"Fret are you sure this is a good idea?" Sunset asked "I mean so far you've always had the element of surprise on your side but this time you're charging into a bee's nest with the hornets prepared to strike"
"Look Sunny, if Iron Claw wants to go out in his home then I have to respect that. Besides, if I really want to send a message to the other mob bosses taking the biggest mob boss down on his own turf will definitely do the trick." I responded as fought off Drumroll's advances in the ring
Ever since I came back from my meeting with Iron Claw last night we have all been in high gear to get properly prepared for the mission ahead. Violet and Vinyl have been testing and prepping new gadgets as well as my old gear and a completely new suit. Drumroll and I have been in the ring training my ass off along with a couple of sessions with magi-constructs of opponents provided by Sunset who has been working with Power Chord to plan out a plan of attack, as we've found out that my new marefriend has quite the versatile skill set from experience with technology to a mind for strategic planning to even a bit of martial arts training in kung-fu and jujitsu although it was clear that she was more fit for the more acrobatic side of the disciplines.
Violet and Vinyl finally walked out of Violet's lab and called me over "Yo Cuz! Get your flank over here!" I heard Vinyl yell
I exited the ring and made my way over to the two mares "What do ya need girls?"
"Just come and see Fret. Don't be a dick about it" Violet deadpanned
"No can do Vi!" I replied sarcastically flashing her a smirk as she grabbed me by the ear with her magic and dragged me into her lab
"Ow ow ow ow! Okay, okay! Geez!" I barked as Violet let go of my ear
"Fret, we have been working day and night on this stuff so again don't be a dick about it" Violet said as she shot me a glare as the others walked in
"Alright! New gear! I always love it when you unveil new stuff!" Drumroll shouted in excitement
"You do realize this stuff is for me, right Drums?" I asked my best friend
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. Still always cool to she what our resident gearhead comes up with" Drumroll responded waving me off
"Alright mares and stallions let the girls talk" Power Chord silenced us as Violet and Vinyl prepared to talk
"Well first off why don't we go through the smaller devices" Violet said pointing towards a couple of small gadgets
"First of all we have this" Violet grabbed a familiar small black box with her magic and held it up in front of her "This is the new, improved version of Vinyl's 'dubstep grenade' or hoofheld sonic pulse emitter as it is actually called."
"BORING!" Drumroll and I yelled jokingly before Power Chord motioned us to stop
"ANYWAYS...It has been upgraded to be twice as powerful and has also been modified to not cause damage to the hearing of it's victims instead daze the ones that weren't knocked out by the sonic pulse" Violet spoke in an annoyed tone
Vinyl grabbed another gun shaped device off the table with her magic and held it up "This awesome device is the Static Cannon!"
"Static Cannon?" I asked "What the buck is a 'Static Cannon'?"
Violet grabbed the device and began the explanation "The 'Static Cannon' as Vinyl calls it is essentially a ranged taser. It fires off a ball of electrical energy that, depending on the size of the target, will either stun, immobilize, or completely take down it's target. Unfortunately we could only make it big enough to be fired once per hour so use it wisely and it will be useless against magic shields"
"Oh.....cool" I replied as Violet grabbed the third of the six devices that laid on the table and activating it causing her to teleport behind us "This is a short range teleporter. Thanks to your new marefriend Sunset I've been able to study the magic field more thoroughly and have been able to develop this. It will only be able to teleport you a couple of yards at most but it should be able to get you out of a fix, and knowing you that will be pretty often."
