Fallout Equestria: The Indefatigable

November 29, 1277 - Mission Day 51

Ice Slushee's HUD booted out of sleep mode as the world rushed back towards her senses. The rattle of gunfire, combined with the serious, business-toned voices of her squadmates quickly rose her from her slumber as she rolled over from the corner of the office she'd slept in.

A few shafts of grey sunlight poked through the shattered windows. Most of the squad were gathered around the window, looking outside, while Spear Bash looked out over the stairwell leading up to their camp and a few others lay on the ground waking up as well.

"51. Status report."

Lightning Bringer's voice. Up bright and early with them, it seemed.

"Gunfire. Close. Northeast, we're trying to track it now," Crystal Trail quickly reported.

"Gottem. About twenty or so out there. They're not after us, it looks like," Hay Weave reported.

Blinking the sleep out of her eyes, Ice hurried over to the window, engaging the zoom on her eyepieces as she searched for the source of the noises. A quick glance through her HUD showed that none of their traps had triggered in the night, unless they'd found a new way in, the supermarket was still secure. Additionally, the rain had finally stopped outside, leaving nothing but deep puddles in the cracked tarmac below, the green glow of the toxic streams had seemingly died down with it. A quick check of the suit's geiger counter revealed a normal (for the Wasteland) amount of background radiation.

Looking northeast, to a block of buildings flanking the supermarket, the muzzle flashes of ballistic weaponry, along with the tiny, silhouetted figures of ponies amongst the abandoned vehicles in the lot gave away the position of a small squad of potential hostiles. Switching to thermal imaging, she could see their bright red bodies against the cold blue of the concrete around them.

The thermal vision spotted brief flashes of their bullets, lancing out of their automatic weapons towards the building they seemed to be stacked up against. A few, single shot and burst fire rattles returned against them, pinging off of cover, but thoroughly suppressed by a louder and more numerous hail of bullets.

"Maintain stealth if possible, 51. Do not engage unless provoked. Ensure the supermarket is secured. A transport chopper is already on its way to extract the supplies."

"Who're they fighting?" Ice asked.

"Dunno. Whoever it is, it looks like they're seriously outnumbered. Hunkered down on the second storey of that building," Hay Weave muttered.

Pounce Chaser came up behind Ice, "Could this have anything to do with the civilians we saw poking around the site last night?'

"No idea. Chaser, get the cloaking device set up," Crystal Trail gestured towards the window firmly.

Taking out a long, thin cloudcrete bar from her pack, Pounce stepped in front of her squadmates and reared up, leaning on the wall for support. One end of the bar was braced against one side of the window frame, before extending out with a wheeze and clamping onto the other side of the frame. With a rising whirr, a small, silvery screen appeared in front of them, telling them it had been activated.

They were now invisible to anyone looking through the window.

Crystal Trail got up, tapping a few of her squadmates on the back, "Shot, Spear, Sugar, Lead, Hay. We're moving to clear the supermarket. Radio, stay and guard the stairwell. Ice, Waffle, Pounce, keep an eye on things over here."

With a quiet, light-hooved shuffle, the requested ponies stacked up with the Sergeant, before quickly moving downstairs to sweep the building. Radio Whistle deployed his guns and moved into the doorframe behind them, watching the entrance. Lying on the ground, Ice, Waffle Cone, and Pounce Chaser watched out from behind the stealth screen as the firefight continued.

She could tell both sides were practiced with their marksmareship. Aside from the two ponies with assault rifles firing in constant bursts to keep those fortified on the second story suppressed, the others kept their weapons aimed and only firing when they had a shot. A particularly long burst of automatic fire from the suppressors rattled off as a few ponies split off from the group and charged across the open area and through one of the doors.

The figures holed up in the building were hard to make out, even with thermals. She could see something shifting behind the windows where gunfire occasionally erupted from, but it was hard to make out. Eventually, the extended burst of suppressive fire ended, the two ponies on the ground with automatic weapons stopping to reload.

