A/N: Well, here is possibly the last update for Agent Reach for 2018. I'm going to get bitch-slapped by the Christmas rush at work (yay me) for a few days. Fun times. Now, where were we…
Oh right. Jun. I need to keep on track with my shit lol. Also, stay tuned for a small message below.
*Chapter 56*
Reach was sitting on the smooth sandstone block, running a hand over his new sword. It was something to preoccupy his mind while they waited for Jun to arrive, and yet the Spartan's thoughts were still heavy with concern. Ten years had passed since he and Jun last had the pleasure of speaking face to face, and in that time Jun had moved on to become a trainer for the Spartan IVs whereas Reach became a member of a secret military organization.
'Sword is sharp enough to cut through ODST armor. I'm lucky I found it in the temple.' Reach let out a sigh. He'd make the weapon a permanent piece of his armor when he was back onboard their vessel, but right now the most he could do was hold the sheathed blade in his hands.
The sun was scorching hot overhead, and sand was beginning to blow everywhere from a minor sandstorm that had whipped up. If he took a look around him, he'd see nothing but an endless sea of dunes that covered the entirety of this planet. 'I'd hate to live here. I'd go mad for seeing nothing but sand.'
The small oasis a hundred meters south provided more than enough water to last for a reasonable amount of time, but he didn't feel like treading over to relax in its cool depths for a few reasons. One, South and Maine were already in it, and he didn't want to intrude.
Two, he'd really prefer to be clothed when Jun came.
'Ten years. Ten long fucking years. And for the longest, I thought I was in some sort of alternate reality instead of me jumping ten years into the future. Funny how the universe works.' He stood up and took off his helmet as a black dot in the distance started to approach, and he pulled out a flare from his armor. He ignited it and tossed it into a spot more than large enough for a Pelican to land, trying to fasten his sword to his grenade belt.
The dot turned into a black dropship, and the craft slowed down to make its landing. Reach couldn't see past the tinted viewport, but he didn't need to. He already knew Jun was the one piloting it.
"Hey, are you sure about this?" Washington asked, jogging up to him. The Freelancer was a little on edge, and Reach couldn't blame him; the last stranger he tried trusting ended up leaving him for dead.
Still, Reach knew Jun. He wasn't the type to go around shooting people for the hell of it like the Meta or Massachusetts.
"Yes, I'm sure," he answered calmly. "I know Jun; I fought with him against the Covenant on Reach for several months. He's not the type of person we're used to dealing with these past few months." 'Rogue Freelancers, idiotic simulation troopers, angry AIs, and rebels. We've got most of the bases covered now.'
'Shit, this job really is stressful when it comes to having to deal with all of them in quick succession. Or on a daily basis, depending.'
"Hey, Wash?" he asked wearily. "Can you do me a favor?"
"What?" His friend grinned.
"If by any chance you meet the past version of me, tell me to not become the leader of the Red Team."
Washington laughed, and the black stealth Pelican landed. The engines died down, and the rear hatch opened up with a loud hiss.
Reach stood up, and out of the Pelican came Jun. The Spartan had his signature Sniper Rifle in his hands, yet he did not have his helmet on. The sun made his shaved head shine, and he gave Reach a small grin. "Hello, Adam. It's been a long time, hasn't it?"
"It has." Reach nodded. "Ten years, give or take a few months."
"And yet, you don't appear to have aged a day since we last met." Jun placed his rifle across his back, walking over to him and giving him a friendly thump on the shoulder. "You look good, considering. How the hell did you even survive?"
"You want the long version, or the short version?" Reach asked.
"I have time to kill. Let me hear it."
Reach took a seat, and Jun sat across from him as he began his story about how he had seemingly died on Reach, ended up ten years in the future, and became a member of Project Freelancer.
Considering he had seen his friend for the first time in a decade, Jun was taking it surprisingly well. "You were a member of Project Freelancer? I bet that must have been a cakewalk compared to the Covenant."
"Not quite," Reach admitted. "My injury from Reach still bothered me for the few weeks I was there. Not to mention I had an admittedly short fuse for a week or two." 'That's putting it lightly.'
Washington snorted at that. "Please. You actually flipped out on Carolina."
"Thank you, peanut gallery." Reach rolled his eyes, prompting Jun to snicker. "As I was saying, it all started to unravel after we failed to secure CT's armor from the rebellion. Things we heard prompted us to investigate the Director."
"Us?" Jun's eyebrow rose in curiosity.
"Carolina, Texas, and myself."
"You know, if Emile were around, he'd ask which one you slept with." Jun smirked. "Did you?"
"A gentleman doesn't kiss and tell," Reach returned, trying to hide his slight embarrassment. "Anyways, the three of us found out what the Director was doing in terms of our artificial intelligence units. He had a smart AI called Alpha and he was torturing it to break off into fragments, creating the AIs used by the Freelancers. I have one myself. Eta, if you'd be so kind."
"Greetings, Jun." Eta appeared in a flash of orange. "It is a pleasure to meet you. Adam spoke most highly of you."
"Did he now?" Jun grinned. "Who are you and what have you done with Adam?"
Reach sighed and rubbed his temples. 'Great. Now I'll never hear the fucking end of it.' "Thank you, Eta. As you can see, Eta here is one of the many fragments created from the Alpha. Maine was given Sigma after his throat injury." He gestured to where the giant Freelancer and South were relaxing in the spring. "Do try to ignore the fact that he's naked, please."
"And South, too," Washington added, purposely turning his back to the scene.
