Chapter 18: Too Late

To say I wasn’t exactly pleased with our “guide” would be an obvious statement, but I suppose it’s safer than having to explore the wasteland by ourselves. The last time Barin and I tried to do it (and the same day I met Starry Night) proved just how dangerous and complicated the city could be. A maze of ruins, radiation pits and deadly creatures . Luckily, being stuck in a large group of heavily armed soldiers instead of just myself seemed to stop any unsavory comments from her part.

The reaction from my squadmates to Starry Night was the only positive aspect of this arrangement. They couldn’t take their eyes off her wings, and if the girl was uncomfortable with the attention she did a good job at hiding it. Being on a magical wasteland inhabited by ponies and all sorts of crazy shit is already unbelievable, and when you think it can’t surprise you anymore you see a pony with batwings and cat eyes. I can totally understand their reaction.

We left Ministry Square and headed towards the hideout Shortbeak wanted us to investigate. I couldn't understand why he would give us such a simple task, maybe he wanted to test our skills with something easy before sending us to a more dangerous assignment. Whatever his reasons may be, I only hope he keeps his word. I was never particularly good at judging people, even when they were not a different species, so I couldn't say if he could be trusted or not. Only time would tell.

The… thestral (as she told me was the correct way to address her race) explained to me that the hideout was at a factory outside the city, a few hours away. It was an isolated place, surrounded by radiation pools and raider-controlled ruins. There were few safe paths there, with the destroyed buildings and infrastructure blocking most streets and forcing us to take several detours. The bunker itself also had pre-war defenses installed, such as turrets and a few robots, but Starry assured me that she knew the passwords to disable them in case they were active.

All in all, I had a feeling this wasn’t going to be an easy journey, but I trusted we had enough firepower and equipment to deal with any obstacles.

-x-

It didn't take long for us to reach our first problem. I didn't like Starry and didn't trust on her abilities, I wanted to know exactly how we were getting there, which didn't sit well with her. She didn't like my series of questions and would only give me vague answers, which in turn made me frustrated. It was no surprise that I couldn't help but to question her even more when we had to change our direction for the first time.

"This is the only way?"

"Yes"

“There is no other alternative?”

“Unless you want to walk for several hours or fight your way through raiders, no, this is the best place.”

“Wouldn’t be as bad as falling to our deaths when we step on the wrong place…”

That comment was the last stroke to Starry Night, as I saw her eyes narrowing. “Look, I have done this trip several times already with a lot more ponies with me, if I didn’t know how to do this I wouldn’t be stuck with you!” She emphasized the last words by pointing her hoof to me, the one with two blades attached. Her wings snapped a bit, as if trying to make her look bigger.

Bad comment, better try to cool down. “I’m not saying you're not good at your job,” even though I totally think that and wish I could do this with anyone but you, “Just saying I don’t feel comfortable with walking on a 200 year old overpass that hasn't been repaired since the bombs fell.” My little attempt at diplomacy didn’t do shit. Her glare intensified and she took a long breath, as if trying to stop herself from doing something stupid.

Not being sure how to react, I took a step back and lifted my hands in a placate gesture (even though I still didn’t know if she would understand the gesture). “If you think this is the right way I won’t argue, but how long does this thing go? And what are we going to do if one of the sections has collapsed?” I don’t even know why equestrian pre-war society would need an overpass that could easily take hundreds of vehicles per minute (especially on a fairly small city inside a remote island) and I’m not interested in testing out how competent the engineers of this thing were.

She considered my words for a few seconds and seemed to calm down. “If there was a safer way wouldn’t bring you here, that thing only goes for about a mile and after that we go through land, it may not be 100% safe but it’s the best you can get around here.”

I didn't want to argue anymore, if this was the best way than I guess we better just keep going. “Sigh, fine, we’ll do it your way, let’s go.”

We headed back to where my comrades were waiting. Apparently, we had to follow the overpass and then go through a tunnel inside a residential block. The only possible enemies were ghouls and, if we were out of luck, some raiders.

Starry was wearing something different from last time. She had a grey combat vest with some armor plates on the front and back, a couple of saddlebags, a scarf and some googles. It covered her body well enough and didn’t seemed that heavy (the only issue was her red mane, which stood out a lot). When it came to weapons, she didn’t have a spear this time, but a set of blades on one hoof, a pistol and a short sword hanging by her side (which looked like something straight out of the middle ages), as well as some grenades.

I stayed close to her as we gathered everyone and headed to the overpass. We walked on top of huge piles of rubble that stretched hundreds of meters around us; you couldn’t make out where the streets were supposed to be, it was all like a sea of concrete and occasional steel beam sticking out. This entire block had been reduced to rubble, and the only standing buildings were a few hollow skyscrapers far away from us.

Everyone was quiet as we slowly made our way up the access ramp. As we reached the top, I noticed how it provided a nice view of our surroundings, almost breathtaking in a strange way. I could see the broken skyscrapers of Ministry Square behind us, and a sea of destruction and hollow buildings ahead of us. What few structures hadn't collapsed dotted the landscape like a grey archipelago.

I’m always amazed at how desolate this place can be, imagining how terrible it would be to get lost and remain alone.

Along our path there wasn't much to see, just a few bits of paper, stones and rusty metal parts, as well as a few old vehicles. I decided to break the silence and try to anwser some of my questions. “Just how important is this arsenal?” I said, her ears twitched and she glanced up at me for a second before replying.

“It’s supposed to be… a backup,” she struggle a bit to find the right words; “Place is filled with extra weapons, ammunition, caps, that sort of thing. It's a hideout for emergencies.”

“Sounds like a goldmine for scavengers, how did you manage to keep it hidden?”

“Whatever fell on the city during the war did a nasty job on the local geography, the closer you get to ground zero the more difficult it can be to keep going, the area is filled with ridges and craters that can hide entire streets from sight". A few days ago, Barin and myself had been forced to cross a parking lot turned into a miniature canyon, if the blast was strong enough to create those ditches along the ground, I wouldn’t be surprise if the entire factory was inside a single crater. “To get there you need to know what you are looking for”.

Although she gave me a decent answer, it made me wonder about this whole mission. If this place was as difficult to find it seems, than it must have taken a very powerful force to take over it. The Militia was, as far as I knew, too disorganized to do something like that, so it only left the Confederacy. However, there were no cases of them actively fighting against the Blackwatch or Ministry Square as a whole, and there is also the problem of knowing about the location of the bunker in the first place, unless the intel had leaked somehow.

I frowned, thinking about the implications of all that. “Who do you think is behind this? Doesn’t sound like anybody around here would be able to do this.”

She kept looking forward. "Not a fucking clue, but I doubt its just a band of raiders."

I was beginning to get worried. If an entire squad of Blackwatch troops protecting a hidden bunker full of weapons and ammo couldn't do shit, what chances did we have? Advanced weapons and armor can only get us so far, and we had zero clues about who or how many enemies we were facing.

Starry must have noticed my doubts, because instead of an awkward silence she gave me a sly grin. “You having some doubts up there?”

“Of course, I wouldn’t be a squad leader if I wasn't extra careful” I did my best to sound confident and calm, “For all I know we might be walking into our graves."

She just rolled her eyes. “Somebody ever told you you’re kind of a pessimist?” I narrowed my eyes. Here we go again... “Although considering the state I found you when we first met, maybe you're just a magnet for bad company..."

"Does that include you?"

Her eyes widened for a second. It was my time to smile "You little bastard..."

"What? don't like the taste of your own words?"

Starry didn't reply.

