Child Of Darkness

@@J.R., "Really? Ahh, well thank you for your time anyway. Sorry for making distracting you from whatever it was you were doing." The two stepped back outside with a sigh, this day was suppose to be quick and simple. "So what now? Do we go to that place he recommended?" "While it would be nice to eat something proper for once, I don't want it to seem like I'm taking advantage of Bass being friendly. I just want to eat and go and have fun at the festival. That and I need to take this chance to get some bases for projects. All the activities seems like they'll be starting soon. *sigh*" @@Mentis Soliloquy, "I understand what you're thinking bro. Bass, while it was nice of you to give us the offer, the longer you spend walking about aimlessly with us, the less time you will have to enjoy yourself at the festival. You're only here for a short time, so you should go on ahead and enjoy yourself while you can. The stores should be open now so you can buy that thing you wanted to earlier. Don't worry about us. We can take care of ourselves. We'll meet you down at the festival in about 15 to 20 minutes. Okay?"

At the bottom of the ladder, the first thing your eyes would be drawn to was how well preserved this place was. Everything in here had the look and feel of an old pre war home, everything from furniture, decorations, electrics and utilities, all preserved for over 200 years. It looked like the war had never even touched this place at all. With a self sufficient generator powering everything and a clean water supply from a water purifier, this really was a place out of time. The room itself was rather large, big enough to comfortably fit 10 people and cram in a lot more. "Come in, sit down. Have a drink. Make yourself comfortable. I doubt any of you have experience true pre war life, this is a close mimicry I hope. This place has all the luxuries you. Cold Water from the fridge and tap, clean food and hot water showers. With the storm going on up top, the terrain becomes rather dangerous and it stirs up the wildlife. We may be here for a while. I can give you a tour later, stay in this room right now. You go through that door and the few turrets I have left will start shooting. I'll make sure they can register you all as friendly." White walked out through the only door in the other side of the room, turning back to look at the group before he turned the corner. "Don't break nothing."

@@Mentis Soliloquy, "Small world indee-" Ryo had to cut his sentence short as the sound of the confetti blaster going off in the background startled him enough to the point of grasping his ears and crouching to the ground. It didn't take long for him to come to his senses though and realise what that was. "Did the festival start already? I thought it was still early. We may have to pick up the pace if we want to get their on time. I hope this place serves food." @@J.R., Ryo and Shizuko approached the Cafe, this was indeed the one they had set up next to yesterday. Slowly opening the door having never been inside before, they cautiously approached the Cat who they could only presume worked here. "Excuse me, do you by any chance serve small amount of food here. Like small breakfasts, or is it drinks exclusively?"

@@Mentis Soliloquy, "I think I'll take you up on that offer. But I don't really think we're fun people. Strange is a term that is used more often. Now, places for breakfast, let me think." "Since we don't leave our home much, we're more the kind of people who eat in or order food. In the few months we're lived here I don't think we've ever eaten out. Now that I think about it, that Cafe we set up by yesterday to draw might serve food, At the very least it will serve drinks. Most people will be down at the festival so I don't even know if that place is open. Besides I could be completely wrong." "Its either that, we explore a bit until we wonder into a place or go buy something we can eat right out of the packet. I think the Cafe would be a good place to start. That's umm, that way? Yeah, that way." The two started walking towards the Cafe at which they bumped into Bass yesterday. With the hope that she would follow them. Hmm, small world Ryo thought to himself.

A short distance down from top of the hill, coming up alongside the main mountain. White stood proud as he turned to face the group. "We're here." He gestured around himself, but from what everyone could see it looked like he was out of his mind. "Don't go doubting what I said now. It's here." Taking a few short steps behind some rocks, White stomped on the ground, which rang at a low metallic noise. "Hidden, isn't it? Now, where is that bot with the password? *whistle*" From a hole further up the hill, the eyebot was in one of it's hiding spots, completely blending in with the background. Upon hearing White call, it came out of the ground from behind the group and rushed to White, attempting to mimic nuzzling. It proceeded to say a series of fast inaudible sounds, White managing to keep up with what I was saying thanks to his enhancements. "Wait, someone hacked you? I'll have the firewalls looked at later. No one was around here, good. No breaches. New intel? Nice. You have the password? Give it to me. Alright here we go." White sat on the ground on connected his pipbuck into the connection port that bunker had, input the password and the door opened. "Head down first and put the lights on please? Thanks." The eyebot rushed inside. "Well, here we are. It's a big decent, so no messing around. I think you be surprised with how nice it is in here. And spacious. I'll see you all inside. And be quick please. I want to get this sealed up ASAP." White got on the ladder and started to make his way down.

