Back to the action…sort of. We meet a new (old) friend, yay!

Disclaimer: I own nothing – if I did, I'd disclose on where the hell Doc had been the entire time he was gone from season twelve!

This chapter is all Doc.

The sun was high over the canyon by the time he got there. He let out a tired sigh before he looked around. "Phew. Made it," Frank DuFresne let out as he looked over the canyon with the Red base on the right side and the Blue base on the left.

Yup, this is Blood Gulch all right.

With a nod, he put a hand over his radio. "Come in Blue Command, come in," he called in. There wasn't a response at first, so he tried again. "This is Medical Officer DuFresne. I have reached Blood Gulch Outpost Alpha, do you read?"

He heard a burst of static but he couldn't hear what the person is saying. What he got was, 'read me?' and 'Check one, check two.'

"Say again, Blue Command," he spoke up. "I do not read."

All he got is more static, but he did hear, "-thing on? Hello, hello?"

He tapped his helmet to try to clear it up. "Blue Command, please boost your transmission to match communication protocol, Echo, Bravo-"

"Yo, I hear you," the poor medic nearly went deaf when the message came through, "calm down, dude, what's goin' on?" There was this odd...jazzy music playing in the background. "Hello, yo, can you hear me, hello?"

"Uh...roger that, Command," DuFresne slowly replied.

"Sorry 'bout that," the voice apologized. "I was in the elevator; this thing doesn't work so well in there. Anyway, what's going on dude?"

"Oh, roger tha-" he began to nod until he caught that last part. "Uh... is this Blue Command?"

"Oh, yeah, man, sure, totally! What's going on?"

But Frank didn't felt…convinced. "You're sure? The Blue Command base?"

"Hey dude, take it easy," the radio operator had a tone in his voice that he didn't like. "You called me, I didn't call you."

"Naw, I know, it's just…" He trailed off, uncertain now.

"It's just what, dude?" DuFresne cringed a bit at that.

"Uh- Never mind," he shook his head. "I'm just letting you know that I've reached Blood Gulch Outpost Alpha." That's the reason he called, anyway. "I'm gonna make contact with the Blue Squad members."

"Blood Gulch, huh? Alright, let me look here, let me see what it says…" DuFresne waited a bit as the radio operator – Vic – checked on his orders. "Lemme see, here. Blood Gulch, bleu, bleaou bee ehl, bluoea- ah, here we go, Blood Gulch." The medic blinked a bit. Was…was that necessary? He asked himself before he returned his attention to Vic. "Okay, says here you wanna make contact with Private Tucker, ask him about their wounded, dude."

"Roger that," he nodded, "Any other orders?"

"'Anything else'? Yeah, okay," Vic replied. "Yeah, it says here whatever you do don't- Oh." The medic blinked when Vic suddenly stopped for a bit, before resuming, "Okay never mind dude. I'm not supposed to read you that part," what part? DuFresne asked himself "okay, just uh… you'll be okay, just uh be very careful. That's all."

…That didn't sound very good. "Great…" He muttered.

"Though, there is one thing you should know," Vic suddenly told him. "There's an odd chick over there – she didn't seem dangerous, but be careful nonetheless, okay?" How is that supposed to make him feel better? "But, anyway, that's all. It's our goal here at Blue Command to provide excellent service, and I hope I have don't that today. Uh, if you have any further questions about this radio transmission, you can just um, you know call back: say 'Dud, I've got some questions, what's goin' on'. Over and out." And the radio went silent.

DuFresne looked over at Blood Gulch, at the direction of Blue Base. "Okay… Private Tucker…" He mumbled to himself before he made his way down.

Once he's safely on the ground (it admittedly took him a while; he's not the best climber after all) he made his way over to the base. He felt bad that it took him three months to get here – the transmission…well, didn't reach him until a couple of days ago. This part of the planet doesn't have good reception. At least…that's what his superiors said. But, he made it; that's all that matters. He's a bit worried about what Vic mean – about that 'part' and an odd woman over here – but he's a pacifist. They won't harm a pacifist, would they?

Finally, after a couple more minutes, he spotted the base…and he saw three figures talking to each other. One is light blue, one is aqua (or is it teal? Hard to tell) and the last one is regular blue.

As he got closer, he caught a part of their conversation, with one of them saying: "-a little out of context."

The aqua one looked over at the blue one. "What? What context?" He said in disbelief. What were they talking about?

The light blue one sighed (sounding annoyed) as DuFresne finally got to them. "Listen, guys, this competition thing has got to stop, okay? I thought we'd established by now-"

"Excuse me?" He didn't mean to speak up, but he wanted to get their attention a bit.

The three of them looked over at him for a bit. "Hey pal, one second okay? I'm in the middle of something here," the man in light blue armor told him. DuFresne blinked. Huh?

They resumed their conversation. "Ah look, I thought we'd established by now, that I don't like either of you, or Erica, okay?" Who's 'Erica'? "So competing for my attention is not gonna do you any good."

Sensing that their conversation ended, DuFresne coughed to get their attention. "Uh, Excuse me."

The one in light blue armor turned to him. "Okay. Yes. Hello. Who're you?"

He was about to answer, but he couldn't help but hear a dark, deep voice, saying, "Don't ever be alone." DuFresne glanced over at the one in blue staring at the aqua clad man (with the aqua one backing away and murmuring something). Did…did he hear that right? It sounds…scary.

"Hey! You listening?" The one in front of him called him out, getting his attention back.