"So what's the downside?" I asked knowing Violet's gadgets are never perfect
"It takes about ten minutes to recharge and only can be activated by a remote thought command that comes from your neural sensors that line that mask of yours so don't be an idiot and accidentally activate it in the middle of a fight." Violet explained giving me a stern look before grabbing the fourth of her six new gadgets "Next on the list is my new hoof-mounted line shooters"
"Line what-nows?" I asked confused by the pair of black boxes that my techie held in front of me
"The Line shooters are miniaturized version of your grapple gun that should be able to allow you to latch onto an enemy and pull them into a close range attack or use them to swing around an enclosed space such as a room or an alley. They are designed after what Octavia uses as The Shadow." Violet explained as Vinyl pouted as she brought up Octavia, who my cousin was still mad about
"Umm not to burst your bubble Vi but....I have wings. Why would I need to be a real life Spidermane when I could just, umm I don't know, FLY!" I responded loudly
"Look Fret just be happy with what I give you!" Violet yelled back before Power Chord stepped in
"Alright you two let's get on with the presentation"
We both let out a groan as Vinyl brought out the next gadget "This is....umm Violet what is this?" Vinyl asked as she looked at the rectangle shaped boxes
"Those are my new dart launchers" Violet answered
"Darts? What do I need darts for?" I asked
"They are filled with an special tranquilizer" Violet said explaining the device that Vinyl held."They should be perfect for taking out guards silently although they most likely won't work on larger opponents. Besides, you don't expect to defeat all your enemies with a close range brawl do you Fret?"
"Worked for me so far" I responded as Violet pulled out her final of gadgets "Finally, this is the-" Vinyl all of a sudden grabbed the device and yelled "MAGIC MAGNET!!!!!!!!" before Violet grabbed the device and began explaining "This is ACTUALLY a small magnetic field generator that when connected to your suit should allow to alter the path of incoming small metallic projectiles. Any small caliber rounds should be effected by the magnetic field but anything like a shotgun, high caliber rifle, or machine gun will most likely slip past it"
"But aren't most bullets made of compressed magic?" I asked a little confused by the design choice "They haven't made metal bullets since Magitech discontinued production ten years ago after Celestia deemed them 'too dangerous' and even then you can't exactly buy those types of weapons anywhere in Equestria without being a police officer"
"While it is true that Magitech stopped producing them officially you have to remember that they have an exclusive partnership with the griffin mafia. From what we've been able to gather on Iron Claw's elite bodyguards they almost always carry metal firing rounds to maximize damage and Iron Claw himself is known to have a GA-89* in his office. Better to be safe than sorry Nightfury" Violet explained
*A GA-89 is the Equestrian version of the AK-47
"Okay then. What's next?" I asked motioning toward the large object to the right of them that was hidden behind a large curtain
"Well if you really need to know..." Violet then lifted the curtain and revealed a glass case that held a completely new costume for me with new color scheme as well with the main color being black and and blue and streaks of grey covering the legs and the ears and the mask designed to look like the head of a wolf only black instead of grey and finally featuring a large version of the symbol I sometimes use as a calling card emblazoned across the chest
"Sweet Celestia Vi, you've outdone yourself! This is AWESOME!" I spoke in awe of the new suit
"Well it isn't just any new suit Fret. Thanks again to your new marefriend this one is the best suit we've ever come up with featuring all the best qualities of your other suits and a new improved cloaking feature" Violet said
"You never could get that invisibility field right could you Vi?" I joked poking her to emphasize the point
"Aw shut up Fret. Just because you got shocked during the test runs of that thing doesn't mean you get to pester me about my failed experiments!" Violet defended herself by yelling at me "This suit is designed to give you full range of motion as well as as much defense as we could provide from fire and electricity to bullets and blades. it should be able to protect you from anything the griffin mafia will be able to throw at you provided they don't have explosives"
"So if they shoot me with a bazooka I'm screwed" I added
"Exactly" Violet deadpanned
"I'm gonna call it 'The Howling Night'!" I exclaimed as I began to open the glass case that held it before Violet slapped my hoof away
"We still need to run a few more tests to be sure that this suit is safe. Theoretically it should be fine but like I said, better safe than sorry, and after that we need to put all the new gear on it and test it's effects on the new tech." Violet argued
"Wouldn't be easier to test it all in the field?" I asked " It's not like we have time to test all of this! Iron Claw has something up his sleeve and I need to be ready as soon as possible"
"Fret do you realize what happened last time you went in without testing your new gear?" My best friend asked
"Yeah, yeah. I know. I got ambushed and nearly got killed...BUT THIS TIME IS DIFFERENT!" I barked "Look Iron Claw isn't going to wait for me. We need to strike fast and we need to strike soon! Otherwise our target will most likely skip town!"
