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© MADI

SUITE
HEART

A sudden new voice filled her ears, and the white feline found herself drawn forward. The voice demanded respect. That and the issues it was discussing were what drew her forward. Something about a base? She wondered if it would be anything like the bunkers Bastille had built, but considering it was out in the middle of nowhere, she figured it was far from it. The bunkers were for all of the Ascendants to use. This "base" seemed very secluded. Curiosity got the better of her as it always did, and as quickly as she could, Suiteheart was headed for the scene.

She arrived just short of hearing everyone speak. The tension in there air was not a good sign, however. Her blue gaze drifted towards Carolina, and she arched an eyebrow skyward. She had never seen her before. "The hell's going on?" she asked, but her voice didn't contain the same undertones the trio that proceeded her head. She just wanted to know what was happening. The bits and pieces her brain had collected on her way over were not enough to fill in the gaps in her mind.

"Who's she?" the white feline questioned, motioning with her head towards Carolina as she came to a halt beside Roy. She carried herself like a solider, similar to Washington. The new female must have been somehow connected to him - and, in turn, connected to Caboose and Church. Speaking of, her eyes found them, momentarily, before returning to Carolina.

© [color=black]MADI

He was a patient guy. He had always been patient because one needed to be in stressful situations given circumstances of war. They needed to be prepared for a lot in a short amount of time facing extinction. Such as what a clan would have to do if another group wanted to wipe them out entirely. It was certainly stressful to deal with, but being a soldier meant that it was easier just to follow the orders that were given instead of going against them. Going against orders was means for punishment that was for damn sure. However, not being able to complete an order usually wasn't dealt with all that much punishment. Having someone as a commanding officer be disappointed in not being able to complete something was almost the same feeling as disappointing a parent. Failure wasn't an option when it came to high stakes situations. They were soldiers, and everything seemed to ride on their shoulders all of the time to get anything done. They always were going to need a base of operations os that they would be able to convene with one another in case of emergencies. And it would also end up being a place that was actually secure for them to sleep as sleeping in a community area wasn't good enough for the likes of Freelancers.

Although, they usually slept separately from one another, keeping limited contact with one another despite being considered to be a family with one another. It had been how they were trained, although considering he had been in the UNSC first in his military career, meant that he was sleeping in barracks with several other males. It was kind of a cramped space because they weren't really able to afford much, but it did what it needed to do. Washington himself had slept in pretty awful conditions over the years, sometimes just opting to sleep on the ground when they were off base and couldn't make it back in time. There were, of course, watches that needed to be conducted so that they just didn't die in their sleep. Over time, practically being conditioned to, one could easily become a light sleeper and wake up at the slightest noise or even a touch. They needed to be. They often slept with weapons underneath their pillows, and there were plenty of instances that they would have to listen to others suddenly wake up from a nightmare. Often times screaming. Washington had gotten used to the screams a long time ago. One had to if they wanted to make any sort of progress.

But there were those that couldn't handle it and would try to quit the military. Some of them did manage to get themselves out, while some were stuck where they were. Signing one's life over to the military meant that you didn't get really a choice on whether or not you wanted to leave or stay. You were stuck, and the only way out was usually either being medically discharged or simply killed. There were no in-betweens unless someone had connections in the UNSC. Washington didn't, but he had never wanted to leave the military. He had willingly drafted himself into the military himself, and he wasn't going to go back on a decision that he finally made for once. He was doing this for his sisters. He was doing this for his mother. He was doing it for the entirety of the human race. He had always been level headed and could handle stressful situations. It was the only way one could even climb up the ranks in the military. Cracking under pressure that they were due to become a liability. Which had only happened once when he was in Project Freelancer, and that had been with the jetpacks when they were trying to outrun a nuke. He had heard stories of Georgia and how the other Freelancer had probably died using them wrong. The rest of Alpha squad had made it to the ship that they were trying to get away on, but Wash was at the end of the pack not knowing what to really do.