Oh boy, this is going to be a wonderful trip…

-x-

We made it to the end of the overpass without a problem. Starry Night guided us through a series of different streets until we eventually arrived at a small residencial block. There was nothing special about it, just another set of generic apartments gathered around a small square. The girl told me we should make sure the area was safe before proceeding, so I told my squad to spread out and search the appartments, while Starry herself flew up to the roof of the building, probably to scout the neighborhood.

As I walked through each floor, looking for any evidence of recent activity, it quickly became clear to me that this place hadn't been used for a long time, which calmed me a bit. One less thing to worry about. Within a few minutes I had already searched the majority the apartments nearby, so I figured it was about time to gather everbody and move on.

I went upstairs and found Barin checking another apartment, just above mine. The sound of his boots against the wooden floor guiding me there. He was in the kitchen, looking at some old photographs along a wall, I was too far away to see exactly what they showed. As I aproached, he continued to stare at those photos, making me frown. Was he thinking about something? “Everything okay here?”

He glanced at me and blinked, as if spooked by my voice. “Yeah, nothing interesting here…” His usual relaxed tone was gone, and it became apparent to me that something was bothering him, but I thought nothing of it. “You know, when you first told me about that pony, I couldn't believe what you said.”

I chuckled. “This place gets crazier by the minute, doesn’t it?” I approached him and looked outside, seeing the depressing sight of the wasteland.

“It does…” He turned himself to face me, but was unable to maintain eye contact. “Alex, can I ask you something?”

Once more, his voice lacked the strong and happy attitude I was familiar with. Barin knew when to become serious, but this was very different, this was not stoic concentration, but a strong sense of doubt and despair. The change was so radical that it made me pause for a second and stare at him, searching for any hints of his sudden mood swing.

“Sure, what is it?” I tried to sound calm, but beneath those words I felt uneasy.

“Do you really believe we can find a way out of this place?” My worry became pure confusion, I couldn't understand why he would ask me something like that. I struggled to find words and could barely hold a straight face. The answer appeared obvious to me, of course we would find a way out! Where the hell would this question even come from? At no point during our journey Barin ever questioned what we were doing, usually he was the one to give me the moral support to keep going.

“Why are you asking this?” I couldn’t hide my surprise anymore, “What’s going on man?”

I could see fear in his eyes, a deep existential dread. “I-I don’t know how to explain... maybe it’s just homesickness or something,” He paced around the kitchen back and forth. "I'm just afraid, you know? Every day that passes I feel like I'm getting further and further away from home..."

“I know what you mean,” He wasn’t the only one having occasional doubts, it was only natural. However, that still didn’t explain his sudden behavior. All of us were worried to some extend, but Barin was near hopeless. “I don’t think any of us could imagine this whole thing even if we wanted to, but I still don't understand what's going on with you. Yes, things are difficult, but we've been doing everything we could possibly do to change that."

It's not like we are chasing ghosts, we have done amazing progress since we came to this world. We managed to make friends with some of the people here and found clear information as to what could be behind our arrival. Despite a few holes in the picture, we already knew what places to look, it was only a matter of time. Or at least that's what I hoped...

I did my best to sound hopeful.“You found some evidence yourself, remember? All those files about megaspell silos you uncovered this morning, plus all the stuff we found on our other trip.” I wasn't expecting his reaction.

He punched the wall, breaking one of the picture frames and making me jump.“I know that!” I took a step back, I could see the fear and frustration in his eyes clear as day. How hadn't I noticed that before? Did he became like this today, or was it something gradual from our very first day on the wasteland?

Barin was on the verge of shouting. “Even after all of this you know we barely scratched the surface of this thing, and we almost got killed several times while trying! Who the fuck knows what might come next!” Shit, This was getting out of hand. Luckily, he seemed to realise the volume of his voice, his eyes widdened a bit and he stopped for second, took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “I know it might sound stupid but… I miss my family, ever since we were dragged off to Europe. There isn’t a day that goes by without me thinking about them, hoping that I can make it out alive from this nightmare and see their faces again."

I looked away. This was my fault, it had been my decision to join the military and I ended up dragging him with me. He had always assured me that he also needed to join, because of the lack of jobs and growing problems around the country. Despite what he said, throughout our training I couldn't shake the feeling of guilt for coming up with the idea in the first place, and part of me felt responsible for him ever since. Being promoted to sergeant made things even worse, because now I had the lives of four comrades depending on my skills, knowning that a single bad decision from my part could put any of them inside a body bag. The very thought of being responsible for any of their deaths terrified me to my very soul.

“I keep wondering, you know? What if one day I take the wrong step and hit a landmine or a tripwire? What if I come face to face with an enemy and react a few seconds too late?” He was calming down, but I still didn't know exactly what to say, “The truth is that I don’t see an end to this journey, at least not yet, and that scares me more than I thought it would. I just can't handle it...”

His rant was over, and it allow an awkward silence to take place. I stood there for a few seconds, processing what he said and trying to come up with a decent answer. “You are right, we still have much to uncover about what brought us here, but what’s the alternative? Just wait until our supplies run out? As bad as the situation may be, our only choice is to keep searching, no matter how difficult it might get.”

I took a step forward. “You know I miss my family as well Barin, all of us do, I can't even imagine what it must be like for Suvorov and Akio. Verdun was supposed to be the end of this, our ticked back home, and instead it became our exile. This is exactly why we can't stop, there's too much at stake, either we find an exit or we lose everything.”

I aproached him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry that you feel this way man, but you're not alone, we'll do this together and we will find a way out of this shithole."

He nodded. “Yes, I know… and I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be wasting our time like this and I bet you already have enough problems to deal with” I wasn't convinced, I could see in his eyes that he was still worried, but that's something I'll have to adress later.

“It’s okay… this isn’t easy for any of us, what matters is that we stay together and take care of each other. Now let's get the hell out of here, we still have a job to do."

With our discussion over, we set out to gather everyone else. Dima, Akio and Suvorov were easy to find, and Starry was already waiting for us at the main hall, with a bored expression. She led us downstairs, into the basement.

I raised an eyebrow at that, keeping in mind all the bad experiences I had underground. What we found at the bottom was… interesting, to say the least.

“A fucking bunker?” Dima exclaimed as we saw a thick metal door in front of us. Why would a residential building have something like this?

I voiced his words to Starry, “We heading underground again?”

“Afraid of getting lost?” She replied with a smirk. I promptly ignored her commentary. “Seriously though, this is only a short trip, the tunnel will connect us to a factory a couple of blocks ahead.”

“Why would this place have a tunnel to a factory?” Not the type of thing I would look for when searching for a nice apartment.

The mare shrugged, “No idea, pre-war ponies tended to build all sorts of weird stuff.”

I found that slightly concerning, but figured it’s just another unusual thing about this world. I turned to my squadmates “Alright, let’s get this door open, come on”.

Suvorov and I took cover on the left side, while the rest stood in front with their weapons pointed (even Starry was keeping her muzzle near her sword). The door itself was like an emergency exit, with a similar handle (probably easier for ponies to open it this way). I took a moment to see if everyone was ready and after a few nods, I quickly opened the door and shoved it away.

The light from our weapons revealed grey concrete walls and a rusty metal staircase, but no enemies. After a collective sigh of relief, we lowered our weapons and stood for a moment in silence.

And then the smell hit us…

All at once, we gagged and took several steps back while covering our noses. There was a series of muffed curses.

“W-What the fuck?!”

“Holy shit, did we just opened a fucking sewer door?”

I wasn’t really used to the smell. One of the few advantages of fighting in a frozen continent is that we didn’t had to deal with rotten bodies, since they just froze like a bunch of popsicles. However, you wouldn’t need to be an expert to say that whatever was down there must’ve been dead for at least a while.

