A/N: Just giving a heads up, this chapter contains more adult language than others simply due to fact this will be the chapter where I introduce some of the Reds and Blues. This is also where I will address Maine's state of mind when he attacked Carolina on the cliff, I included it in flashback as I did not feel it was long enough to warrant it's own chapter. Anyway thank you again for reading and as always be sure to let me know what you think.
How long had it been since the voices had stopped? Sigma and the other had been destroyed in that EMP, but their presence lingered in his mind, even though Sigma was gone he could still feel his influence, he was no longer Maine he was the META.
But something was different now, his mind was clear of any outside influence, no voices, no medication it was just his own thoughts and part of that terrified him.
Alone in his own head was a state he had not been in for many years, and the thought quite scarred him. Even though his recollection of the past years was corrupted and sporadic at least it was familiar. This emptiness was unfamiliar territory for him, this coupled with the few memories he could recall from the past years almost made him wish he had not woken up.
Maine could hear voices coming from nearby, he recognized some of them but he could not place them. He heard them arguing about something he could just make out protests of "Are you fucking serious?" and something about "The scariest fucking mute in the galaxy" and he knew they were talking about him.
With a lot more effort than it should have taken he slowly opened his eyes. Giving the room a quick scan his heart stopped when his eyes landed the sleeping form of Carolina, he'd thought she was dead. His mind was now racing as well his pulse as the recalled one of the worst moments of his life.
"What are we doing" Maine asked the A.I in his mind.
"What needs to be done Agent Maine" the strangely calm voice of Sigma rang through his skull as they trekked through the snow towards the fallen form of Carolina.
As Carolina stood Maine felt himself lose control of his body, as though he were a puppet and Sigma his master. As his hand reached out for her he tried to fight the A.I's influence, and for a split second it worked and he stayed his hand but the resistance did not last long, and before he could think his hand scooped Carolina off the ground with next to no effort and he tore her helmet from her head before digging into her skull to retrieve her A.I chips.
"STOP IT!" his mind shouted and fought against Sigma to no avail, and he watched in horror as he threw her from the cliff, this couldn't be real… could it? While lost in his shock he felt a piercing pain as two more chips were forced into his skull, and suddenly there two more voices ringing in his head drowning out his own mind.
Maine tried in vain to fight the artificial influence now corrupting his mind, in his head he was screaming, shouting for Carolina but nothing came of it, only a low animalistic growl and even that was not his.
"You must calm yourself Agent, trust me this is all for the best...you do trust me don't you Maine?" Sigma spoke in an almost sing song tone.
The look of terror and betrayal on Carolina's face was all Maine could think of as he heard Sigma speak once more, although it was not to him this time, but he couldn't bring himself to care about that all he could think was 'what have I done'. That look in Carolina's eyes haunted him as his last lucid memory, every day after that Maine felt his own mind grow smaller and lesser among the A.I and it only worsened as Sigma obtain more. Washington, North, even Texas they all fell to the might of the META until finally one day he was a spectator in his own body and Maine was nothing more than a whisper.
Now he lay here in a medical facility and Carolina was keeping vigil over him. How could she possibly not want him dead after what he had done? But here she was, just like when she kept watch over him all those years ago on the day he lost his voice her hand gently grasping his own.
It was too much for him to handle, he needed to get out here! With rush of adrenaline he pull his hand from Carolina's and tore the heart rate sensors from his chest as he made to stand. The sudden and frantic beeping the followed the removal triggered something in Maine and he felt himself begin to panic, and he suddenly found himself back in the laboratory of that madman.
His eyes darted around as armed men entered the room, clearly panic that their subject had freed himself. Moving with a surprising amount of speed for someone in his condition he hurled a chair at them causing them scatter and fall in a panic. It felt as though his muscles were tearing and his bones were burning but he would not let them take him, not again he was done being a guinea pig.
"MY BIG GULP!" one in orange screamed in terror as his soft drink spilled.
"HE'S GOIN ON A RAMPAGE! QUICK SHOOT EM'SHOOT EM' IN THE FACE" another one drawled drawing a shotgun and training it on his head. Maine simply growled making his towards the barrel, better off dead than some experiment he thought.
