Fallout Equestria: Ballad of a Rogue Ranger

Chapter twenty-one: Reboot

The light was in our favor, or lack thereof. Our stomachs were full, at least as much as a hellhound ever could be. Plus, all in all it had been a relatively relaxed trip out here to the school. Minus the snickers a certain gryphon was getting, other than that my trip here was great!

“Just as you called it,” Tumble relayed to Deacon as she looked through the scope, “I can see the turrets up top.”

The gryphon might have been right with that assumption, but while I looked off in the distance towards the school itself. Deacon tried to keep his eyes away from the peering glare of the hellhound next to him.

“So… Medic Duty?” Riff began chuckling, again, while we’d staked out the place.

How she’d heard any of that exchange knocked out for the afternoon, I didn’t know. Though the hound didn’t seem ready in the slightest to let the gryphon live it down. “For the last time,” he groaned while rubbing his beak, “Yes… medic duties…”

“Alright you two, serious time,” I had to be the party pooper and remind them why we were here in the first place.

There didn’t appear to be much in terms of a pattern with those few outside walking the area, they just stopped and went as they pleased. Good for throwing off somepony sneaking in, bad if you’re that pony. Whatever spotlights they had only faced from the front of the main building itself, though you had to wonder just how hard it was to pick out a suit of armor or a hellhound in the haze of night.

Apparently, pretty damn hard. Between the automated guns on the roof, and the gunners pacing about, neither gave our little party any heed as we crept in for a closer look at the place. Even with the relatively flat ground, and little in terms of things to hide behind. Tumble and Deacon managed to get just underneath a class room window out of the lights. That left those more cumbersome out behind the burned out remains of the schools’ sign.

Together me and the hound watched as the lights above swept side to side in the main front lawn of the building, waiting… and waiting… and- Now! Grass was a lot better at muffling the stomps of these metal hooves and paws. Smacking against the side of the building with her back, not so subtle. Before any of us could scold her, Riff reached up and opened the window above, crouching down on all fours to give us a boost.

Tumble poked her head above the edge first, and following her nod Deacon went up next, that left… “Alrighty Riff,” I whispered while watching out for any guard making their rounds, “You’re up- Next!” alrighty! Not subtle at all with that one, hadn’t expected to be hoisted up by the hound in one go and tossed through that window myself.

My hooves came to a halt across the linoleum floor, and as I looked up to meet her with my jaw still unhinged, Riff was already through herself, “What? Dog strong, remember?”

Listen there was strong, and then there was ‘Colt handling a suit of armor and throwing it’ strong. For being far lankier than those counterparts we’d run into, I had to keep reminding myself Riff definitely hadn’t lost any of her umph in those paws.

Right, back on track now. Judging from the faded posters around us, I’d have to make the assumption of history class. Assuming the country even survived long enough to become history, I wonder what the creatures writing this all down would say about this chapter in pony history? The chapter where the Steel Rangers were reviled by most of the country, where the Pegisy blocked out nearly all the sun, where you had a rag-tag bunch trying to clear out a school of trained killers.

Sliding over the floor instead of taking steps welcomed me with a little less noise from moving about in the suit. Enough at least that the gunner just outside the door stopped long enough to cock his head, and dismiss whatever he might have heard. See? Power armor can be stealthy!... or incredibly lucky, and with him out of site I pushed open the door so we could check out the next hall-

“Oh shit!” both myself and the gunner that followed the other guard yelled in unison, just as our triggers followed that same pattern.

Their 10mm sparked across the helmet plates, and even earned them a cracked visor in the process. My 12-gauge on the other hoof didn’t have to be half as accurate, combat barding included. The straps that held it to that mares’ frame all but snapped as the pellets went to work on her tissues. She collapsed to the ground in a heap, just as my head turned towards the rest of the group, and the school bell started ringing.

Somehow, I doubted class was in session…

Heavy metal smashing shut behind us wasn’t what any of us wanted to hear. In the same window frame, we’d come through a metal panel now remained. A split second later, and similar panels started to fall across the other windows along the class as the sound echoed throughout the hallway. One last hope and… nope, the door at the end of the hall also had a gate across its frame now.

Riff had enough already, and flared out her claws as she approached the panel, “No! It won’t!” and zap, “…work,” resistant to shock or not, the short hairs across her coat I could even see standing on end, and either I was seeing things or there was smoke coming from her ears. “Schools in lockdown mode…”

Something they started doing after the Littlehorn Massacre, no creature in, no creature out. Never seen it myself, and Winter hadn’t mentioned it with her school during the time. Someponies would just be over protective is all. Terrible idea if you thought about what zebras could bring into a school, things you’d want be able to evacuate from, but somepony probably thought ‘hey, at least we’ll catch the one responsible?’ during that meeting.

Riff looked about ready to try that window again, and just like that she took a swipe at it with her claws, only to get the same result… though now there appeared to be a twitch in her step. So, hellhounds were radiation proof, shock resistant, strong, and apparently very stubborn.