It was then that a figure popped up and fired. Ice's eyes widened as, for a second, she recognized the baggy gask mask from the night before. The moment quickly ended though as one of the grounders were waiting with a rifle zeroed in on the window. A splash of liquid and the signature fell, the echo of a high caliber rifle shouting through the buildings.

"51, Command. The defenders are wearing similar equipment to the scavengers we chased off last night," Ice reported.

Waffle Cone nodded, "I second that."

"Noted. Continue observation."

The firefight continued for a brief half-a-minute more until the gunshots gradually died down. A few minutes passed, with the armed ponies readjusting their positions as if the second floor had been secured, reinforcing themselves more against attack from the outside. Ice still could calculate a combat solution for each and every head she saw, though. Their cover wasn't the best.

"Area is secure," Crystal Trail said, "We're posting up on the entrances. What's the sitrep?"

"The firefight has ended. Several of them entered the building. It looks like the attackers won," Waffle Cone observed.

"Can you make their equipment?"

"Leather barding. Spikes, belts... edgy. Nothing bulletproof or energy resistant. Most of them have civilian weapons, but they got one or two automatics," Pounce Chaser observed, "We could mince 'em in a fight, especially if we get the drop."

"Only fire on them if they make hostile movements towards you or towards the site."

Down through the same door the ponies entered through, one figure was tossed back out. A pool of lukewarm blood spilled from their head as five other figures wearing gas masks were forced out, escorted by several of the gunponies. Two of the gunponies had their battle saddles stowed, instead lugging a great sack behind them. Two of the gas masked figures were small than the others- foals, they must've been.

"Let's tune in on what they're saying," Pounce muttered, reaching into her pack and bringing out a directional microphone, "Switching this onto squadlink."

A few adjustments and the microphone finally picked up the conversation. Switching off her thermal vision, Ice zoomed in with her regular optics as they listened in.

"Look, guys! They were fucking rich!" a male voice said as Ice saw one of the gunponies open the neck of a bag, "Where'd you get all this good food, huh!?" the same pony stepped forward, ripping the gas mask off of one of their captives.

A striped muzzle was revealed, which proceeded to promptly spit on its assailant. The butt of a bolt action rifle smashed into the back of their head, and they fell.

"Holy shit. Command, we got Stripes over here," Waffle muttered.

"Stripes? Where!?" Spear said over the link.

"The defenders were Zebras. Must've been the same fuckers trying to steal our food last night," Pounce muttered.

Ice gave her an odd look, though she couldn't see it past the faceplate and respirator, "Steal? Steal what? Wasn't even ours yet."

"Shh!" Pounce hissed as further noise came out over the microphone.

The assailants were in the process of ripping the masks off of their captives and frisking them. The one that had bit back had received multiple blows across their midsection, sitting in a puddle and wheezing as the assailants rummaged through their sack of loot.

"Not gonna tell us where you got it? Maybe mom or pop squeals when I feed them your tongue, huh!?" a small flash of metal came out from the jacket of one of the unicorn gunponies, likely the one that was just speaking if Ice had to guess.

Somepony next to him poked out his horn, however, "Hooves off the merchandise. The Stable Dwellers take stripes for the same price as earth ponies. They look well fed too. Probably gorging off of the fucking treasure pot."

"What about the kids?" the unicorn asked, floating up the knife again and stowing it. Many of his comrades ganged up on the Zebras, working quickly to bind them. Some got knocks in the head, but it was clear who was overpowering who, "They don't take kids."

"The Eastern Slavers do. They even fucking school them," another voice pointed out.

"Nah, not the striped ones. Red Eye doesn't like Zebras much, I don't think," a mare said.

Ice looked away, biting her tongue as one of the captives screeched in pain, the butt of a levitated shotgun slamming into her ribcage. Waffle and Pounce kept staring on, ears fully lofted as they shifted uncomfortably. Radio Whistle, behind them, kept looking away from his post to try and catch a glimpse, only to snap back to the angle he was meant to be covering once he realized Ice was watching him.

