//------------------------------// // Chapter 13 // Story: The Runners // by DungeonMiner //------------------------------// “Alright, Chummers,” Thundr5tep said. “This is the last bit of my story, the last history you need to know. We’re talking about the Corps. “The Megacorperations have always been around, kicking the little guy since ponykind first discovered fire. Or, at least, that’s how it feels sometimesf. The truth is that the first megacorp only showed up some 65 years ago. Can you believe that? Most of these things are still run by their founders. “It will do you anarchists well for your soul to know that the first megacorp died shortly after it became a megacorp, and it was started by a pony named Quickspark. Quickspark, you history buffs will know...meh, who am I kidding, you drek-heads don’t know where you were last Tuesday. Quickspark was a unicorn that used to be hot drek in the magic world. He was on his way to becoming one of the greatest minds of his generation, up until the Awakening happened. “He didn’t do well in the Awakening, he didn’t bloom like some of his less powerful peers, and before he knew it, he was surpassed by earth ponies and pegasi. Suffice to say, he didn’t take this well. With his fame as a wizard taken from him, he turned to what we now call technology, and is basically responsible for the creation of Matrix. “Now, shortly after the Matrix was bought out by Good Celestia as a public service, Quickspark’s business died, but the others quickly began to rise. New magic, new tech, new types of power all suddenly became available, and the sudden opportunities came with a lot of profit. “So far so good, right? Just a lot of money, a lot of business, but how’d we get the Megacorp? Well, if you stop interrupting me, I’ll tell you. “A power company, whose name I don’t recall, was trying to dispose of some magiwaste from their magic reactor. Nasty stuff that can cause quite a few issues, and they took it through the poor city once known as Baltimare, which had suffered through a nasty famine. The poor, starving ponies thought the van carrying the waste was filled with food, attacked it, and nearly wiped the city from the map as magiwaste suddenly went free. “So the company lawyered up, and won a case before Celestia herself, and earned the corp the right to protect their assets with any force they deem necessary. “And that’s how I found out that Good Celestia wasn’t perfect, because that bit her in the flank hard. Next thing you knew, small corps began massing forces to protect against corporate espionage. Then they were massing larger forces to fight those forces, and before long they had armies larger than Equestria’s. “Then it got worse because they soon began hiring and training their own politicians to go to Good Celestia’s court until one idiot decided that he would threaten Good Celestia with war if he didn’t get what he wanted. “Now, some stories say she beat the pony within an inch of his life and told him not to do that again, others say she gave in, I don’t know, I wasn’t there. The important thing is that soon after that, the corps started acting like sovereign nations, even building their own court. Though personally, I think it’s because Good Celestia got tired of listening to all their garbage. After that, it was just a matter of time before they started going to war, and assimilating each other until the Megacorp as we know them, were born. “Now, if you think that Good Celestia’s gone soft and let these corps walk all over her, then I have one more great piece of news for you. In a still possibly questionable move, the Princess emptied her treasury and bought 30% of all shares of the Big 6 Megacorps. With 30% in Saddle Krupp, Harmony Inc., Ahuiztecnology, RENUMA, Marés Industries, and Flimflam Incorporated, she guaranteed that they would respect the laws enough to keep open war from breaking out across Equestria, and keeping the average citizen safe. Or, at least that was the plan. “That’s the idea, anyway. She did good, but in the end, it wasn’t good enough to keep the corps from doing some shady stuff. But that’s where you come in. You facilitate the corps in keeping their secret backdoor deals going, out of the eyes of Good Celestia...” <><><|><><> “Alright, so…” Rarity began. “Slight setback there but we’re ready to move forward.” The others nodded. They all sat around the table at the Final Regret, nursing mugs of synthol, and looking up at their glorious leader, who had finally recovered from her concussion. The three weeks had passed by slowly, and while no news of whether RENUMA had succeeded in the mission, the team was happy to find that they weren’t any signs of them