Well, I'm back. Explanation for late as hell update: Laziness. Anyway, just forewarning, this chapter will really be throwing some parts of the canon out the window. Also, beware my tendency to use overly detailed descriptions. RvB and Halo are owned by Roosterteeth ad 343 Respectively, hell, I don't think we even need to say that, really. anyway, here's Chapter 2!
Agent Washington watched the pelican move away from the outpost after it's first run, before being snapped back to reality by an enemy round impacting the snow beside him. Unflinchingly, he raised his battle rifle and downed two of the shooters with a burst to their heads. As he continued fighting, he spoke over his radio to the pilot of the pelican.
"What, you just going to leave us here?"
Four-Seven gave a snort. "Yes, Asshat. I came all the way out here looking for you clowns just so I could drop in and say hi."
Four-Seven pulled the pelican into a tight turn back towards the outpost, with vapour rolling of its wings from the cold air and high-G maneuver.
"You could have decided to show up a few seconds earlier, it would have helped the situation."
"I suppose your going to take that out of my tip too, Carolina?"
"Well, it's nice to see you haven't changed a bit."
"Depends on what you mean by 'change', Carolina."
This time it was Wash who responded. "What the hell does that mean?"
"I'll tell you later, Wash. First we're going to get you guys out of here."
"We?"
"See for yourself."
The pelican made another pass on the outpost, but this time, it slowed slightly as it approached, the ramp in the rear dropping for a few seconds, before powering up again as it sped off.
Wash was staring at the pelican, wondering what Four-seven meant by "We", when an orange glint caught his eye out of the corner of his vision.
Wash spun around to face the mercenary at the other end of the binary rifle's laser, bringing his battle rifle to bear, when a blue-tinted bubble shield materialized around him, with the Binary rifle's round ricocheting off it, and out of nowhere, the sniper was almost decapitated by a 14.5mm round.
The round came from an SRS99S5 Anti-materiel sniper rifle,
and that sniper rifle belonged to North Dakota, who stepped inside the shield and tapped Wash on the shoulder.
"Keep your head in the game Wash, you'll get yourself killed like that."
"Who the hell was tha-
Holy.
Fucking.
Shit."
"Nice to see you too, buddy."
"I tho-"
"It's complicated, I'll tell you once we get out of here."
"Right, we better get back to work, you think you'll be able to help these idiots?"
"I've got some help"
"Oh let me guess..."
Carolina was managing to keep things somewhat under control, despite the irritating pain in her leg from Felix's knife, as the Reds and Blues were, surprisingly, not shooting as if they didn't know how a gun worked, and Tucker wasn't trying to hit on her for once in his goddamn life.
A shotgun fired off to her right, causing her to glance at the shooter, assuming it was Sarge, but then did a double-take.
"WHAT? I..How did you..."
"What, how did I survive? I would have called and told you, but I never got your number."
Carolina gave him her characteristic death stare that was visible even through her helmet, before replying.
"Still the joker, huh?"
"You don't seem to have changed much, either, I see."
"Not much."
"Alright, you, Wash, and this band of blockheads that are supposedly brought down the Director want to get a lift out with us, or not?"
"Sounds like a nice idea, I'll tell them to get ready, you get Four-seven down here, and maybe we'll get out of this mess."
"Already giving orders?"
"I mean, unless you want to take over..."
"Alright, alright, wasn't planning on it."
"good, let's get to work."
York reopened his comms channel to Four-Seven, who was circling at an unadvisedly low altitude, taking pot-shots at enemies with the chin-mounted turret on her bird.
"Alright, we're done want out, so we'd kinda like it if you'd come over and pick us the hell up."
"Ask nicely."
"Goddammit, would you PLEASE pick us up, if you'd be so kind?"
"Okay, I'll set her down right in front of you."
"We'd rather not go deaf."
"Don't be such a baby, it's not that loud."
"If I go deaf, you're never going to hear the end of it from me."
"If you go deaf, you're never going to hear anything."
"Fine, go for it."
"Already doing it."
The Pelican came out of its turn to face them, it landing gear dropping and its airbrakes extending.
"Alright, I ain't stickin' around, so you better get your asses in here."
York and Carolina started to make a break for the pelican as soon as they saw the ramp start to drop.
"North, Wash, you coming?"
Carolina spun around, looking for North, wondering how much crazier this day could get.
"North? He's -Oh. well nice to see you're also, well, not dead."
"I could say the same thing about you too, Carolina."
