//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Catching the Demon // Story: Bounty Hunters 2: Awakening // by Jasper77W //------------------------------// Rainbow stared at the ground. Her body was going into shock, her blood creating a puddle. Her sight was shifting in and out of focus, and she could barely breath. When she tried, all she did was gurgle more blood. She heard rubber tires grind on gravel as an orange sports car pulled up. "Holy buck-" she heard Vinyl gasp. "Sis!" Dainty cried. At least they're both safe, Rainbow thought. "Rainbow! Can you hear me? Shuck, she's lost a lot of blood." Vinyl leant over Rainbow, her horn glowing and her voice distant and echoing. "W-will she be alright?" Dainty asked. Vinyl didn't reply. Rainbow forced her eyes open, blood dripping out the corner of her mouth as she attempted to speak. "She's alive!" Dainty said. "Rainbow! Rainbow! Sis!" she grabbed her arm. Rainbow used all her will power and pulled on a soft smile. Dainty was crying, hugging her arm. Vinyl's horn was still glowing, using magic to clean up her wounds. "Dainty- call an ambulance." Vinyl said, but Rainbow's vision was already fading. Rainbow closed her eyes. She felt unbelievably tired. She wondered if she'll see Octavia. "Fight it, Rainbow! Come on, you still need to look after my sister." a familiar voice yelled into her head. "Melony? Is that you?" she asked, although she didn't speak. "Yeah. I'm going to give you the hard truth- you're dying. Fight it, come on. Dainty needs you on the other side." Rainbow could see a silhouette of Melony now, standing in white light, even if she had her eyes closed. "Wait- is Octavia here then? Is she?" Rainbow asked. "Not at the moment." Melony replied. "Tell her- I'll be coming for the both of you! Understand? I'll find a way to revive the both of you!" Rainbow yelled. "Looks like your DJ friend is doing a good job with her magic." Melony said, her shape fading. "Tell her!" Rainbow yelled, watching Melony grow further and further away. "I will. And stay alive, Dash." Then everything snapped back into darkness. Life-filled darkness. Rainbow opened her eyes, she was still lying in that alley way. "She's coming back..." Vinyl said. "Hang in there, Rainbow. Help is on the way." I will, Rainbow thought. I'm not leaving Dainty on her own again. Even as she thought this, she could feel the tiny piece of metal stuck to her chest. The necklace. Darkness was closing around her vision. She was comforted by it, because she knew it was sleep, not death. "Uh-oh. Uh-oh." Vinyl was saying. "Is she dying?" Dainty asked, crying. That's one prank I didn't have a choice on, Rainbow thought as she faded into sleep. * Rainbow's sleep was dreamless. So there she was, in the darkness. Her mind wasn't thinking about anything, and without any reference points time passed by a lot faster than it usually would have. She could hear a noise, a constant beeping. Slowly growing louder and louder, following her breath. It irritated her. She flung a hoof into the alarm clock, and felt the glass screen crack satisfyingly under her hoof. She listened to the pieces clatter onto the ground, and let her arm drop beside her bed. Then she thought about the sensation- the screen felt a lot larger than the alarm clock she bought... She forced her eyes open, and looked to her side. "Oops." she said apologetically to the smashed heart beat monitor. "She's awake." a familiar voice said. "Sis!" somepony squealed, and Rainbow suddenly felt a small but heavy weight bounce onto her stomach. Something that resembled the taste of metal surged into Rainbow's mouth, and she spat out the mouthful of blood over two meters across the hospital private suite. "Dainty!" Vinyl quickly grabbed the filly and took her off a coughing Rainbow. "Her wound opened up again! NURSE!" another familiar voice called. After half an hour or so fixing Rainbow's internal wound, the doctor backed away, his horn dimming. "You'll be fine." he said to her, then turned to Dainty. "And don't cannonball onto your sister again." he said sternly. "Sorry." Dainty was on the verge of tears. "Feeling better now?" Twilight asked, the rest of the remaining mane