Chapter 224: Long Time No See

WEEKS EARLIER...

Open in on the interior of a security room. A mercenary is seen relaxing at his post.

ABANDONED(?) F.A.C. MUNITIONS PLANT

Suddenly, the room's motion detector sets off: "MOTION DETECTOR SECURITY ROOM," causing the mercenary to look around. However, the room is vacant. As the alarm continues to sound off, the mercenary turns to it and taps it, briefly turning off the alarm. However, the alarm sets off again, prompting the mercenary to look around the room once again. The mercenary then reaches for the alarm, when suddenly, his radio activates, surprising him.

Sam: (surprised) Ahhh!

HQ: (over radio) Come in security. This is headquarters.

Sam: (picks up radio) Jesus. Yeah, copy HQ. You scared the crap out of me Harv.

HQ: (over radio) Sorry Sam. Hey, meant to tell ya, got a maintenance ticket for your console. Day shift says throwing up warnings.

Sam: Yeah, okay. Motion sensor says there's movement in the room but, there's nothing here.

HQ: (over radio) Ah, that's probably an, you know, bad indicator or somethin'. Or maybe it's that super soldier right behind you who's about to knock you out.

Carolina, camouflaged in black armor, appears behind Sam.

Sam: (chuckles) Yeah. (confused) ...What?

Carolina punches Sam, knocking him out. The radio slides across the floor.

Epsilon: (over radio) Probably that last one, just a guess. Sleep tight, Sam.

Carolina picks up the radio and speaks to Epsilon through it.

Epsilon: (over radio) You set off the motion sensor, Carolina? Amateur hour.

Carolina: You're supposed to disable the motion sensors?

Epsilon: (over radio) Well, I couldn't do that until I got in the room.

Carolina: And I couldn't get you into the room without setting off the motion sensor.

Epsilon: (over radio) Well, you could. You just didn't.

Carolina: Can we just get into the database? I need the files.

Epsilon appears on the control panel.

Epsilon: Already in! Give me a drive.

Carolina inserts a storage unit in the panel.

Carolina: How long to decrypt it?

Epsilon: Oh, please! Already done!

Carolina: Already?

Epsilon: It's a 3-tier lockdown with a 2056-bit encryption key; it ain't rocket science.

Carolina: You're getting faster.

Epsilon: Wow... that sounded like a compliment, I will take it.

Carolina: How long to transfer?

Epsilon: About 45 seconds.

Carolina: And you can't make that go any quicker?

Epsilon: Well, that's the limitation of physical media; don't even get me started on that. Besides, that should give you enough time to deal with the three security personnel who are about to come through the door.

Carolina: Wh... which door?

Epsilon: There's only one door... They just set a breaching charge, by the way.

Carolina: WHAT?!

Epsilon: Detonates in 3...

Carolina: Why didn't you tell me?

Epsilon: 2... I just did.

Carolina takes cover behind the table in the middle of the room.

Carolina: Epsilon...

Epsilon appears next to Carolina.

Epsilon: 1... Oh, you'll be fine!

The breaching charge goes off, blowing up the door, which flies in the room; three security guard are behind it, pointing their rifles at Carolina. Everything starts slowing down, until time seems to freeze. Epsilon looks at the control panel, where a floating HUD shows the time needed for the transfer, going down REALLY slowly, at approximately 0.025 seconds for every second in his perception.

Epsilon: If 45 seconds was a long time for you, Carolina... Pfft. Imagine what it is to me.

Epsilon turns around and looks at the guards, still "frozen" in time, while he throws away his holographic sniper rifle, which disappears.

Epsilon: Alright. What do we have here?

Epsilon gets close to the guards and examines their weapons.

Epsilon: Well, you boys look well armed. All this for just one girl, huh?

Another HUD pops up, displaying information about the weapons.

Epsilon: Really? Model 44?

Epsilon-Delta appears next to Epsilon.

Epsilon: Hey, D? Uh, isn't there a high jam probability on those things?

Delta: The Charon Model 44 sidearm does not jam. You are thinking of the 42.

Three light rays are projected from the rifles, simulating the trajectory of the bullets. Two rays end on Carolina's body, one on her head. Epsilon and Delta turn around to look.

Epsilon: You mean we're thinking of it.

Epsilon disappears.

