Traps
The group walked through the doorway to find Ethan and Twilight standing next to each other. Spread out before them was a veritable maze of wires and pressure plates with several hundred mines sprinkled in for good measure.
Like I said, you’ll need finesse, Kata said with a dark chuckle. The door disappeared into the wall behind them.
“If I was still human then I’d just clear this place by force. Unfortunately, I kind of doubt that this body could take it,” Ethan told them with a slight shrug.
“We could probably set off a chain reaction if we activate the right trap,” Aeron said with a frown as he looked at the labyrinth before them.
“I’ve had enough shrapnel pulled out of me for a lifetime,” Thomas replied. “Probably won’t even survive the blast.”
“If I had access to my magic then I’d just set them off remotely,” Twilight said as she rubbed her chin.
“Like Thomas said, there is a chance we would not survive such a course of action,” Luna said, not liking the current thought process. “For all we know these explosives are much more powerful than they appear.”
“Shields, Luna, between the three of us we could’ve easily blocked the explosions,” Twilight replied with a shrug.
“Unfortunately none of us have the ability to do that at the moment, so let’s look for another solution,” Celestia said.
“There’s always the old fashion way, disarm the traps one by one till we reached the other side,” Scarlet stated. She then looked at one of her hooves. “Though if we’re going to have to rely on ponies who don’t have real experience in using their fingers, it’s going to take us a long time, or possibly our deaths.”
“Which was the point of putting us in these bodies in the first place,” Aeron muttered.
“Yeah, so, who’s up for something suicidal, possibly life threatening, and maybe a little dangerous?” Ethan asked the group with a grin.
“You’re suicidal, so why not you?” Scarlet pointed out.
“Because I’m not suicidal, Katherine. Besides, me dying over there would probably kill you too, along with everyone else. I’m sure you wouldn’t want that happening again would you?” Ethan asked turning his gaze to the woman.
Scarlet’s right eye twitched when Ethan mentioned her real name. “If it shuts you up, then yes.”
“I’d be peachy with the idea.” Aeron laughed.
“We’ve discussed this before, we don’t have time for this squabbling,” Luna said in an irritated voice.
“Well maybe someone should tell Vault Boy to be respectful to someone else's wishes and we wouldn’t have this,” Scarlet growled out in a low tone.
“Let’s just focus on getting through this trap, okay?” Twilight asked, receiving several nods of agreement. “Alright, we need to figure out who’s the best with their hands,” Twilight declared.
“Probably you, since you had the most sex,” Scarlet said in a deadpan voice.
“I was going to agree, but then I heard the rest of your ridiculous argument.” Aeron smacked his forehead with his hoof.
“I normally have hooves, and thank you Aeron,” Twilight said with a nod to the man. “Anyways, who among us was the most athletic?”
“I would say me,” Aeron spoke, “but that title lands on Dash.”
“Yeah, if I was a pegasus still,” she grumbled.
“Well it looks like you’ve still got an athlete’s body, that means that the reflexes that came with that body would be there, and you probably have the right reaction time,” Twilight said.
“Yeah, she has good reflexes, agility, and endurance, none of which we need. You want steady hands in disarming mines and traps, otherwise you won’t have a hand left,” Scarlet pointed out.
“So, Dash, do you have steady hands?” Ethan asked the former pegasus.
“Well, yeah. If sniping with Aeron for a month wasn’t any practice, it is now.” She shrugged. “But how do you expect me to disarm something that I can’t figure out? I mean, usually Aeron dealt with all the traps. He never showed me how they worked.”
“Well it’s the perfect time for him to show you how,” Scarlet said as she looked over at Aeron. “Just guide her through the steps of disarming a mine.”
“What about the trip wires, and grenades bouquets?” Ethan asked. “Those usually take a bit more work, and that’s not mentioning the fact that I see at least four turrets up in the ceiling.”
