Introduction:

Tucker and the guys have been giving their all to the war effort. But it looks like they are ready for some help from Tucker's past.

Red vs. Blue fan fiction by B.S
Sorry if the format is a little weird or anything didn't have a chance to change it. I'm still working on my Skyrim and it'll be a little longer I apologize for the delay this is something I had worked on before hand. So I thought it would give y'all something to read till I'm done.

Planet Chorus during the rebel/ federation war. Amara River ten miles out from main base. 0200
Tucker laid prone the edge of the cliff overlooking the river below,for once he had finally gotten a hold of the sniper rifle. As long as he had it he was supposed to be keeping an eye out for the reported enemy troops working in the area .He’d been out here for over three hours already with his team and hadn’t seen anything thus far.
He wasn’t really looking forward to going back to Wash without news again when dawn rolled around.
“Tucker see anything yet?” Grif said, scaring him half to death when the headset in his helmet popped.
“No Grif I don’t see anything yet. What are you doing up anyway your watch isn’t for another hour?” Tucker asked, peering through the scope again with a sigh.
“Can’t sleep. Plus I’m hungry.” Grif complained.
“You’re always hungry Grif didn’t you bring any snacks with you to tide you over till we reached the base in the morning?” Tucker sighed then paused as something moved below him. “Grif shut up a minute there’s movement down by the water. Get the others up.”
“Got it.”
Tucker sighed deeply as he looked through the scope down towards the water line following the dark outline of someone moving around. It was his job as the designated sniper for their team to take the shot but at the same time he had to be sure of the number of targets below him ,otherwise they’d be in some deep shit.
It wasn’t until he saw the first small helmet lights come on that he realized how many soldiers were below them right now. He counted at least half a dozen enemy soldiers moving the river below them, when Kimball had told him about the place being a drop off for enemy soldiers she hadn’t been kidding. Looked like the first team wasn’t going home without some action first after all.
“Tucker we’re in position we go on the first shot. Make it count man.” Grif said over comms link.
“Yeah. Good luck down there guys.” Tucker said quietly.
Taking a deep breath and picking his target, Tucker began going through what Carolina had taught him when it came to firing a sniper rifle. He began releasing his breath slowly and squeezed the trigger aiming for center mass on the target. The rifle went off with a loud CRACK and in barely a second the soldier went down, he didn’t get back up again. Tucker didn’t think about it he just picked another target and started the process over again.
As soon as the first target went down Grif , Simmons, and Caboose opened fire from the bushes just behind the enemy. Caught in the cross fire of a sniper and a group of soldiers it didn’t take long before the other troops were down for the count and out of the war.
As soon as they had finished off the troops Grif, Simmons, and Caboose dragged them back into the cover of the nearby brush, bodies would be collected at sun up. Now the trap was set and they could go back to doing all of it over again.

