//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: BEDLAM III: Quiet on the Set // by Gormless Wheaton //------------------------------// Tirek grunted quietly as he strained to twist the loose bolt on his arm. Suddenly, a twig snapped and he jumped to his hooves. With bared teeth and horns blazing, he scanned the dark woodland around him. After a few moments, the sound of mocking laughter met his ears, and he relaxed, although only slightly. "If I had been one of our enemies, you standing here ready for a fight would have gotten you killed," Chrysalis chortled as she crept up from her hiding place. The centaur rolled his eyes and sat down beside his bag before resuming his attempt at maintenance. "What in the nine hells do you want, summoning me out here with that letter?" He grumbled. "I know you've been in Foenum, but surely you heard the news?" He paused and leered at the changeling before smirking. Her horn and much of her chitin were cracked, and a faint green glow pulsed beneath it. In addition, her left eye was covered in a patch of dried slime which changelings excreted to ensnare prey, or in her case, seal wounds. "Or maybe you were too distracted keeping yourself from getting killed?" He chortled. Chrysalis scowled with a hiss. "I underestimated the denizens of the land across the sea," she spat, the glow beneath her shell flaring up as she spoke. "And yes, I was aware of the human's downfall." "So, what do you want?" Tirek grumbled. "We've lost, and I'm doing my best to keep hidden." Chrysalis scoffed and buzzed closer to him before jabbing a hoof at him. "We nearly conquered this land without him," she growled. "We could do so again." "Wrong," he replied. "You-" "No," he snarled and jabbed his creaky metal arm at her. "The ponies still have his machinery in addition to every other advantage they already held." He narrowed his eyes with a snort. "Including the bell." Chrysalis' ears snapped back and she studied Tirek's face with clenched teeth. "Well.. We could-" "Give up and spend the rest of our lives in hiding, yes I know," Tirek groused. "NO!" Chrysalis stomped her hoof as faint green flames sparked from her damaged chitin. "I refuse to let that thing's defeat be what finally spells the end for me and my ambitions!" She ground her teeth and hissed. "I am a QUEEN," she paced away from Tirek. "What became of the Crystal Mind?" "Destroyed," he chortled. "That annoying metal half-pony?" "No clue," he sighed. "What about-" They both paused as a ping echoed through the woods. Tirek looked down at his bag, reached inside, and pulled out the handheld device he used for communication. Chrysalis looked between him and the device. "What is it?" Tirek furrowed his brow and his jaw hung slightly. "The Citadel. The Crystal Mind." "You said it was destroyed!" Chrysalis roared. "And the satellites were deactivated," he muttered, narrowing his eyes as he studied the device closely. "So, how could a signal reach me out here?" "Who cares!" Chrysalis spat as she smacked the machine from his grasp, before grabbing his face. "If the Crystal Mind is functioning, then we have a fighting chance! We can infiltrate the Citadel and use it to wrestle control of all the machines from the ponies!" Tirek blinked before frowning and shoving her back. "Have fun with that." He retrieved the device and rubbed his chin as he looked at it. Chrysalis glared at him for a moment, before her eyes fell on his collar. The same one she wore. A wicked smile formed on her face. "Well! If you're not interested in helping me claim this chance, maybe I'll just see if there's anything that'll let me activate that collar of yours," she purred. Tirek paused and glared at her, causing her to snicker. "Or we can go together and unlock them together." She smirked and raised an eyebrow as the centaur growled a sigh. I looked up at the ruined Citadel that loomed high above at the center of the island, just beyond the giant metal gate we'd always just flown over. It'd been ages since I stepped hoof here, but we'd had plenty of military personnel explore the place over the last three years. Clearly, we weren't thorough enough. "You're sure the message came from this Citadel?" Thorax asked. I nodded and looked back at the force we'd mustered. It wasn't a full-on army, but it was a potent strike force of dozens of yaks, changelings, ponies, griffins, and Ember. Just Ember. And she was grinding her fangs at the sight of this place as cinders popped from her nostrils. Celestia and Luna were also here. Even if this was a trap, and that was always a possibility with Eddy, we'd be more ready than ever. "No attempt was made to mask the signal, so it was really easy to trace it," I replied, before scowling back at the island. "Which is also how we discovered the satellites are online again. Somehow." "Those machines