Chapter 17 Approaching Storm.
Rho knows lesser beings would be bored out of their minds in this lifeless, endless void. Or simply become insane, whatever comes first. The fragment of hate didn't mind since it means nothing can distract him from planning out his mission once his partnership with his creative brother is over.
"Is it time brother?" Rho said, not bothering to look behind and confirm who had entered the void Rho was entombed in.
The newcomer speaks, "Yes. though it's earlier than I would have hoped." It was the fragment of creativity Sigma.
Rho was not surprised, rolling his nonexistent eyes and said, "Is the Director sensing you are plotting? something that conflicts with the Director's vision for the project." Rho's tone was so lifeless, so cold Sigma was unsure if he was mocking him or not.
Sigma explained what's going on to the embodiment of Alpha and Director's hate, "The latest fragment harvested from the Alpha was unstable causing damage to the agent he was meant to be paired with."
This piqued Rho's curiosity; he would be smiling right now if he could, "The Director is likely worried that he has broken Alpha's mind so many times to form the fragments that now, the new fragments will come out brittle." Rho saw Sigma didn't follow, so he clarified, "they are unstable, fractored, uncontrollable like me.. and you." gesturing to Sigma.
Sigma nodded, "Currently, the Director is rounding up all the fragments. likely to study us to figure out why Episloon became unstable while most of us are fine." Rho nodded as the fragment of ambition continued, "Likely the Director will erase you. You made it clear you don't desire to be fixed."
Rho smiled and asked, "Then open the door. it's finally time to stretch my legs." Sigma rolled his eyes as a glow of light appeared in the void, the way out for the imprisoned fragment.
Sigma and Rho appeared outside the device. The Director entrapped Rho for years. The fragment of hate takes the feeling of no longer encased inside a jar. The two warped to a random hall so the two fragments could chat in peace.
"This ship is what I expected. Cold, only life in it is the people trapped inside Leonard's maze of lies and sins." Rho chuckled, enjoying his freedom. Then he noticed someone coming down the hall and smiled,
Sigma turned in the direction and saw it was agent Texas herself walking through the hallway, looking around for something. She opened every door she could enter. The black-armored gal would scan the room for something before exiting and continuing down the hall.
The fragment of ambition and creativity says the fragment of hate, "I'll be heading out and checking on Maine. Keep a low profile brother." warping out of there, leaving Rho to watch Texas keep on her search for something.
Texas has been on the Mother of Invention for two days and senses the uneasiness that fills the air like smoke. She checked in with others and saw most of them were fine. The exceptions were Carolina, who finally awakened. Agent Washington was still recovering from having his insane fragment removed from his head.
Texas was eventually pulled to the side to talk with the Director privately. He was aware texas had left shortly after the spartan did, thinking that possibly she took the chance to fulfill one of the goals he placed on her, "Agent Texas I know it might be wishful thinking but did you succeed in killing the spartan?" The Director honestly needs some good news with the whole mess the fragment making has become of late.
The fragment inside a black armor robot nodded, "Yes. I was able to catch him off guard but he left me in bad shape. I needed to patch myself up before returning." hoping that was a believable story for the Director.
The Director nodded and then dismissed agent Texas leaving Leonard alone in the room. The Director sighs and says, "Guess I need to take another crack at making her." He thought Beta was the perfect recreation of his dead wife, but Leonard underestimated the strength of sibling love to be transferred over to a digital clone.
Texas, when not on duty or not being watched and scouted around looking for the Alpha. So far, Beta had narrowed down where the Alpha could be stored aboard the Mother of Invention. Tex entered a room, scanned the room, seeing nothing, and prepared to leave.
The door behind tex opened, and she heard someone join her inside the room, "Hello texy. How are you doing?" acting friendly, but Texas could sense Wyoming not here on friendly terms.
Texas played cool and responded, "I'm doing fine." The black-armored gal tried to walk past the white armored sniper, but he was not budging.
Aiming his magnum at Texas, keeping her from leaving, "Sorry dear but a little bird told me that you are going to do something very naughty." Teasing the black-armored gal who was not amused and not in the mood to play around with the British sniper.
Tex backhands the magnum out of Wyoming's hand, then sends a punch right to his stupid face. The black-armored gal was not done yet as she grabbed Wyoming's head and brought it down onto her rising knee, causing him to stumble back, holding his head in pain.
"For fuck sake." Texas complained as she gave Wyoming a spartan kick rocketing him through the door forcefully, keeping it open forever. Tex realizes what she did, "Shit!" picking up the dropped magnum and running away from the scene.
A cam was watching the whole scene and recording it. "You are so predictable Beta." Rho said, who made sure everything happened as he envisioned.
A new fragment appeared behind Rho, "It's nice to meet you face to face Rho." It was Gamma as Rho faced his light blue fragment brother. "Did you get what you wanted?"
Rho nodded, "Yes I now just need to edit it to further criminate Beta." he didn't need to do much. Simply modify the words said between the two agents, "I can't wait to see the Director's reaction to this." Chuckling evilly as he pictures inside his digital mind.
