“Alright, bombs are loaded, engines are primed and running at normal, weather’s hopefully not going to screw us over with a freak thunderstorm, I think we’re good.” Night Strike was looking over her forward console on the Valkyrie, flicking a few switches, as I sat myself in the seat behind her the next morning. Beside me stood Aerith, who was peering out of the cockpit down at Crash Dive and Scouring standing by the Clydesdale. She had ditched her trademark suit and hat, instead carrying nothing but the big-barreled gun from the bunker and a few magazines of ammo held in a courier bag slung over her back. It at least sounded like it was suppressed when she fired it earlier... hope it's enough. “You've got everything you need, right, Static?”

“For the fifth time, yes. I’ve only got two things to bring, and I’m wearing one of them, it’s kind of hard to forget them.” I responded, a little exasperated. Night Strike waved her hoof in front of myself and Aerith, her other one pushing a group of levers forwards on the controls. I clutched my umbrella to my chest as the engines’ characteristic whine began once again, building to the familiar roar as they reached full speed. Aerith stumbled a bit as the plane started to roll forward, bracing herself against the back cockpit access doorway to keep herself from flopping to the ground. The Valkyrie picked up speed, myself just able to see Scouring giving a quick salute to us as we rolled by, Night Strike pulling back on the controls and lifting us into the air. We climbed quickly, Night Strike easing back on the controls to place us just below the clouds as we streaked across the sky.

She turned back to me after making a wide turn, and headed towards the base. “Okay, so, you go in, try to find some sort of plans or schematics to the base, maybe whatever they're doing there, too, and get out. If I find out you tried to carry back a whole warhead and got caught because of it, I’ll blow you up with it myself,” Night Strike glared back at me, a twinge of something behind her eyes. I gave her a skeptical look in return - I’m not you, Night Strike, remember? She shook her head, looking down at the floor and letting off a long sigh. “Yeah, I’m... I'm sorry, I’m just a bit paranoid, y'know? Last time you were on a secret mission was back at the airbase, and it’s not really like those guys would’ve shot you dead if they found you. This... these stakes are much higher.”

I gave her a small smile, trying my best to hide my own panic. “It’s alright, Night Strike. I’ll be fine, and Aerith’s coming along too. Worst case scenario, she can teleport us away, and everything'll be good.” Night Strike nodded, looking back to her controls, guiding us all towards the base. I glanced over to Aerith, lowering my voice. “…you do know how to teleport, right?” She seemed to think for a moment, wearing a weak smile as she let off a weak, mute chuckle. Oh, well then. A few more minutes passed as we headed towards the base, Night Strike starting to slow down the Valkyrie.

“Five kilometers out... head back to the bomb bay now, guys. I’m going to do the drop about a kilometer and a half away, from this height that should be close enough. I really don’t want to try and get any closer to those guns than I absolutely have to.” I nodded, unbuckling myself and heading down to the bomb bay after Aerith. Holding on tight to a railing on the small step before the bay doors, we readied ourselves in the space we had, the bombs swaying a bit in their holdings as we flew along. I looked over to Aerith, who gave me a small nod, pulling down her pair of goggles over her eyes. Suddenly the doors opened wide, the howling rush of wind whipping through the bay as I clutched the handle for safety. Gulping, I tried to not stare at the enormous drop below, Aerith’s feathers ruffling in the wind. A crackle of static was heard from the intercom, and Night Strike’s voice came through, only barely audible above the roar. “Alright, now’s the time. I’ll swing away and drop some of the bombs a couple kilometers south, it should keep their attention away from you for a bit.”

