The shift of city watch that Serge promised, along with the next several days' worth, turned out to be surprisingly uneventful. Despite the vague warnings that we were probably going to have to deal with a lot of extra unrest from slaves who were likely to be particularly skilled at sneaking around and killing people, nothing really felt any different. For that matter, despite integrating a massive band of raiders, the city didn't even feel any more crowded than ever. I guess compared to its population before the war, it was never going to feel crowded.

Even so, unruly raiders-turned-involuntarily-productive-citizens or not, the monotony ceased on the fourth day after Serge returned to our squad. Amy and I were patrolling the skies together, and I was doing my best to keep alert in the face of what was proving to be yet another day of nothing but skimming clouds of smog so we could check off a box on Heidi's work roster saying we did. I was still wary of the possibility of a slave revolt, but I'd heard that most of them had been transferred to the collapsing mall on the other side of the city, ostensibly doing restoration work on it in preparation for… something nobody was quite sure of. In any case, with them all bunched up over there and under second platoon's watch, I wasn't too worried.

I gave the petroleum refinery ahead a wide berth as we approached, having learned years ago that there was no way to approach close to its towering smokestacks without getting a fine dusting of soot embedded in my feathers that would last for a week, and dove closer to the street to give the thick black clouds above an equally generous amount of space. I gave a quick glance back to verify that Amy was still keeping pace, and found her diligently scanning the terrain below us, as she always was when I checked.

We drifted lower down one of the main avenues, flanked on both sides by crumbled storefronts, cracked sidewalks and the odd downed light pole that somehow hadn't been hauled off to be melted down for raw materials in the five years since I'd been in Fillydelphia. The path ahead was clear of slaves or any other evident activity, yet, over the din of industry in Fillydelphia, I heard shouting. At least two agitated people were arguing about something, and we were getting closer.

The source turned out to be a small mob of slavers, who tore out into one of the intersections before screeching to a halt and scanning each path. One, a big earthpony stallion with a battlesaddle equipped with rifles of some kind, spotted us up in the air and flagged us down.

Great. I knew this could only lead to bad news.

“We've got a runaway,” he explained the instant we touched down. “One of the Bloodletters. Black unicorn. He killed a couple of guards and fled this way with their guns.”

Yep, bad news.

“You're from the mall? How'd he get past the Talons out there?” I asked, as if the question mattered.

A bubblegum pink mare snorted. “Yeah, we're from the mall. Bastard can turn invisible. That's how he got away.”

Oh, good, even worse news.

So, they were chasing an invisible unicorn while shouting to the high heavens to let him know where they were? Thankfully, Amy salvaged the derail in the conversation by asking, “How do you know he came this way?”

Big stallion answered, “He can't stay invisible forever. We caught a glimpse of him a few minutes back trotting this way. We've had him on the run for half an hour now so he's got to be tired, but he's slippery.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Half an hour? Is anyone else looking for him?”

“We talked two more squads of chick-err, I mean, Talons into helping us search, but they're back checking behind us.”

“Any other slavers?” Amy asked.

“You kidding? As hard as it is to keep the rest of that psycho lot under our hooves?” Big stallion grunted. “Yeah, there's another group checking out down south, but it's all we could spare. Now, are you going to help us or not? Time's wasting here.”

I wasn't sure how we were supposed to find someone who was invisible. I had half a mind to fly back to the barracks to get Lita's EFS sensor, or head to the armory to see if another was available, but that would waste quite a bit of time. If only we had personal radios so we could call in for help like that. Oh well, it was a way to waste the afternoon doing something more interesting than staring at pavement flying by beneath us as we flew around. Odds of spotting the pony were vanishingly small, and it wasn't like he was going to announce his presence by shooting one of us first.

“All right, we'll check around. Shouldn't be hard to catch up to you if we find him.”

We lifted back into the air and started circling the area at a higher altitude. From there we had a better view of the city, but we were still low enough to hopefully pick him out if he was stupid enough to poke his head out of a window or walk down a street while visible. Just to be thorough, I drifted closer to Amy and asked, “Got any ideas?”

