Chapter 18: Return to Blood Gulch
Disclaimer: I Don't Own Halo, Red Vs Blue or Any of their Respective Characters
John-117
Blood Gulch
The Master Chief looked down into the giant canyon as the Pelican began the landing sequence. "Land us behind Blue Base." the Chief said. "It's the least populated area here." Noble Six nodded. "Yes, Chief." he said. "And just remember, one wrong move and we kill you." the Chief replied. "Noted." he said. "We will land in under a minute, people!" the Chief said, walking out into the main room of the Pelican where everyone sat. "All of you have volunteered for a suicide mission to help this man. Or beast. I don't know what he is." He looked at Sarge, Simmons, Donut, Grif and Tucker. "Lets see. A soldier that is half human half cyborg, a nerdy red soldier, a feminine acting soldier, a lazy fanboy and a pervert." he sighed. "May God help us all." The Chief felt the Pelican touch ground and quickly grabbed the safety handle on the ceiling to regain his balance. After the engine shut off, he spoke. "Let's move people!" he said. "We have a lot of ground to cover!" All of them jumped off the deck of the pelican, one by one and walked into the dry, hot, bloody gulch. The Chief walked towards Blue Base with his team behind him. Why haven't they attacked us yet? They have no strategy or brain. At least I think they don't.
"Why haven't they attacked us yet?" Sarge asked the Chief, running up to him. Before the Chief could reply, of course, they attacked. "Sarge, I hate you." Tucker said. Sarge just let out a shallow laugh. "Oh, don't worry Bluetard. I hate you, too." As they fought the countless Carrier, Combat and Infection Forms, Donut began to freak out. "I want to go home!" he said. "This is home, Donut." the Chief said. "Now fight for it!" Donut sighed, as he threw a few Plasma Grenades. "Yes sir!" he said. "Good man!" the Chief said, as he shredded through the Combat Forms and Infection Forms with his Assault Rifle. Who is Mendez's guy? The guy he said could have information on a Gravemind? The Chief thought about this as he kept his finger on the trigger of his Rifle. He and his crew kept moving towards Blue Base. The Chief looked up at the wreck of the Spirit of Fire. Is that where all of them come from? Noble Six ran up next to the Chief, killing two or three Carrier Forms. "Um, I have an answer to that." he said. "Not now." the Chief said, as reloaded his Rifle. "But this is serious!" Noble Six said in an angry tone. "Look, whatever you need to tell me, is not more serious than this!" Sarge blasted several Combat Forms with his Shotgun. "Yeah, so could you help out a little, meatsack?"
"Hey Sarge, I'm the reason you're alive! So I think you should show me some respect!" Noble Six shouted. "Both of you shut the hell up and get to work!" the Chief said angrily. They both shut up and started to fire again. The Chief was certain that Blood Gulch was infested with the Flood. The question was, could they clear it out? "Fuck this!" Tucker said, running forward. He activated his energy sword and started to cut through the Flood Combat forms. A Combat Form came up to Tucker from behind and started to hit him with it's decayed arm. "Tucker! Be careful!" the Chief said. "I'll help him." Sarge said, running forward as he cocked his Shotgun. He blasted the Combat Form that was attacking Tucker from behind. "Ow! Son of a bitch!" Tucker said, holding the sides of his helmet. "Do you really have to fire that close to me?" he said. Sarge just chuckled. "Oh grow a pair, blue tard!" he said. "Fuck you, too Sarge. Why must these things always happen to me?" Tucker said. "What do you mean you?" Simmons replied. "You should be talking about Grif! He's the one that Sarge hates the most!" Tucker just shrugged. "Who said Grif? Where's Grif?" Sarge said, cocking his Shotgun. "Sarge, we were just having a conversation!" Simmons replied. "Yeah, I was just mentioned in the conversation!" Grif said. "Don't bullshit me, Simmons! I heard Grif!" Sarge said, ignoring what Grif had said.
