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Thanks for all the support! Chorus will begin after season 14 ep 4's reaction.

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Chapter 54- From Stumbled Beginnings

"I agree, can we save the talk for later? All of that still hasn't settled." Weiss grimaced.

"I suppose I can understand it.. I've already been in the show in every way but name." Pyrrha commented. "I can accept it."

"Can someone explain it to me? Because I'm still confused." Nora added.

"In simple terms, in another universe a group made the show Red vs Blue. And in that same universe they made another show titled RWBY." Ren explained. "That's all we can know for sure."

"And even that is based on flimsy evidence." Weiss shook her head. "I can't believe I'm saying this but.. let's ignore it and watch TV."

"Yeah go Weiss!" Ruby cheered.

Weiss shook her head, "It's because Pyrrha's right, we shouldn't be too surprised. Our voices have already been shown for a while now.. anyway."

Open on space...

Vic: "So, what better place to start than the beginning? Well, you could get all artsy and start somewhere in the middle. All the cool directors do that."

"Isn't that a method to get lazy audiences to watch what they consider 'boring scenes'." Weiss asked.

"No it's to build suspense." Blake explained.

"It's only lazy if it's done badly, but it's genius if it's done well right?" Jaune asked.

Blake chuckled, "As it is with most writing techniques."

Vic: "Get you all excited. You're like, "Whoa dude! What's goin' on, man? Why's that guy shooting that other guy?"

"Oh I love that stuff!" Ruby gasped.

"Yeah!" Nora agreed. "Because then I know if a show will be good in the first five minutes."

"Nora even with explosions you still get bored sitting still for five minutes. Red vs Blue is an anomaly." Ren pointed out.

Vic: "Then they all do that rewind thing. Tell the tale, lay the breadcrumbs, roll the credits. Classic! But how about we start... before the beginning?"

"Wouldn't that be Project Freelancer?" Jaune asked.

"Yeah, before there was Red vs Blue there was Project Freelancer." Ruby quoted.

The words "From Stumbled Beginnings" float into frame.

Ren chuckled, "A play on, from humble beginnings."

"The reds and blues have humble beginnings." Weiss commented. "They started as simulation troopers and.. well they're now just ex-simulation troopers but they've accomplished a lot."

"Do you think that by 'before the beginning' he means the origin of the main characters!" Nora gasped. "I want to see Sarge as a kid!"

"I can see him as a boy scout leader." Jaune commented.

Nora giggled, "He'd order those kids around like true soldiers!"

"I bet Tucker was a bad kid." Weiss grimaced.

"Grif too." Blake added, "Though he does care about his sister.. I wonder if he took care of her?"

"Probably after their mom ran off to join the circus.. I think Sister mentioned him doing something like that." Yang commented.

"If they showed the characters as children.. all we know about Caboose's childhood is that he grew up on the moon and his dad had a sexist saying." Pyrrha frowned.

"And Donut was born in Iowa.. that's a state I think." Jaune added.

"And Simmons's father.. well he wasn't that good considering Simmons's father issues." Yang finished.

"That would all be interesting to see, however I'd like to see why each of the characters enlisted." Weiss hummed, thinking of Winter. "I doubt any of them except Sarge joined for patriotic fervor."

"Well Tucker joined because 'chicks dig war heroes'." Yang quoted.

"Do they?" Ruby gagged.

"Some." Yang chuckled at Ruby's disgusted face.

"Grif joined because he wanted to fight aliens.. though I think that got ret-conned." Weiss commented.

"I bet he realized how much work training was and didn't care after that." Jaune explained.

"Caboose and Donut probably joined for the same reason, or Donut liked the.. atmosphere of an army base." Pyrrha guessed.

"Simmons likes serving under people." Yang added.

"And we all know why Church, 'joined'." Ruby made air quotes.

"Even though we can guess, I'd like to see it." Weiss smiled.

"I want to see the Director and Allison." Blake cut in.

"I don't want to see something sad." Nora groaned.

A drum roll is heard and a military training base comes into view with soldiers running drills. View of a red drill leader and a group of recruits running across a bridge.

