edited by TacoTown
Chapter 8
Ethan’s radio broadcast had played half an hour ago, and Sarah and Winter both knew that it was next to impossible that Red Eye had missed it. So now they were waiting for something to happen.
“This Ethan guy. He’s not very smart, is he?” Winter asked quietly.
“Well he is, he just doesn’t think sometimes.” Sarah replied with a sigh. “So what do you think that they’ll do to me?” She added.
“Probably send you to live in the Mall; it’s one of the more heavily defended areas in Fillydelphia.” Winter said with a sigh. “It’s also full of raiders.” He added.
“Oh goodie.” Sarah deadpanned with a scowl.
“The main master isn’t too bad; well, besides the fact that he’s one of those ponies who actually believes all of the bullshit that Rey Eye pumps out, his name’s Protégé.” Winter explained. “The one who you’ve got to watch out for is Chainlink Shackles. He’s a massive slaver who’s supposedly heartless enough to make a radgator look compassionate.” He added.
“So I’ll be dealing with a simmering bitch, and a hard assed bastard.” Sarah said while she pinched her nose.
“Essentially.” Winter replied.
“What about you?” Sarah asked.
“I’m coming with you if I can help it.” said Winter firmly.
“Winter, you don’t have to leave your home because of me.” Sarah protested.
“Yes I do, you’ll get in trouble without me around. Trust me Sarah, you don’t have the right attitude to fit in around here; without me you’ll probably end up insulting the wrong raider and end up dead!” Winter said with a shake of his green mane. Before they could get any farther the sound of hooves on the stairs interrupted their conversation.
The door to Winter’s flat opened and in stepped a tall, imposing, black-maned earth pony with a glowing cybernetic red eye. He was flanked by two green alicorns, along with Master Dove and another pony who Sarah didn’t know. The other pony was dark coated and had a red eye similar to the first, but the eye was far less intricate.
Winter immediately went to his knees in a bow but Sarah merely regarded him with a raised eyebrow as she crossed her arms over her chest.
“Sarah Lyons, at last we meet.” The black-maned stallion said in a smooth, charismatic voice.
“Who are you, and why should I care?” Sarah asked. Behind her, Winter winced.
“I’m Red Eye, your master.” Red Eye told her simply in a surprisingly fatherly voice. Sarah snorted.
“I have no master.” She replied calmly.
“We all have masters Sarah.” Red Eye corrected calmly.
“Enough banter, tell me what you want.” Sarah said icily. She had a man’s ass to kick, but he wasn’t around so she’d have to make due with being a bit of a bitch. Not that the asshole in front of her didn’t deserve it in the first place.
“Information. Who is Ethan Smith, and how much of a threat is he?” Red Eye asked.
“He’s the craziest son of a bitch in the wasteland. As for how much of a threat he is, well, that’s hard to say. It depends on how angry he is.” Sarah replied with a shrug. “Get him angry enough and he’ll take on a four hundred strong, powerarmor wearing, energy weapon using army.” Sarah paused here for a second before continuing “By himself. And come out untouched before killing his way through their base and blowing it up.” She said.
“And how angry do you think he will be about your being here?” Red Eye asked slowly.
“Angry enough to kill each and every slaver here; of course, he’d do that anyways out of principle. He doesn’t like people like you.” Sarah said with a tiny smile.
“Hmm… So then he’s a hero then?” Red Eye asked.
“No, he’s a warrior.” Sarah replied easily. “There’s a large difference between the two.” she added with a slight frown.
“A warrior who fights for others is still a hero,” Red Eye insisted, “And heroes can always be torn down by their inner demons.”
“Say what you will about him when he’s not here. He’ll get here eventually and then I’m sure you’ll both have a very nice talk before he shoots you in the face.” Sarah said with a shrug. Winter flinched again; she really didn’t know how to talk to ponies like Red Eye.
“Master, I believe that we’re becoming sidetracked. Perhaps we should continue this part of the conversation later?” The other pony with a red eye said.
“Ah, quite right Protégé.” Red Eye said turning to nod at the other pony, “Sarah Lyons, because of the security risk that you present you are being moved to the Mall and will be under the ownership of Protégé. Come to him if you have any issues and I’m sure that he will be able to help.” The black-maned stallion said. “He can also direct you to me if you wish to talk about your friend Ethan.”