"Oh! Yes! I'm DuFresne. Frank DuFresne," he introduced himself…though his eyes can't help but shift over to the one in blue, in fear. "Uh…are you Private Tucker?" He asked slowly.

"Actually, no, I'm not Private Tucker. My name is Church," the light blue man replied before jabbing his thumb to the aqua one. "This is Private Tucker."

"What's up?" Tucker did a two fingered salute at him.

Then Church nodded over to the other soldier behind him. "And our friend over there in regulation blue, that's Caboose… Or O'Malley or whatever the hell he's callin' himself."

"Hey!" Caboose sounded hurt. "Why did you introduce me second?"

"Because he hates you," Tucker said with a teasing tone.

"But what about Erica?" There's that name again – who is she? "Shouldn't she be here since we have, uh…"

"Medic," DuFresne piped up helpfully.

"Okay, the Medic got here and-" Then it seems it was registered in their heads as they looked at him. "Medic? But…that was like three months ago."

"Yeah," Tucker agreed. "What'd you do, crawl all the way here?"

DuFresne blushed a bit. "H-hey! I came as quickly as I could! Honest!" He insisted. "Anyway, where's the patient?"

The three of them gave each other a look. "Well…" Church pointed over the medic's shoulder. "She's about fifty yards behind you…and six feet straight down."

DuFresne blinked before he looked behind him…seeing two graves with simple wooden crosses to act as tome stones. "…Oh," he let out, having a feeling that his patient is…uh, dead. "I'm-I'm sorry about your loss."

"What? Oh yeah," Church replied solemnly. "Yeah, thanks man, it was tough but well, what're you gonna do?"

"We didn't like her very much," Caboose spoke up, adding in a loud whisper, "She was mean to other people."

He blinked at that. "O…kay," he slowly let out before he looked back at the graves. "Who's in the other grave though?" Did they lose another person during the three months? Who is it? The person 'Erica', or-?

"Uh," DuFresne looked back at them, seeing Church rubbing the back of his head. "That's…that's me. I'm in that grave."

…What? DuFresne looked back at the grave and back at him. "…Uh huh… Of course," he let out, doubt in his voice.

"See, uh, he…got killed by explosives out of the sky-"

"It was an airstrike by the Reds," Tucker reminded Caboose, who was explaining.

"Right, yeah," Caboose nodded, sheepish. "And then he became, uh, this really mean ghost and uh, took over a Mexican robot's body. Oh, and then we had to uh, oyathatsright, spray-paint him, ah, to make him blue, and now he is alive again, and he is a bionic man…who is blue."

"Right," Tucker nodded. "And it took us six weeks to get his Spanish setting turned off."

Church looked over at Tucker. "No esta completamente apagado, pendejo," he retorted with a bored tone.

The aqua armored man sighed. "I'll go get the Spanish dictionary."

DuFresne blinked incredulously at the three of them. For…well, a lot of things, really. "Wait, so no one here is hurt?"

"Nah, we're fine," Church replied. "In fact, I feel better than ever. See, now whenever these two idiots really start to bug me, I can always just turn my ears off. Couldn't do that before."

"Wha- Hey! You said they were shorting out!" Caboose exclaimed.

DuFresne heard a loud click then turned to his teammate. "I'm sorry, what was that, Caboose? I can't hear you!"

…These people are strange, he thought. But who is he to judge? With a shrug, DuFresne pulled out his scanner (which is actually one of the Plasma Pistols reconfigured as a scanner – the more advanced ones are used by doctors) off of his belt. "Well, then let me just check you two out, and I'll be-" he then noticed something coming their way. The person is in indigo colored armor…and they seemed to be staggering a little. "Is he okay?"

"Huh?" Church let out before the indigo person got up to them. "Well, look who decided to show up?"

"Fuck off," they – and holy cow, it's a female! – retorted. "Don't talk to me until I have some goddamn rest." Then she proceeded to sit on a rock near them, letting out a great sigh.

"Hey, are you okay?" Tucker asked her, sounding concerned.

She sighed again. "I'm fine, Lav," who's 'Lav'? "Just…tired."

"Tired from what?" Church asked her next.

"Oh…working out," she said vaguely. "It's one of the things I can do here, other than being bored out of my skull…and to give a pissed off ghost some space after what happened three months ago."

Church then looked over at what she placed down. "Is that my sniper rifle?"

"Hey, do you want me to be useful here?" She retorted, "Besides, I think I'd stick with hand held guns."

"Well, gimme back my sniper rifle!" Church demanded.

"I don't feel like getting up, and if I throw it to you, it won't get far and it'll just land on the ground, but didn't reach you OR I'll end up hitting you on accident," she shrugged. "Frankly, I'm not in the mood to hear you bitch at me."

"Ooh!" Tucker let out as…um, it's hard to tell how Church is feeling right now – with a smile in the aqua armored man's voice.

Church let out an annoyed grunt. "Okay, fine." He walked over and plucked the sniper rifle.

DuFresne looked between them a bit. "Uh….anyone want to introduce me?" He asked slowly, completely confused.

"Oh, yeah, that's Erica," Tucker answered. "She came in with Caboose months ago."

"Oh, well, my name is Frank DuFresne," he introduced himself. "I'm the medic."

She merely stared at him as her propped her chin into her hands. "…Is the connection to Command really that bad?" She asked.

"Well, that's what they told me," Frank admitted, rubbing the back of his head. "Anyway, I need to check the three of you out, and I'll be on my way."

