#because i am fucking Rotating an idea about epsilon in my mind right now

[robotnuts]

thinking about washchurch. need to talk to someone more intelligent with me about washchurch. 

[renaroo]

Recovery None (52/61)

Disclaimer: Red vs Blue and related characters are the property of Rooster Teeth. Warnings: Language, Canon-typically violence, Psychological torture & manipulation, Mentions of gore, Character death, Minor Sexual content Pairings: Yorkalina, Chex Rating: T Synopsis: [Canon Divergence AU] When the Mother of Invention crashed, Project Freelancer was in shambles, its surviving agents scattered, its equipment stolen, and an impending investigation into the crash from the UNSC was on the horizon. To regain control of the deeply corrupted program, the Director established a new unit from his remaining supplies – the Recovery Unit.

Three former Freelancers were chosen for particular tasks: Zero is to hunt down and destroy the Meta, One is to investigate and recover stolen or missing equipment, and Two is to take down AWOL former agents.

Of course, no one’s motivations are what they seem…

A/N: EVERYTHING’S COMING TOGETHER. almost. Sort of. You’ll see what I mean : ) 

Special thanks to @secretlystephaniebrown, @icefrozenover, @washingtonstub, @freshzombiewriter, @scribbleboxfox, @notatroll7, DuchessPoint, Yin, @every-survival, and Minerva  for the feedback!

Recovery Zero XVI: Within Reach

She found herself asking, more than once, why were they doing this. And while normally that would have been a rhetorical and even hysterical question to ask, Carolina was still getting accustomed to the idea that her mind -- and thus, those answers, were no longer simply her own. 

“I thought it was pretty clear why we were doing this,” Epsilon spoke up, looking at her from over her shoulder. 

“Covert, Epsilon. We’re doing covert surveillance,” Carolina reminded him in a snappish whisper. 

She shifted from her squatted position -- still far behind the compound and in the snowy banks. It was unlikely that these soldiers -- all simulation troopers from the looks of them -- were going to catch onto them any time soon. But she still hadn’t had any sights on Wyoming. 

And he was the one that she was concerned about. 

Which, again, made this entire operation, once again, questionable. 

Epsilon pouted, so much as an artificial intelligence could. “I’m just saying, I thought we were doing it to help your friend--”

“Texas is not my friend,” Carolina corrected. 

“You should probably tell her that, then, because she sure as hell seems to be putting a whole lot of trust in you guys. I mean. Even York was kinda more prone to questioning than--”

“Don’t bring up York,” Carolina warned dangerously, her eyes focused on her AI for extra emphasis. It worked and Epsilon fell back slightly, shoulders of his sprite lifted high. “Don’t bring up York while we’re doing this dumb mission you’re so excited about. And especially don’t bring up York around her.”

“She doesn’t like York?” Epsilon asked curiously.

“They were... I don’t know. They were friends,” Carolina spat out, looking back to the fortress in the snow and making sure to count the seconds between patrols. 

They were inconsistent -- disorganized. 

That could work in their favor. Or it could work against them -- Carolina was not a fan of unpredictability, after all. 

“So we’re not allowed to be friends with Texas,” Epsilon pushed for more information, as if their brain was not a two way street and Carolina understood exactly what his angle was.

Letting out a growl, Carolina snapped back, “Why do you care?”

“Hey, I’m just trying to make sure we’re on the same page here, Cee. Trying to make sure I understand all the rules. Being a good partner. Making your life easier and all that stuff a good AI partner is supposed to, calm down,” Epsilon said with a shrug.

Rolling her eyes somewhat petulantly, Carolina shook her own head. “You have far from made my life any easier, Epsilon.”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed. Which means I deserve some leniency for at least trying, right?” he asked. 

“No,” Carolina said. “Okay, there’s no patterns in the rotations but we’ve at least got a count on the soldiers.”

“And at least five options for a plan of attack,” Epsilon said just as five different maps loaded across Carolina’s HUD. 

“What?” she said, glancing over them.

“Trying that whole making your life easier thing, being an AI and whatnot,” Epsilon said, a flicker of greenish-blue across his projection.

“You’re doing it again,” Carolina said, pausing. “The green projection. It’s--”

“It’s not really Delta,” Epsilon admitted somewhat sheepishly. “But... I miss him. And he helps me think.”

