Lion Heart’s body toppled over in a booming thud that shook the ground. He cried out in pain grabbing his head where the laser bolt hit him. Somehow the shot hadn’t killed him but gave him a terrible burn mark that seared his flesh.
Break hoped that this hadn’t awoken everypony in the ship. Robin rushed in moving to get in position for another deadly blow of his laser gun the weapon floating in his magic aura above him. He pointed it right at Lion Heart’s temple. Moments passed and nothing happened. Break eyed him curiously confused not sure what her Cosas ally was doing. Robin had a reputation for ruthlessness and gunned down his foes without pity and recourse, but now he only stood there wearing a pained expression.
“Is something the matter?” Break asked.
“What’s going on?!” Robin didn’t seem to hear her. “Die, raider filth!” He floated his gun to shoot again, but again nothing happened.
Lion Heart laughed which boomed across the room sending a chill down her spine and he stood up his face scarred and burned but still very much alive. “Having trouble? I don’t know who you are, but you’ve made a grave mistake.” Lion Heart summoned his ghost and punch Robin in the gut. Robin crashed into a nearby wall in a bloody heap and Lion Heart kicked Robin’s gun across the room well away from its owner.
‘
“Robin.” Terror grabbed at Break’s heart. Lion Heart moved in for the kill but she moved between them, stopping him in his tracks.
“And who are you?” Lion Heart looked down on her in disdain. Break wanted to summon her ghost but decided against it. He didn’t know about her ghost powers yet, and she planned to keep that a secret until the right moment.
“Robin.” Lion Heart mulled the name over and his eyes lit up in understanding. “I see. You’re Cosas lackeys. You acted sooner than I expected. Is this the best they have?” He laughed more amused than scared and Break moved to check on her ally’s condition.
Robin looked bad and his leg bent at an unnatural angle. She looked around for anything that might help her and brightened when she discovered a crate of healing potions across the room. Lion Heart must have been using them to keep the mayor alive for more torture sessions. If she could straighten out Robin’s leg, the healing potions would fix it.
She noticed Scavenger and Free Bird hiding in the doorway so far unnoticed by the raider leader. They hid looking for the best moment to strike Lion Heart from behind. They needed that edge if they were to win. Break let out a startled cry of surprise when Robin grabbed at her.
“I couldn’t fire.” He said. “I couldn’t Celestia damn fire!”
“What happened?” Break eyed Lion Heart who watched them amused.
“I couldn’t fire!” Robin said again startled. “His power stopped me!” He was rambling.
“I wonder why that is.” Lion Heart walked towards them and Break took an instinctive step back. “You don’t know what you’re facing. I’ll enjoy tearing you to pieces. I needed a new plaything.” He laughed and gestured to the tortured crumpled form of the mayor. His stand appeared behind him a giant imposing presence.
What now? What could she do? Somehow his power stopped Robin from firing his gun. What did that mean? Break noticed something she’d hadn’t seen before. On his ghost’s chest was a sign that showed a gun crossed out with a red dash. Did this indicate what a pony could do?
Does this mean he can stop actions with his power? How would that even work?
Break made herself look scared to throw her opponent off. A feat that wasn’t that hard and Lion Heart relished her fear and helplessness then at blinding speed, his ghost struck at her. Break ducked under the blow and hit back with Good Times Bad Times hitting Lion Heart’s ghost in the chest. Lion Heart’s eyes widened in surprise and he coughed blood. Break stared in surprise as Lion Heart took the same damage as his ghost. She only meant to knock it away and never realized damage to one’s power also transferred to the user. Break hit Lion Heart’s ghost several more times in the chest before delivering one final powerful blow to his heart. Lion Heart flew back on crashed on the ground in a bloody heap.
“What? Another stand user? Damn you.” Lion Heart stood on two shaky legs and coughed up more blood. His body was in rough shape but still more than ready to fight back.
A stand user? Is that what it’s called? Break didn’t have much time to register this information for Lion Heart’s ghost emerged and struck at her with horrible power and speed.
