//------------------------------// // Chapter 39 // Story: Fallout Equestria: Black Cat // by Rixizu //------------------------------// Ponies bustled as they crept through town. The town was lively as ponies went about their business. Some stumbled inebriated through the street as they exited bars with annoying loud music. Others enjoyed the cool night air or snuggling up to their special somepony. What caught her attention were the fully suited Enclave soldiers patrolling the streets with heavy weapons and everything. Ponies tensed as they got near. It seemed the Enclave wasn’t shy about telling ponies who were in charge. Propaganda posters littered walls telling how noble a pegasus would be if they entered the Enclave military. Yet, ponies did their best to go on their daily lives. The buildings themselves didn’t seem much better from the ground and arranged in neat rows. Many had small gardens to add color, but they seemed dreary overall. Nopony noticed them as they slipped from street to street and alley to alley. Finally, they approached a district of metal buildings protected by an electrified chain-link fence. Torrents stood on top warning they would shoot any intruders into bloody chunks. Guards made their presence even more well known. Fear stung Break’s heart at the thought of infiltrating such a place. Getting caught might mean instant death. These ponies carried some heavy-duty weapons and not even Break was sure her stand could block them. She saw strange terminals also made of clouds and pegasi tapped on them with their hoofs. Break hadn’t expected for there to be terminals only Pegasi could use. Her PipBuck would be useless. “This is it, huh.” Break’s voice broke so quiet it was almost impossible to hear. Skyway nodded. “It’s in here. This is the Enclave’s military district. The building we want is over there.” He pointed to a building a block away. A sign marked it as The Order of the Founders and Patriots of Equestria. Break made a face and gestured at the numerous defenses. “And break inside a building with even more defenses.’ “That’s why we’re on this particular mission,” Skyway replied, “trust me; we have the skills to accomplish this.” “Okay.” Break wasn’t convinced, but she’d roll with it for now. “What’s our first step?” “I need you to hack into those torrents,” Skyway said, “we’ll slip over the wall easily with those out of commission. I need you to make it appear as if they had received a serious glitch in the system. Your PipBuck can do that, right?” Break thought about it. She’d never tried that before, but it wasn’t out of her skill level. She’d become quite skilled with her PipBuck. “I suppose, but is there anywhere I can connect to? Skyway motioned her to follow and she did so curiously. He pointed at an unused terminal on the other side of the chain-link fence. It would be tough, but her PipBuck’s cord could reach it. Oddly, this one was a normal terminal and not made of clouds like the others. She told her companion this observation. “Cloud terminals are expensive and difficult to install especially with this type of cloud metal,” Skyway replied, "they aren’t used for simple maintenance like this one.” Thank goodness for lazy cost-cutting design. It wasn’t much, and she doubted any valuable had a normal terminal, but it was an edge they could exploit. Break looked both ways checking if the coast was clear. Seeing nopony, she summoned Good Times Bad Times and it grabbed her PipBuck’s cord. She got a little too close to the fence, but her stand plugged it into the port. It only took a few minutes, and she accessed the torrent controls. Somepony might notice all the torrents going off, so instead, she overloaded them with a simple never-ending looping command. They went back and forth ineffectively unable to register anypony. Skyway congratulated her and Break got on his back and they slipped over the fence while nopony was watching. Break tensed as her PipBuck picked up a pony coming their way and they hid in a nearby trash bin. He passed them not noticing a thing. They slipped out and went towards their objective. She hoped nopony would notice the torrents acting strangely until they were long gone. They stayed in the shadows and approached the back of the Order of the Founders and Patriots of Equestria building. She’d noticed both sides had a cloud terminal that she couldn’t hack into. “What now?” She pointed towards the cloud terminal. “You know their codes?” “All out of date.” Skyway shook his head. “Thought so, now what?” “There must be another way in.” Skyway scanned the building with careful eyes. After some searching, they found a small maintenance hatch built into the roof. A single security camera armed with a terrible-looking machine gun that wound back and forth protected it. A single bolt lock secured the door. The sight of bloodstains