Chapter 2

—

"Agent Carolina?!" Church shouted, whatever mix of emotions that were on his face were hidden away behind his translucent helmet.

He remembered her. Not from his own memory, it was… strange. He remembered her via memories made through the Alpha. Conversations he had with Tex back in Blood Gulch. He… couldn't pinpoint down the exact way he knew her, just thinking about someone elses' memories was giving him a headache.

"What are you doing here?" Carolina demanded, the grip on her rifle tightening. Her question was meant for Tex, completely ignoring the outburst from Church.

The other A.I. in the room faced Carolina completely. Unlike Church, Tex was projected with an Assault Rifle in her hands; and was outfitted with a darkish gray tone.

"The same thing Church is doing here. Both of us were in the memory unit." Her voice was surprisingly lacking its normal hostility; instead taking a calm demeanor. It was like Carolina was a bomb, one that Tex wasn't trying to set off. Church didn't think he'd ever seen anything like it.

If looks could kill, Tex would be dropped dead on the spot. Carolinas visor was boring a hole into the other freelancers soul, expression unreadable. They were interrupted by the crack of a grenade; another figure backpedaling into the room and returning fire down the hall.

"Hey! How we doin in here?" He called out, taking cover behind the edge of the entrance, reloading his weapon when the counter hit zero.

"Wash?" Both Epsilon and Texas questioned in unison, both unable to believe their ears. Last Tex saw Wash, they were trying to kill each other; and the last Church saw him, he was dying. The only reason they didn't have to believe their eyes is because Wash was outfitted in the same cobalt armor that Church was normally entitled to.

"You got them out?" Wash confirmed, hesitating slightly when he saw Tex.

'Great.' Is all he could think, especially seeing Carolina still staring blankly at the projection. "Good. Carolina, we can't hold them off much longer. They're not too happy about us breaking in."

That seemed to break through to her, Carolina turning her back on the group of four and running towards their exit, raising her rifle and charging forward. "Let me see what I can do to help that." She announced bitterly, charging through the smoke of a set off grenade, firing bursts from her Battle Rifle.

Wash shook his head when she flew by, he could feel the rage radiating off Carolinas' body as she passed. "Same old Carolina…" He said to himself, disappointed.

He looked back at the group she had just left behind, seeing the return of two individuals he wasn't sure if he would ever see again. "I guess coming back from the dead doesn't change anybody."

—

Carolina was furious, and the carnage she was exacting on the hall was already showing it.

Multiple command operatives were already laying lifeless on the ground, and Carolina was tearing through the remaining troopers in close quarters combat. She was like a tornado of death, too fast for them to track and too quick for them to react to. More troopers fell under the hailstorm of fire from her Battle Rifle; they were the lucky ones. Those who didn't fall under fire were instead taken out at Carolinas' fingertips. Necks being snapped, ribcages broken, limbs disjointed, the works. Some lived, some didn't.

She just finished clearing out the hallway, finishing off a trooper with a broken leg with a simple bullet from her magnum. The silence didn't last a second, reinforcements arriving just in time to watch one of their own be executed. Teal armor turned to face them, the message was clear. It was their turn now.

—

"Washington? Why are you wearing blue armor? Why are you wearing my armor?" Church waited for an answer, already knowing that whatever he hears next wouldn't be a good enough explanation.

Tex was busy staring at the hallway Carolina just ran off into, the sounds of gunfire, explosions, and screams echoing throughout the compound. Someone was not happy.

"Oh- uhhm-" Washington struggled to find his words, too distracted by the noises coming from directly behind him.

Caboose jumped in, mistaking the hesitation as not knowing how to explain the situation. "Oh, yeahhhh, yeah…" And it was at that moment Caboose realized he didn't know how to explain either. To be honest he probably couldn't even if he really tried.

Wash refound his 'footing' so to speak, launching into the topic. "They sort of used me to… replace you? On Blue Team."

"Replace me?"

"I wouldn't really use the word replace." Caboose started, already digging deeper under Church's skin. "But there's no word for: 'Take over for you and make everything better almost immediately,' so we just say replace."

