Steel Factor pt.2- Marelia

[SunlightHeart]

This is a continuation of of Fallout Equestria- Steel Factor

---------------

Marelia, sister city to Stalliongrad. In its time Marelia was considered one of the last bastions of peaceful innovation Equestrian soil. The city stood proud, housing several highly advanced Ministry facilities all running multiple projects revolving around robotics, communications, logistics, and weapons manufacturing (unbeknownst to many of the city's residents). The city is also home to the largest Solaris power grid in the nation, "Clean, renewable energy forever..." was its slogan and to this day it produces a steady stream of power to the city.

As benign as city seemed on the surface, it was still targeted by the zebra threat. Luckily the warhead missed, but the detonation was still close enough to rock the city, killing a large portion of its inhabitants. Due to Stalliongrads proximity to the healing mega spell that went off near Stalliongrad and a large moving body of water many of the environmental hazards of the waste are absent in and around the city. Because of these factors the city was able to thrive after the war.

Currently the Remenants of the Gryphos Commonwealth heavily occupy the town. With their help, the ponies of Marelia have been able to restore a great deal of the city to working order. With the technological prowess of the Commonwealth's Institute and army of agents, androids, and robots the city has become a well defended fortress of commerce and a shining beacon of what can be accomplished if ponies put aside their difference and work towards the revival of Equestria, equalled only by its sister city, Stalliongrad.

-----

In the end, several of the mercenaries who had arrived for the task opted out. Whether it was too dangerous, or they didn't care was unknown, but it wasn't held against them and they were allowed to leave. After all preparations were completed the Land Shark departed Stalliongrad. The ride in the hovercraft barely lasted an hour before the party and their equipment was offloaded into the wastes between the two cities. With 42 miles left, it was decided to split the trek up into two, 7 and a half hour days of travel.

Finally, during the morning of their second day of travel, they arrived. The final stretch to Marelia was a long, worn- but sturdy- bridge linking the island to the rest of the land around it. The bridge was covered in the rusted, half-destroyed wrecks of vehicles, many stripped of their spark engines.

Even from a ways out everyone in group could see the Marelia Command Transfer Tower rising above the skyscrapers of the city like a vigilant sentinel protecting everything under its charge. If not for the dirtied, air blasted, and decrepit look of the buildings, one would not even be able to tell that the city had been damaged. From the bridge the city looked like a futuristic Garden of Eden.

The end of the bridge where the city began proper was gated off and heavily guarded. At least seven griffons, all strangely similar stood at attention. Three stood at street level with the other four posted above the gate providing overwatch. Each one was armed with weapons ranging from magical laser rifles to light machine guns. The only notable moment was the turning of heads and shifting of eyes as the guards followed the party's movement.

Right in front of the gate were three heavy sentinel bots, each totting enough firepower to chop up a light armored vehicle. They were stock still, their weapons not even tracking the approaching group.

Once at the gate, Twist stepped up to talk with one of the griffons. The wait was excruciating, being surrounded by so much firepower was sure death should the party be found out or they turn hostile for the hell of it. The conversation soon grew softer and less tense sounding. The two remaining griffons on the ground came over to the group and started to systematically inspect the group, frisking each member and searching the cart that Sugar and Malik were pulling. After the griffons chatted amongst themselves for a second the one that had been speaking with Twist walked over to her and said something while nodding. The Star Paladin gave him a sack of bits. Once the money was exchanged the sentinels parted and the gate started lurking open. The sounds of metal grinding on stone pierced the air like a dagger.

"Welcome to Marelia, enjoy you stay." one of the griffons said as the party passed her.

The city was breathtaking. Even though many of the building had there windows blown out the still stood proud, many hosting a vendors stall or two. Ponies and griffons milled about in relatively clean and well kept clothing while foals and cubs darted playfully between the legs of adults. Several ponies were seen working stone, either breaking it to clear debris or laying it down to repair foundations. The smells of freshly cooked food permeated the air of the area and a fountain flowing with fresh, clean water could be seen down the street.

High above them vibrant billboards hung over streets. A large one with a griffon claw grasping a pony hoof stood out the most "From the ashes, we'll help you rise." was written across it. The towering stature of the buildings helped to funnel the effects of the billboards down to the streets below. Several others could be seen as well, all sporting the same motif of dual survival and griffon aid. Another eye catching billboard could be seen from nearly a block away. The silhouette of a griffon pointing a gun at a blue pony silhouette with the words "Equis Revolucion terrorists are not welcome here!" Written across. The imagery shockingly different from the other uplifting signs around it.

A loud hum caught everyone's attention. Seven stories above the streets, a large black sky carriage, pulled by a griffon, drifted through the sky. On top of the vehicle, a diamond dog with a large wrapped package on his back peered over the railings at the population. The back hatch was also open, revealing a female griffon with a cybernetic left arm and a cloaked figure. She was fast at work on something on a laptop. Whereas, the cloaked figure just stood there, the claws on the ends of his legs, giving away the fact that it wasn't a pony.

Twist gritted her teeth when she saw the femal griffon. Her face scrunted up in irritation. She wasn't suppose to be here, there were only suppose to be 3 high profile targets.

The party continued trotting down the street until they reached a large map detailing the city. Marelia was split into three zones: Low Town- The housing for the menaces to society and, according to intel, where the Solaris Inc. power grid's hub was located there; Presidium Walk- where the high class and the governing body live, the Marelia Command Transfer Tower was there; and Agora- the primary market area, residential quarters and the Safehouse were there as well as the Ministry robotics factory.

Right now, the only thing on Twist's mind was leading everyone safely to the safehouse.

[UnitP0N13]

Malik let out an electronic huff as the sun beat down against his obsidian coloured armor. Now that he thought about it, black was possibly the worst colour for traveling in the desert by day. But it didn't matter. He was pretty happy to be pulling Raven's cart and showing off how strong and tough he was.

But he had to keep his emotions toned down to a lesser model of Pegatron.

If anyone found out he was capable of full pony intellect and conversation, he would most likely been taken in for questions and dismantling, possibly an attempt to make a cyborg mutant experiment if the technology allowed it. Part of the reason he still feels partially iffy about the Steel Rangers. While they haven't attempted to strap him in, drain him of his knowledge, and otherwise try to find what makes Mal tick, he figured they could be waiting until they find him unfit to complete the mission or until he has completed the mission to do otherwise.

