//------------------------------// // 12 - Fire in the Hole // Story: The Conversion Bureau: Dogs of Winter // by Cloudhammer //------------------------------// Diamond glanced around the corner. “Got nothing, boss. Light’s increasing, think we’re close to an exit.” “Any sign of Rangel and the others?” Spade asked as he moved up. Behind him, Heart and Club formed the rest of the train. After Ten Howls had walked them through his path to the weapons cache, they’d left him to move the captive dogs into the mountain. “No— Wait, I see movement.” Diamond squinted for a moment, then relaxed. “It’s them.” A few seconds later, the four dogs came into view. Spade gestured to Diamond, who moved further down the hallway to watch behind them. “What did you find?” “Nothing good.” Rangel shrugged off the M249 and sat down heavily. “Five airships, and they’re loading them up for war. They’ve got easily a couple hundred full crates of ammo for these on each ship, and I’d guess a weapon for every griffon they can put on board.” He stared morosely at the floor. “They’re going to invade Equestria.” “Now hold on, there’s no way they could just… fly in…” Spade trailed off as pieces started lining up in his head. “Think about it,” Rangel said quietly. “Remember how they escaped St. Louis. They’ll use their magic, teleport the ships directly over Canterlot, and open fire. Hell, they’ll probably put one ship over each major Equestrian city and wipe them all out, or hold them hostage to force the Princesses to surrender.” “Shit, it’d be a slaughter. No unicorn could handle even one 249, let alone a dozen or more.” Spade swallowed, brain racing ahead of himself. “Those airships can’t be allowed to leave.” “No argument there, but how do we stop them?” Diamond asked. “Not like we can just stroll in and ask em to line up to be detained.” “Well, there’s the armory that Ten Howls found, we can rig that to blow fairly easily. Depending on what else they have in there, that’d do a lot of damage to their operation, but they might be able to get the airships out.” Spade tapped his hoof on the floor, running ideas and dismissing them each in turn.” “Why can’t pack go in?” Rover suddenly asked. He tilted his head as everyone looked at him. “Griffons use dogs for labor, pack just need to sneak and hide among others. Alpha can then set griffon ships to explode, right?” “That… might work.” Rangel looked to Spade. “It’s at least a chance.” “I don’t like it. There’s too much risk of you being discovered.” “Spade, there’s not enough time to come up with another plan. Those ships are almost ready to go, it’s now or never.” Rangel stood up, and handed the M249 to Club. “I can handle the ships, you guys handle the armory.” “What Alpha saying?” Spot growled. “Whole pack should go!” Rangel shook his head. “I’m not excited about the idea either, but think about it. With just one of us, it’d be easier to blend in with the slaves loading the ships. Also, none of you know how explosives work, let alone how to set timers. And besides, you know that we need somedog to keep everyone heading in the right direction.” He put a paw on Spot’s shoulder. “I’ll be back before you know it.” “Okay, if Alpha promise.” Spot’s scowl lifted slightly and he started back up the corridor. Fido looked at Rangel, nodded once, then followed Spot. “Guess you get to be alpha again, least for now, huh Rover?” Rangel asked quietly. He expected the growl, not so much the punch to his shoulder. “Alpha better come back. Dog who break promise is the worst.” Rover ground a paw angrily against his eye. “And now Rover have something in eye from Alpha’s dirty fur.” Rangel clapped him on the shoulder. “I’ll see you back at Ten Howl’s den.” Rover nodded and hurried up the corridor after Spot and Fido. Rangel watched him for a second, only to stagger as a hoof struck the opposite shoulder. “What is it with things punching me today?” Diamond snorted. “Just be glad I didn’t go for your head. Might have knocked some sense into it.” He shook his head and reached into his bag. “Here, you might need this, they left us plenty of spares in the armory. Rangel took the grenade and carefully put it into a pocket. “Thanks, Diamond.” “Rangel, as much as I would prefer you listen to sense and not try to play the hero, I know that you’re right and this is our best shot.” Spade poked him firmly in the chest with a hoof. “But so help me, you do wind up going out in dramatic fashion, I’ll dig you up, bring you back to life, and make you dig holes for the rest of your life.” “That wouldn’t be so bad,” Rangel said with a chuckle. The smile fell