Here's the chapter
I do not own red vs. Blue, Halo, nor RWBY. They belong to Rooster Teeth and 343 Industries respectively
"I really don't want to know what those two are doing" said Simmons "especially with one of them being Donut. Ugh."
"Men, quit your bellyaching and time to start listening." Sarge ordered his two underlings. "As you may have heard, president Kimball has made a decision that Gulch is opening its borders. General Doyle has supported this and said that members of the military shall volunteer to scout Remnant itself."
"And I have a feeling that we'll somehow be a part of this" Grif muttered.
As long as the word 'military' comes into play, it's a no-brainer that their red sergeant will wholeheartedly step up to volunteer them to go along with the plans while making sure to come up schemes of his own.
"That's right private Grif. With this opportunity, we can be the first natives of Gulch to set foot outside in what must have been a millennium. Even more importantly, it will be better that the first people to do that are REDS! Haha, I can already see it now. We will wipe the smiles off the faces of those dastardly Blues and convince the citizens of Remnant to convert to Red ideology."
Grif sighed and mumbled "I knew it."
Simmons went to ask his superior. "But sir, why must the military secretly go scouting. Wouldn't it be better if they just escort the president to meet with Remnant's other world leaders?"
"Excellent question Simmons."
Simmons perked up at the compliment, feeling all giddy inside.
"Our purpose is to secretly pose as people of their kingdoms. Then we go around, gathering intel, learn more about their culture, and making sure everything is A-Ok that their kingdoms are relatively safe and peaceful for our leaders to visit. Then we send that info back to HQ and then they will start formally introducing themselves in a summit." There was a pause.
"Wait for it." Grif said.
"All the while we make sure that we do it first instead of the blues. Even if we did it just a millisecond before them, it counts."
"Yep, there it is." The orange soldier concluded.
"Sir, I don't see why this would count as competition." Simmons informed his superior.
"Nonsense Simmons. No matter how unimportant some things may seem, it is not a viable option that we allow the blues to successfully achieve it before us." Sarge proudly told his trusty subordinate.
"I really hope the other kingdoms have better skin moisturizer than the ones we have here. Oooh, I also can't wait to take some pictures when we get there. It will be Red team's first vacation as a group together and it fills me up with excitement to do scrapbooking after."
The three reds turn to see Donut and Lopez strolling inside their meeting room.
"Where have you two been? Now I have to retell the plans I just shared earlier." Sarge groused at the two.
Grif and Simmons sighed forlornly.
A few minutes later
The blues' tank finally arrived at the HQ code name 'Alpha Base'. It was massive. There were other soldiers doing drills and P.T exercises, and some equipment and rations being moved in huge crates hauled by trucks. There was a hangar bay containing some pelicans, wasps, hornets and other aircraft. There was a long row of other ground vehicles, being tanks, jeeps, and other armored vehicles. Even powered exoskeletons like the Cyclops and Mantis.
Tucker parked their tank in an open area alongside the other Scorpion and Grizzly tanks and disembarked along with his teammates after parking.
When they hopped out of their tank, the blue simulation troopers admired the interior of the headquarters.
"Boy, would you just look at this. This place looks awesome. If only blue base was like this." Church intoned. He removed his helmet as he continued to admire the scene before him. He ruffled his short spiky hair and scratched his nose. He was a young man with pale skin and black hair, he also has dark brown eyes with a slight goatee forming in his face.
Tucker hummed in agreement while also taking his helmet off. Like Church, he is also a young adult. Tucker has dark skin and had his curly hair styled in dreadlocks.
"I wonder where all the freelancers are." he asked Church.
Speak of the devil, the Freelancers boarded out of a pelican and walked to where the meeting might be held. This group of freelancers had their most noticeable members walking alongside each other, with Washington and Maine talking to each other while Connecticut was walking beside Wash. There was North and South, the two siblings bickering, well mostly just South complaining while North just nodded without a care. Flowers just kept shaking his head while Wyoming kept telling his stupid knock knock jokes. And finally the top three members, with York casually talking to Carolina who didn't seem to listen and only glared at the person in front of her, Tex.
The black freelancer glanced to the simulation troopers that she was often partnered with and offered them a curt nod before walking straight towards the meeting.