“Well, I can hack the terminal easily. Doesn’t take much work. If there is one, anyways. As for the bouquets, they’re usually near a pressure plate or wire. We can step over those and I know Dash has a keen eye,” Aeron explained.
“I see the terminal, it’s over there,” Thomas said, pointing towards the opposite end of the room, directly behind the turrets.
“Well... that’s rather inconvenient. Fucking typical,” Ethan said with a shake of his head.
“Uhg. Is she purpo— Oh, I see what she’s doing.” Aeron sighed. “Can’t believe I didn’t notice that.”
“What?” Celestia asked.
Aeron’s hoof pointed to several pipes that were barely illuminated, and a stream of hot gas was shooting out of them. “Gas leak. Room is filled with it by now.”
“Great, I hate ga—” Ethan was suddenly cut off as he let out a wide yawn. “That was odd,”
“This place will become as hot as hell,” Scarlet finished.
Oh, so clever! Boy, I was hoping you wouldn’t notice. I would’ve loved to see you fried. Then I can feed you to my non-existent pet, Kata’s voice giggled.
“Yes yes, you’re a sadistic cunt, we get it,” Ethan said with a roll of his eyes.
Hmp, such a dirty mouth, didn’t your mother teach you better? Oh wait that’s right, you killed her, so she didn’t get the chance to.
“You know, the last time someone brought up my mother like that they were cutting my brain open. I returned the favor pretty well,” Ethan told her with a grim smile. “Besides, Miss Invisicunt I got over that years ago.”
“Oh shut up. Dash, c’mon. I’ll teach you how to disarm a mine.” Aeron and Dash slowly made their way to a nearby mine, staying a decent proximity from it.
“Alright, so, it’s quite simple,” Aeron started. “Small button on the damn thing; press it, it’s off. It’s near that bright ass center. Got it?”
“Yeah. How long ‘till it explodes, though?” she questioned.
“Varies. They’re sporadic as hell, for some reason. Just run like hell,” Aeron explained.
“We don’t have that option,” Scarlet pointed out.
“Yeah, one wrong step in here, and we’ll be painting the ceiling,” Thomas agreed. “I just hope that there aren’t any satchel charges hidden in here. Those things are a fucking pain in the ass to disarm in time.”
“So, Dash, are you up to this?” Twilight asked, turning to the former pegasus. There was a worried look in her eyes.
“She should be, it’s now or never,” Scarlet stated.
“She’ll be fine, or at least she will if she’s anything like the Dash I know,” Ethan said with a nod. “Of course that Dash is having sex with a griffin, so I’m not sure how similar they really are,” he added with a shrug.
“Ethan, you’re not helping,” Twilight grumbled.
“For once you speak the truth,” Scarlet muttered.
“You just don’t listen enough,” the woman shot back.
“Oh, I’ve listened enough, all his talking has done is tear open an already closed wound,” the mare bitterly stated.
“I was talking about me,” Twilight replied with a raised eyebrow.
“Enough!” Thomas said stepping between the two bickering women.
“Whatever, soldier boy,” Scarlet replied, not even taking notice of Thomas.
Thomas just growled something under his breath and turned away. “Don’t let her get to you, Thomas,” Luna whispered.
“I’m trying, but that bitch is trying to piss me off. It’s like she wants me to shoot her.”
“She’s just going through a phase,” Celestia whispered. “We’ve put a lot of stress on her, and she’s trying to shrug it off the best way she can think of.”
“By being bitchy?” Ethan asked.
“Well what would you do if someone keeps doing something you have asked a dozen times to stop, but they have not and there’s nowhere to get away from them?”
“I’d be an annoying, sarcastic jackass to them,” Ethan replied with a smirk.
“Well this is Scarlet’s answer for that. ‘Do unto others what you would have them do unto you’. If we want Scarlet to stop acting like this, we should try our best not to frustrate her anymore.”
“Ah, the Bible, I’m familiar,” Ethan said with a shrug. “Although I prefer Revelation 21:6.”
A curious expression from on Celestia face. “The Bible?”
