Chapter 17: Upon Further Review
Outpost 17-B "Valhalla", 2554
POV: Sarge and Yang
Premise: Red Team returns to Valhalla to rescue their friends. Church has a moment with the Meta.
"Maroon One! Maroon One! Do you read me!?" Sarge shouted, asking for Simmons
"Yo! Weiss! Where'd ya go!?" Yang added, but Weiss didn't answer
Unknown to them at the time, Wash was sneaking up on them, battle rifle in hand.
"Freeze!" he barked at them, "Stay where you are!"
Sarge turned around an noticed Wash, "Good." he said to himself, "All according to the plan."
"Well." Sarge chuckled, "If it isn't our gool old friend Agent Washigton. And just what do you think your doing here."
But Wash wasn't playing dumb, "Don't play dumb with me Sarge." he said to him, "I think I know why I'm here. Where's the rest of your friends, and the huntsmen? Where's Epsilon?"
"Someplace safe." Sarge replied, rather tense
"What do you want with me and my friends you freak." Yang spoke up, Ember Celica now fully deployed around her arms.
"Ah, so you must be one of them." Wash asked her, faking amusement, "Yang? Is it?"
"How do you know that? Yang asked him
"From your friends scrolls. I had the Meta search them." he replied
"The Meta is here?" Sarge questioned, despite already knowing that he was in Valhalla.
"Yes." Wash answered coldy, "And he really wants a chance to repay you guys for all the trouble you've caused him."
"I seemed to recall that you also caused him some trouble." Sarge shot back, causing Yang to snicker
"Situations changed." Wash explained, "Now, drop your weapons."
"Ha! Like I'm gonna do that!" Yang scoffed at him
"Alright." Sarge grunts, as he drops his weapon on the ground.
"What?" Yang looks puzzled at the red soldier, but catches on since Sarge was the one who came up with the plan. She to drops Ember Celica on the ground as well. Was then picked up the weapons.
"Just so ya know." Sarge spoke up, "We're gonna want those back."
"I said all your weapons." Wash barked at him, noticing that Sarge still had his sidearm.
"All my weapons?" Sarge asked
"Yes!" Wash answered, now getting annoyed at him
"You sure, maybe I can keep the pistol. You know these aren't affective as they used to be." Sarge countered
"Drop it! Now!"
Sarge then dropped it, and Wash took it, "Everybody says that." Sarge grumbled, still talking about how ineffective the new M6 was.
"Good. Now both of you, march." Wash ordered them
"Son, you can insult us, or ambush us." Sarge said to him, "You can even take away our weapons. But if you think that we're gonna step a few feet inside of Blue Base without our shotguns, you must not know who your dealing with."
"Yeah! Eat that Wash!" Yang added
"I said move" Wash barked again, his weapon trained on both of them.
"And I said shotgun." Sarge said again
"Yes...I have your shotgun." Wash repeated
"No, he means shotgun!" Yang yelled, facing the wall of the canyon.
"What is this?" Wash asked them, "You think I'm gonna give you guys your weapons back?"
"I said SHOTGUN!" Sarge yelled at the wall, "SHOTGUN DAMMIT!"
Just then, a voice was heard on the other side of the wall, "Oh, yeah, shogun. That's are cue!"
Wash was confused, "What? Wait, what are you doing?"
He started to hear a noise, "What is that noise? Do I hear a-"
Suddenly, some object came bursting through the wall. That object turned out to be a jeep driven by Grif, and Jaune was on the turret. He definintly wasn't happy to see Wash.
"-Car!?" was what Wash could only say when he was rammed by the vehicle. Sarge and Yang jumped out of the way just in time before they could be hit by it as well.
"How's my bumper taste asshole?!" Grif quipped at the ex-Freelancer, assuming that he got run over. Unfortunatly, Wash didn't and he climbed onto the front of the jeep, and started to fire rounds at the orange soldier. The latter of which then started dodge the shots, all while driving the car.
"Uh oh!" Grif shouted, as Wash shot at him. Grif tried to dodge each shot, which he does. But the car started to swerve violently. Wash then noticed something in the back of the jeep: A boy in white knight armor, with bues eyes and blonde hair. He was currently manning the turret.
"Hey Wash!" he said, "Knock Knock!"
Jaune started firing at Wash, he missed every shot, which was his idea, since he didn't want to kill Wash, he just wanted to get back at him. The latter paniced upon being shot at, which gives Grif enough time to step on the brakes. Thus, sending Wash flying off the vehicle. He fires one last round at the vehicle, which misses both Grif and Jaune. As Wash was in the air, Sarge and Yangs weapons flee from his grip, and both landed in the duos hands.
