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Chapter 23- Hit and Run

"Hopefully his mission goes better than theirs." Weiss commented.

"Hit and Run" appeared on screen with the theme.

"I hope you've never done that." Weiss turned to Yang.

"Only to criminals." Yang smirked.

Open on a shot of a tree. Cut to Felix standing before Tucker and his squad as "F.A.C. OUTPOST 22" appears on screen.

Felix: "It doesn't look good, guys. They've really beefed up their security."

"So scale of one to ten? Pretty fucked." Yang quipped.

"I'm sure Tucker and his men along with Felix are better equipped for this than the others." Weiss commented.

"I don't think Kimball would let him go if he wasn't ready." Ruby added.

Rogers: "Why? What's goin' on?"

Felix: "Well, it could be that someone from up top is coming to visit. Ooor it could be a response to the weapons I stole from this place a few weeks ago."

Tucker: "(sarcastically) Geez, I wonder which one it is."

Palomo: "Uughh I mean..I think it's pretty obvious it's the weapons…"

Tucker: "Stop talking."

"Tucker really doesn't like Palomo." Jaune frowned.

"He's turning into Church." Ruby grinned.

Felix: "We're gonna have to go with Plan B."

Tucker: "Wait, whaddya mean? What's Plan B?"

Felix: "We plant C4, we leave and then we blow this outpost to hell."

Tucker: "What!?"

Felix: "It's a standard hit and run. I've done it a million times, we'll be fine."

Blake nodded, "I've done many of those kinds of hit and runs too. Though we always made sure to keep civilians out of it." Until Adam stopped caring, and I left. "It's not hard."

"That's a scary thought." Weiss frowned.

Blake gave her a sympathetic smile, "Believe me, I know."

Tucker: "Uh, actually no we'll not be fine. I thought you said we came here to gather intelligence? That's gonna be pretty fucking difficult when their computer system is in about forty thousand pieces!"

"It'd be like a puzzle!" Nora gasped and crossed her arms. "I hate puzzles."

Felix: "Okay, I get that you wanna save your friends. I do. Really. But data retrieval is no longer an option. Once we find out where they're holding Wash and the others, the New Republic will do everything they can to save them. (sighs) But today isn't that day."

Tucker: "(sighs) Yeah, whatever."

I wonder if the new republic doesn't want to rescue them, because then they won't get help from the reds and blues they have. Blake thought.

Felix: "Now, we've only got one active camo unit. Tucker, that's going to you. It's a little damaged, so try not to run it constantly. Only when you need to disappear. Got it?"

Tucker: "Got it."

Felix: "As for the rest of you, that's up to your Captain…"

Tucker looks at his squad.

Tucker: "Ooooh. Right!"

Tucker then whips out his sword.

Jaune raised an eyebrow, curious.

Cut to two Fed specialists pulling up in a warthog and entering the cave. They inspect a cable that Tucker cut.

Fed specialist 1: "Ah, here's the problem. The rats must have chewed through the wire."

"Oh he cut it." Jaune realized.

Fed specialist 2: "That is a military grade reinforced power cable. What kind of rats are you talkin' about?"

Fed specialist 1: "...Space rats?"

Fed specialist 2: "...Yeah I could see that."

Rogers and Cunningham knock out the two.

Fed specialist 1: "Aagh! The back of my head!"

Jaune, Yang, Ruby, and Nora laughed at the callback.

Cut to a Rebel helmet being tossed into an armor pile.

Tucker: "Perfect!"

Cut to Rogers and Cunningham in Federal armor.

Tucker: "Now, you look just like the rest of those assholes."

Felix: "That was stupidly fortunate."

Blake smiled, "I wonder if that's a subtle nod to Locus."

"What do you mean?" Jaune asked.

"Locus says unfortunate often, and Felix just said the opposite." Blake explained.

"Blake… that's really reaching." Yang pointed out.

Ruby nodded.

"I read a lot, good writers put little nods like that into their writing." Blake explained. "It's not a reach."

Tucker: "Waddya mean?"

Felix: "I mean, what if we had ended up with two really fat bad guys? What size are you, Cunningham? Like a medium?"

Cunningham: "Youth extra large, Sir."

"Oh me too!" Ruby admitted proudly.

"More like a youth medium." Yang hummed looking Ruby over.

"My hoodie is a youth extra large." Jaune smiled, "I like it. But if I wear a youth extra large.. how do you? The sizes are completely different."