“Religion,” Ethan replied rolling his eyes, as if that explained everything.
“Is this Bible part of a human religion?” Celestia asked, still a bit confused.
“Yeah, we nailed the son of our god to a cross and then started worshipping him. Never made much sense to me, but I’m an atheist so that’s not all that surprising,” Ethan answered.
“I see...” Celestia said in an inquisitive tone.
“There’s more to it than that, and the book itself provides several interesting observations on human society before it killed itself,” Twilight said matter of factly. She’d read the book, of course.
“Still, quite the coincidence to have a saying that’s exactly the same in two different worlds.”
“Not really. I mean, it’s kind of common. Someone does something to you, so you do the same thing and then it escalates. I prefer the saying ‘an eye for an eye’,” Ethan replied. “It’s simple and straight to the point,” he smirked.
“Hey, I’m trying to learn how to not blow us up here,” Dash said from where she was working with Aeron.
“And you’re doing a great job, Dashie,” Twilight said kindly.
“Thanks... Now, if you’ll excuse me...” Dash looked towards the mine as its red light stared at her menacingly.
“Whenever you’re ready, Dash,” Aeron spoke softly.
Dash readied herself as she stared at the mine. Unsure of how long she had for it to blow, it would be now or never. Bolting off with her new set of legs, the mine started to beep wildly. The red light was flashing wildly like a strobe light. Her heart raced as she finally neared it, quickly bent down, and looked around the circumference of the light. Seeing a small red button, she pushed it and the beeping stopped - the light extinguishing from existence.
“Good job, Dash! Now we just have several hundred more to go along with a maze of other traps,” Ethan said, congratulating the woman.
“By then our oxygen supply will be replaced by this gas and we’ll all have suffocated,” the red haired mare stated.
“And our oxygen supply is thin enough as is. We’ve got ten minutes.” Thomas looked around the room uneasily before yawning.
“Oh good, I just love working under time pressure,” Ethan muttered. “I wouldn’t suppose that either of you Couriers happen to have a rebreather on you, do you?” He also yawned
“Wouldn’t work, it only pulls oxygen out of whatever’s there,” Thomas replied. “It can’t turn one gas into another.”
“Well that’s unfortunate,” Ethan said with a shake of his head.
“Well, it’s either we avoid traps like tripwires and pressure plates, stay out of mine proximity, and try not to be spotted by those turrets and such, or we can disarm everything. Your guys’ choice,” Aeron commented.
“Disarm what we have to to clear a path, but leave everything else untouched. There’s no way we can get across without getting too close to a few mines, so we don’t have any other option,” Thomas replied authoritatively.
“Saves time and gets us a nice supply of mines; I dig it,” Ethan agreed with a smile.
“Y’all are carrying what you grab,” Scarlet said.
“Duh,” Ethan replied with a shrug. “Sparky you wouldn’t mind holding onto my explosives would you? I mean, I’d do it, but I don’t exactly have pockets at the moment.”
“Of course,” Twilight yawn said, followed by a yawn.
“Luna, you okay with doing the same?” Thomas asked
“Assuming that we’ll be given back our true forms and you’ll be carrying them anyway, I see no harm,” the woman replied.
“Should I carry the ones you pick up, Scarlet?” Celestia asked.
“You could if I pick any up,” the mare simply replied before taking in a small yawn.
“Uh, I don’t feel safe carrying this thing,” Dash said, carefully setting the mine on the ground.
“A natural feeling. Just place it off in the distance and don’t press the button again,” Scarlet told the human pegasus.
“Not that I want to sound impatient, but we’re rapidly running out of oxygen,” Twilight reminded everyone. “So maybe we could hold off on this conversation until after we get out of this room?”
“Everyone, shut up. It’ll give us an extra minute or two,” Thomas stated. “How did I know that?” he added under his breath.
“Natural pegasus magic,” Twilight replied shortly with a shrug. “They’re living barometers, along with several other related facets of atmospheric observation. It’s one of the main reasons that they’re so good at weather magic,” she added.
