Chapter 3: Failure

Simmons stared at the clock on his computer as he nervously waited for their duel to start. "So how do you guys want to do this?"

"You are the leader," stated Grif as he crossed is arms questioning his friend's ability to lead. "You decide, that is what you are here for after all."

"R- Right…"

"Don't sweat it too much Simmons," Donut gently patted the maroon soldier on the back with a thumb up. "We will be here to fully support you. No matter what, double O Donut will always be on the case!"

"Yeah, I will be there along the way to guys, with my trusty scalpel ready to fix you all up!" Doc noted excited at the rising energy in the air. Grif took a cautious step backwards as his lower half shook. "Um, why would you have a scalpel?"

"Why my dear Grif," O'Malley made his entrance. "To slice away the piece of the body that I can't heal with my methods. That way you won't be injured anymore after I cauterize the area and stop the bleeding. Problem solved! Mwha ha ha ha!"

"No problem solved!" shouted Grif as he backed away behind a desk as if to find some security in the object. O'Malley felt the mischief within him dance in his mind as he flipped the scalpel around in his hand and slowly approached the orange one with a devious laugh.

"Yeah, let's kick their ass!"

The men froze upon hearing a familiar, womanly voice. They all turned to look at the doorway from which the voice originated. Grif nearly tripped over his own surprise. "Sister?! What are you doing here?"

"Yeah, shouldn't you be with the blues right now?" asked Doc as he retreated the dangerous device in his hand. Sister waved her hip around as she walked into the room much to Grif's displeasure. "They said something about evening out the teams."

So they just wanted to get rid of her, thought every man in the room. They considered her skill sets and lowered their heads with a sigh. Blue team, what a bunch of dicks for sending her our way. Simmons shook his head clear of such thoughts and approached the map. He eyed the time. Twenty minutes were left before their match began. "Eta, I need you out here."

The AI fragment formed behind him and shyly looked out at the gazing eyes. The fragment hid behind Simmons who moved out of the way and encouraged his partner to step out into the lime light. Simmons took the chance to explain the battle plan he had formulated as Eta made efforts to help his host on the holographic map displaying on the projector built by Simmons in his spare time over the last year. "I'll only explain this once so listen closely."

Simmons moved his finger along a route in the canyon. Eta did his best to keep up with the movement and highlighted the proper path. "We will split off into two teams. One team will be in charge of drawing their fire while the other will act under the radar. The team in charge of combating the blues is to ensure that all attention remains on them no matter what. The stealth team should be given enough time to get in, capture the flag and get out."

"What about Sheila?" Doc posed the question as he looked outwards. "She isn't going to be just sitting this one out. They are bound to get her help seeing as how it would be a huge advantage."

"Good point," Simmons noted as he motioned towards a crate he had prepared earlier. "You guys take three EMP grenades each. They are to be used only against Sheila."

"But won't that knock out our systems as well?" Donut wondered as he readied his trusty throwing arm. Simmons nodded his head with certainty. "Unfortunately it will, but we can still fight as long as we are careful. Plus remember, we are using fake training bullets. So don't worry about getting injured. The worst they can do is leave a bruise for a couple of days."

"Uhm, I prefer to be bruise free thank you," complained the yellow one as she placed a hand on her waist and leaned to one side. Grif tapped his foot on the ground impatiently as he felt a nerve pop out on his forehead. "Then why don't you stay back and watch over the base?"

"Sweet, now I have two bases. That means more room for admissions to my rave parties. Score!"

"You can't be serious Grif," Simmons shook his head and pointed to the blue base. "We need every person we can get for this operation. If we want for our plan to succeed, I need everyone on the offensive."

"Don't worry, it's not like she will be of much use out there anyways," he replied in a whisper while taking Simmons by the neck in one arm. "At least here she can guard the flag. She will be contributing in some manner."

Simmons gave up with a sigh and finally agreed to Grif's choice. "Does anyone have any other questions regarding this strategy?"

"What do we do if things go South fast?" Doc inquired. Simmons crossed his arms in front of his chest and took in a huge puffy breath. "Well, I hope it won't come to that. Honestly, I never got that far in my planning."

"Wait, we still have fifteen minutes left."

"I don't work well under pressure alright?!" Simmons answered with an angry shake of his fist. "Just hope that no one screws up and this all goes swimmingly. Are there any other questions that I can actually answer?"