"Just shut up!" the Chief growled angrily. "You got it Sir!" Grif said, firing multiple rounds with his Battle Rifle. "Grif! I'm your commanding officer, not him!" Sarge shouted. "Oh, fuck off Sarge! The Master Chief is a better CO than you!" Grif said. "Although I really appreciate the compliment Grif, now is really not the time!" John replied. "The Chief is right. I'll kill you later Grif!" Sarge said. "No you won't." John said. "Ok. How about bruising him up a little?" Sarge asked. John shook his head. "What about berating him?" Sarge asked. "No." John said. "Wait. Maybe." Sarge just laughed and continued shooting the Flood Combat Forms that were attacking them. "I like the way you think, Johnny-Boy." Sarge said. Hundreds kept coming and hundreds kept being put down by John and his crew. "I don't understand." John said. "Why are they trying to push us out of Blood Gulch? They have nothing to fight for here! They recieve no benefit of holding Blood Gulch!" That's when everything stopped. All of the Combat Forms retreated back to Blue Base. "What's going on?" Tucker said, lowering his Battle Rifle. "Why have they stopped?" John and his crew all looked up at the roof of Blue Base, to see the monstrousity that is Specimen 789 walk up to the roof, accompanied by two infected Elites in Gold Armor. As soon as 789 appeared, every Flood Form except for his Elites kneeled at his presence.
"Oh shit." Grif said. "What does he want?" They weren't attacking, just standing there. "I'm not trusting this men. Open fire!" John said, raising his Assault Rifle towards 789. They were about to fire, but 789 started to speak in an unknown language. "Our overlord has a message for you." One of the Golden Elites said in English. "No." Noble Six said in an ominous tone. "No? No what? What's does no mean?" Grif asked. "Yes. Please do explain Noble Six." John said. "Tartarus has taken control of the army that the Gravemind provided me." Noble Six said, in a fearful tone. "He is right." the Gold Elite said. "Tartarus took over the Flood Army?!" the Chief said, pointing his Assault Rifle at Six, followed by his troops doing the same. "I had no idea this would happen." Noble Six said. "Bullshit!" the Chief said, cocking his Rifle. "Good me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now!" Tartarus let out a roar of some foreign language, getting the crew's attention. "Silence!" the Elite roared, as the crew looked back up to Tartarus and his Elites. "Tartarus and the Gravemind knew you would return. That's why we are here. And we have a proposition for you." Tucker activated his Energy Sword and ran forward towards Blue Base. "That's a bunch of bullshit!" he said, as he ran up the wall to attack. As soon as he reached Tartarus, the Brutish Flood Form punched Tucker in the chest, sending him flying towards the back of the canyon. Tartarus's mandibles clicked. "Infect him." the Elite said. A Flood Infection Form started to crawl down the wall, towards Tucker's motionless body. "Wait!" John said, dropping his Rifle as he ran forward.
"You mentioned something about a propostion!" John said. "Let's make a deal! If we comply, will you let Tucker live?" Tartarus just stood there, seeming to be grumbling. He eventually let out a booming voice, followed by the Elite speaking. "Intriguing. We will proceed." the Elite said. "We plan to keep holding Blood Gulch with reinforcements from our Outpost. We will keep trying to fight you off as we see fit. We know this is a crucial place for you and we won't let you have it." John cleared his throat. "How are you getting reinforcements?" he asked. Tartarus continued to boom in a foreign language. "We get new infected troops everyday to fight for our cause." the Elite said. "What is your cause?" John asked. Tartarus let out an angry roar. "Enough talk! We order you to leave and take your unconscious ally with you. Oh and you will hand Noble Six over to us. He is a traitor and cannot be allowed to live." the Elite said. "Yes, yes. This is all good and dandy." Donut said, speaking for the first time. "But when can we have our home back?' Tartarus looked at Donut, letting out a questioning grunt, followed by more grunts. "What do you mean 'when can we have our home back?'?" the Elite said. "You do not get to have your home back. You hand over Noble Six, take your ally and leave, never come back and wait out the downfall of the universe." John picked up his Assault Rifle. "See you in hell!" he said, firing at Tartarus and his Elites. Tartarus let out a roar of pain and anger, as he pointed to them. "Destroy them!" the Elite said, as Tartarus lifted up his Fuel Rod Cannon. Before the Flood could do anything, Tartarus pointed above them, as a grenade was launched from behind them, knocking Tartarus and the Elites out of sight. John turned around, to see the Meta descending from the cliffs. "Run! Get to the Warthog!" Sarge said, running away from Blue Base. "Get the Bluetard!" John snapped out of the daze and ran to Tucker, lifting his motionless form up and onto his shoulders. "Shotgun!" Grif said. "God damnit!" Simmons said in an angry tone. He ran towards the Warthog that Sarge was busy getting running.