“Not much,” she admitted, not taking her eyes off of the buildings below. “I think we'll have to do this the old fashioned way.” She pointed down the street in the direction the slavers were originally headed. “The gate's that way, so he's probably headed there hoping he can get out. Let's move ahead and try to cut him off.”

The pony was going to be sorely disappointed if that was his plan. The gate was over a kilometer away, heavily guarded and even if he could climb the walls somehow he had the caustic moat of unpleasant odors to cross, which I was fairly sure would be lethal within seconds of contact. Still, her reasoning made as much sense as anything, and if I were in the pony's horseshoes I'd probably try the same thing.

Amy took the lead, flapping her wings hard to accelerate but taking a circuitous path around the street instead of flying straight ahead. I guess if the pony was watching us that might trick him into thinking we were headed somewhere else, so I followed suit. We circled far out, but kept the street within our line of sight as we went. I watched as best I could, checking each window, doorway and alley from the long distance, but aside from the odd scrap of paper fluttering in the wind, nothing presented itself.

When our circling finally brought us back around to the street, Amy dove down toward a parking garage situated next to a particularly large pile of debris and ruins that I guessed used to be a hotel or office building. I followed her down and landed on the top level, complete with ominous creaks from the dilapidated old concrete structure only held up by rebar and prayers, and scurried over to the edge where we could watch the street from the relative safety and concealment of the concrete barriers.

“He should come by here if he's still headed this way,” she muttered.

I peered over the edge into the vacant street below, glanced down a few blocks to the slavers working their way over to us and backed up. “I'll watch the other side. Maybe he's not stupid enough to run in a straight line away from them.”

“Good idea.”

With her blessing, I trotted over to the opposite corner on the back side, doing my best to avoid the larger cracks in the cement slab as I went. The back street wasn't any more interesting than the one I just left, which is what I was hoping for. A few upturned dumpsters blocked the street, so there was no chance he'd be coming this way anyway. I could just camp out there for a while, until Amy decided it was time to move on.

Not two minutes passed before the face of one of the dumpsters dipped, just visibly, as if something heavy but unseen had climbed atop it. A moment later, the depression snapped back into place, and the almost inaudible clack of unseen hooves against pavement reached my ears.

Fuck.

I instinctively scanned the street for a few pointless moments, as if I was going to see what was clearly invisible, before starting back to get Amy. I just managed to duck down below the lip of the concrete barrier and turn halfway before the world exploded and I dropped to the ground as my hindlegs went numb. A deep, stabbing pain shot through my side at the same instant that a crisp bang sounded from the street below.

“Kaz!”

Without thinking, I tried to jump back to my feet, but my useless hindlegs probably saved my life from a follow up shot as I just rolled over and made a lot of unflattering squeals from the pain radiating through my side. I could still feel the concrete under my paws, so I wasn't paralyzed, but it was taking my brain a long time to get to that realization amidst the growing feeling of fiery nausea welling up in my stomach.

Despite writhing in the grip of agony, I managed to flail at Amy to get her to drop down before the pony shot her instead. She skidded to a halt next to me and started checking me over. “Where were you hit? I-I don't see anything.”

I arched my back and pointed at my side as I fought for breath. As much pain as I was in there was no point waiting on her diagnosis, so I ripped off my medical kit, dug out a potion and sucked it down. The relief was slower than I hoped for, but took my breath as much as the pain when it finally came. My whole body went slack before the adrenaline returned me to my senses enough to roll back over and scoot away from the wall.

“Looks like the bullet didn't penetrate,” Amy said, following me away from the danger of the edge of the parking garage. “Are you okay?”

“Fi-fine now,” I said, still feeling almost light headed from the relief. I chanced a glance back to my side to see the indentation of a bullet impact on my armor right over my kidney. That explained a lot. “I saw him climbing over some dumpsters and I was about to come get you. He must have spotted me.”

Amy swore under her breath. “He's got us pinned, but he's a real idiot for giving his position away. The ponies will be here to get him in a second.”

