Chaos Rules in the Wasteland

"Who the hell are you two?"

"Sir," answered John, his helmet currently off. "My name is John Griffin, and this is Twilight Sparkle. Is this the mayor's office?"

"Yeah, it is. What the hell is she?"

"I am an alicorn," answered Twilight, suppressing an exasperated groan. "Although, you probably would be more familiar with the term 'pony'."

"Never heard of either of those words. And, come to think of it, I don't really care. I'm Jon Zimmerman, mayor of The Boneyard. What can I do for you?"

"I-"

John was cut off as the Mayor began speaking again.

"Are you here for work, perhaps? I could use someone as well armed as you two."

"Actually, you could say that we're on a job already," said John. "And we figured that someone as well connected as the mayor might be able to help us."

"It is true, I do have a certain degree of power in this city," answered the mayor. "I don't give it away for free, though. What sort of help do you need?"

"Are you aware of any super mutant activity near the city?"

"Super mutants?" cried the mayor in surprise. "No, I have heard not even the faintest hint! Those things don't dare come into the city, they'd be shot on sight. If they came into the city, they wouldn't last very long."

"I see," answered John in disappointment. "Thank you for your assistance. We'll be on our way."

"Hold on," cried the mayor. "At least hear me out on that job I mentioned earlier."

"We're pressed for time," said John doubtfully. "But alright. I'll at least listen to your offer."

"That's all I'm asking," said the mayor. "Have you ever dealt with a vicious murdering band of thieves before?"

"That's the job?"

"Have you?" repeated the mayor.

"I've killed a number of raider gangs," said John guardedly. "Is that the kind of murderers you mean?"

"Worse," answered the mayor. "You know how ruthless and bloodthirsty they can be, but the Blades are the worst of them all, I'm afraid. We're a humble, god fearing town that is only trying to survive, and these... these... monsters..."

He took a deep breath.

"The leader of the Blades had son kidnapped, tortured and killed. They left him impaled on a post right outside the gates."

"Damn," whispered John. "How the hell did they get into the city? There are guards all over the place!"

"They live in the city!" screamed the mayor. "I hired the regulators to keep shit like them out of The Boneyard, but they refuse to take action against the blades because, I quote, 'There is no proof that they were responsible'."

"There is no proof that any of them are guilty of murder?" asked John. "I take it that they act at least somewhat civilized when they deal with your guard."

"They're murderers, not idiots. They're hiding their true nature. That makes them even more dangerous than some raider gang in the wasteland. And if the regulators won't take them out, then I need someone who will. Will you do it?"

John didn't speak for a moment, but finally he answered with, "I'll look into it."

"Thank the gods. Finally, my son shall be avenged. I'll give you two thousand caps to kill their leader! I want that bitch's head! The Blades' camp is to the north of here. Come back when you've done the job."

John ignored the concerned look from Twilight. "Goodbye, Mister Zimmerman."

John and Twilight walked out of the mayor's office.

"John," said Twilight worriedly.

"Not right now," said John hurriedly. "Let's get away from here first."

Before leaving the building, John stopped to put his helmet back on. He then opened the front door and stepped outside and Twilight followed. They found themselves on the streets. John stopped and turned to Twilight.

"We're not doing that job."

"Oh, thank goodness!" cried Twilight in relief. "I was thinking of Gizmo, actually. I didn't mind trying to arrest him. We had proof of his crime, and we didn't go to him with the intent of killing him, he and his bodyguard pulled guns on us and we had to defend ourselves.

"But this is another matter altogether. The regulators are right. They haven't seen any proof that the Blades are actually responsible, and even if there was evidence, murdering them out of revenge just simply isn't the answer. I just have one question though. Why did you tell him that you would 'look into it'? The poor man is going to be waiting for news that will never come."

"I know," muttered John in frustration. "I hate having to make choices like this. But I had the feeling that if I outright refused him, he would have been pissed. I don't know if he would have ignored us afterward, but he just might be desperate enough to take vengeance on anyone who so much as pisses him off. I didn't want to take that risk."

"Do you really think he would have done such a thing? Just because we said no?"

"Yes. He might have."

