//------------------------------// // Chapter 20 // Story: Fallout Equestria: Black Cat // by Rixizu //------------------------------// Break looked at the newcomer in horror and cursed. Why didn’t she see this coming? Pain and guilt went through her heart knowing this was all her fault. Now the Stones were on a path of destruction. Tact Coat would not stop until she was dead and had no desire to go quietly. If Tact Coat killed her, what would she do next? Run off and rebuilt maybe? What would that mean? Would there be an inevitable bloody war with the Cosas to get her territory back? Break might have only delayed the Stones’ original plans. Break steeled her resolve as the others around her panicked. Silver Stone was cleaning up so it didn’t look like he helped help patch somepony up a few moments ago. She knew what she had to do. “How long do we have until they arrive?” Break asked in an authoritative voice. “Three minutes at most.” The newcomer, a portly earth pony with a light grey coat and purple mane, answered in a shaky voice. “Silver Stone, do you have any more healing potions?” Break asked. The stallion stopped what he was doing. “Yes, only one though.” Silver Stone answered. “I don’t think it will be enough to heal you all the way though.” “Good enough.” Break replied. “It will have to do.” She took the flask in her hooves. “Do you have a plan?” Brights asked with desperate hope in her voice. “I think the little missy does.” Boomerang Jack said with a knowing smirk. “We need to hide.” Break said. Her first priority was getting everypony to safety, and then she would have to deal with Tact Coat somehow. It seemed unavoidable at this point. She needed to stop this before the situation got even more out of hoof. “They can only see Silver Stone and Scavenger. I don’t want them to see me or any of the escaped slaves. I don’t want a chance of them recognizing any of us.” Break said. The other nodded in understanding. Silver Stone started a nervous pacing. “There isn’t really a place to hide in here.” Silver Stone said furrowing his brow. “If they search the place, they will find you eventually.” “Come on!” Bright threw up her hooves. “There has to be somewhere we can hide.” “I’ve got it!” Silver Stone slammed his hoof the ground. “There is a way to the roof. Not the best or safest place, but it should work well enough. I have to warn you. It’s old and I don’t trust that it will hold your weight.” “It will have to do.” Break sighed. Silver Stone led them upstairs to a window on the far left of the room. “It’s a climb, but it won’t be too difficult for you to get up there. A pony could walk on outside of the building on a narrow ledge and get to the roof by pulling themselves up.” Break did a quick search outside and nopony was in sight at the moment. The streets were dead which worried her. She chugged down the second healing potion and her stiff legs felt so much better. She didn’t feel at a hundred percent though and walking was more difficult than it should have been. Break pulled open the window. “C-careful!” Scavenger warned. “Don’t worry.” Break reassured. “I will use Good Times Bad Times to get me up there.” She used her ghost to pull herself up with one smooth motion. The others watched her amazed. She looked down at them. “We have little time.” Break warned and that got them moving. In the next three minutes, Break, Boomerang Jack, Brights, and the new slave were all on the roof. They kept low to avoid any detection. Break felt glad that the Stones didn’t have any pegasi members as far as she knew. Not long later, they heard hard pounding on the front door of the bar. Break crawled along the roof and saw that three Stones thugs were at the door. They were heavily armed and one held a flamethrower. Break shivered. “Well?” Boomerang Jack asked when she crawled back. “Let’s hope they don’t attempt to burn the place down.” Break replied. She couldn’t see a safe place the others could jump to if the place started burning down. They all gave her a grim nod of understanding no doubt thinking the same thing themselves. A thug pounded on the back door. After some ruffling, Silver Stone opened the door. Break and the others on the roof stood silent not even breathing fearing that it would give them away. “We are looking for a certain mare.” The head thug said. “I can’t say I know what you are talking about.” Silver Stone replied keeping his tone neutral and relaxed. “She’s a purple earth pony and one of her legs is white. Have you seen her?” There was a threat in his voice promising violence if he didn’t get the answer he wanted. “Haven’t seen her.” Silver Stone said still keeping cool. “I see, I hope you don’t mind us checking your bar then.” The head thugs said and it sounded like he pushed past Silver Stone into the building. Silver Stone growled, but said nothing. “We will be very thorough.” The head thug