A/N: Time for Chapter 47 of Agent Reach. Wow…can you believe I've been writing this for so long? We're nearing the midway part of the story, and I know a lot of you are wondering if Wash is gonna kill Massa. Well…spoilers aren't what we want.

Sorry this took so long. I'm in the middle of fucked up family issues, and the updates are going to take longer as a result.

*Chapter 47*

Haven system

Washington squinted as he fired a three round burst from his Battle Rifle, not used to looking through the scope with his left eye. The bullets struck slightly off-center, and he cursed in irritation as he squeezed the trigger, only for the long range weapon to click empty. "Motherfucker." 'Dammit. My shooting is still off, even with the improvements I've made to my close quarters skills. How the hell am I supposed to take out that bitch when I can't even hit a stationary target properly?' The blue/yellow Freelancer had gotten up early to try and get some extra practice in, considering what they were going up against in the very near future, but it wasn't going entirely as well as he would've liked.

Washington slapped a fresh clip into the weapon, and he looked through the scope again, trying to steady his slightly twitching hand with a deep, calming breath as he remembered what Reach had told him when they started shooting practice again. 'Inhale, and fire on your exhale.' He breathed in, making slight adjustments to his aim, and fired as the air left his lungs. The rounds struck the bull's-eye, and he laughed quietly to himself, almost amused by the results. Carolina and York had given him the exact same advice when he first joined Project Freelancer, and for a time he was actually in the top 5 on the leaderboard. 'Wow…I can remember the countless hours of shooting practice in the project. You two wanted to make sure I was capable of holding my own. Thanks, guys.'

If he was honest with himself, he was doing some practice to try and take his mind off of the mental war that was raging within his head. 'Do I want to send Massa to oblivion, or do I be the bigger person and see that she remains in irons for the rest of her days? I know I said I wanted to kill her when I regained consciousness after she betrayed me, but now, I'm not so sure. Dammit…Reach was right. It isn't an easy decision to make, holding the key to someone else's life in your hands. While I would love to see her suffer the same pain as I did…at the same time, is it really worth the hassle?'

As he pondered on whether he would kill the rogue blue/white Freelancer or spare her if the chance arose, the doors to the shooting range hissed open, and he could hear footsteps behind him. 'Someone else is up at this hour? It's three in the morning, for hell's sake. Not even Reach wants to be up at this time of the morning, and he was in the Spartan III project.' He turned, expecting maybe Reach or even Texas (who was usually up due to her random pregnancy cravings), but he was surprised to see it was neither of them. "You? What the fuck are you doing awake at this ungodly hour?"

It was Tucker, and the usually sarcastic black soldier rubbed his eyes wearily before picking up a DMR. "Couldn't sleep. Not like with all this shit happening at once. I mean, Kakiana's in a coma, that pink guy on the Red Team just got captured by the Meta, and that damn alien I call a kid is bouncing around like a monkey on steroids after his first feeding. Way too much crap for me to handle right now. How you Freelancers put up with this kind of shit on a daily basis is beyond me." The sleazy brunette hadn't fared well following the birth of their cross-species child, and even though she was placed on life support to keep her stable, she wasn't improving as fast as the Freelancers hoped. She showed little signs of improvement, and Reach grudgingly admitted to Washington and the other Freelancers that he wasn't sure if Kakiana would actually wake up.

"Wait, you fed the alien? How is that even physically possible?" Washington asked after an awkward five seconds in which Tucker started to shoot at the targets set up. Tucker let out a snort as he knocked over the cones with his rifle, giving the half-blind Freelancer a look through exhausted dark eyes. "Dude, do I look like I am physically capable of giving my kid substance? Caboose was the one who was kind enough to donate some blood."

"How did you…?"

"Let's just say you'd be surprised what you can get that teamkilling retard to do if you promise him sugar cookies and a giant glass of orange juice and leave it at that. I'm going to spare the details."

"Doesn't he hate needles though?" Washington muttered, switching his Battle Rifle for a Magnum. He wasn't the best when it came to sidearms, and felt the need to practice with it in the event that he was deprived of his primary weapon in their future battle with the Meta and Massa. Luckily, Reach had snagged an entire cache of the latest model of the Magnum from the experimental weapons facility on the Mother of Invention; they were sleeker with a better scope and provided more punch, and in the hands of an expert, they could reach out and touch someone from a good distance. 'Alright…time for sidearms.'

"Needles? Please," Tucker snorted, reloading his DMR. "He just exposed some skin and my kid dove right in. You know what they say; it takes a village. Little guy drank half a gallon in one go. It was pretty thrilling to see nature at work. I think he's going to be a linebacker when he grows up. Or a vampire. Or a vampire linebacker." He swapped for his sword, the blue plasma blade igniting, and he walked over to activate the holographic training floor next to the range. It was capable of producing realistic life-like holograms, and he started to swing the energy blade in graceful arcs.

