Sunset sighed heavily as the Rainbooms made their way back to the top of the broken bow.

“It was worth checking, sugarcube,” Applejack said quietly.

Sunset sighed again, “Yeah, I know.”

After two solid hours of blood tests, scans from weird machinery and just generally being poked and prodded by Pinkerton, the arrogant old fart had begrudgingly admitted that Doctor Preston had done a good job, and that there was little more he could do. The function in Sunset’s kidney was certainly impaired, but there was nothing that could be done about that without a transplant.

While Pinkerton worked he’d asked the usual questions about the girls. Apparently, one of the few things he lacked was a working radio. He’d expressed a great deal of interest in magic after a short demonstration from Twilight and Rarity, but a pointed discussion about just how dangerous it was, plus an explanation of what had happened during Doctor Li’s testing, had dampened his enthusiasm somewhat. The fact that Doctor Li had screwed up so spectacularly amused him to no end; though he refused to go into detail as to why.

Finally, after he’d given her a mostly clean bill of health and told her to just take it fairly easy while her injury healed, the girls had taken their leave and started retracing their steps. There was apparently an exit just down the corridor from Pinkerton’s lab that would save them climbing all those stairs again but, since the trail back to Rivet City from there meandered dangerously close to a known super mutant camp, the Rainbooms had opted for the stairs.

“Wonderful, here we are,” Rarity said brightly as the group arrived back at the first ladder and hatch.

Climbing up five decks worth of stairs had thoroughly worn Sunset out, so she tried not to feel too embarrassed as Twilight carried her up in her magic and set her back down at the top of the ladder.

Besides, resting down in the dark, with only their Pip-Boys for illumination, had been less than fun. Between the ominous clicking of the mirelurks and the groaning of metal as the bow shifted, the 'rest' had been far from restful.

“Ah sure will be glad to see the sun,” Applejack muttered as the Rainbooms hurried towards the torn-open end of the corridor. “Ah don’t usually mind the dark but… aw shoot. Ah forgot about that.”

The black clouds gathered overhead had gotten even thicker, shrouding the world in an early twilight. A colossal thunderclap made the entire group flinch.

“Let’s get back inside before the rain starts, shall we?” Rarity threw her arms out and conjured a glittering bridge of gemstone back to the flight deck.

The Rainbooms crossed over quickly and ducked between the old fighter jets, casting wary glances up at the sky. A security officer poked his head out of the tower door as the girls hurried across the flight deck. “Best get inside quickly, it’s about to start pissing down something fierce!” he called.

The first drops of rain pattering down provided all the extra encouragement the girls needed. They darted inside one after another just as the heavens really opened up, the security officer slamming the door behind them.

“Nice timing, is anyone else out there?” the officer asked.

Applejack shook her head, “Nope, just us.”

“Good, we’re locking everything down now, except the main entrance. The wind’s not too bad, so I doubt we’re in for much of a storm. The Council wants everything secured just in case; looks like we’re in for one hell of a downpour either way.”

“You're not wrong there,” Applejack grumbled as the officer locked the door and continued on his way. “Okay, Sunset, where do we go from here?”

Sunset hummed and folded her arms as she thought, “I suppose we should go and find Zimmer first. We’ll tell him we found Pinkerton b-”

“Please, don’t!”

The girls all turned as a new voice called out suddenly. A woman was standing at the top of the stairs, sweating and breathing heavily as if she’d just ran up every flight in Rivet City. She had black hair, dark brown skin, and was wearing a modest outfit that looked like it was made from crudely-stitched together brahmin skins.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow as she recognized the woman, “Victoria? What do yo-”

“Don’t go to him, not yet!” Victoria interrupted. She glanced around the area quickly, then lowered her voice, “We can’t talk about it here, it’s too risky. Please, come with me to the church. I’ll explain everything there.”

“The church? Is this something to do with the letter I was sent earlier?” Sunset asked.

Victoria nodded, “Will you hear me out?”

