York

"The whole universe is moving too fast, Wash. I think we're just trying to keep up."

- York

Freelancer Agent New York, Foxtrot 12, was once an agent in the Special Operation's Project Freelancer who specialized in infiltration. York was the second best Freelancer agent at one time.

Project Freelancer
For a time, York was the second highest rated Freelancer agent. In the episode 'Introductions', York (along with Agents Maine and Wyoming) fought in a training excercise 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 action, 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, thought 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 Tex. Again, she dodges it and it lands next to York instead. Still stunned from the earlier impact, York is 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. York flies across the training room and the Freelancers watching come to his aid with medics. He is shown with multiple cracks in his visor and a hole above his left eye.

He later recovered enough to join the other Freelancers in their next mission, though his rank had fallen down to sixth. York is then seen inside a building, where Carolina has him pick a lock for her. He notes that it's holographic, and she asks if he can do it. He does so, but accidentally sets off an alarm. York alerts the team of an enemy patrol coming in, and helps them acquire a window washer lift to carry the package to the roof. Later, he is told to shut down a bomb planted by Agent Texas. However, he reveals it to be a transmitter. He asks the insurrectionist soldier to hold the transmitter 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. He is rescued via a Warthog driven by Agent Maine, and is later seen driving himself. He gets the coordinates to Team B; however, they are told to go after Rhee Sebial. Maine kills Sebial and takes the briefcase. York picks up Maine with Carolina in the Warthog and they leave the scene of the crime with York stating that Response Teams are likely already on the way. They are pursued by Hornets. Later when Carolina is fighting two jetpack soldiers and Maine is injured in the warthog, York tosses Carolina Maine's Brute Shot. He also picks up Carolina when the truck they are on swerves, sending them flying. Pursuing the Insurrectionists, Carolina tells York that they have to get the briefcase before Tex with York questioning why. While pursing the Insurrectionists, he is told to bail out of the Warthog to allow Carolina to get into a closing door. Later when Carolina is being picked up by a Pelican, York extends his hand to help her up and she angrily grabs it.

Back aboard the Mother of Invention North tells York the scores have changed (with him placed in third). York says everything has been changing while going to his locker and picking up his old helmet, which he tosses in the trash. He then 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.

Out of Mind
York's first appearance in the series is in Out of Mind Part 3, breaking into a small shop, as he was left unemployed when Project Freelancer shutdown. Tex hires him in a mission to find Omega and he accepts. York assists Tex by breaking into Wyoming's hideout, in which they both receive heavy fire upon entry. They are successful in eliminating his armed guards, but are unable to eliminate Wyoming himself. Tex had a clear shot at Wyoming, but her gun jammed, requiring York to cover for her. Moving in panic to cover Tex, York put himself in a position where he couldn't see Wyoming (due to his damaged eye) and was mortally wounded. His armor shut down once he died, sending out a Priority One Recovery Beacon. His AI is eventually retrieved by Agent Washington, and his armor is "decommissioned".

Reconstruction
As revealed by Washington in Reconstruction Chapter 1, York's armor enhancement was not destroyed, but taken by Washington.

Skills and Abilities
In Introductions, York, along with agents Maine and Wyoming, displays considerable combat prowess in his fight against Agent Texas. While unable to defeat her, he is the only one of the three capable of blocking several of Tex's attacks, (Wyoming did injure her shoulder, but only by using live rounds on the training floor, and thus 'cheated' in a sense.) even managing to disarm her during one of the lockout paint rounds, though she was quick to nullify the achievement by swiftly defeating him. On the ranking board, it states that York is the second top Freelancer, which is another indication of his combat expertise.

York has also displayed a great skill in driving, aiding the escape from Insurrectionist forces during Spiral. He avoided several civilian vehicles at top speed, hit the brakes to throw the enemy off the hood of the Warthog (saving Carolina from an inevitable headshot), slammed the Warthog into a truck to throw off the aim and balance of the Insurrectionist Sniper, and drove Maine close enough to strike him.

York's unique armor enhancement is a healing mechanism, which was taken by Washington upon his death. It is also stated in the mini series Out of Mind that York is an infiltration specialist, as he is seen trying to break into a store, and later assists Tex in inflitrating O'Malley's base.

Trivia

 * The fact that York, who'd been stealing for (presumably) years to make ends meet, has not gone by his Freelancer codename (much to the converse of Tex, who still participates in military operations), explains why York and Allison are names neither are used to hearing, respectively.
 * York's codename Foxtrot 12 is similar to the designation Sierra 117, an alternate designation for the Master Chief within the Halo games, as both are made up of a NATO phonetic letter followed by a numerical sequence. The use of the letter Foxtrot is due to York being a Freelancer and Sierra is due to the Master Chief being a Spartan.
 * York's healing unit is very effective as it allowed Washington to survive a direct shot to the back from Agent South Dakota.
 * In Out of Mind: Part IV, York sheds some light on how he lost his left eye by saying "Omega and Allison were always the best. Nobody could compete with them, not me, not Wyoming, not anybody. Trying to beat them when I should have given up is how I got hurt in the first place."
 * York is the first character in Red vs. Blue to remove his own helmet and reveal his face on screen.
 * According to Burnie Burns at Pax East, York was the link in the trailer to show that Red vs Blue Season 9 was not taking place in present time.
 * The extents and limitations of York's healing unit are unknown, leading many to question why he didn't use it to heal his eye or to save himself from Wyoming's fatal gunshot. As of episode 8 of Season 9, it has been noted that Freelancers are not permitted to and that it may be hazardous for them to use their ability units. In light of his injury, it likely healed into permanent scar tissue before this became viable.
 * In Season 9, York seems to have a preoccupation with whether or not the Freelancers are "the good guys." Interestingly, after abandoning the program, he became a thief to survive, abandoning that ideology.

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