six behind her. "Maybe." Rainbow coughed a little. "You girls came all the way to Cloudsdale to visit me?" "Well, yeah... You're our friend, and from what we've heard you destroyed half the city and got shot in the wing." Twilight said, and Fluttershy and Dainty both squealed. "And stabbed through the chest." Rainbow noted. "Yeah, that." Twilight rolled her eyes. Immediately silence settled in as Rainbow scanned the small crowd gathered in her hospital private suite, watching the eyes stare back at her. Apart from the mane six, Vinyl, Dainty, Blaze, Halcyon and Scootaloo were also present. "Thank goodness you're alive though." Scootaloo said, breaking the silence. "Dainty here needed somepony to look after- right?" Rainbow grinned, reaching over and ruffling Dainty's mane. She grinned back. "That's one more adventure for the dare devil." Applejack winked. "Oh yeah..." Twilight seemed to be reminded of something. "Speaking of adventures... They actually made the first Daring Do book into a movie. Starts in cinemas tomorrow." Rainbow's eyes widened. "I need to see that." "Well..." Twilight gestured at the bandages wrapped around Rainbow's chest and wing. "I'll pay the stupid hospital five-hundred bucks if they let me out on a wheel chair." Rainbow said. "Really?" "Well, maybe three hundred." Rainbow shrugged. "Actually, I'll pay them six hundred to let me out completely and 'recover at home'. I think I'd like that." And then she spotted Blaze and Halcyon. "Thanks to you two, by the way." she said. "Probably be dead by now if you two didn't swoop in and save my flank." "No probs." they both said at the same time. "Don't get used to it though." Rainbow said. The room plummeted back into awkward silence. "This room is sound proof, right?" Vinyl asked after a moment or two. "Well, yeah... That's why it costs so much and is called a private suite." Rainbow said, shrugging. "Wait a second..." But Vinyl had already slammed the metal case onto the ground. * "You got her message?" Melony asked. "Yeah. I heard." Octavia said. They were sitting at the back of what seems to be a party thrown in the private hospital room, the DJ tuning up her mobile station. Melony waited for Octavia to keep going, but she didn't. "Well... What do you think?" she asked. "I don't know. But we'll see when she really does try." Octavia said. "Guess I don't really have a choice anyway- think the revival machine is just gonna drag us out there. It might not be all bad-" she smiled. "I'd really love to talk to them again, and all." "I think I'd rather stay." Melony surprised Octavia by saying this. "I've got nothing o return to. Dainty's happy, everypony is. I just don't see the point." "All you keep thinking about is the others..." Octavia said. "If there's nothing to return to, do it for yourself. I'm sure you want to be alive, and that there are things you can do whilst so?" "I can't fly when I'm alive." Melony noted. Octavia sighed. She didn't have anything to counter that- plus, if Melony chooses to stay- she understands either way. "True." she said. "Of course, presuming our clumsy pegasus friends can actually make the machine." Melony said with a smile. "Yeah." agreed Octavia. * Rainbow managed to bribe her way back home the next day. Came to a total of four hundred, two below her estimate. Good enough, she thought. She felt all good, almost like she'd completely recovered. The magic was really doing some serious healing. She would occasionally cough up some blood, but nothing she couldn't handle. She had set up a password with her friends, so Val couldn't pull off the same trick again. The rest of the mane six had gone out on a tour around Cloudsdale. Sure, they've been here before; but that was quite a while back. They'll be back for dinner though, and then it's to the movies. There was a knock on the door, and Vinyl went to open it, tightly holding a deactivated disc. "It's Shining Armor." She said, and Rainbow came walking out of her bedroom. "Have you confirmed his identity?" she asked. "Metal detector didn't react- and he has two royal guards with him, so I guess yeah." Vinyl said, and Rainbow let out a sigh of relief. There were hidden metal detectors in