added. “You better hope we don’t find her.” Break didn’t like the way he said that. The stallion wanted to hurt somepony and didn’t care who. Break shook with nervousness and anticipation. She fought to steady herself. Panicking would do nopony any good. In the distance, she could see signs of burning buildings and it horrified her to the core. She didn’t think it would go this far. She needed to stop this now. How could she do that though? Even if she killed Tact Coat, what would stop the thugs from wreaking more havoc? Could she even stop all of them if they did? She felt so small right now. So much for having powers. In a way, it felt like they barely made any real difference at all. Focus. Break thought clearing her mind of her doom and gloom. Protect your friends first, and then stop Tact Coat. Deal with whatever comes next later. “We found nothing so far.” A thug said. “I wonder.” The head thugs mussed aloud. “Have you checked all the rooms?” "Yes, sir." A Stone replied. “Hey, you in the bar!” The head thug yelled. “M-me?” Scavenger asked. “Have you seen a mare with a white leg?” The head thug demanded his voice promised violence. "C-Can't say that I have." Scavenger kept his stuttering under check. “Have you?” The head thug asked again and Scavenger yelped in pain. Break tensed scared for her friend and readied for action if things got worse. “No!” Scavenger yelled. “W-what are you d-doing?!” There was a snort of disgust and Scavenger grunted in pain when the thug pushed him to the ground. "Get out of here." The thugs ordered and a few minutes later Scavenger ran out of the door. He gave Break a reassuring look before scampering away. "As you can see," Silver Stone said through clenched teeth. "Who you are looking for isn't here." “So, it appears.” The thug said annoyed. “Tact Coat will have my flank if I don’t find her soon.” He muttered to himself. “If you see or hear anything about her, let us know.” The head thug said as he left. “She has a 5000 cap bounty on her head.” Break almost gasped and the ponies with her exchanged looks. That was a ridiculous amount of money. Were the Stones giving away everything they had to get at her? “Okay.” Silver Stone replied. There was a slight hesitation in his voice. Come on; are you really considering the offer? “Ha! I knew it!” The head thugs exclaimed in victory. “You do know where she is. I knew I could weed it out of you somehow. A reward like that would make anypony think twice.” “I, um…” Silver Stone stuttered. “I smelled blood in your back room.” The thug continued. “And you ain’t that great of a liar. Your face gives it all away.” Oh, Ponyfeathers. Break cursed. Silver Stone howled in pain after a gunshot went off. He whimpered. Panic filled Brights’s eyes and she gripped Break so hard with a hoof it hurt. "I will only ask this once." The head thug said. His voice told of no compromises or mercy. There was no doubt he would kill Silver Stone in an instant if he didn’t comply. “Where is that mare?” “You have to save him!” Brights whispered tone pleading. Break only nodded. She refused to let this pony die because of her. Steeling her resolve, she jumped off the roof using her ghost to cushion the fall. Break walked through the back door and moved at a hurried pace not wanting to waste a moment. “I’m right here.” Break announced walking into the bar proper. She saw that the Stone thugs had surrounded the bar owner. They turned to look surprised by her sudden appearance. Silver Stone was on the ground grasping his back right leg which had a bullet wound in it and leaked blood on the floor. One thug got a shot off, but Break hit it away and came at them. Break attacked them going after the pony with the flamethrower first. She had Good Times Bad Times grab it out of the thug's hooves and bent it in two rendering it useless. The pony that was holding it gaped at her. “K-kill her!” The head thug ordered, but he was too late. Break dispatched them all before he even got all those words out. I should have just done this from the beginning. Break told herself. She was so used to hiding it was second nature to her. Not that she wanted to put herself in danger regularly or anything, but it wouldn’t hurt to get more assertive. Putting this thought out for the moment, she kneeled down to check Silver Stone’s injuries. His face conveyed just how much pain he was in. “Don’t worry about me filly.” He wheezed. “Those gunshots will no doubt attract some unwanted attention. It is best you just leave and go somewhere safe. “ “Keep yourself safe.” Break said. “I’ll distract them.” “Hold it.” Silver Stone said stopping her. “I didn’t believe your story at first, but you really are a special one, aren’t you?” “Well.” “If you can stop her, do it.” Silver Stone pleaded. “She’s a heartless monster and the world would be a better place without her.” “I’ll do what I can.” Break