“Second time is not the charm in this case,” Tumbles’ head went back and forth along the hallway before coming back to me, “any way to disable the lockdown?”

“Yes, because security systems were totally in my job description…” sarcasm might not have been needed, but what about anything since she’d known me would say I knew anything about this system? Although… now that I think about it, “If anywhere, I’d imagine the principals’ office?”

Now we just had to get there…

The E.F.S. gave me nothing down the hall we faced, and if the door behind us lead outside from what it appeared. Then the only way really to go was forward down that dark passage with its emergency lighting overhead. My head bobbed forward, and just like that we started creeping down the hallway. For being a gunner outpost, you’d think they would have put in more lighting around these parts. Even a few lanterns would have made all the difference in this part of the school.

It might give our location away, but I kicked the headlamp on anyway. With any luck they’d take a shot or two at its source- And there’s the first shot! Almost like they were waiting for something to shoot at. The round struck off the helmet like the previous mare had, this time there was a whole lot more ringing in my ears from the hit… sounded like a .308.

Reflex took over at this point, and the first door on my right was kicked off its hinges. All of us piled in just as the rounds stopped, and Riff leaned out the door long enough to let one 40mm loose from her barrel. I couldn’t see the effects from inside here, but with that stream of fire suddenly falling she must have hit something.

Until it started again, how fortified was this place?

‘Right… Equestrian over engineering,’ I groaned, and made my way to the front of the classroom.

Most schools back then had to entrances at either side of the room, and this one was no different. With Riff drawing their fire from the rear, my forehoof pushed open the front door and found the sandbag embankment they’d set up as cover just in front of me. A half dozen shells should make more than quick work of this.

As the apple bundle landed at my hooves.

There was enough sense in my fight or flight response to grant me at least a leap of faith from the grenade. Though not all that far from the extra weight I’d put on with the suit, it was enough to only have half my legs shredded, and bleeding… all while the extra force from the blast put me right on top of the sandbags.

Armor integrity: 77%

Warning: Severe limb damage!

Burning in my legs or not, I don’t think the two colts staring at me cared all that much… one was still holding a grenade before he’d fully realized where I’d placed myself, and immediately his horn went for something on his- Fuck that shit! Rippers were wonderful against flesh in the war, and some of them were even sharp enough to go through armor. I wasn’t about to find out how strong my neck armor was against that.

His horn fought to press it to my throat, my horn wrestled to keep it back, as the other colt reloaded his LMG and went back to work. .308… called it, my mini started to spin, but Ripper pressed the barrels away just in time to avoid the spray. The shotty was pointless at this range, and I was getting mighty tired of just laying on my damned stomach. While I pushed myself up over the sandbags, my hoof reached out and grabbed hold of the colt. With magic we were equal, but once I got ya in my hooves…

His foreleg snapped just as fast as his will to fight, and before long his other leg was beating on mine to try and get out of it. That dropped his grasp on the ripper, and left it all to me. One swipe across his shoulder and through the neck did the job, he hit the ground trying to keep as much blood still in him as he could.

Even a potion wouldn’t fix that one bud…

At this point LMG finally took notice of the situation he was thrust in to, a little too late to do anything really. Another swing from the ripper quite literally cut him off… ha-ha! get it? because it cuts?...

That was funny to me then, and as my friends approached the sandbag mound, they could still hear me cackling. “Ahh… Ya alright there?” Deacon asked with his carbine pointing towards the corpses.

“Oh, just made myself laugh…”

“I can’t imagine over what,” why did he sound concerned all of a sudden? “I mean… with your legs…” what about them? I mean they’re searing a bit, but are they still attach-? nope, I mean yes, but still not good.

Scattered across the suit were decent sized plates missing from patches along my hind legs up to my crotch, thank the goddesses somepony decided to make that part of the suit more armored. Although seeing from those holes only blood and bits of what might have been meat start to seep out, should have been a cause for concern. Shit, was that my leg in there under the plates or chopped hay bacon?!

That Med-X injector was working overtime for this, I could barely feel a damn thing! At this rate I was probably out, but no wonder so many of these raiders are chemed up all the time. Throw enough drugs in a ponies’ system and they become a one equine army. I may not have felt it all that much, but I could see the same work being accomplished from the healing potions pumping into my veins. Those shrapnel lacerations were healing up right before my eyes, and the bleeding was already beginning to stem. Arcane medicine was a wonderful thing to have on your side.

The glow of my suit drew my attention back into a bit of this reality, and just like that it went to work patching up the damage done to itself as I watched is percentage trickle up… slowly. “Right, let’s keep this going,” I pulled forward down the hallway, and tried my best to ignore how well I’d be walking outside the suit.

“How the hell does that work?” Tumble asked almost in a whisper, gotta be more specific than that, “your legs are torn to pieces… talisman or not, you shouldn’t be standing, let alone walking.”