Simmons studied his comrades and finally after some brief silence, he opted to call their plans finalized. They all heard a loud thunderous noise pierce through the atmosphere. From the clouds, a Pelican descended to a smooth stop in the canyon. Donut looked out the base window and called for Simmons. "Look, the person in charge of picking Sarge up is finally here."

Simmons looked from afar and so did the others in intrigue. A UNSC officer exited the ship and shook Sarge's hand. They were too far away to listen in on their conversation. The officer happily greeted Sarge as he motioned for the soldier to board their transport. The rear doors closed and just as quickly as the ship had landed, it left. Just like that, they were hidden behind the clouds.


The fifteen minutes were now over and with it so was the time to plan. Church raised a pistol in the air and fired off a lone shot marking the beginning of their friendly war. Everyone ran out of the base and to their assigned positions. Church motioned for his comrades to take up arms and defend their flag with every ounce of their strength. Simmons, Lopez and Grif acted as the decoys as they ran to one side of the canyon atop the side path while Doc and Donut acted as the stealth team.

As so accurately predicted by Simmons, Sheila stood at the forefront of their assault in front of their base. She alongside Tucker and Church marched their way towards red base. I guess they had the same idea as us. Simmons raised his gun and opened fire on the blue's assault team.

"Scatter!" Church shouted as he jumped behind a rock. Sheila aimed her arms and opened fire with non-lethal shots. The reds took cover as well while Lopez stood bravely in the face of fire. "[Sheila, it's me baby, don't fire.]"

"Bean daddy?"

"[Yes my honey bunny]."

"What am I watching here?" Tucker watched as his stomach acted up in disgust. Grif held his mouth piece with heaviness rising from his abdomen. "I think I am going to physically throw up at this corny romance routine."

"This works out in our favor," noted Simmons as he focused his fire on Tucker who stood out in the open flabbergasted by the act between the two robots. With expertly placed shots, Simmons eliminated one of the threats as Tucker stored his gun, raised his arms in the air and walked away from the battlefield. Wait a go Tucker, Church pondered with great irritation. He stuck the barrel out from the side of the rock and fired upon his enemies hitting Lopez. The robot stood still upon slowly realizing what just happened. "[Fuck, I'm sorry my honey but we won't get to talk anymore for now]."

"No, don't leave bean daddy!"

"[Don't worry my love, I shall return]," and with those words of determination, the lone robot walked off with his head low in the shame of defeat. Simmons watched his fellow robot walk off with a blank expression, clearly unimpressed at the macho act Lopez did his best to put on for Sheila's sake. That brings us down a man, but it's still one versus two. He motioned Grif's attention towards himself. "We can do this Grif."


Inside blue base, Iowa and Caboose stared at the flag with intense concentration. Caboose nudged his friend and asked. "Isn't the flag so pretty?"

Iowa looked at the cloth and eagerly nodded his head. "It's so majestically floppy."

"I guess you can say floppy," Caboose spoke with some hesitance in his voice. "But personally I would say more like breezy."

"You could say that to…quick, five words you would use to describe this flag."

"Hmm, let's see…awesome, breezy, beautiful, majestic and god."

"God? I didn't know you idolized the flag that much Caboose."

"One of the guys from Battle Creek taught it to me before," Caboose spoke as if in a trance. "They opened my eyes to the beauty of the flag."

"Okay…what do you plan on doing for Christmas?"

"I plan on eating a whole lot of dinosaur eggs!"

"I don't think they exist."

"What? But Church said I could have an all day buffet with them."

"Sneaking, sneaking, sneaking," Donut mumbled as he stepped foot into blue base. The two blues became alert and looked in the general direction of the voice. Doc followed closely constantly worried and asking Donut to keep it down. "Don't worry Doc. This is double O Donut we are talking about. There is no way we would get caught."

"Hands up!" Iowa shouted and Donut instantly complied throwing down his weapon. What was that you were just saying double O Donut? Doc pondered now feeling stupid himself for believing him in the first place. Caboose walked in on the commotion and gently nudged Iowa to step aside. "Captain Cinnamon Buns, what are you doing here? Ah, are you here to steal our flag?"

"Double O Donut does not talk to the enemy. He will never give up what he knows!"

