Bounty Hunters 3: Genesis

by Jasper77W

Chapter 66: Angel of Hell

Rainbow let out sigh of relief, listening to the scraping of claws against the heavy metal gate outside. There were probably a few hundred more of those things out there, but the gate stood its ground and left them for Lightning Dust and Noteworthy to annihilate.

"Head to the ambush room." She said, pointing down the hall. "AL, update?"

"Science faction troops, led by Eclipse; have breached the tunnel. We are channeling her and a portion of her troops down the path you allocated." AL replied, conjuring up a screen. Rainbow watched a group of science marines storm down a tunnel, only to all suddenly fall down to a pit full of mines as the floor beneath them simply collapsed.

"Good work." She said, on her way back to the room.

"So what's the plan? How the hell are we going to kill Eclipse!?" Magnum limped beside her(assisted by Zealo), somewhat eager now that she got shot.

"Patience, my friend." Rainbow replied, and Magnum rolled her eyes at her tone. Rainbow really didn't fit well with a 'wise mare' tone. "You'll figure it out soon enough."

"But I have to question your motives. This plan you have laid out significantly ignores multiple tactical advantages which we could easily use." AL replied.

"I'm not trying to win at the moment." Rainbow said. "That'll come after this. If I'm not mistaken, a powerful being like Eclipse would definitely pose a threat to Val- and Val created her. And Val being Val, I doubt she's stupid enough to not put monitoring equipment on Eclipse."

"And...?" Magnum raised an eyebrow.

"She'll be our messenger. I'm sending Val a message." Rainbow's expression darkened as she stopped before a metal door. "She might be playing her own game, but right now it's ours. And we're dictating the rules." She said, punching a code into the terminal and opening the door.

Inside was just an empty room. The only other door was on the far side of the ten by seven rectangle.

"THIS is your plan? Face Eclipse in a confined space?" Octavia frowned.

"There's more to it than you know- but right now there's a small problem. Magnum, can you shoot a gun?" Rainbow turned to the blue earth pony. "I'll take that as a yes." She muttered as Magnum looked up from her injured shoulder and raised an eyebrow, giving her a 'you bucking kidding me?' look.

"Gimme." Magnum muttered, taking Zealo's rifle. Then she gave him a gentle shove, nodding towards the door. "Go. I'll see you in a sec."

"But-"

Magnum stopped him with a kiss.

"Just... Go. I don't want you in here." With something that could potentially kill you, because I would most certainly not want that to happen again.

Zealo gave her a worried look, and turned it to the other ponies behind her. Rainbow seemed focused on the far door, Octavia checking her ammo. His team had split off somewhere else to assist the battles in the Tunnels.

"Then promise me-" he started, but Magnum pressed a hoof against his lips.

"I'll be right here." She replied, giving him a reassuring smile.

Zealo could only give a sad and worried frown in return. "Then..." he sighed. "I'll be waiting." He said, gave her one last look and turned towards the door.

Magnum closed her eyes and sighed as the door slid shut behind him and locked in place.

"Everypony check your grapples. These will be our primary advantage in this fight. We take down Val's toughest, show her that she doesn't scare us." Rainbow said, making sure the green lights were flashing on her wrist-mounted grapple. "AL, give us an overview. I want to know where Eclipse is." She said, and a few holographic screens slid across the room and stopped before her. Security cam feeds.

There was a bright flash behind Rainbow, and she looked behind her.

"AL told me you had a plan?" Nightshade said, poshly dusting some snow off her shoulder. "Mind telling what it i-UNF!" She groaned as Rainbow pulled her into a strangling hug.

"You're alive." Was all Rainbow said as she squeezed the living crap out of the bat pony, her cybernetic limb digging uncomfortably into her side. Nightshade had to teleport out of her grip to prevent herself from getting crushed.

"I am." She replied, cocking her head to one side and studying the somewhat tearful pegasus. "What's with the crying?"

"I guess I sorta blamed myself." Rainbow said after a pause, cutting short a sniff.

"It was my choice, not yours." Nightshade replied, expression neutral. Great, still that stern captain of the night. This moment was meant to be touching!

