Author's Note: I had enough complaints to warrant this. To be perfectly honest with you, no, I did not proof read this chapter before posting it. This reupload should be better.
Next chapter is now up. Hey guys, new chapter, and we kick off right where we left off.
Review Responses:
Vendicator: I honestly feel the same way, I adore A Sound of Thunder and that includes all the faults and dated trope choices. Tropes I did that were popular at the time but have not exactly aged well; either that or people always thought they were stupid. In the end, I always knew I would find my way back to Red vs Blue.
: I know right? These guys are suppose to be in the military. I am pretty sure the writers have forgotten that as well seeing as they have also ditched that in their new series. Most fanfiction writers don't tend to ever do a lot of research into details like that before writing their stuff.
Kriegsmen: Generation Kill was a huge influence in my writing style and character development as well as my own personal experiences in the Army.
Atomic R4y: I am currently trying to build that relationship and partnership for when the time comes. After all, basically every character has a duo in the original show.
Strike Wyvern: I always thought his death was hilarious too.
To the rest of you, I feel I can respond to you all in one mass response. Thank you for your reviews and thank you for understanding my reasonings for how I am building my story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Red vs Blue.
Into the Fire
Donut sat there at Red Base, patiently waiting for the arrival of the rest of his team. Right about when he started to wonder what was taking his team so long, they came running up the ramp. They also happened to be screaming.
"Fucking move!" Rowe screams as they come up charging up the ramp.
Two of them didn't look so bad, but Grif looked like he was dying.
"What happened?" asks a concerned Donut.
"Big... Tank... Shooting... Ooooh!" Grif gasps.
"Donut get that flag secured!" Rowe barks.
Donut quickly turns around and scoops up the flag. Simmons watches in puzzled fascination as he watches Grif vomiting what he had for lunch. He then turns and looks back from where they had run from.
"Damn, man we only ran like three hundred feet," Simmons whistles in disbelief. He turns to Grif and chuckles "You are really out of shape."
"What gave it away?" Rowe snorts, "The love handles hanging off his sides or the fact that he's failed both height and weight and the ACFT for the past three years?"
"Fuck... You…" Grif huffs, "Both…. Of you…."
"He also smokes," Simmons quickly adds.
Before Grif could gather enough energy for a retort, Donut interrupts them.
"Where's your car?" he asks.
"It got blown up," explains Simmons, "One of the Blues shot a rocket at it."
"Hey it was still drivable!" Grif protests, "We would have gotten it out of there if that damn tank didn't show up."
"They got the jump on us, and we had to run the rest of the way back," Rowe explains.
"You lost the jeep? Oh man, Lopez is gonna be pissed. Where is it?" asks Donut.
*boom*
Suddenly, an explosion rocks the base and the blown out Warthog flips up and lands right side up on the roof in front of the team. Rowe instinctively drops to the ground while the other three stare dumbly at what had happened. Simmons was the first to clue in and also dove for cover. Grif and Donut on the other hand, stood there for a few seconds longer, the duo were still processing what had just happened.
"What the hell?" Grif blinks.
"Get down you idiots!" Rowe screams.
Only then did Grif and Donut drop to the floor and scramble for cover.
"SON OF A BITCH!" Grif fearfully cries as Sheila fires off another round.
"Of crap!" Donut cries, "What the hell is that thing?"
"That's the tank!" Grif screams from behind their hiding spot.
Donut suddenly remembers the flag in his hands and asks Grif "Hey uh, Grif, uh, you wanna hold the flag for a little bit?"
A few seconds of silence passes as another round hits the base.
"No!" Grif angrily shrieks, "Keep that thing away from me!"
Sheila fires another round at the entrenched Reds. Caboose was in the driver cabin, Lockett stood on the roof next to the hatch, and Tucker stood alongside the tank.
"Keep at it Caboose," Lockett instructs.
"Why do you guys keep shooting at the jeep?" asks Tucker.
"It's locked on," Lockett explains, "There's something wrong with the computer and this was the only way we could keep any semblance of control over it."
"Did you try turning it off and on again?" asks Tucker.