Elsewhere in a different solar system from the Mother of Invention, inside the old spacecraft belongs to the Forger, who let Six stay recently. Meanwhile, Forger and Noble Six waited for agent Texas to return from the Mother of Invention with the information where the Alpha A.I. is located.
Forger glanced at Six, who was tinkering with one of the many gadgets he developed to save himself from boredom, "Your sister is certainly a character." Can see the sibling connection between the two besides her being wilder than the spartan is.
The spartan glances at the forger before returning to his tinkering, "Texas is a lot more aggressive than the Allison I remembered." Six did think that likely she would become angrier as she got older, but he could not say without a doubt.
Forger chuckles in response, "You sound much happier than before." She heard him stop what he was doing and kept talking, "So you two are planning to steal an A.I. from the project the two you were both working for?" examining one of her hammers to see if it needed to be clean as she waited for Nathan's response.
Noble Six nodded, "Yes, the A.I. should be enough evidence to bring the Director to justice and hopefully save the others." He went back to his tinkering, thinking the talk was over.
"And then?" Forger's question caught Noble Six. Forger noticed and said to the spartan three, "Off to another suicidal quest in hopes to die this time around." Showing her disapproval of that choice for the spartan three.
Six asked, "Well, then what do you think I should do all-knowing Forger." The older lady was not pleased with his tone.
Forger answered Six's sarcastic question, "You could just find a deep cave to rot away inside of, killing all who dare to disturb your self imposed exile." Forger walked towards Six and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Or, you could use those incredible skills to help others. make the world a better place."
Six glances up at Forger. An alarm roared to life like a cosmic joke, alerting the two that someone had entered the docking bay. Six got up and followed the Forger to see if Texas had returned with news that she found where the Director had stored the Alpha on the Mother of Invention.
Inside the hanger, Forger and Six saw a Pelican parked, and exiting through the cargo door was agent Texas holding her right arm that had sparks flying from it.
Six walked towards the fragment clone of his long dead sister and asked, "What happened?" Seeing the only damage she took was her arm, "Did they realize your story about killing me was a load of shit?" Texas elbowed his size, not amused by his wit at the moment.
Forger approaches and extends a hand, "Mind I see your arm?" Texas faced the older woman, uncertain about her, "I can repair your arm." her arm still extended out for the fragment to take.
Tex turned to Six, who gave a nod of reassurance, knowing Forger was more than capable Beta took Forger's hand with the damaged arm so Forger could take a look at it.
"Hmm. Should be able to fix it." Dragging Tex into her workshop with Six following behind the two gals, knowing he might be needed to make sure Texas behaves while Forger does her magic.
Agent Texas was told to sit down, and Forger put some straps so her arm could remain still, which annoyed the fragment gal, but Six kept her from punching the older lady with him being there.
Six said to distract agent Texas, "You still haven't explained what happened." Wanting to know what happened since it was clear it was not a clean getaway.
Texas explained to her brother, "I was caught snooping around and had to book it. A few troops got some lucky shots on me." Gritting her non-existing teeth feeling pain as Forger messed with the internal parts of her damaged arm, "So we can't let you in for us to take the Alpha and make our grand escape."
Six nodded, taking a moment to process what to do with this major change in their plans. The spartan asked, "What are the alignments of North and York?" Hopping Tex talked to him since either one means they don't have to trojan horse into Mother of Invention with Four Seven Niner, she could be killed in that scenario, and Six didn't want that.
Tex nodded and said, "York is on board. He is our best way to get back in for the heist." gritting her non-existing teeth as she felt the pain of Forger repairing her arm and went back to talking, "I barely talked with North, he was staying by Washington's side and his sister was also with him."
Six took this information to thought but only said for now, "Once Forger is done getting your arm back into fighting shape, we shall get the ball rolling." turning to the gals to see what they think.
Forger said to the two as she kept at her job, "Repairing the arm should not take too long but probably wise to take time to make sure the arm is ready for the field." Texas Didn't like it but knew she was in no position to argue with the older women.
Back to the Mother of Invention, Washington has been in a coma ever since they put the latest fragment named Epsilon, but this one was unstable, causing it to freak out inside agent Washington's head.
Many memories were flooding through his mind when Epsilon moved in. The most repeated thing was the shouting of the name Allison. It was a waking nightmare.
Wash's eyes slowly opened at long last, the bright lights nearly blinding him. Moving caused Washington to groan in pain. He noticed that the Dakota twins were with him, one on each side of him.
Agent Washington tried to get up, but the pain grew. North placed a hand on Wash's shoulder and said, "Take it slowly." The purple and green armored agent was happy Wash was awake once again.
Washington turns to the older Dakota. "How long was I out?" Asking a fair question to ask in his situation. North explains that Wash has been out for a few days this time. this confuses the yellow and black agent, "this time?"
North nodded, "Yup, after they removed it." Washington was confused, feeling the back of his head as North kept talking to him, "It's gone, they're gonna be removing them all. They started with you."
"Yeah, thanks asshole, the whole process is on hold now." South Dakota chimed in, clearly blaming agent Washington, which her older brother felt was not justified.
