Welcome to Chapter Seven! This time around, we get to see our resident orphans bring each other up to speed and we get some clues on our mystery lady's I.D.

Yeah, I've been playing too much Destiny, so I haven't been writing like I should. There isn't much to say here, so I'll just get to it.

Here's a note: Jade may act shy and all around most people, but she's a lot more open to her brother, who spent half of his life protecting her from the Covenant.

Finally, I'm rating this story 'M,' because it could get dark (AO3's version is already rated M, since there's General Audiences, Teen and Up, Mature, and Explicit.)

Blue Base

Blood Gulch, Nondescript Planet

October 24, 2552

Lavernius Tucker

1511 Hours

Tucker set a chair down on the roof of Blue Base, allowing his sister to sit on it. After she was comfortable on it, he drew his own chair and sat down on it.

"So, uh, I don't know where to start, so could you...?"

"Tell you what happen during my time away?" Jade finished. "Absolutely! Okay, so I was at that refugee shelter on Earth, after you got into the army, and after a month, I decided to look for you, since I kinda fall apart when I'm talking to other people, you know."

"Let me guess, I then told you I fucked up and hit on a colonel's daughter." Tucker said, a hand sat on his neck.

Jade simply nodded.

"Yeah, afterwards, I left the shelter and I was on my own for a while, trying to find a way off-world. I was lucky to find Kaikaina working on a Pelican in some garage."

"And you knew you could trust her?"

"It may not seem like it, but she has this air of honesty about her. We got along really quickly, even though she's a party girl by every definition of the term." she added with a groan.

"Ahhhh..."

"Anyways, after she fixed her Pelican, we went out, and we flew to a ship headed to the rest of the Inner Colonies. Of course, the attention we got wasn't really all that nice, and..." Jade lowered her voice to a whisper, "I think some of the men were checking me out."

Tucker growled a little. He was really overprotective over his little sister, and hearing her whisper about being checked out by strange men ticked him off.

"Of course they did. Did you have to defend yourself from anything at any point?"

"Kaikaina could tell that I had been through some bad stuff, so she handled any danger. She's pretty handy with a gun."

As to prove Jade's point, Kaikaina was now shooting targets at the firing range in the base's "backyard." While Tucker's viewpoint offered him a nice view of her posterior, he kept his eyes on his sister. That Warthog still loomed in his mind, you know.

"I can see that." he said.

"Do you see that or do you see her butt?"

A moment of silence...

"I saw both. She does have a nice ass." Tucker said diplomatically.

"Ugh." Typical perverted brother. "Either way, we went planet to planet, looking for you." she continued. "We ran into some Covenant ships, but somehow, Kaikaina tricked them into damaging themselves in asteroid belts by making them think we had weapons."

"Wow. The Covvies must be dumber than I thought." Tucker chuckled. "They took planet fucking Reach down, yet they let themselves get hurt by asteroids?"

"Even in a ship, I can be very convincing." Kaikaina said in response.

"Yeah, what she said." Jade supplied. "Whenever we were on a planet, the drill was the same: go explore the place, get information, get geographical data, do some stuff to the Pelican, and leave."

"Is this the same Pelican?" Tucker asked.

"No."

"Our old one didn't have a tank on its underside!" Kaikaina said, pointing at where the Pelican had dropped off an M808V "Scorpion" Main Battle Tank at.

The blond soldier whistled.

"Damn, that's a fine piece of destructive hardware..." he commented. And all of a sudden... "what are we going to do with it?"

????? ???????

Project Freelancer Red Command

Nondescript Planet

1513 Hours

She wanted to puke. She wanted to puke really bad. As she read the classified files she planned to steal, particulary Project META, she had a growing desire to find a bathroom and empty the contents of her stomach into the toilet.

This was truly horrifying, to say the least. For some reason, the Director thought it was a great idea to take a simple-minded man and give him augmentations, including ones similar to the Spartan II Program's in terms of strength, and then use a metastable A.I. to control said man.l, in order for him to have some sort of secret weapon.

The project was a failure, as the subject showed an adverse reaction to the augmentations, but it was who the subject was that made her sick.

The attached recording showed the procedure, with a young man with wildly spiky brown hair thrashing around on the gurney he was tied to as strange fluids were injected into his body. After a few seconds and him starting to hack blood up, a man in a dark suit with glasses had two soldiers in white Marine armor hold him down and tranquilize him.

The video was horrid enough, with evidence of illegal augmentations, but for her, it actually hurt her.

"Michael, I'm sorry."

Tears streamed down her face, and it took all of her willpower to keep herself from breaking down completely. After a minute, those tears turned into ones of anger, as the bespectacled man callously had his victim taken away and presumably "disposed of."

"Director, are you sure this is the best course of action?" a computerized voice asked.

"Project META is a failure. Clearly, the augmentations are too powerful for humans to handle." the bespectacled man replied. "Our only choice is to terminate him before ONI catches wind."

