West Virginia woke up hours later, feeling crappier than ever before. Sure, her body was now inhabited by an AI to help make her healthy again, but implantations always had bothered her and the other Freelancers. Her head felt groggy, and when she moved it, a searing headache formed. She felt like she had a hangover, except she never had a sip of alcohol in her life.
And the only reason West Virginia woke up in the first place was to expel the bad beans that she had eaten. Quickly, she grabbed for a trash can by the old couch and forced her face into the brim. The outcome was a megaphone like sound of her gagging. Her spine recoiled every time beans were heaved out of her stomach. After a couple minutes, her body had stopped heaving; she tossed the half full trashcan behind the couch, not really caring if its contents spilled.
"Ungh . . ." West Virginia groaned out of pain and rolled over onto her stomach.
"Good morning, Agent West Virginia." Delta said through her head, bringing a wave of pain through her head. His voice was like a train's whistle right inside her own ears.
"Shut the fuck up." West Virginia muttered through her pain.
"I see; you are experiencing the side effect of an implantation after an extended period of time." Delta analyzed, bringing another wave of pain.
"Delta!" West Virginia threateningly muttered at the AI. She quickly spat out the remaining vile substance in her mouth.
Delta stayed silent as West Virginia tried to repress the throbbing enough to have a somewhat sort of conversation. And with her weak state of mind and body, it took her the better half of a long hour to achieve that. West Virginia's head was still clogged and barely had enough for two minds, rather a conversation between those two.
West Virginia pulled herself into a sitting position and rubbed her temples to ease some of the pain. To help her out, Delta decided to appear visibly rather than be confined inside of her damaged head. The room glowed the green light that Delta appeared as, making the Mongoose's headlights seem dimmer than a wet match in a dark cave in comparison. West Virginia closed her eyes so she wouldn't go blind.
"It seems that I am still alive." Delta stated.
"No shit." West Virginia spat out. Her headache was starting to go away, but she was still in a pretty bad mood.
"I would like to know how. My data banks clearly state that I was destroyed in an EMP blast caused by Agent Washington. How did I survive?" Delta asked.
"You seriously believe that all military equipment is destroyed in an Emp blast?" West Virginia snorted and ignored the fact that Delta said Emp wrong, "Most of it actually is. But not all."
"I do not understand." Delta said.
"What I mean is that since AIs are too precious to be deleted after their Freelancer is killed, they're too precious to be destroyed by an Emp blast. Remember back during the prime of Project Freelancer that I was stationed in engineering for a couple of months?"
"Ah yes . . . that was when York was on Mission Red Winter." Delta connected, "You gave us important equipment vital to completing the mission."
"Yeah, well the engineers and scientists I worked with were trying to keep something from me and the other Freelancers stationed there at the time. Every time we asked something about how our AI units were made, they would claim it was classified, or they would ignore the subject. It even got to the point where there had to be at least three engineers for one Freelancer. They were watching us like hawks to make sure we didn't get any information about you guys. " West Virginia explained as she continued to rub her temples. "As predicted, Phi and I got . . . curious."
Delta didn't answer, but he looked as if he was absorbing every detail imaginable. He was curious too, just like I was. West Virginia continued her story.
"At night, I broke into their records and searched for something, anything! Finally, after an hour of dodging guards and other Freelancers who were working late, I found something that must have been what they were hiding. It was about the AI segments of Project Freelancer and how to recover them in emergency situations. I read it right there; I didn't want to leave with it. Someone would have noticed that it was missing. But I was right; there was something that we Freelancers weren't supposed to know. And apparently, neither were the AI units."
"My data banks show nothing of retained information." Delta stated.
"Well that's sort of the point of classified. Anyways, I found out that there was some sort of preservation box that all AIs had in case of an Emp blast. Apparently, the military had been working on this kind of material since the Cold War. But that didn't make much sense to me." West Virginia said.
