The Reds and Blues and Carolina pull up to Valhalla, next to Red Base. 

"Pelican's over there. That's where Tex ended up." Wash says getting out of the Warthog. 

"You mean her body ended up there." Carolina corrects.

"Right." 

"Show me." Zone got off his Mongoose and started walking towards Red Base. 

"Zone are you coming?" Carolina asks as she and Wash turn around. Zone glances back at them. 

[I, uh...I just...I need a minute to myself. Be there in a sec.] Zone then walked into Red Base, Cyclops following him. 

"What's with him?" Epsilon asks appearing. 

"I think he needs some space." Carolina says sighing. The ex-Freelancers leave for the crash site until Simmons runs up from behind one of the Warthogs.

"Wait! What about the military? This could all be a trap remember?" Simmons cries. 

"What are you talking about?" Carolina says confused. 

"Wash told us we were fugitives of the law. Bandits. Cast out by society with no hope of redemption!" Sarge states. 

"Yeah, and that the UNSC would be waiting for us when we got back to base!" Simmons adds. 

Carolina turns to Wash.

"It was a possibility..." Wash says rubbing the back of his helmet. 

"So let me get this straight..." Carolina starts to says before Tucker gets Epsilon's attention. 

"Psst! Hey Church! Over here!" Tucker calls from a distance where he and Caboose are standing. 

Epsilon appears in front of the two. "Yeah, hey. Can't talk too long. My connection with Carolina's memory unit's not so good. What's up?" 

"Ah, not much, my first time here so I'm just taking it all in. Really enjoying the scenery. What about you?" 

"Well, I mean, yeah, you know, now that you mention it the trees are kinda nice. Especially in comparison with the desolate environment of the sand and the- wait, wait, wait, wait, is that it?!" 

"No that's not it! What the heck are you doing with Carolina?" Tucker demands. 

"Hey, calm down! Turns out she's more complicated than we thought." 

"Like Monopoly! Or like the board game." Caboose suggests.

"Church, just beacuse you want to get close to someone doesn't mean that you have to end up inside them!" There was a moment of silence between them. 

"Oh come on. Aren't you going to say it?" Church asks. 

"No, because I'm ticked off!" 

"Alright, alright, look guys. I'm still on your side, okay? But if Carolina is hiding something, I'm going to have to stay close to her in order to find it. See? Proximity is the key." 

"I thought memory was the key?" 

"Yeah, and the sword. Sword is the key too!" Caboose adds. 

"Caboose, shut up!" 

"Hey, I gotta go. We'll talk later." Epsilon vanishes

"We should probably get a key ring." Caboose says thoughtfully. 

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

"So are you going to give us something to do?" Simmons asks Carolina. 

"Just sit tight. In fact, don't do anything. At all." 

"Fine." Simmons sighs as Wash and Carolina leave. 

"Now that's the kind of order I can get behind. Next do you think she'll tell us to sleep in tomorrow or order us to stop bathing a week?" Grif says hopefully at the idea. 

"Wait, what? You've done that?" Simmons says disgusted. 

"No...I wanna say "no"." 

"We've been sitting tight for days. If I sit any tighter, I'll strangle my seat." Sarge grunts. 

"I'm not worried, I could use the break." 

"We haven't done anything!" Sarge retorts. 

"Exactly. Avoiding work is kind of what I do, so if you think about it, I've been on the clock this entire time! I should get paid overtime for this!" 

"You get paid overtime?" Simmons questions. 

"Uh, yeah. Time and a half over forty hours dude. Time and a half and a half over sixty. It's a shame there aren't any numbers higher than sixty." 

"What?! Seriously?!" 

"I've never gotten it though. One time I thought I did, but it turns out you have to do it in just one week. Could've sworn it was monthly." 

"They told me I wasn't eligible for overtime! I put in sixty hours a week!" Simmons cries. 

"Weird. Well tell me they at least match your 401k." 

"Fringe, benefits, I'm tired of all this waiting! Come on fellas, now's our chance!" Sarge hops out of the Warthog. 

