//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Warehouse Contract // Story: Bounty Hunters // by Jasper77W //------------------------------// Shining Armor thumped his head against the wooden desk, paperwork floating around him in the air. "Problem with the coffee, sir?" his assistant asked. "No. Just freakin tired of all this investigating. My brain hurts. Why do I have to track down these killers? I'm the captain of the royal guard by Celestia’s multicolored beard! Not some private investigator!" he thumped his head against the desk again, this time spilling some coffee from the white mug. His assistant quickly rushed over to clean it up. "Royal duties. We don't have any private investigators... And in fact, we don't have any investigators at all. You're the closest thing to police." "Yeah, but ain't these ponies killing the bad guys? Why catch them if they're doing good?" "It is your royal duty to protect the ponies and residents of Equestria. As earlier investigations confirmed they are assassins, they could go after anyone." Shining Armor scowled. A possibility, but one for some reason he finds highly unlikely at this current moment in time. "Sir? What do we do now?" "What do you mean?" Shining Armor asked sleepily. "We have a massacre on our hooves, with most of the bodies completely unidentifiable- and you're asking me what I mean? What do you think I mean?" Shining Armor scowled again. Screw you Celestia, he thought; sending me an 'assistant'. She was called an assistant, but really was here to keep an eye on him for the princess. "We go to the freakin' crime scene." he said, secretly taking revenge. "You sure?" his assistant asked, raising an eyebrow and clearly afraid to see all the body parts and blood in real life. "Don't be a filly." he said, pulling on a jacket because it was raining again and walked out the door. * "New client." Octavia said, her grey face tinted blue by the computer screen in front of her. "Oh?" Rainbow said after a pop as she opened a can of coke. "Wants to meet us in central Manehatten. Got the contact details here, but no address. Whoever it is, they're keeping this quite the secret. Very possibly not police." Octavia said. Cause ‘police’ are stupid. "Head over anyways." Rainbow poured half the can down her throat, wiped her mouth with an arm and continued: "See what they got." "I know what they got." Octavia smiled. "What?" "Thirty thousand Equestrian credits. One target." Octavia was grinning now. "Only one?" Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "They obviously want that pony dead real bad." "They don't want her dead... They want her tranquilized." "Easy." Octavia nodded slowly. "Let's go to central Manehatten first. Call these guys, then meet up. But just to be safe, you're staying in the car, just in case I need back up in there. You know, since we're dealing with ponies we don't even know. Might get us killed if I deny the contract, so this could be quite dangerous." Octavia considered that for a moment. "One question." "Mmm-hmmm?" "Why do I always stay in the car?" Rainbow sighed. "So I can get killed if things go wrong and you'll be fine." she said, then added in her mind: but mainly cause I get all the fun if all hell does break loose. "You're so nice." Octavia faked a sob and pretended to wipe a tear from her face. "Yeah, yeah." Rainbow said, fetching her hat from the coffee table. They had bought a place here in Manehatten too, mainly because a lot of their contractors were here. Now that they think of it, they really are more hired assassins than bounty hunters... But the way Rainbow thinks of it, she just says to herself: we hunt for bounties- and that was usually the end of the story. They had worked with the royal guards in some occasions, but only when they needed the help. Usually they just accept any contract that involves eliminating a dangerous criminal, no matter who hires them. Could be a rival gang, but they really don't care. They had an excellent reputation in the underworld, getting the job done every single time- overdone on occasions like the last one. "I like my customers satisfied, not angry." Rainbow had said. They were excellent assassins or bounty hunters, but house cleaning just wasn't their thing- even now they still couldn't figure out how they tore the cushions on the sofa. But it annoyed them, because the fluff inside would float everywhere if they don't sit down on it carefully. They bought another sofa, but within days it ended up just like the old one. From then on they decided, despite having a lot of money; to never bother buying new furniture, so now everything looked old, damp, and generally uncomfortable. They called it home though, and since there were no guests, it really didn't matter to them. They didn't stay here most of the