Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Is he still asleep?

Wake him up.

I wouldn’t suggest that.

Do it anyway.

He’ll wake up in his own time, I hope. 

Do you think he’ll be scared, about us being here?

I sure hope he doesn’t freak out 

Don’t worry Eta, he already knows we’re here.

Tucker woke up with a gasp, his breathing hitched as he looked around the white, bleach smelling room. 

Voices rang in his head uncontrollably.

“He’s awake” Theta gushed. 

Tucker groaned and moved to cover his ears in a weak attempt to flush the noise out, before realizing, his hands were handcuffed to the metal bars on the hospital bed.

“What the fuck?” He hissed under his breath, straining his wrists under the cool metal. 

“They don’t trust you.” Sigma snickered from inside Tucker’s mind.

Tucker rolled his eyes at the AI’s comment. “They don’t trust you.” Tucker snapped back, his voice hoarse from the lack of conversation.

How long had he been laying here?

“3 days, two hours, and twenty-three minutes.” Delta mused.

“Great.” Tucker huffed as the pounding in his head began to worsen. 

His head hurt, really fucking bad. Like his brain was trying to claw its way out of his skull. Brief flashes of memory from the moment of his falling out eroded from his mind.

He remembered grouping up with everybody else about to fight Hargrove’s men, when he was in the Meta suit. He remembered the faint whispers in the back of his mind, guiding him. He remembered fighting like a goddamn Jedi with his sword, radioing Wash, and then, blacking out.

Tucker looked around the room. There was equipment everywhere and about a thousand cords and machines hooked up to him. He followed the gaze of a cord leading into a monitor, beating steadily to his right. The sound was grating for some reason. 

It looked to be one of the hospital rooms on Chorus but, the blinds were shut and the room looked way more advanced than what he was used to, so he was unsure.

Where am I?

“You’re in the emergency room,” Delta informed him. “On Chorus.”

Tucker nodded. “Right.”

The AIs has been quieter during the battle, but had been increasingly getting louder the longer he was awake. The fact that they were even in his head meant only one thing; that Church was gone. Tucker didn’t really know how he felt about that in the long run, but at the time, he couldn’t find himself to care.

That sounded bad, but there were just more pressing things on his mind at the time.

Like getting out of this hellhole.

“The nurse left about 5 minutes ago,” Delta informed in his mind. “You have enough time before she comes back.”

Tucker looked towards the shut door, he could hear some slight commotion outside, but it didn’t appear to be anyone who was about to enter the room.

“You could always hit the button on the bed to call for the nurse.” Theta chirped.

Tucker silently thanked Theta’s suggestion but decided not to do that. After all, they handcuffed him for a reason. 

“You could use the IV to pick the lock on the handcuffs.” Sigma told him. 

Tucker scoffed. “I’m not taking advice from you.” He snapped.

“Why not?”

Tucker tugged at his wrist effortlessly, even though he knew the lock wouldn’t break open. “Because I’ve heard enough from Wash to know that you’re the reason Maine became the Meta.” 

Sigma stayed in his head and out of sight from the emptiness of the room. “What happened to the Meta was as much up to Maine as it was up to me.” 

Gamma agreed as the others AIs remained quiet.

Tucker stopped tugging at the handcuffs as his wrists began to bruise. The room stayed silent except for the annoying sound of the ticking monitor and Sigma’s voice. 

“Stop talking.” Tucker told him. 

“What’s wrong?” Theta asked.

“I have a headache.” Tucker groaned. 

“You’re probably giving the people around you a headache, talking to yourself like that.” Omega growled.

Tucker rolled his eyes, which he regretted as soon as he did because it only made the throbbing in his head worse. Although he did have to admit, it wasn’t a bad idea. He probably looked like a crazy person yelling at the people in his head. Thinking everything he wanted to say would benefit him. 

Even though he wasn’t completely sure what would benefit him best right now. To be honest, he was pretty peeved for waking up handcuffed. He also had an immense feeling of frustration for whatever reason. Maybe it was the AIs. Maybe he could feel everything they were feeling. He hoped that wasn’t the case. 

It was the sound of the doorknob jiggling that brought him out of his thoughts, his AIs still chattering in the back of his mind. 

Nope, not his AIs, the AIs. 

“Oh, would you look who’s awake.” Dr. Grey chirped happily in front of the hospital bed. Carolina and Wash were with her too. They were both fully armored and Tucker’s gaze immediately wandered onto Wash. 

He still wasn’t sure what their relationship exactly was. They had sex a few times, but that was it. Tucker was too afraid to admit to Wash that he wanted something more. It was strange. He was supposed to be the guy down for a fuck buddy or a one night stand, not the guy that wanted a real relationship . 

“Oooooooo.” He heard Iota gush in the back of his mind, continued by some yelling from Omega and some fearful cries from Eta. 

Carolina raised a brow. “Tucker?!” 

Tucker looked up at her and hadn’t realized he’d been zoning out the sounds of the real world. He had been too focused on the noises erupting from his mind, he’d need to work on that. 

“What?” 

“I asked how you’re feeling.” She reiterated.

“I’m feeling pretty fucking annoyed.” Tucker complained. 

Carolina glanced cautiously at the handcuffs before looking back on Tucker. “It was for your own protection.” She told him.

“You were clawing at your arms.” Dr. Grey sang as she walked over to him with a thermometer. 

Tucker looked down at his arms and noticed the linear gashes running up them. Had he really done that?

“You were adjusting to the newfound voices.” Delta offered. “Your anxiety picked up and you quickly became overwhelmed.”

“It’s not that bad.” Wash insisted, noticing him staring at the marks “You were doing it for a short while on your way back to the capital.” 

“I tried staying quiet for you.” Theta said with a smile.

“Me too.” Gamma said, although Tucker was pretty sure that was a lie.

“Thanks.” Tucker muttered anyway.

“Are you talking to the AIs?” Carolina asked, her arms crossed over her chest.

Tucker looked up from the bed. “You know about that?” He asked as Grey put the thermometer to his head. He really shouldn’t have been all that surprised.

Carolina looked over to Wash. 

Something was wrong.

“You don’t remember?” Wash asked. 

“Remember what?”

Carolina looked away from Tucker and instead on Grey. “After the battle you,” She paused and turned her attention back on him. “You kept screaming to get them out.” 

Ok, Tucker definitely did not remember that part.

“You’re temperature has leveled out smoothly.” Dr. Grey said with a smile, removing the device from his head. 

The room grew quiet and Tucker once again noticed the grating ticking of the monitor next to him.

“You’ll be cleared to leave by later today.” She said, returning to her table of equipment.

“You’re not going to get,” Wash paused and lowered his voice as if Tucker wouldn’t be able to hear him. “them out?” Wash asked. 

Dr. Grey looked up at Wash. “Agent Washington, I don’t think you realize just how jacked his implants are. I can’t simply take them out.” She said with a smile as she began searching through her drawers. “It would take tons of research, if possible.” Grey pulled a key out of one of the drawers and looked up at Washington with a sickeningly genuine smile. “Which is highly unlikely.” 

Eta frowned. “Are they going to remove us?” 

“They couldn’t if they tried.” Gamma reassured. 

“They don’t seem like they’re including you in the life-altering decision, Tucker.” Sigma hissed. “I thought they were your friends?”

Tucker frowned. He wasn’t happy about the AIs, but he was more unhappy that they thought they could make the decision about what happens to them without consulting his opinion on the matter. 

“It’s your choice.” Sigma told him. 

“Well, we can’t do nothing.” Carolina insisted. 

“It’s my choice.” Tucker muttered.

“What?” Carolina asked, drawing her attention to him.

“I said it’s my choice, not yours. If I want to do nothing, we’ll do nothing.”

He could practically feel the death stare Carolina was giving him.

“Well, then. If you would like, Tucker. The best thing I can do about the AIs, for the time being, is some light therapy.” Grey said as she walked over to him with the key in her hands. “It would be about once a week and focus on anything you want it to. If it helps I can have you do it with someone your comfortable with.” 

“I’m not crazy.” Tucker told her. 

Therapy was for nut jobs and people who didn’t know how to function as a human being. That of which, he was neither.

“Therapy isn’t just for the insane. It can really help anyone.” Wash told him in that damn voice he loved so much. It wasn’t empathetic. Tucker could tell Wash didn’t say that to try to get Tucker to agree to something he didn’t want to do, he said it with the intention to help him. 

“You guys are so cute.” Iota said excitedly.

“I'll think about it.” Tucker said quietly, suddenly more concerned with Dr. Grey, who was unlocking his handcuffs. 

“There you go.” Dr. Grey chirped. “If you take a nap and continue to scratch, I’ll put them back on.” She warned, walking back to her desk. 

Tucker rubbed at his sore wrists. “Thanks.” He mumbled. 

“Agent Carolina.” Andersmith called, entering the room. “Kimball needs you in the war room.” 

Carolina nodded and did a double-take between Tucker and Andersmith before leaving the room. 

Which left him alone with Wash, we’ll kinda. Grey was still there, but she seemed more occupied in whatever it was she was doing. 

“She’s imputing your data into your profile. Such as temperature, deploy time, availability status, and consciousness.” Delta informed him.  “Standard protocol.”

You can see that? Tucker subconsciously asked.

“You can see it too, my vision is just far greater than yours.” 

Tucker nodded and rubbed at his head with his palm as the beeping from the monitor seemed to grow louder.

“Are you ok?” 

Tucker looked up at Wash, who had moved closer and was unlatching his helmet. He took his helmet off and put it at his side, using his free hand to brush his fingers through his hair. Tucker loved that Wash didn’t know how often he did that.

“Yea, I’m fine. Just getting used to a bunch of people in my head.”

“With- Maine, it started as headaches.” 

Tucker raised a brow. “Started?”

He better not be implying what I think he’s implying. 

“I think he is.” Sigma offered.

“The AIs.” Wash pointed out. “When Maine got his, headaches were the worst and first part. I’m not sure if he ever got over them.”

Tucker nodded. That wasn’t surprising considering how chatty Sigma was.

The monitor got louder. 

“Omega and Gamma are very loud,” Iota told him. “They’re always shouting.”

“I’m not always yelling!” Omega cackled. 

The monitor sped up slightly. 

“I would never yell.” Gamma piped. 

Guys quiet down.

“Yes, you would.” Eta whimpered. “It’s very scary.” 

Theta smiled. “He just needs a hug.”

Shut up.

“I do not need a hug!” 

Tucker felt himself subconsciously scratching at his arms. 

“Tucker?” Wash asked, catching his attention.

Tucker looked up at him and paused the movement. Wash’s face had concern plastered all over it and Tucker was torn between feeling guilty for causing it and feeling frustrated because he didn’t need Wash’s pity. 

“What?”

“Are you sure you’re ok?”

Tucker heard the monitor beat steadily next to him. The beeping and the growing argument in his head only made his headache worse. And he couldn’t get rid of the AIs.

“Yes, can you just turn that fucking thing off?”

Wash raised a brow and looked around the room to find the thing irritating Tucker. “What? The monitor?”

Tucker nodded.

Wash paused and glanced over at the monitor before turning his attention back on Tucker. “Um, I think you need that.” 

Tucker groaned and laid back against the bed with a slight thump. 

Why can’t he just do it?

Wash looked over at him, unsure of what to say or do. “It’s not too bad.” He finally said. “You’ll be out of here by the end of the day, at the most.”

Dr. Grey came over to the bed with a smile. “I’m going to give Tucker a final analysis. If you could leave that would be helpful.” 

Wash nodded. “Alright, just inform me when you’re done.” He said, putting his helmet back on. 

Dr. Grey nodded and began ushering him out. She shut the door and turned to Tucker with a smile. “Now, where were we?”

As promised, Tucker was released later that day. 

He had wanted desperately to be out of that room, but now that he was; he was unsure of what to do.

He supposed he could always head to the mess hall for dinner and see Caboose, Grif, and the others. 

“They didn’t come to visit you when you were in the hospital.” Sigma pointed out.

Or maybe heading to the mess hall wasn’t such a good idea.

“Maybe they were busy.” Theta suggested.

Either way, Tucker thought. We’ll hold that off until later.

“Ooo visit Wash!” Iota said enthusiastically. “He visited us.”

Us?

Was he really an us now?

Tucker decided to dwell on it later and mindlessly began heading in the direction of Wash’s room.

Wash did say he wanted to be informed when Tucker was out.

He walked by the mess hall and briefly looked through the door window. He was able to pinpoint the Reds and Blues right away. Simmons and Grif were arguing with each other as Sarge piped in every now and then to threaten to impale Grif with a plastic fork while Caboose and Donut we’re laughing and smiling about something.

They looked like they were having fun.

Tucker clenched his fist and continued down the hall. Wash’s room was definitely down here somewhere.

He stopped at Wash’s door and raised his arm to knock when he heard Wash’s laughter coming from inside the room. Followed by Carolina saying something. 

Why wasn’t he knocking?

These were his friends. 

Why did he lower his arm?

Tucker turned around on his heel and walked away from the door. He’ll give them some space. Maybe he should just take a break, head back to his room, check on his armor, go to sleep. 

“You’re jealous.” Sigma told him.

I’m not jealous.

“You wouldn’t have walked away if it was just Wash in there.” 

Shut up.

You don’t know anything about me.

“I know everything about you.” Sigma corrected. “I’m in your mind.” 

For the first time since Tucker got the AIs; Sigma appeared tangibly in front of him. 

The glowy scarlet figure looked him up and down before speaking again. “You seem to forget that I have access to your mind, I know everything about you. So, I know if you’re jealous.”

Tucker frowned and walked straight through the AI, continuing on the path to his room as the AI followed.

Tucker ignored Sigma’s presence and continued walking down the hall past the dining area when he was tightly grabbed and lifted off the ground. 

“Tucker! You are awake!”

“Caboose, put me down!” Tucker exasperated.

Caboose dropped him immediately. “Sorry.”

Tucker pulled himself up off the ground and briefly noticed Sigma had quickly descended back into his mind. Tucker looked over at Caboose, who’s attention to Tucker drew a crowd.

“Was that the AI?” Grif asked, walking up with Simmons and the rest of the Reds.

Simmons elbowed Grif. “Shut up idiot.” He hissed.

Tucker raised a brow. “Yea, it was.”

Donut smiled. “Ooo can I talk with Theta?” He gushed. 

“They want to talk to me.” Theta cheered. “I like Donut.”

Tucker looked at Donut with slight confusion. “You want to talk to Theta?” 

Donut nodded eagerly. “I heard he’s sweet.”

Sarge nodded. “He’s also got a skateboard.” 

Why did they want to talk to the AI? Didn’t they think they were dangerous?

“Can I say hi, Tucker?” Theta asked.

Despite his confusion, Tucker decided it was an ok idea to let them see Theta.

Tucker nodded. “Ok, I guess.”

You can come out now Theta.

Theta’s purple aura appeared in front of Tucker in a split second. Theta backed up so that holographic AI was leaning against Tucker’s shoulder. 

Donut smiled at the AI. “He’s so tiny.” He said with a smile, his helmet abandoned at the dinner table back in the mess hall. 

“But I can do great things.” Theta said with a smile as he waved a hand in the air and sprung holographic fireworks from his fingertips. 

Caboose gasped. “Tucker! Did you see that?” He asked in awe.

Tucker resisted the urge to facepalm and instead nodded. “Yea Caboose, I did.” 

“Your friend is an idiot.” Omega cackled in his mind.

He’s got his moments. Tucker thought to the AI.

“What else can you do?” Simmons asked, eyeing the purple AI.

Grid rolled his eyes. “You guys act like you’ve never seen an AI before.”

Caboose squinted at Theta “What’s the I stand for?”

“Intelligence.” Theta informed him.

“And what’s the A-“

“Artificial” Sarge interrupted. “Big blue idiot.” He mumbled through his helmet.

Caboose smiled. “Oh, right. I knew that.” He said as he began running his hands through Theta.

Tucker rolled his eyes. “Caboose stop that.”

Caboose halted his moment and slowly put down his hand. “Just making sure.” He said as he proceeded to stick his tongue out at Tucker.

“Can we see the rest of them?” Donut asked with a gleam in his eye. 

Tucker could already hear the ongoing debate in his mind between the rest of the AIs.

“I don’t know, they’re kind of scary.” Eta whimpered.

On one hand, his friends wanted to talk to the AIs and that was a good thing. Because it meant they wouldn’t be scared of them or worried they were bad. 

But on the other hand, Tucker didn’t want them to meet some of the AIs, because they were bad and he still wasn’t sure what they were capable of and what boundaries they had.

But, it wouldn’t do them any harm to meet Delta, Eta, and Iota.

“Tucker?” Simmons asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.

Tucker looked over at Donut. “Uh, yea. I guess you can.” He said.

“You need to do a better job responding.” Sigma told him. 

Delta reluctantly agreed. “You not responding to simple questions quick enough causes them to worry.” He informed.

“They need to be convinced you’re ok.” Sigma added.

I am ok. 

Sigma snickered, but dropped the subject nonetheless.

“Alright, then can we at least talk to them back in the mess hall?” Grif asked looking back at the double doors to the cafeteria. “Because we're missing dinner.”

Simmons rolled his eyes. “Of course you would care about that.”

Caboose smiled and took Tucker’s hand, dragging him towards the cafeteria doors as the rest of the Reds followed close by.

Tucker felt Theta slip back into his mind.

“I think I like them.” He said happily.

Tucker agreed as he was pulled into the mess hall.

Yea, this was good.

His friends were ok with the AIs. They didn’t look at him weird or give him the side-eye when they thought he wasn’t looking. This was a good start.

But, Sigma’s words played in the back of his mind. Whispering negatives that threatened to convince him otherwise. Anxiety picked up and doubt gnawed at the back of Tucker’s mind

“They wanted to see the AIs.” He heard Sigma hiss. “Not you.”

Chapter Text

For some reason it wasn’t apparent to him at the beginning, all the problems the AIs would be causing. If he knew, he wouldn’t be surprised that harboring 7 people in your head would cause insomnia. 

He thought it would only last a day or so. (That’s what Wash told him anyway.) But it became clear by the third day with barely any sleep that his situation was not going to be getting any better. 

“Knock knock?” Gamma asked for what seemed like the billionth time. 

Tucker groaned into his pillow. “Please, no more knock-knock jokes.” He whined, his voice muffled by the white cushioning. 

“Who’s there?” Theta asked excitedly.

He wasn’t as tired as he’d expected he would be. Normally he would be a mess, going this long without so much as a good night's sleep. But, sleep was different now. Matter of fact, everything about him worked kind of funny with the AIs. 

Sometimes he forgot to eat or drink. He didn’t even realize when he needed to and when he did, it didn’t feel like a priority. 

But, he knew that was wrong. Three meals a day, 8 glasses of water a day, 8 hours of sleep a night.

He knew how to take care of himself, thank you very much. 

“Europe.” 

Theta bounced slightly on Tucker’s back, the little holographic projection comfortable with being out with Tucker. “Europe who?”

“You’re up too?” Gamma asked, completing the joke. 

Tucker honestly felt like screaming into his damn pillow. “Yes, I am!” He snapped, rolling over in his bed, staring daggers at the ceiling. 

Theta’s projection was disturbed and staticky for a moment before reappearing on the edge of Tucker’s bed. “Sorry.” He said quietly. 

Tucker sighed. “It’s fine.” He said, tossing the cover over his legs. He sat upon his bed and grabbed a handful of his dreads, pulling them into a ponytail and tying them off with the rubber band around his wrist. “I’m just gonna stay awake.” 

“Ooo. What are we going to do?” Theta asked, kicking his feet off the side of the bed as Tucker stood up and walked past him towards the small bathroom in his room. 

Tucker flipped on the light switch to the small bathroom and looked at his reflection in the circular mirror. “I don’t know.” He said, adjusting his dreads. 

He hadn’t really thought that far ahead. Back in Blood Gulch, if he woke up in the middle of the night he would go on top of the base and bother Church while he smoked, only Church was gone and this wasn’t Blood Gulch. 

“We could visit Wash.” Theta suggested, having appeared next to him. 

Tucker saw his frown in the reflection of the mirror. He wanted to go to Wash, he really did. But, he hadn’t really been talking to him. He wasn’t avoiding him just- well, he was kind of avoiding him. 

He was really grateful that people had been treating him, kind of the same. He hadn’t gotten much backlash for the whole AI thing, except for countless worried statements from Kimball and Carolina, but for the most part, things have been good. However, Tucker had the feeling people really liked the AIs. Like, really liked them. And sometimes he felt like a third wheel to the damn things. But, it wasn’t the AIs fault necessarily. More or less the people’s fault.

The point to this was; He didn’t want Wash to fit into either of those two categories of people. He didn’t want Wash to think he was a lunatic or a disaster waiting to happen and he didn’t want Wash to want to spend more time with the AIs than him. (Even though that was ridiculous because the AIs weren’t people and Wash wasn’t fond of the fragments in the first place.) 

So, for the time being, he strayed away from Wash. 

Also, it was like, 2 am at night and Washington was probably trying to sleep. 

“No, I don’t wanna bother him.” Tucker reluctantly decided. 

Theta nodded and descended back into the capsule of his mind. 

He supposed he could always read a book or do something lame like that.

“You could train.” Sigma said, emitting from his head and appearing behind him, only visible to Tucker in the reflection of the mirror.

“Why would I do that?” 

Because that honestly sounded like a horrible idea. For one, he should be sleeping. Not getting all worked up and active and two; training took effort. 

“Because you’re getting sluggish.” 

Tucker frowned. “I’m not getting sluggish. “ He lifted up his shirt slightly and looked at his reflection. “Wash helped me get a six-pack.” He defended, dropping his shirt over his chest. 

“Only because Agent Washington helped you.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Tucker asked, not really offended, but by Sigma’s tone; feeling like he should be. 

“You’re not helpless. You don’t need Agent Washington to tell you how to take care of yourself. This is why he’s a leader and you’re not. He gets things done and works when it’s hard, you don’t. Which is exactly why you’ll never be able to best him. Same with Agent Carolina.”

Tucker snorted. “I don’t care about being better than anyone.” 

Sigma’s words did make sense though. And the AI hadn’t lied to him as of late. In fact, he had actually been giving him pretty ample advice. Helped him to function and sleep and pretty much everything. Tucker wasn’t sure what Wash was talking about.

“You really think so?” Tucker asked, glancing at the mirror. “I mean, not that I care. Either way, it doesn’t matter.”

“You ever notice how Kimball chooses Agent Washington and Agent Carolina for more important jobs?” Sigma asked, rhetorically.

Tucker thought for a moment. “Yea, but that’s just because their freelancers and I’m a-”

“A Sim Trooper?” Sigma finished. 