Federation/Rebel military base, 0500. Sim. Troops quarters.
Wash had heard about the first sniper teams success out in the field, made him wish that he had been requested to go with them. Then he had heard that it had been Tucker to make the shot and that it had been him on sniper detail all night. So he decided to make it point to meet the team down at the return point.
Wash was dressed back in the steel and yellow colored armor he wore when on missions. He didn’t feel that he’d need it on their own military base but he firmly believed that you could never be too careful. Plus everyone else would be wearing the armor that they had worked in all night to meet the others at the return site.
It might sound strange to everyone else but it wasn’t to them, it was now hardwired tradition. No matter how tired, how run down, or the difficulty required to get there the team always met at the return site. It was something they did now especially after Felix and Locus. It showed their concern for those out on missions, that they would always be waiting for them when they got back to what had become their home.
It remained unsaid but they knew it as well as anyone. It also told you who didn’t make it back home and what shape the people who made it back were in. So far they had been lucky, despite a few injuries(Tucker, Wash, and Carolina) they hadn’t had anything serious to worry about, like losing one of their own.
So when Wash made it to the return site he wasn’t surprised to see the others in a tight circle waiting anxiously. Anxiously? Wash quickened his pace to join everyone else worry settling deep in his gut making him feel sick.
Sarge, Donut, Carolina, Grey, Epsilon, and Lopez moved over letting him join the group with each giving a slight nod of greeting.
“What’s wrong?” Wash asked, deciding to get right to the point.
“Well nothing per se, Just a difference of opinion about something.” Sarge said tilting his head in the direction of the approaching ship.
“I repeat what is wrong?” Wash asked sounding frustrated, he hated repeating himself.
“Sarge thinks we should all start working with our colored teams back in place instead of picking who we work best with anymore.” Epsilon sighed “I say fuck that let’s keeping doing it the way we have been doing it since we got here.”
“Why does it even matter Sarge? I mean I understand if you want your trusted team members on your missions with you but seriously?” Wash asked rolling his eyes which he realized was a waste because they couldn’t see it.
“Because since they’ve been working together things have changed, Grif isn’t afraid of me anymore and Simmons hasn’t been working as closely to me anymore. Caboose…… well he’s still Caboose.” Sarge complained.
“Their growing as soldiers Sarge aren’t you even a little happy about that? It’s why we’re here after all or at least that’s what Tucker told me you said once.”
“Well yeah but….”
Before he could finish talking the ship that had been sent to drop off team two and return team one landed. Everyone fell silent and turned to look expectantly for their friends. Caboose was the first one off the ship and always made a beeline right for Epsilon, or Church as the reds and blues called him. Next was Grif who gave them all a brief wave before running off in the direction of his private stash of food. Then Simmons climbed off the ship and walked over to be greeted by his team.
Last was Tucker, he didn’t get off the ship in a burst of energy or even slouch off like he was tired. He stepped down off the ship and immediately began helping pull bodies off the ship with the crew chief. He barely sent a wave back to his friends and they all knew that it had been a long night for him.
“I should probably go talk to him.” Wash said softly.
“It was his first real mission back out there. After everything that happened with Felix and the people we lost in the battle.” Church said softly in reply.
“Shit.” Wash said to himself, he had forgot how that could feel.
During the last battle Tucker had suffered injuries that could have proven fatal if it hadn’t been for Grey responding so quickly. The battle had been one that they- reds, blues, and freelancers- had proven was set up by the real enemy. The Chairman, Locus, and his partner Felix. Countless lives had been lost during the battle and proved that had died for nothing, well almost nothing without their sacrifice they would’ve never united the Federation with the Rebels.
Their deaths had been made to mean something to the other troops.
Being sim troopers the reds and the blues had never been in a real war until landing here on Chorus. They had never really lost anyone in combat like that and now that they were at war it seemed that they were losing someone new every time they had a big mission.
So like any good leader Wash was about to go look out for his people and probably have an inappropriate or awkward conversation with Tucker. Great.
As soon as Wash was near him Tucker turned and removed his helmet slowly, so in keeping with his manners Wash did the same. Seeing Wash and Tucker side by side was like looking at the moon and the sun side by side. Both so different but still working together to make something possible.
Tucker was a young black man in his late twenties, he was tall, and surprisingly charismatic when he wanted to be. He had long dreadlocks that went down the back of his neck to cover his glowing sangheli markings, a side effect from having Junior he said. His non regulation dreadlocks were dark blue and brown.
Wash was extremely white. His skin was pale with freckles dotting his face, arms, and back. He was also blond with his hair cut in a regulation high and tight that most of the male freelancers had kept, old habits die hard after all. He was the third oldest in their group ranking in at his late thirties. He only had one tattoo and it was on his back, it was the Chinese symbol for duty. He was thinking about adding on to it.
So standing there looking at each other the two didn’t seem to have too much in common. But they had something that only the people in the military would understand, they had shared battle experience and that made them close as brothers in their eyes. Well they had been the only family that they had had for over ten years.
Finally, Tucker cleared his throat after a long awkward silence had passed between them. He racked his hands through his hair which was something he only did when he was really nervous.
“So how’d your night watch go?” Wash asked him keeping his eyes locked on his friend.
“It was ok we ended up taking out one group of soldiers that had tried to infiltrate the outpost by using the waterway.” Tucker said with a crooked smile to the elder. “But I- well….”
“Do we need to go somewhere and have a private discussion about what’s bothering you?” Wash asked.
“Yeah I think that woul-” Tucker began but was cut off.
“Tucker! Tucker! Freckles and I just came back from Principle Kimball’s office she wants you to get there quick. Oh, you to Agent Washington” Caboose said sounding excited.
“Later then it is Wash. Thanks Caboose you might as well invite the others.” Tucker said, giving him a tired smile and a pat on the back.
“You sure?”
“Yeah we’ll finish this later. Let’s go it’s a bad idea to keep the boss lady waiting trust me I tried it once.” Tucker said with a loud laugh.
The two sim troopers jogged back towards the office that Kimball had been using since Doyle had opened up the base to both armies. The training that Wash had been putting the team through was paying off, even after the long night Tucker still wasn’t winded by the time that they reached her office.
Upon entering the office all of the troops had gathered and Grif pulled a chair up for Tucker beside him and Simmons. Tucker gave Wash a small nod then went to join the two reds who were sitting the closest to Kimball’s desk.
Kimball breezed into the office with authority practically exuding off of her. She nodded to each of them then extended her hand getting Tucker’s attention by waving a disk around in the air.
“Well Captain Tucker I have something here that might be of interest to you and then again might be a trick from Felix and Locus.” Kimball said with a nod of her helmet.
“Okay what is it?” Tucker said rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
“It’s a radio message that we picked up on a private radio channel that had been transmitted to Chorus looking for a certain teal soldier we all know.” Kimball said with a gesture to the disk. “We recorded it so you could listen.”
Kimball walked over to the large computer behind her desk and inserted the disk. She then began working on the keyboard pulling the voice reader back up for display. She turned to the expectant group waiting to hear what was on the disk. So without further ado she clicked the play button and stepped back to let them listen.
The first thing they noticed was that the voice was undeniably female and spoke with a slight accent that Wash could swear was English. He was surprised to see a jolt go through Tucker as if someone had dropped cold water on him, Simmons and Grif noticed too.
“This is Desdemona Alabama looking for simulation trooper Lavernius Tucker. Requesting immediate relay of message of your current whereabouts. I’ve been looking for you for a months now it would be nice if you could contact me as soon as possible.” She said sounding concerned.” I’ve managed to track your ship to this part of the galaxy and have reason to believe you’re on this planet contact me if you can. Otherwise I’ll have to try finding you the hard way.”
The message ended with her repeating the first line that she had opened the message with. Everyone turned to look at Tucker who had a surprised look on his face. He glanced over at the rest of his friends and he stood turning to Kimball with a smile.
“That’s not a fake message Kimball that actually is a good omen for us. Permission to use your radio relay to send back a message of my current location. Trust me she could be a really big help to our army.” Tucker said with a smile.
“Really who is she?” Donut asked sounding interested.
“She’s a friend of mine from back during basics. She and I had the same training instructor during our close combat training she was badass. Like you Carolina.” Tucker said sending a friendly smile towards the mentioned freelancer.
“She also used a really big alien hammer weapon that totally worked with her DMR combo fight style.”
Tucker stood up then went around the desk to activate the relay system and he immediately pulled up the private radio channel that she had called him on. Tucker then began putting in the various codes that would actually put him in direct contact to her.
“This is Desdemona go ahead for private contact.” She said with a sigh.
“That’s how you greet an old friend you’ve been looking for, for months? Seriously girl?” Tucker said with a smile.
“Oh my God Tucker!” Desdemona gasped with a sound close to tears. “Tucker your alive. Are you ok?”
“Yeah no serious injury to complain about at least not at the moment.”
“Thank God. Where are you now so I can drop down and pick you and your team up?”
“Here’s the thing Des I can’t leave I and my friends have sort of become involved in a big mission down here. I could actually use your assistance down here if you’re up for a battle or two.”
“Ok I’m game if you really think I’m needed. Send your coordinates please.”
“Yeah I could always use your help Des. Your the only one I know with real combat experience.”
“Roger that Tucker just received your location it’ll take a few hours for me to arrive. See you then buddy.”
By the time that the radio call was over Tucker was grinning like the cat that ate the canary. This woman must be someone real special if he’s so happy that she’s coming to aid them in the coming fight, plus he had treated her with the respect that he didn’t really treat others with. Wash thought with a start of surprise.
After he had completed the radio transmission he quickly excused himself to head back to the barracks with the others that had worked that night. He gave Wash a look that said to follow him, well he had an hour until he needed to head back to the comms center to start his calling the new troops together for training. So naturally he followed behind the group excusing himself from the discussion that Kimball, Sarge, and Carolina had started about the respect Tucker had treated Des with when talking.
Wash followed behind but then stopped when Tucker paused to yell back to the group still in Kimball’s office.
“Hey send someone for me when she gets here. Just please not Palomo I swear to God I’ll shoot him if he comes.” Tucker yelled, putting his helmet back on.
Wash put his helmet back on to cover up the smirk he had at the younger man’s disliking of the other.
Wash, Caboose, Grif, Simmons, and Tucker walked back in almost absolute silence until Grif made a rude comment towards Simmons. It left the other man flushed and sputtering over his words while Grif gave him a knowing smile.
By the time they reached the ‘barracks’ (the house that Kimball and Doyle had given them to live in) everyone was back to being quiet and a few yawns were escaping their mouths. Wash watched as the guys all filed into the house then was surprised to find that they actually worked well together in the home setting that they’d all became comfortable with over the past few months.
There were only two bathrooms in the house so while Caboose and Grif went to shower the other two began cooking each member a quick meal so they could get a few hours of sleep. They would then probably go to the gym together and work out so that they’d be ready to return to training with Wash the next morning. What shocked Wash most of all was that they were so used to working with each other that they didn’t need to use words, they worked in complete silence.
While they ate and moved around the room in silence Wash went to doing his paper work that he needed to turn in for yesterdays new recruits he’d been training. He sat at the table with Tucker who was doing his paper work on the targets that he had shot while on the over watch with his team. He had continued to call them targets even on his paper work too, Wash was sure that said something about where Tucker was in his mind currently.
“So do you still wanna have that talk Tucker?” Wash whispered barely moving his lips.
“Yea that sounds good but after I’ve had a chance to shower of all the dirt and grime from last night. Meet me in our quarters and we can talk while I clean my armor.” Tucker said.
“Sure thing Tucker but it’ll have to be real quick I have to go to the training in a little while.”
“No problem man I’ll make it a quickie bow chikka bow wow.”
“Tucker!”
“What it’s been forever man.” Tucker said giving him a cocky smile.
Wash shook his head with a sigh of exasperation, no matter how good a soldier Tucker became there were still some rough edges to his personality.
After what felt like forever Tucker and Wash ended up alone in their quarters for that talk that had been put off twice now. Wash sat down on his bed while Tucker crouched at the foot of his own bed polishing his armor with his cleaning supplies. He waited patiently for Tucker to decide to speak about what was bothering him.
“I don’t know what’s happening with me Wash things have changed since what happened with Felix.” Tucker whispered.
“How have things changed?” Wash asked, crossing his arms over his chest listening.
“I don’t know! When we were out there I was fine and then those soldiers came out of the water and I don’t know….” Tucker said sounding worried.
“What happened? Did someone get hurt, are you ok?”
“I’m fine Wash, thanks, and no one got hurt. I just shut down I stopped thinking about the enemy as people and just shot them. I didn’t even think twice.”
“I don’t understand. That’s what we’re supposed to do Tucker we’re soldiers, it’s our jobs. We fight to protect the people we care about, that sometimes involves doing stuff that isn’t like us.”
“I know it just felt different. It scares me sometimes that I’m seeming to change and don’t even realize it until it happens.”
Wash saw the conflicted look in his friend’s eyes and he took a deep breath and decided: why not? They don’t seem as scared of me as they used to be anyway. Wash thought hoping that this wouldn’t become to awkward between them. He couldn’t let it become awkward between them that had happened once back in Valhalla but he chose not to think of that.
Wash stepped towards Tucker putting his hand on his shoulder giving it a quick squeeze before he sat down a little closer to him so they could make eye contact.
“Listen to me Tucker no matter how much you change you will always be you. You’ll always be my friend and the guy we all come to when we’re in a bind. That’s always been you and it will always be you.” Wash said in his most serious no nonsense voice.
“Promise?” Tucker asked sounding a lot younger then he was reminding Wash of their age difference.
“I promise.” Wash said “I have to go now but if you need anything come find me.”

