Red vs. Blue (season 12)

Tucker and Kimball privately talk about the civil war and why Felix is in it. Kimball reveals that Felix had been fighting in the war before she became an officer and that she's the fourth leader of the New Republic, as her predecessors were all killed. Tucker asks Kimball what makes her think Felix, being a mercenary, won't just end up leaving with his money. Kimball tells Tucker that Felix is in the war not only for money and what keeps him motivated to win the war is the thing why the New Republic aren't close to victory and what captured the other Reds and Blues, Locus. Kimball tells Tucker that Felix and Locus were once partners in the UNSC during the Great War and saw some of the worst fighting in the war. They never got along and were always competitive, but they were willing to work together to survive. After the war, they both couldn't stand the civilian life, so they became mercenaries and were hired by the New Republic and FAC respectively to fight for them in the civil war. Kimball says that the civil war may finally show who is the better soldier between Felix and Locus. Kimball reminds Tucker that everyone has their own reasons of being in the civil war. She also reminds him that the five-day limit of saving the captured Reds and Blues is almost up and that he and the others need to make the most of it.

At the New Republic HQ, Tucker informs Caboose, Grif and Simmons that they are leaving to rescue the captured Reds and Blues. Tucker tells the guys that they are going alone without the help of their squad, fearing they might get killed. The guys have concerns, but Tucker reminds them of the past adventures they went through and managed to survive them by just winging it. Tucker already has taken the data he took from the FAC from Kimball's office that he and the guys will follow to the FAC compound where the captured Reds and Blues are. The guys eventually agree, steal two warthogs and leave the Rebel Base. Felix, Kimball, Bitters, Smith, Palomo and Jensen find a recording of the Reds and Blues stating they have already left.

At the New Republic HQ, Smith, Bitters, Palomo and Jensen talk about the Reds and Blues leaving them behind. Smith tells them that Kimball has denied a search and rescue mission. Bitters believes that the guys never really cared about them though Palomo believes that they may come back. Felix arrives and tells them that they shouldn't be too hard on the Reds and Blues, as they did what they thought was best. But Felix tells the lieutenants that he's still going to beat them up when he finds them.

The episode takes place a few weeks earlier before Thin Ice back at Crash Site Bravo, when Sarge, Donut and Wash are captured by the FAC. Locus reminds Wash he gave them a choice to surrender and they instead chose to fight, which he admires. Wash goes unconscious from his injuries and suffers flashbacks from his time as a Recovery agent, such as being given a mission to find and kill South in Reconstruction and shooting Donut and Lopez in Recreation. At a FAC base, Sarge, Donut and Wash are handcuffed with Sarge calling the Feds dirt-bags. A high-ranking officer arrives and instead of questioning them, he apologizes and orders a guard to un-cuff them and return their weapons, which confuses Sarge, Donut and Wash. Wash, angry about the conflict he and the others went through, holds the officer at gunpoint but the officer faints.

The guys head outside still confused about the situation. The officer, introducing himself as General Donald Doyle, questions the guys on how much they really know about the New Republic. Doyle gives more backstory on Chorus' history, revealing that the New Republic aren't looking to free Chorus, but to dominate it. Doyle admits that times have been hard on Chorus, but despite being cut off from the UNSC the FAC were able to keep the peace, until the New Republic emerged with bombings and riots which Doyle considers not acts of freedom but acts of terrorism. Doyle then says that he ordered Locus and his men to confirm the location of the Reds and Blues and bring them to him as soon as possible, but admits that he should have been more specific on how Locus should have completed the mission. Doyle admits to the guys that he has very little military training and was actually a personal secretary to a brigadier general, but the FAC's previous military leaders either left before the civil war began or have died during the civil war, leaving him in charge of the FAC. Doyle tells the guys that escaping Chorus is impossible now, but promises them that if they help the FAC defeat the "terrorists" and rescue the other Reds and Blues, they'll be free to leave Chorus. The guys, feeling uneasy about the situation, agree to join the FAC.

Continuing from Thin Ice, the now reunited Reds and Blues discuss about the New Republic and the FAC, seeing as both sides are in dire situations and are not guilt-free of their actions during the civil war. Wash suggests that if they can get Doyle and Kimball to meet and come to an understanding, then the civil war will end and they can get to leave Chorus and go home. Simmons points out to the guys that the FAC base's alarm isn't sounding off anymore. When the Reds and Blues head outside, a battle apparently had taken place but no soldiers are in sight. A FAC soldier radios through a warthog that he and the others are under attack by unknown enemy contacts. Sarge, Donut and Lopez take a rocket warthog to establish a perimeter. A FAC soldier runs to Sarge and informs him that the New Republic isn't attacking, but he is disintegrated before he could reveal who is. The FAC soldiers are all massacred, though Doctor Grey is still alive. After escaping an exploding warthog, the Reds and Blues are held at gunpoint by Locus and his squad, who are revealed to have killed the FAC soldiers. Felix suddenly arrives and saves Wash from Locus' sniper shot.

