Rainbow intentionally let a science marine live. Right now, she held his weapon in one hoof while she gripped her cleaver tightly in the other. The stallion was on the ground, too scared to move. Rainbow simply stared into his eyes, planting the fear even further in.
"Where is your base of operations?" she roared, and the stallion flinched, but didn't give way.
"No luck here, lady. The science faction is doing the right thing- it's making the world a better place." the stallion said, his mane matted with dirt and grime.
Rainbow pointed the tip of the cleaver at his throat, and he gulped.
"Still a no." he said through gritted teeth.
Rainbow sighed, and stomped down on the stallion's ankle, and she could feel the bones disconnect under her hoof. The stallion screamed, clutching his leg, cursing.
Rainbow moved the tip of the blade back under his chin.
"So what? You're going to torture me?"
"Yes. And I'm going to skin you alive after you run out of bones to break. Or I'll just get straight to it if you annoy me too much." Rainbow said.
"You are one big mother bu- AH!" he screamed as Rainbow stomped on his injury.
"We ain't got all day." Rainbow said. "Although it'll feel like it when I start skinning you. Answer my question."
"No." the stallion said, although the uncertainty on his face gave him away. Rainbow stomped on his ankle again, and this time the skin around it ruptured and blood poured onto the floor. Rainbow stood silently, waiting for the screaming to stop.
"Ok! Gah- damnit." the stallion ground his teeth together. "X89 and Y74. Can you leave me alone now?"
"On the ground or in the air?"
"On the ground!"
"Yeah right." Rainbow smirked. "Why wouldn't it be on the barricade?"
"It'll take..." the stallion was breathing pretty heavy. Not surprising since he had a messed up ankle. And a shot through his chest. "Too damn long... Wasn't enough time to move it to the barricade... Not enough resources to keep the cabin pressurized... Also because ponies wouldn't think it's on the ground... AH!" he yelled as a piece of paper fluttered out of no-where and touched his bleeding and exposed flesh.
"What do they use the center for? Other than commanding?"
"They control the jet fighters and turrets... And and and the barricade! They control the barricade!"
"So, nopony is on the barricade other than deploying troops?"
"Yes! Yes!"
"On the ground. Controls basically everything. K then. And if you lied, I'll hunt you down." Rainbow said, then stomped on his ankle for the fourth time. She then walked away, leaving the stallion with his pains.
"What was that... Gah! For..." the weak voice asked behind her.
"You wasted my time." Rainbow randomly whipped out an excuse from the top of her head, and activated the mic. "Octavia- can you see what is at X89 Y74?"
"Hold on... I'll have a look." Octavia's voice said. "Found it... It's an old mining plant roughly thirty miles from your location."
"Think you can pick me up?" Rainbow asked.
"Sure, I'll pick you up right here." Octavia said.
"Fine." Rainbow growled, stretched her wings, folded her cleaver, and took off.
*
"Magnum? Head to X60 Y45. We're gonna pick you up there, got a little side mission we need you on." Octavia said, Rainbow in the seat next to her while she drove over the debris.
"You do understand that I'm in heaven right now, and that I don't really want to go anywhere else?" Magnum said through the mic.
"Heaven?" Rainbow asked incredulously.
"Yeah. Infinite live target practice. Well, until I run out on ammo, but I've got about seven crates next to me." Magnum said, followed by a loud bang.
"Just meet us there." Rainbow growled.
"Do you have your seatbelt on?" Octavia asked.
"No." Rainbow said.
"Too late." Octavia said, not releasing her hoof from the accelerator. The car drove onto the belly of flipped aircraft, and with a loud thud and a surprised yelp from Rainbow it rode up the metal platings. Acting as a ramp, the aircraft launched them into the air.
Rainbow hit her head on the air conditioner when the car landed with a crash.
"I've always wanted to do that." Octavia said sheepishly.
"Really? Out of all the stunts we perform you want to drive off a ramp?" Rainbow batted away the stars circling around her head. Octavia shrugged.
"There she is." Octavia said as she spotted Magnum at a fortified position with a squad of royal military, surprised that she actually did have seven crates full of ammo.
"Get in!" Rainbow leaned out of the window and tapped the door with her hoof.
"You just have to ruin the fun." Magnum slung her rifle across her back and dived into the car.
"Don't mind if we tag along." Halcyon grinned, getting in- followed by Blaze.
"Wait... What are you guys doing here?" Rainbow raised a frowning eyebrow.
"Let's just say if you let us tag along we'll give you the honor of helping the military." Halcyon said.
"Buckle in then." Rainbow said glumly, turning away from a cheering Halcyon and Blaze.
"Oh goody- another ramp!" Octavia said.
