For those of you who read of the original version of this chapter, you'll notice it is quite a bit longer than last time. Well, that's because this time I decided to consolidate the next two chapters into one for a more streamline experience. Considering the events take place back-to-back and the individual chapters were quite short at the time, I thought they would flow well better as just one chapter instead of two. It mostly delves into the POVs of Tex, Church, and Carolina, so that should make it interesting for any new viewers out there.

Some of you might think that Tex is a bit OOC in this chapter, but at the same time, this Tex is much more like Allison, or at least what I picture Allison would actually be like in a softer, more heartfelt moment. I believe that the Tex we've seen in the show is only the rawest version of what she was actually like before she died. If there's one thing I know about memory, it's that even memory is prone to faults, mistakes, and errors.

Hope you enjoy this chapter!


Sorting Out the Details

Location: UNSC All or Nothing Mess Hall, Paris-Class Frigate

Shipboard Time: 0700 Hours

Date: June 18, 2557

First days are always the hardest. No matter what people say, the first days are always the hardest, for in those first days people need to get used to new routine, rewrite their agendas. If anyone goes to school, work, or even a club or social event, the first days are always the hardest to get used to. The first days as a team were no exception, especially for Tucker.

At a calm and leisurely pace, the swordsman stepped through the portal into the mess hall. Instead of having his usual combat armor Tucker wore a T-shirt that matched the color of his armor, khakis, and a pair of blue-and-grey gym shoes. It had been quite a while since he had worn any sort of civilian clothes, but they were more casual and comfortable, not to mention less threatening, than the MJOLNIR armor he had worn since Captain Flowers died.

The mess hall was, to a certain degree, like that of a high school cafeteria, with counters full of steaming hot food on one side of the room, stacks of trays lined right next to it, and row after row of tables and benches, plus multiple points from which people could enter and exit.

Tucker moved his eyes across the hall. There were very few occupants for the moment, only a few crew members, some marines and security guards, and, secluded from everyone else, were the Reds and Blues. Well, at least most of them. Tucker could see that they were all wearing casual civilian attire, each of them with their own armor colors on their shirts. He could easily see Junior and Simmons, Sarge and Grif, and…

…Church and Tex. Sitting across from each other, away from the others. Comfortably.

Tucker blinked, trying to see if he was imagining the scene he was looking upon. If there was one thing he didn't want, it was to be imagining things, at not imagining the wrong things.

Nope, he confirmed to himself, not dreaming. They're still there. He watched the pair curiously, his eyes darting between them. From what he could tell, Church was discussing something with Tex, but not in a stern, heated voice like he usually did when around her. No, he was talking to her with a sense of serenity.

Tucker furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. From what he knew about Church, he had never seen or heard the cobalt trooper talk to her, or anyone for that matter, like that before. As a matter of fact, if there was one thing he knew, it was that Church always sounded angry when he was talking to people, especially Tex.

Why, then, he wondered, was it quite the opposite now? Why was Church talking to Tex as if she was a good friend of his? They couldn't possibly be this friendly, not after all of these years. Tucker knew well enough that in the last several years, in the years of Blood Gulch, they had always acted in an at least somewhat hostile manner, especially when they were near each other. They had always been like two exes.

Two exes. For some reason, the words seemed foreign to him now, which was quite the opposite considering all the jokes he made about his teammate's relationship. Based on what he was seeing, they didn't look like exes anymore.

Tucker looked back at the events over the several days he had been on the ship. Ever since he had set foot on the frigate and reunited with the former A.I.s he had noticed that they had spending quite a bit more time together than before, whether it was in a sparring session, target practice, combat simulation, or even when they were just walking around. Maybe, after four years of contact, with only each other for support, they had finally settled their differences and hooked up again.

However it was, however these two opposites had managed to come to this point, Tucker would know what was going on between the two of them soon enough. He always had tenacity for that sort of thing, whether finding out things accidentally or on purpose.

He felt his belly growl and brought his right hand up to his stomach. Tucker forgot he hadn't eaten yet. Okay, he thought, first things first. Get food and then find out what's going on between Church and Tex.

Without think any more on the matter, Tucker swiped a silver tray off a nearby stack and moved his way over to the buffet line.


"Come on, Tex, this doesn't have to be difficult."

"I'm not the one who's being difficult, Church. She made it difficult by coming here in the first place."

Church looked down and sighed before bringing himself to face the Freelancer. "Look, Carolina isn't the one you should be blaming. She wasn't the one who notified us that she was coming."

"You're suggesting that this was Wash's fault," Tex said bluntly. It wasn't a question.

"Yes, it was Wash's fault."

