Chapter Twenty-One: Connections
This search for Mr. Bucke was taking us all over Vanhoover, but if that’s what it took to track him down, then I was willing to do it. Besides, at this point, I was used to traveling around the city to new places, never staying in one spot for long. After reuniting with Rare Sparks, we decided to head south. We didn’t know exactly where the Chainsmokers were holed up, but Rare Sparks knew they came from outside the main city and tended to operate around Steel Ranger territory. So, we were taking a little detour. The Steel Rangers would know where to find the raider gang, and we could ask them about the Black Skulls at the same time.
Rare Sparks could also report back in and get permission to continue traveling with me until we found Mr. Bucke. I was glad she wanted to continue; she’d only been with me for five days, but I was getting used to her company. Her overwhelming firepower would also come in handy if more run-ins with the Black Skulls awaited.
None of the mercenaries appeared as we trekked toward our goal, but the southern part of the city was still thick with raiders. Fortunately, Rare Sparks had been able to resupply in Crate City before we left and had plenty of ammunition for her minigun. However, missiles were extremely rare in the Wasteland, and she was nearly out of those. The only place she was sure to be able to restock on rockets was the Steel Ranger headquarters.
Standing in our way was another river, dividing the main city of Vanhoover from the rest of the surrounding land. Rare was more familiar with this area than I was, so she led the way. There were no bridges nearby, but she did know a way across that wouldn’t involve us swimming through the irradiated water (or, in her case, walking across the bottom). During the War, there had been gondolas for traveling across the river. Miraculously, the stations were still standing, and the gondolas even worked. Rare Sparks assured me that the Steel Rangers used them all the time, and if they hadn’t collapsed with a squad of power armored ponies riding, then it would certainly be safe for just the two of us.
“Fixer, it’s Knight-Sergeant Rare Sparks. I need a ride across,” she announced as she pressed down the button next to a speaker grate.
Despite Rare’s assurances, the gondola station looked pretty worn down and abandoned. Sure, the buildings were still standing, but bullet holes riddled the walls, and there were no doors left in their frames; the cables holding the gondola cars looked intact, but birds were perched on them as if they hadn’t moved in a while. EFS was clear, but I had a bad feeling about this place. The speaker seemed to be working, even if it looked pretty beat up, and the cables attached snaked away to Celestia knows where.
“Fixer, it’s Rare Sparks. I need a ride,” the Steel Ranger repeated herself, slower this time.
“Oi, Rare, it’s been a while,” a stallion’s voice came through the speaker a few seconds later, nearly buried in static, “What d’you need?”
“I need to get across. I’m returning to base,” she said again.
“Have you got a fare?” Fixer replied after a long delay.
“A fare? What for?” Rare Sparks asked.
“To cross, o’course. Y’can’t expect me to run this thing for nothin’.”
“There was never a fare before,” Rare Sparks objected.
“There wasn’t competition before,” Fixer laughed, “You lot aren’t the only ones I’m ferryin’ across anymore, an’ I got to make a livin’ somehow.”
“The Steel Rangers supply you with purified water and food to keep this place running.”
“Not anymore, they don’t,” Fixer said angrily, “I haven’t received any supplies in weeks. The Steel Rangers have cut me off.”
“Maybe we can talk to them about that, but we have to cross first,” I spoke into the speaker.
“Who’s that, then?” Fixer asked suspiciously, “Don’t sound like one of your lot.”
“A friend. We’ve been traveling together,” Rare Sparks answered, “How many caps is the fare?”
“Caps? What good are caps to me out here?” Fixer said, “I need food, alcohol, the more the better. There’s a grocery store near here stocked with the stuff, but I can’t get it.”
“Why not? It’s infested with hellhounds or something?” Rare Sparks asked.
“Hahaha, no, but close. Manticores,” Fixer laughed through the static.
***
Through the speaker, Fixer had given us directions to the grocery store. It was indeed not far away, only a few minutes’ walk downstream. Red tics began to appear on my EFS as we neared the grocery store, a small business by the looks of things. Two manticores were visible on the roof, soaking up whatever small amount of sunlight they could get through the cloud layer. The rest were likely inside. I wondered just how much food remained within, given how many manticores resided here according to my EFS. We couldn’t return to Fixer empty-hooved, though, or he wouldn’t let us across.
This whole job would’ve been a lot easier if Rare could just fire a few missiles in through the grocery store’s door and windows and put an end to the manticores right away. The explosions, however, would destroy what we’d come here to retrieve as well, so that wasn’t an option. The manticores weren’t privy to our presence yet, so I took some time to break into a building across the street from the back and climb up to the top floor. Pushing aside some furniture and tearing down curtains gave me an unobstructed view of the store and street in front of it. The glass was already gone from the window, which made setting up my sniper rifle much easier (and quieter).