"Whoa…check us out?" Tucker let out nervously. "Is this gonna be one of those things where I have to turn my head and cough?"

"No, I'm just gonna check your vitals," he answered before he turned the device on.

"I bet I have better vitals than you," Caboose betted…before he looked over at Church. "What's a vital?"

But Church ignored him. "Whoa, wait a minute. On your way? I don't think so, bud. Aren't you here to join our squad?"

"Hey! I'm trying to be helpful to you guys!" Erica complained…what exactly is her last name?

"Well, not really," DuFresne replied (to Church's question). "I'm just here to help out with Tex, and then assist in the canyon as needed."

"First of all, great job on the Tex thing. Mission accomplished," even he can tell that Church was sarcastic. "Secondly, the way that we need you to assist is to help us kill all the Reds."

"Well, even if my orders didn't prohibit me from doing that, I still wouldn't," the medic explained. "I joined the army as a conscientious objector."

"A conshe-who?" Tucker asked baffled.

"That means he's a pacifist," Erica answered. "Someone who doesn't want to fight."

"Oh," Caboose and Tucker let out.

"…I guess I nearly thought it was something else," he heard Tucker mutter to himself.

DuFresne lifted his device and swept a ray of light over Tucker first, then Caboose and finally Erica. After a while, he checked over the readings on a small screen in the back. Okay, Tucker and Caboose checks out… He thought to himself- then blinked. "Huh?"

"What's up?" Church asked.

But DuFresne ignored him, tapping the small screen a bit. "That's weird…it says that Erica's vitals are…odd."

"What does that mean?"

"I dunno," the medic shrugged, before he turns it off. "But she seems fine, so I think the device is gipped. Anyways, everyone here checks out. I'll come back and check on you before I leave the canyon. Can you tell me which way to the Red Base?"

"Why?" Tucker asked. "You said you weren't going to fight 'em."

"I'm not," DuFresne confirmed. "Resources are low, so I'm on loan to both armies to help whichever side needs me at the time."

"Man, that is so freakin' lame," Church muttered angrily.

"I'm just gonna go to Red Base and see if they need any help," DuFresne said, gesturing to the other side of the canyon.

"Well, if you're gonna go up to Red Base, I'd recommend putting away that little medical thingie of yours," Church advised him. "They see you walking up carrying that thing, they're gonna shoot it right out of your hands."

And as if right on cue, there was a loud bang and DuFresne felt his scanner get ripped out of his hand, to his surprise. "Yeah, just like that," the cobalt male let out in surprise. Just then, another sniper round whizzed past his head and hit the wall behind him. "Scatter!"

To the medic's surprise, they were under attack! By the Reds of all people! In the confusion, he ended up hiding with Church as Caboose and Erica got separated from them. The whole time he was panicking – and holy crap, why is the opposite army attacking them?! He's a freakin' pacifist for crying out loud! – he barely paid attention to Church talking to someone as he was trying to keep himself alive.

But he returned to reality when he heard Church say: "Alright you, Doc, get over there and help Caboose and Erica!"

DuFresne blinked at that. "My name isn't Doc, it is DuFresne."

"Yeah, I can't pronounce that," Church replied. "So from now on, your name is Doc."

"I'm…not really comfortable with that," DuFresne slowly shook his head. "I'm not a doctor, I'm a medic."

"What's the difference?" Tucker – when did he get here? – asked.

"Well, a doctor cures and saves people," DuFresne explained. "A medic just makes them more comfortable…while they die."

"There is no difference!" Erica shouted out. "People still die even with doctors!"

"…Okay, mental note: don't ever get shot," Tucker let out.

"It's settled then," Church decided. "Your name is now Doc."

"Or how about his first name, like Frank!" Erica shouted out again.

"Who the fuck cares?" Church shouted to her.

The medic let out a sigh. "Alright, but I don't think it'll stick."

"Oh, trust us, it'll stick," Tucker assured.

Just then, their radio sounded out. "Hey, uh, mind listening to me for a second?" Erica asked.

"Oh god," Church sighed, before he put his fingers over his comm. "What now?"

"How about we just wait for a few minutes?" She suggested.

"What? Why would we do that?!" Church exclaimed.

"Well, you predicted that we'll be attacked by the Reds – though it was a surprise – so maybe I should try and predict that the Reds will be out of ammo soon."

"Why would the Reds be out of ammo?" Tucker questioned, though, Doc looked over when he noticed that it had gotten silent all of a sudden.

"I dunno," she admitted. "But from what I saw on the Red Team three months ago…I'd assume that one of them wouldn't bring extra ammo."

"Somehow I doubt that," Church deadpanned.

DuFresne took the time to speak up. "Um…they stopped firing guys."

At once, the two of them looked in the direction where the Reds are…or WERE, but DuFresne managed to see a pink leg sticking out from behind a rock. "…Holy shit, she was right," Church let out, surprised.

"Duh," Erica deadpanned, her and Caboose with them now. "But now what?"

DuFresne didn't know who would respond first, but he didn't expect one of the Reds – one clad in regulation red – to call out, "Hey Blues! We are giving you a chance to surrender!"

"Surrender!?" Church exclaimed, dumbfounded.

"Dude that is messed up," Tucker let out.

"Though, it looks like I was right," Erica said. "They're out of ammo."

"Yeah," Church nodded…then called out, "What are your terms?!"

"Their what?" Tucker exclaimed while DuFresne blinked and Erica palmed her visor.

"Seriously…?" She muttered. "We have the advantage here – we could've just made them skedaddle or something!"

