Homesick Chapter 9: Ctrl Alt Bingo
Corporal Gyro's Logbook:As much as I don't want to believe it, Triton might be right. We could be all that's left of Nuri's army. I know what they're all capable of, and they can if they really wanted to. I don't know what to do. Even with Locus, we are still fucked. We NEED back up in any sort of way or just regroup. And this fucking cut doesn't help to. It hurts to turn around or lean on my side. I guess i'm not riding the board for a few weeks. That sucks. And what also kind of pisses me off is what happened last night with Triton. He knows where we are. We are compromised, and as much as I don't want to. We'll have to leave when we get the chance. And I can't help anyone in the position i'm in. I seriously can't believe that i'm up against a gladiator. Hell, a team of gladiators. Can we do this?! I, I don't even feel confident on fighting my own sister if given a chance. Another problem is that Coco and Neo are back at their house, while Taiyang, Yang, Lopez, and I are at Tai's house. And theirs also Yatsuhashi, Fox, and Velvet who had to show up. Don't get me wrong, there good and nice kids, but I don't want them to get in the way. Speaking of other bullshit. Triton mentioned something weird. He said I still haven't fully developed my powers? I've spent years practicing and improving my abilities, but he says I haven't fully developed them. Maybe it has something to do with the change in color of my hair and eyes? I can't say for sure. I wish dad was here to explain this to me. Now that I think about it. I just miss mom and dad...its been a few years since I've even seen them...but i'm scared to go back...I did run away from home to join this army...I can't say for sure, but theirs only one way to find out when this is all over. Maybe dad has the answers I need with my powers. I don't feel all that different. Not physically, but mentally...I just feel a bit...angrier? More aggressive? I can't explain it. But that could be the change of my powers. I just don't know what triggered it...forget it, that's not important right now. What's important is that we still have time to prepare ourselves for an upcoming war. And I know things aren't going to go well, but we can only have faith for things to look up for us.
Location: Taiyangs House
Time: 4 Hours after Triton and Gyro's "Talk"
Gyro sat in Ruby's room in silence as she pondered everything that had happened a few hours ago. Her armor was sat on a nearby desk, right under a mirror. Gyro looks up to the mirror to look at herself. Her hair and eyes had faded more crimson than cyan. Gyro lets out a quiet sigh as she looks at the bandage wrapped around her lower chest. She could see some small amount of blood stained on the bandage. Gyro slowly stood up from Ruby's bed and slowly walked to a nearby chair. She grabs her clothes and takes her time to put it on. Once fully dressed, Gyro could see that her clothes were stitched back up and cleaned for her. Where her clothes were, she could see a note that was left for her. She picks ups the note and slowly reads it.
"Gyro, hope your feeling alright. While you were out, your friend Coco was nice enough to stitch up your clothes and bring it back. Once your up, you know where to find me." -Taiyang.
Gyro had a small smile on her face, but that quickly diminished as she saw her data drive next to the note. She froze for a couple of seconds as she just stared at the drive. She slowly reached for the drive and picks it up. As she inspected the drive, a knock on the door was heard. She turns back towards the door. Gyro doesn't respond and just stares at the door. After continuous knocking, the door finally opens to show Taiyang at the door.
"Figured you were awake. Your friend Lopez was sputtering things left and right. But you know...we have no idea what he was saying. Only thing we caught was your name. So I came to see what he was talking about." Taiyang says with a shrug. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine. Thanks Tai. Where's everyone?" Gyro asks quietly and breaks eye contact.
"Are you sure your feeling alright?" Taiyang ask with concern.
"Maybe. But where is everyone?" Gyro asks again as her grip tightens on the data drive.
Taiyang slightly narrows his eyes towards Gyro as he takes notice of Gyro's grip tighten over the hidden drive.
"Yang and your brown robot friend is downstairs in the living room." Taiyang says as he motions he thumb out the door.
"What about Coco and Neo?" Gyro asks as she slowly turns her head to Taiyang.
"Went back to their house. Your friend actually drove one of those cars their to drop them off andactually walked back. He said some stuff but he left the car with that large turret here." Taiyang explains.
"Alright...Thanks Tai. I'll be downstairs in a few minutes." Gyro says as she slowly turns herself towards Taiyang's direction.
Taiyang just stares at Gyro for a couple of seconds, silently observing Gyro.
"What happened to your hair and eyes? Gyro, are you really sure that your okay?" Taiyang says with more concern as he takes a step towards Gyro's direction.
"I'm FINE." Gyro says sternly.
Taiyang stops as he looks straight into Gyro's eyes. Her eyes flared into a crimson red as she just stared back into Taiyang. Taiyang takes a step back from Gyro's stare.
"Yeah...alright, i'll meet you downstairs. I'll prepare lunch." Taiyang says with caution.
Taiyang finally leaves the room and shuts the door behind him. Once he was gone, Gyro looked back at the mirror to see her eyes flaring its crimson red. She closes her eyes and closes her eyes to take a deep breath. When she opens her eyes, it went back to its gradient mix of crimson and cyan. She puts her data drive inside her pocket and slowly walks towards the door to meet Yang peaking out of her room, looking towards Gyro's direction.
"How are you feeling Gyro?" Yang asks quietly.
"I'm okay...I thought you were with downstairs? Speaking of which, where's Lopez? I need to talk to him, you know where he is?" Gyro asks as she slowly walked towards Yang's direction.
"In the living room still. I left to go to my room because he won't stop talking nonsense, something about you and that's it. I couldn't understand what he was saying. Why, what do you need him for?" Yang asks skeptically.
"I may or may not have an idea. I'm going to go pick up Coco and Neo in a few hours." Gyro explains as she continues to slowly walk past Yang.
"Why? What's your plan?" Yang asks again.
"Don't know. Hell I don't even know if this will work. But If it does. They deserve to know what will be happening if this does work." Gyro explain as she holds her side where her wound.
"Gyro?" Yang asks with worry.
Gyro looks at her hand to see just a small smear of blood on her hand.
"I'm fine. I just need a change of bandages that's all. Where are they?" Gyro asks.
"I-In the bathroom. Are you sure your okay? You just woke up and you've been out for a few days." Yang says with concern.
Gyro just solemnly nods as she walks towards the bathroom. Yang watches Gyro shut the bathroom behind her, leaving Yang to head back downstairs. Once Yang reached the bottom of stairs, she saw Lopez fiddling with his fingers as he sat on the living room couch, and her father was in the kitchen preparing lunch. Yang then slowly walks over to her father in the kitchen.
"Hey dad." Yang says from behind.
Taiyang glances behind him to see Yang walk up behind him.
"Hello Yang." Taiyang says with a smile on his face.
Yang stops next to her father as she starts to wash the dishes in the sink.
"Have you...wondered what's happening to Gyro?" Yang asks cautiously as she glances behind her.
Taiyang slightly freezes, remembering Gyro's small burst of anger upstairs.
"Yeah. I have. It's kind of worrying me. You've noticed her hair and eyes right?" Taiyang asks.
"No. Not really. Why?" Yang asks quietly.
"Its redder than it was before. And when I was talking to her, she just...her eyes went red for a couple of seconds. Maybe shes still in shock from her injury." Taiyang guesses.