"The Cold War was a period of great tension between the two superpowers of the late twentieth century. This was acclaimed the highest period of tension since the collapse of the Roman Empire. It was heightened by the extreme buildup of nuclear warheads. The world was on the peak of a nuclear war and all countries were trying to find ways to survive a nuclear holocaust. Nuclear Weapons have since been banned in the mid twenty second century." Delta overly informed West Virginia.
"Honestly Delta, I don't give a fuck about the past. I have enough trouble with the present." West Virginia snapped. "Anyways, the stuff that they've been working on for centuries is supposed to prevent electronic stuff from being fried. It sort of locks the AI into a microscopic box that conducts the Emp around it, saving the AI in the process."
"I believe it is called an EMP, West Virginia." Delta corrected.
"Fine, EMP, then. But from what I can tell, the preservation box only works once. If another preservation box isn't installed, you could be lost again if another "EMP" wave hit."
"That seems like a logical system of security." Delta approved. "You just had to open my preservation box to regenerate me. And you learned how to do it in the file that you had stolen."
"Exactly. But easier said than done." West Virginia said as she slumped back down. Talking had tired her out, and the pain was getting worse. "Let me sleep for a while, okay?"
"I will not disturb you while you are recuperating." Delta said as he shut off his visual hologram.
The world went back from the green to the dull grey that West Virginia was used to living in. It was now suitable enough for her to open her eyes again. Already, her head was clearing up of pain. West Virginia began to focus on her breathing again.
West Virginia didn't instantly go to sleep, her mind was buzzing with the presence of an AI. She was glad that she was saved from rotting like a vegetable. Thankfully, Delta knew enough about her so she didn't have to ask him for help.
But Delta wasn't Phi, her own AI unit. But for the moment, he was close enough not to matter. She'll be angrier at herself when she felt better, or at least saner. But she still missed Phi's own personality. Delta actually seemed like a computer while Phi acted like a brother to her, protective of West Virginia one second, and then immature the next. Phi seemed . . . human and she treated him like that while the other Freelancers treated their AIs as property. At least York was kind to Delta. If Delta hadn't known West Virginia during his early years, Delta wouldn't trust her at all.
The thought of York brought waves of memories that were repressed back to West Virginia's mind. And as West Virginia finally sunk into unconsciousness, those memories found a way into her dreams.
A plastic tray toppled by an enormous amount of sandwiches was tossed in front of West Virginia. West, who was in an unusually bad mood, just looked up from her seat in the cafeteria. In front of her was Delaware, Deli, who had already grabbed one of the several sandwiches and had eaten half of it. Deli leaned over the table and stared at West Virginia, as if she was trying to read her mind. She smiled like the kid she usually acted as.
"Whatever you're doing Deli, it's not working." West muttered as she grabbed the nearest sandwich.
Deli laughed as she sat down on the opposite side of the table. Her laugh was muffled as she stuffed the last of her first sandwich. Deli even started her second sandwich before she stopped laughing.
"I just wanted to see how you were doing with the implantation." Deli said. "I still can't believe you were one of the first to get an AI. How does it feel, having two minds in the same head?"
"Well, it feels weird, hearing two different thoughts at the same time." West said.
"Is he with you right now?" Deli asked.
"Is who with West right now?" A voice behind West asked.
West turned around while nibbling the crusts of the sandwich to see New Mexico, North, and Kans approaching. The three took their usual seats, New Mexico sat right by Deli, his arm around her like any boyfriend would do. Kans sat by West, barely making a sound as she sat in the chair. And lastly, North, who sat between both New Mexico and Kans. The left half of our usually full table remained unoccupied.
"We were talking about West's AI unit. I don't get mine until the next implantation time in about six months." Deli explained.
"Yeah, I won't receive mine until next year." North nodded his head.
"To tell you the truth, I don't think I want one." New Mexico added before thinking. "I feel sorry for those who have them.
"Gee, thanks!" West exclaimed.
"Oh, but I'm sure you'll do fine, West. You're the first of us to get one. We're just curious." New Mexico tried to apologize.
West rolled her eyes and continued to nibble on her sandwich. The three who just arrived took their picks of the sandwiches. Each thanked Deli for getting them sandwiches before digging in. The pack of Freelancers ate in silence for a couple minutes.
