On the way to Megamac, Gearing stays in the vanguard for the small group; taking the lead and picking a route that has the least obstacles for the wagon, and Sable specifically.

For the most part he plots a route that will take them straight to Megamac, but with a few turns and detours thrown in more for path obscuring purposes than anything. Along with avoiding a few places he doesn’t particularly like the look of even from a distance. In spite of the side tracking, they make good time as the pace being set for the group is a pair that don’t need rest.

Even if they aren’t currently the fastest members of the group.

Gearing watches as Nahlah zips around and practically runs circles around the traveling company as she hops over to various points of interest to explore. A capsized wagon full of empty Sparkle Cola bottles. A skywagon that had apparently fallen straight out of the sky and impacted hard enough that even now, two hundred plus years later, it’s imbedded enough into the ground to appear like a rusting obelisk. Some woody shrubbery that seems to defy identification of being dead or not. A brilliant white flower sticking out of the rubble with pink highlights and stripes.

That one even drew Gearing’s focus, after Nahlah had practically pounced on it.

His wonderment on how something like that could survive, is quickly squelched as Nahlah pulls it out of the ground, and reveals the ratty mostly rotten hat it was attached to. Nahlah frowns and holds it up with both paws as she seems to debate what to do with it.

Gearing curves his path to start walking by her and pauses to lean towards her. “Why don’t you keep it?”

Nahlah looks at him then at the hat and frowns. “It’s fallen apart… I bet it was pretty… once.”

Gearing looks it over and then back at her. “You still like the flower though, right?”

Nahlah uses a paw and delicately runs her digits over the petals. “Well… yeah.”

Gearing shrugs then starts walking away as he waves the thought away with a wing. “Then take the flower… you can always find something else to attach it to later.” He looks at her over his shoulder and grins. “I bet it’d appreciate having someone to enjoy it again.”

Nahlah’s ears perk up and then she looks at the hat again. She quickly removes the flower, by cutting away the ratty sun hat with one of her knives, before carefully stowing the artificial flower in her bag.

Gearing chuckles and trots back towards the lead. As he’s passing Sable at what appears to be a slow motioned gallop to catch up, he lets out a quick sharp cry of pain and surprise as his entire body jerks in mid air, while in mid stride. He stumbles and staggers passed Sable. It takes him quite the effort to keep from falling on his face and he goes a bit further than intended with the momentum. But a few repeated hectic flaps of his wings help right him, and keep him from kissing the pavement, before he comes to a stop.

Sable hops over, yanking the wagon after her, and gives his neck a concerned nuzzle. “Are you okay, my love?”

Gearing sits down and shakes his head a few times. Quickly. Very Quickly. Apparently quicker than intended as he grabs his own head with his hooves and goes still for a moment. “I... I think so?” He hunches over and wraps his wings around himself as he starts fiddling with his PipBuck behind his improvised privacy screen.

Handy and Swift move around the wagon and stop on either side of Sable as they look Gearing over. Handy points at Gearing and looks at Sable. “What happened?”

Sable shakes her head. “I do not know Subject Handy Hooves. He suddenly spasmed while walking and nearly fell.”

Swift walks closer to Gearing and looks him over as he’s practically hiding under a tent made of his crystalline wings. “You okay in there, Gearing?”

“Ah… that explains it… Well, shit, I wish it’d give me a warning before doing something like that…” Gearing murmurs while not really paying attention to anyone else.

Sable leans over and nuzzles his side again. “Gearing, my love? Do you require medical attention?” There’s a pause and she gets a scowl on her face as she practically demands, “Allow me to examine your PipBuck to check your current health status.”

Gearing hops up to his hooves quickly and waves it away with a wing as he says with a grin, “No need to worry, everything’s fine.”

Sable stares at him for a moment, then extends out a data cable as she stares him in the eyes. “PipBuck, Gearing.”

Gearing rolls his eyes, then sits back down and lifts his PipBuck for her to connect to. She quickly plugs into it and stands there motionless as she repeatedly checks the readings coming from it. The others watch for a few moments before Sable finally relents and detaches from the PipBuck. Gearing gives her a warm smile and shrugs. “See, I’m fine. Nothing to worry about.”

Swift looks at Sable and asks, “Well?”

Sable stares at Gearing and the scowl actually gets worse as she looks him over. “I do not like this. There is nothing in the PipBuck to explain what I had seen. Nothing to explain what had happened.”

Swift partially closes an eye as she looks at Gearing. “Gearing… did you tamper with the log function of the PipBuck while you were hiding behind your wings?”

Handy sits down and waves a hoof repeatedly dismissing the idea. “Swift, hun, that’s not possible… PipBucks weren’t made that way. He couldn’t do that. At least not here. And definitely not that quickly.”

Swift looks over at Handy with the same narrowed eye before rolling them and looking back at Gearing. “Well? Did you?”

Gearing looks at her and chuckles a moment before shaking his head. “No. I’m fine. Really. Better actually.”

Handy looks him over and turns as he asks softly, not entirely liking the answer, “’Better’ how?”

Gearing waves it away with a hoof and a wing as he looks them over. “It’s nothing to worry about. The system just managed to purge some of the side effects of that damn stasis weapon they used on me.”

Handy’s eyes go wide as he stares at him. “That was still affecting you?! How?!”

Gearing shrugs. “You tell me and we’ll both know. It’s left some residual gunk behind that is slowly being cleared out.” He hops up and starts walking around, quickly. Sable watches carefully as he seems to correct and over correct his walking patterns.

Swift tilts her head as she looks him over. “You going to be okay though?”

Gearing turns his head to look at her, but his focus moves past her ever so much before coming back to look at her, in a near micro double take. “Yeah, I’ll get better as time goes on.”

Sable extends a restraining cable and wraps it around his shoulders as she asks, “Gearing, my love, we care about you… You’re movements are… out of sync… with your intentions… Are you sure you’re okay? How may we help you?”

Gearing lets out a sigh then sits down, hard, sending a ringed cloud of powdered dirt out from his flank where he impacts the ground. He waves a hoof and says with annoyance, “I’m fine…” He looks them over and sees many pairs of disbelieving eyes staring back at him. “Okay, look… Whatever they did to me did something that slowed my movements… It gummed everything up… like I’d been dipped in molasses or something. It was a struggle to move and every part of me had to fight resistance.” He shrugs. “Now it’s gone. Without that, I’m able to move much faster, and I’m having to… readjust to being able to move fast again.”

