Author's Note:

Thank you Guest PTM for pointing something out I never realized.


Cover Art: Cruz7808

Check my profile for polls and planned fics!

Review, point out mistakes, and flame!

Instagram: Ceruleanlancer to see fan-art


Chapter 33- The Reunion

"The Reunion" appeared on screen with the theme

"The reds and blues reuniting with Church and Carolina." Blake hummed.

Fade in to reveal the Blood Gulch Crew and Dr. Grey at Carolina and Church's secret hideout. Carolina's Suppressor is seen in the background. Dr. Grey is seen using her medical scanner to treat Carolina's thigh wound.

Carolina: "How bad is it?"

"PRESENT DAY…"

Dr. Grey: "Well, fortunately, he missed your femoral artery."

Carolina: "That's good."

"FOREST BASE" appeared on screen.

Pyrrha nodded, "If Felix's knife had hit her femoral artery she would have died without immediate assistance."

"It's a good thing Dr. Blake is there to help." Yang grinned.

"I'm glad that my character is a doctor and not a medic." Blake grinned a little.

Dr. Grey: "(stands) No sweetie, you had a knife inside of you. That's the opposite of good."

Carolina: "Call me 'sweetie' again, and there'll be a knife inside of you."

"I cannot imagine you ever calling anyone sweetie." Yang turned to Blake.

"Me neither." Blake chuckled.

Pyrrha's face flushed, "I wouldn't be so ungrateful after having my leg treated."

"You would appreciate being called sweetie if you were in Carolina's place?" Yang wiggled her eyebrows.

The implication was not lost on Pyrrha or Blake. Pyrrha crossed her arms and straightened up with a slight blush. "I would appreciate her help."

Dr. Grey: "Oooooh, you're hostile! I'd love to psychoanalyze you."

Carolina: "(annoyed) The leg, please!"

Dr. Grey: "Oh, yes. Be sure not to put any unnatural strain on those muscles. If you reopen the wound, it won't be pretty."

Blake and Pyrrha grimaced.

Church appears next to Carolina.

Church: "Great. Hey, way to go, Carolina. Taken out by an over-sized steak knife."

Carolina: "Well maybe if someone had remembered to account for hidden blades…"

Church: "Hey, I'm an A.I., not a babysitter."

"If he can do a Bioscan then he can check for hidden blades." Ruby crossed her arms.

"But he makes a good point, always assume an opponent has another weapon." Pyrrha advised. "Carolina made a mistake."

Dr. Grey stands up behind them.

Dr. Grey: "Sooooooooo, there's a tiny ghost man here. Anyone care to introduce me?"

Caboose: "Oh that's Church. Yeah, he had to leave for a while but I knew he would come back!"

Tucker: "Bullshit, you were totally depressed."

Caboose: "Pssh, ah what?! No! No, Tucker! You're not remembering that right! No, I would not do something like that. I would not spiral downward into an emotional state of evidence and try to fill the remains with a mechanical pet just because I miss Church! Stupid Tucker."

Pyrrha chuckled and shook her head. "I'm glad Wash could help Caboose when he needed it."

"Me too." Blake nodded.

"Caboose denying that reminds me of when Church denied time travelling." Jaune chuckled. "He was kind of right though, it was all a simulation Gamma ran."

Dr. Grey: "Oh (looks at Carolina) forget you, I wanna analyze him."

"I'd love to see Caboose's psych profile." Blake admitted.

"You and Dr. Grey are both good at reading people." Yang complimented. "What do you think his psych profile would look like?"

"You're a better judge of character than me." Blake admitted, "What do you think?"

Yang smiled at the compliment, "Thanks Blake, but now that I think about it. I don't think anyone can know what's going on in Caboose's head. Even when Church went in there it never made any sense."

Wash: "Dr. Grey, this is Agent Carolina. She and I were operatives for Project Freelancer. As for Church, he's an artificial intelligence fragment from the same organization. Codename: Epsilon. And to make a long story short, he kind of used to be the leader of blue team before I showed up."

