Hand Banana Presents...
A
Lost
Soul,
Returned
Prologue
In the dark, dead streets of Boston, in the thunder and rain, was a woman, clad in a dark grey jacket, well worn jeans and brown work boots. Her dyed pink hair with streaks of grey was done up in a tight bun, a brown camping backpack slung over her shoulder, and a pistol was tucked into the back of her pants, ready for action.
She walked in the pitch-black alleyways, eyeing everything that looked like potential cover for an ambush... Or a place to smash someone's skull into if they pissed her off. She spotted a man in the darkness, leaning up on a wall by two dumpsters, if she was correct, that hid his backup.
"Hey there," He approached, turning on a flashlight that he had pulled out. "You are the one James sent? Didn't tell me you were a broad, a pretty one at that."
"Say that again, or I'll smash your skull into the wall." Fluttershy snarled, giving her a better look at her new 'partner'.
"Hey, no need to be mad, girl..." He said in a southern accemnt, raising his hand up in emphasis. "I won't."
The man was slightly tanned, pretty tall and was well worn with age. His dirty blonde hair was streaked with grey, he had a full beard with an equal amount of grey his hair had and he had pale blue eyes. He stepped forward, and as Fluttershy suspected, had some backup step out from behind the dumpsters, hefting weapons ranging from Bowie knives to Remington tactical shotguns. One of his lackeys, a portly man with a shaved head and stubble, handed Fluttershy an AK-47.
"Here, a present from James." He said in a raspy voice, stepping back into the gang of malcontents she had to work with.
She inspected the rifle, noticing that it was well worn and used, the metal had faded a bit, the wood was rough and grey-ish and the pistol grip had tape wrapped around it. She pulled out the magazine and much to her surprise it was full.
"Ah, I forgot." The southern man began. "Name's Kane." He held out his hand and Fluttershy shook it.
"I'm Shyanne." She replied, using an alias she had adopted."
"Shyanne... Quite a name, I'll say that." He paused." Alright, this here's the crew. We got Jameson," He pointed to a young, black haired man holding aRemington in his hands. "Jonathan," Kane pointed to the man who handed her the AK. "And this here's Walter." He finally pointed to a man with long, greasy hair and a trimmed mustache, twirling a large knife between his fingers.
Kane pulled out a weapon of his own, a snub-nose .38 revolver that was common in the area.
"Shall we get to work?"
Fluttershy thought about home; about her friends, her cottage, Angel, everybody back home in Equestria. She had these idle thoughts, now and again. Fluttershy had basically given up any hope of getting back home, it's been around almost a year since she last thought of home. She didn't pay any attention to the bickering of the group of men behind her, as she was solely fixed on her thoughts alone.
Oh, how she missed the complete nonsensical randomness of Pinkie Pie, Rarity's favors for dress modeling, watching Rainbow Dash practice and invent new stunts, Applejack's apple fritters and above all, Twilight's bookish nature. She had feelings for her, Fluttershy did. On how she dreamed of raking her fingers through Twilight's hair, having fantasies of them being married or even having a child, on how that was possible and just the overall notion of being together. Indeed, home was a pleasant thing to think of during these dark, dangerous times. But not right now, she decided.
Not during a job.
The rain was coming down in blobs rather than drops, and Fluttershy's grey jacket wasn't doing much against it. She turned her head toward the mall, recalling an incident where the body of a young Firefly was discovered, having been infected and put down. The street that Fluttershy, Kane and his crew were walking down was rather distant from the main streets that military vehicles rode through. Thunder sounded off above, along with lightning flashing not even two seconds after.
"Rain ain't letting up yet." Fluttershy said aloud, receiving a remark from Walter.
"Seems that way." Walter said as he leisurely strode down the empty Boston street. "Kane, it's gotta be us? Just a skeleton crew?"
"Eeyup, we need less of a presence if we want to please James, that crooked sumbitch." Kane spat as he then turned his eyes to Fluttershy's ass, inspecting the fine piece of derriere before letting out a whistle. "Damn, ain't that a sight to behold..."
"What, the ocean or my ass?" Fluttershy said, annoyed by Kane's antics.
"What happens if Ah say both?"
"I'll castrate you with a rusty pair of scissors about my ass." Fluttershy seethed as she gazed out onto the sea. She could feel Kane's unpleasantness.
