Shadowbolt Harmony Division

by Rainium

Chapter 7

Rainy really hoped she had the physical and mental strength for yet another firefight. She had been running missions the entire day now, and here she was running off on another one.

Luckily, she had working gear now, all provided by Aerion before she left the station. Rainy glanced down at her equipment as she walked along the snow-covered streets. She had a new smart watch, a new SPARC brick, and HUD contact lenses to replace the bulky goggles she had previously. Her motion tracker pinged away in the corner of her vision, showing her that the road in front of her was clear. The weapon indicator showed a full stock of ammo for her rifle as well as more flashbangs, which she had collected before she left the Base of Operations. And she had her new piece of equipment, the biofoam injector, strapped to her tool belt. She felt like a brand-new mare with all her gear back online, even if her body felt tired and sluggish.

Her new target was a tall office building by the bank of the East River. It had a large spellcaster placed on the top, with an excellent vantage point of the river to stop any reinforcements or supplies coming in from Hooflyn. Command apparently had no idea how the weapon was brought into the city or who was operating it, but after the events of the past few hours, she was starting to doubt if that was really the case. She just needed to take it down and allow for more supplies to reach the ponies at the Maneway Station; whatever happened after that, she would deal with it as it came.

Along with all her restored HUD functions, her SPARC also picked up a new, unknown radio signal broadcasting from somewhere in the city. Strange... it was the only one still online. The whole city was in a blackout; where was this signal coming from? Rainy let curiosity get the better of her and tuned in to the broadcast as she walked along.

"...Hello, Manehattan, it's your favorite pony, Suri Polomare. You probably recognize me from Fashion Week a few years back, heh... a real breakout performance, I'd say. Unfortunately, the judges didn't see it that way... but I digress.

If you're hearing this, you're either one of the lucky pegasi or unicorns that happen to live in the city and can just hide from the virus, or you're one of the lucky earth ponies to have some kind of... genetic immunity to this disease, like myself. It's a real blessing, let me tell you... Watching all our friends and loved ones drop dead in the street from this invisible flu, if the ponies with guns in the streets didn't get to them first. I knew it was everypony for themselves in the big city, but I didn't think it would get this bad.

So, anyway, I was just sitting there, in my dark little apartment, gunfire echoing down in the street below, when I thought to myself: there's a lot of scared ponies out there. A lot. They're looking for information, for guidance, for reassurance. The EUP isn't giving it to us. The government isn't giving it to us. They've left us alone in the dark here and told us to hang tight. Good luck.

So I decided: why don't I be that voice in the darkness? That pony giving all you lovely folks hope, direction, information. I booted up this radio broadcaster, and after tinkering with it for a bit, I should be broadcasting to every borough in Manehattan, maybe beyond. I have a lot of sources around the city, and I'll get you the accurate facts as soon as I hear them.

I'm gonna call this thing.... Wouldn't You Know It, a... pirate radio broadcast. This is Suri Polomare, and you're gonna be hearing a lot more from me from now on, m'kay?"

The radio message was interrupted by an incoming call, helpfully called out by her SPARC. Rainy patched into the signal, severing her link to the strange broadcast.

"Hey Rainy," Agrippa said over the commlink. "We're just testing to see if the short-range communications on your new SPARC are working. Can you hear me okay?"

"Yeah, I hear you," was Rainy's curt reply, her attention now directed to the street in front of her as she got closer to the target.

"Perfect," Agrippa responded, followed by a moment of hesitant silence. "Are... you doing okay? I know it's been a long day for you, it's been a long day for all of us."

"I'm fine," Rainy replied simply.

"Okay... I'm pretty sure you're just saying that, but as the resident doctor at the base—and probably the only doctor still in the city—you can talk to me if you need anything, okay?"

"Noted. I'm coming up on the spellcaster now, gonna need to go radio-silent to stop them from locking on."

There's a disappointed sigh from the other end. "Got it. Stay safe."

Once the link was closed, Rainy let out a sigh of her own as she walked down the street, leaving hoofprints on the freshly fallen snow below. She regretted giving Agrippa the cold shoulder, especially given how rough their relationship was already, but she had other, more pressing matters on her mind. The main one being the giant spellcaster that towered above her, perched on top of a large office building.

The spellcaster was an impressive piece of magical engineering, developed for Equestria's Armed Forces overseas. Shaped like a large cannon with the cockpit nestled underneath the barrel, it used a spell maneframe to enlarge a combat spell before firing it through the barrel at the target, often grown large enough to destroy large vehicles and even buildings. It was used for flying targets, vehicular warfare, all-out fighting... not civilian crowd control in one of the largest Equestrian cities. What was it doing here?

As she approached the building, a pair of voices audible over the whistling wind made her pause. Rainy slipped behind an inert carriage and moved closer, eavesdropping on the conversation.

“Why does Dusk want us standing guard down here?” asked a stallion's voice.

“So no one tries to attack us, stupid,” a mare's voice replied with a snarky tone.

“No, I mean why here? Why aren’t we standing guard on top of the building? We’d have a better view of the area, and we’d be in a less vulnerable position."

“That’s because she already has guys standing guard up there.”

“Then why does she need us down here?”

“...Shut the hell up, dumbass.”

So these were the ponies operating and defending the spellcaster. Rainy took a peek around the carriage to catch a glimpse of the two voices she had heard. A stallion and a mare stood side by side in front of the front door of the office building, shifting uncomfortably as the snow fell heavier and heavier around them. They wore white jackets with a geometric design of a bird emblazoned on their sleeves. Dark bulletproof vests were visible underneath, and they carried rifles as high-tech as Rainy's own. These ponies weren't rioters; they were packing heat and meant business.

A speaker mounted somewhere on the outside of the building crackled to life with an unnatural, electronic squawking noise, making Rainy flinch.

"PLEASE COMPLY TO ALL REQUESTS FROM FREELANCER PERSONNEL. THE LIFE YOU SAVE, COULD BE YOUR OWN."

