//------------------------------// // 10: Think Tank p2 // Story: Shadowrunner: Equestria // by law abiding pony //------------------------------// A pegasus mare cantered towards a mostly featureless brick wall with a purpose.  Only a single door and a mean looking earth stallion in a bouncer’s tux decorated the place.  A line of ponies, a few zebras, and even a griffin or two stretched from door to street. The rhythmic, gut churning music seeped from the wall.    The mare earned looks of either envy or irritation as she bypassed the crowd.  She walked right by the bouncer who let her in with a smooth parting of the door.  The mare was instantly blasted by the bass-heavy music within.   A dance floor easily the size of a warehouse was blanketed in ponies, with many in the air as well.  Strobe lights made everyone look like they were rapidly blinking in and out of existence. Only a few guide lights kept patrons from getting too close to the staff distributing drinks and snack food to various consumers.  The two story bar was a large circle off to the south side of the building. The mare ignored the party and went straight for the second floor bar.   There was a spot open on the far right side of the bar, which the pegasus was quick to claim for herself.  Upon taking her seat, a holographic menu materialized before her. She ordered three particular drinks. Shortly after hitting send, the bartender, a unicorn stallion, perked up and made his way over to her as casually as possible.  He greeted her with a professional wave of his hoof, which concealed the act of slotting a neck wire into a direct channel on his side of the bar. The mare pulled out a sanitary wipe to clean the slot on her side before doing the same.   The lime green mare asked with simmering irritation.  She did not speak aloud, but through the direct link of the cords from their necks, allowing them to be heard over the bone-jarring music.   <“I sent you that message hours ago,”> he remarked evenly, careful to not be discuritous. <“I was busy doing legwork for a new job. I couldn’t just leave immediately.”> The bartender nodded curtly.  <“Right, I remember you taking to some others this morning. Now, from one friend to another, is one of your new coworkers a decker?”>   <“No…”> The pegasus’ eyes went wide with fury and she slammed the bar with her hoof.  “It was her? Again?!” <“Yuuup.  Your little stunt double was talking business with a couple of runners about a job no doubt.  Left a few minutes before I messaged you.”> <“What did the other runners look like? Where’d they go?”>   <“Music’s too loud to hear where they were going.  But I know what they look like at least. The decker was a unicorn mare with white fur and a well-groomed purple mane. Looked like a socialite who was used to the street.”>   The mare looked down in thought.  <“…Can’t say it rings a bell. There’re lots of ponies with those colors.”>   <“Fair enough.  I was hoping you’d know another decker like that.  The other is a guy I know. Burnt Rubber.”>   The mare developed a devious grin.  <“I know him too. He owes me big time.”>   <“Bangin’.  Let me know how it all goes down when it’s over.”>  The bartender grinned as the mare transferred the information fee.   With a nod of gratitude, the mare turned away and dialed her phone implant.  She didn’t have to wait long for an answer.    “That was fast,” the gruff, heavy smoker’s voice of Burnt Rubber opened up.  He still managed to pull off that ‘pick up line’ tone. “Not that I should be surprised from you, LD.  You ladies on the way down?”   The pegasus mare let off a dark chuckle.  “Oh, you better damn well believe it.”       The labs were ultimately just that, a laboratory.  There were quite a few very delicate projects and equipment in the building, which made the presence of actual patrols more or less absent, sans the Celestia-sized robot.  The group hunkered own inside a chemical closest opposite to a door leading to central security.   Rainbow Dash and Twilight flanked the singular steel door that lead into the security control.  Rarity and Lightning Dust were behind them, waiting for the muscle to cover their approach.    “I really don’t think going in that way is a good idea,” Twilight warned with her ears flat.  “We’re going to trip the alarm for sure.”   “Which is why we’re waiting for somepony to come out.”  Rainbow’s ears twisted this way and that, trying to pick up any hoofsteps.    Rarity butted in.  “I’m telling you, we can jack the door reader, toss in some grenades, and make it up to the control center.  The guards will practically be asleep. Nopony would attack this place…” Rarity watched all three other mares give her a flat look.  “Er well, normally at any rate.”   Twilight forcefully shook her head.  “We aren’t a breaching team. Somepony will get shot if we try, and at least one of those will be us. Look, the control center is built just like most others in skyscraper labs from the 950s.  It’s in three levels: the one we’re on now and the third floor are entry points with mirrors to allow personnel to see who is walking in, and the doors are heavy and noisy so they can’t be snuck through.”   Lightning Dust gave Twilight an impressed look.  “Why use mirrors when we got cameras? Actually, how do you know about crown lab architecture anyway?”   Had it only been Rarity and Rainbow Dash, Twilight might very well have gone into great detail, but with Lightning Dust present, Twilight clammed up.  “Sorry, but that’s personal. All I will say is that both you and Diamond are prime examples why they'd use mirrors over cameras. Anyway,” she continued, looking more at the whole group. “If we go up one story, we can use the one-way exit points that would lead us right into the security room, no stairs between us and them.”   “I already investigated that route before coming here,” Rarity cut in, keeping Rainbow from making a snap judgment call.  “Those doors are hydraulically moved by a pressure plate on the inside of the security center. They don’t have any computer control to them, not even a key reader, so hacking it isn’t an option I’m afraid.  The plate’s also warded against unicorn magic, so we can’t even blindly push it down from the other side.”   Twilight wiggled a playful hoof at her fellow unicorn.  “Ah, but we don’t need to hit the pressure plate; only the catch release lever, which is buried in the wall. And I know exactly where it’s located.”   Lightning Dust folded her forelegs in disbelief.  “How? Not even I could get the blueprints for this place.  There’s no way you can know that.”   “I can get us in, I know it!” Twilight replied with as much forcefulness as she could quietly deliver.   Rainbow shared a look with Rarity before nodding.  “Alright, you proved you know your stuff from the last run.  Let’s try it your way.”   Twilight smiled widely at the level of trust and would have hugged Rarity and Rainbow both if she was anywhere else. As the others slowly pressed onward, Lightning Dust’s disbelieving scowl slipped to one of measured suprise.  Catching herself, she shook herself to get back into the game.     Detective Pinkie Pie climbed out of her car near a city park.  At this hour, there were no casual joggers or foals with their parents.  