“Right,” Thomas said with a thoughtful nod. “Now what did I say about talking?”
“You asked,” Twilight replied with a shrug before she turned back to watching Dash navigate the maze of traps.
Now that she’d gotten going, the former pegasus was moving forwards with an increased sense of confidence as she disarmed mine after mine. That confidence came to a sudden end however when she came within a hair’s breadth of breaking an all but invisible tripwire that appeared in front of her chest. She began to hyperventilate and her eyes widened as they traced the tripwire back to the grenade bouquet that was dangling half a foot above her head.
“Back away slowly,” Thomas ordered. “Can you duck under it?”
“Y-yeah, one second,” Dash said, her eyes still wide as she took a careful step backwards away from the wire.
Then, after gulping nervously, the woman ducked under the wire and moved out from underneath it. She let out a held breath as she got through and gulped down a lung full of new air. Air that strangely felt pleasant.
“How much time do you think we have left?” Ethan murmured in a drowsy tone.
“Eight and a half minutes. We need to turn off that gas leak.”
“That’s assuming that there is one,” Aeron muttered.
“You can do this, Dash!” Ethan said encouragingly before he turned back to the others and whispered. “I hope she can anyways, otherwise we’re all dead.”
“We should probably start following,” Luna said quietly, taking the path that Rainbow had cleared.
“Let me go first. I should be able to pick up where the air is breathable,” Thomas said, completely unsure if his new body was even capable of that.
“Makes sense,” Ethan agreed while giving the other stallion an almost imperceptible nod.
Thomas carefully made his way to Rainbow Dash, glad that his current body offered a great deal more stability. “Rainbow, turn right. The air should... should be a bit clearer there,” he advised, rubbing at his eyes sleepily.
“Thanks, Thomas,” Dash said without turning to look at him. “This is getting really hard,” she muttered under her breath as she maneuvered around another tripwire.
“Just think of your Twilight waiting for you at the end of this,” Ethan called up to her encouragingly.
A few minutes of progress later, Thomas made Rainbow stop. “Hold up,” he hissed. “The turrets. We need to get around them.” Unfortunately, the area in front of the turrets offered no cover, meaning that they would be shot at the moment they got too close. The Wastelanders could tell by the ceiling-mounted design that they fired conventional bullets, a 5.56mm round.
“I’ll keep them busy while the rest of you sneak past,” Ethan spoke up as he looked at the turrets appraisingly.
Thomas took a moment they didn’t really have to think about it. “There might be too much gas for ignition. Too much fuel, not enough oxygen. Could work,” he muttered.
Scarlet took in a deep breath with a critiquing look. “I don’t think this is methane gas, it has an... an odor to it.” She then shook her head as it suddenly became drowsy.
“Is anyone— ” Ethan yawned. “Is anyone else feeling really sleepy?” he asked, his eyelids drooping as he looked around.
“I thought it was just me,” Luna replied. “But no, you’re right. Something isn’t right here.”
“Kata’s trying to force us to sleep,” Scarlet stated.
“This isn’t methane, it’s knockout gas,” Thomas added fearfully. “Not this crap again.”
“Knockout gas?” Twilight asked. “Why not just poison us?
I have to give you a chance, Kata replied suddenly. And I want to see your expressions when one of you falls over and triggers everything. Oh it will be delicious, she added, purring orgasmically.
“It is really creepy hearing a ten-year-old make that sound,” Ethan commented. “Still, now we can take out the turrets.”
“I can’t truthfully see that succeeding,” Luna replied. “I doubt any of us can reliably shoot accurately in our current states.”
“Umm girls, I hate to be the one to point out the obvious, but you’re all wearing Pip-Boys, that means that you all have VATS,” Ethan informed them as he passed a deactivated mine for Twilight to hold onto for him. “Even if your aim sucks, that should at least let you hit one of them, and all of our pistols are strong enough to take one of those bastards out with just a shot.”