"Oh hey it's the first game." Jaune pointed.

"Oh that's cool! It makes me think of the first two seasons." Ruby commented.

"This even looks like a bigger and greener Blood Gulch." Yang added.

"They love canyons in the middle of nowhere." Blake chuckled.

Hammer: "Time to put the hammer down, boys! Let's make the lieutenant proud."

Soldiers: "Hut-hut-hut-hut-hut!"

Simmons is seen just standing in the middle of the bridge.

Hammer: "Simmons, what are you doing?!"

Simmons: "Oh God, this is my nightmare!"

"So this is basic training, when Grif broke his cooling fans from sweat." Weiss made a face.

"Look how high they are, I'd be scared and sweating too." Jaune pointed, and rubbed his neck nervously a second later.

Hammer: "Come on, man, you can do it! Just keep moving."

Simmons: "But I already stopped! If I move now, my chances of falling off and breaking every bone in my body increase dramatically!"

"Why is Simmons in maroon armor?" Jaune asked. "Don't all the recruits have standard red armor?"

"We'd never be able to tell him apart from the others if he had red armor. I'm okay with the small change." Blake commented.

Grif appears running onto the bridge behind Simmons.

Grif: "(Gasping for breath) Hey guys... Whew! Thanks for... Thanks for waiting up."

Hammer: "Grif! We are not waiting for you!"

Grif: "(Still panting) Hey dude, what's the holdup?"

Simmons: "I just need a minute."

"It's interesting to see that they've known each other since basic training." Ren commented.

"Yeah they're like us! Most of uncle Qrow's huntsmen buddies are people he met after school." Ruby explained.

Yang frowned, I wonder what happened to all his friends from school besides team STRQ… nah who am I kidding? He didn't have any other friends, the prickly crow. Yang chuckled, shaking her head.

Hammer: "Don't let the CO down, Simmons!"

Simmons: "(whimpers) I'm torn between my two great loves: being alive and pleasing a superior."

"I have one of those great loves." Jaune remarked dryly.

"I'd hope that we all do." Pyrrha chuckled.

Hammer: "Just whatever you do, don't look down."

"Why do they always give that advice? My first instinct is to look down after that!" Jaune complained.

Grif: "Huh, what's that down there?"

Simmons looks down

Simmons: "Oh God!"

Yang laughed, "Nice move."

"Grif is clever in the worst way." Weiss chuckled.

Hammer: "God damn it."

Grif: "Nice! I guess we just live up here now, right? What's your name again?"

"Oh is this when they first met? Cool!" Ruby sat up.

Simmons: "(gags) I'm gonna throw up in my helmet."

"And helmet waste disposal never got out of beta." Yang laughed.

Jaune, Ruby, and Weiss gagged.

"Simmons would likely drown according to Delta.. though he may fall first." Ren deadpanned.

"Thanks Ren.. you do not need to do that." Jaune felt green.

Grif: "Eh, it doesn't matter. I'm Grif, by the way, and I think this is the beginning of a singularly beneficial relationship where you get me out of all these stupid boot camp drills."

"And do all the work. Grif was right." Jaune swallowed and coughed.

Hammer: "Grif, you get over here right now!"

Grif: "Yeah, how? Jump over him? Do you want me to fall and die? I'm not taking any unnecessary risks! (To Simmons) Dude, we have got it made."

They start getting shot at with a sniper rifle.

Grif: "What the fuck!? I thought this was training!"

Simmons: "Fuck this, I changed my mind! I wanna move again!"

The group laughed as the two ran.

A shot is fired in front of them, Hammer, Simmons, and Grif look down to see the Lieutenant is revealed to be the one shooting at them.

"They can shoot." Ruby giggled.

Lieutenant: "All three of you in my office now!"

Moves to the Lieutenant's office

Hammer: "Sir, these two showed willful insubordination to their company leader. Grif and Simmons colluded with each other in order to not complete the exercise."

"Simmons was too afraid to complete the exercise and Grif took advantage in order to not complete the exercise." Weiss corrected.

Grif: "Objection! I've never colluded in my life and I resent the implication."

Simmons: "Do you even know what collusion is?"