the door frame and throughout the house, which if detects special elements would go off- it's been tuned specifically so that if a cyborg like Val walks in it'll beep the crap outta the house. "I've got bad news." Shining Armor said as Rainbow let him in. "Well?" Rainbow and Vinyl each took a seat on either side of the sofa. "We conducted the search through the wreckage-" Shining Armor took a seat in a chair opposite the sofa. "-And we found nothing. There was no corpse. The helicopter was being remote controlled..." "Damn... So we didn't catch the bucker, huh..." Rainbow ran a hoof through her mane. "No, we didn't." Shining Armor confirmed. "But we can be sure somepony in the military put the device on the chopper. Either that or somepony miraculously found out the precise location of our underground facility, acquired the passcode, bypassed seven different levels of security and armed patrols, planted the device on the high-tech helicopter, then snuck back out without any pony even hearing a suspicious noise." "I think I see your point." Vinyl said. "And Val?" Rainbow asked. "We don't have exact matches... But there's one highly suspicious profile in our database. Valkyrie Miase. Only recently arrived in Cloudsdale, bought a house in the deserted sector. That's a lot of credits..." Shining Armor said. "And remember, we still were unable to confiscate any credits from the Science Faction- that means it's possible the remaining members have a large sum of credits." "Enough to buy a house, aye." Rainbow thought about it. "But that's not enough. What else is there?" "A large amount of lab equipment was purchased using Valkyrie's credit card." Shining Armor said. "Also some weapons. Actually, one firearm. But that was it from the weapons store. Otherwise suspicious activity on her credit card- is that there was a 'mis-calculation' of the sum of credits in the card. There's a missing three hundred bits, which appeared as 'payed' but wasn't shown where. So she purchased something with the card, but the purchase was never registered." "That sounds suspicious enough." Rainbow said. "Have you been keeping an eye on the house?" "No... We, eh, don't have anypony willing to take the task... Mainly because it involves so many sleepless nights of monitoring." Shining Armor sighed. Rainbow smirked. "Well, I know one pony who'd be willing to take the job for a huge sum of credits... And might just come in handy too." * "Oh, hey Dash." the light blue earth pony said as she clamped the phone between the side of her head and her shoulder, polishing a 50 Cal. rifle lovingly. "Got a sweet deal for me again?" "Yeah- kinda. Not that sweet though. Pay is good, but it's hard work." Rainbow said. "What, do I have to cut down an army for ya or something?" Magnum asked, smirking and setting the rifle aside. "Cause I'd take that job for free." "Your blood lust continues to scare me." Rainbow said sarcastically. "But no. Our lovely captain-of-the-royal guard here is willing to offer you fifty-thousand, for you to monitor a house in Cloudsdale for a week without you taking your eyes off it. Constant monitoring, hard work." "No shooting?" "Maybe some at the end of the week. But no shooting unless we tell you." Rainbow said. "Can't they just mount a camera or something?" "It'll take too long. Plus if we don't have a pony on the scene, they cut the camera and we're done. We also need somepony to alert us- we're looking for a very specific pony- or a specific pattern, I believe." Magnum thought about it, brushing her blue mane away from her face. It probably hadn't been cut since last year. She tapped the phone gently, humming as she thought about the deal. "Sixty thousand." she said. Rainbow was silent for a few moments. "Fifty five." "Uh-uh. Sixty." Magnum said. "Fifty eight." Rainbow said. "Honestly? I'm the only one who can get it done properly, am I not? Seeing as none of the royal guards were sent..." Magnum said, and she could hear Rainbow grinding her teeth together. "Fine." she said finally. "Sorry Shining Armor, but it just rose to sixty thousand." "Deal." Magnum said, and heard Shining Armor groan as she hung up. * "Sixty-thousand? Where do you expect me