promised and ran out the door. Break jumped in the air, used Good Times Bad Times to latch herself to the side of a building, and walked up it to the roof. She scanned the surrounding area and it didn’t take her long to see some Stones thugs running in her direction towards the bar. There were at least six of them. It would only take them about a minute or two for them to arrive. Break breathed in and out. She wanted to be as ready as possible when she jumped into danger. For some reason, she felt calmer than usual. She saw that the thugs had run past the building where she was standing. With another deep breath, she jumped off and reversed gravity a split second before she landed making the normally dangerous fall easy and landed with hardly a sound. “Hey.” Break said startling the thugs who stared at her in momentary shock. With a few quick punches, they went down in moments. They groaned in pain. “She’s right here!” A thug yelled in a strained voice from the ground and Break ran off. ‘ There was more yelling and Stones converged on her. They came around buildings and aimed their guns at her. They fired at her, but Break used her powers to jump over the barrage of bullets and pushed herself into an open window of a nearby building. “After her!” One thug yelled. “What?” Another yelled back. “How the hay do we deal with that? She’s magic or something!” “I don’t care.” The first thug said. “Just get her. She’s still just a weak thing. One bullet in the head will kill her well enough.” “Yeah, if we can actually hit her. She’s a monster I tell you!” The second thug grumbled. Some other Stones muttered in agreement. “Just go after her.” Break led the group of Stones away from her friends. She jumped from roof to roof moving away from the ponies hunting her. They tried to fire on her, but the distance made it difficult to hit her, powers or not. She did this for five blocks and felt satisfied that this was far enough. It was time to execute the next part of her plan. Break jumped off a roof and hid in an alley behind a trash bin. Her sudden disappearance confused her pursuers and they tried to coordinate her position made even more confused when she used her powers to jump through windows and emerged on the other side of the building unseen. She sneaked behind them and tried to find a lone straggler standing on the side of a building. The Stones reluctantly separated into groups of four. It sounded like they were using walkie-talkies to call for backup and talk to one another. One thug lagged behind and Break knew this was a good target for her purposes. Break fell to the ground and snuck up behind him. He didn’t even seem to notice her. His face was one of panic and worry and too focused on his own troubles to notice her. Crawling up behind him, she pounced by using her ghost to push him to the ground and covered his mouth with a hoof. She commanded Good Times Bad Times to grab him from behind and bind his front legs making it impossible to move them and dragged him into an alley. When she checked it was safe, she began her interrogation. "If you scream, um, things will get worse for you." Break tried to make herself sound tough and intimidating. She winced inwardly. That’s won’t scare a mouse. Nice going. Break reprimanded herself. Much to her amazement, the Stones thugs nodded up and down as hard as he could. His eyes looked frightened and he quavered. Break let go of his mouth. “Please don’t hurt me.” He sounded on the verge of crying and whimpered. Break fought the urge not to gape at this reaction. This stallion did see her, right? How could anypony be scared of a pony that looked like her so thin and weak looking? She couldn’t imagine even look a little freighting to the tiniest foal. Break stood up straight and glared down at him. She made her voice sound deep. “Tell me what I want to know, and I will let you go.” “I’ll tell you anything, just please don’t hurt me.” The stallion repeated. Tears welled in his eyes. Break felt sorry for the stallion. He seemed so pathetic that even if he resisted, she won’t have the heart to hurt him. She planned to make this brief for his sake. “Tell me, where is Tact Coat now?” Break asked. The stallion whimpered a little more before speaking. “She’s in the old bank on 15th Street. She’s using it as a temporary hideout. Her new office is in the safe.” “I see.” Break said. “What is the bank’s name?” “First Equestrian.” The stallion replied. “Thank you.” Break let him go and used her powers to launch herself on the roof of the building next to her. From her new vantage point, Break scanned the surrounding area. It didn’t take her long to find what she was looking for. The First Equestrian Bank stood on the edge of the barrier around town. It was a short and single floor squat building. It looked like the Stones had remolded it into an office building, but she guessed they must