"This is fucked up," Pounce muttered, "Even against Zebras, this is kinda fucked up."

"We have an angle on them down here," Crystal Trail's voice came over the link.

"You do not have permission to engage."

"Well if mommy and daddy won't talk, maybe they're fucking hellspawn will. After we help ourselves to 'em. No point in keeping them intact if we can't fucking sell them."

"Maybe we can eat 'em afterwards?"

"I love 'em glazed."

"Aww you hear that, kiddo? You're gonna learn to beg for death!"

"I always thought you'd be a great kindergarten teacher, Vice."

"Ya think so?"

Shot Stack's voice came through, "Celestia on a bike."

Ice watched as one of the foals cowered in fear, backing up into the roped legs of one of the mares, face blurry in the hyper-zoomed view of her goggles. Her teeth gritted and a reticle appeared on her screen as her battle saddle deployed, "I've got a solution on three of these bastards! Requesting permission to execute!"

"Hold your fire!"

"Command, those are civilians out there! We have a duty to protect them!" Crystal Trail shouted.

"They're Zebras, we have no intel on their alignment. Hold your fire!"

"Those are foals, damnit! We have a solution on five down here!"

"Vertibuck inbound. If you attract a fight to the LZ, you will be endangering our personnel! You do not have permission to execute ANY attack solutions!"

"You fucking kidding me? We could dust these fuckers in ten seconds flat!" Pounce hissed, her battle saddle suddenly deployed as well.

"Come on, before the noise attracts the birds," came the last noise from the microphone. Ice watched, twin laser rifles on her back rattling as her eyes quivered. They disappeared behind the side of a building.

Slowly, the guns retreated back into her battle saddle. She got up and made for the door.

The comms were silent, until Crystal Trail eventually reported, "51, Command. They're gone. No contact. LZ clear."

Ivory Heart walked through the halls of the Indefatigable, eyes on the floor in front of him and away from the sailors passing by him. He felt their eyes bore into the back of his head, ears heard their whispering. He was away from the constant watch of the Steward and Butter, sure, but there was nowhere to duck into here. All the officer's cabins were locked.

He wondered if he could throw himself at the Admiral with a butter knife. Surely she had a service pistol to defend herself with. It was just driving him mad in the meantime. The less he thought about it, the less it hurt, the less it banged against the bones of his skull, begging to be let out. He could even pretend he was fine over a game of cards with the robot and Butter. Out here, though, he was alone with his thoughts. It was only slightly better than being in bed.

He arrived at her door, raising a shivering hoof to the doorbell. The door unlocked soon after, she always expected him at this time. He pushed through the door, entering the Admiral's Apartment.

Green carpet covered the floor. A queen sized bed was placed in the back. A heavenly-looking, private bathroom. A kitchenette. A writing desk. She was there, sitting at the writing desk. Her uniform coat and cap hung on a rack nearby, and she wore a simple white shirt as she watched something on her PipBuck. A small, orange tree bonsai sat on the desk in front of her.

"Your breakfast, ma'am," he muttered, reaching for the platter on his back.

Admiral Azure turned around, nodding as her daisy sandwich, jello, nuts, eggs, and orange juice were placed on the desk. Had she always acknowledged his presence? He was pretty sure on the first day of him taking up his new role he didn't even turn around when he entered...

He made a hasty retreat to the door, only to be stopped as she spoke up, "Mr Heart. Stay here, if you please."

Ivory Heart's head sunk, his hoof leaving the door handle as he slowly turned around. Azure had swivelled her chair around to face him, a vaguely thoughtful look on her face. Swallowing, Ivory answered, "Y-Yes ma'am?"

Extending a wing, Azure pointed towards the bed, "Sit down. I'd like to have a chat with you, as two equal ponies, not with pomp and rank."