Sunset eyed her suspiciously for a moment. She was starting to get tired of shifty people asking for favors, but then again, Victoria didn’t seem particularly shifty; just anxious. “Alright, we’ll come with you.”

“Thank you,” Victoria breathed a sigh of relief. “I’ll go on ahead, meet me at the church as soon as you can.” Without so much as a backwards glance, she turned and rushed back down the stairs.

The Rainbooms just stared after her for several seconds. “What the heck was that about?” Applejack asked.

“I have no idea, darling,” Rarity replied, “what did the letter say, Sunset?”

“Nothing, really. It just asked me to come to a special sermon tomorrow,” Sunset glanced at Rainbow, “do you know what she’s talking about?”

Rainbow shrugged, “I hardly know anything about her, apart from her name. She gets letters from other settlements all the time, but I’ve never asked what they’re about. None of my business, y’know?”

“Whatever it is, it’s something to do with Zimmer,” Twilight cut in.

“Well, we ain’t gonna find anything out by standing around up here,” Applejack huffed, “come on, let’s go see what the heck this is about.”

The others agreed quickly and set off down the stairs from the tower, though at a much more sedate pace than Victoria had. From there, Applejack led the way through the upper decks.

The corridors were much less populated than usual; they weren’t exactly crowded to begin with, most people spent their time in the marketplace or running errands all over the ship after all, but it had never been this quiet before. As a result, the girls quickly found themselves at Rivet City’s resident place of worship, the Church of Saint Monica.

The church itself was less than impressive, little more than a large empty room stuffed with mismatched benches facing the same direction and a battered old podium with a wrinkled old man standing at it. The girls all noticed the room was certainly kept scrupulously clean.

Only one other person was present when the girls arrived. Victoria was perched on one of the benches and Sunset assumed the older man must be the priest. Both his hair and his mustache were graying, but they were neatly trimmed and he was very smartly dressed, wearing a white long-sleeved shirt and a brown sweater-vest with formal pants.

“Ah, there you are,” the man said in a kindly voice as the Rainbooms entered, “thank goodness. Would you mind closing the door behind you, please?” When Applejack complied, he smiled, walked around the podium, and offered his hand to Sunset, “Miss Shimmer, I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Father Clifford, the reverend of the Church of Saint Monica.”

“It’s… a pleasure to meet you,” Sunset replied slowly.

His smile turned rueful, “You don’t need to be afraid, we don’t mean any harm. I’m just glad we managed to catch you before you went to Zimmer.”

Sunset narrowed her eyes at him, “What do you mean? What does our business with Zimmer have to do with you?”

“We’re part of a secret underground organization,” Victoria answered, “we call ourselves The Railroad: Our mission is the rescue and salvation of synthetic humanoids. Androids, as they’re more commonly known.”

“You mean you help synths escape the Institute?” Twilight supplied.

Victoria blinked dumbly at her, “I… well, yes. That’s a simpler way of putting it.”

“So it was you who helped set Chief Harkness up with a life here after his surgery?” Fluttershy asked.

Father Clifford’s shoulders slumped at that, “I see Pinkerton already told you everything.”

Victoria looked up at the girls pleadingly, “Please, Harkness may be an artificial creation, but that doesn’t make him any less of a person. He-”

“Yeah, we know,” Rainbow said flatly.

Victoria and Father Clifford shared a confused glance, then looked back at the girls.

“But, you were going to see Zimmer…?” Victoria asked slowly.

“We were going to tell him that his synth was dead,” Sunset replied. “Honestly, I was probably going to tell him that he died during surgery. I mean, he’s not the same person anymore, so it’s technically true,” she said then shrugged

The two conspirators just gaped at her. Finally, Victoria sighed heavily and slumped forward while Father Clifford snorted and broke into a fit of laughter. “So all of that work we did, setting up a meeting through that letter, panicking when we saw that you’d gone over to look for Pinkerton; it was all completely pointless,” Victoria muttered.

Sunset smiled awkwardly, “Er… sorry about that?”

