The Runners

by DungeonMiner

Chapter 22

Among all the ponies in the team, none knew more than Rarity that the Grand Galloping Gala was the biggest corporate event of the year. Ponies from all around the world would be coming to the RENUMA building that night, each vying for power, wealth, and status.

It was everything she ever wanted.

Ever since the fiasco of a soiree at Saddle Krupp, Rarity had been dying for an excuse to get her kevlar weave black dress back out. However, now that she was looking at it, she wasn’t sure if it would go with the atmosphere.

While it was definitely a black-tie event, the idea of having just a black dress didn’t seem to agree with her, especially with all the possibilities running through her head. No, she needed something more, she needed to stand out, she needed to make a statement!

Then she remembered that she was a Runner, and making a public statement like that would probably get her noticed, then shot.

So, toning down her initial instinct to be the talk of the Gala for years to come, she decided she'd go with something that was more modest, but at least it’d fragging match her mane. Another quick search of her wardrobe that was sadly limited in space, she came to the discovery that she lacked a nice blue and yellow dress that could offer such protection.

To most Runners, that would be the story, and she’d have to settle for the black dress and be slightly boring.

But, as she’d gladly point out, Rarity was not most Runners.

At first, she looked into buying a few bolts of kevlar weave fabric herself, but the price tag would run her pretty high, which wasn’t out of the question since she could sell another outfit or two on the Matrix.

Then, she realized that she could buy a set of Form-fitting body armor for the price, along with a few bolts of normal fabric, and still be under the budget of the weave bolts. That alone was worth looking into.

Of course, if she could do that, then the bigger question was why couldn’t she just sew an armored vest into a new dress. These newer vests didn’t have much of a profile, so she could probably squeeze one in without it being noticeable.

Before she knew it, Rarity found herself surrounded by bolts of cloth, each a different color, in the middle of the safehouse, working frantically on an entire line of party wear.

She stood in the midst of her chaotic creation, ponyquins on all sides, as a thousand different designs hovered over the holo-table, with a hundred more hanging in AR space. She mulled over the thousand different permutations of the current base for one of the dresses beside her trying to determine which would look best. With a flick of her hoof, a hundred died, being swallowed by digital oblivion as they fell to literal bits. Another three hundred died with her next decision, and before half an hour passed, she had slain all but one, the winner of the creative battlefield.

“Uh...y’all alright there, Gem?”

She turned to see Steel, and the other standing well out of the blast range of her fabric explosion, eyes wide concern obvious on their faces. “Hm? Oh, just fine, Darling. Just fine. Why do you ask?”

They collectively looked at the mess. “Well...um…” Wingmare began, “you’ve just...kinda...exploded across the room.”

“Oh, it’s just a small mess,” Rarity said, waving at the corpses of spent bolts and the mound of fabric scraps that she stood on.

“You’ve...well, you’re also looking kinda…” Candy began, “loopy.”

“Oh, nonsense, darling,” Rarity said. “I just haven’t had a chance to go through my proper routine, that’s all.”

“And the dresses?” Flashpoint asked.

“We’re going to the Grand Galloping Gala, Flashpoint!” Rarity explained. “If we’re not going in the height of fashion, we’re going to be noticed! We need some proper attire, or we’re not even going to get in the door!”

“So...you’re making some dresses?” Web asked. “Instead of...buying them?”

Rarity blinked. “Well, you know…” she began. “There’s nothing wrong with trying to save a few nubits.”

A long silence passed between the six of them.

“Are they for us?”

“Well, of course!” Rarity said, stepping down from her victor's hill. “It simply won’t do if you aren’t dressed for the Grand Galloping Gala!”

“Well, I suppose, but…” Flashpoint said.

“Here, here, I have one for all of you!” Rarity said. “They’ve all got an armored vest in them, so they’ll provide some protection. Here, take the one that speaks to you most!”

She stepped back and watched as the team slowly began to choose their new outfits. Rarity mostly let them choose on their own, though she did heavily imply that certain color schemes might work better with certain coats, otherwise had them pick their favorites.

“These are…” Flashpoint began. “These are actually really well made.”

“Why thank you,” She said. “I should hope they are, I would have hated to have gotten rusty.”

“It’s, uh…” Steel began, “quite the skill ya got there. I honestly wouldn't have picked ya out as a seamstress, but alright.”

“It’s what I wanted to do before I had to take up Running,” Rarity said. “In fact, it basically caused me to start Running.”

“What do you mean?” Flashpoint asked.

“Well,” she began. “I was looking into going into fashion, and, well, this was shortly before holofabric came out. I was taking an apprenticeship at some two-bit fashion business that doesn’t even exist anymore, and the mare I was working for hands me a bolt of holofabric and tells me to make a dress out of it.”

