Commander Jabsco smirked as he looked down on his subordinates. Thanks to the materials that the dim-witted Super Mutants had provided, Fort Bannister’s defenses were stronger than ever.

The sections of the perimeter wall that had been damaged in the great war centuries ago had now been rebuilt with salvaged concrete and scrap metal, pillboxes had been built at every gate, and even the building that Jabsco was standing in had been repaired and reinforced enough that he felt almost as safe there as he did in the underground bunker. The fact that it also had a secret panic room built into the bottom floor certainly helped in that regard. Naturally, the balcony that allowed the Commander to look down on his subordinates like a conquering warlord was his favorite addition.

Of course, the Super Mutants’ assistance had come at a steep price in captives for their foul purposes, but the results were worth it. All that remained to be seen was whether it would be enough to stop the Rainbooms.

Jabsco scowled at the thought of the magical do-gooders. They were an exceptionally annoying thorn in his side, and he relished the thought of getting rid of them, but Shephard’s plan to have them recklessly attack Fort Bannister gave him chills.

The plan, admittedly, made a lot of sense. The women had infiltrated Vault 87 before, and their magic gave them an obscene advantage in close quarters such as the Vault’s corridors, whereas Fort Bannister was unknown to them and had plenty of wide open spaces for kill zones. Add to that the fact that the Rainbooms’ leader would already be incapacitated and they wouldn’t be thinking straight, and Talon Company was looking at a certain win. Shephard had even stationed a small force of his most elite troops in the ruins nearby to ambush the Rainbooms from the rear.

“Do you want this back, Commander?” A gruff voice asked.

Jabsco looked back at his two bodyguards. One of the burly men was carrying a heavily modified assault rifle, while the other was holding out the missile launcher that the Commander himself usually lugged around at all times.

“If I want it, I’ll tell you,” Jabsco said scathingly. In all honesty, he felt deeply uncomfortable without it in his arms or on his back, but he was trying to dispel an image of him that had been circulating among the troops that he only carried it to make himself look big and tough. Some were even daring to call him 'Jetting Jabsco', thinking that he was a coward who shied away from combat. The real reason that Jabsco had agreed to Shephard’s plan of crossing the Rainbooms and baiting them into attacking Fort Bannister was to try and quell the growing whispers, among both his mercenaries and his financiers at Littlehorn, that he wasn’t up to the task of commanding Talon Company. Wiping out the Rainbooms would silence all dissent.

A sudden commotion from the south wall drew Jabsco’s attention. The troops down there were yelling and shooting wildly at something, without any semblance of proper discipline. “What the fu-” He was cut off by a colossal crash as something smashed through the perimeter wall, launching chunks of concrete and twisted metal across the fort’s interior and splattering several unlucky mercenaries. Jabsco slowly straightened up and looked over the balcony rail, his heart thundering. His jaw dropped when the dust cleared and he saw what had attacked.

A massive creature, almost as large as a Behemoth, hovered in the air a few yards off the ground. It had a long and sinuous body covered in fish-like scales, but where the lower half was a deep sea-dark blue, the upper half was far paler, with a large spiny dorsal fin on the back and, bizarrely, the head and forelegs of an old world horse, though with extra little fins on each. Deep blue and crimson veins pulsed with a fiendish light on its chest.

The monster reared up in the air and tossed its head. “Where is Jabsco?” It demanded in a voice like thunder, making the ground quake. Terror paralyzed Jabsco. He knew that he should move, but he could only stare in fear at the beast as it swept its gaze around the fort, seeking him.

Thankfully, the rest of Talon Company got their act together much faster. The echoes of the beast’s entrance had hardly died away before the troops retaliated, throwing a storm of lead, lasers and missiles at it while Jabsco’s bodyguards pulled him back off the balcony.

Taking cover beside the door, Jabsco watched with bated breath as the monster rolled in mid-air and dove behind the nearest bunker. Officers barked out orders, trying to keep it pinned so troops with heavy weapons could flank it, when the monster reared up from behind the bunker and opened its mouth as if to roar.

A cone of near-invisible power erupted from the beast’s mouth, obliterating the bunker, gouging a furrow through the rocky ground and blasting away the broken bodies of every poor soul caught in its path. A single continuous note could just about be heard over the screams of terror and the rumbling of tortured stone. Thankfully, the barrage only lasted for a few seconds before the beast closed its mouth.