@, "I swear I am two ticks away from introducing you to a little thing called Wasteland Justice. And it amazes me how you miss out on sarcasm. One person sees this ship of yours, soon enough everyone will be talking about it. Its a simple concept, if you're going to transport goods long distance, do it by land. People are still shaken from the Enclave incident. Last thing they want is more stories of flying ships. So do me a favour and shut the fuck up. And if you want to be the one to walk twenty miles north, grab some supplies and walk all the way back here with them, leaving what ever you can't carry behind for scavengers, be my guest. You're the only one who loses and we finally get to be rid of your wining, moaning, split personality, creepy mind for at least a good day. Oh, and that's if you can find the bunker, you wanna get those supplies you speak so highly of, better start walking now. 20 miles is no short distance for someone as old, physically and mentally crippled as you are." God this pony was really getting on his nerves now, originally he had little issues with him, the longer he sticks around though the more he turns to hating him. 'Can't wait for these ponies to walk right into the trap I have planned.' White thought to himself as he walked further down the hills.

@, "Alright creeper, get up, back the fuck up. Okay what you did was just not okay. What you're doing here made me feel sick and violated just watching and listening as a woman." (Remember, White is disguised as a middle aged mare.) "How the fuck would you feel if a cybernetic creature that is barely a pony any more, who you've known for only a few hours in a post apocalyptic wasteland came up to you, hugged you and called your relationship a master-servant relationship? It felt like I was listening to the start of damn rape scene and that makes me feel sick. Maybe you should actually know someone before making this kind of advancement. For the record never tell a girl you want a master servant relationship with them, that's just fucking creepy. Get some manners for crying out loud." White took the lead of the group again a started leading them down the hill. It should only be a few minutes until they arrive now. But he stopped as soon as he was talking about a ship, what ship? "Hold on, back the fuck up? Did you say drop ship? No chance that is setting down around here, as soon as that things makes itself visible over the mountains the entire base will know about us you fuckwit. No supply drops around my home. You want to drop some supplies, do it 20 miles north of here. I will not have something that risky over my home." @, The presence of another machine, an AI was a surprise to EDEN, but this wasn't going to change his choice. The AI could most likely understand his voice ​"You are trespassing on territory that you should not be. Leave the area at once before the owner of this place returns. And She'll not be pleased with the knowledge that you have discovered something she has kept secret for over 10 years. Leave!"

@@Mentis Soliloquy, "Well, yesterday we didn't really have much in the way of, anything to eat. We were kind of broke so we're going to the store to stock up on some food and to buy breakfast. I don't want to spend another day on an empty stomach." As if on queue, Shizuko's stomach growled audibly as she looked up at her brother. "I get it Shizuko. Hey Bass, since you're not doing anything right now, how about we walk and talk? I'm sure most stores will open up soon so it's okay if you don't exactly want to, but I thought I'd ask." Ryo scratch his head nervously and let out a small awkward laugh, he wasn't use to situations like this at all, thankfully Shizuko kept her mouth shut, she'd usually jump at the chance to embarrass Ryo more.

@@Ethan Sawyer, "I can make no promises about your head being in one piece. Depends on the situation. I joke of course. I'm going to take every chance I can get to shoot you in the head. That might be a joke." Turning back the direction of the bunker, White started walking again. "No more breaks from here. Start moving or you'll get left behind to die out here." @, When returning from the mountains to the bunker, the little eyebot called EDEN spotted a very odd pony trying to get inside, a Stable Dweller was the conclusion EDEN came to about him due to the outfit. Security protocols of emergency lockdown on Master 16-Digit code was in place, but EDEN didn't know what to do at this point, so it decided to make itself known to the Dweller. EDEN hovered over behind the Dweller and made a series of mechanical beeps and static noises, saying something undecipherable.

@@Mentis Soliloquy, In his half sleep state, Ryo just managed to recognise the voice that just shouted. Perking his ears up and looking towards the source if the noise, both Ryo and Shizuko were half surprised. Out of everyone that lives in the town, the one person they know was the one they bumped into along the way. What an amazing coincidence. The pair waved back over and moved closer to her, within talking distance so the didn't have to shout at all. "Good morning to you to. To be honest I didn't expect to run into you here. It's still rather early after all. Though, now that I think about it everyone seems to be moving early to get good spots down at the beach. Mostly sun bathers most likely. Or people looking to get the points with the best view." "Ryo, you're rambling on again." "Oh, umm sorry. I really need to stop doing that. So, how are you? Did you manage to get the supplies you were looking for yesterday?"

