Wandering around Valhalla after dark should have been comforting to Missouri. Solitude and silence were his friends for most of his life. But without Lambda by his side and in his mind, it all felt too sad. Her departure felt like somebody had cut off one of his limbs. Her memory as fresh as anything. The incident was still so brand new, so fresh that wandering was the only thing he could do.
Missouri had asked a lot of the Reds and Blues when he and Lambda had shown up on his doorstep. Even Grif had given his extremely reluctant assurance that he would help too. Why was anybody's guess. Maybe Sarge had gotten to him, but it seemed to Moe that Sarge was no longer a true leader and more of a figurehead to the rest of the Reds.
It was apparent that neither side was fighting anymore unless one counted the endless infighting and bickering as a personal war. They simply camped at opposite ends of the canyon in color divided armor out of habit, a sense of normalcy and familiarity in a world that had been normal to them before, but now was alien and altogether unfamiliar. So they coped, and one of the ways was to shed the old customs, the former hate and blood lust that they once had and replace it with a sense of family. They could argue and bicker all they liked, but deep down each and every Red and Blue loved one another as brothers.
Wether they admitted it or not.
However, Missouri had not asked another favor of the Reds and Blues. After the communique he had agreed to, he had walked away from the base and not looked back. He would not ask for any more assistance. He needed to show up alone for one or Speartip had stated that she would destroy Lambda's memory unit. Otherwise, he had simply asked enough of them and would never again inconvenience the sim troopers.
Missouri walked a lonely vigil to the Valhallen beach and sat, more slumped to the ground. He scratched his scraggly whiskers and allowed a soundless sigh to escape his lips as he watched the water. He scarcely moved his golden form.
Had she been dead, he would will himself to jump into the water. Everyone knew what happened to Spartans who jumped into the water. The maddening fact was that he didn't know if it was even possible to bring a dead memory unit back to life. Still, though. If there was a chance, a slim ray of light to even slightly break the darkness he would do it.
If he suceeded, then there was hope. If he failed, at least he would have died trying and he would embrace the nothingness that would allow him respite from the grief that surely would plague him forever.
BBBBBBBBB
"Well if nothing else, he could have just gone out to kill himself. Save Speartip the trouble." Grif was saying.
"It's not like this is our fight at all, how could he ask us to help him anymore than we already have?" Simmons agreed, shockingly enough, with Grif.
Usually there was a quarrel of some sort between the two soldiers, but here and now, Simmons couldn't fault Grif for his logic, if one could call it that.
"Ah, Schindler's List, I can't actually agree with you, although I do. If I did, surely the universe would explode in a diabolical malevolent maelstrom of fire and decay." Sarge muttered.
"It wouldn't hurt for once, just once, to agree with my flawless logic." Grif argued.
"Ah, can it Grif."
"He didn't." a male voice called from the Red's entry way.
All three Reds turned as if on cue to find Carolina, Washington, Caboose and Tucker. Oddly enough it was Caboose who had spoken.
"What do you mean?" Simmons asked.
"He didn't ask for our help, not this time anyway." Caboose reiterated.
Carolina, who had drawn breath to speak in Missouri's defense found herself being silent, listening to what Caboose was saying.
"Well it's not like it was implied or anything." Grif groused sarcastically.
"Well I don't know what that word means, but if you mean that he wants us to help, it's not true," Caboose said stubbornly.
"Right now, he is out there all alone. I was alone once. I thought it would be all better when Church came back to be my best friend, but I never really got what I wanted. Even holo-Church is still out there somewhere. He's been really really grumpy lately."
"That ain't sayin' much." Sarge said.
"It's not like that!" Caboose shouted, suddenly angry, "It's not where he is pretending he doesn't like me or yelling at me or any of the fun games we used to play like hide and don't seek! He has just been locked away in his room and he never even comes out to tell me to stop banging on his door!"
All eyes were on Caboose and nobody said a word.
"I wish that he would just tell me what is wrong but he won't! He doesn't say anything! And Missouri is out there right now and he is doing the same thing! But he did not ask us to help him, he went away on his own."
"What's your point, Caboose?" Simmons asked.
"We helped you too." Caboose said, softer this time.
"So?" Grif wondered.
"You never asked us for help."
The room was silent once more as that thought sank in.
"You were all gone other places, your friends split up and no one knew where you were. My friends were split up too! I couldn't see Church for so long! But when we got back together, we all came to find you and help you. Washington led us, but we came to help you. You did not ask, we just did it."