“You sure there’s nothing dangerous down there?” I asked Starry.

She was equally surprised by the smell, with one hoof trying to cover her nose and both her ears pressed against her skull. “It shouldn’t have…” She said while taking several steps back.

“Fucking great,” I muttered under my breath, “Alright guys, I want Barin and Dima up front and the rest of you behind me, we are going to move downstairs slowly and carefully, come on.”

After translating everything to Starry, we made our way down. There was no rush, we all preferred to waste time for extra safety. The tunnel was all quiet and we could hear the echoes of our footsteps. Being in the middle of our formation, my eyes kept switching between the two people on the front and Starry at our back.

It felt like an eternity going down those dark stairs, with the source of the smell getting ever closer. Almost by instinct, we maintained a healthy distance between us, allowing space to move and react in case something happened. At the bottom, we found ourselves inside a narrow tunnel, barely wide enough for three people to stand next to each other.

In front of us, we saw over a dozen dead bodies. All of them gryphons clad in dark armor bearing the Blackwatch insignia. This was the team Shortbeak had sent before us. They had never made it to their destination.

I turned back in a flash.“Dima! Go upstairs and keep the entrance secured!” The boy was caught by surprise, but quickly processed my words and ran back up. I pointed to Akio and Suvorov, “You two go forward and make sure there are no hostiles at the exit, go!” Being more experienced, both acted without hesitating.

As the three of them scattered to secure our location, I approached the bodies while Barin and Starry followed close behind. A closer look didn’t revealed much at first, they were no different from the guards I had seen back in Ministry Square. I was no detective, I wasn't sure how to proceed.

“Barin, help me search the bodies.”

I kneeled next to one of them and began a quick analysis. The first thing I noticed was the lack of weapons and ammo, making me think this might have been a raider ambush, or perhaps a large group of scavengers. His or her bags (it’s hard to tell with gryphons) didn’t reveal much.

Maybe Starry was doing better, she’s probably more experienced. “You found anything interesting?” I asked in equestrian.

Her ears stood up and she looked at me. Her golden eyes seemed to glow in the dark. “Not much, they got no weapons and ammo… but they have caps,” She said while lifting a small bag and shaking it a little, with the unmistakable sound of bottlecaps coming from it.

I frowned. “What’s the matter with that?”

“If whomever attacked them bothered to check the bodies for weapons, why not also take the caps?”

That only made me more confused. “Maybe they didn’t need any?” She openly laughed at that.

“Bullshit! Anypony with enough caps wouldn’t be out here in the first place.”

Starry had a point, why would they be out here setting up an ambush like this? Maybe they were another mercenary group of some sort, payed to kill these people and loot the hideout. No, that wouldn’t make much sense, unless Shortbeak had a bunch of spies under his… beak.

I searched again the body and, unsurprising, also found a bag full of caps.

“Does your body have any bottlecaps?” I asked Barin.

His only answer was to lift a bag of caps…

This whole thing was becoming even weirder. What exactly killed these people? I turned the body over and searched for wounds, finding a few massive burns on his left side and near his neck. The wounds themselves were nasty and seemed to go deep under his skin, reaching his bones. It was as if somebody had pressed a blowtorch on the spot for a long time. A black hole.

What kind of weapon would do this? A flamethrower or a Molotov wouldn’t be so precise, they would envelop his whole body and wouldn’t go nearly as deep. This thing reached his bones and organs with ease.

I looked down, and noticed a distinct absence of blood, almost nothing. The sheer number of bodies should leave a big pool all over the place, especially in a narrow tunnel. I also found many bullet cases, likely from their weapons. They had tried to defend themselves.

Looking over a few more corpses revealed the same situation. No weapons, lots of caps and deep burns.

Moving away for a second, I decided to look for bullet holes at the walls, hoping it would reveal from which directions they were attacked. A closer inspection on the staircase showed a bunch of wild holes spread all over, probably shot without aiming or proper stance. Ahead of the bodies, closer to Akio and Suvorov, I found more holes.

This team was attacked from both sides. Whoever did this had been monitoring them for some time and knew exactly when and where to strike. This wasn’t good at all…

“Starry… do you know what kind of weapons could cause these wounds?” It was a long shot, but maybe the pony knew something.

“Energy weapons,” She said without missing a beat. “Probably laser weapons, by the looks of it.”

I frowned, slightly confused by her answer, until I remembered my little trip with that EU lieutenant. There had been robots with laser miniguns defending the facility we were scouting. However, there wasn’t a trace of them here and I doubt this team would be taken by surprise by those noisy metal monstrosities.

“How common are they?”

“Extremely rare, most ponies only get their hooves on one by going to Equestria.”

Yet somebody was able to get enough firepower to arm a whole squad by the looks of it. “So I assume you have no clue as to who might be behind this?”

To my surprise, instead of shaking her head and saying no, Starry looked confused. She remained in silence for a moment, thinking about something.

“There could be somepony…” She stood up and approached me. “But it probably isn’t right, it can’t be.”

Spit it out, woman. “Tell me.”

“It could be… the Enclave.”

For some reason, the word itself seemed to send chills down her spine. “What the fuck is this Enclave?”

“They are… shit, how can I explain it?” She brought a hoof to her chin. “They are what’s left of the pegasi military, ever since the apocalypse.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You mean from the war your people fought two centuries ago?”

She nodded. “That’s right; they survived in utter isolation since the day the megaspells fell.”

“What exactly is so bad about them?” Besides the fact that they are a real military force.

Her face twisted in anger. “They're a bunch of assholes, that's what! They only come out of hiding to kidnap ponies or kill whomever they see as a threat to their little perfect society. A few months ago they even tried invade the wasteland back in Equestria… until they got their flanks kicked.”

This conversation is only making me more confused and worried. “Okay, let me get this straight, you’re saying we might be dealing with some sort of old military force made up of pegasi? How strong are they?”

“For Celestia’s sake, how the fuck would I even know that? I know about the same as anypony else, they got lots of power-armored ponies and a bunch of raptors.”

I tried to calm her down. “Okay, I get it, I just had to ask!” She still looked pissed, but didn't say anything else.

“…But what exactly are raptors?” I doubted she was talking about dinosaurs.

She looked utterly annoyed by my constant questions. “Some sort of flying armored ship, that’s all I know.”

Flying armored ship…

Did these fuckers had Titans? No, that ain't possible, maybe she's talking about a normal aircraft, like a cargo plane or something, no fucking way these people were able to build something similar to a Titan without our level of technology. However, there are a lot of things around that shouldn't be possible. I saw fully functioning combat robots, pipbucks (which are kind of impressive in their own way) and all sorts of unexplainable shit. Still, to even come close to a Titan they would need more than that, like anti-gravity technology and special types of metal alloys. I haven't seen any indication of those things throughout my research.

Maybe she isn't talking about a Titan. I have to keep in mind that this world has been in ruins for about two centuries, and most people have no idea of how advanced their past society used to be, how much technology they actually had. Starry might be talking about normal airplanes, like jet fighters and bombers, which would not be that difficult to create. Still, this leaves a lot of new questions, and it means I have more things to reasearch. As soon as I this mission is over, I must go back to Ministry Square and search for more information about the Enclave.

Jesus Christ, Why does everything has to be so complicated on this blasted rock?

"Let's... let's just get the hell out of here."

-x-

After we left the tunnel and entered a new part of the city, it didn’t take long to reach the area outside the factory. From a vantage point inside an old five-store shop, it was easy to scout ahead. The factory had a large ground floor about as big as a supermarket and eight extra floors roughly a quarter the size. The landscape around it was a mix of vehicle wreckages and half-destroyed buildings, Which piled up on the surrounding parking lot and almost blocked our view.