It was Carolina that came to the rescue with her grappling gun, shooting him with it so that she could pull him onto the ship. And then the nuke went off. They were all lucky to survive. There had only been a couple of reasons why Washington had managed to deal with the civilians that lived here. The former human knew what they were capable of doing and knew that half the time they weren't going to manage to help him. Washington wasn't one to really snap at anyone, especially during his time in Project Freelancer. He knew his place like the good soldier that he was. But now he had his limits. There was only so much he could handle stressful situations now with his corrupted mind. Something that he had never wanted to happen to himself but he just wasn't that lucky. The armored smilodon knew that there were bound to be a couple problems with Carolina being around. But it had honestly been a relief to the male that she was around in the first place. She was something familiar and also someone that he had known for years before everything went to shit. Washington hadn't questioned anything when he followed the leopard to wherever they were going. His gold gaze constantly flickering in his helmet as he felt exhausted even more than he had been when he first went out on patrol today. He nearly had an episode when everyone started arguing with one another.

He had managed to stop it before anyone probably got suspicious or even really noticed. That's what he hoped at least. Agent Washington noticed the direction that they were headed, and he had mapped out the territory himself in his mind. That was the first thing he did when he landed, and that was to gather up as much intel about the outpost as much as he could. Both Church and Caboose were walking between him and Carolina, a position that most soldiers did when they were protecting cargo in the middle of them. A simple strategy that had stuck with him a long time ago. He brought up the rear to make sure that nothing else was going to happen. When she stopped in the forest to address them, Washington stood tall like he usually did when being addressed by someone. A confused facial expression spread across his facial features. The wildcat wasn't exactly sure how they were going to establish a base here. He believed it would have been a better idea just to go into the Observatory and make a more concrete plan to build a base as they didn't have any sort of materials.

He didn't have any sort of Freelancer equipment or armor enhancements either. He twitched the tip of his shortened tail but would wait till the end to ask questions. Washington gave a hesitant nod of his head before immediately replying to what she said at the end. "Sync." Standard procedure. That's all it was. Now he could ask his questions. "Boss with the current equipment we have, it will basically be impossible to cut down any trees. I suggest a change of action of establishing a temporary shelter in the Observatory so we get a better idea of what materials we will end up needing." He knew that there was a chance that she wouldn't like his suggestion. But he wasn't saying it out of disrespect. Considering how wound up she was, there was definitely a possible chance. And then basically all hell went loose. Washington had been about to address Caboose when the other had said that he had no idea what they were doing. Not surprising to the simulation trooper. They all came in order, and they would do nothing more than to make the situation worse than it already was. First, it was Bastille, who had gone immediately into THREATENING Carolina right off the bat. What the fuck? Voices that weren't his own started to play in his head.

Maybe because of his connection with Episolon he was a little bit protective of her, but that didn't make it fair that Bastille was threatening other's now. Roy came in next to agree, then a face he didn't know and Suiteheart, someone that he hoped would help figure out the situation with him because she seemed level-headed enough. But the arguing. Knowing exactly where all of this was going to go was stressful. Just like it had been just a couple minutes ago when he had nearly broken down and fallen onto the ground. His breathing started to quicken in his helmet, and his claws started to flex in the ground. His head craned into the side, and familiar images passed in front of his face. His jaw was parted in his helmet as it started to become a little bit too difficult to breathe. He was supposed to be the one that remained. He was supposed to be the one that helped situations cool down in a hard situation. But he wasn't the same anymore. Those bastards manipulated him. It was all because of them. And everyone here was not HELPING. A vicious shake of his head before a growl escaped his jaws.

"WOULD EVERYONE JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP AND ACTUALLY LISTEN INSTEAD OF JUST SAYING WITHOUT EVEN TAKING IN THE SITUATION AT HAND?" He screamed. More like shouted in the middle of everyone. He was furious. He was upset. He was UNSTABLE. His head shook again before he addressed the one that had pissed him off the most. If he hadn't had his helmet on, one would see exactly how furious it was. He sure as hell hoped he had managed to make everything come to a stop. Bastille. "You. You're being hypocritical. I don't think you understand what the title of a member even means to the likes of us. Being a member means someone that helps a considerable amount, and actually does SOMETHING. We haven't done ANYTHING! So by our definition, we aren't members but it seems like by your definition we are because we are staying here. Our definitions got crossed! And we haven't threatened anyone else here. Carolina had only attacked me because she KNEW who I was! I knew what to expect from HER. I haven't done anything to make you think I will hurt any of you here, and now you're saying that you're going to potentially kill someone because of a simple misunderstanding?! Sir, I suggest you rethink what the hell you think you're doing when you understand the entirety of the situation that I'M trying to fucking fix here!" He was livid.

