"Alright Troublemaker, I've had enough of your act for one day, you're going down." The calm, confident voice of Wonderbolt declared. The fastest girl in the world had been hunting this madman for days, and now she would finally get to end his grasp on her city.
"Ahh, Miss Wonderbolt," A choppy voice greeted her. "I was wondering when you'd show up. Where's your purple friend? He had something better to do tonight?" The voice came from all around the abandoned warehouse, and even when she strained her ears against the tight fabric of her speed suit, Wonderbolt couldn't make out where it was coming from. "It's a shame you had to come all this way, only to die for nothing."
Her earpiece buzzed "Bolt, I'm detecting a lot of movement in there. This warehouse, it might not be as abandoned as we thought. I'm reading at least 10 other heat signatures, be alert."
The choppy voice spoke again. "Goodbye, Miss Wonderbolt." With the last of the message played, dozens of speakers, cleverly hidden in various containers and corners, exploded at once. Sparks filled the air, but Wonderbolt managed to avoid any debris that were headed her way. Gunshots announced the arrival of Troublemakers minions.
"Switchboard, I can take out these goons, no problem, but I need a location on—"
"Troublemaker, already on it." Her sentence was finished in her ear, so Wonderbolt busied herself with locating, disarming, and retaining the shooters. With her speed, the gunners found themselves neatly tied up together on the floor in the blink of an eye. Clapping her hands together, Wonderbolt brushed her hands clean of imagined dust.
"Oh, and Switchboard, tell the cops where I left their present." She paused. "You got a trace?"
"Heh, not yet honey. I'm fast, but not as fast as you. Gimme a secon—" The voice trailed off, lost in focus. "8th and Sentinel, it's a storage building for the Museum of Natural History. Fair warning, it looks like he left a trail for me on purpose, could be a trap. Be careful."
A new, artificially deepened voice joined the conversation over the comms. "Wizard here, I just finished up the 10-20 B on 4th, I'll meet you there."
Wonderbolt's lips formed into a smug grin "Race you!" She bolted out of the warehouse, a rainbow streak left in her wake. She arrived outside the new location just as space split in two with a magical flash to reveal a figure. A star coated blue robe covered everything from the shoulders down, and a similarly colored hat adorned the figure's head. Thick white hair and a beard nearly completely concealed the figure's face, revealing only a little purple nose and magenta eyes. "Okay, fine, we'll call it a draw." Wonderbolt said. "Your suit looks more ridiculous every time you put it on."
"Oh shut up" a voice that was unmistakably female retorted from deep beneath the fake beard. Her voice changed back to a deep grumble. "The bad guys all think I'm a guy, keeps me safer than you. Plus, fighting criminals in spandex? Please, Bolt, have some decency."
"Hay, if they're checking me out, they're even less on guard. What's not to like? And you? Can you even see through all that hair?"
Their earpieces buzzed again "Hay, you remember who designed our suits? They're all fantastic, so cut the chatter and get Troublemaker." There was a pause. "And Wizard, we know you know that isn't spandex. It's a—"
"High density polymer fabric specifically designed for high speeds and heats generated from friction, I know, now shush."
Wizard made a few magic gestures, before casually strolling towards the front doors. Wonderbolt vanished in a Rainbow Blur, no doubt planning on dashing in at the last moment to save the day. Wizard found the front doors locked, but a quick flick of his wrist unlocked them from the inside. He resumed his casual stroll, glancing around gently, so as to reveal absolutely no concern. Passing around a painting of the Crystal Tower, his eyes fell upon Troublemaker. A tall green man with blue eyes and a dark blue hairdo. His black and white checkered suit and striped tie were unmistakable. Troublemaker turned to face his visitor, a grin plastered onto his face. "Wizard, what a pleasure." He gave his best slow clap "I was expecting Miss Bolt, but you will do just as well." A beat "I know you're powerful, I know you could tear me down right now, but hear me out. If I pass out, vanish, or am otherwise harmed, these poor sods will find out just how troublesome hydrofluoric acid can be for their health." He indicated to a screen behind him, which flickered on to reveal four people gagged and tied. "So, unless you want their deaths on your head, I'd advise you hold perfectly still."
"Troublemaker," Wizard bellowed "you must be a true coward to hide behind those too weak to defend themselves." He weighed his options. Switchboard would have heard that all, and should already be working on a trace. He decided to play for time. "What do you hope to gain here?"
Troublemaker looked ready to respond, but Wizard lost focus. There was a familiar feeling in his head, a pressure, both uncomfortable and distracting, but he welcomed it in. Sorry Twi, he's jamming out comms. What's going on in there?
Twilight forced her surface thoughts into coherent sentences. Four hostages. Off sight. Trace the signal. Camera there. Monitor here. Good? Twilight absolutely needed to come back to her scenes before Troublemaker caught on. Fortunately, she did; the feeling faded. Troublemaker must have been monologuing the whole time, she thought, because he was mid-speech at the moment. Twilight decided to keep tuning him out and instead focused on considering what little magic she could preform without moving, glowing, or otherwise giving herself away.
