And hurray for chapter two! This one is a bit longer than the last. I hope you like this exciting installment, I'm really looking forward to your reactions! Also, a genre that is slightly added in this chapter is horror. Enjoy.

O'malley trudged through the forest, shoving branches out of his way and hopping over logs as he did so. His breathing was heavy set and he felt like his-Doc's-lungs were going to burst. He stopped walking and puts his hands on his knees, taking in deep breaths as he rested. He leaned up against a tree and closed his eyes, paying close attention to his breathing as he forced it to slow down. He tensed up as he head the sound that he remembered, and one that he could feel that Doc remembered as well. He opened his eyes and looked straight forward to find a large knife being aimed at him.

"Hello agent Maine," O'malley said coldly, looking up at the large Freelancer. Hearing O'malley's voice Maine lowered the knife, staring at him most likely. O'malley chuckled and patted his shoulder, walking passed him as he did so. Maine watched him as he tapped a branch, making the snow on it fall to the ground. "No need to be so surprised, I am quite alive. And acquired my favorite host." O'malley froze in his movements and made a funny face. "No, you are not. Shut up, Defresne." Maine tilted his head slightly. "He's an idiot." Maine nodded and growled something. O'malley laughed. "So, will you be joining me?" Maine nodded and put his bruteshot on his back. They two then walked away through the snow.

...

"Great, peachy! Now what? Doc's gone, and O'malley's on the loose!" Grif screamed, leaning up against the wall with an angry huff. He folded his arms over his chest and was most likely glaring at the wall across from him from behind his visor. Simmons put a hand on his shoulder and the other soldier let out a deep breath. "Now what?" Grif turned to Carolina and Wash, who stood next to each other in thought.

"I don't know. We need to catch O'malley, but finding the others is also important," Carolina said thoughtfully. She hissed at the logic that betrayed her. "We can't go in two groups either, because Wash knows how to get into the main control room of the base, but I know how to get there. And I don't exactly trust you guys going by yourselves. No offense." All their hands went up.

"None taken lady, we would get ourselves killed anyway," Tucker agreed with her. Carolina nodded and sighed, pacing as she thought about this. Everyone watched as she did so, all knowing that Wash was worried about this. Donut shifted in place and whispered something to Caboose, who put a hand on his shoulder and said something back. Donut nodded and took a deep breath. "So, any ideas?" Carolina glared at him and was about to scream something, but was interrupted.

"You could send me with them," came a voice from down the hall. Carolina and Wash's heads turned slowly towards the owner of the voice. The sim. troopers looked as well and Tucker gasped as he saw his old Sergeant entered the room. But he looked different. He wore ODST armor and a stream of bullets twisting around his chest. Carolina and Wash shared a look before turning back to him.

"Florida? But I thought you died," Carolina said as she walked up to him, tapping his visor. He chuckled and poked her as well, waving to Wash and turning to the others. He jumped in surprise as he saw they all had their guns aimed at him. He glanced over at Carolina. "Don't worry about it, it's normal. Guys, put 'em down." When they didn't lower their guns Carolina hissed. "I said lower your weapons!" They still didn't, but after a moment Tucker did and walked over to the new Freelancer.

"You were a Freelancer?" he said angrily, but before he could respond he spoke first with anger. "Let me guess, the Director sent you to keep an eye on the Alpha AI, right? You never cared about us as a team, you only cared about your mission. You're one of them! A hardened, asshole Freelancer! The only one of you that has proved their worth to me is Wash, because he stood up for us, he protected us! But you, and her?" He pointed to Carolina. "You two are still asshole Freelancers to me. But you? You're worse! At least Carolina told us the truth, at least she cared a about us, if only a smidgen. You? You never gave a damn! You're just an asshole Freelancer. You lied to us! You bastard!" Tucker threw his gun to the ground, hitting his former leader's feet before he stormed off.

"Tucker!" Caboose called, putting away his gun as he ran after him. Carolina looked over at the ODST armored Freelancer as he stared down at Tucker's gun without saying or doing anything. Grif and Simmons walked passed him to where they had seen Tucker and Caboose run off too, Grif making a point to rub shoulders with him. Sarge and Donut followed them after a moment of thought, leaving the three Freelancers in the room alone together. Well, with the exception of Church of course. In fact, Church appeared on Carolina's shoulder once they were all gone.

