<A scarecrow?!> 2.0 says shocked at the story of his predecessor. 

<Yep.> Lopez replies monotone. 

<They just left you hanging out there with all the vegetables?> 

<It takes about 90 days to grow corn.> 

<That's terrible!> 2.0 exclaims. 

<It was not the best.> 

"Hey, Lopezs!" 2.0 turns and looks at Sarge. "Come over here and gimme a hand. I keep havin' to get on my knees to work on this. But I figure it'd be easier if you held it at chest level instead." 

<Yes, sir!> 2.0 says saluting. He was about to help him when Lopez stops him. 

<Wait. There is one thing about these people I do like.]> Lopez says slyly. 

<What?> 2.0 asks. 

<Hey, Sarge! Why don't you want to get on your knees? Afraid it will bring back some repressed memories?> Lopez says snickering. 

"Ha! Lopez, you ol' kidder you. Now come on, time's wastin'." 

2.0 looks at Lopez then at Sarge. <Hey, Sarge...you smell!>

"Oh, don't tell me he's got you in on it too. Ha ha, Lopez you are rambunctious." Sarge chuckles. 

<Sometimes he makes up entire conversations. You suck!> Lopez shouts.

"It is a lovely day, isn't it?" Sarge says looking up at the sky. 

<And you aren't smart.> 2.0 adds. 

"Thank you for noticing. I have been hitting the gym." Sarge flexes his arms. 

<Your mother's so fat she uses a richter scale.> Lopez sneers. 

"He, he. You two are like a couple of three stooges. Well, whenever you're done goofin' off come help me with with this. I just need to make a few more adjustments." 

<Stick with me, kid. And you're going to be just fine.> Lopez chuckles. 

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

Zone then walks up to Blue Base. "Here goes nothing." He sighs. 

Freckles walks in front of him. "Agent Arizona." 

"Oh, Freckles. I didn't see you there. Man, for a behemoth you hide really well. 2.0 wasn't kidding about that camouflage." 

"You have failed to uphold your duties to Captain Caboose." 

"But I was just on my way up now. Ready to clean the base!" 

"You lack diligence, Agent Arizona." 

"What?" Zone says confused. 

"You question authority, Agent Arizona." 

Zone swallows nervously and activates his wrist cannon, aiming it at the Mantis. 

"Um, Caboose! Could you come out here?!" Zone calls. 

Freckles' cannons start powering up. "You must be eliminated, Agent Arizona." 

"CABOOSE!" 

Caboose then appears on the balcony. "Hello!" 

"Your pet is trying to kill me!" Zone shouts fearfully. 

"What? That does not sound like Freck...hey Freckles, Freckles what are you doing?" Caboose asks. 

"Agent Arizona has failed to meet the minimum requirement of Blue Team service and is no longer fit for duty. He must be eliminated." 

"See, he's just doing what he just said." 

"Caboose, please come here, I need to talk to you!" Zone pleads. 

"Agh, probably wants to talk about what an awesome leader I am." Caboose comes down and approaches the ex-Freelancer. "Yes, hello, what seems to be the problem Zone?" 

Zone deactivates his cannon and looks at Caboose. He looks up and sees Tucker on the balcony. 

"(Sigh) I'm sorry Caboose. I'm sorry your best friend left you without saying goodbye. Maybe he thought you would try and stop him or maybe it was too hard for him to tell you but, no matter the reason, he's still gone. He left you..." Zone looks up at Tucker. "...both of you. I don't really do emotional things and I hoped you might have been able to get over this by yourselves so I left you alone, and instead of coming to terms with what you lost, you replaced it with, well, the first thing you found. But I should have been there for you Caboose because, that's what friends do for each other..." 

"Captain Caboose is not your friend, he is your commanding-" 

"Uh, no we're all friends here Freckles, it's, you know." Caboose says waving at his pet to calm down. 

"That's right, and as your friend I want to say that I'm sorry. You know, in a way, you kinda remind me a lot of Victor. Innocent, never stops looking for the good, and no matter what anyone says about him, he keeps moving forward. I know it's not much but, I made you this." Zone pulls something off his back and shows it to be a blue Mark V helmet. 

