This Never Happens To Me

“This… Isn’t what we expected.” Well that didn’t help. They weren’t always the best at predictions; they were very much in-the-moment type AIs, and that kind of bugged her sometimes. Carolina would focus on York, though, as he had been the most recent to speak and she had an answer for him, and not a confusing jumble of emotions.

“It was.. mom’s name… Not to.. to be feared.” Her voice was slightly off, a bit slow, perhaps, as she said things she probably shouldn’t be saying but didn’t care enough to hide. Somebody deserved answers. Somehow. And she wasn’t about to get hers, she could tell, they were too apprehensive, and she felt like any second she could slip back to sleep.

After all, they wouldn’t really be here because of he and her, would they? Tex glowered a little before taking a step back and folding her arms across her chest, staring at York for a moment before jerking her head towards the teal Freelancer. She wouldn’t be the one to break the news to Carolina, because honestly, this wasn’t any of her business—well, it was, but she hadn’t been the exact cause for what had happened. 

He took a deep breath, moving slightly on the edge of Carolina's bed, uncomfortably, with an edge of nervousness. Heaven forbid if the Director found out - they couldn't have children on the Mother of Invention, nevermind in a secret project that no one knew about.

Don’t say goodbye. If you don’t say goodbye you aren’t really gone.

She knew it. She had talked to Epsilon about it. There were a lot of things like that - impressions her mother had left on her life over time. She couldn’t help but feel a bit… Awkward, sometimes. About Epsilon’s residual feelings about her not-mother. About how everything seemed to loop back to Tex in one way or another.

But now wasn’t about that. She was going to visit her… Her family, of sorts. Her adopted family. Because she didn’t actually have any real family left. These guys were all she had. All she ever had. All she’d ever have again, as far as she knew, what with York dead, and her parents, and her sister… Even her AI were dead. Destroyed. Destroyed with a small part of her mind still attached.

With a small part that held everything that had, before the project, kept her together.

It was a wound still healing, but it was well on its way.

“Hey York.” She made a small head movement in his direction as a secondary acknowledgment. Perhaps she ought to get out of here, avoid causing any problems for when Carolina got back. She didn’t know how similar her old leader was at the moment, to her old self, they had managed to avoid talking about that in her few days there. They had actually done very little talking at all, and it may have drawn out a little more tension.

Before he managed to catch sight of any reaction, however, there was a voice and the sound of footsteps approaching them, drawing Washington’s attention. Head turning, his gaze rested on York stepping over to join them. Pretty helpful timing, actually—he’d been planning to go after the other man next, to bring him back and keep him put until Carolina showed up. Which, really, would be any time now, so the fact that York was there now was much more helpful than Wash let on with the curt nod he offered in response.

His head moved back to look at Wash as the question came his way. He gave a light shrug and leaned against a nearby rock, completely oblivious to the approaching aqua armored figure behind him. Boy, would that be a surprise when the time came. "I went over to Red Base to make sure nobody was dead. They managed to destroy their Warthog, so I did what I could to try and fix it, but they wanted to rebuild some robot called Lopez. Dunno how far they've got with that, I left a few moments before they started. But hey, if we hear a loud explosion, we know what happened."

Not that he wanted it to kill them. Annoying as the Simulation Troopers could be sometimes, they were generally quite a funny bunch of people. There were worse men to meet, anyway.

She was so soar. Everywhere hurt, everything felt heavy and leaden, and anything outside of herself was so distant, so far away… She felt like she was in a long tunnel, where she knew there were others there - she could hear them - but she couldn’t do anything about it. She felt the odd temptation to hide, to let them go past, to make them leave her alone. Why couldn’t they be quiet? Was that so much to ask?

But there were a couple others. Closer, more friendly. They wanted her to come out. It was okay, they said. She’d be all right. She felt like a child, hiding behind their parent’s legs to avoid meeting the strangers. But they were friendly. They weren’t strangers. Were they? No, no they weren’t. They were friends. She knew them. She would see them soon. She’d be awake, she’d see them. They were friends.

Agents. That was right. She was Agent South Carolina - but everybody just called her Carolina. Nobody knew North Carolina, because North Carolina had died before training. North Carolina… Ashley…

Images of her younger sister flashed through her mind, the blond haired child having been a prominent part of Carolina’s past, but they were quickly suppressed. The AI in her head knew how painful that kind of memory could be. They knew how much it hurt to love a sister, a family member. They knew how much it hurt to dwell on happiness that was long past. So they blocked it, continuing to gently urge her awake.

There was something important she had to find out, they said. They couldn’t tell her, the doctor had to, they said. It would be better that way, they said.

It was quite the struggle, but after a while, Carolina’s groggy form shifted ever so slightly, her eyes opening to a swimming world of color, of confusion. What was going on…? Right. Texas. She had lost. To Texas. Yes, Texas was good. But she was only good because she was misremembered. She was idealized in memory and thus her incarnation, too, was idealized. How could she fight against the idealized subject of her father’s love? How could she fight against a woman that would steal her father’s mind?

She would never win. But Texas would never beat her. Her eyes opened wider, and a scowl formed on her face as memory returned, bit by bit. She was a very, very unhappy person, and usually didn’t wake up quietly. She started to sit up, though, and an intense wave of nausea and exhaustion swam through her - not entirely injury related.

“What’s going on?” She was seriously concerned. She had been sedated; that had to be. She could feel the pain, but it was separate from her, and she was so tired… Why had they…?

I can’t did that. Tex seethes, fists curling. She was angry at herself for snapping at Carolina—ashamed of herself. But now all she could hope for was that the woman would wake up soon. Then, maybe, Tex could go forward, apologize, and… try to explain what was happening. When the doctors had told her what had happened, she’d nearly dropped in shock, had had to go out and breathe, think alone. But… this was inevitable, she supposed. 

She was still furious at herself. But at least Carolina was alright, and so was—

Her eyes snapped to the right when she noticed movement in the bed, and Tex immediately pushed herself off the wall and gently nudged people to the side. Her helmet was still off, and green eyes met blue for a moment. Tex’s shoulders slumped. She was finally awake. 

“Carolina—” She tried to start, moving forward a little. Now was not the time to get choked up. Now was not the time to show her vulnerable side to all the rest of the people in the room. 

He just needed to talk to her, and maybe Tex too. Whilst they were both here, maybe he could be some kind of mediator. He could settle their differences and get them to get along with each other... Actually, that was pretty unlikely.

But hey, it never hurt to try-

His head raised as he heard Carolina's voice. York stopped his pacing and headed over quietly, sitting down in one of the nearby chairs. He let Tex say her piece first, before he stepped in as well.

"I think I'm the sorriest here." He mumbled quietly, moving his hand to gently lay across that of the redhead's. "But... I don't know if you remember, but the AIs went crazy when the Director mentioned... a name. I'm not gonna repeat it in case it happens again."