Eh... some action, but... not much unfortunately. We will see another fail, however. ...Many actually.

Disclaimer: I own no one.

Oh man, oh man, oh man.

Of all things, why am I a part of the team to distract the baddies?

"Okay, remind me again," I spoke up, "Why am I one of the bullet magnets again?"

"You literally survived a rocket fired at you," Tex pointed out. "And the explosion earlier. So it would make sense that you come with us."

I groaned. "This sucks."

"Tell me about it," Grif said.

"Just be thankful that we're going with Tex's plan than Sarge's plan," Lav pointed out.

"Good point."

Right… I didn't give any comments on Sarge's ridiculous plan earlier (that involves us taking the bullets with Sarge way in the back). Though Tex's plan is just as dangerous, it's a lot better than the plan Sarge made (and the other one he attempted to make).

Again, I honestly don't blame Grif for having no respect for Sarge. He may be an old war veteran, his methods are… well, mediocre at best. A leader should at least try to have his soldiers survive…or something.

But, yeah. Sarge is fucking crazy at times. Well, all the time.

The radio in our secret channel turned on. "Okay, is everybody ready?" Sarge asked us. "Donut, Caboose and I will move the bomb down the staircase and along the left side of the base."

"Please hurry!" Mikey grunted- and oh, wow, Andy must have been really heavy. Poor guy… "I don't know how much longer… I can talk like this."

"Hang in there, Mikey," I said, jumping into the conversation. "We'll try to make a clearing for you guys as fast as we can."

"Ugh… thank you!" Mikey said.

I was in the middle of looking for a gun for myself (since I lost my pistol back there), but some of them are just some battle rifles. Hardly any pistols at all. Crud…

"Ooh, sniper rifle!" Lav cried out in delight.

I looked over in time to see Tex taking it before he could. "I got it."

"Fuck!" Don't worry, Lav. You'll get something cooler than a sniper rifle soon.

I patted him on the shoulder as Simmons replied to Sarge, "Copy that, Sarge."

"Simmons, you and the four bullet magnets move up the right side and try to cause some kind of distraction," the red leader ordered.

Ugh. Not looking forward to it. Still not.

"Any suggestions?" Simmons asked.

"I think we just need to draw their fire away from the people escorting the package," I said. "It doesn't matter how, we just gotta do it."

"It's exactly as she said," Tex said, gathering some ammo.

Grif looked at us. "Package?"

"The bomb," Simmons and I answered.

"Oh."

"Why can it the package?" Lav then asked.

"We're 'delivering' it to O'Malley," Tex answered.

"Oh."

"Alright!" Oh, I forgot that Sarge is still there. "Basically, do whatever you can to distract the gunners. I don't care what you have to do it, just do it!"

"Try some dance moves!" Frankie piped up. "Oh, maybe even a musical number!"

"No," I vehemently answered. "No musicals!"

"Aww… but why?"

"GET OFF THE RADIO, DONUT!" Thank you, Sarge. I don't want to be guilt tripped by him.

I turned off my radio. "Alright, it looks like we're on our own, guys," Simmons spoke up.

I looked around. Huh, I guess Tex already went off. "Where did Tex go?"

"She went up there," Lav pointed.

"Thanks," I nodded before I made my up to where she is.

I found her looking over at the area behind the giant, slow moving fan, with the scope of the rifle. "How bad is it?" I asked her.

"I don't see them yet," she answered. "But the turrets are definitely online."

"Are they?" I asked. Tex simply handed me the rifle and I looked through the scope.

I can see that O'Malley had just dragged the Red Zealot out while carrying Lopez's head. He pointed to one of the turrets and the Zealot nodded before taking his place. O'Malley placed Lopez's head onto the hands of the turret.

I made a face. When I watched season three and saw this… I just don't question it. I mean, there are a lot of things that didn't make sense in some games, anime and cartoons. I don't question them because they all have their own logic in the worlds they live in. But now that this is real…

…How in the hell is Lopez able to fire something like that…as just a head? That's just… how is that possible?

"Hey," I felt something shook me.

"Huh?" I mumbled intelligently.

"Something up?" Oh, yeah; I forgot that Tex is with me. Derp.

"Uh… well, actually, O'Malley and his two lackeys are by the turrets," I said. I handed the Sniper Rifle back to her – she needs it more than I do.

