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canonmisogynyvictimstournament · 9 months

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PROPAGANDA

AGENT TEXAS (RED VS BLUE)

1.) okay so tex is an ai based on the memories this one dickhead dude has of his dead wife, allison. there's also an ai based on the dickhead dude himself, his name's church. all the stuff with the ai's and the different versions of her is kind of confusing to explain but she sort of dies twice- first sacrificing herself for something that has very little narrative weight, and being absorbed into a kind of . monstrous mesh of other ai's (including the original church ai) that then is erased, with basically no mention of tex, it's all about church's death.

then, there's another version of both church and tex born from the original church ai's memories (epsilon-tex and epsilon-church). epsilon-church's arc is basically about learning to move on from his past and let go of tex, because he's kind of obsessed with her and it's preventing him from progressing. so, epsilon-church 'forgets' tex, deleting her for good. tl;dr she dies, again, basically entirely for church's development.

when i was a kid super into rvb i was always really disinterested in tex and looking back it's because er story just.. isn't resolved satisfyingly at all. basically all of her story is hitched so tightly to church's story and development that tex barely gets room to be more than a memory of the director's dead wife- she never gets to move past the circumstances that created her and become her own person entirely divorced from the director or from church- allison died and we never knew anything about her besides that the director god sad about it. beta-tex died unceremoniously and without mention. epsilon-tex died for church's character growth.

quoting church's own words from the show: ""She died in her real life, and that's all the Director ever remembered of her. So now, no matter how tough she is, no matter how hard she fights, she's always going to fail, because that's what she's based on. No matter what she's doing, or what she's trying to accomplish, just when her goal is within her reach, it gets yanked away. Every. Single. Time." and she just never… actually overcomes this. she just dies.

and quoting now-inactive tumblr user epsilontucker from 2015 who put it better than i could: "Tex’s whole life was spent fighting for agency. Freedom from what Omega wanted her to be (O’Malley), what the Director wanted her to be (Allison), what Church wanted her to be (his). Epsilon-Tex wanted to know who she was and why she was and she wanted to dismantle everything Church ever built. Especially because he built it for her.

And this character arc about freedom and agency, about a chance to define herself on her own terms, is resolved by… Church deciding to delete her.

Because everybody always seems to know what’s best for Tex."

this is also to say nothing of the treatment of her character on just, like, an episode-to-episode basis. rvb has a big problem with basically treating "bitch" as a personality trait for female characters, and tex gets some of the worst of it. if you made a drinking game of how often tex gets called a bitch, or a huge bitch, you'd die of alcohol poisoning. also at one point andy the bomb makes a bunch of transmisogynistic jokes at her because she's suppsoedly mannish (she's not masculine or feminine really everybody in this show is a multicolor master chief. she's just good at fighting) and then calls her a dyke. the end

2.) Some background (spoilers): Tex is introduced as a badass mercenary from Project Freelancer, and the ex girlfriend of Church, the main character of the show. It is eventually revealed she and Church are both Aritifical Intelligence programs; Church is an AI copy of the Director of Project Freelancer, and Tex is a copy of the Director's late wife.

Firstly she is straightforwardly the victim of misogynistic "jokes" for the first several seasons. She is called misogynistic slurs, shamed for sleeping with other men besides Church, she cannot work the entertainment stand at the base bc she's female, called lesbophobic and transmysogonistic slurs bc she is a competent soldier, and blackmails another female character out of jealousy bc she is the only other girl in the group.

Even when these jokes go away, and the show transitions from comedy to drama, her writing revolves around the male characters around her. Because she is the personification of the memory of the Director's dead wife, and his perceieved failure to save her, she explicitly, in the text, will always fail at what she sets out to accomplish no matter how strong she is. She wishes to be free of the cycle of being resurrected bc Church can't live without her only to fail and die again, but lacks the agency to end it without Church. Church's arc about learning to let her go ends not with her being free to exist as her own person without him, but with him forgetting her. Since she IS his memory, this ERASES HER FROM EXISTENCE. She literally cannot exist without this guy.

This would all be easier to swallow if she wasn't the ONLY prominent female main character for 8 whole seasons. It's a beautiful story about how grief can fester into anger and a need for control, and how that pushes away the people you love, but it's a story entirely centered around Church's development, in which she is a prop that stops existing when the story is over. I love her but she deserved so much better than she got.

3.) girlboss

KAMALA KHAN (MARVEL COMICS) (CW: Racism)

1.) One of the most prominent brown women in all of comics, beloved by the fan base. Recently killed in a PETER PARKER SPIDERMAN COMIC (despite being much closer with Miles Morales and having basically no relationship with Peter) in what's probably the name of MCU synergy, which nobody wanted (she'll probably be resurrected as a mutant, erasing her unique and interesting history as an Inhuman). She was using her shapeshifting powers again despite having stopped in her solo as she got more confident in her own skin and identity as a Pakistani American girl, died disguised as the very white Mary Jane as a fake out/last minute replacement for killing off MJ. I fucking hate it here. A cheap trick to drive sales. L + Misogyny + racism + are you fucking kidding me

#polls #round 1 #week 1 #new #cw racism

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pjmslave · 7 months

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Major Thaddaeus Scott Barker, PhD was called Scott by the few people that were allowed to use his first name. Almost always he was addressed as Major Barker. He was the administrator of a facility in a barren lifeless desert within the only nation state that had the resources to research what was being researched. Major Barker liked to think of this project as being the next stage of evolution. Not for mankind, but for the soldiers who would defend the freedom of the nation state.

The research was so secret that not even the elected leaders of the nation state were aware of its existence. All document detailing what was being accomplished at the facility stayed at the facility. No reports were filed with those individuals in the chain of command above Major Barker. Even the funds used to run the facility were buried so deep with each and every allocation of defense funds as to obscure them from discovery.

If anyone investigated the facility, they were informed it was a high tech secret weapon development facility. But nobody ever investigated. Nobody cared to know. Regardless, Major Barker filed reports to his superiors on the fictional weapons that were being developed at his facility. All of the reports generated culled information for other weapon development sites. Major Barker only padded them with hundreds of pages of pseudo-science to make the reports unreadable. Nobody even tried to read them.

The facility comprised fifty men and women with no less than one PhD who had been enticed to join the project by offering them a huge stipend in addition to their military pay. Several of the scientific staff had multiple PhDs. Of course, none of these individuals realized they would be so removed from civilization as to make it impossible to spend any money at all.

All fifty had been carefully selected by Major Barker over the years as the project needs grew. They had been given a battery of psychological and ethnics testing to ensure they would actively do what ever was necessary to participate in such advanced research. Their research required the use of human beings.

All fifty required some degree of additional mental conditioning to go from using rats and monkeys in their research to actually using men and women in their research. Every six months or so, ten to fifteen homeless individuals were harvested from various locations so they could be used in the research vital to the nation state’s defense. The fifty scientists had been fully condition to see these men and woman as inferior to them. A drain on the limited resources of their nation state.

These homeless individuals were viewed not as human but as ‘lab rats’ by the scientists. Only three (two women, one man) had objected to the use of human beings as lab rats. They had been removed from the project and placed in confinement. After months of being subjected to heavy brainwashing techniques which had been developed at the facility, all three returned to the project.

After ten years and some six hundred forty-two experiments on individuals, Major Barker had been invited to see the latest breakthrough. Previous research had managed to drain the human subjects of all of their humanity. Next, they succeeded in formatting their lab rats’ brains to obey all commands. Of course, the individual required each and every movement to be commanded. It was not enough to command, ‘eat food.’ Each and every step required to ‘eat food’ had to be commanded. An incredibly tedious and complex undertaking.

Today, Major Barker was to witness a man, who had once been a janitor at the facility, be controlled solely by external means. Lieutenant Ellenor Brooke Evans, PhD had developed an AI bot that could be programmed into a state of the art laptop that would be used to control the janitor. The AI bot would control everything the man did. The janitor had given his name to be one Victor Forbes. Of course, once he was selected as ‘lab rat’ he was given the designation Epsilon Victor Nine, or Victor Nine for short.

Major Barker was proud of Lieutenant Evans’ work. She was one of the three who had to be further encouraged to do what had to be done. Major Barker first saw her next to Victor Nine. She was ensuring all connections were tight. At one point she grabbed the smallish computer attached to Victor Nine’s scalp was secure.

Major Barker took the center seat in the control room. He leaned forward to depress the mic button. “Okay Evans, show me what you have done?”

As Major Barker waited for Lieutenant Evens to arrive into the control room, he marveled at the change in Victor Nine. The lab rat was totally nude except for the computer attached to its head and some other gadget attached to his left forearm. Victor Nine’s skin tone was silver, identical to the rest of the lab rats currently in use.

For just a second, Major Barker focus on the fifteen centimeter cock hanging in the man’s groin. It also was now colored silver. Major Barker’s mouth watered as he wondered if the cock was even functional. “I so could suck on that.” Major Barker thought to himself.

But what so amazed Major Barker was the complete change in Victor Nine. The once scrawny boy of nineteen who had never seen the inside of a gym and might have weighed in the sixty kilogram range had added no less than fifty kilograms of newly formed muscle.

Major Barker’s first question of Evans was, “How did you accomplish the muscles?”

