open [Still accepting new characters!]Strifes of Pandora

[Hazard Time 1,127]

@

 

Bronze accepted the rifle, but couldn't stop herself from looking it over.  Vladof.  Ugh.  She saw a lot of these back when she was on the force.  In the right hooves, they could be pretty effective weapons for establishing fire superiority.  Of course, the vast majority of ponies she saw carrying Vladofs had no clue what fire superiority was and simply bought them because they were cheap and had large magazines that allowed them to plate narrow alleyways with lead.  Countering them was easy: just put yourself fifty meters away and knock 'em down with a nice burst from a Dahl weapon.

 

Bronze was partial to Dahl, partly because they were accurate and effective, and partly because they had a monopoly on the private industry back on her homeworld.  She couldn't speak for the other corporations, but Dahl was rather kind in that they never dragged you out of your house in the dead of night if you expressed discontent about them.  Or, at least, she never HEARD of them doing that...

 

"Beggars can't be choosers," she muttered, sliding the rifle onto her back.

 

@@genessee

 

The pegasus cast a glance over towards Lance, looking him over.  He said he was fine, but he obviously wasn't.  She was more than willing to shrug and let him go on, but then she remembered the favor she owed, as well as what happened the last time she showed carelessness to one of her squadmates.

 

"You may also wanna get 'im a 'ealth syringe," she suggested, motioning over her shoulder.  "I fink we all could use one."

[genessee 535]

@@Hazard Time @

 

By now Lance found it difficult to focus on anything, and he heard Bronze say something about something. His vision was blurred, and the painful headache now felt more like a dulled stinging. He couldn't feel anything else, but even in his current state, he managed to say, "Don't worry about me, I'm fine." Or, at least, he thought he did. What actually came out was indecipherable mumbles. Lance tried to wave his allies off, but he couldn't move his leg to do so. You should've asked for a Zed Syringe.

[FancyHorse 1,209]

@@genessee,@@Hazard Time,  

 

"Sir, his vitals don't look to well." 301 spoke into Fallskir's Echo. 

 

Without another word he approached to the Zed machine, with a quick glance to the menu's he ordered out a single syringe and a cheap Tediore shield. 

 

BUDGET SHIELD!

Fast recharge rate. Low capacity. 

 

Returning at quick pace, first to Lance, without any reply or a chance for him to note sticking it straight into skin and penetrating dispense the healing additives in a quick succession. Returning back to his gaze to Bronze handing over the shield. 

"No need to give anything back." He said, he'd more then triple what that blasted thing costed from bounties. 

[Hazard Time 1,127]

@ @@genessee

 

The pegasus' ears flicked at the new voice, waiting until Lance had been deal with before asking the obvious question.

 

"'o's that?  An AI?" she asked, sliding the shield into a receptacle on her vest and activating it.  For a brief moment, the air around her shimmered before returning to normal.  She felt a lot less naked now.

Edited January 13, 2017 by Hazard Time

[genessee 535]

@ @@Hazard Time

 

A sharp pain cut through Lance's semi-comatose state. Then everything started to come back. Even the headache stopped. Within seconds, Lance was back on his hooves, and grinning ear to ear. "Dude, you are awesome. It's going to be pretty hard to repay you." He then looked up at the bar that lay before him, not paying attention to his friends. "Are we going to crash here for a while or drive further into the badlands? Up to you, I feel like I can drive all day."

Edited January 13, 2017 by genessee

[FancyHorse 1,209]

@@genessee,@@Hazard Time,  

 

Answering to Bronze first, "Go ahead and introduce yourself." He said, as though to nopony. 

 

"Greetings Unemployed! I am a Maliwan Operated Stat-Orbital Recon Satellite 30-1 A-2. My callsign is 3-oh-1. A pleasure to meet freelancers as yourself." The orbital device spoke in a happy tone. 

 

"And.." Fallskir took a seat behind the bar grabbing beer with little consent or approval, considering that the bartender is missing. 

