"Later, gorgeous!" Tucker said as the ship slowed its descent into Blood Gulch.

"Come on, Tucker, pick up the pace!" Church called as soon as the ramp lowered.

"So, just running headlong into battle?" Tucker asked as they practically jumped from the ramp.

"More like a jog, I'm not that worried!" Church said, looking over his shoulder. "Tex, make sure she doesn't pull shit on us!"

"Don't worry, she won't!" Tex answered in assurance, even as the pelican took flight again with the door closing.

"And you're positive of that, why?" Carolina asked idly.

"Oh, just a hunch. I'm assuming that you won't go anywhere before you get the chance to talk to York again," Tex said knowingly as she sat next to the bound freelancer.

"Wait, York is here? Damn, how many of us are here?" Washington asked in surprise.

"Don't answer that," Zimmermann said before Tex could answer.

She shrugged at that, watching Carolina.

"You think I'd stop to see him? Risk dragging him into this mess again?" Carolina asked, glaring through her visor at Tex. "Or did you already do that yourself?"

Tex shrugged, silently acknowledging that point. She had dragged York and Delta into this mess when her goal had just been to kill Omega.

Now everything was simpler yet more complicated. Freelancer was exposed with all the dirty laundry out in the open. The Great War was over. The only thing they had to do was worry about Roman knockoffs.

Sure, they had some problems with certain parts of the Freelancer Project. The Director was making it rather difficult from what she heard. Agents in the dark, simulation troopers not believing the truth when it was revealed to them, and much more. But overall, it was simpler than it could have been.

But then there was the one live grenade in the set that needed to be defused.

Church.

Leonard.

Alpha.

So much she wanted to say to him, ask him, everything. But he was a broken wreck. Or he had been. He had been putting himself back together as best he could...which was far more than should be possible!

His memories weren't real though. A life conjured up from scraps of different sources, gaps filled in however they could be.

So she played along. She pretended to be exactly whoever he thought Alison and Tex were.

Wasn't exactly all the different from what she did with the Director, she just knew she was doing it now.

Alpha was like this because of her though. Tortured, broken, shambled back together. All because of her, all for...whatever she represented to the Director. Part of what held her back was just worrying that he'd unravel from the truth. But she had always known it was bullshit to say that was the only reason. She was afraid of him hating her.

She allowed her gaze to be unfocused and look inward.

In a very literal sense.

She wasn't...a very normal AI, obviously. She wasn't aware of everything she had been capable of. But ever since she had learned the truth, she had been looking into it. Herself. Omega helped at times, in his own way by mockingly explaining when she did something wrong.

She supposed it was natural for anything and anyone in her uniquely fucked scenario to wonder what her purpose for existing was.

But she doubted many had the answer spelled out to her.

There, deep in her code, was one and only one directive.

[Protect the Alpha]

Gods she wanted to ask about that for so long.

Had Alpha, when he was first created, written that into her intentionally? Had that just been what the memories caused her directive to be? Was it just some automatic response to protect and safeguard her creator?

That was why she had trusted the Director though. The Alpha was based on him, and with her directive only being subconscious, she unknowingly saw the Director's connection to the Alpha as enough reason to follow him.

She didn't...she didn't even know what she wanted. If she wanted anything at all.

What would a Shadow ever want anyway?

"The fuck is up with you?" Carolina asked under her breath.

Tex sat back and shook her head. "Nothing, Carolina. Just sit back and enjoy the ride. You'll get debriefed soon and hey, maybe we'll let you see what's through the magic door back in the canyon."

"That..." Washington said with a frown. "That just sounds wrong."

"It really does," Velimir agreed.

Meanwhile

"So, how bad do you think it is?" Tucker asked as they rushed through the gate.

"Well, Shelia is still here," Church said as they rushed to the gate. "Shelia, why aren't your treads through the gate?!"

"Hello, Church! The Reds said the path was not suitable for me to safely transverse, so I am stuck here, waiting to shoot if any make it through," Shelia explained.

"Right, that tracks," Church said with a sigh as they made it into the dark tunnel between worlds.