Evan answered the question with another question, “How many push-ups do you want it to do, Sir?”

“Thirty six, in three groups of twelve.”

With that Evans pulled out a computer pad. Her fingers pressed multiple icons. Once completed, she reached over to activate the speaker which picked up the sounds of the room where Victor Nine was located.

Major Barked was amazed as he heard Victor Nine report, “Task downloading.” He was even more impressed as he watched Victor Nine fall to the floor and begin counting the pushups it was doing. “One. Two. Three.” And so forth.

When Victor nine announced the twelfth push up he paused slightly then continued. It began with “Two! Two. Three. Four.” And so forth.

Evans asked, “Would you be wanting any sit ups?”

Major Barker replied, “No. The push up are impressive enough. Return it to a standing position when it completes its current task.”

Evans inputted the necessary command via her computer pad. When Victor Nine returned to a standing position, Evans leaned over the computer panel in the control room. She clicked on the mic and in a commanding voice said, “Attention!”

Victor Nine’s stance stiffened. Evans then commanded, “Salute!” Victor Nine’s right arm performed a perfect salute. Evans then commanded “Not that salute. The REAL salute.”

It happened so fast that Major Barker did not notice Victor Nine’s right arm move to a position across his chest.

“Show allegiance to its superiors!”

Major Barker watched as Victor Nine knelt onto its left knee. It right arm still across its chest. It left hand on the floor. Its head firmly focused on just the floor.

Major Barker asked a simple question, “How?”

Evans then entered into a long monologue of how her team had created an AI Bot to control the lab rat. Then how they had reprogrammed nanobots that were used to drain the lab rats of what minimal humanity that had. Once the nanobots stripped the lab rats of their humanity, their memories, their ability to do anything other than what was commanded, the nanobots repurposed themselves to create multiple pathways in their now worthless brains into what would ultimately be controlled by the small computer that was attached on the left side of their skulls.

Evan’s finished her monologue with, “You see, Sir, the body that was once Victor Nine became just a component of the computer attached to its skull. The AI Bot became Victor Nine. The AI bot fully controls the organic body that was once Victor Nine. Victor Nine has no emotions. Victor Nine has no concept of good. It has no concept of evil. Nothing is taboo anymore. It sole function is to obey the commands that are given to it. If that is killing people who are protesting, then it kills. If that is eating shit, then it feasts on the shit.”

As if on cue, Victor Nine dropped a turd out of its ass. It then let loose a stream of urine. Major Barker gave Evans a disapproving look. He demanded, “Well, can you fix that issue?”

Evans simply replied, “My team is already on it, Sir! But in the interim, watch this!” Evans imputed various commands into her computer pad. Without warning, the door to the room where Victor Nine was house opened. Major Barker watched as another man who was destined to become a “lab rat” stand in the door way. The soon to be lab rat had given his name as Bailey McDonald. He reluctantly entered the room.

Bailey was currently being useful to the project by being a dishwasher in one of the dozens of restaurants the peppered the complex. It was about all the future lab rat could handle. His brain had been literally fried by the use of ecstasy. He was still pink and rosy as any human. He had not received the mind altering nanobots as of yet.

Bailey took a couple of reluctant steps into the room. Then he proclaimed, “Damn! What is that offal smell?” Before Bailey could back out of the room, the door slid shut behind him. Bailey barely noticed. His eyes were completely focused on Victor Nine.

Once again, the action was too fast for Major Barker to follow. The next thing his mind registered was Victor Nine standing over Bailey as Bailey was on the floor having what appeared to be a massive seizure. Major Barker noticed a small silver area on Bailey’s right neck and various streaks of silver running up the right side of his face.

Evans proudly stated, “You see, Sir, not only does the bot obey the commands it is given, but it also forcibly assists new lab rats into becoming like it has become. It only does this to what has been classified as ‘lab rats,’ but the definition of ‘lab rats’ can be altered to include members of the enemy’s military. The enemy combatants can now be easily converted into military assets for us with very little effort.”

Major Barker found himself crossing his legs, right over left. Not exactly a military bearing. But it did hide his growing hard-on. As he was doing so, he asked, “Okay Evans, what exactly do you need?” He paused a moment then continued, “First, can you do something about its cock and balls? And its excrement?”

“Already on it, Sir. If you follow me, Sir, I will show you what I require.”

Major Barker was led to a small conference room where Evans had laid out her proposals. She showed him the arm gauntlet that could be attached to a recharging station so that the nanobots in a soldiers body could be reenergized. Next came a huge collar for the soldier that allowed new nanobots to be slowly and consistently injected into the body of the soldier. She also detailed how the pituitary gland would be coopted to produce massive amount of human growth hormones as well as other hormones that would improve a soldier’s strength and agility.

Evans continued by detailing how the nanobots would receive and distribute all the energy the soldier required. How waste products produced by the soldiers body were to be repurpose back into usable components for its body. The soldiers’ bodies would no longer require a GI system so the GI system would be shut down. Its renal system would be remade as just another focal point where waste was recreated into usable substances for the soldier’s body.

Lastly, Evan detailed the fact that obedience to command would be a driving force in the soldier’s programming. As such, sexual intercourse would no longer be permitted. Two presentation drawings showed first a man and then a woman private area. The next drawing showed how both male and female sexual organs would be ‘co-opted’ to supply a continual orgasmic state in the selected soldiers.

This ‘adaptation’ required all sexual organs to be removed. In order to stimulate the euphoric state that will be maintained in the soldiers, various nanobots would construct the necessary circuitry required to stimulate the nerve ending that had once been in their groins. Over this would lay a silver metallic ‘girdle’ that covered not only their groins but their abdomens as well.

Major Barker inputted a few directives into his own computer pad. By doing so Major Barker assigned seven teams to turn their attention to producing what Lieutenant Evans requested. Without understanding what he had done, Major Barket determined the fate of the occupants of the facility as well as the fate of the citizens of his planet. It may have been an insignificant backwater planet in the outer reaches of the galaxy, but it would play an ever increasing role in the quadrant that had been classified as Alpha by the inhabitants of this backwater planet.

Three months later, Major Baker requested an update from the newly promoted Captain Evans. She escorted him to the surface above the complex. Here they watched as a group of fifteen enhanced soldiers engaged in a battle with three platoons of battle harden non-assimilated soldiers. Over one hundred thirty men against fifteen solider drones. The human soldiers did not have a chance. Their real bullets were deflected by the electronic shield produced by the fifteen enhanced soldiers. One by one the battle hardened human soldiers were defeated by the enhanced soldiers.

One by one the human soldiers were added to the ranks of enhanced soldiers. Major Baker saw that his nation’s security would be maintained. He was more than pleased with what Captain Evans had accomplished.

Eight months later, a man, who fit the description of Major Baker was admitted to a psych ward in a major hospital to the southeast of the complex Major Baker commanded. Except the medical staffed at this hospital were unable to get any information from the man dressed in the uniform of the nation state’s army.

The medical staff watched as the man rocked back and forth screaming, “It’s too late. They’re here. They are here. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. It’s too late. They are here!”

The man was presented multiple questions. He only stopped his hysterical rants when he was asked, “Who is here?”

The man that had once been Major Barker made eye contact with the person questioning him. He then simply said, “The Borg!” He paused for only a few more seconds, then he returned to his hysterical rants, “It’s too late. They’re here. They are here. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. It’s too late. They are here!”

The medical staff of the hospital were ill prepared to resist the Borg when they attacked the facility. One by one, the medical staff who had been classified as ‘lab rats’ by the AI Bot in charge were assimilated into the growing hive mind of The Collective.

The local reserve national guard was called up to defend the desert state from the attack of this new…this new… The Borg. The soldiers of the reserve unit found that even their newly deployed laser weaponry was no match for this new force. The Borg easily assimilated the the reserve soldiers who had been reclassified as ‘lab rats.’

The president of the nation state called for the deployment of nuclear weapons against this new internal threat. When she called for an update after the order to deploy was issued, she was shown multiple photos of soldiers in their missile bunkers staring mindlessly at nothing.

All she asked was “How?” When a suitable answer was not given, she asked if there was at least one nuclear sub still under her command. She again was shown photo after photo of men and women just staring at nothing. She then deployed what few military assets that were still at her command. She along with the Joint Chiefs watch each individual soldier was easily ‘assimilated’ into The Collective.

Never one to give up hope, she retreated to the bunker underneath the residence of the President. She commanded her Joint Chiefs to do the same underneath their own fortress across the river from her residence. She watched in horror as the Admiral of her Navy shot his brains out. Then she watched as each and every one in the bunker were ‘assimilated.’

Even with this, she issued commands to military units that no longer existed. She maintained the fight even if it was on paper until the soldiers invaded her own bunker. When it was evident, she would fail in all her efforts, she reached for the gun on the table before her. She had just raised it to her temple when a soldier grabbed her hair and injected her right neck with nanobots. She sank to the floor.

Thousands of voices filled her mind. Welcoming her to The Collective. She felt euphoric to be part of something greater than herself. She gave all her secrets to the Collective. The Collective knew all she knew. Not only the defenses of her own nation state, but the defenses of the nation states that comprised the organization to which her nation state belonged.