"So?" Deli pressed on. She leaned over the table; her dog tags swinging around in midair as if to emphasize her excitement. "Is your AI with you right now?"
And before West could control her new AI, it activated its holographic form and appeared in front of her four friends. It appeared as an orange humanoid form, the same size of West Virginia. The AI was decorated with an intricate pattern of slightly darker orange lines that looked all science fiction like. Coding dotted all over its body, swirly around as if it was sorting through data. Its orange hair was messy and standing straight up at different angles, like it had just gotten out of bed. It smiled fiendishly as if it just pulled the best prank ever created.
None of West's friends jumped back; they were all trained to hold back their surprise. But she could see it in their eyes. West had already experienced the rush of an AI's presence and had expected it.
West's AI just took the open chair next to her and sat in it, passing through the table in the process. It continued to smile as it got into a comfortable sitting position. If it actually had normal skin color, and no intricate patterns covering his body, you could probably think it was a real person.
"Hey, I'm Phi. And yeah, I'm here right now." West's AI said in his playful tone of voice.
It was silent at the table as the other Freelancers tried to digest this. Actually, most of the Freelancers that were in the cafeteria went silent and stared at the first AI unit that they saw. A wave of embarrassment shot through West, and she tried to shy away from the orange AI. Phi just laughed like the child he acted like.
"Can you please stop that? Wait until some others get AIs." West begged.
"Naw," Phi teased West, "it won't be as much fun then as it is now."
"Do it now or I'll tell the medics that you're defective. I'm sure they'll happily give me a new AI. And hopefully a less rude one too." West resorted to threatening, her face as wild as a maniac.
Phi's electronic expression changed to one of seriousness. Phi and West had a small staring contest, seeing who had the stronger will. Natural blue eyes against the holographic orange. Apparently it was West who had the stronger will, because seconds later, Phi flickered before vanishing.
Everyone who was at the table was staring at West. West ignored the stares and continued to eat her first sandwich. After a couple minutes of silence, West looked up to see them all staring at her still.
"Even if I just had the implantation three hours ago, I can already tell he'll be a big pain in the ass." I said, trying to get everything back to normal. They quickly tried to regain their laid back attitudes, but failed as they kept staring at West.
"Hey! I heard that." Phi said aloud so the others could hear him.
This shocked everyone even more, if that was possible. The young soldier gave them a look to tell them that she had enough of their fish eyes. They eventually got the point and tried to strike up another conversation.
"So . . . do you know where York, the Carolinas, and South are? They're never late for lunch." New Mexico hastily asked. "Sometimes they're here even before Deli."
"North Carolina wasn't feeling so good, so South Carolina took her down to the hospital wing. York is having his AI implanted soon, so he's getting prepared." Kans finally contributed to the conversation, her voice as soft as a breeze. "I don't know about South, though, I haven't seen her all day."
"She's probably making out with the new Ohio that shipped in. I don't know what has gotten into her these past few months." New Mexico said in a disgusted manner. "Maybe she's just trying to impress that new shipment of recruits that came in last week. She just has to be better than the rest of us."
"Don't say that, New Mexico." North said, defending his twin sister, "She's just having a rough time. It's been hard on both of us. South . . . just shows it more."
"Yeah, by sucking tongue?" New Mexico argued. After that, he sarcastically added, "South totally seems troubled."
It was silent at their table after that. Everyone knew that Deli's first boyfriend here was the first Ohio. Ohio died early on though; he made just one stupid mistake and paid for it with his life. When the second Agent Ohio came in the third shipment, he looked almost identical to the first. It drove Deli mad to see such a familiar face. And just the idea of that bitch South sucking tongue with him was just insult to injury.
Deli tried not to show any pain with this information, but it was hard. New Mexico comforted Deli, being the perfect boyfriend for her. She angrily stuffed her third sandwich into her mouth, trying to ignore her friends' looks of concern. In the process, she turned away from everyone, isolating herself.