"Good to see you haven't changed, either, now we better get the Reds and Blues and get out of-ah, ow, Dammit."
Carolina stepped into the pelican, but her leg buckled slightly from her injury.
"Fuck, your leg's bleeding, looks like a knife wound."
"Really York, I thought it was a papercut! I'll be fine, I have a healing unit with me."
"Could you at least ask before taking my stuff?"
"That's on Wash." Carolina said.
"GUYS, I DON'T WANNA DIE, LET'S GET OUT OF HERE." said Grif, who'd already boarded the Pelican.
The rest of the Reds and Blues, along with Dr. Grey, climbed into the pelican but Caboose was hesitant.
Tucker was a out to ask the pilot to take off, but noticed Caboose wasn't inside yet.
"Caboose, what are you fucking doing, come on!"
"ARE WE GOING ON A PLANE TRIP, CAROLINE?"
Tucker saved Carolina the trouble by trying to keep Caboose quiet.
"Don't know. Don't care. Someplace nicer. Let's Get. The Fuck. Out."
"WILL THERE BE IN-FLIGHT SNACKS!?"
Four-Seven grabbed a survival kit from her seat, and tossed a dried peanuts MRE into the back of the Pelican.
"YAY PEANUTS!" Caboose jumped into the pelican and grabbed the bag, with the ramp closing behind him.
Wash breathed a sigh of relief, before a thought struck him.
"Wait, what the fuck happened to Felix and Locus?"
He looked out the rear window to see Locus had been berating Felix, who was still dazed from when he was hit with the pelican's wing.
"Wow. That was lucky. I wouldn't expect someone like Locus to sidetrack himself like that."
"Who are you talking about, again?" York asked.
"Two mercs. Felix betrayed us, Locus was always trying to kill us." Wash said.
"That answers nothing."
"We'll explain later, I have a feeling it'll be a bumpy ride to wherever we're headed, and I should probably do something about my leg. The healing unit's working, but I'll need a medic."
"I'm a medic! Let me take a look." Dr. Grey walked over, getting down on one knee to get a better view of Carolina's wound.
"Knife, but unless you're oblivious, you already know that, don't you sweetie? Anyway nothing major, do we have any medical supplies onboard?"
"I think so, here." North took a look in a compartment under one of the seats, pulling out a small canister and giving it to Grey.
"Yep, this is it, now if you'll just stand still, you'll be fine in just a few minutes."...
"Four-Seven looked through her white and black Air Assault helmet from cockpit of her modified pelican at the sea and shoreline below, the terrain slowly changing from snowy to green, to a more desert-like land.
She was very proud of her pelican, the same one she'd used during the project, but with an overhaul designed specifically for her line of work, and her style of flying.
It didn't have the two-bubble canopy, like most modern variants, rather, it had a more traditional layout, but without most of the frame where the different pieces of glass would join, instead it was one big, streamlined shell, giving the best aerodynamics, and visibility.
The wings were significantly longer than standard pelican wings, and could rotate independently from the engines, giving more lift, and much more maneuverability. The wings also had pylon mounts for ordnance such as missiles or unguided rockets.
It had a small set of vertical stabilizers on the back, giving much more yaw control and stability.
The overall shape was sleeker, shorter in height, and gave off the slight appearance of a very large fighter.
And last, but not least, it was painted black, with a thick stripe of white running across the to and sides, a bit of her own personal flair.
but that's enough about the vehicle itself for now.
Four-Seven opened a comms channel to a controller miles away.
"Citadel, this is Angel 479, we have the assets, I'm hauling ass back to your position, how copy?."
"Roger that, Angel 479, we will be prepared for you arrival once you return, stay safe."
"Uhh, Citadel, I've got multiple radar contacts, how copy?"
"Solid copy Angel, five of them. GA-TL1 Longsword interceptors. payloads of guns and air-to-air missiles, closing fast."
"Copy that, it seems they want to pay me a visit, huh?"
"Well, they don't seem to be looking to donate to charity."
"Yeah. I can see that. I can handle it."
"You sure about that?"
"Yes."
"I'm still sending out backup."
"Oh come on, I'm fine!"
"You are transporting extremely valuable assets, protocol."
"If I save a few bandits for him, will you shut the fuck up, Warbird?"
"Callsigns, you idiot. And yes I'll keep unnecessary traffic to a minimum."
"Ugh. Alright, let's keep each other updated, I'll inform you as the situation develops. Angel 479 out."
