//------------------------------// // Day 6 part 2/B // Story: Dark Wanderings // by ed2481 //------------------------------// Day 6 part 2/B The brown landscape that flowed below Shining Armor as he sat in the cockpit next to Arcade watching with undisguised interest as he expertly adjusted the controls of the vertibird. The blonde haired man seemed completely comfortable as his fingers swept over the different controls pulling a small lever here, adjusting a switch, pressing a big red button… The Captain of the Canterlot Guard still hadn’t completely adjusted to the new environment but he was learning quickly. “So what can you tell me about Ethan?” Shining asked after the silence had gone on for several minutes. “Ethan is different… occasionally you’d think that he’s in a whole other world but then he’ll say something so damn intelligent that you’re forced to take him seriously. He covers up most of his pain with humor but you can tell that he’s sick at heart for reasons that he only tells his closest friends. Speaking of which if you’re his friend then he’ll die for you without a second thought, trust me I’ve seen him do it, and then he’ll stand right back up and do it again and again and again. Honestly he stopped being human a while ago; although as for what he is now your guess is as good as mine.” Arcade said with a shrug and a sigh. “You don’t like him?” Shining asked in surprise. “It’s not that I don’t like him, it’s that he’s a wild variable that I can’t track and he’s completely unpredictable.” Arcade said with a slight scowl. “Do you trust him?” Shining asked. “In what way? Do I trust him to fight for the forces of good? Hell yes. Do I trust him to keep the people with him alive? Once again hell yes. Do I trust him to do it in the intelligent way that would save lots of time and grief? No, Ethan will take the most convoluted route that includes half a million unnecessary time wasting stops and in the end it’ll cost him something.” Arcade said with a long sigh. “Do you think my sister is in danger?” Shining asked and Arcade let out a small dark chuckle. “Kid your sister might be okay, she might not be, it’s the Wasteland people die. I hope to hell that your sister is alive but if she’s not don’t blame Ethan, trust me he doesn’t need any more women on his conscience.” Arcade told Shining and the two lapsed into silence “Talking about my husband again Arcade?” Cassandra asked with a yawn as she rubbed the sleep out of her (she and Veronica had been up all night flying and now that it was a little past twelve she’d woken up). “Yes.” Arcade said simply while Cassandra gave him a dark smirk. “Oh shut up you blonde fascist bigot!” “Insane murdering bitch!” “Whiny gay scientist!” “Hey if we’re having an insulting contest you’d better invite me you pricks!” Veronica exclaimed as she walked into the cabin. “And like that the magic’s gone.” Arcade said turning to give Veronica a sardonic smile. “Oh shut up.” Veronica said with a chuckle as she punched Arcade in the shoulder making him wince. “Umm what’s for breakfast?” Shining Armor asked trying to get a word in edgewise. “Depends on what you like, we’ve got freeze dried apples, brahmin steak, punga fruit, gecko steak, cereal, take your pick.” Arcade replied. “What’s not meat?” Shining asked (he’d fought beside a few griffins so he didn’t mind meat eaters the way that most ponies would). “I’d say that he should have the punga, it’ll also get rid of any rads that he picked up during the fight earlier.” Cassandra said as she took Arcade’s seat. Suddenly a light on the control panel lit up and a voice emitted from it. “This is Brotherhood of Steel Knight Captain Tucker is anyone out there?” The voice asked, it sounded slightly desperate. Cassandra reached out and tapped the button. “This is Cassandra Smith reading you loud and clear Captain Tucker, are you in need of assistance?” Cassandra asked. “The Courier well fuck? Yes we are in need of assistance, we’re hold up in the basement of the Red Cross Hospital, we’ve got around two hundred raiders breathing down out necks and we’re almost out of ammo so any help you could offer would be greatly appreciated.” Captain Tucker replied. “We’re on our way, also how in the hell did you get a radio signal out of a hospital basement?” Cassandra asked. “Rubberbands magnets and ducttape.” Captain Tucker answered before he was cut off by the sound of gunfire “Get me some more firepower on the right flank dammit! Please get here soon I don’t want to explain to my Elder why my squad is dead.” Tucker said before the line went dead. “Well