//------------------------------// // Chapter 20 // Story: The Runners // by DungeonMiner //------------------------------// Bikes roared as the 57 Hellriders swarmed down the 105. The handful of devils, the remnant of the first scouting party as well as a few other reinforcements were completely decimated as they hit the main force of the Hellriders. There were barely even any scraps left of the bikes, leaving only oil spills and blood splatters as any evidence that there was a fight. The metal was cannibalized by the Hellriders, and transformed into bizarre armor for the go-gangers, all of whom had been turned to war. Not long after that, Rarity got her first sign that something was wrong. Someone had tried to hack into Mad Moll’s bike. Protecting them took a little effort on Rarity’s part. She hadn’t thought through the idea of protecting their target from Matrix attack and driving a bike down the road at highway speeds, but so far she managed to keep it safe through her AR interface. Mostly, it helped that the enemy decker was drek at his job and was probably working out of a deck that was five years old, but the fact remained that he knew his way around the matrix enough to try and break the navigation systems. “We have an enemy decker, ladies,” Rarity said over the comm. “Took them long enough,” Web said. “What’s the plan?” Twilight asked. “Keep Moll alive,” Wingmare said. “Well, obviously,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “But how?” “Right now, keep the gangers off her back,” Web said. “We’ll have to keep our eyes open, and adapt as we go.” “Flying by the seat of our pants?” Steel asked. “As much as I hate it,” Web replied. “It’s the best plan we have,” Rarity said with a sigh. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t do something about it. Web, get another elemental out there and send it to scout ahead. Candy, get PeeWee in the sky and check ahead. That’ll cover both our spaces, and gives a good look at what’s ahead.” “You’ve got it!” Candy said, before she pulled her drone free of her handlebars, and let him loose. Web likewise nodded and pulled another water elemental from the puddles around them. The water spider gladly took it’s instructions, before floating away into mist, scouting ahead as asked. “Great, Steel, Wingmare, get up to the front of the pack, you’ll be our point mares. Keep a lookout for anything that looks like a problem.” “Got it!” The pegasus cried, before she pulled her bike into a wheelie, and shot forward, into the pack of screaming gangers that cheered for blood. “Candy takes the left flank, Web the right, Rookie, you and I will stick to the back. Keep in touch over the comms the whole time, alright?” “Roger!” Candy said. “Better plan that what I have,” Web said before she took off to her spot. “Alright, Rookie, your job is to make sure I don’t crash if I have to stop a matrix attack.” “Oh, is that all?” Twilight asked with a smirk. As though to punctuate the thought, Web’s voice cut in over the comm. “Well it looks like you made a good call, Gem. We have contacts on the right side.” “How many?” “Just three, but it looks like one of them has a rocket launcher.” “What?!” “Hang on,” Web said before going silent for a while, a moment later an explosion rocked the next street down. “There we go, taken care of.” “What was that?” Rarity asked. “A Civilization Elemental tripping the bike up,” Web replied. “It looks like these guys are not ready to combat a mage.” “Well, they do say geek the mage first, right?” Twilight asked with a grim smirk. “Good to know you’re paying attention, Rookie,” Steel said. “We have ponies crashing the party over here!” Candy said before her side of the pack began opening up with gunfire, and explosions. “Web, what does your elemental see?” Rarity asked as a new warning of an intrusion popped up on her AR interface. “She sees a large number of ponies heading this way. She can’t see what bikes or weapons they have, but they’re all very angry.” “Sounds like they’re coming to us,” Rarity said, even as her eyes shot across her AR keyboard, trying to activate her defense programs while fumbling for her autopilot function. “Candy, are you able to hold the flank?” “So far so good!” the rigger replied, no doubt tossing grenades the whole time. “Keep us posted,” Rarity ordered. “We ain’t seen nothing on our end, yet. It looks like they ain’t meet us head-on,” Steel reported. “I have more contacts on the right,” Web said before the reports of her Harmony Roc could be heard. Rarity still fumbled for the autopilot, searching for it while her eyes still tried glancing between her interface and the road, splitting her attention three ways. “Just keep our eyes peeled, girls! I’m