Father Clifford waved a hand dismissively, “Don’t apologize my dear, we’re just more surprised than anything. In two weeks you girls have shown greater moral fiber than some of the people who have been coming to my sermons for years.”

Rainbow puffed herself up at that, “What can I say, we’re awesome.”

Victoria snorted softly and shook her head, then straightened herself up, “If you’re going to tell Zimmer that Harkness is dead, I have something that might help.” She stood and pulled something out of her pocket before holding it out to Sunset. It was an odd little piece of equipment, shaped like a light bulb made entirely out of metal with little diodes around the head. “This is a component from Harkness himself, please don’t ask how I got hold of it, but it should be enough to convince Zimmer that you’re telling the truth.”

Sunset grimaced and gingerly took the component, holding it out away from her body, “Um… thanks, I guess.”

“I do have one last question, before we go,” Twilight cut in suddenly, with a wary glance at Sunset. “Once Zimmer is gone, what should we do about Harkness’ memories?”

Father Clifford tilted his head quizzically, “What do you mean?”

Rarity chuckled awkwardly, “Let’s just say Mister Pinkerton was… how shall I put this, less thorough than he may have let on about removing certain old memories.”

“In other words, he didn’t know how to do it and just buried them deep under some fancy computery shenanigans,” Applejack said flatly. “He even told us how to get them back if we wanted to.”

“Ah, I see.” Father Clifford stood there, looking dumbfounded for a moment, then he glanced at Victoria. Sensing that he was at a loss, she sighed and looked around at each of the girls.

“We understand why you might want to give Harkness his old memories back, but trust me when I say that it’s not a good idea. Right now, he believes he’s human in every sense of the word. That belief has helped keep him safe for years. Giving him those memories back, aside from messing with his head and potentially destroying his entire sense of self, would put both him and the Railroad at risk.” Victoria shook her head sadly, “I’m sorry, but this was a decision he made and came to terms with a long time ago. He wouldn’t want you to reawaken his old self. Not with how risky it would be.”

Sunset sighed inwardly. Personally, she believed giving the security chief his old memories back was the right thing to do. Then again, it was probably only fair to leave the decision up to the people who had been keeping him safe for the last few years. “We understand,” she glanced around at her friends, “Come on, let’s get this thing to Zimmer as soon as we can.”

The other girls nodded in agreement, eyeing the component distastefully. “I’ll come along too,” Victoria added, “at least until you get to the science lab.”

Sunset frowned at her, “Wait a minute. If you’re coming too, couldn’t you have given this component to me when we got there instead?”

Victoria shook her head, “I’m afraid not, it would look too suspicious if Zimmer or Armitage saw me giving you that component.”

“Great,” Sunset huffed, still holding the component at arm’s length

Father Clifford smiled and gently placed a hand on her shoulder, “You do us a great service, Miss Shimmer, as do you all. Once this is done, you may consider The Railroad your allies. Should you ever have need, we will do our best to aid you in any way that we can.”

Sunset smiled warmly at him, “Thanks. That means a lot.”

“Go in peace, dear Rainbooms,” Father Clifford bowed his head and traced what Sunset assumed was a religious symbol over his torso, “May Saint Monica guide you.”

Saying their farewells to the priest, the Rainbooms walked out of the church and made their way through the upper decks to the science lab, Victoria trailing behind at an unassuming distance.

The corridors were still strangely deserted. The only person the group encountered along the way was a single cleaner, who had no idea where the other denizens of the ship had disappeared to. Even the usual security officers, who patrolled the decks, were absent.

When the group reached the science lab, Victoria opted to wait outside. She doubted that Zimmer would recognize her, but she didn’t want to take too much of a risk; though she did promise to speak to them again once the doctor and his bodyguard had left.

The lab was far quieter than usual, the usual hum and hubbub of machinery and researchers was replaced with silence. At first the girls thought it was totally deserted, but then they spotted Zimmer and his bodyguard standing by Doctor Li’s sealed testing corridor, engaged in a heated debate with two security officers.

