Danger Close [Invite Only]

Ash flinched as Xeshir was tossed aside. the fact that pony was strong enough to do that made him want to fall back. The only reason he hadn't was that he still hadn't been paid and he really needed the caps.

He took out his 9mm pistol and began charging at the ponies climbing up the hill. He lifted up his pistol and began firing. Ash may not be a violent pony but he didn't like being played.

(Shooting five 9mm rounds at the pony helping Double with Loose.)

Rad turned and flew towards the two ponies near Loose and Double, since they had fired first, Rad would show no restraint, he lined up and fired a burst from each carbine, one at each of the two ponies, he then pulled a few quick turns, hoping to throw off the aim of anypony that may try to shoot him out the air. He hoped that Double and Loose wouldn't be killed, mainly because he wanted to know why they did it... Or at least why they took the caps too, he could understand why they wanted to be away from Pop...

[Firing a burst from each carbine: 24AP, Guns 65, Fast shot trait. Dodging after firing: 8AP]

Ponies cried out in pain as the group opened fire, bullets pinging the hillside as the 2 ponies on the cliff dropped their guns and fell off, burns and blood flying as Loose and Double's group was caught by surprised. 2 more fell down on the ground and began to try to crawl away, bullets and energy blew out blood from their back, no hope of escape.

Double began to cry as she pulled Loose behind a rock. Her, and 2 others that were left began to fire back. The other 2 seemed a bit distracted from the unexpected slaughter, but Double's fury was unleashed through her gun and
the world slowed down...[CRIT]

A round tore through Rad's shoulder, cutting his ability to fly. He was forced to crash straight into the ground, pain and blood rushing throughout his body as he was left in a vulnerable position. Double glared at him as she reloaded and began to aim at the others, his guns were thrown off him and were a good few yards from him but he wouldn't be able to use his leg or wing to move...he was stuck.

(BAM right in the gay! 110-11= 99 DAM, 20 FALL DAM)

Rad: 114 HP remaining


4x Associates deceased

2x Associates Alive
Loose: Wounded
Double: Normal

Rad yelped in pain as he felt a sharp pain lance through his shoulder, before suddenly losing control of his right wing, and beginning a swift and painful fall back to earth. "Crap..." Was all he managed before he slammed into the ground with a dull thump. He looked around, his vision blurred and tried to stand back up, though he was only rewarded with another lance of pain through his shoulder, and his face meeting the ground again.

"Of all the places to get that lucky hit..." He grumbled to himself as he lay on the floor, contemplating just what he was going to do now. He looked and saw that his guns were no longer on his back, and saw Double give him a look. He figured the only reason she didn't put a bullet in his head then and there was because he was unarmed. He could try and get to his guns... But he didn't know if he'd make it in once peace. Rad decided that he'd at least stay here till his vision cleared, as Double seemed content to let him lie on the floor in pain for now.

Xeshirs rage didn´t dissapear as her rounds tore through the ponies going down the hill. She didn´t feel anything as their bodies received too much damage and expired. She gave one final glare at Pop and then returned to focus on the battlefield.

Then the pegasus cried out in pain and crash landed into the ground. Crap.

Xeshir quickly sprung into action. "Ash! Cover me!" She yelled as she ran out of cover and dashed towards the downed pegasus. She aimed her 9mm SMG at the pony with the rifle...And found it was Double. She faltered for a second but any doubts quickly faded away, she tongued the trigger and hoped to pin Double down.

(Suppressive fire at Double 3 times with 9mm SMG. 27 AP. Guns 57. +10 Bonus with Trigger Discipline and Mercenary Outfit. Attempt to dodge if shot at. 8 AP.)

Moon slept. That's all he had done since Soda popped him in the head, rendering him unconscious and that's all he planned on doing until some pony woke him up. Although, not much short of a balefire egg could wake up the heavy slumberer.
Yeah, that deep.

[Skip turns until someone physically wakes moon up.]

Seeing his targets fall to a rain of lead and plasma, Crackle shifted focus. He was fully in Talon-mode now, as he called it. He banked into a turn, and quickly picked out new targets. Rad's sudden forced landing interupted him for a moment, but he quickly recovered and took aim at Double and Loose's remaining companions, trusting Xeshir and Ash to stick to the rough plan that was hastily composed as the bullets began to fly. He rolled so that he would have the best shor possible, and squeezed the trigger three times.