The six of us, five humans and one pony, remained inside the store for almost an hour, waiting ever so patiently for any sign of activity. It wasn’t an exciting task to look around through our binoculars, but we could not afford to be careless. For the first time since we arrived here, we had the chance of fighting against a real military force, an enemy that might be just as well armed and prepared as we were.

As much as I don’t want to admit it, up to that point we had always held a small advantage over our enemies, because even when outnumbered and confused we still had advanced weapons and armor that were virtually unmatched by the majority of the people living here. I have lost count of how many times I had been shot in possible fatal places, had I not been wearing PAC body armor. All of us had scored multiple kills through the accuracy of our brand new weapons, which fired plasma-based armor-piercing rounds. It’s no wander I had been able to survive so many difficult occasions.

Now, things were different. What little information I had gathered about enclave power-armor sent alarms all over my head. Our opponents could fly and were probably carrying energy weapons that our body armor was not designed to deal with. Yes, they were supposed to deal with a variety of situations, including extreme temperatures, but there was no clue as to how they might react to a concentrated beam of heat. Maybe the material would slowly give away after constant hits or maybe it would melt instantly and allow the beam to burn right through our bodies.

A small part of me was wondering if it was even worth to continue this mission, but at the same time I knew how bad it would look if we failed our very first task. Why would Shortbeak even bother to help us if we couldn't do something as simple as taking back a small supply depot. Nevertheless, none of it mattered, because just as I was thinking about these issues, a large group of armored pegasi arrived.

There were eight of them, coming from the sky directly above the factory. They appeared from behind a cloud. I followed them with my binoculars as half landed on the rooftop and the others landed at the parking lot.

“Guys, get your asses here ASAP!” I said without even bothering to look back. Everyone gathered at the windows.

“So these are the people we are looking for?” Dima asked.

“They certainly match the description…” I muttered.

The enclave ponies began to look around, as if they were searching for somthing. I found that strange, they acted as if this was their first time here, walking in formation and keeping their weapons raised. They slowly approached the entrance, it looked as if they expected something to jump at them.

There was a brief pause… and then the enclave soldiers were attacked. Not by us, but by someone inside the factory. The whole area was suddenly illuminated by red laser beams.

A volley of laser fire coming from the windows struck the four ponies standing at the parking lot. They scrambled for cover, jumping behind motorwagons and piles of rubble, the enemy fire left a trail of scorched marks as it tried to persue them. The others at the rooftop weren’t much luckier, something attacked them from the staircase access, lighting the whole area with a long burst of laser fire. Half of them spread their wings and took off the ground, flying away from the enemy's line of sight, while the rest sought cover behind some machinery.

The whole action was almost too quick to follow, the constant flashes of laser beams made it harder to concentrate. The attack was quick and intense, and it had obviously surprised those pegasi. The people inside knew those ponies were coming, as the precise nature of the ambush showed.

One thing that surprised me was the lack of casualties. All ponies, even after receiving several hits, were still active and didn’t show any signs of being wounded. It made me wonder just how good those suits were. I wasn’t that sure if my own armor would be able to protect me that well.

Starry Night was also watching, looking through her own binocular, which she held with both hooves while standing in a strangely human manner. “Who in Tartarus is firing at them?”

That was a good question, and I quickly shifted my view to where the shots were coming from. It was hard to see, since most of the windows were blocked in some way, and there was the fire coming from the inside. It took me a few seconds, but I was able to take quick glimpses of who was inside. The shape was clearly pony-like, but I couldn't see the usual bright coat and mane. A few flashes later revealed a intricate metal armor.

It was… more enclave soldiers. The armor they were wearing was identical to the pegasi outside. The same type of power-armor.

I frowned, deeply confused. “Hey, are you seeing who is firing at them? It looks like the same people from the outside.”

A few seconds later, Barin spoke up. “You’re right, same armor and everything… what the fuck is going on?”

From my point of view, it was impossible to distinguish the two groups apart.

What the hell are we supposed to do now? Do we attack them both? Wait until they finish killing each other?

We continued to observe them for a good ten minutes. As the fight went on, the attackers gained the upper hand, and slowly advanced. The defenders were obviously outnumbered, as the volume of fire showed. I calculated there must've been around four ponies defending. However, there could be more of them deeper within the building, out of view, doing something else.

As they managed to suppress the defenders, the enclave ponies attacking (both on the ground and on the roof) reached their respective entrances and invaded the factory. They slipped out of our sight, leaving us with the muffed sounds of combat coming from inside.

Everyone continued to stare in silence.

There were only three options, wait here, head back or attack. None of them were interesting, and it quickly became clear to me that there was only one way of ending this mission. We had to find out exactly what was going on, there was no way around it. Our mission is to retake the hideout and that's exactly what we are going to do.

I stopped looking outside. “Barin, Dima, I need both of you to get ready for action.”

Barin looked at me with concern. “What are you planning, Alex?”

“We need to move inside that place right now, there won’t be a better opportunity,” I stood up and began dropping anything that wouldn’t be useful. My backpack came first, followed by non-essential things like my flashlight and extra batteries. “Leave anything you won’t be using in here, come on.”

I could see on their faces that neither of them were sure if this was a good idea, but they complied nonetheless. This might be a risky move, but I'm not leaving this place empty handed, we already came too far.

“What about us?” Suvorov asked.

“I need you and Akio to stay here and keep the area secured, last thing we need is someone cutting our only escape route. Besides, your machinegun won’t be useful in close quarters and we need Akio alive in case one of us gets wounded.”

I didn’t know what to do about Starry Night. I knew she was a capable fighter, but I also had no idea how she would stand against those enclave soldiers. The girl was confused, being unable to understand what we were saying, but despite the language barrier, I was sure she could guess the general idea of what we were about to do.

To be honest, I was half inclined to leave her behind and just go with Barin and Dima. I had never been fond of dealing with wild cards, and that’s exactly what Starry was.

“What the fuck you people doing?” The thestral finally said. I turned to face her.

“Are you going to attack those ponies?” She added.

“What does it look like?” I replied. “This is the best chance we have to get inside without being noticed.”

She tapped her hoof on the floor. “And what exactly am I supposed to?”

“What do you think you can do against those pegasi? Are you going to stab their power-armor?” I gave a nod to her sword. "I don't think you are well equipped to help us."

Her eyes narrowed. She didn’t like the comment at all. “I have a few grenades and the sword is a lot more powerful than it looks…” Still not enough to be useful in my opinion.

I crossed my arms. “Alright then, what do you suggest?” If this girl thinks she can be useful I won't stop her, but I would prefer to do this with people I'm familiar with.

“I could try to sneak around and see if I can get inside the factory unoticed, maybe even toss a few grenades to distract them. It might make it easier for you to get inside."

She was good at sneaking and had excelent night vision, I was aware of that, but I wasn’t inclined to just sent her all by herself behind enemy lines. “You will be all by yourself until we can get there, you sure this is a good idea?” I tried to sound neutral, because while I might have a few problems with her attitude, this was a serious situation we were dealing with.

She smiled. “I’m used to it, I can take care of myself.”

“Alright then, if you're completely sure about it, go ahead, we'll try to link up with you as soon as possible.” She was only a guide, and while her death would be another thing I would have to explain to Shortbeak, getting to the botton of what's happening was a lot more important.

Without giving a word, she checked her weapons, walked towards a broken window and jumped off, leaving us momentarily stunned, before we saw her spreading her wings and flying towards the factory.

“That pony is kinda reckless…” Barin said, as all of us stared at her shrinking form.

