Re: Graveyard Shift [Dated]

[Tisis Antony]

"Oh god, did he give you trouble. Celestia save the child, he's nuttier then elephant shit. The boy thinks he's a pony and that Celestia herself told him to kill off ALL the Griffons. We try to keep him holed up in the building but sometimes we can't stop him from going into a flight of rage over some perceived slight. What'd he do this time? Call you something nasty?"

[Kroll]

Kroll shook his head nonchalantly, gesturing at the crossbow he confiscated from the griffon. "Yes, but he mostly tried to shoot me. He's not the greatest shot in the world, thankfully...I shot him with a few non-lethals, so he should be okay.."

[Tisis Antony]

The Earth pony gaped. "Are you going to arrest him? I mean, I love the kid but he ain't ever done nothin' like that- is he in trouble with the law?"

[Kroll]

Kroll shook his head. "Not this time. I don't have the resources to carry that out at this time. If he causes anymore trouble for the tenants and a complaint is filed as a result...I cannot make any guarantees. Consider this a...courtesy notice." the captain says with a curt smile and a nod. "Enjoy the rest of your evening." he says as he continues to make his way down the stairs.

[Aella]

Aella made her way back to where she and Kroll had parted, still frogmarching the battered and bloodied Guerrilla. She stopped and looked around for her handler.

[Tisis Antony]

The Guerrilla struggled but it had been a late night. He wasn't one to fight too much anymore. He'd certainly like a nice lawyer right about now, but fuck if that had to wait he'd wait. First he's thrown from a window and then denied medical attention. He'd fucking get his compensation when this bullshit blew over.

[Kroll]

Kroll headed out of the apartment complex and back to where he and Aella had separated. He saw the hen and nodded at her and the griffon in her custody. "Well, looks like you win the 'Shittiest Night' contest there, Aella" he says with a thin smile as he stands in front of the other griffon, gripping the bandages around its throat and massaging it roughly. "Ah, and who's your new friend over here?"

[Aella]

Aella scowled at the Guerrilla.

"This is one of the one who we were watching. He resisted arrest initially, then I beat him into unconsciousness. The rest of them are probably dead, someone blew up the hospital"

She shook herself, dislodging soot and dust from her feathers.

[Kroll]

Kroll gave Aella a look of hesitant belief. "Is that so?" he shook his head. "Shit. Feliks isn't going to like hearing that...not one bit" the captain turned around and began walking towards the building they were hiding out on, waving for Aella to follow him. "Come on, let's take him back to our little spot and we can get down to business."

[Aella]

Aella got the Guerrilla moving again, digging her talons into him slightly to make him move faster. She was looking forwards to being out of the cold. But not in a burning building again. Once in a day was more than enough.

[Tisis Antony]

The Guerrilla was pushed and prodded until he arrived at their rooftop meeting place. He was quite bedraggled by the climb and handcuffs, so when he finally found himself on the roof, he'd lost almost all his breath.

The night had completely fallen, a sirene and absolute silence chilling the air. The night sky was brilliant with the stars and skies that had fallen out of concert from their neglect- still, they harmonized in a way that appeared almost organic, as if, despite no longer having a deity overseeing their movements, they'd fallen into an old pattern that was as natural to them as breathing was to the living things.

In sharp contrast with the sky, a black scar streaked the heavens to the north; a plume of smoke and flames that consumed the hospital. The Guerrilla's eyes locked on that in the distance, a scowl of grim resignation taking residence on his form. "What now..."

[Kroll]

Kroll frowned staring at the pillar of black smoke. "That, would be the hospital my associate here dragged you out of...and holy shit, you weren't kidding, Aella. Good work not getting killed, though. Collapsing buildings tend to cheat when it comes to fighting." the captain shakes his head, noticing that he neglected that the small fire pit he dug never got extinguished, but at least the observation post didn't get burned down. Realizing he was sidetracking himself, Kroll returned his attention towards the Guerrilla.

 "So. Earlier this evening we observed you and your friends get thrown out of an apartment complex that belonged to the Saltpeter family. Apparently, you and your gang of idiots have been causing them a lot of trouble lately. Care to tell me why?"