still use the safe and the safety deposit boxes to protect caps and other valuables. The building was guarded heavily by at sixteen ponies with four on the roof. Much to her surprise, many of them were using energy weapons. Those weren’t easy to get or find. This complicated things. She didn’t know if her power could block those. Still, Break felt determined to finish this. She would just have to think of something. Break decided on stealth for the moment. She wanted to avoid a full frontal assault. She watched the movements of the guards for some time. These ponies were vigilant in their guard duty. She couldn’t see any real weak points in their guarding and it was still daytime, so avoiding sight wouldn’t be easy, though her powers would make sneaking easier if she got in. Several options went through her mind. She could wait till dark, then try something. It couldn’t be too hard to avoid the roaming Stones until then. Break wasn’t sure she wanted to wait that long. Smoke appeared from new buildings in the distance. Break winced. Hesitating and waiting was the last thing she wanted to do. The Stones needed to be scattered and leaderless now. Break continued to watch them. She observed the guards as they patrolled the grounds. She noticed that their rounds weren’t as strong as she first thought. They guarded mostly the front leaving the backdoor exposed and one guard was just lazy and didn’t pay all that much attention to his surroundings. She could see a broken window in the back that a pony could jump through without difficulty. Some of the broken glass was still there, but she thought it wouldn’t be too hard to get through. Break could see several opportunities where she could sneak past their watch into the back. Break waited for her next moment to strike. It didn’t take long. The lazy guard left the building altogether to take a smoke leaving the back almost unguarded. Break crept in keeping low to the ground as she sneaked around the back. When she got to the back window, nopony had noticed her at all. She peeked inside and saw nopony through the dusty old windowpane. After another look to see if the coast was clear, Break used Good Times Bad Times to push herself at an angle through the open part of the window nearly avoiding the sharp glass and landed on the ceiling. Break stayed on the ceiling and creped along it as she went down the hallways. So far, nopony was in sight, but she could hear voices ahead. Trying to make as little noise as possible, Break snuck that way. She found herself in the main lobby of the bank; there she could see several Stones talking amongst themselves at vague attention. Tact Coat was nowhere in sight. She could see among the broken and decrepit dividers, a large safe with a door the size of two rooms. She moved closer and could hear quiet voices inside. One was unmistakably Tact Coat. What was being said was unintelligible. Break made her way into the safe and the voices got louder. Inside the safe, dividers placed to create small rooms. Inside the rooms, she could see desks with paperwork and filing cabinets. There were also smaller safes that no doubt held valuables. There were also rows and rows of safety deposit boxes along the walls. Break moved closer towards the voices. They were coming from one of the small rooms in the back. Break fell to the ground and almost crawled towards the room. When she approached the room, she opened the door a fragment and peered inside. Only to find it empty. The only thing she would see was a desk, filing cabinets, and a terminal. A terminal that emitted the voice of Tact Coat. "Oh, ponyfeathers!” Break knew what Tact Coat’s plan was. She cursed herself for not thinking of it sooner. “Got you!” Tact Coat’s voice yelled from the distance. Break pushed herself towards the safe’s door with her powers, but it was too late. The door slammed in front of her closed. Break stopped herself before she crashed into it. Stupid. Stupid. Break cursed. Why didn’t she see this coming? Tact Coat must have planned this all along using the terrorization of the townsfolk as a lure guessing that she wouldn’t stand for it and try to do something. Stupid. So stupid. Break summoned Good Times Bad Times and punched at the safe door thinking that she might be able to break her way through it. Despite her best efforts, the door held. She could barely even dent the thing. It looked built to withstand a Mega-Spell. Break cursed her stupidity again. She froze when she heard beeping sounds. Break peered over a divider of one of the small offices and found what she was dreading. The floor of the room was lined with bombs and a lot of them. The sound of the beep echoed through the room from every direction. There was an alarm clock with 4:52 on it counting down fast. Break broke out into full-on panic. How could she ever stop all these bombs? She was done for! Doomed!