“Then how about you stop talking and do it!?” Thomas asked angrily. “We need to be quick about this! I don’t wanna pass out, just shoot!”
Twilight drew Ethan’s magnum, as did Luna with Thomas’s Sequoia, and they both slipped into the odd trancelike state known as the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System. Luna’s eyes darted around in shock, seeing her vision filled with an alarming amount of numbers. Twilight meanwhile was used to the slightly unnerving sensation and instead simply focused her attention on the turrets.
Luna steeled herself and focused on the turrets. Only 43%? she thought to herself. She turned to one of the others and found the odds slightly more favourable at 52%. She decided to shoot that one.
The two women came out of their trances all but simultaneously, and unleashed a small salvo of lead at the two targets. The Sequoia barked twice, the first bullet missing the turret by a fraction of an inch. The second shot was much more successful, tearing through the turret and obliterating its internals. The Blackhawk’s barrel flashed twice rapidly. The first bullet somehow managed to miss the turret completely, embedding itself in the ceiling almost a foot to the right. Luckily the second one flew true and it buried itself in the turret, destroying it.
Thomas decided to take a shot himself, pulling his brush gun from where it rested on his back. Balancing on his haunches and resting the stock against his shoulder (at least, he thought it was called that) was incredibly uncomfortable, but he continued undeterred. He even opened his wings for extra balance. Ethan moved up behind him silently and leaned against the other stallion to make sure that he wasn’t thrown backwards by the kick of the gun. Thomas looked down the sights and pulled the trigger carefully. The bullet failed to destroy the turret, but its firing mechanism was destroyed, evidenced by a mangled barrel and a small amount of metal falling down. The debris was too light to set off the explosives underneath.
“Nice shot, Captain,” Ethan congratulated the other stallion before yawning slightly.
“I thought you were straight,” Thomas asked inquisitively, referring to their current position.
“As an arrow, I just thought that you’d appreciate not flying backwards into a mine,” Ethan answered with a smirk as he moved away from the other stallion.
“So that was just your horn,” he replied, his voice filled with mock sadness.
A fourth gunshot thundered through the room, and they all turned to Scarlet. The mare was leaning against the back wall, her anti-material rifle resting against her shoulder as she calmly pulled back the bolt and ejected the shell. “If you two are done flirting with each other, can we get moving?” she asked harshly.
“Of course, Kathrine. We were just waiting for you to clear out that last turret. Besides, you can’t fault Thomas here for being attracted to me, I’m damn good looking,” Ethan replied with a chuckle.
“Enough talk,” Thomas said uneasily as he slipped the rifle back onto his back, where it somehow stayed in place. “We need to get moving.”
Dash nodded and continued to go to work disabling the various traps in their way as they moved towards the exit. She’d gained a surprisingly swift aptitude for the job and they were making a good pace.
“Wait!” Thomas yelled as the group came within fifty yards of the exit. “There’s a thick pocket of gas in the way, completely unbreathable.”
“Well then, hold your breath, and think of the one you love, or whatever part of their anatomy you’re most familiar with, or God I suppose if you’re going to be boring,” Ethan said before letting out a large yawn.
Then he took a deep breath and charged forward through the gas. A short explosion and a loud curse followed suit as a mine that he hadn’t seen erupted underneath him. Luckily it appeared to be a simple fragmentation mine and it didn’t set off the mines that lay around the rest of the group. Instead it merely sent him flying into the wall near the door, bleeding heavily.
“Someone grab him on their way past!” Thomas yelled. “Move!”
You didn’t think you were getting away that easily, did you? Kata asked viciously. The pegasus’ eyes went wide in horror as his body told him what was going on.
“Oh fuck! We... we need to move!” he shouted, suppressing a yawn.
The entire group sprinted forwards, somehow managing to avoid a similar fate to Ethan’s as they went. As they neared the door, which was shimmering slightly with a blue aura, Twilight diverted her path and unceremoniously grabbed the downed unicorn by the tail before returning to her original path and sprinting towards the exit, the stallion’s body bouncing along behind her.
