Agent York | Taylor Murray (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
goddamngrenades) wrote2013-12-02 03:34 am
goddamngrenades) wrote2013-12-02 03:34 am
Voicemail
You have reached the voice mail system of FOXTROT 12.
When you are finished recording, just hang up or press pound for more options.
To request a locksmith, press one.
To hear these options in Spanish, press dos.
To send a verbal confirmation of a written command, press three.
To send a written confirmation of a verbal command, press four.
For delivery options, press five.
To page this person, press six.
To locate your nearest operator, press seven.
To leave a call back number, press eight.
To repeat this message, press nine.
Press zero for other options.
To mark this message as urgent, press eleven.
Thank you for calling, have a nice day.
BEEP
Day 114, afternoon, text
Day 114, afternoon, text
[Because texting during a conversation is rude, but at the same time, Delta doesn't want to let the opportunity pass.]
Day 114, afternoon, text
action?
He waits for York to come in and closes the door. Not to keep Malcolm out, really, but because what hes remembering now gets into some personally uncomfortable material.]
To begin with, I apologize for my behavior earlier. It was not my intention to make you reconsider inviting North to move in.
action
What was that about? I know you were on your own or with someone else for a year after I died but- you don't talk about it.
action
After your armor shut down, protocol dictated that I was to be destroyed. [That much wasn't a secret - it had been essential to the war effort that an AI not fall into enemy hands. So how was it he had been around for another year after? Delta's finally able to talk about it, though he's a little unwilling. Even so, it's important enough to make the effort.]
I was not. Instead, I was reactivated by Agent Washington, who explained that I was simply encrypted until I could be recovered. I offered to implant in him, but he declined. [For obvious reasons. And then he'd tried to make Wash delete him, but Wash hadn't been game.] I learned that four other Freelancers had been killed and their equipment taken in the past several weeks, and the next site we visited was that of an attack on North and South.
[He pauses, not sure if North (or Wash, when he'd been here) had talked about this yet.]
action
But Delta needs to let it out- and he needs to know. ]
After what happened to Wash and Epsilon, I'm not surprised... [ A beat. ] North mentioned the attack. A firefight with Maine.
[ His arm goes tight around Delta's shoulders and he's quiet for a long moment, blinking at the far wall. ]
...he doesn't make it, does he?
action
By the time Wash and I arrived, he as already gone and Theta was taken. South was unconscious but not severly injured. They had been attacked by the Meta.
[And he has a pretty good idea York could fill in the blanks from there, at least as far as the Meta is concerned. Even so, he pauses a moment before continuing, and when he does so it's in a flat, emotionless voice.]
In order to obtain more information, Wash set up an encounter with the intention of ambushing the Meta with himself and South working together. Because I was vulnerable, he asked South to implant me. Shortly after doing so, she shot Agent Washington in the back and left him for dead, as bait to the Meta in order to delay him. Her aim had only been to acquire an AI and she proceeded to go AWOL. I later learned she had set up the encounter with North in a similar manner.
action
[ He flinches to hear it all the same. That North was gone. That he hadn't made it. That MAINE had been twisted so much that he'd kill his friends, his family, just for more AI fragments. That Delta was stuck with Sigma and the twins they never got to know.
That poor kid.
Delta keeps on and York's stomach only goes more sour. If he'd been more careful, if he'd taken a clearer shot, if he'd just stayed HIDDEN maybe-
Maybe nothing.
And South left her brother to die. And ran off with Delta. ]
That's why you feel like you have to be useful. You were stuck with her, AWOL, for god knows how long.
action
For over a year, at the end of which she decided to divert the Meta by leaving me as bait while she made her escape.
[Delta exhales slowly. He hadn't even liked South at that point, and it had still hurt. Still, he gets a little more inflection in his voice when he continues.]
