Chapter 6:

"...Is the greatest masseuse I have ever met." Lily sighed, flopping back on the couch and covering her face with an arm.

"Really?" I sighed, shaking my head. "Brutus and Crackshot made it sound like she was some kind of sexual deviant or something."

"What? No!" Lily laughed. "She said something about going through a really tough time and burying herself into books and studying. She picked up on massage because it's so relaxing, so she decided she'd learn it to help make other people feel better, even if she didn't really feel much better herself...I dunno, I was kinda lost in the massage while she was talking." Lily admitted.

"Well if you can pull yourself together I want to go back to the server room and do some more work. You left your armour there too, I don't know if you're finished with it yet or not, but it's just sitting on the table waiting for you."

"Yeah I think I'll be fine in a few minutes." She said, flopping back again and just relaxing. She did finally pull herself up off the couch a few minutes later though. "Alright lets hit it." She started for the door, heading out into the hall. I moved to follow her, taking on my dumb vacant expression that I was getting so good at as we passed a couple techs.

"So what's the plan now?" Lily asked when we got back to the server room. She took a cable hook and used her magic to attach it to the door, putting a coat on the hook so it covered the window so no one could see me working on the computer.

"The plan now is for me to keep working on these hard drives. This encryption is just like the one Ven used, except humanized...I'm sure I'll find a way to work it out." I said, sitting down at the computer and setting to work on it. Lily settled down beside me and continued working on her armour.

///////////

"Holy shit I think I have it." I said, hours later, looking up at Lily.

"AHH!" She yelped when she looked up at me. "Geeze Cane your eyes are all bloodshot." She sighed.

"Oh...sorry..." I rubbed them with my hooves and shook my head a little. "I think I broke the encryption...at least partially. Look at this." I moved to the side so she could slide over and look at the monitor.

"So what am I looking at?" She asked.

"These are global coordinates." I explained, pointing to a string of numbers. "Longitude and Latitude, it points to an exact area on the planet. We have something similar back home, but instead of magical position tracking these are generated by satellites that actually orbit the planet. They actually put things INTO SPACE."

"Wow..." Lily said, only half listening as she returned to her armour, already bored with what I was saying.

"We barely managed to get ONE ship into space, let alone put tech up there. Venture and I had a side project working to put a spy satellite in orbit so we could track our rivals movements, made it look all bad ass, really powerful lasers that could shine on the ground from orbit, focused through a series of gems so they could be made different colours, and used as a focusing point so that they stayed a complete beam instead of spreading out like normal light, but before we got a chance to launch it the war broke out and we had to shelve the project in favour of more war oriented goals."

"Mmhm..." Lily nodded, sliding the armour plating back and fourth on the chest piece to make sure they moved smoothly.

"Then I threw Brutus on the bed and forced myself on him, he cried at first but he started to enjoy it and I'm pretty sure we bonded on a level I never thought possible. He also calls me SIR now."

"That's nice...Wait what?" Lily finally looked up at me and I burst out laughing.

"Nice of you to join the conversation." I said.

"Sorry, I was just lost in my work." She said, gesturing to the armour in front of her.

"I know, I'm just teasing," I said, "but seriously, we might be able to get this resolved in the next few days and we'll be home before the week is out."

"What makes you think so?" She asked. "I mean I heard the stuff you said about coordinates but what makes you so sure."

"Well I plugged the coordinates into this goggle program and it actually showed me a map with the whole area displayed."

Lily leaned over and looked at the computer again. "That says GOOGLE." She corrected. "What's a Google?"

"I dunno." I shrugged, turning back to the monitor. "So this is the area." I brought the map back up. "This little blue arrow says this is the 'Black Hawk Tribe Native American Reservation' and Ruby was telling me earlier that Xem and Xeha are Native Americans...Venture's base is just off a Zebra village in our world, if these Native Americans are this world's version of Zebras then it stands to reason that this could well be the place."

