I awoke to a soft beeping, my Pip-Buck’s screen flashing on and off. I blinked as my eyes watered from the continual sudden change in light, trying to find the little button to flip off the alarm. After some pawing at the knobs and dials, my Pip-Buck stopped beeping, quickly displaying a picture of a smiling colt climbing out of bed and a ‘good morning!’ Resting in the bed a short while longer, I let off a soft sigh, enjoying the comfort of the pillow and mattress. Almost like back home... heck of a lot better than that bedroll, at least.

After a few more moments of laziness, I managed to roll out of bed, standing up and trotting into the small bathroom. I cringed as I looked into the rusted tub - uck, yeah, I don’t think I trust that. I dunked my mane into the marginally cleaner sink, starting to let the water run. Well, my Pip-Buck’s Geiger counter isn’t ticking, it can’t be that bad. It’s been way too long since I’ve properly washed this... I scrubbed at my mane for a couple minutes before turning the water off and letting the wet hair fall back into place. Well, least here I don't have to worry about it freezing up while walking around.

I hoisted my saddlebags onto my back, immediately letting out a grunt of effort. Okay, maybe carrying around all these batteries might not have been the best idea. The thought of how many caps I’d soon have was enough to get me to the door, umbrella secure in the saddlebag strap. I trotted next door to Night Strike’s room, knocking. “Morning, you guys up?” I got a muffled irritated grunt as a response. Alright, I’ll leave you alone. Maybe this place has some free bagels or something, then. I made my way towards the lobby, sitting down in one of the chairs.

I glanced over to the main desk, breathing a small sigh of relief upon realizing Chauffeur wasn’t the one sitting at it. Sliding my saddlebags off of my back, I stepped up to the receptionist. “Uh, hello?” The pony looked up, pushing her glasses up her muzzle. “Where’s the nearest place I’d be able to, um, resupply stuff? Trade, and things?”

The mare with the frazzled mane stretched her back for a moment, leaning on the desk and pointing her hoof off to the right. “The general store’s a few blocks down that way. Gunsmith’s south of that, and there’s Gumbo’s place back around that way.” She pointed in the opposite direction of the general store. “You can ask one of the shop owners, they might now somepony if you need any sort of specialty items.” I nodded and gave a quick thanks before I heard a few hoofsteps.

I hitched up my saddlebags as Night Strike and Crash Dive wandered into the lobby, Strike yawning and rubbing her eyes a little while Crash Dive... well, looked like Crash Dive. Did she really need to have her helmet on? Sheesh... Taking a moment to get ourselves together, we headed out the door, and I began to lead them both down the road. Night Strike let off another yawn, trotting to catch up with me. “Get any leads on a generator?” I shook my head in response, looking over the town. Paved roads and water towers, huh...

“No, but the receptionist said the shop owners might know something. Besides, we gotta sell off this stuff anyway.” I shook my saddlebags, wobbling a bit with the shifting weight. Woof, why are these damn batteries so heavy, anyways? Making our way through the town, the sun crested over the distant mountains, several ponies milling about in the early morning. We soon arrived at a small wooden building, the door squeaking on its hinges as we walked in.

The pony on the other side of the counter looked up from his book, bending a page and setting it aside before greeting us three with a smile. “Ah, hello there! Anything I can get for you?” I simply opened up my saddlebags and placed the boxes of batteries onto the counter, grinning widely. The owner’s eyes widened as I opened up the packaging, taking out a few of the batteries to show him.

“I’ve got pristine spark batteries from Clearwater, fully charged and perfect for display!” The owner looked over one of the batteries, clearly impressed by the uncommonly good condition. “100 caps apiece, 8 batteries a box.” The owner faltered for a moment, obviously a little unsure. Silver tongue, don't fail me now... “Hey, considering the normal price for much worse condition ones, a 30% increase isn’t bad.”

The owner thought for a moment, letting off a small huff, before conceding. “Alright, you’ve got a deal. But I’ve really only got enough caps for two boxes, you’ll need to find somewhere else to sell them.” I nodded and caps were exchanged, my smile growing a little wider as I slid the small mountain of caps into my satchel along with the remaining batteries.