It wasn’t every day you got dissed by an AI for your rank.

“I was gonna say a badass alien space ambassador, but sure.” Tucker gloated, only receiving a slight eye roll from the fiery fragment. 

Sigma came closer to Tucker’s shoulder. “But, wouldn’t you want to be more?” He asked. His voice low and dull. 

Tucker shrugged and left the room, turning off the light on his way out. It definitely wouldn’t hurt and it was late so no one would even be in the training room. 

He was torn between relieving his boredom and openly listening and agreeing with Sigma. It seemed kind of prideful to deny help from the AI (Because he literally had all the answers and knowledge and could see inside his head and blah blah blah) but, Tucker didn’t want the AI to think he had any impact on what Tucker did or said.  

Maybe Sigma knew this because he didn’t say a word as Tucker left for the training room.

Strangely enough, neither did any of the other AIs

“Control your recoil. Adjust your grip so it’s steady.” Delta instructed, his bright green aura floating just above Tucker’s shoulder. 

Tucker nodded and held the sniper rifle firmly to Delta’s instructions. Looking through the lens, he spotted the orange cone sitting neatly on a concrete ledge and placed his finger on the trigger. 

“Aim a little higher than your target, but keep the red dot centered. Based on your positioning and the distance from you to the target, I would say and centimeter or less is high enough.”

Tucker readjusted his aim and steadied the rifle. 

“Take a deep breath, relax, and fire.” 

Breathing in through his nose and exhaling slowly through his mouth, Tucker pulled the trigger. 

The shot blew out from the barrel and if it wasn’t for the cover over his ears, Tucker was sure the sound would have stung. 

He had always wanted to use the sniper rifle and when he made a comment about it to Delta; Delta told him it would actually be an appropriate weapon for him that would work well in battle and help him create a balance between his short-range and long-range abilities. Whatever that meant. 

Tucker looked through the lens at the cone and sighed. “Fuckberries.” 

Delta glanced over at the aqua soldier. “You’re doing significantly better.” He encouraged. 

Tucker frowned, his inability to make the shot perfectly agitating him. “I’m still off.” He complained. 

“You shot and you missed,” Delta said with a shrug. “You keep pulling to the left, you know that. So, readjust and try again.” 

Tucker nodded and reloaded the rifle. Lifting up the sniper, he noticed the door to the targeting practice room open.

It was common for people to be in and out of that room. If they weren’t training, they were grabbing gear or ammo from the back room, so it became a frequent area.

So, it wasn’t all that strange for Wash and Carolina to walk in. 

But, seeing them walk in together, laughing and talking about something. Well, that triggered something in Tucker. 

Bright scarlet static flashed over his opposite shoulder briefly as he looked into the lens, placed his finger on the trigger, and fired.

The shot flew out of the barrel and the sound echoed through the room, catching the attention of the freelancers that had walked in. 

The bullet rocketed into the cone and blasted it straight off the concrete. 

“That was...satisfactory.” 

Tucker lowered the rifle with a smile as he saw Carolina looking his way out of the corner of his eye. “Don’t act so surprised.” He said with a cocky tone. “I’m a motherfucking badass.” 

“We’re getting there.” Delta negated. 

Tucker moved to pull the noise-canceling headphones off and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Oh yea, another thing about the room was that it was fucking hot. 

How long had he been in here?

“2 hours and 48 minutes.”

“Didn’t Kimball need me?” Tucker asked, thinking back on the other day. 

“Not for a few more hours,” Delta informed him. “You have time.” 

Tucker stood up from his crouched position and swung the sniper rifle over his shoulder. He walked towards the back room and placed the rifle on a nearby bench. Sitting down on the bench, he placed the headphones down and put his helmet on. 

“Nice shot.” Wash congratulated as he and Carolina walked over to him. 

“He approves!” Iota cheered. 

Tucker bit his lip, his helmet masking his face. “Thanks.” He said, trying to make it seem as if it was no big deal. As if Wash’s comment didn’t impact him in any way. 

“When did you start using the sniper rifle?” Carolina asked. 

Tucker scowled, the suspicious tone of her voice bringing his walls up. 

“She’s probing you.” Sigma consulted him. 

“Just now.” Tucker declared. 

“Did the AIs help you?” She asked. 

The way she talked to him, made him feel like she was fishing for information or trying to cross-examine him.

“Delta did.” Tucker drew out. 

If they weren’t wearing helmets, there would definitely be a glaring match going on. 

Carolina’s glare lingered on him for a second longer before she turned to Wash. “Alright, I’m gonna grab the spares, I’ll be right out.” She told him. Wash nodded and Carolina left into the back room. 

Tucker watched her leave and then got up off the bench and began putting away the items he was using.

“Don’t worry about her,” He heard Wash say behind him. “She’s just worried.” 

“Nothing to be worried about.” Tucker said, placing the headpiece back on its hook. 

Wash nodded. “Right. Well, I actually wanted to talk to you about tha-”

“I’ve got to go talk to Kimball.” Tucker interrupted, not wanting to see the end of that conversation. He didn’t want to hear it, especially not from Wash. 

Tucker swung the rifle back over his shoulder and turned to look at Wash. “Talk later?”

Wash nodded slightly. “Uh, yea. Sure. Later.” He said, his voice a mixture of disappointment and concern. 

Tucker looked over to the exit to the large room and made a move for it, rushing past Wash. 

He wasn’t in a rush per se, just really didn’t want to be in that room anymore. Not with Carolina and her freelancer intuition and not with Wash and his loving yet unwanted concern.

At this point, he didn’t know where he was going. 

He had nothing to do, no places to go, no people to visit, nothing. 

But, walking around the base had been relaxing, in a way. The halls were mostly empty except for the occasion soldiers walking from one place to another and the people taking their lunch breaks. 

Somebody told him at one point in his life that walking gives you some kind of high. Protesterone or something nerdy like that. 

“That’s not even close.” Gamma facepalmed. 

“When you walk, you release a hormone called an Endorphin. It’s a feel-good hormone otherwise known as a runner’s high.” Delta corrected. “I’m not sure where you got Protesterone from.”

Tucker groaned. Jesus, you’re a nerd. 

Delta paused. “Unless you were thinking about Progesterone, which is an endogenous steroid and progestogen sex hormone involved in the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and embryogenesis of humans and other species, th-”

Tucker grinned. Oh, I definitely meant that one. Bow Chicka Bow Wow

Delta went silent. 

Not because he was being rude or thought Tucker was being gross, he just didn’t have a response. And not in the way where he weirded out or felt awkward. He simply didn’t have any information or statistic to give Tucker based on his previous comment. It was all work and no play with Delta. 

Mainly because Delta wasn’t capable of play. 

Wasn’t capable of giving Tucker the reaction he wanted. 

Tucker could imagine Wash rolling his eyes and complaining about how immature he was. 

But, Wash wasn’t here. 

“Oh Captain Tucker, wait up!” 

Tucker haltered his movements and subconsciously groaned. “What do you want, Palamo?” He asked, turning around, surprised to see more than just Palamo. 

“What the fuck?” He mumbled, just below ear-shot. 

Palamo made his way over to his captain with a few other colorful lieutenants following close behind him. The younger male stood in front of him with a smile. “First of all Captain, how was your day? Glad to see you out of the ER. I actually wanted to come visit, but Grey told me I wasn’t on the list of close friends and family for whatever reason, so she didn’t actua-”

“What the fuck do you want Palamo?” Tucker interrupted.

“We wanted to see the AIs.” One of the lieutenants said excitedly. 

“Everyone here is no nice,” Theta raved. “They must really like us.”

“We heard they were what helped you beat Hargrove’s men.” Another one spoke up.

“So hot.” Volleyball gushed. 

What was up with everyone’s fascination with the AIs? And why was he currently being harassed by a bunch of teenagers?

Tucker turned to glare at Palamo.

Palamo shifted his stance. “Yea, we were wondering if we could see them and maybe talk to them?” He asked, cautiously. 

Tucker raised a brow, looking at the crowd of lieutenants. Couldn’t he go a day without a bunch of people harassing him? He had to meet Kimball in an hour, he didn’t have time for this. He would just have to tell them no. They would complain, but Tucker could live with that. 

Surprisingly, he didn’t have to because Grif showed up right before he had to have the displeasure of telling a bunch of excitable teens to fuck off and began ushering the kids away. 

“All of you scram!” The Orange soldier ordered. 

Granted, Tucker probably would have done it nicer, but whatever got them to go away. 

“We just wanted to see the AIs.” Palamo whined. 

“Shouldn’t you be doing...literally anything else?” Grif asked him. “Isn’t there a mission somewhere that needs jeopardizing?” 

Palamo shrugged and sulked away along with the rest of the lieutenants.

“Never thought you’d be the one to abuse your power as captain.” Tucker joked once the kids were gone. “Simmons seemed more the type.” He said, turning around as he began wandering around the halls again. 

Grif scoffed, following close behind. “He is and it’s not abusing if it’s making a bunch of annoying brats go away.” 

Tucker nodded. “Thanks?”

Grif shrugged. “No problem. You looked like you needed a save.”

Tucker haltered his movements and turned around to face Grif. “A save?” 

Grif nodded, stopping when Tucker did. “Uh, yea. I don’t know how much talk you hear around here but, if it wasn’t for me, Donut, and Caboose you would be harassed by groups like that constantly.” 

Would he really?

Tucker didn’t remember being called out or followed around by anyone and he’s certain he would have noticed if Donut and Caboose were constantly bodyguarding him from curious individuals. 

“You have been busy.” Delta told him.  

Apparently, his unsurety became clear in his face, because Grif shifted his helmet under his arm and spoke again, in a softer tone. “I doubt you would have noticed,” He said. “You’ve been really distant lately.”

“I have not.” Tucker said without thinking.

Grif rolled his eyes. “Protect your pride all you want. I don’t care.” He placed his helmet over his head and sauntered past Tucker. “It’s fine, we’re trying to give you space.” He said, before turning the corner and disappearing down the hall. 

“Distant?” Tucker scoffed. “I have not been distant.” 

“I’m not entirely sure about past experiences, but based on your memories; you’ve spent 38% more time alone than usual and you haven’t spoken to Caboose since you left the ER.” Delta advised. 

Tucker bit his lip solemnly. “I haven’t?”

“You haven’t.” Delta reiterated. 

Caboose may have been a reckless idiot who was undeniably exuberant and unpredictable on a whole other level, but he had been with Tucker since Blood Gulch and it felt wrong realizing that he hadn’t been speaking to him. 

“Fuck.” Tucker groaned. 

He’s probably a mess. Tucker thought. 

He didn’t even want to guess how Church’s...absence was affecting him. 

“I should visit him soon, shouldn’t I?” Tucker asked.

Delta paused. “That’s entirely up to you,” He said finally. “But, I bet Caboose would appreciate it.” 

It was the closest to an emotionally ridden response that Tucker had ever heard Delta give. 

After I speak to Kimball, he decided. 

Finding Kimball served to be a difficult task, for whatever reason. She told him where she would be he just didn’t know...where that was. 

Realization about that important fact sunk in about 5 minutes before he needed to meet her and 10 minutes after when Omega wouldn’t stop laughing about it. 

Alright, I get it, I suck. 

“Oh, one more time.” Omega chuckled. 

Tucker rolled his eyes, reading the label on the room. 

We’re here now, so no. Shut up. 

He should probably stop telling the AIs to shut up. Even if they were being annoying it was starting to feel...wrong. Like telling a person to shut the fuck up, but worse, because the AIs intention was to speak and give him advice. It was like punishing a dog for wagging their tail. They can’t help it. They’re just happy.

Theta appeared over his shoulder and hugged his visor. “How considerate.”  He thanked. 

Tucker smiled lightly. “No problem, Theta.” 

Theta looked at the door to the room and then Tucker. “Can I come in with you?” He asked. 

Tucker bit his lip, contemplating on whether or not it was a good idea. Granted, he hadn’t seen Kimball in a while and he had to be careful with the AIs. For example, having them out around Dr. Grey was a great idea because they distracted her from Tucker and she was very interested in them. But, having them in front of Carolina was a horrible idea because Tucker knew, it made her miss Church. He didn’t blame her. 

He was beginning to miss him too. 

But, being with the AIs made him feel like he was still with him in a way, just not the same way. 

Point being, choosing which people the AIs could be around had to be a very delicate and self-assured decision. 

But, then he went to go through the cons about whether or not Kimball would have a problem with the AIs when he realized; first of all, she runs this whole operation and is probably gonna ask about the AIs for resource reasons anyway and secondly, he was already late and shouldn’t be debating this because he had no sense of time and he could have been standing outside this door for 30 seconds or five minutes. 

Fuck it, he decided. 

Sure Theta, just stay quiet. 

Theta nodded excitedly and pretended to lock his lips with a holographic key and then proceeded to toss it carelessly over his shoulder. 

Tucker smiled, amused at the AIs antics and knocked lightly on the door, before coming in. 

When he walked in, Kimball was at a big table with a map in front of her and several different pinpoints placed on the map. She noticed him come in immediately and waved him over. “Tucker, there you are.” 

Tucker walked over and nodded. “Yea, sorry. Got turned around.” He looked around the area he was in, it seemed pretty empty except for a few boxes in the corner and the table in front of him. 

Kimball looked up at him, lingering her gaze on the AI over his shoulder for a split second but didn’t say anything about it. “Yea, we just got the room cleaned out, it used to be used for storing food, but were a little low on that now.” She said solemnly.  

Tucker nodded saying no more than a soft, “Oh.” 

“It’s fine. That’s actually part of the reason I asked you to meet me.” She said callously, before switching her tone to a much kinder one. “But, first of all, how are you?” She asked. 

“I’m fine.” Tucker instinctively. “Just getting used to the AIs.”

Kimball nodded. “I see.” She said, gesturing to Theta. 

Theta smiled at her.

Kimbal might have smiled back, but with her helmet on there was no way for Tucker to know for sure. 

“That’s good,” Kimball concluded. “From what I acquired from Dr. Grey, there’s no way to get them out. Learning to live with them is smart.”

Tucker nodded. “Is that all?” He asked, making sure he didn’t sound irritated or bored. 

Kimball stood up straight and looked at Theta. “Actually, I was wondering if you have been having any complications with the AIs. Insomnia, hallucinations, anything?” 

Tucker could hear Sigma giving protests in the back of his mind, but for the most part, he let Gamma take over. 

“Tell her, slight headaches but nothing more,” Gamma instructed. “Saying nothing isn’t believable.” 

Truth be told; Tucker was a terrible liar. He figured he would have inherited some of his parent’s genes when it came to lying and that it would be smooth sailing, but he wasn’t that lucky. So, whenever he did have to lie he found it easier to just say the truth but ease his way around it. It made the whole ordeal easy. But, with Gamma in his head now, even when he wasn’t instructing him on what to do and say, lying seemed natural. 

“Keep direct eye contact, don’t fiddle, don’t pause, and don’t change your tone.”

Tucker shrugged. “Not really. I’ve had a few bad headaches, but that’s pretty much it.” He said casually. 

Kimball nodded. “Good, that’s good.” She paused. “Do you think you’re capable of going out on a mission?” She asked. 

“That sounds fun.” Iota chirped. 

Tucker agreed. Going on a mission seemed like a great idea. Staying in the base so long, he was starting to feel holed up and a mission was a great way to get out, let loss some of that extra energy, and get back to the roots of things. 

Push back all the worries and doubts and feelings towards a certain blond freelancer. 

Fuck yeah!

Let’s go on a mission. 

“What if we get hurt?” Eta asked worriedly. 

“Oh, we’ll be the ones doing the hurting.” Omega cackled. 

“It’d be a great way to test out your capabilities with the sniper rifle.” Delta advised. 

“Or a great way to get hurt with the sniper rifle.” Eta countered. “We’re still not very good with it.” 

Kimball must have sensed his unsurety because she spoke up. “It’s nothing too crazy.” She told him. “A simple supply run on an abandoned space pirate hideout.” She took a deep breath and looked down on the map. “We’re hoping there will be food.” She stated, her solemn tone reappearing. Almost sounding desperate. 

How low were they?

“How bad is it?” Tucker asked.

Kimball sighed, looking up at him. “Pretty bad.” 

Tucker looked at Kimball sympathetically. “A mission sounds like a great idea.” He told her. 

“You sure you’re up for it?”

Tucker nodded. “Definitely.” He shrugged. “I could use something to do.” 

Kimball smiled. “Great, I’ll have Wash brief you on the details-” 

Oh, right. Tucker forgot that Carolina and Wash always went on these things. 

“Because they’ve always proven useful.” Sigma reminded him as if he needed another reminder from Sigma about how worthless he was.

“-you could also use the AIs,” Kimball said, snapping Tucker back into reality. 

Tucker; who hadn’t realized he wasn’t listening to what Kimball was saying. “This mission could be like a practice.” She explained. “Show what the AIs are capable of. Work on working together.” 

Tucker nodded. “Great.” He mumbled, turning to leave now that she seemed to be done speaking. He reached for the doorknob when he heard Kimball’s voice behind him. 

“Tucker?” 

Tucker looked back over his shoulder at her and she stood up straight to meet his eye level. “Thank you.” She told him. 

Tucker nodded and left the room. 

He figured he should check up on Caboose.

Chapter Text

Claiming he hated the AIs was kind of a drastic statement. 

Saying he didn’t trust them was more accurate. 

How could he after everything they did to him and the people he cared about? After everything they did to Carolina, to Church, to the rest of the freelancers, and to Maine. Especially Maine. 

Epsilon may have torn Washington’s mind apart and fed him lies and doubts about his own memories and in the process; made him feel like he was going insane. But, Sigma hurt him more than he had ever been hurt before and that was by corrupting Maine. 

Corrupting the one person that he had cared about the most. 

Because, the Meta was not Maine. 

Maine died long before he was the Meta, maybe at the moment of Sigma’s implantation, maybe at the moment, he decided to give into Sigma’s manipulation. Nonetheless, the Meta was not Maine. He had stopped being Maine a long time ago. 

Wash knew this when he was working with him. A decision which regrettably ended with Donut almost dying. A decision that he knew was the wrong one but continued anyway because he took what he could get. 

And if he couldn't have Maine, then the Meta was the next best thing, and one of the last things, he had left of his friend. 

Left to remember him by. 

Which he regretted now because the Meta was not how he wanted to remember Maine. He wanted to remember Maine as the guy who was extremely kind-hearted towards his friends and who was stronger than anyone Wash had ever met, both physically and mentally. The type of person who would never let anything go to their head and was great in battle, never underestimating his enemies. 

He wanted to remember Maine as that guy, not as the rouge freelancer who in an AI-driven act of revenge killed half of his own squad. 

The worst part was; that Wash couldn’t do anything to stop it.

No, scratch that. 

The worst part was; that Wash couldn’t do anything to fix it.

And now, it was happening all over again. 

Only this time, instead of Maine; it was Tucker. 

“That’s the last of it.” Carolina said with a huff as she loaded the last crate onto the shelf. “Everything should be ready for when we get back.” 

But, he’ll be damned if he lets another Meta be created under his nose. He couldn’t prevent what happened to Maine, but maybe he could prevent it from happening to Tucker. 

Carolina took a step back and admired their work. “If we did this right, we can pull the warthogs in through this way and still have enough room for any extra supplies.” 

He just needed to keep a close eye on him long enough to figure out how to get rid of the AIs. He already spoke to Grey about it and she believed it was highly unlikely, but highly unlikely still meant there was a possibility.

The only problem was; Tucker was avoiding him.

And ever since he started, Wash had been really worried. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Tucker to do what was best. Because he trusted Tucker with his life, it was Sigma he didn’t trust. 

“Wash!?” Carolina snapped, bringing him back into reality. 

He looked up to her with her hands on her hips and an unimpressed look on her face. “Huh?” Washington looked at the boxes stacked behind her. “Oh yea, looks good.” 

Carolina rolled her eyes. “Are you even listening to me?” She asked, the irritation in her voice clear. 

Wash thought about lying for a brief second before coming to the conclusion that this was Carolina and openly lying to her would result in a trip to the ER. “No.” He said reluctantly. 

Carolina sighed. “Listen, I get things are kind of bad right now. With limited food and the Space Pirates and- and with Tucker…” She looked up at him with a face of desperation. “But, I need you to keep it together. We can’t start falling apart like this.” 

Wash rubbed his index finger over his thumb in an attempt to let out some frustration. “I’m not falling apart.” He said dully.

Carolina raised a brow. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed how you’ve stopped sleeping again.”

Wash huffed. “That’s different,” He pointed out. “It’s just insomnia, happens sometimes.” 

“You sure it doesn’t have anything to do with teal Sim Trooper?” She asked. 

“Don’t probe me.” 

Carolina changed her tone of voice, most likely realizing she was in freelancer mode without noticing it. “I’m not probing, I’m worried too,” She told him solemnly. “But, we have got to give him space.”

“I'm trying, but he won’t talk to me and I don’t want to put his life and sanity in the hands of Sigma.” Wash said, desperation and concern plastered all over his face.

Carolina walked over to him. “Trust me, I get it.” She paused, trying to find the right words without saying something that would receive a hurtful reaction. “I don’t want another Meta happening under our noses.”

“The Meta’s main goal was to acquire all the AIs,” Wash paused. “But, Tucker’s already got them all,” 

Wash realized that he was grasping at straws trying to find positives to their situation, but what else could he do? “So maybe it won't be as bad?” He asked, hoping Carolina would agree with him and ease his worry even though he knew his statement was most likely incorrect. 

Carolina shrugged. “I don’t think the Meta’s main goal was to acquire all the AIs,” She said, turning around to close the pull-down door to the vehicle supply room. “And I don’t think we're working with the same Meta.” 

“What do you mean?” Washington asked. He knew it wouldn’t be the exact same. But, it was still Sigma directing and supervising every move. The ambition was still the same. 

Carolina turned to face him. “This is Tucker, not Maine. Maine and Tucker have different wants.” 

She paused, thinking for a moment before speaking again. “I don’t think Sigma dictated every single decision Maine made.” She said, reaching to grab her helmet off the table near Wash. 

Washington wanted to disagree with that. Because if Sigma didn’t dictate every move, then Maine was more to blame than he originally thought and he didn’t want that to be the case.

“We have to remember that Sigma is creativity and manipulation. He’ll be using Tucker’s wants to fulfill his own.” She placed her helmet on and looked up at him. “Whatever that may be.”

And Wash couldn’t disagree with that. 

In the long run, he had to trust that Tucker knew what he was doing and was watching out for Sigma’s manipulation. He had to believe that Tucker had listened to his warnings back at crash site Bravo and wasn’t going to fall so easily for the AI’s ruse.

