references.

[blameful]

tba

Comments

PART THREE

[blameful]

WASH: you're dead now. remember that.
SOUTH: i don't understand any of this. and my ears are still ringing from that shot you fired.
WASH: it had to sound good for the radio. one second, i need to talk to somebody. [ turning away to summon delta ]
DELTA: hello, how may i be of assistance?
SOUTH: what? is that your ai? i thought it killed itself —
WASH: pipe down. we don't have time for explanations. delta, have you been monitoring the situation?
DELTA: i have.
WASH: are we set here? is she clean?
DELTA: can i interpret that to mean: "is south now off of command's active register?"
WASH: yes.
DELTA: affirmative.
SOUTH: what — what register?
WASH: instruction: give me thirty on north's clock. hold on the log.
DELTA: complying. completed.
WASH: now, log to command and include a similar description of south's termination.
DELTA: that would be dishonest.
WASH: yes, it would.
DELTA: executing. completed.
SOUTH: wait a minute! what, how did you get him to lie?
WASH: there's a whole lot you don't know. we're moving. delta, storage.
DELTA: complying.
WASH: go.
SOUTH: no.
WASH: excuse me?
SOUTH: i am not moving an inch until you tell me what the hell is going on.
WASH: fine. stay here with your brother, then. everyone thinks you're dead anyway, and in fifteen seconds that will be true.
DELTA: ten seconds.
WASH: no sweat off my back. just one less lie for me to live.
SOUTH: Huh. Well . . . shit. [ follows after wash ]

DELTA: i have been monitoring the comm channels.
WASH: try again. i need you as accurate as possible if you're going to cover me.
DELTA: still no activity to indicate that command suspects south is still alive.
WASH: good. that means we're clear.
DELTA: as much as you can be. and i would prefer it if you did not use the word "we".
WASH: yeah, okay, delta. i promise to take the fall if we get caught. [ silence ] right. sorry. if i get caught.
DELTA: thank you.
WASH: now, south. i need you to test something.
DELTA: i have concerns about our next action. agent south never rated for something like this.
SOUTH: rated for what? what have you gotten me involved with?
WASH: i didn't get you involved in anything. it did when it came after your brother.
DELTA: agent washington believes that something is hunting the freelances one-by-one.
WASH: in the last month, i've been ordered to the sites of five different dying freelancers in an effort to recover their intelligence programs.
SOUTH: why you?
DELTA: agent washington's experience with the epsilon program makes him a primary candidate for recovery.
SOUTH: epsilon? epsilon went insane and killed itself inside his head. and from what i heard from the other recruits, he went nuts himself. weren't you certified article twelve after that? unfit for duty.
WASH: the people who certified me were the same people who uncertified me. which, once they needed me, they did. funny how the system works.
DELTA: in either case, he is the logical choice. it is highly unlikely wash would attempt to steal an ai for his own purposes.
WASH: every freelancer i've seen in the last four weeks has had three things in common: their ai was missing, but — delta here was left somehow. i think that was a fluke.
DELTA: my assignee was killed in an unrelated firefight.
WASH: the agents were also dead, but for some reason you were left alive. and i want to know why that is.
SOUTH: you said three things. what's the third one?
WASH: during training, what enhancement did you get?
SOUTH: my armor enhancement? i can make a domed energy shield. why?
WASH: can you do it now?
SOUTH: sure, i . . . wait a second —
DELTA: the third thing they all had in common was their enhancement was removed.
WASH: just like yours. the freelancers are being killed, and someone or something is stealing their ai and enhancements.
DELTA: and now agent washington is trying to escort us back to headquarters as quickly as possible.
WASH: no. i'm not.
DELTA: excuse me?
WASH: we don't need to. i've been following the trail of this thing for a while now, but once i got you, delta, that changed. now we're the ones being followed. south being left alive was nothing more than bait to slow me down. this thing has already killed four different freelancers, south.
DELTA: all agents with higher battle ratings than wash.
WASH: yes, thank you for pointing that out, delta. i'm not going to be able to take it out by myself. someone has to help me protect delta as well.
DELTA: i see now. that is why you want me to implant in south.
SOUTH: excuse me? in who?
DELTA: the only way to properly protect me in combat is to integrate me into your armor. agent washington will not allow me to do that.
WASH: and somebody has to.
SOUTH: i, i can't. i haven't been rated for implantation.
WASH: well, make up your mind quickly. it's here.
DELTA: my motion sensors —
WASH: are going to be useless. south, get delta in your head now and flank left. we have to stand against this thing here — [ explosion from behind ] move!