As the group approached, they realized Zimmer was trying to force the officers into letting him access the magic sealed in the corridor. “This is outrageous!” Zimmer shouted, “Doctor Li is gone! As the most qualified scientist on this rotten little tub I demand that you allow me through!”

The security officers both just looked at him in disgust, “We’ve already told you, this corridor is to remain sealed by order of Rivet City Council. Hell, you aren’t even a resident here! Now get the hell away from this corridor, if we have to get Chief Harkness to throw you out on your ass, we will!”

“Doctor Zimmer?” Sunset called out.

Zimmer flinched and looked around wildly before spotting the girls, “Ah, the Rainbooms. You’re back, I see.”

“Yeah…” Twilight said slowly, glancing around the room. “Um, where has everyone gone?”

“How the hell should I know? I turned my back for five minutes to try and convince the other councilors to let a real scientist take a look at the aftermath of Doctor Li’s experiments, only to find that ninety percent of the jumped-up chemists in this place have up and… and…” Zimmer’s eyes widened as he spotted what Sunset was holding.

“We… uh, we found your synth,” Applejack said as Sunset held the component out to him.

Zimmer took it wordlessly, turning it over in his hands as he inspected it. Finally, he spoke in a quiet voice, “This is a Neuro-Servo. It’s unique to the A-Three-Twenty-One, but that means… damn it! I knew something like this would happen in this misbegotten hellhole!

“What a complete waste of effort and resources! And to add insult to injury, the half-witted fools who run this dump would rather let some of the most incredible scientific discoveries of our lifetime rot in sealed rooms instead of handing it over to people who can actually do something with it!”

The girls winced and tried not to look at Zimmer while he got his little tirade out of his system. Sunset briefly debated trying to convince him that the magic effluence was dangerous and that he shouldn’t be going near it in the first place, but swiftly realized he probably wouldn’t listen to a word of it, especially considering the mood he was currently in. A quick glance at Twilight showed that she had come to the same conclusion.

Eventually, after several more minutes of ranting about the synth, the Council, the security teams, and the fact he couldn’t get his hands on any magic, Zimmer managed to get his blustering under control and calm himself down.

“Well, I suppose this journey hasn’t been entirely fruitless,” the doctor huffed. He tucked the component into a pocket and eyed up the group, “It’s time for me to head back to the Institute, would you girls be interested in accompanying me? I’m sure there’s much we could learn from each other.”

Sunset shook her head, privately glad to have a legitimate reason to refuse, “Sorry, but I don’t think I’m even physically capable of a long journey like that right now. Just getting around Rivet City is hard enough.”

Zimmer sighed and nodded reluctantly, “Regrettable, but unavoidable. In any case, I shall inform my peers at the Institute of your existence. It is unlikely we shall meet again any time soon, but I’ll make sure a representative is sent to discuss things further with you.” He suddenly pulled a pouch out of his pocket and tossed it to Rarity, “Here, a little thank-you for discovering the fate of our wayward synth. Come along, Armitage. Farewell, Rainbooms.”

Without so much as a backward glance, Zimmer turned and strode out of the lab with a vigor utterly at odds with his wizened appearance, Armitage following half a pace behind.

As soon as he was out of sight, the girls all let out a slow breath.

“I’m glad that’s over with,” Pinkie grumbled.

“Me too,” Fluttershy agreed quietly.

“So, what’s in the bag?” Rainbow asked.

Rarity had already opened the pouch and was rummaging around inside, “Caps, dear. Around fifty, I would say at a guess.”

Rainbow pumped a fist in the air, “Sweet!”

Applejack just folded her arms and glared at the pouch, as if it had offered a grievous insult to her family. Given Applejack’s feelings about lying and subterfuge, Sunset could certainly understand her annoyance.

Twilight glanced once more around the empty lab, then stepped over to the security officers, “Excuse me, I don’t suppose you’d happen to know where everyone has gone, do you?”

