It had been a worthwhile trip into New Pegasus, that was for damn sure. In a matter of an hour I had managed to get an essentially one-of-a-kind weapon, a large heap of good ammo, make friends with an essential merchant in the area and get some TLC for my Sequoia find. Our journey had already taken two days since we set off East in the general direction of the Gap as the relay station was located just North of it. Firefly and I had both taken turns holding Krie looking over every inch of brilliant Greifenstahl construction while I answered every question I could about its design and origins. Needless to say, I was not expecting him to show such an interest in Greifenländer weaponry but I was happy to talk his ear off to pass the time.

Was actually a genuine shock when he proudly drew out a pair of customized Püger pistols from a shoulder holster hidden under his duster. True Greifenländer products through and through, they were odd toggle-slide operated pistols sporting six-inch barrels and came as an aesthetically inverse pair. One was fully chromed with complex swirling engravings marking every inch of metal and a mother-of-pearl grip while the other was jet-black with gold-inlaid engravings and a dusky rosewood grip. As part of the oddly angular and narrow magazine, there was a small colored and textured disc of sorts attached to the bottom to assist with reloading as they had originally been designed for use by a Gryphon’s talons. I could see that each of his mags came with either a white or black colored grip disc but he quickly assured me that he wasn’t so picky that he only put each color with its corresponding weapon.

“Yeah, these babies been mah close range defenders fer ah good five years now. Won ‘em from ah big dumb Talon Company Griff wit’ a loud beak that was bigger n’ his caps purse. Playin poker with th’ boys in 1st Recon teaches ya tah be cutthroat n’ smart wit’ yer cards so a loudmouth Griff was fuckin’ hilarious.”

“Huh...wonder where he got them then…” I wondered aloud, curious how ceremonial officers’ sidearms ended up in the talons of some random Griffin Merc.

“How n’ the hell am Ah supposed tah know?” He laughed proudly as he holstered his weapons under his armpits. “Never bothered tah ask th’ bastard after he slinked off after losin’ his Company-issued combat armor to me. Made a nice batch o’ caps sellin’ that fucker off too. Can only guess what his Company Commander thought ‘o him when he came back without his fuckin’ gear! Prolly got his head blown off...ah well, was a dumbass anyway so no biggie.”

Of course I was disappointed but...I couldn’t be all that surprised. The Greifenländer was such a faraway country to everypony that it was rare to find someone who had even heard of it let alone could appreciate it. In an era where you could only make it as far as you could travel on hoof in a day, I doubted this hella distant cousin of mine had even heard of our shared homeland. Still...officers’ sidearms on the Continent? That was odd…

“So...this Black Steel Facility, you said the SR used to run it a few years ago?” He asked me after a few minutes of silent walking. “Can’t say the name rings a bell but I was kept in the dark on just about everything West of Dodge Junction. Based on everything I know about them though, they wouldn’t just up and leave a Pre-War tech hive like that willingly. What the hell happened?”

“Ya might not believe me, but it were fuckin’ Raiders.” He replied looking up from checking the Mrk. I helmet tied to his saddlebag. “Was one of th’ snipers th’ Republic had watchin’ over that there outpost when they came barging in about three years back. ‘Bout forty of ‘em just went fer it wit’ Dart-88s n’ that feller’s .50 Big Macs. Place only had about six or so of them Tin Heads so the fight didn’t last all tha’ long. Was used tah relay info via radio to them bitches out East but Ah guess they just ain’t have th’ soldiers needed tah breach th’ Gap n’ take it on back fer th’ SR.”

I laughed in amusement at how handily they had been defeated by a bunch of drugged up crazies. “Fuckin’ figures...they’re always more worried about themselves then some far away comms station in the middle of enemy territory. Wonder what those chucklefucks thought as the Gap was closed off and they were surrounded by the NER...”

Firefly looked back at me, peering up at me from under the wide brim of his Oatstralian bush hat with a critical look in his faded blue eyes.

“Ya know, that there makes me wonder somethin’...why did ya come out here anyways, big guy? Gotta be another reason than just wantin’ tah kill some Raiders wit’ meh. Ah know Ah asked ya tah come but when yew heard about them hidin’ in some SR base, ya went from bein’ all blah to hell fuckin’ yeah. What gives?”

I took off my helmet and let it dangle off my side on a small hook attached to a retention strap. “Killing a bunch of Raiders isn’t anything to get excited about. What is is the fact they are chilling out in former SR holdings and odds are, they’ve only scratched the surface of what the facility holds. As a frontier listening and relay post, there’s bound to be a decent haul of tech in there hidden away behind MagLocks and reinforced concrete.”

“What, and yew wanna pick through it fer shit?”

“Well...yeah. Could be spare parts or a CFC for my Power Armor, shit we can sell in The Pile...maybe even working electronics so we can tap into their communications. I’m kinda curious just what shit they’ve been talking about since I went radio silent.”

“Heh, Ah can tell there’s no love lost between ya two eh?”

I snorted and rolled my eyes hoping by proximity he could feel the raw loathing I had for the SR just oozing out of my body.

“Pleaseeee...I’ve broken half of the Codex rules in the last six-months alone and have even sent over a dozen Ranger’s heads as gifts to the Elder. I can’t even fucking bear to think about what they’d do if they managed to get their hooves on the outpost again. Their radios are better than anything the Republic has, I can promise you. With even one relay station online out here, they would be able to coordinate an assault on the Gap with a lot more efficiency. I will NOT allow that to happen.”

He chuckled and smiled at the response.” Damn, guess ya are serious ‘bout th’ whole Fuck-th’-SR thang. Well that there makes two of us. Ain’t much love between me n’ the NER but Ah’ve lost good friends keepin’ them Tin Heads outa th’ West. This here’s mah home and Ah’d rather take th’ Republic than be trampled down by th’ SR fer a couple dozen machines we are somehow ‘unworthy’ of possessin’.”

“And for what it’s worth, more power to you Firefly. It’s good to meet someone with some kind of backbone for what he believes in out here...don’t meet too many these days who have any sort of reason to fight.”

“Wha’ and yew expect ‘em to? Most folks ‘round these parts are just barely scrapin’ by n’ don’t want fer nothin’ but food in th’ gut, ah roof n’ four walls and some sorta security. World be ah scary place n’ most are one sip o’ bad water or one cut from ah rusty nail away from dyin’ early. Not much hope in tha’ sorta life.”

“Oh yeah? Then it’s no different out West than it is back East. Unless you’re in some big ass settlement where those things aren’t such an issue, you’re on your own out here. Only people with any sort of fighting spirit are those with some kind of faith in their cause or community. So, that only leaves Tin Heads, a couple dozen towns here and there that are worth a damn and New Republic citizens. Anyone else who shows up with a will and a way are those one-in-a-thousand scavvers who manage to make a name for themselves out there. Aside from them...can’t really think of any others that have any sort of hope in this world.”

“Humph...guess ya gotta point there…”

After another few hours of straight walking we reached it. The facility was nestled safely near the foothills of the Canterlot Mountains which towered above with their snow capped peaks; the old capital city itself just barely visible poking out front the side of a particularly large mountain near the Gap enveloped in the Pink Cloud. Firefly was right, this place reeked of SR arrogance and Raider ignorance. The old SR flags with the symbol of an apple filled with cogs pierced by a sword were all but gone, replaced by the normal depraved decorations of any Raider gang like cages, diced up bodies, rusty metal spikes and mounds of random junk. It was a small facility made up of three buildings ringed with a high concrete wall topped with patchy barbed wire and a pair of gates facing South and West. A tall radio tower rose from the roof of the largest of the three buildings but none of the red airborne warning lights were visibly flashing meaning the power supply would have to be the first thing to look at. However, the smaller lights above the doors and a few lining the inside of the wall still glowed indicating there was still power at least. Overall, it was a decently defensible position that would require a solid plan of attack in order to take for ourselves without damaging any of the walls or equipment. Would make for a good outpost and a place to roost since it was in unclaimed territory and had plenty of essentials already in place

We slowly snuck around to a ridge that was on the far side of the compound that had a rundown shed of some sort and a once fenced-in area for storage. From this position we could see most of what was going on in the camp below without overly exposing ourselves. As we sat down and began forming a solid strategy for attack, the late evening sky started to darken forcing me to switch to the low-light setting on my helmet and put it back on to use the E.F.S. While I could have done without the low-light filter thanks to my keen predator senses giving me acute hearing and vision, one thing my raptor instincts didn’t offer me was the ability to see all enemies in a 500 meter radius regardless of being indoors or out. Technology was a useful addition to a Gryphon’s natural talents.