"Yeah, like take their girlfriends."

"Or their snacks," Caboose added after Tucker.

"I hope they have chips," she let out. "I mean, it's been three months since I haven't had any – preferably the cheese kind. No spicy of any kind."

DuFresne gave her an odd look. "But chips are bad for your teeth," he pointed out.

"I know," she shrugged. "But they're my favorite snack – besides popcorn and cookies. Certain kinds, really."

"Alright Blues! First off: we want your flag-" The Red one – probably the Reds' leader – began but cut off a bit before hastily added, "…To stay right where it is. Keep the flag. But we do want our mechanized droid guy back."

"Uh oh," Church let out.

"You may know him as Señor El Roboto," the Red Leader described.

"Well, Church, what's it gonna be?" Tucker asked the De-Facto leader.

"Chingado, no way!" Church retorted, grabbing himself protectively. "I'm not giving back my body, I just got this thing."

"And there's the fact that the Reds are the ones that killed you," Erica pointed out.

"That too."

"And don't think you can keep his nuts or bolts or any other mechanical parts you may have," the Red Leader called out just then.

"Shit," Church grumbled.

"So what now, oh great Leader?" Erica asked with a snarky tone.

"Shut the hell up," the cobalt robot growled at her before clearing his throat. "Uh, uh, he's not here anymore," he called out.

"Yeah, he left," Tucker called out as well. "He was all like 'Sayonara!' and then he just took off."

"Lav, that's Japanese," Erica corrected him. "What you're looking for is 'Adiós!' or something like that. I don't know Spanish."

"Whatever," the two of them said. Then Church looked over at DuFresne.

"…What?" He asked, having a bad feeling.

"Hmm… Let's try this," he murmured before turning to the Reds. "Hey Reds! How about a medic? Would you take a medic as a hostage?"

"Wait, a hostage?" DuFresne blinked. "But I'm supposed to go over there."

"Yeah, I know," Church nodded. "But you're basically useless to us right now. Unless one of us got shot or something earlier, then you could've stuck around."

…Although that was mean, it was also the truth, the medic thought sadly. "Okay, just send me over," he sighed. "I don't think I'll be of much use here."

"Okay," Church nodded then turned back to the Reds. "Okay! We're gonna send over our medic. Now what do we get?"

"You?!" The man clad in maroon yelled out, popping out. "You're surrendering! You don't get anything except humiliation and ridicule!"

"We've already got that!" Tucker shouted back. "What else do you have?"

"What do you want?" Red Leader asked.

It took a bit for Church to think of it before he exclaimed, "How about if you admit that the Red Team sucks?"

"What?" Erica let out. "Couldn't we have just taken their flag?"

"Or their mortal souls?" Caboose asked in his scary voice.

"Yeah, but we don't want the Reds to call in a Freelancer to get it," Church pointed out with a bored tone. "Do you want that?"

Erica made a thoughtful gesture for a bit then nodded. "Good point."

"What if we admit that one of us sucks?" The Red Leader called back.

"What-? Hey, c'mon!" Church called out to them.

Erica let out a sigh. "This could take a while," she said as Church and Tucker argued with the Reds.

And, to DuFresne's surprise, it took nearly two hours for them to come to terms of their agreement. The three of them sat off to the side, watching – well, mostly him; Erica and Caboose drew on a sketch book for a while – as they waited. DuFresne fiddled around with his scanner a bit then looked over at Erica. He looked over his device a bit before he decided to scan her again. He had to make sure that it really wasn't gipped before he moves on.

And yet, to his surprise – again, this day is full of surprises – the results are the same. It says that her vitals are strange. As if her body was…augmented, sort of like the Spartan-IIs but…different. Not…human. And yet, she seems to be functioning fine for some reason. He made to contact command-

"Okay, Doc, c'mon," Church called out.

It took him a bit to realize that 'Doc' is the name they gave him. "Oh, right," he quickly let out, getting up from the rock he was using as a chair. He also heard shuffling and Erica and Caboose joined him as they got to Tucker and Church. He made a mental note to contact command after this.

"Okay then, we agree to the terms?" Church called out. "You first, and then we send over the medic."

The Reds nudged out a man in orange armor as he looked back at them then looked to have sighed. "I would just like to let everyone know that I suck!"

"And?" Church prompted out as Tucker and Erica snickered.

"And that I'm a girl!"

"What else?"

"And I like ribbons in my hair," the orange one continued before he seems to have glared at his team. "And I want to kiss all the boys!"

Behind them, Tucker and Erica laughed as Church did a few snickers himself. "Okay, is that good enough?" Simmons called down to them.

It took Church a bit to compose himself. "Yeah!" He replied loudly. "Alright, go ahead, Doc."

"Well, see ya Frank," Erica waved at him.

"Yeah, I- wait, Frank?" DuFresne let out in surprise.

"Well, yeah, do you mind that?" She asked him, confused.

"Uh…"

Church nudged him. "C'mon, move it!"

"Oh, right! Bye!" He quickly ran over to the middle of the canyon to the Reds.

Once he got to them, the orange one grumbled, "Man, I hope you're worth this..."

"Can I ask you a question?" Frank began before looking back at the Blue base and back at them. "Do they put something in the water here?"

"Water?" the orange one parroted. "We ran out of water six months ago."

"No water?" Frank let out in surprise. No wonder all of them are weird. "Then what do you drink?"

"Uh, you know, ketchup, uh, soy sauce, gravy...the usual," the orange one shrugged.

