open [Still accepting new characters!]Strifes of Pandora

[genessee 535]

@@Hazard Time @@BloodDrops @

 

Lance saw Bronze pass out, and he himself wished he could do the same. Lance sighed and waited for the thugs to finish them off. Lance had stopped bleeding now, and as he waited he evaluated his lifetime. I'm happy. I mean, sure, I could've been happier if I hadn't been stupid enough to come here, but... well... it was fun while it lasted, right? And as the last traces of hope left Lance, his eyelids began to droop. He should have still be unconscious, his strength had been faltering since had had forced himself awake. His eyes shut, and this time, he ventured off to dreamland. In his sleep, Lance tried to forget everything that was happening. But it was hopeless. He simply waited for his dream to end in pitch black. When that happened, Lance knew that will be the end of him. 

[FancyHorse 1,209]

@@genessee,@@Hazard Time

 

Both ponies were out cold. The mercenaries already at work to carry them about to their cages. With their weight in tow they enter back of the bar and out from the side gates to the junk yards just to the right of the settlement. Time to get a move on. Carefully with his hood up the canine tailed far behind them observing their path as they made their way out of New Haven.

[genessee 535]

@ @@Hazard Time

 

Lance sat down wearily in his seat on the smugglers space hangar, along with a few other ponies and stallions. Lance made small talk with the ones sitting nearby, but was mostly silent and read his book, 'The Changeling of the Oprah'. A loudspeaker came on and told the passengers to fasten their seatbelts, and so they did. The hangar started flying up, and they were soon out into space.

 

---

 

Lance looked at the carnage around him. Everyone was dead, fearful expressions frozen on their faces, blood covering the floor. Lance had just crawled out from his hidey hole under his seat, hoping the bandits were gone. Lance grabbed a broken club, with tears in his eyes, and made his way out of the landed hangar. 'I will fix this. I'll get home." Lance knew his words weren't true.

[FancyHorse 1,209]

@@genessee,@@Hazard Time,  

 

Their vision was cold and dark, accepting of their fate that this was indeed the end. Zombie chow? Doesn't sound like a pleasant way to be remembered.

 

But if there was nothing he hated more- bandit scum and their nippy and lack of moral direction. Strange coming from a bounty hunter? Suppose his times as a soldier himself give him that sense of chivalry- that the weak needed to be assisted when possible and that criminals and evil-doers have to be put down. With EXTREME prejudice. 

 

It was a small group. Looks like remnants of those bandit group they mentioned. Just the three. 

 

Away on a small junk hill he awaited with his rifle at the little possey.

"301? Any signatures around?" He asked/

"Negative. That's the only heat sources there." Came the reply.

"Right. I'll get to it." He replied

[Randimaxis 8,654]

Well, then... forget the appetizer; straight to the Main Course, eh?  Y'know... I was starting to like the cut of their jib.  They didn't pussyhoof around when it came to dealing with an issue.  THAT was a stance I could respect.  There never was much courage in my old science cell, but there was that 'get things done' attitude, and that was something I'd missed for awhile now...

 

... how long of a while, though, I swear I couldn't remember.

 

"Okay... straight to the Doc's place it is.  That means we'll have to start shooting at SOME point - but I'll wait for one of you to pop the bullet cherry first."

 

I made my way to the door and, after a quick peek outside, started to make my way down the east hall; if things were correct (which recent circumstances had proven might be in question), we'd be kicking down the Doc's door in no time.  

 

I nodded back to them both as I reached the corner, then motioned with a hoof for them to hit the opposite wall as I started slinking down the way.  The inky black cloud beneath my hooves slithered down ahead of us, and covered camera lenses as we passed, keeping anyone from identifying us.

 

Not that they could've called for external back-up, mind you - but an unknown enemy is more dangerous than a known one, right?