Handy leans closer and looks him over, giving him a few strong sniffs as he asks, “Did the weapon leave some kind of chemical residue? Do we need to decontaminate areas of the stable you’d been in when we get back?”

Sable shakes her head. “That is not possible, Subject Handy Hooves.” Handy looks at her and she adds, “Gearing has been through many cycles of decontamination for both chemical, and biological, contaminates. Any physical residue would have been removed, or slowly removed over time. That would cause a gradual change. This change was rather abrupt.” She looks over at Gearing and tilts her head. “Which would leave potential magical contamination.”

Handy narrows his eyes as he looks at her. “Magical? Contamination? How does that even make sense?”

Sable looks between them. Then, in very organic fashion, shrugs. “The closest approximation to this scenario would be a matrix disruption of equipment. It has been known to happen. With the sources having lasting effects beyond the initial disruption. If that were the case, it would need to either wear off, or be removed.” She motions towards Gearing with a hoof. “In either case, the affected subject would pose no danger to any others as it doesn’t transfer.”

They all turn to look at Gearing and he rolls his eyes. “No. I’m not infectious. Not to machines. And damn sure not to organics. Can we go now, please?” He turns and starts walking away, and quickly starts covering ground as the others hang back.

Nahlah watches as Gearing starts zipping back and forth across the path in front of them. “Well… he seems to be moving faster.” She looks over at Swift and Handy as she shrugs. “That’s got to be a good sign, right?”

Sable lets out a sigh and shakes her head. “I am still concerned that he is, in fact, ill. And in a way that nopony can assist him with.” She waves a hoof in Gearing’s general direction before starting to follow along and commenting, “The increase in movement now means he was fighting with lethargy before. In all likelihood, he has multiple hindrances he is still trying to compensate for.”

Swift walks along beside Sable as she asks, “Is it something we should be worried about?”

Sable tilts her head as she gives it a lot of thought before shaking her head. “No, I do not believe so, Subject Swift. Nothing thus far has shown any source of danger.” She looks at Swift and grins before half trotting and half hopping, wagon harness or no, excitedly. “However, if my darling Gearing is this amazing while suffering from multiple ailments… imagine how great he will be once fully healed!”

Swift’s eyes go to their max as she starts putting together what the mechanical mare is saying. She remembers how Gearing was able to slink in and out of the shadows, quietly, and effectively, while in the lower levels. His aim with the rifle. His speed. His precision. His quick thinking while literally under fire.

All of it while hamstrung and bogged down with an unknown number of handicaps.

Swift nods lightly as she watches Gearing trot around in front of the caravan and even circling back a few times to make sure not to be too far ahead. “That… would be something to see.”

The group continues on the rest of the way to Megamac but, with Gearing’s increased speed, Nahlah doesn’t have as much opportunity to wander around without actually running to get from place to place while keeping up with the wagon group. Even Gauge is so busy keeping up, he doesn’t have enough time to be nervous and foul the air.

As they are approaching the large rusting walls that surround Megamac, Gearing notices the guards at the entrance in different positions than they were previously. Which gives him more than a bit of concern.

In the tower, the guards inside are obscured in complete shadows, as all sides have had shutters and cloths hung up to hide their forms as they provide overwatch. The light glow of a unicorn’s levitation field around the rifle pointed in their direction is Gearing’s only indication there’s anyone up there with his naked eye from this direction. Likewise the guards outside the gate at ground level now have a pair of barricades and defensive positions that they can peek out of. The practical tiny pillboxes are made of a combination of concrete, steel, and surrounded with dirt mounds.

Gearing hurries ahead of the group, deciding that if anyone’s going to get shot today he’d rather it be him, than the mare pulling the wagon. As he’s running up he yells out, while keeping his face towards the gate and his eyes directed up at the tower, “Hey! Where is everypony?!”

“We’re here, what do ya want?” a muffled voice yells from the left defensive position.

Gearing looks around at the various positions, and up at the tower. A scowl crosses his muzzle as he notices the rifle isn’t pointed at him, as intended, but towards the approaching group. And, more importantly, at Sable if his estimations are correct. “I need to talk to Breaker Bar, he’s expecting me… Why, what’s going on?”

“You always trot around the wastes with a potectapony souped-up to sentinel levels of firepower?” the voice calls out from the same hiding spot.

“Not usually, but she wouldn’t let him out of the house unless he took her with him,” Nahlah says with a laugh as she bounds up next to Gearing and looks around with a giant grin on her muzzle.

Swift trots up on Gearing’s other side as she looks around at the fortifications. “What’s with all this? It’s different than last time…”

“Iron Hoof?!” the voice from the left asks in a startled tone before an earth pony mare hops out of the defensive barrier and starts checking Swift out. She looks Swift over then yells up at the tower, “Holy shit, it is! It’s Iron Hoof!”

Gearing smirks and rolls his eyes before holding his hoof up. “I’m brass… not iron…”

She looks at Gearing as if he’d interrupted a very important conversation then waves him off with a hoof. “Not you, dumbass… her!” She points a hoof over at Swift. “It’s ‘The Iron Hoof’ Swift!” She hops around and jabs the air a few times with her forehooves as she grins like an idiot. “It took me half a case of Wild Pegasus to get out of my shifts to watch the whole fight, but it was totally worth it!”

“Fuck you, you bitch, that was a horrible trade!” Comes a pair of voices from the tower.

Swift grins widely as she sits down and points a hoof at herself. “Yeaahh… it was something… wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, it was something alright… I’m still catching shit over getting beat by ‘a model’. Like I’d let you win or something,” a grumbling voice says as a large brown earth pony stallion with a short cropped black mane steps out of the defensive position on the right. He looks her over and grins as he asks, “You come back for a rematch already? Still not satisfied with the way you won?”

Swift pounds the ground a few times as her grin gets wider. “Oh, I’ll take you on. Anywhere. Any time…” Her eyes narrow then she looks to the side as she says with a sigh, “Not now though, we’re on a bit of a time crunch.”

He nods and waves a hoof off towards the northeast. “I bet. I’m surprised you aren’t already heading there.”

Swift waves a hoof back towards Sable. “We’d come back to drop off Breaker Bar’s wagon, and make a pit stop before we head on the rest of the way.” She looks around and asks, “So, really, what’s with all this?”