“Anypony you know that might be interested in these?” I asked, thankful my saddle bag was now several pounds lighter. The owner thought for a moment, Night Strike placing one of the pistols and some rifle grenades she’d grabbed from the displays on the counter. The pony looked over her gun, and the two exchanged the cap difference before stowing it and the batteries under the counter.

“You can try the gunsmith, though I doubt they’d be that interested. There’s also the Hopeville Triage near the center of town. They’d love to have something to charge any medical equipment they’ve got.” I thanked him before glancing over some of his supplies, though nothing caught my attention.

“Well, you certainly got rich fast. I barely got a chance to show him the guns I found!” Night Strike let off a small huff as we stepped out of the store, myself smirking as we began to head towards the gunsmith. “What’re you going to spend those on anyway? It’s not like you need ammo for that lightning rod.”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh, hush, I’m sure the gunsmith’ll be happy to bury you in caps once you show him that duffel bag.” We made our way down the road, glancing around for any signs indicating where the gunsmith would be. “Besides, with our luck we’re going to end up needing to buy that generator, and I doubt anypony who has one is going to give it up cheap.” Night Strike tilted her head and shrugged.

We turned a corner, spotting a store with a few rifles on display behind its dirty windows. We trotted in, Night Strike making sure she got to the cashier before I could. As she dropped the duffel bag on the counter and opened it to reveal the contents, I walked around the displays, gazing at all the weaponry. I certainly had more of an affinity for traditional guns than either of my dads, though nothing really could beat the power and awesome lightshow you got from energy weapons. Then again, a heavy stick is still better with my aim being as bad as it is... stupid unicorns not having to use their mouths.

“What do you mean you only have 800 caps? You're a gunsmith, for crying out loud!” Oh, that doesn't sound particularly good. Night Strike seemed to be glaring the stallion behind the register down as she rested a hoof on her bag of guns. She released a sigh, placing a hoof against her forehead and shaking it back and forth. "Alright, alright, look, how many forty mil grenades or shotgun shells do you have in stock? I'll take whatever you've got that'll work."

"S-sure, right away. Sorry, nopony's been buying much of anything with caps lately, I'm lucky I had the 800 to offer. You have any idea how hard it is to make a living when random wanderers keep coming in with scrap metal and other junk in place of actual caps to trade? What do they expect a gunsmith to do with shit like a pressure cooker or hunks of rebar!?" Well, technically speaking a good length of rebar with a bit of concrete on the end makes for a good thing to bash a radroach's head in with. "Uh, what caliber were those shotgun shells you wanted?" Night Strike gave the cashier a slightly odd look, pulling one of the non-revolver pistols out and setting it on the counter.

"Um, forty millimeter, same as the grenades. Yanno, like this one?" The pegasus pulled Thumper off of her back, opening it up and sliding out the flat-nosed shell. The pony behind the desk was... understandably both surprised and terrified. I don't blame him, I've seen what one of those things does to a pony's face... Well, feral ghoul pony, but still. Oh, I'm glad that I already slept... "There's also slugs, and I guess it could fire birdshot too, but dragon's breath and slugs are the main ones I carry."

"Celestia above, I didn't even think that they made shotguns that big... Uh, um, could I possibly keep one of each? I-I can make you more, I guess, just... sheesh, that's kind of overkill." Night Strike obliged the gunsmith with another one of the shells, breaking into laughter as she took the time to reload Thumper with one of the orange-tipped grenades. The large ammo box slid across the counter, and Night Strike placed a few of the boxes of bullets on it as well, to make up the difference, I suppose. "Anyways, that's all I've got, 20 regular, 12 incendiary, and 5 timed. Oh, uh, could I interest you in some fifty cal anti-tank bullets? Great for making things really dead, yeah?"

