Bounty Hunters 3: Genesis

by Jasper77W

Chapter 62: Incoming Storm

"CYCLOPS! Fall back and cover us from a distance- stay away from the COLOSSUS- we still need you in later battles! Even if we don't need you- the troops on the ground will!" Spitfire yelled.

"Falling back. Good luck captain!" Iris reported, the CYCLOPS's adjustment engines flaring as it backed down, retreating as the rest of the magic faction fleet charged forward- all except CALAMITY, NEMESIS, and ILLUSION; who were all cloaked in a corner somewhere.

"Captain! PLEASE reconsider!" Shining Armor was yelling through the comms.

"I am in charge! And you will NOT persist!" Spitfire yelled back. "The NEMESIS is needed! CALAMITY, ILLUSION- you have my permission to turn NEMESIS into space dust if it so much as inches out of the cloaking field! That's right, you officers on the NEMESIS- you take your orders from me, not Shining Armor! And Shining Armor- you WILL NOT let your vengeance get ahead of you! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!?"

"CAPTAIN-"

"SHUT UP!!!" Spitfire screamed, and almost every magic faction channel fell silent at her fury. "YOU NO-GOOD PIECE OF CRAP!! STOP ARGUING WITH ME!!"

Shining Armor was grudgingly silent.

"Yes. Ma'am." He said, and logged off.

Spitfire sighed, radio chatter slowly resuming. She fell against the hoof rails, rubbing her throbbing head as her chest heaved with every anger-fueled breath.

"Take it easy, captain." Soarin said, laying a hoof on her shoulder.

"We're dying out here in battle, and that arsehole wants a piece of it? Does he understand that the ONLY reason we're charging in there is so that some of us could escape and actually do what we were meant to do!?" That is, protect the ground troops.

"Don't let your anger get ahead of yourself." He quoted, pulling her into a hug. Then he frowned as he felt the shaking of her shoulders, followed by quiet sniffles too soft to be heard by other ears.

"Soarin... I don't want to die." She whispered, eyes slightly teary.

Soarin opened his mouth to say something comforting, but all the words he had prepared seemed to instantly evaporate as he saw Spitfire in her weakest state. That only left him with his mouth slightly agape, words that were meant to reach it long gone before they could do so. So he closed his mouth, and cast his sad gaze to the metal floor.

"I don't think any of us do." Was all he could say.

"You know.... I always envisioned something less heroic and sacrificial." Spitfire said, taking in a deep breath and blinking away the tears- she made sure none of her officers saw her.

"Really?" Now that was surprising, for a leader like Spitfire. "Mind sharing what you DID envision it to be like?"

"Nothing that it matters now, anyways." Spitfire replied, swallowing and standing up straight.

"Two seconds from contact!" An officer yelled, and the two looked up.

Already a battle was brewing. Fighters were crowded around the OASIS in swarms, ready to break away and take out anything that gets too close.

"CONTACT!" The officer screamed, and almost instantly the empty space outside exploded with gunfire and whooshing missiles as both factions came within close-range firing distance.

"All fighters- break away and fire at will!" Spitfire commanded, the swarms of Mark II Apollos peeling away from their formation by the OASIS's side and flying off to battle. the Mk II Apollos were a recent remake of the original Apollo, with only three engines for energy conservation however still delivering the same level of power, speed and agility. The two front engines were replaced by a single engine below the cockpit, allowing room for more aero-dynamic wings which improve stability in atmospheric and underwater combat situations.

"OASIS- concentrate fire on the COLOSSUS!"

Four powerful forward cannons tore microscopic wormholes through space as they fired, sending projectiles with full five-meter diameters soaring towards the enemy cruiser. The huge explosives weighing multiple tons each hit the COLOSSUS's powerful shields, but even a shield like that failed to prevent shrapnel from getting through. The projectile's explosions were tearing holes in the shield, and its shrapnel was getting through before the shield could have time to heal.

Huge chunks of material skid off the side of the COLOSSUS's armored hull, the heavier ones cutting deep gashes(which, compared to the size of the COLOSSUS itself; were really just shallow cuts and bruises) down the side of the cruiser.

It wasn't doing much real damage, but by breaching the hull that area would have to be sealed off with an airlock, making rooms impossible to access and hallways completely barricaded off. This only serves as a minor inconvenience however.

"Take out its engines!" Spitfire commanded, the turrets swiveling around to plan a trajectory for the back of the COLOSSUS. "CYCLOPS! Take down their shields! Soarin-"

"Ma'am!" Soarin snapped to attention.

Spitfire paused, then sighed. "There's still time, you know. Maybe we're in battle, but we're still alive." She stopped, trying to find her words. "There are still some things you could do, as a reward for your loyalty. I'll give you that freedom. Officer, you're relieved of your duty for the time being- go grant yourself one last wish."

Soarin studied her face- but she had already turned away to command the battle. He sighed, then took in a deep breath. One last thing, eh...

He touched his ear, tapping into the comms. "Lieutenant... Captain said I could have one last wish- so bring her her favorite coffee along with a bit of cake too- then get yourself something nice to eat. You've done well, feeding all of us through all these years with your kitchen of chefs. Oh, me? Heh, just get me another one of your apple pies; that'll be nice."

