//------------------------------// // Chapter 59: Sinners // Story: Bounty Hunters 3: Genesis // by Jasper77W //------------------------------// Rainbow sat slumped on the floor and against the bed in the medical tent, a cold bottle of Jack pressed against the bruise on her face. The injury hurt her more on the inside than on the surface, for some reason. Even when she promised to follow them to HQ afterwards, she still saw the expression on Magnum's face. It was a complicated one- but she could swear she detected traces of disappointment, sadness and anger all at the same time as she walked out the tent and left her to herself. Then the drapes parted as Rainbow took a swig from her bottle, Silver Dash walking in. Puffs of steam curled from her muzzle as she breathed, the cold in the air stinging her exposed skin. The dark-matter bomb had partially disabled the shields which kept the cold of the Arctic at bay. Now the frost was slowly leaking into the city. Silver Dash carried in with her a tray, on it some medicine. "Meds say you need to take these. Not sure what they do, but something about 'dissolving the last of them'." Rainbow took in a deep breath and sighed, taking another swig from the bottle and letting the brief warmth roll down her body and travel to her hooves. She knew what the meds meant. Silver set the tray down on the table, picked up the bottle and started tipping it into the little shot glass that came with it. A sickly pink liquid gurgled out and flooded the glass, unappetizing in both look and smell. "Urgh- the hay is this stuff?" Silver scrunched up her nose. "Metal corrosion acid and specially treated antitoxins." Rainbow replied miserably, feeling the warmth slowly slipping out of her body. "You sure you can take this stuff with alcohol?" Silver raised an eyebrow, handing her the glass filled with pink sludge. Then she spotted the tears dripping down Rainbow's face, and saw the shaking in her shoulders- none of which was from the cold. "...what's wrong?" "Silver... Can I ask you a question?" Rainbow asked, taking the glass and downing its contents in one gulp. She struggled to not cough and splutter at the taste. It tasted like... Everything that shouldn't be tasted. "You already have." Silver said, taking the glass away and filling it up again. Clearly the shots made it easier- Rainbow couldn't imagine downing the whole bottle. "But go on." "What were your friends' reactions... When you told them what you did? If you had any friends outside the elements... Or if you told them at all..." Silver tensed, pausing her actions. "Thyme didn't take it very well. We were friends, but that news sort of changed it. I dunno, we're kind of only acquaintances now." That answer was like a bludgeon to Rainbow's weakening heart. After a long moment of silence, Rainbow spoke again. "Did she ever forgive you?" Silver had a sad expression on her face now. Not one Rainbow hadn't seen in the mirror before. "She never did. She just chose to overlook what I had done. Chose to ignore it. But afterwards she didn't trust me anymore- no one did." Silver chuckled sadly. "Barely anyone would talk to me." Rainbow let out a deep breath, her head drooping. She felt her own tears sliding down her face. Warm against her cold skin. "Why?" Silver asked, realizing Rainbow wouldn't have asked that for no reason. Rainbow just shook her head and looked elsewhere, her eyes slightly red and the corners of her mouth trembling. But finally she calmed herself down enough to speak. She opened her mouth, but every time she did so she couldn't help but close it again and let out a few more tears. "Because I did the same thing, Silver." She said finally, her lips trembling. "I killed them. I killed those ponies." * Earlier that day, after the dark-matter bomb detonation. Rainbow lay on the bed inside medical tent 527, staring up at the ceiling with her one functional eye. Bandages were wrapped over her gaping right eye socket, and also wrapped around the stump that was now her right arm. She really did feel part of her was missing- and not just physically. "How're we doin'?" The med that helped her off the Wall pushed aside the drapes, carrying with him a metal suitcase. He placed it down on the table, and opened it. Inside were two implants, one of a red eyeball and the other an arm with a right hand- not a hoof. Then there were various devices inside as well. "Feeling nothing." Rainbow said, which wasn't exactly true. The bandages itched really badly- but there weren't enough to go around for her to keep replacing them. "Alright. I've got the implants all set up, and I just need to quickly check your internals to see if they'll be compatible. Also an operating system chip will have to be installed behind your brain so you can use the implants like you normally would." The medic said, pulling out some scanners from the suitcase and conjuring up a few holographic displays. All was going well up until the blood test. "You're... Infected?" The medic frowned, surprised and rechecking the readings coming from Rainbow's blood sample. "Yeah. Was bitten by a mutation a little more than a week ago." Rainbow said. "But I get to control when it happens, and I can reverse the mutation effect