He was most definitely going to regret that is for sure, but right now his mind was too corrupted and clouded to be thinking clearly. Then he turned to the rest of everyone else that was here, going to address them all as a whole. "We aren't here to fight have you not noticed that yet?! We don't know what we are and we are only trying to get back to being humans and we have no means of mendling with whatever you have going on! This is Agent Carolina. She is like me and is simply following the PROTOCOL that we have been given and have been burned into our brain to follow. We don't even know what the hell we're even doing half of the time so we are going back on what is familiar to us and what we can RELY on that will guarantee that we get results. We've been here a maximum amount of a couple weeks, and Carolina had been here for a DAY and all of you are now at our throats because one misunderstanding that has no threat to you because I am here. She is my teammate. We protected each other from where we were from and we worked as a team.

So can we all just come to a fucking agreement before I fucking put myself into a coma so I don't have to deal with this bullshit?!" He was out of breath, but despite that, he also wasn't done talking. His head then slowly turned to Carolina this time though, a heavy sigh escaping his jaws, at least what air he could expel considering that he was almost hyperventilating. "You know I will follow you. But we need to stop and think of what our limits are. This isn't going to be the right way to go about it. We need to think of it like we are taking shelter in a civilian city that has one building. Once we come to an agreement we can think of another place to store all of our gear." Agent Washington's voice wasn't shouting like he had been in the beginning. But now he was completely drained. He didn't know what he said would have pissed him off, but maybe his complete mental breakdown would be enough to show that all of them gathered here were not OKAY. His heavy breathing could easily be heard through his helmet and his legs were shaking. He hated this. It was all because of the fucking project. Agent Washington nearly lost his balance simply standing up, and so to keep himself from falling, he sat himself down, heavily, and just simply looked at his paws. Ready to have whatever happened to him thrown at his face. "speech"

SUITE
HEART

Well, fuck. This was the part where everything went to shit.

Washington exploded. Suiteheart's ears flew backward at the sudden onslaught of shouts and harsh-toned words. The rage and fury and confusion that rolled off of him struck a cord within her. She was prone to outbursts like that when tensions were high and her hours of sleep were low. When she was a child, it had been so bad that her parents stopped dealing with it. She had grown bitter and even angrier. And everything spiraled out of control. She inhaled slowly as those memories rose to the forefront of her mind. Worse yet, Griffin, the firestorm, was also at the front of her thoughts. That version of herself had never been able to control her emotions. She had ultimately killed everyone she loved in an accident with her powers. The memory caused a pang of sadness to rip through her heart.

"Washington," she began, voice calm, "take a second to-" She was cut off as he began again. Her eyes shifted to Bastilleprisoner as Washington referred to him as a hypocrite. She wondered if her Seraph would take the bait and lash out in return or if he'd simply face the situation with apathy in tow. Well, regardless of his actions, she was more concerned with Washington. His voice was hoarse from screaming, and his tone sounded hurt.

She remained silent, choosing to listen to Washington's words and then respond fully at the end. From the look and sound of it, he was running out of steam. Worry edged its way into her azure stare. The armored creature did not look well. His breathing was all over the place, and he was trembling. Instinctively, she took a step forward, but Carolina beat her to Washington's side. Suite steadied herself then, flicking an ear as Carolina spoke.

"God, everyone hold on for just a fucking second," she called. Everything had happened so quickly that her head was spinning. Wash's outburst had practically given her whiplash. She knew the poor guy was hurting - that much was obvious -, but she knew his screaming would not be taken lightly by Bast or Roy or even Genny. She let a frown traipse across her pink lips.

"You both might not think you're members of the Ascendants, but guess what? You are. I'm sorry if neither of you like it, but it's true. Whether you want to admit it or not, Washington, you're around. A lot. And I'm sure Carolina will be the same. The both of you help more than you realize too." The definition of a "member" was someone that belonged to a group, and as far as she was concerned, Washington and Carolina were their members. "If you guys didn't want to be here and actually didn't consider yourself members, you'd have left by now. There are plenty of unclaimed lands nearby that you could have moved to, but you didn't. You decided to stay. Why?"

She flicked her tail, motioning to Bastille. "And don't be too mad at him. You can't blame him for wanting to protect our home... even if he has an odd way of doing it," she added. Starrynight had left the whole of the Ascendants in Bastille's paws. She knew Bast'd be dammed if anything were to happen to it. 

