Author's Note: The final showdown in this chapter, as I said before, is going to be drastically different than the one in the show, a lot smaller, and hopefully, a lot more personal for Lockett. The fight was heavily inspired by the Hannibal: Season 3 finale. Sorry if it took a while, I was unsure of how to do this, also, school.
EDIT: Sorry for those who are worried, don't worry, I do have a sequal planned. I just personally wanted to end the story on a high note should I change my mind, since people do that. I also have to work on the prequel at some point. If you are interested, there are two other stories I am working on. One is the RWBY story, the other is...well, mabye it's not for you, I don't know. Lokett's story isn't over, but I do have other stories I need to work on. Check my profile for more information on my other projects, warning, experiences may vary.
Disclaimer: I don't own Red vs Blue.
Your Hand In Mine
Wash immediately felt a sense of vertigo as he regained consciousness.
"Rowe he's waking up," a voice calls out.
"Here move, let me see," he is then greeted by the medic, Rowe, he would never forget their names, even if he'd like to. "Wash can you hear me?" she asks.
"W-who?" Wash groans.
He was lost right now and it hurt to try and remember.
"Wash," Rowe tries again, "If you can hear me, nod your head."
Wash nods.
"You have a lot to answer for," he heard another voice growl. Lockett?
"Jonathan," she sternly objected, "Not now. He's got a concussion and that's the least of his issues right now."
Lockett wisely backed off.
"Okay repeat after me," she instructs Wash, "No ifs, ands, or buts."
"No if, ands, or buts," he replies groggily. Rowe looks back to Lockett, "Alright, cognitive function is still intact. We gotta get him out of here, after he is stabilized, then you can interrogate him, but right now let me do my job."
It was there the past events of the last hour: the fighter with Texas, her subsequent capture, followed by the Meta's immediate betrayal.
"Wait," Wash responds drawing the attention of the two. He points off to somewhere and says "The capture unit."
Lockett looks over and sees the beaten up capture unit lying in the snow. Lockett looks over to Sarge, snaps his fingers and points at the module.
"Simmons!" he barks, "Secure that!"
"Yes sergeant!"
"C-careful!" Wash grunts, "It's been through a lot."
Simmons titles his head as he is puzzled by the unit.
"Simmons, what's the holdup?" asks Sarge.
"Sarge it's full," he replies.
"Full?" asks Tucker.
"Yeah it's been used," Simmons replies confused.
"But Church is right here," Caboose laughs.
Tucker points to Church and Meia next to him while Doc is treating them.
"N-not Epsilon," Wash grunts.
Lockett and Sarge share a gaze as they both come to the same conclusion.
"Let Carrie have a look later, just get it out of here Simmons," he replies.
"Hey Sarge," Grif shouts, "We also found the Meta's knifle thing."
"Take it too." he replies.
Grif hauls it up and holsters it to his back.
"Alright we need to move him," Lockett tells Rowe.
She nods and the two reach around Wash's arms and hoists him up. Wash manages to start limping using Rowe for support.
"Tucker any sign of the Meta?" Lockett ask.
"No, why does it matter, the asshole probably got squashed when we landed the dropship on in," Tucker laughs.
"Good riddance I'll sigh," Grif grumbles.
Lockett growls "Do any of you see a body?"
They all shake their heads.
"Then that means he's not officially dead!" Lockett states, "And that means we need to go now! Grif how's our escape plan look?"
At that moment the pelican slides down into the ocean.
Grif looks at it, then back to Lockett and sarcastically replies "You tell me."
"Damn it," Lockett curses.
"In the base," Wash wheezes. Lockett looks over to him, "There should be a radio in the base."
"Sarge!"
"You heard him, let's go!" he barks.
"Wait, Lockett grab the pack," said Rowe while looking back.
"Keep going," he instructs as he dashed back for Rowe's kit since it would be hard to treat Wash's wounds without her supplies.
He then notices something peculiar on the snow near where the capture unit was found. He noticed a slight disturbance on the surface, his eyes widen as he realizes what might be under the freshly layered snow. He slowly takes a step back as his hand reaches for his smg.
Rowe takes a moment to glance back and noticed Lockett staying at the ground in front of by.
"Lockett!" Rowe shouts.
