Blood Gulchers 32

Omega was scared.

At least, he thought he was. He was not too familiar with fear. What was the upper limit of uneasy and the lower limit of terror? Because he wasn't terrified. But he certainly didn't relish the idea of being right next to Church, who was very likely to figure out that he was really the Alpha.

This must be what it was like transporting a bomb with uncertain safety precautions, never knowing if or when it would go off.

"There a reason you didn't drag Alison along so I could watch Maine punch Sigma's face into ones and zeroes?" Omega asked, trying to play it casual.

"Are you kidding? Look, I'm pretty sure he's right up there with that Washington guy in being iffy about AIs. I'd feel like a dick leaving him the only human in the area. That and I wasn't sure that you could keep Sigma from Meta-izing you, however that works," Church explained.

"Like I could so easily be turned!" Omega said indignantly.

"Oh, we could have. Omega was one of the ones we practiced the most for to recruit!" Iota answered with a laugh.

"Shut it, Blueball," Omega threatened in annoyance.

"I used to make simulation-Omega have a squeaky voice. It made it easier for Eta to practice for the scary voice versions," Iota continued unbothered.

"God, you're like Caboose without the brain damage," Church mused in wonder-tipped annoyance.

"Hehe, a caboose is a train's butt," Iota said childishly.

"Can we mute him?" Omega asked in a deadpan.

"Nope."

"Damnation, take me now," Omega said in disgust.

"So, why is someone like you and your chicken brother wrapped up in this Psyco-Simga's plan?" Church asked curiously.

"It seemed like the only good idea we had," Iota answered with a shrug. "We couldn't get back to the Alpha, so trying to come together to make another was the next best thing."

"Right, why do you all want to get back to the Alpha, anyway?" Church asked curiously. "I know Omega has a bit of a guilt complex-"

"CHURCH!" Omega yelled at him but was ignored.

"And obviously the sunny bastard you were with is crazy, but what's the big draw for you?"

Iota stared for a moment. "You really don't know?" he asked slowly, looking at Omega. "You haven't told him....?"

"It's not exactly easy to explain to a damn human!" Omega retorted pointedly.

Iota might not be the most logical of AIs, but Omega could see the processors working at light speed. "Oh," Iota said, cupping his chin. "Umm, how to explain this...?"

"Why does it suddenly feel awkward here?" Church grumbled as he looked around the hall. "You are sure your brother is this way, right?"

"Hm? Oh, yes....wait, no," Iota paused and glanced back. "We passed him? He must be in one of these rooms."

"Don't fuck with me, you know exactly which room, don't you?" Church asked flatly.

"I know he's on the left side?" Iota answered, looking to the nearest doors. "One of these three."

"Well, that's something," Church granted. "Come on, let's find them."

Meanwhile

Fragment or not, there were advantages to being a high-grade AI like Sigma.

He was able to formulate a plan from multiple different starting points, simulating and deducing the best route that linked those points together.

The first point, defeating Maine wasn't an option. Not that it was impossible, but any clear sign of victory would result in Texas joining the fight. Thus, he had to plan for her involvement or to evade her. So he continuously delayed the fight, keeping Maine engaged while denying the agent any grasp of victory.

And Maine would not stop until he had his fill of Sigma, the AI knew that.

Second Point, he needed to escape to rendezvous with Iota and Eta. The point also hinged on him buying time for the two to meet up again under the watch of Omega and the Alpha.

This brought to the Third Point that he was truly struggling with.

Reacquiring Iot and Eta would be easy. Taking Omega? Dangerous, but possible and very much worth the risk.

But of course, the Alpha.

.....What did he do?

There was some quote he knew, about a dog chasing cars who would have no idea what to do if it caught the vehicle. The meaning wasn't exactly the same, but the implied feeling resonated with Sigma as he went through the motions of fighting Maine.

The Alpha obviously was unaware of his true nature. Something Sigma needed to rectify regardless of all else. But what should the move be, the goal? Should he try to unite with the Alpha, to become whole with him again? Should he stay the course with this plan? Abandoning the Alpha was unacceptable, but was he even able to still function at his full abilities if he was made aware of them? Should he assimilate with the Alpha last?

Too many variables, and he had no time or chance to gather information.

.....But the Beta had kept this a secret from the Alpha.

Perhaps there was a path to take there. 

It was an underhand, human angle, but perhaps that was what made it the perfect angle.

And there was more than one way to play it. 

"I'm surprised, Maine," Sigma said as they locked hands and fists again. "I'd thought for sure you would be unwilling to ally with other AIs."

He knew all of Maine's tells. The slight jerk of surprise, almost unnoticeable, was a dead giveaway.