"Brother? You're not going to sleep in are you? You made me a promise for today. Bad things will happen if you break it. Like this." Shizuko very aggressively kicked her still half asleep brother in the stomach, with enough force that the room seemed to shake a little. Fortunately Ryo was still lying down, otherwise he would have collapsed from the winding. "Shizuko! You know that hurts. I wasn't going to sleep in, I set an alarm. What, do you want to get to it very early?" "That was one point. The second point shouldn't come as much of a surprise to you. I'm very hungry. Remember how little we had to eat yesterday?" "I'm more hungry than you are. At least you ate something.Fine, it's still early but go get dressed, we'll quickly go shopping, come home, eat and then go okay? Okay." With a clear road map for that day sort of planned out in their heads, the duo quickly get dressed into regular clothing and left the house for the grocery store. Waking at a brisk pace. Being the indoor people they are, even the early morning sun was giving them a bit of a headache and with more sun to come later on, they'd just have to deal with it. Ryo was admittedly half hoping to bump into Bass sometime during the day, as she was the only person they actually knew in the town. Saving that concern for later. The two continued their little task.

The blue energy that Scarlett produced was much faster than White had anticipated. Near instantaneous in fact. The force it carried was about the same as what he had expected, but he didn't have time to prepare for the impact, causing him to be knocked off of his hooves and sent several feet away. It was very painful, if his Ribs were still made of bone, we was sure he would have some heavy internal damaging, his neck would be killing him for a few days and a headache was bound to come up sooner or later. Despite all this, his quickly picked himself up off of the ground, half laughing, half cheering. @@Ethan Sawyer, "I knew it! I fucking knew it! You can't die, in fact you can't get hurt.I wonder how far this ability stretches. Does it affect you mental capacity? Can retain new information and skills like this? Does it wipe your memory of the feeling of dying? Can it still leave mental scarring or are they also cured from this power? So many questions so much I want to know. You right here might be the single most interesting person in the entire Wasteland. And I know some people, take that as a compliment."

@@Ethan Sawyer, "Thank you, now then." White quickly slipped into his SATS and lined up a shot with Scralett's head. In what must have been a fraction of a second for her, White drew his .44 and fired a bullet directly through her head, leaving quite a mess. Now then, if his theory was indeed correct, she would not stay dead for very long. In fact, she should send out quite a violent shockwave since the impact of that bullet was incredibly high. "I'd take a step back from her corpse if I was you. I give her 90 seconds. 90 seconds to wait and see."

@@Meson Bolt, "Hmm? Not too much further I'd say. Distance wise is rather short and it becomes mostly down hill after a short while. The path may well get very narrow from the angle we're approaching it. What are you getting tired already? Don't even try and hide it, I can hear it on your breath. Don't go passing out now. I won't be saving your skin." Listening to what the odd red unicorn was saying, no not red, Scarlett was more of the colour. Eh, he needs a nickname for her. White was getting more and more curious about what exactly this little ability was. With the little display with what happened to her leg, his theory was forming in his head. She was going to be weighing them down if she was just a normal pony who seemed never to be able to learn anything. So if his little theory was true, he needed to test it. @@Ethan Sawyer, "Hey, for the sake of ease, I'm going to call you Scarlett. Fits your colouring. Could you do me a small favour and stand still for just a moment please?"

White was immediately alerted by the sound of unknown gunfire. Though his reasoning was a little bit different than everyone else. No one should come up this way, it's within Sting's territory and no patrols have been coming this way as per instructions. He could only presume that someone who hadn't got the message had taken a shot at them from up high. Who ever it was was most likely informed of this and stopped. The possibility of it not being a member of his gang still sands very true. The sounds coming from the ground was not any mystery to him though. "We need to pick up the pace, I don't know who shot what at who and where, but if they had an intent to kill us we would have seen some follow up shots. Can their snipers see us from this distance? No, they shouldn't be able to. I'm positive of that, and you may not have noticed this but we have something crawling beneath us. Two possibilities. Hell hounds and Scorpions. Scorpions is the most likely option, Hounds mostly live out west in the Ponyville area. Or far north in the more irradiated lands. Watch the ground as we walk." White picked himself of the ground but didn't start walking just yet, darting his head around and twitching his ears listening out for any signed of motion and sound. While it was true Sting could command Scorpions and other lower animals, the one's here are wild and will attack on sight. White levitated out his serrated combat knife ready to attack anything that may come attack him.

