The tension in the room was unbearable. A garbled radio message had come through to Rivet City about Roosevelt Academy being a trap and Sunset being injured, enough so that the Enclave were taking her to one of their facilities, but Elder Lyons was too busy co-ordinating her troops and preparing a response to Talon Company’s betrayal to go into detail. Thankfully, she had let Luna know that the Rainbooms were returning to Rivet City, so the Vice-Principal and Trixie had rushed to the embarking station to greet the girls as soon as they arrived. Luna had half-heartedly suggested that Trixie wait in the city, but she refused point blank.

And so, they waited. The guards had offered to let the two play cards with them to help pass the time, but they were both too stressed out to concentrate. Finally, after what felt like an interminably long wait, Luna heard the distinctive sound of Vertibirds approaching. “They’re here!”

Trixie immediately burst out of her seat and sprinted out of the room. Luna shouted a futile reminder to be careful on the ramp outside, only to sigh and follow right behind her. Outside, two Vertibirds kicked up swirls of mud and snowflakes as they slowly descended to the ground. A squad of Knights exited the first Vertibird, but Luna ignored them as the ramp opened up on the second one.

The Rainbooms were covered in muck and blood. Thankfully, none of them looked injured, but their expressions were a mix of worry, misery, and barely contained fury. Sonata was the last one to step out of the Vertibird. She was battered and bruised, and she looked utterly dumbfounded, but she was at least alive and didn’t seem to be severely hurt.

Luna had known that Sunset was being taken to an Enclave facility, but she still felt a weight drop in her gut when she saw that the young woman wasn’t with them. She didn’t let it show on her face though. Sunset was in good hands, which meant that right now Luna’s biggest priority was the group of girls standing in front of her. Steeling herself, she took a deep breath through her nose and asked, “What happened? Are you all alright?”

“Talon Company fucked us over, that’s what happened,” Rainbow spat as she stalked past.

“It was a trap,” Twilight said with a heavy sigh as they all followed. “The Super Mutants were going to turn Sonata into one of them, but the commander of Talon Company convinced them to use her as bait to draw us out so they could take out Sunset.”

Trixie’s eyes widened in shock. “But, she isn’t- I mean, you stopped them, right?”

The way the girls all grimaced was answer enough. “They got the drop on us, used magic to teleport her away,” Applejack said grimly. “We never would have found her at all if Sonata hadn’t escaped.”

“She saved me,” Sonata said quietly, looking more confused than anything. “She knew she was gonna be trapped, but she pushed me out anyway.” She looked up at Luna as if the concept was completely alien to her. “Why did she do that?”

“Because Sunset is a good person, unlike you!” Trixie snapped. “None of this would have happened if you hadn’t left Rivet City! Why did you even sneak out in the first place?!”

“That doesn’t matter right now,” Rainbow cut in, cold fury dripping from every syllable. “All that matters is finding where Talon Company is hiding, and ending them.”

Her demeanor was deeply concerning, if understandable in the circumstances, but Luna realized that she might be able to calm Rainbow down with the answer. “Their main base of operations is a place called Fort Bannister. Elder Lyons is already sending messages out to gather a Brotherhood strike force-”

“That could take days, and that Jabsco asshole will spend the whole time building his defenses, setting more traps, or just finding another place to hide.” Rainbow shook her head. “Fuck that. The Enclave are letting us use that Vertibird for now, I say we get it refueled, stock up on ammo, and take Talon Company out now.”

Luna expected the rest of the Rainbooms to disagree, to say that they should absolutely wait until they have an army at their back before attacking a military base, but none of them said any such thing. With a horrified jolt, she realized that all of them were giving the idea serious consideration.

“They’ll almost certainly have planned something in case we did this,” Twilight pointed out, idly watching as one of the Vertibirds took off and flew away.

“Yeah, probably,” Rainbow admitted. “Lucky for us though, they don’t know exactly what we’re all capable of. We’ll get the Vertibird to drop us off out of sight of the fort, I’ll deal with their crappy speedster, and the rest of you can just let loose and cause some carnage.”

Applejack nodded grimly. “Those guys have messed with us since we first got to Rivet City. It’s about time we dumped a fox in their coop.”

“Hold on, girls! Shouldn’t you get some rest and discuss this with Elder Lyons or President Shoichet first?” Luna suggested, desperately trying to stop them from doing something unspeakably reckless.

This time, it was Fluttershy who shook her head and spoke up, “No. I don’t like it, but the longer we let Talon Company carry on, the more people are going to get hurt. We need to end this now, then we can deal with the Super Mutants on our own terms.”