“Master, if I may make a request?” Winter spoke up for the first time in the conversation.
“Of course Winterberry.” Red Eye said with a nod.
“I was wondering if it would be possible for me to live in the Mall with Sarah. I’ve come to like her a great deal in our time together, and I don’t want her to be hurt because she’s said the wrong thing to the wrong pony.” Winter said in as polite of a voice as he could manage.
“That would be up to your Master. Master Dove, what do you think of this?” Red Eye asked, turning to the leather clad mare.
Master Dove looked at Winter for a few moments, and then smiled a knowing smile.
“It would be fine with me as long as he continues to do his work for the hospital, and honors our agreement of course.” She said. Winter let out a tense breath, but smiled at the mare.
“Of course Master, I wouldn’t dream of neglecting our bargain.” Winter said.
“Then I have no reason to prevent you from going with this mare.” Master Dove said with a smile of her own.
“We will talk again Sarah Lyons.” Red Eye said ominously before he turned with his cloak billowing out behind him until he faced the two the alicorns and nodded, before they filed out the room.
“Well then. We should be off, we’ll have to get you both processed and into the Mall before dark. Come along.” Protégé said.
“Master, may I gather up some of my items here to take with me?” Winter asked, still keeping his head bowed.
“Of course, just do it quickly.” Protégé said with a smile. “I have some things to attend to today, and we cannot be here long.”
Sarah just frowned at him; he was far too easy going and nice to be a slaver. Winter quickly scampered around his flat, grabbing lots of random items and shoving them into the pack on his back. It only took him around two minutes to gather everything that he wanted before he came back to stand in front of Protégé beside Sarah.
“Are you both ready then?” Protégé asked; he received two nods. “Very well, let’s be off.”
***
“Wow, you look pretty fucking good naked.” Holly chuckled.
“Thanks,” Day Kicker said dryly with a slight frown as he carefully folded his Enclave jumpsuit.
Holly had advised him that it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to wear his Enclave colors in the tower. So Ethan had worked out a deal with one of the guards so that no one would remark about the pegasus who flew through the window and into the room that Ethan and Holly were staying in. The mare sat on the bed on the other side of the room, and watched as Day Kicker turned to look at her a frown still firmly in place.
“Oh take a fucking chill pill Day.” Holly grumbled with a roll of her eyes.
“The longer I’m down here means the longer I have to be away from my friends and family, forgive me for not being enthusiastic about being hit on by a mare I barely know.” Day Kicker snapped.
“Who the fuck said that I was hitting on you?” Holly asked with a chuckle, “For all you know I like to fuck mares and I’m just complimenting your fur because it looks like you’ve actually taken a bath recently.” She said with a smirk, Day Kicker just rolled his eyes, but still let out a small chuckle.
“Yes, and the water was even un-irradiated too.” He told her with a light chuckle.
“You lucky duck you! The last time I had a bath with fucking clean water was, hmm… When was it?” She said, trailing off for a moment. “Oh, I remember now, it was the last time my brother and I were in New Appleoosa!” Holly said with a smile. “It cost us a hundred caps, but it was completely fucking worth it.” She added.
“You know, I’m almost positive that this place has a working water purifier that runs through the showers, you could take one now.” Day Kicker told her with a nod towards the bathroom attached to their room; Holly facehoofed.
“Fuck I’m dense sometimes…” She said before she shot the pegasus a smile and bolted towards the bathroom. Day Kicker rolled his eyes, but a small smile was firmly planted on his face. His odd traveling companions were starting to grow on him, if only slightly.
***
Homage was staring intently at Ethan as they sat on the couches of her living room.
“I really wish that you’d told me what you were going to say before you did that.” She told him.
“Sorry, spur of the moment…” Ethan said with a slight chuckle as he rubbed the back of his head.
“You do realize that you’ve probably just made her life a lot harder don’t you?” Homage asked him.
“Sarah’s tough, she can handle herself.” Ethan replied with a shrug.