They could see and hear the explosions and bestial roars of battle from the other end.

"Tucker, you're fucking sure you're good, right?" Church asked bluntly

"Dude, I don't got any more alien babies in my system!" Tucker promised. "But...thanks for asking?"

"No problem," Church assured as the other side got closer. "We stop, take stock of this fuckshit, and guard the gate if needed. Got it?"

"Fight fuckers off and figure out what to do next, easy peasy!" Tucker said, igniting his energy sword.

Seconds later, they emerged through the gate-

"FUCK!" Church yelled, almost shooting the unmounted horse that ran dangerously close to him.

Tucker was less distracted by that and took stock of the situation.

The soldiers were swarming through the gaps in the walls. They could see Sarge fighting them off the top of one wall and heard fighting all over the place. They hadn't reached the Gate yet, but they were definitely getting into the unfinished compound.

Tucker tensed as Church started firing the Hellspitter, several dragons falling out of the sky.

"Okay, fuckers, sound off and give me a fucking Shitrep!" Church demanded over the open coms.

"Church! You're here!" Caboose's voice came over the line. "I'm playing "You Shall Not Pass" with our new friends! Some of them won though, they snuck by."

"I'm covering Caboose's caboose!" Donut informed. "Also, Church? They brought magic this time!"

"Fuck, back to that later," Church said. "Grif, the hell are you and that ride?"

"Outside, dodging some fucking tornado magic while York shoots up the army!" Grif answered.

"One second," Church said, pausing to shoot a man climbing up the side of the wall to fight Sarge.

Sarge smacked another away with the handle of his shotgun before turning to the soldier, screaming and burning alive, before kicking him off the side of the wall. "Blue, I don't need your help to defend this position!"

"I know, I just wanted to kill steal," Church said smugly. "Wait, the fucks is Simmons if he's not on the gun?"

"D-d-different g-g-gunner!" Simmons yelled, voice vibrating as he kept firing. "I'm protecting Doc and O'Malley. Wow, never thought I'd say that."

"Less protecting and more keeping the distractions away," O'Malley retorted in annoyance

"Church, O'Malley is trying to get the bombing systems going!" Doc informed helpfully.

"We got fucking missles?" Tucker asked in surprise.

"More like mortars," O'Malley said with a cackle. "Had to rewire some things to make it work right now! But we only got so many rounds. And it has to be aimed manually right now, without a signal to lock onto."

"...Does any signal work?" Church asked curiously.

"...Possibly?" O'Malley asked with a grin. "Whhhhy?"

"Sarge, I'm about to make you a very happy man," Church informed with a chuckle. "O'Malley, lock onto the warthog's signal."

"Wait, WHAT!?" York exclaimed in shock.

"Relax, they're not homing rounds," Church said before pausing. "...Right?"

"Sadly, no," O'Malley said in amusement.

"Great, now even the Blues are doing this shit to me," Grif said with a head shake. "Fine, what the fuck do you want me to do?"

"Run through that damn army. When you're in, say When. O'Malley? Shoot...I don't know, three, four bombs when he does?" Church suggested with a shrug.

"I like this plan, Blue! Explosion, mass enemy casualties, and the possibility of Grif dying! I can't think of a better plan! And I get the perfect view!" Sarge said with a chuckle.

"Sarge, I am going to fucking hug the wall with this jeep!" Grif threatened as he drove the warthog straight into the line of soldiers. "WHEN!"

"FIRING!" O'Malley declared, several loud pops echoing through the base, followed by explosions erupting outside the base, each several times larger than a grenade.

"Yay! New Friends! Look at the first Fireworks!" Caboose declared cheerfully, pointing to the destruction.

The soldiers before him looked on in terror at what they took as the Berserker mocking their efforts and the death of their comrades.

"...Okay, that was actually badass!" Grif declared as he turned around for another go, seeing the smoldering crater of corpses.

"Seriously?!" York asked in disbelief.

"Okay, the fuck are Lopez and Sister?" Church asked as Tucker switched to his gun and shot down what might have been a werewolf. Or just a giant wolf. It was hard to guess.

