In the end, there was nothing I could do. I simply wasn't trained to deal with the medical problems that Tex had, and I didn't know the first thing about surgery. I did my best to make Tex comfortable, and gave her a shot of morphine every half-hour for the next three hours, after which she died peacefully.

The doctor never arrived.

Church spent the whole time there, holding her hand while we watched her breathing become more and more shallow, and when she finally stopped, I wisely left the room, not willing to face off with an angry Church.

To be honest, I didn't know what to feel about Tex's death. I didn't know her that well, and if I was actually in Canon, then she was going to come back at some point. It made me wonder, who was the person that had had Beta injected into them? They were the person who had actually died, not Tex.

Did Tex even know that she was an AI fragment? It was possible, which meant it was also probable that she knew she was possessing someone else's body. I wondered how that would psychologically affect someone, to know that their body wasn't their own. It couldn't be a good feeling.

I arrived at the top of the base to find that Tucker and Caboose standing there, with their sniper rifles pointed at Red base. Did they even know that Tex was dead? Probably not, and by the looks of things, they probably wouldn't care either way.

"Hey, whats up?" I asked curiously. "Why are you spying on the Reds?"

"Why wouldn't we be spying on the Reds?" asked Tucker, putting down his sniper rifle and turning to look at me. "Besides, the Reds have got a girl now. I'm waiting to see if that girl will show up."

"Consorting with the enemy now, are we, Tucker?" I asked indifferently. Tex had been breathing her last for the past few hours, and they were up here, worried about attracting girls. Girls from the enemy team, no less.

"Not exactly," Tucker replied, turning back to face Red Base and pulling up his sniper rifle. "I'm gonna see if I can sweet talk that girl in to switching sides."

"How're you gonna do that?" I asked disbelievingly.

"Well, I figure if I just show up with the tank, I'd scare off the other Reds and offer to take her out on a ride," Tucker replied conspiratorially. "Girls can't resist tank rides. It will be smooth sailing to third base from there."

"Tucker, the Reds are more likely to shoot at you if you show up with the tank," I pointed out. "Besides, the thing's busted, remember?"

Tucker turned to look at me again. "Dude, don't cock-block me! That girl is as good as mine!"

"Have you even figured out how to use sound sense on your scope yet?" I asked incredulously. "If you can't even figure that out, I doubt you can fix the tank."

"I'm a lover, not a fixer," Tucker dismissed, looking back towards Red Base again. "I'll figure something out. In the meantime, could you please show me how to do the sound sense thing?"

"I'll tell you what," I said plainly, an idea occurring to me. "If you actually do manage to sweet talk that girl into joining our side, I'll help you with whatever you need."

"Really? Thanks dude," Tucker replied, relieved. "You're not half bad."

I was glad he wasn't looking at me, cause I was trying hard not to laugh. I couldn't wait to see the look on Tucker's face when he realized that the 'girl' was actually a dude.

Like they had thought Tex was a dude but was actually a girl.

"Well, I'm going to go and explore the canyon for a while," I said a moment, stretching my arms up, then pulling out my assault rifle. "Tell Church when he comes out that I will do the death certificate thing when I get back, he can put the body into storage until I come back."

"What body?" asked Tucker, confused. "Wait, Tex? Tex is dead?"

"Uh, yeah, she died a few minutes ago. Not many people survive grenades to the neck without surgery," I replied curtly, making to jump off the base. "If you had been there with me and Church, instead of up here looking for girls, you might have known that. I'll be back in a few hours."

"Wait!" Caboose suddenly spoke up. "I'll come with you."

"Uh, no, Caboose," I replied sharply. "I kind of want to be alone."

And I wanted to go and find the time traveling Church, but they didn't need to know that.

"I don't know, White," Tucker commented, trying hiding the glee in his voice at making someone suffer and failing miserably. "Maybe you shouldn't be alone in this canyon. What if you run into one of the Reds?"

"Uh, no. Fuck that noise," I bit out sharply. "Caboose, stay here. Tucker, shut up. I'll be back in two hours."