Grif: "...I plead the fifth, your Honor."

"The fifth what?" Nora asked, she received a shrug in answer.

Lieutenant: "(angrily) Enough! All three of you have been a disappointment to me. Hammer, you are not the leader you think you are. And Grif and Simmons, you two need to be whipped into shape."

"So they really did put the hammer down. They let him down." Yang snickered, "Nice."

"This show has always had great foreshadowing.. that also double as jokes." Blake commented.

Hammer: "We're sorry to let you down you, sir! It, uh, it won't happen again."

Grif: "Uh, he doesn't speak for me. I'm more 'mildly inconvenienced' than 'sorry'."

"It looks like Grif is just as insubordinate as always." Weiss sighed.

"You know, I'd think that you'd respect his defiance." Yang turned to Weiss, raising her eyebrows in question.

"I respect Lopez's defiance, not his laziness." Weiss explained.

Simmons: "What is wrong with you?!"

Lieutenant: "That's why... I'm sending you three... on a 'special mission'."

"That means suicide mission." Blake commented.

"It does!?" Nora and Ruby gasped in unison.

"Only in the show!" Blake hastily corrected herself.

Simmons: "(Gasps) A special mission...?!"

Hammer: "We'll make you proud, sir. I'm honored to accept."

Simmons: "B-but not as honored as I am. Sir!"

Grif: "Uh, dude. What is wrong with you?"

Scene changes to Timberland.

"It's cool to see new places in the old game." Jaune commented.

"Yeah, makes me want to play the game even more." Ruby sighed hopefully.

Scenes show of Hammer, Simmons, and Grif driving and then getting out of the Warthog

Lieutenant (voice only): "A Blue army battalion recently hit one of our outposts in Timberland. I'm sending you three out there on a recon mission to search for survivors and gather intel. You'll need to work together to complete this mission. Do not let me down."

"The reds and blues here sound a lot more.. competent than we've seen before." Weiss frowned. "Especially the lieutenant."

"He may be an agent of project freelancer.. agent as in a soldier from the project, not an actual agent." Pyrrha clarified. "And the others.. well not all of them can be idiots, some may just be normal soldiers with low test scores."

"It reminds me of how horrible it is that they were used as lab rats." Weiss shook her head.

Cut to Hammer looking at the base through a sniper rifle.

Hammer: "There's the base. We should move in."

Grif: "Move in?! What are you, nuts?!"

Simmons: "Yeah, I'm more in favor of gathering intel from a safe distance."

Hammers: "What do you consider a safe distance?"

Simmons: "What's the range on that sniper rifle?"

Ruby laughed, "That's really safe, their snipers have no bullet drop."

Hammer: "(sighs) Guys, I know we're all green here, but think about our comrades! Those filthy Blue bastards attacked them!"

Simmons: "Yeah, that's how war works, dumbass."

Grif: "Besides, we didn't know them. Those Reds could have been assholes."

"If everyone thought that way, then there would be no war." Ren hummed.

"You'd hope the sentiment would be, 'peace on Remnant' and not 'who cares?'." Pyrrha commented.

Grif: "I say we don't even worry about it and just go home. We got enough intel."

Hammer: "You listen here! I'm in charge and we need-"

Simmons: "Whoa, whoa, whoa, Lieutenant didn't put anyone in charge. We're supposed to work together."

"Is his name lieutenant?" Ruby asked.

"Like Sarge!" Nora laughed.

"Do you just name yourself a rank and become that rank in the red army?" Weiss rolled her eyes.

"My name is Queen!" Nora declared.

"No." The Ice Queen shook her head.

Grif: "I say we put it to a vote."

Hammer: "What?!"

Grif: "All in favor of not storming the base, say aye."

Grif and Simmons: "Aye!"

Grif: "Sorry, Hammer, but that's democracy."

"He's right." Ren pointed out.

"Now they really are colluding." Jaune added.

Hammer: "But…"

Simmons: "Hey, I don't make the rules, Hammer. I just follow them blindly and without question."

Hammer: "Well what do you propose we do, then?!"

Grif: "Well, we could stand here and ponder the big questions in life."