a little busy at the mom—” Her handlebars were suddenly alive with the ring of telekinesis, and Gem had just enough time to look over and see Twilight’s horn ablaze as she held her steady. “Thank you, dear!” she said, before she got both hooves onto her deck, repelling the intruder with ease now that she could focus. Then the sound of rumbling engines sounded behind them. Glancing back, Rarity said something very unladylike and spoke into her comm. “We have contacts behind!” Twilight groaned, before turning to her fellow unicorn. “Let me know when you can drive!” “In just a second,” she replied before small arms fire began to thunder behind them. “Should I drop back?” Steel asked. “What’s it look like up there?” Gem asked. “Still nothing,” she replied. “Then come bac—” Rarity began, only for Twilight to cut her off. “No, I’ve got it!” Twilight said. “Keep the VIP secure until we can take out the Devils because all I’m doing is waiting on Gem.” The moment she finished, Rarity grabbed the handlebars of her bike, having just finished rebuffing the enemy decker for now. “Go!” A spell began to sheathe Twilight’s horn in red light before she brought it down hard. The spell erupted when it hit the asphalt, splashing out in a tidal wave of fire. It reached up, easily coming up to three stories in height, and towered over the bikes behind them. The panicked cries of the go-gangers could barely be heard over the thundering of engines and the roaring of the fire. Whatever happened to their tail is unknown, all they saw in their place was melted asphalt and burning concrete. “The frag was that?” Wingmare yelled. “What? The wall of fire?” Twilight asked with a pant, somewhat drained by the spell. “Wall of fire? Rookie, I’ve seen a wall of fire spell, that was a freakin’ tsunami! Drek, I thought my mirror had something wrong with it, at first!” “Heck, I think the whole gang just saw that go down,” Steel said. “I hope not,” Twilight muttered. “I don’t need anypony else hunting me down tonight.” “Tell me about it,” Web said. “Stay focused, girls,” Gem said, “Rookie just got opened up an escape route if things get nasty, but we need to make sure that Moll gets to live long enough to do her thing.” “Speaking of,” Wingmare said. “Closing in on the 105 fast.” “Alright, Candy, what’s it like on your side?” “More very angry ponies!” she replied as her grenade launcher thumped over the channel. “It’s not looking—ow! Frag!” “Candy?” “Somepony just shot me!” she yelled, before another thump sounded, followed by yet another explosion. “That was so mean!” “Candy, focus.” “PeeWee sees a large force trying to come around, it looks like they were going to join the ponies that Rookie fried.” “Yeah, we’re heading straight into a trap,” Steel said, as though stating that the sky was blue. “Yeah, it’s not looking good. Steel, Wingmare, pull back, I’ll—” Another warning on her AR display showed up. “Frag! Fragging idiot doesn’t know when to quit! Sorry, ladies, I’ll need to take this one but at least I won’t need to…” She stopped for a moment, and realized the lethal mistake she nearly just made. Her GPS was wrong. It was telling her to make a left hand turn into the nearest building, and if she had switched to the autopilot, that’s exactly what it would have done. That was bad enough, but it also meant somehow, the little snot on the other side of the matrix had gotten through her defenses. That just would not stand. “Rookie! My GPS is compromised, I need you to drive for me!” Twilight groaned in response but grabbed her handlebars anyway. “How the frag did they get through to your GPS?” “How’d they get through?” Rarity repeated to herself, before speaking into her comm. “Web, what’s on your side?” “A lot of ponies with guns, but it’s nothing I can’t—” the roar of fire rushed past the mic on her comm. “Well, great,” Web finished in a deadpan. “They hired a mage, too.” Rarity tapped away at her AR keyboard. “Well, you know the rule, geek him first.” “Roger!” she yelled back before lightning thundered down a side-street. “You’re also in charge for now, I’ve got to work on these programs!” Rarity said, as she turned her focus to staying on her bike and working on getting her bike back under her control. Her eyes shot across her interface, activating keys as she worked on both taking the enemy decker down, and run diagnostics to try and figure out where he broke through. As she repelled the decker again, her eyes began scanning the diagnostics. The system seemed solid, there were no holes in her defenses, so how on earth did— She blinked, and doubled checked the hardware. That...that didn’t look right. She checked again, reading down the list before her eyes went wide. Dropping