As Luna wrenched the door open, though, Kata utilised one final act of vindictiveness. The door slammed shut, almost catching Luna’s hand. She rattled the door handle in a desperate attempt to open it. “It’s locked!”
“Power fist!” Thomas shouted frantically.
The woman turned to look at the pegasus, then at the device strapped to her arm. Without a second thought, she punched the handle. The flimsy lock was no match for the blow, and the door flew open. The resulting pony-and-people pile was unpleasant for all involved. The last ones to enter were a near-unconscious Twilight and Ethan, Twilight falling forwards moments after passing the threshold. Luna and Celestia, the first to extricate themselves from the tangle of limbs, grabbed them and pulled them further inside the room. To their surprise Ethan let out a loud, pained cry.
“FUCK!” he screamed at the top of his lungs.
“How are you even conscious?” Thomas asked as he tried to free his leg, clearly baffled.
“Extreme force of effort. Now PLEASE get me a stimpak!”
“Going to need a doctor for all that shrapnel. I would offer aid, but I can’t do anything in this state.” Aeron yawned.
“Just get me a stimpak!” Ethan commanded. His voice was extremely strained. “I’ll be fine once the bleeding stops, but right now there’s the risk of me bleeding out and that’s a really boring way to die so I’d like to avoid it as much as possible!” Then his eyes went blank and his head fell to the side, either fainting from the pain, or the blood loss. It was hard to tell which.
“So are we going to help them or what?” Scarlet asked with a nod towards their two unconscious companions.
“Luna, there should be a few stimpaks in one of the pockets in my duster. Hit him with two. That should stop the worst of it.” As she did that, he turned to the others. “Something feels off.”
“What do you mean Thomas?” Celestia asked.
“That was over in what, fifteen minutes? Every other thing we’ve been through lasted most of a day. Also, the gas. Why would she choose something that takes as long to affect us as sleeping gas? Laughing gas would’ve been a much better alternative,” Scarlet said.
“Maybe she’s not all that bright,” Aeron muttered.
“I bet she’s not as powerful as she claims. Which raises a different question,” Thomas stated uneasily.
“Which is?” Celestia asked.
“How did she bring us here, but not properly control this place?” Thomas asked.
“Hmm... As much as I hate to say it, Thomas, maybe Vault Boy is right. She’s probably new at this,” Scarlet said with a frown.
“But she said that we’re not the first. She can’t be that new. Maybe... No, that’s insane,” he muttered.
“What is?” Luna asked as she jabbed the unconscious stallion with a stimpak.
Thomas took a deep breath, both to ensure his body had enough oxygen and to prepare himself. “What if this place is fighting her as well? Maybe it doesn’t want to be controlled. Maybe it has a mind of its own.”
“You think that this place could be sentient?” Celestia asked with a raised eyebrow.
“With everything else that’s been going on, I’m not dismissing the idea.” Thomas turned to Luna. “How’s he doing?”
“The bleeding has stopped, but he won’t wake up,” she replied worriedly. “I hope he’ll be okay.”
“Ugh... What did I miss?” Twilight groaned as her eyes flickered open and she rolled to her knees.
“Everything,” Aeron joked.
“You’re ever so helpful,” Twilight said, rolling her eyes before broke into a fit of coughing.
“No problem. But seriously, we’re talking about how idiotic and childish Kata is,” Aeron stated seriously.
“Also, Thomas seems to think that this place may be... alive,” Luna stated uneasily.
“A genius loci?” Twilight asked. “It’s when a building, or a land, or an entire planet has a sentient spirit that controls what happens in that place.”
“Well, that would be interesting,” Aeron tapped a hoof to his chin, “considering the Wasteland feels somewhat like that. Doesn’t take too kindly to what I do, sometimes.”
“Yeah, I have to agree,” Dash added.
That’s when Twilight’s eyes caught sight of Ethan and widened. “Ethan...” she said quietly with a concerned frown.