[Tisis Antony]

The Griffon growled. "If I told you what we were doing, I'd be in more trouble quicker then if I just let you guess; if you had evidence, you'd have charged me already. So do your worst. I got nothin' to say to you."

[Aella]

Aella dug her talons into the Guerrillas arm, their points slipping through his skin and into the fat and muscle below.

"You will speak, or you will suffer" Aella hissed into his ear. "I have dealt with too much today to be merciful"

As an afterthought, she moved a talon down towards the unlucky Guerrillas groin.

"Dont make me damage something vital"

[Kroll]

The captain raised an eyebrow at Aella's hostility. He wasn't sure if her approach was a result of being around him or not, but he wasn't going to ruin a good thing. Leaning back slightly, Kroll gave the Guerrilla a thin smile, letting Aella take control of the situation.

[Tisis Antony]

The griffon grimaced at the lacerations he'd just received. The hen seemed legit- and the Captain was content to watch him get torn up. But fuck this- fuck this whole thing. The tercel turned his face dead-eyed to the hen. "Fuuuuuuuuuuuck you. I ain't been charged with shit yet. So tear me up and I'll fucking make you rue the day you ever lived when this shit hits military court."

[Aella]

Aella snarled.

"I am the property of commander Feliks, the military governor of Manehattan. His word is law. If you refuse to answer our questions, you will be declared an enemy of the Tsar and your life will be forfeit"

She held her talon menacingly over the guerrillas groin.

"This will likely never see a court, so your life lies entirely in the talons of my master"

[Tisis Antony]

"Great incentives ma'am- reminds me of back in the 'Mire when they told me it was get hung or die on the frontlines." The Guerrilla had begun talking fast, but didn't seem too anxious beyond the quickness of his speaking and and a twinge in his eye. "And frankly I'm older and wiser by two years now to be fooled into do or die schemes. Do your worse and I'll see you in hell, if you would."

[Kroll]

The captain rubbed his face in exhaustion. Usually manual castration was enough for anyone to comply with any demands, but this wasn't working as well as it was expected to. "I'm...not going to kill you." the captain said flatly as he sat down and pulled out a piece of licorice, putting it it in his beak so it hung out like a cigarette. "While I'd love to do things the hard way with you, I can see that my dear associate here worked very hard to acquire you, and I'd hate to squader all of her hard work." he pauses to swallow part of his licorice before continuing. "That's why I'm going to let her do whatever she wants to you until I get tired. She looks pretty pissed, don't you think? I bet she's just itching to let off some steam..."

Kroll looked over at the hen with a odd smile. "Aella, sweetie? Feel free to imagine this tercel here as all the ones that Feliks allowed to reward themselves with you, or any of the ones that hurt you during your times in the arena. You may even imagine him as Feliks, or even me. Do whatever you want, I'm not gonna stop you."

Kroll leans back smugly, enjoying the taste of his candy. "You have your orders, Aella. Execute."

[Aella]

Aella snarled at the Guerrilla as she tipped him over onto his back. She sat down on the tercels chest and held his talons steady with one of hers. She extended a single finger from her free talon and slowly began to slide it under the Guerrillas razor sharp claw, twisting it to lever it off. She did it again to another finger on that hand, and another, holding a rictus grin as she went about her work and allowing the pried chunks of keratin to fall to the griffons chest.

[Tisis Antony]

The Griffon screamed as she dug his talons out one by one, his face tightened into a vicious snarl. He tried twisting out from under Aella but her grip was leagues more powerful then he'd expect. "You fucking WHORE GET OFF ME." He began kicking, trying to claw at her back with the vicious claws on his padded feet.

Across the way, a single earth pony stooped over the edge of a building. He dragged a very large duffel bag to the edge of the building, and slowly unzipped it, keeping an eye on the griffon conduct across the street.

He removed a massive piece of woodwork from the bag, and sat it on the gravel next to him. A sturdy wooden tripod came next, and he set this up. He kept a keen eye on the debacle, slowly constructing his device as quietly as he could muster. He dropped the massive wooden mechanism onto the tripod, and scurried under to bolt in some screws.