"Looks like we should stick around. Just for a small bit." He finished taking a small sip of the light beer he had choosen. 

 

"Fallskir. I am Fallskir Taj'iah." He simply stated his name. "Not looking to make friends. Not looking to really do anything but get a good fortune. Though... Considering its a dangerous planet. It doesn't hurt to make a companion along the way." He says taking seat in the chair pressed near the sink.

[genessee 535]

@@Hazard Time @

 

"Alright. Hey, I am pretty hungry. Is there any food back there? Like, edible food?" Lance asked Fallskir as he trotted into the bar. He examined the area, and spied a comfy looking chair near the back. Lance dragged the chair towards the front counter, and claimed a small portion of the counter. Come to think of it, I'm kinda tired. Ah, I'll be fine. Probably just a side effect of the medicine, it'll wear off soon enough. In his section of the counter, there was a bottle of beer sitting nearby. Lance grabbed it and looked it over, and then took a sip. It's prett- nope. nope, nope nope. You know what happened last time. No beer. He planted the bottle back where it was and settled in his chair.

Edited January 13, 2017 by genessee

[Hazard Time 1,127]

@

 

"Considering my luck, I could use a few friends, meself, Fallskir."  The pegasus grabbed a beer herself and popped the lid.  The irony of drinking again after nearly dying from a hangover didn't affect her too much.  After all, that was because she got cocky and drank a full bottle of 80 proof.  A single beer wasn't going to phase her.

 

"So you got yourself an AI, and a Maliwan one, at that.  You work for them, or just 'appen upon it?"

 

@@genessee 

 

"Also, good question.  Dunno about you, but bofe of us need somefing that'w stay in our stomachs.  You fink there's somefing 'ere besides alco'o'w?"

[genessee 535]

@@Hazard Time

 

 

Lance opened his mouth to judge Bronze on drinking again, but decided against it. I'm not drinking, and if she does drink too much again she'll probably just pass out in the runner. As long as one of us stays sober we'll be fine. "I don't know if there's any food; that's why I asked. I can go check, but Fallskirs already back there, so I think he'll be able to find some if there's any. I'll look around the rest of the bar. Don't touch my chair." And with that, Lance got up and examined the bar. Almost immediately he came upon something of interest. "Ooo! I loved these radios." He flipped channels (Lance was surprised there WAS channels on Pandora) until he found a song that he liked. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zzo6L3wsf8c)

[BloodDrops 762]

@@genessee,@@Hazard Time, @,  

 

Unknown to the ponies currently in the bar. A certain green filly had come back to the buggy, checking that all the occupants had gone, she moved in to claim her prize. She stuck a rod of metal though the wheel arch. She knew that the bar could be pulled out so she decided to instead release the air from the tyres. She then blinked, normally she would then walk away and try and rip off another customer that might want to use the bar. Though since the stallion had nudged her, she went the extra mile.

 

She lifted up the hood of the buggy and put a grenade on the bit that got warm. It would explode after about a few miles when it got warm enough. She was about to pull down the hood when, she got nudged from behind. She glanced back at blinked at her mothers accusing eyes. "I was just playing" she remarked meekly.

 

"Not with my bag of grenades, give it back" Blood Drops replied sternly, she saw the grenade on the hood and took it back and put it back in her bag. She then glanced at the battery inside of the car and decided she wanted it. She pulled it up and put it on her filly's back. "You can carry this back home, for your trouble" she remarked.

[FancyHorse 1,209]

@@genessee,@@Hazard Time,  

 

"As if the jacket wasn't a give away?" He scoffed a bit at Bronze's comment before re-iterating. 

"Was- an employee. I'm just here on my own terms. Wanna re-earn my fortune I guess. Life kinda gets boring when you have millions of bits and nothing to do with it all." He commented. 

 

Reaching under the bar counter he noted a metallic vaccum sealed bag. Examining at it looks like vaccum sealed survival bits- those crappy freeze dried meals. Oh ho the plenty times he had to eat this crap in his youth. 

