I opened my eyes slowly. As I regained my senses, I was instantly struck by a massive headache that made me instinctively grab my head. Huh? Well, I would grab my head if I could. Something was restraining my movements. Was I pinned to some table? I wasn't sure. My eyes still could only make out some hazy colors, but it was so blurry my vision was useless.
"Hello?" I tried to say. My throat was so dry that only weak croak left me.
"Oi! Is she up?" a gruff female voice asked another.
"Guess so, she's squirming back there," an even gruffer voice responded.
I could hear some movement around me. Soon, a thin woman with a purple bandanna over her face came into my vision. I blinked at her and she blinked back with her glowing red eyes. She had purple hair that was longer in the front than the back and she had two swords crisscrossed on her back. I could barely make out some sort of white hoodie that had orange lines running through it.
"Hey! You okay?" she asked and tapped my arm.
"Who are you?" I barely uttered.
"Oh, come on! I'm Scootaloo! Remember? You're Akay Yearling and-"
"I know who I am!" I tried to yell, but my voice was still weak. "Scoots?"
"There ya go!" she patted me. "Don't ya worry, ya gonna be fine. Some Ahuizotl punk tried to off you with some berserk juice, but we tied ya down."
"Berserk juice?" I squinted in confusion.
"I can see ya still a lil' off by this. Hang tight, Vinyl's at the wheel and we headin' back to base."
When she said this, my body took a lurch. We were in a van and I was not on a table, but an oversized seat! After the wheels went over the large bump, my head hurt even worse. A moan left my throat, much to the woman's amusement. I started to remember now. We were in Manehatten and on a mission. What was the mission? I couldn't remember it right away.
"What were we doing?" I asked.
"Tryin' to hook in a generator that powers Ahuiztol Industries," Scoots explained. "They knew we were comin' though and ya got shot by a sniper. Vinyl couldn't get in the power and so we left. We're gonna have to stay away from these parts of town for some days now."
"I got shot?" I asked worriedly. "Where?"
"Oh, nothin' but a dart," she pointed at my arm. "The sniper for some reason used darts that have berserk juice, a chemical that makes people go insane. Sniper got ya right in the arm and ya tried to kill us."
Vinyl called from the driver seat. "The sniper is a girl named Rosy Thorne, a Templar operative. It ain't the first time we met."
Ah yes, the Templar. That was who we were fighting. I was starting to regain my strength and I gestured to Scoots to untie me from the seat I was in. Scoots understood and extended a wrist blade from under her hoodie sleeves. In no time she cut me free.
"Got some water?" I asked.
Scoots reached towards the front seats and grabbed a soda drink we had gotten from a gas station earlier. I quickly drank not because I was thirsty, but because my throat was painfully parched. After a few swallows, my voice had come back to full strength.
"We messed up didn't we? I mean, how did they know we were coming?" I said.
"That's what I'm tryin' to figure out," Vinyl spoke as she made a hard left turn. "Bastards usually never know where we are. I guess they hacked into a network or something."
"They didn't chase us neither," Scoots followed. "We're close to the hideout now and no Ahuizotl goons came after us. The police probably will be suspicious though." She turned to Vinyl. "But that's why you're driving, right? Ya gotta make us look like we're not being chased, right?"
"Shut it!" Vinyl snapped. "I'm not going that fast."
She made another tight turn, making slide me in my seat. I was thankful they had put the seatbelt on me as I would have already fallen out otherwise. I rubbed my head as the memories started to slowly crawl back in. I knew my name and I knew the two women in the van, but I had to force myself to remember anything more. Why were we fighting the Templar? Why was I involved? I ran a hand through my thick black and grey hair. It was going to be a long day...
"We are the Sons of Discord," I forced myself to speak. "We are the new Assassins. There is no Creed, no special tenets to follow. Uhh...Discord is our leader. He is the Bearer of Chaos..."
"And you're the youngest here," Scoots helped. "Because Vinyl and I are immortal. See? Ya starting to remember!"
"And the Templar want Absolute Order, we want...we want..."
