Fallout: Equestria - Operation Killjoy
Chapter 20: Remorse
Previous ChapterNext Chapter“Not even the end of the world hurts as much as the betrayal of the ones you considered your friends.”
There was no time to rest. The radiation forced them to keep moving.
Fade struggled to take medicine against the radiation to fight off the poisoning she suffered from Blue Sky’s touch. Even after she drank a sachet of the orange bile, her body was still squirming and feverish.
Feather gathered the weapons required for their attack on the Thunderhead Frigate. She found the balefire eggs and the weapon to fire them. The monstrous launcher didn’t fill them with any kind of hope, rather, it was a reminder of what the ponies had lost to the balefire and how much Feather was willing to continue the past’s insanity.
Midnight found ammo for his rifle. His body moved like a machine to reload his rifle and prepare the next steps of their journey. His eyes were empty and devoid of thought.
Solemnly they returned to the Vertibuck and flew back into the cold wasteland. They left the city behind, but they had the feeling it would stay with them forever like a scar.
Necessity was the only reason why Feather was still with them. After they landed, Midnight sent her far enough away from the Vertibuck to be of no concern. Neither he nor Fade cared that Feather had to sit alone on a freezing hill and endure the cold alone.
Fade was shaking and sweating. Her body convulsed from the sickness and radiation. Bile and blood were dripping from both her nose and mouth.
“You must drink,” Midnight said. He stood away from her, his body was softly glowing from Vanhoover’s radiation.
Fade nodded, barely able to breathe. The drugs had worn off and left her body in a weakened state. She was barely able to hold herself up, struggling to keep her body from dropping into the gross puddle. Fade grabbed the plastic vial in which she had mixed the healing potion with the radiation medicine to dull the horrid taste. The potion brought relief for a brief moment, before her stomach began to revulse and force the liquid out again.
“Keep it down, Fade.” Midnight tried his best to hide the numbness in his voice.
Fade held her breath and clenched her teary eyes shut. Another rush of slimy blood and the acrid taste of the medicine flooded her mouth and nose.
“You must drink.” Midnight repeated the words. Each time Fade retched, it was less blood. Less pain. Less radiation. Less of what remained of Blue Sky.
Eventually Fade’s body accepted the medicine. The taste and smell of the last hour were still lingering in her mouth and nose. Breathing was difficult and her sweat drenched clothes could no longer protect her from the cold winds. She and Midnight took a rest away from the Vertibuck. Feather was collecting clouds to let them rain on the vehicle, cleaning off as much irradiated ash as possible.
Midnight watched Feather to make sure she wouldn’t and couldn’t sabotage the Vertibuck. He wanted her to be gone. He even wanted to ditch the entire plan to retrieve Killjoy. But Fade’s life was threatened by the Enclave. And now they needed Feather.
“I’m finished.” Feather returned, shivering from the freezing air. “Can I help you with anything? I could bring you some of the remaining Rad-Away.”
Fade growled. “What about I help you out by not drinking any more of it? Then you don’t have to kill me to activate Killjoy.”
“Quiet.” Midnight stopped her before turning to Feather. “Good. We have to leave soon. Check the damage where the dragon hit us.”
“What about the balefire launcher?”
“Do you know how to use it?” Midnight asked.
Feather hesitated but nodded.
“You will tell me how it works on the way to Quebit. That’s all.”
Feather understood from Midnight’s stern words that she had to leave them alone.
“I can’t believe you are trusting her with the Vertibuck,” Fade said.
“She won’t do anything that would stop her from acquiring Killjoy.”
“Yeah… And she won’t stop at anything to get it.”
“Perhaps.”
“Perhaps?” Fade scoffed. “Why are you still… still thinking that she is on our side?”
“Because of Blue Sky.”
“Blue Sky? Fuck off!”
“Don’t you see it?” Midnight tensed up. “Don’t you realize that what you just said to your mother is Blue Sky clawing his way out of his grave?”
Fade turned away.
Midnight sighed when the silence became too unbearable. “I’m sorry, Fade.”
Fade glanced at him briefly. “What for?”