"Why are we here?" Ruby asked.

"It's one of life's-" Yang started.

"Stop it." Weiss cut her off.

Grif: "Like why did our CO send out three boot camp recruits on a deadly recon mission?"

"That's.. actually a good point." Weiss hummed.

"Like I said, it's a suicide mission." Blake explained.

Hammer: "Because he believes in us!"

Simmons: "Yeah you see, that's putting a lot of unwanted pressure on us, and I don't appreciate it."

Grif: "See? It's giving poor Simons here a panic attack."

"Simons." Nora giggled.

Simmons: "Simmons."

Grif: "Whatever."

"I still can't believe people call me Yong, it's Yang, with an A.N.G." Yang shook her head.

Hammer turns back to the base with a sniper rifle. He sees two Blue soldiers standing guard go back into the base.

Hammer: "It looks like they're changing shifts. If we go now we can sneak in."

Grif: "(to Simmons) I just do not understand this guy's desire to get us all killed."

"It's actually a good plan." Jaune commented. "But what intel can they gather?"

"They didn't really tell them what to do." Ruby shrugged.

Simmons: "Look, Hammer, I'm not one to cut corners, but I also know that statistically speaking, we are totally fucked."

Grif: "Let's just head back to base."

Hammer: "(sighs) Fine. Let's go."

Grif and Simmons cheer

Simmons: "Yeah! Democracy triumphs again!"

Grif: "America, bitch!"

"America is the country the states are in right?" Jaune asked.

"I believe so." Ren frowned.

Simmons and Grif head back to the Warthog, but Hammers doesn't follow and instead turns toward the base.

Shows Simmons and Grif running.

Grif: "See, we learned to work together. One day, everyone's gonna know and love the wonderful trio of Grif, Simmons-"

Radio static

Hammer: "(over the radio) Screw you guys! I'm a hero!"

"Uh nope, no wonderful trio. Red team already has a fanatic and that's Sarge." Ruby shook her head.

"Yeah! And no one can beat Sarge!" Nora crossed her arms.

Cut to Hammer running towards the base and entering.

Simmons: "(over the radio) What the fuck, bro?!"

Grif: "(over the radio) Every time you go against democracy, an eagle dies!"

"...That sounds like propaganda." Weiss commented.

"That just sounds weird.. an eagle?" Yang raised an eyebrow.

"Probably a symbol or mascot for democracy." Ren suggested.

Simmons and Grif turn back and run back to the cliff.

Hammer inside the base with an assault rifle. Beeping in the background.

"The blues left a bomb." Blake immediately surmised.

Hammer: "Hmm, no signs of survivors. (notices the beeping) What?"

Hammer sees an explosive with "C5" on the side and "Reds Suck" written next to it.

Nora giggled, "C5, I like that joke, I'll forgive the blues for the 'red sucks' they wrote."

Hammer: "Oh…"

Outside on the cliff with Simmons and Grif.

Simmons: "We could just leave him, you know?"

Loud explosion, fire comes out of the openings in the base.

Grif: "Jesus Christ!"

"It's still weird hearing them curse with words we don't use.. well a name but.." Yang shrugged.

Simmons: "Was that supposed to happen?!"

Grif: "How the hell should I know?!"

Simmons: "(turns on radio) Hammer? Buddy? Y-you okay...?"

Cut to Hammer's broken helmet near the base opening.

"No he is not, rest in peace Hammer." Yang shook her head.

Simmons: "(on radio) ...Hammer?"

Grif: "He's fuckin' dead, dude."

Grif and Simmons stare at the burning base for a few moments.

Simmons: "Well, what do we do now?"

Grif: "What we should've done five minutes ago."

Cut to Grif and Simmons returning to Red Base with soldiers doing drills in the background.

"I'm surprised they formed a bond so fast, I thought they hated each other at first." Pyrrha commented.

"Me too, they're already friends that hate each other." Yang nodded.

"That's essentially most of the friendships in this show." Weiss added.

Simmons: "I feel kinda bad for him."

Grif: "Meh, the way I see it, we did him a favor. He wanted to go out a hero."