Church: "(appearing in front of Wash) And tried to murder us."

Wash: "That was a misunderstanding."

"What was there that he misunderstood? He didn't want to go to jail. He decided not to ask for the Epsilon unit." Blake looked down. "His intentions were very clear."

Church: "I know, I'm just sayin', don't gloss over the good parts."

Tucker: "At least he didn't abandon us."

Dr. Grey: "(joyfully) Psychoanalyses for everyone!"

"I'd love to see all of their psych profiles." Blake chuckled.

"Me too." Ren nodded.

"I can assume their personalities would baffle and amaze any psychologist." Pyrrha chuckled.

"Dr. Grey seems just as crazy as they are. I think she might understand them." Blake guessed.

Donut: "Oh boy, can I go first? I have got a lot of things crammed inside me!"

Yang burst out laughing, Weiss groaned.

"Donut clearly supports good mental health." Blake commented dryly.

Sarge: "Now hold up just a second. I wanna know what in the name of Benedict Arnold Palmer is going on around here! We've been tricked, we've been backstabbed and we've been quite possibly, bamboozled."

"That could be a meme." Jaune mumbled.

"I'd say they have been bamboozled." Ruby said in her best authoritative doctor voice.

Grif: "Yeah, and whenever that shit starts happening, it typically means you Freelancers had something to do with it."

"Project Freelancer is why they were in Blood Gulch in the first place." Ren nodded.

"And every time they've been tricked or backstabbed before now it's been because of the project in some way. Even with C.T." Jaune added.

Carolina: "Project Freelancer is gone. We all saw to that."

Dr. Grey: "'Colorful Space Marines Stop Corruption.' That was the news article Locus brought General Doyle when he suggested we find you. I always thought the title was meant to describe your appearances, but, now I think I get what the writer was going for."

"Their personalities are a lot more colorful than they are." Pyrrha chuckled.

"They are monochromatic." Ren nodded.

"Their language is also more colorful than they are." Weiss grumbled.

"So that's why they're famous. They had a news article and everything." Jaune's eyes widened. "I bet Felix showed the New Republic the same article."

Carolina: "What I'm saying is that Project Freelancer isn't behind any of this. This is, something else."

Tucker: "Hmm, the plot thickens."

"There have been a lot more meta jokes in this trilogy than in the past." Weiss noted. "Sarge even looked directly at the camera last season."

"I think Tucker is being passive aggressive towards Church." Ruby frowned.

"Tucker isn't being very passive about his aggression." Jaune sat up.

Church: "Look, man, after we crashed, Carolina picked up a transmission. A couple of assholes were talking about selling cloaking equipment to another couple of assholes. There was no way we were gonna let that slide. So, she decided to leave, I decided to go with her! Figured you guys would be fine, OK?"

"Is that his justification? Yeah it was important but they CRASHED!" Yang threw her hands up. "They abandoned them without even saying goodbye or letting them know where they were going."

"It was awful of them to do, their mission was important but very wrong to do it before they could help the others." Pyrrha crossed her arms.

Tucker: "(sarcastic) Oh, yeah, totally. We were totally fine, just doing our thing, hanging out, drinking margaritas, getting captured by evil mercenaries. Grreat time!"

Church: "Ohh, man, Tucker, I am so sorr-, I mean it, my sincerest apologies, I had no idea that you had turned into such a whiny bitch while I was gone."

"He said that with so much venom." Ruby winced.

"The fuck is wrong with Church?" Yang growled. "He's always been an asshole but this is on another level."

"Don't leave out Carolina." Pyrrha reminded her. "She may have just saved their lives but she still has to explain herself and apologize."

The others all nodded in agreement, even Ruby.

"I understand why they left.. They had something really important to do. It would be different if the others were safe and in Blood Gulch. But they weren't." Ruby sighed. Them leaving reminds me of mom.. but with mom it was different. She always went to see me and Yang before she left on a mission. And it was her job.. Carolina and Church just left.