Power Chord stepped up and spoke in his gruff yet wise voice "Unfortunately Violet I'm on Fret's side on this one. While using untested tech is dangerous we most likely will never have a chance like this again to take down Iron Claw somewhere we can plan for. Test as much tech as you can by tonight and whatever you can't test we test in the field"
"Fine...Vinyl let's get testing then" Violet ordered as she and my cousin grabbed the new gear and went off to the armory
It was around 9 in the afternoon when I finally took off from HQ in my new 'Howling Night' suit packed with new and old gear that cluttered my utility belt. As I flew through the skies of my metropolis I heard Babs come on the comms
"Mr. Nightfury! We have an emergency!" Babs yelled into her communicator in a state of panic
"What's wrong Crusader?"
"A bunch of griffins apparently ambushed Detective Cold Case and are holding him hostage in their hideout!" Babs responded obviously worried about him
'Son of a bitch' I thought as swore under my breath "Alright Crusader, I'll go track him down"
"Oh thank you Nightfury! Please save him before those bullies do anything to him!" Babs begged over her communicator
"I will Crusader. Just trust me." I said before swooping down to the roof of a building across the street from the address that Iron Claw had provided me with
'Alright Iron Claw, the jig is up. Time to face the music' I thought as I turn my mask camera on and looked across the street at the villa that served as Iron Claw's base of operations
"You ready for this kid?" I heard my mentor ask
"Yeah....just taking it all in" I replied with a deep breath
"We're all here for you Fret. Now....go take down your brother's killer" Power Chord said in a stern tone
"Nightfury what do we have guard wise?" Violet asked
"Not much on the outside. Two griffins are guarding the front entrance but that's it. The mob still has to maintain some form of invisibility when it comes to their hideout. Oh and they have Coldy in there too." I replied
"Well...that complicates things. Look we'll worry about the detective later. Right now we need to worry about getting in the damn place before we can worry about hostages. Knowing Iron Claw, he wouldn't harm a hostage unless he knew he was going to lose" Violet answered back "Use your new dart launcher to take out the guards at the front entrance"
"Alright" I fired off two darts with the flick of my wrist hitting the two guards in the head, knocking them out instantly before I flew down to their position and dragging the two bodies into the alley on the side of the building
'Two down, a Tartarus full left' I thought as I flew up to an upstairs window and smashed my way through it only to find the window actually led to the front hall which was filled to the brim with hitgriffins which all raised their guns and fired on me. Luckily for me since they were all using copper slugs my new suit was able to redirect the shots around me magnetically
"Welcome to the jungle. Where Nightfury is king." I spoke in a dark tone in my magically altered voice before tossing a pair of small black boxes into the crowd of at least thirty griffins before they released a huge wave of sound knocking out at least half the griffins before I thrust my way into the crowd of the remaining griffins and began fighting
Between bobbing and weaving through the gunshots and claws I fought my way through the crowd until there were only five left "That all you got ya pussy cats? or should I be calling you bird brains? Either way you all suuuuck" I snarked as I prepared to take on the remaining griffins only to hear a door behind me blast open and a huge muscular griffin with a scarred eye and a shotgun walk in
"Well good luck you freak! No you have to take on the might of Tiny!" One of the Griffins laughed as I turned to face this new threat that was three times my size 'Tiny?! This thing's name is TINY?!' I thought as I thought of a battle plan
'Alright so I don't think any of my gadgets would do much to this guy so I need to figure out a way to OH SHIT!' I thought as I rolled out of the way of a shotgun blast. Not even a super magnet could redirect the force of a point blank bast from a pump action
Out of instinct I bucked behind me hitting the mobster behind me in the head and knocking him out just as he went in to strike me before I had to dodge yet another blast from Tiny's shotgun 'I need to find an opening' I thought as I rolled out of the way of the shotgun blast. Tiny tried for a third blast but as he pumped his shotgun it jammed 'Bingo' I thought as I closed the gap only to be swatted away by Tiny with a swing of his shotgun. The smack caused the weapon's handle to snap off and left me dazed in the corner of the room
