Chapter Text
“I think York is cheating,” he said, throwing his cards on the comforter in front of him.
Delta appeared in the air in front of York, “Could it be, Agent Washington, that you are just not skilled at this particular game?”
The other freelancers laughed at that, spurred on by the alcohol in their bellies while trying to stay quiet. York scoffed when he said, “ice cold, D.”
Wash only stared at the small green AI. For things that supposedly didn’t feel emotions, Delta sure seemed to love making fun of him.
Before he could properly respond, Theta, who was practicing tossing tiny fireworks into the air on the side of the bed, gasped and zipped past Wash and across the room, as far as he could get from North. Wash, York, North, and Delta watched him stop beside the wall. “Agent Washington!” Theta said, “Do you know any tricks?” he asked, pointing to the skateboard on the wall.
“Tricks?” Wash asked, turning away from the game to watch as Theta moved around the board, examining it the best he could.
Theta nodded beside the wall without looking up at Wash.
Wash looked at North for a split second, getting a little nod with a soft smile, and stood. “Do you want me to show you one?” He asked. It’ll do him good to focus on something other than the ticking of the clock on the wall.
Theta whipped back to near Wash’s shoulder, “Can you? Please?” The AI was practically bouncing as he spoke. He asked the way a child would have, amazed and curious.
“Sure.” Wash carefully kicked the board to the ground and stepped onto it.
“You don’t have a lotta room in here, Wash.” York said, kicking a dirty tee shirt across the room at him.
He caught it against his stomach, “I don’t need a lot of room, York.” Theta was watching him in anticipation.
The carpet and lack of space made it impossible for him to show the AI anything really cool, but maybe next time.
So something simple. He spaced his feet out a little more and let his toes hang off the board a bit. Without much warning, he bent down, jumping up and kicking down on the tail of the board and scooping forward so the board spun under him.
He brought his front foot down just in time to catch the board so it would land wheels-down and tried not to swing his arms around too ridiculously.
The skateboard wheels slammed against the thin carpet loudly, and Theta cheered. “That was awesome!” He said, clapping his hands, “Can you do it again?”
“Maybe later Theta,” North said with an endearing tone, “Don’t want anyone to break up the party too early.”
He was right.
It didn’t stop Theta from saying, “Aw, man.” And return to his spot on the edge of the bed beside North.
Wash’s procedure was tomorrow morning. Bright and early. He was supposed to be resting.
Instead, just after the last official training session had ended, North and York knocked on his bedroom door holding alcohol and pizza and a deck of cards. He wasn’t sure where they found it all on the Mother of Invention, but Wash was convinced it was all there specifically to torment him—he wasn’t allowed to have food or drink other than water until he woke up from the surgery tomorrow afternoon.
“Come on, Wash,” York said, bringing his attention back to the game at hand. “You in or what?” he said, tossing cards to his spot.
He kicked the skateboard up and leaned it back on the wall and returned to the game just in time for York to scoop up the deck and start playing again.
They played in relative silence for a little while longer, tossing coins and cards in the middle of Wash’s bed. The silent companionship was almost enough to make him completely relax for the first time since Carolina freaked out.
“You’re awfully quiet tonight, Wash.” North commented, tossing a few coins into the pot. “Are you nervous?”
“No.” His answer was too quick, too tense at North’s sudden question, he knew better than that. “I’m not nervous.” He said, forcing his voice to be calm.
They laughed, quietly, trying to stay quiet, and York scoffed a little “awww,”stretching out the word. “Little rookie’s nervous.”
That made them laugh louder, though North had the decency to try to stop laughing at Wash.
“ha ha.” Wash said, keeping the humor out of his voice completely. They were teasing, he knew that, but that didn’t mean it didn’t make his eye twitch a little.
It looked like York was going to say something else, but before the soldiers had even stopped chuckling at him, there was a light knock on the door. Three taps in quick succession.
Simultaneously, they all fell silent and looked at the door like they expected to be able to see who was on the other side.
When none of them said anything, the little taps came again, “Agent Washington,” said the calm voice. “May I come in?”
The two AI vanished and York nudged him, reminding him that he actually needed to answer the Counselor. “uh” he said, following the lead of the older soldiers as they stood, backs straight and hands at their sides, “come in.” he said.