"Well lets go get the others and get to work planning then." She said, getting up from the table. She took her armour and slid it open with a wave of her hand, the whole thing retracting back into a pack that she carried under her arm.

//////////

As tended to always be the case when I was working, we realized it was six in the morning when we left the lab. Brutus was actually coming down the hall towards us when we left the room, dressed in a guards uniform, rifle on his back. "Hey guys, you're up late." He said, falling into step with us as we headed back the way he'd just come.

"Yeah, I was working on my armour." Lily said, gesturing to the pack she held. "Hopefully it'll be ready to go soon."

"And I might know where Paul's brother is set up." I added. "We were just going to get Paul."

"Oh perfect, it'll give me a chance to change." Brutus said. We got to Brutus's quarters and he vanished into his bed room.

I knocked on the guest room door. "Hey Paul, rise and shine." I called. "We might have found Castor's base, I need you to come look this information over." I heard Paul grumble but no response otherwise.

"HEY! HEY LISTEN!" I yelled, banging on the door harder. "WAKE UP!"

"WOULD YOU SHUT UP!" The door flew open and Ruby roared at me, making me fall back in surprise. She was wrapped in a blanket and I could see Paul on the bed behind her, glaring angrily at the door. "SERIOUSLY, YOU'RE LIKE A FOG HORN!"

"And just what are you doing in there young lady?" Brutus asked, coming out of his room, changed into black denim pants and a blue T-shirt with a cartoon looking human on it.

"I...oh..." She trailed off, blushing brightly when she realized we were all staring at her. "I...I..." She fell silent and slammed the door again quickly, the lock clicking.

"Wow..." Lily said simply, looking from me to Brutus and back to the door.

"Maybe they really are meant to be together." Brutus said softly. "I haven't seen Ruby with a man in years..."

"You see them in bed a lot?" Lily asked, smirking a little.

"No no no." He said quickly. "Just...She has a thing about guys..." He actually looked happy about it though.

"WOULD YOU THREE STOP TALKING OUTSIDE THE DOOR?!" She yelled. "GO DO SOMETHING ELSE! WE'LL MEET YOU IN THE SERVER ROOM!"

Brutus laughed again and moved away from the door. "Come on, lets go round up the others."

//////////

"So that's what I think." I finished, explaining my theory to the others. Jack and Crackshot had joined us, we were still waiting for Paul and Ruby to join us.

"Well it certainly sounds plausible. There aren't a lot of native American places around here." Crackshot said, studying the map on the monitor.

"So what's the plan then?" Jack asked.

"Well we had to practically wage a war against the army we stood against."

"So we should recon the area first." Ruby said, coming into the room with Paul, both still wet from showering.

"Ahh nice of you to join us." Jack said, looking up at them and smirking. "Hope we dinah take yea away from anything important."

"I can still smell what we took em away from." I said, making a face. "Water, soap and sex...gross combination." The two blushed deeply, and, feeling kind of bad that I was teasing them, I launched into my explanation one last time for Paul and Ruby.

"That makes perfect sense." Paul said at the conclusion. "We built a facility there, hidden away in the forested area of the reservation. We paid a fortune for them to allow us to build there, and a fortune more to have the whole thing built in secret."

"So we go Recon the place." Ruby said again. "We'll borrow one of the other Vertibirds, fly out, set down a few miles from there and sneak in."

"Eye'm game." Jack grinned, putting on his accent again. "It's been too long since eye had a chance ta go out an' really brawl."

"I'd feel safer knowing you're there." Ruby grinned. "Baddest ass in the wasteland, we'll probably get there, stop the bad guys and be home for dinner."

"Damned straight." Jack laughed.

"Fine, we'll get this cleared with the higher ups and be on our way ASAP." Brutus said, standing up from the desk. "What about CB?" He asked, looking at Ruby. "She's supposed to go on these missions with us to learn."