(Firing plasma pistol 3 times at the surviving two associates. energy wep. 54, +5 to hit from Trigger discipline)

Xeshir's fire didn't faze Double, it didn't even come close. Double continued shooting and loading as her fury began to increase towards Xeshir, her face red with fury and hurt. Crackle fared a little better, managing to wound one of the associates in the side of his head, his ear burned off, forcing him to cry out as Crackle in turn took a flesh wound to his hindleg, only scraping by but still stinging nonetheless.

Pop began to jumble with his gun as it appeared to have jammed. He dropped it and roared as he pulled out a Combat knife and lurched forward, heading over around where Rad and Double were. Only Rad could see though, bullets were hitting slamming into Pop but they barely seemed to fazed him as the earth shook a bit with every lurch forward. The rags flying about as he seemed to move with the force of a sky wagon.

Crackle felt the bullet graze his hindleg and winced. He would have to tend to that later. For now, He had his talons full. Banking to get himself in a position to return fire, he saw pop charging across the battlefield. He was too far away to make out details, but it sure looked that the old rag pile was moving as if the fires of hell itself were driving him. He also took note that rad was down, and judging by the crimson tint to the dirt around him, hurt pretty bad. By now, he was positioned to fire on the survivors again. He just had time to yell 'Medic!' before blasting away at the unknown pony he had already clipped.

(Firing plasma pistol 3 times at the associate with the melted ear. energy wep. 54, +5 to hit from Trigger discipline)

Xeshir put her 9mm SMG in it´s holster and moved towards the wounded pegasus, seeing how the other shooters where focused on someone else. "Usually you should never move somebody who´s hurt." She said as she bit his mane and started pulling him towards cover, stopping for a second to grab his dropped carabines and put them in her saddlebags. "But I think this qualifies as a once in a lifetime exception don´t you think?" She laughed a bit as she kept pulling him, but internally she was praying to every deitity she had learned about, hoping to not get shot as she got closer and closer to cover.

(Pulling Rad Boom into nearest cover. Info in signature.)

Rad was just watching in amazement as Pop charged through gunfire, almost like it wasn't there. He was still quite dazed, and a little dizzy, so he thought he might be imagining things, then he could have sworn he started moving, though that thought was swiftly proven true as pain lanced through his shoulder again as he was dragged away. He heard a voice talking to him, but couldn't make out what it was saying over the sounds of gunfire, and the rushing sounds in his ears. The most he could make out was that the voice was female, which he then guessed must mean it was Xeshir, as he was fairly certain any other mares were shooting at them currently.

"That... That you savin my flank Xeshir? Ya shouldn't be worryin about little ol' me, ya moneys gettin away!" Rad laughed weakly, mainly because it hurt to do so. "S'pose this means i'll owe ya one eh?"

Crackle got another shot in at the pony, singing his neck as he tried to shoot back in response, shots flying wild as he lost control over the pain, before his head exploded.

Pop had lept over the rock and slammed into the injured associate as his hoof slammed down, bursting his over a rock and sending blood flying onto Pop's rags as he angrily bellowed and charged the last associate. His gun went off towards Pop with fear causing him to miss as he screamed in mortal terror. Pop's ear took a hit but he didn't slow down as he crushed the pony to the ground and began to pound his skull in as blood and brains began to leak around the body.

He turned towards Double and glared, his face covered in streaks of blood.

"I'll be taking those caps back now..." Double trembled and cried as she clutched her rifle unable to move as Pop advanced and Loose cried out.

"Help us!-" he tried lifting his head but his wound took it back and he cried out in pain and fear as they were left vurnerable.

Xeshir chuckled as Rad talked to her and laughed. "All the money in the world isn´t as priceless as your flank." She said jokingly, then her ears perked as she heard a familiar voice.

