- “I would've told her...that I understand why she did what she did. I just wish she hadn't...I wish she could've learned to let things go. I guess I should too.”
- — York answering Delta in Out of Mind
Freelancer Agent New York, also code-named Foxtrot 12 and better known as simply York, was once an agent in the Special Operation's Project Freelancer who specialized in infiltration. In his role at Project Freelancer, York was paired with the A.I. Delta, due to his personality being best compatible to deal with Delta's rather, "persistent" behavior. He served as a main character in the Out of Mind mini-series and the Project Freelancer Saga.
Overview[]
Many years ago, York visited Club Errera where he met Carolina. With their great skills, they joined Project Freelancer as fellow agents and York would later obtain his A.I. Delta. As time passed, he realized the crimes Project Freelancer was committing and attempted to leave with Carolina, but she seemingly died during a break-in, depressing York for years before he was found by Tex years later.
In addition to being one of the most combatively skilled characters in the series, York is also one of the most laid back characters, acting very calm and cool, even in dire situations. He was somewhat of a philosopher as he questioned the morals of what's right and what's wrong. His nickname, 'York', comes from the fact that he's Agent New York but is shortened to the latter word. Rooster Teeth made York have a disability, his damaged left eye, to make the character more defined.
Role in Plot[]
Eye Injury[]
For a time, York was the second highest ranking Freelancer agent. In the episode 'Introductions', York, along with Agents Maine and Wyoming, fought in a training exercise against a new recruit to Project Freelancer: Agent Texas. During the fight, York repeatedly tried to coordinate his team's attacks, but Maine and Wyoming ignored him and tried to fight Tex on their own by recklessly charging at her, which led to them being easily taken down.
Tex bested York and his team in eight rounds of combat that included the use of melee weapons, hand-to-hand combat, and guns loaded with paralyzing paint. However, in the ninth round, Maine and Wyoming switch their guns' projectiles to live ammunition and attack Tex with them, prompting York to try and help Tex, though she repeatedly resists his aid and attacks him each time he attempts to help her. Tex eventually immobilizes Wyoming and Maine, but Maine breaks free and rams a column towards Tex. She dodges it, but it hits York instead and sends him reeling.
Tex fights and defeats Maine, who throws a grenade in a last ditch attempt to beat her. Again, she dodges it with ease and it lands next to York instead. Still stunned from the earlier impact, York is completely oblivious to the grenade. Tex fires rounds of the paralyzing paint at him in an effort to harden York's armor, thereby protecting him from the grenade's explosion. The grenade goes off and York is sent flying across the training room. The Freelancers watching come to his aid with medics. He is shown with multiple large cracks in his visor and a hole above his left eye.
Mission for the Sarcophagus[]
"Don't be so quick to give away my job."
York later recovered enough to join the other Freelancers in their next mission to obtain the Sarcophagus. During the mission, York picks a holographic lock, setting of an alarm in the process, and provides recon for Team A. He alerts the team of an enemy patrol coming in, and helps them acquire a window washer lift to carry the package to the roof. On the roof, York is told to shut down a bomb planted by Agent Texas, but he reveals it to be a transmitter. He gives the transmitter to the Insurrectionist Demo Man and attempts to escape. Thanks to a MAC round fired from the Mother of Invention, the building collapses, and York is sent in a freefall.
After securing the package, he and Carolina are rescued via a Warthog driven by Agent Maine. The three obtain the coordinates to Team B; however, they are told to go after Rhee Sebiel. Maine kills Sebiel and takes the briefcase. As Team A escape they are pursued by Insurrectionists in Hornets attempting to stop them. As York drives through traffic, Carolina and Maine battle two Insurrectionists on the back of a truck, with York providing assistance. When Maine causes the truck to swerve, he is knocked off the street, allowing the Sleeveless Insurrection Soldier to regain the briefcase. Pursuing the Insurrectionists, Tex arrives in close pursuit of the Sleeveless soldier. Carolina tells York that they have to get the briefcase before Tex, but York questions why.
"Lots of things changing these days."
