Black and the others made their way around the outside edge of the camp, trying their best to stay in the shadows and not attract attention to themselves.
"So... what now?" Sterling whispered.
“I’m… not sure.” Black grimaced. “We’re outnumbered, outgunned, and on a very tight time crunch. We gotta stop them before they fire that damn missile, but how…”
“Well…” Fletcher spoke up, as the others glanced at him, “If you don’t mind me suggesting, our first priority should be to find Caboose. He and us will stand a better chance if we’re together. After that, we should arm ourselves. There oughta be a cache of weapons they keep around here.”
“...Actually that’s not bad.” Sterling admitted, “...But we still don’t know how to stop the missile…”
“Not entirely true.” Fletcher mused, “You saw that platform they were on when we woke up, right? It was overlooking the hole with the missile. Chances are, there’s some control panel that operates the launch. If we mess with that, the missile should be stopped.”
“So in short: find Caboose, find weapons, find the panel, save Equestria.” Black listed off, “Easy to say… not exactly easy to do.”
“What about me? I still got this damn collar cuff on my neck!” Fury snarled, tugging at his collar, “Without my powers, I’m more useless than-” Fletcher glanced at Fury, “-A rock.”
“Well, we don’t have time to go finding a key.” Black frowned, “If we don’t find one before going after the panel, you’ll have to make do, alright?”
“That’s what I'm afraid of…” Fury hissed.
"You? Afraid?" Sterling mused. "Things really are bad..."
"Afraid is the appropriate response to this situation." Black declared. "These maniacs are out to turn an entire country to stone, and we're the only ones with a chance of stopping them... however slim."
"And we will stop them." Fletcher insisted.
"We've got to." Fury agreed.
“I just hope Caboose is doing okay on his own.” Sterling murmured, “You think he’s alright?”
"I have no doubt that he has everything well in hoof.." Fletcher smiled, “When he sets his mind to it, he can accomplish many things…”
At the same time, Caboose was sneaking around camp.
"Duh-duh-duh." He provided his own background music as he evaded being spotted, ducking behind crates and various equipment. "Duh-duh-duh…” He continued sneaking around while performing his theme song.
Caboose paused, glancing around in annoyance.
“Come on… where is that stupid radio?” Caboose grunted, letting out a small sigh, “Keep it together, Caboose. Sure, you’ve been screwing up all week. And your team is locked up in their cells. And you’re all alone in a camp full of ponies who will kill you. But that just means you’re due for a lucky break!” He frowned, “At least, I think I am… right?”
Caboose went about his sneaking, passing by a small tent where Pomelo, Grunt, and Turbine resided. As he did so, he overheard some talking…
“Ooh…” Grunt whimpered, as she continued bandaging her wings, still wounded from Fury’s spears, “I can’t believe the gall of that awful bird. To hurt a lady so badly. Faust forbid he should ever get a girlfriend.”
"I didn't know there was a lady at that fight." Pomelo sneered.
"Maybe she was hiding." Turbine smirked.
"You should be the one hiding, you wingless excuse of a bird." Grunt snarled.
"Oh, yes, that's very ladylike." Turbine said sarcastically. "I can't imagine why you're still single..."
“So, any big plans once we get off this island?” Pomelo asked.
“Well, I’m taking a long break.” Grunt grumbled, “I haven’t a good night’s sleep for the ten years we’ve been on this island. That and it’s going to take weeks for this wing to heal up.”
“I hear that.” Pomelo smiled, “Once I get back to Infinity, I’m going to treat myself to a spa day… maybe a spa week.” He flicked his ponytail, “Perfection is so much work to maintain, especially in these conditions.” He turned to Turbine, “What about you, Turbine? Any plans?”
“Yeah. To get as far away from Broker as possible.” Turbine growled, his beak buried in his notebook.
“Oh, you’re not still sore at Broker for what he said before, are you?" Grunt scoffed.
"You’re damn right I am!" Turbine spat, slamming his book down on a nearby table. "Keeping those clowns locked up, when we should finish 'em right now! I am trying to make sure this mission went on without a hitch, but he won’t listen! He never listen!"
“Turbine, please, you’re getting worked up over nothing.” Pomelo scoffed, “Those guys are all locked up now. And even if they weren’t, we handled them just fine. That big red stallion was no match for me. You handled the traitor. The twins beat those two on the ridge soundly. And Grunt…” He grimaced, “Well… he loosened Fury up for you.”
“Oh, flap you!” Grunt snarled. "And where are the twins, anyway?"
"They said something about getting their horns polished." Pomelo shrugged.
"So they think they can go and get beauty treatments, while those RDL stooges are right here?" Turbine frowned. "Am I the only one who recognizes the danger?"
“Trust me.” Pomelo said firmly, “As long as they're locked up, the rest of the operation should go off without a hitch."
Chuckling quietly at the irony of Pomelo's statement, Caboose kept moving. As he did, he took note of how big the area was, with several camps and buildings around.
'What I wouldn't give for a map.' Caboose thought. 'Or maybe some kind of helpful guide...'
Caboose then saw two agents passing by.
"Hey, guys!" Caboose waved. "I'm a little turned around here. Think you can give a guy directions?"
The agents stared at Caboose, agape.
"...And I just remembered that I was trying to avoid you guys... crap." Caboose cringed.
"Get him!" One agent yelled.
The agents moved to grab Caboose, but he sped out of their grasp.
"See ya!" He yelled.
The guards gave chase. Caboose leapt over some crates, zig-zagged around some drums, and dived into a tent. He then hid under a table, and waited.
"Where'd he go?" One agent's voice asked.
"He can't have gone too far!" The other's voice declared. "Let's split up and find him!"
Caboose then heard hoofsteps walking away from him. After a few minutes, he was confident that he had evaded his pursuers.
"Still got it." He smirked.