“You split,” Carolina said quietly.

“No,” Epsilon said quickly. “I just... I need to do things. Things to make all the... all the different parts of me make sense. I need voices to talk back to -- in my own time. I need them the way you need me.”

“Isn’t it dangerous?” Carolina asked lowly. “I don’t want you breaking up bits of my brain. It gives me enough challenges intact.”

“I know, I live in there,” Epsilon attempted to joke back. But when Carolina didn’t laugh with his pause, Epsilon sighed and hugged his shoulders. “I would never hurt you, Cee.”

“Not on purpose,” Carolina said softly. 

“Not ever,” Epsilon argued, so ignorant of his own history still. “Which is why, even though Tex is a hot piece of circuit breakers, I’m totally respecting your nonsensical hatred of her and not going to ask her to exchange binary.”

Nose curling beneath her helmet, Carolina stunted a shutter. “I don’t even fully comprehend what you were suggesting and I’m disgusted. Have higher standards.”

“Well, I mean, it’s not like anyone can beat you in a fair fight, right?” Epsilon joked. “I have to lower a bit.”

All humor escaping her, Carolina selected one of the attack plans Epsilon had singled out and then began to quietly move back toward where the ship was hidden. “Tex beat me.”

“Oh, so I do have remarkable standards,” Epsilon said.

Letting out a furious growl, Carolina threw her fist into the nearest rock facing, snow shifting above them, nearly threatening to blow all their cover. 

Fortunately for them, the simulation troopers patrolling not only didn’t see them, but managed to look in the wrong direction and start blaming each other for the commotion. 

Wyoming’s hiring policies must have been pretty subpar. 

“Whoa!” Epsilon cried out, appearing in front of Carolina’s face. “Would you calm down? You’re going to get us found out! You’re going to get yourself killed!”

“And what does that matter to you, Epsilon?” Carolina snarled. “What’s that matter to anyone? What am I at the end of the day to anyone compared to her? Why do people either leave and never come back or decide I’ll never be good enough? Why is no one on my side!?”

“Hey!” Epsilon said, voice stronger than Carolina had ever heard it. He stood his ground, sprite bright in front of her. “I’m on your side. I’m always on your side.”

She was ready to discount the cold comfort of his words, to spit back out the first retort that came to mind, but instead she found herself staring at Epsilon with a slackened jaw. He was part of her, part of her mind, and she could feel the meaning of his words stronger than even she had felt Eta and Iota. 

He meant it. Epsilon really meant it.

“I just don’t think me being on your side has to mean we’re against everyone else,” Epsilon explained. “C’mon, Cee. You’re a team leader. You know how to play nice with people. And I like Tex. I think she’s what we need to get to the bottom of this. She’s another AI, and I don’t have Delta -- well, the real Delta -- to coach me anymore, right? Maybe this is all... I don’t know. The way things work out.”

"Don’t say something stupid,” Carolina warned, glaring at her AI. “Don’t tell me that everything’s meant to happen or--”

“Hell, no,” Epsilon said. “Bad shit happens all the time and makes no sense. I don’t remember much, but I know that. It’s written into my code. But... I think things happen, and you use ‘em or lose ‘em. Right?”

Carolina tilted her head, a bit in awe of the AI. She huffed then continued sneaking them back to the ship. “When did you get so intellectual, Epsilon?”

“Hey, when you’re a nonstop working computer brain, I figure intellect’s about the only thing you got,” he said self-depreciatingly. “So I won’t get cozy with Tex.”

“And I won’t threaten to kill her,” Carolina agreed. “But it’s hard.”

“Hey! Promises,” Epsilon responded cheekily just as they entered the ship. He glanced toward Tex and Niner then flickered off, almost obediently. 

Though, Carolina had some suspicion it had to do with the uncomfortable way Tex leered at him every time he made his presence known. 

“What’ve you got?” Niner broke the ice impatiently. 

“A plan of action, if Tex can coordinate and work fast as a team,” Carolina said accusingly, ignoring the internal groaning from Epsilon. When Tex tilted her head and crossed her arms, Carolina let out her own sigh of aggravation and put her hands on her hips. “Look, we can do this. I’ll even have Epsilon send over the specs for it. But I’ve worked with teams before. You haven’t. I don’t know how well you’ll take orders.”