"Oh my god! My old helmet!" Caboose runs up to Zone. 

"Captain Caboose, you should return to your duties." Freckles suggested.  

Zone places his hands on Caboose's shoulders. "I know you really like Freckles, Caboose. But you have to understand that he's very dangerous. He's not a puppy anymore...a kitten? Or...either way, he's really big." 

"Yeeaah...he blew up a car." Caboose sighs. 

"I remember that." Zone smiled. 

Caboose then approaches Freckles. "Freckles, you- you're one of the best machines I know. And that is saying something because I have been friends with a lot of machines. But...from now on, I think you should listen to Zone and Agent Washington.

Freckles looks at Zone and back at Caboose. "Are you sure?" 

"Yeah, yeah he's very smart and really nice." 

"...Acknowledged." 

"You can be leader again if you want to, Zone. It's...It's not as much fun as it looks. I think I'm more like the dashing second in command kind of person. Y'know, all the perks no work." Caboose says patting his chest. 

"Thanks Caboose. Hmph...c'mere buddy." Zone pulls Caboose into a tight embrace. Caboose didn't expect it at first but gladly accepted the hug. 

Tucker smiled at the scene before he heard sniffling. He turns and looks at Simmons crying. 

"I wish my team was this emotional." 

"Good Lord Almighty." Tucker groans walking off. 

Caboose then tries on his Mark V helmet. "Ah! It fits perfect! And look, someone left some gum!" 

Tucker comes up to Zone. "Pretty sneaky, Zone. A couple of mushy words, a present, a hug, and you're right back up at the top." 

"Nothing sneaky about it. I meant every word." Zone says crossing his arms. 

Caboose's helmet shorts out and his visor color fades to black. 

"Uh oh. I ugh...I can't see anything. Hello?" Caboose waves his arms around. 

"You still need to work on your craftsmanship, though." Tucker points out. 

"OH MY GOD I'M BLIND!" Caboose yells. 

"One thing at a time, Tucker." Zone breathes. 

"Uh...can people see me? I can't see them!" 

"Well, at least we don't have a killer robot to worry about anymore." Tucker shrugs. 

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

At Red Base, the Reds' new Mantis was coming online. Though smoke was emerging from almost every part of it. 

"Ha ha! Listen to that lady purr." Sarge laughs. 

"Great job, Sarge!" Donut says patting his shoulder. 

"Great job? It looks like crap! It's half the size. And it's on fire!" Grif points out. 

"Yeah. Turns out we were missin' some pieces. Which reminds me..." Sarge kicks Grif to the ground and begins to punch his face. 

"Donut, get me a glass. I'm makin' orange juice." Sarge orders. 

"Ack! Every time!" Grif groans. 

"Getting a jump on the flu season! Good idea, sir!" 

"Wait, that's a thing?" Doc asks. 

"C-C-Cyclops online." The Mantis says glitching. 

"Huh, I knew it was a beautiful lady." Sarge says standing up. 

Grif gets up too. "Cyclops? Wait isn't Zone's dog's name?" 

"Looks more like a praying mantis to me." Doc states. 

"No, she said "C-C" Cyclops. I think it's Italian." Donut persists. 

"E-e- error. H-hardware malfunction." 

"Welcome to Red team, CC! Now if you can-" 

"Enemy soldiers detected." CC then primes her weapons. 

"Ugh, is it supposed to do that?" Grif says taking a step. 

"I admire your enthusiasum, CC." Sarge places his hands on his hips. "But you've only got one enemy. It's a big robot over at-" 

"Negative. Motion tracker detects 18 hostiles." 

"Wait, what?" Sarge says confused. 

CC aims at the Reds. "D-d-deadly force authorized." 

"I'm not hostile! I'm a pacifist! Kill them!" Doc points at the Reds. 

"Hey!" Grif cries. 

"E-engaging targets- t-targets..." Cyclops then shuts down.