He shakes his head and frowns. “Well, with the Reapers heading back home, the rats decided it was a good time to try something. Guess they thought me losing meant we’d gotten soft.”

Gearing leans sideways to look at him with a raised eyebrow. “The town’s defenses should have helped with that… What, turrets were all down or something?”

He starts laughing and grins at him. “Oh, no! Not at all! Thanks for that! It’s easier to sweep up the ash, than have to haul off dead bodies.”

Gearing waves a hoof around and asks with a chuckle, “Then… what’s with these new emplacements?”

The brown buck shrugs. “Well it took half of them getting ashed before they realized their fuck up… and only half of what was left made it back out of range. Couple of them got pissed, I guess, and have started taking pot shots at the guards.” He grins at Gearing and flexes his chest muscles causing the plates of his armor to ripple as he chuckles. “Don’t worry, we’ll track those little fuckers down. It’s what we do.”

Nahlah raises an eyebrow as she asks, “But what’s with this ‘Iron Hoof’ bit? I know you didn’t fight her with her powerhoof...”

The buck chuckles and shakes his head. “You’re right on that!” He motions towards Swift and says with a chuckle, “It was pretty much unanimously agreed on by the participates that getting hit by her, was about like getting hit with a solid hunk of wrought iron.”

“Ah,” Nahlah succinctly replies.

Gearing doesn’t say anything, and only gives a single firm nod of agreement.

The earth pony mare guard hops around as she yells with glee, “It’s Iron Hoof! It’s Iron Hoof!” She jumps over and leans in as she taps on her jaw. “Come on, hit me! I wanna good souvenir!”

“I… don’t think that’d be a good idea,” Swift says with a slight cringe.

“I think that’d be a bad idea!” Gearing says as he leans away from the wide grinning guardspony.

“I know that’d be a bad idea!” the large brown buck says with a laugh.

“Awww come on, come on, come on! I can take it! I’ve been in the ring before. Just one good smack on the kisser! Come on, Pile Driver, tell her it’s okay!”

Gearing raises an eyebrow and asks with a sigh, “Are you suicidal?”

The brown buck runs a hoof through his mane and shakes his head with a chuckle. “You’re crazy… but alright… Sure, go ahead, if she really wants ya to.”

“Yeaaaaahh!” the mare guardspony says as she plants her hooves and stares at Swift with a grin.

“Well… alright…” Swift says with a shrug as she starts straightening up.

“No powerhoof!” Gearing and Nahlah scream in unison as Nahlah slaps her forepaws onto the side of her own cheeks and watches in horror.

Swift rolls her eyes. “I’m not trying to kill her, ya know…” She looks at the grinning earth pony and shrugs again as she says, “You asked for it.” Then flicks out her right hoof and connects with the side of the guardspony’s muzzle.

The mare guardspony spins around from the blow, and ends up staring at the gate as she stumbles and starts walking sideways over and into the defensive fortification she was in originally. She falls down into it, rolling and tumbling down into the dugout space behind the barricade.

The large buck walks over and looks down into the pit as he laughs, “You’re fucking stupid, you know that?!”

The mare crawls back up with a punch drunk giggle as she raises a hoof high in the air. “Worth it!” She licks her lips and her eyes go wide. “Blood?”

Gearing nods and grimaces. “Yeah… looks like it gashed your jaw… probably wanna get that looked at.”

Her eyes go to their widest and she grins even wider. “Hot damn! Maybe I should rub some dirt in it and make sure it scars up good and proper.” She looks down and says with the wonder of a foal, “Oooouuu a tooth? Is it mine?” She manipulates her tongue in her mouth a bit then springs up with her eyes wide. “It is!” She grabs it and sticks it into a pocket. “Hot damn, a kick ass scar and even got a tooth I can make a necklace with!”

The buck guardspony shakes his head and looks at Swift with his eyes narrowed. “She’s twigged. Don’t mind her.”

The mare climbs the rest of the way out of the fortification and stands next to him as she pokes him in the chest. “Hey! I just took a hit from Iron Hoof, and I’m still conscious! That’s saying something!”

The buck opens his mouth to say something to her, but then slowly turns to look at Swift and says with a snort, “She’s got a point there.”

“Yup,” Nahlah says with a prim nod.

“Agreed,” Gearing says as he frowns lightly and narrows his eyes at the mare that, he’s quite certain, has some form of brain damage.

“I don’t know if you’d survive if she was serious… or pissed, though…” the buck says as he looks at her.

Nahlah’s eyes go wide. “Oh, yeah. Especially with that power hoof. I don’t know any that have so far. Pissed and powerhoof?” She shakes her head and waves it away dismissively with a paw. “Not gonna happen.”

“Weeeeell…” Sable says, and draws the attention of all of them. “That’s not entirely accurate.” They stare at her and both guardspony’s eyes go wide.

“Who?” the mare guardspony asks as her eyes dart around.

Sable slowly turns her head and looks at Gearing, who lets out a sigh and looks up and to the side at the clouds above. The others all turn and look at him, with the guardsponies’ jaws hanging open slightly.

Except Swift, who, again, locates the excellent patch of ‘Wasteland Chic’ dead grass not far away and decides to focus on that for a few moments to avoid offering any information.

Pile Driver rubs a hoof through his black mane and looks over at Swift. “She’s kidding, right?”

Gearing lets out a snort then says as he brings his eyes back to look at him, “Remember, I warned you the first time we met: she’s got one hell of a mean left hoof.”

Pile Driver’s eyes slowly grow in size until he says softly, “Damn... you did. But how’d-?”

“Can we get inside already? I need to talk to Breaker Bar, drop off his wagon, and get some other things sorted, and we’re burning daylight here,” Gearing cuts him off with a scowl.

The mare guardspony jumps over and kicks at the gate a couple times as she grins. “Sure thing! In ya go! Anything for Iron Hoof and friends!”

Gearing looks back and forth and asks, “What about the toll?”

Pile Driver waves it off. “Nah, not for the crater champ. Whole town’d have our hide if we charged you.”

The gates open and they head inside. Before they get far in, however, Pile Driver yells after them, “Hey! While you’re there, remind my dad to check the firing arc on the turrets on the northwest side, make sure there’s no blind spot.”

Gearing looks over his shoulder at him and tilts his head. “Who?”