As the Insurrectionists and Tex begin to get away, York bails out of the Warthog and allows Carolina to catch them herself. Carolina ultimately fails however, with Tex obtaining the briefcase, and is picked up by a Pelican. York extends his hand to help her up and she grabs it. Back aboard the Mother of Invention, North tells York the scores have changed. York says everything has been changing since Tex showed up and brings up the police shooting at them as an example. He asks North if they're the good guys and North says they are but York points out the uncertainty in his voice.
A.I. Interaction[]
Sometime later, York is on a mission aboard an Insurrectionist ship with Delta, trying to access a holographic lock. He sounds a remote alarm, but continues hacking the lock until F.I.L.S.S. fires at the ship, creating a hole and sending York into the vacuum of space. Later, when Carolina and her team neutralize Insurrection forces in the recycling station and begin their departure for Bone Valley, the leader's location, York comes flying in from the vacuum of space with a jetpack and humorously crash lands in the station. York joins the rest of the team flying through a junk debris field in Bone Valley in search for the leader. Suddenly, Four Seven Niner quickly finds out that the Insurrection has led the Mother of Invention into a trap with their flag ship, the Staff of Charon, disguised in the junk field.
As the enemy ship attacks, the Insurrectionist Leader discreetly leaves behind a nuclear device before the Staff of Charon jumps into slipspace. Four Seven Niner immediately detects the nuclear bomb and warns the team to get away. York and the rest of the team manage to get back to their Pelican before the bomb detonates behind them. When the Director asks if the team accomplished their mission, Carolina states that the leader wasn't there at all. The Director then asks if all the agents were accounted for, before Carolina tells the Director that C.T. is gone.
Back aboard the Mother of Invention, York is introduced to North's A.I., Theta, and allows him to meet Delta. Soon after, the Director approaches them and, upon seeing Delta conversing with Theta, quickly reminds Delta that interacting with other A.I. is against protocol, but York quickly claims responsibility. Along with South and Wash, York bears witness to North and Theta's test. When the two complete their test objectives, York excitedly compliments them. Later on, York and the other Freelancers attend a class session about A.I. theory, where South questions why she has to learn such things if she doesn't have an A.I. Carolina mentions to South that she herself does not have an A.I either, but York reprimands her, stating that she gave her A.I., Sigma, away to Maine after losing his ability to speak courtesy of multiple pistol rounds to the throat.
After class, York meets up with North in the Freelancer mess hall and questions him about the Alpha A.I. as both Delta and Theta are obsessed with him. York states that while the other A.I. units refer to each other as "brother", they all refer to the Alpha as the "creator". Wash joins them and states that he believed that the Director was their creator, but York corrects him, stating that they are copied from someone's mind. North adds the fact that their A.I. are only fragments, which causes York to raise the question of where the original is.
Battle at the Longshore Shipyards[]
Later, York is seen gathering in the hangar with the rest of the Freelancers, as a part of Carolina's team to find C.T. at the enemy FOB. While there, he introduces Delta to Four Seven Niner, who in turn believes that Delta is there to take her job. When the team arrive at the Longshore Shipyards, York joins Wash in engaging the enemy, and the two notice Carolina under heavy sniper fire. North quickly kills the enemy snipers with his armor enhancement, allowing the two to continue from there.
York is then attacked by the Sleeveless Insurrection Soldier along with Wash. York quickly bests the Sleeveless Insurrectionist in hand-to-hand combat and then engages Girlie, but is hit by a Warthog. When Maine arrives at the battle in a drop pod, in part to Wash throwing a location beacon, York is seen with Wash taking a cover from behind a dumpster. When Sigma greets the two, Delta reminds Sigma that interactions between A.I. units is against protocol. Sigma, however, reminds Delta that the Director has always said there are no rules in battle, before excusing himself to help Maine.
York and Wash later regroup to Wyoming's location, where the latter locates the leader and C.T. While under heavy fire, Carolina meets up with the three and begins to tell them her plan of attack. Suddenly, Tex runs up behind them while cloaked and chases after the Leader and C.T. Enraged, Carolina hastily follows Tex. When Carolina and Tex reach the room where C.T. and the leader are hiding, Carolina asks York to shut down the power at the main complex, but York is unable to, still under heavy fire by the Insurrectionist Twins. Fortunately, Agent Florida recovers and eliminates the twin guards, allowing York to shut down the power. Carolina and Tex confront C.T. and the Leader, where York radios Carolina telling her that the power is off, but Delta reminds York that it was him who did most of the work.
