Agent Carolina walked away from the computer as she sighed and sat down. She looked up to see Washington coming over to her, his helmet was off and sweat was dripping off his chin. She looked into his eyes and was wondering how his father was still alive.
"Hey Carolina" Wash said, interrupting her thoughts. Wash dropped his helmet down beside her as he sat down next to her.
"Hey Wash," she looked at him pausing, "Admiral Omega said he was going to send reinforcements to arrive by next week." She was looking for some sort of recognition on his face but she saw none.
"Did he really? That will be great if we are still alive by then yeah?" Wash then sighed.
A trooper ran over as he was panting. "Hargrove has forces en-route to try to block us in the caves."
Wash stood up as he put his helmet on. "Is there another way out of these caves?"
"No sir, but it does go really deep sir."
"Get ready to move out, we are heading in deeper where we can easily defend ourselves." Wash turned to Carolina as he held out his hand and helped her up. "Get the red and blue squads up here. We need to have them lead the squads now that the reds and blues are in combat on Hargrove's ship. I know that they will find a way to survive. They always do. Lets hope we have some of that luck."
Carolina watched as Washington talked to the remaining soldiers and saw only respect from them. Carolina felt a stab of guilt as she realized that the monster who put both her and Wash through hell and back would be here to save them. She then thought of her 3 friends aboard the new Father of Invention. To have 3 of her friends back again. But then doubt entered her mind as a partial fragment memory of Epsilon flashed through her head.
Then she was no longer in the caves rather she was with Church on the Mother of Invention. Except he wasn't a hologram, he was a real spartan in a light blue Mark IV armor. "Church," she whispered as he then took a step closer.
"Carolina, know that what I did, I had to do to save the red's and blue's, I'm sorry. Just remember this. Never say goodbye, cause if you don't say goodbye, you aren't really gone. You just aren't there right now. And also, remember Texas, Allison, Remember what the director did, keep in mind that he is still the person who put you through hell and back on multiple occasions. " Church then disappeared as Carolina was left standing there as she was snapped into reality by a hand on her shoulder.
"Carolina, You okay?" Wash stepped up to her as he handed her helmet to her.
"Yeah Wash," Carolina paused, "But Epsilon is in trouble, he did something and he won't be coming back the same. I don't know what he did but i am worried." Carolina turned away as she slipped the helmet on as the taste of the filtered air surrounded her. The helmet's HUD came on as she saw a flicker in the corner of her helmet.
Wash put his hand on her shoulder, "We have to go. I am worried about Epsilon just like you are but he is smart as hell and he will find a way out of this. He would want us to stay alive and save as many lives as we can all while protecting the innocent. The director told me once that, 'It is the soldier, not the reporter, Who has given us our lives that we have today.' The director, your father has shaped us and made us into what we are today and you know that it is the Director who made you into a freelancer, a soldier, a fighter, a person who can make a difference, a leader. The people of Chorus look up to both you and me as leaders because we have been molded into natural leaders. And Carolina, the truth of the matter is, we both know that after all we have done, there is no turning back, we have done what we needed to do to survive and now we are dealing with the negative repercussions. But we can't stop okay? Not after coming this far. We have a planet to save. You are not a robot, you are not created by the director, we have been molded into super soldiers but we still choose our own destiny."
Carolina turned around as she looked at Wash and she nodded as she took the lead and started to lead the people down the caves in deeper as she set a mine to blow up the facility as soon as someone tried to enter. "Let's go onward then." But all Carolina could think of was the flashback of the last moments with Texas and how she remembered almost losing it all.