Haylo: Crimson

by Zarius9998

Storm's a'comin...

"Oi..." I stated dumbly, taking her outstretched hoof to help me up.

"Have a nice fall?" she asked, snickering at her cheesy little joke. I shook my head no, rolling my eyes behind my visor, "Yeah, you hit pretty damn hard!" she said, indicating the rock plateau I had landed on...well, she explained that it was a plateau anyway...when I woke up all I saw was a bunch of rocks.

She grabbed my hoof suddenly and started dragging me along, "Alright, no time to waste! Let's go get our buddies and head to that Factory-thing!"

I eventually wrenched my hoof away from hers, yet continued to follow the impulsive mare, while simultaneously activating the Waypoint tracking system on my HUD. Apparently, we were heading towards Ryan first, seeing as his stark white Waypoint waypoint was directly in front of us and it's distance counter was slowly dropping. He was actually pretty close, only 200 meters.

"H...ey...hey! Hey-ey!...G...s!"

Ghosts's voice scratched over the radio...it sounded like there was some kind of interference. We figured it was the storm that passed.

"My equip...nt i...ac..........eird."

"Ghost...kinda can't tell what you're saying..." Artemis responded, picking-up her pace, "Just stay where you are, the Squirt and I are on the way. We'll get your sister after we reach you!"

"I..."

The connection was completely lost after that. That storm was really messing with his stuff...it's odd. Maybe there was more to that storm than what we first thought...so we continued to Ghost's waypoint for a few more minutes, hoping we didn't run into any hostiles since we had yet to retrieve our own equipment and weapons. Soon enough, we broke into a clearing to see the techie himself whack some kind of radio set with a wrench.

"C'mon! Work damnit!" he turned suddenly, wrench raised and ready to attack, but then lowered it upon seeing it was us and laughed, "Geeze, scared the shit outta me."

I nodded to him while Artemis shrugged, walking over to his apparently malfunctioning radio set-up, "So what's wrong with the comms?" she asked bluntly.

Ghost, shaking his head in self-disappointment, slowly turned to the mare and answered sadly, "I...have no fucking clue...I guess it's the storm, but..." he looked up and away at the electric torrents off in the distance, shaking a fist with his middle finger raised, "Storms shouldn't bring THIS much crap into my system!"

"Well, whatever, all that matters is that communication is going to have to be the old fashioned way." Artemis stated, shrugging, "No biggie."

Ghost suddenly turned on her, "No biggie...? No biggie!" he groaned angrily, "If the interference continues even after we make it to the Factory, then it's going to be even more dangerous than previously predicted!"

Artemis removed her helmet, holding it by her side while shaking her mane out, "Ghost..." she grabbed the collar of his suit and pulled him face to visor, talking in a dark and serious tone, "No...biggie..." she pushed him back and replaced her helmet, locking it back into place, "Clear?" he shoot his head, remaining silent, "Good, let's go get Widow."

Ghost had all of his gear packed up and ready to go in only a few short moments, then we headed-off North towards Widow's pitch black waypoint. We all caught buzzes of static now and again, but nothing clear. We assumed she was trying to contact us, but the storm was continuing to block our signal.

"I love storms..." Artemis stated absentmindedly as we walked on.

"Is...is that sarcastic...? Or no...?" Ghost asked in confusion, looking to me after her.

I shook my head with a shrug, and Artemis didn't respond. After that, the rest of the walk was pretty much silence. Widow landed a moderate distance away, so it took a little longer to reach her than it did Ghost, but, soon enough, we found Widow sitting beside her pod...meditating. She would do that at the start of every mission, and, to be honest, I never understood it. Apparently, meditating calms one's nerves or something...if that was true, then Artemis should have practiced meditation at least ten times a day. Well, anyway, seeing as she was our leader, and none of us wanted to interrupt her "special time," we all sat down and waited for her to finish. Deciding to try and pass the time, Ghost started talking about how some of his tech worked. Like how the hologram and stealth capabilities were "technological innovations that surpass anything ever done ever before." I really found it boring, but decided to humor him. Artemis, on the other hand, rolled her eyes before up and walking away, going off into the woods a ways and sitting with her back against a tree, helmet off and head slouched forwards.