“What do we do until then? If we try to go down after him, we'll be in his sights with no way to fight back.” I rubbed my aching side. “Not a great shot, at least.”

“Pinfeathers,” Amy grumbled. She motioned over to the far side of the garage. “Come on, this way. He's not going to sit still now. The slavers are coming and he knows it. If we come down on that side, he won't have a clear shot. We'll have to move fast and try to stay ahead of him.”

The peer pressure to not look like a complete wimp was strong, but this did not sound like a good plan. “We still can't see him. How are we supposed to-”

Another crack from the rifle sounded from below, followed by a sharp scream and a volley of return fire that sounded like it chewed up little more than pavement and brick walls. Amy stood and flared her wings. “Forget it, come on! He's committed now!”

Amy was insane to fly out over an invisible sniper, but if I stayed put I'd never explain it away to Serge or Heidi, much less if Amy died because I couldn't get to her with a potion. With intense reluctance, I jumped into the air after her, drew my pistol and swerved into a high arcing pass over the street. I caught a glimpse of someone flying our way, but didn't have much time to dwell on it. Back toward the slavers, I spotted a lime colored mare sprawled in the intersection, while her cohorts pressed forward and poured fire at the dumpster. Shots pinged off and punched holes through it, but to no useful effect. If the stallion was perched on it earlier, he wasn't now.

Knowing that meant he could be tracking either Amy or me in the air now, I jinked repeatedly as I scanned the street. My ears rang too much from the gunfire to pick out any hooves clopping, but if I was lucky I might spot-

A muzzle flash and bang. I don't know which way the shot was-

A second muzzle flash and crack, this time from a smaller weapon and obviously too far away to be held by the same pony, unicorn or not! He had a helper!

I jerked to the side in the air and pointed my pistol at the first spot before unloading the magazine. Fragments of asphalt flew as the bullets landed roughly everywhere but where I was aiming, but I caught an image of a dark colored pony flickering from dust and rocks impacting him. I grasped for another magazine and fought to do anything but stay in one spot. There was no way I'd reload and-

Rhythmic thumps from Amy's rifle interrupted my train of thought, and three bullets punching holes in his body interrupted the pony's spell. The black stallion, now plainly visible, stumbled backward and collapsed with a drawn out pained whinny as he dropped the lever action rifle previously held in his magic.

“Nice work, Kaz,” Amy said before diving down toward him.

“Wait, there's another one!” I shouted as I gave chase. Amy had just managed to grab the pony's rifle when I landed atop her, grabbed her armor and heaved both of us over toward the nearest side street.

Amy shrugged me off and wheeled on me. “What the hell are you doing?”

“There's another pony! Invisible! I-I saw a second muzzle flash, probably a pistol.”

“What? But the slavers said they were just after one.”

I shrugged. “If they can turn invisible who knows how many have slipped out unnoticed.”

Amy shoved the rifle into my claws. “Well, here. You need something better than that pistol anyway.” She turned a small glower back toward the road. “So… what now...”

About that time, the unidentified flying objects I spotted earlier dropped down into the street. Two other Talons, a green feathered griffon with a chipped beak and a snowy griffoness with light spots, approached the dying pony with their rifles drawn. The griffoness looked our way with a puzzled expression.

“Get out of the open!” I shouted to them. I expected another conveniently and deadly timed shot to go off at any moment and drop one of them right in front of me, but my guts were twisted up in knots for nothing. Both flew over without asking questions, leaving the little corner of the bakery we were positioned at quite crowded.

“What's going on?” the green one asked.

Amy grunted. “Escaped Bloodletters. We got one but there's another on the loose. They're unicorns that can turn… wait, Valerie?”

The white griffoness's eyes widened. “Amy?”

Under other circumstances I might have felt bad for not recognizing Amy's sister, but I'd only seen her one other time to my knowledge, several years prior, and it wasn't like she recognized either of us at first either. Both griffonesses grinned like giddy children but stopped short of giving each other a hug. Whether or not that was because green griffon and I were present, or because of the risk of someone getting shot, I couldn't tell.

