Equipment maintenance had always been priority when it came to being a Freelancer. When any of them had joined the military, they were quickly taught how to treat the equipment that they were given in the end. After all, the guns that they were given weren't exactly cheap to make and the UNSC wasn't going to just start giving away free equipment to everyone while the potential of human extinction was in play. They learned how to clean their weapons, properly maintain their armor and how to treat it in case piece of the armor ended up getting damaged. They almost never wore civilian clothing as soon as they got into the UNSC because they already had their undersuits. Which were practically like diving suits as they clung to their skin, but they were extremely important when it came to running their armor accurately. It was something that they needed to get used it, but Washington was pretty sure that he would never be on the level on the likes of a Spartan. He didn't have any augmentations that were implanted into his body and didn't go through several surgeries that would end up potentially killing him like those that were put into the Spartan program. Instead, after having his mental evaluation, it was there that he was picked out from a group to join an experimental project. Washington wasn't sure what he was thinking at a time like that. Maybe it was another opportunity that he wanted to go through. But what did Project Freelancer ever see in him? He wasn't sure and never was one to ask as he was one to get orders and just work with them. That was all there was. Washington was put into Project Freelancer and it was there that he was able to better himself. He was great with a rifle, but other than that he was decent with everything else. Like everyone else in the project, he thought that they were all doing the right thing and that they were the good guys because they were part of the UNSC. They were going to help with the great war, and yet as the years went on he noticed that half the time they were just fighting other humans and taking their gear. He was a soldier. He wasn't going to question his orders, but he did question some things that happened during the project. Some things that didn't make sense, and his disturbing run-in with AI's from the very beginning. It was the peak of the project, and it also ended up becoming its downfall. The AI's always spoke of someone.

The Alpha. Washington didn't know what meant until they put a unstable AI inside of his head. One that had nearly gotten him killed and nearly exploded his neural implants too. It was extremely painful, and the memories that the other had shown him still ran through his head. He wasn't sure which were his memories and which were not. What he did know now compared to when he was on Mother of Invention, was that the Alpha was real. And that Episolon had been the other's memories. The Director. God the Director. He had tortured Alpha. Almost to the point where there was nothing left. It was cruel. Inhumane. AI's were just copies of a human brain, and he didn't think that Alpha deserved any of that. But after the crash, Washington was pretty sure that every AI that was around were dead unless they were still inside of Freelancers. Which had concerned him because if they had suffered the same fate that he did, there were bound to be other's around. Other's that may have AI's and even potentially may try to kill him if they thought that he was still working for the director. Which he was. What other choice did he have? He didn't want to have to run for the rest of his life so he chose to work for the director. It was the easier decision that he had ever made in his life, but now he was just stuck here. Washington wasn't really taking a break when it came to figuring out what planet that they were on. Instead, he was sitting outside of the observatory. It was during mid-day, and the temperature grew to a nice temperature. Although thanks to his dark fur it wasn't exactly nice to him so he was sitting in the shade. The Freelancer didn't have his helmet off, of course he didn't, he never did. He had a cloth that he had used previously, and had his right arm completely bare as he was sitting down. Agent Washington was cleaning his shoulder and arm plates, because he couldn't afford to have any portion of his armor malfunction. One thing would be obvious though, was that when the armor was touching him, the lights in certain areas of his armor would power on. While when it was off of him, the Mark 6 armor seemed to just power itself down. It wasn't something that Agent Washington could even figure out for himself, but everything was still insane in his mind that it wasn't a factor that he really took notice of. Washington was always working. That wasn't about to change."speech"

Washington had already uncovered a couple of clues as to tell them where they were. The environment, in general, felt a lot like Earth, but there plenty of different planets around the galaxy that had similar environments so he couldn't go through that alone. There were some planets where he was stationed in the UNSC that looked fairly similar, except for the fact here there almost didn't seem to any aspect of the war in this area. Other than the soldiers that were starting to pop up here and there. The soldier had just done what he was told in the UNSC until he ended up getting court-martialed for the first time that he didn't want to listen to a higher ranked officer. Either way, the couple of clues came from the observatory itself. The architecture, in general, was made by humans, obviously, because animals here wouldn't be capable of creating such a massive structure. His house cat Loki was barely able to get down a tree correctly without suffering an accident. The architecture though seemed to be highly outdated from what he could gather. There were too many cranks and buttons for the likes of the telescope, wherein the Mother of Invention, someone could just ask the ship computer, F.I.L.S.S. to look at the nearby landmarks in space to tell where they were in a matter of seconds. It didn't need any human calculation because the computer simply did it itself. There also seemed to be a lack of human presence in this place. It wasn't well kept with vines sprinkled in different places here and there. And on top of that, there were no roads leading anywhere. Meaning this place had to be abandoned. Which seems a little bit ridiculous because there were several pieces of expensive equipment here that could be sold for a decent among. No organization liked sharing their equipment so they usually took care of it no matter what. But there was a massive observatory with nothing else going on. So that meant that they were on a human-inhabited planet.

