//------------------------------// // Chapter 67: Bit by Bit // Story: Bounty Hunters 3: Genesis // by Jasper77W //------------------------------// "BUCKBUCKBUCK-" Rainbow dive-rolled into a corner, Eclipse's massive cannon sending blazing spheres of death across the room at her. They exploded in masses of flame against the floors and walls, sizzling and melting any material it came in contact with. Nightshade swooped in overhead, tossing explosive knives down at Eclipse. The explosions couldn't break her shield, but they did distract her momentarily. "I'm out!" Magnum yelled, dodging to the side as Eclipse threw something at her. That something later turned out to be Octavia. She ditched the rifle, and was now just dodging and weaving through the mess that was the battle. "I'm in." A voice said, the loud and echoey crack of a heavy revolver ringing off the metal walls as Daring Do barged in, throwing a clip at Magnum. Magnum caught it and reloaded, joining Daring and unleashing bullets upon Eclipse. "Keep her pinned!" Rainbow yelled at the pair. "Octavia- shoot me!" "What?" Octavia asked incredulously, getting up from where she was thrown. "Well, close to me. That laser should be able to burn my wound closed, right?" Octavia looked down at her tommy gun. "You crazy?" Then she caught Rainbow's raised eyebrow and rolled her eyes. "Just don't kill yourself." She threw the gun over to her and pulled out a backup weapon. "I'll try not to." Rainbow said with sincerity, pointing the gun at her waist. Red flashed, and she let out a yelp- the gun dropping with a soft clatter. She looked down at her wound, and sighed. Sure, the wound was smoldering with molten flesh now... And was sealing itself... "Hardly surgical." Octavia observed. "Well, it's true I've grown attached to this outfit, but..." Rainbow muttered, looking down to where the black coat fused with her flesh. "Of course, crack a joke or two." Octavia rolled her eyes, picking up her weapon. "She's making a run for the exit!" Magnum yelled, leaping into portal to stop Eclipse from leaving. Nightshade followed, strategically placing down a seemingly infinite amount of explosive knives to hinder Eclipse's progress. "Leaving so soon?" Rainbow growled, taking off and slashing with her cleaver. Eclipse seemed slightly surprised that she was in the fight so soon again. That didn't stop about fifty blades from coming at the rainbow maned pegasus from fifty different directions though. "As if-!" Rainbow yelled, but didn't finish her sentence. She pointed her cleaver behind her and fired, the blast carrying her from the death zone. She leaned forward, the cleaver's momentum sending her down and the blade up straight for Eclipse's face. Eclipse formed an orange beam just before her eyes, the cleaver cutting but not going through. The beam twisted and curled around the cleaver, Eclipse trying to yank it away from Rainbow. Rainbow kicked the blade's trigger, sending it flying down and into a portal Nightshade had slid under them. Rainbow followed, sticking her tongue out at Eclipse as she went. Then something knocked the portal aside, and Eclipse whirled; expecting Rainbow to leap out of the one behind her. But she didn't expect Rainbow to double back through the same portal. Rainbow leapt up and out of the same portal she went into, cleaver slicing through Eclipse's unprepared defenses. Then it embedded itself in the tiny box of a device in Eclipse's back, and Rainbow pulled the trigger. The force sent Rainbow arching backwards, and she landed with the cleaver ready for another shot. Eclipse suddenly fell to the floor, collapsing onto her knees as the floating orange objects around her flickered. She was losing control over her abilities. She turned to fire her incineration rifle at Rainbow, but was bucked in the back by Sweetie Bot's heavy metal hooves. The white and pink death machine clunked forward, railguns pointed downward at Eclipse. This time Eclipse wasn't the one standing arrogantly over everypony else. She was the one on her knees. Sweetie Bot's railguns charged up with malicious green energy, and Eclipse's incineration rifle shifted into the huge cannon again. "LOOK OUT-" Rainbow screamed, leaping forward. Octavia saw her, grabbed a portal, lunged forward, pulled her in with her and rolled onto the ground somewhere else. A second later the portal they went through was destroyed in a huge red and green explosion which took half the room with it. Rainbow would've been liquified if Octavia hadn't stepped in. But where was Octavia? She was lying next to her, her right back hoof sliced off in a clean cut that not even Rainbow's cleaver could inflict. There wasn't any blood- it's as if her hoof simply disappeared. Even the fabric on her