"See?" Sarge said to the flying Wash, "Told you we get it back."
Wash finally landed near a pile of explosives. Dizzy from being struck by a vehicle, shot at, and the hard landing, he struggles to get up.
Meanwhile, Grif and Jaune stop the car for Sarge and Yang to get inside.
"How 'bout the next time you hose a code word. We choose something you guys don't say every five seconds." Grif said to the two, as they enter the vehicle.
"Just drive numbnuts." Sarge muttered, and they drove off to where Wash landed. The latter was still trying to get up, tripping over a fusion coil in the process. Once his vison reset, he noticed the warthog driving past him. Sarge was standing up in the front passenger's seat his shotgun aimed at one of the fusion coils. Yang was also standing up, flipping him off with both fingers.
"Agent Wash…" Sarge began
"Son of a bitch." Wash muttered, realizing what was about to happen.
"...You just got-" Sarge then fired his weapon, the bullet hit the explosive, setting all the others off, while sending Wash flying away again.
"Ah dammit, I messed up my one-liner!" Sarge complained, as they headed for Blue Base
"Jaune, you wanna kick Wash's ass? Now's the time." Yang said to her friend
"Alright, I'm on it." Jaune jumped off the moving vehicle, and went off to find Wash.
While this was happening, Church floated out of the hole caused by the warthog, and into Valhalla, "I guess they came this way."
Meanwhile at Blue Base, Simmons finally finished tinkering with Doc's medical scanner. The latter was currently inspecting the object.
"Is it ready?" Weiss asked
"Yeah it is." Simmons replied, "Ok, now's are chance. Hit him with an overshot."
"Why don't you do it?" Doc asked him, a little worried
"Me?" Simmons questioned, "I don't know how to uses that thing."
"Ok, what Weiss, or Ren, or Nora, or Pyrrha?" Doc suggested
"Uh, I'm scared to use it." Weiss answered
"I have to watch Nora, she's crazy with weapons." Ren explained
"And I'm in no condition to fight." Pyrrha added
Doc sighed and stood behind the Meta. The latter was currently looking for Wash. Suddenly, an explosion was seen in the distance.
"What the hell was that?" Doc asked, but his voice was loud enought to get the Meta's attention. The brute growled in anger at him, and his fellow peers.
"Ah! What do we do!?" Doc screamed
"IMPROVISE! IMPROVISE!" Simmons shouted. Doc pulled the trigger on his scanner and a green bolt shot out from the front. The bolt hit the Meta as he tried to charge at him. The brute was flung into the wall, but got up instantly. His armor was glitching from the overcharged bolt. He charged once again at Doc, but suddenly, he physically slowed down as he was about to punch him.
Doc looked away, "Am I dead? Am I dead?" he asked
"Doc! You did it!" Nora said to him
Doc opened his eyes, and noticed that the Meta was frozen in place, moving ever so slowly. "He's frozen." he said, astonished.
"You've must've overloaded his time-distortion unit." Simmons guessed, "Instead of making us slow. It made him slow."
"Not bad Doc." Weiss complimented him
"Hey sweet! Score one for the pacifist!" Doc cheered
"Um Doc?" Simmons spoke up, "I wouldn't to close if I were you."
"Why? What's he gonna do?" Doc asked, "Beat me up over the course of the next two weeks?"
That last comment made Nora snort a little, while Weiss and Ren rolled their eyes.
"Well, technically he's not moving slower, he's moving at the same speed over a longer period of time." Simmons explained, "It's relativistic, we're just experiencing it at a slower rate."
But Doc wasn't buying it, "Nah, see?"
The Meta's fist drifted closer to Doc's head. Eventually, it hit him ever so slightly, and he was sent flying.
"Whoooaaa!" Doc yelped, until he hit the wall behind him, and was stuck in it.
"See?" Weiss groaned, "That's what happens when you argue with science."
"Stupid bitch." Simmons muttered to himself, mostly referring both Doc and Weiss.
"Guys!" Doc cried, "Get me outta this wall!"
Simmons and Ren walked over to Doc.
"Hmm, let's see." Simmons gazed at the medic. He put his rifle in his back, and started to pull on Doc's chestplate. Ren on the other hand, pulled from Doc's legs.
The two struggled to pull him out. Doc just wouldn't budge one bit.