“Galloping Gorge.”
“It’s fine.”
They sat there in silence for a while. Fade looked out into the distance. Her attention was drawn to Midnight when he pushed something over the ground, using his rifle, to keep his distance.
“What is this?” She asked.
“Bread. Eat something.”
“Not hungry.”
“Eat.”
Fade sighed and placed the bread on her lap. When she bit into it from time to time, it was chewy and the lack of salt made it taste bland. “What about Quebit? Any ideas?”
“No.”
“I know I was high but… we could lure the dragon to Quebit, couldn’t we? We have enough medicine for the radiation left, don’t we?”
Locating the dragon took them more time than anticipated, but getting its attention and luring it out of the city was simple. Fade was able to fly much faster than the beast, but the radiation keeping the dragon’s body alive made it much faster than any of them were expecting.
Everything about the plan worked well until Fade began to sweat. The radiation worsened her sickness and left Fade short of breath paired with a piercing headache.
Midnight observed the dragon through the hatch. He told Fade every other moment to keep it steady. But the cold air just below the cloud cover required her to flap her wings every so often. The stress of not being able to take a break along the route only made it worse. The trip from Vanhoover to Quebit was supposed to be a leisure flight for Fade, but with the dragon at their tail, Fade had to endure a full sprint for far longer than her body could.
In the distance Fade saw the heavy thunderclouds above the city carrying the flying fortress. The city itself was barely visible but Fade was more concerned about keeping altitude and speed. The exhaustion had crept up on her and at times she had troubles keeping her eyes open. Her hoof wandered to the pocket where she kept the inhalator. But she was afraid that she couldn’t get through another high.
An alert blared in the cockpit.
“They are shooting at us!” Fade was back to her senses. She saw a yellow line racing from the city towards them, passing them and exploding somewhere in the clouds. Fade began to sway the Vertibuck left and right when a second round was whizzing through the air.
“Fade! The dragon is getting closer,” Midnight shouted.
A third round exploded nearby; closer but still out of reach of the flak’s shrapnel.
“We have to get over the clouds!” Fade shouted and flapped her wings harder. She didn’t want the dragon to attack the city. “Hold tight. Things will get really bad now.”
The Vertibuck entered the clouds and was shaken by turbulence. The cannons on the ground kept firing. Midnight tried to ignore the worry of being torn to pieces by a direct hit of the flak cannon and kept observing the dragon. Sometimes he noticed a green glow in the clouds but more often than not he only saw yellow flashes of exploding anti air rounds.
Fade finally pushed the Vertibuck through the cloud cover, closely chased by the dragon. The steady activity around the Victorious turned into a mad frenzy. Every civilian cloudship took off and was escaping in seemingly random directions. Only two Vertibucks turned to intercept them and from a few hundred yards away they opened fire.
“Hold tight!” Only mad dashes and turns allowed Fade to dodge the incoming fire as well as not crash into the Enclave’s Vertibucks when they rushed past them.
Midnight suddenly felt the warm tingle of radiation weaving around the Vertibuck. “Down!” Midnight yelled when he realized the dragon was about to collide with them.
Fade dived down. The Vertibuck was shaken when its belly brushed over the dense clouds. The dragon’s head snapped and barely missed them. Fade banked away to escape from the reach of the monster.
Fade only noticed at that moment how close they were to the Thunderhead frigate and that they were moving way too fast. She saw pegasi take off and try to escape an impending collision.
Fade swore as she turned her body and opened her wings to slow down. The abrupt drop of speed felt as if the Vertibuck was tearing Fade’s wings out. Pulling the nose up made Midnight and Feather lose grip and they could only curl up when gravity threw them toward the hatch. And yet the vehicle was still too fast and was not climbing quick enough.
Fade groaned and her only chance to prevent crashing into the armored front was to twist and bank the Vertibuck into the frigate’s hangar. She pressed her sore body into the harness as the collision alert rang frantically and a few seconds later the cloudship scraped against the upper frame of the hangar bay. Fade fought to keep control, but she lost it when the vehicle careened into a large skytank. Spinning madly, the Vertibuck skidded over the floor, metal screeching along metal. It came to a stop when it crashed into a parked scout ship.
