//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: SN!PER // Story: Bounty Hunters // by Jasper77W //------------------------------// "It'll be quite a long time before you can start flying again." the doctor said as he examined Rainbow's medical records. "A lot longer than last time, the time before that, the time before that, and... Basically all fifty-six times before." Rainbow scowled. She was in the green hospital gown again, the stump on her back bandaged white. How she hated this place. Her black coat and hat hung on a stand nearby, along with Octavia's. Octavia sat by Rainbow's bed, casually reading a newspaper. Unsurprisingly, they were on the front page. They heard the creaking of the metal and glass door, and hooves trotting slowly towards them. Rainbow heard those hooves many times before, and didn't need to look up. "What am I supposed to do now?" Shining Armor sighed frustratedly. "I really don't want to do this, but you both will have to be put on trial." "What did we do?" Octavia asked innocently. "You blew up half of Manehatten." Shining Armor said flatly. "The guys chasing us blew up half of Manehatten. We were trying to survive." Rainbow replied, wincing at the pain in her side. "Yeah yeah, you're still suspects for six assassinations and three massacres." Shining Armor said. "That what you call us now? Assassins? We only go after the bad guys-" Octavia started. "Er... Rainbow? You alright?" Rainbow's eyes were just wide. Suddenly springing into motion and ignoring the pain in her side, she sprang up and started blubbering. "Say that again slowly..." Octavia said. "Twilight! TWILIGHT! Shining Armor! Where is she?" Rainbow was like a crazy pony now. "Ponyville, where she's supposed to be." Shining Armor said, then his expression changed into a smile. "But she's not. She came over to Manehatten to visit you." Rainbow Dash went cold. She tried to avoid getting Twilight into trouble- but now, she just led her straight to Manehatten. "Send her off immediately!" she screamed. "The contract! The bucking contract! They wanted me to tranquilize her!" "Wait, what?" Shining Armor seemed terrified. "Those buckers that sent the helicopters... The contract said they wanted me to take Twilight! Alive! I don't know what they want with her, but they were willing to pay thirty thousand for that!" Shining Armor's expression turned serious. "Sergeant. Check the location of Twilight Sparkle." "Still at the hotel, sir. At least her phone is." the guard said, looking down on a tablet. "Ring it." There were a few taps as the guard put the line through. Then the beeping began, agonizing and almost torture to Rainbow and Shining Armor. Then it stopped. Shining Armor seemed a little shocked. He tried to think that his little sister simply didn't pick up the phone, not because she couldn't. "Ring it again." he tried to sound calm, but there was still the barest hint of trembling in his voice. The beeping started again. Rainbow was grinding her teeth together. Then it stopped again, as abruptly as it started. "Damnit!" Shining Armor yelled, losing his cool, rubbing his forehead and pacing around. Rainbow didn't know what to do. "Send in guards immediately! If they find her, tell her to keep the phone with her at all times! Have them guard her, you hear me!?" "Yes, sir." the sergeant was a little hesitant. "Damn. I wanted to do this anyway, so... but you two can forget about trial now." Shining Armor cast a stern look at Rainbow Dash and Octavia. "What you were doing is wrong. We handle things like that. I really don't want to see my sister's friends as criminals, especially when one of them was one of the bridesmaids at my wedding. I'm giving you an offer... You work with us, and we clear your record with a five thousand credits fine. After that, I never want to see any of you involved in crime, ever again." Rainbow and Octavia glanced at each other, weighing the options. Neither were appealing, but the preferable one was of course- "We'll take the job." Octavia nodded. Rainbow glared at her for a second or so, giving her the message: I was supposed to tell him that. "Very well. We need all the information you have. And with your skills, I'm sure both of you will come in handy- that is, once you've recovered." Shining Armor said, preparing to leave. "Don't get into any trouble while I'm gone. I'll be keeping a close eye on the both of you." he said, and walked out the door, trailed by two royal guards. "What have we gotten ourselves into this time?" Octavia sighed, folding the newspaper neatly and putting it away. "I don't know. But this is going to be one hay of a big storm." Rainbow stared at the monitor showing her heart beat, counting the beeps and watching the green line go up and down. If they wanted to protect Twilight, they'll either have to erase her existence and have her live somewhere secret, or the slightly more ridiculous but also more effective and appealing option- "We're gonna have to eliminate the organization that tried to hire us, right?" Octavia sounded concerned- and she had reason to be. "As far as we know, we're trying to take down a whole freakin secret army." Rainbow looked up at the ceiling. Plain and boring, how she hated that too. "What do you think they need Twilight for?" Octavia's question was followed by a long period of silence in which they only listened to the beeping of the heart rate monitor. "I don't know. And I sure hope she only got lost." Rainbow said, her eyelids drooping. Too much exercise today- she never thought she'd ever have that particular