With Caltrop waiting for me, it took what felt like an eternity of anxious waiting to finally have Synchro finish his work. As I’d become accustomed to seeing from him, it was solid work. Again, as I’d become accustomed to, he propositioned me one last time. This time was different though, I didn’t hear him. There was only one stallion on my mind now.

With my legs all fixed up, I left back to my room to have that adult conversation I’d wanted with Caltrop. No frills or distractions, just a straight up talk about our future together. Funny thing about that was that when I got there, something inside my mind just gave way. The moment I saw him laying there, my brain was done. With no robots, raiders, or anything to bother me, I could finally just shut off and relax with him. If even for only a few hours, that is.

So, of course, this is when my repressed urges decided to flare up. More than a month without having gotten myself off once made me ravenous. I’d be leaving at sundown, and I couldn’t afford to still have this on my mind the entire job. I’d been with stallions before, and I’d been with mares when I needed to just release. It was something I’d take forcefully if I’d had to, and as much as I respected Caltrop, I needed this whether or not he was interested. Thankfully, He turned out to be less excited about conversing as well, and more all about skipping right to the adult part of the idea.

Caltrop was more than I'd ever imagined he’d have been. He'd shown me another way to appreciate his company, one that I'd been deprived of for too long. How he looked when he stood over me, how he smelled as he pressed against me. He knew how to treat me like a mare, and I loved every moment that he took to ravish me. Little licks and nips in just the right places, and a sensitive touch had me melting under him. That is, until we got to the main course. He wasn't anywhere near extra large in the size department, but he hit me in all the right places. Most of all, what I loved is how much he'd fill me.

Every nook and cranny in me, every single nerve. All of it felt like there was nothing but explosions of pleasure running all throughout me. I was lost in a sea where every crashing wave made me gasp for breath. I didn't know if it was more intoxicating because I loved him, or if he was just that damn satisfying. No pony I’d ever laid with before had ever been this good. His endurance, his knowledge of just how to go at me the next time, it was overwhelming. I’d been with boring stallions, and stallions who could rut you until you screamed out their name in ecstasy. Caltrop was different. He moved with me, whispered sweet things that sent my mind reeling in pleasure with the slightest touch. Most of all, each and every action felt like it was just for me.

It felt so surreal to be with him, and before I’d known it, the midday sun had started to dim. After the hours we'd spent together in the sheets, he was ultimately the one who made sure we had to shower after we finished. I’d lost count of how many times we’d both finished, but it was enough to soak the bed sheets through and through. Sure, cleaning and drying the sheets would take a lot of time, but he’d made it oh so worth the time.

With little remorse, I’d stolen use of the shower first. The failing daylight coming through the bathroom window was a reminder that my time was short. Even though I hadn’t had any proper rest, the afternoon’s vigorous activities left my mind crystal clear. With little effort, I used my magic to start up the shower. Immediately, the steam from the hot water started to waft around the room before streaming for the open window.

Unlike when I’d first arrived, I didn’t rush to shut it. The talisman’s that heated the water here were second to none, so I never had to worry about running out of hot water. Instead, I focused myself on getting my cybernetics off. I sat on the edge of the tub and used both my hooves and my magic to get them detached. Already, it had been a month with these legs and they’d been to hell and back. Already, taking them off and putting them on was second nature.

With a heavy clunk, I let my artificial limbs hit the floor, and I slid myself backwards into the steaming tub. The hot water felt luxurious as it ran over my coat and mane. I let out a gasp of pure pleasure as I took just this moment to enjoy it. This may not have been the life I’d seen myself living months ago, but damn if it wasn’t better than I could have imagined.

“Enjoying…” A voice from my side startled me. I let out a yelp and moved to defend myself. It was about the time that I’d lowered my head to stab the intruder, that my forehoof slipped and I cracked my jaw against the porcelain tub’s rim.

