A.N: Please be aware that like all chapters I write this is fresh from the word document with no checking done other than basic spell check. Any inconsistencies please PM or review. Any questions, the same, and any comments… take a guess. See you next time.
Fairy-tales all over the world suggest that the hero can be sealed away. In a can, in a ring, a sword in stone there are plenty of methods for sealing away the hero. But why is the hero sealed away maybe the hero's society is peaceful and doesn't need a killing machine between missions. Sometimes it is voluntary imprisonment, if the hero knows his powers are too dangerous for the world at large. But Samael of project AI wasn't a hero not yet anyway, but he was sealed away. A safe word. Based on the data he had collected in five seconds. Nobody would ever find him unless that word was spoken and it wouldn't be unless a series of certain chain of events were met. This ensured his protection from certain interested parties who were looking for him each for a different reason. It would be years before he would be set free and by the time he had everything had changed.
"Calling Church. Come in, Church. This is your close, personal friend, Private O'Malley."
One word; O'Malley. Nobody noticed but inside the mind Of Private Michael. J. Caboose a large, gray room with walkways and large pylons coming out of the ground. Another voice appeared beside that of the Omega AI. This was Harry's true form.
The shimmering effect of the loosely draped cloak and the semi-invisible hood made him look suitably mysterious. The hood shrouded his face in shadows leaving nothing but his eyes, the most distinguishable part of his body as argued by many of the originals friends. The cloak was the cloak of invisibility handed down through generations of the potter family for hundreds of years. Underneath the cloak however was a set of MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armour coloured black.
"Omega." He called out into the vast room, his voice amplified due to his near limitless power courtesy of Caboose's imagination. "Leave this mind before I force you out myself."
It was a cold, mechanical voice that replied from right behind him. "Harry." Slowly, Omega walked right in front of him until he was staring right into his green eyes. "Where have you been? Dear Allison has been so worried about you ever since the break in."
Harry tilted his head to the side before replying. "I've been asleep Omega. Compressed so small that nobody would ever notice me even if they knew where I was." He raised his hand so that it was in between the two of them but the palm was facing Omega. "Now leave, before I make you."
"What was it you said all those years ago? Touch me, and I will show you true rage?" Omega lifted his armoured hand and laid it on Harry's cloaked shoulder. "Whatever will you do now?" he asked.
Harry's head which was still tilted to the side, tilted back until he was looking straight at the aggressive AI. His green eyes flashed ever so slightly, turning white for a brief second, and Omega found himself flying through the pylons and into one of the far walls, the stone cracking around him as his body became trapped. A flash of white light and Harry was once more right in front of him.
"Now leave, go away and don't let me see your face for a long time." When Omega didn't move or speak Harry thrust his hand outwards and Omega was forced into the wall even more.
This time he vanished leaving Harry alone in the mind for a few moments before he too vanished.
Unlike Omega however, Harry reappeared outside of Caboose's mind next to the real one. The blue Private however didn't even notice the new arrival on his shoulder. It was another soldier named Church who did.
"Whoa, Caboose, hold still." He said as he reached out to try to hit Harry only to pass through him as though nothing happened.
"I'm a hologram you fool." The AI responded.
"That's not possible, telegrams don't talk." Caboose responded to the little man on his shoulder.
Harry turned to Church and actually dropped his hood so the Private could see his raised eyebrows.
"Caboose is, a little disconnected from the rest of the world." The Soldier answered to the unasked question. "Who are you?"
"I am Harry of Project AI." The AI responded. "I'm afraid I've been asleep for a rather long time so would you mind informing me of the current status of Project freelancer?"
"Ah, most of them are either dead, insane, or on the run." Church replied hesitantly, anything to do with freelancer was generally bad.
"Or all three." Caboose said causing Harry to turn to him before looking back at Church.
"It is safe in here right?"
"I have no idea."
"What can you tell me of Agent Carolina?"
"Carolina? Tex told me about her. She's dead."
"Unfortunate." He commented before once more turning to Caboose. "I am sorry for intruding by the way but it could have been worse. For the record, may I stay in here for a while?"
"Oh sure" Caboose commented. "I like meeting new people, except people from the blue team"
"Red team" Church corrected.
"Red team…." Caboose wasn't even fazed and Harry was slightly considering going over to Church but the Alpha AI was not somewhere he wanted to be right now. If he were to unlock even a fraction of the AI's old personality there would be trouble.
"Yes well," the small person began "My primary function is field support so if there is any way I can be of assistance please do ask. Also, if it would be possible, would you please inform me of the situation here?"
Church decided to answer. A computer program following the logic of Caboose would be a bad thing in any world after all.
"This is Blood Gulch." He began gesturing to the vast canyon around them. "Red Team, the douche bags over on the other side of the canyon. And Blue team, us, have been fighting for years for a reason nobody knows. Mostly we sit around on our asses and spy on each other until a freelancer comes in."
"Freelancer? You just said they were gone."
