Bounty Hunters 3: Genesis

by Jasper77W

Chapter 52: Preparing

Over the course of the next few days Haven was as busy as ever. Everypony, civilian or not; was preparing for the war- stocking up on supplies like food and water, and even guns and ammo. Applebloom didn't even say a word, but the moment they saw Rainbow walking into the city they knew what was coming. Everypony's time to relax was up, and the full weight of the war dawned on them as it drew nearer and nearer.

Dainty and Lily still had a small bag full of sweets they haven't managed to finish yet, because they were so busy helping everypony else fortifying Haven. Not just reinforcing the front lines and setting barricades down on the roads- but also helping move containers, and sealing off homes.

They made a few new friends, a couple of odd ones too. Take Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon, one obsessed with the idea of humans and the other obsessed with going against her. Bon Bon owned the local confectionary store, and Lyra was flatting with her.

Sometimes they'd catch Lyra sitting in a tree, slowly stroking a lyre with golden hands she conjured out of magic using her horn. It added a good bit of tune to the workload as they carried wooden containers here and there, moving them about and setting up various camps.

Apart from all that work, they had to familiarize themselves with the Haven Tunnels system. It was a large network, but a good game of 'tag' through the Tunnels did the trick.

"That's the last of them mister!" Lily called out, Dainty happily tagging along as they placed down the last wooden box.

"You should all go rest up now!" A stallion in armor grinned at them. "You two have been surprisingly helpful. Here's a few coins, could get ya something at Bon's right?"

"No thanks, sir. We appreciate it- but we've still got a whole bag we haven't finished yet." Lily grinned back, and the stallion winked and went back to work.

Dainty had retreated into the background- she wanted to. Lily had been so isolated through their trip to Haven, and now at the first signs of proper civilization- she seems to be opening up again to how she was. Cheerful and friendly.

Dainty wouldn't want to ruin that- she wanted to see her friend happy, after all that pain on the journey. She didn't want to retreat too far away either- or she'll get noticed, and it's gonna be hard to explain.

"Clear the roads! We're bringing in the long-rangers!" A pony in uniform yelled, waving at everyone to get off the road and make way for the huge Crawler behind her. This Crawler was a long-range version of the ones that ATLANTA had, and instead of a prism cannon mounted on the four-legged walker it has an Archer cannon. Archers were energy weapons that fire short bursts of high-concentrated energy instead of continuous streams, and by adjusting the configurations of these energy pods it's possible to create a flight path for them and even add a fuse. Therefore an Archer cannon located behind the huge walls of Haven could carry out precision strikes, accurate to within a meter radius.

"Deploy anchors!" The pony yelled, and huge spikes located on the side of the Crawler's legs stabbed deep into the ground and held it in place. "Street 503 is secure and all set- good job everypony! Now go take a rest." The pony said, clapping her hooves.

Suddenly the loud roaring of engines filled the air, growing louder and louder as something approached...

Suddenly Sweetiebot came crashing down onto the road, landing hooves first into the gravel and completely shattering the local area. She pushed off again, thrusters in her hooves boosting her upwards and to a holographic circle.

"Don't cause too much damage!" Scootaloo yelled after her, following at almost the same speed with her scooter. "I'm not spending two hundred grand to pay off a race craft again!"

"Do entertain yourselves by watching the races." The pony said, sighing.

*

While everypony else was busy helping out and setting up, Rainbow was in her room.
Applebloom had given her a time now, a dead line. And still she had no idea what to say. She tried arguing that she just wasn't the right mare for the job, but Applebloom insisted.

"AL- you got any ideas?" Rainbow asked out of desperation.

"I have no ideas." AL replied. "As I almost fail to understand the logic of the existence of this speech."

"Me too." Rainbow sighed, falling back onto her bed. "You think a cup of iced whiskey would help me?"

"It is worth a shot should you be that desperate." AL replied.

"Ha, I see what you did there." Rainbow chuckled.

"What did I do?"

"Wasn't that a joke?" Rainbow frowned. "Shot glasses? 'Give it a shot'?"