pants had been cut in the exact same spot. Didn't stop her from screaming though. "Tavi!" Rainbow scrambled up, about to wrap the wound up- but Octavia stopped her. "Portal wound... It should be fine if you leave it..." She groaned. The wound was slowly oozing blood, but not as much as what could've been. "Go take care of Eclipse! I can handle myself..." She gritted her teeth. Rainbow glanced at the smoke saturated room behind her, looked back to her friend, then went off into the thick black smoke after Octavia gave her a reassuring nod. In the smoke, she didn't like what she found at all. There were bits of Sweetie Bot everywhere, but the important part- the brain- was still nowhere to be found. Magnum was tending to an unconscious Daring, a thin trickle of blood running from her forehead down to her chin. Nightshade had been knocked out too, lying next to the pair. Magnum must've already fixed her up. And Eclipse was nowhere to be found. Rainbow explored more of the room. The center where the explosion occurred was littered with bits of red and black armor- Eclipse must've taken a heavy hit too. Rainbow's strike must've disabled her abilities to some extent that she couldn't conjure a shield anymore. The reinforced concrete floors had been cracked, missing in large chunks. But on one of those chunks was Sweetie Bot's head, eyes a soft flicking green. Rainbow let out a sigh of relief, then froze as she spotted the rest of her body. It had plates and parts missing from all over the place, which included a back leg. But most importantly of all... The wound that had caused her head to fall off wasn't caused by the explosion. The placement of everything was just wrong. The severed neck on the body was still glowing a soft orange- definitely not caused by the explosion. Her head had been cut off. Rainbow's eyes widened, and she immediately launched herself towards where Sweetie Bot had fallen. And the severed head only looked on with a resigned look on its face. An orange claw reached down and clamped around the head, crushing the metal casing and the contents within. "NO!" Rainbow screamed, swinging her cleaver blindly into the smoke. The claw dissipated, dropping the crunched remains and forming a blade to block the swing. The force sent smoke rolling away from the area, revealing Eclipse hiding behind the mist in her dark colored armor. "You BITCH!" Rainbow launched a kick down into her leg, making her stumble. Another one gone! And she was right there- a few seconds- that's all she needed! And Sweetie Belle would still be here! Eclipse recovered surprisingly quickly, despite the state her armor was in. Looks like she can't conjure projectile weapons anymore, so was left with two simple glowing blades attached to her wrists. Her defeat was inevitable. She could see it- and yet, she kept on going. Rainbow had to wonder, as she swung and parried against the black cyberpony; just how much of a life did she have? Was she simply... A machine? Because she didn't care at all. Not even in the face of Rainbow's anger. Rainbow roared, ducking under Eclipse's swing and sidestepping behind her. In one wide slash she cut off her leg, making her fall forward onto her face. And still she flipped around, not a single sound made, and slashed at Rainbow. Rainbow fired a high calibre bullet right into her chest, making the armor over that region splinter and fly away in pieces. Eclipse herself went sliding across the room and into a teleporter. Rainbow looked down in time to find Eclipse sliding through the portal right behind her, and in those red eyes she spotted a brief moment of surprise. But Eclipse's momentum only carried her halfway- from waist down, her body was still trapped across the room in a different portal. She looked down, unable to move because of her severed legs. Then she looked back up, into Rainbow's magenta eyes. They practically burned. Then Rainbow slammed the cleaver straight through the teleporter's frame, busting it. Suddenly the connection with its counterpart severed, and Eclipse was cut in two the same manner Octavia's hoof had gone missing. She fell limp, and just lay there- a half. And still Rainbow wasn't done. She stomped down on her head, screaming obscenities. She didn't stop until the dead body didn't have a face anymore. And yet her cleaver still flashed again and again. She wanted retribution for Sweetie Belle's death. For Applebloom's. for her friend's. for everyone the goddamn Science Faction has taken. Finally she found someone she could properly take that anger out on; but Eclipse still wouldn't give her that. No begging for mercy. No pained cries. No looks of resignation in recognizing defeat. Just... Nothing. A plain face, as if it all didn't even