Chapter 10 - Revelations


Reid and Rapid meet up with Tackle on the way back to Red base and together, they finish the home stretch. Upon returning, the soldiers see something strange; Brenda stands in front of the base, and she is wearing her armor.

"Brenda?" Reid asks. "What the hell are you doing? Why are you-"

She raises her right hand to stop him. "Okay, so I wanted to follow you guys, so I started putting on my armor, but my brace was in the way, so I took it off and got the rest of my armor on, but then my arm really hurt, so I just stayed at the base. Don't worry, I'm fine."

Reid facepalms. "You idiot. You didn't have to take all of your armor off in the first place, you know. Just the arm piece would have been fine."

"If you were gonna make me rest, I just wanted to be comfortable," Brenda explains.

"As punishment for removing your brace, I'm not going to apply another one."

"Hey, I just wanted to help!"

"Yeah, give her some slack!" Tackle chimes in.

"She didn't even follow through with her original plan!" Reid protests. "She just ended up removing her brace for no reason!"

"Guys, can we stop fighting?" Rapid speaks up. "Let's just be cool, all right?"

"Rabid has the right idea," Tackle says. "We should all just-"

"Wait a minute," the red rookie interrupts him, "what did you just say?"

There is a moment of silence. Despite his annoyance, Reid smiles - he has been looking forward to this.

"Uh, I said that you had the right idea," Tackle says uncertainly.

"No, no, my name. What did you say my name was?"

"Rabid."

"No, it's Rapid," Rapid corrects him, "with a P. Have you been getting my name wrong this entire time?"

"Wait," Brenda says, "that doesn't make any sense."

"Why not?"

"I thought your name was Rabbit."

"What?!" Rapid exclaims. "No, it's Rapid! Rapid!"

"I might need some time to get used to that," Tackle says. "I always thought it was Rabid, like a rabid dog."

"And I thought it was Rabbit, like a bunny!" Brenda says.

"No!" Rapid stamps his foot and winces a little. "It's Rapid, like fast. Not Rabid, not Rabbit, not anything else! Just Rapid. Okay?"

"Jeez, okay," the pink soldier says. "Sorry, I guess I misheard."

"I might still call you Rabid from time to time," Tackle says apologetically. "Old habits die hard. I'll try to remember, though."

Rapid turns to Reid. "How about you? What have you been calling me?"

"Besides pathetic, I've always called you Rapid," the crimson soldier answers honestly. "I didn't correct the others, though; I wanted to see how long it would take you to notice."

"You're an asshole."

"You're realizing a lot of things today, aren't you?"


Tackle and Brenda stand side by side on top of the Red base, keeping watch.

He glances at her. "How's your arm?"

"It hurts, but whatever," she says. "At least now I'm combat ready."

"…Besides one of your arms being busted?"

"Yeah. Oh! I wanted to ask, did you see Shane?" Brenda asks curiously.

Tackle thinks for a moment. "Which one was he again?"

"The blue guy, huge asshole, you can't miss him."

"You just described all of our enemies," the sergeant notes.

"Tackle!" Brenda scolds him playfully.

"I did see a guy who was a darker shade of blue," he says seriously. "Was that him?"

"That's him. Did you fuck him up?"

"Oh, shit, sorry," he apologizes. "I would've, but Reid insisted we return to the base after rescuing Rabid."

"Uh, I think it's 'Rapid,'" Brenda reminds him.

"God damn it… I'll get it eventually."

"It kinda sucks that when I finally met the guy, he flipped out because everyone got his name wrong. I never even introduced myself!" Brenda says. "Anyway, it's fine that you didn't kill Shane. Like I said before, he's mine."

Someone clears their throat. "Excuse me."

The two Reds turn toward the voice and see Wilson standing below them in front of the base.

Tackle raises his rifle, but before he lets loose, the violet soldier calls out, "Ceasefire! I am not here to fight; rather, I have information for you."

"Wilson?" Brenda asks, stunned. "Why are you talking?"

"Wait a second," Tackle says, "isn't he the asshole who shot you? Want me to take him out?"

"No, not yet. I want to know why he's talking."

"I speak if I feel that I need to speak," Wilson says tersely. "Now, would you like to know what I am here to tell you?"

"Uh, sure."

"First of all, I believe some introductions are in order. My name is Joseph Waterman, and I believe that you are Brenda."

"I am," she affirms, then pauses. "Wait, I thought your name was Wilson?"

"Joseph Watermelon?" Tackle asks. "No wonder you go by Wilson."

"I did not introduce myself nor otherwise speak to my new teammates when I arrived in Valhalla, which was a mistake. They decided to call me Wilson," the violet soldier explains.

Brenda scoffs. "You're fucking weird."

"I have spoken only in times of necessity for most of my life; I will not change for the soldiers in this army," Wilson says. "However, this has resulted in an unsatisfactory work environment for myself. Carbon often treats me as though I were his pet dog."

"Are you going to get to the point?" Brenda asks. "I don't care about your life story."

Wilson stares at her for a moment before responding, "Of course. Coincidentally, I happened to be on the topic of dogs when you interrupted me. I have information that you would like to hear."

"Yeah, I know that. What is it?" she asks.

"You are familiar with Shane, correct?"

"The soon-to-be-dead guy? That'd be right."

"After Evans released you, Shane said, and I quote, 'if that bitch ever comes around here again, I'm gonna snap her fucking neck with my bare hands. Threaten me, huh? Try a little taste of your own medicine, bitch.' End quote." Wilson looks at Brenda and Tackle. "How do you intend to respond to his threat?"