Deep within the Exodus’ building’s sub-basements, in a freshly appropriated office, Doctor Turner sat and typed away at a terminal. He was first compiling his findings regarding the Rainbooms unique radiation, and then he would begin noting down a series of hypotheses that he wanted to experiment with. He would have much preferred to be conferring with Doctors Strong and Shoichet, but that wasn’t really an option right now.

Doctor Turner sighed and leaned back in his chair. As soon as he’d escorted the Rainbooms back to their room he’d sought out Doctor Strong and tried to convince her that keeping the girls in custody was a good idea. He barely managed two words before she told him to ‘fuck off.’

Turner hardly blamed her for being angry with him since the young woman had always had a strong moral compass, one that kept her from crossing certain lines. It was a trait he envied. All too often he would become so engrossed in the purely scientific aspects of his work that he wouldn’t even realise what lines he was crossing, not until it was too late.

Shaking his head, Doctor Turner returned to his typing and resolved to speak to Doctor Strong again in the morning, once she’d had time to cool off and start thinking clearly again. In this particular instance, he wasn’t just following the President’s orders in the name of keeping his own arse covered. He glanced at the recorder he’d placed next to the terminal and shuddered.

Keeping the Rainbooms secure was the safest option, both for them and for the Enclave, Turner was convinced of that. Exposing just a trace amount of the Rainbooms unique radiation to a high quantity of native radiation had utterly bizarre consequences and he still had no idea what had happened to the weird little ball that had manifested in the testing room. For now he’d left the door locked and sealed while he worked on his hypotheses. Unfortunately, the most pressing matter he wanted to test was also the one that would be effectively impossible to experiment with in an ethical way. He sighed and frowned at the terminal, well aware that he could do little more than speculate at the moment.

The unique radiation that interacted with our native gamma radiation was merely a trace sample left on the surface of an inanimate object. The Rainbooms’ bodies contain only a small amount of that radiation, but even that droplet is whole orders of magnitude higher than what was left on that bloody table. If they end up exposed to high levels of our radiation, or even just to a moderate amount over a prolonged period, what the hell kind of effect will it have on those girls?

Sunset sighed as she put her own clothes on over the Enclave attire she was already wearing. Doctor Turner had escorted them back to their shared room and swiftly left, muttering apologies and reassurances that Sunset had only half heard. Her mind was slowly becoming a frazzled mess after what had happened downstairs with Becky.

“Can someone please explain just what in the heck happened down there?” Applejack asked, clearly having similar trouble.

Sunset shrugged as she pulled her boots back on, “You heard what Becky said, they were going to give our Geodes back.” She slipped into her jacket and perched herself on the edge of her bed, “She must have touched my Geode when they were getting them out of the lockboxes; it recognized her as being the same as me, somehow, and ponied her up.”

“Do you think that’s really what happened?” Applejack asked sceptically.

Sunset nodded, “I believe her.”

“How can you trust them so easily?!” Rainbow shot.

“I can’t really explain it. I just do,” Sunset replied, flicking her eyes towards the eyebot still hovering in the corner.

Rainbow didn’t notice, “Seriously? After everything the Enclave has pulled, you still-”

“Leave it be, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity said calmly, placing a hand on Rainbow’s shoulder. “Remember, we’re still being watched,” she whispered.

Rainbow gasped and almost turned to look at the eyebot, but caught herself at the last instant. “This blows,” she muttered.

“You said it, sister,” Pinkie agreed.

Rarity pursed her lips, “I have to agree with you there, though I may have phrased it slightly differently myself.”

“Speaking of phrasing,” Pinkie quirked an eyebrow at Sunset, “what was that about someone not being a virgin?” Sunset felt her cheeks warm as the others winced sympathetically. Rarity gave a delicate cough and sauntered over to the pink menace, whispering a quick explanation to her. Pinkie’s eyes widened as understanding blossomed, “Oooooohhhhh, that’s what that was about!”

“Yes, now can we please stop talking about that?” Sunset spat through gritted teeth, fervently wishing she had come up with something else, anything else, as a distraction.

The others were spared from answering by a knock at the door. Instantly on guard, nobody spoke or even moved for several seconds. “If we tell them to get lost, do you think they’ll listen?” Rainbow asked.

“It’s probably best if we get this over with,” Sunset replied. She stood and straightened out her clothes before calling out, “Come in.”