Pile Driver rolls his eyes. “You’re going to see Breaker Bar, right? That little tan old fart of a grease monkey? That’s my pop.”

Gearing nods and turns back where he was going as he yells, “Sure, no problem,” and the gates close behind them.

Swift ambles over and leans towards Gearing as she asks, “Did you know they were related?” Gearing’s eyes go wide as he keeps looking forward and shakes his head. “Me neither,” she mutters.

Nahlah zips around back and forth, looking at various buildings and peeking into the windows of a few shops as the group continues down the lane.

“Is this that shop you were talking about? Doesn’t look like much, mmkay,” Gauge asks with a frown.

“This is Megamac. The place Gearing was talking about is further away,” Swift says as she slowly looks back and forth and starts noticing more and more eyes peeking out to look at them.

“We going to stay here for the night? I don’t really wanna sleep in the open tonight, mmkay?” Gauge groans.

Handy nods as he looks around. “If we can. Sure. I wanna do some checking around town anyway.”

“I need to double check exactly where we’re supposed to be going anyway,” Swift says as she locks eyes with a few ponies here and there as they stop in their tracks coming from side paths to watch them continue down the road.

Nahlah gets closer to the group as she looks around and asks softly, “Are they planning on jumping us or something?”

Gearing kicks on his EFS for a moment, looking around and pretending to stare at various signs and buildings before turning it off and shaking his head. “Nah. None of them are hostile. Probably just gawking.” He looks over at Handy and nods further down the road. “You guys go on ahead and do what you need. We’ll take the cart back and get all of that sorted. I’ll keep in touch.” He raises his PipBuck laden hoof, giving it a light shake, and then turns and heads towards the M.W.T. building where Breaker Bar runs the town’s maintenance operations from.

He leads Sable around back to the delivery docks where he’d left with the cart from originally, before heading in and finding Breaker Bar. Leaving Sable, temporarily, to guard over it after she disconnects herself from it.

Inside Gearing finds Breaker Bar rather easily, he just had to follow the screaming. Gearing stands off to the side, politely, as Breaker Bar stands there and rants and dresses down a trio of repairponies as they stand in the middle of a pile of components that Gearing can’t even guess to what it used to be before somepony decided to turn it into a jigsaw puzzle.

After a few moments, the pony’s being yelled at start glancing over every now and then, looking at Gearing, and seemingly hoping he’d be kind enough to interject.

He doesn’t.

However, the constant side glances catch Breaker Bar’s attention enough to look over and see Gearing. He looks him over then whips his gaze back towards the three as he points a hoof at Gearing. “Now here’s a repairpony! He could work circles around all three of you sorry lot combined and still have time for a nap!” He shakes his head then points down at the combination of parts. “Just get it back together. Right this time!” They nod then turn and start picking through the parts, putting them back into boxes that they had apparently been in until they were recently knocked over or dropped.

Breaker Bar walks over to Gearing and grins as he looks him over. “Well I’ll be! I didn’t expect to see you around here anytime soon. If ever given the haul you made last time.” He sits down and grins. “What do I owe the honor?”

Gearing points to the back dock. “I got your wagon out back, like I promised.”

Breaker Bar’s eyes go wide. “You brought it back?!”

Gearing looks him over and says softly, “Yeeaah… that was part of the deal.”

Breaker Bar blinks a few times then stands up and starts heading towards the docks. “Well, damn.” He continues around to the back as he shakes his head. “Like I’d told ya, if ya didn’t it’d have been no real loss. But I still wasn’t really expecting you to bring it back. Thanks for keeping up with your side of the bargain!”

Gearing nods as he says, “Sure. I’m not a fan of burning bridges.” He looks at him sideway and smiles. “Also, I hear the defense networks already proving useful for you all?”

Breaker Bar starts laughing and shakes his head. “You could say that! Those stupid raiders thought we were going to be easy pickings with all the travelers here for the tournament and the Reapers gone… we showed them a thing or two!” He reaches over and pats Gearing on the shoulder. “And thanks to you, we didn’t lose a bunch of ponies in the process.” He opens the back loading door while looking back at Gearing with a grin. As the door opens the rest of the way, he turns back to look outside, and the grin falls right off his muzzle as his eyes go wide. He swallows hard and asks softly, “F- friend of yours… I hope?”

Sable looks at him and tilts her head. “We are not friends,” she comments as she turns towards them.

“Oh boy…” Breaker Bar moans as his eyes jump from the assault carbine on one side of her to the shotgun on the other side.

Sable looks between them and says with a grin, “My darling Gearing is my lover. And, one day, I shall bear his many children!” She rocks side to side happily at the thought.

Poor Breaker Bar looks like he’s about to have a heart attack.

“Sable,” Gearing says softly. “I know you’re trying to be polite and look at us while talking to us, but some ponies are gun shy and don’t like having barrels pointed in their direction. Even general direction.”

She looks down and at her sides, then back up. “Oh! I apologize!” She turns sideways but keeps her head pointed at Breaker Bar in a weird angle. “I did not mean to make you uncomfortable. This is my first time operating this sort of system.” She shakes her head. “But, do not worry. I have excellent control of the weapons and will only fire intentionally.”

Breaker Bar looks between the two as he runs a hoof through his mane. He shrugs and waves it away before he says, “I’m not even gonna ask.” He walks over to the wagon and stops a few paces away. “Hey… wait… you fixed it up too?!”

Gearing nods. “I said I would.”

Breaker Bar takes a few sniffs and leans towards the wheels. “I- is that fresh grease!?” He sniffs at the wheels a few times, increasingly deeply before he pulls back and looks at Gearing. “It is!”

Gearing nods and grins. “I fixed a few of the structural issues with it, reinforced the frame, and the suspension, and repacked the wheel bearings with some fresh grease.”

The little blue pegasus rolls around and giggles before it says, Insert lube joke here. Too late!

Gearing takes in a deep breath and lets it out in a long sigh, trying to control his own internal ridiculousness, before he waves a hoof at the wagon. “Anyway. There ya go. In better condition than I’d received it.”

“I’d say! This was beyond what I’d consider fair.” He starts walking inside as he says, “Speaking of which, there’s something else I got for you.”

Gearing waves it away with a hoof. “Don’t worry about it. I consider us even. This was the agreement and I’ll stick to it. You don’t owe me anything else.”

