Death Battle Prediction: Meta VS Carolina

Introduction:

Well this is certainly unique. Out of all the potential Death Battles, we never thought that this would be the first fight that we would cover, but alright. Today, we have two combatants who are very similar but also the complete opposite - they are both Freelancers who have opposite stories and changed very much in the course of their stories. Maine was once a really good-hearted person who fell into darkness and got  corrupted into the power-hungry monster known as Meta. Meanwhile Carolina was kind of an asshole at the start of her journey, always trying to seek greater strength to try to be the absolute best, allowing other things to take a back seat to this goal. However, she slowly grew to become a better person and avoided going down the same dark path as Maine. Both Agent Carolina and the Meta use AIs, Meta literally being a combination of AIs while Agent Carolina uses Epsilon. Now they are good friends turned bitter enemies - it’s time to see which of these two Freelancers from the Red vs Blue universe comes out on top!

Backstory

Agent Carolina

Prior to becoming an agent of Project Freelancer, Carolina was born to a UNSC soldier named Allison and Leonard Church, the man who would become the director of Project Freelancer. Too bad for him, Alison was killed during the Great War, which sent Carolina’s father into a deep depression. Seeking to bring her back and do his “duty”, Leonard started a special operations program known as Project Freelancer and created a brilliant artificial intelligence named Alpha. As time passed, the director became more and more focused on resurrecting his lover, willingly committing major crimes and risking the lives of others in order to succeed at this goal.  This lead to a strained relationship with Carolina. As she got older, Carolina developed a romantic relationship with York, who she met at Club Errera. The two would later become agents in Project Freelancer.

She worked with the organization for many years but due to her competitive nature, she came into conflict with fellow Freelancer Agent Texas when Texas suddenly joined the team. Due to Carolina’s independent nature the two would often butt heads, but what really got under Carolina’s skin was how Tex kept surpassing her at every turn, eventually taking Carolina’s coveted number one spot at the top of the freelancer leaderboard.  Her desire to be the best drove Carolina to train even more extensively than before, in order to bring herself back up to that No. 1 spot.. Her jealousy of Agent Texas and desperation led Carolina to have an AI implanted in her in order to quickly and drastically improve herself. After waking up from a coma due to the strain of having two AIs (stupid decision on her part), Carolina went after the rogue Agent Texas and battled York, who was working with Texas. Their ship crashed on a frozen planet as she fought with Tex, and while she managed to escape the ship, she was then confronted by Maine, who by now was completely gone. In his place was the Meta, a ruthless killing machine.  The Meta ripped the AIs from the Freelancer and threw her off the cliff, presumably to her death though Agent Carolina survived. She would later try and get revenge on the director for what happened to Maine and make him pay for his crimes. After the disbandment of Project Freelancer, Carolina would later join the Blood Gulch Crew.   Carolina is currently staying with the Blood Gulch Crew along with her fellow Freelancer, Agent Washington.

The Meta

Previously known as Agent Maine in Project Freelancer, the Meta was one of the most powerful members of his team, known for his brutal strength and wrestling fighting style. The Meta’s first appearance was when he and his fellow Freelancers, Wyoming and York, fought the newcomer to Project Freelancer, Agent Texas. While they eached individually tried their best, they were not able to take down the newcomer due to a lack of coordination. Later on, Maine and the other members of Project Freelancer were assigned to recover the Sarcophagus. He was assigned to the A Team with Wash, Carolina and York, who were tasked with infiltrating the building the Sarcophagus was being kept at. During the mission, Maine decided to pick up his iconic weapon, the Brute Shot, which he would keep as his primary weapon. During the mission Maine clashed with a Sleeveless Insurrection Soldier who managed to shoot him in the throat, forever robbing Maine of the ability to speak. Some time later, after his injuries were treated, he received a lesson about AI’s. alongside Freelancers South, Carolina, North, York, Washington, and Wyoming. Maine later participated in the mission in order to locate C.T. at the Longshore Shipyards, but was kept on standby to be used only as a last resort in case the mission turned south. Maine later joined the battle and was able to defeat his foes but appeared to be suffering from a mysterious pain in his head (which we later found out was due to Sigma's influence over him). Maine was later seen in the medical observatory, receiving treatment for the headaches that had been causing him pain.  During Carolina's match with Tex, Maine observed the fight with the other Freelancers. Suddenly, the Director burst in and shouted "Allison!", mistaking Texas for his dead wife (Tex was based off Allison). This lead to all of the AI’s going rampant, sending everyone into severe pain and causing Maine to roar out in agony. This is around the point where Agent Maine could be considered truly dead and and the Meta’s replacement of the Freelancer became complete. The Meta went on to betray Agent Carolina and threw her off a cliff, presumably to her death, but she survived. After defeating Carolina, the Meta was able to stealing her two AI, Eta and Iota. This was all according to Sigma’s play, which is to acquire all the A.I. fragments in order to recombine them to form Alpha, the original AI. Although Sigma and the Meta work together in pursuit of this goal, the Meta is essentially nothing more than Sigma’s pawn.