"What about sending the subject to Blood Gulch Outpost Alpha?"

"Maybe... He'll likely lack any form of intelligence after this, so why not?"

So this... Director, was responsible for his disappearance. He had experimented on him like a lab rat, and then he just threw him away like he was garbage?

Her blood boiled and her teeth clenched.

"I'm going to kill you, you heartless bastard." she vowed, stopping the recording.

Yep. If she could help it, ONI was definitely catching wing of Project META.

Dexter Grif

Red Base, Blood Gulch

1517 Hours

Grif held a pair of binoculars in his hands, looking at Blue Base. Tucker and a blonde girl that was definitely his sister were talking to each other while his own sister sat beside the other girl.

If it was anyone else in his position, then Kaikaina was just in the conversation, helping tell a story.

However, Grif caught every little detail, including the innocuous teasing she was so adept at performing.

"Damn it, Kai." he muttered, only loud enough for Simmons to hear.

"What?" the maroon soldier asked.

"My sister's trying to tease Tucker."

"Oh. Is that bad?"

Of course it's bad! he wanted to say, but instead...

"I guess not. Tucker's taking it pretty well. No nosebleeds yet."

Then he noticed a few dark red splotches on the concrete roof.

"Scratch that. He had one, but he reined it in." Grif corrected.

"You think he sees himself getting ran over by the Warthog?" Simmons asked, cleaning his glasses. Without any conflicts going on, he didn't need the helmet.

"Probably. He might be one hell of a gureilla fighter, but that doesn't make him invincible."

Simmons put his glasses back on and looked at where Donut's blood still stained the roof.

"What did you do back in the ODSTs?" he asked offhandedly.

"I was the vehicle specialist." Grif replied. "I usually drove the vehicles for the rest of Fireteam Crimson-- he always loved the color red, but otherwise, I was just decent at everything else."

"Interesting. And you said Tucker was a gureilla fighter?"

"Yeah. The planets he lived on kept getting invaded, so he had to learn. He paid a lot of attention to the Elites because he fucking hates them."

"Why?"

"They killed his parents. Why? Because of their bullshit religion." Grif growled. He then assumed a less agressive tone. "Anyways, I'd ask you what you did before now, but this is your first assignment."

"Yeah. What about you, Grif? You lose anyone?"

"My dad, when I was younger." Grif said after a moment. "We were visiting this planet to take a vacation, and low and behold, the Covenant showed up. That's how Kaikaina got her brain damage, and seeing a Plasma Grenade going off at less than a hundred feet away caused her colorblindness. Those things are bright as hell."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Grif." Simmons said.

"I'm okay." Grif said. "How about you?"

Simmons looked at the ground, speaking in a low voice.

"I didn't have a great childhood. My dad was a horrible bastard who broke my mother's heart more times than I can count. He constantly drank, he beat on me for being a failure in his eyes, and then, when I was fourteen, Mom caught him with another woman."

Tears stained the ground and his glasses, but he kept on.

"She divorced him on the spot, b-but... he had a lot of influence in our town, a-and Mom l-lost the custody hearing."

Grif felt his blood boil as Simmons shared hus traumatic past. If he ever met the nerdy private's father, then he was going to cut his balls off and feed them to a Brute.

"I joined the military to get away from him, and you know the rest." Simmons finished, reining in his tears.

"Oh, God, I'm so sorry, Simmons. Come here." Grif walked over to his distressed teammate and hugged him.

Simmons didn't expect the hug, but he let himself ease into it, slowly calming down.

"I would have liked to have Sarge as a dad." he confessed.

"Yeah, he's a good man." Grif said, letting go of Simmons.

"I sure hope he gets back."

"Yeah, me too."

Grif returned to spying on the Blues, including Tex, the guy who shot Donut, and Holly's brother, who were now all gathered on the roof of their base.

Every time he looked at the blue idiot, he was filled with immense guilt. If he hadn't been such an idiot, then Holly wouldn't have died, and she could've possibly been at Blood Gulch as well, keeping her younger brother company.

It also didn't help that he kept dreaming about that night.

I truly hope that you're in a better place, Holly. You didn't deserve what happened to you.

Lavernius Tucker

Blue Base, Blood Gulch

1524 Hours

Tucker was now standing up, letting Church take his seat while Tex took Jade's.

Said girl was leaning into him, letting him rub circles around on her back.

"So what're we gonna do now?" the irritable cobalt soldier asked.

"We get the Reds on board, and then we leave this place." Tex replied.

"Ma'am, they're already on board." Tucker interjected.

"Good to know. There was a crashed Pelican twenty miles away from here."

"Who shot it down?" Church asked. "Project Freelancer?"

"It looked like the engine failed." Kaikaina told him. "I'd know what weapon-based damage looks like on a ship."

