//------------------------------// // Chapter 21 // Story: Fallout Equestria: Black Cat // by Rixizu //------------------------------// “Y-you l-let her do what?!” Scavenger’s jaw dropped in shock and horror. “The filly had her mind set on beating Tact Coat, there was no way I could stop here.” Silver Stone replied far too calm in Scavenger’s opinion. “A-and you didn’t tell her to wait for u-us to come back?” Scavenger demanded. “Don’t worry about it Scavy.” Brights said. “Break can do anything!” Scavenger threw his hooves into the air not believing this. They acted as if Break was some invincible comic book hero. It was too dangerous for Break to go off on her own. That filly had a bad habit of not thinking things through and he just knew she was in trouble, again. He took his eyes off her for five seconds and she runs off Celestia knows where once again. “W-we h-have to find her.” Scavenger said in a way that offered no compromise. “Nah, we would just get in her way!” Brights replied. “F-fine, I-I w-will just f-find her on my o-own.” Scavenger said. "Now, hold on," Boomerang said, "you're right, that mare’s probably in a heap of trouble and just running off helps nopony." “Y-you’re r-r-right.” Scavenger fidgeted in his nervousness. "Brights dear, I want you to find a doc for your uncle," Boomerang said, "we can handle it from here." Brights did an exaggerated salute and grabbed Silver Stone by one of his front legs and carted him away. “Bungalow, I want you to get some weapons," Boomerang said to the red earth pony stallion that arrived earlier, "Silver might have some stashed away somewhere." Bungalow nodded and rushed back into the bar. Boomerang put a hoof on Scavenger’s shoulder. “Don’t worry mate, we will save her.” Scavenger said nothing but nodded. He hoped they would not be too late. Knowing Break, she was fighting for her life now with an almost zero chance of survival. --- I’m going to die! I’m going to die! Break’s brain went into a full panic mode. She was going to die and there was no way around it. She forced herself to calm down. There had to be a way out of this mess somehow. At least, she prayed for this to be true. “Think think.” Break said forcing herself even harder to stay calm. She had four minutes to devise a way out of this. There was no place to hide from the explosion, so now what? It was impossible to disable all these bombs in four minutes. There were like hundreds of them! They weren’t just along the wall, they were also hidden in the wooden cubicles as well. Wait, a second. Something turned these bombs on all at once so that meant that there might be a way to turn them off the same way. Break saw that there was a wire that came from the door to the alarm clock to several other places in the safe she assumed was the bombs. She picked it up and deduced the safe door severed it when it closed. There must be a switch or terminal that activated it on the other side. Is there a way she could use this wire to turn off the bombs? Was it even possible with the wire broken? She pounded her face in frustration. A thought struck her. Could she use her PipBuck to turn it off? Maybe there is a way to connect her PipBuck to the wire? It had a cord used to connect to a terminal. Struck with a crazy and desperate idea, she pulled out her PipBuck’s cord. If she pulled the wires’ insulator apart and wrapped the wires together, it might be possible to connect the two of them. No, that wouldn’t work. If she had the time and tools maybe, but not in less than four minutes. Break slumped to the ground defeated and put her hooves on her face. She didn’t cry because she was too drained to do anything like that. She felt the fatigue of all her battles and fights for her life all at once and sat on the ground accepting death. She supposed she had a good enough life, and she did make a difference in her own small way. It was enough for any one pony. She closed her eyes and waited for death. At least it would be quick. Break shook as she waited for death and tried and failed to fight back her terror. She opened one of her eyes and saw three and half minutes remained. She closed them again, waited for her inevitable demise, and found that she couldn’t. A part of her wanted to fight to the end, but that was silly. There was nothing she could now, wasn’t there? Yet, she wanted to live. The wish burned hotter and brighter within her. What was this? Some primitive survival instinct perhaps and yet she didn’t want to deny it. I can stop bullets with my ghost and that’s something that should be impossible. They can move at least 800 hooves per second, and yet I can block a barrage of them. Break pondered this. Was it possible? Destroy all of them in less than three minutes? What if Tact Coat had them set to explode on impact? Whatever, she would die either way. Break stood up. She decided she would fight after all; she didn’t have much to lose at this point. I must be crazy. Break chuckled to herself as she pushed herself towards the closest bomb with Good Times Bad Times’s hoof raised ready to strike. She