"Solid copy, Angel."
Four-seven twisted her head around to look through the door to the back of the pelican.
"Alright, we just made contact with a bunch of fighters, and I don't think they just want to chat, so I suggest you sit the fuck down, buckle the fuck up, and shut the fuck up."
"Should I just get on the roof right now, or wait?" North called back.
"I said shut the fuck up!"
the Reds, Blues, and former project agents got into their seats, while Washington complained about how this is why he hated flying.
Carolina walked over to the cockpit door, trying to keep the weight off her leg, gesturing to the rear cockpit seat.
"Is this reserved for someone else?"
"Still yours."
"Nice to be back here again." Carolina said as she slid into the backseat.
"Nice to have another crewmember again. Now, watch the radar, tell me where they're at, and I'll give you control of the chin mounted 20mm chaingun turret. Only if they fire, do you light them up."
"Got it. We got any backup?"
"On it's way. Will be a few minutes. We'll be fine until then."
"Alright Four-Seven, give them a run for their money."
"Copy that."
Four seven pulled the stick back slightly, pulling the nose of the Pelican up while engaging the afterburners, in an attempt to get a height advantage over the hostiles.
"Two of them, bearing 205, angels 15, speed 1500 kilometres an hour and increasing fast."
"Do you have a visual on them, Carolina?"
Carolina used the chin turret's camera to check for signs of their pursuers
"Affirmative, definitely Longswords."
"Status on them?"
"Weapons bays open, confirmed hostile. They appear to be trying to get well below us and hit us from our blind spot."
"Does it look like they know we see them?"
"Negative."
"Alright, I'm going to keep it that way."
Four-Seven started a slow right turn, making it gradual as not to arouse suspicion, but tight enough to make the Longswords pause to readjust their aim.
One of the Longswords started to get a lock on the pelican, which Four-Seven tried to break with a sudden turn, but to no avail, as an alarm sounded in her ears, indicating there was a solid lock on the bird. She tried a few quick, sudden maneuvers before punching out a short burst of flares from the sides and bottom of the pelican.
"Well, that tipped them off, didn't have much of a choice anyway. Shit's going to heat up fast, I suggest you get that gun ready."
"Okay, everything seems to be in working order, I'll be sticking to the ROE and wait for them to shoot first."
As she said this, one of the Longswords went full afterburner, attempting to close the gap between it and the pelican.
"Ok then, one of our friends just decided to rush us from below, I think evasive would be a good idea."
"Seriously? Are they that inexperienced? He could've got half his missile load off from like, five times that distance! Anyway, let's show 'em what we got."
She rolled the Pelican to the right and pulled back on the stick, enabling a much tighter turn than a more conventional rudder-only maneuver, pulling herself out of the Longsword's line of fire, but not before it had managed to get a lock and fire a missile at the Pelican, which was redirected away by a burst of flares.
"Alright Carolina, cleared hot!"
"engaging!"
The Pelican looped back around towards the Longsword, the thunkthunkthunkthunk sound of the 20mm resonating quite clearly through the cockpit.
Carolina watched one of the Longsword's engines exhaust change from a faint haze to a thick black smoke as she hit it with the 20mm.
"Got him, he's limping, but still combat capable."
"I'll get behind him when he gets to our altitude, then you take him out. Go right up his tailpipe."
"Got it."
The Longsword managed to get level with the pelican, not risking a higher altitude due to the damage.
Four-Seven managed to get right behind him with ease, setting up the shot for Carolina.
"Go for it!"
Carolina put the reticule right on the glowing back of the turbojet visible through the Longswords remaining undamaged exhaust, and pulled the trigger.
Another thick smoke followed by an orange trail of flame shot out the back of the Longsword's other engine, with the rest of the wing catching fire shortly after.
Four-Seven watched it curve down to earth, with the two crewmembers ejecting as the aircraft started to break up.
"One down, five to go."
"Copy that, Four Seven. Next contact bearing 170 high, 10k out."
The next Longsword was more calculated in his attack, the pilot noticeably wary from witnessing the fate of his ally.
"Ok, last guy was a bit boring, let's do something more...fun."
"Knowing you, I think you're going to do something both crazy and stupid."
"Exactly! Now, on my mark, you're going to fill this guy with a metric fuckton a' lead, got it."
"Copy that, standing by."
Four Seven punched the airbrakes and released a few flares as the Longsword fired another missile, nosing forward a bit to ensure that she wouldn't collide with her pursuer
"On my mark!"
