When Cody pictured a cave system, she pictured something like a map detailing the winding passages of a few interconnected tunnels. Maybe a small chance of getting turned around for the unconditioned mind, a bit of claustrophobia for the sensitive, a clump of lichen or bones here and there. What she didn't picture was an expansive labyrinth of caverns detailed with cemented walkways and evidence of an older outpost.

"And none of you thought it suspicious that there's a whole fucking outpost down here?" she asked after a while.

"Yeah, no," Tucker said. "We figured they were abandoned. Then they had the aliens, and that was weird, but, y'know, we got through it."

Cody was learning more and more it was just… Better not to question it.

She recognized the architecture; this was made maybe a few years before Master Chief took out the Covenant. Not by aliens- perhaps Blood Gulch had been a real outpost once. She still didn't know the background of Church and his relation to how the simulation troopers became so much more, but she knew a lot of that history involved Blood Gulch. Combining the recent activity and the finding of these tunnels, Cody wondered exactly how much hidden history was contained in the 'useless' box canyon.

Mentally, she kept track of the endless twists and turns as Tucker led her deeper into the caverns. Caboose filled the airy passages with chatter, telling Cody numerous things she took with a grain of salt. Caboose was generous with both opinions and embellishments. From the moment he claimed Sarge was the one with the pirate accent, Cody stopped paying him as much mind. She still listened, enjoying his creative take on the events of the canyon, but she didn't believe all of it. An acute awareness crept over her as they went on that Tucker seemed wary of how Cody treated Caboose; she kept her manner polite and civil, something she didn't do with everyone, based on Tucker's protective nature. If a Freelancer agent said Tucker wasn't bad at combat, then he wasn't someone Cody wanted to make an enemy of.

"Almost there," Tucker said after a while.

"This is where it gets fun," Caboose said. "Yeah, I got into some pretty intense situations down here. There was this one time…"

Caboose rambled on and Cody let him, and then paused. "Wait- there was an evil AI that inhabited a dead body down here?"

"Yeah, but we just kinda left the body buried again afterward," Caboose said. "I- I think we took his helmet off..? And there was a green alien, he was really mean, but that's okay. We all have bad days."

"No, but," Cody sighed. "An AI can revive a dead body?"

"Oh, yeah, Church did that," Caboose said.

"Caboose," Tucker muttered, a note of warning.

"Church was our friend," Caboose said. "He was really nice. He yelled a lot, but he was really nice."

Cody tried to piece this together. "But… He was an AI?"

"First he was a ghost," Caboose said. "Well, first- first he was a person, but then he was a ghost, and then we found out he was an AI. But to us, he was Church."

"But he was an AI."

"Can we just fucking move on?" Tucker snapped. "Different topic, Caboose. Talk about the aliens some more."

"Should I tell her about Junior?"

Tucker groaned. "I hate Blue Team sometimes. Anyway, there it is."

The supercomputer rose further along the walkway they were on. All the monitors were off, and the hardware appeared untouched. Cody picked up the pace, trotting down to it, and found the power button. The computer buzzed to life, shining light in the cavern, as Tucker and Caboose caught up. Cody turned to them.

"Tucker, take my left. Caboose, the right. Keep an eye out- let me know if you see anything out of the ordinary."

The screen flashed, start-up almost complete, as Caboose said, "What, like, like a black man?"

"Caboose!"

"No, I- I realize how that sounded. Like a man in black?"

"Two very different things, Caboose," Tucker said.

Then it clicked. Cody withdrew her M7 and aimed it back the way they'd come. Past Caboose, she saw someone in black armor- not Washington's- standing at the head of the walkway.

"I knew, eventually, someone would come back to these caves."

"Who the fuck are you!?" Tucker shouted, turning around as well. Cody aimed her submachine gun, and the newcomer chuckled.

"That's none of your concern, is it?" The man in black asked. "You didn't come here for a name. You came here to investigate the tunnels."

Cody stepped forward so that she was shoulder to shoulder with Caboose. "Be that as it may, your presence here makes you part of that investigation. Who are you? What's your business in the tunnels?"

"I don't recognize you from the canyon," he said. "Their Command is dead, so you can't be a new recruit."

"I'm Lieutenant Cody," she said. "There- that's my name, now, to make it fair, what's yours?"

"You really want to know?"

"Need to."

"Check the computer."

Cody spared a glance- to see the screen flashing red, a silent WARNING: SELF DESTRUCT IMPENDING IN 3… 2…

"Get down!"

Cody pushed Caboose out of the way, as he was closest, and threw herself down next to him. She distantly heard Tucker's, "Oh, fuck!"

And then-

WA-POW!

A heavy weight hit Cody as flame fanned out, hot enough to be felt through the exo-suit. Shrapnel fell and the caves shook. Cody looked up, the flames washing up and away, to see the man in black disappearing down a tunnel. Cody glanced around, surmising in a second that the heavy weight had been Tucker and that Caboose lay on her other side. No damages or injuries, but the cave systems trembled around them, bits of rock falling.

"Everyone alright?" Cody asked sharply.

"Good!"

"All clear!"

"After him!"

She jumped up and sprinted in the direction the man in black had gone- to find a dead end. Frustration flooded through her; how had he disappeared that fast!? The tunnels shook still more, and she turned to Caboose and Tucker.

