A/N: Hey guys, I'm here with Chapter 21…and still in pain. Last major update said I was going to need 3-4 months to recover (Well, there goes my hopes for being able to play at a concert), so I'm not exactly happy with that at the moment. I decided to give you a chapter about the other Freelancers this time around, and ten free cookies for anyone who knows what song these lyrics are from:

Give me gear, thank you dear, bring your sister over here and let her dance with me just for the hell of it.

*Chapter 21*

UNSC Alpha Base

Sidewinder

Washington stood over the corpse in front of him, his shoulders slumped. 'I was too late…dammit!' The body in front of him was that of his old teammate and close friend in Project Freelancer. Agent York.

The deceased agent had several wounds, including a fatal one through his head. Washington crouched down, reaching around the back of his dead friend's head. He found that the chip containing Delta was missing. 'Someone's taken him…but who? The Director, maybe?'

Sighing, Washington picked up York's body, carrying the corpse away from the scene of the incident. "Old friend, I can't leave your armor here. I'm sorry for what I'm about to do…" 'That bastard used me as a scapegoat, and now he's missing while I'm imprisoned by the UNSC. When I find the Director…I'm going to kill him.'

He was met by a pair of armed MPs, who stared straight ahead with Battle Rifles in their hands. "Recovery One." Washington nodded despairingly, hating how he was forced to collect the technology used by Project Freelancer. That included armor, experimental weapons, armor abilities, and any AIs. So far, he had only found the dead body of his best friend.

Washington entered the base, stopping in front of the office of a mysterious man known only as the Chairman. "Sir, it's me. I'm here with the corpse of Agent New York of Project Freelancer."

"Enter, Recovery One," a silky smooth male voice ordered. With his hands full, he placed York's body over his shoulder before pushing the door open. The Chairman was sitting in his chair, facing away from the imprisoned agent. "So, you have the body. Interesting…"

He spun around in the chair, his hands neatly folded in his lap. "Is it just the armor, or is the AI known as Delta present as well?" Washington shook his head, placing the body down. "No, sir. I'm afraid it appears as though Delta has been stolen. The helmet has also been taken; therefore we can't view the helmet-cam to see exactly what had happened." 'It's too clean. Too efficient. To steal the helmet as well as Delta…who could have done such a thing? Surely not Wyoming?'

"That is most regrettable…" the Chairman breathed. "Still. This armor is a magnificent piece of technology, even with the helmet missing. I thank you, Recovery One." He snapped his fingers, and a pair of armed guards entered, each equipped with an MA5B Assault Rifle. "Take Recovery One back to his cell. We'll search for any possible leads as to the culprit of Agent New York's death."

With his head lowered, Washington followed the guards to his cell. 'I can't believe this…the entire time, the Director was looking for someone to pass the blame onto. And that poor bastard happens to be me.'

'Will I ever get out of this mess? Or am I doomed to imprisonment forever?'

-0-

North Dakota rested next to his twin sister, panting. The two of them had been running from the Director and the Meta for nearly two weeks now, following the destruction and downfall of Project Freelancer.

"South, we can't run forever," North said in defeat. "Sooner or later…the Meta or the Director will catch us. We might as well turn ourselves in to the UNSC and admit that we were agents of the project prior to its downfall." The lavender Freelancer hissed at him, her eyes aflame. "Have you lost your fucking mind!? The UNSC will just throw us in some maximum security prison in the middle of fucking nowhere, and then ONI will kill us!"

North winced slightly at his sister's harsh tone, and he tried to keep his voice steady as he attempted to reason with her. "Sis…we don't have any choice. At least we can attempt to make a deal with the UNSC. The Director or the Meta will just kill us on the spot. With ONI, we have a better chance of getting out of this mess alive."

South lashed out with her hand, the back of it catching him in the face. "No one can help us. Not a single fucking person. Anyone who could have helped us is now dead. Reach. Tex. Carolina. Maine. All the people who could have fought the Meta and have a slim chance at living are gone. We're alone in this."

North grimaced at the strike, his cheek stinging. 'We're done for, then. Even Reach and Tex couldn't take on the Meta. She's right.' "Then what do you suppose we do, then? If the three best Freelancers couldn't defeat the Meta, then what chance do we have? We might as well just sit here and die." He hated sounding so defeated, but there was no hope for either of them. It was a choice between either death or imprisonment. 'We're out of options. We're out of time. South's right…we're completely alone in this.'