"Oh my God..." Grif said, exasperated.
"What?" Everyone in the room asked, looking to the lazy orange soldier as one.
"Caboose just convinced us, didn't he?" Grif supplied.
"Yeah, it seems like it." Tucker confirmed.
"Well alright, let's get geared up!" Sarge shouted, shattering Grif's hope of sitting on the sidelines.
"One day." Grif sighed forlornly.
"Missouri will be headed to Yelliton," Carolina stated, "He will likely be going in alone as Speartip suggested but we know it is going to be a trap. She will probably have her ODST soldiers with her and Missouri won't stand a chance against them all alone. So we need to head them off while he goes after Speartip. We can't get involved with them because if I know her, and I do, she will follow through with her threat to destroy the device."
"It'll take all of us in order to defeat the ODSTs," Washington supplied, "As difficult as this is for me to say, and believe me it is astronomically fucking difficult, we need the Reds and the Blues to get along during this fight."
"And what if we don't? Some of us have issues stemming back literally hundreds of years." Simmons said staring at Tucker and Caboose as he spoke.
"Please, you people make the Jackson Five look like the Brady Bunch." Tucker said, crossing his arms.
"That's exactly what I'm talking about. These guys are a professional government-trained unit of ODST specialists led by a former freelancer. You have got to work together and stop the petty insults or you will die."Washington pointed out.
"So were the merceneries on Chorus and we handled them just fine. You worry too much, we'll be fine." Tucker said smugly.
"That was simple dumb luck and you know it. Even with the two of us leading," Washington motioned between himself and Carolina, "we barely survived."
"You still don't understand, do ya Wash?" Sarge grunted.
Washington stared at Sarge for a moment before the old man laughed.
"Dumb luck, total and complete chance, stupid and completely brainless chaos in the midst of overwhelming odds with little to no chance of success..."
Sarge chuckled darkly.
"...That's what we do. Now let's go and do this. Unless you professional killers don't want a few Lucky number sevens in your hand."
"Lucky number sevens?" Washington wondered aloud.
"Or maybe I should say thirteens."
"Why is that?" Washington asked.
"Our lucky number seven is thirteen."
Washington smiled before securing his helmet over his face.
"There could be a catch phrase there." he said before the Reds, Blues and former freelancers moved out of the base towards the pelican and yet another daring adventure, never caring about the slim chance of success.
"Wait!" A familiar voice called once they reached the outside.
There, leaning against the outer wall of the base, was Church with his robotic arms crossed over his chest.
"Church!" Caboose called.
Church merely looked at him for several seconds before he cowered away once again.
"What, Church?" Carolina demanded, her temper rising.
"I'm coming with you. That bitch has the key to unlocking things in Tex that I never really thought of. I have a stake in this, so I'm coming along too." Church said, his voice sounding... meaner than even his usual asshole tone.
"That might not be a good idea." Carolina said slowly.
Church exploded.
"What's not a good idea?! Having an extra gun on the battlefield?! Having a god damn fucking AI to help you out when you can't see behind you?!"
"Church, calm down!" Washington said.
"Why don't you shut the fuck up for once, Wash?!" Church snarled, "Just because you wanna fuck Carolina doesn't mean you have to continuously stick your nose where it don't belong!"
"Enough!" Carolina shouted, "No! You are not coming with us! You are a threat to the mission as long as your head is as fucked up as it has been! So either shut the fuck up, as Wash suggested, or prepare to lose yet another body!"
Church moved to swing a punch at his sister only to have it blocked. Carolina took his arm and slammed him onto the concrete.
Church ambled to his feet and just before the two of them came to blows he stormed off in the opposite direction.
"FUCK!" Church screamed into the night.
"Come on everybody," Carolina said, her voice sounding hollow, "let's go before Missouri finds out about this."
As one the Reds, Blues and freelancers silently headed toward the Pelican.
BBBBBBBBBB
Missouri had done enough thinking for one night, or perhaps for several months, and decided that action was what was needed. He thought back to the day he and Lambda had landed on Valhalla in an effort to get away from the UNSC. He recalled where the small, one-man ship had been hidden and grabbing his dented helmet and covering his face once more, he made his way toward his ship.
However, he was not alone, because many yards away Church crept along, following him. If the group wasn't going to take him along, well, then, he would stow away. And God have mercy on anybody who stood in his way.