"Carolina, Washington needs to get checked out by Warringkingdoms or Radeken," the Ecliptic Admiral meowed, concern lacing its way into her tone. The smilodon needed looking after, and she wasn't sure Carolina had the knowledge or the means to take care of him. He needed poppy seeds or thyme and probably coltsfoot for his breathing. He didn't need to be carted off by Carolina, even if that was probably what he wanted.

© [color=black]MADI

He wasn't always like this. In fact he had been the complete opposite. He didn't snap toward other's no matter had bad of a situation always was. That's because he knew yelling in a stressful situation wasn't going to help anything. The male knew that speaking calmly during an argument was the best way to get through to someone. Raising someone's voice against a superior was just asking for something bad to happen. The only other time that Washington had raised his voice to anyone would have been against the person that had court-martialled him in the first place. It was difficult to agree with because he knew the officer was in the wrong and he wanted to tell him that he was. So he did. Right to his face. He knew that he was already going to be kicked out of the military and wasn't going to bother holding anything back. Especially when he spoke the truth to the fellow soldier. He yelled at him about how no one in the squad had any care for each other's lives except for him and that their officer was willing to just let them die like lab rats to maybe open a way to get past the enemy. But there hadn't been any sort of guarantee and they were going to be pinned down. The best in Washington's mind at the time had just been to try and retreat so that they wouldn't get their entire platoon killed all for nothing.

It would have been a difficult decision and he hoped that their commanding officer at the time so that it was futile for them to go anywhere. Instead, the commanding officer did the exact opposite. Washington had looked at him like he was the dumbest guy in the world. Did he really believe that they were going to win this? This wasn't some type of damn game that they were going through right now. This was a serious situation that needs to actually have a strategic method to get them out alive. Washington looked toward the rest of the soldiers that had fear in their lives. They were more than willing to die for the human race, but what they weren't willing to die for was for nothing. The Corporal knew that he was going to have to do something and do something quick before they were all killed. So, he took his sidearm and shock the commanding officer in the leg. Making sure not to shoot him where he would lose too much blood. He wasn't if anyone had seen him do it, but the commanding officer knew exactly who had shot him. Washington couldn't give two shits as he was going to be saving the entire platoons life and they were going to fight for another day.

The soldier dragged the commanding officer and now that the higher ranked officer wasn't capable of dishing out orders, that means that Washington was the next in command. And just to make sure that the bastard wasn't going to try and argue with him, Washington made sure to knock his lights out. One swift punch was all that it would end up taking, and from there he gave orders to the platoon. He wasn't an idiot, and they all didn't try to run at once. They went one at a time providing covering fire for everyone so that the aliens would be focused on them and not focus on the runners. Washington told the man glaring down at him the exact same story. He saved lives that day. And if he hadn't then the commanding officer would have killed them all. Washington didn't even bother to try and listen to what the man had to say about the supplies that they lost and the outpost that was basically given away. Washington didn't give a shit, and that had been the first time in a long time that the soldier had actually been pissed. His time during Project Freelancer had been completely different. Time together meant that faith had time to go so that that they wouldn't have to question everything that they did. There were couple Freelancer's that wouldn't follow an order from someone like Carolina, like the one time Wyoming refused an order to move up when they were being shot with gattling guns.

Which Washington didn't really blame the sniper for really choosing to do so, he probably would have done the same. But other than that, everyone followed what they were told to do, and that made Washington's job a lot easier to do because they would give clear instructions that he would have to follow. There had only been one traitor in the organization though, and that had been after they had gone after CT. He didn't think Connie would have started to betray him, but he guessed that everyone in the project had secrets that they wanted to keep hidden. Having basically nothing left, Washington didn't have anything about him to hide. No one talked about their personal life, because they didn't need to. There was no reason when they were all about the job and the task at hand in protecting the human race. Until everything decided to go to shit and everyone had to choose one side or the other. Washington still had no idea which side everyone ended up deciding to choose because he didn't get a chance. Stuck in the infirmary during the entire fight amongst themselves, the Freelancer was stuck trying to figure out how to stop the memories flashing in front of his face.