“Something wrong, Twilight?” Dash asked Twilight, raising a brow.
“Well he’s unconscious and covered in blood,” Twilight replied as she got to her feet and walked over to where Ethan was lying. “On the bright side it looks like you’ve managed to stop the bleeding,” she added while she ran her hand gently over the stallion’s newly scared side.
“Well, it’s time for him to realize he isn’t everything proof, then,” Aeron chuckled.
“It’s this body, it doesn’t have the same resistance as his real one. You can’t exactly blame him for forgetting that,” Twilight retorted.
“I can blame him for whatever. Nothing he can do about it, really. He’s stupid. Maybe if he read a book or two-thousand...” Aeron let his sentence drag on.
“You’d be very surprised,” Twilight replied with a small chuckle.
“Being smart with the usage of guns isn’t what I meant. Intelligence is far more than just the ‘use of something.’” Aeron said as he scratched his forehead with the edge of his hoof.
“I assume it also means being able to see through deception, you don’t seem to have mastered that particular skill,” Twilight informed him with a smirk.
“Deception has nothing to do with this. I see an idiot before me, and it’s clearly him. Nothing else to the argument. Accept or deny it - he’s stupid. I’m sure someone of your caliber would realize this. Especially when you’re sleeping with a goddess,” Aeron stated with a placid look.
Twilight just shook her head and chuckled in response.
“Also, to add insult to injury, I’ve been keeping an eye on all of you. I think I’d notice someone lying or not by the way you move.” Aeron smiled, but barely.
“Sure you would,” Twilight agreed with a sarcastic smirk.
“I don’t need to prove anything. If you think you’re more intelligent than I am, you’re welcome to prove me wrong, but that’s a petty argument we can settle later. Right now, why don’t we press forward and see if we can rest soon?” Aeron asked politely.
“I enjoy how you can be an ass, yet be so polite and sensible,” Twilight said with a chuckle before she turned back to Ethan. Then she bent down and whispered something in his ear. It took a second, and then the stallion’s eyes shot open.
“Anything but that, Sparky!” Ethan shouted, all but jumping into the air with surprise and fright.
“Hrm. So, Kata, you going to tell us what’s up? Or, are we done for now?” Dash asked the air, in hopes of a response.
“Dash, never ask that kind of question!” Thomas told the woman. “It’s just asking for her to put us through something worse.”
“What could be worse than death, really? Torture?” Dash joked.
“God, I was just knocked unconscious, and now there’s someone begging for the sadistic cunt that made that happen to make something worse happen!” Ethan exclaimed.
“Meh, I do wish to know what’s going to happen next. Do we get to rest, or do we aimlessly wander in this place?” Aeron shrugged. “Besides, believing in bad luck like that is stupid.”
“How in the hell did you survive in the wasteland with an attitude like that?” Ethan asked with a raised eyebrow before he grimaced in pain.
“Simple. I used my own devices and didn’t let the world bother me. I saw lots of crap, and I mostly ignored it. Because I didn’t feel like dealing with it. If I was forced to, well, y’know.” Aeron laughed.
“Ever get abducted by aliens?” Ethan asked.
“I saw an alien spacecraft, yes. But, I never bothered with it. Never abducted, to answer your question,” Aeron answered.
“Well I’d avoid snooping around the place, seriously you’d think that being abducted would be interesting, but it really wasn’t, it was kind of boring honestly,” Ethan said with a shake of his head.
“I’m not one for sightseeing. A lot of stuff in the Wasteland is boring. I enjoy information more than the sights of something.” He chuckled.
Are you two quite done? Kata asked suddenly.
“Nah. Let’s talk politics and then religion.Perhaps about our family back in the Mojave,” Aeron answered sarcastically. “Clearly we’re done. Have you not been paying attention?”
I’m not sure which of you two is more impudent, I’m having a hard time deciding, Kata told them.
“Never said I respected him. I just have no other options right now,” Aeron replied.
