Here's chapter 2! This has been fun to write. I'm planning on making this story about 4 chapters long. I think there were a lot of connections to the Halo world left open in the seasons of Red Vs. Blue. It has been fun to bring the two worlds together in the most realistic way that I can. I hope you enjoy Chapter 2!

Chapter 2

Everyone had gathered in the atrium. Grif was starting to realize that he knew too many people. When did he get in this deep? All the Reds and Blues were there, as well as Dr. Grey, Jensen, Andersmith, Palomo, and Matthews. Bitters was nowhere to be seen. He was probably out doing nothing in a different part of the temple. Frustratedly, Grif realized that Bitters had once again out-lazied him. What was happening to Grif's reputation as a do-nothing slacker?

Washington was trying to coax answers from Master Chief. Unfortunately, he seemed to be a man of few words. They were able to learn that the Spartan had lost an AI who was much like Church. The Chief had thought that the AI, Cortana, was dead, but he was seeing visions of her. He had come to Chorus to search its plethora of what he called "Forerunner" temples. According to him, the Forerunners were an ancient race of aliens that left behind plenty of buildings and technology throughout the galaxy. The aliens that are seen today are called Covenant, and they are the ones the chief beat in the war.

"Dude, that makes so much sense!" Tucker interrupted. "That's why the aliens I was doing negotiations with back in the desert worshiped the ancient technology! It wasn't their stuff!" Master Chief did not ask anything about why Tucker had such a limited knowledge of a group of people he was leading negotiations with.

"That is also why Crunchbite was so mean!" Caboose yelled. "Because the Farm-Runners were the aliens who made the temples! People who make temples aren't mean!"

Simmons corrected Caboose, "Actually, lots of mean things were done in temples, Caboose. The Aztecs practiced human sacrifices in temples. In ancient Canaan…"

Grif couldn't take anymore, so he interrupted, "Man, you are such a nerd! Just shut up, Simmons. You are putting me to sleep! Actually, on second thought, keep going. I could use a good snooze."

Apparently, Washington was done listening to the Reds and Blues argue, because he asked the Spartan, "But why are you looking for forerunner technology on this planet, Chief? What did you see in your visions?"

"Cortana," Master Chief answered. "She said, 'The Domain is open. Chorus is next.'"

"The Domain? What's that?" Washington asked.

"That's what I'm here to find out."

"Honestly, I'm still having a bit of trouble believing the whole 'visions' story," Church declared. "Seems like it's just a cheap ploy writers use to get a plot moving forward. I mean, come on. Visions aren't real."

"Ha! Says the dude who's a ghost!" Tucker blurted.

"Tucker, I'm an AI. How have you forgotten that already?"

"Yes, an AI who has died," said Caboose, "because of accidents that were nobody's fault. That makes you an AI ghost!"

"I HAVEN'T DIED!" Church screamed. "Well, Alpha died, but I'm Epsilon. I just have his memories, but he's dead."

"Still more weird than visions, dude," Tucker declared. Grif rolled his eyes at the blues being idiots again. They always get involved in the stupidest stuff.

Suddenly, a high pitched voice called out, "Domain! I remember!" Everyone turned to look at the woman in the white and purple armor. Dr. Grey was excitedly flipping through her data pad, rambling almost too quickly for everyone to keep up. "Well, you said 'Domain, and at first I didn't really remember it, and I was thinking about domain names for my website for live-streaming bloody surgeries, but then I was like, 'wait, I've heard that word before!' Well, I didn't actually hear it, I just saw it, but I saw it in this temple's computer, because, you know, while you all were just looking around, I was doing the real work of searching through this computer. I saw something about the Domain in conjunction with one of the other temples, because we're starting to learn that each of these temples have a unique purpose, even though those purposes have been really hard to figure out without the help of some kind of AI that I have theorized exists somewhere in the temple system; we just haven't been able to unlock it yet, but anyways, I'm pretty sure I can find the Domain temple with the information I have here if I cross reference it with some of the information we've collected about the temples like I'm doing right now… There we go! I have it!"

"Where?" Chief asked bluntly.

"It's a desert temple on the equator. We haven't explored that one yet and I'm excited because I haven't ever had the chance to treat patients with heat stroke, but I'm sure it's going to happen if we go there!" Grif began thinking of ways to get out of going on the trip right away.

"I'm going alone," Master Chief stated flatly.

"No, you're not," Carolina objected.

"Yea, we want to know what's in this temple too, buddy," said Church, "and we will probably learn more about these Forerunners if we stick with you. You haven't been exactly forthcoming with information, and I get you need to put on your whole "strong and silent" persona, but we need to learn about the Forerunners in order use their technology. So, if that means investigating this temple with you, then we're going!"

