//------------------------------// // Chapter 19: As Good As Dead // Story: Bounty Hunters 3: Genesis // by Jasper77W //------------------------------// "Sorry, Magnum." Storm shook his head, eyes watery. "I'm so sorry." And before Magnum could react, he shoved the jetpack into her arms. "Wha-?" she managed to say, before Storm dragged her to the edge of the deployment hole. "Buck- Storm! No!" "Sorry Magnum- but I have to." he said, and Magnum was about to scramble back to safety when he launched a hoof into her chest and sent her tumbling over the edge. Dazed, through her tear blurred vision she saw Storm turn away and shield his face from her eyes as she fell. The wind rushed against her helmet, whistling as it brushed against the cracks in between the metal plates. Even inside the helmet, her mane whipped about her face. Magnum watched as Storm faded out of sight, the barricade slowly growing more and more distant, becoming smaller and smaller. She felt like a feather, being blown about in the high winds up here in the atmosphere; weak and inside an infinite stretch of nothingness, falling to hell. She watched her hooves, stretched out in front of her by the wind, slowly waving in the air. Still the dullness stayed in her mind, stopping her from thinking and causing her body to start shutting down. She was in shock- she couldn't move, couldn't talk. All there was was the eery whistling of the wind, otherwise it was silence; presence-less silence. Then that silence was interrupted as the portion of the barricade she was looking at blew apart into a huge fireball, consuming its six arms that reached out to other sections. The loud boom was dulled as her ears weren't really listening, and even the heavy shockwave that followed and knocked the air from her lungs failed to shake the dullness from her head. Pieces of debris flew past all around her as she continued falling, the shockwave pushing those scraps of metal down with deadly ferocity. All she could think of was how sudden everything happened- why did Storm save her? He could've perfectly saved himself. Guess she'll never know. She also had no way of knowing whether or not Bluefyre and Anvil made it. It pained her to try and think about it. Something, probably a piece of the barricade; flew down and clipped her shoulder. The armor dissipated most of the force, but it still sent her tumbling. She saw the lush Everfree forest below her as she spun, then back to the sky; the hole in the barricade filled by a huge smoky mushroom cloud, traces of fire still lingering behind those thick curtains of ash. More pieces were falling. She could see them get closer every time she turned around, tumbling out of control. Her mind began focusing, her vision adjusting. Her hooves unconsciously drifted to her side, stabilizing her descent. There was a huge metal plate from the barricade falling towards her. Every time it rotated on its side the sun would shine through the holes in the barricade and sting her eyes. Then her eyes widened, her mind being ripped out of its dream state by her survivor instinct. She straightened her body, now falling upside down. The huge metal plate hit her hooves, and she managed to land on its underside. In the chaos she had let go of her only hope of surviving the fall- the jetpack. Now she couldn't find it anywhere. She activated the gravity boots, and ran along the bottom of the metal plate. She reached the edge, and swung onto the top. She looked all around her at the falling fields of debris- it was utter destruction, not were there only scraps of metal from the barricade itself, but also unlucky officers that didn't evacuate in time. "Valkyrie- you reckless bastard." Magnum cursed, scanning through the falling debris field. With a small vocal command she put an altimeter on her HUD- and her altitude was declining at an alarming rate. "You're bucking kidding me." she moaned when she saw that little dot on the horizon- falling with the other scraps. The jetpack. Her only chance of survival, about half a kilometer away. Question is- will she be able to make it before not even the jetpack could save her? She detached her old empty jetpack, taking off the extra weight so she could jump further and run faster. She darted forward, kicking off the edge and aimed for a different piece. The jetpack was a little above her current altitude- she'll need to find a way to slow her descent or just climb to that higher altitude. She fell forwards, stretching her limbs out to catch the wind. It did little, but did raise her just a bit above the falling debris. The beam of an anti-matter rifle sizzled past her head, and she turned. The beam hit a piece of metal, reducing it to sparkling dust. "Mother bucking robots..." she muttered, kicking down on one end of the piece of metal she was standing on and tipping it. Instead of hitting her leg, the antimatter beam hit the flipped piece of metal and exploded. Magnum rode the explosion and flew further away from the assault unit. She whipped out her pistol, and pulled the trigger with a snap. The bullet went flying through the air, grazed a piece of metal but kept going; hit a slightly curved scrap from an armored door and bounced through a hole in another chunk of debris. It hit the assault unit's visor, the heavy calibre bullet cracking through it and ripping apart the internals. It fell still, sparks flying from the