The door exploded, sending it and the table they had blocked it with flying. The others screamed behind him but Tucker reacted quickly, bringing his sword up to slice it in half and sending it skidding on either side of them, Donut having to duck to the side to miss it by inches while Grif merely sidestepped. Dozens soldiers filed into the room, shouting things Tucker couldn't catch and firing their weapons.

Everything after that happened too fast for Tucker to fully comprehend. A rocket fired and there was an explosion as O'malley laughed, everyone fired their weapons at their enemies while Tucker found himself charging into battle with his fully equipped Meta armor. Invisible and going faster than he could fully comprehend, Tucker attacked the soldiers, catching each one he attacked by surprise.

He left the others in the room to deal with the others that had entered while he took down all the men in the hallway. Swish swish, stab, uppercut! Men were sent flying into walls, causing bones to snap and blood to splatter as his sword made contact. Too bad Tucker was only half getting all of this himself, most of the calculations were Church's anyway.

With the hallway cleared, Tucker rushed back into the room and took down a solider blocking the door. He wasn't able to get a whole look around the room before he rushed to Caboose's side, taking out the three men who were overpowering him then instantly yanking another that was pinning Donut to a wall. Before Tucker could count to ten all the men in the room had been taken care of.

"Holy fuck!" he cursed, grinning beneath the helmet as he stumbled slightly as he slowed. "This shit is intense. You guys cool?" They all grumbled their replies and Tucker wondered for a moment how long he had actually been out in the hallway. They all looked like shit, which was not how he left them. Seriously, it felt like ten seconds, what had actually happened here?

Sarge looked injured, a hand on his ribcage, but he was standing and looked ready to go. Donut tossed his empty pistols to the side and Lopez switched to only one of his weapons, slipping in his last clip, while Simmons switched out his empty needlers for the DMR on his back. Grif reloaded his bruteshot and cocked it. They all turned to Tucker.

"What's our next move?" Sarge asked. With a start Tucker realized that, somehow, he had become the leader on this mission. He couldn't put his finger on it, but somehow he had been assigned as 'in charge' for the remainder of this mission, or their lives. Whichever came first.

"Let's work our way to the cargo bay, make the rescue team's job easier." They all nodded and followed him down the hall. Tucker stopped, causing Caboose to ram into his back in surprise, and turned to look at them. They were all clumped together awkwardly, half of their weapons pointed at each other. Tucker huffed. "Let's do something right for once." They all glanced at each other in confusion, all but O'malley who stared at him awkwardly in a way that told Tucker he was grinning.

"I know a formation that would work," he said gleefully. Helmets honed in on O'malley, who was rubbing his hands together after putting the rocket launcher on his back. After a moment of consideration, O'malley had been on their side so far after all, Tucker nodded.

"Do it," he ordered. It took about a minute for O'malley to get them all into their places. Tucker was up front with O'malley and Grif on either side, the three big weapons up front to take down enemies first. Right behind them, positioned so their guns pointed between their heads, were Lopez and Donut, who were the best shots and were substituting as snipers or something, Tucker didn't fully take in O'malley's explanation.

Directly behind Tucker was Caboose, who was extra heavy if Tucker had to charge ahead. Normally, Tucker wouldn't want Caboose there, but with Freckles handling the actual bullets he didn't feel too uneasy. Taking up the rear, guarding their six and acting as a sort of backup, were Sarge and Simmons. Tucker didn't know anything about formation, but this sounded about right.

"All right, let's move," O'malley said as he fell into his own position, removing the rocket launcher from his back. Tucker nodded and they headed down the hall once more, keeping an even pace as they did. Tucker was terrified and it wasn't for any of the usual reasons. Sure he was in a suit that was used by an insane guy that tried to kill them and was juiced up with power, but there was something about having everyone behind him, being responsible for their lives, that made him feel like he was having trouble breathing. If Church wasn't busy doing his job he'd ask for advice, but he didn't want to-

"Enemies, coming in!" An unfamiliar inside Tucker's helmet, young and almost scared, but he didn't question as he brought his sword up and stopped walking, the others stopping in pace with him and raising their weapons slightly. "Fifteen of them." Tucker swallowed past the lump in his throat and waited...and waited...