[Kroll]

Kroll raised an eyebrow at Aella, impressed by her approach. Other than that, the captain looked at the guerrilla with grim resignation. "Don't think I enjoy watching this," he said with a disappointed tone. "You brought this on yourself; all you have to do is tell us what we want to know, and this can all be over."

[Aella]

Aella finished with the talons on the first hand, then the second. She released the Guerrillas arms, rendered harmless by the removal of his claws. The griffoness moved off the tercel and punched him between the hindlegs before rolling him over onto his back. She grabbed his wings by the shoulder and pulled, straining as she tried to dislocate the limbs.

[Tisis Antony]

The apparatus was mounted on the tripod, and the pony lifted a curved metal bar from the bag. Two other such bars followed, and they slid into grooves on the front of the wooden apparatus. He strung them with high tension polymer composite, and hooked the bow-strings into the receiver.

He fastened on the rotary crank, a loaded a hopper of cast iron bolts into the top.He began cranking slowly, priming the heavy bowstrings in sequence.

The first bolt automatically slid into contact with the first freshly primed bowstring.


The griffon screamed and flailed as his wings popped out of their positions. This last act was enough to cause him to black out as his second wing was wrenched from its joint. He went placid for a few moments, his face relaxing suddenly from its image of grim contortion.

[Kroll]

Kroll continued to watch, stunned by Aella's ferocity, though considering what Aella had to go through before being assigned to the captain, it was understandable that she was using this as an opportunity to let loose anything she's been keeping balled up inside her. As he turned his head away from the fighting two to cough, Kroll noticed something being built on the rooftop of a building across the way. Peering closer at it, it seemed to be a...giant...crossbow?

Kroll began to back up slowly, tapping Aella on the shoulder as she dislocated the Guerrilla's second wing. "Hey, hey, I think you should stop now, that's good enough...get real low to the ground, please. There's something on the rooftop across the street I don't like the look of..."

[Aella]

Aella snarled as the Guerrilla fell unconscious and stood up, digging her talons into the woodwork of the floor as she fought down the urge to continue. She looked over to Kroll and-

[Tisis Antony]

The first three bolts sailed, completely silent save for the muted thunk of the crossbow's torque being released. The next set of three cranked into place within the next half second, and went flying as well. The machine was operated by the pony who'd propped the trigger mechanism on his lap. He was aiming through a ballistic sight that compensated for curvature, but he had to adjust for the wind as he saw the bolts hit yards away from their targets.

A smattering of bolts smacked into the roof where Kroll and Aella had been working. The bolts were far from precise, but they were accurate enough that he was able to control the rough area of their impact to an area of about two yards.

The bolts managed to strike the unconscious griffon across the thighs, and one glanced roughly off of his wing, shattering it rather loudly. If he was still alive, he did nothing to react to his treatment.

The pony seemed to be having some difficulty in seeing the two's exact location, because the bolts went wild. The bolts stopped, suddenly, and the pony rose to ditch the machine.

[Kroll]

Kroll jolted slightly as one of the bolts streaked past him, dropping himself flat against the ground out of reflex. "Get down!" he hissed at Aella, wincing at the sound of the Guerrilla's wing being smashed by one of the oncoming bolts. "Damn, that was close..." the captain mused to himself as he rolled to his side slightly to pull out his crossbow, flipping down the built-in bipod to steady it against the roof of the building. Peering at the opposing roof from across the street, Kroll saw the large crossbow-like weapon, but not its operator, causing the tercel to feel a pang of concern. Looking back over his shoulder, he called out to Aella quietly. "Hey, you okay back there?"

[Aella]

Aella nodded, giving kroll a thumbs up as she got down low to the floor. She checked over the Guerrilla, feeling for a pulse in his neck and glancing around for a binding of some kind for his ruined wing.

[Tisis Antony]

His pulse was faint and vapid, stuttering on occasion. Worse yet the griffon was beginning to rear into consciousness, which compounded both the difficulty and blood loss. He was paralyzed with pain from his dislocated wings, but still managed to visibly squirm. "Whaaaat the fuck did you do to me-" was all he managed to repeat over and over again, in a hushed, vaporless tone. His voice was gravelly, or rather, he was speaking through gravel, having his face shoved into it by both the torture and his squirming. It wasn't discernible whether or not he knew his legs had been impaled, because despite his complaints, he didn't appear lucid enough to place the exact location of where his pain was coming from.

