Assault (Red vs Blue)

33: All Or Nothing

33: All Or Nothing

Present Day: Crash Site Bravo (Jungle canyon; the planet Chorus)

Seeing the Pelican come barreling toward the crash site had to have been one of the most terrifying things Church had ever seen in his life. It wasn't even because the ship seemed to be wavering out of control as it descended; somehow, seeing a ship fly like that wasn't too far out of the ordinary for him. Especially with the way any of the Reds tended to drive. What made the situation absolutely horrifying was the fact that there were people he cared about on board. At least, they were supposed to be on board. He hadn't heard otherwise.

When the ship had drawn closer, Church had been shocked to see a figure crouched on the very top. Only after the Pelican made its rocky landing did he realize the figure outside was Carolina. As soon as the ship had settled on the ground, the cyan clad soldier deactivated her grav boots and slowly climbed down from the top of the bird. Church watched as York caught and steadied the person he, for all intents and purposes, considered his sister.

He rushed over to the Pelican with Tucker and Caboose following close behind, reaching it just as the bay door opened. The Reds all came filing out, followed by all the freelancers. Only, it wasn't quite all of the freelancers. As Church looked at the group, he realized North was missing. General Doyle was nowhere to be found, either. When Tex stepped off Church almost immediately grabbed her by the arm and pulled her a little ways away from the others.

"Can I ask what the big deal is that you had to pull me aside?" Tex asked. She was trying to sound like her usual defensive self, but there was a tiredness in her voice that prevented her from sounding too threatening.

"Okay, well, first of all," Church started, then pulled the black clad freelancer into a hug. "You have no idea how fucking happy I am that you made it back okay. I was at least expecting you to come back injured — if not worse."

"Gee, thanks. Glad to know you had a lot of confidence in what we were doing. I appreciate it." She was still attempting to be snarky, but the fact that she willingly hugged him back briefly broke her act just a little. She pulled away after a moment though; she must've noticed some people starting to stare. "Though, after what happened, I can't exactly blame you for being doubtful of the whole situation. After how things turned out, I'm starting to question just how good of an idea that whole thing was."

"What did happen out there? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm glad you guys at least made it back. But where's North and Doyle?" Church questioned.

Tex took a deep breath. "Doyle went to the reactor on his own to set up the nuclear meltdown using the control panel. Something happened; the controls ended up busted. So he stayed behind to detonate the reactor himself. North had gone after Doyle with idea of grabbing him, then they'd both hide under the bubble shield. He didn't quite make it to Doyle before the reactor exploded. We don't know if North managed to save himself or not."

Church sighed. That was the last thing he was hoping to hear. "Damn it . . . I was really hoping you guys were gonna come back with everyone. But I guess that explains why South and Kimball are so quiet."

"Yeah. The flight out of Armonia didn't exactly go smoothly, either. By the time we lifted off the ground, we weren't gonna be able to get out of the blast zone quick enough. So Carolina climbed up on top of the Pelican and pulled a North — she attached herself to the top of the Pelican and deployed a bubble shield to try and protect the ship from the blast. It worked, obviously. But it's why we all look so rattled. It was a bit of a rough ride."

"I can tell. Some of you guys looked pretty dazed coming out of the ship."

"Yeah. Three of us also jumped out of a speeding train before we ended up on the Pelican; the landing hurt a bit, but we're fine. It's just . . . we weren't supposed to lose anyone. Not right at the end like that."