...That probably explains so much - ketchup has a lot of sugar in it, and soy sauce has a lot of salt in it. The gravy...that depends on the ingredients. The blood cells have probably been drained of too much water, and they don't have a lot of oxygen traveling to the brain.

"I only drink the blood of my enemies," the red one piped up. "And occasionally a strawberry Yoo-hoo, or a 'sarsaparilla. Grenadine, straight from the can. Deeelicious. ...Oh, occasionally I do enjoy a 'Sex on the Beach', or a piña colada." The red one headed towards their base, singing the song while adding in his own bits with the others following him.

DuFresne stared blankly at them. "...Colorful people, that's for sure," he muttered.

"Hey! Are you coming?" The orange one called out to him.

"Uh- Sorry!" DuFresne let out before he quickly followed them.

~o~

In a few hours that he had been there, he found out the names of the reds by their color. The orange one is Grif (who seems pretty lazy), the maroon one is Simmons (who's pretty loyal to the red leader), said red leader is Sarge (what is his first name anyway? He's just named…Sergeant – Sarge for short) and the last one is…the pink one, Donut. Donut is a rookie that came in three months ago, and as he sat in the jail cell – which is really, really odd, because he's a medic, not a hostage (though, for some odd reason, he had a feeling that this could happen a lot in the future) – he heard that a few things had occurred three months prior.

Donut somehow survived a plasma grenade to the face (but he had scars over his skin, and his right ear is damaged, but it seems that he can still hear through it). And…there was the fact that Sarge had been in a coma for three days, but he recovered nicely. Which is…pretty odd, really.

Other than that, all of the reds are pretty fine (sans Grif, who has multiple problems that medical science just couldn't fix no matter how advanced human technology is).

But…the silence during the time is just so…unsettling. Right now, Grif is keeping watch of him, and after a minute, the chubby man groaned. "God, it's so damn boring!" He complained.

DuFresne shifted uncomfortably. "Well, uh…what do you want to talk about then?"

"Fuck, I don't know," Grif sighed. "Our jeep was wrecked three months ago by that tank, and the robot we've got disappeared the same day. Other than fixing it up for three months straight, it's gotten so damn boring!"

"Huh," the medic let out. He then thought of something. "So what exactly happened that day anyway? I heard that Sarge recovered from a three day coma."

"Oh…that, yeah, I've been trying to get that incident out of my head for a while."

DuFresne blinked. "Uh…okay…?"

Grif groaned. "Sarge was doing Caramelldansen before he slipped into a coma."

Again, DuFresne blinked. "Isn't that song and dance hundreds of years old?"

"I know! I'm just surprised that Sarge knows the song!"

"And here I thought the Blues are weird…" Frank muttered to himself.

"Who's weird?" Grif asked, confused.

"The Blues," says Frank.

"Oh. Yeah, they're a bunch of assholes," Grif agreed. "Sarge even said that they have a girl over there."

"You must be talking about Erica."

"Erica?" Grif sounded surprised.

"Yeah," DuFresne nodded.

"Huh…and here I thought that Sarge was going crazy," the orange clad man admitted. "There was that chick in black that beat us up three months ago, and fired a tank at us – is this other one mean as well?"

"Uh…" DuFresne trailed off to think. "She doesn't seem threatening."

"Oh thank God."

DuFresne took note of the sigh of relief in Grif's voice. "…How long have you guys been here?" He asked incredulously.

"Eh, a pretty long time," Grif shrugged. "Its, uh, it's pretty lonely down here."

"Ouch," DuFresne winced.

"Tell me about it."

At that moment, Sarge called out, "Grif, yer supposed to be watching the prisoner not playing lookie-loo with him all day long!"

"Come on, Sarge," Grif called back. "He doesn't even have a gun."

"Oh, you two will be great friends then," Simmons shouted. "He doesn't have a gun, and you didn't bring any ammo!"

"Hey, at least I'm keeping an eye on our prisoner!" Grif retorted. "Unlike someone who lost two prisoners months ago!"

"Oh man, that is a burn!" Donut exclaimed. "Dude, you just got burned. Burned, dude, burned!"

"Shut up!" Simmons snapped. "Your armor's fucking pink!"

"Hey!"

"Uh, hey guys?" DuFresne cut in. "I-I just want everybody to know that Grif and I aren't, uh, technically friends. We were just talking is all; really!"

The medic looked back at Grif, who stared at him with wide eyes. "Uh…sorry man, but it's pretty obvious that you're really unpopular," he explained, "and if I'm gonna make any progress around here at all, I can't really be directly associated with you. I'm sure you understand."

Grif bowed his head with a whine. "Look, it's only because no one in Red Team likes you," DuFresne added.

The soldier looked back up at him with big doe eyes…making the poor medic uncomfortable. "Um…please stop staring at me."

Several uncomfortable minutes later, Grif sadly left the room. DuFresne couldn't help but…feel bad. 'Well, what am I supposed to do?' He thought. 'I mean, Grif was pretty nice, but… if I want the others to like me, then I shouldn't associate with him at all-' Strange crashing sounds were heard in the base. "What was that?" He asked before he stepped out of the jail cell – Grif accidentally left it open – to see-

The next thing he knew, he hears a squeal of tires, before the Warthog barreled right at him. "Uh oh," was all he had time to let out before it crashed into him-

And not only did he miraculously survive…somehow, he landed into the driving seat of the vehicle as it drove around the base like a maniac. The medic, after trying to get himself to sit up straight in the seat, let out a terrified scream as the Warthog zoomed out of the Red Base and drives out towards the canyon.