Everything felt quiet. Even the blaring collision alert was a whisper after the cacophony. But then a massive quake shook the Victorious. The dragon made it to the hangar. Its massive body was too huge for it. Its throat began to glow, the jaw dislodged even further when the balefire erupted from its body and flooded the hangar.
Midnight felt the radiation before the fire reached them. The fire snaked its way around the Skyships and engulfed the Vertibuck. The heat was unbearable in an instant and Fade felt her lungs burn when the radiation tore open the recently healed flesh.
The fire was extinguished quickly when the hangar’s sprinklers exploded into action. The burning balefire sludge was washed away. Thick clouds were coalescing to form a wet foam to suffocate any flame. They were soon wrapped in a thick fog of clouds, steam and the green glow of floating balefire.
“Get up!” Midnight shouted. “We have to get out of the hangar.” The radiation made him fear for Fade. Without any medicine left, they didn’t have the same protection against the radiation like in Vanhoover. He hurried to get his rifle and the balefire egg launcher to prevent it getting taken while they were away.
Feather groaned in pain. Her wing got mangled in the crash. She forced it against her side, crying in pain. Fade wasn’t much better. She hung in the straps of the harness, retching and coughing. She fought to get free from the contraption that was choking her.
Midnight forced the hatch open and immediately alerts pierced his ears. Seeing was impossible in the chaotic and irradiated fog. He guarded the Vertibuck while Feather and Fade needed more time to recover from the crash.
Once Fade was out of the harness, she collapsed. Her hooves were scrounging for the drugs. The pain made it impossible to breathe. With shaking hooves she got an inhalator to her muzzle. One deep breath made her vision swim from the pain, but the moment the chemicals entered her lungs it slowly morphed into an ecstatic haze. Fade calmed down at first, but then she drew her knife, getting ready to kill. She quickly joined Midnight, searching for any Enclave soldiers.
“Quiet!” Midnight said and pushed Fade back into the Vertibuck.
“Soldiers?” Fade asked with glee.
Midnight didn’t know the answer, but a group of ponies was rushing by. Some wore the yellow medic bardings, others wore heavy bags filled with tools. They were accompanied by an Enclave soldier who didn’t have the time to put on his armor.
Fade rushed forward. Before the Enclave mare could even cry out, Fade’s knife already tore through the neck, multiple times. While panic erupted between the engineers, she pulled the knife one last time, the mare almost decapitated and rammed the blade into her skull.
Midnight grabbed Fade and pulled her away from the dead soldier. “Fade! Stop it! We have to stay hidden.”
“It’s the Enclave!” She tried to wrestle free but stopped when she noticed Pokey among the medics. “Midnight. That’s a friend there.”
Midnight couldn’t answer as Feather started to yell at the engineers. She aimed her weapon at them and forced them to lie down and to not move. Feather stepped forward and hit Pokey on the back of her head. “I said down!”
“Are you two completely insane?” Midnight pushed Feather away and helped the medic up. She coughed from the dirty water she swallowed. “Put the gun down!” Midnight shouted at Feather. Some of the engineers took advantage of the distraction and fled.
“Great. Now we are busted,” Midnight growled.
“No problem, Midnight.” Fade was amused as she helped Pokey up. “Her name is Pokey. She’s a friend.”
“I’d rather not,” Pokey said and coughed again. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“Killing Enclave!” Fade proclaimed.
“Ignore her.” Midnight positioned himself between Fade and Pokey. “Is it true? Do you know her?”
Pokey nodded. “I do. Was that really necessary?” She asked and pointed with a wing at the dead soldier.
“It wasn’t. Listen, Fade can only move because of some drugs. Do you have some spare medicine?”
“Not anymore,” Pokey said. “Did you bring the dragon here?”
“Unwillingly,” Midnight said. “We need to get something. A Holodisk. Do you know anything about it?”
“Of course she does!” Fade said. “She was there with us in the hangar.”
