We Are Number One
Location: Modified D77H-TCI Pelican Dropship, Designation Four-Seven Niner, Exiting Lyria Atmosphere
Shipboard Time: 2230 Hours
Date: June 17, 2557
The pelican continued on its course, flying up high above the Terran-like continents and serene oceans like a fast-moving bird of prey. With engines powered to move the ship at an optimal 300 miles per hour, the ship broke the planet's atmosphere about fifteen minutes after leaving the Insurrectionist facility. After ten more minutes of being in total vacuum, the ship came within sight of the All or Nothing, its rockets still flaring as it strained against Lyria's gravity well.
All the while, the team's two 'rookies', Caboose and Donut, sat silently in the transport's troop bay, their visors fixed on the third passenger sitting across from them. The woman that had joined them was also quiet, her head pointed in the left, in the direction of the rear exit.
Although he could never tell what his teammate was thinking, Donut had plenty of questions running through his head about the woman as it stood. In fact, questions have been cycling through his head about the new passenger ever since he had time to think about her. Who was this stranger that decided to join them this late in the battle? What was she doing here? Was anyone aware that she was going to be with them? What would Sarge think? What would the team's reaction be?
Meanwhile, at the pelican's forward section, Grif had his eyes on the copilot's monitor. Four-Seven-Niner had her helmet set in place, her focus completely set on the frigate that was growing in size in front of them every passing second.
Deciding that they were within radio distance, Four-Seven-Niner brought her right hand over to a set of rectangular buttons that were set up in a grid-like pattern. Extending a finger, she pressed one of the buttons and leaned over to the comms unit. "Command, this is Four-Seven-Niner requesting clearance to land, over."
The speaker crackled to life and a man's voice came out. "Roger, Four-Seven-Niner. You are clear to land in the primary hangar bay, over."
"I copy, Command. Making my approach now." The speaker died down and the pilot removed her hand from the radio controls. She placed her hand back on the right joystick and began smoothly moving the ship into the hangar bay located at the lower back end of the ship.
Grif was sitting in the seat behind her, his eyes fixed on the screen in front of him. On the screen footage from the camera in the troop bay was being fed live to him. There, he could see his friends resting after the hard-fought battle.
But it wasn't them the orange grenadier was focused on. Instead, he was focused on the person sitting across from them; the light-blue one Four-Seven-Niner had called 'Agent Carolina.'
Grif brought his right hand up to his chin, reviewing the events that had just recently happened to them in his head. Okay, he thought, we infiltrated the station approximately forty-five minutes ago. Caboose and I set charges across the facility while Donut did some recon. Caboose and I took overwatch when Donut found a terminal where he could download information from the Insurrectionists' archives.
The alarm went off when Donut finished the download and we regrouped. We fought our way to the helipad and… that's when she showed up. I don't know how she did it, but she practically crippled the Insurrectionist forces and saved our lives.
It doesn't make sense, though. How did she get here, with them? Wash was certain that only the three of them had made the drop, so she surely didn't come in with them. And she couldn't have been deployed on the planet ahead of time.
Or could she? Grif thought back to the time when had first run into the Freelancer/Recovery Agent. A cold, merciless, indoctrinated, and secretive soldier that did what needed to be done to get the job done, no matter the costs. Ever since the beginning, Wash had always been one to hold information from them, important, possibly dangerous information that needed to be known. If so, then could the Freelancer be holding back more information from them, just like last time?
The orange soldier touched his radio set, trying to get a connection to Agent Washington before they landed. If there was someone who should know that a new arrival was joining them, it should be him. As far as Grif was aware, the Freelancer was, at least partially, leading and commanding them like a general would to his soldiers.
His radio chimed in approval and Grif began. "Wash, you there?"
"Yeah, I'm here. What do you need?"
"I need to tell you something."
"What do you need to tell me?"
Grif paused, trying to gather his thoughts in a way that made a relevant amount of sense before continuing. "We're on our way back, but there's someone else here with us."
"Someone besides you, Caboose, and Donut?"
"Yeah. I thought I should let you know. You might want to get the guys down to the hangar to meet their new arrival."
"Sure thing, Grif. Most of them are already there and the rest are on their way." The radio fell silent and Grif removed his finger. He looked back at the screen. Interested, he zoomed the camera in on the agent.
