Humanity is capable of committing the greatest acts of both good and evil. Oftentimes, these acts are necessary for the survival of the many, calling for the sacrifices of the few. One such act was the formation of Project Freelancer and the torture of the artificial intelligence unit known as Alpha. Each agent was assigned a code name based on the many states of the United States of America.
The top eight, the elite of the elite, were Texas, Carolina, York, Wyoming, North Dakota, Washington, Maine, and South Dakota. These eight were also the most affected by the addition of an unexpected and quite frankly, utterly impossible individual that had been rescued from the UNSC after she was forced into solitary confinement and interrogated/tortured for several years.
You're probably wondering why they would do such a thing. What heinous crime did the mysterious woman commit to deserve such a fate? The answer…absolutely nothing. She was simply placed into an impossible situation and as luck would have it, she was born with an advanced cerebral construct that could not be detected by twenty-first century technology. A distortion in the fabric of space/time forced her from her time period to several centuries later.
Upon discovering where and more importantly, when she was, she attempted to warn the UNSC about the impending invasion of the alien race known as The Covenant and subsequently, the release of a different alien species simply referred to as The Flood. They didn't believe her and due to her stubbornness on the matter, she ended up in a white padded cell. When the events she had told them about started happening, she was taken from her cell and plopped into an interrogation room.
Due to the knowledge she had revealed, she became a prisoner and when she was being particularly obstinate, they would torture her; mentally, emotionally, physically, and sexually. The longer they tried to pump her for information, the harder it became to extract said information. The more they hurt her, the more resilient she became. Thus were the tables turned and she started gathering intel of her own, garnering allies, and gaining quite a bit of influence.
It was this influence that eventually brought her to the attention of the artificial intelligence unit named Alpha. He informed the director of Project Freelancer, one
Leonard Church, of its discovery. After reviewing the AI's report, the director decided to intervene on her behalf. He was denied custody of the prisoner, so he orchestrated an attack on the facility by leaking false intel to a rogue faction that was currently at war with the UNSC. The rebels had stormed the compound and according to official records, the woman was accidentally murdered during the siege.
The truth was that she was spirited away by Agent Maine and Agent York, a duplicate of her general likeness being left behind to be burned almost beyond recognition as to avoid suspicion. Her first meeting with his second in command, Aiden Price, ended with her actually decking the man in the face, the breaking of her right hand and the shattered jaw of the council man. Agent York and Agent North Dakota had found the event to be quite amusing, Agent Maine and Agent South Dakota were mildly impressed, and Agents Washington and Wyoming agreed to never get on the woman's bad side.
Fortunately, Agent Carolina had been away on a mission and Agent Texas had yet to join their ranks. There was, however, a great deal of animosity between her and Agent Connecticut though there was no clear indicator as to why that was, but the pair hardly stayed in the other's company long enough for a proper analysis. Upon meeting Agent Carolina, she ended up in the infirmary. It was remarkably easy for her to rile up the competitive agent and even easier to get under her skin which resulted in a rather one sided fight.
Agent Carolina was removed from the active duty roster for a month as punishment for beating the crap out of the director's guest which only fueled the fire between the two. After she was released from the medical ward, having escaped several times during her recovery and one of her closer associates would always carry her back much to her chagrin, she was finally granted an audience with the elusive and enigmatic Leonard Church. That meeting resulted in her slapping him a few times until he stopped being such an arrogant asshole.
The Alpha AI found the entire interaction to be hilarious and even commented that he liked her. This had the director chuckling softly, saying that she reminded him of his dear Allison. Her response to this was that every woman had an Inner Tex waiting to be unleashed, all it took was the correct circumstances and the right trigger. This actually caused the director and the Alpha AI to laugh quite heartily.
It took a few more meetings before she felt comfortable enough to actually tell them her name...Artz Lanaria though she was pretty certain that they already knew it. It was during this same meeting that Leonard Church revealed why he had helped her. Due to her advanced cerebral construct, she had the correct physiological traits needed to house a backup of the Alpha AI. She commented on the fact that a full artificial intelligence unit couldn't be copied, but Alpha informed her that under normal conditions that she would be correct.
The director told her that the reason why a full AI couldn't be copied was because current technology was unable to handle the complexity of the data mapping procedure, but due to how her brain was naturally constructed, she could easily handle the procedure and actually utilize the AI unit without any cybernetic augmentations which would degrade and ultimately corrupt the copy's original data. Both he and Alpha were genuinely surprised by how quickly she volunteered for the procedure. When asked why, she stated that it was for her to know and only for the copy of the Alpha AI unit to find out.