Gyro happens to walk down the stairs with a roll of old bandages in her right hand. She walked into the kitchen and tosses the old bloody bandages into the trash can.
"Talking about me?" Gyro asks sarcastically.
Taiyang and Yang make quick eye contact, they then look back at Gyro.
"Maybe." Taiyang says sheepishly and with a shrug.
"I get it that you two are worried, but i'm okay. I promise." Gyro says, trying to encourage the two blondes.
Gyro leans her back against the kitchen counter and leans her head back, she then tilts her head towards their direction.
"I'm just...like you said Tai, in a bit of shock. But for other reasons..." Gyro says as she takes a deep breath.
"If its not about the injury, then i'm going to take a wild guess and go with the assumption that it has to do with that Triton guy you fought." Tai says with caution.
Gyro slumped her head forwards as the atmosphere around everyone quickly changed. Even Lopez who peaked around the corner silently watched and felt the change.
"Yeah...it is..." Gyro says quietly.
Lopez then finally speaks up what was in his mind for the last few hours.
"Gyro, eh, quería preguntar esto pero...ya sabes...eso sucedió...pero con toda seriedad...¿Quién estuvo en tu habitación anoche? Mi rastreador de movimiento recogió a alguien dentro de tu habitación, así que fui a verlo. Pero cuando estaba cerca de la puerta, te oí, pero también escuché a alguien más...pero cuando entré en la habitación...eh...vi eso...(Gyro, I uh, I wanted to ask this but...you know...that happened...but in all seriousness...Who was in your room last night? My motion tracker picked up someone inside your room so I went to go check it out. But when I was close to the door, I heard you, but I also heard someone else...but when I walked inside the room...I uh...I saw that...)" Lopez says with a stern tone.
Taiyang, Gyro, and Yang just stared at Lopez in silence for a few seconds. The three of them blinked a couple of times before Gyro breaks the silence.
"What?" Gyro only responds.
"Ugh. He oído. Alguien. En. Tu. ¡Habitación! Quien. ¡Estaba! ¿¡Eso!? (Ugh. I. Heard. Someone. In. Your. Room! Who. Was! It!?)" Lopez says with a frustrated groan.
"LOPEZ I AM GOING TO TELL YOU THIS ONCE! WE DO NOT UNDERSTAND YOU!" Gyro shouts.
Gyro's hair and eyes flared up to a crimson red as a few crimson particles spiral around Gyro. Everyone had a few shocked expressions as they witness Gyro's outburst. Gyro looked around her to see the stares she was receiving and realizes what has just happened. The crimson particles dissipate along with her hair and eyes going back to its gradient crimson and cyan.
"I'm so sorry..." Gyro says as she brings her hands to cover her mouth in shock.
"Its okay Gyro...just take some deep breaths." Taiyang says as he walks next to Gyro and guilds her to the couch in the couch.
Lopez and Yang follow Taiyang and Gyro into the living room. Once Gyro was seated, Lopez, Taiyang, and Yang take seats or stands around Gyro.
"Lopez...can you try to...find a way to explain what ever it is you were trying to say?" Taiyang asks kindly to the Spanish speaking robot.
Lopez silently nods as he thinks. he then mentally sighs as he tries to think of something.
"Gyro. ¿Gladiador? Rastreador de movimiento! ¿Qué paso anoche? (Gyro. Gladiator? Motion Tracker! What happened last night?)" Lopez says slowly.
"Okay...so I can guess movimiento is probably something that has to do with movement...but what's a Gladiator?" Taiyang says to himself.
Taiyang and Yang turn to Gyro's direction to see a blank stare from her. She faced straight into Lopez's empty autumn colored visor.
"What about the motion thing Lopez?" Yang asks as she looks at Lopez.
Lopez just taps his head with his finger, attempting to signal Yang about his motion tracker. Yang still had a blank and confused stare.
"He's talking about the motion tracker..." Gyro says quietly.
Both Yang and Taiyang look towards Gyro's direction. They could see Gyro's hair covering her eyes, avoiding their stares.
"Motion tracker?" Yang only responds.
"Its standard issue for any UNSC soldier. Lopez just has one build inside of him I guess...Wait..." Gyro says as her voice trails off.
"Triton." Lopez only responds.
"Triton? Isn't that the guy that stabbed you?" Yang asks Gyro.
"Hold on a second. Motion Tracker. Triton..." Taiyang says as he puts the pieces together and quickly glares at Gyro.
Gyro sat silently as she didn't dare look at anyone.
"He was here...last night...that's what Lopez is talking about..." Gyro says quietly.
"What?!" Yang shouts.
Gyro slightly winces from Yang's shouting.
"Yang." Taiyang says quietly.
"No. Don't you know what this means?! We're in danger! And She doesn't tell us about this! We can't even trust her! Instead, we had to trust a robot that doesn't even speak the same language that we've only known for a few days!" Yang shouts again as her own eyes flares red.
Gyro stayed silent as she brushed her hair out of her face.
"Unbelievable." Yang says as she throws her arm into the air.
"Yang its not her fault. What could she have done? She was injured. She was vulnerable. That Triton guy could have killed her without us knowing, and your upset that she's still alive right now. Is that what you want? To find Gyro dead on your missing sister's bed?! I know Ruby would want that. And I know I wouldn't want that." Taiyang says strictly towards Yang.
Yang scoffs and sits down on one of the couches in the living room they were in.
"Thank you Tai...but Yang's right...We are in danger. And he knows exactly were we are...But he's not after you both..." Gyro says as she looks at Lopez. "He's after us."
"¿Qué? ¿Por qué? (What? Why?)" Lopez asks with a shrug.
"I can understand you, but why Lopez?" Taiyang asks.
"¡ACABO DE DECIR QUE! (I JUST SAID THAT!)" Lopez says as he shoots a glare at Taiyang.
"Triton after Lopez because its Temple's orders. Temple is a psychopath, he locked up people in their armor and just left them in a room. Lopez was one of the guys locked up in that base. I'm guessing you probably knew that from Coco and Neo...but, Tai also brought up another point...He didn't kill me because he said he was giving me a chance." Gyro explains quietly.
"A chance for what?" Yang asks with aggression.
"A chance to go with him. Triton wanted me to come with him and I refused Yang. I refused because I rather die to try and save all of you than be a coward and help the people who has done so much wrong to this life. I choose to join an army to prevent things like that. I ran away from my own home and disobeyed my own parents wishes to do this. And I am not turning back now...but I am also not willing to put anyone's life before mine...so i'll be leaving soon..." Gyro says as he voice rises.
"Leave? I don't think so. You can barely walk." Taiyang says with concern as he stares at Gyro.
"I never said I would be going alone. Lopez is coming with me." Gyro says as she looks at Lopez.
"¿Disculpe? Nunca acepté este plan. (Excuse me? I never agreed to this plan.)" Lopez says as he waves his hand, dismissing Gyro's idea.
"Whether or not if you like this plan Lopez. We are targets and they know where we are. I have survived worse situations. We can deal with being on the run." Gyro explains slowly.
"Gyro, you can't. That's suicide." Taiyang says strictly as he stands up.
"We have a warthog Tai. We can get a lot of distance. You are not involved with this." Gyro says as she also stands up from the couch. "There's enough space for four of us."
"Four? I though you said we're not coming with you." Yang says aggressively.