Ivory was tempted to point out that he wasn't a pony, but lacked almost any vestige of willpower. He marched over to the bed, sitting down as gently as he could to not disturb the sheets.

"My records say you're from Canterlot?" she asked, raising an eyebrow as she tossed a nut into her mouth.

"Zebratown, ma'am," he muttered, cupping his forehooves together as he avoided the Admiral's gaze.

"Stop calling me ma'am," the Admiral muttered, crunching on the nut a few times. After a few chews, she continued, "I'm from Canterlot too. I went to Ivy Crawl Private School there, how about you?"

He glanced up at her nervously, "I... also went there. It was quite a thing for my parents to do so, but they allowed me in. Did not stop the accusations that my parents had bribed their way into the pockets of the headmasters. I was expelled... I don't blame the faculty, they were getting death threats for it."

Azure stared at him for a moment, before taking a sip of her orange juice, "...We must've gone during different years."

"Mhm."

"You studied law?" she asked, "To be a barrister?"

"After seeing so much injustice, I thought it would only be right to use my education to ensure prosecutions did their due diligence before convictions could be handed out," he swallowed, "Then speedy trial doctrines were invented, the MoM took over a lot of legal processes... I passed the bar but I gave up."

"You joined the Navy fairly early? Five years or so into the war?" Azure asked, being fairly familiar with the long list of 'wartime reforms' that Luna's government had made.

Ivory Heart couldn't help but feel slightly grilled. It didn't help that he had explained his entire life story before to Butter Apron over work. Still, he felt the pegasus wouldn't let him leave until he spilled his guts one last time, so he simply gritted his teeth and bore it, "Yes. They were starting to ban Zebras from combat arms. A natural progression of laws after they banned guns from being sold to creatures without certain educational standards, educational standards only found in places like Zebratown."

Azure nodded again, face fairly neutral as she took another bite of her breakfast, "So. Why Navy then? Just needed a job and they were lax enough?"

"Fiance worked at Luna's School for Gifted Unicorns."

Her face remained unchanged as she chewed on another nut, "So?"

"...What?" Ivory gave her a slightly insulted look.

"Equestrians shot first. Sure the response was a bit extreme, deploying chemical weapons on civilians, but you're in the Senior Service. You've probably at least heard of the HMS Luna levelling Zenetaya. Lots of civilian casualties there too," Azure Bluette muttered around a full mouth, swallowing shortly after.

A voice in the back of Ivory's mind whispered about an obvious baiting tactic. Pinks liked to be appear sympathetic, to try and suss out your loyalties. The system was perfect, plenty of false positives... not that the MoM ever double checked their evidence. Still, what did he have to lose? "I joined cause I believed in the Equestrian Dream - Friendship, harmony between all tribes and creatures. I thought the Zebras just couldn't see that. I was wrong. The Equestrian Dream is for Equestrians, and you ponies have made it pretty clear to me that I'm no Equestrian," a pause, before he gave Azure a hard look, "I didn't leave because I thought there was nothing waiting for me at home. I was wrong again back then, but the bombs made me right."

There was silence in the room as both creatures analyzed each other carefully. Azure Bluette was the first to break off the staring competition, taking her orange juice and sipping on it again, "...What would make you happy right now, Mr Heart?"

"I'd very much like to end the suffering still, ma'am," he said plaintively.

"Sure, that would end the suffering. That wouldn't make you happy though, would it Mr Heart?" Azure gave him a slight, coy, frustrating smile.

Ivory pursed his lips, "...I would like to back in time and slap myself in the face. Tell myself to just go be a grocery store clerk and die when they drop a nuke on Canterlot. At least that way I'd die in peace."

"Well we can't go back in time..." Azure paused, mouth half-open with more words half-tumbled out. She closed her muzzle, swallowing, before continuing, "We can't go back in time. What's something you can do that would make you happy?"