Landing pad of Federation/Rebel army air force, 1300
The ship landed without a hitch and for the first time in almost awhile everyone was excited to be there gathered around watching eagerly for the arrival of the soldier. Simmons and Grif had decided to stand over to the side of the group mainly to get rid of the people that were a part of their squads. Mainly because Grif didn’t want to sit anywhere near Matthews, the resident kiss ass of the groups here.
Simmons was listening to Grif talk about his plan to finally get rid of Matthews, maybe have him sent to another squad. And he was surprised by how much he disliked Bitters too, except when he talked about Bitters he sounded strangely like Sarge. Hmm….
Simmons then turned expectantly with everyone else to see who was coming off the ship he just hoped the girl wasn’t to beautiful otherwise he’d never be able to talk to her. That would go over well he wondered briefly why he couldn’t talk to women especially now. But he quickly figured that it didn’t matter too much unless she was pretty and focused directly on him. Then there’d be a real problem.
The door to the ship opened and everyone waited with baited breath until she appeared walking as casually as possible for someone with a slight limp. Simmons couldn’t stop his surprised reaction to her fast enough, he sucked in a quick breath eyes bulging.
Desdemona ‘Des’ Alabama wasn’t the hard looking soldier that they’d all been expecting. She had long auburn hair, green eyes, and was pale when it came to her skin. She stood tall and was built much like Tex had been. She looked around the crowd her eyes sparking with intelligence and calculating her surroundings. Her eyes landed on the two reds and she smiled at them, they must have seemed much friendlier then the others. Like her they weren’t wearing helmets.
Des’ armor color was quicksilver, with steel trimming, and she definitely had a symbol on her helmet plus the shoulder plates. The symbol was the black widow that wasn’t the usual colors of a black widow. Her background was a silver triangle with the black spider on top of the background. The hourglass was dark blue.
Des approached the two reds looking completely ready to question them, Simmons was almost certain that a woman questioning him wouldn’t end well. Then she stopped approaching the two of them as a familiar voice yelled to her.
“Des!” Tucker yelled jogging right towards her his helmet tucked under his arm.
“Tucker oh my God it’s so good to see you.” She yelled turning and opening her arms to accept the hug he was offering.
Once in his arms Tucker lifted her up and spun her around holding Des close to him. Des was laughing happily as he placed her back on the ground and the new recruits standing around stared more closely at the new woman. If Tucker was interested in her then she had to be something special, even more so when he was showing the woman unconditional respect. He didn’t do that with Kimball or Carolina, he most certainly didn’t do that with Tex.
Simmons let out a very embarrassing squeak when Tucker brought her over to the two reds and he was very serious now. Upon looking around Simmons realized that it wasn’t just him and Grif anymore, the whole team had joined them.
But her eyes were trained on him since he was the one that had ended up pushed to the front of the group. Simmons could already tell that his face was turning bright red by the laughter coming from Grif to his left.
“Des these are my friends the ones that I told you about.” Tucker said then he launched into his introductions.
When they were over she nodded to each person with a slight smile before her eyes once again went to Simmons. As she looked back his way he turned a shade redder.
“Sorry to stare but it’s just the first time I’ve seen someone else like me since the war.” She said, tilting her head.
When Simmons just stared at her in shock and surprise Des smiled removing the arm piece of her armor to reveal a cybernetic hand. From her elbow down all of it was a cybernetic hand that matched Simmons’ own cybernetic enhancements.
After Grif sustained a near fatal injury that left most of his body damaged it had been Simmons who had been the one to donate his own parts. Granted he had been interested in saving his friends life it had been Sarge to perform the surgery on both of them. So in reality the whole thing-even though it saved Grif’s life- had been a part of their commander’s experiment.
So now Grif was what Sarge called a human jigsaw puzzle and Simmons was a cyborg. All because someone-*cough* Tucker- had run Grif over with the tank that no one knew how to drive.
Simmons had to admit that seeing her openly display the cybernetic limb she had made him feel a little less threatened by her presence among them. Besides none of the other women he had ever met would display something like that so proudly but she already didn’t seem like the women of Chorus. She was more like the women of Project Freelancer, granted that analogy should scare the crap out of all of them.
Finally Simmons swallowed hoping that his voice wouldn’t crack when he spoke.
“So you were injured during the war?” Simmons asked, thankful that his voice didn’t crack. “The one with the aliens?”
“Yeah the one with the aliens I was one of the lucky ones though. But because of my injury I was discharged and now I’m basically a freelance soldier.” Des said with a casual shrug.
“Well look lady you’ll find that being freelance around here just means we can’t trust you.” Grif said sounding his most insulting. “Besides you’re not the first freelancer we’ve encountered we have real ones.”
“If you think my skills aren’t real enough Captain Grif I’d be more than happy to prove you wrong.” Des said without so much as a smile.
“Easy guys we’re all on the same team here so Grif back off. Des your skills right now will have to wait to be showed off until we can report you to Kimball” Tucker said giving everyone a look that clearly meant he was serious.
With a sigh Des nodded but not before shooting Grif a look that said that he’d better keep his mouth shut in the future. At least until she was used to him being a smart ass all the time, granted with some of the comments he made they still weren’t used to him being a smart ass.
But before anything else could be said Kimball called down to them from further up the hill to get their attention. From what Simmons could see it was looking like Des was gonna get to prove herself without further delay. Kimball worked fast he’d give her that much, he remembered what it was like when the reds and the blues first got there.
So the rest of the team walked with the new freelance soldier up to the main building where Kimball had set up her office. It was the building where she had first addressed them when they arrived and Simmons couldn’t help but feel a sense of deja vu when he walked into the room. It wasn’t that long ago that they had made their deal here to get back their friends from the federation.
Kimball waited till everyone had assembled she hated having to repeat herself to make sure that she was heard. But with this squad that happened a lot which had started pissing everyone off.
“Desdemona Alabama I’ve been able to pull up your service record from the war since hearing about your impending arrival. Quite impressive I must say.” Kimball said pacing back and forth in front of her. “You have commendations from your superior officers for most of what you accomplished in a combat role right up till your unfortunate injury that ended your military career.”
Des smiled slightly but not many people missed the look in her eye that said that her unfortunate injury had caused her to lose a lot more than a career.
“Well I would like to take the opportunity to welcome you to our military base since you are set on staying. Your injury won’t be a problem here.” Kimball said, stopping right in front of the new soldier to join their ranks.
“I’m glad I could be of assistance. Tucker wasn’t able to inform me of the details when we talked earlier might I ask what is going on here?” Des asked with a nod of respect.
“Tucker and Agent Washington can bring you up to speed on your mission today. I hate to throw you into the thick of things so soon after your arrival here but it is necessary. Agent Carolina has been wounded quite recently unlike Wash and Tucker her wounds haven’t healed yet.” Kimball said “You will have to take her place on this next mission the others will have to give you the details on the way. I’m sure with your history you can handle this?”
“Of course I’d be disappointed if I couldn’t.” Des said with a nod.
Kimball nodded her head then turned to exit saying “You leave in an hour I’d get ready if I were you.”