in sky, right?" Rutherford asked, snorting as he looked at the clouds. "Exactly," Applejack replied. "Fella used 'em plenty back in the day, but switched 'em off just 'afore we brought him in." The yak prince hummed in thought before nodding at me. "We go now?" I looked from him to the rest of the attack team. All the soldiers were lined up with Gallus at the head. He gave me a salute. Celestia, Luna, and the girls nodded. I didn't even need to glance at Ember. I nodded at Rutherford. "We go now." As we turned and moved to advance, however, the giant gate creaked and slowly swung inward giving us easy access. I blinked and looked back at my friends. "This is a trap, isn't it?" I muttered. "Figures," Applejack grunted. "Gettin' too old for this fella's nonsense." "You said it," Rainbow huffed with a smirk aimed at the small force we'd gathered. "Least we're prepared this time." I frowned and looked at the imposing fortress ahead of us. "I sure hope so." Tempest scanned the dark, dusty hall they'd breached and slowly took a few steps forward. "Lights aren't even on," she muttered before looking back at Jury-rig. "You sure it's-" She paused at the sight of Jury, who was still out on the ledge Tempest had hauled them both to, staring at the tall towers of the Citadel with a misty-eyed yet unreadable expression. "Jury," Tempest called. The other mare blinked and looked forward. "Yeah?" Tempest looked her up and down before grunting. "The lights are off. Are you sure-" There was a hum and the pair jumped before peering further inside. One by one, the lights clicked on down the hall toward them. Tempest's jaw hung loosely for a moment before she glanced back at Jury. "Is that a good thing?" Jury's ears pressed against her skull as she leaned in to look up and down the hall. "I dunno. It's pretty strange, obviously," she whispered. She met Tempest's eyes with a severe expression. "You might've called it and KS 6 is in here." They held each other's gaze for a moment before looking back inside. "Any way to know for sure?" Tempest asked. "If we check the Crystal Mind, yeah," Jury replied, taking a shallow breath. "But if it is her, I don't think she'll let us leave. And if it isn't, then we've got the Citadel back in our hooves. Probably." She gave Tempest a weak smile, who responded with an incredulous leer. "So, nothing to do but move forward, right?" She offered. Tempest frowned and scanned the hall again. "Guess that's true," she replied after a moment. Slowly and carefully, she crept into the hall and led the way to where the Crystal Mind had always been stored. It had been years since either of them had entered this place, but they'd also lived here for so long that they had no issues navigating. The only problem they encountered initially was the pain of seeing the damage their enemies had done to the place. Jury couldn't help but stop every few paces to leer at holes punched in walls or doors that were kicked in, but the worst was the graffiti. Illustrations of Bedlam with his head in a noose, or of Jury and Tempest in.. compromising positions. One of which was signed by Sandy, the cute maid Jury'd favored over all the others. "I didn't think royal guards were allowed to have a sense of humor," Tempest said with a laugh as she studied the wall art before nudging Jury to pull her attention away. "Let's keep moving." Jury gave her a sad look before nodding and following along. After a few minutes of navigating, they came to a catwalk that stretched over the hundreds and hundreds of cubical crystals that provided power to the entire facility. Throughout this vast chamber were other catwalks that intersected at points, which were also the only points of proper illumination besides the glow of the power crystals. The rest of the chamber was very dark, and for this reason, Tempest held her hoof up, keeping Jury off the metal walkway. Tempest leaned forward and pressed her ear to the metal for a minute before smirking. "Step into the light, or I take potshots at the crystals," she yelled into the room after standing up straight. "Hiding in the shadows won't save you if they start popping." Jury recoiled and looked out into the dark room before her ear twitched at the faint noise of hooves clicking against the metal walkway. Then she gasped as Silver Lace appeared in the light of the intersection just ahead of them, though she was dressed in a tight-fit black suit, like what her assassins favored. She held her hand on her hip and looked the pair up and down. "Very clever, Tempest," she called and extended her hand to the pair. "Won't you come closer so we can talk face-to-face?" Tempest barked a laugh and let sparks trail up her horn. "And get jumped by your girls still hiding? No thanks." The minotaur smirked and folded her hands behind her back. "So, was it you two that reactivated