So I continue to just be really floored by everyone for being so patient and so kind with me in this story. I really appreciate it, especially considering the subject matter is much sadder than my usual take in fic for RvB, so thank you all very much.
Thanks for the feedback to meirelle, Beawolfs_Pen, Yin, and hiding-in-the-dreamscape on AO3 and tumblr!
Caboose Alone
Chapter Seven: New Old Friends
She wasn't entirely sure what to expect other than Wash was probably going to be pissed if - when - he found out what they were doing.
Carolina had gotten Caboose to agree to at least wait until he was released from the hospital and able to walk around more on his own again before bringing up his request again. She had been worried, for at least the first week, that his excitement over being able to finally see the AI that he would share the plan with someone else. But, it seemed, Caboose had realized the danger in this and had kept quiet.
At least, he'd kept quiet to anyone who would have possibly stepped in on the plot like Washington or Grey or Kimball.
He still told Andersmith.
The soldier looked at her very quietly from the hall as she talked to Washington just outside of the rec room where Caboose was currently being absorbed in going through some of the supplies Jensen had brought for him to see. He seemed tight lipped and tense the more he looked over her, to the point that Carolina couldn't continue to ignore it.
She turned and glared at him as Washington slowed his talk and followed her gaze toward Andersmith.
Wash seemed more confused by the whole situation. "Lieutenant?" he called out curiously. "Is there something the matter?"
"No, Sir," Andersmith responded lowly.
For a moment, Wash seemed ready to continue his conversation only to realize that Carolina wasn't as ready to drop her glare toward Andersmith. He looked between them. "Alright, I feel like there's something here I'm missing," he muttered, bringing a hand to his chin.
"Agent Washington!"
Carolina's eyes darted to Wash, watching the way his mouth pressed to a thin line and how he let out a long breath through his nose before finally turning back toward the rec room and heading in.
"I'm coming, Caboose," he answered as he went further in.
There was a tinge of regret that she hadn't tried to step in, but Carolina quickly buried it, instead making her way over to Andersmith.
"You seem to have a problem with me today, Lieutenant," she said, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.
Andersmith scowled at her, doing even less to hide his feelings without Agent Washington around. In a way Carolina appreciated his dedication to keeping whatever he knew private.
"Captain Caboose has informed me that you're taking a field trip with him later," he said thickly. "He's happy about it."
"But you're not," Carolina surmised.
"I most certainly am not," Andersmith agreed boldly. "Agent Washington warned us very clearly that the AI recovered from Charon carried numerous potential threats. And he warned us that in mourning, Captain Caboose was likely to be more easily persuaded by them."
Carolina glared at him. She hated when people she argued with were making sense.
It didn't make her any more agreeable, however.
"Listen, Wash doesn't know as much as he seems to believe he does. Especially with these AI," she snapped. "The AI used by Freelancer? They're... they're special. They're... They're more than AI. And the fragments we have are not just some random bits of numbers we pulled from the ether. They were designed for a purpose. They were designed by Epsilon. For us. That's what we can't forget."
"Yes," Andersmith responded lowly. "But for what purpose is our concern."
Carolina glared. "Let me worry about that, Andersmith. I can handle Caboose, I can handle the AI. I know what I'm doing."
Her voice carried so much confidence she nearly convinced herself as she turned and strolled into the rec room, clapping her hands together loudly to draw Washington and Caboose's attention to her.
"Wash! It's three o'clock! Get moving, I've already sent a message out to Doctor Grey that you're going in for a checkup-"
"I was actually just going to take some time to-"
Carolina pointed at him then toward the general direction of the hospital.
Wash stared at her before releasing a long sigh and nodding. "Alright, alright." He looked up, a little worriedly, toward Caboose. "Are you... Will you be okay with Carolina if I head out, Caboose?" he asked gently.
Caboose's eyes had locked on Carolina the moment she clapped, shining with understanding of what plan was being put into action. He nodded rapidly, hair flopping as he did so.
"Yes! And yes. Yes, Agent Washington."
Looking Caboose over, Wash didn't seem entirely convinced, even by the obvious sincerity in Caboose's voice, but he slowly got up all the same. He looked at Carolina, rubbing at his neck. "Are... you certain you're okay? I mean. I'll be gone for a few hours, it won't be quick like the last few times you've been with Caboose-"
"I can handle it," she said firmly. She then nodded toward the exit. "Get rolling, Wash."
He still hesitated before moving on out, every step painfully methodical.
Carolina watched him leave, shaking her head. "What a worry wart," she mumbled before walking over to Caboose and grabbing his shoulders. "He's got nothing to worry about, right, Caboose?"
"Nope!" Caboose agreed, pushing himself right off the couch. He grinned ear to ear at her. "We can go now? Can we? Please?"
"Yeah, of course," Carolina nodded, ignoring the piercing feeling of Andersmith glaring at the back of her head. "I'll lead the way. Think you can keep up?"
"Yup," Caboose hummed. "My bottom's not hurt anymore!"