"Yeah," replies Lockett, "But it still somehow killed Church, and when we turned it off and left it, the tank started back up on its own and drove off without us."
"Oh," murmurs Tucker. "That's not good."
Back with the Reds, it became increasingly clear that their situation was looking rather bleak.
"I hate to be the one to point this out guys," Donut says apologetically, "But I think we're screwed."
Sheila fires another round at them.
"Yeah, I have to agree with the rookie on this one," Simmons nods in agreement.
"Why are you guys just giving up already?" cries Rowe, "What happened to your launchers, I know you should have a few?"
Grif and Simmons awkwardly share a glance before Grif replies "Yeah...about that..."
Rowe's shoulder slumps, and she asks in disbelief, "What happened?"
"Sarge took them," Simmons replies.
Rowe blankly stares at the two as she processes what she was just told.
After a moment she gives up and says "Well, we can't just stay here."
"Hey, I'm open to any ideas if you got 'em," Grif offers.
Suddenly, the radio comes to life and a rough and hardened, southern voice breaks through the static.
"Blood Gulch Outpost Number One. Come in, Blood Gulch Outpost, come in. Do you read me? This is Sergeant-"
Rowe immediately jumps onto the radio and reports "Sergeant, this is Specialist Rowe!"
"Oh Specialist, I was expecting your arrival, welcome to Red Base," he greets. "I am currently in-bound to your position from Command."
Before she could respond, Sheila fires another round, this one had hit the pillar she was hiding behind. The force of the blast threw her to the ground.
"Specialist, what was that?" asks Sarge.
"Sergeant, we got a problem," Rowe tells him, "Private Donut wandered out to the Blue Dase at some point and came back with their flag. They sent their tank after him and blew up the Warthog and are now currently laying siege to our base, over?"
Sarge remained silent and all Rowe could hear was the background static of the radio.
"Am I talking to the right base?" asks an incredulous Sarge.
"Sergeant, are you gonna help or not?!" Rowe exclaims.
"Well, tell the boys to sit tight little lady," Sarge tells her reassuringly, "I got something for your little tank problem."
The roar of the Pelican's jets grew louder and the Reds watch as the drop-ship closes in on its strafing run.
"Go!" Lockett barks at Tucker.
"Right!" Tucker takes off running but stops and looks back hesitantly.
"I gave you a direct order Private, fucking go!" Lockett bellows. He turns back to Caboose and cries "You gotta get it open man!"
"It's locked!" Caboose cries as he struggles with the latch.
Tucker watches as the pelican lines up the shot and sees bright flashes of light. Within a few seconds, a stream of rockets started hitting the ground in a line heading straight for the tank.
"Guys, you gotta get out now!" he cries.
"Sheila!" Lockett shouts, "Open the hatch!"
"Driver canopy open," Sheila announces.
Lockett flings the hatch open, yanks Caboose out of the seat, and kicks him off the tank. He then follows him and jumps off the tank. Locket then throws Caboose to the side and jumps on top of him right as the rockets reach their previous position.
"Thank you for using the M808V Main Battle-"
Sheila is cut off as a cluster of rockets land under her launching the fore end of the 66 metric ton vehicle into the air. Another pair of rockets hit the underside forcing the tank to completely flip over and land on its turret. As the smoke clears, it was evident to both of them that they were still alive, Lockett slowly gets up off of Caboose and pulls the private to his feet.
"You all right?" he asks in a concerned tone.
Caboose glumly nods as he stares at the destroyed tank right as Tucker runs up to them.
"Thank god, you guys are alive!" he cries out in relief. He then sees the tank and says "Oh no, look at your tank."
"I'm scared, Dave. Will I dream?" Sheila asks fearfully, "Daisy...Daisy..." she sang as her voice grew more distorted and elongated before she completely shorted out.
"Sheila…." Caboose's shoulders slump as he sniffs "Nooooo."
Lockett raises his hand and comfortingly pats Caboose on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry Caboose," Lockett whispers.