"Help! This jeep is kidnapping me!" He screamed as the jeep drove by the Reds.

Just as it got to the middle of the canyon the jeep let out a series of beeps. "Huh?"

"Stop."The jeep came to a complete stop, nearly throwing DuFresne from the Warthog.

But he was busy staring down at the jeep to notice. "…Did the jeep just talk?" He looked up. "Oh, I can see the Blue base from here."

He could make out four figures at the top of the roof – two of which are crowding around one, as the last one is off to the side before they looked out. He couldn't see what color they are from the distance, however…but he was pretty sure that the cobalt one is Church the other two were crowding around.

"Turn around," the Warthog said before it begins to turn itself around.

"Uh…"

There were radio sounds. "Frank DuFresne, this is Erica," she said. "Are you okay?"

"Uh…yeah, sort of," he reported. "The jeep started to act crazy all of a sudden!"

"Oh… uh, that's kind of our fault," she apologized. "The guys are trying to see if they can get the droid to work to fix up our tank." There was a pause. "…And Mikey just broke the switch that controls it."

"Uh oh," the medic let out before it faces Red Base. "Oh man, what now?"

"Frank, um, if I were you, I'd probably get out of the Warthog right now."

"Why?"

"Trust me on this dude, you'd-" She cut herself off. "Uh, nope. Talking to no one. Don't mind me! What? Come on, you guys have got bigger things to-" All of a sudden, the tires began to rev up. "Oh boy."

"What?" DuFresne asked nervously.

He didn't expect the jeep to answer: "Acquire target: red."

Frank looked up to see the Warthog aiming at the Reds. And since Sarge is the only one colored red…

"Uh oh."

The Warthog drove at full speed towards Sarge, effectively knocking him onto the wall. "Oh, I'm pinned!" Sarge cried out,

"Sorry!" Doc cried out (and now he's used to calling himself that now) before the Warthog spoke up:

"Eliminate red target."

Doc did a take in horror as the machinegun behind his head turned to one side and started firing at the wall, drawing closer to Sarge's head. He could barely hear anything else other than the roar of the gun. He's gotta try to stop this!

"Um, okay, how do I…?" Doc mumbled as he looked around to find something to stop this thing. He found the keys in the ignition and twisted it to turn it off, and yanked them out. But to his shock, that didn't stop it. "What the-? How did-?!"

He looked back up, and nearly screamed in terror as Sarge tried to keep the gun away from his head. Though, it seems like it would be a losing battle. 'Come on, come on…!' Doc mentally yelped, looking around the dashboard to find a way to stop it. He tried to push some of the buttons, but all that did was activate the windshield wipers, the headlights and even the radio. …And why is it playing a Mexican song?

"Oh no!" Doc yelped out as he looked back and closed his eyes for the inevitable sound of Sarge's head exploding in a hail of bullets…

…But instead, the gun slowly died down before there was a series of beeps. "Signal lost." It let out, before it seems to turn off completely.

DuFresne let out a sigh of relief, slumping in the Warthog and turned off the music and the windshield wipers. "That was close…" He muttered, relieved.

"Wow, that was a close one," Grif commented. "Are you okay, Sarge?"

"Ah, horse puckey, I'm fine." Sarge then let out a sigh. "Although I do have to admit, maybe a little bit disappointed."

"It's okay, sir," Simmons said. "I know that you said a lot of things that you didn't mean. People say crazy stuff when they're faced with their own mortality."

What did Sarge say then?

"It's not that," Sarge corrected him. "I just felt like I could have taken him."

Even Doc had to stare at him. "Taken who? The machine gun?" Grif asked incredulously.

"Oh he was a worthy opponent to be sure," Sarge spoke, "but right at the end there he was beginning to show signs of weakness. Cracks in the armor, if you will."

"What?" Grif yelped. "You can't fight a machine gun!"

"Yeah, Sarge," Donut agreed. "I know you're tough and all, but it is kinda hard to beat up hundreds of armor piercing bullets using only your face." That's a good point.

"And yet he surrendered," Sarge said with a sly tone.

"Guys, guys, it is okay." Doc spoke up for the first time in a while, "I've seen this before. Sarge just lived through a very traumatic ordeal. We all have ways of coping with the stress."

"Oh yeah? How do you deal with it?" Grif asked him.

"Oh, I have my own system that works pretty well for me," the medic answered. He then sniffed the air and glanced down at the seat, cringing. "By the way, the driver seat of the jeep is gonna need a thorough cleaning."

"Aw, gross," Grif muttered.

"Hey, Doc," Simmons then spoke up, "although I'm sure Sarge enjoys having his spine pulverized into dust, maybe you should go ahead and back up the Warthog."

"Oh, right, sorry," Doc nodded. He looked over at the controls next to him and noticed that it shifts into gears. He drove cars before – how bad could this be? He changed gears to (he was sure) reverse and hit the gas pedal-

But the jeep only revved forward and smashed into Sarge. "OH, hot buttered lugnuts!" The red Sergeant cried out in pain.

'Oops,' Doc thought nervously. "Sorry! I-I was just in the wrong get, let me just…" he looked back and shifted it back to where he had it and tried again-

Only to ram into Sarge. Again. "Yeow!" The Red Leader yelped in pain again. "Geez, there goes mah last kidney! I saving that one for a special occasion!"

Doc winced and nervously looked over at the other Reds. "Umm… third time's the charm?"