“Woah there, easy.” Null chuckled as he removed his stealthbuck. The asshole stood next to me with a mile wide grin across his muzzle. “I did not intend to startle you. You really should close that window though.”

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I snapped at him. About the same time, I heard Caltrop shout my name through the door in alarm. He fumbled with the locked door for a moment before he felt content to try to break it down. With a single slam, I figured that enough was enough and I opened it for him. When I had, he couldn’t stop himself from his next ram, and ended up throwing himself onto the bathroom floor muzzle first.

“What the fahk!” He muttered as he clambered back to his hooves. He held a hoof up to his nose, a thin line of red ran down and dripped onto the floor. “Get da hell away from PC.”

“Caltrop, it’s fine.” I glared at Null and hoofed at my sore jaw. It didn’t feel like I was missing any teeth, and it wasn’t broken. “So long as he actually has a reason to be here.”

“I came to apologize.” He started to say before casting his glance to Caltrop. “To the both of you, actually.”

With an annoyed wave of my horn, I used my magic to shut off the water. “What was so important that it couldn’t have waited until I was done in here?”

“With the expediency of your trip tonight, I feared I would not have the time to speak with you before Spectre took you.” He let out a sigh and sat down. “I realize that what happened in Steel Junction might not have been the way that you had planned for things to go down. While I should have given you the chance to act first,” He leaned forward and put his hoof on his chest. It was supposed to make him look sincere, but Ash had pulled that trick one too many times for me to care anymore. “And I do apologize for that, know that Spectre moves a great deal faster than me. If you don’t plan to be ready for anything with her, you are going to cause a great deal more trouble than she cares for.”

“So?” I sighed as I gave a slight shiver. Why couldn’t I just have had my nice, hot shower in peace? “If she changes shit, it’s not my problem. I’m just her back up, and from what I’ve seen her do here, there’s no real reason for me to go other than Flint’s orders.”

“Because,” His smile shrank and he returned a serious gaze at me. “I was there when Synchro spoke of the other hunters Flint has lost.” Of course he’d been there. I hate assholes, especially invisible assholes like him. “Not all were so simply put down.”

“What do yah mean?” Caltrop took a step closer to me and eyed me like he was afraid. I realized that us loving each other meant he could be protective of me, but I’m a fucking grown mare who did just fine before meeting his sorry flank. If anything, I’m just afraid of what Flint will do to him if he steps out of line.

“What I mean, is that both Taproot and Motormouth were escorting her when they died.” He looked out the window and toward the sun just as it peeked out on the horizon. “You do what she says, you adapt when things change,” He got to his hooves and used his magic to click the stealthbuck back into place. “Or she might just leave you behind like the others.”

He shimmered out of sight, and from the quiet click of the window closing a minute later, I assume he’d left.

“I shoulda listened.” Caltrop sighed and flopped against the side of the tub. “Dis place really is run by a bunch a grade A assholes.”

“Yeah, well it’s nothing new in my life. Besides,” I sighed and hooked my forehoof around his neck. “I grew to like one particular dolt, didn’t I?” I smiled and wrapped my magic around him. With a quick pull, I’d made him light enough to bring him into the tub with me. He squirmed and seemed surprised, but relaxed once I’d set him down across from me. “Now, let’s get ourselves cleaned up.”

“Yeah, but PC, aren’t yah worried she’ll leave yah ta die?” Caltrop slumped against the back end of the tub as he spoke. “Yah sure yah have ta go?”

I used my magic to flick the shower head into a downward direction, and turn it on. With a hiss, the water flowed out and rained down onto him. With the window closed, it only took a moment for the heat of it to hit me again.

“Come on.” I spoke with a smile and let myself lay back against the tub again. “I’ve been blown up, shot, stabbed, nearly boiled alive, and had my legs lasered off.” Saying that list shouldn’t have brought a smile to my muzzle, but I couldn’t have helped it. “Other than some asshole getting a lucky shot, or pissing off one of those tin can soldiers, I’m sure I’ll make it out of anything I could get caught up in.” I could almost feel as Caltrop cringed across the tub.