Lion Heart’s stand punched at her and she winced when her own stand blocked them. This confirmed that damage transferred to the user and Break knew her leg would feel sore for days afterward. She moved to counterattack, but her stand’s leg froze in midair unable to attack. Nothing Break tried would allow her stand to do this simple action. Break’s chest exploded in pain from a direct impact to the chest. Breathing became painful certain she’d broken a rib. She backed away trying to get out Lion Heart’s range.
“Confused?” Lion Heart said with both mockery and amusement. “My power is unbeatable. You caught me off guard, but that will be the only victory you get.”
He stopped me punching him and stopped Robin shooting his laser pistol. Now on Lion’s Heart ghost was a black silhouette of a pony throwing a punch crossed out. Break spared a glance at Robin. He wasn’t doing well his breathing painful and labored. Robin was in bad shape, unable to fight anymore.
“Hey, what’s going on? What’s that commotion? You can’t be here.” A voice said outside the room. “The Boss said this area is off-limits!”
Oh, ponyfeathers! A chill went down Break’s spine.
“More intruders? Kill whoever you don’t recognize!” Lion Heart shouted out the door. “Raise the alarm!”
“Intrud…” Whatever the raider cut out when Free Bird tore out his throat. She hoped this raider was the only one who knew about them, but gunfire erupted outside dashing that hope.
Oh no, Scavenger!
Break didn’t have time to think about her friend’s predicament as Lion Heart’s stand threw a punch while Break’s attention had lapsed. Her gravity powers pushed her out of the path of the attack and across the room out of Lion Heart’s ghost’s range. She made it appear as if she was only moving fast not wanting him to know about her secret ability just yet. Like her stand, his stand had a range only his was much shorter. She tried punching with her stand again, but it froze up as expected. Break tried to throw a punch with her own hoof, and it also locked up.
He can stop me from doing one action period regards how I am doing it. Did his power have a range or a time limit?
“I see you’ve glanced how my power works.” Lion Heart gave her a cruel smile. “It can do other things too.” The symbol on his stand’s chest crossed out a pony taking in breath.
Break’s chest froze up and she couldn’t breathe. Try as she might, it was impossible to get her lungs working.
“My power isn’t just defensive.” Lion Heart smirked certain of his victory. “A pony can, what, survive without air for three minutes?”
Can’t breathe. Can’t breathe! Break’s chest hurt and she scrambled away in terror as Lion Heart loomed over her. No, calm down. This means I can punch again. It has too. I can make a counterattack.
She didn’t know this for sure. If he could ban breathing and punching, she was in serious trouble. His power had to have a limit.
Lion Heart came at her his stand punching at her with a frightening speed his stand just as fast as her own. Break dodged the blows keeping her distance. He would overpower her in seconds if she didn’t do something. Already she felt light-headed and knew she didn’t have long until she died of oxygen deprivation. He didn’t need to crush her to death to win.
The bandit leader changed tactics and kick at her while their stands fought. She reversed gravity and flew to the ceiling before the kick connected. This caught the big stallion off guard as Break pushed herself across the ceiling and fell behind Lion Heart. She didn’t give him a chance to retaliate and punched him in the ribs as he tried to dodge. She delighted that her theory was right and punched at his heart to end this, but her ghost’s hoof stopped inches before his chest. The sign of Lion Heart’s ghost changed back to a pony punching.
Oh, come on! She used her gravity powers to fly across the room just dodging a punch from Lion Heart’s ghost. Much to her relief, she could breathe again. Never had air tasted so sweet.
Lion Heart growled in annoyance. “I see you have a special power too. I suspected you might, but never thought it would be over gravity. No matter.”
Break’s chest tightened again and she couldn’t breathe again. She looked over to Robin’s squirming form and noticed that he couldn’t breathe either. He clutched at his throat in terror.
Oh ponyfeathers, it is a ranged power. Somehow Lion Heart’s power stopped a single action in a radius around his body, but only one. He was limiting her options and forcing her into a fight. A fight he’d stonewall making attacking him impossible. Was victory completely out of their grasp?
