No one's POV
After sneaking into Freelancer HQ, everyone gathered in a room with long window overlooking outside.
Washington: Alright, we got in, but that's only part of our mission. So, no celebrating yet.
Grif: Aw shit, and I was gonna be in charge of confetti.
One: We still need to reach the A.I. storage facility. Security's tighter from before.
Church: You mean when they tried to steal the Alpha before?
Washington: Exactly.
Grif: The Freelancers tried to break in to their own command facility? That's dumb.
Simmons: That's what we're doin' right now, you jackass.
Grif: So? Just because we do something doesn't make it smart.
Simmons: Tell me about it.
Zero: Wash, One and I have the necessary clearance to get close to the storage hall. The plan is: we'll take Church as a prisoner. If we take more than one of you it won't be believable.
Caboose: Agent Zero, I want you to take me instead.
Church: What're you talkin' about?
Caboose: I will be your prisoner. Let Church go. He doesn't have anything to do with this!
Church: Caboose, I'm not actually going to be a prisoner. I'm just gonna pose as one so that we can get past-
Caboose: Have a good life Church. Don't worry. I won't tell them anything. They won't get any information out of me. No matter how nicely they ask.
Church: Oh my God, just shut up.
Sarge: Sacrificing himself for his CO. What a good soldier. Why can't you two be more like him?
Grif: What, brain-dead?
Simmons: I would sacrifice Grif for you, sir.
Sarge: I know you would, Simmons. But it's just not the same thing.
Simmons: No, but seriously I would. Just give me the word. I'll do it right fucking now, let's go. Bring it.
Grif: Why are you taking Church? What about the rest of us?
Washington: We're sneaking past seven levels of armed checkpoints. Are you volunteering?
Grif: Uh, it was a hypothetical question?
One: Uh huh...
Washington: The rest of you hole up and wait for us to finish. And don't touch anything.
Sarge: How will we know when you're done?
Washington: When you see every guard in the base running in one direction? That means we're probably in trouble.
Zero: ...-_-... Why add the "probably" to the sentence...?
Church: All the guards? Whu- yuh- wait, wh-why are we taking Church, again?
Washington: Just keep the guards off of us, and we'll radio when we're in position. This will be our extraction point.
Grif: Keep them off you?
One: Yeah.
Church: Distract them, dipshit.
Grif: How?
Washington: Well, this is the center that came up with all the ridiculous scenarios you guys have suffered through over the years. So have fun. Break some shit.
(Timeskip)
After breaking off with the Reds and Caboose, Zero, One, Wash and Church all started making their way down, stopping up to a checkpoint with two guards in front of a door.
Guard 1: Hold on, don't come any closer. I need you to stay right there.
Washington: Understood. We need access to the next level. The Councilor wants to interrogate another survivor from Outpost 17-B.
Guard 1: What? I thought all the Blues at Valhalla were dead. Where'd this one come from?
Zero: We don't have to explain anything to you, soldier. Stand down.
Guard 1: Sorry sir, I didn't mean anything by that-
Zero: Fine. I'll let it go. As you were.
Guard 1: Something doesn't seem right to me. I'm gonna have to call this in.
Zero: Absolutely. Call it in. Let me just... NOW!
Zero drops one guard,
and Church drops to a knee and empties his entire clip at the other guard at point blank range, as the guard is still standing, completely unscathed.
One: ...-_-... Church.... Are you kidding me?
Church: Uh, hey can I get a little help? I'm... out of bullets.
Washington shoots the other guard in the face.
Church: Thanks.
Zero: ...-_-... It's really sad that Caboose is a better shot then you...
Church: Fuck that! Like hell he is!
One: From what we can see, he is...
After making their way to the lower levels, to Zero, One Wash and Church made their into a large room with holographic symbols shimmering on the walls
Washington: Here. This is it.
Church: Whoa. What is this place?
One: It's the storage facility for all the A.I.s. The rejects, the bad variants...
Washington: Everything is here. Everything...
Church: Dear lord, what're all these lights on the walls?
Zero: It's holographic storage.
Church: And one of these things is Alpha?
Washington: You work on closing that door. We'll find what we're looking for. And when we do, every soldier on base is sure to come running. So be ready.
As the four of them split up, Zero walked around a corner, making sure no one was looking.
Zero: Tex, you there?
Tex then appeared next to him.
Tex: Aww, did baby miss hearing my voice?
Zero: ...-_-...You know, I kinda prefer the you back in the day...
Tex: Why? Because I had a body and could watch your back?
Zero: ...-_-... No, you were less talkative...
Tex: Oh fuck off.
Zero: Can you help me find Epsilon?
Tex: I located him as soon as we walked in. He's three down on the right.
Zero: Right, thanks.
Tex then disappeared and Zero made his way to where Epsilon was.
Zero: Bingo. Wash, he's over here!
Washington: Wait, you found it already?
Zero: Yeah... lucky guess.
Washington: One, Church we got it, get over here.
One and Church both walked over to Zero and Wash.
Washington: Here, this is it. There.
Church: Oh, great you found it already?
A loud reverberating boom comes from the wall panel.
Church: Ah!
One: What's wrong?