"Crud. She ran outta diesel." Sarge says kicking the ground. 

"You converted it to diesel?" Doc says puzzled. 

"Of course. Looks like she needs a bigger fuel tank." 

"Screw that! She needs to be thrown off a cliff!" Grif scowls. 

"Well, I don't see how that'll solve the fuel problem." 

"Hey, guys..." Sarge, Grif, and Doc look at Donut. "There's thirteen of us in the canyon." 

"Wow, Donut. That's one more than twelve! Good job, buddy." Grif praises sarcastically. 

"I dunno if I'd really count Lopez, or Cyclops, or Xi." Sarge thinks. 

"But she said eighteen." All of their eyes widen and they hear gunfire coming from Blue Base. 

"Oh crap..." Grif mutters. 

At Blue Base, four white heavily armored soldiers slowly advance on Zone, Simmons, and the Blues. 

"Who the heck are these guys?!" Tucker shouts firing his rifle. 

"I don't know!" Zone says reloading his carbine. 

Caboose wanders around on the battlefield. "Why are we shooting off fireworks? Is it someone's birthday?" 

"Freckles, cover Caboose!" Wash orders. Freckles crouches in front of Caboose, shielding him.

"Stop shooting! We're friendly!" Simmons calls out. He ducks as bullets race for his head. "THAT'S THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT I SAID!" 

"Screw this!" Tucker stands and shoots one of the soldiers in the head, killing him. 

"Wait! We don't know who they are!" Zone shouts. 

"They're the guys who are gonna kill us if we don't kill them first!" 

"Freckles take them out!" Wash orders. 

"Engaging targets." Freckles fires his missiles and kills all three soldiers. "Primary threat eliminated." 

The Reds and Doc run over the hill. 

"What in Sam Hill is goin' on?!" Sarge yells. 

"Who were those guys?" Grif asks. 

"We don't know." Zone replies. 

"They just showed up and started shooting!" Tucker adds. 

<Oh, man...I suddenly feel bad for not warning everyone.> 2.0 says. 

"Shut up, Lopez. This isn't the time for jokes." Sarge retorts. 

<And now I regret nothing.> 

"Lets move inside. We need to find cover in case there's more hiding out in the-" Before Zone could finish the Scout soldier jumps in front of him and blocks a sniper shot with his hardlight shield. 

"Run!" He orders. 

"Look out! It's another one!" Simmons cries aiming his weapon. The Scout then gets sniped in the leg. 

"Gah! SON OF A- UGH!" The Scout groans holding his leg. 

"Wait. I'm confused." Simmons says lowering his gun. 

"What are you doing?! I said run!" The Scout commands. 

"Excellent work soldiers." The green and black sniper appears, decloaking himself. "You killed my men. I suppose that makes you the real deal." 

"Okay, now I'm really confused." Simmons says shaking his head. 

"Quiet! All of you, come with me now." 

Zone steps in front of the Scout, protecting him. "And just why would we do that?" 

"Because if you don't come now I'll have to take you later." 

"Back off!" The Scout shouts. 

"You, shut your mouth and be glad I missed your head." The soldier snarls. 

"Oh my god, you are such a retard!

"Yeah what he said!" Tucker adds. 

"This is your last chance." The soldier narrows his eyes at Zone. "Especially yours Raptor." 

Zone's eyes widen as he hears his codename from the War. "Freckles!" 

Freckles steps up and fires at the sniper, but he cloaks and disappears.

"Holy crap, did you see that?" Grif gasped. 

"No! What happened?! Please describe it to me! Use only small words!" Caboose pleaded. 

"Um, any of you guys know how to patch up a leg?" The Scout asks. 

"I'll go get some orange juice." Doc says running off. 

"Wait, that's a thing?" The Scout says puzzled. Zone pulls one of the Scout's arms over his shoulders and helps him stand. 

"Thanks." Zone says appreciatively. 

"Don't mention it Wolford." The Scout groans. 

"How do you-?! Wait, your voice...GATES?!" 

"Heh heh, the one and only."