Breaker Bar starts moving around a few crates inside the back of the dock, then beckons Gearing in as he says, “Well this is on me. I made myself a promise that if you came back with the wagon at all, I’d give you this.” As Gearing hops in and walks over to him he holds out a bundle of cloth rolled up. “And considering what you’d done with the wagon, I’m certain of it. I’m sure you can get more use out of this than I will.”

Gearing tilts his head and grabs the cloth then unwraps it. He looks at the metallic rod with the various small gems inset into it with his jaw hanging slack.

“You know what that is, right?” Breaker Bar asks with a raised eyebrow.

Gearing nods and quickly wraps it back up. “A master key… why you giving this to me? These things ain’t cheap.”

“They also ain’t useful to all but a select few ponies.” He points at it with the forehoof. “I’ve had that thing for a looooong time. I got it in a mixed grab of scrap. The prospector didn’t know what he had. Considering you have a PipBuck, and worked for Stable-Tec… well… I figure it’s rightfully yours.” He gives a disgusted snort. “Especially if it keeps it out of those Steel Ranger bastard’s hooves.”

Gearing raises an eyebrow and stows the still wrapped key into his saddle bag as he asks, “What’s your beef with them? Didn’t they save the town and all that?”

Breaker Bar sits down and shakes his head. “The ones who saved us. They were the original. They were heroes. Back when they still had honor. Or at least knew what the word meant.” He shrugs. “Don’t know what happened… but somewhere along the line they started valuing technology more than pony lives.” He points at Gearing’s saddle bags. “Believe me when I say this… The ones now? They would have more than happily killed me to get that. Without even asking first.” He shakes his head. “Trust me… The ‘Steel Rangers’ now, are little more than raiders with power armor. They take what they want, from who they want, and kill whoever they want to do it.” He waves a hoof and snorts. “They’re Steel Rangers in nothing but name now.”

Gearing narrows his eyes and says flatly, “Well… that’s concerning.”

“Aint it though?” Breaker bar says with a snort. He looks Gearing over then waves a hoof. “Look, I don’t expect you to take my word for it. You obviously haven’t had a run in with them yet. But, considering the kind of gear you run around with… be careful around them. If they knew how much you know… they’d either kill you, or try to force you to work for them.”

Gearing grins widely. “That’d be a trick.”

Breaker Bar starts laughing and almost falls over before he turns his head and looks at him. “Friends with Iron Hoof… Yeah… I should have expected that response from someone that runs around with her…” He leans in and partially closes an eye. “Tell me something though… you do a lot of night shifts… or only for special occasions?”

Gearing blinks and stares at him for a few moments before asking, “What?”

Breaker Bar smirks. “Iron Hoof isn’t the only one who’s made a name for themselves around here.” He waves a hoof and rests his head on the other forehoof as he grins at Gearing. “Rumors been getting thrown around like hooves in the Crater… Been mixed descriptions really. Some kind of lost protectapony… Or a souped-up Steel Ranger, that actually gives a shit about ponies, in a custom suit of armor… Or somepony that just pops up, helps, and disappears…” He raises a hoof and gives a smug smirk at Gearing. “But the one thing they all have in common… is he, or it, is some kind of repairpony. A very good repairpony that can disarm explosives and bomb collars in between heartbeats… If everything’s about the same pony and true that is.”

Gearing sucks on his teeth a bit then looks around as he waves a wing and says nonchalantly, “Sounds like there’s some very busy ponies out there…”

Breaker Bar lets out a sigh and shakes his head. “That little pink filly wouldn’t stop raving about the ‘Shiny Pretty Pegasus’ that saved her and her mother.” He points a hoof at Gearing’s side. “The one with the green see through wings.”

Gearing lets out a sigh and looks at his left wing as he lifts it lightly. “That’s the problem with any daylight… I stick out like ruffled feathers...”

Breaker Bar leans over and pats him on his shoulder. “Buck, you sure are something. Most I know would be parading through the town crowing about everything they’d accomplished.”

Gearing frowns and narrows his eyes as he says softly, “It works better when they don’t know you’re coming. When they underestimate you.”

Breaker Bar nods then lets out a sigh. “Well… then you should know that… well… you’ve apparently reached critical mass.” He shrugs as he starts chuckling. “Words already getting out about you… including your…” He raises an eyebrow as he says with a snort as he doesn’t actually believe it, “Request for locations for every raider and slaver den in Equestria so you can ‘rake the muck’?”

Gearing grins and bobs his head. “I see Roadie’s been by recently…”

Breaker Bar falls over laughing and holding his sides as he giggles. “Oh sweet Celestia, it is you!” He rolls side to side as he laughs for a bit. He uses the back of a foreleg to wipe the tears of laughter from his eyes as he grins at him, “Buck, you are some kind of crazy, you know that?!”

Gearing smirks at him as he raises a wingtip for emphasis. “I’m crazy.” He points at Breaker Bar with the same wingtip and chuckles as he shakes his head. “But I’m not stupid.” He lets out a sigh and looks around as he says softly, “Thanks for the warning about word getting out. I was hoping it’d take a bit longer before word got out and it became a problem.”

Breaker Bar pulls himself up and looks Gearing over. “Buck… you don’t understand Equestria then.” He shakes his head. “The world needs Heroes. Badly. Word spreads like wildfire because pony’s need hope.”

Gearing lets out a sigh and looks down as he says softly, “All the heroes I know of… are already dead.”

Breaker Bar reaches over and pats Gearing on the shoulder. “Buck… they aren’t all dead… Listen to DJ Pon3… and you’ll know… They’re out there. I know of two that I’m pretty sure you’d just love…” Gearing looks up at him and raises an eyebrow, so Breaker continues, “The one known as The Stable Dweller busted out a bunch of slaves from Old Appleoosa… just the other day… And the Security mare up around Hoofington’s been busting up raiders and has practically declared war on slavers.”

Gearing chuckles and his eyes partially close as he smiles. “Sounds like my kind of ponies.”

“Well… there ya go… keep doing what you’re doing. You’re not alone in this.” He pats Gearing on the shoulder a couple times, getting increasingly more rough as he chuckles. “Just wait… one of these days I’m gonna be able to tell my grandkids that I was friends with the Hero Fixer!”

Gearing raises an eyebrow. “Fixer? What’s that about?”

