Chapter 23: Rally Cap and Reunion

Freelancer Offsite Storage Facility

POV: Michael J. Caboose


Premise: United we stand; Divided we fall. In desperate times, we must all stand together…


Caboose stood gloomy inside the facility's control room conversing with FLISS. Who was trying her best to help him.

"I am sorry Ruby and her friends had to leave Caboose." FLIIS said to him, "She was very nice."

"Yeah." Caboose sighed, "I miss her."

"Did you...break up with her?" FLISS asked

"Not really, uh, Ruby said she'll find a way to come back without Weiss knowing. But I'm not sure I'll see her again."

Suddenly, the an alarm went off in the room, and FLISS then announced:

"Alarm. Incoming recovery beacon. Level Zero. Alarm. Incoming recovery beacon."

"Oh no!" Caboose cried, he then ran out the door. Realizing what might had happened.


POV Change: Team RWBY

Remnant, Kingdom of Vale, Beacon Academy

"Ahhhh." Weiss sighed, as she laid on her bed, "Its Friday, the weekend starts tomorrow, no more idiotic soldiers, everything is back to normal."

Weiss laid there for a few more seconds before getting up. She walked over to her desk to find the teleporter she made for everyone.

"Alright, time to destroy this piece of junk." she said to herself, but when she opened the drawer there was nothing there.

"What? Where did it go?" Weiss asked herself. But then, the answer hit her.

"Grrrrrraghhhhhh!" Weiss growled in anger

The heiress ran out of her dorm with her weapon and toward Beacon cliff. Sure enough, she saw her team and Team JNPR with the device.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Weiss shouted, but it was too late. Ruby pushed the button, and a bright light engulfed them. Weiss managed to jump at them once the light appeared. Once it dispersed, they were all gone.


POV Change: Freelancer Off-Site Storage Facility, 2554

The bright light quickly disappeared, and both teams found themselves outside the storage facility, right next to FLISS's now destroyed monitor.

"Alright guys, let's find them and help them with stopping the Meta." Ruby said to them

Suddenly Weiss ran up and tried to grab the teleporter out of her hands. The rest of Team RWBY started pulling on Ruby, while JNPR pulled on Weiss. They managed to separate the two, but Weiss got the upper hand by snatching the device. She held Myrtenaster up in defence.

"I can't believe you went behind my back!" Weiss cried, "How could you do this!?"

"We have to help them!" Blake retorted, "They're still on the run from Wash and the Meta!"

"But after putting you all through hell, you still want to help them!?"

"Yes." Ruby replied, "And I'm not going asking you Weiss. I'm ordering you, as your leader...please."

Weiss stood there for a moment. She looked at the teleporter and then at her friends, deep in thought on what to do.


POV Change: Caboose

Caboose ran into the warehouse looking for the Reds. Sarge, he needed to find Sarge. E seemed to be the only person who could help him rescue Church. Caboose then arrived at the makeshift Red Base. Tucker was nearby, with Grif and Simmons standing on the base. Sarge himself was currently gazing at a Warthog.

"Sergeant! Sergeant!" Caboose shouted

Sarge turned around, "What do ya want Blue?"

"I need your help." Caboose replied

"Our help?" Simmons questioned

"Yes, Church is hurt." Caboose explained, "They must've gotten to him and Tex."

"They got Tex?" Grif muttered, "Good, that just means she won't be able to beat the hell out of us any more."

"No we need to rescue them." said Caboose

"Rescue them, are you nuts!?" Grif cried, "No one told them to leave, they're on their own."

"But they die." Caboose pleaded, "Sergeant please."

"Uh hey dude, I don't know if you've picked up on this yet, but if you wanna convince Sarge to do anything, I don't think the best argument is 'The Blues might die if we don't.'" Grif said to him.

Sarge then walked over to Caboose, "Cowboy up Caboose." he said, "I'm coming with you."

"What?" Grif asked, confused on why Sarge is going to help Caboose.

"I said, I'm helping him." Sarge repeated

"And so are we." a voice said. Everyone turned around to see both Team RWBY and JNPR walking towards them. With Weiss trailing behind.

"What the hell." Tucker muttered

"Ruby!" Caboose cried, "You're back! And you brought your friends!"

"Occam's Laser!" Sarge shouted, "You're all back, and in perfect timing. I'm going to go help Caboose here rescue Church, who's in?"

"We all are." Yang replied

"Good, we'll need some weapons." Sarge announced, "How'd your test go Simmons?"