He looked over his module at the pilot, curiosity filling his mind. If he was going to work with them he should try to find out a little more about them. It was never a good idea to go into battle if he didn't know the strengths and weaknesses of his teammates. He may not be a commander or any sort of leader, but he should still at least know them well enough to be able to predict what they would do. To a certain degree.
"Hey, soldier," snapped Four-Seven-Niner.
Grif looked over the console to the pilot. "What?" he asked.
"Head's up. We're coming around to the hangar now."
"Roger," he replied. Immediately, the ship began reduce its speed. In order to properly land, the ship had to be at a slow cruising speed to prevent it from crashing into the hangar. Incidences where small transports or slower ships have crashed into the backs of hangars were not unheard of. As a matter of fact, in the early days of space exploration, ships were known to crash in the backs of hangars on a sporadic but fairly common basis because of high speeds. This is what led to the development of entering and exiting ship hangar procedures.
"Alright," he announced, "coming up on the hangar bay now."
Location: UNSC All or Nothing Primary Hangar Bay, Lyria Low Orbit
Shipboard Time: 2235 Hours
Date: June 17, 2557
Church was surprised, very, very surprised. The last thing he expected was Caboose, Grif, and Donut to come back from this mission alive and, more importantly, in one piece. It seemed to him that luck, or maybe it was fate, had smiled upon him and his teammates once again. Despite the near-disastrous situations they seem to constantly get themselves into, they always manage to find a way out, whether by a well-timed move or just pure dumb luck, they had always managed to come out of it all.
The cobalt human stood in near the back end of the hangar, hands hanging loosely against his side, while the rest of the Reds and Blues were entering from the rear of the hangar.
Church looked over to the arriving members. The first ones to come through the open doorway were Sarge, with Wash, Lopez, and Doc at his side, conversing on matters that the Blue had no interest in.
Behind them, Simmons walked in while simultaneously talking to Tucker and Junior, most likely about what they've been doing in the past four years or about Junior in general, especially since Junior wasn't what most people called a 'normal' Sangheili.
And, marching in behind everyone else was Tex, unarmed except for the pistol she always had at her side regardless of the circumstance and her helmet sealed over her head. Her posture, like everyone else's, suggested a calm, peaceful attitude.
Splitting off from the rest of other groups, the black-armored soldier moved to join him. Smiling under his helmet, Church let out a sigh. "Having a problem with the others, Tex?" he asked playfully.
Pausing for half-a-second, Tex calmly replied, "Not really one for group gabbing, if you know what I mean."
Church let out a small laugh. "Yeah, I know what you mean. You never really have been a team player. You're always more reclusive, a soloist by heart, well, whatever passes for your heart."
Taking a more serious tone, she muttered, "Church, stop it with those robot body jokes. We have real bodies now."
Church didn't need to be reminded. In truth, their bodies were biological, not robotic, grown in amniotic tubes as opposed to being constructed from a factory. Still very heavily in the prototype stage, synthetic bodies were designed for the full use of artificial intelligences such as themselves as a means to convert an AI to a human rather than letting them suffer from rampancy. It was considered one of the many marvels of science, creating these bodies, these vessels. It was also considered a humane way to treat such artificial people for their hard work and dedication to humanity. However, just like normal humans, vessels grew and aged. The bodies were capable of hurting and scarring, of feeling in the way that a normal person feels, or so the record states. On the upside, for A.I.s at least, the human-like machines could experience what it was like to be human and therefore analyze and further understand the feelings of living beings. On the downside, A.I. could take more actions, possibly consequential actions. Because of this, the production of creating said bodies was heavily restricted and closely guarded.
Apparently Project Freelancer was one of those groups that had somehow found access to the tech. Director Leonard Church, former leader of Project Freelancer, had found the secrets to making such vessels. And use those secrets he did, not for humanity, not for the UNSC, not even for Project Freelancer, but for his own self-interest. He would utilize this technology to recreate his long lost love, Allison. Before he could do that, though, he would need to create someone who could recreate the image of her, someone who could remember her more clearly. Little did anyone know that that one someone would be the Alpha, a much younger version of the Director, a version that would have remembered Allison while she was still alive.