to get sixty thousand?" Shining Armor glared at Rainbow. "And you sealed the deal before I could say anything." "I'm sure you'll work out a way- just like you did with my rescue plan." Rainbow smiled, irritating the captain even more. "I needed my nightly dose of coffee." he argued. "It's a bad habit I got into after I was forced into investigating your stupid massacre cases." "What's this about?" Vinyl raised an eyebrow. "Me running my cleaver through criminals. Big deal." Rainbow waved a hoof dismissively. "Ah well. I'm heading back to my office, need to gather a team to bust in if Magnum can confirm our suspicions." Shining Armor said, standing and preparing to leave. "Rest. I'm guessing you want to beat Val up with your own hooves?" "Hell yeah." Rainbow grinned. "Then you'll need the strength to do it." Shining Armor said, walking out the door. "And you'll have to stay alive." "I'll try my best. You be on your way, captain." Rainbow said as the door closed behind the captain of the royal guard. "What now?" Vinyl asked. "Well... It's lunch time. We make food?" Rainbow said, standing up. "You still haven't told me what those thirty cucumbers were for." Vinyl said. "We're going to use them now." Rainbow said. "Dainty! Come help us in the kitchen!" Curious, Vinyl followed. "Alright- so, training." Rainbow handed Vinyl two razor sharp knives. They were relatively short, with a pointy end. "To train your precision... And speed.... I want you to make a groove in this cucumber." Vinyl did so, cutting a small line in the center of the cucumber. "Now- I'm going to throw it in the air, and you're going to slice it exactly where you made the mark." Rainbow said, and Vinyl nodded, holding the knives tighter. Rainbow threw the cucumber in the air, and Vinyl lashed out. "Hey sis! What kinda help-" Dainty walked into the kitchen, and Vinyl had accidentally let go of the knife. The lethal projectile cut through the air, then its sharp tip stopped inches away from Dainty's nose. "Try not to let go." Rainbow said, handing Vinyl the caught knife. Dainty had tears in her eyes purely from the fright. "Sorry..." Vinyl said sheepishly, and picked up the cucumber. "You know what, let's take this outside." Rainbow said, carrying the basket of vegetables with her. "So... Basically like that game 'Fruit Ninja'." Dainty said from the balcony, watching the pair on the backyard below. "Kind of." Rainbow shrugged, tossing another vegetable into the air for Vinyl to cut. Eventually(that is, after hours of practice), Vinyl finally got a clean cut, right down the center. "We'll need to buy more targets." Rainbow said, measuring the halved cucumber with a ruler. "Dead center. Good work. Now.... You have to cut it into quarters- before it hits the ground. That is, three clean cuts." Vinyl sighed, and Dainty yawned. * "Hey girls! Ready for the movies?" Pinkie bounced over the fence, then paused and raised an eyebrow. "What's going on?" Vinyl was lying face down on what seems to be a pile of cut up cucumbers, while Rainbow was sitting in a lawn chair under an umbrella, relaxing in the shade. "Pinkie, if you don't mind going through the metal detector." Rainbow said, her pistol nearby. Pinkie moaned, and walked through the back door, then out. "OK. You're clean." Rainbow said. "What's Vinyl doing?" Pinkie asked, walking up beside Rainbow. "Taking a rest." Rainbow said. "Can I eat the cucumbers?" "Why not." Rainbow said as the rest of the mane six entered with Scootaloo. * "That was awesome!" Pinkie exclaimed after the movie, and they were happily trotting out of the cinema. Of course, Pinkie was bouncing. Vinyl and Dainty had stayed home, because they found a new game they haven't tried out yet. They bought it at the supermarket, just another rock band game. "I always hoped they'd make a movie out of it." Twilight grinned. "You know, being a Daring Do fan and all." "I'm glad you girls told me about it." Rainbow said. She found it slightly boring though- considering the adventures she'd been on. She doubted entertainment could go as far as to let one actually fully experience it, on all aspects. Her phone rang, and she flicked it open. "Hello?" "Dash. It's Magnum. I'm