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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.

Deal with the criminal element long enough and you forget how relatively normal people price their favors.

[ He's not proud of what he's done to keep his head down and still abovewater. But it needed doing, he needed to live, people got gone and for the longest time? No one was shooting at him.

Until they were. Until Sam.

Details. ]

What did I use to- fresh fruit from the mess? I think that was it. First pick because Maine kept grabbing it all. [ Something something needing the bulk or- whatever. God it's all so fuzzy sometimes when he sits to think about it. ]

...I- actually I don't know if I can help with that. It's as good a place to meet as any; pretty sure all we did was lock it down and kill the signal- Remember when they'd back themselves up? Regularly. That's why D's not gone he- uh. The Delta I have came from. After. Me 'dying.' We found him in an old PFL archival site. I'm pretty sure it hasn't been accessed. The rest might be there too.

I can take a look, see what's left.

...Carolina will probably want to come.

We light that place up the commune will come running. I think we've got a registry of what they had there, somewhere. I wasn't the one that found D- Sam was. He'll know.

Uh.

He's my- um. [ He waves a hand, fumbling for words. ] Husband.

[ Well that's not gonna be awkward to explain later. ]

I guess I should congratulate you. Or warn him. Either way.

[ Bitter Wash is still bitter, thanks. ]

Alright. Patch him through, we'll come up with some kind of plan. Maybe a decoy signal to keep them from rushing the place right away.

He is well aware that I'm a mess. We were soldiers, we're all messes.

[ Yet another chip on the 'fuck no never calling' pile. And here he is. Calling. ]

Lemme just- Sam? Sam! [ He leans back in the chair, calling back over his shoulder. ] I need that registry from the job where we got D back.

[ Wash just folds his arms, waiting. He sees movement in the back, hears someone murmuring, but that's it.

Nothing to clue him in, just yet. ]

Thanks- alright I'll send this through to you. What we took is already marked off but there was a shit ton of data there. Archival footage, personnel files- nonessential shit, it's the only reason Hargrove didn't raid it.

But you said Delta was stored there as well?

We were on a very narrow timeframe to get in and out- D wasn't something we expected to find. He doesn't know if the others are there but- it wouldn't be a stretch. It was an archive for backups of data.

I don't think Theta ever backed himself up.

He trusted North wouldn't let anything happen to him.

I- some of them were scheduled. AI are expensive, even fragments.

God I didn't want to think about leaving him behind. They're in stasis if they were like Delta so it's not- it wouldn't be terrible.

Sure.

[ It's fine that he seems to care more about leaving the AI behind than them. Really. It's just peachy. See how he's not remarking on it right now? ]

So we go in, see if anything can be recovered. If not, we do a wipe of the facility to make sure they can't get their hands on anything.

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