This chapter continues where "Red Team Spelunking Exercise" left off, with the Blues (Tucker and Tex) coming to the Reds' aid.

Concerning the rest of the story, I rather like how this version of Tucker and Grif turned out, as they are my two favorite Reds and Blues (aside from Caboose) and I had fun monumentally screwing with their canon personalities with the story's setting and aims (with Tucker being a more vengeful, aggressive, skilled, and less perverted soldier thanks to being caught in so many Covenant invasions and Grif not being so adverse to fighting and/or other types of effort from being an ODST, along with having a better relationship with Sarge.)

I also adore the idea of Tex having to be taught how to fight the Covenant from Tucker.

Blue Base, Blood Gulch

Nondescript Planet

October 24, 2552

Lavernius Tucker

1546 Hours

Tucker loaded a fresh magazine into his DMR, sliding it onto his back and picking up the Blue Team Sniper Rifle. He looked at Tex, who had pulled dual SMGs out of the armory, along with her Battle Rifle and an M6D Pistol.

Meanwhile, Kaikaina, Church, and Jade were arguing about who should go with, even though Tex made it clear that Tucker was the only one coming with her.

"Okay, how do you two expect to go through a cavern full of aliens and get out alive and in one piece?" the cobalt A.I. asked.

"We'll have Tex and Tucker with us!" Kaikaina shot back. "Besides, if they realize you're an A.I. and they capture you, then they could extract all kinds of information from you! Like where Earth is, or what defenses we have!"

"She's right, Church." Tucker told him. "I don't want Jade to come with because it's too dangerous and Kaikaina needs to stay so she can watch out for Wyoming."

A loud crash was heard from the kitchen, and the blond heard Caboose say "Tucker did it."

"And watch over Caboose." he added with a groan.

"That's fair." Kaikaina said, getting up to investigate the crash.

"Alright, Private Tucker." Tex said, patting Tucker's back to get his attention. "We're ready to go. I have no idea how long those Sim Troopers can hold out."

"I have faith in them." Tucker said. "Kai, remember what I told you! Caboose, play nice and don't kill Church!"

"Okay!"

"Yes, sir!"

A loud gunshot was heard, and Church was clutching his shoulder, holding in his voice as blood seeped through the bodysuit.

"Gah-- goddamn it, Caboose!"

"Tucker did it!"

"Ugh. I swear, it never gets easier." Tucker muttered, heading to the trapdoor with Tex and opening it.

"Ladies first." he said, motioning towards the door like a butler would.

The black armored Freelancer climbed into the door, and Tucker followed suit, walking down a flight of stairs with Tex illuminating it with her helmet's flashlight. As he turned his own flashlight on, he made it a point to keep his eyes away from the woman's firm rear.

If he were to die, he would do it while fighting a legion of Covenant forces, not while trying to convince an angry special operative that he wasn't staring at her butt.

"Hey, Tex." he started, watching his current leader turn her head around.

"Got something to ask?"

"Where did you come from?" Tucker asked.

Tex sighed, pulling out a set of dog tags before she spoke.

"I was created by the Director as a replacement for his deceased wife, split from the Alpha in the first of many fragmentings to come. I originally had a robotic body during my time in the Project, but after learning that I was nothing but a shadow of the Director's past, I broke into the Mother of Invention to steal Alpha. I failed, and after the ship crashed, I transferred my consciousness to an artificial human body."

"I'm sorry I asked." Tucker said.

"No, you needed to know. There's some other things he did that he wasn't supposed to do, but we should take care of Wyoming first." Tex said.

"Yeah. Jade told you our past, right?"

"Not much. She said you tried your hardest to protect her from the Covenant after they destroyed your home."

"Yeah, that I did. Thing is, that wasn't the only one. We were caught up in three or four of them, and each time it happened, I made sure to take notes on how they behaved and fought, so I could fight them and kill them better." he said in a lower tone than usual. "Nine years of running, and after we reached Earth through a refugee ship, I joined the Army, so I could help fight the bastards."

"She told me how you ended up here." Tex said. "Here's some advice: don't hit on the daughters of ranking officers."

"Yeah, I got that through my skull when I was court-martialled." Tucker told her.

The two soldiers reached a white-interiored elevator and entered it, sending it down to the bottom, where Grif and Simmons were currently holding out.

"Hey, kid." Tex started.