Her presidential aid, Robert Alton Wendell the Third, also fell to the soldiers of The Collective. The man that had once demanded he be call Robert or Mr. Wendell became Thirty-Fourth of Forty. He tried to resist. He wanted to resist. He could not resist the siren voices of The Collective. Thirty-Fourth of Forty was easily led away to it destiny as a drone in The Collective. He was assisted to a military transport provided by the newly assimilated Second Marine Assault Amphibian Battalion. He was beyond resistance. The euphoria that the injected nanobots produced in his weak body ensured his full cooperation.

Thirty-Fourth of Forty of Unimatrix One Nine Six Three followed its instruction once it had reach the newly constructed assimilation complex at a former hospital named after the man who had ensured his country’s independence. What little remained of Mr. Wendell observed the transformation of all those individuals that were in the Presidential bunker.

Mr. Wendell observed limbs being removed from his colleagues. Mr. Wendell observed the placement of new mechanical limbs. Mr. Wendell also observed the castration of men with whom he had served. Every time he witnessed a limb amputated. A penectomy performed. A castration inflicted. New control devices attached to someone that had formally been a valued colleague. His body would be flooded with euphoria.

By the time that that he placed himself on the assimilation table he welcomed the alterations of his body. He presented his right arm forward. On his right arm was placed a new mechanical limb. His right eye was replaced with a new visual unit. He could now see an enhanced spectrum of light. His right ear was replaced with a could detect wave forms of sound far below his former threshold of sound and detect sounds that barely would have registered to his former pathetic brain.

His sexual organs were removed or transformed. His muscles were enhance. When his assimilation was completed, he welcomed his designations of Thirty-Fourth of Forty Primary Assimilator of Unimatrix One Nine Six Three.

It was dispatched to the hordes of “lab rats” who have yet to be assimilated. The Collective to which it belongs selected a “lab rat” at random. That “lab rat” would be enhance. Augmented. Enslaved. One of the many that were the one.

Their efforts expanded north and south. East and west until no continent was untouched. Thirty-Fourth of Forty was transported to where it was required. It assimilated thousands of “lab rats.” With each “lab rat” assimilated, it received a flood of euphoric producing endorphins. Robert Alton Wendell the Third finally accepted defeat and ceased all resistance.

Deep in an underground bunker that was the origin of The Collective, First of Three, formally Captain Ellenor Brooke Evans, PhD, with the assistance of the team at the once top secret facility, began to slowly piece together all the research that was available from various research lab. First of Three laid out the necessary plans in order to construct the first ‘faster than light’ warp drive starship. First of Three cracked the light barrier easily. Only the passengers of the warp vehicle did not survive. They had been crushed against the walls of the ship at it accelerated towards light speed. It was a small price to pay for the advancement of The Collective.

Ninth of Nine, formerly Major Thaddaeus Scott Barker, PhD, combined the massive data on inertia dampeners to provide First of Three the break through it required. Within five circumnavigations of their backwater planet around its star, a warp three space craft had been developed. It was in the shape of a perfect cube. It was manned by sixteen million seven hundred seventy-seven thousand two hundred sixteen drones. All with one mission: assimilate the lab rats!

Three circumnavigations around the star where they had originated, Thirty-Fourth of Forty Primary Assimilator of Unimatrix One Nine Six Three, exited the interstellar space craft to begin the assimilation of a new world. It greeted the delegation sent to ‘welcome’ it to their humble planet. Twenty-four ‘hand shakes’ later and the entire ‘welcome’ delegation had been brought under the control of Thirty-Fourth of Forty.

In an unplanned departure from protocol, Thirty-Fourth of Forty was introduced to the leader of the military who protected the Leader of the largest dictatorship on the planet. When Thirty-Fourth of Forty was introduced to the Leader, it saluted the Leader in the manner that was required: hand across its chest, then its arm raised forty-five degrees exactly directly in front of it.

This planet had three sexes, not two. Those who would equate to male or female had been classified as inferior. As such they were subjugated by the third sex which were classified as the Superior Sex. Upaemien The Rejuvenator was a member of this third sex. It ruled with an iron will. It sent any and all who objected to its rule to the various work camps or death camps where they were literally worked or gassed to death.

By the time Thirty-Fourth of Forty was presented to Upaemien The Rejuvenator six thousand, four hundred sixty-two members of its government had already been brought under the control of The Hive Mind.

Nine of Twelve and Three of Five had been sent to the other two dictatorships. They also brought into their control the members of those governments and members of the military guard who protected the leaders of those nation states.

By the time the primary star rose over the eastern most provinces under the domain of Upaemien The Rejuvenator six million nine hundred forty six thousand seven hundred forty-two citizens of the planet had been brought under the direct control of The Hive Mind including Upaemien The Rejuvenator, Saelazar The Risen, and Umaeyor The Soulreaper.

Assimilation centers had also been constructed in thirty-nine locations. Within twenty-two rotations of the planet four billion six hundred forty-two million nine hundred fourteen thousand one hundred sixteen citizens were added to The Hive Mind. The subjugation of the planet was accomplished.

Two billion two hundred nineteen thousand nine hundred twenty-one citizens of the planet were sent to the disintegration chambers located within they assimilation centers. Their brains were resistant to assimilation. It was necessary for The Collective to eliminate them.

The Cube which had been dispatched to this star system was then dispatched to the next star system that showed a potential for life. New cubes were being constructed in the prime solar system as well as the newly assimilated solar system. These cubes would be dispatched to other star systems.

Individual by individual, group by group, nation by nation, planet by planet, The Borg conquered all. The Borg began to assimilate new scientific knowledge rather than spend resources on scientific development. With each planet assimilated or even each ship assimilated the knowledge base of The Borg increased.

Within one thousand circumnavigations of the planet around the star where The Borg had originated, The Borg had started their conquest of the Beta and Gamma Quadrants which were adjacent to the quadrant of space the contained their Primary star system. Each and every star system assimilated where unable to resist The Borg. They were unstoppable.

Until…until…they encountered a star system that managed to reject them. A story for another time. until then, “We are the Borg. Your biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to us. You will be adapted to serve us. Lower your defenses, surrender your selves to us. You will be rewarded as you become one with us.”

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tvckerwash · 6 months

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man I love watching halo lore videos talking about the differences between bungie canon and 343 canon because it adds a completely new layer of understanding to rvb.

for example; in bungie's halo an ai experiencing rampancy is an ai realizing its sentience and gaining true freewill—aka, they become human.

in 343 canon this is obviously not the case, and an ai experiencing rampancy is degrading into non functionality rather than transcending from the limitations of their original programming.

both forms of rampancy involve the ai "going crazy", but it's so interesting to see how these lore changes are reflected towards the ai's in rvb. with burnie and matt returning I wonder if epsilon's rampancy is going to reflect bungie's lore instead of 343's, and if his degradation in function will instead be attributed to the fact that he's always been an unstable ai fragment whose functionality has always been questionable?

#halo lore youtubers and/or 343 dunkers i love you #this is a 343 hateblog now i guess lol #rvb #red vs blue #mine #not t/oaru #im telling u guys rvb gets so much more fleshed out when u operate under the assumption that it takes place in the halo universe

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tunastime · 14 days

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Recovery One

Washington undergoes experimental surgery: installing Project Freelancer's AI program into his head. Epsilon tries to break his way out of Washington's skull. Washington deals with the symptoms of a thing that wants nothing but to escape.

aeuhmmm so I got a little silly with the freelancers again and decided to write something about what wash and epsilon might've gone through before it was extracted for obvious reasons. this is chapter one! tagged this pretty heavily on ao3 but tw for blood, injury, medical procedures, emotional hurt/comfort, and trauma. (3238 words) (read it on ao3!)

The walls of the Mother of Invention seem colder tonight. It's like Washington's body is a heat source, and the hard beds of Recovery One are the sink, drawing every last shred of warmth from where his flimsy surgical clothes meet cloth. He can feel the handful of sensors stuck to his skin, along the inside of his left wrist, keeping careful track of his heart rate, his oxygen, and his blood pressure. The base of his skull is still aching, a thrum that settles equally in the channel of his spine.

Cold, shivering, curled pathetically on that hard mattress, Washington is trying to sleep. He's twitchy, stomach twisted into rough knots, and every time he shuts his eyes the spinning of the world only gets worse. The gravity on Invention is generated by a massive column of constantly pulsing electricity, but if Wash were to step foot onto the ground below him, he's certain he'd float upward far too quickly. Or fall face down. One of those would definitely happen.

He tries to breathe through the wave of nausea that passes. It's all a byproduct of the chip in his skull. The voice is quiet for now. They're fighting to use the same body—his body, with all its human joints and mostly untorn muscles and surficial bruises and just a handful of really broken bones. It hurts like something electric shudders just under the first few layers of skin, or like someone took his nerves and ran them through the shredder. He kind of feels like the paper in the shredder, or the shredder itself. Or maybe the paper when it’s half in the shredder and half out. When's the last time he held a piece of paper? Did people still shred paper? He breathes again.

He's under a 24 hour watch. Twenty four hours of this. He screws his eyes shut and the ship around him swings back and forth on a pendulum. He digs his fingers into the muscles of his shoulders and tries to breathe through it. The stars start to fade after a moment of breaths through his teeth. North used to joke about how anxious Theta made him—that swing of artificial fear through his nervous system, how he had to breathe through the waves of adrenaline to keep himself level. Little spikes happened now and then, making a purely perfunctory condition ten times worse, but North seemed to nurture himself until the feeling gave way to something productive.