 

Still... I don't remember the halls being this rusty before.  There was also the distinct LACK of a sterile smell in the air; kinda had the aroma of old popcorn doused in vinegar.  And there were some lights that flickered, and one or two that were completely out.  It almost looked as though something had crashed through here, smashing aside everything in its' path as it went...

 

... and it looked as though it had happened decades ago.

 

Reaching a corner, my silent partner suddenly shuddered inside me - that meant one of two things:

 

A - We were close to some Dark Element substance somewhere, or

 

B - It was hungry and wanted to play.

 

Either prospect didn't fill me with confidence.

 

"... okay," I spoke as softly as my raspy, crispy throat could manage, "from this point, if you can keep to the left," I pointed at the griffon, "and you keep in the middle," motioning at the mare, "then I'll take right, and we can cover this hall easy."

 

But that was when part of the ceiling came down.

 

Let me explain: it was more like these long steel tubes came down from the ceiling, and they touched the ground lightly enough not to make a sound.  Then, from above, several canister-like forms lowered themselves from the ceiling until they looked like metallic, four-legged spiders.  Except that, on top of them, there were flesh-and-bone pony heads.

 

There were actually eight of 'em, and the horseflesh they had left was festooned with cy-ware.  One of 'em even had a radar dish in his(?) mouth.  Luckily, they hadn't caught wind of us yet; they were focused on something ahead of us, and had moved as a unit toward the same direction that WE were.

 

Fun.

 

I took a deep breath, and the Shadow Aura around my hooves began to expand, slowly... until it slid coolly around the other two's lower halves as well.  I knew it might feel a bit chilly, but this could certainly be of use to them both.

 

"The extra shade around you two's for your own good; trust me, if the bullets start flying, being covered in the dark stuff'll help keep the riff-raff from punching through to you - it's like added armor, but you don't have to wear it.  Stick close."

 

I continued to creep along now, and as I did I began to focus my thoughts on three things:

 

A sword.  A shield.  My revenge.

 

The first two would be easy - the last?  Well, we'd find out soon enough, I guess.  The shroud of ink around the three of us, I motioned to the other two to advance behind the spider-pony-things, and made my way down the path, right behind the unsuspecting, creepy sentries ahead of us.

 

Where were they going?

[genessee 535]

@ @@BloodDrops @@Hazard Time

 

Lance's nightmare just got worse and worse. Eventually, his body had recovered from the blows enough to begin functioning again. Lance's eyes popped open, and his entire body hurt. He wasn't bleeding, which was good. But, he was also not in front of the bar in a pool of his own blood. Instead, he was... Wait, where am I? Lance looked around, and still could not figure out where he was. He still couldn't move much without his entire body being engulf with pain, so he tried talking. Dumb idea, but it's the best one I have. Lance could barely cough out a whisper, "Hello? Anyone alive?" Lance hoped the thugs didn't hear him and take his hoof early. He liked having all four hooves on his legs. 

[FancyHorse 1,209]

@@genessee,@@Hazard Time,

 

Thankfully, the two were tossed into a solid freight container, with small slots in the tops of the walls revealing what little sunlight they could get. Twas awfully stuffy in there no doubt.

 

He could totally do it. Just make his way in there, take a few shots from here. Move closer. He was weighing options.

 

It was just a small group.

 

With his rifle propped on a piece of metal he peered at one of the bystanding guards. A etched tobacco roll in his magic as he prepared to light it- time to light your world up.

With a squeeze on the heavy trigger and an audible pop the round flew with its super sonic speeds. The bandit dropped with ease. There was a tense pause before they came to their bearings.

"Oh shit!" One audibly spoke up.

 

Retreating from his hilltop he climed down and back onto the pathway progressively heading to their position. 

[BloodDrops 762]

@@genessee,@@Hazard Time,

 

Blood has put her captives in a large container, they had then been tenderizer by the local thugs. They were currently taking a nice break outside of the container, Blood blinked sleepily she had dozed quite a bit. being nocturnal, though she woke up at the sound of a gunshot she woke up and trotted over to the container, she gave no order to shoot the captives. She glanced at the dead unicorn guard and frowned.