Watching Over Carolina[]
Back aboard the Mother of Invention, York is seen watching Carolina train during late hours. North soon joins him and points out that Carolina is always training, in which York explains that the leaderboard is beckoning her to do so. After a brief discussion over their A.I., an exhausted North leaves to get some rest and tells York to do so himself. York, still watching Carolina, then tells himself that they could all use some rest.Afterwards, York is seen with North, Wash, and South in the locker room after hearing about Carolina's decision to take two A.I.
Tex shows up and questions where Carolina is, in which York tells her that Carolina is undergoing surgery to receive her two A.I. He then asks if Tex would like to go with him and Wash to the recovery room to wait for her, but Tex decides to stay behind. In the recovery observatory, York and Wash visit Carolina, while noticing Maine there as well. As Carolina wakes up, she quickly demands a match against Tex. In the training arena, York preps Carolina on the floor and advises her to listen to her A.I.s' intel, though she does not listen. As the match begins, York quickly rejoins the other Freelancers in the observation room to watch the match.
The Director soon enters and, upon noticing Tex participating in the match, yells out her name in concern, which sends all the A.I. into a relapse calling out Allison's name. As a result, the Freelancers double over in pain in response to the A.I.'s screams. However, this quickly subsides and the Freelancers recover, except for Carolina, who's A.I. have become unstable. After the incident, York is seen in the recovery room sitting asleep beside a comatose Carolina. As North watches over them from a medical observatory, Tex comes along and asks North how long York has been with her. North states that York has not once left Carolina's side for several days.
Freelancer Break-In[]
York is later seen with Tex at a restricted area of the Mother of Invention, where Tex has enlisted his aid after going rogue. York tries to access the door, but inadvertently set off an alarm. Realizing that time was short, Tex quickly punches the door aside and asks York to create a distraction while she goes to meet up with someone. Afterwards, York sneaks into a locker room and quickly engages Wyoming in combat, whom he swiftly defeats. York then has Delta activate the heavy weapons systems aboard the Mother of Invention and causes them to fire upon the vessel itself. Soon afterwards, York heads to the gravity plant section of the ship and disables the ship's artificial gravity.
When Carolina rushes down to an elevator in order to locate Tex, she finds York instead, where the latter explains that he is doing this for the right reasons, having learnt the truth about the Director and his activities. York then tries to convince Carolina to leave with him, but she refuses, with the belief that Tex only wants to steal his A.I. York pleads for Carolina to let go of her jealousy of Tex, but she does not listen and engages him in close combat. Carolina quickly incapacitates York by kicking him into the air and proceeds to toss up his lighter before heading off to find Tex. As York reaches the top of the shaft, he spots his old lighter that Carolina had tossed up earlier and reaches for it.
Post-War and Death[]
Sometime after the events at Project Freelancer, York abandoned the program and became a thief, still in possession of Delta. Tex finds him breaking into a building and the two soon greet each other after the passing time. By this point, they seem to be on friendly terms with one another, as York refers to Tex by her real name (Allison). She asks for his assistance in locating Wyoming and her old A.I. Omega, and York agrees, wanting payback. York assists Tex in breaking into Wyoming's hideout, in which they both receive heavy fire upon entry.
They are successful in eliminating the armed guards, but are unable to eliminate Wyoming himself. When Tex's gun jams, York willingly covers for her, but is shot by Wyoming. Mortally wounded, York tells Tex to not let Wyoming get Delta, and soon passes away. After his armor shuts down, it sends out a "Priority One" Recovery Beacon, allowing Delta to be retrievedby Agent Washington. As revealed by Washington in Reconstruction: Chapter 1, York's armor enhancement was not destroyed, but taken by Washington.
Journal Entries[]
After his death, Carolina visits the site of York's demise, finding his lighter and apologizes for not listening to him. For comfort, Epsilon shows Carolina a series of York's journal entries, which apparently were made some time after he left Project Freelancer. The first few journal entries touch upon a female Freelancer causing trouble for the project, in which York believes the Freelancer being Carolina, who was believed to be dead at the time. York expresses his feelings for Carolina and also mentions their first meeting at a nightclub.