 

Placing it onto the counter he slid it over to Lance.

 

"Apple Cinnamon." he stated. 

[genessee 535]

@@Hazard Time @

 

Lance had started to have fun with the radio, and was annoyingly flipping through channels in attempts to make sentences. When Fallskir gave him the bag of freeze dried meals, Lance turned off the radio and looked over the bag. "Thanks." Lance tore into the bag, and began to eat, and trotted over to his section of the counter. "Hey, this is only half bad!" 

[Hazard Time 1,127]

@@genessee @

 

The pegasus had another look at the diamond dog's attire, noting the oranges and blues.  Strange that she hadn't noticed it earlier.

 

"Excuse you, I just came out of the worst 'angover of me life, cut me some slack," she growled, taking another sip of her beer.  She tipped her bottle towards the snack baggie.  "There wouldn't 'appen to be any more of those around 'ere?"

[genessee 535]

@@Hazard Time @

 

Lance had finished his snack and was walking out the door. "I'll be right back, I'm gonna go practice driving the runner."

 

---

 

A minute later, Lance was staring in awe at the inside of the runner. "Damn scavengers. Running off with my battery and making my life miserable..." He grumbled as he returned to the bar. "Looks like some bastard got to the runner and took the battery. We'll have to either get a new one or get a new vehicle, or walk." Usually, Lance didn't swear often. He found it more effective to simply outwit his enemies. But right now he was so angry he couldn't help himself. Right under my snout! I wasn't even drunk. 

[FancyHorse 1,209]

@@genessee,@@Hazard Time,  

 

As Lance, Bronze was tossed another of those platic sealed meals. 

"Strawberry Cake." He stated. 

 

Only shortly to be interrupted with Lance returning in his grumbled state. "Really now?" He asked, standing and circling around the bar to the outside he noted at the open hood. 

 

"Well shit." He muttered. 

"Sir, just behind the your location I'm detecting plenty of metallic signatures within the walled area of the Waterhole. Perhaps it's a junkyard." Their autonomous eye in the sky informed.

 

Walking past the two he approached to the door at the end. Lifting at the latch he pulled it open revealing at the massive scrap piles and empty frieght containers ahead against the rocky spire formations.

"Well... We could do a bit of scavenge hunt." he said.  

[genessee 535]

@

 

"Convenient." Lance walked into the junkyard. "Do you think we're alone? I feel like some thugs could be hiding and waiting to jump us." Out of habit, Lance went for his rifle. Unfortunately, his gun had been stolen. ​Well, I'll go for a headbutt if someone attempts to attack us, and then take his weapon. 

[FancyHorse 1,209]

@@genessee

 

Noting at his lack of a weapon he reached to his hip retrieving his Phobia shock pistol pawing it over to him. With a firm point. 

"I want that back when your're done." He stated. 

With that stated he raised his Umbrage and awaited for Bronze to join them after her brief snack.

[genessee 535]

@ @@Hazard Time

 

"Y'okay then." Lance examined the gun. This will work. He then attempted to do some spinny tricks with the pistol after removing the clip as he waited on Bronze. Lance would've killed himself multiple times if he hadn't taken the ammo out. After he got bored with the spinning he just practiced wielding it.

[Hazard Time 1,127]

@@FancyHorse @@genessee

 

Bronze eventually emerged from the bar, her new assault rifle at her side.  She slid the slide back to double check that it wasn't about to jam on her, then looked to the other stallions in her entourage.

 

"So this is a whole load 'a wank," she huffed, turning her attention towards the expansive badlands.  "Now what?  We leg it?  I 'aven't been in these parts, so if anypony knows a Catch a Ride station nearby, that would be fantastic."

Edited January 19, 2017 by Hazard Time

[Randimaxis 8,654]

I... didn't expect this.