 

She glanced at the rest of the guards "Well go on them, search for the sniper" she growled. She watched them scatter, she glanced down at the dead Unicorn. Waste Not Want Not she thought. She grabbed his horn and began to tug on it, eventually snapping it off his head. She smirked, she had great use of this. She sat down outside the container and began rummaging in her bag, she found what she wanted and stuck the stolen horn on top of it. 

 

She then stuck the horn to the top of her head. She glanced at the riffle on the floor and concentrated on it, it twitched several times before levitating up. Blood grinned, she was the lead mare. The lead Unicorn mare. She always wanted to be able to do the Unicorn tricks, though being originally a Earth pony, she lacked the certain horn to do those tricks. 

 

She needed a magic book really, though she thought of a good spell she could perform to stop her ending up like the stallion next to her.

[genessee 535]

@ @@Hazard Time

 

Lance was busy drowning in a pit of his own grief when he heard a gunshot and a fearful cry. There were no lights in his prison, and there were no windows. So Lance's ears perked up and listened. He heard the thugs scattering off, and a loud SNAP! This sound sounded more like a bone being broken than a gunshot. Lance made sure the snap wasn't him accidentally breaking something. It wasn't, and Lance sighed with relief. Lance really, really wanted to get moving, but his body refused. So instead, he stuck his limbs out as far as they would go to see if he could touch anything. One leg whacked against a wall, and searing pain flew through the leg. Lance snapped his leg back and shook it, hoping to douse the invisible flames. He tried again, this time not moving the leg that had touched the wall. This time, another leg brushed up against a furry surface. Lance instantly knew what he was touching: Bronze. A wave of relief flew through Lance, knowing that his teammate wasn't dead or separated. Lance nudged Bronze again and again, whispering, "Hey. Hey. Are you awake? Hey, c'mon, wake up. Bronze. Bronze. C'mon." Lance hoped that Bronze wasn't still drunk. Lance stopped poking and waited for a response. A single feeling was beginning to overcome him. He could feel it... coming up his throat? Oh. Hangover. Lance turned away from Bronze the split second the vomit came out of his mouth, and it splattered all over the wall he had touched earlier. Nasty. Well, at least I'm not drunk anymore.

[Ranger22 179]

To Whitetip's surprise both of his teammates agreed to his proposed plan with little to no objection what so ever. Even Dusk Rose wanted to go straight for the doctor, guess stealth isn't her go to one hundred percent of the time, not that the merc had expected it to realistically be. Without much pause the stallion gave the hint that he knew this place like the back of his hoof. With no further objections or doubts, Whitetip simply just followed the stallion's recommendations and movement. The stallion moved with a sense of efficiency, signaling the Rose and Whitetip when he wanted them to move and where. The ink textured shadowy substance irradiating from the stallion casually enshrouded the team and what looked to Whitetip like cameras. Whitetip guessed stealth was still something on the stallion's mind despite the plan they had set in motion. After moving through the rust covered halls Whitetip had followed the stallion until they had come to a halt. For whatever reason the stallion had requested that Whitetip and his counterpart move to specific parts of the hall, for better coverage if the merc remembered correctly. Ignoring the fact that a hallway in itself could be covered by a single soldier with the right equipment, Whitetip had wondered why this point specifically. Either they were close to the doctor or another threat warranting such attention was nearby.