being actively hunted down. “First off,” Rarity said, “I’d like to thank Web for coming to our rescue there, you have reminded us yet again that you are absolutely vital to the team, and we shouldn’t do anything without you.” Web nodded. “Secondly, these three weeks may have left us out of practice, especially those like myself who had to recover. As a result, I would highly suggest we take some low-paying jobs for a bit.” Wingmare nodded as if it hadn’t been her idea from the start. “With that in mind, I spent a few weeks looking for some easier jobs to do. There were a few that I think would be good. We have one where a local business owner is trying to overthrow a gang’s protection racket. A bounty hunter job, looking for whoever’s been killing the joyponies on the streets in the Southern Sprawl, I personally feel this is an important one.” Sweetie Belle smiled as she delivered some drinks. “Thank you, Sis.” “Not a problem, Sweetie,” she replied. “Another one to locate a Saddle-Krupp’s Chairman’s car, which promises to pay relatively well and finally, bodyguard duty.” “Who for?” Steel asked. “Didn’t say,” Rarity said. “Which is both a good and bad sign, as usual.” “Because they don’t want to draw too much attention, but it hides info for us?” Twilight asked tentatively. “There ya go, yer getting it, Rookie,” Steel said giving the corp mage a nod before tipping her drink back. “Now, as I said,” Rarity said, “We should probably take a few jobs like these before things get too serious. I’d say we can hold off on the Bodyguard job right away, and take something smaller to make sure we get our hooves under us. Besides, we’ve been around the block once or twice, we can probably do a few of these before the week is out.” “And making sure Sweetie's safe is just a side effect of the job, right?” Wingmare asked. “A very important side effect,” Rarity agreed. “Still, this does leave the question of what we’re going to do.” Candy smiled. “I’m all for keeping Sweetie safe!” she said. “I could get PeeWee in the sky in a jiffy!” “Thank you, Candy, but we’re going to be democratic about this.” “Yeah, yeah,” Steel said. “Let’s go save yer sister already.” “Wingmare?” Rarity asked. “Yeah, let’s go save the kid.” “Excuse you,” Sweetie Belle said, taking Wingmare’s mug. “I’m a grown mare, thank you.” “Yeah, yeah.” “Web?” Rarity asked. Web didn’t answer. “Web?” “Hang on,” Twilight said, before slumping slightly, then sitting back up. “Yup, she’s already sensing.” Rarity smiled. “Alright, you’ve all forced my hoof, I suppose.” Steel rolled her eyes. “Come on, let’s go.” <><><|><><> Rarity made a full dive into the Matrix. Once the team had decided to begin searching for the prostitute-killing sicko, it was immediately decided how they were going to begin looking for him. With Web and the Rookie both sensing past crime scenes to try and find the echoes of the dead joyfillies and joycolts and ask them what happened. Steel would operate as the magic-users’ bodyguard, keeping their bodies safe while they worked their magic. Meanwhile, Candy and Wingmare would take to the sky, giving an aerial view of the Sprawl. With Candy taking full advantage of PeeWee’s Infrared and Ultraviolet scanners, she’d be able to pick out any sign of any living creature running from the scene, while Wingmare could keep one physical and one spiritual eye open in case Candy missed anything. That just left Gem, who immediately began hacking every single corporate video camera in the area. Most of the ancient things were erected years ago by Gold Star, when they were still an effective police force out in the Sprawl, they still recorded their findings, but most of the footage just went straight to the recycle bin. Luckily, said recycle bin typically wasn’t purged until the computer techs were told off for not deleting the excess footage. It was like walking into a candy store, where the clerk was in the back, with no cameras and a bad sense of inventory. So, with all the grace of a noir dame, she stepped into the virtual police basement. “Cardboard Boxes” filled with digital folders hugged every wall and filled every virtual shelf. She walked in, through the door with the frosted glass that simply read "basement" and shook her head. “You tempt me too greatly,” she said before her dress morphed into a trenchcoat with a wide-brimmed hat. “Now, on to business.” Rarity got to work, flying through the videos at the speed of data. One month of tapes was processed in less than a thousandth of a second. Most of it, of course, was just watching for joyfillies that disappeared from the sidewalk, or likewise not show up to work the next day, but so far everything was clea— There! She pulled open the file she was working on, and double checked it against the face-recognition system she had set up. Sure enough, the mare was one of the reported bodies that were probably sitting in the morgue still waiting to be claimed. She played the video forward, carefully checking for the exact moments when the joyfilly disappeared, never to be seen alive again. 