"It's an undeniable and may I say Fundamental quality of man that when faced with extinction...
every alternative is preferable."

Many dead bodies in grey armor, followed by a massive reconstruction effort.

"To the Director of Project Freelancer from the Oversight Sub-committee Chairman:"

"Captain Reemus!" A soldier yells. "We've got something over here!"

"Dear Director, I want to thank you in advance for your openness in response to our Sub-committee's request for more information.

The captain and several other soldiers run over to the cave where they a soldier in red armor hiding.

"We were...disappointed that your Recovery Force reported a total loss at Outpost 17B. We had hoped that there would be at least one soldier left that could shed some light on the situation. I know that your Agency has enjoyed a high degree of freedom with very little scrutiny in the past few years..."

A voice comes over the facilities PA. "Attention, all personnel: decks kilo one, delta one, sierra one... are closed for maintenance."

"It is not our intention to disrupt such a... 'Progressive military program', but instead to find a way that we can work together in a manner that befits ALL our responsibilities. I am CERTAIN that you will agree. And we look forward to making this review process as painless as we possibly can. So we can find our missing, Spartan."

The Red soldier is brought to a room with several large view screens with various displays on them, the Counselor's face appears on the screen in the center of them.

"Thank you gentlemen." The Counselor says. "Would you please excuse us?" 

The soldiers in grey leave.

"You are Private Walter Henderson, correct?" The Counselor asks.

"Yes Sir!" Henderson says.

"You can dispense with the formalities, Walter. Please feel comfortable to speak as candidly as you wish. Can you tell us what happened at your Outpost, Walter?"

"Yes Sir--uh....yes." Henderson says. "Uh, I had been there about six months, Everything was pretty much like normal and... one day this...ship...crashed."

"I see," The Counselor says.

"Is THIS the ship to which you are referring?" The Counselor asks.

"Yeah." Henderson confirms. "...yeah, that's it."

"Please... tell me what was on the ship, Walter."

"I don't know. The Blues got there first. They fought us off while they cleared it out...took the stuff back to base. By the time we got a hold of it, it just seemed like a regular old transport. Our engineer said that some of the wiring had been messed with, but he didn't seem you know, worried about it or nothin' like that." Henderson explains.

"I see...thank you for that."

"But whatever was on the ship... must have been what started the whole thing."

"Please Walter, Define 'thing'."

"The infection." Henderson is silent for a few seconds. "The Blues just stopped fighting us... some of them set up camp outside their base, and trapped the rest of their team inside..."

(I'm just gonna use the transcript for the rest of this chapter. I have a massive head-ache and I want to finish this chapter up.)

...blew up their comm tower for some reason. Their own comm tower... Then they blew up ours. That's why we couldn't radio for help, we couldn't figure out why they would do that. After that, nothing. No word from them at all. The CO sent a squad over... all the Blues were dead. They had killed each other.

Counselor: Why do you think they did that?

Henderson: I don't know. They had torn the radios out of their helmets and dismantled their computers. The CO said they were trying to build something... but I saw all the stuff, no way! They were trying to break it. And there was another body in there too. Not a Blue, somebody else. Actually, she looked like him.

Henderson looks over to a grey clad soldier standing in the corner.

Counselor: Don't worry about him for now, Walter. Please, continue.

Henderson: We brought all the equipment back to base and brought it online. And that's when the infection started for us.

Counselor: The soldiers became... sick?

Henderson: No. They just... they were different. Off. We would catch guys getting into areas they shouldn't get into. But the weird thing was, a guy would go crazy, act up, and then we would throw him in a cell, and he would be fine. Then another guy would go nuts, disobey orders. Like trying to bring the comm tower back online even though we were told to leave it be. Maybe they knew it was coming.

Counselor: They knew what was coming?

Henderson: At first we thought it was help. It ransacked Blue Base, searched all the bodies... then it came after us. Seemed focused on the guys that were infected. Eventually, it just started killing everything.

Counselor: Could you describe it for us, Walter?

Henderson: Not really. It moved fast, when we first saw it, and after Blue Base it was... it was different.

Counselor: In what way, different?

Henderson: It looked... like it wasn't there. I don't know how to explain it.

Counselor: That's alright. I know this has been difficult for you Walter. We're going to do everything we can to help you.

Two soldiers in grey walk up behind Henderson

Counselor: Please, follow these men to your new quarters. You'll be with us as long as absolutely necessary. You have my word.

Henderson follows them out of the room

Counselor: Agent Washington, what do you make of all this?

Washington: I think it sounds like exactly what I encountered.

Counselor: Mhm.

Washington: Except it's stronger now, and becoming more so all the time.

Counselor: Does that concern you?

Washington: It doesn't make me excited.

Counselor: You've been through a lot with this program, Agent Washington. The Epsilon A.I. we assigned you-

Washington: Has already been discussed to death. I'm over it.

Counselor: Now your, physical problems... because of your last encounter-

Washington: I'm better now. Mentally and physically.

Counselor: Our profile of you disagrees with your assessment.

Washington: Look, the last mission I ran against this thing, I got shot in the back by my own partner.

Counselor: Agent South. We feel some... responsibility for that.

A video appears on the screen showing South shooting Washington in the back

Washington: Yeah, you should. If I hadn't had York's healing unit, I'd be dead now. So while this isn't ideal and I don't feel like sticking my neck out for you guys, if it puts me on a path that leads to her, you can trust me at least that far.

Counselor: So you would say that you have overwhelming feelings of anger, and a need for revenge?

Washington: More than you know.

Counselor: Excellent. Now that our agency is under investigation, the Director feels it is important for us to be as open as possible. With each other. If our suspicions are correct, the Meta has made another addition: the Omega A.I.

Washington: It was Omega and... Tex, right?

Counselor: Yes, it was.

Washington: The Meta doesn't leave much behind. It's gonna be hard to track.

Counselor: We think the best place for you to start would be the Omega's last known location. The soldiers there have the most experience with our program.

Washington: I see. So I should contact these experts-

Counselor: We do not like the term "experts."

Washington: Because no one really knows what our program is doing?

Counselor: Let's just say the term "expert" is a little too... complimentary in this particular case. Do you still have your old suit of armor?

Washington: Of course. Wait...

Washington suddenly appears in Blood Gulch in older looking armor with the same colors.

Washington: Why? ...Oh, great.

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07-06-2022