Twilight sighed.

"Well, hopefully we'll never see the man ever again. In any case, I think that we might have hit another dead end. We've spent a couple of days in the city looking for leads, and then when we finally asked the mayor, he didn't have anything for us either. I think we might need to move on."

John didn't answer. Twilight realized that he was John was looking over her head. She turned around and was startled to see a man standing behind her.

"Either tell us what you want or keep walking," said John.

"My name is Miles," said the man. "I heard that two... persons fitting your description have been asking about super mutant activity around here."

"You mean you actually have something for us?" cried John in surprise.

"I do. But I won't help you without you doing a small favor in return."

John sighed. "Of course. What do you need?"

"I am a chemist. I have the greatest scientific understanding of any resident of the entire Boneyard. I built the Town's water distiller as well as the hydroponic farms. But we have a serious problem. The hydroponics farm stopped working quite some time ago and we have to buy our food from traveling merchants. I would fix the farms myself, but for all of my knowledge, there are some things that simply cannot be done without the proper parts."

"I see," said John. "So you want me to go pick up the parts you need from another town? It's just that my friend and I are rather in a rush."

"Do not worry about that. The parts that I need are not far away. We have replacement parts stored in a warehouse here in the city."

"So... Why don't you go get them?" asked John in confusion.

"I'll tell you why," said Miles. "Because that warehouse just happens to now be a nesting ground for a mother deathclaw and her children. That is why I am asking you. If anybody can exterminate those creatures, it would be a fully armored member of the Brotherhood of Steel."

"How did you know that I'm in the Brotherhood?" asked John in confusion.

"I am familiar with that armor. It is a model T-51 powered infantry armor. The back-mounted TX-28 microfusion pack generates sixty thousand Watts to power the HiFlo hydraulic systems built into the frame of the suit. They were the pinacle of protection before the war, and the microfusion pack will theoretically last for approximately one thousand years if the suit isn't in active use. It is the strongest protection that I am aware of, and the only place it exists here on the west coast is with the Brotherhood of Steel. I've never seen a suit this close up before, actually."

"That's actually pretty impressive. You've never even seen a suit before and you know all that?" said John in surprise.

"I read about it somewhere. Here's another one: The Rockwell CZ53 personal minigun is the model of minigun that those mutants that you were talking about use, although they are not the only ones that carry it. I actually occasionally help make five millimeter bullets, which is the kind of ammo that miniguns use. That is how we buy our food. We manufacture ammunition to trade for food. Anyway, it holds one hundred and twenty rounds of five millimeter, which it fires at over sixty thousand RPM...

"Wait a sec," said Miles in confusion. "That can't be right..."

"What can't be right?" asked John.

"Sixty thousand RPM is one thousand rotations per second," explained Twilight. "Or one rotation every single millisecond. Miniguns fire fast, but not quite that fast."

"I swear that that's what the book said," said Miles.

"You probably added an extra zero or two by mistake," said Twilight.

"You're probably right," admitted Miles. "Anyway, about that job. Do either of you two have any experience with killing a deathclaw?"

"I saw pictures of them in the Brotherhood's base," said John. "And when I asked, the others told me that they are basically the fastest, most deadly thing you can have the misfortune of running into in the wasteland. I've never actually so much as seen one in real life, though."

"Those men are right to fear the deathclaw," said Miles. "Their monstrous claws will tear open anything, I mean anything that they can catch, and they can catch everything. The best way to deal with them is to lure them into a trap, or else sneak up behind them and hit them hard enough that they don't get the opportunity to retaliate. So, will you do it?"

"Miles, I understand that you're survival might very well depend on getting those parts. You've got a deal...

"But. You had better have some real information for me when I finish the job. If I find out that you used me only to not be able to uphold your end of the bargain..."

John let the threat hang in the air.

"I swear that I will have information for you," assured Miles.

"Good. So, would you be so kind as to show me on my pip-boy map where I need to go?"

"I would say 'I can't believe we are doing this'," whispered Twilight, "but considering all the trouble that we seem to get up to, I think I can believe it."