Church imagined them walking with badass music playing in the background. As he imagined this, he failed to notice a pair of arms waving at his front.
"Uh, what is Church doing?" Caboose asked.
"I dunno man," Tucker kept waving his arms frantically in front of Church's face hoping to break his trance. "he seems to be daydreaming."
"Oh, I love doing that sometimes." the special blue said while attempting to mimic his 'best friend'.
"Church, Church! Come on man, snap out of it!" Tucker shook the daydreaming cobalt soldier.
"Ugh, what?" Church finally stopped his gazing, shook his head, and returned his attention to his two comrades.
"You were staring into the distance as if you were seeing nirvana happening in front of your eyes." Tucker replied.
"Oh, uh sorry. Just lost in thought because of what will be happening" he lied, which Tucker and Caboose just easily believed. "Come on you guys, let's go to the meeting."
"And which way is it?" Tucker asked.
"It's right ov-" Church was unable to finish the sentence because he lost sight of the freelancers. 'Damn it' he cursed inwardly.
"How about we ask for directions?" Caboose happily suggested.
"You know what, that is one of the smartest things you just said right now Caboose." Church replied to the dimwit in a half-compliment, half-sarcastic remark. "How about we get some drinks first? I see a vending machine just over there" he pointed in the direction of the said machine. Tucker and Caboose followed along.
When they arrived to choose drinks, they hear a taunting voice behind them.
"Well, well well, if it isn't the other group of simulation losers from Blood Gulch."
The three blues turned around to see a person in black and orange armor with a tall green and black armored one in tow. The latter wore a LOCUS helmet with a green X etched on the front of his visor.
"Felix, what the heck are you and undertaker doing here, nutcase?"
"Nice to see you too Church." Felix greeted with his voice laced with pure sarcasm while flaunting his massive ego around. "You see, my partner Locus and I happen to hear the news of Kimball and Doyle suggesting that our country will reconnect with the rest of Remnant, and will be sending some soldiers to scout the lands first before coming to a decision. Those who volunteer will be given a large some of money when they successfully complete the mission and return. And I just can't let the poor cash prize to sit lonely with no one to claim it. So that is why we want to go, another reason is that our boss will want some resources that we stumble upon be brought back home from our search, so that they can be tested and-"
"Felix, that is enough. Command wants our mission classified." Locus interrupted his partner.
"Will you just let me have this, gods you are such a fucking square bear."
"But he isn't square, nor a bear." Caboose intellectually observed Locus, obviously missing the metaphor.
"Caboose, don't help him." Tucker sighed, already tired of listening Felix's monologue.
"With that out of the way, we can- hey!" Felix angrily exclaimed. The three members of blue team ignored him and already walked far away from the two mercenaries. They went to a marine to ask for directions in which he helpfully answered. Church said his thanks and walked straight into the location. He put on his helmet with Tucker doing the same.
"Hey, wait up I wasn't finished! You guys! Guys!" Felix cursed and then followed blue team towards the meeting hall.
Outside of headquarters, two ODSTs were standing guard.
"Hey" the first one said to his partner.
"Yeah."
"...Do you ever wonder why were he- wait, do you hear that?" the first ODST asked as he could hear a faint noise of music in the distance
"I do, it sounds, Mexican I think?"
As the music got louder, they here the sound of a vehicle approaching. The two helljumpers quickly turned to see a warthog soaring out of a small hill.
"YEEEHAW!"
"What the hell was that!?" the first ODST asked while jumping away from harm.
CRAAASH. The warthog rammed through a wall with several technicians and soldiers scrambling away from the vehicle.
"Dang it Grif, you crashed us right into the middle of the wall. Never mind, alright boys, time to go to the meeting!" Sarge exclaimed while standing up quickly. He did not look affected by the warthog crashing. He hopped off the vehicle and grabbed his shotgun.
Grif groaned as he got up from the driver's seat. "Who the fuck removed the brakes from this thing?"
Simmons got off from the turret and replied to his partner. "I thought it was your turn to do maintenance on this thing you cockbite. Damn, Lopez will be pissed one he sees we trashed the Warthog again.