"What's the plan?" Sarge said, as John put Tucker in the back with Simmons on the gun. "Make sure Tucker makes it through!" John told Simmons, before turning to Sarge. "I have no idea, we need a place to hide. That's all I know." Sarge hopped in the driver seat and sighed. "We'll go to hide out in the caves. I don't know where else to go at this point." he said. "You lead the way." John said, as he and Donut got on a Mongoose. Noble Six mounted another Mongoose. Once Grif had gotten into the Shotgun seat, Sarge took off, John following behind him. The Flood were more focused at shooting the Meta at the moment, but a few Combat Forms tried to prevent their escape. Once they got close to the cave opening, the tricky part came. "Oh shit!" Grif said, as they narrowly dodged a rocket. John drove towards the Combat Form that had fired it and stood up, balancing on the mobile vehicle. Once he got close to the Combat Form, John jumped, allowing the Combat Form to be run over. "Go go go!" Sarge called out, as he slowed down for the Chief and Donut to run into the cave. John ran into the cave, followed by Sarge smashing the Warthog into the wall of the opening of the cave, causing the Warthog to tip over, ejecting Sarge, Simmons, Grif and Tucker. The ground began to shake, as rocks from the arch of the opening fell onto the Warthog, sealing the exit. John and the fellow Spartans turned on the flashlights that were installed in their helmets. "What the hell was that, Sarge?" John asked, turning to see him. "You trapped us in here!" Sarge just laughed. "Chief, I just sealed the opening. This tunnel leads to a gigantic cavern underneath the canyon, with a tunnel up to Red Base as well. We just have to do an hour of walking."
John sighed. Great. We're trapped in a tunnel, Tucker is unconscious and our worst enemy is outside just waiting for us. "Ok. See if you can get Tucker to wake up. I'm gonna radio Washington and see how their progress is coming along." he said. With that in mind, he walked over to a less crowded area of the tunnel. He got onto the radio. "Come in Washington. Come in Washington. This is Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 seeking contact with Washington." he said. After a bit of interference from the other end, Washington responded. "This is Washington, reading you loud and clear. What's happening over there Chief?" he asked. "We're sitting ducks Wash." John said. "Tartarus, that Covenant hybrid has taken over the Flood Army that was meant for Noble Six. We both know that he is on our side. However, we are trapped in a cave system, after the Meta ambushed our talk with the hybrid." Washington sighed on the other end. "Sounds rough. And I can't help you in any way." he said. "What about you and the others?" John asked. "I don't know about Mendez and his crew, but Tex, Carolina, Church and I have made it to the facility we mentioned the other day." Washington said. "We'll let you know when we got what we came for. Wash out."
Epsilon-Church
"Hey." Church said to Washington he got off the radio. "Hmm? Oh, hey Church. What is it?" Washington asked. "Do you ever wonder why we're here?" Church asked. Washington just stared at him. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Here! In this backup Freelancer Storage Facility? We've gotten caught up in this battle against forces that no one here but the Master Chief understands. A battle for the galaxy it seems!" Church said. "Well, shouldn't you ask John this question instead?" Washington asked. "No, no, no. I mean, why are we in this battle? What's in it for us? Is there a purpose? Or will we die fighting against these mutant alien zombie shits?" Church asked. Washington shrugged. "Maybe the thrills? Fame, like the fame we got for bringing down Project Freelancer? Who knows?" Washington said. "If you ladies are through gossiping, we need to get this door open!" Tex said in an angry tone. "Okay, okay. We're coming." As they walked over to the door where Tex and Carolina were standing, Church just stared at Washington. He eventually noticed and looked at Church. "What? I answered your fucking question!" he said. "No, no. Not that. Tucker? Isn't he gonna say his thing?" Church said. "Oh, right. He's not here." Washington groaned. "Very funny." he said, as they reached the door. "Wash, you're up." Carolina said. "Got it." Washington said, kneeling to start picking the lock on the door. "This would be so much easier if York were here." Carolina fell silence and let out a small grunting sound, as if she were holding back tears.