Tucker and the others that she had been introduced to had been quick to fill Des in on what was happening on Chorus. They had told her everything that had happened to them since they had crashed on the planet. Then after that Wash had gone into great detail on the fight style he had observed from Felix and Locus.
He also told Des that their best freelancer Carolina hadn’t been able to beat them with her hand to hand combat, in all fairness though he did point out that she had been injured during both encounters. From what Des heard that might not have made that big a difference in the outcome of the battle. So far it sounded like they had come to nothing more than a draw with them anytime they had faught.
Des hesitated to say that maybe she could tip the scale in their favor. She didn’t want to imply that she was better than Carolina and she didn’t want to make promises before she had seen it for herself. So she remained quiet listening to the group of her new allies tell her what was going on.
“So that’s pretty much it now we’re just trying to stop this Chairman guy from getting what he’s after by killing the planet. Think you can help?” Tucker said sounding like his younger self.
“I’m not into the habit of making promises but I can say I’ll do all I can to help.” Des said noticing the immediate relief of the others.
Des stood up looking out the side of the ship down below at the jungle where they had tracked a band of Pirates too. (Pirates are what they call the Chairman’s army) Des didn’t like it it wouldn’t be easy using long range weapons to take out anyone down below, the only thing most had for close combat was the magnum or their knives. She hadn’t seen most of them use their knives but she was sure that they’d need some training on that.
She’d have to bring that up with Wash though since he was their training officer. Instead of getting into that now she looked to Tucker with his alien sword and smiled.
“You any good with that?” Des asked with a smile.
“Yea. You any good with that hammer you tote around?” Tucker asked with a cocky sound to his voice, he was probably smiling under his helmet.
“This? Yea I’ve had it since the war and it works great in close combat. Which I think is what we’re in for down there in that jungle.” Des said with a jerk of her chin in the direction of the jungle they would be dropping down into.
Des hadn’t done a drop in years and it was starting to feel good being back in the thick of a battle. She was already starting to feel the familiar thrill of adrenaline flowing through her veins at the prospect of a close and personal fight. Yeah she had missed this about as much as she had missed her old friend from basic.
Finally the ship stopped to hover over the drop site, which was nothing more then a very small clearing surrounded by a thick stand of trees on every side. It was perfect for an ambush if the enemy knew they were coming so they couldn’t spend too much time in the opening.
Des stepped up to repel down first that way she could begin spotting around the area with her DMR (Designated Marksman Rifle). She took the rope in one hand and her rifle in the other, if she was met with fire on the ground then she wanted to be prepared.
Des jumped before she could talk herself into letting someone else go first.
She landed with a thud and immediately stepped to the side as she brought her scope up to begin looking around the area for signs of movement.
“We’re all clear you guys can start coming down now.” Des said stepping clear so they could make their own drops.
Soon she was joined by the eldest one on the team who she was pretty sure was called Sarge. He was carrying his shotgun and was right beside her covering her from the opposite direction, although she wasn’t sure how effective that would be. Before she knew it everyone was on the ground ready to head into the jungle for combat.
The mission was to head east till they reached the newest enemy outpost that had been set up to help run arms to the Pirates who were further inland to the capital city of Chorus. They were to sneak into the base without setting off the alarm which would draw attention to their arrival. Once inside they had to get to the computer that was at the site and access the mainframe to maybe get an idea of where the other Pirates were hiding. And maybe find Locus and Felix too.
Once they were all on the ground they regrouped and began to take formation for the trek into the hostile jungle. Wash took point with the reds following close behind him, Tucker took the job of protecting the back of the team. Des went out to the side and began the task of scouting ahead of the team, with her DMR she was the best choice for the scouting mission since she had a better chance of seeing approaching Pirates.
She had been given the only AI that was available to them for the mission to access the cloaking equipment that they had been authorized to use for the mission. But since they had only the one AI he’d have to move from person to person to help maximize the effectiveness of the cloak. So naturally they had brought Epsilon -Church- to help them.
Des went through the area in stealth mode through most of the undergrowth that had been growing. She used the cloaking device when she found thin spots that she would be exposed the most to enemy fire. Des was looking through the scope at the area dead ahead of them and she was slowly panning along the tree line when she saw movement.
“Wash we have movement at your 3 o’clock wait one while I take a look ahead.” Des said, crouching low moving through the bushes.
“Roger that you got this?” Wash asked, over the comms.
“Yeah we got this. Right Epsilon?” Des said with a big smile.
Epsilon appeared floating beside her and she could tell he was doing the calculating needed to judge mission success.
“Oh yeah we got this I’m not sure of your fight style but if it’s as bad ass as Tucker says then yeah we're good.” Epsilon said nod.
Des smiled she was starting to like Church he was a bit of an asshole but he was a very useful asshole, she liked that about her allies. She could be a bit of a bitch herself so having someone that could dish it out as good as they got was always a good thing.
Des started sneaking through the bushes towards the start of where she had seen the movement. She started moving along the side of the team towards the source and then she zoomed in panning again to see if anyone was around. She didn’t see anything around until the telltale sign of someone using the cloaking device at only 50% power.
She paused briefly letting her eyes lock on the surrounding area and she saw two more figures also moving among the jungle. Des sighed and tried to make out what the weapons they were carrying in their hands. With another sigh she gave up looking at the weapons then zoomed in on the one in the back if the group heading that way.
Des then zoomed in as close as the DMR would let her and she fired taking the man out with the first shot to the head.
“OK Church your up, plan of attack for the other two guys?” Des said “ETA two minutes.”
“Yea no problem that’s more than enough time for me to come up with something.” Church said, with an amused tone to his voice and a smile.