Yang huffed, Carolina and Church's justification better not be hers. Even if the reds and blues were safe in Blood Gulch it wouldn't justify leaving without a goodbye.

Tucker shoots Church, but the bullet passes through his projection. Church appears before Tucker.

Church: "And you still haven't grasped the concept of a hologram. Man, you're just having a really tough time today, aren't you, buddy?"

Nothing would piss me off more than a hologram being an asshole. I wouldn't be able to shut them up. Yang's fists clenched.

Simmons: "Man, and I thought we had issues."

Sarge: "Heh, this is better than any daytime television drama. And that's some quality programming."

Donut: "Maybe Church will turn out to be someone's long-lost brother."

"In a way he did turn out to be Carolina's long lost brother." Ruby commented.

Grif: "I think we've had enough plot twists for one lifetime."

"There it is again." Weiss mumbled.

Donut: "And his real name is Horatio!"

"Donut was half-right." Yang chuckled, letting out a sigh as her anger left her.

Sarge: "I'd watch it."

Wash: "Alright enough. Tucker, there's no way they could have known all of this would happen. Right now we need to focus on the bigger issues at hand. Even if Epsilon is being a prick."

"Wash makes a good point, if they were in Blood Gulch." Blake frowned.

"He also made another good point, they have bigger things to worry about now." Jaune nodded.

"There's still time for Carolina and Church to apologize for leaving." Pyrrha glared at the screen. "Wash is also right about him being a prick."

Church: "Oh, don't you start too."

Carolina: "We started investigating. And it didn't take long for us to realise that something was very wrong with this planet. Abandoned cities, Soldiers everywhere. We kept to the shadows and gathered as much intel as we could, and what we found was worse than I had anticipated."

"Abandoned cities and soldiers everywhere." Blake recalled Dr. Grey's words. "Everyone not walking around in armor is dead. No civilians."

Wash: "How so?"

Carolina: "This third faction on Chorus, these space pirates, have managed to acquire Freelancer equipment and are manufacturing more advanced versions of it on a mass scale. Versions that don't require the assistance of an A.I."

"I never thought about that. Locus and the Feds have been able to cloak themselves but they don't have A.I. Tex needed Omega for that." Jaune commented.

Ruby grimaced as she remembered Felix's words, "Technology is incredible and everyone uses it to kill each other."

"Locus and Felix are space pirates- or mercenaries whatever you want to call them. Either way, despite the fact that they aren't from project freelancer. They're still using the remnants of the project to trick and backstab the reds and blues." Blake grimaced.

"Don't forget bamboozle." Nora chimed in.

Simmons: "But how is that possible? I thought the UNSC confiscated everything Project Freelancer ever created."

Carolina: "They did, but then they put those creations on a ship, and that ship crashed here."

The group's eyes widened.

Tucker: "Wait, what?"

Church: "Guys, don't you think it's a little weird that our transport vessel also happen to be carrying tons of weapons and vehicles, and that it just so happened to magically crash on a planet in need of those kind of things."

Wash: "What exactly are you suggesting?"

Carolina: "Someone wanted our ship to crash."

"So they put the Reds and Blues on it! Because they knew they would be idiots and crash the ship!" Weiss gasped.

Nora opened her mouth and closed it, "Wow! Great minds think alike huh Weiss?"

Weiss blanched, "You had the same theory?"

Nora nodded proudly. Weiss blushed, "Oh.. nevermind."

"So.. they wanted the ship to crash because it had all those fancy weapons and stuff on it?" Ruby asked.

Weiss took a breath, "Church seemed to imply that someone ensured that those weapons made it onto the ship and ensured that it crashed."

Brief pause.

Simmons: "Soooo, what you're saying is, there's no way any of us could be responsible for the crash."

Carolina: "I..., well..., yes. Why do you ask?"

Cut to the UNSC ship, near the maintenance area.

The group began to laugh, all recognizing the gag.