On the other hoof, he hasn't heard of them mistreating AI before, but he still couldn't let his guard down. Every garden, a snake. And every sanctuary, a breach.

"De-estination on the right in: three- make a u-turn when possible." Mal droned on, simulating the voice of a very early, and horribly buggy GPS with every word seemingly recorded at different times and pitches.

He found talking like a navigation system was incredibly amusing, given how untrustworthy they were and how annoying they could be. He was also partially entertained by the glare Sugar threw him everytime he spoke. She hasn't really spoke up quite yet despite being paired up with him to pull the cart, though he imagined he'll be getting the talk in private.

Malik looked up to the clouded, but mildly clear sky.

Today was a day for vapor trails.

[SunlightHeart]

Fury, thy name is Sugar. The unarmored mare wore gritted teeth in an attempt to stifle her urge to bash Malik's head in with a rock. How does Raven put up with his antics? She wondered. She'd love nothing more than to violently dismantle the bot for the sole purpose of figuring out why he was so goddess dang annoying. But she couldn't do that, lest she incur Raven's wrath. Sugar shivered, that was one mare that she didn't want to get into a buck out with. Sugar looked over her shoulder, Raven was busy snickering at Mal's continuous droning. And he makes her happy, what right do I have to stand in the way?" her scowl turned into a small smile, which soon became a frown again the moment she heard Mal's voice.

"In the name of Celestia, please be quiet! We are in the city, we know where we are going, you can stop with the act now!" Sugar huffed, while Raven nearly fell out of the cart from laughing.

The city was more grand then any of them could ever imagine. "Whoa, someone's been workin' hard to build utopia? You sure this the right place?" Arik whistled at scope of the scene around him.

[UnitP0N13]

"I'm sorry, did you mean: 5th and West Street? Setting course for Africa.....destination on the left in one, one, one, one, one, one, one......one, one, one, one, one miles." Malik shuddered in his step, trying to unbelievable hard not to laugh.

He couldn't stop. It was just too funny!

On a different note, it was nice finally getting off the Behemoth. As much as the mobile fortress appealed to him before, the constant stares of everyone around him and Raven were somewhat suffocating, making spending time together in public a little bit uncomfortable. Plus he liked being outside every now and then, and he was sure that Raven would say the same. Mentally, however, he was worried.

Given Raven's injury, he was worried that she might somehow re-injure her leg during the mission. He didn't mind being her bodyshield at all, but he knew that if anything like that happened to her, it would put a damper on the mission and it would devastate Raven's heart, not being able to give what's coming to the Common Wealth and the mutants working with them.

He held his head high. In the end, worrying wasn't going to do much for him, and he knew it. For now, he would have to keep moving forward, and hope nothing bad happens.

[Nexar]

The guards didn't turn out to be much of a problem, and neither was the walk towards Marelia. In fact, the Paladin almost wished that they could walk for more than only seven or eight hours per day. But she wasn't the one giving the orders, and so she didn't say anything. She also kept quiet when they reached the gates of the city, which was probably the best thing she could do anyway. But even as she stood in front of that many guns, she kept her coolness and kept her mouth away from the gun handle in front of her.

Inside the city she looked at the billbords as she walked next to the cart, and together with the rifle on her side she didn't need to do much anyway in order to look like the mercenary guarding the traders. So apparently she did a good job, right? When the pegatron began acting like some sort of outdated pre-war machine, she turned her head towards him and raised an eyebrow as he mentioned a place named Africa, asking herself where that might be. "You might want to keep quiet, pegatron. Acting like if you had pre-war software and vast knowledge about Equestria makes me consider hacking right into your mind to look through your code." As she talked, her voice and face were emotionless, leaving it for everyone themselves to judge if she would really do as announced or not. Then she took her place next to the cart once again, waiting to finally reach their safehouse.

[UnitP0N13]

Malik fell silent. Not really because she was threatening him, but that in some way, she was right. Even if he was being terrible on purpose, pre-war technology was still valuable, so even if she wouldn't actually hack the data out of him, others may not be so lenient in their intent. He continued pulling the cart, every hoofstep closer to the goal than the last.

He thought about the mission, and the enemies they might be faced with. The Commonwealth and the big bad of the Diamond Dog. An interesting pairing, but he wondered which of the two would backstab the other first. If memory served correctly, they both had conflicting interests, both of which were domination in some form but different in intent. The Griffons may seek full control over Equestria, Kasimir probably has other plans, ones that only temporarily fit with the current Griffon ideals. After all, it's not often that a diamond dog genius existed, especially not one that was pulled of the amount of shenanigans that Kasimir has, and even less often that one should decide to ally themself with the Commonwealth.

Malik continued pulling the cart, processing his thoughts.

The Commonwealth, while seeing some potential use in Kasimir, probably do not see the potential in him that could lead to a rather nasty betrayal. And why would they? The only thing they care about was keeping the situation under control, keeping everything under control. Anything they can't control is a threat. As long as they can manipulate him, keep him from taking all of Equestria for himself, everything will be fine. But Malik doubted that it would work out like that forever. Eventually, either side will become useless to the other and be disposed of...but which side will drop the ball first?

[Cainiam]

[Agora District, Pickled Pony Bar]

Not much earlier on the other side of the Agora district in a small and rather discrete bar sat a hooded figure. Hooded figures were naturally very suspicious, and this small and discrete bar had seen its fair share of said customer. The few other ponies and griffons that frequented the bar in the middle of the day were used to such dealings, and kept themselves at a respectable distance, one that would excuse them from any crime attributed to the hooded figure. As hooded figures went, this hooded figure was at the disadvantage of being a griffon in a city where ponies and griffons were in equal measure, this put them at the disadvantage of already definitely not being 50% of the city's population, which made their identity much more guessable. This hooded figure did not seem to mind however, and remained perched on a chair, watching the door, waiting for something.

That something then proceeded to enter the bar, encased in a small steel box and tied with tight magically reinforced rope to the back of a crimson red pegasus. The pegasus looked around the bar with a look one might attribute to wonder, before spotting the hooded figure, and giving what might of been a subtle nod if not for the fact every eye in the room was already on her. The hooded figure reciprocated in kind, and raised a talon to beckon the pegasus over. The pegasus instantly picked up the meaning of the message and hopped over, trying to keep a straight face, but letting a small smile break through. The pegasus stopped at the table, and the griffon's claw opened and twisted to face upwards in another non-verbal clue for the pegasus to pick up on, which she did so with gusto. The ropes were removed and the package placed in the open palm which then spirited it away to an undisclosed location on the hooded figure's person. The figure then rose, nodded once and dropped a pouch of caps onto the table, before striding out of the doorway and the district. A few seconds later one of the patrons rose up and excused himself, before following him.