For church two minutes was a really long time especially when an AI could process a certain amount of time a lot different than a person. When he began processing the scene he slowed it down and broke it down second by second being the Epsilon unit he had the other AIs and their abilities at his disposal. So he started by breaking it down piece by piece.
Church started by breaking down the areas various cover and the durability to each one. Then with Delta he began checking the individual soldiers to see if any of them had any injury that could be exploited.
“I think this one has been injured previously in the left shoulder. The best means to exploit this one is to target the shoulder with her first strike.” Delta said “The second one is in perfect condition physically she might have a fight on her hands with this one.”
“OK then we need to focus on the second one who will be a bit more tricky I don’t know what we could….” Church began slowly.
“Here we could have her duck back behind here and then come around with a knife. You know assassination.” Theta said slowly with his hand pointing towards the largest tree that the second man would pass first.
“OK that sounds good. Now for the second guy. Gamma what do you think?” Church asked.
“We could just have her use the knife again.” Gamma said then went through the simulation of his idea.
The simulation had her coming up behind the second guy jabbing his knife into his throat violently then she drew back and threw the knife into the other guy’s shoulder. Then he started her off with switching to her DMR and putting three rounds to the other guy’s chest.
Church looked at the three other AIs and he nodded his head “Yea this might work. Delta chances of success? Without injury of course.”
“97% chance of success of attack without injury. 3% margin of injury.” Delta said in his best no nonsense voice.
Yea maybe this will work, Church thought nodding to himself. He began to tilt his head to make sure that there were no flaws in the plan.

Church went back into normal time popping up beside her with a computer beep.
“OK you alright with us taking over to help guide your movements through the attack?” Church asked.
“You know better than I do right now. Go for it.” Des said nodding.
Des started moving around the tree moving in the position that was recommended by the arrows on her HUD. She paused briefly waiting for them to move into position beside the tree. But with them already one man down they were being even more cautious then they were before. That didn’t worry Des she was sure that Church would let her know what was going to happen if something was going to go wrong.
She waited until the first one approached the tree then she made her quick move.
Coming around the tree real quick she ran up behind the first man and slammed the knife to his throat when he turned around to try fighting back against her. Once she had properly torn his throat up, she jerked her knife free and turned around throwing it into the other guy’s shoulder. The previous injury was torn open and she began moving towards him.
He lifted one hand trying to hold the DMR to keep her from shooting him in the chest. He couldn’t keep her from firing mainly because she had used his previous injury to maim his dominate arm. She started off yanking her knife out of his shoulder and then she put the barrel of her DMR to his chest then she pulled the trigger. Des fired three times then following the recommendation that Church gave her.
Des smiled as the two dead soldiers finally both settled down in a pile at her feet.
“This is Des. Your all clear to continue Wash.” Des said, slowly pulling the body into the nearby brush.
She started walking ahead of the team again then they regrouped together because they had finally come to the enemy base. They regrouped to decide upon a new plan of attack for the base they hadn’t really discussed what they wanted to do about the base once they got there.
“It probably won’t be necessary for all of us to go in. we should probably leave some of our guys out here to cover us just in case.” Wash said slowly looking through his scope towards the base.
“Yea plus we only have one Church.” Caboose said slowly and what he was probably thinking was his smart voice.
They all looked over to Caboose and no one was speaking until finally Tucker looked over at Wash.
“Actually Caboose might have helped with a plan. I’ve done this kind of thing before granted that was with that asshole Felix but it might work out for us in the long run.” Tucker said “Send Church with me and you guys go ahead and start setting up the distraction. I think we could manage this.”
“It’s not a bad idea. You sure you want to do it though Tucker?” Wash asked sounding concerned “I mean because of what went on last time.”
“Yea it’ll be fine” Tucker said with a nod.
Des nodded removing the AI chip and handing the chip over to Tucker who nodded with a smile. Des let him move off to the side just behind her and she took her DMR to climb above the others on a rocky ledge to wait for her target just like they needed to do. Once they had the data they would be able to disable the base and head out hopefully leaving the other army blissfully unaware of their presence.

Tucker activated the cloaking device heading down the slope towards the other army outpost that lay hidden in the jungle. Tucker was using the cloak to its full capacity to make sure he got through the defenses. Luckily Church was closely watching the radar that would let him know if they were in danger of being caught.
Tucker moved along the side of the base till he reached the door that wasn’t guarded surprisingly and he went inside. Directly inside he found a stairway to his left and he climbed up the stairs following the directions that he had been given by Kimball’s intel.
They had to get inside the area that held the computer mainframe that he’d need to access to find the locations that they’d need. He moved forward looking into the room and stopped stepping into the hall again because he saw two of the Pirates standing inside the room. He pulled back looking around before he turned the cloaking armor off.
“OK Church I think I’m going to need your help here a little bit.” Tucker whispered keeping his eyes around the hallway.
“OK give me a few minutes to process this so that I can figure this out.” Church said. “Well we could use your sword to hopefully take them both out. I’m taking a look at the blueprints of this place that Kimball recovered. The alarm isn’t inside that room so you should be able to take them out without a problem. I’ll cover you man.”
“You got it Church. If something goes wrong then I’m gonna need you to go to Wash if you can.”
“Yea but this isn’t going to go bad.”
Tucker pulled his alien sword and then he began following his first entrance and turned back on the cloaking device again. He used it until he was as close as possible to the two in the room then he dropped it to charge the first guy with his sword. Tucker sliced through the first guy then turned around to attack the other guy with a blow to the chest.
He quickly picked up the bodies and took them through the closet to keep them out of sight for a few minutes. Then he checked their pockets to look for the disks that might be needed to activate the computer, he already had the disk that he’d put the data onto.
Tucker walked over to the computer to check to see if the computer might be already activated for the use of the other two Pirates. He didn’t see any way to start it and he removed the chip that held church to plug it into the computer.
Church popped up beside the computer then he started activating the files that they’d need to bring back with them.
“Anything on Locus and Felix?” Tucker asked keeping an eye out the door for trouble.
“I don’t see anything yet but that doesn’t mean shit for these people give me a few more minutes.” Church said, turned to focus on the computer screen.
“OK but hurry it up I don’t know if anyone will be coming to check on those two.” Tucker said, voice low.
“Hey wait I found something that might prove…-shit Tucker call the others we need to get out of here now.” Church said.
“What? Why?”
“Because they know we’re here it’s a fucking trap.”