 

Whitetip's line of thought was cut off however as if seemingly at random the ceiling opened, revealing what looked like steel cylinders. Whitetip drew his pistol in response, ready to open fire on whatever came to meet him and the party. What came out was just as wacky as the griffon had expected from the facility, another bio-mechanical monstrosity. Metallic crab like frames, with the semi decayed heads of unfortunate ponies sitting on top of their metallic bodies. There were eight in total, eight of which were moving in one direction ahead of Whitetip and the others. The stallion's black substance started covering the merc and Rose, Whitetip was about to respond to this action but was cut off by the stallion's explanation. Despite the benefit it would offer Whitetip didn't exactly feel comfortable with an unknown scientific oddity engulfing him. The stallion then signaled the two forward, feeling that things would escalate Whitetip had digitized his pistol and formed his trusty rifle around his claws. With his rifle in his arms he moved forward with efficiency.

[Light of Night 332]

Dusk Rose had to be honest with herself; she didn't particularly like their plan. But longer routes in a highly armed, highly secured, highly unfamiliar place meant to her a higher chance of death and/or capture, not to mention that blowing the place to high hell was the last thing she wanted. Besides, she also had to admit that after seeing that unholy monstrosity, she just wanted to be done with the place. But if she had to choose between leaving right at this moment and having to see a few more of those... things, in order to learn something, well, the answer was quite obvious.

 

As they made their way down the hall, Rose looked all around. She was amazed. The walls, the floor, the lights, it all looked so old, how long ago was this place constructed? And if there was some sort of maintenance team, they truly sucked at their jobs. Not that she herself was any better back at home.

 

That reminded her; how was- no, no time for that.

 

As she looked all over the area, she also couldn't help but eye the dark mists that aided in their approach. Grateful as she was for the cover it provided them, she couldn't help but feel as though it secretly wanted to kill her. Tracing the mists back to their, ah, source, she began to wonder if he was really the only one with this darkness of his. What had they done after his escape? Did they decide to make more?

 

Being told to keep to the middle thankfully stopped that train of thought from going into some dark places, leaving room to think on why somepony like herself should be in the middle. But that didn't last, as she went invisible and drew out her ordinary pistol as soon as she saw the cylinders come from the ceiling and horrid spider things come from the tubes. Then she reflexively lifted her hooves as the black mists surrounded them, about to back away before the explanation was given. Tentatively, she kept low to the ground, not that the spider things or anypony really could see her anyway. As she snuck by the bio-machinery, she felt more dread weighing on her. Just, what WERE those things?! Why in Celestia's name did they need bloody heads?! But no time for analysis, all there was to do was get on by.

[FancyHorse 1,209]

@@Hazard Time,@@genessee,@@BloodDrops

 

With his Vladof assault rifle materliazed in paw he slide downward from the little incline and against a concrete barrier. Poking his head out as the the two guards approached toward his position. With a grenade in paw he chucked it over the top in their direction. With an alerted yelp they dive into the ground as it detonated. It was of course a ruse just to distract and expose them. 

 

Raising up and snapping between the two in rapid bursts they were easily dispatched. 

[genessee 535]

@ @@Hazard Time @@BloodDrops

 

Lance was sure that he heard an explosion now. Lance hoped that this wasn't a bandit raid. If it was... well... he was bucked. Lance desperately tried to awaken Bronze. "C'mon, Bronze! Wake up!" Lance shoved Bronze in an attempt to get a response. Wait a minute... What if? A small spark of hope ignited inside of Lance. What if whoever out there kills the thugs and just leaves us alone? Or better yet, help us? Lance really, really wanted to get Bronze awake now, but could do nothing except shove. "Bronze! Wake! Up! Now!" With each word, Lance poked Bronze.

[FancyHorse 1,209]

@@genessee, @@Hazard Time

 

"Anymore In sight?" He asked to his orbiting eye.

"Negative. No other heat signs. Better get to it quick- they may have others on hoof at the town." Was the reply.

 

Running down the hill he approached in haste as he examined at the lock mechanism. Pad lock. Simple. With his baton in paw he struck at it easily snapping it off from its loop hole. Pulling back at the gates Phobia pistol ready the light flooded the room nearly blinding the conscious occupant in there. 

 

"You okay?" The aged canine asked them approaching noting at their shackles. 