I nodded. “Yes she is, and I hope I don’t regret this later.”

When the three of us were ready, we made our way to the factory, across a sea of rubble. We moved from cover to cover, around piles of concrete and metal. Each step brought us closer to the ongoing battle, and it increased my heartbeats as the adrenaline began to flow. Once we reached the parking lot, I could feel sweat dripping down my face. We could hear the strange sound of those laser weapons firing, as well as the occasional voice coming from inside the factory.

The same motorwagon the enclave ponies had used for cover was where we took cover to assess the situation. We scanned each window, while trying to figure out which floors the fighting was taking place. It seemed to us that most of it was going on the upper area, near the rooftop. The ground level seemed quiet, but the factory was large so we couldn't be too sure.

Our situation reminded me of previous memories from the battle of Berlin, back in Europe. I had fought in many urban skirmishes during that particular time and couldn’t help but to draw a few parallels. Using what we had gathered so far, and my previous experiences, I began to conjure a basic plan of action. We were obviously outnumbered and had no idea where our enemies were concentrated, but we still held the element of surprise. I doubted those ponies were expecting a bunch of heavily armed aliens to attack them, and I intended to exploit that single advantage as much as I could.

The enclave ponies were fighting across multiple floors, which meant we wouldn’t be facing their full force as we ascended, it could allow us to eliminate each pocket of resistance, one by one, without actually being at a big numerical disadvantage. Our best strategy would be to clear out each floor individually as quickly as possible, before the enemy was able to respond. Keep the enemy isolated and strike hard, those were the rules of the day.

“Barin, are you carrying any extra grenades?”

He nodded. “Yes, I got two EMPs and two extra frags.”

“Good, give me one of the EMPs, they might be useful against those suits.”

As he handed me the extra grenade, he frowned. “What's the plan, Alex?”

I gestured Dima to get closer, so he could also hear me. “I won't lie to you, the odds are not exactly on our favor here, this is a big place and we're outnumbered, so keep your eyes open and hold your fire and don’t engage unless fired upon."

“The worst part will be the staircase, that kind of cramped space could be a death trap to us. Once we reach the enemy, spread out but don’t get out of sight, we don’t have the interior layout so getting lost and isolated is big possibility. We're going to clear each floor as we move up, checking every room and every corner, no matter how long it takes," I pointed towards the upper floors, "It looks like they're fighting across two or three floors, so we won't be facing a big number of them at once. Instead, we're going to eliminate each pocket of resistance individually, before they can gather into a larger force."

After I was done talking, we entered the facility. The ground floor was divided between a main hall and the production line itself. The first was a small open area with a few tables and a cosy cafe, the second was a larger space filled with big old machines, broken tools and some wooden crates. All of it was abandoned and covered in dust. The elevators were obviously not working, so we had to use the stairs.

We found an emergency staircase on the back side and began to move up, keeping our speed low as we tried to avoid alerting any hostiles that might be wandering nearby. If a single one of them saw us, we would be caught in a narrow tunnel without cover, it would be the end of us.

There were voices coming from above, mixed with the gunfire (laserfire?). Each step brought us closer, until we reached the fourth floor. We could hear the battle behind the door, so we took cover on both sides and gripped our weapons tightly. I almost didn't realized until my hands began to hurt.

I kept my voice low. “We're going in, once the door opens I’ll go left and both of you go right. Keep an eye out of Starry, she must be somewhere around.”

They both nodded and took their places. I pushed the door open, bombarded immediately by the constant thunder of weapons firing, mixed with small grenade explosions and the voices of enemy soldiers. I dashed inside with my weapon raised, entering a small grey corridor with a few office tables and broken terminals scattered around. Dima and Barin quickly took cover behind me, a few meters away. There was fighting all around us, I could see red laser beams crossing the open office area ahead of me, illuminating the whole place with a red glow.

As I continued to hold my aim down the corridor, something black suddenly turned around the corner in front of me. A winged pony wearing a dark suit of power-armor, covering most of its body, save for the muzzle and mane. It was an Enclave trooper, and I didn't think twice before acting.

BANG BANG BANG

Three bullets left the barrel of my assault rifle and found their mark on the pony's armored chest. There was a quick, feminine shout, and the pony scrambled back to cover. I heard more shots behind me, from Barin and Dima. This corridor didn't had any cover, we couldn't stay here.

“Spread out and find cover!” I screamed. I stood up and ran as fast as I could while keeping my head down, heading towards the first open door I had spotted. It was a small dusty office with a broken table and other pieces of furniture. After a quick glance to make sure it was empty, I took cover by the door and aimed my rifle outside. There was no sight of Barin or Dima, so I assumed they must have found shelter somewhere else.

I focused my attention on pony I had just shot. She didn’t exposed herself as I had hoped, and instead only showed the barrel of her laser weapon and fired blindly into the hall, littering the place with laser beams. I quickly pulled back and waited until she stopped firing.

After she was done, I aimed outside again. The pony dared to take a small peek, exposing herself just a tiny bit, which was a grave mistake.

BANG

Once again, she took cover, barely missing my shot. If my finger had been a fraction of a second quicker, she would’ve been dead.

There was an open area ahead. Looking around, I saw a bunch of tables piled up near the center, a few steps closer to the enemy. Figuring that she wouldn’t be risking herself so soon, I crossed the corridor and crouched behind those tables. They had the perfect height to protect my body but still allow me to shoot. I aimed, for a few seconds, waiting for an oportunity that, sadly, didn't present itself.

Better to make sure those two are doing okay. With one hand keeping my rifle steady, I used the other to grab my radio “Barin, what’s your status?”

It was hard to hear his voice through the radio, as it was muffed by shots and explosions on the background. “Alex! Dima and I made contact with two hostiles!" There were more gunshots, "We're pinned down inside some sort of cafeteria, just down the hall we came from."

Before I could reply, the pony appeared again. I let go of the radio and took aim, quickly pulling the trigger and letting out a long burst of rounds. There was a distinct metalic sound as my rounds made contact with her breastplate and this time the pony wasn’t quick enough, my bullets penetrated her armor. She went down and remained still.

With that taken care of, I lowered my rifle grabbed the radio once again. “Understood, I’m also under fire but I think I got the situation under control, can you hold?”

There was a quick succession of gunshot from his side of the call. “These guys are keeping us busy, but we're holding,” I sighed in relief, “Alex, try to go around the area and see if you can flank them, I can see a couple of doors right next to their cover."

“Roger that, I’m on my way.”

I stood up from my protective spot and began searching for an alternative route. Walking through the area wasn’t that easy, because of all the turned tables, broken doors and bulky terminals on the floor. I also had to duck under most doorways and go around a few places that were blocked by rubble. The sounds of fighting were enough to guide me towards my comrades, and after taking a few corridors and crossing a few rooms, I came to a stop in front of a set of closed doors, I could see red flashes beneath them, so I assumed the enemy must have been behind them.

I pressed myself against a wall and tried to think my next action. I needed to kill them both in a single strike, before they could turn their attention towards me, so I decided to use a frag grenade. If the explosion didn’t kill them, it would at the very least stun them long enough to take them out.

Slowly, my hand went to my vest and grabbed the grenade. I gave a few steps back and stood almost in front of the doors. It was now or never, so I took a deep breath, pulled the pin, and kicked the doors open.

The moment I threw the grenade, a storm of laser fire filled my vision. Something hit my chest, and it suddently became unbearably hot, I felt my skin and clothes burning beneath the armor plates. I didn't even had time to see what was happening before my instincts took over.

