Okay! We've got it! Four chapters to go and it can only look up from here, right? I'm sure all of you fully expect me to not pull anything in the final chapters. I'm sure you all trust me fully and completely : ) ) )

Special thanks to analiarvb, secretlystephaniebrown, theshadowlord, MKDemigodZ-Warrior, JP, DisneyFreak-Lover, and Yin for the comments and feedback!

Red vs Blue and related properties © Rooster Teeth
story © RenaRoo

The Search
Chapter Twelve: The Great Destroyer

For all the hours they had spent bouncing from planet to planet, and for as much as she had prepared herself for seeing that specific shade of gray armor again. For as much as Kaikaina had thought about seeing her brother alive and well, she lacked the graceful words to really explain her feelings adequately. As was so often the case when someone finally achieved something they had wanted.

Still, Kai tried with the best she could come up with.

"Bro! What the fuck!? You're pointing a gun at me?" Kai demanded, attempting to step forward toward Dexter Grif only to be stopped by Agent Washington's arm as he flung it out to hit her right at chest level. "Dude!"

"Stay back, Kaikaina. We don't know what's going on right now. It's not safe," he said, not taking his eyes off of the egghead who had talked way too much and way too boringly for Kaikaina to consider anything he said worthwhile. "Everyone, just stay behind me."

"Dude, fuck off, I'm not yours for the hour, that costs you at least twenty bucks," Kai snapped back. "And even if you gave me a twenty, I'd totally tease and run because you're the absolute worst undercover cop ever. And everyone knows it!"

"Kaikaina!" Wash snapped in return.

The moment Wash had lost his cool and yelled, Kaikaina's head jerked toward her brother's position. She stared at him intently, looking for a response — any kind of response at all — from his overprotective Bro-y instincts. The kind of thing where he'd threaten someone and tell them to shut up for telling Kai to shut up. Because that was the most basic, most fundamental Grif thing he did.

But the more she looked for it to happen, the more it was clear that Dexter's response was… nothing. He didn't react. He didn't flinch.

It was like staring into the face of a completely hollow suit of armor. With a gun trained on all of them.

"I don't get it," Kai uttered, more in shock than anything else. "He's not… This isn't how Grif acts at all. Double-you tee eff." Her gaze, and her subsequent rage then turned entirely on the egghead. "What the fuck did you do to my brother, you pickle nosed freak!?"

Washington let out a long, incomprehensible mutter under his breath as he shook his head at her. The only words that were really distinguishable were negotiation and goddammit, so Kai came to assume he was displeased with something or someone. Which only further proved her theory that he was a total drama hoarder and wasn't appreciating Kai taking charge.

Because that made the most sense, of course.

"Pickle nosed…" the egghead sputtered, seemingly actually surprised by the insult.

"Private Grif," Andrews spoke up, switching Kai's attention to her on the other side of Wash. "It isn't just about your brother. None of the Reds and Blues are acting normal."

Kai scoffed. "How can you tell? You've never met them!"

"I haven't, but I've been with all of you for most of the search now, and… well, I know enough to think it's not normal for them to be pointing guns at us, their aspiring saviors."

That got a huge eye roll from Kaikaina and she crossed her arms over her chest. "If you think it's abnormal for us to point guns at each other, you really don't know your shit about the Reds and Blues, lady!"

Looking particularly annoyed, Washington turned just enough to glare Kaikaina's way. "This isn't the time to be getting into this."

"The hell it isn't!" Kai shouted. "We found my family and they're acting like zombies! It's a fucking great time to figure out what the Jeff's going on!"

"It's the implants," Doctor Grey announced.

Confused, Kai looked at the doctor. "Wha'chu talkin' 'bout, Doc?" she demanded.

"The surgery room we found in the prison, they were all being experimented on with Freelancer-grade implant devices. And seemingly none — at least none of the ones we saw during our extensive searching of the area — seemed to have properly functioned the way that Project Freelancer's has in the past," Grey explained before turning to look suspiciously turned her attention then back to Hargrove. "You've somehow managed to engineer the neural implants not only to work for your demented scheme here. Whatever it is. You're somehow controlling our friends and making them do your bidding, including spreading falsehoods to damage the reputation of all of Chorus!"

Squinting Kai shook her fist Doctor Grey's way. "Does this look like the time to drop some stupid exposition no one cares about!?" Kakaina demanded.

"I care to see the puzzles brought together," Andrews spoke up.

"Pfft," Kai rolled her eyes. "Reporters aren't people, now you're just reaching."

"You are correct, Doctor Emily Grey of Chorus," Hargrove announced. "But as for what my motives are, they're as simple as what I told you before. I want the alien child. I plan to make great use of his birthright. Use that will someday be upheld by all the galaxy s the markings of a new era. An era where humanity does not sit back on the forefronts of of technological and military should the Covenant ever be tempted to start yet another war with our kind."