“Hmm reading about 25 in that little camp, with at least another dozen or so just kinda wandering about the general area probably acting as scouts. Or just off having a drug-induced rage, who the fuck knows or cares. Negative eyes-on HVT, likely target is inside the relay station itself. This is your show so you call the shots.”

Firefly growled in disappointment. “Damnit...okay, Ah got ah plan. Ah’ll go inside and knock the fucker out, yew take up overwatch from here wit’ yer big ass birb gun. When Ah send th’ signal, unleash all hell on them yuppy fucks. Ah’ll draw their attention from th’ relay station and hopefully, we can rout these here sons-o’-bitches. Ain’t givin’ it back to th’ Republic but it’s better empty n’ abandoned then bein’ some Raider den. Ah’ll be on frequency 301.7, keep in contact would ya?”

I nodded and set up my MG on a rock pile while Firefly slowly made his way down towards the compound, having swapped out his brush hat for the Mrk. I helmet. As he slid down, I pulled out an old 4.5x ACOG sight and attached it to the universal rail on my MG so I could get a better aim on what I was shooting at down there. The compound now brightly lit by the low-lights, I could see some of the Raiders clearly and I could feel revulsion in my gut looking over all of them. Grossly mismatched and patchy armor, rusty ass weapons and no sense of decency. (Or smell...decaying corpses reek for fuck’s sake…)

“Gods, some of these shitheads are fuckin’ UGLY...” I grunted to myself, keeping my big ass profile as slim and unnoticeable as possible on the ridgeline. “Gonna be a favor to me just to put all of ‘em in a fuckin’ grave…”

Just as I was starting to get bored of slowly panning my gun from right to left over the compound, I heard gunshots ring out in the camp as Firefly started to engage the bastards that were outside. Wasting no time, I started to unload on any that dared stand in full view of 1,200 rounds a minute feeling immense joy as Krie spat out hot lead. With the walls keeping them bottled up, tracking targets was a breeze and body after body dropped in the crosshairs of my ACOG sight. One belt of rounds later, ten of them laid choking on lead and blood while the rest either ran for cover or for nearby mounted guns. As they had an M2 and a Dart-88 crudely welded onto leftover mounts from the SR, the runners headed for the defenses were the first to go but not before they managed to lob an 88mm missile at me. It missed by a fair margin (my HUD didn’t even warn of any laser designator) and the sudden blast of light as the missile detonated against the mountain behind me seemed to daze the defenders. It was all the invitation I needed to slap a new belt in the tray and keep up the suppressing fire. All the while, I could see muzzle flashes coming from the doorway of the relay station as Firefly blasted away with his Pügers. Couldn’t have asked for a better distraction seeing as at least half of ‘em didn’t seem to recognize there was an enemy next to them as I kept their attention focused on me. Of course...the most regrettable fact was I only had 100-round belts to work with rather than the normal belt of 1,000-rounds that suppressive fire teams would normally have for this gun.

Before I was able to turn my sights on those hauling ass back to the relay station from the open Wasteland, one of them managed to outflank me in such a way that he slipped my notice on the E.F.S. In fact, I was so focused on spewing lead down into the compound that I almost didn’t notice the rounds he bounced off my armor from behind before he decided to charge and barrel us both over the edge of the ridge. The tumble down the hill was a minor annoyance being padded from the impacts by my armor, but a major annoyance was having Krie wrenched out of my talons somewhere on the way down.

As we landed in a heap at the bottom, I untangled myself from my own legs and pounced on my attacker feeling his bones crack and splinter under my weight. Without a second thought, I drew my Spec-Ops machete from my left shoulder and gouged the stallion's neck viciously with a snarl. Although there was no way he could have stopped the bleeding without an injectable health potion, I was feeling generous and fed him a bullet from my .454 a few seconds later saving him the long and painful way out. By this point, those who were left were starting to flee and retreat out into the Wasteland knowing the game was finally up for them.

“Fuck yeah! Nice work, Garand!” I heard Firefly say from nearby, glad he was able to deal with those last few Raiders inside the walls on his own.

“Yeah sorry ‘bout that, got caught off guard.” I said and picked up my MG from where it had been flung out of my talons by the tumble off the hill. “What ya wanna do about the stragglers?”

“Humph, childsplay…” He chuckled as he emerged from the gate with his odd bullpup .50 rifle. “Help me up would ya?”

He nodded towards the top of the gateway that was flat and wide enough to allow for a pony to stand on and I looked back at him a bit confused as I knew he had wings of his own.

“Look smartass, this here armor ain’t made wit’ fuckin’ wings in mind goddamnit. Ya gonna help meh snipe these fucks ‘er not?”

He had a point. I had seen his odd, insect-like wings on the second day of our bunkering down from the RadStorm when he had stripped down to bathe in a natural hot spring found deeper in the mine. However, the moment he started slipping his breastplate back on, his wings simply disappeared into his spine allowing his armor to fit comfortably on his torso. He had told me himself his ability to shapeshift had been negatively impacted by his Ghoulification but small things were still within his ability to change. With a sigh I stood near the gate, locked my armor joints in place and allowed him to climb up onto my back and then clamber from my head onto the top portion. He was set up and already firing away within seconds of laying down with his rifle, the muzzle brake belching out concussive waves of hot gasses as the .50 cal rounds roared across the Wastes punching gaping holes in anyone they touched. Hearing and feeling big ass rounds go off nearby never got old no matter how many years passed, minus those shot directly at me that is. When shot by a friendly though, the hearty thud of the muzzle brake doing its job was immensely satisfying to stand near and experience.

“Yeeeeehaw!” He whooped after blasting five mags’ worth of bullets, standing up and nodding with satisfaction at his work. “That’ll teach them yuppy fucks not to come back round these parts again!”

I returned back to my earlier job as a living stepladder and stood still as he clambered back down to the ground. I could only see a few of the gory kills he racked up as the rolling sandy hills blocked a lot from sight but he seemed really pleased with himself.

“How many escaped?” I asked soon as his hooves touched the ground.

“Eh, only ah few. Their big boss is out cold in th’ relay station but they don’t know tha’. Far as they know, he’s deader than dead and they have tah find ah new boss somewhere else. We’re two pro scouts fer ah Merc Company far as they care. They know this area ain’t theirs anymore and they’ll fuck off fer a long while.”

“Think they’ll come back? This is a really good place to turn into a home base or even just a defensible encampment and I’d hate to have to clear it out again.”

“Nah, Raiders out here ain’t got much spine left in ‘em after their head honcho goes down. If we ever come back and find it all occupied again, it gon’ be ah new gang. Giddyup now, we got ah shithead tah drag back tah th’ NER Embassy wit’ us.”

Turning away from the Wasteland and into the compound I could see the work of my talons everywhere I looked. Blood soaked the dirt everywhere, large dark spots forming under the lifeless bodies of ugly, scarred Raiders scattered about the grounds. Empty bullet casings gleamed softly in the muted moonlight filtering through the cloud barrier above and I felt immense pleasure at seeing just how much death Krie could dish out when given the right scenario to work with. It had been a 2 vs 40-something battle but Krie was worth at least a dozen soldiers on its own. Made me wonder what I could have accomplished with it and one of those Deep Pocketed ammo packs with the flex-chute during the War.

The inside of the main building was a sight to see with the Boss’s personal guards laying dead all over and the big fucker himself laying slumped over a desk towards the back of the room. While the walls and floor were rank with stale blood, piss and bodies, I noticed a metal door at the far end of the room that they had tried and failed many times to open as scratches and dents were all over the damn thing. As expected, the sensitive radio equipment was safe and intact behind a MagLock security door which presented a grand opportunity if it could only be opened somehow. The SR had encrypted radio frequencies but an outpost once owned by them would have all of them pre-loaded into the mainframe with at least 90% of the security clearances taken care of for me. I wouldn’t have a lot of time to listen in on anything before we had to leave for New Pegasus but there was no telling what they were talking about on the airwaves. That was of course, they didn’t catch on that somebody was listening...they were quasi-zealous in their behavior but they were still the top tech experts in Equestria.

I chuckled as we skirted around the bodies heading for the unconscious body of our target. “Jeez Firefly! You’re a fucking killing machine, my dude. Glad to see you can handle yourself in a fight like this. Most Mercs are useless when they have to fight alone so thanks for standing out. You and I work well as a team, not gonna lie.”