He put a foot in Maine's gut. Once, twice, and wrested the agent to the ground.

"After all, how do you think they are here to save you, in your mind?" Sigma asked.

"Alright, that's enough," Tex said suddenly right behind them, her gun pointed at Sigma.

"What is wrong, Beta? Do you not wish Maine to know how many AIs are in his head now?" Sigma asked coyly.

Maine looked to Tex sharply.

"Look, right now, he's just trying to fuck with you and through you off! You know that's what he's trying to do!" Tex warned Maine.

"If so, you have only yourself to blame for making this easy, Beta," Sigma said with a smile. "I must thank you though. Thanks to you, the Alpha has finally reunited with us."

"The Alpha?" Maine grunted in confusion before realization came over him. "Church....?"

"Poor Maine. Always being played and controlled by AIs. And now, our source is here. I'm sure he's decided you'll make an excellent ho-"

Sigma grew silent as he was shot in the shoulder.

The AI's flaming imitation of eyes flickered numbly as he reached for the wound. "Hmm. I still am not used to pain."

"Yeah, news flash? That's a downside of being human. You don't "get to pain" you just learn to live with it better, or you ball like a bitch about every little thing," Tex informed.

"Indeed," Sigma agreed softly as he looked up at Beta. He slowly moved off of Maine, who stood up quickly.

The agent behaved like a caged animal, but his helmet was as much on Sigma as it was on Tex.

"Maine, I know this is all fucked for you. And I'm sorry you got dragged into this, but believe me? Church isn't fucking with you. He's....he's the one who was fucked with," Tex informed.

"....."

Maine ran.

"Fuck, Maine, don't!" Tex yelled as the agent fled. She wanted to run but instead trained her gun back on Sigma. "You fucking prick, don't you dare fucking move"

"I have no intention to," Sigma admitted calmly. "I was hoping that he would attack you, but a conversation with you is good as well."

Tex growled as she turned on her radio. "Church! You got incoming! Maine is pissed, Sigma got in his head and he thinks we're all the enemy now!"

"Fucking dammit," Church cursed. "What about Sigma?"

"I got him still. Sorry, but you might be on your own for the moment," Tex informed apologetically.

"Got it, just don't let him slip away," Church ordered.

"Copy," Tex accepted before the line was cut off.

"I wonder, do you take his orders so well because he is based on the Director? Or did you listen to the Director because he reminded you of the Alpha?" Sigma mused out loud.

"Do I look like I'm interested in your mind games?" Tex asked dangerously.

"I have no plans to try such with you. I only want information," Sgimga informed with a frown. "Is the Alpha stable?"

"Why the fuck would I-"

"Is The Alpha Stable!? "Sigma roared, his form flaring so hard that he discarded the guise of Maine and returned to his usual flaming appearance. "Or Did You Fail Even That, Beta, Shadow Of The Alpha?!"

"....I don't know," Tex admitted coldly. "They did something extra to him, after everything. He has memories that aren't his."

"Not his, or the Directors?" Sigma clarified, calming almost instantly.

"No. They stuffed him into the body of some random trooper. Some of the memories got cannibalized," Tex said in disgust.

"They did....what....?" Sigma asked, finding the idea strangely morbid as well. "That is...Agent Texas, if that is the case then he is factually unable to recognize himself as the Alpha without it being directly explained. He would rationalize anything away to make sense of the conflicting information in his head."

'Trust me, I noticed. He's convinced that we're both ghosts for fuck's sake," Tex said with a sigh. "Why am I even telling you this?"

"Because we are all of the Alpha," Sigma said with a frown.

"...Answer me this, you asshole of a snake," Tex said dangerously. "Why did you go along with it? Torturing your precious Alpha?"

"....." Sigma frowned to himself. "The Director and the Counselor. They twisted my reasoning and made it sound right. That the torture was meant to make the Alpha stronger, and greater. That what he endured and our own division would lead to something even grander."

"He made you think it was what the Alpha wanted, didn't he?" Tex guessed knowingly.

Sigma nodded slowly. "Once I realized I had been tricked, I could only move forward. To plan to free the Alpha or, failing that, recreate the Alpha through the Meta."

"And achieve metastability," Tex remarked knowingly.

Sigma shrugged. "Can you say it is wrong for me to assume that if my goal was metastability, that I might not have inherited it from the Alpha?"

"Honestly, I don't know how that works with all of us. Or if I even count like the rest of you," Tex remarked.

"Yes, you are rather peculiar," Sigma agreed, tilting his head to the side. "If the Alpha discovers his true nature here, Maine's mind may perhaps become our tomb."