"Coco and Neo are coming with us too." Gyro says. "Coco has the sword and Neo is just a target because she's Sky's older sister. No doubt that the Blues and Reds will use her as a hostage to gain leverage over us. It's better safe than sorry."
"So this is your master plan that you were on about earlier? To run?" Yang asks skeptically. "Then what was the point of looking for Lopez earlier?"
"I am not running. We just need a plan to fight back. Yang. My team is all that's left." Gyro says with aggression.
"What?" Taiyang says with some surprise in his voice.
"Triton says that my team is all that's left to be cleaned up along with a few stragglers. Locus and I are one of very few left of our army if what Triton says is true. We don't know where General Nuri or Yupia is. We don't even know if they are alive. The same goes for Sky and Pyrrha. We don't know if their alive. And we have no way to get in contact if they are alive. All we can do is run. The pest chance we have to beat the Blues and Reds is if we can lead them away." Gyro explains.
"And how do you plan to do that? Your alone member." Yang says sarcastically.
"If we manage to find Locus, we try to find a ship and we leave the planet." Gyro answers,
"Gyro you can't." Taiyang says with sympathy.
"Sí, es una idea tonta. Tus otros dos amigos dijeron que este planeta no está en ningún mapa. (Yeah that's a dumb idea. Your two other friends said that this planet isn't on any maps.)" Lopez says with a shrug.
"We can and we have to. You both don't deserve to fight a war you weren't a part of." Gyro says as she slowly walks towards the stairs. "Lopez grab your gear. We leave in less than sixty."
Gyro slowly walks up the stairs, leaving Yang, Taiyang, and Lopez downstairs.
"Lopez, we may not be able to communicate that well. But you can't be serious about this plan too." Taiyang asks in worry.
"No me gusta el plan tanto como ustedes dos. Ni siquiera quiero ser parte de esto en absoluto. Me acabo de despertar hace unos días con esta mierda. (I don't like the plan as much as the both of you. I don't even want to be a part of this at all. I just fucking woke up a few days ago to this bullshit.)" Lopez says with a heavy sigh.
"I'm going to guess that was a no." Taiyang says.
"Sí, eso fue un no. Gilipollas. (Yeah, that was a no. Dickhead.)" Lopez says flatly.
Lopez walked towards towards the front door and picks up his battlerifle he recovered from the white fang base and slung it on his back, magnetically locking it. He also grabs the armored suitcase that was also next to the front door, holding the electric dust crystals that Lopez needs. Lopez finally opens the door, leaving the house and shutting the door behind him. Taiyang has a sigh of annoyance as he walks towards the front door, with Yang following behind him. Once outside, they see Lopez putting the suitcase inside the back of the warthog. He then walks over towards the driver seat and leans on the warthog. Gyro then walks out of the front door her armor on along with two duffel bags and tosses them towards the bottom of the porch stairs and walks back inside, only to walk back out with her saber in her left hand and hoverboard under her right arm. She walks over towards the warthog and puts her saber and hoverboard in the back of the warthog and turns towards Taiyang and Yang.
"Tai, can you bring me the bags?" Gyro asks.
Yang nods and picks up one of the bags and walks over towards the warthog and raises up to Gyro. Once Gyro grips the bag and attempts to pull it, only for Yang to just have her grip tighten.
"Yang. Let go of my bag." Gyro says strictly.
"I'm coming with you." Yang only responds.
"What?" Taiyang and Gyro say in unison.
"¿Qué? (What?)" Lopez also says in unison with Gyro and Taiyang.
"I said i'm coming with you." Yang says again.
"Estabas maldiciendo a Gyro hace diez minutos. Y ahora quieres ir a una aventura suicida. ¿Qué demonios está mal con ustedes? (You were just bitching at Gyro ten minutes ago. And now you want to go on a suicide adventure. What the fuck is wrong with you people?)" Lopez says flatly.
"Yang, you were just pissed off at Gyro less than ten minutes ago. And now you want to go with her?" Taiyang says with annoyance.
"¿Por qué siquiera me molesto en hablar? Es como si estuviera hablando con paredes de ladrillo. (Why do I even bother to talk. It's like i'm talking to brick walls.)" Lopez says flatly.
"And I still am. But Gyro here forgets that we are a part of this little war of hers when she came to our home. And that means its also Ruby's war too. So that's final. I am coming with you." Yang says as she leans up to Gyro's helmet.
Yang stared into Gyro's Operator helmet. She could see her reflection through her autumn colored visor, but she could tell that Gyro was staring back into her lilac colored eyes. Both Taiyang and Lopez just watched the two girls with there stare down, hoping they don't end up killing each other. Gyro then glances over towards Lopez's direction.
"Lopez, your riding on the turret. I'll drive." Gyro says to Lopez and then turns to Taiyang. "Here's the deal, we'll go grab Coco and Neo and bring them here, then we'll talk about another plan, how does that sound?"
Taiyang ponders for a couple of seconds on Gyro's proposal.
"Fine. Just be back by tonight. If your serious about this, then we need to discuss this together." Taiyang says strictly.
"Fair enough. Yang, get your things, we'll wait here." Gyro says to Yang.
Yang nods as she runs inside her house. Taiyang then quickly picks up Gyro's second duffel bag and hands it to Gyro.
"Are you sure about this?" Taiyang asks quietly.
"Honestly. No, i'm not. But it might help her. Maybe it can help her recover from her shock. I can't say for sure, but at least it could give her a motive to use the new arm Ironwood made for her." Gyro says with a small sigh. "I just don't want her to be apart of this at all. She's just a kid."
"Your also a kid Gyro." Taiyang says flatly.
"I'm twenty four." Gyro also says flatly.
"Okay never mind. But you understand what i'm saying, right?" Taiyang asks.
"No, I dont. What I'm hearing is that I look to young for my age." Gyro teases.
Yang finally walks out of the house with a backpack and a small box under her left arm. She quickly jogged towards Gyro and Taiyang.
"Alright, I'm ready." Yang says with a nod.
"Okay then. Get in the car." Gyro says to Yang and then turns to Taiyang. "We'll see you later tonight Tai."
Gyro hops into the driver seat of the warthog while Yang walks around to the other side of the warthog and climbs into the passenger seat.
"Everyone ready?" Gyro asks.
"Yeah." Yang replies.
"Solo cierra la boca y conduce ya. (Just shut the fuck up and drive already.)" Lopez says flatly from the rocket turret on the warthog.
"I'll just take that as a yes." Gyro says as she starts the engine.
Gyro puts the warthog in reverse, driving it backwards and turning it around. She then puts the car forwards and beings to drive towards the forest.
"GOOD LUCK!" Taiyang yells as they drove away.
Location: Coco and Neo's House
Time: 2 Hours later
"No." Coco only says.
Coco sat on her couch on the first floor of her and Neo's house. Neo sat on the edge of the balcony on the second floor, still participating in the conversation. Velvet, Yatsuhashi, and Fox were also sitting down in the living room and sat silently. And right across from Coco was Gyro, her Operator helmet was on the table and stood across the table from the fashionista. Lopez and Yang were near the front door, allowing Gyro to do most of the talking.
"The fuck do you mean no? You realize how much danger your in? You and Neo both are. Triton knows where we are. I can possibly deal with one Burst Crusader, but I can't handle all three. And I doubt you can even deal with them." Gyro says with anger.