Ivory gave her an annoyed look, folding his forelegs as the mattress underneath him squeaked slightly, "There is not much to do. From what I've heard, there's nothing outside but a ruined wasteland and a few survivors clinging to life. They probably don't even have enough to feed us if they starved themselves. Nothing grows, there's no sun, no trees..."

"Pretty grim, huh?" Azure Bluette nodded with a slight smile, "I heard you cut yourself several times last week. You had to be taken to the infirmary."

Ivory Heart's muzzle hardened again, but fortunately the Admiral didn't wait for a response.

"Did you happen to see a mare there? Wearing just a cotton shirt? Patches of fur falling off? Hooves cracked and untreated? Looked like she hadn't slept in five days?"

Surprisingly enough, an image immediately flashed into his mind. As he was getting stitched up quickly by a nurse, he'd seen her, standing out from the crowd of whitecoated doctors with the Ministry of Peace butterflies on their breasts. She'd checked his stitches after the nurse was done, before dismissing him to go back to his duties. He nodded.

Azure's eyes trailed off, "She's the doctor of Sunset Town, one of the survivor colonies. She's got no formal education. She reads with the comprehension of a ten year old. They only call her Doctor because of a cutie mark in medicine, no actual college degree," were the Admiral's eyes watering? "...She's never going to be able to retire. She's eating meat, infested with parasite eggs, and being expected to work sixteen hours a day. I don't think she has anything to live for. But she goes on, she seems happy."

Another pause as Azure reached up to rub her eyes. Another voice in the back of Ivory's mind whispered about how he was being preached to; he sighed and folded his forelegs.

"...We're privileged, even on the Indefatigable. We have a roof that doesn't leak, air conditioning, music, food, we don't fear invasion. Why should we feel down? It's not just the grief of our family, of our friends. I don't think that's the reason for you... or me. Certainly, it's maybe a contributor, but...." Azure frowned, finally removing her hoof from her face and looking back to Ivory with reddened eyes, "What's the thing that keeps them going that we don't have?"

Ivory's face softened as his mind chewed on the question. His mind went back to the doctor and to all of the wasteland patients holed up in the infirmary, "...The doctor keeps going because of her patients."

"That's a profession, that's not a reason," Azure dismissed.

"No..." Ivory's brow furrowed, "No, it's a reason and a profession. We've got plenty of doctors here to take the load off of her, but she's still tired. She's still staying up and walking around the infirmary. I've seen her multiple times there, yeah?'

"...Yeah..." Azure raised her chin, a spark of understanding in her eyes.

"She cares about those patients. She's double checking the professional's work. This world is so cruel that it should put down hundreds into the deathbed, but she's willing to go through every length - even when probably wholly unnecessary - to advocate for the sick and injured. Even when the doctors have it well in hoof, there's a comfy bunk waiting for her, good food to eat... she's still there checking charts and examining stitches."

Azure pursed her lips, raising a wing to swat away a trail of liquid from an eye. Eventually, she asked, "...I really wonder if she were born in our time, if she would have given up by now."

"She would've," Ivory Heart nodded, "She would've known how pointless it all was. She could never stem the tide of the sick, and that she would lose too much even just trying."

"This version of her tries anyway," Azure gave a lopsided smile, "And I think there's many more of her kind in the Wasteland. Even just the fishers trying to feed their families."

There was silence in the room for a moment as the Admiral finally turned back to her meal. Ivory sat and watched her dig into her sandwich as he sat on her bed, a slight sense of numbness tingling across his hide.

Eventually, Azure muttered, "Well I think it's time you get back to the kitchen, no?"

"...Sure," he said, standing from the bed shakily.

"If you end up in the infirmary again, I order you to talk to that doctor, Mr Heart," Admiral Azure Bluette intoned, giving him a side-eye from her place at the desk, "Understood?"

Ivory could only nod.