As the atmosphere relaxed the pegasus began to giggle and open the pouch of caps. Zep had seen so many of these shady dealings, but this was the first time she had ever performed one herself, and the very thought of herself as the grim and secretive courier made her grin like mad. It was like something out of one of those pre-war adverts about spies, right down to that final tail. She counted the caps quickly and was actually surprised to see they were all there, she was half hoping the mysterious hooded figure would have played her, the double-cross, but part of her was glad that wasn't the case. Caps always came in handy. She had thought about crossing them herself, but there wasn't really any reason to.

She hid the caps somewhere safe and left the bar, her mind puzzling over who that mysterious figure could have been. After a few brief seconds her thoughts drifted quickly to "where to next?" She'd only just arrived in Marelia this morning, a city this big was sure to have its share of adventures to be had. She just had to keep her eyes open, and ears ready. She wandered further into the Agora district, taking in brief snatches of stories and glimpses of ponies, and hoping one would be daring and exciting enough to catch her attention.

[AirForceBrony]

(((Sorry... Wrong one... )))

[SunlightHeart]

Malik fell silent. Not really because she was threatening him, but that in some way, she was right. Even if he was being terrible on purpose, pre-war technology was still valuable, so even if she wouldn't actually hack the data out of him, others may not be so lenient in their intent. He continued pulling the cart, every hoofstep closer to the goal than the last.

He thought about the mission, and the enemies they might be faced with. The Commonwealth and the big bad of the Diamond Dog. An interesting pairing, but he wondered which of the two would backstab the other first. If memory served correctly, they both had conflicting interests, both of which were domination in some form but different in intent. The Griffons may seek full control over Equestria, Kasimir probably has other plans, ones that only temporarily fit with the current Griffon ideals. After all, it's not often that a diamond dog genius existed, especially not one that was pulled of the amount of shenanigans that Kasimir has, and even less often that one should decide to ally themself with the Commonwealth.

Malik continued pulling the cart, processing his thoughts.

The Commonwealth, while seeing some potential use in Kasimir, probably do not see the potential in him that could lead to a rather nasty betrayal. And why would they? The only thing they care about was keeping the situation under control, keeping everything under control. Anything they can't control is a threat. As long as they can manipulate him, keep him from taking all of Equestria for himself, everything will be fine. But Malik doubted that it would work out like that forever. Eventually, either side will become useless to the other and be disposed of...but which side will drop the ball first?

The guards didn't turn out to be much of a problem, and neither was the walk towards Marelia. In fact, the Paladin almost wished that they could walk for more than only seven or eight hours per day. But she wasn't the one giving the orders, and so she didn't say anything. She also kept quiet when they reached the gates of the city, which was probably the best thing she could do anyway. But even as she stood in front of that many guns, she kept her coolness and kept her mouth away from the gun handle in front of her.

Inside the city she looked at the billboards as she walked next to the cart, and together with the rifle on her side she didn't need to do much anyway in order to look like the mercenary guarding the traders.So apparently she did a good job, right? When the pegatron began acting like some sort of outdated pre-war machine, she turned her head towards him and raised an eyebrow as he mentioned a place named Africa, asking herself where that might be. "You might want to keep quiet, pegatron. Acting like if you had pre-war software and vast knowledge about Equestria makes me consider hacking right into your mind to look through your code." As she talked, her voice and face were emotionless, leaving it for everyone themselves to judge if she would really do as announced or not. Then she took her place next to the cart once again, waiting to finally reach their safehouse.

[Agora District]

Sugar was about to jump down Malik's throat, but Gale's interruption stopped her. Even after this period of travel with the mare, Sugar still couldn't come to any conclusion other then "I don't trust her". How could she? Gale had no tells when she communicated, for all Sugar knew the cyborg could have been dead serious about stopping right there and hacking the robot until he was a metal vegetable. How could she know...

Deciding to drop it, Sugar simply put her head down and continued pulling the cart alongside Malik.

"Okay, that's enough of this. We can't start falling apart before the even accomplish anything." Twist called over her shoulder. "Intel says that were are looking for an establishment named Quick Fixes near the center of this district suppose to be our little shop."

The leader trotted over to Gale's side so that she wouldn't have to talk too loud. "Gale, I need you eyes watching for anything suspicious. I trust you to let us know if something's wrong, too many of us looking around will draw attention."

Twist took point in front of the group and started to lead them through the district. The ponies and griffons around paid them no mind for the most part. A curious glance here, an inquisitive stare there most of the attention they garnered was normal. Occasionally a peddler of some sorts would approach the group, offering them various goods. Everything from weaponry to electronics was offered, but Twist respectfully waved each hopeful away.

Twist looked around at the prosperous shops and the happy locals, everything seemed off. She couldn't place her hooves on it though. "Gale, now tht we're here... Is this anything like what you expected?"

----------

The cart hobbled along the recently repaired roads. The click-clack of its wheels against concrete blocks formed a comforting pattern of noise that one could get lost. During the walk, Raven had fallen asleep in the cart and Arik was leaning over the front rail of the cart trying to get Mal's attention.

"Pssh... PSSH!!! Heya buddy, kinda quiet up there. What's on your mind?"

[UnitP0N13]

"A lot of things, actually, but it wouldn't be wise to speak about them...out loud, anyway. We should be fine if we merely whispered. The bustle of the district will mask our conversation." Malik answered without turning his head, keeping his voice to low level, but loud enough for Arik to hear.

"I was thinking about Kasimir and the Commonwealth. The way I see it, their little truce won't last long. The Commonwealth believe that they can manipulate Kas long enough to assert full control over Equestria, but this a diamond dog genius we're talking about here. I would imagine he's got his own ace up his sleeve, an army of followers in case that fails, and his own vision for the new Equestrian rule."

The robot goes silent as a few more peddlers passed by, politely waved away by Twist as the group continued forth with the cart. As soon as they were gone, Malik started up again.

"As you may know, out of the many races in this world, none of them really like to share. If they do share, it's generally because they are getting something out of it, physical or emotional. Sort of like a business deal, you see. And when one side stops giving their goods, so will the other. It's just a matter of coming out with the most profit if and when that happens. With Kasimir and the Commonwealth...there is no 'if'. Someone is bound to draw on the other first, and my bet's on Kasimir. Whether or not he has his own diamond dog army won't matter with the weapons factory and the military robot both running at ninety percent efficiency...under his control." The pegatron grimaced, maintaining speed with Sugar as they pulled the cart.