The door opened slowly and Tara poked her head through, “Hey. I’ve brought your Geodes with me, do you mind if I come in?”

At Sunset’s curt nod, the doctor pushed the door the rest of the way open and stepped through. The Rainbooms stiffened as two soldiers followed her in, one carrying a stack of lockboxes in his arms, but thankfully the men didn’t say anything. Completely ignoring the girls, one soldier stood aside to guard the door while the other stepped over to the nearest bed and gently placed the lockboxes down on it.

“The boxes are unlocked. You’ll find the rest of your Geodes inside,” Tara explained before turning to the soldiers. “You can wait outside now, I’ll be fine on my own.”

“It would probably be best if we wait with you,” one of the soldiers replied.

“I said I’ll be fine on my own,” Tara repeated sternly.

The soldier shook his head. “With respect, Doctor, we’re here to protect you, not be your assistants. Until we can be sure that the Rainbooms aren’t planning any form of aggression in retaliation for their confinement; leaving you or any of the other scientists alone with them just isn’t an option.”

Tara threw him a disgusted look, then turned back to the Rainbooms, “I’m sorry. This isn’t how I wanted things to go.”

“Pfft, whatever,” Rainbow mumbled.

“Frankly, we’re starting to expect this sort of behaviour from the Enclave,” Rarity added tartly.

Tara winced but quickly recovered, “I’d like to see if we can talk things through, but I don’t want to press you; so we’ll wait until tomorrow, if that’s okay. In the meantime, I’ll have this eyebot removed from the room, so you don’t fe-”

“That’s not a good idea,” one of the soldiers interrupted.

Tara scowled and rounded on him. “Given that one of the occupants of this room is a known telepath, how exactly is keeping them under constant surveillance going to help us? It’s not like we’ll be able to tell if they’re planning anything.” Not waiting for the soldier to respond, Tara turned back to the girls, “As I was saying, I’ll have the eyebot placed outside the room instead. There’s a toilet directly opposite this room, should you need it. If you want any food, just speak to the eyebot and one of us will be up to escort you to the dining hall.”

Sunset nodded slowly, “How’s Becky doing?”

Tara sighed heavily, “She’s feeling okay. She’s still all…” The doctor gestured vaguely to her head.

“Ponied up?” Sunset prompted.

Tara nodded, “Yeah. There aren’t going to be any long-term side effects, are there?”

Sunset shrugged, “Honestly? I don’t think so, but we haven’t had this sort of thing happen to anyone else from this world before. It’s kind of a unique case.” She decided against mentioning Doctor Li, at least in front of the soldiers.

Tara nodded again, “Okay, good. Anyway, I’d better get back and check on her.” She stepped forward and held out a hand, “I know things haven’t exactly gone smoothly between us, but I sincerely hope we can change all of that. We could do great things together, if we tried.” Her eyes flicked rapidly between her outstretched hand and Sunset.

Sunset frowned curiously. Taking the proffered hand she kept her face neutral as she felt the doctor pressed a crumpled piece of paper into her grip. Giving her hand a quick shake, Sunset stepped back and clasped her hands behind her back, hiding the paper from the soldiers.

“Okay,” Tara said quietly, “did any of you have any other questions?”

“Can we bring food back here from the dining hall?” Pinkie asked.

Tara chuckled softly, “Of course. Right, I’ll be off then. See you later, girls.” She gave Sunset a meaningful look before walking over to the eyebot and guiding it out of the room. The soldiers followed her out, closing the door behind them.

The moment they were gone, Sunset held up the piece of paper and quickly unfolded it. On it was a simple handwritten note. ‘Exodus. Tonight. Be ready.’

“I’ll be back in a sec, I need to use the bathroom,” Rainbow said suddenly.

“One second,” Sunset called out.

“Can it wait? I really need to pee,” Rainbow replied.

“Charming,” Rarity muttered.

Sunset smiled and crumpled the paper back up, “Just be quick then, I think I’ve got some good news.”

Bored and alone in the first aid room, Becky idly toyed with a lock of her newly multi-coloured hair. Tara had gone to give the Rainbooms the rest of their Geodes and to hopefully tip them off about the escape attempt, while Sienna had headed off to fetch the SDT-1. Both of them had forbidden Becky from going anywhere until the magic had left her body and she’d gone back to normal.

