The Butcher · 4:51pm Oct 3rd, 2023
Bloodfeather Company, Red Eye’s favorite tool for wiping something off a map with no regard for collateral damage or friendly casualties. Slavers and Talons alike who caught his or Stern’s ire were sent under my command as an unofficial death sentence. Sure, they might have sent them to the Crater, or the Pit, but sending them to me at least got some use out of them before they caught a 20mm shell from a Steel Ranger or had a Hellhound rip out their intestines.
My name is Crimson Bloodfeather, and I’ve been watching my soldiers die despite my best efforts for ten years. Today’s mission would be no different.
*****
Our target was an Assault-Mare storage facility in Trotson, which was being occupied by a Steel Ranger chapter. They intended to get the robots operational and under their control. Red Eye decided they’d pose a threat to him if successful. As much as I’d like to see that happen, I was under contract.
If it was only my life on the line, I’d have damned the contract and ripped that insufferable cyber stallion apart years ago. Speaking of which, it’d be the boy’s tenth birthday today, wouldn’t it? Not that his mother would let him celebrate it. I haven’t had the chance. Last time I was allowed anywhere near Filly’s Fun Farm, he was just a hatchling. He’ll never know who I am to him, so this won’t mean anything, but happy birthday, runt.
*****
The trip to Trotson was slow, but steady. The ponies among us rotated pulling each other on wagons. The griffons, myself included, mostly stayed in the air when we weren’t also getting rest on the wagons. In Fillydelphia, there was always animosity between the Talons and slavers. But out here, knowing they were all on death row together, it faded away.
We timed the journey right, arriving at the city just past sunset. Darkness was an edge we desperately needed. All the Rangers would have to target us would be the ticks on their EFS. Still, with the ordinance they carried, death’s from shrapnel and organ-bursting shockwaves were unavoidable.
Those kinds of injuries were survivable if properly treated immediately, but one of my unit’s defining traits was a distinct lack of medics. Besides not wanting to waste medical supplies on people who were supposed to die, it was practically unheard of for someone with medical training to screw up badly enough to get this fate. I’d heard of one poor private who met the prerequisite, but he got sent to the Crater instead. Lucky bastard.
*****
It was showtime. I took the griffons into the sky far above our target, while the ponies snuck their way into position surrounding it. There was only one tactic that worked on Rangers. Shock and awe. As always, I was on point. I was the only one who could survive being on point.
Looking down, I could see an armored figure patrolling the roof. Victim number one. Folding my sharpened metal wings, I fell into a divebomb. Judging by the stance they took just before I reached them, they must have briefly seen me appear on their EFS. Unfortunately for them, they didn’t think to look up.
Crunch.
The roof caved at the impact, and the rubble-strewn floor below quickly pooled with blood gushing from the deep punctures my steel talons made in the Ranger’s neck and skull. Shouting and gunfire soon followed as my troops engaged the other exterior guards. Flak explosions and pained squawks met me as I clambered back outside. Two griffons were already down, and the others were pinned behind buildings across the street.
I launched myself at the nearest power-armored pony, and swung a wing down on them. The massive cleaver landed between their shoulders at an angle, separating their head and left foreleg from the rest of their body. I sunk my talons into the lower half and hurled it at the next Ranger, knocking them down. By the time they were up again, my .50 caliber machine gun was leveled on them.
Crack-Crack-Crack-Crack-Crack!
Armor piercing rounds riddled them until I was satisfied. My forces, still split up, gathered at the front door and the hole I made in the roof. I checked the wounded, now numbering five. Only one of them, a unicorn, could get back on his hooves. Two others were immobilized, and were moved into buildings to hopefully recover. Two more were too far gone to help. Two gunshots later, I spared them any further pain.
*****
We were down to twelve able-bodied soldiers, and fighting Steel Rangers indoors was far worse than fighting them outdoors. They’d have no compunctions about leveling the building on top of us. Still, we pressed on.
Confident that the lower floors were the more dangerous, that’s where I went. Most of the other griffons would be free to move silently through the upper floors without my massive cybernetic body causing a racket. The only way I’d keep any of us alive is if I made myself the most obvious target, and kept the fire focused on me. As agonizing as it was to be half-mechanical, the repair talismans made me borderline indestructible. Really, only a solid headshot would put me down, but I never got that lucky.
Storming into the lobby, I was immediately met by futile attempts to shred my reinforced body. Letting out a roar, I launched myself at the nearest can of meat to open. The mare inside let out a pitiful noise before I rend her into ribbons. With my wings wrapped around me as shields to absorb explosive shots, I closed the distance on the other Rangers. One by one, they met the same gruesome fate.
My soldiers mopped up any scribes among them. An unfortunate griffoness, who was sentenced to serve under me for attempting to desert while on leave, had caught a laser bolt between the eyes.
In all our contracts, three clauses, yadda yadda… I relieve you of your duties.
Picking up the laser rifle responsible, I finished the job, turning her body to ash.
*****
The robot storage area wasn’t as well defended as I expected it to be. The Rangers with power must have all been outside or in the lobby. All we encountered were terrified scribes, who I almost felt bad for vivisecting.
