[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

[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.]