As Caboose got out from under the table, he let out a sigh of relief as he looked around…
To his surprise, on the table he was hiding under, he spotted his crossbow, Fletcher's bow, Sterling's sword, and Black's Homer on the table, as well as a cache of extra crossbows nearby. He had stumbled into a armory of sorts.
“Well, whattaya know? That’s one problem solved!” Caboose smiled, “Maybe my luck really is changing..."
Grabbing all the weapons, plus two extra crossbows and bolts, Caboose left the tent. As he did, his eyes caught another surprising sight: a radio tower, standing tall amongst the tents.
“Huh, can’t believe I didn’t see that till now.” Caboose mused, before shrugging, “Ah, well. Just means I’m on a lucky streak!” He gives a chuckle, “This is gonna be super easy…”
"And the lucky streak continues." Caboose smirked. "This is gonna be super easy..."
"You'd think that, wouldn't ya?" A familiar voice cackled.
"Unfortunately, life is seldom like that." Another voice said gloomily.
Caboose perked up as he turned around, seeing Ferdy and Dan standing before him.
"Surprise!" Ferdy smirked.
"Hey..." Dan said quietly.
"Wait... How did you find me?" Caboose asked.
"...You're kidding, right?" Ferdy snorted.
"Even I, a hoofbrain, heard you sneaking around, making all that racket!" Dan declared.
"Seriously, man, where was all your cunning?" Ferdy smirked.
"Well, I had to give myself some background music!" Caboose defended himself.
"Pretty lame music." Ferdy retorted. "I prefer something... Jazzier."
"I prefer a good dirge, myself." Dan shrugged.
"Ugh, everycreature's a critic." Caboose scowled.
"As fun as this musical critique is, it's time for more pressing concerns." Ferdy declared. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to inflict bodily harm upon you if you don't come quietly."
"Not a chance." Caboose declared. "To either of those."
"Well, looks like you're asking for me to put nuts in your sandwich!" Ferdy jeered.
"Oh, come on, that bit is done already." Caboose scoffed. "Not to mention it's totally inferior to the source material!"
"Oh, okay!” Ferdy snarled, incensed. "What did the one hat say to another?"
"What?" Caboose played around.
"Stay here, I'll go on 'ahead'." Ferdy grinned.
"Oooh..." Caboose cringed, as if he was hurt.
"Okay, brother, you got your bit in, now-" Dan started.
"Why didn't Cindereina make the hoofball team?" Ferdy asked.
"Oh, okay." Dan said flatly.
"Uh-" Caboose pondered.
"Because she kept running from the 'ball'!" Ferdy answered.
"Oh, Faust, stop. These puns are terrible!" Caboose cringed even harder.
"Brother, shouldn't we-" Dan asked.
"What do attorneys wear to work?" Ferdy smirked.
"Don't you dare!" Caboose growled.
"A 'lawsuit'!" Ferdy cackled.
"Stop it, you nuthat!" Caboose demanded.
"Um, Ferdy, maybe you shouldn't-" Dan muttered.
"What's that?" Ferdy smirked. "You want to put your nuts in a hat?!"
"I wanna put my nuts in everything!" Caboose yelled.
"Well, for that, you and your fellow jailbirds will be plucked!" Ferdy declared.
Using his leaping ability, Ferdy lunged at Caboose, ready to take him down...
Suddenly, Caboose pulled out his crossbow and shot Ferdy right in the face.
The bolt slammed Ferdy right between the eyes, the midget minotaur dying almost instantaneously as his now dead body landed in front of him with a sick thud.
“Gah…” Dan gaped, his dour expression giving way to great mortification.
"Huh..." Caboose looked at his crossbow. "I guess I should've led with that back at the ridge." He shrugged. "Oh, well." He looked at Dan awkwardly. "Sorry for your loss. I'll send flowers!"
Caboose rushed up the steps, as Dan hugged his dead brother.
“No… Ferdy…” Dan murmured, feeling sadness far greater than what he was used to, “I can’t believe you’re dead. I cannot believe you’re dead.” He gave a sniff, “How can this be? How can you be dead? Why not me? You were the positive one…”
He shook his head, shedding silent tears.
“I wish I can help you out of this one, but I can’t.” Dan murmured, “After all we’ve been through… I can’t pull you out of this one… however…” He then glared up at the tower, “There is something I can do…”
Caboose continued his rush up to the tower. At the very top was the radio system, various devices ready to go.
"Finally." Caboose grinned. "Hope these guys have already paid their phone bill… because I’m about to call in the cavalry!"
However, before Caboose could even make a step forward…
"YARRRGH!" Dan crashed in through a window, having used his own leaping ability to catch up with Caboose.
“Oh come on!” Caboose grumbled.
“You killed my brother slash only friend!” Dan snarled, his sadness replaced with righteous anger.
“Look, we all done things we’re not proud of at one time or another-” Caboose began.
“You just did it a minute ago!” Dan yelled.
"The past is the past." Caboose shrugged.
"Not when it just happened!" Dan snarled.
"Tomato, potato." Caboose said flippantly. "Now if you wouldn't mind moving out of the way so I can get to the radio-"
“Shut up! You murdered my brother!” Dan snapped.
“You know what? Yeah, I did.” Caboose grunted, “And I was hoping to not have to kill you too, but if you don’t stop being a stupid hoof-brain and get out of the way, I can’t be held responsible for what I’m about to do!”
"Well, get ready to be held responsible for your own demise, 'cause THIS IS THE LAST STUPID HOOF-BRAIN YOU'RE EVER GONNA SEE!" Dan roared.
"Well, maybe... but maybe-CROSSBOW!" Caboose quickly drew his crossbow, firing it at the minotaur.
However, Dan was quick enough to shoot the bolt out of the air with his own crossbow.
"W-What the buck was that?!" Caboose gaped.
"I just caught your bolt with my crossbow, no big deal!" Dan declared.
"Whatever, I got more bolts!" Caboose scoffed.
Caboose fired again... only for it to be shot down again by the minotaur.
"I just caught your bolt with my crossbow, no big-" Dan repeated.