Washington face-palmed, sighing before he started shooting at the targets with his Magnum. "Is Caboose still alive?" 'Great. Not only did Kakiana give birth to an alien, but she gave birth to one who fucking drinks blood. Fan-fucking-tastic. Just what we needed.' The incredibly dumb blue soldier hadn't shown any signs of even remote intelligence (unless Alpha took possession of his body) in the time Washington had known him, and now with him suffering major blood loss, the blue/yellow Freelancer was sure that Caboose had lost even more brain cells.

"He's fine. Some brain damage might actually be good for the idiot," Tucker snorted. "Church jumped into a robot body and tried shooting my kid for me. Unfortunately, he has the shittiest aim ever, and didn't hit anything but the wall. He keeps swearing one of you guys keeps fucking with the sights on his Sniper Rifle whenever he isn't looking." Washington bit back a laugh, for he could see a certain someone (specifically someone blonde and pregnant) actually doing that just to piss the short-tempered AI off for her own enjoyment and perhaps out of pure boredom. "I…can see that. I wouldn't be surprised if it was Tex; she apparently tried messing with the sights on Reach's rifle a few months ago." 'Definitely wouldn't be a shock. Though Maine was known for having a good practical joke every now and then; no one ever knew he was behind the punching telescope joke on CT.'

"How does that guy keep up with her? Seriously, does he have some sort of augmentation or some shit?" Tucker muttered. "It's amazing to listen to; I've never heard sex that passionate in my life." Washington shrugged, trying hard (and failing) to not think about the loud and frenzied moans that kept him up at ungodly hours of the night on more than one occasion. "I have no idea. Reach doesn't really talk all that much about his life in the Spartan III project. I guess he wants to leave it behind in the past or something." It wasn't strictly true, but it wasn't entirely false; Reach didn't talk much about being a Spartan, but he did tell the other Freelancers about his old teammate Jun hunting them and a few entertaining stories from when he was assigned to a Spartan commando unit. Mainly about one of his teammates being an asshole and trying to prank him even though April Fool's Day had long since passed. 'I can't believe his teammate Emile tried the old 'butter on the bathroom floor' trick on him.'

"Man…and I thought South Dakota was one who really didn't want to talk about her past," Tucker mumbled. "I tried asking if she was related to anyone within the project, and she practically attempted to rip my skull out of my head and beat me to death with it." Washington bit back a snarky remark, for he could see why South reacted the way she did to the question. It was kept well under wraps from the simulation troopers, but the Freelancers knew, and knew better to go around running their mouths. 'She feels horrible about getting North killed. Reminding her of him is going to trigger a messy response.'

South had spent a lot of time in the last two days in the armory, making all sorts of modifications to her armor. It was now a vibrant shade of purple, and most of the parts had been swapped out. Her shoulder and chest pieces were Recon, and she was playing around with a new type of experimental armor ability to enhance the suit. She wasn't giving the rest of them many details, apart from that it would be more convenient than the standard Bubble Shield, and the others respected her privacy in the matter. One thing they did know was that sadly it wouldn't be ready for their fight with the Meta, which was rapidly drawing near.

Tucker let out a yawn before he deactivated his sword, placing the hilt on his waist. "Well…see you in a few hours. I'm going back to bed." The aqua soldier left Washington alone in the shooting range, and the Freelancer sighed as he continued to work on his aim, the 12.7mm rounds striking the targets. 'Dammit…just what do I want to do after we fight them? Do I want to kill Massa, or let her live with the knowledge that death is too good for her?'

'Fuck me…this shit is not easy to deal with.' Bull's-eye.

-0-

Abandoned Project Freelancer facility

Snowdrift

Massa aimed her rifle the minute the door to the facility hissed open, her gaze performing a quick sweep of the area. "We're clear. Move up." 'It's…quiet. Too quiet. This facility is too important to just leave abandoned. Either we're walking into a trap, or we're not going to find anything here, and Beta's been claimed by the Chairman.' The facility still had some security protocols active, and the only way she had managed to open the door without alerting any possible occupants was courtesy of Epsilon, even if he was still being a prick to her. 'At least that's all he's doing. He could very easily become metastable and take over Jason like that bitch Zeta.'