'Well that didn't work.....guess it's time to go ghost' I thought as I activated my suit's cloaking field
I quickly took out the remaining griffins leaving me and Tiny as the only ones left
"Puny pony come out to play! There no need to hide from Tiny!" The brute spoke in a stunted accent as he raised the remains of his boomstick to use as a bat
"You know what they say Tiny......What you can't see....can kill you" I spoke in a darkened tone before striking him with an uppercut to the jaw before pummeling the brute with a barrage of punches to his exposed chest. Tiny finally caught on and grabbed me by the face and chucked me across the room
"Feisty one eh? I'll fix that" I said as I used my forehooves to push against the floor in order to launch myself at Tiny in a dropkick which struck him in the chest as he raised his weapon over his head in an attempt to strike me knocking him on his back as I deactivated my cloaking field and jumped on Tiny's chest and sent a flurry of strikes to his head before finally knocking him out with a punch to the face
I let out a deep breath as I got off of the unconscious brute and made my way to the door in the back of the room opening it "Alright guys. I made it passed the main defense. What next?"
"The door in the back of the room should lead to a walkway that connects the barracks to the main warehouse. After that you'll have to find a secret door on the left side of the warehouse that will lead to Iron Claw's office area. That's where he should be hiding." Violet relayed as an image appeared in my eyes showing a map of the entire facility
"Gadget, What the buck is this?" I asked
"It's your new suit's Heads Up Display. It's a new feature that me and Treblemaker designed. It allows you to see what we see" Violet explained
"Cool...how do I turn it off?" I asked sheepishly
I hear a frustrated sigh on the comms before Violet finally spoke up again "To turn it off and on simply blink. Any other questions Nightfury?"
"Nope." I said blinking "Over and out"
I made my way into the warehouse through a vent that connected the walkway to the warehouse since taking the front door was a trap waiting to happen stopping at the end of the vent to look into what I was getting into. Just then I heard Iron Claw come onto the warehouse speakers
"Face it Nightfury. It's pointless to continue your crusade. You'll never get past my trained guards. They have been fighting in the Griffin Army for years and they know how to deal with freaks like you"
'We'll just have to see about that Iron Claw' I thought
"And even if you somehow get past them I have my bodyguards here in my office waiting to kill you the moment they have you in their sights....and of course I have you're little detective friend here waiting for you to save him....Don't be late"
I let out a growl as I thought of Cold Case....I owed him so much and he always seems to be in the line of fire because of me, or at least more than he usually is as a detective
I looked through the vent cover and scanned the room 'Five armed guards carrying sub machine guns and seven unarmed thugs...they must be using this warehouse as a front....two of the guards are right in my vicinity so they should be a quick take down but two of the armed guards are on the other side of the warehouse floor and the fifth is near the center...there is machinery all over so that should be good cover bu those unarmed thugs could be a problem if I want to take the stealth approach....hmm' I thought as quietly dislodged the vent cover and activated my suit's cloaking field before dropping down behind one of the guards and silently jumping on his back to wrap myself around his neck and silently knock him out
I did the same to the other guard as I used my ninjitsu training to silently make my way across the warehouse floor. I made it about half way across the floor of the building until I was finally noticed by one of the unarmed thugs when I stepped in a puddle that I missed due to how the lights of the warehouse were angled 'Shit' I set off a smoke pellet as I used my dart launcher to shoot out the lights and used my line launcher to pull me to a light fixture that shot out of the left wall of the warehouse