"North Dakota had Theta. New York, Delta. Carolina, Iota. Massachusetts, Xei. Texas had Omega. Missouri, Zeta." Reach's blood pumped at the memory of seeing the Meta for the first time. "After we found out…it quickly went to hell. Missouri went rogue, possessed by his AI after it became metastable."
"I thought that was only a theory," Jun said in alarm. "Not even the smart AIs in ONI achieved that level of rampancy."
"I know. But none of them were split personalities from the same AI," Reach pointed out. "Zeta was Alpha's sadism. It gained control of Missouri's body, turning him into the Meta with one goal in mind: to take the other AIs to boost its power and destroy anyone who got in the way."
"Let me guess; the Meta killed North Dakota and New York?" Jun asked.
"Carolina, too." Reach let out a sigh. "We haven't found her after the Meta threw her off a cliff."
"I wouldn't worry too much." Jun smiled. "Carolina is alive and well. I found her on Sidewinder. She was seriously wounded when I found her, but she was alive when I left to find you. Been chasing you halfway across the galaxy and back."
"Carolina's alive?" Washington asked. His grey eyes were wide with relief, and he slumped down. "Thank God…I thought she was dead."
Reach thought he could hear something else hidden in Wash's voice. He wasn't sure what it was, though. "That's good news. Hopefully we can find her, soon. We'll need all the help we can get in taking down the Director." 'Carolina's still alive and kicking. Hopefully she's recovered from her wounds by now.'
Part of him doubted it. He knew from their time in Project Freelancer together that Carolina was incredibly stubborn; she probably had a few extra injuries now. 'Knowing her, she's probably refusing proper medical treatment.'
Her stubbornness was something that seemed to run in the Church family.
Reach knew that Carolina was the daughter of the Director and Allison Church. He let out an exasperated sigh, rubbing his temples. His marriage to Texas meant that now (technically) Carolina was his daughter in law. 'Fuck me. These kinds of technicalities are a pain in the ass.'
He wasn't sure whether to laugh at it or not.
"What's wrong?" Jun asked.
"I'm just realizing something," Reach said. "Something that's going to cause one hell of a headache when we do meet up with Carolina." 'That one's going to be a pain in the ass to explain. 'Hey Carolina, I'm now your father in law. So, how's your day going?' Fucking hell, this is confusing.'
At first Washington looked confused, and then the realization sank in. He let out a fake cough to cover his laughter, and Reach continued with his story. He told Jun how they and Maine narrowly escaped the Meta, and Florida kept them safe in Blood Gulch. "Then, Florida was murdered by Wyoming. You know how I am when it comes to traitors, so justice was swift, brutal, and poetic. It was quite the bonfire.
"South Dakota eventually found us, not soon after I got promoted to the leader of Red Team. As you can imagine, the pay isn't worth the amount of bullshit I have to deal with, and I'm requesting a raise next time I meet an ONI official," Reach said dryly. "After South was nursed back to health, we tried to break Washington out of prison. As you can tell by the shiny addition to my body, we were unsuccessful."
"Energy Sword?"
"Yes. Bastard was good with one, I'll give him that much," Reach admitted grudgingly. "Once that was done…we decided to go after the Meta." He purposely left out the details of how he and Tex ended up sleeping with each other seemingly nearly every other day; knowing Jun, he'd howl with laughter.
"We decided to look at the crash site of the MOI on Hypionia," he said. "It was there we found Wash, badly wounded. We restored him to health, found out about Agent Massachusetts helping the Meta, and eventually, we tracked them to the Arctic facility on Snowdrift, where we captured Massachusetts and killed the Meta."
"How did you end up here?" Jun asked.
"We actually traced a Freelancer signal here. There was supposedly some kind of alien artifact here, and the military loves their alien toys. However, the excavation team was killed by a faction of the rebellion. We fought our way through, and well…here we are."
"Quite a story, Adam," Jun remarked. "If it were anyone else, I'd order them to be brought to the nearest medical facility and undergo a psyche evaluation."
"Gee, way to make me feel flattered." Reach rolled his eyes, but he couldn't help the small chuckle. It felt good to talk to his friend after all these years.
"By the way…think you can give us a lift back to our ship once we're done? Our ride is currently a smoking ruin."
"No problem."
"Also, you owe me some beer."
"Fuck."
Blood Gulch was…really hot and boring, Carolina decided.
She was currently looking around the canyon for any traces of the Alpha AI or clues to the Director, but so far all she could see was a Warthog that had 'Puma' spray painted in pink on it and a vegetable garden. "Is anyone there!?"
Silence answered her.
However, she knew there had to have been people living here recently. The fresh vegetables were proof of that. "Hello!?"
The only things she could hear were the sounds of the sprinklers and the clicking of insects. She was alone in this dust bowl of a shitstorm.
"Well, fucking great," Carolina grumbled. "How the hell am I supposed to find the Director? Or Reach and his team for that matter?"
'…I know how to get them here.'
She activated her armor's tracking beacon. If they were close, they would be able to pick up the Beacon and track the signal to her.
All she had to do now was wait. Unfortunately for Carolina, she was never known for being patient.
"Alright…who the fuck owns pink spray paint!?"
Yep, this canyon was going to make her insane.
A/N: Sadly that's it for 2018. I'll see you again in 2019, hopefully early on. Now, for the announcement:
The Agent Reach: Book of Erotica is now on Archive of Our Own. My username is the same as it is here: DPLxBeAsTxSnIpE. I'll be doing all the pairings I have in this story, including some spoiler ones XD, so don't forget to read some of my naughty smut! Merry Christmas everyone!
Discord: C. Strife #5371