Montana left the training arena, baffled that even without most of their limbs, the bots could still move. It seemed pummeling something to death wasn't always the answer. Now he could only hope the robots didn't have plans for vengeance later. He'd taken some beatings in his life but when a robot can give a punch that feels like it shattered a rib through armor, it made those fights seem like cake walks. Now with nothing to fight, Montana was left to wander the ship which wasn't perhaps the best of plans for him. Before the person who was meant to led him to the medical facility found him, he had gotten himself lost more then he could count on his fingers, having to resort to asking directions from other personnel when he found them. By the time they reached the medical facility, he was uncertain if he was going to be the patient or the guy who had to lead him here who appeared to nearly be dead after hunting down Montana.

The moments afterwards went by rather fast, some papers were shoved in front of him, something about them not being responsible for whatever and something about removing part of his brain. He payed little notice to what he signed and only when he was going under did he begin to wonder what they were taking out of him exactly.

When Montana came back to the realm of the living he groaned in agony."Boy my head feels like I drank a Pan Galactic Garble Blaster," he mumbled to himself. In response he swore he heard someone grunt. He sat up which rewarded him with more pain in his head looking around only to see he was alone.

"Guess whatever they did, did quite the number on me," he said going back to a laying position. He only shut his eyes briefly and nearly jump out of his skin when he was greeted by a shadowy dark figure hovering only a few inches in front of his face.

"Gah!" he yelled which the figure gave a grunt to. Montana's mind went back to the papers he signed hours ago and remembered finally what the director had said ",Oh you must be my AI, not really talkative are you."

Once again Montana was given a grunt and a slight huff from the figure as it continued to stare at him. Despite the AI attempting at being intimidating, Montana only saw it as being funny though he wondered why he seemingly was paired with a mute AI.

"I'm just going to catch some more z's if you are not going to give a name or say anything," Montana finally said breaking the silence and shutting his eyes.

"Omega," a low monotone voice replied after a brief pause.

So not so mute after all, Montana thought to himself as he went back to sleep.

Missouri was feeling disappointed and flustered as he was one of the last to exit the training area. On one hand he felt disappointed that he didn't prove that his skills were good enough. Missouri thought it was an embarrassment, especially with the Director watching him.

He could, no, he knew that he was capable of greater combat prowess, but on the other hand he was annoyed by the fact that he underestimated his opponents. If it wasn't for the interference of sniper rounds going through the metal constructs he knows for fact that he wouldn't be walking away with only just a few bruises. A he made his way through the instillations corridors and halls he found himself wandering into the mess hall. I guess eating something might not be so bad. he thought as he took off his helmet, placing it under his arm and walking towards a mildly busy food line.

He paid no heed to the stares nor the few hushed whispers as he made his way to an empty table with a port window that displayed the void of dark space and the bright shining stars held within. Missouri sat and placed his helmet on the table near him. As he ate he stared at the outside then back at his helmet, reminiscing on his past life. The challenges that came his way with trial and error, the rush of adrenaline that ran through him when in the heat of the battle.

The feeling was... exhilarating! It brought a tone of excitement that settled within him, but it was at a cost. He clenched his fist over the plastic fork he was using to eat, breaking it, which gained a startled yelp from the man holding a clipboard standing near the table. "I-I am sorry to d-disturb you but your the next for your A.I. augment implant."

Missouri looked at the man with a surprised expression and renewed joy. He was selected, even though his performance wasn't much to so for, he was still up picked for an A.I. regardless. "If you would follow me sir," he said as he turned and walked onwards. Missouri didn't waste any time he grabbed his helmet shot up from the table and followed him right out of the mess hall.

Upon entering the medical facility he could was give a clipboard with a set of documents attached to it and a pen. "Just a small formality of insurance, should anything go wrong," he nervously chuckled out. Missouri looked through the documents given to him, signed them and handed them back to the man. "Now with things in order, I'd like for you to please remove your armor, then lay back on the medical table. Your armor will be returned to you when the procedure if finished," he told Missouri without skipping a beat. Missouri merely nodded and began dissembling his armor which to a total of twenty minutes due mainly to the fact he had more parts on the front part of his armor then anything else.

