Chapter 5
One Week Later:
Sunset Shimmer rolled over in her sleeping bag, groaning as she awoke from her slumber. Reluctantly, she forced open her eyes to see the blue sky was still cloudless. It was near dawn, the sun’s light making one side of the sky blue, and the other dark.
She begrudgingly pulled herself from sleep, and climbed out of her sleeping bag. Sunset stretched her arms and legs, blinking several times to get the sleep out of her. They were still situated on the cliff, looking out towards the citadel. She picked up her M9, which had been lying next to her as she slept.
Holstering it, she rolled up the sleeping bag and tossed it into the passenger side of her Mustang. She felt especially anxious this morning. With the upcoming heist that was to take place today, every little thing had to be ready. If it wasn’t, she and Thunder Bolt could kiss their asses goodbye.
So, yeah.
No pressure.
After closing the car door, she looked up to see Thunder Bolt sitting lazily on the hood of his Charger. He was scoping out the citadel with his rifle. He let out a yawn, and brought his eye back to the scope.
“Sleep well?” Sunset asked, cracking a smirk. Of course the military-man would be the one to be up first.
Thunder glanced at her, not startled at the sudden invasion on his thoughts. “Mmm, yeah. I was just taking a look the citadel before we moved on it.”
“Mmm… alright.” Sunset glanced back the Volkswagen still parked a ways from the Charger and Mustang. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Slash was still handcuffed to the bumper of the Beetle. He was still asleep, wrapped up in his own sleeping bag.
“I think I’ll go wake up Slash.” She said, turning to do just that.
She walked over to the Slash, who was snoring very loudly. One could only imagine how long it had taken him to fall asleep like that. She lightly tapped his face with her boot, and he woke up with a snort.
“Grah! Ah, what?” Slash glanced around, only to look up and see Sunset looking down at him.
“Wake up, sleepy head. We’ve got work to do.” She knelt down and grabbed the handcuff keys from her pocket. Sunset brought them to the hole of the cuffs, putting the key in and unlocking them.
As soon as she did that, Slash quickly removed the cuffs. He cringed at his wrists, which had red indents on his skin from having them on for a night. He was surprised they weren’t bleeding.
Sunset however, paid no mind as she was already walking back to her car to get some food before the heist. She glanced at Thunder. “Did you already eat?”
He turned his head towards her, and nodded. “Yeah, don’t worry. I’m good.”
She checked the storage space of the Mustang, to get a bite to eat. As she was about to get an MRE, she felt something brush up against her boot. It was very subtle, but she felt it. Looking down, she spied a two-headed lizard sitting right between her legs. “Hey there little guy.” She cooed, as she knelt down ever so slightly.
In one quick motion, she grabbed the lizard from the dusty ground. The creature wriggled in her hand in a futile effort to escape. “Sorry little guy,” Sunset said. “But it looks like you’re gonna be my breakfast.”
She quickly bit down onto both of the lizard’s heads, snapping them. With the small animal dead, she proceeded to much down on the fresh meat. It wasn’t the most appetizing thing in the world. But food was food. She had learned that a long time ago. So even if it wasn’t that tasty, it would help her survive in the long run.
As soon as she finished, she looked over her shoulder just in time to Slash rolling up his sleeping bag. But as she looked at him, she remembered about Jawsnapper.
“Hey, did you remember to feed Jaw?” Sunset asked. She was talking to Thunder.
His eyebrows shifted upwards in realization. That’s right, Jaw did still need food for the morning. He slid himself off the hood of the Charger, and got right to work.
Sunset smirked in amusement. That was always his answer to ‘Thunder, did you do this?’ If the answer was no, he would always just get up and do the job. Never speaking a word.
Slash made his way next to the Mustang, where Sunset was standing. “Where should I put my bag?” He inquired.
She pointed a thumb at the Mustang. He got the message as she opened the door for him. He tossed the bag inside. Neither spoke another word to each other. They weren’t really on speaking terms after Sunset had held a knife up to Slash’s neck.
But, Sunset realized, they would need to be on speaking terms if the robbery was going to be a success. They couldn’t just make hand motions to each the whole time, now could they? She needed to get Slash to be able to talk to her comfortably. But she had to apologize first. That would be the hard part.