*

"It would seem your survival no longer matters to them." Val said, clearly amused as she watched explosions play over the COLOSSUS's hull from her throne room. Strangely though, there wasn't any rumbling or shaking. The room itself seemed completely oblivious to the battle raging on outside.

"If it brings you down too, I don't object." Blithy replied with a snarl.

"Face it, if this ship blows apart we'd just be wondering through space. We don't die, it's kind of physically impossible." Val replied. "Plus-" she lifted a back hoof, and with a light blast of blue flame she activated the thrusters. "Boosters. I'll be fine. Not sure if you upgraded anything."

"No, I haven't. But you have some master plan to save the COLOSSUS, don't you? You wouldn't just lose the most important piece of the puzzle." Blithy said. Suddenly she had an idea to at least bust herself out of here- the rest of it, she'll figure out later. Talking to Val had revealed something- that they were two different ponies, one from this timeline while the other was from an older. That meant Val had a Blithy somewhere in her.... And Blithy....

She needed to find that tiny bit of Val still left in her, because it was the only thing that could save her how. Somewhere in her mind, Valkyrie was stored as a corrupted alternate personality that was locked away behind psychological bars. Just need to figure out how to destroy those bars.

"What if it's not my most important piece?" Val grinned. "The COLOSSUS is expendable.
In fact, with the plan- which just so you know, I ain't telling you- I can have nothing left and still win this war."

"Heh, yeah right." Blithy chuckled.

"You'll see. Didn't expect you to believe me anyway." Val grinned, shrugging.

"I don't..." Blithy said. "But I do know someone that does, and can probably figure out your plan."

"Oh? Do tell." Val tilted her head to one side.

"Val- what is your goal in this war?" Blithy asked, standing up and coming almost nose to nose with Val. Neither flinched nor backed down.

Val studied her. The hay is she playing at? Sensing a trap, however unable to see one- she simply shrugged it off. Like any trap could endanger her, anyway.

"World domination. So I can get whatever I want." She replied, shrugging. It seemed like a childish ideal, but one none the less.

"Everything it is, then." Blithy nodded. "Well, I suppose we both know there isn't two of 'everything' to go around, and you don't like sharing- so... What was it, again? That there can only be one king?"

"What, you want a piece of what I aim to achieve? Then you should've joined my side earlier!" Val laughed.

"I doubt you'd share." Blithy replied flatly. "But, doesn't matter to me. Cause I'm not the one that wants it..."

Val frowned as Blithy's green hair started turning blue, the same shade of light blue as her own...

*

The concrete wall to the CMC tower's underground garage burst open with a strategically placed explosion, chunks of concrete tumbling across the floor. Despite the carnage just upstairs, the garage was, quite unexpectedly; mostly in one piece.

"Well, guess that's still intact." Rainbow said, her voice muffled by the gas mask over her face. She waved a hoof in the air, trying to clear the ash.

"Surprisingly enough." Octavia muttered, walking in through the hole in the wall; assisted by Magnum.

"Computers are down. Can't check on the cars till we get back to base and wire up those chips. We'll need to get the cars out of here through a bigger hole in the wall." AL said.

"And here I thought leaving Terra outside was a good idea." Rainbow put her hoof and hand on her hips, shaking her head.

"Can't we just wire them up right here?" Octavia suggested.

"But we'd have to get them out of here anyway, so." AL replied.

"Really? Cause I can kind of see twin rocket launchers on that Lamborghini there. You know, might help with taking down the wall and all." Octavia said, pointing at the dark grey sports car with a delicate red line running along its side.

The group was silent for a few seconds.

"Yeah, that'll do." Rainbow said, turning back. Octavia shrugged while AL went to fix a problem with the logic engine in her system.

"Get the fillies to rig up the cars. Magnum, you stay back and protect them if anyone manages to make it this far or decides to come through a different path." Octavia said, letting go and leaning on her good legs.

"You sure you'll be fine?" Magnum raised an eyebrow, and Rainbow stopped to help her walk.

"Well, I can walk. Shouldn't I be asking you that question?" Octavia tilted her head to one side.

Magnum chuckled. "Yeah, yeah. I'll go round up the kids and bring them over. Bloody hell, sounds like I'm running some illegal business."

"As if we're not used to doing that kind of stuff." Rainbow accidentally blurted out, then realized her mistake. "I mean- we do illegal business, but... We don't traffic kids, or run sweatshops, or whatever-"

Magnum and Octavia burst out laughing, and Octavia gave her a pat on the back.

"We KNOW what you mean, silly."

Rainbow felt like bashing her own head through a wall. Of course they did. That was just stupid.

But with that she felt a pang of guilt- 'silly' used to be what Pinkie said all the time. But she wasn't bouncing around anymore, and will never be again.

"Meet up with us at HQ once you're done, eh? We gotta start setting the next part into motion." She said instead, busily trying to forget her embarrassment and shake off the guilt all at the same time.

"Yeah, see y'all." Magnum gave a quick light hearted salute, then bolted off down the hallway.

"Should we go?" Octavia looked at Rainbow, who nodded.