Tex glared at him from across the table, paying no mind to the tray of food in front of her. She was wearing skinny blue jeans and a black tank top, which revealed her thin but powerful arms. While out of her armor, the Freelancer kept her red hair nice and loose, never making it into or a ponytail, pigtails, or anything besides. She'd usually ball it all up when it came time to don the armor again, but other than that, she preferred to hang it loose. "I still say it's her fault," she continued.

Church sighed in defeat and shook his head. "Believe what you want."

The duo sat there in silence, interrupted only by the chatter of marines and whirring of distant generators. Those not used to the sounds of a ship might have been spooked or at least slightly irritated, but Church had been on ships enough to not be the least bit bothered by the cacophony of noises.

"You know," said the black-haired trooper, "this turned out to be just like the first time we broke up."

Tex raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"You remembered what happened, don't you?"

"Yeah," she replied. "I had to break up with you because of the Project. The Director wouldn't allow us to be together for fear of giving out information. I-"

"That's not what I'm talking about," interrupted Church.

Tex gave him a confusing look. "Then what are you talking about?"

The Blue sighed deeply and stared into his girlfriend's emerald-green eyes. "I'm talking about when you broke up with me back on Earth, when we were still in high school."

The Freelancer sat in her spot, frozen in place by the sentence he said to her, an emotion of rage and a slight hint of angst etched on her flawless, beautiful face. Out of all the things she could have done, from reaching out to strangle him for mentioning the subject to walking away in anger, cursing and promising revenge for his actions, she did none of those. She just sat there, no reaction coming out of her. In Church's mind, this was rather unusual of her. Normally she was one to react, usually in a violent, destructive manner that would leave most people flabbergasted and fearful of her, although that was not the case in a few exceptionally brave souls, including Church.

After several painfully long moments of silence, Tex gritted through her teeth, "I'm not at the liberty to discuss that with you."

"Yes, you are," rebutted Church. Before she could say anything else, he quickly continued, "Tex, we've been living together for four years and have known each other long before that. I think it's about time we stopped holding secrets from each other."

The red-haired woman narrowed her eyes at Church. She knew fully well what she was getting into but she also knew this conversation had to happen sooner or later. It had been too long, far too long, since he should have had this conversation with her. "What are you getting at, Leonard?" she asked.

"I want to know why you broke up with me that night. Why you just suddenly disappeared for several days before coming back to me, tears in your eyes, and then tried to leave again."

Tex's mind flashed back to their young, distant days on Earth, the days where she and Church were dating back in high school, back when there was no fighting, when there were no aliens, when there were no troubles. Those were the days, the days where Church and Tex had been friends, and enemies at the same time, the days where the only thing that mattered was whether they could keep their grades up and what laid in store ahead of them in their futures.

Of course, these memories weren't, strictly speak, theirs. They'd actually originally belonged to the Director and Allison. One of the perks of being part of a Special Operations taskgroup like Delta Force was being able to access a brain scan of the original Allison, something even the Director of Project Freelancer couldn't get a hold of. Instead, he had to rely on his own memories, which were flawed as all human minds were. Now that Tex had thoughts and memories that even he didn't know, she became more and more defined as a person, more and more of a mystery. If either of them were being honest, it kinda rekindled their relationship. Yes, she was still practically the same Tex he knew, but now felt she was the Allison he'd truly remembered instead of just a shadow of the woman, like the difference between a faded painting and a high-resolution picture.

In the days when Church and Tex truly were human, when they were just known as Leonard and Allison, just two young souls among millions of others, those were the days when they really came together. Their first interaction went about as well as anyone expected, with Church cussing out Tex and demanding to know who she was. From there it seemed he wouldn't stop seeing her no matter how what, in the neighborhood or at school. He had grown… used to her after a while.

For Tex, that was the time that she felt that her friendship with Leonard had truly been tested. Before their time in high school they had barely any sort of connection between them. They had known each other, but their so-called 'friendship' was on shaky ground. That was the result of years of mockery, teasing, and insulting each other. She would point out his smart-ass behavior and he would point out her questionable, unorthodox behavior in return. They were both the type of people who'd rather antagonize and deflect than actually sit down and admit any of their feelings for each other.

Of course, that was before they had come to truly know each other, before they had truly understood each other. Unknown to Leonard for some time, her mother had always been poor and a drunkard that always got in a relationship with the wrong guy. Tex had even been abused and sexually assaulted by her mom's boyfriends. However, as soon as Church found out about these atrocities that his friend Allison had gone through, he took it upon himself to offer her to stay at his house. Sounding like a better place than her own home, she accepted and moved to his house.

His home was much, factually, nicer than her's, feeling almost as luxurious as a mansion and looking almost as big, though it still had the layout of average large house that most people on Earth lived in. Almost as if he was waiting for her to move in, Leonard showed her to the spare bedroom in her house and let her get comfortable. However, showing similar signs of her mother's compulsion for men, Tex invited another boy into his house. Furiously, Church barged into the room she and the boy were in and demanded him to leave. Angry at the fact that the house Tex was staying in wasn't actually her house, the boy stormed out and shouted at Leonard that he could keep her, and even went to the point of calling her obscene names.

