"No one get's hurt as long as no one tries to!" Cicada barked, "unfortunately. . ."
While he and Saint kept up with crowd control, the other three were still hacking into the mainframe of Manehattan's stock exchange record system. It was taking a bit longer than they thought, given they were not really ones to do things "technically". Clarity, however, was well on his way to figuring it out.
"Geez, how long does it take to get into the M-SERS?" Nightlight whined. Fury scoffed in response.
"I could have just broken it," she muttered.
"It's imperative that we reach all of the backups," Clarity pointed out, "their systems are more advanced in electronic technology than the rest of Equestria, it's like figuring out a different kind of magic but. . ."
All of the screens in the building went to blue, white text spouting out diagnostics on a system failure before powering down.
". . .just as simple to figure out if you put your mind to it," Clarity finished, smiling, "Fury, Saint, and Cicada, take a hostage. Nightlight, you keep watch on the cameras and I will speak to the ponies."
The team nodded in agreement, doing as Clarity said. While they all shared in common the attribute of having a very difficult time obeying authority, the latter four showed a great respect for Clarity. He was never too harsh, and never too easy, he knew what the plan was and knew how to complete the task at hoof. If he didn't, he figured it out. For them, he might have had the work ethic of a good guy, but he was far from it.
"Equines of Manehattan, if you will allot me your attention for just a moment," Clarity said, a few despaired shouts and fearful whimpers sounding as hostages were taken, "what we do today, we do for your sake! This is why not one of you have been harmed, nor killed. We, Stalker 54, under the authority of King Sombra, have crashed an economy built on lies and for the rich and royal! That wealth shall be delivered back to you, soon, with the leadership of a new King! The age of princesses has fallen, their dynasty has broken apart, and we are here to usher in the next great age of Equestria! So, do not fear! Be thankful! For the graciousness of your King has given you hope!"
The equines looked around, confused at first but beginning to accept his message. Others still vehemently disagreed, yet remained silent. Nightlight leaned into Clarity's ear with a whisper.
"Did you actually mean any of that?" she asked. Clarity chuckled.
"No, not a bit," he said quietly, "I'm just getting paid to say it."
"Mmm, I like a focused stallion~" Nightlight said.
"And I liked a focused mare," Clarity replied, "speaking of, weren't you supposed to be focused on the door in which there are two large humans and a dragon?"
"Fuck."
Sure enough, DIO, Jonathan, and Spike stood at the entrance, all ready to fight. The equines stood back in awe at the return of the 'Vampire of the Summer's Sun'. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash stayed atop the roof, as they were looking down the entire time and keeping communication with the other three. Thanks to Spike's new position as an Ambassador, they were allowed particular Royal Guard technologies to communicate effectively over such a distance.
"That's enough!" Jonathan spoke up, "There will be no tyranny in this land so long as we are here."
"There already was, shithead!" Cicada shouted with a howling laughter, before his head was suddenly cut clean off. There was a gasp among the crowd, as the other members with the exception of Saint looking in despair to their now-certainly-deceased team member. The hostage ran away while the other two were released as the team realized that hostages weren't going to help them at all.
"C-cicada?" Clarity mumbled, his voice breaking at the sudden attack.
"I hated him. . .I didn't hate him that much though. . ." Nightlight said quietly. Fury only stared back at DIO with a rage-filled expression.
"Allow me to reiterate," DIO said, stepping forward as The World manifested clearly behind him, "you are not welcome, and I have no reason to keep you alive. It is better that you leave now, and never come back."
Fury let out a shout of rage as she darted forward, being met with The World's fist knocking her through the machines they were hacking into prior. Clarity and Nightlight jumped out of the way, before turning to make sure that she was still alive. Her breathing was shallow, and her ribcage was more than likely shattered from the sternum, but she was going to make it. Clarity wasn't going to accept another death on his team.
"Damnit, fall back! I'll deal with this myself," Clarity shouted as the other two stayed behind. Saint slowly made his way to the two, as if he felt no sense of threat. Turning towards his enemies, Clarity lit his horn as a large circle appeared on the ground below him. "Your existence is nigh, your hearts have died, your shadow is great, your feeling is hate! Rise and heed my call, shadows! Destroy my enemies!"
From the circle appeared several creatures that resembled equines who were long dead and forgotten. They smelled of waste, appearing to be rotted yet filled with a supernatural strength. Clarity showed no sign of weakness, and until those creatures were gone and out of the way, DIO did not want to risk using his timestop like last time and running out of energy. He also knew quite well that drinking from these creatures would do nothing for him, as they were already dead.
The shadows turned towards DIO, all running forward at him with sharp, rotted teeth exposed and snarling. Jonathan tapped DIO on the shoulder, giving a polite smile. DIO smirked, nodding to him in response as he stepped back and allowed Jonathan to have the spotlight. DIO was sure that he wanted to get in on the fighting as well after so many decades of nothingness. As the creatures made their way closer, an aura of energy surrounded Jonathan. DIO expected him to solely use Hamon, but much to his surprise, something else appeared to be suddenly wrapped around him.
"Hermit Purple," Jonathan said quietly, before raising his voice, "And Hamon!"
DIO watched in awe, like a proud brother, as the all-too-familiar Stand was almost perfectly awakened by Jonathan, wrapping around the shadows and taking them out by the dozens. While it held them off, it still wasn't enough to push forward. DIO shook himself out of the daze and turned to Spike.