Peering through the scope, I lined up a shot on one of the roof manticore’s heads and depressed the trigger. My shot killed it instantly, but the one next to it startled at the death of its companion. I cast SATS and swung my rifle around in slow motion, firing off two shots at the second manticore’s head. It shook off the first hit, but the second put it down, and the creature slid off the roof as time returned to normal.
The red lights on my EFS went crazy as the manticores realized they were under attack. Rare Sparks spotted one headed toward the grocery store’s door before I did and fired a missile from her armor. The missile impacted with the manticore just as it left the store and before its wings were of any use, splattering bits of it across the street. Her minigun roared as more of the beasts ran toward her, tearing holes through them and leaving their bodies in a pile outside the grocery store’s door.
Apparently, there was a back door (or hole) in the store they could get through, for a few manticores flew over the building.
As they began to swoop down toward Rare, I fired my sniper rifle wildly at them, managing to kill one. I injured the wing of another one, and it spiraled down to the ground. Before I could finish it off, though, a third flew toward me, reaching its paw through the window and gouging the wallpaper with its claws. I backed up and drew my combat shotgun. I fired repeatedly at the manticore, turning its foreleg to pulp and severely messing up its face. One final blast to its skull finished it off, and the manticore fell to the street below.
Rare Sparks was firing her few remaining missiles into the air when I returned to the window, trying to keep the creatures pinned to the ground where she could see them. She was still outnumbered, and the manticores were closing in. Drawing a trio of metal apples from my saddlebags, I removed the stems from all of them and tossed them down into the street. A couple red lights winked out on my EFS, and others stopped moving.Taking my sniper rifle back up, I finished off the manticores lying wounded in the street.
Rare was being pushed back, but was still killing the manticores before they reached her. There were no more that I could see from my position, so I slung the sniper rifle over my back and hurried downstairs. My combat shotgun hovering before me, I ventured out into the street. There was still a manticore in the grocery store, but it seemed content to stay there for now, and I trotted around to where Rare Sparks was. Two manticores were facing her; she killed one with her minigun, but didn’t have a chance to swing around before the other attacked. Its stinger struck her helmet (which she was thankfully wearing this time) and had no effect, but its paw simultaneously came down on her minigun and tore it off its mount.
Before it could sink its claws through her armor, she fired off a missile that arced around and struck the manticore from behind. I was nearly thrown back, and the close quarters blast knocked Rare off of her hooves and sent her tumbling, covered in pieces of manticore.
“Rare!” I yelled as I ran up to her to make sure she was okay.
“I’m fine,” she assured me, her voice somewhat garbled after the speakers on her helmet had taken a hit.
She struggled to her hooves, I hoped more from damage to her armor than damage to her person. Rare Sparks examined the broken mount for her minigun before pulling off her helmet. There was some blood running down from a wound on her cheek where the cushioning of her helmet hadn’t protected her from her firing bit, but it quickly sealed up as her armor injected her with healing potions.
“There’s still one in there,” she said, gesturing toward the grocery store, “And I’m all out of missiles.”
I unholstered my submachine gun and offered it to her, seeing no other alternative. I wasn’t going in alone, and she needed a weapon she could hold and fire with her mouth now that her armor was disarmed.
“It’s times like these I’m particularly glad I modified my armor not to need the helmet,” she said before taking the proffered weapon.
We advanced on the grocery store, me with my combat shotgun, her with my SMG. There was only one door, and we’d barely fit going in together, so I went ahead, relying on SATS if I needed to quickly get out of the way. The manticore was in the back corner of the store, and it growled at us as we entered. There wasn’t much room to maneuver, but Rare and I split up, going down separate aisles to reach our goal.
Without warning, the manticore jumped up and spread its wings, swooping toward me. I ducked down and fired my shotgun upwards as it passed overhead, showering its stomach with shrapnel. Rare Sparks fired my SMG at its back as it landed in the aisle next to me. The shelves rocked as the manticore leaned against them and jabbed at me with its stinger. I managed to dodge the strike, the tip only hitting the edge of my doctor’s coat, and fired my shotgun at the beast’s tail.
Venom sprayed, and I shielded myself as the stinger was hit and exploded.
The manticore stumbled at the loss of the end of its tail, and Rare Sparks ran around, tipping shelves herself to get in front of it, firing at it with my SMG while it was still in shock. It charged toward her, and I popped up over the shelves, firing my shotgun into its hindleg. It stumbled again, falling to the floor completely as I shot its other hindleg. Rare Sparks ran up while it was down and brought her power armored hoof down on its skull, caving it in.
I did a quick spin to make sure my EFS was clear before lowering my weapon. Our work here was only half done, though.
The store had been looted before, though not thoroughly, and the manticores had stopped any further attempts to take the food. There was still some surviving on the shelves—we just needed a way to get it to Fixer. Some nearby shopping carts caught my eye. They would do nicely, and not just for transporting food.
***
“Keeping this audio journal has been a great idea. I can get my thoughts out and rehear them with meaning you just can’t get in writing or typing. Candy thinks it’s all a bit silly, but she was never one to get excited over new technology like me.