Tex simply nodded and stood up. "All right, we better get started." She soon made her way down back into the armory. I took a last glance at the outer wall before I followed her down.

"…hate you too, man," I caught Grif's final sentence, as he comically wiped some tears away from his eyes-

Huh. Dark skin, with parts of it having stitches on his body, black hair and brown eyes… He's certainly tan, I'll give him that.

"Okay, let's move out!" …Fuck! I still didn't get a weapon!

"Okay, let's move people," Tex declared as she headed out of the door.

Uh…okay, okay. What can I use, what can I use, what can I use…

I looked around for any guns that I can use…and then I spotted something sticking out of the pile.

Hello, what's this?

I gingerly plucked it out of the pile and looked over at it.

This is…holy shit, it's a Plasma Rifle! One of the guns the Elites have! Awesome! What's it doing here though?

…Ah, well, fuck it. I'm taking it; finders keepers.

With a mad grin, I hooked it up to my hip and quickly followed the others out. I saw the four kneeling by the wall. I quickly did the same, and I got the glare of the sun-

…

Holy shit! The glasses are transition lens! Whoa-ho! That's- that's great! SO convenient!

Why didn't I ask for the lens when I got my two new glasses?

God. I am so freakin' dumb-

And then we're being shot at.

Huh, I guess I missed some conversation while I was here.

"I WILL FUCKING SHOOT YOU, YOU FUCKING WHORES!" …And that would be Lopez. Honestly, I'm surprised that my translator still worked.

"We're under fire!" Grif yelled through the radio. "Sarge, we're under fire!"

It'll okay, Erica, just keep your head down. You don't want your brain to be filled with bullets and have holes…

"What'd he say?" Lav then shouted over the shooting.

"Uh, he was breaking up. I think he said something about staying here and not doing anything risky." For once, I agree with Grif.

"Tex, see what you can do about that gun!" Simmons called out.

"You got it." From the corner of my eye, I see Tex raise up, took aim, and fired.

"FUCKING FUCK!" I heard Lopez shout – and one turret is down.

"Yeah, headshot!" She cheered.

"Nice shooting, Tex," Grif said.

I still heard gun fire from the other turret. "We still got one left, however," I informed them.

"Yeah, we can see that, Captain Obvious," Grif said with a bored tone.

"Tucker, you, Erica" hey, he said my name, "and Tex head up across the bridge and try to take out that other turret," Simmons ordered. "We'll head into the base and see if we can find O'Malley."

"Wait, why do I have to go up against a machinegun and you guys get to play hide-and-seek?"

I stared at Lav with a bored look. "Would you rather be blown to bits by a rocket launcher, or be Swiss cheese by a turret?"

"Uh…" I waited a moment for Lav's answer as he thought about the question. "Yeeeah, good point." He looked at Simmons and Grif. "Have fun with that."

At least our side is good, I thought before the three of us took off further in.

Okay, I need a plan. I could either help Lav get out of the hole… or at least, stall Mikey for a while to prevent him from placing the bomb at where he's supposed to put it.

I looked up to see Tex and Lav further up ahead than I am. Ah shit, I gotta catch up to them!

I quickened my pace and I looked up at the large fan we're coming across. The fans are moving veeeeeryyyyy slooooowlyyyy – huh, I guess there really isn't any danger from this-

"WHOAHOA!

"AHH!"

Ow… okay, what the hell happened?

"Tucker, are you and Erica okay?" I heard Tex call down to us- wait.

…

We fell down?! Fuck- how the hell did I miss that hole?!

Well that's just great.

"Yeah, we're okay!" Lav replied. "Erica just crashed into me and we fell down the hole."

"Sorry," I said.

"Anyways, can you give us a hand?"

Then we heard bullets, and Tex cursing. "I'll have to take out this turret first," she told us. "You guys find a way out of here on your own." Her heavy boots hit the floor as she ran, but the machine gun is going off made it difficult to hear anything else.

I sighed. "Great."

"Well, since we're going to be down here, and probably die, I think we should-"

"Yeheah, not today buddy," I cut him off – I know him well enough now that we can at least joke with each other.

"Tease."

