Wrote this because I couldn't miss the chance to write something after tonight's episode.

Groggily, he forced himself up, hearing Tucker shouting at him from far away. Something about blocking the cave. An escape route. They needed to escape.

As the world around him began to come into focus, he found himself focusing on the sound of gunfire that was all around him, and ignoring the pain coursing through his veins. He looked to where Tucker's voice had been, and found him and Felix waiting for him. The ex-Freelancer turned his attention to everything around him, watching a rebel soldier get hit. Wash thought he saw something red just past the fallen soldier, but Wash wasn't too sure, and there was no time to question it. He figured the rest of the group was at the cave, with Donut up in Blue Base and Doc the only one unaccounted for; but like with Sarge, Wash didn't have time to focus on that. Locus' men were advancing, and if Wash didn't do something soon, Wash's men would be hurt badly or killed. Tucker was waiting for him to escape, but there was no time; Locus would advance on them before he could even make it to safety.

He recalled his discussion with Carolina, when she had completely lost her mind and attempted to shoot Tucker. He had told her he would do everything within his power to protect the Reds and Blues. They had taken him in when they should have otherwise handed him over; it was from then he had sworn to protect them as repayment, but it turned into him wanting to protect them because he wanted to - because they were his friends. The team would need something to seal off the cave, to protect them. Remembering that Freckles was still with him, still defending Blue base, his mind provided him the solution. With determination and the need to protect, Wash ordered Freckles to shake. The ground shake that resulted from the command was enough to cause a rockslide; he heard Tucker's shout of protest.

Seeing the results of his work, he released a sigh of relief. Most of his friends would be safe; that was enough for him. He's survived worse than a civil war. He'd check to see if the armor he saw was Sarge, wake up him and Donut, fix Freckles, and-

His thoughts were stopped short when he was hit from behind, knocking him out almost instantly. He knew it was Locus; it couldn't have been anyone else. But that didn't hinder his thoughts more than it made him feel proud of himself; at least he would be the one to face Locus and not his teammates.