Simmons exits maintenance and is approached by a UNSC spaceship operator.

Spaceship Operator: "Sir, this area is reserved for authorized personnel only. What were you doing in there?"

Simmons: "Oh! Sorry, I just noticed you guys were using a really outdated web browser. I went ahead and updated it for you. Now it's the one NASA uses! Heh, no need to thank me."

"He updated their web browser? But all the old ones are better." Jaune frowned.

"Only because we grew up on them." Yang pointed out.

Spaceship Operator: "Those are the ship's navigation systems! You can't just update that stuff!"

Simmons: "Tell me about it! Once I started with the browser, I couldn't stop myself from changing the graphics card too!"

Spaceship Operator: "You WHAT?!"

"Is.. is Simmons confusing the ship with a PC?" Jaune asked.

"It is the master race." Yang rolled her eyes.

"The what?" Blake asked.

"Nerd thing, ignore us." Yang chuckled.

"It's not though, consoles are fun too." Ruby pouted.

"Because they have exclusives, besides I bet you like the controller more than anything. Just plug a controller into a PC and you'll realize how much better it is." Jaune smiled.

"What are- nevermind." Weiss heeded Yang's advice.

"It's easier to play with friends on consoles." Ruby argued.

"No it's not, it's about the same. Consoles are just what you're used to." Jaune countered.

"This isn't the time for this argument." Yang groaned.

Simmons: "And the motherboard. And the fan. And- oh hey, by the way! Uh, I'm glad you're here. How do you feel about acrylic window panels?"

"Ohh I do like being able to see all the glowy parts of PC's." Ruby admitted.

Spaceship Operator: "I…"

Simmons: "The answer is, you'll love 'em."

The ship's alarm goes off. Cut back to the forest base.

Jaune, Ruby, and Yang all laughed.

Wash, Tucker, Simmons, Grif, and Sarge: "No reason!"

Pyrrha frowned, "All except Caboose, Donut, and Lopez defended themselves."

"Well Donut and Lopez weren't on the ship." Jaune pointed out.

"But Caboose was.." Pyrrha trailed off.

"Don't tell me that out of all of them he actually didn't do anything to cause the ship to crash." Weiss facepalmed. "That reflects very poorly on the others."

"I guess in this case he wasn't the vehicle destroyer." Pyrrha smiled.

"But it might be that none of them caused the ship to crash." Jaune pointed out.

"They definitely did something to the ship." Weiss sighed.

Church appears next to Carolina.

Church: "Uh, you guys are missing the point! Someone managed to ensure that Freelancer equipment made it right here; to this tiny rock in the middle of space. These guys aren't just some-just some asshole raiders and mercenaries; they're organized, and they've managed to work their way into our own forces!"

"Our own forces? He never picked a side." Ruby frowned. "I'm glad that he still thinks of himself as part of them though."

"What he's saying is distressing but true." Pyrrha added.

"If they're space pirates, they have a captain." Jaune agreed.

Carolina: "In short, we have no idea who we can trust until we find the people behind all of this."

Tucker: "Okay, hold up, aren't we all forgetting something here?"

Caboose: "Ah! Yesterday was Mother's Day."

Ruby, Yang, Nora, Ren, Weiss, and Blake all felt a small pang of grief for one reason or another. It was just another small reminder of their own pain regarding their mother's. It was an annoying throb that was uninvited yet there.

Tucker: "There are two armies that are ready to blow each other's brains out thanks to Locus and Felix. We gotta tell them they're being used."

Carolina: "That's... not going to be easy."

Tucker: "What do you mean? We've got those teleporter cubes. That's how we got here right? Let's just zap ourselves over to the New Republic."

"Yeah they can zap over, tell them everything. Then zap over to the Feds, tell them everything. And zap away before Felix and Locus can do anything. Right?" Nora asked.

Ruby and Jaune shook their heads.

"The first thing Locus and Felix will do is cover their tracks. They have their respective leader's trust and definitely have some convincing lies to tell them now." Jaune explained.