Church smiled and looked over at Tex. If this was the Allison that the Alpha had remembered, that the Director had remembered, then he considered himself one lucky guy. "I know," he said, "I was just making a point."
"Well it's not working," the black-armored Freelancer continued, displeasure in her tone.
Before Church could continue, a deafening roar filled the hangar. The pair turned their attention over to a nearby pelican as it slowly flew glided into the hangar. Swiftly and without pause, the transport landed in a vacated area of the hangar floor, landing gears extended and its rear facing them. The ship's troop hatch opened up and Donut and Caboose stumbled out.
Going no more than two steps from the ramp, the two rookies dropped to the floor. "Ow," groaned the pink soldier in discomfort.
"I thought the flight was supposed to be comfortable," whined Caboose.
"It would have been," echoed Four-Seven-Niner's voice from the pelican's interior, "if you two hadn't gotten out of your seats before we completely landed."
"You might as well forget it, lady," came Grif's voice, also inside the ship. "They're not usually ones to follow directions that easily."
"Hey Grif!" bellowed Sarge as he, Doc, and Lopez approached the two downed soldiers. "Get yer keester out here!"
"Hold on, Sarge," replied the orange trooper. "I gotta power down a few things first." The transport steadily powered down, its engines and the noise with it quieting.
Grif stepped out of the ship, followed by a woman in a pilot suit. Grif stepped over to help his comrades up while the pilot moved to check on the ship.
But as they moved out of the way, a fourth person stepped out from behind the rest of them, a woman, according to Church, in bright blue armor. She seemed familiar somehow, familiar in a way that he didn't like.
"Wait a minute," hissed Church. Scanning the woman from head to toe, a name popped right into his head as he got a good look at her fearsome Rogue helmet.
"Oh crap." A sudden and reverberating revelation had just hit him, one that filled him with dread. Agent Carolina.
The blue Freelancer stopped in her track and began staring in his direction ominously. Church turned his head to Tex and noticed that she was staring back at her, hands balled into fists. "You," hissed the black Freelancer, a venom in her voice he'd never heard before.
Time seemed to slow as the two Freelancers' eyes locked, hatred beginning to show in both of the women. The cobalt soldier noticed that everyone, even Caboose and Donut, was looking at the silent confrontation that was unfolding in front of them. He felt electricity in the air from the sheer fury emanating from both women.
Church looked at his girlfriend fearfully. Out of all other possibilities, it just had to be Agent Carolina that would have to be the big surprise walking off the ship. If there was one thing he knew about Tex and Carolina, it was about their intertwined pasts and the bad blood that passed between them in the days before Blood Gulch, in the days of Project Freelancer.
But the tension did not last. Before anyone else could stop them, the two Freelancers broke into full on sprint, heading at each other with as much speed as they could muster. In less than a second the females had already nearly made it to the center of the hangar. To add to the effect, the women had also started crying out in rage.
Just as Church began to move, the two lethal forces clashed, each throwing out a hammering blow. Almost like they were mirroring each other's movements, the women's fists found their targets, each striking their opponent's chest with a resounding smash of synthetic material and muscle against titanium plate.
Surprisingly, the women both flew off their feet and flipped backwards from the force that hit each of them. Tex gracefully landed on her feet and twisted to face Carolina once more. The blue Freelancer had done the exact same thing as her, which came at another surprise to Church. They seemed to almost mirror each other.
Without stopping, the Freelancers went at each other again, this time advancing to the middle of the hangar at a noticeably slower pace so they could properly meet their foe. They came to within melee distance and began attacking each other again.
Prompted to attack first, Carolina began the battle by throwing out a left jab at Tex's head. Being as quick-witted as she was, the black Freelancer brought her right arm up and moved her opponent's arm out of the way.
Carolina didn't stop, however, and threw out her right fist at her enemy's chestplate. Just like the previous attack, Tex brought her left arm out swiped the attack out of the way.
Trying to seize an advantage, the black-armored woman kicked out with her right leg and Carolina jumped backwards. As soon as she did, Tex began her set of counter attacks, first by throwing out a right hook at the blue Freelancer, then going in with a left punch aimed at the body of the hostile supersoldier in front of her before finishing with a third attack with her right hand. Carolina successively blocked each and every one of the counterattacks and, after blocking the most previous punch, reached out with both hands and grabbed Tex's chestplate.