“But…” He began, but was silenced when I raised my forehoof.

“Look, Caltrop, I’ll be fine.” I used my magic to force the shower back onto me. “I’m following her lead on this, and while she is a colossal bitch, we just have to kill one pony and then we’re out of there.”

“Yeah?” He snorted. “An how is killin’ just one pony fine?” He crossed his forehooves in a huff and gave me a judgemental look. “What did this pony ever do ta yah, anyway?”

“He’s a doctor that Flint pays to keep his hunters alive.” I understand his suspicions for kill orders after Steel Junction, but he should know me better. “He tried to extort Flint in order to get rich.”

“And what if he had a good reason for it?” Caltrop snapped. “Geez PC, yah gonna kill him just because some Jerk who pays yah told yah so?”

“He was trying to bargain for more money with your life.” I snapped back. At that, he shut his muzzle and stopped, if only just to listen. In my anger, I twisted the shower knob into the off position and levitated my towel over. “I regret what happened at Steel Junction, I really do. But bargaining with something that doesn’t belong to you is stepping way over the line, expecialy when it’s useing Sandy or you to get what you want.”

“PC…” Caltrop winced and shook his head.

I didn’t want to let him speak. “So you’re damn right I’m going to kill him.” I twitched in annoyance as I remembered that wasn’t true. I’d gotten so flustered that I’d forgotten that I’m not the one in charge of this. I crumpled the towel up and shoved it against my face. “Fuck.” I grumbled into it. “Spectre is the lead, so I’ll just get to stand there until it’s done.”

“I’m sorry.” Caltrop sighed and smacked his head back against the brass shower pipes. “I’m such a moron.” When I removed the towel from my face, I found his eyes gazing at me sincerely. “It’s been so much these last few days. First, I find out that yah alive, then Steel Junction’s explodin’. Next I nearly got us both killed at dat hanger, and I only make it cause yah saved my flank yet again.”

“Look, I know things are moving fast, but things are stable for us for once.” The sun had already dipped down below the horizon, and the darkness of night was approaching fast. “I just need you to trust me on this, alright? I’ll be back soon, and both you, and Sandy can sit down with me to talk about everything. Flint may have a lot of rules, and sometimes the jobs won’t be the ones we want,” I toweled the rest of my front off before hooking my forelegs over the lip of the tub. “But I’ll take that over wandering from town to town looking for work.”

“I guess yah right.” He nodded and gave me a small smile. “ And I trust yah because, well, I love yah.”

“It’ll just take some getting used to is all.” I said as I tried to pull myself out of the tub. Even with something like this, I found a way to screw it up when the metal caps on my stumps got hung up for a moment. Then i found that this position gave me a good chance to towel off my back. That was about when I heard Caltrop as shifted around in the tub.

“Well, dis place does give me a nice view.” I could feel his heated breath running across my rump and flanks. “I could get used to it.”

“Don’t you dare.” I whined, coiling the wet towel up in my magic for use as a makeshift whip. “I don’t have time for a quicky, you dolt.” He let out a small sigh as he backed off. “Now, give me a hoof with my, well... hooves.”

I had been double checking all my gear when there was a knock at the door. I say knock, but it had almost been loud enough I could believe somepony was trying to break in.

“I’ll get it.” Caltrop chimed happily as he pulled himself up off the bed. I hadn’t really seen him this relaxed before. Sure, I’d seen him happy, but this was a whole different kind of radiance he gave off. Funny enough, I felt the same way.

The door swung open before he could even get to it. Without the evening sunlight, the darkened hallway made Spectre’s violet eyes glow even more than normal. Her eyes weren’t normally something I spent my time wondering about, but as she stood there keeping them peering at me, I couldn’t help but wonder why the hell they were that bright.