“Let’s call it magic,” a generic answer if there ever was one for the Ministry of Arcane Science, though not enough to satisfy the mare, “the suit reads what the wearer wants to do more so by thoughts and nerves, than them actually moving and copying that motion,” that got me a little bit of understanding, I think? “Picture it like this, if a ranger gets a broken leg and can’t move normally, the suit still reads him wanting to move and does so on its own… keeps ponies fighting, even when broken.”

Sure, several lacerations across legs were a far cry short of broken bones. Though the concept remained the same for both. If you were hurt and unable to move, the suit gave you the help needed to keep you on your hooves. I can’t begin to tell you how many lives that had saved on the battlefield.

“Could have helped a lot of folk too after the war, if it didn’t all get blown to high hell,” Deacon added on from the back.

I mean, I know the mare in charge of the Ministry of Peace was always working towards helping ponies in the end. Who knows how they could have used all this war technology had the war fizzled out and Equestria came out on-

Slam!

Once again, I found myself imitating a Pegasus, these gunners were doing that on purpose! “Oh, will ya’ll quit!” I shouted, to a break in the hallway that only had Tumble in it behind me, “What the hell?”

There in the middle was another metal door like the ones that sealed up the outside of the building. Whoever paid to have this school fortified, they hadn’t spared any expense. They’d turned this place in to a prison, and could control it as they saw fit.

“Deacon! Riff! Are you-?” I didn’t get the chance to stop her, before Tumble slammed her hoof against the door.

Who knows many volts shot through the mare in one go, and sent her shooting clear across the hall. Power armor wasn’t the most comfortable thing to break one’s landing, though it was better than the floor in this case as I caught the mare in my hooves. Against my chest, I could feel her own was thundering as much as mine would after Stampede, just what did they wire this school with?

“Tumble?!” I tried to smack her face with the utmost of care, that wouldn’t take her head clean off, “you with me?”

Her eyes were fluttering under those lids, though from my opinion that could have just been muscle spasms. If it wasn’t for the puke that splashed over my chest, and her coughing up a lung into my lap. My horn grabbed whatever I could find from my bag to help her, and out I plucked a thing of water. May not have been a healing potion, but it was better than nothing.

She gorged herself pretty well for a pony who just became a light bulb, “Thanks…” she creaked past the mouth of the canteen, and looked towards the door, “did they answer?”

Actually… I hadn’t even paid attention, “Are ya’ll back there still?” nothing, not even a peep from the other side. That was a silence neither of us wanted to hear, “we aren’t hearing any gun shots either,” it finally dawned on me, “which means they aren’t getting shot at, and they aren’t having to shoot.”

Tumble pushed herself up after that from my lap, and brought the carbine to her shoulder, “then let’s find this office, and see if we can get back with them.”

Right behind ya with that, there had to be somewhere these hallways linked up. If all else, getting the doors open would solve that problem. From that hall we’d made our way down the rows and rows of lockers. Some laid open with school supplies still inside, others looked like they’d been broken in to over the years. I knew school had been in session on the day of the bombs, yet even outside the blast radius I had to wonder just how many of these students managed to get somewhere safe.

The History wing was behind us, and besides the few barricades from the lockdown. We’d had a clear path through this next wing. By the looks of it, I’d have to guess science. Posters of the M.A.S. Ministry mare were plastered all about, some in better shape than others, and others with far more lewd depictions of Miss Sparkle in their place. Gotta get your rocks off somehow, I suppose.

My hoof held out just as I saw the few bars getting on screen, Tumble didn’t question it and stayed put next to me. Those bars ahead stopped their movements just as we did, did they have an E.F.S. too? I’d imagine you could find a Pip-Buck somewhere in the wastes if you looked hard enough. Then I heard it, the small whirling of a motor as my head looked up.

How’d they still worked after all these years, I didn’t know, but if the lockdown system was still functional. Why wouldn’t the security cameras? The lens stared at me while I returned the favor, somepony was keeping tabs on us as we went through… nothing a shell couldn’t fix.

Overkill, of course, but I didn’t like being watched.

“That explains how they separated us,” Tumble kicked the blown-out case to the side.

And the mare fell to the ground.

By instinct I put myself between her and the rest of the hallway, as the next several shots rang out and echoed down the halls. Smaller target against the ground or not, a few tore clean through the suit, and took chunks out of the integrity as well as my hide.

Armor integrity: 70%... my suit needed more time to prepare for this shit.

Coming at night helped us keep a low profile, but not in here if I didn’t have anything to shoot besides a red bar on the screen! My headlamp was giving me away, and now I needed darkness. With a flip, it went out, and only the flashes of those shooting could be seen.

It might have been feeling the blood run down my own side, or it could have been the adrenaline. Either way one hoof wrapped around her waist, and with a bound my thick helmet knocked the door off the classroom. Yep, science wing for sure. Beakers and flasks galore in this place. While they shot outside at the door frame, I let the mare down behind the teachers work station at the front. Groaning for sure, in pain I’d expect, but she wasn’t dead.