Delta: Technically only you are thinking of it. I am just a memory of Delta.

Epsilon reappears next to the wall, observing the situation from the side of the room.

Epsilon: Well, I like to have someone to talk to. I get lonely sometimes. We'll there is Xi, but she'll be pretty pissed I left.

Delta moves next to Epsilon

Delta: May I suggest buying a dog?

Epsilon: Yeah... I'll consider it.

Epsilon-Theta appears next to them.

Theta: We're getting a dog?!

Epsilon: No, Theta!

Theta: Awww...

Delta: The model 44 does use computer-assisted aim. You could overload the processor and reduce accuracy by as much as 45%.

Epsilon: Sounds good. Put the twins on it.

Epsilon's memories of Iota and Eta appear in front of the guards and sabotage the rifles. The HUD shows accuracy decreasing to 49%.

Epsilon: Alright, let's account for that in trajectories.

Theta: Are you talking to me, or to Delta?

Delta: He's talking to all of us, Theta.

Epsilon: I'm just thinkin' out loud, guys.

The light rays turn into small cones; Carolina is still in the middle of a great part of the shots.

Epsilon: Alright... No, that's good, but we can do better.

Theta disappears. A blue signal shows the trajectory of the door after the explosion, ending right next to the table. Theta moves next to the signal.

Theta: Oh, oh, look at this! You can use the door as a shield!

Epsilon: Hey, thanks, buddy!

A hologram of the door bounces across the room showing the door landing next to the table and falling to the right. An arrow appears next to Carolina, indicating to move behind it.

Epsilon: Yeah, that's better.

Delta: Still, blood loss would be-.

Epsilon: G-God, I'm not done yet, Delta. Just give me a second, ok?

Delta: A second is a long time for someone in our time-base, Church.

Epsilon: (getting frustrated) Just, hey, lis- everybody stop talking to me at once, please!

Epsilon's memory of Omega appears directly in front of him.

Omega: Are you getting angry, Epsilon?

Epsilon: No! I'm fine! Beat it!

Epsilon waves his hand through Omega and pushes him away.

Omega: I'm here if you need me.

Theta: He's scary.

Epsilon: Hey, he can't do anything as long as we ignore 'em. Okay, kiddo?

A HUD appears next to Delta, listing the armor upgrades Carolina has managed to retrieve.

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Delta: Might I suggest preparing her healing unit?

Epsilon: Nope, I'm gonna need the power for her escape.

Delta: Assuming, we make it that far.

Epsilon: D, you are killing me with the negativity. (HUD closes) Why don't you help me out and give me a bio-scan of these losers.

Delta reappears in front of one of the soldiers with a HUD containing bio-scan results.

Delta: This one has recently had knee surgery.

Epsilon: Thank you! Okay, let's blow the bolts on that maintenance hatch, give him a little bit of a stumble.

The first soldier fires.

Delta: First shot fired.

Epsilon: Alright, let's wrap this up. Gamma, where are we at?

The memory of Gamma is standing next to the drive bay monitoring the download.

Gamma: Files still transferring.

Epsilon appears over Carolina's shoulder.

Epsilon: Okay, Carolina. How's your aim?

Delta displays a HUD listing Carolina's projected accuracy as 92%.

Delta: She hasn't been sleeping well.

Theta: She's been having bad dreams... about the bad guy.

Sigma briefly appears behind Epsilon before vanishing.

Epsilon: No, Theta, she's fine. Don't worry about it.

Delta's HUD lowers Carolina's accuracy to 82%.

Epsilon: Delta! She's! Fine!

Delta: (restoring her accuracy) This isn't very scientific.

Epsilon: Well, sometimes, you just have to operate on faith.

Delta: That seems unwise.

Projected paths to take appear overlaid on the room, showing deaths and kill counts.

Epsilon: Yeah, but it is more... (Epsilon selects a path resulting in 3 K.O.s and no kills) ...fun. There, that'll do it.

Theta: She won't like that injury part.

A HUD shows a 94% chance of success with a 63% chance of success without injury.

Epsilon: She never does, but if she lives to complain about it, she still lives. God, this would be so much easier if Xi was here. This was her thing. 

"I'm glad she taught us how to do this." Theta says.

"More like she was worried about us." Delta says.

