Simmons: Previously, on RvBvRWBY: Incursion…
"Uh… hello?" Ruby said. The blue soldier suddenly turned and ran up to her.
"Oh! You're awake!" He yelled, his louder voice sounding harsh to Ruby's ears. She winced, but tried to stay polite.
"U-Um, who are you, and where are we?" Ruby asked.
"Oh, um, I am Michael J. Caboose, and this is the future!" Caboose answered.
"These are our new friends: Ruby, Blake and Yang," Caboose introduced.
"We appreciate your help, Sarge," Ruby said gratefully.
"Wait… where's Weiss?" The three huntresses looked around, and realized the heiress wasn't with them.
"Who are you?" Weiss asked.
"Oh, my name's Frank DuFresne, but everyone I've met recently has just started calling me Doc, and I guess it stuck after all. So Doc is fine too," Doc said.
"See, there's kinda this AI in my head named O'Malley that's… not very nice."
"Well, Miss Schnee, come along then. I'd like to keep an eye on you."
"And if I don't?" Weiss questioned.
"I'll kill you. I thought I made that very clear already," O'Malley simply replied.
"You alright?" Sarge's gruff voice startled her as he approached. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare ya."
"I'm alright," Ruby replied. "Just worried."
"Ah don't worry. We'll find your friend. We made a makeshift cart like a truck bed to attach to the back of the warthog. Once we know it's purrin', we can be on our way."
"We really appreciate it, Sarge," Ruby replied.
"This is Freelancer Tex, looking for anyone from the Blood Gulch Outpost, do you read? Over." The woman repeated.
"It's that mean chick from the blue team!" Grif recognized.
"I've found O'Malley's base! Repeat, I've found O'Malley's base," Tex continued.
RvBvRWBY: Incursion
Chapter 3: Heavy Metal
It didn't take long for the warthog to charge up, or for Yang and Sarge to get the makeshift cart/truck bed attached to the back so that the young huntresses, Donut and the blues would have room to sit and enjoy the ride. Grif drove the vehicle, with Sarge riding shotgun (his actual shotgun always in hand) and Simmons in position on the turret at the back of the car. Ruby and Yang had backpacks full of the Cosmic Dust with each of them. The rest of the material was either destroyed or lost in the crash. Even if they had a working ship, they lost much of the shipment. And even if they had a full shipment, that wasn't the only issue. They couldn't know for sure, but if this Dust's purpose is exactly what Ironwood said it was, they could now be stranded in a whole other universe, with no knowledge on how to get back.
Then there was the matter of breaking that same information to the Reds and Blues. They were kind enough to offer aid to the huntresses, but they were also cautious due to how little the young women had revealed. They knew their names, and that was all the details they had gotten. Nothing about the Cosmic Dust, nothing about them being warriors, and nothing about their world of origin. They had promised to share the truth with the soldiers, but could they really do that? Could the huntresses trust them? Would the soldiers even understand? These are the things Ruby thought about as her teammates still discussed with the Reds and Blues.
"Hold on, let me get this straight," Yang said, "Caboose shot Church with a tank, and he came back as a ghost?"
"I know it sounds crazy, and that's probably because it is, but it's the truth," Tucker replied. "Once things settled down, Church came back as a ghost and warned us not to hire Tex. In hindsight, we really should've listened. If we had, none of this weird AI possession stuff would've happened."
"So what you're saying is it's all your fault?" Blake raised an eyebrow.
"Kinda," Tucker said.
"This 'O'Malley', could our teammate be with him?" Blake questioned.
"She could be. Can't guarantee anything though," Sarge answered. "That O'Malley is a crafty feller. Why, if he wasn't our enemy, I'd enlist him in the Red Army pronto!"
"Yeah, Sarge is full of completely stupid and insane ideas like that," Grif remarked.
"Quiet, moron, or your next meal will be twelve gauge," Sarge threatened.
"Hey, looks like we're coming up on that facility now," Simmons said. Sure enough, the jeep was coming up on the corner of a beach and a stone structure, and just past the tall structure arching over the sand was the facility. Waiting at the turn of the corner was a figure in black armor.
"I thought I felt a bitch nearby. Oh wait, there's one," Tucker remarked. Yang snickered at Tucker's jab.
"She's not that bad, right?" She asked.
"Yeah, don't tell her I said that," Tucker replied. The warthog came to a stop and all the colored soldiers quickly hopped out, forming a group in front of Tex.
"What took you guys so long to get here?" Tex asked.