After Doctor Grey tends to Carolina's leg wound, she and Church tell the Reds and Blues that they've picked up a transmission between mercenaries selling Project Freelancer equipment, they left to investigate (This explains their no-show during Season 11). Church and Carolina reveal that Control's mercenaries have obtained Project Freelancer weapons and equipment and are mass-producing them and improving them to the point where some of the equipment don't need A.I. assistance. Simmons points out the UNSC confiscated the equipment after Project Freelancer was defeated, but Carolina reveals that the equipment was put on the Reds and Blues' ship. She also says the ship conveniently crash-landed on a war-torn planet in need of war supplies, implying that Control had the mercenaries sabotage the ship to crash on Chorus (A flashback shows Simmons updating the ship's computer that may have caused the crash, but he and the other Reds and Blues are not responsible). Tucker reminds the group that they need to warn the FAC and New Republic about the mercenaries' true plans. With Locus, Felix and the mercenaries infiltrating both the FAC and New Republic and watching Doyle and Kimball closely, Carolina says that they can't trust anyone and can't warn the respective sides yet, as they need more information on the mercenaries. Church and Carolina finish by stating that the mercenaries have plans for different scenarios, and that regardless of what it is, they're going to finish what they've started.

At the New Republic HQ, Felix tries to comfort Kimball over the Reds and Blue's "death". Felix attempts to convince Kimball to lead the Rebels into a final confrontation with the FAC at the planet capital Armonia where they are holding a rally for a final push. Using the Reds and Blue's sacrifice as inspiration for the Rebels, Kimball eventually agrees with Felix and begins making preparations.

At concurrent times at their respective headquarters, Doyle and Kimball give the FAC and New Republic respectively speeches about the impending final conflict for Chorus. At Armonia, Locus informs Doyle that the New Republic has sent Felix out on a mission, and Locus is going to find him, causing Doyle to panic as he wants Locus to stay. Locus assures Doyle that after he deals with Felix, he'll come back to "take care" of Doyle.

Still in radio contact with the Reds and Blues, Locus and Felix, stationed at the radio jammer the Reds and Blues have coordinates to, informs them that the FAC and New Republic are converging at Armonia, where the ensuing battle will leave no survivors. Believing the Reds and Blues have failed in saving Chorus, Locus and Felix reveal that Control is willing to give the Reds and Blues a chance to save themselves with a deal: if they return to Crash Site Bravo, there will be a ship waiting there that will take the Reds and Blues off Chorus and send them home. The Reds and Blues are not convinced, but Locus has them see a transport he mentioned beforehand leaving the fuel station. Locus and Felix inform the Reds and Blues that if they decide to leave there is one condition: they are to never tell anyone what happened on Chorus, as Control will know if they say anything. Before ending radio contact, Locus informs the Reds and Blues that they have an hour to accept the deal, and if they refuse, the mercenaries will find and kill them.

Meanwhile, the New Republic infiltrates Armonia as Palomo, Smith, Bitters and Jensen lead a group of rebels into the city. Unbeknownst to them are cloaked mercenaries watching them, who are ordered to ensure that no one leaves the city alive.

Back at the abandoned gas station, the Reds and Blues contemplate the deal from Control and the choices they have. Church tells the Reds and Blues that they all have three options:

Option A: The Reds and Blues go to a remote location and stay low for a while until they can find enough information on Control and the mercenaries to bring them down. However, they will not be able to prevent the FAC and the New Republic from destroying each other.

Option B: Based on if Locus and Felix are telling the truth, they all accept the deal and return to Crash Site Bravo and take the transport home. If anyone asks, they stole the transport and escaped Chorus before the FAC and New Republic destroyed each other.

Option C: The Reds and Blues teleport to the radio jammer, fight off the mercenaries and the defenses, shut down the jammer, and then reveal to the FAC and New Republic the mercenaries' true plans. But, the mercenaries defending the jammer are equipped with stolen Project Freelancer equipment and armed with advanced alien weapons, meaning that most of the Reds and Blues won't survive. Even if they do somehow manage to shut down the jammer in time, they would have to convince the FAC and New Republic that the "dead" people are alive and telling the truth.

Despite the options, Wash has a fourth option: he, Church and Carolina do Option A while the Reds and Blues do Option B. The Reds and Blues are reluctant to leave Chorus behind, but Doctor Grey reminds them that the civil war is not their responsibility as they already accomplished their goals and suggests they take the opportunity to leave.