"Then I guess I won't share this delicious Christmas cookie," noted Caboose as he pulled one out from one of his pouches and greedily waved it around. Cookie? Donut's ears perked up like a dog's. He suddenly found himself in a battle of wills, to stand strong against the temptation. Caboose rubbed a bit of the icing from the cookie off, gently slithered his finger underneath the helmet and licked it clean. "Hmm, yummy. It's so sad that I can't give you any Captain Cinnamon Buns. If only you were willing to tell me why you were here, then I would gladly give you a whole plate full of cookies and a glass of orange juice."

A whole plate of c- c- cookies and orange juice?! Donut felt as if a hammer hit that concrete wall of will hard creating a large and a deep crack. No, must fight the urge. Doc looked back and forth and raised a hand. "May I please have a cookie?"

"Sure," said Iowa as he gladly handed him one. "Merry Christmas!"

"Goody I love this time of the year!" Doc claimed as he happily ate it. "Merry Christmas to you all as well."

All I have to do is ask? Donut pondered the simple yet difficult action considering their situation. "Caboose, may I have a cookie?"

Caboose looked back and forth from the soldier to the cookie, and as if in a deliberate act of cruelty, he quickly took the snack and munched it down. Donut was left visibly broken to the point his whole armor could have been confused for the color gray. Donut fell to his knees as he mumbled. "We were here to steal your flag…"

"See, that wasn't so hard," Caboose noted with Delta forming beside his host. "That was quite a cruel manner of investigation Caboose. Where did you learn it?"

"Church taught it to me. He taught me all sorts of things in my sleep."

"Strange, I never noticed Epsilon sharing the storage unit in this suit with me. He must have been careful to cover his tracks well. This requires further study and careful analysis of the memory sectors of the suit."

Caboose took his rifle and shot the two in their back left shoulder plate. He gladly offered a full plate of cookies now to his pink friend. Doc sighed with the heavy sense of defeat and frustration at the little control he had over the situation. He radioed Simmons. "Sorry but things didn't go well on our end. Both Donut and I are out of the game."


"What?!"

"Okay, I surrender," Grif threw his weapon upon hearing the news. Simmons looked even more shocked now. "What are you doing?!"

"I'm going back to bed," replied the orange soldier as he left their spot taking pot shots from Church. Simmons quickly felt his grasp slipping on the situation he once understood so well. These new factors shook his strong footing into a sea of uncertainty. Simmons threw an EMP grenade which managed to temporarily deactivate Sheila and fired a three round burst at her. So it's two against three…this is the worst possibly situation we could have put ourselves in. I might have to rely on Sister now. He reached for his helmet's radio. "Sister, can you hear me?"

"So I'm left with Iowa and Caboose now," Church pondered as he took a moment to rest behind his cover. "Still, that's more than the reds. If we can take out Simmons, Sister won't be a problem. Plus she is technically a blue so I can use that against her."

"Hey you dirty blues!" Sister screamed like a raging mad queen as she exited red base. "I heard what you planned on doing you bastards!"

Oh great, what now? Church poked his head out only to see her rushing towards him like a rampaging bull. Sister left behind visible footprints in the hard ground as she lessened the distance between Church and herself. "I will not let you cancel my rave nights!"

Church looked from the gullible woman to the maroon soldier who looked away in ignorance. Simmons you sly bastard, Church thought as he quickly took aim and opened fire. To his astonishment, she dodged every bullet. She lunged at Church ready to tear off his head if she needed to in order to keep her nightly events going. Church took out a pistol and managed to hit her in the abdomen just as she forced him down and raised a punch. Simmons once again sighed with frustration as he looked back to the outcome. Well that was anti-climactic. I was hoping she would last longer. He hurried inside the blue base and opened fire upon seeing the enemy. With expert placement, he got both Iowa and Caboose. Both the flags were wide open for the taking. Church rushed into red base and to their flag. If you think you are the only ones who will get the flag, then you are mistaken.

The two soldiers met halfway in the canyon with guns trained on one another. Both of them took wary steps around one another. One wrong move and it would be the other teams' victory. Simmons rested his finger against the trigger. Church could tell that Simmons' heartbeat was higher than usual. That's no good Simmons, you won't win like that. Church further raised his gun aimed for Simmons' head. The maroon soldier backed away a little at the fearful prospect of seeing down the barrel of a gun as he awaits his doom. "Careful where you point that thing Church, someone could get hurt."