I jumped back to cover, just as another series of shots came out, barely missing me. My hands were on my chest immediately, in a futile attempt to tear my armor away, as it slowly burned my chest.

I heard the windows shattering… and then the loud bang of the grenade going off, followed by a cloud of dust entering the room.

“Shit, shit, shit!” I cursed while trying to get rid of my chest plate. My panicked fumbling managed to loose my vest just enough to stop any direct contact with my clothing and skin. I could still feel some pain, probably some minor burns. I continued to hold the armor plate away for a few seconds until it got cool enough.

With the immediate danger of severe burns gone, I took a closer and more careful look at my chest. The armor itself had withstood several shots, and none of them were able to penetrate. The heat had left some ugly marks as part of the material had melted, but no permanent damage. My clothes were also mostly okay.

Those energy weapons pack a big punch, can’t imagine what would happen if I wasn’t wearing all of this.

I stood up and looked around. There were no more enemies inside this floor, but there was still some intense fighting above me. Before I could think anything else, Barin and Dima appeared from the room I had threw the grenade. None of them were injured and I was glad to see them.

Barin was the first to speak. “You okay Alex? We saw them shooting at you before the explosion, they hit anything?”

I pointed to the marks on my chest. “Nothing that my body armor couldn’t handle…” I didn’t saw any bodies behind them, “And where the fuck are they?”

“Oh…” He gave a quick glance behind, “I think they jumped out of the window before the grenade went off.”

Fucking great. I brought a hand to my radio, “Suvorov, Alex here, do you copy?”

There were a few moments of static, before his voice came through. “Yeah, I hear loud and clear, what’s going on in there?”

“We are currently engaging the enemy, but two of them were able to slip away, do you see anyone flying around the building?”

“Negative, there is nothing out there, but we can hear the fighting going.”

“Understood, keep an eye out for any flying targets, unless they look like the pony who was accompanying us, over and out.”

Speaking about the devil, where the hell is she? "Hey, did any of you seen Starry around here?" Both of them shook their heads. She must be somewhere else, probably above us. "Okay, I think we're done here, let's move up."

We went back to the staircase and ascended to the next floor. Once again, we moved slowly and kept our weapons ready. Nothing happened, and we soon found ourselves once again staring at a closed door. However, this time there were no sounds coming from the other side, no indication of enemy activity.

I took cover on the left side. “Alright, same plan as last time, we kick the door open and go to the nearest cover, you guys ready?” They both nodded. I waited a few seconds and then opened the door, quickly rushing inside while scanning the area with my assault rifle.

The three of us took cover at a low wall, which separated the main office area from the hallway we had entered. There were some old papers laying around and a lot of furniture covered in dust, but no enemies what-so-ever. Still, I decided it would be better to make sure, and so we spend the next five minutes checking every room, even the restrooms, for any signs of hostiles. We came back empty handed.

Without saying a word, we left and proceeded up to the next level.

This time, it was different, not only we could hear people somewhere inside, but they were very close to our position, probably right next to the doorway. All of us were completely silent, doing our best not to cause a single sound.

I stood right next to Barin and whispered to his ear. “I think I’m going to throw a EMP grenade inside.”

“You sure about that?” He replied, using the same tone.

“Yes, it should cause some confus-“ Something called out from the other side.

All of us froze. “Padlock? Are you and the guys here already?” Said the muffled female voice coming from the other side, in equestrian.

Carefully, the three of us took a step back and pointed our weapons at the closed door. I couldn’t decide if we should wait for her to open the door, or if I should just grab a grenade and toss it inside.

How the fuck did she notice us? It’s the second time this happens. How did the other two pegasi notice me back down there, when I threw the frag grenade? There's no way they heard me coming, and little chance this other pony also heard us.

We just stood there, without saying a word, waiting for the enemy, and it felt like an eternity.

However, just as I decided to open the door and attack whomever was at the other side, there was a sudden bang as something crashed into the enclave pony. We began to hear a frantic struggle, a series of grunts and muffed words. The pony was fighting with someone else, and it was the perfect moment to act.

“Follow me,” I said, while getting in front of the door and kicking it open. Barin and I kept our weapons raised, covering the area ahead of us and ready to take down the enemy.

What greeted us on the other side, less than ten feet away, were a dead Enclave trooper and Starry Night.

She was standing above the body, pining it down with a bloody set of hoof blades. Her red mane seemed to be a little burnt and dirty, while her armor also sported a few hits from energy weapons. She looked both exausted and pissed.

Her breathing was heavy. “About time you fuckers showed up…” She managed to let out between breaths. “Could’ve come a little sooner, though.”

The three of us were surprised. “Are you… alright?” I asked, even though it was a stupid question.

It looked like she was too tired to give an angry comment, and instead settled for a neutral answer. “I’ll manage, this isn’t the worst thing that happened to me.”

The three of us entered the room and looked around, making sure the area was secured. “Do you know if there are any more enemies inside this place?” I said while scanning the surroundings.

“Don’t think so, I got two ponies in another room and this little bitch here, but nothing else.”

“Two others?” I wondered out loud without noticing. Could they be the ones who ran away?

“Yeah, they came through the windows inside that room,” Starry replied, while pointing to the end of the hall. “Luckily, it was right next to where I was hiding, so I manage to jump on them easily enough.”

I raised an eyebrow at the series of marks that covered her body. “Those burns don’t look like an easy fight…” I couldn’t help myself.

She frowned, obviously not happy with my comment. “I’m not in the mood to deal with your bullshit.”

Better to change subject. “What about the weapons cache, you already went there?” I had almost forgotten about it, the hideout was supposed to be on the underground levels.

“Yes, it was the first place I checked, there was nothing inside, just the caps," I winced.

Shortbeak isn’t going to like this. Fucking great, first task we were given turned out into a complete failure. I suppose the only thing left now is to take down those pegasi and try to figure out what the fuck is going on. So far we have eliminated four out of probably a dozen of them. They are still fighting amongst themselves, so there should be even less people left.

“Do you know anything else that might be useful?”

“Well, I think most of them are concentrated on the level above us. I couldn’t even approach it because of all the laser beams going out of the windows.”

Good, this should make it easier to take them out. Hopefully there won’t be any extra reinforcements coming here any time soon. If it does happen, however, I’m pretty sure we will have to pull out, or else we might end up surrounded. I just hope Akio and Suvorov can keep the outside secured long enough for us to slip away. “I think it’s better if we just head upstairs and take them down, are you coming with us or will you go by yourself again?” I said.

Starry thought for a while, looking unsure. “I don’t know… I wouldn’t be very useful going with you, but that place is too risky to try flying inside. Maybe you could draw their attention somehow?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, these guys are well armed and if they decide to focus their fire on us, I don’t think we could handle it. There is only three of us, after all.”

“What am I supposed to do then?”

“How about you scout around for a bit and make sure there are no reinforcements coming? Once my comrades and I are done eliminate some of them, it should be easier for you to sneak around.”

It was far from being a decent plan, but since this pony is so insistent about fighting, it’s our best choice. I had been skeptical about her, but seeing that she took down three ponies without getting herself killed is enough proof to give her a chance.

The mare shrugged. “Not ideal, but you can go ahead, I’ll keep my ears up for any more fuckers that might come here.”

For the last time, we ascended to the next level. It had the same layout as the others, same scene of old dusty offices and cubicles. It had been divided in two by the opposing forces, and the constant barrages of laser shots came from both side.

It was a fucking mess. My friends and I managed to slip inside, into the same corridor we had already entered so many times already. The enemy was right next to us, taking cover inside rooms or behind overturned desks, constantly firing and shouting orders. The continuous flashes and all the noise was almost sickening, it felt more and more like a perverted nightclub or some shit.