Skills and Abilities

Agent Carolina

Agent Carolina is easily one of the most skilled characters in Red vs Blue and the second highest ranked member of Project Freelancer. She has proven time and time again that she is a warrior.

Martial Arts

Agent Carolina is one of the most skilled martial artists in Red vs Blue. She has been shown to be able to take out multiple groups of enhanced soldiers at once with just her fists and is able to defeat the likes of Girlie, Sharkface, York and CT. She was even able to fight Agent Texas, who is the highest ranked member of Project Freelancer. Carolina’s fighting style seems to be inspired by taekwondo, a Korean fighting style that relies on lightning fast kicks.

In order to be good at taekwondo you need to have balance and control. Agent Carolina relies mainly on lightning fast kicks and focuses on offense rather than defense.

Her fighting style may also include some elements of kempo, karate and jiu jitsu since it consists of dodging attacks, using fast kicks and disarming her foes. Although she does use other strategies in combat, these are the primary elements of her fighting style.  

Armor Enhancements

Members of Project Freelancer are able to use special abilities called armor enhancements. While it’s possible to use them without an A.I, they aren’t quite as good when you don’t have one, but they’re still usable all the same.

Active Camouflage

Oh look, Agent Carolina can turn into a Predator! In all seriousness though, Active Camouflage allows the user to tap into an advanced form of cloaking and when used it turns the user completely invisible which allows them to stealthy sneak behind foes and get in a quick stealth kill.

Speed Boost

Exactly what it sounds like. While Agent Carolina is normally faster than an ordinary human, with this upgrade she is fast enough to outrun a speeding car as well as become faster than the eye can track. It has a timer however, meaning she can’t use this all the time and once it runs out the user will likely collapse due to exhaustion, like what happened to Grif when he got his hands on this thing.

Adaptive Camouflage

“But wait,” you ask, “isn’t Adaptive Camouflage the same as Active Camouflage?” Well you would be wrong as while Active Camouflage basically transforms you into an invisible killer, Adaptive Camouflage allows the user to change his/her armor color in order to blend in with the enemy’s color scheme and take them out from the inside. There are no limits to the amount of colors Carolina and other soldiers using adaptive camouflage can turn into.

EMP

This Armor Enhancement basically works like a normal EMP as when activated from Carolina’s suit, it produces an electromagnetic pulse which renders all nearby technology, minus Carolina’s, useless.

Healing Unit

This enhancement allows Agent Carolina to heal her injuries over time. It’s not perfect by any means though, as there are some injuries that a Healing Unit won’t heal by itself.

BioScan

BioScan, also known as BioCom, allows the user to check the vitals of anyone nearby. It’s useful for finding weak points and things to watch out for in opponents.

Domed Energy Shield

Otherwise known as the Bubble Shield. It basically protects users against all projectiles including shotgun shots, rocket launcher fire and grenades. The Bubble Shield is able to withstand the explosion of a nuclear reactor.

Grav Boots

These Grav Boots allow the user to apply a form of artificial gravity to their soles. This gives them the ability to walk across any surface. The artificial gravity is so strong that they can withstand being sucked into space.