“Ethan, Red Eye is an absolute bastard; he’ll do whatever it takes to kill the ponies who stand against him. Hell, he’s got a megaspell somewhere near this tower, waiting to blow if LittlePip doesn’t do what he wants! What in Celestia makes you think that he’d keep her alive!?” Homage asked him in frustration.
“Because he knows nothing about her. To someone like this guy, or at least what I’ve heard about this guy from you, that’ll force him to keep her around until he can figure her out. Add to that the fact that he knows that she means something to me and that I’m coming specifically for her and you’ve got a very good recipe for Sarah being completely safe.” Ethan explained with a shrug.
“And if she’s not?” Homage asked in a quiet voice.
“Then I’ll raze his city and slaughter every slaver in the place.” Ethan said calmly. Homage regarded him carefully for a moment before speaking.
“Could you do that?” She asked.
“Yes, yes I could.” Ethan told her. “I’ve taken on guys that make Red Eye look like a child playing with his brother’s bb-gun. And I did it years ago, when I was a lot less experienced then I am now.”
“Ethan, he has an army.” Homage told him worriedly.
“Yeah, well, I’ve got me, and that’ll be more than enough.” The man told her.
“That’s the kind of thing that’ll get you killed out there in the Wasteland.” Homage warned Ethan, who chuckled.
“Trust me on this miss DJ; I’ve been fighting impossible odds since I turned twenty. First it was raiders, then it was super mutants, then it was Enclave, then it was simulated Chinese bastards, then it was aliens, and then, well, you get the point.” Ethan told her with a shrug. “Red Eye will die like the rest of them.”
“Look Ethan, I won’t pretend to really know you, because I honestly don’t. We’ve just met, and I know practically nothing about you.” Homage began, “But I know your type.” She continued. “You’re the kind of pony who thinks that nothing out there can hurt them or turn them away from their goal; that they’ll never falter or fall to their darkness. And I’m telling you that you’re wrong, the Equestrian Wasteland will find a way to twist you into something that you barely recognize if you’re not careful.” She finished with a sad sigh.
“Heh, too bad somewhere else already beat it to the punch.” Ethan told her with a lopsided grin.
“What?” The unicorn asked in confusion.
“Homage, I’m the way I am right now because of the Capital Wasteland. I’m already unrecognizable compared to the person I was before I left my Vault.” Ethan told her. His eyes had suddenly hardened, “My fiancé’s father tried to stop me from chasing my father out of our home, and I was forced to kill some of the people who I’d worked beside for years, until I ultimately killed her father.”
The man’s blue eyes glazed over slightly as he leaned back into the couch with a slight sigh. “After that I was forced to watch helplessly as my father sacrificed himself in his moment of triumph only to later discover that his sacrifice had been in vain and that the man who’d caused his death was still alive and well.”
A small un-amused smile played over his face for a second before he continued. “I even went back to my Vault because my ex-fiancé needed my help; I helped her, and you know what happened?” He asked Homage, who shook her head.
“I don’t know Ethan.” Homage replied.
“She kicked my ass to the curb and threw the ring that I’d worked on for months after me.” He said with a shake of his head.
“My point is Homage, that you know next to nothing about me. Don’t mistake me for some green little colt who has never been outside of his home before, and who’s making it up as he goes along.” Ethan told her with a serious look. “If I was going to become a monster I already would be one and everyone in this tower would be dead. Now if you don’t mind, I think I have somewhere to be.” He said as he rose from his seat.
“I’m sorry Ethan, I didn’t know.” Homage said apologetically. “I’m just projecting my worries for a certain mare onto you.” She added.
“Don’t worry about it.” Ethan replied with a shrug. “I know you didn’t mean any harm, I’m just kind of sensitive about people thinking that I’ll turn evil.” He added with a frown.
“Right, anyways, let me know if you need any more work. I’m sure I could find something or other for you to do.” She told him, while changing the topic.
“I think that I’ll have my work cut out for me dealing with Red Eye for the moment, but when I’m done be sure to point me at the next murdering tyrant in the Wasteland.” Ethan added with a light chuckle before he walked out of the room, whistling a tune under his breath.
