Hello Readers... Now it's been about a month since I last updated my chapter. I'm not dead, I wasn't ressurected by Cerberus in a new project Lazarus... Nor was I involved in any kind of conspiracy. Anyway, I took a month long break and now I am refreshed to write new things. I am a little more than half way done with this story and I believe you guys will like my ending. So yeah... this chapter has quite a lot of yelling between characters. Please enjoy,

Colorado sat down in the steel frozen base. Maine slept on a bed next to her chair. He was still recovering from extensive surgery they had given him.

"I told you not to do it." She whispered as his chest rose and fell to every breath he took. "Damn it, you never listen to me! You had to get yourself nearly killed…" She growled, fighting back the tears. She heard the door slide open and Rhody walked in holding two cups of chocolate.

"Hey, is he doing any better?" He asked her, pulling up a chair and handing her one cup. She didn't take it, so he placed it on the ground.

"No improvement," she sighed and he drank a bit before responding.

"Don't worry he'll make it, besides you fixed me right?" She nodded.

"Yeah, I guess I did." A deep growl came from Maine. They both immediately turned their heads to him. She quickly turned on her armor's system.

"What the fuck…Agh…" She heard him wince in pain.

"Calm down Maine, you just went through surgery and you're not yet fully healed." She placed her hand gently but forcefully on his chest to stop him from getting up.

"I thought I was dead." She shrugged.

"You were unconscious, if I hadn't gotten the signal, then you would've been." She explained and he turned his head and saw Rhody. He gave a snort.

"So I see Rhode's here, took you long enough." Maine growled.

"You mean you knew that Caboose was Rhody!" Colorado yelled back, he seemed to laugh at her reaction.

"I'm not an idiot, of course I knew. I just had other things to focus on." Rhody smiled and spoke back.

"It's nice to see you too, big guy." Rhody spoke and Colorado turned her head back to Maine.

"Yeah you focused on trying to recreate Alpha…" She paused and slapped him on the side of his head. "You fucking idiot! You could've killed yourself!" She growled at Maine and kept Rhody from touching her shoulder. "Why didn't you listen to my warning!" She yelled.

"Calm down, I didn't think that it would be that hard. Besides Sigma thought I wouldn't be affected." She snorted.

"You never think… Sigma was the same way. He wasn't logic, he was creativity. He never thought reasonably. Even though he wasn't meant for you, you guys are more alike than you think." She admitted. She shook her head and focused. "But that's beside the point; I told you that for a reason."

"How do you even know what would happen to me? What are you hiding?" Maine growled and Rhody stepped out of the room to give them privacy. She faced him and let a moment of silence grow between them before speaking.

"You want to know why?" She gave a faint pitied laugh. "The answer is quite obvious, I've done it before." She leaned back her arms crossed.

"When… When did you have the time to do it?" She used her hand as a small gesture when she spoke.

"Right before everyone got their AIs… I've spoken to all of them… truthfully, if it wasn't for Delta warning me that I wasn't ready… then I would've gone rogue, like you did… maybe worst…" She explained and sighed.

"Then why didn't you explain that to me before? How come Sigma never mentioned it? Or the other AIs," she simply shrugged.

"Would you have listened if I had?" He shook his head and she nodded. "My point… also I made the other AIs promise me to remain silent about the failed experiment. It was hell trying to get Gamma and Omega to agree."

"And the other AIs just went along with it?" She nodded.

"Even little Theta. I had Delta explain to the others that it was a personal favor. I was… a kind of friend to them. They owed me for more things you could know." She admitted seeming to grin brightly behind her helmet.

"Right…" She glared at him to keep him from saying something he would regret.

"Hey Maine," Wash's voice made both of their heads turn to the doorway.

"Wash, I was just about to call you." Rocky stood up from her chair and walked over to him and Carolina.

"Skip the chat; I want to know if you meant what you said." Carolina stepped up in front.

"You have to be more specific." Colorado growled back, the two of their forces colliding.

"Damn it, stop fooling around. I heard about your 'attempt' with the AIs, now why didn't you tell me?" Carolina yelled at her and she just responded calmly.

"You're not my boss you know. Besides I wouldn't endanger this mission. I know what I'm doing Carol." She explained and Carolina snorted.

"I'm in charge. If you knew what you were doing then Alpha still would've been alive! It was your job to keep him safe and you failed! Everyone froze in shock at what she had said. Colorado looked as Epsilon and Tucker walked through the door.

"Hey what did we miss?" She glared at him and hear Maine growl.

"Great the idiot has arrived." Tucker freaked out and bumped into the door walking back.

"I can see this is a bad time… I'll just come back later…" He spoke and nearly ran out.

"Look, I don't have to explain my actions to you. If you need me I will be doing some designing. I need to make sure that Maine's vocal replacement is up to date." She growled and finally shoved Carolina out of the way as she walked out the door.

Colorado walked out of the door and onto the snow covered ground. "She's always been like this." She reminded herself and went to an isolated storehouse away from the other Freelancers. "Deep breaths…" she breathed in and out to cool her temper. Carolina kept acting like she was in charge, like she was perfect. Colorado gave a humored laugh at the thought. None of them were perfect and that was a fact. Each of them had made mistakes then they could count and each of them had their scars.

…Back to the past…

"York, how is it going on your end? Do you have the data?" Colorado finished killing off the last guard and loaded her rifle.

"Yeah just… a little…" he grunted in pain and she paused herself.

"York, are you okay? What happened? Delta status report now," Colorado demanded and headed for the main archives.

"It's nothing…god, this hurts!" He cried and Delta responded immediately to him.

"York has been shot on his right shoulder, activating healing unit, but preferred if you would assist." He explained and she nodded.

"Don't worry D, I'm coming." She hung up on him and walked into the doorway and stopped to lean against it.

"Hey took you long enough." York commented with a grunt.

"Sorry I kept you waiting, but I had to kill a hundred guards." She placed her gun up and went over to him and knelt down. "So did you get the guy who did this?" She explained and started to dress the wound around his shoulder.

"Don't worry he got what was coming to him." York assured her.

"Good," she gave a sigh of relief and helped him to stand. "D, did we get the data?" She asked him. The holographic form of Delta appeared beside York and he gave a nod.

"Mission successful, data retrieved." He explained. York pulled out a holographic disc and handed it to her.

"Thanks you guys, I couldn't have done it without you." Delta and York simply nodded.

"I say we celebrate. It's been a while since we've had company. Isn't that right D?" Delta nodded to York.

"It's been one year and seven days since our last guest." Delta responded and Colorado almost gave a small laugh at the fact that he kept track of everything.

"Thank you D…" York sounded embarrassed and Colorado broke the awkwardness.

"Well I would love to celebrate. You have anything in mind?" She asked and he gave a shrug.

"I have a few things in mind."

Man, it feels good to upload again... Keep an eye on my other stories, because I have more in store for everything I am writing.

Until the next chapter,

Samtrix