Lyra started running, trying to catch up to Bon Bon. Misty pumped her wheels, keeping up easily, showing that she had indeed trained her body even while wheelchair-bound.
They ran through the hideout, hearing the noises of the other ponies looking for them growing louder. As she ran, Lyra caught sight of a couple old, abandoned sandwiches on plates.
“Sorry about the mess. Never got the chance to clean up,” Misty said with a grin.
“Even now you’re cracking jokes,” Bon Bon grumbled as she kicked one back.
“Don’t you ever speak normally?” Misty retorted. “You're always groaning and grumbling. And complaining! Right, Lyra?”
Lyra panted, unable to answer.
Bon Bon shook her head and kept running.
A pony burst from the next hallway. Without even breaking stride, Bon Bon tackled him, and knocked him out with a quick blow to the head from her hoof before rolling up and continuing running.
The noises grew louder. Shouts started to solidify into recognizable words.
“They're flooding this place,” Misty warned.
“I know. We must have a ton of bits on our heads.” She grinned. “So maybe it’s not griffons after us, after all.”
“Whoever it is, this is the end of the line,” Misty said.
“Says you.”
Misty chuckled wryly. “Oh, shut up. I won't make it and we all know it. But there is one thing I could do.”
Bon Bon nearly stumbled. “You wouldn’t,” she gasped, her expression unsure for the first time.
“I would,” Misty insisted. “Go!”
Bon Bon hesitated.
“Go!” Misty repeated. “I’m not getting out of this alive! You and I both know I can’t make it up those stairs in time. Figure out who killed our team and make them pay! You can't do that if you're dead!”
Bon Bon nodded tightly, then turned to Lyra. “Come on,” she said, turning down another hallway.
“What?” Lyra skidded to a stop, looking at the two former agents going different ways.
“We're getting out of here.”
“But Misty-”
“We're leaving!” Bon Bon darted back, grabbed her foreleg, and dragged her away.
Lyra looked back to see Misty wheeling like a mad mare the opposite direction,
They went around through other rooms, tearing past destroyed chairs and tables and running over books and spread pages. Knowledge and history lost to time disappeared behind them. She could hear the other ponies looking for them, calling out.
“Bon Bon?”
“Stay down and keep running!”
Misty wheeled her way down the hallway. She knew her mission, and she would not fail. Lyra and Bon Bon depended on her.
Her wheelchair squeaked under the strain she was putting on it. She kept her ears pricked, knowing that this noise would inevitably give her away.
Sure enough, a mercenary poked his head in, followed by another. He gleefully reached for her, attempting to tackle her out of her chair.
In one move, she hit the brakes on her opposite side with one hoof, pulled the hidden blade out of her wheelchair with her other hoof, and eviscerated him, just barely dodging his falling body. The second pony looked back to call for backup, and she threw the blade. It embedded itself in her throat, making her drop instantly, choking on her own blood.
Thrilled at her success but now painfully aware that she was unarmed, Misty Evening continued down the hallway as quickly as she could.
Behind her, another paused. He saw the bodies and simply followed the trail.
It wasn’t long before he found her. The glint of her wheelchair shone out in the darkness. He smirked and started running after her.
Hearing him running behind her, Misty waited, and then quickly dug her right hoof into the wheel, sending her careening around a corner (and heating up her horseshoe something awful). But she was going somewhere special, and wasn't about to be stopped.
“Where are they?” the leader demanded. “She’s just one agent! The unicorn isn’t even on the list and the other is a cripple!” He cut off the nearest mercenary’s attempted explanation. “I don’t want apologies; I want results!” Determined to get those results (and the payoff) himself, he moved down the hallway, weapon raised. He raced through the underground base.
And then a flash of movement caught his eye. He turned and saw the wheelchair disappear. He smirked and gave chase. “Come back here!” he ordered.
Deciding to do the exact opposite of that, Misty pumped harder.
Misty was good at moving in her wheelchair, but she was no match for a trained hunter. He launched himself in the air and tackled her, sending wheelchair and former occupant spinning on the ground.
Down but not out, Misty army-crawled across the floor, dragging her mangled legs behind her by her elbows.
He stopped her by stomping on her tail, pinning it in place and making her cry out. Now that she was trapped, he dropped on her, forcing the air from her lungs. He smirked as he straddled her and leaned down, whispering in her ear. “Not so smart, are you? Where's Sweetie Drops?”
“Eat horseapples,” Misty Evening groaned, painfully stretching out her forelegs.
He was about to help ‘jog her memory’, but then he noticed that out of her hooves had rolled four long, thick white tubes. They looked oddly familiar.
Wait. He squinted. He did know what they were. Those were boron safety rods. Like the kind used to control magical generator reactions. They were pretty powerful; one medium-length rod could control a pretty massive generator. And while these weren't very big, she did have four of them, which meant…
A triumphant, devious smile crossed her face even as a look of horror crossed his.
He didn't even have time to scream before the chain reaction went critical.
An explosion rocked the whole casino, and especially the rusty metal staircase. Lyra shrieked and grabbed onto Bon Bon tightly as they swayed a good two meters to each side.
“Come on!” Bon Bon said, pulling Lyra along. “We’ve gotta get out of here!”
“But Misty…?”
“She’s dead,” Bon Bon said flatly. “Along with all the ponies that went down there.”
“What?” Lyra gasped.
“They went boom, Lyra!” Bon Bon shouted. “Occupational hazard of trying to kill an agent of SEMHA!”
Lyra nearly stumbled. “What do we do now?”
“Now, we keep moving. Keep running. We’re going new places.”
“Like what?”
“Places that we didn’t use as SEMHA. Somepony knew about this place, so I have to assume somepony knows everything. We can't go anywhere I know or talk with any of my contacts. We’re literally flying blind, Lyra. But I am not ending up dead, and neither are you. Come on.”
Lyra’s tail flicked nervously. She swallowed back tears as she quickly followed Bon Bon up the stairs. This was most definitely not how she’d expected today to go.