After he left, Allison apologized repeatedly to him and asked her to forgive him. At first he didn't give in to her apologies, but then, after several days, everything changed between, a change that neither of them expected. Leonard came up to her and told her he forgave her. But it didn't stop there. Upon forgiving her, Church told her that he loved her and wanted her to be his girlfriend. She gleefully accepted.

Months went by and things went on and off with their usual everyday life. The only difference was that Church and Tex were hanging out together now as boyfriend and girlfriend instead of hostile friends. Sure, they were still making fun of each other and picking on each other, and not in the way that made it hard to discern between friends and rivals but as a playful couple, but wasn't that what it was always like?

It wasn't until Leonard started restricting her access to his things that she started getting ticked off again. That was when she felt that things between them were starting to go downhill, if downhill was the right word for it. Tex wasn't so sure if things ever really went uphill. She thought it was nothing at first, but as the months went on and on the restrictions continued to come. She got irritated at the idea that her boyfriend was keeping things from her and they got into an argument over it.

But she wasn't the only one who getting irritated at something in their relationship. Church was also getting irritated at her for nosing around in his private things. Not only that, but she was hanging out with other boys, boys that he had recognized to be some of Allison's exes. She had been hanging out with them even since they had started dating. Before long, Tex left Church, her heart filled with anger. She would later find out that she was not angry at Leonard but herself. She had chosen put their relationship to the test and therefore make their tensions rise to the breaking point. For once in her life she had actually felt that she was the cause of their breakup. And, perhaps for the first time in her life, she regretted it. Leonard had never treated her like this before, with kindness and a sort of warmth she'd never felt before, no one had, and for once she wanted to give something back in their relationship.

An idea struck her, an idea that would have been absurd in an earlier point in her life, but now it seemed perfectly logical. She loved him, plain and simple. He was the best guy she'd ever met. Sure, he was a dick a lot of the time, he was a smartass, and he got incredibly cocky and egotistical, but his heart was always in the right spot. He could always keep his own life under control, one thing she really couldn't do. She really did feel like she wanted to be with him, perhaps for the rest of her life. Perhaps he really was the one she should be with. Perhaps he was the one for her.

And then she went back, back to the one place she knew she should be. She knew Leonard would still be angry, furious even, but maybe she could do something about their relationship, by either mending it back to the point where it should have been or destroying it and therefore being rid of it once and for all.

Tex brought herself back to the present, back to the point where she was in a UNSC frigate, with Church, her best friend and boyfriend, sitting across from the table in front of her. "I needed to get away from you," she explained to Leonard, "and try to straighten up what was happening between us. It was all becoming a blur and there were things happening to me that I had never experienced before."

"Where did you go?" Church asked curiously.

The Freelancer sighed before replying. "I went to another friend's house."

Church narrowed his eyes at her. "Another friend's house?!" he gritted through his teeth. It became very apparent that he did not like what she was telling him. "Tex…" he growled.

Before he could continue, she quickly added, "Church, come on. This was over twenty years ago. Can't you just let it go?"

"No, I can't! Because one of the things I know about the Director was that he never got a straight answer about what happened that night either. It's still one of the things he regretted never doing with Allison: getting closure from that what happened between them."

Tex tried to bring herself together as Church continued to heat up. Although she was a master of combat and physical capability, she knew he could beat her in mentality, sheer stubbornness, and go toe-to-toe with her when it came to verbal sparring. He didn't need to use strength and painful threats to beat people, but use words and arguments instead. "You don't understand, Church. I was afraid, confused. There was so much going on between us that I just had to get away. I've never had to deal with this type of emotion before."

"And so you just ran away from it instead. You ran away from me when you could have just fixed everything right there and then."

"Church, please," she begged.

"No! I've had it! We're going to straighten this out right now, even if you don't want to!" he seethed at her, his temper getting the better of him yet again. Tex seemed to shrink slightly in her seat. It was something that was usually very unlike her, backing away instead of being confrontational. But this was Leonard who was talking to her, not just another soldier, not just another Red or Blue, not even another Freelancer. This was him. He knew her better than anyone else and, compared to them, she almost always went light on him. He was her weakness just as much as she was his.

Tex looked around worriedly. Strangely, no one was paying any mind to them. She felt that things were going downhill fast. She had to fix this, now more than ever.

"We don't need to straighten things out," she stated bluntly.

Church lowered his voice and continued giving Tex a grim look. "And why is that?" he hissed.

Tex looked into his eyes, his emerald-green, handsome, amazing eyes. "Because I love you," she said. "I love you more than anything."