Epsilon:

Epsilon is Carolina’s main A.I and like the other A.I’s in the series, it’s a fragment of the Alpha A.I. Epsilon can manipulate pretty much every kind of tech he can get his hands on, from weaponry to vehicles, as well as operate Carolina’s armor enhancements. Due to being an A.I, Epsilon also has the ability to possess any machinery that it comes in contact with and can even control other people wearing Spartan Armor. Epsilon has been outfitted for combat and, due to experiencing time at a much slower rate, can perform tasks on the fly that Agent Carolina herself wouldn’t be able to do. While in combat Epsilon will come up with different plans for taking out a foe on the fly and then transfer all of his ideas to Carolina. In most combat situations, Carolina focuses on overpowering her foe while Epsilon focuses on tactics. Agent Carolina and Epsilon have a good relationship but due to Epsilon's ego and occasional bouts of anger the two have disagreed with each other several times. Despite these spats, the two maintain a friendly relationship with each other.

The Meta

Martial Arts Expert

The Meta is an expert martial artist, but his fighting style revolves around overpowering his enemies via brute strength more than anything else, similar to a street or MMA figher’s. It’s pretty straightforward but thanks to his great strength and durability, he is able to block damage and then hit the opponent with a much greater force to overwhelm them.

Armor Enhancements

Active Camouflage

Active camouflage allows the Meta to tap into an advanced form of cloaking to turn him almost completely invisible, allowing him to sneak into more favorable positions.

Temporal Distortion

This ability allows the Meta to stop or slow down time for about a minute and a half. While incredibly useful, Maine doesn’t use it often for some reason.

Strength Boost

Exactly what it sounds like. This thing boosts the Meta’s physical strength to even more impressive levels.

Overshield

A personal energy shield for the Meta that protects him from damage. While all Spartan Armor comes with a personal shield, this armor enhancement offers increased protection beyond that of what a normal shield does.

Domed Energy Shield

Otherwise known as the Bubble Shield, the energy shield basically protects users against all projectiles including grenades. It works both ways however, so shooting a bullet from inside of it would send it back at you.

Adaptive Camouflage

Adaptive camouflage allows the user to change his/her armor color in order to blend in with the enemy.

BioScan

Bioscan, also known as BioCom, allows the user to check the vitals of anyone nearby.

Voice Manipulation:

The Meta can use this armor enhancement to alter and manipulate vocalized messages. While not directly useful in combat, it can be used to deceive his enemies.

Sigma:

Sigma was developed for Project Freelancer. Originally assigned to Carolina herself, it was instead given to Agent Maine in order for him to be able to communicate after he lost the ability to speak. Sigma has shown himself to be a very cunning and manipulative AI. Using his influence over Agent Maine, Sigma convinced him to become a rogue agent known as the Meta as well as hunt down his fellow Freelancers and obtain their AI fragments in order to recreate the Alpha. Sigma desires to become “human”, or at the very least the closest he can become to being a human, and wanted to recreate the Alpha in order to do so. Like all AIs, Sigma helped Agent Maine to operate his armor enhancements as well as come up with plans and strategies on the fly due to A.I’s experiencing time at a much slower rate than humans. Like all A.I’s, Sigma can control machinery, but his greatest skill is his expertise with manipulation. He can manipulate others into doing what he wants, the most significant example of this being how he caused Maine’s descent into darkness, but granted it was over the course of a long period of time. In another life he may have been a Purple Dragon or a Hobbit.

Weaponry

Agent Carolina

While her greatest strength is her martial arts, Carolina’s training has made her extremely skilled at using weapons in combat as well. She has no problem using weapons throughout the series and here are her favourites:

Magnum

This is Carolina’s preferred weapon and the one she uses the most throughout the series. It shoots out one bullet at a time and has a total of 8 rounds before Carolina has to reload.

Battle Rifle

A semi-automatic rifle that shoots in bursts of 3 and has a total of 36 rounds before Carolina has to reload.

Plasma Rifle

The Plasma Rifle can fire superheated plasma that is strong enough to damage steel. It automatically fires when Carolina pulls the trigger. Due to the low damage output it is usually dual-wielded for maximum efficiency

Grappling Hook

Another one of Carolina’s favorites, this may have been the inspiration for Blake Belladonna’s weapon in RWBY. The grappling hook allows Agent Carolina to attach to and pull herself towards distant surfaces or pull objects to her. It’s basically what happens if you put Batman’s grappling hook in the Halo universe. She can also use it in combat to pull enemies in close or disarm them.

