3rd chapter. Here we go.
Disclaimer: I own no one.
...It actually took me a few minutes (or is it a minute? Man, my time tracking skills suck) to find my way back to the armory.
I was choosing between two guns (an assault rifle and a magnum) and, well, darn it, its hard to decide! Anyway, I was in the middle of choosing which one should I use until:
"Hey!"
I let out a yelp and I fumbled and juggled with the guns and just watched helplessly as they just clattered to the floor. After a moment of staring at them, I looked back to see the other Blues. Where the hell did they come from? ?
"Uh..." I just let out.
But Church just ignored me, him and Tucker walking by me to not only get a couple of guns (and Church was hiding that sniper rifle the whole time?! That fuck!) but also some ammo.
"Uh...what's going on?" I hesitated to ask.
"I'll tell you what's going on," Church began (and oh, he sounded pissed) then rounded on me and Caboose. "What's going on...is that you two gave a Red our flag!"
Oh yeah, that. I just frowned at him. "Well, you didn't warn us about that," I told him.
"What the- You just-" Church just made an exasperated groan. "Who the fuck is running this army?!"
You aren't in the army, dude - not a real one. You were sent to be hidden by the jackasses that tortured you, split you up and now you have amnesia and you thought you're a human. Along with the other Reds and Blues that failed to be capable soldiers.
I didn't say any of that, though.
"Well, why blame us for the ridiculous orders you gave us?" I said, making a bored look. "You told me to patrol and keep my mouth shut the entire time." I didn't add that it was also his and Tucker's fault that they didn't turn around and looked at Donut when he came in.
Church glared at me. "...You are just one step closer from having me killing you, rookie," he seethed.
...Now I'm not sure if I should be afraid or not.
"...So...what are we going to do with this Red guy?" I tentatively asked.
"You two aren't," Church corrected. "Me and Tucker will."
"Right, 'cuz...you two are here longer than we are," I said as Church carried some sniper rounds and another gun as he passed me. I stepped a little further to get away from Tucker, but he was more focused on getting some ammo and following Church out.
I looked over at Caboose. "...you wanna go and see if we can still, um...lend them a hand?"
"My hand or your hand?" ...Not quite, Caboose.
I simply sighed and picked up the two guns I dropped. "Here," I said, handing him the assault rifle as I picked up the pistol. I looked over at my hips for a moment (and how come my armor is colored...indigo instead of the standard blue? I never noticed that until now) before I set it there. I don't trust myself with the gun. "Let's go, Caboose."
"Okay," he simply nodded.
As we jogged our way to where the roof is, he then said, "Um...how come you always call me by my last name?"
I blinked. "Huh? Oh, uh...I dunno, it sounds right for some reason," I answred. Honestly, it just- it just come out, is all. "Why?"
"Well, your name is Erica but your last name is Helms," Caboose said. "Should I call you by last name as well?"
I thought about it. "...Tell you what," I said. "I'll try to say your first name if you just call me by MY first name. I'm more used to having my first name called, okay Ca- err, Michael?"
"Okay then!" Ca- ...this is going to be harder than I thought.
"...Yeah, I'll just call you Mike or Mikey, okay?"
"Okay!" Mikey nodded.
~o~
It took us a few minutes to get to the roof, watching Church and Tucker (uh, should I call them by their first names as well? This will be weird) trying to find Donut.
Feeling that I should do something, I went over to the edge of the base and looked around as well. After a bit, I spotted something blue by the canyon wall. "I think I found him!" I said, pointing at where Donut is.
"Where?" I heard Church ask, and I glanced over to Church to get to my side and peered through the scope until he found Donut, holding the flag. "Oh yeah, oh I got him. He's sneaking around back behind the cliffs."
"Man, he must be one smart son of a bitch," Tucker commented.
...Or maybe Donut- dammit. Okay, the other guy - is just hopelessly lost.
"Oh shit... Hey Tucker, take a look at his armor," Church said. "It's red."
"Oh man," Tucker groaned (shit, this really IS hard). "That means it's their Sergeant." Not really.