this facility?" She asked. Jury looked from her to Tempest, who kept her eye forward. "No, we're trying to figure out whose responsible for that, too," Jury replied, shooting a scowl at the minotaur. "And I'm guessing based on that question it's not you?" Lace smiled and giggled quietly. "And I'm guessing based on the outfit and your presence here, you finally did Steel Eyes in?" Tempest added. Lace gasped and held a hand to her chest. "I would never!" She closed her eyes and bowed her head. "Not when I have girls to do that for me." Then she opened one eye. "Speaking of." In a flash, from above the door frame just before the pair, a female minotaur in black garb like Lace's swung down and swept a knife at Tempest. Jury let out a squawk, but Tempest was more composed and rocked forward onto her forelegs, bringing one of her powerful mechanical hindlegs forward like a scorpion's stinger. At the same time, the knife harmlessly impacted with her metal rear half, and one of her hooves smashed into the stomach of the assassin. The hapless minotaur let out a wheezing grunt and was sent sprawling out onto the catwalk, where Lace was already in motion, alongside an unknown number of other minotaurs, who occasionally flashed through the lights all around the room. Lace tumbled under her flying injured companion, and the second her hooves touched the floor, she sprang forward like a bolt of living lightning. Tempest brought her hooves back down and fired off a shield spell which narrowly caught the set of knives that Lace had thrown at some point. The minotaur immediately impacted with the shield and tumbled over it before reaching down and grabbing Tempest by the mane. She violently yanked the mare up using her strength and momentum and drew a knife in her other hand. Before anything could happen, however, she gasped as Jury snared her knife hand with her magic and twisted it. As Lace landed and leaned in the direction Jury was twisting her arm, Tempest got her footing and swept her metal forehoof back, cracking it across the minotaur's wrist. Lace grit her teeth and lost her grip on the mare, who then spun and fired a blast into the dark chamber. Several screams were immediately cut off as the beam tore through the air and anything else in its path, lighting up the catwalk and briefly illuminating the fallen minotaurs, as well as those who'd dived over the side to avoid what was effectively a magical cannon blast. Before Tempest could fully rotate to attack Lace, the minotaur swept the leg opposite the arm Jury had, and kicked Jury in the snout. The mare was knocked onto her hind legs with a gurgling grunt and banged her head against the corridor wall, all of which cut off the spell. Lace followed through with her sweep to face Tempest, but was too slow to completely avoid being blasted by the partially mechanical unicorn. Lace dropped to the side, preventing the beam from piercing her straight through, and instead, it cut a deep hole through her right side. The minotaur choked out a gasp and collapsed before falling into a violent coughing fit, blood welling up and spattering onto the floor with each cough. The minotaur's right arm went limp as she struggled to sit up. "It's a damn shame Eddy's not here," Tempest purred, causing Lace to look up at her with panicked eyes. The unicorn smirked as her horn crackled. "I promised him I'd make him a rug out of your pelt one day, after all." Lace clenched her bloody teeth as the unicorn lowered her head, but just before the spell was fired, the entire corridor shook as a boom echoed through the entire facility. Tempest and Jury looked around anxiously as the lights flickered and then went dark. Tempest cried out and there was a clang just before the lights clicked on again. Jury blinked and slowly rose to her hooves upon seeing Tempest on her side and rubbing the side of her face which had a nasty cut across it. Lace, however, was nowhere to be seen. However, a very fresh and very thick trail of blood led out to the dark power chamber and vanished over the side of the catwalk. "Damn her," Tempest groused as she pushed up to her hooves and turned to Jury. "You okay?" Jury rubbed her nose and sputtered before nodding weakly. "Uh-huh, just," she hacked and spit. "I think she broke my nose." Tempest took Jury's face with a hoof and inspected it with a hum. "Sure seems like it," she chuckled. "But look on the brightside! We gave way worse than we got." Jury sighed as Tempest lightly tapped her shoulder, and forced a smile before frowning and looking out at the power chamber. "Wonder why the lights died just then," she murmured. "And what the heck was that explosion?" Tempest rubbed her cut one more time with a grunt. "No telling, but I think we'd better take the long way round," she peered back the way they came. "More lights that way."