Chapter Text
“I suggest transferring me into a new suit. Preferably yours, Agent Washington,” Delta said, his hologram hovering over South’s downed armor.
“Not going to happen,” Agent Washington said coldly. “One of you two take him.”
“Umm…I don’t think that I can-“
“I’ll do it. I’m good with robot people,” Private Caboose volunteered, already stepping forward to take the AI chip.
Delta was a little surprised even as he prepared for transfer. Not particularly about Agent Washington’s reaction to his suggestion. Washington had been a strange about AIs after Epsilon. He expected as much. He did not expect Private Caboose to take him, or the others to actually let him. According to what was left of Freelancer personnel files, this soldier was personally responsible for several friendly fire cases resulting in injuries and, in a few cases, death. Delta had a feeling he was going to have to work overtime simply to keep Washington and Private Church alive.
Maybe that was why no one protested Caboose taking him.
It took a moment for Delta to settle into the new suit. It was an older model but not too old that it would keep him from integrating into its systems.
Delta paused for a moment, a barely perceivable amount of time for a human. This soldier had a neural implant. He was unaware that the blue and red simulation soldiers had been outfitted with such devices, though he was far from an expert when it came to sim troopers. He could interact with implant if he wanted to, instead he simply scanned it.
The neural implant was even older than the suit model. It was a prototype that had been deemed too dangerous to use, a step or two before the current model was designed. It was extremely invasive and gave any AI far too much access to the host’s mind. If the AI wasn’t careful, it could cause severe brain damage.
But there was something else. Something familiar. Delta was certain he had been in this exact implant before.
“Oh, Agent Cal-“
“Hello!” Caboose interrupted happily. “Mr. green glowing person.”
“My name is Delta,” Delta corrected, studying the man carefully. He was different then when he last met him, almost as if an AI had been in his implant since then and hadn’t been as careful as they should. Delta was fairly certain he had experienced some sort of brain damage. “You should know this.”
“Yes. Mr. Debutant,” his ex-agent said.
“You…do not remember,” Delta stated.
“Don’t read too much into it, he’s an idiot,” Church said with a sigh. “He forgets everything as soon as he sees it.”
“That’s not true,” Caboose said. There was a brief silence before he spoke again. “Who’s the purple guy again?”
“See? A complete moron. He was before Omega and only got worse after.”
“Omega? The Omega AI had been in his suit?” Delta asked. “That would explain a lot.”
“Yeah, no shit,” Church scoffed. “Anyways, what are we going to do with the purple chick?”
“Taking her with us would be ill advised,” Delta said after a long moment, pushing the Caboose problem aside for a later date. They had bigger issues to deal with right now and it was illogical to worry about him at the moment. It was not like the brain damage was going anywhere.
-
“Private Caboose? Do you have a moment?” Delta asked, getting the blue soldier’s attention as discretely as possible. The small team had settled down for the night on their way to their next destination and the AI was hoping he could have a short conversation with his new host.
“Of course, Mr. Dill Pickles! I have all the moments,” Caboose said louder than Delta thought necessary.
“My name is Delta,” the AI corrected, doubting it would stick. He had been correcting him all afternoon and the names he has come up with have only gotten more wrong.
“Right. Dell Computers.”
“Close enough,” Delta said. If he could sigh, he would have. “I have a few questions I would like to ask you.”
“Ok. Maybe I will even have answers.”
“That would be preferable.”
“Soooo….what did you want to talk about? Is it about pickles?”
“No, it is not.”
“I like pickles.”
“I am sure,” Delta stated. “I would like to know what you remember of before this.”
“Oh yeah, I was with Principal Miller! It was nice,” he paused for a moment. “They gave me my own room! It had bars. And rope. And sometimes a roommate! They usually didn’t stay very long. For some reason, that wasn’t me, they usually ended up dying.”
“No, before that.”
“Blood Gulch?”
“Before that.”
“Silly Dallas, there was no before Blood Gulch,” Caboose said with enough conviction that it almost sounded believable.
“It is highly unlikely that there was no ‘before Blood Gulch’,” Delta stated. “You had to have been somewhere before you were there.”
“I’m confused.”
“My apologies. I did not intend to confuse you,” Delta said, already thinking up a different approach. “What about your involvement with the Omega AI? What do you remember about those encounters?”
“Omega was mean. Meaner than Tex. And she was very mean,” Caboose said with a nod. “He was in my head for a while. Then Church and Tex were in my head to try to kill him but it didn’t work.”
“You had three…people in your head at one time.”
“If Church, Tex, and Omega equal three then yes, I had three people in my head.” Caboose paused again as if realizing something. “But Washingtub doesn’t know Church and Tex can do that so can you maybe not say anything to him about it?”
“My lips are sealed. In a matter of speaking.”
“AI’s have lips? That’s amazing!”
“I believe I would be unable to convince you otherwise so yes, AI’s have lips.”
“Amazing,” Caboose whispered to himself.
“I am sure,” Delta said. “Private Caboose, I was wondering if you would allow me to take a look into your mind as well?”
“But you’re already in my mind,” Caboose said slowly.