"Well, that makes sense," Church agreed. "At least now we know how he got by our defenses."
"...Uh, you know, he came in the back door where you guys were standing," Mikey pointed out. Hah, you two just got burned.
"Yeah okay," unfortunately, Tucker and Church didn't seem to care; impatiently waving us off. "Well let's take him out then."
"Roger that," Church nodded, and he zeroed in on Donut's head. "Okay, say goodnight, Sarge."
...Okay, in hindsight, I probably should have moved away from Church before he fired. Because, holy fuck, that was loud! It didn't help that he fired it four times.
Oww...! My ears are ringing!
I had to walk away from the edge, near Mikey, but due to that annoying ringing in my ears, I can't hear anything for a few moments.
As I recovered, I managed to turn back and watched the scene unfold. Tucker glared at Church for a moment before he shook his head, a few moments before Church switched his rifle for an assault rifle and headed over to the teleporter. I looked over at Tucker, and he seems hesitant to go through it (not that I can blame him). They just move their heads (huh, it really is kind of stupid with no voices), with Church jabbing his thumb back at the teleporter but Tucker simply waved his hands, as if saying 'No!' and Church's arm slowly fell to his side. Church then pointed his gun at Tucker's head and Tucker stepped back, as if shocked.
After a few moments, Tucker slumped a little and stepped towards the teleporter, all while glaring at Church. Church still pointed his gun at him. The aqua colored male looked back at the teleporter, and he had a moment's hesitation before he ran through it.
Church quickly looked over to the edge and (well, it looks like Mikey is also curious) the two of us went over to the edge to look over at...what IS that? Is that where the other teleporter is? It's this green...misty thing, floating over a small piece of metal.
We waited for a few moments for Tucker to emerge from the other end. ...But as seconds became a minute, Church looked over at us for a moment (his head bopping up and down for a bit) then he jumped off the edge, running after Donut.
After a few moments, the ringing is gone, and I can hear again. "...God that sucks," I muttered to myself, rubbing where my ears are.
"Are you okay, Erica?" Mikey asked me, and I looked over at him for a bit. "I was asking you if you were okay but you didn't respond, and just kept saying 'What?' everytime."
"Uh, well, my ears are ringing from being too close to our leader using the sniper rifle," I explained. "I can hear again, now."
"Oh."
Then we looked back and saw Church now with Donut and Tucker is there (though his armor is covered in soot) and the three of them are just standing there, with Church and Donut staring at Tucker for a few moments. "...What do you think they're talking about?" Mikey finally asked me.
"Who knows," I shrugged. "Its not like we can just hear everything." Then it hits me. "Wait, hold on." I fumbled around with my helmet for a few moments, trying to find...well, something to help me hear/communicate with the others from the distance. Pressing a button, I seemed to have found the flashlight feature of it. "Nope." I turned it off and kept looking.
I pressed another and suddenly, I heard: "-I get stationed here at Blood Gulch and we meet. And this guy here..." I looked back at the three and spotted Tucker pointing at Donut. "He gets promoted to Sergeant of the Red Army, and we spy on them. And they get this new jeep and I'm all like 'There is now way you can pick up chicks in a tank!'"
I made a bored look and turned the long comm. off. "Yeah, I think the aqua one thinks he's gone back in time," I said.
"What an idiot," Mikey said.
"Tell me about it," I agreed.
Then we heard the roar of a vehicle and we returned our attention to the middle of the canyon and saw a jeep with a machine-gun turrent at the back (being driven by the one clad in orange while the marron one manned the turrent) leap over a nearby hill and nearly crushed Church (who dodged quickly) and nearly ran over Tucker (who got out of the way fast enough). They tried to run away but the maroon one - Simmons - pointed his gun at the two and fired, making them turn and flee towards the cliff wall.
"Oh man, that's not good," Mikey murmured in horror as we watched.
"Yeah..." I nodded. "There's no way we can take them - they have a machine gun at the back of that jeep!"
Mikey then looked over at something and I looked. The tank. I looked back at where Simmons is shooting at Church and Tucker than back at the tank.
