//------------------------------// // Chapter 28: False Perspectives // Story: Bounty Hunters 3: Genesis // by Jasper77W //------------------------------// "I sent in two twins to accompany Neon." Shining Armor said, and Spitfire nodded. "Suppose you're aiming for teamwork?" she turned away from the OASIS windshield, casting one last look back out to space. "And you sure they're up to the task?" "Best trainees in the best training division, ma'am." Shining Armor nodded. "That settles it then." Spitfire said, then waved at Soarin. "Officer! If you don't mind getting me a coffee." "Yes ma'am!" "You mean you mind, or you don't mind?" Spitfire called after him, causing a few chuckles on the bridge. "I don't mind at all, ma'am." "Good." Spitfire turned away, rolling her eyes. "Aren't you even going to review the information?" Shining Armor raised an eyebrow. "Nope. Do you not trust your own judgement?" Spitfire asked. "I do, ma'am. Just having a higher up confirm that would be much more reassuring. Your judgement should be more accurate than mine." Shining Armor said. "And my judgement says trust your judgement." Spitfire said, and Shining Armor sighed; moving off to get a cookie or something. * "Why does she even need a team anyway?" Asty complained, part of the 65th training division here on the OASIS. "And why send us ROOKIES on such an IMPORTANT mission?" she moaned. "Neon doesn't NEED a team." Rig shrugged. "Our cover story is that we are on a training exercise to the Barricade, and we need to use some of their facilities. Neon just sneaks aboard with us." They were in the locker room, opening their metal cupboards and retrieving their gear. "You know- I feel every bit insecure about this mission." Asty muttered, putting on her cadet overalls. "First off, we don't even get proper armor. So what if we get into a firefight?" "We're not supposed to get in one. Stealth, remember? Don't let them evacuate. Besides, if it does come to a fire fight and we get the whole barricade on our arse- we still won't live anyway." Rig said, putting on some gloves and shoving a pistol into his holster. "I love the fact that we look almost exactly the same and somehow we're completely different." Asty muttered. They would've looked exactly the same if they were the same gender. Rig lowered his voice, making sure the other twins don't hear them. "Hey-" he nodded to the two other ponies also gearing up, in complete silence. "What's up with them though?" "Inkie and Blinkie? I heard they lost all their family members in the second rebellion. Apparently their sister lived in Ponyville- and, you know... Ponyville was the first to get hit by the prototype bio-bomb. And their parents worked in a rock farm on the outskirts... That's where Valhalla is now. No one ever heard from the ponies there again after the city was built... Don't think they took them as slaves either." Asty explained, and Rig cast them a sideways glance, just in time to spot Blinkie slip a serrated knife into her boot. "That's why they try so hard huh..." Rig muttered. "Almost achieved graduation from cadet school within a week? I'd say so, yeah." Asty whispered. "Maybe we should go talk to them. You know, since we're going to work together and all, might as well start now." Rig said, stuffing a few magazines on his belt. "You can try. I've done that before, didn't work so well." Asty muttered, and Rig raised an eyebrow. He walked towards one of the twins, trying his best to be friendly. "Hey, I was just wondering- OH GOD." he shrunk at the murderous intent in Inkie's eyes as she turned around, which faded almost in an instant as she saw him. She pulled up a smile, which Rig highly doubted was legit- even if it seemed so. "You were saying?" she asked. "Never mind. Was looking for something, but I found it." Rig said, careful not to turn away too quickly as to not arouse suspicion. He spotted a small smile on Asty's face when he approached. "Told ya." She said. "Damn, those mares are scary as buck." Rig let out a sigh, peering behind him at the twins. They were back to their glum mood- no smiles, nothing. "Let's better get this mission over and done with. An Ursa Major would've been less scary." "Hey, don't forget there's still a war coming up." Asty slipped into her boots, then tightened the buckles. "Cadets, are we ready?" an emotionless and somewhat robotic voice said, followed by a few clunks as a dark figure with stripes of light running down its body walked into the room. "Yes ma'am." Rig said immediately. "Good. Meet you at the hangar." Neon said, clunking out again. Rig waited till he couldn't hear her hoofsteps anymore, and slumped down. "Why is this place so full of scary ponies?" A few minutes later, the cadets proceeded to the hangar bay- and as expected, Neon was waiting for them there. "All aboard the ship." Neon said, waving the cadets