3:00 am, a client showed up. 4:00 am, she was back. 6:00 am, a poor, desperate client showed up. 6:30 am, she was back. 4:45 pm, a client in a nice car showed up. 5:00 pm, she was back. 9:00 pm, a client in a black car appeared. And… And… And she didn’t come back. Back to 9:00 pm, she began tracing the car, cross-referencing the date and time of every single camera around the block before she found where it went. Then came the next block, then the next and the next, as Rarity began to recreate the car’s path out. She followed it out, around, left, right, and so on to a single alleyway eight blocks away from the Joyfilly’s stand. The car sat still for twenty minutes or so, before the Joyfilly stepped out of the car, yelling. “That’s not a good sign,” Rarity thought to herself, as she watched the Joyfilly stomp off angrily. She seemed unharmed as she watched her move back onto the street, before taking a shortcut down another alleyway. She watched as the mare disappeared from view of her camera, and she quickly switched to another camera, facing the other entrance of the alley. She didn’t come out. A Probe IC, one of the many programs patrolling the area, passed by the frosted glass door, and Rarity ducked beneath a virtual desk, holding the video file in front of her face as she tried to watch. She might’ve been delayed. Possibly bought some novacoke or something as she passed her dealer or something. Still nothing. Rarity poked her head back up over the desk and went back to scouring the various cameras for any sign of a living joyfilly. Finally, a figure emerged, crawling, dragging herself with her one remaining leg, and leaving a trail of blood behind her. A large, mechanical hoof grabbed the mare and dragged her back into the alleyway. Rarity began switching between the cameras, trying to find the best angle to look down the alley. Not it, not it, not it… There had to be at least one camera that had a shot down the alley. “Come, on, come on…” she said, “where are you?” Not it, not it, not it. There. Oh… Oh, Celestia. Rarity found herself staring down a monster. Forty percent of his body was replaced with cybernetics, and what sixty percent remained organic nearly made Rarity’s stomach turn. A hulking form of a pony with no fur, and greyed, patchy skin stood in the alley. His glowing red cybereyes pierced Rarity’s soul, even through the camera, and its chromed, metal jaw unhinged before he bit down on the mare’s flank. Sweet Celestia above, it's a ghoul. A chromed-up ghoul. The Probe IC was back, hovering at the door. Cursing, Rarity quickly took a series of screenshots, getting as many pictures of the thing as possible, before copying the whole video just to be on the safe side. “Come on, come on,” she whispered, glaring at her various progress bars. “Come on…” Her deck was chugging, fans spinning in meatspace as she downloaded the file. “Come on, little buddy,” Rarity whispered. 60% copied. A giant police badge slammed through the door, and scanned the virtual basement. It’s golden star-shaped eye glaring across the room to where Rarity stood, moments ago. Rarity ducked beneath the desk again, watching as the progress slowly climber across her vision. 72% done. The Probe hovered forward, glancing about as it tried to find whatever disturbance tipped it off. “Come on,” Rarity mentally whispered as the deck slowly climbed to 83%. The badge kept going, walking down between the shelves of virtual boxes before it came up to the desk. It stood there a moment, glancing left and right before it glanced under the table. Nothing but dusty, excess code. “All systems are nominal.” It said before it continued on its way. <><><|><><> Rarity gasped as she jacked out of the Matrix, sweat pouring from her brow. “That was close,” she muttered, before making a call on her comm. “Alright, team, here’s what I found. We have a chromed ghoul running around.” “A chromed ghoul?” Twilight asked. “That is what I said,” Rarity said, as she sent the screenshots over. “Sweet Celestia,” Steel said. “I don’t reckon I’ve seen one of those before.” “That’s because ghouls are sensitive to implants,” Web said. “That many implants on a ghoul speaks of a very high essence, at the very least.” “Why would anyone put cybernetics in a ghoul?” Twilight asked, aghast. “Well, sometimes they do it themselves