Red vs Blue: Reconstruction

Trailer
The trailer (alternating from a third person point of view to a helmet cam of one of the soldiers) shows two visible soldiers, both from Project Freelancer, the same project that Tex was in. The red and blue soldiers are identified as being from the Recovery program, from the mini series Recovery One and are designated Recovery Nine and Recovery Six, respectively. There is a voice-over for the trailer, as the action shown is silent. It is of what sounds like a board member, representative, head researcher or chairman of the Freelancer project, apparently giving a report on the findings of the two soldiers, and mentioning that despite what "others" stated, they had no warning of the coming incident. The trailer takes place at Outpost 17-B "Valhalla", and the recovery agents are there to investigate an incident at the outpost.

The two agents find both Blue and Red soldiers dead and the bases barricaded. On one of the walls someone wrote: "we are the Meta". They then found a crashed ship and were killed shortly after by an unknown, camouflaged figure wearing white EVA armor. This is the mystery person that killed freelancers and took their AIs and armor abilities as seen in Recovery One.

Red vs Blue Civil War Speculations
It is interesting to note that the two soldiers, both gray with ODST helmets, are marked with both Blue and Red details. Whether this fits into the fact the Vic in the original Chronicles seemed to be relaying orders to command is unknown. It may indicate that the blue and red teams were, in fact, working together at one time. However, it may just be a way of differentiating between the two because it is revealed in Chapter 3 by Lt. Miller that the two sides are still at war. In addition, the agents are apparently from Project Freelancer and therefore take neither side. Another possibility is that Project Freelancer is the governing body of both Red and Blue team, as shown in the original Blood Gulch Chronicles, where Vic served as the middle-man for both Blue and Red command, evident that the civil war between the two is just a cover-up and to keep the teams occupied. This could be because every base mentioned so far in the Red vs Blue franchise is called an "Outpost", possibly guarding a perimeter of some sort. Another support of this theory is that in RvB: Reconstruction Episode 4, Agent Washington tell Church that "I know you're all wrapped up in your "Red vs Blue" battles, but this is important. Real military operations, not your fake simulation stuff.", implying that the "Civil War" is merely a simulation.



Greek Letters
In the end "we are the meta" switches to Greek letters, which in chronological order (different sized letters due to the font changing from caps lock to not all caps) says: This is likely an anagram, used with Greek letters that resemble Latin ones, but this has yet to be confirmed.
 * EAOFaete
 * F e aet N E OA
 * EiNS FU Y a
 * and finally, before it changes to Reconstruction, it says FECONSTFUCTION

They then change into the word: Reconstruction

Plot
After all contact was lost with both Red and Blue forces in Valhalla, two Recovery agents are dispatched to gather information. They discover both teams barricaded inside their own bases, all killed. A cloaked being, later confirmed to be the creature from Red vs Blue: Recovery One (called The Meta), attacks the pair of agents and kills them. Later, a whole army of agents are sent to Valhalla, but the creature doesn't attack again. The large recovery team finds one remaining Red soldier, Walter. Through Walter's recount of the situation, Agent Washington and an apparent Field Director deduce the culprit to be O'Malley. Washington is sent for help on combat against O'Malley with the only people who have had experience, the Red and Blue forces of Blood Gulch.

Chapter One
It opens with a scene of a large amount of activity at Valhalla Outpost 17-B. Captain Rivas, apparently the CO of the operation is called by another agent or private announcing that they have found a survivor, Private Walter Henderson. The next is about Private Walter Henderson, who was called by one of the commanding officers of the Recovery program. He explains that when the ship crashed, the Blues captured it, and when they left, the reds only found some screwed up wires. Then there was an infection amongst the blues. Some trapped the others inside their base, and then destroyed the com towers of both Blue and Red teams. It became quiet and so the reds decided to send a squad out and discovered all blues were dead. The blues had tore off their helmet radios, though the reds believed it was to build something, Henderson knew they were breaking them. He also notices another body inside blue base. She wasn't blue, but her armor resembled that of another man who was witnessing the interview with Henderson and the boss at the time. The boss tells Henderson to ignore the man, and go on with the story. He continues by telling about how the reds took the headsets back to base and brought them online, the infection started for the red team. Soldiers were starting to act crazy and disobey orders. A man, thought by the reds to be help and was later revealed to be known as "Meta" first searched all the body's at blue base, then searched the infected body's at red base. In the end, he tried to kill everyone, succeeding in doing so to all but Henderson. Private Henderson is dismissed and then the boss talks to the other man in the room who turns out to be agent Washington. Apparently he had survived the encounter by a healing unit he took from York's armor and confirmed the mystery person is the same as he fought. Only it is getting stronger. It is next revealed that the A.I. Omega, A.K.A. O'Malley, has joined the Meta. Agent Washington is next sent to Coagulation outpost Alpha where he is to contact some soldiers who have had some experience with Omega.

