Reds and Blues

"Maybe you're all here because this is the only place you fit in. Maybe you're here because you don't have anywhere else to go. Maybe you're all here, because deep down, you want to be here. The reason doesn't matter. What matters is that you're here!"

- Sarge in Rally Cap

The Blood Gulch Crew, commonly referred to as the Reds and Blues, is the self-made faction consisting mainly of the Red and Blue Teams originally stationed in Blood Gulch, along with individuals that have joined them both later on. Despite an intense rivalry and mutual dislike between the members of both groups at the start of the series, they have teamed up countless times to defeat enemies that would normally be out of their league. Because of their actions, many see the Blood Gulch Crew as some of the greatest soldiers and heroes in the galaxy.

Overview
During the Blood Gulch Chronicles, the two teams generally disliked each other, but for no legitimate reason. However, due to an ever emerging series of events in their lives, the two teams often found themselves forced to cooperate for a greater purpose, bigger than their petty squabbling. Over time, other characters outside of Blood Gulch, including former enemies, have joined them. Despite their bickering, Sarge states that the reason the group continue to stay together is possibly because it's the only "place" where they feel accepted for who they are.

Despite their aggressiveness and general dislike for one another at times, the Blood Gulch Crew seem to genuinely care about one another and no longer view themselves as enemies, but friends – and more importantly – as a single squad. Their actions soon became widespread knowledge during the events of Season 11, as the mercenary known as Felix tells the Reds and Blues that they are considered the galaxy’s greatest soldiers for taking down Project Freelancer. This also causes Locus to refer to them as the ‘real deal', but with the reveal in Cloak and Dagger any truth to their statements is dubious to say the least.

Origins
Although members of the group appeared in the first episode, the Blood Gulch Crew wasn't formed until K.I.T. B.F.F., when the Blue Team go to exchange Donut and Lopez for two robots from the Red Team. However, they are attacked by Doc, possessed by Omega, who escapes with a kidnapped Lopez through a Teleporter. Since both teams needed both Doc and Lopez for their own specific reasons, the two teams agree to work together to stop Omega. Although they are separated from each other across the galaxy when they first attempt to pursue the A.I., Simmons reunites the group using the Teleporter Nexus, but Sheila is left behind at Blood Gulch.

The acting leaders of the Blood Gulch Crew at this time were Simmons, leading the group against Omega at Sidewinder and defeats him by using the Grunts, and Tex, leading the group after they were sent "into the future" to attack O'Malley at Zanzibar. Although they successfully take Zanzibar and reunite with Church after his time travel experience, Doc/O'Malley escape with Lopez and have him construct the second Robot Army to attack the group. However, the Reds leave during the assault to investigate a distress signal while an unknown Alien appears and destroys all of O’Malley’s forces, temporally disbanding the faction.

Omega's Final Assault
During their time apart, the Reds re-discover Blood Gulch while the Blues join the Alien on a quest before returning to Blood Gulch. Before rejoining the others, Tex obtains the aid of York and Delta to help her confront Wyoming, who escapes after he reveals Omega is already back at Blood Gulch, as the Blues contacted Doc/O'Malley to treat an ill Tucker. After Tucker gives birth to an alien baby named Junior, O'Malley leaves Doc and forms a plan with Wyoming, Gary, a Green Alien, and a resurrected Flowers to use the alien prophecy to possess Junior to take control of his alien race. However, although the teams are separated by Vic Jr., who also joined Omega, they eventually all join together before their final battle with O'Malley.

The acting leaders of the Blood Gulch Crew at this time were Church and Sarge. While in the Underground Caves, Simmons finds Vic Jr., causing the latter to flee in fear, and the Reds find Andy (who previously betrayed the Blues to join with Omega), who offers to help them when the time comes while the Blues are confronted by Wyoming and Gamma. Near the battle's conclusion, the group is able to capture Gamma while Flowers and Wyoming (and his clones) are killed, but Wyoming is able to convince Tex to rejoin Omega before dying by stating it will end the Great War.

With Omega back with her, Tex leaves with Gamma, the Green Alien, and Junior on Sheila, now contained within a Pelican that Sister arrived in, and they fly it to the alien's home planet. However, the Reds are able to stop Omega's plan from succeeding by having Andy detonate on the ship as it takes flight. Afterwards, the Reds and Blues return to their bases and mourn for those they believed died. Due to the events at Blood Gulch, Project Freelancer soon relocates the Red and Blue simulation troopers to different bases in order to keep the location of the Alpha secret once more, separating the group from each other once again.

