//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: Crossroads // Story: Something Rotten // by Boltstrike58 //------------------------------// Tempest didn't move. She didn't speak, and from Twilight's point of view, she didn't even look like she was breathing. It was as though what Storm King had said (which Twilight was desperately trying to keep her mind off of, considering it was their death sentences) had completely shut down Tempest's entire body. Twilight swallowed, unsure of how any outcome of this could be beneficial. "...what?" Tempest breathed after what felt like an hour. Storm King had stepped away from her, and he returned with a large, sharpened hacksaw. "Didn't you hear me, Tempest?" asked Storm King. "Kill 'em and dice 'em up. Do your job." He tossed the hacksaw to her feet. Off to her side, Twilight heard Fluttershy squeak with fear. Tempest actually gasped in shock at the instrument now lying beneath her. She quivered where she stood, her breath accelerating, and she stepped away from the saw. This didn't go unnoticed by the Storm King, who stared at her with a perplexed look. He glared at her, wordlessly demanding an explanation. "Um, sir..." Tempest began, all of the previous confidence in her voice now gone. "M-maybe we shouldn't kill them. I mean, their bodies will surface eventually, the cops will start asking questions, and they could be traced back to us—" "Tempest, nobody's even gonna be able to identify them from chunks of flesh. At least, not for a while," Storm King countered, sounding mildly annoyed. "Now shut up and follow my orders." "B-but it's not necessary!" insisted Tempest, her voice shaking. "L-like they said, they have no proof of who we are or a-anything. I-it'll be our word against theirs—" She barely managed to finish that sentence, before the Storm King walked up and slapped her across the face, hard. Tempest stumbled backwards, falling to her knees. "It seems you've forgotten just how things work around her, Tempest," he snarled. "Let me remind you: You don't have opinions that I don't give to you. If this is some sort of morality bullshit, I don't care. Do what I say, now." He forced the hacksaw into her hand. Twilight and the others had watched this scene with bated breath. Grubber had stopped eating long enough to watch as well, his jaw dropped open in sheer surprise. Tempest got to her feet once more, looking down at the saw gripped in her hand. Storm King stared her down, his piercing blue eyes boring into her. Twilight felt her stomach drop, quietly praying for something she wasn't sure was possible. "...no," Tempest finally said, looking down at the floor. Twilight's spirit began to soar. Perhaps hope wasn't lost. A quick glance at the others told her they felt the same. Storm King actually flinched, as though she'd struck him. "What. Did. You. Just. Say. To. Me?" he demanded, gripping his cane with one hand. "I said no," Tempest repeated, throwing the hacksaw to the side. "I've done plenty of crap for you, but I won't chop up high schoolers. I'm done." Storm King stared back at her, his hand actually turning white from how hard he held on to his cane. Tempest met his cold gaze with her own. The Storm Guards all stared in surprise, as did Grubber. Nobody moved for about ten seconds. Then the Storm King threw back his head and laughed. It was a terrible, fear-inducing sound, like the laughter of a maniac. "Oh, this is just rich!" he cackled, taking his cane with both hands. "Look, boys! Somebody decided to grow a conscience! And what a time to do so!" His back shook as he continued his chortling, interrupted only by a soft clicking sound from his cane, so quiet it was easy to miss about the noise. Fortunately, Tempest was rather observant, and she noticed the Storm King slip the cover off the bottom of his cane. She dived to the side, just in time to avoid being jabbed by his cane, now revealed as a larger electric cattle prod in disguise. She rolled away from Storm King, grabbing her own cattle prod as she did so. "I gotta say, Tempest," Storm King said with a smug grin, as he advanced on her. "I didn't think you of all people would be the one to stab me in the back. To be honest, it's pretty disappointing. You were some of the best help I've ever had. Still, I really should thank you for giving me this opportunity to blow off some steam." He turned to the Storm Guards and Grubber. "Stay out of this. I'll deal with her myself." "Big mistake!" Tempest snarled as she lunged at her former boss, her prod primed for a stab. "I'm gonna give you exactly what you deserve!" What followed was a truly epic clash, one Twilight wouldn't have been able to truly put into words if she'd tried. Tempest and Storm King swept and stabbed with their respective cattle prods, each aiming for their opponent's exposed flesh. Tempest thrust towards the Storm King's neck, her