Church snorted in disbelief. "Yeah right."

"I'm serious," she continued.

"Oh really?" he asked, a hint of mockery in his tone. "Prove it."

Tex smirked. "Fine, then." With little to no warning, the red-haired woman swept the trays on the table off to the side and moved forward, grabbing Leonard by the shoulder and bringing him forward as well. They moved to the middle of the table and, to Church's greatest surprise, their lips crashed into each other.

The kiss felt extraordinary. For the first in what seemed like an age, Allison had managed to kiss Church on the lips, and for the right reason. She did it, not because she wanted to tease him nor because she was bidding for his attention, but because she truly loved him and wanted to show him.

The two sat together in an embrace for several seconds, although it felt more like a few minutes, before their lips finally parted. Church and Tex went back to their original postures and stared at each other, a dumb smile slowly forming on both of their faces. They stayed like that for what felt like a solid minute.

"There," Tex said, finally breaking the silence. "Was that good enough?"

"Yeah," he answered, his voice much more calm and relaxed. She really did like Leonard when he was like this, instead of his usual angry self. "Thank you, Allison. I'm sorry for what I did to you there."

"It's alright," she said. If there's one thing she knew, it was that an apology was rare for him, so she treated it with reverence.

They sat in companionable silence, their food forgotten, their gaze focused solely on each other. That is until the mess hall speakers blared to activity, filled with Sheila's monotonic yet harmonious voice. "All Reds, Blues, and Freelancers to the Freelancer Training Hall ASAP. Repeat, all Reds, Blues, and Freelancers to the Freelancer Training Hall. Mark VI armor required for use." With that, the speaker died and all the Reds and Blues stood up from their seats. Even Junior stood.

The troopers stepped away from their seats and, as swiftly as they were able, moved out of the mess hall. Church and Tex joined them, briefly giving each other a questioning look before continuing. The group returned to their quarters where, inside, there would be their zero-suits, armor, and a machine to help put it all on.

Church moved over to his room and opened the door. Tex had done the same. He turned to the Freelancer. "See you there, Allison," Church smiled at her, not a cocky, arrogant smirk, but a genuine, happy smile on his face. It had been far too long since he had given her a look like that.

"See you there, Leonard," she replied with her own smile. The agents stepped into their rooms and the doors closed behind them.


Location: UNSC All or Nothing Freelancer Training Hall Overlook, Paris-Class Frigate

Shipboard Time: 0710 Hours

Date: June 18, 2557

It had been a long time since she had been on a ship, especially one that looked so much like the ship she had lived on before. Although the All or Nothing didn't have all of the characteristics of her old home, the Mother of Invention, it still brought back memories, some happy, some troubling, but many more of them haunting. There were ghosts here, but should not have been, echoes of troubled past.

Carolina scanned the training room with the eyes of a hawk. She didn't know why, though, since she had seen the hall before an innumerable amount of times. It was just because of that feeling of good memories that led her to continue to stare at the room.

The cyan-armored Freelancer looked up at the glass window in front of her face and she could easily make out her reflection. She stared at the mirror image blankly. From what Carolina could see, she was young, only in her late twenties, with a young, oval head to match. Her hawkish eyes shone a bright emerald green on a scowling, but otherwise flawless fair-skinned face, and her lips remained red and firm. Her red hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She had been told multiple times through her life that she looked flawless, pretty, even beautiful. Carolina didn't like it when people used those words to describe her. For some reason they always made her uncomfortable, always awkward.

She was never one for flattery or anything of that nature. Most of the time she felt that when someone did it to her she suspected they had an ulterior motive or she otherwise felt she didn't deserve it. She'd never been the kind of woman to just sit back and let any man, or any person for that matter, lead or get things done. She was a take-charge woman and when people saw that, they chose to back away from her, which was fine. The last things she needed were liars and kiss-asses. Only a select few people were actually capable of complimenting her without cowering in fear, who seemed genuine. There were parents and York…

Carolina brought her eyes down to the rest of her reflection. She was still wearing her bright, blue, Recon-pattern armor. Ever since day one, she had worn it proudly, wearing it even more often than civilian clothing that she used to have all the time. It had saved her life many times and she had always been grateful for it. Who wouldn't be? Ever since she had first seen one, she had always been in awe over the idea of supersoldiers, even to the point where she wanted to be a supersoldier, maybe even a Spartan. And when the time came, when she was asked to join Project Freelancer she did not refuse or rebel. She was actually rather excited about it.

Carolina heard the steel door slide open behind her and soft breeze brush her hair, but she did not turn around. She knew someone was coming. As a matter of fact, she planned it.

