(A/N) So guys, looks like the last two chapters have gone down a treat, and now it's time for the third, which is possibly the best of the lot! From the perspective of Agent New York, written, as in the latter part of Phase One: Genesis, by the incredible Warg, who makes her triumphant return, here is a little bit more exposition for you. And hell, it's gonna be a bit of a tear-jerker once more, but I guess you guys are getting used to that, huh?

Just going to take this point to reply to some of our reviewers, and obviously thanking everyone who took the time to do so for their reviews:

Residential DeadMan - "Excellent start... Looks like it may be a hell of a sequel"

Thanks! We hope so too. Obviously, it's going to be tough to top Phase One, especially given that we really got into our stride towards the end, but I think we've got some great new writers this time round, and some great new characters, who'll hopefully allow us to take things to the next level.

Dusty Bones - "Ack, I went away for a little while and I come back to the most depressing end to the first part of a series ever! And not to mention the first two (amazing) parts of phase two! I can't tell if this the best thing ever or if you're trying to kill all of your readers.. Regardless, this is awesome as usual and I am so so looking forward to what you guys have in store for this next part!"

Same reply that I gave to Residential DeadMan applies here, but it's great to know that you're enjoying our fics! It's what we set out to do, after all! As to whether or not this is the best thing ever or if we're trying to kill our readers...can't we aim for both? And I can't wait for what we have in store either! It's going to be BIG!

Enjoy!

Chapter Two - Exit Strategy

Agent New York

Written by WargishBoromirFan

"True friends stab you in the front." - Oscar Wilde

Excerpts from UNSC Interrogation Log 108FB - Clearance Required

Subject F-01 was on location during the events that led to the escape of I. Harper, R. Cass and E. [clearance required] and deaths of H. Steele and K. Britton. Subject F-01 was wounded during the encounter, but survived, unlike his fellow agents. Internals wish to confirm just what enabled Subject F-01 to survive, whether it be luck or some trace of sympathy from his former fellow agents that might be returned…

They'd all gone through long hours in little holding cells with only the lack of obvious bars and the occasional military motivational poster to differentiate the place from a prison. Alaska had complained bitterly about the décor, but York knew it was just a matter of toughing it out and answering all the questions correctly. The UNSC wanted to catch the bad guys, too, but until they could get their hands on Ark, Penn, and Harper, they had to settle for watching the rest of the agents under a fish-eye.

...And in conclusion, Subject F-01 will not be a threat to UNSC interests; the angels in the architecture keep watch on him and all of us.

It was meant to be therapeutic, Butch insisted, grief counselling. It could be the last shreds of hope talking through the dreary funk that had settled upon those normally peppy shoulders, but heaven knew he needed it. They all did. Still, Alaska seemed to take pride in breaking his spook of a shrink. They'd gotten a new one for California, even if the first guy had been meant to interview all twelve remaining agents of the suspended project.

Subject F-02 is very belligerent; use extreme caution during interview. His closeness to H. Steele and past history with I. Harper indicate that he is unlikely to join the Crimson Sun cause, but some measure of restraint must be demonstrated before there is any consideration for a return to active duty.

With the Director recovering from his gunshot wound in a similar non-prison, high command had put Project Freelancer on hold, questioning whether it made that much sense in the first place, let alone continuing it now that Ark and Penn had flipped and killed two of their fellow agents and who knew how many other well-meaning UNSC grunts and sim troopers. Massa - Kim; it was still so odd to think of any of the team members by their real names, but Massachusetts and Michigan at least deserved to be remembered for everything they were - could at least rest easier knowing that she had been right about the poison growing in the project, even if she had died to show its results. Still, York couldn't regret his own involvement, and he wasn't sure if Cal could, either.