"Try pulling from the groin:" Doc suggested
"What? No." Ren replied. They continued this for about a minute, with Nora recording everything from her scroll.
"This is gold!" Nora laughed, as she watched. With Pyrrha doing the same, though she clenched her chest briefly, since she still had a bruise on her.
But Weiss wasn't laughing. Her aura was now back up to full health. She summoned a glyph behind Doc, which pushed him out of the wall, and onto Ren and Simmons.
"Hey! Watch it!" Simmons said to Doc, not knowing about the glyph.
"You watch it!" Doc shot back. The trio got up, and soon noticed a jeep coming up fast at Blue Base.
"Simmons!" Sarge said from the jeep, "Where are you!?"
Simmons quickly went on to remove the wrist restraints on the huntsmen and give them their respected weapons. Pyrrha used her weapon to act as a crutch, since she was still weak. They soon noticed that the Meta started to move faster, indicating that the time effects were wearing off. The brute was starting to read for his brute shot.
"Uh guys?" Weiss said, "He's getting faster!" But it was too late, the effects finally wore off, the Meta grabbed his weapon, and started firing at them.
Grif drove by Blue Base, close enough so everyone could jump on to the vehicle. They did so, but it was a tight fit. On top of that, Simmons tried to man the turret, but struggled to get on properly, and was clinging onto the turret for dear life.
"Simmons! Stop showing off and get in already!" Sarge barked at him
"This isn't on purpose!" Simmons yelled back. He eventually lost his grip on the turret, but managed to grab the rear bumper. He was now being dragged on the ground.
"No wait!" He yelled to everyone, "Guys! Slow down!"
Grif ended up driving through the river to avoid the Meta firing at them. This caused Simmons to hang in underwater.
"What he say?" Sarge asked no one as the headed for the hole in the wall.
"Wait, where's Pyrrha?" Weiss asked everyone
Sarge looked back at Blue Base, and noticed Pyrrha was still their, struggling to flee from the Meta.
"There she is!" Sarge shouted
Pyrrha couldn't jump onto the moving vehicle due to her condition. So she ended up dodging all of the Meta's attacks. That was, until she noticed the grav. lift, getting an idea she jumped into it and she was flung out into the canyon. Rolling onto the ground to break her fall.
"Yes! Go Pyrrha!" Nora shouted from the jeep
But the Meta got a similar idea and he too, and jumped into the lift. All in an attempt to intercept the jeep. He started firing at the vehicle, causing Grif to swerve a little.
"Grif! Incoming!" Sarge barked to him, noticing the Meta was getting closer and closer.
"Don't worry!" he replied, "We'll just do what we did last time."
But before he could do anything else, the Meta flipped in the air and hit the jeep directly in its hood. Causing it to flip forward, and everyone in it to fly out of it. All except for Simmons, who was still hanging onto the vehicle's rear bumper. The Meta then rolled off the jeep, turned around, and fired four shots at it, destroying the jeep completely.
The car rolled on its side, with Simmons still clinging to the bumper for dear life.
"I'M SCARED TO HOLD ON! BUT I'M SCARED TO LET GO!" he screamed, as the car rolled over continuously.
Grif noticed the destroyed jeep flying right towards him and his friends. So he jumped, nand pushed both Sarge and Yang out of the way. With Doc doing the same with Weiss, Nora, and Ren. The flaming car finall came to a halt, and crashed into a nearby rock. Simmons fell to the ground with a thud.
The Meta walked towards them as he reloaded his brute shot.
"That was some of the worst driving of all time!" Weiss scolded Grif
"Because that wasn't driving Ice Queen!" Grif shot back, "That was flying and burning!"
"Touché." Sarge commented
"Uh, hey guys?" Doc said to Sarge and Grif, having not saying hi to them since their arrival.
"Hey Doc/Sup." the duo replied
Simmons finally got up, now dizzy from the spinning warthog, "Huh? Wha? Where am I?" he was still holding onto the piece of bumper, which was now disconnected from the wreckage. Eventually, he got back to his senses and held the piece of rumble as if it was a gun.
"Ok! I'm good." Simmons announced
"Get ready." Sarge said to everyone, as he noticed the Meta getting closer. Aiming his shotgun at the brute.
"This is not gonna end well." Nora muttered
Soon everyone readied their weapons. Grif raised his rifle, Ren took out StormFlower, Noro deployed Maghild into its hammer form. Weiss raised Myternaster, Yang deployed Ember Celtics around her wrists, and Doc just raised his medical scanner.