"What? No! Sheila! Sheila!" Tucker cries, but then a question pops into Tucker's head, "W-Wait…" Tucker turns to the others and asks "Who's Sheila?"
"It was the A.I. in the tank," Lockett explains, "Caboose was friends with her."
"Oh, dude!" Tucker explains excitedly, "I knew you could pick up chicks in a tank!" He then pauses and remembers what has happened. "Oh, sorry Caboose," Tucker quickly apologizes.
"Smooth dickhead," scolds Lockett, "Smooth."
"What do we do now?" asks Tucker.
They all turn and spot the pelican from early now touching down at Red Base.
"Fall back to base," Lockett tells them.
"Come in, Blue Command. This is Blood Gulch Outpost Alpha. Do you read me?" asks Tucker, he pauses and looks over to the others.
He sees Caboose pulling security just in case the Reds came chasing after them. He also spots Lockett who was sitting there, prepping an MRE.
"Lockett, we just got our asses kicked, how do you even have an appetite right now?" Tucker asks in disbelief.
"I didn't have lunch and right now this is our only window to actually get food," Lockett explains matter-of-factly as he pulls out the entree from the MRE's flameless ration heater. He turns to the vigilant Caboose and says "Both of you, sit down, it's been hours since either of you have eaten."
As Caboose sits down, Tucker says "I'm gonna keep trying with the radio."
Lockett picks up a Ranger Bar from his MRE and throws it to Tucker.
"At least eat this."
Tucker catches the bar and nods.
"By the way, thanks for helping me get that black shit off my armor," Tucker says thankfully to Caboose.
"No problem," Caboose happily chirps.
The other end of the radio finally picks up and Tucker turns away.
"This is Bravo Charlie. Come in Bravo Oscar Alpha," the operator radios.
"This is PFC Tucker, please give us a moment," Tucker tells him.
"Do either of you know your 9-line?" Lockett asks.
Caboose hesitantly shakes his hand and Tucker asks "Do we really need a MedEVAC for just one dead guy?"
Tucker gestures to Church's body which they had dragged back to Blue Base.
Lockett glares at Tucker and says "You don't leave behind a fallen comrade dead or alive, you should know that."
Lockett picks up the radio and pulls out a card and reads aloud "Bravo Charlie, this is Bravo Oscar Alpha requesting a 9-Line MEDEVAC."
"Roger, Bravo Oscar Alpha, this is Bravo Charlie, prepared to copy," the other operator replies.
"Line one, one eight sierra whisky papa one two tree one four five one seven, break.
Line two, two seven zero zero bravo five, break.
Line tree," Lockett pauses before saying "Delta one, break.
Line four, charlie, break.
Line five, lima one. How copy?"
The operator begins to repeat back everything that was just said. After he finishes, Locket gives out the four final lines.
"Line six, echo, break.
Line seven, alpha, break.
Line eight, alpha. How copy?"
"We read you loud and clear Bravo Oscar Alpha," the operator replies.
"Bravo Charlie, we also are in serious need of reinforcements as well, they took out our tank," Lockett quickly adds.
"Understood," the operator responds, "Bravo Oscar Alpha, I need to warn you, due to your distance, it will take some time for our forces to reach you."
"Bravo Charlie, how long?" asks Lockett.
"The best I can do are these two options:" The operator tells him, "The nearest Blue forces can get to you in 16 days-"
"16 days, that is almost two weeks we'll be dead by then!" Tucker exclaims.
"Wait, 16 days is more than two weeks," Caboose corrects.
"...what?" a confused Tucker murmurs.
"OR I can hire a nearby Freelancer and get him there within a few hours," the operator offered.
"I like the "in an hour" one," Caboose comments thoughtfully.
"Yeah me too," Tucker nods in agreement.
Lockett grimaces but ultimately relents and replies "Bravo Charlie, we'll take the second option."
"Copy that Bravo Oscar Alpha, I also see that you are slated to receive a replacement sometime this month. I can move it up but it'll take your reinforcements a little longer, how copy?" the operator asks.
"How much longer Bravo Charlie?" Lockett asks.
"At least a couple hours more," the operator answers.