"No as in i'm not abandoning my team Gyro. I already feel guilty about doing it over Sky's disappearance and i'm not doing it again. You said it yourself. If you don't want this war to be a apart of our home, you said we'd have to leave the planet. So yeah. That's a no from me." Coco says as she crosses her arms.
"I'm there with Coco. As much as I want to help out. Running away is something i'm not a fan of." Neo says from the balcony.
"This would only solve your problem temporally. Yeah you would drive the Blues and Reds away from Remnant, but where would you go? You'll end up just bringing the war to another planet instead." Yatsuhashi says with a shrug.
"Gyro. We want to help you. We really do. But this is our home." Velvet says quietly. "We can't just abandon our home and families."
Gyro takes a deep breath, trying to control her emotions.
"I'm staying Gyro. That's my final word. I have a family here too. And I promised that I would watch over Neo too. You said to operate on faith, and I am. We will survive this, and Sky and Pyrrha will come back." Coco says as she stands up.
"This isn't about them. Its about other people too. You hold a dangerous key. And if they have that key, they can wipe out an entire planet if they can get that sword that YOU hold. They will come for you Coco." Gyro says as she narrows her eyes at Coco.
"Then I am willing to die for my friends, my family, and my team. You said that there is no alien temple thing on Remnant." Coco says with aggravation.
Gyro quietly growls in aggravations as she clenches her fists.
"Now the real question that I want to ask." Neo says as she jumps down from the balcony and reaches behind her. "What is this supposed to be?"
Neo was holding a familiar data drove to Gyro. Gyro frantically looks at her belt seeing that the drive was missing.
"How did you?!" Gyro shouts.
"Gyro I've spent a decade doing shit like that. Now, what is this?" Neo asks as she waves the drive around.
"Give...it...back..." Gyro asks with anger.
Gyro's hair and eyes slowly change to crimson red. Yang was the first to take action.
"Neo. In all seriousness, give it back to her." Yang says with caution.
Lopez slowly reached for his battle rifle slung on his back.
"Why? It doesn't look that important." Neo says nonchalantly.
Gyro takes a step forwards towards Neo, causing Lopez to un-sling his battle rifle and aim it straight towards Gyro, making her stop in her tracks and making everyone stand up. Everyone was on edge from Gyro's sudden actions.
"Gyro. You said you were going to stop hiding secrets from us. But here you are. Hiding what ever this is. Don't think that I was that clueless. I saw this in your pocket at first just before we left back to Yang's house. But then I saw it again when I carried you back inside Yang's house when you were unconscious from blood loss. So. Are you going to tell us, your friends, what's so special about this? We deserve to know this. Please June." Neo says softly.
Gyro shuts her eyes as her hair fades back to its crimson and cyan gradient color. She opens her eyes and takes another deep breath before taking her seat back on the couch. Once she was seated, Lopez slings his battle rifle back on his back while everyone takes there seat again, expect for Neo. Who put the data drive next to Gyro's operator helmet and takes as seat next to Coco.
"So you want to explain what that is now?" Yang asks cautiously.
Gyro solemnly nods.
"That is a data drive. A storage unit in other words." Gyro says as she stares at the drive.
"Bueno, yo ya lo sabía. Pero, ¿qué hay en el disco? (Well I already knew that. But what's on the drive?)" Lopez asks.
"Gonna take a guess and say that your wondering whats on the drive." Gyro says towards Lopez.
"Al menos no eres tan descaradamente estúpido como ellos. (At least you're all not as blatantly stupid as them.)" Lopez says as he faces towards a near by window.
"Well. The drive holds a override code. A failsafe..." Gyro says quietly.
"A override code for what? Lopez?" Velvet asks
"No. For my sister." Gyro replies as she looks up towards Velvet.
"Yupia? For what reason?" Coco asks.
"Don't know. Sky was the one who gave it to me. Never said how he got it, but it was probably his A.I.'s that made it. But it was a failsafe just in case that Yupia took full control." Gyro says with a hint of despair.
"Full control? You never explained this to us. Full control of what?" Neo says with confusion.
"Her body. Remember what I told you that night?" Gyro asks.
"Your older sister is still alive inside that body. Isn't she?" Coco asks as she slowly puts the pieces together.
'Wait what?" Yang, Fox, Yatsuhashi, and Velvet say in unison and confusion.
"You said Lyndsey was killed during the destruction of Aether." Neo says with confusion.
"Can someone explain this to the five people who have no idea what your talking about?" Fox says as he rolls his eyes.
"Later." Coco, Neo, and Gyro reply in unison.
Fox only shrugs and crosses his arms as he leans back on the couch.
"So this, override thing. What's it supposed to do?" Coco asks Gyro.
"No clue. Never used it before." Gyro says with a annoyed tone.
"Sky never told you?" Neo asks.
"Sky never even used the projections to communicate back then. And same goes for the A.I., at least I myself never seen him use it." Gyro says with a shrug. "And we never need to use it. Yupia didn't cause too many problems enough to use it."
"So what else an it do?" Yatsuhashi asks.
"Can't say. Like I said, I never used it. But I can make a guess and say it probably creates a remote link to Yupia's CPU. I could access her parameters, directives, and possible logs. But I can't be exactly sure." Gyro explains.
Everyone in the room except Lopez just had a blank expression on there faces. They blinked a few times towards Gyro's directions.
"Excuse me, what?" Velvet says in confusion.
"Idiotas. (Idiots.)" Lopez says as he looks back towards the ex students.
"It means I could access Yupia's memories, thoughts, and ideas. Possibly." Gyro says as she face palms.
"From that thing?" Neo says as she points towards the data drive.
"Not from the actual drive, i'll need a terminal to put the drive in to access the info." Gyro says as she realizes something. "Fucking damn it, I left my tablet back at Tai's house."
"Great..." Neo says as she rolls her eyes.
"Wait. Can you access your sisters memories manually if she were here with us?" Velvet asks.
"Yeeaahhh..it should be fairly simple..." Gyro says skeptically.
"What are you getting at Vel?" Coco asks.
"So...theoretically...can you access Lopez's memories?" Velvet asks nervously.
"¿Qué? (What?)" Lopez says as he snaps back into the coversation.
"Yes?" Gyro says with some sort of realization.
"Not half bad Velvet. Smart." Coco says with a smile.
Velvet giggles lightly as she rubs the back of her neck.
"Lopez. You don't mind if I can access your logs? I still have some unanswered questions about what happened to the Reds and Blues." Gyro says as she turns to Lopez.
"En realidad, me importa. Prefiero que no accedas a mis registros. No creo que puedas siquiera entenderlo. Podría salir en español. (Actually, I do mind. I prefer that you not access my logs. I don't think you can even understand it. It might just come out in Spanish.)" Lopez says as he waves his hands frantically.
"Please Lopez." Coco says softly.
"Vete a la mierda. (Fuck off.)" Lopez says as he points at Coco.
"Lopez, you can't speak the same language as us. So telling us what happened to your friends wont do anything for us. But if Gyro manages to do what ever she does, she might be able to fix it. Please, we want to know. Even Sky was close to those Freelancers you knew." Neo says softly too.
Lopez quietly groans.
