//------------------------------// // 6. Confrontation // Story: Blazing Capes // by TJAW //------------------------------// Marked Target The attack on the Gala had been months ago, and the trail had gone cold since then. I’d gotten everypony I could to keep an ear out for her, but nothing came in. Crime was as frequent as always, and I took a few months off to enjoy a new game. Well, really I just did hero stuff less, although it was the “normal” mix of high-profile and low-profile events. Good news was I wasn’t fatigued or anything, and that I hadn’t made a lot of enemies yet. The bad news? A lot of cops got offed last week, and several heroes were badly injured trying to intervene. Now crime is getting worse, and organized crime even more so. I needed to get back in the game, make Blue Blaze a bigger part of my schedule. So I did. I traced the killings to a criminal organization called the Orange Mafia. A big, tough one, with no easy way of eliminating it. It would be an interesting quest. Gilda Grimwing When that punk tried to shake me down in front of Marked Target, I knew it was time to stop trying to please those cockbites and get back at them. I found out who they were working for, and what I’d get if I took them out. The holidays were busy though, so I decided to plan my attack instead of winging it and going at the Orange Mafia. The thing about the Orange Mafia was that it was pretty inclusive. You wanted in, all you had to do was prove yourself. Zebras, griffons, diamond dogs, and your garden variety ponies; they were all allowed in. Not only were they inclusive, but they had their talons in a lot of pies; drugs, extortion, prostitution, racketeering, the whole nine yards. Some research revealed a pretty solid chain of command. It was still a pyramid in the sense of leadership, but it was a lot wider than it was tall, even at the highest level. Finding the real head to cut off would be more trouble than it was worth. You’d think this system would have some instability, but everyone stuck to it. Offing the leader wasn’t an option, on account of how time-consuming it would be to do it over and over. Killing low-level thugs was a waste of time. The middle management was pretty meaty. This was more a matter of taking out assets and certain mid-level cronies than it was about icing goons. Say for example, I blow up a warehouse they produce drugs in and kill one of the guys they have coordinating that shit in a given area, and that disrupts their operations there. Without dope to deal and someone who knows the area to manage it, that turf starts to fall apart. Do some more stuff like that and they’ll pull out entirely. At least, that was the idea. While I was planning all this, I began stocking up on weapons, ammo, gadgets and stuff. Then I realized that if I started busting on dealers, prices everywhere would go up, so I jacked a few months’ worth of weed instead of buying it. Wrath of Bong shall not go unfed. Early in February, I was ready. I got my muscle suit and mask on and headed to the industrial area. If there was one thing I could count on from experience, it was the empty warehouses being used for less-than-legal activities. Not only that, but some of my contacts gave me solid info on the Orange Mafia’s activity in the area. I knew that cops were trying to clean up this whole area of New Yoke, and they’d be part of getting the OM outta there one way or the other. I figured I’d do the heavy lifting and let them clean up. As I looked over the area, sitting atop a building next to a gargoyle statue, I went over my gear. I had a pair of wireless earbuds hooked up to my suit’s built-in radio, so I’d be able to monitor any police chatter or calls. The user’s manual for this thing is huge, but I guess I should be glad it was designed for military use instead of just for construction workers or something. I’m finding new features in it every few days. And since even my tail is covered, and only my head and neck are exposed, I don’t leave behind much DNA evidence. I had to ditch my Pega-Ordnance pistols a while ago, so I upgraded to a pair of black FNP-45s with micro reflex sights, laser sights, and a suppressor for each of them. The cans weren’t on yet though. I leapt from my vantage point on a nearby building, and flew across the area. I couldn’t have asked for a better night. It was cloudy and moonless, so it’d be easier for me to fly around unnoticed. After a minute and a half of flight, I looked down at the GPS app for the smartphone I brought; I had a few of them to use for work, all registered to fake identities. The suit I wore had another function I had just found out about: it could store data, meaning I could use it as a sort of proxy, so any phone I brought with me could be treated as my personal