 

I was thinking they'd simply pop off and vanish as soon as they had a chance, yet here they were, ready to see this out to the end.  They were kinda foolhearty for it, yeah... but there was a nobility to it, too.  Gotta admit, I'd never expected I'd find a means to get where I was going with anyone - I'd just expected to bring the whole damn place down around me.

 

"Look," I sighed, "this could be some heavy-grade fertilizer we're about to kick up here... and I thought I'd be doing this alone.  Can't guarantee your safety, your lives or even your understanding... and it's just gonna get worse from this point on.  But you two are still staying?"

 

I gave a slight grin.  "Thanks."

 

Turning, I began making my way in the direction that my silent partner felt like he was pulling me to go - I swear, I couldn't help but think that somehow, it knew what was coming; it was HUNGRY for it to happen.

 

The hallway we'd ended up in was in one of the more executive areas, as the rusted gilding and fancy-shmancy broken machinery gave adequate insight into proving.  The latest addition to the 'Hobo Battle Damage' look we'd given the place was quite extensive; no tea parties or social soirees here, that was for sure.

 

"699 IS a lot of pones, I'll give you that... but how did he know we were coming?  I took the route I KNEW wouldn't have any working cameras - I disabled 'em all, and I keep checking the routes to make sure there aren't any repaired cams to shoot - there haven't been.  NOTHING'S been coming out of here since I did; probably a good thing, considering what you've seen so far, eh?"

 

As I headed to the east hall, the speakers squawked out bone-chillingly creepy laughter.

 

[As predicted... though not alone, THAT was unexpected... but no matter!  Soon, you and the experiment meat you're bringing me will be dealt with, and we can get back to testing.  Because we MUST ad-HERE to the SCHEDULE!  Hi-YUP!]

 

At that, the far southern end of the hallway rang out as the door slammed open, and several Loader Bot units all stomped out and began lumbering towards the group.  The entire lot of them were heavily modified, their powerful arms ending in some sort of jury-rigged laser or plasma weapon... and obviously link-controlled, as they all started firing at once, sending a barrage of hot death directly at us.

 

I swung around and faced the incoming volley, and the darkness inside me responded to my will.  It pushed.

 

The swarm of shadow substance around my hooves swirled in front of me, creating what appeared to be a wispy black shield, like the kind you'd see a royal guard using... except it was made out of dark matter instead of steel.  Willing it forward, I did my best to block enough of the fire for the mare and the griffon to get down the path.

 

My shield was stalwart and strong; it wasn't gonna last forever, nor was it perfect cover.  However, if we hightailed it, we might be able to keep ahead of the pack long enough to get out of firing range, at the very least.

 

"C'mon!  This way!"  

 

I indicated, gesturing towards the east doorway while trying to maintain my concentration so we didn't get reduced to piles of hot ash.

[genessee 535]

@@Hazard Time @@FancyHorse

 

"I have absolutely no idea if there's a Catch a Ride station nearby. But walking does have it's pros. And cons, sure, but..." Lance trailed off. He was trying to avoid having to follow Fallskir, because he was sure where Fallskir was going, trouble would be there. Instead, he waved Fallskir over back towards the bar and badlands. "Come on, I doubt there's any loot in there anyway. Just thugs. Many, many thugs."

[FancyHorse 1,209]

@@genessee,@@Hazard Time,  

 

Nodding his head slightly he looked back to the two. 

 

"I'll keep my head down kiddos. Go look around the place. I'll take my way out here." He says- noting to the junkyard before him. 

 

"30-1 will keep you updated if I have a hollering." He says. Without another word the dog takes his careful steps ahead leaning forward in  stealthy poise. With his ears perked forward he keeps his Umbrage close in his grip.

