Disclaimer: I don't own RvB. Or anything else that is referenced.
A/N: So... it's the 40th chapter! WHOO! When I started this, I never expected to actually post it. Or for people to like it so much. The RvB fandom is one of the smallest I'm involved with, so 21 likes is pretty amazing in my mind. Anyway, I've passed my biggest Writer's Stumble in this story and the chapters may be coming in a semi steady stream, but I make no promises. I only have one more chapter pre-written and am working on Episode 42 right now(9/19/16) so... yeah. Another short hiatus might be in the works. Also, I've been really stuck on a Harry Potter story that a lot of people have been faithfully supporting(okay, maybe not, but a girl can dream!) and I might be focusing on that one soon. Okay, now that the Author's Ramble is done, enjoy the Episode!
Episode 40: Business as Usual
Before long, all of the intruders were in the motor pool, having shot a great many Freelancer foot soldiers along the way. With real bullets this time, though more than half of them looked like they had already fallen prey to Eagle's specialty glitter rounds and the other half might have been caught in some of the pranks Ed, Jack, and Flowdie put up. Rick hadn't had time to do more than the break room and the barracks. "So, what's going on with you guys?" Marley asked, panting slightly.
"Glittered, under attack, surrounded by crazy, lucky, idiots. Ya know, the usual," Dex replied with a shrug, glitter falling off his armor as he did so. Everyone chose not to comment on the glitter, or the trail Dex had left. Most were pretty sure they did not want to know.
"Looks like we've successfully angered the entire base. Oh and, Meta's terrorizing the place," Red remarked levelly as an explosion rocked the base.
"So what's the plan?" Wash asked, doing his best to keep his cool.
"Uh... isn't that why we're here? In the motor pool? With the getaway cars?!" Dex asked.
"We're ready to head out as soon as everyone's in a car!" Rick added, already having taken the gunner position on a nearby Warthog. Dex and Red swiftly joined him while Eagle climbed on a Mongoose.
"I hate Thursdays," Dex grumbled.
"Still, you can't deny, as far was Thursdays go, this one hasn't been too bad!" Eagle retorted, revving his engine.
"It doesn't matter. We need to get out of here," Flowdie said. Marley nodded and handed him the bag she'd stuffed Epsilon in.
"Get this out of the blast radius," she told him. Flowdie nodded.
"Ed, Jack, Church, get in and follow me," he said.
"But we need him!" Wash protested, reaching out to Church. Marley snorted, grabbing the mildly whiny Freelancer by the back of his chest plate and dragging him away. The others wisely hid their laughter.
"No we don't, nitwit. Have you forgotten who made dummies of both Delta and Theta?" she said. Wash stopped struggling and turned to look at her, missing the rest of the vehicles pulling away.
"You made a dummy of Alpha?" he asked. Marley nodded.
"I made those dummies over a long period of time. When I wasn't training Reds, blowing up stuff, or saving redeemable Freelancers. Dummy!Alpha is as perfect as I can make him and will be enough to at least stall Meta while we activate the EMP. How many of Eagle's glitter rounds do you have left?" she told him.
"Uh... let me check," Wash said, putting actions to words. "Wow, a whole clip. Huh, I thought Eagle only gave me one?"
"In his words, 'If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing,'" Marley said with a grin. "And that meant giving you double what you asked for. Which, in this case, is absolutely perfect. So! Armed with glitter, dummy A.I., and a large EMP, let's take down Freelancer!" Wash shook his head at her.
"We're all gonna die. Or go to jail. Or both," he muttered. Marley shrugged.
"We'll get out eventually," she said, totally uncaring.
"What if we die?" Wash asked, twisting so he was able to move forward under his own power.
"Then we die," Marley said with a shrug.
"You really have no soul, do you?"
"Shut up and move."
/*/
Flowdie looked back at the be-glittered base and fallen Freelancer troops. "You think..." he began, only to yelp as Dex bumped his Warthog.
"Don't worry about them. We need to get as far away as we can. Gary might be a jerk, but I'm not letting him get fried by that EMP, got it?" the man growled. Flowdie sighed, but nodded.
"I got it. It's just..."
"Hey, this is Marley we're talking about! She'll be fine. Besides, I think she held back at least a clip full of glitter. And that's not counting the lethal rounds she no doubt has on her! Or her syringes! Oh, and don't forget the scalpels!" Eagle told the man.
"Yeah man, they'll be fine. The worst that'll happen is them getting arrested, and we'll get them out as soon as we can, alright? So stop worrying," Ed told the still fretting Flowdie.