made her blood go cold. A maintenance worker must have gotten careless. She guessed these cameras must recognize a pony by a badge. One misplaced badge could prove disastrous. “Must be a maintenance hatch,” Skyway said. “Seems like it.” Break pondered their problem. Destroying the camera would send ponies after them. She squinted and noticed a small port she might use to hack into it. Hopefully, the bored security guards wouldn’t notice any small irregularities. The camera attached to a wall above the hatch and positioned to minimize its blind spot. Break was careful to position her stand, so the camera didn’t catch a cord floating in mid-air. Seconds later, and Break was in the camera’s systems. With some trickery, she caused a glitch that made the camera stuck on its last image. She hoped nopony would notice until it was too late. They carefully approached the hatch wary of any other traps. Break examined the lock and broke it off finding no other way to open it. She flinched at the loud sound, but nopony came and she sighed in relief. They slipped inside the hatch closing it behind them. The relaxing smell of electronics filled Break nose as she entered. She liked machines and the cramp corridors didn’t bother her. She saw wires and panels providing electricity to the lighting. They crawled for several minutes until they found a dead end. Break feared this might happen. The shaft didn’t lead anywhere and was for maintenance only. They’d have to create their own way inside. Skyway shrugged. “No helping it I suppose. Let’s find the easiest location to break through.” They spent ten minutes examining every point of the tunnel. Their search, however, didn’t provide any useful results. If they wanted inside, they’d need to break through the ceiling. The hour was late, but the racket would draw the attention of somepony. Break announced her conclusion. “Very well, we’ll make sure nopony gives the alarm.” Skyway readied his laser rifle. Break winced but nodded. She found a weak point in the floor and used her stand to punch a hole into it. It was fruitless to do it quietly, so instead, she did it quickly. Good Times Bad Time broke through it with ease. Every punch made her wince, but she continued on. They looked down through the light fixture panel finding a bland-looking office through the cheap plastic. Break put her ear to it but heard nopony running towards them drawn by the racket. She removed the plastic panel quietly and set it aside. After checking for cameras, they dropped to the floor below. Around them were bland cubicles each decorated by the personal effects of the pony who worked there. She spotted a picture of a stallion with his two daughters. Each cubicle had a terminal and she wondered if she should hack into one. “No time.” Skyway kept his voice low. “Follow me.” Break stayed on high alert for any sounds and walked in a crouch. “Where are we going?” “Security room,” Skyway replied. Break nodded and followed him down the bland metal corridors. Security cameras littered the hallways, but they carefully circumvented them. She monitored her Eyes Forward Sparkle for anypony. So far, they’d seen not even a janitor. After several corridors, it picked somepony up in an upcoming room. “Our guard I think,” Skyway said, “only one? Perfect.” “Wait.” Break replied, but Skyway rushed forward and a pony screamed as he entered the room. Break followed and her face rankled in disgust. The victim held a paperback book with a hole in his chest. She glared at her ‘partner’. “You didn’t need to kill him.” She glared at Skyway. The pony he’d just killed was a young stallion with a pocket watch for a cutie mark. He was several years younger than Break. “It was necessary.” Skyway looked over the panel and the multitude of screens depicting different parts of the building. “This is war.” No, it isn’t. Break fumed and looked down at his victim sadly. He didn’t deserve such a cold-hearted death. “There. That’s our target.” Skyway pointed at a laboratory. She squinted and saw a thick safe built into the room. He rummaged through some drawers and found a set of keys. He left the room at a quick clip and she followed. “The Enclave requires guards to call in every hour,” Skyway said, “We have little time.” Break made a face. Skyway’s callous murder had created a short time limit. Oh well, it wasn’t the time to fight and argue. Not that it didn’t stop Break giving her ‘partner’ dirty looks. They rushed through the hallways towards the lab area and found it locked with a cloud terminal. Break easily broke the door down with her stand. The lab was messy with papers and used food cartons and she wondered how they found anything here. She scanned the documents and her blood turned cold. They mentioned pony experimentation and crossbreeding DNA with other species. “Found something?” Skyway examined