//------------------------------// // Chapter 15 Progress // Story: Freedoms Call // by Bronycommander //------------------------------// Chapter 15: Progress The first week had passed. Scotch Tape couldn’t feel that anything got better of her injuries but she was confident it would. She tried again to walk, her legs wobbled again. “Okay, here we go.” She spoke. Trying to move her hoof forward, trying also not to trip. The filly slowly, shakily moved her first hoof forward, praying not to fall over again. The hoof touched the ground, slowly followed by the other 3. “I did it!” Scotch Tape exclaimed happy of making her first step. “I knew you could do it!” Fletcher praised her, smiling, the former soldier smiled too, proud of the young filly. The young pony tried it again, able to walk a few meters before tripping. She got up with a smile, trying it again, the same result. “I can’t tell how happy I am to be able to walk again!” “That’s the sound of progress.” The Knight was happy for her. “If I may make a suggestion, why don’t you take a walk through the base? That way, you can practice walking and get a bit more known with it, Scotch Tape.” Mia suggested. “Great idea! Come on, Fletcher!” The filly ran off happy before tripping after a short distance. The Unicorn chuckled. “I like your optimism but you should take it slowly, my dear.” He helped her up. “Sorry, I…I got just overwhelmed by my joy of be able to walk again.” Scotch Tape was a bit embarrassed about it, blushing, looking down. “Totally understandable.” The Stallion replied, enjoyed her company. They decided to explore the lower levels, the former humans had already repaired the floor that had caused Scotch Tape to fall into it. “Could it be that this was where the Rampage drone malfunctioned? Would explain why this part of the base looks like it fell into oblivion.” The foal suspected. “Could be. I wonder what they have made of the drone after I and Katie destroyed it.” Fletcher replied before he stopped abruptly, seeing something written on the wall, apparently with graffiti. Upon closer inspection, it looked like a storage room for something bigger. C-SCAD-US Fray instantly realized what that meaned, rolled his eyes and sighed. “Really? They made a drone of him?! That's just asking for trouble!” “Who do you mean with him?” Scotch Tape asked confused. This made Fletcher realize that he shouldn’t have said this. With another sigh he said, “Like Downriver. But it is best you don’t know. Trust me.” Hearing how serious his tone was, Scotch Tape just replied, “I believe you that. I hope his counterpart won’t come out and attack us like the Rampage drone did.” She shivered at the thought. “I hope so too. We should talk with Katie and the others about this, something tells me there are more secrets we haven’t discovered.” Fletcher was suspicious about this. “Agreed. How long do you think takes it to build one of those LP-9s?” Fletcher thought for a moment. “I don’t know but I’d say a few weeks, the creating with the hive mind and such must have been months, I suppose.” Then he noticed that Scotch Tape was sniffing. He hadn’t to ask, it was obvious why. “You miss your father and friends, don’t you?” The filly turned her head, a tear left her normal eye, falling to the ground. “Yes. I miss them so much. Whenever I felt sad, daddy and my friends tried to cheer me up. Boo would play with me, Rampage playing pranks and Lacunae tried to cheer me up with flying by levitating me.” That gave Fletcher an idea, with a smile, his horn glowed, levitating Scotch Tape into the air. “Huh?” She wondered what was happing, then laughed as she got it. “Hey! Put me down, Fletcher!” He did as told, chuckling. “I know its hard Scotch Tape, I know that feeling too well.” “You do?” The filly asked, titling her head. Taking a deep breath, Fletcher said, “I lost my parents when I was a colt, having earned my Cutie Mark on the same day. Did I cry over my loss? Of course I did. Crying is normal behavior, mourning over the loss I had suffered. I had to leave my home town as it got attacked. Like you, I got homesick, missing my parents but deep in my heart, they’re still alive and with me. And no matter how long it will take for your friends to find you, I’m with you.” “Thank you.” The filly said in a quiet voice and hugged him. “Say, do you think your parents would be proud of you if they would be still alive?” With a smile, he replied. “Of course they would be proud of me. And I’m sure your mother would be proud of you too.” Scotch Tape smiled. “Yes she would.” “If I may say so, you are one of the most talented and bravest foals I have met so far.” “Oh, please…” the filly looked down in embarrassment, before twitching. “Are you okay?” Fletcher asked with concern. “I’m fine, it’s just…I feel pain in my entire body. Every then and now, I feel like this is my actual body, not this metal case. And in my hoof tips occasionally when walking.” The filly explained, looking at herself. “Sounds like phantom pain. Your brain remembers your actual body. I also had such an experience before.” Fletcher remembered something. “You have?” “Yes. The same friend, who developed the nanomites, was sometimes making me a bit uncomfortable. I can still faintly remember that he had to operate on me once, giving me an anesthesia.” The unicorn formed a smile. “When I woke up, my skeleton was missing and the good doctor was trying to implant a rabid ferret launcher into my chest...I only went to see him about a sprained fetlock! He hadn't even glanced at my