"And that war would happen to be a natural escalation of tensions and not at all anything involving your doing or your kidnapping of child the largest human ally in the Covenant right now," Washington sneered.

"If you believe that I am only here to issue some distance for what's bound to be the next part of my plan, you've truly taken me for a fool," Hargrove said sharply. "Something I don't appreciate in the very least."

"I don't give a shit what you appreciate or don't, asshole! I just care about how bad your ass kicking is going to be once Carolina comes in here and rips off wherever your hair is growing instead of your head and beats you to death with it!" Kai snapped viciously.

"Kai, stop escalating the situation!" Wash ordered.

"You're not my parole officer, Washington!" Kai screeched in return.

"Excuse me. Sorry to interrupt," an unfamiliar voice called, drawing the entire room's attention toward the newly entered foe. Except Kai recognized him not as new, but as the black and purple guy from outside the temple. He was dragging Carolina behind him by her arm and then made a point of tossing her limp body toward the rest of the search team. "But I have some bad news for your plan b here."

An audible gasp crossed their search party, and Washington actually side stepped his own own commands by moving toward the unfamiliar foe. "Carolina!"

"Don't concern yourself too much," the mystery man said, tossing her toward them. "She's alive."

"She fucking better be, you fucking asshole!" Kai screeched.

Before any of them could act, though, there was a resounding sound of guns clicking all around them. The Reds and Blues had their sights trained on their own rescue team.

"This fucking sucks!" Kai cried out in frustration.

"Now, since it's abundantly clear that we won't be dealing with things impolitely, I would urge you to consider a trade of our assets," Hargrove continued, a cocky smile firm on his face even as they all glared daggers at him.

"What assets?" Washington demanded.

"The majority of your friends in exchange for the alien child," Hargrove explained.

"Ew gross, creepy peso old man!" Kai snapped.

"That's not happening," Washington said firmly. "No trade. We're taking all of them. And. We're kicking your ass."

"That plan is way better," Kaikaina nearly cheered. "But watch out, Wash, he might be into that kind of stuff—"

"You're not really in positions to negotiate on those terms, don't you think?" the mercenary joked.

Together, Kaikaina, Washington, Doctor Grey, and Dylan Andrews stood in uncomfortable silence. There was no good option, there was no good position. As an expert in the field, Kaikaina could see very, very clearly that they were completely and utterly fucked.

Which did not make it any less surprising when an agonized cooing noise came from between them and, without warning, Junior burst out from the center of their tightly formed circle through Wash and Kai's legs, and leaped over to where his father stood by Hargrove. The child hesitated, letting out dinosaur-like noises of sadness toward Tucker before looking to Hargrove staunchly.

"No! Junior!" Wash yelled, only barely being held back by Kai and Andrews' quick reactions to grab his arms and not get himself shot for once.

"Smart child," Hargrove announced. "Selfless as well. Maybe worthy of that unearned position as some Messiah, after all." He exchanged a look over Junior's head toward the black and purple mercenary, then turned to walk back down the hall he and Tucker had stepped out of. "Follow Siris' command, my Blues and Reds. The Tucker Family and I need to be elsewhere for a family reunion of sorts."

Just before they disappeared into the darkness of the alien temple, Kai cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled after Hargrove. "Fuck you, dude! It's Reds and Blues! Motherfucker!"

Feeling satisfied with her yell, she then looked to her fellow searchers. She found mirrored looks of confusion, apprehension, and concern. All of which were understandable, but none of which were anywhere close to what Kai wanted to feel at the moment. Which was pretty damn pissed.

"C'mon, guys, this is way better than any of thought it was gonna be right about when we realized that everyone was surrounding us with guns and were being mind controlled by a dude who totally looked like a bad floppy dildo," she tried to cheer them all up. Then, out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed that the so-called 'Siris' was heading toward the hallway that Hargrove had gone down. "What the hell."

"Where are you going?" the reporter in Andrews apparently couldn't resist asking.

"To do my job," Siris announced before stopping and turning. "Ah. Right. Commanding your friends." He paused for a moment, then looked toward Dexter. "Kill them."

With that, he started walking down the hallway while Kai's brother stepped out to face them all, gun up and ready.

Kai's eyes widened, she could feel the stinging of tears. "Dex?"


Perhaps it was an inherited trait, but Lavernius Tucker Junior would usually make a choice and immediately thinking about whether or not it was the right thing to do, the right call to make, what he could have done to make it better. But, walking down the halls of his supposed ancestors, behind a monster by another name, and in front of the father he loved more than anyone else in the universe but could not even get a reaction from, there was not one doubt in Junior's head.