Shotgun

Malcolm’s personal favourite weapon in the series is the shotgun. The one that Carolina uses is pump action and holds 6 shells. It has short range but it’s a beast there.

Humbler Stun Device

The Humbler Stun Device is basically a stun baton. It charges itself with electricity and stuns those the weapon comes into contact with.

Gravity Hammer

The Gravity Hammer creates gravitational shockwaves strong enough to send the Warthog flying with just one smash. And considering how each Warthog weighs over 3 tons, that makes it one of Agent Carolina’s most powerful weapons. The gravitational shockwaves that are created by the Gravity Hammer can also block incoming ranged projectiles. She can also throw it to hit foes at a distance.

Binary Rifle

The Binary Rifle is a long range sniper-like weapon. If someone is hit with the Binary Rifle they will be disintegrated instantly.

Teleportation Grenade

Teleportation Grenades can be used to teleport anything in the blast radius to another location in a second.

The Meta

The Brute Shot

The Meta’s go-to weapon which he stole from a base he raided, the Brute Shot is a complete monster at both range and up close. It comes with a total of six grenades for shooting foes as well as a blade located on the hilt of the weapon which Maine can swing with enough force to cut through steel with ease. The Meta loves this thing and always keeps it sharpened so it’ll be ready for action. And can you blame him?

Magnum

While he doesn’t use it often, the magnum is basically a pistol and holds a total for 8 rounds. While it’s not as strong as the Brute Shot, the bullets shot from it are very fast.

Weaknesses

Agent Carolina

Agent Carolina heavily relies on Epsilon to run her Armor Enhancements and she’s been known to overexert him before, in cases where he has told her to run them all at once. Her drive to win is a good strength but also her greatest weakness, as she will take whatever action in order to win. That means taking whatever risks she has to in order to come out on top, even ones that could more than likely end badly for her.

The Meta

The Meta really doesn’t have many big weaknesses but due to his focus on brute strength over speed he can be overwhelmed by fast fighters. The Meta relies on his AI partner to come up with plans on the fly and doesn’t really come up with any himself. After Sigma was destroyed, Maine became even more reckless than before. He also lacks a lot in weapon variety.

Feats

Agent Carolina

Accomplishments:

• Lead the Freelancers on many missions. She kept the top spot on the leaderboard too until Tex knocked her down to second
• Defeated several skilled foes such as Girlie and Sharkface
• Was able to fight evenly with Tex in a undecided battle.
• Defeated dozens of Tex-drones on her own despite eventually being overwhelmed
• Defeated Sharkface a second time
• With Washington, fought evenly with Locus and Felix.

Strength:

• Is strong enough to lift and throw 85 lb Gravity Hammers
• Is able to rip through solid steel with ease just by using her strength
• Is able to throw and lift human bodies into the air as well as kick them into the air

Speed:

• Faster than the eye can track with speed booster
• Fast enough to run up walls with ease
• Able to react to and dodge sniper shots
• Is fast enough to react to bullets from a pistol
• Fast enough to fight a horde of robots without getting hit once with speed booster

Durability:

• Got thrown off a cliff and survived with a little snow softening her fall, right after fighting Tex, surviving a ship crash into a planet with no protection besides her armor and getting choked by the Meta
• Got knocked into a giant metal cliff and was fine
• Able to tank concrete with ease
• Is able to take hits from Sharkface, who is able to dent metal with ease.

The Meta

Accomplishments:

• Has one of the highest kill counts in the series and is debatably the strongest member of Project Freelancer
• Managed to defeat and kill several Freelancers such as North Dakota as well as a member of the Charon Security Force - Girlie
• Almost achieved his goals in obtaining all the AIs
• Along with Washington, managed to subdue Tex
• Managed to beat Washington

Strength:

• Strong enough to lift and even throw Warthogs which weigh about 3.25 tons
• Is strong enough to crash through solid concrete with ease
• Has also been shown throwing solid concrete
• Stopped a speeding vehicle (which tried to run him over) in its tracks
• Beat an Insurrectionist soldier with single punch to the head
• Kicked a large chunk of ice across the ground
• Strong enough to pull a Chris Redfield and move a boulder (it was by kicking though, not punching)
• Punched Doc so hard he got embedded in a wall

Speed:

• Is able to dodge:

Chaingun Fire

Machinegun Fire

Shotgun Shells at Point Blank.

