GermBusters 2: Operation Quinty

by Lukington17

Chapter 3 - Nosey Neighbours

Shooting up through the narrow channel they'd found, the Germbusters found themselves at the entrance to the nasal passages. Here seemed to be a small community of Micronauts, busily going about trying to calm things down after what presumably had been caused by the sneezing: various market stalls and street furniture lay in wreckage, and the microscopic ponies were trying to salvage things and stabilize themselves after the impact had knocked them off their feet. Eminence went up to one of them and asked if the sneezing had stopped. "Yeah I hope so, haven't had one now for about 10 minutes. He must've finally passed out on his bed. Thank Celestia!"

"Hmm, this doesn't just look like sneeze damage," Flushie muttered, noticing some windows were smashed and there were smoldering holes in the ground.

The others nodded, beginning to suspect foul play and that some familiar faces might be about to rear their ugly heads. As they did so, some of the Micronauts came up to them. "Hey, I know you guys! You were just at the picnic."

"Yeah, I know them too! These guys are the master's friends!"

"Oh yes I saw them on QuintyVision! And look, there's the mare who they went inside last time..." Upon being pointed at by some of the tiny ponies, Cutea cowed behind the others and blushed, but the enthusiastic fans approached her more. "These guys helped your Micronauts, we should go visit them someday and exchange stories about it! They're very friendly in Cuteamena..."

"STOP!" Cutea barked suddenly, hiding her face. It was all proving a bit too much to take in for the poor mare. As her coltfriend consoled her tightly, the others tried to speak with the group of Micronauts to find out what happened here.

"Well, those damn pollen germs came in. The master already suffers from hay-fever and we took a risk staying outside at this time of year for that long. So sadly the germs tagged along with the existing bacteria in here."

"No Carol, don't be so naive. Something sinister came in with that pollen, this is way worse than the flu in June."

"I agree with him, yes."

As a general hum of agreement rose up, the gang tried to quiet them down and asked where the germs were last seen. After being pointed down the direction of Nasal Passage 1 (for that was how it was labelled, a huge and monstrous tunnel winding its way beyond the horizon, soaring up maybe 30 storeys above and echoing eerie sounds of air passing in and out of it. A few wind turbines were perched higher up the walls of this cavern, spinning ferociously as the air was inhaled. A neat way of generating energy for the citizens, the gang thought.

At this point, two Micronauts came rushing to them wearing hardhats. "Wait!" yelled one of them, a middle-aged stallion sporting a Nose Dpt. badge. "Sorry, lemme catch my breath...okay...okay so basically it's great to meet you guys, and we're grateful that you're here. Including you" he looked at a confused Cutea. "We've had loads of infestations before but this one is pretty bad. Somehow, every time the guy sneezes, our invaders seem to double in population! It's a nightmare... Anyway, they're lurking somewhere in the passageway"

"Don't you worry, we'll deal with them. They're no match for us," Chris said defiantly, cocking his shotgun.

Electric nodded in agreement, "Leave it to us. Let's go team!"

---

Quinty was clearly a loud snorer, because the gang had been issued with heavy-duty ear muffs. They'd refused them though; clear communication in battle would be essential. Venturing further and further into the tunnel, they readied themselves with their weapons and trod carefully, checking every crevice and dark slit around them. At first they seemed vindicated by denying the ear muffs but suddenly an almighty snore tore through the echoing chambers of the nose. "Holy crap..." Blaze exclaimed once it had subsided.

"My ears hurt..." Flushie moaned, and Divinity shook her head frantically.

"Let's keep moving though guys, I've got a feeling further down ther- uuunf!" Electric was smacked off his feet and sent sliding to the side in a bundle after a globule of snot appeared to encase him.

"Electric!" Cutea called, heading to him, but Atrimy yelled.

"Take cover!" He grabbed Cutea and ducked her under a bump in the surface. Snot began firing from all angles as the gang hid in their corners, before Fushie emerged and fired into the distance. Once they heard a whimper from the other side, the gang began to open fire. Soon enough, the pollen germs were visible, perched high up on a large ledge that looked like it used to house some industrial machinery. Laughing evilly, they continued catapulting snot and some began to descend on them with their own guns, firing slime and some sort of powder. "Cover your face!" Atrimy shouted once more, hovering in the air and concealing his nose and mouth as the powder lingered around him. He took off his hat and threw it at the culprit, slicing the germ in half as his hat returned like a boomerang.

Chris jumped up and karate-kicked into one of the germs that had been rushing toward him, then as the germ fell he fired his automatic shotgun at it, perhaps a little too close as the germ blasted its entrails everywhere. "Ew! Chris..." Eminence moaned, as she used her own powers to pluck a giant nose-hair and tie several of the germs up in a knot. Electric woke up and found himself stuck in the snot. He could move his wings, and whirring up his wings to high speed he blasted out of the trap, flying straight upwards but coincidentally smashing into three pollen germs in the process. Blaze and Flushie covered Cutea as she advanced on some of the pollen germs launching snot from a catapult, and jumping up she offloaded her two Desert Eagles onto the catapult and its users, blowing the thing to pieces. Divinity ran to the wreck and used her hug powers to swallow up the surviving germs there.

A few seconds passed before the gang yelled to each other to hold their fire. The smoke floated along the passage and the only sound was the air gushing in and out from Quinty's snores, and upon hearing their friend's snoring they were amazed he hadn't felt anything enough to wake him up. "He must be a deep sleeper..." Cutea thought aloud. "Anyway, is it done?"

The gang nodded slowly and put their weapons away slowly, shaking off any snot on their bodies. After a brief celebration, Electric hovered above and used his torch to light the way back towards the brain. "I think we should make our way to City Hall. I'd be interested to speak with Quinty's mayors, don't you think?"

"To the brain!" Atrimy chirped, and with that they set off back the way they'd come. The wreckage they had left behind was a mess, albeit concealed by darkness, with stillness but for one leg that moved slowly underneath some burning plywood.