Chapter 11: True Colors

The battle started off well enough. Carolina fired her rifles, mowing them down like ants in a napalm strike, but every time one group was taken out, another five took their place.

"Watch your left!" Epsilon cried out.

Dropping her rifles, Carolina turned and flipped backwards to avoid a drone's swipe then she drew out her shotgun and took it out. She then leapt right into the middle of the fray, bouncing off Tex helmets like stepping stones then she jumped onto a drone and skidded down across the floor, spinning in circles and firing at any Tex robot that tried to catch her.

"Oh, I think I'm gonna be sick," Epsilon groaned nauseously.

Carolina then jumped off and continued her attack, firing at the robots in front and kicking out at the ones coming from behind. Then one Tex charged forward and knocked the shotgun out of her hands so she went straight into hand-to-hand combat, punching, kicking and flipping over each Tex that attacked. One Tex tried to grab her from behind, but Carolina wriggled out of its grasp, grabbed its wrist then hurled it into a pile of crates, knocking them down.

One crate burst open as it hit the ground, spilling out grenades like dropped marbles. Some of the drones stumbled over them and fell to the floor, but Carolina flipped up a grenade with her foot then kicked it into the face of a drone. She then whipped out her grappling gun, fired its hook into the grenade and began to swing it around like a flail, smashing several drones to the ground. One Tex tried to grab the grenade, but only succeeded in pulling the pin out and Carolina swung it into the ground just before it exploded, blowing up several other grenades and sending many drones flying.

"Watch out!" Epsilon yelled.

Carolina looked round and a Tex drone barged right into her, knocking her to the ground and sending her gun flying.

"Could you be a little more specific?" Carolina growled as she got to her feet.

"Yeah, uh, sorry Carolina," Epsilon stammered, "But, seeing this many ex-girlfriends in one room, kinda has me terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought."

"Well, snap out of it!" Carolina yelled, slapping a button on her thigh, "I need you!"

"Need me for- WHOOOOAAAAA!" Epsilon suddenly gasped as Carolina took off across the room like she was wearing rocket-boots.

"Church!" Carolina yelled.

"Right, right!"

With her new speed, Carolina raced through the robot ranks, bashing through them like a rocket-powered rhino and sending them flying.

"Carolina, I don't think I can do this much longer!" Epsilon cried.

"Just hold on!" she ordered.

"Seriously, you need to slow down!"

"NO! I can do this!"

Carolina then reengaged the robots in lightning-fast hand-to-hand combat, as Epsilon called to her to stop. Then she could hear other voices in her mind, memories of all the times she'd faced up to Tex. 'She really wants to win... She doesn't know how to stop... You're a real hero, Carolina... She's always been like that...'

Then as she approached another line of robots, her speed unit cut out and she stumbled, a fatal error as one Tex delivered a powerful punch and sent her flying back into a crate, crumpling its side and slumping to the ground.

As she sat up, she could hear Tex's last words ringing through her head. 'You can't win, Carolina...'

"Carolina, come on!" Epsilon yelled, "Get up!"

Panting loudly, Carolina raised her head and stared at the approaching Tex doubles.

"She was right," she sobbed, the reality finally hitting her like several tons of bricks, "I can't do this... I can't beat her..."

She bowed her head in defeat, "I could never beat her..."

A Tex drone let out a deep laugh as they drew closer, "B-Better luck next time, C-Carolina."

With a sigh, Carolina closed her eyes and prepared herself for the end...

Then suddenly, three glowing plasma grenades shot out from nowhere and stuck onto three drones' heads. Carolina stared at them for a moment and turned round... to see the Red Team standing next to the teleporter exit.

At the head, Donut stood with his arms folded and a smug grin on his face, "Nine points, ya morons!"

Quickly Carolina dived out of the way just before the grenades went off and she skidded along the ground and landed right at the Reds' feet.

She then looked up and saw the Blue Team standing next to her, Caboose giving a huge smile, Tucker beaming while brushing some black soot off his armor, Washington smirking with determination, and Rhode, grinning the biggest grin she'd ever seen on his face, holding out a hand to her, "Get up."

Baffled, Carolina took his hand and let him pull her to her feet, "What are you doing here?"

Wash just chuckled and Rhode handed her a pistol, "I told you, they're not so bad once you get to know 'em."

Around him, the Reds and Blues grabbed their weapons and stood at the ready.

Epsilon appeared on Carolina's shoulder and turned to the two teams, "So... I thought this wasn't your fight."

"Come on," Sarge cried, "Overwhelming odds with little to no chance of success? How could we resist?"

"You got a problem with that, Church?" Tucker added.

Epsilon just smiled sheepishly, "Guys, I am a jerk. I admit it, and I will gladly accept any and all smart remarks after this is over. But I'd like to point out the fact that we're standing in a room full of crazy Freelancer robots that are ready to completely and utterly kill us."

"So... cheesy forgiveness speech later?" Rhode asked.

"Yeah, that sounds good," Sarge agreed.

Carolina smiled at Rhode, loaded her pistol, then pointed it out, "Lock and load, people!"

Behind her, everybody prepared themselves for the greatest battle of their lives. Sarge cocked his shotgun and raised it up. Simmons hoisted his rocket launcher. Donut gripped his battle rifle with one hand and several grenades in the other. Grif held tightly to his Grif Shot. Wash pointed out his assault rifle. Tucker switched on his energy sword and made whooshing sounds. Rhode raised his sabers and got into fighting position.

"Are those...?" Carolina asked.

"Yep," Rhode answered, "I'll tell you later."

