Chance and Nova sped out of Illinois and past Gary Indiana in a hurry, using Chance’s Subaru STI. Not just because no one wanted to be in Gary of all places, and not just because the smell of old processed steel was nauseating, but because the duo had no idea how much info Declan had on them, for all they know he could be following them via a UAV.
Luna, for lack of a better word, was rightfully pissed. She was banking the entire operation on the fact that Sombra had no idea about their existence. But the fact that Chance now had a bounty on his head threw her plans for a huge loop.
Nova thought that bringing an AR-15, two 1911s, and a Ka-Bar was overkill on Chance’s part, but Chance didn’t want to take any chances against an Iraq Veteran turned Contract Killer.
“Ah, goddamnit. I need a smoke.” Nova mumbled, he was sitting in the passenger seat of the sports car.
“We’ll be at a gas station in about ten minutes, I’ll buy you some cigs then, Nova.”
The duo sat in silence for a few moments until Chance started speaking once more.
“Alright, as far as I’m concerned, there are three races, right? Earth Ponies, Pegasuses, and Unicorns. It’s pretty easy to tell which race is which when they are humans seeing as how earth ponies are really goddamn strong. While Pegasuses are brash, and thrill seeking. Unicorns, on the other hand, are really smart. But I have no idea what the hell you are.”
“Pegasus.”
“Really? I pegged you for a unicorn.” Chance said with surprise.
“Is that so? How come.”
“Well, pegasuses don't seem to be that smart or bright, and they tend to let their emotions guide them, rather than their head.”
“Did you forget that I basically up and left without telling anyone, Chance?”
“That… Actually makes sense now that I think about it.”
They sat in silence for a while longer before Nova started speaking.
“I’m surprised that you were able to afford an STI”
“Ha, you kidding? I have literal millions in unlaundered money. Thank you for that by the way, without your help I would probably just be doing bug bounties in my parent's basement just to scrape by.”
“Please, by all means, keep sucking off my ego.” Nova chuckled as Chance pulled into a gas station. As he stepped out of the car to fill up gas, Nova said, “Get some Newports, will you?”
Chance started to fill the car, before walking into the gas station, instead of buying Newports, he purchased a pack Marlboros instead.
He put the nozzle of the gas pump back where it belonged, before entering the car and tossing the Marlboros to Nova.
“I said Newport, not Marlboro.”
“That's for stroking your ego, asshat.” Chance replied as he peeled out of the gas station in the middle of nowhere, back onto the road to Pennsylvania.
It took them a few days to reach Pennsylvania, but they used that time to catch up. Conversing with each other made the time fly faster than it should have.
Pulling up outside of a storage container, Nova found his keychain from his duffel bag. He let the car come to a complete stop before hopping out of it and walking up to his storage container. As Chace stepped out of his car, Nova opened up the steel door of the storage container, exposing his bike, helmet, and a biker jacket to the sun.
“Is everything you own gray?” Chance asked, noticing the color of the three aforementioned items in the container.
“Pretty much, yeah.” Nova said sticking his keys into the ignition of his bike. He turned on the ignition of the bike and smiled. “Nice.” He said, coaxing the bike out of the garage, and onto the street. He walked back inside and grabbed his helmet and jacket before walking out once more. He put the jacket on the hood of Chance’s car, then his helmet before walking back to the storage container and locking it.
“Alright, let’s head back.” Nova said, grabbing an earpiece and walkie-talkie from Chance before putting on his jacket. One he zipped it up, he pulled out some gray biker from his jacket's pocket and put them on. Finally, he put on his helmet, which obscured his face, along with his white and orange hair.
Chance stuck an earpiece into his ear and hooked up to a walkie-talkie he had brought with him before walking back to his car. The duo soon drove out of the parking lot, with Nova leading the way on his bike.
They drove for hours on end, only stopping for sleep, food, and gas.
And it was during one of those stops when they encountered trouble.
They were just an hour away from passing by Gary, it was three in the morning and they decided to stop there for a while to get something to eat and drink. Their vehicles were parked quite far away from the gas station.
“So I’m just sitting there, watching Johnny freak the fuck out. And I’m just thinking, ‘This is why you make backups.’” Chance said to Nova as the duo ate.
"A phrase comes to mind, 'Shrodinger's Backup.'" Nova commented, taking a bite of his sandwich.
"I think I've heard that one before. Its something like 'the status of a backup is unknown until you actually use it.' Right?"
They were eating just outside of the convenience store, on the curb of the parking lot when it happened
Nova was just about to clarify to When they heard the roar of multiple cars enter the gas station, all black. The tire squealed against the pavement as the cars came to a sudden halt. Chance knew exactly what it was.
