Chapter 2: The Flashback

A/N: So, the beginning and middle of this chapter will be a flashback. I will incorporate flashbacks into this story every here and there, but not as often. So, I hope that you like this chapter. So, here we go.

Flashback

Sarge

"Prepare to surrender, Dirtbag!" Sarge said, as he appeared in a creek. "Ok," Caboose said, as he appeared behind the Sergeant. "I surrender! Now it's your turn!" Sarge turned around to face Caboose. "Not you, moron!" he said, lowering his gun. "Wait a minute. Where are we?" He looked around at his surroundings of the creek. Sarge turned on his com. "Hello anyone," Sarge said. "Do you read me? Do I read you? Anyone? Anybody? No? Ok." He clicked off his com and turned to Caboose. "Well, I don't think the others are coming." he said. "They must have gotten seperated somehow."

"My toes are getting pruny." Caboose whispered, just loud enough so Sarge could hear him. "Ok..." Sarge said. "Why don't we try to find O'Malley." As Sarge walked off, Caboose said, "I know where you can find O'Malley. He lived inside my helmet for a while. Maybe he left an address to send his mail. We were like roommates." Sarge heard the blue moron's footseps as he followed him. "Sounds like he took some of the furniture when he left. And the carpet. And the drapes." he said, turning around to face his adversary/ally. "And I wouldn't expect to get that deposit back, if you know what I mean."

Caboose ran off towards the back of the building painted with a blue bullseye. Bluetard, he thought. Sarge followed Caboose and stopped when he stopped. "Sergeant, look, a sleeping person." Caboose said. "What?" Sarge asked, turning in that direction. "Holy macaroon." Sarge ran over to the body, and kneeled down to inspect the blue soldier. "He's not sleeping son," Sarge said. "He's dead." Caboose let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, good." he said. "At first, I thought that was me, because I am blue and I like to sleep. But if he is dead, that could not be me. That would be silly." Sarge got back up. "No doubt he was killed by our very enemy," he said. "Once again, I found myself torn."

"On one hand, there's one less Blue in the universe." he said. "But now, Doc's got a bigger body count than me. And that just won't do. No, sir. Rest in peace, scumbag." Caboose ran around to the back of the building. "Look," he called. "More sleeping people!" Sarge ran over to Caboose, and saw that he was right. He saw more "sleeping" Reds and Blues on the ground, blood splattered near each body and there was a burn mark on the wall. "It must be nap time!" Caboose said. "But who has nap time now? Nap time comes before pants time, not after. I think these people are just making up times."

"What the Samuel Helsinki happened here?" Sarge asked. "It must have been an enormous battle." he said, turning to look at his Blue "partner" and then back to the corpses. "Hello!" he called out. "Is anyone ok? Are there any survivors? Preferably any Red survivors. Don't let that discourage you from speaking up if you're Blue. I won't step on your neck or anything like that." Caboose turned to Sarge. "Am I allowed to answer?" he asked. "Shh. Quiet." Sarge said, turning to face him. "You hear that?" Caboose nodded. "Yes." he said. "That sound is called water. It is very wet and very sloshy-" Sarge interrupted him. "I was talking about the trumpet, bluetard."

"I have to go to the bathroom now for some reason." Caboose said. "Which is odd, because I already went when we were standing in the creek together." Sarge spoke. "Wait a minute. I know that song. That's Reveille." he said. "Why would someone be playing Reveille in the middle of-" All of a sudden, to interrupt Sarge, all of the "dead" Red and Blue soldiers got up and starting cheering. "Sweet jibbly jiblets." Sarge said, as the horde of Reds and Blues were revived. "Running time!" Caboose said. "Hut, hut, hut, hut, hut." the Reds and Blues said as they ran back to their individual bases.

"What just happened here?" Sarge asked. "I think all of the sleeping people were trying to-" Caboose started, but Sarge interrupted him. "That was rhetorical." he said. He ran over to the Blue bunker and looked up at the window. "Get over here, give me a boost!" Sarge said, turning to look at Caboose. "Ok," Caboose said, making a light jog over to Sarge. "You are a good person and people say nice things about you." Sarge shook his head. "Not a morale boost, moron, a physical one." he said, looking up at the window again. "I need to see what's in that window." Caboose looked up at the window, and then back at the Sergeant.

