sixthiterationlogs | OTA Arrival: Welcome to A New Beginning

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OTA Arrival: Welcome to A New Beginning

WHO: North Dakota
WHERE: Bunker, Outside 'Dojo', Around South Village
WHEN: February 1-5
OPEN TO: Arrival Locked to Aqua, OTA otherwise
WARNINGS: Possible discussion of canon character death

Bunker Arrival: Locked to Aqua

A tube. They are in a tube. Which of course makes a little bit of sense. Well, no, not any sense at all. Theta could probably justify it as something to do with slipspace travel, but the AI knew that couldn't be all of it. After all, there was no reason he should be aware when North wasn't. Worse, he couldn't find his chip. So things were definitely stressful for Theta, hovering there in North's mind while North hovers in a tube.

Agent North Dakota the display reads. He's here now, and Theta wishes he could find a way to wake his partner and get him out of this place.

Outside the Dojo: Obstacle Course Anyone? | OTA | (Feb 2)

He knows what it is the second he sees it, and for the life of him, North wants a piece of that obstacle course. Too many years in the UNSC Marine Corp, and with Freelancer after that, to not want the challenge.

Are you sure this is the best idea, North?

"I'm sure. Time me, okay?" North chuckled as he shifted to remove his coat and toss it up to the nearby porch. Doesn't matter that it's cold out. This place isn't nearly so cold as his home colony was. So really, going for an obstacle course in the middle of winter isn't all that bad at all. He's even quick across it, speaking of experience and serious training.

Basic, maybe, but damn it feels good to do this.

Around South Village | OTA | Feb 2-5

It's a lot to process. Being dead. Being here, being so many things. This place looks nothing like any place he's ever known before. The houses are just strange compared to even the backwater colony world he'd come from. It didn't even look like there was proper computer tech here, which was making Theta a touch annoyed. The inn itself was nice enough, warm and cozy and North found himself digging in a closet to try and find some gloves so he could be warm when he's outside. And of course he spent some time enjoying the food.

Where he really spends the most time, though, is near the jailhouse by the inn. Not because there's any particular reason to. It's just that there are so many animals there, warm and fluffy and the joy Theta radiated in his mind over seeing these animals.

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"I'm guessing you won't take Theta's word for it either," North sighs, coming to a stop. But he still speaks, because how could he not? This was one of his best friends, who he hasn't seen in years. Someone he cared about, whether Washington accepted that or not.

"Wash, please. I left medical because I was trying to help York and Texas. The Director did some horrible things, Texas found out. The whole trying to steal Gamma was a lie. They needed help and I went to make sure South didn't kill Tex or York. Then the grav went out and the crash and South was hurt. I hurt her badly. I got her out and tried to get her far enough away that Freelancer wouldn't find us immediately. That's when I came back. I tried. But... I tried and I couldn't get back in. And that's when this whole 'capture the Freelancers' thing started, and South and I were being hunted. They sicced Maine on us!"

Not true, but he doesn't know the deal with the Meta. All he knows is that one teammate killed him. And that another had a really good reason to believe North had betrayed him. North, who tried his best to always be there for his team, even when it didn't go well.

"Even less than yours," Wash replies bluntly. He's seen what they can do, felt it first hand, and he knows how biased they can be. Of course Theta is going to cast North in the best possible light. And then he'd probably forgotten all about North as soon as he joined the Meta.

His eyes narrow. "I know exactly what the Director did. I know exactly how it felt to be tortured and torn apart and split, so you don't get to pull that on me. I remember exactly what happened."

He remembers it like it had happened to him. In a way, it did. Epsilon unspooling and screaming in his head. North doesn't get to lecture him about how bad things had been.

Maine. Fuck. "No they didn't," he snaps. "The Meta wasn't working for Freelancer. And the Meta wasn't Maine. Don't talk about him like that. Besides, they didn't really care about capturing you and they knew exactly where you were. Maybe you should have asked your sister about that."

Epsilon got the memories, Theta says, absolutely horrified. Beyond horrified. Shivering and curling up in his mind and it hurts.

Hurts and he almost curls up to echo the pain of the AI in his head. Instead his hands come up to brace on either side of his head. Trying to anchor himself in the here and now and not grit his teeth.

Makes him feel nauseous and he tries to push through it.