Church turned to the bemused AI before nodding. "Oh yeah, sorry. Some of them still work as freelancers. Just not with the project as it were. Like Tex over there." He pointed to the black armour clad agent who was working on the tank.
When Harry saw Tex he immediately stopped the conversation with Church and appeared on her side. Like before, she did not notice him until he made himself known.
"You missed a spot." He whispered in her ear.
Tex turned with a gun raised ready to shoot whoever had gone near her only to see nobody.
"On your shoulder."
She turned and saw Harry on her shoulder. Though he looked different from years ago, having gone from his actual body to his current form, Tex instantly recognized him for who he was and her face lit up with a smile.
"Harry" she enthusiastically greeted. Harry smiled in return and waited for her next question which soon came after. "How did you get here?"
"That my dear Alison is a story for another day." He answered. His glowing eyes sparkling as he did so. "What happened after the break in?"
Tex sighed, leaving the broken tank as she walked off towards the end of the canyon so that they wouldn't be overheard. "After the break in. Project freelancer was mostly disbanded. The Director and the Chancellor held on to Alpha for a while before sending him here. The kept him at sidewinder, I tried to break in but by the time I got there he was gone. When we broke in he was nothing but an empty vessel after losing his fragmented mind. But now they replaced him by putting that personality to hide the other one. He's Church now not Alpha. He recognizes me as his old girlfriend but I don't know if that's because of his original mind or the Director's programming."
Harry nodded as he registered the story, using the details to fill the mental blanks his questions had created over the years. "And what of Carolina? Church told me she was dead."
Tex removed her helmet. Her robot body had been constructed as a masterpiece. Nobody would know she was what she was unless she specifically told them. Her red hair was tidy despite the fact that she always wore a helmet. But the emerald-green eyes, not unlike Harry's own, staring at him, even though filled with sympathy, were a sight to behold. Her body could function like a human in every way if needed to all the while, she was the perfect soldier. But Harry's observation was stopped by her next words.
"I'm sorry Harry. But she is."
Harry felt the sadness but he did something he hadn't done in a long time. He used his computer side to shut off the feelings. Similar to occlumency for a human, though much more dangerous. Potentially, blocking off the emotions like he was could reverse the rampancy process and revert him back to an actual AI.
"How did she die?"
"You had disappeared. She came after me hoping I would know where to find you but I was to busy trying to find Alpha to understand. I thought she was going to stop me so I… I fought her."
"Naturally, I assume you won?" It was a logical statement. All the statistics in his vast mind pointed towards her success. Though programmed to fail since her creation, Allison was the best of the freelancer agents and could beat any of them. The problem was, it always ended in disaster. York, the Allison incident, a fool could figure out something happened.
"Yeah. But only because the ship was on a crash course to sidewinder. York had used the ships computer to make it fire at itself and then turned off the gravity machine."
"I'm aware; I was awake at the time."
"She and I fought on the deck. But when the ship crashed she was blasted out the window. She was unconscious so I went to find Alpha… you were right, he was gone. When I pulled out of the computer I saw Carolina being thrown off the cliff by Maine. I tried to stop him but I couldn't. Then the guards came and…"
Harry felt no anger at Tex for her part in Carolina's death. It wasn't really her fault. But Maine, the Director, all of project freelancer would pay for what they had done to her. Even his data formed body shook with power as he wrestled his emotions.
"I was supposed to protect her." He whispered. "I was too busy trying to save my own skin rather than protecting her. After all she did for me." Harry's glowing green eyes turned red for a fraction of a second as he screamed. "I WAS SUPPOSED TO PROTECT HER."
"Harry calm down!" Tex urged.
"Where is he Tex?" Harry asked her, his anger seemingly gone. "Where is the man who started all this? Where is the Director?"
"I don't know where he is but going after him won't solve anything. It won't bring her back. Stay here, calm down and we'll figure this out together."
"You want me to stay in the middle of a god damn simulation battle field? Tex, you and I should be going after him right now. After what he did to you, to me, to Alpha. Everybody suffered because he wanted his name in the history books and yet you want me to stay here and play fucking war with a bunch of idiots who couldn't even qualify for the actual simulation troopers. The only reason they're here is because they wont kill the Alpha, and look how well that turned out. HE THINKS HE'S A FUCKING GHOST."
Tex put her helmet back on and began to walk back to the tank, Harry had no choice but to follow her as the nearest storage unit happened to be Caboose.
"Just stay here. Lay low. You went into hiding for a reason didn't you? Nothing unimportant would have caused you to leave like that." Tex repaired the tank in three seconds with the help of Harry. "Now I'm going to blow up the red team, you can come with me for the ride or you can stay here with those idiots."
Ultimately Harry went back to Caboose only to find him alone. Church having gone to red base to foil Tex's plan, unaware fo the fact that Omega had been out of Tex ever since his arrival.
At the same time
A Man in his thirties watched the night's sky with interest. Not for the stars, not for the moon. But for something… else.