North was turned away from the table. He was also having difficulty, but it was from trying to ease tension between his friends and his sister. North sighed; he always felt like South's father. Whatever South did, he had to clean up after her. But North loved his twin dearly, and nothing could ever get between them.
"Uh oh," North added, "Here comes the new recruits."
They all turned towards the main entrance to see the greenhorn Freelancers enter the Cafeteria. Some tried to look macho and fit in. Others looked scared and nervous. West smiled, thinking that the latter was what they all should have been feeling. Project Freelancer was your worst nightmare.
West smirked as a brunette and a redhead entered the long line to pick up sandwiches. The redhead looked as if he'd rather be lying around or sleeping. The other looked dead serious, and West could feel his feelings as they rolled off of him. This person did not want to be part of Project Freelancer. This person wanted to be back on Earth. This person didn't want to be a human guinea pig.
The brunette reminded West of herself. Even Phi took notice of this.
"You share the same feelings with him?" Phi asked inside of West's shared head, curiosity from his presence creeping into her own conscious.
"Are you kidding me? We all feel like this." West answered. "I don't know how long you've been alive, or created, whatever, but you'll begin to notice this from all around us. Or maybe not, you're just a dumb computer that I'm stuck with."
" . . . I may not be entirely human, but I am alive. Sort of." Phi defended himself, sounding partially hurt. "Treat me like you treat your friends."
West exhaled sharply, and her friends took notice. West didn't say anything, but pointed to her head. They understood quickly, but West could feel their curiosity. West couldn't wait until they all had their implantations, so they could share with her troubles. West could feel Phi take in these human interactions, so he could learn more than just being the immature child.
"Excuse me?" An unfamiliar voice said behind Deli and Mexico.
All five Freelancers at the lunch table looked up to see the brunette and redhead from the new batch of recruits standing there, unsure where to go. West gave them a dirty look, but they seemed to ignore her, which just pissed her off more than she already was.
"Can we sit here? Everywhere else is full." The brunette asked in a confident voice that didn't match his expression.
"Sure, go ahead, just for today." North said as he pushed two of the empty chairs out with his feet. He eyed the new recruits suspiciously. "But I can't promise you that they'll be open tomorrow. Four of our friends decided to go AWOL for lunch today. They'll probably be back by tomorrow."
"Oh . . . thanks." The redhead said as he slumped down into one of the chairs. He didn't touch his tuna sandwich; he just rested his head on the lunch table.
The other took his time and sat down nicely. He took each of the experienced Freelancers in, but for some reason he ignored West again. Slowly, he nibbled at his sandwich, as if to digest his situation before his lunch. His stares were met with North's, Kan's, Deli's, and New Mexico's.
"Say, what's your name?" New Mexico broke the silence.
"David." The brunette stated.
"No, he means your name." Deli tried to explain.
"It's still David." The brunette said, not understanding the first rule of the Freelancer code.
"What Deli means is what is your code name, your State." North explained rationally, "Here, your real name is replaced by your State name. But we all go by shortened versions of our State name. My name is North Dakota, but everyone just calls me North."
"And, I'm Delaware, also known as Deli. This is New Mexico, just New Mexico, no nickname there. That's Kans, Kansas. Over there is West, West Virginia." Deli introduced everyone.
"Oh!" David said as he finally caught on. "I guess that I'm Washington, then?"
North and New Mexico nodded with approval. New Mexico motioned to the now snoring redhead. "Who's that?"
"He told me that he was assigned to Kentucky?" Washington said.
"Well," North said, finally approving of the new recruits. "Welcome to Project Freelancer, your own personal Hell on Earth."
"Well, technically, we're on an alien planet preparing for war. So it would be Hell on an Alien Planet." Kans contributed in her soft voice.
The five experienced Freelancers let out a fit of laughter. It was an inside joke that only the five, plus South, York, and the Carolinas got. The other Freelancers and the occasional medic and engineer just questioned their own sanity, which was just what Washington and a rudely woken Kentucky were doing.