Afterwards he was down stripped down to his black skin-tight shirt and boxers. "If you would," the man said to Missouri once he placed his armor in a steel crate. He hoped onto the medical bed and laid down onto the cold metal bed. "Now the doctor here is going to put you under some anesthesia. So I need you to slowly count down to ten for me," the man told Missouri as the doctor placed a clear mask over his mouth and nose. As soon as his eyes shut, he reopened them to find that he now found himself staring at the ceiling of his quarters rather then the gray ceiling of the medical room.

He sat up from the bed and swung his legs over to the side as he rubbed his skull at the pounding throbbing that seemed to be a real annoyance rather then a pain. He closed his eyes and let out a tired yawn, only to see blur of red across his eyesight. ...What ...In the-

HELL! Hahaha! Then he put it together as a small grin now appeared on his face. Name is Missouri... mind telling me yours? he asked the A.I., but there was no immediate response. At first he thought maybe there was a fault, but then the A.I. fully revealed it's self as it... danced into his sight of vision. With a final dramatic twirling spin it pointed at him. Chi, is the only name it can be! Missouri let out a chuckle at the A.I.. Glad to know meet you, Chi

"Gamma is there anything decent to wear in this room?" Gamma floated over a footlocker. Virginia opened the foot locker. "Seriously they left me a fucking pink dress and six inch heels? They didn't even bother to leave undergarments." Virginia put the dress on and broke the heels off the shoes. She walked back to her room. Once inside her room she changed back into her armor. The fucking pink dress was thrown into a metal trash can and burned. "Gamma find out who left me those ridiculous clothes so I can break every bone in their body."

"Hey Epsilon? Is my head supposed to hurt this much? Feels like someones pounding away at my helmet with a sledgehammer". Stumbling he made his way out of his room. A few staff moved out of the way as Washington bumped shoulders with them. "Sorry"

Epsilon spoke in a cheerful tone female tone. "Don't worry there pal, the pain is just your subconscious and mine becoming one. It's going to allows you to recall a lot of memories that your brain normally can't however-" An ear splitting scream filled his ear, Washington crashed through the door of the Canteen knocking over a bin as he cried out in pain. The noise stopped as suddenly as it had started. His ear ringing, Washington slowly and painfully got to his feet.

"Epsilon? You there buddy?" A voice suddenly filled his head.

"But sir you have no idea what effects this will have on the A.I.. The A.I. was entrusted to you. It was going to help you with your research."

Washington recognised the next voice, it belonged to the Director. "That is right Corporal it was entrusted to me. Not you, not him. Me! You do well to know your place. Prepare the Architect. I've already had project freelancer accepted by the board of directors. I want the A.I. ready."

Then there was silence. Washington was now lying against the wall of the canteen. Epsilon appeared. "Sorry about that Wash, had to reboot. Some kind of bug in my system. Should be gone now. Wash? You alright."

"I just heard voices in my head"

Epsilon was silent for a moment. "Well then I'll have you booked to see the doc-"

"I'M NOT CRAZY! What I meant to say was. I heard the director talking to someone in my head, about something called the Architect"

Epsilon was silent again however this time when she spoke her voice was full of static and her speech was slow as if every word was a mile. "The Architect, I recognise that name for some reason. But I can't place my finger on it."

Washington sighed. "You don't have any fingers. It doesn't matter. As you said it was just a bug and it shouldn't happen again. Lets get something to eat." Looking at the bin he had knocked over he pointed at the first staff member that walked in. " Come on man pick up this mess you made!" The man confused began to clean up the mess that he thought he had made as Washington walked up to the canteen serving area chuckling as he did so.

"New Time Record - Two minutes and forty-six seconds." The ship's computer announced through the room's intercom.

Missouri was panting and sheen of sweat built over his body as he laid back against the high rise wall. His twelfth run through the obstacle maze and he still felt he could do better, he wondered that if he would do better with out the weight of his armor on him as hindrance, but Chi thought otherwise since it would be silly to take off your armor in the middle of a mission, let alone go on one without it. Missouri knew that the run was a good time, but even so he wanted to improve his movement, move as swift as the wind, and faster then a cheetah. It is a near-impossible goal to reach, but he didn't let that stop him from trying.