"You're just going to fucking give up, then?" South hissed, her voice thick with fury. "If that's your decision, then fine. Goodbye North." The lavender Freelancer turned to walk away, only to stop in her tracks. "No…he's found us." The anger in her tone disappeared, now replaced by intense fear. And North could only think of two people to send such fear into his twin sister. 'It's either the Director…or worse, the Meta.'

The purple Freelancer ran towards his sister, stopping dead as he saw the massive figure encased in blue/green armor. 'Missouri…you bastard. Nearly everything I fought for as a member of the project is now lost, thanks to you.' As much as they had bickered and tried to occasionally harm each other, North still loved South as a sister. 'You're not taking her away from me, too.'

Reaching behind his back, the Meta drew its Brute Shot, growling. Several AIs appeared around him, and North's eyes widened as he saw just how many agents had fallen victim to the mutated agent. 'Gamma, Delta, Iota…but Eta, Omega, and Sigma aren't there. Is it possible…that those three are still alive after all?'

The AI that intrigued the purple Freelancer the most was the female one next to Iota. 'That must be the AI that the Director actually gave him.' "So…you found us after all." 'We're dead. We can't hope to kill the Meta. He has the others' equipment…and we're done for.'

'Call yourself a soldier? We can't just let him kill us without a fight,' North scolded himself. He drew a Sniper Rifle, loading a clip in. "South, we might die here. But we won't die hiding." His sister nodded, her face pale as she raised a pair of Magnums. "…right."

"What fools," the female AI sneered, the cold voice sending shivers up North's spine. "Meta, show them how useless resistance is." The Meta hissed, swinging his Brute Shot. North pushed South out of the way, the two of them falling on the ground. The purple Freelancer felt the wind of the blade passing over him, missing by inches. 'That was close…too close.'

North rolled off of South, the two Freelancers nearly being impaled by the Meta's Brute Shot as it tried to stab down. The blade sank into the ground, and the mutated agent growled in fury as it struggled to free its main weapon.

South fired a series of shots from her Magnums, the rounds impacting on the Meta's armor. It seemed to not care about pain, and the Meta's armor began to glow orange as North unloaded a full clip from his Sniper Rifle into it. 'Dammit…it has York's regeneration ability. And the fact this massive brute snuck up on us…it must have Tex's cloaking or Carolina's chameleon ability.'

The Meta freed its weapon, and its armor stopped glowing orange, replaced now by some sort of incredibly strong shielding. It jumped upwards, firing its Brute Shot at the two. North rolled away, reloading his Sniper Rifle and firing again. 'This bastard has an Overshield, too. That must be what that new AI is for.'

The Meta swung downwards, and this time, the blade of the weapon sliced North's Sniper Rifle in half. He discarded the ruined long-range weapon, raising his fists. 'We're done for…unless one of us can distract him for a bit and we can get rid of that damn Brute Shot.'

The Meta hissed as South continued to fire at it, the Overshield giving way under constant fire. It placed its Brute Shot across its back, making its way towards the lavender Freelancer. The mutated agent reached for South's throat, and North jumped on the agent's back, grabbing the Brute Shot. 'Got it!' The Meta growled, reaching back and throwing North off of him like a fly. The purple agent fell on his back, winded.

North got to his feet slowly, stumbling over towards the Meta. It had South in its hand, the lavender Freelancer struggling and coughing in the Meta's iron grip. The purple Freelancer raised the Brute Shot and slammed the blunt end onto the back of the Meta's head, stunning the mutated agent. It turned around, only for South to take the opportunity to lash out with her legs and catch it in the perfect spot, the Meta's grip releasing as it slumped down, unconscious.

South gasped for breath, bleeding from a wound in her side. She stumbled over to North, who had dropped the Brute Shot in sheer exhaustion. "I-is it dead?" Her voice rasped out, and the purple Freelancer shook his head. "No. It's just knocked out from us using surprise tactics. Delta, are you there?"

"Affirmative. I regret to inform that Agent New York has been killed and I have been captured by the Meta," the green AI said. "With all due respect, I'd prefer it greatly if someone could get me removed from this abomination the Director created." North reached forward to remove Delta from the Meta when he heard a pair of gunshots, and a sharp stinging pain seared through his stomach.

North fell on the ground, turning to see who had shot him. His heart sank in despair when he saw who was holding those pistols. 'No…why? Why did it have to be you?' "South…why?" The lavender Freelancer ignored him, reaching down and yanking Delta from the Meta. She holstered the weapons, looking back at her brother. "It doesn't want me. It wants you. You have Theta and a Drop Shield. That'll be more than enough to keep the Meta occupied for awhile."