“This is not the best place to talk,” Feather said and approached the medic. “You know… I’m sorry. Can you get us to a safer place?”
“Only if you stop killing any Enclave you come across. Some of them are just trying not to starve.”
Fade rushed next to the medic. “Listen. I… I… I know what to do. You bring Midnight and Feather to a safe spot, so they can get Killjoy. And I… Where is my power armor?”
“Fade, we don’t have time for that,” Feather said.
“It’s Dad’s armor. If that cunt took it for herself, I can’t guarantee that I'll follow Pokey’s condition. Plus… I may need it to fly us back.”
Midnight turned to Pokey. “You take me and Feather to Killjoy and I will make sure that no other soldier gets killed. And you Fade, you get your armor. No killing.”
“No killing.”
Pokey looked at the dead soldier.
“Was she one of them?” Midnight asked, trying to give Pokey a brief moment of comfort. “Who just tried to survive?”
Pokey didn’t answer him. Instead she turned away from the corpse and hurried them to the maintenance deck.
The frigate shook each time one of the huge cannons were firing. Deep inside the veins of maintenance tunnels, the battle between the dragon and the Enclave seemed far away. Pokey strode down the hallways and each time other engineers and personnel were stopping at the sight of them, she told them they were friends. Locked away from the loyal crew, the draftees were forced to navigate the Frigate in the dimly lit corridors. Fade grinned about how the ignorance of the Enclave gave them a bigger advantage then she could have ever hoped for.
Pokey brought them to a small room, the walls clad with pipes. It was used by the draftees to avoid the watchful eyes of the Enclave’s coordinators and to take short breaks.
“The Enclave has a terminal room five decks lower. When you are there, follow the green line” Pokey told them. “Colloquy’s quarters are two decks up. It is very close to the bridge and the canteen.”
“How do I get in?”
“The officers have the rooms permanently locked.” Pokey says. “Only way in is with their keycard or a medical emergency. The latter requires permission by the bridge crew.”
“Sounds like a big security risk,” Midnight remarked.
“It is. But General Lightning Dust thinks differently after suffering a cardiac arrest a few months ago.”
Fade smiled. “So all I need to do is to torture an Enclave cunt to make them open the door?”
“Fade!” Midnight snapped. “Is it possible to send out that order from the terminal room?”
“No clue. I’m a doctor. But that signal alerts the entire medical personnel on the ship. Including the loyalists.”
Midnight nodded. “What is the fastest way back to the hangar?”
“Through the canteen, back into the maintenance corridors and then you follow the radiation alerts.” Pokey said. “I need to go now to clean up your mess.”
“Do you have some medicine left?” Fade asked.
Pokey stopped at the door and sighed. “I said it earlier and I’ll say it again. Not anymore.”
Midnight and Feather rushed down the stairs until they reached the right deck. The roar of cannons was still echoing down to this level. Midnight listened before leaving the stairwell. He heard hoof steps in every corridor but it was quiet compared to the activity many decks above them. Midnight and Fade followed the green markings on the wall. Any time they heard steps they hid behind a corner. It was always an engineer rushing to solve yet another problem.
They finally arrived at the terminal room. The door was closed. There was no way for them to sneak in. “At my signal.” Midnight said. He waited for Feather to get into position. A brief nod and he pressed the button to open the door. When it slid open Feather rushed in and pointed her rifle at a stallion in Enclave uniform.
“On the ground! Now!” She shouted.
Midnight rushed in and aimed in the rough direction of two ponies who sought cover behind a workbench. “Feather. Round them up.”
She stepped forward and tried to hide the pain in her wing. She kicked the pony to make him move, while Midnight went through the room to look for any pony hiding among the rows of terminals, desks and shelves. “It’s clear!”
“Midnight!” Feather called him. She was guarding the only three ponies they had found. “There it is.”
Midnight followed the brief nod and he found a complex terminal setup with a pristine Holodisk plugged into it. Midnight recognized it and the sense of familiarity made him feel sick.
“Go. Get it!” Feather said. “I’ll take care of them.”
