Robin groaned as he crashed to the floor below. Falling this far wasn't good for his ankles. The complaining ended a moment later. Every second of this life and death struggle counted, and he took in his surroundings with a single glance. They were in a storage area. Nothing stuck out which suited him fine. He had worried about falling into a pit of feral ghouls, but Spitzer knew what he was doing. The hunter stood next to him also taking in their surroundings.
"Where do we go from here?" Robin knew they only had moments before the Black Cat followed down after them. He had no desire to get anywhere close to her.
"This way." Spitzer ran towards the door as he said this.
Robin hoped he had a plan. This whole situation was out of his depth. He hadn't signed onto this mission knowing there would be ponies with crazy powers. Everything about this was just nuts. But he planned to live and complete his objective no matter what power Black Cat had. He refused to fail.
As they flew down the hallway at top speed, ghouls assaulted them at full force. Robin took them out with a single shot one by one aiming for the head every time. Dear Celestia, there were so many of them. They swarmed like insects ready to devour them whole.
"Spitzer, I hope you know what you are doing," Robin said through gritted teeth as he ducked under a claw swipe and kicked the zombie in the head stunning it. He didn't bother killing the thing. They needed to get out of there.
"I know," Spitzer said as he blew the head off a ghoul with his rifle, "we aren't far. We will be on him in a moment."
Him? Oh right, Scavenger. Did the hunter plan on taking him hostage? Robin's insides turned. This was a dirty tactic, but they didn't have a choice. The Black Cat was far beyond them in power. Still, this was one the last things he wanted to do.
“How long till we get there?" Robin's voice sounded hollow to him.
"Just a little one more room," Spitzer said and pointed at a room at the end of the hallway next to a stairwell.
Robin cursed and more ghouls came out of nearby doors including a glowing green one. It howled when it gained sight of them and ran at them at a frightening speed. He tried to get a beat on its temple, but only grazed the side of its head. Much to his horror, the wound began the heal. He cursed again, they must be in a high radiation area. The creature jumped him before he got another shot off. His gun flew from his hooves out of sight. He tried to push the thing off him, but its strength was frightening. It was like trying to push against a brick wall. Spitzer wasn't fairing much better and found himself surrounded using a spare revolver to fight four ghouls off.
Damn you, Spitzer. Why the hell did you think it was a good idea to come down here? We should have taken our chances with the Black Cat!
Already he felt ill from the radiation in the area. His stomach turned, and his head became lightheaded. A glance to his left revealed the reactor Spitzer mentioned earlier past an open door. He put it out of his mind. Slow death by radiation was the least of his worries. He panicked when he failed to find his gun. He used his aura to pick up a rock to smash the glowing ghoul's head open, but it did little and it only made the creature angrier. Nothing remained of the head wound it received earlier.
The glowing ghoul became more vicious as tried to aim its crooked teeth towards his throat. The scent coming from its breath made Robin gag its smell almost unbearable. He refused to give up and tripled his effort to push himself free. His blood turned cold at the sight of the figure at a nearby door.
Scavenger had a small smirk on his face when he saw their predicament and held Robin's own gun in his aura. He pointed the gun right at Robin's head. He could tell from Scavenger's eyes he would not receive any mercy.
"I-it's because of p-ponies like y-you Break almost d-died." Scavenger said. "Die."
Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap! Robin used his magic to push the ghoul off of him but it was no use. The reactor's radiation was boosting its strength too much. At least the bullet to the head would be quick. The gun went off and Robin knew it was the end, but at the last moment, the bullet changed course into a wall.
"Now hold on a minute."
Scavenger gaped as the ghoul holding him flew off him into the reactor room and the door slammed shut after it. The ghoul tried to burst the door down, but so far, the door held. He looked up to find the Black Cat standing above him and stared dumbstruck.
"Well, that's an interesting predicament," Spitzer said. The stallion had held himself better than Robin had thought and all the surrounding ghouls were dead. He held his gun with a casual ease to his side.
Scavenger held Robin's gun eyes wide in panic and pointed his gun back and forth between his two enemies. "W-what are you d-doing Break?!"
Yes, what are you doing Break? So, Break was her name? How fitting considering how much she broke things around her.
Break hesitated. "I couldn't leave him to die. I thought…"
Scavenger scowled. "Y-you thought. I-if you let t-them go, they'll j-just come a-again."
"I know, I just don't want anypony else to die." Break's ears folded forward.
This wasn't what he expected at all. Scavenger was right. Why should they spare him? It makes no sense. He thought back to Brisk Bolt. Wait, didn't she spare him too? Why save him from a bullet to the head? Was she crazy? Yet, he felt grateful to her for sparing his life.
