Strike 53- When they come for me
When Lightning Strikes- When they come for me
Manehattan, New Yoke
The moment that he was trotting down the street in Downtown Manehattan, 47 was already beginning his hunt for the targets he was assigned to eliminate. Despite the sudden abrupt appearance of an enthusiastic mare calling him out… nopony really seemed to pay a lot of attention. They were all just either self absorbed in their own personal bubble, with some wearing earbuds to block out the noise of all the urban chaos around them. Something that he himself was also doing right now. But instead of listening to music or the news, he was listening a briefing from his handler, Diana.
“Welcome to Manehattan, 47. This city is well known for it’s bustling hoof traffic and activity around the city, so you should have no trouble with blending in with your surroundings. Our intel has picked up some information stating that our targets are going to meet each other later this afternoon, but could not find out where the meeting is taking place or the purpose of it. I advise that you look for a higher than normal security presence in any particular area that does not consist of officers from the Manehattan Police Department while also reaching a supply cache left for you in an abandoned housing complex, if you need it of course. The building has been marked nearby and it’s in one of the more… poorer parts of the city and it painted rather brightly. Good Luck, 47.”
With the briefing finished, the stallion crossed the street at the crosswalk he was at and began to make his way through an empty alleyway. Once on the other side of the alley, he now began to notice some of the much… older housing complex’s that were in the urban side of Manehattan and how most of the homes were painted different shades of colors that resembled bricks while others were a rather light shade of grey. Though, the one home that was most certainly different from the others because it’s color was a rather faded yellow shade. It was the sight of the safehouse that he was informed about.
For this mission, most of the items he would normally carry with him had to be placed in the supply cache that was in the abandoned building. Leaving him with carrying a lockpick, several coins and also the garrote wire he would normally keep with him. Other items, such as firearms, explosive charges and also poison would be in the cache in order to avoid suspicion. Trotting across another street, he soon approached the door that was at the side of the housing complex and used the lockpick to get inside. Once upstairs, he was able to acquire several different tools that he would need to carry out the assassination, including explosive charges that were triggered by a motion sensor and a pistol with the silencer attachment on it.
Not a moment too soon though, did he hear something from the window that caught his attention. Outside of the building and under the open window were two ponies, dressed in what almost looked like military equipment, but not of the same origin as that of the police department, that was for some. So… he decided to listen in. “Hey, we got a notice just now from the boss. They found an adept running out of Restaurant Row and trying to find its whereabouts now.” One of the two stallions below said, which, did not sit well with their partner.
“Ugh, again? Do we really need to try and capture every single adept in this goddess damned city?” The second stallion spoke up. “I mean, sure we’re getting a lot of benefits out of it, but some of the stuff that these guys are giving us are experimental. Don’t you remember how Brass Hoof got blown apart when he tried to use his rifle after it overheated?”
“That was an accident. The guy was more focused on trying to get his job done and not take any precautions… Besides, that one mare working with the boss is going to be conducting a field test with the same equipment this afternoon.”
“Seriously? Where?”
“At a former power plant that shut down a long time ago a little ways past Second Avenue and Faust Street. I know the place because I used to work there before the company there went bankrupt after the freaking plant had a meltdown sixteen years ago or something.” At that point, 47 stopped listening to the two stallions who were talking and now made a note of the location. Second Avenue and Faust Street.
Which was also followed up by his handler soon speaking to him through his earbuds. “Interesting… It appears that the group that Morningstar is in charge of has been given some experimental tech by the Sumeragi Group, but the older versions of the weapons had caused some self inflicted casualties because of the main core of the weapons exploding after overheating too much… Silk Thread is planning to give a demonstration with a new shipment at the abandoned power plant outside the city . A little bit of sabotage can not only eliminate Ms. Thread, but also destroy the weapons. Going out with a bang as they say.”
Meanwhile…
The instant that Saffron took off and ran, both Lance and Aya began to chase after the mare through the streets and alleys of Manehattan. However, it was only a short while after commencing the chase that they realized that the unicorn was much faster than either of them were. Forcing Lance to try and call in some extra help from Teal in order to try and somehow track her.
Luckily though, it did not take long for Teal to find Saffron and after five minutes, she discovered where she was hiding. “Found her… your speedy friend is hiding out at an run down power plant not far from your location. It’s only her that’s there from what I can tell, but I’ll be keeping watch and let you guys know if something’s up.”
“Thanks Teal. You have an address for the factory?” Lance then asked as he looked back at Aya for a moment while waiting to hear a response.
“Yeah, it should be past the intersection between Second Avenue and Faust Street. It’s not far from your current location. Good luck you guys.” Teal replied, before cutting off communication as the adept looked back towards Aya for a moment.
“Do you still need a bit of time to catch your breath or are you alright?” He asked Aya out of concern.