"There's like nine of us, and this is a three-seater jeep. We spent four hours making the pull along alone. I wasn't gonna sit on someone else's lap," Simmons answered.
"It would've been a bonding trip!" Donut said.
"Hold on, back up a bit. Nine? I know you guys are dumb, but I didn't think you were that dumb. Even without Church, that's just six of you," Tex said.
"We picked up new friends!" Caboose proclaimed.
"New friends?" Tex questioned. It was then that the three huntresses of Team RWBY came around the vehicle to join the Reds and Blues. Tex's gaze immediately fixed on the three young women and never broke away.
"Um, hi!" Ruby greeted with a small wave. "I'm Ruby, and that's Yang and Blake."
"'Sup," Yang tossed her head up. Blake just silently nodded towards Tex. The freelancer, however, just kept staring at the three, making them feel slightly uncomfortable.
"Uh… are you alright?" Ruby asked.
Tex's gaze then wheeled onto the Reds and Blues. "What the fuck?!" She cursed loudly.
"Yikes," Yang muttered.
"You mean to tell me I'm gone for a few days and you guys got yourselves new girls?"
"Uuhhh…" Simmons started.
"Dude, tread carefully," Tucker warned.
"Ugh, I think I see where this is going…" Blake groaned.
"What? I don't get it," Ruby scratched her head.
"The woman's most natural impulse," Yang said, "Jealousy."
"This can only go poorly," Blake shook her head.
"Hey, don't get mad at us, we didn't ask them to crash their ship," Grif remarked.
"They needed our help, and we gave it. What's wrong with that?" Simmons asked. Tex's gaze snapped on him and he let out a little whimper while backing away.
"Look, Miss… Tex?" Ruby said, making Tex change her icy attention on her instead. "We get you don't have any reason to trust us, but we still came to help. We're looking for a friend of our own, and if stopping this O'Malley guy helps us find her, then we're more than willing to help. We're on the same side here."
"Please. How can a couple little girls like you help me?" Tex questioned harshly. Yang gripped the grill of the warthog with one hand before lifting the front of the vehicle above her head. All the soldiers looked up at the raised vehicle. "Huh. Ok, point taken," Tex relented. Yang set the jeep back down, and Sarge turned back to Tex.
"What'd ya find, Tex?" The gruff red asked.
"Well, O'Malley's holed up in this fortress. He's been fortifying his defenses for a few days now, and he's got some help. One of those religious nuts you guys picked up."
"Oh, I like them! They were funny," Caboose said.
Tucker eyed up his teammate. "Caboose, they tried to kill you because of a flag."
"I try not to remember the bad things about people."
"That's all they tried to do. There were no good things!" Tucker said.
"That's okay; I have really bad memory- Wow look, a beach!"
"Shut up, Caboose," Sarge ordered. "What's your plan, Tex?"
"Well, first we have to breach an outer wall-" Tex started.
"Oo, I love breaching!" Caboose cut in.
"-then we have to get past another wall."
"Two walls? Some people are so materialistic," Grif remarked.
"The second wall has a guard tower, and an enormous, razor harp spinning blade."
"What, that thing? It's going like two miles an hour," Yang raised an eyebrow.
"I didn't say it'd be hard to get past. After that, we have to get past the gun turrets and get into the building."
"Then we attack O'Malley," Sarge said, gripping his shotgun extra firmly.
"No," Tex corrected, "That's where we plant this." Tex gestured to a large basketball-sized metal orb sitting in the sand next to the group.
"We're planting a volleyball…" Caboose said.
"It's not a ball, it's a bomb," Tex corrected.
"We're planting a volley-bomb?!" Blake facepalmed at Caboose's stupidity. It seemed to be a more-than-regular occurrence.
"I scouted a location inside the base where we can set it off and take the whole place down," Tex said. "I marked the spot with a big X."
"You scouted it?" Blake said.
"Yeah."
"If you got past the two walls, the slow spinning blade, the gun turrets, and made it all the way inside, why didn't you just plant the bomb then instead of marking the spot with an x on the floor?" Blake questioned.
Tex reluctantly turned away and muttered under her breath, "I can't carry it…"
"What was that?" Simmons asked.
"I said it's too heavy! Okay? You happy?" Tex snapped back.
"Yeah, kind of," Grif remarked.
"I need one of you idiots to carry it. I don't have the upper body strength to move it on my own. Goldilocks will do though," Tex said, referring to Yang.