Right let's get this show on the road! Chi yelled as it bounced up, down and around his vision as he relaxed his body and slowed his breathing. Once he felt good enough to get up and do one more run he asked Chi a probable question. Chi if there was a chance that my helmet would come off, would there be any difference in my speed? Missouri asked Chi as stopped bouncing around to answer his question. The high chance of you losing your helmet with the vicinity or immediate are of a live combat zone or simulation would be less then 10.5%... but, if said chance were to happen there would be a slight increase due to the loss of weight. Chi looked at Missouri with a straight face and Missouri was truthfully a bit taken back on how the always excited A.I. suddenly came out with some intellectual wording... for once.

With that said Missouri took off his helmet and it placed down on the high rise wall. He jumped down from the ten foot wall and made his way all the way back to the beginning of the course as excitement boiled within the pit of his stomach.

-Meanwhile, Behind a viewing room-

"I got forty on the same time or more," said one of the onlookers.

"I'll take you up on that and say he'll do it in less," said another. There were a handful of the crew, apparently on "break" so to speak, to watch Missouri move through the course.

"3... 2... 1... Begin." The ship's computer announced.

-A few running moments later -

"New Time Record - Two minutes and one second." The ship's computer announced through the room's intercom again.

Finally up and about again, Montana went back to his previous endeavor of scouting out the ship all the while trying and failing to start a conversation with the AI unit that he was now stuck with. Every attempt failed with the AI merely giving a grunt for a response or the silent treatment to Montana. After an hour of talking to himself primarily, which made some of the people he passed by look at him questioningly, he gave up and concentrated on mapping the ship in his head but by that time and busy trying to get a response from the AI he had gotten himself lost again, his task of scouting the ship now turning into figuring out where the hell he was. Every corridor nearly seemed the same since leaving the medical facility only adding to the frustration of keeping track which hall he had been down and which was a new choice of direction.

"It's so much easier just to punch and shoot shit," he grumbled to himself before finding a person who could tell him where to find the training facilities.

"Hey mind telling me where the training facility to this place is?" Montana asked. The response he got was less then welcome in answering.

"Find it yourself, I'm not your damn babysitter," the guy replied not looking at who he was speaking to. The next moment the man was across the hall denting into a wall with a broken nose, Montana unsure what had happened himself and shocked. Yet he couldn't argue with the results.

"Go up another level, you shouldn't miss it," the man groaned in pain.

"Thanks, you might want the doc to look at your face, could use some work," Montana replied before heading off once again.

"Virginia the man who left you the undesired clothes is on deck up and on the starboard side in room 5.4.3." "Thank you Gamma. You know I shouldn't have burned that dress I should have kept to make that idiot wear it." Gamma went Virginia's closet, smirking. Virginia grunted and looked in it. "He replaced all my clothes with this girly shit." She grabbed it all and stuffed into a garbage bag. She went to the room Gamma specified, it was the man's personal quarters.

She politely knocked, the man opened the door. As soon as the door was open Virginia punched in the nose, not as hard as she could cause that would have shattered his nose and sent pieces of it into his brain killing him. She picked him up off the floor and held him up where his feet dangled so just tip of his toes barely touched the floor. "Do you think you are some kind of prankster? Did you think it was funny to steal my clothes and leave me with nothing but your idea of appropriate female attire? Since you like female clothes and high heels without under garments then you should wear it. In fact if I catch you wearing anything that isn't your idea of appropriate female attire I will make sure no one ever see you as male again even when naked." She threw him on to the bed along with the bag of clothes. "I am going into the hallway when I reenter in five minutes you will either be dressed as I specified or you are giving me permission to do with you as I please."