Breaker Bar shrugs. “Well… everypony had to start calling you something… And since you just seem to be able to, and actually try to, fix everything under the sun, from corrupt ponies selling slaves, to equipment, bombs… hell… even fixing ponies with some not half bad field medic skills… The name just started sticking.”

Gearing smirks as he looks around. “Fixer… I kinda like that.” He rolls his eyes. “Better than fucking ‘protectapony’.”

Breaker Bar cringes. “Yeah… honestly that came up too, but got shot down pretty hard. Not unique enough if nothing else...”

“Uhm... thanks?” Gearing mutters.

“So, Fixer, what else can I do for you today?”

Gearing shakes his head as a few things run through his mind. Connections are definitely one thing he’s sorely lacking at the moment. And who better to start off with than somepony that has control of an entire town’s defense grid. Though being in maintenance brings up other things to mind. He looks over at Breaker Bar and raises an eyebrow. “Is the robotics maintenance section still functional here?”

Breaker Bar blinks at him a few times then nods. “Uhhh yeah. Why, what do ya need?” He points a hoof out the door. “Give the assault mare a tune up?”

Gearing shakes his head and snickers. “Actually… I was hoping to make use of the lubrication bath chamber.”

Breaker Bar rubs a hoof through his mane as he thinks it over. “Well, it’s there. But we don’t have any oil for it and I don’t know how functional it is. I really doubt the sonic generators on it are still working, those were always the first to break down.”

Gearing nods and looks around as he says, “Yeah, I just really need the lift portion of it where I can pour in the chemicals I’m going to need.”

Breaker Bar raises an eyebrow. “Nothing caustic, is it?”

Gearing shakes his head and chuckles. “Nah, nothing like that. Nothing strong anyway.”

Breaker Bar motions inside as he says, “Sure, I’ll show you where it is. Hopefully it’ll be good enough for what ya need.”

Gearing nods then quickly hops outside, to both fetch the jugs from the back of the wagon and have Sable follow him down.

In the basement, inside the actual bunker, Breaker Bar opens a locked door and motions inside as he turns on the light. “It’s in here. Robots broke down ages ago and got salvaged for parts. So this room really hasn’t had much purpose beyond storage and ‘just in case’.”

Gearing goes inside and starts setting down the jugs as he says, “That’s fine. Thanks, Breaker Bar.”

Breaker Bar grins at him then gives him a wink. “No problem, Fixer.” He looks between them and closes the door as he says with a chuckle, “You two have fun in there.”

Sable turns her head to look at the door, then tilts it as she asks, “What does he assume we are going to be doing in a robotics maintenance department besides maintenance? And why did he refer to my darling Gearing as ‘Fixer’?”

Gearing quickly starts unloading all of his gear as he looks around. “Because I fix stuff, apparently.”

He pushes a few crates out of the way, causing a screeching grinding metal sound as some of the crates had actually rusted to the floor and give protest to being moved at all. In the middle, away from the pods where various automatons used to recharge, is a large industrial ovaloid tub made of metal, except for a large view port that takes up most of the length of one side. He checks it over, carefully, making sure it has power, then checks the hydraulics for raising and lowering the metal grate inside that acts as a lift. Surprisingly it functions perfectly, if slowly.

Gearing finds the hose that had been used for rinsing off excess debris from the robots before they were put into the bath for deep cleaning, and runs it over to the tub. There’s more than enough length, and the end rests easily over the edge. It takes him some work to get the valve to turn at all. He’s worried he’ll break it, as it’s so rusted, and it takes him a bit of effort and gentle work to get it to slowly turn. As rust flakes fall to the ground, he’s greeted by the joyous sound of water pouring into the tub.

Along with the rapid ticking of his PipBuck accompanying the soft hiss of several small jets of water shooting out of the hose that has, clearly, been dry rotting for two centuries.

Gearing plays a wonderful game of keep away, where he tries to keep the water from getting anywhere but where he actually intends it to go. Using various limbs and wings to hold and apply pressure to the hose just long enough to get the amount of water he needs into the tub.

Sable even trots over and starts using all of her cables to help hold the water into the crumbling hose. She looks at Gearing and frowns as she says, “My love, this water is contaminated. Is it really wise to use it?”

Gearing shrugs. “Well, don’t’ have a lot of choice in the matter. But, it shouldn’t cause any problems for what I’m going to do with it.”

She looks down at the small growing puddles then at him as she asks with a tilt of her head. “If you are certain… although I don’t think this hose will last much longer. Its structural integrity seems to be ‘Critically Failing’ at best.”

And she was right.

A moment after she finishes, the hose begins to cascade break along its length, bursting in certain spots, simply segmenting in others, and in others it practically disintegrates as if it took a direct hit from a laser pistol. Pieces of dry rotted hose and radioactive water spurts everywhere as Gearing jumps over and quickly shuts off the valve.

The valve, for its part, stays the course and does its job of closing off again. Managing to stop the water. Before the handle on it, too, crumbles into rusted dust within Gearing’s hooves.

Sable walks around to the tub and looks in as she asks, “Will there be enough in here for your task?”

Gearing trots through the puddles causing his PipBuck to click and looks inside. The tub’s nearly half full, but far from where he’d really wanted it originally. He lets out a sigh as he looks it over then gives a shrug. “I’ll just have to make do. I don’t want to risk these pipes rupturing and flooding the bunker with radioactive water.” He grabs the jugs they had brought and starts measuring out differing amounts of the various liquids and powders and dumping them into the tub as Sable watches on.

He pulls out a pouch from his saddle bag and starts laying out the contents onto a cloth he places on a nearby metal crate as he says softly, “Sable… I’m going to need to ask a favor of you.”

Sable perks up and smiles as she nods. “Anything, my love.”

Gearing looks over at her and gives a wide smile before he looks at the tub. “I’m going to need you to help me put this stuff over my eyes…Then watch over me and be my eyes while I’m in the bath.”

Sable’s smile fades as she looks around. “I… do not understand.”

Gearing shrugs. “I’ll need to be completely submerged for at least twenty minutes. With my eyes closed and sealed over with this here.” He holds up some plastic ovals and a bottle of liquid. “I won’t be able to see until I’m out and you get this stuff off me… so… I’m going to have to entirely put myself in your hooves.” He gives her a soft smile. “If you’re okay with that.”

