Fall of Liberty

by iota_epsilon

What Now?

Chapter 4: What Now?

"How do we get around this thing?"

"We don't, we go through it." Blaze opened her pack and pulled out a small, metallic ball. "Stand Back." She pressed a button on top of the ball and threw it through the gate bars and around the corner of the next hallway. The low hum in the air stopped. "Ten seconds, let's go."

Rush pushed open the gate and stepped back, then Blaze quickly stepped through with a raised handgun and checked all the corners and shadowed areas in the room before motioning the the others to follow. The door was shut long before the ten second time limit. Blaze explained that the door must be shut before the power generator around the corner comes back to life or an alarm will sound. The TEMP grenade stopped all electronic flow in the blast radius, then allowed it to resume after the time limit.

Blaze was about to kick the ball into the water to hide it when Rainbow Dash stopped her. "You can't use that one again?" The flyer asked.

"They're single use, the thing's 'bout as useful as a rock, now." The blonde picked up the TEMP and tossed it to her friend. "Souvenir?"

"Sure." Rainbow Dash put the object into her loose pockets, stretching the fabric due to its size. She was infatuated with the piece of military equipment, it was quite impressive.

They continued on, the tunnels twisted and turned like a snake, it made Rainbow Dash feel like she would never find her way out if she got lost in this maze of a sewer system, but the smugglers knew exactly where they were going. The walk was rather boring, the occasional water drop dripping from the ceiling into the now still water was the only interruption in the deafening silence. Rainbow Dash wanted to talk, but they needed to remain quiet in order to hear incoming patrols.

Without breaking the silence, Blaze, who was on point, held up a clenched fist. The others stopped in an instant and raised their weapons as if on verbal command. The country girl's fist turned into four fingers straight up. Four men were approaching. Wanting to avoid any conflict, as it came with numerous complications, Blaze spotted a metal pipe jutting out from the wall, it was about a meter off the ground and barely wide enough for an average person to crawl through. She ran to it and dove right in, the others quickly followed suit. Rainbow Dash just got her feet inside before the German patrol passed by. They saw it best not to continue along their normal route, as it had already been interrupted twice. They crawled single file down the long ventilation tube that was clearly no longer in service.

The rainbow headed girl attempted to touch the slimy walls as little as possible, and shuttering whenever her skin came into contact with the soaking wet, algae infested floor. The confined space was cylinder, thus awkward to crawl through on all fours. "Fucking gross," Rainbow Dash muttered when her hand pressed down on what she suspected was a dead rodent.

"Don't be such a chicken." Blaze tried to hold in her laughter.

"Oh, you want to come and feel this thing?"

"Ah'm fine, thanks for the offer."

"That's what I thought."

"At least ah'm not complainin' about every little fuzzy thing ah touch. You're startin t' sound like Rarity-" Blaze was suddenly cut off when her front hand was placed down, only to feel the nothingness in front of her. "Shit!" Blaze fell face first down the nearly vertical shaft, her hands unable to get any traction as she slipped down the dirty pipe. She was without solid ground for about five seconds before a loud splash echoed all throughout the tunnel system.

"Blaze?" There was no response. "Applejack, are you ok?!"

The blonde surfaced and spat out a good bit of murky water. "Ah'm alright. There's water at the bottom of the drop. Y'all come on down, ah think ah see a way out."

The three still in the vent jumped down, one by one. Blaze waited on the bank for her comrades, dripping and cold.

"Shit, it's freezing in here," The taller girl stated. "Do you guys come through here all the time?"

"Never. Ah didn't know that pipe was there 'til just a minute ago. Anyway, ah think this maintenance hatch oughta take us to the surface." Blaze pointed up above her head to a small, square door with a red handle and black label that read 'maintenance' in German.

"It's about time. I'm getting claustrophobic in here."

"Stinger, boost me up." The man pulled himself out of the water and stepped up to the group leader, towering over her. Even with her hat, Blaze didn't even reach the man's shoulders. Doing as he was told, the flyer laced his fingers together and rested them on a bent knee.

"Find out where the exit leads," Stinger instructed.

"Got it." Blaze put one foot on the makeshift stepping stool, then pushed up, jumping to grab the handle on the hatch cover. The trapdoor did not swing open at first like expected, Blaze had to give it a few tugs before it fell on its hinges. Not enjoying the feeling of dangling from the ceiling, no less then three meters off the ground, the blonde displayed an impressive amount of body strength by pulling her body up to the bar above her with only one arm. She grabbed onto what she now knew was a ladder rung and began her climb. After the fall down the ventilation shaft, and the twenty feet they had already been below the surface, the trek to the top of the ladder was a long one. When she reached her destination, Blaze took great care in opening the heavy sewer cover in as quiet a fashion as the rusty cover would allow.

The smuggler's luck was most certainly not looking her way when she discovered that she would not be rising to a treatment plant with designated passage in and out of the sewers, but instead in the middle of a busy street. "Damn," Blaze spat as she signaled for the others to join her.

Stinger boosted Rush up to the hatch just like Blaze before flying up himself. Rainbow Dash gave two half-hearted flaps of her wings before she was inside the maintenance duct. She shut the hatch below her and followed the others up.

"What's up there?" Rush inquired.

"A damned street. Maybe we should find another way up."

"It would take too long, we have to have the girl in position by sundown. It could take hours to get there even on the surface."

"Fine." Blaze pushed up the bronze cover once again and checked her surroundings. One car on the opposite side of the street, other than that, the coast was clear. "C'mon."

Blaze jumped up as fast as she could, then pulled the cover away from the hole. Rush and Stinger got up before anymore cars came. They waited on the side of the street for Rainbow Dash, but no such person arose, instead there were two loud gunshots, and a bullet flying right up out of the sewer and off into the sky.

"Rainbow Dash!" Blaze saw a large eighteen wheeler round the nearest corner and begin in the flyer's direction. The blonde sprinted out and slid on her knees to find Rainbow Dash trying to pull up on the top rung, her right arm covered in blood.

Author's Note:

The next chapter may take a while, even longer than usual, but don't worry, I won't be abandoning this story.
I'm planing on anywhere from seven to eleven chapters for the entire story, after that I have a few more stories to post.

Comments

[Sea_Swirl]

that's awesome, so your going to post more stories before the next chapter?

[iota_epsilon]

5043668

I finish this story, then post new ones

[Sea_Swirl]

5048028 Oh ok!

[iota_epsilon]

5048037

If you want, i could send new chapters to you or something for revidw beford i post them. Or you can just wait for ths official release. If you dknt want to review thay's ok.

[Sea_Swirl]

5048104 Can I!?

[iota_epsilon]

5048113

I feel like i just said you could. But Maybe im just halucinating.

[Sea_Swirl]

5048307 that would be awesome! thanks!