I gulped, staring down out of the bomb bay doors. The ground whizzed by far below us, causing me to lean back against the wall, my stomach now a mess of knots. Nope nope nopenopenope, this isn’t going to work. We’ll find some other way. I’ll just- my thoughts were cut short as I felt Aerith place a hoof on my back, before shoving me forward. The wide assortment of expletives that left my mouth just then were lost to the rush of wind as I tumbled down through the air, Aerith leaping out right behind me and catching fast. Night Strike peeled the Valkyrie away, turning south of the base as I flailed my limbs in some futile attempt to stop my ever quickening descent. Aerith pointed herself towards me, falling through the air as her horn shimmered before she vanished from sight. I felt her hooves wrap around my waist, a screen popping up in front of my vision as I heard her wings unfurl and felt as the sensation of falling was instead aimed eastwards. 'Alright, shut up ya big baby, and turn on that suit. We might be less of a target than the Valkyrie, but they'd still see some crazy earth pony flying at them in a black stealth suit on a clear day like this.'

I gulped, trying to get my bearings as I looked down at the armor. My heart still pounding in my chest, I reached up and tapped a few buttons, the plate humming slightly as the armor shimmered. A moment later, and I wasn’t able to see myself dangling in the air. Aside from the occasional shimmer in the ground below, there was no way to tell I was there at all. Oh, Celestia, please let me keep my breakfast down, I really do like pancakes and syrup more going in than coming out. I tried to not stare at the ground as Aerith brought us in lower, barren treetops shooting by at an alarming rate. Focusing instead on the complex that sprawled out ahead of us, I watched as pony-sized figures rushed to one end, all manning guns and mercifully turning them away from us. Explosions rang through the air, and I looked up to see the Valkyrie speeding away, two bombs falling onto the mountainsides far off in the distance. The guns in the complex began to fire off, but their shots detonated short, exploding well behind the plane.

Aerith’s wings fluttered a bit as we crossed above the barbed wire looped along the top of the large wall surrounding the complex, flaring to bring us to a stop on the other side. My legs were shaking as Aerith planted us down inside the base, a sigh of relief barely audible under the fire of the anti-aircraft guns. “Okay, first things first, we need to find some map of this complex. I’d say a comm station, or repair wing would be the place to check first.” I muttered under my breath. A tiny screen appeared within my visor, Aerith projecting a small checkmark as response. Looking around, and... NOT seeing her, I realized there was no way I’d be able to follow her around in the slightest. Probably should've thought about that. “Alright, follow me. Assuming you can... I suppose.” I began to creep around one of the buildings, searching for any clue on which direction to head.
The base was, honestly, quite surprisingly barren, only a few guards were actually posted around some of the buildings, and no building had more than one. Many of the others appeared to have no security at all, save perhaps a small camera hanging near the doorway. As we crept along, looking across the complex, it quickly became apparent why this was the case. I stepped backwards out of instinct as a robotic dragon stepped around one of the buildings, walking along the road between the silo doors. Its tail swished slowly back and forth, the oversized blade on the end gleaming in the light as each step was accompanied by the whir and click of several gears and servos. It spun its head left and right, surveying the ground around as it stomped along. I held my breath, standing stock still as it passed. I felt something poke my side and I whirled around, only to see nothing but the side of the building. Ah, right, Aerith. It’s going to take a bit getting used to this armor.

Making my way forward, I slid around the side of the garage as the dragon made its way along, the sounds of explosions dying down as the guards stopped attempting to shoot down the long gone Valkyrie. It was rather surreal being able to walk along is plain sight, none of the guards seeming to notice the faint shimmer of the stealth suit as I wandered along the complex. Okay, let’s see, comm station, where would you be? Spotting a large radio tower in the corner of the base, I began to head in its direction, still staying away from any guard posts that I could. I don’t exactly trust this armor to be fully foolproof... especially considering this was the only time I used it for longer than five minutes.