"Yeah, Tex?"

"Are you any good with that Sniper Rifle?" she asked.

"I've spent a long time using it, and I even taught Church how to snipe." Tucker confidently told her. "So yeah, I'm pretty damn good at it."

"I'd say you're bluffing, but Church told me he managed to hit a Red from halfway across the canyon." Tex said, pulling out her Battle Rifle.

"Yeah. He didn't care about it, but he shot an innocent man."

"The Red guy?"

"Yeah. Oh, don't get mad if I boss you around, because I just don't want you to get caught off-guard by the Covenant, because if I'm correct, then you have no experience with them."

"Alright, Private. You can have the reins this time."

The cavern came into view, along with the sounds of combat. Looking down into the cavern, a battalion of Covenant troops were firing on an orange soldier and a maroon soldier, who were firing back at the alien swarm.

Now, Tucker's Sniper Rifle was out and ready for usage, and its owner activated his radio.

"Hey, Simmons, can you hear me?"

"Yeah! Where are yo-- son of a bitch!"

"I'm coming down here with Tex! We're almost there!" Tucker yelled.

"Shit! Simmons got hit!" Grif yelled in Simmons' place. "Get your asses over here now!"

"You got it!" Tucker deactivated his comms as the elevator hit the bottom and opened up, letting the Blues out.

"Okay. Tex, the Covenant use slower moving plasma and crystalline projectiles rather than bullets, so if you're fast enough, you can dodge their shots." Tucker advised. "Also, the little orange guys are cowardly and not too dangerous alone, but a group of them's harder to fight."

"That's helpful." Tex said, heading to the source of the repeated plasma fire while Tucker followed and told her other bits of necessary information.

Richard Simmons

Underground Cavern, Blood Gulch

1601 Hours

Everything burned. As Simmons tried to get up, he was met with excruciating pain. He tried to open his eyes, but only his right eye would respond to his mental commands. The left one was burning like the rest of his left side and would not open.

As far as he could see, his armor was in critical condition, which was to be expected.

He had apparently lost hearing, because the sounds of battle were not heard by him, only a painful ringing.

W-what hit me?

Simmons faintly remembered a frenzied battle cry and a squat, orange alien carrying two glowing grenades running at him before exploding in his face, along with a panicked human cry of "Simmons, watch out!" before everything went white.

Is this the end?

Lavernius Tucker

Underground Cavern, Blood Gulch

1602 Hours

Tucker rammed a knife into the throat of a Jackal Sniper, pulling it to the ground as he impaled the creature. Pulling it out and wiping purple-black blood off of it, he sheathed it and pulled his Sniper Rifle out, aiming at the battleground below him.

Tex hid behind a wall to his rear, aiming at the door with her M6D Magnum.

Through his scope, he could see a firing squad of Elites and Jackals on a rooftop, firing down at Grif and Simmons. From his vantage point, he could tell that there was something wrong with Simmons, as his entire left side was scorched, minus his leg, and he was face-down in the dirt.

"Tex, go get those two. I'll cover you." Tucker instructed. "Please do it, or Simmons will die."

"Alright. I'll get them." Tex left the house, pulling out her dual SMGs as she ran.

The aqua armored soldier adjusted his scope to 5x zoom, as 10x was too much. Seeing a black blur jump into the fray, lighting up a group of Grunts with dual SMG fire, he aimed at a Jackal Sniper and fired.

The round struck the avian creature square in the head, splattering blood onto its cohorts, who turned to Tucker's abandoned post.

He watched a particle beam zoom through the window, hitting the ceiling and marking it with a black scorch mark. Leaving the house, Tucker found another vantage point and propped his rifle up, firing at the Covenant forces below.

He could only hope that Tex was alright, even though she was a special operative in a top-secret program, but as this was her first Covenant encounter, the results were rather random, as victory was rather slim for non-Spartan personell.

"Please be okay."

Agent Texas

1605 Hours

Tex jumped high in the air, avoiding a torrent of hot plasma and needles and throwing a pair of Frag Grenades. It was a boon that they had slower moving projectilea, as dodging them was child's play to her, but the Covenamt were still troublesome. At least she had sniper support from Tucker, who was proving himaelf as a skilled marksman.

The grenades exploded, sending chunks of Grunts and Jackals flying, along with blue and purple-black blood.