Chapter Two
Agent Washington arrives at Blood Gulch Outpost Alpha (Blue base) which is seemingly deserted. Just as he contacts command, a female voice is heard shouting and cursing at him. It is Sister, who is the only blue left as she reveals all the others were relocated separately. Agent Washington and Sister exchange dialogs ending up with Washington walking away as Sister has decided in her mind that he is a cop. Washington arrives at red base and is suddenly stopped by a cardboard cut-out of Donut with Sarge doing a voice over from further within the base, warning him to stay away. Washington proceeds, being stopped along the way by cardboard cut-outs of Simmons and Grif, with Grif's cardboard shot several times by a shotgun, evident that Sarge still is determined to kill Grif even in his absence, and at last a cut out of Sarge himself. It turns out to be the real Sarge. Sarge explains that Grif and Simmons left following relocation orders, and that he has gone AWOL thinking that command has lost their minds. He says that the war in Blood Gulch is still going as there is still one blue left in the canyon. When Washington asks him if anyone can tell him about AI, Sarge says he should find Caboose as he has been infected before. He gets Lopez to give him the intercepted relocation orders for blue team saying that they may have been translated into Spanish so it'll be a little hard to understand.

Chapter Three
Chapter three begins with a voice over by the chairman of the oversight subcommittee asking the director of Project Freelancer for more information regarding the so-called "Meta." The screen scrolls sideways over damaged tanks and Warthogs and then shows Agent Washington meeting with a blue solider at the Outpost "Rat's Nest." He is revealed to be a blue officer, Lt. Miller. They discuss having Caboose leave with Agent Washington, who is stationed at that outpost at the time. The commander happily agrees, as he is glad to be rid of him. He states that Caboose is useless, saying that he only talked to the vehicles and didn't repair them. The Lt. Miller sends one of his soldiers, Jones, to retrieve Caboose. A gunshot and a scream is heard, and Caboose walks out. Caboose claims that Jones shot himself in the back. Washington tells Caboose that they need to retrieve information that only Caboose knows. Another blue walks over and says that Jones is dead, to which Caboose responds that it was nobody's fault. Washington then leaves with Caboose. Following the credits, a blue soldier in EVA armor with CQB armor shoulders is seen watching Washington and Caboose leave. As they depart, the color of the figure's armor changed to white and it turns around as the screen fades out quickly. This is obviously the Meta character, and it is assumed that it has been following Agent Washington for some time.

Chapter Four
Chapter four is set on High Ground. It involves Caboose and Agent Washington in search of Pvt. Leonard Church. Caboose assures Washington that Church is located here saying that Church attempted to hide his relocation orders from Caboose saying it was a game of hide and seek, also that the only way he would win was by dying before Caboose ever saw him again. Washington then asks if he has had experience with the Freelancer program, and Caboose states that Church dated Tex. Before Washington can finish his statement, most likely about how anyone could date Agent Texas, Church attempts to snipe them, missing the shot and claims it to be a warning shot. Washington takes cover but Caboose remains still trying to figure out who is yelling at him, recognizing the voice is Church after he fires and misses another round at Caboose. When Church finds out Caboose is there, he starts shooting like crazy (missing still), whilst Caboose is standing fixed in position. Washington comes out of cover and requests to be let in, Church says no and that "this is a secure facility, no one in; no one out." Washington points out that he will just have to walk through the giant hole in the wall to his right, and Church reluctantly lets them in. Agent Washington is contacted by Recovery Command and instructed to head with the Blue soldiers to Outpost 17 B or "Valhalla" to have the "experts" give their analysis of what happened there. Church is reluctant to leave and is especially annoyed that Caboose has not upgraded his armor from the Mark V to the Mark VI armor. It isn't until Agent Washington says they have found Tex's ship that Church decides to go with them. The female officer commanding Washington tells him that they have found all of the Blue Team members. Meanwhile, the Meta character is following them and intercepts transmissions between Washington and Recovery Command. The Meta alters them to issue orders as Red Command to Sarge, telling him to stop Washington at all costs. In the bottom corner of the screen is the beginning of the word Epsilon, Washington's old AI. At the end, Agent South (Recovery Two) appears along with Delta, also following them, and are in turn followed by the Meta.