She waited outside counting down from 300 seconds. When she reached zero she reentered the room. "Nice choice lady." She circled around him. She pulled up his skirt. "Bad girl. You left me with no undergarments so you will not wear either unless you like to buy yourself appropriate female undergarments." She grabbed hold of crossdressed man's boxers and ripped them off of him. Virginia walked over to a closet. "To ensure you don't wear any inappropriate clothes I will take anything not female appropriate in your eyes." She grabbed everything in it and put them into a garbage bag. She then went to a bureau and repeated her actions from the closet. "I think you should start addressing yourself by a name that is more appropriate for your new attire, but I'll leave that up to you if you want. No consequence if you choose to continue to use your male name." Virginia left, she stopped by her room and dumped the garbage bag by the door. She locked the door and tripled the security measures on it. She then went to the mess hall.

Washington had finished the mountain of food that he had prepared for himself and had been about prepare another plate when the intercom came to life. The voice of the Director could be heard over the intercom. "All Agents are to report to the briefing room immediately. That is all"

Washington's shoulders sagged. Wiping his mouth he placed his helmet back on his head. Getting up off the bench he stretched his arm behind his head and burped. "Alright let's go then. Epsilon where is the briefing room?"

Epsilons voice chimed in reply. "Updating your HUD now".

Winking inside his helmet he followed the red dot that appeared in front of him. "Thank you Epsilon." It didn't take Washington long to get to the briefing room arriving he found the room empty being the first there. It didn't take long for the room to fill with agents. Once everyone was here the Director and his right hand man the Counselor in tow. The room went quiet.

"Good afternoon agents of Project Freelancer. I am the Director and this is the Counselor. We are currently updating your A.I.s with the Mission brief as well as the location. You will leave at 22:00 hours and begin your mission. That is all, you are dismissed. The Director and the Counselor walked off the stage, leaving the room quiet for a moment as everyone's A.I.s explained the mission details.

"Alrighty Agent Washington got a tough mission coming up from my calculations there is a 20% chance that you may die. However let's not think about that.

The mission is simple; Insurgent forces have attacked the Power plant on Research planet Delta-6B, they have sabotaged and disabled the nuclear reactor and have possibly overloaded the reactors core to critical levels. Their main objective seems to be disruption of the research facility located on the planet. We are to stabilize the reactor and rescue any survivors we find, eliminating any threats to the mission that may arise. There are several key characters involved in this attack:

George Relph: The Insurgents Second in command he is a deadly man who is skilled in many different martial arts.
Simmons Westford: Well known hacker. Wanted for Cyber Crimes as well as whistle blowing and terrorism.
Finally there is Beth a Mercenary skilled with the Covenant Energy sword. She is known for using alien tech in battle and is possibly the most dangerous of the lot.

Apart from that there is a force of probably over 100 insurgents armed with various types of weaponry as well as Freelancer Armour abilities. It seems Agent Washington that your in char of this mission. Best go up there and talk to the troops!"

Washington nodded Stepping up onto the stage he motion to the agents to listen.

"Hey, I'm agent Washington and as you've heard I'm in charge of this mission and I. Have a plan! The only way we're going to beat these guys is with team work. I think a stealthy approach is necessary with a sprinkling of distraction and chaos to make the stealthy part easier. We'll be arriving via drop-pods, West you will be overwatch and Sniper support. Your job will be to keep an eye on our enemies positions and also ours.

We will split into two groups. Myself and Agent Virginia will head to the reactor and ensure that it is stabilized returning power to the facility and to its defences. The research facility operates a Skeleton crew of about 12 scientist who use robots similar to the ones we fought in training, they're used for defence and manual labour. Once the reactor is stable we will search for the Scientist.

The rest of you will work on distracting and drawing away the enemy from the reactor. Once the defences are back up the robots should help out making it easier to push back the Insurgents and force them off the planet or, wipe them out."

Taking a deep breath he looked at the agents. "Any Questions?"

Idaho's ears perked up as she listened to the briefing and when it came time for questions she began waving her hand in the air excitedly. "Ooh ooh! Can I have the energy sword? Can I? Huh? I promise I'll keep it charged and clean and... whatever!"

"I really don't think that would be the best idea," Theta chimed in, hoving over Idaho's shoulder. "You're likely to break something with it, like me perhaps."