Sable nods and smiles. “I will watch over my darling Gearing and ensure his safety.” She trots over close enough to use a cable to shut, and lock, the door before shoving a large metal crate in front of the door. As she’s coming back she has her head held high and grins. “Room secured.”

Gearing chuckles then shakes his head as he starts fiddling with his PipBuck. A moment later it detaches and Sable takes note of the various pins sticking out of the inside as they are retracting back into the PipBuck, and the matching holes in Gearing’s left foreleg. He carefully sets it to the side, and then closes his eyes and starts applying the liquid to his eyelids. Sable watches carefully, then uses her cables to attach the provided plastic-like material to his eyelids with the liquid. They work in tandem, with him directing her verbally to explain exactly how she needs to make sure they’re placed, and her carefully doing as instructed. Afterwards he turns around and she uses her cables to direct and guide him up and onto the grate that functions as a miniature elevator for the tub. He lays down on the grate, spreading out as much as possible as it groans and gives protest to holding up such bulk.

Sable operates the controls and slowly lowers him down into the faintly bluish-green clear liquid inside of the tub. She’s unsure of what is supposed to happen, but starts counting down regardless.

Inside the tub, Gearing flattens himself along the bottom. Completely blind to his surroundings as he uses feeling alone to make sure his entire body, wings included, are spread out under the surface of the liquid.

Under the water, and as the liquid seems to quickly go to work, Gearing’s crystalline wings take on a near luminescent shine to them. Seeming to grow brighter in color and shimmer. As the rest of him dulls and seems to lose not only its luster, but very life.

Sable leans ever closer to the glass and becomes worried as she sees this take place, especially with Gearing not moving. She reaches out a cable, and taps on the glass a few times, but seems to get no response.

So she taps out quickly with Morse code asking if he’s okay.

Gearing’s ears twitch and turn around in the liquid as he picks up the echoing noise from inside, and Sable breathes a sigh of relief, as Gearing smiles then taps out on the grate a quick affirmative with a forehoof.

Sable looks in, running her eyes up and down his body, then a smile creeps across her muzzle as an idea strikes her. She taps out a quick message, watching as his ear rotates and takes in the sound. He arcs an eyebrow then taps back. She shakes her head, and smiles a bit as she taps out another message.

Gearing smirks, then taps a reply. She follows suit with a quick couple raps. He grins and raises an eyebrow as he taps out a final reply. To which she quickly taps out another, longer, message as the smile on her muzzle broadens.

Gearing starts laughing in the water, which is a weird sound of blubs and gurgles as he tilts his head and tries to stay under the liquid level as he laughs rather loudly. Loud enough that it’s even audible through the liquid and metal sides of the tub.

Sable simply stands there, with a wide grin on her face, feeling rather pleased with herself as she watches Gearing giggle in the tub of radioactive chemicals.

While he’s still snickering, Sable says verbally, softly, as she types out simultaneously, “Times up.”

Gearing gives a quick nod, and then stands up and out of the liquid. He starts laughing again, sending the liquid spraying out and running out of him as she operates the controls to lift him out. He turns towards where he’s pretty sure she’s standing and asks, “Did you really just tell a knock knock joke with Morse code? By knocking?!”

Sable snickers and lifts her head high as she says with pride, “It seemed appropriate, given the situation.”

Gearing waves a hoof in her direction. “Well, so much for missed opportunitAAGGHHS!” he shouts in surprise as the ancient lift gives out and drops him back into the tank. Which wasn’t a very far fall, but is exceptionally scary given his current blind status.

As Sable jumps over to the side of the tank to look at him resurface, and prop himself over the side of the tub with his forelegs, she asks, “My love! Are you okay?!”

Gearing nods then grins at her. “Yeah… Just falling for you all over again.”

She grins at him and shimmies her shoulders, even though he can’t see it. “It appears I am not the only one with jokes to tell today.” She looks him over then asks softly, “How do I get those… things… off of your eyes?”

Gearing waves over towards the cloth he’d laid out earlier. “You’re going to need to pull them off. But, in all likelihood you’re going to have to use the knife and cut, if not scrape, them off.”

“Use a knife to scrape it off your eyes?!” she asks in alarm.

He shrugs. “Yeah. It’s not going to be pleasant. But, I trust you. And it won’t permanently damage my eyes. If there are any problems, I brought a healing potion in my saddle bag over there that’ll fix any damage.”

She frowns, and then carefully does as instructed. Foregoing the combat knife and instead using the small scalpel. Using her cables she pulls the plastic back, and ever so carefully uses the edge of the blade to separate the material from his eyelids. However, there’s an obvious semi-transparent coating of some material on his eye as it’s slowly revealed.

Despite what’s going on, Gearing remains perfectly still. Using an absurd amount of focus to keep from so much as looking at her and avoiding causing her to make a mistake. After setting the second piece of plastic down, she asks softly, “Can you see me now, my love?”

Gearing opens his eyes and looks around a bit as he says, “For the most part. Yeah. We’re not done yet though. Could you soak that cloth in the liquid from that water bottle and use it to clean my eyes? Just the eyes though. Try to keep it away from everywhere else, please.”

Sable, again, works carefully, wiping off the globs of adhesive as it slowly dissolves in the solution coating the cloth. She works meticulously, even using a spare clean cloth to wipe them interchangeably as she leans in close to make sure all of the residue is off of his brushed copper eyes and brassy eyelids. “How is that now, my love?”

Gearing answers by leaning in, and giving her a soft kiss before he says, “Wonderful, I can see you clearly now.”

Sable happily trots in place, and then leans in and gives him a few rapid-fire kisses before she pulls back and looks him over. “I am happy to be of assistance to my darling Gearing!” She looks him over more as she asks quietly, “But… why did my Gearing do this to himself?”

Gearing carefully climbs out of the tub, using his wings to hover up into the air above it as the fluid continuously flows out of the various nooks and crannies of his body. “I kind of had to.” He gives a light shrug as he avoids eye contact with her. “I’m just too shiny. I stick out too much because of this fucking curse. Especially in the light. It’s like their intention is trying to banish me to the darkness.” He slowly looks at her and frowns as he says softly, “They can see me coming from miles away in the day.” He shakes his head. “It’s just too dangerous.” He looks her over and asks softly, “I hope you aren’t mad at me. I really needed to do this so I can operate easier…”

Sable looks up at him then lets out a soft sigh as she shakes her head. “My love… It was your heart I fell in love with… not the way you look. Well…” She gives a shrug then shimmies her shoulders. “And that fine ass flank of yours.” She grins at him as she reaches out with a cable and gropes his rear before she nods. “You still have it!”