“No, do you?” Aya replied. “My body isn’t fragile. I can run a marathon.”
“I’m alright. I just thought I would ask since she outran both of us like she was a cheetah on the serengeti.” The Adept spoke up before looking back at her for a moment. “Let’s go find that plant. I’ll let you take the lead since I’m not too familiar with the streets around here.”
“It’s quite a ways away. Outside of the city, in fact.” Aya said. “But we’ll need a ride. Give me a second…” Brea pulled out a phone and began texting. Two minutes later, an armored police transport came from around a corner with the initials of MIST on the side in white.
“Wow… I… gotta admit, that’s pretty awesome if I do say so myself.” The Azure Striker admitted as he looked back at Aya.
“I wish I could’ve had my own car, but it’s still being made.” Aya replied as she walked over to the transport and opened the back doors, where there was no one inside. “We have a small number of vehicles since we’re still waiting for Celestia’s seal of approval for the funding. Paperwork is a bore.”
“Sorry to hear about that,” Lance said as he sat down in the back of the car. “It’s been way too long since I last had a ride in one of these… then again, the last time I did ride in a vehicle, it wasn’t an experience that I want to remember.”
“Well, let’s make this a better time.” Aya replied as she slammed the doors shut. She knocked on the wall, signaling the driver to move. “I told them the coordinates. Shouldn’t be long.”
Upon realizing that Aya wasn’t the one who was at the wheel, the Adept now had a completely… different question to ask her. “Wait… Who’s the driver?”
“Limestone. She’ll assist if we need a pair of hooves, but that’s only in case of emergencies.” Aya replied. “Now, we wait…” Lance personally was relieved when he heard that it was Limestone who was driving. The last time he had been the passenger in a vehicle was when he was still trying to help out Suicune a long time ago… and back then, it was Pinkie Pie trying to drive a makeshift UNSC warthog while being completely oblivious to the passengers in the back of the car… and almost causing Lance to get motion sickness.
Thankfully though, this car ride was not like before and they were able to make their way over to the abandoned power plant in one piece. Upon stepping out of the car and seeing it for himself, this began to give him a few flashbacks to when he had originally landed in the abandoned power plant outside of Maretropolis. The same one that had Zapp gain her powers. Though, it wasn’t a good idea to assume that the same thing happened here. “Well… this is promising. Ready, Aya?”
“One second…” Aya replied, looking at her phone. “Apparently this place had a meltdown kinda like what happened over in Maretropolis, only this place didn’t use electricity. It used Nuclear fusion. So we should be careful, lord knows how much radiation is left over.”
That… caught him by surprise as he asked a new question now. “How long ago was the meltdown?”
“Sixteen years ago. There was a huge fiasco where this area was evacuated, and only seven years ago did the authorities contain it.” Aya read from her phone. That… just had Lance curious for a bit before thinking of something else inside his head. Yet, he then turned his attention back to the factory and think of a different question.
“Okay… now the only thing that confuses me is why would Saffron want to run all the way here? Even with the radiation…” Lance pointed out. All Aya did though was just shrug her shoulders as he sighed for a moment before both of them carefully entered the complex. There was only half of the front door at the facility since it seemed as if the other half was completely melted off. Something that made Lance partially curious… and partially concerned about what else would they find once they were inside.
However, the second they stepped through the door… that was when they saw something that caught them by surprise and even made Lance look at Aya in utter confusion. “Is that… a lion?”
“What…” Aya asked, not processing. “The… F*ck!?” The moment that she said that, the lion that was there ran off to the back of the room near the stairwell before disappearing in a cloud of dust. It was something that neither of them expected… but the lion wasn’t the only one in the room. On one of the railings above them was another animal perched up and looking over at them, this time with it being a hawk. Before either of them could do anything, the hawk took off from it’s perch and flew down to the same stairwell where they saw the lion disappear.
One by one, several different animals made an appearance. Even some of them going through Lance and Aya, but not actually touching them. In fact, it just felt like a soft wind rolling over them. The only consistency being that they all disappeared as soon as they went up the stairwell. Which, in turn… had Lance go up the stairs and follow them as each one of the spiritual animals, no matter big or small, made their way to a broken down office along the catwalk of the second floor.
“It’s okay! We don’t want to hurt you! We just want to talk!” Aya called out. “I know what you’re going through!” Lance wanted to believe that, but he was still unsure of what exactly were they going to find once they actually went inside the office. But… when they got to it… they didn’t find her… but they found something else that was on top of the table as he walked over to see what it was.
It was a picture frame… and inside it… was a picture of a young filly that was hugging her mother as they were smiling at the camera. Yet… it was a few seconds later that he realized something. “Aya… you might want to have a look at this.”