“What the hell was that?” she asked. The round looked like it went clear through her shoulder plating, and still had enough punch in it to tear down her back… I’m no medic, but I’d guess armor-piercing.

“Something for me…” they’d picked the right poison this round.

The suit had its healing potions wired in to it that it was already injecting for my wounds, that was wired to me, so I’d need to find on out here for her. Science class room, had to have a first aid box some-… priorities first! Tumble wasn’t going to die from that, but these guys sure would make sure we both did soon. Dark or not, I could barely make out the silhouette of ponies moving at the back of the classroom. Shotty rang loose from the station, but at this distance I was far outside that butter zone.

Never the less, it kept their head down as I looked further around the room. The headlamp might have given me away before, but the muzzle flash had the same- ugh this sucks… My hooves wrapped around the neck plating, through the metal I couldn’t feel the hole, but I could feel the blood starting to run down my neck underneath.

Armor integrity: 63%

‘So, this is what Rogue felt?’ Stop that, not the thoughts to be having!

My inventory opened up and I forced another potion into the system to stem the bleeding. It slowed, but how many more of what they’re packing would I be able to take. Another few bursts came our way, and this time they weren’t even waiting for us to poke our heads up. Instead they just shot through the counter itself… cheaters… half the workstations door blew off from the slugs. 5.56? No, too much heft to it, 7.6-? I said stop that!

Most of my frame went over Tumble, between having to tear through the workstation and my suit, it should keep her safe. For a second the helmets light flicked on just so I could check her wound. She’d at least be alright; her bleeding was consistent at the very- hello… what have we here? Out of all the containers to have stored in one place, who would pick those to share a room? My aura wrapped around the first jug and popped its cap off before doing the same to its counterpart.

Tumble, given her expression, looked at me like I’d lost my mind. Patience there, I’m good at this sort of thing. With one of its contents inside the other, I tightened the lid back in place, gave it a good shake before tossing it towards the back of the room. My hoof kept the helmets light hidden as I waited, they probably didn’t see that fly back there, and if they couldn’t see me tossing it. Then I doubted they’d see the reaction.

After another shell racked back and greeted them, I ducked back down behind the counter and waited. More of their shots passed through and took chunks of wood out the station, as long as they weren’t hitting me though I was happy.

Then I heard it, the dull pop from the lid giving out. High school chemistry don’t fail me now! The small echo of that pop vanished, and after a few seconds I started to hear it. Coughing, not just your normal cold kinda cough, this was straight up hacking a lung out your chest. Just what I was waiting for. Their shots started to get few and far between, and with that I rose up from the counter and let the light shine on them.

One, two, three, four… all bars accounted, and all out of cover. A shell for each barked from my muzzle, and even with their combat armor. They met the same fate as the mare had when I first got in here. Tissue was so much weaker than ceramic plates, yet both broke apart all the same. Just as fast as it started, they were on the ground in twitching masses of flesh.

“What… What’d you do?” Tumble asked from behind me.

As I went to look around the room in amongst the bodies and gas, “Just a little home cooking with cleaning products… chlorine is such a nasty chemical,” Granted it wasn’t exactly a bomb, but it was enough to get them distracted.

Their weapons met much the same fate. All the oil in the world wouldn’t protect against that corrosion, and already the oxidation started to wear away at them. Just like it did a container amongst the bodies. Even under that layer of rust, I could still make out the pink butterflies along its case. The latches on its side were corroded now, but after a squeal they gave up and opened. Two healing potions, and a thing of purified water.

Tumble got right up to my side and looked at my handy work, as a bandana covered her muzzle from the lingering vapors, “Kinda messed up, don’t cha think…”

You’re joking, right? You have ponies out here raping, killing, burning, and dusting each other. Yet, I gas one group of gunners, and now that’s where we draw the-… oh, sarcasm, “You had me there for a second,” I hoofed over both of the potions, she’d need em more than me.

The first one she slugged down like it was a shot of whiskey, and the second one found its home in her bag while I added what little bits of scrap I could to the hopper. Considering they wised up now, I wasn’t looking forward to what we’d find after passing by where these gunners had appeared from. Another hallway, though there wasn’t anypony shooting at us just yet so I’d take it.

With them packing ammunition like that, I made sure Tumble was behind me this time around as we crept down the hall. From those classrooms on the side, no pony had jumped out, or even tossed a grenade… kinda unnerving honestly. For being an outpost, I’d expected far more resistance here than this. Not that I’m complaining mind you! Just making an observation is all.

As we broke from the hall, large pillars welcomed us along with the muddied and blacked out windows to the front of the building on one side, and a staircase to the next floor on the other. ‘Ahh, a lobby, and if this was the entrance…’ my eyes followed along the walls, and there nestled in the corner I saw the other windows to the office.

I didn’t see anything on my E.F.S. just yet, and if those windows were locked up tight, then maybe we were in the home stretch. “Alright, I can take this one,” Tumble commented as she trotted past me and towards the office door, as my barrels pointed to the windows for anything that reared its head, “cover me while I take a look around.”