"You're right. We need to focus. Where are we headed?" Flowdie asked.
"Uh... the nearest base is kinda mad at us and the other one is Valhalla," Kai said.
"Valhalla it is," Dex said, adjusting course. Theta popped up and Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries began playing. Jack chuckled.
"Who taught you that?" he asked his A.I. Theta appeared sheepish.
"Big brother," he muttered. Church cackled.
"Hit him for me would you?" Jack asked, and Kai obliged.
"OW! Yeah, I guess I deserved that," Church said, rubbing the back of his head.
"How do you even feel that? You're a robot!" Ed asked, unable to contain it any longer. Church shrugged.
"I'm just awesome like that," he said.
"I'm not mad at you for teaching Theta how to be a DJ, I just wanted you to stop cackling," Jack explained. Church turned to him.
"You could have just asked," he said, crossing his arms petulantly. "Oh and, nice choice little brother." Theta seemed to glow a little brighter at the praise and Jack filed the reaction away for future reference.
/*/
The PA system was declaring a security breach as Marley and Wash cruised down the corridors, dodging disarrayed Freelancer troops and staying two steps ahead of Meta. Seriously, they didn't have to worry about getting caught or shot by anyone the base was in such disarray. Finally, they reached their destination. "Agent Washington. Good to see you again," came the Counselor's voice.
"Oh, hello. Are you somewhere nearby, Counselor? Somewhere we can say hello in person?" Wash asked, his calm politeness doing little to mask the venom in his voice.
"Sorry Agent Washington, but we were more than prepared for this... eventuality. I'm afraid we will not be able to see each other in person today," the faceless voice said. Marley scoffed.
"Oh please. There's no way you planned for us driving up in tanks, then running a muck with spray paint, glue, feathers, permanent markers, and gratuitous amounts of glitter. That had to have come straight out of left field for you guys," she said.
"Uh... we're kind of on a timetable," Wash said, shooting a rather ineffective look Marley's way. It made him feel better at least.
"There is someone else here who would like to speak with you," the Counselor said, neither confirming nor denying Marley's statement. This caused the woman to cross her arms with a huff, which drew a short laugh from Wash.
"Well hello, Agent Washington," drawled a smug southerner, drawing their attention to a large robotic arm holding a large glowing... thing.
"Seriously. What is that? A ripoff of GalDos?" Marley muttered. "Or was it Guilty Spark? Oh Oh! That would be fitting!"
"The Director himself, I should be honored. Emphasis on should," Wash drawled, deciding to ignore them and focus on wiping the base clean... as far as electrical equipment went at least. And whatever the A.I. had done to the computers would have carried over to other areas as well, seeing as it was a network. It'd take Freelancer weeks, if not longer, to get everything straight again.
"Yes, I realize it has been a while since we've spoke, David. May I call you David?" the Director said.
"No, you cannot. You gave me my new name, the least you can do it use it," Wash snapped. Marley whistled.
"Hoo, burn! You just got burned Director Fussy Breeches!" she said, pointing a dramatic finger at the large robotic arm that held the glowing eyeball.
"Agent... Oregon?"
"Ho? What's this? Is the mighty Director of Project Freelancer... shocked? Confused? I never thought I'd live to see the day. How's your daughter doing these days?" Marley asked.
"I don't know what you're talking about," the Director denied. Marley laughed cynically, her entire being projecting condescension and tightly coiled anger, but not rage.
"Sure you do, you just don't want to admit it. Don't want to face up to what you've done, what you've become. You can feel it, can't you? Your conscience nagging at the back of your mind, whispering those velvety soft words of poison. 'Monster. Failure. You're the reason they're both gone. Everything you touch turns to ash. Your actions drove her away. Tyrant. Villain.' It'll eat away at you, piece by piece, until you are nothing but a wasted husk of a man... and I pity you. I will pity you long after you are gone, for you are so very sad. So very, very, sad," she said hissed. Wash whistled, shaking his head.
"Game set and match," he muttered. That was when Meta arrived. "A~nd now Meta's here. Wonderful," he added, activating the containment field, cutting Meta off from him and Marley.
"Well, the prodigal son returns. Agent Maine, you've caused quite a few problems for us. You will not be leaving this time," the Director said, skillfully ignoring Wash's comments as well as Marley's.
"Huh. So selective deafness is a trait passed down through the Church family for generations! Eh?" Marley queried. Wash gave her a confused look.