"But seriously," I began as I looked around. "Where can we get out from? I don't see any other opening." It's just a rectangular room. Nothing special other than dust – I took a moment to let out a sneeze – and more dust. Ugh… If we don't get out of here soon, I'll sneeze myself to death.

I sniffled. "C'mon, Lav, we better find a way out of here," I said as I looked up at where we dropped down from.

We actually fell down quite a ways. I'm pretty tall at 5'8" or 5'9" but even with that, there's no way we can reach it. Plus… Lav is actually kind of short. In Red vs Blue, all of them seemed to be the same height – but then again, all of them are based on SPARTAN soldiers, who are fucking tall. That actually took me by surprise when I finally noticed how short Lav is… and how tall Mikey is. Mikey is a big boy.

Almost as tall as my sister's fiancé.

I shook my head. I can't get distracted again – we gotta find a way out and regroup with… wait.

I looked around. "Lav?" I called out. Where the hell did he go?

I took in a deep breath and slowly walked forward. "Lav… where are you?" How did we get separated already? This is… aw man, this is bad. I pulled out my gun and looked around slowly. "Lav…?"

Calm down… calm down… I gotta stay calm. There are no monsters, zombie aliens or alien eggs that will sick a creature that will put a parasitic embryo into your chest and you die when they emerge- Shit, I'm not helping myself. God, it's so dark in here, you could barely see-

Wait. Don't our helmets come with a flashlight?

I can't believe I forgot that. Slowly, I reached for the flashlight button and pressed it-

"Hey!"

I let out a scream as I fell back in shock. "L-Lav! Don't do that!" My voice is high. "I thought that you might be something out of my worst nightmares!"

Lav had his helmet taken off to rub his ear. "Jeez, sorry," he muttered. "Didn't know that you were loud."

I raised my eyebrow. "What, no Bow Chicka Bow Wow?"

"Eh, that's too easy," Lav shrugged. Then he raised his eyebrow. "And our helmets have a flashlight to them?"

"Well… yeah," I nodded.

"Huh… I never knew that." Eh… I could say that the team doesn't run on brain power… but I'm not one to talk. "Anyways, check out what I found!" He pulled something out and with a flourish- and two blue prongs appeared with a 'phish!'

My eyes went wide. "Holy shit!" The Energy Sword!

…And it looked really kickass in person!

"I know, right?" Lav grinned. "This is a lot better than a sniper rifle right now!"

I can't help it. I reached out for it. "Can I hold it?"

"I dunno…" Lav let out with a contemplative look.

"Aw, c'mon man! I just wanna hold it!"

Lav looked like he was considering it… then shook his head. "Nah. I think I'll hold onto this."

I frowned at him. "Fine," I muttered as I pushed myself up. I dusted myself off as I added, "So, have you found an exit or something?"

"Actually, I did," Lav admitted before he put his helmet back on. "C'mon."

Lav pressed the flashlight function on his helmet before he made a gesture to follow him.

We silently made our way down the passage. I couldn't help but look around at the walls. There…isn't anything to indicate that the sword is important…at first. As we go further, there are a few pictures on the walls, along with some writing. I can't understand it – it's literally alien to me.

I looked back over to Lav. "Hey… don't you think that the sword seems… important?"

Lav shrugged. "Hell, if I know," he said. "Most of these is just jibber jabber to me."

Right… because the war is still going on. The Elites – or…what are they called, Sangheili? – didn't revolt until…some events. I think it has something to do with the Halos. Those things…designed to wipe out all life to starve the Flood. But those things are just…just-

I shook my head.

My thoughts have a bad habit of going down the dark path whenever I think of these. I gotta focus on now.

"Right. Jibber jabber," I nodded.

It wasn't long until we found ourselves in a new room. It's spacious and there was a single pedestal sitting in the middle of the room. Huh, I guess that's where the sword was.

I looked around. "So… where's the exit?"

"Right there," Lav said, pointing at some stairs behind the pedestal.

I simply stared. "…Oh. Well, that's convenient."

"Come on," he said before we made our way up the stairs.

Ugh… I hate stairs. And I have no idea how long these will be. But it wasn't long until we saw the light above us. I smiled before I turned off my flashlight. So did Lav. As we got near the opening, we found ourselves…above the turrets. Huh. Very convenient. But that probably explains how Lav got up here.