"Forty Mil grenades and shotgun shells work just fine for that, thanks. If you do get the slugs and dragon's breath into production, though, I assure you that this isn't the last you'll see of me." Night Strike answered him with a smirk, fitting the ammo box into the Clearwater Police duffel bag alongside the guns, myself standing near the entrance with Crash Dive. C'mon already, burning daylight, or something. Sooner we can stay away from the hotel, and Chauffeur, the better. She gave a light grunt as the bag settled - heh, now who's the one with too much stuff? - and we stepped back out into the street.

My stomach growled loudly, a light blush crossing my face as Night Strike and Crash Dive both looked over to me - what, I'm a growing colt! “It’s not too late for breakfast, I think; it’s been a while since we’ve had anything other than fish, anyways.” Night Strike said, looking up at the sky. “That mare at the hotel mention anywhere we can eat?”

"Uh, yeah, she did say there was one place back that way." I nodded back down the street, and we began to make our way back across town. “I think we should head off to that Triage place after eating. They might know where to find a generator, seeing how they’re running a lot of medical equipment from the sound of things. Not to mention give me some place to unload the rest of these batteries...” Crash Dive and Night Strike both nodded, the missile-flanked pegasus' stomach giving off a low growl as well. We passed by the hotel, Chauffeur wiping clean the cracked lobby windows. Slowing in his wiping, he waved to me, lowering his eyelids in a somewhat seductive manner and brushing some of his bane away from his eyes. I gave a nervous smile back before picking up my pace, passing the hotel a bit faster. Night Strike snickered as another blush crossed my face, and we headed down the road.

“Oh come on, Static, you can’t just leave him hanging like that! I thought you had better manners.” She chuckled, and I felt my face grow a little hotter as we rounded another corner, arriving at a small open shack. A slightly pudgy earth pony was standing at a wood stove, pouring several ingredients into a pot on the stovetop. We all slid into booths set up along the counter top, the pony turning around and smiling warmly.

“Hey, welcome to Gumbo’s! Couldn’t have had better timing, my signature blood sausage stew is nearly done. Or, is there something else I can get you?” We all glanced over the frankly insanely large menu hanging behind Gumbo. I didn’t realize there were so many different ways to cook bloatsprite... or, um, radigators? What the...

“I’ll, um, I'll just have the blood sausage.” I said, pulling out the appropriate amount of caps. Night Strike and Crash Dive did the same, Gumbo smiling and gathering up the caps before turning back to the pot. It didn’t take long before three steaming bowls of the stew were placed in front of us, the aroma making my stomach growl even louder. I began to eat, my stomach quickly filling up with the delicious broth, thankful to have a warm meal inside me again.

“You three from out of town, I take it?” Gumbo asked as he stirred the large pot. Night Strike nodded and Gumbo smiled a bit. “I figured. Mayfly back at the hotel always sends ponies my way...” He let himself trail off as he turned back around, pausing for a moment and looking over Crash Dive. Huh, that rebreather part of her mask comes off? Neat... “You, uh, wouldn’t happen to know Steel Ranger Company B, would you?”

Crash Dive took another gulp of soup before answering. “Uh, yes, actually. Trying to track them down and bring them back for a proper court martial, these two are just sticking with me until the rest of my squad decide to get back here. You wouldn't happen to have any leads on them that could help us, would you?" We finished up our bowls, Gumbo taking them and beginning to wash them, occasionally glancing over to his stew to check it, Crash Dive reaffixing the rebreather.

“They mentioned they were heading towards Vanhoover, but I don’t know by which route.” He placed the clean bowls onto some shelves beside him. “I wouldn’t go mentioning anything about them to anypony, they didn’t exactly leave a good impression.... gave the Triage a hell of a hard time, sounds of it that's why they need more hard alcohol and nitro.” Ok, so now ponies will think we’re with a currently less-than-accepted Brotherhood Paladin instead of a psuedo-ex-Enclave trooper. Right now, I don’t think I know which would be worse.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Crash said simply through the voicebox, sliding off of her stool. Night Strike and I thanked Gumbo for the meal before following her away from the shack, having to run a bit to catch up. “Come on, let’s get to that Triage so he can sell off the batteries and we can get moving again.” Crash headed towards the center of town, not bothering to avoid anypony that was in her way. I made a note to myself to try and not talk to her until her mood improved - I really didn't need another flight into the trees. It wasn’t long before we came to a large building, its doors and windows in much better condition than those around it and a large metal sign across the facade reading 'Hopeville Medical Clinic'.