Gearing’s eyes blink rapidly and his left eye clinches tightly as the phrase echoes through his head. It strikes a chord with him. For more than what was just said. He gets a gut punching sense of déjà vu, and a sense of something being very wrong, something off, but he can’t place it.

With the fluid finished falling out of his body except for residual drips, Gearing lands near her as he tries to think about whatever that feeling just was. But it fades like the mists of a dream that refuses to be remembered once awakened. Leaving him with nothing but questions and an uneasy feeling.

Sable looks him over, and the smile she’d had on her muzzle fades as she says softly, “That was not said in jest. I truly mean it…” She reaches out with a cable and rubs his shoulder as she murmurs, “I love you, Gearing.” Gearing looks up at her with a raised eyebrow and Sable smirks at him as she tilts her head, “Even if you’re not as shiny as you used to be… and traded in your golden sheen for a… dull dark gray?”

The chemical bath has rapidly tarnished Gearing’s body to the point that it’s taken on an abnormal patina of a near dark gun metal gray. Gone is the nearly golden surfaced buck with the polished brass gears and plates. Except for his eyes where he had masked off the reaction with other supplies. His eyelids are still the multilayered overlapping brass shutters they’ve always been. And his actual eyes are still the bright polished copper they were a bit ago. But the rest of Gearing’s metal form has darkened and dulled beyond recognition.

However, as a side effect, and thanks to basic color relativity, now that most of his body is so much darker, his wings look far brighter. The chemicals seemed to have no effect on the crystalline stained glass of his wings. Leaving them just as brilliant as they were previously, with their shades of greens and blues. But, now, without a golden body and frame to compete against, they practically glow as they reflect and refract the light in every direction.

Gearing smiles and shrugs as he says, “Well… it’s good to know a quick color change isn’t enough to deter you… Would cause some serious problems later on if that was the case.” He looks off to the side as he debates on explaining some more. Maybe preventing some problems in the future by letting her in on some information now. But eventually decides against it.

Sable slowly traces his jaw with a restraining cable as she asks, “Is it permanent? Does it hurt?”

Gearing lets out a sigh and looks down at himself before he shakes his head. “It’ll wear off eventually. It’s only a surface treatment. And any gears that grow out and get replaced won’t have the covering.” He shrugs and gives a sheepish smile. “Hurt’s not really the right word… but isn’t entirely wrong either. Best explanation is it itches. Constantly bothers me.” He gives a dismissive shrug before smiling. “But, it’s not the first time I’ve had to resort to this, so I know it’ll become less annoying as time goes on.”

Sable frowns then leans in and gives him a kiss on the side of his muzzle. “I am unhappy with my darling Gearing being irritated and uncomfortable… but I can understand your desire for safety.” She nods a hard affirmative. “Indeed, I approve of anything that’ll keep my darling Gearing safer.” She looks over at the tub and asks, “What shall we do with the remaining solution?”

Gearing follows her gaze and bobs his head back and forth for a few moments before he shrugs. “This place hasn’t been used in decades. Can just leave it in there, in case it’s needed later. It’ll slowly dry anyway.” He looks over at her and waves at it with a hoof. “If the facility was still working I’d used the purge function, or drain it off into storage barrels for future use. But, can’t really do that now. No telling what kind of damage there is to the system and where the chemicals would end up at.” He gives a shrug. “Don’t need it leaking out in some poor farmer’s field and ruining their crops.”

“But, just to keep other accidents from happening…” He grabs a beat up clipboard with aged paper off of a workbench and uses the back side of the ancient paper to scrawl a quick message.

Then scribbles a quick picture of a pony skull and crossbones below it with the chemical formula of what was used. He uses a bit of wire and hangs the clipboard over the edge of the tub facing the door as he says, “That should cover it.”

He carefully grabs his PipBuck, and starts putting it back on. After fiddling with it some more, and making small adjustments to its positioning, it clicks into place, and Gearing’s entire body gives a quick jerk. He looks up and meets the intense stare of Sable as she looks back and forth from it to his eyes. He gives a dismissing shrug of a shoulder as he says, “Don’t worry. That’s normal. I’m fine.”

She stares at him without moving. “Hmmm.”

Gearing quickly starts putting his equipment back on as he says softly, “Though I would consider it a large personal favor if you don’t mention this… to anyone. Ever.”

She frowns and looks at it as she replies, “As long as it does not become a danger to my darling Gearing, I will refrain from disclosing its peculiarities.”

Gearing shrugs and gives her a wide smile. “I suppose that’s the best I can ask for, isn’t it?”

Sable gives a quick nod, and helps him get his armor on, sneaking in a quick kiss on his head before setting his helmet onto it. “Where will we be going next?”

Gearing clears the way to the door as he says with a nod towards the stairs, “I’d like to see if I can grab some kind of cloak or other kind of cover. But we need to meet up with the others and verify the plan for the night.” He leads the way out, making sure the door to robotics maintenance is locked again before making their way entirely out of the M.W.T. building.

Footnote: Stabilizing ‘move assist matrix’, please stand by. . .

Stabilization of ‘move assist matrix’ complete, debugging in progress, please stand by. . .

‘Move Assist Matrix’ Online. . .

Perk Unlocked: Dynamic Movement Assistance Implant (Agility +) – Modified from the same principles that were used to increase the strength of users of power armor, this talisman implant enhances the recipient’s movements. The matrix aids the host’s micro and macro movements by increasing spin rates and decreasing friction coefficients between parts dynamically. The implant knows where and how to apply rotational boosts to maximize movement while minimizing effort: Resulting in a small passive speed increase along with bonuses to all Agility based skills and those that benefit from the subsequent increase in fine motor control. (Lockpicking, Repair, Sneak, etc.)

This chapter has a bit of a peek at some of the growing consequences of the groups actions. Some positive. Some not. Some, most really, not even revealed yet. Along with moving along with a few plans the individual characters have, some of which they aren't feeling up to sharing with the rest of the group at the moment.

Thanks to everyone that's been helping with this project, in any and every way. All of it combined has really made this continuing project not only easier, but actually enjoyable for me. So thank you. Each and every one of you.

As always, comments, questions, and critiques welcome and encouraged!