Rainbow just nodded and smiled as Octavia asked the million dollar question. That is, after also giving the uncomfortable looking bat pony a squeeze.

"How'd you come back?" She asked with a grin. That made the two of them who came back from their graves.

Even Nightshade couldn't help but puff her chest out just a little with pride. Just a little. "My special talent is teleportation. Being a Warden amplifies that. Jumped straight outta hell." She said, and was that a smile? Then it faded, and she rubbed where her left eye would've been with a pained expression. "Cost me a precious eye in the process though." She muttered, adding to herself: "Always liked leftie."

"I'm not even going to start and try to question how that works." Magnum shook her head, and gave her a soldierly pat on the back.

"Magic." A mechanical voice bellowed as Sweetie Bot stomped into the room. Then the cyberpony seemed to shrink a little at her own voice. "Uh... That was loud. Damn, I miss the times when I can sing."

The others shared a chuckle as she trot- clunked in to join them.

"Eclipse has a whole army tearing through the Tunnels towards you. I'll alert you when she's nearby. In the meantime, Rainbow; if you have any more pre-war speeches to say say them now." AL said.

"You don't have any confidence in my plan do you?" Rainbow sighed.

"It's barely a plan. You're just giving yourself a slight advantage in the hopes that you could defeat her with it."

"Still an improvement over what normally happens." Octavia said, and Rainbow wasn't sure whether to support her on that statement or not.

"Hey, I came up with a perfectly functional plan a few days ago! And so far it's been working!" She complained instead.

Magnum rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

"What? I did!" Rainbow looked hurt.

"It's called desperation and reckless behavior. You've pretty much acted under the assumption that Haven would be lost anyways." AL said.

"Well you can all go sulk however you want. It still worked." Rainbow snorted.

"Eclipse is getting closer. Only about twenty meters out." AL reported.

"Alright. So here's the plan-" Rainbow said in a hurry.

*

"You know, my level of confidence might've been higher before you told me about this plan of yours. It's also more of a weak strategy." Magnum said flatly.

"It's Eclipse's only weakness and our only chance if we want to defeat her." Rainbow defended.

"Ten seconds." AL warned.

"We're bucked." Octavia sighed.

"Well, I'll remember you all. You know, returning favors." Nightshade shrugged.

"Scratch that. Our guards are useless. INCOMING!" AL seemed to yell.

"Alright everypony! Let's do thi-" Rainbow started, then the door to the room tore from the walls in a crumpled heap and flew towards her. She ducked just in time, the scrap metal skidding across the floor. A fraction of a second late and she would've been smeared by the heavy reinforced alloys.

The rest of the 'team' didn't exactly know what to expect. Science faction troops swarmed in, weapons raised. Eclipse stormed through, floating on her glowing wings.

Then the troops started firing.

"Where's the monologue?" Magnum dove to the side as bullets tore through the wall behind her.

"AL! Now!" Rainbow screamed, deflecting bullets and beams with her cleaver.

Suddenly the walls around them shimmered as the mirage spell was dropped, and revealed stacks among stacks of door frames, a field of magic shimmering within each.

Rainbow fired her grapple behind her, and yanked one out. She flung it across the room where it landed behind several enemies, then back flipped into another one of those portals.

She came out of the one she just tossed, and started slashing just as the marines realized what had happened.

Sweetie Bot was doing her job bouncing teleporters around with controlled explosive bursts from her twin rail guns, and Magnum was darting between them like a shadow. In between portals she would lose a shot at the science faction troops, and to them there were simply bullets coming in from all directions as she teleported from one side of the room to the other.

"ROCKET!!" Somepony screamed, and Nightshade saw the projectile whooshing towards Rainbow. She yanked a portal and teleported to her, putting it right before the rocket. It zoomed in and went boom somewhere else- and judging from the screams, right into the spine of whoever shot it.

"Oh no." Rainbow muttered as a dozen or so science faction soldiers looked her way and started firing beams at her. She grappled a teleporter and flung it at them, all three of them being sucked into the portal. She turned around and raked her cleaver through all three of them as they came flying out. Then she ducked down as Sweetie Bot bucked somepony across the room.

"Wait, are we forgetting something?" Magnum raised an eyebrow as she dove through a portal then rolled onto the floor in the far corner.