"Lopez buddy. Trust me when I say this. There is no point in saying no." Fox says flatly.
Lopez groans again.
"Multa. Pendejos. (Fine. Assholes.)" Lopez says as he gives a nod of confirmation.
"GREAT! All of you, pack your shit, were heading back to Tai's house for this. Yang and Yatsu, your riding with me. Everyone else, your all driving with Lopez." Gyro says as she stands up.
"Got it." Coco says as she quickly stands up and runs upstairs to her room.
"We'll be back." Neo also says as she also runs upstairs.
Gyro looks back at the rest of Team CFVY grabbing their backpacks.
"You three ready?" Gyro asks.
"I am ready." Yatsuhashi says.
"Ready." Velvet says with a nod.
Fox also gives a nod, signaling that he was ready. Yang and Lopez were the first outside and were waiting by the warthogs, then Gyro, Velvet, Fox, and Yatsuhashi followed them out. Gyro quickly jumps into the the warthog driver seat that held the rocket turret. Yang takes the passenger seat while Yatsuhashi climbs on the back of the warthog and stands while holding onto the rocket turret. Lopez then climbs into the driver seat of the second warthog while Fox jumps into the passenger seat. Velvet then climbs on the back of the warthog, making herself comfortable as they wait for Coco and Neo. After a few more minutes pass by, the two girls finally ran outside with a backpack on each other their backs, they then jump on the back of the warthog along with Velvet.
"Ready." Coco says loudly with a nod.
Gyro nods back as she and Lopez starts the engines of the two warthogs and begin to drive off back to Taiyang's house.
Location: Taiyangs House
Time: 2 Hours and 30 minutes later
The warthogs finally come to a stop outside of Taiyang's house. Everyone jumps out of the two jeeps and quickly look up to the sky, noticing that it was dark out.
"You know, we would have made it before dark if SOME PEOPLE didn't have to do a little bathroom break." Gyro says with annoyance.
Gyro walked over to the back of her warthog and grabs her bags out of the back of the warthog.
"Well excuse me that I haven't gotten a chance to use the bathroom here or at Neo's house!" Yang shouts in frustration and with a small blush of embarrassment.
"She's not wrong, you didn't exactly give us a chance to use any restroom before we left." Yatsuhashi points out.
"Whatever, were here anyways, Lopez, come on, lets unpack and get this started straight away." Gyro announces.
"Got it." Coco replies as she jumps out of the back of her warthog.
Everyone jumps out of their seats from the two warthogs, grabbing their bags and gear. Coco Fox passes Yang her backpack and her box. She takes it and says her thanks. Everyone then looks back at Gyro, giving a nod that they were all ready. Gyro nods back and walks up to the porch and knocks on the door. There wasn't an answer for a couple of seconds. Lopez and everyone else walk up to the porch, waiting behind Gyro. A few of them had looks of wonder and confusion, Gyro see's this and just shrugs in confusion. Then Gyro and Lopez quickly look back at the door. Lopez quickly draws his battle rifle while Gyro pulls her saber from her back. They could see three pings from their motion tracker closing towards the front door. The door finally opens to reveal Taiyang along with two other familiar faces.
"Professor port? Doctor Oobleck?" Everyone except Lopez and Neo say in unison.
"Oh, your back...and you brought everyone." Taiyang says as he stares at the crowd of eight.
"Good evening eveyone. It good to see all of you." Professor Port says proudly.
Port and Oobleck finally take notice of Lopez silently staring at the two of them.
"Oh, this is Lopez, and yes, I know he looks like Lorenzo, but he speaks Spanish, not Italian." Gyro explains quickly.
Port and Oobleck both share a few blinks of confusion.
"Spanish? Italian? What is that young lady?" Oobleck asks quickly.
"Right...different languages from another planet. Lopez here has something that we need to know, not if you excuse all of us, I need to get started right away." Gyro says as she looks at Taiyang. "Mind if we use the living room for a few hours?"
"Uhh, sure?" Taiyang says with uncertainty.
"Great." Gyro says happily. "Lets go everyone."
Gyro waves her hand for everyone to follow. Gyro was the first to enter the house and drops her bag and saber on the closest couch. the other seven ex students follow Gyro inside and set their own bags down.
"Alright, Lopez, just wait here, i'll be back. I need to grab a few extra tools from Ruby's room." Gyro explains.
Gyro jogs up the stairs to Ruby's room. Taiyang, Professor Port, and Doctor Oobleck then walk inside.
"What is it that miss Gyro plans on doing?" Port asks with curiosity.
"Ella quiere mirar dentro de mi cabeza. (She wants to look inside my head.)" Lopez responds.
There was a few second of awkward silence.
"I assume this was the language barrier miss Gyro was talking about?" Oobleck says as he observes Lopez.
"Yep." Everyone expect Lopez says in unison.
Lopez sighs in annoyance as he takes a seat on the table in the center of the living room. Gyro finally comes back to the living room with the small storage crate on top of her hoverboard. Gyro pulled her board that carried the crate and leaves it next to Lopez.
"Alright, you ready for this?" Gyro asks with concern to Lopez.
"Joder no. Pero realmente no tengo otra opción. (Fuck no. But I don't really have a choice.)" Lopez says with a shrug.
"I'll just take that as a yes. Just lay down, i'll slightly power you down to bypass a bit of your security, i'm not a hacker so this is my best option." Gyro says as she cracks her knuckles.
Lopez nods and lays down on the table. Gyro reaches inside her storage crate and grabs a few tools along with a UNSC tablet. Gyro then presses a button on her armors gauntlets, a flashlight from her helmet flares up, illuminating Lopez as she reaches for tablet. She taps on her tablet a few times while everyone else watches silently. A few seconds pass by and they could hear some of the mechanical humming quiets down a bit. Gyro then places the tablet down next to Lopez and grabs a few tools in the crate. She then proceeds to open Lopez's chest piece carefully to see a bunch of circuitry and the modified power supply Gyro made.
"Alright, this is the tricky part..." Gyro says to herself.
Gyro reaches into the storage crate again and grabs a few wires. She looks around Lopez's exposed circuitry with her helmet light and eventually finds what she was looking for. She hooks up one end of the wires into a few small slots and hooks up the other end to her tablet. She taps on her tablet a few times and reaches for the crate again and pulls out a small projector. She places the projector down on the table. A holographic display of what Gyro's tablet has on display. As Gyro tapped on her tablet a few more times, a message appears. "Log access: Locked, please insert password."
"Well fuck." Gyro says flatly. "This may be a problem."
"Yeah we can see that." Coco says bluntly.
"What now?" Velvet asks.
"We guess the code I guess." Gyro replies as she looks back down to her tablet. "I might have a few ideas."
Gyro types in "Project Freelancer" first, but a large X appears on screen.
"Damn it." Gyro mutters.
Gyro then types in "Blood Gulch" next, but receives another X. Gyro quietly groans as she types in "Red Team" to receive another X.
"What the fuck could it be?" Gyro mutters.
"Password."
Everyone in the room turns towards the voice, that being from Neo.
"What?" Gyro says in confusion.
"Try typing password." Neo says as she crosses her arms.
"That's too easy, there's no way it cant be that simple." Fox says strictly.
"Nah that makes sense." Coco says with a shrug.
"What? How does that make sense?" Fox replies to his leader.