Confused, he yanked the holodisk out. Only one thing left. He looked at the other terminals but none of them gave him any idea about their purpose. He headed back to the workers. “Which one controls the doors?” He shouted at them.
“Why should we tell you?”
Feather shot him. The stallion’s head turned into dust and the magic was eating its way through the rest of the body until only the uniform remained.
“We agreed to not—”
“We have no time for that. He wore a uniform. These two aren’t. I just removed the witness.” Feather said. “Open the doors. Every single one via medical emergency protocol.”
Under the influence of the drugs it was almost impossible for Fade to remain hidden in the shadows. “Why should I stay in the dark and miss all of the bright contrasts?” Fade thought. She already began to miss the vibrations and droning from the cannons. Fade couldn’t say for sure if the dragon was winning or if the combined firepower of the Enclave tore the undead beast apart. Whatever the case was, she hoped the dragon could kill a lot of them. It soured her mood that she couldn’t rush out of her hiding spot and slice open any Enclave loyalist that crossed her path.
Lost in thoughts of grandeur she almost forgot why she was here. Fade waited a moment until the constant noise of hasty hoof steps died down. She stepped out into the brightly lit corridors. “How easy it would have been to pretend to be a loyal Enclave bitch.” Fade’s mind drew elaborate plans. “How many more of them could she have killed from the inside? She could have been the balefire, eating them up from the inside.”
Fade rushed along the corridors and past the vacant canteen. It smelled like warm food but with no particular aroma of any kind. Pale, bland food. Sterile and lifeless like wide ranges of the wasteland. Fade turned around a corner, followed another hallway and found herself in a much quieter part of the deck. There was even a carpet covering the metallic floor. She moved past the doors of the officers’ quarters, until she stopped at one.
“Colloquy.” Fade whispered. A small glance left and right and she pressed a key on the terminal to open it. Denied. “Shit… too early.” Fade looked around. There was no place to hide. She heard somepony in power armor getting closer. In a desperate attempt she remained at the terminal and pressed random keys.
“Hey!” A young pegasus noticed her. “What are you doing fiddling around there?” He already activated his weapon.
“Software error!” Fade shouted and she tried to sound like Midnight when he talked about terminals. “Something is… uh… flooding the system with medical emergency messages.”
“I have never seen you here before. You look like a filthy mud pony.”
Fade flapped her wings and hovered in the air, saluting to the soldier. “Draftee Swift. It’s my first day here and oh boy! Do you always fight dragons?”
“No. We don’t. Your ID card!” The soldier bellowed.
“My ID card?” Fade landed again and trotted to the soldier, searching with her wings in her pockets. “It has to be somewhere. Say… is it true what the Enclave says?”
“True what?”
“That the Enclave stallions are the most handsome?”
“I asked for your ID card! Back off!”
But Fade stepped closer and reached with a hoof for his left foreleg. “Tell me! There must be a cute rookie under that armor.” Fade began to pat and cradle his armor.
“Fuck off bitch! You reek like shit!” The pony primed his weapon, ready to shoot. But after three taps of Fade’s hoof his armor loosened and the armor plates opened up. “What the fuck!”
Fade quickly drew her knife. She cut through the exposed neck and didn’t give the stallion a chance to cry out for help. He pushed his hooves against his neck to stop the bleeding. His coughs and gurgles filled Fade with joy when she realized that her idea to infiltrate the Enclave would have worked.
The door to Colloquy’s quarters opened. “Finally.” Fade turned away from the dying stallion and rushed inside.
A desk to the left, some terminals to the right. A small table surrounded by colorful pillows to sit down. But no armor. The walls were decorated with pictures of Colloquy and Lightning Dust.
“Rotten bitch.” Fade commented, when she saw portraits of Lightning Dust among the photos on the desk. She moved into the next room. A bed with clean sheets and a blanket. It was a real bedroom with a dresser, a wardrobe and night table. The furniture was ordinary at best, but luxury compared to the thousands of ponies who had to sleep on dirty rocks.