With a grunt of effort, the light-blue Freelancer lifted Tex off her feet and threw her overhead. While she was doing that, however, the black Freelancer mirrored her opponent and placed her hands firmly on the chestplate, on the collar and waistline of Carolina's torso, to be exact. Tex landed on the other side of the other Freelancer's completely upright, hands still gripped to the chestplate.
Breaking his concentration from the brawl that was taking place in front of him, Church looked over to the others in panic. If the women continue fighting like this they will kill each other, possibly trying to tear the ship apart whilst doing so.
"Wash, Tucker, Caboose," the former A.I. snapped to his teammates. They jerked their heads in his direction. "Help me with these two! Now!" Without waiting for a reply, Church rushed towards the fight. Washington and the other Blue members quickly followed suit, heading into the center of the large chamber.
By the time Church had started taking action the two had released each from their grapples and pushed each other backwards several feet. "It payback time, bitch!" shouted Tex, her body tense and ready to explode into action again.
"Time to return the favor, shadow!" countered Carolina, taking yet another aggressive fighting stance. The two Freelancers immediately lunged at each other, ready to clobber each other to death again.
A flash of blue flew in between the two of them and the women stopped dead in their tracks. It seemed as if the force between the two of them had suddenly disappeared, like they'd hit an impenetrable, immovable wall.
Tex and Carolina froze in equal surprise and amazement as they found who had completely halted their attacks. In front of them, holding each of their fists in his own gauntlets, was Caboose. He stood firmly on the metal plating, his body stone-stiff and unmoving.
Although her opponent didn't know it, Tex had always figured that if anyone had the strength or stupidity to put an end to their fighting, it would be Caboose. Ever since she found out that the Blue moron could carry a bomb that even she couldn't raise from the ground, much less move even with enhanced super-strength, the Freelancer had always kept a close watch on him.
Without so much as giving a sign of effort, Caboose shoved the two women away from him. They stumbled backwards, bewildered at the sheer strength behind such a simple-minded sim trooper.
Before Tex could move in again and continue her duel with the other female, however, Church grabbed at her right arm and pulled backwards, trying to prevent her from attacking again. Meanwhile, Tucker and Washington had done the same with Carolina, grabbing both of her arms and trying to resist her push to the black Freelancer.
Tex looked over at her boyfriend, rage still coursing through every fiber of her being. "What are you doing?" she shouted. "Let me at that bitch so I can finish her off for good!"
"Tex, you need to calm down!" pleaded Church. He looked over at the other woman, trying to break free of her restraints before bringing his eyes back to her. "Carolina's not our enemy! The Director is!" Still, she wouldn't listen, apparently still swallowed into her hatred towards the new arrival.
Church sighed and placed his right hand on the side of her helmet. Gently, he turned her head to face his own and stared calmly into her eyes, or wherever her eyes were behind her visor. "Allison, please," he said calmly, "stop this. We can work it out."
Apparently, his use of her name seemed to get her attention. Narrowing her eyes, she growled, "Give me one good reason why I should."
"Because she's our best shot at finding the Director. We need her to help us."
"We don't need her, Church. Do I have to remind you what she did to me, what she did to you? Or have you suddenly forgotten about that too?"
Of all things Church hadn't forgotten, one of those things was what the Director and Agent Carolina had done to him, the Alpha, the other A.I.s, and, most of all, what they did to Tex. Although he wasn't the Alpha, and he never would be, he still remembered everything the Alpha had remembered. Thanks to the UNSC and a Freelancer black box that was virtually immune to outside electronic disruption, Church could remember everything Alpha remembered firsthand, from the day he was created, to the days of Blood Gulch, and even to the point where the EMP was set off. Now the memories seemed to merge with him and he thought of the Alpha's memories as his own. The same had been with Tex, where she had been given the memories of Beta and could think of them as her own as well.
But it was the day that Tex had tried to rescue him that Church had remembered the most, among all other things, the day Tex, the meanest, coldest woman he had ever come to know, had tried to save him from the clutches of Project Freelancer. It was that day that Tex seemed to show that she cared for him, more than any other day.