A mongoose caught up with them, with Lopez driving and Donut riding at back.
"Menos mal que no viajé con ellos, de lo contrario habría vuelto a ser un desastre." (It's a good thing I didn't ride with them, otherwise I would have been a mess of parts again.) Lopez said.
"I agree Lopez, that ride was bumpy. I could already feel the seat cushion going up my bottom a couple of times." Donut completely mistranslated the Spanish speaking droid. Lopez could only shake his head in annoyance due to having no face to express his mood.
One of the ODSTs angrily walked up to Sarge because the reds nearly ran him over with their assault jeep.
"Do you think you clowns can get away after that shit you just pulled!?"
"Heh?" Sarge asked dumbly as he faced the ODST. "Is that insubordination I hear soldier?"
"Insubordination my ass! You three knuckleheads better- oof!" he was cut off with Sarge whacking his shotgun into his helmet.
"Ha, thought so."
The meeting room was filled with many soldiers, alongside the freelancers, the mercs, and the sim troopers. Inside the room were many seats that faced a podium with a screen behind it. Standing on the podium was president Kimball preparing her speech with Gulch's Secretary of Defense and former UGM Army general Donald Doyle helping her. Alongside the two was Chairman Hargove, the CEO of Charon industries, which is one Gulch's most prominent weapons manufacturer alongside Misriah. And the Director of Project Freelancer himself, Dr. Leonard Church with his assistant Aiden Price next to him.
Tucker nudged Church with his elbow and joked "Hey dude, there's your father over there standing. Pffft hahaha.". Caboose laughed along, but which was more of a forced guffaw rather than actual laughter.
"How many times do I have to tell you idiots that he is not my dad." Church groused irritably. "We may have very similar names but we are totally unrelated. By the way, it's Leonard L. Church moron."
"Yeah, totally unrelated." drawled Tucker.
"Grrr, my dad's last name is also Church and he hasn't told me about any of this Director stuff. My parents were never associated with this. Also, Leonard and Church are common family names unlike yours Lavernius."
"Fuck you. Also, my name's unique, not just some common copy." Tucker retorted.
"And Caboose too!" Caboose happily mentioned himself.
"That's right. Hi five buddy"
SLAP
"Son of a bitch!" Tucker massaged his now red palm. Caboose sometimes just cant control his strength.
"Will you three idiots shut up!" a veteran soldier angrily said to them.
"Sorry" they unanimously apologized.
"Gods, how long do we have to wait for this meeting to start? I can already feel my headache coming back." Church said as he massaged his temples.
"Would you like some pills for that Church?"
The trio turned to see a medic in purple armor approaching and taking a seat right next to them.
"The heck are you doing here Doc?" Tucker asked the purple medic.
"Oh hey guys! I'm just as excited like you three to hear about this. Man, has it always been my dream for our country to be at peace with the other kingdoms. I also can't wait to see what Remnant is with my very own eyes."
"Ehem."
Everyone stopped their talking at looked towards president Kimball.
"Thank you all for coming here. As you know-"
She was interrupted as the doors slammed open. Everyone saw the rest of Red Team piling inside.
"Hot potato! I hope we're not too late?" Sarge asked.
"Actually, you just arrived in the nick of time Sergeant Major Sarge." General Doyle informed Red team's gruff leader. Sarge nodded and ordered his men to take seats not knowing that they were just near the Blues. As they sat down, Sarge then noticed and pointed at them. "Dangnabbit, how did those dirty blues arrive here before us!? Simmons, this calls for!-
*SHHHHH!*
He was collectively silenced by everyone in the room.
"Damn it" Red Team's leader grumbled.
The others pinched their eyebrows, while some of the Freelancers snickered or looked at them with disapproval. South meanwhile groaned in annoyance.
"Thank God for not letting us be temporarily assigned to those losers. I can't imagine surviving one day, hell even an hour, with those nitwits."
Kimball tapped her microphone.
"Once again, I thank you all for coming here. As you may know, I have made the decision that Gulch shall now begin interacting with the other kingdoms. The Great War has been over for decades and yet we continue to remain cut off from them. Now, I intend to change the tradition of continuing to show hostility towards them because our paranoia will not lead us to a good future. So now, we have proposed a plan our Secretary of Defense will discuss with you." she nodded to Doyle.