thought. "Rest." Octavia said. "Call me if you need me." she said, and left Rainbow all alone with her thoughts, guarded by royal guards. * Octavia was required to swallow a pill with a tracking device in it so she wouldn't just run off. It tasted bitter, especially when they didn't provide water. But still, the guards were friendly enough to somepony who just destroyed half a city. Walking out the door of the hospital, she was glad she had her coat on. Some reason, it was freezing. Some ponies saw her, screamed, then bolted off. She sighed, and walked up to the car, unlocking the door with a beep. The repair mares did a good job- made it look good as new. They didn't really ask what the turret was for, because they probably already knew. The only reason they actually carried out maintenance was because Shining Armor gave out the order to do so. Shining Armor seemed to trust them a lot more than he should, although betrayal or back-stabbing him was never a thought that ever occurred to Octavia. Every time it did however, she would discard it and cast it away- because Shining Armor did pretty much save their lives by taking out the last chopper. Also by paying Rainbow's hospital fees. She finally got home, and unlocked the door. It was on a pretty much deserted street, and the outside of the door was all rusted and looked abandoned. Exactly why they chose the place. Creaking it open, she stepped inside and away from the cold night air. Warm air gushed at her, her body defrosting. Placing her coat on a hook on the door, she locked it shut. Sighing and trying to decide what to do, she sat down on the sofa, accidentally falling in and causing fluff to fly all around. In her desperation to bat the feathers down, she spotted an old wooden case gathering dust in a corner. She stood up, ignoring the white fluff, and went to go fetch her cello. It had been such a long time since she picked it up, but she still knew how to use it- and very well at that. Playing her favorite piece, 'The Swan', her mind temporarily drifted off somewhere else. She had almost forgotten what it felt like to get lost in music- when she didn't need sheet music, she doesn't even need to concentrate- all she did was play whatever felt right, and it always turned out correct. She still loved playing music, but couldn't bring herself to continue the profession, not after what she saw before becoming a bounty hunter. She'd seen the under belly of Equestria, and now she's determined to remove that and keep it all away from the eyes of the young and the innocent. She suspected what Rainbow Dash saw was something similar, because what she saw was enough a reason for her to join the bounty hunting carrier. She heard hoof steps outside, gentle and too soft to be Rainbow's normal hoof steps- but then she remembered Rainbow was still in hospital. She looked to her right, where her pistol lay in its holster on a table. The door knob twisted, but Octavia kept the music going so whoever was outside won't suspect she detected him. Suddenly the door swung open, and a pony with a pistol stormed in. Octavia dived for her gun, a bullet whizzing past her head. She grabbed the pistol, yanked the holster away and cast it towards the intruder, distracting the unicorn pony. Before he could recover, Octavia had already sent a bullet through his head. His lifeless body crumbled to the floor, the gun skidding away and a big blood splatter was now on the wall behind him. "Looks like calling a cleaner won't be an option." Octavia sighed to herself, taking a look at the dead unicorn. He didn't have anything on him that would give a clue as to who he is- or was- except for the gun, which didn't give off much anyway. There wasn't much evidence of anything, so she just scraped some of his brains off the wall and into a small container, and twisted the lid shut. Pocketing the container, she went to the kitchen to fetch a dirty towel and a body bag, or something similar. * "Hey Rainbow." Octavia said, walking back into the hospital ward. "You're back." Rainbow said. "I'm glad for the first time. The royal guards don't talk about anything. It's boring." her mane looked like it had been in a tornado. "And they really need to paint patterns on this stupid ceiling." "Yeah, yeah. Look what I found." Octavia held up the container, wobbling the liquid pony brain inside around. "Um... I really can't tell what that is." Rainbow said after staring at it for two minutes. "Didn't expect you to. Just some brains I shot out of somepony that tried to kill me at the apartment." Rainbow's eyes widened. "Damnit! They even know where we live. That just sucks so bad." * The door creaked open again, and Twilight saw a red stallion walk in, his face obscured in the darkness surrounding them. The small room had a spell on it, and now her horn wasn't working. She had cramps in her hooves as they were all tied up. The chair she was forced to sit on was uncomfortable and her body was aching because she was tied to it. She hadn't moved for the last few hours, thrown in almost complete darkness and left there with no one to save her. The door closed, and the only sign of light disappeared. The red pony was still in the room though, and she could hear his hoof steps echoing on the concrete, slowly pacing around her. She had her head lowered, watching nothing since she couldn't see anything. They had taken her at gun point from the hotel, covered her eyes and brought her to this creepy place. Her ears twitched- and she couldn't stop them from quivering. Her muscles had all been laced