“I won’t,” Tex said clearly. 

“Well, fantastic. Great start,” Carolina snapped, throwing up her hands. “You know, I don’t even know why we agreed to get this far--”

“Okay, Carolina, hold on a second,” Niner said. “Now, seriously, both of you cut the shit. I’m not your nanny. I’m your getaway driver. And neither of you are much use to me if you put a blemish on my record by not getting away alive. You going to fuck with my record, ladies?”

"No, ma’am,” both Carolina and Texas said in unison. 

“Good,” Niner huffed, rolling her chair toward the command computers in the cockpit again. “I’ll run correspondence on a private line from in here. And I’ll know exactly which one of you hotheads blows our plan through doing so. So don’t test me.”

Nodding, Carolina responded with a simple, “Thanks, Niner.” She then turned to head out the door again only to walk into Tex who had somehow managed to sneak up behind her. “What--”

“Before we go, we’ve got to deal with your signal transmission,” Tex announced sternly.

Immediately filled with defensiveness, Epsilon appeared over Carolina’s shoulder. “Hey! I’ve been covering my butt since the second we got here--”

“Not your signal,” Tex snapped and then nodded to Carolina. “Hers. It’s radiating like a goddamn beacon.”

“What are you talking about?” Carolina asked before realization hit her. She waved to her armor’s chest. “My Recovery beacon? That’s more masked than any equipment you’ve probably got on you. And, what’s more, no one outside of this ship... this ship and one other person knows about it. It can’t be traced without being known about.”

She gritted her teeth, fully prepared to defend not telling Tex just who the other person was, but it fortunately did not come down to that. 

“Really? Then how do I know about it?” Tex demanded. 

Carolina audibly snapped her mouth closed at the question, realizing that the argument was not going in her favor thus far. “I don’t know, you’re a smart AI. You probably began scanning for it after realizing I was alive. What do you want? A cookie?”

“I want you to mask the signal,” Tex said simply. “If I found it on accident, how long do you think it’ll take the combined forces of Gamma and Omega to find it once guards start turning up missing or being found dead?” 

A terse silence took over between them.

Epsilon looked back and forth before awkwardly forcing a cough. “Well, I mean, there is a point there, Cee.”

Carolina visibly hesitated. Those thoughts of York itched at the back of her mind like a bad memory, always just under the surface, and trying to dig their way back out to the surface. 

It was something... it was something unfinished.

And her memories were even longer than Epsilon’s, it seemed. 

“I was supposed to leave them on for someone,” she defended the beacon.

“Would that someone want you dead?” Tex asked crudely. “Because that’s the options we’re looking at right now, Carolina.”

Squaring her jaw, Carolina huffed and looked to Epsilon’s sprite.

“Can you turn off my Recovery beacon?” she asked, as if she didn’t already know the answer.

“Consider it done,” Epsilon answered before flickering off.

“Good,” Tex said, finally moving out the door. “Let’s do this... leader.”

Carolina scowled and followed.

As much as he hated to do it, York knew he had to pace himself -- take breaks and rest, even if he didn’t even fully sleep while he did so. Those injuries weren’t nothing and the fact that his suit’s power was still at least partially diverted to his healing unit meant even worse. 

He couldn’t go nonstop, but he did keep going.

It hadn’t made a lot of sense to him back when Carolina originally did it -- when she gave him the way to track her beacon while removing his. At first it was just a sign of trust, the kind of sign they needed to move forward with whatever they were to each other. 

But as he had no one to think with but himself, he found himself reflecting on that choice more and more.

It wasn’t simply that she needed to have his trust. She was trusting him, as well. And she was doing that by giving him the option of going with the hopes that he wouldn’t.

Laying back under the bushes he had himself and his vehicle in, York realized how dumb -- how stupid -- he was to have broken that trust. 

“Man, what an asshole,” York muttered to himself. 

He then paused, waiting. 

His brain felt numb, even deflated, as the familiar hum never came. As the opportunity to berate him in good humor was not taken up by the empty space. 

Chewing on his lip, York pulled up Delta’s audio file again, to help just pretend his brain was still full of facts and logic and the partnership he couldn’t even begin to put into words. 

