*CLANK*

The moment the door fell over, Tucker launched himself forward and kicked the door back into the hallway, knocking over several of the Charon soldiers. After seeing the large force outside he took cover to the side of the doorway and the rest of the reds and blues opened fire, mowing down the front ranks of the enemies. "MWUAHAHAHA, DIE YOU PATHETIC WEAKLINGS!" yelled O'Malley, who was enjoying the opportunity to engage in wanton slaughter.

"Target eliminated. Target eliminated. Target eliminated" Freckles repeated the same words over and over as Caboose fired burst after burst into the enemy ranks. Each hit founds its mark flawlessly, striking down an enemy with each burst.

Ok time to see what this suit can do, Tucker thought to himself. "Church, hey Church, what can we do with this suit?' There was short pause before an AI flashed in front of him, but it was not the one he was expecting, instead it was an AI glowing green.

"Hello Tucker, I must ask that you remain calm while I explain," it said to him, "I am a fragment of the AI unit Epsilon, my name is Delta."

Tucker was confused for a moment before responding. "Wait, what do you mean fragment? Where's Church?"

"Epsilon had to take drastic measures to ensure that all of you would have a chance at surviving. He left us behind to-"

"Hold on a second, what do you mean us? And what drastic measures are you talking about?" Then he looked around and saw everything had stopped, bullets were hovering in the air, soldiers were standing still, and nothing was moving. "Why is everything stopped?"

"One of the fragments is operating the time distortion unit so that we may carry out this conversation without interruption."

"How many of you are there?" Tucker asked.

As if to answer his question another AI unit flashed up, this one darker, and familiar somehow in a way that made him feel uneasy.

"Hello weakling."

In that moment Tucker recognized the voice and memories of years past came rushing back. "Omega!? What the hell are you doing here, they said you got fried with Alpha and the rest of the AI's!?"

Delta spoke up again, "If you would allow me to explain I can-"

"No!" Tucker yelled, "No more explaining, just tell me what happened to Church!"

Delta hesitated for a moment, it wasn't that the question was particularly difficult for him, but he knew that Tucker would not handle the answer well. "He's gone Tucker." There was a small pause before Tucker responded to the statement.

"What do you mean gone?"

"As he was, Epsilon was unable to run all the systems in this suit that would be required to guarantee the maximum chance of survival. In order to ensure that you would not fail, he deconstructed himself into fragments to run the suit's various systems. We are those fragments."

Then another AI popped up, a light blue human looking AI, not like Church though, but something different.

"Hurry up, it's difficult to maintain the time distortion unit." Said the AI in a robotic voice that Tucker knew in the same fashion as Omega.

"Gamma!? Damn it, first Omega and now Gamma, how the hell am I supposed to trust any of you!?"

Then yet another AI popped up, this one a mixture of red and blue colors. Well fuck, now what, Tucker thought. "What now!?"

"Uh….. um… I um…." This AI sounded much gentler than the others, almost like a child even.

Tucker saw this one was different, his voice sounded like a child, nervous and afraid. He realized that this one was probably different from the others. "Sorry, but you haven't exactly caught me at the best time."

"Oh uh, OK." He said, still sounding shaky.

"What's your name?"

"Theta."

"And what do you do Theta?"

"I uh… well I can make shields."

Huh, he's a weird little guy, but he doesn't seem too bad.

Then another one popped up, this one appearing to be covered in fire.

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Tucker." he said. "You may call me Sigma."

Something about this particular AI gave him the creeps, but with everything going on he decided he'd deal with it later.

"OK, before we move on are there any more of you guys I need to know about?"

"There are two remaining fragments," Delta said, "Eta and Iota."

As if on cue, two more little lights popped up, one a golden color and another the same color as Tucker's armor. "Ready to get to work." They said in unison.

Tucker stood there taking it all in for what seemed like an eternity, he was trying to understand why Church had done this, was it really that necessary. Surely there had to be some other way, and leaving them with Gamma and Omega didn't seem like helping to him, and he didn't know these other AI. Sure, he had heard about them from the stories that he'd been told about how Washington and the reds and blues had chased down the Meta, but he didn't know them. More importantly he didn't know if he could trust them. Before he could put more thought to it, Gamma interrupted in his usual monotone voice. "The time distortion unit will not hold much longer, you must prepare to fight."

Well fuckberries, OK I'll sort it out later. "OK, what are our options guys?"

Delta was the first to speak. "I would suggest activating the speed enhancement unit to increase the effectiveness of your melee combat."