“Huh, well… I think I know why she came here…”
“Do you?” It was then that both of them turned around, only to see the distressed unicorn mare at the door to the room… with a spirit like fox on her shoulder.
“Lance… Why were we chasing her again?” Aya suddenly asked.
“To try and help her…” Lance sighed, before looking back at Saffron. “Saffron… why did you run? We want to help you, so why did you run?” The mare looked away for a moment as the fox on her shoulder dropped down and disappeared, but after taking a moment, she try to keep herself composed as the unicorn spoke up.
“I… am scared… Not of myself… or what I can do… but of what might happen,” She told both of them. “When I was just a little filly, my mother used to work in this plant and provide for my father and I… but when the meltdown happened, she wasn’t able to make it out in time. My father is all that I have… the restaurant that we own is something that we built with our own hooves from the ground up… but now, we’re finding it harder and harder to find customers and keep it open… It only gets worse when they are on the hunt.”
The last part… caught their attention as the Adept soon asked her a question that just formed on his mind. “They?”
“The Jackals…” She said, looking back at both of them. “A few months ago, they were just a small group of criminals that were doing petty crimes… But when they got a new leader, they soon began to terrorize members of the community that my father and I call home. What’s worse… whenever we saw somepony acquire powers… they were immediately taken by them. Using weapons that we have not seen before and put the police department at a complete disadvantage… Now, I fear that they are coming for me and to take me away from my father… and he’s not the same as before.”
“What do you mean?” The Adept now asked, looking back at her as she tried to hold back the tears a bit.
“He has a very bad heart condition… CHD,” Saffron spoke up, which made Lance’s own heart skip a beat upon hearing that. “He’s on the waiting list for a heart transplant, but we don’t have anything to pay it for. We only get a little amount of money each month and either have to put it towards keeping a roof over our heads or medical treatments. And with his condition getting worse, I fear what would happen if I’m not there for him and something bad happens.”
“We’ll deal with the Jackals…” Aya said, her eyes narrowing into a glare.
“You can’t… not on your own…” She insisted. Which, lead to Aya coming up with a quick and rhetorical response as Lance noticed a small window nearby and saw something flicker from outside.
“I have an entire team dedicated to this. I have powers just like you, and I’m sure that my division and I can handle them.” Despite Aya assuring this to Saffron and the Unicorn feeling uneasy about it, Lance himself then thought of a different question to ask for a moment.
“Saffron… what were the powers that you demonstrated? Is it based on the animals we saw?” To this question, both of them now noticed Saffron glow a bit as each one of the animal spirits that they saw earlier were now standing behind her.
“Yes… My powers aren’t like that of the ones the heroes in Maretropolis or Manehattan…” She told them both, looking back at them for a moment. “I have the power to take on the aspects of different animals in nature… Animal Mimicry. When I ran, that was the speed of the cheetah. When I broke the robber’s weapons in the restaurant, that was strength of the elephant… and earlier, I used the Cunning of the fox to hide from both of you and appear behind you.”
“And when you are stressed… the animals you call upon are visible?” The Adept asked, who gave them a reassuring nod. “Saffron… I-”
“Lance, we got a problem!” A voice blared from the communicator on his wrist. “You got enemies the size of a small army swarming in on your location now! And to make things worse, they’re outfitted with Sumeragi tech!” Hearing that caused Saffron’s eyes to widen as she hurried to a nearby window to see for herself.
That was when they heard her say something that put a chill down their spine. “They’re here.”
Aya pressed a button on her phone and held it up to her ear. “Lt. Pie, we have company. Stall them until I’ve arrived.” She ordered, before hanging up. “I’ll deal with them. Lance, stay here and guard her.” Lance nodded for a moment… before something came up on his communicator.
“Uh guys…… We got a different problem here,” Teal then added to the conversation. “I just ran facial recognition on some of them and one of them is actually a member of the Manehattan Police Department. Secondly, the pony that looks to be in charge was once second in command of the terrorist group, Iron Hoof-” And at that moment, he heard Aurora scream and the comms went down.
“Teal? Teal!?” Lance tried reaching her before closing the call. “Crap, comms are down…” That was before he looked back at Saffron and Aya for a moment before thinking of an idea. “Saffron, did this place used to have a security room?”
“Yeah, but this place hasn’t had power in years-”
“I think I can help with that…” The Adept told her, looking back at Aya and explaining what he was talking about. “If the systems run on electricity, I can tap in and take control of some of the security camera’s in the building. With that, I can tell Aya where they’ll be coming from so she can deal with them as quickly as possible. But I’ll also need your help too.”
“M-my help?” She asked, nervous to hear what he had in mind.
“If we can use your spirit animals to point out targets for Aya, it might help with taking down huge groups of foes the best way possible-” It was at this moment that they heard an explosion come from the front of the plant, shaking the catwalk they were on.