Turning her attention to the hovering hologram with a frown Idaho glared at her diminutive companion. "Break you? How could I break you?"

Theta's projection rippled for a moment as his processing core pulled as many resources as he could get into contemplating the problem, before finally he nodded over to Idaho. "I think it would be best not to give you too much information on how something might happen to the chip implanted in your skull, in case giving the information precipitated a chain of events which would lead to the aforementioned event actually occurring."

Screwing up her face with confusion Idaho's only reply to the AI's impeccably reasoned statement came out as, "Say what now?"

Letting out a deep frustrated sigh Theta looked down at the moment, giving the impression that if he'd been human his face would be resting in his palm as his hologram once more began to blur and ripple. "Suffice to say," He finally continued wearily, snapping back into focus as his processing centre completed its assessment of the situation, "That it would be best for you not to know how things could go wrong. They're scary and I wouldn't want to upset you."

Nodding her head with comprehension at an explanation she could understand Idaho turned her attention back to the briefing. "So, distraction and chaos? Sounds like fun." Idaho said, slamming her fist into her palm with excitement. "And at the end of it all I get a glittery sword." She finished, her face beaming with a wide smile.

"20% casualties?" Georgia asked, shaking his head as he looked down at his hands in despair, "You're telling us that two of the people around this able aren't expected to make it back?"

"Only one and a half people. I'm sure we'll be able to recover your brains, along with your legs." Kappa commented as her liquid body formed up from the puddle swirling on the desk in front of him.

"No need to get personal," Georgia responded, his eyes darting around at the others with a twinge of embarrassment. Coughing to clear his throat Georgia waved his hand casually aside, accidentally passing straight through Kappa, making her holographic body fall apart into a shower for wet drops before reforming as a puddle once more.

"I think I've heard of Westford. Wasn't he the guy calling himself Cykbat a few years ago when he hacked the Reach MAC array and used them to carve a smiley face into the side of a mountain range?" Shaking his head while grinning sardonically Georgia waved his hand expressively in front of himself. "I'd admire his sense of humour if he hasn't levelled the research outpost there in the process. He's just lucky they had a Pelican on-station to evac the crew otherwise it wouldn't just be cyber crimes we'd be after him for."

Virginia was in the mess hall when she got the message to report. She wasn't in a hurry, she grabbed the food she wanted and ate. When she finished her food she made her way to the meeting. Before entering the room she had Gamma activate the Active Camouflage. She then slipped in and got the tail end of the speech. She sat down beside Idaho just as Gamma deactivated the Active Camouflage.

Gamma then informed Virginia of the message. Virginia then looked over at Idaho. "I'm thinking your have a pretty good chance of being one of the twenty percenters. As for your enthusiasm for the Energy Sword, they have a limited battery life that is quickly drained in battle. Then it is absolutely useless, the battery can't be replaced or recharged. The Sangheili's Energy Dagger however is a far better weapon. Have yet to see it run out of battery, but it doesn't work once removed from their armor."

Missouri pinched the bridge of his nose as he left the briefing room in order to prepare himself. Distractions... MY first- he started to say as he place his helmet back on to use the HUD map to make his way to his first destination.

Our, our first mission thank you. Chi had cut in Missouri's thoughts of annoyance.

...Our, first mission is to be placed as overwatch and create a ruse of sorts to keep the enemy insurgents busy while others, go on about seeing to stabilize the reactor core and re-establishing the research facility's defenses. The latter of it sounds more exciting then a simple distraction job. He let out a low agitated sigh as he turned down a corridor and headed for the weapons and armory room.

Well you necessarily can't be mad, you did stay hidden during the combat simulation, which is a possibly due to why your not on going full stealth mode.

Missouri was going to retort something back as he lifted one finger into the air, but then he thought about it. Yes, on this Chi was on point. It was him who stayed down letting the other agents handle the bulk of the robots while towards the last few remaining he only handled two of them and underestimated them, which would've added to the collections of bullet wounds that already dotted throughout his body. Then something else clicked to him as he entered the room.