The troops rallied quickly, but the monster threw itself on them before they could coordinate their attacks. Jabsco grimaced as the creature bit, stomped, and swatted away men and robots alike, only pausing long enough to unleash another devastating song that shook the earth.

Just as the Commander was considering retreating to the panic room with his bodyguards, a bright yellow flash made all three men flinch. “What the hell is that thing?!” Lightning exclaimed, ignoring the glares that the others were giving her.

“Something you need to go and kill!” Jabsco spat.

“Get fucked!” She shot back, looking at him as if he were insane. “How the fuck am I supposed to kill something like that?!”

Jabsco snarled at her as the building shook again. “You’re supposed to be the badass hunter, you figure it out and stop being so goddamned useless! Christ, I’ve taken shits that have achieved more than you!”

Lightning clenched her fists and opened her mouth to retort, then thought better of it and looked back out of the building. The monster was currently tearing apart a pillbox with disgusting ease. “Shit. Fine, but I’m taking this.” She grabbed Jabsco’s missile launcher out of the bodyguard’s hands, ponied up, then launched herself off the balcony and soared into the air.

Despite his words, Jabsco felt a little better as he watched Lightning circle high above the fort. Even if she couldn’t kill the beast, she would at least be one extra body between him and it.

Lightning suddenly darted down to a sandbagged wall behind the monster. She popped up and raised the missile launcher, but before she could fire there was a blur and a flash and she staggered backwards, the weapon falling from her hands in pieces.

Jabsco’s heart leapt into his mouth as another warrior appeared from nowhere right next to Lightning. The new arrival had long rainbow-colored hair, striking blue wings that reached out from sparkling sapphire armor, and a sword covered in rippling blue flames. Even at this distance, Jabsco could see the look of horror on Lightning’s face as she recognized the Rainboom.

The two blurred into action, striking faster than the eye could see, only for Lightning to stagger backwards a second later clutching her arm. A sickening weight dropped in Jabsco’s stomach as the woman turned tail and rocketed into the sky, leaving a trail of crackling electricity in her wake.

“That bitch bailed on us!” One of the bodyguards snapped.

Jabsco just watched in silence as the Rainboom looked up at the monster still tearing through the fort, shrugged, then disappeared in a blur. More Talon Company troops started falling all over the place.

“We need to get to the panic room.” Jabsco’s statement was punctuated by a series of explosions from the southern wall. Sneakily peeking out of the window, he was dismayed to see a Vertibird hammering the distracted guards with its fearsome arsenal, while flashes of pink and purple tore apart sections of the wall itself. “Get me to the panic room, now!”

The guards immediately turned and led the way to the main stairwell. Jabsco knew that his detractors would call him a coward for this, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t about to risk his skin just for the sake of Littlehorn’s ego. Besides, as long as he survived, he could spin the narrative any way he wanted to.

As the trio made their way downstairs, they passed several small knots of mercenaries firing at the invaders. The Commander barked pointless orders at those who noticed him, but most of them he just ignored. If they needed him to babysit them while they carried out the plan then they didn’t deserve to survive the conflict. The forces being unleashed outside made the building shudder every few steps. Even so, everything went fine, as far as Jabsco was concerned, until they reached the second floor of the building.

A small squad was gathered around a couple of windows, providing cover fire while one of their number reloaded a magically-enhanced missile launcher. Jabsco was about to hurry past them when something suddenly smashed through the wall. He stared in blank confusion as he realized that it was half of a wrecked sentry bot, then flinched and ducked back as a hail of bullets utterly shredded the remains of the squad.

“Fuck!” Jabsco pressed himself against the wall as one of his guards stepped up to the new hole in the wall.

“Two Rainbooms!” The guard leaned out of the hole and let off a shot burst from his assault rifle. “Get to the stairs, I’ll cover you!”

“Damn it, where the hell are those Super Mutants?!” Jabsco spat as he crouched to move past.

The guard snorted loudly. “They’re not coming, you dumb cunt! It’s a double-cross! The bastards must be hoping we-” He was cut off as a crystalline javelin punched him across the room and impaled him against the wall opposite. The guard struggled for a second, pulling weakly at the spike in his chest, then slumped over with a wet gurgle.

That awful sight was the last straw for Jabsco. Abandoning restraint, he sprinted for the stairs and barrelled down them at top speed. His remaining bodyguard yelled for him to wait, but he didn’t dare to slow down as he reached the first floor and hurtled through the corridors to his panic room. He almost cried out with relief when he turned a corner and saw the heavy metal door directly ahead.