"It was an unintentional pun." AL replied.

"Well you're less funny than EDI." Rainbow muttered.

"EDI is a third level AI, unlike me. I am a second level AI, one level below hers." AL said, seemingly slightly annoyed. "You can tell by the number of letters in one's AI name."

"Right." Rainbow said, turned around and buried her face in the pillows.

"Heads up. You appear to have a guest arriving." AL said.

"Damnit Tavi..." Rainbow muttered into the pillow, her voice muffled.

"Surprisingly your guess is correct." AL said, opening the door.

"Rainbow?" Octavia raised an eyebrow at her rainbow-maned friend.

"What up." Came the muffled reply.

"You still haven't come up with anything yet have you?" Octavia said dryly, folding her arms.

"I was going to get mister Jack Daniels to help me with that, but..."

"Don't ever give her alcohol." Octavia warned, looking up at a nearby sensor.

"I wasn't going to anyway." AL said. "It seemed like a bad idea from what I've seen from her."

"I'm kind of still here." Rainbow said.

"My point." AL said, and Rainbow replied with an annoyed growl.

"To tell you off about the importance of this speech isn't why I came here." Octavia said, and Rainbow sat up. "A certain engineer and designer who happens to be Haven's leader has requested that some gadgets be made for us. Really just some upgrades from what we have, but it's mainly preparing us for infiltrating the Valhalla region."

"I'm listening."

"I don't have them here, lazy." Octavia commented. "Top floor. Let's go." She said, turning and leaving.

"Anything so my brain doesn't hurt." Rainbow yawned, getting up.

"The pharmaceutics store is located on floor sixty-three."

"Ha-ha."

*

"Welcome. Thought you two weren't coming anymore." Applebloom said as Rainbow and Octavia walked into the room.

Rainbow wasn't expecting a small crowd of ponies to be in here- but when she entered they all turned to look at her.

"Aye! Here comes squad leader." Magnum cheered.

"Hey! You remember me!" Rainbow grinned, pulling her into a hug.

"Yeah, got my memory back somehow." Magnum laughed, letting go. "I'm glad. I seemed like such a depressed pony when I didn't have them."

"Well then. Ladies and gents, looks like we're all here then." Halcyon grinned, rubbing her hooves together. "So Applebloom, whatcha got for us?"

"Alright. I've called you guys here because Spitfire and I have organized a task for you while everything kicks off- you are to infiltrate Valhalla."

"So, you've decided to send in a small team instead of an army?" Terra folded his arms.
"A very capable small team." Applebloom made her point. "You've infiltrated an outpost before in the Awakening incident flawlessly, you can handle a whole bucking city just fine." She said. "The point is to infiltrate- and retrieve information they have on why their fleet is surrounding the sun. Plus anything else that might be useful or beneficial to us- that's why we're not sending in an army."

"I bet you their command center is in the middle of the damn place." Octavia said.

"Quite an obvious guess, and yes you are correct." Applebloom conjured up a satellite image of Valhalla then turned it into a three dimensional map. "There it is, central tower. We can't just drop you in, the defenses will shoot you down before that happens- so you'll have to sneak through the city." She pointed at a red path highlighted from the edge of the gates to the central tower, similar to HQ in Haven. "What I've found is that there's this office block here-" she pointed at another sky scraper, possibly the second tallest building in the city. "-a very convenient sniping point for Magnum here. I heard you're a very good sniper-"

"Never missed a shot." Magnum nodded proudly. "Unless I chose to. The Captain of the Royal Guard learnt that one pretty well." She muttered.

"Well, yes. You'll be in that building, pick a floor- whichever one is most beneficial. Terra and Halcyon- you two will perform a distraction for the rest of them. There's a hydro-powered energy plant in the southwest corner. It isn't the main supplier of electricity to the city, as primary generators are underground. But it does fund excessive functions of the city with energy, such as lights and entertainment in civilian areas. Just blow it up, and start blowing up stuff next to it if you run out of stuff to blow up. The rest of you will directly infiltrate the central tower, how you do it is up to you- I can't be bothered with the details, that's your job. But there's a problem- they have the entire place sealed off by a swamp. The damn swamp has a bunch of auto turrets hidden in it, and the place is also crawling with guards. The only entrance is a bridge linking one side of the swamp to the central tower, guarded by the same level of security. That's the safer option, but also the one that doesn't allow stealth." Applebloom said.