"Carolina," the new arrival spoke. The woman turned her head enough to see the reflection of the man behind her. Behind her, Wash stood at attention, fully armored and ready for instructions. Knowing the male Freelancer well enough, Carolina was less than surprised. Wash, and all other Freelancers for that matter, had been trained to stand at attention and await orders or, otherwise, be dismissed by said officers. Although most of his teammates had not taken this idea in quickly when they first entered into the project, Wash had adapted to it almost immediately, quickly standing as stiff as a statue and moving only when given the order to. Even though he was not as skilled or advanced as most of his teammates, he followed his orders to the letter, stopping only when the task was beyond his physical, mental, or, in some very specific circumstances, moral capabilities.

"Yes, Wash?" she asked in a calm, bordering on stern, voice.

"We're all set and ready to go," he replied. Carolina just barely heard a tiny stall as he finished speaking, as if he wanted to say something else. She glanced at his armored features and saw a slight bit of sudden movement, mostly around his hands and fingers. She smirked. However much he tried to hide it, Wash had always been a bit more jittery than the rest of them. He was particularly like this when he wanted to interject something into a conversation, but was usually afraid of ridicule. Judging from the many past experiences she had shared with him, Carolina knew that now was one of those times.

"Alright," she said. "Hey Wash?"

"Yeah, boss?" he replied. Carolina remembered Wash calling her 'boss' before, back in the day. She didn't know why, but she had become used to it over time. Besides, she would much rather be called that than 'sir' or 'ma'am.' The name just seemed to fit, like it really made her different than all the other officers.

"I know you're holding something else back from me."

The Freelancer shook his head slightly, as if he was trying to clear up some confusion. "Wait, what?"

"You're twitching like you always do when you want to say something else." Carolina turned to face her friend. "Go ahead. Spit it out."

"Well…" he began, his voice quivering slightly before returning to his usual composure. "Are you sure you want them to do this? Observe and train them now? They've been separated for years and thus have very different levels of training. They've only just gotten back together."

The cyan Freelancer let out a huff before replying, "Yes Wash, I'm sure."

"But they might not be ready for it."

"Well then, we'll have to make them ready." Carolina hardened her voice. "This isn't a game anymore, Wash. War is here again and we need to be prepared for it. I need to be ready for it."

"But most of them already have the combat experience they need. They've been in more battles than I can count in the last four years alone. Plus, I gave you their most recent records and personnel files."

"True. But I need to see them in action, see how they work as a team. I cannot rely solely on records and data. We saw how well that worked with South and Maine."

"But it's not just teamwork they're going to be working on," Wash pointed out.

"You're right," she said. "I'm going to see how they do personally, what skills they have, what strengths they have, and what weaknesses they have." To a degree, she did it for tactical advantage. But that wasn't the only reason she was doing this, the training. On a more personal note, she was going to see if any of them could challenge her superiority, as leader of the team and at skill level. Especially Tex. Although they had not met in years and that the original Tex was long dead, she still felt that this Tex was no different from the last. She looked the same, she sounded the same, and she gave off the same type of harsh, cold-blooded aura as the black-armored Agent before her.

Carolina faced her back to him. "Go back to the troopers and make them ready for what's to come. I don't expect this battle to be so easily won, especially for them."

"On it, boss." With that, the Freelancer turned and Carolina heard Wash march swiftly out of the door.

The door sealed once more and the red-haired Freelancer waited in her spot for several long seconds. Well, Wash, it appears you've gone soft on me again. I'll be sure to give these Reds and Blues a real warm welcome. Then we'll see how great these 'soldiers' are, Carolina thought to herself. She cocked her head up and cleared her throat. "FILSS," she called.

A harmonic ring sounded and Sheila's voice was heard. "Yes, Agent Carolina?"

"Access data files from SPARTAN-III Archive, Subsection: Planet Reach SPARTAN Academy and Training Centers, Category-"

"Agent Carolina," warned Sheila, who had also been programmed to respond to FILSS, "that archive is restricted to Beta-5 Division Section Three ONI personnel only-"

"Clearance code," the woman interrupted, "Three-Five-Niner-dash-Twenty-Two-Delta-slash-Bravo-dash-Five-slash-Charlie-Zero-Niner-dash-Alpha-dash-Oscar-November-India. Acknowledge."

Sheila chimed in affirmation. "Access granted. Do you wish to continue?"

"Yes. Like I said before, access SPARTAN-III Archive, Subsection: Planet Reach SPARTAN Academy and Training Centers, Category: Training Programs and Challenges. Locate and upload the file relating to the Three Hundred Challenge."

Merely half a second passed before Sheila chimed positively once more. "File located," she announced. "Would you like me to open them up to you?"

"Yes, FILSS." In a flash of light, the glass in front of her lit up with a blue glow. The light dissipated and formed into a set of numbers and detailed assortment of words, all of which was inside of a box. Carolina scanned the visually transmitted file for several moments and her lips curled into a somewhat diabolical smile. She had found what she was looking for.