Project Freelancer Destruction
Over a year passes, during which the Meta begins to kill many individuals to claim armor enhancements and A.I., including Omega, Gamma, and Tex after her Pelican crashes at Valhalla. Due to the Meta's increasing threat and chance the faction's crimes will be discovered, Project Freelancer send Agent Washington to pursue the Meta, with the help of "specialists" who have dealt with the rouge A.I. Washington obtains the aid of Caboose and Church, who help him rescue Delta and kill South Dakota for her previous betrayal. However Sarge, Simmons, and Grif are manipulated by the Meta to attack Wash's group, allowing the Meta to take Delta and restore his power. Realizing what they've done, Wash has the Reds join them, leading to the Blood Gulch Crew to be reformed once again.

The acting leader at this time was Washington, while Church acted as second-in-command. Due to a message left by Delta in Caboose's Mind for Church, Washington realizes they must break into Freelancer Command. After they do so, Wash reveals that when Delta said "Memory is the key," he was referring to Epsilon, Wash's A.I., that revealed Project Freelancer's crimes, including torturing the Alpha A.I. to fragment. The group also discover that Church is the Alpha after the Reds erase all Blue Team files. However, the Meta also breaks into Command and attacks the compound, so Washington sends the Reds and Blues to escape with Epsilon, while he travels to the center of the base to physically shutdown Project Freelancer with an EMP.

Despite the Director's, Counselor's, and the Meta's attempts, Church appears and distracts the Meta long enough to allow Wash to activate the base's EMP, which destroyed all technological equipment, including Church, Tex, and the fragmented A.I., in the area. Fortunately, the Reds and Caboose escape with Epsilon intact. They are awarded the Valhalla bases from the UNSC for helping bring Project Freelancer to justice, but Caboose keeps Epsilon to try to make a new best friend. All notable members of Project Freelancer then were presumably arrested, including Washington and the Meta.

Caboose's Mission
Three months later, the Reds and Caboose are reunited with Lopez and Donut, the latter of which informs them of Tucker's distress message. After Caboose uses the Red Team's Hologram Chamber to communicate with Epsilon-Delta, he's convinced to go to the desert to rescue Tucker and hopefully find a power source that could aid in resurrecting Epsilon. Upon hearing this, Sarge and Grif decide to go with him to ensure the Blues be added back into Command's database, while Simmons stays with Lopez and Donut at Valhalla as acting leader.

However, the desert team encounter C.T. and his "dig team", who later attempt to kill them before Tucker comes to their rescues. Once the group is inside the temple, Caboose discovers a monitor which he installs Epsilon into, resurrecting Epsilon before he takes command of the desert team. After C.T.'s group break into the temple to face the desert team, the aliens of his group begin to worship Epsilon and betray the human party when Epsilon is harmed by them. Eventually, the desert team and aliens kill C.T. and his men after a tense vehicle chase.

During this time, the Meta arrives at Valhalla and fights the remaining Reds. Simmons soon decides they must escape Valhalla to survive, but is confronted by Washington, who's now working with the Meta and demands Epsilon from them. Confused, the Reds don't answer; thus, Wash shoots Lopez and Donut, presumably killing them, before he and the Meta take Simmons prisoner. It's later revealed the Chairman promised Washington his freedom if he can return the Epsilon A.I. to the UNSC.

Learning the Truth
Simmons is then forced to call a medical officer to check the Meta, resulting in Doc arriving and being taken prisoner as well. At the desert, Epsilon suddenly has a vision (seemingly of Valhalla) and Sarge, fearing what it could mean, decides to contact Simmons. Wash forces Simmons to answer, but the latter sends a secret message informing his friends of what happened. So Sarge, Grif, and Epsilon go to Valhalla to rescue them, but are forced to leave Doc behind during their escape. After returning to the desert and speaking to Epsilon-Delta again, the remaining Reds and Blues follow Epsilon to a Freelancer Offsite Storage Facility.