Then Eclipse had her incineration rifle pressed against her forehead.

Nightshade teleported to her and tripped Magnum over backwards, the shot of high energy from Eclipse's rifle singeing the tips of her mane. Then she grabbed her and teleported the both of them away from the cyberpony.

"Your plan is crap." Octavia said, backing up against Rainbow and firing controlled bursts with her laser tommy.

"It's working though." Rainbow said enthusiastically, firing the high calibre cleaver.

More science factions troops were swarming in from the entrance by the minute.

"AL! Tell our own troops to emerge and seal off the exit! Our target is Eclipse- not the troops!" Octavia yelled.

"En route." AL replied calmly despite the room full of explosions. Damn level two AIs and their incapability of showing emotions.

Sweetie Bot let loose a barrage of charged bolts of dark green energy, bright explosions rippling across the floor and sending enemies bouncing across the room.

Rainbow fired the last shot, and silence ensued. No more minions left, then.

"Wait, where's Ecli-" she started.

Then she felt the blade tearing into her side.

Nightshade was a fraction of a second late- the glowing machete had already cut a quarter of the way through Rainbow's side. She tackled Eclipse by the waist and teleported the both of them to the opposite side of the room.

Rainbow fell down onto one knee and spat out a mouthful of blood, clutching her side as it rapidly bled. She coughed, leaning against the cleaver, an expression of pain on her face. Then she closed her eyes and collapsed sideways, falling still.

"Check on her!" Magnum yelled, and went to keep Eclipse occupied with the others. Octavia quickly ran to her side.

"Rainbow! Rainbow?" She placed a hoof against her chest for a heartbeat. Nothing. She leant forward and listened for breathing-

Then Rainbow spat in her ear.

"Gah!" She pulled away. "Jerk!"

"Go help the others. I think Eclipse cut something important- I can't get up." She tried, but more blood just oozed out.

"It's just a scratch! Get up already!"

"Says the mare that died from a single bullet wound." Rainbow muttered. "Get AL to stitch me back together and I'm good to go." She said, trying to stand up. Then Magnum came flying out of nowhere and clipped her in the head with her flank.

Eclipse sent the wall of orange slamming into Sweetie Bot, knocking her through a portal and off to somewhere else.

"On the other hoof, I think we should take care of this little pest problem first." Rainbow muttered, and with the help of Octavia and her cleaver; stood up.

"How do you propose we do this?" Octavia asked her as Nightshade kept the cyberpony of death occupied. With the help of Sweetie Bot's disintegration cannons.

"Just keep me steady and stop the bleeding." Rainbow braced the cleaver against her shoulder, rested a hoof on the trigger and supported the cleaver's weight with the other. Octavia helped her stand, and wrapped her coat heavily around her waist.

Magnum sent a grapple out towards a teleporter, slinging it over to her. She rolled into it, emerging behind Eclipse and losing a few shots. They were about to reach Eclipse's head, but the cyberpony blocked every single one of them with a shield.

"Haven't you killed her yet!?" Rainbow's eyes widened as Eclipse looked in her direction and came charging this way. "Uh-oh."

"My talent is not MISSING shots! Getting them blocked by some bullacrap cheating cyberpony power is a whole different story!" Magnum yelled back, leaping through a portal to get to Rainbow before Eclipse could execute the fourth freedom in an unpleasant manner on her.

Rainbow clenched her jaw at the pain in her side and swung the cleaver over her head, sending it into the ground as a temporary barricade.

Eclipse rammed into it with her shoulder, sending it flying away- but it had served its purpose in slowing her for just a second.

Rainbow lunged forward, synthetic arm stretching out with the claws attached at the end.

Eclipse wrapped a glob of orange around her arm and twisted, thumping her down and sending her sliding over to the other side of the room. Had Octavia not bound her wound tightly with fabric, she probably would've been twisted in two just there and then. Still hurt a lot.

She struggled to rise, Eclipse pointing her incineration rifle at her. Then Sweetie Bot intervened, standing in the way to block the shot.