Homage let out a sigh before she walked back in the direction of the studio. The man was an enigma. Happy and carefree one minute, and serious and brooding the next. Putting the man out of her head she sat down in her favorite chair, she had cameras to watch, songs to play, and truth to tell.
***
Ethan walked into the room that he and the two ponies shared to find that Day Kicker was relaxing on one of the couches, a small book clasped firmly between his hooves. The blue pegasus looked up as Ethan entered and gave him a small nod, which Ethan returned. The sound of running water made Ethan turn his head towards the bathroom, along with the small amount of steam that was leaking out from under the door.
“Holly taking a shower?” He asked.
“Yep.” Day Kicker replied without looking up from his book.
“Heh. So Day, I couldn’t help but notice that yesterday you were the only one who didn’t share anything about your past when we were comparing stories.” Ethan said as he took a seat on the couch next to the pegasus. He once again took a moment to thank God for the fact that everything had been built to comfortably accommodate griffins.
“You noticed that, did you?” Day Kicker asked without looking up from his book.
“That might be why I said it.” Ethan replied with a smirk.
“I suppose that that makes sense.” Day Kicker agreed.
“So, when’s your next report due?” Ethan asked, changing the subject.
“What report?” Day Kicker asked.
“The field report that you’re undoubtedly going to send your bosses once we get out of the tower.” Ethan said with a shrug, “I’m sure that you’ve got some dead-drops scattered around the Wasteland that you’ll covertly send your letters through.” Ethan explained.
Day Kicker stared at Ethan, his mouth hanging open slightly.
“I’m smarter then I look.” Ethan replied with a wry smirk.
“I guess that you’d have to be.” Day Kicker said as he recovered from the slight bout of shock he’d received at the thought that Ethan knew about the dead-drops.
“Anyways, we’re heading to Fillydelphia next to save one of my friends who got her ass captured by that dick Red Eye-”
“What the fuck did you just say?” Holly shouted from the bathroom door. She was still soaking wet, but she’d obviously been in the process of drying off because her mane had been wrapped up in a towel.
“I said that we’re saving my fuckbuddy’s ass from Red Eye.” Ethan said with a smirk. Holly regarded him for a few seconds before she stepped back into the bathroom and closed the door behind her.
“That went well.” Day Kicker said dryly.
“I’m wondering what it means personally.” Ethan replied. Day Kicker simply shrugged and went back to reading.
“So what are you reading Day?” Ethan asked as he leaned over to get a glimpse of the cover of the book that the pegasus was focusing on.
“It’s the autobiography of one of my ancestors.” Day Kicker replied.
“The Life and Times of a Winning Pony. What’s that about?” Ethan asked as he read the title with a raised eyebrow.
“It’s entertaining.” Day Kicker replied with a shrug.
“Sounds kind of dry actually.” Ethan said.
“Not exactly.” Day Kicker replied with a small smile, “My ancestor was rather… promiscuous.”
“So you’re reading porn about your ancestor?” Ethan asked with a smirk.
“It’s not porn, it’s comedy.” Day Kicker shot back.
“Alright then.” Ethan said with a shrug and a roll of his eyes before he leaned back into the couch.
“You’re the one who asked.” Day Kicker said with an irritated tone in his voice.
“I know, I was just hoping for something more interesting.” Ethan replied.
Holly emerged from the bathroom looking much drier and considerably calmer than before, interrupting any further conversation between the two.
“So we’re going to storm the slave city of Fillydelphia with two ponies, one human, and an AI. Am I the only one who thinks that this is a really fucking bad idea?” She asked, turning to Day Kicker.
“I’m not overly concerned; if half of the things that this man has said are true then I think he could probably do it with less.” The pegasus replied with a shrug.
“And you’ll betray us halfway to the city, so it won’t be a problem anyways,” Ethan added.
“There is that option, yes.” Day Kicker agreed with a nod.
“Good fucking goddesses I’m the voice of reason here.” Holly said with facehoof.
“Well look at it this way Holly, if we can get Sarah out of that hellhole maybe we’ll be able to get some others out too.” Ethan told her with a smile.
“Fine, but before we head out we’re going fucking shopping!” The green mare declared firmly.
“Why?” Ethan asked curiously.
“Because there’s no way in fucking hell that we can storm that city without some better weapons and armor!” Holly exclaimed.