By this point, Tex had returned, simply watching the chaos unfold in front of her for the moment. Wash swore he heard her stifle a laugh.

"When did this happen?" Church demanded, shifting his gaze from Washington to Caboose. If anyone was likely to give him the truth, it'd be Caboose, and it'd be completely by accident.

"Oh, do you remember when you went into the memory unit? And then everyone was sad?"

"Yeah?"

"It was right after that."

"Right after I left?!" Church couldn't believe it. He expected… to be honest he doesn't know what he expected from these guys. It was always something. Sneaking a glance at Tex, he could tell she was living it up; he didn't even have to see her face.

"Well, it wasn't right after; but you know it was like… five… or ten seconds." Caboose offered, trying to save it; doing a terrible job in the process.

Church stayed deadpan, his stare going back to Caboose. "You've gotta be kidding me."

"Life is short, Church." Caboose said, "We had to move on."

"Speaking of moving on." Tex jumped in, gesturing at the door with a quick jab of her head. "We should get going. Sounds like our path is clear."

"Right." Wash said, looking over his rifle for a second before turning to leave. "We can finish this outside, right now we need to get out of here. Move."

—

Bodies littered the hallways routing to their exfil point, barely any still writhing in pain or breathing. Washington was up front, with the two A.I.s in the center, followed by Sarge and Caboose. They only had to put one survivor down, as the trooper drew their sidearm on Wash. They were effectively persuaded with a single burst from Washingtons' rifle. Eventually, they could see sunlight from the top of a ramp; that was their exit. The sun glared on Washingtons' visor as the group stepped out into the light, the sound of a turret deafening in everyone's ears.

Carolina was currently taking cover, pinned down and unable to adjust without getting torn apart by the stationary weapon. Noticing the group making it out, Carolina signaled them over the comms. "Get to cover! Wash, take that right side!"

Doing as he was told, Washington quickly got into position; taking his post behind a barrier identical to Carolinas. Lining up a shot, Wash efficiently took out the operative manning the turret, the gun pointing up into the sky and letting off a few more rounds before it ceased.

"Where's everyone else!" Wash shouted. Caboose took post next to him and let a quarter of his rifles' magazine off the chain. The Assault Rifles rounds peppered the oppositions' cover, doing no damage to their enemies.

"Working on an extraction plan." Carolina explained through gritted teeth, returning fire to no avail. Faint music could be heard in the distance, but Carolina either didn't notice it; or didn't care. "They should be here right about-"

The music continued to increase in volume, until it was blaring louder than even the gunfire. A Warthog came flying over the ridge; a soldier in orange armor at the wheel.

"Woo-hoo!" He yelled, louder than even the music. The remaining troopers barely had time to look before they were crushed by the vehicle, the last being cleared out by the hogs' collision course.

The driver maneuvered the vehicle out of its impact zone, pulling up next to the group and parking, music still playing. It was a god awful song, reminiscent of those played at Mexican Cantinas.

"Now." Carolina said, the calmness in her voice unusual for both the destruction she just left behind and the sheer stupidity and luck of what she just witnessed.

The driver finally turned off the music, looking over at the group and greeting them with a simple word.

"Sup."

"Damn you, Private Grif." Sarge complained, "You took out those soldiers before I could administer my lethal brand of red justice!" In all reality, Sarge was just giving him shit. There'd be opportunities to turn soldiers to paste with his shotgun down the line. He'd gotten his fill of it ages ago today. "Now where's Simmons?"

"I dunno," Grif said, "We found another Warthog and he was right behind me." He was about to elaborate, but another song playing from the horizon cut him off. This song was an improvement, but not by much. It was some classical mix that sounded like it came from the sixteen hundreds.

Another vehicle pulled up, this one with an additional passenger accompanying the driver. Everyone, all three freelancers included, were dead silent as they watched the vehicle pull up, stop, and then reverse to be in line with Grifs Warthog.

Putting the vehicle in park, the driver of this hogs' word of choice was: "Present!"

"Wow. Nice entrance, dude." Grif mocked him, "Very thrilling."

