Well this was suppose to go up on Monday but my internet went on strike for a few days. I'm going to try and update every Monday but if something gets in the way look for it on Wednesday. I do not own Red vs Blue.
The gunfire flew around me. Every movement caused my vision to spin as I tried figure out what the hell happened. One minute we had been on the road, the next I was on the ground eating my favorite dish: dirt. My lower half was pinned by the Warthog on top of me, which I now realized was slowly becoming hotter. I attempt to remove myself from the burning vehicle but Lady Luck must be pissed off at me for some reason because I was stuck.
"Sota!" I heard from somewhere.
I struggled continuously as our group of marines was slowly dwindled due to unknown forces. After several painful twists, I managed to worm my way out. It then dawned on me that this was probably a bad spot to be standing as the flames licked away at the tangled metal next to me. Diving for cover, the hog blew to pieces behind me. Shots whizzed by me as the familiar crack of a sniper rifle sounded. I jumped back to the now extra crispy vehicle and searched for a weapon. I don't know what I'd done to the Lady Luck, but she must hate me. As I reached for my pistol under the remains of the hog, the was another crack and now my hand had a ventilation system. I suppressed a yell of pain and frustration as I pulled my hand back.
"Sota!" I heard again.
Looking around the few marines that had manage to find meager cover, I didn't see who was calling. One sat against a rock, cradling a sniper rifle and shaking like a leaf. Making my way to him was more difficult than I wanted, that sniper was annoying, but squeezed next to him.
"Room for one more?"
"Minnesota, sir, what do we do?" he half sobbed. New recruits were always skittish, but then again he probably didn't plan on fighting for his life today.
"First, give me your rifle." he practically shoved it in my hands along with his ammo, "Now stay here and don't do anything stupid. I'll take care of this."
I dodged my way back to the hog, others cowering behind the rest of the lifeless vehicles we had been driving while some tried to fight back. I looked at my remaining team looking for something, though I couldn't remember what.
"Sota!" the voice called again.
It sounded familiar but I couldn't place my finger on it. I crawled to the edge of my cover to see what the hell was stupid enough to attack our little convoy. My scoped zoomed in on some of the enemies, firing after I was done examining them. Most of them wore standard gray uniforms with green vests and helmets. But there was one that was easily recognizable, black armor with red accents. The Innie just watched from behind a couple of soldiers, lazily twirling a pistol on his index finger as he prowled around. I brought his head into my scope, my finger gently resting on the trigger. Just as I was about to pull, I felt something grab my shoulder.
My hand lashed out at whatever had disturbed me. Unfortunately, that happened to be the throat of the poor marine next to me.
"Nice to see you too." he rasped, "Could you let get go now if you wouldn't mind."
"Oh, sorry." I released him from my death grip, shaking the remainder of my dream away. He immediately took a deep gasp of air that I had been denying him.
I stood and helped the marine after he managed to catch his breath. To my surprise, it was the Private from before.
"I told him to be careful." Lambda said as she appeared on my shoulder.
"Next time I think I'll listen." he complained as he rubbed his neck.
"That's usually how I do it. She tells me not to do something, I do it anyway, I end up wishing I hadn't. It's not perfect but it works." I told him, "What are you doing here anyway?"
He straightened up and looked like he was about to salute, but apparently remembered what I told him earlier and just gave a swift nod, "I'm here to deliver something."
"Well, what is it?" I had a feeling I knew what it was.
He pulled out a data pad and looked it over for a moment, "I was ordered by the Chairman to bring a Warthog to you along with a few other things."
I smirked, my idea confirmed. Retrieving my helmet from the ground and replacing it back on, I noticed the hog behind him, "Is this the one you were told to bring?"
"Yep." he said as he faced it as well.
I knew there would be a catch. When I had requested a Warthog I had been expecting a Gauss or even a standard one. The one in front of me was neither. It was a Troop Hog. No firepower, no built in weapons, just extra seats. Another feeling creeped into my mind as I thought of the other stuff I'd asked for.
"Why did this man bring you waste of machine?" Zeta asked from inside my mind.
"Because the Chairman is an ass." I replied, earning a sign from the hidden A.I.
"It looks really nice." Lambda piped up. Leave it to her to be the only one with a positive comment.
The private turned to her, "I know. It's fresh off the lot. Look at all the cool stuff built into it." She went and hovered over his shoulder as he explained things she probably already knew to her.
There was a growl from the back of my mind, "Zeta, play nice. He's not going to hurt her."
All I got was another irritated noise and the distinct image of Zeta running the marine through with his blade, not that it was possible.
I walked up to them, "So you said you had a few more things for me?"
"Oh, yeah. They're in the back." he went around and hopped in the back.