At the facility, Epsilon uses a robot body to 'resurrect' Tex, who attacks the Blood Gulch Crew at first, but they eventually convince her to stop and help them. When they search the facility, Epsilon discovers audio files of the Director revealing Tex's origins before he and Tex leave for Sidewinder. During this time, Doc is forced to reveal all he knows to Wash and the Meta before the three head to the desert, where they later kill the remaining aliens and find the Epsilon Unit. The pursuit team soon modifies the unit to capture Epsilon and prepare to leave to track the A.I.

Back at the facility, the group discover the events at Blood Gulch was all a simulation test and they're low scoring soldiers, depressing Sarge. Meanwhile at Sidewinder, Epsilon-Tex shoots Epsilon to activate his recovery beacon, attracting the pursuit team to their location. Caboose learns of Epsilon's injury and begs for the others to come help. Although reluctant at first, Sarge gives a passionate speech about each character's positive traits and states they are the only ones who can stop what's left of the Freelancers from getting away with their crimes, convincing everyone to go by using a Pelican at the facility. When the pursuit team arrives at Sidewinder, Wash and the Meta begin to fight Epsilon-Tex before the Meta eventually captures her with the capture unit.

Now having an A.I., the Meta betrays the group and uses Tex to operate his armor enhancements, but before he can kill Washington, the Reds and Blues arrive in time and crash land on the surface. As the teams regroup, they join forces with Wash to stop the Meta. During the intense battle, the Reds attach the Warthog's cable to the Meta's chest and remove the Epsilon unit from him before pushing the vehicle off the cliff, taking the Meta as well and finally killing him. However, the Epsilon unit is damaged and shuts down after Epsilon enters it to find Tex, trapping him inside. Epsilon realizes that he needs to be patient to find Tex and be happy, reliving the events of the Blood Gulch Chronicles with memories of the Reds and Blues inside the memory unit. After Doc treats Wash's injuries, the teams decide to fake his death and have him join the Blue Team so he can avoid life imprisonment before they return home.

Finding the Director
After the memory unit was confiscated the Reds and Blues meet Carolina, who asks for their help to rescue Epsilon and later find the Director, which they accept. Eventually, they find the memory unit at the UNSC Archives and remove Epsilon from it, just after the latter lets go of the past and Tex to finally be at peace. After explaining Carolina's motives to Epsilon, the Blood Gulch Crew leave the area and search for clues on how to find the Director. Carolina first takes the group to Zanzibar and soon after the Ancient Alien Temples, in search for C.T.

While at the desert the Reds and Blues become suspicious of Carolina and implant Epsilon into her mongoose in order to find out her motives. When Carolina leaves to York's grave site, after finding nothing from C.T.'s armor, she discovers Epsilon in her mongoose and the latter shows her a series of York's archived video logs, in order to comfort her. Because of this, the two grow more trusting towards each other and take the group back to Valhalla. While there, the Reds reunite with Donut, who explains that his armor underwent armor lock after he was shot and once he was released, Doc helped him survive.

Redemption
Meanwhile, after finding only a dog tag recovered by Wash, Carolina decides to leave Valhalla, but Epsilon attempts to reason with her. After Epsilon tells Carolina that she must let go of her jealousy towards Tex the two discover data on the dog tags, owned by C.T. Epsilon enters the data and soon exits, having remembered "everything". Thus, everyone gathers in the Hologram Chamber where Carolina and Epsilon reveal the Director's location and their plan to kill him. However, the teams, including Wash who has grown close to the others, refuse to help them with their vendetta, knowing that if they leave Valhalla to kill him, things will only get worse. Enraged, Epsilon blames them for all his problems. Hurt, the Reds and Blues leave in response, nearly destroying the group's relationship.

After Carolina and Epsilon leave, the two teams try to continue their daily shenanigans, but soon argue over the Meta's Brute Shot. However, Doc stops them and tells them how much they've changed and in the end, everyone got what they wanted. Moved by this, and realizing they've always won by staying together, the group decide to go help Epsilon and Carolina after stealing the UNSC Police's Hornets to get to the Director's location quicker. At the facility, Carolina and Epsilon discover that the Director has created hundreds of Tex drones in his attempt to resurrect Allison. Although the drones overwhelm Carolina, despite Epsilon's aid, the Reds and Blues arrive in time to save her and they reconcile their relationship before destroying the remaining Tex drones together.