But she found what she was searching for. Her father’s armor. Fade hurried to put on the heavy armor. She started with the legs. The small computer at the foreleg began the booting process. With ease she put on the plating to protect her torso and felt how every component enhanced her strength. At last she put on the helmet and smiled when her senses were enhanced by the built-in E.F.S. Finally, she was complete.
She realized that Midnight and Feather must have gotten Killjoy from the terminal room. She was ready to rush out and get back into the Vertibuck, but she noticed something. One of the terminals was showing a blinking alert message. “Killjoy!”
Fade stepped closer. A set of numbers displayed the relative position to the Holodisk. It was moving. The altitude of it was increasing slowly. The Enclave tagged the Holodisk.
“Fuck…” Fade took the Ripper and destroyed the terminal’s display. With the Enclave stalled, Fade wanted to rush out. But her E.F.S. was registering red signals. Enclave soldiers were rushing into the hallway and took position.
She retreated to the bedroom just in time. They already threw a grenade into the room. A brief look told Fade that it was a flash grenade. She ducked behind cover and closed her eyes. The loud static and flashes were canceled out by the armor. It caught Fade off-guard that the armor protected her against this as well. But she knew she could use this to her advantage. She cowered on the floor and observed two red E.F.S. signals getting closer. Fade knew from their movement that they knew exactly where she was and that her urge to kill them let her appear as a red spot on their E.F.S. as well. “So be it!”
When the first soldier was close enough, Fade left the cover. The drug combined with the enhanced strength and speed of the armor made her feel invincible. The Ripper blade cut off half the mare’s nose, through the visor and into her eye.
The E.F.S. signal turned yellow and Fade stormed at the remaining red signal. Her knife was about to pierce the armored neck when the soldier fired at her. The magic bullet hit her chest. The heavy armor protected her but the impact and heat made her stumble and fall. The knife just cut through the plates, but didn’t pierce the flesh.
Fade forced herself up, yearning for violence! She tilted her head to ram the knife into the soldier. But an armored hoof hit her muzzle. She dropped the knife and tasted blood. Before she could turn to take the knife, the soldier pressed his hoof on her neck, pinning her to the floor.
His armored hoof pushed down on her throat and Fade felt how the plates struggled against the ever increasing force. Fade tried to hit his muzzle, but her opponent was bigger. She reached for the ripper but the soldier flicked it away with a wing.
Fade had only seconds left before the soldier’s power armor cracked the plating at her throat. She noticed the armor’s computer on the leg and hit the spot below three times. Nothing happened and the soldier let out a dirty laugh.
The armor was tightening around her throat. Instead of desperation Fade only felt the thrill. She realized the gash at the neck’s armor and hit it with all her force. The damaged armor plate gave way so that the stallion struggled to breath. His grip loosened just enough for Fade to twist her head and slip away.
Fade rolled and grabbed her knife, remembering that she could hold the weapon with her hooves. The soldier regained his breath and followed her. He raised a leg to stomp her face, but Fade pushed the knife into his hoof.
The soldier cried out in pain and Fade pulled at the knife to make him fall. She rammed the knife through the armor plates at the stomach, ripping the knife up. Blood was gushing over the carpet while the armor kept the intestines inside. Fade realized more dots on her E.F.S., about a dozen.
When she got up to face the next, a loud crack echoed through the corridor and into the room. One of the signals turned yellow. The others were scattering, some entering the room to find cover. A second shot felled another soldier, the red signal immediately disappearing.
“Retreat!”
Fade recognized Colloquy’s voice and smiled. “Finally!”
Magic energy lances pierced the walls next to Midnight. He had to duck back behind the corner. After the surprise of the moment was over, one of the many soldiers returned fire.
More bursts of magic dissolved parts of the wall and the pink dust covered Midnight’s face. He waited for a moment to take another shot, but the soldier didn’t give him any opportunity.
“Midnight! Three down the hallway!” Feather alerted him.
He aimed his rifle and fired at the foremost soldier. The hasty shot made the bullet pierce through the leg. The high caliber tore flesh and bones apart. The mare fell and the leg was only held in place by her armor. The other two soldiers took cover at the door frames.