We headed inside, stepping into a relatively refurbished lobby, several ponies sitting in small chairs as a couple sat at a large desk, calmly typing at bulky terminals and scribbling down notes on clipboards. I stepped up to them, one looking up from a terminal screen. “Hello, and welcome to the Hopeville Triage. Are you in need of medical attention?”

"Uh, no, I heard you needed power for you machinery. I’ve got some spark batteries to sell.” I pulled one of them out of my saddlebags, placing it on the counter. The secretary looked it over before handing it back to me and pointing towards an open door leading to a long hallway.

“Head down the hall and take the second door on the left. Talk to Emerald, she’s our main mechanic.” We headed through the hall and opened the door to reveal a bright green unicorn fiddling with a broken heart monitor. She glanced over when she heard us come inside, setting her tools aside and wiping her forehead with a washcloth.

I pulled out the boxes of batteries and placed them on her workbench, her eyes going wide as she looked over them... or maybe because of how much the cart was beginning to tilt under their weight. “I’ve got some batteries for you equipment, near perfect pre-war condition. 100 caps apiece sound good?” Emerald immediately pulled out her cap bag and began to count out the amount. I scooped them up as she set the batteries aside, looking extremely relieved.

“Oh, thank goodness, you have no idea how strapped for power we’ve been lately. Every day we seem to get more ponies coming in and more equipment malfunctions, and they keep draining energy like a mosquito on Jet.” She went back to working on the heart monitor, undoing the screws on the back.

“How’re you able to keep all this up on just spark batteries?” Night Strike asked. Emerald blew out her nose exasperatedly and pulled the back panel off of the monitor. She fiddled with some of the wires, unscrewing some broken bulb-things before digging around under her workbench for new ones.

“Little bit of pre-war magic, little bit of plain being lucky. For all intents and purposes, we don’t, honestly... We’ve been turning down ponies left and right unless they’re in serious condition. Hopeville… couldn’t have found a better name.” She began to fix the machinery, wiping down a few dusty bits. “We’ve been looking for somepony to go visit the old Vanhoover Hydroelectric dam east of here, but all of us are too busy looking after the patients.”

I looked over to Night Strike, who could easily see what I had in mind. She shrugged and stepped forward. “We could head out there, if you want. What needs to be done?” Crash Dive placed an armored hoof on the temple of her helmet, clearly not wanting to get involved. Emerald flipped the panel back up on the monitor, affixing a couple readers to her arm and hooking the wires up to one of the batteries. The monitor hummed as it began to beep, showing a steady pulse across the screen.

Emerald switched off the machine before walking over to her desk, jetting off a small sigh. “We’re not entirely sure. The dam should already be hooked up to this hospital, but for whatever reason the power’s just not coming through. It doesn’t look like the cables have sustained any damage from the few reports we’ve gotten, so we think the dam is just plainly not functioning. All in all, miracle it survived the war in the first place.” She rifled through various papers before pulling out a set of blueprints and rolling them out on her desk.

“It’s most likely either a problem with the turbines, or the maneframe.” She dug around in her desk a little more before producing a small plug connected to a small brick-shaped device. “If it’s the maneframe, just plug this into the computers and it should automatically reboot and reroute power towards us. If the turbines are broken, just head back and I can see about sending some mechanics there when we’re not in such a mess.” I slipped the device into my saddlebags. “Try not to get killed on the way there, though. Only have one of those things.”

“We’ll have the power back up before you know it.” Emerald smiled and we made our way back out of the hospital. Night Strike checked her Pip-Buck, thinking for a moment. “Alright, it’s not far, we could easily make it there and back before dark if we head out now.” I nodded and we made our way towards the east end of town, following the road along the edge of the lake.