"Uh, I don't know. You know how I feel about taking chances, sir." Simmons replies. 

"You said Lopez was shot here. Let's go get him back! Leave no man behind Simmons! No robot without his nuts. No warthog unlubed." 

"That doesn't make any sense." 

"He's a robot Simmons! We can rebuild him and activate him at any time! Gives us an edge over those pesky Blues. In the battle of ghosts versus robots, robots always win. Except in anime." 

"No. I mean it didn't make sense why we would do that. He's an awful soldier!" Simmons points out. 

"But he's a great mechanic." 

"Nothing's broken." 

"Au contraire. Lopez is broken. You said so yourself. He can get to work on that." Sarge declares. 

"But, but we would have to fix him in order to- You see he's the- You know what, just never mind." Simmons groans. 

"Aha. So you see the point" 

"Yes. I see the point. It's just not the one you're making sir. Let's go." Simmons groans. 

"Yeah, I think I'll stay here and take a siesta. Lopez would've wanted it that way." Grif then walks inside the base. 

"A siesta! I dont know if I'm angry that he's bucking responsibilities, or happy that he took my multicultural squad seminar to heart. That was one of the best pep talks I've ever given. That's saying somethin'." Sarge says pridefully. 

"But sir, I gave that seminar. You made me work on it for weeks. I even did the traditional Quinceañera dance!" Simmons reminds him. 

"Oh, couldn't have been that great. I don't even remember it. Let's go, Simmons." Sarge and Simmons then walk, Caboose and Tucker were watching from not far off. 

"Hey they're all leaving. You know what? I'm going to see our awesome new base. It's so much basey-er than our old one. I've missed it so much!" Caboose says happily before running to Blue base. 

"So much for sticking together..." Tucker scoffs. 

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

Zone was down in the Hologram Chamber with his electric guitar. 

"Rex...you okay?" Xi asks. 

[I'm fine Xi. Just hit the recording, playing music relaxes me.] 

"Okay I got your voice synthesizer tuned, so your voice will sound different when you sing. But only for singing unfortunately." 

[Its fine Xi. Just hit it.] Zone turns on his guitar and plays. 

(DON'T JUDGE ME FOR THIS!!! ALSO BEST ROCK COVER FOR THIS EVER!) 

https://youtu.be/QdDlNq01UFU

"You know you and the guys should really start a band." Xi suggests chuckling. 

[We'll look into it, come on. Carolina and Wash are waiting for us.] Zone throws his guitar in the air as it disappears, it being holographic. He then jogs towards the elevator. 

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

"This is the awesome new base? Looks the same as the old base to me." Tucker says overlooking the canyon from on top of the base. 

"Oh! You are gonna love it here! You know, its like our home away from home, that we can't ever get away from." Caboose explains. 

"So, let me get this straight, its just two bases, in the middle of a box canyon." 

"Yes. But on one side, instead of a wall, theres an endless supply of water." 

"Wow. You guys really know how to upgrade. Lemme guess; I bet this time, we've got a tank with eight pedals instead of six." 

"Aw, dont be silly, we dont have a tank." Caboose says slightly laughing. 

Zone runs up to the crashed Pelican where Wash and Carolina were investigating. 

"All right, what have you got?" Carolina asks. 

"Not much, a few shell casings, a dog tag..." 

"I was talking to Church..." Carolina tells Wash. 

"Oh, sorry, I-" 

Epsilon appears on the windsheild of the Pelican. "Hey, whats up? Somebody call me?" 

"Yeah, find anything yet?"

"Oh, not yet, but the onboard computer program is an old friend of mine; she's doing her best to help me out." 

"Good. Keep it up." Epsilon then vanishes.

"Wash, is there a reason you're just standing there doing nothing? Get back to it. And Zone now that you're here go give him a hand. That's an order." 

[Um, okay then.] Zone says not expecting that. He and Wash look at each other before leaving. 

"Can't keep your secrets forever, Texas. Not from me...never from me." Carolina mutters.