“Why thank ya, I take great pride in mah work! Had tah learn tah snipe n’ fight on mah own in 1st Recon as part of th’ training so Ah can more than handle mahself.” He said as he stripped the guns off the bodies in the room and began to loot the ammo boxes and random boxes scattered about. “Yew ain’t too shabby yerself! Most of them bodies belong tah ya after all! Ain’t one tah stuff mah body count when they ain’t mah bullets in ‘em.”

I grinned to myself at his compliment, glad to know he wasn’t the type to claim kills that weren’t his own. I left him to the scavenging while I turned my attention on the security door barring me from eavesdropping on the enemy. There was a hole in the wall directly to the right with several wires dangling out of it indicating the computer that controlled the door had been ripped out some time ago. This was going to be a bigger pain than it needed to be.

“Oh for fuck’s sake you pathetic dumbasses…” I growled as I looked at the place where the terminal used to be. “Couldn’t even be a little civil now could ya??”

“Wha’ ya up to, big feller?” Firefly asked from the other side of the room while he was hooves deep in a corpse looking for ammo. “Ya wanna break in there? Good luck...them doors are mighty hard tah open. Ah should know, been sent by th’ Republic tah plenty of places with ‘em all bolted nice n’ tight against folks like yew n’ me. Fuckin’ bullshit...”

“Well it wouldn’t be a fucking problem if these ignorant fucktards hadn’t gotten pissed off at the MagLocks and tore off the terminal controlling the goddamn door.” I growled back, giving the door a hearty punch just to make myself feel better. “Normally I could just plug my PipBuck into the damn computer and punch in my old security codes to override the lock. Now, I’ve only got two options as far as I can see...either try to cut through the locks with my torch or see if I can splice these wires and somehow connect it to my PipBuck. Might have been SR territory for some time but these things always have backdoors for the military.”

He stopped what he was doing long enough to come over and look at the situation closer. He took one look at the hole in the wall and then the scratched-as-fuck door before looking up at me with a laugh.

“Yew really wanna hear what them Tin Heads be talkin’ about, eh?”

“Why the fuck wouldn’t I? I’ve been outta the loop for over six-months now and who knows what sorta shit they’ve been up to recently? For all we know they’re planning another assault on the Gap and the NER are totally unawares. It’s well worth the effort to get inside there, believe me. Intel can make all the difference and the last fucking thing we need is more SR wandering around the San-Palomino looking for people to massacre and loot.”

“Hm...fair point.” He muttered in agreement, looking over his shoulder at a mostly torn and burnt map of Equestria on the far wall. “Alright, just don’t spend any more time than ya need tah. We gotta long walk home and Ah wanna get started ASAP.”

“What, you want to walk at night now?” I asked with some surprise as he had insisted on making camp every time the ambient lighting demanded we switch to low-lights.

“Well, now that we done got this sonofabitch, Ah wanna go home now. Dunno ‘bout yew but the fight’ll leave me up and awake fer hours after this. Plus...yew really wanna make camp around ah buncha bodies in ah shithole like this?”

“Well...no…” I sighed, looking away from the door at the carnage we had wrought. “Guess you’re right...but we ain’t doin’ that twice in a row. I can put up with tonight and most of tomorrow but at some point I gotta sleep. Dunno what Ghoulification has done to ya so for all I know you never actually sleep but some of us gotta lay down once in awhile.”

“Fine…” He mumbled in response. “Just get on wit’ it already would ya? We’re burnin’ moonlight out here.”

Turning away from him, I faced the door once more and weighed the two options before deciding on the cutting torch. While this would compromise the security of the door permanently, it was a much more sure bet than trying to splice random wires together that probably didn’t even work anymore. My torch was not an inherent feature of the T-51 or even the T-60 but was an addition I had made while in Stable 39 repurposing some of the leftover maintenance equipment to run directly off my Crystalline Fusion Core. The StableTec employees on-site took great issue with my ‘theft of company property’ but really couldn’t do a damn thing about it with StableTec itself having gone dark the moment the Stable door closed. That, and who in their right mind would accost a 7ft tall murderbird in Power Armor? Few who tried were still alive.

Unlatching a portion of my right arm, I retrieved the small tool from a hollowed out portion of my bracer and unspooled its cable so I had plenty of slack to work with. Originally designed as a portable tool using a Spark-Pack for power, the flame produced by this thing was magical in origin and made cleaner cuts in a quarter of the time of traditional acetylene torches. The only major hurdle would be finding the bolts sealing it shut but I already had a method for that after fifty years of practice on these things. With one hand on the door near the top, I sat in front of it and used my free hand to give the metal a solid, hearty thump with my fist. The vibrations tickled my talons slightly through my armor and I proceeded to move my palm about incrementally as I continued to pound on the door. There! Just a few inches lower from where I started the vibrations felt decidedly different, much more subtle than the other few inches above. The only thing that could be absorbing most of the impact vibrations had to be a bolt.

After digging my claw into the metal to mark the rough general area of the bolt, I made my way down the rest of the door making enough noise to annoy Firefly and send him outside to wait. Being a minor relay station for the military, there were thankfully only three bolts to cut through rather than some bunkers I had encountered that varied from four to twelve. Tool back in hand, I flipped forward the safety switch and squeezed the long handle igniting the arcane flame at the tip getting ready to work. The bright magenta flame funneled through the nozzle of the tool glided like butter on a hot pan through the bolts and the shower of sparks from my work were varying shades of blue making for quite the lightshow. Finally, with the bottom most portion cut through, the door opened with no more than a gentle push letting me see into a room that hadn’t seen anyone in over three years.

“Alrighty...let’s see what we’ve got to work with in here…” I grinned, putting my torch away and moving into the doorway.

Immediately I saw that the small room would be way too small to fit me while in armor with the floor-to-ceiling radio equipment crammed inside. All there really was inside there were old machines, a table with some chairs and terminals, an old bookshelf stuffed with files and one of those small Gen. I Crystalline Fusion Generators keeping all the lights on. Once out of my armor I still found it difficult to cram my huge body into a room that would have been tight quarters even for a pony. It was one of the many downsides to being on the Continent...everything was designed around shortstops.

“Firefly? Get your ass in here! I need your hoof with something…” I called out in the direction of the door leading outside.

“Ya finally done?” He asked as he walked in, helmet now replaced with his earlier bush hat. “Ayyyy, good shit! Ah didn’t think ya would...them bitches be mighty hard tah get through.”

I gestured to the open doorway with a smirk of pride in my talent for breaking and entering into most things military and replied, “I won’t disagree with you on that one but I’m probably the best prepared motherfucker to handle these sorta doors that you’ll meet. I’ve got the command codes of over two dozen high-ranking officers I’ve collected from places like this that work on almost all locks and, thanks to a bug in the code somewhere, my old SR codes can’t be deleted from the mainframe. Anything that ain’t tempted by those, well...I just break in anyway. Leaves the door unable to function anymore but hey, better in my talons than other ponies’ hooves eh?”

“Ah suppose…all ah matter ‘o perspective ain’t it?” He shrugged, brushing past me and into the small comms room. “Woowee...lookie here at all this here radio shit…NER tech boys would’ve loved tah take this here place apart fer command.”

“Far as I can tell, it’s all original equipment so this place must have been a goldmine to the Rangers when they first found it. There’s some shit I could tell was clearly ripped out at some point and probably sent back to the Citadel but overall, all the infrastructure is pretty intact. More than enough needed to act as a basic comms station with a long-range antenna. I think we can get some valuable info from this but Imma need your help since I can’t fit in there to do it myself. Ya up for following instructions at all?”

He snickered and nodded, popping his neck and sitting down in one of the vacant chairs in front of a terminal. He did so with a practiced ease that only helped to confirm his time as an NER lackey. They would have spent plenty of time off the field doing mindless piles of paperwork and red tape. Seemed a universal headache for any army in any era.

“Ain’t mah first time behind one ‘o these, believe meh. Just lemme know what ya need me tah do, fatass. Heh heh heh…”

I rolled my eyes and brushed off his poke at my pride. There would be plenty of chances to find something to equally poke fun at with him later I was sure of it.

“Shut it you glorified Glowstick, now...look at the screen and tell me what it says. We’re looking to access the communications dish so that’ll speed things up a bit. We can look into all the other shit later when we have the time. Dunno when but it’s a definite must with this kind of equipment here. This place is offering a lot of good options for settling in and I’m loving it!”

He opened his mouth to retort something but decided against it, turning to face the monitor that only made the green glow of his face more glaring. The keyboard that sat before him was 100% designed for ponies with overly large buttons and a mouse cursor controlled via an omnidirectional joystick to the side shaped so a hoof could be placed into a recessed slot and moved around as needed to navigate around the UI. By the way he moved his hooves, I needed no convincing that he knew his way around StableTec computers.