There was large case sitting there, the words 'Property of UNSC' stamped on it. He fumbled with the locks for a moment before it swung open to reveal my new gear. To be honest it wasn't what I thought. The Chairman had actually held up part of his end of the bargain. The private handed me a small cylinder-like device and I almost giggled in delight, almost. It fit into my palm perfectly like I remembered. Flicking the switch next to my thumb, the twin energy blades crackled to life away from me. I gave it a few experimental swings before putting my toy away.
"And this too, just in case." he handed me a standard M90 shotgun that I placed on my back.
He consulted his data pad again before handing me a metal round item, "Here's the armor enhancement."
A tingle of excitement coursed through me, "Zeta which one is it?"
"Cloaking. Is this really useful? It's cowardly to hide from ones enemy." the A.I. complained.
"Is that everything?" I asked, ignoring him.
"That's all they gave me. It says at the bottom of my pad that your armor is at the prison facility and the rest will be delivered after the mission is complete."
More strings to keep me in line, of course.
"Here you go." he held out the key.
"You busy?"
"No, why?" he questioned.
"Good," I left him holding the key and climbed into the passenger seat, "You're driving."
Shrugging, the private climbed in a started the vehicle up. Loud, strange sounding orchestral music sounded from the speakers. I cringed a little as I looked over at him with a pained expression.
"What is that?"
"It's a Bolivian orchestral mash-up." he shifted and the hog rolled forward, "Obviously, you haven't heard of it."
I shook my head, "Lambda, fix the music."
She giggled as she disappeared inside the radio. The crappy music finally shut off with some whirring from the radio. Snippets of songs could be heard as she flipped through various stations. For some strange reason, when it came to music she was very picky. I could hear her disapproving of each one in my mind, but when she finally found something she liked I immediately stopped her.
"Lambda, no 'sounds of nature' please. I almost prefer those dying cats we were listening to earlier." I pleaded. Did I mention she had bad taste in music too?
"It's a Bolivian orch-" he shut up when I glared at him.
"Awww..." she whined before switching it over to a rock 'n roll station.
"She's cute when she does that."
"Shut it. I don't want to hear about it. It's bad enough you're in my thoughts, I don't need a trip into yours." I said.
I relaxed a little as a song I recognized started playing. My head bobbed a little as the bass strummed rhythmically soon followed by the lead guitar. The drums joined in and smiled inside my helmet.
"Why do you listen to this? I could be sleeping you know." Zeta started up.
"You don't sleep, and this is a great song. You might actually like it if you listened.
"Gimme that thing, that thing gone wild. War machine, war machine..." the radio sang.
I had to stifle a laugh as I heard the A.I. start humming to it in my head. With a content sigh, I kicked back and waited for the mess I'd have to deal with once I reached the end of the rainbow.
We pulled into a secure holding area, high-tech defense systems pointed in every direction. As we got out, a soldier wearing gray and blue ODST armor met us halfway.
"You the agent the Chairman sent?"
"The one and only." I responded.
"I'm the commanding officer here. Come on, we got lots to talk about." he noticed my driver standing next to me, "Who are you?"
"He's with me. You said we had stuff to do but we're not doing anything." I complained.
The man led us through a series of halls and cells to a large locker room.
"Your new armor's in there. Go put it on and get back out here."
I entered by myself. A crate lay randomly in the middle of the floor, another UNSC marking painted on it. Breaking open the lid, what lay inside wasn't new but just as good. I removed my old CQB armor from its prison and donned it as fast as I possibly could. I felt a feeling of joy wash over me. This was my old armor. It had somehow managed to survive the tough times that this war between the Chairman and the Director had put it through, and now it was all mine again. Everything about was just the way I remembered. A little more plating here, a little less padding there, it felt like it had been designed just for me. I hurriedly placed my helmet on, making sure no one noticed the extra A.I. implanted in me. When I was finally comfortable again, I exited the room and returned to my tour guide.
He looked over my armor with an approving nod before walking down a long corridor, "Has the Chairman told you what he wants done?"
"I'm suppose to stand in for him, and be his eyes and ears. He said I was bringing someone with me."
"You are to take him to a crash site up further north. A group of soldiers managed to take down one of your Freelancer buddies. You're to go to the outpost set up in Sidewinder and make a report on everything you see. When that's taken care of, bring the prisoner back, turn in your homework, and you get the rest of your stuff." He explained.
My heart skipped a beat at the word Freelancer. How could some random troopers bring one of us down? And who?
"So who is this person going with me? I don't normally work with partners." I glanced back at the man I had appointed as my personal chauffeur, just to make sure he hadn't gotten lost.
I swear I could feel the smirk radiating from the soldier I was following. He stopped and put a password into the lock, which unsurprisingly was just 'password', and opened the door. The man inside didn't shock me at all. After all the stuff I'd been through, and what I've done for the Chairman, I should had almost to seen this coming from a mile away. The man wore a simple gray officer's uniform, his dark skin making his few white hairs on his head stand out more than normal. He clasped his hands behind his back as he made his way to greet me.
"It's good to see you, Minnesota."
"Nice to see you, Counselor. We've got some catching up to do."
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