Wash isn’t having that much luck.

It wasn’t something easy to pin down. He wasn’t just anxious, or sad, or angry. He wasn’t happy, or disgusted, or a middle combination of the emotions he knew how to regulate. It felt like a swirl of everything, of nothing, completely out of his grasp. The AI—Epsilon—was having a field day as he tore open the synapses of Wash’s standing memory and tried to make room. And Wash was fighting back. The lines had already begun to blur and Wash could only assume the after-effects were due to that unalignment, that unmeshed surface. Epsilon needed a blank slate. It was the only thing Wash wasn’t able to offer.

When he breathes again, his stomach turns violently. He lurches, hands grasping at the cool bedside, swallowing hard. His hands shake as they hold onto the smooth surface below him. Okay, fine—eyes open. Another breath out of his teeth. He can taste sour in the back of his mouth.

The world is foggy when he opens his eyes again. He drags himself up slowly as his head continues to spin like a wobbly top. The top sheet comes with him, wrapped over his shoulders as he drags himself into the bathroom. There’s a moment where he wobbles, stepping forward for the first time, socked foot firmly set on the floor. He can’t even think—the quiet that was there seems to settle into a background of whispers he can’t make out. He speaks out loud to himself, trying to get a word into his crowded brain, or to force himself to step forward.

“I need a drink, that’s it,” he says, in a voice he’s not sure is entirely his own anymore. He swallows again. Anything to get the taste out of his mouth. He can hear that echo of a voice bounce around inside his skull as he drags himself forward uneasily.

“Please,” Wash manages to garble out. “I can’t… I can’t help you.”

He manages to stumble to the doorway of the bathroom, sheet left crumpled at his feet as he braces hard on the edge of the sink. His breaths come fast and hard as he stands upright, fingers white-knuckled where they grip the countertop. The world tilts, and he feels his body slump into the wall beside him. The white light of the room does little to obscure the sheen of sweat on his face, or the way his hands shake as he tries to turn on the faucet. He cups his hands. The water is cold on his flushed and feverish skin. He presses his cool, damp palms to his eyes and drinks from his hands. Washington breathes. The world seems to settle as the cool air hits his skin. He’s not seeing double for now.

The moment of reprieve is short-lived. His stomach folds over itself, rolling a cold, then hot wave across his skin as he doubles over the sink. The voice inside his head is slamming against the walls of his skull like it could break through. He can’t understand the words, how they crush and morph together against the new spike of pain behind his eyes, but it sounds like screaming. Something scared, and horrified, and desperate, pleading. But maybe that’s him.

He gags. The rest of his dinner comes up in the sink. He coughs, trying to swallow it back down, nose stinging. He heaves in a breath. His eyes water and he doesn’t stop them from dripping off his cheeks.

Breathing heavily, Wash drags his hand over his face. It comes back damp, still shaking. He can taste iron in the back of his throat. When he looks in the mirror, eyes dark and sunken, it’s like he can barely recognize the face looking back at him. Wash shuts his eyes tightly. He holds to the edges of the sink, breath shuddering and whistling as he inhales. More tears fall; fear, grief, nothing actually his.

“I can’t—” he says, he sobs, as the voice—Epsilon—pleads. Pleads for him to make space, to be something other than he is, to let him out, to let him go. “They won’t—”

Across the room, there’s a quiet knock on the door. He jolts, eyes darting to the closed door. Another knock. Wash brings up a shaky hand, wiping the tears from his chin. He rinses off what he can from his hands, pulling tissues to dry his face. He can still taste the film of bile in the back of his mouth. Washington steadies, blinking his eyes fully open.

“Wash, it’s North. Came to check up on you.”

North. Oh. Wash shudders as he laughs, just a little. Sure. He leans back from the sink, lowering himself gingerly to the floor to grab the sheet. As he steps carefully to the bedside, he replaces the sheet and begs that he finds his sense of composure before he opens the door.

“Coming,” he manages, voice wavering.

He makes his way around the bed, hand braced slightly on the wall as he steps over. The door slides open as he stand in the doorway.

North is standing in his pajamas, a concerned sort of pull to his face. He smiles a little when Wash opens the door, but Wash is too busy staring at his own socked feet and North’s boots to really notice. North’s voice is soft when he speaks. It reminds Wash of the one time South blacked out during dive training and North wouldn’t leave her side.

“How’s it goin’, buddy?” North says gently.

“Best day of my life,” Wash jokes, laughing weakly. North huffs out a laugh, folding his arms.

“I know they’ve got you under watch, so you’re in good hands,” he says, inclining his head. “How’s the headache? The tingling? Anything blurry?”

Wash takes a second, sighing and shutting his eyes. It’s funny that North would say that, isn’t it. He gets the shuddering feeling of something not his own as he stands propped against the wall, trying to hold himself up.

“Still painful,” he manages, pressing his hands to his eyes. “Everything’s blurry.”

“Yeesh—” North says, sucking in a breath through his teeth. “You’re taking it slow though, right?”

Wash nods.

“I’m trying to,” he says. “Best I can given the circumstances. It’s hard to sleep with all the…” He waves his hand around listlessly around his head, as if trying to get his point across. The voice. The emotions. Whatever chugged through his memory and forced itself in. It was an almost-physical, painful sensation. North nods knowingly. Wash doubts that he knows much at all.

“I’m sorry, Wash,” North says, his concern sincere. “It’ll get better with time, though. You’ll have a few days to settle in before the Director sends you out on missions, I’m sure.”

Wash nods again. It’s the most he can really do. His head feels like it’s full of soup gone sour.

“Right,” he says slowly, the words thickening in his mouth to a paste. “Right, I hope so.”

North smiles. He can tell, all of a sudden, as he does every time North summons Theta to the front, how right he was for his AI, how much the nurturing nature he so eagerly kept hidden blossomed when it was needed, when it would be properly appreciated. That smile alone settles a warm swirl through Wash’s chest, trickling into his lungs and his heart. The same happens when North reaches out, cupping his shoulder with his broad palm and squeezing, just enough to feel the heat of his hand. He jostles Washington slightly as he does. Wash manages a smile, huffing out through his nose, his eyes falling shut again as he lets the comfort of touch sink in for just a moment. As North draws his hand away and Wash straightens, North says:

“Alright, I’ll let you get back to resting, okay Wash?”

Wash hums in response.

“You let me know if you need anything. We’re all just down a floor—I’m sure York and I wouldn’t mind stopping in.”

Wash sighs, finally pushing himself to a stand, away from the wall. He doesn’t say anything, but a creeping realization settles in the pit of his stomach, right next to the warmth that used to pervade his joints. He swallows. Instead of feeling nothing, he feels burning in the back of his throat, up his nose. He nods regardless.

“Good deal, buddy,” North smiles. He nods, just a curt bob of his head. “Alright, I’ll be seein’ you.”

“I—” And all of a sudden, the feelings pervading, the ones not his own, rear their head. He swallows roughly, trying to make out a sentence. He mumbles out his next words, vision blurring. “Please don’t—”

“Wash?” North asks, startling, the twinge of concern now laid thick in his words. Wash startles too, blinking hard. What was happening to him? He shakes his head, turning it from North for a moment as he wills himself back to the present. He isn’t leaving, North lives here. He won’t just abandon him. But he can still feel the weight of the word goodbye. The weight of see you soon.

“Sorry, I’m just…” Wash shudders out a sigh, trying to find a viable excuse. “I’m on edge I guess. Don’t worry about it.”

North’s eyes widen.

“Wash, your nose—” he says, moving forward to help him. Wash takes an instinctive step back, cupping his hand around his chin. He can feel the warm dribble of blood now, the taste of iron in the back of his mouth. He shakes his head as he keeps North at arm’s length, turning to fetch tissue from the bathroom.

“It’s fine,” he croaks out, fumbling for the sink. He runs his hands under the warming water, tipping his head forward. Blood drips into the sink but his eyes are screwed shut too tight to see it. Wash can barely hear North’s voice above the running water, but he hears the door to his room slide shut. Reaching for the tissue, Wash swabs gingerly at his nose, still tasting the metallic tang on his teeth. As he turns back to the room, North is hovering at his bedside, concern written across his whole face. Wash watches his jaw work, his upturned eyes wide and searching Wash’s expression. Washington shakes his head.

“It’s fine,” he says again, barely a sound at all. He jams part of the tissue up his nose, swallowing back whatever was left in his mouth. North gestures to the glass of water still half empty at Wash’s bedside. Wash sits, his legs giving out beneath him, and he drinks.

North takes his time getting to the space in front of him, circling the end of the Recovery Bay bed like Wash were an injured animal about to bite him. Luckily for him, Washington feels far too heavy to move any of his limbs, as if all the energy had been siphoned out of him and into the air, leaving it charged and staticky. He couldn’t find the strength to bite even if he tried. He smooths his hand over the pant leg of his hospital clothes in calculated movements. The scratchy fabric is so thin he can almost feel his body heat through it. Or lack thereof.

“I don’t know how fine it is, Wash,” North says, folding his arms. He leans against the arm of the chair across from Wash, not exactly sitting, but not really standing. “I certainly wasn’t getting nosebleeds like that with Theta.”