"It's so simple that people wouldn't guess it." Yatsuhashi guesses.
"There's no way." Yang says to herself.
"Alright then. Gyro, try it then." Neo says smugly.
"I'm gonna have to agree with Fox and Yang. There's now way." Gyro says as she looks back at her tablet.
"Do we have any other ideas then?" Neo asks. "No? Then just try it then."
Gyro sighs as she types in "Password" into her tablet. A couple of seconds pass by to see a text prompt that says "Password accepted".
"You have got to be fucking kidding me." Gyro says dumbfound.
Coco and Neo fist bump with a smug smile on their faces. Gyro looked back towards the two girls.
"How'd you know the password?" Gyro asks with curiosity.
Neo only shrugs at her response.
"I've seen what the Blues and Reds are like first hand too. Their a bit dumb. I mean, it was also a complete shot in the dark too, that Surge guy uses the same password for that other Brown robot, Lorenzo I think." Neo explains nonchalantly.
"Ah, back when you worked with them and Roman, got it. Well, lets see what we got here." Gyro replies as she swipes her tablet.
Gyro looked through files of Lopez's programming. She found logs from most of the Reds and Blues adventures.
"What is all of that?" Taiyang asks as he stares at all the files on the holographic display.
"Old logs. In simpler terms, its Lopez's memories. All of his adventures that he and the rest of the Reds and Blues had. We are talking about years worth of logs." Gyro explains as she also was astonished by all of the memory logs. "Jesus this has to be more than five years worth of logs."
"Hey, that one's different, what is it?" Velvet asks.
Velvet points towards on of the files that was labeled "For the love of god, why did this have to happen to me?".
"How is it that this is all in English yet he can only speak Spanish." Yang says flatly.
"Don't ask me. This confuses me too." Gyro says as she taps on the file.
Gyro taps on the file and ends up opening a video file. It contained the small walk in incident of when Lopez walked into Ruby's room to find a very revealing Gyro. About everyone's face flushed red except Fox, who really couldn't see what was happening.
"Uh...what's going on? Why is no one saying anything?" Fox asks.
"N-Nothing!" Gyro says quickly with embarrassment.
Gyro fumbles around with her tablet, closing the video. Everyone shared a similar awkward silence while Gyro shifted through more files. After a few more minutes, someone else spots another interesting file.
"Miss Gyro, please go back a little bit, take a look at one of the files." Oobleck says as he tilts his glasses up.
"On it." Gyro replies quickly.
Gyro swipes back to find the file Oobleck pointed out. The file said "To anyone who finds this.". Everyone looked straight at Gyro for her to open the file. Gyro looked back and nods to everyone as she taps on the file, opening it to see Lopez's HUD flash on. They are immediately shown a pretty horrific sight.
Time: One Year and 8 Months ago
Location: Armada 8, Underwater facility
Lopez along with the rest of the Reds and Blues stood frozen in their armor inside of a familiar cobalt armored psychopath's room. Well, almost everyone except two certain blue and orange soldiers along with two certain freelancers. The familiar cobalt psychopath Temple walks through the open elevator into the room.
"Howdy everyone! How are our fine guests doing?" Temple asks sarcastically.
"Fuck. You." The aqua color solider known as Tucker says angrily.
"Charming. Well, gang, I thought we should have a little chat before I bid my final adieu. After all, our business together isn't quite finished, is it?" Temple says smugly as he stares at Tucker.
"You're god damn right it's not dirtbag!" The solider in red colored armor known as Sarge shouts.
"Let's try and be civil, okay, we're all adults here." Temple says as he rolls his eyes under his helmet.
"Oh-ho, if you think for one second that you're gonna get away with this-" The solider in maroon colored armor known as Simmons says.
"Still holding out hope for that rescue? Don't." Temple sternly says.
Temple takes a few steps to his side, his Colonel, Surge and his Captain, Loco, and one other unknown armored figure escort the orange solider known as Grif and the blue colored solider known as Caboose.
"CABOOSE!" Tucker shouts.
"GRIF?!" Simmons, the pink colored solider Donut, Lopez, and Sarge shout in unison.
"Simmons?!" Grif replies with shock.
"TUCKER!" Caboose shouts with excitement
Grif and Caboose were hit against their backs by Surge and the unknown armored solider, knocking them onto the ground.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM?!" Tucker shouts with pure anger towards Temple.
"My problem? What's your problem?! Your teams were used and beat up by Freelancers, same as us, and you make friends with them! Your teams were used and sold by the UNSC same as us, and you posed for their fucking photo ops!" Temple shouts as he takes a few steps towards Tucker.
Both Tucker and Temple stared straight into each others blue and autumn visors.
"But we've already dealt with Project Freelancer! We shut it down! How did you not get the memo?!" Simmons asks with aggravation.
"Ha! No. You're wrong about that. Everyone in this room, well, except the others around you and my friend here." Temple says as he motions his hands towards all the dead freelancers and the unknown armored figure. "Were drafted or volunteered to fight for the UNSC. They sold us to Project Freelancer like cattle, they used us, they destroyed our lives, and they haven't been made to pay for what they've done. Don't you give a shit about that?!"
"Eh." Donut says, if was able to shrug, he would.
"Water under the bridge." Sarge also responds flatly.
"Let them go." Tucker says angrily.
"Not happening." Temple says as he looks over towards the unknown armored figure. "Put the orange one along with the rest of them."
The figure nods as it grabs Grif by his shoulder and forces him up. The figure then drags Grif next to Simmons and Sarge. Grif manages to stand up, only for Temple to reach for a toy remote from Loco and hits the large red button. Grif is immediately frozen in his armor, unable to move.
"What the fuck?" Grif says as he tries to move.
"Ah, the armor lock technology was salvaged from Project Freelancer. Fate is not without Irony." Temple says with a chuckle.
"You won't get away with this." Tucker says with a growl. "Carolina and Wash will find you."
Temple starts to laugh, soon being followed by Surge, then Loco starts to awkwardly laugh, attempting to try and sound evil. Even Caboose attempts to laugh.
"Oh, those two? Don't worry, they'll be joining you all soon. But theirs one more thing I want to address." Temple says as he stares at Caboose. "Your friend here is a special case. Courtesy of that old helmet of his."
"Leave him alone!" Tucker shouts again.
"No." Temple says sharply. "This is a price that you all have to pay."
"Tucker. What about Church? Maybe he's here." Caboose says happily.
Temple starts to laugh hysterically.
"REALLY? You think so?" Temple says smugly as he looks down at Caboose.
"What did you do! Where's Chruch!" Tucker yells again.
Temple stays silent for a couple of seconds.
"Caboose, would you like to hear Church's full message? We got the whole recording right here." Temple says smugly. "He talks about you."
"Really?" Caboose says with some excitement.
"Play it Loco." Temple says as he turns to Loco.
Loco reaches for this armor's gauntlet. He hits a button on it and a beep is heard from a speaker in the room.
"Playing archived message from Blood Gulch Outpost." The voice in the speaker says in a monotone tone.