All Washington knew was that Texas had attacked the ship for some reason, and that everyone either went to go and stop her or simply help her in her task. He had no idea if any of the Freelancer's ended up killing one another. Part of him hoped not, while the other part of him didn't really care. He would be wary of them no matter what happened. But because of what happened with the ending of the project, it just meant that he was going to have been changed. He was bitter. He was paranoid. He was quick to snap toward others depending on his mood. He no longer cracked jokes or made someone laugh just for the fun of it. He wasn't like that anymore, and it was a side of him that Carolina had yet to see since she had arrived here. He almost felt sorry for showing his true colors of what happened now when he came under stress. Stressful situations were what they were GOOD at. It was their damn job. For him to crumble under a small amount of pressure that was basically just everyone arguing back and forth? There had to be something that was wrong with him. The armored smilodon kept his head looking down at the ground. HIs eyes were closed as he was focusing on his breathing. He couldn't pass out here. He REFUSED to.

The extinct animal managed to slow his breathing, although it could still be heard slightly. Part of him wanted to let out the pent-up frustration that he had. Which with almost every Freelancer meant attacking something. But he was far too damn tired to even do anything remotely violent at the moment. Carolina was the one to speak first, and he held his breath waiting for the female's reaction. When her tone of voice was different than what he had anticipated being, he opened his eyes and turned his helmet to look at the female. He noticed the way she looked defeated. They were both tired. They just wanted to get back home. Was that even the word to say it? What would they even do once they finally got back? The Mother of Invention was gone. A place they called home for a year over year. Now wasn't the time though to think of a future that may never come. She was agreeing with them. He wasn't going to deny the fact that he was tired. He truly was. The work schedule he had given himself not exactly healthy in any regard. She was willing to talk with Bast, and that was enough to be said. He didn't care if the commanding officer agreed with it or not. "Thanks, Boss" Washington would say with a soft breathy sigh. Thanks.

A word that he hadn't said in a very very long time. It felt strange saying it again. Like it didn't fit. Carolina moved closer to him, and he didn't move as she approached, as if knowing that she wasn't going to try to hurt him. Which she obviously wasn't. She nudged him, and he immediately knew what that meant without question. The Freelancer grunted as he got himself up onto his paws. His head hung a little bit lower than it should, and he craned it to the side until he heard a pop. Letting out another sigh because the popping of his neck relieved some pain that had been developing on the base of his skull. Washington looked down at Washington and distributed his weight accordingly. He wasn't going to fall that was for damn sure. And like he had predicted, Suite seemed to be of some help with the four of them trying to figure out how they were going to deal with this situation. His helmet turned toward the white domestic's direction. From the look on her face, she certainly hadn't expected that. Then the topic of what a member was, was brought up again. And this time it made sense as to why they were freaking out the entire time.

A member being someone that just lived here. Didn't sound all that resourceful to Washington, but he wasn't about to start arguing back. "Didn't say we didn't like it. I guess we're members then, although the term still sounds odd to say." Washington would say more calmly. He had finally caught his breath and wasn't panting anymore. He was going to listen to what Suite had to say of course as now that he wasn't exerting any energy he should be fine. In theory. At the mention that they would have left if they didn't consider themselves members they would have done it already. Washington shrugged his shoulders as it made sense to him why he hadn't left. "You guys have information that needs in order to get the lay of the land. We'd be walking blindly if we left a place like this. Besides, you guys have shelter which means we wouldn't have to acquire resources to recover." Washington explained in the usual soldier tone that he came up with. It made perfect sense to Washington, it was basically protocol. He hadn't had enough energy landing here to be able to make his own base, which he probably wouldn't either as it made it easier to get answers to his questions if he was in the base of this outpost already.

At the mention of Bastille, Washington would let out a snot. "Then tell him to get his facts straight before threatening to kill my teammate." Washington would point out, some venom in his voice, but one couldn't blame the broken man. He was trying his best here to be neutral between the two parties despite agreeing with everything that Carolina said. The next names that were spoken though confused him. He didn't know who they were, but yet she was saying that he should get checked out. Were they medics? Hell no. He wasn't going to let them anywhere near him, and the way his posture tensed seemed to show that. The last time he had been anywhere near someone that was trying to 'help' him, it had destroyed his mind and been the most painful experience that he had gone through. That only happened a couple weeks ago. He wasn't about to trust any doctors, medics, or whatever they just had after the failed implantation. "I'm fine. I don't need to be checked out by everyone I just need some sleep is all. And not having everyone constantly at each other's throats would also help." His last sentence wasn't directed toward Carolina. She had some form of selt control, it was the other's that were around them though he was talking about. Agent Washington was stubborn though. He was just tired. That's all anyone needed to know. "speech"