“Do we really need to get involved with this? Need I remind you both the reason I'm along here is because I don't fancy being killed by one of those megaspells on that thing, the thing you two crashed and has already started attracting attention, if that pile of gore I kicked off the cliff a few days back means anything?” Crash said, irritated, as Night Strike placed a hoof against her mouth, looking a little faint. Huh, maybe the food just doesn't agree with her, or something... I kicked a rock along as we walked, eventually losing sight of it as it rolled down slope towards the lake.

“Well, they might have a portable generator there, you never know.” I said, trying to rationalize the trip. Crash Dive let off a sigh and gave her head a shake, muttering something about surface dwellers as we walked along the lakeside. “Besides, it shouldn’t take more than a few hours, anyways. We can spare the time, right?” We continued down the road, passing by a caravan heading towards Hopeville. It wasn’t long before the dam came into view over the horizon, the curved concrete wall just barely visible above the water it was holding back. A large building stood just beside it on the opposite side of the lake, a set of three large letters affixed to a rusted metal sign above it, reading 'North Vanhoover Hydroelectric' beneath.

We opened the fence blocking off the top of the dam, trotting along it for a short ways. I turned my head to the side, staring out over the lower lake in front of the dam - boy, that was one hell of a drop. I swear my first instinct whenever I see a giant cliff is to throw a rock over it. We made our way into the structure built halfway along the top of the dam, stepping through the doorway and heading down a long set of stairs, several turbines sitting idly in the center of the dam below us. We trotted along the scaffolding above the turbines, staring down towards them. “Well, they don’t look damaged from up here, at least. We may as well see if we can find the control room first.”

Our hoofsteps echoed through the concrete structure as we crossed the lower scaffolding, the quietness eerie, to say the least. Night Strike glanced upwards to one end, spotting a large glass window into another room. “That might be it.” She said, pointing it out. We all began to walk towards the side with the room, looking for some stairs. “Hey, here’s an elevator, maybe it’s still working.” I gave her a worried look but she just waved her hoof dismissively. “Oh, fine, find the stairs yourself then if you’re that worried.” She punched a button, the doors sliding open noisily into the small elevator. “See, it doesn’t look that bad.”

I tentatively stepped onto the elevator, worried it would fall beneath our weight at any moment, especially as Crash Dive stepped on and we dipped a half-inch. Night Strike pressed the topmost button and the doors slid shut, the elevator beginning to rattle and shake as it climbed upwards. I whimpered a bit, the ride feeling much more like several minutes than a few seconds. The doors slid open and I almost stumbled out of the elevator, Crash Dive letting off a slight groan as Night Strike snickered.

We were now in a small room, a few large computers lining the wall opposite the window with a terminal looking out over the generator room. I pulled out the little device Emerald had given me, plugging it into a small port on the side of the terminal and booting it up. The screen flickered a bright green before pulling up the boot menu, myself scrolling through and finally getting to the option ‘Route power to station 1255-B.’ Might not be as tech-savvy as my dads, but at least I know how to use a terminal. I hit a button and then a large grinding sound was heard, Night Strike and I covering our ears as the terminal began scrolling out various commands.

‘Error encountered. Running diagnostics. Cables: Intact, Generators: Intact, Piping: Intact.’ Several lines filled the screen before another option appeared - ooh, computers are Minty's forte, not mine... ‘Errors found: Turbine No. 1 inlet and outer intakes clogged. Please clear debris before resuming to power on turbines.’ The terminal held on the error message, Night Strike and Crash Dive both looking over my shoulders at the screen. “Well, crap.” I stared down through the window.

Crash Dive turned back towards the elevator, glancing over her shoulder at us. “Come on, then. We should’ve checked the lower levels for generators, anyways. Going to be a bit of a pain to get it out of this place, but we'll make do.” We headed back towards the elevator, Night Strike punching the lowest button this time. We were soon stepping out into a dimly lit corridor, the sound of water dripping from a few pipes echoing through the halls. We trotted through the corridors, following a few signs towards the turbines.