@@Ranger22, White chuckled at the sound of Blooddrop being called another Redeye. While they had similarities, Blooddrop could actually make progress without destroying half of the wasteland in the process. "I understand, but you're the only one here who hasn't had some form of briefing due to your late arrival. Had you been here earlier, you would have already got a good grasp on the situation. So don't blame me for not telling you important information right away. You don't know this, but I work as an information broker, and I'm the best at what I do, since what I know is something only I am stupid and so disregarding of personal safety enough to gather. It's a wonderful Job. Though I should mention my information comes at a cost, while this doesn't require you to pay in caps due to this being a special mission, the cost of my information on Sting is a contract, I give you the information and in return, if you cannot complete the mission I take your life as the insurance policy. Protecting the information and making sure it isn't spread about. I have a business to run afte--" While in the middle of talking, White put his hoof into the air, indicating everyone to stop moving. After leaving his hoof up for roughly 10 seconds, he put his ear to the ground and began listening intently. "Something's moving underground, and its close."

@@Ranger22, "Oh yeah, I forgot. You weren't around for the talk earlier. Let me tell you something tough guy. You pop a fraction of your head out of cover and you'll have .50 Sniper Rifles firing at you with extreme precision. I don't know how many exactly, but they're numerous. So you think you and your short to mid ranged projectile based weaponry can take on a firing squad of Sniper Spotters with .50 Rifles? Half of me wants you too just so I can see that smug attitude washed away, but the sensible part of me that wants to survive doesn't so you don't alert the whole base. I'll fill you in with all the details about what we're going up against once we're at the bunker. For as impressive as your information network is, you clearly don't know a lot about these guys. I've had many close dealing with them and close encounters with death because of them. I know a lot of information that is very valuable to you. So don't do anything that goes against my orders, got it? Right, now lets pick up the pace, we've been lucky not to see anything so far. We may make it in a lot shorter time than I originally planned. Possibly not though." Meanwhile, further up the mountains. WS Sniper: "Do you see them?" WS Spotter: "Got 'em, they're crossing the hills, heading north west coming from the road junction between Outpost T and R-7, I can't get a good distance on them but far, max view distance for 12x scope. We got one more coming than what was in The Queen's Pet's message. Looks like a Star Paladin from what I can see according to his armour Decal. Must be a recent joiner. Anyway, we confirmed their position just like the Pet asked. We'll shift about patrols. Double them for the night time, and give them higher grade weapons. That should give Pet enough of a reason to keep them in for the night. We need more time to prepare." WS Sniper: "What was the plan again, 3 of the Sniper units are to remain here as bait. Volunteers only. While the other nests are being replaced by traitors set for execution? That way we only loose 6 good men when compared to our entire unit? Well no one is being forced to do it, I don't like seeing my friends, my brothers die, but we knew what we signed up for in this family." WS Spotter: "Crazy world we live in isn't it? We're done following them now. Send the Pet's toy robot back to his safe house. Let's get back to watching our usual areas." WS Sniper: "Alright bro, I'll send the message down. Plus, you do realise if Pet caught us calling him that, he would really not be happy with us." WS Spotter: "That's why its just a joke in out Unit." Using a variety of physical gestures, a sign language they use to communicate relatively long distance, the people tasked with maintaining everything electronic sent the little Eyebot on its way back to the bunker. It should arrive long enough before the mercs do as to avoid being seen coming from the mountains.

@@Meson Bolt, "Oh, I've got gun mods a plenty. A lot of them pre built, but I have supplies for everything you can dream of. If their's anything you can't build, you need just ask me, I can build a few things, but I specialise in building and customising armours. That's more fun. But back on topic, I'm sure you can find enough materials lying about to build whatever you will desire. If you have the skill to build it is another story. But I may have an old pre built one. Ah, we'll find out what we get won't we."