Freelancers... that sounded vaguely familiar. They might've been the subject of one of her monthly intel briefings, one she only paid half attention to. They were... a PMC of some sort, hired by the Crown to assist the royal guards overseas. That explained how they had a spellcaster. What were they doing in Manehattan, shooting down supply helicopters and imposing martial law?

Luckily, the thick snowfall had disguised her approach from the guards standing higher up on the building, as no alarm seemed to be raised. Given the fact that these were PMC ponies—trained soldiers—Rainy figured the front door would be the only available way in or out. She had to get past these two guards first.

Rainy straightened up to rest her rifle on the hood of the carriage she was hiding behind, aiming down the sights at the head of the stallion soldier. However, something gave her pause, and she was unable to pull the trigger. These may be mercenaries actively working to shoot down supply helicopters into the city, but they were still ponies. Like with the rioters from before, she still had to give them an option to surrender. Maybe this was just a misunderstanding of some sort.

Rainy lowered her rifle and stepped out from behind the carriage, walking towards the two guards while waving a hoof. "Hey! Don't shoot! I'm friendly!"

The two ponies jolted in shock before raising their own rifles, aiming them right at Rainy's chest as she approached.

"Stay back, civilian! This is a Freelancer-occupied base, vacate the area now!" the stallion called out as Rainy approached.

"Shit, look at her watch," the mare soldier said with a hiss. "She's with the Division!"

Whelp. That ruse was over as quickly as it started. It was worth a shot.

Rainy dove behind the nearby carriage pileup as gunshots rang out, impacting into the snow-covered ground and pinging off the carriages’ metal frames. She pressed up against one of the wheels and readied her own rifle once again, waiting for a pause in the gunfire before rolling off to fire some shots of her own. The Freelancers ducked away from the bullets and smartly took cover as well; they seemed way more disciplined than the rioters she had been fighting against.

The mare Freelancer activated her radio, betraying her position to Rainy when her voice rang out. "Emerald Two to Commander Dusk Fire, we have an armed hostile at the south entrance of the building, requesting immediate assistance. It's a Division agent."

Rainy's earpiece clicked to life, and her new SPARC chimed in her ear. [ALERT: INTERCEPTED TRANSMISSION. NOW PLAYING.]

"Confirmed, one armed Shadowbolt hostile at the south entrance," a new voice from what Rainy assumed was the Freelancer's radio said over the transmission; it was a mare's voice as well, with the tall vowels of a Braytish accent. "Deploying Sapphire Team to assist. ETA, 45 seconds."

45 seconds. She needed to take these two out and get inside fast, before the reinforcements arrived and the fight became near impossible. With rioters, she could deal with a numbers disadvantage; trained Freelancers, not so much. Especially in the tired state she was in.

Rainy pulled a flashbang off her tool belt and tossed it where her motion tracker told her the Freelancers were hiding. Once it erupted, she slipped out from behind cover and dashed forward to make her move. With both Freelancers stunned, she galloped to the closer pony's hiding spot and vaulted over the hood of the carriage, landing on the other side and firing point blank into the stallion. She then turned and fired at the mare.... just as the other Freelancer fired as well, both shots ringing out in the quiet Manehattan night. The Freelancer's bullet ripped through Rainy's upper shoulder, nicking bone before exiting out the other side; Rainy's bullet punched right through the other mare's forehead, causing her to crumple in a lifeless heap on the ground.

Rainy cried out in pain as she collapsed as well; her hoof clutched her shoulder and came away bloody. She fumbled with the first aid injector on her belt and slammed it into her thigh, the needle pumping healing magic into her body and patching up her shoulder in seconds. Soon, the pain faded away, and when she shrugged the shoulder, it felt like she hadn't been shot at all. This thing was a life saver... and if she was going to be fighting Freelancers all night, she was bound to take a couple more hits. She'd need it, a lot.

The only downside to the injector was that it had to recharge after each use, so if she was injured again while it wasn't ready, she was out of luck. Rainy clipped it back on her toolbelt before stepping past the two dead bodies towards the door... only after stopping and snagging one of their pistols to replace the one she gave to Agrippa. She wasn't going to be caught without her sidearm twice, not after what happened last time.

However, before she could make it to the door, her motion tracker lit up with contacts. Dark figures started to file down the flight of stairs inside the building's lobby, heading straight towards the entrance. That had to be the reinforcements. Rainy ducked away from the door and galloped off to the side of the building, slipping around the corner right as Sapphire Team made its way out into the snow.

Rainy's SPARC chimed again as it interrupted another Freelancer transmission.

"Sapphire Team, report," the Braytish voice from before ordered, who Rainy assumed was Commander Dusk Fire.

"Emerald One and Two are KIA. No sign of any hostiles," a stallion's voice responded, his words audible from her hiding spot as well. "We'll run a full sweep, but put the base on high alert, just in case."

On cue, the newly-arrived Freelancers split up and began searching through the thick-falling snow. Luckily, the new flakes had covered her hoofprints, concealing her location as they looked through the carriages. Rainy waited until they were out of sight before slinking back towards the entrance, pressing against the wall to stay out of sight until she could push her way inside the lobby.

"Look here. Blood, but no body," one of the Freelancers said over the hacked transmission link.

"A lot of it, too. But no blood trail anywhere," another stallion replied. "If they were injured that badly, they couldn't have made it far. Keep searching!"

Hopefully that would keep them busy for a while. Rainy closed the door behind her silently before slinging her rifle to the ready as she scanned the lobby. This was an office building, so there was a small, but fancy reception area in front of the elevators and stairwells. However, there was no one there to greet her, and the lack of power meant that the elevators were out of operation. The whole place was trashed, both by the panic following the initial infection and by Freelancers taking their boredom out on the equipment in the room; papers were strewn across the floor, the receptionist's computer was smashed and blown to bits, and the walls were marked with bullet holes.