"And they have those guys that can turn invisible and turn anyone to dust." Ruby grimaced. "I bet they're guarding the generals and making sure none of them can get close."

Church: "Tucker, we've only got a few of those things left, they're kinda tricky to use, they put an enormous strain on the physical body, which, by the way, all of you have. That's not even the main problem though."

Carolina: "Those two mercenaries are thorough. They've got some sort of radio jammer set up that only allow broadcasting on certain frequencies, and they monitor all other open channels."

Fade to a flashback of Locus arriving at the forest base. He approaches a radio set up nearby.

Carolina: "(voice over) We tried to contact you when we overheard your radio transmission to Donut from the crash site. Not only did we fail, but Locus managed to trace the call back to this hideout. We were lucky he missed us and I doubt we'll have luck on our side again."

"That's why Locus was there- and I knew I recognized this place." Jaune gestured to the screen.

"They're hiding at their old hideout?" Blake shook her head. "They're probably being watched now, or they will be found out soon."

Carolina and Church spot Locus near the radio and quickly flee. Fade back to the present.

Church: "Yeah, and if they've gone through all this trouble to keep their radios quiet, I can guarantee you they're not gonna let you guys within a mile of Doyle or Kimball. If they're not already by their side, then their cloaked space buddies definitely are."

Jaune and Ruby nodded.

"So fearless leaders! How do you counter that?" Nora asked.

Ruby and Jaune both pursed their lips in thought.

"They can find a remote fed or new republic outpost." Ruby suggested with excitement obvious in her voice.

Jaune nodded and smiled, "And tell a soldier there that they need to deliver a message that can't be called in on a radio."

"That soldier leaves to go to Kimball or Doyle, while telling other soldiers on the way…" Ruby continued.

"If they tell everyone they see about this, not everyone is going to believe them." Blake pointed out. "And the space pirates might catch them talking about it."

Jaune nodded, "Yeah.. and now that I think about it more. If just one soldier is told, he might get killed in the fighting or not be able to talk to a leader without looking suspicious."

Ruby groaned, "And for all we know they could have a space pirate everywhere where there are soldiers."

Carolina: "We need more intel. We need the upper hand on these guys before we can even think about taking them on again."

"She's right, once they know more. Then they can make a plan." Ruby nodded.

Carolina: "And to make matters worse, we don't have much time."

Sarge: "What makes you say that?"

Carolina: "We've managed to eavesdrop on a few conversations between the mercenaries and someone calling themselves 'Control.' They've got plans and protocols for just about everything. And I'm willing to bet they've got one for this."

"Like Project Freelancer having a ton of scenarios for the Reds and Blues." Jaune recalled.

"Scenario three." Nora shook her head.

Tucker: "Meaning?"

Church appears in front of Tucker

Church: "Look at it this way: eleven people on this planet know what's really going on, and until those eleven people are tracked down and killed - I'm talking about you guys, by the way - there's really only one thing these space pirates can do; And that's to finish what they started."

"Their goal right now is to get the Feds and Rebels to kill each other. The sooner the better. Church is right." Jaune grimaced.

Fade to the inside of a compound, where a dead Federal soldier is seen laying against a wall. Felix throws a knife through the Federal soldier's visor. Felix is then seen pacing back and forth behind Locus.

Felix: "(pacing back and forth) Ohu, ooohoho, wonderful. Duped by a Freelancer posing as one of our own men. Can you TASTE the irony in that!?"

Jaune sighed as Felix complained.

Weiss scoffed, "He's like a kid throwing a tantrum."

"He's a narcissist who failed, what do you expect?" Pyrrha asked.

Locus: "If you had kept your ego under control, they'd be dead by now."

Felix: "Okay, now we don't have the facts to prove that, alright? So let's not, y'know, start throwin' blame out, or anything, okay, please? Thank you. You're welcome."

"Locus is also to blame." Jaune mumbled.

Locus: "Stop. Talking."

Control begins to speak to Locus and Felix.