the safe’s door. It looked thick far beyond anything she could break with Good Times Bad Times. Break wasted no time and hacked into a terminal on the head researcher’s deck. Thankfully, it was only a normal terminal and an old one too. It looked scavenged from the wasteland. A cost-cutting method? She got inside without difficulty and scanned the research. “Thanks to the Artifact 0100, we have discovered how to increase the power of a pony giving them supernatural powers.” Break winced when she read this. “However, we believe it can push a pony even further than that. Much further.” What the hay does that mean? The documents explained the further potential of Artifact 0100 in turning ponies into the ultimate warriors. Truly invincible able to destroy their enemies without them even seeing their death coming. One piece of good news was that they were only in the beginning stages of experimentation and nopony had yet survived exposure to Artifact 0100 expect one pony, Heart Gold the head researcher himself. Several documents were about her demanding more money for research. Break sighed in relief, the Enclave didn’t exactly know what they had yet. Heart Gold had a heck of time convince ponies she had special invisible powers. All the higher-ups saw were ten dead test subjects. Heart Gold was experimenting with ways so anything could get stand powers. “Seems we came in time,” Skyway said. “I suppose so.” “Is there a password in there?” Skyway asked. “I’m uncertain we can enter the safe without it. I have another plan, but it’s risky.” Stupid cloud terminals. “I’ll check.” Break searched some files while Skyway kept watch. Security guards could interrupt them at any moment. The terminals lit her face as she worked. After ten minutes of search, she still found nothing. She rubbed at the brim of her nose. They had such little time left. Skyway sighed. “The hard way then.” He placed small pieces of plastic against the safe. “Hold on, are those plastic explosives?” Break said backing away. “Yes, get clear.” Skyway and Break ran outside the room. “Hey, who are you?” A guard said pulling a gun. Much to Break’s annoyance, it was a laser weapon too. You have got to be kidding me. She ran into the next room as laser fire came at her. Skyway was nowhere in sight. Break heard an exchange of laser fire. The guard and Skyway were in a fierce laser fight. “Yes, I confirm an intruder.” The guard said in a comm. “Two of them, but only one armed. Receiving heavy fire. I repeat, we have two intruders.” “So much for the operation.” Break rolled her eyes. Once again, complete disaster struck. “Blow the safe, I’ll get the artifact!” “Got it,” Skyway yelled. Break’s ears rang as a large explosion when off and it filled the room and corridor with dust. She wasted no time and dove into the research room dodging laser fire. After a small coughing fit, she made her way to the destroyed safe its door blown wide open. She peered inside and found mostly papers. One item that stood out was a steel box. That must be it. She grabbed it and groaned as the laser fire intensified signaling the arrival of more guards. Skyway jumped into the room. “Ready to do your magic?” Skyway asked. “What?” Break replied confused. “Look out behind you,” Skyway said. Break turned to find two guards pointing laser guns at her head. She used her powers to throw herself behind a desk the shots just missing her. The box made a loud clang as it crashed to the floor. Break backed away as the shots burned through the cheap wood and ran behind a cubicle. One took to the air and fly above the cubicle ready to kill. The pegasi froze when he noticed his enemy was an earth pony and stared at her confused. It was only for a second, but it gave her more than enough time to throw a nearby paperweight at his head with her stand. He collapsed to the ground either dead or stunned. Break grabbed his weapon and broke it if he rose again. Skyway cursed as more guards charged the room forcing him to retreat behind several filing cabinets. They blocked the laser fire, but not for long. “Skyway!” Break jumped over the cubicle and punched the second guard approaching her with her stand knocking him out cold. This drew the fire of the other guards and she ran for her life. “No worries, they’re already dead,” Skyway replied. “Huh?” Before Break could comprehend his words, the guards dropped their weapons and grabbed at their throats. They collapsed unable to breathe terror filled their eyes. Skyway stepped out of his hiding place and shot them dead. Break turned away in disgust. “I filled the air with spores after I left the doorway, I only needed a little time for them to take effect,” Skyway explained, “come on. More will come after us soon.” “Right.” Break said scowling and grabbed the metal box which caused all this needless death. “What happens if they