When Church thought he would have to go through his memories in order to find Tex, he didn't expect his memories to be so out of whack. He didn't think he would remember crazy stuff that never even happened at Blood Gulch, such as Donut shooting him in the foot, "Ow. Ow. Ow- ow."

As he finally limps all the way back to Blue Base, he is greeted by Caboose, who runs out of the base to welcome him, "Church! You're home. Welcome back."

"Yeah, yeah thanks for helping me while the Reds just shoot me in the goddamn foot," he hisses, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Yeah, well, you told us to stay on the cliff, and I did. Yeah, I was helping."

"Oh really, then why aren't you on the cliff right now?"

"Because you actually didn't tell us to do anything," Ghost appears behind Caboose, also being just as sarcastic.

"And I thought the helping part was over," Caboose pipes in.

"Ow. Ow. Ow, assholes, ow," Church cursed while limping away, only to stop when Tucker appears over him, standing on the top of the base.

"You're back already?"

"What do you mean 'already'?" Church snapped, "It took me half an hour to limp across this goddamn canyon."

"Yeah, but we thought they were gonna kill you. I expect you back, never. So in my mind, you're early."

"Shut up."

"He is right about the two different times."

"You shut up, too," Church growls at Caboose.

"Alright, well now the helping part is definitely over," Caboose announces while disappearing back inside the base.

"Anything from you?" Church spins his head in his female teammate's direction.

"Nope, just enjoying the show," Ghost comes back with.

"Dammit, y-gh- this is exactly what I get for trying to fix things," Church mutters under his breath while grabbing his leg as his foot throbs in pain.

"What're you fixing?" Tucker asked.

"Everything, us, the Reds, trying to make things the way they're supposed to be. Yngaw," Church groans, "My foot."

"Are you okay?"

Church sputters in disbelief, "--Am I ok- do I look okay... do I sound okay?"

"I don't know, you're wearing full body armor and bleeding. That means you're either dying or just whinning."

"Well, I'm hurt. Alright?"

Tucker decides to play nice and offer help, "You want me to call Command, have them send a Medic?"

Church is quick to shut down that request, "No. No Medic. I'm not hurt that bad. Besides, those guys are just... bad luck."

Caboose appears again, "I already called Command."

"You did?" Church sounded betrayed, scandalized.

"Well, that was fast," Ghost observes.

"Caboose, you're not allowed to use the radio," Tucker eyes him knowingly, practically doting on Caboose like a child.

"Right, unless it's an emergency," Caboose recited, "And then I can use it to call Command. And also 800 numbers I see on TV. 'Cause those are free to call."

"800 numbers?" Church repeats.

"Dammit Caboose, what did you order this time?" Tucker demands.

Caboose suddenly realizes his mistake and his voice drops to something more high pitched, "Nothing."

Ghost puts her hands on her hips and tilts her helmet slightly, standing her ground to assert that she was starting off with a warning, "Caboose..."

Caboose knows better than to hide anything from Ghost or Tucker, "I promise you'll not see anything show up here that I ordered, nothing at all. For at least six to eight weeks."

"Dammit," Tucker muttered.

"What the hell is he talking about?" Church spasmed with annoyance.

"Well, you sound upset. You'll probably want some beef jerky. It'll be ready in six to eight weeks."

"You ordered a food dehydrator, didn't you," Tucker stated rather than asked.

"Oh, you won't be so mad when we're storing twice as much ammo as we normally can!"

"For the billionth time Caboose, you can't dehydrate bullets," Tucker groans.

"You actually order all those stupid gadgets that you see on TV?" Church asked Caboose.

"Maybe. Sometimes. And that Special Forces person also."

"You idiot," Tucker deadpans.

"Wait, what did you just say?" Church froze with realization.

"Oh, yes. Yes, they are sending someone to help us."

"Command is," Church repeats for confirmation, in case he heard that wrong.

"Yes," Caboose paused, "Unless that's bad, in which case I don't know what you're talking about."

Church starts to rant nonsense like it's nobody's business, "What-- they aren't supposed to send anybody 'til after I die!"