In all honesty, she felt she was justified in her actions. Therefore, she shouldn’t have to apologize for defending herself and Thunder. But Slash was a stubborn fellow, and an apology was probably the only way to fix the lack of words between them.
With nothing to lose, she summoned the courage to at least say something to him.
“Hey, Slash.” She beckoned. The warboy turned his head to glance at her. He had one eyebrow raised, wondering what she wanted to say. Here we go. Sunset thought. She walked up to him, hoping that she get this right.
“Okay, so you remember… when I put… a knife to… your throat?” She highly doubted he would forget that, but she had no better way to start the conversation.
“Yeah?” He answered. There was annoyance in his voice, like he didn’t want to remember that. Sunset didn’t blame him.
“Well, I wanted to apologize… for that.” She begged whatever
God was still around to allow Slash to accept her amends.
He just blinked a couple of times, but then his blank look shifted into one that was annoyed. “Good god Sunset, you don’t need to apologize.” He sounded like he was annoyed at the fact that Sunset just apologized to him.
“Why are you saying sorry for something completely justified? That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.” With that he turned and walked away to get something to eat.
Sunset was… well… confused. Really confused. Why did Slash get annoyed when she tried to make amends with him , but then say her actions were justified. He seemed to be one of those guys that got miffed at the smallest things.
Maybe he had thought about what she did over the weekend, realized what that was only trying to intimidate him, and shrugged it off. If that were the case, then apologizing for that in his mind would be a dumb thing to do. Interesting.
“So, we’re good?” Sunset wanted to make sure that they on friendly terms.
With an audible groan, Slash looked up from his MRE. “Yeah, we’re good.” He resumed eating. Sunset sighed in satisfaction. If he said they were good, then they were good.
***
“Okay, so we all understand the plan to the letter, right?” Sunset looked between her friend and the warboy.
“Yep.” The two said in unision. It was about noon time. The three of them had spent the whole morning preparing everything. Thunder had cleaned and loaded the M-60, and attached his rifle scope to the machine gun. He had also made sure his Sako 85 and Auto Mag were in good condition. Slash and Sunset had gone over every little thing that they would say when inside the citadel, so there would be no surprises.
This was going to be difficult. None of them would deny that. But if… no… when they pulled through, the gain would be well worth the pain. The three of them set out towards their vehicles. Sunset Slash went for the Beatle, and Thunder got in his Charger.
“Here, put these on on.” Slash passed a pair of handcuffs to Sunset, who immediately put them on. “So, once we’re inside, and close enough to the guzzoline, I’ll uncuff you and give you the shotgun.” He reminded himself.
“Right.” Sunset confirmed, her hands bound by the cuffs.
With a roar of the engine the Beetle set out to its destination, the Charger following close behind. So many thoughts were reeling through Slash’s head. They were doing it, they were actually going to steal guzzoline from the Immortan. Slash never, not in a million years, thought that this day would come. That is, until he had met Sunset and Thunder at Bartertown on one of his solo patrols. The deal, at first, had been quite shaky, neither the wanderers nor the warboy sure that they could trust each other. But over this past week, the trust had been built exponentially.
No matter what, they would get through this. Together. Sunset and Thunder would have their gas, and Slash would have the freedom he had wanted ever since Sombra declared himself Immortan.
He was suddenly pulled from his thoughts as he and Sunset approached the gate. He played it cool, and relaxed his breathing. You’re escorting a prisoner. He thought. You’re just taking a prisoner to the holding cages. He rolled up to the giant doors, the car lurching slightly as it came to a halt.
“Slash, good to see you again.” A gatekeeper greeted as he stepped forward to speak to the warboy. “Another prisoner?” He asked stepping up to the door window.
“Yes.” Slash confirmed. “Not fit to be a wife, but she may serve a purpose yet.” He replied as he glanced back at his ‘prisoner’. Sunset just played along, keeping a defeated scowl on her face.
“Mm.” The gatekeeper looked inside the car, and then glanced at the rear platform of the Beetle. He was looking for something. “Where’s Jawsnapper?” He inquired.
Slash had seen this coming, and therefore was prepared for the question. He put his best sorrowful frown. “He… well… didn’t make it.” He paused to let his words sink.