Only the homeless and discarded trash. The high pitched whine of her car cut off as Pinkie placed the key dongle in her vest pocket.  She looked up high and saw the faint but distinct blue and red strobing lights of a crime scene cordon. Looks like I’m right under Denim Pant’s place.  He must have more secrets there than I thought if the cordon is still active. Pinkie recalled that night, when she stood at the lip of the city plate, but had done so far too late to see where either thestral had disappeared to.  Now, if I was a bleeding winger trying to escape, the park is where I’d go.   Pinkie pulled multiple talisman necklaces to make sure they were prominently displayed above her vest, with a few charms inhabiting her mane. They were symbols of power designed to scare off any two-bit muggers.  She hoped the trinkets would allow her to work uninterrupted. She then pulled out a control tablet and entered a few commands. The roof of her car slid open and a trio of parasprite bots flew out, each of which were covered in shamanistic runes that were a dim blue.  It was a sad fact that she couldn’t summon any elemental assistance. They were blunt instruments at best, and could blunder into contaminating any evidence. “Alright, Wee, Not So Wee, and Freak’n Huge, get out there and see if you can spot some blood stains or odd chi points.”  It hasn’t rained yet, so any blood trail might still be there. Pinkie placed a hoof on each parasprite and muttered words of power. Soon, each drone’s runes started glowing brightly.   With a few happy chirps, the drones flew away at speed.  In her mind’s eye, Pinkie tried to remember the bird’s eye view she got of the park from the night prior.  She felt her tail twitch, her teeth chatter, and a muscle tic in her left ear. Is that so? Pinkie pulled up her control pad and directed Not So Wee to the lake.   Pinkie scanned her surroundings out from under her low hat as she waited for any clues.  The lamps illuminating the singular path through the park created deep shadows in between the trees.  It was quiet out, save for the city ambiance and distant police sirens. It was only now that she had time to look when she noticed several trees were sickly or outright dead, the bark stripped off of them like a torn wrapper.  As much as it pained the local spirits, she had to focus on the case at hand.   A chirp on her pad brought her attention to a sensor feed from Not So Wee.  A noticeable pony-sized depression sat along the unmowed grass near the lake.  To the naked eye, there was nothing of note about the dew covered grass, but to Pinkie, there was so much more.  With the runes allowing the transmission to be read by a spiritual eye, Pinkie saw an odd thing. A ring of silvery moonlight surrounded the depression.  As a test, Pinkie used a mana-sink in the drone to rapidly bleed away the stored magic in the runes, and sure enough, the moonlight faded away entirely. No blood, but now isn’t that an interesting crumb…  I’ve only seen that light around some of the Nightborne back at HQ. But never around Flinty. Does that mean Miss Evil Traitor landed right here? So no pony caught her mid-air. The possibility it was the scene of an unrelated crime passed through her mind as quickly as it came. You hear them thessy-rals talk, the moon protects them, and them alone.  So this must be the place she landed. But why would she be protected then? Maybe Miss Moon isn’t so goodie goodie. Few spirits are, I guess. Could she call upon the moonlight while it was still present?  Pinkie shook her head at the idea. “Uh uh, tried that one time on a case, and Moony blew my oven up.  I better go with somepony more… grounded.”   Pinkie moved the drone away from the moonlight, and pointed it towards the nearest pony signature.  Somepony like Flinty would probably ignore a wastrel, but they are perfect informants if ya know what they want.  With a happy hum, Pinkie went back to her car and pulled out a large box of pastries.         Rainbow and the others made it to the soon-to-be improvised entry point into the security center.  They were in a narrow hallway dotted by small offices. The two deckers had already opened the closer of the two offices, paranoid of cramming all four of them in a tight hallway that could only accommodate three ponies abreast.   Only Rainbow Dash remained at Twilight’s side as the unicorn felt around with her magic on the security hatch’s mechanism.  The hallway was dimly lit with only one in every three ceiling lights active.   Rainbow was sweating badly, and not from the temperature.  She kept her eyes fixed on the their only exit. She practiced spell signs just to keep herself from going off the wall.  I don’t like it one damn bit. We’ve only seen that one patrol bot. No guards, no nothing. We never should have gone in so blind. The fact that she didn’t have friendly drones watching the adjoining hallway was nerve wracking.  That does it, next time Flutters has to stay behind, we’re bringing another rutting rigger. She cast a glare at Lightning Dust, who shifted uncomfortably, but didn’t look back at Rainbow. We might have been able to hire one if she didn’t take the entire budget. She glanced at Rarity who was fixated on their only exit if things went south.  Her weapon of choice, a modified submachine gun, glowed in her magic. Rarity rested the butt of the submachine gun against the doorframe to the office and aimed with the weapon’s smart eye, allowing her to be completely behind the wall.  Lightning Dust didn’t have the luxury of a horn, so she kept her pair of hand cannons: one was aimed down range, and the other waited in a fast-grab holster.   That particular fast-grab holster tensed the back of Rainbow’s neck.  That’s a Shadow Grip. Did she take that off a thestral? That stuff’s not on the open market.  The idea of it coming from the black market was always a possibility, but it’s not one Rainbow liked. Even if I never rejoin the Nightborne, a smuggler in their numbers is bad news… I should probably tell Celestia about it when we’re done here. Rainbow pulled her eyes off Lightning Dust and hastily finished three more spell signs until her patience wore out.  “Twiggles, what’s the hold up? Those cameras have got to have been noticed ages ago.” “I found the release lever, but it’s so close to the warded pressure plate that it’s being stubborn.  Besides, if they had noticed us yet, we’d be in a shootout by now right?” Twilight scowled at the spot on the doorframe.  “I’m going to try a lot more force, but it might be noisy.” “Gotcha.”  Rainbow pulled out a flashbang grenade, and pulled the pin; but it would not start the fuse until after it left her hoof.  Just in case they’re quick on the draw for that alarm button. Twilight’s horn lit up much brighter than normal, drawing the two decker’s attention.  A loud clunk reverberated from the steel hatch. As the hatch groaned open, Twilight flopped backwards a bit and made to grab Winter’s shotgun.  Rainbow almost charged straight in, grenade in hoof, but was stopped dead. The groan of the opening hatch was masking the low whine of a spooled up tri-barreled minigun that was aimed directly at her face.  