I glanced down one of the halls, almost sure I saw something step out of view just before I had turned far enough to check. I shuddered, trying to push thoughts of whatever those things that had attacked us on the bridge yesterday out of my mind. Crash Dive opened a door into the long room lined with the large turbines, massive pipes leading to the four structures from the reservoir-side of the dam. I glanced over into one, but couldn’t see much below the surface of the fogged, murky glass.

Once we reached the first of the four turbines and opened up the top hatch, though, it was obvious something was gumming up the blades. Large collections of moss clung to the inner walls, and several large round objects could be seen stuck to the side of them. “Yeeaaaah, I’m not climbing down there to clear those out. Whatever they are.” Night Strike chuckled, pulling out Thumper.

“Pfft, this’ll be the easy part.” She said, sliding one of the new grenades she’d picked up into the grenade rifle. She took aim, and before I could stop her she fired a grenade into the open hatch, it making a slight splash as it entered. It stuck into the mass of gunk that was below the surface before exploding, all of us getting sprayed by mucky water and bits of some fleshy white material. I gave a sound of disgust as I brushed the things off of me - what the heck were those, giant soft eggs, or something? Night Strike slung Thumper back over her shoulder, trying to hide her revulsion under a smug smile. “See? Now we just gotta get the main intake cleared and find some sort of power lever, right? So, uh, where's the access for that at?...”

"I'm no expert in these things, but I'm pretty sure that hydroelectric dams usually have their intakes located at the bottom of the lake they're holding back. Something to do with kinetic energy and water pressure." The power armored mare looked over at the massive pipe that took up one wall, pointing over at the place where it seemed to lead out to the lake. "There. Since we were able to get one of the turbines open without drowning, safe bet that it's entirely clogged up. I don't think that there's a hatch there you can shoot another grenade in, though... we'll have to blow it open externally."

"Ooh, ooh, that's great! There's some waterproof dyamite that we can use, I know where a stash of it is, back in the... Clearwater police station. Ah, ponyfeathers." Well, better it's back there than here, where it'd be liable to be shot at and explode, taking half of you with it, Strikey. She let off a sigh, rubbing her forehead with a hoof as we headed back out.

"You'd really think that pre-war ponies would've come up with some way to clear the intakes remotely, without having to blow it open every time it got stuffed up." I passed along a shrug as we stepped back onto the elevator, Crash Dive seeming to be really quite intent on adjusting her helmet in the meantime. The elevator clattered as we stopped on the catwalk level, making way back up to the top of the dam, Night Strike loading another timed grenade into Thumper. We all peered over the edge on the lake side, the dark blue pegasus keeping her rifle held tight.

"I dunno... I don't think Thumper has the powder load to throw a grenade that far down. Water's a lot denser than air, if it doesn't just disintegrate on impact I doubt it'd make it to the intake. Plus side, we don't have to be accurate, long as it gets close the shockwave will be carried by the-" We both blunk as Crash Dive shoved a remote-thingy into Night Strike's hooves, staring at her with the red eyes of her helmet. Oh, well, um... okay, then?

"Don't fire it until I'm back here, or you'll wind up killing me. I won't be too long." We both watched in slight confusion as the power armored pegasus stepped up onto the concrete barrier on the side of the dam, perching there for a moment before leaning forwards and dropping over the side, impacting the water with a loud splash. Needless to say, confusion didn't quite cut it now. We both stared over the side, watching as the water settled again, just simply waiting now. Minutes passed, and every now and again a small flurry of bubbles would come up - w-well, um, if she were klling herself she'd have drowned a while ago. I really didn't think that power armor would be the best thing to take a swim in...

A short while later, the water splashed loudly further along the dam, a black figure climbing up the concrete wall with her hooves, getting up to the top of the structure and onto the road. We both rushed over to the power armored mare, Crash Dive removing her wet helmet and taking a big gulping breath, looking towards the both of us as she hung her helmet back on her harpoon cannon's barrel. I... really didn't think that the Grand Pegasus Enclave would have much need for a suit that let you work underwater. "There's a few charges in place on the intake filters. The things gumming them up are eggs, or something. Freaky as a flying plucked ghoul..."