There were two conditions that she insisted upon. The first was that after the procedure was done that the existence of the copy AI was to remain a secret between the three of them. No one, not even the council man, could know about the procedure for Alpha's sake. The director agreed to this condition, but he was hesitant to grant the second...Tex. She wanted a copy of the Beta AI, the one that housed the memory of Allison Texas.
Fortunately, Alpha had gone offline during this portion of the meeting, because it went from being a meeting to a rather heated argument. It took Artz revealing a small snippet of a possible future to finally get him to relent. In fact, he caved so hard that he decided to download a backup copy of all the fragment AIs as well which had surprised her, but she did not fucking argue. She wanted to save them from being erased by the electromagnetic pulse. They may have started out as fragments, but all became unique individuals and deserved to be respected as actual sentient beings.
After the procedure, things were a bit weird for Artz. For starters, her physical body had gradually changed; hair color, eye color, body weight, height, and previously acquired scars. Her hair was once a very dark blonde, but became a crimson red and thicker too. Her eyes were transitory hazel, predominantly forest green, but were now a vibrant sapphire hue. She grew approximately five and half inches taller, making her just shy of five feet and ten inches tall. Her body weight re-proportioned itself so that she was no longer overweight, but was nowhere near a bean pole. Her scars from acne and random injuries slowly faded away as well.
She spent the better part of three weeks trying to comprehend why her body had undergone such a metamorphosis and it was her AI companions, Church and Tex, that finally took pity on her and explained that it was their doing. They hated how she viewed herself and believed that her outer beauty should reflect her inner beauty. She had been so incredibly touched by their consideration and they said that it was the least they could do after finding out how far she was willing to go to save them from a fairly terrible probable future.
Artz had sequestered herself away from prying eyes until she was sure that her regeneration was complete and when she came out of her self-imposed exile, the first person to see her was Agent David Washington. She knew that Washington wasn't his actual last name, but it somehow suited him. Still, the way he had come to a complete and total stop was hilarious. He may have been decked out in his armor, but even she knew that he had just been completely gobsmacked and was quite blatantly checking her out.
She actually laughed when she revealed who she truly was, because it had him sputtering out barely coherent sentences like an awkward teenager trying to ask a girl to be his date for the school dance. She simply stated that it was a new procedure that the director had invented for her, to help her come to terms with her recent history. She had been caught off guard when he actually hugged her, armor and all, quietly promising that he would never let her be hurt like that again. She would admit to crying at that moment because she had been holding in a lot of negative emotions brought about by her being imprisoned and tortured for so long.
Man, she really loved Wash. It was a crying shame that the Freelancer program destroyed so much of him, especially after his brief time with the Epsilon fragment in his cranium. He was such a sweet guy, really likable and funny. A bit awkward, but he was the very definition of what it meant to be a true friend and she honestly loved him for that. He was definitely her favorite, something that both Agent York and Agent North Dakota liked to tease them about. This would always cause Wash to start sputtering in embarrassment and make Artz giggle like a lunatic.
The surprising thing was the development of a friendship between her and Agent Maine. A lot of the other freelancers were a little intimidated by him, the strong silent type with an almost tangible lethal intent. Did that stop her from pouncing on the guy and demanding a piggy back ride...nope. The looks on Agent Carolina's and CT's faces were fucking priceless. Their faces were practically screaming What the holy living fuck?! Even the Dakota twins, York, and Wyoming were stunned into silence. Only Agent Washington seemed to be unfazed by the spectacle, even going so far as to say that it was a typical Artz maneuver.
The fact that the ever silent and deadly Agent Maine was actually allowing a grown woman to use him like her personal steed spoke volumes, hell an entire library of volumes. When she was done, she dismounted her steed and practically leapt across the room to latch onto her favorite Freelancer, resulting in both of them falling to the floor. Laughter erupted from the watchers with the exception of CT and Carolina who seemed fiercely determined to make her feel like shit.
Some of the things they said actually hurt her and she became quiet. She simply stood up and left without another word which pissed off Maine, Washington, North Dakota, York and even Wyoming was quite annoyed. South Dakota commented on just how much of a bitch those two were being and that even she wouldn't go that far to be an ass. Carolina stated that she didn't say anything that Artz didn't need to hear which set off Agent Maine, resulting in a fight. CT wisely stayed silent which was most definitely in her best interest of survival because Maine was not pulling his punches and even though Carolina was at the top of the leaderboard, a pissed off Maine was a fucking force of nature.
Eventually the fight was broken up by Councilman, Aiden Price, and Wash wandered off to find Artz. He found her sitting on the seat of a window in one of the commons rooms. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know that she was crying though she was trying hard to remain straight faced...and failing. He simply sat with her, knowing that she preferred a silent companion instead of being coddled at this point in time. She wore her heart on her sleeve, so he knew when to comfort her and when she just needed someone to simply be with her.