"But this isn't a delivery run." Ruby said seriously. "This is a hugely risky mission. We could well die out there."

"We could well die every day in this hellhole." Lily said.

"Dammit...What do you guys think?" She asked, looking at Jack and Crackshot.

"She'll be FURIOUS if we don't take her." Crackshot said. "Risk doesn't factor into it with her."

"Eye'll keep her safe." Jack said. "Bodyguard for the wee lass first, warrior of death and destruction second."

"Alright." Ruby said, still not looking particularly thrilled at the prospect. "I'll get her when they break for lunch in an hour. How much prep time does everyone need?"

"I'm ready now." I shrugged.

"Us too, just gotta grab our packs from our quarters." Crackshot said.

"I need to change into my going out clothes." Brutus smirked, looking down at his shirt.

"I need to finish testing my armour!" Lily said in horror. "An hour at least?" She asked and Ruby just nodded. "Well if I don't finish it I'll keep working on it in the sky wagon."

"Vertibird." I corrected.

"Yeah that thing."

So we headed out once again to prepare to face off against unknown odds to try and restore the Wasteland.

//////////

"You sure this is going to work?" I asked Lily, studying the armour pieces she now wore. Gauntlets half way to her elbows, boots much the same, the collar and finally the deceptively simple looking pack on her back.

"Absolutely. Check this shit out." She grinned. She threw her plasma caster into the air and with a flash of green energy the armour deployed, gauntlets shooting up her arms to her shoulders, boots again doing the same, up to her waist. The pack squeaked a little but it wrapped around her smoothly, wrapping to her shoulders and linking against the arm plating, down around her crotch and linking to the leg pieces, finally it wrapped up around her neck, connecting to the collar as the helmet completed the ensemble. Her eyes lit up green, the same as her magic, and she caught the gun. "See? Piece of cake." She said in her neutral robotic voice.

"WOW!" CB yelled, coming up behind us. "You're like ¡La Fantoma!" She said, walking around Lily and marveling at the armour.

"No no I'm The Mysterious..." Lily trailed off, the helmet opening again and wrapping down around her neck. "¡La Fantoma! I like that...Yeah, nothing says I have to be Mare Do Well here." She smirked.

"That is impressive." Ruby said, studying the armour curiously herself. "I'm amazed you got this done so quickly."

"Well like I said, I have been planning it out for a long time. I knew how it had to be done, what was needed and the tools to do it. I had to adapt it to a human form suit but that was nothing. Best part..." She slid the gun back into it's holster on her back, a magnet locking it in place, slots on the back of the armour popped open and she used her magic to create a pair of metal looking wings that matched her armour perfectly. She held her hands out to CB who slowly reached out and took them. Lily pulled her close and the two floated into the air and soared back and fourth together, CB giggling and hugged Lily tightly as the two flew around the docking bay. To an outside observer it appeared to be technology built into the suit, it might look cool and unexpected, but nothing weird or magical about it.

"Oh Lord she's flyin' now." Jack laughed as he and Crackshot came into the bay. "Dinna drop her!"

"Drop what?" Lily asked, turning hard and letting CB slip from her grip.

The girl barely had a chance to scream in terror before Lily caught her in a magic bubble and set her on the ground.

"THAT WAS AMAZING!" She cheered as Lily set down again, her wings 'retracting' back into the suit.

"That's not funny!" Brutus said, looking horrified.

"Oh grow up you big grump." CB said, sticking her tongue out at him. "It's just fun, not that you know much about that."

"Oh, burn." Ruby laughed, moving towards the Vertibird finally and opening the hatch so we could get in. This one had a much more bland and straight forward configuration, clearly not a personal ship, no personalization or customization had gone into this ship.

"Seriously it's like having a whole group of small children." Crackshot sighed, shaking her head and getting onto the ship.

"They're the same in our dimension." Lily said, following behind her and Jack. I brought up the rear with Paul.