"Where did that come from?" he asked. She shrugged.
"Some old tv show from Japan about alchemists and mad scientists trying to bring about the destruction of an entire civilization," she said. Wash nodded, ignoring the Director and the Meta. And the Counselor, if he was still hanging around listening.
"Fitting," the rouge Freelancer quipped.
"Yeah, I thought so."
"STOP IGNORING ME!" the Director shouted at them from his hidden speaker.
"Wow. Whiny McAgnstyPants much?" Marley asked, causing Wash to bite back laughter.
"Anyway, I think I've said that myself about twenty times in the last few weeks. Good luck holding him, Director Dr. Church sir!" Wash said, much more flippantly than he would have before his base wide pranking spree. Really, it's amazing how much stress and anger can be relieved with a few well placed pratfalls. And don't forget the glitter rounds. "I really need to find out how he makes those," Wash muttered to himself.
"You would be surprised what we are capable of," the Director began, only to be cut off by Marley.
"Smug," she remarked. The Director nearly floundered, but quickly recovered.
"Even from this distance," he tried, only to have Marley once more make a disruptive statement.
"Hiding, always a good strategy when you have a super soldier with an ax to grind coming after you so they can grind their ax on your skull," she remarked, examining her gloves.
"I suggest you work with us if you expect to survive this," the Director said, mentally rejoicing as he finally pulled off a sentence without getting interrupted.
"Smug," Marley remarked, now pulling out her favorite combat scalpel to check it for any kind of damage. In his bunker, the Director scowled at the video feed.
"I'm sorry, did something about my actions indicate I expect to survive?" Wash asked, causing Marley to jerk away with a drawn out, 'DANG!'
"World class Smug coupled with a Sick BURN! Oh, you're going down Director!"
"Clearance verified. The failsafe is now online. Awaiting activation," the PA system announced.
"OH! And a ringer! What 'cha gonna do now Director? Huh? What's your next move?" Marley asked, eyes glittering under her visor.
"How did you get those codes?" asked the Director, ignoring Marley for the larger threat of Washington.
"You might be surprised what I know, Director," Wash remarked calmly, still working on the EMP.
"Warning, this is a last resort measure. Activating the failsafe will destroy all electronic equipment in this facility, including this terminal. Please confirm."
"It was Epsilon. He inherited the memories, didn't he," the Director remarked, doing an admiral job of covering his emotions with Smug.
"I wonder if Alpha picked up any of that Smug..." Marley muttered faintly enough it wasn't transmitted to the Director.
"I've known about what you did since the moment you implanted him in me," Wash revealed, finally turning to regard the glowing eyeball.
"Wait. I just thought of something. If you've known that long... why didn't you go to the authorities before now? Why wait for the A.I.? Why the elaborate scheme? Why the long game when you could have called it long ago?" Marely asked. Wash shrugged.
"I'm a product of Project Freelancer, none of us are quite right in the head," he said. Marley nodded.
"True that. I've known longer than you and I waited it out so the Blood Gulch Crew could grow and then help out elsewhere. I'm as guilty of procrastination as you are," she said.
"I'm sorry, Agent Washington, Agent Oregon, but Project Freelance no longer has need of your services," the Director interjected, reminding them of his presence.
"Smug."
"Stop that."
"Touchy much, Director?"
"Program! Disable interior shield!"
"Desperate."
"Eh, Marley? Did he just do what I think he did?" Wash asked, watching Meta carefully.
"That depends. Do you think he just asked a computer to turn off the shields? Or do you think he just set an insane Maine on us to do his dirty work?" the woman asked, pulling out her big guns.
"Agent Maine, please kill Agent Washington... and the former Agent Oregon," the Director asked.
"Then yeah, he just did what you think he did," Marley quipped, firing a faintly glowing yellow syringe at the Meta, who had drawn his weapon at the same time as Wash. The syringe hit Meta, making him fall to one knee. "That won't do much, that was one of my non-lethal poisons," Marley revealed.
"Why, in a fight to the death, do you load your weapon... with non-lethal rounds!?" Wash asked, shooting Meta in the head. Glitter exploded across the visor. Wash dropped his head with what sounded suspiciously like a whimper.
"Haha! Instant Karma for da win~!" sang Marley.
"I just can't win," her partner muttered before a wild shot from Meta impacted his shoulder, dropping him.
"Alert: incoming recovery beacon. Level zero. Immediate response necessary," the base system declared as Meta closed in.
