A/N: Time for chapter 17 of Agent Reach! This is where many things kick off with quite a few big bangs, literally in this case (I can hear someone reading this going 'Goddammit Dragon') XD. I know, it's a shitty pun, but trust me; I can say much worse lol.

*Chapter 17*

Texas looked around as she heard a series of loud explosions, each getting closer to the base. 'What the hell is going on? Don't tell me the Blues decided to celebrate the Fourth of July in the middle of fucking spring…' As she walked outside, Donut poked his head out, confused as well. "Uh, ma'am…what the hell is that?"

The black Freelancer opened her mouth to reply when she heard another explosion, along with panicked screams from above. 'This can't be good…' She grabbed a Battle Rifle and ran on top of the base to see Grif and Simmons, both of the simulation soldiers panting hard. The maroon soldier looked up, gasping. "Oh, thank God you're here! We have a problem!"

"Yeah, I noticed!" Texas returned dryly, loading a clip into her rifle. "What the hell is going on here?" 'What could have made them run halfway across the canyon nonstop?' Before the two could answer, there was another explosion and the Warthog flew towards her. 'Oh shit!' She ducked, and the vehicle slammed into the top of the base, ruined. 'Well…that's going to be hard to explain to Reach.'

Texas then saw the source of the explosions: a MBT Scorpion-class battle tank. 'Oh fucking hell…we're in an awful lot of trouble here.' For some reason, the tank kept on shooting at the Warthog, even though it was beyond ruined; Reach would have to have one hell of a mechanic fix the damn thing. 'That explains just about everything.'

"Blood Gulch Alpha, this is Lieutenant Reach. Are you receiving?" Reach' voice crackled out. Texas strained her eyes, but she still couldn't see his Pelican. 'He must be out of my sight…damn. I hope that bird has anti-tank missiles onboard. Otherwise, we are fucked. And not in the way I'd like, Mreow chicka mreow mreow.'

While she was thinking this, Grif took the time to respond to the Lieutenant. "Oh thank God you are here, sir! The rookie arrived, and he somehow got our flag and stole the Blue flag, but now the jeep is ruined, and there's this huge fucking tank trying to blow up our base!"

The COM crackled static, and after a long pause, Texas heard Reach sigh in exasperation; she could picture him rubbing his temples in frustration. "Am I talking to the right base?" Even though they were nearly getting murdered by an armored death machine, it was hard for her to not snicker as she joined the call. "Reach, it's me. Grif is not joking about any of that. We seriously need help here, ASAP. Last time I checked, Battle Rifle rounds can't penetrate tank armor." 'Come on Reach…we need that damn Pelican of yours to blow that tank to high hell.'

Texas spotted the Pelican in the distance, and it rapidly closed on their position. On the wings were several mounted missile pods, which were enough to destroy that tank and hopefully save the base. Reach called in a warning, his voice clear. "Target locked. Missiles one and two, fire." Two plumes of smoke rushed towards the tank, and the driver abandoned the vehicle before running away as fast as he could. The missiles struck the tank, and the vehicle was destroyed. 'Thank fucking God…that could have been ugly.'

The Pelican landed, and Reach and Sarge got off of the ship before it flew away back to Command. The black/red Lieutenant walked over to her, and she got the feeling he wasn't too impressed with the fact that the Warthog was in pieces. "Goddammit…this is going to cost us. It'll take us at least a day or two to repair the damn thing, even with the spare parts Command sent earlier."

Sarge looked at the ruined vehicle, observing it carefully. "I think I can help with the basic shit. The engine is toast, the brakes are ruined, the tires are flatter than Paris Hilton, the-" Texas put her hand over his mouth, rolling her eyes. "We get the damn point. Reach, how long?" 'Don't ask me to repair it; I'll end up connecting the brakes to the horn and not know how the hell I did it.' (A/N: I have done that to my friends as a prank XDD)

He shook his head, sighing. "Too long." Reach looked down the main entrance of the base, seeing the two flags down inside. "I see…" He took a deep breath before turning back to her and the rest of the Reds, "Sarge, get the spare parts from downstairs. You and I will work on the Warthog. Texas, you're in charge of the watch shifts. And for God's sake, don't make the rookie go to a store that doesn't exist…" He wasn't too amused after everything that just happened.