I soon found myself slowly drifting asleep, and I actually would have enjoyed it, but just as I felt my eyes closing for the night, something shoved me from behind, causing me to nearly fall onto my face. After catching myself, I turned around to see Widow back in full armor and standing above me.

"Get Wolfie, we're heading out in thirty seconds." she ordered, motioning for Ghost to stand.

I nodded before trotting off towards where I thought Artemis was sleeping. Upon arriving near her, though, I found she was still awake, mumbling something I couldn't hear. Her head suddenly snapped around at me when I stepped on and broke a twig. I almost jumped at the...different...look in her eyes when she turned. They were bloodshot and glistening, with her coat a bit matted around her eyes while she had a slightly noticeable blush.

"Don't worry, I'm coming." she answered before I even said anything, snatching her helmet and quickly standing, walking by me without another word.

I shook my head, turning and slowly following her back out, wondering what exactly I just saw. I was going to think that she cried, but...that's not possible for her...is it?

"Alright team, so with comms currently out of commission, we'll have to rely entirely on sound and sight, understood?" Widow asked us, looking to each of us slowly.

We all nodded before she continued.

"Good, now according to the coordinates..." she turned and pointed east...far east, "Our target is about ten miles that way..."

"Ten miles?" Ghost tapped something on his visor, probably bribing-up a scope-system or something, and looked in the indicated direction...at the storm, "But...that's right where the storm is!"

Widow turned to her brother, tilting her head as if to say, "So?"

"C'mon! That CAN'T be coincidence, can it?" he asked each of us, "I mean, I super-electro storm that just HAPPENS to be directly over our target? Which is a FACTORY, I might add." he shook his head, "I have a bad feeling we're going to have to deal with some crazy-ass science experiment gone wrong or something..." he sighed before groaning, "Whatever! Well let's get this over with, huh?"

Widow nodded, pushing him on, "That's the Spirit!" she joked...wait: Widow JOKING!? That's different...and Artemis, too! She's been quiet since I pulled her up here...she always has some snippy remark to make, or some perverted statement to molest somepony with...this mission was turning out to be the most interesting, yet, and we JUST landed.

It would take some time to reach our destination, giving me ample time to reconfigure my mind to a quiet Artemis and a happy Widow...I was trying to recall any events that happened recently which might have brought some changes in attitude to my two leaders. Only after a short amount of time did I recall that Thanksgiving celebration which occurred only a month before this mission. Ryan had actually cheered his sister up!...but Artemis...if anything, she seems worse than before. At least her snips and remarks meant she was still enjoying the prospect of killing something...maybe she hadn't had her "fix" for a while and was just moody.

Now, I'm sure you're wondering what kind of "fix" I'm talking about, right...? Well...as you know, her mind was never set in the right place, and one of the results of this is her completely odd liking for raw meat and...her somewhat addiction to the taste of blood. Yes, this is a VERY disturbing aspect, but, well, she's a very favorite customer of bloodbanks everywhere. If anything, her lust for blood only fuels her to be...better...in the field...as sadistic as that sounds. I honestly think she's slightly masochistic, as well, Ma'm...I know that doesn't really apply at the moment, but I just thought it was an adequate addition.

Yes, moving on...we had come to the conclusion that we would not rest until reaching ally territory surrounding the Factory, nicknamed "Rainbow Factory" because of the fact that a typo in the mission details had erased the space between "Rain," and "Bow" when describing the mission's nickname. At least, that's what I was told, anyway. We continued to walk through the night, being forced to activate Night Vision to see. I spotted a few signs of life scuttling about around us. They all seemed to be small creatures native to the land, nothing important to note, really. The whole night, nothing bothered us, probably smelling the death which wafted off of every last piece of our armor. Plus, I wouldn't blame them, they'd probably end-up as a snack for Artemis.

I was tired, sore, hungry, and slightly irritated by the time we spotted friendly encampments. They'd all been there so long, it looked like a miniature town. I blinked a few times and could have sworn I saw Ponyville again...but it all suddenly disappeared and I dismissed it as exhaustion-induced illusions. We were at the top of a small cliff, looking out over the edge while lighting struck above us, thundering out across the land and echoing off the cliff face. It never rained, though...

"Ghost, do you think you can boost a telegraph to our Friendlies down there?" Widow asked, looking down over the cliff, "I don't look forward to the prospect of climbing down this thing."