"Never mind . . ." Kans muttered when everyone quieted down enough for her to speak again.
"So anyways, you two need nicknames. Freelancers are pretty informal with each other. It's the superiors like the Director and the Counselor that we actually go by State names." New Mexico discussed.
"I'm thinking that for Kentucky," Deli said as she chewed on her bottom lip. "Uh . . . oh! I got it. Fried Chicken! Because, you know, Kentucky Fried Chicken."
Kentucky, who was already starting to fall back to sleep just softly nodded his head and muttered, "Sure, okay."
"That settles it. You are now to be known as Fried Chicken." New Mexico said it as formerly as possible. But he did it in such a goofy way that everyone, even the overly pessimistic Washington, burst out of laughter after a second of silence. "You are now stuck with that name forever."
"And I was thinking for you, Washington, was Mr. President." North said.
"What, no way!" Washington rejected faster than the others could get the joke.
"How about Washing-a-ton?" Deli asked a smile so wide on her face that all you could see was white. She was always so innocent, even if she worked in the worst place imaginable.
"How can that be a nickname if it's longer than his real name?" New Mexico interjected, "I'd have to go with Washing tub."
New Mexico's idea was shot down by all the Freelancers at the table. It was then that everyone decided that that was the worst nickname ever and whoever called Washington that was a complete moron. This continued for a couple more minutes, the names mentioned were all pretty bad after that.
"How about just Wash?" West finally joined in this part of the conversation.
It was then that Washington finally recognized that West was there at the table. He turned around and took a quick look at her. His face was full of surprise.
"Why is there a kid here? Shouldn't she be on Earth or something?" Washington asked the experienced Freelancers.
His question was answered by a furious West, who so kindly gave him the finger, "Fuck off."
Washington seemed taken back by West's statement. Everyone could see that Washington had just pissed off the younger Freelancer. Kans did the sane thing and put her hand on West's shoulder to keep her from moving from the chair.
"Did that kid just swear?" Washington asked, not noticing the hostility from West.
"That kid happens to be the youngest Freelancer in this joint. She's been in this project since the age of six. And that was four years ago." Deli defended her friend, no longer kind to Washington.
"Not only that but West is one of the first of us to be implanted with an AI." North added.
Phi noticed that they were talking about him and he focused on the discussion more than he originally was. West didn't like that, and she tried to mentally push him back in place. But he didn't want to, so it was a battle against the minds. In the end, West lost this battle and allowed him to watch inside of her mind.
"Wait, implanted? Never mind, I don't want to know. And what has she been taught in the last couple years? Is it how to get dressed? Or how to tie shoes. How to write her name?" Washington teased.
That did it; West couldn't take anymore crap from this new recruit. She shoved Kans's hand away and stood up. A ferocious look grew on her face that scared Washington a bit. But he didn't take that sitting down. Washington also stood up, and he was almost twice the height of West. Both had their hands balled into fists, ready to be the first to throw a punch. The others watched this happen, half frightened and yet half used to this sort of problem.
Phi was excited; this was more action than he ever encountered in his short life. These feelings flowed into West's anger. The result was a combination of a ready to fight pride, with an excitement of a boy. West felt as if she was on top of the world; something that she has never felt before. Phi's feelings also caused her motives from defending her title as Freelancer to just a rough game that involved bloodshed.
It was hard to tell who was actually in charge, West or Phi?
But just as the tension was at its peak, a pair of strong hands shoved the Freelancers apart with enough force to throw West against the table. West knew these hands; these were the hands of reason and comprehension.
"I'm gone for only one day and everyone is throwing punches at the new recruits. Can't you guys even try being nice to one another?" A Freelancer with a pair of perfect green eyes asked in a no nonsense tone. "You guys were lucky that the implantation was ahead of schedule, or there would be a death on your hands that I couldn't cover up."
"Don't worry, York, it was the usual scenario." North informed the newcomer.
York nodded, understanding this totally and he sat down in the chair next to West's unoccupied one. He motioned for both Washington and West to sit down calmly. After some hesitation, both of them returned to their seats, only giving each other deadly glares.