from his face. “Just make sure you succeed and I’ll meet you at the tunnel.” He turned and headed back toward the hanger, soon lost to sight. “Alright Cards, let’s get going,” Spade trotted back the way they’d came. “Time’s running out.” Rangel stopped a short distance from the tunnel exit, sniffed to make sure the exit was clear, and crept to the edge. Griffons were still loading material onto the ships, and he sighed in slight relief as he saw their engines were still immobile. “Okay, time to see if this is will work.” He peeked to either side, and saw a slope leading down to the hanger floor on the right. Edging out slowly at first, he hurried down and crouched by a stack of crates. Checking their sides, he frowned as he saw they were just more cases of M249 ammunition. “Maybe the explosives are on the ships already?” “You there, dog! What are you doing away from the others?” He barely had time to process the shout before a metal rod came down hard across his shoulders. Stars burst in his vision as his jaw hit the floor, and he struggled to get to his paws. Another blow drove out a yelp along with the rest of the air in his lungs;  he wheezed and curled into a ball to try to protect himself. Opening an eye with a wince, he saw a griffon standing over him, baton raised for another swing, and he cringed, very thankful the grenade hadn’t fallen out of his pocket. “Answer me, mutt!” The griffon started to swing the baton again, and Rangel yelped again. “Me sorry! Smelled something, came to look!” He hoped his acting wasn’t too hammed, but thankfully this griffon bought it. “You dogs are so useless, every time with a new smell you stick your nose in it. Go, get back with the others!” He pointed with the baton, and Rangel scurried to obey. “Yes master, kind master!” He ran across the cavern, half-hunched in case the griffon felt like getting one more swing in, and joined a line of dogs heading out of the cavern. They paused at the tunnel entrance for a group to come out with another load of boxes, and Rangel felt a surge of excitement when he saw what was printed on the side of the box. Soon enough the tunnel was clear and his group headed in. Partway through the tunnel, Rangel almost jumped out of his fur as a thickly accented voice grunted in his ear. “Dog knows what boxes said.” It wasn’t a question. “Umm, I see it in pony lands,” he tried. “I not know words, but recognize letters.” “You live in pony lands?” The voice was heavy with disbelief. “Not for long, enough to learn some, but pack was heading north. Found griffons, got captured.” Rangel muttered back. “New pup needs to learn then,” the owner of the voice stepped back into the line, “griffons not nice to curious dogs. If you lucky, they feed you to deep worms. And if you really lucky, they kill you first.” “Good advice,” Rangel replied, his ears perked up despite the warning as he heard sound coming from up ahead. “What’s your name?” “Doesn’t matter. Here, we are all just Dog.” Rangel didn’t reply as the tunnel exit came into view, eyes wide as he saw just how much material the griffons had stockpiled. The crates were stacked to the ceiling, and ran the entire length of the cavern. Griffons and dogs moved back and forth through the aisles, preparing another stack of boxes for Rangel’s group. Without a word, dogs started to take boxes and carry them back down the tunnel. Rangel hefted a box of C4 and quickly estimated  how many crates were just in his section. ’Okay, about thirty crates per section, maybe forty sections? Hopefully this is all they have.’ His thoughts continued to run in circles as the procession returned to the hanger, and he withheld a sigh of relief as they headed for the furthest ship. As they approached, he could see more details: angled plates of metal bolted onto the hull, detailed railing, and a carved griffon head frozen mid-screech for the prow. He grinned slightly, this had to be Iron Talons’ flagship. He trudged up the ramp into the hold, squinting in the dimly lit space. He nearly bumped into the dog in front of him, but managed to avoid dropping his crate. “Dog clumsy,” came the same voice. “Be careful. Drop box, griffons kill you on the spot.” “Thanks for that,” Rangel whispered, turning at an intersection. His vision was improving, enough to let him see the incomplete stacks further ahead. Sniffing, he couldn’t smell any griffons inside the hold, outside of the one by the entrance. He took a deep breath and risked a glance back to the entrance, only to see the griffon looking toward the other side of the hold. It was now or never. Rangel crouched behind