"Let's just try to keep quiet for now," whispered John, gaze locked onto the warehouse. "Let's get a little closer and see if we can scope out the inside, but don't speak. If they hear us, we'll probably get swarmed."

"Alright. I'm right behind you."

Twilight and John cautiously crept closer. Twilight cringed every time John took a step and the power armor's hydraulics did their work, but it was quiet enough and no deathclaws came to investigate. They eventually reached a point where they could see through the half-broken front door and crouched down to help avoid being seen. Twilight pulled out her sniper rifle and used the scope to peer inside the building.

Fortunately, the warehouse was falling apart and light was shone through the roof and walls in several places, leaving the interior relatively well lit. She immediately saw the deathclaws roaming around inside.

She took her time and counted them. When she was sure that she had spotted them all, she lowered her gun and looked over to John.

He silent held up a finger. And then he raised another finger, and then another, and then he held out his palms in front of him, symbolizing that he wanted her to answer an unspoken question.

Twilight used her front right hoof to grab at her front left leg, and then her front left hoof to grab at her front right leg.

John held up two fingers.

Twilight shook her head in frustration and then put her hooves on both of her hind legs too.

John held up four fingers.

Twilight nodded.

That was way too hard, thought Twilight. Sometimes, it must be nice having fingers.

Twilight watched as John put a hand under his chin in thought. Suddenly, he turned around, still crouching, and unzipped a pocket on his backpack.

Twilight realized what he was after moments before he pulled it out. He was now holding the makeshift microfusion grenade.

The deathclaws are moving together as a pack, she thought. A well tossed grenade could potentially harm them all at once. Assuming it works as intended... No, it will definitely work. I've worked it all out in my head dozens of times. The grenade CAN'T explode the instant it is primed. It will take at least a couple of second to explode.

Twilight nodded to John uneasily.

In response, John began to creep toward the warehouse. Twilight followed after him.

John was careful to avoid walking in front of the door. He managed to sneak all the way against the outer wall. He crept toward the open door and cautiously took a peek inside.

All four deathclaws were standing together.

He quickly withdrew his head from the doorway. He now knew their location, and he knew that he needed to act immediately before they moved again.

He crushed the regulator on the microfusion grenade and immediately jumped in front of the door-way before throwing it toward the deathclaws.

The grenade landed at their feet. It exploded and in a shower of green energy before the creatures could react to John's sudden appearance.

The deathclaws screamed horrible reptilian screams. As the green energy dissipated away, John saw that one of the deathclaws was rushing toward him.

He backed away from the door and waited for the creature to come to him.

What is he doing? thought Twilight in terror as she watched, pointing the sniper rifle at the deathclaw but unable to take a shot because John was still standing in front of the door way.

As the deathclaw drew close, it jumped into the air toward John with it's claws outstretched.

It collided with the head of John's super sledge in mid-air. The extremely forceful blow sent the creature sailing through the air in the direction that it came from.

Twilight stared in shock. Did he plan that?

John then pulled the laser rifle out and pointed it through the doorway before walking inside.

Twilight followed after him in confusion.

The other three deathclaws were more badly injured than the first. They were all limping.

John fired the laser rifle in rapid succession at one, hitting it in the chest several times.

Twilight watched the relatively helpless monster was hit again and again.

It's not limping away from danger, she realized. It's limping TOWARD John, determined to tear him apart if it's the last thing it ever does. And it will be.

Having now reconciled her emotions, she pointed the sniper rifle at another of the deathclaws and fired at its head. It's body was thrown backward toward the floor from the force of the bullet, dead. She took aim at the last deathclaw and dispatched it in a similar manner.

"Nice shooting," said John. "Is that all of them? That was really loud, so-"

Suddenly a monstrous roar echoed through the warehouse.

Twilight and John turned toward a corner of the room and saw a particularly large deathclaw climb up a previously unseen staircase.

"Shit!" screamed John. He hastily shot at it a few times with the laser rifle, which apparently only enraged it and caused it to sprint toward him.

"SHIT!" screamed John as his rifle clattered to the ground and he took off running in the opposite direction.

The deathclaw was significantly faster. It would catch John within mere seconds.

