[table][tr][td][/td][td][/td][td][/td][/tr][/table]

(AYYYY YOU KNOW ME XD)

Freedom was a difficult topic for the likes of Washington. For the majority of his life, he didn't even know what freedom actually meant as he signed his life away when he joined the military. Some thought that when someone signed their life away to the military, it didn't actually mean that they were forced to live their life as military personnel forever. Well, they would be wrong. As soon as he signed that contract, it meant that they basically owned him and did whatever they could with him. They could break his bones and he wouldn't be able to argue about the techniques that they were using unless they were unethical. Washington was forced to get used to following orders instead of talking back like he was some sort of teenager. Having joined with the UNSC when he was only eighteen years of age. And it had been from that moment one that he would be with the UNSC anyway. He was broken like any new soldier would be.

His body and mind shaped into that of a soldier, one that would comply with orders without hesitance and disobedience. By making a soldier like this one, it meant that they didn't have to worry about losing my lives against those that were more independent from one another and had too much of an ego to know when not to fight against the orders that they were given. It had saved a decent amount of lives, but Washington still saw as the life drained around him as his comrades were killed one by one on missions if they didn't follow the orders that they were given. The only time he had broken that rule was the moment that he knew that his military career was over. Shooting his commanding officer so that he could allow the rest of his platoon to live and fight another day. Something that he believed had been the right thing to do at the time, but only for it to backfire when he was court-martialed.

Someone that spent a long time in the military for years wasn't going to change habits in a matter of days. He spent three years in the UNSC army fighting against the alien race that wanted them extinct. That many years being in a War wasn't something that could be erased that easily, and he knew that he couldn't go back to civilian life. There were too many images and memories that he had of the war that would stick with him for the rest of his life. He had to constantly keep himself on a schedule just to keep himself from going insane. It was once that he was taken up with Project Freelancer that Washington again had his freedom taken away from him. He followed the orders of the Director, having faith in the man that had started the program, and followed the orders that were usually given out by Carolina. He was the worst of the best after all and wasn't the type to really give out orders himself despite leading his own platoon during the War.

The way that Washington had been crafted however meant that making his own decisions without asking for permission was basically nonexistent. He always felt better when he had someone ordering him around, especially in his current state. It gave him something to work toward and something to complete that would give him some form of satisfaction that he was doing something right in the end. The Freelancer also was able to think a lot less with given orders instead of thinking about what he could possibly be doing right now to make his life easier and make it quicker for them to get home. In his current mental state, the less he had to think about, the better. It calmed his mind, even if it was just a little bit. Something that he wasn't readily going to admit to anyone that he did encounter. If he said that to someone that didn't know what it was like to be a soldier. To have their mind broken and put back together again like some sick experiment. They couldn't relate. Hence why he kept to himself. No one needed to know.

No one ever needed to know. Not even his comrade. It was better this way. It had to be. The Freelancer watched the way that the other male interacted with those that were around. Taking note of the way he seemed interested in the way that others interacted with each other and how they were talking to him. However, he wasn't going to psychoanalyze the guy, as it wasn't someone that he knew and therefore it wasn't his job and his problem with what he wanted with this outpost. Right now he had his orders, and he wasn't doing them at the moment because he needed to do his daily patrols to make sure that he wasn't missing anything while he was walking around. Considering that Carolina appeared without any armor on her body meant that there was a chance that there would be another Freelancer that didn't have armor and he wouldn't have any way of identifying them until they began to speak. Difficult yes, but he could manage as it wasn't hard to remember who his former teammates were.

Although he would much rather forget. Washington now held the same rank that Gordon did, but didn't bother to introduce himself by his rank on the factor that it didn't matter to the Freelancer. This position was only temporary until he could get back to being human. Nothing that happened here actually mattered. He blinked his eyes again when the animal directed his attention toward him. The other didn't seem to mind the way that he had introduced himself, which hadn't really been much of an introduction other than his name. Then the animal asked a question that he wasn't actually expecting. Most people didn't usually ask him what he preferred and simply did whatever they wanted with his name. "I prefer the 'Agent' in front of my name." Washington said in the exact same tone that he had introduced himself with. He preferred being called the name that had been given to him years ago. It had simply stuck and after being called it for so many years it just felt comfortable. He refused to introduce himself by anything different. As long as he had any form of militaristic mindset, he would continue to call himself Washington. "speech"