Authors Note: This Chapter was originaly posted as 'Third' but that was a mistake! I moved it up to 4 now.

Fourth

When she picked him up this time, he was no one. He had been Recovery one before and he was going to be prisoner 619-B.

She landed her Pelican on a field, not far from project Freelancers headquarters. There were many destroyed vehicles and dead bodies. Nothing she was not used to.

She hopped out of her cockpit, walking towards the group of people as if she wasn't in the middle of what was a warzone only hours ago.

She did recognize Maine, the Meta. It was still the same set of armor laying on the stretcher. His helmet was off and his face didn't seem to fit with the rest of the body. It was grey and shrunken. He didn't really look human anymore. But quite obviously, he was alive even though knocked out, tied up and probably drugged up to no end.

"Ah, 479er", one of the commander came over to her. He wanted to say something but she already shushed him by holding up a hand. "Okay, so you are telling me I'm gonna have this monstrosity on my ship until we reach command?" she questioned, pointing over at what once was Maine.

The commander stood square and upright as if he felt like he needed to make an impression towards her. "Indeed, pilot" he said firmly. "But our team has everything under control. This monster won't get up anytime soon." He sounded so sure of himself that 479er couldn't help but snort. "Sure, that's why you couldn't stop one guy from taking down the whole facility on his own" she pointed out mockingly.

Even with the visor she saw him gasp in indignation. "Tell you what, you better keep that guy under control. Something breaks in there – you and I have a problem." 479er smirked in stratification when the man continued to gape at her.

"I said move it!"

Somewhere behind them she hear someone shout orders. She turned to look, curious. The yellow of his accents caught her attention right away. He was smeared with blood once again, his helmet off and hands cuffed behind his back. His balance was completely off, she could tell by the way he swayed and how uncoordinated his steps seemed. One of the guards shoved him, causing him to stumble. It was clumsy and he still fell on his knees but somehow managed to keep himself from falling right on his face.

She knew Washington had been the one to blow up all the information, all the data project Freelancer had. It wasn't like she thought of this about as heroic as he maybe thought his action was. She wasn't upset about it either. But 479er had to admit that it was pretty impressive. Shutting everything down almost on his own and after waiting so long for a chance to do so.

The commander said something to her but she ignored him and walked over to the two soldiers bringing Washington away. One of them yanked him up on his feet roughly before shoving him again ahead. To them he was an enemy, like the Meta.

479er watched him stumble ahead but somehow he stood, taking with slow and unsteady steps.

"Well, congratulations", she announced loudly as she approached the three men. The two UNSC soldiers looked at her. One straightened up, silent and obedient while she could almost see the other grin, pleased by the compliment he thought was aimed at him. He didn't seem very smart. Washington only titled his head, not quite looking at her from the corners of his eyes. She saw blood running down his arm, coming from an obvious and unthreatened shoulder wound. Clearly these people didn't care if he lived or died. They might as well be hoping for the later one.

"You blew up singlehandedly what was left of project Freelancer and given Maines condition you are probably everything that is left", she said, crossing her arms. He didn't look away from her but only blinked tiredly. The two soldier exchanged glances. Maybe they tried to figure out their relationship. Whatever they came up with it probably was wrong. This time Washington didn't look like he was in pain, despite the wound. He looked confused maybe but mostly just exhausted and tired.

"Does it feel the way you expected it to do?"

The guards looked at her now, one of them stepping between her and Wash. "Hold on, what do you have to do with him, pilot?"

She ignored he man, not caring what he was thinking. Washington didn't care either. From how endlessly tired he looked he was unlikely to care about anything anymore.

"I never expected to survive" he said in a matter of fact, voice weak and loaded with exhaustion.

479er didn't find herself surprised at all.

"So nothing would be left? Then you did a bad job", she told him. Because it was the truth. He swayed again and one of the more silent soldiers gripped his upper arm to hold him upright. They both look at her and Washington as if they expect something spectacular.

Unlikely, boys. "If you still want to die then at least wait until I dropped you off again. I don't want corpses on my ship."

Washington looked at her, having trouble to focus. It was like you could watch his consciousness slowly fading away. He didn't reply. At least not really. 479er saw him mouthing words but no sound came over his lips. She had no idea what he said and in fact, she rather didn't know.

"Hey you" she said instead, turning to face one of the soldiers. "You better do something about the bleeding. If he makes a mess on my ship, you gonna scrub it with a toothbrush until everything sparks again, got that?" When she turned to leave and go ahead to the cockpit, she felt the two soldiers gape at her.

She also felt Washs gaze on her back. But he didn't expect anything from her.

He wasn't that stupid.

When they reached their destination, Washington was unconscious and was brought away. While 479er made sure the other guy cleaned her ship from every single drop of blood, she mused about what would happen to him now. As bitter as it sounded, she actually figured he should die. It probably would be for the best. He had nowhere left to go and for him there was only prison or execution waiting.

A year passed and Washington was becoming just one of many in the back of her mind. 479er worked for the UNSC now. A lot changed but she was still the same. Just a pilot wanting to do her job and have some quiet after it.

But for whom she was she was chosen for a very certain job.

And so she met two men who both had a tendency to always get back up again.