"Hey, I don't need all that flash." Simmons tried to defend himself, to no avail. "Some of us have respect for the fundamentals."

The two started bickering in some argument about the word fun, train tracks, and the law. None of the Freelancers cared at all, and got to work planning their next move.

"Where're we heading now?" Washington asked Carolina, both of them watching the simulation troopers act like morons. It was what they did best, but after weeks of this behavior, Carolinas temper was long gone. Now with Tex added into the mix? She was unstable, and Wash could tell.

The two got into a small discussion, alot more calm than anyone could really expect, plotting their moves without the input of the rest of the group.

Church noticed this, but didn't really care. He was too busy trying to figure out what was going on currently, let alone what might happen a few hours from now.

"I still don't get it." Tex said, looking to Sarge for answers. "Why go through all the effort for us?"

What she really meant is why go through all the effort for herself. Tex could absolutely see why Carolina freed Church; he could have some lingering memories of the Director. Maybe a contingency plan for if the project winded up in the spot it's in right now. Too bad Tex already beat her to that, Church had nothing upstairs that could have helped her find the Director; that's why she went after Washington and Maine. Better luck next time, Carolina.

"They wanted to get him out of that memory whatsit. Help her and that good for barely somethin yellow stripe find the professor whats-his-puss. They only wanted Church though, I think the plan was to leave you in that container boxamajig."

Church was slack jawed, his brain frying to understand the words coming from Red Teams leader. "Can… Can somebody translate that? I… don't speak Huckleberry."

"They're after your memories, Church." Tex explained, or at least interpreted. "They think you'll know where to find the Director."

"Why'd I know anything about that?" Church asked, "Just because I have his memories doesn't mean I, like… have any new ones."

Tex shook her head at the other A.I., pondering on the last part of Sarges explanation. "What I'm more hung up on is that they meant to leave me in the memory unit."

"What's her deal with you anyways?" Church questioned, every memory he had of Carolina came from Tex and Delta; and on Texs' end it was always full of regret. "I thought she meant something to you?"

"It's…" Tex started, sneaking a glance at Wash and Carolina. They were busy with their faces in a holomap. Good. "Complicated. But I doubt she would have let me out of that thing if she was in the room. We're both lucky it was Caboose handling it."

Upon hearing his name, Caboose took his cue to jump back into the conversation. "Because I am the only one who can ever handle Epsilon." He looked at Wash, and Church could feel the squint behind Cabooses helmet. Something must've happened on the way here, Church already chuckling at the thought. "And nobody else."

"How'd Red Team even wind up in this?" Tex asked, looking over at the Warthogs. This seemed like a Blue Team matter.

"Lets just say you aren't the only lady we know with a quick temper." Sarge said plainly, both insulting Tex and Carolina at once. Two for one.

Tex smirked, knowing full well she could end him if she wanted to. Goddamn, he was right, she did have a short fuse. "I'll let that one slide because it's true."

"Alright people, listen up!" Washington shouted, grabbing everyone's attention from both parties, walking up alongside Carolina.

It was her who briefed the teams, stating out directives firm yet orderly, like she was reading it right off an order from up top. "Everybody load up. NAV points are in your HUDs. Alternative NAVs uploaded to your secondary objectives. Sync?"

Church was following it pretty well up until that last part. He had no idea what the hell 'sync' meant. And judging on the confused looks from the rest of the crew, minus Wash and Tex, nobody else did either. Must be a Freelancer thing.

"Sync?!" Carolina said again, her fingers twitching on the grip of her rifle. 'This woman has lost her fucking mind.' Is the only thing that was going through Churchs' head.

"Oh! Uh- right. Everyone, just say 'sync' whenever she says that." Washington directed, everyone just kinda looking at each other, wondering if it was a trick of some sorts.

Tucker took the leap of faith, stammering out the word. "Oh, uh, sync?"

"Refrigerator." Caboose blurted out, like he just won some sort of test about kitchen appliances.

Carolina whipped around to look at Caboose, Washington grabbing her attention before she could tear into the poor kid. "Hey, let's just go."

"... fine. Let's move people."