it looks like we’re saving the Brotherhood’s ass, again.” Cassandra told the occupants of the cabin. “You know you’d think that because we’re the faction with the most technology (not counting the Enclave) that we wouldn’t need to be rescued all the time.” Veronica said as she put her armor on. “Yeah I’ve always found it funny.” Arcade replied as he put on his own armor. “At least we haven’t been wiped out.” Veronica shot back (despite their harsh words Shining had the feeling that they were doing this for the fun of it). “Arcade you’re staying in the vertibird.” Cassandra told the blonde man. “I always have to wait in the vertibird.” Arcade said with a sigh. “Would you rather the Brotherhood shoot you?” Cassandra asked flatly. “Don’t worry blonde I’m sure you can go on the next one.” Veronica said sticking her tongue out at the man who grumbled something incoherent. “Want to come Shining?” Cassandra asked. “We’re fighting through a hospital full of rabid psychos, sure why not?” Shining asked with a grin, he wanted to prove himself to these people and not be a piece of defenseless luggage that they had to cart around. They landed outside the hospital which was a large concrete building that looked like it had seen better days and the three of them stepped out onto the broken sidewalk. “I’ll find a nice rooftop to park this on; give me a call when it’s time for pickup.” Arcade had said before he’d pulled the door shut and took off. They walked into the hospital and Shining absently noticed the large number of copses along with the deep red blotches that stained the floor. He’d seen worse when he’d been deployed with a group of griffins who were guarding a town against a group of young dragons, but not by much. He barely noticed that he’d drawn his sword until it was hovering in the air next to him. Veronica and Cassandra exchanged a short look; the unicorn was certainly a veteran of some kind of conflict and it looked like he’d be more than capable of defending himself. “I hate hospitals; they’re no fun to fight through.” Veronica said as they walked into the next room and stepped over another pile of corpses, Shining’s face was beginning to turn a little green but he fought down the urge to puke instead he asked. “What is fun to fight through?” “Gardens, electronics shops and Antique stores, but only if they're classy.” Veronica replied which got a chuckle out of her two companions. A loud shout interrupted their conversation as a raider ran at them with a baseball bat. Shining was about to decapitate him but Cassandra beat him to it by expending her shotgun into the raider’s head sending it flying through the air until it exploded against the back wall. “Why did it explode?” Shining asked but Cassandra just shrugged and replied. “That happens around me.” *** “I can’t believe it, we went all that way, killed all those mercs, wasted all that time, and all we got out of it was a picture of some woman that you don’t even know!” Twilight raged, she’d been doing this off and on since we left the Talon HQ (although Ethan guessed that it would soon be called the Tunnel Snake HQ if he knew Butch). His mind wandered back to the picture in the file. The woman was blonde and drop dead gorgeous to boot (he’d never say it out loud for fear of his manhood but she blew Cassandra out of the water) but there was also something savage about her. A look in her eye that transferred through the picture that told you that that she was something scary, not evil, just scary. But most of all she seemed old almost ancient despite how young she looked Ethan got the feeling that she’d been around the block a long time. It was the same look that some of the ghouls got (minus the decaying flesh) Twilight had said that she reminded her slightly of Celestia. Besides the way she looked they’d learned nothing about the mysterious woman not even her name or why she’d put a hit on Twilight. They were around fifteen minutes away from the Citadel when the missile impacted smashing into the ground in front of Twilight and flinging her away from Ethan with a streak of blood shooting out of her right leg. The grenade plasma went off in front of him a millisecond later throwing Ethan to the ground in surprise as the painfully hot green light washed over him. Insane cackling filled the air and Ethan blearily saw a woman leap off the roof of five story building and land gracefully before she started to stalk towards him. Black hair twirled around her as she walked in her flowing leather armor that seemed to be more part of her skin then actual armor had