"We have to get out- what's the fastest way?"

"Follow me," Tucker said, and they took off at a run. Cody flipped on her radio, hoping to hear anything- but it was still all static. Damn. She turned it back off and continued to run after Tucker. The tunnel where the super-computer had been collapsed, rocks falling hard as they passed back by it. Tucker led them back along the twists and turns Cody had memorized on the way down; halfway back, Cody spotted three figures, turquoise, maroon, and orange, hurrying along a wobbling catwalk. Cody skidded to a stop.

"Carolina!" She called. "You've got to get down!"

"Working on it!" came the reply.

Cody delved into her belt pocket and withdrew the grappling hook, throwing it hard. Tucker and Caboose had stopped a few meters ahead.

"Cody, what are you doing? We have to go!"

"I'm saving your friends!" Cody said, as the grappling hook caught on the catwalk. She raised her voice, "Come down!"

Simmons went first, then Grif. Tucker helped Cody hold the rope steady as they came down. Then it was Carolina's turn. The turquoise Freelancer grabbed hold of the rope and started down, as the catwalk shook and groaned.

"Come on, Carolina, hurry!" Cody shouted. "It's falling!"

Sure enough, the closer end of the catwalk had unlatched from its ceiling hooks and begun to waver. Carolina sped down the rope like a spider, but the catwalk was falling fast.

"She's not going to make it to the ground," Cody muttered, and searched for a possible solution. The catwalk was fifty feet overhead, Carolina still had twenty-five feet to the ground- survivable, but they needed her able to keep moving. Simmons was tallest- that made him the most useful.

"Simmons, hold still."

"What-!?"

Cody grabbed onto Simmons and scaled up him, thankful, for once, for her natural petiteness. She stood on his shoulders. "Grab my ankles!"

He followed her command, still seeming nervous and shaky, and Cody looked up. Carolina had downed another eight feet. With Simmons' and Cody's combined heights, that left… Six feet between them. Cody faced Carolina.

"Carolina- forget the rope, jump and aim for me!"

Carolina paused, looking at her. "I'll crush you!"

"I'm sturdy! Just fucking jump!"

It didn't take any more convincing than that. Carolina parted from the grappling hook's rope and collided directly into Cody, sending the whole tower toppling to the ground. Cody rolled to her feet and Carolina did the same; Simmons, winded, clambered slowly up.

"Alright- let's go!"

The catwalk crashed with a resounding bang just behind them as they took off again. The shaking of the caves eased, but rocks big enough to crush a man's head continued to fall from the ceiling periodically as they raced for freedom. Adrenaline ran high and Cody fought it down. She kept her focus on moving one foot and then the other, keeping up with Tucker, and making sure Grif didn't fall too far behind.

"Fuck!"

As if the thought had cursed him, Cody turned around to see Grif caught with his leg under a fallen boulder. Cody ran back, narrowly dodging another boulder as it crashed down beside her.

"Grif!" Simmons shouted, meeting Cody at the orange trooper's side. The others ran up as well, and Tucker and Caboose made quick work of rolling the boulder away, to Grif's extreme pain.

"We have to keep moving," Cody said.

"Okay!" Caboose said, throwing the heavier Grif over his shoulder and taking back off along the caves.

"Ridiculously strong," Carolina said, as she'd noted earlier that morning, and they were on the move again.

The caves receded to a faltering tremble as they neared the exit, daylight streaming into the dusty cavern. Boulders dotted the final feet of cave, and then they were finally out of that dark pit. Cody breathed a sigh of relief.

"Take him straight to Red Base," Tucker said to Caboose, and Grif, Simmons, and Caboose headed off. Cody stood for a minute, catching her breath, and Carolina turned to her.

"Thanks for that, back there," Carolina said. "I've never seen anything so… Quickly done but brave. I'd thought those were just cheerleader moves, but you saved my life."

"I had a cheerleader in my platoon at basic," Cody said. "She taught us the maneuver and we used it in an obstacle course. I'm glad it came in handy."

Carolina chuckled. "Yeah, me, too. So- what happened?"

Cody began to explain as they made the return to Blue Base. Carolina didn't like the sound of the man in black.

"It wasn't Tex," Tucker assured her. "The voice was all wrong."

"Hmm."

Cody glanced between them. "Would it be so bad if it was Tex? She lived here a while, didn't she?"

Carolina stiffened, and Tucker said, "It wouldn't be so bad, but, Tex and Carolina didn't exactly get along."

Cody nodded. "Got it."

"Hey, you're back! How'd it go?"

It was Washington. He glanced over them. "Where's Caboose?"

"At Red Base," Tucker said. "A boulder fell on Grif, so Caboose carried him back."

Washington snorted. "Grif has really got to get in shape."

Cody gaped. "He just lost a leg!"

"Half of Red Team is cyborg at this point," Washington said. "They get hurt, Sarge fixes them up with robot parts. Simmons 2.0 seems fine, can't see why Sarge wouldn't do the same for Grif."

"Maybe because he hates Grif," Tucker suggested. "Man, this is really going to make Caboose think Red Team is pirates, if Grif gets a peg leg or some shit."

Cody nodded. "Okay- all that is… Dandy, or whatever the fuck, but we have more pressing matters."

"Right," Carolina said. "What do we do now?"

Cody sighed. "A hell of a question."