"So are you sure about this?" I asked him. "I know I had a tough time facing down my brother..."

"No I'm not sure, but I know I have to do this." He said, shaking his head and looking at me kind of sadly.

"Don't worry about it, it'll all work out I'm sure." I said, speaking up a little as the ship shook and the engines whined to life. A moment later we were airborne and headed for the base. I knew how Paul had to be feeling, I still felt the same way, having to go and confront Venture yet again...This time I'd stop him completely, even if it meant smashing that stupid brain bowl open with Ebony while I turned the brain to ash with Ivory...

//////////

"You gotta be fucking kidding me...it's a trap." I said flatly, floating the binoculars to my eyes again. The small town down below us was totally deserted, no pyros, no soldiers, no people of any kind. The buildings were run down and crumbling, the road through town in the same state, it looked like any other stretch of abandoned buildings in the wasteland, this one or the Equestrian one. Paul's facility sat tucked into one of the side streets, it didn't have quite the linear design of my building back home, but it had a similar minimalistic military design.

"Hey! Language!" CB said, flicking my ear. She had armoured up again on the flight out and was fully decked in her metal armour and outfitted with her explosives.

"Sorry." I muttered, realizing I had heard her swear...and others swear around her..."Why are you suddenly so worried about my vocabulary?" I asked.

"You're a pretty cartoon of a pony, you shouldn't talk like the adults here."

"Uhh...thanks?" I laughed softly.

"So what do we do?" Paul asked.

"I say we go down and snoop around." Crackshot said. "Check out the buildings and move slowly towards the facility, then kick down the door and start shooting."

"Oh aye Clare, that sounds like a bonnie good idea." Jack chuckled. "Perhaps we should jes' start throwin' grenades from here, then charge in ta town screamin' war cries."

"Lily, how about you do some aerial surveillance?" Brutus asked. "They won't be expecting a lone person flying through the night sky."

"Ooo, good idea." Lily said, nodding and stretching out a bit before her wings popped out of the back of her armour and she flew off into the air. We watched her fly through the air slowly back and fourth, plasma caster in her hands, ready to defend herself if the need arose. It was certainly advantageous to have a flyer around when she was the only one in the whole world.

"I don't see anything..." She said when she finally returned and landed, her wings vanishing again. "I hate to think this is a trap, but it has to be. It's just too quiet..."

"Well nothing we can do but press on." Paul said.

"Well we COULD go back to the base and return in force." Ruby said.

"Nay lassie." Jack said. "We return with an army an' it'll tip ow're hand, I say we push on."

"Jack's right." Brutus said, looking down over the town again. "Trap or not...We leave, they'll know we're coming back in force and they prepare for it, they DON'T know, we return in force, there's no way to sneak up with a group that big, and they still have some time to rally their forces..."

"Fine, lets do this." I said finally, turning back to the path and moving slowly into town, the others following. Paul fell into step beside me, Brutus Ruby and Lily covering the sides and Crackshot covering our rear. Jack walked beside CB in the middle of the group.

"I wish there WERE people to fight, then I wouldn't be so worried." Brutus said softly as we reached the facility. A camera sat outside, but it was pointed away from the door and long broken.

"I don't understand..." Paul said, looking around nervously. "There's just NO ONE...I mean Cas isn't that sloppy in a pre-apocalypse world, let alone the Wasteland." He slid open a panel beside the door to reveal a green glass plate with an outline of a hand on it, it glowed faintly. He put his palm to it and the light vanished, then a single beam of light swept down along the pad, then back up again.

~Welcome back Doctor Cane.~ Displayed across the screen. ~Please present audio identification.~ Replaced it and a moment later a jingle played from a hidden speaker. I should have known there would be harmonic locks here too. Paul looked surprised by the song that played but shook his head a little and smiled.

"There are loved ones in the glory, whose dear forms you often miss. When you close your earthly story, will you join them in their bliss? Will the circle, be unbroken, by and by, by and by? Is a better, home awaiting, in the sky, Lord, in the sky?" He sang back and the door chirped and hissed open.