"Meaning we need to take the swamp?" Zealo pointed at the map.

"Correct. But this is only based on a few satellite images- there could be anything in those swamps. Mines, detectors, anything." Applebloom sighed. "My job is to get you through the door. From then on inside, it'll be your job. So... Since getting you inside is my job, I've rigged up some neat little things to help you guys out."

The wall behind her suddenly shivered, and started lifting into the ceiling and giving way to an even larger room lit by dim blue lights.

"Welcome to the toy shop baby." Daring Do whistled with a laugh.

"Quite so." Applebloom said, a table rising out of the ground before her as the walls closed up behind them. Even with the relatively large group of ponies inside, there was still plenty of room in this confined armory. "Most of the stuff here is still... Er... Experimental."

"Otherwise known as unsafe." Octavia translated. "But we never play it safe anyway, so it's right up our alley."

"That's what she said." A familiar voice said, and everyone looked behind them.

"Well well, who would've thought YOU'd be the one to say that." Rainbow folded her arms.

"Glad to see that you're somehow still alive too." A flickering hologram of Blaze said, approaching the group. "How are you guys all doing?"

"Relatively well." Magnum said. "Checking out some new toys."

"And I'm just annoyed at the fact that I can't punch you for making yet another joke. For the love of Celestia, when will you STOP?" Halcyon growled.

"D'aw, I love you too." Blaze replied, his holographic projection giving Halcyon a quick squeeze around the shoulders.

"Anyhow." Applebloom rubbed her hooves together. "After studying some satellite images, I've found that there are two ways in which you can get to Central faster than on hoof. First are the sky lanes, you can get on a bus or something. The second one is the fastest option- take the trains. The Valhalla railroads go almost everywhere, and you can easily sneak aboard."

"Sneak aboard, as in the roof?" Daring asked. A disguise certainly wouldn't last long.

"Yes, and I've got a few things to help you do just that and more. First off-" Applebloom extracted a suitcase from a nearby locker, and clicked it open. Inside were coats identical to the ones that Rainbow and Octavia were currently wearing. "-cloaking. You get on the roof, obviously that's in plain sight- so here's something to change that. Also if you plan on sneaking into the train, you still don't want to be seen. Actually, this is for whenever you just don't want to be seen so never mind that." She said, pulling the coat out and laying it flat on the table. "Works the same way as the skin of an octopus would. Changes color and appearance, and even texture to blend in with its environment."

And even as Applebloom said this, it was quickly changing into the table, blending into the shiny metal until it was completely invisible. It even started gaining its reflective properties.
"Different colored nano-cells adjust size through a series of spells cast onto them. Another spell is used for detecting the environment around it. But the reaction isn't instant though-" Applebloom shuffled the fabric a slight bit to the side, and they saw a slight delay before the coat blended back in again. "-so the more violent or fast the movements you make, the longer you'll be exposed. Also, based on Octavia's design- I've decided to add in a bunch of inner pockets." She flipped the coat inside out and turned the cloaking off, revealing rows of inner pockets lined up on the inside.

"I can't imagine what all those could be for." Blaze said.

"Flash bangs, shields, smoke screens, grenades- anything, really. And it won't weigh it or you down due to a tweaked gravity charm cast onto the fabric itself." Applebloom said, folding the coat. "That was Sweetie Belle's idea. And here's one that Scootaloo thought would be useful- a quick deploy energy shield." She picked up a flash-bang like device, then threw it down at her hooves. The device blew apart in a non-lethal shockwave, projecting a light orange shield over the local area and effectively shielding Applebloom off from the others.

"This is something." Rainbow said, tapping the shield. It wavered, then sprung back.