“I-i can try…” She mumbled, shortly before guiding Lance to where the old security room was in the back of the facility and providing Aya the chance for her to get herself armed and ready.
Outside, Limestone watched as the massive amount of soldiers in combat gear began to swarm in on all sides of the abandoned facility. A little while ago, she had tried to contact Aya to get back in touch with her, but was unable to reach her by communications. She had no clue what to do in order to know that she was okay as the earth pony waited for the rest of her team to arrive, but took the time to use some of the resources in the truck to analyze the foes that they were up against.
But… there seemed to be some complications with that plan once two of the guards she was surveying spotted the vehicle. “Hey boss, we got something nearby that looks like the size of a freaking armored transport. I think somepony is spying on us.”
That most certainly caught the attention of the pony that Limestone assumed to be their ‘boss’ as he noticed it. “Well, get off your flanks and go investigate. You two are not going to get anything done by just standing around!”
“On it, boss!” Both guards shouted out as they began to carefully approach the transport. Weapons at the ready in case whatever was inside came out and attacked them.
When they rounded the transport, they were surprised to find that there was nopony there. “The buck-?”
The moment that the first guard spoke up though… was also when he was bucked in the face seconds later. Dropping to the ground and catching the attention of the second guard, who also received a buck to the face before he could fire his weapon. Limestone then appeared in an instant.
“You were truly an inspiration…” Limestone sarcastically remarked, rolling her eyes as she stripped them of their weapons, went over to open the back doors of the armored truck and tossed the stallions into it. She locked it before turning invisible once more and moving closer to the newcomers. Before overhearing a couple of them speak.
“You ever heard from the two guys who went to check out that… makeshift carnival float over there?”
“No, and who cares about them anyways? All I have heard from them was complaining about not being treated respectfully. I mean, since when was this organization a daycare for crybabies?”
“Not from my understanding… yet, I remember Rockbreaker coming back from taking a wizz recently, but he’s acting a bit different… A lot colder than usual. And that’s not normal for him.”
“Still, we should make sure Silk Thread’s all prepared. The moment she gives us the demonstration on how to use these weapons, we break in there seconds later. God, who knew that a group of assholes like Sumeragi could come up with this kind of tech?” With that, one of the guards left while the other one just maintained his post. Not even noticing that of Limestone hiding nearby.
‘Stall, stall, stall…’ Limestone thought to herself, looking around desperately. It was a few moments later that she soon noticed somepony that, in her mind, was possibly this Silk Thread that the soldiers here were talking about. After all, her mane and tail took almost looked exactly like white silk and her cutie mark was that of a Silk Thread going through a sharp needle. She now trotted towards where the gate of the original facility would’ve been if the power plant was still operational, but now was addressing the attention of all the ponies that were there.
“Alright, everypony listen up!! We got a high priority target that is taking refuge inside this old plant. Normally, the possibility of radiation would be a concerned, but with the protecting provided by our… employer, so to speak, this should not be a problem. They also provided us with high functioning weapons that we will be using to capture the target and eliminate the others inside.” She was then preparing the weapon for a demonstration, but just as she was about to fire it, something occurred that caught Limestone by surprise.
The weapon short circuited, causing an explosion just as the mare realized the problem. The force of the blast threw her against the transport against the vehicle and threw everypony else off guard. Including the one that Limestone had seen the others refer to as ‘Boss’ from inside the vehicle. “Everypony spread out!! We’re going to breach and make those bastards PAY for what they did!!”
“Target eliminated. A rather… explosive end if I do say so myself… now to Morningstar.”
Limestone sighed. ‘Welp, time to distract…’ With that, she jumped into a group of enemy soldiers, dropping her disguise and shooting two constant beams of energy, and spinning. The soldiers around her dropped instantly, their heads severed from their bodies. ‘Eight. A bit of a disappointing kill count.’
“What the hell-?!” Another one shouted. “Boss, we got another one!! Some grey mare just dropped half of Squad A!”
“The Hell do you-?!” They heard back, before then hearing something else. “Oh bloody hell… That’s NOT an Adept! That’s the daughter of Igneous Pie! The Devil of Light!! All forces, use defensive countermeasures and work on that breach!! I’m coming out there now!!!”
“Hahaha!” Limestone burst out laughing, using her beams of to vaporize three other soldiers. Afterwards, she jumped onto another one and smacked his face with a glowing hoof, causing him to scream.
“Ah! I can’t see!” Limestone then bashed his head into the ground, and afterwards jumped behind cover from an onslaught of bullets. As she pressed her back against the crate, she panted heavily and attempted to calm herself.
‘Don’t go overboard… Even if Marble isn’t here…’ Limestone thought as she shook violently. However, her break was short lived when she felt something slam against the ground and caused the crate to move. Turning back to see an eagerly pissed off earth pony with a spiky mane as he growled at her.