phone, but if I lose it the phone gets wiped. I’d tagged a few target buildings so I’d be able to find them more easily. I landed on the roof of the closest one and peered into the convenient glass skylight. I guess it was there so that there’d be illumination during the day without having to connect to the city’s power grid. It also meant a dynamic entry point. Peering in, I saw a lot of floodlights inside, and some serious firepower being unloaded. This must’ve been one of the supply shipments for their gunrunning operation. I figured I might wanna get some of my own firepower from here. I took a protracted breath and delicately slid open one of the windowpanes, so I could get a clear shot at the lights. I drew one pistol and screwed on a suppressor, then did likewise for the other. I took note of the positions of all the floodlights in the room, and aimed my weapons. Lights cut out and sparks flew as each shot I fired knocked out a light, and in a few seconds there were only a few flickering bulbs left. I holstered one of my weapons and dropped in. Landing on the back of a zebra, I broke one thug’s back. I took aim at another and fired several shots, taking satisfaction in the puffs of blood lit up by the malfunctioning lights. A diamond dog barked an order – Yeah, I guess that is kinda funny – And shouting began. A set of emergency lights came on, lighting the room enough for me to see all my enemies. I grabbed some sneaky zigger trying to sneak up on me with my free talon and threw him across the room, then hit him with a lethal electric shock after he landed. “That griffon got superpowers!?” Some pegasus exclaimed. I hit him with a stream of electricity that shut him up. “Is it really that shocking?” I taunted. My answer was an avalanche of bullets, a few of which hit me. I flew to a nearby wall and leapt off of it to tackle a griffon with a rifle, and snapped his neck after I hit him. I grabbed his weapon and aimed at a mobster, firing a burst that grouped in his chest. I jumped and flew over a couple more, hitting them both with a burst that ate up half of the magazine. The room was silent, and I surveyed the entirety of it to make sure I was clear. After confirming I was safe, I looked over the weapons they had and took some pictures of shipping manifests they had with my phone; that was partly as insurance, and partly for later use. Who knew when I might need to acquire some mil-spec hardware? I looked at the rifle in my talon; it was a real keeper. A jet black SCAR-H with a shortened close-quarters barrel, an Enhanced Grenade Launcher Module, an ACOG sight, a laser sight, and a threaded barrel. I grabbed some magazines and stuffed them into my muscle suit’s pouches, then loaded a new one. After I reloaded my pistols, I checked the warehouse off on my phone and moved on to the next, my newfound rifle slung over my back. Marked Target As I landed on top of a warehouse, I activated my visor’s X-ray function to look through the roof. Inside I could see a score of cronies shuffling around. It looked like a few lead-lines containers were inside, and the lining of said containers made my visor useless. I could tell they were open, but one hadn’t been unloaded yet. The other containers had apparently contained – I shit you not – crates of fish. I had a hunch they were stuffed with something else, because I’d seen that kind of thing on TV before, and the firepower these guys had didn’t exactly instill trust that they were law-abiding citizens. I found a side entrance and prepared to kick down the door. I switched off my X-ray function and bucked the door, hard. It flew off its hinges, across the room and shattered on the opposite wall. “Whoops, too hard.” A second breach caught my attention, and bullets started flying in a direction that was not towards me. I rushed in to take advantage of the situation, and began to knock out criminals with weak fireballs, punches and kicks. I got about half when I saw a griffon clad in a red muscle suit with black accents. The only visible part of her was her beak, neck and face, which was obscured by a mask. Reacting to my presence, she grabbed the sole remaining goon and took him hostage. A gun to his head kept me from making a move. I wouldn’t be responsible for any deaths if I could help it. I wouldn’t lose sleep if I had to do it, but right now his death would be worthless. “Calm your teats!” I shouted. “Nopony needs to die!” “Blue Blaze. I was wondering when I’d run into you,” She said. “Have we met?” “No, but I’ve heard of you. Call me Talonetta.” She spoke as if she were making small-talk with a normal person, not talking to a hero while holding a hostage at gunpoint. I have to admit, that’s pretty ballsy. “Alright, Talonetta. If you let that goon go, I’ll knock him out