“Hmmm...says here, ‘System Standby Mode’ in flashin’ letters. Looks like we gotta wake th’ bitch up...how we gon’ do that?”

“One step ahead of you. Go over to that Fusion Generator and slap the big green button on that says ‘Push to Close’, that’ll activate the fuses that route power to the dish. Must have wanted to reduce this thing’s radio footprint so the NER would ignore it so they intentionally reset most of the fuses and left this place on emergency power only. Not bad thinking.”

He followed my instructions and with a loud thunk that could be felt in my paws through the concrete, the generator began to hum much louder than before. Above us I could hear the radio tower extending up into the air and the whine of radio static over the speakers on the terminals let me know the radio dishes had calibrated properly and only needed to be aligned properly to access the SR radio network.

“Well..tha’ did somethin’ at least...what now?”

“Check the terminal again, what’s it saying? Anything asking for a password or even a command prompt sort of thing?”

“Uhhh…just seein’ ah buncha code n’ shit...loadin’...loadin’...loadin’...common ya piece o’ shit! Fuckin’ old junk…”

“It’s over 200 years old, give it a fucking break, Firefly…” I sighed, sitting back on my haunches to wait for the old tech to turn the fuck on.

“So were th’ fuckin ‘puters we used in th’ army! They were fuckin’ slow too but ain’t nowhere this bad...fer Celestia’s sake…”

I sighed and chose not to respond for the sake of keeping tempers down. Last thing we needed was to get into an argument over how slow old tech was relative to each other.

“Anything?”

“Alrighty, it’s askin’ if we wanna report th’ system shutdown tah somepony named...G...Grigory? Th’ fuck kinda name is tha’?”

“It’s Giorgi...the fucker in charge of the Order I was a part of for the last thirty-or-so years. Took over from the last Elder in a bit of a coup, kicked out some of the oldest Paladins and Scribes for having ‘outdated’ tactics and values which spawned a few copy-cat Orders with similar-ish doctrines but vastly different goals. In retrospect, I should have jumped ship there and then along with them...”

“Tha’s great n’ all but whaddaya want me tah do here, featherhead?”

“Just hit no…” I sighed, squeezing myself into the doorway as best I could so I had a better chance at seeing the terminal he was reading from. “We don’t need that Kyeshiv bastard knowing this station has all of a sudden gone live. I mean, odds are they’ll detect it in the network anyway but hopefully we have a bit of time before they catch on.”

“K, now its askin’ me tah enter ah password ‘er somethin’. What ya got fer me?”

“I’ll do you one better…” I sighed again, reaching to the backside of my PipBuck and pulling out the long universal StableTec adapter cord on its long coiled up tension spring. “Take this and plug it into the big round port on the right side of the terminal. Should be pretty obvious which hole ya gotta stuff it into.”

He took the cord in his magic and as he plugged it in he snickered, “Heh heh...tha’s what he said…”

I ignored him and looked to the screen of my PipBuck, happy to see the text change to ‘Communicating with the Host’ before giving me a full look at what he had been looking at earlier. The station was not yet broadcasting any signals but plenty were coming in from all over as the 360-degree spiral of radio dishes absorbed the invisible sounds around them. Most were labeled as NER frequencies in the somewhat extensive list of channels being picked up. There were a few unlabeled ones that I could only assume were Merc Companies or private merchants but the jewel of the bunch was designated Sierra-011.5. The Order, in their pompous overconfidence in their own technological prowess, only kept to one unified set of ranged channels at a higher frequency that almost all radios could not tune into without advanced equipment. With my PipBuck automatically feeding my old command code to the mainframe, I was already in the system and dialed in on Channel Charlie-Alpha which were designated for field patrols and scouting parties. All we had to do now was listen for a bit and see what juicy info came outta those speakers. Anything really could be of value, especially if what I had heard about their increased activity back East had any weight behind it.

“Sierra Romeo Bravo this is Sierra Alpha 2, please confirm?”

“Sierra Romeo Bravo confirmed. What you got for me, Base?”

“Priority-One message from Elder Giorgi to all Westbound Acquisitions teams: proceed to the rendezvous at Outpost Bravo, all prior tasks and orders have now been rescinded until further notice. Repeat, Priority-One rendezvous at Outpost Bravo.”

“Rescinded…? The hell is going on, Harvest?”

“Not entirely sure, Granite. Apparently the big boss found something in a military archive about a Pre-War base dubbed ‘Outpost Zeta’ near the Badlands, somewhere in the Ember Mountains near where they become the Ponyrennes. Seems to think it’s a worthwhile enough target to head there to crack it open personally again. He kept going on and on at the meeting about something called The Prototype or some shit, I dunno. If it’s anything like that cache of T-60s he found near Stalliongrad...well, you know. Those are the orders right outta the pony’s mouth so just make sure you get there in time, Granite. The Elder seems to think he’ll find Garand out there too somewhere near New Pegasus according to new intel. Only place the fucker would go has to be West so it makes sense he’d wind up there...probably getting cozy with the Republic and giving away all sorts of classified intel...”

“Uhhh...yeah, solid copy Sierra Alpha. I’ll gather up my boys and we’ll be there ASAP but it’s gonna take a couple days for all the patrols to RTB before we can take off. Anything else, Harvest? You know I hate being in the dark about shit like this.”

“Nah, that’s all the old guy said specifically for me to do. Gather all patrols West of Whinnyapolis and rendezvous at Bravo for an expedition West and South. Although the trip West is only if we get another confirmed sighting of Garand. Hold up…wait a minute...”

“What? Something new coming in?”

“No...you remember Relay Station X-Ray? The one near the Gap that Dusk and his boys got slaughtered at and we had to bail outta few years back?”

“Yeah? What about it?”

“It just came back online…”

I looked at Firefly with wide eyes at everything happening at once but couldn’t help but stay glued to the speaker. There was just too much to process for me to make any moves in that instant and I just stayed rooted to the spot in a mixture of horror and deep concern.

“We don’t have anyone out that way...oh shit, only fucker who could’ve done that is the Traitor! Fuck, cut the feed! He’s probably listening i-”

And with that the line went dead sending a cold shiver down my spine. Not only did they know exactly where I was at the moment, the fucking Elder himself was going to try and make a run at the Gap to try and get to something down near the Badlands. Giorgi was a coldhearted leader who never took any risks without calculating the odds...if he was making such a dangerous move with his own life, this Outpost Zeta was almost certainly hiding away dangerous technology. He had been dead right about that bunker housing the first T-60s that were produced just before the Great War and those three-hundred suits of Power Armor had proven to be twice as effective and protective than the 51s used for centuries. The find had only solidified his seat of power amongst the diehards with some even whispering he had learned of the location by some divine vision which was a sentiment he took a liking to. As to what he was risking a hell of a lot more than Stalliongrad for was up for debate...all I had to go off of was the ambiguous name of ‘The Prototype’. There were a lot of prototypes in the final year of the War for crying out loud...from medicine and alchemy to metallurgy, weapons and defensive tech there were any number of options to choose from. Could be a weapon of mass destruction like a death laser or it could be a mystical rejuvenation chamber. Or...it could just be an overhyped dud of a prototype that hadn’t even gotten off the design floor yet. That had happened too.

“Well...tha’ doesn’t sound good...” Firefly said while he helped strap down the stallion to the back of my Power Armor after I climbed back in. “Ah didn’t understand everythin’ but Ah ain’t no fool. They’s gon’ make ah run on th’ Gap tah reach that ‘Outpost Zeta’ ‘er whatever they called it. Any idea what in th’ hell that Prototype is they yacked on about?”

“Not a clue, my guy…” I sighed as we tried to find a creative solution for slinging Krie on my back with our quarry taking up a good chunk of space. “Could be any number of things...a weapon the Ministry of War or Arcane Science didn’t have time to roll out en-force, a new type of Power Armor like the T-60s they found...hell, could be armored vehicles for all we know. They’ve got a fair few of those already but you can never have too many, especially with how far you have to walk to get anywhere anymore…”

“Well...whateva it is, it ain’t theirs tah have.” He said firmly with an undertone of hatred in his voice. “Let’s take this bastard back tah th’ Embassy, tell ‘em about th’ impending attack, get our caps n’ then hit th’ road fer that Outpost Zeta of theirs.”

I looked at him with a bit of surprise that he would so willingly offer his help with this seeing as he had no reason to help being an independent contractor in his own right. He could just as easily pass on the info on the attack and then take up another Bounty leaving the NER to deal with the inbound Rangers.