"So, I take it you've made more modifications to your armor than just the w- uh, helmet mowhawk... fin-thing, right?" The pink-maned mare gave me a small glare before nodding once, Night Strike grinning slightly as she took the remote in her mouth, activating it. There was a low thud that shook the dam and caused a small swell in the water, a series of white bubbles and mulch floating up from the bottom. Okay, ew... well, at least the intakes are clear now.

Back down in the dam, we continued back to the large maneframe room, myself walking back to the terminal while Night Strike moved a junction box on the far wall labeled 'Manual Floodgate Override'. She grabbed the lever and tried to pull it down, grunting as she worked at it. “Ah, crap it’s rusted off... damnit, why couldn't I have gotten Featherweight's huge body?” I rolled my eyes and pushed her aside before grabbing ahold of it, glancing over to see her scrunched face. Sorry Strikey, sometimes an earth pony is just better for the job. It took a few tries, but I was able to get the lever to slide down, squeaking and grinding across the box as it did. Once it was flipped down, there was the sound of a buzzer going off in the main section of the dam, before the turbines began to hum as the water flowed through the grates and spun the giant blades.

“Well, they should be getting power back in Hopeville, now. We can still run a quick sweep for a generator before heading back, I think.” Heading out of the maneframe and back to the turbine level of the dam, we all began to explore the various storage rooms and hallways connected to the structure. I trotted into a small workshop, digging around below the benches and inside the various tool closets, finding nothing but cobwebs and old tools. I stowed a few energy cells that were lying on the benches before heading back to the turbine room, meeting up with Crash Dive and Night Strike near the elevator. “Find anything?” They both shook their heads, and we began to make our way back towards the entrance to the dam. As we stepped out onto the top of the structure, the sound of water rushing through the grates below was almost thunderous, wave after wave crashing down into the lower lake.

Night Strike fluttered her wings and began to balance her way across the fence, peering down at the cascading water. She wobbled a bit, her wings outstretched as we walked back across the dam. “If you wanted to commit suicide, you know you could’ve just jumped into the running turbines, right?” I yelled over the rushing water. Night Strike didn’t respond, whether she didn’t hear me or just didn’t want to acknowledge me unclear. I flipped on the radio, a smooth jazz number filling the air as began the trek back towards Hopeville.

---

“And that’s how I learned how to make a makeshift laser cannon out of duct tape, scrap electronics and a few conducters. Join us next time to hear how I broke my way out a raider slave camp with nothing but a pretzel stick.” I switched the radio off as we trotted up to the hotel, the sun hanging low in the sky. I yawned as we entered the lobby - hopefully Crash Dive lets us sleep in again.

Chauffeur looked up from the desk as we entered, a smile immediately crossing his face as he spotted me. “Well, hello again. Looking to stay another night?” I nodded and his smile widened. “I can’t exactly see how I’d charge you three after what you did for the Triage. And hardly getting any dirt on that pretty face doing it!” I blushed and tried not to cringe. “Enjoy your night, and feel free to stay as long as you want. And again, just give me a ring if you want anything.” I picked up my pace as Night Strike chuckled behind me, zipping into the hotel room. Before I could shut and lock it, a power armor wearing hoof blocked it open, Crash Dive staring back through with her helmet still on.

“We’re heading out at first light tomorrow. If you aren’t up, I’m sending Chauffeur in to wake you up.” I nodded, gulping in fear, that warning being more than enough motivation. She removed her hoof and let the door shut, allowing me to lock it, finally. Letting off a sigh of relief, I slid my saddlebags and umbrella off my back, flopping onto the bed. I crawled under the covers, flipping the lamp on the bedside table off and burying my face into the pillow, trying not to think of Chauffeur. Oh, I’m going to have weird dreams tonight…

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