Outside as if to prove that Church was right the rest of the Pirates squad arrived to back up the people that were already garrisoning the base. The Pirates tried to use the cloaking devices to keep the reds and blues from seeing them. But the expert eye of Wash spotted them and sent the agreed upon signal to the rest of the team with them. A series of clicks that they could identify as code.
He was certainly grateful to Kimball and Doyle for the classes in their coded messages. It might have just saved their lives.
“Yea I see them Wash send Simmons and Grif to my position so we can lay down cover fire.” Des said in almost a whisper to the freelancer. “They are the only other people with long range weapons with us right?”
“We’re already on our way Des.” Simmons said quietly and sounding a little flushed.
Des knew they wouldn’t stop the approaching Pirates but she knew that she could slow their progress with the controlled rifle fire. Des started firing her rifle and Wash could hear the confused rifle fire in return against the new freelancer they had recruited.
He hoped that Tucker and Church were almost done inside so they could leave without further problem or risk of injury. He didn’t want to lose anybody as much as it went unsaid among their group it was understood that they were the closest thing to family that any of them had. No one –despite what Locus and Felix thought- was expendable.
Wash was posted at the door to the building with Sarge shooting any and all the Pirates that came around the corner. They had a pile of bodies that was only getting bigger and thanks to Donut above them spotting for them they had ample warning of any danger.
Within seconds the sound of sniper fire joined in with the DMR and assault rifles they could already hear.
“That’s not all us keep your heads down everybody.” Grif said over the headset.
“Roger that y’all be careful fellas.” Sarge replied, showing the first signs of concern for Grif that he had in a while.
It surprised Wash so much that he almost said something about it but he knew that he shouldn’t it could ruin everything within the group. He knew how stuff like that worked in that kind of dynamics he’d seen it a lot while working for the Director in the project. He didn’t miss the project but these days he was starting to understand the people in the group and understand why they were who they were.
Wash heard the sounds of rifle fire turn into the assault weapons that Grif and Simmons had carried. He didn’t hear the DMR anymore and that had him mildly concerned.
Tucker came out of the outpost and he was already on the radio headset.
“Des start pulling back…yes I have the data. The ship is meeting us on the roof of this outpost we have to get there.” Tucker said clearly speaking on a private channel.
“Are they on their way?” Wash asked him looking up expectantly as he saw Simmons and Grif break cover sprinting their way to them.
“She’s holding them off with the hammer and coming back when she has the all clear.” Tucker said.
Over the radio they heard Simmons give the all clear, everyone turned to cover the woman’s sprint back to the base. She was almost to the base when the Pirates started forming up behind her readying themselves for the attack they would launch to hopefully stop the reds and blues. She started gesturing for them to go back inside the outpost building telling them to get inside.
They started closing the doors as soon as they were inside and she slid into the building just before the door slid closed with a loud CLANG.
She was panting hard and was clearly winded from what Wash could see but other than that she was uninjured. Wash got the group formed up and they started up the stairs running for what would be their only means of escape from the attacking Pirates.
They had a small wait ahead of them until the ship arrived to take them back to main base where they would once again be safe, hopefully.
Wash looked behind them as they heard the telltale sound of the door being forced open from the outside of the building. He knew they’d have to begin closing all the doors behind them and it would buy them time until they could escape.
“Church can you close all the doors from here, buy us some time?” Wash asked sounding breathless.
“I’m all over it man.” Church said automatically.
Their wounds hadn’t healed enough for them to be undertaking a mission of this caliber. He glanced over to Tucker but he couldn’t really tell if the younger man was struggling or not with his wound. Then again they were all hyped up on adrenaline so a lot of them wouldn’t feel anything until they were safe again back at base.
He saw that they were all looking back at him waiting. But he didn’t have the answers. Then to his surprise Des stepped forward looking not to him but to Tucker without any hesitance at all, he was sure that said something about her faith in Tucker.
“Captain Tucker what do we do?” Des asked formally.
Tucker looked around the group and was surprised that the whole group had turned to him. It didn’t surprise him that Caboose, Simmons, and Grif were looking they had relied on him over the last few months. He didn’t expect everyone else to look to him for answers. He immediately looked to Wash.
“You got this Tucker.” Wash whispered nodding.
Tucker nodded then he started looking around them to the hall that they had come through and he smiled to himself, because no one else could see his smile through the helmet of course.
“It’s just like in 300!” Tucker exclaimed excitedly.
“What?” Sarge said.
“The hell you talking about?” Church asked.
“Your right! Simmons remember we watched that with Tucker a few days ago!” Grif exclaimed.
Everyone else looked around the room looking at the other clueless soldiers.
“Guys the 300 were these kick ass warriors who held out for days fight an army that was thousands stronger than them. But the numbers didn’t matter because the area was so tight that the enemy had to fight in a single file type line.” Tucker said. “We can do that here don’t you see?”
“Um, Tucker the 300 died.” Simmons said.
“Yeah but they had to fight for days we only need to hold out long enough.” Tucker said “We can do it if we try, we won’t go out like they did but if we do then we die fighting. Together, just like they did. No one gets left behind.”
“I’m in.” Des said.
It was quickly followed by Simmons, Caboose, and Grif agreeing to the plan. Everyone else was nervous but they had no choice it was the only plan they had and it didn’t sound like a bad idea actually.
So they lined up behind anything they could pull out into the wider part of the hall to hide behind for themselves. They waited for the enemy to breach the doors. They had an arc of fire to where they wouldn’t shoot each other but so long as they had it timed properly and the ammo held out they had a chance.
Wash caught Tucker’s eye and gave him a nod, this was the kind of promise he had seen in Tucker from the moment they met and he was leading the charge on the ice cliffs against the Meta. He was a born leader just with Church, Carolina, and yes he’d admit even he had kept Tucker from that role.
Surprisingly it had been the unlikely group of Simmons, Grif, and Caboose to give him that chance, to be the leader he was meant to be.
Wash realized that once again he was probably thinking too hard and needed to let it go until a different and safer time. So he turned his attention back to the matter at hand and definitely wasn’t thinking about what a good leader Tucker had finally made.
Then as if everything was suddenly happening too fast the door was forced open and the Pirates were having to funnel in, just like in the Tucker said they would have too.
The room was filled with the deafening sounds of multiple weapons being discharge at once. It was nothing more than a small room filled with noise, exploding muzzle flashes, and the scream of the falling enemy as their own team pushed them into the ambush. There were a lot of the pirates and they didn’t think that they would have enough ammo to pull off a great escape.
Then the ships call sign came over the radio calling them to picked up on the roof.
Suddenly the lights went out except for the helmet lights that they had on their armor and the sound of the enemy trying to move around in the dark reached their ears.
“Everyone out head for the roof now!” Tucker yelled over the panic that the enemy was in.
The reds and the blues ran for the roof staircase using just the lights on the helmets to guide the way and the yells of their friends to ensure that everyone was on their way out right behind the others. Donut was on point with Des and Tucker taking the rear guard with their melee weapons.
The ship that was waiting to greet them had Grey onboard just in case they had wounded to case-vac back to base. They didn’t this time and everyone was onboard when the ship took off, leaving the enemy in confusion. They realized as they were leaving, the sheer numbers that had been sent to kill them. They counted themselves as lucky to have escaped the almost fatal mission.
“That was an awesome plan Tucker good job man.” Church said sounding impressed. “Hell that would make Carolina proud.”
“Thanks man I’, just glad we all made it out.” Tucker said with a relieved sigh.
Everyone nodded and made general sounds of agreement to that declaration. They were used to near miss when it came to dodge the near death stuff they didn’t seem to linger long on the what ifs that came with it. They were special like that.