[Ranger22 179]

A thank you, i was something Whitetip hadn't expected out of the stallion, at least not until after the job was done. There was some nobility to be found in Whitetip's and Rose's course of action so the stallion wasn't entirely blameless for an early thank you. Whitetip had continued to follow the stallion, his rocket launcher out this time. If the griffon was going to be ambushed he was going to make sure whoever did was greeted with three rockets to the face, figuratively speaking of course. The environment proved to be in a fair bit of disrepair, not too far off from the halls the brief firefight had occurred in. Shades of grey and brown dominated the rather dark and cold atmosphere, a rather depressing sight contrasted by Whitetip's dominantly green armor. After a while the stallion had begun questioning the fact of how the doctor knew about the team's arrival to the facility despite taking very precautionary measures.

 

"Well, considering that this doctor of your has been operating for a while he may have some form of scouting we don't immediately think of. Like per say an invisible flying robot." Whitetip had stated in half seriousness and in half jest, as the suggestion is neither too unrealistic nor sane. Unfortunately, any response from his team was either cut off or drowned out by the speaker system suddenly erupting. After the doctor's rather energetic rambling doors opened at the end of the southern hallway, revealing a pack of modified combat loaders each with dangerous looking energy weapons. The stallion had suddenly erected a shield with his powers and gestured towards a door on the east side as he blocked out the hail storm of bolts. It was a sound plan, Whitetip had thought as he fired three rockets into the crowd of loaders. Not caring much for the results Whitetip ignored the explosions and ran for the east door, making sure his rocket launcher had enough ammunition to fire again. Whitetip had to remember to thank the stallion for saving him some armor repair costs.

[Light of Night 332]

@@Ranger22,@@Randimaxis,  

 

Dusk Rose felt her ears stand up and turn towards the unexpected source of voiced gratitude.  She wondered if there was something else beneath that "Thank you", but it sounded genuine to her.  Taking his warning of the dangers to come, she sighed in partial amusement.  She thought to herself that she wouldn't even be a few miles near this damned place, but she gets a nagging suspicion and is all a sudden willing to go through bullet hell just to satisfy her curiosity.  Checking her guns one last time, she decided to switch her corrosive pistol with the one with the electric rounds and decided to put the submachine gun to use, though she cursed its weight without noticing the mark it had dug into her shoulder.  Her knife, of course, stayed where it was.

 

When the question of the Doctor's prior knowledge of their arrival came up, she threw in her two cents as she looked around the place.  Her ears twitched, for she felt no need to hear what she thought was surprise and fear.  "You were an important experiment.  I don't think he would just deem you out of sight, out of mind."  Rose gave Whitetip a look of "Be serious here" when he threw his two cents in, thought not entirely sure if he was serious or if one actually existed.  Then she gritted her teeth and fought the urge to drop everything and cover her ears as that irritating voice came on the speakers.

 

Experiment meat...  There was no way she was going to let herself die or get captured in a place like this.

 

As soon as she saw the Loader Bots, Rose immediately ducked, hesitating to rise even with the shield protecting them.  It didn't take her long at all to figure that the weapons they had were extremely dangerous, so she bolted for the east door.  Rose went so fast that her hooves slid a bit on the floor as she stopped at the door, almost slamming into the wall.  She looked back at the shield, the bullet hell, and the others.

[Randimaxis 8,654]

@Ranger22 -@Light of Night

 

 

The three of us tore down the hall, explosions behind us from the rocket launcher that the griff-... that Whitetip fired their way.  I heard the sound of steel shrapnel bouncing across the floor, but the hail of gunfire was still bad enough to warrant our quick escape.

 

As we pounded down the hall, the rust caked doors around us all began to open simultaneously - and it seemed like each one had a contingent of monstrosities behind 'em, all just waiting to be released into the fray.  There were pones with all sorts of badly-cobbled cyber in, around, on and through them... bits and pieces of other pony parts 'installed' onto frames... even bots with brains in jars attached, some with multiple jars on 'em... and then there were just the straight walking horrors, the kind that gave lesser folk nightmares and left small children needing therapy for the rest of their lives.

 

Y'know... after stuff like this, horror-entertainment holos just weren't gonna match up for me anymore.