The officers shrugged, “No idea. We were just finishing a routine sweep of the bottom decks when we were told to come up here and make sure no one tries to get inside this corridor. There were still a couple of members of the science team around when we got here, but they were all called up to the council room. Something about an emergency meeting.”

“Huh, that’s weird,” Applejack said, distracted from the ill-gotten money. “What do you reckon that’s all about?”

“No idea,” Sunset replied. “Let’s just go and speak to Victoria, then we can find out for ourselves.”

Leaving the lab the same way they entered, the Rainbooms were surprised to see that Victoria wasn’t there. A quick search found her near one of the other entrances, where she had witnessed Zimmer and Armitage leaving. Glad that they were both gone, she took the news that another representative of the Institute may turn up in the future in stride.

“Right now, there’s not much we can do about it,” Victoria admitted, “don’t worry about it just yet, it’ll take some time for them to get back to the Commonwealth, and even longer before anyone else makes their way back down here. We should be able to give you a heads up if and when they do send someone along.”

Sunset grinned at her, “Thanks. So, what are you going to do now?”

“Me? I’ll probably head back to the Commonwealth, too. The only reason I came here was to try and sabotage Zimmer’s hunt. Once we’re sure he’s out of the Capital Wasteland, Father Clifford will send a message to Miss Germaine, letting her know she can come back here.”

“Miss Germaine? The boutique owner?” Rarity asked in surprise.

Victoria nodded, “She and her sister are our main field agents, here in the Capital Wasteland. Unfortunately, they do tend to be quite… flamboyant. So, we decided it would be best to house them with one of our allies under the premise of a business trip, at least until Zimmer was gone.” She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at Rarity, “Come to think of it, you really do bear quite a striking resem-”

“There you girls are! I was wondering when you were going to show up again!”

The group turned as someone called out. Sunset’s heart leapt into her mouth as she spotted Harkness strolling down the corridor towards them.

He raised an eyebrow as he approached, “Are you alright? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Sunset chuckled nervously and tried to hitch a smile onto her face. She’d agreed not to give him his memories back, and she wasn’t about to go back on that. No matter how much she wanted to. “I’m fine, today’s just been a little crazy.”

Harkness huffed a laugh, “I can imagine. I’m honestly surprised the lot of you aren’t already grabbing your things and charging off after the others.”

“What do you mean?”

“You mean you haven’t heard?” Harkness gave the girls a blank look, “James and his son came back.”

“What!?” the Rainbooms cried in unison, making Harkness take a step back in surprise.

“I-I thought you would have heard by now. Almost the whole science team went with them to try and restart Project Purity. They were going to wait for you to come back but James wanted to get to the Jefferson Memorial before the rain started up, so the boy…. Adam, I think it was… he left a message saying they’d all meet you there. They only left about twenty minutes ago.”

“Stupid bloody weather,” Doctor Turner muttered as he hurried across the bridge to Rivet City.

His assigned security detail didn’t reply, but he could tell that they weren’t any happier about getting caught in this downpour than he was. It would have been easier if they could have landed the Vertibird on Rivet City’s flight deck, but it didn’t seem likely that the local security would be happy about that, so they’d left it with the pilots outside a nearby metro station.

Speaking of security…

Two armed guards were waiting impassively under a little covered area at the end of the bridge. They had been reluctant to extend the bridge at first, but Turner had managed to convince them that he was benign. The fact that his detail were wearing standard Enclave uniforms and carrying light side-arms instead of hulking suits of powered armor and plasma rifles probably helped things along there.

“Ah, that’s better,” Turner muttered as they reached the covered area. He nodded to the guards, “Thank you, chaps. Miserable weather, isn’t it?”

The guards nodded somberly, “You said you were a scientist?”

“Yes, Doctor Turner. I was hoping to speak with the Rainbooms. Are they still here?”

“Should be, I haven’t heard anything about them leaving.” The guard jerked his head at Turner’s security detail, “Make sure those guns stay in their holsters.”

Turner nodded quickly, “Don’t worry, we aren’t planning on causing any trouble.”

