(What do you guys think Ash's theme song would be?)

Grif: Simmons, what are we looking for?

Simmons: Power cells, batteries, anything.

Grif: How is a power cell different from a battery?

Simmons: Grif, this is not the time!

Explosion, followed by pistol shots

Sarge: Hey, did you hear that?

"Sounds like a fight." Ash says.

Simmons: Yeah... I did... Come on Grif, let's go!

Grif: Aren't we supposed to run away from explosions?

The Reds, Caboose, and Tucker race outside just as an explosion sends Church crashing into the snow in front of them.

Church: Ow!

Sarge: What happened?

Church: The Meta... there...

Sarge: And I was afraid we wouldn't get to kick a little ass today! Come on, fellas!

Tucker: Caboose! Stay with Church!

Caboose: Okay.

Tucker: And try not to kill him by accident!

Caboose: Okay!

The Meta opens fire and Wash dives aside to avoid the hit. The Meta charges towards him, Brute Shot blade raised, but Wash whips out his knife and parries the blow. He then slices him in the shoulder but the Meta cloaks himself and ducks aside. Wash stops and glances around the field. He spots the snow being shifted in one side and throws the blade towards the movement. As it hits, the Meta uncloaks with a roar of pain. Wash raises his battle rifle and opens fire, but the Meta shoots a grenade out and sends Wash flying back under the Warthog. Suddenly, the Reds and Tucker come charging in.

Sarge: Attack!

Simmons: Get him!

Grif: (terrified) We're gonna fuckin' die!

As they charge, the Reds and Tucker open fire, but the Meta slams his hand into the ground, summoning a domed energy shield around him that blocks the explosions. 

"That's fucking cheating!" Ash yells!

He then leaps out through an opening at the top and fires at Grif and Tucker who quickly roll out of the way. Simmons then raises his rocket launcher up and fires at the Meta.

"Fire in the hole!" Simmons yells.

The Meta nimbly flips over the rocket and crashes down in front of Simmons, slicing his launcher in half with the brute shot blade. Tucker takes out his sword and swings it at the Meta, but he blocks the blow and knocks him aside.

Ash runs in and tries to punch the Meta, but the Meta blocks the punch with his brute shot and he kicks Ash away from him.

Sarge raises his shotgun and fires, but the Meta blocks that as well. In a rare act of bravery, Grif suddenly pounces onto the Meta's back and grabs him by the neck, throwing him off-balance.

Grif: Yah! Ah, ah, ah, this guy's like a bear!

The Meta grabs Grif and throws him off, but as he falls Grif snatches the Brute Shot out of his hands.

Grif: Yoink!

With the Meta now unarmed, Sarge charges forward to tackle him but the Meta punches him to the ground then grabs him by the leg. Sarge fires again but the Meta dodges. He then swings him around twice and flings him into Grif and Simmons.

Sarge: Ow, dammit!

Suddenly, Tucker comes out and impales the Meta's chest with his sword.

Tucker: Stab!

Meta punches Tucker to the ground, with his sword deactivating and falling to the ground as well.

Ash runs in and fires a few rounds of his DRM at The Meta. The bullets don't do much to the Meta. The Meta turns to Ash and begins to run at him.

"Uh, oh." Ash says.

The Meta swings his fist at Ash, and he ducks under it and slams the but of his gun in the Meta's chest. The Meta staggers back and Ash runs up to the Meta and tries to punch him.

The Meta grabs Ash's metal fist and grabs his chest plate.

"Please don't." Ash begs.

The Meta throws Ash and he flies through the air and lands next to the Meta.

Ash coughs a few times.

"How are we gonna beat this thing?" Sarge asks.

Ash looks to the Warthog next to him then to Sarge.

"Hey, Sarge." Ash says. "I have a plan."

Sarge looks to the Warthog then to Ash. "You crazy devil, I like it. Think you can stall while we get it set up,"

Ash looks out to the Meta and then to Sarge. "I got a way."

Ash stands up and begins to walk towards the Meta.

"You better be careful!" Sarge orders.

Ash chuckles and he stops not to far from the Meta.

"Are you ready?" Ash asks.

"Yes, let's end this." Xi says though Ash's helmet. 

"Hey, Maine!" Ash yells and the Meta turns to him. "I heard you're the reason I'm dead. And I'm not too happy with that! So I say I want a rematch! I also bet I'm the reason you got the crack in your helmet!"