in the building." "How is it?" "Got a clear view. Listen- I spotted a pony walking out of the house. Seemed quite angry." Rainbow muscles tensed. "Can you describe her?" "Doesn't look anything like your descriptions, but she does have a similar coat from what you said." Magnum said. "Damn. Alright- get somepony in the military surveillance to keep an eye on that pony. Don't get your eyes off her, and don't fire." Rainbow said. "Will do." Magnum said, and the line dropped. "Girls... We got a small problem- that might just be a lot bigger." Rainbow turned to her happily chatting friends. "Val might be on the move again. We should really find somewhere safe to stay." Fluttershy shuddered. "Oh dear..." "Does she know where we are? Wouldn't she be heading for the house?" Twilight asked. "Shuck..." Rainbow's eyes widened. "Dainty and Vinyl..." she ran through the traffic, stopping multiple cars on the way and unlocked her car where she parked it on the other side. The cars beeped at her, angry drivers shouting and leaning out of windows. She ignored them. "You girls find somewhere safe to stay! I'm going back there." "Wait- Rainbow! You haven't recovered! You can't-" Twilight started, but Rainbow already took off. "I'll go after her." Scootaloo said, stretching her wings and taking off with a powerful downward beat. "Vinyl!" Rainbow yelled into the phone. "What?" Vinyl sounded bored. "Get out of the house! Take Dainty with you and get the hell outta there!" Rainbow yelled. "Why?" "Val might be coming after you two. Get as far away from the house as you can!" Rainbow wove through the traffic. The cars and streetlights were all but multi-colored blurs in the night. "Right, right." Vinyl said. "I'm getting Dainty now." "Good!" Rainbow said, hanging up. She then dialed another number. "Shining Armor!" "Rainbow. Did you lower the price?" "No! Val might be on the move again. Does your surveillance team have a visual?" "Yeah." Rainbow could hear the seriousness in his voice this time. "Magnum contacted me a few minutes ago. We have a lock on- and from what we saw, she just pulled a stallion out of his car and drove away with it." "Shuck- so she wouldn't leave much of a trace, eh..." Rainbow muttered. "Blaze and Halcyon are off bodyguard duty tonight. I'm sending them along with a small squad to try and intercept the maniac." Shining Armor said. "Bring a box for her head. Try keeping it away from her body." Rainbow said. "Is there anypony in the house?" "Vinyl and Dainty. But I've told them to evacuate." "Good. I need to gather up the squad." Shining Armor said. Rainbow heard a gentle tap on her left side window, and pulled out her gun. "Don't shoot me!" Scootaloo squealed, flying alongside the car. "Damnit Scoots! Get in here." Scootaloo opened the door, and crashed in. "What was that?" Shining Armor asked. "Nothing." Rainbow said. "Can you stream live video surveillance of Val onto my screen?" "I can try..." There were a few moments silence, then a black and white thermal imaging camera streamed live onto the screen of the sports car. A figure was highlighted in red, zooming through the streets in a car. "Thanks!" Rainbow said, hanging up. "Scoots, keep an eye on that screen for me, will ya." Scootaloo nodded. "But what are you going to do?" "Whatever I can." Rainbow replied. * "Are we still tracking her?" Blaze asked. "Yep. Heading straight for Rainbow's house." Halcyon said, her face lit up in the dark by the tablet in her hooves. "We should be able to get there before her." They were in an armored vehicle, along with several other royal military ponies and the captain himself. There was no light, nor were there any windows as the entire passenger compartment was sealed off. The armor covering it has been tested to withstand the strongest of rifles and toughest of bullets. "Let's hope we do." Blaze said. * "Vinyl! Are you and Dainty out of there yet?" Rainbow asked. "Yeah. We're heading away from the house- not sure where, but away." Vinyl replied. "Good. There's a squad of military ponies heading to intercept Val. She should be down soon enough." Rainbow said. Suddenly the line broke up, and Val's voice came through. "We'll see about that."