"No problem, Tex," Yang smirked and began to step for the bomb. She gripped it and started to pull up, but the bomb barely budged. "Hold on, I got this!" She stressed herself and kept pulling to similar results. She could get it to move, but it barely came off the ground. "Man, that is heavy!"
"I can carry it," Caboose said, heading for the bomb as well.
"Caboose, that's a nice sentiment and all, but you can't-" Ruby started, only for Caboose to bend down and lift the bomb off the ground. It clearly took effort, but he did what even Yang couldn't with her super-strength alone.
"What the fuck?!" Grif exclaimed.
"Caboose has got crazy strength. Church and I think it's God's way of compensating," Tucker said.
"Great Paul's Bunyan, he's like an ox!" Sarge said.
"Without the horns, or lumberjack friends…" Caboose strained.
"Here, I can still help him out," Yang said, breaking from her amazement at Caboose's strength and helping take some of the load off his arms.
"There's still more. There's someone else in there too, and I don't think she's helping them. Girl in white clothes, maybe a hostage of some kind," Tex said.
"What? That must be Weiss!" Ruby exclaimed.
"Then we can't blow up the facility until we get her out of there!" Blake added.
"Alright, then we'll storm in there, rescue the girl, blow up O'Malley, leave Grif for dead, then maybe find some clues about what happened to Church and Lopez!" Sarge proclaimed.
"You mean your robot?" Tex asked. "He's in there with them."
"Lopez is in the building?!"
"[That red guy is really starting to get on my nerves,]" Lopez said. Doc, the head of Lopez, and Weiss stood in one of the corridors of the facility as far away from the red soldier under their supposed command. He was useful, but incredibly overbearing, especially for Weiss's limited patience.
"What did he say?" Weiss asked, rubbing her temple to ease her oncoming headache.
"He said he's tired of the red dude. And I'm inclined to agree," Doc answered. "He keeps asking me if I've accepted the flag as my savior. I'm just not comfortable talking about religion in the workplace."
"Oh, no, here he comes," O'Malley groaned.
"Great…" Weiss frowned.
Sure enough, the red soldier rounded the corner and stopped in front of the three. "Master! Headmaster! Mistress! I have finished the tasks you assigned me!"
"You polished all the guns?" O'Mally asked.
"Yes! The ammunition too! It was like cleaning the impurities from my very essence!" The red enthusiastically replied.
"What about the evil windmill?" O'Malley asked, trying to think of something to make him go away.
"I greased the engine and filled it with gas. It was like giving my own soul a tune up!"
"Yes, yes, alright, fine," O'mally cut him off. "Why don't you see about patching up some of these holes in the wall? I think there's some sinister spackle in the toolshed."
"Excellent idea, sir!" The red said before heading back down the ramp from which he came, out of sight. "It'll probably help keep out that crowd of people that's gathering on the beach!"
"Yes, of course, the people on the beach, blah blah blah blah," O'Malley waved off, then the words sank in. "Wait, what did he say?"
"[And where did that girl go?]" Lopez added. O'Malley turned to see Weiss had disappeared as well.
"Rrrg, we'll worry about her in a moment. Let's go see what that zealot was talking about."
"Wait, let me get this straight," Tex said, "The biggest threat that we know of is in that building, and you don't want me to blow it up?"
"We can't! Weiss is in there!" Ruby exclaimed.
Simmons added, "Plus, we need Lopez's head. It's got valuable information stored in it."
"Sorry, I'm going with the bomb," Tex coldly replied.
"The bomb that you can't lift?" Blake raised an eyebrow. "Keep in mind, your plan doesn't work without Yang and Caboose."
"Caboose can carry it on his own, he'll listen. I'm not letting O'Malley get away this time."
"Just hire her," Tucker cut in.
"Huh?" Ruby questioned.
"Hire her to help you save your friend and get Lopez back," He elaborated. "She'll do anything for money."
"That's not true," Tex denied.
"It's not? I'll give you ten bucks to tear off Grif's arm," Tucker offered.
"Which one's Grif?" Tex immediately snapped her vision onto the group in front of her, making both Simmons and Grif quiver.
"See? She's not really even on the Blue Team. She was just paid to come help us."
"He's Grif…" Grif whispered towards the freelancer while pointing towards his maroon-armored teammate.
"How are we supposed to pay her without money?" Blake asked.
"Why don't you trade her a favor? Have her do this for you, and you guys owe her a favor," Tucker suggested. "That's how these freelancers get stuff done, right?"
"That'll work," Tex agreed. "I'll help you, and the four of you have to do something for me."
"Ok, we'll do it," Ruby agreed.