"We thought you were dead, dude. You walked into Red Base," Tucker clarified. 

"Gotta admit. You had balls going in there," Ghost shrugs, "And by balls, I mean balls filled with, ya know, idiocy."

Church decides to ignore Ghost's usual snarky remarks, "Caboose, did they say who they were sending?"

Caboose started to slow down in speech, "Uh, ah-yes, they definitely did."

Church looks up at Tucker, exchanging the same look before also turning to Ghost as they all fell into silence, waiting.

"Okay, do you remember who they--"

"No."

"Goddammit."

~~~~~~~~~

As his soldiers finally returned back onboard the Mother of Invention, the Director of Project Freelancer himself addresses his four agents after they returned from their mission, his hands -as always- behind his back and behind him was the big scoreboard, rating top to bottom of seven different agents, "The data you recovered has pinpointed the location of a very important target for Project Freelancer. Excellent work."

"Thank you, Sir," North, South, and Carolina respond almost simultaneously. Indiana, however, didn't say anything and just stood among her teammates silently. A usual behavior for her where the Director is concerned. 

"Counsellor, please update the board," the Director addresses his second in command, Counsellor Aiden Price, who jots down something on his datapad and the scoreboard behind the Director shifts two names, Agent South and North Dakota's names. South's name was now moved down to number six while her brother took her spot as number five. Carolina and Indiana respectively stay in their usual spots as numbers one and two.

"That is all. Dismissed," the Director announces.

South is stunned, making almost startled or enraged movements before she rips off her helmet, meeting the Director with her brother's identical pale eyes and skin, but her short, pale hair had some dyed pink strands mixed up in there.

"You said the mission was a success, Sir," she growled.

The Director knew she would lash out and was quick with a response, "One of the mission objectives was stealth. Your carelessness revealed our intentions and made our next mission more difficult. They'll be ready for us. Dismissed."

South storms off without waiting for the others, Carolina turning to look up at the much taller North, "Think I should talk to her?"

"Your funeral," Indiana muttered under her breath as the three of them watched as South punches the control panel to open the door and breaks the panel, which falls to the floor on her way out.

North turns back to the only other females in the room and shrugs, "Maybe we give her a minute."

Carolina nods and as North and Indiana start to head out of the room they were stopped when the Director called back out to them, "As for you, Agent Indiana and Agent North Dakota," the two said agents exchange a look underneath their helmets, Indiana knowingly rolling her head as another way of rolling her eyes to show her annoyance to North as they turn back to the Director, "Agent Carolina and I have come up with a strategic plan for our next target that we believe will be foolproof. We're sending you to yet another base where we'll need the two of you to pick up some... important cargo. We want the two of you to go in alone."

"Indi, you'll be the stealth. North, you'll be the eyes," Carolina steps in to inform them, "DO NOT be seen... or I'll have to come in and save your asses like today."

North and Indiana exchange looks, yet again, before Indiana turns back to the Director, "You've never assigned a mission to the two of us before. Why now?"

"Because results show that you both have exceeded in skills over the past couple of weeks and I am always searching for results. I want the two of you to be partners in this mission and I expect even better results if you work together. Dismissed."

Carolina nods to the two of them as they leave the room, and once the door slides shut behind them, Indiana turns to North, "It's suspicious."

"Hey, I don't like it either," North encourages, "But he's always like that when you're involved. I  don't think he's trying to figure something out. I think he actually noticed that we've been working well together lately and he wants to see how far that goes whether it's on the field or not."

"Maybe," Indiana trails off as she starts walking down the hallway, North only having to take a few steps with his long legs to catch up with her.

"I'm not saying you don't respect him, but I've never really heard you address him as 'Sir' before either. Why's that?"

"He can't do anything to me even if I ever purposely questioned his authority and he knows it. Let's just say that," the female Freelancer responds, motioning with the tilt of her head, "Come on. I bet Wash is in the break room waiting to hear from us."

North doesn't question it further, letting the subject go for now as he follows her down the hallway.