Arkansas made her way to the Pelican, the capture unit tucked securely underneath her arm. She lifted her other arm and pushed a small button on her gauntlet, making the rear door of the Pelican unlatch and start to lower. She took a few glances around, seeing no one in the empty plot of land behind the red base. She put her hand to her ear and spoke loudly.

"Rhodes, where are you?" she asked. "FILSS is back online and the item is secure. Let's go." There was a moment of silence on the radio, before Rhodes called back.

"On my way, Arkansas," he replied. "One of the simulation troopers wanted me to see something… and you won't believe what it was."

"It wasn't the pink one, was it?" Arkansas asked. "If it was… I have a good guess." She then heard loud footsteps coming from the red base as Rhodes made his way up the ramp.

"Hey!" Grif yelled. "That's mine! I found it fair and square!" Arkansas put her hand on her hip and cocked her head to the side.

"Stealing toys from the simulation troopers?" she asked. "Seems pretty low for you." Rhodes reached her and pulled and item off of his back.

"Depends on what you call a toy," he replied. He threw the item onto the ground which landed with a heavy thud. Arkansas gasped as memories of horrible gargles and clicks filled her mind. She shook her head and looked up at Rhodes.

"Is that what I think it is?" she asked. Rhodes slowly nodded and folded his arms. The sun gleamed off of the massive blade attached to the weapon. Blood stilled stained some of its features from the Meta's countless victims. Arkansas stepped away from it as Grif ran up between them. He grabbed the weapon off the ground and hugged it to his chest.

"You're not taking the Grifshot!" he yelled. "It's mine!"

"Where did you get that?!" Arkansas demanded. "Talk!"

"He got it off of one of my kills!" Sarge yelled. "To the victor go the spoils! That should be the Sargeshot! Double S. Donut! Where are you on my Abbreviation Dictation?!" Donut called back from deep within the base.

"In a second, Sarge! I want Rhodes to come here and see my thing, too!"

"Did you get this from Agent Maine?" Rhodes asked.

"The Meta?" Simmons responded. "Yeah. We tied him to our jeep and dragged him off a cliff. The gun fell out of his hands… so naturally we took it."

"Yup!" Sarge chimed it. "That guy's dead as a doorknob. D-double A-D. Donut!"

"Got it, sir!"

"If you want to keep it, fine!" Arkansas yelled. She turned around and stepped onto the Pelican. "It'd be a worry off my mind."

"Hey!" Caboose yelled as he rounded a corner. "That belongs to Agent Washington!" He pointed angrily at the capture unit under Arkansas's arm. "Give it back! He will be mad when he comes home! I don't like it when he's mad! He says big words I can't remember!"

"Meh, take it," Tucker added. "More junk off our floor. Don't know what you hope to find in that hunk of crap, though. We pulled Church out of that thing a while ago."

"Church?" Rhodes asked. "Leonard Church?"

"Yeah, you know," Simmons started, "the Alpha you freelancers have a fetish for?" Rhodes snapped his glare to Simmons, who stepped back. "Eeehhh… don't kill me!" Arkansas kept walking into the pelican, ignoring the words of the reds and blues. Rhodes sighed and turned towards his ship. He shook his head and then quickly turned back.

"Look guys," he started, "something big is happening right now. There's a Freelancer out there… a bad freelancer."

"Woah!" Grif yelled, sarcastically, "a bad freelancer? I didn't know such a thing could exist!"

"Shut up!" Rhodes snapped back, pointing at Grif. "This guy is different than other freelancers, like the Meta. He's good… really good."

"Yeah, well so was Tex," Tucker began. "She was like… the best. Wasn't she? Kicked our ass a bunch."

"That I can believe. And we all thought Tex was the best, too. She was always at the top of that scoreboard… that people like me and Arkansas could never even place ourselves on. This guy calling the shots now… Mass… he always had a problem with that scoreboard, too. Seemed like the Director never put him in the top place. Turns out the Director was purposefully holding him back. Right now we don't know if it's because the Director thought he could trust him… or the Director was afraid of him."

"So what's Ass's plan now?" Sarge asked.

"It's not Ass… it's Mass," Rhodes sighed.

"Did someone here just say something?" Donut asked as he ran out of the base.

"Look," Rhodes continued, "I've already told you guys too much. Just know to stay out of this. Me and Arkansas are inside his organization… but we think the Alpha will be enough to stop Mass before things get ugly."

"But Carolina has the Alpha," Simmons called out. "She took it with her when she left."

"Yes, but she doesn't have the whole thing. The Alpha is still missing one of the things that was split from it." Rhodes turned and looked back at the pelican. He sighed and ran towards the door, as he saw it begin to close. "If we're lucky," he called as he stepped onto the ship, "we might have found her." The door shut tightly behind Rhodes and the thrusters on the pelican glowed a bright white. It lifted off the ground and slowly turned a full 180. It started moving slowly, but then took off in a massive burst of speed, making the simulation troopers stumble to keep their balance. The pelican disappeared into the distance, with a small gleam of reflected sunlight.

"So there are still a bunch of freelancers around?" Grif asked. "I thought those guys were like… extinct now or something."

"And some guy worse than the Meta? That can't be good," Simmons added.

"Well there might be some massive battle out in space," Sarge began, "between people who are far superior to us in every way, but that means in no way… absolutely no way… that we need to involve ourselves in someone else's conflict." There was a brief silence for a moment, before Tucker sighed and looked at the ground.

"You guys are going to totally involve yourselves in this… aren't you?"

"Of course we are!" Sarge yelled back.

"Yeah, don't you get how this works yet?" Simmons asked. "We don't start fights."

"We finish them!" Grif finished.

"Actually we don't do that either," Simmons corrected, "we actually just jump into the fight, with no plans whatsoever, and in some way help people better than us win."

"As God intended," Sarge stated.

"Can I come Mister Sergeant?!" Caboose yelled.

"Hehe, what kind of leader would I be if I didn't take my mortal enemy on this dangerous mission with us? Of course you can come." Grif leaned in and whispered under his breath.

"Bait, huh?"

"Damn right."

"Okay!" Tucker yelled. "Fuck it! You guys obviously have some death wish, and I want no part of it."

"No part of it?!" Sarge yelled. "Damn it Tucker! You're the leader of your team now! Start acting like one! You're going to let down blues everywhere just because you don't have the blue balls needed to do what's right!"

"Please, Tucker," Caboose begged. "Think about Washington. He could be in trouble." Tucker sighed and looked up at the sky where the pelican had disappeared. He shook his head and turned towards his base.

"Fuck you guys," he muttered. Caboose sadly dropped his head down and turned to the reds. "And if you get me killed out there I'm really gunna be pissed." Caboose looked back up and jumped into the air.

"Alright, Tucker!" he yelled. "This is going to be the second best adventure ever!"

"If you say anything positive, I will fucking kill everyone on this journey right now!"

"Now you sound like a blue leader," Sarge complimented.

"Thanks, Sarge."

"Shut up you dirty blue!"

[Author's Note: Hey guys, Jerem6401 here. Thanks to everyone who has favorited and watched this story. Please recommend it to your friends on (if you're a member) and leave reviews here for me. Love you guys and can't wait to get this story going and finished up!]