"FILSS?" Carolina asked, breaking the silence.

"Yes, Agent Carolina?"

"Modify the simulation droid count from 300 to 900."

Sheila paused several seconds before beeping again. "Modification confirmed. File updated."

"Good," replied the Freelancer.

"One quick note, Agent Carolina," interrupted the female-based program. "This action will completely exhaust the All or Nothing's simulation droid supply."

"I know." Carolina did a half-second calculated pause before continuing her directions. "FILSS, open the file's audio recording."

"Complying," said Sheila. Suddenly, the blue data file faded out in a way that was akin to a spirit or ghost disappearing. In its place, an intricate, well-documented information page became visible, featuring the actual recorded dialogue as well as a readable copy of the audio.

Carolina scanned the file the same way she did with the one before, quickly and precisely. "FILSS, modify the dialogue recording and script by replacing the word 'three SPARTANs' with 'nine SPARTANs' and replace the words 'three hundred', when it appears the second time, with the words 'nine hundred'."

"Complying." Milliseconds passed by and the A.I. chimed yet again. "Update complete. Awaiting your order to begin the simulation."


Location: UNSC All or Nothing Freelancer Training Hall Prep Room, Paris-Class Frigate

Shipboard Time: 0715 Hours

Date: June 18, 2557

It was, as he had been taught by his friend, always important to be ready for battle. No matter the situation or the objective, one must always prepare for what is to be expected and, sometimes, even what is not to be expected. Tucker had taken those words by heart and remembered them well. To a degree, he had learned the hard way what would happen if he was not prepared, not only from the Sangheili which he had grown used to but the unexpected events of his life as a Blue.

Tucker stood apart from the rest of the squad members, leaning against a wall with no one but Junior standing close by. Like the other Reds and Caboose, he and Junior had put on their combat armor as ordered and had moved to the waiting area outside of the Freelancer training hall, specifically the main combat arena. Everyone had their helmets off as well, holding the lightweight armor pieces against their hips. Lopez was absent from the scenario, apparently needing to stay behind for a firmware update. He'd most likely be gone for the rest of the day.

"What do you think this is about, father?" asked Junior, putting a slight bit of strain on the fff. Tucker had noticed this pattern with practically all Elites. Sangheili could not make the exact same noises and syllables as humans due to their split-jaw mouths and, because of that, had difficulties pronouncing certain words from the English language.

Tucker glanced at his son before moving back to his original position. "I don't know what to think, Junior."

The Elite gave him a questioning look. "Why do you say that?"

"Because I've lived with Sangheili long enough and, to be honest, I've kinda forgotten what it's like living with humans, how unorganized people can be and how rushed everyone seem to get. It's not like Sanghelios where people live a smooth, ordered, simple life. You know, where the daily routine is: get up, exercise, eat, do some political stabilization, spar, eat, patrol, and then have a bit of free time. Not much to it, really."

"So you're saying it's more chaotic."

"To a degree, yes. And what I've said is not necessarily true with all humans, especially the really smart ones. For example, the ones who work for ONI."

"It's just with most of them," finished Junior.

"Exactly." The sound of a door hissed open and the troopers turned their attention to the source. Agent Washington stepped into the room, fully armored except for his helmet, which he held against his hip. From what Tucker could see, the Freelancer had a nice, kindly face that gave off a friendly look, which was rather contradictive compared to his attitude towards them. His hair, short and blonde, and his oak-colored eyes just helped complement those features.

"I see everyone's made it," began Wash, glancing at Caboose, Grif, and Donut. Tucker chuckled quietly to himself. Of all the figures there, it was those three that had the hardest time following any sort of procedure. "I may be wrong, but I'm guessing most of you are wondering why you've been called here on such short notice."

"Not really," responded Grif. The others looked at him.

"Why do you say that?" asked Simmons.

"Well, based on the given information, I'd say we're here for the purpose of training and observing or, rather, being trained and observed by our newest member of the team."

This time it Sarge who spoke. "Grif, that's absurd. If they wanted to do that they would put us all in some elaborate cage and make us all fight to the death."

Wash cut in, alarm in his voice. "What? No! Where would you have gotten that idea?"

"I found it on the internet once."

"Sir," Simmons spoke again, "the internet is full lies and deceitful information. You could have practically gotten that stuff from anyone before."

"Simmons, just hear me out before you go rambling with your smart-ass mumbo jumbo. As I was saying, I read on an article once that in the universe Warhammer 40k in order for people to get accepted into Space Marine squads they are thrown into a cage and are expected to fight each other to the death. The survivors get to live on and become supersoldiers."