"Wait just a second," Grif stopped her. "What do we have to do?"
"It all depends," Tex answered.
"Depends on what?"
"Um, what I need. To do some future job."
"But it could be anything?" Ruby questioned.
"That's right. Anything."
Grif paused for a hard few seconds before asking, "Like gay stuff?" Blake slugged him in the arm in an instant. Yang's laugh could be heard all the way by the warthog.
"I have no idea," Tex said exasperatedly.
"Well can we rule out the gay stuff?" Grif asked, earning another punch from the hidden faunus.
"How come I never get asked to help?" Donut suddenly chimed in.
"Blake, what are they talking about?" Ruby asked, all the details flying right over head.
"Just… just don't worry about it. Maybe we'll tell you when you're older," Blake sighed, shaking her head.
"Alright, we're ready to go!" Tex called out to the others. Everyone formed up again, and Sarge took it upon himself to station himself front and center, facing all the others.
"Okay, listen up, damsels and dirtbags; if we're going to invade this fortress, we need a good game plan. I have two options we can use. Number One: we all run straight into the base in a single file line screaming at the top of our lungs. The enemy will be so flabbergasted, by the time they have a chance to regroup, we'll already be inside!" Sarge exclaimed.
"He's kidding, right?" Yang asked Grif.
"Dear god, I wish…" Grif groaned.
"They're not gonna get surprised, they're just gonna start mowing us down," Tucker pointed out.
"That's the inherent beauty of the single file line: they can only kill the person in front! So if we order from least important to most important, with Tucker being in front and me being in the back, then we just might make it through," Sarge proclaimed.
"We're doomed," Blake facepalmed.
"Don't you think Caboose should be in the back since he's the one carrying the bomb?" Simmons suggested.
"No, Caboose is in front of me," Sarge corrected. "We need someone in back who can objectively evaluate how the plan is working."
"How are you gonna know if the plan isn't working?" Ruby asked.
"If Caboose dies, I'll know if we're in trouble, and immediately abort!"
"I think that's a good plan," Caboose said enthusiastically.
"I don't think so, Caboose," Ruby shook her head.
Grif finally gave his own input. "Sarge, while I think that's the most retarded idea I've ever heard, I just wanted to thank you for not putting me in front of the line."
"Don't get misty, Francine. We'll have already killed ya and used your corpse to jam up the windmill," Sarge said gruffly. Yang audibly snorted at the visual in her head while Grif just sighed. "I think we can all agree given our current situation, it's the perfect plan." While Yang recovered from her laughing fit, everyone else just stared forward blankly and silently at Sarge, in disbelief at the stupidity of the proposed strategy. "Okay, well let me tell you about my other plan."
Grif turned to Tex. "I hope you have a better idea."
Sarge, meanwhile, continued. "Using parts from the warthog, we can make what I like to call, the Grif Cannon."
Grif sighed heavily and looked down. "Ah, man…" He then stopped listening and slowly walked back over to the warthog. Blake and Yang had had enough and joined him as well.
Weiss snuck through the corridors back to Doc/O'Malley's makeshift lab. Once there, she spotted her weapon Myrtenaster resting on one of the tables. She quickly ran for it and retrieved it. She resheathed it at her waist and saw her scroll sitting there too. She scooped it up and attempted to call any of her teammates, but her scroll was receiving no signal. She let out a heavy sigh and pocketed the device.
I need to get out of here, She thought to herself. She then quickly ran out of the room, hoping she could get out of this facility without running into O'Malley again.
"Okay, is everyone ready?" Sarge asked over the radio. "Donut, Yang, Caboose and I will move the bomb down the staircase and along the left side of the base."
"Copy that, Sarge," Simmons answered.
"Simmons, you and the bullet magnets move up the right side and try to cause some kinda distraction," Sarge ordered.
"Any suggestions?"
"As long as it draws their fire away from us and towards you, I don't care."
"Try some dance moves! Ooo! You could try a musical number!" Donut suggested, hijacking the conversation.
"Get off the radio, Donut!" Sarge exclaimed before the transmission cut out.
Meanwhile, in the corridor behind them, Ruby, Blake and Tucker waiting when Tucker saw a rifle sitting in the middle of the hallway. He immediately started for it.
"Ooo, sniper rifle!" He called. But Tex quickly got it before him.
"I got it," She said, taking the weapon in hand and going up the stairwell to the roof.
"Fuck…" Tucker cursed.
"Well, looks like we're on our own, guys," Simmons reported. "Tex, how does it look from up there?"