“I see…” The gatekeeper replied, his face shifted to one of grief. “May he ride shiny and chrome on the road to Valhalla.” He meshed his fingers together as he said those words. He then held his interlocked hands above his head. Slash did the same.
“Indeed.” Slash replied in fake grieving. The gatekeeper backed up from the car, and glanced upwards to the sentries posted along the wall.
“Let him through!” He shouted. Promptly, the giant doors creaked open, allowing entry for the vehicle. The Beetle’s engine groaned as it moved inside the walls of the citadel.
No sooner had the vehicle entered, the gatekeeper received a bullet to the head. His body fell to the ground. The sentries posted on the wall… well… were in shock. Another sentry’s head was knocked back by another bullet. His body tumbled over the side of the wall, landing on the sand with a hard pomf. The rest were knocked from their stupor as multiple bullets landed on the metal wall, making loud pings and pangs. The men dove down for cover as lead soared overhead.
One brave sentry peeked over the wall, and immediately saw the source of the attack. A single car, maybe a quarter mile away, was firing at the wall.
“There!” The sentry shouted, pointing. “The attacker is over there- GUH!” He as well was shot in the head, brains splattered all over the ledge he was lying on. His body fell limp on the platform.
But the others had seen the car too, and took the appropriate actions. “Sound the alarm!” The sentry captain shouted, safely behind the wall. “Send out the pursuit vehicles!”
One of the sentries, in a fit of rage, grabbed an AK-47 from the weapons cache behind the wall. He climbed to the top of the sentry platform. “I’ll get the bastard!” He yelled out. Despite direct orders from the captain to not, he un-shouldered his rifle. Cocking the weapon, he aimed down the sights and started firing wildly.
The AK-47 made a steady KRA-KA-KA-KA-KA-KA-KA-KA!!!
The guard’s blind rage kept him from thinking properly, resulting in two projectiles pounding his chest. The force of the impact tossed him of the platform.
“AAARRRGGGHHHHHH!!!” He shouted helplessly, his neck snapping as he impacted the ground.
“Dammit! Somebody get the pursuit vehicles!” The captain shouted.
A sentry ran to him. “I’ll go sir!” He volunteered.
“Go, go!” The captain ordered. He didn’t even have finish, as the guard was already running to the garage.
***
Thunder kept up a straight face, making sure to fire the machine gun in short bursts. They only had fifty rounds, so conservation was essential. He had the gun propped up on the hood of his Charger, the bipod unfolded and providing stability for his shooting. He glanced down at the belt. He had used about fifteen rounds. Forty-five left.
He looked down the scope, the same scope from the Sako 85, refitted onto the M-60. Thunder had certainly started a panic. If that one guy shooting the automatic rifle was any indication. If he really had started a panic, which he certainly would’ve, he should be getting into the Charger and starting the engine. Now.
Without a second thought, Thunder wrapped the remaining bullets around the machine gun. He threw open the passenger door, and placed the machine gun inside the space. He did it quickly, but carefully. The seller of the M-60 said that it dated back to the Vietnam War, and that extra care was needed when handling it.
Slamming the door shut, he dashed behind and around the car. Thunder opened up the driver’s door, got in, and started the engine. Then he closed the door.
Alright, now all he had to do was wait for the pursuit vehicles to come after him.
***
Slash guided the Beetle into the garage, heading back to the same spot it had always been parked in. He had heard the pops and snaps of Thunder’s machine gun pounding the walls, so he and Sunset had to move fast. As soon as he parked in the designated space for the vehicle, he grabbed the Model 97 and M1911 hastily. He shoved open the door and quickly rushed to get Sunset out of the vehicle.
“Get out!” He shouted at her, both as part of the act and because he knew Thunder could only hold out for so long. He might’ve been a marine, but that didn’t mean he was invincible.
Sunset obeyed, looking down the not-so-soft end of the shotgun. She stepped out getting a hard shove from Slash. She glanced back in annoyance, doing her best to remember this was all an act. The two went forward towards the back of the garage. None of the mechanics seemed to pay any mind, they thought it was just another prisoner.