“Make sure it stays that way. You can go on in; the marketplace is through the door ahead, the main stairwell is through the door on your left.”

“Thank you, gentlemen! Allons-y!”

Turner grinned and made to open the door to the main stairwell. Just as he reached for the handle, however, the door was yanked open from inside and a young woman wearing a cowboy hat nearly collided with him as she darted through.

“Whoa! Heh, sorry ‘bout that, we’re in a bit of a rush.”

“Not at all, my dear! Please, come on… through,” Turner trailed off as he spotted the group of spectacularly colored girls behind her. He could only stand and watch, stupefied, as the girls hurried out into the little covered area. He’d seen the Eyebot recordings, of course, but that drab, washed out footage in no way prepared him for the vibrant spectacle before him.

Aside from the incredible colors of their skin and hair, each of the girls was wearing the most unusual collection of clothes Turner had ever seen. They also had a backpack and an old Pip-Boy each, the old 3000-A model, if he remembered correctly. The blue one, Rainbow, even had some sort of cobbled-together sword buckled to her belt, connected by a tube to what looked like a gas tank strapped to her back.

“My word, you’re the Rainbooms!”

“Yep, that’s us,” the first one, he assumed it must be Applejack, replied. “You okay there, Sunset?”

“I’m good.”

Turner’s blood ran cold as the last girl stepped through the door. Sunset Shimmer. Quite possibly one of the biggest threats to secrecy and privacy since the Master, and that particular monstrosity was long dead and buried on the other side of the country, not standing a mere two feet from him.

Quick! Don’t think about anything secret! Think about something random! She has very nice legs. No! Something else! ANYTHING else!

“Well, alright then. If yer sure,” Applejack continued, completely oblivious to Turner’s inner turmoil. “You just make sure ta take it easy.”

“I will,” Sunset sighed.

“One moment please! If you don’t mind, that is,” Turner said quickly.

The Rainbooms stopped and turned to look at him. The second Sunset looked him full in the face a jolt ran down his spine. Color aside, that was a face Turner could never fail to recognize.

“Doctor Shoichet…” he breathed.

“Who?”

Turner shook his head as Sunset arched an eyebrow, “Er, nothing. Sorry, my mind wandered for a moment there.” Mentally, he chastised himself for being a fool. Resemblances and hypotheses could wait until later, right now he had a job to do. He stuck a hand out reflexively, “Doctor Turner, a pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise,” Sunset said slowly as she shook his hand. “Look, I’m sorry to cut this short, but we really are in a hurry. Did you need us for something urgent?”

“I’m afraid I do actually, as a matter of fact,” Turner replied. “I work for an organization called the Enclave. We’re the last remnants of the old United States government, from before the bombs fell.”

“Wait, you guys are real?” Pinkie cut in.

“You’ve heard of them?” Sunset asked.

Pinkie nodded, “They have a radio station, but people keep wondering if it’s fake or that they don’t exist anymore because the speeches keep looping. It’s super boring.”

“I’ll be sure to inform the President,” Turner chuckled, “But yes, we are indeed quite real, and we belie-”

“That’s nice, but we gotta go,” Rainbow interrupted.

Applejack grabbed Rainbow’s backpack as she made to rush out into the rain, “Don’t go running off ahead of us now, ya hear? We need ta stick together.”

“You shouldn’t let yourself get caught in that rain anyway,” Fluttershy added, “I don’t have enough Rad-X for all of us.”

“Actually, this particular storm isn’t radioactive,” Turner supplied.

Sunset glanced back at him in surprise, “It’s not?”

“Nope. This cold front is coming in from a part of the country that avoided any direct nuclear strikes, so most of the accumulated water has come from untainted sources.”

“So, it’s safe to go out in?”

“Absolutely,” Turner strode out into the rain and turned to face them, throwing his arms wide and smiling. “See?”

One of the girls stepped forward and held her Pip-Boy out in the rain.

Which one were you again? Purple… Twilight Sparkle, that’s the one!