'Alright I need to think this through....there are three remaining armed guards and I have the advantage with the lights out....but that leaves the other seven...hmmm' I used my grapple gun to hang upside down from the light fixture as one of the unarmed guards approached the fixture from below me. Once he got completely under me I dropped down onto his back and gave him a quick blow to the back of the head knocking him out. Unfortunately for me this also alerted the other guards that quickly turned to face me and began firing at me with their three Tommy guns. Since the rounds were small caliber pistol rounds that fired from the SMGs they sailed past me due to my suit's magnetic field but the muzzle flash worked perfectly as a light source as they continued to fire. I flew up into the rafters before using my dart launcher to take out five of the unarmed guards with a shot to their heads before I stomped down on one of the armed guards as I dropped down from the rafters
The two remaining armed guards surrounded me, guns pointed at my head, yelling at me to drop to the ground. I smirked as I replied to their orders with a smug "Fine" as I dropped to the ground firing off both my line launchers at the griffins' necks as the claws on the end of the lines latched on to the unsuspecting mobsters before pulling them both into a double uppercut before I flew up just enough to deliver split kick to the stunned griffins' heads knocking them both out leaving me with the two remaining unarmed thugs.
The first of the remaining griffins charged me but with a flap of my wings I leaped over the charging griffin and dove down sliding under the other one. As I slide under the other thug I used my back legs to grab the griffin's chest and throw him sideways onto his side before I released my legs and delivered a swift punch to his face knocking him out. I kipped up using my back legs to kick myself into a standing position but just as I before I got to a standing position I was speared by the final remaining thug and pinned against the wall as the griffin tried to wail on me. I managed to dodge a few of the blows by shifting my head back and forth. I felt dizzy as I finally pushed the thug off of me with a push from my back legs
"Ya know you could at least ask me out first before we make this intimate" I joked as I could hear multiple facehooves over the comms
I flew up to the griffin delivering a flying jump kick to his chest as I landed on my hind legs and delivered a series of punches before the griffin in an act of desperation threw a huge right hook that connected to my mouth causing me to stumble back and wipe my mouth smirking as I saw a trickle of blood drip down from the side of my mouth as I spun around and delivered a buck to the griffin mobster's face finally knocking him out
I let out a couple of heavy breaths as I blinked bringing up my HUD as I walked to where the secret entrance was marked to be and moved a large pile of boxes revealing a secret hallway. I could see now what Iron Claw's plan was now. He was trying to tire me out before I could even face him leaving me an easy target for him and his thugs....and it was working. I have never had to take on this many foes in such a short amount of time. I felt my muscles beginning to ache but I had to press on
Just then Violet came on the comms "Nightfury are you okay? Your heart rate is double what it is supposed to be."
"I'm fine. Just.....tired" I responded as I entered the empty hallway
I heard Sunset speak in a panicked tone "Nightfury if you continue at this for much longer you are going to pass out! Get out of there!"
"Sunnyside I can't. Iron Claw has Cold Case and I need to save him. I made a promise to myself and to Crusader that I would protect my friends and Coldy is definitely one of my friends" I said as I walked down the hall only stopping to brace myself against the wall and breath heavily. I knew Sunset was right. I was spent and the toughest part of the job still ahead but I couldn't give up now
"Guys is there anything you can do to give me a boost?" I asked hoping Violet would have prepared for this
"Well....there is one thing....but it's extremely risky" I heard Violet say with a hint of worry in her voice meaning this not only dangerous but also life theatening. Unfortunately for me there was simply no choice.
"Whatever it is do it. " I ordered "If you don't I'm gonna pass out soon"
I heard Sunset cut in in a tone that was more anger than worry "What in Tartarus are you talking about?!"
