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Stella )

Wash and Tucker both glanced, confused, at Grif.

"Wh—what?" the orange soldier gaped.

"…Are you all right?" Donut inquired worriedly, his brow knit.

"I'm fine!" I replied, still grinning happily.

"Wait..." Wash interrupted. "Did- did the Freelancers put an AI in your head?"

My smile faltered. "Yeah... They forced Gamma in my mind."

"Oh, no..." Wash replied, his eyes widening. "He—He must have done something to your mind. I know these signs. You must be going insane."

"Wha—I'm not crazy!" I complained, suddenly irritated. "Can't I just be happy to see you guys?"

They simply looked at me doubtfully.

"I am totally and completely sane," I repeated, turning to Simmons and the computer system. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to defeat these super-solders and their unbeatable technology."

I saw the boys give each other furtive glances before joining us at the monitors.

I told Simmons to start hacking into the security, and he complied. As he worked, I changed the subject. "How did you guys even get here?"

"When we woke up, you and Church and Tex were gone!" Grif stated. "Did you really expect us not to notice something like that?"

"Yeah, but how did you know where we'd gone? Or how to find us?"

Tucker spoke. "This isn't the first time she's done something like this, Ells," he explained, ignoring an annoyed glance from Wash. "She shot Church before just to activate his distress signal. When you three were gone, we knew we were in deep shit."

"Tex has always wanted to find herself," Wash added, cutting Tucker off. "It's frustrating for her not understanding who she is or why she exists. Apparently, she wants answers, and this is the only way she knows how to go about doing that."

I clicked my tongue, frustrated. "Well, if you guys were already aware of this, why didn't you say something when we met up with her in the forest?"

Grif rolled his eyes. "Right. Because she and Meta wouldn't have killed us instantly if they thought we suspected anything."

"How did you guys even make it here?"

"We pretended to be IT guys!" Simmons said happily as he typed away. "It totally worked. They just let us right in!"

"You didn't even have to pretend, Simmons," Grif shot back. "Seriously."

"And they let you in?" I asked Wash. "The last time they saw gray-and-yellow armor, they thought that Agent Washington was letting prisoners escape."

"No thanks to all of you," he said dryly. "Yeah, the prison guys here knew who I was. Command apparently let them know that I was on a mission and that I shouldn't be disturbed. I guess the guards felt bad for mistaking my identity. It was about time I deserved some respect anyway."

I rolled my eyes. "Don't bitch. It's not like you actually got in trouble for any of that." Before he could protest, Simmons made a noise of triumph.

"I'm in!" he said excitedly.

"Okay, so what are we going to do about Meta and Tex?" I asked, glancing over at the numerous computer screens monitoring the facility. The Freelancers and AIs were still fighting their way through the guards and rain showers in the eastern hallway but were not having too much trouble defeating their combatants. "They're distracted for now, but they'll escape soon and go for the Director."

"They won't know where to find him, though," Donut said hopefully. "That'll buy us some time."

I shook my head guiltily. "...I told them where he was. I'm sorry. I didn't have a choice."

"Damn it," Sarge muttered. "I always knew you'd crack under pressure, missy."

"Hey!" I protested. "What's that supposed to mean? It's not like I—"

"All right, let's focus," Simmons interrupted nervously. Meta and Tex were now making their way toward cell 665, clear of the wet hallway.

"Oh!" I thought suddenly, an idea coming to my head. "An EMP!"

"You mean an Ehmp?" Simmons asked.

"Yeah, I was about to say..." added Sarge gruffly.

"Wait—what?" I stopped, my train of thought interrupted.

"It's called an Ehmp," replied Grif. "Don't they teach you anything in spy school?"

"No, it isn't!" I retorted. "No one says that! EMP stands for Electro-Magnetic Pulse."

"Which spells Ehmp."

Wash put a hand on my shoulder and I turned to him. "It's really not worth it," he said in a low voice. "Trust me. I know."

I shook my head. We really did not have time for this argument. "Okay, okay. Fine. Whatever; it doesn't matter. Let's program their automated announcement system to say that an EMP—"

"Ehmp!"

I huffed, frustrated. "An Ehmp is being activated."

"But we don't know if they have an Ehmp!" Simmons complained.

"It doesn't matter," I insisted. "We'll just tell them there's one. We'll bluff and hope Meta and Tex take it. They won't want to stick around if Tex and the AIs are in danger of dying."

"That's downright insane!" Sarge huffed.

"Is that your only plan?" Donut asked nervously.

"If you have a better one, you'd better spit it out, because they're almost to the Director."

The others were quiet as Simmons pressed a button on the dashboard he was managing.

"Hello, and thank you for activating the UNSC Prison Automated Announcement Mainframe," a strangely familiar voice said from the computer.

Caboose gasped as everyone else groaned. "Sheila? Is that you?"

"No," the computer replied curtly. "You may call me PAAM. Would you like me to run the tutorial program?"

At the same time Caboose said "Yes!" excitedly, Tucker yelled, "No!"

"Stalemate detected," Pam replied. "Please state another command."

"We don't have time for a tutorial," Simmons said wistfully, looking rather disappointed. "Sh—Pam, we need you to announce that an Ehmp is going to detonate in the prison in thirty seconds."

"I do not detect this technology in the facility," Pam replied.

"It doesn't matter," Wash cut in. "Complaint overridden. Say that an EMP will be activated."

"Complying," Pam said. After a brief pause, her voice rang through the entire facility, and we watched Tex and Meta carefully. "Attention, UNSC Cote D'Azure Detention Facility. Attention, UNSC Cote D'Azure Detention Facility. Please shut down any and all technology in the area. An Ehmp—"

"You've got to be kidding me!" I protested.

"—Will be activated in thirty seconds. Again, shut down all technology. Ehmp detonation in t-minus 27.4 seconds."