Chapter Five
Chapter Five is set on Valhalla. It involves Church, Washington, and Caboose investigating the crash site of Tex's Pelican. Washington is refused entry to the crash area by the guards, who tell him that they have direct orders not to allow anyone in. They tell him that he could use the Red base to call Command to gain entry. Washington then comes up with a a plan to distract the guards so Caboose and Church can gain entry to the crash site. Washington sets off a massive explosion in the blue base, and Church goes through the gravity lift, rolling eighty feet and only stopping when he crashes into a Warthog parked behind the guards. Washington and Caboose then enter, and investigate the crash site. Washington then attempts to access the last recording of the Pelican, but before he can do anything, Caboose interrupts and tries to talk to Sheila. Washington then activates the program, and then speaks to her as a human to an AI, which upsets Caboose. Washington convinces Caboose to let him continue, and they listen to the recording of Tex and Andy speaking to Sheila as they attempt to avoid a crash landing. Tex takes over manually, but is unable to stop the crash. The recording ends, and Washington informs Church that Tex's body was brought by the Blues to Blue base. Church, of course, wants to go see the body, but before they go, Washington gets a call from Command telling him to investigate a distress beacon. The beacon is a signal from Agent South Dakota, which states that she and her AI, Delta, are in danger. Washington receives the coordinates, and they set off.

Chapter Six
Chapter Six is set on High Ground. It involves Washington, Church, and Caboose responding to South's distress beacon. It opens with South pinned down inside a domed energy shield while the Meta fires at her with its Brute Shot. Delta reports that the barrier (which is infact a bubble shield) will collapse soon, at which point South tells him to transfer himself and her armor upgrade into a storage device, so she can escape while the Meta is distracted with pilfering Delta. Delta is about to comply when Washington, Church, and Caboose ride in on a pair of Mongoose, just as the shield collapses. Washington immediately engages the Meta, and tells Church and Caboose to keep South from escaping. Church tells Caboose she is on their side, and that Caboose should help her. Caboose promptly shoots her in the back, and claims "She got in the way when I was trying to help her". The Meta cloaks, and Washington explains to Church that it must have gotten the cloaking unit from Tex. He then tells Church that the Meta steals Freelancer upgrades, which causes Church to yell about Wyoming and run toward a Rocket Launcher on the ground. Telling Caboose to grab a pair of Spike Grenades Washington tells Caboose to throw the grenades, causing Caboose to stick it to the wall between them prompting Washington to claim, "That was the worst throw ever...of all time." To which Caboose responds, "Not my fault, somebody put a wall in my way.". Just as they jump over the wall to avoid the explosion, Church retrieves and fires the Launcher, right at the uncloaked Meta. The Meta suddenly stops time, using Wyoming's upgrade, and moves towards Washington. It pulls out a pistol and aims at Washington's head. Before it can fire a shot however, it twitches and sparks play across its armor, which causes it to run away and unfreeze time. The trio move over to South's prone form, and Delta reports that she is critically injured. Washington has Caboose insert Delta into his own armor. South says she can't walk, and Washington tells her that he won't leave her there to escape. Delta then mentions her attempt to abandon him, and that she did the same to Washington and her brother, Agent North Dakota. He ends by stating that she will only hamper their progress in her wounded state, and suggests that they "not allow her to hamper [our] progress. South begins to taunt him about shooting her before she can finish saying the word "shoot" Washington promptly pulls out a pistol shoots her in the head. The Chapter ends with Church commenting on the cold nature of the Freelancers, and Caboose stating that he has no trouble walking and takes more responsibility for the grenade incident.

Chapter Seven
After killing Agent South, Church and Caboose are convinced that Agent Washington is insane. Agent Washington claims that he is "perfectly sane, now if you excuse me I need to go blow up this dead body." As Wash proceeds to blow up her remains, Church asks Delta whether or not Washington is actually sane. To which, Delta responds that he is sane for his current status, but that is subject to change. Washington announces that he is finished and informs Delta that Command passed along their sympathies for South's passing. Washington explains that he blamed Caboose for the killing Agent South, much to his surprise Command apparently has a shortcut on their keyboard for his team killing reports (Ctrl+F+U). They then proceed to find one of their mongooses stolen by the Meta. Then, Agent Washington tells Church about Alpha, the original AI and how each other AI is allegedly a copy.