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that." Washington said. "It's fine. It doesn't mean anything to me. Just get to work on that lock!" Carolina said. "Of course." Washington said, as he got back to the lock. The lock cracked after thirty seconds of work. "Alright, we're in." Washington said, as he rose. "You know Mate, York would have had that done in ten seconds." Church said, in a British accent. "Oh, shut up. And since when are you British?" Tex asked. "Um, I don't know where that came from." Church replied. He just watched Tex shrug and walk away. He followed Washington, Tex and Carolina into the abandoned Freelancer Outpost. The lights were out and the team had to turn on their helmet lights to guide them through the blackness. "How old do you think it is? Ten thousand? A hundred thousand?" Church asked. "Church, this Outpost is about as old as Project Freelancer itself. What has gotten into you?" Washington asked. "Nothing. Where's your sense of adventure?" Church asked. "Shut up. Both of you." Tex said. They continued to walk, until they came to an archive room. Church was the first to go in and turn on the light, surprised to find out that it actually turned on. They all walked over to the back of the room, where a giant computer monitor and keyboard were installed. "Can you activate it?" Carolina asked. Church scoffed. "Really? It's me, Epsilon remember? The fragmented memories of the Alpha and the rest of the AI. Of course I can activate it." he said. "Okay. A simple yes would have done it." Tex replied.
Church left his body, as it fell to the ground. He tried to speak or move in his AI form, but he couldn't. And to make matters worse, his vision was flickering. "Church are you there?" Carolina's voice rang out. He tried to respond, but he couldn't. "Church where are you?" Carolina asked once again. He was finally able to respond, after about thirty seconds. "Yeah, I'm here." he finally said. "Jesus! What took you so long to respond?" Tex asked. "Um, I don't know. I've been running pretty slow lately." Washington looked at him. "Are you worried?" Washington asked. Church shrugged. "I don't know. Should I be worried?" he asked. Washington just shrugged. "Hook yourself up to the computer, Church." Carolina said. "Right." he said, as he ran into the computer and merged with it's system. He could see everything. He saw little glowing lights, that obviously represented the hardware of the computer. He attempted to enter the archives, however, a pop-up stopped him. The pop-up told him that entering the archives required a username and password. Since he was Epsilon, the AI fragment that held the memorys of the Alpha, he relatively had an idea what the username and password was. In the username slot, he entered Dr. Leonard Church. For the password, he tried Allison. He kind of wished he hadn't done that.
Allison! Allison! Allison! Allison! Allison! He heard the AI fragments screaming and he shuddered at the sound of it. Once he attempted to login, he was more or less surprised to see that it accepted the username and password. He started to scroll through the listings of archived files on troopers, locations and so many other things. Church, Washington, VIC, The Director, Counselor Price, Tex, The Meta, Carolina, Kimball? Kimball, how are they in the system? They have nothing to do with the Program! Anyway, Doyle, Sharkface, Felix, Locus, Chairman Hargrove, Blood Gulch, Sidewinder, Valhalla, Rat's Nest, Command, Mother of Intervention, so much stuff! "Church?" Tex asked. "Yeah, I'm here." he said. "Try to look for Armor Enhancements!" Washington said. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever." he said. He "scrolled" through all the files that he could see. "There!" Washington said. "Armor Enhancements!" Church mentally nodded and clicked on it. "How much of it do you need?" he asked. "All of it. I need information on all of the armor enhancements and where in this place we can find them." Washington told him. "On it." Church said, as he saved the files. He was about to speak when he noticed something. Something that shouldn't have been there. Hey... why are there files on the Master Chief in here? "Hey, guys? Should there be files on the Master Chief in here?" Church asked. "I don't know..." Washington said. "Just save them." Church was going to save them, but his curiousity overcame him. He opened one of the files and began to read. "No. No. This isn't possible." he said. "What? What is it Church?" Tex asked. "It's the Chief! It's not possible! H-he's a-"
A/N: Cliffhangers for days. I hate to end it here, but what do you think Church has found out? I do hope that you enjoyed this chapter! And please follow/favorite the story, as it will help not only me, but you out as you'll most likely never miss a chapter! Also, go ahead and drop me a review! That is always appreciated! I'm going to though, so have a good day and, bye.