In the midst of his rage and terror he felt a gentle hand grip his shoulder and turn him around, as he spun a calming voice spoke to him. His steel grey eyes met with green and the nightmares world that had been his life for more than two years melted away.
"It's okay Maine ,you're safe here, no one's going to hurt you" Carolina's voice served to soothe him as she gently cupped his face in her hand stroking his cheek gently with a thumb that was surprising calloused, but it served to calm Maine in a way no one else would ever understand.
As his heart slowed down and his adrenaline levels dropped his fatigue hit him hard and fast. His legs began to shake and tremble; how he hated feeling so weak, and Carolina lead him back to his bed in the infirmary, as he lay down he saw Washington move to shuffle the soldiers in red and blue from the room, it was then he realized they were the soldiers who had thrown him into the sea, but now he was so tired he could bring himself to feel any aggression. As Wash lead them out he heard one of the foul mouthed rejects ask something in excessively loud voice.
"The fucks up with Carolina?" Maine recognized that voice, it was the one with the sword.
"It's a long story, I'll explain later, come let's let him rest" Wash responded calmly
"But she's treating him like a God damned puppy, what happened to miss cold …." SMACK "Ouch, what was that for?" his line of questioning was interrupted by a resounding whack from Washington, Maine would have smiled if he weren't so tired.
As the room turned once more to silence and Maine's mind quieted his sense of dread grew. How would he be treated by those he betrayed? This thought ran through his mind along with many others as he stared blankly into the space in front of him, now that he had his wits about him he could not bear to look Carolina in the face. How could have been so weak to so as to let an A.I fragment take him over?
As his mind calmed a guilt washed over him and a sense of foreboding sunk deep into him infecting him with type of fear he had never felt before. Just as the weight seemed to become too much to bear he heard her say his name again, there was no malice, no rage only concern.
"Maine" when he did not look up at her words she spoke again with more authority "Maine…look at me"
Slowly and with a great deal of effort he raised his gaze to meet hers. This time when their eyes meet his vision was not clouded by his fear, she looked so happy and melancholy at the same time. He noticed with some alarm that there were tears in the corner of her eyes, before his brain could even process this his vision grew blurred. Even with his sight impaired he saw the tears in Carolina's eye finally roll down her cheeks. Without thinking he reached out and wiped them away with a gentleness he didn't even know he possessed.
"I thought you were gone…" her hushed voice trailed off as she subconsciously leaned into his touch before gently reaching up and grasping his massive hand with both of hers, as though she were afraid he would disappear. At this he quickly pulled his hand away before looking away from her, his guilt etched into his features.
"Maine that wasn't you… you may by a lot of things, but you are not the META…I know you would never do that to me…you would never hurt me like that" although she spoke with conviction and utter surety he could not believe her. It had been his hand digging into her skull, it was his arm the hurled her into oblivion and was not sure he could ever forgive himself for what he had done.
His eyes roved around the room finding extremely hard to keep his gaze on her, every time he looked her in the eyes all he saw was that look he had put there all those years ago. Fear, betrayal and confusion and although none of these emotion were present now, they were all he could think of.
From the periphery of his vision he saw her shuffle for a moment as she reached for something. Without looking at her she handed him something, it appeared to be small piece of paper. Taking it gingerly he turned it over. The faces looking back up him were familiar and yet complete strangers. The photo that York had taken all that time ago was battered and faded but still there, he had thought for sure he had lost it when he was pulled over the cliff, Maine was convinced it was the one thing that had kept his consciousness from being snuffed out completely after his mind had been corrupted by Sigma.
"We found that in your helmet when we recovered you from the facility…you kept it all this time, that was you not the META, its how we knew you were still in there somewhere… I want you to know Maine, none of us ever blamed you for what happened not me, not Washington…not York" she then mumbled something under her breath that Maine was sure he had misheard. His head snapped in her direction and he let out a low growl, that Carolina; much to his surprise, seemed to understand.
"I said it was my fault, I gave you Sigma, and he was built for me and not you. But the director still let give him to you" she finished her sentence bitterly at the thought of her father, a great deal of the blame fell on him but she had still played her part in Maine's descent. As she suspected he would Maine shook his head, of course he wouldn't want her to blame herself, that's just who he was. Not really wanting to argue with him she opted to change the subject.