"About as good as they always do sir." Simmons replied

"Hmm, that's too bad." Sarge muttered

"Well I'm not going, and you can't make me." Grif spoke up, "You quit, remember? I don't take orders from you any more, and besides, this whole command structure thing was bullshit anyway. We all know that now."

"Yeah same here." Weiss added, "Why should I go rescue Church? I don't wanna in the first place."

"Yeah, we're not really surprised." Tucker replied dryly, "FYI, we're still our revenge, so ya might as well start sleeping with one eye open."

"Hmph." Weiss muttered

"Well I ain't telling you to go." Sarge sai to them, surprising everyone.

"What?"

"What?"

"What?"

"That's right." Sarge continued, "I'm going. That's it. You wanna come, come on. But I don't expect you to. Simmons will probably tell you that statistically, some of us will probably die."

"All of us." Simmons corrected him

"All of us will probably die." Sarge said to everyone, "But that's not what's important. Let me ask you all a question: You ever wonder why we're here?"

Everyone stood silent at what the red soldier just asked.

"...Um, it does seem like one of life's great mysteries isn't it." Grif answered

"No, I mean you!" Sarge replied, "What are you doing here? You always act like you wanna quit, but hell, you could've left whenever you wanted. No one would have stopped ya. So why are you here? And you, Simmons."

"Me?" Simmons questioned

"You say you wanna be in charge." Sarge said to him, "They would have given you your own squad a dozen times over. You know it, and I know it. But you're still here. And you Tucker. As much as I hate to admit it, you're actually good at being a soldier."

"I am?" Tucker asked

"I know you like to make your rude comments, pretend like it all doesn't matter." Sarge continued, "But an entire alien race chose you to be their hero! So why are you here? And you guys, Teams RWBY and JNPR. I know you may find us stupid, dim-witted and sometimes full on insane. But you all decided to return to help us, twice. And Weiss, you claim that you never want to see us, yet you created a teleportation device to travel lightyears away from your home to find us. So why are you here? And uh Caboose…"

Sarge stares at the blue soldier.

"Uh...it's good to see you, and congratulations on your relationship with Ruby." Sarge said to him

"Thanks." Caboose replied, "I'm really enjoying the speech so far."

Sarge then continued his speech, "Maybe you're all here because this is the only place you fit in. Maybe you're here because you don't have anywhere else to go. Maybe you're all here, because deep down, you want to be here. The reason doesn't matter. What matters is that you're here! For all we know, Tex and Church are dead. That means we're the only ones who know what's happened; the only ones who can prevent them from covering it up. So the way I figure it, these Freelancer guys, wanna use us, take us away from our families, and send us all over the dag gum galaxy just to test if their agents are ready for the big fight? Well, I guess I'm interested in showing 'em, exactly what a big fight is all about. Time to clean the slate. So I'm not ordering you to go. I ain't even askin'. You do what you gotta do Private Grif. Same for you Weiss…"

Everyone stood silent trying to process Sarge's speech. Then Grif spoke up.

"Hhh, I'll go get my car keys." he announced

"That's one." Sarge said, everyone then turned to Weiss.

"Ugh, this is suicide and I know it." she said, "I don't want to go, and you already know it guys. But...I can already tell that my team wants to go...so if they're in...then I'm in as well." she ended smiling.

"Hot dang!" Sarge shouted, "Let's boogie men!"

"I don't think a jeep will get us to them quickly." Simmons spoke up, "But I think I know what we can use."

Simmons led everyone down a hallway out of the warehouse where they entered a big room.

"This!" Simmons announced

"Whoa!" Blake muttered

"Nice." Jaune said

"Who the hell is gonna drive that?" Grif asked, and suddenly all faces turned to him.

"Why is everyone looking at me?"


POV Change: Sidewinder

Agent Washington stood next to the Meta on the snowy plains of Sidewinder. A few feet in front of the duo was none other than Agent Texas. It was almost looking at a ghost, as Tex was believed to be dead. Upon arriving at the Freelancer Base, the duo found Church lying on the ground in plain sight, with no one assisting them. They were then ambushed by Tex and nearly lost the Epsilon Unit in the process, which Meta modified into a capture unit so they could use it to capture Epsilon. But now they were forced to fight Project Freelancer's greatest soldier.

Tex took out a detonator and activated it. The ground then started to rumble, and the trio soon realized that the cliff they were standing on was starting to break apart.

"Oh my God…" he muttered, "RUN!"

Wash and Meta ran off to the ever more distant edge. With the latter taking a big risk and jumping.

"Meta wait!" Wash shouted

Meta took out his brute shot, and used its sharp knife to climb the side of the cliff. Wash on the other hand, looked around desperate to get to safety. He then saw his answer.