Immediately, the door opened and the Counselor walked in Wash’s room. He was silent as he took in North, York, and the card game on the bed. “I hope you’re not eating any of that, Agent Washington.” He said, gesturing to the pizza box, empty, on the floor.
“No, sir.” He said, “No food, no nothing the night before the operation.” He recited it like he was reading it from a script that the doctor had given him.
“I’m glad to hear it.” The Counselor said, “Are you nervous about the operation tomorrow?” he was fishing for something and Wash didn’t know what.
“No. What’s there to be nervous of?”
“Not even after what happened with Agent Carolina?” The Counselor asked in his unnaturally calm voice.
Wash looked at the ground, “No. What happened with her was an unforeseen occurrence.” It was almost exactly what they had said after Carolina was stable in the med bay. Unforeseen complication of having two AI inside the human mind.
Wash was having a hard enough time not freaking out at one AI. He couldn’t imagine two.
“Good,” the Counselor said. “If you’re sure you’re alright, you really should get some rest, Agent Washington. You have a big day tomorrow.” He left, the door snapped shut behind him and all of the soldiers relaxed.
Before Wash could sit back down, North spoke, “You really should get some rest.” He gathered his small stack of coins and clapped Wash on the shoulder and opened the bedroom door, followed soon after by York.
York paused, though, right beside him. “You know you don’t have to go through with this, right?” he said slowly, putting a hand on Wash’s shoulder in what was probably supposed to be a supportive gesture.
It was just really condescending.
“I’m fine.” Wash said, shrugging his shoulders and shrugging off York’s hand. “There’s nothing to be worried about.”
York almost looked disappointed.
“Wait wait wait,” Theta said, appearing at North’s shoulder and jumping up and down like an excited child. “I wanted to show my new trick to Agent Washington.”
North smiled and pulled the door shut again. Theta whooped a little and turned to York and Wash. “Ok.” He said, more to himself than any of the soldiers. Then a tiny purple skateboard appeared at his side, floating along with him.
Theta carefully stepped on his board, steadying himself when the wheels moved and perfectly mimicked Wash’s trick that he showed to the AI, the skateboard landing in the air silently, just as Theta’s feet landed on the board.
Theta stumbled a little as he stepped off the board and kicked it up, just like Wash did. Theta took a little theatrical bow, and the board vanished from his grip as York clapped.
“That’s great, kiddo,” North said, still sounding impressed even though he’d probably seen little tricks from Theta dozens of times.
Wash nodded, “That’s awesome, Theta!”
Theta looked down, bashful at all the attention. “thanks. I worked really hard on it.”
If all the AI were as sweet as Theta or as smart as Delta, this operation wouldn’t have him nearly so worried.
North spoke up again, “We really should get going.”
Theta zipped back to North’s shoulder, “Good luck, Agent Washington.” He said in his bright and happy voice before vanishing.
With one last clap on the shoulder, York followed North out of the room. And he was alone.
Wash just sort of crumpled onto his bed like a puppet with his strings cut. He ran his hands through his hair, pulling the strands until it hurt a little. He’s really nervous.
Now that he’s all alone, it’s all he can think about.
Carolina was still in the Infirmary. She hadn’t woken up yet, and it’s been days since she screamed in that training room. He’d never heard her scream like that. Not once for any broken bone or the border-line torturous pain that she once went through when they were captured.
She hadn’t really screamed when they were torturing her. It was more of a groan that she held back until she could return their attacks and more.
But with those AI in her head, she screamed and it made Wash’s heart hurt for her.
He could almost feel the panic attack setting in.
Slowly, he gathered the cards strewn across his bed. They taught a class on how to deal with panic attacks. Things like breathing deeply and counting to ten, stuff like that.
It was about being captured in battle and not betraying freelancer secrets in a blind panic, but the lessons still apply.
Controlled breathing. He was never very good at that part. But focusing on something else? That’s always been easy.
He focused entirely on gathering those cards, slowly stacking them and setting them on the table. Then he gathered the coins and put them in the cloth bag he kept under the bed. He moved slowly as he pulled his blankets back and laid back, stretching his stiff muscles and letting the slight ache focus him away from the anxiety.
Wash was methodical and his heart beat slower by the minute. He was quickly becoming tired and the darkness seemed to be getting thicker.
He didn’t really notice when he fell asleep.