The black Freelancer smiled innocently under her helmet. "Who, me~?" 'Teasing him is so much fun…how can he not see just how obvious it is?' Reach let out a frustrated sigh before grabbing a few jacks, setting them up. "Yes, you." He picked up the Warthog with a grunt, setting it up on the stands before sliding underneath it. Texas jumped down into the base, making her way to her quarters. 'I think I know just how to mess with him…'

'Where's that Plasma Grenade I had?'

-0-

Tucker glared at Caboose, seething. Not only had the rookie managed to get the tank blown up, but he had also managed to kill Church, whose body was still on the cliff face. 'I swear to God, I'm going to fucking strangle you to death if Maine doesn't. How the hell are we going to explain this to Captain Flowers and him?' "Caboose, you are in the deepest shit ever when we get back to base."

But the rookie wasn't listening. He was still crying about the destruction of the tank, which for some stupid reason, he kept calling Sheila. "Sheila! You didn't deserve that fate!" Tucker rolled his eyes, slapping him on the back of the head. "Oh, shut up. I'll call Command to send reinforcements."

He opened a COM channel to Command, and he thankful that they actually picked up. "This is Blue Team Command. What's going on, dude?"

"Um, I don't know the technical military term for it, but we're pretty fucked up down here. We need men," Tucker replied, only realizing after the words left his mouth just how wrong that sounded. 'Oh God…that could be taken a few different ways. And none that I like.'

The guy from Command was thinking the same thing as he sighed. "Dude, how long have you guys been down there?" Tucker grimaced at the horrifying thought of having another guy penetrate his ass, or vice versa. "No, not in that way. As in we need reinforcements." Hopefully, they could also get a good mechanic to repair the damn tank, as neither of them were any sort of good with tools.

'Oh. Did you get the tank we sent?" the guy asked. Tucker let out a sigh, rubbing his temples as he thought about the ruined tank sitting in the middle of the canyon, smoldering from getting blown up by a Pelican. "Yeah. That got blown up by a damn Pelican that came in to support the Red Team."

"Wow. It sucks to be you," the guy stated, making Tucker sigh and face-palm, frustrated. "Yeah, we fucking noticed. Tell me something I don't already know." He was getting increasingly more annoyed with each passing second as Caboose was still crying about the tank. 'Oh my God, just shut up! I can see why Church wanted your ass dead so much.' If Maine actually didn't kill him before sundown, he would, and it would be in a very slow, painful, and creative way.

"Well, I can send in the nearest Blue reinforcements, who will arrive within sixteen days," the man suggested. Tucker gaped under his helmet, surprised at how long it would take. "Sixteen days!? That's almost two weeks!"

"Or, we can have Agent Maine and Captain Flowers be there within 30 minutes," the man added on dryly. He was probably fed up with the conversation, and Tucker sighed. "I'll take the second option."

"Copy that. Blue Command out." Tucker hung up, and he took off his helmet to get a bit of fresh air and rub his eyes tiredly. 'Goddammit…if Captain Flowers doesn't have my ass for this, then Maine will. And I really don't like either option.'

"Who's Agent Maine?" Caboose asked, making Tucker hiss in annoyance. "He's a Freelancer. They're like Special Forces and help out bases in need. They're not on any teams and just want to be paid." Caboose nodded enthusiastically, jumping up and down like a damn five-year-old. "Like a mercenary!"

"Right, or like your mom when the rent's due," Tucker replied in annoyance. 'I hate you so fucking much…if you just listened to Church and stayed at base, we wouldn't be in this deep of shit.' Caboose was silent for a few seconds before letting out a chuckle. "That was pretty good."

