Summary/disclaimer: Time for another chapter of Snow-White Hearts. Enjoy the 1500-word chapter. I don't own RvB, Rooster Teeth does.
Carolina looked at Vermont who was busy trying to stay conscious. Church had told her that Vermont was constantly slipping in and out of being knocked out and being awake.
"You know, he's not going to die…. But he's not waking up for a bit." Carolina heard from Church as they continued their drive through the snowy plains.
"No signs of vitals changing at all?" Carolina questioned the ai who shrugged. "Damn it, Vermont is stubborn, it'd take a lot more than that to kill him." Carolina stated to which Church was silent.
"Well, his ai is chatting my damn ear off." Church said, looking over at Carolina. "Trust me, I know a lot about Vermont, he won't stop talking about you both. What the hell did you do? Kill an entire planet together?" Church questioned, curious as to how these two had met before.
"No, but I told you me and him were on missions together." Carolina responded, pausing to check to see if anyone had followed the warthog. "Mu knows me well enough. Why, what did he tell you?" Carolina questioned with a raised eyebrow as she slowed the vehicle to a crawl.
Carolina looked at Church, curious as to what the ai knew. She could only guess what Mu would have told the other ai since Mu was often enough of an open book to most people.
"Why don't you ask him?" Church questioned as Mu appeared over Vermont, the ai was a dark black color, just like he had been years ago.
"I was wondering if you were busy listening in." Carolina added to which Mu said nothing for a second. "Mu, you and Roland were sent here on a contract, yeah?" Carolina questioned as the ai nodded at the moment while starting to think about something.
"Yeah, he wanted to shoot more people like you seem to want to." Mu said, crossing his arms over his chest. "I should point out your buddy is busy digging around in my body at the moment. Why are you here? We heard you were dead, like as in dead." Mu added, raising an eyebrow under his helmet.
"And what exactly happened when you got here?" Carolina questioned as Carolina started to think. "Do you want to explain why I found Vermont in a military base?" Carolina stated while planting her hands on her hips.
"Besides him getting shot by those jackasses you shot?" Mu questioned as Carolina nodded. "He was shot, he killed at least a dozen of those guys." Mu added to which Carolina hummed and looked at Church.
"So, all we know is some people got shot, great." Church stated with a roll of his eyes. "Great, is Mu always this annoying? There's too much going on for us to stay here. You know Charon is busy tracking us at the moment. We don't move? They're going to hunt us down, their tech is way better than anything you have, sis." Church added with a sigh as he thought about their options currently.
If they stayed here? They could make a stand, but combined with Charon's cloaking tech, Carolina being unfamiliar with the terrain, the fact that they were slowly running out of ammo? They'd be dead within two hours if his math was correct.
"How long do we have?" Carolina questioned while she slowly got out of her seat and walked towards Vermont. "I'm going to guess it's below an hour?" Carolina questioned before Church vanished as she turned around to think.
"Well, if you want to be snarky about it? Yeah, probably." Carolina heard while she turned, her rifle at the ready. "I don't know, though, there's too much interference at the moment." Church added to which he thought about how this would be go.
Vermont grunted in pain as he groaned once more, his visor flickering on and off as he did so. He slowly turned towards Carolina; his armor glowed with energy as it slowly turned on a moment later.
"Damn it, I felt like I got kicked by a train." Vermont muttered as he shook his head, slowly climbing out of the warthog and turning to face the freelancer. "Carolina… What the hell are you doing on Chorus? I thought you were dead; Mu didn't say anything about you surviving." Vermont said as he crossed his arms.
"Nice to see you too, Verm." Carolina responded, watching as Vermont slowly walked over to the former freelancer. "What are you doing on Chorus, either? Last I heard, Maine got you… Or you were killed by rebels during a shootout." Carolina said as Vermont chuckled.
"You think it's that easy to kill me if even you had a hard time doing it?" Vermont questioned; his eyebrow raised in response under his armor. "I went freelance after the freelancers went MIA. Chorus needed people to fight, I stepped up. But now I learn these some third group of jackasses involved, and on one of my days fighting? Who do I run into, but good old Carolina…? What the hell is your stake in this war?" Vermont asked, pulling his rifle from his back as he did so.
This war seemed to be getting more and more odd the more it went on. Still? Vermont didn't plan on abandoning his contract, something Carolina knew very there was too much at stake to just think straight.
"No, I'm busy looking into Charon Industries and what their mercenaries are doing on Chorus." Carolina responded as Vermont blinked.
"Would you like me to point out just how much there is to think?" Vermont questioned as he turned to think of happened at the moment. "I'm just curious, there's a war going on at the moment." Vermont stated as he brushed off his armor, looking at the area behind him.
Snow began to fall on the duo as they reflected on their pasts. The war going on was bound to consume the rest of the planet if it hadn't already. Those pirates also made Vermont curious as to their boss.
"Wait, Charon?" Vermont asked and got a sigh. "What the hell does a cryogenics company have to do with this at all? Their well, cryogenics. Isn't like someone wants to be put in the freezer or something." Vermont said as Mu finally spoke up.
"Charon industries has several other subdivisions which may or may not be fully legal." Mu added as he popped up next to Vermont. "Hello, Epsilon, I'm surprised to see the Meta did not feast on you before. Still? Your survival was likely, the Alpha had plenty of fragments, at least one would survive." Mu stated as Carolina hummed, thinking about what was going on.
"So, they hired a bunch of people to come here for something I have no blasted clue what that is." Vermont said, looking through the scope of the rifle. "Second? Why save me if you're against them? I was busy shooting them before one of them got lucky and managed to wing me. I killed at least 6 before they put me down and I'd have gladly offed the rest of them if I could have." Vermont stated, pausing to turn back to Carolina who was silent.
"Same thing I asked." Church said to which the freelancer looked at the ai. "Also? If you plan on shooting the rest of them? They're going to be coming in a few minutes. Things might be a little different now that both of you are up and ready to fight." Church said, pausing to allow the duo to share a look.
Both knew their goal laid in killing the rest of the pirates. Vermont shrugged, not really caring if that meant working with Carolina. It wasn't like his ire was with the woman who going to help him kill the rest of the people who had helped kill his friends.
"Then I'm supposing you both have a plan to gut them effectively?" Carolina heard from Vermont as he put his hands on his hips. "These guys are not easy to kill, I would know. They survived at least one sniper round from me when it came down to it. That means it's going to be a hell of a fight when it comes down to it." Vermont said as both soldiers turned at the sound of revving engines.
He turned to look at Carolina as both readied their weapons. They could explain this later.
"This is very familiar, you know, C." Vermont added, racking his rifle.
Author Notes
Phew. Another chapter done! I want to point out that next chapter will be much longer. Next chapter will be in 2-10 months and will show both Carolina and Vermont fighting Charon's forces and such. Until then? Lighting Wolf out!
P.S: Next chapter is 900-4500 words and such at the moment. it will be a bit delayed at the moment.