But, he also wasn’t just going to stand around and wait for something bad to happen. 

He won’t stop searching for a way to get the AIs out of Tucker’s head. 

He cared too much to let what happened to Maine happen to Tucker. 

It didn’t take long to get to Caboose’s room. 

Granted, Tucker took off about 5 minutes from his time. 

“Because you got lost again.” Omega cackled.

Tucker huffed. It wasn’t his fault that he had no navigational instincts whatsoever. 

“I tried to assist you.” Delta told him in a tone of voice that reeked of ‘I told you so’

I don’t need help getting around my own base Tucker stubbornly thought to the AI.  

Tucker walked up to Caboose’s barrack-room door and was about to knock when he realized the door was already opened a crack. He looked through the dark abyss that was the crack in the door and for a second he didn’t believe Caboose was in there. But then, he heard a loud crash coming from the room accompanied by the sound of Caboose humming. 

Tucker took a deep breath and then pushed the door to the room open. 

The room was pitch black dark and looked like something out of a horror movie. The instant he stepped in he couldn’t see and the only thing he could hear was the clattering of objects and Caboose humming. 

“Caboose?” Tucker called out. 

“Tucker?” Caboose questioned right in front of him. 

It must have been dark enough that Tucker had no idea just how close Caboose was because hearing him speak so close and not being able to see him until a second later when he was right in front of him scared the bejeezus out of him. 

“Holy fuck!” He cursed as he took a step back and tripped over a pile of boxes, crumbling to the floor. 

“Smooth.” Sigma insulted. 

Oh, shut up. Tucker thought to the AI as he lifted himself off of the cluttered floor. He rubbed at his back and felt up the side of the wall for the light switch. When he finally found it he flipped it on and watched as the lights flickered for a moment before staying on. 

Looking around the room, he gawked as he realized just how disgusting it was in there. 

Caboose was seated on the floor, surrounded by steel pieces and parts including nails, screws, tools, and copper plating. There were loose pieces of paper with crudely drawn paintings scattering the walls and empty boxes and manuals littering Caboose’s bed with pieces of clothing stern messily around the room. The area reeked of spray paint and the smell alone was already making Tucker feel woozy. Not to mention that at a second glance at the floor, Tucker realized there was nowhere he could step that wouldn’t end with him needing a tetanus shot. 

“Caboose what the fuck is going on in here?” He asked, afraid to move from the corner area he was in.

Caboose looked up from the pile of crud he was sitting in with a frown. “I am working Tucker.” He glanced down at the pile of stuff surrounding Tucker’s feet. “Do not step on my work.” He said, his eyes lingering over Tucker’s shoulder, maybe for the possibility of seeing the AI. 

Tucker nodded. “Right then, well maybe I should leave you to it.” He said wearily. 

Caboose honestly scared him when he got like this. It kind of reminded him of back in crash site Bravo when he was working on Freckles. Caboose got strangely motivated after certain things-

Wait a second. 

Was that an arm? 

“Caboose what the fuck is that?” Tucker asked, looking around on the floor for a place to move or sit or something. 

Caboose glanced over at the rusty blue piece of steel next to him and then looked back to Tucker. “Maybe…” He trailed off.

Suddenly a large smile grew on his face as he leaned forward and grabbed Tucker’s arm, yanking him down on the floor with him. 

“Ow, fuck Caboose!’ Tucker hissed, landing on a pile of screws. Tucker lifted up his back and used his hand to sweep the items under him to the side before sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of Caboose. 

“I just had the best idea.” Caboose declared, shuffling through items. 

Tucker just watched with uncertainty as Caboose pulled out a color crayon and a wrinkled piece of white paper. 

“Here.” He said, handing both items to Tucker. “You sketch while a work, it will make this very much easier.”

Tucker took the crayon and paper in hand. “Sketch?” He questioned. “Sketch what?” 

Caboose began grabbing pieces of spare metal. “Church.” He said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, as he began rearranging pieces of metal. 

Tucker looked over at the arm and noticed another piece similar next to it. 

The blue paint? The photos? Church?

Oh, no. 

Tucker sighed. “Caboose what are you making?” 

Caboose halted his movements with the items in his hands and looked up at Tucker. “A robot.” He stated. “When Church comes back he will need a body.” 

Omega laughed. “You’re friend really is an idiot if he thinks “Church” is coming back.”

Shut the fuck up Tucker thought to the AI. 

Tucker knew Caboose was an idiot, but that did not give Omega the right to talk about his teammates that way. To talk about Church that way.

Because as much as Tucker wanted to hope that Church would be back, he had to understand that he wasn’t. 

The same way he wanted to tell Caboose that Church wasn’t coming back. That he died a long time ago. Something that Tucker wasn’t ready to come to terms with yet, but probably needed to. Epsilon was Church, but he wasn’t at the same time. And they both needed to accept that; no form of their best friend was going to make his way back this time. 

“Caboose.” Tucker started, making sure he kept his voice light. “Church isn’t coming back.” He said quietly. 

It felt...good to say that out loud. Well, it fucking sucked but, somehow it felt better? 

Caboose looked up at Tucker with a sad smile and tears forming at the corners of his eyes. “Yea, I know, but. I just thought since the AIs were here that maybe he could be too.” Caboose said hopefully. 

Tucker nodded, looking away from Caboose’s sad gaze. 

“He also said that he would always be here with me, even if he was not here.” Caboose said quietly. 

Tucker looked up at the blue soldier. “He said that? When?” He questioned. 

Caboose smiled. “In his message, after the boss fight with the bad men.” 

After the battle with Hargrove’s men?

Church left a message?

Why didn’t anyone tell him that?

“You should ask to hear it.” Theta said quietly. 

Tucker nodded. He would definitely be hearing that message. 

Caboose smiled. “Maybe you and the AIs could help me make him a body,” Caboose asked, excitingly. “I asked Sarge if he would the other day, but he told me no.” 

Tucker nodded. “Alright, where do we start?” He asked looking around the pile of junk. “Where did you even get this stuff?” 

Caboose began gathering pieces of paper into a stack. “Oh you know, the garbage can, leftover stuff, Grif’s bed.” 

Tucker laughed at the imagery of Grif’s bed collapsing in the middle of the night because Caboose took out all the bolts. His lazy ass probably wouldn’t care and would just continue sleeping. 

Caboose handed him the pile of papers and Tucker could clearly see drawings that resembled Church (and was that him and Junior?) at different locations in Blood Gulch. 

“First we have to make all of the memories of Church so that when we get him back, he will remember all of his thoughts,” Caboose stated. “You can do that.” He said returning to his pile of scraps. “Because you are not very good at other things.” He heard Caboose mumble. 

“He’s not wrong.” Gamma added. 

Tucker ignored the AI and connected the blue crayon to the white parchment. His penmanship wasn’t the best, but it was good enough. 

“Let me hear his message.” Tucker snapped, having stormed directly to Carolina after he finished with Caboose.

Carolina looked over at him. She was with a member of the republic, but Tucker didn’t give a shit. This was important. 

Her vision lingered on him for a moment as the lieutenant she was with stopped talking. 

Tucker wished he could see her facial expression.

Maybe if he could, it would give him a clue on whether or not she was surprised that he had found out about it or solemn by the mention of Church. 

“Shouldn’t you be being briefed by Wash right now?” She questioned.

Apparently, it was neither because she was choosing to ignore his previous statement entirely. 

“Don’t let her change the subject.” Sigma snapped. 

“Not important.” Tucker degraded. It was important. Although the mission was simple, he shouldn’t be running in blind. He just really didn’t want to talk to Wash at the moment. “Now let me see the message.” 

“Can’t it wait?” The scarlet armored lieutenant questioned, his young age becoming obscenely apparent by the immature high pitch in his voice. 

Tucker raised a brow, his attention redirecting onto the lieutenant. “Who the hell are you?” 

The lieutenant immediately fixed his posture and saluted Tucker. “Private Nick, newly recruited.” He stated. 

“Good to know, now go run laps or something.” He commanded. 

Private Nick’s posture slumped as he was forced to listen to the commanding officer. “Dick.” He mumbled, walking away.

Tucker watched the lieutenant sulk away and then looked back to Carolina. “Message. I wanna hear it. Now.” He demanded. 

Granted, he kind of sounded like a child wanting something at a store, but whatever got him to hear Church’s last words. That sounded kind of bratty too, but whatever. 

Carolina sighed and Tucker could tell she was rolling her eyes in her helmet. “You can’t go around ordering everybody around just because you’re a Captain and you feel like it.” She stated. “I was talking with him.” She said, referring to Private Nick.

Tucker nodded. “And it couldn’t have been that important considering he was a new recruit and you didn’t stop me from sending him away.” He defended. 

Carolina must have agreed with him because she dropped the topic entirely. She huffed and lingered her vision on him for a second longer. “Fine.” She said, turning around. 

Tucker took that as his cue to follow her. “How long have you had it?" he asked, wondering if his suspicions about the whole situation were correct. 

Carolina paused for a moment before reluctantly answering. “Since the battle of Hargrove.” She told him.

His suspicions were correct. 

“And nobody thought to tell me!?” He demanded. Well, he actually yelled it but, can you blame him?

His leader, his best friend, his temporal fuck buddy. (It was for a short period of time back in Blood Gulch when they were both lonely and bored and things were weird) The guy he spent years with, fought beside in battle, stole his sweatshirts. The guy who sacrificed himself so that his friends could live died and nobody thought to include him in the listening of his final words!?

Carolina lead him to a room off to the side and opened the large steel door to reveal a small office with supplies, a steel desk, and piles of papers scattered around the room. It resembled an old war room. “We were trying to give you space.” She said, her voice softer almost sounding somber. 

“Bullshit.” Tucker hissed. “I don’t need space. Why does everyone keep telling me that? Stop saying that!” He exasperated. “If anything I need less space, I want to be included. To know what the fuck is going on.”

Carolina went silent as she walked over to the desk in the room. Tucker didn’t press for words. He wasn’t expecting an apology or a vow or anything like that. 

He supposed he should be grateful, the old Carolina would have snapped at him and said something along the lines of him being on a need to know basis and the Carolina he knew, the one he was expecting to snap at him, would have countered about his own agenda. Something along the lines of ‘you want to be included, but you don’t make an effort to be social’ or something about him being distant. Because that’s all he’d been told since this stupid AI thing. The second response wasn’t as bad, but it still wasn’t the response he wanted.

Tucker watched as the cyan freelancer rooted through the drawer, before pulling out a chip. She walked over to him and held it in front of him, not giving it to him just yet. “We transferred all his messages in here for safekeeping. The individual messages are here too, but are attached to a URL.” She paused, most likely deciding whether or not Tucker knew what any of the meant. “You’ll have to download it into your HUD or datapad.” She explained, handing him the chip.

Tucker took it from her and flipped it over eyeing it. 

Carolina took a deep breath as he examined it. “I know I didn’t have the same relationship with him as you and Caboose did, but if you ever wanted to take a look at his personal videos or memories or anything like that that he saved in my HUD, feel free to ask.” She told him calmly. 

Tucker nodded, slipping the chip into a safe space in his armor. “Thank you.”

“Now go get debriefed by Wash,” She chastised. “We leave tomorrow afternoon.”

Tucker nodded and swiftly left the room. 

“You could have just asked us to reiterate his last words.” Sigma said, appearing over his shoulder. 

“I didn’t want to hear it from you.” 

Wash finished stripping off his armor and stashed it off to the side. He had it collected and to the common eye it was organized, but to a superior officer, it was obvious he was half-assing the job.

He honestly felt like shit right now. 

He hadn’t slept in a while and there were so many things stressing him out.

Caboose had been locking himself in his room for hours on end, reminding him a lot of the time he spent at crash site Bravo, Carolina wouldn’t stop patronizing him about sleep, and he had to brief Tucker, but Tucker didn’t show and he really didn’t want to go looking for him and end up risking the thin relationship he already fucked up with him.

But, putting all that aside, the worst part was that; he was kind of lonely.

He missed Tucker.

Like, really missed him.

They used to meet up in the morning, if Tucker hadn’t already spent the night in his room, then jog by the duck pond, spend lunch together, train in the afternoons together, eat dinner together, and then work in the rec room together. When he said work, he more or less meant that he worked while Tucker sat upside down on the recliner, his dreads hanging down over the cushioning while he told Wash stories of Blood Gulch.

It sounded lame, but it was their routine and he missed it. 

Wash sighed, collapsing onto the bed, resting his arms behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling, not bothering to pull up the covers.

He knew he wouldn’t fall asleep. He’d probably just stare at the wall for a while and then eventually decide to put his extra energy to work and fill out forms on his datapad or something. 

Same old same old. 

But then a knock on his door changed his plan completely. 

Sitting up, he went to answer the door.

He would admit that he was surprised to see Tucker, out of armor, standing at his doorway when he opened the steel door. 

He was less surprised to see brief scarlet flash out over his shoulder. 

Tucker looked up at him and Wash couldn’t help but notice his sheepish smile. “Hey.” 

“Hey.”

“Sorry I stood you up, I was occupied.” 

Wash nodded. “No problem, I don’t have to brief you right now if you wanted to sleep.” He said, slight concern shining through his words at the fact that Tucker was still awake and it was almost 12. “We don’t head out till late afternoon.”

Tucker laughed. “Jesus, you’re the mom friend.” 

“I’m not the mom friend.” Wash replied almost instantly.

He was too mentally dysfunctional to be any good at being the mom friend.

“Relax.” Tucker said with a grin. A grin that almost made Wash feel like they were back in the canyon, on top of the base, bitching about the Reds. “There’s nothing wrong with being a milf.” He winked before pausing as his expression sort of flatlined. 

Wash almost wondered if he did something wrong.

Tucker shook it off and returned his gaze and Wash realized it must have been a comment by the AIs. 

He’d noticed similar alters when Maine was implanted with Sigma. 

It was too small a change to be noticed by anyone who wasn’t looking for it. 

“Did you want to see the plan for the scout tomorrow?” Wash asked, trying to start conversation.

He wanted Tucker to say yes because he had been with him all but two minutes and it felt great and it would kill him to watch him walk away, but Tucker looked unsure.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to, we can always do it tomorrow.” Wash quickly added.

“No, it’s ok.” Tucker told him. “We can do it now.”

Wash nodded and stepped aside so Tucker could come in. 

Tucker walked in and looked around. “I forgot him much cleaner your room is.” He said, after making a quick evaluation. 

The fact that it had been so long since he stayed the night that Tucker forgot what his room looked like was disappointing. “Yea. Well, it’s been a while.” 

Tucker paused, looking at something at his wall. He didn’t speak and Wash almost regretted saying that. He wasn’t afraid per se, just realized that he didn’t want to upset Tucker.

“Everyone’s been saying that,” Tucker said quietly after a minute, looking down before turning to look up at Wash. “they’re not wrong.” He added, coming closer to him. “And I’m,” he paused. “Sorry.” He grumbled, sounding a tad bit like a toddler.

Wash chuckled. “I’m sorry, what?” He teased. “I couldn’t hear you.”

“Don’t be a dick.” Tucker bit back with no real venom.

Wash nodded, ready to give his real response. “I get it, you’ve been busy.”

Tucker shrugged. “Yea, but I could’ve made time. I guess, I just didn’t want you to think…” He paused, not able to find the right kind of words to get his point across.

Didn’t want him to think what?

“Didn’t want me to think what?” Wash questioned.

Tucker bit his lip. “I don’t know, that I was fucked up because of the AIs. Or that I was another Meta waiting to happen or something like that. I mean, you hate the AIs.” Tucker paused, trying to determine Wash’s thoughts. “It’s stupid.” 

Had he really thought that?

Wash would never-

But, he did.

Shit, had he really been doing that?

“It’s not stupid.” Wash defended. 

Maybe he needed to put more faith in Tucker. The Meta and him were different people and he needed to trust Tucker.

“I don’t ever want to make you feel like you have to walk around me because of Maine or that I would stop liking you any less because of something you can’t control.” Wash said, his voice not sympathetic, but caring. 

“Didn’t know you cared.”

That stung.

“Tucker,” Wash started. “Of course I care.” He really did care about Tucker. He was the one who brought him out of his stupor after the aftermath of the Meta, the one who brought him out of his nightmares and taught him the meaning of family. Wash didn’t know what he’d do without him. “I really like you.”

He really did. He wanted more with Tucker than what he had. Maybe that was selfish, maybe he should appreciate the interactions they had, but he wanted more than just the occasional fuck buddy or caring consultant. 

Tucker looked up at him and it became extremely apparent to Washington on just how close together they were. 

Tucker grabbed at the front of his shirt and leaned forward, kissing him.

It wasn’t rough or needy like it usually was. It was soft and compassionate and when Wash kissed back it felt amazing.

He wrapped his arm around Tucker’s waist and Tucker responded by bringing his arms up around Wash’s neck.

It was slow and loving and perfect.

Wash pulled off a minute later for air and rested his head against Tucker. 

“I like you too.” Tucker told him quietly. 

“Should we brief?” Wash asked, keeping his voice at the same volume as Tucker’s.

“Later, enjoy this now.” Tucker said, leaning back into a kiss.

Washington complied. 

Fuck, he missed this.

“Play the recording D.” 

“Won’t Wash wake up?” Eta asked worriedly.

Tucker looked behind him at Wash, who was asleep in his bed. He looked so comfortable under the covers like that, his chest slowly rising and falling peacefully with each breath. 

Tucker laid with him for a while and it was nice, but there was no way in hell he would be able to fall asleep. He was just glad Wash was able to. The bags under his eyes led Tucker to believe he was going through another period of insomnia. He would comment on it, but he knew Washington hated being patronized, especially when it came to sleep.

“No. He’s out cold. You can tell he hasn’t been sleeping.”

“You’re probably part of the reason he’s sleeping.” 

Tucker nodded. “That’s good. He gets to sleep and hopefully now he won’t be trying to fix everything.” 

“That is if Caboose was telling the truth.” Gamma commented. 

Caboose may have been an idiot, but he wasn’t a liar. If he said Wash was trying to find a way to get the AIs out of his head, then he probably was. 

“I don’t think he was lying.” Tucker told the AI as he noticed Delta flash into view. “And after today, hopefully, Wash will have no reason to think anything is wrong.” 

“We wouldn’t want that.” Sigma told him, appearing over his shoulder seconds after Delta. “Agent Washington could be quite the...obstacle if not dealt with.”

Tucker rolled his eyes. “Don’t talk like that, everything’s fine.” He looked over at the green projection. “Did you finish downloading the recording?” He questioned. 

Delta nodded and pulled up a projection that resembled a voice recorder. Delta pressed a button as the recording began to play. 

“Hey guys, if you're hearing this it means you did it. You won.” Church voice rang through the room. “You kicked the shit out of Hargrove’s forces, I knew you could. But, this is my last stop…” He said, sadly.

Tucker bit his lip as he listened to the recording. 

God, he was such a dick. A complete asshole. But, at the same time, he was the best person Tucker ever had the pleasure of meeting. 

Listening to that recording, Tucker was glad the rest of his team forced him to make up with him. He had no idea what he would if they ended their relationship on a bad note. If this was all Tucker would be receiving from him as any sort of closure. 

To this day, he was still mad at Church for leaving, for everything that he did. But, hearing his voice now, all he wanted to do was to look over his shoulder and see him projected there. 

He had so many things he wanted to say; to tell him. Whether it was yelling at him for being a self-sacrificing asshole or thanking him for being there and doing what he did. 

It hurt to hear his voice and not be able to see him, to hear the words come out of his mouth about the things that he did and why he did them and not being able to thank him. 

“In the end, they just have to have faith.”

And listening to that recording and hearing his voice, he knew he missed him. 

“I miss him too.” Theta said, appearing over his other shoulder. 

Tucker smiled. “I know you do, Theta.” 

“Ain’t that a bitch.”

Chapter Text

“Are you in position?” Tucker heard Carolina ask over the com. Tucker looked over at Wash as he pulled the warthog up to a secluded back area.

“Copy that, we’re in position.” He assured through the com. 

He slowed the vehicle to a stop and got out. They had taken a few warthogs, but that was it. Kimball hoped to bring back a ton of supplies that the pirates had been hoarding so, they were told to have extra room. 

“You ready?” Wash asked, looking over at Tucker as he hopped out of the vehicle. 

Tucker nodded, he had his sword at his side and his pistol at the ready. They were told the pirates had all left and that the biggest caution was the decomposing building so, he left the rifle back in the training room. 

“You’re not that good at it anyway.” Iota said quietly. 

I’m not that bad.

Omega chuckled and Tucker could tell Gamma was making faces, but he ignored them. Focus on the mission. 

Washington nodded and turned to one of the other men on the warthog. “Remember the time. If we’re not out by then, send reinforcements unless instructed otherwise.” 

They had decided to bring very few people just in case the deteriorating building couldn’t handle it. So, Wash, Tucker, Carolina, and one or two others would head inside and search for any supplies, whilst making sure the building was safe, and then meet back outside and send the other people in to carry it all out. 

The other soldiers in the warthog weren’t as skilled in the fighting category, but they were strong and that was what was important. 

“Oh, Tucker while you are in there can you look for a few pieces for me?” 

One of those soldiers were Caboose. 

Tucker looked back at the Blue armored soldier, seated in the warthog. “You’re the one grabbing the stuff, Caboose. If you see something you want, go for it.” 

Caboose nodded very slowly, his smile beaming under his visor. “Neat.” 

Tucker almost wondered if he should clarify to Caboose his job again, but decided against it when Wash nudged him expectantly. Tucker looked over at him and he waved him over as he began to walk into the base. 

It was all coms from here on out. 

Washington carefully moved aside a large metal door and ushered him in as he shut it behind him. 

Wsh: Sty on cms till its safe

Tucker read the message on the private channel that they reserved just for them as they entered the building. 

Before he used the channel for texting; Tucker used it to play music. 

Back at Bravo, Tucker would play music on the abandoned channel when he was bored. 

During their time there, Washington must have stumbled across it. At first he didn’t say anything to Tucker about it. Which Tucker later found out the reason for him not saying anything was because he liked listening to the channel when he was bored too.

But then, one day, Tucker was listening to the channel when he saw Wash tapping his foot slightly to the same beat of the music he was playing.

Tucker put two and two together and teased Wash about it for the rest of the time they spent there.

Tckr: Np bby ; )

Wash turned to look back at him and Tucker smiled being able to tell Washington was rolling his eyes at him through his visor. If they were able to speak he probably would have said something along the lines of ‘Don’t call me baby.’ 

He would have said it like a hardass too, trying to act all superior and whatnot. But Tucker knew if his helmet was off, he’d be blushing bright red.