Way ahead of you on that one, and with that she slithered inside. I didn’t see anything going bump in the night, and- Slam!

That was getting old really quick, “Stop doing that shit!” I yelled at the window while its security gates closed around it. Tumble looked at me through those bars with worry in her eyes, if it was being controlled in there. Then she had company I didn’t see.

Through those bars I looked with my headlamp, trying to give her enough light to figure out if there was any danger. I didn’t see any other doors for this office leading elsewhere, just the desks that went back through the room for the principal, VP, and secretary. Judging from that glow, the head honcho in charge had his terminal still with power. Though with an empty chair, somepony else must be controlling all this somewhere as well.

Wait… was that hoof steps?

Armor integrity: 59%

Oh, that was so not good… and that was an energy beam if I ever felt one! Who knew light could have so much enthusiasm behind it? Another high charged shot rang out, and this time I’d actually heard it coming. That didn’t save me from keeping my armor clear of the hit, but at least this time I’d been expecting it. Right in the shoulder guard it went, and-

Armor integrity: 52%

“What the hell are you packing?!” immediately my ass ran behind one of those pillars for cover, I hadn’t seen where it came from… hell I hadn’t seen anything. My E.F.S. was clear, the lights were still just above a campfire in this place, but there couldn’t be that many places for the bastard to hide.

A third shot broke out from the… Air? What the hell was going on?! This time my reaction was enough to avoid the hit as it sizzled against the pillar. Though I was sure the darkness in here just took a pot shot at me. Charging forward I went towards where the beam came from, but nothing stopped me in that path. Somepony was messing with me here, and I didn’t like it. The suit sat just above-

Armor integrity: 46%

Whoever it was liked to play in the shadows… that one hit me in the ass! Shadows and subtly be damned here, the mini spun up and while my hoof kicked out, I leveled the playing field by giving the lobby a fresh sweep. 5mm hadn’t done too much against gunners before, and I wasn’t expecting this one to be any different. What I was hoping for was a little indication… something… anything…

That was a grunt coming from the shadows.

Three shells cocked back and let loose as fast as I could cycle em in that general direction. Most of what little debris around the room scattered as the dust kicked up, except in one place. The light from the headlamp might not be the brightest, thanks M.W.T. funding, but it was enough to see the distortion. Two more shells met it, and the ghost retreated back into safety, just as I found my own cover again behind a vending machine.

With one eye half the visor poked out, and there someponies power had run out finally. The colt fiddled with his battlesaddle from behind the same pillar I’d hunkered behind just before, and I let another shell meet him while the E.F.S. gave me a name to target. ‘Gunner Commander eh?’ I read to myself, no wonder the better tech. I didn’t know how they organized themselves, but given the names I’d come across and what rank their leaders wore. I’d have to guess army.

The AOE from the shotty kept him behind that pillar long enough, and I only had to guess where he might have ended up. Okay, so from what I could see there was no barrel of his sticking out anymore, nor could I even get a glimpse of a silhouette. Shit! Hot, hot, hot! Three more bursts of his own met my chest, and that Titanium plating was probably the only thing keeping me from melting at this point.

With a yank I threw the vending machine down to the ground for some cover, and listened to his beams impact the other side. Yeah, armor piercing doesn’t work when its light doesn’t it? Between his shots the mic in the helmet picked up those hoof steps from before, and as I peeked over the machine another burst from his rifle kept me down. I wasn’t about to find out how many it’d take to go through the helmet, especially at thirty percent… though, he wasn’t behind cover anymore.

Hmm… this worked in the courthouse, let’s see about now.

My hooves planted against the ground, almost going through the tile in the process as I started to heave against the vend- Well then that was easier than expected. Like a fresh wax on these floors the machine pushed forward with the ease of a shopping cart, and I knew just where to put it. My ass might be a little exposed, but that gave him something to shoot at as I gave it one last thrust and twisted around for a buck.

There might have only been an inch or so of air time it, but the vending machine soared through the sky still with all the grace of a… well, vending machine. My satisfaction with that feat was only eclipsed by the sound of a crunch after it hit something a bit meatier and slammed against the pillar. The machine wobbled back and forth as I approached, but he wasn’t shooting at me either, and I got to see the vale fade away.

Stealthbucks tended to break when you got injured, and my medical knowledge would guess a punctured everything inside. Yet, even in this predicament, the colt still tried to chomp on his bit. Angled like that though the shots went wide into the ceiling, and I just got to watch him. Novasurge rifle? They really did keep the best toys for their higher ranks didn’t they, I’d only known the Pegisy for using that.

He wasn’t going anywhere, and if he couldn’t shoot me, then might as well take this opportunity, “Your leaders,” I literally leveled with him, just in case he managed to lower that gun of his, “how close are they to finding me, if at all still?”

Come on now, speak… Deacon would have given him a Med-X, and I might be inclined to- “Fuck you…” he spat some of his blood at me. Okay, never mind.