“Shit, get inside!” Chance yelled, getting up and bolting inside of the gas station, Nova followed less than a second later and they both ducked behind the wall just as six simultaneous M-16’s went off, attempting to bring death to the duo.
As their assailants emptied their magazines into the gas station, they would-be victims put their earpieces on, before taking out their 1911’s.
“Get to my car and get the AR-15!” Chance yelled over the gunfire, thrusting the keys to his car to Nova, who just nodded before bolting to the back of the store, exiting from the backdoor. Seconds later, the hail of gunfire ended. Glass and destroyed snacks littered the floor, chance could make out splatters of blood from just behind the register.
He could make out the sound of multiple footsteps approaching, and in response snuck to the corner of the store. “Multiple hostile approaching.” He said, sneaking over to the corner, being mindful of the broken glass. Just as soon as one entered the store, Chance started shooting at him, killing him instantly. Two more rushed in hastily, guns ready, only to meet the same fate as their partner.
It’s like a goddamn shooting gallery. Chance thought to himself as the three remaining assailants opened fire on the store, attempting to kill him.
However, seconds later, the sound of five AR-15 was heard, ceasing gunfire from both sides completely.
“Two down, one hiding behind the left car.” Nova said over the radio. Chance brought himself out of cover and walked towards the entrance. Of the store. The moment he was at the window, he trained his gun on the black car to the left. Every footstep he took created more shards of glass. Eventually, he exited the store, continuing to point his gun onto the car.
“Begin approach?” Chance asked over the radio.
“Yeah.” Nova replied. The two slowly approached the car, their guns pointed. However, they stopped the moment the lone survivor started yelling.
“I surrender! I surrender! Please don’t kill me!” The voice yelled out, Chance and Nova looked at each other with a knowing look.
“Come out with your hand up, I swear to god we’ll fucking kill you if you don’t!” Chance yelled out, seconds later, a head and two hands poked out from behind the hood of the car, the hands were just above his head. The two trained their weapons on him.
“Hands up, Mother fucker!” Nova yelled, prompting the survivor to stick his hands up even higher. Nova and Chance approached the man. “What should we do with him?”
“We’re not that far away from Gary, we’ll question him there. For now, go find some duct tape.” Chance replied, As Nova walked away from Chance and back to the convenience store, Chance still pointed his gun at the man, his finger still on the trigger. He didn’t have to wait long, though, because Nova soon came back with the duct tape in hand. Walking behind the man, Nova brought his arms down and duck taped them together, before pushing the man to the ground and duck taping his legs and face. Chance put away his gun and started pilfering through the man's pockets, finding a phone and wallet, discarding the wallet, he picked up the phone and ripped off the back casing of it before removing the battery entirely.
“We may be able to find some stuff from this phone, but knowing Declan, he’s probably loaded this thing up with malware. Gotta be careful when looking through this phone.” Chance said. “I’ll go bring the car around, keep him still until then.” Chance kept true to his word and brought the car around. He loaded the tied mercenary into the car and waited for Nova to come back on his bike before they left for Gary.
"Wait a sec, how did they find us in the first place?" Chance asked over the radio. Silence reigned for a few seconds before Nova replied.
"That is a really good question."
"Do you think?" Chance asked, his voice trailing off.
"Yeah." Nova replied, knowing what his partner was referring to. Chance walked back to the trunk of his car and opened it with his keys, exposing the mercenary to the light coming from the gas station. Chance reached down and ripped off the duct tape that covered his mouth quickly.
"Ow! Mother fucker!" The mercenary yelled out in pain.
"How the hell did you find us?" Chance asked, staring down at the man in his car.
"I don't fucking know." The mercenary responded. Chance stared down at him for a few seconds.
"Guess you won't be so useful after all." Chance said, pulling out his 1911, causing the mercenary to panic.
"Wait, wait! We put a tracker on your car while you were in Ohio!" Chance put away his gun and picked up the duct tape.
"Thank you." he said, putting a new piece of duct tape over the mercenaries mouth before closing the trunk of his car. "Apparently they put a tracker in our car when we were in Ohio." He said over the radio, right before ducking down and reaching underneath his car, just above his tire, he found nothing. It wasn't until he reached the third tire that he found something, ripping something off that was sticking to the car, he pulled it out.
It was a small black box, smaller than his palm, flashing an angry red. Chucking it away from him, he spoke over the radio.
"Found it."