"Maybe that is the point," answered the blue leader as he tried getting behind Simmons, but the maroon one followed his movements closely. Simmons pulled on the trigger, Church ducked out of the way and before any of his shots in retaliation could hit, Simmons jumped out of the way towards a nearby large rock. Church checked the shots left in the cartridge. He slowly walked towards the cover as Simmons took in a deep breath. Count to five, breathe in. Count to five and then breathe out. He twisted out from behind the rock, but before he could do anything a bullet hit his visor and knocked him back. Church took the blue flag and raised the two into the air proclaiming victory. "Better luck next time Simmons."


In space, a lone UNSC station maintained position amongst the stars. In a dimly lit gray meeting room, men and women of different backgrounds, positions and beliefs discussed the latest policy changes with Sarge. As he heard more and more, he grew frustrated at the lack of consideration for what he had to say on the matter as his concerns and protests were simply waived away by their two faced words. It was a room full of venomous politics waiting to strike him when he lowers his defenses under their guise of trustworthiness and care. As the snakes finished their part in the meeting, Sarge stood firmly in the face of their piercing gazes. "Do you really think my men will just accept this?"

"It doesn't matter if they choose not to," explained one of the corporal generals. "This is a mandatory policy. What you feel or believe does not matter. What matters is that the will of the military is carried out by all of our soldiers accordingly."

"The others couldn't have possibly accepted it!"

"They have already agreed to it seeing as how there is no other option," replied another military official. "They were smart. Do not play the jester here Sarge. You and your men are capable as unconventional you all may seem as soldiers. There are several others in the reds and the blues that possess this capability and hence we cannot pass this up. Either you conform or we strip you of your position and discharge you with dishonorable mentions. That of course applies to your men as well. How far do you think you will get in the world with such a stain on your records?"

You bastards, Sarge balled his fists but kept his anger in check. Another official leaned forward with a most stern look on his face. "Consider the situation wisely Sarge. Set aside your feelings on the matter as they matter not. Only consider the rationality behind the situation we explained to you. We are in desperate need and so we have had to take this step. If we are to defeat our foes, we will need to sometimes set aside our humanity in favor of such decisions to help the effort."

"Yeah," Sarge turned towards the door as a young soldier opened it for him. "You keep on telling yourself that while you give orders from your comfy chair as we go out there to fight in the unforgiving battlefields."

"Do not question my authority soldier!" the same official replied as stood up with exposed anger in his eyes. "I have paid my fair due. I fought on the front lines, I know the hardships and I will not be lectured by a failed army from the Freelancer project!"

Sarge took his leave without uttering another word. The young soldier kept his head low in awkwardness and guided Sarge to the ship that transported him to the base.


In Blood Gulch Canyon, Simmons sat in red base staring at the computer screen in ponder. The plan was perfect. I revised it many times before explaining it to others. Yet we still failed. It was a combination of many things, unforeseen events like Grif giving up and my own inability to deal with things on the spot. That's right; I am incompetent when it comes to reacting under pressure. Simmons reached out for his water bottle and rubbed it against his forehead. The chilly water sent comfortable shivers down his face and body. If this had been an actual war situation, then we wouldn't be sitting here laughing it off like we can right now. Instead some of us might be on the stretcher right now. Simmons gritted his teeth in frustration. Why am I so helpless under pressure?!

Grif watched his friend from afar who was clearly in a cycle of self loathing and uncertainty. I guess I was a dick by just giving up and walking off. Maybe I should apologize. Grif thought back to Simmons' ability as a leader. But it looks like I was right, to some extent that is. He created a great plan, but when it came time to changing it on the spot, he froze and made some bad judgements. Donut and Doc entered the scene as they did their best to cheer Simmons up. Grif smirked with the shake of his head. I guess I might have been worrying for nothing. With these two here, he will be fine.

Simmons looked up at his two comrades and smiled happily at their efforts towards him. I need to try harder and be better. So if we are ever put in a situation where I need to take charge, I want to be able to bring them back home smiling. I will become a better leader.


A/N: How was that for the first action packed chapter?

What do you think about some of the characterization in this chapter?

What do you think of the bits regarding Simmons in particular?

I hope the scene with Sarge helps raise some curiosity in you guys.

Respectful and constructive feedback is appreciated!

Thank you for taking the time to read the chapter and support with your readership!

~ Monty