"I don't see any movement… but the guns are definitely online," Tex responded.
Tucker said, "You know what, I miss the old days when we didn't risk our lives, and you guys were all just a bunch of nameless assholes I would yell at with Church."
"It's okay. We hate you too, man," Grif said with a mock sad tone.
"You guys don't have large aspirations, do you?" Blake questioned.
"What can I say, I'm a lover, not a dreamer," Tucker replied. Blake just rolled her eyes.
Sarge and Donut took the back and front of the group respectively as Yang and Caboose hauled the bomb up the stairs to the site where they would wait for the distraction to sneak the bomb inside, an elevated position near the far side of the wall. They came up the stairs and grouped together closely.
"Sarge, we're in position," Simmons reported over the radio.
"Roger that, we're also in position. No sign of the enemy," Sarge replied.
"Man, this is the easiest fortress invasion of all time," Donut cheerfully remarked.
"Maybe for you," Caboose groaned in effort.
"Seriously, how heavy is this thing?" Yang added with a strained voice. Both of them dropped it on the ground for a small rest to catch their breath.
"Careful with that thing, you two!" Sarge reprimanded. Donut looked towards the facility to see a soldier in red stationed at one of the machine gun turrets taking aim at the group.
"Uh, Sarge?" He said.
"You could blow us all to smithereens!" Sarge continued his lecture of the blue soldier and young huntress.
"Sarge, I'm pretty sure that guy up there with the gun sees us…" Donut raised his voice a bit louder, still falling on deaf ears. Though Yang also perked her head up as her aura began telling her something was wrong. The she saw the turret taking aim.
"You wanna blow people to smithereens, at least make sure Grif is nearby," Sarge kept going.
"Duck!" Donut and Yang called in unison. Yang grabbed Sarge and pulled him to the ground and Donut leapt to the floor just before a storm of bullets rained down on their position.
"A duck? Where? I love ducks!" Caboose said childishly, somehow the bullets avoided him altogether.
"Get down, ya idiot!" Sarge called over the sound of gunfire.
The others took cover behind an old half-buried ship engine sticking up from the dirt as turret fire bore down on them as well. "We're under fire! Sarge, we're under fire!" Grif exclaimed.
"Good!" Sarge replied. "Now jump up and draw them off!" Grif mentally facepalmed and turned back to the others.
"Well, what did he say?" Ruby asked.
"He was breaking up. I think he said something about staying here and not doing anything risky," Grif lied.
"Sounds sensible, which means it's probably a lie," Blake remarked, having already picked up fairly well how these Reds and Blues operated.
"Tex! See what you can do about that gun!" Simmons commanded up to Tex, who was still running along the top of the wall instead of being on the ground with them.
"You got it," Tex replied.
"Don't worry, I got this," Ruby smirked as she took the folded Crescent Rose off her back.
"You? What are you gonna do, be our meat shield?" Tucker remarked. Ruby pulled Simmons away from the front and hid herself just enough behind their cover up front. She spotted the singular green-armored head operating the turret, then shifted her weapon into its sniper form, taking aim.
"The fuck? Does everybody have a sniper rifle except me?" Tucker said. Simultaneously, both Tex and Ruby fired their rifles, both shots connecting with Lopez's head, sending it flying off the turret.
"Ha! Headshot! Not bad, kid," Tex complimented.
"Nice shot!" Grif added.
"Tucker, you and Tex head across that bridge," Simmons ordered. "Try to take out that turret. We'll head into the base and see if we can find O'Malley."
"Why do I have to go against the machine gun while you guys get to go play hide and seek?" Tucker questioned.
"The guy we're seeking has a rocket launcher," Simmons deadpanned.
"Oh, right. Well, have fun doing that," Tucker chuckled.
"And you call yourself a soldier," Blake frowned.
"Hey, I never said I was a very good one," Tucker said before running up and joining Tex above them.
"Hm… I can't see him from here. Let's move out," Tex said. She crossed the rotating hollow center of the turbine easily, but when Tucker followed, he fell through a gap in the cylinder into a small room below, landing harshly. Tex stopped and quickly went to check on him. "Tucker! Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm okay," Tucker groaned as he got up. "Just dropped down into some kind of hole. Can you give me a hand?"
"Oh. Let me take out this turret. I'll be back for you later," Tex said before leaving Tucker's eyesight.
Oh, you rotten bitch, Tucker thought to himself. He then looked in front of him and saw a small object on the floor. "What is that? Hoo, what the hell is this?" He quickly rushed to pick it up.