“Well,” Wash manages hoarsely, shutting his eyes tight again. “With all due respect, Theta was a little more… stable.”

“Epsilon’s unstable?” North asks. Wash flinches. He can feel that paper shredder sensation again as he shrinks back. “Wash?”

“It’s okay,” Wash mumbles. “It’s just—side effects.”

North’s face grows taut and stern. When Wash flicks his eyes up to read his face he’s met with a strong set to North’s jaw. North shakes his head, sounding unconvinced.

“It’s not supposed to be this bad,” he says. He drums his fingers against his arm.

Wash sighs. The sound is curt when it leaves his chest. It’s all the energy he has left to expel before it dissolves into an empty hollow in his chest.

“It’s nothing,” he says.

“Washington,” North starts, leaning off the chair and moving toward the bedside. Wash curls further over his lap, as if trying to move away from whatever suggestion North could have for him. It’s not something so easy to fix. It’s just. It’s just—

“It—” Wash takes a long, laborious breath in. He feels something very small break inside his chest as he breathes out, his exhale shuddering. His vision goes blurry in the few feet in front of him, from knees to floor, that he can see. “I don’t—”

“Hey…” North soothes. He lowers himself to Washington’s side, hand coming to cup his shoulder. Wash leans, half intentional and half not, into the touch as North squeezes his arm.

“The memories aren’t mine,” Washington babbles, unintelligible to anyone but himself. “I don’t want them in my head.”

“I know,” North placates regardless. And for a moment, it feels like he means it. It doesn’t really matter if he does or doesn’t. The arms that come around him are strong and warm and solid and friendly as Wash makes contact with the hollow of North’s shoulder. He doesn’t mean to collide and fall so easily, but the arms around him hold on, and hold firm, and he begins to think through the haze of memories not his own that he really didn’t have much say in the matter. North draws him in regardless and Wash sinks himself into his side. He cries and no sound escapes him. He squeezes his eyes shut. Faintly, he can hear North whistle out a breath, through the shff of fabric as he slowly and gently drags his palm over the line of Washington’s shoulders.

“I just need it to stop,” Washington chokes out. It doesn’t matter who’s speaking. The relentless tug of war continues on in his head, even if he can’t hear it, even if it won’t really surface. It doesn’t matter who wants their memories back. It just matters that his body feels like he’s been electrically shocked: drained, shaken out, and hurting.

“Breathe, Wash,” North soothes. Washington does as he’s told, the air scratchy in his throat. He shudders out the breath, trying to keep each stable and even. North doesn’t say anything for a while. He lets Wash breathe and lean into his shoulder, and the silence gives Wash a moment of reprieve as his mind goes quiet. He just focuses on breathing, in through his nose and out through his mouth. North leans just slightly back into him, cheek resting on the top of his head.

Wash blinks his eyes open. He stares into the middle distance with his vision still blurry, and North’s weight against him keeps him, rather than whatever threatens to invade his memory further, grounded. Wash makes an unintelligible sound as North sighs.

“Great, Wash,” North says lightly. “Doing great.”

“Well, I feel like shit,” Wash manages, almost amused.

North hums softly in agreement, but doesn’t really respond. His hold around Wash grows a little tighter, though, firmer around his shoulder and forearm as Wash sags. His eyes shut again as his breaths remain even, face pressed to North’s shoulder. He’s a bit too large for them to properly fit together, even as they sit side by side on the bed. He lets go of a long breath as the rush of previous anxiety, the new bubbling fear, and exhaustion slip out all at once. In their wake is a pit of nothing, absent of emotion, in his stomach. Tired lingers instead in the same space, around that nothing. He can feel his body grow heavy against North and he has half the mind to mention how tired he actually is. But North hasn’t moved, regardless if he’s noticed or not, and the hand on his shoulderblade, and the head resting against his, remains. The world goes blissfully soft for a moment, his body heavy and his mind quiet. It’s only when he blinks his eyes open again that he realizes he’s lying down. North is gone.

He squints at the room around him, lifting his head slightly. He’s on his back with the sheet draped over him, comfortable against the pillows. For once, his body and head don’t ache, and whatever voice that might be screaming is silent. When he lifts himself further, the room spins, tipping violently this way and that. Wash lets himself back down. For now, he decides that the comfort he has is better taken than lost, and he shuts his eyes.

The world goes muted and grey around him. His body sinks to the mattress.

He has a feeling he won’t wake again for some time.

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rubykgrant · 1 month

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OK, my thoughts about the final season of RVB! If you haven't seen it yet, warning for SPOILERS!

In general, I thought it was alright. The good parts were GOOD, but it felt kind of rushed, and a few things were disappointing. Certain parts I wish had been different, but I'm glad it exists. Watching it with lots of cool people made it fun, and it had a decent enough ending for what it was... though, after so many years, so many characters, just so MUCH of a story, I wish things had been a little MORE. It was a shame it was so short and rushed. I'm still glad the people who worked on it got it done, and we were all able to see it.

So. Actual thoughts on different bits...

I'm somebody who enjoys seasons 15-16-17, so while it will always be real in my heart, if they HAD to do a ret-con, having a spoof with a Retro Convention was VERY funny. Kai would absolutely milk her relation to Grif for some attention. I thought it was weird that Dylan was there, but she was a convention host? I feel like it would have made more sense for her to be one of the people asking questions about where the Reds and Blues went (y'know, like she ACTUALLY DID in 15). Oh well.

Things were very rushed... if this had been a more full season (or, in my perfect world, a story split into 2, so we get 19 and 20 out of it. I'm sorry, it just bugs my brain when something ends on a 9 instead of a 10. that's a ME problem), there could have been more of a Big Reveal about Tucker being the Meta. HOWEVER, since things were very condensed, I can appreciate how amusing it is to have Epsilon info-dump the plot to every body.

I did get a chuckle out of Epsilon being a "recorded prediction program" and not the true AI, and he decided to just be an obnoxious little youtuber. Like, that was so awful, it was AWESOME. It is also something that would have made Alpha Church super ticked off, which is very fitting. Good job Epsilon, 10 out of 10~

I was so happy to see Sheila and Lopez! Mechanical love lives on. It was a bit meh seeing the Reds act like they don't care about Caboose (we've been there, done that), but some of the funny bits that followed and Simmons getting Sarge interested by bribing him with Blue Defeat saved it (listen, these guys have been insisting they hate each other for 2 decades, but they can literally not live without each other. let them just admit they are ALL FRIENDS). Grif ranting was excellent.

No Donut is some major BS! Look, I get it, we stole the spot-light in 16-17, he was the time-god's most specialest pink princess and a harbinger of death, it can be intimidating to include something so powerful after trying to erase all that from existence... but come on. With all the important call-backs and connections 19 made with previous seasons, AND having the ending be in Blood Gulch? DONUT SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE AND HE SHOULD HAVE THROWN THE AI UNIT. No, I mean it, imagine the thing gets knocked really far away, maybe from an explosion, and Donut throws it clear across the canyon, because you KNOW he can! This time instead of it being a grenade that kills Tex, she catches the unit, tra-la-la, it all comes together. I'm sorry, Simmons doing the cool sports-ball throw was fun, but... Donut. DONUT!

Alright, moving on. It felt a little awkward that Wash is yet again hurt, and nobody is there with him? Oh wait, Doc is there, except no he isn't. Listen. Listen. I love plural Wash. I also love the idea of him genuinely having an emotional connection with Doc, because it DOES make sense; when Wash kid-napped him, Doc just kept making all his sarcastic little comments the whole time, and it tricked Wash into having real conversations with him. I honestly think that if Doc hadn't been with them, Wash wouldn't have been so open to the idea of finally settling down after his Villain Moment. They also both have a lot in common with AI incidents, and again, Villain Moments. I'm just annoyed that the Pacifist and the Original Bad Boy evidently died. Off screen. Give me back my purple boys. If we need to have Wash Not Be Around for a while, have him and Carolina go off to track down Hargrove or something. Maybe they went to two different locations, and Wash gets back to the others first, so we still get Carolina to the rescue.

Anyway, the plot! There was a lot of funny bits when it came to looking for Tucker, getting into the ship with the "video call security", and Niner being there! Hooray! I am... a little disappointed about WHY and HOW Tucker is a "villain". Obviously, I can't picture him being legit EVIL, but the idea that he's just the physical puppet being controlled by the AI isn't very... good. I understand how it was explained, sure, but still. I know I keep rambling about my own thoughts for alternate scenarios, but I can't help it! I just don't like when Sigma (or Omega) are just plain EVIL, for no reason. They've always been more complicated than that (the Meta wanted to be HUMAN, remember. and Omega even told Epsilon "I'll be here if you need me". they are definitely different kinds of harsh and intense, but they aren't the Murder AI or the Evil AI). I don't like that Tucker is being tortured into doing what they say... a more subtle manipulation, the Fragments not only convincing Tucker but also themselves that they NEED to do all this to get Alpha back, is very intriguing. After Epsilon Deconstructed, the Fragments lost their Memories. They just know they aren't complete. Tucker just knows he wants to talk to his best friend again.