Simmons: "So what, is that we're gonna tell everyone?!"

Cut to Simmons and Grif telling the 'story' to the other boot camp recruits.

Ruby, Yang, and Nora laughed.

Simmons: "...and then, Hammer heroically sacrificed himself to save us! We got out just as the bomb detonated!"

"This is pathetic." Weiss shook her head.

"And disrespectful." Pyrrha added, "And Grif somehow managed to rope Simmons in."

Grif: "(sniffle) He... he went out a hero."

Soldiers cheer

Red Soldier: "Wait a minute, why didn't Hammer just leave with you guys instead of letting the bomb go off?"

Simmons: "Hey man, don't disgrace Hammer's memory like that!"

"I believe they're the ones doing that." Weiss added.

Grif: "Yeah, rude. Oh, a-and also, he said that we're also all heroes, and that we should get the next two weeks off. And, uh, and I think we should honor his dying wish."

"Wow.. that's low, even for him." Weiss shook her head.

Yang burst out laughing, "No it's perfect!"

"The 'I think we should honor his dying wish' sells it." Blake sarcastically remarked.

Lieutenant: "Simmons! Grif!"

Simmons and Grif turn to see the Lieutenant behind them.

"I don't think he bought it." Ruby whispered.

Lieutenant: "Good work on that mission recruits."

The other soldiers leave in the background.

"Nevermind." Ruby giggled.

Grif: "Really?"

Simmons: "Thank you, sir."

Grif: "Yeah-ha, I mean I thought it went about as bad as it could possibly go. Uh, n-not that I'm complaining. I'm not."

Lieutenant: "Yeah, it's a... damn shame about Hammer. But we got all the intel Command needed, and I have some good news for you two."

Grif: "Is it that the war's over and you're sending us home?!"

"Get the confetti." Yang ordered.

Lieutenant: "(laughs) No, Grif. I'm authorizing your training as complete, and you're both being reassigned to a 'special' outpost."

"Blood Gulch is definitely special." Weiss agreed.

Simmons: "Reassigned?"

Grif: "Special?"

Lieutenant: "You'll be leaving immediately. Thank you for your service, boys."

Simmons: "But, I like it here! You're a great leader, sir!"

Grif: "Is it too late to let you know that we didn't actually do anything and Hammer died a foolish death?"

Weiss chuckled, "I think it's too late for that, I think their reassignment is punishment."

"Grif admits to insubordination a lot, he's always so proud of it." Blake noted.

"He should be, he works hard to do nothing." Yang laughed.

Lieutenant: "(annoyed) That'll be all, Privates."

Simmons: "Hey, wait, where are we being assigned to?"

Grif: "Does it at least have a better name than Danger Canyon?"

"Danger Canyon and Blood Gulch.. very creative." Blake rolled her eyes with a grin.

Fade to another area of the base and pans to the left to Captain Flowers looking through a window. The Lieutenant runs up to him.

Lieutenant: "Are you sure about this, Captain? These are the worst soldiers I have ever seen in my life. Why would you want them?"

"Is that Agent Florida?" Ruby pointed.

"I think so." Blake squinted.

Butch Flowers/Agent Florida: "(looking down at Simmons and Grif) Don't you worry your pretty little head, sport. I have big plans for our little privates. And please…"

Reveals the soldier to be Captain Butch Flowers

Butch Flowers: "...call me Cappy."

The episode ends.

"It is him, that makes sense." Jaune leaned back. "He sounds a lot more threatening now than he did before."

"A villain named cappy.. only in Red vs Blue." Weiss chuckled.

"The lieutenant is probably a Project Freelancer soldier in charge of training recruits for the simulation bases. Agent Florida is picking the worst soldiers so that no one ever wins in Blood Gulch and the Alpha is hidden in plain sight." Blake explained.

"So he's the reason that specifically Grif and Simmons are at Blood Gulch- that's why they're there! I mean I know it's because of the Director but- flowers! He's why Grif and Simmons are there!" Jaune's eyes widened.

"We finally know the answer to the question in episode one." Blake chuckled. "They stumbled their way into Blood Gulch."