“There you are…”
“Took the world right out of my-” Limestone began, but was cut off when she was forced to dodge an incoming hoof. “Mouth… Well, pleasure to meet you mister...”
“Pleasures all mine… Your father left quite an impact on many ponies in more than just Metropolis, little mare…” He growled, glaring at her. “He was the reason I lost everything. My family… friends… I once followed someone who could get me revenge, but that did not work… Now though… Thanks to Sumeragi…” At this point, Limestone watched as a faceguard soon appeared over the Stallion's head as she noticed something on the armor.
‘Project Delirious’
“I’m going to enjoy SNAPPING YOU LIKE A TWIG!!!”
“You think I didn’t suffer from that stallion too? My mother died and I was used as a lab rat. I watched my younger sister get turned into black slime…” Limestone said with a yawn. “Honestly I’d love to help you kill my father, but that’s really impossible now, is it?” The only answer she got was a hoof to the face that sent her flying against a concrete wall. Blood spewed from Limestone’s mouth as she screamed in pain, her eyes wide with pain.
“Bastard…” Limestone choked, shuddering in pain as she pulled herself out of the rubble and wiped her mouth. “The tartarus have I ever… D-done to you…?”
“My wife was on a team of agents sent to capture your father… only to be cut down by a filly who was able to use light.”
Limestone froze. “Oh… I remember her…” The grey mare sighed. “I made sure to kill her slowly… Not that I had a choice in the matter, but still.” An insane grin spread across Limestone face as she began to chuckle darkly to herself. One of the camera’s along the outside of the building soon focused on them as it caught the attention of who was controlling them.
“Aya, we got a problem… You mentioned that Limestone Pony that is on your team right?” Lance said, concentrating his Septima on the computers that were tied into the security system while Saffron was nearby. “Well, she just killed a handful of the Jackals outside and their leader threw her against a wall.”
“So?” Aya asked on the comms. “I saw it. And I’m ready to assist her.”
“You sure you won’t get in the crossfire?” The adept asked, only realizing something once he zoomed in a bit more. “Because she… doesn’t look as composed as when I saw her before. She almost looks like she’s gone completely insane.”
“I’ll be fine. And Limestone does have some psychotic tendencies. She’ll be alright when I deal with the one who’s hurting her though.”
Lance himself heard what Aya said, but there was something else he was concerned about as he looked closer as the suit that the stallion was wearing. “That… may be difficult. It looks like the suit that he’s wearing is enhancing his strength, speed and other senses. Not to mention that it’s Bulletproof and is Sumeragi gear… which only stops working if the suit short circuits…”
It was then though that both Aya and Lance heard something that… caught them by surprise. This time… from Saffron. “Let me help with that…”
“It’s okay, I’m not using bullets.” Aya said.
Aya walked out of the front door and inhaled deeply. She then picked up her RPG and made her way to where Limestone and the stallion who was attacking her.
“Sir, I have to ask you to step out of the illegal battle suit and surrender yourself this instant or I’ll have to use deadly force!” Aya shouted. The only response that she did get though was when the stallion stomped on the ground to have a chunk of earth the size of a minivan rise from the ground… before throwing it in Aya’s direction.
“You stay OUT of this!!!”
Aya jumped out of the way effortlessly. “You think you're so important, don’t you? Your wife died, so what do you do? You take matters into your own hooves and make others suffer. The legal system’s supposed to handle out justice, and you’re making things harder for them, which in q makes your wife's death pointless and meaningless.” Aya said in a way that only a mother could as Limestone slipped away in the stallions distraction.
“They failed at justice…” He growled, seeing the mare try to run as he then gave an order. “Open fire!”
“You heard the Boss! LIGHT EM UP, BOYS!!!” One of the soldiers yelled as all of the Jackal’s weapons were aimed at Aya as several blasts flew past her. Almost hitting her if she didn’t move out of the way in time. Aya then shot her RPG at the soldiers, causing a massive explosion, killing all but a few stragglers.
“The justice system may not be perfect… But it’s ponies like you who cause it to fail.” Aya then, in an instant, reloaded her RPG. “Morningstar, you have failed Equestria!”
“Say that to my FACE!! I DARE YOU!!!” He roared, one of the gauntlets around his hoof vibrating as Aya heard Lance speak to her.
“Aya, jump! He’s going to destroy the ground!!” Aya took Lance’s advice and leaped off of the ground. She then, to Lance’s shock, thrusted herself straight into Morningstar’s suit with a stream of fire coming from her hand.
“You have failed!” She shouted, firing her RPG point blank. The resounding explosion sent Aya flying, an unseen force field around her dissolving.