I cleared my throat. “Uh… yeah, like she was saying, there's an invisible unicorn nearby. Whoever they are, I saw them take a shot at someone just now.”

Green griffon held up a piece of electronics in his claw and spun in a slow circle. An EFS tracker! “Guess that explains the contact I saw. Just figured it was the pony sprawled out on the ground over there. Looks like he's still kicking, by the way. I don't see anything else hostile on the scanner.”

Amy gave me a dirty look. “Are you sure you saw someone else?”

Well, now she had me doubting myself, but not enough for me to risk getting shot by stepping back out into the street just like that. “Yeah, I'm sure.”

Valerie peered at her partner's scanner and looked up. “Come on, let's make a quick circle. The scanner's range is pretty bad at the street level.” She jumped into the air with her friend. Amy followed.

“Stay close to the rooftops,” I warned as I joined them. I'd been shot enough times for one day, and really didn't count on my luck to hold up to make the next one bounce off of my armor.

“Got it,” green griffon replied as he took the lead, EFS tracker held out in one claw.

We made a quick dash down the street, bouncing from rooftop to rooftop as I suggested, but nothing else appeared on his scanner so we started a circling sweep. Just when I thought I was crazy and imagined the second gunshot, green griffon signaled for all of us to dive after him onto the roof of a dilapidated office tower that creaked ominously under our weight.

“Got something,” he said, holding the scanner up so we could all get a look. Sure enough, a fuzzy red dot was visible beneath us, moving slowly around what I guessed was the perimeter of the building. “So, ideas?” he asked.

Valerie crept over to the edge and glanced down. My stomach knotted up again at the possibility of the pony snapping off a shot into her skull while I watched. The red indicator on the EFS tracker stopped dead in its tracks. My heart thundered in my chest and I eyed her tail. If I snatched her away from the edge it might not be too-

“They went inside,” Valerie muttered as she retreated back from the edge.

“Uh huh,” green griffon said as he watched the screen.

Amy pointed a thumb at the rusted through fire escape on the wall behind us. “Let's head in from up here and take them by surprise.”

Valerie nodded. “Sounds good to me. Klaus, take the lead.”

“Didn't see that coming,” he quipped as he did as instructed.

There was no way to take the fire escape without making noise. Even in its prime, the thin metal construction would clatter under our weight, but especially now the rusted through mess would rattle enough to wake the dead. So we all flew off the roof instead before making a tight circle to loop back around to the first open window we could find. All had shattered centuries ago, but it still took a minute to find one that wasn't encrusted with enough shards of glass to make being shot look preferable, and we didn't want to risk making too much noise bashing out broken glass just to get inside.

Naturally, it became entirely irrelevant as soon as we got inside. The floor creaked under each step, and for a moment I wondered if we'd have been better off just jumping up and down on the roof until the whole thing collapsed on the pony inside. Said pony was probably heading for the hills already. What I'd have given for a second EFS tracker so someone could watch the front door…

Valerie's partner kept us moving forward while he kept glued to his tracker. Everyone knew we'd lost the element of surprise, so we stormed ahead on our descent. We hopped down the stairwell, gliding as far as we could on each hop to reduce the thunder of paws and claws on concrete. At the base of the stairs, Klaus held us up with a claw and signaled the position of the pony on his tracker. Too bad it didn't make a lot of sense with at least one wall in the way.

We slipped out into the hallway, with Klaus and Valerie at the lead, and prowled along, keeping low to the blackened and scorched carpet. The floor continued to creak and groan under our steps, but I did my best to pick out any sounds coming from ahead. The pony had to still be in the building, but he or she was being awfully quiet. I guess if I knew four Talons were out for me I would be too.

After rounding a corner and picking our way over a pile of debris from the floor above blocking the hallway, Klaus led us to a closed and locked office. He held the tracker up for all of us to see the fuzzy red dot inside, and we were all presented with a particularly crappy situation. An interior room with a single entrance, and a pony with nothing to lose the moment we forced the door open. Whoever was first was going to almost certainly take a hit, and retaliating against an invisible target was going to mean probably more than one of us.