The gunfire was still bearing down on Sarge's team's position. They had to stay crouched to avoid being shot. "Yang, Caboose, we'll hold 'em off from up here. You two take the bomb and try to sneak in the front of the base."
"Sounds better than sitting here doing nothing," Yang said. The two quickly grabbed the bomb and leapt over the edge of the staircase before they were able to be hit.
"Wow, Sarge. You actually decided to sacrifice yourself for someone else!" Donut remarked.
"Quiet, Donut!" Sarge snapped. "Gonna need your help. When the turrets kill Caboose and Yang, I'm gonna need you to carry the bomb into the base!"
"Oh…"
Grif, Ruby, Simmons and Blake stopped just short of the spinning turbine. "Alright guys, we'll just need to jump through here," Simmons led.
"Okay, go for it," Grif said.
"Me? Why me first?" Simmons questioned.
"Because I don't wanna die?"
"Grif, that thing's moving super slow! See?" Ruby said, gesturing to the turbine. They all looked at it in silence for a few seconds before one of its three blades even came close to rotating in front of them.
"Nice knowing you guys," Grif said.
Blake just facepalmed again. "Unbelievable…"
Tucker made his way out of the hole he dropped into onto the main catwalks for the exterior of the facility, his new find in hand. He had come out just down the path from the remaining machine gun turret operated by the Red zealot, still firing at them, then it shifted to Tex's position as she poked out, forcing her into cover as well.
"I'm pinned down, I need assistance!" She called over the comms.
Oh, she better thank me for this, Tucker thought. He rushed up to the red and held the object in his hand firmly. "Hey asshole!" The zealot stopped firing and turned his attention to Tucker. Tucker smirked under his helmet and pressed the activation switch on the small hilt he had in hand. From the hilt came two four-foot long blue energy blades that curved out in parallel.
"Huh?" Was the only thing the zealot uttered before Tucker rushed up and struck him with the weapon. The zealot was sent flying off the catwalk and landing in the dirt below. "My quest is over… I can see the flag… it's so flappy… hegh! Blaahh…"
Tucker smirked in approval at his new weapon as Tex caught up to him. "Hey, where'd you get that?" She asked.
"Found it in the hole," He answered. "Pretty cool. Look what I can do." Tucker then tested the energy sword by swinging it through the air playfully, creating heavy woosh sounds in its arc.
"Hey, you wanna trade it for the sniper rifle?" Tex asked.
"No thanks, I'm good."
Caboose and Yang had made it inside and were still hauling the bomb around, scanning everywhere for the marked spot Tex had left.
"Do you see anything yet, Caboose? Like the X Tex told us about?" Yang asked.
"Well, I saw a weird plus sign on the floor, but a plus sign is not an X," Caboose replied.
"It is if you rotate a little," Yang replied.
"Oh, I'm sure it was nothing," Caboose dismissed the idea.
"Yang?!" A voice said. A familiar one to Yang. She turned her head to see Weiss just down the hall. Her eyes lit up and she immediately dropped the bomb right onto Caboose's foot.
"Weiss!" Yang exclaimed.
"Ow, my toes!" Caboose cried out. Yang and Weiss quickly rushed to each other. When they met, Yang pulled her teammate into a tight embrace.
"I'm so glad you're alright!" Yang smiled.
"You too," Weiss replied before they parted. "How did you find me?"
"Long story. We hitched a ride with these red and blue guys. If we helped them stop this O'Malley guy, then they'd help us find you. Guess things really worked out!"
"Wait, you're here for O'Malley?" Weiss questioned.
"Yeah, why?" Yang asked.
"Nothing, just… coincidental, I guess. It's strange, I haven't seen him since he went outside to stop, well you I assume."
"He didn't hurt you, did he?"
"No. Quite the opposite, actually," Weiss said. "He made sure I wasn't hurt from the ship crash, made sure I had a place to stay. Doc even wanted to help me find you guys."
"Yeah, evil AI is sure something to wrap your head around," Yang rubbed her neck.
"As weird as a black alien living suit that thrives on chocolate?" Weiss raised an eyebrow.
"Fair point. Man, I feel bad for Cardin's pockets on that one."
"Or better yet, his health," Weiss added.
"Hello!" Caboose exclaimed as he suddenly joined them with the bomb in hand, startling Weiss. She quickly went for the hilt of Myrtenaster when Yang stopped her.
"No no, Weiss, it's alright. He's with us. Caboose, meet Weiss. Weiss, Caboose," Yang introduced.