"I don't think so, Poindexter," Simmons retorted- oh wow, he's pissed. He pointed at Doc and to the ground. "Out of the jeep, NOW!"

"I'm really sorry, guys," Doc stammered. "I was only trying to help… really!"

"Oh, is that all?" Grif asked. "I for one was totally confused. I thought you were savagely trying to kill our Sergeant by ramming him over and over again with a six thousand pound steel death machine. Now that we know that you're just trying to help, by all means, please continue."

Doc blinked. "…Really?"

"GET OUT!" Grif and Simmons yelled, prompting the medic to scramble out of the car.

After Grif moved the Warthog off of Sarge, Doc was moved to the side as the four of them conversed amongst each other for a while before Grif and Simmons moved towards him. "C'mon, let's go," Grif said.

"Where are we going?" Doc asked them.

"We're giving you back to the Blues," Simmons answered.

"…Oh, okay," Doc let out dejectedly before he followed the two.

It's a small, few minute hike, but they went over the hill that over looked the Blue Base. Doc…can't see from where they are, but he isn't sure on what the four of them are doing right now. One of them turned to the others for a bit then jumped off the roof to head towards them. "Uh oh," Grif let out before they – or rather Erica, since he could see her indigo armor – got up to them.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, WHOA!" She called out, getting to them. "What are you guys doing?"

Grif and Simmons stared at her. "…Oh my God, it really is a girl!" Simmons let out.

Erica groaned. "Again? Seriously, how long have you guys been here?"

"Far too long," Grif admitted, bowing his head.

"Ugh…" Erica winced, before she shook her head a bit. "Anyways, what are you doing here, Reds?" She glanced over to him. "Along with Frank?"

"Well, we-" Simmons began before he paused. "Wait, Frank?"

"That's me," Doc answered.

Grif and Simmons stared at him for a bit then back at her. "…Anyway," Simmons began again, "we just came to give back the prisoner."

Erica stared at them for a bit. "That's all?" She asked.

"Uh… yeah, is that a problem?" Simmons asked, sounding a hint nervous.

"Uh…" Erica glanced behind her for a bit then back at them. "Well, I have to talk about it with our leader. But we're kind of busy doing…something."

"What exactly is that?" Grif asked, curious as Doc peeked behind her to see what the Blues are doing. Tucker looked like it was working quickly to do…something to Church's crotch? Or rather the droid's crotch, recalling that Church is a ghost and possessing the robot's body.

"Sorry, different teams, remember?" Erica asked them.

"Meh, worth a shot," Grif shrugged as Tucker looked to have succeeded in reattaching something before gesturing to Caboose to help him with something, with the Blue Rookie nodding and going over to them.

"No it wasn't," Simmons retorted as the two of them grabbed Church by the arms and seemed to strain on turning Church around to face them. "That was a terrible attempt."

"I gotta agree with him on that," Erica admitted. She then tilted her head. "Oh, hold on." She pressed her fingers to the side of her helmet. "Yeah? Oh, you did?" Doc looked back to see Tucker doing the same thing. "Great! Okay, I'm heading back now." She lowered her hand. "Okay, we're ready."

"Ready for what?" Grif asked, confused.

But she just ignored them as she headed back to the base. "…Rude much," Simmons commented.

"Tell me about it," Grif nodded. "But at least she didn't beat us up like that chick in black armor."

"True," Simmons nodded before the three headed on.

They got to the base, with Church calling out, "What the hell do you guys want? Get outta here or we'll start shootin' at ya"

"Whoa, whoa, calm down!" Simmons exclaimed, holding his hands up. "We didn't come here to fight; we just came to give back the prisoner."

"Give him back?" Tucker cried out incredulously. "You can't give him back, you took him; a deal's a deal."

"Yeah, well forget it," Grif called back. "We don't want him."

"Well, sorry," Church shouted back. "You can't have another prisoner. That was our last one."

"What about the chick then?" Grif asked.

"FUCK NO!" Erica shouted from somewhere.

"Yeah, no deal," Church said. "We have our teams evened up, and I ain't losing anyone."

"And besides, you already have a chick over there," Tucker added.

Grif and Simmons gave each other a look. "What are you talking about?" Simmons asked. "We don't have a girl."

"Yes you do!" Caboose called out. "There's someone in pink armor with you!"

The two Reds gave each other a look. "Do they mean Donut?" Grif asked, confused.

"Well, he does have pink armor," Simmons said.

"Okay, listen, we don't want him back and we don't care what you do with him," Church called out (and Doc cringed – that was…mean right there). "Now if you don't mind, we'd appreciate it if you'd leave us alone. We're in the middle of something'… kinda private over here."

Simmons grunted in frustration. "Fine!" He shouted as he, Grif and Doc set off back up the hill. "But don't come asking for him back later."

"We won't! Tucker shouted.

At the top of the hill, Grif turned back to them. "Last chance!"

"Beat it, Reds!" Church hollered.

"Alright, we're going, we're going," Grif grumbled before he caught up to them. "Man, and here I thought our team was messed up."

Doc sighed sadly. 'Well, it couldn't be any worse…' He thought as he made to head back to Red Base- but Simmons cut him off.

"Whoa, whoa, hey, whoa, where do you think you're going?" Doc blinked at Simmons' question.

"Back to Base with you guys," he replied. "They don't want me over there."

He made to move pass Simmons, but Grif grabbed him by the arm. "Yeah, I don't think so," the orange soldier said, pulling him back.