“Don’t focus on anything. Just stand still and be useless.” She spat while the fuzzy tingle of magic spread down my horn. The comment came so suddenly, my mind locked up as I tried to think of why she’d opened like that. By the time it hit me, I found an image of a patch of dirt in the wastes shoved into my head.

With a flash, and an uncomfortable arcane snap, that patch of wasteland materialized around us. The wind howled across the dark and barren wastes. Without the sun, I couldn’t see anything around us, let alone Flint’s compound. With an annoyed sigh, I was about to complain when I felt the tingle in my horn crop up.

“Again.” Spectre snapped at me. Another image was shunted into my brain, this time of a rotting farmhouse. The image was at least familiar to me, as it was almost a half hours trot from the base of Flint’s mountain. With another arcane shift, we both appeared in front of the house. Almost immediately after I felt my hooves on solid ground, did my head start to spin.

“Gah, goddesses my head.” I tried to say, but a dull whine had worked its way into my hearing. Things were muffled, and I felt like my muscles were burning under my skin. Once more, the sensation crawled into my horn. The image of Shel’s doorway materialized in my mind, and before I could complain, Spectre’s magic pulled us through the arcane void and out into the dirt beside it.

My body had decided that three teleports were as much as it had wanted to handle, and all of me gave out at once. With a groan, I’d collapsed onto the dirt as my stomach pushed it’s contents up. Momentary pain washed over me as my whole body convulsed, and my horn shot a few sparks out for good measure. I’d wanted to bitch her out for not giving me enough time to prepare for the jumps, but I was too busy choking on my own bile to breathe, let alone complain.

As if the way I felt hadn’t been bad enough, the metal slit on the door slid back, and a hostile sounding stallion called out of it. “What the hell is going on out there?”

“You alerted them. Fucking great.” Spectre muttered as she took a single step over me. The crack of a spell going off filled the air as she teleported away from me. A muffled thump came from behind the bunker door, and shortly after that, it squeaked open. The body of the door guard tumbled down into the dirt, and in the dim light coming from the stairway, I could see a deep gash across his neck. Above him, Spectre simply glared at me. “Fuck up again, and I’ll make sure you end up like him.”

Again, without warning, my horn tingled with magic and an image grew in my mind. This time, it was of the corn field inside the shelter.

“Fuck yo…” Was all I could get out before her magic displaced us, dumping me into the middle of the corn field unceremoniously. My stomach did another flip, but I had nothing left to push out. Still, Spectre’s hooves came down on my muzzle. She held both my muzzle and my nose shut tightly. I pryed at her hooves as I struggled to breathe at all, keeping my eyes locked on her burning gaze. I wanted to accuse her of enjoying it, but there was no pleasure in her eyes, just hatred. Only when it was evident I wasn’t going to hurl again, did she release my muzzle.

“Stay here and stay quiet.” She snapped in a harsh whisper. I gasped for breath, desperately trying to keep the noise from myself to a minimum. Even if she was a bitch, I still didn’t want to get caught here when we’d been banned. Her magic wrapped around my head and forced me to look at her. “This should only take a few minutes,” She narrowed her eyes as she spoke, the wrappings around her head tightening as she pulled them taught enough I could see her frown. “that is, if you don’t screw this up for me.”

“Sure, whatever.” I growled at her. Her horn let out a bright flash, and she teleported herself away. “Bitch.”

With a quick look around, I checked to see if there were any parts of the corn field that could offer better concealment. The radiantly yellow corn rows were packed so tightly that they might as well have been walls. Only on each end of the long rows could somepony glance down and see me. The bright lighting that hung above left no shadows for me to sit in, and really brought out the red in my trench coat against the dirt and yellow corn.

With as quiet of a grunt as I could give, I pulled myself up to my hooves. I needed to at least move back to the last row of corn. Sure, somepony could still see me there, but I might hear them coming if they came from the markets.