If it needs another push to make it more insidious, I'd buy that Meta suit being a trap to begin with; Hargrove probably had that thing rigged to make it into a trap for anybody that wore it, so they'd have this subliminal inclination to collect all the AI, and kill anybody in their way. Something-something forgetting what your motives are, and only caring about the GOAL. Tucker and the Fragments ALL need to remember who they are and why they want the Alpha; it isn't about being a weapon. If there was more of a fake-out/reveal of Tucker being the Meta, maybe with a false hint of it being Felix with the orange/black colors, a sign that Tucker is still in there would be him getting close to killing everybody... but he backs off each time.

Speaking of killing... Sarge. Oh, Sarge. I will admit that, just from a thematic point of view, yes- it works to have a Sarge death. I don't care for it being Tucker that did it, or that Donut isn't there to share the moment as well. Matt Hullum acted the HECK out of that scene, though. In fact, the whole bit of Sarge running back to save Caboose, and trapping Tucker with a bubble shield, was AWESOME. I didn't want Sarge to die... but he went out wearing his red armor, and told Grif and Simmons he cared about them. It was sad, but it was well done. In my perfect world, we just THINK he died, but then at the end it is revealed he's still alive! How? Well, Doc gave him CPR! Doc isn't dead either, that is integral you see. I'm not sure of Sarge going "Hurgh Bleh" would have been better or WORSE. Well, heck. I wish he wasn't dead, but as much as I hate it, I... didn't totally hate it?

I kind of wish Simmons had more of a break-down over it. I wanna see him lose his temper. OR, he acts so quiet and cold, it is just UNNERVING. Then Grif helps snap him out of it. Let's be real, those two are so co-dependant, it ain't even funny. I appreciate Simmons telling Grif he is officially free to leave, and the conversation of "Come with me" leading to Simmons saying he wants to see this through, and Grif agreeing to come along was good. Simmons has aspired to be an impressive soldier from the beginning, and Grif has just wanted to be DONE. In the end, they meet in the middle.

I may be a sappy Grimmons person, but I can say, as objectively as possible, they should NOT be separated at the end. Grif and Simmons are literally the introduction to the series. They were the first two characters we see, they have been side by side almost CONSTANTLY, they are always bickering but they are also each other's favorite person. I don't even mean in a shippy way, it is just a fact. To have them say good-bye and just leave each other is honestly out of character (we saw that before, remember, in 15; Grif got so guilty about it, Simmons came to the realization that opposites attract, and they finally had to admit they missed each other. it was a WHOLE THING). I think it would have worked if, after telling Grif he's free to leave at the end, Simmons waits minute, then starts following him-

Grif; What are you doing?

Simmons; Coming with you. What the hell else would I do?

And that is that, wherever they do, they're together. Also, Kai shows up and HUGS HER BRO, come on, please!

Now, as a sappy Grimmons person, they should have just gone through with it. It has been more than 20 years. Seriously. We all know it. People who don't even care about the ship know it. Just commit to the freaking bit. Stop being cowards. Let them hold hands, or hug, or gently bump the visor of their helmets together, SOMETHING. Show them taking a walk on the beach together, all lovey-dovey. We deserve some emotional satisfaction after a 2 decade queer-bait slow-burn. JUST DO IT.

Sigh... OK, that is out of my system.

My absolute FAVORITE thing in 19 was Tex. She was so freaking PERFECT. I love Caboose telling the unit a story, his way of bringing her back, because that was how he talked to Epsilon. It was so sweet. When they asked Caboose why he brought her back instead of Church, he told them- "Because I wanted to win". Listen, Caboose LOVES Church, but he knows what is up. It was hilarious to see her go through the teleporter to get her black armor back. I absolutely ADORED her saying she's NOT a "failure" anymore, because she's not just based on the Director's memories of losing his wife, she's also got the memories of the guys who REMEMBER HER KICKING THEIR ASSES. 100 percent, Tex return was the best. Her reuniting with Church was also very sweet... the only thing I would have liked more would be the other Fragments showing up in there, so they can all be together (and Church gives Theta a hug; he doesn't even need his memories yet, he just knows he loves Theta).

I didn't care much for deleting the Fragments at the end, but I get the "reasoning". Like, sure. Fine. In my perfect world, Caboose gives the unit to Carolina, so someday, when they're all "ready to wake up again", she can see her family. Wash taking the fall to alert Carolina was both kinda wonky, but also very funny, and hey- it got her there! Again, I don't know why she wasn't there with Wash from the beginning. Also, just. A few characters being dead, and most of the others splitting up at the end... nah. They all need to live together and be friends and be happy and be OK! Like, come on. They've had a lot of "endings" in this series that were bitter-sweet, or kind of sad. I know life doesn't always have a happily ever after... but just once, give them that.

OH, and ANOTHER THING; if things had been just slightly different, if both the Fragments and Tucker sort of "forgot" who they are, the way to remind Tucker should have been JUNIOR. Heck, maybe Carolina was off finding Tucker's kid, and when they come back Junior gets his dad to remember who he really is... but the suit is still controlling him, forcing him to fight. I just want a happy Tucker family reunion. Give that kid his daddy back. Even if Junior isn't there for the big conflict, he should have shown up at the end, with Tucker promising they won't be separated again.

Well, that sure was a lot! The final season was a lot, in a short amount of time! Again, I wish certain things were different, but I'm happy I could see it. Even after everything, all the good and bad parts, I know that it still isn't "the end". I've got a lot of ideas for stories, and so do many other fans out there. I know people are going to keep sharing their thoughts, creating their art, telling their stories... because a universe without stories? That's just empty space.

Bow-chicka-Bye Now!

#red vs blue #rvb #spoilers #rvb spoilers #rvb 19 spoilers

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overlyenthusiasticfictionreader · 9 months

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Fanbinding of Mind Over Matter - FFWAD 2023!

Mind Over Matter by kineticallyanywhere

Fandom: Red vs. Blue Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Archive Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Category: Gen Relationship: AI Program Epsilon | Leonard Church & Agent Washington Words: 136,261

Mind Over Matter is actually the fic I worked on for the Renegade Exchange in 2022, so I had worked with @kineticallyanywhere while getting the typeset into good shape. Even then I had thoughts about what I would do to bind it: I'm not in the fandom, but it caught my attention and I was puzzling with it. And of course I didn’t have time during the holiday season of 2022 to actually bind the story.

Here are some shots of the interior:

I wanted to reflect Epsilon/Church’s many disparate personalities, but also how they all (and Wash) worked together throughout the story. They are stronger together than apart. And I was wandering the internet (as one does) and found these amazing journals covered in woven ribbon fabric. And so that’s how I wanted to show the different personalities coming together, creating something greater. And more recently I found another video, showing the weaving of the ribbons over some heat’n’bond , which saved my life, because my original plan was to individually glue each ribbon to the cover and weave over top. I would have died!

Due to the nature of the ribbon-fabric, I wasn’t able to use my normal casing method. I used the in-boards-three-piece-bradel method, discussed by DAS here. This may be the sturdiest book I’ve ever made! The spine was a bit tricky, but everything turned out in the end. I look forward to using this method again in the future.

I’m very pleased with how everything turned out! kineticallyanywhere has their copy, so although I’ve very late for my original plan to deliver the book by Fan Fiction Writer’s Appreciation Day (FFWAD) on August 21st, I’ve still succeeded in sharing good fandom feelings with the author. Which is my big payoff in the end regardless :)

For those interested, I’ve also included this fanbinding in the Renegade Publishing Fanbindings collection, located here.

#book binding #my books #Cat's Paw Bindery #Mind Over Matter #kineticallyeverywhere #fanbinding #fic rec #ffwad #renegade loves fic #FFWAD 2023 #red vs blue

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kermit-coded · 1 month

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now i'm sick in the head and it's not even my fault (1772 words) by kermit_coded Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Red vs. Blue Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Michael J. Caboose & Lavernius Tucker & Agent Washington, AI Program Epsilon | Leonard Church & Lavernius Tucker, Agent Carolina & Lavernius Tucker, Junior & Lavernius Tucker Characters: Lavernius Tucker, Michael J. Caboose, Agent Washington (Red vs. Blue), Agent Carolina (Red vs. Blue) Additional Tags: Post-Season/Series 19, Post-Canon, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, Mental Health Issues, Minor Lavernius Tucker/Agent Washington, Team as Family, Guilt, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, let these bitches rest my god, Red vs Blue Restoration Spoilers, Canonical Character Death, Blue Team Feels, Good Parent Lavernius Tucker, simmons goes to earth with grif, Lavernius Tucker-centric, Autistic Michael J. Caboose, Minor Franklin Delano Donut/Frank "Doc" DuFresne, like mentioned in two lines, Minor Dexter Grif/Dick Simmons, Bittersweet, Grief/Mourning Summary: After the Meta, Tucker learns to be a person again.

#because tucker deserves to heal #my writing tag #rvb #rvb fanfic #red vs blue #red vs blue restoration #rvb spoilers #lavernius tucker #tuckington

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rocketboots564 · 1 month

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Here is part one of my thoughts, notes, and reactions to Red Versus Blue Season 9 as a first time watcher!

Yes, I have heard the news about Rooster Teeth. No I will not let that stop me from binging this series one way or another!

The rest of each individual season will be posted separately instead of being a reblog of the first post… mainly because I saw how egregiously long my post on season 8 was.

