Wretch

by GallantNavy

Chapter 2

Well this is a fine mess I found myself in. Tied down to a chair with a rag covering my eyes and a very painful hangover. I’m also pretty sure the wretch escaped too. And how was he able to flash so soon? Well I was still pretty smashed, I probably just lost track of the time while chasing him. But I suppose I would deal with that once I was free of this problem.

“Sir! We got somethin you might be interested in.”
“Oh? What might zat be?”

Who the buck was this guy? And why was he speaking in fancy? Damn it, it sucks to be blindfolded.

“We found him at your bar. He was doing some weird parlor tricks involving a light bulb and some wiring. He pulled off stunts with electricity that should have killed him. Yet here he is, alive and well.”

If my boss actually enjoyed chewing me out, then she would be having a hay day after these turn of events. At least a building wasn’t destroyed this time.

“What? Are you saying zat zis blue equestrian is a special?”
“That’s what we believe sir. He tore up the place after a brawl broke out. We caught him talking to himself in an abandoned building. Managed to catch him by surprise while he was still intoxicated.”

Well, seeing as I didn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon, I thought it would be good to get a better idea of the situation. Getting answers from these guys would take all my wit and all my cunning.

“Hey Dumbass! Where the buck am I?!”

Well actually only a mild amount of my wit and cunning. I received a good smack to the jaw as a reply.

“What a mouth zis one has… Hehe, he would do fine wiz us.”
“Look pal! I don’t know what I was just invited to, but I-” And I got another blow to the face. Suffice to say, I was starting to get a little ticked off at this point. My head pounding wasn’t helping me at all either.

“You will learn to only speak when spoken to soon enough my blue associate. Now what is your name?”
“How about you take this blindfold off first, then I might be more inclined to cooperate.”

Surprisingly enough, they actually did as I asked. After wincing at the light shining in through a hole in the ceiling, I was able to take stock of the situation. Now what was I dealing with? A warehouse full of burly ponies and griffins, my hammer nowhere in sight, and some stuck up looking griffin with a black twirly mustache. I’ll admit, this was probably the worst place to have a hangover.

After giving my captor a quick once over, a thought appeared in my head. Damn this guy was ugly.

“My name is Mr. Strap.”
“Interesting. And what might your first name be?”
“Jacques. I go by Jacques.”
“Oh hoho. I see you and I come from ze same culture Mr. Jacques Strap… Wait a minute.”

All his goons were trying their hardest to contain their giggles. I had no such problem as I didn’t even bother to. But it seemed the sound of my laughter was not something he appreciated. It wasn’t long before he was holding my head up by my mane and getting very close to my face.

“Now listen here you blue Shit! Do you have any idea who you are messing with?!”
“A very angry griffin?”
“Not just any angry griffin. I am Gustave le Grand. Part time baker, full time criminal mastermind and leader of The Grand Knights.”
“Uh huh. And this concerns me how?
“Simple you swine. My gang runs this city from it’s underbelly. But there are those out there who think they can muscle in on my business. More specifically Mulia and her donkeys. Which is why I need top notch stallions to, shall we say, take out the trash for me.”

I saw what he was getting at. He wanted me to destroy his competition. A good plan if I were to actually accept it. He then continued.

“You see, if I am to run her out of business for good, then we need to break into her warehouses and confiscate her goods. The only problem is that she has one of the finest security systems to date. Among its features is a high voltage security gate that protects her merchandise. Any creature unfortunate enough to pass through don’t live to tell about it. But if what my lackie says is true, then this shouldn’t be a problem for you.”

He was right, it wouldn’t be any trouble for me at all. Would probably feel like a message if anything.

“That’s all fine and dandy Gusta- Guste- Gusto?”
“Gustave le Grand!” He corrected angrily.
“Yeah, whatever. But the thing is, I’m gonna have to decline. You see, I tend to try not to get involved in gang wars and business dealings. So if you would be so kind as to untie me, I will-”

Another clonk on the noggin. I was getting really tired of this shit.

“You speak like you have a choice in the matter. Allow me to put it bluntly. You will do as I say, or I will kill you here and now.”
“Really? You’re gonna kill me? Haha, did you not listen to your coffee bitch a moment ago? I can do things that other ponies can’t. And what I did in the bar is but a mere fraction of it.”

He was looking pretty smug as I spoke, even went as far as pulling a cigar out of his shirt.

“Exactly why you would do well to do the job for me. Not only will you not be killed, but I will also pay you handsomely. Cigar?” He offered.
“First, I still decline. Second, I don’t smoke.”
“Ah, to bad. Most stallions find that a final puff helps them relax before the end.”