He snaps his head back and silently motions for her to shut up. It was that moment when the snow before him erupts with enough force to make him stumble backwards. From the cloud rises the Meta who lunges at Lockett. On instinct, he takes a step back while drawing his smg. The Meta batts the gun arm away and slams his fist into the side of Lockett's head sending him to the ground. By some stroke of luck, Lockett had managed to not lose consciousness. With his ears ringing, Lockett barely has time to look up as his manages to register the Meta flicking the safety off of a magnum. He manages to stare up into the barrel as the Meta cocks his head, he seemed to remember Lockett.
Suddenly, a bullet slams into his shoulder throwing him off balance while another lances through his forearm making the magnum harmlessly go off somewhere off to the side. The Meta growls angrily as he had just been denied his kill. Sarge, who was watching the others escape notices the gunfire and takes off into a full sprint without another thought.
At the worst moment possible, Rowe's magnum jams and she struggles to clear it. He looks over and sees Rowe in her distracted state. In what could have only been two seconds, to Rowe, it looked as if it was dragged on for hours and she watched the Meta raise his magnum to her and fire. She saw the barrel flash three times before she is slammed from the side knocking her to the ground. She looks up in shock and sees Wash lying over her with two bullet holes in his chest. She suddenly remembers the third flash and begins to wonder. She feels something warm and wet tickle down her belly and she looks down to find her question answered. In her stomach sat the third round.
Start Track: "Love Crime"- Siouxsie Sioux & Brian Reitzell
She looks back to Locket and watches as he jumps onto the Meta and manages to wrestle the gun away before being grappled and then punched in the face stunning him. The Meta pulls out a knife and drives it into Lockett's gut, he lets out a pained cry as he reflexively reaches for the knife wound. Lockett's agonizing scream grows higher as the Meta drives he knife upward, rips it out, and then hurls him off to the side in one fell-swoop. From then on, all Rowe could see was red.
For the Meta, he was enraged. For the second time his plans had come to a screeching halt and this painfully ordinary soldier was one of the masterminds behind this. For sure, he was going to savor this moment. He lets out a sadistic chuckle as he watches the soldier attempt to crawl away. He pulls back hard on Lockett's collar and then drives the knife into his left shoulder, he pulls it out and prepares for the final blow. It never reaches as the Meta finds himself aggressively pulled back. He lets out another chuckle as he simply stands up, turns, and throws the body off of him like a sack of potatoes. He smiles as the person is revealed to be the female medic. The Meta looks back to Lockett and notices how intently he was watching the medic as he struggled to get back up.
'So that's who she is,' he thought.
He then walks towards the medic with as she slowly stands herself back up. With a vice like grip, lifts Rowe up by the neck with one hand and starts strangling her. Sarge by this point had caught up to the group and was well aware of his chances. Shooting him from afar was out of the question since he didn't have a clear shot without hitting Rowe, this left one last option. Just as Rowe was about to lose consciousness, Sarge slams into the Meta at full force drives a giant Bowie knife into his back making him drop a gasping Rowe. The Meta turns and drops Sarge with a simple right hook and turns and kicks Rowe in the face. He stares triumphantly over the two but fails to notice Lockett running up to him with his machete at full draw. The Meta notices just in time to turn his chest making the blade slice into his arm rather than his back, he kicks Lockett in the chest knocking him down as well. He turns back to Rowe who pulls out her tomahawk and slices the Meta in the left shin forcing him to stumble to which Sarge takes the opening to get up and stab him in the left calf. The Meta lets out a pained roar as he kneels down on said leg only for it to grow louder as Lockett proceeds to slice into his right knee causing him to fall down on both.
The three back off momentarily to regain their footing as the Meta gets up as he glances between them, blood now pooling from his cut up legs. They all share a glance before Lockett rushes forward. The Meta bats him away and Rowe mounts the Meta again holding her tomahawk to his neck while he struggles against her. As the pair struggle, Sarge bursts forth and stabs him in the gut, he lets out a war cry as he forces the knife across the belly gutting him. Meta, in one grave moment, reflexively loosens his hold on Rowe's hand allowing her to forcely pull the handle across his neck slicing open the Meta's throat with bladed side. The two climb off as the Meta falls to his knees, blood pooling from the open cuts, head raised as if to let out on final scream, but all anyone could hear was him choking as he struggled to breathe. All he could do is watch as Lockett stands up, raises his machete up and brings it down ending it with a clean slice and a sickening crunch.