“My arsenal seems sufficient.” Day Kicker told her with a shrug towards his battle saddle.
“Yeah, and you’re going to fucking betray us long before we get there so I’m not going to worry about that.” Holly replied dismissively.
“You’re both so certain of that.” Day Kicker said with an amused snort. Holly rolled her eyes before turning back to Ethan.
“So that means that we’ve got to get me some stronger armor, along with something to shoot ponies with besides a pistol and a sniper rifle, and you could probably use some fucking explosives to go along with your stuff too.” She said.
Ethan shook his head. “I’m not much of an explosives person really; although I do think that I’ll get a nice shotgun for medium range.” He added with a shrug.
“Fine, I’ll get the fucking explosives along with an assault rifle and some good armor. You’ll get a shotgun.” Holly said with a nod.
“Works for me, you sure you don’t want anything Day?” Ethan asked turning to look at his pegasus companion, who’d gone back to reading on the couch beside him.
“If you can find any high powered magical energy weapons that look affordable, please pick me up one.” Day Kicker replied without looking up from his book.
“Okay, I’ll see if we can find any.” Ethan replied before rising from the couch. “Come on Holly, let’s go shopping!”
“You’re surprisingly fucking enthusiastic about this.” Holly said with a chuckle.
“Honestly, it’s more because I’m interested to see what kind of stuff they sell here compared to back home.” Ethan told her with a shrug as they walked towards the door. “After a while, I’d bought everything that I could ever want from all of the shops and my caps began to just pile up without anything to spend them on except ammo, and that barely put a dent in my supply.” Ethan explained.
“Somehow, I doubt that that’ll be an issue here.” Holly told him with a roll of her eyes. “So how much did we make off of that last job along with the combined profits of all that merch we got from the raiders?” She asked, changing the subject.
“I don’t know; we haven’t sold any of it yet, have we?” Ethan asked Holly in slight confusion. The unicorn looked at him for a second and let out an annoyed breath.
“Ethan, that’s what I spent my time doing when we got here, remember?” she asked with a slightly irritated groan.
“Oh-oh, right, sorry. I’m kind of distracted right now,” Ethan told the unicorn, who nodded, “So how much did we make off of that stuff?”
“Two thousand caps, not too bad for a few dozen crappy assault rifles and three fucking missile launchers.” Holly replied with a shrug.
“So add that to the money that that mare gave me for saving her nephew, along with the money that I had before and that means that we’ve got around eight thousand caps to buy things.” Ethan said with a smile.
“Sounds good to me, so what the fuck are we buying first?” Holly asked.
“We’re getting you some armor, no offense but what the hell are you doing running around in leather armor?” Ethan asked the mare as they entered a nearby elevator and he pressed the appropriate button for the market floor.
“My brother and I never made that many fucking caps, this was the best armor that we could afford to repair on a regular basis.” The mare told him with a shrug.
“Ah, that makes sense I suppose.” Ethan agreed with a nod. “Anyways, now that we’ve got the caps for it what would you like?”
“Hmm… I think I’d like some actual fucking combat armor. I’m tired of digging bullets out of my fucking body.” Holly said with a scowl.
“Sounds good to me.” Ethan told her. “I just hope that they have a good shotgun for me.”
***
“I can’t believe how awesome this shotgun is!” Ethan exclaimed as he and Holly made their way back to their room.
He hefted the heavy shotgun in front of him, and manually cycled through the barrels like it was a revolver or a grenade launcher. “Eight shots of any type of ammo I want, including the ability to fire exploding shells and incendiaries along with a stock that’s strong enough to shatter the skull of an alicorn. God, I think I’m in love.” Ethan said as he stroked the large black shotgun lovingly. He’d bought it off of a dealer who specialized in equipping griffins, and had managed to talk the stallion down to a mere two thousand caps.
“Goddesses, you need to get a fucking room.” Holly told him with a roll of her eyes before she changed subjects. “Ethan, you realize that the recoil on a gun that big is going to be fucking ridiculous, right?” Holly asked him with a raised eyebrow.
“Well duh Holly, the gun weighs like twelve pounds. Of course it’s going to have a lot of recoil.” Ethan replied.