"That's... very... good, Caboose," she settled on as she led the way.
The moment there was no one else to balance conversation on, Carolina found herself struggling to think of things to say to Caboose. She wasn't sure where his limits would lie, wasn't sure why the lack of enthusiastic babble bothered her so much - wondered how it was that Washington couldn't get Caboose to be quiet, whereas with her Caboose finally seemed capable of some reservation.
She just wasn't sure of anything with Caboose and that, in itself, terrified her.
But she did feel one thing for certain: Caboose said the AI that Epsilon had left behind were for him, and she knew that Caboose was good with fixing things.
Him taking a look at the AI seemed only reasonable.
When she stopped in front of the garage door, Carolina could see the excited tremors taking hold of Caboose. His eyes were starry with joy. It made her swallow down her own feelings of concern.
Carolina looked him over. "Caboose... if you don't want to do this, we could always... go back and play cards or... whatever it is that you do all day with Wash."
Caboose's eyes drifted toward her, blinking once, then returned to the door. "I have never wanted anything more in my whole life!"
She rubbed at her face before sighing. "Okay. Well. Here's to hoping this isn't a mistake," she said before opening the door.
As usual, an orange, burning glow awaited the other side.
"Sigma-" she warned. She had made sure to warn him not to act up beforehand, and yet again he was out.
The AI seemed immediately disinterested in her, his focus instead on Caboose. He drifted toward the sim trooper.
"Captain Michael Caboose?" he asked.
"I am a Captain. And Michael Caboose," Caboose replied.
"On behalf of myself and all of my brethren," Sigma said, waving back toward the other online units, "I would like to give the most sincere of apologies."
"Apologies?" Carolina repeated.
Sigma turned just enough to look at her. "Yes, apologies," he confirmed before looking back to Caboose. "The AI Epsilon - our brother and our preserver - freed us and allowed us just one task. And that was to aid you and your friends, the former simulation troopers of Project Freelancer."
Carolina looked to Caboose, searching for a reaction, and was stunned to see what could only be described as a hardened look. For Caboose in any case. His eyes were dark and mouth distinctly a frown, but there was the unmistakable watering of his features.
Over the last months Carolina had witnessed Caboose's tears enough to know their precursors.
"My friends are dead," Caboose said in just more than a whisper.
Mouth unable to form words, Carolina just stared at Caboose. She had never heard him speak so clearly, so truly before. As miserable as he had been, as often as she had bore witness to his tears, Carolina had still clung to the idea that somehow Caboose didn't fully understand what they had lost, or the permanence of that loss.
His bluntness knocked the wind out of her, leaving her to turn away from the scene just to catch her breath.
God they were dead. They're gone. Forever.
"We know they are, Captain," Sigma replied. "We failed. We are all sorry."
Caboose lowered his head, released a long breath, then looked back up. "I... would like to make more friends," he announced.
"We may provide you with what you need," Sigma responded, a little more darkly, which was enough to snap Carolina back into the moment and turn her back toward the burning AI. "And, of course, I assume you are as interested in finding leads on Malcolm Hargrove as Agent Carolina is-"
"Sigma!" Carolina seethed in warning, stepping up to them.
"No."
Carolina and Sigma both looked to Caboose. The wateriness of his eyes was mostly cleared, but his frown remained. He was shaking his head at Sigma.
"No?" Sigma asked.
"I do not like that man," Caboose responded lowly. "I do not want to find him. He is not welcome to be my friend." His eyes narrowed. "And he is very bald."
When Caboose turned a suspicious eye toward Carolina, she nearly felt her heart stop as the accusation caught up with her. She shook her head emphatically. "No, Caboose, I did not ask the AI to find Hargrove because I want to be his friend," she declared, feeling a chill go down her spine at the very thought. "I want him to pay for what he's done."
The Blue didn't look impressed with the response. But he sighed and looked in toward the room all the same. "I'm going to make my new friends," he explained before walking on in.
She watched Caboose move immediately toward the AI holding units, then to the frame of Lopez's inactivated body, to the demolished rifle that had once been his own. Then she watched as he began to open up the AI units one by one.
Sigma projected just to the side of her, watching intently with interest.
Carolina leered at him. "If you hurt him, Sigma - if you do anything to him -"
"My entire purpose of existing is for the exact opposite, Agent Carolina," he reminded her, flicking his eyes toward her. "Please remember that. I am not the AI who formerly possessed the name Sigma. None of us are."
"You're a memory of what killed several of my friends," she reminded him angrily.
"Epsilon's resolution, his dream of letting himself be more powerful so as to better assist you all, was to let go of the past that had been inhibiting him for so long," he reminded her. "None of us should be defined by our pasts."
"But we can't lose sight of where we started or else we're just getting lost," Carolina snapped. "It's a tough line to draw, Sigma."
"Then I suppose it's just our journey to try and find where we all draw it," Sigma responded before disappearing. Almost instantaneously, his own AI unit lit up, returning back online.
Carolina watched it carefully while Caboose began to chatter with Theta.