I dropped off the base, making to walk towards the shade of a cliff, when I heard the patter of feet behind me.

"Caboose, what part of 'stay put' do you not understand?" I asked angrily, turning round to see him. "Go back to base!"

"But Tucker said-" He made to protest.

"Yeah, I know what Tucker said. Go bother Church for a while if you need something to do, I've got shit to do and you'll just get in the way," I bit out shortly, annoyed.

Caboose just stood still for a moment, his helmet angled towards me.

"You don't need to be so mean," he said after a moment. "And I can help, whatever it is you're doing."

"You want to be target practice?" I asked, faux-surprised and a little angry. "I was planning to field test my modified assault rifle on some rocks, but a live test subject will make for a more interested experience."

Caboose flinched and started shuffling his feet, no doubt remembering Tex shooting at him yesterday. "Umm, I… don't think I can… do that."

"Then go back to base, and leave me alone," I replied simply. "Or you will be target practice."

Caboose turned around and slinked his way back to base, head low. I didn't like being mean to the guy, but he was an idiot and I really did have important work to do.

I turned around and continued on my way to the caves of the cliff. I had to find Future Church. If I did find him, I could ask him questions and maybe figure out a way to save him in Reconstruction. If Reconstruction had actually happened, that is. Or will happen. Could have happened. Something like that.

To my surprise, the caves in the cliffs were more extensive than they had been in the Halo games. Not so extensive that I couldn't find my way out, but still, pretty big.

As I crept through the cave closest to Blue Base, I was careful to not make much noise. I had the feeling that Future Church would try to avoid me or something. I turned my HUD to night mode so I could see in the dark.

After half an hour of wandering, I came upon a chamber that 3 meters wide and 5 meters tall. I found him there, lying on the ground. It seemed that he was in sleep mode, his weapons on the ground next to him.

I slowly walked over to him, aiming my gun at him and giving his leg a slight nudge. He jerked awake, to see the barrel of my gun pointing at his face.

"Don't move or I will put one right between your eyes," I said, sharply. "Now, what is your name."

"White, it's me, Church!" Church said quickly in a panicked tone.

"A likely story," I said easily. "But the Church I know is currently speaking Spanish and wearing brown armor."

"Huh?" Church blinked confusedly. "Oh right, Lopez. Listen, White, you can run my registration number, right?"

"Yes…" I nodded slowly.

"I'm sending it to your HUD now," he said. I saw a window open on my HUD, but instead of a number, it was binary code, and I suddenly felt a slight electric shock as my armor locked up.

"What-" I said, surprised. I hadn't expected this. "How did you lock up my armor? That's password protected!"

"When you're an AI, cracking passwords is easy," Church commented easily.

"You're an AI?" I said in a faux-surprised voice. "Who are you, why are you here?"

"It's really me, White," Church sighed with an aggravated tone. He shifted around the gun in his face, before standing up.

"I don't believe that," I replied shortly. "Otherwise how would you have gotten here before me? And when did you have the time to paint your armor?"

"It's a long story," Church rolled his eyes, sitting down. "If I unlock your armor, do you promise that you wont attack me?"

"Fine," I replied after a moment's consideration. I had to act the part, even if I already knew he was Church. It also sounded like Church had finally accepted that he was an AI.

A moment later I felt my armor unlocking, so I stood up straight. I made a mental note to reset my password, before turning around to sit in front of Church.

"So, are you going to tell me this long story?" I asked.

Church was quiet for a moment, before I heard him sigh. "You don't have to pretend, White. I've been inside your head. I've seen your encrypted files. I know that you already know the truth."

I froze, looking at his helmet. Was he about to say what I thought he was about to say?

"What truth?" I asked innocently.

"You've lived a life before this one," said Church simply. "and you watched a little web series called Red vs Blue."

I frowned. It was probably a good thing that he knew the truth now, but still, something wasn't adding up.

"When did you have the time to crack my encrypted files-" I paused. "Wait, did you actually spend a thousand years sitting in front of Gamma, waiting for him to make teleportation tech?"