foreleg!” Scotch Tape gasped. “Really?! How could how even be alive back then?” Fletcher scratched his back. “To be honest, I can’t remember but the phantom pain I felt after waking up is what I still remember.” The filly stared at him, eyes wide. “O…kay. I think we should go back, not that Katie and her friends worry about us.” “Yeah, we should.” Back on the main level, the former soldiers greeted them. “Welcome back.” Katie smiled. “Katie, were there other drones than only the Wonderbolts, Derpy and your friends?” Fletcher asked, curious after having read the letters. The unicorn drone had a light surprised expression before looking down, trying to get up with an answer. “Well, yes and no. There were several others planed, like Boo, Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Flurry Heart, just to call a few, even one of… you know who. But the cancelling of the project never made this possible. Archer mentioned this in his journal, but there exist no plans of them.” “That…relieves me. If you don’t mind me asking, do you have sometimes…” “Phantom Pain?” Katie finished for him. “Yes. At the very beginning of our new lives, it was hard to bear, as we still felt our real bodies. After getting used to it, we still feel occasionally pain, even after all those years.” She explained with a sad expression. “So, you can still feel?” Scotch Tape asked with curiosity, having a hint of guilt for asking in her voice. Katie’s expression changed to a weak smile. “Yes. Our emotions are still there. Our bodies are very well armored to protect our remaining organs but we still feel pain when getting hit. Our hive mind allows us to suppress the pain, allowing fighting without losing efficiency. I can’t tell you how painful it was when the Rampage drone beheaded me.” “Speaking if it, what did you with the remainings and…if you are cyborgs, then how much of the programming you mentioned is true?” Fletcher was uneasy to ask this. “We recycled the remains of the drone for spare parts. As for the programming I mentioned…It’s hard to explain. I actually lied to you, there is no programming, we are completely in control. Archer knew we would never hurt a civilian, it’s a matter of honor for us. But we have a fail-safe that locks our weapons in case of a civilian at risk.” She explained in detail. Fletcher thought for a few minutes trying to process everything. “So, you…” “Acted, yes, waiting for the moment to reveal my secret.” The former officer finished. “Do EMPs affect you and what about the Wonderbolt and Derpy drones?” Scotch Tape asked. “It does affect us, shutting everything but our life-support down. Yet, our systems reboot shorty after getting disabled.” “Sounds like very advanced technology.” Scotch Tape was fascinated by this. “Yes, Archer’s combination of cybernetic and bionics is very advanced, ahead of its time. Sometimes, I wonder how he could develop this advanced design with the economy going down the drain.” “It’s a good question. If you don’t mind me asking, how was your life before this all happened?” The Knight asked, hoping it wouldn’t upset Katie. With a light smile, she replied. “I had a good life, being the daughter of a married couple. My father was a marine, so I joined the military to make him proud, and he was very proud of me. Jeff and I got to know each other I school, having a crush on each other.” The blue Stallion smiled at her. “Indeed. My father was in a bomb squad, so I inherited his skills of disarming explosives, which led that I became the demolition expert of Katie’s squad.” “That’s nice to hear.” Scotch Tape commented before having to yawn. “You both should get some rest.” Katie said as it was getting late. “Yeah, we should. Goodnight.” Fletcher went with Scotch Tape to bed, wondering if it really was already so late. The watch on the wall proved it was 9PM. “Goodnight, Fletcher.” Scotch Tape tore him out as she stepped in her charging station to “sleep.” Smiling, he replied, “Goodnight, sweet dreams.” It took some time until he was asleep, as he wondered if what happened to the soldiers would have happened to him, Wolf and Midnight, if they could have process it, or had gone insane. While the Eternal Knights didn’t fear death and were very loyal to Luna, it would be also a heavy burden for them to get along with something like this, he had no doubt about it. In the morning, he woke up with a yawn, stretching himself, seeing that the filly was still “asleep”, peacefully, as her eye wasn’t twitching. Still a bit sleepy, the green stallion walked to the cafeteria for breakfast, the former medic had already prepared his breakfast. “Good morning, Fletcher, I hope you had a pleasant night sleep.” She greeted him. “Good morning and yes I had.” He enjoyed his breakfast. “Almost forgot, if the Wonderbolt and Derpy drones are completely Al controlled, how can they be so effective?” “Well, while having no experience in flying airplanes, our battle experience is also shared with them, converted into the tactics they need. Archer had never explained how this works.” “I see. Why did you become a medic in the military, rather than a normal hospital?” Fletcher asked curious. Smiling, Mia replied, “I've learned from experience that the place to save lives is in the field, not an office. And sometimes the only way to save a life, is to take one. I used to work as a normal doctor, but the many injured from the civil unrests made it clear that I had to get out saving people.” “Makes sense. Are the others awake yet?” Fray asked. “No, we two are the