Ground Down
IC date: DATE
OOC date: 4/10
Location: The Wasteland
PCs: Clean-Sweep Grinder Snakebite Overhaul
NPCs: N/A
GM: N/A

Its been a few days now since Grinder had found her way to the Old Talisman Factory, and to the midst of Clean-Sweep and Codex's home base. The now much more cleaned up filly practically beamed when she got back 'home' after getting a full clean up, and actual bath from a pony that really seemed to care about her. That touch of caring really effected the filly, and on leaving the compound she even left a little note attached to a place that the filly was pretty darn sure that Miss Clean-Sweep would notice it, that box of cleaning Abraxo that she always seemed to be attached to.

Thank you Miss Clean-Sweep, that bath was really nice, and I have a mane again! Its beautiful, all black and red, and streaky, I've not had such a proper brushing since my mother was last alive, you reminded me of of her, Thanks. Grinder
PS I'm going to be sure and find you something special, I promise!

As Codex had already returned the from his 'historical archiving' for that day, it can be presumed that she made it back home long since and likely went out today for her 'finding something special' And now that filly indeed is out on patrol, looking for special things, a gift of some-sort, some bauble, or perhaps more cleaning supplies for the eccentric ever-cleaning mare.

Grinder had no idea that she was getting herself into more trouble than she could even attempt to gauge as she trotted into the midst of a slaver trap while she was obvious to what she was about to get herself into.

Sweep Sighs as she looks at the note. So many ponies come and go in the Wasteland she knows this at this point. It shouldn't tear her up when another pony leaves but she can't help but feeling more than a little chest fallen. Any other day this would have been the end of things. Today though as Clean Sweep glances about the empty compound and hugs the box of Abraxo close to her chest. "Not this time."
Tossing the container into her bag she gathers her rifle and trots off into the waists. Years of bounty-hunting used this time to track down a friend. Its not hard. Sneaky as she is the filly has an easy trail to fallow too used to focusing on EFS. Taking a position her eyes the camp through her scope and gasps seeing the young pony. "Oh Grinder what have you done."

Clean Sweeps is not the only pony out and about today. Of course, Snakebite is about for a lot less selfless reasons, she's looking too. Looking for a treasure, though not something as pesky as material wealth, there was knowledge to be found in the Harbor, old pre-war knowledge; knowledge that belonged to her family when they still lived on the ground. Still, it didn't look like she'd get a chance to find out where to dig that up today either.

The grey mare sat down once more, unfurling her map on a slap of concrete and started, again, to compare the old-world map to what was laid out before her. Nothing made sense, as usual, and nothing of interest was to be seen… Well, for the most part. A motion caught the corner of her eye and her head turned around slowly - to let herself remain blended with the environment, easy to achieve with her dusty brown clothes and dusty grey coat. She recognized that filly…

Trap, its a simple thing, a stumbling block more or less, but it had its purpose, and served its design flawlessly. The filly never even saw it coming really, but she was walking in what was supposed to be an open space, sure there were red dots here and there on her EFS, but she was being cautious and had her pistol out, hovered just above her horn-light to keep it close. She was distracted by something, one of her hooves caught and got stuck on something, It didn't hurt, not one bit, but her forehoof was stuck, and the other one too "Eeerk What tha?" she mumbled.

WOoooosh! the trap struck with seemingly blinding speed, it was as if she was swept off her hooves and rolled into what looked like a giant mesh carpet, it rolled under her and around her lodging her in the midst of that trap. The 'rolled up carpet' had barbs all along its insides barbs that had caught her forehooves now caught at her entire body as it sprung shut around her! She lost all concentration on her magic, her pistol being flung from her grasp as her entire world enveloped her in a blink of an eye, She only could make a startled "EEEekkkkk!" and a shuddered gasp as the 'carpet' ensnared her. When the world came to rest for her there was pain everywhere, her eyesight bloomed and she felt immobilized completely, trapped entirely, she could barely even blink as those barbs dug in and locked into her hide roughly, only able to utter a single meek little "Oww" as she half gasped. She could see out from the mesh, mostly could see the ground, but then could make out shapes.

"Lookie what we have here? Hmm boyo's We gots ourselves a live one!" a tall earth pony manages to growl out as he slips from the shadows, "Fresh little Filly" mentions another slaver as they emerge from the shadows, this band looks to consist of around 7 possibly more of the filthy creatures led by that large buff earth pony.