and let you walk away from this.” “Alright, let me think about it.” I noticed she had a second pistol holstered, and a rifle over her back; a SCAR judging by the stock. “Nice rifle.” “Thanks, I got it off another thug a little while ago.” “What’re you doing this for, anyway? You a vigilante?” She smirked. “I’m no philanthropist. I’m taking the Orange Mafia down, and I’m gonna take their most prized possessions when I’m done. Right now, I’m just taking care of some of their assets. Like this fucker right here!” She pressed her gun against his temple and twisted it some. “He’s in charge of smuggling through the docks and warehouses. The top ponies may be easily replaceable, but this guy isn’t.” “So you think I’ll let you go and kill this guy just because he’s an important member of the OM?” “Exactly.” I began to amble towards her, and she turned her gun on me. “Freeze!” She fired a trio of shots, the bullets impacting something behind me. I began to feel cold, then to feel my strength ebb. I realized what had been in the loaded container. Liquid nitrogen! My suit iced over, and whether or not the effects of the cold were significantly delayed by the countermeasures in my suit was unclear. I felt the bite of the cold on every inch of my body, an agony I felt helpless against. Talonetta executed the smuggler and headed out, leaving me to die a slow, painful death. As she left, she took a casual shot at me, and the bullet pierced my suit. With a slug in my right shoulder, she took another shot at my chest. I felt it travel through and exit my back, and I screamed as loud as I could. Finally, she exited the building, leaving me to freeze. Even as the stream of the super-cooled liquid ceased, I still couldn’t move. There wasn’t any more to keep me down with, but there wasn’t any more needed. There was only one thing I could try. A long shot that would work perfectly or fizzle. I concentrated on what body heat I had left, the base of all the fire I had. And all it did was stop the encroaching cold, ineffectual at reversing it. I found myself angry, at Talonetta, at myself for my lapse in situational awareness, at that malfunctioning X-ray machine that gave me these damned powers in the first place. I’m not sure how, but that anger gave my powers they boost they needed to fight off the cold. Within seconds, the frost and ice on my costume melted, and I felt just fine. A bit drained, but mostly fine. The gunshot wounds were still there, but I didn’t feel much pain. I shook off some of the water that was left and darted outside, using the same exit Talonetta had. I switched the filter on my lenses to SMART V1, which had the ability to see through obstacles and highlight all living things of sufficient size in a yellow outline. I searched for the silhouette of a griffon against the night sky. And I found one. “Gotcha this time,” I muttered, grinning under my mask. I saw her continue to another warehouse and I dashed to it, my cape billowing in the wind. I’m glad I decided to keep it, because it just looks so cool. I turned and bucked down the door, and it flew in to collide with Talonetta. Totally unintentional, but totally awesome. I rushed in and headbutted a guard, then punched his buddy in the face. I threw a fireball at a fire extinguisher and it burst the pressurized cylinder, stunning a few more goons long enough for me to do a little knockout dance. With them out of the picture, I daggers stared at Talonetta, who stared right back at me. “Couldn’t stay down, huh?” She asked. The villainess aimed an FNP-45 at me and fired several shots. They all flattened when they hit me, since my powers were back. “Ah, shit.” She holstered her pistol and shifted to an aggressive forward-leaning stance, spreading her crimson-coated wings. I realized she was wearing a muscle suit, which would increase her already impressive griffon strength. Still, I stood my ground and took a similar stance. My hooves began to cover themselves in flame, and I cracked my neck threateningly. We charged at each other, and my skull impacted her chest hard. In return, she slashed at me, and realized she wasn’t doing much. Talonetta hit me with an uppercut right after, and sent me flying back a few yards. She followed with a few bolts of lightning. I guess a super-powered griffon can break through my “invulnerability”, because that hurt like all Tartarus. I rolled over and got to my hooves, and found my opponent charging at me. I did a quick turn and bucked her in the torso with a pair of flaming hind hooves. I heard a crack and a scream and turned around to see her clutching where I’d hit her. I heard a sickening sound that sounded like liquid flowing and bones twisting, and I saw her wound heal itself almost completely, and then her suit covered the exposed