It was the right choice. And everything was still wrong. Which was also itself probably an inherited trait more than questioning his choices.

Unable to help himself, Junior looked back at his father yet again, mandibles quivering slightly. "Blargh," he tried again desperately.

Tucker never lowered his head to so much as look down Junior's way, just holding his battle rifle across his body as he walked. The hilt of the sword at his hip.

Slowly, Junior narrowed his eyes on the one detail, curious about — if everyone had been right and Hargrove intended to turn on alien artifacts through his father — why his father wasn't using his sword.

"Bow chicka honk honk," Junior couldn't help himself after the thought.

"Heh."

Eyes widened, Junior stopped and turned around to face his father, only to see him unreactive and continuing to march forward. Almost mindlessly. But at the same time Junior was so certain that he had heard something. Something that wasn't the thoughtless machine Hargrove made Junior's dad and the rest of the Reds and Blues sound like under his control.

Open his mouth again, Junior was ready to try to get his father's attention with another joke only to be completely taken by surprise when his father shoved him forward using his gun. Then pushed him again, as if refuting the very idea that Junior could reach out to him.

By the time Junior obeyed and started walking again, they were in yet another chamber — one that seemed more technological and more mysterious than even in the inner sanctum with its ancient alien writings and tomes. And Hargrove was standing in the middle waiting on them.

His heart beat impressively fast in his chest as Junior stopped short of the bald old man.

"You must be brave to have taken a risk like this. Not many adults would have done the same for friends," Hargrove acknowledged. "Of course, your kind has thick honor codes like the samurai, do they not? Preposterous stuff. You probably would find death at my hand to be the height of your own fable. I won't give you such platitudes, so don't concern yourself with them."

Confused, Junior tilted his head. "Honk?"

The only honor he could think of was the kind that if he didn't follow got him fouled out of basketball games he would play for his UNSC boarding school. Which meant that his current captor didn't read up on Junior's history and was racist either way Junior looked at it.

Which, with that face, wasn't really all that surprising.

"Now, in order to get your father under… our influence," the man began with what was, no doubt, about to be an exceedingly boring speech Junior didn't want to hear exactly, "I have missed out on some very important opportunities when it comes to utilizing his potential, I'm afraid. His unique, and quite possibly very much unearned position as a diplomat between our species made him a cornerstone to solidifying Sangheilli trust in the UNSC's narrative. And you. Well, if I had been able to get a hold of you between the broadcast your father's friends rudely sent out across the known galaxies and you making a run of it to join up with your useless band of insurgents, we could have truly improved our bargaining position. But we are now where we are."

Junior was looking around the room, trying to think of anything that was familiar about it from what little he knew about his own ancestors and supposed culture. The longer he went without getting bored but also without finding anything useful, the more his panicked heart picked up its pace.

The reporter had been right. He should have known more about his unknown father's people. He should have learned more while he and his father worked with the peace corps. But because he didn't, because of his lack of interest, he was going to end up as an eleven year old splat on the floor of an alien messiah and everyone else — his father, his friends, his family — they were going to die or be slaves of their own minds forever.

"According to my research team with Charon Industries, these unused temples in our unceded territories require some mythical key for their activation," Hargrove explained.

Surprised, Junior looked at the old man, wondering how he had learned about it—

"But when questioning your father using… intensive interrogation tactics, he was very firm on the notion that he didn't have a key that activated towers. He had a sword."

Junior blinked.

No…effing…way…

"And according to another of the simulation troopers, memory was the key," Hargrove continued. "Which led me to connect the dots."

He couldn't believe it. Junior could not believe this thing was actually happening.

"You were with your father on the peace corps journey. You would know how to activate your father's key," Hargrove determined.

"Blargh!" Junior gagged, sticking his tongue out to keep from throwing up at the notion.

As he jerked away, Junior finally noticed what he had been frantically looking for. His eyes widened as he saw the same cryptic designs and formation of an ancient alien lock in the room's wall. The kind his dad would stick the sword through to unlock.

Before Junior could do anything with the information, there was the sound of someone coming up from the hallway. It was the mercenary from earlier. The one that Hargrove had put in charge of the Reds and Blues. Junior's eyes widened as he realized what that must have meant.

Without further hesitation, Junior lunged forward at his father, knocking him over at the knees in a perfect tackle, then grabbed the hilt of the sword from his father's hip. Junior began to run for the exit, but the mercenary was there and quickly kicked him back to the floor, sending him rolling.

"I knew there was never any point reasoning with your species," Hargrove sneared. He then looked Tucker's way as the aqua colored marine was getting to his feet. "Kill it."

Junior looked at his father with surprise as the man he loved more than any other stood and aimed his wasn't right — it wasn't how saving his father was supposed to go.