That was, until an alarm blared, and energy barriers powered to life over all the exits. A handful of slaver ponies and myself were trapped.
“Crimson Bloodfeather. The Butcher.” The gravelly voice creaked from speakers in the corner of the large industrial room lined with pods.
“You’ve arrived just in time. I was starting to worry if the trap would go unsprung, but Red Eye’s paranoia is an easy thing to manipulate. I knew he’d send you. Tonight, the Steel Rangers you’ve cut down over the years will be avenged. Oh, and don’t count on your reinforcements on the upper levels.”
Without having an opportunity to respond, the storage pods around us began hissing to life. Assault-Mares began to step out, and the central focusing lens of the head-mounted lasers glowed scarlet, humming ominously.
*****
I opened up with the fifty before the androids could attack first. By the time they closed the distance, I’d managed to cut down ten. Screams behind me alerted me to a slaver mare having her limbs ripped off by the machines. I returned the gesture to avenge her. Before they could claim a nearby stallion as another victim, I grabbed him and carried him up to some catwalks. The other slavers were overwhelmed and killed during those few seconds. There was nothing I could do but butcher their killers.
Unfortunately, the Assault-Mares had their weapons charged, and opened fire. A dozen red-orange beams of death criss-crossed in their attempts to turn me into slag. My geiger counter informed me the energy was highly radioactive, and my internal chem pumps began administering Rad-Away and Rad-X. My nervous system informed me that the energy was extraordinarily painful, as a beam managed to splash across my back, dealing considerable damage.
I didn’t have time to wait for Med-X or my repair talismans, but rage was one hell of an anesthetic. Ditching my empty gun, I became a blender of sharpened wings and massive talons. Despite my injuries and the odds, I was winning.
“No… NO!” The voice on the speakers boomed in frustration. “Damn it! Fine… I’ll finish you myself.”
As I ripped the last robot in half, a metal ball covered in spark packs fell at my feet from a ceiling hatch. Shit.
Pain, then numbness filled me as my body clattered to the ground. Anything that was mechanical fell limp. Emergency power cells kicked on to keep my heart and lungs running.
One of the security fields vanished, and an elderly robed unicorn stallion approached me, a gauss rifle enveloped in his telekinetic grip. He said nothing as a sneer stretched his wrinkled face, and he pressed the rifle’s muzzle against my skull.
In all our contracts, three clauses, yadda yadda…
Crack!
*****
The rifle clattered to the ground beside me, followed by the Paladin's corpse. Turning my gaze up to the catwalks, I saw the injured unicorn who was wielding a marksman carbine. I hadn’t realized it before, but it was the same aging stallion who was injured outside. Shutter Flash. He’d gotten sent to me for being too lax with his duties running the Crater. Gave a raider slave a collar without an explosive, which led to an escape attempt.
His three months with me were just about up, weren’t they? He’d done the impossible and survived his last field op.
Unfortunately, he was the only one. The Paladin hadn’t been bluffing. All the griffons who came through the upper levels were dead, ambushed by hidden turrets. Damn it.
Shutter found the Paladin’s terminal in the offices, and was skimming through the files. “It says here most of the chapter moved to a MWT hub in Baltimare. Another Assault-Mare facility, with a lab.” He scowled. “I should copy all this…”
I closed a claw around the terminal, crushing it. Shutter jumped back, stammering.
“I’m not taking more soldiers into another death trap just like this one.” My words silenced the slaver. “What Red Eye doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”
Shambling to the exit, I gave him a final glare. “If you’ll excuse me, I have Talons to lay to rest.”
That was pretty brutal, but the idea of a penal battalion for Talons and slavers is an idea I hadn't even considered during Longtalons. It makes sense though.
As always, I enjoy the references to Longtalons and the influence it had. I'd never even thought about something like Heidi's speech during the funerals to be something that would get a reference.
5749070
I love that you enjoy the nods.
I hoped to get across that Crimson is also being punished. Long story short, he voluntarily took the fall for something someone he cared for messed up. Red Eye recognized the act of compassion and chose to twist the knife, putting Crim in a position where he'd be powerless to save people, no matter how hard he tried.
5749070
Before the fall of Fillydelphia, I don't think Heidi and Crimson would have gotten along. He generally felt pity for Kool-Aid drinking "true believers." If he met pre-disillusionment Amalia, he'd outright feel sorry for her.
He never cared about Red Eye. At all. He thought the cyber stallion was full of it from the beginning. He considered anyone who couldn't see that to be a moron.
He didn't care about Talon Company as an entity, but he did care about the individuals within it. Crimson believes that people's lives are more important than a cause.
A bit of silver lining to his situation back then; being Red Eye's direct subordinate, he was outside Talon's chain of command. If any Talon officer, even Stern, ordered him to do something, he could tell them off and ignore them. To avoid having her authoritative image undermined in front of her troops, Stern simply avoided him. To those sent into Bloodfeather Company as punishment, Crimson was an excellent source of embarrassing childhood stories about the Captain.