Or, on a former human-inhabited planet if they decided to leave all this expensive gear and flee for their lives if there was an alien invasion during the great war. It was entirely possible, but there would be remnants of human technology if there was a battle around this area. Or the planet would have been glassed leaving nothing behind for the humans to come back to. Ultimately erasing the entirety of the human's fingerprint on this planet. So, that meant that there were no alien races that were around here that they were at war with. There was potential for human life, but he wanted to make sure that this was indeed Earth. If that was the case, then that would be both good and bad news for all of them. If they were on Earth, but the most recent Technology was found in this observatory? Then time travel would be on the table. He didn't know anything about damned time travel. That would be something for Wyoming to randomly talk about constantly. Either way, it wasn't going to end well for any of them and trying to make the right decision on how to deal with the outcome was almost basically impossible. It was real though, and having been through missions that nearly got him killed and put him in the infirmary for months, he could deal with this. At least that he was what he was telling himself as his mental health started to deteriorate over time. The smilodon hadn't been sleeping for many obvious reasons. The Mother of Invention had crashed right after he had gotten his implant removed, so he didn't have to deal with any side effects from what happened. Here? The effects were in full swing from the memories that had been transferred to him by Episolon. Not intentionally of course. The AI intended on having split itself to the point where it was nothing left, basically killing itself, and that meant that Washington saw the images that were being ripped from the AI's program. It was horrible yes, and it was certainly the only thing that kept him up at night. He only gave himself an average of two hours of sleep a night so that he could wake up and begin working again. The only thing that consisted of him taking a break would be him stopping to clean his equipment. Almost a daily routine that he had set for himself nowadays.

He also hadn't had anything to eat since he arrived here, which was showing slightly but Agent Washington didn't seem to care all that much about his current condition. The mission. The mission was all that mattered even if it had been a mission that he had only given himself. Compared to Church, Agent Washington didn't trust anyone. Fresh wounds that had been left by the organization that had just got done stabbing him in the back. He now knew everything the project had done, and he never felt worse about himself. He wanted to make it right, but now wasn't the time to try and mend old battle scars. The armored smilodon was polishing the last section of his arm piece, the arm piece that had a light that was attached to it. The Freelancer didn't know that he was making the light spark to light due to the constant electricity flow that went through his body constantly. The smilodon not having figured out that he was capable of powers, or those that lived in this outpost were capable of powers because he had yet to see anything like it. If he knew that these creatures were capable of lifting up massive boulders or create things out of thin air, he would trust them even less because he would label them more as a threat. Agent Washington knew that Church knew a lot of the Freelancer Project, and that made him an asset. Because he needed to keep everything about the project a secret. No matter what creatures they would end up talking to because there was always a slim chance of word getting out. He heard movement coming from his left and raised his head, which still had his helmet on, to look at Church approached him. At least it wasn't Caboose. Okay, the soldier was always positive about everything, but when it came to getting anything done it was basically like talking to a tree. The other seemed to want to have some form of conversation. Which Wash had never been good at and had even been awkward around others back in the organization. Had he changed? Probably not for the better. At the other's question though, the smilodon would raise a nonexistent eyebrow to Church, practically glancing down at him cleaning armor and at Church. Wasn't it obvious to the soldier what he was doing and that there wasn't any need to ask? "Cleaning armor...." Washington seemed to say as it was the most obvious thing in the world. Which it was, and part of him was actually messing with the simulation trooper. There also almost seemed to be a mix of sarcasm in his tone. His attention turned back to the smaller canine when he asked his own question. "What about you? What are you doing?" The Freelancer would question in a more regular tone he used when regarding Caboose and Church. He was wondering where the other was off too because if the canine didn't have anything to do, he would be more than willing to give him a task to do. Washington didn't approve of laziness after all."speech"