time anyway- usually they'd be traveling all over Equestria and renting fancy hotel rooms should the local area have any. Rainbow crushed the coke can, her mind drifting somewhere else. she suddenly noticed she couldn't compress the can anymore, and looked down to find a comically small metal disk in her hooves. Casting it away and pulling on her coat, she opened the door, looking up at the sky. That's what she hated about Manehatten. Seems to always rain. * The car ride was long, uneventful and completely unenjoyable. She would've flown faster, but there was nothing to gain by leaving Octavia behind, plus the rain would just slice through her if she went at sonic speed. It was five in the afternoon, and rush hour traffic was giving her headaches, even though she wasn't the one driving. "We're late." she announced. "We can't be late. They didn't give us a time." Octavia said. "We're late." Rainbow repeated. "Because it's past the time I set for us to get there." Octavia scowled, wondering how she survived without one thought of suicide throughout the years with Rainbow Dash. Maybe them having to rely on each other in missions was the cause. Or maybe because she had other ponies to kill other than herself or Rainbow. Finally, the cars ahead of them started inching forward. But almost seconds after they started moving, the red lights came back on and they stopped again. Rainbow growled. After thirty more minutes stuck in almost the same spot, they saw what blocked the road. "Don't you just hate it when some idiot rams a truck into some random car and causes a giant traffic jam that gets us late?" Rainbow said angrily. "Mmm." Octavia didn't have much to say to that. Rainbow Dash had changed a lot from what she thought she knew about her. That is, before they went into this line of business. She seemed to be a happy, lazy pegasus that actually had a dream of joining the wonderbolts. But ever since an incident she never spoke of, she seemingly changed to a grim, angry, dreamless and frustrated pony. Sometimes Octavia feels guilty about not asking her anything, but she was certain she wouldn't want to find out what happened in this young pegasus's life enough to change its course. Although, she was still a show-off. And Octavia didn't think anything would ever change that. "At least the rain stopped." she said. "Yeah..." Rainbow said. "Good job, weather team. Just in time to clear the skies." They pulled up next to an empty street, having spotted a public telephone. Rainbow Dash shrugged on her coat that she left to dry in the back seat, shuddering at the damp fabric. Keeping a hoof in her pocket and on the piece of paper with the number of their contractor, she approached the public phone which stood lonelily in the street, covered in moss. There was a long beep after she had dialed in the number, but eventually someone picked up. "I thought you'd be interested." an unusually deep voice said, clearly the doing of a voice synthesizer. "How do you know that I didn't get the wrong number?" but even as Rainbow asked this, she could feel the piercing eyes of a sniper staring into her back, probably with a rifle centered in on her heart. "Security is key." the voice said. "So, you are interested in the job?" "Yes. I'd like to find out what this is about- from what I saw in your message, you have some money that I don't need at all but desperately want." "Yes. Indeed. I assume you have a pen and paper?" "Your assumption is correct." Rainbow said, pulling out an oddly thin pen from her inner-jacket pocket. She turned the piece of paper with the number on it over. "504 Hollow Street. It's a warehouse. I'll be inside." There was the noise of scribbling, then Rainbow tucked both pen and paper away. "You better not scam me." she said, and hung up. Still aware of the sniper somewhere in a building, she hopped into the black car, slamming the door shut. "You got it?" Octavia asked. "Yup." Rainbow said, taking out the piece of paper. "504 Hollow Street..." Octavia muttered as she punched that into the GPS. "Not too far away. Just have to pass through the damn traffic again." Rainbow groaned. * Shining Armor was quite pleased with himself when his assistant went to spew in the gardens after seeing the crime scene. Despite the fact that he didn't quite like the place either, it was his 'royal duty' to be here. "These cuts are pretty clean..." a doctor said. "Probably the doing of a large broad blade, since thinner ones would probably veer off course. A big blade will keep the cut straight- but still. The guy must've been practicing a lot. Doesn't seem like an amateur to me." "Gun wounds too. Not expertly aimed, but again- we couldn't tell with all the bullet holes." Shining Armor looked around them, the brick walls seemingly able to collapse on them any