There were no signs of life, but with the building going on high alert, Rainy assumed it wouldn't be quiet for long. She raised her rifle and made her way towards the nearest staircase, making her way up as the intercom clicked to life.

"ALL FREELANCER PERSONNEL. POSSIBLE ARMED THREAT DETECTED. THREAT LEVEL: YELLOW. ALL GUARD POSITIONS SHOULD REMAIN ON HIGH ALERT, AND ALL OFF DUTY PONIES SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR ACTION."

They knew she was around, but they didn't know she was inside the building yet, so she still had some element of surprise. Rainy quickly made her way up the stairs, and the first few floors zoomed by without incident. However, she eventually ran into a roadblock; somepony, in the panic of the pandemic, had tried to bring their office desk with them as they evacuated. They had apparently failed, and the desk was now wedged fully across the width of the hallway, with its spilled contents and several popped-open suitcases filling in the gaps. Seriously?

Either this was a pony's shockingly clumsy error, or the Freelancers had done it on purpose to block off the stairwell. Either way, there was no way to continue going up on this staircase. Her only way forward was to exit the stairwell and look for an unblocked way up.

Rainy peered through the small window in the door to see an office space full of cubicles, with no ponies in sight. She pushed the bar down and swung the door open, entering rifle-first and checking her corners before making her way through the room. These Freelancers weren't as destructive as the rioters that had vandalized Aerion Technologies and Madison Mare Garden, but they had created a fair share of messes in this building; drawers were thrown open and computer monitors were slammed to the ground, while other cubicles appeared completely untouched. But rather than looking like mindless destruction like in the lobby downstairs, the messes created here almost seemed intentional... like the Freelancers were looking for something. Rifling through drawers for equipment and supplies, smashing computers open for electronics. What were they looking for?

As she rounded the corner, she quickly got her answer. Rainy gasped and slipped back behind the wall out of sight when she got a glimpse at what was on the other side: a group of Freelancers standing around a table, focusing on a pile of electronics stacked on top. Luckily, none of them were looking her way, so she remained undetected for now.

"What are you doing again, exactly?" a stallion's voice asked.

"Modifying this shit so it's actually useful," a mare responded, followed by the sound of a wrench tightening a bolt. "The plague messes with electronics too, puts all our scanners and equipment on the fritz. But if you fit 'em with a magic filtration system, it'll keep everything running smoothly."

"Oh yeah? Where'd you learn about that?"

"Commander Dusk herself. Apparently, she got the tip from our new friends in the city center. Took forever to find enough computers with filters in this place to salvage, but all our gear should be working again soon."

New friends? Rainy didn't know anything about that. But she knew about the city center; that's where Aerion told her the Dark Zone was located. A place of lawlessness and anarchy, filled with massive amounts of rioters… and whatever was left of the First Wave of Shadowbolts. It was very unlikely that a raggedy bunch of looters and opportunistic civilians would know about the magic filtration systems, so either there was another group in the dark zone, someone more dangerous... or the Freelancers were collaborating with a rogue agent.

The implications made her shiver, but Rainy pushed the thoughts out of her mind. If she ever came face to face with this Commander Dusk, she could ask her herself. But for now, she needed to focus on getting to that spellcaster.

The group of Freelancers around the corner didn't seem heavily armed, and some of them were without guns at all. They must have been the tech experts of the group, developing technology and staying away from the front lines. Not ponies worth shooting in cold blood.

Rainy stepped out around the corner, rifle raised this time and aiming right at the back of the nearest Freelancer. "Freeze. Hooves in the air, now."

The six ponies froze and turned their heads in unison to look at the newcomer.

"It's the intruder!" one of them hissed under their breath, slowly reaching for the pistol strapped to their waist.

"Correct. And if you don't put your weapons and radios on the table and put your hooves up, I will shoot all of you," Rainy threatened as she switched the aim of her rifle to the pony who had spoken.

It took a couple moments for the tech ponies to agree with her demands, and their hoof-held radios and guns joined the pieces of technology on the table before they put their hooves up. With a jerk of her rifle, Rainy silently ordered them to file into a nearby closet, the ponies shuffling inside without complaint.

"The Equestrian Government thanks you for your cooperation," Rainy snarked before shutting the door and locking it. It would take them a while to figure out how to break out, and by the time they did, she would be long gone.

With the Freelancers taken care of, Rainy turned her attention to the table of equipment they had been working on. Most of it was disassembled and in multiple pieces, but there were a few devices still intact. One of them caused her to pause, blood running cold.

The device looked like a briefcase of sorts, with a carrying handle on top and a folded-up tripod underneath. However, when she tugged on the handle, the device unfolded; it stood up on its three legs, and a barrel poking out of the front of the box along with a laser sight to scan for hostiles. Through a see-through panel on the side, Rainy could see that the inside was filled with bullets, ready to fire. A portable, automated turret.

This was Division Tech. Jury-rigged to work without the assistance of a SPARC, sure, but Division Tech nonetheless. Was it stolen from the bodies of fallen First Wave agents? Or was it gifted by the survivors? She didn't know which was worse.

Rainy pressed down on the handle once more, and the turret collapsed back to its portable briefcase-like form. She clipped it to her tool belt as well, right next to her first-aid injector. She would have to readjust it to work with her SPARC once again, but it was back in Division hooves.

With the room clear, Rainy was able to make her way through the maze of cubicles to the stairwell on the north side of the building, and she began ascending up the steps once again. She estimated that she was about halfway up the building when she had been forced to take a detour, so it would only take her a few more minutes to reach the top. Assuming the climb would be uninterrupted.

As she climbed, rifle raised to check her corners on each level, she let her mind wander a bit to brainstorm just how she was going to disable the spellcaster. None of the equipment she had would create a big enough explosion to put it out of operation, and she hadn't run into an armory to steal any explosives from yet. Hopefully the cockpit had a self-destruct button, but she doubted the engineers would be that stupid. If all else failed, she could fire the spellcaster at the building herself, bringing the whole thing down. Though, with her wings out of commission, the odds of her escaping such an explosion would be slim.