“Well I’m bored, let’s get going,” Ethan said with a shrug.
“Yeah. Where to?” Dash asked the group.
“Wherever she wants us,” Thomas grumbled.
Now there’s someone with the right attitude! Kata said with a chuckle.
“Fuck off. Just tell us what’s next,” Ethan retorted before Thomas could speak again.
You’re fairly enthusiastic for someone who recently had their stomach torn open, Kata said with a giggle.
“Well I’ve always been a real glutton for punishment,” Ethan said with a shrug. “Now tell us what we’re doing next.”
All I will say is that it will require a great deal of stamina and strength. Another door opened in front of the group, luring them to walk through.
“How refreshingly ambiguous,” Ethan muttered as he started forward with a slight limp.
“You know I do have some hydra to fix that,” Scarlet said.
“Thanks, but no thanks. I don’t do chems,” Ethan replied. “And it’s not because of some sense of moral superiority, it’s because I know what it’s like to be an addict,” he added.
“It’s a good thing I always carry some Fixer for that.”
“This body is temporary. I’ll deal with the pain,” he said from between gritted teeth.
This time Scarlet walked in front of Ethan. “We can’t risk you passing out. Your bleeding has stopped, but any broken bones can cause internal bleeding. You’ll be dead without knowing what hit you.”
“Funny, I thought you didn’t care,” Ethan muttered as he reached out with his magic and grabbed a stimpack from one of the pockets of his duster and stabbed it into the limping leg.
“Well maybe you don’t know me well enough, Ethan. Besides, you do want to have that sparring match right?”
“Of course! I don’t get to spar against people who’re as good as me very often,” Ethan replied with a smile. “It’ll be interesting if nothing else.”
“So will you take the Hydra?”
“Fine,” Ethan said with a roll of his eyes. “But if I get addicted I’m killing you.”
“Then take the Fixer right after,” she said as she slung her bag off her back. She rummaged through it for a bit and pulled out a soda bottle with three sealed glass vials of liquid taped around its middle, each one with a thin rubber tube feeding their contents up to the mouth of the bottle. She also pulled out a small brown bag and open it. Inside the brown bag was an assortment of stimpaks, med-x, super-stimpaks, rad-way, and other medical equipment. She pulled out a hand size blue tin container with the name Fixer written in yellow letters. She set the two items in front of Ethan. “Shake the bottle and drink the whole thing, then take one tablet of the Fixer to ease your mind,” she instructed the unicorn.
Ethan nodded and quickly shook the bottle and then chugged the chem. Then he popped one of the tablets into his mouth and chewed. “This stuff tastes like ass,” he muttered.
“They’re not supposed to taste good, but you’ll get used to the taste after a while. In five minutes you should be good as new,” Scarlet started to put her things away.
“Thanks, Katherine, but I don’t exactly plan on getting used to the taste,” Ethan replied with a shrug.
“Just make sure you don’t do something like that again, Vault Boy. I only have three Hydras left, unless you want bones to be fixed the old fashioned way.”
“Yeah, I’ll just have to sleep them off,” he joked. Scarlet rolled her eyes as she swung her bag on her back. She then started to make her way towards the open door.
“Come on, let’s see what Kata’s got in store for us.”
“Well we can now that you two have finished flirting,” Aeron said with a chuckle.
“I don’t flirt with anyone. I just want to make sure we all get out of this alive, and having one of us crippled doesn't help our odds in survival.”
“Besides, Cassandra would literally castrate me if I flirted with someone,” Ethan said with a shrug.
“Now I’m gonna have nightmares,” Thomas muttered. Luna couldn’t help but snicker at his response.
“Yeah, my wife has that effect on people,” Ethan agreed with a chuckle. “And that’s only the beginning of what she does to raiders,” he added. “You've never seen someone reduce someone to a puddle of limbless piss until you’ve seen Cassie work.”
A pregnant silence fell over the group as they walked towards the next doorway and stepped inside.