“Wha’? Ah hate th’ Steel Rangers more than ya can eva know, Garand...if they be headin’ out this way, 1st Recon lackey or no Imma kill all them sons-o’-bitches. Besides...Ah’m kinda curious about what th’ fuck they’re after down there...whatever it is, it’s prolly hella important and that there is enough reason fer me tah say it ain’t gonna be theirs. Not if Ah can help it…’n believe me, Ah sure as shit can fuckin’ help it.”

“Heh...and here I was thinking I’d have to stop them on my own.” I chuckled, slapping him on the back feeling genuinely glad he had my back on this. “You seem to hate them almost as much as I do.”

“Well why in th’ fresh hell wouldn’t I?” He huffed back indignantly. “Damned bastards been pickin’ off good soldiers fer years now. That and they be mighty fuckin’ cruel to the civies out there. They even catch a whiff of them havin’ somethin’ they want...odds are that there settlement is gonna go dark. Seen it too many times in mah thirty years wit’ the NER...Tin Heads roll in, blood comes out. Every. Fuckin. Time.”

In a few sentences he had explained one of my greatest gripes with the Steel Rangers of today. While it was completely valid that their reputation for violence was completely in line with how we had been during the War, there were many aspects of the Rangers that had absolutely no foundation in our history. We used the best tech and gear, yes, but where they got the idea that all technology belonged strictly to the Order was absolutely beyond me. It had been a slow evolution of thought it seemed as the Scribes had told me how their philosophies on the legacy of power technological advancements had changed over the years. The foundational belief of the Order was that this post-apocalypse was the result of technology run amok in the hooves of too many with contradicting motives and objectives and it was our job to ensure that such dangerous things be kept safe; robbing what survived of their best chances at survival in the process. Computers, radios, manufacturing equipment, advanced weaponry...anything that took some brains to use and was beneficial was considered our property and we were duty bound to see its safe return to the Citadel for processing, cataloging and subsequent integration into our infrastructure. It was the known routine of the Order for at least a century before I joined their ranks. Of course..I had played some part in that for quite awhile.

I had joined up with the Rangers because they were the remnants of the life I used to live and for the first few years it wasn’t all that bad. The former Elder, a stallion by the name of Lion Heart, had led the SR through a period of relative peace with the civilian population of the East, a change that had led to more than a few desertions as hardline Rangers got pissed and went off to form their own splinter factions more in line with the old ways. In exchange for protection from Raiders and such, the Order of the Steel Rangers got access to a reliable source of food as well as an eager pool of laborers to excavate Pre-War locations in exchange for an honest days’ pay in caps. Of course...all this good will was wasted when Elder Lion died of a heart attack towards the end of my fourth year in the Order and an upstart hardliner named Giorgi took the Mantle of Leadership by unpopular vote. Over the next forty-five years I got to see the Order devolve from a redeemable enough Post-War faction to the utterly disgusting beast it was now. Bit by bit, Giorgi had dismantled all the good we had once done, forcing people to remember that the SR were still no better than any of the Raiders out in the Wastes. Only difference was a quasi-cult attitude towards technology and a hell of a lot more firepower and protection. Finally it became too much for me to handle...

“Believe me...I know.” I sighed with a growl at past misdeeds. “I ain’t about that shit anymore...it’s one of the major reasons I decided to kill some fellow Rangers and haul my ass out here to get the hell away from them.”

“Tha’ so? Mind if Ah ask wha’ happened?”

“Eh...there’s not much to say. The Order had been getting more and more aggressive in their salvage operations and I had started hearing about Fireteams gunning ponies down instead of just intimidating them into giving their shit up. Then one day me and some other Rangers were sent out to a little nowhere town called HammerVille because one of our informants had reportedly seen them using a full-blown Pre-War excavating vehicle. Got the orders while we were en-route that the town was to be flattened, all bodies burnt and the buildings demolished. We were to wipe it off the map for beating up a Scribe who was sent to order the surrender of the machine, an order they naturally got pretty pissed off with.”

“And yew just turned n’ shot th’ others?” He guessed rightly.

“More or less…” I sighed, not quite proud of how I handled it. “Moment the message ended and they turned their backs I killed all four of them with my talons and revolver. They were all hardcore Rangers who had devoted their lives to the Order’s cause and were going to follow orders without question...the Elder had put me with them specifically to keep an eye on me. He never trusted me and knew I hated where shit was going...thought he could brainwash me or something if I was around hardliners enough. That was about six-months ago now...killed a few more in that time before I started making my way over here. Couldn’t hide anywhere in the East that they couldn’t find and I didn’t wanna cross the Crystal Mountains to go North. Even if I did, I’d have to either talk to my dwarf cousins and negotiate passage under the mountains or, pass the Gap and then head for the Northern Passage at Bordertown. Too much work either way and a lot more walking involved.”

As we talked I finished work on welding the door into the relay station itself shut after tossing out all the bodies so the precious radio tech was out of reach of most. While the place would most likely see another gang set up shop here, at least it was one less room I’d have to seriously clean by the time I found the chance to come back and work on it a little. Without anything keeping us, we put the radio station behind us and began our long trek back to New Pegasus.

“Damn...well Ah’m happy yer against ‘em. Not sure on yer feelings on th’ Republic but Ah don’t get th’ sense ya wanna fuck wit’ ‘em. Right?”

“I mean, long as they don’t fuck with me I don’t have a reason to fuck with them back.” I shrugged, glancing up at the moon infused clouds for a moment. “I came here to quietly slip away and try to start a new life. Doing what? I’ve no idea yet, but this whole Bounty Hunting business seems like a pretty good use of my time as a source of income. Least until I can afford a good place to make my own and can fill it with my own shit for once. Be nice to finally feel like I have space to myself after spending so much time sharing space with a bunch of other people. Personal space is a concept I’d love to get familiar with again.”

“Yeah, that there be th’ truth. Livin’ in ah barracks can get old right quick… Least ya got ah good option at th’ relay station now eh? It’ll need a lotta work ‘n cleanup but hey, it’s got walls already built and tha’ there is half th’ battle right?”

“Heh, definitely a possibility...I dunno, I’ll have to see what this Outpost Zeta is like first before I make a decision. The station is a damn good place to start but I’d wanna start on it ASAP so I can get the bodies outta there before they start to rot. Or, wait a month or so for the Ferals to munch on ‘em down to the bones. For all I know Outpost Zeta is bigger, better and cleaner and thankfully we have a perfect excuse to go and find out. The Ember Mountains are a good Five days’ journey from New Pegasus so we’ll have plenty of time to place bets on what we’re gonna find there.”

“Ooooh...Ah like tha’ idea heh heh...never can say no tah ah good gamble. Yer on!”

* * * * * * * * * * *

The lights of New Pegasus were just starting to light the sky when we finally arrived back near the city. Instead of coming in from the East like we had done previously, we edged South around the perimeter of Freeside and into what was called Westside, the side of New Pegasus predominantly owned by sharecroppers. I vaguely remembered that the NER kept their Embassy inside the Stirrup itself and I was curious why he was leading us in such a weird direction rather than just passing through the East Gate.

“Sooo...there a reason we’re taking the long way around?” I asked after my curiosity became too much to ignore. “Couldn’t we have just taken the East Gate?”

“Used tah be that way but they made ah new Gate specifically fer th’ Embassy.” He explained as we meandered through scattered fields of Razorgrain and rundown townhouses. “Leads right into their lil’ corner of th’ Stirrup and they’s got full control over who goes in ‘n outta there rather than Mr. House’s robots at th’ main Gates.”

“Huh...when did that get installed?”

“‘Bout six-er-so years back. NER citizens can get passports tah enter the Stirrup but yew could only get ‘em at th’ Embassy. Whole thing was a security nightmare fer House it seemed since every applicant needed tah be escorted through th’ Stirrup tah reach th’ Embassy. After ah few runners got gunned down, th’ Republic ‘n House agreed tah make ah new Gate just fer th’ Embassy. Things been smooth as butter since.”