"Yeah, Thanks, guys." Epsilon says. 

The memories vanish and Epsilon appears in front of Carolina.

Epsilon: Alright, looks like it's just you and me, sis. Transfer analysis to your HUD. Let's do this.

After a bright flash, time resumes at normal speed as the door comes to rest in front of Carolina. An indicator on her HUD shows her to head to her right.

Epsilon: (voice only) Roll right!

Carolina rolls behind the door, as the maintenance hatch opens, causing one soldier to stumble.

Soldier on left: ARGH!

Carolina leaps over the door as she continues to receive fire, shooting the soldier on the right. A bullet hits her in the helmet and leaves her stunned for a second. She grabs the door and throws it at him. She approaches the last soldier, still caught in the maintenance hatch.

Soldier: Urrgh, You... BITCH!

Carolina punches the soldier, knocking her out and knocking her helmet off.

Carolina: Epsilon. (No response) Church!

Epsilon: (voice only) Yeah, yeah, I'm here. I just lost a few pathways, but I can still hear you. How'd you do?

Carolina: Had to improvise at the end, but you got me started.

Epsilon: (voice only) Eh, I had faith.

Carolina: Thanks.

Carolina recovers the storage unit from the panel.

Carolina: Data's here. Looks like our little scavenger hunt just got easier.

A hologram of a Binary Rifle appears.

Carolina: You see this?

Epsilon: (voice only) Yep. Grab a helmet. We'll do some repairs on the way.

Carolina grabs the female soldier's helmet as alarms start going off.

Epsilon: (voice only) Sorry, there's nothing I can do about that in this state. You need to move.

Carolina: Already gone.

Carolina activates her Speed Boost and runs out of the room. Cut to a cliff edge overlooking a facility. Carolina is examining the specs on the Binary Rifle.

Carolina: Apparently our friends in black aren't just focused on armor enhancements. These weapons are more advanced than anything we've encountered. How are they funding all of this?

The hologram disappears as Epsilon appears.

Epsilon: Well, speak of the devil...

Epsilon pulls a video feed of Locus and Control.

Epsilon: ... And he shall appear.

Carolina: Another message from Control?

Epsilon: Yep. I picked out a clip you might find interesting. (plays clip)

Control: What did we lose?

Locus: The healing unit, as well as several miscellaneous files.

Carolina: Sounds like last week's raid made the headlines.

Epsilon: Keep listening. There's something you need to hear.

Control: This is unacceptable, Locus. I thought you told me you only worked with reliable partners.

Locus: I do. The individual in charge of that outpost has been eliminated. I saw to the matter personally.

Control: I'm not paying you to put bullets through the heads of space pirates. I'm paying you to ensure the acquisition of my property. And when I lose my property, you lose your payment.

A video feed of Felix pops up.

Felix: If I could interject for a second, you're not just paying to collect that Freelancer tech from the crash.

Carolina: Wait. Who is that?

Control: Felix. Straying away from the New Republic to join the conversation for once. To what do we owe the pleasure?

Felix: Those sim troopers you dumped on us are proving to be more of a handful than an asset. If they find where we're keeping Wash, and if Kimball thinks they're ready, I'm not gonna be able to stop them from searching for their leaders. And, if they find their leaders, this whole civil war charade's gonna fall apart real quick.

Carolina: What?!

Control: I can assure you, they will never be ready.

Felix: That's what I said, but my partner isn't convinced.

Control: We will continue to move Agent Washington's group sporadically and-

Locus: Sir, what if they do manage to make contact...?

Control: This inquisitive behavior does not suit you, Locus. If the Reds and Blues manage to reunite... Kill them.

The conversation cuts out and disappears.

Epsilon: Carolina, we have to go back.

Carolina: What the hell is going on on this planet?

Epsilon: We can figure that out along the way. Right now we just need to get back to the guys. If Control has infiltrated both sides of this war -

Carolina: I know. Recovering equipment can wait.

Epsilon: Actually, there's one more thing I wanna pick up.

Carolina: What?

Epsilon: We're a long way from the guys.

Epsilon pulls the specs on Teleportation Grenades.

Epsilon: So what we need is a shortcut.

Carolina picks up the Mercenary helmet she grabbed as the screen cuts to black.

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07-22-2022

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