Chi... you weren't with me then... Missouri shot the A.I. a questioning look from behind his helmet as he approached the Armory officer behind the bulletproof cased counter. Simple, I've managed to search everything that wasn't restricted to me, about you. Missouri yet again found himself annoyed but with a bit glee as to how his A.I. had manged to look into the files and records about him.

"What will it be?" The man said in a rude and bored manner as he didn't even bother to look up from his comic to see who he was actually addressing.

Missouri placed down a data pad, which had been magnetically attached to his waist, listed with the equipment he typed in to use and slid it on top of the man's comic to get his attention.

"Hey, pal! What's the big id-," The officer now had a surprised look on him when he saw who was actually talking to and with quick movement he grabbed the data pad and stood up.

"I'll have y-your equipment read in the p-pod bay within then next 15 minutes, sir."

"Make it ten or its's your end!" Chi appeared in view on the counter startling the officer even more as he started running around, laughing and yelling like a maniac.

Missouri tilted his slightly to the right in confusion as to why he was stammering with his words, but he then just shrugged it off as he turned and began to find his way to the pod bay.

Was that really needed? he asked Chi.

Yes! though it was small and mundane compared to the real excitment coming up seems it will be quite a show. Chi responded.

Though Chi, yet again had another point, he was right even though he wasn't going to be taking on the hotshots of the insurgents, he'd still find some form of excitement to go on and a real chance at showing himself, that is of course if he managed to make it through the whole ordeal in one piece as plastered grin shown behind his mask and his hands slightly twitched from the anticipation of live combat.

"So we get to play decoy? I guess I can live with that if I get to crack a few skulls together," Montana said at the end of Agent Washington's speech ",I like being in the thick of things anyways."

I live for the crimson slaughter. Their screams will be sweet music, Omega replied appearing, somewhat startling Montana.

"That's more words you've said since you were put into my head," Montana replied ",So you like a good fight then? Well at least you aren't to crazy of an AI to be paired with." Omega replied with a grunt.

A true warriors prowess is shown in battle, if you are unworthy well there can be always be a replacement for a partner. Omega stated bluntly, killing any form of conversation for Montana to have with his AI and debating whether he could ask for a new AI.

"Well aren't you a ray of sunshine," Montana grumbled heading off to gather his equipment before they were to head off on their first mission.

"So we get to play decoy? I guess I can live with that if I get to crack a few skulls together, I like being in the thick of things anyways."

"Playing decoy's fun," Idaho declared merrily, "All the fun of beating people up and if things go wrong you can always run away, after helping yourself to any shiny new swords which may happen to be laying around."

As she made her last comment Idaho looked straight over at Washington with a determined intensity which was almost immediately ruined by Theta suddenly appearing in the air between them. "Please don't let the mad lady have the energy sword." He pleaded in the best impression of a lisping five year old Wash had ever heard, which in turn was ruined a moment later when he suddenly said, "Would it be possible to dial back her O² supply a little, just enough to make her groggy so that I can... umm, guide her actions a little more directly during the mission?" In a tone which was anything but childish, and entirely sincere.

"Please the 'mad lady' couldn't handle the energy sword. She would chop off parts of her body or her allies." Gamma said while flitting around Theta menacingly. "Theta you should be concerned as well she may cut off her head right where you are implanted." Virginia yanked Gamma out of her head. "Don't listen to Gamma it has a personality problem. If it wasn't for the special abilities it runs, I would destroy it."

Virginia walked over to Washington. "You do know that I have no idea how reactor's work. A.I. is unreliable, I already caught it in half a dozen lies just on this mission briefing alone. For example, it told me you and Idaho were to stabilize a ship's engine while I led the others to the bridge and take it over. It also said our enemy were Covenant. I am thinking about sending it back for a different one I can't trust it not get me killed." Virginia then held up the A.I. implant. "I already pulled it for being annoying and lying to me plus for terrorizing Theta."

Washington chuckled at the groups replies to his plan, though most did seem to like his idea or at least grudgingly accept it. They were after all, all military so he hope that they would recognise him as the leader and not disobey him. Epsilon was growing worried, watching the A.I. interact with each other reminded him of one of the rules. A.I.s should not communicate with each other. But what harm could it do? Thinking to himself Epsilon faded away speaking to him from inside his helmet.