The beam of red which would've completely reduced her to ashes glanced off the enchanted armor, but in return the armor simply melted. The molten metal started burning her internal systems, and just as she was about to use the railgun on her right it simply drooped and went offline.

Instead, she reeled up and slammed her fore hooves against Eclipse's shield. It buckled a bit, but stayed intact. Eclipse sent the shield exploding outwards, launching Sweetie Bot into the far wall. She slid down onto the ground, pieces of armor either missing or melted into her synthetic organs.

"Oh how we could do with an invincible teammate right now." Rainbow muttered. Blithy or Neon- come on!

"Magnum! Check on her!" Octavia yelled, cover firing the blue pony as she darted towards the fallen Sweetie Bot.

"Hey, ya high tech street lamp!" Rainbow yelled at Eclipse, waving her hooves. Please come to me instead... Don't hurt my friends, damnit!

Eclipse wheeled around, a glowing orange hammer forming around her hoof. She raised it, charged forward and slammed it down at Rainbow.

Rainbow raised her synthetic arm, allowing it to absorb the blow. At least, try to.

The metal bent and buckled under the force, and the shockwave traveling down the length of her body opened up her wound for a split second. The amount of blood that suddenly left her body sent her brain reeling, and she stumbled back.

Eclipse pointed a hoof at her, and a column of solid orange matter left her wing and flew towards Rainbow- ready to crush her.

Nightshade appeared, on her back carrying a portal. The column went through, came out a different one, and slammed into Eclipse's back.

"Why are you hitting yourself?" She grinned, ditching the portal.

Eclipse ignored her, backing away. Then her incineration rifle split apart, new parts springing into place and greatly increasing the size of the weapon. So much so that she had to rest it on her shoulder to support it.

"Ah shi." Rainbow muttered, recovering from her temporary blackout. She looked around, and picked up the only thing she could think of that might defend her against such a weapon.

The cannon fired, a bright sphere of glowing red slamming into the face of Rainbow's cleaver as she held it tightly in a hoof.

The force sent her sprawling back, the flames bouncing off of the cleaver and barely scorching its surface.

"Ah! AH!" Rainbow cried, batting at the edge of her black coat, which was set aflame.
Octavia charged forth, tommy laser gun thingy blazing streaks of red. The squeaky 'pew' with each shot made it less intimidating though.

Nightshade saw an opportunity and blinked- the cannon was much too large, if she could get close enough...

Eclipse saw her coming and swung the cannon away from her shoulder, making its parts shift and form a giant sledgehammer. Poor Nightshade was slammed across the room a split second after she appeared behind her, the only thing stopping her from pulverizing was her enchanted moon steel armor.

"How's Sweetie Belle looking?" Rainbow asked, getting up from her vicious battle with an element of nature, a good portion of her coat eaten away and lying in ashes. Damn, if only Octavia knew how to enchant clothes. Rarity probably would know how...

...Goddamnit, don't think about them... Don't....

"Dysfunctional." Was the only word Magnum could use as she crouched near the fallen cyberpony.

Except she wasn't.

Slowly, Sweetie Bot got up; right railgun still dead and dangling.

"I'm staying functional till these ponies are DEAD! They took my parents! My sister! My body!" She screamed, systems turning red with rage instead of the usual green. Worse of all, Rainbow heard no Sweetie Belle in that voice at all- instead, it was just a robot.

That thought that was ever present but never acknowledged sent a shiver down her spine- a robot with a brain. How much pony was left, then?

She looked down at her augmentations, and sighed. No, not thinking about this right now.

But it still nagged at her heart even as the fight went on.

Comments

[Jasper77W]

3247022

I love the way you comment on things
Makes me laugh everytime

[Higgle]

When I stuck this on my Read Later list, it was 2 chapters long. And now...

Sorry, next-fanfic-in-list, it'll be a while before I get started on you...

(Looking forward to more Bounty Hunters awesomeness! I hope that you've changed on your writing style a bit, though. The previous two fanfics had a bit too much onomatopoeia, I reckon.)

[Jasper77W]

3271122
Really? Well that's odd because I hate onomatopoeias(okay so maybe I used stuff like 'bang' and 'crack' a few millions times but that's okay.... Right?)

[Higgle]

3271600 It's okay. <3