For the umpteenth time, Becky flicked her hair aside and reached up to fiddle with the odd pony ears sticking out of her head. She still couldn’t quite get used to the sensation of having them up there, especially when she realised she could move them around independently. Though, she had to admit, gently scratching behind where they connected to her skull was definitely a pleasant feeling.

The sound of the door opening distracted Becky from her mild bodily exploration.

“Hey, Becky,” Tara called as she stepped into the room. “How are you feeling?”

“Same as before,” Becky replied. “How did it go with the Rainbooms?”

Tara sighed heavily, “I didn’t get a chance to speak to them properly. Squad Sigma are refusing to leave any of us alone with them, as we suspected. I did manage to give them the note without the soldiers noticing though, and I’ve given them their Geodes back, so hopefully they’ll be ready to go when we are.”

“Hopefully,” Becky echoed. “How are they holding up?”

Tara sank onto a chair next to Becky’s bed, “Angry, upset, cautious. I can’t really say I blame them either.”

Becky nodded, “It’s only going to get worse when they find out what happened to James.”

“Yeah,” Tara sighed again. She looked down at her feet for a few seconds, then back up at Becky, “Are you… are you sure about this?”

“I am,” Becky replied firmly. “Are you?”

Tara nodded, “I still don’t know if we’re doing the right thing here, but… I can’t just sit around doing nothing.”

“I know the feeling,” Becky said softly, reaching out to take her hand.

Tara smiled thinly up at her, “I just hope everything goes to plan. Doctor Turner shouldn’t bother us, I told him I was angry with him and that I didn’t want to speak to him tonight.”

“Do you think he bought it?”

Tara raised an eyebrow, “I wasn’t acting, I am angry with him. He has screwed up or concealed information at almost every opportunity since we got here.”

“Fair enough,” Becky conceded. “What about Squad Sigma?”

“I’ve prepped the distraction, all we have to do is run the program,” Tara replied.

“Good.” Satisfied that the plan was coming together, Becky reached up and started fiddling with her hair again.

“That suits you, y’know.” Becky glanced down to see Tara smiling shyly at her. “The hair, it suits you,” Tara repeated.

“Well, it should. I mean it is technically mine after all,” Becky replied.

Tara reached up and pulled her own ponytail around, “What about me? Do you think I’d look good in purple?”

“You look better in nothing,” Becky stated in reply, getting a playful swat in return.

Both women froze as the door suddenly opened, then breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Sienna stepping into the room, the SDT-1 cradled under one arm.

Sienna raised an eyebrow at them, “You’re both clothed, and you’re glad that I’m here. This is turning into a really weird day.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll walk in on me with my head buried between her thighs again sometime soon,” Becky shot back, prompting Tara to give her a slightly sharper swat, accompanied by a blush this time.

“I’ll look forward to it,” Sienna deadpanned, rolling her eyes as she placed the SDT-1 on a nearby table. “By the way, I have no idea how to use this thing.”

“I’ll set it up,” Tara said quickly. “Did you have any trouble getting it?”

Sienna shook her head, “No. It was still in the testing room where Turner left it with the Protectron.” She frowned and folded her arms, “The Protectron was acting funny, so I sent it back to it’s charging pod to run a diagnostic on itself.”

“It’s probably just glitching from being left on standby for two hundred years,” Becky told her. “Alright, while you check me over with that thing, I think we should go over the plan one more time.”

The day passed almost unbearably slowly for the Rainbooms. Without the eyebot listening in on their conversations, they had spent several hours discussing everything that had happened; from the battle at Project Purity, to what had happened since they’d woken up, and finally the cryptic note that Tara had left them. Sunset was certain that it meant an escape attempt was imminent and the others mostly agreed that it seemed likely. Applejack and Rainbow still had concerns that it might be a trap of some sort, but none of them could figure out what possible purpose such an act might serve.

Eventually, they’d grown bored of simply talking over the same points over and over again, not getting any closer to an answer, and the conversation slowly died off. Twilight and Sunset had both made a deliberate point of avoiding talking about the revelation of their counterparts’ love life. Rainbow’s attempt at pressing the issue had been met with little more than stony silence and icy glares.

After a while the group made a single trip to the dining hall, accompanied by two soldiers and an apologetic Sienna, and decided to carry as much food as they could back to their room so they wouldn’t have to do so again. Stuck with little to do, and no real desire to explore the facility under the stern gazes of armored soldiers, the Rainbooms had kept themselves occupied in any way that they could, with occasional breaks for the toilet and snacks.