[SunlightHeart]

"A lot of things, actually, but it wouldn't be wise to speak about them...out loud, anyway. We should be fine if we merely whispered. The bustle of the district will mask our conversation." Malik answered without turning his head, keeping his voice to low level, but loud enough for Arik to hear.

"I was thinking about Kasimir and the Commonwealth. The way I see it, their little truce won't last long. The Commonwealth believe that they can manipulate Kas long enough to assert full control over Equestria, but this a diamond dog genius we're talking about here. I would imagine he's got his own ace up his sleeve, an army of followers in case that fails, and his own vision for the new Equestrian rule."

The robot goes silent as a few more peddlers passed by, politely waved away by Twist as the group continued forth with the cart. As soon as they were gone, Malik started up again.

"As you may know, out of the many races in this world, none of them really like to share. If they do share, it's generally because they are getting something out of it, physical or emotional. Sort of like a business deal, you see. And when one side stops giving their goods, so will the other. It's just a matter of coming out with the most profit if and when that happens. With Kasimir and the Commonwealth...there is no 'if'. Someone is bound to draw on the other first, and my bet's on Kasimir. Whether or not he has his own diamond dog army won't matter with the weapons factory and the military robot both running at ninety percent efficiency...under his control." The pegatron grimaced, maintaining speed with Sugar as they pulled the cart.

[Agora District]

Arik was amazed at the pegatron's insight. While not new to playing the fool, Malik was the last one he expected to show such a dramatic shift in demeanor. If the situation was serious enough to cause the bubbly robot to turn inward and piece this together then perhaps he wasn't taking this seriously enough. Arik Leaned closer to the pegatron and looked as serious as he could without his arms. "I agree with you. Something is going to give."

The griffon looked around quickly before returning to the conversation. "Also, I feel like someone's not telling us everything... Look at this place. I thought the Commonwealth were suppose to be ruthless subjugators, these ponies are content, hell they're happy!" He sighed as he continued thinking. "It's doesn't add up, this place is a neo metropolis thanks to the griffons. We've assumed that we joined the right side based on one side of the story... This doesn't sit right with me, everything feels off, like we are running on half truths."

[UnitP0N13]

"Maybe we aren't the only ones being fed half truths. This is the first civilization, the first actual city I've seen since the beginning. Most of the others are just small settlements of people banded together for survival. I think more than a few ponies would kill to be able to live a civil life again, like their ancestors long ago, to not have to constantly struggle for survival. This isn't just some city, Arik...this is their sanctuary. Being here means being safe, and that's something more valuable than any gun out in the Wastes. Especially to those who have families."

He stared straight forward, continuing to pull the cart as he talked.

"And to those ponies, Commonwealth, Steel Rangers? Who cares who actually runs this place? As long as their families are safe. That's all they care about and will care about until they aren't safe anymore. And I think the Commonwealth know that...which means there's probably something more sinister going on in the background...I might have an idea or two as to what, but it's all speculation."

[SunlightHeart]

"Maybe we aren't the only ones being fed half truths. This is the first civilization, the first actual city I've seen since the beginning. Most of the others are just small settlements of people banded together for survival. I think more than a few ponies would kill to be able to live a civil life again, like their ancestors long ago, to not have to constantly struggle for survival. This isn't just some city, Arik...this is their sanctuary. Being here means being safe, and that's something more valuable than any gun out in the Wastes. Especially to those who have families."

He stared straight forward, continuing to pull the cart as he talked.

"And to those ponies, Commonwealth, Steel Rangers? Who cares who actually runs this place? As long as their families are safe. That's all they care about and will care about until they aren't safe anymore. And I think the Commonwealth know that...which means there's probably something more sinister going on in the background...I might have an idea or two as to what, but it's all speculation."

"I have a theory or two as well... Chances are we won't get any answers from our Ranger friends." He said as his eyes drifted between the mares accompanying them. "You remember that griffon that attacked us on the way to Stalliongrad, Shadow-wing? I need to talk to him."

The horns of several sky carriages blared loudly in the distance. Slowly, the commotion on the streets started to die down as everyone seamlessly started moving closer to the sidewalks. Nothing wanting to to look suspicious Sugar tapped Malik and gestured for him to follow her lead. They pulled the cart over to the side and blended into the crowd as best they could.

Five black armored carriages flew overhead, each pulled along by two griffons. One of the vehicles was much more heavily armored than the ones in front or behind it. A single griffon sentry sat atop the carriages roof, his eyes scanning the crowd below and the skies above for any possible threat.

[Cainiam]

Zep was growing bored. Ponies here led such boring lives, the most boring lives. Zep had been to a lot of places throughout the waste, but none had featured ponies with lives so... safe. Even the criminal element had hidden themselves away... if they even existed. She had had such high hopes after the shady bar meeting, maybe only the griffons here were shaky? Most of the griffons seemed to be the armed guards and respectable citizens though. She sighed and looked up just in time to see a convoy of armoured carriages flying overhead pulled by griffons. Yep, seemed like the griffons were the only ones interesting around here. Didn't seem to be any armed ponies around here.

Just as she was making her mind up she was almost nudged by a pegatron hauling a cart. Straight away that was enough to mark this group as more interesting than every other pony in this boring city. She fell back, seeing how they were trying to merge into the crowd and following suit. She'd snoop some conversation and scope out if these guys were interesting. From appearances she could see they were new in town, and they didn't have the typical walk of a band of merchants, they were on edge, eyes flitting around, trying too hard to blend in. Yes, these guys looked very promising. The red pegasus grinned to herself, looks like there might be fun to be had in this "utopia" after all.

[UnitP0N13]

The robot stared straight forward during the time it took for the carriages to fly overhead, trying to act his part as best as he could and not get distracted by the spectacle.

"Who knows...you might just get to chat with him sooner than you think. That, or those carriages are carrying Commonwealth officials. Though I can see Kasimir being in the reinforced carriage, I doubt he would show himself in public, even in his own territory. Too many risks, would draw attention...and scare the citizens." Malik spoke in a quick, but hushed tone.

"...But it'd be a pretty good tactic for locking the place down. Letting everyone know who's large and in charge. Keep the people in and any...unsavory folk out."