so they can see!” Candy explained. “After all, who doesn’t want to see, and cybereyes let you do all the cool seeing stuff like looking at things closely from far away.” “That’s called magnification, Candy.” “I know, I just like saying ‘looking at things closely from far away.’” “Um...well,” Twilight said, put off by the answer. “That’s not the point, anyway. The point is why would someone take a monster and put cybernetics in them?” “Hey, I know a lot of ghouls who are cool guys,” Wingmare said. “What do you mean, they’re all monsters,” Twilight said. “They want to eat pony flesh, and they—” “Woah, Rookie. Woah. Rein it in, girl.” “Have you not met a ghoul?” Twilight asked. “They can’t even speak, they just wander around like animals and—” “And some of them are perfectly able to speak, think, build, and carry on conversations,” Web said. There was silence on the line for a moment. “What?” The others sighed. “Rookie, how sheltered are you?” Wingmare asked. “Like, seriously? How do you not know that?” “What, do you mean that ghouls are actually sentient?” Twilight said. “Like, half of them are!” Wingmare said. “Some go feral, the others still stay as smart as they were before that.” Twilight sighed. “You know what? I shouldn’t be surprised anymore.” “Not that this wasn’t a fascinating discussion,” Rarity said, “but we are getting off the topic of the crazed, maniacal, cybernetic ghoul killer.” “Right, so we’re looking for a ghoul?” Steel said. “That does seem to be the case.” “Then we need to head for the sewers,” Web said. Rarity slowly nodded. “As much as I hate it say it, I agree.” “Even if he’s chromed up, what skin he does have will break out if he doesn’t get back to the shade,” Steel added. “Alright, meet up on 103rd street, we’ll go from there.” <><><|><><> “Sewers” is a word that paints the wrong picture. When Rarity heard it back in the day as a young Runner, the image that popped in her mind was cramped, round tunnels filled with pony waste. The truth was less disgusting and far less claustrophobic. With the population boom that came with the massive advances in science and magic, there was a need for new property, and waste management. As more and more buildings were made, there were fewer and fewer opportunities for rain to run off into the dirt. Flooding began to be a problem, and so, massive rain tunnels were dug to deal with the problem, eventually overtaking the sewers completely. As a result, the Team now stood in a large, spacious rectangular tunnel, that stretched on into the darkness. “Alright, Web, can we get a tracker for this thing?” Rarity asked. “Only if he’s been here recently,” she replied. “That’s not great,” she said, pulling her deck from her back. “Nope, but it’s what we got.” Rarity sighed. “Alright, I’m going to try and find any trace of his cybernetics,” she said, activating the AR systems in her cybereyes. “They should be the biggest devices down here so they shouldn’t be too hard to find, but I’m going to need someone to watch out for me since my focus will be split.” “I gotcha,” Steel said. “Alright, let me work my magic,” she said, before she clacked away at her deck, and began running a locate device program. Her eyes watched as a signal shot through the Matrix, rippling out from her as it pinged electric boxes and flood valves. It spread outward, going past her vision, however, a number of devices pinged off to the left. “This way,” she said, putting her deck away and drawing her submachine gun. The mares began following Rarity’s directions as she slowly took them through the sewers. They ran down the long, rectangular corridors, dry all but for a thin film of scum-covered water that laid across the floor. Their path twisted and turned as they moved through several different intersections. They moved quickly, led by Rarity as she chased the devices she saw through the Matrix. “Alright,” she whispered. “We’re getting close, stay together. Candy, do you have explosives?” “A few grenades, and a breaching explosive,” she answered. “Perfect,” Rarity said, “keep a grenade close. We’re going to need it.” Candy nodded. “Alright, keep quiet everypony,” Rarity ordered. “We’re communicating through texts from now on." The others quickly turned their cybereyes to AR, or slipped on their AR glasses, as Rarity quickly sent a text to them using nothing more than her eyes to type it. “Move carefully, we’re almost there.” They were on the move again, following closely behind the decker, who occasionally sent them a text with instructions. “Move here. Get your weapons ready. Prepare this spell.” And then it was time. “He’s right around this corner,” she said over text. “I’m going to try and hack his