Main military base Reds and Blues sim trooper barracks house, 2100
They had survived a near death experience and the data they had retrieved would take a few days to process, so what did they do? They found a lot of booze and decided to celebrate not dying, it was a big deal to them plus they always seemed to bind over their drinking.
To be friendly they had naturally invited Des to join them as she was now an unofficial member of the team. And to be complete dicks, all of the group had agreed to make her sit beside Simmons, knowing full well she’d have him flustered most of the night. Yea he’d need a few good drinks to fully loosen up around the freelancer.
That was how he saw granted she was a really pretty freelancer compared to the crop he was used to but still. She was a freelancer which meant she was a real soldier and couldn’t possibly see them as an equal to her, except maybe Wash and Carolina. So yeah he had already freaked himself out about her before she sat down beside him.
But it was worse than that to him.
Because it was all much needed down time they were all freshly showered and in the clothes they wore during down time. So she smelled like what he was sure was lilac and her hair was a really nice dark color when wet. She was also wearing a black tank top, with a pair of grey jogging shorts, and she wasn’t wearing shoes so he could see her painted toenails.
He knew as he was staring at her that he probably looked like a crazy stalker guy, the kind to caught peeking in ladies’ showers. But he couldn’t help the starring most girls he knew were too scary to stare at.
When he looked up it was into her eyes which were amused and he immediately blushed pink making her smile bigger. But she wasn’t trying to disembowel him that was good right? So he took that as a sign to relax a little and turned his attention back to the group as a whole.
They were busy discussing some sort of drinking game that they wanted to play. He just hoped it wasn’t never ever or beer pong or something stupid like that. He was surprised when they agreed to a question game.
Whoever asks a question has to take a drink and everyone had to answer if yes they took one shot if no they took two. They would go around the table letting everyone have at least one turn or they would go until someone got tired and they all went to bed. Sounded simple enough but Simmons knew this was bound to be an embarrassing evening for everybody.
Since it was Sarge’s idea he started off the night of questioning.
“Has anybody here ever had a one night stand? Remember if the answer is yes you drink a shot if no you drink two for this question!” Sarge crowed.
That was met with a few groans and everyone took their allotted shots. Simmons was surprised that Des took two shots for no. He was surprised by this, she was pretty after all.
Then it went clockwise to Donut.
“Has anybody ever dressed as the opposite sex for any reason?”
Needless to say there were a few disgusted looks and a lot of people drinking two shots. Except Donut and surprisingly Wash. Upon all the looks he shifted around a little.
“I don’t wanna talk about it.” He grumbled blushing.
“Wow dude I didn’t think you swung that way.” Tucker said sounding shocked.
“It wasn’t like that I lost a bet!” Wash exclaimed.
That brought it to Wash’s turn.
“Has anybody here ever had a successful relationship?” Wash asked glancing around the table.
A few people had a shot but Simmons took two feeling his face go red and he saw that Des took two also. He glanced at her in surprise and she looked at him out of the corner of her eye smiling imperceptibly.
“Really Des there wasn’t one that worked out? What about that guy at basic?” Tucker asked.
“He was a jerk and I ended it. End of story.” Des said with a casual shrug of her shoulders.
So the night went on like that till late in the evening till a few people were buzzed and others drunk. There’d be a few hangovers tomorrow Simmons was sure but he was surprised that the night hadn’t got out of hand. They had avoided questions that would piss off the others and had easily been ready to amend any embarrassment the night had been great. Simmons was shocked he hadn’t got to drunk to stand on his own.
“Hey Simmons would you do me a favor?” Tucker called before he could get upstairs.
Simmons mentally cursed but went downstairs anyway, he would help out he usually didn’t mind Tucker’s favors.
“Yeah man what’s up?” Simmons asked around a big yawn.
“Look Des has had a lot to drink and wouldn’t admit to needing help back to her ship. If I offer she’ll think I’m trying to be insulting.” Tucker said slowly.
“So? What do you want me to do – oh wait you can’t be serious.” Simmons squeaked.
“Look she’ll think you’re just being nice or some shit like that. I just want you to make sure she gets to the ship ok that’s not too hard.”
“Fine but you owe me big time if it gets weird.”
“Deal. Thanks man”
Without so much as a backwards look Tucker ran away as fast as he could up the stairs. Simmons cursed mentally sure that this would be an awkward encounter. So he went through the house first floor looking for her, he found her sitting outside the house on the stool they had on the small porch. Simmons shifted a little nervously realizing that she didn’t look that wasted, what had Tucker done to him?
Simmons opened the door and she glanced over to him looking up at the night sky, the planet’s moon was amazing.
“This is a beautiful planet I’d hate to see it ravaged by the Chairman.” Des said softly “I’m glad that Tucker asked me to stay I didn’t really have anywhere else to go honestly. I missed this.”
When she said that last part she nodded back to the house.
“What do you mean?” Simmons asked.
“There isn’t a closer bond then those forged by the bond of battle. I lost that bond when the army discharged me for my arm.” Des said “I never thought that I’d feel that closeness again.”
Des looked over at him and smiled sadly, great Simmons thought she’s a sad drunk and would probably start crying on him. He hated when girls cried they always made him cry too. That thought was cut off when she laughed softly and turned back to staring out at the military base.
“Don’t worry I’m not gonna cry I just hope that you appreciate what your friends are worth.”
“I do appreciate them I’m sorry that you were discharged by the army but I’m glad that you’re here with us.” Simmons said with a smile.
Des smiled and nodded towards the direction she’d need to take to get back to her ship so that she could get back to her bunk. The two started walking and they were quiet the whole way, the silence between them wasn’t awkward they were happy to just be comfortable together. When they reached the ship they paused outside on the ramp waiting. Simmons wasn’t sure what to do at this point. Was he supposed to walk here inside? Leave?
Des walked over to him extending her cybernetic hand to him. She smiled when he took her hand with his own cybernetic hand and she actually pulled him towards her to where she was looking into his eyes. One of his eyes was brown and the other was a red cybernetic eye. Des reached out touching his face at the metal part.
“How far does the cybernetics go?” Des asked, curiously.
“Most of my body and my guts.” Simmons said shifting slowly. “It was the same thing as the accident with Grif, most of my stuff now belongs to him.”
Des nodded her head then touched his human face slowly before she released his hands to step back. Simmons paused a little confused had they been flirting or had they just had a serious moment between friends. She stopped at the top of the ramp looking back at him with a small smile, then she turned to face him again.
“You wanna come in for a little bit of a night cap?” Des asked with a big smile.
“Um… yea-yes.” Simmons said, stuttering slightly blushing.