I'd have given a lot to have a grenade right then.

Nobody seemed to be eager to volunteer to be first and while I wouldn't mind waiting around all day for the pony to come out, I had the feeling that Captain Stern or Lieutenant Bl-

A muffled crunch sounded from the room. Then another.

“They're breaking through the wall,” Amy stressed. Another crunch and the sound of debris crumbling sounded. “Come on!”

Before anyone could object or offer a better plan, she whirled around and smashed the moldy wooden door near the handle to force it open. She rolled around the jamb, followed immediately by her sister. The first shots were from their rifles, but even over the ringing in my ears I heard something smaller caliber open up after them. Various female voices yelped and shouted.

Klaus was already on his way through, so I worked the action on my new rifle to make sure it had a round chambered and fell in behind him.

Everything went to hell the instant I passed the door frame.

Amy was on the floor, coughing and trying to push herself up. A bullet punched a hole in the wall to my side. Valerie was pouring shots into a desk that was surprisingly pristine aside from the new holes, and was threatening to vault over it until the shadowy mare behind it jumped up and emptied two shots straight into her chest.

My blood froze in my veins as Valerie lost her grip on her rifle and collapsed onto the desk. Klaus and I both raised our weapons. The unicorn's pistol floated up past the desk and pointed at Valerie's head…

Three or four bangs went off almost at once. The pistol jerked to the side as a bullet slammed into it and the magic holding it up collapsed. Another section of drywall next to me exploded. A chunk of the desk disappeared as a bullet smashed into it. The mare coughed and wheezed, and her hooves scraped against the ground.

Klaus and I approached the desk from each side, but as soon as I saw the pony I left it to him to finish the job. She had at least five profusely bleeding holes punched in her body, so I knew she wasn't getting back up or grabbing the pistol again. If it even worked now.

Instead, I pulled Valerie off of the desk and laid her on her back so I could check her wounds. She was still conscious but struggling to breathe. Her eyes were wide and each breath was a sucking, raspy gasp that wasn't doing anything to thaw the ice in my veins. I quickly scanned her breastplate and saw where the first bullet disintegrated against the armor and obliterated the painted Talon claw symbol, but also saw a gouge between the plates that worried me.

Amy spluttered and finished getting to her feet. “Valerie!” She coughed hard. “What happened? Do something!”

“I'm trying,” I insisted, holding a claw up to keep her from crowding me. As much as Valerie was squirming under me I knew she had to be panicked, in serious pain or both, but I managed to undo the clasps on her armor and remove the metal plate.

Valerie coughed and clenched her claws as I pulled it away to reveal a hole in her chest. Blood dampened and darkened her white feathers, but I didn't see any on the back half of her armor as I slid it from beneath her. The bullet must not have penetrated completely.

I had a few options, and par for the course, none of them were great. Unless her aorta had been hit, and the fact she wasn't gushing blood told me it hadn't been, she'd survive us flying her to the clinic for emergency surgery. That would save potions, but be very agitating to everyone present. Instead, I could give her my super restoration potion, which would destroy the foreign object and heal the wound, good as new, but those didn't exactly grow on trees. If I used a regular healing potion, it would probably seal the bullet in her chest cavity, and very likely inside of her lung. She'd be fine, but it might take more than one potion, and again would probably agitate everyone present if it didn't work the first time.

“Stop staring and do something!” Amy shouted.

“Let him work!” Klaus shouted back.

The urge to shoot her a dirty look was intense, but I kept my cool and dug out the faintly glowing purple vial of restoration potion. They didn't grow on trees, but what was the worst that could happen? I'd get discharged for wasting medical supplies? Count me in.

“Try to hold still, this is going to sting,” I instructed my patient as I poured half of the potion into the bullet wound. I offered the rest for her to drink, which she sucked down.

The coughing spasm that followed put the previous fits to shame. For a full minute she hacked up clotted blood, spittle and foamy remains of the potion in her lung as it boiled away into the magical ingredients it was comprised of. Finally, after it all settled, she pushed herself up into a seated position and took a few deep breaths.