Holding the mare-sized weapon was a minotaur bull that had his horns cut off so he could fit his massive frame inside the building. The bull’s smug face was masked by full body armor with the conjoined K and E symbol of Knight Errant emblazoned on his broad chest.  “I’d say ‘freeze’ but you should know the drill.” “Stay where you are!” two voices commanded from afar as two ponies came in from the exit path with guns drawn.  They too were in full body armor. The unicorn of the two had a shotgun while his earth partner was mounting up on his suit’s extendable struts into a bipedal posture for his rifle stance. All four mares froze, not wanting to trigger a one-sided gunfight.  The bull nudged the spinning barrel of his minigun towards the flashbang.  “Drop it. Now.” Without moving her head, Rainbow glanced at the grenade.  “Let me put the pin back.” “No.”  The bull rebuked with smug satisfaction.  “I said drop it.” Gritting her teeth in defiance, Rainbow relented and let the flashbang go.  It landed with a slight bounce and rolled a bit before it went off. All four mares were dropped to the deck as light, noise, and a pressure wave ruined their senses, and made Twilight throw up out of shock.  The others curled up or rolled around completely disoriented.   The three knights were completely unaffected and dragged the subdued shadowrunners inside the security tower, leaving their weapons behind. By the time Rainbow could see clearly again, she and the others had been dragged inside of the center.  The room was easily the size of a large boxing ring. It had a central command desk ringed with monitors. From here, one could see several labs below, even, and above the station.  The minotaur had slung the minigun across his shoulders, while the two ponies were sifting through everyone’s heavy coats. The two cyberdecks were confiscated and were placed on the console, well out of reach.   Once all four mares were disarmed and thrown against the wall, the unicorn knight spoke up, first getting in Lightning Dust’s face.  “Let’s keep this nice and easy. You tell me what I wanna know, and I don’t have to pull out my toolkit.” More than the others, Lightning Dust’s ears were ringing so loud his commands were muffled. Her sense of balance was still off.  She could see he was talking to her at least. “If you’re trying to hit on me, I’m going to have to pass until I can hear again.” The unicorn stallion wasn’t buying it as he searched through Lightning Dust’s clothing to make sure she didn’t have any hidden weapons.  “Its been long enough. You can hear just fine.” He pulled out a few magazines, and a black combat knife. He slid the magazines away so they were under a desk, and sent the knife right after them.    “You see, I’ve had my eye on an interrogator position within the knights.  But you know how this sort of thing works. Job experience is everything, and you four are my ticket up.”  He glanced at the earth knight, who went to the lockers in the back to get the toolkit. The minotaur stood back, and kept all four shadowrunners under watch.  The interrogator looked back at Lightning. “I don’t really expect anything you tell me here is going to be accurate, but that’s not the idea.” At this point, only some of his words worked their way through the ringing in her ears. “Yeah well I do what I can, eh?” Rainbow Dash grit her teeth at the ignobility of it all.  Thorough training had allowed her hearing to recover faster, so she heard it all loud and clear.  “That’s why you kept us alive? So you could put us on your resume?” “I was just going to pulp ya sorry little skull, lassy,” the minotaur declared with a gruff laugh.  “But ya didn’t kill my buddy at the front door, so I figured I’d leave you to Monkey Wrench’s mercy. He gets his resume padding, and you might live long enough to stand trial.  A win-win all around.”   Monkey Wrench was about to turn away from Lightning Dust when he did a double take.  “Wait a second, are you wearing wing bling?”   With Rarity and Twilight slouching low, Rainbow saw Monkey’s real magic latch onto a small implant at the base of Lightning’s left wing, it was well hidden in her fur.  Monkey only found it due to his helmet scanners picking it up. She screamed as his magic yanked and pulled on it, thinking it was just a clasp.  Ultimately his efforts pulled out a small implant the size of a AA battery right out of her skin, bringing ripped fur, blood, and two snapped wires with it, causing her left wing to flicker with light before a hologram collapsed, revealing muted, purple, leathery wing in its place.  Lightning rolled over, trying to cover the open wound as best she could. Tears covered furious, hate-filled eyes glared straight through his helmet. She was forcing herself to control her screaming through tightly clenched teeth. “A bat pony?” The Minotaur asked half-rhetorically. “I thought you types were too rich to bother Running.”   Lightning heaved a growl of pain so she could control her voice long enough to speak with acid lacing every word.  “Like my ‘father’ loved to say: we’re rich, but you’re not. I’ve made my own way so far.” “Is that right?”  Monkey Wrench pulled back to get a better look at Lightning Dust, noting her apparent age.  “Well, if you want to see a day past twenty, you’ll play it smart. Tell me everything about your little job, and I might just let you bandage that wound.” Lightning growled out of pain, and shrunk back into the wall, trailing a line of blood along the way.  The ringing had quieted down enough for her to understand him. “I signed on because I put the camera spoof in and the money was good.  Those three are my clients, I don’t know who or what they want.” Rainbow fumed a bit, but didn’t see it as a sell-out.  What she said was true, but it wasn’t like she had any real information to spill.  Even still, that wasn’t the only thing on her mind as the earth stallion arrived with the ‘toolkit’.  So LD was forced to be a bat pony? Those nut jobs are too proud to hide their body mods so maybe she’s being real.  That or she’s at least not stupid enough to flaunt when running. That alone elevated Lightning a step or two above Rainbow’s insitual distaste for bats. Monkey Wrench snorted derisively at her. “Let’s say I believe you for now.”  A few small pieces of gauze and a roll of bandages flew out of a nearby first aid kit.  “Here, stop bleeding on my floor or I’ll pull the other one.” Since the earth knight had taken the initiative to start frisking Rarity for weapons, Wrench moved on to the green-dyed Twilight.  Since she was bereft of any clothing, and thus no weapons, that left Rainbow Dash in Monkey Wrench’s sights. Not to mention the minotaur was still watching everything with his minigun close at hand. With his magic, Monkey Wrench opened the kit, and pulled a makeshift weapon from the kit.  It looked more akin to a rifle’s frame with several small yet powerful flashlights welded together all pointing forward, along with a decent sized heat sink on the back.  Monkey Wrench leveled it at Rainbow Dash as he magically pulled her robe off with several hard yanks. “You mages always hate using actual armor. Make you such easy targets.” “Are you really complaining how that makes our job easier?” The minotaur laughed.  