"Hey, Sister here!" Sister answered. "Yeah, Lopez can't talk right now? He got hit by a giant hammer and his coms stopped working."

"How is he doing? And are you helping?" Church asked in morbid curiosity.

"Oh, he blocked one of the holes in the wall. Killed a giant ogre thingy with his grenade launcher. He climbed up the wall and has been dropping bombs like party favors on the guys outside," Sister explained. "He told me to shoot anyone that made it through. I think."

"Lopez, I don't know if you can hear me, but good fucking job!" Church said with a grin, vaguely hearing a Spanish yell of appreciation over the roar of battle. "Alright, Tucker, we going up there with Sarge. I'll get a good sniping spot from up there."

"Sounds like a plan, as long as we're not in range of Caboose's team killing," Tucker said as they both charged.

Meanwhile

"Well, look what the cat dragged in," Wyoming greeted with a good-natured chuckle as he saw the two newest Freelancers brought into this madness.

"Carolina! Washington! It's so good to see you!" Flowers greeted cheerfully, leaning on the wall next to Wyoming's cell. "And alive to boot!"

"Florida? Okay, Wyoming I expected, but you?" Washington said in surprise as Tex led them in with some more guards.

"Yes, should I assume you found Gamma?" Wyoming asked idly. "I have to assume that was why I was suddenly put in a cell."

"Yeah, we got your friend. He's currently in an isolated storage unit while we figure out what to do with him," Tex answered. "You might have won some brownie points if you mentioned him, you know?"

"Sorry, Alison, but unlike you, I and my AI got along swimmingly. I wasn't about to risk Garry being deleted," Wyoming explained. "...Are they going to?"

Tex sighed. "Too soon to tell."

"I didn't realize you cared, Tex," Carolina said coldly.

"Then you don't know me at all, Carol," Tex spat.

Carolina stopped before instantly trying to hit Tex with an elbow to the head. Tex caught it and was about to counter when the guards instantly had guns trained on Carolina.

"Let's take it easy," Flowers said, a few guns pointing at him. "I was talking mostly to her, fellas."

Carolina simmered but resigned to just sneering behind her mask as she ripped her elbow out of Tex's hold. "Just take me to this damn cell."

"Can do, Sweetheart," Tex said sarcastically as she placed the female freelancer in a cell. "Wash, behave and get debriefed and you won't get a cell."

"I did both of those things," Wyoming pointed out with a laugh. "Didn't exactly work out for me."

"You kept your compulsive liar of an AI a secret," Tex reminded as she turned to leave, leading Washington out.

"Be honest, Tex, how bad is it looking for us?" Washington asked grimly as they walked.

"Worse than you'd like, but not as bad as you'd think," Tex answered with a sigh. "The AIs are the bigger problem."

"Yeah. Yeah, they are," Washington agreed distantly, bitterly.

Tex paused and looked back at him. Really looked at him.

Washington stared back, but it felt like it wasn't just David staring at her from behind that mask.

"You know," Tex realized evenly. "How much?"

"Everything. I think. Hard to say in this mess," Washington answered tiredly.

"Epsilon told you. Before he..."

"Unraveled?" Washington filled in sharply. "Yeah, not exactly told me, Alison."

Tex paused, several things piecing together at once. "Oh my god," she whispered in dread.

Washington didn't speak, didn't move…just...stood there.

"I thought the Alpha was just too far gone to hold onto it, that he just...deleted everything that happened to him," Tex said softly. "Did you get...?"

"All of it. yeah," Washington answered, looking down.

"I'm so sorry, David," Tex said in sympathy.

"Sorry?! You're sorry!?" Washington growled before stopping, as if the anger was never there. "Wait, what do...what do you have to be sorry for?"

Tex paused, wondering if he didn't know just everything.

"Tex, as far as I can tell, you didn't do anything wrong in regards to...him. This. You just...existed," David said slowly. "Whatever the Director did, it's on him. Not you, not Alpha, and...definitely not Epsilon."

Tex stood there and let him speak.