Lockett quickly weighs in on their options before replying "Roger that, we'll take it."
The operator then replies "10-4 Bravo Oscar Alpha, we'll contact Freelancer Tex and have them there post-haste. Bravo Charlie out."
With that, the radio call was over and Lockett lowers the mic. Lockett grimaces at his final options before turning back to the others.
"What's a Freelancer?" asks Caboose.
"Freelancers are independent. They're not Red or Blue. They're just guns for hire who'll fight for whoever has the most money," explains Tucker.
"Like a mercenary?" asks Caboose.
"That's exactly what they are," Lockett tells him. "Let's try to get rid of him as soon as possible please?"
"You sound like you have something personal against them," Tucker comments, slightly put off by Lockett's sudden change in tone but also curious about the potential back story.
"Well, besides the fact that their moral compass is dictated by how much they are getting paid and that they aren't bound by international law..." Lockett scoffs, "Yes, I also have something personal against them."
"Did something happen?" asks Tucker.
Lockett debates quietly in his mind before muttering "I guess it's alright if I tell you guys." He then explains "It was before I came here, I was on a mission dealing with some possible Insurrects activity. The Freelancers..." Lockett's breath hitched as he felt the anger start to boil up. "To put it simply, they showed up and fucked up our mission."
"Did you fail it?" asks Caboose.
"Yeah," Lockett growls while gritting his teeth, "It was a suicide bomber, and he had hostages. We had the bastard, our snipers were in position, then they jumped in and the guy set off his explosive vest." Lockett pauses, he closes his fist tightly before continuing. "Among casualties, they also got two of my guys killed along with two police officers and a family of four..." Lockett closes his eyes as the memories of the incident replay in his mind, "One of them was an eight-year-old boy."
"What happened after?" asks Tucker.
"Victims of the incident tried to build a case and wanted to press charges, they asked me to testify," Lockett replies, "I did so willingly." He then glares and says "Then those ONI spooks came in and swept the entire thing under the rug. They tried again in civil court and managed to settle."
"That's good right? What happened to you?" asks Tucker.
"I guess I hurt someone's ego really badly because about a week later, I am told that I was being transferred from a combat unit into an admin one at the opposite end of the galaxy," Lockett sighed, "My career got stonewalled and I lost all my sponsors, all my promotion recommendations, and whatever future schools and deployments I had available. They set my career back years," He lets out a frustrated sigh and finishes "At that point I was done with the army, low and behold someone was offering me another contract for only two more years."
"So that's why you're here," Caboose stated. "To get an early retirement."
Lockett nods.
"He's right, you know..." a disembodied voice comments.
Lockett's eyes widen in shock as Tucker and Caboose frantically start looking for the source of the voice. Lockett then spots a weird light forming in front of them.
"Guys!" he calls out and points at the light.
"Tucker… Lockett..." the light calls out in a ghostly voice.
The light slowly morphs into the silhouette of Church, their previously deceased comrade.
"Who the hell are you?" Tucker fearfully cries.
Lockett remains silent as he slowly reaches for his rifle. Seeing this, Caboose snatches up his and holds onto it with an iron grip.
"I am the ghost of the Church, and I've come back with a warning!" the supposed Church wailed.
"Please tell me you see that too?" Lockett quietly begs to Tucker.
"Yeah," he slowly nods, "Not sure I want to though."
Caboose then snorts "You're not Church! Church is blue. You're white!"
Church then in his normal voice, snaps back "Rookie, shut up, man! I'm a freakin' ghost! Have you ever seen a blue ghost before?"
"Well, hallucination or not, it's definitely Church," Tucker mutters, Lockett nods in agreement.
"Now I gotta start over again," grumbles Church, he clears his throat and promptly resumes the ghostly voice, "Tucker... Lockett...! I've come back with a warning!"
Lockett winces and asks "Is the voice really necessary?"
"Hm," blinks a surprised Church.
"If you're trying to give us a warning about the Freelancer, he's going to be here in an hour or so," Lockett reminds him, "So you really need to ask yourself if the theatrics are necessary or not."
