"You were a Freelancer?" York asked skeptically. North had gotten up to come stand behind them to look at the screen but still technically be considered out of the shot. "I find that hard to believe. No offense, but you don't seem like you have the look."

"None taken. Agent Alaska," she said giving him a mock salute. "I was not one of the privileged few that was invited aboard the Mother of Invention. Knew all about you and Carolina though. Your team was quite the talk around the base where I was."

"Count yourself lucky then," York scoffed.

"Yea," she sighed. "After hearing about what the Director was putting you all through, I'm glad I was at the bottom."

"Oh yea. Tons of kicks."

"So," Emma huffed, "Carolina left Ally with you."

"Yup," York nodded.

"Where are you guys?"

"Floating around somewhere."

"And I'm assuming there's no chance you'll tell me where."

"Now why would I do that? I'm still not sure which side you're on."

"I'm on Ally's. Always. I don't care who my father is or what's going on down on that damn planet. As long as Ally is safe, that's all I care about," Emma said, her jaw clenched. "I want her safe. Is she safe with you?"

"Of course she is," York growled. "No one is going to lay a hand on her. Ever. Not while I'm still breathing."

"Well then let's hope you keep breathing," Emma replied. York watched her look around, appearing to check to make sure she was still alone before looking back at the screen. "Ally sweetie."

"Yes?" Ally sighed.

"Can your dad and I talk a moment?"

"Why does everyone always ask me to leave?" she grumbled.

"Because you're too little to know some things," Emma answered.

York looked over his shoulder at North as Ally growled at Emma. He nodded his head at Ally and North nodded back. "Kid-"

"Daddy, I don't want to go," she whined.

"I know, but your Aunt and I have some things we need to square away and they are things we need to talk about just the two of us. Don't argue and go with North."

She pressed her lips together and scowled at him before hopping off the couch and stomping from the room, North behind her. York rolled his eye and shook his head, "Definitely has her mother's temper..."

"Well, she's eight," Emma commented. "So North is still around too?" She put up a hand to stop York's reply, "Don't worry. Anything we talk about is confidential."

"Glad to hear. And yes."

Emma nodded looking thoughtful, "Then I'm sure she's safe enough with you two. Have you heard from Carolina?"

"No. We've been out of range for contact," York sighed. There was something on Emma's face that pulled him up short. "Did something happen? Is that why you wanted Ally to leave?"

"I'm not sure...I've been intercepting reports that Felix and Locus were planet-side with that prisoner they released. The one agents Washington and Carolina dropped a building on?" York nodded to indicate he knew who she meant. "I'm not sure what's going on since the last report, but they've all separated. Locus is at the battlefield, Felix is meeting that Sharkface at some temple to see about getting some sort of key before Carolina and her team can get there. They were cornered at the last temple they were at."

York sat up, "What? Cornered?"

Emma nodded, "Sharkface and a team ambushed them at the temple. I'm sorry to say, I am not sure what happened after that. I can try and find out?" York chewed on the inside of his cheek. He and the kid had just been there with them. "I'm sure they're fine. You guys were trained for those types of situations."

"Yea well," York huffed. He ran a hand over his face trying to gather his thoughts. "North and I are headed back that way now."

"With Ally?" York nodded. "I'm not sure I like that you're bringing her back towards a planet in the middle of a war."

"Nothing you can do about it, sis," York chuckled. She huffed at him. "You're able to intercept messages?"

Emma nodded, "I specialized in intelligence back during the project. The Chairman didn't care what it was I did, just that I was able to somehow get him the information he needed when he asked for it. That wasn't until the end though and honestly, there wasn't much I could get him seeing as I wasn't aboard the MOI with you lot and I had yet to get any armor enhancements so he went other routes. He seems to have forgotten that I had certain skills, not that he paid me much attention anyway mind you. My only use was as a pawn in his political game."

"Which is why you were able to teach Ally all sorts of fun things. She's quite smart for being eight."

He saw a blush creep up onto Emma's face, "Yea well, I had a good gene pool to work with considering how smart her parents are." She was quiet for a few moments, "Will I be able to keep in touch with you? I'd like to be able to talk to Ally if you'd let me."

"I think Ally would like that," York sighed after thinking it over. "You seem to really care about her."

"I raised her for the last eight years, of course I do," Emma scoffed. "My father wanted me to pass her off as mine, but I couldn't do that. I was there when she was born, I saw how much Carolina loved her. How do you think she would've taken that had I done what I was told?"

"She probably would've killed you," York nodded.

"I would not have put it past her," Emma agreed. She took a breath and nodded, "I'll uh, I'll see what I can find out for you and get back to you."

"That would be great. I appreciate it."