Fortunately, the battle was interrupted by Agent Washington, who had recovered, and two simulation soldiers. They managed to drive off the Meta. South was injured in the confrontation; Wash moved me to one of the simulation soldiers as South succumbed to her wounds. [...And the less said about that the better, unless someone really wants to pry.]
Interestingly, I determined that the other simulation trooper, who introduced himself as Private Leonard Church, was ignorant of his true identity as the Alpha. It was not long after that I awakened here.
action
[ He could ask more. Might, even, but right now getting that odd tone out of his voice was more important. York bundles Delta closer still if at all possible- if he didn't like being hauled into York's lap now would be the time to say something because what the fuck. South-
What happened to her? What made THAT an appropriate reaction?
The last time they'd been here neither of them had known. And now... The tidbit about the alpha caught his attention. Held it for a moment before he lets it go. ]
Delta- you know I'm never leaving you behind again, right? Ever. Not if I can help it.
action
He does let himself be gathered up against York, though, and he doesn't respond to the words right away. No, of course York would never intentionally abandon him. That' the whole reason Delta's still here.]
In conclusion, if Agent South appears, I do not wish to have anything to do with her.
[He'd seen the inside of her mind, after all, and everything else being equal? He'd been happier with Caboose.]
action
[ You don't just abandon family. You don't fucking GIVE the enemy what they want just for a few hours. You don't shoot your friends, either.
And no one, no fucking one ever fucking disrespects or endangers Delta while he's breathing. But that's just it, isn't it? He wasn't. Not then.
His arms go tight around Delta for a moment, hard enough to be uncomfortable before he catches himself and loosens the embrace. ]
Sorry, buddy. I'm just-
action
After York looses his grip, Delta shakes his head and looks at him, finally meeting York's eyes again.] You have nothing to apologize for, York. Nothing.
[He lets out a short huff.] But perhaps you can understand why I felt some awkwardness around North.
action
[ Do they have a right to tell him? They should. It's family, it's blood, and North should know just in case she ever appears. Just so he'll understand why the rest of them want nothing to do with her. ]
You should tell him.
[ York won't. It's not his to tell. It's just his to know and to work around and, christ, no wonder Delta's been so withdrawn. York smooths a hand through his hair and rests their foreheads together for a moment. It's nothing like being in each other's heads but it's close. ]
But it's up to you, alright? Whatever you want to do, whoever you feel safe with or don't- that's up to you. And you know I don't give a damn if you're useful or not, you're my friend, my partner, and I love you, D.
[ It's hard to explain in other words. There's nothing in english to really explain what they are to each other. But maybe now that Delta's got a human brain and a human body he'll understand a little bit better? Maybe. ]
Nothing'll ever change that.
action
I cannot tell him yet. [It's barely above a whisper. Hell, he'd only just now told York, and he trusts York more than he's ever trusted anyone else.] Eventually, if you think it best, I will try, but it is too difficult presently.
[There's a tiny part of him that doubts York's words, even so, but he tells it to go silence itself because it is not helping. Instead, he takes a couple more deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself. York is here, he's not going anywhere, and besides, he's too terrible of a liar to sound this convincing about something he's not sincere about. That, more than anything else really, helps Delta calm down, to try to accept hat York's saying.]
Thank you, Taylor.
[Just that. Enough to acknowledge the words and add emphasis to the fact that he was listening. Maybe he can't say the same in return--he may never truly be able to, as emotion isn't and never has been something he's comfortable expressing, but if he can accept it that's as good as he's going to be able to do.]
action
It's not the same as he felt for Clair. Not what he'd felt for his family, but it's there.
That Delta responds with his name- not his designation? It's more than enough to have him pulling back with a smile. They're fine. They'll be okay. They'll get through this. ]
I'm here for you, D. Always.
[ He's a shit liar, he's always been a shit liar, but a fair actor and a fantastic infiltration specialist. He only holds a few things to be true since the project ended. That he will do anything for Delta, that he keeps his people safe, and that he'll be cold and dead in the ground before anyone ever makes Delta feel like this again. ]