Twilight settled in to tweaking the programming of her Pip-Boy while Rarity busied herself trying to repair the damage that had been done to their clothes. The rest of the girls ended up pushing several of the beds together so they could comfortably play a game of cards, using a deck that Pinkie had pulled from somewhere. Throwing her cards down after several consecutive losses, Sunset was about to shuffle the deck again when she heard a faint tapping at the door.

Quick as a flash, the cards were packed away and the girls were on their feet, ready for anything as the door slowly opened to reveal Becky and Tara. Behind them stood Sienna, a pair of metal lockboxes in her arms. The three ducked quickly into the room and closed the door quietly. Sunset was glad to see that Becky’s hair and ears had gone back to normal since the morning’s events. “Did you read my note?” Tara asked without preamble.

Sunset nodded, “We did, and we’re ready.”

“Ready for what, exactly?” Applejack asked warily.

“We’re getting you out of here,” Becky replied.

Tara held a warning hand up as the girls all made sounds of relief and excitement, “I have to warn you, this is going to be difficult and dangerous. If you aren’t willing to take the risk, you’d best tell us now.”

“We’re ready,” Sunset said firmly. The others nodded in agreement.

“I do have one question first, though. If that’s okay?” Twilight cut in.

Tara glanced over at her, “Just one?”

Twilight smiled shyly, “Well, just one for now. Why are you doing this? Why are you helping us escape?”

Becky gave her a wry smile, “Sunset’s Geode showed me a lot of things. You girls don’t deserve this, and your worlds don’t deserve having to deal with the Enclave.”

Sunset frowned at her in confusion, “What do you mean by that?”

“That was what we wanted your help with,” Tara explained. “We were working on something called Project Exodus. Our objective was to find a way to open a portal to your world and see if it was suitable for habitation. If so, the Enclave was planning to travel there en masse, leaving only a token force behind to maintain a foothold in the wasteland while we rebuilt our civilization on your world.”

The Rainbooms stared at her in stunned silence. “There’s no way we would’ve helped you do that. Not after what happened at Project Purity," Rainbow said bluntly.

“Funnily enough, that’s pretty much what we expected,” Sienna said flatly.

“None of that matters right now, anyway,” Becky put in. “Right now, we need to get you out of here without anyone noticing.”

“Well, alright then! So, what’s the plan?” Applejack asked.

Tara stepped forward to answer, “First of all, we’ll need to sneak you through the facility to the main cargo area, that’s where the elevators are to the surface section of the building. Doctor Turner is asleep, so we shouldn’t have any trouble with him, the problem will be the two Sigma soldiers guarding the entrance to the cargo area.”

“How do we deal with them?” Twilight asked.

“That’s my job,” Becky replied. “All of you will wait in the admin office around the corner while I go and speak to the soldiers. We’ve set up a problem in the lower levels to act as a distraction for them. Hopefully, both soldiers will go down and deal with it themselves, rather than calling down reinforcements from upstairs.”

“It’s a pretty nasty incident we’ve cooked up, so they’ll probably deal with it themselves as an immediate priority,” Sienna added.

Becky nodded, “Once we’re through we’ll use the personnel elevator to reach the surface and then head out through the main entrance, which is where we’ll meet our next problem.”

“Let me guess, more soldiers?” Rarity asked.

“Four more,” Tara confirmed. “The entrance opens onto a large forecourt. The soldiers are billeted in a security office in the forecourt, along with the pilots for their Vertibird. The Vertibird itself is parked alongside the office. You’ll have to sneak past them somehow if you want to escape. Once you’re out your best option would be to head north for several kilometres, until you reach the remains of the river, then head east until you find Rivet City.”

“You’ll need to be extremely cautious, even once you’re out of here,” Becky added. “We weren’t lying when we said this building is deep in super mutant territory. And make sure you don’t actually cross the river. Chances are the Jefferson Task Force, the guys who took Project Purity, have fortified the northern embankments.”

“Can’t we just take a back way out?” Twilight asked.

Tara shook her head, “All of the other ways in and out of the facility have been sealed and barricaded, to reduce the likelihood of super mutants successfully gaining entrance. There is a parking lot around the back of the building that you can reach from the main entrance, but that whole area is dotted with concealed plasma mines, in case anything tries to break in from the rear.”