Wash turned to look around the area they were in. It looked to be some sort of hallway. The steel walls looked stable enough, but had obvious rusting by the individual bolts. To both their left and right, appeared to be endless, unlight, halls with no end in sight. 

“We appear to be in the back left sanctum of the building.” Delta informed him. “Left will lead you nowhere, I suggest heading right till you stumble upon the main building.” 

Tckr: Dlta sys go rght.

Tucker watched as Washington looked down the right hall and then the left, before coming back to the right. He clutched his gun and lifted it up, leading the way down the hall. 

It was nice to know Washington was getting on the same page with the AIs. He didn’t question Tucker or need an explanation on why the fragment choose the direction that he did. 

“He trusts us!” Theta practically squealed. 

“It’s a start.” Sigma degraded. 

Tucker followed after, taking his time to look around at the walls, ceiling, and flooring. Nothing too out of the ordinary, except-

“There’s leaves on the floor.” Sigma pointed out. 

I see it too, Tucker thought to the AI. 

He made sure to keep a mental note of that. 

He wondered if Wash noticed it as well.

“Probably not, but he doesn’t need to know.” Sigma assured as they followed Washington down the hall. 

For some reason, Tucker didn’t protest. Just, continued keeping that little fact to himself. 

“If we have guests,” Sigma started, lowering his voice to sound more commanding. “Then you’ll take care of them.” 

Wsh: We need lght

The message through their channel knocked Tucker out of his conversation with Sigma as he looked around the area he was in and faintly saw Washington looking back at him. He hadn’t been paying attention, but he was smart enough to see how dark it was and put two and two together on what Wash wanted him to do. 

“You don’t need to be smart to know that.” Gamma said flatly. 

“It’s called perception.” Delta corrected. 

I’ve heard it both ways, Tucker thought as he switched his pistol for his sword. He activated it and lifted it up to strengthen the vibrant teal glow he had already illuminated. 

The glow from the sword looked kind of cool as the teal clashed against the darkness and seemed to reflect off the ceiling. 

Wash seemed to be pleased with the sudden brightness and turned to face the steel door on the side of the hall. Tucker stepped over so he wasn’t in front of the door and moved over to the side as Wash did the same with his pistol raised. Turning the knob, he pushed the door open and carefully stepped in. 

Tucker followed after, keeping his sword on for light. 

Wash walked further into the room and it became apparent that there was nobody in there. Tucker turned around so that the shine would cover the whole room. There was a table with a few chairs and a couple of wooden boxes in the corner. 

Washington immediately looked over to the boxes and walked over. Using the end of his gun, he popped the top off and looked inside. 

Wsh: Rations

Tckr: Nice

Washington placed the lid back over the crate and pulled out a pad. He took a small pen like stencil and marked something on a holographic map. He then turned to leave the room as Tucker followed after. 

Wsh: Stll not enogh

Tucker rolled his eyes. Obviously, it wasn’t enough, but he could get the stick out of his ass and be glad there was anything. 

Wsh: Lts find Lina

Tucker nodded, following him out the door. 

It definitely didn’t take long to find Carolina. Wash had been making a map on his data pad the entire time so they knew where they had already been and where they needed to be. 

When they did find Carolina; it was Delta who spotted her on the motion tracker. Washington moved towards her as Tucker continued after him, watching as the two ex-freelancers chatted on the public channel for a while about where there next stop was. 

Both groups had found food and water and supplies such as that, but Carolina really wanted to look for ammo before heading out again.

They messaged each other for a little while longer while Tucker looked around, staying within sight, until Carolina came up to him. 

“I think we’re good on company. You don’t have to use the messenger anymore.” 

Tucker nodded. “Sweet.” He said as Washington walked over. 

“Are we heading out?” Wash asked her. 

Carolina glanced over at him. “No, but we’ll send Caboose and the others in. I already transferred the map to Rogers, so they’ll know where to go.” 

“We’re not leaving?” Tucker questioned. 

Carolina shook her head. “I want to find ammo.” She stated. 

He didn’t think they needed much ammo, but he supposed they wanted whatever they could get their hands on. “Where are we looking?” He asked. 

Carolina paused. “Actually, I want you to go head to the back entrance and make sure Caboose and his squad gets in ok,” 

That’s lame, Tucker thought. 

At this point, he wasn’t having to push direct thoughts to certain AIs. It was getting to the point where they weren’t invading his thoughts anymore, because it’s no longer invading if you let them in. 

“They don’t need us.” Theta sulked. 

No, they just need me somewhere else, Tucker corrected. 

Omega snickered.

“Wash and I will head to the front and look over there since it hasn’t been searched yet.” Carolina continued. “If you see anything suspicious or need help, contact me immediately.” 

Tucker rolled his eyes, turning to head to the front. 

“Tucker!” Carolina called after him. 

Tucker turned around to look at the cyan armored soldier, her stance stern. “Got it?” Carolina demanded. “If the AIs pick up anything , you tell us straight away.”

Tucker nodded, turning around again. “Got it.” He mumbled, heading in the direction of the back entrance. 

“Left.” Delta instructed after a while of walking. 

Tucker groaned. “Are we there yet?” He whined. 

Delta rolled his eyes, his projection floating just above Tucker’s shoulder. “5 minutes.” He confirmed. 

Tucker turned left, his sword raised to illuminate a glow through the hallway. “We can’t be that close, I don’t hear Caboose yet.” Tucker joked. 

Delta must have not been amused because he went silent. 

Tucker sighed passing by an open door. He stopped in his tracks, a small light coming from inside the room catching his eye. He backed up and stepped into the room. 

“Are you sure this is the way back?” Tucker asked Delta, not being able to remember searching this room. 

He didn’t hear from the AI for almost a minute before he spoke again.

“I took a shortcut. By going this direction, we cut two minutes off our time.” 

Tucker nodded, walking further into the room towards the small flashing blue light. The light was beeping just below a computer. 

Should he call it in to Wash so he could put it on the map? 

“No.” Sigma stated as if that was the dumbest thing Tucker ever thought of. “Turn on the computer.” 

Tucker did as Sigma said and searched around the computer for a power button, pressing it and watching as the computer powered on. “I thought this base was abandoned,” Tucker commented. “Why is there power?” 

“You know why.” 

Tucker scrolled through the open tabs on the computer and looked through it. “It looks like they were researching the alien towers.” Tucker stated, reading through the information. He scrolled down the page and stopped on a photo. “That’s one of the alien towers.” He pointed out.

Tucker looked over at Delta who was now accompanied by Sigma. “Delta, what does that tower do?” 

Delta examined the photo before glancing over at Sigma and then Tucker. “That tower takes you off Chorus.” He explained. 

“The Pirates are trying to escape.” Sigma added. 

Tucker went to keep scrolling, but hit the bottom of the page. “Where is the tower located?” He asked Delta. 

“I’m not sure, would you like me to access the computer and transfer the data into your HUD?” 

Tucker looked back at the computer. “Yes.” He said, without hesitation.

Delta’s holographic projection entered the computer as Sigma leaned over Tucker’s shoulder to get a better look.

The green AI came back out a second later and drifted back into Tucker’s mind, out of sight. “I transferred all data, including the tower’s coordinates.” He stated. 

“Good, now let’s get out of here before these asshats come back.” He said, powering off the computer.

Tucker stepped out of the room and paused as he heard gunfire coming from down the hall, followed by shouting. 

“Fuckberries.” He hissed, running down the hall as he tucked his sword at his hip and pulled out his pistol. 

“Left.” Delta instructed, staying out of view, unlike Sigma, who was above his shoulder the entire time. 

Tucker turned left and practically slid as he made an attempt to roll out of incoming bullets. He ducked behind a steel crate and cocked his gun. “Running me into gunfire is not helpful.” He hissed. 

“To your left.” Theta warned. 

Tucker turned to his left and shot at an entering pirate. He began moving, staying crouched as he looked for Caboose. 

The big blue idiot was behind a ledge with Rogers firing at his right. Tucker looked to his right and deemed it safe as he made a move towards Caboose. 

“Their moving forward.” He heard Rogers shout as he made his way to them. Rogers turned to look at Tucker. “Captain, this place isn’t abandoned, they entered from the west sector.” 

Caboose looked back at Tucker and waved. 

“No shit.” Tucker hissed. “We need to fall back, group up with Carolina and Wash.” 

Roger looked behind him worriedly and then looked back to Tucker. “There is no falling back.” He stated, gesturing to the other side of the building. “They came from our way back.”

Tucker sighed, “Son of a bitch.”

“Cover Fire will die out in 1 minute.” Delta informed.

Tucker nodded. “Alright, follow me.” He instructed as he lifted his gun up over his cover and began firing. 

“To your left.” Eta assisted.

Tucker shot to the left as Roger seemed to follow suit. Caboose did his best, but he mainly had Freckles do all the work.

“Now’s a good time to move up.” Gamma instructed. 

Tucker walked around the cover, keeping the end of his pistol pointed toward the 6, now 5, space pirates firing madly at them.

He lifted his gun and with two bullets; two pirates dropped.

“Adequate.” Sigma mused from over his shoulder.

Tucker smiled as he reloaded his gun. Moving forward with Caboose and Rogers close behind him, he stayed close enough for more hand to hand combat, pistol whipping the pirate in front of him with his gun.

The pirate fell back onto another and Tucker took that as his cue to fire through both as Freckles finished off the last pirate.

“Very good job Freckles.” Caboose praised.

Tucker nodded, looking towards the door as he heard more gunfire. “Come on, we have to find Wash.” 

Caboose nodded as they made their way around the base.

It didn’t take very long. By the time they traced the gunfire to one of the main rooms all the pirates but one were dead.

Carolina was standing in the middle of the room, her gun lifted at the head of a kneeling space pirate. 

“I’ve got dozens of reinforcements on there way right now, you guys won’t make it out of the building.” He heard the Space pirate snap as he got closer.

“What are you doing?” Tucker asked her. “Kill that guy already.” 

“I can’t.” Carolina hissed. “We have to find out where they’re coming from.” She paused, glaring at the kneeling pirate in front of her. “We should have gotten rid of all the space pirates.” 

The pirate laughed. “Oh, is that what you think?” He leaned forward and looked up at her. “I can assure you, there’s way more of us than you can even imagine.”

“Quite talkative for a guy about to be executed.” Sigma sneered.

The pirate’s gaze lingered on Sigma for almost a minute before quickly looking away.

Carolina looked up at the AI floating just above Tucker’s shoulder. She might have taken a second to decide whether or not she wanted him gone, but it quickly became irrelevant as Wash walked up to her.

“We need to get out of here.” Wash stressed. “My motion tracker is picking up movement everywhere.” 

“But I-“

“Carolina,” Wash interrupted. “We need to get out of here.”

Carolina sighed and it was quiet for a split second as she considered her options.

“How much ammo do we have left?” She asked, glancing towards the back door as gunfire was heard firing in the distance.

Tucker checked his gun and realized the magazine was empty. “I’m out.” He stated, putting his pistol away and taking out his sword.

“I’ve always preferred a more hands on approach anyway.” He said slyly as a slight teal glow illuminated from his sword.

Wash rolled his eyes and checked his own mag. “I’ve got...4.” He counted disappointingly. “Carolina.” He said with an exasperated sigh. “We need to fall back, ditch this guy and go.” 

Carolina did a double take between the pirate and the back door; the sounds of gunfire growing louder.

It was obvious she did not want to back down from this challenge.

“We could take him with us.” Caboose suggested. “I like making new friends.”

“Caboose, he’s not a friend.” Tucker corrected. “He’s an enemy, the bad guy.” Tucker added the last part just in case Caboose forgot. 

Carolina smiled and lowered her gun. “Change of plans.” She stated, putting a hand on the shoulder of the unarmed space pirate. “We’re taking him with us.” She said, pulling him up.

Wash frowned. “You can’t be serious.” He stated. “We don’t take hostages.”

“We do now.”

“You have exactly 43 seconds to evac.” Delta estimated in Tucker’s mind.

“Guys, whatever you do, you need to do fast. Company’s coming.”

Rogers pulled Caboose off to the side and made their way to the vehicles as Carolina pushed the pirate towards the full warthogs.

Wash sighed as he reluctantly followed after, Tucker tagging along close behind him.

Tckr: : )

Wash didn’t respond, but slowed down to stand closer to Tucker, appreciating the gesture as they quickly made their way to the warthogs.

Chapter Text

The ride back to base was unsettling to say the least.

Carolina stuck Caboose in a separate car so that she could intensely stare bullets into the hostage, space pirate the entire car ride.

Which left Wash to drive and Tucker to sit next to him. The teal soldier was grateful for that. He would choose Wash over a trigger happy Carolina and a deadly space pirate any day.

When they got back to base; not much changed.

Wash had him and Caboose sit down on a bench outside of the room that Carolina was interrogating the pirate in, while Wash counted and ordered people to bring in supplies. 

“Do you think we will be able to draw together after we eat?” Caboose asked him. 

Tucker glanced over at him, he hadn’t been paying much attention to Caboose’s bombarding questions. 

He was actually trying to get Sigma to go away.

The AI had appeared over his soldier during the fight and was refusing to retire back into his mind.

“I’m not doing anything wrong am I?” The AI asked.

And since he was out and about, so was the sound of his voice.

Which was why Tucker was trying to get him to go away quietly. If Wash looked behind him and heard him pleading for Sigma to fuck off, all the trust he had gathered in the past would be gone.

“You know what you’re doing.”

“Oooo Tucker, can I possibly talk to Delta?” Caboose questioned eagerly. His helmet was off and abandoned at his side and Tucker could practically see the light in his eyes at the possibility of speaking with the green AI.

Tucker sighed as Delta made a quick appearance. 

“Good afternoon, Caboose.”

Sigma looked over at Delta and then towards Tucker.

“Oh, get that grin off your face.” He muttered.

“How comes Delta and Sigma are allowed out and I’m not?” Omega barked.

“Because your too loud.” Eta said quietly. 

Tucker frowned. Nobody should be out.

Caboose began talking to Delta and Theta took it as his cue to come out and join their conversation. 

“Theta.” Tucker growled through gritted teeth.

“Delta and Sigma are out.” Theta defended.

And Tucker couldn’t find himself to argue with the kind AI, even if he probably should. 

He didn’t have time to debate on it because the door to the interrogation room suddenly blew open in a fast, violent force and Carolina stomped out, grumbling about someone being a piece of shit. 

If he wasn’t afraid of being kicked in the balls, he would make a comment about how between the space pirates and the sim troopers; Carolina was not good at this interrogation thing. 

She paused looking down at the ground, fists clenched tight enough to strangle. She slowly brought her head up and looked at Tucker and for a brief moment he was afraid of being mangled. 

Caboose quieted down and Theta held Delta tightly. The AIs seemed to make it a smart point to not draw attention to themselves. 

Carolina sighed, hard and heavy and sounding down right defeated. “Watch him,” She finally said through gritted teeth. “I’m getting Dr. Grey.” 

Tucker made a face behind his visor. He almost let an “Ooo” noise slip. The kind of noise you make when the loud speaker just came on and some kid had to go to the principal's office. 

Tucker got up as Carolina left down the hall. Caboose made a move to follow, most likely in search of Wash, and Theta and Delta descended back into Tucker’s mind while Sigma stayed perched calmly over his shoulder, seemingly unaffected by Tucker’s growing irritation towards the AI. 

Entering the small room, Tucker immediately noticed the space pirate sitting calmly in a chair with his feet propped up on a table; helmet off, with a smug grin plastered on his face. 

Out of all the pirates, they had to detain the most douchebaggy one. 

“What’s wrong?” The Pirate asked. “Your big, bad freelancer all tuckered out?” He teased, cockily. 

Nope, Tucker could tell he was not going to like this guy.

Tucker rolled his eyes and walked in further, shutting the door behind him. He then used the tip of his empty gun to nudge the space pirate’s feet off the table before sitting in the chair across from their hostage and placing his pistol sloppily on the table, keeping it close enough to where the Pirate wouldn’t be able to snag it.

“Shut up.” Tucker hissed. “Because you’re on real thin fucking ice.” 

The Pirate looked around the room. “Oh, am I?” He sneered, bringing his attention back on Tucker. “I highly doubt your people would kill someone as valuable as me and I highly doubt,” The Pirate said, raising his voice slightly. “That you’re going to do shit. The sidekick never does.”

“He’s challenging you.” Sigma hissed, his voice just above a whisper as he stayed projected over Tucker’s shoulder. 

Who the fuck was he calling a sidekick?

It wasn't just an incorrect insult, it was a dumb one. Who wastes an oppertunity to degrade your captures with an insult as lame as that?

Tucker glared at the Pirate. “You’re not as valuable as you think you are.” He corrected. “They don’t really need you, so don’t get it twisted. Whatever leverage you think you have; you don’t.”

The Pirate smiled and just simply shrugged. “And I assume they need you and your…” He paused and glanced over at Sigma. “Adorable AIs?” He mocked, changing his voice to a more immature accent. 

Tucker raised a brow. “What the hell are you talking about?” 

The Pirate chuckled. “I mean the AIs are cute. I can see why the people here like them. They float around and make everybody’s lives so much easier, but they won’t always seem that way…” The pirate trailed off, looking more intimidating by his stone cold stare. 

Tucker frowned, scooting his chair back slightly. “What do you mean by that?” He asked.

The Pirate snickered. “The AIs are only cute for so long.” He stated. “What happens when the people here realize just how dangerous they are? How powerful they are.”

“We’ll use that knowledge to better in kicking your guys' asses.” Tucker snapped, but without much confidence in his voice; his words had little effect. 

“Oh yea?” The Pirate questioned leaning forward on the table. “Then what happens when you screw up?” He bit back, raising his voice closer to a shout. 

“What happens when you fuck up?! When you make a mistake that costs somebody’s life and then suddenly you’re in the same position as I am?” 

“Who the hell does he think he is?” Sigma questioned quietly. “Does he really think he can step all over YOUR territory and insult you and then diminish you in the process?” 

Tucker snarled. “It won’t happen.” He hissed bitterly, anger rising in the pit of his stomach. 

The Pirate frowned. “It won’t, will it? Do you think the Meta thought the same thing?” 

Tucker sat baffled. “How do you know about that?” He asked. 

The Pirate leaned in closer as Tucker backed up. “I know a hell of a lot more than you think I do.” He growled. 

In a split second, the Pirate moved his vision off of Tucker and redirected it towards his gun. The Pirate quickly grabbed for his gun and tightened his grip around the handle. Placing his finger on the trigger he stood up and kicked his chair back, not caring about the noise it made as it clattered towards the back of the stone wall. 

Tucker quickly stood up and glared at the Pirate as a gun was aimed at his head. 

There’s no bullets in that gun, Tucker recalled. 

“But he doesn’t know that.” Sigma implied with a smile, pushing him on, nudging him towards the direction he wanted him to go. 

Tucker lingered his hand just above the hilt of his sword before dropping it slowly. 

“That’s right.” The Pirate sneered with an accomplished smile. “Don’t even fucking think about it or I’ll blow your fucking head off,” He glanced towards the shut door. “And then you’re cheery little buddy outside this room as well.” 

There was no danger, Tucker knew that. 

Caboose had left to go find Wash and there were no bullets in that magazine. 

“But he insulted you and your friends. Threatened the loveable idiot you’ve spent most of your life with, cursed off the love of your life and took your gun. That’s your property and he took it. Doesn’t he know not to take things that don’t belong to him?” 

Intrusive thoughts flooded through Tucker’s mind like a tsunami with a violent force and blasted through every wall of logical thinking and self control until there was nothing left holding back the unrelenting anger he felt. 

At this point, Tucker couldn’t tell if the whispered commands he kept hearing were Sigma’s wants, or his own.

Maybe because they became one of the same, maybe insanity and the raw emotion and power of the AIs took over and nothing he was feeling held consistency or rationality anymore. 

Tucker gripped the handle of his sword. “You’re a fucking idiot.” He fumed. 

The Pirate smiled. 

A crazy smile that showed just how alike they were. 

Two mentally unstable people in one room; both with the ability and want to kill, but only one yielding a weapon to do so. 

“Am I? Because I know one thing that maybe you haven’t figured out yet.” 

The Pirate deadpanned. “You are going to fuck up and when you do; you’re going to wish I was still here with my brain full of information to get you off this damned planet.” 

“It won’t happen.” Tucker reiterated, red glow beaming over his shoulder as he pulled out his sword and activated it, holding it at the ready. “I will never end up as you. You’re a bad guy. The type that kills people for fun and never realizes the amount of danger he’s in.”

“When you mess up.” The Pirate continued as he began to move around the table. “People are going to realize just how little they understand about the AIs.” 

Tucker adjusted accordingly, holding his stance, knowing he couldn’t fall for the Pirate’s play. He couldn’t back away.

“Or back down.” Sigma reminded as Tucker’s options increasingly became limited.

He was the only thing between the Pirate and the door.

“And do you know what happens when people don’t understand something?” The Pirate questioned. 

“Shut up.” Omega roared. 

“Shut up!”

“Shut him up.” Sigma demanded.

The Pirate cocked the pistol. “They grow to fear it.” He stated as he pulled the trigger.

The room grew silent as a small click was heard, the gun unloading nothing from the lack of ammo. 

“Idiot.” One hissed. 

“Doesn’t he know what you are?” Another questioned.

“What you can do?” 

“What he’s unleashed?” 

Tucker smiled as a worried look blew over the Pirate. 

“He tried to kill you with your own gun.” Sigma reminded. 

As if he needed to add more fuel to an already catalytic fire. 

The Space Pirate frowned as he tossed the useless gun aside. “Oh, you motherfucker!” He screamed as he charged towards him. 

Tucker deactivated his sword, a thrill settling in his stomach as he easily dodged the attack.

He could’ve done this quick. 

But, he’d rather do it slow; slow and painful. 

He wanted to see this guy suffer. 

He deserved as much. 

The Pirate swung a fist and Tucker grabbed it, twisting it back, watching as the pirate hissed and brought his knee up to knock Tucker back against the wall. 

The pirate swung again and Tucker rolled to the side, allowing the Pirate’s fist to hit the wall with a clunk before pouncing once more, with such a quick force that it even caught Tucker off guard. 

They toppled to the ground, the pirate on top as Tucker fought to knock him off. 

It was a battle for control and there could only be one victor. 

The Pirate’s hands grasped Tucker’s neck and held the smaller male in a choke hold as Tucker gripped his arm and shook him with a strong enough force that caused the pirate’s head to knock into the corner of the steel table. 

“HE INSULTED YOU!”