matter. "You- god- bucking- damn- BITCH!" She screamed, emphasizing each word with a kick or a stomp. Then she felt herself being tugged away, kicking and screaming in rage as she batted at her attacker. Octavia pressed her against the wall, pinning her down. "Rainbow! Quit it!" "Let me go! I'm not bucking done yet!" Rainbow yelled, trying to shove Octavia aside. "She's dead! Rainbow- she's already dead! Nothing you do now will change anything!" In a small part of her mind Rainbow knew she was right. But a larger part just wanted her to charge out and rip until there was nothing left. So instead she continued kicking against Octavia. Finally she hit something soft, and Octavia rolled back with a scream. Instead of going after Eclipse's dead body however, Rainbow leapt onto her friend and jammed the twin blades on her cybernetic arm at her throat. The blades made a small cut on the grey earth pony's neck, just enough to see some blood. A bit more pressure and... Rainbow saw her own reflection in those silver blades. Mane and coat stained with thickened and dried blood. One eye wide and wild, while the other cybernetic one glowed a calm malicious red. She traced back to her arm. Her metal arm, the one she had lost. It wasn't even a part of her- she could feel it, sure- but she could also feel that it wasn't a part of her. That part was gone forever. Octavia didn't look at her with blame. There was no anger in those eyes, but there was something worse than all that- disappointment. And Rainbow knew why. Back in the outskirts of the Everfree, she had tried to kill Silver out of sheer anger, out of a desire for revenge. A selfish desire. She had been so angry that everything she had worked for had been lost because of this one pony, she had lost herself. There was nothing she could do to bring her friends back, and yet she still sought to kill Silver even if it would solve nothing. It was the same here and now. She was unable to control her anger, unable to keep it contained and slowly dissipate it. She killed Eclipse, but that wasn't enough for her- she had to mutilate her body, even if it did absolutely nothing. It's not so much that it mattered, because it didn't. But every time she lost herself to something like this, she would truly lose a small bit of herself. And eventually, there would be nothing left. She was in a dream state, lost within her own mind. She didn't hear Octavia whisper in her ear, didn't feel her slowly lift the blades away from her throat. Didn't feel the warmth of the soft hug that was offered shortly after. She only glanced up from Octavia's shoulder. Her friends had gathered in a circle- and yet, nothing was as how it should be. Nopony was playing, laughing, nopony was having fun. They all looked on grimly, smoke and grime wearing away at their colorful coats. Magnum, blue coat blackened by ash. She had lost a number of limbs in that orbital crash landing. Now the metal parts gleamed under the lone surviving light source in the room. Nightshade, the eyepatch a dull black against her gray coat. She died trying to save Rainbow, and sacrificed something that was special to her just to come back and save her again. To give everyone a better chance. Daring, her life of controllable adventure gone. This was survival, and only that. Multiple fresh scars ran over her healthy coat, and even that was losing its strength. And finally, Octavia. Her hoof missing, once again sacrificed to save Rainbow, and killed by a shot through the chest simply because she was trying to save Equestria. And now, two very small cuts slowly let out beads of red on her throat, a wound inflicted by a friend in her blind rage. Everyone was losing a bit of themselves. Not just physically, but mentally. Magnum had lost so much of her relatively cheerful personality since when they first met. Octavia was still a little witty at times, sure- but everyone could tell she was just trying to lift the mood... And so none of it meant anything. And then there was Nightshade- she was basically the same, but eventually... Eventually... Everypony is losing. One bit at a time. Eventually nothing would be left. And everyone would be dead. Rainbow buried her face in Octavia's shoulder, hugging her even closer. A friend that she almost killed, and might've never been able to hold like this again. A feeling she was all too familiar with, and didn't want to live through again. At first there was just a sniffle. Then a whimper. Then the tears. She couldn't see what Octavia was doing, but she could feel her hoof gently stroking her mane as she cried. She heard hoofsteps, soft and careful ones of her friends as they approached and sat down. Rainbow struggled to hold her tears in, to stay strong in front of them, to show that