Control: "(voice over) Gentlemen. Though I'm inclined to further chastise you for your most recent failure, I suggest we focus on the opportunity at hand."

Yang's eyes widened, "Hey Blake.. talk in your best robotic voice."

Blake turned to Yang, "You're not serious are you? I can't even hear my voice in control."

"I can." Yang shrugged. "And I think it's unfair that you get to voice two main characters."

Blake rolled her eyes, "Well, at least I'm joining the villains club."

Jaune sighed, "Yay, member count. Two."

Nora sagged, "Aw and I thought Vic was control. But control is a lady."

Felix: "And exactly which opportunity is that?"

Control: "The Reds and Blues are missing."

"I thought that was the problem?" Weiss asked.

"The most dangerous villains turn failures into opportunities." Blake explained.

"It's a very useful trait not limited to villains." Ren pointed out.

Locus: "It won't be long before my scout team finds them."

Control: "Perhaps. But all that truly matters is that you prevent them from making contact with their armies."

Felix: "We've got snipers shadowing the generals as we speak."

Jaune and Ruby grimaced.

Control: "Marvelous. Then you are to transport back to your respective armies, and report the deaths of the Reds and Blues. They will become the martyrs needed to push these people towards one, final confrontation. Do I make myself clear?"

Fade to Locus and Felix informing Doyle and Kimball, respectively, of the Reds' and Blues' 'deaths.' At the New Republic, Felix notices Jensen, Smith, Bitters, and Palomo, expressing their distraught. Palomo covers his visor with his hand, Bitters walks off and beats his fists into the air in anger, Jensen lowers her head in grief, which Smith notices. He consoles her as she breaks down on his shoulder.

"Bitters looks like he took the news the hardest. Even though he seemed to care the least." Pyrrha sighed.

"Jensen started to cry at the end." Yang winced.

"Control's plan is deviously clever." Weiss scowled.

"They're using the reds and blues as martyrs." Ruby sighed, looking up at the ceiling she thought of her mom. Is mom a martyr to me? I fight because of her, and the example she, Dad, and all other huntsmen and huntresses set. But mostly because of her, she inspired me to become a huntress. I even wear a hooded cloak like her..

Fade back to the dead Fed at the compound. Felix pulls his knife out of the Fed's visor.

Felix: "Crystal."

The episode ends.

"It is atrocious how Felix has no care for human life nor respect for the dead." Pyrrha's lips tightened.

"And what's even worse is control's plan, they're using the reds and blues again to keep the feds and new republic fighting." Jaune shook his head.


The Martyr who lived SS— Not Canon


Ozpin looked up thoughtfully, how many times have I been the martyr for my followers? How many times have I used other's as martyrs.. how many times have I lied about the deaths of others to give hope to those that still fight.

The plan is cruel, and one I have used. Not in the way they have, but I have used Martyrs to further my own goals. It is something evil I have done, that she has not. Ah how easy it is to convince others to commit horrible acts. And how hard it is to convince good people to continue fighting.


The foolishness of Martyrdom SS— Not Canon


Cinder scoffed, "The most foolish thing you can do for a cause is die for it. If your goal leads to your death, what a waste you made when choosing your destiny."


The Bravery of Martyrdom SS— Not Canon


I don't want my men to make martyrs of themselves. They are heroes, but I don't want them to meet a hero's death. Ironwood sighed. But fortunately and unfortunately, they are honorable and brave. They will fight for the last man and die to defend their kingdom.


Martyrs Die All the Same SS— Not Canon


Salem smiled, "Like Ozpin and Control I have used Martyr's before. But not like them. Many believe Martyrs give hope to the living and reason for the fallen. But only the latter is true, if you simply continue to make martyrs."

Tyrian cackled with glee, "I will make all of his guardians into martyrs for you my queen."

Salem smirked, "You have already done a lot Tyrian. The men and women who give the greatest hope will be used to crush it."

Tyrian hummed as he giggled, "With their corpses!"