North tried to reach out to his twin when the Meta stirred, parts of its armor glowing orange as the regeneration unit began to heal it rapidly. "You mean…you planned this all along?" He couldn't believe that the one person left he had fought for had now betrayed him and planned on using him as bait for the Meta.

South blinked slowly, her eyes filled with anger and sadness. "I'm sorry, brother. But if it's a choice between the two people I care about, or you…it's them. Goodbye, North." The purple Freelancer tried to sit up, only for another bullet to meet his stomach. He gasped in pain, blood flowing from the wounds as he tried to make sense of what his sister just said. 'She never gave a damn about anyone in the project! She hated them all! Who the hell could she mean!?'

North then remembered when they found out about everything. Carolina's murder. Tex, Reach, and Maine's disappearances. York's desertion. Wyoming's misunderstanding of the situation. Washington's imprisonment. The creation of the Meta, and the Director's ambitions for it. 'Who are the two she could be talking about?'

His question was answered a short second later, as South let her eyes turn away from him and walk away. "Reach…Maine. Please…don't be dead." North's eyes widened, and as South disappeared, the Meta got back to its feet, growling angrily. 'Why sis? Why…?'

North tried to get up, blood flowing from his side. "No…wait!" The Meta hissed, grabbing its Brute Shot and sliding a new series of rounds into it. The purple Freelancer turned around, only to get thrown onto the ground. The mutated agent placed its boot onto his chest, breaking the sternum and caving in the ribs. North spat out blood, gasping for breath as the Meta twisted its boot. Ribs broke, and the purple agent could only look as the mutated agent reached down, yanking Theta from the back of his skull. 'Was this the fate of the others?'

'South…I don't blame you for doing what you did. You're my sister…no matter what.' North blinked his light eyes, and the Meta aimed the blade of its Brute Shot at his throat, prepared to kill him. "Make it quick." 'If my death can help you escape…then please. Go on and get as far from here as you can, sis.'

The Meta sliced, and North's eyes bulged slightly before they closed, never to see the light again.

-0-

South Dakota ran as far as she could, stopping when she was about twenty miles from the scene of the encounter with the Meta. The lavender Freelancer sat down on a broken tree stump, lowering her head and covering her eyes. 'I had no choice…that monster doesn't want me. It wants you, and you can keep it distracted.'

'Oh brother…why did it have to be like this?' South wringed her silver-blonde hair, trying her best to not cry. She had a lot of pride, and hated giving off any indication of weakness. In the project, South had wanted to desperately prove that she was capable of being there. Even if it meant acting like a complete bitch.

Even if it meant she had to act as though she despised two people she had begun to think intimately of. Agent Maine and Agent Reach.

"Agent South Dakota—," Delta began to speak when the lavender Freelancer raised her head, sorrow in her eyes. "Don't call me that, Delta. No longer am I Agent South Dakota of Project Freelancer. I don't deserve that title anymore." 'No…I will take the name that was given to me a long time ago. The name that I was born with.'

"Then…what do you wish for me to call you?" Delta asked. South closed her eyes, finally giving in and allowing herself to shed tears. "My real name. Natalie." 'Oh, Nathan…I'm so, so sorry. I never wanted to do this…' Blood continued to spill from the gash in her side, throbbing painfully.

"Very well, Natalie," Delta breathed. The normally blunt and serious green AI's tone was somber, and it looked down at the ground. "I can feel your pain as if it were my own. Knowing what you had to do in order to live…it must be unbearable. And I never knew you felt such a way about Maine and Reach."

South wiped her eyes, thinking of the two missing agents. 'I refuse to believe they're dead. They're out there, somewhere. But where?' "I didn't want them to know. I had never felt so strongly towards someone before…"

Choking back a sob, South blinked and looked at the green AI. "Delta…do you have any idea where they could have gone?" Delta shook his head, sighing and looking away. "Not a clue. I'm out of range of the AIs Sigma and Eta…wait a minute."

South stood up, drawing a Magnum and reloading it. "What?" 'Please tell me you've picked up a trace of them…please.' The green AI cleared its throat, letting out a cough. "I've just caught a spike of intense AI activity."

The lavender Freelancer started to panic, her breathing increasing. "The Meta?" 'Is it headed this way to kill me?' Delta shook his head, puzzled. "No. The Meta is retreating to repair a pair of breaches in its armor. The activity is in fact coming from…the Alpha."