Gasping for breath, Jabsco ripped open the secret panel next to the door and entered the password for it. The door slid open with a loud rumble.

“Should we bring anyone else in?” The bodyguard asked as he caught up. Jabsco turned to berate him, only to spot something over the man’s shoulder.

Another Rainboom was staring at them from the end of the corridor. She held a bloody sword in one fist, with more gore splattered all over her hands, front and, most disturbingly, her mouth. Great bat-like wings framed her silhouette.

The bodyguard turned to see what the Commander was staring at, and Jabsco took the opportunity to dart into the panic room and slam the door shut. It locked with a satisfyingly loud thunk. The abandoned guard yelled and pounded on the door, but Jabsco just stood back from it and ignored the sound. The shouting was followed by panicked gunfire, screaming, and finally an eerie silence.

Jabsco skipped back in fear as something struck the door with inhuman strength. It struck again a few more times, each impact making the door shudder in place, then silence fell once more. He waited, heart pounding, but nothing else happened. The Rainboom had gone.

Safe at last, Jabsco slumped into a chair and tried to get his breathing back under control. There was a small terminal and radio set-up in the panic room, but he didn’t bother turning them on; he had no interest in hearing his troops getting slaughtered.

Talon Company was screwed if Shephard had really betrayed them. Jabsco couldn’t do anything about it; the Rainbooms and their pet monster were just too powerful, but that didn’t mean that he had to go down in flames with them. Fresh goons were easy enough to come by, all Jabsco had to do was survive, convince Littlehorn that he had done everything he could, and use their resources to rebuild. Thankfully, the panic room had another hidden compartment inside it that Shephard didn’t know about. It was cramped, but safe enough to ride out this storm.

“You’re Commander Jabsco,” a voice said in an accusatory tone.

Jabsco sprang to his feet and looked around wildly. He choked as he spotted a Rainboom standing by the door, glaring at him coldly. She had thick winter gear on, along with a ridiculous star-covered purple cape and pointy hat that looked like they belonged in some old-world kid’s book. Pale blue skin and white hair poked out from beneath the thick clothes. “H-how did you get in here?!” Jabsco stammered.

“Magic,” the girl said simply. Jabsco realized with a jolt that she had a knife gripped tightly in one hand. His personal combat knife, Occam’s Razor, though he couldn’t even begin to imagine when she had managed to filch that from him. He instinctively reached to make sure that his pistol was still in its holster, but the girl whipped the Razor up menacingly. “Don’t.”

“Okay, alright!” Jabsco raised his hands to show that he wasn’t a threat. His mind spun as he tried to think of a way out of his predicament, preferably one that didn’t result in him getting imprisoned or exposed. It was only then that he noticed that the girl’s hands were shaking. “Easy, girl, this is all just a big misunderstanding,” Jabsco said in a calmer tone.

“My name is Trixie,” the girl hissed.

Jabsco felt a twinge of relief at the confirmation that she wasn’t actually one of the Rainbooms. “Okay, Trixie, look, this is all a mistake. The Super Mutants are playing us all for fools.”

“You set a trap for Sunset.” It was a statement rather than a question.

“It was the Super Mutants’ idea,” Jabsco said quickly. “Shephard, he’s the brains behind all of this. Let me speak to whoever’s in charge, and I’ll straighten everything out, I promise.” The girl hesitated, so Jabsco tried another little push, “Just put the knife down, Trixie, we can be reasonable about this. You’re not a killer.”

Trixie frowned and looked down at the Razor in her still-shaking hand. “You are.”

Jabsco gave her an easy smile. “Yeah, well, who isn’t in this day and a-” He whipped his pistol out of its holster, but the girl threw some sort of smoke bomb at the floor just as he fired. He shot wildly, trying to make sure that he got her, when the side of his neck suddenly exploded in agony. Jabsco staggered away and clamped a hand to his neck. He could feel the stickiness of blood even through his gloves.

As the smoke cleared, Jabsco spotted Trixie off to the side. She was completely uninjured, but her chest heaved as she stared down at the bloody blade grip in her hands. The two locked eyes as she looked back up. Jabsco snapped his pistol up just as the girl threw something at his face, making him flinch a split second before he pulled the trigger. He realized his mistake just a second too late, the handkerchief floating harmlessly to the ground as Trixie dove at him with the Razor raised high above her head. Jabsco screwed his eyes shut just as the blade came down.

Next Chapter: Chapter 174 - Shephard's Gambit Estimated time remaining: 7 Hours, 6 Minutes