His recovery beacon goes off with Command informing him that the Meta is actually Agent Maine. Washington's transmission is jammed and Delta is unable to receive the coordinates from Command, Church makes the point that the Meta is having fluctuations with his power supply from all the armor enhancements, which Delta agrees. Church then comments that he may know a location where the Meta could gain power. The group then sets off for the Power Station (Last Resort). It is assumed that the Meta knows of this location because of his assimilation of the AI O'Malley. In the sponsor's extended cut, two Red soldiers, Burke and DeLario, are shown standing guard on the wall. DeLario comments on how a soldier by the name of "Tubbs" always pulls motor pool duty, whereas he and Burke always have wall duty. The camera zooms in on DeLario as he talks, and he suddenly realizes Burke isn't responding. Turning to see what's happened to his friend, he finds himself face-to-face with the Meta. He only has enough time to ask "Where'd you get that helmet?" before the Meta nails him with the Brute Shot melee.

Chapter Eight
The episode begins with Church, Caboose and Agent Washington on the beach at a power station in Zanzibar (Last Resort) finding the Meta's cycle, along with a number of dead bodies and attempting to ambush the Meta. As Delta was standing by to assist Caboose, Church questioned him about Washington's reluctance to discuss Alpha. Delta explained to Church that this was due to the events that took place during the AI experiments and of the failures of the experiment on Agents Washington, Maine, North, South and Carolina. Church, Caboose and Washington prepare to attack the Meta and Washington unexpectedly (to Church and Caboose) quickly engaged him in combat. However after a short fight, the Meta escaped, knocking Washington to the ground. Caboose and Delta attempted to flank round to the right to launch an attack on the Meta while Washington and Church attempted to pursue him. As Washington and Church made their way quietly onto the beach they recognized the sound of the radio from Red team's Warthog and Sarge, Grif and Simmons charged in on their Warthog making a loud and clumsy attempt at attacking Washington, as ordered by the Meta using manipulated voices, when they drove directly into a blade of the power stations turbine. After inquiring on the attacking team Church explained that they were the Blood Gulch Red team and that they were harmless and unintelligent. As the Turbine lifted the Warthog up, Simmons fires the Turret at Washington and Church, both of whom attempt to take cover.

In a corridor within the power station complex Caboose lay unmoving on the floor as the Meta approached. Delta then appears and six other AIs appear around him one of which says "We missed you, Delta" and the episode ends. It has also been noted that as the Meta approaches Caboose, a character with active camouflage can be seen darting away from the doorway at the end of the corridor.It is possible that the cloaked figure was the ghost of Agent Tex.

Chapter Nine
The scene opens with Sarge receiving the Meta's transmission, posing as Command, that Agent Washington has reassembled the Blues and that he must gather his team and stop them at all costs. Lopez apparently screens all of Sarge's calls for quality assurance, he notices that the message is choppy as if someone cut up another message and put it back together. Sarge tells Lopez to pack his gear but Lopez says he has already packed, every morning, it in hopes that Sarge would leave. Lopez insults Sarge in Spanish, especially when Sarge gets emotional with Lopez about leaving him, saying that "You programmed me in a language no one here speaks!" after Sarge said he prepared him the best he could, and watches Sarge leaving to reassemble the Red team. Lopez has already deleted memory of Simmons and Grif and said he would do the same with Sarge once he is gone. In Rats Nest, Simmons and Grif are about to be executed by their own men, Simmons says sarcastically, "Killed by our own men, couldn't see this coming." Sarge then arrives at Rat's Nest, at the Blue base he leaves his Warthog asking if anyone is alive, upon no response he says, "Good! Blue sucks!" Apparently all the Blues from Caboose's new team are now dead.The scene then cuts back to Simmons asking for a last request of reading them their charges. The leader of the firing squad said, "You know what you did, you were in charge of our ammunition and you lost it all." Grif points out the irony by says, "Don't you think it's ironic that your going to shoot us because we don't have enough ammo. Also lost and sold to the other team, two totally different things." The leader of the firing squad says that they are just delaying, which Simmons says, "Yeah that's true, but it's also true that you have to read us a list of charges. It's in the Red Army Handbook, Section on Firing Squad Subsection 2.9z. Page 94 third paragraph." Grif then says, "You are going to die a nerd! So sad." Simmons replies under his breath, "You want to die in the next 2 seconds or do you want to die a nerd with me 5 minutes from now...Well!" Grif agrees to which the leader of the firing squad says they are bluffing and that he never read that in the manual. Grif asks if he read the manual, to which the leader responds no, Grif says that's because no one has except for Simmons. Simmons comments that he also memorized it in three languages. Grif asks Simmons under his breath if that is a real rule, Simmons says he doesn't know but either they read the manual or read the charges, either way they're alive for a few more minutes. But after a short discussion the Reds decided that was too much trouble and decided to shoot them and blame it on the Blues, something Simmons did not think about but Grif did and was just used the "fuck it we're lazy option" in not bothering to tell Simmons. Just before they are about to get shot, Simmons get emotional and tells Grif there is something he wants to tell him, Grif says he has something to tell him too, Simmons tells him to go first. Grif reveals that it was him that actually stole his identity and ran up the bills at pawn shops and peep shows. After which Grif feels much better, asking Simmons what he wanted to say, Simmons obviously angered says, "I seem to have forgotten!" The rest of the Reds are about to fire as Sarge comes around the corner in his Warthog arriving just in time to block the shots fired at Simmons and Grif, most likely unintentionally. Simmons exclaims, "Are we dead?!?" Grif replies, "Well if we are then hell looks just like the Army, big surprise there." When Sarge asks Simmons what they are doing Simmons replies, "We're being executed by our own men sir." To which Sarge says, "Well, Cut it out" and that Command has a secret mission for them. Sarge asks Simmons where his CO(Commanding Officer) is and Simmons indicates that Grif is the CO, a Sargent. Grif was promoted to Sargent after Sarge refused to relocate with them by Command. After many unsuccessful attempts by Simmons to explain this Grif states, "Dude, I don't think he is physically capable of understanding what your telling him." The leader of the firing squad is glad that they will get a new Sargent because, "This one sucks." Sarge then knocks him out for the second time saying, "Never talk that way about a superior!" Grif exclaims, "Did Sarge just call me superior? I heard it! Simmons is a witness!" Simmons just says, "I don't even want to get involved." Sarge then gets in the warthog telling Simmons and Grif that they are leaving. Simmons yells, "Shotgun!" in order to ride in front. Grif says, "I outrank you, get in the back." Simmons replies, "Fuck!" The team then leaves with the remainder of the Reds confused as to what just happened. In the extended cut Lopez reveals that he is now lonely.