At the radio jammer, Locus radios to a team at Crash Site Bravo if the Reds and Blues have arrived as the one-hour deadline is near. The team reports that the Reds and Blues haven't arrived. Felix, noticing something odd, asks Locus how many mercenaries are with them, with Locus replying four while the rest are at Armonia watching the FAC and New Republic. Felix exposes the fifth "mercenary" who is Carolina in disguise. Wash tries to get the jump on Felix, but he gets jumped on by Locus instead. Holding Wash and Carolina captive, Locus and Felix have the mercenaries look for the Reds and Blues when Caboose accidentally fires his assault rifle. Felix asks Wash and Carolina what they and the Reds and Blues would have been able to do here. Wash replies not much, and tells Locus and Felix that they forgot to take in account a genius (Doctor Grey) and a dog (Freckles). As he says this, two mercenaries search a cave but are caught off guard when Caboose's assault rifle, controlled by Freckles, kills one of the mercenaries and the fight between the mercenaries and the Reds and Blues begin. The Reds and Blues manage to take out the remaining mercenaries while Wash and Carolina fight Locus and Felix. Locus knocks Carolina out and then takes on Wash while Felix then takes on Tucker.

Meanwhile back in Armonia, Kimball and Doyle stare each other down, accusing each other of killing the Reds and Blues in cold blood. To instigate the battle, a mercenary uses a sniper rifle to kill one of the Rebels in Kimball's squad, beginning the battle for Chorus between the FAC and the New Republic.

Back at the radio jammer, Wash searches for a cloaked Locus, who of which questions Wash's reasons for fighting and states that he was once a real soldier. Wash on the other hand states that he was a different person then and questions why Locus differentiates a soldier and a human being. Locus explains that a soldier does not question his orders and simply does what is expected of him, but Wash describes Locus as a coward for hiding behind his "soldier" ideology instead of owning up to his past actions. This results in Locus tackling Wash.

Meanwhile, Tucker faces off with Felix. Felix reveals that he was able to convince Kimball and the New Republic that the Reds and Blues died heroically and launch an attack on Armonia, which he says he gave a performance of lifetime. Felix then begins a monologue on how he, Locus and the mercenaries had been playing the people of Chorus for years to further their goals. Felix then realizes that the Reds and Caboose are trying to jump him and uses a sticky detonator to incapacitate them, and stabs Tucker in the stomach. Felix continues his monologue to Tucker by saying that the only reason the Reds and Blues were alive up to this point was so that they can be used to speed up the Chorus Civil War, as Control believes that the idiocy and incompetence of the Reds and Blues will rack up more deaths for the armies and would later then have the Reds and Blues killed. Felix ends by saying that if he is stronger and faster than anyone then he has the right to kill them.

Tucker, wounded, is able to reveal Church to Felix who becomes confused. Tucker reminds Felix that as an A.I., Church can help him run his equipment, more specifically his helmet cam. At this point it's revealed that Tucker had been recording Felix this whole time. In response, the Reds, Caboose, Doctor Grey and Carolina recover and disable the radio jammer. Church sends the recorded video to Armonia, where Kimball, Doyle, the FAC and the New Republic watch the video of Felix's monologue exposing the mercenaries' involvement in the Chorus Civil War.

At the New Republic HQ, Palomo dramatically tells his comrades about how he looked after Tucker while he was hurt, after the Feds and Rebels rescued the Reds and Blues from the radio jammer station. Tucker, having healed from his wounds, interrupts Palomo and explains what really happened. Following this, Tucker, Simmons, Caboose, and Grif thank Jensen, Palomo, Bitters, and Smith for rescuing them, though Grif explains that they never intended to be rescued and saved them strictly for selfish reasons. In response, the recruits thank the four captains as well. Meanwhile, Kimball and Doyle, after agreeing to a truce, discuss moving the New Republic to Armonia, though Doyle is reluctant. The two then thank Washington, Sarge, Donut, and Lopez for their help, but Wash tells them to thank Tucker, as he was the one who formulated the entire plan. When Doyle asks the four if he can do anything for them, Sarge requests for a rank higher than Captain. In accordance to his request, Doyle promotes Sarge to Colonel, with the latter gloating it to Grif. Near the cavern lake, Church finally manages to decrypt the crashed ship's manifest, with help from Delta, and proceeds to process it. After he finishes, he reveals to Carolina that Charon Industries, a large corporation specializing in cryogenics, technology, and weaponry, owned many of the equipment on the ship. He then explains that Project Freelancer stole certain pieces of equipment from Charon’s private security force, mainly known to the Freelancers as the Resistance (Also known as the Insurrection), and the company and UNSC have been working closely together. Suddenly, Church soon demands to speak to Dr. Grey, in order to gain all known radio frequencies used by the mercenaries that the crew captured.

Meanwhile, Control scolds Locus and Felix for their failure and decides that, due to their operation being in jeopardy, they will go to war against the Reds, Blues and the Chorus armies. Suddenly, the Reds and Blues interrupt their transmission and acknowledge Control’s true identity: Malcom Hargrove, CEO of Charon Industries and the Chairman of the UNSC Oversight Subcommittee. The Reds and Blues then confidently inform the Chairman and the mercenaries that they, the FAC, and the New Republic will join forces and accept his declaration of war, finishing that they are not going anywhere.