send those flying machines after us?” Break asked as they approached one of the outer doors. “They’re bound to send multiple ones, actually,” Skyway replied. “Great.” Break scowled. She remembered that this city was in the middle of nowhere giving them nowhere to hide. “I have a plan.” Skyway approached the door cautiously. “They’re bound to monitor anypony leaving the city. One of us should run drawing their attention, while the other should stay here and lie low.” “I suppose, but didn’t the guard report they’re two of us?” Break replied. Another problem, Skyway was a wanted pony and Break was an earth pony. She couldn’t blend in whatsoever and she couldn’t walk on clouds. Skyway cursed. “Did they? Good hearing. New plan, we steal a ship and ditch it in the middle of nowhere. They have trackers, but I know how to disable them.” “Wouldn’t they still send ships after us?” Skyway smirked. “They will, but I’m good with skyships. They’re my special talent.” Break rubbed her temples but accepted the rushed plan. She couldn’t think of a better one certain hiding wouldn’t work. “Ready?” Break asked readying her stand. Skyway nodded and loaded a new clip into his laser rifle. Good Times, Bad Times punched the door off its hinges surprising the ponies behind it The Enclave had surrounded the building the best they could in such short notice, but only a hoof full of ponies were ready for them. The door crashed into one and she groaned as it crushed her. The momentary surprise ended and the guard fired on them. Some had laser weapons and others had chainguns. They wore heavy armor which deflected most of the shots fired at them. This was fine, because Break used Good Times Bad Times to fling herself out of the door at high speeds. Their eyes widened and changed their target to the crazy earth pony with a box in her hooves, but Skyway shots distracted them. One aimed their laser pistol at her, only for Skyway to shoot it out of his hooves. Their armor creaked and dented against Break’s stand’s punches. It protected them somewhat, but its punches were powerful enough to throw them on their backsides leaving them vulnerable. Break ignored them and kept flying and running looking for any sky vehicle they might steal. Skyway ran after her. “Damn power armor, my power is useless against it.” Skyway lamented. Not far away, they found a lot filled with unattended sky machines guarded by an electrified fence, but Break made quick work of it with her power. Guards filled in to protect it. “They’re trying to make their escape!” “Don’t let them get away!” The guards fired on them and Break ran for cover behind a nearby barrel. More guards approached from behind trying to get the drop on her. Before they fired, she reversed gravity and flew into the air. The pegasi stared in shock. Skyway smirked and threw his spores into their unprotected face. They choked unable to breathe. Skyway ignored them and fired at the guards protecting the sky vehicles. “Well?” Skyway gestured towards the guards he was shooting at. “I’ll cover you.” Break nodded and fly towards the ponies in question. They stared in shock for a moment, before firing at her. Some took to the air trying to attack her from above. She weaved through their laser fire and blocked any bullets coming her way. Skyway stopped giving covering fire distracted by the new batch of guards shooting at him forcing him to retreat. “What kind of freak are you?” A blue pegasus with a cream colored mane said narrowed her eyes before firing upon her. Break changed direction and landed on the ground among the guard on the ground and punched them with Good Times Bad Times. They went down in moments. “A freak! A monster.” The blue pegasi said not believing her eyes. “It shouldn’t be possible. Not even a pegasus can fly like that!” She gritted her teeth and moved some distance away before firing her laser rifle forcing Break on the defensive. The pegasus flew around Break firing every time she saw an opening. Break flew with her changing gravity before a shot came near her. “I see.” The mare said. “You can’t fly. It’s like gravity moves to your whims.” “Please, just let us go.” Break said. “I don’t want to hurt you.” The mare scoffed. “So the thing speaks. I will kill you, whatever you are.” She resumed her attack. Break tried punching the mare with her stand, but the mare was careful to stay well out of her range. Worse, the mare’s aim improved and Break barely dodged her shots. The mare had spent over three clips on her, yet refused to give up. “Oh, crap!” Break misjudged one of her dodges, and the laser shot the metal box she’d been holding in her hooves. The shot melted the box and crashed into the pavement breaking open on impact. Break stared in horror and froze when she saw what fell out of the protective container. It was a skull, but not anything remotely pony.