The polite and former general of Gulch's army then took the podium.
"Thank you Miss President. Greetings everyone and what a splendid day it is today right?
Silence crept across the room.
Doyle chuckled nervously before continuing "Now you may have heard the rumors of what we will be doing so let me polish all of that right now. This operation is named operation STAGEPLAY. The reason? It is because this is a voluntary assignment in which we will be dropping you off stealthily in the various capitals of the four kingdoms wherein you pretend to be their civilians, but in reality you will be scouting the terrain, interact with the locals, getting to know more about the culture, and making sure that the whole population in general is friendly so that we can now make our presence known. Just like an actual stage play, you are the actors and you will be acting as their 'citizens.'"
Many of the people nodded and talked in agreement.
Malcolm Hargrove continued "Once you completed it, you can send your info, along with things you have documented back to us, where we may judge them and then and we may move on to contact the other kingdom's leaders and have a summit at the island of Vytal, in which the Great War peace treaty was conducted. Also, please go on ahead and scout for any of their resources, it will be good for business. I will give an extra reward for any of those who do this."
Felix fist pumped in victory while Locus just groaned.
"Before we send you off however, we will be assigning what place the volunteers will go to based on" The Director said before giving a sideways glance towards the Reds and Blues bickering with each other "skillset." "The more professional and experienced ones will be dropped off on more hazardous situations where if some hostiles choose to attack them, they will see to it that the task will become finished. And when I say finish, you do exactly what I tell you too, even if it means it goes against moral conduct." The Director strictly said.
"We won't fail you sir." Carolina said firmly while saluting with the others doing the same as well.
"Now now, there is no need for that. We are not here to make enemies at all mister Director. You must only engage them when necessary. Do I make myself clear?" Doyle asked.
"Sir yes sir!"
"With that out of the way" Doyle continued "the others can just blend in with the normal people. Another thing, I know that some of you here are still in their youth, we would like to ask for some to pose as students in huntsman academies."
A young recruit raised her hand. "What is a huntsman academy sir?" she asked.
"These academies train teenagers who aspire to be huntsmen and huntresses to fight off enemies. Think of it more as some mercenaries who are tasked with protecting settlements and people from grimm and other criminals or terrorists. We want you to know how their system works because I was thinking of also trying to incorporate that here, even when the previous laws forbid it. I want to try something new. So if you get to know the huntsman academies systems, then will test them first before applying that here in Gulch okay?"
"Why would we need that when we already have strong military force?" another soldier asked.
"That is just one of my plans I had for sometime, but still, if the rest of society doesn't want that, then I wont be establishing huntsman academies. This will be just a test to see if they are good." Doyle replied.
"With that, I call this meeting adjourned. To the volunteers, go to your commanding officers so that you may know which city you will be dropped off too. All of you will be granted a week of shore leave before this operation can proceed. Thank you." said president Kimball.
Many people clapped and made sounds of approval for shore leave. After the meeting, everyone made their way out of the meeting hall to go back to their barracks to relax.
The Blood Gulch crew also made their way out but with Church taking a slight detour to meet up with Tex. Once he arrived he saw some of the freelancers talking to each other and not paying him any attention. He then sees Tex and walked straight to her to greet her.
Tex looked up to see Church approaching.
"So uh, hey Tex."
"Church" she replied.
'Don't mess this up asshole' Church willed himself mentally."I, um, you got any plans once this whole mission starts? We're a person short and we really don't want to take our chances when Sarge tries to screw us with his plans."
Before Tex could respond, Washington called out.
"Hey Tex, the Director wants to meet us back at the Mother of Invention. Carolina wont hesitate to leave us behind once we're late."
"I'll be there." She turned back to Church. "I'm sorry Church, maybe some other time. The Director wants all of project freelancer to be ready for this so I can't join up with you and the rest of the idiots. I'm really sorry. I've got to go now."
"Sure, you uh, go kick some ass."
Tex's helmet flashed a green light indicating that she'll be okay. She now followed Washington back to the pelican.
Church sighed as he looked down. Well, it was better than not trying. At least he had gotten an answer. He felt someone tap his armor's shoulder and looked to see it was Tucker with Caboose following behind."