Sounds of gunfire snapped her out of her thought-process, reverberating through the building and echoing up and down the stairwell. They were quiet enough to tell her that the action wasn't near her... but what was it?

Her SPARC helpfully pinged her. [ALERT: INTERCEPTED TRANSMISSION.]

"Sapphire Four to Commander Dusk, we have an intruder in the building!" a panicked Freelancer yelled into the commlink while gunfire and pained screams rang out in the background.

"Already acknowledged, Sapphire Four," Commander Dusk replied coolly. "Benchley is preparing to deal with them now."

"No, there's another one! She's already taken out the rest of my squad, we can't stop her! Requesting immediate backup—Gah!..."

After Sapphire Four's death scream, the gunfire stopped. Only ominous silence filled the radio link, followed by faint hoofsteps and the clink of hooves on the brass of spent bullet casings.

"Sapphire Four? Sapphire Team? Respond," Commander Dusk called out, but there was no response. "...Dammit. All units, we have a second intruder in the building. Divert to the southern stairwell to intercept."

A second attacker. Rainy hoped that they would be an ally, but she had a tough time figuring out just who would be coming to her aid. At the very least, they were drawing Freelancer attention to the other end of the building, making her climb up the stairway eventless.

Soon, she reached the top of the stairwell, where she found the access door leading into the top level of the building. It didn’t lead her any higher than that; she would have to find a roof access spot somewhere on this floor. Rainy slowly pushed the door open, poking her rifle through the crack as she stepped out of the stairway and scanned the area.

The top of the building was a two-story restaurant, with the second floor consisting of a balcony ringing around the main floor. The walls were all roof-high windows, giving a panoramic view of the snow-covered city that was probably breathtaking before everything went to shit. But now, the night sky was filled with none of the bright lights, making the city look bleak and lifeless. Tables and chairs were scattered, tipped over, destroyed, the order of the room turned to chaos by the panic of the pandemic and the bored impulses of the Freelancers.

As Rainy took in the view, her SPARC intercepted another transmission and piped it through to her earpiece.

"Commander Dusk to Benchley. We have the first intruder on camera feed, she's nearing your location. What's your status?" Dusk's now-familiar voice asked, a tinge of worry poisoning her normally calm and collected tone.

"Almost ready, Commander. Just putting a few finishing touches on the equipment," a stallion replied.

"Perfect. Remember: she's here for the spellcaster, no doubt. You cannot let her get up to the roof. Understood?"

"Understood. Don't worry, she doesn't stand a chance. Benchley out."

The silence of the floor suddenly felt ominous and oppressive now that she knew she was being watched. And that she was seconds away from being attacked. Rainy froze, her eyes focusing on her motion tracker while her ears swiveled to catch any out-of-place noises. There was more gunfire in the floors below her, as the Freelancers struggled to contain the second intruder. The snow and the wind whistled outside the windows, the flakes coming down even thicker and faster and turning the dark night white. Finally, she noticed a muffled noise coming from behind the kitchen doors of the restaurant, and her head turned to focus on the sound.

"I need to be out there," the stallion from the transmission grumbled, his voice muffled from behind the door. "What's taking so damn long?"

"Sorry, had a problem with the tank straps. Should be all good now," a mare reassured him.

"About fuckin' time. Let's go, we've got a Shadowbolt bitch to burn."

Rainy's motion tracker lit up with two targets directly in front of her as heavy hoofsteps vibrated the ground underneath her, heading to the swinging kitchen doors directly in front of her. She dove behind an overturned table as the doors swung open, two new hostiles stepping in the room with her.

A few moments of agonizing silence felt like hours as she cowered behind the table, followed by the sound of heavy thuds of hooves on ground as who she assumed was Benchley made his way into the room. There was a huff as he sniffed the air like a dog, followed by a frustrated growl.

"We know you're in here... come out and play!"

Rainy took a deep breath and risked a peek around the side of the table... and quickly had to stuff a hoof in her mouth to stifle the shocked gasp that left her muzzle.

What she thought was a stallion... wasn't a stallion at all. It stood on two bull-like legs, its hands gripping a large weapon with flames licking out of the tip. Its body was covered in thick body armor, and it had a large fuel tank strapped to its back. Its head had two large horns, and it was fitted with a ballistic helmet and a gas mask, beady bovine eyes visible behind the protective glass as they scanned the room. Benchley was a minotaur. And a large one at that, more than twice the height of the Freelancer mare that was flanking him.

He was so tall that each step caused the ground to vibrate, though the heavy equipment he was carrying probably helped. Benchley looked up to sniff the air once again, a strange strategy considering the fact he was wearing a gas mask.

"Scared, huh?" the minotaur said finally. "Guess we'll have to drive you out the hard way then."

With that, he raised his large weapon and pressed the trigger. Fire leapt from the nozzle at the end, engulfing the wood chairs and tables in front of him in white-hot flame! The carpet and tablecloths ignited immediately, followed quickly by the chairs. Rainy's thick table gave some resistance as the flames washed around her, singing her hair and causing her jumpsuit to sizzle against her white fur. But soon, her cover burst into flame as well, forcing her to stumble away with a fit of coughs as black smoke started to fill her lungs.

Benchley's yellow eyes locked onto her immediately, his smirk hidden behind his mask. "There you are," was all Rainy heard before the air was filled with fire once more, this time with no cover to protect her.

Rainy yelped and leapt to the side, weaving through the carnage of furniture that acted as kindling for his pyromania. The minotaur followed her with his flamethrower, the flames licking at her flank as she struggled to keep ahead of the deadly wave of heat. Protecting your headquarters by burning it down. An interesting strategy.