With both the minigun and an eager minotaur nearby, Rainbow only offered token resistance to her robe being forcefully removed.  She growled scornfully as she was left with only a highly-pocketed, tight polyester jacket, her bandolier of grenades, along with her face and leather wings for all to see. Lightning Dust was so stunned at Rainbow’s appearance she dropped her bandages.   The knights all looked at her with various levels of confusion. “Two bat ponies?” The minotaur unslung his weapon, but didn’t bring it up to fight just yet. As his gloved grip tightened, his handholds creaked audibly.  The bull’s originally haughty, smug tone had starkly shifted to being deeply nervous. “I don’t like this. You bats are too damn rare and rich for this to be some coincidence.” The earth stallion wasn’t any calmer. He put a hoof on the butt of his rifle. “Hey, you guys remember those rumors about bat pony black ops teams?” “Yeah, I do,” the minotaur answered too quickly.  “Never any survivors or video records either.” Part of Rainbow wanted to play on their fears, but the shadowrunner in her fully expected to get pulped by the minigun if she dared. That’s a real quick way to get shot and dumped in the river. “Hey, If I was some big shot like that, why would I pal around with a rookie so green she can’t even afford a shirt?” Twilight didn’t have to try hard to act like everything was over her head. “We all start somewhere right?” Quick as a whip, Rarity played her part. “I told you hiring her for a job like this was a mistake.” “Are you two that paranoid?” the unicorn knight half-yelled mockingly.  “How do you even know they’re bat ponies if there are never any survivors?” Monkey Wrench got pissed in a hurry when he couldn’t be heard over the bickering knights that were too focused on the shadowrunners to pay him any attention. “Shut up, all of you or I’ll burn your eyes out!”  He pointed his light-gun at Rainbow’s face. “Starting with you. Take those grenades off, slowly.” Twilight had been studying the odd weapon long enough to realize those weren’t flashlights, but lasers. More than enough to burn an eye away in seconds. She pushed her head forward, but didn’t stand. “That’s illegal. You can just burn somepony’s eyes out!” “Oh, this is rich,” Monkey scoffed. “A shadowrunner caught trespassing is lecturing me about the law?”  He leveled the weapon at Twilight’s eyes. “Sit back, or you’re going to need new eyes.” Is she trying to get herself killed?! Rainbow wanted to do something, but she hesitated upon feeling unnatural heat coming off of Twilight. The edge of Twilight’s irises turned a dark, flowing orange.  “Put it down, sir.” Monkey didn’t notice the temperature increase thanks to his armor, and pushed the light-gun against Twilight’s muzzle. “How about I put you down instead?  Rookies never know anything useful anway.” He fired the beam point blank. A moment later, the whole room was lit up like a midday desert sky, and Twilight’s whole head lit up like the sun. Rainbow and Lightning Dust were quick to cover their eyes with both wing and foreleg before the lights when on. Rarity did much the same.  However, Twilight stared right into the blinding light as if it was little more than a weak candle. The heat coming off of her tripled, and the feathers grew rapidly up her back, and ended at two protruding bony nubs. The light was powerful enough to cause even the helmeted knights to miss her empowering her horn with burning mana magic more akin to living plasma.  Monkey Wrench was taken aback when he realized Twilight was not even flinching, let alone her eyes were not blackened and burnt away. He cut the laser right as Twilight screamed in defiance and unleashed a scorching beam of solar plasma that left a stream of embers falling in its wake.  Monkey Wrench was thrown bodily across the security center, slamming through two sets of camera screens before being smashed against the glass. A two inch hole had been burned through his armor, and his chest was reduced to ash.  When the light faded, Rainbow and the others saw a fading trail of burning air coming from Twilight who was slumping low against the wall. The bony nubs were gone and the new feathers were already falling off. The two remaining knights were dumbstruck by the act.  That gave Rainbow enough time to regain her wits. She barreled at the minotaur, empowering a hoof on the way and slamming it into the elbow bend of the arm holding the minigun up. She was rewarded by a cry of pain. He held onto the trigger long enough to fire a stream of rounds all the way up the wall and ceiling before a follow-up kick forced him to let go of the weapon, but his armor kept the bone intact.  “Damn bitch!” He reached over to grab her neck. Rainbow danced around the minotaur’s powerful yet sluggish movement while staying as close to him as possible.  She bounced away from a downward smash, and pumped her back legs with magic. When she landed, Rainbow bucked at the bull’s hip, but he managed to lift his leg up so the blow was caught by his cuisses. Even then it made him stagger. He dropped to one knee, but managed to get a sweeping blow against Rainbow with the back of his fist.  Rainbow allowed the impact to spin her backwards to reduce the pain, and she used her wings to ensure she landed on all fours. “An adept posing as a damn mage!  You’re one of those bat squads, I knew it!”  Real fear trembled on his voice, but it only made him fight harder. “You catch on quick,” Rainbow shot back as she wove a stun spell and tried to slam it into the bull’s neck, but he brought up his arm and took it on his vambrace instead, allowing the armor to negate the stunning effects.  “But you’re only half right!” Rainbow hooked her forelegs around his upraised arm and swung around behind him before flipping over with her wings and bucking him in the back of the head and smashing him into a desk, wrecking the computer setup.   Meanwhile, Rarity tried to use her magic to wrestle with the earth knight’s rifle, but her telekinesis was repelled like magnetic poles.  He caught sight of Rarity’s horn glowing, and took aim on her. However, his shift in attention allowed Lightning Dust to roll in close and deliver a solid kick to his weapon, throwing his aim off, sending three bursts into the wall.  She tried to follow it up with a kick to his head, but he deflected it with the butt of his rifle, allowing him to jump back to shoot at her instead. Rarity was frantically looking around, and spotted the home-made laser gun, and sure enough it wasn’t warded.  She gripped it hard in her magic and flung it at the rifle, once again knocking his aim off, sending a score of bullets into the glass.  Lightning Dust instictively ducked from the near misses. Realizing she wasn’t full of holes, Lightning made a dive for the knife. She unfolded a robotic hand out of her left hoof, and took it before he could kick it away.  She started stabbing at the knight’s joints while Rarity used the laser gun to force the rifle’s barrel to point up in the air. Lightning Dust made a trio of well aimed stabs at his neck and ears, but his armor took the impacts easily.  