I dared to look at the ongoing battle, hoping to spot some enemies. As soon as I began to raise my head, several shots went over me, hitting the wall behind me and the cealing. “Holy fuck!” I cursed while pressing myself against my cover and staying as low as possible.

“What the hell do we do now, sir?!” Barin shouted next to me. He and Dima were both on a similar predicament.

“I’m going to throw an EMP grenade, hold on!” I snatched the device from my vest, pressed the button on top, and threw it overhead towards the enemy.

I heard someone shouting “Take cover!” in equestrian, before the grenade went off. In a split second, the whole area was hit by a electromagnetic wave that fried any unprotected electronic devices.

My helmet’s display immediately began to flicker, and my riflescope no longer had a red dot at the center.

The fighting continued, but no longer close to us. I could only hear shots coming from the other side of the building. The ponies closer to us were either too confused or simply unable to fire.

Taking this as a chance to finish off the enemy and take a better position, the three of us stood at once and moved forward, searching for enemy combatants. “Spread out, find out where those fuckers are hiding.” I said. Each one of went at a different direction, seeking better cover while searching for the enemy. Barin and Dima took the left and right sides respectively, while I kept moving forward at the center.

As I walked around the many cubicles and smashed forniture that filled the room, I saw someone going inside an adjacent room, a few meters ahead. I crouched behind a table and took aim. “I got something in front of us, inside that room!” I decided to fire a few rounds to keep the enemy pinned.

BANG BANG

I couldn’t see any more hostiles, but I heard the distinctive sound of hooves clattering. My shots must have scared it.

“Watch the right!” Dima shouted. I snapped my head to the right, and was almost blinded by the sudden red light, as another enemy opened fire on Dima. He quickly ducked behind cover, and once the enemy stopped firing he stood up and let out a long burst from his assault rifle. “Got another enemy behind that table!”

I continued to aim at my primary target, waiting for an opportunity. Meanwhile, Barin was checking another corridor which led deeper into the building, alone and somewhat exposed. I was a little worried about his safety, but I knew it might be better to make sure no enemies would flank us from that place. He could take care of himself, so I remained quiet.

I heard a window shattering somewhere nearby, and I saw a pegasus passing outside the windows in front of me, at the other side of the room. It was the enclave trooper I had shot previously. Fucker was trying to fly away.

BANG BANG BANG

My shots were useless; the pony was too fast for me to keep a steady aim.

Since I could no longer engage that bastard, I decided to help Dima. “Keep that guy suppressed, I’m moving up!” I shouted to him. Dima nodded and continued to exchange shots with the enemy. As his rounds smashed against the overturned table the pegasus was using as cover, I sprinted around the left side, in an effort to flank him. I went towards a small area where the upper floor had collapsed, creating a pile of rubble large enough to provide decent cover.

As I pressed myself against broken pieces of concrete, the pony fired at me. None of his shots reached me. Bits of concrete went flying around me, as some of the large pieces were shattered. I closed my eyes and mouth for a second to avoid the dust. Once it had settled, I returned fire.

At this angle, the pony wasn’t fully protected by the table, and so his armor was the only thing stopping me from killing him.

Having his attention split between the two of us was a death sentence. He was too slow to avoid both of us, and so we quickly cut him down with our combine firepower. Once he was killed, Dima and I searched the rest of the area to make sure it was safe, finding no more enemies hiding.

Barin came back soon after. “Barin, you alright?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I managed to follow one of them into a restroom nearby.”

“Did you kill him?”

“Don’t think so, I managed to put a few rounds into him but wasn’t able to confirm the kill, bastard slipped away through a collapsed wall,” One more hostile to worry about, fucking great. “He might be bleeding out, but I can’t be sure.”

“Well, at least we won’t be dealing with him for a while.”

There was still ongoing fighting, somewhere on the other half of this floor. Probably not many enemies left to take care.

I turned around, towards Dima. “Hey kid, come here,” I said, waving him over, “Barin said there might still be one guy left somewhere around, so I need you to stay here and keep an eye out for him, can you do that?”

“Sure, I’ll guard the area.”

“Good, Barin and I will keep going forward until we clear out the rest of this place. There shouldn’t be many people left.”

With Dima staying behind, the two of us went straight towards the gunfire. We passed through a series of corridors, before arriving at a half destroyed meeting room. A large central table had been broken into three separate pieces, with the surrounding chairs scattered around it. One of the walls had collapsed, giving us an open view of a small kitchen and mess hall.

The first thing I noticed were the two dead enclave ponies at the center, the second was the ongoing battle. There were two ponies stuck on one side, hiding behind the kitchen counter, while three others were firing at them from the mess hall, behind overturned tables.

I grabbed Barin by his arm. “Stop, let’s find some cover,” I said. He nodded, following me to a wall right next to the collapsed section, which led towards the enemy. “This is going to be a tricky fight…”

As I turned to analyze the situation, one of the ponies spotted me and raised his weapon towards me. “Oh, fuck!” I scramble back to cover, before he had a chance to turn my head into ashes. A bright laser beam passed in front of me, a few centimeters from my face.

“Guess the element of surprise is gone,” Barin commented. “We don’t have a lot of options available…”

“I know that!” I shot back. Being in such a bad position was frustrating, and I was having a hard time figuring out what to do.

I looked around, thinking about my options. Just as I did so, I saw something moving towards us from the path we had just taken. By instinct, I raised my rifle towards it. “Stop!” I shouted, even though it probably wouldn’t matter.

A familiar voice answered back. “It's me, you idiots!” I looked closer, spotting a red mane and yellow eyes. It was Starry Night, with her familiar coat and mane.

I frowned while lowering my rifle. “Goddammit, get your ass here, come on!” She complied, despite also giving me a scorn. “Where the hell were you?”

“What do you think?” She answered. “I was flying around, searching for a safe way inside.”

Good, maybe she knows something useful. “You saw anything worth noticing on your way here?”

“Yeah, I think a few of them are leaving.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

She rolled her eyes. “What do you think I mean? I saw two of them taking off from the roof and flying away as fast as they could, not like they were just regrouping or something,” those were good news… assuming she was correct. At the very least, we wouldn’t have to worry about those two for a while.

“Well, that’s good to know, at least we can focus on those guys behind this wall,” Just as I said that, I heard a loud scream, one less to worry. There wasn’t much room to maneuver, and I couldn’t see any other alternative routes to flank the enemy, our only option would be to attack them straight on. “Barin, how many grenades you got?”

He kept watching our left, in case one of them decided to sneak up on us. “I still got one frag and one EMP, why?”

Shit, I only have one frag left, three grenades in total; we would need to be very careful of how we use them.

I searched my vest for it, and then handed the grenade to Barin. It was clear we wouldn’t be getting an easy way out of this, so I decided the best plan of action would be to draw the enemy’s attention elsewhere, so that one of us could toss those grenades around.

As he grabbed the grenade, I looked at him. “I want you to stay here and wait until they stop firing at you, I’ll try to keep them busy and draw their attention.”

He looked unsure. “That doesn’t sound like a good plan.”

I shook my head. “No, it really isn’t, but unless you want to stay here for god knows how long until they either kill each other or get reinforcements, this is the only option we got.”

He nodded. “Alright then, how do we do this?”

“I guess I’ll just get behind some cover and fire blindly until they notice me,” I tried to sound calm, but I could feel sweat running down my neck. Those energy weapons were powerful and I didn’t want to test how many my armor could take, one time had been enough. However, we couldn't just stay here, stuck behind this wall.

Barin still looked unsure, but didn’t object to my idea. “Alright, I’ll try to provide some covering fire while you move up.” I nodded.