Things continued to deteriorate between Artz and CT and she flat out refused to not push Carolina's buttons, commonly saying that if the door was going to be left wide open that she would dance through it every single time without fail and without hesitation. Agent Washington tried to keep the button pushing to a minimum, but Artz simply refused to let up, saying that Carolina would thank her one day. Things became rather nasty when Agent Texas was finally deemed fit to join her fellow freelancers and she quickly dominated the leaderboard, enraging Agent Carolina.
To make matters worse, the crimson haired woman had quite blatantly latched onto the black armored Freelancer and with some help from the copy of the Beta AI, she easily befriended Agent Texas which resulted in months of gruelling and exhausting training for Artz. She had approached Tex with a request for getting stronger and the knowledge of how to fight, more importantly how to survive. The black armored woman was a brutal taskmaster and drilled the art of combat, both melee and firearm, into her head and body.
Once Agent Texas deemed her as not completely hopeless, she began Artz's academic training which went a lot more smoothly since both copies of the Alpha and Beta AIs had been teaching her already. This head start was enough to earn a little of Tex's respect. Not much but enough to make the redhead preen with pride. The down side was that her tentative friendship with Agent South Dakota had officially tanked. It was fun while it lasted, but her friendship with Agent Texas meant far more to her than words could ever express.
Artz could feel it coming, the inevitable was going to occur. Her friends were going to die and she wanted to stop it. She went to Agent North Dakota first. She knew that his AI fragment, Theta, would vouch for her credibility and she knew that North would believe him. Their bond was quite strong, stronger than the one York shared with Delta. North took her by surprise after she told him her story, about the Halo parody called Red vs Blue, and the probable future depicted within the series.
He told her not to become involved in the fighting to come. When she asked why, well more like demanded, it was Theta that responded. He told her that if she got hurt that it would hurt the AIs and their freelancer partners. She was important to them and that they would never be able to live with themselves if she got hurt or killed because of them. Theta made her promise not to fight and to try to stay safe. He knew that she wouldn't be able to stay out of it entirely, especially if something was happening right in front of her eyes.
North also advised her not to tell anyone else about what she knew. He stopped himself from saying more when he noticed that she was on the verge of tears. He sighed softly before guiding her towards the one person in the entire base that she was okay with crying in front of, Agent Washington. He ignored the glare being directed towards him from the woman's best friend and let Theta speak to him. The shy AI told Wash that he didn't mean to make her sad and asked him to cheer her up which resulted in Artz snapping at Theta, saying that he wasn't to blame for her heightened emotional state.
'Eep! Scary!'
Agent North Dakota chuckled softly as his AI hid behind him and peeked out a little. He left the redhead in Wash's capable hands. That kid had a special power over the crimson haired woman and he was grateful for that. These next few months were going to be really hard for her and she needed all the support she could possibly get. He didn't realize that he had upset Artz so much that she actually begged David to sleep with her which turned out to be much more intimate than the rookie had expected it to be, but he didn't exactly say no or try to stop it in any way.
It was that night that Agent Washington came to the startling realization that his feelings for the red haired woman went beyond mere friendship, but he refused to push himself on her rather let her come to him which resulted in many more sleepless nights. Damn if it wasn't worth it though. Artz may be the epitome of kindness and clucked about like a mother hen, but she was insanely fierce in bed almost like a fucking predator, pun intended. Most of the time he felt completely spent and yeah, he felt like he was being used but in a good way, a really good way.
He did get chewed out by Carolina and even York got on his case because he kept taking naps all the time or was constantly snacking to try and keep his energy replenished. He never knew when a certain redhead was going to jump him for a quickie. Good God almighty, he swore that woman was never sated. To his surprise, it was CT that came to his defense though how she found out was a mystery he didn't want to be shared with anyone else. Didn't make him any less embarrassed though.
'I'd be worn out too if I was getting laid as often as he is.'
His fellow freelancers started chattering away, a bunch of overpaid gossipers they were. They started hounding him about who his girlfriend was, where they met, what they did together, and he felt like he wanted to crawl into a hole. He mentally facepalmed at the unintentional innuendo. When the hell did his mind get so dirty...bow chicka bow wow. Shit, he was hanging out with Artz too much. Her bad habits were beginning to rub off on him. Fuck, another fucking innuendo...and another one, an innuendo inside an innuendo! Fuck, he did it again!
Things only became more hectic when the woman that made his life heaven and hell simply by breathing jumped onto his back, giggling happily. Her eyes were sparkling with mischief, humor, and oh shit, she wanted to rip his armor off. That was the look that said that he had two minutes to get them somewhere private or else they would have an audience. CT was smirking and York picked up on what was actually going on, telling Wash to go entertain Artz for a bit. David let out a long suffering sigh before hooking his arms under the redhead's legs and trotting off.