• And once move so fast that a minigun was unable to hit him

Durability:

• Is strong enough to survive a sniper shot to the chest and multiple shots to the throat by a magnum as well as machine gun fire
• The Meta has been shown capable of stopping a speeding truck
• Took a point blank grenade
• When he was shot by a missile pod he managed to tank the damage and was barely fazed by it.
• Kept going through a lot of stuff in a span of 20 minutes: Several mine explosions, several attacks from Tex, a slice across the chest from a knife, got stabbed with a knife in both the back and the front, a blast from his own Brute Shot as well as multiple bullets from a shotgun, stabbed through the chest by Tucker's energy sword and was only killed when he fell off a cliff and drowned.

Summary

Agent Carolina

Name: Unknown (Carolina Church is likely her full name)

Age: Unknown (Speculated to be mid to late 20s)

Status: Alive

Affiliation: Project Freelancer (Formerly), Blood Gulch Crew

Occupation: Freelancer (Formerly)

Height: Unknown

Weight: Unknown

Destructive Capacity: Wall level to Small Building level with physical blows/weaponry (Is able to smash through solid concrete with ease and strong enough to rip steel doors)

Speed: Superhuman Travel Speed+ (Is able to keep up with speeding cars as well fast enough to run up walls with ease), at least Supersonic+ reactions (can react to bullets)

Durability: At least Small Building Level (Has tanked attacks from the likes of the Meta and once survived falling off a cliff). Large Building Level+ with Bubble Shield (The Bubble Shield was able to protect Agent Carolina from a ship crashing into a large building)

Advantages:

• Has a much larger variety of weapons than the Meta
• Epsilon can hack into the Meta’s armor.
• Faster
• Is arguably more experienced than the Meta
• Binary Rifle one-shots the Meta if it hits.
• Healing Unit will be able to heal most if not all of Carolina’s minor injuries
• Smarter
• Can call on the help of the other AI’s thanks to Church

Disadvantages:

• Weaker in terms of physical strength
• Less durable
• Has less endurance/stamina than the Meta and will tire out faster
• Her hot-headedness may end up with her going close range which is costly against a physically stronger foe
• Healing Unit, while healing minor wounds, won’t keep her from dying from the major ones.

The Meta

Name: Unknown (was formerly known as Freelancer Agent Maine)

Age: Unknown

Status: Deceased

Affiliation: Project Freelancer (Formerly), Independant, Washington and Doc (Formerly)

Occupation: Freelancer (Formerly)

Height: Unknown

Weight: Unknown

Destructive Capacity: Small Building Level with physical blows/weaponry.

Speed: Superhuman Travel Speed+, Supersonic+ reactions.

Durability: At least Small Building Level, Large Building Level+ with Bubble Shield

Advantages:

• Brute Shot is far more destructive than most of Carolina’s weapons
• Physically stronger
• Much more durable
• Sigma is more cunning than Epsilon
• The Meta can stop or slow down time
• Is considerably more ruthless than Agent Carolina
• The Meta’s overshield will protect him from gunfire. Unlike Carolin’s Domed Energy Shield, the Meta can be invulnerable and move at the same time.

Disadvantages:

• Is notably slower than Agent Carolina and has difficulty with speedsters
• He can only use Time Distortion for a limited time
• His armor can be hacked into by Epsilon
• Lacks in weapon variety
• Doesn’t have anything to heal injuries like Carolina does

Verdicts

Malcolm Belmont

When you really think about it this fights comes down to Speed vs Strength. On one hand you have the Meta who in terms of strength and durability is far superior to Agent Carolina. On the other hand you have Agent Carolina whose speed is far superior to the Meta. So in this battle of Speed vs Strength who wins? Well i am going to give my opinion on how this fight will turn out.