I remembered Tumble saying stubbornness was how someponies survived down here, guess that applied to Gunners as well. “Alrighty then…” I wiped away some of that blood, seriously what’d you have to lose? “let’s start simpler, can the lockdown be undone in that office?”

“Eat. A. Bag…” he made one gasp, “of…” then fell face first to the machines’ surface.

Just a peachy colt, aren’t chat?

“Commander Whisper,” the radio on his shoulder started to crackle, and my horn plucked it from its clasp, “what’s your status?”

You sounded very official, for a bunch of well-armed thugs, “Whisper is sorta out right now,” huh, Commander Whisper, rather appropriate name, “might I ask who’s calling?”

In the silence that followed I went back to the windows and watched as Tumble clicked away at the terminal. She still looked worried, though with my little foe down there might have been relief in those eyes too. “Ahh… it’s you,” the voice about purred to me, and this time Tumble perked her head up at me as she heard the voice too. All I could give was a shoulder shrug in response, “Whispers death seemed slow and painful, just like the rest of my own… Rogue Ranger.”

How then hell did they- No wait, they were watching this place, and right now whoever was on the line probably was looking at me through another camera somewhere, “He brought that upon himself, just like all of them had,” my eyes scanned around the room looking for anything that might even resemble a video feed. The corners were clear, the office didn’t have any from what I could tell, “Whoever you are, I need to say I never outright targeted the gunners… just happened to be the wrong place, and wrong time.”

“Wrong place and time you say? That might have been true for most of them,” were they actually understanding that much, or at the very least agreeing with me… kinda. Although I doubted it’d get me any brownie points, it’s not like they couldn’t hear what I said over this thing, even in a building this radio was crystal clear, “Though it would have been better if you let my sister settle the score.”

That… wasn’t over the radio.

Thump, thump, thump.

‘Oh, so not-!’ terrible thoughts to be had at a time like this, and even without wings I found myself hurtled through the air from the blasts. I’d gone through a wall before, though that was drywall. This was cinderblocks, glass, and metal bars… my head danced, joints groaned, and now I knew what it meant to be a battering ram.

Warning: Armor integrity: 17%

Thanks for the reminder, as if the blood trickling down the inside of the suit wasn’t enough. Tumble looked at me about ready to yelp, but the little shake I gave her with my head hushed her. I could take this punishment, I think, either way I’d last longer than her. The servos finally began to respond, and from the smashed desk I limped back towards the opening in the office my suit made back into the lobby. On the ground floor was clear, though I didn’t have to look far to find out where that came from.

Up those stairs I saw it, I wasn’t sure what model that was… but it sure was power armor. Even in the dim lit light, my visor could still make out the crudely welded plates on the original suit, as well as the munitions. Reflex took over on that one, and I gulped while listing off what was staring me down. That IF-451 didn’t look friendly, nor did the IF-86 similar to Rogues across the shoulder, and I already knew what an IF-92 like Riffs’ could do… now where had I heard this setup before?

“… Fuck…” I muttered inside the helmet, and hoped they didn’t hear it, “Lock, is it?”

“The one and only,” the mare bobbed me a curtsy of all things, and the latches along her helmet popped open… I hate to say it, but why was she so damned pretty? Her chocolate mane looked to be well kept, even under that helmet, and I couldn’t see a speck of dirt tainting her ivory coat. Those rosy eyes of the unicorn might catch some colts’ attention, but they were leaking venom while they stared down at me, just like Barrels had, “It amazes me how much one pony can be such a knife in my ass…”

I mean, that’s one way to put it, “Not as if it was intentional.”

She didn’t seem mused by that, “Most things in the wasteland aren’t done intentionally… killing a raider to survive means one of his clan may be out of a lover, ransacking a town could lead to just one more place a caravan won’t visit,” I already knew what she meant, ripples in a pond spread after all, “ending a sniper only to upset the rest of her family…”

And I knew all too well what she meant by that one! I didn’t get half a second to think before her helmet dropped, she was in the air, on the ground, and slamming her limbs against my chest. Her hooves were strong from the years out in wastes, before I knew what happened my back was shoved against the pillar as she pressed me in to the concrete. Power armor against itself should have been an even fight, but how the hell was this mare so strong?! Chems, it had to be chems… well two can play at-!

Her hoof socked me in the side, and with one go the wind let out of me. I was getting really tired of tasting my own- blood! For one moment my vision was inverted, and the next my back was on the ground. Tile cracked underneath the weight, and even with my vision fading in and out the mini spun up. 5mm wouldn’t do a damn thing to a suit like that, but it’d give her something to-

Another hoof came down to my side, and just like that the mini stopped spinning. One of my own reached out for hers to throw the mare off balance, but she learned this skill through trial by fire. I picked everything up by trial and error from a lab. A buck from her landed in my jaw and sent me spinning across the floor. Not enough force to go through the wall like before, but more than enough to put a serious dent in the suit as I slumped to the ground.

Warning: Armor integrity: 10%

Critical failure imminent!