She rolled the stick over and inverted the pelican as it the Longsword started to overtake it
"Mark!"
"Sync!" Carolina unloaded the Armour piercing rounds into the belly and wingroot of the Longsword, shearing the wing off and sending it into an uncontrollable tumble
while the crew barely managed to escape.
Four-Seven righted the Pelican with a rather vicious roll. "Now THAT's what the fuck I'm talkin' about! You guys having fun back there?"
Wash sounded like he was about to throw up. "Any chance you could give us a fucking warning next time before you do shit like that?"
"Any chance you could grow a pair?"
"Asshole."
"Up Yours."
"Okay, enough with the bickering, we got three contacts on our six, same altitude, closing fast."
"Alright, backup should be here in less than... hold on a sec." She reopened her radio channel from before, "Can you give me an ETA?"
A different voice from Warbird's came on the air."About uhh, thirty seconds. I'll should make radar contact in about ten." There was a faint, but audible whine in the background, the source of which would be a pleasant welcome to Four-Seven.
"Be advised, I already been engaged, so kill on sight."
"acknowledged. keep this channel open.''
"Copy. Do note that these guys are the greenest goddamn pilots I've ever seen. Not much of a threat."
Sure enough, a contact with a blue friendly tag appeared on the radar, originating from in front of the Pelican, closing at Mach 3.
"Alright people, shit's about to get fun, hold on to your teeth."
"I don't like the way you say 'fun'." came a voice from the back.
"Can it, Washington."
Four seven pulled the pelican in to a vertical climb to the left, with one of the Longswords following her into the climb at about 75 metres off her tail.
"Blue Contact five seconds out." Carolina's anticipation grew, as she glanced away from the radar to see the Longsword chasing them.
"Fox Three."
The Longsword's fuselage disintigrated in a fireball, with a Broadsword fighter tearing through the fireball at the speed of sound.
Carolina barely processed what had happened until the blast of sound chasing the broadsword hit the pelican.
"That voice... Is that who I think it is?"
"if you think that's Montana, then yes, yes it is."
The Broadsword circled around and dropped it's speed to match that of the pelican, while Four-Seven leveled out and formed up on his right wing.
"Let me guess, Carolina, you probably assumed I was dead, didn't you?"
"...I guess I didn't really give it that much thought."
"Eh, you're not the first. anyway, back to it!"
"Ok, we got two more of these guys, they WON'T be playing nice."
"Alright, I'll take one of them, you just stay and uh... kill the other one if he shows up."
"You just want to show off, don't you."
Montana gave a two-fingered salute through the Canopy of his fighter. "Copy that, Angel. Breaking left."
Montana performed a formation break, rolling to the left and pulling sharply away from Four-Seven as he engaged one of the two remaining Longswords.
He spotted his rival heading in the opposite direction off to the side, and pulled a sharp turn, which would put him behind the Longsword.
The Longsword spotted him while he was making this turn, and hit their brakes hard, which put Montana right in front of THEM.
But that was exactly what Montana wanted.
He waited for the Lock warning alarm to go off, dropped his altitude slightly and pulled back on the stick while braking hard, just as the Longsword fired on him.
The Broadsword's Canards and thrust vectoring worked in such a way, that while the broadsword pointed past vertical, it maintained it's current altitude, acting as a massive brake, with the wings becoming almost engulfed in sheets of Vapour.
A perfect cobra maneuver.
What a normal pilot would do is wait for his plane to level out before engaging his target.
What a normal pilot would do in the Longsword's position, would be to take the clear shot that would be presented to him by the pilot performing the cobra.
But Montana was far from normal(not in the good way).
And the Longsword pilot was far from smart.
Just as the Longsword overtook him, he switched to guns and pulled the trigger.
the distinctive BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT of a 30mm GAU-8/X series rotary cannon tore it's way through the air, as the 30mm rounds shredded the Longsword in half.
The Broadsword pulled itself out of the Cobra just as the Longsword began to fall from the sky, and Montana returned to formation, this time forming up on Four-Seven.
"So, how many of them have YOU gotten today, Angel 479?"
"Well technically it was ME wh-"
Four-Seven cut Carolina off. "I count two downed bandits, Pheonix 273." Carolina gave Four-Seven her characteristic death glare, causing her to rethink her answer.
"Correction: WE got two kills today."
"That makes both of us. Let's see if we can take this last guy out together."