In terms of physical strength there is no comparison - the Meta is far stronger than Agent Carolina. While Agent Carolina is no slouch in the strength department as she can bust through solid concrete with ease, the Meta is strong enough to lift and throw Warthogs as well as move boulders and solid ice with ease. Agent Carolina really doesn’t rely on her physical strength in a fight so it's clear in this category the Meta wins. In terms of durability the Meta is superior to Agent Carolina as while Agent Carolina can take quite a bit of punishment including stabbings and being shot, the Meta has tanked point blank grenades and once got impaled with a energy sword to the chest. While Agent Carolina can tank a lot of punishment even she has her limits and if she breaks a leg or an arm it will be costly.

The Meta is basically Future Jason as no matter how many times you try to kill him he keeps on coming so in terms of physical durability I say the Meta is superior. Now for speed that’s really no comparison - Agent Carolina is superior to the Meta when it comes to speed. For the most part the Meta has displayed little speed feats and in terms of fighting style relies more on slower strikes rather than fast strikes. In terms of physical stats I would say the Meta is superior to Agent Carolina in terms of physical stats.

Now what about everything else, well let’s talk weaponry. While the Meta has a very powerful weapon in the Brute Shot he is simply outclassed as Agent Carolina has a much larger arsenal. While the Brute Shot is extremely powerful, it is also very slow which is not good against her Magnum and her Plasma Rifles.

So in this round Agent Carolina wins. Now let’s talk Armor Enhancements - While Time Dilution is a huge plus point in the Meta’s favor I think overall in this category Agent Carolina wins, especially with her Speed Boost and Healing Unit which will allow her to avoid and tank more blows than she usually would so i think Agent Carolina gets this point. Now we go to AIs and this is a tough one but I am giving it to the Meta because Sigma is overall more ruthless and intelligent than Epsilon.

So which of the two characters wins then? Well personally I am going with Agent Carolina because while the Meta is faster and more durable, Agent Carolina is more intelligent, quicker and has Epsilon who can hack into the Meta’s armor.  With Sigma,  the Meta is a huge threat, there is no doubt about it, but Agent Carolina has one trump card - the EMP which will disable Sigma, meaning it’s the Meta vs Agent Carolina and in that matchup I think Agent Carolina has got it due to her superior speed and intelligence.

The Meta without Sigma is often times very reckless which Agent Carolina can take advantage of though Agent Carolina’s head first mentality might put her at a disadvantage.

While this is definitely a close fight (probably the second closest - Green Arrow vs Hawkeye being first), based on my research Agent Carolina’s superior weaponry and Armor Enhancements give her the leg up she needs to beat the Meta. So in my own personal opinion Agent Carolina is going to win in this fight.

Side Note - I highly recommend that people go and watch Red vs Blue. While I was originally not a huge fan of it, after watching so many episodes I came to really like it (best arc being the Chorus Trilogy). While the first couple of seasons are entirely comedy-focused, it has a bunch of interesting, fun and likeable characters and it does the serious moments much better then RWBY so i recommend it.

MisterSilver

First of all, it’s pretty obvious that Carolina takes speed and agility, while the Meta has the advantage in both strength and durability. With that being said, let’s see what we have in the other categories.

Regarding hand-to-hand combat, Carolina should triumph since she’s an expert in martial arts while Maine acts, well, like a brute and focuses just on his raw power. But the key word is “should”, because if we keep his durability and insane pain tolerance in mind, going in close could end pretty bad for Carolina. Basically all the Meta has to do is to take her punishment (which he can totally do) and get the grab on her just once to unleash one or two of his devastating punches. So yeah, while Carolina possesses more skill, the Meta’s durability and strength easily make up for that.

As for intelligence and experience… well, both of them were trained in the same way, attended multiple missions and fought similar opponents, so they’re about even in experience. But while the Meta isn’t as dumb as one might think, Carolina has shown to use her wits in combat way more often and in a more varied way, therefore the intelligence advantage goes to her.

Going on to their respective arsenal, it’s basically a situation of quantity vs quality. While Carolina has the upper hand in the sheer number of weapons as well as weapon variety, most of her firearms can’t compare to the Meta’s Brute Shot, as it packs quite the punch and is extremely versatile, acting not only as a ranged, but also a melee and throwing weapon and even as a shield. Not to forget that most of Carolina’s weapons won’t be too effective as the Meta has shown to survive way worse. Well, except for the Gravity Hammer, which could do some serious harm even to him.