And she had good reason to hate Carolina. When the Freelancer had tried to come in and save Church, Carolina was there to stop her, to stop her from rescuing her boyfriend, the AI, no, the man she loved more than anyone else. And it hadn't even started there. In the days where they had just met each other, it was Carolina that had always gotten in the way of her plans, the one that had tried to compete with her when she was just doing what she was told to do. Though she had come out time and time again, Carolina always saw her as competition, a rival. Tex never saw her in the same way.
"I haven't forgotten, Tex," said Church, "but fighting the Director is more important than revenge. We have to stay focused on what will happen if we don't stop him."
The two of them looked at Carolina as she started calming her own rage, still strained against the pullback Tucker and Wash were giving.
"Carolina, calm down," ordered Washington. "Tex isn't the enemy. The Director is."
"Let go of me, Wash!" barked the blue Freelancer.
"Only if you calm down," he replied calmly. Seeing that hadn't affected her in the slightest, he continued, "Carolina, stand down." She continued to struggle to break free, his words falling down deaf ears. "Carolina, STOP!" he shouted.
That seemed to get her attention. She stopped attempting to escape Tucker and Wash's grasps. Instead, she opted to glare at him instead, remaining silent. Seeing that she had stopped, they let go. Tucker took a step back.
"Okay," said Wash, letting go of the angered woman and stepping in between and off to the side of the two Freelancers. "Looks like we have some things to discuss."
"First of all," said Tex and Carolina in unison, "what the hell is this bitch doing here?" Suddenly realizing they were both talking at the same time, they gave each other momentary glances before facing the grey-and-gold colored Freelancer again, pointing an index finger at each other. "What the hell is she doing here?" They both stared at each other again. "Hey, shut up. I'm talking here. No, I'm talking. Shut up and let me speak first. Shut up! I swear to God, I will kill you if you don't stop."
"Ladies, calm down already," pleaded Tucker, raising his hands to the black and cyan Freelancers. The women glared at the aqua trooper and Tucker immediately clamped his mouth shut and took a step back.
"Look," continued the male Freelancer, "I can explain everything later. Right now we're all just tired and we should get some sleep. Okay?"
Simultaneously, they grumbled, "Okay."
"Okay." Wash turned his head to the energy swordsman. "Tucker, take Carolina up to her quarters."
"But she doesn't have a room," pointed out Tucker. "How am I supposed to get her there if she doesn't have one?"
"Sheila will have made living arrangements for her by now. Just head up to our rooms."
Tucker chuckled under his helmet. "Heh-heh, our rooms. Bow-chicka-bow-wow."
"That wasn't even funny, Tucker," snapped Church. "Now get going."
"Alright," replied the aqua soldier bluntly before turning to and leaving for one of the hangar's elevators. Carolina fell in step behind the trooper, easily keeping pace with him. The others, except for Church, Wash, and Tex, followed suit and left the hangar. Washington chose not to order Grif, Donut, and Caboose up to the bridge for a debriefing. That could wait until tomorrow.
As soon as the two light-blue figures left, Tex stepped up to the grey Agent. "Did you know about this, that she was going to be here?"
"Unfortunately, yes," replied Wash.
"When were you going to tell us that she was coming with us?" demanded Church.
"I was supposed to tell you both about this before she got here. But I was afraid you were going to react negatively towards it. So I chose not to."
"Well, look at how well that went," the former AI replied. "We reacted spectacularly negatively instead."
"I know." Wash sighed. "Look, I promise I'll explain everything to you tomorrow. Now go get some sleep. "
"Fine," said Church and Tex. Without another word, the two Agents pivoted on their heels and swiftly exited the hangar.
"Finally," Wash said aloud, more to himself than anyone in particular. "Now I can go and get some sleep."
I just hope things don't get too much worse.
The chapter was honestly one of my favorite ones out of all the ones I've posted so far. This is in large part due to just seeing the two most badass women in Red vs Blue fight, but also because the Reds and Blues both get to see them interact while on the same team, violently at that. Sure, it's entirely possible they might not have fought if they actually ran into each other again in the show, but I guess we'll never know now with Kathleen not at RT anymore.
Anyway, be sure to favorite and review!