The five ponies stared at the decker as she began recounting the tale.

“Of course, she didn’t tell me it was holofabric at the time, so I cut it like normal fabric, and that just destroys it instantly. Again, I didn’t know that at the time. But I finish making the dress, my boss came back, and then immediately starts going on about how it’s ruined, I told her that maybe if we got some better fabric we could make something that stood out a little better, and that pushed her over the edge enough that she fired me, and sent my resume to every other fashion agency in Canterlot with the words ‘Do Not Hire,’ written across it.”

The rest of the team was silent for a moment. “Wow...that’s…”

“It is what it is dear,” she replied nonchalantly. “But that doesn’t matter. Once we finish working for Mr. Spike, I’ll finally be doing what I love again.”

“Well,” Candy said. “That doesn’t mean we can’t blow your old place up in the meantime.”

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that, darling. I took care of that already. There’s a reason it doesn’t exist anymore,” Rarity said with a smile. “Nonetheless, I thank you for the thought.”

“Huh, the first thing she did was destroy a mare’s business. Maybe she was made to be a Runner,” Wingmare remarked.

<><><|><><>

The RENUMA building stood like a glowing, white-hot needle. Cutting the cityscape in half, the skyscraper towered over the surrounding buildings, most owned by RENUMA themselves. High-powered spotlights danced up the side of the building, before reaching up and dancing in the sky.

The Grand Galloping Gala occupied five separate floors of the gargantuan building, including a ballroom that stretched two stories high. Ponies, all lavishly dressed and filthy rich, meandered and mingled amongst themselves, laughing at half-hearted jokes, and rubbing shoulders with those slightly above them. If not for the fake invitations that Spike had provided, Rarity might not have been able to get the team through the door. However, now that she was here, the decker had never felt more at home.

Above her head, RENUMA showed off their technology programs, using state-of-the-art hologram projectors to cause dragons, ponies, griffins, and more to dance above the crowd in a mirror ball, swaying and dancing to the music as it played for the ponies below. Tables ladened with actual food lined the walls, filling the air with scents of spices that Rarity had almost forgotten.

She walked in alone, the others would file in at pre-planned times, all slowly working their way in as they began their infiltration. Going as a group, especially a group with a high concentration of weapons, only increased their chances of getting caught. With each mare now forced to work on hiding just what they need to bring in, the chances of uncovering the plot was low.

With her own deck sewn into a pocket on the stomach of her dress and a slight change to her SIN chip that reported a terrible surgery where some implants had to be inserted, Rarity had almost everything she needed to complete her part of the mission. Her job was fairly straightforward, find Micro Chip, hack her comm, and work from there.

All they had to do was get her away from the party for a second or two. Web bought a few syringes packed with enough anesthetic to knock her out for a few hours, and once she was too unconscious to do anything about it, they could grab the necklace and go.

If everything went well, they’d be in and out before the party even really got started.

Which is a terrible shame.

Standing at the punch bowl, the designated rendezvous point, Rarity watched the entryway like a hawk, while also occasionally turning down a dance with a stallion or mare who might have had too much champagne this early into the celebration.

Slowly but surely, the others began to make their way in. Steel, armed with her mare’s leg, managed to get through the door with no trouble, though security did dust it over and check for any hidden weapons in it. Supposedly, Steel was keeping some bullets in a secret compartment that would stay hidden, but it did mean she couldn’t bring many of them.

Next through the door came Web. Web had the most vital component of the plan, the anesthetic. Six separate syringes lay strapped to her thigh, hidden away, and disguised as simple insulin shots for a poor mare wracked with diabetes.

Candy was next, she carried nothing, but she did casually control a small swarm of parasprite drones outside the building. They were dispersed, for the most part, nearly invisible against the building, but there were enough of them to protect her if she needed to.

Flashpoint, the only one of them to have gone to the Grand Galloping Gala before, entered with only her magic to back her up. Rarity asked her if that would suffice, but the lavender unicorn insisted that, as long as things don’t go absolutely terrible, she’d be more than fine.

Finally, Wingmare came in. Armed with her hooves, and the magic of the adept, she insisted she had everything she needed to “throw down.” Having seen what those hooves could do, Rarity didn’t doubt it, but she didn’t like how Wingmare also insisted on having her dress cut higher for easier fighting. That outfit was not made to be that short, and it made her look a bit like a ganger that wandered into the ball.

Still, they were all here, and they made it inside. Now it was time to start the plan. After meeting up at the rendezvous, offering only solemn nods to each other, or a false introduction before Rarity made her move.

Walking her way quickly to the restroom, Rarity took a quick look around the room and picked out the security teams around the room. Fifteen security ponies, all running on a secure, separate line.

Well, secure for now.