moment now, with all the craters digging almost all the way through. A royal guard approached. "Any evidence on the pistol we picked up yet?" Shining Armor asked as the guard came within ear shot. "No, sir. The hoof prints were all incomplete, right now we only managed to narrow it down to... Er... A few hundred- almost a thousand- different ponies. Not enough evidence yet, but I would suggest it be those assassins again." Shining Armor sighed. He didn't know Octavia well, but she seemed like such a nice pony back then- she would always be at the Grand Galloping Gala, performing music on her cello. As for Rainbow Dash... It did break Twilight's heart to know her friend had turned into a killer, and it would seem that the beautiful old rainbow was nowhere to be found. He sighed again. That was probably why he took the investigation job in the first place- so he could bring the old Rainbow Dash back, and make his little sister happy. "Thanks anyways." Shining Armor said. What dark times. He remembered being a foal, thinking the world was perfect and that nothing bad would ever happen. But as time passed, he started proving himself wrong. The only thing he still viewed as perfect was Cadence, but after taking on the investigation he saw her a lot less. Wondering if Equestria was like this the entire time, he walked down the alley way and out into the open streets. * Rainbow's right ear twitched. The tiny microphone and speaker in it felt uncomfortable, but was a requirement if she wanted Octavia right behind her when she needed her to be. She also had a tracking device installed in her wristwatch- she'll probably be body searched before she could get in, so when all hell does break loose Octavia can send her weapons to her within moment's notice. "Good luck." Octavia said as Rainbow stepped out of the car, the tall concrete walls surrounding the warehouse towering over her, dead spotlights lingering like ghosts on the roof of the warehouse. Everything about it was dark and abandoned- and Rainbow didn't like it one bit- especially the fact that she was unarmed. "You too. Have fun." Rainbow said, already striding towards the warehouse gates. "Microphone- testing testing. Does it work?" Octavia's voice travelled through the tiny mic. "Yes. Wait, you mean you didn't check it before I left?" Rainbow raised an eyebrow even if Octavia couldn't see it. "Well..." "What if it didn't work?" Rainbow said, barely moving her lips in case someone was watching her. "Was I supposed to stride back to the car? You have any idea how unprofessional that would look?" "No. Never tried it." "Get going. Don't go too far though." "I know, I know..." Octavia sounded impatient, and Rainbow heard the black car pull away and drive off behind her. Whoever hired her would probably have spotted her coming out of the car, and having it parked there with the driver would be suspicious. A motor whined faintly, and the metal gates creaked open, dragged on its rusted rails. Darkness overcame Rainbow as she stepped in, the only source of light coming through holes of varying sizes torn in the corrugated iron roof. "Welcome to the warehouse, Miss Dash." the synthesized voice said. The pony was no-where to be found though, and the voice sounded like it was traveling through speakers. There was a table in the middle of the empty warehouse, white paper and pen catching leaking sun light- the contract. Guards were stationed along the sides of the warehouse, rifles slung over their shoulders. "Sorry for the inconvenience, Miss Dash. But I'm afraid we'll have to conduct a body search for weapons." Guards moved in, searching Rainbow's pockets. They retreated when they found nothing. "Excellent. The details are on the parchment in front of you. Sign it, should you wish to accept. Feel free to ask questions, although I believe I have covered everything in the paperwork. And, out of curiosity; where is your partner?" "I usually sign the contracts. She is my partner, so she doesn't need to do the paper work. She just helps me get the job done." Rainbow said simply. "Ah. I see." the voice said, as unreadable as ever. Rainbow felt twenty pairs of eyes watching her as she trotted forward, towards the table not too far away, wondering how she would fend them off long enough for Octavia to get here. I wouldn't need to, she tried to sound happy in her mind. I'll accept the contract, get the job done, and collect the money. Nothing bad's gonna happen. She walked up to the table, peering down at the piece of paper. It was awfully bright in the sunlight, but when her eyes adjusted and she read the first line, her mouth went dry. She quickly looked down at the photo attached to the white piece of paper- and Twilight smiled peacefully back at her. They wanted her to tranquilize Twilight Sparkle.