South's eyes widened. She had heard stories from Theta and Gamma about Alpha. It was supposed to be the only 'smart AI' in Project Freelancer, and as a result, was the most powerful of them all. "Alpha? Are you certain?" 'It can't be…I thought Alpha was just a myth!'

"Positive. Tracking the location of the spike…" Delta paused, and after several moments, the green AI spoke again. "Got it. It's coming from…Blood Gulch. Natalie, check your datapad for the star chart."

The lavender Freelancer looked at her datapad, checking the star charts. She sighed when she saw that the intense AI activity from Alpha was coming from a planet on the ass-end of the galaxy. 'I didn't train to be a pilot. I can't even fly a damn Pelican with crashing it into some forsaken planet in the middle of fucking nowhere.' "Great. It's in the middle of nowhere."

"Don't worry, Natalie. I can fly a Longsword perfectly fine," Delta said bluntly. South began to walk again, running a hand through her silver-blond hair. "Are there any off-planet extraction points within range?"

"Yes. There is a UNSC air base located about ten miles north of our present location," Delta informed. "We can get there within maybe two, three hours if we hurry." South nodded, running. "Right. Let's go."

-0-

South crouched down behind a barrier, her pistol in hand. A guard passed by her hiding spot, not looking over to his right, and the lavender Freelancer let out a sigh of relief. 'So far, so good.' "We're clear."

She looked over at the airfield, hoping that she could find a Longsword to pilot to Blood Gulch or some other Slipspace-worthy craft. 'Pelicans, Falcons, Hornets…no Longswords. You've got to be fucking kidding me.' "Delta, there's nothing here. None of these craft are capable of making a transition to Slipspace." She bit her lip to prevent a yelp of pain from leaving her, the wound continuing to pulse and throb.

The green AI frowned, his hologram flicking on. "Let me see…there seems to be a captured Space-Banshee in the left hangar. They're capable of making a Slipspace transition." South brushed her hair out of her eyes before standing up, looking to make sure they were alone. "Can you fly one?" 'Space-Banshee…hmmm.'

Even though the Covenant War had spread wide throughout the galaxy, South had never actually gotten a chance to fight against alien invaders. She had been recruited into Project Freelancer almost as the war neared its end, several years ago. As a result, she didn't know much about the Covenant technology, apart from the unique armor abilities and weapons.

"I'm confident in my abilities to fly this craft. It is a single person ship, but your helmet is missing. That will make things…very complicated if things go wrong in vacuum," Delta said. South hissed under her breath, her shoulders slumping. Her helmet was somewhere still onboard the Mother of Invention, wherever the hell it was. "Great. So if we run into a problem, we're dead." 'There's no way out of this…'

"That's only if things go wrong in the transition. The Covenant's Slipspace technology is far superior to our own, and as a result, we have an incredibly small chance of not surviving this," Delta reassured. South let out a sigh, running over to the hangar as fast as she could. "That's great, D. Now, let's get the damn thing and fly out of here. I don't want to get caught and then die." 'We'd be shot on sight. Or worse, handed over to ONI.'

She pushed the hangar door open, where the alien aircraft was held up by several cables. South crawled into the aircraft, and Delta began to take charge of the controls. "Cabin has been sealed. Engaging thrusters."

'Maine…Reach…I'm coming.' South yanked on the lever that looked like the throttle, and the Banshee's engines screamed, the cables snapping. "Get us out of here, D." The green AI's hologram flashed up, and his hands worked over the controls rapidly. "Autopilot online. I am now in control. Setting a course for Blood Gulch."

The Banshee soared out of the hangar, heading up towards the sky. South relaxed once they reached space, for there were no other craft at the base that were able to follow her. "So…how the hell do we get this alien piece of shit to go into Slipspace?" 'There's no giant red button or lever.'

"Let me handle that part, Natalie," Delta returned, his hologram in front of her. "This drive should get us to Blood Gulch within a day. Curious…my estimations show that it would take a UNSC ship about a week to reach Blood Gulch from this location."

"Looks like the Covenant space program was a success, then," South murmured. A Slipspace portal opened up in front of them, and they flew into it, hoping that the two South was looking for were still alive on the other side.

A/N: Well? I was kinda tired of how everyone makes South seem like an annoying bitch who killed her brother, so I tried to make it seem as if she felt pain doing it. And don't bother with a suggestion about a love triangle between South, Tex, and Reach (because it isn't fucking happening lol. Plus it starts getting weird with that 'sharing is caring' BS). Instead…well, she'll go bigger. And bigger is better.

Tucker: Bow chicka bow wow

A/N: Goddammit…