"Wash!" Doc shouted. The purple medic was holding the tail hook to a jeep's tow cable.

"Throw it!" Wash shouted back

Doc did so but once it reached an inch in the air. It fell, and was now draped over the cliff.

"You have got to be kidding me." Wash muttered. He then jumped off the falling debris and managed to grab the rope, and climbed to the top.

"That was the second worst throw ever." Wash said to Doc, "Of all time."

"What do you want from me?" Doc replied, "I ran track in high school."

Meanwhile, the Meta charged at the now exhausted Tex, who pulled out a combat knife. The brute tried to slash Tex with his brute but failed. Tex then took her knife and slashed at his chest, which literally did nothing before sticking it in his shoulder. The Meta then fired his weapon at the ground which caused an explosion right next to the duo, sending them flying and knocking Tex to the ground.

"Meta wait!' Wash shouted, as he ran over to them, "We don't need to hurt her we just need to-"

Suddenly, the Meta took out the Epsilon Unit, and retracted its blade. He then rammed the blade into Tex's faceplate. Transferring her AI matrix into the unit.

"NO!" Church shouted

The Meta then threw Tex's body aside. Which was now dad and lifeless.

"Stop! Let her outta that thing!" Church demanded

"We can't." Wash replied solemnly, "The unit is failing. Epsilon, it's over. You're coming with us."

Church turned to him, "I'm not going anywhere with you." he said furiously, "We can fight you."

"We can?" Doc asked

"We will!" Church added

"Oh great." Doc muttered

"That's too bad." Wash replied, "Meta, give me the memory unit."

"How could you do this Wash!?" Church shouted at him, "I know you're going to go after Teams RWBY and JNPR, but why!? You've turned against everything you've stood for!"

"I know…" Wash replied, "Which is why I'm only going to take you in."

"I thought that if you don't turn them over to the UNSC. You would be thrown in jail." Church countered

"True." Wash replied, "But that's only if I go back empty handed. I'm letting them go, for good. It's what your friends want. But with you, I'll have something. Meta, the memory unit."

But the Meta didn't respond.

"Meta?" Wash asked

The trio then turned to face the Meta who was gazing at the Epsilon Unit. He had one. He finally had one. After two years of searching, he finally had an Ai once again. Wash was no longer useful. He put the Epsilon Unit on his back, which connected with his suit's interface, and he turned invisible.

"No!" Wash shouted, "Dammit. Doc, you need to protect Epsilon!"

"What?" Doc questioned, "What do I do?"

"RUN!" Wash answered before he was tackled by the Meta. The brute then got up and started to fire at Church and Doc, who started to run away. Wash then jumped on the brute, and put his arms around his neck.

"I'll try to hold him off!" Wash said, only to be thrown off of the Meta by the brute himself. The Meta then fired several shots at Wash, which threw him into a tree line.

Wash got up on his knees and looked at the brute. Who was still invisible, but a faint outline could be seen.

"I knew you would do this Meta." Wash said to him, "I just can't believe…"

Wash trailed off as he noticed something right behind the Meta. A large object falling from the sky with smoke coming out of it. He knew exactly who it was.

"I can't believe it." Wash muttered, stunned at who it was.


POV Change: The Reds and Blues, Teams RWBY and JNPR

"Ugh, I think I'm going to be sick." Jaune groaned as he, his team, Team RWBY, and the Reds and Blues flew inside a large ship which apparently was called a Pelican. Grif was flying the ship in the pilot's seat, with Yang as the co-pilot.

"There they are!" Sarge shouted, "Land right next to them guys."

"Right…" Grif muttered, Land…"

Everyone looked at the two a little worried.

"You two do know how to land this thing, right?" Sarge asked them

"Sure, unless landing means stop flying." Yang replied

Sarge then looked at everybody, "BRACE FOR IMPACT!"

"Oh shit! This is gonna suck!" Tucker shouted

"Uh oh!"

"Crap!"

"I still haven't gotten my peanuts." Caboose said

The Pelican flew into Sidewinder, losing an engine in the process. The ship crashed into the ground, sliding in the direction of the cliff. Wash, Church, and Meta jumped out of the way, while Doc stood right at the cliff edge. The ship then came to a halt, stopping at Doc's feets. The Reds, Yang, and Jaune were all pressed against the glass cockpit, but were thrown off upon the ship coming to a halt. Who knows what the others looked like.

"Oh man. That was a close one." Doc said

Wash and Church then came out of the treeline, "I would say that's the cavalry." Wash said, quite amused, "But I've never seen a line of horses crash into the battlefield from outer space before."