her AR interface, she reached down into the tight spaces of the bike and felt around. She reached, before her hoof grabbed onto a hard, plastic piece, which bent under the softest push. A snap sounded, and her GPS flashed as it corrected, leaving Rarity with a small casing with a small circuit board in it. “The Hellriders have a mole, girls!” Rarity said. “What?” Wingmare asked. “Our bikes are sabotaged. Someone’s planted hardware overrides on the bikes.” “Drek, this was a setup!” Web growled. “Oh, it’s not so bad, I have his override, and I’m about to go on the offensive,” Rarity said with a smile. “Rookie, go ahead and fry anyone coming behind us. I’ll take care of myself now.” “It gave me a chance to rest a bit. So I’m ready to go.” “Don’t go too hard Rookie,” Web warned. “Says the mare that’s bringing down a manastorm over there.” “Hey, I have seniority.” Rarity rolled her eyes at the two, before she hit her autopilot and dove back into AR. Rarity smiled as she broke in and hitch-hiked on to the device’s signal, riding back to the other decker. She hit his deck, and smiled, as she began to slowly take ownership of the device. The poor decker on the other side was too caught up in trying to break Rarity’s own defenses to notice what was happening until it was too late. She shut down all user privileges, leaving the decker unable to eject from his deck without someone watching him to pull the plug. The stallion was now trapped in the matrix, with all of his tools beyond simple browsing taken from him. She turned him into little more than a civilian, albeit one trapped in the Matrix until his buddies pulled him out, but he was safe and wasn’t able to do much to anypony else. Turning her attention away from her AR screen, and back into meatspace, Rarity cried. “Decker down!” “Mage down!” Web replied over the comm as a huge spider made from animals and vermin came down on the right flank, throwing gangers aside as it tossed them about and over its story-tall hide. Twilight released another tidal wave of fire, not as large as the first, but certainly big enough to send the gangers scattering. With fewer and fewer flanks to deal with, the Hellriders broke on those Road Devils that remained like water crashing on rock. The Devils broke hard, crashing apart as their master plan went awry, and their aces simply turned up short. After all, it’s one thing to bring Runners to a showdown, it’s another to bring Runners that have been hitting some of the biggest corps in the world. <><><|><><> The Hellriders nearly destroyed the Road Devils outright, and, if it weren’t for the fact that they retreated into the neighboring buildings, it might have been a one-sided slaughter. However, as the fighting shifted to close quarters, things changed massively. Fighting them on their own turf proved to be a mistake, and scores of go gangers fell on both sides for it. Through the next few hours, as the moon began to rise, the two gangs made sure each paid heavily in blood in the tight corridors of nearly blown out buildings. Corpses filled rooms, many blown to shredded meat by shotguns and automatic fire, and blood pooled and mingled wherever somepony stepped. The greatest, yet most costly maneuver of the night was when Mad Moll led a heroic charge down a blown-out building, lead to her death, as well as the death of several other gang members. Despite her death, however, the Hellriders destroyed the Devils, to the stallion, as far as the Hellriders could tell. More importantly, as far as Rarity and her team was concerned, along with the Belgrades, the last “oorah” was a success. Yes, Wingmare still poured out a drink for the old mare at the Final Regret, but that only really got Sweetie Belle to complain about her freshly-mopped floors. Still, as the girls settled down that morning after a blood-filled all-nighter, they could help but talk about their last run. “Tell ya what, though, I did enjoy the rides,” Steel said. “I might grab myself a new bike once we retire. Assuming Spike pays me enough, that is.” “I wouldn’t worry too much,” Twilight said. “Spike’s a pretty fair boss.” “Sure he is,” Wingmare muttered. “Look, I get where you’re coming from, but he’s really not a bad guy. He’s just tough sometimes because he’s a, you know, dragon.” “Never make a deal with one if you know what’s good for you,” Rarity mumbled into her glass. Candy smiled. “Unless you’re us, because then you’ll make it work.” “Did we though?” Web asked. “More importantly, did you see Rookie’s wall of fire and light?” Wingmare asked. “All of my mirrors just turned red, so red I thought something got on them or something.” “Yeah! That was great!” Candy said excitedly. “I didn’t see all of