"Agent Washington, I fear this is one recovery beacon you won't be responding to. Kill him, Agent Maine," the Director's cold voice said. Marley snarled and fired another syringe, now filled with green liquid. Somehow, Meta avoided it.
"Where is it?" a quiet, maddened, voice asked.
"Where is Alpha?" another whispered.
"Where is it?"
"The Alpha is not here. It has been moved far away. Attend to the matter at hand," the Director snarled.
"Not Smug."
"Would you stop that!?"
"Winning~!"
"Agent Maine, what the Director's trying to say, is that we can discuss the Alpha later. What's important is that you prove that you can be trusted again. We need to trust you before letting you meet the Alpha. Wouldn't you agree?" the Counselor tried to coax, only to have his 'calming' words ripped apart by Marley snickering and Wash saying,
"You know Meta, why wait? Why don't you meet him, right now?" Marley's Dummy!Alpha popped up beside him.
"Hi there," he quipped, giving a small salute with his by-now iconic sniper rifle. The A.I. Marley hadn't managed to extract from the Meta appeared around him.
"It's him!"
"Alpha!"
"Alpha!"
/*/
Somewhere closer to Valhalla than Freelancer Command... "Why do I get the sudden feeling that I'm being replaced?" Church asked, holding on as Kai drove over a large rock, nearly tossing him from the vehicle.
"Probably because Wash and Marley just used their dummy of you to trick the few A.I. that Marley didn't get away from Meta," Dex said. Church shot him a look.
"Did you hack their radios?" he asked.
"Nah. I had Gary patch my helmet into the base's security system, at least for audio/visual. He actually seemed happy to do it. Sounded less mechanical too. Also, he's recording it straight from the base, so we can share the fun with everyone else," Dex answered, expertly guiding his Warthog around another large rock. There were a lot of big rocks around.
"Sweet. And it won't hurt him?" Jack asked. Dex shook his head.
"Nah. When the EMP is activated, he knows to terminate the link. No backlash," he said.
"Good thinking," the Phantom allowed with a nod.
"Well, he is a Church," Alpha said, slightly Smug.
"Oh don't flatter yourself," Dex muttered. Alpha Church snickered and Dex shot a look toward his sister. "Mako," he told her. She chuckled evilly and popped her vehicle up on two wheels, riding around the largest spire of rock she could reach. The other Blues screamed, clinging to the metal for dear life. The Grif's just laughed.
"YOU'RE INSANE!" Church yelled, Caboose just yelling for the heck of it.
"'Course she is! She's a Grif!" Dex called cheerfully.
"I HATE YOU ALL!"
"Ah~! It's the little things," the weapons expert muttered contentedly. Eagle chuckled.
"You're one of the few people I know who..." he began.
"I'm gonna stop you right there Eagle. You've said enough," Rick said with a smirk. The other Reds laughed and the Phantoms shook their heads. Looks like they'd traded one crazy team for another.
/*/
Back at the Freelancer compound, Dummy!Church turned to Wash and said, "You know, I can see why you didn't want anyone else in your head. Got some pretty heavy stuff going on there. I think you need to talk to a professional."
"That's too bad. I just officially lost my job, and we had great mental health coverage," Wash quipped, gritting his teeth against the pain in his shoulder.
"How much time do you need?" the Dummy!Alpha asked.
"As much as you can get me. When the EMP goes off..."
"When it goes off, I'll be fine. It only affects computers, remember? And I, am a mother-fudging ghost," Dummy!Church said, entering the Meta's armor, messing with the A.I. still inside.
"What's goin' on!?" the Director asked.
"Agent Washington, please, there is time. If you would just secure Agent Maine, we can discuss this situation in a more civilized manner," the Counselor tried. Wash shook his head.
"No, we can't," he said, punching the Button of Doom.
"Thank you, failsafe initiated. Activating emp," said the computer.
"Emp!? You have got to be fudging wi..." Wash remarked, stunned, right before the EMP went off and the electronics began to fail in a wave. Marley sighed and accepted it, taking off her helmet with heavy arms as her suit's functions fluctuated and failed.
"There goes that bit of antimony," she muttered darkly.
/*/
A week later, the Reds and Blues were in Valhalla, which had been officially turned over to them by the UNSC as a reward for turning in all the data they'd stolen from Freelancer. Of course, they weren't just going to go back to business as usual, that would have been impossible. Marley had been arrested along with Wash and there were new faces in the canyon. "I hate you!" Church yelled, only to cut off with a yelp as Jack smacked him.