any right to be. “I was expecting more fro-” The woman began; Ethan shot her in the face with his magnum. The bullet shot forward and crashed into the woman’s face shattering it down the middle. To his considerable surprise the woman’s face formed back up and she gave him a wicked grin. “Well fuck me.” Ethan said as he regained his feet. “I would, but I’m busy killing you at the moment.” She replied as she sent another grenade flying at him. Ethan’s magnum kicked once and the grenade exploded a few feet in front of the woman who didn’t even flinch as the waves of heat washed over her, although Ethan noticed a slight silvery sheen that flowed around her after the grenade had gone off. “So who are you?” Ethan asked as he sent a magnum shot into her arm which shattered and then reformed with another burst of silver. “My name is Alexandra Supertramp, and I’m here to kill you and the little pony.” The woman replied putting away the grenade launcher and drawing a high-tech looking energy pistol. Ethan dove to the side just before a wave of dark blue energy smashed (yes smashed as in physically moved) through the air that he’d just been occupying with a loud bang. “Well then Miss Tramp if you wouldn’t mind extending me the curtsy would you mind telling me just what the fuck you are?” Ethan asked before pocketing his magnum and opening up with his 12.7 it did significantly more damage than the magnum did effectively blowing eight or nine large holes in the center of Supertramp’s chest which all began to heal immediately. “Because healing from impossible injuries is my shtick and you’re kinda stealing my thunder.” He added. “I’m from the Institute little man.” She said with a wild cackle a she returned fire with the incredibly powerful pistol, Ethan managed to dodge the shot but the laser still nicked him and he felt his skin melt and pucker like heated sugar under the intense heat. “I take it you’re here about Dr. Zimmer?” Ethan asked as he dove behind the cover provided by a nearby before returning fire aiming for the hand that held the gun. His bullets pulped her hand and sent the gun spinning into the air where Ethan rose to catch it. Before he could grab it the woman had another in her hand and shot him in the chest throwing him backwards into the side of a building. Ethan now had a rather discouragingly large hole in his chest… “Did you really think that you could kill one of our scientists and cost us two androids without suffering the consequences?” Supertramp asked as she walked towards him again. “Well yeah actually I did.” Ethan told her with a smirk as his chest knit back together and he pulled a riot shotgun out from behind his back and blasted her ten feet backwards as he unloaded the entire 12 shots into her chest. Ethan rolled forward and grabbed the pistol that she’d been using earlier from where it had hit the ground and quickly shoved it into his pocket. The woman regained her feet a few seconds later and looked at Ethan for a second before giving off a high pitched laugh. “You have no idea how nice it is to have someone who can actually fight back, do you have any idea how boring it gets sometimes when everything dies in one shot? Or how incredibly useless most people are? Especially when they start flaunting about how they’re better then you because they’re sane! It’s enough to make a girl want to destroy the world!” She said before she broke down into a fit of loud giggles as she stalked towards Ethan. “The worst part is-” Ethan never got to hear what the worst part was because at that second Twilight’s bloody, battered, and broken body emerged from behind a piece of concrete and shot out a wave of force that slammed into Supertramp sending her flying away over the banks of the nearby river and out of sight. “She talks too much.” Twilight said before fainting. “Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!” Ethan said to himself as he ran over to Twilight’s still form. She was missing her front right leg, her left eye was a destroyed mess, and large bur scars covered her entire body. Ethan jabbed two stimpacks into her body and felt around for a heartbeat, with a relived sigh he found it. Then grabbing the limp unicorn in his arms he took off sprinting towards the Citadel hoping against hope that they would have the necessary equipment on hand, and the will to use it… *** Shining Armor’s sword decapitated a raider with a quick precise slash before he pushed the raider out of his way with his pure magical might and sent the body flying into another raider who toppled over. Next to him Veronica