Like the previous subject, Subject F-03 has personal reasons to remain loyal to those on the suspended project and rebuff any courtship attempts from the new Insurrectionist front. She is less likely to blindly lash out at those around her, but has a genetic predisposition for holding a very long grudge…

There was a selfish part of York that could only thank his lucky stars that it hadn't been Carolina that had stumbled upon Ark that day. Maybe Arkansas would have listened to her, maybe she could have taken down him and Penn without getting hurt herself, but York had seen how California had reacted. He knew he would have been just as bad, if the unimaginable had occurred. It hurt like hell only as a friend, but missing out on meeting them? York didn't think he'd be able to handle that scenario, either. But, as Butch had once said, this was the here and now, and now and here they'd have to deal with, not fearful what-ifs lingering in the backs of their heads.

Subject F-04 offered a hug during our discussion and made sure the tissue box was handy, making ample use of it himself. It is doubtful that he would offer any threat to UNSC interests. Table concept of diplomacy for later discussion; Subject F-04 seems most likely candidate to infiltrate the Crimson Sun and produce results, given more emotional resilience.

Here and now had taken them away from the debriefing offices and to a civvie apartment complex in Austin full of ex-military while their superiors at high command decided what to do with the lot of them. They had no assigned duties while the project was up in the air, and encouraged (at least by York) to think of it as a long-overdue vacation. Alaska, Virginia, Wyoming, Maine, and Sota proceeded to treat it like an actual leave of absence and stole out of the complex, one by one, without any word to York at least as to where they were headed. They could hardly be considered AWOL when UNSC acted like it would rather sweep the lot of them under the rug, anyway, and York didn't have to walk in on Virginia's call to her sister to suspect where at least one of their wayward Freelancers were headed.

Subject F-05 is potentially problematic. As a roommate and close associate of E. [clearance required], his sympathies might be swayed toward the traitorous agents. Nonetheless, Subject F-05 was quick to reassure he "get[s] paid to experiment with top of the line heavy-duty military-grade vehicles, weapons, and explosives and have gorgeous ladies take [him] down in CQC practice and then the gang and [he] get full run of the ship, from mess hall to reactor core," therefore, he "love[s] this job!" While appearing to show a debt to Dr. L. Church, it is uncertain whether Subject F-05 would be quite so loyal to a new director, should the project continue without its current head.

Some of the others talked about taking off as well, but they'd never really done it. Carolina had nowhere else to go, no family outside the military to stay with. South had hung up when North attempted to call their parents and make her talk to them. Florida had gotten a letter out to his sister, but that one lived on Mars, and the military stipend paid better for whiskey than for a fast ship to Tharsis to the arms of those who were never truly expecting one to come home.

Georgia had fielded several calls from locations in Kentucky, Ohio, his namesake state, and even had his little brother threaten to drive down from school in Colorado, but he'd stayed, too, convincing the younger sibling that schooling was too expensive to skip and they'd all visit the farm before too much longer and he wasfine - though that "too much longer" dragged out in days and weeks and months spent puttering around the complex, doing maintenance to cover for what rent the UNSC didn't subsidize, just to keep his hands and mind busy. York had caught up with his uncle, but wasn't brave enough to try to contact his mother. Cal didn't even try to phone home, not that York blamed him.

Subject F-06 is uncooperative and unresponsive. At least when asked directly if he would ever turn on his comrades, Subject F-06 answered "no." That was his total verbal contribution to the interview. We are disinclined to push him further.

At first, York had figured Cal would take off with Sota, wherever the taller of the two roommates was headed off to. Neither of them had mentioned any living family members - Sota had had a little sister, but the way he talked about her made York feel that that was all past tense. Sure, York tended to talk about his own mother in the same way - her life had been lived mostly in the past tense for the better part of the last twenty years - but not everyone carried such a weight, fortunately enough.

At this stage, York figured that both Cal and Sota needed that familiar face in the middle of the chaos, something to remind them that their pasts weren't all bad, but Minnesota would rather do the abandoning than be abandoned again and Cal ended up spending a lot of time in York's room since Sota and Wyoming wandered off. As roommates went, Cal wasn't too bad.