Scavenger's eyes turned hard as steel. "T-this is the w-wastelands Break."
Break scowled and glared at her friend. He flinched at the intensity of that gaze. "Don't give me that. Too many ponies have used that as an excuse to do horrible things. I didn't buy it then and I don't buy it now."
"Break, p-please." Scavenger looked terrified. "It's the o-only way."
"No!" Break stomped her hoof.
This mare was something else. What she said hit something inside him. He had seen his fair share of monstrous ponies that claimed the only did what they did because it was the way of the wastelands. He also hated that excuse. Ponies made killing far too easy in this world. The fact Break flat out rejected it was refreshing even reinvigorating.
"But I will have to go after you," Robin said deciding to be honest.
"S-see!" Scavenger pointed his gun right at Robin's heart. One glare from Break, however, made him change his mind about firing.
Scavenger leaned against a wall interested on how this conversation might play out.
"Look I spared your life and got rid of the Stones." Break said. "Shouldn't that count for something? Haven't I made up my debt to the Cosas?"
And she got rid of the Slaver Gang the Yellow Stars. Heck, almost everything she did somehow became a benefit for them. He wondered if that made up for killing the Boss's son. The Boss wanted her dead, but that was grief talking. He might just accept this as a peace offering, maybe. Not that he had much of a choice but to accept reality. He couldn't match her power. An idea struck him and he smiled.
"Okay, I have to admit you have done a great service to us," Robin said, "we will forgive you under one condition. Return with Spring Rain's little brat Starburst and we will have a deal."
Break blinked. "What do you mean?"
"Oh, the colt wanted to play hero and ran off," Robin replied, "they charged us to bring him back. Spring Rain has been making a real fuss about it. With your help, I think we will be able to it easy."
"Okay, you have a deal." Break said holding out a hoof.
"B-Break!" Scavenger said in stunned disbelief. "Y-you can't be serious."
Spitzer shrugged. "I guess things worked out."
Robin blinked for he hadn't expected her to accept so quickly. He took her hoof and shook on it. He hoped the Boss wouldn't be too mad at him for making this deal. Sure, if he ran for it, he might hit the unstable reactor and kill them all, but that was stupid. Killing himself to get Break was a dumb idea. Robin was a survivor and Break didn't appear to be a bad pony. Besides the deal stopped all the damn hunting and running around. Win-win for everypony.
Break watched as they disabled the bombs and detached them. Scavenger didn't trust them for a second and watched them expecting betrayal at any moment. The Black Cat, on the other hoof, wore a detached expression watching for signs of treachery but not making so obvious a gesture about it. It took some fiddling, but Break figured out a way to disable the reactor so they didn't have radiation breathing down her throat. Her technical knowledge was impressive, and she worked in the reactor room for a good half hour before the thing powered down for good. The poor thing would need radiation poison treatment even with all the anti-radiation pills she used before hoof. For some reason, she shoved all the ghouls into a locked room instead of killing them. She said they'd gone through enough and gave an overly optimistic spill about a possible cure in the future. Robin didn't buy that for a moment but decided not to argue about it.
Convincing the others that there was a truce, was less than simple. Ray took it in stride as usual. Banana just stared in disbelief. Nightingale threw a fit demanding that they avenge Rock Guard's death. His death was tragic, but he wanted no more deaths on his team.
"But you had her right where you wanted her," Nightingale said for the fifth time, "what's with this deal crap?"
Robin sighed. "We both thought it would be better for everypony if we cut our losses and ended hostilities right here. Besides, she'll hunt Starburst for us. Isn't that a good thing?"
Robin left out the part of Break's crazy powers. They would've never believed it. He would have asked Break to prove them to his gang, but she already left deciding it would be the best for everypony if she disappeared leaving for Petunia. It was a city about 6 miles east of Zinnia. Robin got a tip of a stallion matching Starburst's description going that way and passed it onto Break.
"I don't get it at all," Nightingale said, "fine, whatever. Here's to hoping a Deathclaw gets her."
"Hey, at least it gets the Black Cat out of our hair." Robin was more than glad to see the tail end of the mare. She brought disaster wherever she went. She would bring her blight to somepony else. And hey, why stop her if she kept accidentally helping them?
---
Break sighed and looked back at her friend. Four hours had passed and Scavenger still hadn't talked to her. Hadn't he cooled down already? Did he realize her deal might get the Cosas off her back forever? That was well worth the risk. Besides, everything she had heard about Robin told her he was a pony of his word. And it stopped ponies shooting at her. How was that not a good thing?
I will just have to give him some space. The last few days had been tough for him so it made sense he was so moody.