"Shut up, whatever!" Caboose growled.
Caboose fired twice more, only for history to repeat itself twice over.
"I just caught your bolt with my cross-" Dan repeated.
"Augh, stop saying that, stop it!" Caboose lowered his crossbow. "You can stop my bolts. but you can't stop EQUESTRIA!"
Suddenly, catching the minotaur off-guard, Caboose charged at his opponent.
"What th-hey!" Dan yelped as Caboose hoisted him up.
"Time to face the music... and these!" Caboose growled.
Caboose began smashing his face against the radio apparatus.
"Urgh!" Dan grunted.
“Is this a big deal?" Caboose demanded, slamming his face into the devices over and over. "Is it?!”
Caboose kept on slamming Dan's face against the equipment. Soon, Dan was a bloodied mess, his snout and one of his horns broken.
“Uhh…” Dan groaned, as Caboose unceremoniously dropped him ont he ground.
"There!" Caboose smirked. "Detective Heart of Equestria, I've saved the day!" He started singing. "I beat up a hoof-brain, and I'm getting help, Equestr-"
Caboose stopped mid-song, as he realized that the radios were all destroyed, courtesy of Dan's face… and him using Dan’s face.
"Ooh..." He cringed.
With the radio destroyed, Caboose took a moment to consider his options.
’Oh, boy…’ Caboose rubbed his head nervously, ’Way to go, numbskull. You had one job!’ He shook his head, ’Ugh, what’s done is done. I guess I can go back to the cells and break Black and the others out… but then what? Where are we gonna go? What are we gonna do? What are we gonna wear? This is worse than I thought-’
"Caboose?"
"GAH!" Caboose about-faced and pulled out his crossbow, revealing Black and co., who all held their hooves and talons up, just as shocked.
"Easy, soldier! It's just us!" Black assured him.
“Oh…” Caboose sighed in relief, lowering his crossbow, “Wait, you guys got out? How?”
“Thank Fury for that one.” Sterling rubbed his hurt shoulder, “He got us out of there.”
"No big." Fury shrugged. "For me, at least..."
"No kidding." Black grimaced at the memory.
“Anyway, when we got out, we knew you would be heading for the radios, and so we headed here.” Fletcher noted, “Were you able to call for backup?”
“Yeah… about that…” Caboose grimaced as he stepped aside, showing the wrecked radios.
“What the- what happened here?!” Sterling gaped.
“I dunno. It was like that when I got here.” Caboose lied quickly, “They must have suffered a malfunction or something.”
"Really? Looks like a pretty big 'malfunction'." Black took note of the damage.
"Seems like they 'malfunctioned' all over that guy." Fury glanced down at the unconscious Dan.
“Yeah… so, anyways, that backup isn’t coming anytime soon.” Caboose declared, eager to change the subject.
“Well, it probably wouldn’t had matter.” Black shook his head, “They might have not gotten here in time anyways.”
“Which means we have to stop the launch ourselves.” Fletcher said firmly.
“So, what do we do next?” Caboose asked.
“We need to regroup.” Black declared, “Once we get to cover, then we’ll plan our next move.”
“Yeah. And we gotta find where they’re keeping our stuff. They’re going to find the dead minotaur dwarf soon and the whole place is gonna be swarming with goons.” Sterling grimaced.
“Oh, you mean these?” Caboose smirked, revealing all the others’ weapons.
"Caboose, you genius!" Fletcher grinned, taking his bow back.
“Well, that’s one less thing to worry about!” Sterling smiled, grabbing his sword.
“Way to go, Caboose.” Black chuckled, retrieving his ‘Homer’ and slipping it on his hoof.
“Thanks. I even grabbed some extra crossbows to give us an edge.” Caboose smiled, as he passed two crossbows to Black and Sterling.
“Well, that’s great and all, but I’m still powerless over here.” Fury said grudgingly, “You didn’t happen to find a key, did you?”
“No… but I think I might be able to help with that.’ Caboose offered, picking up a piece of metal from the shattered radio, “Hold still.”
Before Fury could ask why, Caboose quickly got atop Fury, and began jamming the metal into his collar.
“Gah!” Fury gasped.
"Just gotta twist it in the right way..." Caboose said to himself as he forced the metal in further. "Kinda like pickin' a lock, really..."
After a few seconds, Caboose jumped off and dropped the piece of metal as one would drop a mic.
“Done.” Caboose declared.
“Done?” Fury grimaced, as the collar was still on him, “It doesn’t look like you done-”
Almost immediately, the collar broke into pieces, leaving Fury’s neck bare.
“Ta-da!” Caboose smirked.
“Nicely done, Caboose.” Fletcher smiled.
“Well, I’ll be damned.” Fury chuckled. Holding out a talon, a spear materialized, signifying the return of his powers, his eyes gaining their wisps, “Looks like you are a genius after all.”
“Aw, shucks, that is nothing special.” Caboose said humbly, “I’m just glad it didn’t blow up like the last ten things I tried to pick at.”
“...Wha.” Fury’s smirk faded.
“Anyways.” Black stepped in, “We gotta get somewhere safe and come up with a plan of attack.”
"Seriously?" Fury pouted. "I'm itching to give those guys some payback!"
"Not a good idea." Fletcher frowned. "We're still heavily outnumbered. Even with your powers, if we go in hooves and talons a-flying, we’ll just find ourselves back in those cells… if they don’t kill us first. We do as Black said and regroup.”
“Works for me.” Sterling nodded.
“Ditto.” Caboose piped up.
“...Ugh, fine.” Fury shook his head and huffed.
“Look, you'll get your chance to bust heads soon, I promise." Black pledged.
"I'd better..." Fury muttered.
Meanwhile, back at the Taskforce headquarters, Elite and the others were desperately trying to come up with a plan.
"We've gotta send in back-up!" Armory insisted.
"But we have no idea how great the enemy's numbers are." Master Mind pointed out.
"Or if our guys are even alive." Incognito added.
