North Dakota

"What can I tell ya? I guess some things are just harder to face than others."

- North Dakota in Out of Body

Freelancer Agent North Dakota, often referred to as simply North, was an agent in the Special Operation's program Freelancer. Being that he was in the first implantation group, he was given an artificial intelligence program: Theta. Because of the Epsilon Incident, the A.I. project was cancelled, and all constructs were ordered to be removed, willingly or by exterminating the agent.

Being that North still had his A.I. indicates that he was able to escape, Theta inherited a fairly innocuous trait or that Project Freelancer deemed the Dakotas experiment to take precedent over any risk that may come to him. Since Recovery Command was seemingly aware of North still carrying Theta (much to the surprise of Recovery One), it is possible that Theta is similar to the Delta A.I., being that it did not pose a threat.

Overview
North and South were both part of a superfluous experiment to study what would happen if one agent received an A.I. and another didn't. Being that they were twins, they were the ideal subjects for said experiment. In addition, with being both siblings and participating in a specific experiment, it is most likely they were assigned their respective codenames to colloquially refer to them and the experiment as "the Dakotas." The result of the experiment was South betraying her brother, allowing the Meta to kill him to take his A.I., Theta, and his armor enhancement. South was able to escape unharmed.

Infiltration at Bjørndal Cryogenics
North and his sister, South, went on a mission to the Bjørndal Cyrogenics Research Facility to recover a data file from an unknown enemy. While South recovered the data file, North provided sniper support from atop a smokestack, the steam from which concealed his presence. When a guard that South killed landed on an alarm, North ran to assist his sister, killing anyone that got in his way. He and South regrouped at a platform leading to the helipad and made their way to the extraction point, killing all the guards on the walkway.

When they made it to the center of the pad, they became surrounded by guards. However, Freelancer Carolina arrived and assisted them in fighting off the guards. During the course of the fighting, North notices a guard manning a turret and aiming for South, which prompts him to push his sister out of the way but is heavily wounded in the process. Carolina later pulls the both of them out of the fight scene and they escape the facility on a Pelican, with the required data file safe in South's hand. Later, two Longswords show up and attempt to stop their escape.

With their Pelican taking heavy fire, North realized that he would need to take drastic action to ensure their survival. South is knocked out during the fighting and North straps her into a seat before ascending to the roof of the Pelican to face the Longswords. The missiles fired by the Longswords were heading straight for the Pelican and would have surely destroyed it, but North then activated a Domed Energy Shield which protected the Pelican from the oncoming missiles.

He made his way back into the vehicle, when they were rescued by a Freelancer frigate: Mother of Invention, that destroyed the pursuing Longswords. He was later briefed along with South and Carolina on the importance of the data they recovered and congratulated them on the success of the mission. Afterwards, the Director updates the Freelancer leaderboard, placing North ahead of South as she ruined the stealth aspect of the mission. As South angrily walked away, Carolina asked North if she should go talk to her. Upon seeing South punch a door control and knock it off the wall, North says to give her a while.

Mission for the Sarcophagus
Later on, he approached Agent Washington to ask about Wash's conversation with Internals. Wash told him not to worry as the meeting was unrelated to North using equipment in the field. Their conversation is interrupted by a group of soldiers making their way to the training room to watch Agents Maine, Wyoming and York square off against a new agent. North, along with South, Washington, C.T. and Carolina, watched the new recruit, Agent Texas, defeat the trio.

He commented on Tex's skill and showed some concern when Wyoming and Maine began to use live rounds. When York was injured, North led the watching party into the training floor while Carolina called for medical assistance. He is yelled at by the Director, along with everyone else who observed the match. Sometime later, North is seen in the briefing room with most of the Freelancers. He is assigned to Team B, whose objective is to get a passcode to open the mission's primary objective, the Sarcophagus.

North is later heard talking to Team A prior to the beginning of the mission, before being seen outlining the mission objectives to the other members of Team B in their Pelican. When Carolina has him report, it is revealed Team B's mission has not gone as well, as they are pinned down and Wyoming is injured. However, he sends Team A after Rhee Sebiel. He is later seen in the bay of the Pelican that picks up Agent Carolina. Back aboard the Mother of Invention, North tells York that the board has changed. The two then share a conversation about how everything has been changing since Tex showed up, and York asks him if the Freelancers are the good guys. North is unable to answer confidently, a fact that York notes.