“Great,” Sunset muttered. “Do you have any suggestions on getting past the soldiers at the gate?”

Becky folded her arms, humming as she thought, “We might be able to make a distraction of some sort but, honestly, none of us has actually been topside since we first arrived here. We’ll have to see what’s up there that we can work with.”

“What about James and the other eggheads from Project Purity?” Rainbow asked. “There’s gotta be something we can do to save them!”

At the mention of James the three scientists shared an awkward, wary look. After a moment, Tara spoke up, “If you really want to save the scientists at Project Purity then the Brotherhood of Steel is probably your only real hope, but…”

“But what?” Applejack pressed.

Tara opened her mouth to answer, but nothing came out. After a few attempts, Becky placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Looking Sunset in the eye, Becky answered quietly for her, “James is dead.”

There were gasps and cries of shock and grief from each of the Rainbooms. The words hit Sunset like a brick, leaving her feeling like she’s been thumped in the stomach. Applejack quietly swept her hat off her head and held it over her chest, bowing her head sadly.

“Who did it?” Rainbow growled.

“We don’t really know the details…” Tara began.

“I said. Who. Killed. James,” Rainbow snarled, practically spitting each word out.

The scientists all flinched away from the sheer venom in her voice. “He did it himself,” Becky replied. “We were told that he sacrificed himself to activate some sort of failsafe that prevents anyone from using the purifier.”

There was a soft thump as Fluttershy’s legs gave out and she slumped to her knees. Applejack and Rarity quickly knelt down next to her, gripping her shoulders gently in case she fainted completely.

“How long have you known?” Sunset asked in a quavering voice.

“We only found out from Doctor Turner this morning,” Tara replied. “It’s why we were going to give your Geodes back and allow you to leave, if you wished. Then everything happened with Becky and your Geode and we just…”

Sunset closed her eyes and swallowed, trying to force down the grief and rage that roiled within her. There would be time to mourn later; right now they had bigger problems.

Becky sighed quietly, “I’m sorry, I know he was your friend.”

“He was more than that, he was the first person we met in this world who treated us like normal people,” Twilight replied sadly. “He was kind and smart and did anything he could to help us. He was even trying to help us figure out a way home.” She blinked a few times as the meaning of her own words suddenly hit her, “Wait, he was the one helping us get home! What are we going to do now? How are we going to get home without him?! We’re going to be stuck here fore-”

“Twilight, stop right there, breathe, and focus,” Becky said firmly. “You are not going to be stuck here forever.”

Sunset couldn’t help but be impressed at how quickly Becky stopped Twilight’s freak-out in its tracks. She supposed it must be second-nature given that she was dating the nerd’s wasteland counterpart. Still, Twilight wasn’t quite done yet, “But, without James, I have no idea where to even begin on getting us home.”

“We think we might have a lead for you,” Tara cut in. She glanced over her shoulder, “Sienna? If you wouldn’t mind?” Sienna nodded and stepped forward to place the lockboxes on one of the beds.

Tara thanked her and grabbed the first lockbox, fiddling with the combination, “When we were first attached to Project Exodus, we requisitioned a collection of unique technology that the Enclave has acquired over years of searching the wasteland. One of the items of particular interest was this thing.” She flipped the lid open and picked up as small metallic object from inside. It was egg-shaped, smooth and silvery, with curious little green crystals at each end, “We call it the SDT-1. It’s a signal detector of some sort, and it somehow managed to-”

“I’ve seen one of those before.” Everyone turned to look at Twilight, who was staring in shock at the SDT-1. “James showed me a picture of one. It’s the same as the item he was hooking up to the reactor and testing back in Vault 101, the thing that-”

“The thing that brought us here!?” Sunset blurted out incredulously.

“Wait a second, are you absolutely certain that it was one of these that helped bring you to this world?” Tara asked. Twilight just nodded dumbly.

“Well it’s about darn time we had some good news for a change,” Applejack huffed, still clasping Fluttershy. “Quick, hand it over and we can stick it in one of our packs.”

“We can’t give it to you,” Tara replied instantly.

“Why the heck not?!” Rainbow snapped.

“You don’t understand,” Tara replied earnestly. “If we give you the SDT-1, President Eden will make retrieving it the military’s highest priority. They’d stop at nothing to bring you all back in.”