"Chaos!" Scoots excitedly finished for me. "We make sure the world never stops moving. Ever since Vinyl and Discord found us 500 years ago, we've been helping the world turn on and on. You are the newest member to one of the oldest conspiracy teams in existence!"
"Because I know about the Elements of Harmony," I concluded.
"Yup!" she clapped. "I can see the berserk juice's effects are wearing off." She snapped her finger. "Oh! I almost forgot to give you back your phone. I took it when ya yet crazy."
She reached in her pocket and handed me a slender smartphone. Yes, this was my biggest weapon. The Sons of Discord were not like the Assassins of old, they didn't use smoke or daggers, but hacking and guns. This was my most vital tool to survival. The world I lived in was all connected. Computers, cameras, power lines, telephones, traffic lights, everything. This phone was my hacking device. It was specially designed and programmed to hack into just about anything. I could take any private information if I wanted to. I could turn a city block off with a touch of a button. I could ruin anyone's life without even breaking a sweat. I thought I held ultimate power when I used the Elements of Harmony, but that was until they gave me this innocent looking but devilish device.
"Thanks," I simply said when she handed it to me.
"No problem, Sis," Scoots said. I now remembered how often she called me "sis" or "sister."
A voice was heard in the headset in my ear. I was a bit startled by it, but I soon recognized the masculine voice. It was Neon Lights's voice, another member of the Sons of Discord.
"I see you guys got out of there. At least that, am I right?"
"Yeah, baby," Vinyl answered. "Didn't get it done, but eh, we can try a different time."
Neon was not only a high-ranking member, but also Vinyl's boyfriend. I didn't know if they ever married in their 500 years of being together. From Octavia's writings and some of Loyalty's memories, Neon was a pirate and a friend of Rainbow Dash way back when. From how he was portrayed by Octavia, he did not change much in the recent centuries. That couldn't be said for Vinyl or Scoots.
I rubbed my face again as the headache only slightly subsided. All of a sudden, my vision turned a blurry blue. Scoots and Vinyl were glowing a solid yellow as everything else faded into one shade of blue or another. Just as fast as it came, it left and mad my vision was normal again. It flashed again here and there, but after rubbing my eyes, it was all gone.
"More memory flashes?" Scoots asked sincerely.
"Yeah," I answered.
After dealing with the Elements of Harmony, I had gained some of their abilities permanently. I could see things in Elemental Vision. It was like blocking out everything that was distracting and only highlighting things and people that actually mattered. It was hard to explain. I could not control it well either. Just like now, they had been popping up when I least expect it.
"I'm sure Discord could take that stuff away if you become a Survivor of Chaos," Scoots suggested.
"No!" I harshly answered. "I'll never be a Survivor. I don't care that Discord gave ya guys immortality and glowing red eyes, I am just fine the way I am, okay?"
"Fine. No need to get defensive, Akay," she crossed her arms.
"We're here, losers," Vinyl told them.
The van went down a ramp and through what looked like a garage door. I leaned forward to see through the windshield. I braced for impact when I saw a speed bump coming towards us and Vinyl refused to slow down. Her reckless driving made the vehicle bounce up and down, making my already terrible headache even worse.
"Hasn't 500 years of living taught you how to drive?" I growled at the blue-haired woman.
"Ha! Ya think my driving's bad? Pfft, you haven't seen bad driving then."
"Well, it could be better."
"Ya should have seen Vinyl drive Model T's," Scoots laughed. "That was the worst."
The van came to a sudden stop as Vinyl slammed on the brakes. Scootaloo, who had not been wearing her seatbelt, flew into the front seat she had been behind. With a curse, she rubbed her head at the spot where it collided with the hard seat. Vinyl wasted no time in jumping out of the van and opening the back doors.
I unbuckled my seatbelt and exited the van through the same back doors. We were in some dark garage with no windows and only a concrete floor. Scoots followed me out and we both checked our phones. From the lack of nearby signals except one, our location in the city was pretty remote. The nearest cellphone signals were about half a mile away.