a box and dug into the edge, feeling the wood give with a cracking groan. He grimaced, but felt what he was looking for, and carefully tugged a brick free. He wedged the side of the box back into place and felt along the edge of the brick. He grinned as he felt what he was looking for, and adjusted the timer. Once he was sure it was ticking, he wedged it in between two crates and slid back into the aisle. A wall of fur met him and he almost fell. A paw darted forward and gripped his shoulder painfully tight. Looming over him in the almost darkness of the hold, the diamond dog growled softly. “Told you, dog clumsy.” Rangel bit back the whine and bared his teeth in silent challenge. With a snort, the dog hauled him upright and pushed him down the aisle. “Next time, be less clumsy. You have plan to kill griffons, yes?” Rangel blinked in surprise, but nodded. “Plan to stop them, at least.” “Good. Me want in.” “Exit’s up ahead, boss,” Diamond called back as he landed. He didn’t break stride and galloped up the tunnel. The rest of the Cards followed, along with the remainder of Rangel’s pack and Ten Howls just behind them. They had left the rescued prisoners with the rest of Ten Howls’ pack, who were busy moving them into hidden tunnels in case the griffons could somehow follow them. “What do you see, Diamond?” Spade asked as they approached the tunnel mouth. “Not much of anything, so hopefully that still means we haven’t missed the fireworks yet. Hang on.” Diamond squinted, then pointed to a collection of black dots approaching. “Got what looks like a group of griffons coming in, couple big ones in the group too.” Ten Howls paled. “That’s Iron Talons and his honour guard, it has to be.” “Then I really hope Rangel’s already done and left,” Spade muttered as the dots swooped into the mountain. Spot whined softly. “Spot have bad feeling…” Rangel shifted his grip and willed his paws to stop shaking. He’d been able, with the help of the other diamond dog and a few others quietly roped in as distractions, to plant charges on each of the ships. He was pretty sure their timers were close to going off at the same time, but he figured that so long as the one on the flagship went off, the others would as well. He just needed to get the last crate loaded and then figure out his esca— “Halt, you mongrels!” The overseer’s whip cracked out over their heads, and the file stopped. The dogs looked around, confusion plain on their muzzles, until the whip cracked again. “Kneel, for the glorious Iron Talons himself has arrived!” Rangel nearly swore. He fell to his knees alongside the other dogs, but kept an eye on the opening to the hanger. This was definitely an unwelcome snag in the plan. A formation of burly griffons landed first, eyes cold as they swept the cavern. Once they were satisfied, one turned and warbled out some coded message. Two more overly muscled griffons flew in, escorting another griffon between them. Even without the metal claw sheaths, Rangel would have known who this griffon was. The aura of supreme arrogance and spite he exuded was plain to all. He felt a growl bubbling low in his chest, and had to force his lip back down. “My lord and king, I bid you welcome!” The overseer bowed deeply, a smile on his beak. “We are nearing full armament for the warships, and we will be able to begin preparations for the ritual soon after that.” Iron Talons huffed and idly clicked his claws on the stone. “Spare us your sniveling. Are the ships able to depart now?” “Y-yes, my liege.” The overseer gestured as he took a half-step back. “With what we currently have loaded, we will be able to rain overwhelming—“ “Then begin the rituals immediately. I want to have the Princesses begging me to spare their subjects by day’s end.” Iron Talons looked across the assembled dogs for a moment. “Take that one, that one, those two…” he paused as his gaze met Rangel’s. “And bring me that one.” “Of course, your Majesty.” The overseer turned and cracked his whip again. Griffons hurried to obey, though it was plain that Iron Talons motivated them far better than the whip. They grabbed dogs and force-marched them toward the ships. Rangel bared his fangs as two griffons seized him and dragged him forward, but didn’t resist beyond keeping his footing. Once in front of the king he was flung down, pain shooting through his knees as they banged off the stone.. “Tell me, dog,” Iron Talons said, almost amiable as he paced back and forth in front of Rangel, “where are you from? You certainly don’t look like the others, nor do you appear to recognize your place.” Rangel simply stared at