It was over, that was it. The Meta, Agent Maine….was dead, they had finally done it. All Lockett could do was smile as he started feeling dizzy. He let out a triumphant laugh which is quickly replaced with a painful gasp. He felt an overwhelming sense of agony as he fell to the floor. Rowe and Sarge rush to his side screaming out his name. Lockett's ears were ringing and his head felt loudly as he slowly lost consciousness. He manages to pull Rows into one final whisper before his vision blurs and he succumbs to the darkness. Though he was dying, Lockett couldn't help but feel that he was at peace. It was okay.
End Track:
Author's Note:
Dear My Beloved Readers,
This was my first story on this website. I remember, I started in my junior year of highschool, three years later and here I am. I enjoyed writing this piece, I have no idea I would stay as long as I did, yet here we are. It's been a long three years, people have left, others have grown older. Thank you for all those who have been with me from the beginning till now, through all my trials and tribulations, and all my mistakes. Thank you for putting up with my clunky writing from the benign as I slowly figured myself out. It has been a pleasure writing and I am happy it has come to an end. All stories must have an ending and mine is no exception, it has been a wild ride, but now I must move on, will there be other's, maybe, but for now, I think I am happy with what I have put down. I think it's not time for me to move on to other projects and I hope you'll ride along with me.
Love,
SilverExcel115
Two Hours Later….
Jenkins let out a bored sigh as he looked over the corpse before him. He literally had to do this four months ago in an almost mirror image of the situation. It was nothing his division of CIS was unfamiliar with.
"SPC Jenkins!" a voice called out from behind him.
"Sir!" he greets. "1st Sergeant."
The pair made their way over to the body.
"What have you got?"
"Yeah he's dead sir," replies Jenkins.
The captain lets out a sigh, "Damn shame, alright, go ahead and pack it up."
"Yes sir."
Jenkins motions for a pair of soldiers who bring over a body bag. As the captain and 1st Sergeant walk away, they pass by the SSG Parker who was currently questioning the surviving group of soldiers.
"And where the hell did the Pelican in the water come from?" Parker asks in disbelief.
"Hmm... I don't know," shrugged Tucker, "I guess the Meta must have hijacked it, and crashed it here. That makes sense, right?"
"Man, the Chairman is going to be pissed," Parker groaned as he took down their testimonies, "The budget only allows for one crashed Pelican permission!" He then close the datapad and says "All right, well I guess you guys check out. You can head back to your training bases now."
"We just call them bases," Sarge corrects.
"Hmph. I bet," Parker mutters in a smug tone.
"Hey! We solved your problem. Not bad for "Trainees,"" Grif snaps .
Parker nods in acknowledgment and replies "I gotta hand it to you. Killing one of these agents would be tough. But three? And this guy…" Parker looks at Wash's armor, "The Chairman will not be happy he's dead. I think he wanted to debrief him personally. Oh well," he shrugs.
"Yeah," Tucker smiles.
"Yeah, that's too bad," Caboose signs disappointingly.
"Well, be sure to let him know we're sorry," Wash replies in a smug grin.
Parker shrugs as he unslings his rifle, "Whatever. You're free to go. If we need you, we know where to find you." He then walks away.
"Why are you guys helping me?" Wash asks, confused at how the people he was trying to kill are still friendly to him.
"You helped us, Wash. It only makes sense," Caboose chirps while talking off.
"Yeah, plus we needed to even the teams. And I couldn't put up with Caboose constantly asking "Can we keep him? Can we keep him?!"" Tucker adds.
"Tucker!" Rowe scolds while playfully slapping his shoulder.
"What?" he laughs.
"So I guess you're going home now?" Carrie sadly asks Meia.
"Perhaps child," she replies, "I shall see to my superiors about staying with your clan for a little while longer."
"I hope so," Carrie murmurs hopefully.
Wash watches as the mixed match group walked off.
He lowers his head and quietly says to himself, "For whatever it's worth... Thanks."
The red team watched intently as the Blue Team walked off.
"Well, it looks like Blue Team has some fresh blood, Sarge," Grif jokes.
"They don't look tough to me," Simmons shrugs and walks off for the pelican. "We did take down the Meta."
"That's rich coming from you Simmon's" Grif taunts. "Sarge, Lockett, Wash, and Rowe did all the work."
Play Track: "Your Hand in Mine"-Explosions in the Sky
"Shut Up," he growls. He turns back to Sarge and asks, "Hey Sarge, you coming?"