Clean Sweep saw that from a mile away. Seven to Two would not have been bad odds if it where her and Codex. As things are Sweep would be lucky to get out of this alive, let alone her new friend. With a sigh she considers the group and lines up her cross hairs on the loud one that would seem to be the leader. BANG! The custom rifle sounds as she lets loose a bullet that will hopefully make a tidy mess all over the pavement and only make it a six to one battle.

Up on the concrete slab, the pony is gone. In fact, Snakebite is making good speed of towards the trap, using her tallent for sneakiness as well as her wings to keep herself on a rather unsuspected approach. She comes to a halt when she hears the gunshot, though sets of a moment later. If keeping a lot lower than she was before.

Grinder can't help but gasp as she watches the loud one drop like a light, and a spray of red mist appears. She actually squeaks, but sees the others scatter suddenly. The little Filly is helping! two of the slavers off to one side start gasping and coughing, waving their hooves as they are seemingly enveloped in a cloud of shiny grey carried by a fine green haze. Its not Taint but something obviously has them caught in a cloud of is that metal shards, dust of metal?! They are being overwhelmed by it, breathing in that must be the cause of their sudden panic. the Green tint to the cloud hints that perhaps the ensnared filly is using her magic in this fight after all! Down, but not out!

As far as Snakebite was concerned, the first advantage of being sneaky was that one would get a chance to take in the lay of the land - one incapacitated, two all but caught in a cloud of dust she had every intention of avoiding… and four more left standing between her and the filly.

As far as Snakebite was concerned, the second best advantage of being sneaky was that one would get time to prepare. Throwing her gaze around she grinned and hoisted a pipe from the debris. Big, solid. Very whack able and a good way to scatter her opponents after she struck. Rising a wing she tucked it away beneath it, pining it to her side. Next she dug into the pockets of her coat and pulled out a very small tin of yellow-orange tablets, one of which she swiftly threw down and swallowed with a grimace. Tablets was awful to down dry. Still, for this, Buck would help.

The two ponies trapped in the dust didn't last long in that cloud, one escaped sorta only to find himself gasping for breath that he couldn't find as his lungs were pretty much gone and he passed as he gasped, the other never made it from that cloud as it started to fade away. The filly gave a firm buck in her trap, but only caused herself more pain and a screech from her sounded like she was getting ripped up in there. She was panting hard labored breaths as she whimpered not knowing being able to see any more slavers in direct eyesight, somepony here was helping but she couldn't see them either, She didn't want to create another shardcloudstorm with helping ponies nearby.

With three slavers dead, the rest were fair game leaving four more to the entrapped filly and a possible friend that she couldn't see. She was getting sapped, as she was ensnared so fully she just couldn't move. Trying to move only sent the barbs deeper into her hide, and she could already feel herself bleeding from multiple cuts where the barbs of the trap had dug in.

Some Slaver actually called out, "Knock that unicorn senseless! Somebody get her!, look what she did to them!" Grinder was panicked but escape wasn't an option, she just couldn't move.

One of the slavers turned to do just that, his hooves crunching into the stone and dust out of Grinders sight… and then something grey and brown soared over head, a glint of steel at a outstretched hoof. A splatter of red hit the ground, followed by the thud of a body from somewhere behind.

Snakebite janked her foreleg back, not minding to much that the straps she'd used to tie the blade to her foreleg snapped in the process. She'd expected it would, that's why she'd brought the pipe. Speaking of which she loosened her wing slightly and bent around, snapping up the pipe in her mouth before straightening and charging at the trio of slavers left standing.

The entrapped filly heard the approach of the pony, meant to snuff her out, but hears him fold behind her suddenly, and see shadows pass over her issuing a surprised little grunt but is unable to do anything further really. Ponies are fighting here, for her, and she's helpless, she wants to help, but she hurts so bad its taking an actual effort to not cry, even though her eyes are watering, and she clenches her eyes shut occasionally trying to strain to move, but it does nothing. She's never been in this position before, never seen a slaver trap quite like this either. All rolled up at the core of what would look like a big mesh carpet laden with barbs to keep the prey from moving until the slavers arrived. Only this time they hadn't thought about the unicorn factor. All the same, she was no longer able to fight, she'd put in her efforts, now all she could do was watch, issue an occasional whimper as her muscles spammed from the compression. The bleeding wasn't serious, but it was still agonizing for the filly and she was not taking it well. She could only hope that this friend whom she couldn't particularly see, was going to help her get free.