"And I need to come too!" Dr. Grey spoke up. "No offense, but you are going to need some help from the smartest person on this planet if you want to figure out how that temple works, and if you don't take me, just know that I am pretty knowledgeable in how to make poisons and the food rations aren't exactly locked up!"

"Alright," Master Chief nodded, "But we are travelling light. The AI, the doctor, and your four best soldiers are all that I will allow."

"Ooh I wanna go!" Donut exclaimed, "I always wanted to go to the desert! It will be just like Aladdin! We can even sing the songs! I think I have one of those tiny vests he wears in the movie somewhere…"

The robot, Lopez, who was standing right next to Donut, said, "Me incinerados ese chaleco. Era tan pequeño que podía ver sus pezones cuando él llevaba. [I incinerated that vest. It was so small you could see his nipples when he wore it.]"

"No Lopez," Donut said, assuming he knew what Lopez was saying, "you can't wear it. I'm Aladdin! You can be Jazmine. Here, let me put this belly shirt on you."

"Por favor alguien me dispare. [Someone please shoot me.]"

"Okay, that settles it," Church declared. "Donut's not coming."

Things were starting to fall into place. The situation with the newcomer would soon be resolved, so Grif had lost what interest he had. Not wanting to even be put in the running as one of the four best soldiers, Grif decided to leave. Grif laughed to himself at the thought of being chosen, but he knew that the Reds and Blues were dumb enough to make a choice like that. Besides, his luck was terrible; better to just leave and take away the possibility.

Grif found a small room directly off of the atrium where the Reds and Blues had temporarily stashed all of the Forerunner technology they had found in the temple. The orange soldier found a long crate that had been filled with some ancient, grey and orange weapons. Taking the guns out, Grif lay down in the padded crate to take a nap. It had been much too exciting of a day for him. He accidentally bumped the lid of the crate while climbing inside, causing it to swing shut over top of him. The crate locked automatically, trapping Grif inside. Grif was not too worried. He was pretty sure there were holes in the crate so he could breathe, and someone was bound to find him eventually. This way, he was just that much safer from Sarge. Finally, peace and quiet was his. Fully content, Grif slowly drifted off to sleep.

Grif awakened to the sound of his crate being unlocked. Much to his dismay, the lid opened to reveal a bright red helmet peering inside.

"Great meanderin' meerkats! A stowaway!" Sarge exclaimed, raising his shotgun. "Should I shoot him?"

Carolina came into view behind Sarge. "It's just Grif," she sighed.

"Brilliant observation, Nancy Drew," Sarge replied. "I refer back to my previous question: should I shoot him?"

Church materialized above Carolina's shoulder, angrily yelling, "What the heck are you doing in this crate, Grif? This was supposed to be filled with alien weapons that would give us an upper hand against any space pirates that might be at the temple, not a bunch of fat stuffed into orange armor!"

Sarge continued, "Is that a no then? I've got plenty of ammo you know. Wouldn't be too hard to clean up the remains; it's already in a box."

Grif spoke up, "First: Sarge, point that gun away from me! Second: 'what am I doing?' What are you doing? I'm just trying to take a nap. Going around opening other people's sleeping crates and yelling at them for no reason is rude! Man, what is wrong with people these days."

Carolina grabbed the lid, and slammed it down onto Grif's head, locking the crate and causing Grif to see stars. He was trapped inside again, but this time he was not taking a nap. That made things different.

"Hey, not cool, guys!" Grif yelled, pounding on the lid of the crate. "Let me out of here!"

He heard the crate unlock again. The lid opened, but it was not Sarge or Carolina that was revealed this time. It was the Master Chief. The green soldier said nothing. He simply propped the lid open and walked away. Grif sat up.

"Uh, thanks," the orange soldier said. "Hey, where are we?" They were in a narrower but longer room that had a door on one side and rows of seats along both of the longer walls. Chief sat down in one of the seats and started polishing his assault rifle. Tucker was sitting across from him holding the encyclopedia he always used to hide the fact that he was actually looking at a dirty magazine. Sarge was still trying to convince Carolina that Grif should be shot, but Carolina was ignoring him, busily checking over the many weapons she had brought. Dr. Grey was sitting near the back of the room looking over her datapad.

Nobody had answered Grif's question, but he had soon figured out where he was. He had recognized that this was the back of a pelican, and that he must be on the way to that desert temple everyone had been talking about. He could not believe his luck. There was no chance the others would be willing to turn around and drop him off back at Armonia, so Grif was stuck here. Grif sighed audibly and climbed out of the crate. Apparently, he was going on a mission.