"They're alive." Ballista declared. "I know it."
"I'm certain they will pull through." Elite insisted. "Together."
"That's real nice." Consul frowned. "But it doesn't really change anything."
"Whatever's going on over, we will not be able to send help in time." Elite pointed out. "All we can do is hope that our team will prevail."
"Hope." Consul shook his head. "A rare commodity at the moment."
"But valuable, too." Elite said sagely. "Even the smallest amount can carry you through dark times. And this may be a very dark time for our team indeed..."
A short while later, at the other end of the camp, Broker was standing on the platform next to the control panel, overseeing operations.
"Is the countdown timer set right?" He inquired. "How about the trajectory? The coordinates must be exact! We won't get another shot at this!"
"Yes, sir." One agent nodded.
"We're just going over some last-minute calculations." Another declared. "It'll take a few minutes-"
"Come on, pick up the pace!" Broker ordered to no one in particular. "We're so close to victory! We can't slow down now!"
"Sir!" Once operative rushed over.
"Ugh, what is it?" Broker scowled irritably.
"It's the prisoners!" The operative explained. "They’ve escaped!”
“What?!” Broker snarled, his eyes alight with panic, “How?!”
“I don’t know, sir!” The operative frowned, “But one of our own was conked out and they’re nowhere to be seen!”
“Oh, Faust, no!” Broker growled. Quickly, he went to a nearby loudspeaker installed on the platform, “Attention, everypony! All operatives, form on me! This is not a drill!”
The agents emerged from all around, including Pomelo, Grunt, and Turbine.
"What's going on?" Grunt frowned.
"Some kind of last-minute drill?" Pomelo suggested.
"I think I know what this is about..." Turbine growled, less than amused.
Unbeknownst to them, the Project Freedom members were hiding nearby, behind a pile of crates, watching them assemble.
"I think they may be on to us." Sterling noted.
“Ugh, so much for the element of surprise…” Black grunted.
The operatives finally gathered in front of the platform, muttering among themselves as to what was going on. Broker ignored the commotion as he surveyed the gathering. He then noticed two of their number were missing.
“Okay, where are the twins?!” Broker growled, “I said ‘all operatives’!”
"Yeah, where are Ferdy and Dan?" Grunt asked, “I haven’t seen them in the past hour.”
"No clue." One operative admitted.
"I haven't seen them either." Another added.
“Sir!” A buffalo operative came out of the crowd. “I know where they are!”
“Don’t leave me in suspense!” Broker demanded, “I swear to Faust, if those two are smelling the flowers again, I’m going to turn them into coat racks!”
“That’s going to be a bit difficult, sir.” The buffalo grimaced.
“Oh, and why’s that?” Broker challenged.
“Well, Dan is currently knocked the flat out.” The buffalo explained, “...And Ferdy kinda suddenly came down with a case of ‘death’.”
The crowd immediately went silent. Broker, along with Turbine, Pomelo, and Grunt were all gaping.
“On a semi-related note, our radio got smashed to pieces.” The buffalo continued.
“Ferdy is dead?!” Pomelo gaped, “Are you sure?!”
“I saw his body. He had a bolt right in his head. Ain’t no coming back from that one.” The buffalo bowed his head, “He’s gone… and the jury’s still out on Dan.”
“Oh no…” Grunt whispered.
"It was them, wasn't it?" Turbine glared at Broker. "Not only did those RDL agents escaped, they killed the more tolerable of the two! I told you we should have killed them when we had the chance!"
“Shut it! This is no time for ‘I told you so’s!” Broker snarled, “Right now, we gotta launch this missile and find those assholes!” He turned to the operatives, “All of you, fan out and find them!” He turned to Turbine, Pomelo, and Grunt, “That means all of you as well! Get going!”
The operatives immediately dispersed, Turbine grumbling "I was right, wasn't I?" under his breath.
As the operatives set out on their mission, Broker turned to the loudspeaker again, incensed.
“Okay, you meddlesome fools!” Broker yelled, “I know you’re out there!”
“...I think he’s talking to us.” Caboose whispered.
“You don’t say.” Fury deadpanned.
“I don’t know how you got out of your cells, or how you managed to kill one of my best agents…” Broker snarled, “But you better come quietly right now, because in thirty minutes, that missile will be on its way to Equestria, and there is no way you’re stopping us! So make things easier on us and give up!”
"Oh, dear… this isn’t looking good." Fletcher gulped, watching the operatives pass them by, “With these many hostiles around, there’s no hope of sneaking past them.”
"If anycreature's got a plan, I'd love to hear it." Sterling declared.
"Like I said: we gotta bust some heads." Fury growled, “We’ll make our own way through.”
"How about a plan where there's a chance of actually surviving?" Black suggested, “Besides, with their strength in numbers, there would be too many of them to go through before we have a clear shot at the panel.”
“Well, we have to do something.” Fletcher frowned.
“You know, this reminds me of something.” Caboose spoke up.
“What?” Black stared at Caboose.
“Let see: a bunch of enemies, a thing we gotta hit, and the five of us… this is just like that bell exercise.” Caboose smiled.
The other four glanced at the platform from afar, then at Caboose… and then it hit them.
“Huh… you know, he isn’t wrong.” Sterling admitted.
“Yeah… except he forgets that we never actually passed that exercise.” Fury grunted.
“No, but we were close.” Fletcher pointed out, “The first time, Caboose almost had that bell before Titan rolled into him.”
“Yeah, and there’s no one here who can turn into a boulder and roll into you and mentally scar you for life.” Caboose smirked.
“Hmm… true.” Black acknowledged, “But the big difference here is that we have only one shot at this. If we don’t get to that control panel, Equestria is doomed.”
"Won't be easy, with all the scum baying for our blood." Sterling noted.
“Then we’ll try what ‘almost’ worked that one time.” Black declared, “You, me, and Fury will tackle the brunt of the enemies. With our collective skills, they’ll be mostly focused on us. While they’re distracted, Fletcher and Caboose will go for the panel.”