@@Meson Bolt,"In terms of how much armour we will need, hopefully not much. Leather should suffice or metal if you're into that heavy armour stuff. If this all goes perfectly we won't even be getting shot at. That's most likely not going to happen though, so best be prepared for a fire fight. Warm clothes? I should have some lying about the place. I mean it is a pre war military grade safe house, so they would have had a solution for a lot of scenarios and the resources for such scenarios following total nuclear destruction. Lot of good that did them, when I found the bunker they were nothing but a bunch Feral Ghouls. Old and withered." @@Ranger22, "Ha, you Ranger types are all the same. You'd go crazy over a working terminal. I wonder how you'd react to seeing an set of model of your precious T-60 not under your control. Or better yet, one of the X-01 model made by the Enclave in working order. God you are going to get so angry when you see what Sting have under their control. I cannot wait. Oh and on the topic of confidence or bravado." White picked out a little pouch from his saddle bag, it made a little metal clinking noise as he held it. He threw it to the Ranger, inside the bag was Brotherhood Holo Tags. 12 in total. 5 Knights, 3 Scribes, 2 Paladins, 1 Star Paladin and 1 Sentinel. "Its called confidence, and this is my proof. Keep them, they deserve to be respected." No amount of fancy words could hide the fact that this was indeed an attempt to provoke the Paladin. This was the only bump in the road and the only one who could possibly pose somewhat threatening. That and White simply loved the fact that he could show off in this way.

@@Unicorncob, "Right, The Bunker. Since we're going to be stopping in that place, it will take us about 2 hours. Tops. It should be getting dark by the time we get to it, we can decided on our next move once we've stocked up on ammo, mods, weapons and armour. This is where we say goodbye to the road now. It's all off road from here. We need to move north east, through the hills up to the base of the mountain. Hidden in a crevice is the hatch we use to get inside. I hope you're all okay with being underground, because its about 25 meters under the surface. It's really spacious and Luxurious believe me when I say that. Put something warm on, its going to get very cold from here on out. Two more things, Paladin, you mess with any of my stuff, try to take any of my tech, you're dead. I will not tolerate theft. Keep your ears to the ground and eyes open. Sting patrol this area and Scorpions roam freely around. It's dangerous and we can't let them see us, they run, the entire base knows where we are coming from, they die, we can hope that the base will blame it on wildlife." White took lead of the mercs, taking them into the hills away from the road. The next part of the trip would be very high risk high reward. He didn't want to have to kill any of his gang, worst comes to worst he would have to. Either way, all way going according to his plans and not a one of them was all the wiser.

"Hey it worked. I had my doubts that it would but this is why we run tests on things is it not?" He held up his pipbuck had gave it a few taps. "30 years I've had this and I've only just figured out how to manipulate EFS to make me show up what colour I want. Damn I wish I figured this out sooner." @@Ranger22 White put the .44 away and took several paces toward the ranger, until he ended up right at his side, "It's alright Star Paladin. I'll only ever kill you if you threaten me. And three, two, one." Taking a look back at the EFS, the Paladin had dropped to Green for White, if the same happened for the Paladin, well he'll find out later. "So, two thing, can anyone fill me in on what I missed? And , if you threaten me again, directly or indirectly. I will make it my personal objective to rip out whatever organs you have and sell them to a clan of cannibals, using the rest of your body as decorations for my home."

Standing just outside of the Paladins EFS range, White took a final moment to think about the possible directions this could go. He wasn't worried for his own health, he could take a Single Star Paladin, with a bit of trouble. Since White was covering the cybernetics, they should be an issue, the Pipbuck he had was another story though. If he tried, he'd just ignore him until he made an aggressive physically advancement for it. That and the first part of the plan would be a fun little experiment. Taking a few steps closer to the back of the Paladin, White's own EFS marked the him on the compass as a hostile Red Target. So it should be the same on his, now he just stands and waits. For something. @@Ranger22,

White was tired of waiting around for his plan to take effect. Too much effort wasted because of a Ranger. Well, these things happen sometimes. Opting not to move under cloak this time, White equipped a heavily customised .44 Revolver from his bag. Advance chamber for greater damage and armour penetration, smooth grip for increased recoil control, not that it would do much good while being used by magic and a Red Dot sight in case he was ever caught with SATS down. Since her understood how SATS worked, he had a little plan to mess with the Paladin. By having his intentions set on attacking the Paladin, he would appear as red on his EFS, but he could simply choose not to shoot him at all, leaving him as red while not actually being hostile to him. He hoped this would cause some confusion. That an White was all but ready to greatly injure the Paladin if her tried to make a move. With his little test set, White left Trixie's shack and moved back down the road towards the merc group, .44 ready in his telekenetic grip. "Time to truly have some fun."