"That window is very high. I don't think you are tall enough." he said. "I know," Sarge said, turning to him. "I need you help me look through it." Of course his idiot partner said, "I don't think I'm tall enough either. Also, my head is round and that window is square." Sarge was beyond frusterated by now. "Come here, you." he said, as he ran over to Caboose. He picked him up feet first and walked over to the window. "Whoa!" Caboose said, as he shot up to the window. "What do you see?" Sarge asked. "I see a room." Caboose said. "And, what's in the room?" Sarge asked. "There are some walls and some ceilings." he said. "Wait. Just one ceiling."

Sarge heard some muffled sounds from inside the base and said, "What's making all that racket?" Caboose listened for a couple seconds and said, "You are not going to like it." Sarge dropped Caboose on his feet and moved back. "Caboose, I have a very bad feeling abo- What's that?" he started to say something and it ended in a question. Reveille had started playing again. "Charge!" he heard Red and Blue team members say as they emerged from their bunkers. They emerged with Pistols, Assault Rifles, Shotguns, Sniper Rifles, Rocket Launchers and a few unidentified weapons. Sarge heard a combination of bullets being fired, rockets going off and Reds and Blues yelling at the top of their lungs.

Sarge and Caboose emerged from the alley, but did not enter the battle. "Come on, Caboose!" Sarge said. "Let's get to the higher ground!" Once they got to a higher vantage point, they watched the battle below. Well, at least Sarge did. A Blue scumbag ran into the water saying, "Yeah, I love reloading." Once he emerged from the creek and ran back toward Blue base, a Red soldier hiding behind a rock hit him in the back of the head saying, "Yeah, back of the head!" The bluetard fell down dead. "Tell my girlfriend I love her." the Blue said as he died. "She's my girlfriend now, bitch!" the Red soldier said, running off.

"Sarge, I am scared of our new friends." Caboose said, as Sarge watched the messed up battle. "Hot, Sonny Bono, what's going on here?" Sarge asked as another trumpet went off. A Red emerged from Blue base, and said, "Stop fighting, stop fighting, everyone stop fighting." He took bullets as he said this. All of the soldiers stopped and turned to look at the Red soldier. "Everyone, everyone, look unto me!" he said. "I possess the Blue flag." Another Red soldier lowered his Assault Rifle, saying, "It's more beautiful than I imagined." The Red soldier with the Blue flag said, "I have seen the top of the mountain. And you will worship me as though I were a god." Then, four Blue soldiers surrounded him and beat him to death with their weapons.

"I regret nothing!" the Red soldier said as he died. "I lived as few men dared to dream." Sarge looked over at two Red and Blue soldiers that had their weapons pointed at each other and they opened fire on each other. As the battle continued, Sarge noticed a kill-chain. A Red soldier killing a Blue from behind, then he was shot in the head, said, "Oh no." The bluetard was on top of a rock arch reloading his sniper. "Headshot!" he said. As he reloaded, he was shot by a rocket. "Oh, you rocket whore!" he said. Two Blues ran alongside each other. One of the Blues ran into the creek to fight a Red and they were both killed by a rocket. "The only good Blue is a dead Blue." a Red soldier said.

Another Blue ran into the creek, saying, "Christ, this water's cold!" He ran out of the water, and up the bank. Two soldiers from opposite teams were at opposite ends of a rocking, firing at each other, saying a trio of, "Hey! Hoh! Hey! Hoh! Hey! Hoh!" The Blue was eventually killed by another rocket. "Weak, you took my kill." the Red soldier said. "I didn't see your name on it." he said, running and reloading the launcher at the same time. He ran behind a rock, only to be killed by a Blue soldier. "Oh, you fucking camping bitch." he said, as he died. "It's a legitimate strategy!" the Blue soldier said, running from his hiding spot.