He then flicked his thumb up and had a small flame hovering above it. I couldn’t believe it. This punk was one of them. A Wretch! A Freak! An Abomination! Destroy! Destroy! Destroy! He used his hand to light his cigar, then took a long deep puff from it. Afterwards, he exhaled the smoke into my face.

“I have to say, you are much more brave than the other goons I bring here. Most would be on the verge of wetting themselves after seeing what I can do. Yet you look like you want to destroy the world.”

This plague has no right to live. Nothing but death is meant for his kind. That is how it is meant to be. That is how it should be!

“Listen here Gustave.”
“That’s Gustave le-”
“Shut it you fledgling!”

He didn’t take to kindly to that comment, as he moved his fist to give me another blow. I moved my forehead in the way to absorb the impact. My glare never wavered for a moment, even with the splitting headache.

“There are three things in this world that I hate above all else. The first is asparagus.” I scootched my seat closer to him. “The second is myself!” I moved my head right into his face. “The third are the cursed monsters like you that infect this land. The first I can deal with. The second I’ll handle at a later date. But the third-”

I then headbutted him in his beak. Not to smart on my part considering his beak was pretty damn hard, but it still produced the desired effect. He recoiled away while grasping his schnoz.

“The third I can take care of right now!”
“Argh! Maudit bâtard vache!”

While I have no idea what he said, I could only assume it meant that he was pissed. He held a talon out in front of himself and had it ignite. The other members of his gang started to back away, probably to not get caught in his crossfire.

“You shall burn like the trash you are!”

He then threw a ball of fire straight at me. If he expected me to sit back and take it, then he had another thing coming. With a quick hop of my chair, I managed to turn it around to allow the back of it to receive the flame, breaking the ropes in the process. I got up and started to dust myself off.

“Well this has been a fun experience chums, but I think it’s time I show you what my real profession is.”

Gustave simply gritted his teeth at my comment. “What are you idiots doing? Get him!”

Although hesitant at first, his grunts complied. They all charged at me but seemed to ignore a small fact. None of the stallions present were pegasi. With a flap of my wings I was in the air. In order to fight effectively, I would need to get outside.

“Quick! Seal all exits before he can escape!”

Huh, those bozos were smarter than they looked. They had doors shut and chained before I could reach them. Then I felt something pinch my back. I had no idea what it was, but it felt pretty damn good.

“Ha! You guys called me an idiot for buying this stun gun!”

A stun gun? Really? I take back my comment from earlier, these guys were all stupid. I flew straight towards him and socked him square in the jaw.

“I’m taking this dumbass.” I said as I picked up and pulled the trigger on the gun. While it didn’t provide the same energy as the storm, anything was helpful at this point. Suddenly, a griffin tried to dive bomb me. To which I responded with an electrically charged hoof in his stomach. He fell to the ground gasping in pain.

A stallion grabbed me from behind and tried to hold me there while his friend tried to buck me in the gut. A quick discharge got him off my back rather quickly and scared his pal away.

Let’s see, how many were left? One, two… Way to many. Damn it. I kinda wished Garden was there. Granted it would end with her chewing my face off, but at least I would of had some back up. My lack of a weapon wasn’t helping any either. Worst off, the electricity from that stun gun was being used up to rapidly. I needed my bucking hammer.

Armed with nothing but that chair I was strapped to earlier, I continued to try and fight off the swarm of grunts. During this time Gustave was watching quietly from a distance, probably waiting for a proper moment to strike. Well I decided to choose for him. After smacking another goon on the skull with my chair, I started flying straight at him.

He panicked as he tried to throw more fireballs at me. I may have been tired, but I still had the energy to evade them easily. When I finally reached the wretch, I had my chair in position ready to strike. To which he responded with a grin. Before I could perform a finishing blow, he threw both talons on the ground and created a towering inferno around himself that caused me to fly backwards towards the ground.

Before I could recover, the remaining gang members dog piled me. The last of my electricity was already spent, and I was way to tired to throw them off. I couldn’t break free from them. Gustave then proceeded to approach me, looking rather livid.

“This is the end of you.” He whispered, raising his flaming talon before him. I knew that there was no way I was getting out of this one. It was looking like my luck has finally run out.

At least that’s what I thought until I heard a pop.

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Its a wonder he hasn’t found me yet, laying here on the rafters above him, desperately trying to keep quiet while my body recovers what I just put it through. Well, relatively quiet anyway: Making quite a ruckus down there, he is. Probably because he’s still drunk, and my sudden disappearance wasn’t making any sense to him… Either that or it does make sense and he’s pissed he didn’t see that coming: It’s the reason he’s after me, after all.

My… Condition.

Yeah, lets call it that.