After a couple moments of fiddling with his mobile setup...which I won't go into detail to describe, seeing as I have no idea how his stuff worked...he turned to us with a satisfactory nod, "Alright, I do believe I was able to push coordinates to them, now we wait until we receive some form of confirmation.

Not even five minutes later, a Falcon lifted off of a heli-pad within the encampment and began making it'a way towards us.

"Oh yeah..." Ghost suddenly spoke up, sounding a bit sheepish, "I was only able to send the coordinates, so...they don't know what they'll find when they get here, so..."

"I'll light a flare, just...wait patiently, everyone." Widow cut in, pulling out a red flare and setting it off, waving it around in front of her to alert the pilot of our presence.

The loud whirring of blades cutting through air while gears grinded quickly reached our ears, and the Falcon was soon enough hovering close to the cliff's edge.

"Hey! You lot the Task Force we heard about a while ago...? You know, before communications decided to die." One of the humans sitting in a passenger seat of the vehicle leaned out over the edge, waving us over, "Crimson Team, if I remember?"

"That's us." Widow leaned up to shake the soldier's hand, "I'm the leader and resident Vehicular warfare specialist, Reyna Smith. Call me Widow."

The soldier pulled her inside while Ryan came up next, "Ryan Smith, comm's specialist and the one who sent you our location. Call me Ghost."

Ghost was pulled in and sat inside, beside the other soldier present in the Falcon. They nodded to eachother from behind their visors.

I stepped up next, extending a hoof for him to help me up, "What's your name...?" he asked, pulling me in.

"He doesn't talk much, our Rookie." Widow answered while I took one of the seats connected to the edges of the passenger section, dangling my back hooves over the edge, "But he's a damn good soldier. Part of the Spartan-IV program."

"Alright...so, um, what about...her?" he asked, pointing to Artemis, who had her arms crossed and was noticing the lack of room for her.

"Uhm...she's the one that just wrecks everything that breaths...and our second in command. Her name's Artemis," Widow explained while Artemis began to take her helmet off, preparing to just climb on top of the Falcon, "Call her Wolfie."

"Huh...?" the soldier asked in confusion, looking back to Widow in confusion, "Why's that her Callsign?" Artemis paused and looked back at the soldier at the same time he looked to her, flashing a very...scary and sharp-toothed filled smile. The soldier reared back, gulping fearfully, "Right...I see."

Artemis hopped her way to the hood of the Falcon, latching herself on with a super-magnetic lock integrated into most suits to allow such actions for extra versatile warfare. Like, let's say a passenger to a Falcon wants to jump onto an enemy Banshee as it passes?

"Alright, so, tell me what you know about this place." Widow said, taking her seat and removing her helmet, shaking out her hair.

"Well...we know there's some very valuable tech inside there." he answered, "I mean, why else would they go to such drastic measures to keep us from getting in there, you know? Aside from that...nothing."

Widow sighed, "Of course...so where's our entry point going to be?"

"We have found what we believe to be the loading bay, so obviously, it's going to be the easiest to enter through, seeing as we couldn't find an actual 'front door' of any kind." he started, "We'll be blowing a hole in their barriers, then stationing heavy weaponry there to shoot and kill anything which tries to come out...so when you guys are done and on your way back, be sure to give us some indication that it's you, aight?"

Widow smirked, "Right, would hate to be blown away by Friendlies."

Ghost removed his helmet next, taking a deep relaxing breath, "God, I can't wait to shower...and SLEEP!"

I nodded in agreement, while I heard a very lovely "BUCK YES." from above.

The other soldier who had ridden up on the Falcon peeked over at the roof, wondering just what the hell Artemis was doing up there.

The soldier removed the helmet, then shook her hair out, stating, "So...what's her story anyway?"

"Holy shit, you're a girl." Ghost muttered in bewilderment, taking his own helmet off.

Widow snickered slightly, shoving me and winking. Ghost was a complete wreck when it came to girls. Yes, he is unafraid of ANYTHING...except girls.

"Yeah...and?" the girl asked him, brushing away a few strands of blonde hair and giving Ghostie a questioning, green-eyed stare.

"N-nothing! Uhhh...nevermind." he turned away, humming incoherently, while Widow and I burst into a small fit of snickers.