“Run!” Midnight shouted and fired again to give Feather enough time to retreat into the canteen. With reinforcements arriving from every direction it was impossible for them to return to the narrow maintenance halls.
In the canteen, Midnight and Feather jumped behind the food counter. Midnight used the brief moment to reload. Feather took a better firing position some distance away from Midnight.
The first group of soldiers were rushing in, already opening fire at the counter. The magic shots pierced through thin sheet metal and tore apart food trays and heating units. White and gray mush, pink dust and small metal specks rained down on them. Feather returned fire but was blinded by the flashing lights and dirt in the air.
Midnight didn’t have any chance to align his rifle. In his desperation he grabbed a fire extinguisher and threw it over the counter. While some of the Enclave ponies took cover, another shot at it. The cylinder exploded from the intense heat of the plasma bolt and fire foam covered the walls and floor.
That brief moment gave Midnight time to take two and even a third shot at the attackers. Together with Feather they managed to kill two and pin down the rest of the squad.
More soldiers appeared at a different entrance and started to shoot at them.
“Feather! Keep them down!” Midnight shouted over the noise. He used the angle of the cover to line another shot and fired. The bullet tore through the wall. Blood spurted on the floor and the pony behind fell lifelessly to the ground. The other moved away from the doorframe to avoid the same fate.
Midnight knew they could cover two entrances, but the canteen had four. The moment another group joined their enemies, they were certainly trapped.
Fade quickly and quietly killed the two soldiers in the room. Both were young, certainly not much older than the Shadowbolts she fought in the Ministry.
She noticed how Colloquy’s squad retreated. They left the detection radius of her E.F.S., but she soon heard shots from the direction they went. A brief look into the hallway showed her two more dead ponies. Both were killed by a clean shot; one into the head, the other into the side. The weapon tore through their armor as if it was paper.
She ran down the hallway, searching for Midnight. Getting closer to the canteen, she noticed four soldiers blocking one entrance. Colloquy was not among them. Pink energy bolts flew past them and Fade knew they had pinned down Midnight and Feather.
She was ready to ambush them. But she heard the noise of countless ponies getting closer. A group of almost a dozen heavily armed soldiers ran and flew along the hallway to, almost certainly, block another entrance to the canteen. Behind them Fade saw General Lightning Dust, escorted by a few bodyguards.
Her smile grew even wider. At the sight of a much more desirable goal. She galloped past the pinned down group, pretending her presence was normal. Passing by, she noticed when a magical energy minigun began firing and tore apart what was left of the counter. Even the metal panels behind them began to evaporate. Two squads of soldiers stormed into the canteen, toppling over tables to take firing positions. They all waited for the minigun’s fire to die down to deliver the killing blow.
Fade couldn’t blindly attack them. These ponies didn’t move or act like the rookies all over the place. These were probably veterans from the war. As much as she wanted to, violence and bloodshed wouldn’t help them.
“Kill them.” She heard Lightning Dust shout, followed by a cough.
“No!” She called.
Lightning Dust looked at her. “Identify!” the general shouted. Her voice was croaking but still carried arrogance and authority.
“Shadowbolt Brave!” Fade hovered and saluted. “I am part of a hunter-seeker group, sent out to retrieve valuable assets.” Fade had no idea how the Shadowbolts talked. She only tried to think of what her Dad would say.
“What assets?”
“Two ponies. Asset Swift Wings and Asset Key. The ponies in there are relatives of Swift.”
“Is that so?”
“Affirmative. They lured the dragon to this place as a distraction to infiltrate the Victorious and get back an artifact called Killjoy. I suggest capturing them and taking them hostage to force Swift or Key to surrender.”
“Good. You heard her.” Lightning Dust grinned and took a communicator. “Colloquy. Prepare a beachhead and start negotiations.”
“Stay down!” The moment the minigun’s fire died down, the soldiers didn’t press any further. “The general wants to talk to you.”
Midnight realized the strangeness of the situation. All the Enclave needed was a charge or a few grenades to finish them. Midnight feared they captured Fade. “What is it?” He shouted from behind the cover.