As Twilight tried to keep the creature's head in the scope, she quickly realized that it was moving much too fast for her to keep a steady aim and she instead settled for a body shot and fired.

The deathclaw roared in pain, but the bullet did nothing to slow it down. It leaped at John and fell on top of him. He staggered as he attempted to remain standing with the giant deathclaw on top of him, but it quickly forced him off of his feet and he fell to the ground on his rear.

Another shot from the sniper rifle didn't stop it.

The deathclaw shoved it's face in front of John's and roared at him, giving him a very clear impression of the face of death, and then it swung it's gigantic claws into his chest, trying to tear it open. John started screaming very loud.

Now that the deathclaw was staying in one place, Twilight managed to line up the sniper rifle with its head. She fired again.

The deathclaw's head recoiled away from her as it took the force of the bullet. The deathclaw stopped clawing at John and turned around. It began to sprint in her direction. John scrambled to his feet again and picked up his super sledge, which he had been forced to drop when the deathclaw had jumped on him. He sprinted after the monster.

Twilight magically pulled her robe off and threw it to the ground. Her wings withdrew from her sides and she pushed off the ground and into the air, flying out of the creature's reach right before it reached her. It stopped and looked up at her, screaming in rage.

John's super sledge smashed into it's spine, throwing it off of it's feet. It tried to get up, but John unleashed a flurry of blows that knocked it down before it could get back up.

You like this shit? he screamed in rage toward the deathclaw. Not so fun when it happens to you!"

Twilight landed on the ground again and pointed the sniper rifle at the deathclaw uncertainly, but didn't fire. She knew that it already wouldn't be getting up again.

The deathclaw kept scrambling and screaming right up until the point when a blow from the sledge finally caused it's chest to rupture and splatter blood all over the floor.

John finally stopped swinging the super sledge and examined the corpse cautiously, gasping for breath.

"That thing is dead," he huffed. "No question about it. I guess we found momma..."

"John, your chest!" cried Twilight.

John looked down at himself.

"Ugh," he groaned. "Damn it, would look at the size of that gash! It tore the power armor wide open! How are we going to fix that?"

"John, all of this blood! Hold still, we have to stop the bleeding!"

Twilight levitated a stimpack into the gash in John's armor and gave John an injection.

"It's not that bad," protested John. "Well, okay, it's bad There's no doubt about it, that's going to leave a hell of a scar. But the power armor got it way worse than I did. To think though, if I didn't have it, I would be so dead."

Twilight didn't speak as she cleaned John's wound.

"You know, I'm statistically not a very lucky man. The odds are against me. I should have died many times over by now. But I'm still here. Maybe your luck is compensating for mine."

"You can have it all," said Twilight. "Whatever it takes."

"I'm not sure that it really works like that," said John with a huff. "Besides, I can't let you do that. Then you'll have no luck left for yourself."

"We'll just have to share it then, won't we?"

"I guess so.

"Hey," continued John. "Thank you for taking care of this so quickly, really," he said, indicating his wound. "It didn't affect me before, but I'm starting to get a little light headed. I'm sure it would have been way worse if I had put off taking care of it."

"... You are welcome John. I'm sure you would do the same for me."

"Huh, you know, I would," said John. "I was putting it off for myself because I figured I could handle it, but if you ever got hurt, I really would drop everything to help you.

"But, you know. Only if we're not in danger at the moment. I'm not going to drop everything if there's a super mutant trying to gave my skull in. And I'd help you because I don't actually know for sure how painful it is for you and whether or not you can take it, so I'd be quick about it just to be on the safe side, and-"

"John."

"What?"

"You've ruined the moment."

"Sorry."

"I've done everything that I can," said Twilight. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Are you kidding? We only took on five deathclaws. Of course I'm going to be okay."

"Glad to see that your sense of humor is still in tact."

"It is? Good thing I have you around to tell me. I couldn't tell."

Twilight gave John a look.

John cleared his throat. "Seriously, I feel fine now. Anyhow, we have a job to do."

"Alright."

Twilight put her protective purple robe back on and then followed John down the stairs.

When she saw what was at the bottom, she gasped.

"Looks like the mother was still guarding a clutch of eggs," said John.