"The what? Asked South? What in the world are you talking about? Two days ago I was holed up with my sister, Maine attacked us, and I couldn't stop him. I died. And then I was in something like a cryo-tube and a woman with blue hair pulling me out, my chip gone and Theta still in my head and now here you are. That's the last two days of my life. If this even is life."

"I told you," Wash says, ignoring North's discomfort because fuck that, he doesn't care, "it wasn't Maine. And it wasn't obeying the Project. South on the other was a fucking Recovery Agent because they promised her an AI."

Yeah, he's going to have a grudge over that forever, even with the Project in ruins. He should have killed her much earlier. Should never have given her Delta.

South was a... For how long? It explained some of her motions toward them moving in the last few days. Had they... had they promised her Theta?

But I don't want to be with anyone other than you, North.

The statement provided him no comfort. Maybe Wash wasn't the only one who was betrayed. And he doesn't know what to do with all of this.

"If that wasn't Maine, then who killed me? It wasn't South, I sent her off with my rifle to get high ground. Whoever was in Maine's armor was more focused on me, so I figured with Theta and my shield I could hold them off while South took them down."

None of this makes sense. He remembers the power going down. Not being able to hold out long enough for South to get a shot. He remembers the growl that sounded like Maine's voice, remembered the man towering over him. Remembered the Brute Shot slamming into his chest. He even wore the scar. Had awoken here with it, right over his heart, the killing blow.

"Wait, how do you even know all of this?"

Two days, he died two days ago, and nothing, absolutely nothing made sense anymore.

He doesn't want to talk about this. He doesn't want to deal with North at all. He should never have gone looking, except then things would have come out at an even worse time, he's sure.

"The Meta. It was the Meta. Sigma and the other AIs piloting whatever was left of Maine after they took over." He doesn't know how much was left. There'd been... bits... flashes. Times when he almost thought he was talking with his friend. And then other times when it had been so alien and wrong.

He blinks slowly at the question and then shrugs. Why try to soften the blow? "Because that happened nearly two years ago."

What? Does he look like he's going a bit pale, even for him? Because he is. He has an AI in his head and the idea that one might take over...

Sigma was always bad. Wait, then Maine attacked Wyoming!

"Two years?" North asks, and he wishes there was a chair to sit down in. Because he feels a bit weak. To the point where it almost feels like Theta is the only thing keeping him standing. "This... Meta was after Theta."

He's never seen North look that shaken. Once it might have made him feel nervous, back when North was higher ranked, older than him, more mature, more experienced. But that was a long time ago and Wash just feels numb. None of this matters.

"Yeah. They got Theta. Sigma wanted to become whole again, like you could just glue the pieces back together."

But I'm right here!

North can't even process Theta right now, it's just beyond him. Because what is being laid out before him is... That can't be true. It all just sounds so impossible. Right up there with how Wash was acting.

At least Wash's behavior sort of made sense.

"They sent you after him, didn't they? That sounds like something the Director would do. Sending you to hunt down what was left of your partner as he went... as he went around killing people who betrayed you."

He didn't betray Wash. Didn't mean to betray Wash. Could he deny that it had happened?

Wash's eyes narrow at that. Shows what North knows, which is fuck all.

"Wasn't anything to do with me. The Meta wanted the fragments. It's easy to make a connection to people who betrayed me when everyone did."

When all of the other Freelancers had fled, or died, of course the Meta was going to find some people who betrayed him.

That wasn't what he was saying, Wash. He sighs and shakes his head and folds his arms over his chest. What he had been saying was that Wash was sent after the man who was killing the people Wash didn't like anyway. So had he even really tried? But that would be wrong. That would be unfair. So he doesn't say it.

"How many of us did he kill?"

The gesture makes him bristle, spine straightening with indignant. The way North shakes his head, like Wash just doesn't get it, like he's some stupid rookie he needs to condescend to.

Good questions. "A bunch of people. But people you might give a damn about? Carolina. Maybe Tex. York got offed by Wyoming. Wyoming got killed by Tex. Fuck knows what happened to Florida."

And Then Wash had killed the AIs and the Sim Troopers had killed what was left of Maine.

"And you?" North asks softly. Because whether Wash wants to believe it or not, he cares. "I've met people here who said they didn't die before coming here. I don't know what to think about that. Did you?"

Please say no.

What about the Alpha?

"I don't care about the Alpha right now," North got out between grit teeth. And Theta jerked back from him again.