in. Then once everypony was loaded, she walked in too, and the gunship doors hissed shut. "Take us away, pilot." "Copy." the pilot said, flicking a few switches as the gunship left the hangar floor. * The silver maned earth pony with bright red highlights sighed, and took another bite from her bagel. Now, this would've been a normal scene if she weren't somehow kneeling on the tip of the tallest antenna on CMC head quarters- the highest possible point of the whole of Haven. The antenna waved gently in the wind, but she didn't seem to be affected by it at all. In fact, it looked like nothing could affect her. Her mane drifted peacefully in the wind, Haven down by her dangling arms. The barricade's engines shimmered above her head- and despite that, she felt some what at peace. This was actually quite nice. Not too hot, not too cold. Just about right- and she had a good view. Then her phone started ringing, and she rolled her eyes. She fumbled it out of her pocket, but accidentally let go as a sudden gust of wind hit her. She also let go of the remains of her bagel, and she had to choose one. She chose the bagel though. She caught it, and the phone continued dropping. She stretched out a leg, caught the phone on a back hoof and flicked it up into the air. It landed on her shoulder, and she clamped it down with her head. "Hello?" "You up on that antenna again?" it was Applebloom. "Yeah." the earth pony sighed. "Can you change one? Cause I'm not getting Wi-Fi again." "But the other ones don't have such a good view." the earth pony complained. "Just avoid blocking me from my Internet." Applebloom said. "Plus AL just told me that Scootaloo isn't wearing her helmet again. Go keep an eye on her." "Got it... On my way." the earth pony hung up and pocketed her phone, stuffed the rest of her bagel into her mouth, and swung off the antenna. She wrapped a gloved hoof around the antenna, slowing her descent. Finally, after traveling about fifteen meters down; her hooves touched down gently on the CMC HQ's roof. She tilted her head to one side, her neck cracking loudly. She flexed her hooves, then walked to the edge. She looked over the handrails, her eyes tracing down the side of the building- and soon enough she spotted the orange pegasus pony and her scooter. She swung over the handrails, her grippy boots almost latching onto the side of the building like a lizard's feet. It wouldn't last long though, but no matter- she could move fast enough. Jogging down the side of the building like it was nothing, she followed Scootaloo. * "This is Phoenix 507, permission to dock at D68." the pilot said, flicking a few switches overhead and ready to land on the barricade. "Cadets, just look inconspicuous." Neon said, and waved a claw in the air. Suddenly she vanished, casting a mirage around herself- but she was still there, it was just an optical illusion. Although it did seem to make the cadets a teeny bit uncomfortable. There was a loud crunch and bang as one of the barricade's gates slowly slid open, spotlights shining out in beams from inside and focusing on the gunship. "Val's not here... Everyone's on high alert." the pilot sighed, deploying the landing gear of the ship. "There won't be security checks though- and make sure take downs are stealthy. We all know where the rendezvous is?" "Right the hell back here." Rig nodded. This landing dock was the closest to the edge of one of the barricade's many connecting arms, so if they were to escape when the barricade gets lifted up- it would be much easier. They heard the gates close, and the outside pressure adjust and compress. Then the gunship's doors popped open with a click, and warm artificial air hit their faces. "Good luck with your training exercises cadets!" the pilot waved, hopping out of the cockpit and pretending to perform maintenance checks, as to give himself an excuse for staying in the dock. "Halt." one of the guards standing by the main entrance held up a hoof, and approached the group. Neon was following them silently, not even a shimmer in the air and completely invisible to everything and everyone around her. The guard walked up to Rig, and inspected their uniform. "ID." Rig took out a small card from his chest pocket, and handed it to the guard. The guard ran it through a scanner, matched the photograph with Rig's face; and nodded them in. "Good luck with your exercise cadets." he said, waving at the other guards and telling them to open the main entrance. They walked in, in perfect formation- step one, infiltrate the barricade- piece of cake. "Master controls are in the command tower. Shouldn't be far away." Neon whispered. They slipped past hundreds of Science Faction officers, completely unaware of the fact that they were in the process of being sabotaged. After a few hall ways later, they were held back by a few guards. "Whoa! Where