"Help us!-"

Xeshir suddenly went pale and quickly rushed to the source of the scream. When she saw Soda Pop, bloodied and red with anger, her fury returned, but attacking her employee while he was already enraged was not a smart tactic, talking him out of doing a massacre would be. "Soda! Don´t murder them! You´re better than that! Please, listen to me." She said, hoping to convince Soda to spare them, and if he wouldn´t then he was about to be bucked. Then she turned to Double and Loose. "The capbox. Now." Her tone wasn´t one that would take a negative for an answer.

(Speech 54 to convince Soda Pop to not kill Double and Loose and to convince them to give up the capbox. 54 unarmed to disarm him if he tries to attack either me or the two mercs. Dodge for 16 AP worth if he attacks.)

A feeling of grim satisfaction washed through Crackle as his opponent's head disintegrted in a spray of red. He banked, scanning the area for new targets. He saw the last enemy combatant pulped under Pop's hooved, and began to relax slightly. The combat mentality receeded, and he sighed. The griffin found no joy in killing (unless it was a raider), but he did what he had to.

He regarded the cowering forms of Loose and Double. They were clearly in no shape to fight. While Crackle had no qualms about gunning down a pony in the heat of battle, he avoided killing in cold blood unless it was necessary. Thankfuly, it did not appear to do so. Both of his former companions were too busy cowering before Pop to offer any resistance, so Crackle holstered his pistol, and proceeded to engage in the time-honoured mercenary ritual of "I killed you in battle so now i get to take your stuff." He landed and proceeded to rummage through the bodies strewn over the battlefield, keeping a wary eye on the situation unfolding as Xesher attempted to calm pop down. He was prepared to intervene if necessary.

(looting the corpses, prepared to shoot Loose and/or double with the plasma pistol if they attempt to attack again: 3 shots (27 AP), Energy weapons 59 OR Tackling pop if he attacks Xesh and Loose/double make no agressive actions: Unarmed 22, unknown AP cost, using any remaining AP to dodge.)

Rad just sort of... Sat, and watched the events unfold... The pain in his shoulder had mostly died down to an ache, though he could still feel the blood trickling out of the wound under his armour, and the fact that his wing didn't work meant it wasn't going to be something he could just stick a bandage on. His vision had grown more fuzzy, as well as feeling light headed, he guessed this was the reason blood was meant to stay IN your body. "Hey uhh... Anypony gonna give me a hoof? I think I need this blood that's fallin out my shoulder... Blood is important... right?"

Pop glared at Xeshir as Double kicked the cap box forward towards pop, the two of them trembling as Pop leaned over with a clank and picked up the box and headed back towards the wagon, dust covering his trail as he left bloody hoofprints in the dirt. He snapped on a harness and turned to the others. A nearly blank face save for a small twitch of inner rage.

"Somepony wake up the other asshole, he's helping me pull. Lets hurry and move out"

He said it quickly, emphasizing he wanted the others to leave Loose and Double and hurry up.

Double looked at Xeshir with pain in her eyes as she held a wounded Loose. "Just go...you're like all the others, we would've given the caps back!" she screamed and tried in vain to wave her rifle at Xeshir to make her leave.

The firefight had awoken Moon Runner who would now be rolling over and falling off the cart and landing next to Soda Pop.

"Good, you're up faggot, put this damn harness on and lets get going and if you make one more homo move on me I'll shove that gun your ass and shoot the gay out your mouth you GOT THAT?!??!?" he roared at Moon, spit flying from his face as he breathed deeply.

(LOOT: 4 sets of Mercenary Armor, 2 Service Rifles, 2 Cowpony repeaters

Crackle's day just got a lot better. He finally got his talons on some decent gear! Stripping the largest mercenary outfit off of its former owner, he contemplated what he would have to do to make it work for a griffin. Thankfully, it did not require many modifications. He also eyed up one of the cowpony repeaters, but bullets weren't really his thing. A backup weapon with more punch than the 9mm pistol would come in handy, though. He set it aside for now, and decided he would just take whatever was left after everypony else tad claimed their share. The distinctive clink of caps distracted him from his grim task, however. Pop trotted by. the pony was scowling like a gargoyle, but had retrieved their pay. From the sounds of it, Loose and double were still alive too.

