"It's a smaller, female SPARTAN design," Wash notes. "It's based on the same style and... Wait... Is the war here too?"

He's not ready to fight. He doesn't have his armor, and the EMP's been stripped from it, and he doesn't have Epsilon. David knows he can fight, and he's not bad, but he's also not good enough to go without the armor while he's still got Epsilon-splinters in his head. They just won't crystalize into those moments of clarity anymore.

"And... I'm guessing from your shock, you're not involved with another me, or North, or Delta here."