07-07-2018, 09:48 PM
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Death was common. It always would and always will be. There was no escaping away from the aspect of death and how much it could actually end up changing someone if they weren't careful. There were those that simply couldn't let go of one that they ended up losing and Washington knew this a little bit too well even if it hadn't been his own memories of the loss that was in his mind nowadays. It seemed like no matter if someone was an animal or simply a human there was going to be death on both fronts. He remembered hearing about the first beginning of the war when he was just a child going to school. Not thinking for a second that anything bad would happen to him or his sisters. His mother and father were together around that time as well, and they were almost the perfect family. But the planet needed capable soldiers. And so, there was a draft for those that were old enough to join in the army as they needed more fighters. His father had been one of them. He had been too young at the time to really understand what the death of his father actually meant once he was killed on duty. He was confused at first and thought that his father was just going to be on some sort of trip and that he wouldn't be returning for a while.
The concept of death fresh in his mind and his sisters also didn't understand. It only happened when they started to struggling financially with a single parent that Washington finally realized that everything meant when he was just a teenager. His father was gone and there was no getting him back. Then there was the aspect of what he wanted to do with his life. The majority of the schools that he went to had a course that would teach military basics in case any of them wanted to join the military. It would help speed up the process, and seeing no better way to support his family and help pay off the bills that were starting to pile up, he started to enlist. Without his mother's permission, which probably broke her heart, but he had done it for a reason. To help them. They were going to need it with the lack of resources that were already on Earth and the war that was going on. Washington had been in his early 20's when he went to basic training. He had assumed that the training was going to be horrible, but it was beyond his expectations. It was horrible. They did drills every single day and weren't allowed to leave and got them right.
The worst part of it was that they were limited to how much training that they were even getting because the military didn't have enough time to waste in training everyone up to being a complete soldier. They didn't have the resources to keep everyone at a base, so with the limited training, they were sent toward the battlefield to die. During the time he was there he overheard something about the Spartan program but didn't know much else about what was going on. Washington did his job though, and he guessed that he was a good enough shot that it was enough to keep him from dying in the line of fire immediately. Having limited gear meant that the odds weren't exactly in his favor. Washington, of course, remembered the first time that he had gone onto a battlefield. It had been on a snow like planet. He was freezing his ass off and could barely feel his hands. He was on watch at a base that they were supposed to defend. That planet being Sidewinder, a familiar place to some other soldiers that were still alive. Washington remembered that the alien enemy had attacked them in the middle of the day. The raid had started off as soon as a soldier lost their head to a sniper bullet from a cliff a good distance away.
Washington had been forced to take cover with someone else as well. Washington thought that he would be able to get a couple shots, but that was difficult when they were all targeting the ledge that he was on. It frustrated him, and the soldier next him had just managed to peak from behind the cover to see where they were being shot from. Only to get a bullet straight through the eye. The soldier didn't even see it happened, as he was turned away from his teammate, but instead, he felt something wet splatter onto the back of his neck. He was a rookie, and he was confused on what the hell that was until he brought his hand to the back of his neck and saw the blood. At first, he thought that maybe he had been shot and that he was bleeding. It was only the sound of a nearby thump as something landed on the ground that Washington realized what it was. It was the same rookie that had been next to him. Because of the way that he had been shot, the other's head had turned to look at him when collapsed on the ground. He was obviously dead. Washington didn't know what not do though, and he screamed for a medic. Only to be scolded and shouted out when he asked for a medic for someone that was obviously dead, while others around him could be helped.
He stared down at the face and knew that he was going to get out of here alive. He had to do it for both his sisters and his mother. He grabbed his battle rifle and went to work against the enemy. He didn't end up getting out scot-free though, and instead, he had a bullet that went through one of his arms at the end of the battle. As the enemy got closer, they started to put explosives toward the entrance of where they were bound to walk in. They knew that they couldn't completely take the base and if they destroyed some things so be it. The enemy wasn't allowed to get any of their intel either. Washington had no choice but to move from his cover, smashing a nearby window and sliding through it and landing into the middle of the base. He looked at their motion trackers and armed the explosives before finally set them off. The left side of the base completely collapsed, completely killing anything underneath it. Washington had no idea how silence could be so awful at that very moment. There were a large handful of soldiers that had indeed survived, and they went to go check to see if any of the enemies had survived it. Washington killing those that were still barely alive but were still moving. Covered in the blood of a human and speckles of alien blood, he had completed his first mission.