Scanning the battlefield for more valuables, Crackles eyes came to rest on the crumpled form of Rad. The green pegasus was still laying there bleeding out, the medic nowhere to be found. The griffin felt himself slipping back into mercenary mentality as his anger built. While Crackle may personally have favored a lone-timberwolf approach to ombat, he didn't leave comrades to die in the dirt. He pivoted and found Ash Health, still standing where he was when the firefight broke out with a glazed look on his face. That was the final straw. The unicorn had frozen up, unable to respond to the situation, and as a result Rad stood a a good chance of passing out or going into shock. He stormed over to the white colt and delivered a solid right hook to the unicorns jaw.

"What the BUCK are you DOING Ash?! One of our team is BLEEDING OUT while you, the Bone Cllector-forsaken MEDIC, are STANDING AROUND looking like Luna just shoved her Moon in your face! Get your flank over there and patch up Rad before I have Celestia STICK HER HORN UP YOUR ASS AND RAISE THE SUN THROUGH YOUR MOUTH!"

(taking a Merc outfit and whatever else is left after everypony else takes what they want, making an unarmed attack on Ash in an attempt to get him out of his apparent stupor and heal rad: 4AP, unarmed 22)

Moon landed with a rough thud on the hard ground after rolling off the cart. "Oof. How long was I out? For that matter, when did I fall asle- Oh... Yeah," Moon said before getting to his feet and hitching up to the cart, avoiding even looking at Soda Pop. "Oh yes sir!" He said in response to the sudden raise in volume from pops.

Moon'eye caught one of the dead ponies with the Merc armor and a service rifle on and suddenly really wished he had been awake for the fight that way he could have gotten some of the loot. "Uh... Would anyone mind if I took one of those sets of Merc armor? I could really use it. I don't have much armor at the moment... and maybe one of those guns?" He said with a half forced / half nervous smile on his face.

[Taking a suit of merc armor and a service rifle.]

Xeshir looked at Double with a sad look. "I didn´t want to do it Double...It was that bastard Pop...Now if you excuse me, I have to deal with him." She said as she began walking towards him, but not before leaving Double and Loose some of her own food and water. She grabbed a cowpony repeater from the pile of loot and put it in her saddlebags as she kept walking, and eventually found herself face-to-face with Soda. She slapped him. Hard.

"WHAT THE FUCKING BUCK SODA!" She said, her rage finally having an outlet. "NOT ONLY DO YOU DRAG US TO BUCKING RAIDER TERRITORY INSTEAD OF, OH I DON´T KNOW, GOING AROUND IT, BUT YOU ALSO SHOOT BEFORE THERE IS A CHANCE FOR A DIPLOMATIC SOLUTION!? YOU WANT TO END UP DEAD AND ROTTING IN THE SUN YOU OLD BASTARD?! CAUSE TELL ME THEN AND I´LL GLADLY PUT YOU OUT OF YOUR MISERY!" Xeshirs face was red with rage, but after several deep she managed to calm down enough to not hit Soda again. "Look...I´m still your mercenary and under your contract...BUT IF YOU PULL SOMETHING LIKE THIS AGAIN ONLY THE STARS WILL STOP ME FROM SHOOTING YOU!" She said as she gave him one final glare. She knew that Pop was going to attack her now, she would be actually surprised if he didn´t, her body tensed itself and prepared to dodge any incoming blow.

(Taking a Cowpony Repeater and splitting whatever is left with Crackle. 54 Speech to convince Soda Pop to act smarter. Using all AP to dodge if he attacks.)

Rad forced himself to his hooves, making his way towards Xeshir with a heavy limp as she began shouting at Pop, wincing with pain every time he put weight on his wounded shoulder. He really needed to start at least keeping some Med-X on him. "Hey Xeshir... If your gonna get ya'self stomped into the mud by Pop... Can I at least have my guns back first eh? I'd rather they didn't get broke... But seriously... He runs through a hail of gunfire like that, and don't go down, and ya first idea is to pick a fight with him afterwards?"

Rad then turned his attention to Pop. "What've ya got under there? Power armour? I saw ya take a lot of bullets back there Pop... So either your gonna need medical attention too, or ya ain't all ya seem to be." Rad at the very least hoped his words and questions would be enough to diffuse the situation, he just wanted to get this job over with.