Iron Talons, instinctively bracing in anticipation a second before the overseer clubbed him to the ground. His jaw bounced painfully, and a dull throbbing started up in one of his teeth. “Really hope that’s not gonna fall out,” he muttered. “Silence, mongrel!” The overseer’s whip rose, but a gesture from Iron Talons stopped him. The monarch took a step closer. “Now that is interesting. A dog that can speak English, very interesting indeed.” Rangel’s blood ran cold as he realised his mistake. His dismay must have been plain on his muzzle, as Iron Talons tilted his head, a self-satisfied smirk on his beak. “If you simply tell me where you learned English and who sent you north, I promise to reduce your punishment.” He tapped a claw on his chin. “Perhaps I’ll make you one of my personal slaves. It’s not too harsh a life, far better than these mongrels get here.” Rangel growled low in his chest and started to rise. The overseer snapped his whip back and the bodyguards interposed themselves between him and Iron Talons, but the king’s laughter interrupted their retribution. “You have spirit, dog, I will give you that. Does this mean you will accept my generous offer?” He smiled, the expression reminiscent of a cat who’s finally corned the mouse. Rangel glanced over his shoulder, seeing all the dogs staring at him. Some scowled in hatred at the newcomer being shown such leniency, but as he looked, he met the gaze of the hulking diamond dog he only knew as Dog. After a moment he gave a curt nod and turned back to Iron Talons. “You want to know who sent me?” He cracked his neck, toes flexing as he centered his mind, the weight of the mountain reassuring beneath his paws. He’d only have one shot to pull this off, but he had to try. He just hoped Dog realised what was about to happen. Meeting Iron Talon’s eyes, he took a deep breath and snarled. “This is for Saint Louis.” Iron Talons blinked. Then, as realization dawned and he started to step back, the ship at the farthest end of the cavern exploded. The explosion threw griffons and dogs like toys, while the pressure wave knocked the rest to the ground. As the deafening roar faded, Dog was on his paws and started shoving dogs for the tunnels. Griffon guards tried to intervene, but they were too shaken from the blast and were overwhelmed. Rangel gritted his teeth and drew on the mountain’s stability, while he reached forward and pulled. The stone around him rippled like mud, and Iron Talons, his entourage, and the overseer found their paws trapped. Rangel twisted his paw and the stone resolidified. With a grunt he shifted his feet and crouched to embed his forepaws in the stone as well. “What is this?” Iron Talons shrieked. His wings flapped in vain as he fought to free himself. “This is impossible, we exterminated all the dogs who could work stone!” Rangel opened his mouth to reply, but another ship exploded; burning shrapnel speared into the one moored alongside it. For a moment nothing happened, but then it shuddered and exploded too. The blast rocked the chamber, cracking the roof and swatting griffons from the air. Rangel’s ears ached, and he could feel blood leaking down his jaw, but he forced himself to crawl forward through the stone, eyes fixed on Iron Talons. He was sprawled awkwardly, one leg clearly broken from the last explosion. One of his bodyguards was still trapped in the floor, but the other one was nowhere to be seen, and Rangel made sure to not check the four holes where his legs had been. As he drew closer, he realized that somehow Iron Talons was still conscious, as he coughed a wad of blood-flecked spit and tried to get to his feet. “F-filthy animals, that’s all you are!” He tried to screech, broken by another cough. His eyes seemed unable to focus, but he shook his head and looked up to see Rangel in front of him. His eyes widened as he realized what was about to happen. Rangel forced himself to his feet, drawing on the mountain one more time to keep steady as he looked back. He couldn’t see any more dogs running for the exit, though he felt a stab of guilt as he saw many scattered among the debris. He turned back to the broken king and drew his arm back. His punch knocked Iron Talons to the ground, but Rangel wasn’t done. He kept his paw in contact with Iron Talons and pushed. Iron Talons tried to scream as his head sank into the stone. His eyes remained visible, wide with complete and utter terror. Rangel took a shuddering breath and started to say something, but a sharp crack had him look up. The cavern roof, weakened by the repeated explosions, finally gave way and collapsed.