And now, fillies and gentle-colts: the miracle of the PipBuck. No, it doesn't slice; it doesn't dice; it doesn't pay your bills. But, if in the proper hooves it can help do those things and so much more. Thanks to its (Eyes-Forward Sparkle) and SATS, even in the most limited visibility it can tell who the baddies are and aren't and help anypony fire true against their foes.

In this particular case, it's very unfortunate for the slavers that of all the ponies to be up against, it was Grinder. Not because of what she had or what she knew, but because of who she knew. A soft mechanical whirr starts up in the near distance.

FWUMP FWUMP FWUMP! The sounds of one of the slavers screaming mercilessly fill the air. FWUMP FWUMP! The screaming stops as he's silence forever.
*visibility

And that was the plan. After the slavers had been dealt with, it would not do to be ambushed by one just faking to be out of the fight now would it? Oh, and with that in mind, Snakebite ducked sharply to avoid a strike from the closest of the slavers, her head snapping around as she smashed the pipe into his foreleg with her Buck-en-chanced strength and sent him tumbling to the ground.
The grey mare was up a split second later, blocking the swung pipe of the other with her own before gingerly dancing back a few steps, her eyes daring around in search for this gun-mare (or stallion) shooting into her melee! Then again, a shotgun clattered to the ground together with the now slightly perforated unicorn stallion.

Grinder doesn't struggle any more she does gasp as she recognizes that sound though, "Wings" she gasps suddenly feeling so relieved enough so that she merely slumps completely exhausted. She knows that she's safe now, whatever is left of these slaver scum she's saved. She's still immobilized and not even making an effort to move and given how stuck she has gotten herself in this trap, thats a good thing. She's not necessarily lost alot of blood particularly, but she's gripped by this barbed mess from all sides so there are multiple points of contact for this trap to her. Her position doesn't give her much a view other than now seeing a mare go hoof to hoof with some other slaver too, 'more friends?' she thinks to herself totally stunned and relieved. a little wraspy voice of "who?" might be heard from her

As far as Overhaul is concerned, anypony helping against slavers is on his side at least until the battle is over. The whirring sounds up again and soon enough another slaver trying to get a fast one in on Snakebite has a few more holes in him than he'd been born with a few more muffled shots. The life flows out of him faster than the blood.

The dust begins to clear down more and in the middle of the cloudy disguise is another pegasus. The white winged stallion takes a few steps forward and stands over the body silently. His eyes turn towards the winged mare and he gives a stern single 'I've got your back' kind of nod.

Snakebite eyed the stallion for a moment, then down at the corpse of the one she'd just traded blows with. She gave him a grudging nod. Then her ears perked and swiveled around. Motor, small… chainsaw? The grey mare turned on the time and brought her pipe to beer against the pony she knocked down earlier with a shriek of ceramic on metal. Her eyes went wide, he had a ripper a-…
The pegasus mare danced back again with a small yipe as the mouth-sized motorized blade sawed through her pipe. She dropped the piece in her mouth as the slaver took a swipe at her and dropped under it. Up came a wing, hidden under the fabric of her duster, and smacked him in a yaw and dazing him for a moment. Long enough for Snakebite to rise up, grip his head in her forelegs and twist.
Another thud.
With a slight groan Snakebite stepped back, legs unsteady.

Grinder hears that noise she panics for the briefest moment, still blind to whats around her still too weak to do anything to help. She wants to, oh she wants to help but she's got nothing. Her horn fizzles pathetically. She can barely see the now unsteadied pegasus out of the extreme corner of her vision, likely just outside of that, but she can see her somehow, and you hear a grunt come from her, a gasping panting strain, as she pumps every last ounce of strength into her levitation spell in attempt to help cushion that Pegasus saviour from a fall. She's just panting which in turn is making her whimper at the barbs against her chest, but its something, anything, she can't let that pegasus fall, no not fall, she won't let her even if this strains her to burnout, she won't let these friends come to harm to the best of her failing abilities.

Overhaul finally spots Grinder without the aid of the HUD of his Pipbuck. He presses a button on the device attached to his leg and the guns tuck into his side as he starts walking over towards the razor-wire trap. The stallion frowns, still not a single word escaping him. After sitting down next to the trap he hits another button. A little multi-tool device swings from his modified battle-saddle and from it, a pair of wire clippers pops out. Piece by piece, he uses the head-tracking function to clip small sections of the wire out. He's being very careful not to pull on anything so Grinder doesn't wind up with more damage than she's already sustained.