Anyway, tonight is my last night in Canterlot before I return to the Crystal Empire. It was tough finally saying goodbye to my youngest today, but I’m sure Sunset Rose will be fine. I mean, I know it in my head, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m her father and she’s my baby girl. Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns will be good for her, just as it was for Aurora, and she’ll have her Auntie Twily around. She always did dote on Sunset, and I hear she’s taken up an almost permanent residence in Canterlot now. She’s not here now, of course, otherwise I’d have visited her. Celestia has been asking her and her friends to take a larger part in diplomatic missions lately, hence her move to Canterlot instead of staying in Ponyville. I really need to reconnect with her again. Perhaps an invitation to the Crystal Empire is in order, maybe during the winter break when Aurora can get away from Luna’s Academy for Young Unicorns and Golden Saber can get some leave. We’ll see.”
In trying to fill the silence of the Wasteland during our travels, I’d turned to another of Shining Armor’s recordings. This was long after we’d crossed the river out of Vanhoover proper and into the industrial area to the south of the city. With a full shopping cart of food, Fixer had been thrilled to let us board a gondola and cross the river. After giving the stallion the cart of food, we’d taken a second one with us, one that had Rare Sparks’ minigun in it. Her Steel Ranger armor had been able to repair all other damage done to it with scrap we’d found, but the weapon mount was unable to be fixed, so we had to haul the weapon back to the Steel Ranger headquarters with us.
At least we hadn’t encountered any more raiders on our journey, or worse, Black Skull mercenaries. Not that I liked constantly fighting for my survival, but the lack of conflict did made things a bit boring. Rare Sparks and I talked some, we listened to the radio, and DJ Pon3 called me the Wasteland Doctor again—Rare thought it was hilarious that I had a mythical title. Eventually, it came down to listening to Shining Armor’s audio journal, which Rare Sparks was more than happy to listen in on.
More pieces to the puzzle of the past (at least the past surrounding Shining Armor) were coming together. I already knew that his daughter, Sunset Rose, had attended Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns from the picture on his desk in the Flankorage simulation, but this gave more depth to the relationship. It seemed she and “Auntie Twily” had been close even before she’d eventually gone on to work for her at the Ministry of Magic. I was beginning to build a timeline of events in my head. This was long before the Flankorage Reclamation—years, in fact, since Sunset Rose was still a child, and Shining Armor was still not part of the Equestrian Army. The Crystal Empire was also not yet a secret, or else Shining Armor believed nopony else who didn’t know about it would ever listen to this recording. There was also the mention of Twilight and her friends, who were the Ministry Mares, but no mention of the Ministries. Had they not existed yet?
Ponies had destroyed a lot when the megaspells fell, including the history of what had happened. This was a history I was dying to know, maybe because I’d found snippets, and maybe because what had happened to Equestria so mirrored my own experiences. The nation, like me, had forgotten everything it had been, and had woken up broken but somehow still alive, just as I had in Stable 85. I’d recovered from my injuries but hadn’t regained my past, and the Equestrian Wasteland had recovered from neither.
“There she is,” Rare Sparks said wistfully as we continued through the wastes, breaking me out of my contemplations.
“There what is?” I asked.
“Home,” she said, pointing ahead.
Rearing up in the distance was a massive factory complex, a few of the smokestacks even billowing smoke, a strange sight in a world without real civilization. As we got closer, the complex seemed even more impressive. Concrete walls beneath chain link fences topped with razor wire surrounded the complex, with warnings that trespassers would be turned over to the Ministry of Morale. Steel Rangers patrolled the perimeter in full armor, curiously looking our way as we approached the entry point to the complex.
“Paladin Zenith,” Rare Sparks reported to a power-armored pony standing near an ‘Absolutely No Cameras’ sign who looked to be in charge of the other guards, “Knight-Sergeant Rare Sparks reporting in.”
“Noted. Welcome back, Knight-Sergeant,” he replied, friendly, “You look like you took a beating.”
“Manticore,” Rare explained sheepishly, gesturing to the minigun in the shopping cart she was pushing.
“I understand,” Paladin Zenith said, then looked at me, “This who I think it is?”
“The pony who helped us out at SAS? Yes, he’s the one,” Rare Sparks said.
“Wish I could’ve been there, but somepony had to stay behind and hold down the fort. Not that much has been going on here while the Elder and Head Scribe were away, and the Black Skulls didn’t give us much action,” Zenith lamented.
“They gave us action up north,” Rare Sparks pointed out, “Do you know what’s going on with them?”
“You’ll want to speak to the elder about that,” the paladin said, “I’m sure he’ll want to hear what you have to say before putting together any actions, and he can explain the current situation better than I can.”
“Thanks, Zenith,” she said before trotting past him.
I followed behind, feeling a little out of place among all the power-armored ponies around me. At least one day I’d have a chance to wear my very own power armor. I wondered if that day was today? Probably not, since it hadn’t been all that long since I’d last left the Steel Rangers, and they’d had to transport Shining Armor’s armor here before they could make the adjustments to it. Still, it couldn’t hurt to ask and find out the progress.