I sighed. "Screw this," I said. "We're taking the tank!" With that I went to the edge.
"Umm, should we really?" Mikey asked me.
"Yeah, I mean, sure they were dicks to us, but we can't leave them to die out here!" I replied - plus, the two of them are important to the plot - if Tucker dies, then we're all screwed when Wyoming comes by later. "Besides, they owe us." I jumped down and head over to the tank.
Oh yeah, the Church from the future would be here, talking to Shelia (previously named FILSS). Maybe...I could try to make Church's relationship with Mikey better. But...I could only hope that nothing bad would happen.
~o~
I let out a growl. "Dammit!" I cursed, trying to shift to the other way. I just crashed onto the rock. "Sorry!" I called out to Shelia.
Man, I can't believe how hard it is to drive a tank! Seriously, why are there six pedals and yet I could only go in four directions? ? Vehicles in the Halo-verse are so weird!
"Is everything alright?" The Training AI asked me.
"Um, yeah- well, no," I admitted, bowing my head in shame. "Yeah, I really suck at driving this tank." Not like the other guys can do better.
"If its all right, I could drive this tank safely," Shelia offered. "It really isn't that hard to do."
...Dammit - of course AIs can do mechanical things better. With a sigh, I asked, "Could you let me out Shelia?"
"Certainly." The canopy above me opened up and I got out.
"Is it my turn?" Mikey asked me once I got onto the treads.
I just shook my head. "Nah, we should let Shelia do this," I told him.
I mentally sighed. Well, my earlier plan of driving the tank to save Church and Tucker backfired. Plus...well, Shelia can do a better job driving the tank better than we could.
I feel like that I was just told that you are the most pathetic person in the world', right now. Yeah, that's how depressed I am right now...
"Oh," Mikey let out.
I looked over at Shelia. "Hey, do you mind if we ride on you?" I asked her. "Like, you know, like a car." Shelia merely 'looked' at me with the large cannon...then turned and drove off. "...I'll take that as a 'no' then." I just followed the tank with Mikey.
It wasn't long until we were at the place where Church and Tucker are hiding at, and right there are Grif and Simmons, having stopped at the bottom of the cliff, contemplating their, ahem, next move. Me and Mikey just hide behind the tank. "Shelia, activate the auto-fire sequence," I whispered to her.
"Are you sure?" The AI asked me. "I do not think that is wise - once the auto-fire sequence is activated, the tutorial ends."
"Yes, I'm pretty sure, Shelia," I affirmed. ...Though, I felt as if I'm forgetting something...
"All right then," Shelia said. "Tutorial mode, disabled. Auto-fire sequence enabled."
I nodded and looked back up in time to see Grif sneaking off, leaving Simmons behind as he ran towards the Warthog (not noticing Shelia aiming her cannon at him). I knew what was going to happen, so I just kept-
...
Wait a minute.
"Oh fu-" Once again, my ears rings again as Shelia fired at Grif (but missing and hitting the Warthog, making it explode). "AH! God...dammit!" I shouted (well, I felt my mouth move like that, but didn't hear my voice), holding my hands over my ears.
But my biggest concern was what is going to happen soon. I shook my head (though, I still hear that ringing noice - mildly surprised that I hadn't felt my ears explode and render me deaf) and scrambled onto the tank towards the canopy.
"Shelia, Shelia, listen to me!" I (think I heard myself) exclaimed. "Turn off the auto-fire sequence! Turn it off!"
"All right," I blinked when I suddenly heard her voice and the cannon lowered. "Auto-fire sequence, disabled. All targets eliminated."
Uhh...a part of me wanted to be relieved that I fixed THIS but...another, stronger part is dumbfounded by how I got my hearing back so quickly.
"Umm...thanks, Shelia," I said.
"Holy shit!" I looked up at Church, seeing him looking down at us. "You're telling me the whole time the tank has a training AI?"
"Uhh..." I glanced over at the tank and back up at him. "It...seems that way."
"Hi Church!" Mikey called out from behind me.
