Another short one, I'm sorry. I try to make them longer, but the end was a good chapter break. There's the scene that-to me-was rather important in the history of Project Freelancer. It's just how I imagined it and I hope you like it.
Thank you again for all the reviews and all that stuff! I still love them!
Disclaimer: I don't own RvB or Halo, they belong to the people that...you know, actually do own them.
Present Day
A short distance away from the arctic base they had recently placed under attack, the three Warthogs rolled to a stop, and the occupants climbed out.
Carolina spoke first. "So what did you find out?"
Everyone looked at Church, who let out a frustrated sigh. "I was literally about two words away from finding out where Delaware last was before the f***ing a**holes cut the power!"
Carolina punched the nearest Warthog in a slight fit of rage, denting it. "Tell me you found something else, that it wasn't all for nothing!"
Church's hologram shrugged. "Only that basically they don't know where Delaware is now and that he's unpredictable. Oh, but I did see something on Nebraska's file that didn't make any sense," he suddenly remembered.
"What's that?" Alabama asked.
"Well, it was just a list of statistics about him, but apparently he was never assigned an A.I.," Church explained.
"So?" Grif questioned.
"That means Zeta isn't his, dumba**," Simmons said.
Carolina turned to the green soldier. "So then where did he come from?"
Alabama shrugged. "I don't know. Zeta, I think, was the last fragment. The Director didn't exactly make it common knowledge who he gave the A.I. to."
"So what now?" Wash asked.
"Umm, guys-" Simmons started.
Carolina sighed. "If we can't find Delaware, we'll just have to go after Nebraska and try to beat him without the intel we were looking for."
"It's not Nebraska we need to worry about, it's Zeta," Alabama corrected.
"We should start moving again," Carolina said.
Sarge looked at the aqua leader. "Start moving where? Now that we've gone chasing after this Delaware fella, we've lost the trail of Nebraska and his crazy watchamacallit."
Caboose had been standing away from the rest of the group, looking at something in the distance. He finally spoke up. "Um, people? Yeah, I think that maybe, uh, we might want to run and hide from the really big thing that is coming to us."
"What are you talking about Caboose?" Tucker demanded.
Caboose just pointed and the team turned to look. There was basically a wall of gray that was amassing in the distance with strong winds blowing it closer at an alarming rate.
Sarge grunted. "That's a blizzard if I ever saw one. We might not want to stay here."
"Why not?" Grif asked. "We have suits of armor. We'll be able to weather it!"
"And then what, dumba**?" Simmons retorted. "We'll be buried under ten feet of snow, unable to move anywhere. Then we'll starve to death...slowly."
Sarge chuckled at Grif's discomfort. "Nice one, Simmons."
Alabama sighed. "We'll have to find shelter, then decide what to do from there."
"Hey guys?" Donut called attention to himself. "You remember that Simmons was on the computer too, right?"
"Did you find anything?" Wash asked him.
All heads were turned his way, waiting for an answer.
"No. But-" he added before anyone could throw a fit. "I did manage to get this." He pulled out a small object.
"Is that a flash drive?" Carolina recognized it.
"Yep," Simmons said proudly. "I downloaded everything I could before they cut the power, and we might find something on here. We'll just need to get to a computer to see it."
"Simmons," Sarge began. "You just may have saved the day. You are an excellent soldier."
"Really sir?" Simmons started to tear up.
"Did you change Grif's profile?"
"No, Sir. I couldn't alter it from that terminal," Simmons replied.
Sarge grumbled. "Then I take it back. Have you forgotten about your priorities?!"
"I should have known it was too good to be true," Simmons mumbled under his breath.
Tucker spoke up. "You know, that's awesome and all, but where are we supposed to hide from the blizzard? Are we supposed to go back to that base and ask them if we could hide out with them for a while?"
"Oh, there was another thing," Simmons suddenly remembered. "Apparently, there's a giant spaceship that crashed close to here. It was in the UNSC files. They were supposed to take it apart and salvage the parts, but it got discontinued for some reason."
"Probably because it's in the middle of the freezing nowhere," Grif muttered.
"Crashed ship?" Wash turned to Carolina. "Is that..."
"It was called the Mother of Invention, if that means anything," Simmons finished.
Carolina looked back at Wash. "It's worth checking out. Alright, let's move out! We want to get to that ship before the storm reaches us."
Many Years Ago
The Director walked through the metallic corridors of the temporary base by himself. He kept his head down in thought, not acknowledging the nods that were sent his way by the various personnel prowling the halls. He kept his face neutral and his gaze fixed firmly ahead. He stopped himself from feeling excitement or dread of any sort. Whatever happened would happen. Either it succeeded or it didn't. Either outcome was foreseeable and could be worked around.
F.I.L.S.S. granted him access to the secure levels with hardly a pause and he continued on his way before stopping in front of a pair of doors. He lifted his head slightly as they automatically opened, and four of the five figures who were inside immediately straightened at his presence. There was a medic, couple of engineers, and the Counselor, all people involved in this project and people who he could trust. The fifth was laid out on the medical bed.
"The subject is ready, sir," the Counselor reported. The Director mentally scoffed. Of course he was ready. If he wasn't, the Director wouldn't be here. The Director didn't look at the Counselor as he continued. "Everything is at full capacity, and the adjustments made to the hologram projector have passed testing."
The Director nodded. "Turn him on."
One of the technicians stepped forward and shut down the machine keeping the figure unconscious, stepping back again when he was done. The Director's eyes narrowed as he watched.
At first...nothing. But then the figure started moving slightly and a groan escaped him. Slowly, he sat up and looked around the room, his gaze landing on the Director. "What the...where am I?" he asked.
"Do not worry," the Counselor stepped in. "You are safe. You are in a secure base located just a few kilometers from Sidewinder."
The person put a hand to his head for a moment, then looked at the cobalt blue helmet next to him. He picked it up and looked at it. "What happened?" he asked.
"You have been unconscious for quite some time," the Director said. "What is the last thing you remember?"
"I remember...uh, my girlfriend got shipped out." He grew worried. "Did something happen to her?"
The Counselor glanced nervously at the Director, but the Director kept his steely gaze on the blue-armored man on the bed and didn't say reply.
"I am sure she is fine," the Counselor assured him.
The Director spoke again. "Do you know your name?"
The man looked quizzically at the Director, then scoffed. "Of course I do! What kind of an idiot question is that? My name is Leonard. Leonard Church."
The Counselor looked at the Director, who slowly nodded.
"Very well, Leonard Church," the Counselor said. "You are going to stay with us for a few days to...recover. Then you will be sent as part of the Blue Army to Sidewinder. More will be explained to you shortly."
As the Director turned to leave, he heard the Alpha groaning behind him. "Sidewinder. Just my luck! That place is just one giant icicle."
The Counselor joined him. Once they were out of earshot, he turned to his superior. "It appears to have been a success, Sir. The Alpha A.I. does not seem to suspect anything. He thinks he's...you."
"Just as we predicted, Counselor. He has no memory of the fragmentations and is responding to the stray memories he acquired from me during his creation," the Director kept walking.
The Counselor was currently entering the event into his datapad. If everything went according to plan, the Alpha wouldn't remember his time with Project Freelancer. The A.I. seemed to think itself as human, and with the help of the hologram installed into the robot, whenever he looked at himself in the mirror or had his helmet off around his teammates, that was all he would appear to be.
The plan to keep the Alpha hidden was going nicely so far.
Hint for the next chapter, we get to see more of the bad guys :D