up for hours without release, and it was starting to show effects. "Are you ready to give us what we want yet... Miss Sparkle?" a heavily synthesized voice said, its location following the hoof steps. "No." Twilight said firmly, she would never give out that kind of secret. Not to somepony like this. She wasn't the element of loyalty, but even so, she would never betray Princess Celestia or Luna. Or anyone else. She wasn't known for keeping secrets, but she'll be doing everything she can to keep this one. "We'll see to that." the voice said. * Shining Armor cursed when he opened the door to Twilight's hotel room. Inside there was no blood, which was good. But then there were bullet holes almost everywhere, ripped furniture, and burn marks on the walls. "Those mother buckers... Oh Twilight.... Damnit..." he rubbed a hoof in his tired eyes. "Get me back to the hospital- now. I need to deal with this crap- and I need those bounty hunters." he said, determination rooted in his heart- but his body was simply too tired to show it. * Rainbow and Octavia were both surprised to see Shining Armor walk through the door. Rainbow immediately snapped out of her bored stance. "Did you find Twilight?" she asked, her eyes wide. "No." Shining Armor said after taking in a deep breath. "Oh." Rainbow's head drooped. "I see." Silence took over again, with Octavia sitting by Rainbow's side on the hospital bed, and Shining Armor standing in the door way, his coat drenched in rain. "Rainbow Dash..." he said slowly. "You want to help Twilight too, right?" Rainbow nodded. "You want her to be safe too, right?" Shining Armor continued. "I want that too. Please. You two are the only ones who can help me." Octavia felt shocked- did she just hear a captain of the royal guard say please to two bounty hunters? "Anything." Rainbow whispered, her voice hushed and her throat dry. "You know where she's kept." "Pretty sure." Rainbow said. The warehouse was a high possibility- but on the negative side, it was also the only one they had. "Then I need a team." Shining Armor said. "You'll all be paid." "Wait- can't you use some of your royal guards?" Octavia asked. Shining Armor shook his head. "No. They're not qualified enough. I need a new addition. A sniper. Do you know one?" Octavia and Rainbow Dash looked at each other. "Well, there is one..." Octavia began. "But..." Rainbow Dash sounded uncertain. "She... Is kind of..." "Yeah...." "I don't care what she is. I need a good sniper. And a spotter." Shining Armor said. "A spotter too?" this time there was a grin on Rainbow's face. "I know somepony that can be both." * The light cerulean earth pony loaded the pistol, running a hoof through her dark blue mane to get it out of her face. She was blindfolded, her ears the only sense that can help her navigate. There was a faint buzzing noise to her right- a noise fainter than the buzzing wings of a mosquito. It was the sound of a lightbulb turning on, electricity running through the wires. Magnum's ears twitched, and she turned around, the pistol in her hooves; and pulled the trigger. There was the satisfying bang followed by shattering glass as the bullet struck the bulb. Still blindfolded with her ears pricked, she heard another bulb turn on- it was shattered by a bullet less than a second later. She was surrounded by a shelf of old bulbs, all rigged to turn on at any moment. She programmed them so they would be random, but the frequency of them turning on at the end would increase dramatically- at the end, there would be a bulb turning on every half a second. She had a full clip in her pistol, but not enough for a full shelf of bulbs- that's what the spare clips strapped to her legs were for. After running out, she quickly switched the clip in a flash, having a fully loaded pistol ready in less than a second. Sweeping across and firing at a bulb that just lit up, she sent a fresh bullet right through it. The frequency was increasing. She was practically spinning around now, her hooves a blur of motion as she reloaded, fired, and reloaded again. The last bulb came on, except this time when she fired the bulb didn't shatter. "Holy crap!" Shining Armor yelled as the bullet grazed his cheek and punched a hole into the wall behind him- and something told him it wasn't just an accident. "What do you want?" Magnum untied her blindfold and threw it on the ground, her gun still leveled and aimed at Shining Armor's head. "He's here to give you a job offer." Rainbow said, walking into view. Magnum relaxed when she saw her. "And I told you not to just go inside like that." Rainbow added to Shining Armor. "How was I supposed to know you knew a sniper that could shoot targets blindfolded?" he glared at her. "What's the job offer?" Magnum quickly shot the last bulb and holstered the gun. The blast made all the ponies flinch as she didn't show any sign of taking aim before she fired. "Well... Our captain-of-the-royal-guard's sister- and also my friend- got napped by some secret army, and we need a good sniper on our side for the rescue mission." Rainbow said simply. "Although right now 'good' sounds like an understatement." "I do this crap everyday." Magnum said. "What's the pay?" "Ten thousand for one mission with us. Thirty thousand if you work for us for as long as this situation lasts." Shining Armor said. They couldn't afford to keep paying her on each mission- after all, they are trying to eliminate a small army. Magnum smiled as she heard the figures. "Thirty thousand..." she rubbed her chin, the smile growing into a joyous grin. "I'm in."