"Copy that"
"Ok, I'll hit him with a missile, you finish him off."
"Got it. I'll stay here and bait him, you get him from behind."
"Alright, let's Dangerzone this bitch!"
"Phoenix, be advised, That's the most cringeworthy shit I've heard all week. I mean what the fuck."
"Sorry.. Let's do this!"
"Copy that!"
Montana broke away again, and pulled a wide turn to get behind the last Longsword unnoticed as it cautiously approached the Pelican from behind.
Montana pushed the throttle forward, aiming to pass above the Longsword, and opened the internal weapon bay.
He waited until he was almost on top of his adversary before attempting a Radar lock, just enough distance for his missile to guide, but not enough for flares to divert its course.
The targeting system changed from emitting a quick beep to a solid tone.
"Fox Three."
The AIM-240 air-to-air missile dropped out of the weapons bay, hanging in the air for a split second before accelerating towards its target, and detonating inside the Longsword's left afterburner.
Montana engaged the afterburner, managing to overtake the Longsword just moments after his missile struck.
"Well, he's still in the air, you're up." Montana said, disengaging his afterburner.
Four-Seven and Carolina watched Montana tear over them, with the burning fighter following a few moments later.
Four-Seven pulled up a bit, just enough to get the Longsword in the turret's line of fire.
"All yours, Carolina."
"Firing."
The autocannon jumped to life again, Carolina aiming for the border of the wing fuel tank and the already stricken left engine, which put a hole in the wall between them, causing fuel to spill into the exhaust of the engine, causing an explosion which traveled back into the fuel tank, igniting the entire left wing before combusting in a giant fireball, with the rest of the aircraft entering a flat spin down to the ground below.
"Okay, how come you didn't do that with the other two guys you shot down?"
"Hey, this thing isn't THAT simple to use."
"Well, fair enough."
"Alright ladies, let's get back to base." Montana's Broadsword returned to formation once again. Carolina noticed that it seemed to be different than normal, just as Four-Seven's craft was, with a much sleeker and less bulky appearance than a standard Broadsword, more wing area, only two engine exhausts rather than a normal Broadsword's four, and it had two vertical stabilizers, whereas a normal Broadsword had none. Like the pelican, it had it's own Black-and-White paint job, except it was white with black detailing, where the pelican was black with white detailing.
She was snapped back into focus by the radio coming to life again, this time with the voice of what must have been the base ATC(Air traffic Control) tower.
"Angel 479 and Phoenix 273, SITREP."
Four-Seven spoke first "Angel is undamaged, Citadel, passengers secure."
Montana took his turn. "Phoenix 273 is undamaged."
"Copy that, Phoenix and Angel, you are 5 minutes out."
"Radar scan, Citadel, any other contacts in the area?"
"Nnegative, Angel, airspace is clear."
"Citadel, we got some new guys here, as you know, of course, and it's always good to make a good first impression."
"I hear you."
"I think you know what to do, just wait for my mark."
"Copy that."
"Four-Seven twisted around in her seat. "Hey Wash, get up here!"
Washington slowly made his way to the cockpit "You know this shit makes me uneasy. Hey is that Montana?"
"Oh suck it up. And yes it is." She turned around again "Alright guys, I'm giving you my helmet visual feed."
Once everyone in the back had her visual, she returned to the radio.
"Citadel, decloak.."
"Request acknowledged."
"Decloak? What the hell would you-Holy shit." Wash's jaw dropped as the Paris-class frigate Mother of Invention flickered into existence before him.
Carolina remained speechless for a few moments before asking the first question that crossed her mind
"So... given the fact that I experienced it crashing into a glacier, HOW exactly is this thing flying again?"
"Well, we just had to use three other frigates to lift it out of the snow, tow it to a repair dock, replace the broken spine segments, replace the cargo bay, all the engines, replace the glass on the bridge (which you broke), and give the ship a complete modernization overhaul, it only cost 354 trillion dollars, so no big deal."
"Not like the military has any sort of limited budget nowadays anyway, right?"
"Exactly!"
Grif, who was seeing the ship through the feed from Four-Seven's helmet, spoke up nervously.
"Uhh... what is that?"
"Mother of Invention. Our old ship." North replied.
"You mean, the base of project freelancer?"
"That's right."
"And we're going to land on it."
"Yes."
"Oh god."
Four-Seven twisted around to talk to everyone in the back of the pelican.
