A/N: Usual disclaimer that I do not own the RVB universe, which belongs to Rooster Teeth Productions, do not sue me yadda yadda yadda. Takes place during episode 19 and right after it. Also check out Never Loyal by bezerkoid, who has Vermont in it.

Vermont decided to try to get in contact with Tex, to see if she wanted to help him out break into the facility. He opened a COM channel to Tex and said, "This is Freelancer Vermont calling Freelancer Tex. Hello I say again, Agent Tex can you respond over?" After a moment, a voice came on but it was not Tex's "Hey there mr. loud voice, uhh Tex is dead."

Vermont yelled:" Dead!!!! What the hell happened to her?"

a different voice cut on" Hey, Caboose get off the radio! Uhh, yeah whoever you are Tex was killed when a plasma grenade stuck to her chest. Who are you?"

Vermont said, "Freelancer Vermont, and I was calling to see if she wanted to do a job with me, but now I feel that I need to go pay Blood Gulch a visit and avenge her demise. You're Church right?"

Church said," Yeah, wait how'd ya know that?"

"Ohh, Tex and I go back to basic, so we were good friends, and I dropped her off in the Gulch."

Vermont cut the COM channel, and steered his ship towards Blood Gulch, but as he flew towards the canyon, he thought about Tex, and some of his fond memories about Project FREELANCER: the time that he had met Colorado and the time he had first gotten his armor being chief among them. He then noticed that he was right at the Gulch, and deployed a UAV (1) while he began his landing sequence. He landed by the base where he had dropped Tex off by. He lowered the ramp, and climbed out while looking around.

The base had blue lights on top, and there was even an outdated Scorpion tank outside the base. He saw no sign that anyone actually was there, so he checked the camera onboard the UAV, which showed three heat signatures on the other side of the base. For some odd reason, they had completely missed his arrival. Shaking his head in disbelief, he slipped around behind the base, while tapping into their COM network. It was gratifying, as he could identify who was out there. There was Church, who was wearing what looked to be aqua blue armor, the annoying guy whom he had first spoken to, who was named Caboose who wore regulation blue armor, and there was Tucker who wore teal armor.

Private Leonard Church was angry. He was angry, as usual at Caboose, who had somehow managed to let their flag be stolen again. Not only was that embarrassing, he had let it be stolen from the same guy who stole it last time. He was in the middle of a tirade at Caboose when he heard something. Instantly he looked towards, the back of the base where the noise had come from. He strained his ears, but heard nothing. Then he heard some music, coming from behind him. He turned, and saw the Reds were coming towards him in their Puma! He pulled the sniper off his back, aimed and fired.

However, the sights were still screwy, and he hit its headlight. He fired again, this time hitting a rock that was several yards right of the front wheel. He yelled "SON OFA BITCH!" and dived out of the way, as one of the Reds opened fire with the chaingun on the back. The bullets panged off the ground, and Church took cover behind a rock while Tucker ran inside the base. He saw Caboose was running where they had dragged the wreckage of Shelia. Church sighed, and hoped that Caboose would somehow get himself killed by the Reds. Then he saw something. He saw a person, clad in jet-black armor step out from behind the base. Church took a good look at him: the person was wearing black armor that unlike Tex's was more ornate. The person carried a rifle that he hadn't seen before; it looked sleek and black, and was equipped with a scope. The figure raised the gun, aimed and fired.

A/N: sorry for the cliffhanger

(1) UAV- Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Vermont uses a Predator equipped with a COM channel booster, a video camera, and 3 102 mm HEAT (High Explosive, AntiTank) rockets, the rockets the Jackhammer in Halo 3 uses.