"Hmm, weird," I muttered, looking down at the Red Zealot.

At that moment, Tex got on the radio. "I'm pinned down, I need assistance! Repeat, I need assistance!"

Oh! This sounds like the time for me to redeem myself for my shitty performance with O'Malley! Plus, I've been looking for an excuse to use my new gun! I pulled it out. "All right, time for some-" I then noticed Lav jumping down. I just watched as he pulled out his inactive sword, got the Red Zealot's attention before he activated his sword and send the poor guy off of the platform. No, I mean, the Red Zealot went flying. A part of me felt bad, but…

I lowered my arm. "Aw man…" That… that just isn't fair!

I jumped down to the platform, just as Tex came in. "Hey, where'd you get that?" She sounded amazed.

Lav shrugged. "I dunno, the two of us found it in the hole." He held it up. "Pretty cool, right? Look at what I can do." He then demonstrated by slashing the turret the Red Zealot was using in half.

I looked at the other and back. "Well… might as well leave that one alone." Just in case.

"Say, you wanna trade it for the sniper rifle?" Tex asked, hefting said thing.

"Nah, I'm good," Lav shook his head.

…Should I make a mention that it's locked to Lav now? Tex has knowledge of it from my head… or did she just look at parts of my memories that seemed important? Should I ask? I looked out. …I feel like I'm forgetting about something…

Something… important… What is it? It-It's something important…

"By the way, I think I saw Caboose go into the base," Tex spoke up. "He should have found the 'x' by now."

"That's good," Lav nodded. "Anyway, I should probably show this off to the others. Later!" Then he jumped to the ground.

…Wait, what did Tex say about Mikey?

…

"OH FUCK!" I shouted before I quickly ran inside.

I hope I'm not too late!

~o~

"WHY THE FUCK IS THIS PLACE SO FUCKING HUGE?!"

And… I really need to stop cursing. I've been around the Reds and Blues for too long. But seriously, why the hell is this place so fucking big?!

I actually got lost a couple of times going through this place. It's… surprisingly huge! Don't they have a map of this place somewhere in this place?

Okay, stay calm. Panicking a lot will not help me out here. Now, think. Where on earth would the computer be?

I let out a sigh and walked further. If I remember right… Church may have left a message for Mikey to try to warn him.

…In fact, why in the hell didn't I use the radio to call him? We have our private channel so Omega won't notice… would he? I mean, it would be so much easier to find Mikey – just give him a call and I'll go right to where he is! But, on the other hand, Omega is an AI – would he even notice? I have no idea, and that paranoia is what kept me from calling Mikey.

Sometimes, I curse myself for not thinking things through. …And curse myself even more for not acting on said things.

No matter what, I just can't win, can I?

I let out a miserable sigh as I continued to walk-

"-Caboose, is that you? Can you hear me?" I blinked when I walked past a hallway, and look into it. "Caboose, is that you? Can you hear me?"

…Oh my god, it's the recording Church made!

With a relieved look, I hurried down the hall until I eventually reached the room with the single monitor. "Caboose, is that you? Can you hear me?" The message asked again.

I shook my head. "Is it bad that he knew that it won't work?" Still… at least it was good to, technically hear his voice.

Wait a minute. I looked around for something. "Mikey? Mikey, are you here?" I looked around for my fellow Blue. I turned a corner- and froze. "…Fuck."

Right there, on the 'x', is the bomb. …And it looks like we won't have long until it explodes. It just hit 5:00 until it counted down.

I looked around and back at Andy. "H-Hey! Can't you stop yourself or something? O'Malley is not in here anymore!"

There was silence.

I made a bored look. "You really intend to explode and kill us all, huh?"

"Yeah, kind of." I fell back in surprise.

"Did… did you just talk?!" I yelped out, hiding behind the corner.

"Yeah, why look so surprised?" …Honestly, I expected Andy to talk, but… yeah, still not used to having machines talking back at me.

"Uh…"

"Gee-heez, you sound dumb." Well, he's insulting, that's for sure. I made a bored look again. "But then again, you're a weird one, after gay porn and stuff."

"Oh fuck you," I retorted. "I'm twenty three…" I then pouted. "And lonely."

"Ohh… that must've hurt, having all of the guys, but you can't get them to-"

"Okay just stop," I cut him off before I heard footsteps.