"John?"

"What?"

"Can you... not smash them?"

"Are you sure?" asked John. "Would you really rather use our ammunition?"

"It's just that... It's terrible and gruesome enough already as it is without getting close to them. And... also... I'm scared that they'll hatch all of the sudden if you get close."

"You do realize that the odds of that happening are quite low?"

"Yes, I know, it's stupid and irrational, but please, I would really feel better if we use the laser to... take care of them instead. You don't have to worry about ammo, remember, I can recharge the cells later."

John pulled out the laser rifle. "Alright then. I'll take care of it."

"And I'll-" Twilight stammered. She turned away from John. "I'll look for those replacement parts that we came her for while you do that!"

When Sparkle awoke in her bed, she became fully conscious in almost an instant, although she didn't move just yet. A single thought rang through her head.

Today is the day.

Several emotions ran through her mind. There was some anxiety, and there was some wonder as to what her future would hold now that she was about to take the next big step. But ultimately, excitement was the strongest of all.

She continued to lay in her bed. It wasn't quite time yet, and she had nowhere to go in the meantime. It seemed to her that a thousand different thoughts ran through her head as she waited.

Eventually, she heard the door to her room open. She knew who it was. She sat up in her bed and looked toward Commander Patterson.

"You're up early, I see. Excited?"

"Yes," admitted Sparkle. "I am. I actually didn't manage to get to sleep for several hours last night."

"You're not feeling tired, are you?"

"No!" cried Sparkle. "Not in the slightest!"

"Good."

Patterson considered her for a moment.

"I see that you slept with the prototype headgear still on."

"It has been months since I've had an accidental discharge while asleep," said Sparkle honestly. "But that doesn't mean I should stop. I have to ensure that my body is trained to not to trigger the neural interface when I'm asleep."

"You have certainly done your part for preparation. I do say, it's a good thing that you seem to have stopped growing, finally, else we might have put this off. I was afraid that you were going to get to be taller than I am. So, are you interested in breakfast?"

"Can we skip it today?" asked Sparkle.

Patterson let out a laugh.

"I thought you might say that. That's why I brought you this."

He tossed a yellow package at her, which she caught in her magic.

"You definitely shouldn't be skipping a meal today, of all days. At least have some supplement. You can down it on the way to the workshop."

"Alright," answered Sparkle unenthusiastically.

"Aha! Commander Patterson! And Sparkle too! I've been expecting you two!"

"Shultz, you nutty grease monkey!" said Patterson. "I didn't know that you would be giving her orientation."

"Well, somebody has to do it."

"How's my own suit?" asked Patterson. "You wipe all the dust off?"

"Shiny and new, commander."

"Good, good. Sparkle?"

"Yes sir?" said Sparkle.

"This is Shultz. He's one of the men who takes care of the power armor. If you break something, he fixes it."

"Pleasure to meet you, Shultz." Sparkle extended her hoof toward the man. He looked at her uncomprehendingly for a moment before shaking it with his hand.

"Not that that happens very often," said Shultz. "The suits can withstand just about anything. Mostly we just make sure that everything is squeaky clean. Or sit our asses."

"And... My special suit is no exception?" asked Sparkle.

"Oh, it's definitely an exception," said Shultz. "But not in a bad way. No expense was spared in making it the best of the best. You are unique, after all. I trust that you'll put it to good use."

"You can count on it," said Sparkle in full confidence.

"Wait until you see it," said Shultz, rubbing his gloved palms together in glee. "We've nick-named it 'the rhino'. Once you see it, you'll see why. Come this way."

Sparkle and Patterson followed Shultz and he led them across the workshop. Sparkle turned her head left and right, examining each suit standing at their stations, searching for the suit that would obviously be custom built especially for her.

"There it is!" cried Shultz.

Sparkle looked toward where Shultz was pointing and she saw it. She eyed the special power armor in wonder.

Indeed, the armor immediately made her think of a rhinoceros. It was so large that would actually double her width, and also was as tall as an unarmored human. The front shoulder plates were so enormous that they almost encompassed the entire helmet, giving a very effective impression of impenetrable defense.