But they were soon cut off by a voice, "Hey guys, what's up?"
Everyone looked up, and Sarge and Grif were surprised to see Church floating next to them. The monitor was currently inspecting the destroyed warthog.
"Man, your jeep got fucked up!" Church chuckled
Weiss instantly recognized the voice, "Church!?"
Church looked at her, "Oh hey Weiss! Long time no see!"
"Sure...I guess." she replied
Church then took notice of the Meta, "Who's the big dude?"
The Meta already knew it was the Epsilon AI, so he tried to grab it. But Church dodged it, and the Meta growled in response.
"Whoa!" Church yelped, "You kiss your mother with that mouth?"
The Meta tried again and again to grab the monitor, but failed.
"Uh guys?" Church asked his friends, "What do I do?"
"Lead him away." Sarge replied
"Where?"
"Anywhere but here."
Church started floating towards Blue Base, with the Meta in pursuit.
"Hey! Check out how shiny I am." Church taunted the brute as he lead him in a goose chase.
"What was that thing?" Simmons asked Grif, as he grabbed a rifle from the ground.
"Was that Church?" Ren asked as well
"We'll explain later." Sarge replied, "Come on, we need to move."
"What about Pyrrha?" Nora asked
"Jaune will look for her. Just move!" Grif answered, and everyone made run for the large hole in the wall.
Meanwhile, Church finally reached Blue Base, where he realized that the entranced was very similar to the one the mysterious soldier entered in his vision.
"Wait." he said, "This looks familiar."
Just then, the Meta growled right behind him, scaring him."
"Geez you scared the crap out of me!" Church whined, and floated away.
As for Pyrrha, she struggled to make her way towards the hole in the wall. Her chest still had a bruise on it. She was at the river near Red Base when gunfire forced her to take cover.
BANG! BANG!
Pyrrha jumped behind a rock, and peeked over the top. Wash was rushing towards her, pistol in hand. She threw Miló in its spear form at the ex-freelancer. But Wash dodged it, jumped at her, and shoved her to the ground.
"If I can't bring you in alive! Then I'll bring you all in dead!" Wash snarled at her, as he pointed his pistol at her.
But before he could perform the fatal blow, someone shoved him in his side, and he fell down the hill, and into the river. Once he got up, he recognized who attacked him. It was the boy from Pyrrha's scroll.
Jaune took out his sword and shield, he swung furiously at Washington. With the latter trying with all his might to dodge him, but was exhausted to do so. Thus, resulting in him getting hit in the head, and almost the groin. Though he did managed to dodge that last attack. Soon got the advantage, he disarmed Jaune, and uppercutted him.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha cried to her partner
Jaune got up instantly, he noticed a nearby fusion coil, and got an idea. He charged at Wash at full speed, but the latter kicked him to the side again. Jaune attacked again, this time at his legs. Wash fell to the ground, and Jaune enchanced his leg with his aura, and kicked Wash towards the fusion coil.
Wash got up, exhausted after what had happened so far, "You think you'll get away with this?" he asked him
"Yes." Jaune replied, it was the same answer Was gave to Nora earlier. Jaune then raised Wash's pistol that stole from him after attacking his legs, and shot the fudion coil. Which blew up next to Wash. Wash was flung towards Jaune, and landed right in front of him.
Wash wanted to get up again, but just laid there in defeat. Jaune then took a pair of wrist restrains from Wash and put them around the ex-freelancers wrists.
"Now." Jaune began, "Like you said. I could take you in alive or dead. And I choose alive." he taunted before punching Wash out cold. He then dragged Was's unconcious body back to where Pyrrha was hiding. The redhead practically jumped on top of him when he came back in one piece.
"Jaune, are you ok?" she asked him
"I'm fine." he replied, "Its you who's injured. Are you ok?"
"I'm better now." she chuckled before noticing Wash, "What are doing with him?"
"There must be a reason for why he captured you and the others. Better we question him rather than leave him here." he explained. Pyrrha nodded in agreement and the duo made their way towards the wall.
Meanwhile, Sarge and the others finally made it to the other side of the wall, "Come on! Everyone through the hole! Ah, just saying that makes miss Donut." Sarge sighed as the passed through.
"You do know we passed his body on the way here, right Sarge?" Weiss countered
"Doesn't matter, he's dead already, and we got the Meta on our tale." Sarge explained
"Good point."