Armor Enhancements… now this is interesting, as both combatants have a huge variety of powers to choose from. Aside from possessing mostly the same stuff, the one thing that is really gonna be tricky is the Meta’s Temporal Distortion Unit. Buuuuut while it’s pretty neat to be able to stop time, Carolina has the perfect counter for that in form of her EMP, which could screw the Meta majorly as it could destroy Sigma/his other AI’s and cause his Armor Enhancements to malfunction. So while the Meta has one of, if not the most powerful ability currently known in the Red vs. Blueniverse, Carolina could simply shut it down.

Looking at their AI’s, there is the possibility of Epsilon hacking the Meta’s armor. But personally, I don’t think he would have success with that, as Sigma (and the other AI’s in case Screwattack decides to give Maine his AI hivemind) could probably prevent that.

To wrap this up, while the Meta is stronger, more durable, insanely tenacious and has both one of the best weapons as well as one of the best Armor Enhancements at his disposal, Carolina can counter that with being faster, more agile, smarter, being more skilled in hand-to-hand combat and possessing both way more weapons as well as a counter for the Temporal Distortion. Therefore I think she wins this fight, though only by the skin of her teeth as it really is a very tough call. Though honestly I won’t be surprised if the Meta manages to come out on top.

Grand Blazer

Going into the match with zero knowledge on both characters, it was fun to look through the entire Red VS Blue series for research. When I originally finished up my binge, I thought the Meta would be taking home the crown for this episode, but after a bit more contemplation I think Carolina's gonna be the one taking that crown.

I'm gonna try to keep this short and just talk about what I think the deciding factor is. Basically, Sigma is what's gonna determine the outcome of this match.

Scenario A - The Meta doesn't get Sigma: Church wins this match for the Freelancer. Carolina is faster and Church could easily run a scan of Maine's systems right off the bat to tell her good info like "use your plasma gun, it will overload his temporal distortion unit and cause him to slow down" (Doc did it. And with a medical device, not even a weapon). Or better yet, he could straight up just possess the Meta, take his helmet off, throw his Brute Shot away and just make him stand there while Carolina shoots a couple bullets into his skull. And while the Meta can run his enhancements without Sigma, he can't do it nearly as well, only about one at a time. Meanwhile Carolina could put up her energy shield and heal up at the same time. Not to mention the Meta is more reckless than usual without Sigma to help out, such as all the moments in his fight with Tex when it would've been a good time to use his time slow, but he didn't and got himself killed.

Scenario B - The Meta does get Sigma: Church could maybe still possess Maine given that he's the Epsilon and probably wouldn't be affected much, given what happened when Omega entered his mind (that being nothing), but we're not entirely sure. It's a big maybe, and I'd personally go with no. So now the Meta has better strength and durability, plus perfect time-slowing to ruin Carolina's speed advantage. Not to mention his other abilities like invisibility work fine now, and Sigma can tell him stuff like "her binary gun will disintegrate you, so use your shield/time slow so it won't hit". If Church can run a scan of the Meta, Sigma can run a scan of Carolina. It would just take some proper use of his tools to get the job done easily, and Sigma would definitely let him use those tools properly.

And considering the fact that Sigma got destroyed a while ago and Sigma isn't entirely required to run the Armor Enhancements, I'm pretty sure the Meta won't be getting his little fire friend.

Don't get me wrong, the match is still pretty close both ways, and I wouldn't be surprised if the results turned out the opposite way of what my prediction says. But for now, Agent Carolina has my vote.

HomestuckLover

Gotta say, not the most excited for this fight :P but I decided I’d still work on giving a verdict for it anyway, so here goes nothing I suppose.

Stat-wise, the Meta easily takes the cake in every category except speed. Should Agent Maine get up close to Carolina and keep her close, he has a really good chance of winning.

Tech and Weaponry-wise however, I think Carolina edges out due to being more versatile, having more healing options, having Epsilon allows for possession of the Meta, and the EMP completely wrecks Maine’s Temporal Distortion Unit, which slows him down to the point of being completely harmless for a minute and 45 seconds. The big factor in this fight that could give the Meta the win, however, is if he can pull off his Temporal Distortion Unit before Agent Carolina uses an EMP.