The whirr of the supply retrieval Vertibuck's engines thropped through the air on the other side of the supermarket as Ice Slushee stumbled out into the back lot, lungs burning. The world moved in fast forward as she collapsed forward on her knees, health warnings appearing on her HUD for a moment as she took off her respirator. A small string of saliva followed the mouthpiece as it hung limply from the right side of her helmet, a rapid fire series of coughs and wheezes coming from her lungs.

Before she knew it, she'd fallen onto her side, against a pile of bricks and rebar that surely would have injured her much more if it weren't for the plating of her armor. Fumbling about with sluggish, tingling hooves, she reached into her hidden compartment, taking out one of the red inhalers inside. Shoving the plastic mouthpiece to her face, she barely managed to stop her airway spasming long enough to press the release button as cool, sour gas ran over her tongue and down her throat.

Instantly, the world slowed down again and she took a deep breath, the inhaler falling to the ground with a hollow clatter.

Pushing herself aside with a shaking leg, she leaned up against the brick side of the supermarket, breathing slowly as she turned her head to the sky and squeezed her eyes shut. Radio chatter came from the back of her helmet as the retrieval team fanned out and began sweeping the supermarket for its useful supplies, she just hoped Lightning Bringer hadn't been paying too much attention to the fact her video and audio feed had suddenly cut off.

"Friendly approaching behind, Ice," Pounce Chaser's voice suddenly came through.

Eyes shooting open, Ice moved one of her hindlegs on top of the inhaler, crushing it and hiding it underneath the mass of her armor just as her comrade came out the back door. Pounce Chaser had her helmet off already, her rainbow locks down to her shoulders as she walked over and sat next to Ice with a sigh.

Trying not to make it obvious that she was still high, Ice looked over to the older mare, "...Hi..." she said in a snap.

"You got your link turned off?" Pounce growled, fortunately not noticing Ice's overly twitchy reaction times.

"Yeah," she simply said, though her tongue wanted to go on for longer.

"That shit was FUBAR," the other mare said with a snarl, "We could've taken them down before they could've fired a shot. Instead we're here babysitting the extraction team. What's Lightning Bringer even fucking thinking? That was insane."

Ice didn't speak, just nodding rapidly instead.

Pounce gave Ice a look, "...You okay? You seem twitchy?"

For once, Ice willed herself come off the high faster. She was glad the visor of her suit was hiding her eyes, she simply said, intentionally dragging out her speech, "Fiine. Juust neervous."

The rainbow-maned mare looked weirded out for a moment, but shrugged and looked back towards the skies again, "That shit just doesn't sit right with me."

"Nope," Ice said, following her eyes upwards, but looking right and away from the other mare nervously.

"I hate the Stripes as much as the next pony... but, like, there were foals with 'em. They threatened to... fuck, I can't even think about it without just feeling sick. We should've done something, fuck Lightning Bringer..." Pouncer paused for a moment, trailing off, before she suddenly renewed her fervor, "Hey. Corporal. Maybe we can still do something?"

Ice's eyes were on something else, though. For a moment, there had seemed to be a flash in the distance. She narrowed her eyes. She'd seen that sort of light before, many times out in the field...

Pouncer poked Ice in the back of the shoulder, "Hey! You listening? I can get Crystal on side-"

Another flash. A dot of white, from the top of a tower in the distance. Heart leaping into her throat, Ice Slushee acted on instinct, grabbing Pouncer by the collar of her suit and diving behind a nearby dumpster. The other mare grunted as they both impacted the opposite wall, a small contrail of ice blue following Ice's path across the alleyway.

Switching on her audio and video feed, "Sniper! Sniper! South by southwest!" her tongue navigating flawlessly despite the flurry of words. Her rifles popped out of her battle saddle and charged with a whine.

"Cover!" Crystal Trail shouted as radio chatter suddenly went mute.

Inching over, she stuck the muzzle of one of her laser rifles around the side of the dumpster, activating a manual targeting field. With it, she could see around the blockage. The sounds of Pouncer redonning her helmet and doing the same came from behind as they both took cover.