Missouri held onto his Gravity Hammer with one hand, the other tossing the unconscious Private Donut into a storage crate. Massa had injected him with an anesthetic that would keep him sedated for the better part of the day, mainly for his own safety; she was afraid that if he didn't shut the hell up about interior decorating, reality TV shows, and fashion magazines that her brother was going to rip out his skull and beat him to death with it. 'Knowing that both Texas and Reach had to deal with this idiot makes me feel bad for them. How did they put up with it?'

She had been deployed to a few of the simulation bases herself, and many times she ended up having to fight the very tempting urge to just kill every one of the morons and go home for a cup of tea; they weren't exactly smart in any way. 'At least Jason didn't have to deal with that kind of shit. Ugh…what was the Director thinking of?'

A camera near the ceiling swiveled around, and Massa looked at her brother as he closed the crate. "Get ready; I don't know what'll happen once we awaken Beta. There's a high probability she won't be willing to listen to reason, and we'll have to use force to calm her down." 'Probability my ass. Beta was even more unstable than Epsilon; he might have gone metastable after implantation, but he didn't go berserk and slaughter a bunch of instructors during a simple combat practice.'

"You better be worried what I'm going to do if you don't get me the fuck out of this jackass's head," Epsilon growled. "I've had it. Get. Me. Out. Now." The powder blue AI's hologram flashed vibrantly, and having been with the asshole for as long as she had, Massa knew that that he had reached the end of his short tolerance. 'I hope there are spare robot bodies inside. Because I can't risk him being a bigger prick and start messing with Jason's equipment.' "Fine. Do an inventory check; I want to see if we're lucky enough to have the storage units for the other AIs, too."

"The fuck do I look like to you, bitch? I'm not your damn serva—"

"Epsilon!"

"Ugh. Fine. Fucking bitch…"

Massa wanted to yank him out and smack him around, but she also knew that the short-tempered AI was being kind in only calling her a bitch. He could do a lot worse, like mess with Missouri's armor and possibly cut off the oxygen supply. 'He knows it, too. Right now, he's the one in control of Jason's armor and equipment, and could very easily tamper with it to cause some sort of harm.'

"We have a half a dozen spare storage units in Section Four," Epsilon grumbled. "Beta's not showing any signs of activity, suggesting she's dormant. Can't say what she's going to do once we wake her ass up; she'll probably be her usual bitchy self." Massa nodded, and she gave her older brother a glance. "You go and get those things out of your head. Epsilon, you're with me. I'll need you to get through whatever kind of security the facility still has active."

Missouri gingerly removed the angry AI's chip with an unsteady hand, and the blue/white Freelancer took it from him, her green gaze looking into his visor. 'We're so close. So close to getting you free. We just need a little bit more time. If it weren't for Alaska, we would probably be either dead or imprisoned awaiting death row by now.' It pained her to think of their friend's sacrifice, for he was yet another casualty in the bitter mess that Project Freelancer had become after the Director experimented on her brother. 'Alex, I hope you're right. I hope I'm not just kidding myself thinking I can get Jason out of this without having him executed.'

She did feel horrible about doing what she did to Washington, but no matter how much Epsilon called her a selfish bitch that deserved to be electrocuted to death, she knew it was the best bet he had for remaining out of prison. 'I hope Wash was found by Reach and Tex. There's no way to know for sure, since his recovery beacon was out of range once we entered the Haven system. Please…who am I trying to kid? Guys like him just keep getting up. Wash's alive and probably wanting payback. I won't hold it against him if he wants it.'

"Massa, Snowdrift's long-range sensors have picked up a possible UNSC contact, heading straight for us," Xei warned glumly. "Chiroptera-class ship."

"Any Freelancers onboard?"

"Scanning…I can't get a clear signal. But I'm picking up radio chatter between the orbital defense platform and the vessel. Sounds like we're going to have our hands full once they land."

'Dammit. And when we're so close to the end.' "I'm sorry, but I can't afford to have you terminated or be corrupted by the Chairman. Transfer all data from the last three weeks to my personal files and delete them from your memory banks. Safety protocol override, priority Omega. Password: ThereOnceWasAGirl. Acknowledge last command," Massa commanded, bringing out a distasteful snort from Epsilon. It pained her to delete any part of her AI's memory, especially after she destroyed Zeta not that long ago. But, it was a necessary evil to protect Xei from anyone who wanted to use her as evidence.

"Password accepted. And…thank you. For what it's worth, I've enjoyed serving with you, Mariah," Xei sniffled. "Just do me a favor; if the situation starts turning towards me being deconstructed…pull the plug on me first. Rather have a quick and painless death at the hands of you compared to one that's long and torturous by ONI agents."

"It won't come to that. I promise," Massa returned. "They'll have to kill me before I let them lay a finger on you." 'I actually mean it, too. After what we've been through, I trust her completely. Whether or not she still trusts me is a different story.' Epsilon groaned in mock nausea, earning a glare from the brunette woman, and she walked further into the facility, stopping at a heavily armored door. "Epsilon, you're up."