Church: Nothing I just had like a weird flash- uh, ah!
Washington: Are you alright?
Church: Yeah, I think it's this thing. It's like, sending out images. Is this the Alpha?
Zero: No. This is not the Alpha.
Church: No? Then what is it?
Washington: This is Epsilon. ...This is my A.I.
Church just looked at the three of them annoyed.
Church: You mean to tell me we've come all this way for this? Your fucking crazy A.I. Epsilon?
Washington: Yes. I thought it was gone. But Delta told you memory was the key. At first I thought he meant to remember our first encounter. And when I met Delta the first time what I told him was-
Washington: When they removed Epsilon from me, he was unravelling, casting off all his thoughts. I was sure they deleted him.
Zero: But it's-
Church: It's cheaper to store it than it is to delete it. Right?
Washington: Right.
Church: But why are we looking for this thing? What's the point?
Washington: The message specifically said that memory is the key. Delta was telling me that Epsilon was still alive.
Church: And Epsilon is the key?
Washington: In a way. At the end of the war, things didn't look good for humans. And there were dozens of projects all trying to come up with the magic bullet to win.
Church: Right.
Washington: Project Freelancer was one of them. They had their research with aggressive A.I. But they could only get the one, and they needed more to conduct their experiments. So, they got desperate.
Church: Right. They tried to... they tried to copy it but they couldn't, so they-
One: All A.I. are based on a human mind. And the Director had a theory.
Zero: He thought, if we can't copy it, we'll just have to do the next best thing.
Another scene flashes in Church's mind.
Church: Ah! They, they split it?
Washington: Just like a human mind when it's broken; it fragments. It fractures itself to protect itself.
Church: They tortured it.
One: It's reverse engineering a multiple personality disorder in a sense. They presented Alpha with scenario after scenario of stress and danger. When it started to fragment, they harvested those fragments...
Church: The Freelancer A.I.s.
Washington: Exhorted little fragments of purified compartmentalized emotion. None of them were a full personality. Some were good-
Church: Like Delta?
Zero: Delta was Alpha's logic. It needed to protect itself from analyzing what was happening to it. So it segregated that part of its mind. The part that would be able to understand the horror of what they were doing to it. And when the anger came and threatened to take over, it split that off too.
That was Omega, it's rage.
Gamma was it's deceit.
Theta was it's trust.
Eta it's fear, Iota it's happiness.
Sigma was its creativity and ambition. And Epsilon...
Church: Epsilon was its memories...
One: That's right...
Washington: And memory is the key. As they continued to torture it, Alpha couldn't keep its sanity and its memories at the same time. So it had to purge them. That fragment became Epsilon. And I was just unlucky enough to have it assigned to me.
Church: So you knew. You guys knew from the beginning what was going on.
Zero: Yeah, we did. Tex and I got the full story from a friend of ours the Directer sent us to kill. I filled in One later on.
Church: Wait, Tex knew too?
Washington: I mostly knew, but Zero and One filled me in on the full story. They never told anyone what they did here. I got flashes when they put Epsilon in my head. Memories of what the Director did to it. Just like you're getting now. That's why Epsilon went insane; it was meant to. It was all the horrible experiences the Alpha needed to shed to survive. And that's why it had to be removed from me.
Church: Did they know that you had the memories?
Washington: I never said a word. But they had their suspicions. I would never let them put another A.I. in my head. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to hide what I knew from another program. Which, ironically, is what led them to think I could be trusted.
One: And since me and my brother didn't get one either and we were the only top agents left, the put us together into a team.
Church: Well what do we do with it?
Zero: We take it, and we get it in the hands of someone who can use all its information. Then they can bring down the person responsible for what was done to Alpha. And to Wash, And to my friends. They can take down the Director.
Church: But what about the Meta? How do we stop him? Isn't that the point? I thought only the Alpha could do that. Are we gonna find it or not?
Washington: No.
Church: No?
Zero: After our first attempt, they moved it.
Church: Wait, you guys were the ones who broke in before?!
Zero: Wash wasn't. It was Tex, and two other Freelancers. York and North. One and I decided to help from the shadows, and remain here.
Church: On some double agent super spy shit, right?
One: I mean, that's one way of putting it. We were bidding our time all for this opportunity.
Zero: They knew the A.I. would just convince their Freelancers to come looking for it again, like how Maine is now.
Washington: So they put it in a place where they didn't think anyone could find it.
Church: But... where? Shouldn't we be there, instead of here?
Washington: Church, I need you to listen to me. Delta was the logic. He was able to figure out things before anyone else. It's why he left a message for you in a way that he knew only you could find, and in a way that let me see you getting it.
Church: What are you saying?
Washington: I'm saying we know what you are. Even if you don't. Why you can seemingly live without a body.
Church: What?
Zero: It's why they stuck you in some useless backwater canyon where no one ever goes. Then why they transferred every person in your outpost to a different base than you.
One: It's why you always agreed with everything Delta said.
Washington: Why you didn't feel anything when Omega got inside your head. Why you can jump from person to person the way it can. Church, there's no such thing as ghosts. You're one of them.
You're an A.I. You... are the Alpha.