do you think you gals are going? This is a restricted area!" the guard said, somewhat bad tempered. "Sorry sir. We just got lost." Asty said quickly. "Come on you lot. Pretty sure it's this way." she said, leading them off. As soon as she made sure the guards were out of ear shot, she whispered: "What now? It's in a restricted area!" "Costume change." Neon whispered back. "Head to the locker rooms. I can put up false projections for the camera." They proceeded to one of the barricade's locker rooms, and Neon waved her hand. Now the camera was seeing a mirage, and even if they were in the room searching through the lockers- the mirage said that they were looking around confused. The cadets got into full guard uniform, and nodded ready. Neon waved again, the camera now seeing them exit the room- however still in cadet uniform. From then on the guard helmets should help shield their faces. "Go through a different checkpoint." Neon said. "The guards at the old one will recognize you." After a bit of zig-zagging and bluffing their way through to the barricade, they finally made it to the checkpoint. "IDs?" the guard there asked. "Well we didn't see that coming." Asty whispered, her lips a slight twitch. "Time for plan B. Inkie, Blinkie." Neon said, walking to the front of the group and waving. Now the camera was seeing a false image of the guards inspecting their IDs- when in reality, she cast a projection of Asty forward. "Oi!" one of the guards called out as projection Asty walked right past the checkpoint, and both guards turned around to follow her. The twins moved up, pulling out knives from their boots with swift and soundless moves. They clamped their hooves over the guards' mouths at the same time, and sunk their blades into their throats. Neon walked past, making sure the mirage was still on the camera and that nopony else was in the area. "Hide them in the toilets over there." Neon said, pointing towards a small 'stallions' sign next to a white door. The twins dragged the bodies in, and a few seconds later re-emerged. They shook off the blood on their knives and slipped them back into their boots. "No wonder they were the ones to graduate." Asty whispered to Rig, who nodded. Neon changed the mirage on the camera, showing the guards leaving with the group and into the restricted area. "Good work you lot. Keep moving." Neon said, guiding them on with her whispers. "More guards." Asty whispered. "Keep going. Don't attack unless you have to." Neon whispered back. The patrol squad approached, their boots clunking on the hard and cold metal floors of the barricade. The group pulled on the best neutral and bored face they could, and the patrol squad brushed right past them without giving them so much as a second glance. "Careful. We're gonna have to take out the entire command center. I estimate about fifty ponies? Yeah." Neon said as they neared a huge metal double door. It was becoming increasingly noisy here, and it was getting on the cadet's nerves. Fifty ponies? That's pretty much ten to one. "And be sure to avoid friendly fire guys." Asty said. "Inkie. Open the double doors." Neon said, and Inkie swiped her ID card on the device. It beeped, denying her access. "There should be a guard's card in one of your pockets. Search for it." Neon said, and as expected- she found one. Inkie swiped the guard's card, and the double doors slid open. "Keep calm and come up with something as to why you're here." Neon whispered as they marched in, the doors closing behind them. Neon sneaked up to the control panel next to the door, and locked it shut so nopony could escape. "Captain. Is something wrong?" one of the officers inside walked up to Asty. For the first time Asty noticed the badge on her chest, and her heart started pounding as she quickly formulated a lie in her head. "The gals over at ATLANTIS need cover fire. Magic Faction troops have under water cruisers- we didn't see that coming." Asty said quickly. "There's a rogue fighter in the area, we're still working on catching it. It's blocking wireless signals- that's why Val couldn't get the order directly here." "Right. Do you have any sort of verification that it's from Val?" the officer asked. "No." Asty admitted. "I'm sorry, but we can't authorize tha-" "Give us access- now! Or I'll have her excellency come here personally and kill you, officer!" Asty yelled, grabbing the officer's collar and yanking him nose-to-nose. The officer's eyes widened with fear at the thought of Val. "Alright alright! What do you need?" "Val wants all our missiles fired." Asty said, letting go with a small shove. Personally, she was quite pleased with her acting. "Are you even listening to me!!??" she yelled as the officer looked down at his belt. "Odd... I swear I had my EMP grenade with me. Ah, missiles- right, right- the missile controls are over here-" "Stay