myself." "This is odd... It's a different strain...." The medic muttered to himself. "The mutated here all have the ZDA6 strain of the virus.... But this... This is a ZDA2!" He raised an eyebrow. "Prototype type two virus." "You sure there aren't any other mutated out there with my strain?" Rainbow frowned, tilting her head slightly. "I've never actually seen ZDA2 myself before, and I doubt anyone has." The medic enlarged the microscopic image of Rainbow's blood sample. "It's only been archived before. I heard the strain was wiped out by Val after its victims... Yeah... After its victims could control the effects themselves..." He zoomed in a bit more, then froze at the sight of something on the screen. "What's wrong?" Rainbow asked, alarm in her voice. Suddenly the medic pulled out a pistol and aimed it right between her eyes. "GET UP!! GET UP NOW!!" The medic yelled, then activated his mic. "K company, do you read? Quarantine sector Delta immediately and surround medical tent 527! NOW! WE HAVE A CONFIRMED CODE RED!" "Whoa whoa! What's going on-" Rainbow started, getting off her bed. "FRONT HOOVES IN THE AIR AND STAY WHERE YOU ARE!!" The medic yelled, and Rainbow raised her remaining front hoof. "527, we copy. Quarantine shield is in place. Safe to enter?" Came the radio reply. "Confirm." The medic replied, still holding Rainbow at gunpoint. Suddenly three ponies in full hazmat suits busted into the room, one holding some equipment while the other two had fully loaded automatic rifles. All of which were aimed at Rainbow. One of the ponies with the rifles marched forward, her face shielded by a gas mask. "WHO ARE YOU? WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?" She yelled. "Rainbow Dash! I came from an abandoned mission from Manehatten!" Rainbow said hurriedly, not knowing what to do. The pony with the equipment finished setting it up. Looks like some sort of... Bomb...? "Detonate it- NOW!" The medic yelled. "WHAT!? NO! WAIT!" Rainbow screamed. Too late. The bomb exploded in a wave of electricity, the wave sweeping across everything within the tent and outside of it. It only stopped at a magical energy shield cast up by unicorns, effectively EMPing the entire delta sector and frying all electronics in the area. Lights flickered and went off, HUDs deactivated and control panels shut off. Holographic displays withered and died, and the entire sector plunged into a state of silence. Rainbow kept her hoof raised, not daring to move an inch in case the ponies opened fire. "Get the scanner in here." One of the ponies yelled. A second later a stallion walked in, and another minute passed as he scanned the entire area. Finally he looked up. "We're clear. No electronic signatures detected, and that's triply confirmed. Everything in the area has been effectively fried." The ponies seemed to let out a sigh of relief. "Get that metal detector and scan her." The medic said, putting the pistol away. "If you boys could please excuse us ladies." One of the ponies in a hazmat suit approached Rainbow, and the stallions scowled and walked out of the tent. "Alright missy, I'm gonna have to ask you to take your clothes off." "Er... Why again?" Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "To stop foreign interferences." The pony said, and already she was stripping Rainbow of her bounty hunters clothes. Feels kinda nice to be the less dominant one for once- okay, that's one train of thought to be derailed. "I'll also need a blood sample." The pony said, and before Rainbow could react she had already stabbed a needle into her arm. A good few milliliters of blood flooded into the cylinder, and she took it away. She brought out a small disk like object then brushed it over Rainbow's shoulder, the device at first not beeping at all but then almost sounding louder than a siren by the time it reached Rainbow's head. "Holy Celestia- how much metal do you have in you!?" The pony exclaimed, putting the blood sample into the device and scanning the findings. "Well they did call me a mare of steel." Rainbow muttered. * Present time. "Then they told me what the readings meant." Rainbow said to Silver, still a bit shaken. Silver listened patiently, sitting on the wooden table. "Val had played me all along. She was just fooling around- up until now she hadn't even made a proper move. The ponies in Haven... I led her straight to them. I gave everyone away. I endangered the whole lot of you. Everyone." "Wait, what? What are you on about?" Silver frowned. Rainbow looked up. "Nano-bots, Silver! Before I met you I got injected... I should've known... ZDA2 was already in my bloodstream from the previous reality, I had that ability all along. Then the other creature gave me ZDA6, but the previous strain fought on my side and repelled the virus. But Val wasn't just using the mutated as something to keep survivors at bay- they have nano-bots in them. She tracks them, sees what they see- hears what they hear. She used the mutated as scouts for the surface! That's how she knew where we were even after the barricade went down! The surface was her bucking playground! Anyway... Some of the nano-bots got into my body. She viewed the ZDA2 as a threat, as an advantage I could use. So