"Is she a nice lady?" Caboose asked the blonde huntress.
"Mmm, depends on the day," Yang replied, much to Weiss's chagrin.
"Oh. Well hello, nice lady!" Caboose greeted.
"Hello," Weiss replied uneasily.
Caboose then turned his head to Yang. "You dropped the bomb on my toes."
"Right. Sorry bud," Yang replied nervously.
"Wait, that's a bomb?!" Weiss stepped back.
"Yeah. We were gonna get you and this robot guy then blow the place up."
"Robot? Do you mean Lopez?" Weiss asked.
"You know him?"
"He was working with O'Malley," Weiss frowned.
"Well, the Reds need him for information or whatever," Yang said. She then eyed up the room that Weiss was in before reuniting. "What were you doing here?"
Weiss turned back around and went up to a terminal next to a large generator behind a wire fence. "Well, I was trying to see if I could use this communication terminal to contact you guys, but it seems like a moot point now."
"I am good at communication," Caboose randomly said.
Suddenly, a different voice came from the terminal in front of them. "Hello? Caboose, is that you? Can you hear me?"
Weiss and Yang didn't recognize the voice, but Caboose did immediately. "Church?"
"Yeah, I'm bored," Grif complained. "I wanna stop doing whatever it is I'm pretending to be doing."
"You're supposed to be helping me look for Lopez, meat sack," Sarge said. The two, as well as Simmons, were on the exterior catwalks searching for the head of Lopez, having lost track of him during the battle. "You said you saw him up here."
"We saw his head," Grif responded.
"Just the head?" Sarge questioned.
Grif replied, "Yeah, it was operating the right turret."
"How was he pulling the triggers?"
"He's very determined," Simmons answered.
"You're sure it was Lopez?" Sarge asked.
"Well, I heard screaming in Spanish and bullets flying through the air. So either that was Lopez, or this is Mexican new year," Grif remarked.
"Well where's his head now?"
"Uh, I don't know, Ruby and Tex both shot it and sent it flying," Simmons replied. He turned and looked up to one of the elevated rooms opening to the courtyard and called out, "Hey, Tex!"
Tex popped out into view with the sniper rifle still in her hands. "What?"
"When you shot Lopez's head, where did it go?" Simmons asked.
"How do I know?" Tex replied in an annoyed tone.
"Are you sure you hit it?" Simmons followed up. Tex didn't reply audibly, instead glaring down at the maroon soldier with an icy disposition. "I mean, is it possible that you missed? You and Ruby did both shoot at it. Maybe she hit it and you couldn't tell. It doesn't say anything about your overall skill level."
Without even another word, Tex left from view, clearly pissed. Simmons turned back around to his squad mates. "Yeah, she says she doesn't know."
"Mister Sargeant! Mister Sargeant! Come quick!" Caboose called from down the hall into the facility.
"You better have a damn good reason for interrupting our search," Sarge replied. "Can't you see this is an extremely organized and highly motivated operation?"
Ruby, Tucker, Blake and Donut were out in the courtyard as Tucker showed off his new weapon. He held the energy sword in his hands as Ruby and Donut in particular marveled at it.
"Aahhh, it's so cool!" Ruby shrieked. "What is it? What's it made of? Are the blades pure energy? How powerful is it? How do you turn it on? Can the blades get longer? Is it also a gun?"
Tucker was beginning to get overwhelmed by her consistent questions. "Woah, take it easy, kid. Slow your roll," He said. "I have no clue what this thing or what else it can do. I've had it for like five minutes."
"Hehe, sorry," Ruby apologized nervously. "I'm just kind of a weapon nerd."
"I like the glowing part," Donut added. "Does it make cool noises when you swing it?"
"I don't think so. Wait, is whoosh a noise? If so, then it goes whoosh whoosh! Whoosh whoosh!" Tucker replied, swinging it around a little bit through the air while making more whoosh sounds with his mouth. "See?"
"And you found that in a random hole in the floor?" Blake questioned.
"Yeah, I was just walking along, following Tex, not really paying attention, y'know, and I fell in some hole. And, uh, Tex didn't help me out, she figured she was better off without me, and that's when I found this!"
"Y'know, mos people would tell that story in a way that makes them sound a little better," Donut said.
"Yeah but, y'know, that's really not my style," Tucker replied.
"Man, I've never found something that cool in a hole. And I've explored just about every hole you can think of!" Donut said.
"Hey dude, do me a favor and don't talk like that when I'm playing with my thing," Tucker said uncomfortably.
