Agent Alaska: The Coming War (Red vs Blue)

Chapter 2

It's been a week since I've gotten out of the hospital and saw Wash. Carolina and I spent our time exploring Chorus. Yesterday, we found an old training course about 10 miles from the apartment. So today, Carolina and I are going to check it out.

"Are you sure that the course would be strudy enough for when we train?" I ask while checking over my sniper rifle.

Carolina puts her battle rifle on the back hoslter of her armor. "Only one way to find out."

***

"This reminds me of boot camp." Carolina says as we arrived at the training course.

"It really does." I agreed. "But more old."

Boot camp at Project Freelancer was different from any other normal boot camp. Instead of 20 people, it's only 1-5 people. We get 2 weeks of very, and I mean VERY, intense training. From parkour courses to markmanship, we do it all. And based on your score for each category, is what your daily training schedule will be during your time at the Project.

"We may have to reinforce the course a bit. Looks.. unstable." Carolina observed.

I set down my sniper and hopped on the balancing beam. It wobbled a bit but remained intact.

"Yea I agree. We could ask Kimball for supplies to repair this." I do a back handspring and the beam barely moves. I teleport to the top of the wall, did a few tricks on there, then used the rope to climb down. A little creaking, but seemed stable. Then I tested out the bars which also seem stable. "I think it can handle a few runs. The supports under everything seem pretty stable besides the balancing beams so we just have to be careful on those."

"I forgot that you took an engineering course during the Project." Carolina says.

I teleport back to her. "I did a lot of things at the Project that you don't even know of. Most of the extra courses were.. required by the Director."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't of-"

I started stretching out so that my body is loose when I do a run on the course. "Brought it up? Nah, it's fine in this instance. It was kind of good that he made do all those courses cause then I probably won't be around today. Temple would have got me."

Carolina stays slient but then asks a serious question. "Do you know the real reason why you weren't on the Leaderboard?"

"Because I was the experimental agent." I replied and walked over to the starting line.

"That's not the reason." Carolina says sharply. I nod to her to say that I'm still listening as I start my run. I hop on the bars and starting swinging from bar to bar.

She continues talking through my comms. "The reason why you weren't on the Leaderboard wasn't because you were an experiment. But because no one could match your skills."

I flip off the bars and starting climbing the wall.

"You were the #1 Agent. You were better than me.-"

I reach the top and did a forward somersault towards the bottom.

"-You were better than Allison."

"ALLISON."

Betagoing crazy and started saying the name over and over again. Getting louder each time. I tried to block her out but he was overpowering.

"ALLISON."

I sloppily landed on the ground and dropped to my knees.  Her voice grew even louder to the point I can't even hear myself scream. I even see flashbacks of a female marine that I've never met before.

"ALLISON."

I ripped off my helmet and covered my ears, literally screaming for Beta to stop but she doesn't.

"ALLISON."

Then it stops.

I'm breathing heavily and my head hurts. I felt Carolina grab me by my arm and pulled me up. She lead me to a bench where I sat down with my head in my hand.

"What was that." I demanded, looking up at Carolina.

"Remember that day when I got my A.I. fragments and fought Tex?" She asks.

"Yea, the Director came in and said something that made the fragments go crazy.." I then I realized what she was saying. "Do you think-"

"It happened to you? Yes, I do."

"But I've called Beta Al- that name many times before, why is she just now doing it?"

"Maybe from the Time Machine Drill?" She suggests.

"Maybe.."

Carolina picks up my helmet and hands it to me. "Let's get you to Dr. Gray."

"Yea sure.."

***

Carolina supports me back to Dr. Gray's office. Half of the time, I felt like I have a slight migraine. And I probably do.

We walked through the entrance of her building and Carolina set me down on one of the waiting chairs.

"DR. GRAY! WE NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE. NOW!" Carolina yelled.

Dr. Gray came running at the sound of Carolina's voice. And surprisingly, Wash was with her.

"What happened?" She demands as she observes me. Wash sits next to me and let's me rest my head on him.

It's good to have him back. That's for sure.

"Her A.I. went.. crazy." Carolina explains. "It happened before in the Project where someone says a certain name and that all the A.I. thinks about."

"Can I just get something for this migraine please?" I ask weakly.

"The name," Wash says to Carolina. "Starts with an A?"

"Yep."

"Whatever the name is, this girl needs to rest." Dr. Gray says. "Then I need to do some tests to see if this affected her brain in anyway."

"That sounds very... nice.." I yawned before accidentally falling asleep on the spot.

~~~

"Beta slow down. What are you saying?"

My A.I. sighs and says, "The Time Machine did something to me. It showhow sped up my age, if that makes sense."

"So.. instead of aging at a normal rate-"

"It's faster now."

"But I thought you and the other fragments had a shorter life than a full A.I." I said. "Because we lost Church a year back and he said that he was getting older."

"That's true, but he sacrificed himself to make the suit work. Fragments could last as long as an A.I. as long as they are properly taken care of." She explains. "I could have probably lived longer if it weren't for that time machine."

"So.. your going through rampancy?"

"In a way, yes. Not as bad as a full A.I. but bad."

"We could fix you-"

"No."

I give her a surprise look and she sighs. "I'm sorry A, but I've died and came back too much already."

"I know."