“Is that a good idea?” Fletcher frowned, uncertainty in his voice, “I mean, there are a lot of them and if there’s only three of you…”
“Look, our biggest priority is stopping that missile.” Black sighed, “Equestria is depending on us and even if it kills us, we have to do everything we can to save it.”
"I don't know..." Fletcher frowned, still unsure. "It still seems unlikely to succeed..."
“...I know things don’t look good, but I truly believe we can do this… because I believe in us.” Black said firmly, “I believe in you all.”
"...Thanks, boss." Sterling smiled.
"Do we have time for a group hug?" Caboose asked.
"Unfortunately, no." Fletcher answered.
“Thank Faust…” Fury whispered.
“Okay… so are we in agreement?” Black declared. He eyed Fury, “Even you, Fury?”
"Oh, yeah." Fury nodded. "Let's take these clowns down."
"That's the spirit!" Caboose smiled. "Go team!"
"Let's do it." Sterling grinned.
"Okay... break!" Black yelled.
Black, Sterling and Fury charged forth, ready to face the agents head on.
"Looking for us?!" Black yelled out.
"Well, here we are!" Sterling added.
"Come get some, scum!" Fury roared.
The agents, taken by surprise, attempted to muster up a defence. They were no match for their opponents, Black and Sterling pummeling them, while Fury used his newly-reclaimed powers to blow them away.
"Aw, yeah!" Fury cheered. "Boy, I've missed this!"
"I think we all have." Black noted. "Fighting the good fight, and all..."
"No kidding." Sterling nodded. "Something I haven't done much of, to be honest..."
Meanwhile, Caboose and Fletcher went through the side of the area, unnoticed.
“Gee, I sure hope they’ll be okay.” Caboose murmured.
“The sooner we get to that panel, the sooner we can get out of here.” Fletcher assured, though he felt more unsure than Caboose was, “So let’s hurry…”
It wasn't long before Broker noticed the commotion.
“Oh, Faust dammit…” Broker growled, as he spoke into the loudspeaker, “We have a ruckus in west quadrant! Get over there, now!"
Pomelo, Grunt, and Turbine noticing Black, Fury and Sterling fighting off their troops.
"Well, look who it is." Grunt snarled.
"I knew it." Turbine spat. "I knew this would happen! But nocreature ever listens to me, not ever..."
"Less talking, more stopping them." Pomelo declared.
"How about we switch up our opponents this time?" Grunt suggested. "I'm not ashamed to admit I had trouble with that Fury clown..."
"Whatever." Turbine shrugged. "Take your pick. Makes no difference to me."
The three of them split up, each heading for the target of their choice.
"Well, look who it is." Grunt approached Black. "You just don't know when to lay down and die, do you? Lucky for you, I can help with that."
"You don't scare me, lady." Black scoffed.
"That puts you in the minority." Grunt smirked. "Lots of guys are scared of me. Just because I have a thick… meaty..."
“Hrrk!” Black gagged.
“Oh, come on, you too?” Grunt growled.
“...There’s nothing about you that doesn’t make me so disgusted that I want to violently vomit out my internal organs.” Black said bluntly and intensely, “I find the thought of you being a woman so awful that I am going to do everything in my power to repress your very existence.”
"Yeah, well... I..." Grunt struggled to rebut. "...Gahhh!" She started firing blasts from her gauntlets.
"Whoa!" Black managed to dodge the blasts.
"You scared now?" Grunt smirked. "Are ya!"
"Nope." Black continued evading her her blasts.
"You can't dance around forever!" Grunt sneered.
"Don't plan on it." Black readied his 'Homer'.
Atter making another leap, Black fired the Homer. The dart embedded itself in one of her bracers.
"What the-?!" Grunt frowned.
"Gotcha." Black smirked.
With a deft twist, Black wrapped the line around both of Grunt's talons, binding her.
"No fair!" Grunt yelped. She turned and called out to some agents. "A little help here?!"
As the agents rushed over, Black tugged at the line, pointing her bracers at the agents. With the rope tightening on the triggers, the bracers fired, blasting the agents.
"I don't think so." Black smirked.
"Two can play this game!" Grunt pulled her own talons forward, dragging Black toward her.
"It won't be that easy!" Black dug in his hooves, struggling to keep where he was.
A deadly game of tug o' war ensued. But it seemed as though Grunt was gaining ground.
"Come to mama!" She needed.
"You... First!" Black shifted position, giving himself some slack, then used the change of leverage to throw Grunt forward.
"Whoa!" Grunt yelled.
Once again twisting his hooves, Black wrapped the wire around Grunt's neck.
"Urrk!" Grunt wheezed, struggling to free herself.
With one hard yank, Black snapped Grunt's neck.
"Hurrgh..." Grunt fell to the ground, dead.
"You're welcome, guys everywhere." Black declared.
Meanwhile, Sterling was locked in combat with Pomelo.
"You should've stayed in your cage." Pomelo spat. "Then you wouldn't know the agony I'm about to inflict upon you."
"I'll show you agony." Sterling smirked.
Pomelo threw some punches at Sterling. Only half managed to connect, and barely even staggered Sterling.
"My turn." Sterling smirked.
Sterling unleashed a flurry of precision strikes, batting Pomelo back and forth. After he finished, Pomelo was left covered in bruises.
"Had enough yet, formerly-pretty boy?" Sterling taunted.
“You know what? I think I’ll skip the foreplay and get right into the action!” Pomelo snarled. His eyes grew wispy.
“...Uh-oh.” Sterling’s smile faded.
Within seconds, Pomelo’s body contorted once more into a more brutish form, the feminine Unicorn now towering over the young stallion.
"Oh, boy..." Sterling gaped.
"You feelin' it now?!" Pomelo growled.
“Well… I’m not backing down!” Sterling grunted, trying to save face. “You may be bigger than me, stronger than me, have beaten Black senseless, and have a smile that reminds me strongly of Scalp-" He paused in panic. "This might have been a big mistake..."