He let one hoof go from the rifle and smacked Lightning in the face with the back of his armored hoof. As Lightning staggered back from the earth magic fueled punch, she managed to hook a hoof in between magazine and body of the rifle, and pulled it out of his grasp as she went down.  Lightning kicked the weapon towards Rarity, only to receive a double-legged stomp, knocking the wind out of her. He followed the sliding weapon, only to find Rarity picking it up by hoof. He made a bee-line straight for her, but wasn’t fast enough to stop her from unclipping the magazine from the rifle. Rarity panicked at the charge, discarded the rifle, and hastily fired a weak bolt that fizzled before even reaching his chest.  Rarity jumped away right before the knight delivered a punch that crumpled the blue composite ceramic wall.   Rarity scooted away, taking a glancing, armored buck straight to her neck. Rarity stumbled over Twilight Sparkle trying to recover.  Pounding hooves snapped his attention towards Lightning Dust, giving him only a second to brace against her tackle. The impact gave Rarity a chance to pull back while Lightning started stabbing at any weak point she could find on him. Rarity used the distraction to levitate Twilight further away from the fighting.  Lightning Dust couldn’t find a chink in the armor, allowing the stallion to grab, and slam her into the ruined wall.  The wrinkles and edges he had made from earlier jabbed and scratched her on impact.   From her safe distance, Rarity fired a flurry of magic bolts at the knight’s head, but the poorly aimed spells all fizzled to little more than a slap against his armor.  But it was enough for Lightning Dust to get into the air and out of his reach. She flew up, spun around to land on all fours on the ceiling, then launched herself straight down on him.  The knight cursed and jumped away from the dive bomb. Rarity used the distraction to run over and physically claim the rifle.  The wards didn’t burn her, she slotted the magazine back in. When she racked the charging handle, the knight had just finished throwing Lightning Dust against the broken wall again.  He turned towards Rarity and fearlessly charged her, knowing her magic couldn’t keep more than one bullet on target.   Rarity was of the same mind, but acted like she was trying to fire anyway to lure him in.  “Lightning!” She threw the rifle up and over the knight, leaving her completely open to being body slammed against a fire extinguisher on the far wall.  Rarity was stunned by a shock of pain, but Lightning managed to claim the rifle in mid air. She retreated and tried to fire from an angle so any misses wouldn’t hit Rarity.  The recoil was too much to keep a bead on him, allowing the knight to sprint for the armory where he had gotten the toolkit. Lightning landed and raked him with fire, but the shots bounced off his armor. “Drek! He loaded only anti-pony rounds!” At the same time, Rainbow had busted the minotaur’s left knee out with a solid kick.  He roared in pain,and fell onto his good knee. Anchors from his armor kept him upright.  Every smash of his fist rattled the screens.  “Flash, an EMP if you please!” Rainbow rolled away from a fist that nearly took her head off.  Without a word she unclipped a blue striped black grenade and passed it over in Lightning’s general direction.  With the minigun out of reach, and the bull anchored to the spot, Rainbow started charging spells and launching them at the bull’s face.  With each hit, the armor was worn down bit by bit, the spells having more bite to them with every cast. The bat pony caught it, pulled the pin and chucked it into the armory. “That should ruin any alarm buttons.” A burst of static washed over Rarity’s and Lightning’s vision, and was more pronounced on the remaining screens.  Rarity shakily got back up, and opened a pouch in her coat.  The knights had left her medications alone, allowing her to pop a pain pill.  Feeling her headache drop away in seconds, she joined Lightning Dust near the armory. As the two deckers moved in to corner the earth stallion, Rainbow weaved in close to the bull, ducked to the side to avoid an overhead swing, and delivered a buck straight into his weakened chest armor, hard enough to break through and crack his sternum, making him double over in an explosion of pain.  Rainbow zipped around to his head and yanked his helmet off. “Sorry, but I can leave any witnesses,” she declared while throwing his helmet away. She dodged a hasty grab at her, and wove a lightning spell. She used both forehooves to deliver it straight to the minotaur’s skull.  He died in moments after his body finished jerking and spasming.   Rainbow barely had the energy to jump away from him, and breathlessly stumbled away from the sizzling corpse.  He had landed some glancing blows, and she could already feel the bruises forming on her thighs and barrel.  By now, Twilight was getting back to her unsteady hooves. “Oh boy, that - took more out of me than I thought,” She absently muttered.  Rainbow flashed a pained smirk, “You took one out a lot easier than any of us did.  You did good.” Two full seconds of full-auto fire brought their attention back to the armory. Rarity was standing off to the side of the door with only her head peeking through. Lightning Dust was leaning against the door frame with a smoking rifle still aiming further inside.  Both deckers were badly winded. Lightning Dust tiredly let the rifle drop and she slid down the frame with wide eyes and a half-open mouth gulping air. The mechanical fingers slid back into her hoof. “I can’t believe it. We - we actually survived that.” She looked first at Rarity who was moving to inspect her injured back, then to Rainbow who was unreadable. “I thought we were dead for sure.” Gone was the cocky arrogance from before, with only stunned awe in its place.  Rainbow wouldn’t have launched a stun spell at the deceitful bat pony then and there, but Lightning Dust dropped her weapon. Be it fatigue or a show of compliance was still in question. “Everypony check each other for injuries, but make it quick.” Twilight was at her side and tapped Rainbow on a foreleg. “I’m fine, but I’m going to be worse for wear until I can get home. I’ll check you out first.”   Rainbow nodded and started sliding her clothes off for inspection. While Twilight gently poked the forming bruises for bone fractures, Rainbow kept her eyes fixed on Lightning Dust. The bat pony was having the hole from her removed holographic implant tended to.  The green decker was looking more nervous by the second if her twitching and quick glances at Rainbow were any sign. “How are you doing, Twiggles?” She briefly glance at Twilight so Lightning Dust would not be out of sight for long. “Your first kill, even in self defense is rough.” Twilight paused only briefly in her examination. “... this isn’t the first time.”  That earned a bewildered look out of Rainbow, making Twilight give the exam up early. “Queen’s curriculum didn’t… always go as planned when it came to protecting myself against dark magic. It still doesn’t compare to all this shadow business though.” At least she’s not going to have a mental breakdown over killing somepony. “Alright.  