Blood seeped down the Pirate’s forehead as Tucker quickly began losing breath, staying awake from the pure amount of adrenaline and hatred coursing through his system. 

“HE THREATENED YOU AND THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE!”

Tucker gasped for breath, his vision whitening as he fed into the AI’s words. 

“KILL HIM! MAKE HIM BLEED! FINISH HIM!”

Tucker inched his fingers towards the hilt of his sword. A pleasant rush flowing through his veins as he realized he was about to win and revenge would be quick coming.

With a mad look in his eye; Tucker held the hilt of his sword just above the Pirate’s stomach and activated it. His sword immediately glew up and sliced directly through the Pirate as the world around him seemed to slow down. 

And damn, if that didn’t feel good. 

It was beyond satisfying to see deadshot eyes and blood slowly seep out of that asshole's mouth, even if it did drip out onto his helmet. And it was even more satisfying to feel the hands around his neck loosen up, implying that the Pirate was dead. 

“Didn’t that feel good?” Sigma asked. 

Tucker bit back his smile. 

He must have been so overwhelmed by the intoxicating feeling of it all that he didn’t notice the door to the room fling open. 

The past 5 minutes became a mere flash, almost like a memory or a faint dream, and suddenly the world sped up and he was sitting up, desperately gasping for his life, or any sort of air, as an arm wrapped around the back of his neck and supported him. 

Tucker ripped off his helmet in an attempt to free himself from his suffocation and leaned forward, planting his hands to the ground as his vision blurred slightly before clearing up. 

He sword deactivated and the sounds and sights of the real world began matching up. 

“Tucker? Can you hear me?” A concerned voice asked him. 

Tucker nodded eagerly and looked to his right to see Wash, kneeled down next to him with a protective arm sustaining him. 

“Ms. Carolina?” He heard Caboose question. “Is Tucker alright?”

“He’ll be ok,” Carolina reassured. “Just give him a minute.”

Tucker leaned into Wash and looked over to his left to see the Space Pirate lying limp on the ground; dead. 

It felt so fulfilling when he lit up his sword through the bastard. Almost like that little flush you would get as a kid when you did something you knew was bad or when you rode a seemingly death defying roller coaster. But, the addictive feeling was now gone and all he felt was...empty.

“It’s ok.” Wash told him calmly, noticing him staring at the slaughtered Pirate. “You did what you had to do. Your life is way more valuable than his was.” He reassured.

The problem was, that Wash must have assumed that Tucker was upset because he felt bad for killing the pirate. 

Sigma sneered in his mind, having tapped out when he pushed Tucker just enough over the edge. 

But, that wasn’t the case. 

He felt bad because he didn’t feel bad. 

In fact, he felt good. 

Carolina sighed. “That information would have been nice.” She said, eyeing the Pirate before pausing. “But, I’m glad you’re ok, that could have gone much, much worse.” 

“It’ll be fine.” Tucker said, his playfully cocky tone returning as he regained his breath. “The guy liked to talk. Gave away a shit ton.” 

Carolina dropped her hands to her sides with a huff. “Have I not kicked enough ass around here to get a single space pirate to tell me anything?” She exasperated, slightly joking as she unknowingly effectively brought the mood of the room up. 

“I think you are doing a very good job at being a scary woman.” Caboose praised.

“Thank you, Caboose.” 

Tucker bit his lip, zoning out the rest of Carolina’s and Caboose’s conversation. 

He felt an armored hand move to softly rub calming circles over his back and looked over at Wash, concern clear in his face. “Are you alright?” He asked. 

Tucker weaned into him, breaking eye contact. “I’m ok.” He said as the want to experience that addictive feeling just one more time began growing steadily in his mind now that it was gone. 

If he wasn’t careful that feeling would drive him mad. 

But, it felt as if he was already too late. 

“Okie, now just turn your head to the left.” Dr. Grey instructed, feeling Tucker’s pulse point just below his ear.

She removed her hands and Tucker returned his stance. 

“This is so unnecessary.” He complained.

“It’s not unnecessary.” Wash told him. And it wasn’t. Wash saw firsthand how out of control certain wounds could get if not treated. “We’re just making sure everything’s ok.”

“What your doing,” Tucker snipped half-heartedly. “Is wasting medical rooms.” 

“But-“

“Wash,” Tucker said with a smile. “I’m fine.”

“That’s true.” Delta reassured, having appeared over Tuckers shoulder. “He’s functioning at an acceptable capacity and isn’t suffering any major physical trauma.” 

Wash held back a frown. Delta’s words were clear and precise and if he didn’t know any better, there were half truths in between all the facts. But he was going to choose to believe that maybe- 

Just maybe,

But probably not

he was overreacting.

“Actually, I’d like to know more about his mental health.” Grey chirped. 

Delta disappeared instantly and Tucker raised a brow, leaving Wash with a similar confusion.

Grey smiled and pulled out a pen from her pocket and held up a notebook. “How are you feeling?” She asked.

Tucker gave her a weak glare. “I’m fine,” He stated. “What’s that got to do with anything?” 

“Well,” Grey started, using her perfectly happy chirpy voice, indicating that she was about to get scary. “I noticed that you didn’t attend the therapy I prescribed.” She lowered her notebook from in front of her helmet and gave a smile. “Why is that?”

“Because I don’t need it.” Tucker snapped.

Wash sighed. “Tucker, you were supposed to go to that.” 

“It only has to be a one time thing.” Washington reasoned when Tucker gave him a look that screamed ‘I don’t wanna’.

“Then what’s the point of going!?” Tucker exasperated, slumping against the backboard of the hospital bed.

“To make sure the little people in your head aren’t driving you crazy.” Grey squealed, looking over to Tucker’s shoulder for an AI that wasn’t there.

Wash followed her gaze, but quickly reverted it when Tucker looked at him. “You should go, just once.” Wash stated. “It’ll really help.”

“Seriously, Wash?” Tucker groaned, the disappointment in his face causing Wash to wince. “This is bullshit.” He crossed his arms and looked away from Washington. “You would never go to some stupid crazy people thing.” He grumbled.

And Wash couldn’t argue with that.

Because if he was in Tucker's position, there was no way in hell he would be attending something that implied he needed fixing. So, on some level he could sympathize with Tucker's want to not attend, but this wasn't about him. 

“Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.” 

Tucker looked at him and then sat up on the bed. He swung his feet over and pushed himself up. 

“Oh, where are you going?” Grey asked as he got up and went towards the door. “I still want to run some tests!” Grey called, the excitement in her voice clear.

“I’m going to bed!” Tucker called, slamming the door to the hospital room shut.

“That’s a pity.” Grey huffed. She set her items on the table and quickly regained her enthusiasm. “I suppose I’ll get to psychoanalyze some other day.”

Wash nodded, not sure if he should be condoning her as he turned to follow after Tucker.

“Wait, agent Washington.” Grey called, effectively stopping Wash in his tracks. “I would really like to have Tucker go to that meeting.” She told him. 

She shifted with her stance and dropped her smile slightly. “Especially after what happened today.” She added. 

Wash raised a brow. Was she referring to the soldier? “That wasn’t Tucker’s fault.” He defended.

Grey smiled and looked at him the same way a parent looks at their kid when they know they’re lying. “Just saying,” she sing-songed. “Just make sure he goes.”

What did she mean 'Just saying'?

It wasn’t Tuckers fault, right?

Goddamnit, leave it to Dr. Grey to bring up waves of anxiety in him.

That was between the AIs and the therapy that Grey wanted Tucker to go to. 

To be honest, Wash wanted him to go too. He knew that Tucker didn’t want to, but it would ease some of his worry.

The change in moods and the slight pauses between conversations was becoming more frequent and it was getting harder and harder to ignore it. 

Just now was a perfect example of those things happening.

If Wash thought about it, he could pinpoint the exact moment where the change in emotion occurred.

The scary part was that there were no problems until Grey began talking about analyzing the AIs. 

If the Fragments impacted Tucker’s decisions, then obviously they didn’t want to be picked apart by a therapist. 

“I’ll talk to him about it.” Washington said, knowing exactly what she was getting at.

“Oh, and agent Washington?” Grey questioned again.

Wash looked over his shoulder to see her looking up at him. “Yea?”

“I understand you’re trying to trust that he knows what’s best, but keep an eye on him.” She turned away from him and began putting some items away. “And that doesn’t mean interrogating Or harassing!” She chirped.

It was funny hearing that from Dr. Grey.

Wash nodded. “Will do.” He mused, leaving the room

Chapter Text

Tucker sat slumped against the backboard of the bed as he waited for Wash. He stared at the white wall in front of him and inadvertently began chewing on his nails. He wasn’t anxious or nervous, he just had this odd, unexplainable irritation that he couldn’t seem to get to go away. 

He blamed it on the conversation with Grey about the stupid therapy and the AIs, but as he sat on the bed listening to the fragments chattering in the back of his mind, he realized how unprovoked his anger was and how he couldn’t exactly detect where the agitated feeling was coming from. 

“What’s so wrong with going to the session anyway?” Theta questioned innocently. 

“Because!” Omega barked, the raise of volume in his voice no longer giving Tucker a headache as he grew used to the fragment’s tantrums. “It’s infuriating. We don’t need that anymore than they do!”  

Theta stayed quiet, not wanting to push the louder fragment, 

“What Omega is trying to say.” Delta snipped. “Is that it implies a lack of trust.”

“Oh,” Theta said quietly, putting on a frown. 

“They implies Washington.” Sigma added, replying to his brothers, but aiming the words toward Tucker as he put emphasis on Washington. 

“Then why are we waiting for him?!” Omega demanded. 

Tucker frowned as he shifted his stance so he didn’t have as much weight on his side, since it was still sore from the one-on-one with the Space Pirate.

He honestly didn’t know why he was waiting for Wash. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that it felt like the right thing to do. 

Wash just had the ability to make him feel better.

Tucker was still pissed with him, but his company felt better; normal. Like there wasn’t a huge crisis with supplies and the people in his head. Like everything was the way it was back at Bravo.

And besides, they were technically “together” now, so he was allowed to wander in his room any time he liked, even if his best reasoning for the decision was because it felt like the place to be. 

“So we don’t know and you don’t know.” Sigma scoffed. “We could be doing something useful right now.”

I’m waiting for Wash. 

And that was the end of that conversation. 

The fragment may have been stubborn, but at least he knew when to give Tucker a win. 

Or maybe he knew being close to Wash benefited both him and Tucker.

“I can assure you it’s the second one.” Sigma smirked. 

Tucker rolled his eyes as a faint knock was heard on the door. He didn’t respond though, just waited on the bed in his teal sweats and sweatshirt that he was pretty sure wasn’t his. 

“You better be decent.” He heard Wash say from the other side of the door. 

“And if I’m not?” Tucker asked slyly. “What are you gonna do? Spank me?”

Washington rolled his eyes as he entered the room and walked over to the bed. “Do you legitimately want me to justify that with a response?”

Tucker winked. “It doesn’t have to be a verbal one.”

Wash sat down at the bottom of the bed and didn’t reply. Whether it was because he had no response to correctly counter Tucker or if he was making his own analysis on him, he didn’t know. 

Regardless, they sat in silence for another moment until Wash spoke again. 

“Does it really bother you so much to go to Grey’s session?” He asked. 

Tucker groaned, taking an intake of breath as he brought his feet up to his chest so Wash could properly turn to have a face to face conversation. “Yes, Wash.” He exasperated. 

What wasn’t he understanding about this?

“I’m not crazy and I don’t wanna go.” Tucker mumbled, keeping a child-like frustration to his words. 

Wash sighed. “We don’t think you’re crazy,” He consoled. He looked towards Tucker and pursed his lips. “But, you know Grey…”

And that’s all he needed to say. 

“Fine.” Tucker mumbled against his pants. “I’ll go.” He agreed reluctantly.

He wasn’t admitting defeat, there was no way in hell he’d do that. He was just tired of talking and arguing about it. He’d find some way to get out of it, but in the meantime, him agreeing to go would make Wash and Carolina happy. 

Tucker ignored the comment from Gamma in the back of his mind about how he doesn’t wake up every day to make Wash and Carolina happy.

Wash smiled slightly, but Tucker could tell it was more forced. He probably felt bad about making the teal soldier agree to something he didn’t wanna do.

“Probably not.” Delta degraded.

“He had no problem making you do things you didn’t want to do back at crash site Bravo.” Sigma defended. 

Tucker almost argued that that was different, but there was no purpose in doing that because the scarlet AI did have a point.

“Thank you.” Wash said with a smile. “I know you don’t want to, but I promise it won’t be as bad as you think it’ll be.” 

Tucker didn’t really believe that but he nodded, agreeing with Wash anyway before taking his arm and nudging him forward in bed. 

Wash took the hint and settled down next to him, his arm wrapped around Tucker and his head resting against the backboard of the bed. 

They stayed like that for a few hours until Wash fell asleep and Tucker took it as his cue to slip out and head for the training room. 

There were certain things that stayed the same. 

For instance, the immature innuendos, the bright smile whenever someone said the word ‘boobytrap’, or the way he would kiss him or hold him when Wash woke up in a heap of sweat and tears from his latest nightmare. 

Those were the things Wash tried to focus on. 

But recently the differences were becoming more and more noticeable and the actions he had tried to focus on were becoming more of a rarer experience.

For example, the way Tucker’s mood would change even when unprovoked, the way he no longer complained when it was time to work or train, the way he woke up way earlier than Wash, the way he stopped sleeping naked or how his ‘bowchickabowwow’ phrase was becoming more and more uncommon. 

Those were the things Wash tried to ignore, but couldn’t help but notice. 

He really didn’t try to notice, but when he was forced to wake up every morning and pull off the covers to reveal an empty bed where there used to usually be Tucker sleeping peacefully, well, that’s when it became more noticeable. 

Nonetheless, he got himself out of bed and ready for the day, leaving his room 30 minutes later towards the mess hall for breakfast. 

He walked into the large, crowded room and was immediately drawn to the table that accompanied the Reds and Blues. 

It wasn’t hard to spot them with the amount of noise they accumulated. 

Washington hadn’t eaten meals with them in a while, due to him being quite occupied by the supply crisis, so it was safe to say he was excited to get back into routine.  

Only something was different. 

“No way man, the prequel sucked ass, they all did!” Grif exasperated, shooting chunks of waffle out of his mouth as he spoke. 

“Cover up your mouth dirtbag!” Sarge roared over his conversation with Donut. “Didn’t yer mom teach you any manners?”

“No.” Simmons countered. 

“I think Grif’s mom did a very good job,” Caboose spoke up. 

“Yea,” Simmons scoffed. “With Kaikaina.” 

Washington coughed loudly as to interrupt the punch in the shoulder type argument that began brewing. 

“Have you seen Tucker?” He asked, catching the attention of Donut. 

“I think he went to the training room.” Donut replied cheerfully. 

“He didn’t come here?” Wash questioned. 

Grif sneered, taking a large bite from a syrup-doused waffle. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Tucker doesn’t really eat with us anymore.” He argued, spitting chunks. 

Simmons winced as he flicked a piece of waffle off his shoulder. “Ew, Sarge is right. Cover your mouth,” The ginger stated, receiving a weak glare from the other male. “and give Tucker some slack, he’s got shit going on.”

Caboose smiled. “Yes, he said he would help me color.” 

“I’ll bring by some glitter.” Donut added cheerfully. “I have some spare time and I’m all puckered up for some bedazzling.”    

“You need a less grotesque vocabulary.” Simmons protested unnervingly as he took a bite from his own food. 

Washington nodded slightly, not paying much mind as Donut and Simmons talked. Well, it was less like talking and more like Donut dishing out innuendoes while Simmons complained and tried to block him out. 

He supposed he should go find Tucker. If not to see him, then to check up on him and make sure he was doing ok with the slight head injury he had suffered the day before. 

Washington abandoned his breakfast at the table, allowing Grif to happily scoop up the contents of the tray as he began heading for the training room. 

No one seemed to protest as he walked away. He received a few mumbled or screamed goodbyes and a wave from Caboose, which he happily returned as he turned the corner of the large room and began walking down the hall.

The training room wasn’t a far walk away from the mess hall, so he got there relatively quick to see Tucker knelt down with the sniper rifle in his hands, finger on the trigger as he aimed for a target a good distance away. He had his helmet on and a dark red was visible, lingering just above his shoulder. 

Tucker fired and by the looks of it; hit his target. 

When Wash approached him, he could see the scarlet AI draw Tucker’s attention to something who then disappeared as Tucker turned to look at him. 

“You’re getting pretty good with that thing.” Wash praised with a smile as Tucker put the rifle to the side and tugged off his helmet, his dreads dropping over his shoulders. 

“Thanks,” Tucker replied, putting his helmet to the side and using his now free hand to pull back his dreads into a ponytail. “You’re looking pretty good.” He said flirtatiously, reminding Wash of all the things he enjoyed about Tucker. 

His free spirit and immature attitude could be obnoxious, but it was definitely one of the things Washington secretly adored about him. 

He’d never tell him that though, Wash thought as he rolled his eyes, Tucker’s comment making no sense due to Wash being fully hidden by armor. “You can’t even see me.” He commented. 

Tucker leaned down and grabbed the strap of the rifle, swinging it over his shoulder. “I’d like to.” 

Wash pulled off his helmet and put it at his side, using his other hand to unknowingly brush back his hair. “Missed you this morning.” He said casually, wondering if he was being passive aggressive or not. 

In the end, it didn’t matter because Tucker didn’t seem to mind. “Woke up early; got bored.” He reasoned. 

Wash nodded, not dwelling on the fact that Tucker didn’t used to do that, as he took an extra second to properly examine the small bandage on Tucker’s head. Watching as the Teal soldier walked closer, Wash brought his attention off the bandage. “How’s your head?” He asked, concern high in his voice. 

“It’s fine.” Tucker digressed as he stood in front of Wash. “I can barely even feel it.” 

Wash bit his lip, it got pretty bloody last night. “Are you sure?” He questioned. 

“Yes, Wash.” Tucker exasperated. “The Meta didn’t really feel much of his injuries either, remember? He was practically invincible.” He defended nonchalantly, not easing any of Washington’s concern as he compared himself to being immortal and an ex-freelancer sociopath. 

Wash winced. “Please don’t refer to yourself as The Meta.” he stressed. 

Tucker scowled. “I’m not. I’m just saying that, with the AIs, he was that way too.” 

Washington wanted to argue the topic more. The fact that Tucker was juxtapositioning himself with The Meta was concerning for multiple reasons as it brought up bad memories and bad habits. Repeating anything like that to one’s self, especially as casually as Tucker did, was bound to lead to the repeated phrase coming true or being believed by the person repeating it and Wash did not want that. 

Maybe Tucker could sense his uncertainty because his mood changed and his face softened. “I’m fine.” He reassured with a smile as he leaned into Wash, pressing his lips against his. 

Whatever Tucker was going for; worked. Because in a split second, Washington had relaxed and reciprocated the kiss. 

Only, the sweet moment was over almost instantly as Tucker pulled away and turned to move and go collect his target sheet from the lineup, leaving Wash feeling as if the romantic move was planned specifically to shut him up. 

Damn.

Wash didn’t know what to be more concerned about; the fact that Tucker was getting really good at avoiding arguments like that or the fact that it had actually worked...again.

“I think that worked pretty well.” Gamma commented as Tucker went to remove his score sheet from the hook. 

Tucker didn’t comment on it and instead let the fragments chatter quietly in the back of his mind as he examined the target sheet. 

You’re improving.” Delta praised. 

Tucker looked over the sheet, priding himself on the bullseyes as he folded it up and tossed it in a nearby trash can; it was no longer of any use to him. 

He then walked back towards Wash to retrieve his helmet. Picking it up and placing it back over his head he shifted the rifle over his shoulder. “I have to find Carolina,” He told Wash. “She wants to know what the Pirate said before,” Tucker paused, recalling the feeling he got from the douchebag’s death. “Yea,” He degraded, not using the ‘died’ word as he was still not completely over that butterfly in the stomach-like rush he got from it all.

Washington nodded. “I know where she is,” He informed. “And then we can pick up breakfast?” He inquired as if he was asking a question. “I haven’t been involved in the Red’s antics in a while and I think Caboose was looking for you.” Wash told him. 

Tucker nodded. “Yea, man. Sounds good.” He kind of wanted to continue going over the information he gathered from the “abandoned” base, but if doing that made Wash pleased, then that was something he was willing to do.

Wash seemed happy with that response as he kept close to Tucker on their way to the room Carolina was in.

“How can someone walk next to you happy? That doesn’t make sense.” Gamma pointed out snarkily.

Public affection wasn’t always Wash’s thing, Tucker knew that. It was just another difference between the two of them. But, that didn’t mean Tucker couldn’t tell when Wash was trying to show he cared without announcing it publicly.

“As much as I regret to say,” Delta started. “Gamma is correct. Actions do not have emotions.” 

“Sometimes they can.” Eta defended. “Like when you skip instead of walk because you’re happy!” 

Tucker let the fragments debate the topic in the back of his mind. The conversation didn’t involve anything action or work wise, so he didn’t care. 

When they made it to the room, Tucker was surprised, but not really, to see Kimball accompanying Carolina in the office as well. 

“It doesn’t help matters that we don’t know what they’re planning or how many of them are left.” He heard Kimball stress once they entered the room.

Tucker kept quiet and Wash knocked on the side of the wall lightly as to inform the women they had entered. 

Carolina looked their way as Kimball continued looking down at something on the table in front of them. “How are the Reds and Caboose?” She asked once they had begun walking further into the steel room. 

Wash chuckled. “Loud.” He joked, walking up to the table they were crowded around. “Grif is also displeased with the lack of sugary foods we brought back.” 

Carolina scoffed. “He’ll manage.”

“Right there.” Kimball interrupted, catching Tucker's attention as he looked towards the map on the table she was pointing to. “We can set up a camp there and move troops away from the active outpost.”

Tucker studied the map, taking a mental photo of the notes scattered around it.

“That’s a big gap.” Delta pointed out quietly.

They’ll make it, Tucker thought back, not really caring that if there was any scattered soldiers around that area that they would most certainly not all make it back.

“They will be migrating through that area in order to get to the vehicles in their last outpost.” Sigma reminded.

Tucker paid no mind to that comment either, that was until Sigma pointed something else out.

“If they take that path, you’ll have no fallback plan and we’ll have to rework our entire project.” Sigma hinted, referring to a discussion they had last night after Wash fell asleep.

That Tucker cared about.

“That won’t work.” He told Kimball quickly, causing everyone in the room to look up at him.

“The pirate said there’s a base up here somewhere,” He commented, pointing up the map a little. “It’s their last base and they’ll all be heading there. Which means they'll be passing through that area.” He explained. 

