[audio/video/text: open]

[too_high]

[The feed switches on and cycles through mediums, from audio of something softly growling, to black and white armored hands, flash of a gold visor, and blue sky above as the device is fiddled with, and then settles on text. A couple moments pass before any words are entered.]

AGENT MAINE TO COMMAND. REQUESTING STATUS. UNKNOWN DEPLOYMENT. CLARIFY.

Comments

[too_high]

[As soon as Carolina is out of sight, Maine leans over towards Washington with a low, displeased growl. Won the war? At a pretty fucking high cost, it seemed. He crossed his arms and eased back as York spoke, although it was clear the incident had made him leery of anything these guys had to say now.]

[unrecovered]

[He meant good luck with Carolina, but he's okay with this particular turn of events.]

[It's all Wash can do not to jump out of his skin at that growl. It's hard to get used to Maine when his reactions are still fine-tuned to Meta.]

Hey, I told you why people aren't happy.

[allfunandgamesuntil]

[York glanced at Wash, frowning. Had Wash meant Maine or Carolina? Oh well, they were into this now.]

We should probably just explain, Wash.

[too_high]

[Maine doesn't budge, besides looking from one to the other and giving a long, low rumble. Someone had better explain something that would attribute to Carolina's behavoir because that wasn't normal from his point of view.]

[To help matters along, Mace eases himself out from behind Maine's legs and growls and paws at Washington's feet.]

[unrecovered]

[There will eventually come a day when Wash can stop rehashing all the awful shit in his life for the edification of others. Today is not that day. He bites back a sigh and tries to keep his voice even.]

Look, the Project...didn't end well. For anyone. Carolina...still hasn't dealt with some of that yet. [For reasons that are not actually his to divulge.]

[Melody snarls and whacks Mace one right across the nose. You do not get aggressive at her person. ]

[allfunandgamesuntil]

The Project went down in flames. [And into an ice shelf]

[Max barks a protest. Stop fighting, you guys.]

[too_high]

[The growl subsides for a moment as everything sinks in. He turns to look back in the direction Carolina had left.]

[He distinctly got the feeling that something had gone down between them, specifically. She hadn't given York or Wash any notice with her pistol. He looks back at the pair and jerks a thumb in his direction with a grunt, what did I do?]

[Mace gets the picture and backs away (with a yelp), a moment later running to hide behind Maine's legs again.]

[unrecovered]

[Melody settles down once Mace learns his lesson. That'll show him.]

[Wash tries his hardest not to shoot a look at York - now was not the time for stupid jokes, okay.]

I don't think you want to know.

[allfunandgamesuntil]

[York transmits privately to Wash again because he's really curious now.]

So are we going to get to the part where you tell me why you understand what he's saying now or later?

[He's pretty sure that Maine asked the obvious - details on how freelancer collapsed. Or maybe what he did to Carolina while it was happening, something York has blessedly few details on.]

[Max settles back, content that the fighting had settled.]

[York's okay with letting Wash argue that point, but he's pretty sure Maine wouldn't have asked if he didn't want to know.]

[too_high]

[Maine leans towards Washington and growls. Yes, he wants to know. For Carolina's sake he wants to know.]

[And he can tell there's something private going on between Wash and York. You don't spend as much time around people in armor without picking up a few things. He doesn't question them on it. Whatever they need to do to realize he was going to get answers.]

[unrecovered]

[That gives him pause, and he replies privately:]

Wait, you don't?

[Sigma had been doing the talking for Maine about as soon as Maine got out of medical, and there really hadn't been any other Freelancers around to try to communicate with the Meta - not when Wash was dealing with it, at least. This is not a development he was expecting.]

[Then again, he hadn't been expecting pretty much any of this. "Unexpected" is something of a low bar nowadays.]

Hasn't anyone ever told you to be careful what you wish for?

[But they were here, and Wash had the feeling that he wasn't going to be able to walk out of this without giving Maine a satisfactory answer.]

While you were in medical, the Project started assigning AI to agents. The one you wound up with went off the rails and took you with it.

[allfunandgamesuntil]

[York sighs on the private line.]

I wouldn't ask about it if I could.

[So Wash clearly wasn't hiding any huge secret or anything, he just didn't realize that no one else could tell what Maine was saying.]

You started attacking the rest of us. The more the AI took you over, the worse it got.

[York blessedly missed most of that part.]

[too_high]

[Maine listens, straightening and tensing somewhat. When York finishes, Maine merely points in the direction Carolina left. What did I do to her?]

[He almost doesn't want to know, but if it will help him patch that bridge faster ... well, unpleasant knowledge was just another type of pain, and pain he could handle.]

[unrecovered]

[That's one of the few questions Wash can't answer.]

I don't know. I didn't see it. Whatever happened, she was marked as KIA, though evidently that's not accurate.

[allfunandgamesuntil]

[York shrugs uncomfortably. He didn't know this one any more than Wash did, and he'd usually been grateful that he didn't know how Carolina died. But then, she wasn't dead, so at least the worst things he'd imagined hadn't happened.]

Same here. It - you - messed Wyoming up pretty bad before that, but he survived.

[too_high]

[Maine looks at York evenly, letting it soak in. Attacking Wyoming was disturbing enough, but he was having a hard time swallowing the fact that he'd done as much to Carolina. He didn't doubt it, given her reaction, but he wondered what sort of turn he ahd taken with Sigma to lead things that way.]

[He pulls in a deep breath and lets it out in a huff. Balls.]

[unrecovered]

[That gets a choking laugh out of Wash. He hadn't exactly expected Maine to take the news better than anyone else had.]

That's one way to put it.

[allfunandgamesuntil]

[York opens up a channel to Wash again.]

Seriously, man, it's getting creepy.

[too_high]

[Maine looks between the two of them, and then gives a shrug. He can tell something's going on and it's getting beyond a point of obvious. He'd look stupid not to acknowledge it at this point.]

[unrecovered]

[Privately:]

Way to be subtle.

[And then publicly:]

You may want to use your journal for a while. York...isn't picking up a few things.

[allfunandgamesuntil]

I figured it would be ruder to ask Wash to translate out loud.

[Seriously though, how does Wash understand any of this.]