With no other options, she used her gravity powers to rush forward increasing her running speed. Despite her spectacular speed, Lion Heart only grunted and punched at her with his stand. Break didn’t summon her ghost and instead used her gravity powers to dodge around his attacks. She wanted to hide the direction of her attacks when they came. Breath returned to her, and she shifted around him no doubt blocking her ability to punch again but that wasn’t her aim. She threw herself in another direction momentarily confusing Lion Heart. To all appearances, she was dancing around him, but this hid her true goal. Another unexpected gravity shift turned her in another direction to Lion Heart’s back and she landed next to Robin’s fallen laser pistol. Lion Heart’s eyes widened as she kicked it towards Robin’s direction and picked it up with his magic firm and ready for payback. Despite his injuries, he was ready to fight again. Lion Heart cursed eyeing Robin wearily not liking the direction the fight had turned.
Good. I didn’t think I would win this alone, but with Robin’s help, I might just win. Still, I wonder why he didn’t turn my gravity powers off when I flew around him. It would have caught me off guard and open me up to attack. It hit her that maybe he couldn’t. His power might only work on physical actions.
Lion Heart looked between the two of them not sure what target he should go after first. He was much too far away from Robin to get to him without Break intervening. If he attacked Break, they would attack him on two fronts. The increased ferocity of the fighting outside told her she didn’t have long. Scavenger needed her help. Her best option might be to force Lion Heart’s actions for him.
Break ran forward preparing her stand and froze her legs locking up unable to move. Lion Heart’s ghost changed it sign to a pony walking and he ran towards his throne and gripped it with his stand. Break realized what he was doing and used her gravity powers to throw herself towards her opponent. Robin fired his gun, but he missed giving the raider leader the time he needed to grab the makeshift throne and hurl it at Robin. Break made it in time and punched it away, then realized her mistake as Lion Heart’s stand threw a punch at her while her ghost was still in mid-punch. The punch impacted in her ribs with a vicious cracking sound following the blow. Blood oozed from her mouth and every breath burned. Robin didn’t stay idle during the exchange and hit Lion Heart in the leg while he tried to dodge. The shot hit square in the knee and the big stallion buckled as his leg could no longer support his massive weight and he crashed to the ground. Robin cursed when his gun refused to fire again.
Lion Heart tried to stand, but it was painful and he limped towards Break. In response, Break slid across the metal floor towards her enemy much to his surprise. He'd expected her to flee instead. She pushed on the offensive putting Lion Heart in an awkward position. Robin only needed a single good shot to end this fight. Lion Heart’s and Break’s ghosts exchanged blows, and she used her powers to float around in the air making hitting her difficult while staying out of Robin’s line of sight.
There. Break broke through Lion Heart’s barrage of punches and punched him right at his heart. She cursed as her punch froze before it hit its target again, but Robin wasted no time and fired. Lion Heart rolled out of the way of the laser bolt in time but screamed in pain as he landed on his injured leg wrong. Break pushed on the offensive during this pushing Lion Heart back. She refused to give him any time to recover or catch his breath.
Lion Heart broke out into a full-blown panic as Break continued to punch at him. He misjudged a dodge, and she hit his injured leg with a devastating punch. A sickening crack echoed throughout the room and Lion Heart whimpered in pain as his leg bent in an unnatural angle. He cried out in pain as a laser bolt hit him in the chest. Break guessed he must be in such pain that it was almost impossible to control his power. His eyes darted for anything that might change his fortunes. He stopped at a stallion that leaned against a wall polishing his hooves.
“Help damn you!” Lion Heart said to the strange stallion that she’d seen sleeping earlier. Break started she’d forgotten he even existed.
“Sorry, superior beings such as us shouldn’t need help.” The strange stallion shrugged.” For reasons that escaped Break, he carried several bags of sand over his back. His cutie mark was a cartoon train engine. He wasn’t just confident; he thought everything in the world belonged to him.