Good to know. I’ll still be there if ya need to talk, deal?” Twilight brightened considerably, and risked giving a light, friendly hug. “Thank you. I might take you up on that when we go home.” Rainbow noted Rarity was finished packing and bandaging Lightning’s wounds and were about to switch places. Yet as Lightning started rummaging through the med kit, images of her strangling Rarity came to mind. Rainbow also noticed Rarity had moved them away from the dropped rifle. Smart one, Rares. “So, Lightning Dust,” Rainbow started with her command voice. “You know, a farmer friend of mine would likely kill you if she was here right now.   “I get being secretive about what you are, but lying about who you are makes me think you’re a star.” Lightning Dust retreated and started frantically shaking her head and forelegs.  “No way, I’m not a cop, I swear! I was telling the truth about being disowned, I swear!” Mid-speech, Lightning Dust was glancing around the room while squeezing the bandages like a stress ball. She didn’t have her knife, the rifle was too far away, and a pony that could bring down an armored minotaur was looking rather miffed. Her sweating was starting to bleed the fur dye off her head, revealing spots of navy blue fur.    If she could pull off looking and acting like another pony, she could be stalling.  Rainbow stopped her first instinct to attack Lightning just to play it safe. “Still… if it weren’t for you’d we probably be dead.”  Without her weapon, there’s no way Rares could have taken that other knight by herself. “Your help in the fight is the only reason I’m not doing the same. All the same, give me another to let you keep breathing.” The young bat mare’s lip was quivering in boiling terror at Rainbow Dash, which was only made worse by the dead minotaur behind her. “I - I um w-well um I,” was all she could sputter out.  Rarity pulled away from in front of Lightning Dust and offered a light apology while tugging the bandages out of her grip so she could administer herself. Robbed of her stress reducer, Lightning tried to think of some excuse that a terse adept would care enough about.  She was moments from setting herself in sheer panic when Twilight stepped forward and offered a friendly smile. “How about we try starting on better footing? My name’s Twiggles. I take it your not Lighting Dust.” The decker was still fixated on Rainbow, and kept looking at Rainbow’s wings, eyes and the dead minotaur behind her. “No.  My name’s… I go by Nova on the street.” With a thought, the mare dropped the hologram around her other wing, revealing to matching navy blue leathery wings. “I swear, I only act like her and use her name to get bigger pay on runs.”  She tensed and gave Rarity a flimsy, apologetic smile. “I’m still a damn good decker though, you got my honor as a runner on that one. I put the camera spoofer in after all.” Rarity went about wrapping her head up in properly placed bandages. “Tell you what. You accept the same pay Twiggles is getting, and prove your worth in the dive, and I’ll let bygones be bygones.” Pay was always better than death. “D-deal!” Lightning stuttered not quickly enough for her tastes. Rarity eyed the lime green bat pony with far less suspicion. As a decker, physical disguises and identity deceptions were roughly seen in the same light as changing one’s Matrix avatar, simply par for the course when the heat got too bad.  Rarity went for her deck that had been tossed to the floor during the scuffle, and pulled a pop-out scanner. She went over to the dead minotaur and started scanning his eyes and fingerprints for biometrics. “Very well, darling, but don’t take too long sorting it all out. The matrix security here should be top shelf, and our driver won’t stick around forever.”  When the deck gave a satisfying beep, she slotted a wire from the deck into the datajack in the back of her neck, and then a second wire into a suitable station to dive into.  That left Twilight to limp over to the two leather-winged mares. “Was that whole rookie talk your Lightning Dust persona too?”  She had sweat drenching her neck and face, but she didn’t look singed in the slightest.  Nova cringed a little, stealing a curious look at Rainbow Dash.  “If I’m going to be honest, I woulda said the same thing, just nicer.” “Ha!” Rainbow laughed derisively while ribbing Twilight.  “Ain’t that the truth. Still though…” Rainbow followed the smell of charred pony to the unicorn. “Glad you didn’t do that when I first found you,” Rainbow joked with an attempt at humor.  Twilight couldn’t help but frown with a choked, brief laugh that hurt her ribs. “You would have clobbered me first for sure.” The moment passed, and the two friends turned to the bat pony. The mare was shaking like a leaf.  Were it not for Twilight’s non-hostile demeanor, she would have wet herself out of fear for her life.   “So, Nova was it?” Rainbow opened with a better attempt at being mildly less intimidating.  “Y-yes ma’am,” the bat mare stuttered out.  Twilight hid a grin behind a hoof and whispered in Rainbow’s ear.  “Uh oh, she called you ma’am. That means your old.” Rainbow’s cheeks puffed up and shot a glare at the purple menace.  “Shaddup, I’ll still be young when everypony else in this room is long dead.”   Twilight’s teasing got the intended response, but not out of Rainbow.  Nova stopped shivering at seeing the two friends being casual. She was still wringing her hooves, but at least now she wasn’t on the verge of a nervous breakdown. “Alright, Nova…”  Rainbow fumed over what to do. She can’t be Nightborne.  We’ve got deckers, but she’s got too much chrome to be one of us.  Drek, we barely tolerate datajacks. She leaned into Twilight’s ear. “What do you make of her?” Twilight blushed a little. “You’re actually asking for my advice?” “Duh. I told you we don’t run things military here. You’ve proven yourself enough to be worth listening to.” Twilight’s cheeks burned at the praise, but she knew time was against them, so she had to think quickly. “I think she sees you as a kindred spirit, maybe even a role model if you play your cards right. A bat pony who wants to buck against the expectations of the artificial tribe’s stereotype. I think we can at least trust her until the two of you can have a longer chat.” Rainbow looked at Twilight as though she had just told her she was actually a dragon in disguise.  “Role model? Ain’t no way, no how. Besides, we only just met.” Rainbow could literally smell the fear coming off of Nova, a truly difficult thing to fake.  “She’s practically terrified of me, and not all of that stuff earlier could have been an act.” “You’ve never met Lightning Dust have you,” Nova asked sheepishly, earning surprised and irritated looks in equal measure from Rainbow.  “I studied Lighting Dust for a while before stealing her identity. It’s how she’s expected to act, and I didn’t know if any of you would be familiar with her.  I was telling the truth on the elevator, I get to demand like, twenty - thirty times the bits I’d get otherwise.” Nova shrank back a bit from Rainbow’s steamed glare. “I-I can’t help it. I’ve got stupid good hearing. Ah - natural hearing, not chromed so I can’t exactly turn it off.” Rainbow’s glare melted a bit. “I’ll admit I’m asking this is for personal reasons, but why are you a bat pony?  The short version.” Lightning thought about lying.  