“... Okay, when the hell did you learn that? That was freaking awesome!” Lance asked, just as Aya was beginning to get back on her feet. Turning around, she was surprised to see that somepony had already gotten to some of the other troops. But it wasn’t Limestone, it was Saffron… and she had a pair of tiger claws radiating around her front hooves.
“Which one? The force field or fire?” Aya replied, chuckling as she winced. She hadn’t escaped the attack unscathed. Her legs were burnt, and her boots ruined.
“Both… but I’m going to assume it’s a long story. Oh and also, Saffron’s decided to help you and Limestone and she-” Before he could finish what he was saying though, something within the resulting cloud of smoke began to move as Lance spoke up. “Oh come on! He’s STILL alive!? What is it going to take to make this guy give up already?!”
“I can’t take another shot like that… Surprise only gave me two rounds anyway.” Aya said.
“Umm… Lance?” Saffron then asked, looking back to where Aya was before looking at the smoke that was beginning to die down. “You said that suit can short circuit, right?”
“Yeah, it’s the only weakness, why-?”
“One of the animal aspects I have is the shock of an electric eel…” She spoke up. “I-if I can get close and apply enough of a charge…”
“ … then you can disable it… Holy crap, you’re a genius!!” Lance spoke up, “But this guy is definitely somepony you can’t take on by yourself… Aya, how are you and Limestone doing right now?”
“I’m in pain, but I can still distract him long enough for you to sneak up behind. Just hurry.” Aya replied, taking a shaky step forward.
“You heard her, Saffron-”
“Vixen…” The single word that Saffron said… actually confused Lance for a moment.
“Uh… what?”
“Her codename.” Aya cut in, before sprinting at Morningstar as she opened fire on the stallion. “She’s a hero now. It only makes sense.” Saffron chuckled at that, before glaring towards where the target was and following Aya.
“Okay… Vixen. I actually like that now that I think of it… but enough talk. Once you got the charge, apply it to the back of the suit. It’s where the core processing functions are.” Lance told them, which got a nod of confirmation from Saffron as Morningstar noticed both of them coming at him.
“You THINK you can stop me!?” He roared, breaking off a section of asphalt from the ground and throwing it at them. “I will not be defeated so easily by freaks like you!!”
Aya was unfortunate enough to end up with a slightly sluggish dodge, which lead to her receiving the asphalts bottom half smacking her face and sending her flipping backwards. Brea nursed her face and she groaned. “Balls my nose…!”
The stallion himself was now solely focused on Aya, who was now beginning to head in her direction. Yet… it was in this commotion that he was unaware of Saffron being behind him… or for that matter, what she was planning. With all the energy she could muster, Saffron struck the back side of Morningstar’s suit… which, soon began to affect his suit and also the processors inside.
‘Warning: Suit Integrity Compromised. Please-’ But at this point, Morningstar did not care about that at all. He had come so far to getting what he wanted, only for the suit that made him invincible to falter because of a single strike from a mare. That was not strength to him. That was trickery.
“How dare you take this AWAY from me!? How dare you-!”
“You are under arrest, Morningstar, for the attempted murder of federal officers, the illegal distribution of weapons as well as many crimes I’m too tired to state…” Aya grumbled after standing up. “If you do not comply, I will use force.”
“Over my dead body-!”
BANG!!
The shot was fired when directly through the Stallion’s skull, causing him to fall over as Lance soon raced out from inside. Looking towards Aya now, “D-did you just-?”
“No, a sniper!” Aya replied, crouching next to the window and looking out. She barely caught a glimpse of what appeared to be the shooter, but could only see the shadow and not make out any of the facial features of the pony as it hid behind an armored convoy. Lance himself saw where it was and tried to dash over behind the convoy, only to not find anything.
“Sh*t… there’s nopony here,” he cursed, before hearing sirens nearby. “Aya, did you call in those guys?”
“Yeah. M.I.S.T. and the local police should clear things up. We’ll interrogate the survivors… I think Lt. Pie and I went a bit overboard...” Aya chuckled nervously.
“Okay… Uh… is Vixen still with you?” He then asked her as he was beginning to walk on back to where they were. “I want to-.”
“LANCE!!!” A high pitched noise went out from his communicator, which almost made him think that it was going to destroy his eardrums as he looked to see that it was Katy contacting him. “Finally!! Aurora and I have been trying to patch communications and get in contact with you for the last hour! What happened?!”
That just caused the Adept to try and readjust his hearing before replying back to them… sarcastically at first. “It’s good to hear from you too…… On a more serious note though, we’re okay. Most of the ponies here who tried to kill us are now in custody… aside from their leader. The one that Teal was trying to fill me on before we lost contact with you guys. It really beat the crap out of Aya and one of her team members.”
“Wait, back up just a second,” he then heard Katy speak up. “How did that guy stand up to you in the first place? Their leader was just an earth pony.” It was at this moment that Lance finally got back to where everypony is… and found that inside the vehicle that Morningstar was in, there looked to be a tablet of sorts that was left laying out in the open… and undamaged.