The concern pisses him off. He's not North's concern anymore. North doesn't get to fucking care what happened to him. Not now. He lost that right a long time ago.

"There's about an even chance I'm going to bleed out and die of my injuries," he says, as flippantly as he can. He's not exactly convinced about the medical skills of, well, their medic. None of the Reds and Blues are what he'd call competent. "Or maybe they'll just execute me instead of sending me back to jail."

His lips tighten, a hard expression when Alpha is mentioned. "Alpha's dead. All of them are gone. Except Epsilon." And even then, there was a tiny chance of recovering him. Fuck...

Perhaps he doesn't have the right to be concerned, but he is anyway. Whether Washington likes it or not. Regardless, he looks hurt at the idea that Washington, were he to go back, would likely shortly after die. No, North doesn't like that idea at all.

He wants to ask what 'back to jail' means. Theta wants to know how the AIs died. Maine wants to know if the Meta is still around, how Wash got injured, a lot of things.

Instead he just nods briefly.

"Thank you. We both know you didn't have to tell me any of that. I know you wont' believe it, but I'm more sorry than ever that I failed you, Washington. I hope some day you'll be willing to listen to my side of things. If you do, I'm staying at that place with the obstacle course out front."

Something tells him he shouldn't hold his breath on that one. Beyond just because he didn't want to be like Utah.

"I should probably thank you. At least I figured out how stupid I was to think that anyone had my back," he says, bitterness thick in his voice.

He isn't going to tell North where he and Maine are living. He's not giving away that sort of information. Although... they come down here often enough that he probably can't keep them from encountering each other. Maine would be fine. North...

"Maine's here," he says bluntly. "Just Maine. Doesn't even remember Sigma. Don't fuck things up with him." Or they'll have more than words.

"If you say he's just Maine, I don't have any problems with him beyond what the Director had him do in the match against Texas," North assures Washington. They were teammates.

And whether Washington believes it or not, he cares about that. They were his team. His friends. His family.

"Whether you believe it or not, Wash, I always tried to have your back. I'm really sorry I couldn't get you out of there, away from whatever the Director did to you. And away from what my failure put you through."

But that isn't something he can fix with words. Not now. He definitely looks like he wants to reach out, as if he needs to confirm Washington is real. Is there.

Can you tell him something for me?

Yeah. What is it? For a moment he closes his eyes, listening to the wash of feelings and disconnected words. But hey, he can put it together the right way.

"Wash? Theta says he's sorry. For how Epsilon hurt you. And thanks for teaching him about skateboards."

That's so long ago, he barely remembers it. It feels like another lifetime. And now it's tied up in fighting Tex so recently, in remembering her as part of himself, because Alpha had felt that. it's confusing and he hates it. Wishes he could scrub his brain clean so he's just himself again.

"It doesn't matter now," he says flatly. "It's too late." He knows better now. He won't make the same mistakes twice.

He's ready to walk away when North speaks again. "Skateboards? What-" He shakes his head. "I don't even remember."

Doesn't remember? That doesn't seem possible.

He had a lot of memory issues after Epsilon, remember?

Yeah, he does, now that he thinks about it. As it was he smiled softly. Weakly. But it's a smile anyway.

"Theta started using a skateboard in his holograms after you told him about them. He actually spent a lot of time trying to learn them. And trying to hack Freelancer files to find out where you went. He wanted to show you his tricks. He tried to simulate a reasonable learning curve."

It sounds ridiculous. There's a fuzzy sort of recollection there. It doesn't sound entirely implausible. But it belongs to someone else. Another lifetime. One that he wishes he could leave behind for the most part.

"I don't skateboard anymore. Haven't for years."

North ignores the pang of sorrow from Theta at that.

"Well, who knows, maybe you'll find a time to get back into your hobbies here," North shrugged. He doesn't know. Feels like he hasn't had hobbies in a long time. "I suppose I should let you be now. I'm sorry to bother you, Washington."

Because he really does feel bad about it. Perhaps he should have let Washington go, but he didn't like to abandon his teammates.

Hobbies. Who the fuck has time for hobbies? What would he even do? And he doesn't like experiencing North's concern. It feels so fake, because it hadn't been there when it really mattered. "Just... stay out of my way," he says flatly. "I'm not interested in anything from you."

Probably better that they just ignore each other from now on.

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OTA Arrival: Welcome to A New Beginning

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