The last few times York was able to get anything resembling sleep, it was in the middle of Delta’s departure video. York had just about every word of it memorized. 

He didn’t have the mind for numbers and theories that Delta had -- never even tried keeping up with the AI. And why would he? Delta had it covered. 

But more and more York was taking comfort in memorizing. In remembering things, details, just to keep his mind running. 

As long as he did that, it didn’t feel so empty anymore. 

Once the recording ended, York ready to drift into semiconsciousness and then, hopefully, sleep, he instinctively pulled up the coordinates of Carolina’s Recovery beacon. 

Figuring out the miles between them -- simple math, math he could do alone -- was another small comfort. 

Except he didn’t find that comfort. 

In shock, York sat up ramrod straight, nearly making himself dizzy and nauseous with it. But he ignored the vertigo, ignored the pain of injuries jarred by his movements. 

Ignored it all and stared, mortified, at the update to his HUD. 

Carolina’s beacon was no longer on the grid. 

“What the fuck?” he said out loud, pulling up his last log of it, comparing, getting confused. 

Did she not want him to find her now? Did something happen to her? Was she captured?

York didn’t know, but he was about to find out. 

Completely awake and with adrenaline rushing through him, York leaped up and moved toward his mongoose and readied to drive in the direction of Carolina’s last beacon transmission when everything changed.

He heard the aircraft before he saw it. He looked up, recognizing the markings on the wings as the vehicle flew low overhead and toward the opposite direction. 

"What the hell,” he muttered. “Charon Industries? That... can’t be a coincidence.”

It could have been, of course. York nearly waited to hear the statistical possibility that the rival institute would be on the Freelancer controlled planet. After all, Tex had showed him that they weren’t Insurrectionists after all, as horrifying as that realization had been.

But there was no little voice muttering probabilities in the corner of his mind. There was only dullness where a hum had once resonated. 

And the only one second guessing York was himself. Something he had never been that great at. 

“Well, let’s see how deep this rabbit hole goes,” York decided, turning the mongoose and heading after the ship.

Carolina had to hand it to Epsilon, the AI could actually make quite the plan of attack. 

The fortress, while heavily guarded, was still guarded by complete morons. The sorts of flunkies which Project Freelancer managed to turn into simulation troopers were not chosen without reason. 

While Tex flanked right, Carolina flanked left. 

She easily moved silently through the soldiers. One moment, Epsilon would have her armor’s color change from red to blue as necessary and she sneaked past guards only to silently take them out from behind. 

It was covert operations, it was her specialty. And Carolina was almost able to lull herself into simply rolling with the motions. 

At least, until she was backing up and hit against something invisible.

“Hey!” Tex growled at the same time as Carolina turned with her gun aimed and yelled, “Hey!” herself. 

Tex dropped her active camo and they stared at each other for a moment, guns up. 

Epsilon appeared over Carolina’s shoulder and looked back and forth between them. “Ladies...”

“I took out twelve,” Carolina announced. “If you were able to take out the same amount there’s still three more guards--”

“Nope, I actually took out fifteen,” Tex said. “We’re covered.

“What?” Carolina hissed, dropping her gun and looking incredulously at Epsilon. “Epsilon!”

“What?” he called out. “What’d I do?”

“You gave her the side with the most soldiers?” Carolina growled.

“What’s it matter? I took them all out. Now we have to go for Wyoming,” Tex grunted. 

“I didn’t mean to! I mean, maybe. It’s not what you think--” Epsilon attempted to defend himself just before there was a revving of an engine. “Oh what the fuck is going on now!?”

Just as the words left Epsilon, the doors behind Tex and Carolina burst open beneath the wheels of a warthog flying through the air, landing front wheels first, and driving directly into Tex, giving Carolina time to move only thanks to her speedboost. 

TEX!!! Epsilon all but screamed in her mind, causing Carolina to go into a full body flinch.

“Epsilon!" she hissed, sliding to a standing position away from the ongoing collision. It was enough to make the AI stop screaming and get back into full attention, turning his projection off and turning her armor color to a deep red to blend into the surroundings. 

The collision between Tex and the warthog continued, her caught on the grill before it smacked into the opposing wall. She let out a grunt, but otherwise reacted rather inhumanly to being pinned. 