The Meta growls.

"But before that, there's someone I want you to meet." Ash says.

Xi appears in front of Ash.

"Hello, Agent Maine." Xi greets.

The Meta growls loudly.

Xi turns to Ash. "You know the chances of survival are at 36%."

"I don't feel confident now." Ash says.

"Would it help if I said it was 36.8%?"

"Yes, yes it does. But who says I'm alone."

"Survival shot up to 86.9%" Xi says.

Ash looks up and sees the Meta beginning to run at him. Ash takes a deep breath and tosses his gun on the ground. Ash reaches up to his chest and pulls his knife out of its seethe. Ash holds the knife with his right hand and he looks at the blade's engravings.

S-142
Minnesota

Ash looks up to the Meta. "Time to finish the fight."

"Good luck, Spartan." Xi says.

Ash flips the blade around and holds in in a reverse grip, then he charges at the Meta.

They reach each other and Meta throws a punch and Ash ducks under it and tries to stab The Meta in the gut.

The Meta grabs Ash's wrist and elbows Ash's hand. Ash drops the knife and grabs it with his other hand and slices the Meta's arm and kicks him away.

The Meta growls at Ash.

"Well, fuck you too." Ash says with a pant.

The Meta charges at Ash and ties to punch him, but Ash to the side only to receive a kick in the side. Ash grunts as he slides on the ground.

"You should try harder." Xi says to Ash.

"What do you think I'm doing!" Ash says.

The Meta reaches Ash only to get a snowball to the face. The Meta angrily growls and wipes the snow off his face and proceeds to get headbutted by Ash.

Both Ash and The Meta stumble back.

"Aw fuck!" Ash yells. "Why did I think that was a good idea."

"Duck!" Xi yells.

Ash leans back and barley avoids a flying fist from the Meta.

Over with Simmons and Grif.

"Holy shit!" Grif shouts. "He's keeping up."

"Looks like he remembered some of his Freelancer training." Simmons says.

"Or he could be bullshitting it. That's how we usually do things."

Ash grabs the Meta's arm and pulls him forward. The Meta stumbles and Ash kneels down and slices the Meta's left leg as he stumbles by. Ash gets up and turns around, only to be met with a fist to his face. Ash slams into the ground and he groans in pain.

"Move!" Xi yells.

Ash rolls to the side and avoids a fist to the face. Ash flips himself up and kicks the Meta in the face while doing so.

Ash rolls forward and goes to stab the Meta in the gut but his arm is caught and the Meta forcefully grabs the knife and plunges it deep into Ash's right shoulder.

"FUUUCK!" Ash yells in pain and the Meta grabs Ash by the throat. "Sarge! I think I need your shotgun! What ever will I do without a shotgun!"

Something flies through the air and Ash catches it. Ash grunts as the Meta starts to squeeze Ash's throat. "Hey, Meta..." Ash attaches something to the Meta. "...settle a bet, would ya?" Ash motions his head towards the Warthog. "Does that thing kinda look like a big cat to you? Maybe even a dragon?"

Meta looks over to the Warthog and sees, Sarge, Grif and Simmons pushing the Warthog towards the edge of the cliff.

"Come on!" Sarge yells. "Push with your back!"

"Come on, push, Grif!" Simmons yells.

"I AM pushing!" Grif yells back.

The Meta looks down to see the Tow hook attached to his chest plate.

The others push the Warthog off the cliff.

"I think I won the rematch, Maine." Ash says and he headbutts the Meta, casing him to drop Ash.

Ash grabs the capture unit from the Meta's back. As the Meta is thrown off his feet, Ash falls to the ground and the unit rolls up, landing next to Church and Caboose. With a roar of terror and fury, the Meta is dragged along the ground towards the cliff, his arms flailing. As he nears the edge, he catches hold of Grif's leg and drags him down with him.

Grif: Wah!

Simmons: Grif!

Grif: Simmons! Grab my hand! Help!

Just as they reach the edge, Simmons dives forward and grabs Grif's outstretched hand. The sudden stop causes the Meta to lose his grip and he falls down to his death with a distraught roar into the icy sea below.

Simmons: Hold on! Hold on! Don't let go!

Sarge: (concerned) Uh-oh.

Grif falls

Simmons: Grif!

Grif: Simmoooooooooooooohoohons! Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

Sarge and Ash approach Simmons at the edge.

Simmons: (sadly) He's... gone...