As we neared the main building of the complex, we had to pass around a large statue out front that had weathered the apocalypse well. The base was block letters crudely carved into the stone: MINISTRY OF WARTIME TECHNOLOGY. So, this was Vanhoover’s MWT Hub. The MWT was concerned primarily with manufacturing new technologies for the War, so it made sense that their hub was a manufacturing complex. Above the Ministry’s name was its logo, the winged sword and apple with spark-filled gears, the same symbol as the Steel Rangers. The logo was supported by an earth pony on either side. I hadn’t considered it much before, but the MWT was a largely earth pony-centric organization. Unicorns had magic, pegasi had their wings, but earth ponies had their technology. I wondered how much of the tech I’d relied on in the Wasteland had been designed by earth ponies, but decided it probably didn’t matter. Each race had their own strengths, and they seemed to work together as often as not.
The main building of the complex (the McIntosh Memorial Exhibition Hall, according to the plaque next to the entry doors) was graced with a grand entryway and lobby. It probably would’ve seemed grander if barricades and heavy weapon emplacements weren't set up around it to defend from attack, but the world now was different from when it had been built.
Miraculously, the glass doors and span of glass in a solid sheet above them were completely intact. A long hallway ran through the building crossways to the entrance, with no rooms between it and the ceiling several stories above. There too was an arched span of glass unravaged by time and the ferocity of the wastes. High above, I spotted a pony cleaning soot off the glass from the outside.
“It’s permaglass,” Rare Sparks explained as she noticed my wonder, “Practically unbreakable, even to a rocket blast.
According to the building’s records, they were put in just before the megaspells fell. They were a special prototype, set to be debuted to the public only a week after the Last Day.”
“So, this is all there is?” I asked, even though there was quite a bit of the permaglass around me.
“That we know of. It’s possible that it was being manufactured elsewhere as well, or at least that factories were being retooled for it,” Rare Sparks said, “We have a few excess pieces we ran our own tests on, and we’ve got the designs, but we don’t have the materials necessary to start manufacturing it again. Also, the raiders that inhabited the MWT Hub before the Steel Rangers arrived really did a number on the equipment needed to make it.”
Rare Sparks led the way through the exhibition hall, parking the shopping cart with her minigun at the bottom of a flight of stairs before ascending them. Up we went to the top floor of the building, where a conference room with a long wooden table was situated. On one end of the room, the wall and part of the floor were windows, looking down on the lobby we’d just come up from. Elder Manticore’s Fury was not here, just a paladin looking over reports at the table, but she was able to direct us to where the elder could be found.
“Elder Manticore’s Fury!” Rare yelled over the sound of roaring guns in the training yard behind the building as we approached him, “Knight-Sergeant Rare Sparks reporting in!”
The elder waved for us to follow him, and we trotted away from the Steel Rangers-in-training and into an old truck depot that had been largely cleared out for racks holding suits of power armor.
“Welcome back, Rare Sparks. I was beginning to think you wouldn’t be returning from your mission,” he said as he sat down in the back of a half-disassembled truck and motioned for us to come join him, “Your mission was to escort him to wherever he wished to go, but now you’re back, and he’s still with you. Did something go wrong?”
“Not exactly,” Rare Sparks said as she sat down carefully, the weight of her armor causing the truck to shift, “As you know, we were going to begin by examining the remains of the Republic of Rose. As expected, the entire town was annihilated by a megaspell, but Doc has some interesting information to share about the event.”
“A pony named Mr. Bucke was the one behind the town’s destruction,” I spoke when I realized Rare was expecting me to, “When I visited the Republic previously, he offered to teach me how to set off the megaspell. I’m certain that he managed to get somepony else to do it for him.”
“Rather than returning here immediately, I decided to assist him with his investigation,” Rare Sparks cut back in.
“Investigation?” Manticore’s Fury asked.
“Yes, into finding and stopping Mr. Bucke,” Rare Sparks said, “We’ve already found evidence that he also tried to destroy Crate City, and has ties to raider groups in the area.”
“That’s not all,” I said, and shared what I’d learned at Mr. Bucke’s hideout.
“I see. That is disconcerting,” the elder said thoughtfully after I’d said my piece.
“On top of that, we suspect he may be involved with the Black Skulls,” Rare added.
“What?” Manticore’s Fury said, his head jerking up, “What makes you think that?”
“We were ambushed by them near Crate City, and not just a patrol. This was an organized mission to spring a trap on us,” Rare Sparks said, “Paladin Zenith mentioned you had news on the Black Skulls.”
“Not near as much as I’d like,” Manticore’s Fury said, running a hoof through his thinning mane, “Many of them have stopped harassing us, and have begun moving north. The information we've been able to obtain suggests that they’ve been hired in force, though for what purpose, I don’t know. If this Mr. Bucke is the pony who’s hired them, this could be a dark sign indeed. Most settlements have no defense against a force like that.”