The helmet itself was similar to the helmets for the regular soldiers. The orange eyes were made to be larger. But the most noticeable difference between her helmet and others, other than the altered shape, was the large spike jutting from the forehead that would protect her horn. The scientists had been delighted when they discovered that physically obstructing her horn had no effect on her abilities whatsoever.

Of course, the suit also had multiple energy capacitors on the shoulders and helmet, specially tuned to safely channel power into Sparkle's skull through the neural interface in order to energize and enhance her powers. Learning to use this energy had been the primary focus of her training up until now.

"It resembles the conventional tesla power armor in most ways," explained Shultz as he stopped about a dozen feet away from the armor. The basic design is of course based on plans confiscated from Nicola Tesla himself after his death. It particularly excels in defending against any form of energy, whether that be lasers, plasma, radiation, or... acid."

Sparkle tilted her head in curiosity at the emphasized word, but Shultz didn't elaborate.

"Also, like conventional suits, it includes a... ah, a recycling system that can... convert waste into drinkable water. Yes, I know, I get that look from everyone when they first learn about that. I swear, the end product is molecularly one hundred percent H20. You will be able to wear the suit indefinitely without ever needing to take it off for any reason whatsoever. It will take care of everything that you need. Aaanyway, it is also air conditioned, keeping you comfortable in just about any environment, and the helmet has a built in filter that will allow you to breath safely even when standing in poisonous gas. It will not, I repeat, not, allow you to breath water. Ever since a particular unfortunate incident, we've been obligated to tell everyone that.

"And finally, the helmet of course has the latest version of your special neuro-gear built into it, complete with fine tunings and optimizations that should correct the short-comings of the prototype. Unlike other helmets, it does have to parts that you have to be locked together. Your head just doesn't allow for something that you can just slide on and off. The cables are to be attached and detached with the helmet off. Do not attempt to attach or detach the cables with the helmet locked in. I ordinarily wouldn't have to say that, but you are uniquely capable of doing so, Sparkle. The reason for this is that you'll basically blow the computer's mind if you change whether the cables are in or not while the helmet's systems are online. It's a stupid bug, but it shouldn't actually ever cause problems just so long as you are aware of it.

"Now then, I'm afraid that the one and only outright inferiority that your suit has in comparison to conventional power armor is that you will require assistance to get in and out of it. I'm afraid that your body shape doesn't lend itself well to the entry design, so we'll have to actually lower you into the armor from above. So, are you ready to give it a try?"

"Lowered from above?" said Sparkle. "That is unfortunate. I expect that I won't changing in and out of it very frequently."

"Hopefully, you won't want to," said Shultz. "Although, you may wish to climb out for maintenance. It's either that or you sit inside for an hour or so, sometimes longer, while we do our thing."

"Well, I'm ready," said Sparkle, her heart thumping.

"Alright. Ah, we'll just need to attach this harness..."

"A crane?" cried Sparkle, clearly unhappy.

"A necessary part of the process I'm afraid."

"This is so undignified!"

"Don't worry, none of the soldiers are here to see."

Finally, Sparkle was set into the armor and the harness detached and then the top of the armor sealed.

Sparkled huffed.

"Whoa. This feels... weird."

"Remember the orientation that I gave you," said Patterson. "You won't be able to move properly if you fight the servos instead of letting them help you."

"No, it's not that," said Sparkle. "The electrical field kicked in, and I'm in the middle of it, and I feel... weird."

"Ah, yes, some people in tesla suits can feel it," said Shultz. "Not all, but some. The armor shields you from ninety nine percent of it, but there is that last one percent that you can feel. It's basically harmless. You'll get used to it. So, try walking around."

Her first few steps were uneasy, but as soon as she worked out how Patterson's instructions applied to the real experience, it quickly became easy.

"Excellent," said Shultz. "Now we just have the helmet left. Do you want the commander or I to plug you in, or would you rather do it yourself?"

"I'll do it," said Sparkle. "It will be less of a shock if I do it myself."

"Literally," said Shultz as the helmet floated toward Sparkle.