 

My shield split, then dissolved as I pounded down the way, driving for the inner lobby... or at least where I remembered it being.  I hoped they hadn't changed that too; I'd be lost if it was too different, and our situation told me that this had to end SOON if Whitetip and Rose (Deft Rose?  No, no, no... that's not it...) were to have any chance of getting out of here alive.

 

Come to think of it... maybe I actually was starting to think I wanted to get out of here alive, too?

 

At any rate, when the doors slid open, I was - at first - relieved to see the inner lobby, the area where exces would show off their thousand-bit suits to each other as they made whimsical executive decisions, drank cappa-mocha-latte-things, and generally gathered to be douchebags together; now, it was a massive, four story open atrium that was filled with three things:

 

Turrets

Troops

and LOTS of trouble.

 

There was a massive amount of terrifyingly twisted troopers filling the immediate area between us and the other end of the atrium; along the left side, there were snipers and some more of the spider-things waiting.  To the right, two armed Loader Bots and about a half-dozen whiptails stood alert and ready to go.

 

This was gonna be fun.

 

A slow smile crept across my covered face as the thing inside me howled to have its' chance... and I aimed to misbehave.

 

"I can keep the middle busy; you two can argue over which way you're going... we're taking the direct approach.  Good luck, you two - be careful."

 

With this, the darkness around me began to swirl and form until a large black sword of dark matter hovered in front of me.  Two tendrils sprouted from my shoulders, and each grabbed one of my twin pistols, Chaos and Order.  

 

 

I faced right down the center of the atrium, and I had it in mind to plow my way through the troops to the other end.  It sounded like instant suicide, but lemme explain a little something about my silent partner here...

 

You see, over the time we've had together, I've learned a bit about this dark thing inside me.  I learned that it wasn't exactly evil; just mischievous and hungry... ravenously hungry, at the moment.  And when it feeds, it completely breaks down the matter it wants to consume and adds it to its' own mass.  The more mass it has, the more stuff it can do for me in a fight.  So, hypothetically speaking, going full-on Berserker would fuel its' powers, in turn making me even stronger as I went.

 

I aimed to test that theory, right here and now.  If nothing else, it would prove to me whether I was ready for this or not, and it might even show me how far I've come since I first stumbled outta this deathtrap.

 

Both pistols aimed, and my sword at the ready, I bid my silent partner to cry havoc.

 

I charged right into the brunt of the troops in the middle of the room, firing both pistols while slashing and ramming my way through the crowd.  The bullets, kicks, blades and explosions around me simply slipped away as I stepped back mentally and allowed the darkness inside me to take the reins.

 

I was shot at some point... and I think I caught a knife in the left flank... and at one point, I couldn't feel my right ear anymore... but I felt not a drop of pain.  It was one of the good points about taking the passenger seat in my own body; my dark associate stopped the endless flow of pain that I dealt with every day, every movement, every breath.  It was a welcome relief, and I just sat back and watched him go.

 

My body, driven by the hunger of the thing inside, was whipping and tearing its' way through, efficiently and with little margin for error.  Limbs flew, blood splashed, and darkness roiled like a thundercloud around them all, the fallen vanishing into the black fog beneath as they fell... only to be revealed as mere skeletons as the mist and I left them behind us.

 

I thought for a moment, how are the other two gonna look at me after seeing this display?  Heck, how did they look at me NOW, anyway?  There was no telling... but I was pretty sure that if I told them all the stuff I'd been thinking about them, they'd think I'd lost my damned mind.  Besides, better to keep quiet and let 'em think I MIGHT be stupid, than to keep yammering and remove any doubt, right?

 

The door at the far end I was headed for taunted me, so many obstacles between here and there... but I was making my way through, and it wouldn't be long before I got there.  Hopefully, once I took over again, I wouldn't be so wounded that I couldn't go on.  Of course, I had to GET there first.

 

Skinner, your time will come... HAS come... and it comes for you threefold.