That’s what I think makes this fight REALLY close, is how both have a surefire way of winning the fight. So I think the deciding factor here is their usual tactics and whoever is faster in using the one needed to win.

That’s why I’m leaning more towards Agent Carolina being the victor here.

Unlike the Meta, she’s a lot smarter as a fighter and will use the winning tactic as soon as possible. And assuming Maine even tries to counter by immediately using the TDU, Carolina is still faster. Even if you consider the possibility Carolina somehow doesn’t kill him when she overcharges his TDU, which is VERY unlikely, the Meta without Sigma makes him much more reckless, which only plays into the favor of someone who’s smarter, faster, and more versatile than him.

As to how the other stats might play into the fight, while the Meta is a tank and a damn good one, he isn’t going to bounce bullets off of him like he’s Superman. Even he has limits, which can be abused by Carolina who can outspeed Maine and keep her distance while constantly attempting to get some bullets in.

So basically, while I do think this fight is neck at neck, Carolina just has more winning opportunities and will be quicker to use them.

Shadow Ninja

As a fan of Red vs Blue and having seen every episode with these two characters, I gotta say that this is a toughie. Stat-wise, Meta would win with all of his abilities and physical prowess. He’s practically a beast with his level of strength and he’s a force that tends to leave destruction in his wake. However, Carolina was known as the best of the Freelancers for a reason. She has managed to prove resourceful and strategic when it comes to a fight, and Epsilon-Church can give her advantages on the fly. Personally, I’d have to root for Carolina on this one.

Risinguppercut

Wow, this is my first time doing one of these verdicts. Here's hoping I guess right! And “guess” is a pretty operative word here, as this fight could easily go either way. One interesting factor about this particular match is that, unlike most Death Battles, the combatants have trained alongside each other and even fought each other before. In a scenario like this, where both fighters have a certain amount of awareness of their opponent's capabilities, a significant advantage generally goes to whoever can most make use of this knowledge and in this case that would be Agent Carolina, whose tactical acumen is contrasted with the Meta's more direct approach towards combat.

It's a close fight, and both Carolina and the Meta have ways of killing the other. Meta really just needs to get in close and tear Carolina apart, something that his Temporal Distortion Unit would make as easy as pie. Carolina has a one shot, one kill weapon in the form of the Binary Rifle, as well as the possibility of using her AI to possess the Meta. And while the Meta has significantly more durability than Agent Carolina, it is not beyond Carolina's ability to wear him down and kill him...eventually.

Carolina's EMP is the most interesting trick up her sleeve, in my opinion. It was shown in Red vs Blue Revelation, Episode 4 that the Meta's TDU could be overloaded and when this happened it caused the TDU to malfunction and slow only the Meta himself, leaving time operating normally for everyone but him. It was overloaded with a shot from a plasma pistol using it's overcharge mode (well, plasma pistols tend to be depicted as medical devices in RvB but this “medical device” was shown doing the exact same thing Halo plasma pistols can do). The important thing to note is that a charged shot like this specifically delivers an electromagnetic pulse to the target, meaning it stands within reason that Carolina's EMP could affect the Meta's TDU in the same way, which would give Carolina plenty of time to kill the Meta at her leisure (line up a Binary Rifle shot or just unload on a vital area for the duration of the time slow).

The important thing is, Agent Carolina is aware of just how dangerous the Meta is and knows she'll need to pull off one of her aces quickly, as time is quite literally on the Meta's side. It's a very dangerous situation for her, as it is far easier for the Meta to kill her than vice versa and if he uses the TDU, it's game over. Luckily, armed with this knowledge and superior speed, I think Agent Carolina can disable and kill the Meta before he can kill her and her personality leads me to believe she's not one to mess around. Yes, the Meta can kill Agent Carolina, but to me it seems like it's a matter of will she give him the chance? Personally, I don't think she will. She has the tools needed to win, and she knows how to use them effectively. If she lets the Meta get in close or lock her down with his Armor Enhancements, well then, she'll get what's coming to her.