"Really? You didn't think that was too obvious?" Tucker asked, putting his helmet back on. 'Mom jokes are so old…I need to come up with something new.' Caboose shook his head, looking at his Magnum. "No, that was actually pretty good."

"Tucker, Tucker!" a familiar voice called out behind him. The aqua soldier turned around to see a transparent figure wearing Church's armor, a Magnum in his hands. Tucker raised his own, confused. "Who the hell are you!?" 'I don't think Church is a stupid AI or anything…but ghosts are not real! Those are just stupid bedtime stories that don't ever go Bow Chicka Bow Wow.'

"I am the ghost of Church, and I have come back with a warning!" the figure claimed, making Caboose scoff. "You're not Church! Church is powder blue. You're white." The figure hissed in annoyance as he faced the rookie. "Rookie, shut up! I'm a fucking ghost. Have you ever seen a blue ghost before?"

'Okay, it's him…' Tucker sighed mentally, shaking his head as he muttered to Caboose. "Yeah, that's definitely him…" 'How the hell did he do it? I'm pretty sure you can't just become a ghost willingly…'

Church snorted in frustration. "Now I have to start my speech all over again." He cleared his throat before starting his stupid fake ghost voice. "Tucker, Tucker! I have come back-"

"Dude, do you really have to do the stupid voice?" Tucker asked. Unfortunately, Caboose took it as an invitation to talk to the man he killed with a tank only minutes ago. "Yeah, it's kinda annoying." Tucker rolled his eyes under his helmet, wishing Maine would hurry up and get here so he could strangle the damn rookie. 'Like you have any fucking right to talk about Church being annoying…'

Church let out a sigh, getting annoyed. "Look. I've come back from the dead to give you a warning." Before he could explain what it was, Caboose interrupted him. "What is it?" Church let out a growl, brandishing his pistol furiously. "Rookie, can you shut the fuck up for more than five seconds? You think this is easy? It's not. It takes a lot of concentration."

Caboose lowered his head and Church began to speak again. "Okay, now-" But yet again, Caboose interrupted him, making Tucker groan in anger. "Is this the warning?"

'Oh my fucking God…I'm seriously going to throw him to Maine and let him rip him in half,' Tucker screamed mentally. Church let out an annoyed growl. "That's it. Your ass is haunted." About to pull the trigger on the rookie, Tucker smacked him with the butt of the weapon, hoping it would quiet him. "Would you just let him fucking talk?" 'Seriously, you're starting to fucking drive me just as crazy as you did to Church.'

Church took a deep breath, lowering his weapon. "Look, for some reason, I have a bad feeling about Command possibly sending in another Freelancer, apart from Maine. Whatever you do, do not let them get involved. They can be very bad news for us."

Tucker lowered his sidearm, confused. 'How can another badass on our team be a bad thing? We could take our flag back from the Reds.' "Bad news? Dude, what the fuck are you talking about? Having another Freelancer means we can actually beat the damn Reds, even though they have those two new people."

"Did I ever tell you about when I was stationed on Sidewinder?" Church asked. Tucker didn't know what it was, but luckily for him, the massive idiot in standard issue blue armor next to him did know. "You mean the ice planet?"

Church nodded, and Caboose seemed very eager to find out more about a planet that seemed to be the very definition of 'Really fucking cold'. "Cool! What was that like?" Tucker face-palmed as Church replied very bluntly. "It was cold." The aqua soldier let out a frustrated mental groan. 'No fucking shit it's cold. It's a goddamn ice planet.'

"What, that's all?" Caboose asked. Church let out a growl of annoyance. "What do you want from me, a fucking poem? It's a planet made entirely out of ice. It's really, really, really, fucking cold." Tucker chuckled, and Church sighed in frustration before continuing his story about him being on Sidewinder, even though it was probably bullshit. "Well anyway, me and my team were outside, waiting for some action and bitching about the cold. I was with Jimmy; he was a good kid. We all liked him. He was telling me about this girl he had back home and how he was going to get on one knee and marry her. That's when it all happened."