A look at her PipBuck told her they only had about two miles left of walking left before they got to Petunia. She gave a silent thank you to Breezy for all that PipBuck map data she gave her. Break made a short prayer to Celestia that the little filly was doing well. It was hard not to worry about her being all alone in the world even if she had the strange power to make friends with wasteland creature. Was that a ghost power or something Breezy's cutie mark gave her? After some thought, Break decided the latter made more sense. Cutie marks could do all sorts of crazy things, but talking to creatures wasn't weird enough to be a ghost power.
"B-Break!" Scavenger's voice started her and stared at him waiting for him to explain herself. He put a hoof to his mouth and guided her behind a rock.
After getting to a suitable hiding spot, Break peered over the rock and found what Scavenger had warned her about. There was a dust trail coming right at them some distance away. Squinting, she could see what it was. Her heart sank as she saw at least fourteen Raiders on motorcycles. It looked like they were having the time of their lives and she could hear their howling and jeering as they got closer. All of them were armed with a multitude of weapons and in an instant, she knew their destination. These raiders were about to attack Petunia. Break cursed she should have seen this coming. They were well out of Cosas territory now and were in the wilder parts of the Wastelands.
"Not good." From this distance, there wasn't any way she could intervene. The cyclists were going too fast.
"A-are you g-going?" Scavenger asked.
"Can you get to Petunia by yourself fine?" Break asked hating running off like this.
A small smile crept onto his face. "I-I'll make i-it." Scavenger's face became serious. "D-don't spare t-them, these ponies are m-monsters!"
"I know." Break said and ran towards Petunia using her gravity powers to push herself forward. These ponies weren't like Robin. They hurt ponies for fun. Why would Scavenger think she would be foolish enough to hold back against ponies like these? They would need to talk later about this.
In the distance, she saw smoke coming from the town. One raider had shot a rocket into one building not only blowing it to pieces but starting a huge fire. They cackled as they rode around the town mocking its inhabitants taking delight in their fear and pain.
Too late! Break stopped herself to get a good view of what she was up against. There were fifteen of them each with a gun or a blunt weapon. She sighed in relief when she noticed only one of them had a rocket launcher. That would make this easier. They looked like your typical raider, ugly, lots of a leather, big, and had their mane in a mohawk. They were too busy enjoying their reign of terror to notice her. Some town ponies tried to fire back, but their aim was poor and missed completely.
"Hey Killer Joe, some of these ponies are getting uppity." A raider said to the one with the rocket launcher and all the raider parked with vehicles in a semicircle. "How about we set the whole town ablaze and smoke them out? Then we can have all the fun we want with them when they come out." This got a laugh from all the raiders.
"Great idea!" Killer Joe pointed his rocket launcher at the town. "About six rockets outta do it!"
I need to do something! Break looked around and found a good-sized rock and picked it up with her ghost. This will work.
The raider squeezed the trigger with his telekinesis and Break threw the rock right at his head. Her special talent made the shot an easy one, and it took only a split second to plan the trajectory. At blinding speed, it hit him right in the temple. The raider fell off his bike and the rocket launcher went off. Instead of hitting the town, the rocket hit a spot in the middle of the raiders instead. Break ducked on the ground at the massive explosion. The fire caused the fuel in the bikes to ignite causing a huge fireball that engulfed everything. The raiders screamed as they burned alive. Break's stomach turned at the smell of burning meat.
Break looked up to see all the raiders dead burned to a crisp killing them all. She blinked. How the hay did that just happen? Well, no more raiders at least which was something. She tried her hardest to put out of her the mind the horrible fate that just occurred to those bandits and made her way to town. She hoped it won't take too long for Scavenger to make his way to town.
"W-who are you?" A shaky voice said as she approached the town's parameter. The town was nothing more than a few old buildings with a large wooden fence with barbwire all around it.
"A friend!" Break called out. "You need not worry. The raiders are all dead."
"An explosion?" The voice asked.
"Yes, it somehow killed them all when a raider accidentally fell off his bike and shot a rocket into his friends." Break replied. It sounded so ridiculous when she said it out loud. Well, whatever. That's what happened.
"What?" The voice said in stunned disbelief.
"It's true Calling Card." A voice from deep inside the town shouted. "Saw it myself. Mighty clumsy of them."
"Okay." Calling Card said not really believing it. "You still haven't answered my questions stranger. Answer or twenty ponies will fill you with lead!"
Break put her hooves up in a placating gesture. "My name is Break Point. I'm just a traveler. I wanted to see if everypony was all right after that raider attack."
"Yeah right! You expect me to believe that?"
"Just let her in." The voice in the town said. "She doesn't have a weapon, and she doesn't look like any raider I've ever seen."