"Tell me something I don't know," he remarked, then pointed to the target. "Now hit it or you lose tv privileges!"
"Slave driver."
"It works doesn't it?" Jack remarked smugly. Church grumbled, but tried to line the shot up one more time. On the other side of the base, Flowdie was trying to train Caboose.
"How in the world did you light it on fire?!" Emphasis on trying.
"Not my fault. Tucker did it."
"You can't blame someone who isn't here!"
"... Church did it."
"No cookies for you."
"..."
"Please stop looking at me like that." Caboose's Cabooseness was proving difficult to train. Meanwhile, Rick was working with the Epsilon unit, trying to get the damaged A.I. to come out.
"Ya know, this feels like a fresh start for us, Rick," Dex said, coming to sit beside the tech. On his table.
"Then why do I get the feeling that we've had this conversation before?" Rick asked, mostly ignoring his teammate. Or, as much as he could. Ignoring people is kind of hard when they sit on your workstation.
"Just think," Dex persisted, spreading his hands out as though he were enlarging a photo, "you know how people say, 'if you knew then what you know now?' Well, that person is you and you already know it! And the 'then' is right now!" Rick stopped, blinked, and looked to his teammate in complete confusion.
"What the heck?" he asked. Dex turned to him with a grin, the twinkle in his amber eyes betraying his amusement.
"I don't know, I just wanted to get your attention," he said. Rick rolled his eyes and went back to work on the A.I. unit. "Seriously though, don't you regret anything from our last assignment? Like all your mistakes?" Dex asked, leaning back on his hands and looking over at his friend. Rick set down his tools and wiped his hands on a nearby rag.
"Dex... there's a lot from both Blood Gulch and Rat's Nest that I regret, but I wouldn't be who I am without having gone through that," he said, turning to his larger teammate. Dex nodded, accepting his friend's point.
"I guess so. Hey, now that we know the whole war thing was a lie, and the Blues sort of know it too, think we can switch out the lethal rounds for lock down paint or Eagle's glitter rounds?" A devious smile slowly slid across Rick's face.
"Sometimes, I love the way your mind works," he said, then shot a glance back at the A.I. unit Flowdie had entrusted him with.
"Don't worry about Epsilon, Rick. I bet he hears everything we're saying. He's just... grieving. Trying to come to terms with what's going on," Dex said, hopping down from the table. Rick shook his head.
"He's had..."
"Who knows how time is messed up in holographic storage Rick. He might have been held in suspended animation, shutting down his processors. Give him some time, come terrorize the Blues with me, and we'll tell him stories when we get back to help ground him in his new reality," Dex coaxed and by the look in Rick's eyes, he knew he'd won. Leaving the A.I. unit alone in Rick's quiet room, the two put their armor back on and headed out to find Red. The gruff Texan was outside working on a Warthog when the two found him. Of course, as soon as they found him, the Warthog threw off whatever part Red was working on, causing him to curse. Loudly.
"Rick, Dex! Front and Center!" he bellowed, after getting his curses out first.
"Uh, turn around Red," Rick said gently, Dex trying to contain his amusement. Honestly, ya take a guy to prank a few Freelancers and steal all their valuable data and suddenly he's amused by everything. Red turned and exclaimed happily when he saw his two soldiers right behind him.
"There you are! Men, we've got a situation on our hands here," he told them.
"Define 'situation,' Red," Dex drawled, a little less amused.
"I'm trying to upgrade the Warthog's weapon system," Red said. Dex chuckled, shaking his head.
"I'm gonna stop you right there, Red. Who's in charge of weapons around here?" he asked pointedly. Red grumbled but finally said,
"You are." Dex nodded, taking the wrench from Red's hand.
"That's right. I am. And I say, we put the Warthog back together, and don't try to upgrade what is already awesome," he said, already crouched down and putting action to words.
"Out of curiosity, what were you trying to upgrade the systems to?" Rick asked, crossing his arms and regarding his second Sargent curiously.
"Electric pulse technology," Red answered easily. Dex brained him with the wrench.
"Nice throw," Rick remarked dryly only to be ignored by both teammates. Poor Rick.
"While that is brilliant in its unexpectedness, it is as stupid as turning Rick into a cyborg. An emp would just make us sitting ducks in a fried jeep. You'd be better off making a cannon that fired lock-down paint, or heat seekers, or rockets. Leave the emps to suicide missions and reckless Freelancers," Dex told his downed compatriot without even bothering to turn around from his newest job.