The hairs on Tucker's neck stood up on end, and he looked up at the cliffs to see a soldier in white armor standing there. A closer observation revealed a Sniper Rifle in his hands, and it was pointed at him.

Throwing Jade to the side, Tucker ducked as a round soared over his head.

"Fuck!" he cursed, picking up the team's Sniper Rifle and aiming at the assailant while his teammates went inside. "Jade, inside, now!"

"But--!"

"NOW!"

The girl followed the other Blues inside as the sniper fired a second shot at Tucker, missing because he had gone to cover.

Come on, you fucker, poke your head out.

As the soldier took aim again, Tucker's reticle landed on him and the blond readied a shot.

"Say hello to my little friend, you bastard." he said, and he fired. The shot sliced through the air, straight and true, striking him in the shoulder.

"Ah, bollocks!" the shooter yelled through the radio, retreating into the caves.

The aqua soldier dropped into the base, closing the roof off as a security measure.

"What was that? Are you okay?!" Jade asked, shaken.

"I clipped the fucker's shoulder, and he ran off like the bitch he is." he replied.

"What did his armor look like?" Tex asked.

"White MJOLNIR-looking armor with a blue triplicate on the shoulder."

"That's Wyoming." Tex said gravely. "He's the Project's best marksman turned bounty hunter."

Son of a bitch. They're trying to have me killed so I can't speak out. Tucker realized.

"That was his Pelican, wasn't it?" Kaikaina asked, pistol out and ready for a fight.

"Had to have been."

"Why was he shooting at us?" Church asked.

"Hey, Church, remember my outburst a week back?" Tucker asked.

"Yeah, you decked me after telling me about the war being fake." he replied.

"Well, Project Freelancer knows that I saw past their charade, and now there's a bounty on my head."

"Goddamnit. Of course you were right." Church cursed. "I miss the old days already."

"Don't we all." Kaikaina said.

"Alright, new ground rules!" Tucker yelled. "First and foremost, no one goes outside unless it's an emergency. Especially Jade." he directed at his sister.

She didn't have anything to say, only nodding at her brother.

"Secondly--"

The monitor in the living room lit up and Grif's face filled the screen.

"Grif?!"

"Dex?!"

"Some guy in white just shot at us!" the ex-ODST yelled. "We're holed up inside the war room, since there's no windows, but I have a feeling that he'll find a way to kill us."

"He's an ex-Freelancer called Wyoming." Tucker explained. "They caught wind of us knowing the truth and sent him after us."

"Shit. Tell me you guys are okay."

"We're fine, Orange Man!" Caboose told him.

"Wyoming isn't." Tucker said. "I shot the bastard before he could kill us and he ran off."

"That's good. He'll be back."

"Is there a way to get over here undetected, Corporal?" Tex asked.

"Not by land. There's some kind of trapdoor in the base, according to Simmons, but I don't know where it leads." Grif told the black Freelancer.

"We've got a matching trapdoor." Tucker said. "Maybe there's a tunnel network we can use to traverse bases."

"Alright. We gotta call Sarge. Stay safe, and don't let Wyoming kill Church."

Grif's face disappeared from the screen, leaving it blank while the Blues were silent.

"Wow." Kaikaina broke the silence. "Seems like we can never catch a break, right?"

"We've got to get out of here." Tex said. "Command's obviously related to Freelancer, so they're no help, and we've got to watch our backs for that British asshole outside, so we have to find a way out."

"Red Team's Sarge is at Command, watching over his subordinate." Tucker pointed out.

"The red guy I shot?" Church asked. His response was Caboose smacking him on the head.

"Yes, the neighbor you killed." he answered.

"Maybe this Sarge could help us somehow." Kaikaina said.

"For now, he's our only hope." Tucker said. "Hopefully the Reds can get in touch with him."

Red Team

Red Base, Blood Gulch

1528 Hours

"Damn it! He's not picking up!" Grif yelled, banging his fist on the war room table.

"Shit." Simmons said. The nerdy soldier was busy installing the new speech unit for Lopez, trying not to break him or the unit.

"You think they're jamming non-local communications?" Grif asked. "That's what I think."

"So, we're currently trapped in our base, hiding from an ex-Freelancer, our comms are jammed, and we couldn't get the Sniper Rifle back." Simmons recapped. "We're fucked, aren't we?"

"Let's not lose hope, Simmons. If those tunnels lead to Blue Base, we can share stuff, or we can just hide in the tunnels if they decide to bomb us."

"I hope so, Grif. I'm not ready to die, yet."

"Me, too."

Watch your backs, guys.

This story was partially inspired by One Winged A2's Agent Reach, but it's obviously in a different universe. About Project META, it fails in this universe, but Sigma still manipulates Maine into becoming the Meta. I bet you guys will instantly know who Project META's test subject was, as that was a more obvious clue to the new OC's identity.

Also, could some of the love for this story please go to my new Destiny story? I'd appreciate it.