Chapter Ten
The Reds attack Church and Agent Washington, but the two manage to keep safe by staying behind cover. Agent Washington's first priority is to get to Caboose, who was hurt by the Meta, and the Reds stand in his way. While they are firing, Grif tries to take command of the situation, much to the dismay of Sarge, who still cannot accept the fact that they are equals. Agent Washington tells them he is from Command, and gets them to cease fire by using Red Command's codeword, which, of course, happens to be CODEWORD. Meanwhile, the Meta watches the scene and changes his armor color to red. Grif, against Sarge's advice, tries to prove himself by asking the disguised Red Meta to help. The Meta responds by letting out a guttural cry and picking up a Warthog and throwing it at Grif, thus proving to Church and Agent Washington that the Meta is not working with the Reds.

Trivia

 * The Meta wears an EVA helmet, a SCOUT chest plate, one CQB shoulder, and one EOD shoulder.
 * The Meta appears to be able to change it's armor colors, turn invisible, have overshields and stop time.
 * Luke McKay also made a comic making fun of the announcement trailer. It shows the Red striped Recovery Agent saying, "'We are the Mets?' What the hell is a baseball team doing here?" The Blue striped Recovery Agent then replies, "Would you clean your visor already?"
 * Reconstruction was the period after the American Civil War. This is also a time after a civil war when they're rebuilding, possibly the civil war between the Reds and the Blues. NOTE: The director's commentary for Episode Three states that the reconstruction refers to the time after the Human/Covenant war.
 * In chapter two, Sarge doesn't actually mention Donut being transferred, just Simmons and Grif.
 * In chapter one, there are four Scorpions and six Hornets. It remains a mystery how this happened because only 2 Scorpions and Hornets can be placed on a map. Most likely they used an editor program to do this. Also note that there are more than 16 people on the screen, further supporting the idea that there was editing involved.
 * In the sponsor version of Episode 7, Burke and DeLario were actually cameos for Chris Burke (one of the lead crew members of This Spartan Life) and Frank DeLario (member of the Ill Clan), who voiced and played their own respective characters.
 * The Meta is thought to be Agent Maine, though this is with disbelief by Agent Washington.
 * Toward the end of Chapter 8 a character in active camouflage can be seen briefly in the background behind Caboose's body. It is unknown if this is another character or one of the camera men. Pause at 4:38 and look closely at the top left and you see it.
 * In Chapter 9 Sarge says that he can't get Donut back.This possibly means he is either dead or too far away to get.
 * Every Blue and Red (with exception of the original characters) encountered has ODST helmets, possibly meaning that their helmets got upgraded.
 * The only main original characters that haven't appeared yet are Tucker, Donut, and Tex.