Soon, the air was filled with bullets that Rainy had to avoid as well, as the mare that flanked Benchley started to open fire. The smoke filling the air was filling her lungs as she dove behind a pillar, providing a more secure protection from the heat and the bullets as she caught her breath. However, a tingling sensation on her hindlegs drew her attention, and she looked down to see that her tail had caught fire, more than half of it consumed and turned to ashes. Rainy hissed and smothered the fire with her hooves.

She needed a way to distract him long enough to find a weak spot in his armor without him burning her to a crisp... and after she finished extinguishing her tail and examining her rump for damage, her eyes moved to her toolbelt, where her new addition swayed against her cutie mark. Perfect.

"You can't run forever, coward! Come out and face me like a real Shadowbolt!" Benchley jeered, Rainy's motion tracker telling her that he was rapidly approaching her new hiding spot.

The Division agent unclipped the turret and unfolded it before hurling it as far as she could into the midst of the burning room. Its tripod legs locking onto a still-upright table as it sprang to action. Because Rainy hadn't synced the device to her SPARC yet, it wouldn't recognize her as a friendly, but she was hidden behind the pillar out of sight, so it only had two targets to aim at. Its laser focused on the back of the Freelancer mare as her and Benchley approached the pillar and opened fire. A hail of rapid-fire rounds slammed into the mare, the first few stopped by the bulletproof vest underneath her white Freelancer jacket, but it wasn't enough. She barely had time to react before several bullets sliced through her back and out her chest, dropping her to the ground with a gurgle of blood in her throat.

The turret quickly turned to fire on Benchley after its first target went down, just as the minotaur began to turn to face the new threat. The bullets thudded harmlessly against his heavy armor as he hissed in frustration, and he brought his flamethrower around to douse the device in flames. With his back turned, Rainy took the opportunity to scamper away from the pillar to find a better hiding spot, sliding behind one of the few tables not yet caught on fire. She flipped it over and rested her rifle on the edge, firing precise shots to try to find a weak spot in Benchley's armor, but each round just pinged off him. By now, the turret's shell was starting to melt from the heat of the flames enveloping it, and the minotaur stopped just long enough to lift one of his cloven hooves and drive it into the device, smashing it into several useless pieces.

Rainy cursed under her breath and fired again as Benchley turned to face her; the bullet smacked into the reinforced glass of his gas mask, and cracks started to form in the visor. She risked one more shot as he prepared to fire, but it only nicked the top of his shoulder, and the air was filled with fire once again. Rainy was too slow to duck behind her cover, and her shoulder and upper foreleg were doused in flame before she was fully protected by the table.

Searing pain shot up her arm, and when she looked down, she saw that her fur had caught fire this time, while the surrounding jumpsuit started to melt into her skin. Rainy—in her tired, battle-weary state—tried patting the flame out with her hoof to no avail, only succeeding in burning her hoof as well while her skin started to blister underneath her burning fur. Then, finally, she dropped to roll herself along the scorched ground to smother the flames underneath her body.

Her foreleg was in agony, and each movement sent even more searing jolts of pain through her body, but there was no time to recover. Rainy forced herself to her three good hooves and stumbled off as Benchley closed the distance between them, but she didn't make it far. A second burst of flame engulfed her hind legs, scorching her hindquarters and dropping her to the ground with a shriek. Her whole body screamed with pain as her fur was burnt away, and she thrashed around in a desperate attempt to extinguish herself once again. Somehow, she succeeded, but only after her hind legs were so injured that she couldn't feel them anymore; thankfully, her nerves had burnt away as well.

Rainy managed to roll herself over onto her back to see Benchley standing over her, a triumphant smirk visible behind his cracked. She snarled defiantly up at him, but she was in no shape to put up any more resistance.

"Looks like the Second Wave isn't any better than the First. Shame, I was hoping for a challenge," the minotaur gloated.

Then, he lifted a hind hoof, aiming to crush her skull like he had so easily crushed her turret.

With the last ounce of strength she had left, Rainy reached down to her tool belt and pulled the pin off one of her flashbangs. Moments felt like hours as she stared at the underside of his cloven hoof, silently praying to whatever Goddess was listening that she was fast enough. Then, just as he began to bring his foot down, there was an explosion on her waist, and her whole world went white.

Her ears rang, her head spun, her vision faded from white to the afterimage of the minotaur standing over her... but it gave way to the sight of Benchley stumbling away from her, clutching at his ears in tortured pain. It took a moment for her disoriented body to respond, but she slowly picked her rifle back up and aimed as best she could at the distracted enemy, firing as many rounds as she could. Most of them missed entirely or thudded against his armor, but one lucky shot nicked the valve of his fuel tank. Hissing gas ignited as it left the punctured hole, building up in pressure and intensity despite Benchley's desperate attempts to fix it, before culminating in a giant explosion that blew the minotaur into several fleshy chunks.

Rainy covered her face with her one healthy forehoof as she was splattered with minotaur blood, and Benchley's remains were incinerated by the fireball created by the explosion. Soon, all that was left was Rainy, and the raging fire engulfing the room around her.

She tried to stand, but found her legs didn't respond to her anymore. A quick glance down showed her lower half was burnt red and black, with blisters replacing her scorched fur in a grotesque sight. She looked away as pain washed over her once again, the adrenaline subsiding to give way to agony.

With a shaky hoof, she pulled out her first aid device and hoped it could work a miracle.

As soon as the needle punctured her skin, relief flooded through her, and her head fell back with a thankful groan. When she looked back down at her body, she was greeted with the sight of her flesh and fur growing back along her legs and arm, and the searing pain dulled down to a manageable ache. However, the syringe wasn't a miracle worker; her tail didn't grow back from its burn-shortened length, and her jumpsuit remained scorched and melting in several places. In some spots, the burns were so severe that even the magic healing couldn't restore her fully; the skin underneath her white fur still glowed red and ached like a bad sunburn along her flanks and parts of her hind legs. Maybe the spell could only heal so much damage at once; she would have to try it again once it finished recharging to see if it would finish the job.

"...Dammit. Benchley is KIA," Commander Dusk's voice sighed into her ear. "What's the status of the second intruder?"