"As long as you keep Ally safe for me and allow me to talk to her and be in her life, I will do whatever I can to help you."

York gave her a smile, "I'm sure we can work something out. Would you like to talk to her some more?"

"If I could?" she asked looking hopeful. York nodded and pushed himself up from the couch to go find where North and Ally had stomped off to. He found them in the kitchen, Ally sitting in the booth with her arms crossed staring at a plate of cookies in front of her with a look reminiscent of Carolina's death glare.

"Hey kid," York said walking in, "Your aunt would like to talk to you."

She jumped up out of the seat and grabbed the data pad before hurrying out of the room. York chuckled and shook his head, grabbing one of the cookies.

"I take it she's mad at me," York said before taking a bite of the cookie.

"Hasn't said a word since she stomped in here," North shrugged. "Probably though. Don't worry, she'll come around."

"I don't doubt it," York shrugged. "Can't blame her really. I'd be mad too if I was asked to leave the room so adults could talk."

"What's your read on her?" North asked as the two sat down at the table.

"Well, she really cares about Ally, that's for sure," York said grabbing another cookie.

"Whose side is she on though? That's the important thing here."

"She's on whichever side is going to keep Ally safe. So therefore, as long as the kid is in good hands, she's on ours." North nodded. "She's looking into some things for us. Apparently, there's some stuff going on back on Chorus that have me worried."

"I can get us there faster if it would make you feel better," North offered.

"It would actually," York nodded. "Thanks."

"No problem," North said standing up to head up to the cockpit.

Emma ran her fingers through her hair again, doing another quick check of the room before grabbing her bags and walking off to the main hangar. Her father's new toy had come by just as she had gotten off the call with Ally to tell her that they were indeed sending her off ship to look for the girl. Little did they knew, she knew exactly where Ally was and had no intention of telling the men. Especially seeing as how the inkling she was starting to get was that they were going to use her against her mother at some point.

She saluted the guards that were in the hangar before walking over to her ship and threw the bags to the side once she was aboard. Hitting the button for her hatch, she made a play of checking over her equipment when in reality she was sending a message through to the men who had her niece to call her. She hadn't been able to find out much, but what she was able to find out about the situation on Chorus was not going to go over well.

Once she got to ok to leave, she flew out and headed out into the general direction of the planet until she could get her bearings and someone returned her call. While she waited she started getting her old armor ready for when she landed on planet. A few minutes later, her data-pad started beeping with an incoming call again. She hurried over to where she had set it and hit the answer button to see York and who she was assuming was Ex-Agent North both in view on the screen.

"What's up?" York asked in lieu of a greeting.

Emma huffed, "Two things. First thing, I got sent off ship like I knew was going to happen. Apparently this Price dude was able to trek up something about where they think Ally is so I'm to go investigate that. Well, they think I'm going to check that."

"Price? As in Aiden Price correct?"

"One and only," Emma smirked. "Anyway, they only think they might know where she is and I really think the only reason they want me off ship is because the dude doesn't trust me for whatever reason. Am I to fail at finding her, I'm under orders to go home since I won't be needed on board to be a glorified babysitter anymore."

York raised an eyebrow at her and North covered his mouth to hide the entertained smirk that had appeared on his face as she ranted.

"You sound oh so happy about this fact," York observed.

"Whatever. If he's not paying attention to me, all the better. I have other plans anyway," she said.

"Where are you now?"

"Just left. I'm heading towards Chorus," she said. "Which leads to the second thing. There's trouble."

York frowned, "What kind of trouble?"

"The bad kind," she sighed. "Where's Ally?"

"In her new room, sleeping hopefully," York said. "What's going on Emma?"

"I'm not one hundred percent sure. I just know people are probably in trouble," she threw her hair back over her shoulder. York glared at her as North placed a hand on his shoulder. "There's a race to get some sort of alien key. Felix and Sharkface are meeting at that location with Carolina and her team not too far behind. From what I have gathered, Price has been divulging your guys' psych records to help the mercs out and the plan is to separate Carolina from the rest."

"Son of a bitch…"

"Ya. Sharkface dude wants his revenge something fierce," Emma nodded. "I'm heading there now to assist. I don't know anything else other than that both parties were super close to arriving at the temple.

"I'm meeting you there," York said going to stand up.

"Sit down," North said as Emma watched him shove her half-brother back into the seat. "You plan on taking the kid with you or did you forget about her?"

"Ally is coming nowhere near that planet," Emma snapped. "I can handle it. It's not my first recovery mission."

"North can keep an eye on her-"

"York, be smart about this," North cut him off. "Not that I wouldn't mind watching her, but she just met me. She's not going to want to stick around with me if you're not here."

"But Carolina could be in trouble," York argued glaring at his friend.