"Caboose, what're you yammerin' about?" I heard Sarge ask. "Did you find Lopez?"

"No!" Mikey said before I turned my head to see Mikey and the three Reds. Oh crap. "Someone meaner!"

"O'Malley?"

"Meaner!"

"You found someone meaner than the guy trying to destroy the universe?" Grif asked with a bored tone.

I stood up. "Well, if he was talking about Sarge, then yeah, probably," I shrugged.

"What are you doing here?" Simmons asked.

"I was actually trying to find Mikey," I admitted. "But… I got lost." I looked around. "This place is surprisingly big."

"Tell me about it. We're having a hard time trying to find Lopez."

"Maybe O'Malley took him before he fled," I guessed.

"Well that ain't good…" Sarge muttered.

At that moment, the play back restarted. "Caboose, is that you? Can you hear me?"

"Oh!" Mikey exclaimed before pointing at it. "This! This is someone meaner than O'Malley! And he kept asking the same question over and over again!"

And it repeated the two questions again. "Church," Mikey responded. "I can hear you. Can you hear me?"

I patted Mikey on the shoulder. "I think that's a message Church left for you," I said as it repeated again.

"A message?" Simmons blinked. "But where is he?"

"I think we're about to find out," I said as I held up a finger to press play.

"Wait," until Sarge stopped me, "how do we know if it has enough power to play?" He looked over at it. "I think I can reroute power from the main coupling to the memory storage compartment – so Grif, we may have to use some of your circuitry from your armor's life support system."

I pressed play. "Or I could just do that."

Sarge grumbled. "Killjoy."

The message rewound itself before there was Church on the screen – he looks undamaged (surprising since he was literally in the middle of the explosion), but he has a few scratches. "Caboose, I know you're there," he said. "I'm leaving this message from two thousand years in the past."

"He's that far back into the past?" Simmons blinked in surprise.

Wait a minute. Uh oh.

"Now, whatever you do, don't. Touch. Anything. Apparently, you're this culture's version of the apocalypse," Church explained. "You're going to destroy this building and somehow bring about doom for their entire race!"

Wait, is that even real?

Mikey tilted his head with his arms crossed. "Mmmmmmmmnooo… that doesn't sound like me," he said. "I like people. And buildings also."

Simmons looked over at the regular blue clad man. "Caboose… what did you do with the bomb you were carrying?"

"Oh, I put it on the X," Mikey answered before he pointed behind me, "Like I was supposed to."

Simmons gulped. "Uh oh."

"Uh… I think we'd better get outta here," Grif said, sounding scared. I don't blame him.

Still… Is it too late to try to stop Lav and Frankie from coming in here?

"Whatever you do, don't touch the glowing weapon thing they have stored there," Church added.

Oh crap. Where can I get out of here to stop them?

"And if you do, definitely don't bring it in to the main building."

"Crap…" I muttered, looking around. I found a window and looked out. Fuck…! Lav and Frankie are coming!

"What's up, dawgs?" Lav called out with a wave.

"Wait! Don't get in here! Stop!" I called out to them, but they stepped in.

"Otherwise the whole place is gonna lock down, and you're gonna be trapped," Church added. As if on cue, the door behind Lav and Frankie closed, and I yelped as the window closed. The other parts of the building closed as well, and the only source of light is the screen.

"Oh fuck…" I muttered.

Mikey turned to the screen, ignoring the rest of Church's message. "Would you stop saying bad things that come true!?" He scolded the screen. "Or… say them ten seconds earlier!"

"Fuck…" I repeated, holding my head.

Sarge got onto the radio. "Tex, this is Sarge. Do not detonate the bomb!"

"I don't have a detonator," she answered, "it's on a timer."

"A countdown timer?" Grif asked.

"No, a count-up timer. It goes from one, to explode," Tex said sarcastically before she retorted, "Of course a countdown timer you idiot!"

Sarge grunted. "I think we might be in trouble."

I laid on the ground. "Fuuucck…" I moaned.

"Yes… we're fucked," Grif deadpanned. "No need to state it so much."

I glanced at him from the ground. "Grif… we're going to fucking die. For real this time," I said.

Grif was silent. "…Oh."