She positioned the helmet and opened it. Then she took hold of the cable bundle (which thankfully plugged in all together at once) and positioned it behind her skull. She magically brushed her mane out of the way and held her breath, and then quickly plugged in.

She yelped in shock and the power capacitors on the suit released a few small lightning bolts.

"I'm sorry!" she cried. "I tried to brace myself as best as I could, but I wasn't prepared for that much raw power!"

"Everything's fine," assured Shultz. "We've dealt with tesla armor before, if not quite like yours. There's a reason we wear rubber, and you didn't actually hit anybody. It really wasn't that bad."

"I'll still do better next time though," said Sparkle. "I swear."

She sighed and then pulled the helmet over her head, finally locking it in place.

"Well, there you have it," said Shultz. "How do you feel?"

"I feel powerful."

"Good," said Patterson. He was now in his own power armor. She didn't even notice him climb inside. "Do you think you're up for a trial run?"

"What?" said Sparkle in shock. "You mean right now?"

"Yes, now. There's a vertibird waiting for us."

"Why didn't you tell me?" cried Sparkle. "Let's hurry and get over there!"

"Well, I didn't want to distract you," said Patterson, walking away. Sparkle followed after him.

"We'll see you after a while, Shultz," said Patterson.

"Any idea about when you'll be back?"

"Probably late," said Patterson. "You probably won't be on duty."

"Oh well. Later!"

As Sparkle followed Patterson through the base, she asked, "Where are we going? What are we doing?"

"I'll explain when we're on the vertibird," said Patterson. "It will help pass the time."

Patterson brought her outside and approached a vertibird. The engine was already running.

"This is our ride. Hop on."

Sparkle did so with minimal difficulty.

"Alright, let's go!" shouted Patterson to the pilot. The vertibird took off. Sparkle watched as the ground below became distant."

"Alright, briefing time," said Patterson. "And I do mean brief. One of our outposts stopped reporting in. We sent a couple of soldiers to see what happened, and they reported that the place was apparently built on top of an ant nest. And we're not talking about the teeny tiny pre-war ants like you've seen in the historical documents, we're talking about the mutant wasteland ants that are the size of a dog. Or a person.

"That first squad wasn't equipped to take out an entire nest of ants though, so we pulled them out. You and I, we're the exterminators. We're shutting down the nest for good. The primary objective is to assassinate the queen. Removing the other ants is a secondary objective, but one that we are certainly going to do many, many times."

"Wait a second," said Sparkle in realization. "This isn't a trial run. It's not some sort of training sequence that you invented, or training against captive creatures. This is... real."

"The best way to learn is to do," said Patterson. "I have no doubt that you will be able to handle it. When it comes down to it, they're just ants. A nuisance.

"However, there is one thing that is unusual about this particular group of ants. They can all spit acid. It's nothing you'll have to be scared of as such, but it does complicate things slightly. Do try to not get hit. It's a pain in the butt for Shultz and the boys to touch up the armor again."

Eventually, the vertibird landed. The outpost turned out to be little more than a metal shed with some advanced equipment laying inside, abandoned.

"Look, there's one already," said Patterson. He fired his plasma rifle at an ant a short distance away, hitting it in the head and killing it.

"That's where the entrance to the nest is," said Patterson.

Immediately after he spoke, another ant crawled out of the ground near the dead one.

"Oh boy. I do believe that we are about to be swarmed."

A huge bolt of lightning arced through the air and struck the ant. Two more ants came into sight.

"Good grief, there's no need to put so much power into it! Talk about overkill!" cried Patterson. "I know your suit isn't going to run out of power, but don't wear yourself out!"

"Sorry. I'm still getting used to this."

Half a dozen more ants appeared in the time that they had been talking.

"That said..." continued Patterson. "You know that thing that you do where the lightning arcs between all the bad guys? Now would be a good time to do that."

"I was thinking the same thing."

Patterson watched as electrical sparks shot from Sparkle's horn as she built up a charge, which transformed into a torrent of destructive energy as the charge was released. When he turned to look at the ants, he saw that they were all dead.

"Here come even more. Let's meet them half way."

The pair pushed forward, shooting and zapping every ants that poured through the entrance. When they reached the entrance themselves, they were still killing ants that continued to come at them.

