Back at Blue base, Caboose, Church and Doc had gathered around the injured Soldier to hear his story. Doc was actually trying to work his green-light gizmo to work properly through the thick layer of armor – Sarge was adamant about not taking off his armor in an enemy base.
"Donut and I was out looking for Grif when he fell from the sky," he began.
Caboose squealed and clapped his hands in excitement. "Gruff learned how to fly? I want it too."
"Dude, we haven't got the world's time or her patience," snapped Church, "cut to the chase, Sarge."
Sarge turned his visor to face the cobalt armor irritatedly. "Son, will you just let me talk?"
"I love stories!"
Clearing his throat, Sarge continued. "Anyways, I knew Grif was up there 'em cliffs, skippin' his duties as always. That's where he stashes his personal stuff. He knows I'll burn them if he puts them in his bunker in the base. Stupid Grif. I was tellin' Donut to git up there and push Grif off the cliff. I didn't know he'd really do that."
"Wait, you mean Donut pushed Grif off the cliff?" asked Doc, surprised that someone as harmless as Donut could kill a teammate.
"O'course! As soon as I said 'Donut, I want you to git up there and push Grif off that cliff', Grif fell down the cliff!"
The complete silence in the room proved that not even Caboose bought the story.
"Okay, fine. Donut didn't push him," amended Sarge. "I told Donut to run back to Red Base to get his gun so we can go see what happened. While I waited for Donut I tried to wake Grif up. He wouldn't git up. I tried kickin' him, punchin' him, and even shootin' him in the woohoo! Then I checked his pulse and he was gone. Then I heard a girly scream that I knew only Donut can make.
When I got to the Red Base Lopez was already there, shootin' at Donut. Simmons was already dead. Both his substitute blood vessel to his brain and the oil vessel to his cyborg eye was ripped out of their ports, staining the floor with red and oil. Then I asked, 'What the hell you doin'?' and Lopez shot me! He missed my kidney, but I played possum so I could get a clear shot at him. While I did so, Lopez kept shooting Donut. That boy sure was a runner. I don't know what happened after that, but I think I lost consciousness."
As the rest of the crew were processing the information, Church deadpanned: "You were playing possum… and you fainted."
"I was playing dead until my enemy was facing away from me! Donut was the one runnin' around, makin' him harder to stand still!" insisted Sarge stubbornly.
"And you fought yourself out of mortal danger," nodded Church."…By fainting."
The Red grumbled obscenities.
Church started pacing around the room. "Shit. O'Malley's probably in him. What the hell are we supposed to do? Now we have three and a half soldier down, an idiot, another idiot that's in a coma, an idiot for a doctor, and no Tex."
Doc looked up from bandaging the armor. "Uh, Church?"
"Shut up, Doc. I'm trying to think," snapped Church, not looking up. "So Lopez got his body back, somehow. … which isn't really physically possible, but he could be pretty determined at some points…"
"Hey, Blue." Sarge interrupted, pointing at a black silhouette behind the cobalt soldier.
"Red dude, shut up." Church couldn't be bothered to look behind him. "But why would it start killing everyone? I mean, I thought O'Malley would be after Tex first. And we can't really ask her to take bait because she's not here."
"Church?" squeaked Caboose, trying to hide behind Doc.
"Caboose, is it really that hard to stay quiet for one-"
A gunshot rang throughout the room, shocking everyone in their places.
"Hands up. Every one of you."
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