"Well, you theorized that it was actually a sim, remember?" Church replied shortly, sitting down and leaning his back against the cave wall. "It looked like a sim, it was really low rez, and I felt 2D while I was in it."

"You felt 2D in the sim?" I asked in disbelief after sitting down myself. "What the fuck does that mean? And that reminds me, how did Gamma react when you blew up in his face?"

"It was a fucking sim, White," Church replied in an aggravated tone. "It just felt weird."

"Right, well, how did Gamma react when you blew up in his face?" I asked again.

"What makes you think I blew up in Gary's face?" Church asked irritably.

I gave Church a deadpan stare. "You're you. If you knew the truth, I'd think you'd get angry."

Church was quiet for a moment, before he mumbled something I could quite make out.

"Speak up, I could hear that," I replied.

"I said, you left a message for me in your encrypted files," Church muttered.

I blinked at him. "A message?"

"Yes." Church replied sullenly. "Here, I'll send it to your HUD."

A moment later, a video popped up on my HUD. It was me, and I appeared to be sitting at a desk in the machine room back at the base.

'"Hello Church," Future-me said. "if you're watching this, that mean's you've copied and cracked my encrypted files. That means you now know the truth about me, and about yourself. And since I've met your future self, that means I know exactly when you will crack it.

"Church, I know it will seem unbelievable, but you know, and I know, that what these files tell the truth, there is just too much that lines up for them not to be. If you still don't believe me, you can check them against your own history. Obviously, some things will be different because I'm here, but the general course of events have largely remained the same.

"If you're wondering why I didn't try to save you from the tank, it's because I needed to prove to you that you are an AI, so that you won't be so willing to sacrifice yourself when reconstruction happens. If you know that you're an AI in advance, then you will also know that an EMP will kill you.

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you the truth when I first met you, but lets be honest, would you have believed me? No, you wouldn't have, would you?

"Last thing: what ever you do, don't blow up at Gamma. If you do, and if you really are in a sim as I think you are, then Gamma may keep you trapped there, instead of letting you leave. If that is the case, and they are simulating time dilation, it could be many thousands of years before we can find you and break you out. Who knows what could happen to you in that time.

"See you in the future, Church."'

I watched the message a second time, then a third. I had a strong feeling that I was witnessing a bootstrap paradox in action.

"Before you say anything, I set a self delete timer on the file," Church stated suddenly. "No Bootstrap Paradox in action here."

"How did you know I was gonna say that?" I asked incredulously.

"You kept yapping about time travel tv shows and movies for three whole months before Doc arrived," Church replied, then he looked at me thoughtfully. "And now that I've said that, I've just realized there was probably a point to it."

"Yeah, I figure," I replied sarcastically, before glancing at him sideways. "So, you know the truth now. How do you feel about that?"

"Well, I was kind of mad at first," Church stated. "But after I thought about it, I realized that you were right, I wouldn't have believed you if you started spouting nonsense about the future. Hell, I thought you were crazy when I first started reading the files..."

"How long did it take you to read the files?" I asked curiously.

"A few hours," Church replied. "I still thought you were crazy when I finished, but after I started to think about it, I realized that your message wouldn't make sense unless you already knew I was going to hack your files, which meant that you had to have met some future, time traveling version of me who was gonna tell you about this."

"So it was then that you realized I was telling the truth?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah, I was really angry at first," said Church in a tight voice. "At Garry, at O'malley, at you. But I was really, really angry at Garry, and I just couldn't stay there, standing in front of him. So I left, I left the place in the sim were he was. I told him I wanted to go and explore for a bit while I waited for him to make the teleport thing."

"There couldn't have been much space in the sim for explore," I commented.

"Actually it was pretty roomy," Church replied bemusedly. "It was a simulation of a whole planet."

I boggled at him. "You had a whole planet to explore? By yourself, alone?"

"Yeah, after a while it just got boring," Church rolled his eyes morosely. "You can only see so many different rocks and trees before it gets stale. Eventually I found my way back to Garry, and he told me he still had 750 years to go."