smashed her ballistic fist into a raider’s chest blowing a hole through it and in front of both of them Cassandra was strolling through the clinic wing of the facility calmly blasting raiders into oblivion with a shotgun in each hand. “How in Celestia is she doing that?” Shining panted (he may have been an experienced fighter used to both war and battle, but even he had his limits). “I’ve always wondered-duck.” Veronica said suddenly and Shining obeyed with a speed honed on the fields of battle (when someone told you to duck they had a damn good reason for telling you to duck). The whistling spear that sliced through the air that his head had previously been occupying proved that point quite effectively as it buried itself into the wall behind him. “Thanks.” Shining said giving her a grin before he charged the now weaponless raider and tackled him to the ground where his enchanted armored hooves smashed repeatedly into the raider’s body creating yet another red smear on the floor. “Don’t mention it.” Veronica replied with a chuckle as her fist slammed into the chin of a nearby raider cracking his jaw in half and sending him flying. Up ahead Cassandra was engaged in the therapeutic job of blowing raiders in half with a sawedoff shotgun in either hand, she had much stronger guns but didn’t feel like expending the ammo on raiders. Suddenly a raider burst out of the ceiling and landed in front of Cassandra who unloaded both shotguns into him sending his body flying like a ragdoll and let out a happy sigh. This was something that she could do without worrying; here there was nothing to make her think about the things that kept her up late at night. She put away the shotguns and pulled out her personal light shining in the darkness and blew a raider’s head to smithereens while in the back of her mind a more traitorous part of her whispered about the Divide and how she’d destroyed humanity’s best chance to start over. “God I need a drink.” She moaned as she shot a raider in the chest sending the broken body flying to the floor. They had been slowly working their way towards the door to the basement from within which they could hear the loud cracks of energy weapons and the screams and shouts of angry raiders. “Friendlies coming down the stairs; don’t shoot the unicorn!” Cassandra shouted before she kicked the door open and found that the entire stairwell was full of raiders who had turned to look at her with wide grins as they gripped a wide array of melee weapons. “Oh fuck me with a bumper sword.” *** “We’ve stabilized her but she has to lose the leg and the eye.” Scribe Rothchild told Ethan quietly. “Fuck.” Ethan replied eloquently. “Yes sadly it looks like she’ll be a cripple for the rest of her life.” Rothchild continued. “No she won’t.” Ethan replied giving the scribe a hard stare. “Excuse me?” Rothchild asked his eye narrowing. “You’re going to give her a new leg and a new eye.” Ethan replied calmly. “We do not have enough of the parts here for our own needs, she is a nice girl but she is not Brotherhood.” Rothchild replied keeping his voice calm. “And I don’t give a Fuck I’ve seen to many lives ruined on account of my actions and this is one wrong that I will right.” Ethan said leaning closer to Rothchild and meeting the scribe’s gaze, to his considerable credit Rothchild neither flinched nor looked away. Instead he met Ethan’s eyes with the same determination that a man does when they faced with an incredibly long trek through the Wasteland. Before Ethan or Rothchild could say another word a black woman entered the room. “Rothchild do it.” She said simply. “Not you too Cross, the parts are made for humans not unicorns, they may not even work!” The Scribe said in annoyance. “You’re going to try Reginald.” She told him. “Fine, but don’t blame me if this ends terribly.” Rothchild replied getting to his feet and walking out of the room. Ethan rose to embrace the cyborg in a deep hug and that’s when the tears came. “It’s okay Ethan, you did your best.” Cross said reassuringly as she patted his back gently. “It happened again dammit why do women around me always get hurt?” Ethan asked the woman who held him in her arms. Cross was one of the few people who Ethan really opened up to, maybe it was her association with his father, maybe it was the way she’d saved his life a few weeks after he’d left the vault, but Ethan had always just safe around the cyborg. “Ethan it’s not your fault, you need to stop blaming yourself for everything bad that happens to those around you, you’re just one man!” Cross told him forcing him to