The pony was no longer on the roof, having taken off down whatever stairwell he'd come from. The gigantic crossbow had plopped onto its side without anything to support it.

[Kroll]

Kroll swore loudly as he got up, slinging his crossbow over his back as he turned to face Aella. "Whoever was attacking us is gone, but I doubt he's going to stay that way..." he growled as he did a quick glance behind him. "I nee d you to stay here with our mutual friend and get him ambulatory while I go chase after whoever that was. There's some medical supplies near the rations bin, use what you need to in order to keep him alive, understood?"

[Aella]

Aella nodded and crawled over to the pile of gear and fished out the medkit before returning to the injured Guerrilla. Aella considered removing the bolt before remembering her breif on blood loss. She took some bandages from the kit and wrapped them tightly around the tercels thighs, reducing bloodflow to the area.

[Tisis Antony]

The Griffon shifted a bit as Aella dressed his wounds, but appeared to have sunk back into unconsciousness by the time she had finished. At the street level, the morning crowd had assembled, pointing and gasping upwards at where the bolts had been flying. This area of Manehattan wasn't used to violence this early in the morning. Someone mentioned calling the Guard.

There was no discernible hint of the Earth Ponies presence.

[Kroll]

Kroll took a few steps back from the ledge of the rooftop to get a running start before jumping and spreading his wings out, flying over to the roof that had the large crossbow on it. As he landed, he noticed the crowd of rubberneckers beginning to congregate on the street. Jeez...what time is it?!  the captain pondered to himself before shaking his head and focusing on the large crossbow, looking it over before pulling out some of the essential components to disable it.

 It'd been a long time since he'd seen a crossbow of this model, and what one was doing here in this district after the war was something that deeply concerned Kroll. Throughout the night, he had developed a sneaking suspicion that someone was going through a lot of trouble to keep Aella and Kroll from finding something out, and the barrage of crossbow bolts from few moments ago was solid confirmation of that. Unslinging his crossbow and flicking the safety off, the griffon began to make his way down the stairwell that led from the roof in search of the would-be attacker.

[Aella]

Aella finished binding the tercels wounds, then dressed his de-clawed talons. She bound them together firmly with a strip of bandage, to stop any possible escape attempts.

[Tisis Antony]

(((I updated my signature to be less stupid huge)))

Kroll was welcomed by a wretched hallway, paint and plaster peeling from the walls in sheets. The bare supports emitted an odor of rot. An early light streamed in from poorly boarded windows, penetrating all parts of the apartment through the gaps in the walls and the holes in the roof.

A stairwell led downwards, this much was visible from the hallway. The rooms looked bare enough- no sign of the pony, yet.


The Guerrilla seemed to be stabilizing. His pulse was poor, but stable, and he no longer rolled about in pain. The bindings were quickly being soaked in blood, but they helped stifle the blood loss to a degree.

As Aella finished up the last bits of the binding, three lightly armored Guardsmen with bows alighted onto the rooftop where Aella bound the Griffon. They recognized the hen immediately. "We got reports of a major disturbance- need any help ma'am?"

[Kroll]

Kroll kept his crossbow raised as he made his way down the stairwell, ready to confront any hostiles that could come his way. As he made his way down the steps, the captain noted the poor condition of this building, which was a stark contrast to the one under the ownership of the Saltpeters, and made him wonder how the pony from earlier managed to lug the large crossbow on the roof up these stairs without them collapsing. 

As he reached the bottom of the stairs and began to stalk cautiously down the hallway, Kroll continued to think about the events that have transpired throughout the whole mission, trying to make sense of the whole ordeal.

[Aella]

Aella looked up to the guards and sighed with relief.

"This one is needed for questioning, he needs medical attention. Do you have a medic?"

[Tisis Antony]

The Guards sized up the situation rather quickly, and brought medical aid to the needy Guerrilla. "He's bad... what happened here? Was this a rebel who did this?" The Gaurds tried their best to attend to him. "We need to get him to a hospital ASAP if he's going to survive this."