"Uhhhh... Is it possible for a memory fragment out of an artificial intelligence program enclosed inside a robotic body to piss its pants?" Church asked, "Because I'm pretty sure I just did that."

"Come on let's see if any of your friends survived." Wash said to him

"You know, they're not really my friends." Church countered

"That's okay." Wash replied, "I'm pretty sure most of them didn't survive."

Meanwhile Sarge started to examine the ship's overall condition with Grif and Yang nearby.

"Grif! Yang!" he shouted, "Look at what you did to our ship!"

"Ah fuck its a rental." Grif replied

"Good point." Sarge replied, "Fuck it." He then proceeded to kick the ship, which caused it to fall off the ledge.

Everyone then regrouped around Church. All with the exception of Wash, who trailed behind for...reasons.

"Has anyone seen Tex?" Church asked everyone

"I'm sorry Epsilon." Wash said to him, "The Meta captured her inside of the memory unit."

Church then over to a snow pile, "There it is!" he quickly ran over to it with everyone in tow.

The unit was in bad condition, with sparks coming out of it constantly.

"That's the Epsilon Unit?" Weiss questioned, "Looks different."

"We changed it into a capture unit." Wash explained, "I was planning on using to trap Epsilon inside. But instead, the Meta used it on Tex."

"So just let her out!" Church said to him

"I can't." Wash replied, "We rigged it so it's one way."

"Well unrig it!" Church suggested

"Uh, I'll have to get it to a lab." Wash explained, "Somewhere with tools."

Church looked at Red Team, "Simmons?"

"Hey, he's the expert." Simmons said to him, "I don't know what I can do to help."

"And it's in no condition to move." Wash added, "If it locks down before I can open it, she'll be trapped in there."

"Well we have to do something!" Ruby spoke up

"If I let her out, will you come with me?" Was asked Church

"Yes, fine just let her out." Church replied, frustrated

"No! You can't take him!" Yang shoted, eyes flaring red, "You still have to pay for capturing our friends and shooting Pyrrha!"

"Guys, calm the fuck down." Church interjected, "Wash isn't going to turn you all over."

"What?" Yang questioned

"I'm changing it up." Wash explained, "You guys don't deserve to be prisoners. I'm sorry. As long as Epsilon comes with me. I\ll only get a light sentence. Hopefully, he might escape."

"Well, that's a big if." Church muttered

"Alright, then." Ruby replied

"So...are we cool?" Wash asked them

The huntsmen were silent at first...until Yang walked up and punched Wash in the arm.

"OW!"

"Oh, the front of your arm." Simmons muttered

"Better now." Yang said to him

Wash shook the pain away quickly and spoke, "Caboose, Tucker, Team RWBY, get in the base. See if you can find some tools."

"Ok!" Caboose shouted

"Alright We'll be right back."

Wash then looked at the Reds and Team JNPR, "You three find me anything that has power. Anything and everything. We're going to need a lot to keep it online."

"On it." Sarge replied

"You can count on us." Jaune added, and the two teams ran off to the base.

Church then looked at Wash, "I can get her out."

"What?" Wash questioned, "No!"

"It's my only option." Church explained

"I need you Epsilon." Wash countered, "You're my only ticket out of this mess. If you get stuck in there, they'll never believe me, I'm not going back to prison!"

"I can do it." Church said

"I won't let you." Wash replied

"You can't stop me." Church said to him, "I have to help her. She's in there because of us."

"Who?" Wash asked, "Me? The Reds? Team RWBY?"

"No them." Church replied, "Us. Me, and Alpha, and the Director."

"You started to remember." Wash muttered in astonishment

"I found some journals from the Director." Church explained in a depress tone, "She's someone from his life. Some she loved…"

"Allison." Wash answered, "Her name was Allison."

"Allison." Church muttered, "When they made Alpha, she came back. She was a byproduct of a process."

"She's just a shadow." Wash explained to him

"Don't call her that!" Church yelled, "She died in her life and that's all what the Director remembered, "So now, now matter how tough she is, no matter how hard she fights. She's always going to fail because that's what she's based on. Every time her goal is in her reach, it gets yanked away. Every. Single. Time. Can you imagine what that's like?"

Suddenly, the Epsilon Unit started to move, and an object was revealed to be underneath it. That object turned out to be the Meta, who growled in anger upon seeing the Freelancer and hidden AI.

"I think I'm getting the idea." Wash replied, while looking at the Meta.

"Uh oh." Church muttered


Repent! Repent! The end is near! Only one chapter remains in RvBvRWBY: Retribution! See ya all there!

-ParkertheAceMan42

P.S. Wash you hands guys!