"Wait, what?" Blaze asked, despite the three clicks that went off as Rainbow, Halcyon and Magnum clicked their seat belts.
The car flew over the roof of a house, somehow blown off. It was at a much steeper angle. Unexpected to Octavia, the car began tipping dangerously forward- and at this rate, they'll nose dive into the debris.
Octavia quickly messed with the knobs on the side of the steering wheel, and flicked the switch.
Blaze slammed against the back of Rainbow's seat as gravity suddenly tugged them all forward, the car falling parallel to the ground. It still had its momentum, so it performed a full front flip. Octavia quickly switched the direction of gravity, and the car landed on its wheels, still racing forward. Somehow Blaze ended up upside down in his seat, cursing.
Halcyon face-hoofed.
"Quick thinking." Rainbow patted Octavia on the back.
"Thanks."
Blaze quickly got upright, and tightened his seatbelt.
"What are we doing again? What's the plan?" Halcyon asked.
"We're taking down the head of operations. And the plan is, plow through the front door and then improvise." Rainbow said, fetching her coat and hat from a small compartment underneath the air conditioner.
"Sounds reassuring." Halcyon said.
"We're not particularly good at making ponies feel good." Octavia said glumly, yanking the steering wheel to avoid a missile.
"Ha! That's what she-" Halcyon clipped Blaze on the back of his head before he could finish.
"Just a few miles left. Are we going to drive the car into the damn building?" Octavia asked.
"If you can find a wide enough window." Rainbow said.
"Wait- that isn't the most tactical decision. I recommend we sneak in, shut down the system and all." Halcyon suggested.
"That ain't cool enough." Rainbow grinned. "We don't usually do things tactically."
"It's about thirty seconds away. Do we have an agreement? Because I can see a really wide window right there." Octavia said.
"I have a bad feeling about this..." Halcyon gulped, clutching her rifle.
"Don't worry. Just get used to it like we did." Rainbow said.
"Just don't overshoot and hit the frame." Magnum jutted in.
"Too late." Octavia let go of the steering wheel and covered her head.
The car hit a hill and flew through the air. Octavia mistimed it a little, and the top framing of the window scraped the roof of the car clean off as the car broke the glass and crashed into a room.
Rainbow ripped her seatbelt away, and stood up. She coughed at the smoke, waving a hoof; then stopped when she noticed the room of eyes staring at her. The car had crashed into a large control room lined with rows and rows of computers, ponies behind them controlling different functions of the barricade.
"Uh..." she said, then ducked down when she spotted one of the ponies stand up and point a pistol at her. The bullet hit the side of the car but didn't puncture.
"Good going." Halcyon said, ducking down below the door and flinching when a bullet went past her head. "Go through a window. That worked perfectly well."
Now they were being showered with bullets as angry science faction controllers opened fire on them.
"It was awesome though, wasn't it?" Rainbow tried to lighten up the mood.
"Buck this." Octavia slammed a switch. There was the distinct whining of motors as the turret popped up, the gatling gun whirring.
There were a lot of surprised and horrified yelps as the gun let loose, a constant buzzing, the blasts too close together to tell apart.
"You never told me you had one of these babies in your car!" Magnum yelled angrily over the gatling gun.
The gun stopped, the barrels slowing to a halt as it found no more viable targets.
Rainbow peeked over the edge of the door, scanning the coast.
"Area clear." she said.
"Let's go then." Octavia yanked an old dusty case from the trunk.
"Why, do you have your cello?" Rainbow asked.
"That's not what's inside." Octavia said, pocketing a pistol and walking towards the only intact monitor in the room- the others were all shattered and in pieces.
"Expect an army. They know we're here, so they'll probably send everything they have at us to retake this location." Rainbow said, patting her leg and making sure the capsule was in her pocket. "Magnum, plow your way to the roof. Take out anypony that comes our way. You two, with me."
"Got it." Magnum said, loading her rifle and running out the door.
"I'll need some time to cripple the system." Octavia said, concentrating on the monitor.
"Really? What do you have to do?" Halcyon asked.
"Take down the AI so nothing is automatic and has to be manually controlled, destroy the programming that auto-restarts the system once I turn it off, make sure that the barricade stays in the sky so we don't get crushed, then disable the system."
"I'll leave you to that then." Halcyon was barely listening.
"Meet us... Wherever we tell you to meet us when you're done." Rainbow said, unfolding her cleaver.
"Ok." Octavia said without taking her eyes away from the screen. The turret should provide enough cover if any enemies come in.
"Shining Armor?" Rainbow spoke into the mic. "Can you get Luna to lower the moon right now? We need a bit of cover from the night."
"Eh.. I'll speak to her." Shining Armor replied, and Rainbow tapped her sword impatiently as Shining Armor went to speak with the princess of the night.