Sarge: Yes. Grif is dead. It's a sad day. But he died as he lived; flat on his belly, trying to get someone to do his work for him. He will be missed, until we get a replacement, and then forgotten immediately.

Simmons: I can't believe he's gone...

"Wow, I didn't think he would die that fast." Ash says.

Tucker approaches the three.

Tucker: (in cautious tone) You know, sometimes, when somebody falls off a cliff in movies, he's actually just over the edge, hanging on a tree branch or something.

Sarge: Nope. He's definitely dead.

Simmons: Maybe we should look, just in case.

Sarge: I think looking would get our hopes up, and Grif wouldn't like that. Grif would want our expectations to be as low as possible. Let's honor him by not looking. And then have a nice lunch. I'm thinking Monte Cristo sandwich!

Simmons: Are you sure? I could just peek right over the edge.

Sarge: (quickly) Sounds like a waste of time.

Simmons: Wouldn't even take a second.

"Yeah, a quick look can't hurt." Ash says.

Sarge: Nope.

Grif: (off screen, sounding more angry than scared) Oh, for God's sake, just look over the damn edge! I can't hold on for much longer!

At this, Sarge and Simmons run up to the edge and look down to see Grif hanging from the stolen Brute Shot that he'd stuck right into the icy cliff-side.

"Grif!" Simmons says overjoyed.

Sarge: (irritated) Dangling on the job again, I see. Dagnabit, I hate cliffhangers.

Grif: (furious) Oh, just pick me up!

Cut to Doc, Epsilon, and Caboose standing around the failing storage unit.

Doc: Yeah, I don't know, it's in really bad shape... so are you.

Church: There's not much time. I need you to use it on me.

Doc: Me?! I can't! I'm a medic! I took an oath!

Church: Oh yeah... Ugh, the first is, uh, "do no harm," right?

Doc: (beat) Well actually now first is "lobbying against socialist reform." But second is, yeah, the "no harm" thing.

Church: Caboose, here. Pick it up.

Caboose: I can't, Church.

Church: Yes you can. You do this all the time.

Caboose: (concerned) Yeah, I don't want to.

Church: (sighs) Yeah, ok. Ok Caboose, I'm sure I can do it on my own.

Caboose: But what if you don't come out again?

Church: Well, you know what Delta always said, right?

Caboose: Memory is the key.

Church: (in gentler tone) If I don't come back then... you're in charge of remembering me, ok? (beat) Don't let Tucker help, he'll... just fuck it up. Bye, buddy.

Epsilon leaves his robot body and enters the failing unit.

Sarge, Simmons and Ash walk over.

Ash has a slight limp and he's holding his bleeding right shoulder.

Sarge: What's going on here?

Caboose: Church went in, he's going to find her.

Simmons: That unit looks bad, let me see what I can do to stabilize it.

Sarge: Doc, go check on Wash, I don't think he's gonna make it.

Simmons: Oh no!

Caboose: What? What?

Simmons: It's only going to be open for a few more seconds. After that, he'll be trapped!

Caboose: Come on, Church. You can do it. Can you hear me? You can... Run towards my voice!

"Come on, Church." Ash mumbles. 

Simmons: It's shutting down! I can't stop it!

Caboose: Church? Are you there?

The Epsilon unit slowly fades, and then shuts down.

Simmons: (in sympathetic tone) Caboose... I'm sorry.

Caboose: (heartbroken) ...Church...?

"Fuck!" Ash whispers.

----

Fade out and back in to a UNSC investigation team searching the area.

Interrogator: And where the hell did the Pelican in the water come from?

Tucker: Hmm... I don't know. I guess the Meta must have hijacked it, and crashed it here. That makes sense, right?

Interrogator: Man, the Chairman is going to be pissed. The budget only allows for one crashed Pelican per mission! All right, well I guess you guys check out. You can head back to your training bases now.

Sarge: We just call them bases.

Interrogator: (in smug tone) Hmph. I bet.

Grif. Hey! We solved your problem. Not bad for "Trainees."

Interrogator: I gotta hand it to you. Killing one of these agents would be tough. But three? And this guy... (looks at Wash's armor) The Chairman will not be happy he's dead. I think he wanted to debrief him personally. Oh well.

Tucker: Yeah...

Caboose: Yeah, that's too bad.

Washington: (disguised as Epsilon) Well, be sure to let him know we're sorry.