"...W-We can't slow her down! She's too quick!" a panicked Freelancer responded. "We're still trying to contain her in the southern hallway, but—"

The soldier's transmission gave way to immediate static as the link was severed by the assailant. A reminder that Rainy needed to keep moving before she caught up to her. She groaned and wiggled to test all four limbs before climbing back to her hooves, stumbling her way through the inferno towards the kitchen: the only place spared from the flames. However, as she made her way past the dead body of the Freelancer that had accompanied Benchley, she was greeted to an unusual sight on the ground; the shattered pieces of her automated turret were slowly sliding across the ground towards each other, illuminated in a pale blue magic aura. Even as the fires raged around her, Rainy stopped and watched as the pieces slid together once more, and bright blue lights appeared along the cracks as they fused together. Soon, the turret was whole once again, and it folded back into its portable briefcase mode to be carried.

The turrets had an auto-repair feature as well? That was extremely helpful. It was much more convenient than carrying around several of the devices in case one was destroyed. Rainy picked it up and clipped the handle back on her toolbelt before continuing her way through the smoke and flames to the exit doors.

The kitchen was where Benchley had prepared to fight her, and the room definitely looked like a makeshift armory. Unused fuel tanks and flamethrowers filled one corner, while other parts were stacked high with firearms and magazines filled with ammunition. Rainy made sure to refill her tool belt with magazines compatible with her rifle as she stumbled past.

However, what really caught her attention was a pile of explosives, carefully kept away from the rest of the munitions. It was filled with frag grenades, flashbangs.... and moldable C4 with an explosive timer. Jackpot.

Rainy clipped several grenades and flashbangs to her toolbelt before tucking as much C4 as she could carry underneath her wing. She didn't know the sturdiness of the spellcaster directly overhead, but even if it proved to be invincible, this much explosive power would crumble the building underneath it and topple it anyway. She just needed to give herself enough time to take the stairs back down to the ground and escape before they went off.

In the back of the kitchen, Rainy found the access ladder up to the roof, and she slung her rifle over her shoulder before making her way up. When she pushed the hatch up, she was hit with a strong wind directly to the face, nearly knocking her off the ladder from the force. She grunted and gripped the rungs as she forced herself up through the hatch onto the roof, hooves finding friction on the ground so she could stand upright.

The snowstorm had picked up in intensity, the roof already covered in several inch of snow; the air was so thick with the heavy flakes that made it hard to see anything off the edge of the building. The large spellcaster took up much of the rooftop space, and thankfully created enough of a barrier against the wind so that she wouldn't be blown off the edge. She didn't see any of the lookout guards that the Freelancers at the main entrance had referred to; maybe they had retreated inside once the weather took a turn for the worst, or to reinforce the Freelancers trying to hold back the other intruder.

There was still radio-silence from the Freelancers on the status of the second attacker; if they had killed her, they definitely would have reported in to Dusk at this point. No, the intruder was still out there, and based on the number of troops sent to stop her, she was a very deadly enemy. What could it possibly be? None of the options that Rainy could come up with made any sense. Rioters only attacked in packs, the EUP were scattered and in no fighting shape, Agrippa and Aerion had no fighting experience. Another Division agent? Command wouldn't send in another agent, would they? If they were, she'd appreciate the help... but in the back of her mind, she doubted it.

Rainy flared her one free wing to help keep her balance as she made her way to the base of the spellcaster, careful to not flap it accidentally and absorb even more of the virus. She stopped by the ladder up to the cockpit in order to unfurl her other wing, letting the moldable C4 charges tucked underneath it fall to the floor. Quickly, she stuck the explosive components to the spellcaster's singular base leg, molding it to the circular curvature until she had used every ounce. This much power would blow even magically-reinforced steel in two.

However, as she placed the explosive timer onto the C4 and set it—five minutes, enough time for her to make it down with some time to spare—her SPARC intercepted another secure transmission. However, this one wasn't a Freelancer-to-Freelancer commlink; this one was to a private, external source. One that had scrambled its origin and identification code.

"—several Division agents are attacking the spellcaster, and they've nearly reached me," Commander Dusk's familiar voice spoke first, as Rainy's SPARC dropped her right in the middle of the conversation. "They're back on the island, and they're definitely not happy."

"We knew they would try again. We had time to prepare. Which makes it all the more humiliating that you weren't able to stop them," a new voice responded, scrambled slightly to give it an electronic tone, but still distinctly a mare.

Rainy was aware of the timer ticking down next to her, but her curiosity got the better of her. An unknown enemy, working with the Freelancers? This was way too important to ignore. She synced the C4 timer to her HUD to give her a countdown before she grabbed onto the ladder and climbed her way up towards the cockpit of the spellcaster.

"Using the spellcaster was your idea. And now the whole world is going to blame it on me. Bloody brilliant," Dusk continued, anger creeping into her normally even-keeled voice.

"It was necessary, Dusk," the mysterious voice insisted. "If we were ever going to keep a secure hoofhold on this city, we needed to stop the flow of supplies and reinforcements inside. And we succeeded, for a time. But now that they've broken through our defenses, that task becomes a whole lot harder."

"Yeah, tell me something I don't know."

Rainy reached the top of the ladder as the wind continued to whistle past her ears, black and orange mane billowing around her as white flecks of snow stuck in the strands. A small balcony connected the ladder to the door into the cockpit, and she re-equipped her rifle before pressing against the wall, slowly making her way to the entrance.

"Not everything is lost, Commander," the voice answered. "They don't have a cure, and they barely have a presence in the city. It will take them weeks to build up enough of a force to brave the Dark Zone. And we'll be ready to counter them at every turn. Eventually, they'll realize it's worthless to waste even more lives on a contaminated, uninhabitable city, and they'll leave it to us."

Dusk scoffed. "Sure, but that doesn't change the fact that they're coming to kill me right now."