back. We can handle this." Asty said, shoving the officer aside and getting to the primary console. "Uh... That's the primary console, it controls the entire barricade-" "I know what I'm doing!" Asty yelled. "So shut up!" "Right, right." the officer muttered, backing off. "Make sure all the silo doors are shut." Neon whispered. "Then set a timer, and override the entire thing so nopony else can change it from another location other than here. I stole some EMP grenades here, once the timer starts and these grenades go off- there's no stopping the missiles. Just make sure the silo gates are closed." "Copy." Asty whispered, making quick work of the console. The rest of the group stood by silently, watching the bridge at work as Neon sneaked into the middle of the huge room, readying the EMP grenades. "Don't forget to open the silo gates." the officer reminded. "I know. Targeting." Asty lied. Seeing his sister was having trouble diverting attention, he quickly walked up to the officer. "Where are the turret controls? I need to see if I have visual on the rogue aircraft." he said, and the officer led him to the turrets control section. Because each turret required its individual screen, only the turrets of this barricade section could be controlled from here. Missiles were a different matter however, just point at a location, plot a course, and select the silo, and you're done. "Starting timer. ETA fifteen minutes." Asty said, making one final click. Then alarms started going off all over the place, the command center filling up with red as lights started flashing. "You idiot! I told you to open the silo gates-" the officer yelled, but then was knocked into the air as powerful EMP grenades went off all around the command center, disabling everything and knocking the officers down. "Attack the officers!" Neon yelled. She set a false projection on the cameras, having whoever is at the controls believe that the alarm was for an intruder alert. The group started shooting at the officers, making takedowns through the smoke from the EMPs. On the camera, it looked like the officers were taking down the intruders- when in reality they weren't. Inkie ducked under a bullet, then leaped up; pulling the knife out from her boot in one smooth motion. She lodged it into a stallion's throat, and swung him around as a meat shield; pulling out her pistol and firing into the crowd. Asty got down behind a line of consoles, firing pistol shots around the corner. Rig slid down next to her, taking out a stallion that was just about to creep around the other end of the consoles. Neon started clawing the officers, and it didn't even matter- because they couldn't see her. Plus bullets won't land a scratch on her anyway. Soon enough the command center was cleared out, but the camera saw all the intruders killed and a few surviving officers inside limping towards the exit- and the surviving officers were them. "Act injured!" Neon yelled as she kicked down the double doors, smoke pouring out into the corridors. "Shuck- are you guys alright?" one of the soldiers outside asked- clearly they had been waiting. "I'm fine. Area's been cleared... Gah, damnit." Rig cracked his wrist loudly. "We had a few officers gone rogue. Get the cleanup team in there- we can stop the evacs now. Nothing to see here!" Asty yelled over the chattering, waving the science faction soldiers back. "What happened?" one of the soldiers asked Rig. "We were tracking a ship we thought belonged to rebels. Lost track of them for a few minutes, and they directly attack our command center." Rig said, quickly formulating a lie. "Stole guard uniform and went in. Took out everyone in sight..." he sighed. "We were a second late." "Get back to your posts!!" Asty yelled, waving the guards off. "Get the clean up team in here- now!" "Let's leave. Not much time left." Neon whispered, and they started weaving through the troops crowded outside the command center. "Pilot, is the ship ready?" "It is, but they're holding me back because of the alarm. At the moment no one leaves, no one gets in." the pilot said, and Neon could hear loud machinery operating in the background. "What do we do?" Rig asked, joining the conversation. "Kill whoever is guarding the ship." Neon said. "Take off at the last moment, so their turrets won't be on us." "Sounds like it's gonna be close." Asty said. "There's no fun when everything goes as planned." Neon said, her emotionless voice somehow sounding cheerful. "Hey everyone! Halcyon here. Pinkie just opened up a portal for me so I could talk to you guys." Halcyon said, peering through a small hole in reality. "But uh, this is not part of the chapter above. Just saying. I just came by for a message- the author said something about a 'Bounty Hunters prequel', and a 'Graphic Novel'... But he's got a link for you in the Author's Notes. See ya guys!"