Malik stood perfectly still, not letting himself shudder or shiver, even as he felt the eyes of the sentry gleam over the crowd, and him within it. His mind began to waver ever so slightly with the temptation of paranoia, the fear that he could be found out with the slightest mistake. The robot's eyes desired to wander, but he kept them straight forward. Any sign of distraction could be a death sentence for him and the group, and with an easily excitable mind like his...

...the chatter of the Agora District was a living nightmare for him.

[SunlightHeart]

[Agora District]

[Objective- Disrupt the Commonwealth procession in the Agora and recover Command Tower Memory Orbs]

[Miasma/ +45 rads/ 24x 40mm grenades/ 5x Spark Batteries/ 5 rad away/ 5 Blood Packs]

[Miles/ +45 rads/ 150x 45. caliber rounds./ 15x 308. rounds/ Messorem/ 3 Zebra Remedies(Agility/Magic/Perception/ 5 rad away/ 5 Healing Potions]

Miasma looked down at the caravan. Using her magic, she quickly pulled out her tri- beam laser rifle. She popped out the spark battery, it looked fresh, so she closed the hatch. After her check, she lifted the weapon up to her eye and sighted in on her targets.

Miles was an impressive tactician. The stallion’s observations and plans were solid, she couldn’t pick out any glaring flaws in his proposal.

“I don’t use explosives with my launcher, but I can ground at least one carriage with my TBLR,” she didn’t see any flaws, but she could add to it. “In my saddle bags, there is rappel gear, once the initial shots are fired I can blanket the area in smoke from here, then join you at ground level.”

Luckily the convoy was moving slowly, and it would be passing below them in a few moments. a thirty- five to forty meter shot on an unsuspecting target was doable, but the nature of her weapon would make it slightly difficult to hit any particular place on a griffon, hopefully just hitting them would be enough to cause them to crash.

“I’ll be ready to fire on your mark.”

Miles nodded in approval at Miasma’s input before lowering himself into a slight crouch, and setting the butt of the sniper firmly against his shoulder, telekinetically flipping the sight covers upwards. He was now able to observe the caravan below through the zoom of the scope. Perhaps taking out a pilot first would be the better course of action? Might cause the carriage to tumble, thus rendering the sentry somewhat unable to do anything. But then again, these were Griffons they were dealing with. He might be able to dislodge himself and take flight, and that would pose a whole new problem.

So, take out the sentry first, and then move on to at least one of the pilots. Ground the carriage, while Miasma took down another one and provided a form of cover. Get groundside, either by rappelling or using controlled bursts of self levitation - though the latter would be quicker, it would be difficult to conduct without using one of his remedies, and that would limit their time window even further.

Anyway, next step was to make sure there wasn’t anyone to cause more trouble on the ground, and then move forward and cut into the carriage, after dealing with the remaining pilot, if necessary. Miles could only hope that the transports they downed held their target. As he lined up a shot on the sentry, leading slightly ahead to compensate for the target’s movements and the faint traces of wind pull, the mercenary whispered a prayer to Cadence - whom the Crystals adopted as a deity more often than Luna and Celestia - that this plan would go as planned.

Miles drew in his breath, steadying his magical grip on the rifle, and the crosshairs of his scope a small distance before the pilot griffon, as he spoke, “Ready? On my mark… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Mark!”

And with the final word, he fired.

Miasma didn’t even wait to to confirm Miles’ shot, the moment the word “mark” fully left his lips she pumped the trigger of her beam rifle, releasing three spreads of deadly magical energy at her unsuspecting target.

Two of Miasma’s shots went wide, melting the stone and a few panes of glass on the building passed the griffons pulling the carriage in front of the heavily armored one. The third blast however found purchase at the base of necks of one of the carriage’s pullers. The griffon looked surprised for a moment. Bright red veins of energy rapidly started to snake across the unlucky escort’s body before bursting into a brilliant display of light that ended just as quickly as it started, leaving a falling drizzle of ash where the griffon once was.

The remaining griffon barely reacted to the death of his partner, probably much too engrossed in trying to stabilize the rapidly degrading flight pattern of his now underpowered carriage. The wayward vehicle slammed into the building across the street, dropping chunks of concrete on the crowd below. Ponies and griffons screamed and fled desperately from the falling stones and metal. With its sudden decrease in speed, the heavily armored carriage behind it slammed into its back.

Miles’ shot, on the other hand, missed by centimeters, the projectile whizzing past the sentry’s head to slam into the building beyond. The partial Crystal unicorn whispered a curse, his mind coming up with a few excuses blaming his rifle - such as the scope being out of alignment, but he shoved them aside. Such thoughts were childish, and he had a job to do at the moment. He was more of a melee fighter anyway, and should have taken that into account.

At least one of Miasma’s shots met its mark, disintegrating the griffon she’d shot at into a glowing cloud of ash. It had the desired effect, as the carriage was now underpowered, and it crashed into a building across the way, and was then impacted by the heavier carriage behind it. Miles loosened Messorem in its sheath - the blue light produced by his magical aura’s manifestation around the handle, conflicting with the green light from the gem on the pommel, producing a slight turquoise color - but he didn’t draw it out as the damaged carriages began to descend towards the ground below. He continued to scan through his scope, trying to get an estimate of the damage, speaking while he did so, “Not quite as planned.. But we can compromise. Think you could provide cover to get us down there now, or wait until they’re on the ground?”

Miasma used her magic to pull the rappel rope from her bag and tossed it over the edge of their vantage point. She then tied the other end of to the base of what used to be a pillar.

“Yeah. You start descending I’ll lay down smoke and join you in a second,” she said as she spun Catch- 22’s cylinder until the smoke grenades were first to be fired.

Both carriages scraped across the buildings as they plummeted. The sounds of panicked whinnying and squawking intertwined with the sound of crashing stone and shattering glass creating the perfect symphony of destruction.

The carriage hit the ground, rocking the Agora and crushing several unfortunate bystanders.

Right as the pandemonium reached its apex, two white capsules trailing thick tails of white smoke slammed into the down vehicle, blanketing the streets with vision obscuring white clouds.

[UnitP0N13]

Malik stood in horror of this turn of events. The mission, and keeping his own identity safe left his mind as his body leaped into action, away from the carts as he ran towards the carriages to assist those that may haven been trapped beneath, but still managed to survive. He used his wings to fan away the clouds of smoke as he charged to where he had last seen the carriages land.