Surely Rainbow would be fine with the truth, but would Twilight?  Rarity? Ultimately the threat of death made her slump down and nervously rub the floor with a hoof.  “My parents were bats. They wanted to make sure my siblings and I were too, so they had doctors design me from the ground up, and got a surrogate mother to carry me.” She’s totally artificial?! Rainbow’s own fears of that roared to the surface.  She looked at Twilight to see if the unicorn could sense any deception. Oddly, Twilight didn’t seem shocked or even put off by the news.  She didn’t choose to be a bat. Rainbow’s ears and wings dropped a bit. “Are you hiding anything else?” Nova’s ears perked up a bit when she didn’t get condemnation.  She looked up from between her hooves to see the utter lack of judgement from their eyes.  Nova felt she could speak, and the more she talked, the less jittery she became. “Just how I usually look.  I normally have ear tufts, so I clip them off before I go on runs. I have eyes like yours, but I use contacts to hide it.” Nova went so far as to pull out a container from her coat and showed it to be a contacts case. “See?”  Their expressions softened a touch, encouraging Nova to continue. She pulled her lips back to reveal short fangs about the same length as Rainbow’s own. “Most ponies don’t seem to notice or care about my fangs since they’re short by bashion standards.  It’s kinda tame as far as body mods go, right?”  Rainbow groaned so hard Twilight’s ears went flat and she had a wiry grin aimed at her thestral friend. “Bashion? Batshion…?” “It’s what we call—” “No!” Rainbow stomped.  “I don’t care. I know Diamond would agree with me here.  Never say that word around me ever again. Just - ya know what, erase it from your memory.  Got it?” “It’s a bit of a force of habit,” Nova admitted weakly, scooting away from Rainbow a bit.  “Well now is as good of a time as any to break it,” Twilight offered with a little head shake. Rainbow felt more relaxed now, at least as far as she could let herself in the middle of a run. “So how about why you’re here.  You’re some kid from a rich family who ran away from home?” Nova growled, but averted her eyes. Were they worth defending?  “Not exactly. The short version is that my parents got wrapped up in thier friends’ stupid ideas about extreme bat body mods.  They actually disowned me because I wouldn’t change myself to match the latest baaat - fashion. Said since they made me, so they owned me.  As if that were any different from any other bat foal for the last thirty years.” Nova glared at both of them with hurt tears in her eyes. “I don’t care if I was made in some gene factory like some damn toaster!  This is my life now!” Nova’s cheeks burned navy blue under the fur dye. She flailed a hoof in the air. “You should know how it works, Flash. Why else would another bat leave that stupid world the rest of us have walled ourselves in with?” Such a cheap abandonment got under Rainbow’s skin, if it was true. “The entire latest generation of bats are artificial?!”  “Well yeah,” Nova replied while tilting her head.  “You must have left before that became an open secret for us.” “Unbelievable!  Rainbow seethed before jerking a wing at Nova’s cyberdeck.  “Go join Diamond while I take care of things in meatspace. If you’re speaking the truth we could always use another decker on a permanent basis.  Moon known Diamond keeps asking for one.” Nova blinked in utter amazement before a grin slowly crawled up her face.  “You girls really have a spot open?” Rainbow clenched her jaw, unwilling to give voice to her outrage, so it left Twilight to give an answer.  The unicorn wrapped Nova’s deck in her magic and brought it over to its owner. “I for one would be glad to have you.  I think you are a prime example of a diamond in the rough.” Rainbow’s thoughts came to a screeching halt and she eyed Twilight with perplexion wrinkling her face.  “She is?” “Of course,” Twilight directed at Rainbow before she returned her attention towards Nova. “How many bat ponies out there have the strength of character to abandon a subculture like that from which they grew up in?” Memories of the last argument she had with her parents threatened to have her eyes tear up. She hastily grabbed the deck and ran over to the nearest console to hide her undoubtedly reddened eyes.  “Thanks, I better get to work. Diamond's probably pissed I’m late as it is.” She hesitated before slotting the cable into her datajack and looked at the other mares. “Um, you’re not going to shoot me for lying about who I am are you?” Twilight shook her head.  “You seem nicer than the real Lightning Dust, and down here, I guess I can’t blame you for wanting extra pay.” Rainbow huffed irritably.  “I don’t know LD personally, only by reputation.  If you can match her skill,never lie to my squad again, and stay on the level, then you have my word I won’t shoot you.” “Um, but you don’t use guns anyway,” Twilight commented. Rainbow rolled her eyes so hard she dragged her head along with them.  “It’s a figure of speech, egghead.” Nova chuckled, if only to force herself to believe Rainbow wasn’t planning on killing her by hoof or spell instead.  “T-thanks.” With that thought on her mind, Nova dove in, leaving her unaware of her physical surroundings. Twilight waited a few moments after Nova jacked in before looking at Rainbow expectantly.  “What do you say, team leader?” Ugh, Twilight’s too much of a bleeding heart.  You are one too. Shaddup, brain. “Yeah, we can keep her on for a trial run.  Who knowns, she might actually be telling the truth in all this. I can at least believe she’s not a Nightborne.  Outside of that though…”  Unknown to both of them, the earth pony knight was not quite dead yet.  His helmet had muffled his blood-choked coughing thus far. He had collapsed under a control panel.  He had a bullet in his right lung, two in his stomach, and one had punctured his femoral artery. His armor had tried to clot it with bio-gel, but the wound was too deep for the gel to be completely effective.   He lay there, largely unmoving, trying to conserve his strength.  The talking mares had gone largely quiet by now, and only the sound of rapid clicks from two cyberdecks dominated the security room beyond the armory door.  He was about to try and locate a grenade, anything to give one last act. But he found it difficult to even move out of his position.  Damn it, damn it! I knew I shouldn’t have listened to that rutting idiot!  I’m not going to die for him or this damn company. I’m going to lay here and wait for rescue.  It’s not like the runners are going to stick around forever. The pain in his leg grew by the second until it bothered him enough to look at it.  The blood that had been trickling out of his arterial cut was now flowing out in a steady stream.  The bio-gel was failing. I’m going to die. He chuckled manically. I’m actually going to die because of that dumbass wanting ‘interrogator experience’.  An audible beep sounded above him.  He shifted his head just enough so he could look up through darkening vision.  The command console was back on. It actually finished rebooting from the EMP! “If I have to die, I’m not going alone!”   