"What?" Doc cried out in surprise. "You're not just gonna leave me out here in the middle of nowhere…" he looked around a bit, "by myself?"

"Yeah," Simmons nodded as Grif released him. "That's kind the general idea." Simmons then headed back to the base, with Grif following.

"W-Wait!" Doc cried out in panic. "Not you too, right Grif? Old buddy? Huh?"

Grif turned to him and crossed his arms. "Sorry, but it's pretty clear that you're not very popular around here, and if I'm gonna make any progress at all, I can't be directly associated with you." At Frank's stunned silence, the orange soldier shrugged. "I'm sure you understand."

Soon, Grif left the poor medic along at the middle of the canyon. Doc sighed sadly. 'I, uh, I suppose that's Karma… and a bit of irony…' He thought. He glanced over the hill where the Blue Base is. 'Surely the Blues aren't that Heartless… are they?'

He headed up the hill and got near the base. "Hey guys!" He called out, waving his arms. "Uh, do you think I could come and hang out at your Base for a while?"

"I knew it!" Caboose exclaimed in fear. Doc blinked. What? 'We're all gonna die!" Caboose then aimed his gun at Tucker, in a scary voice, "Starting with you!"

Tucker moved a couple of paces back from Caboose. "Sorry, but we're kind busy here!" Tucker shouted at him. "So go away… or something."

"Normally I wouldn't impose," Doc called back. "It's just that I don't know the neighborhood too well and-"

"Listen, Doc!" Church interrupted. "You're not fooling anyone with that 'innocent victim' routine."

What? "Hey uh, I could help!" He offered. "I know more than just medicine! I'm trained in psychology too. Maybe I could help you with your teammate's problems?"

"Just get out of here!" Church yelled (making Frank wince). "And tell your buddies the Reds that their little 'plan' failed."

Frank tried to say something but sighed sadly. "Well, this is just great…" He murmured. "I can't believe I failed out of medical school for this…"

The sun is going to set soon, so he better find some shelter. He headed towards the cliff wall nearby, and found a hole. "Well, this is as good as any…" he mumbled before he went in.

He managed to make a small fire in a tunnel, and he sat near it. By the clock on his HUD, its already night time. The medic sighed before he pulled off his helmet. "This turned into the worse day ever. Of all time," he muttered, running his hand through his hair as he sets his helmet down.

Frank isn't sure how long he was supposed to be here – he was supposed to help either teams before he moves on…but the Reds AND Blues don't want it. Honestly, he doesn't blame them; he is kinda of a bad medic after all. He tried his best, really, but it isn't as simple as it looks. He only has basic knowledge on medical skills after all. He just…

He just wanted to help, that's all.

He let out another sigh. A noise reached his ears and he perked up, looking around. "Uh… who's there?" He asked warily.

The noise appeared again, and he looked to the tunnel, seeing a beam of light. He realized that the sound were footsteps. The light gets closer and closer until the owner get to him.

"There you are," Erica said as she lowered her flashlight. From the light of the fire, he could see that she has curly brown hair, a pair of glasses…and her eyes are pretty dark. "At least you were smart enough to use this place as a temporary shelter."

Doc blinked at her. "What are you doing here?" He couldn't help but ask before he noticed that she has a bundle of blankets, a pillow and a bag filled with…stuff in it.

"Listen, I know that Church can be an asshole, and so is Lav at times," Erica spoke up as she set them down. "But… well, maybe I'm a bleeding heart, but I'm not letting you freeze to death out here… or starve. Or dehydrate. I just brought you some things."

Again, he blinked. "R-Really?"

"Well, yeah," Erica shrugged. "I mean, you are a crappy medic-" Frank deflated a bit, though perked up when she added: "but a lot of us are pretty crappy at a lot of things. You're among people who are, well, pretty much useless at things we thought we were good at."

Frank rubbed his chin a bit, thoughtful. "…I guess that's true," he admitted.

The indigo clad woman dug through the bag and pulled out a water bottle. "Here," she handed it to him.

"Thanks," Frank nodded before unscrewing the cap and drank a bit.

"I had to get away for a bit after we got Lopez to co-operate," Erica said. "I don't want to hear Church bitch at me some more."

"What happened?" Frank asked.

"Mikey got an idea for Church to exit out of Lopez for a bit to get him to fix his legs and our tank," Erica explained. "We didn't count on Lopez to have a repair unit in him and he took off. We managed to stop Lopez until we were nearly attacked by the Reds. As we ran, the Reds was ready to mow down Lopez, not realizing that it was their robot."

"Oh right, you guys spray painted him blue…" Frank nodded.

"Anyway," the woman continued, "Lopez probably made the jeep blew up, and we managed to get him to agree to fix our tank. But it was late and we decided to save it for the morning."

Frank raised an eyebrow. "But wouldn't the robot go back to his team?"

"Well, he could've," the woman shrugged. "But he didn't make another attempt to break for it."

"Huh," Doc muttered. "That's weird."

"Tell me about it," Erica shrugged. "It's been nothing but weird since I got here." The woman then stood up. "Well, I'll be seeing you Frank. Have a good sleep." She turned on her light and left.

Frank watched her go for a bit then looked over at the things she left him. "… I guess there are some nice people after all," he let out, making a small smile.

…Though, he felt as if he forgot something.

Yeah, he forgot to report to Command about what he 'found'. Though, sadly, he will be forgotten for a while.

Sorry for the late chapter. It's been fighting with me. And it was after New Years and my birthday… *shrugs* Oh well.

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