flesh. She had healing abilities, increased strength, electrical manipulation, and a self-regenerating suit. We fought for what felt like an hour, pummeling each other endlessly. It was a stalemate, with her healing and strength countering my attacks and invulnerability. If either of us lost, it would be due to exhaustion. I smashed one of her pistols, but that was the only gain I made in the entire fight. Presumably tired of fighting, she flew straight up, breaking through the skylight. I heard sirens coming, so I bailed too. I got to the roof and activated my teleporter, sending me back to my hideout in a flash of golden light. After I got out of my suit, I sent it to Cue so he could fix it up. I’m pretty sure the ballistic damage was minor, but I have no idea what the cold and that fight did to it. I wrote an assessment of the night and filed it; I figured that keeping track of things would help with the hero stuff. With that done, I had my wounds dressed discreetly. I didn’t want to run around with two very obvious untreated gunshot wounds and no explanation for how I them. Some Bactine was enough to fix the outward appearance of them, by which I mean disguise them as scars rather than fresh injuries. I headed up to my penthouse suite and conked out. Gilda Grimwing The next afternoon, I was supposed to hang with Mark. Of course after a night of kicking ass and getting my ass kicked, I needed some shut-eye. I went home, hid my shit and crashed on my bed without even getting under the covers. The next morning, I got up and had breakfast, then went outside to get the newspaper. I slumped on my couch and read a few articles in the international section. Then there was a story in the national section about rumors of aliens landing near Ponyville. Flipping to the New Yoke section, I found an article about my antics the previous night. It said “Warehouse District Turns Deadly as Hero and Villainess Clash”. Police are investigating a series of attacks in the warehouse district that left twenty-seven known criminals dead, and twenty-five unconscious. The criminals in question were believed to be associated with the Orange Mafia, but police ponies declined to comment on their ties to any known crime syndicate. According to a source inside the police department who wished to remain anonymous, a series of tapes recovered from the crime scenes showed a griffon female, a villain with the alias “Talonetta” to be responsible for the killings, and hero “Blue Blaze” to be responsible for the non-lethal assaults. The two scuffled for approximately twenty minutes, but Talonetta and Blue Blaze both escaped seemingly unharmed. The same source informed us that much of what was recovered was military-grade weaponry and ammunition, large quantities of illicit substances, and counterfeit currency. “This is a major catch,” SWAT Lieutenant Stainless Steel said on the subject. “Don’t get me wrong, these heroes are a real mixed bag. Some of them are less ‘Daredevil’ and more ‘Dirty Marey’,” the officer went on, referring to Marevel’s blind lawyer turned superhero and Flint Westhoof’s iconic rogue cop, respectively. “Still, most of them have their hearts in the right place.” The official police line, however, disavows all “heroes” as amateurs interfering in police business. “These costumed freaks are a menace. I don’t care what side they’re on, they’re disturbing the peace and destroying property. They think they’re making life better, but all they’ve done is create a need for deadlier criminals. It’s an arms race, and the whole city is in the middle of it,” The Police Commissioner said. There is no word from the Guild of Calamitous Intent, the official villain alliance, and their hero-aligned counterpart organization, the Righteous Shield Association. - Clerk Canter Right on the next page, there was an mini-article titled “Heroes and Villains to Meet for First-Ever Social Gathering and Summit.” A new development has surfaced on the secretive two-party talks between the Guild of Calamitous Intent, the premiere organization of villains, and the Righteous Shield Association, the counterpart alliance for heroes. A summit is being held between members of the New Yoke chapters of the two organizations. “The fuck?” I blurted. I went back to my room and got on my computer, logging into my alternate Pmail account, the one I use for villain stuff. I found an email that was about just what the newspaper said. I opened and read it. From: Guild of Calamitous Intent NY [mailto:evilempirecity@GNC.com] Sent: Monday, February 25, 2013 01:17 AM To: talonetta@pmail.com Subject: Guild Retreat If you’re reading this, then as a member of our New Yoke City chapter you’ve been invited to a four-day retreat starting this Friday at midnight! As a product of the talks