The soft soil stuck to my forehooves, feeling odd compared to the dirt you find in the wastes. Even when it rained, the mud in the wasteland felt… abrasive. This felt clingy, like the consistency of those fancy buck snack cakes Mom’s always craving. Maybe that was what made the corn so yellow? If I had actually been a gardener like I’d wanted to be, maybe I’d have known shit like this.

With a forceful shove, I pushed my way into the first row of corn. The thick leaves rustled loudly as I did, and the stiff stalks felt like they pushed back against me. I jerked to a stop as I felt the battery pack strapped to me tug to the side. I used my magic to lift my coat up, and I found that the power cord to my left leg had hooked itself around one of the pieces of ripe corn. Grumbling, I unlooped it and continued on my way.

Again, I pushed through the next row, and then the next. The smell of the ripe corn felt like it got heavier the farther back I went. My stomach grumbled loudly, and it made me stop. I’d lost everything I’d eaten today up top, and this corn was starting to seem like a damn good option to get something in me. As I stepped up to the next row, hesitantly, I leaned up to one of the bright yellow ears and took a big sniff at it.

Yup, smells like corn. I wasn’t sure what I’d expected. I guess I’d just been curious how they got corn that looked like this down here. Unfortunately, being so close and having taken that big of a sniff, my stomach grumbled loudly in protest again. It wanted the corn, and I was starting to think that maybe it was right. I leaned my muzzle in, and opened my mouth.

“I wouldn’t do that,” The raspy voice of Spring Jamboree chimed from a few feet to my side. With my muzzle still gaping open, just inches from the corn, I shot a glance over to the pony I had no idea had been standing there. “This corn is our trade stock here. If we let just anypony eat it, the whole town would go broke.” She had a soft, and forgiving smile across her saggy muzzle. In her hoof, she held a wicker basket filled to the brim with ripe ears of corn.

“Sorry, I’m just really hungry.” I found a nervous smile creep across my face. Shit, maybe I should have stayed back in the other row. Now I had to think of some excuse to why I’m still here. “Couldn’t sleep because of it, in fact.”

“Late night munchies.” She nodded and walked over to me. It was about then I decided to stop gawking at the corn and try to at least appear normal. I turned to her and sat down in the wet soil with a heavy plop. Similarly, she set her basket down. “Funny. I’d thought your group had left already.”

“Yeah, the others went on ahead,” I’d quickly spat out. Fuck me, making shit up on the spot was hard! I’d never been a social enough pony to know how to handle shit like this! “You know, to heal my friends.”

“Ah, yes.” She winced, “I am terribly sorry for how Doctor Cast acted. I hope that things can be worked out with him in the future.”

Smart. Get her to bring up the reason you’re here. Now she’ll be able to pin his death on you. Though, if Spectre is half as good as she thinks she is, she might make it convincing enough to make it look like an accident.

“Yeah, I’m sure we’ll get things sorted very soon.” I gave a shrug and practically threw my gaze over to the corn. “This is some corn, huh! But I don’t get it, why is it so yellow?” That had probably been the worst change in topic I’d ever forced, but anything is better than discussing why I was here.

“What we normally tell those who ask, is that we give it lots of sunshine and love.” She rolled her eyes as she scooped up a hoof full of the soil. “It always get’s a laugh from them, but they never really cared in the first place.” She paused and looked at me. “Though, from the way you look at it, I have a feeling you genuinely want to know.”

“Gardening was something I’d wanted to do as a filly.” I think that the changes in my life had really gotten to me. With Flint, I had everything set up just the way I wanted it, and still I felt out of place. Bounty hunting may have been something I’d been good at before, but I just couldn’t care for it anymore. It just felt… different now. Meeting Caltrop, going through all this with him, meeting Sandy. With how close I’d grown to them, and with how many times I’ve nearly lost them, I didn’t know if I could even see myself doing this anymore.