There was one more flash, before a shadow took wing and flew from the ruined tower. The wingspan wasn't Griffon. Definitely a Pegasus.

"One Pegasus, heading southbound," the rooftop of a nearby building blocked her vision just before her crosshair could zero in on the shadow, "Lost her."

"Same here," Pouncer reported.

"Could be a scout. Extraction team, how much longer?"

"Give us thirty," another voice said.

"51. Four of fly to clear the surroundings. The rest of you stay to protect the ground team."

Crystal Trail's voice came right after Lightning Bringer's, "Ice, Pounce, stay where you are. Me and Waffle are grouping on you."

The four fastest flyers. Made sense. Ice breathed a slightly embittered sigh as she felt the high slowly sipping away. A cough or two sputtered out of her as she reattached her respirator.

Coming out the back door, sweeping their weapons around, Crystal and Waffle joined up with Ice and Pouncer in the alleyway. As soon as they were properly grouped, they flew above in a cluster, sweeping out into concentric circles, moving laterally and unpredictably as they scanned the surrounding areas.

Where toxic rivers had once flowed the previous night, there was now just a silvery-metallic sludge. No sign of anything living, aside from a few black dots moving away from them down a highway in the distance. Not the proper shape to be equines or any other sentient creature they could recognize. It was concluded they were some sort of animal.

"Trail, Ice, Waffle, Pounce, move to that nest and search it. Be careful for traps. You know how snipers like to have their hideouts."

"Yes ma'am," Trail muttered, signalling for the others to form up behind her as she broke her search pattern. Together, they shot over the rooftops towards the ruined tower.

An old clocktower over an old high school - Ice wondered if Shot Stack would recognize it - was the location the silhouette had abandoned. There was, of course, no sign of them in the skies by the time they arrived. Still, they flew in stiff combat formation, ready to break and maneuver as soon as fire was taken or a hostile was spotted.

Pounce Chaser mounted the clockface, where a few panels had gone missing leaving a window into the interior space of the tower. After carefully scanning for traps, she jumped inside, the rest of her squad following her in with the same degree of professionalism.

"Nothing..." Pounce muttered as she moved on inside, guns sweeping the room.

Old, rusty gears were jammed together by years of erosion. The clock itself had stopped at just 15 past 10, around an hour after the bombs had actually dropped. The fact it hadn't tipped over likely meant the tower had received less damage than its surroundings from the detonations.

A filthy, ratty mattress had been moved in front of the window facing towards the supermarket. An arrangement of broken concrete, bricks, and scrap metal sat above a blackened spot on the floor, where charcoal and half-burned wood still lay. A fire, made to direct smoke in such a way as to not create a signal fire. It was also facing away from the window that looked out towards the supermarket.

Waffle Cone disarmed a grenade bouquet sitting a few levels down the stairwell, as well as redundant sets of noisemakers and razorwire throat-slitters that were only barely visible on the way down. There were no other clues about the occupant, though. Not even any discarded wrappers or crumbs.

"We were being watched, by professionals too," Crystal Trail pointed out, walking back over to the window and looking out. Ice gazed over her shoulder, seeing the supermarket, the parking lot (and the Vertibuck parked there), and the back alley they had been sitting in.

"Why didn't they take the shot?" Ice muttered, "Were they with the fuckers that took the Zebras?"

"Maybe. Maybe they saw us as too dangerous to take the chance," Crystal mumbled.

Pounce, however, seemed to disagree, "They were disciplined, but they weren't special forces. This is a professional sniper's nest."

"We don't know anything for sure. We now know there's a sniper threat in the area, 51. Keep your eyes peeled. Return to the rest of your squad once you're done."

"Roger that," Trail sighed, retreating from the window.

Ice engaged the zoom on her goggles all the way to their maximum level, walking forward to poke her head out of the window. She saw the site of the firefight in the far distance, as well as the pixelated body of the defender who was shot.

She suppressed another coughing fit as the others pushed past her to return to the market.