Nova arrived soon after, the AR-15 slung over his back as he glided towards Chance in his bike. Nova swapped the rifle for one of Chance's spare 1911's and the two soon made their way to Gary.
It didn’t take long for them to reach Gary, the sun was barely rising in the distance as the duo pulled up to a stop on the outskirts of the town. Nova hopped off his bike and pulled off his helmet before lighting up one of his various cigarettes. Chance, on the other hand, got to work immediately.
Chance dragged the mercenary out of the trunk of his car, while Nova watched from a few feet away, puffing away while leaning on his motorcycle. Roughly throwing the mercenary on the ground, Chance kicked him in the ribs before leaning down and pulling the duct tape off of the man face. He pulled out his 1911 and pointed it at the man's face.
"You're going to tell me everything I want to know, or I'm going to kill you. right here, right now." Chance said calmly, the grip on his gun tightening.
"Fuck you I ain't saying shit!"
Nova sighed and tapped his index finger on the butt of his cigarette, removing the burnt ash from the end of it. "Kiddo, where do you think you are right now?"
"What?"
"I said, where the fuck do you think you are right now."
"I-"
"Smell the air, does it remind you of something." Nova nearly yelled, annoyed at the stupidity of the mercenary in front of him.
"It stinks if that's what you're asking." The mercenary replied.
"And what place do you know smells this bad?" Chance asked.
"I don't fucking know man, just please let me go, I promise I-" The mercenary begged, only to be cut off when Chance smashed the butt of his pistol into the man's nose.
"Gary, fucking, Indiana.” Chance yelled out, “and you know what Gary is known for?"
"W- what?" The mercenary asked, tears and blood streaming down his face. Chance rolled his eyes, faltering on his aim of the mercenary, before pointing the gun at him once more.
"Gang violence. If I kill you, the police will find your body by the end of the day. Within three hours after that, your death will be considered a gang-related death considering that you probably have a rap longer than your shriveled dick seeing as how you're after us." Chance rambled off.
"It don't have to end like this kiddo." Nova said, tapping his index finger against the butt of his cigarette once more. "Just tell us everything we wanna know, and you'll walk away with your life."
"You mean it?"
"Kiddo, I promise." Nova said in his usual chain-smoker voice.
"O- ok, what do you wanna know?"
"Why did Sombra hired Declan of all people? I know the bastard, and he ain't the one to take out contracts on those he considers friends, and the last I checked, we were friends." Chance rattled off.
"He said he didn't take it willingly, something about being forced to do so under blood or something like that."
Chance looked towards Nova, who was still leaning on his bike. The duo made eye contact and Nova nodded. Chance turned back towards the mercenary while Nova spoke.
"How many people did Declan hire?"
"I dunno."
"Wrong answer." Nova replied, which prompting Chance to shoot the mercenary in the leg. Blood flowed out of the mercenaries leg as he writhed and screamed in agony.
"How many fucking people!" Chance yelled out, kneeling on top of the mercenary, his gun pressing deeply into the man's temple as his knee was planted firmly into the man's side.
"Twenty hired guns and a few hackers!" The man cried out. Chance stepped off of the writhing man below him. Still pointing his gun in the general direction of the man, he turned towards Nova.
"What kind of hackers?" Nova asked.
"I dunno man, please man I don't wanna die!"
"I think that’s everything." The smoking biker said, Chance turned back to the man and focused his gun, the man knew what was coming and yelled out.
"Please, god no please no no!" Was all he could say before four gunshots rang out, covering the outskirts of the crime-riddled town with the sound of gunfire momentarily.
Chance holstered his gun and picked up the five bullet casings, while Nova finished the rest of his cigarette.
"I hate to say it, but Sombra most likely forced Declan into a blood contract. It's a form of dark magic that the princesses outlawed years ago. The only way he can get out of it is if he completes the contract, or if one of the parties that signed the contract dies. If he breaks the contract, then he's going to die within the minute. It's not something anypony can get out of."
"What do you mean, 'Die within the minute?'"
"I mean that if the contract determines that it has been broken, It'll kill him. Not sure how it will though, the practice has been completely lost. Not even the underworld of Equestria today uses tactics like that."
Chance collected the last bullet casing before standing up. "So what you're saying is that the only way to get out of this is to kill Sombra."
"Yeah."
"Goddamnit."
"We'll let Luna know once we get back to Chicago, for now, let's just focus on getting back home without having to kill anybody else." The chain smoker said, putting on his helmet before hopping on his bike.
Chance followed suit, getting into his STI. He let Nova lead the way back as the two drove away from the bleeding corpse on the ground, just as the sun poked its head up from the trees in the horizon.