"Yeah, plus it's kinda getting annoying," Tucker also adds.
Church rolls his eyes and grumbles "Fine. Okay, here's the deal: I've come back from the dead to give you a warning about Tex. Don't let-"
"What's the warning?" Caboose interrupts.
"Shut up for one second and I'll tell you!" Church snaps.
"Oh, sorry," Caboose apologizes.
"Caboose, just remain quiet for the time being," Lockett tells him.
"Oh, okay," Caboose replies.
"Okay," he turns to Tucker and asks "Tucker. You remember that I told you that I was stationed on Sidewinder before they transferred me here to Blood Gulch, right?"
"No," Tucker replies honestly.
Tucker honestly hasn't remembered a lot of what Church told him, turns out he hasn't really paid any attention to him to being with.
"Sidewinder? Isn't that the ice planet?" asks Caboose.
"Yeah," Church nods.
"Cool," murmurs Caboose, "How long were you there?"
"8 months," answers Church.
Lockett winces.
"Freeze your balls off?" Lockett both jokes and commiserates.
"So, what happened at Sidewinder?" asks Tucker.
"Alright well…." Church began.
Flashback Starts….
"One day, when I was there, everything was just like normal. I remember. I was out on patrol with my partner, Jimmy. Jimmy was a really good kid. Everybody liked him," Church narrates.
"D'ya think I was a good kid, Church?" asks a slightly envious Tucker.
Church snorts and says "Tucker, don't get jealous, man. Just listen to the story, okay? Like I said, the guys were hanging around, waiting for some action, bitching about the cold..."
"Man, it's fucking cold," one guy grumbles.
The other guy then says "I hope we get some action."
"Good luck with that," Lockett snickers.
"Yeah I know right," laughs Church.
"Anyway, Jimmy was in the middle of telling me all about this girlfriend he had back home," Church continues.
In a highland-southern accent, Jimmy spoke "Yep, as soon as I get back, I'm gonna get down on one knee and ask her to marry me."
"Well I guess he's dead," Lockett mutters.
"How do you know?" asks a curious Tucker.
"Dude, it's like a guy saying he is retiring soon," Lockett explains, "It's one of the tell-tale signs that the guy is going to die. May as well be wearing a red shirt."
"Guys, can I continue?" Church pleads.
"Oh, sorry," both Tucker and Locker apologize.
"Anyway, that was when Tex showed up," he continues.
The soldiers on post fail to notice a brief shimmer in the air as someone with active camouflage starts moving throughout the base.
"Private Mickey was the first to go. He was halfway across the base when all of sudden he started screaming bloody murder..."
Private Mickey literally started screaming the words "Bloody murder" as he spun around and fires his shotgun at nothing but the air. Another Blue soldier notices something pass him by, and he immediately starts firing his rifle in that general direction. He fails to notice the invisible figure sneaking up behind him, he turns at the last second before getting hit.
"The whole thing was over before it even started," Church narrated.
As the figure kills another Blue, Church and Jimmy snap their guns in that direction and begin firing.
"Poor Jimmy was the last one to go. Tex walked up to him, pulled Jimmy's skull right out of his head, and beat him to death with it," Church finishes.
Lockett could practically hear the needle rip off the record player once Church had said that.
"Wait a second. How do you beat someone to death with their own skull? That doesn't seem physically possible," Tucker comments incredulously.
"That's exactly what Jimmy kept screaming," Church adds.
"This doesn't seem physically possible!" Jimmy hysterically cries as the invisible soldier beats him with….sure enough, a human skull. Jimmy collapses to the floor as he releases his death rattle "Hurk! Bleh..."
Flashback Ends….
"Wait, let me get this straight," Lockett quickly comments, "You saw your best friend getting beaten to death and you just stood and watched?"
"What was I supposed to do?" snaps Church.
"Literally anything at that point would have looked like more of an attempt than just sitting there and watching," Lockett retorts.
Honestly, Lockett didn't buy it, he didn't buy the fact the story Church told. Hell, he still couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that their teammate, who had just died a few hours earlier, had come back as a ghost and was talking to them right now. Lockett wasn't even sure if this wasn't some random dream he had and that he was somewhere in the field knocked out from a concussion.