~o~

It was total pandemonium. For the past few minutes, most of them were panicking. For some, for good reason.

Because, for all they know, they're going to die in a few minutes.

Well, two minutes to be precise.

Grif sighed miserably. "Just two minutes left…" He had given up trying to eat his way out, and despair had filled him.

Sarge let out a melancholic sigh. "Men, I don't want this to sound pessimistic, but I'm absolutely certain we're all gonna die!"

"That is pessimistic," Erica retorted from where she had been laying. She then sighed miserably. "I never expected that in minutes, we'll all be dead."

"Well… can't believe we're hearing that from the master herself," Grif muttered.

"Your sarcasm isn't needed," the woman said bitterly. She then sat up to glare at Tucker. "And quit hitting the damn shutter!"

"I'm trying to see if I can get this open!" Tucker retorted, grunting each word with every hit. "We can hit them to get out of here!"

Sarge shook his head. "No, that would be the coward's way out," he said. "Fruitlessly trying to escape instead of accepting your own fate!"

"No Sarge," Erica spoke up as she laid back down. "There are other ways a coward would go – and while, yes, escaping certain death is cowardly, but its human nature to save your own life. We have a survival mechanism to save our own skin and let everyone else die. Accepting your fate is also a sign of a coward – if you let fate guide your way, you are nothing more than a slave to it. That's fatalism – you believe that things are predetermined and therefore inevitable."

Everyone stared at the woman.

"…Seriously, did you just have one of your moments again? Even when we're about to fucking die?!" Tucker exclaimed, nearly hysterical.

Erica looked guilty under her helmet. "Sorry. I guess a part of me wanted to correct someone one more time before we die."

"Well then fuck fate!" Tucker shouted vehemently (that surprised the woman) before he resumed beating on the shutter. "If we just let fate decide, like you said, then I rather not be one of those people that do! It just sucks!" Then, he managed to force it open. "Ah-hah! I got it-! Oh."

"What?" Erica, Grif and Simmons asked.

"…There's a dome over the fucking building!" The aqua clad man shouted, frustrated.

"What?" Erica sputtered before she groaned. "That fucking sucks."

Still… Tucker brought a point. Erica sat up and looked over at the computer. Should she really?

She looked around. On one hand, she can try to get Gamma (or Gary) to talk to Andy to disarm. But…

The woman looked back at the computer. On the other hand, that would make her suspicious to the others… especially Gamma.

Erica found herself torn – should she just let fate go along (like a fucking hypocrite that she is)… or interfere with the events, and lose the trust she has with her teammates; and possibly get herself into danger.

…On the other hand, she tried to fight O'Malley on her own (and lost). She remembered how badly that one went. But…

The bespectacled female went to check on Andy. And reeled back in shock. Only a minute left!

"Oh shit…! One minute left…" She muttered… but unfortunately, they heard her.

"One minute left?!" Grif screamed. "Oh fuck, we're going to die!"

"Uh…"

"Aaaahhh! I'm too young to die!" Donut screamed, holding his head. "There's still so much that I wanted to do!"

"Like what?" Simmons couldn't help but ask.

"A lot of things! Like-"

"On second thought, I don't want to know," Simmons amended.

Erica looked back. 30 seconds left.

Sarge let out a depressed wail. "We're all gonna die, starting with Grif!"

"Hey!"

"Everyone, get ready to kiss yer ass goodbye! Simmons, you can have the honor of kissing mine."

Erica let out a groan. "Would you shut up?!" She shouted. "We're not going to die! …And I'd rather not have my last moments have that image in my head! I mean… you're old and stuff."

"What?! Why I'd oughta-!" Sarge raised his gun as if to shot her.

Erica braced herself.

And suddenly… they heard a 'pop'.

"Hey everybody, what's up?" A familiar voice asked.

"SON OF A BITCH WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?!" Erica shouted, jumping back from the cobalt soldier that just… appeared out of nowhere.

"It's a long boring story," Church answered.

"Church! I am so happy that you made it in time to die with me," Caboose said with a smile. "We will get to be smithereens together!"

"Nah, that won't be necessary," Church shook his head then looked over at the computer. "Hey Gary, how ya doin'?"

The computer flashed on and green letters appeared. "NOT BAD," it answered, with an electronic monotone. "ALTHOUGH MY STATIC ION SUB-MATRIX IS A LITTLE ITCHY."