The Gate he spoke of came into view a few moments later after we navigated the ring of upper-class houses belonging to the land barons who owned the farmland in the area just outside of the high walls protecting the Stirrup. It was smaller and much less extravagant than the East or West Gates with their flashing neon signs but it was no less guarded. High scaffolding with sandbags and tarp canopies flanked either side of the large sliding gate in a half-rectangle shape forming a killbox in the center. It was my first time seeing NER troopers for myself and I was mildly impressed with what I saw. Standard service M16 rifles on most with 9mm sidearms and a pair of snipers in towers four-stories high with scoped M1A1s glaring out at the shantytown below. All wore matching khaki tan uniforms with bandanas and goggles to guard against sand in the wind and had dark leather breastplates painted with the symbol of a horseshoe embedded with three stars and featuring a Unicorn horn flanked by Pegusi wings in the center. While I could laugh at the use of leather in the age of firearms, I learned soon after I left the Stable that hides from certain new world species could be cured to a resilience that could stop even 5.56 depending on the quality and type. Could only wonder what our medieval past would have thought of such ‘advanced’ leather armor made in very much the same way...

“Heya Smokey! Got that Raider that's been given y’all hell!”

A soldier on the ground stood behind a high wall of wood and sandbags and acknowledged Firefly as he called out to him. A black helmet and armband proudly displayed MP in bold white letters and I spied a Desert Falcon pistol in a holster on his back leg. A lot of firepower for one pony but I couldn’t judge his taste for big boom toys. My distant cousins in the Underkingdom of Sand knew how to make big caliber pistols better than anyone save Ironshod and FillyArms.

“Well it’s about fucking time!” He replied, “Asshole’s been taking too much attention off the Gap and the SR seem to be making moves back East so it’s got Command nervous.”

“Oh trust me, that’s part of the reason we hauled ass to get here.” I replied, knowing the troopers up above and nearby would only see me for my armor and who it once belonged to. “Got some intel I think your Ambassador would wanna know.”

He nodded with a look of concern and looked at me directly. “Hm...mis-matched Steel Ranger armor, big ass bird...you must be that Gryphon the SR are looking for. Garand right?”

I looked at Firefly who nodded reassuringly before I replied, “Uh...yeah. That’s me, heh.”

“Hm, well I can see how you managed to kill so many Rangers on your own.” He laughed, seemingly happy to see me. “Boys on the Gap can tell ya they’re hard fuckers to take down so anyone who can kill fifty of them and still fight another day is a guy I want on my side if I’ve ever seen one.”

Firefly looked at me with surprise and mouthed, ‘Fifty?!’.

“Heh...well, I dunno who you heard that number from but it’s too high. Only killed a couple dozen at most...still a ways off from fifty kills.”

He seemed a little disappointed but shrugged, “Eh, twenty-something is still more than what whole Companies get their entire careers. Only ones with the shit to do any real damage to them are the Veteran Rangers...anyway, long story short you’re welcome around here and any friend of Firefly’s is a friend of the Republic’s whether or not you actually join us.”

He called over two other MPs to collect the stallion whom I had unceremoniously dumped off my back into a heap in the dirt and broken asphalt. “Thanks again Firefly, we’ll send someone inside to get you your money. Should only be a couple minutes...now, what did you guys wanna tell the Ambassador? Can’t let ya tell him in person for obvious security reasons but I definitely know how to relay a message. Goddesses know I spent enough fucking time as a runner back as a Private...”

“Learned thanks tah Garand’s old ties wit’ the SR tha’ they’s gon’ be launchin’ ah surprise attack on th’ Gap in about ah week ‘er so. Sendin’ ah buncha Tin Heads tah try ‘n capture Garand alive fer his betrayal so let yer CO know they should send some more boys tah guard th’ border posts.”

“And for what it’s worth...I’m sorry about that.” I chuckled nervously, feeling a bit awkward. “Really didn’t mean for them to try and follow me all the way out here...hell, I thought once they heard I crossed the Gap they would have left me the hell alone.”

He seemed surprised but nodded and replied, “Damn...you’d think after the last time they’d have learned to back the fuck off! Do you know how many fuckers we should be expecting…? Any tactical data that might help us out?”

I shook my head and sighed, “Not really...message was kind of indirect and they caught on that I was listening pretty quick. Considering they were commanding all Westbound teams to rendezvous for the attack, my best guess is a force anywhere between thirty to fifty depending on how many Fireteams they have out there. Definitely expect some Paladins and Sentinels though...more than that, I can only guess at since I dunno how big or small those patrols are these days. They know I’m dangerous so they won’t be taking any light weaponry and I think they said they’re gonna try for the lower half of the Gap, something about trying to get to the Ember Mountains to hide and regroup. Definitely wanna keep them from doing that.”

“Goddamn...well if this all turns out to be true, consider your name clean by the Republic!” Smokey said with a laugh. “It’s not a ton to go off of but some warning is better than none at all. I’ll be sure to pass the message along soon as the Ambassador is done with his appointments for the day. Thanks a ton! You’re probably saving lives today.”

“Heh, I’m uh...glad I can help. So...if you don’t mind my asking...where’d you hear about me?” I asked while we sat down to wait and the body was dragged through the gate to whatever hell awaited him in the NER justice system.

“Well I heard it over the radio about a week ago. Rangers been tearing places apart trying to find some traitor who was described as a monster of a Gryphon so naturally word got to us from fleeing refugees coming to the Gap. Word about you is all that seems to be on their mind at the moment. Even passed over some town with a working Water Talisman because there was not even a rumor of you being there. Never seen ‘em so hellbent on just one fucking guy. Er, Gryphon heh. Hell they even came up with a nickname for ya, The Gryphon Typhoon.”

“Jeez...that explains a bit. Do you know if the SR have any sort of contact with this Syndicate I keep hearing about?”

He eyed me warily and asked, “Why? You work for them too?”

“I just got to this area not even two weeks ago and I’ve been on the road with Firefly for most of it looking for that asshole we gave you. No, I'm not part of anything out here. And even if I had spent more time here, I’d take a hell of a long time choosing who I’d join up with and that’s if I go with anyone at all. I kinda like this whole solo shit.”

“Alright, alright...sorry. I dunno if they do or don’t, we don’t exactly get along with the Syndicate around here…”

“It’s ‘cause th’ NER has plenty o’ ponies in power that people are willin’ tah pay money tah see killed fer one reason ‘o another.” Firefly explained. “Syndicate deals in death n’ it don’t matter whose long as caps change hooves. Ah’m an exception ‘cause Ah don’t work against th’ Republic. Hell, if anythin’, Ah’m ah third-party contractor fer ‘em on th’ regular.”

“That you are!” Smokey laughed, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. “This glowy fuck has done some damn fine jobs for the Republic...nabs every single bastard we send him after.”

“Yeah...he definitely knows what he’s doing.” I admitted, something the Ghoul beamed with pride at. “Fella kicks more ass than some Rangers I worked with back in the day. I’m happy I ran into him.”

The Gate squealed in protest as it slid open again and another MP emerged carrying a simple burlap satchel in her mouth. When she got near she tossed it into the waiting arms of Firefly who gave a hearty salute before weighing the bag in his hooves with a satisfied smile.

“Damn, this feels like more than y’all posted in th’ Bounty.” He said, peeking inside the bag of caps. “This is more than ya posted.”

“The Ambassador sends his regards, trooper! Also, word is rain is on the horizon so make sure you stay above ground level. Last storm flooded most of the crops in Westside...fuckin’ mess lemme tell ya.” The mare said with a smile before turning and leaving to take up her post near the Gate.

“Guess the fucker did something pretty bad in the time it took ya to kick his ass.” Smokey laughed. “Well...guess you’re back on the road. Was good seeing ya again, Firefly! Best of luck out there and be safe around your fellow Bounty Hunters and Hitmares. I heard a fight broke out in The Pile a couple days ago, a big one. Two Hitmares having some kind of honorable duel or whatever and one of ‘em fuckin’ died. Black Velvet I think her name was, not sure who the winner was. Either way, it looks like things are getting hot in your ranks so stay on your hooves out there. Good fuckers like you are hard to come by in this shithole of a world.”

And with that, he too returned to his post behind the large wall of sandbags with a friendly wave goodbye. Firefly decided to hold off divvying out the cash until we got back to his cave to rest for the night. After our hasty two-day march to reach the Embassy, I was looking forward to taking a day to rest up and prepare before we went South looking for a needle in a mountain range. With a rough area to look in, all I had to do was use the GIMP maps to try and spy the bunker from above. No easy task but it wasn’t the first time I had gone through this process in recent months as I had to raid unmarked bunkers in the East while on the run hoping to find .30 ammo for my old Carbine and spare parts to patch up my armor. Would take time and I was more than happy to spend it in a cool, dark cave with some SparkleCola and some good meat. That, and I had the best company I could ask for to help pass the time.

