//------------------------------// // A State of Being // Story: The Rock in the Gulch // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// Agent Texas frowned under her helmet as she took in Blood Gulch from the edge. She didn't know what nonsense was going on here, but she honestly couldn't care. The Freelancer project had fallen apart, Alpha was...best not to think about that. At this point, every remaining Freelancer was looking out for themselves, hanging onto their equipment to survive or to avoid observation by Headquarters...save those few who were still loyal to the director. Not that she really thought much about those. The one that dominated her thoughts was Maine- You mean the Meta. Shut up, she snapped at Omega, once more pushing him to the back of her mind. She knew she'd never be rid of him - and it was better she wasn't - his words in the back of her mind were frustrating. She wanted an internal monologue, not a dialogue. She'd received a request for assistance here. The message had been garbled - mostly because the dumb AI that had related it appeared to be undergoing some sort of data-corruption related psychotic break - but she was able to get enough to know that she'd been called in to assist the Blue Team...and requested by name. Well, by code name at least. As far as she was concerned, that meant she had two missions here. First, kill the Reds so she could leave whenever she wanted. Second, find out who here knew enough about the Freelancer Program to ask for her by name, but not enough to know what happened on her last visit to the Mother of Invention. That was not a very long list, and whoever it was could be...important. The call had been sent earlier that day, so she was pretty certain she could find whoever it was before they could get away. All she needed to do was find someone she could intimidate into getting information. That shouldn't be too difficult. Entering the canyon, her scanners quickly picked up that there was a large gathering of individuals near one base, while there was only a single person on their own near the other. She decided to go after the lone individual first for intimidation purposes. If they were Red, she would get answers and then kill them. If they were Blue, she would get answers and scare them into submission. ...she wasn't sure what to do, given they turned out to be Purple. She decided to drop her cloak before engaging in combat, just in case they weren't a sim trooper. The purple armored troop spun towards her...only to scream in terror. "Agent Texas!" he screamed in fear. "I didn't tell them about you, please don't kill me!" Plainly intimidation isn't something I need to worry about here, she thought to herself as she approached what she now recognized as a medical officer. "Identify yourself," she demanded harshly, her voice modulator hiding what she really sounded like. "Medical Officer Frank DuFresne!" the man replied hastily. "Everybody calls me Doc! Please don't kill me!" Kill him, he's useless. Texas grit her teeth as she disabled her voice modulator. "I'm not going to kill you," she promised softly. "Just...tell me what I'm doing here. Why was I called specifically?" "Oh, that would be because of the pony," Doc responded immediately. ...pony? "The pony?" Texas demanded, wanting clarification. "The talking pony that everybody's fighting over!" Doc insisted defensively. "I think you were called in because she's your daughter or something...somehow." Texas stared at Doc until he visibly began to sweat through his armor. ...kill him. His mind's plainly gone. It would be a mercy. ...quite possibly, she admitted silently, but not for the reasons you say, I don't think. "And where is this...pony?" she demanded coldly. "Mom." Texas spun quickly. That voice had come from right behind her, which had startled her quite a bit. She hadn't heard anything move. On top of that, Omega hadn't heard anything move, and was just as startled. Tracking the voice, she found herself staring at a tiny grey pony with a dull purple mane, a sim trooper helmet unfolding from around her face into the armor she was wearing. "...what are you?" she demanded in shock. "Maud," the pony responded readily. She then placed one hoof on Texas' foot. "Mom." Texas backed up several paces so she could look directly at Maud without bending completely over...coincidentally moving out of reach of Maud's hoof. "No," she stated rather firmly. "I am not your-" "Mom," Maud insisted firmly, taking a step forward. "No!" Texas countered insistently, unwittingly taking a matching step back. "Yes." "No!" "Yes." "No!" "Yes." Silence her...kill her! "NO!" Texas screamed out, though whether at Maud or at Omega she wasn't entirely sure. Lunging forward, she swung her fist at Maud with all her strength. She heard what sounded like a miniature sonic boom as her clenched fist impacted...Maud's raised hoof. Texas could only stare in stunned amazement. She'd caved in hull plating with a blow like that in the past! Even other Freelancers had only been able to evade or deflect that strike, as taking the hit would always send them flying back. How...how could this pony stop her- Before her thoughts could continue, Maud suddenly lifted her leg, and Texas found herself flipping through the air, only to be slammed repeatedly into the ground, leaving craters with every impact. It didn't actually hurt all that much - both because Texas was naturally tough and because she'd quickly turned off her pain awareness as soon as she'd felt herself lifted off the ground - but the sheer absurdity and intensity of the situation kept her from reacting as she might normally have. She was being flipped around by something not much bigger than most of her hand-held weapons! Before she could shake that thought and react with proper violence - in fact, the very moment before she was about to do so - she found herself flying through the air, only to slam back-first into the wall of the canyon, once more cratering it. As she gathered her senses, she saw Maud behind a nearby boulder, bunching up her hind legs- The boulder exploded, spears of stone flying towards her at high velocity. She held perfectly still as the spears embedded in the wall around her, hemming her in until she was completely pinned to the wall, unable to move anything but her eyes and slightly turn her head. Maud calmly approached, then leapt up the spears one at a time until she was standing on Texas' right shoulder. "Yes," she insisted firmly. Kill the impossibi- Maud's hoof suddenly lashed out, catching Omega's invisible projection on the underside of its chin and knocking it unconscious. Texas knew if she weren't wearing her helmet just now, her jaw would be dragging on the ground. "I have no idea how you did any of that," she finally managed to say, "but...I like your style." "Mom?" Maud asked with a slight tilt of her head. Texas turned to stare at Maud. Even with what had happened, she still wanted to say no...but then she saw the way Maud's eyes were watering slightly. "...sure, why not?" Maud hugged her head tightly with all four limbs. "Mom," she said, a slight tinge of happiness in her voice. "...fuck, what have I gotten myself into?" Texas groaned. "Fuck?" Maud asked curiously, a slight kick causing all the spears of stone to crumble, freeing Texas. "A slang prejorative derived from a crude term for the act of copulation," Texas answered immediately and readily as she worked her limbs to check for injury. I'm going to be feeling this one in the morning... "Copulation?" "Sex." "...sex?" Texas chuckled as she shifted Maud into her arms. "That one can wait until you're older."