Carolina nearly leaped forward to begin to help, but she paused in her tracks. 

She had known they were going after Wyoming, but seeing him there, in the seat, alive and well, was chilling. Unexpected somehow. 

They had been hunting teammates. Just like she had supposed to have been hunting Maine. Even if it was, in her mind, always about following him to the Director. 

Wyoming didn’t seem to hold any of those qualms. 

“Well well, look who abandoned her mates to follow me. I’m flattered, of course, but you’ll pardon me for not acting surprised, Tex,” Wyoming said calmly before looking  back toward the door and where two simulation troopers were laying on the ground. “And it seems you’ve killed my two best guards. Oh bugger.”

“Oops,” Tex gritted out. “Sorry ‘bout that.”

“Perish the thought, my dear. Tomorrow is pay day. You actually saved me quite a bit of money. Kill anyone else and I might have to start paying you commission,” Wyoming joked.

Tex did’t waste time, though. “Where is he!?”

Wyoming sighed. “Oh, right. And here I thought you were spending all this time trying to get close to me. Tisk tisk.”

“Cut the shit!” Tex roared. “Where is he?”

“Yes, he asks about you, too, Tex,” Wyoming said cryptically. “It’s almost as if you two are on the same mind.”

“That’s not funny,” Tex snapped.

“Sorry, but I can’t play matchmaker today, I’m entirely too busy,” Wyoming announced. “Seems there’s an Alpha that’s still missing its Omega.”

“Don’t you DARE!” Tex roared like some kind of caged animal, clawing at the hood of the warthog that was doing its level best to crush her into the concrete wall. Said wall cracked behind her armor. 

“Alpha?” Carolina asked. “Epsilon, which one’s--”

Suddenly, there was a primal scream. It tore through her mind, ripping through her like tissue paper. Harmonious screams behind her eyeballs, ripping through her very soul.

It was rage and it was fear. It was heartache, it was anger. It was a memory of who was and who wasn’t anymore.

They came rippling through her mind, leaving Carolina with so little control to stop herself. 

Crying out along with Epsilon, Carolina reached up and grabbed at the edges of her helmet, shaking her whole body back and forth in an effort to regain control.

The visions, the familiar faces, the names, the-- 

Sunshine--

“Carolina!” Tex yelled, barely heard through the cacophony within Carolina’s own skull.

Her eyes rolled back and her body dropped, her mind only casually hearing the sounds of a vehicle taking off. Hardly registering the the weightlessness of being picked up.

“It’s alright, I’ve got you, kiddo,” a familiar voice said through the blinding pain.

Carolina’s face was growing wet with tears as she held onto her helmet for dear life. 

“Mom?” she asked just before everything went black.

I’m sorry. They were right all along. What’s... what’s wrong with me? echoed through her skull into the dark. 

York played it safe. Maybe too safe. 

He wanted a simultaneous terrain readout and a scan of the frequencies nearby the landed ship. He also wanted to divert some power from the healing unit to run all the systems together.

With Delta, he would have barely had time to think of the requests before the AI would have been bickering about how displeased he was with diverting from the healing unit.

But, once again, Delta wasn’t there. 

Instead, York skipped the terrain readout, diverted more power from the healing unit than he probably should have, and then began manually skipping through the radio frequencies.

“This sucks,” York uttered in what had to be the world’s greatest understatement. 

After what felt like forever, he locked onto a weak signal -- a personal channel from a helmet radio. 

Perfect. 

“Because I don’t have anything else to do!” a familiar voice screamed over the crackling radio.

Immediately, York gritted his teeth. “South.”

“There’s a ship inbound for some piece of shit place called Blood Gulch. I’ll take the place of the people on that ship, it’ll work from there. It has to,” she said to whoever she was speaking to. She sounded hysterical, upset. York had a hard time feeling sympathetic. “Why? Because we don’t have any other options. This is it. This is the one. That was where he was heading. You saw it yourself.”

Dropping from the channel, York narrowed his eyes and moved back toward the mongoose. 

“I don’t know who’s heading to Blood Gulch, but I’m not letting South get there first,” he gritted out, setting his GPS. “Every time she’s a step ahead of us, it’s trouble. I’m done with letting it find us instead of them.”

He started up the mongoose and began the drive, ignoring how there was no us anymore.