“Thanks...” she finally managed, patting my claw.

Amy pushed me out of the way before I could respond and crouched next to her. “Are you okay? Can you breathe? Wait, let me check-”

Valerie coughed one last time and kept her at bay with an extended claw. “I'm fine. I think.”

I packed the empty vial into my medical kit and explained, “Yeah, you should be. I used the strongest potion I had with me. Give it a few minutes and you'll feel better than new.”

The white griffoness groaned and grabbed her armor to strap it back on. “I'll let you know when that happens. Did you get the pony?”

Klaus peered around the desk and held his rifle up. Another bang sounded. “Uh huh.”

“Good. Get her out here. I'm sure the slavers are going to want the body back as proof. Or something.” She winced and reached for her rifle.

Klaus returned, dragging the dead pony by one of her rear hooves. “If we're done here, we should get going. And ladies, if I can make a suggestion? Maybe next time, we shouldn't rush blindly into a fortified position.”

“Sorry,” Amy mumbled. She flicked her eyes toward Valerie. “I didn't want to risk the pony getting away.”

Her sister stretched and tested her joints. No more wincing. “And I didn't want to risk losing you. Klaus is right. We could have picked her up later on EFS, somewhere safer to engage.”

Amy didn't say anything that time, and just nodded quietly.

The whole ordeal was starting to feel very uncomfortable, so I strapped my gear back on and started for the door. “Everyone made it out. That's what matters. Let's get going and get on with our lives.”

“Yeah. Okay,” Amy muttered.

Turning the body over to the slavers was a mercifully short exchange, taking maybe a minute. They informed us, at my questioning, that their comrade from earlier wasn't dead and had been dragged off to the nearest hospital for the slaves and slavers, but she was pretty bad off from a bullet to the throat. I didn't want to get any more attached to the mare's outcome, so I decided not to pursue the questioning or follow up later. With that and a small description of the events in the office building, the slavers took their dead “worker” with them and trundled off back to the mall. They didn't even say thank you.

Valerie and Klaus didn't hang around for much longer either. As she told us, they had a patrol to get back to and would need to debrief their sergeant soon on what happened. Amy didn't seem to be in much of a talking mood at that point, so after she told Valerie goodbye, the white griffoness and her partner took off and vanished among the low hanging clouds of smog.

“Guess we should get going too,” I told my own partner.

Amy nodded weakly. “Yeah. Yeah, just… give me a second, okay?” She rubbed at her chest with her free claw and took a deep breath.

“Oh, right, you were hit too, weren't you? Maybe I should take a look.” The dings in her breast plate were pretty shallow, but I knew from experience just a few minutes earlier that just because a bullet didn't penetrate didn't mean that it couldn't hurt like a righteous bitch.

“No, no. It's fine. Just bruised I think.” She took another deep breath. “I just-just need a minute. Okay?”

In truth, a minute to collect myself wouldn't be unwelcome, but a growing sense of anxiety welled up within me as we stood by the office building's doorway without saying or doing anything. I wasn't really afraid of a third invisible pony lurking nearby. It was more a combination of processing the last few minutes, coupled with a fear that someone important was going to stumble across us appearing to goof off and report it.

A stifling hot breeze rolled by, carrying scattered scraps of burnt and decaying paper. Standing around in Fillydelphia was getting uncomfortable for more than one reason, and I really wanted to get moving. I leaned in again and asked, “You sure you're okay?”

She glowered, but didn't snap like I expected. “Maybe we should wait inside,” she muttered before getting up and taking a few uneasy steps in that direction.

I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. We'd both been in firefights before, and she'd never let it get to her before, at least in any obvious fashion. Even when Serge and Lita were hammered by that Steel Ranger and by all rights should have died, she never let it get to her. Maybe taking a few hits had her shaken. I was pretty sure as soon as I had time to sit down and think I'd be a little jittery from what happened earlier. My back and side still throbbed, and that wasn't likely to go away in the next few days. Or, maybe...

“Is this about Valerie? Listen, she'll be fine.”