"I agree." Pomelo smirked, throwing a powerful punch that Sterling just barely managed to avoid.
At the same time, Fury was fighting with Turbine.
"You're gonna pay for conking me out before!" Fury yelled.
"Wanna bet?" Turbine quickly evaded Fury's initial attacks. Then he leapt forward, and threw out several blows at lightning speed.
"Urgh..." Fury stepped back, surprised. He quickly recovered, and drew a spear. "That's a sucker's bet." He smirked.
"And you're the sucker!" Turbine charged.
This time, Fury's spear gave him enough reach to strike Turbine, swatting him away.
"Oof!" Turbine hit the ground hard. "It'll take more than that to stop me..."
"I've got more to spare!" Fury drew another spear, and charged at Turbine.
Turbine was still faster, but Fury's spears gave him a edge. With one swing, he managed to slash at Turbine, but barely avoided it in time, gaining a cut across his arm.
"I can do this all day, speedy." Fury sneered. "Even if it means I gotta take you out one cut at a time!”
"What makes you think you'll be lucky enough to catch me again?" Turbine returned the taunt.
“Well-” Fury was about to rebut, when he spotted Sterling.
The stallion wasn’t faring too well now that Pomelo had taken on his brutish form. Sterling struggled to avoid his big hooves, knowing that getting hit by one would seal his doom.
"Whoa!" He yelped, evading one strikes.
"You can't dance forever, Cross." Pomelo jeered. "Just one hit is all it'll take to turn you into a stain on the ground!"
“Oh, flap, no!” Fury gasped, “Not on my watch!”
Fury stepped forward, intent on helping Sterling, but Turbine quickly moved to block his path.
"Goin' somewhere?!" He knocked Fury back with a kick. "Sorry pal, but Pomelo's about to do what he does best. And trust me, he hates being interrupted. In fact, so do I!" He lashed out again, with Fury barely being able to block his attacks, let alone work around them.
Knowing he couldn't get past Turbine in time, Fury had another idea. It wasn’t pleasant, but he couldn’t let his teammate get killed.
"Sterling, use your sword!" He called.
"What do you think I'm doing?!" Sterling swung his sword defensively, only for it to get blocked by Pomelo.
"No! Use your sword!" Fury urged, blocking an attack from Turbine.
"...Oh!" Sterling realized. He frowned. "But I can't!" He dodged a hoof from Pomelo. "You'll get affected too!"
"For ten minutes, I know!" Fury nodded begrudgingly. "Just do it!"
"But..." As Sterling mulled over the thought, he was struck by a glancing blow from Pomelo, which almost broke his shoulder. "Gahh!"
"Do it, you idiot!" Fury urged. "Before he finishes this!"
“...Okay.” Sterling murmured hesitantly. He pulled the lever on his sword, the engine on the sword whirling to life.
“And what do you think you’re doing?” Pomelo hissed, approaching him threateningly.
“I’m about to level the playing field!” Sterling barked back. With a few twist of the lever, the machinery roared, a orb of purple light materializing.
Before Pomelo could react, the orb burst out in a wave of purple light, spreading throughout the entire area.
"What the flap?" Turbine cringed.
"Hey!" Black yelped.
Caboose and Fletcher saw the light also.
"Is that a rescue flare?" Fletcher frowned.
"Either that, or we're having a dance party." Caboose shrugged.
The light even reached Broker, who just barely covered his eyes in time.
"What was that?" He frowned.
While the light had passed through the others unabated, the sole two Nightcrawlers were greatly affected.
“Aggghhh!” Pomelo and Fury both screamed, Pomelo letting out a pained roar.
Their powers fizzling out, Pomelo’s body reverted to it’s skinny frame, and Fury’s spears fall to the ground. The both of them clutched their heads, trying to cope with the ringing within.
“Gah…” Pomelo struggled to focus on Sterling, realizing he was back to normal, “What’s going on?! Where’s my power?!”
"Gone." Sterling smirked. "For now, at least."
"That still won't save you!" Pomelo tried to keep up the bravado as he charged Sterling.
"I beg to differ." Sterling retorted.
Pomelo, weakened by the loss of his dark magic and the ringing in his ears, couldn't lay a hoof on Sterling, who evaded every attack.
"Fall, curse you!" He roared.
"Not a chance!" Sterling kept dodging.
"You still can't win!" Pomelo insisted. "I'm still the superior warrior!"
"Oh, shut up!" Sterling slammed his sword into his opponent's gut.
"Huhhh!" Pomelo groaned, collapsing in agony.
Meanwhile, Fury wasn't nearly so lucky, as Turbine was capitalizing on his new advantage; with Fury weakened by the loss of his own power, Turbine was slugging him left and right.
"Guh!" Fury stumbled backwards. He tried to regain his footing, but failing, dropping to his knees.
“So, ten minutes, you say?” Turbine grinned darkly, “Well, I’ll only need seven to put you out of your misery.”
“It won’t be that easy…” Fury grunted, getting back up shakily, “I don’t need my powers to take you down!”
“We’ll see about that!” Turbine snarled.
At the same time, Caboose and Fletcher made their way to the platform, but found themselves accosted by more agents.
"Hold it right there!" A green Pegasus stallion snarled.
"End of the line!" A scarred Diamond Dog sneered.
"Shall we?" Fletcher smiled at Caboose.
"Oh, yeah." Caboose nodded.
The two charged at the agents. As they neared the group, Caboose leapt over them, while Fletcher slid under the Diamond Dog's legs. On the other side, Caboose grabbed Flether's hoof and swung him around. Fletcher kicked repeatedly as he did, knocking the agents all out.
"Nicely done." Fletcher smiled.
"Hey, wait..." Caboose glanced over the camp, and realized that Fury wasn't doing so well.
Fury swung his spears, intent on finishing things, but Turbine was still too fast. He leapt out of Fury's reach, then leapt back in to strike him hard, repeating the strategy over and over. It wasn't long before Fury was struggling to stand.