Simmons blinked in surprise. "The computer can talk?"

"The computer's name is Gary?" Grif also asked.

"HOW HAVE YOU BEEN, CHURCH?"

"Good, thanks for asking," Church nodded. "Listen, would you do me a favor? Could you shut off the bomb please?"

"NO PROBLEM," Gary replied. With the bomb, it got to just one last second before it was deactivated.

"Oh thank god…" Erica sighed in relief. 'Though, I could imagine Andy cussing Gary out right now,' she thought.

Sarge stared. "…You mean to tell me you could have turned off the bomb this whole time, and you didn't say so?!" He exclaimed. He pointed at the computer. "And don't say I didn't-"

"YOU DIDN'T ASK," Gary finished.

Sarge growled and muttered under his breath.

Church sighed happily. "Man, it is really great to see you guys."

"You seem like you're in a good mood," Tucker noted.

"Well, Tucker, I learned a very valuable lesson in my travels," Church said. "No matter how bad things might seem-"

"They could be worse," Caboose finished.

"Nope," Church corrected. "I learned that, no matter how bad they seem, they can't be any better, and they can't be any worse, because that's the way things fucking are… and you better get used to it Nancy. Now quit your bitching."

Caboose blinked. "…Who's Nancy?"

"I have no idea where it came from but… I think it's a saying," Erica answered, but uncertain as well.

Caboose just looked even more confused.

"…Don't think too hard about it," she said after a while, patting his head. "We don't want you to hurt yourself."

"Uh… okay," Caboose nodded before he looked over at Church. "By the way, where have you been?"

Church rubbed the back of his head. "Well… do you want the long version or the short version?"

"I will take the easy version please."

"Oh, I wanna hear the long version," Tucker said. "But can you tell me in three parts?"

Erica rolled her eyes under her helmet. "Eh… I think I'll pass," she said.

"Okay, your loss," Church said.

"Oh, but before I go…" she paused a bit to think over her words – should she directly ask Gary or let Church ask him – before she decided, "can you ask Gary to unlock the shutters and some other areas that are covering this place?"

"Oh yeah, almost forgot," Church let out before he looked at the Computer. "Hey, Gary-?"

"NO NEED," Gary said before there were a lot of loud sounds. The windows have opened up, the door, and the dome over the building lowered, allowing the sunset to beam over it. "THERE YOU GO."

"Oh, uh, thanks Gary," Church nodded.

Erica looked over at the window. 'Sunset already? Man, did time fly…' She looked back at the others. "Well, I'll leave you men alone for now. I better go and find the restroom – I'm no cat." Then she left.

"Thanks for the image!" Church called out to her in sarcasm.

"You're welcome!" She called back, just as sarcastic.

Church made a bored look. Well, he certainly didn't miss her.

The Reds, meanwhile, just watched the spectacle. "…You'd think she's on her period," Grif said.

"Dude, what the fuck?!" Simmons yelped out.

"Oh come on, she's been irritable for the past few minutes," Grif pointed out. "Besides..."

They waited for him to continue. "…Besides what?" Sarge asked.

"…I don't know," Grif shrugged. "I kind of lost it."

"Of course…" Simmons and Sarge muttered, not surprised.

At the corner behind the wall, the woman stood, listening to it all. But, mostly… she was lost in her thoughts. Conflicted, mostly.

Tucker's words rang in her head… and there are also Church's actions in trying to fix things during his time travels – and they all ended in failure. It… troubled her – true she did try to change things… but things still ended up being the same. Is she doomed to fail, as events that were supposed to happen still happen? Is she unable to really change the course of what will happen?

Is she…?

She mentally shook her head. Don't think of that, she scolded herself. Just… think of something else.

But what?

Is she losing her mind?

…Or did she already lost it?

She let out a shuddering breath and walked off.

She needed to talk with Tex.

Oh! Crisis with our (sort of) main protagonist! And, unfortunately, she'll have more later on. She seems dull, true... but, her character will develop so much more as we go on. Just... bare with me, okay?

With season thirteen unfolding - and a matter of 'oh shit' moments we're having lately... I have a LOT of plans. A lot.

Leave a review and have a nice day (or night depending on where you live) everyone!