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[ When the feed flares to life, he's there. Looking in turns older, more worn. Angry and confused. ]

Show me.

Hey, Washington.

[ it takes a minute, but his end flares to life. A nondescript comm station that could be anywhere- and york. Hair still too long for regs, still styled to flip up at the front, the frosted glass of his left eye no less jarring for all that the scars are older, faded. Grey at his temples, a richer, darker cast to his skin from years of beach living... but it's him.

And the ugly burnout scar he twists to show wash is very, very real. ]

York.

[ Still angry, but more shocked than anything. Where the Hell have you been? is on the tip of his tongue, but he's answered that already. He was hiding.

He left. Left him on the ship, left Delta behind, left Carolina, left everyone behind so he could get free of the mess the Project had been. He's not sure if he blames him, anymore. ]

I go by Taylor now, mostly.

[ it's an echo of his usual smirks that he offers, too worn and wary to risk real good humor. It's been...awhile. Wash looks good, all told, and this isn't as awkward as he thought it'd be just yet. ]

I heard about the mess on Chorus. Good work.

That's all you've got? I expected a ghost to have more to say.

I need your help. There's this...collective of AI trying to track me down because. Uh- delta's not dead either. They want him. And his son. It's complicated. I've been keeping us a few steps ahead the past month or so but they're zealots and aggressive and I'm running out of options if I want to keep them safe.

[ Alright, so he needs something. That explains him coming out of hiding. Doesn't make it better.

But first things first. ]

An AI collective?

Fucked if I know, man. They want to free delta from his solitary existence or something. He's distressed, says they remind him of sigma, but bigger.

Sounds like they're not gonna stop with him, either.

Do we know what they're planning once they've got all the AI they need?

No idea, but my money is on nothing good. We need more hands and eyes on this then we've got right now. Me, his son, FLISS and Sam can only do so much.

Wait.

How does Delta have a son?

Remember how I said it's complicated? It's complicated. Long, weird story short- He adopted another fragment.

Where did you even find one? Is it one of the other Alpha fragments? I thought they were all destroyed.

Long weird story, remember? I swear you were good at listening once upon a time, then again I was better at not getting shot so I guess we're even. No, not connected to alpha.

[ It's at this point the inquisitive side of this draws back, and something cold passes over his eyes. ]

Oh I'm sorry, York. Y'know, you're right. I mean a long story does seem like asking for a lot. Especially from someone who turned his back on the rest of his team.

I should probably just take it all on good faith and start packing my bags right now.

I am...not getting into ancient history with you. There's no point in discussing it; you've already made up your mind and found closure and that's part of why I never poked at either of you. Then Chorus happened and I definitely didn't want to get involved. I wasn't doing field work, I don't do field work, I'm done with getting shot at. It's fucking exhausting.

[ He grinds the heel of his hand into his bad eye, an old habit from after it healed for dealing with sudden, spiking migraines. Usually brought on by stress. He's been doing it plenty, lately. ]

This was a terrible idea.

Yeah, well some of us never stopped getting shot at. Some of us didn't have a goddamn choice. And a pretty large percentage of the people I've been lied to and shot in the back by have been people I would have taken a bullet for, during the Project.

[ His jaw works tightly. ]

Talk to me about 'exhausting' sometime.

Another reason I didn't want to make the call. You're out. You're done. You've got a right to be done and I've put this off because-

It's good to be out. To not have to worry about this shit anymore and god knows you've earned it.

It's not about that. At this point I think I'm about as capable of being 'done' as Carolina.

[ He snorts quietly, looking slightly off-camera. ]

Just don't. Don't pretend you didn't say anything before now for my benefit. Or hers. You didn't want to deal with the drama, so you ran from it, until you needed our help.

[ There's a pause. ]

...Jesus, you must really need our help.

I think I had a right to take the out and bail. I died- we all died for nothing. I think I'm allowed to be a little bitter about that. I pop up alive and you'd drag me right back in and-

I'd had enough. So yeah, I ran, I didn't owe anyone a damn thing and I'd paid my pound of flesh twice over. We all did.

[ His hand scrapes back into his hair, curling over the burn out scar around his port. ]

I needed it two months ago, but I've been putting this off. Delta insisted. Said he'd call you himself if I didn't.

So even with this AI cult knocking down your door, you'd still have rather faced them alone than...

[ He cuts himself off, biting his lower lip and nodding. ]

Yeah. No. That sounds about right, actually.

If it were just me and D- we'd deal with it. But it's not. It's me and D and Lexi and Sam and-

[ He shudders, rubbing at his stubble, voice gone tight. ]

Wouldn't be calling if I had a choice. But I don't. So I'm calling.

I really hope the irony of this isn't lost on you.

[ But he can't turn him away without being a hypocrite for being angry with him, can he? There's a quiet noise as he swallows down whatever's lodged itself in his throat. ]

What do you need?

Look I'll pay you an obscene amount if that'll make it better. [ It won't, that might just be five kinds of insulting, but it's all the capital he's got to spend here. They don't care about his guilt or his grief or anything other than the fact that he'd hid and lied. ]

Help tracking them down. I don't know how they keep finding us or where they're set up. They might be jumping from point to point but- they have to be housed somewhere. Find the server farm, nuke it from orbit. We can keep running until we run out of space but I can't hide us from them and track them at the same time.

No. It won't.

[ And true to York's suspicions, Wash doesn't look at all happy about the offer. If he needed any more confirmation that York had never really seen the team the way he had, that was it. Right there.

These new people and Delta, they were his family. The one he was willing to fight for, anyway. ]

Yeah, well. It'd be a lot easier if we still had Epsilon. Which we don't.

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