"Damn, Kane. Every dame you talk to, you always rile them up in some sort of fashion." Jameson snickered as he caught up to the group, having been wandering around the area. A sound, a can being kicked, startled the group as they came to a halt in the middle of the street.
"Shit, hide!" Fluttershy whispered as the group scrambled for cover.
"... than I said to her, 'Oh, well you should of thought of your fucking choice rather than just walking up to a kid and fucking stealing his ration cards,'..." A masculine, almost baritone voice rang out down the street, presumably a military patrol. "Then she just says 'I'll fucking kick you in the dick so hard, you'll ne inverted.' She has issues, man."
"Yeah, tell me about it." A second chimed, his voice just a bit higher.
"You hear 'bout Robert yet?" The first voice said to his partner.
"Yeah, slippery fuck had what's coming to him. They say that Joel and Tess took him out."
"No way,"
"Yeah! Harvey said that Joel and Tess went in Warehouse 5, and fucking killed everyone in that area."
The two soldiers recounted yesterday's events, as Fluttershy and the group of hoods listened in on their conversation.
"Anyways. I doubt we'll see Joel n' Tess again." The first soldier remarked.
Fluttershy pulled out a combat knife, eyes set on the ground as she watched the two shadows of the soldiers inch closer and closer. She gripped the knife tightly, ready to take the two soldiers' lives. Once they were in reach, as the passed the wall she was hiding behind, she plunged the knife into the soldier on her left, stabbing him in the back of the head. He let out a gasp and before his partner could register what happened, he too got a knife plunged into his eye socket. Blood spurted as Fluttershy ripped the knife out of the dead soldier's skull, wiping the crimson-stained blade onto her coat.
"Damn," Kane remarked as he passed the two bodies. "Alright, take a left here, that's our spot."
"Okay," Fluttershy pulled the bolt back on her AK, chambering a round. "Let's go."
The group walked into a dark, rat-riddled alleyway, in search of the spot that they employer mentioned. Jonathon spotted an unlocked door at the end of the alley.
"Found the door." Jonathon's raspy voice called out, and like that, the group was inside a large warehouse that stored the fuel for the military's vehicles. Fuel tanks lined the first floor of the warehouse, and above hung various catwalks where the group was to meet the boss of this fuel depot.
Three men walked up to the group, specifically Fluttershy, as they intended to restrain her.
"What the hell is this, we are-"
"We." Kane pointed to himself and his lackeys. "Not you."
"Indeed." A more refined voice butted in their conversation. "I did ask for just them, and them only." His voice was laced with venom.
"But James-"
"James did not say that this woman would be here!" The man with the refined voice yelled. "For all we know, Joel and Tess, could not be far behind this cunt. You," He pointed to Kane. "Evacuate the premises. And y-" He was cut of as the man restraining Fluttershy was laying on the floor, dead. Before they could all register what just unfurled, Fluttershy fired her pistol, and hell broke loose. Gunfire sounded all throughout the fuel storage, bullets whizzing by Fluttershy. She was in a bad spot; she was pinned down near rather large fuel tanks, and she had military and gang members firing at each other and her.
Stuck in a three-way battle between military and gangmembers, Fluttershy ran from cover to cover until she found a spot, south of the place where she killed the guard. Once she entered cover, a stray bullet hit one of the tanks on her right, with fuel rapidly spewing out from the hole on the chasis. Another found itself in Fluttershy's left shoulder, blood now staining the grey jacket Fluttershy wore. She winced and sharply inhaled in pain. Another implanted itself in Fluttershy's abdomen, sending shocks of pain up her back. A few more shots, and she would be dead; or a charred corpse in a burned down warehouse.
And yet as if she was cursed, another bullet struck the fuel tank on her right, the same tank that was hit moments ago. The bullet inside the tank combusted the gasoline inside, and exploded, sending shrapnel in every direction. This prompted more explosions, and Fluttershy was caught in one. Before fire engulfed her, a sense of peace showered onto her.
Memories flashed in Fluttershy's mind, from the day she met Rainbow Dash, finding Angel Bunny, all the way to the best moments of her life, after she became friends with Rarity, Applejack, Twilight, and Pinkie Pie. Then her dreams came, from walking in a quiet, serene forest to intimate thoughts of her and Twilight. Fluttershy savored the little time of memories, as she felt herself getting lighter and lighter, and drifting off into eternal slumber...
Or at least, what she thought was death.