5756820
Yeah, I don't think she'd have liked him much. For one thing, I doubt she'd have solid information on why he was an outcast in a penal detachment, so that alone would make her think he was unfit for service. I'm sure his dismissive attitude of both Talon Company and Red Eye would have been evident too, and she'd have disliked him even more for that. Though, I'm sure she'd have been familiar with his reputation, so she'd know he wasn't incompetent and was dangerous. She'd just have to keep her displeasure to herself.
I'd guess Crimson would pity Heidi as much as Amalia for that matter. Both of them believed in Red Eye's vision for the future and the sacrifices made as necessary to repair the broken world, but really both of them believed in Talon Company even more. Amy was mostly indifferent about Red Eye himself, while Heidi was somewhat distrustful and skeptical of him as a person aside from his accomplishments, but both of them were hardcore believers that you did your duty to Talon Company.
5756886
I bet it really would have grinded her gears to learn that he often deliberately withheld information about potential assets, such as:
1. The fully intact Brownwing Arms factory in Ramble Town.
2. The Assault-Mare lab/factory/storage facility in Baltimare.
Along with likely many other things that could have been very useful to Talon, making their jobs easier and safer, especially against the Enclave.
5756916
Heidi would have been pretty livid about that if she knew, and would have probably made covert suggestions to Stern or even Red Eye to "get rid" of Crimson if she knew about it. If he was hiding that, he could have been hiding anything and maybe even planning a coup or something.
She probably wouldn't have really trusted prewar pony combat robots much, but the arms factory would have been critically important to her. Considering what Red Eye wanted to do with the Robronco factory in Longtalons, she knew that he would have wanted the robots though, and absolutely would have used as leverage with Red Eye to dispose of Crimson.
5756989
I think Red Eye would take measures to ensure Crimson couldn't keep secrets from him anymore, such as bugging his cybernetics and making veiled threats towards Gritt. He'd be wary of outright disposing of him, and he'd make it clear to Heidi why.
"Would you be willing to take on entire chapters of Steel Rangers or packs of Hellhounds in his stead? I know he isn't loyal to me, but his indomitable brutality serves a purpose."
_
Heidi might be a teensy bit more lenient towards Crimson if she knew the reasons for his situation. That he:
A) Took the fall voluntarily for something Stern screwed up.
B) That Gritt was his son, and Red Eye was using him as leverage to ensure Crimson's cooperation.
I mean, how would she feel if Red Eye used Egon as a hostage to make her do something she otherwise wouldn't?
5756995
Knowing all of that would definitely change her opinion of him, but only to a point since she'd still view him as unreliable and potentially dangerous.
If anything, it would just make her dislike and distrust Red Eye and even Stern more. She'd hardly be thrilled at the idea of pitching Talons against Steel Rangers, as they really weren't a match, so she'd tolerate the idea of using him as a bludgeon there at least. She'd just want to minimize any influence and interaction he had with the others, lest he encourage bad behavior among the more disciplined soldiers.
That's a good point about Egon though. That would probably be a make or break situation for her, since she believed fully in Talon Company's mission but loved Egon almost like a son. She'd have never admitted it and would have never shown favoritism openly, but if it came between her having to pick between him or Red Eye, she would have a lot of hard thinking to do. She'd have probably ended up doing whatever Red Eye blackmailed her into doing if it meant protecting him, but she'd have thoroughly hated and resented Red Eye over it. Maybe she'd see eye-to-eye with Crimson on that.
5757034
Well, that's mostly covered by the fact most griffons and ponies sent on his missions didn't come back. Often, those that did come back were no longer fit for service. Also, his headquarters/barracks were underground and on the opposite side of the Fillydelphia crater from the rest of the city, physically distancing him from the population. Which was something that benefitted him immensely during the Battle.
I imagine its by pure happenstance that he was away on field ops during the mall incident and Brimstone's escape attempt, otherwise he surely would been the hammer sent to deal with those nails.
__
Bloodfeather Company's casualty rate before Filly's fall juxtaposes sharply against how successful it is afterwards. Crimson being able to choose his gigs makes a hell of a difference.
It's a shame he didn't try to reconcile with Gawdyna sooner, join the NCR, but 20ish years around Stern skewed his perception of people's capacity for forgiveness.
Besides, outside the NCR he filled a gray area for dealing with things they officially couldn't.
5757034
I seriously doubt she would have appreciated his absolute disregard for the chain of command once Red Eye was dead.
Stern: Return to your post and fight the Enclave this instant!
Crimson: No.
5759173
Considering that everything had more or less fallen apart at that point it would have been mostly moot, but since Heidi was still trying to cling to holding Fillydelphia together until Stern died and the armed forces began to disintegrate, she'd have absolutely despised Crimson if he turned tail and ran or refused to help.
5759392
He was exclusive focused on keeping his own soldiers alive, only sticking around so he could find Gritt in the aftermath.
Honestly, if Stern somehow survived, Crimson might have killed her himself for putting their kid in that battle instead of keeping him somewhere safe.