"You would think that the stupid things would figure out that all their brothers and sisters are slaughtered so easily and give up," said Patterson.

"Just sisters," said Sparkle. "The worker and soldier drones are all infertile females."

"Whatever. Who cares?" said Patterson as he fired plasma at the army of ants running up the tunnel.

"I'm going to fire a high power beam into the tunnel," said Sparkle. "Everything inside in a straight line will be hit."

Patterson looked through the tunnel and guessed that there were several dozen ants inside.

Sparkle charged up another bolt and blasted it into the tunnel.

"Hmm. Well, then," said Patterson vaguely. "I guess we push forward."

They didn't get very far.

"Umm, the way forward is kind of blocked with ant corpses."

"Yes, this passage is thoroughly constipated," agreed Patterson. "Hang on."

He fired his rifle into the mass of ants over and over again. More and more of the pile melted away as green goo. Only when all of the bodies were melted did he stop.

"Was that really worth it?" asked Sparkle.

"It's plasma. Cheap as dirt to make more."

"It is?" said Sparkle doubtfully.

"Well. No. But I was not about to drag those things out of the tunnel one at a time."

"Hey!" said Patterson to Sparkle. They were now much deeper into the nest. They had been shooting ants nearly constantly, and they now had a rare moment of peace.

"We've been in here for a while now. Eat this."

He tossed her another yellow bag. Sparkle caught it and looked at him. Patterson had little doubt that if she wasn't wearing a helmet, she would have a bemused expression on her face.

"More supplements?" she cried. "Really?"

"Get used to it," said Patterson. "Most other things you can't eat without taking your helmet off. I'll keep watch, and then when you finish you keep watch for me."

"Ugh, I was just starting to enjoy myself too."

"You weren't happy to be exterminating these mutant creatures at the beginning?"

"No, I was, but I was also somewhat nervous. But, well... You were right. These things are nothing to be afraid of.

"Well, Shultz isn't going to be happy that you let yourself get hit with acid a few times, but I can't talk, I got hit too. You might ought to be afraid of the queen though. In our experience, her acid is rather more potent. Actually, even in colonies that don't have acid spitting drones, the at least queens usually still have that ability. It's probably a mutation in this particular species."

"Oh, BLEUGH!" cried Sparkle in disgust, pulling away from the large cavern that housed the subject of her disgust. "I knew what a queen is supposed to look like, but to actually see a giant one in close detail... I think I might actually be sick."

"Don't throw up in your helmet," Patterson warned. "It gets all kinds of messy."

"What kind of hideously revolting existence it would be to be born as an ant queen! Who wants half of their body to be a bloated, white, slimy, sack of- eugh, let's kill it, quick!"

"Do take care not to let it spit on you. It will actually hurt, unlike all of those drones."

"I can handle it."

Sparkle charged up her magic, the capacitors on the armor sparking miniature lightning, and then let it hold in her horn before peering around the corner back at the ant queen and firing lightning at it. Patterson's vision went completely white for a moment from the light that it gave off.

A ball of acidic spit shot past as Sparkle dove back into cover.

"Well, you were right about her being tough," remarked Sparkle. "She didn't die from one hit."

"You want me to finish her off?"

"No, I want this one."

She charged up again and blasted the queen once more.

Sparkle automatically pulled back into cover again, but when she peered at the queen again, it was collapsed on the ground. She cautiously stepped out into the open and queen didn't react.

"Pretty sure it's dead," Sparkle called.

"I'm going to make sure," said Patterson.

He stepped in front of the queen and took aim at her head and blasted his plasma rifle a few times. The head turned to goo and dripped to the floor.

"Yep, pretty sure it's dead," he agreed. "Well done. Mission accomplished. Somebody will probably be sent to secure the site as soon as we get back."

"Yeah, well, I just hope we can remember the way out of here. These ant catacombs go all over the place."

"Your power armor has a built in mapping feature," said Patterson. "It remembers how we got here in the first place. We can just follow it out."

"That's a feature?" cried Sparkle in surprise.

"It is. It's a handle little thing, isn't it?"