"That's not my point," Church interjects, "Bottom line is, these Freelancers, they're bad news, and Tex is one of the worst." He turns to Lockett and says "The Sarge here has already told you some of the trouble they cause, but believe me, that is only scratching the surface of what is wrong with them."
"Why didn't he kill you?" asks Caboose.
Church lets out a sigh and replies "To tell ya, I don't know why I'm not dead. Coulda kill me at any point...But maybe it's because Tex and I have run into each other once before."
The three living members of the Blue team gasp in survive.
"Where?" asks Tucker, voicing the group's surprise.
"You, uh.. you remember that girl I told you about, back home?" asks Church.
The trio nods. It's not like he just told them about her earlier that day.
"Well, let's just say that Tex is the real reason why we never got married," Church answers simply.
"How vague," Lockett grumbles.
Church looks down at his body as he notices it starting to fade in and out.
"Guys, I'm fading fast, and I don't know when I'll be back. Just listen to my warning. Don't let Tex get involved here," he pleads to them.
"Alright," Lockett replies skeptically.
"I mean it, guys. No fighting, no scouting, nothing. You'll regret it..." Church eerily warns before fading completely.
A full second of silence passes before anyone says anything.
"Sergeant, what do we do?" asks Caboose.
"Dude, I am still trying to figure out whether or not I have been dreaming this whole thing," Lockett replies in exasperation.
"Here let me see," Tucker says, he moves up and pinches Lockett on the wrist.
Lockett grimaces and quickly shakes him off.
"Anything?" asks Tucker expectantly.
Lockett waits quietly for a couple of seconds before deflating and grumbles "Fuck, I guess I am awake."
"So what's the plan?" asks Caboose.
"Yeah, what do we do when the "Scary Freelancer" shows up?" Tucker asks skeptically as he held up air quotes around the words "Scary Freelancer."
"If he really is anything like Church describes," Lockett replies honestly, "There might not be a whole lot we can actually do." Best stick with the original plan and let him do his job as fast as possible then kick his ass back to Blue Command, sound good?"
"Sure thing," answers Tucker.
"Yes Sergeant," nods Caboose.
Tucker then snorts and comments "So..! Tex and Church were after the same girl."
"Actually, he said they were a couple, so that could mean many things," Lockett murmurs, "Like either she cheated on him or they had one of those breaks, and she decided to hook up with someone else."
"You think he was Jodied?" asks Tucker.
"That's also a possibility yeah," Lockett nods.
"So would my dad be right in calling her…." Caboose pauses, and he silently motions for the rest of the sentence which both Tucker and Lockett mentally fill.
"Yes," Lockett quickly agrees, he then warns "But never directly to someone unless you have the means to back it up."
"Hey, you're fitting in here quite well," Tucker compliments Lockett.
"Oh, you think so?" asks Lockett.
"Yeah," Tucker replies reassuringly, "Not bad for your first day."
"Well, I do aim to please," Lockett cheekily smiles.
"So, what's the game plan?" Tucker asks again. "Anything we can do while we wait for him to get here?"
"Not much," Lockett tells him. He then turns to Caboose and says "Caboose, get a pot of coffee going, it's going to be a long day."
All of them were none the wiser to a figure in black armor watching them from the distance.
Author's Note: Damn guys here we go, lots to unpack and unravel here. Yes, Lockett has had past dealings with Project Freelancer. He has seen them before, but it was really that one incident that hammered in his opinion of them. He still has other connections, but none that he would know right off the bat. Right now, he has no idea who Tex really is, and since Tex is actually a much younger version of Allison Church, Lockett only knew the older version, so he is not going to recognize her right away, but Tex knows Lockett. That is as much as I can hint at for now.
I hope you guys liked this chapter and I will see you soon. If you liked what you read or you just wanted to comment or critique me on something, please leave a review. If you have any questions or anything you wanted to add, by all means leave a review. As always, thanks for reading and remember, Big Brother is watching...always.