"I kind of hate him, you know? I mean, he did split my head open like a chainsaw through wood. But he...really wasn't a person. He was just this...thing created to be...in pain, to suffer," Washington said slowly. "How do you really hate something that, as soon as it's born, it tries to kill itself?"

Tex had no response to that dark question, no answer that could possibly help.

"Come on. There's a lot you need to tell and...I don't know if talking will help, but I like to think helping put an end to this madness will help somewhat," Tex offered.

"Yeah. And...don't you have a battle to get to?" Washington recalled suddenly. "Aren't you...slightly worried about that?"

"No, not really," Tex answered casually.

Meanwhile

"Retreat! Retreat!"

That was the call over the imperial army as the Iron Gods reigned death down on them.

It had been a slaughter from the start, but the arrival of the Spear Lord had shifted it into a sea of death. The army was being culled down, not merely slaughtered.

The Leader of the Iron Gods continued to shoot down dragons, giants, horsemen, and anything that caught his attention.

Anything he deemed worthy prey to strike down was felled and reduced to a burning corpse as if claimed by demons of the underworld.

Velus Libu Harlus, Legatus of this legion, gritted his teeth in angered despair as he reluctantly retreated with his men. They had failed, much like the first army.

The magic and might of these Iron Warriors was great, and it would be foolish not to recognize the effect the presence of the Spear Lord had. Like a god of strategy and victory, he turned back whatever pathetic ground they had gained and made them pay in lakes of blood for daring to annoy him.

As they retreated far away from the unfinished base of the Iron Warrior, a great voice echoed over the lands.

"Hear Me, you Shitless Dogs! I speak for your enemies! Return to the pisspot you call home and hope I never see you wretched faces before my weapons again! Or I Will Make Seas of Your Blood!"

With that dark threat over their head, they fled further. Some didn't stop when they reached camp, choosing to desert and run far from these wrathful deities.

"So, how was that?" Andy asked as they took the microphone away from him.

"Sounded angry enough," Church mused. "You said what I told you too, right?"

"Ehh, I had to fill in some parts myself. Translation isn't always a one-to-one thing! But it was the spirit of the message. And that spirit was piss off or get fucked, assholes!" Andy explained.

"Good, maybe they'll run home without more fighting," Church said as he headed to one of the gaps in the wall.

"Church!" Caboose greeted. "Our new friends are leaving."

"Yeah, yeah they are. They might be back though. Maybe," Church remarked as he looked out.

Corpses were everywhere. Not just outside, but around him and behind him. Outside was worse though, with a veritable river of blood forming outside the base. York was standing next to a parked warthog, vomiting from Grif-grade carsickness. Said Red was taking a smoke under his helmet, relaxing in the driver seat.

"That was easier than last time though!" Donut said with a grin. "Man, Church, they got really scared when you showed up!"

"You mean Church and me, right?" Tucker asked with a grin. "Cause these bastards know to fear my bling!"

"Naw, the glazehole is right," Andy remarked. "From what I made out, those fucks got some really wild nicknames for some of you."

"We do!?" Donut asked in amazed. "Hey, Sarge! Our enemies gave us nicknames!"

"They did!?" Sarge said, still from atop the wall, looking down at the gathering. "Now when you say nickname, do you mean something inspiring or terrifying, or like how we call the Blues pansy?"

"Was I not supposed to wear pants today?" Caboose asked curiously.

"I don't know, actually," Donut admitted, looking down at Andy.

"Well, fess up, Shellshit. What are they calling us?" Church asked in mild curiosity.

Andy chuckled. "You're going to like this, Spear Lord."

He was right, Church was already enjoying this.

End of Chapter

Well, there went that battle. a lot more compact then the first chapters, but the Reds and BLues kindo f know what they're doing now. Kind of? But yeah, back to fighting Roman-knockoffs, with a side of existential dread on Tex's part.

Everything is now coming to a head on the Freelancer side of things. The Alpha thing isn't going to remain a secret for much longer and current circumstances will lead to Church haing a...different reaction, compared to canon. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this!

Early viewing of chapters 24-25 avaliable on my pat-reon:

p a treon . com (slash) akumakami64