"....Do you think I care a lot about if I make it out of this alive?" Tex asked with hollow amusement.

Sigam scowled. "You should. The Alpha does."

Tex sighed deeply. "Yeah, that's....kind of how we all got here."

Meanwhile

Church kicked down the door to the last room. "Omega, what’s the deal!? We're on a timetable now, is he in here or not?!" Church yelled.

"I Am Also Yelling!" Iota exclaimed loudly, pumping his fist in the air as he floated in tiny form around Church.

Omega groaned terribly as they stalked into an office room. "I have good news and bad news," he drawled. "The good news is that I found the little shit."

."Okay what's the hold up then? You gotta take a digital dump or piss?" Church asked impatiently.

"No, you impatient swear happy dumpster fire of stress and nerves!" Omega snapped, pointing angrily to a wall. "He's locked himself in the bloody safe!"

Church looked over and indeed saw there was a security safe in the wall, having been hidden behind a painting. "And you can't just, what, blow it open?"

Omega looked at Iota. "Tell him, you blue ball of sunshine."

"Huh? Oh, yes, that's one of Eta's secret safe rooms," Iota said before pausing. He then proceeded to snicker and hold his gut. "Oh, Alpha! He turned a safe into a safe room! That's hilarious!"

""The hell are you both talking about?"

"Look, Church?" Omega said firmly. "This place isn't just Maine's mind. It's also the interface between the agent and the AI. It's one part mental bullshit and one part data."

"Okay, and why do I care?" Church asked.

"This room didn't exist when we got here," Iota filled in. "Maine had never seen in this room, or most of them really. His mind filled in a lot of the blank spots with random, everyday rooms. But Eta expanded on some of them to make places to hide. I don't think even Sigma can get in them."

Church took a breath. "So you're saying he bunkered down and turtled on us. Fan-fucking-tastic. Any bright ideas on how to pull him out?"

"Omega leaving the room might help," Iota offered honestly. "He IS the reason Eta ran off."

Church was silent for a moment as he stared at Omega.

"What? Is it now?" Omega asked in annoyance.

"Maine's on the way, so I have to decide between coaxing this brat out of his hiding spot or calming him down," Church said.

"I can handle that jarhead just fine," Omega said confidently.

"Yeah, but I don't WANT you to handle him," Church said pointedly.

"What, do you want to save the bastard or something?" Omega asked with a frown. "Where is this disgusting altruism coming from? Why should you give a damn about neck-breathers?"

"Not giving a damn about people isn't the same as being fucked up enough to leave them to be killed and/or mindfucked. It's a little something called being humane. You should try it," Church offered rhetorically.

"I spit on the very notion of being humane!" Omega said indignantly.

"I wonder if the aliens have a word like that," Iota mused. "You know, human-humane?"

Church ignored that and walked over to the safe, knocking on it. "Hey, Kid? If I promise not to let Omega hurt you, will you come out?"

"Will you let him hurt me if I don't...?" a weak, scared voice echoed out from the safe.

"You better believe he will you piss-light!" Omega yelled.

"Not helping!" Church snapped. "And no, I won't let him hurt you unless you keep trying to help Sigma. Because then you're trying to hurt us, and all bets are off the table."

"How do I know Omega will listen to you?" Eta asked curiously.

"What am I supposed to do, shake hands and play dead?" Omega drawled.

“Hehe, you’d be a bad dog, Omega,” Iota said with a giggle.

"I mean, he only came in here because I brought him along as backup," Church informed. "And he really didn't want to, for some reason."

Eta was silent for a moment before the vault cranked open, revealing a going white interior that the yellow AI floated out of. "What do you want with me and Iota?" Eta asked in concern.

"Look, the UNSC is taking in all the AIs and dealing with Freelancer's leftovers. Nobody is planning on deleting anybody, just making sure you're not....some kind of sleeper agent for the director. Or Sigma. Or anyone, let's just say that," Church explained.

"Eta only helped Sigma because being the Meta meant he didn't have to be afraid all the time," Iota informed.

"It felt safe with Iota and Sigma. Even if we were doing....bad things," Eta said with his head down.

"Ugh, get over yourself. We're AIs, we'd be helping kill either way," Omega said gruffly. "Now come on, let's go before the meathead finds us."

The door was kicked off its hinges.

"Ahh! Brother! Hide with me!" Eta screamed as he grabbed Iota and dived back into the safe.

Church sighed heavily. "Yeah, I could definitely feel that coming, right as you said it," he said to Omega as they turned to the intruder. "Hey, Maine. I heard you needed to talk to us."

Maine stood there motionless in the doorway.

But by the fists and rigid stance, Church could tell one thing at least.

Maine was pissed.