she started using the bots to not only track me, but to destroy the virus inside as well. That's why I didn't heal. The ZDA2 could've healed my wounds, but it didn't because Val's army of nano-bots in my body had already been eating away at it. I can still transform, but I can't heal anymore." Silver looked down. Of course she was the one who Rainbow was telling this to. And the questions she asked earlier made much more sense now- she was worried she had betrayed all her friends that had died. She was the one that gave away Applebloom's position. Possibly she was the one who killed Nightshade. And now she just killed a few thousand ponies with that dark-matter bomb. Val already knew where Haven was. That's how she was staying one step ahead this whole time. She couldn't have hoped for a better host for the nano-bots to infest other than Rainbow, who would obviously know every plan with every detail. After the EMP, there was just a bunch of dead nano-bots in Rainbow's body, and that's what the pink sludge was for. Breaks down the bots and flushes them out of her blood stream. "Silver... I'm... I'm really sorry." Rainbow stuttered. "Why?" Silver seemed to be asking that one question a lot recently. "Because of what I did to you." Rainbow pointed at the stumps where Silver's wings should've been. "I deserved it and you know it. I know it." Silver said, not really willing to discuss this topic any further. "You.... Betrayed them. That should've been enough punishment already. Because I know now, they weren't just MY friends. They were YOURS too, and you lost them because of a harsh decision. The guilt alone should've been adequate punishment. I understand that now. And I just went ahead and ripped away from you what made you unique." Rainbow sighed, taking another swig from her bottle. "I feel like a real bitch right now." Silver only looked away, hiding a tear of her own. The loss of her wings had been devastating. But it was something she could easily live with after what she had done to those that trusted her. Then she felt a weak warmth close around her body as Rainbow pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry." Rainbow cried into her shoulder, holding her close. To her, not a world of apologies could've made her forgive herself. But she continued anyway. "I am so, so sorry..." Slowly and hesitantly, she felt Silver hug her back. Then she felt the tears seeping through her black coat. Silver was crying too. Rainbow thought back to the fight that had resulted in her tearing off Silver's wings. Silver had defended herself with the intention of killing her if necessary. But now, she realized- it was all in self defense. She must've already lived through fights like these, perhaps with Thyme. Perhaps with some of her other friends. She was just defending what little of herself remained, trying to hide herself from the guilt by acting like what she did was right. Was acceptable. But she knew it wasn't. And she thought she'd never be forgiven for it. No matter how much she'd be understood, she'd never be forgiven. And she had to live with that thought. In a way, Silver was weak. Frail. Easily swayed. Maybe she wasn't before, but she was now. And she needed somepony to guide her back to who she was before. She needed a friend, one that could still trust in her like a friend would. And all Rainbow did was tear off her wings, the exact opposite of what this poor and battered soul needed. Maybe wounds will never mend. Some things will stay unfixed, never healing. Missing gaps stay unfilled. But relationships... Relationships can be fixed. They can heal till the barest cracks were gone. No matter what things may have occurred in between, no matter what things will never ever be the same... Friends, new and old... Don't change. Even if they do, they can go back to how they were. It just takes time- and willingness from both parties- but eventually it'll always heal. Misunderstandings can be clarified. Mistakes can be forgiven- with time. Sometimes you can make friends with the most unexpected people. Maybe they can be your enemies. Making enemies friends was something Rainbow knew all too well- Discord, Nightmare Moon, Blithy, Neon. And many others too, ones she fought against and never expected to stand by her side. And here she was, feeling guilt nagging at her heart for taking revenge on the one pony that ruined everything, the one pony she hated perhaps even beyond Val- the slaughterer of millions. Herself. She held Silver in her arms, not sure how it would help her redeem herself. Silver was hugging her back, in a state of sadness that could not be clearly defined. Finally Rainbow let go, giving her a sad smile. "Don't ever tell me you're sorry for what you did again." Silver said, giving Rainbow a pat on the shoulder. Her own eyes were wet. "I'm not going to let anyone else apologize to me for something that I'm not even sorry about myself. It makes no sense." Rainbow nodded, seeing the logic in her argument. But she was sorry, regardless. "And I want you to know, you didn't kill those ponies. You're different from me. You didn't know you had those nano-bots in your blood stream. You didn't choose to betray them, but I did. I made the choice