"First, quit your bitching. Second, we're going to be landing in about two minutes, so I HIGHLY suggest that everyone sits the hell down and straps the fuck in!"
Wash returned to his seat, muttered something about crazy ass pilots, and pulled the restraining bar down over his shoulders.
Four-Seven pulled the throttle back to about 45%, dropped her landing gear, extended the tailhook, and lowered the flaps to the landing position.
"Angel requesting permission to land."
"Request granted."
The pelican lined up with one of the open hangar bay doors.
"You are entering the final approach path, Angel. Call the ball."
"Roger. Angel has the ball.
"Bring it in, Angel."
Four-Seven dropped the throttle to 30%, opened the airbrakes, and flared the pelican upwards slightly as she neared the hangar bay.
"Here we go."
at the last few seconds, she slammed the engines into reverse thrust until she passed the hangar doorway, and pushing the plane's nose downwards, slamming the wheels into the deck, the arrestor wire catching the tailhook and bringing the craft to an almost immediate stop, not that it was needed for a VTOL aircraft which was making a slow approach in the first place.
"Landing successful. Welcome back Angel."
"Thank you Warbird."
Four-Seven put the engines on a small reverse thrust, backing the plane up before using the steering in the wheels to turn it around to face the hangar doorway, and shut off the engines, as the ground crew moved out to refuel and rearm the aircraft.
"Okay we're all good here, You can open the ramp. Please exit the vehicle in a calm and orderly fashion."
Washington stood in front of the ramp as it opened. The next thing he knew, he had drawn his Battle Rifle and had it shouldered with his eyes looking down the scope, flicking the selector to burst, and keeping his finger off the trigger.
"Well, it's nice to see you again too, fuckface, but i'd prefer it if you would LOWER the automatic firearm, as being shot in the face by you once was MORE than enough, even if it WAS only a handgun." South Dakota reacted to Wash's sudden aggressiveness by jokingly put her hands up.
Wash holstered the weapon and stepped off the ramp. "South, I'll admit it. You were definitely one of the last people I expected to see today."
"Did you really think I was dead."
"I'll admit, I'd kinda hoped that the fucking bullet to the face, plus a flamethrower was more than enough."
Four-Seven walked up to Wash, a M395 carbine variant on her back. "I see you've reintroduced yourselves."
She stepped out of the pelican and turned to her left to watch Montana touch down, her helmet dimming the roar of the Broadsword's engines through noise cancelling.
"Oh yeah, I'd suggest you tell your friends to keep the guns down, there's some people with us that they might not be too happy to meet."
Wash looked over to see two other figures standing next to south. "Oh."
Sarge stepped out of the Pelican, and upon seeing the people Four-Seven mentioned, drew and chambered his shotgun.
Wash put a hand on the top of the gun before Sarge could level it. "I'm about 80% sure they're with us, so let's put the gun away, shall we?"
Sarge gave an annoyed grunt, putting his shotgun on is back, making it obvious he was disappointed he didn't get to shoot at Wyoming and Maine.
The rest of the Reds and Blues Exited the Pelican behind Wash, who put his arm in front of them as he heard them attempt to draw their guns.
"Guys, it's okay, they're friendly, they won't kill us, let's return the favor."
Grif wasn't so sure. "Friendly? The Scariest fucking mute in the galaxy and a deranged Brit with a sniper rifle, who tried to kill us 57 times are now FRIENDLY?"
"Yes."
"You gotta be fuckin' kidding me."
"I'm not."
"Whatever you say then, just don't complain when he rips your fucking guts out while you sleep!"
Maine just gave an annoyed growl and rolled his eyes behind his helmet. "this fatass again?" he thought.
Carolina stepped out of the stepped out of the Pelican behind the Reds and Blues, North, York, and Dr. Grey right behind her.
She looked at her former team standing before her. "It seems as if we both have a lot of explaining to do."
At least Miss Perfect isn't-
"Buenos Dias, Cockbite."
Of course.
Carolina spun around to see Agent Texas leaning against the back of the pelican.
Carolina moved over to Tex, who pushed herself off the aircraft, Standing Face-to-Face with Carolina.
"Carolina."
"Texas."
There was a brief silence between the two, before Tex spoke again.
"Soo, how have the Galaxy's most elite band of dipshits been treating you two?"
"Well, they're better fighters than I expected, granted, it's still painful to witness, but better than nothing nonetheless."
"Yeah, that's true. Aside from fighting, how have they been?"