Artemis suddenly stuck her head in, upside down, with a wide grin, "Oh, Ghostie! Are you flirting with other girls!? But I thought we had something!" Well...it seemed as thought the molesting-savvy Artemis I know and love was back at that remark, "Were all of those nights of passion and love just mindless fu-"

"Shut-it, before I decide to hack the radio in your helmet so your voice sounds like a chipmunk every time you talk with it on." Ghost threatened, shutting Artemis's mouth, though she kept a mocking grin.

"Well...I heard Crimson team was filled with freaks..." the female soldier remarked, "But I didn't think bestiality was one of the reasons why."

At this, Ghost turned bright red and quickly shoved his helmet back on to try and hide...didn't work too well. On the other hand, though, everypony else in the cabin burst into laughter, while Artemis returned to her spot on the roof.

"My name is Alice, by the way." the female introduced herself, shaking Widow's hand.

"And I'm Jason." the other soldier who had first addressed us on the cliff finally introduced, nodding to each of us, "Looks like we're landing. Your resting suite is right there, marked by the red lights." he indicated the small building with red lights in front of it, "Complete with two bedrooms, four bunks, and two showers."

As we landed, I hopped off, only to nearly jump back on as Artemis landed directly in front of me, helmet back on. Widow, Ghost, Alice, and Jason followed shortly after as the pilot exited and checked his Falcon over to make sure everything was alright with it.

Widow started to give-out the bedding arrangement at this time, "Alright, so Artemis and Squirt will share one room..."

'Buck my life...' I thought in annoyance.

"Ghost and I get the other." she finished, "I don't care who goes first on your side, but Ryan...I GO FIRST." she glared at her brother, "I know how long your showers are and you're not using all my hot water."

"Right, bosslady..." he agreed, shrugging.

We arrived at our housing and said goodbye to our two new acquaintances until the morning, then we went to our respective rooms. Artemis quickly started to take her armor off, tossing her helmet up to the top bunk.

"Alright...you can go first, if ya want." she said, leaning down to unclip some her of leggings.

I was a bit surprised by this, but decided to take her act of kindness to my advantage, so I dashed into the small bathroom, removing my armor in there. I'm not the pony to take long showers, so I was done within a few short minutes. After drying off, I was about to step outside, but I stopped upon hearing something...peculiar...

Now, I would like to point out, before I go on, that this information I am about to present to you, Ma'm, is NEVER revealed to be revealed Luna, or else I fear what might happen to my own self...yes I know, it would be "hard" for Artemis to harm me, but I wouldn't put it past her, she'd find a way, I'm sure...I...alright, I'll stop wasting time...

As I was saying, I was about to step outside, but I heard some kind of noise on the other side. Curiosity getting the better of me, I put an ear to the door. After a few moments of listening I concluded that the noise I was hearing was...Uhm...moaning...as in, of the sensual and pleasurable kind. I started to press against the door harder, only to realize that it hadn't fully closed and I was quickly falling towards the ground. After hitting muzzle first into the ground, I pushed myself back up, shaking my head in disorientation, to find Artemis had jumped high out of her spot on the top bunk, yelping in surprise as she covered most of herself with the blanket.

"Uh-Uhm..." her eyes darted to something in the ground hesitantly, her face practically glowing in embarrassment. When I looked down, curious as to what she looked at, I saw a very...ahem...lewd and...inappropriate picture of Princess Luna...now that I think about this, I might know what Luna had promised Artemis that day in the limo...

Looking away in shock and a bit of confusion, I blindly looked for the picture with my right hoof. After finding it, I picked it up and held it up for Artemis to take back. Once it was out of my hooves, I went to my bottom bunk and laid down, staring up at the mattress above. After a couple, severely awkward minutes went by, Artemis finally spoke up.

"You...you won't tell anypony about this...right...?" she asked somewhat pleadingly, peeking over the edge at me. I gave her a glance as if to say, "Really...?" then she looked away, grinning in relief, "Right...you don't talk anyway...hehe...Uhm..." she went back up to her bunk entirely, laying down and not making another sound afterwards.

Until that point, I always thought Artemis just liked harassing Luna because she thought it was fun...guess she has some kind of "thing" going for the Princess...

Comments

[yusha]

0o.........oke........

[Shadowstep]

Indeed, this chapter was very classy
Keep it up!

[Silverstein]

I don't think the storm's the only thing that's comin'!

Silver out!