Inside the dusky building across the way, a pony was having a bit of a bad time. True to form, the damn rot had destroyed much of the buildings structure, and the pony had fallen face first into a hole in the stairs. His rear legs swung about comically as he tried in vain to wriggle free. The blood was gradually rushing to his face and he was squealing bloody murder trying to wrest himself free.

[Kroll]

Kroll slowly approached the trapped stallion, grabbing ahold of its flailing hind legs and sharply yanked the pony out of the hole in the stairway before hefting him down the stairs.

The captain casually made his way down the stairs after the tumbling pony, striding over to it as it came to a stop on the floor, facing up at the ceiling. Kroll put a firm claw on the stallion's chest, leaning on it to keep his prey from escaping as he leveled his loaded crossbow between its eyes.

"I'm sorry if that hurt more than I wanted it to," he said with a voice with hints of ire and exhaustion "But I've had long and unpleasant night that has been thoroughly testing my patience. So here's how this is going to work: I am going to ask you some questions, and you're going to tell me the truth. If you don't, or if you try to pull anything,  my talon might accidentally slip off the trigger of this crossbow, and your skull might accidentally get riveted to the floorboards as a result. Do I make myself clear?".

[Aella]

"Get him to the HQ infirmary and keep him alive. I have to go help Kroll" Aella said, climbing through her window.

She spread her wings and flew across to the roof of the building she saw her handler entering. She dropped down, hanging from the eaves and opened one of the windows before clambering in. She moved down a short hallway, following the sound of Krolls voice before coming to a stop at the top of the ruined staircase.

[Tisis Antony]

The pony crossed his eyes and furrowed his brows. Yep, that was a crossbow. Unmistakable- you could tell by the big metal-y bit with the spike on the end. This was quite a conundrum. On one hand, he certainly didn't feel like having a spike driven through his head- on the other, oh fuck it. Some priorities were a bit loftier then others, and perhaps he had skewed priorities, but damn it, the idea of a big metal skewer through his head just didn't sit right with his five year plan. Say what you would about professional standards- he wasn't a professional! You read it right! He was a complete amateur at this point- anyone who'd seen the way he got stuck in the stairs would completely agree.

"Just don't shoot me and I'll sing like a songbird," he put it, bluntly.

[Kroll]

Kroll closed his eyes and took a deep breath, happy that the stallion he pinned down was willing to comply. Focusing his gaze onto his captive, Kroll asked his first question. "Where were you heading from, and where were you heading to?"

[Aella]

Aella stopped as she reached the top of the staircase, seeing that her handler had things under control. She moved down as far as she dared to be closer to the dangling pony and settled in to watch the show.

[Tisis Antony]

The pony looked as Aella plodded in from the window. "Hey, pretty birdy over there. You two a thing? If not, maybe when this's all blown over me and whitey over there can exchange contact information or something."

"Uh, but yeah; where I was going, lesse... well it was sorta a contingent thing- do you wanna know where I was heading if'n I had killed you, or otherwise, because I had pretty es'plicit instructions to do the one thing in the one situation, and the other thing in the other one. So, uh, narrow it down for me, if it's, uh, convenient."

[Kroll]

Krill furrowed his brow at the stallion's statement at first, not sure who he was talking to, but when the captain turned his head, he was shocke to see Aella, annoyed and slightly confused as to why she wasn't with the Guerrilla they captured. "Hey, what gives?! I thought I told you to keep an eye on our friend!"

[Aella]

"Reinforcements arrived, they are taking him to the HQ for treatment. Thought you might need help here, but you seem to have it under control"

Aella scowled at the trapped pony.

"Is now really the best time to be looking for a date?"

[Kroll]

Kroll sighs with relief at Aella's statement before refocusing his attention on the stallion. "So you were the one trying to kill us...where would you have gone had you succeeded?"

[Tisis Antony]

The pony spent a few moments pondering it. "Probably to a bar, then home sometime in the weee hours of the morning. Listen," he said, turning to Aella, "It's never a bad time to ask for a date, because honestly, life's too short to nitpick over timing and such."

[Kroll]

Kroll frowned. "Allright, then where were you headed since you failed to carry out your task? And who sent you as well?"

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