Pop looked into Xeshir's face and unleashed a bone chilling laugh, the first one he let out at all. He smiled, but not like before this one seemed to be actaully content and happy as opposed to deceptive. He then rose nearly a foot taller from before, a strange clanking from before. A small click hatche and his rags fell.

"Ahh so the gaypony isn't so stupid after all"

Pop stood taller....a gleaming streak of metal from his suit of power armor flashing as light shone on it. Several scratches and bullet marks adorned the usual battlewear, he'd been in a much biggere firefight a while back and hadn't gotten that fixed. A sizzling blue rifle rested on one shoulder while another on his other side seemed to be normal ballistics.

Both barrels pointed at Xeshir.

"As you were saying you worthless striped pig?" He laughed, "think its time for all of you to perhaps leave, perhaps I'm better off on my own, I honestly for the life of me cannot bare to be around such trash any longer"

"Hey uh Soda Pop? I know it might not mean much right now, or even ever, but i just wanted to say that i screwed up. Both in invading your personal space and in letting my curiosity trump my contract. I realize now that you had in fact told us all that we really needed no apart from the route that we were going to take. Basically, I'm sorry." Moon said, finally looking at pops for the first time since he had woken up after the firefight. "Would you be willing to give me a second chance?" He asked, more worried about finishing the job than the sudden emergence of the power armor.

"And if you don't want to give me a second chance, will you pay us at least half of the caps that would be due to us?" Moon asked, hoping to get at least a few caps off of the work.

(Speech 15 to try and keep the job, barter 15 to at least get a quarter of the caps if speech fails

Crackle halted mid-beat down, and quickly asessed the situation. He left Ash where he stood, blood seeping from his snout, and flew over to land on the wagon. To hell with not getting paid, espeially after what they had been through already! He said nothing, merely stood atop the wagon, drew his plasma pistol, and waited to see what Pop's reaction would be. He prepared to dodge if necessary, but doubted that the group could take on Pop in a head-to-head firefight.

(using all AP to dodge if pop becomes violent)

Xeshirs mind, anger and heart stopped as Pop withrew his rags and revealed what he had been hiding in them this whole time. Xeshir forced closed her eyes and thought Okay, this is a hallucination. I´m gonna count to ten and the old bastard ISN´T going to be wearing Power Armor. After ten seconds, she opened her eyes.

He was still there. In Power Armor. Fuck.

Xeshirs anger might have been off the charts, but the very shiny guns pointing at her made her able to think straight again. She may have been able to talk Pop into giving them their caps, but he didn´t look like he was willing to negotiate. She slowly walked towards Rad and, after putting his carbines in his saddlebags, she helped him walk, preventing him from putting weight on his injuried shoulder, and walked alongside him towards where Double and Loose had been a few minutes ago. Even if they weren´t there it would be the most optimal place to try to treat Rad, which with her little medical knowledge would mostly consist of tearing off cloth from the merc outfits and bandaging him with it, and to rest until she could decided what to do. As she walked she grabbed the last merc outfit from the pile of loot and the service rifle, figuring that they would be worth something if they got back to Stableton.

(Grabbing Merc Outfit and Service Rifle from pile o loot.)

Crackle sighed. This wasn't the first time a job had gone south on him, but he felt that Pop still owed him, and not just Caps. He watched Xeshir help Rad hobble away, and couln't say he blamed them for leaving. Contract or not, some jobs were just too much. The griffin jumped off the wagon to stand across from Moon, being careful to stay out of Pops direct line of fire. He buried his irritation at this whole clusterclop of a mission, and adressed pop in his best 'Suck-up-to-the-jackflank-of-a-CO' tone.

"Boss, before I go, I believe you owe me part of my pay. Im under ontract, and that goes both ways. After putting my life on the line for you, I think some compensation is in order. I can understand witholding my companions pay after their... 'antics' ...but I caused no problems. I think it's only fair that i reieve a portion of my promised reward, in answers if not caps."

(speech 16 to convince Pop to pay a portion of my fee and/or agree to answer some questions, using all AP to dodge if he gets violent)