The other pegasus remained silent. Very silent in fact. That is at least till the ripper started up… right behind Overhaul's head. Fat lot of good the Eyes Forward Sparkle does when one is paying attention to something completely different. "Name and rank, punk," said Snakebite through the mouth-grip of the weapon.

Grinder relaxes as Overhaul starts snipping away the trap, the she goes wide eyed, she can actually turn her head a little just enough to hear, she chokes out "NO!" While she doesn't have it in her to do any full on magic or full on heavy levitation she does have enough to form that 'cloud' which rises up in front of herself. Its an angry cloud of almost granular metal flakes, it was VERY effective at killing two slavers in short work. She pants , "Don't hurt him!" she cries out, actually crying now, she can't hold that back anymore. Her horn flares a few times, the cloud looses stability but still hovers above the ground before her. That green magic laced cloud is death, the best she can muster. For now it just hovers in front of the wounded Unicorn filly though she looks like she could use it or direct it like water to whomever she desires.

The Pegasus whom had helped her, is using that weapon which is clenched in her mouth, open mouth, no apparent breathing apparatus, so she's prime for killing with this cloud of fine razor like metal cloud. Grinder cries, "p p please don't make me kill you, please, don't hurt him!" she begs still helpless before the trap, the snips having freed her a little, but not enough. Her horn magic keeps fizzling and popping like she's burning through everything she's got.

Overhaul 's ears go up at the sound of the ripper and quickly lay back. Things like this happen all the time…well…any time he runs into a Dashite. He hits a button on his Pipbuck and the wire-cutters stop moving. As he turns his head to look behind him at Snakebite, one of the vulcans at his side follows with. Other than that, he makes no attempt to pose any sort of threat towards the other pegasus. His composure is calm, almost relaxed. A single word finally slips from his lips

"No."

Snakebite scowls, taking a nimble step back, eyes narrow, and she remains gingerly on her hooves. An earth pony or a unicorn might have gone for a wide stance to make better use of physical power, Snakebite was a pegasus and nimble on her hooves. And running on Buck. "Look away, and explain!" she growled, taking a glance up at the magic cloud before slipping sideways, putting Overhaul between herself and it.
Grinder 's cloud starts to fade, the filly starting to tremble making little noises of trying to keep up the effort, but she's fading fast as that cloud is. She's really trying still she weakly begs, "Please" is her only word before that cloud fizzles out along with her magic as she looses all points of focus to just lay there gently panting, "please don't hurt each-other" she asks softly.

"The Enclave deserves all the hurt they can get," spat Snakebite.

Overhaul narrows his brow when he hears Grinder trying that hard to fight through the pain. He his head away from the Dashite and deactivates the auto-tracking, the gun pulling back into his side. The wire cutters come back to life and he continues snipping at the trap to free his friend. After a clip or two he pauses for a moment to speak. "O. No Rank. No Punk. No Enclave." As if he's not worried about being attacked, he simply goes back to untangling the wire.

Snakebite's eyes drifted down towards Overhaul's cutie mark. "Yeah, right… Either you're Enclave, or you're branded… That's the rules."
Clip. Clip. Snip. Snip. Overhaul keeps working at freeing the filly. He's about half way through and no pun intended, doesn't seem to have hit any snags. This time when he speaks he doesn't even bother to stop working. After all, Grinder is much more important than this other pegasus at the moment. "No Enclave. No brand. Stableborn."

Grinder murmurs quietly, "PipBuck" she tries to remind the other pegasus, then says one more word feeling some relief as the strain lifts from her chest letting her draw in a deep breath for once before choking a few times and gasping, "Stable" and a rush, "O's my friend don't hurt-him" she weezes just giving up more or less there's nothing she can do here and she's too exhausted to try and help any.

Snakebite keeps eyeing Overhaul suspiciously, very suspiciously in fact. Then she throws a glance at Grinder and… the motor of the ripper dies as she extends a wing, revealing a disturbing number of sharp implements hidden within neat little sheets sewn into her duster. The ripper joins them as she trots around Grinder. "…fine, for now…" With that she sat down, pushing her hat back ever so slightly to reveal a few strands of her read mane. "Right, I'm going to give you a shot of Med-X, and once you're free I got a few healing bandages to help you patch up, potion if it's absolutely necessary…"

The pegasus mare reached into her coat, after giving Overhaul another suspicious glance, to retrieve her needle, injecting the painkiller with a quick, practiced jab.

Overhaul pays no mind to the suspicion or the various array of glances being tossed his way. The clipper keeps clipping and eventually, a few wires keeping Grinder's front legs bound are relieved of tension. Her front half is for the most part free now, and it's mostly her flanks that need rescued.