He almost took a sniper round to the head, but hid behind a rock. "Whoa." he said, taking a breath. The Red sniper cursed. "Damn!" Sarge watched as the Blue reloaded his assault weapon. "Hey, Blue we're the only two left," the Red said. "Let's work together." No, Sarge thought. Don't work together, Red! "What do you mean?" the Blue said, only slightly emerging. "I'm coming out." the Red said, as he left his cover. "Ok, I'm coming out, too." the Blue said. They both ran until they met in the creek. "What do you mean, we could work as a team?" the Blue asked. The Red hit him on the top of his head with the butt of his rifle and the Blue died instantly. "I bash you in the head with my rifle, and you die," the Red said. "Good teamwork you fucking noob. Good game, good game everybody. GG, man, GG."

The Red then let out a dying groan and fell in the creek, dead. "I have no earthly idea what it is I just saw or what this place is or where in the hell O'Malley is." Sarge finally said, after a few seconds. "My only choice is to blame Grif for coming up with such a flawed plan. Stupid, stupid Grif." Caboose finally spoke. "I am so confused. Where is Church? I need Church to tell me what to think. Church can handle this. He can handle anything."

...

The cycle eventually began again and Caboose and Sarge were back to back, fending off the Blues and Reds. "Caboose! Caboose! Keep them away from me." he said, firing rounds from his Pistol. "That one. And that one. And that one. No, no, the one with the limp. Get him." Caboose said this as he reloaded. "I don't want to kill and I don't want to die either." Sarge hit a Blue in the face, knocking him dead. "Yes, I heard you Sergeant." Caboose said. "I didn't say anything numbnuts." he said, in response, turning around to face Caboose. "Caboose, we have to break this never-ending cycle of attack and retaliation," he said. "Either by, A, convincing the two sides to live in peace. Or, B, by getting ourselves completely involved and kicking some serious ass. I vote B."

"I have a plan Sergeant. But we will have to move quick." Caboose got closer to Sarge and whispered in his ear. "Listen. Whisper, whisper, whisper." He backed up and said, "Do you think that will work?" Sarge just stared at the brain dead moron. "That was your plan?" Sarge asked. "All you said was whisper, whisper, whisper." Caboose said in a calm tone, "I know. I just wanted to be the one with the plan for once." Sarge thought for a moment. "Ahh, come on, I have an idea." He ran off towards Blue base. "It seems that they want each other's flag," Sarge said to Caboose as he ran. "If we can steal their flags, we might be able to stop them."

"Ok, I'll steal the blue flag!" Caboose said. "No, no, no, Bluetard!" Sarge said, Pistol whipping the moron. "I'll steal the Blue flag, you steal the Red flag!" Caboose stared at the Sergeant. "Ok." he said, running off towards Red base. "Moron," Sarge muttered, running off to Blue base. He ran inside, and quickly took the Blue's flag. He ran back outside and waited for his moron of a partner. He waited for about a minute or so, and Caboose finally returned with the Red flag. "Ok, tard bucket," Sarge said, turning towards the ladder. "Let's get to the higher ground! Quickly!"

The cycle then began again. The Reds and Blues left their individual bunkers, and they stopped in front of each other, ready to fire. "Oh Blue Team," Sarge said, waving the flag. "Look what I have." Caboose said, "Oh, Blue Team, look what- wait, I messed up my line. Let's start over." A Red soldier looked up. "They have our flag." he said. "No," a Blue soldier said, turning to his enemy. "They don't. They have our flag." Sarge cleared his throat. "Listen you morons," he said, lowering the flag. "You're going to have to work for us now." Another Red guy said, "What's in it for us?" Sarge said, "Help us get out of here and we'll give you the flags back. Then you can go back to senselessly killing yourselves."

"Deal," a Red soldier said. "Ha, sucker." A Blue soldier looked up at them. "Wait. What if we just kill you and take the flags back?" A Red soldier looked over at the Blue soldier. "Hmm, yeah!" Sarge picked up a Sniper Rifle and capped the Blue soldier. "Oh, you got owned," the Red soldier said, staring at the Blue guy's dead body. "I saw it, fucking owned." The Blue soldiers started mumbling stuff. "Teams, teams, teams." One of them said. "Shut up! Fight, fight, fight." a Red soldier said. Then, of course, the Reds and Blues started shooting at each other again.