“I don’t know, but somehow they got their hands on some Sumeragi Tech,” He told her in response. “I found a clue that could help us look into it though… Is Aurora okay though?”
“I’m… not sure… When Teal mentioned that guy earlier, she just… freaked out…” Katy told her in response. “When are you coming back?”
“Give me a moment to handle something here and then I’ll be there… I just need to talk to somepony and then I’ll come back.” He said, looking to see Saffron as the unicorn was walking to him, prompting him to finish up his call. “Hey… Uh… I-i’m sorry about all of this-”
“What’s to be sorry for?” Saffron asked, surprising him now. “I’m the one who should be sorry… about how I reacted earlier. You and Ms. Aya helped me overcome my personal fears… and now, I want to help others just like how you helped me…”
“Well… I haven’t exactly helped you yet,” Lance sighed for a moment, looking back at the unicorn. “But there is a way that I can… You mentioned your father and his medical problems, correct?”
The mare nodded, “Yes, why do you ask?”
“Well… I believe I know some ponies that can help him receive the care that he needs… and you don’t need to pay any bits for it-” That… caused some tears to form in Saffrons eyes as she threw her forelegs around the adept and pulled him into a tight hug. Personally, she could not believe that he was doing this for her… and was thankful all the same.
“T-thank you…”
“I… wasn’t quite finished-” He spoke up, causing Saffron to look back at him in response. “I was also gonna mention that I know some ponies who can help you with the Tasty Treat.” That, prompted Saffron to hug him even more and almost knock Lance to the ground because of how generous he was being.
“T-thank you so much!! I-i will never forget this…” She said, which… made the adept glad that he was able to help her however he can… and give her a much needed miracle.
Later…
Sometime after everything that had happened in Manehattan, Lance was finally back at QUILL HQ and brought Katy and the others up to speed on what happened. Going as far as giving Katy the tablet he happened to find while looking inside the armored transport of the Jackals to see if they could find some leads on how exactly did Sumeragi weapons and armor got into their hands. However, his main focus wasn’t exactly on that.
His focus was on Aurora. After what happened earlier, Lance wanted to make sure that she was doing okay. The adept got really concerned for her when he heard Aurora scream just shortly before communications went down. So just as he got to his room, he then spoke up to try and catch her attention. “Aurora… can I talk to you for a moment please?”
“S-sure…” Aurora replied, appearing in front of Lance with a downcast expression.
“Hey… are you okay?” He asked, noticing Aurora’s change in behavior. “I got really concerned for you after what happened earlier.”
“Oh yeah, I’m fine, I just learned that the ponies who killed me are still out there but with a different name!”
“... That was one pony… and he’s dead.” Lance sighed. “Somepony assassinated him before we could interrogate him for info…” He wasn’t sure how to continue… but still wanted to try and comfort her.
“And what if he isn’t the only one…?” Aurora asked. “What if I get my new body and they kill be again, but I don’t come back?”
“I’m not going to let them.” Lance told her almost immediately. “If they want to get to you, they’re going to have to get past me first. I’ll make sure nothing bad happens to you, okay? I protect you with everything that I have… because I care for you… a lot.” He wanted to reach out and hug her, but almost forgot that she was a spirit in her current form right now. “I don’t want you to have to go through the same thing all over again.”
“Even daddy couldn’t save me…” Aurora choked.
“Aurora…” Before he could continue though, he heard a knock on the door and it showed Katy peaking inside.
“Oh… sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude… but I think one of your friends from Manehattan decided to stop by for a visit.”
“What…?” Aurora asked.
“Who is it?” The Adept then spoke up, the statement from Katy catching his attention.
“I… think it was Twilight… something-. You know what, I’ll just tell her where you’re at.” She said, leaving the room for a minute and leaving both Lance and Aurora rather puzzled by what she said. That was… until they met who she was talking about.
Twilight Mist stepped into the spotlight. “Hello Lance, I’ve completed Aurora’s replacement vessel.”
“Oh you did?” He asked, looking back at Aurora for a minute and then looking back at Mist. “Come on in then. Let’s not make her wait any longer.”
“I can’t exactly… Bring a lifeless body.” Mist said, hunching over, as if ducking to hide her face. The Adept was caught off guard by that. Honestly, he thought that Mist was able to somehow bring it with her or have Surprise teleport over to bring it to them, but that seemed to not be the case.
“Oh… Okay. Was there anything you happened to notice while inspecting it?” He then asked, wondering if there was a different reason for her being here other than her telling them that her inspection on Aurora’s new body was finished. “Like some things we should know about before we have her go in it?”