"Shoot something at it and it'll bounce right back." Applebloom said. A second later the shield disappeared, the device a pile of scrap metal on the floor. "Very effective, but such a small device can't sustain such a high-powered shield for very long."

"Anything else?" Halcyon asked, eyeing the two items.

"Nope."

"Wait, what?" Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "Only two gadgets?"

"I brought you here to equip you guys. These two are new things that need tutorials, but I believe I don't need to instruct you on how to use a hunting knife." Applebloom said, holding up a handle. A long blade smooth on one side and serrated on the other popped out from it, gleaming under the lights.

"I guess not." Octavia said.

"I got AL to pack everything for you guys." Applebloom said, the cabinets behind her popping open behind her and revealing rows of suitcases all immaculately lined up and packed. "A full suitcase of stuff you might want to use. It is advised that you get equipped now- no matter what, the speech later is still a presentation. I want everyone looking immaculate in the same clothes."

Octavia nodded. Put everyone in the same clothes that the Bounty Hunters wear, give them a sense of security. After all, the Bounty Hunters were the heroes of both the Manehatten and Awakening incidents.

"Big day's tomorrow." Blaze said, sighing. "All the forces on my side here are ready. Rest up everypony... We're gonna need it." He said, gave Halcyon a wave and flickered offline.

"Well, you heard him." Applebloom said. "Let's get this over and done with."

Magnum left with Zealo, taking their equipment. The Wardens followed, then Rainbow turned to leave with Octavia- but stopped at the exit. She gestured at Octavia to keep going.

"I'll catch up." She said, the others leaving around her as she temporarily put her equipment down. Applebloom was behind her, tidying up the destroyed instant shield.

The doors slid closed, the room plunging into silence as all the hoofsteps led off into the distance. All there was was the soft whining of electrics in the armory.

"Can I help you?" Applebloom looked up, Rainbow standing on the other side of the table.

Rainbow didn't reply. She reached into her pocket, past her cleaver and towards the small device at the bottom. She took it out, the pulsing blue light still on and indicating it was functional.

She placed the USB down on the table, a light tink echoing through the room as the plastic touched the metal. She had removed the part where Applejack reveals what really happened to the Elements of Harmony, of what Silver did. That much had to be hidden- for now.

"The data file is corrupted." She lied, sliding it across to Applebloom who picked it up and examined it. "But it's still playable. Applejack... We found her, but obviously she's not with us... That's just something she had on her."

"I didn't expect her to be alive anyway." Applebloom sighed after a long while just staring at the USB. "You stop hoping after a while. I did hope she would maybe turn up at Haven's front door step, but I knew she wouldn't." Her expression dimmed, and Rainbow could clearly see her eyes watering a bit as she put the USB down.

"The big day's coming." Rainbow said with a deep breath. "Don't watch it if you think it's going to affect you."

"I know." Applebloom said. "I don't plan to. I know how my sister felt, she knows how I did. We shared our last words already- I don't want anything to change that." She said, throwing the USB aside. "AL, analyze that disc and its video contents then tell me if there's anything worth mentioning." She said, not taking her eyes off Rainbow.

"I'm sorry, Applebloom." Rainbow said, turning to leave.

"For what? It's not like you killed her." Applebloom sighed, continuing on with tidying up the armory.

Rainbow froze at the doorstep, just about to leave. Something ate at her heart... And it almost paralyzed her.

But I did... She thought, that feeling nagging at her heart. Silver, no matter how different- was still her. And she couldn't help but wonder, what if she were presented with the same situation- would she really do as she said she would?

Discomfort lingering in her heart, she forced her legs to take the heavy steps and lead her away from the armory.

Comments

[PantheraLeo]

New chapter is as awesome as always, thanks for this übercool (is that even word? well, in central europe it is and it means "(much)more than cool") story.

And for the chapter itself - I have wished for a bit more gadgety-talk, but otherwise good chapter.

Your faithful reader, Leo.

[Jasper77W]

2523797
I'm afraid to announce that you'll have to sit through RD's speech next chapter then-_- but I'll try make it exciting. Sh*t hits the fan straight after that, so yeah last little bit