"Right now?" he asked.
"Yes." Rainbow said.
"Right. And... That should do it."
"Say thanks to Luna for me." Rainbow said as the room dimmed significantly, and would've been completely dark for it not the lights.
Suddenly a loud siren went off, and yelling could be heard throughout the mining facility.
"There it is. I was wondering when they'd notice." Blaze said.
"Come on! Move!" Rainbow yelled, darting for the exit, followed by the two royal marines.
They were met with a team of surprised science faction ponies round the corner, and Rainbow had already run her blade through a dozen of them before they reacted and opened fire. They were in a narrow hallway, and the science ponies had nowhere to run.
Blaze darted forward, keeping low and letting the bullets whiz over his head. He lashed out a kick at the knee area of the first stallion he came into contact with, and sent a bullet into his head as he hunched over. Halcyon dashed past him, her rifle ablaze.
A stallion with a knife charged out of nowhere, lunging at Halcyon. She blocked his wrist with her rifle, the knife inches away from her face. She spun, flinging the stallion behind her, bringing the rifle up and firing a critical shot.
Rainbow sunk her cleaver through a guard, and kicked another science marine in the guts. Ripping the blade out, she swung it in a wide arch and decapitated the guard she kicked.
Blaze shot a science marine in the knee, slammed his rifle stock into his stomach, then cracked the marine's head against the wall by smashing a hoof into his face. The trooper fell onto the floor and didn't get back up.
Halcyon backed up against Blaze, standing back to back as they heard more science faction troops coming down the hallway. Halcyon nodded, and Blaze pulled the pin of a grenade, throwing the more dangerous part down the dark hallway. Suddenly the hallway was lit up by a violent explosion, bits of science flying everywhere. They didn't even get the chance to scream. There were more that survived the blast, and Rainbow moved forward to finish them off.
They ran through the hallway, the siren making them slightly dizzy.
Kicking down a metal door, Rainbow came into a large open area. It was basically a huge crater in the ground, the sides covered in blue sapphires. Miners, however; were nowhere to be seen. Levels of metal walkways lined the sides, the occasional manual turret mounted on the handrails. They were on the top set, and had to somehow get down in order to get to the doors at the bottom. There was a big red light high above, flashing continuously with the siren.
"There they are!" somepony shouted, and then there were muzzle flares flashing in the shadows as science ponies emerged from doors, shooting at them.
Rainbow leaped over the handrails, her wings spreading. She flew up into the air, then came back down again. Same old trick, works every time.
She slammed into the ground, a rainbow colored shockwave exploding outwards as she impacted the rock floor. In the dark, not only were the ponies blinded, the walkways also took a beating.
The first level of walkways collapsed, spilling the science marines onto the floor and crushing the ones underneath. Rainbow was already slicing at them with her cleaver before they recovered.
Halcyon swung down onto the second level of catwalks, sending a bullet into a science marine's chest. He fell over the handrails and slammed onto the floor.
There were more of the science faction ponies pouring into the huge crater. Rainbow realized it was a kill zone, as they would have to fight a near infinite supply of troops.
"Clear a path to that exit!" Rainbow slashed a stallion in half, before pointing at a door in the side of the mine.
"Will do." Halcyon threw a grenade into that entrance, and a few marines flew out as the explosive went off.
Rainbow leaped at a stallion, kicking both hooves into his chest and sending him flying backwards. She backflipped and landed, then flew over a science marine that was just about to take aim. Temporarily losing his target, the marine looked around for the blue pegasus. He turned around and met Rainbow's cleaver straight away.
Suddenly all the enemy troops dived down as a huge explosion took them off their hooves. There was smoke everywhere, but Rainbow could still see the big hole in one of the walls, and the dark figure standing behind it.
Octavia walked through the smoke, her mane flowing in the breeze and her cello case tightly gripped in one hoof.
"You two!" Rainbow yelled at Blaze and Halcyon. "Head for that entrance there! Clear all the rooms along the way!"
"Moving!" Blaze swung down onto the walkway below, following Halcyon as they fought their way towards the entrance.
"Shining Armor! The barricade is down! I repeat- the barricade is down! Well, still in the air, but disabled! Send in our air force and shut off their reinforcements!" Octavia dropped her cello case on the ground, and it opened. A tommy gun sprang out and landed in her waiting hooves.
"Thanks for the heads up! You all have done a great part in this short battle!" Shining Armor said.
"Come on Rainbow!" Octavia yelled, her rifle ablaze. "We need to catch the head of operations!"
"How?" Rainbow rolled sideways to avoid a stream of bullets. "There's too many of them!"
"Just head for the entrance!" Octavia said, her left hoof moving to her coat pocket.
There was a loud beep among the chaos.