[Hazard Time 1,127]

@@genessee @

 

Why could she never get any rest?

 

Better question: why did she think it would be okay to get dead drunk in a backwater town on a backwater planet where everyone is crawling over each other for anything that could be sold or used to defend oneself?

 

These two questions were proposed, but never fully answered.  The pegasus' mind had more pressing matters, such as the feeling that her head felt it was being pressed in a vise.  The gunshots weren't helping either, her headache compounding as the feeling in the back of her throat became more apparent.  Oh no, she was NOT throwing up again today.

 

"Quiet down, arse'oles," she mumbled, weakly waving a hoof in their direction.  "Ugh, I need a cure."

[genessee 535]

@ @@Hazard Time @@BloodDrops

 

"I'm pretty sure the only cure for intoxication is giving time for your bloodstream to get rid of the alcohol." Lance turned his head towards the stranger who had saved them. "Thanks. I would come up and greet you, but it hurts to move." Lance blinked as the light from the outside world flooded inside, and got a good look at his surroundings. It was a plain room, except for Lance's puke puddle and a discarded bone. The bone was probably Blood's. Lance stared at the bone. When my legs decide to let me stand up, I'll grab that bone to use as a mace, probably. Lance's head hurt more than the rest of his body, and a nasty scar was on his forehead where the mugger had struck him with Bronze's weapon. Luckily, it was mainly covered by Lance's mane, but still. Lance began pushing his body away from his new puddle of vomit. He did not want to get regurgitated cheese fries on himself. He had limits, and being covered in vomit surpassed them. All Lance wanted to do right now was stand up, walk out and completely forget that this day ever happened. Unfortunately, there were quite a few things not allowing him to do so. First, he couldn't stand up without his legs forcing his body down, and he couldn't abandon teammates. He had learned his lesson on leaving teammates. Hey, where's Blood anyway? 

[BloodDrops 762]

@@genessee,@@Hazard Time, @, 

 

 

 

Hey, where's Blood anyway? 

 

Blood Drops let out a low giggle, as the canine ran into her trap. She approached the door staring at her captives. "Well, This is certainly interesting. Who should play the hero this time?" she asked smirking. Playing hero didn't do Blood any good after all. It just got her abandoned. Blood glanced at the pistol in the canines paw and snorted, her horn glowed green and the clip fell to the floor. "You won't be needing that, the place you're going to anyway" she remarked.

 

She glanced at Bronze and Lance, "Any last requests before you become zombie chow?" she asked. Several low growls came from behind Blood. She wasn't the only zombie that was hungry after all. She flicked her tail and the growls grew silent, she was the lead mare after all. She glanced at the canine, his eye was odd. She frowned she didn't like odd things. "So I take it you all won't want to be zombie chow without a fight?" she asked.

 

Her horn glowed again, she would indeed have a fun fight.

[FancyHorse 1,209]

@@BloodDrops,

 

His eyes narrowed as he looked over the mare. Noting that she had removed the power cell from his Phobia.

 

ECAT ready. The device humming a soft green glow, corrosive spray was ready. He shrugged a bit. This was his fight, he was in control. No piece of rotting flesh was any form of competition.

 

"Guess it'll be." He said and with sudden action- throwing his Phobia with full force straight into the zomponies face. With a slight distract he charged forward following up with a strike with his shock baton aiming directly to the forehead.  

[genessee 535]

@@BloodDrops @ @@Hazard Time 

 

"I'll-- You-- Arrgh!" Lance stuttered angrily as Blood smirked at him, and they both knew he was beat. Lance's only hope was this stranger, and boy, was he counting on him. Lance glanced over at Bronze and mouthed, 'Are you seeing this?' before returning his attention towards the battle. Lance was totally fan-ponying right now. Sure, if our side loses, we all turn into zombies or just get straight up eaten, but it is fun to watch... wow, I guess I must still be a little drunk. Lance hoped that this new ally didn't get eaten. Also, was Blood always a unicorn?