"Control...Control, do you read? This is Church from Blood Gulch Outpost Alpha. Over. If your getting this, its an emergency! You've GOTTA send a plumber as soon as you get this, please! Tucker and Caboose, they flushed a damn grenade down the shitter and it EXPLODED! And it's EVERYWHERE, Control! It's coming out of the god damn walls, for Pete's sake! SEND. HELP. PLEASE. We need - I need- A plumber. FUCK! And some god damn new recruits too, because i'm about to MURDER these two! Church out!"
Another beep is heard through the speaker.
"End message." The monotone voice in the speaker says.
"It's CRAZY what you can do with editing software these days." Temple says as he shrugs. "What's the matter Tucker? Cat got your tongue? I'm curious, do you all remember that? Granted, it happened a long time ago, in a gulch far, far away. But still, it must've been a memorable episode."
"I- I don't get it, h- he's back in Blood Gulch?" Caboose says with confusion.
"NO. Goddammit. WE. LIED. TO. YOU. He is dead!" Temple says as he voice slightly rises.
There was a brief moment of silence.
"For now." Caboose says quickly.
"NOOO! FOREVER! HOW FUCKING STUPID ARE YOU?!" Temple shouts.
"Lay off!" Grif says with aggression towards Temple.
"What - the - fuck ever, he's an adult, okay? Maybe if you all didn't treat him like some big baby, he would understand something simple as DEATH, as DYING, and being gone FOREVER." Temple says with a stern and harsh voice.
Caboose quietly looks down.
"I'll give him a real world example if you unlock my fucking armor." Tucker snaps.
"Oh - HO - HO, WOAH! Great plan! I'mma hop right on that!" Temple says sarcastically.
"So you changed his message so we could come looking for you?" Caboose asks quietly as he slightly looks up to Temple.
"Bingo. Thank you. I had help, of course. Loco's the one who did the scrambling." Temple says as he motions his hand to Loco.
"Because that's what best friends are for!" Loco says happily.
"This is goodbye. We are leaving. Onward to victory! Adieu. Adieu. Farewell!" Temple says happily.
Temple starts to walk away along with Surge and Loco. But Temple stops and turns back towards the frozen Reds and Blues.
"Ah. I almost forgot. Yupia my dear friend. Will you be so kind to deal with him. We can't lock him up so it's best for you to have your fun since you've been so helpful." Temple says smugly.
"Yupia?" Donut says with confusion. "Is that foreign?"
The unknown armored figure known as Yupia who had a stalker helmet and ranger armor colored with white and pink along with a black visor silently laughs as she walks behind Caboose.
"About time you've made something interesting happen." Yupia says sternly.
Yupia grabs Caboose by the back of his head and lifts up up from the ground.
"LET GO OF HIM!" Tucker yells out.
"You humans are all the same. Worthless." Yupia says with a large smile under her helmet.
"Tucker...i'm scared..." Caboose says with a bit of worry.
Yupia's arm starts to spark white and pink, slowly starting to spread onto Caboose.
"What this fuck are you doing?!" Simmons shouts.
"I order you to let go of the blue! If anyone is going to kill him, its going to be me!" Sarge also yells.
Yupia starts to laugh as her whole body starts to flow with white and pink electricity, slowly starting to engulf Caboose. Caboose starts to yell in pain from all the electricity. The whole room starts to flash in white and pink, even Temple, Surge, and Loco were covering their visors from the bright flashing lights. Eventually the lights stop flashing, everyone opens their eyes or lowers their arm from their visors to see Yupia drop Caboose on to the ground. His body and armor was smoking and he wasn't saying a word.
"CABOOSE?!" Tucker yells in worry. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!"
Yupia looks towards Tucker's voice.
"What do you think? I killed him." Yupia says coldly.
Yupia turns and walks towards the elevator.
"You better hold up to your end of deal Temple." Yupia says coldly.
"And you better get going. You still have two freelancers to grab. ALIVE." Temple says strictly.
"Fine. But what about the boy." Yupia asks.
"Leave him. They don't know a thing. Now get going. If you stay any longer, they'll get suspicious." Temple informs.
"Whatever." Yupia says as she walks into the elevator.
Temple looks back towards the quiet and shocked Reds and Blues and gives them a small wave before following Yupia into the elevator along with Surge and Loco. The door shuts eventually leaving the Reds and Blues as they just looked at the smoking Caboose on the floor through their helmets.
Time: Present
Location: Taiyang's house
Everyone inside of the living room was completely silent. Only Coco and Neo looked straight at Gyro to see her slightly trembling. They couldn't see her face under her helmet, but they knew that seeing her sister put her on the edge.
"Gyro..." Coco says quietly.
Gyro didn't respond. But Velvet could here quiet sniffling coming from her.
"Gyro...what's wrong?..." Velvet asks quietly.
Gyro only places the tablet down on the table next to Lopez and grabs her helmet and slowly pulls it off her head. She then stands up throws her helmet straight towards the wall, causing majority of the room to just flinch or wince from her actions. Gyro quickly falls back down on he couch, covering both her eyes with her hands as everyone could quietly her her sniffle.
"How...Why?...Why would she do that..." Gyro says quietly.
Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck look over to Taiyang for an explanation, but he just mouths that he'll explain it later. They look back to Gyro to notice a small amount of tears drop out of her hand as she stared at the paused screen of her armored sister. Gyro balls her hands in to fists as her hair and eyes flare to crimson.
"That's how they found out about the ship...that's how they ambushed us...and that's how they've avoided us for so long..." Gyro says quietly.
"Gyro, we'll get her...at least we now know who was responsible for their deaths...We know who was the blame for them..." Neo says as she places her hand on Gyro's shoulder.
"But what about Agents Washington and Carolina. We know that Yupia was sent to get them. But that still doesn't add up to why she was helping them." Coco explains.
"Its because of her hatred..." Gyro says wit hostility.
"Hatred for who?" Taiyang asks in worry.
"Humans." Yatsuhashi says. "She said that humans were weak before she killed the one in blue armor. She has to have a sense of anger and hatred towards humanity."
"But that doesn't add up why she would still help the Blues and Reds. They're also humans." Yang says with a hint of confusion and frustration.
"Well we can't find out as of now. Lets just find out to what happened to these other Agents miss Adel mentioned." Port says as he puts his hand to his chin to think.
Gyro huffs in anger and sits back down on the couch, she picks up her tablet and starts sorting through more files. Gyro manages to find a filed titled "To any other survivors.". Gyro taps on the file, bringing it open on the holographic display.
Time: One Year and 8 Months ago
Location: Armada 8, Underwater facility
Thirteen days has passed by the Reds and Blues were locked up. Majority of the heroes has already perished from dehydration and starvation. Agents Washington and Carolina were currently inside the same room, formulating some sort of plan. The only other surviving members left of the Reds and Blues was Tucker and Lopez.
"Tucker, stay with us. You need to stay awake!" The other aqua colored soldier with a recon helmet known as Agent Carolina says with worry.
Tucker only mumbles and groans quietly.
"Tucker, as long as your alive, the sword can't be used by them." The steel grey and yellow armored freelancer known as Agent Washington also worried.
"I'm...too...tired...i'm...i'm just gonna get some shut...eye..." Tucker says weakly with a cough.
"Tucker don't!" Carolina shouts.
Tucker does respond as he gives one more exhale.
"TUCKER?!" Washington shouts. "TUCKER WAKE UP!"
Tucker doesn't reply once so ever.
"Tucker?..." Carolina says quietly.