Carolina looked down at the map and then up at Tucker. “Why?” She questioned.

“They’re trying to get off the planet.” Tucker explained. “It’s their last resort.”

Carolina looked towards Kimball sternly. “We can’t allow that.” 

Kimball sighed and averted from Carolina’s gaze.

“We seriously can’t be allowing them to get away,” Carolina gawked. “After everything they did to us, to your people,” Carolina paused as if she was going to say something else before she stopped herself. 

She didn’t need to say it. 

The, ‘to Church’ lingered in everyone’s minds without it needing to be said. 

Kimball shrugged. “What are we going to do?” She questioned rhetorically. 

Carolina thought for a moment before turning towards Tucker. “The Space Pirate was the one that told you this.” She stated. “Did he say anything else? Where the base was specifically?”

Tucker nodded, allowing Gamma to advise him when it came to the lie about where he acquired the information. “Only that there was an outpost a bit north of here.” 

Carolina nodded and turned back to Kimball. “Then we head out there and stop them.” 

Kimball looked unsure. 

“How do we know they’re heading there?” Wash asked, attracting the attention of both females. “I mean, we have transportation and materials here.” He explained. 

“Wash is so smart.” Theta gushed. 

“You’re right,” Carolina agreed, deep in thought as she attempted to work her way around the idea. “The Pirate could also have been lying.”

“Heading to the other base could be a trap, leaving here defenseless.” Kimball reasoned. “I don’t think it’s worth it, not with the amount of supplies and men we have to risk.”

It wasn’t a trap.

Tucker knew that, he saw it himself. 

He wasn’t gonna tell them that though.

“If I may advise,” Delta spoke up, his vibrant green glory figure appearing over Tucker’s shoulder without permission. “I may be able to assist in making a plan.” 

Tucker expected someone to speak up as usual and shut the AI down. 

Why? Because they always did. That tended to happen when you were not to be trusted, but apparently he underestimated Carolina’s want to kick those Space Pirates' ass.

“I’m listening.” She said.

And that’s when it sort of clicked together.

Before, he thought she didn’t seem to talk much about Church because she didn’t care, but he saw now that he couldn’t have been more wrong.

“Well,” Delta began. “If you keep some soldiers here and send out a few others, you can divide and conquer. Then just split the supplies you have and pass out as needs vary.” The fragment explained.

Because what she was doing now wasn’t an act of heroity against the side of evil, it was an act of revenge.

And it had ‘for Church’ plastered all over it.

Carolina looked over to Kimball for some sort of permission or ok to Delta’s plan.

Kimball sighed. “That could work,” She said. “I’ll call you two in later to go over supplies.” She ordered Wash and Carolina before turning to Tucker. “If we get you a larger map, could you pinpoint where the base is?” She asked him.

Tucker nodded. 

Once dismissed, Carolina left towards the armory to go over the amount of supplies they had to spare on each end while Tucker left, leaving Kimball in the war room and Wash following after. 

Carolina’s plan definitely changed things. Whereas he had planned on going alone, he was now more likely to have a crowd with him. 

“The method will change, but the objective won’t.” Sigma corrected. 

Yea, whatever. 

Point was, he needed to move a few things around in order to accommodate with-

“Tucker!”

Tucker paused and turned around to see Wash jogging up to him. 

“Yea?” 

“Are you coming back to the mess hall?” Washington asked expectantly, leaving Tucker to wince at the fact that he forgot the promise he made to Wash to head back to the cafeteria and eat with them.

“Uh,”

“You didn’t promise him anything.” Omega growled. 

“I have to do some things first.” Tucker said quickly, not putting much effort into his explanation for several reasons all relating to Wash not needing to be so damn nosy. 

Wash’s stance seemed to slump slightly, almost like he was worn out. “You’re not coming with?” He asked, seeming somewhat irritated.

“What are you getting all provoked about?” Tucker enquired, getting defensive. “It’s just breakfast, I’ll join you some other time.” 

“Well, it's more than that,” Wash stressed, about to speak before Tucker stopped him. 

“Well, tough shit.” Tucker degraded, causing Wash to deadpan. 

What the hell? 

Washington had several comments directed towards him over the years by Tucker, all far more vile as he continued to force him and Caboose to train, but Washington expected that sort of reaction out of Church or one of his trainees. Or maybe even Tucker when he was joking, but his tone now was hardly playful. 

He was fine a minute ago. 

Why was he acting like this?

Washington was trying to tell him something. Really tell him something. Something important and he wasn’t listening. 

“I’ve got stuff to do,” Tucker continued. 

“He’s alarmed.” Gamma warned. 

“It’s because you told him he had tough shit.” Iota explained seriously. 

“For instance,” Tucker began, softening his voice in order to ease Wash, per the AI's requests. “I gotta go to Grey about that stupid meeting thing.” He complained childishly, making sure to portray his cocky attitude into his demeanor. 

Washington hesitated, not sure if he believed Tucker or not before speaking. “Thank you for doing that, but you haven’t seen the Reds in forever and what am I supposed to tell Caboose? He’s been trying to get a hold of you for days.” 

Tucker shrugged. “I don't know. Tell him whatever you want,” He said casually. “It’s just Caboose.” 

Washington frowned. “Tucker,” He began, sensing an argument approaching. He only stopped when Tucker’s face relaxed and his aqua eyes went straight to Wash’s. 

Before he knew it, Tucker had moved closer and was looking at Wash with that damned face. The one that looked at him like he was the only person that existed. “I’ll have Delta ping me a reminder to find Caboose and the Reds.” He compromised. 

It was a start in the right direction, but it wasn’t the point. The point was he wasn’t speaking to the Reds or Caboose or anybody that he didn’t feel like talking to and that wasn’t something Tucker normally did and it was scaring Wash. 

“And I promise we’ll do something later tonight.” Tucker proposed with a grin. “And if we don’t, I’ll owe you one.” He dismissed his last comment with a wink, leaving Wash in the state where he felt happy in the moment because it’s Tucker and Tucker is good and right and it feels like him, but it still felt off somehow. 

Probably because he could tell Tucker wasn’t being himself and that he was only trying to ease Wash and avoid conflict.

Wash should have called him out on it. 

He should have finished telling him the important something because he cared about Tucker and missed Tucker, not to be confused with the person in front of him who only decided to act like Tucker when it benefitted him. 

But, he didn’t.

At the moment, he couldn’t find anything to be upset about. 

“Ok,” He agreed, causing Tucker to let out a cocky smile. 

“Sweet.” 

Wash knew Tucker wasn't going to come back.

Wasn't going to keep his promise and hang out with him or visit the Reds and Blues.

He wasn't stupid. He realized that much.

“It’s weird seeing him like that.” 

Washington turned around to see Carolina standing behind him, her gaze directed on Tucker as he walked away. 

“Like what?” He questioned. 

He believed he knew what she was talking about, but so many things had changed with the teal soldier, that Wash wasn’t sure as to which thing she was referring to.

“Observing instead of running his mouth every chance he gets.” 

Washington glanced over his shoulder at Tucker before looking back to Carolina. 

He knew what she was talking about. 

Tucker very rarely made any comments when people spoke to him now. Usually he would try to squeeze in a sex joke or a poorly executed opinion into every conversation he was apart of, dull or not. But now, he stayed silent and stuck to listening in as the people around him talked. That was unless it involved him or something he deemed important. 

If Washington remembered corrected, which was rare considering he tried to block out a lot of his memories from his time in Project Freelancer, Maine became the same way. 

“He’s growing awfully similar to Maine.” Carolina pointed out reluctantly. 

Wash sighed. “I know,” He said. “I’m just not sure what to do about it.” 

Carolina shrugged. “Nothing we can really do about it.” She told him. 

Wash had hoped that wouldn’t be the case.

“I came back to grab the supply list from Kimball,” The cyan soldier commented, bringing Wash’s attention onto her. “Wanna come help me decide what we can spare to lose?” She asked. “Might help you take your mind off things.”

Washington smiled slightly. He knew it would, but now wasn’t the time. He shouldn’t be avoiding the problem. There was no way he was giving up on Tucker yet. 

He figured Carolina wouldn’t either. 

So, either she had or she already had a plan to fix the problem. 

And since Wash hadn’t heard about a possible plan yet, that meant Carolina could only think of one outcome to their situation. 

An outcome he knew existed and knew Carolina would never tell him about. 

The outcome that Tucker wouldn’t make it out of the pull of the AIs alive. 

“Thanks, but no thanks.” Wash told her. “I need to get back to the Reds and Caboose.” 

Carolina nodded, understanding what he was trying to convey on a deeper level. “We’re trying, Wash.” She exasperated. “But, not even I know what to do.” 

Washington sighed once more. “I know,” He said. “I just wish we could tell what was going on in his mind.”

Carolina paused and the silence was almost close to unbearing. 

“I like to think of it like this,” She said finally, breaking the silence. “You know that little voice in your head telling you when you shouldn’t do something because you know it's wrong?” 

Washington nodded, ready to wrap his head around any metaphor Carolina threw at him. “Yea, the devil and angel type trope. 

“Right,” Carolina affirmed. “Well, we’re most likely to follow that voice, if the one you’re hearing sounds like your own.” 

Washington understood what she meant exactly. 

You trusted yourself to make the right decisions. If someone told you something was wrong, it was like a random nobody’s opinion. But when you, yourself, knew damn well something you were doing wasn’t right and you did it anyway, that's when guilt attached itself to the action.

“When Tucker started out, I believe the little voice he heard was always Sigma. But, Tucker knows Sigma is wrong.” Carolina explained. “So, it was easier to ignore him.”

“But, the more time they spent together.” Wash continued. 

“The more their voices blended.” Carolina finished. 

Wash bit his lip. “How blended?” He asked. 

Carolina paused, staying silent for a moment as she thought about it. “I think Tucker is aware that some of the things he says are causing a negative impact.” 

Washington didn’t reply after that and not only because Carolina was avoiding giving him a straight answer. 

That was ok. 

He didn’t need to hear it if he already knew. 

Chapter Text

 “Would you like me to set an alarm to visit Caboose and the Reds?” Delta asked once they made it out of earshot from Wash. 

Tucker hesitated and almost told him no. “Uh, sure.” He said, turning the corner towards his room. “For later. Right now we need to figure out how we're gonna get to where we need to be without anyone intervening.” 

“It all comes down to what Kimball and Carolina decide .” Theta commented. 

Theta was right. All the decisions would come down to be Carolina and Kimball’s. But mainly Kimbal’s.

The original plan was to get his affairs in order, much to Sigma’s demise, and head off to the base himself. But, he supposed he could still manage everything to go smoothly with an extra person or two tagging along.

Maybe it was for the best. The people closest to him would be distracted. 

“We still hold input towards that decision.” Gamma’s voice rang robotically through his head. 

Tucker wasn’t entirely sure he agreed with that. He could tell the people around him were getting tired of his bullishit and the little trust he did have left was disappearing. Which meant he was running out of time. 

He just didn’t want them to-

“ It doesn’t matter what they think.” He heard Gamma state. “ I’ve always been good at buying us time.” 

Tucker agreed with that. He knew what Gamma was capable of. 

He’d never been a good liar. But in the past month, the words and excuses just came to his mind easily. 

Part of him knew that wasn’t good. Knew that lying so often and being good at it wasn’t ok. That enjoying it when people believed him wasn’t something that was supposed to happen-

“Are you having second thoughts?” Sigma asked him, unimpressed. 

Not a chance. 

“Good. Remember the deal.” 

“This isn’t going to work,” Kimball said wearily as she went over their list of supplies. “We’re low on vehicles, guns, gas, and ammo. This may not be such a good idea.”

“It can't be that bad,” Carolina defected quickly. “We just got back from a supply run.”

They needed to do this. 

Carolina needed this. 

Needed to make sure that Epsilon’s death would ensure safety for everybody on Chorus. If it didn’t then what was the point? How could she honor his death if his work wasn’t finished yet?

“It did take us a lot of supplies to do that.” Wash reasoned. “We May have gained some but we lost a lot too.”

“You guys barely had enough ammo to get out of there.” Kimball pointed out.

“We had plenty of ammo,” Carolina corrected, recalling the experience. “Well, except for Wash and I.”

“And Tucker,” Washington added. “He ran out of ammunition halfway through.”

“Wait a second, but-“ Carolina paused. That couldn’t have been right. 

She tried to think back on the mission and pinpoint when Tucker had said that. Because surely he couldn’t have or else- “Holy shit you’re right. Tucker was out of ammo.” 

“Yea, I know,” Wash stated. “Why does it matter?”

Carolina bit her lip. Mainly because Wash still wasn’t connecting the same horrifying dots that she had. “His gun had no bullets and he knew that.” She said softly, growing more upset that another inconvenience with him had arisen. 

It wasn’t that it was that much of an inconvenience, so to speak, it was just that, she was hoping after recent events that their problems with him wouldn’t worsen. That they would have more time to help him. 

Because it felt like he was doing ok for a little while and then they went on that mission and the space pirate died and everything came crashing down even faster.

Realization sunk in and Wash really hoped it didn’t mean what he thought it meant. “So that space pirate we brought back?” 

“Tucker didn’t have to kill him.” Kimball finished with a sigh.

Wash shook his head. “No why would he?- Tucker wouldn’t-“ He paused. “Surely he didn’t know that.” 

When no one said anything Wash frowned. “It’s not his fault, he must have forgotten.” He snapped. 

There was no way Tucker would do that. 

Avoid them and spend more time with the AIs than the blue soldier who was constantly trying to hang out with him? Yes. 

Lie to Wash? Maybe. 

But kill somebody for no apparent reason?

“We’re not saying he did anything.” Carolina defended quickly before turning to look towards Kimball. “But we should ask him about it. This is getting out of hand.” 

“You’re being pinged.” Delta informed.  

Tucker looked up from his desk table. He had been collecting a few things for about an hour or so but stopped to glance at the green AI. “What? By who?” 

Why was he being pinged? He thought he was done for a while.

“By Kimball.” 

“Oh no,” Eta whined quietly. “Do you think we're in trouble?”

Tucker didn’t think they were in trouble. It could have been questions about the mission or supplies or something.

“Where?”

“Grey’s office.” 

Tucker sighed. He knew what this was about. It was about the stupid psych evaluation thing Wash was bugging him to do. He should have known nobody was going to stop until he finally went. 

“Fine,” Tucker huffed. “It won’t matter in a day anyway so let’s just get this done.”

Grey’s office was only about a 5-minute walk from his room, so he made it there pretty quickly. Turning the knob and walking inside he began submitting to what he thought the meeting was about. 

“Jesus Christ, I’ll do the stupid-” He paused, expecting to only see Grey and Kimball in the room; Maybe Doc if they were low on therapists or something. 

But instead, Kimball, Carolina, Wash, Caboose, and Donut were all in there. Carolina leaning against the back wall, almost like she didn’t want to be there, Caboose near the door he was by; his helmet off as he gave Tucker a worried smile, and Donut looking not so cheerful. It was almost like they were waiting for him. 

“Um, ok,” Tucker uttered, brow raised. “What the fuck is this?” 

“We know about the soldier.” Carolina put simply. 

“Oh no!” Eta cried. “We are in trouble.” 

Omega cackled. “Oh, quiet Pipsqueak. We’re fine.” 

“They’re fishing for more information than they have,” Gamma told him. “Don’t give it to them.” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Tucker said, arms crossed. 

“Please don’t make us do this.” Donut said quietly. The tone of his voice sounded so disappointed. 

“Do what?” Tucker asked calmly. 

“Make us continuously go through lie after lie,” Carolina stressed. “We know about the Space Pirate. It was unprovoked. Just say it.” 

“Hardly unprovoked,” Tucker scoffed. “The asshole deserved it.”

“That’s not your call to make.” Carolina snapped. 

“Meaningless talk,” Sigma added. “This has nothing to do with anything.”

Tucker rolled his eyes. “I can stand here and listen to you discuss morals with me, but I kinda would like to be doing literally anything else.” 

“Switch up the attention,” Gamma advised. “Make it personal.”

“Besides, Carolina,” Tucker stated. “You wanted him dead too.”

Carolina looked taken back and Tucker could tell he just got on one of her many nerves. “It’s not about me!” She snipped, agitated as she took a step forward. 

Kimball extended a hand to Lina’s direction as if to remind her to remain calm. “What Carolina is trying to say,” Kimball stressed, turning to look at Tucker. “Is that it’s not about morals or right or wrong or even what the Pirate deserved. It’s about trust and communication. And not going off and doing whatever you thought was questionably right.” 

“So you're supposed to ask permission for every decision you make?” Sigma questioned.

“I don’t have to run every single thing about everything I do to anyone.” Tucker told her.

“You’re not getting it.” Donut told him. “It’s still not about that.” 

“Wash is being really quiet.” Iota pointed out quietly.

Tucker scoffed. “Yea, ok. Whatever you say.” He said, turning around and moving to open the door and leave when Caboose quickly stepped in front of him, blocking his way. 

“Danish is right.” Caboose said quickly, sounding unsure of himself. “You are allowed to be in charge, but it is not that we do not think you can. It is about friendship and trusting your friends. And we are very worried because recently you are not acting like Tucker. You are acting like a not very good guy.” 

“They think you’re crazy.” Sigma taunted.

Tucker glared at the large male in front of him. Was that what this was? A group of people who “cared” about him, cornering him in some room to talk about their feelings and how worried they were. 

Was he seriously getting a fucking intervention right now?

Right now. In the aftermath of a fucking war?

“Move, idiot.” Tucker hissed as he raised his hand to push Caboose aside. 

That’s all he was going to do. 

Just nudge him a little. 

Just a little. 

But then Caboose flinched. 

Flinched hard with a whimper and Tucker quickly drew his hand back and looked up at those frightened brown eyes. 

“Caboose,” Tucker’s voice was barely above a whisper as he spoke. “I’m not going to hit you.” He said softly.

Caboose still looked unsure as he cautiously stepped away from the door. 

Away from him.

Tucker watched him shamefully. He couldn’t believe Caboose really thought he was about to beat the shit out of him. Couldn’t believe Caboose could ever think that Tucker would inflict any sort of pain on him that would warrant that much fear. 

They’d known each other forever and Tucker never once got violent with him or laid hands on him, no matter what stupidly idiotic thing Caboose did.

Suddenly Tucker couldn’t hear any of the AIs voices and he was stuck in one place, mentally and physically; unsure of what to do.

“Caboose is right.” He could hear Wash say behind him. 

Tucker looked down towards the ground, taking Caboose’s fearful face out of his peripheral vision as he clenched his fist. 

“You’re not crazy.” Sigma told him, having seemingly returned as he looked away from Caboose.

Tucker looked up at the door and turned the knob, pushing the door open. “I’m not crazy.” He stated sternly, leaving the room and violently slamming the door shut behind him. 

Donut huffed. “Well, that was a bust.”

Wash sighed. 

They could try again.

Again and again, until they got it. 

There had to have been a way to show Tucker what really mattered or get him to snap out of whatever AI-driven craze he was in. That it was about trust and family and the fact that he could come to them if he needed help. If the voices got loud. If he needed someone to talk to.

But how was Wash supposed to help him see that if he just brushed them off and stormed off all the time?

“We just need to keep-“ Wash started saying before being abruptly interrupted.

“No,” Kimball stated. “We need to move on.”

“Move on?” 

“We need to get ready to leave tomorrow,” Kimball told them. “As much as I hate to say it, this needs to be a problem for another day.”

“And what about Tucker?” 

Kimball shrugged, heading towards the door. “What about him? He’s coming with.”

Carolina didn’t interject. Maybe because as Wash moved over to her, she knew something he didn’t. 

Or maybe because she was tired.

He wouldn’t pretend that he didn’t notice her eagerness to kill off the rest of the space pirates. 

“Wait, Kimball.” Wash stopped her quietly, deciding to focus on one thing at a time. 

“He’s coming.” Vanessa told him, seeming to have fully made up her mind.

“Why?” He questioned. He didn’t mean to question her judgment or Tucker’s, but it felt as if they needed to get some things out of the way in order to bring him along.

He wasn’t thinking straight and Wash just wanted another chance to talk to him. To sort things through, to- anything. Just, something.

“Because Tucker knows where the base is and I-“ Kimball paused. “I need him to be with someone he trusts, who he will work with.” She said, almost sounding guilty or regretful. Like she didn’t know what to do. 

Like she was out of options.

“You and him will head out to the base. Carolina is staying with me.” She looked towards the door and her hand lingered above the handle. “Watch him.” She said quietly, before turning the knob and stepping out of the room. 

Wash let his normal strict stance drop as he processed what she had told him.

Was she implying that Tucker would only listen to him or that Tucker would never hurt him?

Washington sighed and glanced back towards Carolina, who only gave him a knowing look in return as she walked away. 

“Caboose?” Wash asked, softly knocking at the door as he heard movement from inside. 

Carolina, him, and a few others had planned their trip effectively in a few hours. However, it left very little room for Wash to talk to Caboose after what had happened earlier.

He felt bad for not having been able to check up on the blue; who probably had no idea what was going on or why he had been yelled at and he wanted to make sure he did. 

Clattering was heard coming from inside the room before the door finally opened. 

“Uh, Agent Washington!” Caboose clamored happily. “I thought that was you. Would you like to come in?” 

Wash seemed unsure, looking around Caboose to see the dark mess of a room behind him. “Uh. Not really.” He said sheepishly.

“Oh, that is ok.” Caboose told him before lowering his voice to a whisper. “We can talk outside.”

Washington nodded. “That’s fine. I just wanted to see how you were holding up.”

Caboose smiled. “With my legs. They work very well. Thank you for asking.”

Washington let out a quiet chuckle.

Leave it to Caboose to raise his moods without even trying.

“I mean, are you ok?”

Caboose looked at him with a dumbfounded smile. “Why would I not be? Did Church die again?” He asked worriedly, panic in his voice.

Washington shook his head. “No, no. Nothing like that. It’s just that-“ He paused, taking a deep breath. “Listen. Tucker yelled at you today and that was not ok. He shouldn’t have done that.”

Caboose’s smile faltered and he looked down at the floor somewhat nervously.

“It was about trust and friendship as you put it. You were right and he was wrong.” Wash told him seriously

Jesus, he felt shitty covering up Tucker’s mistakes. 

“Tucker just hasn’t been himself lately…” Wash tried to explain, trailing off. 

Caboose smiled and returned his gaze on Wash. “I know,” He said with a smile. “I was hoping,” Caboose started with a sad smile as he glanced back into his room. “That if he would color the happy times of blood gulch with me…” Caboose said, turning to look back at Wash. “That it would help him remember who he was.”