"Isn't working anyway. I was gonna call Lopez to do it for me, but we don't have power here," Red said. Dex shook his head, reaching for the wrench again.
"I will never understand how your brain works," he muttered as he tried to fix what Red had messed up.
"Looks like the blues have the power on," Red remarked randomly. Dex sighed, watching the blue pulse coming from the blue base. The irony was not lost on him.
"We need to get someone over there, see how they did it. Rick, that'll be you," Red said. Rick quirked an eyebrow and turned to Dex who sighed.
"Well, it would be nice having the long range radio working again, and AC would be nice. Not to mention the fact that having the power up and running would help with any plans to get Marley and Wash out of prison. Go on, I wouldn't know what was what anyway," the man said, turning back to the Warthog and moaning. Rick chuckled and turned to head over to Blue base. "Oh and, check on Kai for me would you?"
"Of course Dex," Rick said, chuckling faintly. Kai really did have one heck of a big brother.
"Dex! Stop fussing with that and get up there, figure out why our base isn't firing the blue blotamjiggy," Red yelled. Rick swiftly departed, not wanting to get in the middle of that. Dex stood up and looked at their base... and how tall the spire on top of it was. He swallowed nervously.
"That's... really high. Do... do we uh, have a ladder or... something?" he asked.
"Oh, sure, an eight hundred foot ladder? Of course not ya idiot! Now get to shimmyin'," Red retorted, giving absolutely no cares. Dex whimpered.
"I really hate heights," he muttered, walking up to the base, then stopped. "Wait. I'm the senior agent, officially the same rank as you, and you're still considered AWOL. I don't have to listen to you. So, I'm going to wait for Rick to get back. And while I wait, I'm going to keep working on getting the Warthog fully operational again," he said, walking off. Red gaped after him, then slumped with a groan.
"I knew it was too good to be true," he lamented.
/*/
While Dex worked on the Warthog, muttering about ladders and senile old coots, Rick was watching, rather amused, as Flowdie once more tried to teach Caboose how to properly aim his gun. "No no, that's not how you... how have you ever managed to hit anything?" the black and cyan soldier asked in exasperation.
"I point and shoot Flow man," Caboose remarked. Rick snickered, after making sure his helmet mic was off. Flowdie sighed, dropping his head into his hands.
"Okay. Ya know what? Just call me Butch. Lets... go for a run and... come back to this later."
"Aw~, but it was just getting good," Rick remarked, sauntering up to the pair. Flowdie sighed again.
"What do you want Rick," he asked. Rick shrugged and looked around.
"Nothing much. Just wanted to see how you got your power on and check on Kai," he said. Nodding, the other man pointed toward where the sounds of pain could be heard.
"I think she's watching Jack try to teach Church how to use his sniper rifle." Rick chuckled.
"Yeah, that's pretty amusing. Almost as amusing as watching you trying to teach Caboose. Now, about that power issue?"
"It was on when we got here, though you should check the port at the top of the base, see if it's clogged."
"What would that have to do with the power?" Flowdie shrugged.
"I dunno, but the pulse thing has something to do with the base's power supply," he said. Rick shook his head and headed in the direction Flowdie had pointed out.
"Right. Thanks Flowdie," he said, not turning to see the other man raise a hand in fair well before turning back to his... special... student. Rick chuckled as he ran toward where he hoped Kai was. Even if he didn't get any useful information, at least he would get some quality entertainment. Sure enough, he found the younger Grif watching Jack and Church. "Kai," he said, joining her in the watching of the failing.
"Hey Rick," the young woman answered.
"Red's trying to get power at out base and Dex wanted me to check in on you."
"That's nice. Did you try turning it on?" Kai asked, totally focused on Jack beating Church with what looked like a rather thick manual.
"Yeah... still working on that. So, the other reason I'm here... How are you doing?" Rick said. Kai shrugged.
"Eh, can't complain. Though... I do kind of miss Tucker," she said. Rick winced, but didn't comment on that last part.
"Right. I'll tell Dex he's being a worrywart again and that you're perfectly fine," he said, already headed back to his own base. Yep, things were as close to business as usual as it could be... for the Reds anyway.
"OW!"
"I wouldn't have had to do that if you did it correctly the first hundred times!" Huh, sounded like Church had worn through Jack's legendary calm. Rick sped up to avoid any stray rounds.
/?/
A/N: Yeah... Marley's brilliant plan had to fail somehow, somewhere, right? Let me know what you thought in that lovely little box down below!