severed wires inside its head and fading away in the wind. "Stay down." Magnum growled, gravity boots sucking onto a flat-falling chunk of heavy plating. Then she spotted something out of the corner of her eye, and quickly snapped her pistol in that direction, pulling the trigger the moment her aim straitened. The bullet impacted the rocket, blowing it to peices. Somepony tackled her from the side, sending her sprawling off the metal scrap and into open space where she would be hopeless to dodge anything. The assault unit that tackled her still had a firm claw on her neck, and was raising a knife. The knife sizzled with charged energy, and Magnum recognized the different helmet shape. It was one of the newer models, meat puppets. The new unit stabbed the knife down, and Magnum managed to divert it to the side. The tip grazed the side of her visor, making a big scratch. She tucked the unit's wrist under her arm, neutralizing the knife. She slammed her hoof into the unit's visor several times, before giving it an elbow that cracked the visor. The assault unit that fired the rocket was still concealed in the debris field, the launcher performing a lock-on on Magnum. Magnum had to dodge the rocket, and push the new unit out of its way as well- otherwise the blast would kill the both of them. Problem is, the new unit doesn't care about its own survival. It was restraining Magnum's pistol from firing, holding it down by her side. Magnum was keeping its knife away from her throat, so they were in an almost unbreakable lock. Almost. There was a loud whoosh as the rocket was fired, and Magnum abruptly lurched to the right. Her momentum spun the both of them, putting the unit between her and the rocket. The sudden turn released the hold it had on her right hoof, freeing the pistol. She fired the shot, the bullet going through a crack in the armor and severing the main arteries in the neck. Blood started gushing out of the dead unit's neck, and Magnum kicked off its limp body. The rocket hit, with Magnum still in the blast radius. She wrapped her arms around her body in hopes of protecting herself, but the high velocity shrapnel still tore at her armor. The unit shielded most of the blast, and its guts stained the right half of Magnum's armor red. The other half was torn apart by the flying shrapnel, ripped to shreds. Magnum gasped as several pieces lodged themselves deep into her flesh. Her HUD was malfunctioning, half of it blown away and missing with half her visor. Air was pounding at a gushing wound on her left arm, the explosion having torn a hole in her shoulder plate. She couldn't assess the damage as everything was coated in thick dark red blood- both hers and the unit's. Still falling, she couldn't stabilize her current condition. She needed to get to stable ground- but she didn't know how. The jetpack was only a few meters away now, and the assault unit was taking aim again. "Damnit..." Magnum gritted her teeth together- and she realized her left eye wasn't seeing anything. Being safe, she closed her right eye and opened her left. Nothing. She opened her right eye again, and she could see. She must've lost her left eye- she could feel hot blood trickling down the side of her face. The pain started to fade as her body entered shock- but her mind still had to remain clear. She shook her head vigorously, and looked back at the assault unit. Her pistol had drifted off somewhere else, and she gave a quick look around. It was just below her, and she dived down to retrieve it. Debris was getting in the way- but she could still get the unit back. She had her ears pricked, waiting for that distinct click for it to pull the trigger. Then there it was, and she fired the bullet. The metal round clipped a crippled armored door, bounced off it and around the piece of debris that was in the way. There was an explosion that followed as the bullet struck the freshly launched rocket, presumably blowing the unit apart with it. Now to get that damn jetpack. She angled herself, slowly making her way towards the jetpack. Then suddenly something hit her injured shoulder, and she screamed as the jagged piece of metal slid into her flesh. "Son of a- Gah! Damnit!" she cursed, and tried to rip the metal out- but it was firmly anchored in her shoulder. She ground her teeth together, trying her best to get it out- but couldn't help and scream as it abruptly slid several centimeters and ripped more of her flesh with its jagged edges. She cursed, tears swarming into her eyes as she tried again. "Warning: Lethal drop range detected. Warning..." her HUD beeped, but the words were dull in the pain. But she knows one thing- if she doesn't get that jetpack, she'll be as dead as a whale in a desert. She tried to ignore the pain, and ignore the fact that there was a big metal sheet with sharp edges sticking out of her left shoulder. Finally she managed to grab hold of the jetpack, and she fumbled with it in her right hoof- even if she did move her left arm a bit, the pain would just explode into her brain. But eventually she had to. The jetpack required two locks for it to fully synchronize with the suit and be recognized as a valid piece of equipment- and one of the locks was only accessible from the left side. Magnum tried to reach around with her right hoof, but it was always just beyond her reach. Several times she fumbled with the jetpack she almost