"When what happened?" Tucker asked, actually liking the story so far, even though it was bleak and lacking any hot Swedish girls in maid outfits (A/N: Don't judge me for liking that lol). Church shook his head, slumping his ghostly shoulders. "That's when this Freelancer called Texas showed up. This kid Andy was the first to go, when he started screaming bloody murder. Quite literally in fact, as he just kept spinning around with a Shotgun going, 'Bloody Murder!' Then, Texas started to kill every last one of them. We were sitting ducks for him. Or her, depending. Jimmy was the last one to go. Texas grabbed him from behind, ripped his skull out of his head, and then beat him to death with it!"

At this point of the bullshit story, Tucker decided to intervene. "Hold on, wait a second. How can you beat someone to death with their own skull? That doesn't seem physically possible…" 'Okay dude…I am seriously smelling 'BULLSHIT' from your mouth.' But Church didn't miss a beat, and he shook his head. "Dude, that's exactly what Jimmy kept saying."

"Then why were you left alive?" Tucker asked, confused as to what he just heard. 'If Texas was sent to kill every last one of your useless asses, then why am I talking to you here when you should be haunting an ice planet in the ass-end of the galaxy?' Church shrugged, looking up at the too-bright sun that was making Tucker's cooling fans work double overtime. "Dunno. Could've killed me at any time. But, they didn't, so here I am, a fucking ghost, because of you, you fucking asshole!" He glared at Caboose, who shied away from the angry ghost.

Church then started to flicker, and he sucked his teeth. "Damn. I can't stay much longer. I'll try and talk to you in a few hours." He then disappeared, leaving Tucker and Caboose alone.

The aqua soldier let out a slow whistle. "So…Freelancers are bad news, then. Well…that explains why Maine brandishes that weapon at me so much." 'Fuck. Captain Flowers is going to have my ass for this shit. I might get thrown out to the black chick at the Red Base, and she already beat the living shit out of them for the hell of it.'

'Fuck me…how come we can't get a hot chick on our team?'

-0-

Reach looked at the underside of the Warthog, unscrewing the bodywork to look at the interior mechanics. 'Goddammit…this is not pretty at all.' With a wrench currently gripped between his teeth as he removed the damaged wheels and brakes to replace the suspension, his voice was muffled as he tried to find out where the hell the suspension components were. "Sarge, do you have the spare springs?"

The sergeant was diligently working on the outer bodywork, welding pieces of metal to repair the damaged armor. He handed the former Spartan the spare springs, and after a lot of work, the front suspension was done. He rolled out from underneath the vehicle, wiping a bit of oil and grease from his face. 'Next up are the brakes.'

He grabbed the new brake discs, and he was about to install them when he heard the unmistakable sound of a Plasma Grenade detonation outside of the Red Base, and it sounded like it was coming from below. 'Oh, for fuck's sake…it better not be one of the Reds doing something incredibly fucking stupid or the Blues trying to ambush us after we destroyed their tank. We have enough shit to worry about without this…' Sighing, he grabbed his Battle Rifle, making sure a fresh clip was in before he jumped down. "I'm going to see what that was. Keep working on the Warthog." But Sarge was too busy humming some song he made up about killing Grif and having a Shotgun full of pills for insubordination as he replaced the damaged tow hooks.

Reach kept his rifle ready, squinting as he made his way to the source of the detonation. The sun was starting to drift towards evening, and the temperature was slowly decreasing. He found the spot where the grenade was detonated, a shiny piece of glass on the hot sand, and as he reached down to touch it, he was suddenly grabbed by his shoulder and dragged into the Red Base, with someone's hand over his mouth. 'What the…!' "MMPH!"

"Quiet! We don't want them to hear us!"

A/N: XDDD I did tell you I would show a few bangs, but I never promised to show what happens next. Wait till what happens next!