And Caboose... was facing completely the wrong direction.

Epsilon then appeared on the brainless Blue's shoulder, "Caboose, I need you to get a little bit angry, okay buddy?"

"Okay," Caboose murmured nervously, "Yeah, I don't remember how to do that."

"I do," Epsilon then placed a hand on Caboose's helmet and disappeared into his armor.

Caboose flinched as he felt Epsilon enter his mind... then suddenly, to the shock of the Reds, Blues, and Freelancers, he whirled round to glare at the drones with glowing red eyes then he let out a demonic bestial roar and charged straight into the robots, sending several of them flying. Then he raised his assault rifle and started bashing the bots aside.

"My name is Michael J. Caboose!" he bellowed in a deep voice as he continued his deadly assault, "And I..."

He knocked a robot to the ground with the butt of his gun.

"hate..."

He uppercutted one, grabbed it by the legs, swung it around Mario-style, and threw it into a group, knocking them all down.

"TAXES!!!"

"It's 'Texas', you idiot!" Grif called out.

"That too!" Caboose then charged into the fray, firing his assault rifle.

"Come on, everyone!" Wash called out, "Now's our chance!"

"For our ancestors' ancestors," Sarge growled, "ATTACK!!!"

"Let's go!" Rhode yelled with a smirk.

With a series of battle cries, the Reds, the Blues, and Carolina charged towards the drones, and the room once again became a battle zone.

Carolina charged forward and kicked a drone in the head, knocking it back.

Another drone ran towards her, but Tucker ran up to it, "Oh no, you don't! Stab!"

He thrust his sword right into its chest then flung her aside before charging into the others, "Swish! Stab! Lunge!"

Sarge kicked another drone in the head and then fired his shotgun, "Take that! You just got Sarge'd, jerk-pants McCrabby!"

He then charged towards the others, "You're all about to get Sarge'd!"

As Wash punched several drones to the ground, Simmons took a step back and fired a rocket at an advancing group, sending them flying, "Oh yeah, that's right! Suck it, bots!"

Donut held back, firing his battle rifle, but then Sarge called out, "Donut, look out!"

Donut whirled round and saw a drone coming right for him, "Oh no!"

He covered his head with his hands, whimpering pathetically, but then Rhode punched the drone down and stabbed his saber right into its face, "Okay, we're done here."

Nearby, two more drones easily overpowered Grif then they each grabbed a leg and held them open. Three other drones then jumped into the air, intending to pile-drive right into his crotch, but Carolina intercepted them with a flying-kick of her own and knocked them aside. The other bots let go of Grif and charged into her, but then Rhode dived in and cut them down.

With a sigh of relief, Grif staggered back to his feet but then another drone ran up and punched him right in the groin, sending him flying back into another drone that kicked him up in exactly the same spot.

"OOWWWWW!!!" he yelped as he fell through the air, crashing at Tucker's feet, "Not again!"

"Oh come on," Tucker cried, "You had to see that coming!"

But soon, Grif wasn't the only one who was struggling.

Donut flung some grenades at some approaching robots but then another pounced on him from behind, knocking him down.

Other drones had Caboose cornered but he grabbed one fallen bot by the leg and swung it around, sending them scattering. He then charged forward but one drone came from behind and punched him in the back of the head, sending him sprawling to the ground and knocking Epsilon out of his head.

Simmons gasped as three drones tackled into him, knocking his launcher aside and pinning him to the floor, "It's not working! There's too many of them!"

Rhode was now swinging his sabers more desperately than efficiently, "He's right! We won't last much longer!"

Wash glanced around the room until he spotted Epsilon getting to his feet, "Epsilon, do you remember how the Alpha was able to stop the Meta?"

"Yeah," Epsilon replied, "But that was one guy, not a hundred."

"There's only one Tex. And Church..." Wash turned to face the AI unit, "Nobody knows her like you."

Epsilon gasped at those words, "Of course..."

He then turned to face the robots with determined eyes, "Alright, stand back everybody. This is going to get a little... personal."

Epsilons then closed his eyes and focused his energy. Soon, he split himself into hundreds of copies which then charged into each and every one of the Tex drones...

XXX

Tucker braced himself over the unconscious Caboose while the Tex drones drew closer. The Reds were each struggling under a dog pile of robots, and Carolina, Rhode, and Wash stood shoulder to shoulder as the drones drew back their hands to punch them...

Then suddenly the drone next to Wash jerked violently then tilted forward, its functions shutting down.

All around the room, the drones began to malfunction and stumble back then they all slumped to the floor.

Tucker stared in amazement, "What the heck just happened?"

Carolina smiled as she tipped one drone over, "Church just happened."

At that moment, Epsilon appeared before them.

Grif let out a groan as he pushed out of his dog pile, clutching his codpiece, "Uh, you know, you could have done that before I got punched in the nuts by twenty of them at once."

"Yeah, but where's the fun in that?" Tucker giggled as he helped Caboose get to his feet.

"Nice goin' there, Church," Sarge called, "I guess sometimes little fairies really do make wishes come true."

"I could have told you that!" Donut retorted.

Simmons scrambled out of his pile and glanced over the battlefield, "So... I guess our work here is done?"

"There's still the Director," Rhode replied.

He made to step forward but Epsilon held out a hand, "No. What comes next..."

He turned to Carolina and nodded briskly, "Carolina and I need to do alone."

Carolina nodded apologetically to Rhode, and set off down the room.

XXX

And next up is the finale! This book is a lot shorter than I meant it to be, but oh well. Till next time guys!