"Sarge," Simmons interrupted again, "that is perhaps one of the most brutal and bloody universes in science fiction, period. The methods implied in Warhammer, in every aspect, are meant to kill most modern day humans and frighten the hell out of everyone who lives in it. And they get thrown into chapters, not squads, sir."

"But still," Sarge said, "that's a hell of an effective method."

"But it's beside the point," Wash cut in. "No, we are not doing that. Nothing even close to that."

"Could you tell us at least what we are doing?" asked Tucker.

"I can't say exactly," said the blonde Freelancer. "All I can tell you is that you will all be tested, collectively and individually. Call it a challenge for yourselves." The man turned to the wall on his left, a wall that had once been empty. When the other soldiers turned to it, however, the wall slid away to reveal a number of UNSC weapons, including rifles, SMGs, shotguns, railguns, and grenade launchers. There were also a variety of Covenant weapons with them.

Time stood still as the group stared gleefully at the arsenal of weapons in front of them. Of all the things Tucker had seen before, he had never seen a stock of weapons as large as this. The largest amount he had seen before was at the Vadam Keep main armory and, although it had a larger amount of guns and swords than this, the wall in front of him had a bigger, more expansive flavor of ballistics and heavy ordnance.

Wash cleared his throat and the soldiers focused their attention on him again. "Due to the difficult nature of this first challenge, you are allowed to take any and all weapons at your disposal."

This time it was Tex who spoke up. "All of them?" she asked, giving a sinister grin.

"All of them." With that, the agent turned around and walked out on them.

The group moved over to the weapons and, almost immediately, everyone began the process of choosing their tools of destruction. For the most part, everyone knew what they wanted already. Church took a sniper rifle, battle rifle, and magnum while Tex went to get a battle rifle, dual SMGs, and a grenade launcher. She even decided to detach one of the three turrets that were available. They already had their combat knives, as did everyone else. At the same time Simmons gathered up a battle rifle, rocket launcher, and magnum. Donut grabbed a BR and a pair of magnums, as well as several plasma grenades. Even Caboose and Sarge went to get a few things, Caboose taking an assault rifle with a magnum, and Sarge going for a shotgun and magnum. Upon making their choices, the two of them removed the other tripod-mounted machineguns from their spots.

However, some of the group already had weapons before they had entered the room, namely Tucker and Junior with their energy swords and Grif with his brute shot. They still took secondary armaments. Grif took a battle rifle while Tucker opted for a DMR and Junior had the liberty of choosing a Covenant carbine.

Once their equipment was secure, each of them slipped on their helmets and sealed them, with Tex balling her hair up before slipping on her helmet.

"Alright," said Church, "looks like we're ready." The others nodded in agreement.

"Okay. So what's the plan?" asked Simmons.

"Easy," replied Sarge, always the one to speak of plans first, "we get in there and kick ass, plain and simple."

The battle was slow to begin with, but would, in time, speed to the point where it would become chaos. That's the way that most battles happened. Everything would go from a solemn, slow, and purposeful advance to a bloody, confusing frenzy of destruction. Battles within battles would form and sides would mix in together, warping and twisting to become one big whirlwind of chaos.

The team made their way into the arena, keeping together in a consistent formation, with Tex in front, flanked by Caboose and Sarge, and everyone else falling behind. They all had guns drawn, ready to tackle the challenge waiting for them.

As the team made their way to the center of the room, a square platform rose up from the ground with ramps extending from the edges. Adjacent to each corner, other smaller platforms rose twice as high as the original platform, no ramps or friendly handholds attached to it.

The team walked to the center of the large platform. As they did so, a voice echoed from the speakers in the room, a male human's voice by the sound of it. "Three thousand years ago," he said, "three hundred Spartans held off against an army of thousands."

As if hearing a cue from the voice itself, Tex barked at the others to get into defensive positions. Tex position herself so she was facing the center of three unused entrances while Caboose and Sarge turned to their designated doorways. Everyone else followed suit, with Tucker and Junior flanking Caboose when he faced left, Donut and Grif taking sides with Sarge as he faced right, and Church and Simmons getting into position alongside Tex.

"Now," the voice continued, "nine SPARTANs shall face an army of nine hundred." The speaker cut to an abrupt halt as a starting siren went off and the first enemies dashed forth. From each entrance, small clusters of training androids moved with the staggered efficiency of freshly-trained Marines, no more than three or four at a time. Each android carried a form of plasma weapon, either a plasma rifle, plasma repeater, storm rifle, plasma cannon, beam rifle, or focus rifle, and wore a form of GUNGNIR helmet plus a wooden-brown paint job.