"I can save them...I can still save them, I-I just need to get this thing off of them!!" He told himself, grabbing a hold of the battered carriage that now layed in ruin upon the street of Agora.

For the first time in a long while, Malik felt the stab of emotional agony and guilt at his heart...for every single pony and griffon that had been below was most certainly dead. Each had been crushed instantly the moment the carriage had touched ground...and Malik knew this. He just...

He couldn't believe what he was seeing...

But as his eyes scanned the dead, he saw something that chilled him to the core of his being: a griffon female, faced down. Dead, just like the others. Equally crushed as the bodies around her. But he saw something that made the world stop spinning, time from ticking, and that moment from ever being erased from his memory: a tiny griffon claw sticking out from under her belly. A child. A mother. A family...NEEDLESSLY KILLED.

Where Malik once found difficulty in lifting the steel box, he found only more strength as he slowly began to crush and compact the carriage, little by little, his fear now replaced by an unfathomable rage that no being could ever hope to understand, nor any computer could ever hope to process. An almost fiery steam jetted from the exhausts in his wings and his sides as his hard-drive fought to keep up with his own emotions. In a fit of absolute rage, he spun around and gave challenge to the careless assassins.

"WHO FIRED THAT SHOT?!" He almost roared into the panicked district, stopping almost all but the most frightened of denizens as they began their escape, their bodies frozen in a mix of fear and shock now, turning and looking towards the source of the inquiry, which only few could actually see due to the steam and the smoke. "Whoever you are...I'll have you know you just ended the lives of numerous ponies and griffons, and ended those of a FAMILY!! Your action will not go unpunished!"

It was only now that he realized he did not have his weapon on him. But it didn't matter...

"By the law of the Waste, by the justice of my heart, I'll KILL ALL of you!!" The robot stood on his hind legs, as if it were natural, splayed his steel wings, smashed his metal hooves together with a resounding 'CLANK', slamming them to the ground as he awaited the appearance of the two assassins.

He had next to no experience with hand to hand combat, but he had read about it before in the many books he had read over the years. The bot would just have to hope the his hooves would land where he needed them to, and let his immense power do the rest.

"Come...and let me slay you!!"

[status Effect: Frenzied]

[unable to flee or surrender until all enemies are dead, or until he has been knocked out/killed.]

[Cainiam]

Zep was bubbling with excitement as she pretended to watch the procession above, but constantly stole a gaze or two at the motley crew ahead. That all changed however when the procession became a lot more interesting. A spark of red caught her eye and she recognised the tell-tale burst of a laser, her quick eyes spotting another two at the same time, somepony had a tri-beam. She was shaking as she watched the carriage spin out of control, but not out of fear; this was fricking awesome. It was as if time slowed down while the carriage went wild, she could see the panicked expression on the griffon's face, the resounding crash of the reinforced chassis on the stonework of nearby buildings, then she saw the carriages heading right for the ground. Goodbye boredom.

Zep flared her wings and took to the air as the carriages flew downwards, she wanted a full view of this scene. This was one of the best things she'd seen in ages. As the carriage impacted the ground she winced in emphasis, but her grin remained fixed on her face. The civilians were just collateral, intensifying the impact of what was happening, just like in all those vids. Her hoof grew itchy as the urge to grab her SMG's and just get speed in there and get involved intensified, but the scene was too beautiful from up here. She wished she had now of those old cameras right now, this would have been something she'd love to have seen again. Then the ground was obscured from view by smoke and Zep let out a startled cry. She couldn't miss the exciting climax! She flew in to get a closer look, but stopped a little above the carriages as the robot she had been so interested about earlier completely flipped a nut. She couldn't believe her eyes, this was the greatest thing in the history of ponies.

She cheered as he cleared the smoke, and made a noise of disgust as he revealed the flattened bystanders in their gross glory. She actually backed off a little as the robot roared into the heavens, a robot with such emotion. This was straight out of a movie. He must be the protagonist! She should be rooting for him then and not these laser-wielding assassins. The way that the robot posed and crashed his hooves together with a metallic thunk was all she needed to have her cheering him on. "Yeah! Robot! You take them out!" she shouted and whooped. Man she could not wait to see this fight. Oh, man, this was going to be so awesome.

[Nexar]

Gale Force was just about to comment on the talking about an "Utopia", mainly saying that an utopia isn't possible, when the shooting started. She immediatelly crouched down a bit and grabbed the weapon handle with her mouth, despite being unused to use a gun that way, and spread her wings to cover her head from shrapnell. Doing so she only covered the sides of her head, leaving the front open for her to see forward as she pulled the gun up to where she heard the shots coming from. Her tongue already wrapped itself around the trigger so she could lay suppressive fire on their attackers, when she saw that they weren't attacking them but the sky carriage, which completely changed all of her plans.

The thought of maybe gaining an ally with those assassins died, as she watched the robot of their group charged forward to the crashed carriages. Because of the smoke she couldn't see too much, but what she could see was enough to throw away her new ideas of getting support once more, and his words didn't make it any better. Only a small part of her asked herself why a robot showed emotions like those, the much bigger part analyzed the situation. She wasn't the highest ranking Steel Ranger here, so it wasn't on her to make any effective changes in the plan, and the current part of their plan was to remain hidden and reach their safehouse. And a robot on a killing spree, showing emotions like those and applying zebra martial art fighting style was highly risking that objective, and furthermore endangering possible support from the assassins. This left only one logic action: neutralize the robot, Malik. Of course shooting him was a bad idea, not only was the vision obscured and the rifle most likely didn't pack enough of a punch to sent the robot down, it would also cost them a member. And so she instead reached out to the robot's central processing unit and started a hacking attack, trying to make Malik freeze so he'd stop in his frenzy, or even force a reboot, which should also end his rampage.

[Hack attempt]

5d27 [3,6,15,5,5] = 34 x 1.2 = 40.8 - Failed

[Computer Whizz - Reroll]

5d27 [1,17,21,8,4] = 51 x 1.2 = 61.8 - Success

[Malik's counterhack]

5d21 [6,10,21,17,6] = 60 - Lower than 61.8

Gale didn't succeed at her first attempt, but with her second try she breached the robot's defenses and quickly shut him down.

[UnitP0N13]

Malik could only watch in horror as his own body fell to the ground, his vision darkening as he felt his own thoughts slip away.

Was he dying? Had his systems finally decided to give out?