“We should deploy squads of Rangers to act as deterrents against attacks on settlements friendly or neutral toward us,” Rare Sparks suggested.
“Yes, it could help, but we must be careful,” Manticore’s Fury said thoughtfully, “We don’t want to provoke all-out conflict with the Black Skulls unless we are prepared for it.”
“I also think that I should continue to accompany Doc and see through this matter of uncovering the organization surrounding Mr. Bucke,” Rare Sparks ventured tentatively.
“Hmm, it would mean the abandonment of your duties as knight-sergeant, and you would also be out of contact with the contingent for an extended period,” Elder Fury said with a frown, “I humored your request before because we were indebted to you, Doc. What you’re asking is that I grant you an autonomous rank, allow you free reign without oversight from the paladins or the head knight.”
“I … I suppose so,” Rare said nervously, biting her lip, “I just think that it’s important that I continue to accompany Doc until we’ve seen this through, especially if this organization turns out to be a serious threat to the rebuilding of civilization.”
“You’ve risen quickly through our ranks since I found you all those years ago, but you are still only a knight-sergeant. To promote you directly to sentinel or star paladin would be unacceptable,” Manticore’s Fury said, and Rare’s ears drooped, “However, there may be a solution, and even a fitting one, given the circumstances. The rank has been used exceptionally rarely, but I could promote you to inquisitor, temporarily.”
“Would you?” Rare Sparks asked hopefully.
“I’d have to discuss it with the paladins first, but they should go along with my decision. Star Paladin Breaker will probably launch his own investigation when he hears, but that might not be a bad thing,” the elder said, thinking aloud, “Yes, I think the rank of inquisitor would suit you well. A Steel Ranger traveling in the company of a Wastelander; Mr. Bucke will never expect it.”
***
“You don’t need anything else from me, right?” I asked the scribes as I hovered around their workstation.
“No, just don’t grow any extra limbs,” Scribe Pestle said jokingly.
I was examining Shining Armor’s power armor as I waited to leave the MWT Hub. With little daylight left and Rare Sparks still needing formal permission to leave with me, we’d stayed the night. I’d been able to take advantage of the luxury of clean water, but not for long, since the Steel Rangers had a strict rationing system in place. For sleeping arrangements, I’d roomed with the initiates, which meant little privacy, but I at least got a salvaged bed to sleep in.
I’m sure Rare Sparks enjoyed being able to remove her armor for the first time in days and actually clean herself. I wasn’t privy to her actions after we split up, since the knight-sergeants only doubled up on rooms, and those were in a separate building from the initiate quarters. Besides not being allowed to visit her sleeping quarters, I was also unable to attend the meeting where Elder Manticore’s Fury and the paladins had conferred upon her the rank of inquisitor. From the buzz among the other Steel Rangers, though, I gathered it’d gone off without a hitch. We’d agreed to meet here in the morning to leave before splitting up, so here I was.
As I’d expected, the modifications to the armor I’d picked up in the SAS vault were not completed. They hadn’t even been started, since the armor had only arrived two days ago, and had only been reassembled yesterday. The scribes were also not eager to begin the task of converting it, since that would mean I’d be able to take it away from them. Before they began making alterations, they wanted to gather all the data on it that they could.
I understood that, but I was also eager to get a suit of power armor of my very own. The Steel Rangers weren’t purposefully trying to keep me from claiming what had been promised me, though Head Scribe Sagebrush was certainly trying to hold things up. Pestle shared as much with me, which was one of the reasons I trusted her (the other being that she’d watched over my unconscious body without incident while I was in the Flankorage simulation), but she was having none of it. Both she and the other scribe—a unicorn mare named Bright Beam—were doing everything they could to be diligent researchers without delaying when I’d receive my prize. I would just have to have patience.
“Sorry I’m late,” Rare Sparks apologized as she trundled into the workshop, “I was making some last-minute adjustments.”
Rare Sparks had made more than just adjustments to her armor since the last time we’d seen each other. She bypassed how the Steel Ranger armor worked before so she could operate it without a helmet, so it really should’ve been no surprise how easily she’d modified it again. The minigun was reattached to its mount and looked the same as before, but her missile pods had been replaced completely. Instead, there was now an automatic shotgun with a grenade launcher beneath it.
Rare Sparks had also added a mount to her foreleg where a magical energy pistol was holstered, for use as a weapon of last resort.
“While I’m with you, I won’t have access to the Steel Rangers’ stores of ordnance, and missiles are hard to come by in the Wasteland generally, so I thought this would work better. I also wanted something to use in close quarters, so I can more easily investigate buildings with you instead of hanging back outside,” Rare Sparks explained, “What do you think?”
“I think it’s a great idea,” I said, “Though I will miss being able to reduce enemies to a messy crater from a long distance away.”
“Well, that’s the trade-off, innit?” Rare Sparks replied, “Ready to go?”