Subject F-07's attempts to duck out of debriefings continue; when unable to escape physically from his quarters, he turns to ignoring the questions and getting hostile with Internals personnel. While more passive-aggressive than Subject F-02, his aggression is still a factor to be wary of, especially in combination with Subject F-02.

They had their awkward moments, certainly, - Cal's presence made visits with Carolina at least five kinds of uncomfortable - but overall, York didn't have a problem with being there for him. It wouldn't be the first time he'd gotten an unexpected roommate, and it wasn't the first time he'd gotten a better feel for his team members out of it. Wyoming had showed up at the door to York's private room the first night of their recruitment into the project, duffel bag over his shoulder, and said but one knock-knock joke by way of explanation: "Penned up with that monster is no way to live, so I'm moving in with you."

Subject F-08 has proven surprisingly cooperative - which has been a breath of free air after the last few subjects, to succumb to editorializing. Though this mild nature might suggest a susceptibility to Insurrectionist indoctrination, Subject F-08's interactions with other former agents of the project - particularly Subject F-09 - suggest that he is not so easily turned.

On nights when Cal screamed and kicked in his sleep, York laid awake in the far bed, wondering if Wyoming had stayed with Penn, would Penn have remained with the Project, too, knowing that the rest of the Freelancers wouldn't give up on him just because he had the capacity to be brutal, or would Wyoming have taken off long before they moved into the apartment complex, giving York three former comrades turned enemy? Could their AWOL members be trusted now? The optimist in him rebelled against this train of thought; of course they were; they were friends; the UNSC was surely keeping an eye on them as well, even if rather loosely, but York had assumed the same of Arkansas and Pennsylvania, as well.

Subject F-09 is reluctant to discuss specifics directly, but opens up more when compared to the situations of the other former agents - particularly Subjects F-08 and F-03. Subject F-03's designation seems to amuse her - "What, Miss High and Mighty isn't Number One for once?"

Even awake, there was something wrong with Cal - a restlessness that was more than just heartbreak, more than just a burning for bloodthirsty revenge against Ark and Harper. York expected those. He expected the occasional incidence where California would look and not see where he was, who was with him, but this wasn't just night terrors. California would be completely awake, perfectly aware of the others in the apartment, seemingly fine, and then something would set him off - York couldn't always tell what - and Cal as York knew him wasn't there.

There was a beast lurking behind the usually smiling blue eyes and spiked black hair, a beast that had no concern for its fellow humans in general or South, Carolina, and Georgia in particular. Not even North, Florida, and York himself were immune to setting off that vicious side for no reason that York could name, and there was no recognition for them in his eyes once Cal had flipped that senseless switch. All York could do was corral him away until it passed, leaving Cal with no clear memory of what had happened during that raging haze.

Subject F-10 is very unlikely to cause trouble. Although somewhat standoffish with her fellow surviving agents, her association with K. Britton was that of close friends as well as roommates. The subject has expressed a wish to go home and/or disappear, and Project Freelancer provided her with at least one of those options.

Stress seemed to set Cal off more than anything else; stress and too much time alone to think. York could come up with some fixes for that. Honestly, the whole group could use some time away from the apartment to do something fun and generally mindless. And Austin was the home of Grifball's Team Rampancy, always a good contender in the league runnings. It was a piece of cake to track down a schedule and a ticket booth for the next home game. It was time they got back to the good points about the project.

Subject F-11 seems unaffected on the surface. He cracks jokes during his interviews and laughs off any hints that he might join the Crimson Sun rebellion. His untouchable attitude hints at either a coping strategy or sociopathic tendencies - even when given leave to socialize with the other subjects, Subject F-11 stands at a remove.

"Hey Cal! Guess who got front row to next week's Rampancy game!" York called as he walked in the door, tickets fanned out like a good luck charm. It was only when Cal popped his head up that York realized he'd bought sixteen.

Subject F-12 seems fairly stable, given the circumstances, though he remains deeply in emotional denial. With his connection to Subject F-03 and friendship with K. Britton, he seems unlikely to turn against UNSC interests.

Fuck it, they were keeping the empty chairs.