"Why is that my problem? I assume you've created an escape plan for such a scenario—" the unknown caller suddenly paused. "—...hang on. I'm getting feedback on the link."

"We've been compromised?"

"Looks like. Cutting the link now."

"Wait, what about—" was all Dusk was able to get out before Rainy's SPARC lost the connection.

That was her cue to move. Rainy sprang through the open doorway into the cockpit, rifle raised as she took in the scene all at once. At the control dashboard stood a dark gray mare, presumably Commander Dusk Fire, looking at a screen with the dark silhouette of a pony staring back at her for a split-second before the video link was severed.

Flanking Dusk were two Freelancers, her bodyguards, one of them facing the door Rainy was currently barging through, the other facing the other door on the opposite side of the cockpit. The one facing her yelled out a warning as he raised his rifle, but he wasn't fast enough, as two shots rang out and punched into his chest. The other bodyguard tried to turn, but instead took four bullets to the back, both enemies dropping to the floor at Dusk's hooves.

Dusk Fire jumped back with a yelp at the sudden eruption of noise, and Rainy got her first good look at the Freelancer Commander. She was a pegasus, taller than Rainy, with dark gray fur that was almost black in the starlight. Her indigo-blue mane was done up in bangs with splotches of royal blue and bright orange adding color to the otherwise dark color palette. Her eyes were a dark navy, and her cutie mark was covered up by her Freelancer Commander uniform, white in color like all the others, with that geometric bird symbol on her breast pocket.

“Freeze! Commander Dusk Fire, isn’t it?” Rainy called out, rifle pointed directly at the other mare's chest.

Dusk promptly froze, her gaze scanning the space behind Rainy before looking her in the eyes. “Yes, you are correct. Though, I was expecting to see two of you.”

“Commander, you are under arrest for treason, hostile occupation of Equestrian territory, and the murder of Equestrian citizens by you and your troops," Rainy continued, ignoring Dusk's attempt at distraction. "As a Shadowbolt Division Agent, it is within my authority to detain you until conditions are sufficient to deport you to Canterlot to stand trial. The implementation of Directive 51 means the right to a speedy trial has been waived—”

“I know what my bloody rights are, Agent," Dusk interrupted with a barely contained snarl. "Spare me.”

“Very well," Rainy shrugged, rifle not moving an inch. "Who was on the commlink?”

Dusk said nothing, only glaring at Rainy with anger burning in her navy eyes, the blood from her fallen bodyguards pooling around her hooves and staining them.

“Who were you talking to? Tell me now!” Rainy tried again as she raised her gun threateningly, pointing the barrel right between Dusk's eyes.

Again, Dusk said nothing, calling Rainy's bluff; she had no intention of actually shooting the Commander, obviously. Killing her would make the Freelancers leaderless and scattered, yes, but the answers she could give them were much more valuable. She would have to press for more answers once they were at the Base of Operations... away from the spellcaster and the C4 that was minutes from exploding.

However, Dusk's eyes drifted off to focus on something just beyond Rainy's head, just as her motion tracker detected something immediately behind her. Before she could turn or react, the cold barrel of a pistol was pressed against the back of her head, nudging her forward slightly from the pressure.

“Put the gun down, Agent,” a familiar, feminine voice behind her ordered.

Rainy turned her head as much as she dared, catching a glimpse of the pony behind her in her peripheral vision. She saw a gold mane and cyan blue fur hidden behind a familiar purple and black jumpsuit; the same one that Rainy was wearing herself. Her wings were flared and dripping with blood from bullet nicks and knife gouges, and her golden eyes were practically staring daggers right into her. She was right; this mare was more than familiar.

“…Lightning?” Rainy choked out in disbelief. The second intruder was another Division Agent after all?

“That’s Agent Dust to you, traitor," Lightning responded coldly, applying more pressure against her skull with her pistol. "Put your weapon on the ground and put your hooves in the air.”

Oh no. They had sent another Agent... because they thought she had gone rogue. Because she had yelled, disobeyed, smashed her commlink, and never checked back in. Of course the new agent would go straight for the spellcaster to take it down. And of course, there would be a standing order to kill or capture her on sight. She had walked right into a trap of her own making.

And the new Agent was none other than Lightning Dust. A Wonderbolt reject turned Shadowbolt, obsessed with being the best no matter the cost. She had been recruited around the same time as Rainy, and Rainy’s impressive skills had guaranteed that their relationship was one of jealous hatred. And now, she was here to prove that she could do what Rainy couldn't, and Rainy could guarantee that Lightning wouldn't let that opportunity slip away.

“Lightning, listen. I’m on your side," Rainy started, her rifle not moving from its aim at Dusk's forehead. "Command, they lied to us—”

“Shut up!" Lightning interrupted with a bark. "You lost any leniency the second you decided to go rogue. Gun down, now. Don’t think I won’t hesitate to put a bullet in you if you make one wrong move.”

Rainy decided to placate the enraged Lightning and lowered the rifle barrel, though she didn't place it on the ground; she didn't trust the other agent to not just immediately shoot her once she did. "I'm not rogue, Lightning. There's been a misunderstanding. I'm here to destroy the spellcaster, same as you."

"Really? Because Command doesn't think so. And I trust their word a lot more than yours. For all I know, you're here trying to join up with her!" Lightning retorted, gesturing with her pistol towards Dusk before returning her aim to Rainy's head.

Rainy looked back over at the Freelancer Commander after Lightning referred to her, only to see her rear end disappear out of the far-side door of the cockpit, followed closely by her blue and orange tail. With the two agents distracted, she had taken the opportunity to slip away.

“No!” Rainy yelled in anguish as she galloped forward to give chase, to maybe snag a piece of her tail as it disappeared out of the doorframe... but before she could get there, she felt something slam into her back, slicing through her innards and out her stomach. A bullet.