We started to make our way back home, discussing to ourselves what to leave behind and what to take in order to set up a proper ambush if we had to take matters into our own hands. I only had 250-or-so rounds left for the LMG but .308 was only going to be effective on anyone not in Power Armor, even with the armor penetrating rounds the Gun Runner had set me up with. My revolver was strong enough to punch right through the Kevlarn undersuit but in order to reach it, I had to get too close for comfort in order to jam my barrel into a kink in the armor. Course I could always resort to melee combat, something anyone in Power Armor seemed to ignore giving me an inherent advantage. That...or I could try fucking around with ancient Gryphon magic but only as a last resort since I was still a student in the art and lacked a proper teacher. Truly, the best option we had was Firefly’s Kyevshin .50 and the supply of AP-I and SLAP rounds he had stocked up specifically for Ranger hunts. That as well as a stash of anti-armor mines and remote plastic explosives that could be used to form a deathtrap.

“Yew ask meh, th’ best place tah try ‘n pull this off is in th’ Ember Mountains themselves. Not many paths in ‘er outta ‘em so we just pull close tah th’ Gap and listen to NER comms fer where they be goin’. Scout ‘em from ah distance till we can be sure which darn path they gon’ take then run like hell up intah th’ hills tah set up ah ambush.”

While it was less straightforward and aggressive as I would have liked, I knew that the two of us were under-armed for a full on slugfest with a Platoon of heavy-packing Rangers. His idea had obvious tells of NER tactics that I had heard about, their maximum use of what they had available and using the terrain and semi-unorthodox tactics to even the playing field with a technologically empowered foe. They wouldn’t have survived so long without learning their enemy’s ways and coming up with ways to deal with the SR’s brute force mentality.

“I don’t have any complaints.” I replied, acknowledging his tactful thinking. “The two of us wouldn’t be able to do much against even a group of stragglers that managed to make it through, not in a straight fight with what we have now. Kinda regretting not getting a Dart-88 or an XM-41...could really use the anti-armor support. God what I wouldn’t do for a Nad Pad with a 25mm...”

“Ey, ain’t no point in beatin’ yerself up over it. Tha’ there machine gun is worth more ‘n those damn things anyway...though yeah, th’ extra firepower woulda been nice. Ah 40mm HEAT grenade would do sum serious fuckin’ work on ‘em bastards.”

“How many you think you can gun down before we need to change position?”

“Hmm...record is three down before one of ‘em get ah shot off. Can only hope th’ minefield ‘n charges cause ah landslide on th’ path they’re on so we don’ have any tah clean up afterward. Hate fuckin’ stragglers.”

Our debate over possible scenarios continued until the sun dipped below the horizon and the cloud layer above looked decidedly darker and angrier than usual. Rain was either a near constant or a rare occurrence in the Wasteland depending on where you ended up living. Some places like Manehatten, being so far North, even got snow during ‘winter’ months and I had heard rumor of some places far to the Northwest like Seaddle that almost never saw a day without rain. I was pointing this out to him as we got just outside the abandoned mining town Firefly called home. The conversation came to a dead halt the moment I set paw in the ghost town however and I knew something was very wrong as my chain of various charms representing the Gryphon Gods began to yank sharply on my neck warning of impending danger. What kind of danger, I had no idea but as the MP guy had said earlier, some warning was a hell of a lot better than no warning at all. Just hoped to hell it wasn’t the SR already and whispered a hasty ‘thank you’ to the Gods for the heads up.

“Th’ hell we stoppin’ for?” Firefly protested after I had raised a leg to stop him dead in his tracks. “Ah can smell th’ Bullet Bourbon already!”

“No...don't fuckin’ move, Firefly. Something’s out there and I don’t like it.” I said as I turned on my low-light filter and looked around the dark, empty town full of dilapidated wood buildings, minecarts and surrounded by endless piles of rock from the mine.

He growled in annoyance and likewise donned his own helmet, the dull red lenses lighting up softly as he too turned on his night optics. We stood back to back for a moment, spinning in a long, slow circle on the spot double checking our surroundings for the danger but found no signs of life. Even a quick glance with thermals showed nothing but warm sands from the day’s sun and not much else. I was grateful for the warning but...for the love of fuck I wished they were more direct with what they were about. Could be SR, could be a roaming pair of Hellhounds, could be an entire Merc Company after my bounty. Knowing there was a danger was almost worse in some ways when there was nothing else to go off of.

“Ah don’ see anythin’, Garand. Ya sure somethin’s out there?”

“I don’t see anything either but I know someone is out there. We’ve been gone awhile so they had plenty of time to find a good place to ambush. You go high and cover my back while I sweep the town. Stay in radio contact and lemme know the moment you see something. In this sorta case, I’d rather be proven wrong than right.”

He nodded and started to climb to the top of one of the buildings using a cleverly disguised makeshift ladder he seemed to have set up for just this sort of thing. After he was at the top with his sniper’s eyes combing the area for a target, I started to look around the immediate area with Krie raised high. Building after building came back clean and empty of any life and as I continued my cautious searching, rain began to fall from the sky in a downpour. I kept looking around, taking care with every step as the ground became a muddy bog and continually seeing nothing being highlighted by my low-light filter or even E.F.S. While I couldn’t explain how the damn thing could tell friend from foe, I knew from experience that it worked on just about anything that lived and breathed. Right?

Rounding a corner to peer down an alley between two buildings, a shot suddenly bounced off of my right pauldron and whizzed off as it ricocheted into the stormy night. My body ignited with adrenaline as I recognized the scary impact of a very large bullet and I was then knocked onto my back without even a moment to look for the shooter. The blow was rather small but it packed enough punch to knock me on my ass using my own weight and the sloppy ground against me.

“Yessss! I finally found you, you fucking feathery arse!” I heard a mare hiss with glee in a Canterlot noble’s accent as I rolled backwards and got to my paws faster than a bird my size had any right to.

“Congrats, ya found a giant fucking bird in armor in the middle of the goddamn desert...who the fuck are you anyway?” I growled, looking down at the small mare wearing Model-4 combat armor over a battle scarred upper-class dress and levitating an MRAD rifle by her side, the barrel still smoking somewhat from its previous shot in the pouring rain.

The mare started to laugh and look at me with a wide smile of glee on her face and the eyes of a killer flashing dangerously above her Cheshire Grin. It was a shrill laugh, the kind you only heard out of a deranged mind and it became obvious who I was looking at. Killer Queen...such an odd but fitting name for a psychopathic sadist. If she had her way, she’d probably mangle me like any Raider would if what Firefly said was anything to go by.

”Who, me? Oh, I’m nopony darling...I’ve just come to nab that juicy price on your ass like Fate demands. Now you can come along peacefully or…..” She growled as she aimed the rifle at me. “I’ll send you to the Steel Rangers in fuckin’ buckets! Makes no difference to me darling...although if you resist I wouldn’t hate you for it he he. I do so love a nice, tender Griffin steak…”

My anger and disgust thoroughly enraged, I snarled and drew my machete seeing as moving for Krie with her so close would be problematic. “You'll fuckin’ die before that happens you little freak.”

She started to laugh ecstatically, seeming overjoyed to see me gearing up for a fight. “Ohohohoho yes, yes, yes! I love it when they try to fight back! Makes the job so much more pleasurable and enjoyable. Common boy...let’s dance!”

For such a small chick in a lavish dress, she moved quickly and evaded my first few slashes with deft movements; returning the favor with another shot from her rifle from behind her right shoulder still floating in her magic. The round caught me square in the chest but shattered on impact with the pure Celestium breastplate, the sound resonating like a gong even above the noise of the rain. Not to suck my own dick but...I was fast, a hell of a lot faster than anyone could expect out of someone my size but this little shitstain was like fighting a tornado. For every thrust and slash she responded by hurling large rocks at me, the effort and complexity of her combined tactics something I genuinely felt worried about being able to counter. My armor could take the rocks but if she was any kind of smart under that bloodlust, she was packing APs in her .338 and those stood a decent chance at penetrating. Anything wearing T-51 was at risk which sadly meant 40% of my body was potentially vulnerable to her bullshit.

After a few more failed attempts to gouge her life out with my machete, another few rounds deflecting off my armor, I decided to switch tactics and try to catch her off guard. When she went to duck under my next attack, I angled my fist and smashed it into the building next to me, taking out as much of the supporting wall as I could. The resulting partial collapse of the old house caused enough confusion and ruckus for me to try and slip back out of the alley and out to where Firefly could do some work. Hardly an orthodox move but she was an unorthodox bitch so really it was tit for tat at this point.