"Which is why you will stay here with your daughter and I'll go meet up with Emma to help her," North explained.

"Were you not listening when I said I didn't need help?" Emma huffed. "I can handle it fine on my own."

"Not saying you can't," North shook his head. "But it's safer to have someone else there watching your back than to go at it alone. And it will probably make York feel better if there's someone he knows on the case. Right?"

York crossed his arms across his chest and clenched his jaw thinking it over a bit before answering. He nodded, "I guess."

"It's settled. Where am I meeting you?" North asked. Emma had a feeling by the look on York's face the discussion was far from over between the two.

"I'll message you the coordinates once I figure it out," Emma replied.

"There's always the old base at the crash site. Might be safest," York suggested.

Emma nodded, "You might be right. We can at least meet up and go from there. Should we say sixty?"

"I think I can manage that," North nodded.

"Ok. See ya then," Emma said before ending the call.

York watched as the screen went black. His jaw hurt from clenching it. It wasn't that he didn't trust the two to make sure things were ok, he just wanted to be there in person. He didn't like the idea that their old Counselor had given information over to use against Wash and Carolina, especially Carolina. She had enough going on in her head so as it was. She didn't need to be manipulated any more than she had been.

North getting up jarred his thought process.

"I-"

"York," North cut him off, "Trust me. I'll make sure Carolina's ok."

"Look, I'm not saying I don't-"

"You're worried, I know," North nodded. "I'll make sure she's ok. You just keep an eye on Ally. Think how pissed at you she'd be if she found out you had taken Ally down into a potential fight because let's face it, that's probably what we're walking in to." York clenched his jaw again. He knew North had a point. "Now, I'm going to go grab my armor and then I'm heading off to meet up with Emma. Taking your ship if that's ok."

"Yea man," York sighed. "Just make sure Carolina's ok."

"I will," North nodded. "Maybe see if you can reach her or Wash. We might be in range."

"Yea maybe I'll do that," York nodded.

"Need anything off your ship before I go?"

"Should probably grab a few things. I think Ally brought all her stuff off," York pushed himself up off the couch and headed to the hangar. He grabbed a few items before glancing around the ship one last time. He walked off a few moments later and ran into North who was wearing what appeared to be an old set of armor. "Be careful with her."

"Which her are we referring?" North smirked. "Caroline, Emma, or the ship?"

York rolled his eye, "Har-har. Just be careful. And keep me posted."

"I will," North said as they shook hands.

York watched him get on and a minute later the ships engines came on. He exited the hangar and proceeded back to where North had left his data-pad and figured he would try and get a hold of Wash and Carolina like he had suggested. He tried Carolina first and wasn't surprised when there was no answer. If she was in the middle of a mission, she wouldn't let up focus to talk to him. Wash on the other hand surprised him when he picked up the call.

"Make it quick," Wash sighed sounding tired.

"Just checking in," York replied. "Haven't heard from anyone so figured I'd see how things were."

"Oh just great, ya know bullets flying every which way and all. JENSEN PAY ATTENTION!" York heard a reply and figured it was probably one of the Lieutenants he had met before. "How are things with you?"

"Oh you know, hanging with the kid and North. Eating lots of cookies."

"Must be nice," Wash replied before the radio went quiet. York could almost hear the gears working in Wash's head. "So w-who are you eating cookies with?"

"Ally and North."

"North who?" Wash asked slowly.

"The only North the both of us know," York replied.

"That's not possible."

"Why not? I'm alive."

"Yea, but that's because I saved your life," Wash growled. "I know for a fact he was dead before I destroyed his armor and equipment."

"Not unless a certain someone got there first after a frantic call from South and took care of the situation before you arrived." Ok, York had to admit, this was kind of entertaining him.

"There was a body," Wash growled.

"Did you physically check to make sure it was actually North though before you exploded it?" York chuckled. Wash's silence answered that question. "Exactly. South called me, frantic, told me what happened, I swooped in and saved the day. We switched out his body with some dude that was killed and I nursed him back to health before sending him on his merry way."

"And you felt the need to not tell me this why?"

"What exactly would you have done with that information, Wash?" York asked. "There was too much going on and you being in contact with me when I was supposed to be dead was bad enough. Especially with the investigation going on in Project Freelancer. So yes, he's alive. He is also currently doing us both a favor and going to check on your other team. Unless you've heard from them?"

"Nope. Course, we just got out of a gun fight," Wash sighed. "Why, you heard something?"

"Nope. Though we talked with Emma, Ally's aunt. And before you say anything, she's on our side as long as we're keeping the kid safe. She picked up some information about the other team that had us worried, so her and North are meeting up at your crash site to go check things out."