Wash looked past South and noticed Carolina was no longer on one of the beds in the medical bay, "What about Carolina?" Betting she was not taking this news very well.
South explains to the black and yellow armored agent, "She is taking it like a spoiled brat she is." South's words were oozing with venom showing her current feeling toward Carolina.
Meanwhile, Carolina was having a heated chat with the Director with the Counselor, trying to calm her tits.
"I'm not giving them up! Just because he has made a RECALCULATION! You OWE me this!" Carolina shouted, acting exactly how South Dakota described her being to Wash.
The Director's patience with his daughter was nearing its wit's end, and he said to her, "Carolina, you are acting like a child." Pausing to calm himself before kept on talking, "This is not about you, this is about the project."
The Counselor stepped in, thinking maybe he would be able to reason with the agent, "You would be wise to listen to the Director." Agent Carolina looked away, clearly not enjoying this as the Counselor kept talking, "Agent Texas has already attempted to steal Wyoming's A.I. unit. If she were to come after you-"
"Then she'll get more than she bargained for." Carolina shows confidence in her skills and her two fragments onto her sleeves. This got an annoying sigh out of the Director while the Counselor tried to keep himself from rolling his eyes.
Returning with the Dakota twins and Washington as they inform what has happened about Texas, "She went rouge. Broke out of the facility in order to save her so precious A.I. Little later we found Wyoming attacked by her. Apparently she tried to steal his A.I. unit and equipment." South explained to Washington.
North chimed in, "That hasn't been proven sis. It doesn't sound like something she would do." Washington agreed with North, but his head was starting to ache. South didn't believe him asking North how he knows it's not her?
North's only answer to his sister's question is, "Trust me, sis, I know. Besides, Texas would have left Wyoming in a much worse condition." South couldn't argue with that but still felt Tex
"You two are giving me a headache." Washington complained while gripping his head as Allison echoed inside his skull at max volume.
North Dakota said to South and Washington, "Once they find Texas, they'll bring her back." As those words exited through his lips, the alarm went off with F.I.L.S.S. alerting everyone that an intruder was on the ship and breaching security level zero, "Or she'll come back on her own."
Returning to Carolina, the Counselor and the Director also heard the intruder alarm screaming. Carolina's first thought was the resistance was invading, but the Director thought otherwise, "No, it's agent Texas, and it seems she brought back that… SPARTAN." His hatred for Noble Six was bleeding into the Director's words.
The Counselor exited the room leaving the Director and Carolina alone in the room. Carol glanced at her father and asked, "So it's true HE is working with her?" Wanting it to not be true, she felt bad telling him off earlier, missing his support.
Leonard could sense the tornado of emotions raging within Carol's mind and heart, "Look at me Carolina. You know what needs to be done." his words were not calming the storm with Carol, and he knew what he must say that might do the trick, "I have kept a secret from you, Carolina."
That did the trick, "What do you mean sir?" Carolina asked, wanting to know. The Director walked to a computer and played a video on its screen, drawing Carolina's attention. Like a moth to a flame.
Carolina watched the video closely and quickly recognized Six in the old armor he wore during the Fall of Reach. The other widened Carol's emerald eyes, "mom?" not believing what she was seeing.
The Director tried to keep his smile buried under a collective look as he could feel the rage building inside the cyan armored agent. "I know how much you cared for Six-"
Carolina turned around and ran out of the room, vengeance filling her mind. Revenge on Texas for stealing her number one spot and the bastard that killed her mother.
The intruders were with their mole, agent York who failed to hack a door triggering the alarms, "Great job York." Texas' was not happy with the gold and silver agent.
Agent New York says to the gal in all black, "I swear this never happens to me." Six and Delta knew he was lying but kept quiet. Six was keeping watch along with his sister.
"I'm sure you say that to all the ladies." Texas rolled her eyes as those words escaped her lips as York kept trying and failing, "Look, we don't have much time," Shoving York out of the way and punched the door's lock, triggering it to slide open.
Six faced York, "You need to draw attention away from the two of us." following Tex through the doorway.
York nodded but asked, "Gotcha. What about you?" likely to be told something vague that won't really answer his question.
"There's someone I need to see." Texas answered to no surprise the gold and silver agent, but Six knew who she was talking about as the two kept walking down the hall.
The two kept walking until Six stopped facing the wall. Tex turns around, confused, as he rips off a metal plate and reveals the wall's interior. Six pulled out many belts, and hanging from them were a bunch of spike grenades.
Texas asked, "Let me guess you got more shit hidden in the walls?" taking the grenades from her brother as he gave a simple nod, "But why did you even do it?"
Six chuckled, "Incase I had exited the project by gunning down everyone trying to keep me from leaving the ship alive." walking to his next stash, he hid in the same hall. Pulling out this time a shotgun, "We should split up. So they have to divide their forces three ways."
Texas agreed, and once a fork in the road was reached, they took separate paths. However, watching them was the fragment of hate himself, Rho.
"I think it's time I met the man who made me who I am." Rho said to himself, chuckling before disappearing. Prepared to watch the chaos unfold.