"Don't worry buddy, you've got us. Besides, what's the worst that could happen?"
Church smirked and responded. "I'm not sure whether to be comforted, or scared of that statement."
Tucker laughed a bit and patted his back .
"Come on you jerk, let's get this vacation started! We'll be informed on which place we will be assigned or visited tomorrow."
"Actually, there is no need for that." a marine approached them. "This data pad shows your assignment and what you will be doing." The marine handed blue team a data pad each.
"Thanks" said Church.
The marine nodded and then said "Also, please head to the armor bay. Your armor will be given some 'adjustments' before you are inserted into the kingdoms. Good day now gentlemen."
At the armor bay
Both the reds and blues, including Doc were there with each of their armors being removed and calibrated. Sarge decided to break the silence.
"Let's see who can accomplish this mission first blue. It will be us who will be claiming those rewards."
Church groaned "Seriously Sarge, this is no competition. Besides, all of those who volunteered will be rewarded accordingly. And also, we're supposed to be working together so let's put all this Red vs. Blue thing behind us. Temporarily of course."
"As if I'd be working with a dirty blue. Command must be going mad to issue this."
"Whatever makes that damn head of yours happy you bastard." Church snarkily shot back.
Back with their teammates, Tucker asked them "So, what are you fools planning to do this shore leave?"
Grif spoke up first "I'd be catching up on lost Zs. Also, Samie Raphaello's here I come!"
"I can't wait to be back home. I still have some homework to accomplish that I didn't do in school." said Simmons.
"Right." Tucker said disinterestedly. "What about you Caboose?"
"Oh, I don't know. Ooh, maybe I'll go watch some cartoons. That sounds cool. And maybe take some naps, eat snacks, and uh. I forgot what I was about to say."
After them getting their armors returned to the armor bay, each of the Simulation troopers packed up their stuff and ready to head home to their families so they can enjoy a week's worth of break and telling their family the news of what they'll be doing after.
Church meanwhile was busy reading his data pad. As he read through the contents, hew saw that they'll be assigned to the Kingdom of Vale.
Tucker decided to ask. "Whatcha reading?"
"Oh, just checking the things here in our data pads. It say's here that we'll be going to Vale. It also says that we have the option of attending one of their academies since we are in the right age."
"Oh, I can't wait to see all the chicks their dude."
Church gave him an inquisitive look.
"What? It's not like we'll be actually paying attention to the lessons. We'll just be there for scouting purposes. We can cut classes whenever we want. That's if we decide to go there."
"You're right. Let's just wait. Now come on, I want to get out of this place far more than you idiots do. Less talking, more packing."
With them done packing, each of them took transport ships to take them back to their homes.
END
A/N. So this is an AU where Church and Tex are human, with Church not being related to the director. Also, the continent of Gulch will be similar to that of North America.
Here are some personal info of our sim troopers. This is just my head cannon while some belong to the RvB wiki. About their ranks, some of them are different as to what we have in the show.
Blues:
PFC Leonard L. Church = 19 years old: 6'0: Cleveland, Ohio
PFC Lavernius Tucker = 18 years old: 5'11: Detroit, Michigan
PV2 Michael J. Caboose = 17 years old: 6'2: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Reds:
SGM Sarge = 45 years old: 6'1: Moscow, Iowa
PFC Dick Simmons = 19 years old: 6'3: Atlanta, Georgia (I know in the series he states that he has Dutch and Irish ancestry, but let's just roll with it.)
PV2 Dexter Grif = 18 years old: 5'9: Honolulu, Hawaii
PV2 Franklin Delano Donut = 17 years old:5'10: Iowa city, Iowa
Lopez la Pesado = Age?: Height is same as Sarge: Blood Gulch (He was built by Sarge there)
Other:
Medical Officer Super Private First Class Frank 'Doc' DuFrense: 18 years old: 5'9: Kingston, Jamaica (It is stated in the wiki that he graduated from Jamaica State, assuming it is part of Jamaica. His rank isn't even a real thing lol.)
Til next time guys. maus69420 signing out. Adios!
10/13/'23: Made a few changes and correcting some grammar.