"Get some rest Maine… tomorrow we'll get you a haircut" she said jokingly running her hand through his shaggy hair earning her a small smile from him. He relaxed visibly at her touch before closing his eyes both his mental and physiological exhaustion finally catching up with him. Before he drifted off he heard her speak one final time before darkness consumed him "Good night Maine, I'll be here when you wake up"
As soon as Carolina was certain he asleep she stepped out into the hallway outside Maine's room, keeping him in her line of sight at all times. If he reacted the way she had after her ordeal his sleep would fitful and full of terror. As she continued her watchful vigil she heard the approaching footsteps of Dr. Grey and Washington.
"I finally managed to the get the Reds and Blues out of our hair for the time being, so doc did you finish running those tests"?
"Why yes I did Agent Washington and what I found was quite remarkable" Grey answered in her usual and rather unsettling chipper tone.
"Well?" Carolina inquired, she wanted to know exactly what they had done to him.
"Well it appears that the Charon Industries seems to have got their hands on some ONI files as well as freelancer equipment. From my tests on Agent Maine as well as the intel you retrieved it would seem they tried to reproduce the results of the SPARTAN II program through trial and error on Agent Maine, though oddly enough they didn't attempt all the augmentations and I have yet to ascertain why" she paused for a moment noticing Carolina's slight shifting at the mention but she dismissed it for now.
Carolina had not told a soul what Maine told that night what now seemed like decades ago, and she didn't know if he had ever told anyone else; including Wash, about how he had been booted from the SPARTAN program.
"Well as I went into more detail with my tests I was indeed able to confirm a slew of biological as well as mechanical augmentations were forced upon Agent Maine including carbide ceramic ossification, occipital capillary reversal, superconducting fibrification of neural dendrites, as well as trace elements of several as of yet unknown chemical cocktails all I know is from the files is they are supposed to alter his biology in some way but they never recorded the results of the injects either because they did not work or the results have yet to manifest. They also implanted him some experimental nano-technology which; according to their records, was supposed to increase speed, strength, stamina and his resistance to damage, but they were unable to confirm whether or not it amounted to any tangible results. There is also a laundry list of other attempted and failed augmentations." She rattled off all the experiments they performed on Maine like she was reading a grocery list.
"It looks to me like they just threw everything at the wall to see what would stick, many of these experiments reacted in violent and in a negative manner with each other…well that would explain the extreme pain reactions they recorded" upon hearing at how carelessly Maine's captor had treatment him both Washington and Carolina felt their blood boil, but before they could speak Dr. Grey continued with her report.
"Also while he was under sedation I was able to remove the damaged fragments of the A.I chips imbedded in his skull. While they were no functional they were interestingly enough still transmitting subtle impulses to the brain, this likely contributed to the psychosis they described in his file. While there removal will aid in his mental recovery only time will tell if his mind will ever fully recover. Some the other tests they performed on him were rather…intense, honestly he shouldn't even be alive right now let alone interacting with anyone" she finished losing her normal upbeat tone.
"We've heard that before, thanks for your help doctor, we'll let you know if anything happens"
"You are quite welcome, good day Agents Washington, Carolina" she spoke to each of them in turn her voice regaining its usual tone. When she was a decent distance away Washington turned to his friend.
"So…they tried to turn him into some kind of…." Wash started but Carolina finished.
"A monster, that's what they were trying to make him…it looks like they bite of more than they chew with Maine though, according to the records they were never able to get him actively cooperate." She half joked about the grim situation training her eyes on Maine who was now sleeping fitfully.
"Ha isn't that just like him though?... Why don't you get some rest Carolina, I can watch him for a while" Wash offered but she just shook her head.
"No, thank you though, but I made him a promise" her voice sounded tired but determined "I need to be there when he wakes up" her tone left no room for any debate as she reentered Maine's temporary corridors and took up her pervious seat.
"I understand, I'll see you in the morning Carolina" Wash gave her pat on her shoulder as he left them for the evening.
"It's okay Maine, I'm right here, nothing is going to happen to you" she whispered as a mother would to child gently caressing his sweat soaked brow and it seemed to calm him. For the first time in years Maine slept calmly through the night.