"..lpha? ALPHA!" she yelled, shaking his shoulders. He had zoned out completely, and Texas, in a fashion more typical to South, was trying to get him to "wake up" by shaking him. He jumped back to reality from his daydreaming with a yelp.

"What? What's going on?" he cried, shaking his head. He looked at the concerned look she was giving him and rubbed his neck. "Sorry, Texas."

"It's okay, Alpha," Tex said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Now come on, are you going to go meet the new AI or no? Carolina just got out of surgery!"

"Oh. Yeah, sure, I forgot," he answered sheepishly, dropping his hand into hers. She pulled him along, smiling at him, and he grinned as they walked hand-in-hand to her recovery room.

Ngh… what happened?

A fiery being popped into existence before her. She vaguely recognized it as one of the A.I.s. "Hello, Agent Carolina. I am your new A.I. fragment, Sigma. It is nice to meet you."

"Uh, you too, I guess. York," she asked, turning to the other Agent by her bed, "What is going on?"

He looked at her questioningly. "You don't remember?"

"Not.. really. I'm guessing I got implanted with Sigma here?"

Said A.I. fragment spoke up. "That would be correct. You had a bad reaction to the implantation process, and had to be sedated. Thus the grogginess, I would assume."

Before she could respond, the doors slid open. Texas and Alpha stood there, one out of breath and grinning like a lunatic. "Did I miss it? Aw, fuck, I missed it!" he cried out.

"What'd you miss again?" Texas asked him.

"The first interaction between an A.I. and their host is the most important, Tex- and, everyone else, as I apparently have everyone's attention," he said self-deprecatingly. He grinned. "So, how did it go?"

"Uh, Sigma introduced himself," North began, "then 'Lina asked what was going on, as she is hella groggy."

He nodded. "That tends to happen. Anyways, you guys ready for the next training session? I'm actually going to be there to see what's going on this time, heh."

Carolina cracked her knuckles, sitting up with a smirk. "Sure, maybe Sigma and I will finally beat you and Omega, Texas!"

Texas flipped her hair nonchalantly. "I doubt it. I'm awesome."

Alpha slipped his hand into hers and grinned. "That you are."

They exchanged a look before turning back to the others, where CT, North, and South were gaping at them. Wyoming just muttered, "I knew it," and York gave him a thumbs-up.

"You guys.. What's going on?" Carolina asked suspiciously.

"Dude, are you two, you know, together?" CT asked.

Texas looked at Alpha. Alpha shrugged. In unison, they said, "I guess."

"Well," Alpha continued, "technically we never really stopped dating? We were together a long time ago, but then I got transferred and we didn't see each other for a long time."

"Oh, that makes sense. I suppose," Washington muttered under his breath. Then again, this preceded him, so he didn't really know what to say on the matter. He walked to the side of the bed and took her hand. "You okay, 'Lina?" he asked, looking at Sigma with a glare.

She patted his hand in reassurance. "I'm okay, Wash. Really."

Sigma spoke up at that moment, looking directly at Washington. "Her vitals are currently fine, and there is no real sign of stress at the moment, except for confusion. She really is fine."

York looked over from where he was conversing with Alpha and Tex, and felt a pang of jealousy go through him at seeing Carolina holding Washington's hand. He shrugged it off, turning back to Alpha and saying, "So, Alpha, where were you before you were reassigned? I'm assuming somewhere in the Project?"

He shrugged. "Yeah, I was actually a B-team sniper about… 3 years ago?" He adjusted his glasses, then put his hands on his hips. "We should have a shooting match sometime, Wyoming."

Wyoming grinned. "Oh, most definitely, chap."

"Anyways, back to the A.I.?" Alpha asked. He let go of Tex's hand, making his way over to Carolina's bedside across from Washington. "Hey, Carolina, how are you feeling?"

She smiled indulgently at him. "I'm fine, Alpha. Chill out."

Sigma appeared in front of Alpha, startling him. "Alpha. It is very nice to meet you. I have heard a lot about you…" the fragment trailed off. He looked at Alpha intently, then seemingly made a realization as he stiffened.

Alpha raised his eyebrow, looking at Sigma. "Are you alright, Sigma?"

Sigma visibly relaxed, putting his hands behind his back in a pose that reminded Alpha of the Director. "Yes, I am fine. Thank you for asking."

Alpha looked at Sigma strangely, then shrugged and turned to Carolina. "So, that was weird. Anyway, how you feelin, sis?"

Carolina punched him lightly in the shoulder. "Don't call me that," she said, playfully. "Since when are you and Tex a thing?"

He tilted his head nonchalantly. "Oh, a while. I'll tell you all the details later." Alpha winked at her, making her and Washington giggle.

He wandered through the halls of the Mother of Invention, not sure where he was going or what in particular he was doing. His health was declining again, and he knew it. He was just ignoring it, for the time being.

Alpha walked into the training deck, where Carolina and Texas were squaring off for a duel. He raised an eyebrow, stopping beside Washington, who, for once, was out of armor. "You okay?" he asked, putting his hand on Washington's shoulder.

Wash tilted his head nonchalantly, pretending to care less. However, Alpha could tell he was worried about Carolina, seeing as how he was very tense in his shoulders. Alpha opened his mouth to reassure him, when the world suddenly spun.

"Ohhh… fuck…" he groaned, tightening his grip on Washington to try and ground himself. Wash looked at him concernedly, and grabbed him by the shoulders to hold him up with Alpha began to waver on his feet.

"Woah, Alpha, you okay?" Wash asked, then yelled out in shock when Alpha collapsed. "Medic! We need a medic!" he cried out, looking at Maine who was standing, frozen. "Go find a fucking medic!"

His face appeared over Alpha's as his vision started to go dark, saying "Hold on, Alpha. You'll be okay…"

That was the last thing he remembered.

"Alpha. You failed again." He woke up to the Director's voice, in full armor… wait, why was he in armor again?
"D-Director! Where.. Where am I?" Alpha asked. "This room… it looks like somewhere on the ship, but I don't know where."

"Alpha, you're in your containment unit, remember?" The Counselor's voice came up. Suddenly, he remembered. The room…

He was not just the head scientist for Project Freelancer. He was an A.I. He was the Alpha A.I.

The moment he realized this, he froze. "I… Sir… What?" he asked, confusedly. "Sir, I don't understand. I'm an A.I.? But… how?"

"It's a bit of a long story, but it was for your protection. There have been… inquiries. But, that is none of your concern," the Director drawled. "Back to your latest assignment."

"I.. yes. How did the Sarcophagus mission turn out? The last thing I remember was working on it after Agent Carolina was implanted."

"...Agent Carolina and Agent Connecticut were both killed in battle." The Counselor said, sadly.

….

Tears welled up in Alpha's eyes. "W-wait, no. That's not possible. They're both at the near top of the leaderboard, that's impossible!" he cried out. His emotions were reading all over the place, but the Director knew he wasn't quite there yet.

"It was due to your… misstep that they were killed. This.. must be rectified."

"I'm sorry.. I'm so sorry, Director…" he sobbed. His best friends… his sisters were killed. It was all his fault… all his fault…

CRACK.

Yikes. Well, that's a thing. Anyway, how about some feels? Sorry for disappearing for so long. I started a church rp blog on tumblr and i forgot about my fic and exams are next week and yeah.

So, here's the next chap. Hopefully I'll have the next one in two-three weeks. :)