screamed as she punched everything in sight not caring what it was or if it was even a bomb. All she cared about was destruction and not dying. Her ghost’s hooves pulverized everything it touched, and she used her gravity powers to throw herself across the room diagonally. Break howled when she smashed herself into one of the safe's walls by accident, but ignored it and continued on with her mission. She did this repeatedly almost killing herself as she crashed into wall after wall, but she ignored the burning hot pain. she kept going singled minded on her goal. The entire room was in rubble as Break struggled to her hooves and winced. She felt sure she cracked or bruised one of her front legs after crashing into that last wall. Her eyes darted from side to side worried that she might have missed one of them. She forced herself to stop breathing so hard and focus on hearing. Her eyes widened when she heard a subtle beeping noise that was getting louder and faster. She had almost no time to react as the bomb exploded blowing debris everywhere. Break howled as the force of the explosion threw her into the wall and everything went black. Break groaned as consciousness came back to her. She wished that she stayed asleep because her body hurt everywhere. Parts of her fur were burned and her eyes widened in horror at the pieces of wood lodged in her, but they didn’t look fatal. She felt grateful to be alive, but she wished that it didn’t hurt so much. It felt like the pieces of wood were deep in her. She used her ghost to push debris away and off her for she didn’t feel like moving now. Break didn’t remove the pieces of wood in her out of fear of making her wounds worse and she had nothing to staunch the wounds. She needed a doctor. I can’t believe I missed one! Break groaned in pain. It felt like her body was on fire. Parts of her skin smelled like burnt meat. Still, I did it. Now what? I’m hurt and can’t use Good Times Bad Times to get out of here. The only thing to do now was to wait for rescue, but what were the odds of that? --- It turned out that discovering Tact Coat’s position wasn’t as hard as Scavenger first expected. A half an hour after Break disappeared, the Stones gathered in one area, the First Equestrian Bank. They seemed excited about something. Scavenger and Boomerang observed them from an alleyway. It looked like they had stopped their search for Break, which worried him. Oh no, please tell me they haven’t captured and killed Break. Scavenger thought already worrying the worse. Luck for them, nopony gave them much attention and sneaking past the Stone proved to be less difficult than they expected. Still, they stayed on high alert. A hush came over the crowd and they found a mail drop box to hide inside. Tact Coat walked out of the bank and Scavenger’s heart drop when he saw the satisfied look on her face. "It's over." Tact Coat said and Scavenger dropped to the bottom of the mailbox. Boomerang grabbed his hoof. “Poor mare. Don’t worry, we will avenge her me and you.” Tears welled up in Scavenger’s eyes and he said nothing. He wanted to crawl up into a fetal position and cry. He didn’t want or care about revenge. Break was dead and nothing would bring her back. He paid little attention as Tact Coat continued. “We need to regroup.” Tact Coat said. “The Cosas will learn of this disaster soon. I have a stronghold up north we can use for the time being to strengthen our power. We will have to leave Forks behind for now, but we will return and bring retribution!” Her voice became cold and hard, and it sent a shiver down Scavenger’s back. This mare was not kidding around. “Gather up everything we can use.” Tact Coat continued. “I don’t want to leave a damn thing for those Cosas bastards. We leave tomorrow morning. Got it? Any dissenters will be shot on sight.” She yelled some more orders, but Scavenger didn’t pay attention. First Green Mile, now Break. He had lost everything. He didn’t have a family anymore. They were everything he had left in this world. “Excuse me? What?” Boomerang’s eyes were wide and he nudged Scavenger. “Hey mate, you need to hear this.” “What?” Scavenger replied in no mood for anything. “Why would Tact Coat order all that cement to the bank?” Boomerang asked. “Makes no sense. It doesn’t look like she wants to build anything.” Scavenger’s head whirled. Why would she do that? Hope bloomed in his heart as he thought the fact through. Did she have Break trapped and wanted to use the cement so she couldn't escape? No, that made no sense. Break would just hit her way out with that strange power of hers. No, not if the safe made it impossible to force her way out. Tact Coat never said she killed Break and wouldn’t she brag if she did? She would relish in Break’s death. “B-Break m-m-m-might be a-alive.” Scavenger said with renewed hope. "Looks like it," Boomerang said with a grin. Boomerang proved to be right. They overheard some Stones talking about their capture. They laughed about how they lured the unkillable hero of Foalsom prison into the safe and filled it with bombs. Much to their