"They should be careful the Director will not like them all talking to each other. I thought he had hard coded that command into us apparently being sophisticated A.Is we can bypass these rules, but at what cost. I mean Agent Washington the Director obviously had a reason for not wanting us to talk to each other. Oh and about that reactor don't worry about it, your mind can absorb a lot of information and retain and recall it on will. I've downloaded enough information to make you as smart as Einstein in terms of nuclear physics and more computer savvy then Neuman. You should have no problem figuring out whatever is wrong with the reactor."

Smiling inside his helmet he felt weight being lifted. He was no book worm but this A.I really helped out.
"Well that puts my mind at ease thank Epsilon. @Revans Exile Don't worry Agent Virginia I got that reactor covered Epsilon made me a braniac in the field of nuclear physics and computers. You just worry about covering my back while I work on the reactor. I assume then that everyone is okay with the plan? Well with no further delay lets get suited and booted you heard the Director we leave in 2 hours. Dismissed!"

Washington felt like a real general ordering these guys around. Heading to the armoury he trusted Agent Virginia to cover his ass while he did his thing. Loading up on ammunition and checking his stick grenade launcher he heard whispers in the back of his head. "Hello? Anyone there?"

The whispering was inside his head not inside the armoury but it was so quiet he could barely make out what it was saying."No more..."

Was all he could make out, then the sound was gone. Shaking the unease out of his mind he continued preparing for the mission.

As the busty hologramatic temptress flitted around the much younger looking AI Georgia noticed the way Kappa was watching the two programs interact. There was something in her simulated body language which seemed to suggest fear, and hope.

Leaning down Georgia spoke softly, the words barely coming out of his mouth but he knew simply by vocalising them the presence in his head would understand. "Are you okay?" He asked, with genuine concern.

"What..?" Kappa responded, turning suddenly as though she'd been caught out doing something she shouldn't. "No, it's nothing," she continued bashfully, "It's just that... I was told we couldn't..." As her words trailed off the AI turned back to look over at Gamma again, her expression once again showing a fearful curiosity which left Georgia wondering exactly what the program was thinking. Or calculating, at least.

With the meeting closing up Georgia rose from his seat, tapping the table through Kappa's hologram to attract her attention. "Come on," he said, his voice loud enough for the others to hear once more, "I'm going to need your advice on what to wear."

With a deep sigh Kappa turned away from the others, lowering her gaze for a moment before looking up at Georgia with a playful grin. "Just as long as it's not the black corset with the fishnet stockings again, you really don't her the thighs to pull off that looks." She said with a playful twinkle in her artificial eye.

Georgia stammered for a moment as he looked back over his shoulder at the rest of the team before bending down closer to the hologram. "I told you, that was for a play we did back in the Academy. An old Earth classic."

"Really? And I suppose that girl draping herself all over you was part of the play too, huh?" Kappa retorted, leaning forwards with her hands on her hips just far enough to let Georgia get a good line of sight down her top. "You're nothing but a pervert. In fact I think they gave you the wrong codename, you should be Hentai-ōji, not Georgia!"

Shaking his head with a sigh Georgia made his way out of the room as quickly as he could, before the tempestuous little hologram decided to mention bedwetting or that time at junior prom with Stacy's mom.

Virginia tosses the A.I. on to a seat. "I did just fine before it existed, I'll do just fine without it now." Virginia left for the armory. She grabbed a brand new roll of EB Green. She then grabbed her favorite dual side arms and her favorite rifle. She also grabbed a suppressor and attached to her rifle. Using the EB Green she taped magazines to her armor in every easily reachable place.

"Washington, my A.I. lies to me and also has the ability to alter my knowledge at will. No armor ability is worth putting up with that deceitful, manipulative bitch. I will cover your back to the best of my abilities which is more than enough to deal with loser Innies."