Her body immediately went limp, and she fell to the ground with an unceremonious thud, her lower half burning with a stinging pain. Rainy reached down to her stomach, and her white hoof came away stained red with her own blood. As far as she could tell, the bullet had avoided her vital organs and her spine, but judging from where it came out, it had probably sliced through her intestines, maybe her kidney as well. She would bleed out right here on the spellcaster floor if she didn't heal herself soon.

“I told you to stay still, Rainy!" Lightning said with an annoyed snarl as she advanced forward to stand over her.

"Y-You let her get away," Rainy stated simply, quickly falling into shock as her blood pooled underneath her.

She didn't know if her first aid injector was charged yet, and even if it was, Lightning would probably just shoot her again if she reached for it. She would either expire here or spend the rest of her virus-shortened life in Division custody. It was over.

"Sorry, but a rogue Agent is a lot more important to me than some random bitch roleplaying as a military leader," Lightning retorted, raising her pistol once more. "I'm taking this city back, Rainy. And you're going to be rotting in a jail cell for the rest of your pathetic life. Was it worth it?"

However, she still had one hope. The timer on her HUD was steadily ticking down, now within ten seconds of detonation. A deadline that would've given her a comfortable amount of time to get clear was now moments away from exploding underneath her. That would provide a very big distraction, if it didn't immediately kill her from the force. She was about to find out.

"...Not yet," Rainy muttered in defiance, just before her world erupted into white.

---

A sudden explosion knocked Lightning off of her hooves, the whole spellcaster lurching underneath her as the viewing window shattered into a thousand pieces of glass. Her ears rang, and she felt blood begin to drip out of one of them down the side of her head. Dizzy and disoriented, Lightning tried to look around, only to see that Rainy had vanished. Her blood pool was still there on the smoldering wreckage of the cockpit, and a trail of red droplets led right to the open door that Dusk had slipped out of minutes before.

"Dammit!" She cursed out loud, the sound faded and distant in one of her ears. She tried to jump to her hooves to give chase, but another bout of dizziness knocked her right back down to the ground, groaning as her body ached and her head spun.

She huffed and tried again, this time managing to find her footing as the world spun around her. The explosion—whatever it was—had knocked her pistol away from her, and she had to look for a few seconds to find it amongst the wreckage and broken glass. But as she reached down to pick it up, it suddenly skittered away from her hoof, sliding across the ground to the back of the cockpit. Lightning swore at the inconvenience, but it took her a second to realize that it wasn't just her weapon; the whole spellcaster was starting to tip, leaning precariously over the edge of the building.

Lightning yelped in panic, the pistol immediately forgotten as the spellcaster started to fall faster and faster. She dashed up towards the far side door as glass shards and smaller debris started to slide past her, hooves having trouble finding traction on the increasing incline. Finally, she reached the threshold, and she looked out to see the rooftop tilting out of view as the spellcaster started to fall off the edge of the building. The explosion had completely severed the base of the weapon, and it was leaning off the edge of the roof like a seesaw with the base tilted up into the air.

Her head was still ringing, and her balance was shot, but using the base’s leg to get back to the rooftop was her best bet. By now, the spellcaster had tilted a full 90 degrees and was falling fast, allowing Lightning to pull herself through the door and onto the side of the cockpit like she was standing on flat ground. Then, she ran as fast as she dared to go without losing her balance, her steady pegasus hooves finding purchase on the scorched metal as the spellcaster started to slide off under its own weight. She finally reached the blow-apart end as it slipped off the edge as well, plummeting the spellcaster into the air down to the ground below. But just before the roof slipped out of reach, Lightning leapt.

She slammed into the office building roof and rolled with the impact to cushion her fall, her body throwing up snow as she slid for several meters. Then, after a couple seconds to catch her breath and check to see if anything was broken, she forced herself back to her hooves and stumbled back to the edge of the roof. Down below, the spellcaster had crumpled from the impact on the street below, punching through the concrete and crushing the bottleneck of abandoned carriages below it. And behind her, the explosion had blown a hole through the roof of the building as well, revealing the still-burning top floor underneath.

How did this happen? Maybe Dusk had used a self-destruct feature to cover her tracks, but it seemed odd that she would destroy her own weapon. Maybe Rainy had rigged the explosion to cover her own tracks, but why would a rogue agent want to destroy the only thing still keeping the Division and EUP troops out of the city? It had to have been Commander Dusk's doing. It was the only thing that made sense.

But no one else had to know that. This was her glory to claim. And with no one else with her, she didn't have to share the fame with anyone else.

Lightning tapped on her SPARC to open a secure link back to Shadowbolt HQ. "This is Agent Dust to Command."

"This is Command, go ahead," the familiar voice chimed immediately.

"The spellcaster has been neutralized. I repeat, the spellcaster has been neutralized," Lightning reported, a glow of pride swelling in her chest. "The Freelancer battalion defending it has been eliminated."

"Excellent work, Agent. With the skies clear once again, this will go a long way in re-establishing control of the city. Any sign of Commander Dusk Fire, or any rogue agents?"

A moment of silent hesitation from Lightning followed. My glory, no one else's. "...No, nothing."

"Understood," Command responded. "Link up with the EUP survivors stationed at the Maneway Station and await further orders. The first supply drop will arrive at dawn, once the storm lets up. This is the first in a long string of victories, Agent. Welcome back to the winning side."

"Thank you, Command. See you soon," Lightning replied before ending the call.

She stepped forward to the edge of the roof, the snow and the wind blowing through her mane as she looked out over the silent city. She was exhausted and beaten up from fighting her way through the entire Freelancer base, as well as from the explosion that had toppled the spellcaster. But she had emerged triumphant, and now she had time to recuperate and restore the Base of Operations back to working order before seeing what else the city would throw at her. Rioters, Freelancers, rogue agents... she would take them all down. And finally, she would get the respect and recognition she deserved.

I'm coming for you, Rainy...

Comments

[Mkchief34]

I can say I never thought this would update.

But it did.

Great job!

[LChurch]

Wow, it's finally has been updated! I really missed this story