“Well, there may be a problem with motor controls…” Mist began tensely. “Because she’s a pony, and the body’s humanoid… I mean, her control over the body may end up limited.”
“Hmm…” Lance, for a moment, scratched his chin before looking back at Twilight Mist and asking the first thing that comes to mind. “Is it something that would be limited when she first tries it and gets accustomed over time? Because she was able to take control of items, such as bipedal robots for instance, without any problems.”
“Robot’s are an entirely different story. You see, imagine that you were Aurora, and when you take over non-organic things, it’s like playing a Gamecolt game on the proper system. However, imagine that taking over something organic is like playing the same game, but it was forcefully shoved into a home console that has many more buttons and requires things that that system can’t emulate. Thus you only have a partial game with a lot of missing features. However, this is all theoretical and could be my paranoia for the worst possible thing to happen.” Yet, despite it sounding theoretical… it did concern Lance a bit.
“Well… Aurora, what do you think about all of this?” The Adept asked, not wanting to leave her out of a conversation that was specifically revolving around her.
“I’m down with a little risk. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” Aurora announced. Causing Lance to nod a little as he looked back at Mist.
“I know that it may seem concerning, but if Aurora is okay with it, then I’m okay with it.” The Adept told both of them in response.
“Then it’s all ready. I cast a soul bonding spell that’ll let Aurora fuse with it permanently. She won’t be able to use her powers for a long time, if ever.” Mist added. “And I think that the other Power Ponies should know about the change ahead of time.”
“Let me take care of letting The Power Ponies know,” Lance told them, getting up for a moment and stretching his arms. “I’ll let you and Aurora handle the soul bonding.”
“I’ll call you when it’s finished. I think Aurora deserves to be reintroduced to her loved ones.” Mist added as Lance guided them out of the room while he went back out to QUILL’s command center. All while smiling to himself in the process.
Yet… As he was getting all of this ready though… that was when he found something in the command center that confused him at first. It was a cardboard box… with a paper that had the question ‘What’s in the Box?’ written on the side in what looked like a blood red marker. To the point that he was a little nervous on opening it.
“Hey, w’sup Walker!?” Ash shouted as she entered the room.
“Uh… I’m okay,” Lance told her. “Did you see anypony bring this by earlier?” Ash shook her head in response, causing Lance to feel a little sick inside as he slowly opened it.
What was inside though… made him sick to his stomach as he fell out of his chair. Ash asked him if he was okay and attempted to try and see what's in the box, but Lance told her not to. Not as composed as he was earlier. “Ash, don’t look in there!”
But it was already too late… and what she saw… scared her to the core. For inside the box, was the head of her friend… Weeping Angel.
End Strike 53
This... was much longer than I had originally wanted to be. Mostly because of some of the things I wanted to do on the side, but another major factor was because of the fact of what happened to Linkin Park and that of Chester Bennington last week. I got into music and listening to different songs because of them and now that the lead voice is gone, that... really hit me hard personally. So... After letting it set in, I took it upon myself to finish this, all while listening to the song that inspired this... And these lyrics.
'Oh when they come for me, Come for me, I'll be gone...' -Chester Bennington.
Rest in Peace.
On that note now, we now begin something that is... personally going to be fun. Finding ponies who will be members of QUILL... and tracking down the one responsible for what happened to Weeping Angel (AKA, Weeping Pegasus from the end of the last chapter). Let the Cupcake Saga begin.
Bonus points for whoever can guess the reference at the end.
-Frost
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He won't be forgotten...
BTW, was Project Delirious a reference to H2O Delirious?
8335537
No, it's different (And the reason I'm putting the 'spoiler' tag around it). Delirious in this world is the name given to Igneous Rock Pie, a notorious villain and also the father of Pinkie, Limestone and Marble Pie. In a sense, he's this world's version of Doomsday.
Project Delirious is a Sumeragi project used to replicate the strength and destructive force of Delirious using a battle suit that can withstand most physical attacks. Only problem is that it can short circuit if too much electricity is applied to the suit
The real reference that I put in there is near the end of the chapter and it's a reference to a film I have yet to see, but it's famous to the point that it got in borderlands 2. Wanna guess?
8335948
I'm honestly stumped
8336186
Ever heard of Se7en? It's a old movie from 1995 starring Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kevin Spacey. The last part of this chapter was referring to the ending scene of the film, where one of the main characters in the film is presented with a cardboard box that contains his wife's severed head.
You get the reference now?
8336204
I've never seen the movie before, so I wouldn't really get it
8336208
Right. I just thought that some people who were familiar with the film would notice the reference.
So Lance is the type of characters that makes promise after promise. Does ot keep them and then acts as if he did nothing wrong when people call him out on it. ie the ghoul
8555347
He tries what he can in his own capabilities, but he's not perfect. People make mistakes and Lance has a habit of taking on more than he can chew