Amy spun around and held a talon up, all but touching the tip of my beak. “You can't tell anyone else about this, okay?”

Whoa, what? I blinked and tilted my head. “Ooookay.”

She set her rifle down and removed her helmet before starting to pace. “I-I've never been in this situation before, okay? Y-you can't tell the others I just rushed that mare like an idiot, or how I'm choking right now. You got it?”

“Wait, wait, slow down. What are you talking about?”

Amy looked off through the wall back toward where we'd cornered the slave. “I-I've never, I-I mean this is the first time I've been put through something like this. It happens. I panicked, and people make mistakes when they panic.”

“Yeah? Amy, you're not making sense. What do you mean about choking?”

She spun around again to face me and made some obscure gesture to the floor. “You're a medic. Have you ever been standing over your sister? Thinking she might be dying but don't know what to do? This is kind of hard to just take in. I-I'm too shaky to fly. But you can't tell the others. They-they'll think I'm... I mean I am kind of losing it here!”

Amy was afraid I'd tell the rest of the squad that she was shaken up by watching her sister take a bullet to the lung? Because they'd think she was what, weak? They'd probably think she was bonkers if she didn't have a profoundly negative reaction to that!

I held up both claws and waved for her to sit still. “Amy, relax! Nobody's going to think anything bad about you for being upset at Valerie being hurt. Would you think I was a bad soldier if I had a bad reaction to something like that? “ Okay, maybe I shouldn't ask that, so I moved on to another example. “Or Serge? Or Lita? Hell, don't you remember Isaac almost strangling me that time I got Leigh hurt with that turret in the stable? That's pretty normal when you're attached to somebody.”

She paused as if honestly considering an alternative. “Y-yeah, well, you can't choke like this in a battle. That's how more people get killed.”

I waved a claw over the dusty, burnt out room we were sitting in. “We're not in a battle right now. Adrenaline counts for a lot, but when you come crashing down off of it anyone can get the shakes. Are you afraid that Valerie would think less of you for being concerned about her or something?”

“No!” She ran her claw through her feathers and went back to pacing. “I-it's just that I really feel like an idiot here. I spent years training for this as a kid. Spent years here in Fillydelphia actually doing it, and it could have all been over-” She snapped a talon. “-like that. Because I was trying not to... not...”

“Trying not to what?” I asked, trying to coax the rest out of her.

She looked aside. “Trying not to look like I didn't know what I was doing. Because for a moment there, I didn't. I trained for perfection, not... not this.”

Never let it be said that I envied anyone for growing up in a Talon base and being conditioned for a life of impossible expectations.

I made a tiny, hopefully disarming smile. “Nobody's perfect. Get on my level here, I've been here for almost six years and I still screw up almost as much as I get things right. Then again, maybe the others talk shit about me when I'm not around, but at least they put up with me.”

Amy glanced up at me. “They don't. Uh, talk shit, I mean. Or don't do it around me anyway.”

For a moment I assumed she was just sparing my feelings, but that seemed less likely than the others honestly not talking about me.

“And do you think they'd think less of you than me?”

Her tail twitched and she stared through the floor. “No. I, uh, I mean I guess you're right.”

I took a deep breath and nodded. “Right. Now, if you need a minute to calm down? Please, by all means. I could use one too. And I won't tell anyone if you don't. Okay?”

Amy nodded with a small sigh. “Okay. Thanks.” She cocked a little frown and scratched her armored shoulder. “...for everything. Valerie really could have died if you weren't here.”

“All part of the job,” I assured her. Though really, even the thickest person could hand someone a potion.

She looked like she wanted to say something else, but never quite managed it. Clearly, she'd been through a lot emotionally just now, so I didn't want to press it. Instead, we just sat in silence, save the whipping of wind outside, until both of us were good and ready to head back out.

The rest of the patrol went by without incident, but after I returned to our barracks and debriefed Serge on what transpired, I had one errand left to run. Lita told me it was a waste of time, and even Serge didn't think it was important, but I didn't want to take any chances with keeping the slavers' rifle. None of them knew I had it, but sure enough, if I kept it I was sure that someone would come looking for it, and then I'd have a lot of explaining to do.