"Well, Sarge is only slightly crazy, Simmons knows what he's doing, just gets performance anxiety, Donut is energetic but...weird, and then there's that Lopez and that
medic that I don't know the whereabouts of."
"For the Blues, Caboose is strong, but completely clueless, and Tucker, he's gained a surprising amount of skill in combat, he's also the most determined, but..."
"He's perverted as fuck. So, I guess it seems like just business as usual?" Texas finished Carolina's sentence, before continuing.
"You knocked Tucker flat on his ass yet?"
Carolina was puzzled. "No...Why?"
"If he makes a pass at you, you can just clothesline him. It's really satisfying, and actually shuts him up for about an hour or so."
Carolina gave a slight smirk under her helmet. "Well...I guess I'll have to try that out sometime then."
"Please do."
"I will." Carolina paused for a second. "Tex, I'd also like to ask, what are we?"
"First of all, PHRASING. Second of all, what exactly do you mean?"
"Well, let's just say I know why this ship ended up in a Glacier for a while."
"Ah. Well, i'm not sure, really. I don't really feel I'm 'her' if you get what I'm saying, I always felt like something different. Something more. So, my best guess would be that, technically, we're siblings, of sorts."
Carolina stayed silent for a minute
"I can live with that." she finally replied. "I can definitely live with that. Also, sorry. For, everything during the project."
"I accept. I'll say the same to you."
"I accept. Also, Tex, one more thing." She reached around the back of her helmet and pulled out an AI chip. "I think you might want this."
"If this is who I think it is..." Tex plugged the chip into her own helmet, then suddenly put a hand to her earpiece. "Goddammit Church, I'd like to keep my eardrums, I only just got real ones!" she laughed.
Epsilon's hologram generated next to Tex's head. "First of all, what the fuck goes on in your head, second. how the fuck do you still exist?"
"So, literally one of the first things I heard you say after they pulled you form the unit was asking if I was the one helping them, and you really think you even kind of forgot me?"
"At the time, yes!"
"Not really an excuse, but not like you weren't always mental anyway."
"Same can be said for you. TexASS."
"That's pretty weak, even for you. Seriously."
"Yeah, you know, I kinda actually regret saying that now."
Carolina smiled. "Now that you two have been reacquainted, let's get back with everyone else."
"You know Grif's going to lose his shit when he sees you." said Church.
"How would I NOT want to see that?"
"Fair enough."
As Carolina walked back to the group, who had been talking with each other, and hadn't noticed Tex, who silently walked up behind Grif, tapped him on his left shoulder, and walked by him to his right.
"Huh? Wha-motherFUCKER!" Grif grabbed his weapon, but thought twice about raising it.
"Happy to see me again, fatass?"
"I liked you better when you were dead."
"I never really was dead."
"Well then...I...I never really liked you!"
"You need to work on your comebacks."
"...Dammit."
"Hold up a sec, what's that weapon?"
"This? No idea. Carolina left it in the Pelican. All I know is that it goes PEW and disintegrates people."
"Carolina?"
"I don't know much about it either, all the info I could find was the name 'suppressor'. It seems to feed from some sort of compressed gas."
"Okay, I think I know who can help us. Hey, Montana!"
"What's up, Tex?" Montana was walking back from his Broadsword with Four-Seven.
"Grif here's got this gun, and we don't know what the hell it is."
"Okay, let's see." Montana took a close look at the weapon. "Not human technology, that's for sure. Seems to be Promethean. Looks like a Z-130 Directed energy Automatic weapon, better known as a suppressor. Given the fact that it's currently loaded, has the ability to very literally delete people, and you have your finger on the trigger, I'd suggest you give that weapon to someone who knows how to safely handle it, I.E. me."
"Nuh uh, this thing's mine now."
"Why, exactly?"
"I called dibs."
"you what?"
"I called dibs."
"What are we, 7? just hand it over."
"Who exactly are you, anyway?"
"I was the one flying the fighter that shot down those other two fighters. Now give me the gun."
"Nope."
"I'll take it from you."
"No, you won't" Grif raised the Weapon, levelling it at Montana's chest.
Montana's shoulders slumped "Are we really doing this?"
He brought his right hand down on the gun, pushing it down and pulling it out of Grif's hands, before sending his left elbow into Grif's visor, knocking him over. put a foot on Grif's chest, and drew his battle rifle, holding it with one hand on Grif's head.