Sunset swore silently. To be so close to a way home and not being able to take it, it was cruel beyond measure. “If you aren’t going to give it to us, then why did you even bring it up here?” Twilight asked, obviously thinking along the same lines.

“To show you what this kind of technology looks like,” Tara said as she gently placed the SDT-1 back in it’s box. “Somehow, this little gadget detected the energy pulse given off by the portal that first brought you to this world.”

“How can you be sure?” Twilight asked.

Becky smiled softly, “Simple, really. We just held it next to each of you when you were first brought here. Each of you gives off a faint, but distinct, magical signature. When viewed together, your combined magical signatures match the one that the SDT-1 picked up almost two months ago.”

“When we first arrived in Vault 101,” Sunset muttered to herself, getting a nod from Tara and Becky.

“The thing is, the Enclave didn’t create the SDT-1, we found it,” Tara continued. “It was originally discovered over a century ago, when the Enclave sent a scouting team to determine what had happened to our outpost in Appalachia. Since it can obviously detect your unique radiation, er, magic…” Tara paused for a moment, visibly uncomfortable with using such an ‘unscientific’ term, “a-anyway, since it can detect that, we were hoping that you could memorize what it looks like.”

“But what good would that do us?” Twilight asked.

“All of the X-51 technology is similar in style and design,” Tara explained. “We figured that you could search the wastes for something similar and, hopefully, find a way home on your own. We thought it was a long shot, but now that we know that there are definitely more of these…”

“Then there’s a chance we could find another one somewhere in the Capital Wasteland,” Sunset finished.

Tara nodded, “Exactly.”

Pinkie sniffed and brushed a tear off her cheek, trying to put the news about James behind her, for now. “I don’t get it, if the Enclave didn’t make that little egg-thingy, then who did?”

Tara opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted by a sudden beeping in her pocket, “Shit, that’s the timer I set for the distraction.” She reached into her pocket to turn off the alarm, then glanced up at Sunset “I know this is a lot to take in, but if you want to get out of here safely then we have to leave. Now.”

Caught off-guard by the woman’s sudden change in tone, Sunset hesitated before turning to the others, “Everyone grab your packs. Fluttershy, are you good to go?”

Fluttershy closed her eyes and took several long, deep breaths. When she opened them again, her expression was determined, “I’m ready.”

“Good.” Tara quickly unlocked the second lockbox and beckoned Rainbow over, “Rainbow Dash? Here, these are yours.”

Rainbow cocked her head curiously, “What is it?”

“Two knives and some grenades,” Sienna replied. “We confiscated them from your pack when you first arrived here, as a precaution.”

Rainbow did a surprised double-take, “Awesome! I forgot about those. Hey, do you have my shishkebab?”

The three scientists glanced at each other in confusion. “Everything we had of yours is in this room. Anything else must have been left at Project Purity,” Becky told her.

“Damn it,” Rainbow muttered as she picked up her blades.

“Are you all ready to go?” Becky asked. When everyone confirmed that they were, she turned and handed the lockboxes back to Sienna, “Now, remember everyone. First, we’re going to the admin office near the main cargo area. Until I’ve dealt with the soldiers there we all need to be silent. Not just quiet, silent, understand?” A series of nods came in response. “Good. Okay, let’s get moving.”

Becky couldn’t help but worry as she led the group through the corridors to the admin offices. The Rainbooms were a worrying mix of scared, angry, and grief-stricken, though Pinkie was the only one openly, but silently, crying.

As they rounded the corner to the admin offices the group distinctly heard the voices of two soldiers just around the next bend, sending a shiver of anxiety through each of them. Thankfully, the door to the office they wanted was already open. Becky quickly ushered everyone else in. Once they were all inside and out of sight, she backtracked down several corridors since she had to make sure the soldiers were likely to hear her coming and it would certainly help matters if she was out of breath when she got to them.

Okay, Becky, take a deep breath. You’re going to have to really sell this, or we’re dead.

Clenching and unclenching her hands a few times to try and stop them shaking, Becky turned back and sprinted as fast as she could towards the soldiers. Belting past the admin office, she nearly crashed into the wall as she flew around the last corner. Just as she’d planned, the soldiers already had their weapons up and ready when she spotted them, standing in front of a pair of metal double doors.

“Sigma, thank God! I need your help!” Becky gasped.

“Doctor Shoichet? What’s wrong?” one of the soldiers asked.