"O'malley!" On cue the maniac fired, blowing eight of them to smithereens. The other seven came around the corner and Tucker charged full speed, swinging his sword around to slice three of them in half, skimming a fourth that fell to the ground in agony. Using his free hand to grab another by the throat Tucker threw him into the other two, which sent them to the ground in a heap. He stabbed the one on the ground and just stared at the other three, who screamed and ran for the hills. He heard the others cheer and he stood up straight, beckoning them to move up with his sword.

"So unfair you get the badass suit," Grif commented, but he had a joyous tone as he said it. Tucker snorted.

"Oh, please, you wouldn't do anything anyway!" Simmons snapped at him. Grif grumbled some sort of retort. Tucker nudged Grif lightly before continuing down the hall with the others right behind. The rest of the trip to the cargo bay was quiet, that was bad on a ship this big. "If we're headed to the cargo hold to meet our team..." Tucker groaned.

"So are they," he ground out. "Come on, men, double time!" With a slight groan from Grif the gang set off at a jog down the hall towards their destination. Something in the back of Tucker's mind whispered to stop, not quite sure why it was there Tucker did so and turned around, frowning when he saw Sarge lagging behind with Simmons by him in concern. "Change of plans. You guys go single time, I'm going quadruple time to get there. Caboose take my place up front. O'malley?" Caboose stepped forward and the psycho looked at Tucker. "Get them there alive."

"No promises," he said in what Tucker assumed was a teasing tone. O'malley gave him a mock salute and like a bullet, Tucker was gone. The hallways passed in a blur but somehow Tucker seemed to know when to turn, Church's doing probably. Tucker skidded to a halt as he entered the cargo bay. Simmons had been right, there they all were. There were tons of the enemy soldiers and only about a dozen of his, all of which were getting their asses kicked.

"All right, time to see how good this suit really is," Tucker muttered to himself as crouched down. Using the super strength to leap into the air Tucker aimed his sword downwards, stabbing it into the ground as he landed. The effect caused a wonderful feeling of deja vu as the soldiers around him went flying with cries of strength for speed Tucker sped off as fast as the suit would allow, plowing down most of the soldiers and getting a few with his sword as he swung it. "Take that, cocksuckers!"

"Tucker!?" Tucker turned to Wash and Carolina, who were looking at him. He really wished he could see their faces right now, it had to be such an awesome reaction. He zoomed over to them. "Is that you?"

"Yeah, man! Isn't this badass?!"

"And terrifying!" Wash screeched.

"How are you even running it?"

"Church!"

"Incoming!" Another new voice, a girl? Tucker whipped around, grabbing a grenade midair and throwing it back at the enemy.

"I think?" Tucker shook his head. "That's a later problem, let's clear this hanger!" He zoomed back off, taking out as many enemies as he could. He saw the others come in out of the corner of his eye and rushed over, noticing Caboose carrying Sarge. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know but he's unconscious, we need to get him on the ship!" Simmons said.

"I'll clear a path!" Tucker ran ahead, killing every soldier between them and the ship. He moved out of the way as Caboose carried him on board, sitting him in one of the seats and latching him in. "Dr. Gray!" She ran into the ship and immediately checked on Sarge. "What's wrong with him?"

"Internal bleeding, he's going to need surgery as soon as possible."

"All the more reason to clear this hangar."

"No!" Wash ran onto the pelican. "You, Carolina, and I will clear what we can, then we need to go!" Tucker nodded and ran back out of the pelican, helping the freelancers clear an exit. He was starting to not feel so good but he didn't know why that was. His head felt stuffed with cotton and his vision was blurry. Maybe running this suit wasn't such a great idea.

"Tucker, come on!" He turned to Carolina, who was waving him onto the ship. Right, they needed to leave. Tucker zoomed onto the ship just as the door started to close and lifted off the ground. "All in!" The door latched shut and the pelican took off, making everyone standing stumble.