"Was that... Our car?" Rainbow raised an eyebrow.
An explosion ripped through the side of the mine as the roofless black car drove into the battle, its turret ablaze and rockets soaring.
"Yep." Octavia said. "RUN!" she slung the tommy gun across her back, and pushed Rainbow into the entrance. They tumbled onto the floor, and with another beep the car fired a rocket at the entrance they were in. Debris fell, blocking the exit so the enemies couldn't get in.
"Come on." Octavia ran down the hallway.
"Do you even know where we're going?" Rainbow asked as they ran.
"I had time to study the layout." Octavia said.
There was a metal double door up ahead that looked like it would lead to some sort of outdoors area.
"There's a big clearing behind the door. Be prepared for anything." Octavia said, and Rainbow kicked down the doors.
They both dived for cover as two mini-gun turrets swiveled around at them and let loose their ammo. There were two towers high above the clearing on the other side, twin snipers on both with spotlights searching for the two bounty hunters.
"Magnum! Can you see two sniper towers from the roof?" Rainbow asked, her voice a little quiet compared to the roaring of the turrets.
"Yeah. Taking em out now." Magnum said.
A moment later the spotlights shattered, and the two towers went dead.
"Good job! I think the two royal marines might need your help in the mines. There's a buck load of targets there!" Rainbow said.
"Heading over." Magnum said, and Rainbow heard the some-what disturbing enthusiasm in her voice.
"How do you propose we handle the turrets?" Octavia asked.
"You got frags?"
"Nope."
"That sucks."
"Indeed." Octavia sighed.
Rainbow dared a peak, and ducked down again as a stream of bullets almost hit her hat. The turrets were guarding the entrance of some large building, similar to the warehouse.
"Shuck. We'll have to move." Octavia said as more spotlights shone over the clearing- more enemy snipers were on the roof of the building.
"Run to the cover over there-" Rainbow pointed at a large cargo container obviously full with sapphire. "On my mark?"
Octavia nodded.
"Three... Two... One-" Rainbow brought her cleaver up to shield against some of the bullets as both turrets and snipers opened fire. The snipers were using armor piercing rounds, and they burned through the air, leaving smoky trails behind them.
Octavia pulled out her tommy gun, opening fire on one of the turrets. The bullets struck, severing wires and disabling the turret. Its rotating barrels slowed to a stop, the electronics fizzing and sparking out.
Rainbow dived behind the cargo container, and Octavia was there beside her a second later, both mares breathing hard. Rainbow looked at her sword- none of the rounds even made a dent, only a few burn marks that she wiped away with her sleeve.
"I took out one of the turrets." Octavia said.
"One more then- it can't target the both of us. Take down the turret and I can fly over to the snipers." Rainbow said.
"I'll take the turret then. You cast a distraction?" Octavia reloaded her gun.
"Fair enough." Rainbow threw her cleaver out from behind cover. It spun through the air, and as expected the turret began tracking it. Octavia emerged from behind cover, taking out the turret while Rainbow darted for her cleaver.
She spread her wings, arching up as she grabbed hold of the cleaver handle. She curved out and into the air, pulling the cleaver with her. Abruptly changing direction, she flew straight for the snipers.
Octavia dashed forward, heading for the building, where the snipers won't be able to get her. Sliding down next to the wall, she fired a few shots up at the snipers above.
Rainbow kicked a sniper off the edge, while throwing the cleaver into a different one. The sniper got impaled into the ground as the cleaver slid through and lodged itself into the roof. Rainbow yanked the blade out, kicked a rifle away from a stallion, then shoved him off the edge as well. Three to go.
Rainbow deflected a bullet with her cleaver, then brought it back around and sliced the barrel of the sniper's rifle clean off. He tried to fire again out of panic, and a shattered bullet came out, the pieces acting as shotgun pellets and hitting his unfortunate partner in the chest. She grabbed the rifle from the side, and shoved it violently into the sniper's jaw, dislocating it. She then sliced her cleaver through his heart, letting him crumble onto the roof. The last stallion charged desperately at her with a long knife. She diverted the strike, then swung him off the roof. His screams abruptly ended with a sickening crack.
Rainbow dropped down from the roof, her wings slowing her descent and making it a lot more comfortable.
"This should be the main control room where all the orders are given." Octavia nodded to the building, its huge metal main gates looming over them.
"Alright. See if you can find our synthetic voiced friend in there." Rainbow said, slicing a hole in the inch thick metal and kicking the resulting plate into the building. She jumped through, but was surprised and tackled from the side by a science marine. Her cleaver slid out of reach.
As she tumbled onto the floor, she watched Octavia as she was beaten to the ground by a crimson red stallion, who put a bullet in her chest a second later.