"I'm going to assume that the Alpha knew you, I don't know you, but I'll assume he did," Church said. No one said anything, and Church look at Carolina as she shook her head. Church merely nodded and disappeared as Florida leaned up against the wall and slid down, never taking his eyes off of Tucker's gun. Carolina picked up the gun and glanced passed it at the blue Freelancer, who still didn't take his eyes off of it.

"Don't hold it to close to heart. They've had bad encounters with ninety-nine percent of Freelancers. The one percent being Wash and I, and now you I guess. Don't worry, they'll warm up to you," Carolina tried to assure him, but he did not look calmed by her words. She sighed. "You did care about them, didn't you?" He nodded slowly and Wash chuckled, getting both to look at him. Wash sat down next to Florida and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"I hear that. I'm their leader now, and boy are they a hoot! I tell ya, not a day goes by when I have to hold a laugh in!" Wash said, sounding happy for the first time in a long time. Florida laughed and nodded in agreement. "Tucker can be gross sometimes, but not too bad." Carolina smiled at the sight as they two talked about the teams, laughing at some of the stories they shared.

...

O'malley sat down on a log and took in a deep breath of fresh air as Maine stood beside him. Maine growled at the place they had arrived, all covered in snow with a base in the distance. O'malley chuckled and walked into the base with ease, Maine followed tensely behind at the memory of what happened here. This is where they had tried to murder him, those stupid sim. troopers and agent Washington. Curse them! O'malley chuckled at his reaction.

"Relax my friend, only here for a moment," he assured his partner as they walked into the base farther, going into the computer room in silence. Maine huffed and followed right behind, gasping and taking a step back as a bright light entered the room, though soon the light was sucked out and all was dark except for one little AI hologram sitting upon a counsel. The little shadow looking hologram looked slowly up at O'malley. "Hello, brother."

"O'malley," came the dark, evil voice. "It's been awhile, hasn't it brother?" O'malley nodded and knelt down, giving the AI a smile while Maine backed up. The hologram stood up and smirked with his arms crossed. "I see that you kept your promise. I am glad you did, I might have come after you otherwise." At this point Maine had turned and fled, running as fast as he could. "Which one?" O'malley stood and pointed to the door Maine had used as an exit. The AI got an evil smirk, white teeth showing as the hologram turning into a shadow-like dust and bolted towards Maine. At this point Doc sensed what O'malley was having him do.

"No!" his voice broke out, his hand reaching out towards the door. "Maine, no!" But it was too late. Maine let out a loud shriek and fell to the ground as a dark cloud surrounded him and an evil laugh sounded as he was devoured from the inside-out. His mind went first, only a bit being left so that he felt the pain as one of his lungs went, then a kidney, then other parts, but was still left alive. The shrieks came to an abrupt halt as the last of his mind was gone, then his heart and everything else, leaving only skin and bone.

O'malley shuddered and walked out into the coldness of the outside. There laid Maine, or what was left of him with that evil AI's hologram hovering above him. Doc hid in the back of his mind, his mental image shaking with fear as O'malley came closer to the AI. The AI turned to face him and watched as he knelt down on one knee before him. The AI gave that evil smirk again and cackled as he glanced down at what remained of the large Freelancer. He turned to O'malley as he cleared his throat.

"It is good to see you again, Omicron," he said, trying to hide his nervousness. Omicron let out an evil laugh and entered O'malley, his image standing before Doc. The man screamed at the sight of him and the evil AI simply laughed in amusement. O'malley shuddered, grabbed Maine's bruteshot, and ran off as fast as he could. He could hear Doc screams just barely in the back of his head as Omicron tortured the poor man in any and every way he could. O'malley winced as he felt a pang in the back of his head, and silently prayed, so that Omicron could not hear, that he had not erased the human's mind away.

And that's a wrap. Like it? I hope so. Oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Thanks for reading, please review, and have a bow chicka bow wow day!
Perla: And may it be the best one ever, of all time!

Hey guys, Perla here! I just wanted to thank for the letters of insperation for those of you that wrote them. And I wanted to wish you all a happy new year. Hope that life is good for you all!
~Perla