Grinder receives that dose of Med-X and you can see her tension practically soak from her. she makes a little sound of contentment, still quivering as she really did take quite a bit of damage, but that med-X is really helping.. She murmurs weakly, "Thank you" she looks to Snakebite, and over her shoulder slowly at Overhaul, its a thanks meant to both of them, but she lays her head back down to patiently wait to be freed fully.

Snakebite keeps half a eye at Overhaul as she works; bandages are brought fought as she starts to pull what she can of Grinder's gear off in preparation of wrapping her up with the healing infused fabric. Her hooves shake ever so slightly as the combat drugs in her system start to burn out. "…Don't mention it," Snakebite muttered. "What were you doing out here anyway, seriously? The waste's no place for a filly for Luna's sake…"

As luck would have it, Grinder is not the only victim of the trap. As Overhaul clips a particularly troublesome piece of the wire it releases and snaps back at him. A few thin but deep marks appear on his right shoulder, the white of his coat now tainted with red. Rather than wincing or stepping back, he merely narrows his brow in frustration and works away.

Grinder winces for her friend as he continues to work, at freeing her. She gently flexes her forehooves eliciting little gasps here and there as her hid stretches out after being so tightly locked down. While she doesn't openly whimper, she is crying, she can't help it. She looks to Snakebite, "I" her voice quivers, "I come out here all the time, but, but today I was looking for something for Clean-Sweep" she murmurs, "don't know, just something special" she sighs deeply laying her muzzle on her forehoves as she still shivers, letting the older mare pull her welders barding off. Much of it is streaked with marks from the barbs, and while the barbs mainly didn't penetrate her armor, the rest of her certainly got some seriously rough treatment.

Snakebite shook her head for herself, garbing one of the rolls of bandages she's produced before starting to wrap Grinder in the fabric. She's muttering something under her breath, and looks very unhappy at that.

Despite the few small setbacks, O has finally managed to get the wire cut apart. Very carefully he grabs pieces in his teeth and pulls them away, tossing them into a pile to the side. As he steps into the mess to remove more pieces, more cuts start appearing on his front legs. Like a trooper, he carries on and doesn't stop until the filly is free.

Grinder feels the decompression of the wires freed from her form, she can't help but stretch out which causes the filly to gasp and cry out in pain which in turn causes her to pull in her hooves into a fetal position quivering in renewed agony with little gasps as she starts to /try/ and relax. The tears flow openly now, no holding that back she just hurts so much. Her horn fizzles as she tries something, likely a light levitation spell, but her horn merely fizzles from total burn-out. Everything the filly had, is gone and she just collapses there totally exhausted with a deep quivering sigh. This little pony has endured enough for the day to be completely sapped of strength. She did pretty well for trying to keep up the fight, first the slavers, then the potential fight between the two pegasi. but now, well thats that, her eyes slip closed and she shudders intently, likely well passed out from exertion.

Snakebite sighed for herself as she kept wrapping Grinder up in bandages. "Bleedin' pit of Tartarus, this place…" she sighed before reaching up, adjusting her akubra ontop of her head, keeping her red crimson mane covered up.

Glancing over at Overhaul she let out a soft snort, and a moment a bundle of bandages smacked into him. "You know anyplace safe we can haul her up for the night, pegasus?"

One of O's eyes twitch as the other pegasus applies the bandages. He really wasn't expecting that, but cest la vie. He kneels down and gets (OMG I almost typed LittlePip XD) Grinder worked onto his back. Giving a light nod towards the Dashite, he starts walking towards the shipyard.

Grinder is shifted, and lifted, bulky little thing she is for a filly, strong thing too. But she barely makes a noise when lifted, a little grunt or squeak or something is murmured but thats about it. She's wiped out beyond all words, but she does feel one thing thats for sure. Safe, and Free still. Thats all that mattered out here in the wasteland, Freedom.

Snakebite rolled her eyes at Overhaul as she picked herself up, garbing the bandages she'd thrown at the stallion. Then she simply stood there, looking back the way she came, and over in the direction of the departing buckin' un-branded pegasus stallion. And the unicorn filly. She should leave, just… leave. That'd be for the best, he had to be Enclave; the dirt ponies just didn't have stuff like that… And the filly would be alright, no need for her to concern herself with her. At all. Just walk away…
Walk away…

Snakebite sighed for herself. "Darn…" Turning around she slipped after the residing figures.