Magenta Madness

66) ReUnion

The pelican docks at the staff of Charon, Jason walks out to see the others, and what appears to be church
"Church?"
"And that must be Jason, I don't need to tell him how I'm here because he'll probably figure it out, or his AI will do it for him"
"It's a bunch of recorded messages right, AI experience time slower so he recorded messages and ran simulations on what we'd all say"
"See, he gets it"
"Must be weird, he's just talking to himself like he's speaking to us"
"Just to get you up to speed, since you probably haven't been around for a while, you need to find a recovery unit to fight the meta, If you can get rid of his AI, you can save him"
"Save him, I loved Maine, but I don't think we'll be able to save him"
"Also, Tucker is being user as a host body for the AI, they're the ones in control"
"Shit, so the meta has the key, sword, thingy"
Ash shouts into the back
"What key?!"
"I'll explain later, for now it's just a sex fiend's laser sword!"
"Great!"
The pelican door opens, and Caboose and Sarge run out firing their guns wildly, as Simmons, Grif and Jason look in confusion, Jason eventually walking out
"Wow, you really showed the empty room"
Grif and Simmons follow him out, as Jason looks slowly around, examining the inside of the ship
"Fucking 'ell"
Simmons walks over
"What's wrong?"
"Nothin', I was just hoping after last time I'd never 'ave to come back here"
"Me too man"
They all walk through the ship, before a screen turns on with a security guard on it
"Hey, you can't be here, this place is restricted"
Jason looks around
"Where are you?"
"Oh, uh, the guards all work from home now, ninety percent of our jobs can be done remotely"
"The other ten being stopping us?"
"Uhh, yeah?"
"Doing shit, try harder toss pot"
Three other guards appear on the screen
"Hey!"
"Freeze!"
Jason yawns
"Sorry, were you saying something?"
Jason walks away, as the guards continue shouting, Lambda appears and mutes their audio
"Thanks little guy"
"Yeah, never call me that"
"What's wrong little buddy?"
A sudden shock goes through Jason's armour
"Fuck, point taken"
"Good"
The group continue to the trophy room, as they enter, they all look around, seeing odd items and relics in cases and on display, Jason stops to look at an old helmet, being his Haybusa helmet
"Ahh, memories, sitting in that cave with Doc for fuck knows how long, not the first or last time he saved my ass"
"This is also the room that we learned what I really was, well, It was when the first piece was layed down"
"You don't think Meta will want to take you, do ya?"
"I'm not a fragment, he only wants fragments right?"
"Right"
"So I'm good"
"Guess so"
Lambda seems to light up
"J, someone else is in the room"
"Yeah, I know, there's four other people, you've actually met them"
"Not them, someone else, not just that, there's..."
Lambda starts spinning around, looking around the room
"An AI"
Simmons and Grif approach the display case in the center of the room, which seems to still have the Meta's armour inside, Simmons turns around and looks at Jason
"Hey, did the Meta have two sets of armour or...?"
"Back away from the case, slowly"
Simmons turns to Grif
"Shit"
"We are so fucking dumb"
The meta tilts his head, before jumping through the glass of the case, slamming Simmons and Grif's heads together, sending them across the room, as sarge continues to face out the window
"Simmons, cut out that racket, I'm trying to think"
Grif turns towards Sarge
"Meta! Meta!"
Sarge turns around
"What about him?"
Sarge looks straight at the Meta
"Oh"
The Meta let's out a deep, menacing laugh
"I've been waiting for all of you, so so very long"
The Meta turns to Jason
"I've been waiting for you the longest"
"Maybe you should start a stan account, write a fan fiction, stop hunting people"
Everyone stands around the Meta, ready to fight
"Let's fuck him up guys"
They all launch into combat, the Meta quickly knocks down Simmons and Grif again, swinging Grif like a bat to knock down the others, Jason tries to jump over the others, but the Meta grabs his leg with the other hand, slamming him into the ground
"Uh, fuck"
Lambda appears
"Look out!"
The Meta punches downwards, as small boosters in Jason's armour roll him to the side, causing the Meta to miss the punch
"God I love this new armour"
The Meta continues fighting the others, as Jason gets up, Lambda appears beside his head
"You're getting rusty mate"
"Shut up and help me"
"Yeah yeah, running strength enhancements"
Jason runs at the Meta, throwing and blocking punches, until the Meta lands a solid punch on Jason's neck, causing him to lose breath, he stumbles backwards, holding his neck, Lambda appears
"You can't take him Jason"
Jason takes a deep breath
"I, have to, or he'll win"
"Think about this"
The Meta holds Caboose by the neck, with the capture unit in the other, as the Reds run out of the room, Jason turns and screams at them
"Come back here you snivelling strawberry pussies!"
The Reds leave the room, and Jason shakes his head
"Just me then?"
Jason runs over and drop kicks the Meta
"Back off the blue buddy"
Caboose turns to Jason
"Thank you"
"You're welcome, now let's go"
Jason helps Caboose up, and the two run out of the room, Jason occasionally stopping to try and push back the Meta, the Meta eventually knocks the two down, and Jason puts his arm infront of Caboose, trying to block the Meta
"You're gonna have to go through me first"
A shotgun cocking sound draws the Meta's attention, he turns to the side, and Sarge blasts the Meta's shield away with his Shotgun, and the Meta is knocked down, Sarge holds a drop shield deployment device in his hand
"Meta, you just got sarge'd"
Sarge throws the shield at the ground, the shield pushes the Meta against the ceiling, unable to move, Sarge helps Caboose and Jason up, and Jason pats Sarge on the back
"Thanks Sarge"
"Don't mention it, really, don't mention I helped a blue"
The group all run back to the pelican, once the door is closed, they all celebrate
"Fuck yeah, Sarge, that was awesome, I never thought that fucking catchphrase would work, but it did, that was sick"
"I can't believe we made it, boy that was a close..."
A sizzling sound, followed by a crackling, cuts off Sarge, as Simmons stutters
"S-Sarge?"
Sarge looks down at his chest, seeing the tips of an energy sword poking through his chest, as he falls to the ground
"Well, dang it"
They all rush to Sarge's side, and Simmons looks at the holes in Sarge's chest
"We-We can go back, there were health kits, we can..."
Sarge puts a hand on Simmons shoulder
"No Simmons, we can't, this is it for me"
"Sarge please"
"Promise me one thing, promise me you'll look out for eachother"
"We will Sarge"
Sarge turns to Caboose
"Don't ever tell anybody I helped a blue, and we'll call it even"
"Yes sergeant"
Sarge turns to Grif
"I know I was never easy on you"
"Yeah, like never, you were as hard on me as you could possibly be"
"But I was hard on you because I believed in you, I knew you could do great things, I knew you'd make a fine soldier one day, and look at you now, you saved a planet, I guess I was right about you, I always believed in you Grif, even when you didn't believe in yourself"
"Thank you sir"
Sarge turns to Jason
"Jason, I used to hate you freelancers, but now, I see I was wrong, you're not all bad, you're one of the good ones, don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise"
"Thanks Sarge, you're one of the good ones too, for what it's worth"
Sarge turns to Simmons, handing him his Shotgun
"Here, I want you to have this"
"I can't"
"You can, they need a leader, a real leader, you're ready, you've been ready, for a long, long time, I'm, proud of you"
Sarge takes a last breath, his head now laying on the ground, Jason removes his helmet, saluting to Sarge
"It's been an honour sir"
Simmons looks down, stunned
"He's, gone"