She turned and pointed back down the corridor, “The damaged assaultron we found down in the lower repair center, it’s malfunctioning. I tried to deactivate it but it’s going wild, cycling it’s weapon systems constantly, and without any targeting data it…” Becky let the statement hang. An uncontrolled military robot without any targeting data would blast anything that crossed its path indiscriminately.

“What were you doing down there in the first place?” the soldier asked suspiciously. “You’re supposed to be in the first aid room?”

Becky lowered her head, “I… I was trying to take my mind off of all the… all of the shit that happened earlier.”

The soldier huffed angrily, “Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

The second soldier nudged him with an elbow, “You go and deal with that, Michaels. I’ll stay up here and keep watch.”

“Yeah, yeah. Just make sure no one gets past you, rookie. And as for you,” Becky flinched as the soldier pointed at her, “get your ass back to the first aid room. You do not want to be wandering around with a rogue assaultron on the loose.”

Becky’s heart sank as he stepped past her and broke into a run, leaving his fellow soldier still guarding the main cargo area. Unless both soldiers were out of the way, the plan was dead before it had even truly stared, “Uh, shouldn’t you go with him? Assaultrons are extremely dangerous.”

“Michaels is part of Sigma, he can handle it,” the soldier replied. “And now that he’s gone, maybe you can tell me what it is that you’re really up to?”

Becky’s heart went from sinking to practically leaping out of her throat, “I, uh, I don’t know what you mea-”

“Spare me the bullshit, Becky. After what happened this morning we both know there’s no way Tara would let you anywhere near a security robot on your own, especially a fucking assaultron. Not until she was a hundred percent certain you were back in top form.”

Becky took a cautious step back, “How do you…?” The soldier just sighed and shouldered his rifle before reaching up to remove his helmet. “What the… Vincent?! Since when have you been a member of Squad Sigma?!”

“Not long, Project Exodus is my first big assignment with them,” Vincent replied. “Now do you want to tell me what’s going on?”

“Th-there’s nothing going o-”

“It’s not going to take Michaels long to deal with the assaultron, that’s if it's actually been set to rampage, which I doubt,” Vincent cut in. “You clearly wanted us out of the way for something, so what is it?” Becky wilted under his gaze. She racked her brain, trying to come up with some excuse, but before she could Vincent sighed again and pinched the bridge of his nose, “It’s the Rainbooms, isn’t it?”

Becky felt the blood drain from her face, “Don’t be so fucking stupid, I wouldn’t do-”

“You should practice being a manipulative bitch a bit more often, you’re out of practice,” Vincent interrupted again. “All of the Exodus scientists have clearance to go through this door, meaning the only reason you’d need us out of the way is if you’re bringing something, or someone, through that doesn’t have clearance. So, where are they? The toilets down that way? Or the admin office around the corner?”

Becky’s shoulders slumped in defeat. We didn’t even manage to clear the first fucking obstacle. “When did you get so fucking sharp?”

“I’m a soldier, it’s kinda my job to think tactically these days,” Vincent replied.

“You used to be shit at that sort of thing,” Becky mumbled.

Vincent smirked, “Yeah, well, I’ve had plenty of practice.” His smile faded as he turned serious once more, “Come on, Becky, just level with me.”

Becky sighed and looked away, “The Rainbooms don’t belong here.”

“No shit,” Vincent muttered under his breath. The two stood in silence for several long moments, Becky looking everywhere but at Vincent. Eventually he sighed heavily, “Man, I can’t believe you’re putting me in this position. Ah, fuck it. Go on, hurry up and bring them here, before Michaels gets back.”

Becky stared up at him in blank shock, “Wait, what?”

“Will you just hurry up already!” Vincent pressed. “Get them, and get the fuck out of here, quickly!”

“R-right!” Becky turned to run back to the admin office, then stopped as Vincent called out to her again.

“And remember, you owe me big time for this!”

Becky narrowed her eyes as she looked back at him, “I’m not going to fuck you again, if that’s what you’re after.”

Vincent snorted, “It’s not. But I wouldn’t complain if you put a good word in with Sienna for me.”

Becky arched an eyebrow, “I’ll see what I can do.”

Another day, another chapter. I'd originally planned for this one to be longer, but vastly underestimated just how much was going on, so I've split it into two instead.

Comments and criticisms are welcome, and thanks for reading!