"It's because girl clothes are the worst, and the sizes are different for every brand and sometimes even for the same brand!" Ruby threw her hands up.

Felix: "See? Whole plan. Whole plan would've been ruined. You think just 'cause you watch something on TV, that it's a good idea?"

"Sometimes." Ruby and Jaune chorused.

Weiss and Ren shook their heads.

Tucker: "You don't? (to Cunningham) Also, really man? Youth extra large?"

Cunningham: "It's very slimming, Sir."

Ruby nodded, Jaune shook his head. "My hoodie isn't tight at all."

Palomo: "Heeeey uhhh. What about me? Do I get a disguise?"

Tucker: "No. Palomo, you're guarding our escape route."

Palomo: "Oh, okay."

Tucker: "It's because I don't trust you."

Palomo: "Got it."

Tucker: "Honestly, if you were out in the field, you'd probably get all of us killed."

Palomo: "I can totally see that. Yeah. Yeah, that'd be me."

"Well, it appears he has a reason not to like Palomo." Pyrrha shrugged.

"I'm noticing a lot of similarities between Palomo and Neptune. Just what those similarities are, I haven't a clue." Weiss drawled sarcastically.

Felix: "Alright. Let's go to work…"

Cut to the four of them sneaking into the outpost. Felix sneaks off to the side, while Rogers, Cunningham and an invisible Tucker walk further into the base.

Cunningham: "(sighs) Okay, just play it cool."

Rogers: "You- you really think this plan is gonna work? I know the Reds and Blues are supposed to be like war heroes. But, they all seem kinda dumb."

The group chuckled.

Tucker: "(voice only) Dude, I'm invisible, not deaf."

Rogers: "Oh... Sorry, Sir."

"I don't see Tucker." Ruby frowned.

"He's invisible?" Weiss raised an eyebrow.

"Usually they have a blurry outline." Blake pointed out.

Pan to Felix.

Felix: "(over radio) Okey dokey, boys. Everyone take your modified sticky detonators, find something that looks expensive and strap a bomb to it. As soon as you're done, head back to the cave."

At SDC outposts that meant anything and everything. Blake thought.

Rogers: "(over radio) You sure you're gonna be okay out there in your armor, Sir?"

Felix: "(chuckles) Don't worry about me, kid."

A Federal trooper appears behind Felix.

Fed trooper: "Freeze!"

Felix quickly pulls out his knife and throws it. Cut to a rear view of the Fed getting stabbed and falling over. Felix clenches his fist in a 'yes!' gesture.

Felix: "I am fucking awesome!"

Pyrrha glanced between Jaune and Felix. "Felix is a little full of himself."

"Hey he's right though, he is awesome!" Jaune agreed with Felix's statement.

Cut to Tucker uncloaking by a building with his detonator.

Tucker: "Okay, bomb. Do me a favor and don't go off in my face. (looks to his side) Am I right? ...Who am I talking to?"

"Lopez insulted Simmons for talking out loud to himself." Weiss recalled with a chuckle.

Fed trooper 1: "(voice only) You mean, he's here?"

Tucker: "(whispering) Shit."

Tucker peeks around the corner at two Feds talking.

Fed trooper 2: "Yep, just came in from the city."

"Someone from up top." Jaune realized. "Felix said that they might have got tighter security because of someone coming in."

"Who do you think it is?" Ruby asked.

Jaune shrugged, "It could be the leader of the Federal Army."

Blake nodded, "We've seen the New Republic's leader, I want to see what the Federal Army's leader is like."

Fed trooper 1: "They still got the Freelancer up there?"

Fed trooper 2: "I dunno. Look it up inside."

Fed trooper 1: "Fuuuuck that. I'm not gonna let him catch me slacking off."

The troopers run off.

Tucker: "(whispering) Wash."

"Well now he knows where he can get his info before the computer is in a million pieces." Yang leaned back.

Felix: "(over radio) Tucker, what's your status?"

Tucker: "Good. Good. Aaalmost done."

Cut to a fed monitoring a computer inside a lab. Tucker raises his detonator to the back of the soldier's head.

Tucker: "Don't move!"

Fed: "(turning) What the?"

Tucker: "I said don't move! Turning is moving!"

Fed: "(turns back) Uurgh…"

Tucker: "Alright, I want like a hard drive or something. With base locations and classified shit. And any info you've got on Agent Washington and the other guys you kidnapped a while back."