Firing in an arc with her SMGs, she hit a pair of blue atmored Elites with the hail of bullets, shredding their shields. She kicked them in the heads and heard a crack as their skulls broke.

A sniper round whizzed by her head, striking a bronze armored Elite Officer in the head.

Tex replaced the SMGs with her M6D Magnum, firing at a group of Elites with it. The heavy rounds threw their heads backwards as they tore through the shields and blew their heads apart.

A three round burst from a Battle Rifle killed a Grunt who had pulled two grenades out and armed them, ceasing its last attempt at gaining glory.

"Fuck you!" she heard Grif yell. "You bastards give orange a bad name!"

"There you are!" Tex yelled, reloading her Magnum.

Two more cracks filled the air, with two Elites being sent flying backwards from high-powered rounds.

"Okay, what happened?" The Freelancer hopped into the little hole the Reds made to hide in.

"Simmons killed an Elite and a Grunt went all kamikaze and shit, then he blew him up!" Grif yelled urgently, trying to carry Simmons while holding his rifle.

"You take Simmons. I've got the Covenant." Tex said.

"Right." Grif holstered his rifle, picking the scorched maroon soldier up in a fireman's carry and heading out of the hole while Tex pulled her Battle Rifle out to shoot at the snipers Tucker missed.

Lavernius Tucker

1607 Hours

Tucker watched as Grif picked Simmons up and hoisted him onto his back in a fireman's carry while Tex offered defense against the Covenant. He really liked how fast she adapted to a new enemy, and he made a note about how valuable that was.

As the "convoy" headed out of the hole and to the right of his most recent perch, he turned to the right to see a strange structure on the right side of the cavern (Blue Base's right, not Red Base's.)

He focused his rifle back at his teammates, firing at a patch of blurry air behind them, which yielded a high-powered burst of purple blood and a dead Special Ops Elite.

"Thanks." Grif said over the comms.

"Anytime."

Tucker followed them further, sniping the Elites who were chasing them off of their backs. After reloading, he realized in horror that he was out of ammo for his Sniper Rifle, save for his current magazine.

"Guys, I'm on my last mag." he said over the comms.

"Fuck." Grif had sworn.

"I'll just snag a Beam Rifle and use it."

"Private, hurry." Tex said, firing at an unseen threat. "They've got Donkey Kong like aliens who are screaming about tearing the meat from our bones and shit!"

Brutes?! Come the fuck on!

"Those are Brutes! They're really strong, and they really like to get angry and rip people to shreds. I'll be there ASAP!"

Now horror had set into Tucker's system. Unless they had some neat tricks at the ready, then Grif, Simmons, and Tex were screwed. Looking around for a solution, his eyes landed on the alien structure in the side of the cavern, where the Covenant had left its entrance virtually unguarded in their efforts to kill the Reds.

"I've got an idea." he said over the comms. "I'm gonba get the Brutes' attention, then I'll go to that alien structure at the right of the cavern. That way, you'll be able to escape and--"

"What about you, Private?!" Tex cut him off, and Tucker heard her punch a Brute in the crotch, if the high-pitched squeal was any indication.

"I'll find a way." Tucker confidently replied, even though said confidence was false. He wasn't so sure if he could escape, but if the Reds and Tex got out alive, then he'd do it.

"Good luck, Private."

Running towards his allies, he armed and stuck a grenade to a Brute's face, whacked another one in the back of the head with his rifle's stock, and ran towards the alien building, bringing an angry pack of gorilla-like aliens with him.

Agent Texas

1610 Hours

Tex watched the Covenant who had been such a pain in her and the Reds' asses chase after Tucker, shouting insults and threats at the crazy soldier.

"Alright, the way's clear! Get to the elevator!" Tucker yelled, dodging a spiked grenade.

"Right. Grif, let's go!" she yelled to the orange trooper, who began to hightail it to the Blue elevator.

Don't die, Tucker. Tex internally said before following suit.

Alright. My main goal here is to avoid copying off of the story Agent Reach as much as I can, despite some glaring similarities (like the plot centering around stopping the Director and Tex being human,) as well as tell a fascinating and entertaining story.

I'm ending this story at the Director's death, with an epilogue set after Chorus, rather than going into detail about the events on Chorus. Project META failed, but Agent Maine was corrupted by Sigma, and much more.

Anyways, I'll see you next chapter.