Carolina and Epsilon then confront the Director, but upon seeing he's already suffering, they come in terms with their past, sparing the Director and leave the facility with the others. During this, the Director orders F.I.L.S.S. to shut off all the facility's systems and erase all files, before presumably committing suicide. Later, the UNSC pardon the Blood Gulch Crew's crimes and honor them as heroes due to their actions of bringing Project Freelancer to justice, as well as stopping several other major threats. As a result, the teams become known as some of the greatest military soldiers in the galaxy and their exploits become common knowledge across the galaxy.

Crash Landing on Chorus
After a certain amount of time, the Blood Gulch Crew are given passage by the UNSC aboard one of their shuttles to return back home to Blood Gulch. However, due to a series of events happening on board the ship (partially caused by the group, and later revealed to be the actions of an unknown group of Space Pirates), the shuttle crash lands on a forgotten planet in the middle of nowhere and only the Blood Gulch Crew survive. Carolina and Epsilon immediately depart away from the others to track down defunct Project Freelancer gear, while the rest of the group separate into their former Red and Blue teams out of habit and create shelters out of the fallen ship's debris.

Using their self-made communication tower, they eventually are able to contact Donut (who decided to stay at Valhalla with Doc) to come "rescue" them, bringing Doc and a reactivated Lopez. However, they also unknowingly alert the New Republic and Federal Army of Chorus of their presence. Both sides planned to use their skills to help their respective factions win the Civil War that the planet was undergoing, assuming that the Reds and Blues were the greatest military soldiers in the galaxy. Locus, a federal mercenary, soon arrives at their location and attacks them to test their skills, but Felix, a rebel mercenary, saves them and tells them of their situation.

Due to Locus' hostile actions, the Reds and Blues work with Felix to fortify the canyon for the Federal Army's next attack. Using all their supplies from the ship, including a minefield, Teleportation Cubes, and a war robot that Caboose previously fixed named Freckles, a tense firefight occurs with them against the Federal Army. In the battle's conclusion, Simmons, Grif, Tucker, and Caboose are forced to leave the canyon with Felix's backup, while the other Blood Gulch Crew members (except Doc) are captured by the 'Feds'. The four are then brought to the rebel's headquarters, where Vanessa Kimball, the leader of the New Republic, convinces them to join the New Republic in order to save their friends and end the Civil War on Chorus.

Taking Command
Weeks later, Tucker, Simmons, Grif, and Caboose have each been promoted to Captain and given their own squad to command by Kimball. During a mission at F.A.C. Outpost 22, Tucker is able to obtain information of the location of the captured Blood Gulch Crew members (at the cost of two of his soldiers' lives). Despite the risks, Kimball gives the captains five days to assemble a new squad for a potential rescue mission, comprised of the best of their respective platoons. Thus, the four choose Jensen (Simmons' lieutenant), Bitters (Grif's lieutenant), Smith (Caboose's lieutenant), and Palomo (Tucker's sole surviving recruit) for the rescue mission with Tucker being voted to lead the team, yet Felix refuses to aid them.

Simmons and Jensen soon create Helmet Cameras for the rescue team in order to learn from their recorded training and attempt to capture Felix in order to prove they can succeed in the rescue mission. Despite their steady improvements, the group is laughed at by the rest of the rebels as Felix continuously humiliates them. After Kimball speaks to Tucker about his team, herself, and the history behind Felix and Locus' and their roles in the civil war, Tucker convinces the other captains that they will attempt the rescue mission on their own, as they don't want to risk the lives of their recruits. Taking two warthogs, the Blood Gulch Crew travel to and break into F.A.C. Outpost 37 by using Tucker's sword to melt an opening and setting off the alarms to distract the federal soldiers. However, they unexpectedly run into Washington, Sarge, Donut, and Lopez, who joined the Federal Army (who are, in fact not a tyranny and just as desperate as the rebels) to rescue the captains.

When the reunited Reds and Blues come up with a plan to have the rebels and feds form a truce, the base is attacked by Locus, a group of mercenaries, and Felix who betrays the group. After forcing the group to stand down, Felix reveals that he and Locus used them as a means to cause further conflict in the Chorus Civil War, all due to their superior wanting the planet free of its inhabitants. Fortunately, Carolina emerges from hiding, disguised as a mercenary, and uses a Teleportation Cube to escape with the group and Dr. Grey, a Federal Army doctor who treated Wash and survived the outpost's massacre.