Coming up to the building below the mess of metal that was the broadcast towers and wires connecting them, I leaned down to peer through the keyhole. Inside sat a pair of the smaller robo-dragons, hunched over an array of buttons, knobs, and dials not unlike the ones that were in KAOS’s studio. Robots, really? Well... I guess if the infrastructure's already here, then... huh. Tentatively, I placed my hoof on the door handle and pulled. To my surprise, the door was unlocked, and I was able to easily slip inside. The robots at the console, bizarrely wearing the large headphones there, were scribbling down notes on sheets of paper spread out in front of them. One leaned over, punching down the button on a microphone, an unnerving robotic voice coming out of its mouth. “Squad Charlie’s just finished a sweep of the valley between here and Saddlebrook, no sign of anyone between the two bases.”

A crackle of static came over the intercom, and a non-robotic voice responded. “Good to know. Have them send a few troops back to patrol areas east, we’ve been getting more traffic than I’d like.” The comms officer robo-dragon gave a curt response, and scribbled down the orders before turning to begin tapping out a series of beeps. Occasionally, it would glance back to a separate sheet of paper to the one it'd written the message down on, still tapping away on the small lever. I stepped up behind it, looking down at some of the notes spread out on the console. Many were unintelligible scribblings, a jumble of words and numbers that meant nothing. Frowning, my eyes continued along the table. At the end, sitting up on its side, was a folder packed full of papers, and printed on the front in big red lettering was ‘Project Cerberus: Codes and Ciphers’. I crept around the officer’s chair, glancing back to make sure neither of them were watching as I reached out to take the codes.

Suddenly, two quick loud snaps met my ears, and I whirled around just in time to see the gun Aerith brought along floating in mid-air, with the two robots now dead, sparks coming from the holes and oil pooling out onto the console. “What the hell was that about?!” I hissed, stuffing as many of the papers into the compartment of the armor I’d found the Sarsaparilla recipe in as I could. “Somepony...thing might have heard that! Are you crazy!?” The gun lowered itself, and I could tell Aerith was attempting to pull off a pitiful look despite her current state of visibility. Not friggin' helping, really. “Shit, now they’re going to know somepony was in here when they find these two dead, we gotta get the plans and book it before this whole place goes on red alert!” I slapped a hoof over my visor as the stomp of a full-size robotic dragon could be heard, another one passing by the station on patrol. My lungs held a full breath as I prayed it couldn’t somehow see through walls, but, mercifully, it simply continued on its way.

I let out a long sigh, looking back down at the other dead robots. “Okay, okay, fine, cut off their communication, it wasn’t a completely horrible idea, but we need to get out of here a-sap once we get those plans.” I muttered. The gun rolled its tip through the air, vanishing as Aerith’s magic shrouded it once again. Peeking through the door back out into the main compound, Aerith and I slipped through upon seeing the coast was clear, and we began to make our way across the base once again. Come on, there’s gotta be some surface level repair bay, right? They have to have something on the building designs or layout, even just a simple map saying 'you are here'. Probably with that pointer overlaid on a festering bloodsprite's nest.

As we trotted across the base, we again passed by the large doors embedded into the ground. Each silo door was surrounded by several large hazard lights, pulsing dimly. My heart began to pick up its pace again as several more dragons surrounded the doors, each one scanning the area around them, shifting into an aggressive stance even as some of the robotic guards passed too close to them. A small sign appeared in my vision again, an arrow appearing to direct my vision towards a hangar where a few more dragons lay inside. Of course, should’ve known the repair bay would’ve been fixing those things up too.