let go of it- and now she had to resist the pain. She shifted her left arm a bit to the back, and felt the piece of metal dig even deeper into her shoulder. She grunted, moving her arm a bit more- inching her way to the lock. She was screaming now. She didn't even realize- the metal was slowly popping her arm out of her shoulder socket as she angled against it- but finally, she flicked the lock down and a new fuel indicator lit up her HUD. "Come on, you little piece of crap." she groaned, activating the engines. They flared and came to life, and she felt her velocity start to decrease. But then they sparked, and went out. "What the hay-?" Magnum looked behind her at the sparking jetpack. "Come on! Work, you mother bucking piece of crap!" she pounded it on the side with her right hoof, banging against the metal shell again and again. "COME ON!!" "Altitude critical. Armor lock down auto-initiating." the HUD said. "NO! Shuck, damnit! NO!" Magnum screamed as the suit slowly pulled her into a tight ball, and she resisted with all her strength to keep her left arm out of the way- but the hydraulics and motors on that side were still intact. The suit slowly forced her to curl up into a ball, a thick metal visor closing down over her visor. She heard several cracks as the suit forced her left arm to close in as well, the piece of metal popping it out of its socket. The cracks continued, which followed a loud ripping noise and her own screams. There was one final, distinct, and blood-filled crack as the suit pushed the arm into place around her knees, and she felt warm blood splatter over her left side as the wound was ripping open. She screamed, she didn't know for how long. The pain was beginning to dull as her body went into shock, and she could see nothing as the metal visor had shielded her view completely. Armor lock-downs were only automatically initiated in critical situations such as these. It seals the armor and the user completely in thick metal plates, rendering them almost invincible. Once again, almost. A live camera feed popped up on Magnum's HUD, oddly bright as everything else was dark. It showed her facing the ground, the earth getting ever closer. There was a count-down meter on the top right corner, counting down her dropping altitude. The lush Everfree forest was below, its trees waving gently in the breeze. It got closer and closer, her field of vision growing smaller and smaller. Then the tree tops suddenly flew past her, and the last thing she saw before everything went dark and empty was the damp dirt ground of the Everfree. She didn't even get to finish her last thoughts before the darkness closed around her vision and ripped her life away. * "WHO THE HELL WAS ON THE BARRICADE!!??" Rainbow yelled into the comms. "The ponies you know, that'll be Storm... And Magnum." Spitfire finally managed, after the entire bridge fell still and watched the screens in front of them show the barricade explosion. Rainbow was going to retort with something, but found no words. She already had her mouth open, but it was left gaping without information. Eventually the corners of it turned down slightly, showing her teeth as she ground them against each other. She squeezed her eyes shut, shaking her head and turning away from the collapsing section of the barricade. Still she could hear the impacts and loud cracks they made as the debris fell from the sky, one of which will probably be Magnum or Storm- should there be anything left of either of them after the explosion. "Son of a mule..." Octavia took in a deep breath, turning away from the group and shielding her face from the others. "Sis... What is it..?" Dainty tugged at Rainbow's sleeve, and started worrying even more when there was no reply. Rainbow shook her head, struggling to box in the tears. "Magnum." she said, her voice shaky. Dainty froze, then let go of Rainbow's sleeve and slumped back onto the ground. She had known Magnum- of course she had. The pony that helped her earn her cutie mark in programming? Of course she knew her. She knew her as a friend. A good friend. Lily didn't know Storm nor Magnum, but judging from the shocked expression on Dainty's face- they were probably pretty close. All she could do was be sad and put an arm around Dainty's shoulders, giving her gentle rubs on the back. Dainty hunched over, burying her face in her hooves. Tears trickled down the side of her face, and Rainbow moved to sit down on a nearby wooden box. "I've seen her in action before." Silver said, shaking her head. "One hell of a good soldier. I take it you knew her in that other reality?" "Worked with her for quite a few years." Octavia said, leaning her back on a streetlight. It creaked slightly under the pressure. "She was one of the first to engage the Science Faction in our reality." "And was quite the friend." Rainbow added. "Dash. Proceed to objective." Spitfire said softly. "We need that info ASAP. ATLANTA is being invaded." Rainbow shook her head. Right now, she would no longer be surprised if any more ponies died at all. There were too many surprises in one day already, it wasn't even getting surprising anymore. Spitfire sighed deeply. "This is war, Dash. Ponies die. It's up to us survivors to keep each others' backs and stay survivors. Spitfire out." she said, and the comms went dead. Rainbow took off her hat, and Octavia followed. At least some sort of