Everyone woke up with varying headaches and they didn’t know where the hell Simmons had got to last night. Well no one but Tucker anyway he knew that he had walked Des back to the ship and from the sound of things he hadn’t come back last night. He knew that out of all of them those two would hit it off the best out of all of them. She liked quiet guys and there was no quieter when it came to the group of soldiers.
When the door finally opened the maroon soldier walked in closing the door quietly and he started to tip toe past the kitchen towards the room he shared with Grif.
“Hey Simmons!” everyone yelled from the kitchen.
Simmons blushed crimson then reentered the kitchen where he had all his friends sitting around with various looks of amusement. He stopped at the doorway then he looked over to Tucker giving a small smile to the youngest member of the reds and blues.
“So how’d it go with Des?” Tucker asked with a big smile.
“It was great she’s a really smart lady. We talked and then we –uh..” Simmons broke off blushing.
“Yeah she’s always been smart I figured you two would hit it off.”
“I appreciate the gesture.” Simmons replied smiling. “She and I really hit it off.”
Just then the door opened again and Des walked in already in full armor, helmet carried under her arm. She smiled at Simmons and winked playfully at the cyborg, then she went back to being serious as she turned to the group.
“We have a problem guys we need to head out to outpost Alpha immediately they’re being over run by Pirates and they say your freelancers are out there.” Des said “We leave in ten.”

Ten minutes later the team was loaded into the ship with a bunch of other soldiers heading to the outpost.
Carolina, Wash, Tucker, and Des were heading to fight the freelancers that had caused them so much trouble in the past. Everyone else was to engage and take care of leading team of soldiers against the Pirates.
When the ships hovered over what was already a battlefield filled with the fighting sides the reds and blues were waiting to jump, they had no choice landing would be too dangerous. The teams separated on the ground running to take cover by Kimball and Doyle who were leading the assault. They quickly pointed out the area where the two freelancers had last been seen.
“OK we know what we’re all doing here. Des and Tucker you take Felix out. Carolina and I will handle Locus, if need be you can head over to back up the other.” Wash said “Be careful out there guys don’t get your selves hurt. Des you take the main attack on Felix.”
Des nodded her head then she motioned for Tucker to follow behind her to attack the freelancer that they had all come to hate. She wasn’t completely sure what they would be up against with the two freelancers, she only knew what the other men’s armor looked like. No one could really describe the enemy’s fight styles to her.
The two were following the signs of the freelancer Felix who had come up to fight. They went through the area then looked up at the building roof to see that the man they were looking for was standing up above them.
He stood up there looking down at them holding his knife at the ready.
“So you are back for more? Who is this with you?” Felix asked in a sneer.
“The one whose gonna kick your ass.” Des said then stepped forward holding her hammer.
He tilted his head and then tossed one of his knives at the woman she simply moved to the side letting the knife go past her. She was just looking back at him when he came off the roof at her and they got knocked her back his knife pulled as he tried to slash at her.
Tucker who was watching the two fight wanted to be in the fight but knew that his job was to back her up if she needed it. He had seen the woman fight in close combat during basics but he hadn’t realized just how the woman could move like that. She was starting to move a lot like a freelancer when he saw that she could move around just as equal as Felix.
She was dodged and parrying as well as he was with her hammer then she turned kicking him in the face hard, knocking him back. Des then swung her hammer which hit the ground then shoving him back hard, it was a very concussive hit. Then she stepped forward slinging her hammer back over her shoulder pulling a knife.
Des then ran towards him picking up the knife that the opposing freelancer had thrown first. Now she had two knives in her hands that she was going to use against the other man. She tossed the knife hard as she could lodging it into his gut just like he had done to Tucker when they had first faught.
She came up on him as he then turned towards her with his own attack, his fist slammed into her side then knocking the air from her lungs and she fell backwards. Quickly moving to where she wouldn’t be in danger he took the next attack against the freelancer. He caught the fist then shoved the man back with a yell as he began pursuing the man back quickly.
Felix was put on the spot as they both recovered from the fight and started to move back towards the freelancer out numbering him the fight. He was being pushed back into a corner where his fight moves would be useless. He realized that he was in trouble from the two and for the first time in a long time he realized he might be in trouble.
Des came up on him from the side grabbing the hilt of the knife she had thrown into his gut she was about to jerk it free when a loud growl caused them all to look up then scatter back from the coming attacker.
“Wash this is Tucker we’ve got problems. They found him and brought him back.” Tucker yelled as they got clear of the falling white armored soldier. “The Meta’s back.”
The Meta had been one soldier that was one of Project Freelancers little experiments with AIs and he had become one of the toughest and strongest soldiers to face off against them. They had beat him once with the help of a big cliff and a wrecked warthog with a very good tow line.
They didn’t have either of those here right now.
Tucker and Des ducked and ran from the Meta as he continued to chase after them trying to catch up with them.
“Roger that Tucker. Be alert I think Locus is heading for Felix what happened over there?” Wash asked.
“We wounded him then just as we were about to finish it this guy the Meta showed up.” Des replied.
The two jumped apart when the Meta suddenly used a rocket launcher to blow up a wall ahead of the two fleeing soldiers. Finally they turned back around to face the man. He stood waiting to fight them and he tossed away his weapon to pull out the Bruteshot that was his main weapon. Des had seen those during the war they were quite destructive.
“Tucker I need you to get clear behind me. Be ready to toss me a grenade when I ask for one.” Des said softly.
Tucker nodded he knew what they were doing and he knew that it would probably end with them escaping but not without pissing off the Meta first. But it was the only way to get by him without dying. Injured maybe but still alive.
So that was how it was going to happen they accepted it. Des ran straight at the Meta firing her gun at him as she did so while Tucker ran to the side keeping her within throwing range so he could toss her a grenade. Everything seemed to slow down as Meta grabbed her throat tossing her behind him at the same time she yelled “Now!”
Tucker tossed her the sticky grenade and she set it throwing it into the enemy soldier motioning for Tucker to get clear. Instead he ran to her and shielded her with his body as the grenade went off.

An hour later the battle was still going strong they had word that the three freelancers had left with wounded but didn’t know the full extent of the wounded. Wash still hadn’t seen Des or Tucker since they had split up, everyone was starting to head for the ships. They hadn’t been able to save the base but they had saved the garrisoning squad. The good news was the Pirates couldn’t use the destroyed site either.
It was as the reds and blues ship was about to leave giving the missing two up for dead that they saw them. Both were leaning heavily on the other as they made their way back to the ship to rejoin the group. They all pitched in to help carry them back to the ship.
“What happened to you two out there?” Sarge asked “One minute you were there next you weren’t”
“The Meta. We used a grenade to get him out of the fight and the attack kinda back fired. Bright side is that he and Felix were both wounded and carried out by Locus.” Tucker said.
“Great. So you’ve seen our enemy, still wanna be a part of this?” Wash asked looking at the new freelancer.
“You couldn’t get me to leave now.” Des said sounding pissed.

So this was kinda a prequel book. Don’t know if I wanna continue or what but I had to get the idea out of my head so there it is.
A big thanks goes out to ROOSTER TEETH PRODUCTOINS for creating the world of Red vs. Blue. I own nothing but the character Desdemona Alabama. Thank you for making the galaxy’s funniest heroes. Thanks goes out to: Burnie Burns the writer and the voice of Church/Vic/Lopez Jason Saldana the voice of Tucker Geoff Finks the voice of Grif Gus Sorola the voice of Simmons/2.0 Matt Hullum the voice of Sarge/Doc Joel Hayman the voice of Caboose and co-writer Shannon McCormick the voice of Agent Washington Dan Godwin the voice of Donut

And a big thank you to YOU the reader. THANK YOU.

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