[BloodDrops 762]

@,

 

 Blood stared as he threw something, she continued to watch it even as it hit the floor. She even gave it a quick sniff, she then turned her attention back to the canine that was trying to hit her with a stun baton. She frowned as he continued to hit her personal shield. "Wow, that really hurt" she remarked. She let him hit her shield again and smirked "You're just killing me" she sighed making a pun as she went.

 

"give me that" she grumbled getting bored of his failed attacks. She levitated it out of the canines grip and pointed it at Lance, "Lance, who is this?" she growled at him, she had been replaced by a dog? That was it. She levitated the canine up and stared at him. She gave him a sniff, "You smell funny" she remarked.

 

"And you're too violent." she added. She hit him with the stun baton to prove her point. That's not how you say hello after all.

Edited December 21, 2016 by BloodDrops

[genessee 535]

@@BloodDrops @@Hazard Time @

 

Lance didn't want to die. But, he didn't want his allies to die because of him. Lance had been debating this since he had fallen unconscious at the bar. And now, he had decided. "Wait!" Lance shouted. "Hold on, hold on. Hit the brakes." Lance waited to get Blood's attention. Here goes. "Alright, so... I have a deal for you. If you leave Bronze and... uh..." Lance motioned towards his new teammate. "Him... alone, you can have me for dinner or a new zombie henchpony. All I ask is that after you finish with me, you leave the others alone." Lance stared straight at Blood, his gaze unmoving. "So? Do we have a deal?" Lance pretended he didn't know Blood could back off on her promise as soon as she ate him, if she ate him. Hopefully, it was a zombie thing to not go back on deals.

[BloodDrops 762]

@@genessee,

 

Blood let out a yawn, she wasn't hungry and didn't need any more zombies in her herd.  "Nah this is just personal, I'm just gonna kill you all. For the fun of it" she remarked to lance, She pulled out a shotgun and pointed it at lance, the chamber was empty but he didn't know that. She pointed it point blank at Lance's chest.

 

"Last words?" she queried.

[genessee 535]

@@BloodDrops @@Hazard Time @

 

Lance became suddenly mute, silently cursing himself and his big mouth. Finally, Lance decided to put up a fight. He grabbed ahold of the shotgun, fighting the levitation spell that was cast upon it. His legs desperately wanted to give out, but Lance forced them to grip the shotgun tighter. "Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow." Lance winced every time he tightened his grip. Lance hoped he had distracted Blood enough to where she had forgot about the stranger.

[Hazard Time 1,127]

@@BloodDrops @@genessee @

 

Finally, Bronze began to stir, her head groggily scanning about her.  So much light, why did there have to be light here?  She shielded her eyes, groaning in pain as her head throbbed.

 

It took her a few seconds to see what was going on, to identify that Blood had a horn now and was levitating several objects on top of holding a shotgun to Lance's chest.  This was bad.  This was very bad, and there was no way she could do anything, not in her state.

 

Well, there was one thing.  Oh crap, how had she forgotten about it?

 

Narrowing her eyes, the mare spread her wings and her cutie mark glowed.  With a bright flash and a pop, the smell of ozone filled the air as magic was banished from the area about the pegasus mare.  That oughtta put a damper on it!

[genessee 535]

@@Hazard Time @@BloodDrops @

 

Lance's jaw dropped as both the stranger and the shotgun dropped to the floor. Lance immediately snatched up the shotgun, and looked towards Bronze, and saw her cutie mark glowing. Lance didn't know what she was doing, but it had just saved him. Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou Lance had no time to thank Bronze, but Lance managed to smile gratefully and turn his head and shotgun towards the now non-magical Blood. "Let me ask you: Any last words?" Lance was the most thankful being on the planet right now. He made a mental note to repay Bronze somehow. He didn't know how, but he would do something.

Edited December 23, 2016 by genessee