acknowledgement to the death of yet another friend. Rainbow slowly raised her head, placing her hat back over her rainbow colored mane. She watched the nuclear fallout from the explosion slowly drift to earth for a moment, cast one last gaze in that direction, and turned away; the glow of the evening sun tinting the scene a bright but dull orange as she walked on towards the marked objective. * The light blue earth pony slowly opened her eyes. She couldn't feel a thing, and her vision was still blurry. Still blurry from what she didn't know- but she could only see shades of color. Then finally her vision cleared, and she looked up. It was evening, the orange glow illuminating the trees of a forest. But what forest again? The Everfree, that's right. She had no idea how she knew that- but now that she thought about it, she had no idea how she got here either. She tried to get up, but her legs seemed to be broken and she was barely doing anything. She was slumped, sprawled against a tree. She looked around her, and saw a small path of destruction in front of her. Several dents into the dirt ground spanned out in front of her, as if something had hit the ground and bounced around. She looked down at her dirt filled armor, and had the odd feeling that she was the mysterious object. She had a knife in a socket on her back, and a silver pistol by her side. The silver pistol meant something- but she couldn't quite remember. It did trigger some memory flashes though, of pain and suffering. She saw a familiar pony, dying on the floor and bleeding from a gunshot wound. She remembered a name, Zealo; but it meant nothing to her. She tried to go and pick up the pistol with her left hoof, when she realized she didn't have one. In fact, her entire left arm was missing; a blood matted and fleshy stump replacing where it should be. I wonder if I had a left arm in the first place anyway... She thought. She couldn't feel any pain, but could feel the damage. She started slowly crawling towards the pistol, her useless legs dragging on the ground behind her. For some reason the pistol seemed important- it seemed so lovingly polished and shined by its previous owner, so delicately polished and constructed. Finally she was able to pick it up, and was surprised to find that it fitted her hoof extremely comfortably. She crawled back to the tree, and slumped against it. Just from crawling that meter had made her breathless- the hay was wrong with her? There was a loud howl that echoed through the forest, followed by an eery breeze. The earth pony looked around her, pistol in hoof. Another howl, and it sent shivers down her spine. Suddenly something leaped out of the woods and straight at her, and without even thinking her right hoof snapped to that side and pulled the trigger. The bullet was sent through the timber wolf's brain, killing it almost instantly. It collapsed back onto the ground, slid several meters towards her on the dirt ground and died with one final whimper. "How the hay..?" the pony looked at her right hoof, marveling at her instinctive shot. Now the loud bang and the bright flash from the muzzle flare had attracted even more hungry timber wolves. They growled, snarled, a hungry pack; slowly circling her and baring their teeth. One of them leaped at her, and once again her hoof snapped into aim and put a bullet through its head. Now that enraged all of them, and they all charged at her. She pulled the trigger as many times as she possibly could have, feeling the recoil pound against her hoof. Then there was only one timber wolf left, and her pistol clicked empty. "Shuck-" she cursed, placing it down and whipping out the knife. The wolf lunged, and she stabbed the knife from the side and into its face- it wasn't a lethal strike, and its biting teeth were getting ever closer to her face. She could feel its hot breath on her nose, its saliva spitting onto her face as it growled and barked; trying to sink its teeth into her neck. Her arm was growing weak, and she could barely hold it off. Soon all her strength would drain from her body, and that'll be the end of the mysterious light blue earth pony. The wolf backed up a little, ready to lunge and clamp its jaws around her neck. Then there was a huge flash and bang that left her ears ringing, and the timber wolf fell sideways and onto the ground with a big portion of its body missing and in tatters. "Stay where you are and put down the bucking knife." an orange earth pony said in a thick Manehatten accent, her short red mane drifting down a little above her shoulders and the sawed-off shotgun in her hooves still smoking from its earlier blast. The blue earth pony stared down the barrel of the shotgun, and slowly placed the knife on the floor and pushed it away. The orange pony tilted her head to one side, picked up the pistol and knife and lowered the shotgun. "Hell, mare. You look like you just fell out of the sky! We better get that arm patched up... And... Your left eye." she said. "I'm Babs Seed. Ignore the lousy introduction, but we really need to get you fixed up if you want to live." "I..." the blue pony looked down at her missing left arm. It was beginning to sting, and she could tell soon she would pass out from blood loss. "You have a name?" the orange pony asked, kneeling down as the blue pony's eyes started closing. "I... Don't.... Know...." she said, and fell unconscious.