between the GNC and the Righteous Shield Association, a large, privately owned resort in the north has been bought out by the GNC and RSA. The resort includes spas, heated pools, a state-of-the-art facility designed for almost any exercise and training regimen a villain(ess) or hero(ine) could want or need, recreational or otherwise! Not only can you enjoy these activities, you can attend concerts featuring major artists, not just cover artists. For those interested in movies, a huge theater with the capacity for over a dozen standard-sized showings simultaneously is also on-site. Our agreement means complete privacy, so you won’t have to wear your costumes nonstop, and your rooms are completely free of any surveillance devices. Feel free to go commando, call friends/family/business associates, use illicit substances, and have intimate moments with a fellow/rival villain(ess). The best part? Your monthly membership fees already cover all of this, so you don’t have to pay a bit out of pocket! Everything from the minibar in your room to the movies to the internet connection is all paid for ahead of time. However, both we at the Guild of Calamitous Intent and the folks at the RSA strongly request that you refrain from violating the privacy of others, or committing any harmful or malicious acts against others regardless of affiliation. Additionally, please remember that both organizations discourage inter-faction relations of a personal nature, and evidence of such infractions on this retreat or anywhere else will be met with increasing penalties for each incident. Your carpool partners will be assigned tomorrow. We look forward to seeing you this weekend! “Aw, sick! I get a vacation!” I shouted, springing up from my seat. Then my chest hurt a bit, which I took to mean I was still sore from that fight from the previous night. Hopefully that’d be better by the time the retreat came around. I glanced at my watch and saw that there was time for me to play a few hours of video games before I went over to Mark’s. Marked Target I got up feeling a bit sore, so I took some Ibuprofen gel capsules. Then I ate my breakfast. I read the New Yoke Times, saw an article about the previous night, and saw one about an upcoming retreat for heroes and villains. So I checked my hero email account and found out I was gonna get to go to a retreat that weekend. That was pretty cool. What I was really looking forward to was that I’d get to hang out with Gilda later. While I waited, I played video games. Anyway, the front desk told me Gilda was on her way up to my penthouse – Did I mention how much I like this place compared to my old apartment? Anyway, I heard she was coming up and I finished up the match, then exited to the matchmaking lobby. The elevator reached my level, and I greeted Gilda. She patted my back as we headed inside, and I winced; the Ibuprofen must’ve not kicked in yet. I don’t think she noticed it though. When we sat down and began to talk, I noticed her eying my torso suspiciously. “What’s with those scars?” “Uh, old war wounds. I, um, used a different conditioner, and they just show through now.” I’m a boss at lying to others, especially to their faces. “Riiight. Anyway, I’m gonna be out of town for four days this weekend. Just lettin’ you know.” “Me too, starting Friday.” I noticed a pair of bruises on her chest, and my mind began to race. She was interested in those wounds I got the night before. She was going out of town this Friday, the same day as the heroes and villain’s retreat started. She had the same visual profile as Talonetta. She had bruises on the exact same place I kicked Talonetta the previous night. I could see that her mind was racing too, almost as fast as my mind. It was like the Equestrian Le Manes Series, but with minds. She probably connected my being out of town for the retreat, the wounds inflicted in the same areas as Blue Blaze was shot, the fact that I was an earth pony stallion like him, and most of all that I had the training, motivation and resources to explain me being a superhero. Gilda clenched her talons and threw a punch at me, hitting me square in the jaw. I didn’t have my suit to cushion the blow or give me any tactical advantages, and she didn’t have her suit to augment her strength. She threw me across the room and into the wall, then began to electrify her talons for a flurry of punches. I countered with a headbutt and a fireball to her hind leg. It burnt off her fur and some skin, but it quickly regenerated. I tackled her to the ground and we tumbled about, hitting each other. For a moment I was on top and we both stopped, panting from the exertion. I looked her dead in the eyes and grinned. She gave me a seductive look right back. We did it right there, right then, for about an hour.