Alpha, Meta, Does It Really Matter?

Can't Fix A Ghost

The pain was excruciating. It travels up his spine, through his arms and buzzed in his head. He couldn't hear Tucker through the pain. He tries to open his eyes but all he can do is clutch his chest. He can hear Tucker running around the room, it seemed so far away now. The room is getting brighter, the ringing in his ears only getting louder. Alpha doesn't hear the second set of footfalls, nor does he notice the Ai that accompanied it. The world only growing brighter, till it seemed to explode and he could finally breathe again. The fake lungs working over time, to catch a breath that didn't exist.

As the pain subsided he slowly came to. The floor being the last place he wanted to be at the moment. The aching of his body pushing him to sit up and try to rub his head. As the world slowly came to he saw four Tuckers. Two of them did have a funny helmet though. The other Tucker seemed to be very angry. The anger bristled from the other Tucker. Regular Tucker was arguing with it. Then Alpha saw something he didn't think he would ever see again. The flashes of memory flashing in his mind only making it hurt worse. He grabbed his head with new fever, groaning with the new pain of it. 

Regular Tucker sat down next to him and asked if he was alright. Even with his pulsing memory he wouldn't let Tucker worry.Tucker shouldn't ever have to worry about him. He made to stand up. His legs were the consistency of jelly and he was quick to fall down again. Tucker did his best to catch him but Alpha was deceptively heavy. The other Tucker was arguing with himself, he couldn't make out what they were saying but he looked mad, and Alpha wondered if he had a few screws loose.

It took him a while for his senses to come back but when they finally did, he realized just why he had seen two different sets of Tuckers. One of them was in fact not Tucker. The other was someone who went by Carolina, which meant freelancer. Church has a bad history with those guys and was not looking forward the the introduction. Still Tucker introduced her like they had been Friends for years. The silence new from this 'Carolina'. He was absolutely positive he wasn't imagining it.

His head pulsed with another memory, this time of something he didn't remember. He remembered a little blond girl and Tex. The memory wasn't his own, definitely. The thought scared him though. The only other time he had the memory flashes was when he was with Wash in the freelancer base. The only time he had experienced these flashes is when he was by Epsilon. The very thought of Epsilon sparking new memories, which only made his head hurt worse.

"Epsilon disabled the tracker and the electron pulse. He should be fine now"

Alpha's head pounded with her words.

"I can't stay here. This is- I have to go"

Alpha watched her walk off as Tucker said nothing. He was by his side again soon after that.

"What was that about?" Alpha asked,

"Long story dude"

"What have I missed? How long have I been gone?"

"...Seven years? about"

"Seriously?"

"Pretty sure that's right, from at least what I got told. I got sent to the dessert to play politician. While I guess you, Wash, Caboose, and The Reds helped Wash out. The-"

"Wait, Wash?"

"Yeah, something up?"

"You're on a first name basis with the dude? Did you buddy up with him? Build him a fire to keep him warm? Did you roast some marshmallows together?"

"I forgot how annoying you are"

"It's part of my charm"

"Anyways, After you died, well they though you died. Donut came and told them about the sand, Caboose, Grif, and Sarge came and got me. Caboose transferred Epsilon over to the alien artifact-"

"Wait? Epsilons alive?"

"Quit interrupting my story!"

"Fine geez Tucker"

"Ok so then we go to another freelancer base, then Epsilon revives Tex. It's not actually the Tex from our canyon though. So she brings Epsilon on this grand adventure and then she shoots him. Then The Meta and evil Wash fight with her, because The Meta wanted the Ai and Epsilons beacon went off. So then we kill The Meta and throw him off a cliff. Wash joined our team. Epsilon went into the memory unit that he was in before, to go after Tex who Washington caught. So then he did some self discovery stuff and Tex is like dead or something I don't know. That's when Carolina came to kill the director who's also like her dad. She doesn't like people knowing that don't tell anyone one. You know what, don't talk to Wash about his dads death either. Wait I wasn't supposed to mention that part, anyways. Then we crash landed here and we're all gonna die because of some crazy mercs. That should be everything you need to catch you up to speed"

Just as Tucker finished his spiel. The same grey and yellow armored person walked in the room. He was quick into a defensive position. Before anyone could say anything he lunged at Alpha. The time distortion unit up and running was quick to freeze time around him. He moved out of the way of the other man, subtlety moving his foot to knock him off stance as well. He finished it off by moving Tucker out of the way of his projected path.

When time did resume, the man fell over, and Tucker stumbled over his new found position. Tucker called out the mans name. Now Alpha remembered why he seemed so familiar. It was special Agent Washington. Washington resumed his fighting position. Quick to make subtle but necessary additions to his feet. He charged again, the smaller man had no weapons on him. Washington didn't even have gun to support him. Alpha just let him charge. Washington was met with a brick wall of an Ai. It's only then he realized that the only reason Wash wasn't knocking him over was because Tucker was screaming that this wasn't a dream and that Alpha wasn't The Meta