“Well, something tells me it’s more than just a passing interest.” Jamboree snapped me out of my existential moment by hoofing the soil she had onto the base of the corn stalks. “The answer you want is two fold. The first, is that this corn was stored down here before the war.” She hoofed an ear of corn out of her basket and peeled back the green leaves that clung around it. The further she peeled it back, the more I expected it to start to look like the sickly pieces of corn you see in the markets of Baltimare. Stripped bare, it was nothing but solid gold. “No radiation or blight, this is as close to the way corn is supposed to be as you’ll ever see in the wastes.”

“It’s quite amazing.” I’d nodded and felt myself drool a little just staring at it. “And the second part of how you do it?”

“Crap.” She snorted. “pure and simple.”

“What?” I couldn’t have been sure I heard her right, but I felt like I was missing something.

“This soil?” She stomped a hoof down into the squishy dirt. “Same as any you’d find up in the wastes.” That was a bit hard to believe. I hoofed at it in an attempt get my head wrapped around it. “The difference being,” She continued, “is that this soil is treated with the town’s… biological waste.”

That made me jump up to my hooves and attempt to stand on just the tips of them. It was not something my cyberhooves wanted to do, emitting a whine as I tried to maintain it. “So… I’ve been sitting in shit?” I muttered, hoping that she’d just been joking. The harder I tried to keep my cyberhooves up, the more they whined. The more they whined, the more I thought about them, which Syncro told me would confuse the neuro-sensors or some shit. Reluctantly, I figured standing hoof deep in shit would be better than blowing out the motors in my legs.

“In a matter of speaking, yes.” She chuckled and hoofed the ear she held towards me. “You know what, take it.” She gave me a bright smile and nodded. “I think you’ll enjoy it.”

“Thanks...” I hesitantly grabbed it with my magic, floating it over to myself. I looked the ear over, wondering if I should maybe save it to share with Caltrop. “So, why are you out here picking it?” I resolved that at the very least, I could save it as a treat for later when I could actually enjoy it. “I mean, ghouls don’t normally eat, do they?”

“No, we don’t tend to.” She hooked her hoof around the basket and bought it to her side. “Actually, Doctor Cast has a high intensity distiller he uses to turn it into medical grade alcohol.” She canted her head to the side with a smile as she spoke. “It’s really interesting how it…”

A soft pop and a quick flash interrupted her. I flinched as the both the corn and I were sprayed with a light mist of black droplets. Her happy smile left her as the spark of life in her eyes dimmed. Jamboree crumpled the the ground in a heap as the smoking barrel of a suppressed weapon snaked it’s way out of the corn row beside us. The fresh hole in her head sat out of place among the folds of her sagging skin, and the suddenness of her death left me unable to even rip my vision from her.

“Why…” I found myself asking.

“She was the nurse here, correct?” Spectre’s cruel tone from minutes ago was gone. Even shielded from the corn, I could’ve almost felt the radiance of the smile I’d been certain she wore. “She was part of the job then. Good job keeping her distracted, even if it was all you were good for.”

As Jamboree’s ichor-blood ran down the corn, a familiar feeling tingled in my horn. The image of the wasteland farm house was again shoved into my head, and again, I was pulled along with Spectre. Even as my body rebelled against the influx of magic, my mind had felt blank.

For years, Storm had warned me that this was how things would work if I started working for ponies like this. The memory orb I’d viewed with that pegasus mare had talked about it. Finally, working in bounty hunting, I hadn’t cared about the deaths of so many. I’d been so blind to think that those I had killed were deserving because somepony had told me it had to be done. My eyes had been opened with how Steel Junction went down.

Now? The ugly truth of working for Flint had my undivided attention.

In the few moments I had before we jumped again, I whispered out a small prayer for Jamboree. I had never been a religious mare, but it’d take a miracle to pull me out of the mess I finally realize that I’d gotten mixed up in.