"Tucker is smart to stand far back. I stood too close to Torchwick when I had a sword to his throat." Blake commented.

"He was really tricky." Ruby grimaced. "But Tucker is holding a sticky detonator."

"Not the best weapon for what he's doing." Blake nodded.

Fed: "Okay. Just take it easy."

Rogers: "(over radio) Captain, we're almost done. Where are you?"

Tucker: "I'm in the lab. Give me a second."

Felix: "(over radio) You're what!?"

Tucker: "Dude, chill out. I got this."

Felix: "Are you fucking kidding me! I specifically told you not to- (Tucker cuts off the transmission)"

Tucker: "Thank you, mute button."

"It's so cool hearing you get mad, Jaune!" Nora commented.

"I get mad." Jaune defended, then got confused. Why did I defend that?

"Felix curses with so much venom." Pyrrha commented. "It's a little disturbing to hear." she glanced at Jaune.

Fed: "Alright. The files are copying over to a flash drive."

Tucker: "Sweet."

Tucker knocks out the soldier.

Tucker: "Ha ha! Look who's dumb now!"

Cunningham comes up behind Tucker.

Cunningham: "Hey."

Tucker: "I surrender!"

Cunningham: "No, sir. It's me, Cunningham."

"Tucker was quick to give up." Nora pouted.

"He didn't want to get shot." Jaune pointed out.

Tucker: "Oh, right."

Cunningham: "You turned off your radio. Everything okay?"

Tucker: "Yeah, sorry. I was kinda in the middle of something."

Cunningham: "Well, we've gotta go. Like now."

"The download is going really fast." Jaune commented.

"That's how you know this show isn't real." Ruby giggled.

Tucker: "Right, absolutely. (looks at the download) Just one more minute."

Cunningham: "Sir, but I think the Feds are onto us."

Tucker: "Okay okay. We can gooooooooo…"

The download completes. Tucker grabs the drive and cloaks.

Tucker: "...Now!"

A shotgun blast is heard.

Ruby, Weiss, and Jaune flinched.

Cunningham's body and an empty shotgun shell drop to the floor. Cut to Locus lowering his shotgun, with two Fed troopers standing beside him. Tucker crouches.

Tucker: "(whispering) Oh shit."

Locus steps forward and examines Cunningham's body.

"Someone up top." Jaune sighed, "Locus."

"No wonder no one wanted to get caught slacking off." Yang added.

"That came out of nowhere." Ruby added with a wince. "How did he know? Cunningham was disguised."

"Locus is smart." Blake explained.

Palomo: "(over radio) Cunningham? Uh Everything okay? Uh Jason? Man, what's going on? guys? Uhh Cunningham isn't responding."

"The way he said Jason, that's a small gut-punch." Yang chuckled.

"It used to be no big deal when random soldiers died." Nora pouted. "Now they get names and friends."

"The show getting so serious really crept up on us." Jaune added.

Locus: "We have been infiltrated. Sound the alarm."

The two Fed troopers leave the lab. Locus glances at the 'transfer complete' computer display and the Fed Tucker knocked out. Locus raises his gun and slowly walks forward. Cut to Locus approaching from Tucker's point of view. "Equipment Malfunction" flashes on Tucker's HUD.

The entire group tensed, some more than others. Ruby and Jaune the most with Ren and Blake tensing the least.

Locus hears an explosion and turns around right as Tucker's camo fails.

Locus: "Grrrrr…"

Locus leaves the lab. Tucker looks at the bodies of Cunnuningham and the Fed trooper.

Tucker: "(quietly) Ah, fuck…"

"That was close." Jaune let out a sigh of relief.

Felix: "(Over radio) Goddammit! Everyone move! We are aborting the mission!"

"At least he got the drive." Nora mumbled.

"But Cunningham died, we don't really know him but. One of his men died." Ruby grimaced.

"Not everyone makes it back." Jaune sighed, recalling Felix's words.

"Tucker is very lucky that Locus didn't see him." Blake commented.

"The explosion distracted him, he would have found him if it wasn't for that." Ruby added.

Cut to three Feds searching on top of a building. A bomb explodes and sends them flying. Cut to Felix behind a crate as more bombs explode and Feds run around in the background.

Felix: "I detonated some of the C4's as a distraction, so get out now!"

Cut to Rogers planting a bomb in a hallway and running off.

Felix: "(over radio) There's a good chance they'll be searching for, and disarming the bombs."

Blake nodded, "It's the standard."