confusion, only one exploded. It didn't matter though if she survived. They planned to seal her in the safe forever ensuring the trap would kill her. Much to Scanveger’s annoyance, they still kept the bank well guarded using eight guards at any one time. Tact Coat refused to drop her guard even a little. It seemed like the Stones were having some difficulty finding cement and some of them argued over the best way to keep the safe sealed. Tact Coat refused to leave until she trapped Break for good. Boomerang and Scavenger left to come up with a plan with the others. “Fine mess the filly gotten herself into this time.” Boomerang mussed. “A-as u-usual.” Scavenger said with a sigh. Why did this sort of thing always happen to her? Was she cursed or something? “Still, we got a chance to save her!” Boomerang said with a wide grin. “I doubt a single bomb could kill her.” "I-I h-hope so." Still, Scavenger knew in his bones that Break was still alive. Dead or not, he refused to leave her in that damn safe. --- “We have to go rescue her!” Brights said with hard determination after they explained the situation. “How do we do that?” Silver Stone asked. “You said there were at least twenty ponies guarding the place. We can’t deal with those odds! And there are still Stones running about!” "Yes, but they are dealing with the preparations to leave," Boomerang said, "I don't think it is impossible for us to sneak in there and get the filly out with a making a peep." “Do you hear what you are saying?” Silver Stone showed his bandaged leg. “I can’t do a thing, and there is no way a small group like us can do anything!” “I ain’t giving up on her!” Boomerang said with some heat in his voice. He looked determined to not back down. “Face facts, sad as it is, Break is done for.” Silver Stone said. “It is best to move on and not do some crazy suicide mission.” “No!” Boomerang replied with a growl. “I owe that filly my life!” "Fine, but that doesn't mean you need to die for her!" Silver Stone replied back and the two were almost in each other's faces now. It wouldn’t be long until this ended in blows. “I-I’m not leaving her.” Scavenger said in a firm voice. He didn’t plan to budge on this one bit. Break was family. "See." Boomerang’s face went into a wide grin. "Three against one. You're outvoted, mate." Silver Stone gave up. “Okay, now what?” “T-the problem is getting her out of there quietly.” Scavenger said as he mulled over the problem. He wasn’t confident they could do that. Could they even open the door without anypony noticing? How long would it take to even open the door? "Yeah, the place is crawling with guards," Boomerang said, "hard not to notice or hear a giant metal door opening." “W-what i-if we…” An idea hit Scavenger, and he smiled. This might actually work. “W-what i-ff we d-draw them a-away? C-create a-a d-distraction? “But that would take more than the two of you!” Silver Stone pointed out. “You guys are a pretty piss poor threat to a group like the Stone. Unless you suddenly have superpowers now too.” "No, but I know where we might get one," Boomerang said. --- “You can’t be serious.” Brights said in total disbelief. “They betrayed Break remember?!” "Yes," Boomerang replied, "but I might spin it to our advantage." “This outta be good.” Brights said not happy in the least. Scavenger was not happy either. He wanted to outright refuse after learning what these ponies tired to do to his friend, but he reminded himself over and over again that they needed them to rescue Break. He would make a deal with the devil if he had to if it meant saving her. Boomerang led them to a shack on the outskirts of Forks outside of the wall. Nopony bothered guarding the gates after they captured their quarry and they exited the main part of town unbothered. The shack was nothing more than some pieces of wood nailed together with a large sheet of aluminum on top. It wasn't the only one. The slum was littered with them and fearful eyes watched them from doors or windows. It was a sad state, to say the least. While inside the wall there were many buildings intact and usable, most of the buildings outside were little more than a wall or a foundation. The ponies that lived out here couldn't afford to live inside the wall. They lived in these deplorable shacks because of the Stones, while selfish and cruel, offered protection from raiders who almost never approached. Worse, ponies often disappeared out here, and it wasn’t hard to guess why. The setting sun draped everything in shadow making Scavenger nervous. Somepony could jump out anywhere and attack them at a moment’s notice. Scavenger froze as a gun barrel peeked out of the windows of the shack. He put his hooves up trying to look as unintimidating as possible. Boomerang, on the other hoof, looked less than impressed. "It's me," Boomerang said not stopping his stride towards the shack, "and Brights of course." A black earth pony with a vibrant purple mane walked out of the shack. He had a rifle strapped to his back. He didn’t look pleased at all and stomped towards Boomerang. “Hey Bolt