In a panic, he switched on his radio...but could no longer hear its tune. Fear filled him to the brim as the last of his power stopped flowing through him. And then there was nothing. Not even the yellow glow in his eyes remained.

[Saronyx]

With a nod, Miles gripped onto the rappelling gear and made his way down as quickly as he could. It seemed the attack had the desired effect, especially with the addition of Miasma’s smoke cover. After a few seconds of working his way down, Miles lept from the rope when he was only a few feet from the ground. As he landed, the mercenary drew his sword, Messorem, and began to weave his way between civilians and cover towards the carriages.

One problem about the smoke is that it would be something of a dual edged sword. While it might obscure his opponent's vision, it would do the same for his, though his rebreather would help keep his respiratory system working unabated. The Crystal Unicorn made his way carefully into the smoke. Luckily, Miles possessed a good memory, so it wasn’t difficult for him to reach the carriages. Helped too, that somepony had somehow cleared the smoke - though Miles used the term ‘helped’ loosely in this sense.

Only, it wasn’t somepony. It was something that closely resembled a pony. It was a Pegasus of a purely robotic nature. And of an incredibly strong nature as well, considering how it had shifted the cart on its own. The machine set the fallen vehicle down and turned, shouting his challenge to Miles and Miasma for doing this. The stallion stayed back in the smoke, watching the angered machine through a slight haze. For a machine, this thing possessed incredibly pony-like emotions. Almost to a scary degree. There was a reason machines were not given emotions, in Miles’ opinion. They were designed to be servants - whether military or domestic - and when they started to believe themselves sentient, they grew rather miffed at their placements.

What the angry Pegasus bot said next however, caused the mercenary some pause, “Did he say… Family? A family.. killed beneath that carriage? Cadence forgive us…”

There was the Crystal genetic influence at work. Miles had a higher connection to relationships due to this, especially towards his own wife and children. To have caused the lives of another family to be ended in such a… cruel way, almost took its toll on the stallion. Normally he was able to work through killing easily enough without to much remorse, but that was mainly because he didn’t think about the possible families or relationships he was ending. The robot’s words brought these thoughts forward, however.

With a harsh shake of his head, Miles shook these negative feelings from his mind and body. Now wasn’t the time to feel broken up about this. He had a job to do, and this would only make it harder to complete. There would be time to seek forgiveness later. Now all he needed to do was figure out a way to get past the machine. The thing possessed incredible strength, so meeting it up close and personal would probably prove difficult, despite its stance signifying it didn’t know too much about unarmed or melee combat, the latter of which being Miles’ specialty. Guns were out of the question, as that would probably only piss it off even more, and frankly, he wasn’t about to see if it had thick armor. Messorem’s hellhound claw edge would be enough to cut through it, but he’d already addressed this problem.

Luckily, Miles didn’t have to worry about it much longer. Somepony shut the bot down for whatever reason. Whether it was Miasma, or somepony else among the crowd didn’t really matter to the mercenary stallion at the moment. What it did do, was present an opening. Without wasting any more time, Miles darted towards the carriage, remaining in the thicker smoke for as long as he could before leaping onto the metal carapace, drawing his sword in a telekinetic grasp. As soon as his hooves connected with the metal, Miles drove the blade into the side, beginning to cut a square out of the hull.

[SunlightHeart]

Things when to tartarus in an instant. What had been a simple stroll through the market had quickly devolved into utter chaos mere moments after the arrival of the sky carriages. Someone- no at least two attackers had assaulted the convoy. Twist heard the gunshot and saw the tri blasts come from the roofs, but before she could even turn to where the shots were fired one of the vehicles had smashed into the surrounding buildings and lost significant altitude. Not even a second later the carriage behind the under-powered one crashed into it, sending both careening into the streets below, instigating riot.

The streets shook from the force of the crashing transports, causing Arik to fall on to his side inside the cart, luckily Raven steadied him.

"****it!" Twist yelled.

Suddenly the streets filled with smoke, choking out the light and ruining her vision. It didn't matter though, she had memorized the block they were on and had knew where they could find a defensible position. She was about to give orders, but Malik jumped away from the group and dived into the action. "Stand do-" The smoke choked her as she as she tried to call out.

Though she couldn't see the pegatron, she heard him wrath. What the heck was she hearing? Was this really the goofy cloud nine robot that they'd met in Appleloosa? All she could hear was his yelling, despite the panicked crowd.

"Gale, Sugar! Recover Malik!" Twist orders.

Raven had seen combat and death, hundreds of times it so brutality of what was happening didn't faze her at all. Until she heard the yelling.

"Mal?" Raven asked quietly.

It was definitely his voice, but she'd never heard him speak with such contempt and anger towards anything. Instead of being the calming song that she'd thought about falling to sleep to, it had become a violent symphony or rage. The robot had lost himself and turned into something unrecognizable, a monster parading around using Malik's body and voice. Had she been a lesser mare she would've broken down right then. She'd survived tours through the wastelands that broke lesser Rangers, she stronger than most veterans twice her senior, but none of those ponies had mattered to her on the level that Malik did. All Raven knew was that he was in pain, and his pain made her hurt.

Sugar watched everything with a stony expression, cursing the fact that something like this happened when she wasn't armed. Someone was attacking the Commonwealth forces and she wanted in on the assault. All she could do was get down when **** hit the fan, and hope not to be in the crossfire. Whoever was leading the charge on the griffons she wanted to find the and congratulate them for having a pair and taking the fight to those birds.

She received her orders loud and clear. "Ma'am!" She responded before running up to Gale and nodding.

[Objective- Disrupt the Commonwealth procession in the Agora and recover Command Tower Memory Orbs]

[Miasma/ +45 rads/ 24x 40mm grenades/ 5x Spark Batteries/ 5 rad away/ 5 Blood Packs]

[Miles/ +45 rads/ 150x 45. caliber rounds./ 14x 308. rounds/ Messorem/ 3 Zebra Remedies(Agility/Magic/Perception)/ 5 rad away/ 5 Healing Potions]

After firing the smoke cover into the crowd Miasma waited for Miles to descend the rope fully before check to make sure her helmet was secured, and climbing down herself. The her helmet's advanced optics allowed her to pick out living beings through the haze, but did nothing for obstacles and the like. Carefully, she stalked through the confusion on the streets, weaving through fleeing ponies as she made her way over to Miles. Every so often she'd catch sight of dimming magical signatures with here optic, ponies dying from the crash. She'd seen this too many times and blocked it out on instinct, choosing instead to feel nothing then let her emotions take her on a roller coaster ride that she had no time for.

