where the bullet came from to see Washington standing there with his gun pointed at the AI.
"What is HE doing here?!" The Freelancer asked through gritted teeth, Caboose backed up a little.
"I-I... Uh well... Sarge and I got him out of the memory unit..." The blue spartan said staring at his feet.
"I told you to leave him back at the freelancer head quarters!" Washington spat angrily.
"Epsilon is all we have left of Church!" Caboose said defensively.
"Yeah but he's also insane!" The freelancer rebutted. Epsilon frowned at this.
"I don't even know who you are! How do you know so much about me?!" Epsilon asked stepping forwards, Washington lowered his gun.
"You... Don't remember me?" He asked, Epsilon shook his head. Washington sighed, he didn't know whether he should tell Epsilon or not, if he did it would no doubt bring along memories. The freelancer walked over to Epsilon until they were feet apart, he pushed Caboose behind him just in case the AI snapped. This may be a good way to estimate how stable he is.
"My name is Agen Washington... You were MY AI." Washington said, Epsilon's eyes widened and he took a coupl steps back.
"W-Washington..." His hologram went red and glitched, at first his expression was angry then it went to pain and he grabbed his head. Washington now knew he was getting a memory.
"Epsilon!" Caboose exclaimed, he went to go over to the AI's side but Washington stopped him.
"Stay back." The Freelancer said, Caboose sent him a small glare.
"He's in pian, we need to help him." Washington sighed, he didn't want to have anything to do with this AI, but he didn't want to loose Caboose's respect... And he was right, watching Epsilon hurt like this pained him. It made Washington feel guilty since Epsilon was supposed to be his AI. The freelancer went over to Epsilon's side and placed a hand on his back, the AI was still in his solid human like form.
"Calm down Epsilon... It's okay, those days are over and it's in the past." The AI looked up at him, his breathing starteed evening out, the memory was gone but he still seemed in pain.
"I... I remember you..." Epsilon said, his hologram glitching again. Washington heard the hurt in his voice, the freelancer knew for a fact the AI remembered their brief time together when Epsilon was his AI and what he went through. Washington sighed and sat up, most of his anger had evaporated but he still was afraid of Epsilon going crazy again. The freelancer fished something out of his pocket and looked down at it, there was only one way to keep watch over Epsilon and keep him stable... The AI needed to be put somewhere, he couldn't just roam around without a storage unit, he wouldn't work properly... He'd slowly be destroyed. Washington took a deep breath before extending his hand out.
"W-What's this?" Epsilon asked quietly looking at the small device in Washington's hand. Caboose peered over to get a better look at it.
"I need you to touch it... Let's just say, it's your home." Washington said. Epsilon slowly extended his hand out, at first unsure whether to trust Washington but soon did as told. He was sucked into the device and moments after appeared out of it in his smaller, normal holographic AI form, no longer glitching.
"This is my old AI chip... " Epsilon said quietly in disbelief, Washington nodded, he went to put the chip in his AI slot but was stopped.
"Wait!" Washington put his hand down and looked at Epsilon.
"What are you doing? I thought you didn't want me." The AI ssaid, Washington sighed. Epsilon no doubt remembered what happened between them.
"You need help, Epsilon... I know the memories will try to come back and well, since you are my AI, I'm responsible for you... This time I'm not abandoning you." Washington said. Before Epsilon could object he placed the AI to his AI slot, he needed to do it before he changed his mind. Washington coul feel the AI in his mind, he could feel his feelings and thoughts. Epsilon appeared in front of him, still in his smaller AI form, a shocked expression on his face. Washington gave him a small smile, he needed to make the AI feel safe and happy, even if he wasn't entirely comfortable with Epsilon being his AI anymore.
"Welcome back."