We slowly made our way towards it, spotting a small group of various robots all gathered around one of the dragons. Sparks flew as a pony-shaped one was attempting to sharpen the wings, the sparks bouncing off of his faceplate as another sat atop the dragon’s back, fiddling with the wires and circuitry inside. Avoiding a protectapony that was pushing a cart of tools from a workbench over to the robot being repaired, Aerith and I stepped into the hangar. Looking about to ensure no one was watching, I wandered over to one of the workbenches. Peeking inside, I spotted several blueprints, each one detailing one piece of the dragons’ many mechanisms. As I was attempting to pull some out, however, I heard a mechanic shout to another, right behind me. “Oi, grease trap, get the IFF guide over here. This thing’s a mess, and we are not booting it back up while it’s still possible it might make it so we have to build more replacements.” I only barely scrambled out of the way in time before one of the Mr. Handy-styled mechanics hovered over to the bench, moving one of its pincer arms down to reach into the mess of paperwork.
Rummaging around for a moment, it gave a grunt of annoyance before pulling out the entire box and carrying it over to the robo-dragon. “Outdated paper instructions, you'd think they'd consider uploading these things to the database so we didn't need to fan through them all the time.” It muttered to itself as it continued to dig through the pile. I grumbled, annoyed at missing the plans, but I felt Aerith tap on my shoulder, causing me to look over. A small office sat in a shack in the side of the hangar, another pony-shaped thing pouring over paperwork. Heading towards it, we could see through the window that it was surprisingly an actual pony, the officer looking over some blueprints in front of a terminal, circling a few areas and jotting down notes beside them. Behind him was a large circular metal ring, surrounded on almost all sides by a railing and a control panel. As we watched, the ring shuddered, and it began to sink into the ground, metal plates closing in over the hole it left as the large elevator dropped into the ground.

Stepping carefully into the office, the stallion looked up over the computer, confused as the door swung open of its own accord. He watched for a moment before looking back down at his work, shaking his head. Trotting behind him and looking over his shoulder, I could see him marking up a stack of blueprints for a level of the complex, with the terminal open on a database access screen. He circled another section, scribbling in more notes before flipping the paper over to work on another floor. Looking over to the window, I wondered if anything would spot him if I tried to knock him out. But before I could get the chance, a klaxon suddenly began to ring, the stallion jumping up out of his chair and tensing his wings. In a panic, I pulled up my umbrella, jabbing it into his neck. Just as quickly as he had leapt up, the officer crumpled to the floor, banging his head badly on the table as he fell. “Code red. Code red. Intruder alert, repeat, intruder on base. Communications center is without operators.” Oh, fuck.

Scrambling, I gathered up some of the papers on the table, Aerith taking a few and stuffing them into her own courier bag. Shoving the officer aside, I also fumbled with the console, backing out of the screen it was on and looking over the choices left. Recent updates, board room recordings, other info... holy shit, this really was a whole database. A large holotape came over in front of me in a blue aura, Aerith's magic plugging it in and hitting the data transfer, myself giving her a nod... for all the good that'd do, and looking out the window. The mechanics all rushed over to one end of the hangar where several robotic limbs were waiting, appearing to quickly swap between their maintenance tools and defensive weapons, before rushing out into the main field.

With the transfer finished, Aerith and I scurried out of the hangar, hurrying towards the wall around the base. I could hear Aerith’s wings unfurl again behind me, and suddenly I felt myself being lifted up into the air. We barely cleared the barbed wire, Aerith dropping down roughly on the opposite side and beginning to canter away from the base. I tried following the sound of her hooves, but the alarms and roars of mechanical dragons from the base almost drowned them completely out.

Panting, I shouted out. “Aerith, dammit, turn visible again, I don’t know where you’re going!” I punched a button on my suit, causing it to shimmer and the cloaking system to fade as I slipped down the side of the mountain, dropping out of view of the base. Looking around, I tried to spot Aerith on the mountainside, a small stitch in my side from the pain of running. Off in the distance I managed to spot her, looking exhausted as she lay panting on the ground. I hurried over to her, helping her back to her hooves as she gave a small smile, her horn glowing to cast another sign into the air.

'Thanks. Sorry, staying invisible for so long was a lot more draining than I thought it would be...' She looked up, spotting a few dragons beginning to circle overhead. 'We need to get moving. Night Strike said that she'd head around and be waiting for us at the dam. I should be able to teleport us both there... hopefully. You know where it is from here, right?' I nodded, looking back down the mountain, my vertigo returning as we began our descent down the steep mountainside.

At least, I hope I do.

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Apologies for the delay on this page, I got a lot of projects for school and then my internet decided to not let me access 90% of webpages.