Okay, a combination of chems and time spent in the wasteland. How else would it feel like I just got hit by a forging hammer? The same stomp of those hammers started to fill my ears as she approached, and Lock didn’t look in a hurry to get to me. At least that’s what it appeared from the four of her in my eyes. One of them had to be real, and if my vision wouldn’t play along the mini would!

Barrels weren’t supposed to grind like that… oh, I hoped that was just my eyes being all screwy right now. Two of the barrels were almost snapped in two from her stomp, and the third kept tapping in to my side as it attempted to spin. So long my dear friend, shotty it was then! S.A.T.S kicked on, and I got that tell tail time distortion the spell gave out. Three shells clicked across her suit, she was just past the butter zone, but it’d do something at least.

One shell aimed at her gun went wide, the second only about half those pellets make their mark, and third one’s the charm. I got to see in slow-motion the enchanted munitions pepper across those plates… and not do a damn thing. Seriously, all I did was take some of the rust off!

Her visor went from me, then lower… wait, did her gun just follow? Sure enough, the shoulder mount followed her helmet, and a 5.56 dug right in my foreleg while I sat there. Then another went for my left, and with each shot I heard the suit start to wane as it did whatever it could to keep me breathing.

Another healing potion, and another bullet…

Another bullet, and another percent down…

Lock tutted while she waltzed over, “I’d expected a whole lot more out of you, or was it just dumb luck you got the leg up on Barrel?” to be fair, she did over step her mark and went off the building herself.

Warning: Armor integrity: 5%

Critical failure imminent!

Finally, she got right up next to me, and stopped. Her visor twisted down to meet mine, and so did the muzzle… just make it a head shot and get it over with. The flash rocked against my ears, but that pain in my shoulder told me what I knew already. She wanted to take her time with this one.

Warning: Armor integrity: 4%

“She did that, to herself,” I managed to squeeze that out between chomping down on my teeth.

Warning: Armor integrity: 3%

Not the smartest thing to say, “You have to be about done in there by now,” she looked over the suit, and I couldn’t help but do the same. The holes she was making weren’t closing up with any of the urgency I’d hope for, and she must have known what that meant, “then I can take ya back to base… have some real fun.”

Warning: Armor integrity: 2%

“I already called dibs on getting the first few licks in on ya, so Stock will have to wait his turn,” the visor stared at me still, and if it wasn’t for the lighting, I might have thought the metal started to smile, “could make a game of hunting your friends afterwards… after all, misery loves company.”

Warning: Armor integrity: 1%

In Lunas’ name you’re a twisted mare…

Warning: Armor integrity: 0%

I felt the talisman pop from the panel on the side, and just like that. No more repair work for me, although that’d be the least of my concerns right about now. Lock had me at the end of a barrel, three of them actually. All I had was a shotgun that’d kill me at this range, and bundle of metal tubing on my side.

Her head raised up from mine, and behind that shroud had to be the look of satisfaction. She’d won, and I couldn’t do a thing about it. So why did her helmet begin to snap around? With a jerk her head went back, a contrail passed between us. With what little strength left, I looked off to the side, and there prone on the ground was Tumble… the lockdown was up, and Mercy was out. How had she seen that coming?! Lock didn’t have eyes in the back… shit, E.F.S.

Another shot rang out, this one Lock still maneuvered past on towards cover. All my friend needed was one clean shot. I knew what the rifle could do to me, and her extra plating wouldn’t save her from a torso hit. AMR rounds blew chunks out of the pillar, if Tumble couldn’t hit her, she’d just go through that cover then. Right gun to do it with, but come on I had to do something. My hooves tried to move, and with the display bleeding off the last of my potions I fought up.

Wasn’t the first time I moved in the suit while it was nearly scrap, and I wasn’t about to let this mare do Rogue dirty like that! The plating was trashed, and servos started to squeal, but they were still working at least. I just had to draw her attention away from Tumble long enough with the shotty for Mercy to get a clean line of sight, one round would be enough, I hope. Only one way to find-

Thump.

The blast put me back on the ground, and once again inside I could see the warnings going off about what needed repaired… yeah, I know. Her attention was on me at least, and Tumble was just ahead- in the hoof of Lock.

My heart skipped a beat, and I watched one mare start to choke the life out of the other. Mercy was a fantastic weapon, but not up close like this. Lock was Barrels older sister, and she knew the weapon well. All of its strengths, and weaknesses. Although now she’d just caught Tumble using her dead sisters’ gun.

“Ya know…” I watched her grip tighten a bit more, that was spite in those words, “this one I might just kill now,” the barrel on the carbine swiveled down.

Two shots echoed in the lobby, and just like S.A.T.S. time seemed to slow down. Tumbles face I saw go from blue to white as snow, and she looked towards the fresh holes in her armor as the trails of crimson flowed out from underneath. Locks’ vale just dragged towards me with the utmost of disinterest, as out of my throat lurched a gut-wrenching yell. A flick of her hoof later, and she tossed Tumble off to the ground as her hooves started heading my way.

