//------------------------------// // Chapter 62 - "Questions Unanswered" // Story: My Little Caboose II: Friendship is Fragmented! // by DarkWing //------------------------------// Before anyone could answer any questions, Grif promptly walked to the captain's chair and turned the Pelican on while staring at the enemy base. Every one else, bar Carolina, continued to look at the female Blue team member in dead silence. "Take a picture, it'd last longer," Sister said, happy at the thought of being surrounded by lots of men. "I mean, it wouldn't be the first time I've had my pictures taken. Except this time I'm not nak—" "We thought you were dead," Church interrupted quickly, knowing where her sentence, and possibly her armor, were going. "I hoped she was dead," Washington added, not too happy to see one of the people that annoys him the most standing right next to him. "What? Dead? No, that gray robot dude told me to wait in the cave back there because he was totally going to score some.. uh, stuff for a party. I waited for a really long time, but he never came. I was almost tempted to leave to go and find him, but then I was like 'wait, what if I leave, then he comes back and has the party without me?', and then I was like 'that isn't going to happen', so I kinda just stayed there." "How did you not starve to death?" Simmons asked. "There was a lot of salad on the wall. Kinda tasted like dirt, but hey, that's the sacrifice you make for having such a nice bod." "That was moss!" "You're moss!" she retorted. "Buckle in guys, we're leaving in aboooooout three seconds." "Why so soon?" Carolina asked, glad to be leaving, but curious as to why he gave them such short notice. "Because some dudes up at the base are rolling up with a tank," he grunted in reply, flipping a switch that made the back close. "What?" she snapped, sprinting next to Grif to see a scorpion tank slowly rolling up the hill. "Get us out of here! Now!" "Really? I thought I'd just sit here and wait to get blown up by a fucking tank," Grif snapped back, flipping a bunch of switches. A second later, lights in the cabin started to flash red. Grif let out a small curse and began to press a few buttons, but that made the blinking more rapid. "Is that Shiela?" Caboose called out curiously. "No, Caboose, it isn't," Church said quickly, not wanting Caboose to unbuckle and distract Grif. "What are you doing?" Carolina hissed. "Trying to figure out why the back thrusters aren't getting us off the ground!" "Something must have gotten shaken loose in the landing!" Simmons suggested fearfully, quickly strapping in with the others. "If you guys aren't buckled in by the time I do something stupid, you're probably all going to die!" Grif shouted and Carolina buckled up in the seat behind him. The tank then reached the top of the hill, and the barrel of its gun lowered and aimed right at Grif. Thinking quickly, Grif slammed his fist on a big red button, propelling the ship forward — right towards the tank. Before the ground vehicle could get a shot off, the Pelican slammed into the tank, knocking its gun off, and, acting as a ramp, launched the Pelican upwards. As they sped towards the brim of the canyon, another tank came out from the back of the base and shot at the ship. Lucky for them, the shot was fired without taking the time to aim it properly, and the shot ricocheted off the broken thruster, knocking what was knocked out back into place. Since Grif never turned it off, the power from all the thrusters propelled their ship at what felt Mach Fifty speeds. After a few minutes of that, Grif finally managed to turn them off, bringing them back to cruising speed, just above the atmosphere. Everyone then let out a heavy sigh of relief. Carolina then got out of her seat and stormed up to Grif, fury growing at the thought that he almost got them killed. "Listen, I know what you're about to say, so just do it quick," Grif mumbled sourly, not turning to look at her. "Just..." she began, but came to an instant stop, remembering what Church said. The way Grif said that. The way he didn't look at her. She felt that it was more than just dislike that he had for her. It was possibly nearing outright hate. She wasn't sure what she was expecting from her words, and the way she said it was nearly unfamiliar to her, but she just felt she had to say it. Before she became a monster. "Just keep doing what you're doing. You did great." "Well... thanks..." Grif murmured, glancing back to her. "Don't mention it," she grunted. She had two feelings going through her right now. The first one was regret because she didn't yell at him. She felt that he certainly deserved a little bit of it. But the second feeling that was slightly larger was relief. "Ugh, I think I almost threw up," Church murmured groggily, flickering into sight on top of the control panel. "Really? I didn't think what she said was that bad," Grif said. "Not that, your terrible driving made me spin around in there," he growled. "Be more careful next time." "Pft, fine, whatever, Blue," Grif snorted. Behind him, Carolina's regret dwindled a bit, and she offered a thankful nod to Church for reprimanding him, albeit lighter than she would have. Clear from the matter, she walked to the back and told the others that they were safe to get up, and she suggested that they stretch a bit. "Man, I haven't been knocked around that hard since prom night," Sister said, instantly taking the seat belt off. "Bow chicka bow wow!" "Tucker..." Grif grunted from the front seat. "Sister, don't encourage Tucker. You don't know where he's been." "But I know where I want him to be, ain't that right stud?" Sister inquired slyly, looking to Tucker, awaiting his response. "Yyyyyeah, I guess I sort of do." "And how does that make you feel?" "A liiiiiiiiiiiiiittle awkward, actually." "Why, it's not like you're seeing anyone." Tucker remained silent, then offered a half-assed shrug in reply. "No way! With who?" Sister asked in a mixture of both jealousy and curiosity, both emotions which made her more interested in a three way. Sister then looked behind her and saw Carolina eying her cautiously, still not sure what to make of the new person in the group. "Yeah, I guess she's sorta hot." "I'm wearing armor. You can't even tell what I look like," Carolina murmured. "No, but you have a pretty hot voice. Kinda sounds like you're into dominating, if you know what I mean." "I don't even—" "It's kinda hot. I'm totally into a little me nag a trough with you and Tucker." "She means ménage à trois," Washington added, finding slight humor at the situation. Carolina stared at Washington. Then to her. Then to Tucker. Shaking her head, she walked back into the cabin to where Grif is. "I guess that's a 'no' then?" Sister asked, leaning over to watch as she sat back in her chair. "So... where to now?" Washington asked the others. "Well, we're supposed to go to where it all began, but Blood Gulch was where everything started..." Simmons replied quietly. "If Blood Gulch wasn't it, it could be any number of places." "I vote we go to Valhalla," Sarge suggested. "Got some business to do there." "Oh, I vote for that to!" Donut said, raising his hand. "Oh, I hope our apple tree has sprouted since we left!" "We don't need to waste any time going to Valhalla to check on a garden," Church grunted, appearing in the middle of the seating area. "Uh, it's an orchard, actually," Donut scoffed. "Learn your plant dialect." "Fine. The orchard," Church grunted. "But we don't want to waste any time going there. I have a feeling I know where we have to go." "And where is that?" Washington inquired. "Where it all began could mean lots of things. Maybe he wasn't talking about the beginning of the Alpha's journey. Maybe he was just talking about where shit really started to hit the fan. When Epsilon started to come back." "Is it a beach?" Sister asked curiously. "It's more like a desert," Church grunted. "But I'm not hungry," Caboose chimed. "A desert, Caboose. Not dessert." "Duh, we heard what you said. He just isn't hungry for it right now," Sis stated impatiently. "But before we go grab some dessert, mind if we stop by a swimsuit store? Unless you want to see me naked." "Sis!" Grif shouted. "What? I don't mind being naked, I just hate it when I get sand in my—" "Kaikaina!" Grif snapped hurriedly. "God, I hate you people sometimes," Washington murmured.