Lion Heart screamed in rage and hate and charged the stallion forgetting everything else. The stallion watched as if a five hoof monster didn’t concern him. He cried in pain as a laser bolt hit him on the back of the head and collapsed to the ground in a booming thud inches away from his hated “ally”. Robin limped towards the bandit leader and put two more laser bolts into Lion Heart’s head making sure the monster was dead.
It’s over. Break didn’t believe this would actually work, but they did it. She cheered only to wince in pain. She had serious injuries. This was no time to celebrate. She looked back to the mayor and saw he was barely breathing. Her injuries could wait.
“Don’t worry, we will get you help.” Break limped over to the mayor and examined his wounds. They looked frightful, and it was a wonder he was even alive.
Robin was already moving and carried the crate of healing potions over to her. “Hurry, we have little time.” He glanced over at the mysterious stallion, but he only watched them with an amused look on his face. Break cursed when she saw only five healing potions.
No, not enough! She cursed. This would have to do.
Break dripped a healing potion with care down the mayor’s mouth. “Drink this.” She knew that healing potions alone wouldn’t help the mayor. The damage was too severe, but it would help and ease the pain.
“I-Is everything o-okay in t-there?” Scavenger peeked into the room. “I-It’s gone so quiet.” Her friend had two gunshots, one in the shoulder and the other in the left leg.
“Yes, Lion Heart is dead.” Break poured another healing potion into the mayor’s throat. “How is the situation outside?”
“N-not great.” Scavenger replied. “I-I barricaded the entrance to this floor, but it won’t be long until the raiders get through. We’re trapped in here.” His ears drooped.
“That will have to do for now.” They’d work a way out of here after healing their wounds. Break poured another healing potion into the mayor’s throat. “Uh, how many healing potions can a pony drink before it becomes dangerous?” Break worried the mayor might overdose on healing potions. She’d heard rumors about how dangerous that was and turned to ask Scavenger about it. He knew almost everything about everything.
Scavenger nodded. “Y-yes, healing a p-pony too f-fast is dangerous to the b-body, and it d-damages the h-heart. I-It isn’t u-unknown for a p-pony to die of a h-heart attack after d-drinking too m-many healing p-potions.”
“I’ve already given him two.” Break tensed. Did she make a terrible mistake?
“O-One more s-should be okay.” Scavenger replied. “T-that’s it though.”
“Got it.” Break gave the mayor one more healing potion. The stallion was doing much better and his breathing was normal again. His throat was healing and the scars on his body were subsisting. She sighed in relief. He would be okay. Now all they needed to do was smuggle him out of Zinna somehow.
“Thank you, young miss.” The mayor said. “Is the monster dead?”
“We got him.” Break replied. There were still about a thousand raiders here, but at least they didn’t have a leader to rally them. The Cosas would deal with them.
Break pushed a healing potion into Scavenger and Robin’s hooves and smiled. She pretended her injuries weren’t serious, and they needed healing more than she did. After more insisting, they agreed reluctantly. Break helped Scavenger straighten out Robin’s leg and gave him a piece of cloth to put in his mouth so he didn’t bite his tongue as they put his leg back in place. After a healing potion, Robin walked on his broken leg with only a little pain. Scavenger’s bullet wounds closed, and he was almost back to normal. Break continued to pretend that every breath didn’t cause her serious pain.
“What now?” Break asked.
“We fight our way out of here.” Robin loaded his laser pistol with a clip.
“We need to get to the roof.” Break’s mind raced. The ship was full of raiders by now drawn to the gunfire and chaos. They’re only hope was for Loopy and the others to create that distraction. Even then, their odds were dire.
Scavenger nodded his look fearful. He was just as optimistic about their odds.
“Well, I might have an idea.” The strange stallion walked towards them. “It will cost you though.”
“What do you mean?” Break asked not killing the sound of this.
“I like you. Break was it? My name is Train Spotter.” Train Spotter gave her a wide grin.
“Break Point.” Break tensed not sure she trusted such a flaky guy.
“I ask little, join the Knights of Heaven and I’ll get you out of this raider infested pit.”