So, without further ceremony, I flew off to the armory to drop it off with whoever was there. Once it was out of my claws, it was no longer my problem.

To my surprise, the armory was abuzz with activity visible from the air, with young griffons lugging crates of some kind from a sky cart into the back. At least half a dozen armed Talons patrolled the skies or watched from perches on the roof. Two of them had rifles almost as long as they were in their claws. I was almost afraid to head inside at this point, but figured if I turned around I'd only attract attention for suspicious behavior.

The lobby of the armory was surprisingly empty despite it, containing only a single griffoness with a solid black coat and feathers. Hey, maybe it wasn't too late-

Heidi cast a glance back to me before finishing the conversation she was having with Otto. On her way to the exit she passed near and stopped next to me. “Private Longtalons, what brings you here?”

I held the rifle up toward her. “I, uh, found this weapon earlier and was turning it over to Sergeant Bladewind. I believe it belongs to the slavers from the mall.”

She cocked her head. “And how did you come across it?”

“There was an incident earlier. Two slaves escaped from the mall. A band of slavers tracking them enlisted Amalia and me to help track them down.

“I see. And the rifle?”

I considered how to relate the rest of the story, namely in a way that didn't cover me burning through two healing potions in the process. “We tracked the ponies down and dispatched them. One of them had the rifle.”

Heidi raised an eyebrow and gave an almost imperceptible shrug. “Very good. Turn it in and head back to your quarters when you're finished.”

“Yes ma'am.”

I scurried ahead and managed to catch Otto as the younger griffon was moving between racks of weapons in the back. He was almost as tall as me now, and ran the armory almost full time these days, so I didn't feel bad leaving it with him.

He trotted up to the window with a visibly weary expression. “Yes, sir?”

I showed him the rifle and explained the situation. “Should I give this to you or Sergeant Bladewind?”

Otto cocked a frown and scratched his head. “I don't know… we're super busy right now, so can you bring it back some other time?”

Huh? How hard was it to take a banged up lever action rifle that was halfway empty and stick it on a shelf somewhere? “I, uh, I guess I can, but the lieutenant seemed to think this was what I should do.”

“I'd have to get Sam to figure out what we're supposed to do with scavenged weapons like that, and he's busier than me.” He made a nervous grin. “I'd rather not piss him off right now, okay?”

So this really was going to be that hard? “Uh, okay. So, what should I just keep it for now?”

He shrugged. “Yeah, it'll be fine. Not like we're missing anything and we've never had the slavers come looking for missing equipment. I'm not sure they even can.”

The thought hadn't crossed my mind, but now that he mentioned it, I'd never seen any of them in the base before. The minefield that kept sneaky slaves out worked just as well for them, except they presumably knew it as there.

Otto pointed at the rifle. “We don't have anywhere in inventory for it anyway. What's it take, .357? .44? We probably don't even have the ammo for it. Mostly keep 10x20mm and 7.62x39mm. It would just be taking up space. So, yeah, just keep it.”

Truth be told, having subsisted on a damned pistol for almost six years had really sucked on more than one occasion, so having a proper weapon again would be nice. Too bad about the lack of ammo, but maybe I'd find more the next time I got into a shootout.

As I stowed it, I said, “Okay, taking your word for it. Say, if you don't mind me asking, what's with all of the activity out back?”

Otto scratched the back of his head. “Sorry sir, I'm not really supposed to say. There's going to be some new drills coming up soon. That's all I can tell you.”

Huh, okay. Was Talon Company issuing new equipment of some kind? It would be a little funny if they were handing out new rifles of some kind right as I got this one, but Otto refused to elaborate in any way.

In any case, I did everything I could to give the gun away and he wouldn't take it, so my conscience was clean, right? I headed back to the barracks with my newly looted weapon in tow, wondering what was waiting for us over the next few days.

But first, I probably needed to go pick up replacement potions at the clinic. I might need them...

Level Up - Level 12!

Knight in Shining Armor – Gain +4 DT per rank while wearing heavy armor.