The machineguns opened fire on the bots, their bullets spraying the clustered figures. As Church watched the opening salvo, he couldn't help but begin to feel a growing sensation of adrenaline. It felt good. He wondered if Tex felt this way when she was in the heat of battle, if she really felt this sensation. He turned his head at her and saw what he usually saw in her, a solid, unmoving figure clad in black. The armor was incredibly deceiving. Although it almost always looking calm, the wearer underneath was almost always never calm. It reminded Church of statues and, at times, the Forerunner picts he was able to get a glance at.

The bots fell to the ground, smoking holes riddling their bodies. However, as soon as the first group fell, another group had already started making their way out of the doorway. Church looked around at the others' progress and saw droids coming out of the other entrances.

But even as the second group fell, the droids continued to come, not so much in exiting in groups but in a slow, shambled line instead. The pace of the bots had quickened slightly in the speed of their appearance as well. Eventually even the machineguns rain of fire couldn't keep up with the droids advance and, as the turrets ran dry, the others began using their own weapons.

Tex's gun fell silent as the last of her ammunition went out and the droids moved up. But as they did so, Simmons ran forward and fired his rocket launcher at the mass. He was rewarded with an explosion as roughly half a dozen bodies went flying around.

In the next few seconds the others rushed forward with their weapons and began firing on the attackers. Sarge led the assault on one side, blasting bots with armor-piercing buckshot, and Tucker led the other, drawing his energy sword and slicing up the opposing units. Meanwhile, Caboose went off and fought his own battle, shooting a pair of droids with his assault rifle. Grif had used the magazine in his battle rifle but didn't stop to reload. Instead, he swapped it out for the brute shot and continued to destroy the opposition. Donut, on the other hand, continued switching between his BR, pistols, and plasma grenades. When the time came to reload his guns he would throw a pair of grenades and swap out his magazines in rapid succession. Simmons joined the fray and used his rifle for the most part, although he would occasionally switch to his rocket launcher in the face of a horde.

While the rest of the group found themselves engulfed in combat, Church and Tex took the liberty to pair up and fight together. Church held his own with the pinpoint accuracy of his sniper rifle while Tex would ravage the enemy with quick bursts of her battle rifle, hailed them with caseless SMG rounds, and blast them apart with the occasional pluck of her grenade launcher.

As the fight dragged on, the fighting only got more intense as the bots continued to heat the air with plasma fire. Church had lost count of how many of the annoying machines he had destroyed but was sure it had to be nearly a hundred. He could only imagine the number of bots the others had taken care of.

Church looked behind him to see if his partner was still there. But she wasn't. In the midst of the combat, Tex had split off from the sniper and gone solo. The Blue smirked under his visor. It was always like her to do, going off and being the merciless lone wolf she was. He knew that, in the event that that would happen, he would be able to hold his own. But the thing that was most surprising, to the both of them at least, was that they actually worked better together than apart. Alone, they were deadly, but together, they were unstoppable. Church had a feeling that they would need this connection in the near future.

Church turned towards of the nearest small platforms and looked up. To his surprise, Tex had actually climbed on top of the structure. She stared down at a cluster of bots for several seconds, SMGs in hand, and jumped down. The Freelancer landed behind the group with a light thump and the bots turned to her. As soon as they faced her, however, she pulled the triggers and the group was systematically eliminated.

Church looked around the arena once more and saw that the droids' numbers had been significantly reduced. The bots had gone from the status of a teeming horde to a miniscule skirmish. The battle was practically won.

In the last minutes of combat, the team swept up the last of the forces. Simmons blasted one cluster of the brown combat units with his double-barreled launcher, Grif dispersed and broke another, and Church killed the last eight with his sniper rifle, getting two kills per shot.

As the group got back together again, the door in which they had entered the arena opened up to them and the group walked through it, ammunition spent but satisfied in the completion of their task.


A/N: Looking back on this chapter, I keep thinking that the descriptions and flashbacks can still be better, more descriptive, and that they could transition better than they did. I'm not the best when it comes to doing any of those. I'm still not 100% satisfied with the edits and changes I made to the first half of this chapter, but I hope I at least hope the chapter made sense, even if it didn't quite convey the story I wanted it to convey.

The story used in the first half is actually referring to 'Keystone' by texelations, in which the author gave me permission to reference several years ago. I firmly believe it is one, if not the, best origin stories in Red vs Blue history. It goes into great detail about the early lives of Allison and the Director, and explains their rather sweet but tumultuous relationship that led from their first interaction to the birth of Carolina, Allison's ultimate death, and the creation of Project Freelancer. I can't possibly describe how good it is, just that I believe it is that good. Do the author a favor and give the story a whirl. Tell her I sent you if you want.

As a fun little tidbit of information, the scenario presented in the second half of the chapter comes straight from my second-favorite Halo machinima. It is known as 'Rise of the Spartans'. This was specifically from Part 6. Thought it would be fun to implement here.

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Favorites and reviews are always welcome!