you would've never made." Silver looked at her sadly. "It's Val's fault that these ponies are dead. She killed them, and merely used you to give them away. But they're out of your system now, you're free." What she didn't say was, 'and I'm not, and never will be again'. Even though she didn't say it, Rainbow already knew she was going to. After all, who knows oneself better than oneself? "You'll be free too, one day. I promise." Rainbow gave her the most empathetic smile she could muster. "Once this is all over. Maybe we can find a bar or something. Hit a few bottles. Just one crazy night, forget everything, even if it's just for a moment. Once this is all over." She handed her bottle of Jack over. Silver took it and took a gulp out of the bottle, letting the liquid run down her throat. She gave the bottle back. "Sorry. Really need to get back to HQ." She shook her head at something, then turned to leave. "Silver-" She stopped, pausing halfway through the drapes. "I just want you to know that... I know I'm in no place to say something like this at all. But I forgive you. Because I finally understand." Rainbow said. Maybe the wound will never be healed. But it can always be ignored and put aside. "Because I know it's what they would've wanted me to do. They may be angry at you, curse at you. But in the end they're still your friends. And they'll always love you." Silver took a moment to let the words sink in as she stood before the drapes of the tent. Rainbow could see her eyes watering again as she took a look back. Then she sighed and looked up at the ceiling, and walked out. Rainbow felt a cold gust of air flood into the tent from outside as Silver left. She sighed, a curl of steam rolling out from her mouth. Mixing what remained of her 'medicine' with the bottle of Jack, she quickly gulped the mixture down and stood up. No time to be just sitting around. There was a war out there. Ponies, most of them innocent- were dying. If she stayed here, battered and broken, unable to get back up- that would've been what Val had wanted. And that's not how it's going to work at all. She may have reached her best. She may have reached her limits of what she can do. But it doesn't mean she should stop doing it- now, everything counts. Now, of all times, was the worst time to go down crying. She put down the empty bottle, and pushed the drapes of her tent aside. She felt the cold air sting her face, the warmth of the tent fading away almost instantly. It had started snowing out here too, adding to the grayness of what remained of Haven. In this new world of dull colors, maybe all it needed was a bit of rainbow. Now wasn't the time to be modest- now was the time to take charge and do whatever had to be done. She strode through the rows of tents, halting before the blue command tent. The guards recognized her and let her through, watching with curiosity as she rammed the drapes aside. "Well look who made it." Magnum muttered, holding an icepack against her face. Octavia shot her a poisoned look, which she returned. Rainbow just went ahead and pulled the both of them into a big hug without warning. "Sorry, guys. Should've been here earlier." Magnum took a while to respond, while Octavia simply couldn't since her muzzle was buried into Rainbow's shoulder by force. "Missed you." She muttered, showing a face full of relieved anger. "Missed you guys too." Rainbow grinned, letting go and approaching the table in the middle of the tent. She rubbed her hooves together. Work time. "So what's the situation?" Silver didn't doubt Rainbow's sudden urge to help for even a moment. She knew what happened, so she jumped right in. Not a second to waste. "Our troops are all pinned inside Haven, and we don't have enough forces to push through or past the Wall. Even our troops on the Wall are slowly running out- they're wearing us down. Now, from our last long range communication before the dishes got obliterated- we know reinforcements are on their way. But we just don't know how long." "So we have to hold them off for as long as possible." Rainbow reasoned. "Until they get here." "And if our troops stay on the Wall, we'll be dead in about forty-eight hours." Daring noted. "Therefore we need to come up with a plan to hold them off longer." Rainbow said. "And the only way is inside." "But the Wall is our best line of defense, without it Haven is more vulnerable than ever. It's like leaving the front gates open." Scootaloo said. "And that's where Applebloom's big ambitious project comes in." Rainbow said, playing around with a few holographic displays. "I know it hasn't been thoroughly tested, and some parts of it isn't even complete yet." "So far it's only been used for emergency storage, and we didn't think we needed those. But you can't possibly be suggesting we...?" "Go in there and we would be trapped like rats in a cage!" "But aren't we already?" Rainbow asked rhetorically. That silenced them. "Applebloom may have left us, but she also left us a little something behind. It's time to take this battle to home turf- to someplace where even if they invade, we'll have the advantage." She enlarged the display's image, zooming in on the area below Haven. "It's time to retreat to the Tunnels."