“Yeah,” I said, taking one last look at Shining Armor’s armor, “Better get out of here before I outlive my welcome with the scribes.”
***
As we’d hoped, the Steel Rangers had come through with the location of the Chainsmokers. Quite appropriately, they had turned an old cigarette factory into a base. New Location Discovered: Old Mareboro Plant my PipBuck alerted me as we got close enough to observe it. It was a raider base, all right, with all the demented decoration and uncivilized disorder expected from these savages. However, for all the lack of organization, they looked surprisingly alert and ordered today.
The reason soon became apparent, and it was incredibly distressing.
The Chainsmokers weren’t the only ones at the cigarette plant at the moment; there were several mercenaries pacing around the building’s entrance with the Black Skull symbol on their armor. This practically sealed the deal on who had hired the Black Skulls. The Chainsmokers were almost certainly connected to Mr. Bucke, and if the Black Skulls were connected to them, that tied everything together.
“Your theory about the Black Skulls seems correct,” Rare Sparks commented, “They would never work with raiders like this unless somepony up above was in charge of both of them. And, you see that tower on the roof? Is it like the one you saw at Sunny Side Radio?”
“It’s not complete, but yeah,” I said, taking another look at the radio tower atop the plant.
I hadn’t initially thought much of it, since so much of the Wasteland was worn-down junk or remains of something that had been there before but had been damaged or scavenged over time, but the tower was standing out now. It was partially built, but when it was done, it would be exactly the same as the one atop Sunny Side Radio, which Mr. Bucke had used to communicate with LISTENER, whatever that meant. Could Mr. Bucke be here? It was a long shot, but not implausible, especially if he was the one ordering all the recent movement by the Black Skulls.
We moved in carefully toward the plant, careful to stay out of sight in case the raiders or the Black Skulls had binoculars and spotted us coming. We would inevitably be seen in the last stretch of street outside the plant, but we didn’t want to give them any more advantages than they already had. The Chainsmokers were not a small gang, though their numbers had dropped after their attack on Crate City. In coming here, we’d thought the two of us would still be able to take out the gang, keeping a leader or two alive to question about Mr. Bucke, but the Black Suns complicated things. Depending on how many mercenaries were inside, the odds could turn against us remarkably quickly.
We were as close as we could get now without being seen, and I drew my sniper rifle while Rare pulled her helmet on. The four Black Skull mercenaries outside the front entrance were the biggest threat we could see and were the obvious target, but before that, I had to take out a raider with a sniper rifle atop the plant in case she shot me while we were fighting down below. My rifle rang out as I sniped the raider, and the mercenaries immediately responded to the sound.
Rare Sparks rushed out into the open, firing her grenade launcher three times. She had timed her shots so that all three explosives would strike a wheelless auto-carriage at the same moment. The auto-carriage was thrown back, knocking all four mercenaries over before they could discharge their weapons. Three of them died from the impact as they were crushed against the building, their lights on my EFS winking out. The fourth survived, but was severely injured and was thrown back into the plant.
The few raiders that had been on guard duty foolishly jumped at the chance to attack a Steel Ranger, and most of them were swept away by Rare’s minigun. I drew my magical energy rifle and fired back at those that had survived and sought cover. An earth pony with a revolver in his mouth was firing at Rare Sparks from behind a newspaper stand filled with ashes, and I hit him with a couple beams, causing him to disintegrate into glowing ash. I left my cover to move closer to the building, firing down the street the whole time. As always, SATS was my friend in the tricky shots, and soon the street was free of hostiles, though the red dots on my EFS that represented the enemies inside the cigarette plant danced like mad.
Before any of them could make themselves seen, we headed through the entrance to the plant, skirting the ruined and bloody auto-carriage now parked there. A small office was just inside, where the fourth Black Skull mercenary lay bleeding out. The moment he saw us, he yanked the stem from the metal apple he was holding and tossed it our way. Quickly, we backpedaled out of the building, making it past the auto-carriage wreck before the doors were blown out.
I was thrown off my hooves and rolled across the asphalt, but Rare Sparks stood firm, until a rocket hit the street next to her. My ears ringing from that impact, I rose and looked down the street to see ponies emerging from a half-opened door to the loading dock. Shockingly, the pony wielding the rocket launcher was a raider, not a Black Skull, though a few of them were nearby. As the mare with the rocket launcher began to reload, I took a chance and cast SATS, targeting her launcher.
Most of the beams of light that streaked down the street bounced off or sizzled away on the weapon, but one managed to strike the missile and ignite it. The explosion consumed the mare, along with the Black Skull and raider next to her.
Rare Sparks was back up, and her minigun cut down anypony not wise enough to have sought cover, which meant mostly raiders were dying. The Black Skulls coordinated their actions, proving much more of a pain. No more of them were coming out of the loading dock after they closed the door, however, so at least these were the only ones we’d be facing for the moment.
That moment didn’t last long, as a mercenary emerged from the plant’s main entrance next to me, taking me by surprise.