it, but I did see a whole lot of fire!” “How did you pull it off? A wall of fire spell doesn’t normally work that way,” Web asked. “Honestly? I’m not sure. The best I can figure is that I was trying to make a wall spell, but instead of connecting it to a physical location, there might be a chance I tied to the bike. Still have no idea how I did that, but that’s my leading theory. I’m also fairly certain I was over a leyline when I cast it, and—” “Alright, enough egghead talk, it’s distracting from how cool you were,” Wingmare said. “Now you’re just being rude,” Steel said. “Hey, I’m just telling her how cool she was,” Wingmare said, seemingly oblivious to the back-handed compliment. “Seriously, I can’t get over that spell.” Rarity sighed a smiled. “Now that you mention it, actually, I think it’s time we address a slightly-overdue issue.” This got everyone’s attention, and they all set their drinks aside. Rarity smiled as she looked around the table, enjoying the attention. “Rookie, the time has finally come. As someone who has hit three megacorps, as well as run on a good number of jobs with us, the name you have been given no longer reflective of your skills or knowledge.” Twilight blinked. “As a result, we are going to perform two incredibly important rituals. The first, the choosing of your new street name. The second is, well…” Rarity said, trailing off for a moment,” the second is what we would like to call the initiation.” Wingmare, Candy, Steel, and Web all immediately perked, and Twilight’s stomach dropped an inch. “What’s initiation?” she asked. “Don’t worry about it!” Wingmare said with a cheer that immediately had Twilight worrying. “Hey, Sweetie! We need a lot more drinks over here! It’s the special!” “The thing you need to worry about right now,” Rarity said, demanding her attention once more, “is your street name.” “Um, well, you know, Rookie’s kind of grown on me,” She said, as Sweetie Belle returned with a tray filled with drinks, followed by another server with yet more. “I, uh...I kind of like it. This isn’t going to be a drink competition or anything is it?” “Let’s focus, dear,” Rarity said. “First, let’s think of something that works well with what we see about you, any defining features. With your connection to your past life being as visible as it is, we’ll skip that, as even the most obscure parts could be guessed and researched by somepony dedicated enough.” Wingmare slid her a drink. “Um, well, I guess I’m purple?” Twilight put forward, eyeing her drink warily. It seemed like a normal, cheap, synthol beer, but the way the others were watching made her nervous. Maybe the paranoia was rubbing off on her. “No, no, that’s not enough. Not unless we want to name you orchid or somesuch,” Rarity said. “Let’s be fair,” Steel said. “I’m half made a’ metal, it ain’t a surprise that I picked Steel.” “What about her role?” Web asked. “She definitely been the artillery lately.” “I thought my coat was lilac?” Twilight said. “It’s true!” Candy said, “but explosions are still my thing!” “What about Sparky?” Wingmare asked. “That’s a little too close to my last name, isn’t it?” Twilight asked, as Wingmare slid another drink her way, even as the servers brought two more trays. “It is, actually, we’ll have to try something else,” Rarity said. “How about something else?” “Hey, that’s a lot of drinks, isn’t it?” “Ooh! Ooh!” Candy said, before raising her hoof excitedly. “Yes, Candy?” Rarity asked. “What about Floodlight?” “Why floodlight?” Web asked. “Because imagine, she runs up, hits you with a spell, and you get blinded, because it’s like a floodlight shining in your eyes.” The others stared at her for a long moment. “I mean...It kind of works,” Steel said. “I mean, she did flood my bike mirrors with firelight,” Wingmare said. “I don’t know, I’m not sold on it,” Web said. “I’d prefer calling her Rookie to Floodlight.” She then slid another drink in front of Twilight. “Why are you giving me so many drinks?” “Ooh! Flashbang!” Wingmare suggested. “Then we’d confuse her for actual flashbangs.” Candy pointed out. “Flashpoint?” Web suggested. “That has promise,” Rarity agreed. “Flashpoint does have a certain ring to it,” Steel agreed. “What do you say, Rookie?” Wingmare asked. Twilight looked around the table, at the five mares who were all staring at her expectantly. That, and the sea of alcoholic drinks that covered the table. “If I say yes will you tell me why you’re all trying to get me drunk?” Steel smiled. “Nope.” Twilight sighed. “Flashpoint’s fine.” The girls cheered before rarity raised a glass. “To Fashpoint!” “Flashpoint!” the girls cried and cheered, clinking their glasses together before drinking. Twilight sighed and did the same.