“He’s right, the rain isn’t affecting my geigercounter at all!” Twilight pulled her arm back, wiped it off on her skirt, then took off her glasses to get rid of the few droplets that had fallen on them.

Turner had to restrain a gasp as he saw another face he recognized.

Doctor Strong? But that’s… that’s impossible!

Oblivious to Turner’s shock, Rarity frowned and folded her arms, “All the same, does anyone have any idea as to how we can leave without getting thoroughly soaked?”

“Well, Ah got one idea,” Applejack replied, her and the rest of the Rainbooms stared at Rarity meaningfully.

Rarity tilted her head in confusion. A few seconds passed before her shoulders slumped and her arms fell to her sides as she finally understood what they were implying, “You want me to make the cover, don’t you?” Without bothering to wait for an answer she sighed theatrically and stepped forward, throwing her arms out, and slightly up, as she did so.

Turner’s jaw fell open as a huge parasol-shaped gemstone materialized out of thin air above his head.

Rarity ducked underneath, keeping her arms raised and pointed at the gem above her head, “Bear in mind, I might not be able to keep this up the whole way.”

“That’s fine,” Sunset replied as she and the others quickly joined her. “Just get us as far as you can.”

“Very well, darlings.”

Sunset smiled and nodded at Turner, “I’m sorry, we don’t really have time to talk, but hopefully we can come back here soon, I mean, it’s not like we’re really going that far. Anyway, if you can’t wait for us here, just leave a message with the security team and we’ll try and find some way of contacting you later, okay?”

Turner simply stood and watched, utterly transfixed, as the Rainbooms strolled across the bridge, the impossible parasol floating along above their heads. It vanished into thin air as soon as the girls descended the ramps into the boarding structure. A minute or so later another reappeared at the bottom exit, floating along slowly with the girls underneath until they vanished from sight in the torrential rain.

“Incredible,” Turner breathed, “simply incredible. I wonder what mechanism it works through. Maybe some form of matter conversion, altering the structure and composition of atoms in the air?”

“Uh, Doc?”

“Or does it somehow bring the material from elsewhere like some form of teleportation? I suppose given that this power is potentially from an entirely different reality it might not even operate under the same laws of physics. If that’s the case it might actually be a case of the matter being created from absolutely nothing, conservation of matter be damned!”

“Doc?”

“And why do Miss Shimmer and Miss Sparkle so resemble Doctors Shoichet and Strong? I didn’t recognize any of the other five, but for those two to be so similar in facial structure to our own personnel can’t just be a coincidence, can it? Is their world some sort of… bizarre alternate version of our own?”

“Doctor!”

Turner blinked and turned to look at his security detail, “I’m sorry, did you say something?”

The two men guarding him glanced at each other, then back at the doctor, “Uh, doc? Weren’t we supposed to bring them in?”

“Oh, good grief; you’re absolutely right!" Turner sighed, "Well I suppose there isn’t any particular rush, they did say they’ll come back here after all. Where do you think they’re off to in such- oh fuck!”

Panic surged through his mind as he realized exactly where the girls were going. The Jefferson Task Force had been mobilizing just as he left Raven Rock, meaning James had returned and was restarting Project Purity. And if James had turned up, the girls were surely going to make a beeline for him.

Turner gripped the bridge railing and leaned out as far as he could, desperately trying to catch a glimpse of the Rainbooms through the pouring rain. It was far too late. They were long gone.

“Shit!”

Cursing himself for getting so distracted, Turner belted along the bridge as fast as he could, his security detail hot on his heels. The only chance he had at avoiding disaster was to use the Vertibird’s radio and warn the President. If Colonel Autumn and the rest of the Task Force could be convinced to show some restraint, there was still a faint chance that the Rainbooms could be brought in peacefully.

Shit! I knew someone else should have come instead! This is why I’m not a fucking field operative!

Another chapter here for your reading pleasure!

This chapter was brought to you with the help of Mocha Star and Night Quill, who were generous enough to offer their services as editors (Thank You!!!)

Comments and Criticisms are welcomed and, as always, thanks for reading!