My doctor’s coat was draped funnily across my frame after falling and desperately struggling to my hooves, and provided none of its customary protection from the mare’s shots. Her SMG rounds cut into my hindleg and flank, burrowing deeply and painfully. I spun my magical energy rifle around and burned a hole through the mare’s head with my shot.
I collapsed to the ground and dragged myself over to the auto-carriage by the door, which would provide some cover from the enemies within and without the plant. I kept my combat shotgun at the ready while I extracted the bullets with my magic. More ponies emerged from the plant, though all raiders, which died instantly as I fired my shotgun into their faces at point blank range. Once I’d removed the foreign material, I painfully forced bones and bone shards back into place while trying not to black out, and drank several healing potions. Unsteadily, I got to my hooves. I would be a little weaker in that leg for the next bit, but at least I was alive.
While Rare Sparks finished off the combatants outside, I entered the cigarette factory. This time, there was no dying mercenary waiting to ambush me, though one did rush into the room before I’d gotten through it. I fired my shotgun at her face before she reached me, but she had a full facemask and helmet, and all I did was crack one of her goggles. She jumped me, ramming me in the face with her armored head and breaking my nose. The mercenary pinned me to the ground before raising a foreleg with augmentations like I’d seen on the Lamplighter in Stable 109. As she brought it down, I rolled my head out of the way, and it only shattered tile. I had my machete drawn by now and swung it into the gap between the mare’s helmet and torso armor. I sliced her neck, and her blood poured onto me before I could push her off.
I drank a healing potion to repair my nose, hoping it would heal straight, and Rare Sparks joined me while I was wiping my face off with a rag. I took a moment to tally the marks on my EFS: 26 after Rare Sparks blasted a raider that had rushed into the room screaming with a shattered bottle. Using SATS, I slowed time and peeked out onto the factory floor. The Black Skulls were organizing a defense, piling up crates, and trying to get the raiders to follow their lead. It was working to a certain extent, but most of them wanted to follow their bloodlust instead. When the spell wore off, I told Rare Sparks what I’d seen, and we quickly formulated a plan.
Not wanting to wait any longer, another raider charged into the room, this one with a pistol in his teeth. He never got off a single shot, as I’d been expecting him, and blew him away with my combat shotgun. The moment he fell, Rare stepped over him and into the factory floor, firing her grenade launcher high to bypass the barricades. One grenade took out two mercenaries at once and crippled a third, and the other took out a group of four raiders without any cover arguing over who was going to wear a flamethrower battle saddle.
I was forced out of the entry room sooner than I’d wanted as one of the Black Skulls had managed to set up a minigun and fired it through the wall at me. As I left the room on Rare’s tail, I pulled the stem from a metal apple and threw it in the direction of my attacker. It was a poor throw, and bounced off the barricades they’d set up, eventually exploding against a wall. Rare Sparks rotated to face the largest cluster of mercenaries, those around the minigun, and its wielder was quickly cut down by the one mounted to my friend’s armor.
There were still plenty of raiders and Black Skulls around, though, and I needed to find cover fast. Bullets and magical energy beams nipped at me as I threw myself behind the first set of crates I could find, the same one Rare had bypassed with her first grenade launch. There was a surviving mercenary here, who had just finished bandaging up the stump of his foreleg when I arrived. He quickly drew a magical energy pistol from its holster and fired at me, but I pressed myself against the crates and levitated my combat shotgun. This Black Skull had no facemask, and the three successive shots I fired at him turned his face to a pulp, rendering the work to save his leg pointless.
As Rare Sparks rained down death and fury on the enemies around us, I took a moment to pause and examine the crates around me. There were quite a few of them, and none of them seemed to belong in a cigarette factory. They were reinforced metal, and I could swear I’d seen them before. As I saw missile launchers spilling out of one of them, I realized that I had. Crates just like this had been at Skyarch Station. So, there was a connection between the Bloodlarks and the Chainsmokers?
That wasn’t the only familiar thing here. All the power lines around this factory had been down, and a place like this wasn’t big or important enough to have its own microspark reactor, yet the lights were on, and they’d been able to open and close the loading dock doors, which were controlled by electric motors. Nearby, I spotted the source of power, a small microspark reactor with cables running out of it, just like the one I’d seen in Timbervale all those weeks ago. Some of the cables ran up to the roof, to the tower just like the one I’d seen in Timbervale. Timbervale, Lamplight, Sunny Side Radio, the Chainsmokers—they all had these same towers, but why?
A faded logo was stenciled on all the crates, three horizontal bands with tapered ends forming a spectrum of pastel colors.
On each of the bands was a word that together formed Northern Lights Coalition. The Northern Lights Coalition; that was what Mr. Bucke had tried to convince Crate City to join. The ponies of Timbervale hadn’t mentioned the Northern Lights Coalition or Mr. Bucke, but they had mentioned a Lord Lamplight, perhaps the LORD in Mr. Bucke’s electronic journal entries. Things were beginning to come together, but this really wasn’t the time for it.