I had only a moment to breathe before the collapsed house was thrown aside and the psycho little bitch strode out into the central street. A second later I felt an invisible set of hooks bind my limbs to my sides and lift me into the air as the air around me sparkled with her magic. Had I been alone, a talented telekinetic as her would have fucking scared the shit outta me but I felt rather calm. Amused even at the dumb mistake she had made by giving up her safe place out of the line of fire. Long as she relished her easy victory, I was safe.

“You stupid, pathetic excuse for a Ranger…” She sighed, shaking her head like I was some kid who had fucked up a simple task. “When they told me you had twenty-three confirmed Ranger kills to justify the stupidly high price on your ass, I thought I was actually going to face a real challenge...what a lame ass performance. I’d ask for a refund but I think I’ll take your legs for dinner tonight. Tin Heads’ll pay me double if you’re alive but they didn’t say a goddamn thing about you needing all your body parts to get paid.”

“Alright, alright...you got me.” I laughed, seeing her take up my own machete in her magic and check her reflection in the mirrored surface. “Must feel great for a little shrimp like you to be so big and scary with your magic. You even know how to fight without that stump on your head? Sure you can dodge but I seriously doubt you could forever.”

“Darling are you serious…?” She barked with laughter. “I beat you fair and square and what do you do?? Who in fuck’s name do you think you are that you can just bitch at me for using magic against you? I was born with it, you weren’t and that means I win. Were you waiting for me to say I was wrong and should ‘play fairly’?”

It was my turn to laugh in her face and I looked at her with dead serious eyes. “Nope, I was just waiting for you to fuck up and fight me in Firefly’s line-of-sight!”

All at once she realized how the tables had turned as her eyes went wide with realization and she flinched but it was too late. Firefly popped off a shot that just caught the edge of her right pauldron, sending it flying off into the darkness and causing her to lose focus and drop me from her magic. The .50 cal had not hit her shoulder directly as she still had a leg there but a portion of her dress had been torn as well leaving only the scrap of her sleeve still held in place by her bracer and the main body under her breastplate. I could only guess how much the joint got bruised by the impact but however much it was, it was far from enough.

Ow! Fuck! That goddamn bug!” She hissed in fury and pain, pointing her rifle towards where the shot came from while dropping me in her lapse of concentration.

“Oh hell no!” I shouted and quickly dove on her, sending her shot wildly off target.

“Gah, get off me!” she growled, her horn lighting up again angrily.

I snarled and grabbed her horn in my talons, the small thing barely fitting in my hand as I bellowed out, “Go to hell you freakish bitch!”

With an angry yank, her horn snapped right off in my hand near where it met her skull. As I did, I was blasted off of her by a massive explosion of raw arcane energy as all the pent up magic she had just been building up went off at once. Even with my ears protected from loud noises like explosions with the auto-dappening effects of the helmet’s microphones, I could still feel them ringing as I got back to my paws. Blood poured freely from the stump on her head and oozed thickly from the enamel cone in my hand...could only guess how painful something like this was but it was less than what she deserved.

“M-my h-h-horn!!!” She howled out in pain, getting to her hooves shakily and clutching her bleeding stump while trying to blink blood and rain out of her manic eyes. “T...this isn't the end, you understand me! I...I’ll get Athena on you! Y...yeah... She'll take you in. She’ll take you in and then, then I'll watch as the SR hangs you like a gutted deer, Gryphon!”

“Uh huh, whatever you say…” I shrugged as I crushed her horn to pieces in my talons in full view of her deranged gaze. “I’m letting you off with a warning, dumbass. Fuck off and tell your Syndicate buddies there’s more than broken horns waiting for them if they try something like this again. Now get the fuck outta my sight before I change my mind you deranged cuntwaffle...”

She bristled in silent fury but took my offer and left, leaving her discarded rifle behind in the mud as she vanished into the haze of rain engulfing the area. From my right side Firefly appeared with his rifle and began to aim down the sights when I pushed his muzzle out of the way with a shake of my head.

“Leave her…” I sighed, wondering what the Syndicate would do, if anything, in response to my direct challenge. “Moment that chode of a horn snapped off, all the fight left her. Let her deliver the message and let’s hope that’s enough to limit the people after my Bounty.”

“Not ah good call, pardner…” He replied, shouldering his gun with a grunt of disgust. “Killer Queen ain’t yer normal, run-’o-th’-mill crazy. Puts them fuckers we put down at Black Hills tah shame wit’ her bullshit...she ain’t ah pony tah take lightly. We don’t call her th’ Cannibal ‘o th’ West fer nothin’.”

“I know, but humiliating a Hitmare like this should send a strong message through the ranks. If we just kill her here, odds are any message will just be lost to the empty desert. Let her bring her crazy on...I’ll be better ready for it and she won’t have her magic tricks to hide behind.”

“If tha’s what ya wanna do...still, if she’s serious abou’ giving up this here Contract tah Athena then we’ve gotta lot more tah worry about. ‘Specially wit’ Queen knowin’ where Ah live now...”

“Oh? Friend of yours?” I asked seeing as she seemed more than familiar to him.

“Heh...more like th’ epitome of th’ Hitmare business more like!” He laughed grimly as we made our way into the dry interior of the mine. “Bitch has been in th’ top five fer longer than anyone alive...they say she’s an ancient Desert Ranger but Ah dunno. Only met th’ bitch once last year at th’ Freeside Hot-Shot competition but Ah hear she’s got ah rifle tha’ shoots big ol’ explosive rounds hella fuckin’ far ‘n usually takes her shots from ah mile away. Even that fancy Power Armor ‘o yers ain’t gonna hold up.”

“Great...so when you say ‘explosive rifle’, just how big we talking here…?” I asked, climbing out of my armor and enjoying the smell of rain wafting up through the tunnels.

“Ah dunno, just heard it ain’t like anythin’ ya see ponies carryin’ around these days. Punches through body armor, walls, floors...whateva it is, was made fer takin’ down heavy armor from ah long ways away. Heard her explosive rounds’ll kill ya within ah 30-foot radius.”

I sat down near the fire he brought back from embers and considered the possibilities which were rather few given the criteria he had mentioned. It was a Barnette rifle for sure though whether it was a 20mm or 25mm model was unclear. Certainly had to be the mare-portable 20mm version as I hadn’t heard of any team members and those, while hella rare, were still possible to find in this day and age. The ammo...well, that was another problem but one I didn’t care to think too hard on. The Gun Runners seemed to have everything so 20x89mm ammo was probably well within the realm of reason.

“20 or 25mm” I said, leaning back against a boulder nearby the firepit and setting my paws in front of it to warm up. “Has to be.”

“Whateva ya say, big guy.” He chuckled, already several swings into a whiskey bottle. “Either way, we gotta take off ASAP. Dunno how Queen found mah hidey hole but she’s gonna blab about where it is tah Athena th’ moment she makes contact. Don’t wanna be here when tha’ happens, believe me. Any ideas on how tah find th’ Outpost?”

“Well...soon as I’ve had a nap, I’ll check the GIMP maps over the Ember Mountains and see if I can spy the roof of this bitch somewhere in there. Probably will take a good while but I’m sure I’ll find something if I look hard enough. Even if it's entirely underground there has to be a surface-level entrance and exit to the facility and they tend to stand out a bit on aerial photos.”

“Tha’ so? Done somethin’ like this before have ya?”

“Eh...ya wanna get anywhere in this world, you have to dabble in a lot of shit to stay alive. Yeah, I’ve done it a few times before now on my way here from the East. My carbine was a thirsty gun and ammo could only be found in old ammo dumps and supply bunkers. Of course...most of those places were kind of easy to find since they were either out in the open or were in suspiciously shaped buildings. How I’m gonna find one in a mountain range…? Well…I’ll let you know when I come up with an answer.”

He seemed a bit disappointed but shrugged and made himself comfortable with a spare bottle and some canned goods.

“Aftah all tha’ walkin’...Ah’m happy fer th’ break. Just don’t take too long...we’re on th’ clock with Death again so Ah hope ya find it quick.”

“Don’t worry…” I flexed my paws and stretched out feeling great to be out of my armor and be able to lie down finally with some SparkleCola and canned meat. “Mmff...it’s an old military base, not like it’s gonna get up and walk away on us. You think your friends guarding the Gap will be able to manage them?”

“Hmm? Oh...Ah dunno tah be honest wit’ ya.” He admitted, looking up from licking the inside of a can of corn. “It’ll depend on ah lotta things like where they hit ‘n who is on duty when they do. Very least..Ah think we can expect there tah be less of ‘em if we has tah fight ‘em ourselves.”

“Heh...can only hope you’re right about that…” I sighed. “Be a hell of a fight either way.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 5: Long Night of Silence Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 52 Minutes