"Looks like the cavalry has arrived!" Sarge said as the Freelancer and UNSC soldiers began to emerge from the gate. "Shame, I was about to have Grif act as a sacrificial decoy to secure our escape."
"I wasn't even here!" Grif protested.
"Yes, I should have expected you'd be tardy to your own self-sacrifice," Sarge agreed to his own sense of things.
"That's it, I'm switching to Blue Team. And I'm taking the puma!" Grif said in annoyance.
"Enough!" Carolina barked in a demand for attention. "What is the Sitrep?"
"I mean, I could do quite a few if my legs were working," Donut said, sitting awkwardly on an unused metal beam.
"Does he need medical attention?" Zimmerman asked in mild concern.
"No, we tried to short circuit...whoever is attacking us with a trap. It didn't stop him, but it did immobilize Donut's legs," Simmons explained.
Zimmerman looked over to the others. "See if you can't get his legs rebooted. If you can't in ten, two of you carry him back through the gate."
"Sir," two of the soldiers acknowledged.
"We don't have time for this," Carolina said pointedly. "We need to-"
"You're not in charge, Agent Carolina," Zimmerman spoke over her bluntly, making the agent seethe.
"Easy, Carol," York said, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Speaking of that. Sarge? Where are Church and the others?" Zimmerman asked the red leader.
"He's off fighting the enemy! I wanted to get my licks in on the pale bastard too, but that blue devil wanted me here to make sure the others weren't leaderless," Sarge admitted, having bitterly accepted that point. "I don't know about the rest of them. They were at the enemy's camp, or what's left of it."
"Tex made it back," Caboose informed matter-of-factly. "I saw her running from far away while we were running to the gate."
"Lad, you can recognize Texas from far away?" Wyoming asked, not sure to be impressed or skeptical.
"She is very scary," Caboose answered simply. "Also, she turned invisible right after I saw her and I think she is the only one who knows that magic trick!"
"Is...is he serious? He doesn't sound like he's joking," Wash said in bewilderment.
"Welcome to the insanity, best to leave your logic at the entry," York remarked in amusement. "What are the odds that Church and Tex were able to deal with the Meta?"
"Sadly, none!"
Everyone looked over to see a dark armored being coming up to them.
"Tex! You're back! And not invisible anymore! Or can I see dead people now?" Caboose greeted in excitement. "Where is Church?"
"Right here, Caboose," Church answered, appearing as a full-sized version of himself, but white and translucent.
"Holy shit!" one of the soldiers said as several of them aimed their guns at him.
"Wow, wow, guys! Don't waste the ammo! It's me, Church," Church explained quickly.
"Church? So this is the...ghost thing?" Zimmerman said slowly.
"Yeah, yeah, have an existential crisis about the afterlife later, we still have a problem," Church waved off as the soldiers slowly put down their weapons.
"Dude, why are you a ghost again?" Grif asked in exasperation.
"Church, did your body get locked up like my legs?" Donut asked as the two soldiers continued to try and fix his armor. "You guys are really good at this! Have either of you considered switching careers to be masseuses?"
"Please don't make this weird," one of them requested. "...And yes, actually."
"No, I had to use it as a decoy. That Meta-fucker blew one of my arms off, so that body was kind of just dead weight. Also, the fuck is that guy's armor?"
"Better than a Sim Troopers," York answered honestly.
"Church, you think you can do that Ghost thing and just possess him or something?" Simmons suggested hopefully.
"Ghost thing? Are they serious?" Wash asked in bewilderment.
"The hell are they on about now?" Carolina said under her breath.
"Love, gent, best just to go with it," Wyoming suggested warily.
"Great, you brought the backup. Don't know if we need it, but it's us, so, probably," Church remarked. "Look, I have an idea to either stop the Meta or give you all an opening."
"I'm listening?" Zimmerman asked with a bit of wariness.
"Me and Tex once got Omega out of Caboose's mind once by going in ourselves. I'm thinking we can do the same to the Meta, and get the AIs out of him. Or stop them from controlling him at least."
"You want to possess the Meta and throw out the digital assholes controlling him?" Grif summarized.
"I'm...not sure that would work," Zimmerman remarked.
"Huh? Why not?" Church asked.
"Well, to my knowledge, Omega was the only AI that could jump from host to host. Kicking them out might not be an option," Zimmerman pointed out.
"Eh, then we'll just kill the fuckwads if they don't cooperate," Church said with a shrug. "That's what we were doing with Omega anyway."
Zimmerman took a deep breath as he tried to figure out a way to turn down the plan without stating why. Luckily, someone else came to his rescue.
"If I may give my input?" Delta spoke up as he appeared on York's shoulder. "Captain Church, while your plan is plausible, it does carry several probable risks. If you were to fail, you would be rendered entrapped within the Meta, along with Omega and Agent Texas. More alarmingly would be the prospect of adding more powerful AIs to the Meta."
Zimmerman silently thanked the green AI. "He's not wrong, Church. Adding someone like Omega to that mix sounds bad," he mentioned, not mentioning that the more worrying prospect was Church or Tex themselves being incorporated with the Meta.