"But the bombs are going off as they're looking for them?" Jaune pointed out.

"Defusing bombs is really dangerous." Nora explained solemnly.

Rogers: "Ah, man…"

As Rogers runs out a trooper running by stops him.

Fed trooper 3: "Hey, you! Stop!"

Blake winced, he's caught.

Rogers: "Uuuh...Yes?"

Fed trooper 3: "You're a specialist, right? Come on man, we need your help."

Rogers: "Oh...Great."

Cut to Tucker running up a hill. Three Feds pass behind him.

Tucker: "Shit!"

Tucker keeps running through the base with chaos all around him.

Tucker: "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!"

"I imagine that is what goes through either dork's mind when things go wrong." Weiss commented.

"Probably." Yang snickered at the mental image.

"Sun has admitted it to me." Blake added.

Tuckers runs into the cave and comes face to face with Palomo.

Palomo: "Tucker!"

Tucker: "(Jumping back) Jesus, dude!"

Palomo: "Are you okay? What happened?"

Tucker: "No! I mean yes I'm fine! Where's Felix and Rogers?"

Cut to Rogers and several Feds standing around a bomb.

Fed trooper 3: "Here."

"Clever." Yang commented.

"I like their transitions." Ruby added.

Rogers: "Oh."

Fed trooper 3: "You can disarm this, right?"

Rogers: "I ugh...No I…"

Fed trooper 4: "Waddya mean 'no'!? This is your job!"

"They are literally huddling around a bomb." Yang pointed out.

"Like the Reds!" Nora giggled, recalling when Sarge made a plan to find Andy and huddle around him.

Rogers: "Right, no I know ugh...I know."

Random Fed: "(voice only) Intruder!"

Cut to Felix running from a hail of bullets. He hides from three troopers behind a tree. Taking a deep breath, he jumps out and deflects their shots with his shield then shoots each soldier.

Ruby grinned, "That was so cool! He even took a breath so his aim would be steady." I like that little detail.

Cut to another Fed charging at Felix.

Fed: "Yaaaaaaaaggghhh!"

The scene goes into slow motion as Felix kicks the soldier's legs out from under him.

Felix: "Right."

"He's also very quick to react, I wonder if he's on the level of the freelancers." Pyrrha commented.

Felix backs up to Tucker and Palomo at the cave entrance.

Felix: "Talk to me people! Where's Rogers?"

Tucker: "Not here!"

Felix: "Cunningham?"

Tucker: "...Locus got him."

"I think Tucker feels like it's his fault." Jaune commented.

"Felix knew it was too dangerous for a data retrieval mission." Blake pointed out.

Jaune nodded, "He should have stuck with the plan, I know he wanted to find everyone but.. Felix knows what he's doing."

"Yeah, don't disobey orders!" Nora shouted. "We won't ever do that to you Jaune."

"No- if I make bad decisions you can disobey them." Jaune scrambled to clarify.

"Jaune, we trust your decisions. You haven't led us wrong so far." Pyrrha smiled.

Felix: "Locus is here!?"

Locus is seen uncloaking through Felix's scope.

"That's unsettling." Weiss grimaced.

"I hate to say it but Locus is a badass." Yang commented.

"Blasphemy!" Nora shouted. "Nah I'm kidding he's kind of cool. But a little boring."

"He only cares about getting the job done." Jaune explained. "He probably sees anything else as a waste of time."

"Yeah, but life isn't just about fighting. He's so predictable." Nora explained.

"Predictable character wise.. at least so far. We still don't know his character that well. But in battle he has shown how unpredictable he really is." Blake commented.

Palomo ducks Locus' sniper shot.

Felix: "Run!"

Palomo: "What about Rogers!?"

Felix pulls out his detonator.

Felix: "Get down!"

Tucker: "No wait!"

Felix pulls the trigger. All bombs start beeping. Cut to Rogers and the Feds.

Rogers: "Oh son of a bi-"

The bomb explodes. Cut to black.

The group winced.

"Both of his men died, I think only Palomo is left." Jaune sighed.

"In the beginning of this episode Tucker said Palomo would get them all killed. But in a way, Tucker got his men killed instead. His plan did at least." Blake explained.

"Cunningham is one thing, but with Rogers it's not his fault." Jaune pointed out.

"I know, Rogers could have walked away from the bomb. He should have made an excuse and ran away." Blake agreed.

Kind of a meh episode for reactions, let me know what you think!

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