‘Get up…’

So, this was the real wasteland, wasn’t it?

‘Get… up…’

This mare had hardened herself in it for years, and I was just a guest.

‘I said get up!’

Time to check out then…

Thump.

I looked up, and the round hit Locks side. Her whole body twisted about from the impact, but she still stood her ground and watched the next few shells come down range. Not direct hits, though they left a mark on her that I couldn’t come close to. Those flashes were coming from down the hall, somepony was putting an arch on that 40mm, and I could hear her jaw ready to crack under the helmet.

A larger blast than before managed to rock her further away from the pair of us, and I saw the missiles contrail lingering. Across her plates I saw not sparks from rounds hitting, but actual damage for once as it dug in to the plates. Yet, even with that, she didn’t seem too worried about standing there a bit longer, “Ahh… the carvery arrives,” she met my gaze again, and through this glass I hoped she felt the daggers I wanted to stab her with, “Do me a favor, don’t die just yet, I’m not done with you…” turning away she started to gallop in the opposite direction from the oncoming fire.

That mare was armed, angry, and worst of all… smart. She knew when to leave. Something I was still learning, ‘you do the same,’ I groaned under the weight as I pushed up and looked down the hall she went. Before turning my attention to the one opposite.

Riff was the first one in the lobby, 40mm launcher hanging off one shoulder, and a very beaten-up gryphon on the other. Deacon wiggled himself free, dropped his own launcher, got back to his feet, and with a bit of work he still hobbled over to the mares’ side as she was brought up into his lap.

Fresh wounds littered over his own coat, mirrored only by the hellhound herself. Just what had they gotten in to while gone? Nothing better than what me and Tumble did, that’s for sure. Wounded or not from their travels through the school. Neither of them looked like they cared, Deacon sure didn’t. He just looked focused as he held on to the motionless mare and checked her over while I approached.

“Is she gonna be alright?” it was stupid to ask, and the gryphon looked at a loss for once.

His digits went to her neck, and from his beak I could see him counting. “Her pulse is weak…” he commented while still reading off the beats. I imagine so, that was a lot of blood for one pony to lose… Tipping it over from his side Deacon emptied his bags out on the ground and started fishing out whatever potions he could hold in those talons, before feeding them down the mares’ throat. Not really a substitute for blood mind you, “There’s little I can do from here to actually help, just prolong.”

Right, not the place to play wasteland doctor, “we need to get back,” I looked towards the front door.

If Tumble had gotten the lockdown lifted, then maybe she shut down the guns as well. No gunners were pouring through to meet us just yet, and the quickest way from point A to point B was a straight line. Riff didn’t hesitate as she cradled the mare around her claws and lifted her upon across one shoulder. If there were any outside, close range would have to do as I racked another shell. Deacon was still packing AP rounds, so that gave us an advantage, and RR could shoot that launcher with one paw.

We’d have to make a break for it.

My hoof knocked the front door clean open, and outside we stepped…

“You’ve got to be joking…” I think the law goes anything that can go wrong will. No wonder there weren’t any gunners, here to greet us was a squad of rangers in their place.

“Rogue Ranger,” the one at the head of them called out, and I recognized something on him.

Another beat my chest went over, and that feeling was felt with the rest of my group. Riff looked to every one of them ready to let the lead start flying, and Deacon already had his carbine at the ready. Though this was a three to one fight, and given what they were carrying. They didn’t care about dead or alive at this point.

“You remember those Balefire egg launchers I talked about,” Deacon passed his eye to me as I pointed them out along a few of the rangers, “That’d be them.” Even from here I could see the envious glow of their payload. As if they’d need to use them with what the leader packed on his side.

“Follow us quietly,” said leader of the bunch demanded, and he’d already sized up our predicament. We really weren’t in any place to argue, “your presence is requested at base.”

“Over dogs’ dead body,” Riff started to snarl.

“That’s… probably the point,” my hooves moved forward past them and to the rangers. There’s only so much a stallion could do in this situation, fight and probably lose all his friends, or comply and hope for the best. At least this way, they could get out of here and perhaps get to the town in time. I didn’t have to look to know the glares they were giving me as I went towards the rangers, though they had to see the helplessness in this as well. “If I go, quietly, you won’t fire upon them?” how much could you trust their word? Or his for that matter now…

“On my oath as a ranger, we just want you,” he answered, yeah… whatever that amounted to now a days.

Sometimes you just had to bite the bullet, “Alright… I’ll come.”

Just like that, with my friends still rearing for a fight, I waved the white flag. It wouldn’t look pretty when they got back, but they could still make it back to town in one piece at least. With a heavy weight falling on my chest, I stepped forward amongst their ranks, each suit glaring at me with all the sharpness of a needle.

Up until I got to one that lead their spear, “Lead the way… Paladin.”

Tungsten merely nodded his head, “of course, and thank you… Rogue Ranger.”

Footnote: Error. Please stand by.