"Wow, all by yourself for centuries," I whistled.

"Yeah, it was great. Just... really great," Church sighed, looking away from me.

"So when you finally got out of that, you just went through the motions?" I asked curiously. "You had to have known that nothing you did would change anything."

"Well, no," Church looked at me. "You haven't been paying much attention to the tank, have you?"

I frowned at him. "What do you mean by that."

"The tank's name is still Philis."

"Wait, if you didn't turn off the Friendly Fire Protocol, who did?" I asked, surprised.

"Yeah, uh, don't be alarmed, but I think it was you," Church replied, scratching the back of his helmet.

"After Donut came past me in the caves, I followed him out. I wanted to see what would happen if I didn't do what you said I would do."

"And?" I asked.

"And I saw you behind Philis and talking to her," Church continued. "Or someone with armor the same color as yours, and a guy wearing white armor that I think might be Wyoming."

I stared at him for a long moment. "That's weird. I didn't know Wyoming's tech could go that far back in time."

"Yes, and you also didn't think that I actually time traveled in… Red vs. Blue," Church paused for a moment. "God, it's so weird to think that I'm in some internet show."

"You think it's weird, try watching said show, then waking up in it," I commented.

"Yeah, well, at least your life wasn't made by some internet shitheads for shits and giggles," Church replied with a surly tone.

"No, I just had to wake up in said internet show made by internet shitheads for shits and giggles," I snarked back. "Believe me, it's no picnic."

"Yeah, well, anyway."

"So you think Wyoming's tech actually lets him travel farther in time?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah, exactly," Church nodded. "It would explain how this whole time travel mess actually works."

"Yeah, but it wouldn't explain why Wyoming would go though the trouble of transporting people around in time," I stated, before looking to the side. "or why I would be working with him."

"Yeah, I had an idea about that," Church replied thoughtfully. "Wyoming was working with Omega on his 'evil plan', whatever that is-"

"And trying to kill Tucker," I pointed out.

"Yeah, that too," Church nodded. "Thing is, we don't know what his 'evil plan' is, but I have a feeling that it might be the reason why Wyoming is bothering with this whole time travel thing."

"That seems like it would be needlessly convoluted, and a waste of resources," I replied thoughtfully.

"Hey, it's Omega we're dealing with," Church pointed out. "He's not exactly the smartest of the bunch."

"Yeah, that would be Delta," I paused. "or Epsilon, since he has Delta with him too."

"Hey, I'd rather not talk about my AI fragments, White," Church grumbled shortly.

"Um, ok," I looked at him. It probably had something to do with Gamma locking him in a sim for a millennium. "That reminds me, how did I convince you that you were an AI? You were rather resistant to the idea when I first broached the topic."

Church looked away. "It was… when you found the AI data chip in my body's head. You plugged it into a computer… and… well…"

"I see," I said, deep in thought. "So being plugged into a computer helped you to realize you were an AI? How were you moving around as a hologram before that?"

"All of our suits have projectors," Church replied quietly. "I didn't realize it at the time, but what I was really doing was just moving from suit to suit, even when I was possessing people."

"Hmm, that's weird," I commented. "Did I do the same for Tex?"

"Yeah," Church replied. "When she didn't respond, I thought the chip had gotten damaged by the grenade. I thought she was really dead."

"But she wasn't?" I queried.

"No, she turned up after Doc came around, and I helped her get the omega AI out of Cabooses head," Church replied. "For some reason, she didn't seem very surprised when I told her we're AI."

He looked at me. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

"Uh, no," I blinked at him. I must have deliberately left that bit of info out of my notes. I made a mental note to do that in the future. "Maybe she figured it out on her own?"

"Maybe," Church replied pensively. "Now, about Omega and Wyoming- we need to find out what their plan is and why they are doing all this time travel shit, and I have an idea how we can do that."

"It doesn't involve me working as a double agent for Omega, does it?" I asked cautiously. "Cause that sounds like it'd be painful… or boring, and I'm not sure which."

Church just stared at me.

"Oh fuck berries."