“Fury needs help!” Caboose gasped, as he turned to Fletcher, “Fletch, you should go on without me.”
"Are you sure?" Fletcher asked worriedly.
"Don't worry." Caboose smiled. "I got this."
"But there are more agents along the way." Fletcher pointed out. "You sure you'll be okay against all of them?"
"Sure." Caboose nodded. "These guys are like back-up dancers. Sure, they do stuff, but they don't have any real impact on things in the long run."
"Okay, good luck." Fletcher murmured.
"You know me." Caboose smirked.
The two split up. As Caboose plowed into the agents, Fletcher continued onwards.
As Fury tried to swing one of his recovered spears at Turbine, the villain caught it, and wrested it from his grasp. He then used the handle to strike him in the face.
"Gahh!" Fury grunted, dropping to the ground.
"Time to end this." Turbine sneered. He raised Fury’s spear above his chest, ready to stab him. "Or is it time to carve a turkey? Let's find out."
"Let's not!"
As Turbine turned to face the new voice, Caboose jumped in and delivered a wicked dropkick directly at Turbine's face.
"Urgh!" Turbine stumbled back, as he quickly regain his footing, “Okay, who had the balls?!”
"I did!" Caboose smiled proudly.
“Well, you’re about to lose them!” Turbine snarled.
Turbine charged at Caboose, throwing a punch. Caboose dropped to his side, balancing on one hoof, to avoid.
"What the-?" Turbine scowled. He launched a kick at Caboose, but he leapt up to avoid it. "Ah, come on!"
No matter what attack Turbine threw at him, Caboose dodged it in an unusual way. Yet he didn't launch any attacks of his own. It wasn't long before the frustration got to Turbine.
"What are you doing?" Turbine roared.
"I'm distracting you, silly!" Caboose admitted.
"Distracting-" Turbine frowned. "Wait... has it been-"
Fury's beak formed a smile, as his wisps returned and the ringing had stopped.
"It sure has." He sniggered.
Fury created a blast of wind that sent Turbine flying toward Caboose. Caboose finally attacked Turbine, striking him with a punch that sent him in Fury's direction. Fury met Turbine with a punch of his own, knocking him to the ground.
"Grr, forget this!" Turbine growled. He got up and fled the scene. "Later!"
"That's it, run!" Fury jeered, before turning to Caboose. "Thanks for the save, Napoleon."
"No problem, best buddy!" Caboose beamed, moving to give Fury a hug.
"Yeah, no." Fury stopped him. "Not my style."
"Good work, guys." Black smiled. "But we're not done yet." He indicated more agents approaching.
"Bring 'em on." Sterling smirked.
"You read my mind." Fury grinned.
"Time to kick some more flank!" Caboose declared.
Meanwhile, Fletcher made his way to the panel.
"Almost there." He whispered, nearing the raised platform.
Just before he reached the platform, Fletcher felt the ground shift below him. Quickly, he leapt aside, just before the ground erupted where he once stood. The tremors were felt all around the area.
"Hey, guys, I think things are about to get real!" Caboose yelped.
Broker approached them from across the camp.
"I have had just about enough of this!" He snarled, setting off another quake.
The team were barely able to retain their balance, as the other agents toppled. They quickly joined Fletcher.
"Five on one." Fury declared. "I like those odds."
"This is where it ends, Broker." Fletcher said boldly.
"Your improbable milk drinking won't save you now!" Caboose jeered.
“Unbelievable. Here I thought I would be able to enjoy the end of Equestria in peace.” Broker admitted grudgingly, “But now I’m down several creatures, and none of them was Turbine! I guess I should have killed you all when I had the chance... “ He shook his head, “No matter. No time like the present to rectify that mistake..."
"Then gave it your best shot." Black growled.
"Gladly." Broker sneered.
The fight began. The team did their best to hit Broker, but he seemed to have a very keen eye, being able to block or evade all oncoming attacks and counter them with his own.
"Try some a' this!" Caboose yelped, he and Fletcher firing arrows and crossbow bolts at Broker.
Broker nimbly evaded every arrow and bolt. He then countered by making the ground beneath the pair's hooves, sending them flying up into the air, then crashing back onto the ground.
"Eat this!" Fury blasted a whirlwind at Broker.
Broker braced himself, then leapt straight through the eye of the storm, to Fury's shock.
"It'll take more than a little hot air to stop me." He jeered.
At Broker's command, a chunk of rock rose up, striking Fury in the face.
"My turn!" Sterling charged at Broker, swinging his sword.
Broker dodged Sterling's swings, then struck back with a shockwave, knocking Sterling off his hooves. He then dodged a sudden attack from Black's Homer. He grabbed the wire, and used it to fling Black across the area.
"You are gonna get it now!" Fury snarled, leaping back into the fray.
"Wait for me!" Caboose followed.
“This is getting us nowhere!” Sterling frowned, “There’s no way for us to get a hit in!”
"Well, we can't just quit." Fury insisted.
"Maybe we can call a time-out?" Caboose offered.
"Somehow, I doubt Broker will agree to that." Black snarked.
"Then we're finished!" Sterling groaned.
"Perhaps not." Fletcher mused. "I've noticed something about Broker's pattern. A word in private, please."
Sterling followed Fletcher off to the side.
"What're you thinking?" Sterling asked.
"I need you to chuck me into the air." Fletcher announced.
"Say what?" Sterling frowned, confused.
"Trust me." Fletcher urged.
As Black, Caboose, and Fury held off Broker, Sterling and Fletcher moved to a more favourable position.
"Whenever you're ready." Fletcher nodded.
"Okay..." Sterling said awkwardly.
Sterling picked up Fletcher with his strong hoof, and flung him into.
"Whoa!" Fletcher yelped.
As Fletcher dropped back down, Sterling caught him.
"Again." Fletcher instructed. "I wasn't able to get a good view!"
"Right." Sterling nodded.