"Ugh, fine," the powder blue AI grumbled. His hologram floated over towards the control panel by the door, and when he touched it, a spinning holographic lock appeared on the door. "Fuck me. Holographic lock system, and not a model we've seen before. Looks like it's the Atlesian prototype."

"How long to crack it?"

"Thirty seconds. Give me fifteen." Epsilon disappeared into the system, and sure enough, fifteen seconds later the lock spun and the door opened with a slow hiss. Steam flooded the hall, almost as if it had been the door to room filled with cryotubes that had just been flash-thawed. The spectacle made the rogue Freelancer feel even more uneasy about waking up Beta; if done improperly, flash-thawing resulted in either death or mentally unstable behavior with effects equivalent to those of the rumbledrugs used by the Insurrection to try and combat the Spartan IIs. 'I don't like this. It's bad enough to try and release an unstable unit like Beta, but adding the possibility of a wrongly performed flash-thaw just made it worse.'

Massa shrugged her uneasiness to the side, taking a deep breath as the steam cleared and revealed a small platoon's worth of robotic bodies. Epsilon made something along the lines of a sound of enjoyment, or as close as it came for the asshole AI to be happy, and she ignored him as she spotted a strange panel in the back. 'Beta?' Letting her Sniper Rifle attach to her back, she tapped the holographic projection for the terminal, several security programs activating. "Ah hell." 'Ugh…why can't this ever be easy for once?'

'No point in wishing for the impossible, Mariah. You'd have better luck convincing Donut that dirt tastes like chocolate.' The first system looked as though it was created by the Director, for it was password protected by a seven digit codeword, and Massa had a sneaking suspicion she knew what it was. Perhaps no Freelancer apart from her or Texas would be able to guess it, as names were information rarely shared between members of the project. 'Then again,' she thought dryly, 'For all I know Tex could be intimate with that guy Reach and knocked up from him. Obviously he would know if that were the case.'

She typed in the password, 'Allison', and the first system was disabled. The second one activated, and it made the brunette grumble in irritation. "Seriously? A retinal scan? Epsilon, is there any way you can get through this? I mean, you're pretty much the same as the Director himself." In truth, none of the other AIs, apart from the Alpha, could possibly get through this one, even if they tried. Because both AIs acknowledged themselves as 'Leonard Church', they would be capable of accessing anything the Director would only want himself to see.

"There is. Let me work my magic. Abra Kadabra."

"Nice to see you carry the family legacy of being an asshole…"

"Oh shut up," Epsilon grumbled. He vanished into the system with a huff, and Massa rolled her eyes before flexing her fingers to type in a series of commands. "Xei, your turn. Disable the recording devices and any alarms that we might've accidentally triggered." 'Dammit. This stupid security software is getting on my nerves.'

"Okay…done. Even wiped out the footage from us entering. We're good to go," Xei murmured quietly. Seeing her AI in her current state made a wave of guilt rush over the brunette, and she would've loved to see the once bubbly AI to start playing with a jump-rope or dance horribly, or even start singing some god-awful song like she used to. 'All I ever do is hurt those closest to me. New Jersey, Alaska, Xei…'

'Wash…'

Epsilon reappeared, and with the way he had his chin high, it was evident that the jackass of an AI was feeling incredibly smug about something. "We're good to go, bitchy blue and white. Just enter the phrase, 'Unseal the hushed casket', and let it all unfold from there." Massa ignored the usual insult provided by Epsilon and entered the password, feeling the effects immediately.

The ground below started to part, like it was the door of a Forerunner facility, and a sealed cryotube covered in frost rose from the ground. 'There she is. Poor Beta…she's just as much of a victim as Tex herself. Someone unwillingly created for the Director's own selfish reasons. And yet I'm here to use you, as well. No good or evil for this mess, is it?' Massa wiped a small circle clear on the heavy glass, and the black figure inside stirred before their arms began to punch at the seals. "Oh shit…"

She leapt back, and not a moment too soon. The pod burst open, the hinges shattering from the force, and the door soared over the blue/white Freelancer's head. "Well, that was unexpected. Still, could be worse." As soon as those words finished leaving her mouth, the black figure slammed a fist into its hand, mechanical noises being heard as it moved its neck in a cracking motion before letting out four words in a low, truly menacing growl.

"Alright cockbites. Who's first?"

A/N: Next up, Massa vs. Beta. I plan on drawing this fight out for awhile, so expect some good shit. Again, sorry for this taking so long. Divorces aren't exactly easy to get through...