Y’see, I’m not quite a normal pegasus, not anymore. Not ever since the incident. That Celestia damned incident that made me into a freak. Made me hate myself. Put that bucking itch in the back of my head that hurts me in nearly every way possible every time I scratch it… And has saved my life a hoof-full of times since then.

I’m what I refer to as a “Blinker,” though I guess you could call me a “Porter” or anything similar if you wanted. It means I can instantly move from one location to another with just a thought, a scratch of that itch, without magic. Well, normal magic, anyway: I don’t have a horn to channel that stuff with. I honestly don’t understand just how it works, but I really don’t want to. It’s unnatural, no matter how you look at it: Pegasi aren’t meant to be able to teleport. I can teleport. I’m a pegasus. Thus, I must be unnatural.

Logic, how I love you so.

Anyway, most ponies would look at this as some kind of gift. I’m not most ponies. To me, its just another thing that keeps me from truly being at peace. Another thing that keeps me from fully opening up to others. Another oddity that sets me apart, isolates me, makes me feel like I don’t belong. And I didn’t need anything else doing that either, my blank-flank was enough, thankyouverymuch. But no, fate decided I needed another burden on my shoulders, and I don’t like it one bit.

But honestly, there’s nothing I can do about it aside from cope. Try to avoid it happening again. Ignore the itch. Because there’s another part of my “gift” that makes it suck even more:

It happens to hurt like Tatarus.

Seriously, every time I ‘port someplace its like somepony decides to slowly cut me up into little pieces, then melt them down and funnel them through a system of itty-bitty tubes into a mold on the other side where I have to wait to cool and harden before I can move again. Imagine feeling all that in the amount of time it takes you to blink your eyes, and now you’ve got an idea of what I have to deal with.

Yeah, teleportation isn't near as attractive when you’ve gotta torture yourself every time, right?

But still, like I said: It’s saved my life a couple times now… So if I’m honest with myself I don’t really have much room to complain: If I didn’t have this “gift” I wouldn’t be here right now.

Tatarus, I would’ve died twice over today already. So I’ll just quit my bitchn’ and get back to narrating and paying attention to my surroundings and stuff now, okay?

…

Damn, what did I miss?

That crazy pegasus from before, the one that nearly smashed my head like a pumpkin with his hammer? Yeah, he’s on the floor unconscious now, like, four stallions in a circle around him, all of them looking like they just got done with a fight that they had their work cut out for ‘em in. Did he piss somepony else off now? Well, I guess I don’t have to fear for my life anymore, now that he’s outta the picture…

Hold the phone…

Why are they dragging him off now? Did his piss off the mob?

…

Holy buck, he pissed off the mob. Rather, he pissed off “The Grand Knights,” current most dangerous gang on the streets of Chicagoat… What? It pays to know who to look out for when you’re going off on a job assignment, right, and I’m not a Chicagoat native: I’m from Cloudsdale. The only reason I’m here is to help make sure the new rainbow production facility that just got started here a few months back knows what their doing, as per my job.

Anyway, The Knights are not a good group to associate with, highly dangerous, highly controlling. Been engaging in war after war to take up as much turf as possible, but nopony really knows why. Heck, nopony even knows where they came from, they’re a greenhorn gang that’s only been on the scene for like six months, but they’re probably one of the most deadly Chicagoat’s seen in years.

…

Alright, I maaaaaaaaaaaaay have made a hobby out of keeping up on what goes on in the underbellies of large cities. I blame my father for that.

…

And now I’m about to do something really stupid. This is too good of an opportunity to pass up: Tailing these guys to find out where The Knights have set up. Maybe find out a little more about why they’re trying to run everypony else outta the underbelly. Or maybe figure out why they want Blue for, he didn’t seem like the type to really start trouble back before the brawl. Then he was just a freaking insane plot-kicking machine..

Shivering at the memory of him chasing after me, bound and determined to smash my skull in, I slowly glide down from the rafters that I’d been hiding in. Emphasis on slowly: I’m still sore as buck from Blinking up there in the first place. Once I’m safely on the floor, I take a look around at just how much damage the fight I completely ignored was happening had caused. Scorch marks are just about everywhere, and the smell of ozone is strong.

“Why does it smell like somepony bucked a thunderhead into vapor down here?” I ask nopony in particular, knowing full and well the smashed boxes and barren walls won’t answer my question. My brain, however, decides it will by bringing back the memory of my would-be murderer’s sparking hammer.

Which reminds me of what he had done with that light bulb and stuff back at the bar.

Which reminds me of how most ponies he hit would stay down after one punch or buck, shaking and stuff.

Which leads me to one, rather jarring conclusion.

“He’s like me.”