Chapter 8: Preparations

Two days have come and gone now and in that time I've learned a lot about my new roommate. She is quite the shy one and seems to jump at the slightest thing. Makes me worry about how she would react if she met the Firestarter.

"Well technically she has met him just not seen him in his mask and stuff."

"Yes thank you John. Technically she has now please I'm trying to concentrate."

"Kind of a futile fight isn't it?"

"Hank. Quiet. Now."

"Eesh sorry sorry."

I tended to get snappy whenever I was deep in my work and others were bothering me. I slowly moved the wires into position and set them into their rightful place. This bomb of mine was going to have to be very complex for what I had planned. In short it was the combination of a breach-bomb/cluster-bomb/new year’s eve firework show and was to be placed on the roof. All in all it was designed to destroy a medium sized bank in a rather spectacular style. It was the size of a normal cardboard box; around the borders were the fireworks which would be triggered in a certain order by a timer before the main unit was activated by me. At the bottom was the breach which would blast through the ceiling into the middle of the bank then several smaller bombs filled a mixture of phosphorous and other chemicals which would quickly weaken the structure itself before the main bomb blow the whole thing sky-high in a glorious fireball. Of course it’ll also be getting help with several bricks of C4 that I’ll put along the outside.

I was putting this all together in my headquarters which is the apartment directly next to mine. I’ve done a lot of remodeling to it and now it consists of a crap ton of computers and monitors for surveillance and spying, storage for weapons and materials, several workbenches and a stand for my mask and armor. The walls were reinforced and had several scorch marks from past experiments and the door was welded shut. The only way in or out is a secret door in my apartment which I hide behind my bookshelves. I had in here a wide variety of chemicals and hardware, all more than enough to rob and blow up a bank.

The bank in question wasn't that big. It was just a regular sized bank but it was the only one still being used and the vault was said to hold enough money to buy the Louisiana Purchase three times over again and I was going to burn it all. If we couldn't have any money, they couldn't have any money.

I had surveyed the building the day after I showed Fluttershy the dangers of my world. I was out finding food for her and other supplies. Shopping for her was easy as she eats what any pony would eat as I had expected: vegetables and fruits but surprisingly she'll also eat eggs. She even said she would help to show me how to make these things called hay fries.

When I was out I had taken note of the security of the bank. Over the years the law force had been growing lazier and lazier due to the fact that they trusted the terror inducing threats of the Republic military to deter any citizen from trying anything. Well they were about to get a rude awakening.

I sat on a bench across the street from the bank next to a snoring dude who I presumed was homeless and watched the bank and all it went through in a day. I was pretty sure that the only security forces were two fat cops.

"Only two are you kidding me? Are they trying to make this easy for us?"

"Now wait a minute Guard. There may only be two but more will be on us the minute they found out what we're doing. And we can't forget the cameras."

Jay was right, what the bank lacked in manpower it more than made up for it in cameras and sensors. They were bloody everywhere on the outside and inside and you had to have a pass card in order to open doors and shut off the alarm system which I was sure consisted of laser sensors. Typical. And because it was the only bank in the city it was busy during the day. Mostly because of all the armored trucks that would pick up and drop off money.

“Hey I was wondering what are we going to do with the money when we get it?”

“I don’t know” I answered.

“Are we even going to get a lot? How much are we going for?”

“I don’t know” I said again getting annoyed by these questions.

“Well we need to know. They’ll be looking for it. And we need to figure out how to do it all without alerting Fluttershy. How are we going to do that?”

“I DON’T KNOW DAMNIT!” I screamed out loud. Having seven voices in your head could push you a little over the edge especially when they started throwing doubts at you.

People were staring at me as they walked by when I had my outburst. I just ignored them but the old dude next to me snorted awake and looked at me with bloodshot eyes and after a minute cracked a grin with only three teeth showing through his dirty facial hair.

“Voices givin ya a tough tahm?” he asked with a wheezing laugh.

“Yep” was all I could say as I pinched the bridge of my nose. Another headache was preparing to run rampant again. The old dude laughed and then instantly fell back into his God-knows-what induced sleep. Jeez this place was a mess…

“Sorry Jacob” Guard said.

“It’s fine” I replied as I hauled myself off the bench and back home.

Back at the complex I put the finishing touches on the bomb and smiled at my work. I felt like doing an evil laugh but I would probably just wake Fluttershy. I put it into a big duffel bag already filled with small bricks of C4 and some electrical equipment. I then put it into a steel vault just in case.

I walked back to the secret door and opened it to reveal my dark apartment. I shut it as quietly as possible and put the shelves back in place then slowly walked over to look into my bedroom.

I could see Fluttershy sleeping peacefully in the soft glow of the nightlight I got her. As I looked upon her I suddenly felt that strange feeling again. It felt like a great mixture of emotions. It scared me to see such an innocent creature here in this cruel world and I grew fearful of what it might do to her. She had shown me nothing but kindness since she got here and I was a complete stranger to her. I wasn’t even one of her kind. I was big and scary looking yet she still was nice to me. As I thought all this, that fear was replaced by anger and I swore that I would not let any harm come to her.

"Heaven help he who should ever lay a hand on her and seek to hurt her."

I was surprised by my words.....what was this feeling and why was it making me act this way? I had always believed that I would strike down anyone who stood in my way of revenge. How life had come to mean so little to me but......I never thought I would have to protect a life.

"Maybe she is here to show you that life is still worth protecting and cherishing, especially your own. There is much you can learn from her Jacob."

Guard’s voice startled me and I turned and saw him standing in the living room by the window. He stared at me though I could not see his face behind his black mask.

"This is what you believe?" I asked.

He nodded, "I feel it to be true. She is what you are missing in your life and the key to unlocking that. You must protect her Jacob. She will help you and give you power to finish your goal. You must believe in her."

I thought hard on his words but my thoughts were slow from fatigue. I looked at the clock and saw how late it was: 1:25.
Was I working that long?

"You must rest now Jacob. You may not be able to for a while after tomorrow."

I silently agreed and he faded away back into my consciousness. I lay down on the couch slowly and allowed myself to relax and after a while slipped into the embrace of sleep. All the while I was both excited and dreading tomorrow.

Author's Note

In the next chapter:
Witness the first of the Firestarters biggest acts against the Republic as we finally get to blow something up!