prod grazing the side as the King responded with a stab of his own. Tempest swerved to the side, allowing the empty space where her right arm would've been to throw him off as he swiped through it. As her opponent was momentarily confused, Tempest took the opportunity to ram her prod into his thigh. Storm King shrieked with agony from the electricity searing his flesh as he stumbled backwards, dropping his prod. Tempest knocked it into the corner with one kick. As Tempest primed herself to hit Storm King again with her prod, she was caught off guard as Storm King suddenly charged forward, aiming to hit her with his shoulder. Tempest was forced to raise her only arm to protect herself, but this turned out to be Storm King's goal, as he seized her cattle prod with both hands. Despite her remarkable strength, Tempest's single limb was no match for two, and the prod was ripped out of her hands and tossed aside. Storm King reached into his coat, grabbing a taser and aiming it directly at Tempest. However, he was forced to take a step back before firing, so as to have a clearer shot. This gave Tempest the half-second she needed to dive forward into a somersault, the electrodes flying harmlessly above her. She rolled over to Storm King, landing cleanly on her feet, and kicked upward with one foot, knocking the taser out of his grip. "Should've known you'd play dirty," she snarled, clocking Storm King on the jaw with a roundhouse punch. "You always did have to rely on us to do the dirty work!" Storm King responded with a blow to her stomach. He then raised both arms upwards, planning to hit Tempest with an overhead smash, only for Tempest's arm to rise up and block him. "You're right," he grunted as the two of them grappled. "I should play more fairly, considering I'm fighting a cripple." A sadistic grin spread across his face as he taunted her. Unfortunately for Tempest, she allowed that single word to get too far under her skin. She roared with fury, lunging forward with a powerful punch, landing it right on Storm King's nose. He managed to endure the blow, however, and caught Tempest by the wrist. Using her momentum against her, he dragged her downward, slamming her face-first into the floor, keeping his grip on her arm. He placed a foot right between her shoulder blades. "Don't worry, Tempest," he spat, "this'll only hurt a lot." He began yanking on her arm, while stepping down hard on her back at the same time. Tempest screamed out from the twofold assault on her body. She hated to admit it, but she wasn't doing so well in this fight. Normally, having only one arm wouldn't have held her back at all, but most opponents would underestimate her for it, and Storm King had seen her fight before. He knew how to exploit her fighting style. There was only one option she could think of right now. Pulling one leg forward, Tempest kicked back towards the Storm King, aiming for his crotch. She only managed to bump his thigh, but it was enough to make him stumble away, getting him off her back. She wrenched her arm towards the open side of his grip, releasing her wrist, and sprang to her feet. But instead of attacking Storm King again, she raced over to the box, where the girls' pendants still sat. Twilight and the others stared in astonishment, figuring out exactly what she was going for. Tempest reached for the pendants, swiping her arm across the surface of the crate. She only managed to snag a single one, but that didn't seem to deter her at all. She dived over to the girls, avoiding another punch from the Storm King, and dropped the pendant around Twilight's neck. "Hurry!" she screamed. "Free yourselves, before—ACK!" Storm King had wrapped his arm around her neck, pulling her backwards. "Don't even think about it, kid," he spat, as he continued to grapple with Tempest. "Or else I'll—" But he was too late. Twilight's telekinesis had already enveloped the padlocks holding her chains together, twisting the internal mechanisms. With several metallic pops, the locks opened, and Twilight lifted all of the chains off her body, clattering to the floor. Twilight spared a second to be grateful that didn't have to direct her telekinesis with her hands. "Oh no you don't!" roared Storm King, reaching into his jacket and pulling out a pocket knife. He lunged towards Twilight. "You're not gonna—" Twilight, in a moment of panic, seized the man in her telekinetic grip, levitating him a few feet off the ground. With a thought, she hurled him across the room, sending him crashing into a handful of Storm Guards. Twilight then turned her attention to the other girls, unlocking their chains as well. The Storm King climbed angrily out of the pile of his henchmen. "A thousand bucks for every teenybopper corpse you guys bring me!" he spat, fury fully evident in his voice. The guards, along with Grubber, eagerly marched towards the girls, weapons