Agent Arizona: Recollection

Rally Cap

"Alarm. Incoming recovery beacon. Level Zero. Alarm. Incoming recovery beacon." FILSS announces to Caboose. 

"Oh no!" Caboose then runs out of the room. He sees the Reds. 

"Sergeant! Sergeant!" Caboose says running to Sarge. 

"What do you want, Blue?" Sarge says. 

"I need your help." 

"Our help?" Simmons questions. 

"Yes, Church is hurt, they must have gotten to him, Zone, and Tex." 

"They got Tex? Good, that just means she won't be able to beat the crap out of us any more." Grif scoffs.

"No we have to rescue them." 

"Rescue them, are you nuts? No one told them to leave, they're on their own." 

"But they'll die! Sergeant please." Caboose cries. 

"Uh hey dude, I don't know if you've picked up on this yet, but if you wanna convince Sarge to do anything, I don't think the best argument is "The Blues might die if we don't."" Griffith explains. 

Sarge then walks up to Caboose and places his hand on his shoulder. "Cowboy up Caboose, I'm comin' with you." 

"What?" Grif says shocked. 

"I said I'm helping him." Sarge repeats. 

"Who, the blue guy? Why on Earth would you ever help a Blue for no reason?" Grif says still trying to process. 

"We need some weapons. How'd your equipment test go, Simmons?" 

"About as well as you would expect." Simmons says regretfully. 

"Hmph, that's too bad." 

"Well I'm not going, and you can't make me. You quit, remember? I don't take orders from you any more, and besides, this whole command structure thing was stupid anyway. We all know that now." Grif says crossing his arms. 

"I'm not tellin' you ta go. I'm not even askin'." Sarge explains. 

"You're not?" 

"Nope. I'm goin'. That's it. You wanna come, come on. But I don't expect you to. Simmons will probably tell you that statistically, some of us will probably die." 

"All of us." Simmons clarifies. 

"All of us will probably die. But that's not what's important. Let me ask you two a question: You ever wonder why we're here?" 

Grif and Simmons look at each and then back at Sarge. 

"Um, it does seem to be one of life's great mysteries." Grif replies. 

"No, I mean you!" Sarge says looking at Grif. "What are you doing here? You always act like you wanna quit, but hell, you could've left whenever you wanted. No one would have stopped ya. So why are you here? And you, Simmons." 

"Me?" 

"You say you wanna be in charge. They would have given you your own squad a dozen times over. You know it, and I know it. But you're still, here. And you Tucker. As much as I hate to admit it, you're actually good at being a soldier." 

"I am?" Tucker says taken aback at this. 

"I know you like to make your rude comments, pretend like it all doesn't matter. But an entire alien race chose you to be their hero! So why are you here? And Caboose..." Sarge stares at him for a moment. "Uuhhh, it's good to see you." 

"Thanks. I'm really enjoying the speech so far." Caboose says happily. 

"Maybe you're all here because this is the only place you fit in. Maybe you're here because you don't have anywhere else to go. Maybe you're all here, because deep down, you want to be here. The reason doesn't matter. What matters is that you're here! For all we know, Tex, Church, and Rex are dead. That means we're the only ones who know what's happened; the only ones who can prevent them from covering it up. So the way I figure it, these Freelancer guys, wanna use us, take us away from our families, and send us all over the dag gum galaxy just to test if their agents are ready for the big fight? Well, I guess I'm interested in showing 'em, exactly what a big fight is all about. Time to clean the slate. So I'm not ordering you to go. I ain't even askin'. You do, what you gotta do Private Grif." 

Grif sighs before smiling. "I'll go get my car keys." 

"Ah, alright then. Let's move." Sarge then pumps his shotgun. 

"I don't think a jeep will get us there soon enough. But I think I know what we can use." Simmons says grinning. He leads the group into a large room and gestures to a Pelican. 

"This!" 

"Who the heck is gonna drive that?" Everyone then looks at Grif. "Why is everyone looking at me?" 

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

"Anything?" Tex asks Zone. They were both standing on top of a cliff that was well hidden. Zone and Tex were now waiting for Meta and Wash to arrive. 

[Nothing.] Zone says lowering his sniper rifle. [Xi, you picking up anything?] 

"Sorry boss, I got nothing." 

"Dang it! Tex then kicks a hump of snow. 

[They'll come Tex. You know the ol' saying: All good things come to those wait.] 

"Well I've never been one for patience." Tex says irritably. Zone rolls his eyes as he looks back through the scope. 

[Hold on...] Zone then sees a Warthog pulling up with Wash, Meta, and a purple figure. He had a red cross on his shoulder plate, indicating he was a medic. [It's them. Get the detonator ready.] Tex pulls out one of several detonators from behind her back and flips the cap off with her thumb hovering over the button. 

[3...2...1...Now!] Tex presses the button and the Warthog explodes sending, Wash, Meta, and the medic all over the terrain. 

"Come on let's get down there!" Tex starts sliding down the cliff with Zone following her lead.