Rifle fire over my head made me duck and crawl across the factory floor. I cast SATS and homed in on the Black Skull who’d been firing at me. With my magical energy rifle, I fired several beams her way, a few hitting her assault rifle battle saddle but not her body. It wasn’t until after time returned to normal that a glowing beam struck her in the head and reduced her to a pile of ash.
I picked myself up off the floor and looked for targets. Rare Sparks was sweeping in on the last of the mercenaries when one of them threw a metal pear her way. She wouldn’t be able to get out of the way, nor did she see the explosive that would turn her armor to melted slag. I ran in close before it went off, and used my magic to redirect the explosive. It landed among some raiders, and only one of them managed to flee in time.
The Black Skull who’d thrown the metal pear began firing at me while Rare focused on his companion. I fired back with my magical energy rifle, bullets and energy beams flying through the air. In the end, I was victorious, burning enough holes through him that life left his body.
I had barely any time to revel in my victory, however, as a shotgun blast went off next to me. A raider had snuck up on me while I’d been firing at the mercenary, and had fired a shotgun that looked like it would fall apart the next time she did so. If she’d aimed at my head, it could’ve hurt me, but she’d aimed for my torso instead, and the poor damage the shotgun put out was not enough to do more than leave some marks on my doctor’s coat. As she stood there stunned, I swung my foreleg around into her head, knocking the shotgun from her teeth. A second raider was running toward me, and I fired on him with my magical energy rifle, killing him before his friend could get up. When she tried to, I struck her with my armored foreleg again, dislodging teeth this time.She stayed down, and I had no trouble firing my magical energy rifle directly into her brain.
With a shout, a raider swung down on a cable hanging from the catwalks above. The earth pony tumbled across the ground, and drew a weapon that looked like a cross between a sword and a chainsaw. She charged Rare Sparks as the Steel Ranger finished off the only other raider, who was hiding behind wooden crates that stood up poorly to minigun fire.
The raider’s weapon would’ve been devastating had it met flesh, but she’d stupidly chosen instead to attack a pony in full power armor. Not only did the spinning blades do nothing but cause sparks to fly, but they jammed against a seam in her armor and went flying off explosively, some of them sinking into the raider’s neck.
She fell to the ground, but the light on EFS didn’t wink out yet, and I rushed over. The raider was going to die for sure, but it would be a long, painful death. This was a perfect situation to interrogate her, and we’d even kept the right pony alive in the end, judging by the crown of taped-together cigarettes that had fallen off her head.
“Tell us, did Mr. Bucke tell you to attack Crate City?” I demanded as I leaned over her.
“I don’t have to tell you nothin’!” the raider said defiantly, spitting a globule of blood at me that fell far short.
“No, but it would make things a lot easier for you. We can put you out of your misery. Do you really want to die like this, from injuries sustained from your own weapon?” I asked, and the raider pondered that thought for a moment, “Well?”
“Yes,” she said, still with a defiant tone.
“Who is he? What’s the Northern Lights Coalition?” I asked further questions, and Rare looked up curiously at the name.
“He offered us a deal, to join the coalition,” the raider said painfully, “He offered us weapons, alliances with other gangs and mercs, and tech.”
“What else do you know about the NLC?” I asked, “What is it?”
“I dunno, we weren’t part of it long.The stuff these mercs brought was s’posed to be the next step. We did what Mr. Bucke said and we were rewarded, that’s all.”
“Where is Mr. Bucke?” I asked, heading down a different path.
“He has a hideout north of here, in West Vanhoover …”
“At Sunny Side Radio,” I finished, “It’s abandoned. We know he was at the Republic of Rose recently. Does he have a hideout there?”
“Sure …” the raider boss said.
“Do you know where?” I asked, pulling up the map on my PipBuck.
“I dunno, somewhere around here,” she said, pointing at one of the grids near Burnside.
“Do you know where there?” I asked forcefully.
“Look, that’s all I know. I only heard of a spot in the east so I could tell any gangs I knew out there the way, which I didn’t ‘cause I’m not gonna let them profit on this,” the raider spat out before catching her breath, “So, you gonna kill me now or what?”
Rare Sparks had taken her helmet off, and she did the honors with her magical energy pistol.I marked the grid the raider had pointed out on my PipBuck’s map. It wasn’t much, but we did have a lead. The fact that it was so close to Burnside troubled me. Could Mr. Bucke be planning to strike there next?
Level Up
New Perk: Dead or Alive – If your health is below 20%, your accuracy and damage in SATS is greatly increased
New Quest: The Noose Tightens – Search East Vanhoover for Mr. Bucke’s hideout.
Energy Weapons +4 (56)
Explosives +4 (52)
Medicine +3 (53)
Melee Weapons +2 (34)
Repair +1 (26)
Small Guns +3 (100) [Max Level Reached]
Speech +2 (40)
Unarmed +1 (28)