cybernetics to hopefully stop him in his tracks. We go in on three, ready?” The mares nodded. “One. Two. Three.” The team turned the corner, and ran smack dab into a furious, hungry ghoul. Before they could say a word, a massive cyber-hoof slammed into the concrete, throwing rubble across the cistern that the ghoul was resting in. It roared, cybereyes whirring as it tried to find the target of its next attack. “Hey ugly!” Steel yelled before she answered with her own, super-powered kick. “Let’s see what kinda chrome you got!” The ghoul roared again, charging after Steel, and giving the other ponies a moment to breathe. Rarity ducked behind cover, working quickly to try and affect at least one of his cybernetic parts before she became a stain on the ground. Her hooves clacked furiously across her deck, not daring to enter VR, where her body would be helpless and still against the hulking beast. Steel shoved it away and didn’t dare to close the distance until the others moved. As if on cue, Candy yelled, “Grenade!” and tossed her explosive at the monster’s hooves, just before Web finished casting a spell. Tracing lines of spider silk in the air with her hoof and the tip of her obsidian dagger, webs of mana leaped from the walls and bound the hulking monster where he stood before Twilight unleashed a lightning bolt. Lightning burst and conducted along the metal shell before the explosion sent shrapnel up into the ghoul. Rarity worked quickly, finally accessing the ghoul’s PAN, before realizing, to her horror, that it was backed by RENUMA IC. This wasn't some random ghoul, with random cyberware. This was a corp-backed project, possibly a weapons project gone AWOL. Rarity groaned. “This is going to take a while!” Steel slammed back into the ghoul, trying to take advantage of the overloaded cybernetics and hit him before he could bring his power to bear. Her blades shot out of her leg, slamming and slicing the ghoul’s necrotic flesh, trying to cut it to pieces as he hung still, caught in the binding web spell. Rarity kept working, running programs to try and beat the IC built into the cyberware. Sweat poured down her brow as she tried to break the defenses, not daring to go into VR for fear of being crushed by the ghoul, but cursing her meat body for not being fast enough. Web quickly began casting another spell, calling on the spirits of ponykind to bring forth fire and tried to ignite the ghoul’s flesh. He roared again, before his hoof came back to life, and shot a grappling claw into Web’s chest. The shaman barely had time to blink before the wind was knocked from her lungs, and she was sent flying across the cistern, trailing the claw with her. Wingmare jumped in, throwing a magically enhanced punch to the monster's grappling arm, in a vain attempt to separate the ghoul from his cyberware. “That’s not going to work!” Rarity yelled from cover. “He’s a corp bioweapon! He’s made to fight!” “What corp is making a ghoul soldier?” Twilight asked. “You’re the one from a corp, you tell us!” Steel answered. Wingmare went for another hit, this time, her hoof bursting into electricity as she dove into her powers as an adept, and her own heritage. The blow landed hard, denting the hard shell of the cybernetics, and overloading the circuits. The cyberghoul howled and snarled, bring his still-organic left arm, and slammed it across Wingmare’s face, sending the pegasus spinning through the air. Steel moved in to keep the ghoul busy, throwing her powerful blades into the monster’s gut, making barely enough time for Twilight to help Web escape from the monstrous clutches of the cyberhoof. “Come on, come on,” Rarity growled through gritted teeth as she tried to slip through the monster’s digital defenses. The cyberghoul roared again, throwing up the large, cybernetic arm as it deployed some kind of shield, blocking Steel’s next strike, before he came around, and bit her on her cybernetic arm. “Dagnabit!” Steel yelled before she brought her back legs up and bucked the ghoul away. “Holy drek!” Wingmare yelled, getting back up to her hooves. “Are you alright?” “Yeah, he bit steel, I’m alright,” the street sam answered. “Almost!” Rarity yelled from behind cover, before the cyberghoul recovered, and raised its massive cyberhoof. “Got it!” Rarity said, right before the cyberghoul punched itself into unconsciousness. “Yes! Take that, you ruffian!” “Well,” Twilight said. “That was surprisingly effective.” “And that’s why I get on the Gem’s PAN,” Steel said. “The last thing I need to do is strangle myself.” “At least, not without a partner, right?” Wingmare said. Steel punched her. “Ow…” “Not bad, ladies,” Rarity said. “Let’s pack this one up, and get paid.”