Tucker couldn't explain what exactly happened but in a second his head was filled with panicked voices. He screamed, tripping and falling to his knees. His vision blurred heavily and his head felt like it was trying to break off from the rest of his body as the voices kept talking all at once.

"MAKE THEM STOP!" Tucker screamed, feeling the ground meet his knees as he collapsed. He wrenched his helmet off and threw it, vaguely hearing someone yelp. "MAKE THE VOICES STOP!" He clawed at his implant, trying desperately to take it out. Someone shoved his hands out of the way and yanked it out for him.

Beautiful silence.

And then, nothing.

Aš®

God, his head hurt like a fucking bitch.

"Tucker?"

"Ugh, Wash?" Tucker opened an eye, looking around the dimly lit room until his gaze fell onto Wash, who looked really fuzzy and out of focus. "What the fuck?"

"What's wrong?"

"I can't fucking see," Tucker grumbled, blinking rapidly. That didn't do anything. "OW!" Tucker yelped when he tried to move and pain shot through him.

"Whoa whoa! Take it easy," Wash went over and put a hand on his shoulder, gently pushing him back to lay down. "You've been out for a while." Tucker felt his stomach drop.

"How long is a while, Wash?"

"About three weeks."

"Three-! Did we win? Is everyone okay? Is Sarge okay? Did we win? OW! Fuck!" Tucker sat back against the bed, hissing in pain. God damn it.

"Tucker, for fucks sake, take it easy!" Wash pressed against his shoulder so Tucker couldn't move again. "Yes, we won. A bunch of ships showed up not long after and the Chairmen was arrested. His trial is very public, so you'll get to see all of that."

"Fucking awesome," Tucker sighed out. "And everyone?"

"Everyone is fine. Sarge got his surgery and survived, he's also in recovery. He uh, constantly tries to escape."

"Because of course he does," Tucker said with a weak laugh.

"Everyone else is fine, no one else sustained any serious injuries."

"Thank fuck," Tucker mumbled, rubbing his face. He scowled. "What the fuck happened to me? I just remember a fuckton of voices, like, arguing or something?" Wash sighed deeply, pulling up a chair and taking Tucker's hand. That was not a good sign. "Wash, what happened?"

"It's Church." Tucker's stomach sank again. "I don't know what exactly happened but, it seems like he erased all his memories, so he could run the suit. And I don't know how, or why, but that split him into all the other AIs."

"It what?"

"Yeah. All the old AIs, he left back like, echos? I'm not sure but they're fully AIs and, we're not sure what to do with them."

"So, Church isā€¦Church is gone?"

"I'm sorry, Tucker." He sighed and rubbed his face, trying desperately not to cry about it. Damn it, they were supposed to all make it out okay.

"This is fucking bullshit."

"I know." Wash was rubbing the back of his hand with his thumb and Tucker didn't feel the need to unpack that affection right now. "I'm sorry, Tucker."

He took a deep breath. "What are we going to do with the AIs?"

"We haven't decided yet. Carolina and I both agree we don't want them to be known about, getting taken to have experiments done on them won't be good." Tucker nodded, he didn't disagree.

"Wherever we go, we should take them with us," Tucker said, looking over at Wash and squinting, his vision was slightly less terrible? He couldn't tell. "There's enough of us to each take one, right?"

"Uh," Wash blinked dumbly. "Yeah, yeah I think so. I'd suggest we do this carefully, make sure each one is placed with someone they'll work with best." Tucker nodded in agreement with a hum. "But, this is something we can discuss later. I'll get a nurse or something." Wash stood up and walked out, leaving Tucker alone.

There was so much going on, he didn't even know where to begin with all this shit. Church was gone. Like, actually gone, this time. Damn it! They had just gotten him back! How the hell was he supposed to tell Caboose? Had they already told him? Oh fuck. Tucker sniffled as he felt himself start to cry. Fucking damn it.

"Tucker?" He wiped his eyes when he heard Caboose. That was the one person who really shouldn't see him cry. He grunted when Caboose hugged him, surprisingly gentle for him. "You're awake! I'm so happy! I've been waiting!"