Slash continued to hold the weapon up against Sunsets head… but kept his finger off the trigger. No need for any messy accidents. The two reached the rear of the garage. Weird, Slash thought, glancing around for a moment. Normally Petrol would’ve stopped welding or fixing or repairing or doing whatever he was doing, and stopped to say hello. Slash hadn’t even seen him. I mean, he was pretty hard to miss, with the prosthetic leg. But he brushed away the thought from his head. He had work to do.
He momentarily let the shotgun drop to his side, and bent around Sunset to knock on the submarine door.
The metal plate slid, revealing the same pair of eyes that had met Twilight one week ago. They squinted. “Slash? Arrived back on time I see.” The eyes said sarcastically.
“Save it, I have a prisoner here. She ain’t wife material, but she can serve other purposes.” Slash explained his catch to the eyes. They looked Sunset up and down through the rectangular slit of the door.
“Mm…” The man behind the door seemed to agree. He glanced back at Slash.
“Where is young Jawsnapper?” He inquired, squinting more than Slash thought was possible. He made sure to put on a sorrowful face.
“He… is riding shiny and chrome to the gates of Valhalla as we speak.” He explained. Slash lowered his eyes to reinforce his ‘sorrow’.
“I see… I’m sorry to hear of this.” The eyes looked down apologetically. However, they swiped back up to look at Slash. “Go on, take her inside to the cages.”
Slash nodded and put the shotgun back up to Sunsets head. The door creaked open. “Move.” He ordered forcing, pressing the gun to her head slightly. Sunset quickly obeyed and walked inside. She didn’t bother to look back to see what the man looked like, as Slash ‘forced’ her down the hall.
After a ways of walking through the tunnels, the two finally came to the elevator made of the hot air balloon basket. The two entered and Slash tugged on one of the ropes twice. Almost immediately, the basket was hoisted up. As it rose, Slash glanced at Sunset.
“Alright, when we get close to the gas, I’ll uncuff you. Then you’ll get the shotgun.” He sighed in contentment with that plan.
“Sounds good.” Sunset said quietly. The basket came to a slow stop at the only other floor in the entire plateau. Sunset, not seeing anyone else around, Sunset opened the gate on the basket despite having cuffs on her hands. Slash let her do so.
However, once they were in the rocky hall again, Slash put the shotgun up against her head again. Of course, he still had his finger off the trigger. The hall split two different directions, left and right from the exit of the elevator. They went left, which was fortunately the direction that both gas and prisoners were kept. Even better was the fact that the gas was closer closer to them then the prison cells, which made the task so much easier.
The duo continued down the hall. However, they ran by the giant safe door.
The same safe that was holding Twilight, Midnight, Violet, and Breeze.
The two passed by it without a second thought.
They kept going for a while, before Slash stopped Sunset. He pulled her to side of the hall. He whipped out the keys from his pocket. Quickly he unlocked the restraints on Sunsets hands. Boy, Sunset thought, did it feel good to have those off her. She gave her wrists a good twist to loosen them out. She grabbed the shotgun from Slash, checking to make sure it was in proper condition. She looked to the warboy with a purpose.
“Let’s book it.” She chided. Slash nodded in agreement as he drew his M1911. They looked back at the rest of the ways they had to go. Immediately, they ran down the rest of the hall to the gas storage room.
***
Immortan Sombra sat in his throne, waiting for something that required his attention. Most days nothing would happen. Which was unfortunate for him, as he enjoyed the thrill of conquering his enemies with all of warboys and resources at his disposal. But as it turned out, nothing else exciting had happened in the last week.
Of course, there was his new wife Twilight Sparkle. She was quite beautiful. But the downside was that his ‘quality time’ day with his wives had not come yet. He had to put an unbearable amount of restraint on his desires in order to keep up the image of basically being a god to his warboys.
BING-BONG!!!
The sudden assault on his ears knocked Sombra from his thoughts as he realized someone was trying to communicate with him.
“Who goes there?!?!” He shouted into the microphone, situated right next to his throne.
“The Great and Powerful Immortan Sombra, it is I, Frenzy.” He sounded panicked. Sombra took note of this.
“State your business!” He commanded.
“Immortan, the citadel is under attack!” He shouted through the speaker.
Wait… what?