Luna knew that if even Fluttershy was on board with this crazy idea, then there was no way she could stop them. Still, she wasn’t about to give up yet. “You still need to report to Elder Lyons, at the very least. And we do need to discuss with Miss Dusk what exactly she was-” Luna made to gesture at Sonata, only to realize that the siren hadn’t actually followed the group into the embarking station. “Wha- where did she go?” Icy fear gripped her heart as she noticed that someone else was missing. “And where is Trixie?!”

Sonata grunted with effort as she forced her way through the snow. It had been super easy to convince the Vertibird pilot to bring her to Fort Bannister, especially after she had accidentally drawn out the tiniest bit of magic from the torc in her pocket, but even with that little boost he wouldn’t take her too close to the fort in case Talon Company shot them down. Sonata had quickly agreed when she learned about that little possibility.

Still, having to travel the last quarter-league or so to Fort Bannister wasn’t really that big of a deal. Using siren magic again, even just a tiny bit accidentally, was exhilarating. The excitement of being able to use it again soon was enough to make even the bruises Sonata was covered in feel a little less painful.

As the siren pressed on, it wasn’t long before she reached an old complex of wrecked concrete buildings. Sonata nodded to herself. If the pilot had told her the truth, then Talon Company’s base was only a short way beyond this complex. Sonata eagerly hurried through the ruined buildings until she found the very last one. It was only then that she realized she should probably be a little more stealthy, or she would get spotted before she was ready.

Sonata immediately crouched and tried to push through the snow a little more quietly. Planning out the sneaky stuff was Adagio’s thing, but she figured that it couldn’t be that hard to do. All she had to do was find a window or something that pointed in the right direction, check to make sure that Fort Bannister was where it was supposed to be, then find a suitable corner where she could do her thing from.

Thankfully, the first two were really easy to do. The building was thoroughly trashed, so finding a good place to peek out from was simple enough. Sonata was a little concerned that she wouldn’t actually recognize Fort Bannister when she saw it but, when she looked through the window, she smirked as she spotted tall ramshackle walls about half a kilometer away, decorated with the white claw she had seen on Talon Company when they were talking with Shephard. Satisfied, Sonata crept over to a corner where she definitely wouldn’t be seen from the fort.

“What are you doing?” Someone asked sharply.

Sonata’s heart leapt into her mouth as she whipped around. She was astounded to see Trixie glaring at her with her hands on her hips, wearing her ridiculous cloak and pointy hat over her winter gear. “How did you get here?!” Sonata snapped.

“I followed you onto the Vertibird.” Trixie stated it as if it was obvious. “You were so busy giggling to yourself that you didn’t even notice.”

“O-okay, but why?” Sonata pressed, trying to cover her embarrassment.

“I asked you first,” Trixie said bluntly.

Sonata snorted and waved a hand dismissively. “Isn’t it obvious? I’m getting payback on Jabsco and Talon Company.”

Something about that answer was apparently too complicated for Trixie’s feeble mind, going by the confused look on her face. “Payback? How are you going to get payback? Sunset has already been hurt thanks to you messing around and running off, and here you are trying to do the same thing again?! Just how stupid are you?!”

“I’m not stupid!” Sonata snarled. She knew that she probably wasn’t as smart as Adagio, but she didn’t have to take insults from a jumped-up stage magician. “Those Talon Company jerks used me. I’m not going to let some pathetic humans treat me like their tool, and I do owe Sunset for saving me, so yeah, I’m gonna get payback.”

“How are you going to do that without magic?” Trixie retorted. “All you’re going to do is get someone else hurt again, and I’m not going to let-”

Sonata stepped forward and shoved Trixie as hard as she could, making her slip and land hard in the snow. “Just because you’re a weak little coward doesn’t mean I have to be. If you’re too pathetic to stand up for your friend, then you can stand back and watch while I do it for you.”

Turning her attention away from the fallen girl, Sonata rolled her shoulders and reached into her pocket. Power thundered through her body as she drew out her torc. Sonata knew that she was risking absorbing too much magic if she didn’t use it quickly, but even so, she savored the moment as she fixed the torc around her neck. The magic immediately surged, growing almost out of control, but this time she was expecting it.

Sonata directed the power with practiced ease. Her hair lengthened, pointed ears grew from on top of her head, and diaphanous wing-like fins unfurled from her back as the magic shifted her body to something closer to her natural form.

It wasn’t enough. Dense emerald fog, the magical expression of dissension and conflict invisible to those without a sense for it, gathered around Sonata like a cloying blanket. There was more than enough power for the siren’s purposes.

Trixie’s eyes went wide with horrified recognition as a magical projection of Sonata’s true form erupted out of her body.

Next Chapter: Chapter 173 - Shattered Talon Estimated time remaining: 7 Hours, 17 Minutes