"Now West," York said in a fatherly figure voice, "I've told you this before, you can't just lash out at people who doubt that you're a Freelancer. First of all, it does show you as a kid and not a soldier that you told me you strive to be. Secondly, you know that there shouldn't be any violence between Freelancers; we're all allies here, not enemies. The enemies are out there, in space. And lastly, don't you think that you should have given him some time before beating him to death?"
West nodded stiffly, knowing that York always knew best. The last part of his scolding was only a joke and shouldn't have been taken as a real statement. But York was deadly serious and expected total loyalty from the young Freelancer, as if she was his own child, or younger sister. West knew that and always did what he anticipated from her.
"And as for you," York said as he turned around to face Washington, "Rule number one: Never get on West's nerves. At least until you get some kinds of combative training. She may be small, but she packs a punch. Just wait until she grows a bit more, and then you've got to be careful all the time. Got it?"
Washington looked like couldn't believe he was being reprimanded like the ten year old, but he nodded so he wouldn't cause any more trouble. His chin stubbornly trembled.
"Rule number two:" York continued, "Never get on Agent Texas's, Tex's, bad side. No exceptions, no questions; just don't. And rule number three: Follow experienced Freelancer's actions, even West Virginia's. If you do, you'll be less discriminated by the others who aren't as nice as us."
York mentioned to our table. Deli smiled and waved to show she meant no harm; all feelings against him were now gone with the wave of her hand, literally. Both New Mexico and North high fived like old bros, and Kans just nodded to agree with York's rules. As for West, she continued to glare, her eyes as cold as ice.
"Who would discriminate against me and the other new recruits?"
York nodded his head, understanding this question, "Well first of all there's Maine and Wyoming, both usually smuggle some stuff in Command that isn't allowed here, like cigarettes and alcohol. North's sister South too, but she's mostly just lip. Next, there's Tex, and I already warned you about her. Some others are Vermont, Mississippi, and . . ."
"Lieutenant McMuffin." A voice that West wasn't familiar with replaced York's own words.
It was then that West realized that this was just a dream, and not really the past as she remembered it. All conversations that were originally in the cafeteria were replaced with the same voice that covered York's words. The voice spoke like a kid; it seemed friendly, but that freaked West out. West was frozen in place as she started to wake up from the dream. During this, the Freelancers were speaking in waves of nonsense by the child like voice.
"That guy Tex . . . is really a robot, and you're his boyfriend, so that makes you . . . a gay robot." New Mexico was saying to Deli. Deli seemed to understand what he was saying, so she laughed. But she laughed in the unknown male voice everyone had.
"Ha ha ha ha! . . . Don't make me mad." Deli threatened.
West looked by Wyoming's table to see him and New Hampshire arguing like usual.
"My name is Michael J. Caboose, and I hate . . . babies!" Wyoming yelled at New Hampshire as if the two were having an argument.
"I am Caboose!" New Hampshire yelled back, "The vehicle destroyer!"
West was now extremely confused. The last time she checked, Wyoming's birth name was Reginald, not Caboose.
Tex walked by West's table, being followed by one of the new recruits. He stopped Tex as if to ask her something.
"Tex, I think you are pretty and you haven't hurt my body in a long time, so I was hoping that we could talk and be friends, maybe. And hold hands and you would go with me, and when you went with me, you would be my real girlfriend." The recruit said in the now timid voice.
Tex just shoved him away, and responded, "I don't want to be dead. I want to be alive, or a cowboy!"
West's world became fuzzy as she was starting to wake up. But one last statement from the mystery man stuck in her mind like gorilla glue.
"Control F+U." The man stated as a fact.
Yeah, I wrote this almost a year ago. It's pretty bad compared to what I write now. Anyways, the completed story can be found on rvbfics, all you have to do is type that in a search bar. I'll still upload, but I'll probably forget to . . . so go check the site out if you love Red vs Blue.
Oh, yeah, copyrights.
Red vs Blue-Rooster Teeth
Halo-Bungie/Microsoft