'You do realize that Artz is Wash's girlfriend, right?'
This was spoken by Carolina of all people. CT just kept on smirking, York simply shrugged, South rolled her eyes in irritation, North looked somewhat surprised...he didn't actually believe that she would have taken it that far, Wyoming seemed deep in thought, and Maine...he didn't actually care so long as his friend was happy, but if that idiot hurt her, he wouldn't hesitate to kill him, teammate or not. The crimson haired woman was the closest thing he had to a family; she wasn't scared of him, she cared for him, she worried about him, and she flat out claimed him as a member of her family. He would do anything for her; betray his teammates, go on a killing spree, or just blow shit up to make her laugh. She was everything to him, so that idiot better keep her happy or else.
The other freelancers were surprised when Carolina's attitude started changing towards Artz. They couldn't exactly be called friends, more like the redhead was acting like an informal psychiatrist, a sounding board, an idea generator, and even like an information broker. The crimson haired woman had taken to coaching Agent Carolina in a wide array of subjects; speed, flexibility, fluidity of motion, combat tactics, and specifically, the quirks and nuances of a certain black armored freelancer's fighting style.
Having trained under the direct tutelage of Agent Texas, Artz was able to teach Carolina a great deal and not only did it make the woman less hostile towards the redhead, but had the added bonus of somewhat mellowing out the highly competitive agent. Where one relationship became better, another became worse. Agent South Dakota's recent failures and mishaps had radically altered her personality. Where there was once tolerance for the redhead, now there was only disdain and a not so healthy dose of resentment. It was like everything about the crimson haired woman just pissed her off lately.
South Dakota actually became so angry that she dragged Artz into the training room for a live fire exercise. Had it not been for her constant training with Agent Texas, her teaching sessions with Agent Carolina, and the two artificial intelligence units inside her brain, she would not have survived. The Alpha AI focused on keeping her alive while the Beta AI focused on beating the hell out of Agent South Dakota for putting their partner through this exercise. The freelancers caught wind of it, thanks to the AI fragments constant vigilance, but they could do little more than watch because South Dakota had managed to lock out the computer, FILSS.
Imagine their surprise when Artz not only survived the assault, but actually won the match by successfully rendering South Dakota unconscious. That's not to say that she wasn't hurt, because she was...badly; cuts, abrasions, grazes, bruises, fractured ribs, dislocated joints, a few bullet wounds and even several severe burns. She had managed to survive all of that, and she was still standing despite her injuries. She went through that entire ordeal without any armor, cybernetic enhancements, or freelancer equipment.
By all rights, she should be dead. They didn't know that the only reason why she wasn't was because of her AI companions, Church and Tex. Artz would have lasted until South Dakota started using grenades and other incendiary devices. Artz has terrible depth perception and commonly cannot gauge distances correctly. When it comes to aiming, no problem, just don't ask her to throw anything because she will either under throw or overshoot. The reverse was also true in regards to her response time. She could calculate trajectories and probabilities, but her depth perception hampered her ability to remove herself from a potential blast radius with any degree of success.
Alpha, at full working order, was able to keep her away from the worst of it, but without any enhancements, equipment, or armor, there was only so much he could do. Meanwhile, Tex was doing her utmost to actually win the fight, knowing that it would do wonders for Artz's self-esteem which was so low that it was ridiculous. Working in tandem with Church made it possible for Artz to have both survival and victory, but at a cost and it forced the artificial intelligence units to place their partner into a restorative coma.
South Dakota was severely punished for actions, but in comparison to the humiliation she felt for losing against a glorified civilian while she was in full armor. She was so disgusted with herself that she actually messed with the medical equipment hooked up to Artz. No one would know the result of that act of sabotage until after the ship, Mother of Invention, had crashed and the remaining freelancers had been divided, some remaining while others fleeing with their AI fragments.
When Artz awoke from her restorative coma, she had no idea where she was, why she was there, or how she even came to be in the future. Agent South Dakota's actions had caused the redhead to lose her memories for the last several years. She didn't remember any of her relations with the freelancers, her time with the UNSC, and most importantly, she didn't remember having copies of the Alpha and Beta AIs or copies of the AI fragments. The only reason why she hadn't experienced a total memory blackout was due to AIs and the fragments.
Eventually she would regain those memories, but not until after a certain freelancer known as Recovery One also known as Agent David Washington would come to a certain boxed canyon called Blood Gulch in search of the Reds and Blues that had interactions with Agent Texas and her AI fragment, Omega. Her story begins long before his arrival when she was entrusted to the care of Agent Florida and she, along with the core of the Alpha AI, began life anew at a simulation base. Not long after, she began having strange dreams about a sweet purplish pink holographic space marine named Theta and things only got weirder from there.