Tucker snorted. "I thought you hated me?" His smile faded when Caboose sobbed. "Caboose?" He rested a hand on his back, frowning when he felt the other shaking.

"Please don't leave me." So they must have told him. Tucker sighed, resting a chin on Caboose's head and rubbing his back.

"I'm not going anywhere, buddy, I promise."

"Good morning!" Dr. Gray walked into the room, carrying a clipboard with her. "How are we feeling?"

"Like shit, also, I can't see for shit."

"You were injured in battle."

Tucker blinked. "What? No way, I don't remember that!"

"Due to the AI, you were able to continue on fighting without noticing, but they're gone now. You got shot in your left eye."

"WHAT?!" Tucker reached a hand up to feel and froze when he felt a wrap there. He felt every part of him tense and could feel the blood flowing through his ears. People were saying things but he couldn't really hear them over the blood rushing through his ears.

"TUCKER!" Caboose screamed, shaking Tucker violently.

"Caboose! No!" Wash tried to pull Caboose away to no avail, the man was just too strong to be moved.

"Caboose! Caboose, I'm fine! STOP IT!" Caboose stopped shaking him and Tucker felt like he was spinning. He grabbed onto Caboose and tried to resist the urge to vomit all over him. "Ohhh fuck."

Wash shoved Caboose out of the way, holding out a trash can for Tucker to vomit into. Which he promptly did. He sobbed loudly in the aftermath, feeling like absolute shit. Wash wiped his mouth off with a paper towel and Tucker vaguely registered him yelling at Caboose to get him water to make up for what he did.

"You're okay, you're gonna be fine," Wash said softly, petting his hair. Tucker spat into the bucket, even though he knew it would do nothing for the taste in his mouth. He whimpered. "Thank you." Wash set the trash can down and pressed a bottle of water into Tucker's hands. "Sip, don't gulp."

"Uh-huh," Tucker muttered weakly as he took a small sip of the water, then paused. "Caboose, you fucker."

"I'm sorry!" Caboose sobbed out. God damn it, he could never be mad at him, could he?

"I'm fine, it's fine, just, don't do that shit," Tucker said, waving him off as he had another sip of the water. Caboose whimpered and Tucker sighed heavily. Fuck, he could not handle this.

"Hey, Palomo! Take Caboose on a walk, yeah? Get him ice cream or something?"

"Uhhh, yeah, sure! C'mon, big guy!"

"Okay," Caboose whimpered as he walked out of the room. Tucker took deep breaths between sips of water, managing to calm down. Once the water was out he glared at Wash and threw it at his face.

"Ow! What the fuck!?"

"You didn't think to mention that earlier!"

"I didn't realize you didn't know!"

"I made a comment about my vision! That didn't stand out to you!?"

"I didn't really have time to think about it!"

"BOYS!" They both jumped when Dr. Gray yelled shrilly. They turned to her. "Much better. Agent Washington, Tucker needs rest right now, and I don't think you are helping."

"But-"

"No buts, out. Doctor's orders!"

Wash sighed. "I'll be back to visit later." Dr. Gray cleared her throat. "I'm going, I'm going." Wash left the room and Tucker sighed, rubbing his face.

"Now, how do you feel?"

"Like hell," Tucker grumbled, leaning his head back. "Church is dead. I was in a coma. My eye is goneā€¦there's just, a lot." Dr. Gray nodded with a hum. He wasn't sure if she actually cared but these thoughts had to go somewhere. "Church. He's gone."

"That is correct." Her voice was much gentler than usual. Tucker took some comfort in that. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thanks." Tucker wiped his eyes.

"If you need anything, just press the bell button on the remote beside your bed, alright?" Tucker just nodded, rubbing his face. "Alright." She left the room, closing the door partially behind her.

Fuck. Fuck. Tucker curled up as best he could and cried quietly, gripping the sheets in his hands tightly. Church was gone. He'd lost his eye. This was so un-fucking-fair.