"Wow...I forgot how sad that song is..." Crackshot said softly, leaning against Jack for a moment.

"Oddly fitting though." Paul said. "He knew we were coming..." We walked into the foyer slowly, weapons still at the ready. The foyer was tall and open, displays of robots and machines sat roped off, also long abandoned, even a cryopod was on display, sitting open so you could see inside of it.

"WELCOME WELCOME ONE AND ALL!" An automated voice blared over the PA, making everyone jump in surprise. "SO GLAD YOU COULD COME VISIT! UNFORTUNATELY DUE TO THE CURRENT SITUATION GOING ON BETWEEN OUR GOVERNMENT AND THE GOVERNMENTS OF OTHER COUNTRIES ALL TOURS ARE SUSPENDED. WE MUST ASK YOU TO LEAVE AND RETURN AFTER WE ARE AGAIN OPEN FOR BUSINESS."

"GlaDOS?" Paul called out. "We're not tourists."

"Doctor Cane." The automated voice replied in a much lower tone. "I was unaware you were bringing guests along with you, my systems assumed they were simply tourists entering with you."

"No no, this whole group is with me...Is...is my brother here?" He asked.

Instead of an answer though, we got an alarm klaxon, red lights flashing and a massive gate slamming over the front door. "CHINESE INFILTRATORS HAVE BREACHED THE FACILITY! CHINESE INFILTRATORS HAVE BREACHED THE FACILITY!"

"Wait what?!" Paul turned around to study the room.

"LOOK OUT!" CB screamed over the sound of the alarm. Before I could identify the cause of her alarm I found a much worse problem, the floor beneath me had dropped out and I was falling into a shaft in the floor. It was designed for a human though so I struck the ground painfully and was flipped backwards, my horn smashing hard against the ground and dazing me badly, keeping me from focusing enough to use magic to keep from falling. I was plunged into darkness as I fell. I thought I heard someone else scream but I wasn't sure. I crashed hard to the ground and the whole world went black.

//////////

I came back to a splitting migraine and a total inability to focus my powers or my vision. I felt nauseous in the worst way. There were two blurs in front of me side by side, one was black and grey, the other was yellow and blue.

"Oh he's waking up..." I recognized Crackshot's gravely voice. "How're you doing Cane?" She asked, her hand running gently through my mane.

"My head hurts, my eyes won't focus and I can't make my head stop throbbing long enough to focus my magic to get a healing potion from my pack."

"It's not your head..." She said softly. "Sections of the floor opened up and you and I were unlucky enough to be over two of those, I don't know about the others. You came down head first and it knocked you out. I managed to land on my bony ass, but a half dozen robots were waiting for us, they took our stuff and threw us in this cell...They also put a ring on your horn. My new friend here was just telling me about how that works. You were out for about half an hour."

I reached up with a hoof and rubbed at my eyes while Crackshot helped me sit up. I looked at her for a long moment until my eyes could focus again, then over at the other blur.

It took a moment for my eyes to catch up again. The ring was the first thing I recognized. It was magical suppression ring, four wires came off of it down around the face and to a collar around the neck, which had four shotgun shells seated in it in correlation to where the wires came down, so try to pull the ring off, the collar blows your head off. But then I was drawn to the face...the unicorn sitting across from me...The bright blue eyes, the matching blue mane that hung off the side of his neck, too long and in desperate need of a cut, the coat, bright yellow but dulled with dirt and grime...the cutie mark grid of binary code adorning his flank.

"Hey little brother..." He said softly, managing a weak, embarrassed smile.

Footnote: Level up

Perk Added: PERK SYSTEM OFFLINE DUE TO INTERFERENCE FROM MAGICAL SUPPRESSION DEVICE, PLEASE REMOVE DEVICE TO SELECT NEW PERK