She caught the sounds of a raging pony, flipping out over the carnage. Miasma brought up her laser in case she needed to put down the crazy pony, then, just as quickly as it started it was over. Only when she had made it significantly through the smoke could she see that the rampaging figure was a robot. It was odd, perhaps the machine had finally corrupted beyond the point a usability? It didn't matter, the threat was neutralized for now, but she still kept her weapons at the ready. It took only a few seconds for her to get to Miles, but those few seconds were too much. The griffons were making their move, through the smoke she could the centurions make their moves.

"MILES, WATCH OUT!"

[Cainiam]

Zep kept her wings beating lazily as she watched the show below. Zep saw the attackers roping down from her vantage in the sky. Large masks obscured their faces, but the single mind minded determination etched on their faces was still plain to see. They had one goal, and whatever it was was inside the carriage. Unfortunately their ultra cool rappelling had taken her attention for long enough for somepony to shut down the robotic pony she had cheered for so eagerly. Now things were less clear, unless this was the point where the protagonist was incapable of carrying out his task... hmm, yeah, that'd be it, this was the point where he was powerless to stop something from happening, but he would swear revenge which would either culminate in an epic fight, or a team-up against a larger threat. Maybe even both! Man, she had to be there for that.

Her attention refocused on the events below when she heard a shout from one of the assassins. She wondered if it was a codename, codenames were cool, but it didn't really sound like one. What was clear though was that things were about to get a lot more interesting. The Griffon guards were making their move. Things were about to escalate into a frenzied firefight in the streets, and Zep had a great view. She idly imagined flying in there with her SMGs and surprising all the guard with a bullet shower, but she wanted to see how these two assassins handled themselves, and she'd have a hard time seeing that from the ground. No, she'd stick up here and get the full view... for now.

[Nexar]

Gale nodded and answered the command with a short "Ma'am" as she turned her head to face the other Steel Ranger next to her. From the corner of her eyes she could see the griffin reinforcements coming and seemingly taking up the fight against those assassins. Thankfully Gale was just a normal citizen right now and not yet invoved in the fight, and so she most likely wouldn't pose a threat to the griffin commonwealth soldiers and not count as a target to them... unless of course she moved closer to them with the gun on her side. With a firm grip by her mouth she pulled the rifle out of it's makeshift mounting and threw it towards their carriage. She simply assumed that the others over there would act logically and grab it. Then she pointed towards one of the buildings closer to the crash site. "We shouldn't walk directly towards the robot or the griffin soldiers will think of us as a threat and act accordingly." she said in her ever-calm voice to Sugar before moving into the direction she has pointed to.

(Reference-Picture for Vivian)

From above in the sky, Vivian darted down to the crash site. She wasn't the first to get there however, but in contradiction to the centurions she didn't rush into the battle. Instead she spread her wings and let the air get caught in those, resulting in a sudden break which almost made her dizzy. But a few meters above the rooftops she recovered herself and brought the rifle up with her hooves, scanning over the area around the downed steel carriages. She could see a nice collection of ponies and griffins as well as robots. The largest group seemed to have nothing to do with the attack, even when it was suspicious that they weren't on the run as most citizens, and two seemingly unarmed ponies were moving closer towards the crash site. Even thought they were unarmed, the question remained what they were doing. Then there were the two centurions, still visible through the already vanishing smoke, one robot lying on the ground - for whatever reason that might have - and a pony and another griffin, seemingly armed and on the move towards the downed carriage. From all the options she had, those were probably her targets, but as she wasn't sure about that yet she chose to not fire away but first take aim on the griffin one abd see what was to happen.

[Saronyx]

Miles had been about three-fourths of the way through cutting a square entrance into the carriage when he heard Miasma’s call. While it had broken the Mercenary from his concentration on slicing through the hull of the carriage, it had come only just to late. As Miles turned to look, he was struck squarely in the chest by a beam of searing energy. With a curse, the stallion tore his blade from the wreckage and jumped back, landing heavily behind the carriage, utilizing it as cover.

Attack roll: 4d28 (Using a laser RCW) +15% from salvo and +20% from Center Mass perk (needs over a 48 to hit)

Awareness roll: 6 or less (for Miles)failed

dodge score: +6()

Strength Roll: 7 or less (Miles)Success.

Well, this certainly threw a wrench into things, didn’t it? But then again, it was to be expected that there would be opposition. Miles had only hoped they would be closer to completion before they arrived. All the same, things were as they were. Not much that could be done against it. Miles gritted his teeth against the pain in his chest. He was lucky that it had only been a single beam, and that he had been wearing armor. Otherwise, he might just be a floating cloud of dust by now.

Levitating Messorem beside and slightly before him, the mercenary peered out from around the carriage. There it was. An android griffon.. spectacular. Miles weighed his options. Like the Pegasus robot that lay inert a few feet away, he didn’t want to risk firing either of his guns into it, for fear the exoskeletons would be tough enough to withstand the lead. That left Miles’ sword as the only real viable option of fighting back. In truth, that was how he preferred it. He was a melee combatant, using magic for more of his ranged needs. Miles allowed himself a brief second to wonder why he hadn’t done that to attack the carriage earlier rather than the sniper rifle.

But things were said and done, no use getting upset over hindsight. There was a situation before the mercenary that he had to deal with before his objective could continue. The Unicrys quickly pulled his head back behind the carriage as the Centurion caught sight of him again. Alright, the machine had a gun. Prepping himself, Miles waited until the sound of the gunfire stopped, before darting out from around the side of the carriage and making a beeline directly for the machine.

As soon as he was within range, Miles swung his sword horizontally towards the mech’s neck. The machine had seen this coming, and managed to pull back in an attempt to dodge. However, the odds were not in it’s favor, and the blade of Messorem cut clean through the metal exoskeleton of the machine’s neck. The mercenary wasted little time, and as the now headless carapace of technology crumbled, he wheeled about on his hind hooves, checking quickly as he could for any other immediate threats, and from there made directly for the downed carriage once more.

That had gone much better than his attempted sniping, and that gave the Crystal-Unicorn a vote of confidence. As soon as his hooves made contact with the hull of the carriage, Miles once more drove the blade of his sword down into the hull, and cut the remaining supporting sections away, “We’re in business, Miasma! Let’s get this over with!” He said, confident his companion was able to hear him.