"Oh, so you brought him with you," Church let out, as if he was bored.
"Hey, we came here to save you guys, and that's all you can say?" I felt a little mad that he was just being his prick self - of course, why should I be surprised?
Tucker peeked his head out. "Well, they did come and save us," he admitted. "Not only that, the Tank blew up their jeep." As if on cue, Shelia fired at the Warthog again, making it fly all the way back towards Red Base.
"...Yeah, I think we should just retire for the day," I suggested. ...And I'm getting a feeling that I've forgotten something again, as Shelia fired at Red Base repeatedly.
Church stared down at me for a few moments...then he let out a groan. "Fine."
"Hey, uh, what's that flying over the other base?" Mikey suddenly asked.
"Huh?" I let out before I heard multiple explosions.
...SHIT!
"Oh FUCK, RUN!" I shouted before I hightailed it back to Blue Base.
I heard myself screaming as I ran for my life. I then tripped and landed flat on my face, and I just lied there as multiple exposions occured behind me, and feeling my heart pounding erratically - holy shit, I am that terrified.
Soon, it seems like it was over.
I slowly moved my arms in front and pushed myself up. "Is...is it over?" I shakily asked.
"Yeah...Yeah it is," I heard Tucker and I looked up to see him and Mikey panting next to me.
I let out a relieved sigh- wait.
"Where's Church and Shelia?" I asked, horror filling my body.
The two jerked and the three of us (as if we are one) looked back. Shelia is flipped upside down, smoking...and several feet from the blackened parts of the earth, was Church.
"Oh shit!" I shouted, getting up as the three of us ran over to him.
"Church! Church, speak to me!" Tucker shouted at him.
"Shelia! No! !" Caboose cried out in horror.
Oh God, look at all that blood! I haven't seen a lot of it since my brother's accident! I forced myself to turn away, but...this scene is already burned in my mind.
"Tucker... T-Tucker..." I heard Church groan out.
"Church! It's going to be okay, man!" ...Why even say that when you knew he won't make it?! Dammit!
"No," the cobalt soldier grunted in pain - even he knew he's going to die- ...wait a second. He's an AI. Is...Is the body he's using even real?
In my mental rambling, I didn't hear CHurch and Tucker talking but I looked over at Tucker, just as he said, "Yeah, I know you did. Now, hurry up and die, you prick."
"Okay," was all Church said before he let out a 'herk...bleah!'
...Why do they let out a 'bleah'? They did the same in the Dragon Ball Z Abridged for Raditz and Piccolo when they both died. That doesn't make sense to me.
But...
I looked over at Tucker and Caboose. "So now what?" I asked. "The Reds have our flag, the tank is totalled, and now our captain is dead."
Tucker looked over at me. "Don't worry, I'll just call Command," he said. "But first..." he turned and hurried over to where Church was at previously.
I looked down at Church's 'corpse' and looked over at Mikey. "...You, uh, wanna see if they have shovels around here?" I asked.
"Why?" Mikey asked, as if confused.
"Well, I think its fair that we bury his body," I explained. "He should, I dunno, at least want that."
"Oh, all right," the blue clad male muttered, bowing his head.
The poor guy is upset that Shelia is 'dead' - poor thing... I put a reassuring hand onto his shoulder. "Well, if we do get help, they should fix the tank, at least," I assured him.
"You really think so?" Caboose looked back up at me, hopeful.
"Yeah," I nodded.
...Its hard to tell what facial expression he has, but I think Caboose is happy about that.
"Now, let's go and find those shovels!" I said to him. With a nod from Caboose, we entered the base.
...Though, I looked back in time to see Church (in his transparent form) and the other Church talking to each other before the transperant one disappears, before the other one quickly left.
Weird, I thought, looking back forward.
Not even a day, and somehow I screwed up.
Though, I guess that all of us are screw ups...
Okay, that should do chapter 3. Erica/Me tried to save Church...but the poor guy ends up dying anyway. What else would she screw up at? Who knows?
Next chapter, Tex appears. This won't end well...
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