Sterling threw Fletcher up into the air several more times, but Fletcher still couldn't get a good view.
Black, Fury, and Caboose tried to get in close, but Broker wasn't giving then an inch.
"What are those two doing?" Fury frowned, as Sterling kept throwing Fletcher upwards.
"Playing uppy?" Caboose suggested.
"Whatever they're doing, I'm sure it'll help." Black declared. "But they'd better do it fast."
“Come on!” Fletcher growled in frustration, “Throw me like somecreature just called you a 'coward' to your face!"
"RAHHHH!!" The thought of such an insult gave Sterling enough energy to throw Fletcher high up.
As Fletcher is in mid-air, Broker took notice of him
"Don't know what you're up to." He admitted. "But you're not gonna succeed!"
Broker raised his gauntlets, ready to summon more earth.
But Fletcher, moving as if in slow-motion, fires off one arrow, which flew right into Broker's left gauntlet.
"Gahh!" Broker recoiled.
Without missing a beat, Fletcher fired another arrow into Broker's remaining gauntlet.
"Ugh!" Broker growled in pain as well as anger, since the arrows had broken the gauntlets, leaving him defenseless.
"There we go." Fletcher smirked as Black caught him. "No more earth-manipulating powers."
“Nicely done.” Black smiled, “Who says a bow and arrow is no good clearly never met you.”
"You go, Fletcher!" Caboose smiled.
"Not bad, academy boy." Fury grinned.
"Let's see how tough you are now, huh?" Sterling threatened Broker.
“Yeah. I hope you have life insurance!” Caboose sneered.
“Oh no…” Broker murmured.
Before the group could make good on that threat, several crossbow bolts flew overhead. More agents had arrived, now taking shots at them.
“Dammit!” Black ducked, “Take cover!”
"Hey, no fair!" Caboose yelped, as they dived behind some cannisters. "We were just about to win!"
"You haven't won anything." Broker sneered, as he used the distraction to flee, slipping off his useless gauntlets. "Not by a long shot."
"Okay, time to end this." Black declared. "We get past these, and stop that missile."
"You make it sound so difficult." Fury smirked.
Fury leapt out of cover, and created a gust of wind that blew back the first wave of agents.
"For Equestria!" Fletcher yelled, as he and the others charged forward.
"For justice!" Sterling added.
"For a satisfying resolution!" Caboose called out.
The team charged toward the remaining agents, who proved to be of little threat to them.
"Outta my way!" Fury cut down a pair of buffalo agents with his spears.
"Sorry guys, but we're got no time to play!" Sterling announced, knocking out a Pegasus with a roundhouse kick.
"Take this message back to your masters, would you?" Fletcher punched an Earth Pony out.
"And also, tell 'em they really need to invest in higher quality minions!" Caboose added as he slapped a Unicorn silly.
"That's it, guys!" Black encouraged them, as he slammed the heads of a yak and a buffalo together. "We're almost there!"
After taking out the remainder of the agents, the team rushed toward the panel. Just as they reached it, they heard a deep, rumbling sound.
"I thought that Broker clown was gone." Fury frowned.
"He is." Sterling nodded. "That's the sound of the missile about to launch!"
"We need to shut it down, now!" Fletcher urged.
"Here goes..." Black looked over the panel, trying to figure out which button could cancel the launch.
"Typical." Caboose shook his head. "They couldn't just have a user-friendly, clearly labelled 'on/off' switch."
The rumbling grew louder as Black started pushing buttons. The missile was going to take off at any second.
"Have you tried this one?" Fletcher flipped a switch.
"How about this?" Sterling turned a dial.
"Maybe I should try to find the instruction manual?" Caboose suggested.
"Oh, get outta the way!" Fury snarled impatiently.
The others were just barely able to dodge as Fury flung multiple spears at the panel, destroying it. In response, the missile fizzled out, its launch aborted.
"There ya go." Fury smirked. "Simple solution saves the day."
"Yeah-hah!" Caboose cheered.
"It's over!" Fletcher smiled. "The missile won't launch!"
"Nice!" Sterling grinned.
"Good work, everycreature." Black smiled. "We saved Equestria!”
“And with a few chapters to spare!” Caboose added.
“You know, since we saved the world, I’ll let that one slide.” Fury chuckled.
"Let those boastful bureaucrats think we're not team players now!" Fletcher cheered.
Suddenly, they heard a loud droning sound up above. An small-size airship was hovering overhead, roughly the size of the roc Caboose killed days ago.
“What the… where did the airship come from?” Caboose gaped.
“Very clever, fools!” Broker’s voice emitted from the airship.
“Broker!” The five gasped.
Indeed, the team saw Broker, looking down on them with a death glare. Right next to him was Turbine, who was piloting the airship.
"Did you really think t would be over so soon?" Broker taunted.
“Give it up, Broker!” Black demanded, “We stopped your missile! Your plan had failed!”
“Use your head, you buffoons!” Broker taunted, “You really think we wasted ten years on this damn island setting up one missile?!”
“One? What are you…” Sterling paused, eyes widened in horror, “Oh, no… Black, that hole we passed-”
“Son of a-” Black cursed, “That hole was a missile launch port, just like this one!”
“And that wasn’t the only hole. We have dug out several ports on this stupid rock!” Broker sneered.
“Well, it’s going to be tough to launch them without the-” Fury tried to shoot back, but as soon as he saw the evil grin on his face, he then realized, “You have another panel, don’t you?”
“That’s right.” Broker gloated, “And this one is wireless! Hence why we have those towers as well!”
“You mean the one that jammed Caboose’s mirror?” Fletcher gaped.
“Yeah. Messed up our comms like none others!” Broker admitted, “But it was worth it! You may have stopped one missile from launching, but you won’t be so lucky with the others. Enjoy your failure!”
With an evil laugh, the airship turned around, and began making its way off the island. As it fled, the team were faced with the enormity of their new problem.
"I hate it when we go into overtime..." Caboose sighed.