WHAT!?!?
“Who would dare attack the citadel of Immortan Sombra!?” He asked loudly into the receiver of the microphone.
“I, I don’t know. But we’ve sent pursuit vehicles out to capture the transgressor. We should have him in a moment, sir!” The sentry, the same one that had volunteered to get the pursuit vehicles, hoped this would be enough to satisfy the Immortan’s bloodlust.
Sombra put a hand to chin and rubbed it for a moment, thinking of what to do next. He turned back to the microphone. “Update me every ten minutes.” His order was unusually calm. It took a second for the Frenzy to process it.
“Y-yes sir!” He said.
Sombra heard no more from the sentry. He turned to one his guards on the right. “Take another man, get my wives, and bring them to me here.” He commanded.
The guard immediately turned to him and saluted. “Yes, Immortan Sombra!” The guard did an about-face and took another man, as Sombra ordered, to the wives’ safe.
***
Slash knelt down in front of the lock, looking at it in confuzzlement. Sunset was right right behind him. She kept her shotgun up and primed, ready to blast away any guards that came their way.
“Let’s see…” He mumbled, working the lock carefully in his hands. “Three left, two right, eleven right.” The warboy yanked on the lock. It unlocked with an audible chunk. Slash released a satisfied grunt, and pulled open the wooden door. It’s handle had been replaced by the lock.
Slash opened up the door, and tapped Sunset’s shoulder to follow. She shouldered the shotgun and ran inside, right behind Slash. As she entered, well, she swore in her mind that she could hear the choir of angels singing a song of praise to… whatever God still cared for this world anymore.
The space was quite large, it went up about two stories. It was about as long as two buses. On every rack was gallons upon gallons upon gallons… upon gallons of guzzoline. Sunset had never seen so much gas in her life.
And it was all for the taking.
However, Sunset forced herself out of her stupor. “Okay, get what you can.” She ordered Slash. He nodded, and set off to do just that. Sunsets eyes swept over the space before finding two bags, big enough to carry two gas containers each. She set her Model 97 down, before grabbing the bags. She ran up to the nearest shelf and grabbed two containers of gas. She picked up one of the bags by one strap, and put the two containers in the bag separately.
She repeated for the other bag and two more containers.
She heaved one bag across her shoulder, and the other across the other shoulder. Damn, these were heavy. No doubt about it. But pushing through and getting what had to be done, done, would be its own reward. She ran back to the entrance, where she saw Slash waiting. And boy, did he have quite a load.
He carried two poles across his shoulders, both poles holding six containers, . Twelve containers in all. Slash was visibly struggling under the weight.
“Alright, you good?” Sunset asked. Slash grunted, which sounded like a yes. Sunset raised an eyebrow. “You sure?” Slash nodded his head rapidly. She left it at that. They hardly had time to argue over how much Slash could lift. Sunset just hoped that he knew his limit.
Sunset kicked open the door and walked through, pointing her gun left then right. Sunset glanced behind her to make Slash was good. He was. With that confirmation, she dashed the hall to the right, Slash was right behind her. They kept a steady pace, put that proved difficult due to the four containers weighing her down. And Slash was carrying three times more than she was. Good thing he was so strong.
Just when she thought they were home free, Sunset saw the the thing that she needed to be seeing. Two guards, armed with machine guns, were transporting four women down the hall. They had their backs to them, but as Sunset came to a halt, the sound scraping gravel and dirt caused one guard to glance back. He saw it all, the two holding an insurmountable amount of guzzoline. Far more than the amount that was allowed to be taken at a time.
He quickly turned and shouted for them to halt, but Sunset was quicker on the draw. Her shotgun flew up to meet her face as she took aim
BLAM!!!
Chak-chak
BLAM!!!
Chak-chak
Both guards were knocked to the ground. Sunset looked up at the women, who had terrified looks on their faces. All but one, she had an expression of stark shock. It was one that Sunset recognized, but didn’t believe was there. She lowered her shotgun, ever so slightly. Enough so that Sunset could get a good look at the woman.
She looked exactly like Twilight Sparkle. But… at the same time… it couldn’t be Twilight.
Twilight Sparkle was dead.
At least, last time Sunset checked.