Washington paused.

Those words shocked him at first because he was sure Caboose had no idea what was going on. That Tucker was suddenly acting different and he wouldn’t know why. That’d he’d lose another best friend.

“When Church lost himself, I told him stories of his family. Of me and Grif and Sarge and even stupid Tucker.” Caboose explained. “And it helped him become Church again. I was hoping Tucker would be the same way.”

Wash smiled. “You’re a good best friend, Caboose.”

Caboose grinned and pulled him into a tight hug. And Wash let him, hugging him back and pretending his rib cage wasn’t suffocating under the larger male’s body.

“I’m glad Tucker chose you to love.” Caboose told him quietly, causing Wash to once again marvel at Caboose’s level of understanding.

“Me too, Caboose,” Wash confessed truthfully. “Me too.”

“You know, you really fucked everything up with that little stunt you pulled,” Carolina spoke quietly, leaning back against the wall of her bed, her knee brought up comfortably against her chest as she flipped the dark grey chip concealing Epsilon’s final message between her fingers. 

“We probably would have been fine in the long run.” She added. 

Although, what was she even saying? 

She didn’t know what the outcome would be without Church’s sacrifice. 

Just knew that she would be able to deal with Epsilon’s goodbye in her own time and would be able to stay with him and not have to handle Tucker’s quickly dwindling mental health or Chorus’s food crisis or Wash and his anxiety.   

York had told her once that she had no idea how to cope. 

She coped with that by punching him in the face. 

But, looking back at his words, she knew he was right. 

She wanted to do good by Epsilon, but couldn’t help being angry at those that caused his demise. 

The space pirates, Hargrove, a little bit Tucker for putting on that damn suit in the first place, Church himself. 

Sometimes she questioned why she returned to the Reds and Blues. 

It wasn’t even her idea. 

It was Epsilon’s. 

She actually advised against it, but damn, if he wasn’t convincing by easing into her hero complex and ego. 

He knew her well enough to know how to persuade her. 

And now, she couldn’t even remember what his voice sounded like without having to hear it, which she hadn’t had much time to do. 

She was too busy dealing with everything that was happening around her. 

She wished she had time to mourn. 

Maybe she could feel worthy of it when she finished off the rest of the pirates. 

Tucker knocked rapidly on the door, his patience wearing thin as he waited for it to open. “Hey, so what the fuck was that?” He demanded when it did.

“What was what?” Wash asked, having opened the door, expecting to see literally anyone else. 

“That,” Tucker stated, walking past Wash into his room and turning back to look at him. “All of that. What the fuck?” 

“It was necessary, Tucker.” Washington said with a sigh. 

Tucker raised a brow. “Uh, no it wasn’t.”

Wash let his arms fall to his side. “What do you want me to say?” He exasperated. “You acted upon your own impulses and whether he deserved it or not, you should have said something to someone or not have done it at all.” 

Tucker scoffed. “Sorry?”

“And you also can’t freak out like that,” Wash added softly. “You scared the ever-living shit out of Caboose.” 

Tucker frowned, crossing his arms. “I literally just said sorry.” 

Wash huffed and curled his nails into his palm. He didn’t want to fight with Tucker, but he wasn’t about to just let him ramble about how he wasn’t in the wrong or whatever it was that he showed up to do. “Is that all?” Wash asked. 

Tucker frowned and stepped closer to him, taking his hands into his own and brushing his thumb over Wash’s hand, replacing his nails that were frustratingly pressing into his palm with his own fingers as he looked up at him with a smile. “Don’t be mad at me.” He said quietly. “I don’t wanna fight with you.” 

Wash melted. It was crazy how Tucker could always tell exactly what he was feeling and notice every time he attempted to let out his frustrations by scratching or pinching himself. 

But still, he knew it was just another one of the AI’s techniques to get him to shut up.

It may have still been Tucker that noticed the things that were bothering him and attempted to fix them, but it was the AI’s manipulation, speaking, and pulling the strings. 

“I'm not mad,” Wash said, lightly pulling his hands out of Tucker’s grasp. “And stop that. If you want something, ask for it. Just, don’t do that.” 

“Do what?” Tucker asked with a sly grin. “I’m not doing anything.”

“Avoiding arguments,” Wash explained irritably. “Or trying to get me to shut up.” 

Tucker paused and replaced his grin with a more serious look. “Is it working?” He asked abruptly.

Wash rolled his eyes. 

To be honest, it was working. 

It worked every time. 

“That’s not the point.” He said instead. “The only time you ever do stuff like this anymore is if you have ulterior motives.”

“Ok, that’s bullshit,” Tucker stated. “I have never-”

“Stop it.” Wash interrupted, exasperating his words. “Stop lying to me.” He stressed solemnly. “I don’t care what you did or didn’t do. It doesn't matter to me because I care for you either way. I just want you to talk to me. To start letting me in. I want to help, but you won’t let me. You just keep continuing to feed me lies, like I don’t know what's true or false.” 

Tucker opened his mouth to speak before shutting it. He was silent for a moment before chuckling. “I don’t need help.” He dismissed, as if the very idea of it was laughable. 

Wash frowned. Out of everything he just said, that seemed to be all the shorter male picked up. “Tucker, I know how this goes. I lived with Maine for years. Before and after he became the Meta. You continue to dig yourself into a deeper and deeper hole until it gets to the point where not even the people around you can help you anymore. There’s no redemption or saving possible and the only way to stop is to be stopped.” 

“It’s cute you're concerned, but don't you get it Wash?” Tucker asked with a smile. “I don’t need to stop. I don’t need saving or help or whatever. I can have everything. You and the AIs and anything else that I want.” He said boldly.

Wash shook his head. “No, you can’t.” He said concerningly, the fact that Tucker seemed to truly believe that, was far beyond worrying to him. 

The Meta told him something along the same lines years ago. 

“And I don’t know if I want to be with you when you're like this.” 

Tucker frowned, looking up into his eyes. “I’m still me, Wash.” He said with a sad smile. “Just the more improved version.” 

“But I liked you the way you were.” 

Tucker dropped his smile, rehearing the words liked and were over and over in his ears. 

He could hear Omega cackling in the back of his mind, could hear Sigma mocking him. 

After a few moments of silence, it became very apparent that they were both staying stubbornly on their side. 

Wash sighed. “Are we working this out or am I leaving?” He asked, the desperate sound of his voice almost heartbreaking. 

Almost.

Tucker looked up at him and smiled lovingly. It was lovingly because he couldn’t help it and a smile because he was hurt and somewhere, deep down, he did want to fix things with Wash. Smiling kept his walls up from the truth. Gave the impression that he wasn’t as hurt by Wash’s words as he let on. 

Tucker knew Wash was serious this time. He’d wake up tomorrow and still feel that way. Tucker knew he still had a chance to fix things before tomorrow. 

He didn’t do anything, yet. 

He still had time. He could fix his relationship with Wash and stay with him. 

"He said he didn't want to be with you," He heard Sigma hiss. "Just let him leave. That's what he wants." 

But then again, David was right. 

He couldn’t have both him and the AIs.

And he wanted the AIs more. 

Besides, Wash had made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with fragments and there was no way Tucker could get rid of them.

“It's your room.” Tucker said quietly, as he turned around and left.

Chapter Text

“Arriving at the location in T-two minutes.” One of the soldiers called back from the front seat of the warthog. 

“Watch out, there’s a small, metal bomb planted on the side of this rock up ahead,” Tucker pointed out, paying less attention to the dirt road and trees ahead of them and more attention to Wash, who decided to ride in the back.

He probably just didn’t want to drive. 

“Oh, open your eyes,” Omega growled. “He’s avoiding you.” 

Yea, it was probably that. Tucker decided, facing away from him and towards the front. 

“He hates us!” Eta sobbed. 

“No, he doesn’t.” Iota defended, nudging his holographic twin. 

“Agent Washington is quite stubborn.” Delta pointed out simply.

“Just give him some time.” Iota agreed.

We don’t have any time, remember? Tucker reminded. 

He could tell that, somewhere in his mind, Sigma was praising him for the commitment.

For some reason, Tucker smiled at that.

“Wonder why they did that?” The driver commented next to him, glancing over at the large rock as he easily swerved around it. 

Tucker looked over at him, brow raised. “Uh, to keep assholes with big guns and warthogs out.” 

The driver glanced over and sighed. “I was just making conversation,” He grumbled irritably. “Jesus.” 

“When you get inside, try to keep Washington off your back.” Gamma instructed. 

Omega chuckled. “Heh, yeah. Get rid of the boy toy.” 

Tucker rolled his eyes. 

“Remember the deal,” Sigma spoke up, causing the other AIs to settle down their conversations. “You know what’s at stake.” 

Enough said, Tucker thought as the warthog pulled off to the side. 

“I’ll be back here in two hours.” The driver told them as Tucker got out, followed by Wash. “Best not stay in one place, you know.” He added sheepishly. 

“We get it,” Washington said. “I’ll set a timer, just make sure you’re here a few minutes early. If we aren’t out in two and a half hours, drive away unless stated otherwise.” 

“You got it, man.” The soldier saluted. “Emergency coms are on if you need them.”

Washington grabbed an extra gun and turned away from the warthog, prepared to give Tucker further instructions when he realized he was gone and had already begun walking towards the tower. Wash sighed and followed close after. 

“Be careful.” He said quietly. “We don’t know if anyone is here yet.” 

“I’m pretty sure we beat them to it.” Tucker seemed confident, which was never a good thing, as he continued moving alongside a vine-covered steel wall; one hand on his gun and one trailing alongside the wall. When he felt an opening, he stopped and pushed forward, smiling as the wall moved inward. He then switched his sword out for his gun and carefully cut some vines around it. 

“Not too many,” Wash advised. “We have to be careful about leaving a trail.” 

Tucker scoffed. 

By the time he was done with this place, there’d be nothing left to leave a trail.

“Sure.” Tucker said instead, venom in his voice as he slipped into the opening. 

It was an easy fit for him since, to his demise, he was kind of short. He kept his sword aglow as he looked around the hallway; a series of doors trailing down the dark corridor. He raised his sword and saw overgrown vines erupting from every open crack seeable. 

“Is that as far as the door opens?” Washington asked, obviously unable to fit through.

Maybe being short wasn’t such a bad thing. 

Tucker looked back, seeing a rusty hole the shape of his sword, bow chicka bow wow, next to the opening as he gave an automatic “Yes.” Before he ignored it and continued looking around. 

“You see a switch or something to get it opened further?” Wash asked. 

Tucker looked towards an open door down the hall away from the exit and stepped towards it. “Yea, I’ll probably find something.” 

“Tucker, wait!” He could hear David whisper shout. 

“Be right back,” Tucker called. “And stay quiet.” He reprimanded. 

Tucker stepped further down the hall towards the open door with his sword’s glow for light. 

“How big do you think the radius was on those bombs we saw?” Gamma asked. 

Omega cackled. “Pretty damn big.”

“Well, they were intended to keep people out, not blow up the entire building.” Delta corrected. “But any bomb can be modified if done carefully and correctly.” 

“Hey, Tucker?” Gamma asked, trying to catch his attention. 

Which wasn’t exactly necessary because Tucker was forced to pay attention to all 7 of them, every hour of every day. 

What? Tucker asked in his mind as he stepped into the room with the open door. 

“Where did David Washington go during the bombing?” 

Tucker sighed, looking around the room and having a box catch his attention. “Where?” He asked, out loud. 

“Everywhere.” Gamma said with a grin. 

Omega cackled hysterically. 

Tucker ignored the punchline as he set his lit sword aside and opened the box with the end of his gun. 

Inside the box was about a few dozen little, cylinder spheres. 

They looked almost identical to the bomb outside. 

“Hey Delta, how many of these do you think there are in this place?” Tucker questioned. 

Delta was silent for a moment before speaking up. “The building takes up a good portion of the jungle. My estimated guess would be around 1,439,500square feet. There were 24 rooms down this hall. If each room contains at least one box of bombs…” Delta appeared visible above Tucker’s shoulder and glanced inside the box.  “And there are around 50 bombs in each box, and each room is-” 

“Skip the math part.” Tucker insisted. “How many bombs?” 

“10,977.” 

“Holy shit,” Tucker mumbled. “Why hasn’t anyone noticed this place and used more of these?”

Delta shrugged. “The people on this planet were, for a short while. But these are duds. Or at least, for now, they are. They can only be activated by the tower.”

“Ok, let me rephrase. Why didn’t they activate these and use them?” 

“How many people do you know nowadays with a high tech alien sword?” Delta questioned, holographic brow raised.

Tucker nodded. “Right…”

“Also they’re used to be more powerful bombs on this planet,” Delta stated. “Compared to those, these would be the equivalent of a firecracker.” 

Tucker nudged one with the end of his gun. “But 10,000 of them all in the same building?” 

Delta thought about it for a second. “If each bomb covers 120 square feet or a number around that, then it’d be enough to cover the entirety of this building.” 

“And this tower is the only known place to have a way off this damn planet?” Tucker asked.

“Unless you have some other high-powered engine at the ready.” Delta corrected. “Of course other people from different planets can arrive or society can develop in such a way where high-powered technology is more accessible.” 

“Huh.” 

Washington sighed, leaning against the viney wall with his gun held out in front of him.  

Maybe Kimball was wrong to send him alone with Tucker, especially after last night. Because Washington was pretty sure Tucker was more than upset with him at the moment and he didn’t feel exactly safe considering the quality of the decisions he had been making recently.  

Not to mention a single AI made anyone irrational, let alone 7. 

He remembered when he had Epsilon. Vaguely, but the memory was still lingering in his mind.

Irrationality was constant. 

With him, Maine, Texas...Hell, even Carolina. 

Washington was snapped out of his thoughts when a loud swoosh was heard on the other side of the door followed by a quiet click. 

“Everything alright?” Wash asked, glancing towards the crack. 

No response was given as the door slowly opened further and a teal glow was seen. 

Wash pushed the door aside and stepped into the building, seeing Tucker with his sword lit as he looked at him and ushered him in. Wash walked further in and carefully shut the door, noticing a busted up keypad next to it. 

“It took you that long to insert a key?” Wash asked, turning back towards Tucker as he already began walking down the hall. 

“I didn’t notice it at first,” Tucker told him as he followed after. “Also, it’s a sword.” 

“A sword that also works as a key,” Washington stated, looking around the hall as Tucker kept his sword aglow. “I don’t think anyone is here.” He mumbled. “I'm not sure what Carolina was expecting.” 

The place had to have been abandoned. 

Maybe the Space Pirates didn’t care enough to go after their way off the planet. 

Maybe there weren’t enough of them left to risk it.

“They probably disbanded.” Tucker added. 

“Well, we still need to make sure this thing doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.” 

“Yea, I guess.” Tucker trailed off, his harsh tone dissipating as he asked his next question. “What exactly are we looking for?” He asked. “Like an engine oooor…” 

“It should look somewhat similar to the other core areas of different towers we’ve been to,” Wash told him. “It’ll probably be in the middle of the tower-like the others were.” 

“And once we find it…?”

“We make sure it can’t be activated or accessed by anyone else.”

The plan was to check it out, at least, and make sure it was abandoned and would stay abandoned. Some supplies would be nice as well. 

They got pretty lucky if it was deserted like it seemed to be. 

10 minutes ago, Washington was sure they needed to enter prepared for a fight, but right now, it seemed like they were in the clear. 

Tucker went silent, leaving Wash to wonder what he, or the AIs, were thinking. 

“Ok.” He agreed finally, before looking back at him. “Should we split up?” Tucker asked as they walked. “You know, cover more ground.”

Wash was unsure for a number of reasons. 

For one, if the place did happen to not be as abandoned as they thought, which by the looks of things was highly unlikely, he wanted strength in numbers. And two, he wasn’t sure how comfortable he felt letting Tucker wander around the base when his sword was the only thing that could activate it. 

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Tucker. 

Because he did. 

Was he still pissed as hell at him though? Also yes.

But, if Wash was trapped somewhere or in any danger, he trusted Tucker to get rid of the threat or help him out. 

If Wash needed something, he trusted Tucker to get it. 

If Wash wanted someone to talk to, he trusted Tucker to listen and be supportive, even under their new circumstances. He’d always let Tucker hold that ‘trust’ power over him. He couldn’t help it. 

He trusted Tucker with his own life. Not with anyone else’s and not with important alien tech like this. 

So he trusted Tucker in certain areas of expertise, but not others.

“Let’s find the core area of the tower first.” Wash told him. 

Normally, he’d expect Tucker to make some whiny protest when Wash put down his ideas, even the fun ones, but Tucker stayed silent. 

It was the silence that killed him. 

Because Tucker was never silent. 

So when he was, Wash knew it meant he was thinking. And since the AIs were in his head, it was like he only spoke if they wanted something. It was never Tucker just talking because that’s what he wanted to do. 

Nowadays, there was no small talk or jokes, just quietness. 

It was off-putting. 

Wash used to occasionally attempt to start a conversation that Tucker would only give dry responses to but, currently, he wasn’t in the mood.

It didn’t take very long for them to come across something that wasn’t an empty or unused room. They hadn’t made it too deep into the tower, however, so Washington was unsure if it was what they were looking for, but the large room with a wall mimicking that of a control panel looked interesting enough. 

Wash stood in the middle of the room, looking up above him at clearly visible corridors of rooms and balconies before looking down at the metal floor; a bright teal, circular, design decorating the ground below him and a long, small indent trailing down the middle of the circle. 

It looked like a landing dock of sorts.

“Are those controls labeled?” Wash asked, nodding towards the buttons and panels imprinted on the circular wall. 

Tucker looked over and, without a word, walked to the panel and inspected it. “Not that I can see.” He replied. 

Wash glanced above him, trying to determine if there were any lights to brighten the room, before looking back to Tucker. “Do you see a switch or something? Maybe something to activate some lights.” 

They had some light; the glow from Tucker’s sword, but if they wanted to make faster progress they should probably have a larger light source. 

Tucker looked over the panel again. 

“That one looks promising!” Theta commented, pointing to a bright purple button. 

Tucker decided that if there was a light switch or something, it would probably be pretty simple and not near the complex panel he was looking at. 

“Ooo, press the large red one!” Omega suggested. “I bet it makes this entire place go kablooey!” He cackled. 

Tucker thought about it because, frankly, the urge to fuck around with possibly destructive weapons seemed so appealing. After a quick debate, he decided against it and looked around at the simpler switches next to the panel as he reached to flip a pretty basic, silver one. 

“Did that do anything?” He asked, calling back to Wash. 

Washington looked around and noticed decorative teal strips flash on, surrounding a large door down at the back of the room. “Yea, why don’t you flip on one that looks similar to whatever you flipped?” He asked, still not being able to see much from the small amounts of light.

Tucker nodded and observed the panel, noticing a few other identical levers below the one he flipped. 

“Do the exact opposite.” Omega grinned. 

Gamma chuckled, quietly and robotically. “That would be funny.”

“Where do you think that door leads?” Sigma asked. “It seems pretty important.”

Sigma had a point. 

Tucker glanced back at the door. All the other doors they had seen previously were just normal looking doors, but this one had teal strips lining the edges and was much larger with a curved door frame. 

“Those symbols match that lever.” Sigma pointed out, flashing above his shoulder as he directed his attention to the more complex panel. 

Tucker looked to where Sigma was pointing and noticed the switch he was referring to. It did look like it had something to do with the door. He brought his hand up and without hesitation, flipped the switch, looking towards the door to see if it did anything. 

The room was quiet for a minute, leaving Tucker unsure if anything happened until a large crack was heard from his right, followed by a yelp and a thud from Wash’s direction. 

Tucker quickly looked over and noticed how the circular floor had separated into two trap doors and opened up into a pit. “What the fuck?” He mumbled, jogging over as Omega laughed. 

Tucker kneeled by the hole and leaned forward just enough to see Wash slowly getting up from the ground. “You alright?” Tucker asked. 

Washington looked around, picking his gun up from the ground. “Yea, just fell into a dark hole.” He noted, looking down at what looked like another hallway. “What did you flip?” 

“Just what you told me to.” Tucker lied, calling down to him.

“Well, at least now we know not to flip that lever.” Iota remarked positively.

“Can you get out?” Tucker asked, growing bored at the new inconvenience.  

“I highly doubt that he can,” Delta advised. “He looks to be around 15 feet deep.” 

Wash looked above him at the walls, looking for something to grab onto or hoist himself up with. “Uh, no. I don’t think so.” 

Washington then looked over at a small indent in the wall that looked like it had been beaten into existence. “Actually, maybe. I can probably get halfway up with that ledge. Can you move to the side and help me the rest of the way?” 

Tucker raised a brow, before sighing and reluctantly standing up when he heard Omega speak. 

“We should leave him in there.” Omega hissed, followed by maniacal laughter. 

At first, Tucker was going to ignore his comment because why would he leave Wash? It was just a natural instinct to be there for him and assist and stay with him-

“What are you, his sidekick?” Sigma questioned.

“Uh, no.” Tucker told the AI simply. 

“What?” Wash asked, voice uneasy as he remained in the pit.

Tucker looked down at him. “No, not you.” He informed as he began moving towards where Wash wanted him to go. 

Where Wash wanted him to go. 

What was he even trying to accomplish obeying orders like that? 

He made it perfectly clear the night before that their relationship was over, so was this just what it was going to be like now? How it was back in the canyon? Just David barking orders and Tucker following them?

“He’s not even going to use the engine,” Sigma told him. “We could turn around and make all of this easier.”  

He could. 

Leaving him would be a hassle. 

“You could always come back for him later,” Gamma told him. “It’s not like you're abandoning him in some sort of catastrophic danger.” 

That was true. 

“Yea, He’s safe in the pit,” Omega added, stifling his giggles. “Leave him in time-out.” He mocked, bursting into maniacal laughter. 

It’d be the same as them splitting up. Which was Tucker’s idea in the first place.

Tucker halted his movements, glancing towards the door. 

Which caught Wash’s attention. 

“What’s wrong?” He asked, an unsettling, yet familiar feeling pooling in the bottom of his gut. 

“Nothing,” Tucker told him. “Just-” He mumbled, stepping away from the hole. “Just stay here.”

“Tucker!” Wash called, moving towards the back wall to try and get a better look. “Where are you going?!”

When he got no response, he tried again. “TUCKER!?”

“Tucker I swear the god!” He warned. 

He sighed, realizing he wasn’t coming back. “Fuck.”

Chapter Text

Tucker looked around the room and noticed the glowing teal strips leading down towards a large staircase, erupting up towards what he assumed was the point of activation for the tower.

“That’s your cue.” 

Tucker followed the pathway of teal symbols, matching that of the tattoos littering his skin. 