A mission that he would never forget. Washington no longer freaked out at the sight of dead soldiers from that point on. He was a quick learner and wasn't going to sacrifice another life for another. It was only when he started to work with the same platoon over and over again that he started to get protective of them. When it came time for him to join Project Freelancer, the death of a teammate didn't strike him of something that he would want to think about. The Freelancers that he knew during his time there as the rookie of the team they had all survived up to the crash of the ship as far as he knew. They could all still be alive and well, and he was sure as hell hoping that they would be. Either way, he no longer had to command of those that were under him, being the lowest ranking Freelancer that was part of the program. At least the worst of the best. Washington took orders instead of dishing them out. A change that Washington was fine with as long as he trusted the one that was giving out the orders. The Freelancer knew that every one of his teammates was capable of taking care of themselves and he didn't have to watch out for them. If anything, his teammates were watching out for him because he always had a knack of getting himself in trouble. The difference this time though, was that instead of killing aliens, he was killing his own species.
Compared to the first firefight he had been in, he didn't get to see the faces of those that he shot. Their faces are hidden behind the helmets that they had. He felt no remorse for those that he did kill, because as far as he knew they were killing criminals and nothing else. That made his job a little bit easier, as being in the military for years had prepared him for more than he originally thought it was going to. It made being a Freelancer easy when it came to the aspects of morals. If someone close to him were to die though, he wasn't sure how to feel. At least, he knew what it was like to lose someone close to him but those weren't HIS memories. Those were the memories that belonged to Alpha and the Director. He had them stuck in his head that had replaced some of his own memories. Meaning that he had lost his own memories when the implantation did happen. Washington remembered feeling the utter grief of someone that lost their wife in the Great War. One that was independent and needed her strength around to continue to the next day. The suffocating feeling that he was alone and had to figure out a way to fill that hole in his heart. And once he did create someone that was similar to his wife, it wasn't good enough.
He needed to get her perfect, creating her over and over again. And that had been the true reason for the creation of Project Freelancer. To get someone that was lost to come back again. Whether they wanted to be brought back to life or not didn't matter. The Director had just wanted to get his life back. But at the same time, he had abandoned the rest of his family. Including Carolina. Whether or not it was actually him that was feeling the loss, Washington knew emotionally what it felt like to lose someone. Memories that he had yet to share with anyone and refused to talk about. Not like anyone had any sort of suspicion. Either way, death was something that he got used to seeing. The Freelancer was on his morning run during this time. Around 0400 hours to 0500 hours. It was an easy schedule for him to follow, although it became a little bit difficult to follow now that Carolina was around. But he was managing and his mental health was starting to get a little bit better as well. Since he had decided to take shelter in the Ascendant's, he had yet to see any sort of violence in the group whatsoever. Or even injuries. Washington still had no idea what these animals would do if someone got sick or injured in a place like this. There were plenty of things he still didn't know though.
The armored smilodon usually was exhausted at the end of his run, and thanks to the helmet that he wore it was basically impossible for him to pick up any scents. The Freelancer blinked his gold gaze he noticed that there dots in the distance as he going to the direction of the Observatory. Washington noticed a pattern, and that gathering of these animals usually meant that something was happening. Washington felt no need to rush on his approach as he still couldn't smell anything. It was only when he started to hear the panicked voice that he realized that there was indeed something off. With the sun rising it was hard to see the ground, and how the ground around whoever was indeed on the ground was darkening. The Freelancer quickly made his way over, skidding a bit of a distance so that he wouldn't get into anyone's way. He wasn't a medic after all and that meant that he wasn't really capable of helping a situation like this. His eyes went wide as he realized who it was. Suiteheart. One of the few animals that he somewhat trusted in the place like this. One that was willing to listen to whatever anyone was saying. Looking at her injuries though, he didn't need a medic to see that she was dying.
She was losing far too much blood, and he hadn't heard anything of being a vampire. It looked as if she had been attacked. The marks on her body looking like when someone was clawed. Had there been an enemy? Where was the enemy now? His gaze moved from the bleeding second in command to looking around as if to spot someone in the distance. His mind was racing as to what he could possibly do. His gut was telling him that there was no use in helping someone that was just going to die. But the look on everyone that was around her showed that they weren't willing to give up hope just yet. He clenched his jaw behind his helmet and took another step forward, at least four feet between him and everyone else. "W-What's happening? Is there anything that can be done?" Washington questioned. He didn't know enough about this damned world to even begin to help. He felt USELESS. Probably like everyone else was starting to feel now. He hated goodbyes. He didn't want to say goodbye to anyone here just yet even if he was using half of them. Had the Freelancer's brought this to them? Was she caught in the crossfire by one of their own? The thought simply made him swallow as his anxiety began to build as contradicting thoughts vibrated through his already damaged mind. "speech"
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