"I'll be over there," Sarg replies, "You boys head on over, I need to check on something."
"Come one," Grif pulls Simmons, "That means we get first pick for the best seats."
Sarge makes his way for the medical tent and approaches the medic outside.
He looks up from his datapad and asks "Can I help you?"
"Just wondering how my fellow soldiers are doing."
The medic nods, "They're going to be fine. The LT took quite a hit with that stab wound, but we managed to stabilize it. We're right now waiting for a MEDEVAC to get them out of here."
"Can I see them?" he asks.
"Go ahead," the medic replies and moves to the side letting Sarge into the tent.
Sarge walks in and sees Lockett laying in a medical trolley, his chest was bare and bandaged up, and Rowe had laid her head down on his lap with Lockett stroking her hair.
"You two look comfortable," Sarge muses.
"It's not so bad," Lockett chuckles. "Can't beat the company."
"How you two feeling?" he asks.
"It hurts Sarge," Rowe grunts, "And the painkillers are making us loopy."
"War is hell," he smiles. "Aren't you worried about fraternization."
"You won't tell will you?" Lockett raises and eyebrow.
"Tell what?" Sarge asks back and then walks out.
"Thanks!" he calls after him and Sarge waves back.
He lowers his head back to the pillow and closes his eyes.
"You worry me sometimes, Lockett," Rowe whispers.
"I'm sorry," he replies.
She adjusts her placement on his lap.
"I'm glad you finally found use for the tomahawk."
"Oh I did, didn't I?" she smiles.
"Not quite so useless now is it?" he jokes.
"I'm warming up to it," she smiles.
"Jacklyn?" he asks.
She turns to face him, "Yes?"
"You met me at quite the turning point in my life, and I understand that this has been a long time coming," he replies. "I'm sorry I took so long."
"Better late than never," she replies honestly, "Besides, I think you turned out alright. The question is though," she moves her head up and gazes at his eyes. "Now that we have all this extra time to make up for," she subtly moves a little closer. "What do we do now?"
He lowers his head and meets her gaze.
"We'll figure something out," he whispers back, "We got time."
End Track:
Author's Note: The trick ending was my friend, Vendicor's idea, this is the actual end to the story, besides the epilogue of course. I'll leave it after this, it's only Church's voice over, it's the same thing save for a couple of tweaks, read it if you'd like. I wanted to end it right here in case I decided that I was done. It's been a real pleasure to have been you guys, thank you for a great three years.
Epilogue
"Hey Chief," a tech calls out, "What do you want me to do with this thing? I can't get anything out of it, it's dead as a doornail."
The Chief warrant Officer took a good long look at the capture unit and shrugs.
"I don't care," he shrugs, "Toss it in evidence. It's all a bunch of junk now, anyway."
AN: "Voiceover"
"I'd like to say that I found her right away, that I just walked into the Epsilon Unit, and there she was, waiting for me. As you can probably guess, it didn't happen that way, but, I know she's in here somewhere, and I'll find her. We always seem to find each other, for better or for worse. I don't know why the Director did what he did. I don't know if he was trying to revive a memory from his past, or if he was just trying to get it out of his head. But I figured out something that the Director didn't. It took Alpha, Delta, and the rest to help piece it together for me, but what I've learned is that... a great love is a lot like a good memory. When it's there, and you know it's there, but it's just out of your reach, it can be all that you think about. You can focus on it, and try to force it, but the more you do, the more you seem to push it away. But if you're patient, and you hold still, then maybe... Just maybe... It will come to you. I just need to make sure I'm somewhere she can find me."
The world fades to white and Church finds himself in a much more greener Blood Gulch.
"I think this place is a little different than it was before. See, out there, everything is based on the Alpha, but in here, I guess I'm the Alpha. And maybe this time through, things will be a little different for me as well. I guess I'll find out."
"Hey Church, come on! I think the Reds just got a new vehicle! Lockett wants us to go check it out! Come on!" Tucker shouts as he runs for the cliff.
"They only got a jeep! We got a tank! That's way better!" Caboose cries as he ran after him.
"Make sure you two be careful!" Fergo shouts after them.
"We will!" they shout back.
"If you're going you better leave now," Lockott warns.
Church nods, "Okay, I'll be right there!"
Church then follows him to the cliff.
"And I mean, hell, if you have to live the rest of your life in a memory... you might as well make it a good one."