The last journal entry played shows York speaking in a disappointed tone, as he reveals the female Freelancer to be Tex and her A.I., Omega. Saddened, York jokingly tells Delta that if he tried to use a pickup-line on Carolina she might have punched out his good eye. Delta, trying to comfort him, inquires what he would have said, and York mournfully tells him that he would have told her that he understood why she did what she did, but wished she hadn't. He adds that he wished she could've let things go and ends stating that maybe he should as well.
Personal[]
York is one of the most laid-back characters in the series, regularly keeping a friendly and cool attitude. York is also a very social person, being able to hold conversations with others, tell jokes in dramatic situations and cares greatly about his teammates. Furthermore, York also seems to be very curious towards things, as he is commonly asking very deep questions regarding various topics, similar to a philosopher.
York is also regularly shown doing noble things, such as when he helped Tex in Introductions after Wyoming and Maine used live ammunition against her, assisted Tex during the Freelancer break-in, and helped Tex on her mission to find Wyoming and Omega during Out of Mind. He showed his true emotions around Delta after developing a strong relationship with the A.I., showing that he was depressed after Carolina's supposed death.
Relationships[]
York has many relationships within Project Freelancer, although he doesn't develop any with others in different factions.
Carolina[]
Carolina and York had developed a close relationship prior to Project Freelancer and greatly cared for each other. In Lifting the Veil, Carolina took great concern for York's injury, yelling at the medics to come to his aid as well. In Planning the Heist, she becomes relieved when York returns from the hospital, yet takes concern for his eye injury. On top of that, she seems to have a more kind and flattering tone around York than with the other Freelancers. York was also shown to trust her greatly and was able to make her joke around from time to time. After falling into a coma due to her A.I. incident, York refused to leave Carolina's side.
In Out of Mind, Carolina goes to York's resting place and apologizes for not listening to him years earlier. It is revealed in the episode that York and Carolina knew each other prior to Project Freelancer, having first met up at Club Errera. Carolina also listed York as one of her primary reasons for taking down the Director.
Delta[]
When York and Delta were paired as partners, York payed little attention to him and Delta showed some annoyance of his user. As time passed, however, the two began to grow more attached to each other. York often called him "D" and Delta grew to like him, as shown when Delta comforted him about Carolina. As time passed, York began to affect Delta, teaching him about humor, compassion, and humanity. Delta would also seemingly develop sentience and live up to York's words, as he was willing to "die" with his partner to comfort him.
Tex[]
Despite their first encounter, Tex saved York's life from a grenade Maine threw, which took his left eye. Since then, the two developed a strong bond and trust with each other. York, along with North, eventually joined Tex in the break-in to save the Alpha. Many years later, Tex and York reunited, where Tex asked him for his aid to locate and capture Wyoming, which he accepted for revenge.
Washington[]
York seems to treat Washington as a little brother, as the two often spent the most time with each other during Project Freelancer. Furthermore, York teases him, makes jokes with him, and shows great concern for him. However, York did insult Washington, telling him he's the least skilled in combat out of the agents and stated that "Everytime [he] opens [his] mouth, [he] only makes things worse." Wash later found his body and Delta and stated he did well in battle for an 'old locksmith'.
North[]
York and North were shown to be good friends during Project Freelancer as the two often spent quality time together, discussing their issues or the A.I., and allowed their own A.I. to interact with each other. As time passed, both acknowledged the crimes the Director had committed and joined Tex on her mission to save Alpha during the break-in.
Wyoming[]
It seemed that the two disliked each other's traits. Wyoming clearly didn't pay attention to York when they were facing Tex in Introductions and York gets annoyed by Wyoming's jokes. During the Freelancer break-in, York defeated him in battle after insulting his knock knock jokes. Years later, York still seemed to want revenge against him, most likely because he was involved in damaging his left eye, and joined Tex to find Omega due to this. When the two finally encountered, Wyoming killed York when he was covering Tex; Tex's gun had jammed and in trying to get to cover York was shot in the left side.
References[]
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