The signal that was just a few meters from us was Neon Lights. He came from some back door in the hideout and his face was lit up by the cigarette in his mouth and the glowing red eyes under his long black hair. As he approached us, he removed it from his lips and let out a stream of smoke from his crooked nostrils. The flame-shaped tattoos on his arms could still be seen well in the low light.
"Missed me?" Vinyl smiled at her boyfriend.
"Like always," he grinned back, showing yellow teeth. "Now, about this mission..."
"It wasn't our fault, Neon!" Scoots huffed. "We uhh...well..."
"Discord won't be pleased," Neon shook his head. "But hey, when is he ever?"
"It was my fault," I said. "Made a rookie mistake and took a hit." I knew that this was probably not true, but I only thought it would be a reasonable excuse.
"Cameras didn't show that," Neon raised a thick brow. "But hey, you've been on the team for less than a month, ya still gettin' the ropes."
"Yeah," I awkwardly responded.
I then looked about. There wasn't much in this hideout. We had many bases like it spread throughout all of Equestria. Small refuges where we could gather our thoughts and equipment for another showing tomorrow. The networks indicated I was in southern Manehatten on the mainland and not on the large island where most of the city was located. I probably could see Manehatten Bay from where I was, but the hideout had no windows, so I couldn't tell for sure.
"So what's the plan?" I asked.
"Come along and you'll see," Neon gestured at us to follow.
We all followed him down a small hallway and then through a tall but thin door. On the other side was just what I expected. It was a single round room with a bunch of monitors on a center table. Computers, screens, TVs, and just about anything else could be found there. Along the walls were three huge screens. One had the Equestrian stock market, one had a news station, and the last one was turned off. From a woofer speaker played electronic music that Neon was so fond of. Just like all the Sons of Discord, he loved loud music.
"Nice setup," I said over the music.
"Yup, pays to be a Son of Discord," he laughed.
He flopped into a computer chair and made the wheels take him over to the table. Vinyl bobbed her head to the beat of music and kept close to him. Scoots and I stayed back a little and crossed our arms. I had been in this situation before and all I wanted to hear was the briefing on the next mission.
Without turning down the volume, he shouted to us from the table. "So, we couldn't hack into Ahuizotl's generator, right? Tough luck and all, but we can't give up just like that. While you guys were gone, I found out some details on an Ahuizotl Templar named Abacus Cinch. She's an old coot and looks it too. Hehe. Well, anyway, she's got a private mansion just west of here. It's about two hours away."
"And what does this have to do with anything?" I asked.
"I was gettin' there lass," he chuckled. "Oh wait, you blokes don't say 'lass.' Whatever. In short, she's got a shard locked up in her mansion."
Vinyl seemed surprised. "Shard? Wow, the Templar just have one over there?"
"Yup."
Scoots rolled her eyes. "How ya know if that's true? I hope you don't send us on a wild cockatrice chase."
"A Discord supporter told me about it. He uhh...texted me."
"Neon!" I facepalmed. "That isn't a lead."
"Wait!" he pointed a scarred finger at me. "It is! He sent me a link also of things inside Cinch's mansion. Apparently she's got a private collection that was started by her great-great-grandfather. I also followed her ancestry. All of them were known Templar and Templar affiliates. Her having a shard isn't unlikely. We just need to find out which shard it is."
"How we do that?" Vinyl seemed exasperated.
"Easy, we break in and steal the shite and then identify it later," Neon nodded. "We could easily hack her security and take out any guards. We're Assassins, we used to do this stuff without electronics. It's gonna be easy compared to most things we do."
"I hear ya," Scoots said. "Give us the address and we'll get to it. Shard or no shard, if we get to kill us some Templar, I'm all game."
"That's the spirit!" Neon smiled. He then pressed some buttons on his phone. "There, I gave ya the address. When ya get done, could ya get me a six pack on the way back?"
"I got ya," Vinyl patted him on the shoulder.
"Thanks babe. Now, ya better get some guns. We got some rifles in the closet. Some night-vision goggles as well."
"Hehe, with pleasure," Vinyl winked.
*.*