“Starry, you think there's anything you could do to help?” It was only polite to ask her.

Instead of a snarky comeback, as I had expected, the girl actually took a second to think and come up with an honest answer. “I don’t know, it’s a small room and there isn’t a lot of cover, there's no way I could get close enough to kill them,” She stared at her hoof blades, melee weapons aren’t that useful when the enemy has the entire area covered. “Best I can do is wait until there is some sort of opening, maybe after one or two get killed...”

It was a fair answer. “If that’s the case, just stay here for a while, I’ll see what I can do.”

With everything settled, it was time to go. I gripped my rifle, pressed myself against the wall, and gave a quick peek at the other side (while making sure not to expose myself too much). The only good cover I spotted was a pile of broken furniture, next to a collapsed wall. It was only a few steps away.

I turned around and faced Barin. “I’m moving up, cover me,” I whispered. He nodded and readied himself. “On my mark.”

Ever so slowly, I brought my rifle forward and began to turn around. The two groups continue to fire non-stop, making it almost impossible to concentrate, as the room was filled with the red glow of laser fire. How much ammo do these people have? It’s not like laser weapons have unlimited supply, right?

Once again, I spotted the small kitchen counter where two enemies were hiding behind. This time, none of them were aiming at me. I couldn’t risk myself to look for the opposite group, since there was a lot more fire coming from them, but I figured they would be too focused on their current targets to do something about me.

The two ponies in front of me were well protected, but I could see a yellow set of ears poking out, so I took aim and fired.

BANG BANG BANG

As I opened up, one of the ears vanished as my rounds made contact. There was a small red burst from the ear being teared off, and I took the oportunity to run as fast as I could, while trying to keep my head low. There was also a loud shriek, most likely from the pony now missing her ear.

Just as I began to make my way to the next cover, Barin emptied his magazine all over the area. Between the laser fire and my friend providing suppression, none of them tried taking a shot at me. However, my heart was still pounding all the way, even as I reached cover.

I stayed low, making sure I didn’t suffer a similar fate to the pony I had just wounded.

The pegasi probably figured out I was up for something, so they began to take a few shots at me, keeping me from doing much. All around me, there were smoky scorch marks from laser fire. This was the perfect opportunity I had to keep their attention, while giving Barin an opening to toss some grenades.

Despite flinching a few times whenever a laser beam would pass too close, I carefully lifted my rifle above my head and fired some blind shots on full auto. It was the best way to engage the enemy without risking myself. I wasn’t looking for more kills, I just needed to keep their eyes on me.

I could hear the two pegasi to the right shouting. It was difficult to understand amid the ongoing fight.

After firing several times, I heard a familiar click indicating I was out of ammo. I quickly lowered my weapon and snatched a new magazine from my vest. As soon as I finished reloading, I once again brought my rifle up and fired a few more rounds at the general direction of the enemy. I kept switching between the two groups and this continued for some time.

It wouldn't take long before Barin acted. A small part of me was worried, because a small room like this meant that the blast wave would hit me right away. I stayed crouched, ready to lay down when the time came.

I didn’t have to wait for long. With more and more enemies focusing their attention on me, Barin was free to look around and pick his target.

“Frag out!” He shouted in russian.

I practically threw myself at the floor, pressing myself against the concrete. The ground shook as the explosive detonated. The sudden blast sent a thick cloud of dust up in the air around me. The resulting wave felt like being punched at the chest, with my breath almost being squeezed out of my lungs. My ears were ringing, I felt extremely dizzy.

“Shit…” I cursed, while trying to move. I quickly managed to get into a sitting position. There was too much dust, I could barely see and each breath made me cough a little. Looking down, I was glad to see my rifle still on my hands.

Everything was quiet, the fighting had ceased. I carefully stood up and looked around for any movement. As the dust settled, I could make out the shapes around me, of broken tables and terminals.

Just as I thought everything was okay, I spotted something small flying across the room, from where Barin was hiding. It was another grenade.

My eyes widened and I jumped back behind cover. “Goddammit, not again!” There was no time to lay down.

However, to my surprise, there was no blast. I heard a snap, and then my HUD was shut down. My minimap (which was already offline, due to the lack of GPS satellites) and ammo count began to flicker and disappear.

He had thrown an EMP grenade.

While the information flicking all around my glasses made things a bit confusing, it didn’t stop me from standing back up and scanning the area for enemies.

At this point, most of the dust had settled, and I was able to see what was left of the three ponies who were hiding further away, at the opposite side of the room. None of them were moving, and I could see a poll of blood growing around them. They were the main target for Barin. Only two hostiles left.

I turned right, while raising my rifle. I couldn’t see if the ponies behind the kitchen counter were still alive. They weren’t that far from me, and their cover was much better, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they were still active. The explosion probably didn't affect them much.

I gave a single step towards them… just as Starry Night came flying like a fucking bullet. She zipped past me faster than I thought possible for her.

Startled, I stopped and couldn’t react in time as she jumped behind the counter and attacked the only survivor.

After I figured out what was happening, I moved up and pointed my rifle at the Enclave ponies. The scene I saw was… bad.

One of them, the pony with the yellow ears, was dead. There were many wounds all over her torso. The second pony, a pegasi with a blood red coat and mane, was completely unable to do anything as Starry punched and kicked. She was on the verge of passing out, almost unable to move and try to defend herself against the thestral.

Her power armor was probably the only thing keeping her from being beaten to death. Starry showed no mercy, she continued to attack the pony even as it stopped moving. I just stood there, unsure if I should do anything. A few steps behind me indicated Barin had made his way towards us, he stood besides me.

After a few quick moments of deliberation, I decided I couldn't let the enclave pony die, she was our only way to discover what the fuck was going on.

Just as Starry began to lift her blades, I stepped forward and raised a hand. "Stop it, we need her alive!"

Her eyes widened for a second, as if she had just realized I was there, and it was quickly replaced by a frown. "Why would you care about this bitch?"

"She's the best chance we have to know more about this, we need to interrogate her."

"Bullshit! keeping her around would only bring more of enclave troopers on your heads, it's too dangerous!" We already killed several ponies here, these people have plenty of reasons to attack us and I doubt a single prisoner would change much.

I gestured to the scene around us. "It's already too late, look around you!" Starry didn't replied right away, I think she understood I wasn't going to let her kill the enclave pony. We were stuck in a risky situation the moment we decided to come here, what's a little more? I wasn't about to leave that place empty handed, not after all the trouble we went through, I needed answers.

She looked away and lowered her blades. "Fine, take the bastard with you, but don't come crying if a small army comes after you," She stepped away from the pegasus (who was still breathing).

Once I was sure Starry wasn't going to attack the pony, I turned to Barin, who had watched the whole argument in silence. "Tell Akio and Suvorov to come here, we need to regroup, gather what we can and get the hell out of here," He just nodded at me, "I'll go find Dima..."

More and more questions to answer. The deeper we venture through this wasteland, the more problems we stumble upon. Dealing with the Militia and the Confederacy is difficult enough, last thing I need is one more heavily armed faction to worry about. Even with the help coming from Ministry Square I doubt we will have an easy time.

Taking a prisoner is a big gamble, but perhaps we can get some useful information out of this. It's not like we have any other way to understand what's happening.

-x-

Footnote: Level Up!

Explosives: 70

New Perk: Splash Damage - Explosives have a 25% larger area of effect.

Author's Note

I'm sorry for how long this took to write. Over the last year I haven't had a lot of free time, so progress is really slow. However, all of you must know that I won't ever stop writing this, it might take long for an update, but they will still happen.