"On second thought, we do already have a few of these in the amoury, you can keep it." Montana dropped the suppressor on Grif's chest.
"Uurgh." was all that Grif could manage.
"Here." Montana holstered the BR and reached out his hand, which Grif took, and pulled him up.
"Oh, god, don't do that again."
"No promises."
"Goddammit why am I always the one getting hit?"
Tucker noticed one of the members of the group of agents that he hadn't seen before, standing at the back, with her arms folded
"You seem familiar, have we met?"
"Please tell me you're not trying to flirt."
"Surprisingly, no, something about you just seems familiar."
"...okay..."
"Who are you, exactly?"
"Connecticut, or CT, whichever you prefer."
"CT? Well, I remember someone with the same name, and almost the same Armour, but that was kind of a dude."
"That explains quite a bit, actually."
"Well, now that THAT's cleared up..."
"Hit on me, and you'll get a large knife in you."
"Playing hard to get?"
"Don't push it."
"We'll see."
As Tucker backed away towards his team, he noticed another agent with the group.
"Oh, hey Flowers."
"Well, it's certainly nice to see all my old buddies again!" Flowers said with his rather odd cheerfulness.
Simmons was a bit confused about the situation.
"So, uh, what exactly is this whole thing? And how did you guys get ahold of a Paris-Class frigate without the UNSC noticing?"
York turned to Simmons. "Well, Montana left the project after the incident where this ship crashed, and continued with the normal UNSC as combat pilots. he started searching for us by tracking our neural implants, which took about a month, which got much easier when Four-Seven ditched her desk job as recovery command and came to us with all her intel, when they had gotten us all back to an airbase, they were crucial in convincing the UNSC to get us all on a team again, after which we caught wind of you guy's disappearance, and went looking for you."
"How come you guys managed to get new armour? I would've thought the UNSC would've given you ODST gear or something."
"Well, you see, when we were back together, the UNSC decided we had enough qualification for clearance for equipment from the new division."
"Which was?"
"SPARTAN-IV."
"SPARTAN? I thought only the 6-year olds ONI abducted could be SPARTANs."
"That was SPARTAN II and somewhat SPARTAN III. The IV's are The best from the ODSTs, Army, and Marines who can choose to get in. That being said, we're retaining our old team name, but that's just the former agents. In reality, this entire ship is basically a MARSOC detachment."
"Well, I...That's actually Awesome. Better than I'll ever do."
"Who says? All you guys have defeated some VERY powerful enemies."
"Hold the fuck up. You're choosing US to be part of the new fucking Freelancer team?"
"Hell yeah I am."
"This is amazing!"
Carolina spoke aloud. "So, who here took the leader while I was gone?"
Tex raised her hand. "I did, it's been fun, but now that you're here..."
"Let me guess..."
"You want the old team back Carolina?"
"More than anything."
Tex turned to her and gave a salute. "Welcome back, commander."
Carolina returned it "Thank you, Texas."
Epsilon materialized next to Tex's helmet. "It's-"
CT saw the A.I., and reflexively put a hand on her sidearm. "Tex.."
"CT, he's good, he was with Carolina, he was pretty much the reason they found the director, and she gave him to me."
CT took her hand off her sidearm. "Alright. Fair enough."
A small spherical shape floated into the Hangar. "Nice to see you guys got in fine." It said.
As it came closer, the obvious shape and blue light of a forerunner monitor became apparent. "I'm Warbird, Ship's new A.I."
Caboose spun around to see the hovering shape "Hey, It's Hoverchurch!"
"Uhh...Who?"
Epsilon answered. "I was in a monitor shell for awhile, It's a long story."
"Okay then. But yeah, I basically run the ship. No scratch that, I basically AM this badass ship."
Epsilon cut in. "Okay, yeah, you know, I really AM loving the reunion and introductions, quite heartwarming, actually, but you see, we kinda got a war to stop down there."
Carolina stepped forward. "Alright, I'll explain everything on the way, now let's move!"
Now that you've read that, just a note, Yes all those Freelancers are now alive again (deal with it.), and I'm including the mention of SPARTAN IVs, but I don't think that's enough Halo content to call this a crossover. Also, I will be using real life military terms, tactics, and possibly weapons in future chapters (The GAU/8 mentioned in this chapter is a real gun.) Also, just because the Reds and blues will be SPARTANs, does NOT mean they will be that much more competent. Hopefully I'll get the next chapter uploaded earlier (No promises.) Until next time, see you.