Blake sighed and shook her head. "We really need to work on how you two phrase things."
"Let's go inside and see how everyone else is doing," Ruby suggested.
Sarge, Simmons and Grif followed Caboose inside back to the generator room. Sarge hollered, "Caboose, what are you yammerin' about? Did ya find Lopez?"
"No, but we did find someone else!" Yang smiled. "Guys, meet Weiss!" She gestured to her paler teammate.
"'Sup," Grif said.
"Nice to meet you," Simmons added.
"Hello," Weiss cautiously replied, still unsure of the Reds and blues herself. But if Yang and the others vouched for them, it was enough for her for now.
"This is nice and all, but is this all you wanted, Caboose?" Sarge questioned.
Caboose shook his head. "We found someone else. Someone meaner."
"O'Malley?" Sarge asked.
"Meaner," Caboose said.
"You found someone meaner than the guy trying to destroy the universe?" Grif questioned.
"Yes…" Caboose said before the voice from the terminal spoke again.
"Caboose, is that you? Can you hear me?"
"See? It's Church," Caboose identified the voice. "And he's meaner than ever!"
"Caboose, is that you? Can you hear me?" The terminal repeated.
"Church, I can hear you. Can you hear me?"
"Caboose, is that you? Can you hear me?"
"Church, I can hear you. How are you?" Caboose asked the terminal.
"Caboose, is that you? Can you hear me?"
"I think it's a recording," Weiss said.
"Quiet. I wanna see how long this retarded time loop can go on for," Grif cut her off, clearly entertained by the exchange.
"Church, I can hear you. Do you miss me?" Caboose continued, completely unaware.
"Move over, brainiac," Sarge said, pushing Caboose aside and tearing the panel off the side of the terminal, exposing the wires and machinery within. He kneeled down next to it and peered inside. "Lemme see if I can get the rest of this thing to play."
"I carried the bomb and found Church. I am a very important person," Caboose declared.
"I highly doubt that," Weiss remarked.
"And hey, we carried the bomb and found Church," Yang frowned. "Whoever Church is."
"He's the Blues' leader. To be honest, he's kind of an asshole," Simmons said.
Sarge had finished inspecting the terminal's innards and begun to formulate an idea. "Hmm… I think I can reroute power from the main coupling to the memory storage compartment. Grif, we may have to use some of your circuitry from your armor's life support system."
"Or you could just hit the play button," Grif deadpanned.
"Are you sure? I'm already down here," Sarge said.
"I'm sure."
"Already got the access panel off and everything," Sarge added.
Weiss rolled her eyes and quickly walked up to the terminal and pressed the play button. "Hmph. Buzzkill," Sarge grumbled before standing up. Then Church's message began to play.
"Caboose, I know you're there. I'm leaving this message from two-thousand years in the past," Church said.
"What?" Weiss questioned.
"Long story, don't worry about it," Yang said.
"Whatever you do, Don't. Touch. Anything. Apparently you're this culture's version of the apocalypse. You're gonna destroy this building, and somehow bring about doom for their entire race."
Caboose said, "Hmm, I don't know… that doesn't sound like me… I like people. And buildings also."
"Again, I highly doubt that…" Weiss muttered.
"Yang, what did you do with the bomb you were carrying?" Simmons asked.
"I dropped it on Caboose's foot," Yang answered. "Then he had it."
"You gave the bomb to Caboose and only Caboose?" Sarge questioned.
"Uh… Caboose, where's the bomb?" Yang asked the blue soldier.
"Oooh, I put it on the X, like I was supposed to," Caboose answered.
"Uh oh…"
"I think we better get outta here," Grif said.
Meanwhile, Church's message kept playing. "And whatever you do, don't touch the glowing weapon thing they have stored there. And if you do, definitely don't bring it into the main building, otherwise the whole place is gonna lock down and you're gonna be trapped."
"Whassup, dogs?" They heard Tucker call out from the entrance before a harsh metal grinding signified the main gat into the facility closing and locking.
"Aah, the door closed!" Ruby exclaimed.
"If only he'd said that earlier," Weiss sighed.
Sarge quickly hopped on his comms. "Tex, this is Sarge. Do not detonate the bomb!"
"I don't have a detonator, it's on a timer," Tex replied.
"A countdown timer?" Grif asked.
"That's not good," Yang said.
"No, a count up timer. It goes from one, to explode!" Tex replied sarcastically. "Of course it's a countdown timer you idiot!"
"I think we might be in trouble," Sarge said.