"You need to go around, deal with their lackeys. I will take on the leader myself," he said. Spike gave a quick salute before spreading his wings and cutting a sharp turn around the building to circumvent the shadows. Taking out a sword given to him by the Royal Guard, he swung in the direction of the three members still alive.
"It's too early," Saint said quietly. Nightlight looked over in confusion.
"Too early? We're about to die!" she screamed, before the clashing of a sword was heard, loudly ringing across the building's large interior.
Spike looked to see that his blade struck the sturdy scales of a dragon, the same one that DIO had punched earlier. Her wounds, however, seemed to have healed. Spike chuckled nervously.
"Bad first impression, right?" he said with a cautious smile. Fury only huffed, sending a punch back to Spike's chest.
"I'll take the dragon, you guys go after the vampire," Fury said, crackling her knuckles. One benefit to being knocked down so fast was having enough energy to heal herself. Old arcane magic, now considered primarily illegal in Equestria, gave Fury an edge in battle.
Spike got up, coughing a bit as he drew his sword once more. It had been a long time since he had such a potentially invigorating fight. Before he could fully recollect, Fury was already dashing towards him at full force. Spike quickly moved out of the way, while Fury's fist instead broke through the cement wall of the building. Spike observed the twisted reinforcing bars of metal, realizing that this might not be all that easy. He darted back again, feeling a current of wind from another punch, before swinging his sword at her face.
She bit the blade, breaking it in her mouth and spitting it out. Spike admittedly found this attractive in a very strange way, dropping his sword and holding out his fists. Fury threw a punch, Spike caught it, feeling his feet burrow into the ground from the sheer force. In return, Spike also threw a punch, Fury caught it, feeling her feet burrow into the ground from the sheer force. At that moment, they knew they were at a match, staring at each other for just a moment.
"Wow, destiny's a bitch, huh?" Spike said with a laugh, Fury smiled.
"So is nature," she said, throwing her knee into his groin.
DIO began to approach Clarity from the side, before Saint landed in the way. DIO threw a punch in his direction, before stopping and withdrawing very suddenly.
"You're a Stand User," DIO observed, taking a moment to study the equine, "yet you've done the least in this battle. Why is that?"
"It's too early." Saint repeated. DIO quirked a brow in confusion.
"Well, I suppose I will have to make you use your stand," DIO said, before throwing The World at Saint. Saint simply jumped out of the way, though DIO could catch a glimpse of the stand assisting him. It wasn't enough to identify anything, but DIO continued, throwing punch after punch as they were all dodged. He paused, noting that no offensive measures were being taken by Saint. "If you will not fight now, I will have no choice but to kill you all in stopped time."
Saint looked up for the first time, revealing a single blue eye. Something about it made DIO uncomfortable.
"Then I suppose I have no choice, either." Saint looked back at Clarity.
"I can't hold him much longer, Saint, we need to go!" Clarity shouted, his nose beginning to bleed. Saint looked back.
"Blind them!"
Before DIO could stop time, and before any of them could respond, a bright light blinded every other creature in the room. With ringing ears, and nothing but white in their eyesight, there was no telling of their whereabouts. Yet, instead of killing anyone, they had simply. . .vanished.
As the effect wore off, DIO walked up to where Clarity was standing, seeing nothing but a large banner of Sombra, with no trace of the others. Jonathan stepped up to DIO, a bit exhausted, while Spike slowly crawled forward.
"Spike, are you alright?" DIO asked. Spike only whimpered in response, before slowly replying.
"She. . .hit. . .my. . ."
"Understood," DIO said, speaking quickly before Spike could finish the sentence as he saw Dash and Fluttershy flying through the entrance and up to them.
"What happened? Everything in there went white!" Dash exclaimed, before looking at Spike, "Oh, but I saw that part. Euhh."
"T h a n k s . . ." Spike whispered, having just enough strength to make it sound sarcastic.
"A blinding spell, and then they vanished," DIO said, "it was before I could use my timestop."
"What do we do with the. . .bug. . .thing?" Jonathan asked, pointing to the now-deceased Cicada. He seemed to be wearing a thick vest, filled with loads of demolition equipment. As they all turned, they heard a faint sound.
Beep.
"Is that. . .a beeping noise?" Dash asked. Upon further investigation, not only was there a plethora of explosives, but some of them had blinking lights as well. DIO turned to Dash with widened eyes.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
"RUN!" DIO shouted.
Beepbeepbeepbeepbee---
"THE WORLD!"
BWOWOWOWOWTiktiktiktik. . .tik. . .
DIO picked up the body, using The World, to throw it out of the entrance and into a nearby pond. As time resumed, the body exploded into a million pieces, being mostly consumed by fire and wholly submerged underwater. With a sigh, he turned back to the group.
"So they're the type that need to have the last word," DIO surmised, "that makes sense."
DIO looked around at the large crowd of equines, who were now silent. It seemed that none of them knew what to think, still pondering what Clarity had said. One thing seemed to stick out like a sore thumb, though. The 'bad-guys' kept their promise, and nobody was killed. DIO on the other hand, was the only one to kill. After some thought, DIO himself had realized this, and urged the others to leave as there was nothing else they could do. The records were crashed, the exchanges were stopped, and Manehattan had already began to succumb to the soothing words of Clarity.
DIO was beginning to wonder if they were fighting a losing battle.