Grif headed for the door that lead into the Pelican's cockpit. Washington was flying, and Grif could see through the windshield that the sky was now black. Night had fallen. The former Freelancer looked up when Grif came up behind him.

"Grif! why are you here?" Washington asked.

Grif sighed, "One of life's great mysteries."

"I've got everything under control here, sorry," Washington said. "I know you usually are the pilot among the Reds."

"Oh, no!" Grif objected. "It's ok! It was never my choice to be the pilot."

Washington laughed, "It's never your choice to do anything is it?" He did not sound like he was making fun of Grif, just making an observation.

"Uh, yea," Grif said. "Pretty much."

"Sometimes, I respect that, Grif," Washington said. "It must be nice to not really worry about anything." Grif never thought that he would ever hear Washington say that he respected anything that Grif did. Washington was always trying to make the Reds and Blues into elite soldiers, and Grif was almost always diametrically opposed to that.

The radio in the cockpit buzzed. Doyle's voice could be heard crackling from the speaker. "Fireteam Red, this is Armonia. Come in please. Over."

Washington hit a button on the console and replied, "Reading you, Armonia. This is Fireteam… Red. Uh, why are we 'Fireteam Red'? Over."

"Colonel Sarge was quite insistent on the name. Over."

"I bet he was… Go ahead with the message, Armonia. Over."

"Our long-range scanners seem to be picking up some, er, aircraft headed your way. You should see them on your radar soon. Over."

Suddenly, red dots appeared all over the motion tracker on the cockpit's dashboard. Washington hit a red button, causing red lights to flash throughout the pelican and an obnoxious alarm to sound.

"Thanks for the early warning, Doyle," Washington said sarcastically. "Are they space pirates?" There was nothing but static coming from the radio. Washington repeated, "Are you there, Armonia? Are they space pirates?"

"Sorry, you didn't say over. Over."

"DOYLE!"

"Eh, sorry, Wash. They don't match any of the space pirate's known signatures. Could they possibly be UNSC ships here to help your new ally?" The ship shook from a hit from one of the unknown ships' weapons. Washington put the pelican into a barrel roll to avoid further fire, throwing Grif into the wall. Strange, blue flashes flew past the windshield.

"The flashing red light means 'buckle up,' Grif!" Washington shouted. "Get back there and find a seat!"

"How was I supposed to know that?" Grif protested. Master Chief shoved his way past Grif, oblivious to the violent motion of the aircraft.

"It's the Covenant," the Chief declared, pointing out the windshield at a strange, purple ship hurtling towards them. Grif could not keep his balance due to the ship's motion, falling to the floor and crawling to the back of the pelican. What was the point of inertia dampeners if he was still getting airsick?

"The Covenant!?" Grif heard Wash yell. "I thought you won that war!" Grif was somehow able to make it to a chair. He pulled himself up into the seat that was right next to Tucker; not exactly ideal, but now was not the time to be choosy.

Master Chief answered Wash, "It's complicated." Grif strapped himself in. He saw that Tucker was holding his encyclopedia with a magazine closed between the pages close to his chest.

"Protect me, ladies!" Tucker yelled.

Washington's voice screamed from the cockpit, "There's too many of them! I can't out-maneuver all of them!"

"Take the ship to the ground." Grif heard Chief say calmly. The green soldier remained standing in the cockpit, not making a move towards any of the seats.

The ship shook with hit after hit. The back hatch of the pelican tore open, revealing the dozens of purple craft on their tail. Washington must have been flying well, because the amount of firepower that was shooting at them could have easily destroyed the ship in seconds. The pelican was headed for a crash landing. The wind coming from the open hole was making it hard to breath. Grif was really wishing that he had found a different place to nap earlier.

"I love you, Carolina!" Tucker screamed. "I always have, baby!"

"I'll kill you, Tucker!" Carolina called back from her seat.

"Joke's on you! We're all about to be dead anyway!"

Sarge let out a lament: "I always thought that if I was going to die in the same ship as a Blue, I'd be the one doing the exploding! I just wish I could have killed one more Blue!"

"Yea? Well screw you, too!" Tucker yelled.

The ship began to catch fire. Grif began to wonder when they would hit the ground. That's when he heard the crash, and everything went black.

So, what did you think? Would you agree that the two best fighters besides Wash and Carolina are Sarge and Tucker? Get ready for some surprises in the coming chapters, like another familiar face from the Halo games!