Lost and Found
The crowd goes silent as they realize what happened. Tucker shifts nervously from foot to foot. Caboose hugs Freckles. Grif looks toward the ground. Simmons puts his arm across Grif's shoulders and looks at him. Sarge messes with a Shotgun shell on the ground. Donut shakes his head. Doc goes completely silent and still. Carolina holds her breath to hold back the misery. Washington glances around at all of them with a certain heaviness in his heart. "I actually let him in my head for a while," he breaks the silence.
"He was my best friend!" cries Caboose.
"He was a pretty good cellmate," Grif states.
"He called me C," Carolina sobs. Washington is surprised that her normally serious demeanor is broken by Church's dissolve.
Tucker finally speaks, "He was an awesome friend and a pretty good leader. He taught us all a lot. I have a recording he left for us."
Delta appears in front of him, "Would you like me to play the recording Captain Tucker?" Tucker nods to Delta.
"Wait! Have you seen it already?" Wash asks.
"No," Tucker replies. Delta starts the recording and everyone's eyes are focused on the last image of Church. They watch him give his speech, and now even Wash has a tear in his eye.
"Are we still heroes then?" he asks. No one answers.
All the A.I. gather around Tucker and whisper to him. Tucker nods to them. "What are they talking about?" Wash wonders out loud. The A.I. converge into Tucker's armor and a minute later reappear with a light hidden behind them. They move out of the way and Church is left standing in the middle of them. "You made a new Epsilon," Wash gasps.
"Hey Church," Tucker says, amazed.
Church turns to him, "Hey buddy. Wait! What?!" Church looks around at the rest of them. "Tucker, I can't run your suit this way!" He stops when he sees all the other A.I.s out together. "I didn't call them out, how are they here?" Church asks Tucker.
"They kind of made you," Tucker tells him.
Church walks to Carolina and Wash, "Am I really back you guys?" Carolina nods and lays her head back on Wash's shoulder.
"Yeah Church, welcome back," Wash says.
"Looks like I missed some big things while I was gone," Church says, pointing at Carolina.
"I guess you could say that," Wash tells him.