"Ok, let's start with that then, but this conversation isn't over."

"We will explain everything to the best of our ability once the objective is completed." Delta said as the time distortion unit deactivated and Tucker took off running full speed with the suit giving him a boost forward. Delta guided him, telling him when to adjust and when to turn, and within moments he had cleared half the hallway.

"Shoot him! SHOOT HIM!" came a cry from the far end of the hallway. But before the rest of them could react, he vanished.

"Wh-where did he go?" One of them stuttered, afraid he would be next in the pile of bodies littering the hallway.

Then the one in charge spoke up, "Eye's peeled men, he's here somewh-", but before he could finish his statement, he was cut in half by a flash of light. Seeing this, the rest of the soldiers panicked and began to flee, afraid of the unseen enemy that was slaughtering them left and right. After a few moments, all of the soldiers had either run or died, and the reds and blues caught up to Tucker in the hallway.

"Dude that was awesome!" Grif said, but Tucker didn't hear him. He was more focused on what Delta had told him, Church was gone, and this time there there was no chance of getting him back. He felt angry, enraged, and in that moment he decided that there was one more thing he had to do before they left this ship. He started off walking swiftly, then picking up into a running pace, and before he knew it he had nearly caught up to the soldiers who were running away. He began to cut through their ranks as they were running in terror, but kept count of how many were left. He didn't know this ship, and know that F.I.L.S.S. was being inhibited by Chairman Hargrove, he had to find out where the bridge was another way.

I only need one, he thought to himself.

At that same moment, Washington and Carolina were currently disembarking from the pelican they had flown up to the Staff of Charon.

"Stay here and keep the extraction point secure." Carolina said to Kimball.

"You got it, just don't take too long." She replied.

The two freelancers proceeded into the interweaving network of crisscrossed hallways, trying to establish communications on the way.

"Again come in, Church, Sarge, Tucker, anyone do you read me?" Washington was repeating into his radio. "Can anyone hear me?"

This time he received a response. "Washington? It's a good thing you're here," he immediately recognized the voice as Simmons, "Tucker's run off, we can't find him and he isn't responding when we try to radio him."

"Which way was he-" before Washington could finish his sentence, they ran into a wave of Hargrove's men, only they weren't trying to attack them, they were running away. Furthest away was a soldier who was leaning against the door he had just closed behind him, pausing to catch his breath. Wanting to know what was going on, Carolina walked closer, weapons drawn and pointed at the worn out soldier. "Where are they?" she asked in a very impatient tone.

Before the frightened man could answer, there was a large metal banging sound, corresponding with a now fist shaped dent protruding from the steel door.

"AAAAAAH! He's gonna kill me!" he said, running towards Washington and Carolina not seeming to be afraid of the angry freelancer pointing two loaded weapons at him. Fazed slightly by the series of dents being formed in the door in front of them, they didn't give much thought to him as he ran by.

"Carolina?" Washington asked.

"Yeah Wash?"

"I'm a little worried now."

Before she could reply, one final punch sent the door flying, and the two freelancers dodged narrowly as it flew by. What emerged from the doorway was not what they expected, and more importantly, not possible. Carolina prepared to attack, but then hesitated when she saw the color of his armor, it was the same color as hers. Only one other person she knew had that color armor. "…Tucker?"

Washington did a double take, looking at him, then back to Carolina, then back to him. "What? How did you…"

"I'll explain later, right now I need to get to the bridge." He turned to the direction the soldiers were running and was about to head off.

Carolina was surprised. "The bridge? But Church said you guys needed an extraction." Then she saw him pause when he was about to take off. Something's not right, she thought. Before she had the chance to ask, Tucker spoke up.

"Church is... he's not here anymore."

There was a long silence while Washington and Carolina tried to understand exactly what that meant. Washington was the first to speak up, "Not here? What do you mean, where is he?"

Tucker stood there for a few moments, and they could practically sense the anguish emanating from him. Then without facing them he spoke again, "Delta, go with them and tell them what happened, Gamma, run the speed unit." And before either of them could fully realize what was truly going on, he sped down the hallway and a moment later a green flash appeared before them. "Hello agent Carolina; agent Washington."

"Delta?" Washington asked.

"How are you here?" Carolina chimed in.

"I will explain on the way, but we must stop Tucker, he is in an emotionally unbalanced state and is liable to take actions of an extremely violent nature."

"What?" Carolina asked, confused.

"He wants to kill Hargrove," Washington guessed, "and I think I know why."