Wonderbolt was running as fast as she could. Switchboard had found the hostages, which would have been good news if they weren't so far away. Apparently Troublemaker thought it would be ironic to imprison folks inside the statue of liberty, and while Wonderbolt could fly, it would still take time. The longer she took, the more likely she would wind up finding corpses, not hostages, and that thought pushed her ever faster. Buildings flew past. The world around her glowed a brilliant rainbow spectrum. When she finally reached the bay, she barely remembered to flap her wings. One giant leap would get her there faster than she could fly, and in moments she was at the statue. She ran around the base of the statue, and then the whole island, before entering the statue. Sure enough the top of the statue held four hostages, and twice as many goons.
Twilight had compiled a short list of options for what she could do. She could change her voice, in an attempt to scare Troublemaker off, or she could levitate herself in an attempt to scare him off. The thought that those were her best options left her a bit more than a bit desperate. Fortunately for her, Troublemaker's speech was showing no signs of coming to a close. She was seriously starting to consider making her eyes glow, when a rainbow streak flashed across the monitor behind Troublemaker. "It took her long enough." Twilight thought "Now's my chance." She cleared her throat. "So very sorry to interrupt, Mr Trouble, but I think there is a flaw in your logic." She began "You see, a hostage situation requires hostages, and if you bothered turning around, I think you may find you're a bit lacking in that department."
"Wha—" A quick sleep spell interrupted Troublemaker, and he collapsed to the ground.
"Woohoo" Sunset cried as she bounced out of her desk and away from her computer. "Team Harmony saves the day yet again. You need help out of that suit, Dashie?"
"You offer every night, and every time, I tell you the same thing." Rainbow dashed through the secret lair, easily changing out of Wonderbolt suit and back into her street cloths. "I've got this. Geez, Sunset, I'm starting to think you just want to feel me up." She stuck her tongue out at Sunset before dashing over to a nearby chair.
A rip in space indicated the arrival of their second guest. Twilight stepped out and quickly tossed her bulky hat to the side. "Okay, Troublemaker, 18 of his goons, and 2 bank robbers are all in police custody. Sunset's verifiable statement has been delivered to Director Will. Please, someone remind me, why does Rainbow never help with cleanup?"
"Heh, you want me to write the reports?" Rainbow offered.
"Okay, never mind, now I remember. Good work out there tonight, Wonderbolt, Switchboard" She nudged Sunset gently with her elbow, eliciting a light chuckle from the girl.
"You guys, come on. I wasn't in the field, and running coms is easy. You did all the work."
"Uh huh, and the telepathy?" Twilight giggled as she shed her over-sized robes "That was all me."
They had been at it for months. When the girls first got the gems at Camp Everfree, Rainbow had suggested that they should be superheros, but the idea had blown over when they realized how low crime rates in Canterlot really were. Of course, Rarity would take any excuse to make new garments for her friends, but the suits had little use until now. When Rainbow, Sunset, and Twilight had all received scholarships to Manehatten University, the idea resurfaced, and soon the three of them were fighting crime all across the island. At first they had operated out of their dorm rooms, but when a certain corrupt business owner left them with no way to explain or return the money that he had left behind, they decided to upgrade to a proper secret bunker. Spaces for seven suits lined the back wall of the bunker, but only Wizard and Wonderbolt had ever actually been used. Switchboard had a suit as well, it just never got used. After much practice, Sunset had mastered her mind reading, telepathic, and even minor mind control abilities. Unlike magic shields and super speed however, none of her powers kept her from being shot. Instead, Sunset stayed in the bunker, hacking security systems and tracking targets for Wizard and Wonderbolt.
They had quite the reputation, with both the Police Department and the criminals of the city. Director Will didn't like that vigilantes were operating in his city, but they hadn't killed anyone, always left evidence, and crime rates were at an all time low, so he tolerated them. The criminals in the city feared Wizard and Wonderbolt, knowing full well that day or night their operations could be blown by one of these heroes. The town had idolized them, turning them both into symbols of hope.
Sunset was more than happy to let the others take the spotlight. Ever since she realized her abilities could be used without notice to read peoples minds, and influence those she touched, she had turned into the group's investigator. It also might have had something to do with her grades. Her conscious nagged at her, something about academic integrity, but sometimes she just couldn't resist.
The bunker itself had been designed as a joint effort, with Twilight and Sunset consulting Rarity. In the end, it was functional, well hidden, and aesthetically stunning. Sunset's computer system took up most of the main space, where the suits were stored, but to either side were well furnished living quarters. Instead of staying in the dorms, the three girls claimed they were living with friends, and stayed down in the bunker. Sunset had used a little of the money to buy and furnish a town house, just for the sake of keeping up appearances. It even had access to the bunker via the sewer system. It wasn't a glorious secret passageway, but it served its purpose.
The night had come to a close, and Sunset decided that now was as good a time as any. "I got a text from Pinkie. With Troublemaker down, are you two okay with taking a night off to hang with the girls? Pinkie wants a sleepover. 'Just like old times' she says. We could do it here, in Manehatten. I've been dying to use the house for something anyways." When Rainbow and Twilight agreed, Sunset sent off a reply to Pinkie.