"Isn't this a tad suspicious? A stranger comes into town right after a raider attack that turned horribly wrong?" Calling Card replied his voice cool.
Break sighed. "I'll leave if you want me to."
"What? Break is that you?" A vaguely familiar voice said.
"Wait, don't!" Calling Card's voice rose in alarm.
A young stallion emerged and Break recognized him as Starburst in an instant. He used to be a regular at the restaurant she worked at in Primrose. He almost shined when he saw her grinning like a foal at Hearth Warming.
"It's okay!" Starburst said. "She's a friend and the best hero in all of Equestria."
Break squirmed at being called a hero and the blatant hero worship in his face and tone. He grabbed her hoof and shook it so hard her leg hurt. He looked down at her white leg in confusion.
"What happened here?" Starburst asked in confusion and alarm.
"It's a long story."
"No matter." Starburst beamed. "With you here, it solves all our problems! Things have been crazy around here!"
"D-do tell." Break had a bad feeling about this.
---
"Boss!" Terabyte froze as everypony in the room stared at him. As if delivering this news wasn't bad enough.
"Come." A booming voice said.
Terabyte steeled his resolve. If he framed it right the Boss wouldn't kill him right on the spot. Terabyte gulped. The Boss hated hearing about failures. He boiled alive in oil the last pony who gave him bad news. He still had nightmares about it. Why did he have to be the one to pull the short straw when they drew lots? He pushed aside the curtain and entered the Boss's bedchambers. The pony in question was lying on his side drinking a tank of beer with a straw.
Even after meeting him in person several times, Terabyte couldn't get over just how large the boss stood. He towered over everypony at least nine times larger than the average stallion. His purple mane reminded Terabyte of a lion's and his coat the color of polished bronze. His cutie mark was that of a lion's claw tearing the flesh of its victim. From his appearance, all knew this pony nopony trifled with.
"I have news of the attack on Petunia," Terabyte begged Celestia and Luna that he wasn't about to die for this.
The Boss laughed. "Good. That marks the end of the last town surrounding Zinnia. It won't be long until we move on Zinnia itself. It only has a week left to live until it is ours. Then we move on to bigger things. Skinning the Cosas's hides."
“
About that." Why me? Why me? Why me?
The Boss raised a questioning eyebrow. "What is it?"
"The raid failed."
"What?!" The room shook from the Boss's voice. Ponies ducked for cover or hid under something. "Explain."
"There was a freak accident, and they all died." Terabyte's legs wouldn't stop shaking, but his voice was strong enough at least.
"Is that so?" The Boss's voice stayed calm and Terabyte didn't know if this was a good thing or not. "And the collection of shacks still stands?"
"Yes."
"Damage to the town?" The Boss asked.
"Small. They didn't get a real chance to attack before they all tragically died."
"You at least recovered at least a few of the motorcycles, right? Those things are expensive." The Boss said his patience running thin. "I only lent them to speed up the mission."
Sweat formed on Terabyte's forehead. "Well…"
"Useless! Useless! Useless!" The Boss pounded his hoof against the floor creating a strange sound.
A wave of nausea and dizziness hit Terabyte, and he toppled over almost losing his lunch. It was like his insides were being twisted to pieces. He had heard of the Boss's strange powers, but this was the first time he'd seen it in person. At least the Boss hit the ground this time. Ponies hit directly by it bad came out a bad way ending up as a pony-shaped puddle.
"Nevermind." The Boss waved a dismissive hoof. "We must destroy this Petunia quickly else we end up a laughingstock."
"Yes, sir." Terabyte didn't even attempt a nod. He didn't trust that his stomach could withstand it.
"This is a little premature, but it will show Zinnia our true strength." The Boss said. "I want you to lead an exploitation of 50 ponies to crush this insignificant town once and for all."
Such an important assignment overwhelmed him, but he saw an opportunity. Maybe he could rise in the rank of the Boss's army. "Yes, sir."
Terabyte screamed as an invisible force grabbed him by the throat. It was impossible. The Boss was only an Earth Pony! He gurgled as the unknown force crushed his windpipe and saw spots unable to breathe.
"Take the town, or none of you will come back alive." Terabyte's body floated in front of the Boss and he looked his subordinate right in the eyes. He wouldn't tolerate any more failure. Not even a little one.
Terabyte dropped like a rock onto the ground gulped in wonderful, beautiful air. "Yes, sir."
He had no intention of earning the Boss's ire. 50 ponies seemed overkill for a place with only at best 16 ponies, but the Boss wanted to show off a small amount of their group's 1000 ponies might. What were 50 ponies to that? The Boss wanted to show the wasteland its new master and Terabyte planned to stay by his side.