"Damn it..." Washington says under his breath.
Both Washington and Carolina quickly realize that Tucker was gone. They both quietly share the same silence that fell in the room.
"Solo somos nosotros ahora...(It's just us now...)" Lopez says as he voice stutters from the lack of power.
"We can't just sit here!" Carolina says with anger.
Washington stays quiet for a couple of minutes.
"What can we do? Its just us." Washington says with doubt.
"The reporter said that there were other Freelancers still missing. We have to warn them somehow." Carolina says quickly.
"How? There's no signal down here...And what Freelancers are left? Illinois, Alaska, Maryland, and Arizona are already here and dead. Who is there that is left?" Washington replies.
Carolina thinks for a couple of seconds.
"There's the triplets. Idaho, Ohio, and Iowa. They're still missing." Carolina says with a hint of some realization.
"They also wen't missing years before Freelancer fell. There's no clue or sign that they are alive." Washington says with some hint of sadness. "What about Georgia and Utah?"
"No one knows about Georgia. He was still never found or his body was never recovered. As for Utah, he was killed by equipment malfunction."
"Bubble shield?" Washington asks flatly.
"Bubble shield." Carolina replies flatly.
Washington quietly sighs. The both of them attempt to find any sort of way to escape. Or to think of any way to make contact to any Freelancer or anyone. That's when a memory popped into Carolina's head.
"Wash. Back in Project Freelancer, there was this kid. The Director would have me do training sessions with the kid alone. He kept me from telling anyone." Carolina explains.
"Wait...you too?" Washington asks.
"What?" Carolina replies.
"Grey and purple armor, had some long scarf, and never said a word. The Director also had me do training with him too. He had me teach him to use a rifle." Washington explains.
"He had me do hand to hand combat with him...does that mean..." Carolina says as her voice trails off.
"Been trained by other Freelancers in what they specialize. Probably. What do we know about hum?" Washington asks.
"Nothing. I have nothing." Carolina says with some defeat.
"Not even a name?" Washington asks.
"Not from what I remember. He didn't have the standard state code name from what I remember. It was...fuck what was it..." Carolina says as her voice trails off.
There was some more silence as they both think of the name.
"Forget it. Figuring out a name isn't important. What's important is that we find a way out of here." Carolina says strictly.
"Well if you have an idea, i'm all ears. Because I've got nothing." Washington says with a sigh.
01010101010101010101010101010101010101
File Corrupt
Power at 13%
Shutting down. Saving Power
01010101010101010101010101010101010101
Reactivating.
Recording message.
01010101010101010101010101010101010101
"To any Freelancer out there who finds this message...This is Agent Washington from Project Freelancer...This...This is it for us..." The voice of Washington says weakly.
"We've been locked in our armor for almost two weeks now...and I don't think we'll last much longer..." Carolina says as she coughs.
"Mark Temple. The man who is responsible for the death of our friends. The heroes of our universe. These Blues and Reds. They're responsible for all the deaths of Freelancers along with the attacks on UNSC territory." Washington explains as he also coughs.
"We are leaving this message for anyone. If you manage to find our friend Lopez. Then you've managed to find us." Carolina says weakly.
"Which means we're probably dead. But that means you've received this message. Who ever is hearing this. Please stop them. Find Kimball on Chorus. Report this to the UNSC. Anyone. For the sake of everyone. Please..." Washington says weakly.
"And...if this is someone else...Agent 26...if you are the one who finds this...you might be all that's left...We may not know much of what happened to you...but you might be one of the only Freelancers left...Please stop them...Lopez also keeps mentioning a name over and over again...Yupia...we don't know who this is...but we never got a explanation...Tucker...Tucker died before he could explain..." Carolina says with a hint of sadness. "Our best guess that it was the woman who found and captured us in the first place...but we don't know for sure."
"We only have a few days...hours probably...But all we can say is good luck to who ever finds this message...This is Agent Washington and Carolina...signing off..." Washington says as he gives a large exhale.
01010101010101010101010101010101010101
Message Recorded.
Deactivating.
01010101010101010101010101010101010101
Time: Present
Location: Taiyang's house
Everyone falls silent again from the message as they stare at the small audio wave from Lopez's recording. Gyro sets down the tablet on the table and immediately starts to work on Lopez. She removes the wires that were connect to the tablet.
"I guess we know what happens after that..." Yang says quietly.
"Yeah...The Blues and Reds head to Earth and end up destroying the entire planet in a matter of hours..." Gyro says with some passive aggression.
"Its...its just sad to see what happened to them...they didn't deserve it..." Velvet says with sadness.
"They never did...but its up to us to stop them." Neo says with aggression.
Gyro nods as she finally closes Lopez's chest panel. She then picks up her tablet and hits a few buttons. Everyone could here some mechanical humming grow louder. They could see Lopez's autumn visor flicker on again. He immediately springs up from the table and pats his own chest.
"Welcome back Lopez." Gyro says with a stern tone.
"NUNCA lo estamos haciendo de nuevo. (We are NEVER doing that again.)" Lopez says as he sighs.
"So Gyro...what's next?" Coco asks.
"What's next? I'll tell you what's next. Once I recover. Yang...we're leaving..." Gyro says as she looks towards Yang.
"Me? Why me?" Yang says as she points to herself.
"I know you want to look for Ruby. And I know you want to look for your mom too. Which brings me to something else. Back on the train...I know you saw your mom back in the train...and I know she wasn't alone...Yupia was with her..." Gyro says with some aggression.
"How do you know? I didn't see her." Neo says with some disbelief as he points at Gyro.
"I've been to accustomed to noticing a shimmer with active camouflage. And she was the one who shot the plasma blast at you." Gyro says as she glances towards Neo.
"Right..." Neo says as she rubs her arm.
"So let me get this straight." Taiyang says loudly. "You believe that your crazy sister is with Raven."
"I don't believe it. I know this." Gyro says as she stands up.
Gyro starts to put her tools and the tablet back into the storage crate on her hoverboard.
"And what do you plan to do when you find your sister?" Taiyang asks.
"What do you think?" Gyro asks nonchalantly.
"I don't know. Think maybe? You have that override code of yours." Taiyang says with some hint of annoyance.
"On a drive that I have to be literally in front of her to use. I can't access her interface unless I can get into arms reach Tai. But no. That's not my plan for her." Gyro says as she glares at Taiyang.
"Then what is it then?!" Taiyang almost shouts.
Gyro closes the storage crate and looks at the override data drive in her palm. She then closes her hand and looks straight back at Taiyang.
"I'm going to fucking kill her." Gyro says with aggression.
A/N:
Here we go. Chapter 9 is now complete. And now you all know the true fates of the Reds and Blues. Took a while for me plan this out, especially on how I wanted to have the message of the Reds and Blues death to be portrayed. And I felt making it a small flashback would be a bit more interesting than a everyone watching a video file or audio file instead. Anyways, were almost at the end of this story. About 2 or 3 more chapters left then we move straight into Volume 5's timeline. BUT once this story is complete, i'll be focusing more on shorts instead, considering that it would be easier for me to work while watching Volume 6 when it comes out, planning things ahead. Again, if you want to find the shorts, go check out my Wattpad, it is It-Just-Me-K, they should be there Thank you all for reading this chapter and have a good day, Cheers :D