meet her gaze. “I’m the Lone Wanderer, The Messiah, The Last Best Hope for Humanity, people shouldn’t die because they’re walking down the street with me!” Ethan all but shouted, Cross didn’t back down. “Ethan Threedog can yap all he wants about you being a hero, but I held you when you were in diapers and I know better than almost anyone that you’re just as human as I am.” Cross replied. “Said the pot to the kettle.” Ethan replied darkly. “Ethan…” Cross groaned. “Sorry that was bad, anyways I’m just tired of people I care about getting hurt.” Ethan said as he dried his eyes. “I know Ethan, I know.” Cross said her eyes darkening slightly as she thought of James and all the others she’d lost. “I need a drink.” *** Twilight Sparkle groaned as she awoke, she immediately felt that something was wrong. For one thing her left eye could see only black and her right foreleg wouldn’t move when she tried to move it. The next thing that she noticed was that she was strapped to a firm medical mattress. Her mind rushed back to what had happened, there had been an explosion, a lady who talked too much, and her leg and eye had hurt. Panic coursed through her body as she struggled to break free of the straps, she also started to scream for help. “Twilight calm down!” Ethan shouted as he burst into the room. “Ethan I can’t feel my right leg and my left eye can’t see!” She yelled. “Easy Twilight easy, we had to cut off your leg and cut out your eye-” Ethan began until he was cut off by Twilight. “You cut off my leg!” She screamed piercingly loud. “Let me finish, we cut off what was left of your leg and your eye and replaced them with high-tech cybernetics. You can’t feel with your leg or see with your eye because they’re turned off.” Ethan told her trying to calm her; instead it made her squirm harder against her restraints. “I’m a monster now!” She shouted. “Twilight you’re not a monster, you’re a god damned hero and don’t you dare contradict me!” Ethan shouted silencing her. “Listen to me Twilight Sparkle, what you did was incredible, you are more of a hero then I ever have been and you will like it!” “But Ethan I probably look like a monster, what will Celestia think?” Twilight asked with a despondent moan. “If she truly cares for you then she won’t give a damn, and if she does then she’s not good enough for you Twilight.” Ethan told her as he lowered himself down to sit next to the purple unicorn. “We’re ready Rothchild.” Ethan shouted and the tired looking scribe entered the room. “It’s good to see you awake again Twilight; I almost thought we’d lose you twice during the operation.” He told her kindly and Twilight nodded slowly. “I’m going to be turning on the artificial limbs, this may sting a bit.” He said as he walked behind her and pressed a button that was concealed beneath her mane. Twilight’s left eye turned on and her mind was immediately filled with an overwhelming amount of data. Twilight’s mind boggled for a few second as she adjusted but once the initial oddness of being able to see out of her left eye again passed Twilight found that it felt surprisingly like her old eye had. Then Rothchild pressed another button and her right leg suddenly twitched rapidly as her nerves adjusted to the new limb. She experimented for a few minutes looking over the shiny steel limb testing its movement, flexibility, and strength before setting it back down again. “Your eye will subconsciously pick up far more than your old one would along with supplying combat data about different enemies, your leg is made of a very acid resistant metal and should never need to be replaced. Make the most of them Miss Sparkle you don’t realize how expensive they were.” Rothchild said and Twilight detected a slight edge to his voice. “I’ll keep them safe.” She said calmly. “See that you do. Here’s a mirror.” He added handing Twilight a mirror that she held in front of herself in her magic. Her face had a new patch of scarring running along the left side that her fur was just beginning to cover up again and her new metal eye glowed a cheery blue. The rest of her body had an equal amount of scars but they were rapidly healing thanks to all the stimpacks that they’d jammed into her. Her new leg was what captivated her the most. It was a gracefully sculpted model of her other legs until it formed a perfectly shaped hoof at the bottom. “Oh and I found some purple paint incase you’d prefer the leg to match the rest of your coat.” Ethan added holding up a can of purple spray-paint. “I need a drink.” Twilight groaned. - Level up level 20 -new perk cyborg added