Fighting the Space Pirates
Once at the Forest Base, Carolina and Epsilon explain to the Blood Gulch Crew when they left weeks ago to investigate stolen Freelancer equipment, they discovered that their ship was purposely crashed on Chorus by the Space Pirates, who are mass-producing advanced versions of the ship's Freelancer equipment and alien technology. Upon learning the pirates planned to kill Chorus' inhabitants as well as the Reds and Blues, the two returned to rescue them. The Blood Gulch Crew then decide to study Grif's Suppressor, in order to learn more about the weapons the pirates are using. Upon discovering the Suppressor's connection to the teleportation grenades, the group split up and search for the ship's manifest at crash sites Bravo and Alpha, to find out who supplied the grenades.

While the Reds manage to attain the manifest, they quickly realize that it's locked due to their previous accessing of it. The Blues, on the other hand, were more unsuccessful, and accidentally bring back a prisoner with them after the space pirates attacked them. Upon interrogating the prisoner, the crew learn that there are radio jammers scattered throughout the planet that are preventing contact between the two armies, but their captive is quickly assassinated by a fellow space pirate when more of their forces diverge on the Blood Gulch Crew's location, forcing them to retreat to a Desert Refueling Station.

To Be Continued...

Primary Locations

 * Blood Gulch (First outpost; abandoned)
 * Outpost 1-A (Abandoned; Blue Team)
 * Outpost 1-B (Abandoned; Red Team)
 * Valhalla (Second outpost; abandoned)
 * Outpost 17-A (Abandoned; Blue Team)
 * Outpost 17-B (Abandoned; Red Team)
 * Chorus (Current outpost)
 * Crash Site Bravo (Abandoned; Red Team and Blue Team with Doc)
 * New Republic Headquarters (Abandoned; Tucker, Simmons, Grif, and Caboose with New Republic)
 * F.A.C. Outpost 37 (Abandoned; Washington, Sarge, Donut, and Lopez with Federal Army)
 * Forest Base (Abandoned; Red Team and Blue Team with Carolina and Emily Grey)
 * Armonia (Abandoned; Red Team and Blue Team with Doc, Carolina, New Republic, and Federal Army of Chorus)

Most Known
The Blood Gulch Crew's most known members consist of characters who have stayed with the faction for a long period of time and are considered the main protagonists of the series.

Other Members
While several other characters have joined the Blood Gulch Crew, some members are less known, either due to them being away from the group for a lengthy period of time, joining the group only recently, or having died early on.

Allies
Although not official members of the Blood Gulch Crew, some characters in the series have aided one or several members of the group.

Trivia

 * The name ‘Blood Gulch Crew’ comes from the original setting of the series – and where most of the main characters all met – Blood Gulch.
 * The Blood Gulch Crew is the most diverse team in the RvB universe, consisting of nearly every species introduced: humans, cyborgs, robots, A.I., and Sangheili aliens.
 * The faction has had eight different leaders to date: Simmons, Tex, Church, Sarge, Washington, Epsilon, Carolina, and Tucker.
 * If including Epsilon-doubles, the Blood Gulch Crew has the highest (known) member count out of all the RvB factions, with a total of twenty-three, coming in front of Charon Industries' twenty-one and Project Freelancer's nineteen.
 * Almost all protagonists of the series have a relation with the Blood Gulch Crew, as they're either members or allies of the group. The only exception is North Dakota, who never meets a single member of the group after it's formed.
 * An Epsilon-double of the Blood Gulch Crew is formed in MIA, where the Epsilon doubles of Sarge, Simmons, Church, Tucker, and Caboose joined forces to find Grif in Episode 4.
 * In Reckless, Sarge states the reason they've always won is because they trust and protect each other.
 * Despite the fact that Doc is considered a neutral character, he was still counted as a “Red and Blue” by Felix during his talk with the teams in FAQ.
 * The Blood Gulch Crew's accomplishments include traveling great distances, retrieving ancient artifacts, bringing corrupt men to justice, and besting the most dangerous war criminals the galaxy has ever known, according to Kimball in Lost But Not Forgotten.
 * Because of their past experiences with Freelancers, the Reds and Blues have grown a hatred towards them, evident when the group targeted Felix after the latter acknowledged that he was a freelancer (mercenary) in FAQ, and when Grif blamed Project Freelancer to be behind the space pirates' involvement in the Chorus civil war in The Reunion.