she was reliable after that stunt she pulled- but the tears just kept on coming. And she couldn't do anything about it. As if sensing what she was trying to do, Octavia gently patted her on the back. "It's okay to cry, Rainbow." She said softly. "You try so hard to protect us. And you do. But it doesn't mean you can't show weakness. There's no point in faking it and giving the impression that you're invincible when you're not." "Gee," Rainbow chuckled and sniffed at the same time. "That's reassuring." "No, Rainbow... I'm serious." Octavia gave her neck a soft nuzzle. "Don't pretend and act like you're okay. We know you aren't, and none of us are either. Nopony is invincible. You try to protect us and-" "Yeah, I TRY alright!" Rainbow's sudden outburst startled everypony but Octavia as she held her. "And you don't always succeed. But that's okay, because we know you're still here. You're always so loyal to us, Rainbow..." Octavia let go, and gently lifted Rainbow's chin as if talking to a small child. "But give us a chance to be loyal to you. Give us a chance to help you instead." "But you have!" Rainbow protested, still crying. "You sacrifi-" "Not physically, Rainbow." Octavia shushed her softly. "We protect each other. It's what friends are meant to do. But you're always there sticking it up. Acting like nothing's the matter. Trying not to get hurt, so you can protect us. And we fall. We cry. We have our outbursts. But we don't hold back, Rainbow. We're honest. And you have to be too." She looked into Rainbow's eyes, looking for assurance- but found only uncertainty. Rainbow had hidden her emotions. She had tried to act tough, she really did. But there's a point when something becomes too much. When a mental well overflows. And that point is when you can't tell friend from foe, and you jab serrated knives right for your friend's throat. Rainbow only broke down more, but nodded. Octavia gave a soft smile, and pulled her once more into a hug. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... I... I just wanted... For all of us to be here in the end..." She cried, the past week's buried emotions spilling out. "I wanted some sort of answer for Applebloom... For Sweetie Belle... For everyone...." She sniffed. "I just wanted to be strong... I'm sorry..." A period of silence followed, but then Magnum walked forward and put her arms around the pair. Rainbow looked up in surprise, and the blue earthpony returned a soft smile. Slowly, the others followed too. They joined the group hug, everypony for once mended again. "I... I can feel myself slipping away, Octavia..." Rainbow whimpered. "I... I'm dying..." Octavia was silent for a few seconds. Rainbow looked up, and she said softly: "We all are." Rainbow didn't just see Octavia though. Magnum was here. Daring was here. Nightshade was here. Everypony was here- everypony on the battlefields, everypony already gone. They were all, or had been; where she was now. She was dying, there was no doubt about that. But then again, they all were. * Rainbow sat in an empty holding cell underground. Octavia wanted to take some precautions and keep her here, as she may still be unstable. She understood, so sat here patiently; counting the bars on the cell door over and over again. They thought Eclipse was invincible. But she wasn't, and now that was proved. Nopony was ever invincible- and the same went for Val. "AL?" Rainbow said softly. "I'm here." AL replied in an equally soft tone. Rainbow picked up her folded cleaver. Octavia never had any real intentions of keeping her here. The cell was just to remind her- she could break out anytime she wanted to. She eyed the glimmering red crystal inside the cleaver. Was it fading? Slowly diminishing? She got a mental image of Silver's cleaver. How it shattered so easily. How weak it truly was. She sighed, and looked up at the camera in the corner of the room. "AL... I want you to make some augmentations." "Still more?" AL asked, seemingly surprised. "I saw what happened in that room. A second ago you were crying because you're dying, losing yourself piece by piece; and now you want me to augment you even further?" "Yes." Rainbow nodded firmly. She wasn't doing this because she was fueled by rage. Because she was desperate. No- she was calm, and felt that certainty inside herself ringing from her core. She knew what was right now... What had to be done. She looked up at the camera with more confidence than she had ever mustered, and said: "That's an order." AL didn't reply for a few seconds. Then, very carefully; said: "Are you absolutely certain?" "Yes." Was the reply. Because this one aug wasn't going to make her lose a part of herself. It was going to bind herself with who she truly was together forever.