"Caboose, I give up." Sarge said, dropping the flag and looking at his partner. "Wait," Caboose said, getting in front of Sarge. "I can make them listen. I can beat them." Sarge looked over at Caboose. "Son, what are you talking about?" he asked Caboose. "O'Malley taught me how to be mean." he said. "I just have to concentrate on bad things. Like, milk. No, wait, red, Red Bull." Sarge stared at Caboose. "Son, I think you've really lost it," Sarge said. "O'Malley's not in your head anymore. He infected the Doc." Caboose refused. "No, I just need to get angry and say mean things." he said. "Like, uh, your brain is a mountain of hatred." Sarge sighed. "I never thought I'd reach the moment in my life when I missed Grif, but here it is."

"Now I am thinking about kittens." Caboose said. "Uh, kittens covered in spikes. That makes me angry. Yaaaaaaah." Caboose ran and jumped off the ledge and landed behind a Red. He turned round and said, "My name is Michael J. Caboose. And I hate babies." One of the Reds said. "It's the beast. The anti-flag come to live among us and rule us for seven years. The end is nigh." Caboose went around, killing the Reds and Blues. "Great Gustavo, what's going on down there?" Sarge asked. "Sarge, Caboose! Can you hear me?" Sarge heard a voice behind him, and turned around to see a holographic, green Simmons.

"Simmons 2.0?" Sarge said, surprised. "I reconfigured a teleporter to allow me to communicate with you," Simmons said. "I need to get you guys outta there." Sarge scoffed. "Damn right, we need to get out of here." Simmons continued. "Get to your teleporter and I'll see what I can do from here." he said. "And, Sarge?" Sarge turned to him. "Yeah?" he asked. "It's really great to see you again." Simmons said. "Oh, kiss my ass some other time." Sarge said, a little bit irritated. "Whatever you say, Sir." Sarge jumped down the ladder. "Come on, Caboose," he said, running off. "Before they wake up again. He ran to the teleporter, Caboose right behind him. "Hurry up, Simmons." Sarge said, as the trumpet was starting again.

"All right, just give me a few seconds over here, Sarge." Simmons said, from the teleporter. "We don't have a few more seconds," said Sarge, as Caboose returned. "Then stop pressuring me!" Simmons screamed. "I rely on you for love and support!" Caboose said, "Your toast has been burnt and no amount of scraping will remove the black parts." Sarge groaned. "Oh, shut up, Caboose." he said. "Ok, there, come through now." Simmons said. "Ok, come on, Caboose!" Sarge ran through, Caboose behind him.

...

"And that's the story of our trouble at that one place." Sarge said, as the Master Chief sharpened his Combat Knife. "That is pretty interesting," he said, looking at Sarge. "But why does Caboose talk like that?" Sarge let out a small grunt. "Eh, he's Blue Team's idiot." he said. "Gotcha." the Chief said, sheathing his knife. His plan to use the tank to reactivate Cortana had failed. He was worried when the slot flashed purple, since she was blue. So, apparently her chip had corrupted the tank and now he was charged with fixing it. Or, calling their command for a new tank.

"Chief, how old are you exactly?" Sarge said. The Chief looked back at Sarge. "46." he said, reloading his Pistol, after the conflict with Church. "Wow." Sarge said. The Chief put the Pistol back on his thigh. "Hey, Chief!" he heard Church from inside Blue base. He turned around and walked towards the tunnel into Blue base. "What is it, soldier?" he asked. "Our command is on the line!" Tucker called from inside the base. "They want to talk to you!" Chief sighed. "I'll be right in." he called back. "I'll see you around, Sergeant." he said, turning back to him and saluting him. "Ok, see ya!" Sarge said, as the Chief walked back to Blue base.

He stopped in the center of the room. "We'll leave you, Sir." Church said, and he and Tucker left. The Chief walked to the com, and picked it up. "This is Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan-117." he said. "Hello, Chief." the man on the other end said in a sort of mellow voice. "We have news for you." The Master Chief grunted. "And?" he asked. "We are sending the UNSC Spirit of Fire to your position, loaded with supplies and a new tank." The Chief grunted again. "Roger that." he said and he hung up with that. "I don't like this," he said, walking back out of the base. "Why would they send supplies to me out of the blue? How did they find me?"

A/N: Alright, so I hope you like that chapter. Next chapter, the Chief will be faced with a new threat. So, until next time, keep reading.