only ones awake so far. Can’t leave you starving, can I?” The woman asked in return. “I guess so. What do you in your spare time?” The Knight was curious. Mia thought for a moment. “Well, in my free time, I used to study medical stuff. After I and my friends became cyborgs, our daily routine is to maintain and clean this base, informing ourselves about what was going on in the world and train every day.” “I see. I better check on Scotch Tape, looking if she is still sleeping.” “Good idea.” The medic followed him. Inside the sleeping quarters, the filly awoke just as the two entered the room. “Good morning, Scotch Tape.” Fletcher greeted, seeing that her cybernetic eye stayed normal. She smiled. “Morning, Fletcher.” The other soldiers checked on her. “I trust this morning finds you well?” Katie asked the child with a smile. “Of course it does!” Scotch Tape grinned. “Glad to hear it.” The rest of this week went smoothly, Scotch Tape practiced to walk, slowly but surely, getting better with her new body. She still tripped but lesser than in the last week. She and Fletcher were talking with Ava as they took a break. “So Ava, may I ask how your life was before this all happened?” The filly asked. The Alicorn shrugged. “There isn’t much to tell. I became a fan of action films at a young age, so I thought I could kinda live the dream by becoming a support gunner. And given that a portable Gatling gun is only seen in movies, I kinda live the dream.” “Uh-huh. What about you three?” She asked Joseph, Grace and Klaus. The bat pony spoke first, “I come from a family that severed it’s country for many years in every branches of service, police, fire department, military, and so on. I, Grace and Klaus worked together in a police special unit. Once we were undercover. We did time. We had to deal drugs. We even had to kill. And we were so good at it that, it got us a promotion.” He formed an almost evil smile, scaring Scotch Tape a bit. “And I guess this promotion was the US military?” Fletcher putted the pieces together. “You got it. Back then, I was the leader and scout using the weakness of electronics to my advantage. The more crutches you have, the more it hurts when they're kicked out from under ya.” He extended his blade. “If there's one thing I know for sure, it's that a six inch blade never loses reception.” He finished, retracting it. “As for me, I got never to know my parents, growing up in an orphanage, having to be resourceful in order to get what I wanted, getting very sneaky through this. I also got into a lot of fights, which is why I am so skilled in melee combat.” Grace explained. “And I was the son of a German immigrant. I was an Artist in my spare time. I also was in a gun club, shooting for sport. Do you know what an artist and a sniper have in common?” Fletcher shook his head at Klaus’ question. “Details. Like when a touch of color is out of place. When a shadow does not match with its surroundings. Or when a shape is not where it is supposed to be. The only difference is the stakes. Mine are higher.” “I believe you that. What had you planned for today?” The green pony asked his counterpart. “Close-combat training.” “Want to train with us, what do you say?” Grace asked Fletcher, her voice was one of eager. Realizing what Grace meant, Fletcher smirked. “Think before changeling me, Grace.” “Then beat us! If you can.” The Pegasus led him to the simulator. In the simulator, the former soldiers equipped their melee weapons, while Fletcher transformed his bow into a spear which fascinated Scotch Tape. “Just as reminder, this is a simulation, you can’t really get hurt, neither can you hurt us.” Klaus reminded him. “Thanks.” Fletcher replied before Wolf struck first, using two knifes in her forehooves. Fletcher reacted quickly, blocking it with his spear, leaving him open for an attack of his counterpart, who dashed at him. Fletcher narrowly blocked this too with his spear, ducking to avoid the attacks of the Pegasus. Joseph saw this as his chance, bringing down his blade at the unicorn. The Archer rolled away, blocking the scout’s attack in the process. Klaus used this with Grace to being down their blades on the stallion, who managed to block all 3 at once with his spear, taking effort into it. While the cybernetic limbs made the former soldiers stronger than a normal human, they were surprised as Fletcher slowly pushed them back before he threw them back with a strong and powerful throw, causing them to fall backwards. Catching his breath, Fletcher said, “Not bad. You are all worthy opponents, like White Wolf and Midnight Blade.” He sounded impressed, they were very similar to the Eternal Knights in melee combat. “Thanks. It’s been a long time since we had such a good fight.” The scout retracted his blade as he stood up. “You’re very impressive yourself.” Klaus added, while Grace just nodded. “Better luck next time.” Fletcher said to her with a smile. Scotch Tape had watched the fight in awe. “You did all fight well!” She was also impressed. “Thanks, kid.” Klaus appreciated it. As they all walked back, Mia checked Scotch Tape’s injuries. “Good news, your recovery is going well. If it stays that way, we can remove the case within the next week.” She sounded very optimistic. The filly smiled happy. “Yes! Finally! Did you hear that, Fletch! In just seven more days I'll be okay again!” She hugged the doctor. Fletcher smiled at the filly, glad to hear it. Her recovery was going well, soon, she could get out of this…metal suit, able to be the filly again she was.