A.I. Interaction
He later appears on the Pelican with Carolina, Washington, C.T., and South on their mission at the UNSC Scrap Metal Recycling Station. As the Freelancers enter an Insurrectionist hangar, North kills several Insurrectionists in a zero gravity battle. After the battle, the team prepares to leave for Bone Valley to attempt to capture the Insurrectionist leader. Suddenly, York rejoins the group and North pats him on the back, before leaving with the rest of the team. As the team make their way to the extraction pelican, the Staff of Charon emerges from the debris and attacks the Mother of Invention It then ceases its assault and leaves the area, but not before dropping a nuclear device. North and the rest of the team make it onto the extraction pelican and leave safely before it detonates.

North later appears with York, Washington, and South Dakota inside the Mother of Invention, trying to introduce his newly gained A.I. program Theta. Although Theta was initially shy when meeting the other Freelancers, North and York helped him gain confidence by allowing him to meet Delta. The Director arrives and requests that North and Theta take to the training room floor in order to complete a simulation test of Theta's abilities. North and Theta managed to successfully complete the test despite a number of challenging variables, impressing York and Wash, although South leaves the room without making a comment.

After the test, he is seen in class about A.I.s with the other Freelancers. During the class, South's attitude towards Carolina disappoints him. In the Freelancer mess hall, Theta shows North a trick, which North enjoys. York sits with North and asks Theta to log off in order for him to speak with North alone. After Theta does so, York questions North about the Alpha, which quickly catches North's attention. Washington soon joins the conversation and the three discuss the topic of the Alpha.

North then joined the squad launching an attack on the Insurrection base at the Longshore Shipyards, where he was forced behind cover with his sister by several snipers. North called on Theta's help to guide a device holding a form of his Domed Energy Shield armor enhancement to land near the squad of snipers. One of the soldiers attempts to shoot his way out, but the fire from his gun ricochets off the walls of the shield, causing him to kill everyone trapped inside. North thanks Theta as Carolina orders him and the several other members of their team to stay outside and keep a lookout as she, York, and Washington look for C.T. Unfortunately, the Insurrectionist Leader and the dying C.T. fly away from the shipyard.

Back aboard the Mother of Invention
After the battle at the Longshore base, North arrives in an observation room of the training center to find York watching Carolina train. York comments that she has been pushing herself farther then her limits, but North claims that she always pushes herself too much. North then replies that Theta has been keeping him up and York says that Theta has to confront his fears at some point. Exhausted, North leaves for bed and tells York to get some rest. Afterwards, North is seen inside of a locker room, listening to his sister, South, complain about Carolina's actions at taking both the Eta and Iota A.I. After a brief confrontation with Texas, South angrily storms out of the room, resulting in North following after her.

Some time later, he is seen along with York, Washington, Wyoming and Maine in the observation room to watch the match between Texas and Carolina. As the match begins, the Director suddenly appears and questions why there is an unscheduled match in progress before noticing that Tex is in the match. The Director yells out her name in a mixture of concern and panic, which sends all the A.I. into a relapse, resulting in them calling out Allison's name. Carolina slides onto the floor and clutches her head in agony. North and the others, with the exception of Wash, also double over in pain in response to the reactions of the A.I. to the Director's words. However, this quickly subsides, and the Freelancers recover, except for Carolina, whose A.I. have become unstable.

Freelancer Break-In
Several days later, North and Tex check up on Carolina at the medical observatory. Tex tells North that South has filed a petition to receive one of Carolina's A.I., a move that disgusts him, and warns him that he should keep an eye on her in the future. She then confides to North that she refuses to use her A.I., Omega, because she believes him to be too dangerous. North believes that Carolina's accident would bring a halt to the A.I. implantations, but Tex tells him that the Director has already scheduled Washington for implantation, leading North to believe that the Freelancers are nothing but the Director's guinea pigs. Tex then leaves, informing North to let her know when Carolina wakes up. Theta then appears and discusses the change in Tex's personality with him, both complimenting on their liking to her, although still finding her scary.

Washington wakes up in the Recovery center after his implantation of Epsilon, with North and South standing by him. North tells him that the Director not only removed Epsilon, but has began to remove all of the A.I. from the Freelancers. Wash questions Carolina's whereabouts, in which North reveals that the Director has been planning to send Carolina to go after Tex, who has recently gone rogue. South states that Tex had attacked Wyoming and stole his A.I. and equipment, but North reminds her that this has not been proven, believing Tex would not go that far.

Their conversation is interrupted by the sudden blare of a security alarm. At some point after Carolina woke up, Tex approached North, seeking assistance to liberate the Alpha. When South attempted to kill Tex with a Missile Pod, North stopped her, shooting down all the missiles with two sniper rifles. He then told Tex to continue with her objective, stating that he has to "have a talk" with South. When Tex leaves the room, the two siblings open fire on each other.