Now that they know these cars were usable, it was time to implement them into the plan. And this time, none of that suicidal bull crap. These ones were valuable.

*

"SO WHERE THE HELL DID THESE BASTARDS EVEN GO!!??" General Bleak screamed. The enemy troops were there defending their last bit of land, then they just... Left.

"Sir! We've located a large underground entrance! We have no idea where it leads to, sir!" An officer came running with a report.

"You have no idea how retarded that sounded." Bleak commented. "We have no idea where it leads to! THEN SEND ROBOT SCOUTS!!"

"On it, sir!" The officer bolted away.

"For the Empress's sake-" Bleak started, cursing- but something else caught his attention before he could finish.

A tidal wave of ice came crashing out from around a corner, picking up assault units which weigh tones and tossing them up into the air like foal's toys.

"CELESTIA'S HOLY BUCK-" the science faction soldiers ran for the sides of the streets, diving out of the way of the tidal wave as it tore through a dozen city blocks.

Shards of ice flew everywhere as the body of frozen water ripped down that single street, then melted away into water vapor in the air.

"WHAT THE- WHAT!!??" Bleak was quickly running out of things to say.

*

Two days ago...

"Halcyon, the environmental shields of Haven are down- I know you haven't fully recovered yet, but the frost is getting into the city, and it's already started snowing. Use that to your advantage- once again, hit and run. Conserve energy for if Eclipse runs into battle or some other unexpected crap happens." Rainbow said, and Halcyon nodded. "Magnum, I need you inside the Tunnels with us."

"What!?" Magnum exclaimed somewhat hysterically. "WHY??"

"I'll explain later." Rainbow replied, dismissing the roll-of-eyes expression Magnum gave her. "In the meantime, we need to get in contact with our reinforcements. At least get a progress update, know when they're coming. I had a few scouts take a look around the city- seems there are still a few vehicles with some juice in them. I'll have somepony rig up the microchips-"

"And use them as a chain broadcaster..." Neon nodded. "Could work. Use them as signal boosters along the way."

"I remember somepony said that there was a tunnel that led all the way from Haven to ATLANTA itself?" Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, there is." Scootaloo said, and Sweetie Belle cast up a projection of the Tunnels.

"ATLANTA is around the Manehatten area- the tunnel passes directly beneath the city and Fillydelphia." She said. "Using it we could conceal the range boosters and have them more effectively used. There would be a degree of lag in audio however, because signals will have to pass through the earth."

"Whatever works." Rainbow nodded, biting her lower lip thoughtfully. "Wait, didn't Applebloom say something about reinforcements...?"

*

Present day...

"Ma'am! We're detecting large amounts of seismic activity under Haven!"

Eclipse titled her head to one side, indifferent. The officer took the hint and backed away.

She had sent General Bleak in to command the battle earlier, but it would seem that he wasn't doing a very good job. She was still undergoing some repairs herself, healing up a few cracks in her armor and recharging her particle control powers.

She reached out a hoof, testing the matter control. A glowing orange claw slowly formed around the hoof, and it held- but wavered slightly. Not at full charge yet, but she could take on the Wardens again with relative ease.

She sighed, the only sort of display of emotion she ever showed. The Wardens were simply... Annoying.

Irritatingly over-powered, in some cases. Although it was always within her control, and with no particular difficulty at that.

Then a bolt of prismatic light shot out from Haven following a loud THWUMP, the distinct sound of a cannon meant to fire underwater firing on land.

Eclipse held up a hoof, the particle shield equalizing the effects of the prism beam and dispersing both. The area around her was instantly lit up to one-third the brightness of the sun itself with the reaction.

"Where did that come from?" She inquired while the officers around her were still stumbling out from cover, the ice around them slightly scorched but otherwise untouched.

"From inside Haven. Seems like a Crawler cannon, ma'am." A soldier reported.

"Put me through to General Bleak." Eclipse said, arms folded and her back hooves hovering an inch above the ground.

"Ma'am! They've got a full centurion of Crawlers coming out of nowhere! We're retreating!" That was Bleak. Also annoying, this time irritatingly weak.

"Negative. Hold your ground." Eclipse said coldly. "Do not desert your battle stations. You will remain where you are until reinforcements reach your location."

"Ma'am! But- they-"

"You are foolish to risk you own head on a platter." Eclipse said simply. She didn't voice it threateningly, but it was more than enough to make the general swallow.

"Y-yes ma'am." The connection went dead.

"How many troops should we send them, ma'am?" An officer approached.

"I'm going to match their firepower. Give me two centurions of Ghosts."

"And commanders in charge of the two?"

"Just me." Eclipse replied, not bothering to explain. The Wardens were almost powerless against her without their leader. All five remaining Wardens used matter and particle control, with the exception of Neon- who used light, which couldn't directly deal damage to her. The only Warden that could be a match against her was Nightshade, who could teleport within milliseconds between each time. It would be impossible to sneak up on her because of her bat pony hearing, she could fly and teleport at the same time which made aerial combat an undesirable option to fight her in, and because of her ability she could dodge a bullet even if it had already touched her skin.

Too bad she was in pony heaven.