"If I can reroute your suit's electric relays I could possibly sent an electrical charge though your suit to stimulate your muscles and essentially give you an instant massage.....but if it short circuits it will send a pulse of electricity that will kill you instantly" Violet said in a tone that worried even me
"Well screw that idea! I am not losing my first ever coltfriend to a short circuit!" Sunset yelled back
"I'm sorry Sunnyside but we have no choice. Gadget do it" I ordered as I felt a surge of electricity run through my suit and my aching muscles instantly became less sore. They still felt tired but the effect definitely did the trick
I heard sighs of relief from Violet as Power Chord came on the comms "Alright kid all you have left between you and Iron Claw himself is his three private body guards. These guys have served with Iron Claw when he was in the Griffin Army's elite squad meaning these guys aren't like your normal griffin mobster. They are trained killers so be careful"
"When am I not careful?....don't answer that" I said as I came to the end of the hallway and a large door
"Alright before I enter this Tartarus pit...gear check." I asked as I blinked bringing up my HUD and displaying all my inventory of gadgets
"Dart launcher?"
"Check" Violet replied as I read off my list of gadgets
"Line Launcher?"
"Check"
"Dubstep grenades?"
"Five remaining"
"Static Cannon?"
"Fully charged and prepped"
"Short range teleporter?"
"Primed and ready to use"
"Shock gloves?"
"Check"
"Magnetic field generator?"
"Functioning flawlessly"
"Cloaking field?"
"Check"
"Furyrangs?"
"What?" Violet asked obviously not getting the joke
"Furyrangs? Are my furyrangs ready?" I asked smiling
"No I don't think....Oh you asshole! Stop messing around and get to the mission!" Violet yelled at me as I laughed
"Well maybe you should make me some Furyrangs!" I joked
"Whatever...you're all checked out Nightfury...get back to work" Violet grumbled as I heard not only Drumroll but also Sunset chuckling
I blinked and deactivated my HUD turning on my cloaking field as I opened the door finding two heavily armed griffins carrying a pair of high caliber assault rifles that began firing at me.
I took off flying towards the two while dodging rain of bullets mid flight by flying in a curve running across the walls as I flew. 'Where's the third?' I thought as I managed to make my way to the pair just as they were out of ammo in their magazines. I went in to strike them but was stopped by a punch to the face by a third griffin that uncloaked in front of me.
"Well...that didn't work" I said As I got up from being clocked in the face
I tried the same technique only instead of going in for the strike myself I cooked a Dubstep grenade and released it as I flew by the pair, it going off in the middle of them and knocking them flat on their asses unconscious....but left the third untouched
"What?! How does that work?" I yelled bewildered at the untouched griffin
"Surprised freak? Well that's what happens when you go up against Death Blow!" Boasted the griffin that revealed that his entire body was covered in a cloaking form of body armor 'This.....could be a problem'
Death Blow went on the offensive and charged me but when I tried to fly over him he grabbed me by the hind legs and slammed me into the ground "You ain't goin' nowhere Nightfury! The Boss wants to make an example of you and I'm the one to do it!" Death Blow
"You wish" I spat back as I kicked Death Blow off of me with my hind legs before flying up and trying to deliver a roundhouse to his face but only to have my leg be caught by Death Blow spinning me around and attempting to clothesline me which I ducked and grabbed the back of his head and flipped him over me onto the floor.
Death Blow got up dazed but quickly regained his composure as I went in for a sucker punch. He caught the punch and smashed his elbow into the arm causing me to pull it back in pain but what he didn't expect was a spin kick that hit him square in the lower jaw and knocked him over on his side. I took the opportunity to use my line launchers to pull him into a right hook finally knocking out
"Jeez...Where does Iron Claw find these guys?" I asked as I finally entered the mob boss's office
"Welcome Nightfury.....looks like you have made it past my guards. Time for the final showdown"
To Be Continued....