raised, but by the time they did, Twilight had managed to free the others. Rainbow, using her natural athleticism, leaped over to the crate where the remaining pendants sat. She tossed Applejack and Fluttershy theirs, before quickly donning her own. "Time to rock!" yelled Applejack, as she charged towards the Storm Guards. One attempted to club her with a crowbar, only to find the farm girl catching and bending the weapon with one hand. She shoved the offending guard backwards, before smacking another away with a powerful backhand. Grubber, armed with a knife, took the opportunity to approach the defenseless Fluttershy, but a sudden blur (Rainbow) crashed into him, knocking him onto his rear and into unconsciousness. She zipped around the small warehouse, running up to Storm Guards and shoving them into each other, knocking them down like bowling pins. Fluttershy, having no taste for this sort of thing, wisely ran to the corner and hid behind another crate. With Applejack and Rainbow taking care of the Guards, Twilight turned to the Storm King. Her pendant began to glow, but before she could affect him in any way, a loud voice cried out. "No!" Tempest rushed out of the side, clocking her former boss on the chin with a heavy punch, knocking the knife out of his hand. "He's mine!" she shouted, following up the punch with another. Her pride was overruling her common sense as she charged at Storm King. "Tempest, you don't have to do it alone!" yelled Twilight, as the two criminals continued to wrestle. For all that it was doing, she might as well have shouted at the wall. Tempest and Storm King struck each other again and again, punching, kicking, and clawing with their fingernails as they fought, each acting as if their opponent was the only thing in the entire universe. Tempest was making up for her missing arm with sheer ferocity, targeting Storm King's eyes, neck, crotch, and other vulnerable areas. To his credit, however, the Storm King was resisting her. Twilight grunted in frustration as she tossed another Storm Guard off to the side. She wasn't sure what to do here. Her brain kept telling her to interfere, but part of her was convinced she owed it to Tempest to let her deal with the Storm King. After all, the one-armed woman had just thrown away her equivalent of a career in order to save her hide, it seemed like the least she could do. Though, that didn't stop her brain from telling her how stupid it was. Fortunately, she didn't have to stand there for long, as Storm King managed to immobilize Tempest's single arm with both of his own. He wrenched her downward, throwing her off her feet, and began punching her in the back of the head. Twilight wisely decided that this was the time to jump in, telekinetically freezing Storm King where he stood. Tempest wiggled out of his grip, as he struggled to escape the purple light. "I...won't...let..." he growled, fighting just to open his mouth. "Put a sock in it!" Tempest spat, as she reeled back and punched him in the face as hard as she possibly could. Storm King slid off his feet, falling backwards and landing on his rear, out cold. With the battle over, Tempest turned her gaze to Twilight, meeting the purple girl's gaze with her now. As the adrenaline died down, Tempest looked as though she couldn't actually believe what she'd done. Her shoulders dropped, and she looked down at her one remaining hand. Even without Sunset's mind reading powers, Twilight could guess the one question on Tempest's mind. Why did I do that? Twilight turned to the other three, Fluttershy having come out of her hiding place. Rainbow and Applejack had handily disposed of the remaining Storm Guards, leaving them unconscious around the warehouse. They joined Twilight, standing with Tempest, unsure of exactly how to proceed. They had a warehouse full of unconscious criminals, and obviously, they needed to get a story straight before calling the cops. Those hopes were dashed as a sound started to blare outside the building. "Are those sirens?" asked Twilight, looking up. "Oh, crap!" shouted Rainbow. Her super speed kicked in, zipping over to the crate that still held their masks, seizing them and stuffing them into her pockets. "But what do we do about Tempest?!" exclaimed Applejack. "We can't let her—" "No," Tempest said, with an air of finality that instantly silenced the others. "I know what I have to do. You better get your story straight with the others." She turned towards the door, where the police had broken down the door, rushing in, fully armed, led by Shining Armor. "Twily!" he shouted, rushing over to his sister and throwing his arms around her. Twilight, however, had eyes only for Tempest, who was sitting on her knees, her one arm in the air. They approached her slowly, pulling out a long pair of handcuffs, hooking one onto her wrist, and the other end onto her ankle.