“Make that twelve and a half pounds actually.” Eddie said from Ethan’s wrist.
“Thanks Eddie.” Ethan said with a chuckle as he slung the large shotgun over his shoulder. “So how do you like your new armor?” He asked.
“It’s very nice, it fits well, and is surprisingly breathable.” Holly answered. She was wearing a suit of prewar combat barding that someone had spray painted black.
“And the gun?” He asked.
“It’s light and should be able to dish out enough damage to shred any fucking raiders that we meet.” Holly answered with a shrug as she adjusted the new assault rifle that was strapped to her back with magic.
“Excellent. I hope Day likes his gift.” Ethan said with a grin as he reached for the other gun that they’d bought.
“He’ll probably look it over and then say it isn’t fucking good enough for him.” The mare said with a shrug.
“I don’t know, let’s find out!” Ethan said with a wide grin as he opened the doorway of their room and walked in.
“Well, it looks like your trip was successful.” Day Kicker said as he looked them over. He was still reading the same book as before, but he was looking them over critically.
“Yeah, things went well, well enough in fact that we were able to pick you up a gift.” Ethan said as he drew a long barreled boxy gun off of his back and walked over to give it to the pegasus.
Day Kicker’s eyes widened as they took in the gun.
“This-this is a gauss rifle- wha-where the hell did you find this?” Day Kicker asked. His eyes were wide and staring as he quickly began to go over the gun with his feathers and hooves, exploring every hole and opening.
“From some guy who said he was from someplace called Hoofington. He tried to convince me to come back with him, but I said I was busy.” Ethan replied with a shrug. “So, do you like it?” Ethan asked.
“If I said that I liked it then I would be doing my true feelings a disservice,” Day Kicker told him with a wide smile, possibly the widest and most real smile that Ethan had seen from him so far. “Ethan Smith, for this gun I thank you from the bottom of my heart, and I hope I won’t have to use it to kill you.” Day said earnestly.
“Yeah, me too. That thing was expensive as hell.” Ethan said with a nod towards the gun.
“It was as much as all of the other fucking equipment we bought combined, I’d hope you’d like it.” Holly said.
“I like it, have no fear of that.” Day Kicker said as he got up and flew over to his battle saddle and brought it over. “I’ll have to change things up a little with this on here so that I unhook this when I want to take more precise shots. It’s impossible to aim down the scope with this on my back, but…” He continued talking but he was mostly just mumbling to himself.
“Well I’m glad that you like it.” Ethan said with a chuckle.
“Hmm?” Day Kicker asked, looking up.
“I said I’m glad that you like it.” Ethan repeated with a smile.
“Oh, yes, it’s very nice.” Day Kicker replied. “So when do we leave for Fillydelphia?”
“Tomorrow morning, right after breakfast.” Ethan replied with a nod.
“Sounds good to me.” Day Kicker replied.
***
Sarah and Winter were shown into the plaza of the mall by Protégé, but then the black unicorn took off at a fast pace towards one of the nearby buildings while a griffin swooped down and landed next to him. As the two new friends took their first tentative steps into the large enclosure, Sarah suddenly felt several dozen pairs of hostile eyes fall upon them.
“This is going to get ugly.” She whispered to Winter, who nodded.
“Try not to kill any of them.” He whispered back.
“I’ll do my best, but I was actually talking about it being ugly for us. There are a lot of them, I can’t fight that many.” She told him in a hushed tone as the first raider began to stride towards them.
“Can you do anything to prevent them from attacking us?” Winter asked.
“I’m going to try one of Ethan’s tactics, although it’ll probably backfire horribly.” Sarah said as another raider joined the first, followed by a third and a fourth.
“Well they don’t look to inviting at the moment, so I’ll take anything you’ve got.” Winter said with a frown.
“Alright, here goes nothing.” Sarah said before raising her voice. “Listen up you raider sons of bitches. My name is Sarah Lyons, Paladin of the Brotherhood of Steel! And you are going to simmer the fuck down and back off or I’m going to be sending my metal tipped boots straight up your asses!” She shouted at the gathering crowd of raiders.
The raiders paused for a second, and then they began to smile evily.