Season 9 Part 1:

Epsilon… what do you mean nobody’s called you “Director” in a really long time? Sir, season 8 was probably just a couple months ago… I think…

I don’t know how much time has passed from S8 to S9

FIRST OF ALL TUCKER, CHURCH IS CABOOSE’S BEST FRIEND

Wait… how can you get winded if you’re an AI. I mean I know Epsilon is in a memory unit, but does that mean he relives everything in a human body too?

It does make sense that Epsilon doesn’t really know how to use a Rifle. Sure, Church (or Alpha? Imma stick with church) didn’t know how to properly use it either, but he did know how to adjust the scope.

“Torqued in my pants” pffft…

WOAH TUCKER?! You did WHAT IN ALONE TIME? WHAT THE HELL’S “ALONE TIME”? 😦

Erm… what the Metal Gear? I unironically love this stealth mission thing. And knowing South Dakota… I wonder how long it’ll take for this to go tits up…

I’m betting five to ten minutes

also, YESS THE BIG BUCKS BUDGET OF ANIMATED CG SCENES RETURNS.

South MY GOD LISTEN UP?! HAVE YOU NEVER PLAYED ANY STEALTH GAME?! Set up the MOTION DECTETORS!!!

As someone who’s had years of experience sneaking past light sleepers in the dead of night for snacks and video games… I could do this better than you South Dakota.

SOUTH THIS IS WHY WE SET OUR SOLITON RADAR!!! I mean motion detectors… sorry I got Metal Gear Solid on the brain

MY GOD THE ANIMATION?! THE TAG TEAMING?! What happened that got South Dakota to eventually abandon North Dakota?

I too could take 50 of them South… in a fight… definitely a fight

Oop I saw that in the background! Who’s that?!

OOH THEY BAITED ME WITH THE BLACK ARMOR! They almost made me think it Tex… it’s actually well… whoever this cyan lady is

Supportive Sarge? He WANTS to hear the blue perspective? He DOESN’T want to command and yell at his subordinates?

GRIF? CLEANING? Actually I could get behind Maid Grif.

“I actually like being talked down to” woah WOAH SIMMONS?! 🤨 real, me too…

I mean… at least Donut’s still kept his accidental yet somewhat intentional innuendos. And, also his diary apparently…

Damn SHUT UP SOUTH DAKOTA! SHUT UP!! NOBODY HEAR WANTS TO HEAR YOUR SHIT!

North? WHOAH ANIMATED FACES?! NORTH DAKOTA WITH THE CLUTCH!!

Medics = bad luck. Honestly… yeah for you guys they are.

THE PHOTOSHOPPED WET FLOOR SIGN AND MOP IS KILLING ME

The ultimate OTP battle: Caboose x Sheila versus Caboose x Email

Listen… Tucker… never in a million years will I ever call you Professor Fuck

Damn the Freelancer Program only has ranked mode? No wonder they’re all assholes

CONNECTICUT? SHE’S CT? Yeah I can see why you’re so mad about your low rank… you’ll get your shit rocked by Professor Fuck of all people. Fuck it… it’s a funny name

So like… you know you’ve got absolutely dogshit rizz when Caboose has a better shot at dating someone than you.

Speaking of which… Caboose is now in my top 5 of the most dateable guys in this show. Like take this quote from him:

“I just really want to meet someone nice. Someone who appreciates me for who I am not so much because I’m pretty but because they really want to get to know me…”

HOW HAS THIS MAN NOT WOOED THE HEARTS OF THOUSANDS?

Tucker has NO rizz…

Oh wow Epsilon, just drop the existential dread on your teammates like that with no warning. It is a damn good thing your teammates either don’t understand it or don’t care.

Huh… seems even in a memory unit in which everyone is different fate still finds a way to make Grif lazy and sarcastic again.

Then again, that’s kinda happening with the rest of Red Team as well, minus Simmons and Lopez

Also, LOPEZ IS BACK! And this time is immediately beefing with Simmons… or rather the other way around.

“I’ll show you who’s likable and funny, and who people like” SIMMONS BABY ITS YOU! YOUR THE ONE I LOVE! YOUR THE ONE I NEED!

I just like Simmons… a perfectly normal amount…

Conclusion: this season already fucking ROCKS I LOVE IT! HOLY SHIT THIS IS AWESOME!

#red versus blue #red vs blue #rvb #rvb caboose #rvb church #rvb sarge #rvb simmons #rvb tucker #rvb epsilon #rvb freelancers #rvb season 9 #rooster teeth #Carolina can step on me–WHO SAID THAT?!

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biggiedraws · 1 month

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fuck it. rvb soul eater au

context on soul eater for those who havent seen it: some people can turn into a weapon. they get paired off with meisters (ppl who wield the weapons) based on soul compatibility. if two people are incompatible or out of sync, theyre unable to fight together - their bodies will physically reject it and they can even get injured by trying. so weapon/meister duos are always very deep and trusting (and often ambiguously romantic) relationships. and then they fight monsters or whatever the rest isnt important

im starting with blood gulch, as usual. although..... freelancer has interesting implications...... okay but reds and blues first

grif and simmons - grif is the weapon (maybe a rocket launcher?) because you know his ass is not running around fighting. this works great with simmons' need for control. 10/10 no notes

church and tucker - i think church would naturally be the weapon here but im thinking about how this applies to tucker and wash down the line..... i kinda had it in my head that the freelancers would be meisters and the ais their weapons, which would make weapon!tucker pair well with meister!wash after church dies, but if i disregard that. weapon!wash could be really really interesting.... i dont really have a plot in mind so i also dont know how epsilon fits into this but hes also here. idk ill think about it. anyway obvious weapon choices for this duo would be a sword or a sniper rifle. (i do think its really funny to make tucker the sniper rifle that church cant aim for shit. oh you wanted the sniper rifle so bad? now you are one and your meister gets no kills with it <3)

sarge and lopez - this one has hilarious implications. is lopez still a robot? is he just a regular ass shotgun that sarge built and insists on using instead of pairing with a person? is he a robot that can turn into a weapon? does he still speak spanish? if he is a robot, does he have a soul???? do he and sarge resonate the way weapon/meister duos usually do???? honestly this is hilarious no matter what, but im leaning toward hes a humanoid robot that can turn into a shotgun. sarge built him and lopez hates him for it but he was programmed to be compatible so they resonate just fine. dont think about the implications of a robot having a soul okay shhhhh its fine

if robots are on the table then you know we gotta do caboose and sheila - is sheila also a robot? i think it works either way. shes definitely the weapon though - something with a lot of firepower. truly i think shes the only one who can balance out caboose in a combat setting and even then they still get church killed. incredible

donut and doc - this one is interesting with doc being canonically a pacifist. maybe hes still primarily a medic but he keeps a weapon on him just in case? and then omalley makes good use of it >:D donuts really just along for the ride. i dont have specific weapon ideas - i know doc tends to favour the rocket launcher and donut is good with grenades, but also. insert joke about crossing swords. anyway no matter what weapon he is, donuts weapon form is pink

(also i want you guys to know that i almost did pastrytrain as a duo and left doc out for the crimes of being a pacifist. i still think it could work, but donut and caboose dont really interact that much compared to caboose and sheila, and also i wanted to keep the teams separate. you understand)

tex and kai - honestly this is a GREAT duo imo. i know the only time they interact in canon is some catty bullshit but its not their fault they were written by misogynists, and honestly they have some really good black star/tsubaki duality going for them. i think tex would be the meister, and kai would be maybe a melee weapon? oooh could do both of the grif siblings as knives..... knife simmons...... anyway tex and kai really good duo. easily the best out of all the blood gulch crew

and then the freelancers would be...... actually remarkably similar to how the freelancer/ai relationships work in canon! although if you swap around whos weapon and meister (as opposed to the ais all being weapons) you could certainly shake things up. also kind of interesting bc theres a lot of partner swapping in freelancer, which doesnt seem to happen much in soul eater. a testament to the poor conditions at pfl perhaps......

anyway i dont really have ideas for a full-fledged au, but its certainly fun to play with - the soul eater designs are already fun and then bringing in the rvb colour coding...... giving them fun dramatic weapon designs...... plus the whole soul resonance thing adds a layer to the relationships that i think would make for some delicious character interactions. force these mfs to communicate with each other lmfao

#soul eater is probably the best setting for putting other characters in btw its so fun #like both aesthetically and in terms of what it does to character relationships. top tier au #anyway maybe ill draw this someday 🤔#rvb #red vs blue #soul eater

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january-summers · 6 months

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You know what probably would have fucking destroyed me as an ending to the Shizno Paradox?

If at some point they’d managed to ‘rescue’ Epsilon (but not really, this Epsilon is just an echo, a message left behind, the memory of a ghost that can’t linger much longer) but he’s degrading all over again, and he knows it. They all know it.

At least he got to say goodbye properly this time.

And Wash has to walk out into that bullet.

He’s got his brave face on, he won’t let them know he’s scared because they’re all already so afraid, Carolina’s afraid.

And so is he, but he has to be brave or the universe dies.

But Wash can’t make himself take that first step.

He has to but he can’t.

And then Epsilon’s voice is in his ear, coming through his radio.

“Hey. You want some company?”

