Welcome to Chapter Three, guys! I'm honestly surprised that this story became so damn popular, and I thank you all for that. I also thank the reviewers for their ideas, and I'm still open for ideas here. Also, who else is excited for Halo Infinite?! That MP Reveal and Livestream was sick! Thank you all for reading this!
Red Base
Blood Gulch, Nondescript Planet
October 17, 2552
Dexter Grif
1009 Hours
"Hey, Reds!"
Grif and his comrade looked down to see a soldier in aqua armor on the ground.
"What do you want, Blue?!" Simmons yelled.
"I want to talk to your boss!" the soldier yelled.
"Aw, damn it." Grif said. "Hold on, Simmons."
"I guess I will."
"Why would we let you do that?!"
"I need to tell him something!" the soldier yelled.
"Let me go talk to him!" Grif yelled, dropping into the interior of the base, where Sarge was fiddlibg with a shotgun.
"Sir! We've got a Blue at the front of the base!"
"What does a Blue want with us?" Sarge asked, checking his weapon for damage.
"He wants to talk to you."
"Let him in, but keep a gun on him. I don't want any surprises."
"Yes, sir."
Grif took the back door outside and circled around to the aqua soldier, who hadn't moved from his spot.
"You've got your meet." he said, leading him inside.
"Alrighty."
After taking the same route back inside, the two came face-to-face with Sarge, who had finished cleaning his Shotgun and was now loading it.
"Sir, this is the Blue that wants to talk to us."
Sarge turned to look at him, his eyes wary.
"What brings you to Red Base, Blue?" he asked.
"You're probably gonna think that I'm on drugs when I say this, but the whole Red vs Blue war is completely fake."
A moment of silence...
"Well, it looks like the Blues aren't completely stupid, after all." Sarge chuckled. "What's your name, soldier?"
"Private Lavernius Tucker, UNSC Army." the soldier replied.
"Staff Sergeant Sarge, ODST."
"Um, your actual name's Sarge?" Tucker asked, confused.
"My real name's fifty four syllables long and the fifth letter's an emoji."
"So Sarge it is."
"I'm Corporal Dexter Grif, a member of Sarge's squad back in the day."
"Ahhh, it's a Blue! Simmons, the Blue Army has infiltrated the base!" Donut yelled, preparing to shoot Tucker.
"Stand down, Donut!" Sarge called the other red soldier off.
"Donut?! What kind of a name is 'Donut?'" Tucker had to stop himself from laughing at the stupidity that was the other red soldier's name.
"Wait... he's a man of color, isn't he?"
"Man of color?"
"If I'm too blunt, then you might think I'm racist!" Donut explained.
It then clicked in Grif and Tucker's heads.
"I'm not a black guy, Donut!" Tucker yelled.
"Oh. You sounded like it."
'It's gotta be the stupid radio, then." Tucker replaced his helmet.
"Hey, fatass, are you done yet?" the maroon one's voice yelled from the roof.
"I'm not done and it's not me who's fat!"
"I know." Tucker said. "This armor sucks."
"I agree. I'm definitely gonna burn this when I get my battle armor back."
"Same here."
"Anyways, weren't we talking, Blue?" Sarge asked as Tucker sat down in a chair.
"Yeah."
"So you know this war's one hundred percent fake?"
"Yep."
"Do any of your teammates know?"
"No. One of them's an idiot, and the other one thinks I'm on drugs. I don't know who's behind this, but when I find them, I'm gonna kick their ass."
"I don't think that Project Freelancer wants anyone to figure it out." Grif said.
"Wait, Project Freelancer?"
"They're the guys keeping us here."
"There's a Freelancer coming to Blue Base. Church thinks that they're mercenaries that help whatever army needs them more. I called bullshit on that."
"Nope. They're actually supersoldiers with special armor and A.I.s, and we're actually their test dummies." Sarge said.
"That have crappy armor. Give me my old battle armor and a Battle Rifle and I could definitely pawn one of those Freelancers." Grif said.
"Are you sure about that?" Sarge asked.
"Yeah, I am. Something tells me that they don't know what war is like."
"Right. The Covenant operate completely differently than sim troopers."
"Yep. Hey, what do you think the Blues are doing?" Grif asked.
Leonard Church
Blue Base
1017 Hours
"Goddammit!" Church yelled. "Caboose, he's not coming back!"
"Um, he just went to the neighbors and he'll be back in no time." the dimwit replied.
"The Reds are the enemy! If he's drunk or something, then he's gonna spill so much shit to them! Command's gonna have our heads for this!"
"Should we pull him out?"
"Yes! And then I'm going to rip that dumbass a new one!"
Lavernius Tucker
Red Base
1017 Hours
"I bet Church's losing his mind." Tucker replied. "Without me there, there's not really anyone to help him take care of Caboose."
"Oh." Grif said.
Tucker stood up and fetched his DMR.
"Where are you going, Blue?" Sarge asked.
"I need to go back."
"Hey, Sarge." Grif addressed his superior. "You think he should tell his boss anything about us?"
"Eh, sure. Just tell him the other members of Red Team are idiots and that you found their plans for attack." Sarge said, pulling a dry erase board out and beginning to draw on it.
"A plan of attack?" Tucker asked.
"That's right, Private. I'm making a fake battle plan to give to your boss."
"Won't you have to carry it out to make it believable?"
"Yup. I'll get the men ready, and you get back in your leader's good graces." Sarge finished drawing his plan and set the marker down. "Take a picture of this and give it to you boss."
"Okay. Uh, thanks for listening to me." Tucker took a picture of the plan, left the war room, and after a moment, he left the base.
"You're welcome, trooper!" Grif yelled back.
Blue Base
1021 Hours
Tucker stood in front of his base, sighing. Here he was, going from the Reds, his supposed enemy who actually knows that the war was fake, to the Blues, his supposed aliies who think he's on drugs.
Cuppibg his hands around his face, he inhaled deeply and yelled, "Hey, Church!"
A few seconds later, and the irritable cobalt sniper stepped outside.
"Tucker, you better have a good reason to be here." he growled.
"Ugh, dude, ease up a little. I got the Reds' battle plans."
A moment of silence...
"No way. And here I thought you were gonna spill our plans to them!"
"We had plans?"
"Up yours, Tucker."
"Anyways, Caboose won't stop thinking that the Reds are neighbors."
Eh, he has the right idea."Sounds like Caboose. Let's get inside. I don't wanna be here when the Reds realize I tricked them." Tucker said, entering the base.
Red Team
Red Base
1021 Hours
"You think they're gonna fall for it?" Grif asked as he drank one of the beers that were on base.
"They're idiots, Grif. Of course they are." the old sergeant replied.
"Sarge! The Blue guy just went back to base!" Donut yelled from the roof.
"He was supposed to, Donut!"
"Never a dull moment." Grif muttered.
Eh, it's a short chapter this time around. Anyways, I'm kinda scared about ruining this story, since I didn't really plan the Blood Gulch part of it except for the end and a lot of stuff was ruined because of lack of direction (looking at you, Halo 5 campaign.) Anyways, my writing schedule is very sporadic and I burnt myself out for a while, so don't expect new chapters to get posted on a weekly basis. I hope you enjoy this, and please tell me what you think about my stories.