The knight used his good back leg to roll over and prop himself up.  He reached the panel easily enough and saw the glowing button next to the ‘standby’ readout.  Even with his vision going black and his legs feeling like lead, he was still able to make out the ‘distress’ command and slapped it with the last of his strength. He finally collapsed, a proud smile on his face as the light faded from his eyes.  At least I get to see you again, Berry Squeeze. A few minutes later, Twilight Sparkle was bandaging up Nova’s back, trying to cover up all the cuts and scratches.  Her whole body ached from channeling such potent magic, but the scholar was pushing herself to be useful. Rainbow Dash was in the hallway collecting everyone’s weapons.  The minotaur had been dragged over to act as a paperweight for the exit door. She had just picked up Rarity’s weapon when her ears twitched at a faint sound from further into the facility.  Freezing, Rainbow gazed out into the well lit hallway to the south. It was faint, but it almost sounded like… Terror froze Rainbow’s heart. A large shape the size of an alicorn didn’t even fully round the corner before Rainbow jerked away from the intersection.  Nary a split second later the wall opposite her cracked and warped before the ribbons of magic even registered to her eyes. She nearly abandoned the guns, and sprinted back inside the security center and began frantically pulling on the bull to remove him from the pressure plate.  “Twiggles! Get over here and help me move him, double time it!” Twilight jumped and dropped a roll of bandages. At seeing how panicked Rainbow was, Twilight used her regular magic to finish removing the bull.  The mechanical hatch started closing, but not before Twilight laid eyes on the robotic alicorn. It opened its mouth to reveal a black crystal ball that latched onto the magic in Twilight’s horn.  The spell itself created a barrier, keeping the hatch open. The very mana in her veins started to heat up and glow brightly enough to be seen from under her skin. Twilight started screaming in agony.  She wildly shook her hooves, trying to fan out the fire her delusional mind was creating. Her horn was glowing hot, and threatened to burst at any moment. Rainbow Dash spotted the black orb and pulled Twilight off to the side, breaking line of sight.  Twilight’s mana quickly calmed down, and the unicorn passed out from sheer overstimulation. With the spell broken, the hatch’s weight slammed it shut.  “That’s not going to stop it forever.” As if to prove her right, the hatch was rocked by two jarring slams, and the sound of protesting metal being ripped into.  The hydraulics of the hatch groaned as the robot tried to force it open.  Rainbow Dash looked around, Twilight was unconscious, and the two deckers were blind to the world around them. She was alone. Her blood pounded in her ears, her throat went dry. Rainbow had to fall back hard on her training to keep from having a panic attack right then and there. Keep it together, you can do this!  You trained alongside them, you know what to do if they get hacked and turn on you in the field. Rainbow’s first instinct was to grab her last remaining EMP grenade, but stopped herself. “Damn it, that’ll brain dump the deckers.  Wait, the deckers!” Rainbow fished out her phone and started texting Rarity. “Diamond, the metal demon is trying to smash into the room!” The text back came lightning quick due to deckers thinking much faster when diving in cyberspace. “How did it activate?  Nevermind, we’ll get to the shutoff command ASAP!” “Got it!”  Rainbow freaked a bit when she heard metal tearing. A small hole was ripped open. A few seconds later, the robot’s right foreleg slid through.  The hoof opened to reveal a nozzle. The hiss of gas being pumped in filled her ears with dread. “Drek!” Having no time to spare, Rainbow weaved a spell sign and launched a fireball at the nozzle.  The air in front of her exploded, tossing her backwards into a desk, toppling the monitor. She groaned in pain, but kept her eyes open enough to see the fire was threatening to engulf the nozzle, so the robot cut the gas, refolded its hoof and withdrew. The robot placed its mouth over the hole to search for any horns it could detonate. Rarity was just barely being covered by the desk, but it was enough for it to latch onto.  Rainbow scrambled to rear up and stand between the orb and Rarity, and took the full force of the mana-burn.  Instead of being able to focus so much on a horn, the burn was spread out along Rainbow’s wings and hooves where her magic concentrated.  Rainbow struggled through the pain of her wings glowing a dull orange, but the fire in her veins was not strong enough to show through her skin.  Sweat glistened and evaporated on her wings as Rainbow flapped them slowly to cool off and keep balanced on two legs. She gave a snarky grin when the pain seemed endurable.  “Not so effective on winged ponies are ya?” The squeal of protesting metal redoubled, and the robot ripped the hole even wider.  A long spindly leg reached out and stepped down on the pressure plate in front of Rainbow.  With shaky, clunking resistance, the door yawned open, allowing the alicorn sized robot to step in at last. Its malkavian grin, still noticeable from opening its jaw wide enough for the crystal ball to keep Rainbow from leaving Rarity’s side.  Its unmoving eyes seemed unhinged to the fear-paralized thestral. Its face shifted up towards Rarity, but Rainbow jumped backwards to keep herself between Rarity and the robot’s attention.   With casual annoyance, the robot’s horn lit up a calm blue.  Magic wrapped around Rainbow and she was thrown clear across the room.  Before even waiting to see Rainbow hit the wall, the robot immediately faced Rarity and locked the unicorn its its gaze.  Rarity was yanked out of cyberspace like a tick. Dazed and in utter agony, she started rolling on the floor as her horn started to light up and burn.   Rainbow sprinted through the air, but she freaked when the robot’s chest panels side open and two turrets popped out aimed at her.  Rainbow dove low to avoid the chugging fire, and tackled Rarity to get her out of sight of the orb. Bullets raked the ground, and severing one of the wires to the cyberdeck.   Rainbow pulled Rarity onto her back and dove for cover behind the minotaur.  The robot answered by having vents open on its legs. It launched itself into the air and came crashing down behind the minotaur, only for Rainbow to roll to the side, but her under-robe was caught in the robot’s hoof. Rainbow’s gaze went straight for the twin turrets, yet they didn’t aim at her.  Instead they retreated back inside its body. Rainbow dumbly watched the robot return to the hallways outside.  She collapsed to the ground feeling like death had brushed her cheek, just to remind her it was always there. Rainbow’s phone buzzed somewhere in her jacket.  She almost didn’t feel like retrieving it, such was her relief, but she couldn’t risk falling asleep. Not when she was the only one left to defend.   She rolled over and found her phone was holding a message from Nova.  Rainbow looked around until she saw the single camera watching over the security center and waved dismissively at it as she texted back.