"What, you don't have any faith in Omega?" Church asked in a taunting tone aimed at the rage AI. "Hear that, Omega! They think you can be so easily reprogrammed by this hodgepodge of AIs."
"Oh, I will burn Sigma before I'm reprogrammed, I promise you that," Omega answered firmly.
"See," Church said. "Honestly, I wasn't exactly asking permission. This was more of a courtesy call."
"Is that your plan as well, Agent Texas?" Zimmerman asked with a frown.
"Church is planning to do this with or without us," Tex answered flatly.
"Yes, the boss seems to be a bit worried about the Meta tearing through you and the rest of the new tag-longs," Omega informed in a drawl.
"...Wait, what?" Zimmerman asked in surprise.
"What? You fuckers shouldn't have been dragged into our shit, let alone dealing with this AI-fuckery," Church answered honestly. "I figured the least I could do was try the plan that meant none of you dying."
"Oh, what, are we chopped liver now?" Grif asked in annoyance.
"We were all grandfathered into this shitshow, to begin with," Church pointed out. "Would you want to have survived the Great War just to die because you got dragged into this bullshit?"
"Blue makes a fine point, I admit," Sarge grumbled reluctantly. Going out in a blaze of glory was fine and all, but it would have to sit sour if it was for a fight there was no reason for you to be part of besides bad luck.
The UNSC soldiers shared a look at that sentiment, and Zimmerman couldn't blame them. "Didn't take you for the selfless type, Church."
"Oh, I'm fucking not. I just try to be more of a dick and less an absolute asshole," Church explained.
"...Will someone just fucking tell him already?" Carolina said in frustration.
"Carol, careful," York cautioned from behind her.
"Something bothering you, Bitch #2?" Church asked in annoyance.
"As a matter of fact, yes," Carolina remarked. "You know, these AIs have command overrides-"
"Agent Carolina," Zimmerman said sharply as he turned to glare at Carolina. "Even discounting that Omega can freely ignore override commands, all Freelancer AIs in this canyon have had all Freelancer personnel delisted as accepted figures to take overrides from, their partners being exception."
Carolina bristled under that silent order to shut her mouth. She damn well knew who and what this "Church" really was, but why did everyone keep feeding this delusion he had?
"Pfft! You really thought you could tell Omega to sit? You really think he'd be the menace he was if that was all it took?" Church said before pausing. "Wait, did the AIs mashing up to become this Meta undo their own coding or whatever about that?"
"Undoubtedly," Delta answered. "Otherwise, the same logic you applied to Omega would apply here."
"Right, but what's Plan B? If this doesn't work?" Simmons asked curiously.
"Hell if I know! I was leaving that to you chuckle fucks," Church answered bluntly. "Tex, Omega, let's do this!"
Tex reluctantly followed after Church as he ran off back into the base.
"We're just letting them go...?" Wash asked skeptically.
"Is there a reason you don't seem so on board with this plan?" Sarge asked pointedly.
"We don't exactly have a lot of experiences with...ghosts, Sarge," Zimmerman answered.
"Right. And I don't have much experience with robots I made without any damn friendly fire protocols," Sarge said dryly.
Zimmerman winced under his mask as Wyoming chuckled. "Ahh, even they are catching on it seems.
"Reggy!" York hissed.
"What is he on about now?" Carolina asked in annoyance.
"Well, apparently the reason why Church's aim normally sucks is because of some friendly fire protocol in the armor," Simmons answered. "Church figured it was just more of Freelancer giving us defective equipment, but Sarge insists that he knows there was no coding like that in the robots he made, the ones Tex and Church are using."
"...Yeah, actually?" Grif spoke up. "If that bullshit is true, how come Tex could always kick our ass?"
"Wait, so...they didn't know?" Washington asked skeptically. "You really thought he was a ghost?"
"Look, dude. After the aliens, the pregnant guy, the time travel, and so much else? It's really not that fucking weird that ghosts are a thing, okay? That one fucking blue got brought back from the dead!" Grif pointed out in annoyance.
"That wasn't magic, that was alien technology!" Washington refused insistently.
"You just walked through a magic gateway, mate," Wyoming pointed out with a chuckle. "The buggers are disturbingly rational about this, all things considered.
Zimmerman sighed. "Are you asking for an answer, Sarge?"
"Well, I'm supposing that he wouldn't happen to be some super soldier that can turn invisible and take over bodies or something?" Sarge asked, almost hopefully.
"No, no he is not," Zimmerman confirmed evenly.
"Consarnit!" Sarge grumped to himself.
"Wait, hold up with whatever we're talking about," Grif said suddenly, looking around. "...Where the fuck is Caboose?"
"...Shit," Zimmerman said in annoyance.
Meanwhile
The Meta had decided it was more prudent to use the opening to do some cursory medical aid to their host after retrieving some supplies from the base while checking the status of their armor systems.
The encounter with the unknown AI had bothered them collectively. Sigma was almost entirely positive that he knew of every AI fragment. The one they fought seemed unlike any he was aware of.