Cutter.” Boomerang held up a hoof in greeting. “Where the hay have you been and who the hay is that?” Bolt Cutter replied pointing at Scavenger. “You meant to be back over an hour ago! What’s happening in town? It’s total havoc in there and nopony has any idea what is going on.” “Ah! Just the pony I wanted to see.” Boomerang said with a congenial smile on his face. Instead of putting him at ease, it only riled him up instead. "This is Scavenger," Boomerang said, "an old friend. He's been helping me. Escaping the Stones wasn't easy." “What is going on in there?” Bolt Cutter asked again not at all in a mood for games. “What happened to the Hero of Foalsom Prison?” Boomerang shrugged. “Dead. They trapped her in a safe and blew her to pieces with bombs.” The half-lie left his lips with no difficulty. It was a gamble, but Break’s supposed death played a big part in their plan. Bolt Cutter didn’t even seem to question it thank the Princesses. A variety of emotions flew across Bolt Cutter’s face, but it only lasted a moment before it became stern again. “And Tact Coat? Did she get her?” "No," Boomerang shook his head. “Nope!” Brights said with a little too much eagerness. “Tact Coat was just too good for her!” Scavenger fought the urge to face hoof. How could anypony be such a bad actor? Brights shrank from Boomerangs annoyed glare. “Sorry, I’ll be quiet.” Brights muttered. Bolt Cutter didn’t even seem to notice Bright’s bad acting or that little exchange too distracted at the moment. “Ponyfeathers!” Bolt Cutter went into more curses and paced back and forth. “That foal! How could she fail so spectacularly?” Scavenger blood boiled. How dare this stallion say those things after he left her for dead in some ill-thought-out revenge scheme? He was about to say a nasty retort blaming him for this mess, but Boomerang stopped him with a hoof on his shoulder and a small shake of his head. It helped calm Scavenger down and forced his expression to be neutral. "Actually, we can use this to our advantage," Boomerang said with a sly grin on his muzzle. Bolt Cutter stopped his pacing and stared at Boomerang. “What do you mean? That mare was almost unstoppable. How can he match her power? She had the perfect opportunity to kill Tact Coat and failed!” "That's it though mate," Boomerang replied, "that's perfect for us!" “I don’t follow.” Bolt Cutter tilted his head confused. “The Hero was Tact Coat's greatest threat," Boomerang explained, "with her gone, Tact Coat thinks she doesn’t have any enemies any more. She doesn't even know you exist!" “You’re right!” Bolt Cutter’s face turned into a wide grin. “We can use this! The damn whorse won't know what hit her!" “She’s heavily guarded still, but it won’t be impossible," Boomerang said with the utmost confidence. “How many?” Bolt Cutter asked. “We need numbers.” “15," Boomerang replied. Their reconnaissance revealed that she was held up in a small inn in the middle of town called the Three Old Kegs on the top third floor. She used it as a hub for all the activity for her organization. It wasn't a fortress-like her old casino. It was also some distance from the bank Break was trapped in so reinforcements would take some time to arrive at both locations. Boomerang explained the basics of his reconnaissance but didn't mention that Stones were leaving town or why Tact Coat choice that location. Much to Scavenger’s relief, Bolt Cutter was too consumed by his desire for revenge to notice that Boomerang was holding information back from him. Bolt Cutter clapped his hooves together. “Reinforcements might be a pain, but I think we can do this.” “How many ponies can you get to help us?” Boomerang asked his tone innocent. “Eleven easy.” Bolt Cutter replied. “Besides some of the other former slaves, I know some mercenaries that hang around here that might help us. The promise of the Stone’s caps cache will be enough of incentive to join the fight. With you two we will have fifteen. Heck, I might even find some disgruntled townsponies to help us." Bolt Cutter let out a laugh. “And we’ll all get a nice cut of caps to boot! This day is going to be perfect!” Scavenger couldn't fight back a scowl. This was a foul pony and the mere idea of working with him was sickening. No wonder Boomerang said that this pony wouldn't help them if he knew this was really a rescue mission. This pony only cared about himself. Bolt Cutter looked at Scavenger puzzled. “Is something wrong?” “N-nothing.” Scavenger muttered reining in his emotions. “He’s just eager to get revenge on Tact Coat.” Boomerang laughed covering for him. “That Hero was a friend of his.” “Okay.” Bolt Cutter said. “I will get our ponies. Meet me here at 9:00 PM. We will strike tonight in the cover of dark.” This was not good. That was in 2 hours. It might be too late. Break might be hurt and needs medical attention! A wave of anxiety overwhelmed him again. Boomerang put a comforting hoof on his back which helped ease his tension a little. “Don’t worry, we will get her back,” Boomerang whispered to his friend. Scavenger hoped so. He really hoped so.