Nora then noticed the hole, "We have to wait for Pyrrha and Jaune!"
"I see them!" Grif replied, "It looks like they're dragging Wash's body over here."
Church then showed up, having been leading the Meta on a wild goose chase around Valhalla, "Hey, I know he's a friend o' yours, but I gotta tell you that guy with the the shiny head is kinda an asshole."
"Well, if your here." Yang said to him, "Then that means-"
"Oh no, there's the Meta!" Simmons ended,"We have to hurry."
"We have to seal the opening." Weiss suggested, "Do we have any explosives?"
"Negative," Sarge replied, "We need a plan of action."
Just then, an idea came to Grif, "I have an idea." he then walked up to Church, "Hey, you, dipshit!"
"Grif!?" Weiss yelled at him
"Huh? You taking to me?" Church asked him
"Yeah, you." Grif ranted, "This is your fault you stupid piece o' junk. You got us in this mess."
"Me? It was your we had to rescue." Church shot back
"Ah, bullshit." Grif snorted, "Now the Meta's coming up here and he's gonna kill us all."
"What are you doing Grif?" Yang asked him, while still laughing at his ranting.
"I wasn't even looking for you guys." Church coutered, "I was-"
Sarge then realized what Grif was doing, the same with Yang.
"Oh I get it." they said at the same time. They both walked up to Church, and started throwing every insult they had at them.
"Can it you overgrown ornament!"
"I'm not done with you ball bearing!"
"Your mother takes it in the exhaust port!"
"Come on guys, help us out." Grif said to the others
"We don't even know what you're doing." Simmons answered
"You mother gets pounded like a pinball." Yang continued
"Hey! Leave mother's outta this!" Church shot back
"Guys, we need some insults!" Yang said to them
"Um, ok!" Simmons walked up to them, but instead of saying insults it Church, he said insults to his team.
"Grif, you're so fat you broke your arm, gravy came out! Sarge,I find your plans useles, and if not mediocre! Weiss, you're bitchy and rude!"
"Hey!" Weiss yelled
"Not insults for us Simmons!" Sarge explained, "For him!"
"Please ell me what's going on! I just got here!" Simmons countered
"This isn't working." Yang groaned, "We something that'll make him mad."
"Has he seen the last episode of The Sopranos yet?" Simmons suggested
"The what?" Nora asked
"Ugh, you guys are idiots!" Church sighed, suddenly the Meta growled in the distance.
"Uh oh! There's the big dude!" Church cried
Just then, Jaune and Pyrrha exited through the hole, oth were dragging Wash's unconcious body.
"And there's…" Church began, noticing the two huntsmen, "...Agent Carolina? And…"
Then he noticed Washington.
"WASHINGTON!" Church's eye turned red, and was ready to fire in both Pyrrha and Wash. But Yang managed to jump, and turn Church towards the wall. The laser then fired and thus, deliberately blocking the Meta from catching them.
"WHAT WAS THAT!?" Nora shouted, "That was so cool!"
"Yeah." Ren added, "Really cool."
"Awe man, that was scary." Doc muttered, "Too much violence."
Church's eye turned blue again, "What!? No! I have to go back!"
"Go back!?" Weiss cried, "Are you insane!?"
"He'll find her." Church replied, "...He'll...find...blrgh."
Church's eye went dark, and he fell to the ground.
"Church!" Yang shouted as she ran up to the monitor, lying on the ground.
"What happened to Church?" Jaune asked her, as he helped Pyrrha walk with him.
"I don't know." Yang replied
Grif then spoke up, "I guess he's outta juice."
"He's had a hard day." Sarge ended, "Come on, let's get moving. The Meta might be able to break through that faster than Grif can eat."
Yang then picked up Church and everyone followed Sarge back to the desert. Nora then asked a question about Church.
"So is that thing like a pet?" she asked them
"Yeah, something like that." Grif replied
Sarge then took notice of Wash's body being dragged by Jaune.
"Here, I got him." he said to Jaune, "You watch your friend."
"Thanks." Jaune replied, as he put his arm around Pyrrha to help her stand. Though he was completely unaware that the redhead's face turned pink when he did so.
Sarge drapped Wash over his shoulder, and asked Jaune a question.
"Why are we bringing Wash with us?" he asked him
"There's got to be a reason for why Was was wants captured us." Jaune explained, "Everyone has a reason."
"Alright." Sarge replied, "We'll interrogate him once he gets up."
And with that outta the way, the group wlaked back with saying another word.