Interrogator: Whatever. You're free to go. If we need you, we know where to find you.

The Interrogator walks away.

Washington: (confused) Why are you guys helping me?

Caboose: You helped us, Wash. It only makes sense.

Tucker: Yeah, plus we needed to even the teams. And I couldn't put up with Caboose constantly asking "Can we keep him? Can we keep him?!?"

Caboose and Tucker walk away.

Washington: (quietly) For whatever it's worth... Thanks.

"This has been a really eventful day." Ash states.

Xi pops up on his shoulder. "It sure has."

Everyone looks to Ash then to Xi.

"What the hell is that?" Grif asks.

"Xi?" Wash questions.

"Xi?" Sarge asks. "What the hell is a Xi?"

"Don't tell me." Simmons starts.

"Yup, this is my A.I." Ash introduces Xi. "Xi, or as I like to call her Emily."

Grif begins to cry. "Not another one."

"How long have you had her?" Wash asks.

"Remember when we met at ghost town?" Ash asks.

"Yeah."

"Yeah, it was fourteen months before that."

"What?!" Wash is surprised. "You've had her for that long, and you didn't tell me?"

"Well, when we first met you told me there was this super soldier running around stealing A.I. So I had to hide her. Then the second time we met you tried to kill us with said super soldier." Ash explains. "At any of those points did you think it was a good idea to reveal that I found Agent Minnesota's A.I?"

"....You make a good point." Wash says. "I better go keep an eye on Caboose." Wash walks away.

Xi disappears off of Ash's shoulder.

Grif: Well, looks like Blue Team has a new recruit, Sarge.

Simmons: Doesn't look so tough to me.

Sarge: Maybe this one can shoot. Come on, fellas. Let's go home.

Grif: Uh... The jeep's busted, Sarge. Are we walking?

Sarge: That depends. You fellas gotten over your fear of flying yet?

Simmons: Yes, sir!

"Oh, I like you're thinking." Ash says.

The Reds steal two Hornets. Ash is flying one.

"How do I fly this thing?" Ash asks. Xi pops up on the console. 

"Let me help." Xi states.

Grif: Yoink!

The reds begin to fly off.

Guard: Hey! You can't take that! That... That's UNSC property! *He chases after them.*  Get back here! Hey, come on, I'll lose my job!!!

Simmons: I hope this doesn't go on our permanent record!

Ash laughs like a maniac. 

Soldier: *Looking down to the capture unit.* Hey Chief, what do you want me to do with this thing? I can't get anything out of it, it's dead as a doornail.

Chief (the Interrogator from earlier): I don't care. Toss it in evidence. It's all a bunch of junk now, anyway.

The camera pans inside the Epsilon Unit.

Church: (voice over) I'd like to say that I found her right away, that I just walked into the Epsilon Unit, and there she was, waiting for me. As you can probably guess, it didn't happen that way, but, I know she's in here somewhere, and I'll find her. We always seem to find each other, for better or for worse. I don't know why the Director did what he did. I don't know if he was trying to revive a memory from his past, or if he was just trying to get it out of his head. But I figured out something that the Director didn't. It took Alpha, Delta, and the rest to help piece it together for me, but what I've learned is that... a great love is a lot like a good memory. When it's there, and you know it's there, but it's just out of your reach, it can be all that you think about. You can focus on it, and try to force it, but the more you do, the more you seem to push it away. But if you're patient, and you hold still, then maybe... Just maybe... It will come to you. I just need to make sure I'm somewhere she can find me.

Fade to white. The screen then reveals a much more greener image of Blood Gulch, now in the Halo: Reach engine.

Church: (voice over) I think this place is a little different than it was before. See, out there, everything is based on the Alpha, but in here, I guess I'm the Alpha. And maybe this time through, things will be a little different for me as well. I guess I'll find out.

Memory of Tucker: Hey Church, come on! I think the Reds just got a new vehicle! Let's go check it out!

Memory of Caboose: They only got a jeep! We got a tank! That's way better!

The memories of Tucker and Caboose run toward a cliff.

Church: Ok, I'll be right there!

Church follows them toward the cliff.

Church: (voice over, in more jovial tone) And I mean, hell, if you have to live the rest of your life in a memory... you might as well make it a good one.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

07-16-2022

(Well, there it is. Season 8 is done. Now we're going onto Project Freelancer. Where we finally get to see what happened to Ash.)