Work Text:
Blood Gulch Outpost - after the events of Chorus
“Hey, Wash...” Carolina said as she tapped his shoulder, “look at what I just found while downloading the files from my armor.”
Wash turned away from the computer he was working on to look at what Carolina was pointing at. His eyes went wide. “Is that….?”
“I could only save this one part. Unfortunately, it looks like most of it was damaged after the Tartarus crash.”
“I’m surprised to see he’s still here after all this time. Wait, I have an idea… one second,” Wash stood up, walked over to the doorway, and called down the hall. “Hey, Caboose! Come here a second would ya?”
Sounds of items clattering to the floor could be heard from the other room. “Coming, Agent Washington!!!” Caboose called back. Washington shook his head and smiled as Caboose rounded the corner at top speed, Freckles in tow.
“What is it that you wanted me for, Agent Washington?”
Wash placed a hand on Caboose’s shoulder. “I have someone I’d like you to meet.” He guided Caboose into the computer room where Carolina was sitting. She moved to the side revealing a small purple hologram kicking at the ground shyly.
“Caboose, I think you might remember Theta? We were able to recover his program from a backup Epsilon made in Carolina’s armor before we fought Felix and Locus.”
Caboose gasped, “Oh! Yes! I remember Theta! He was friends with Church!”
Wash chuckled, “You’re right, he was friends with Church.”
“Hello, Theta! My name is Caboose!” he said, waving his hand excitedly.
“Hi, Caboose.” Theta waved back. “Church has told me a lot about you. It’s so nice to finally meet you!”
Wash turned to Caboose. “Theta is going to need a new place to live now that he’s here and we were wondering if he could stay with you?”
“Oh yes! I would like that very much! We can be best friends! And we can tell each other stories! And we can play games! And we can play with Freckles! And--”
Washington laughed at Caboose’s enthusiasm, “I’m glad you’re excited. Here, let’s get Theta’s program transferred to your helmet so you can start getting to know each other.”
Carolina pushed a few buttons on her console and Theta appeared across the room next to Caboose’s head.
“You two go have fun now. We can talk about the technical applications of having an A.I. some other time,” said Wash.
Caboose bounced up and down and exclaimed, “Thank you, Agent Washington!” as he ran out the door. Wash could hear the conversation between them as they made their way down the hall.
“So, you have a pet named Freckles? Can I meet him?”
“Oh absolutely! This is Freckles, he is the best machine that I have ever met! And I should know, I have met a LOT of machines!”
“Hello, Freckles!”
“Hello, Theta. Nice to meet you.” Freckles responded.
Wash turned to Carolina and they both smiled. Caboose finally had a new best friend.