Death
North and his sister were eventually tracked down by the Meta, who was hunting down Freelancers. Though South was spared, North was less fortunate as the Meta killed him in order to obtain Theta. It is later revealed that South put North in a position to be killed by the Meta so she could escape. North was later confirmed KIA when Recovery One answered a Priority One call to retrieve his construct (which had been stolen along with his Domed Energy Shield armor enhancement). North's body and armor were detonated by Washington to erase evidence of the event.

Personality
North Dakota's personality is the exact opposite of that of his sister. North is shown to be very calm and logical in battle, as he tried to give his sister advice when infiltrating the Bjørndal Cryogenics Research Facility. North is also very kind and caring towards his fellow Freelancers and (according to York) is used to looking out for them, such as showing concern when York becomes injured during a training match and when he visited Wash (along with South) after he woke up following the implantation of Epsilon and its subsequent insanity.

North also shows a high degree of kindness and somewhat protectiveness towards his sister, shown when he pushed South away from a firing turret and when he tries to calm her down when she loses her temper. North also treats his A.I., Theta, very well, as he walked with Theta in order for him to get to sleep and didn't want to pull Theta out of his head because he felt like he was obligated to help Theta.

Combat
Throughout Season 9, North Dakota displayed great skill both as a soldier and as a fighter. During The Twins, he and South both displayed great skill in combat together with their weapons and agility, eliminating anyone that got in their way. Also, during Hell's Angel, though no feats were displayed, North was shown uninjured during the mission while Wyoming was; whether this is an indication of skill difference or merely caused by circumstances is unknown.

Resilience
North has displayed great endurance and stamina. Despite being critically injured prior to this occurring, North was able to climb to the top of a fast moving Pelican and activate his armor enhancement to protect it from oncoming missiles launched by two Longswords. Upon returning from the mission, North moved up from the fifth highest ranking Freelancer on the ranking board to the 4th, replacing his sister in the process, moving her down to 5th. After the mission involving the Sarcophagus, however, his rank moved down to sixth, making North the only member of Team B that was on the list by the end of the season.

Resourcefulness
North is also shown to have exceptional skill with the sniper rifle, frequently using it during his time at Project Freelancer and being able to dual wield two in Party Crasher, where he subsequently eliminated seven oncoming missles out of the air in a matter of seconds. North also seems to be capable in reconnaissance, as he alerted South of an incoming enemy despite the fact that she did not activate her motion tracker in The Twins.

Kills
Before his death, North had successfully killed many Insurrection soldiers, including the Resistance Sniper by using his domed energy shield.

Trivia

 * North is the second character in Red vs. Blue to reveal his face on screen.
 * Throughout the series, North Dakota and his sister South Dakota have shared a number of similarities:
 * Both of their Freelancer names are derived from one of the Dakota states.
 * Both of their armor sets are primarily a shade of purple with a shade of green for their trimming.
 * Both used Domed Energy Shield armor enhancements.
 * Both were killed by Freelancers (North by Maine/Meta, South by Washington), who would later serve as antagonists in Revelation.
 * Both would have the A.I. that they were using prior to their deaths stolen by the Meta.
 * Both are blonde.
 * Both remove their helmets in Season 9.
 * Both suffered injuries to their left cheeks at one point in their lives, as South is seen with a scar on her cheek while North is shown with a bleeding wound on his.
 * South and North, being brother and sister, are depicted of showing some level of kindness to each other (North pushing South out of a firing turret's way and South shouting out his name after he is shot). It is clear that North greatly cares for his sister. However, South's jealousy of North owning an AI ultimately led her to placing her brother in a position to be killed by the Meta.
 * There is a slight inconsistency in North's armor color between Recovery One and Season 9. In Recovery One, North's corpse was shown to have a light purple/orchid colored armor, while in Seasons 9 & 10, his armor color bears a dark purple. It should also be noted that, in Recovery One, his twin sister, South, had a darkish purple armor while in Reconstruction, Seasons 9, and Season 10 she had a light purple/orchid. Their armor colors essentially switched between Seasons 9 & 10 and Recovery One.
 * North often corrects York when the two are talking about their A.I., Theta and Delta, as York often fails to find a correct word to describe the situation their A.I. are in, with North quickly finding the word to describe it.
 * Apparently, North has to walk Theta around to get him to 'sleep', similar to what his father would do with South when she was younger.
 * North is one of four Freelancers, the others being York, Carolina, and Wash, whose name has been seen on the Freelancer Leaderboard in every scene in which it is featured.
 * North is the only protagonist of the series that has no relation to the Blood Gulch Crew. While all other protagonists are either members or allies of the group, North never meets a single member of the Blood Gulch Crew after it's formed.
 * Revealed in a deleted scene on the Season 10 DVD, North is seen carrying South on his back after their battle. As the two exit the Mother of Invention, North tells South that he will always have her back, in which South responds that she is watching his as well.