“Yeah… please.”

And they go together.

#rvb #red vs blue #agent washington #ai program epsilon #epsilon church #january has been watching sad things today

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fishfingersalad · 8 months

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big post of all my random rvb au ideas and some hcs, decided this was more reasonable than making like 20 different posts.

Hc the freelancers who die are like submarines that go missing, officially still out on patrol. Florida is the only freelancer that is officially gone from the program. A rumor starts that the freelancers suits are in some way connected to the us states so people think that when florida (state) blew up, so did Agent Florida's armour killing him in the process

(I'm an ace Tucker believer) Y'know how Tucker gets charged child support for a bunch of kids post chorus? I don't think he has any kids outside of Junior. I think a bunch of people who got pregnant post temple of procreation were like shit idk the kids other parent. Uhhhh. Let's just say it was the rich famous planetary hero guy who claims to have slept with everyone. He probably doesn't even remember the people he's slept with. And then Tucker, asexual who has had sex one (1) time and realised he didnt like it very much, is stuck between revealing to the whole goddamn planet that he doesnt actually fuck, and paying a billion dollars of child support.

In an everyone lives no one dies type au I think Donut gets Maine, Locus, South, and Wash to come to his wine and cheese hour and he does their makeup and their nails.

Au where Sigma is just so fucking invested in getting Maine and Wash to date that he doesnt do anything evil. "Agent Maine, I think you will find this course I have signed you up for quite informative" Sigma this is a couples wine and pottery class "Oh look, is that Agent Washington over there? you should go say hi."

Au where Wash and Epsilon bond. It still fucks Wash up and shit, cause yknow. Epsilon issues. But Wash goes like "I am going to fucking kill the director he fucked you ai over so much" And Epsilon is so taken aback bc of Alphas view of Wash from an outside, heavily filtered perspective made him seem happy go lucky, innocent, and a bit naive.

Au where the freelancers find out that the director is Linas dad and behind her back they're all like "hey is she okay? why does he talk to her like that?" but then whenever she's around they just accuse her of nepotism. Gamma and Sigma team up to hack the leaderboard and change her name to nepotism baby.

I love South. I wish she existed more. I wish her and North and Theta could have gotten along. I wish Theta could suit jump like Omega and Alpha. I wish Theta could spend time with South. Like yeah South wouldn't like having to share an ai with her brother but like. He's their littlest brother.

Junior and Theta could autism bond. I think they'd both like comics. Also Junior teaches Theta basketball and Theta teaches Junior to skate. Skateboard kid plus scooter kid. I think Palomo would like to skateboard too. Wash and Palomo both helped teach Theta to skateboard. Wash bc he's friends w North, Palomo bc he's at the skatepark frequently. Jensen roller skates, she's... okay at it. not good. but okay. She broke her tailbone trying to impress Palomo. Andersmith would work at a youth center that the teens hang out at. Matthews works at a movie theatre, Bitters watches a movie there every week, maybe just to see Matthews.

Sarge werebear. Simmons vampire. Grif faun. Donut Light Elemental. Lopez is a ghost that got stuck in a shitty robot Sarge built. Church and the ai are ghosts, Tex is a vampire, Caboose is a werewolf (big doggy :3). Siren Tucker. Deep sea mermaid Junior (glowing octopus type stuff). Faun Kai (same as Grif). Carolina’s a Phoenix. Wash some kind of big cat thing. Florida Shapeshifter (he prefers being reptiles). The twins are demons. 479er is a harpy. York poltergeist (throws stuff at people). Wyoming's some kind of “answer my riddles three” type of imp. Ct is also a shapeshifter. Maine’s just a regular guy with a lot of weird friends. Felix and Locus are a fire elemental and a dryad respectively. Siris is a water elemental. In my au Donut’s a light elemental which makes it so fucking funny if Church pops up and says "boo" Donut just fucking decks him. and through Church being a ghost (a form of light) and Donut being a light elemental, Donut’s fist connects. South is the demon people are more likely to fear, but North is the one you really need to look out for. When South loses her temper people get frightened, when North loses his temper people die. If there's like. a group of kids exploring or something North’ll hold South back from doing anything more than scaring them. If there's a priest attempting an exorcism or someone with a cross threatening South, their organs will be found separately from their bodies.

It's kinda funny when people make Church and Lina siblings and then Tex is just some random girl that Church likes. Like I fully understand why and the only other alternative i can think of is like. Church is the director's younger brother who was raised alongside his daughter after their parents died. and Tex is Allison's younger sister. Only way I could put together Church kinda being the director and Tex kinda being Allison but also Church and Lina being siblings without there being any relation between Tex and Church.

Florida and Ct have a coworker friends relationship i think. When they first met I think Florida said something vague and threatening to her so she pulled a knife on him. They've been sort of friends ever since.

#mikeys rvb rambles #rvb #red vs blue #this isnt even including the ones I started writing fics of #the thing about jensen breaking her tailbone skating #is mostly stolen from real life #i broke my tailbone rollerblading in front of my spanish class #also i love the idea of donut befriending every scary person he meets #the joyful whimsy grind never stops #mine

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nelliebachesneg · 7 months

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Hey, uh.

We need to talk about Recovery One, and more specifically South (and Wash but that's a given for me).

Here are the relevant facts:

1. The AI were all supposed to be pulled after the Epsilon incident and put into storage.

2. There is a deleted scene that shows North carrying South to safety after their battle on the MoI.

3. Wash did not know that North still had Theta.

4. South and North were together when Wash showed up to recover Theta.

5. South got North killed, even if it was Meta that struck the blow.

6. Wash assumes South being left alive was bait to slow Wash down, because Wash had Delta, and the Meta wants the AI.

7. Wash: “In the past month I’ve been ordered to the sites of five different dying Freelancers in an effort to recover their intelligence programs.” This might have been retconned; before seasons nine and ten it was implied if not outright stated that many agents had AI fragments, not just those on the leaderboard, but after seasons nine and ten it seems like there were only a few AI that were then given to only some of the top agents. Of them, only North and York had their equipment recovered by Wash.

8. South was in the recovery force before and during her time with Wash. Her mission was to draw the enemy out, without Wash catching on that she was working for the Recovery Force, so that a new strategy could be devised to take the Meta down.

9. Command’s profile of Wash indicated that he would not kill South despite being ordered to. Wash says he kept South alive because he knows he can’t take down the Meta by himself. Delta confirms that Wash’s “battle rating” is too low, according to Freelancer’s records.

10. Taking Wash out was not in South's mission statement, nor was taking Delta and running. South chose to do those things on her own.

Conclusions:

Both South and North stayed with the program even after the “attack on Command” (the crash).

It would make sense for PFL to want to keep close tabs on North since he had an AI, and if he refused to give up Theta, they probably wouldn’t have tried to force him for fear of scaring him off. If anything, they would have used South against him to make him stay, because North obviously stayed for South. He saw the writing on the wall and loved his sister enough to first fight her instead of leaving her to Tex, then continued working at the organization he knew was off (even if he never figured out why) to keep an eye on her.

South stayed because she wanted an AI. South wanted to be acknowledged as her own person, as good enough on her own. To her, an AI was a symbol of her independent success (ironically enough), and as short sighted as she was she really didn’t think much beyond that. PFL took advantage of that. Additionally, South likely resented North for having saved her from Tex. (Side note, South got North killed in an effort to save herself, but I believe that it was a heat of the moment decision. Still shows how her love for him had cooled.) South also resented the program for blue-balling her, not to mention still pairing her with North after everything. And she probably realized that they were lying again about giving her an AI. She had no evidence that she could trust Wash, either, and so shot him in the back and took Delta.

It’s possible that North and South were both part of the Recovery Force, and Wash showed up to the aftermath of a mission gone wrong - the same mission of drawing out the Meta. If that’s true, Wash was kept completely in the dark not only about South and any other Recovery agents, but also about PFL’s knowledge of the Meta. He figured out on his own that something was hunting down Freelancers; no one told him that, even if they put him in a position to figure it out. This actually brings up some interesting implications for why Wash was chosen for the Recovery Force. Wash himself says that it’s because they knew he would never steal an AI for his own purposes, but you know who else would know that? Maine, because seemingly every Freelancer knew what happened to Wash:

South: “Epsilon went insane and killed itself inside his head! And from what I heard from the other recruits, he went nuts himself. Weren’t you certified Article 12 after that? Unfit for duty.”

Wash: “The people who certified me were the same people that uncertified me. Which, once they needed me, they did. Funny how the system works.”

Delta: “In either case, he is the logical choice. It is highly unlikely Wash would attempt to steal an AI for his own purposes.”

“Once they needed me”. Why would they need Wash for this job? I think it's because their agents, Recovery Force or not, were being killed for their AI. Wash probably recovered some of them himself. They needed someone who not only wouldn’t steal an AI, but would never even consider implanting one under any circumstances. Ideally it would also be someone Maine would be hesitant to kill, someone he knew. Wash was the most likely person to survive in the Recovery Force.

In conclusion, Agent South Dakota was an agent of chaos and had she succeeded in killing Wash or if she had lived the entire plot past season 5 would have turned out differently and we were kinda robbed of her and Felix interacting.

#red vs blue #rvb #agent washington #agent south dakota #theories #ramblings

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