“I am in your armor, not your mind.”
“I don’t see a difference.”
“There is.”
“Alright, if you say so,” Caboose said, sounding skeptical.
“I will be careful,” Delta reassured.
“Don’t worry about that. No one’s careful in my head.”
“In that case, I will be extra careful.”
“Ok!”
Delta slipped into the neural implant, cautious to not shock the mind he was entering. He felt a bit uncomfortable with how far his code had to stretch from his chip to the very inner workings of Caboose’s implant, but he would make due. It would not be for long.
The place was…empty. A lot emptier than he expected. Normally there was some sort of environment when he went into a neural implant this deep. But this one had nothing but stone blocks and some fairly large piles of rubble.
“Private Caboose?” Delta called, trying to get the host’s attention.
“Hello,” a voice called out. They sounded similar to Caboose but, in some way, calmer. Delta glanced over to find someone in a familiar blue set of armor addressing him.
“Private Caboose, you seem more…aware while here,” Delta stated.
“A little. My thoughts flow easier,” Caboose said, looking around. “They aren’t as foggy.”
“There is not much here to ‘fog them up’.”
“True,” Caboose said, a bit of amusement in his voice.
“Do you have better access to your memories from in here?”
“Not really.” Caboose fidgeted in place. Delta was unsure if it was because he was uncomfortable with the conversation or simply couldn’t sit still. “I think I should…but I don’t.”
“Do you know if your memory problems started after your involvement with Omega or before?” Delta asked carefully.
“I’m not sure,” Caboose murmured, fidgeting even more. Delta was starting to think his assessment earlier about him being uncomfortable was correct. “I think it may have been a thing before…and maybe got worse after? Church died before Omega got in my head so I’m pretty sure there was some issues before.”
Delta was a little curious about that last statement, but decided that was an issue for later. Private Church seemed perfectly fine now.
“But you do not remember anything before you met Church.”
“I can if I really try, but it hurts,” Caboose answered. “Why do you want to know all this?”
“I was testing a hypothesis.”
“A hippopotamus?”
“No. I have a theory that I was trying to prove,” Delta explained, a bit of amusement bubbling in the back of his code. As different as this inner Caboose seemed to be, little statements like that proved to him they were still very much the same person.
“About my brain?”
“About you,” Delta stated. When Caboose only tilted his head to give him a confused look, he continued. “Before I was assigned to Agent York, I assisted the production team in testing new Neural interfaces that would be later used on their agents. Specifically, Neural implants. If a prototype was ready for human testing, I would be placed into it after it had been implanted into a human, then go through some tests to insure it worked properly before giving them a report. There were only two models that ever got far enough for me to test in such a way, one that later got produced for general Agent use. The other scrapped soon after testing. Your model is of the later.”
“So I have a faulty implant?” Caboose said slowly as if still processing what Delta had said.
“Yes, but it is more than that,” Delta continued. “There was only one of that particular model ever implanted into a person. It was deemed too dangerous due to the extreme invasiveness of the interface. The volunteer that received it was an agent by the name of Cali-“
“-California,” Caboose finished. His head was down and his hands were resting on either side of his helmet like he was trying to grab his head. Delta did not think this was a good sign. “Agent California. They called me Cal. I think.”
“Correct,” Delta said, as gently as he could. “I believed you to be the same person but I did not have time to question you immediately. I had been in your implant, your mind for about a week before they decided I had enough information to be pulled.”
“I’m sorry…I can’t…I don’t re-“ His fingers curled against his helmet, trying to dig into the metal.
“Do not hurt yourself on my account,” Delta told him, watching him begin to relax again. “The only concern I have in that respect is that Omega must have done a lot of damage to your mind if it forced you to forget the entirety of Project Freelancer.”
“I don’t like not knowing things. It hurts people. It killed Church. Twice.”
“If you would like, I can assist you with that while I am here,” Delta offered, before he had a chance to think about it himself. Agent California had been one of the favorite minds he had interfaced with, other than Agent York that is. He was an almost perpetually happy individual that just wanted approval. Delta wanted to help him. “I cannot fix what has been broken or help you remember yourself, but I can keep track of what you need to know. Though I will need my chip moved out of your armor slot and directly into your neural implant to be most effective.”
“You’ll remember for me?” Caboose asked in confusion.
“Basically yes, if you would like me to.”
Caboose paused for a long moment, making Delta a little concerned that he had overstepped his boundaries. Before he could begin to retract the statement, Caboose darted forward, enveloping the fragment into a bearhug that Delta was fairly sure shouldn’t have been physically possible. But as the surprise faded, Delta found he didn’t exactly mind the contact. Touch wasn’t something AIs were supposed to experience but, this was nice.
“Thank you, Delta!” Caboose exclaimed, eventually setting Delta down so his feet were back on the ground. “Thank you so much!”
“It is the least I can do,” Delta said with a nod. He wasn’t sure how long he would be able to help his host for, not with the Meta trying so desperately to get his hands on him. But it felt good to be able to do something for him that made the man so happy.
The fact he was finally using Delta’s proper name didn’t go unnoticed.