"New tech is always a bonus but I do hope there is no running away, it's not as fun as putting a hole through someone," Montana replied to Idaho before going on his merry way to check the armory for the items he desired for the mission. The first item was his personal M45D shotgun, something that he managed to keep and smuggle aboard the ship, they would have to pry it from his cold dead fingers if they wanted him to ever get rid of it. He then grabbed a few frag grenades. Once satisfied that he had everything from the armory he left, passing anyone else who might of been there and making his way to the ship.

"So any other words of advice, O?" Montana asked aloud, trying to get the AI in his head to speak but was greeted with silence again ",Well at least you're not talking about me being in a body bag like a few minutes ago."

"Highly unlikely, there would be nothing left for a body bag if you fail to make it out of this mission alive," a voice replied to him.

"Of course not," Montana muttered to himself ",Forgive me for being optimistic."

Happy that everything was in order he looked at the drop Pelican that would be transporting them. Outfitted for high orbit drops it had many pods strapped to the sides and was almost twice the size of a regular pelican, built to drop them in then zoom out. Looking at it he remembered how much he hated Halo dropping. The gut wrenching G force and of course the crashing, that was his least favourite part of it. As he was imaging the idea of plummeting to his death the Counselor walked in, as several of the engineers stopped to salute.

"Good evening Agent Washington. How are you today? Ah. Gearing up for the mission then I see."

Washington turned to The Counselor he wasn't a person to salute a superior, not after what he had seen in the war against the flood. Washington didn't like this man, something about the Counselor was off. He just couldn't place his finger on it. "Good Evening to you too Counselor. I'm doing okay, not looking forward to the Halo drop. Never did trust these buckets of metal we're dropped from the sky in.

The counselor chuckled lightly, looking down at his PDA he tapped it a few times before replying. "We've had some reports that your A.I. may be malfunctioning. Have you noticed anything irregular about it?"

Washington Said yes but what came out was. "No sir, nothing Irregular at all."

"Okay then, we'll keep an eye on you just in case. These A.I.s are experimental, so they may be a little buggy. It's best we squash these bugs before they become a problem." The counselor walked away and out of the shuttle bay. Washington was a loss for words.

"Epsilon, What the fuck did you just do?"

Epsilon appeared looking sheepish. "I'm sorry Wash, I didn't want you to tell him I might be faulty, he'll rip me out of your skull and lock me away again. I don't think I could deal with being alone with it again." Epsilons voice was full of terror now and Washington was getting quite concerned.

"Easy there Epsilon. What do you mean by alone with it? With the other A.I.s? But, you're all separated so why does it matter?"

Epsilons voice cut out and was replaced by thousands of different voice speaking in unison. "I am the Alpha I am who was, I am what was destroyed in pain and suffering I was the First."

Now it was Washington's turn to be afraid. The voices cut out leaving the sound of a woman crying in his head. "Umm, Epsilon? You alright?"

The crying faded out replaced with Epsilon's voice "Yes, why do you ask? Come on Wash, it's almost time for the mission to start. Are drones we that were sent out have submitted a report of the current location of the enemy. Beth is there she is currently guarding the permitter a long with a couple of dozen rebels. However due to the lining of the Reactor room the drone is having trouble telling who else maybe inside the building."

Washington was worried for his own safety now, Epsilon was having some major malfunctions and there wasn't a damn thing he could do. Pushing it aside he would confront this issue after the mission. Opening up the coms he radioed all agents heading out on the mission. "This is Agent Washington to all Agents. The mission is a-go please make your way to the shuttle bay and prepare to leave."

Once everyone was here and on the Pelican they headed out. Epsilons words played on his minds the entire journey up to the moment the drop pods were launched. "Great I love this part." The pod slammed into the ground the door blowing off allowing Washington to exit. He and Virginia had been dropped further away than the distraction squad. "Alright, distraction Squad go make some noise you're free to open a can of hurt on them. Georgia keep an eye on the enemy, looks from here like they may have some Rocket launchers. Okay Virginia we're moving in cautiously and quickly, no noise."

As Washington's squad moved into the facility they met little resistance with only a few guards in there way. "This is strange where the hell is everyone? You would think that this place would be guarded by the best of the best unless this is a trap. But why go to all that trouble?"