Midnight had to wait for a long time before he heard the raspy voice of the general. “If you surrender we will let you go free in exchange for Swift. Tell us her position and we will escort you two back to the surface.”
Midnight looked over the remnants of the counter. General Lightning Dust was in the canteen, surrounded by soldiers and protected behind a shield spell. Colloquy’s group entered the canteen and prepared to flank them if necessary. They were outnumbered.
“What if we refuse?” Midnight tried to stall. He disappeared back into the cover and looked to see if there was a way out in the tiny, automated kitchen. The robot installed to produce the food was destroyed, the brain leaking out from the dome.
“If you refuse, we will take this chance to execute you. Maybe then this Swift will leave her hiding spot.”
“We can still fight!” Midnight tried to stall for time.
“I discourage you from doing that. I heard that both burning by plasma and slow disintegration by magic are very painful. But I wonder which one is worse.”
Suddenly, one soldier next to Lightning Dust drew a Ripper knife. Fade grabbed the elderly general and held the blade at her throat.
“What about slowly bleeding out, bitch?” The soldiers around her aimed their weapons at her. “Colloquy, you stupid cunt! Tell your cronies to put down the weapons or I will kill your general before the next cardiac arrest does!”
Colloquy rushed into the canteen. Upon seeing General Lightning Dust in peril she stopped cold in her tracks. “You heard her! Weapons down!”
“Good girl,” Fade mocked her. “You will get your wannabe general back after we have left the Victorious. You will escort us back to our ship, let us board and go. Understood?”
“Yes. There is no need for further bloodshed!”
Fade grinned and looked at the soldiers. “Are you stupid? Fuck off already!” She pushed the knife more against Lightning Dust’s throat. The soldiers were retreating and Colloquy yelled at them to hurry up.
Fade moved Lightning Dust closer to the counter. Midnight and Feather were slowly leaving their cover. Midnight had his rifle ready, balancing on his hindlegs like a zebra would while keeping his rifle primed at Colloquy. Feather observed every door. The peak of her rifle was buzzing with energy, ready to be fired at any moment.
Slowly they made it back to the hangar. Colloquy informed every squad nearby to not engage. Fade savored the look of fear on her face. When they arrived at the Vertibuck Midnight and Feather went in first.
“Feather. Take over,” Fade said, as she had to get into the harness.
“Down!” Feather shouted and Lightning Dust, shivering and whimpering, lay down on the ramp of the Vertibuck. Feather pushed the hot, glowing tip against Lightning Dust’s head.
“Midnight. Keep Colloquy in check. If she does anything stupid, kill her.”
He only nodded and took the place next to Feather, aiming his rifle right at Colloquy’s head.
“What about the general?” Feather whispered, while Fade was preparing the Vertibuck to start.
“What I said. When we are outside the hangar, let her go.”
The seconds crawled by like minutes. Fade hurried. She was glad that, despite all the crashes, that all the ship's systems were still working. The Vertibuck started. Fade had to move slowly and carefully to make sure that Colloquy was always in Midnight’s sight.
Even with the drugs, Fade felt the stress and anxiety. The sweat was burning in her eyes. Her body was tense. The moment Lightning Dust left the Vertibuck, she would have to fly faster than ever before. Thankfully she had the power armor of her father and she already felt how much the mechanical wings helped her.
Colloquy jumped on a nearby Skytank. She was too worried for Lightning Dust’s security to care for her own. Midnight had her head right in his crosshair. He wouldn’t miss the shot.
At the hangar gate, Fade lowered the Vertibuck to let Lightning Dust step off the ramp.
“Let her go,” Fade said.
“You heard it. Get up.” Feather said and kept aiming her weapon at her head.
Midnight’s body froze. He was still aiming at Colloquy and believed he understood Fade’s plan. Showing mercy would leave them confused and incapable of chasing them. It would give them time.
Feather fired. Lightning Dust’s head evaporated into pink dust. Her corpse tumbled off the ramp and fell into the open sky below. A pink trail was all that could be seen, before the empty armor fell through the clouds.