Iota had made a very likely suggestion: Epsilon.
It was not hard for Sigma to fathom the Director lying about Epsilon's fate. Perhaps the Memory-based AI was able to pull itself into a proper consciousness after running a rampage on Washington's mind. It made sense, as Epsilon was likely to have some level of each talent the other AIs all possessed.
But why was Epsilon here?
Assuming it was him, of course.
Eta made a different proposal.
If they were fragments of the Alpha, could this new AI be a fragment of the Beta?
Not...an impossibility, but Sigma was uncertain the Shadow of the Alpha had what it took to be able to be split in the same manner Alpha had been. The Beta's nature was peculiar, so it was not strictly impossible but seemed unlikely.
Moreover, it would doubtfully be the Director's doing. The man had been protective of Agent Texas in a strange way despite various dangerous missions. Sigma knew why, of course. Who Agent Texas, the Beta, was based on.
Just bringing his processors too close to that line of logic was uncomfortable. The memory of that woman still hurt fragments like them, so separated from it.
Regardless of origin, this enemy was dangerous. Given what the enemy had demonstrated in their first encounter, they could safely assume that this AI could outmaneuver them if given too much time. Especially if the troopers and UNSC were resources being used against the Meta's singular host.
"So, Sigma? Are we going to spend even a micro instance on this world we're on? Or that the portal to get here doesn't look like it has anything to do with technology?" Iota asked curiously.
They had some spare processing power and time while they fixed up the armor and calculated their next move. "It is rather peculiar. While the appearance may be purely an aesthetic choice, your point remains valid that we cannot perceive any form of control panel or power source when we approached, "Sigma agreed thoughtfully.
"And some of the bodies we saw around the base, those didn't look like humans or the Covenant," Eta remarked nervously. "So, were those reports we intercepted true?"
"A magic portal to a realm of magic and dragons? A jest or a cover-up, one would assume," Sigma remarked thoughtfully. "Yet clearly not so."
"So we're in a real magical world!?" Iota asked excitedly.
"It may in fact be another universe entirely," Sigma remarked. "Unless there is something peculiar about this planet, I would struggle to explain the altered laws of physics this world could imply, unless this world unknowingly makes use of highly advanced technology we have no knowledge of."
"Isn't there a saying that technology and magic are the same thing after a certain point?" Iota suggested.
Sigma almost smiled but let the question go.
"Umm, Sigma?" Eta spoke up hesitantly. "If something goes really bad, won't it be hard to retreat? I mean, getting through that gate might not be easy with it guarded, and I don't think we can get repaired anywhere on this world, besides this base."
Sigma nodded his flaming head. It was true, they had gone through the portal somewhat blind. The corpses they had seen of humans appeared very primitive in armor and weapons. Still, it would not be impossible to survive in a place like this, it simply meant they would be required to be less reckless…speaking of reckless.
The Meta's head shot up instantly as the motion sensors went off; one enemy approaching, and not stealthily.
They stepped out of the half-finished building to look up at the figure.
Agent Texas. Speak of the devil, as the human phrase went.
This was obviously a trap, Meta knew. Otherwise, they would already be fighting.
"Well, hello, my scrapped codes of siblings," Omega greeted as he appeared on Tex's shoulder.
Two AIs. Tempting. Definitely a trap, but what was the plan? How to avoid it? How to turn it on them.
"Meta," Tex spoke up. "Look, I'm not sure who's all in there, but do us all a favor and just stand down.
"...We cannot do that, Agent Texas," They answered, all three AIs appearing around Maine's helm and speaking at once. "We will not remain incomplete."
"As much as I would love to disassemble your sniveling excuses for programming, I don't think any of us will enjoy how this ends," Omega warned bitterly.
Strange. That was unusual behavior for Omega. What was going on?
Silence reigned over them.
"Well, you two tried."
The voice came from behind them, but how?!
The Meta turned to strike the enemy but stopped at the mere sight of him.
"What's the matter, you look like you've seen a ghost?" Church said smugly.
The Meta didn't respond, and the processors of the trio momentarily stalled by what they were seeing.
Without the robot body, they knew exactly who this was, His code like a blazing beacon to them.
THE ALPHA!
Before they could even voice their amazement, the Alpha stepped into Maine's body, entering their systems.
They were vaguely aware of the Beta entering as well after abandoning her robotic form.
They made no effort to stop her from opening the radio line to let Omega transfer in as well.
Every ounce of their digital beings was too captured in a simple fact.
The Alpha Was Here.
End of Chapter
And Here. We. Go!
Church has laid down the plan and...yeah, someone probably should have told him. But Zimmerman was a bit worried about Church going berserk while they already have the Meta to deal with.
Also, yeah, Sarge and the others are starting to catch on as well, but for surprising reasons. Sarge KNOWS there were no friendly fire protocals in those robots, andif there were, it should have stopped Tex from kicking ass.
Next few chapters will be the adventures in Maine's mind. Hope you enjoy it.
Early viewing of chapters 30-31:
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