It was almost like he was being welcomed to activate the tower. 

He was the only one that could do it anyway. 

Well, besides Locus, but he disappeared to god knows where.

Tucker let his sword light up the wall beside him as he made his way up the stairs, noticing the ancient alien intellect on the side of the steel wall. 

When he made his way to the top, he noticed a glass ceiling; emitting light from the sun into the room as it shined down on a decorative cobblestone wall; covered in dust and vines, everywhere but the small, sword-shaped hole he knew would activate the tower. 

Tucker sighed and stepped forward eagerly, his armor echoing his footsteps around the room. 

Sigma peered over his shoulder and watched as he, without hesitation, inserted his sword into the indent and a large flash surrounded them. So bright, Tucker was forced to shut his eyes and cover his visor. 

When the light cleared, he looked around at the Sangheili items floating slightly above the steel ground. 

Sigma grinned at the items as Tucker looked up at the large, plasma-like beam that now erupted from the tower and into the sky. 

“Well?” Sigma questioned. “They know you're here now, better be quick.” 

Tucker nodded as he reached for a small chip near him. 

He wouldn’t take long. 

Washington checked the time, aiming his gun steadily at the dark tunnel in front of him. Unsure of where it led, he continued walking, knowing he had around 30 minutes before evac came.

And he had no fucking idea of where he was. 

He obviously was brought down a floor, which meant he was closer to the exit than before. Which was good, except for the hallway he was in didn’t look familiar in the slightest and he had no light to guide himself with. 

Wash reached out to the wall at his left with his unoccupied hand when the light from the tunnel dimmed out. He felt against the side of the wall for any indents, knobs, or switches. Or just for some balance and reassurance. 

Fuck, he was upset. 

Mainly at Tucker because come on? Like, seriously, what the hell? But also at himself for letting things get so out of control. 

He knew part of it wasn’t Tucker’s fault, but that little fact was out-weighed by the pure frustrations he felt. 

Because you know what? He was fucking angry. Surely, Tucker had some control over his actions. He was still the one dictating them. The AIs may have been telling him what to do the entire time, but it was still Tucker that chose to follow them. 

And the Reds and Blues and Carolina and Kimbal and everybody else had offered help and support and space and every other damn thing he could think off and Tucker accepted none of it. 

Not any of it. 

Washington sped up his pace, keeping his gun held out in front of him, protecting him from any danger that felt like popping out of nowhere. He could hear water drip in the distance and noticed how the hallway he was in wasn’t alike the others. Instead of an abundance of doors to rooms littering the walls, it was a straight path in one direction with no pitstops. 

He groaned, unsure of how much longer he was going to have to walk and how much more he was going to have to sacrifice because of Tucker. 

It was like nothing he said to him even mattered. 

Because it would just get ignored or left without consideration. 

It was at the point where Wash had no clue what to do. 

He had tried to help Tucker, really had, and it felt like an unwanted and unaltering feat. 

He couldn’t even think of a solution that didn’t involve going back in time and trading places with him at the battle of Choron. 

Although then, he may have been the one stuck with seven people in his head. 

At least then, it wouldn’t have been Tucker. 

Wash sped up his pace, seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. 

He made his way to it and ripped apart the stuffy vines blocking his path before stepping out and looking around him; observing the large trees towering over him and the human-sized rocks scattering the ground. 

Washington stepped forward onto a large rock and turned around, seeing the back of the tower. He then gawked at the large beam that eroded from the top and sighed. “You have got to be kidding me,” He grumbled through gritted teeth. 

He should have known that Tucker would activate the damned thing.

What was the point in leaving Wash then if that was all he wanted to do?

Granted, he didn’t want Tucker to activate it, but that was probably going to happen one way or another. 

Wash continued looking at the tower, accessing that he was probably behind it based upon the angle and display. Which meant he just had to circle around to get to the rendezvous point. 

Washington bit his lip as he circled around the base, staying close to the wall so he wouldn’t get lost; his gun held out firmly in front of him.

He wondered where Tucker was. 

Or more importantly, what he was doing. 

“Arriv-d at th- entr-nce.” He heard staticky through the emergency com. 

Wash made a mental note of the time as he finally spotted the evac warthog. “Be there in a minute.” He said through the coms as he made his way to him. 

When he got there, the soldier in the front seat saluted to him, before glancing around him. “Where’s Tucker?” He asked. 

Wash looked towards the tower. “Got separated.” He mumbled. 

“Cool, so still want to wait 10 more minutes or just wait till he comes out?” The driver questioned.

“We’ll leave in ten.” Wash told him. 

The soldier nodded. “Right then.” He drew out. “Wanna play Uno while we wait?” 

Wash didn’t dignify his question with a response, just looked over at him and raised a brow. 

“Nevermind then.” The driver huffed. 

And then it was quiet for a moment until quick rustling was heard and Wash quickly raised his gun at the supposal threat; who just turned out to be Tucker, emerging from the entrance. 

“There you are,” Tucker greeted, Sigma’s glowy reflection perched just above his shoulder for a split second before quickly dissipating. “I was wondering where you went.” 

Wash slowly lowered his gun and rolled his eyes. “What? Did you think I was just going to wait for you?” 

Tucker shrugged. “Well, I did tell you to stay there.” He pointed out flatly. 

Washington deadpanned and had to resist the urge to frustratedly dig his nails into his palm. The action would hold little effect anyway, due to the armor. “That’s not- Why would I-?” He began to exasperate. 

“Woah, Woah, Woah.” The soldier in the warthog chuckled. “Are y’all having some sort of lover’s quarrel?” 

Wash whipped his head around and shot him a dirty look. 

“Eh, he’ll get over it,” Tucker said casually, catching Wash’s attention as he crossed his arms and glanced behind him, up at the tower. “He always does.” 

“This isn’t something you can just get over,” Wash stated seriously. “I told you not to activate that tower, and you did anyway. I told you to not leave me in that fucking pit, and you did anyway.”

“Yeah well, your not my fucking boss.” Tucker snapped, looking back at him. 

“What? No-” Wash paused. “It’s not about that,” He exasperated. “You hurt me. Do you even care?” 

Tucker glanced behind him once more at the top of the tower, paying no mind to Wash.

“Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you?” 

Tucker looked back to David. “Yea, I’d love to stay here and argue, but we may wanna get out.” He said nonchalantly. 

“Why?” Wash asked, looking up to where Tucker was previously looking at. “What the hell did you do?”

“Uh guys,” The driver called nervously. “My motion tracker is going crazy.”

Wash looked around them.“Fuck, Pirates.” He muttered, hearing engines in the distance. “You, get in. We’ll deal with this later.” he instructed Tucker, who normally would stop everything to yell back, but now, didn’t seem to care enough to argue and instead shrugged and seated himself in the warthog. 

Wash sighed, turning to follow suit when a crash was heard and the tower began to rumble. 

Wash paused, not wanting to glance back at the tower as he instantly looked over at Tucker. “What did you do?!” He screeched. 

The dark grey AI, Wash knew as Omega flashed above Tucker’s shoulder and chuckled darkly. “Tower’s gonna go boom!” He cackled. 

“Tucker!” Wash shouted in disbelief. 

Why would he do that?!

That was anybody’s way off the damn planet. 

The goal was to make sure the Pirates couldn’t get to it, not make sure nobody could get to it. 

Tucker smiled and Wash could practically sense the smug grin on his face. “You said to make it inaccessible.” He told him snarkily. 

“That’s not what I meant!”

Tucker and Wash both looked over at the tower as the sound of engines got closer. 

“You better get in.” The driver said as he slid the keys into the ignition. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
“It was ridiculous. This is getting out of hand! I’ve never felt so betrayed in my entire life.”

The soldier winced. “Sir, I think you may be overreacting…” He trailed off, looking towards Kimball for some sort of affirmation or confirmation. 

Kimball sighed. “Can we please deal with this later?” She questioned, brow raised, and visible as she kept her helmet at her side.

“We have to stop letting this slide. It’s unacceptable.” Grif spat. “As Captain, I should be allowed certain perks, one of which being TV remote access. I don’t want to have to endure hour after hour of Donut’s stupid fashion shows!” 

“But he paid for the-”

“Doesn’t matter!” Grif intervened. “I called dibs first. Taking that away is denying my freedom as an American.” 

The soldier gave him a look while Kimball silently facepalmed her tired face and pinched the bridge of her nose. 

“But we’re...not in America.”  The soldier deadpanned with confusion.

Grif frowned and crossed his arms over his chest as he watched the door to the room open and Washington walk in, moving sharply past them as he caught the attention of, a now interested, Kimball. 

He seemed frustrated and walked past them in an obviously quick manner. Normally Grif would stray away, but the guy had no reason to be upset. 

It became quick news that the tower had blown up and that’s what they all wanted anyway, right? No pirates or something? Washington just always had something to be melodramatic about. 

“Wash, tell me I’m right to think-” Grif began saying before getting a grumbled response to be quiet. 

Kimball looked over to Grif. “We’ll deal with this…” She paused, thinking for a moment before deciding the stupid argument she was involved in no longer needed to take up any of her time. “Never again. Both of you, out of this room.” 

The soldier let out a relieved sigh as he quickly left the room, straying away from an annoyed Grif as he sulked out after him. 

 “What happened?” Kimball asked calmly, following after Washington. 

Wash sighed, turning back to look at her as he halted his movements. “Tower blew up.” He stated simply, seeming like he really didn’t want to go too deep into what occurred. 

Which definitely meant something happened. 

Kimbal nodded. “Right, well I know that part. What else? How’s the fallout? Collateral damage?” She questioned, not exactly needing to know the thing that was bothering the freelancer as she decided to stick to a more professional approach. “The actual tower blowing up wasn’t exactly part of the plan.”

Washington paused, before shrugging. “Damage isn't too bad, probably killed quite a few space pirates.” He informed. 

“The group of space pirates remaining were a thin and uncoordinated group and probably weren’t held together by much dictation or direction,” Kimball pointed out. “The ones that are still left are probably scared shitless and will most likely disband.”

Washington nodded, turning as he went to continue down the hall. 

“Did anything else happen?” Kimball asked, giving him a chance to talk about it if he wanted to, without making him feel obliged to. She noticed his visible agitation rise right away as she followed after him. 

“Tower blew up.” Washington reiterated. “Carolina got what she wanted, citizens don’t have to worry about being terrorized by any more space pirates, and you can continue leading your civilization.” 

“And you?” 

“Well,” Wash started as they now walked side-by-side. “I guess, I can move on too.” 

Caboose frowned, nudging the door to his room open with his foot; a pile of bolts in his hand. He pushed the door in and tossed the screws to the floor in a frustrated huff, wiping a tear off his cheek before letting out a quiet sniffle as he stared down at the pile of rubble. 

“What’s wrong?” A voice asked. “Science project gone wrong?” 

Caboose sniffled and looked up, seeing Tucker seated on his bed, looking down at his helmet in front of him and some of Caboose’s paint while the rest of his armor sat in a neat pile at the bottom of the bed.

“Tucker?” Caboose questioned, watching as the teal soldier took the brush in his hand and dipped it in a little platter of yellow paint. 

Caboose then carefully shut his door and bit his lip, looking down at the scraps on the ground as he realized he hadn’t answered the teal soldier’s question. “It was supposed to be for Church,” He said sadly. “But it did not turn out how I wanted to.”

Caboose looked up at Tucker, awaiting his response. 

“It happens,” Tucker told him, paying more attention to the strokes of paint he was applying to his armor. “At least you still got his helmet.”

Caboose nodded, smiling and walking over to his desk, staring at the helmet perched there. “Yea, but I really wanted the real, real thing.” 

“We had the real, real thing,” Tucker told him, before laughing slightly. “We had way more time with that asshole than we should have had.” 

Caboose nodded, cradling the helmet in his arms as he sat down on the floor and looked up at Tucker. “What are you doing?” He asked. 

“Painting my armor.” 

“Why?” 

“The same reason you draw pictures of Church.” Tucker said. “To remember him when he’s gone.” 

Caboose nodded, reaching over and grabbing one of his drawings and a crayon. “Who are you trying to remember?” He asked, placing the paper on Church’s helmet as he began tracing blue lines over the parchment. 

“Wash.” 

Caboose looked up at the teal and yellow helmet perched on his bed. “Those are kind of ugly colors.” He pointed out. “Is what Sarge would say. Not me.”

“Thank you, Caboose.” Tucker told him sarcastically. 

“That they’re ugly.” He reiterated once more. “Because they are.”

“Dully noted.”

Caboose held back a smile as he looked back down at his own work, finishing his drawing. 

And for a while, it was like that. Quiet as both soldiers worked on their individual projects. 

Then Tucker got up off the bed and began gathering his things, putting on his newly painted armor in the process. 

Caboose watched for a moment, thinking through what he wanted to say. “Where are you going?” He finally asked Tucker as he headed for the door. 

“I don’t know,” Tucker admitted, opening the door to the blue’s room. “Maybe the Sangheili Embassy.”

That was the last known location of his son. 

Caboose wasn’t sure where that was, but regardless, he spoke again. “Are you coming to the mess hall for dinner?” 

“No.”

Caboose knew the answer to his next question before he even needed to ask it. After all, being abandoned by his best friends wasn’t an all too new concept to him. The only reason he never stopped them from leaving was because he knew they would be back. He could always tell.

“Are you coming back at all?” 

Tucker paused, before stepping out of the room. “No.” He said again, shutting the door behind him. 

Carolina sighed, leaning her head against the desk in front of her. 

Kimball chuckled, walking into the room and sitting on the desk as she placed her mug to the side next to her. “I don’t imagine you’ve heard the good news yet?” 

Carolina looked up at her, smiling at the sight and newfound alone time, but it was very forced. “No, I have.” 

“Oh,” Kimball marveled, her expression morphing into confusion. “What’s wrong then?”

“It’s nothing,” Carolina deflected. “I just thought- I don’t know.”

Kimball nodding, taking a sip from her drink before placing it back down. “No more Pirates,” She stated positively. Is that not what you wanted?” 

It was. 

Or, she thought it was. 

She thought that if she avenged Church or tied up all the loose ends or gave justice to everybody; basically fixed everything that she’d feel better, but now; she didn’t feel the relief she was hoping for. 

“I don’t know what I want.” She admitted quietly. 

Kimball shifted her stance. “Well, I think that what you want and what you need are very different things.” She advised. 

Carolina lifted her head up off the desk and looked up at the woman above her.

“You want Epsilon back, and so you’re doing things that will bring him back in some form. Remission, vengeance, ect.” Kimball explained. “But you can’t bring back the dead no matter what you do…”

Carolina let her head slump to the table. “So I need to get over it.” She finished, having heard this conversation a hundred times before. 

“What I think you need to do is mourn his loss.” Kimball corrected. 

“There’s no difference.”

Kimball laughed. “Yes, there is.” 

Carolina rolled her eyes, but a smile crept at her lips. “I should join Wash and the Reds and Blues.” She decided, getting up from the chair and picking up Vanessa’s hand as she walked by; a gesture of her appreciation as she slowly let it drop on the other woman’s lap as she made her way to the door. 

Kimbal nodded, picking up her mug and taking a sip from it as she watched Carolina look back over her shoulder at her. 

“Thank you.” 

“Bullshit,” Grif growled, pounding a fist on the cafeteria table. “You can’t stack plus 2s on top of each other!” He protested. 

Sarge rolled his eyes. “Oh, quiet you big baby, just admit your loss like a man!” 

Grif slumped back onto his seat. “I can’t believe I lost to Caboose.” He grumbled, slapping his deck of Uno cards onto the table. “This is such bullshit.”

Simmons leaned forward, sighing at the stupid argument as he gathered up the messily scattered cards and began flipping them over so they were all facing the same side. “Alright, Donut deals.” He announced, passing the thick stack to Donut. 

Donut smiled as he sat happily on the cafeteria table, one leg over the other. “Great!” He cheered with a smile. “I am great with my hands.”

“Don’t say it like that!” Grif groaned from the other side of the table. 

“Butterscotch can say it however he wants to.” Caboose defended, sticking a tongue out at Grif.

“What are you guys doing?” Carolina asked, walking up to the table with her tray and placing it on the marble countertop as she sat down next to Wash.

“Uno.” Donut informed excitedly as he began passing out cards, stopping at Washington. “Are you in Wash?” 

“That’s what she said.” Grif muttered from the end of the table. 

Simmons elbowed him. 

“What?” Grif hissed, rubbing at his arm. “With Tucker gone, someone’s gotta coin the catchphrase.”

Donut shot Grif a dirty look and Carolina didn't pretend not to notice the way Wash averted eye contact all together at the mention of Tucker. 

“He’s not gone.” Simmons sighed, picking up one of his cards. 

“Yes, he is.” 

“No Caboose,” Simmons corrected. “He’s not gone, he’s just not in the cafeteria.”

It was quiet for a moment until Donut looked over to Wash, as well as Sarge.

Washington didn't say anything when they both looked over to him, as if they expected Wash to speak up about his whereabouts.

He didn’t know where Tucker was and at that point, he couldn’t care much. 

Washington had tried so damn hard to try and help Tucker and he had to stop doing that. 

Tucker didn’t want to be helped and that was pretty damn obvious.  

He couldn’t spend his entire life trying to fix somebody that didn’t want to be fixed.

What Tucker did was frankly criminal and if Washington reported the intentional bombing as intentional, Tucker could have gotten into tremendous amounts of trouble for it. 

He still wasn’t sure why he didn’t report it. 

Maybe it was because he still cared about Tucker, but was too heartbroken to watch the AIs corrupt him into whoever he was now. 

Wash didn’t think he could ever do wrong by Tucker, no matter what state he was in. It didn’t have to matter that it was just some parasite in Tucker’s form, Wash could take one look at him and instantly want to do anything for him. So the solution? Cut off interactions. It’d only disappoint him. 

And he missed Tucker too much to let this thing taint his memory of him. 

“But he told me he was.” 

The entire group looked over to Caboose when he said that.

“What’s that supposed to mean, Blue?” Sarge demanded as Caboose sipped daintily from his juice box.

Caboose looked around him at his friends as they all stared at him, awaiting an answer. “Well, he said he was leaving.”

“Where?” Carolina asked. 

“Oh, you know.” Caboose trailed off, trying to recall what he had said exactly. “Unknown places.” He finished quietly. 

“Caboose, how long ago was this?” Simmons asked. 

“Um,” Caboose tried, not having much of a sense of time. “When I got back from the rec room.”

Wash looked from the table and over at the exit to the cafeteria. 

“That was over two hours ago.”

Two hours ago? 

An unsettling feeling settled in Wash’s gut. 

That was a long time.

“Did he say when he was coming back?” 

Washington looked over at Caboose, dropping his deck of cards to the table. 

Caboose frowned. “Well, um.” He started, looking down at the floor. “Well, he actually said that he was not coming back.” Caboose fiddled with his thumbs as he looked back up at the group with a sad smile. “But, I think he is going to come back because he did not say goodbye and if you do not say goodbye, you are not really gone.” 

Washington swung his leg over the cafeteria bench and got up from the table. 

Carolina instantly looked over at him as he began heading towards the cafeteria exit. “Wait, Wash.” She called as she quickly got up and jogged after him, grabbing his hand as he turned around and stared at her. 

“What?” He demanded. 

“Don’t.” She told him sternly. “Whatever you’re doing, don’t.” She pleaded. “Just don’t.” 

Washington raised a brow. “Why? Because that’s easier?” 

Carolina sighed and paused. She debated her next words for a moment before softening her hold on Wash’s hand. “This is your out.” She told him quietly as she looked down at the ground, not able to look him in the eyes. 

Wash’s brow furrowed. “I wanted him at a distance. I didn’t want him to leave.” 

Carolina nodded, looking up at him. “I know, but you-” She bit her lip. “You can’t keep him at arm's length and still hope for him to get better.”

Wash yanked his hand from her grip.

“Wash,” She exasperated. “He is not going to change and if you go after him, you are going to spend the rest of your life trying to mend someone who will only try to break you.” She looked at him with desperate eyes and let her hands fall to her sides. “Please stay.” She begged. "Just move on. It's better this way."

David turned around and left, leaving Carolina standing there.

The ground was hard and bumpy, creating difficult walking patterns and the cold in the nighttime would have been unbearable if he wasn’t in his armor.

“We should have made up with Wash before we left.” Theta commented, appearing faintly above his shoulder. 

“It’s better if he hates us.” Tucker told him, adjusting his sniper rifle over his shoulder.

“Why?” Theta asked quietly, not wanting the other AIs to hear him, even though that was unavoidable. “Couldn’t you just say we were leaving the planet to protect him?” 

“No. Because then he would try to follow after.” 

Tucker paused, recalling a conversation he had with Sigma. 

“Aren’t you tired of hurting people?” He remembered him saying. “This way, your friends will be safe. Wash can move onto someone mentally stable who will give him everything he could ever want, Caboose can spend time with friends and stop worrying about what your next irrational move is, Grif and Donut can stop shooing people away from you all the time, Carolina can mourn in peace knowing she doesn’t have to worry about the Pirates anymore, you can get off this planet and visit your son, and we-” 

“And we can inflict utter chaos and fear everywhere we go.” Omega finished, maniacal laughter erupting from the back of his throat.

“Not how I would put it,” Sigma mused. “But in short; yes. Everywhere we go, but Chorus.”

“I’m tired of hurting people,” Tucker told the AI. “Trust me, Theta. This is for the best.” 

Tucker could see the ending in the back of his mind. 

He imagined Grif and Simmons, finally continuing their relationship; not having to put anything on hold or carry any tension because of their disagreements about the AIs and their involvement. That despite efforts by the both of them, Tucker could tell they were fighting about it, based upon the eavesdropping of his lieutenants and their relentless gossiping. 

He could see Carolina and Caboose coming to terms with the death and abandonment of their teammates and even see the development from both of them on coping with it when he had been with them. 

But, him being there, only would have held them back.

He playfully visualized Church up in asshole-heaven, sitting on some comfy couch; eating popcorn and bitching about how Tucker was doing everything wrong and how he was supposed to use the AIs for Hargrove and be done with them. That he was being stupid, but still missed him in his own asshole way and would stay up in asshole-heaven waiting for him. 

He hoped

He hoped Wash would forgive forget him. 

“Oh, give it a rest.” Sigma groaned. 

Tucker obeyed, leaving his thoughts, regrets, and memories of those people behind him. He’d always remember the time he spent there, but that past life no longer needed to impact his current one.  

“Goodbye Chorus.”

And now it was official. 

Lavernius smiled as he walked, looking down at the engine chip in his hand. 

He wouldn’t lie and say he wasn’t excited.