She slipped into the restroom, opened an empty stall, and got to work. Sliding her deck free, she carefully began slipped into VR, and began the handshakes with the Corp’s Matrix signal.

Dressed in a traditional eastern unicornian kimono, Rarity carefully began to maneuver through the massive, eastern castle that the digital defenses manifested as. The White Intrusion Countermeasures were out in force. Sentry ICs watched every corner of the castle’s corridors, while Trace ICs and Spark ICs waited on standby to hunt down deckers and spike their decks into oblivion.

Rarity double-checked her mask program, one of the few things that were separating her from being discovered and apprehended within minutes. So far, her activity hadn’t raised suspicions, but she still did her best to avoid the sentries she could see. She carefully pushed her way forward, making her way to the communication center, where she could monitor the networks.

A number of watcher programs passed by her, asking her for identification, which the mask managed to provide. So far, she was doing well, and as long as she didn’t run into a Spider, she’d manage to make it all the way there.

She carefully managed to slip past another hallway, before a figure dropped in front of her. Tall, deep blue, and disguised as an Oni glared down at her. “Identify yourself.”

Rarity kept calm, even though the ICs were starting to stir around her.

“I am office worker 31-45, Number Crunch.”

The Oni’s eye’s narrowed, and a large, armored figure materialized behind him, and Rarity recognized it instantly as a Black IC, lethal in every way. “Incorrect.”

Rarity mentally cursed. She hated Spiders. Having a pony mind behind technology to oversee it was always the best move, which meant it always made the hardest defense to overcome it. “I don’t know what you mean!” Rarity said. “I am Number Crunch!”

“No,” the Oni said with a smirk. “Number Crunch doesn’t have these permissions. You shouldn’t be here if you’re Number Crunch. Besides, he doesn’t have a VR set up.”

The Black IC began to move.

“Okay, okay, you caught me!” she said. “I’m a White Hat.”

The Oni’s eyes narrowed again. “A White Hat? Tonight?”

“Of course! Besides, I’m a professional, I’m not Runner wannabe who thinks they can take on the matrix with a deck, I’m corp owned!”

The Oni glared, but the Black IC stopped approaching her. “Identification,” he demanded.

Rarity handed him a SIN, one that belonged to an employee of Matrix Security Solutions Ltd. The Oni glanced it over, analyzing it for authenticity.

After a while, the Black IC glanced down at her. “Well, you’ve been caught, so I’m going to tell you to log off, before I make you log off.”

“Oh, of course! Of course!” Rarity said before she obeyed, jumping back into her bathroom stall. She grit her teeth before hopping onto the comm line. “Bad news girls, we’re not going to be able to monitor the security teams, I was caught by a Spider, so they’re now on high alert.”

“Are you alright?” Steel asked.

“Yes, I just had to burn a SIN is all.”

Rarity could feel the grimace of the other over the line. “So what do we do now?” Flashpoint asked. “We needed the security channels to break into Micro’s comm.”

Rarity sighed, before slipping her deck back into its secret pocket. “Let me worry about that, I just need you to tell me where she is.”

The moment she said that she began to regret it. She could hear the little voice in her head that acted as a conscious begin to scream at her. “Are you nuts?” it said. “You’re going to do this here? In front of hundreds of corp execs? If they find you, it’ll be the fastest way to being locked in a cell forever!”

Rarity didn’t answer it, though she knew it was right. The chances of being caught, of having her most valuable secret discovered were going to skyrocket. Her team would know now, no question about that, and to this day, Rarity didn’t know a Runner that wouldn’t turn her in for the reward money.

Still, it was the best way of doing what she needed, now that the communications hub was locked out.

Oh, the things she’d do for her team…

She slipped out of the restroom, and returned to the party. “Keep your eyes open for the target ladies, we need to find her and I need to get close for this to work.”

“I’ve got a visual,” Twilight said, from her perch.

“Where is she?”

“The main ballroom, surrounded by security ponies, there’s no way you’re getting close.”

As Rarity entered the ballroom again, she quickly saw why. Thirty security ponies, surrounding the mare they identified as Micro Chip, stood in concentric circles around her. Breaching the perimeter would require nothing less than an invisibility spell, and even that wouldn’t get her through it alone. In fact, anything short of an anti-tank rifle or being a literal ghost probably wouldn’t cut it either. There was no way she was getting close.

“Alright…” Rarity said. “This doesn’t look great…”

“At least one of those guys is a Scarlet Samurai,” Flashpoint said, mentioning RENUMA’s elite security team, “I recognize him from a meeting Spike did with them three years ago.”

“Aw, frag…” Wingmare muttered.

“Well, at least he ain’t in his armor. Then we’d really have no chance.”

“That’s one, what about the rest of them?” Candy asked.

“If one is, I’d bet the rest are,” Web said, “or at the very least he’s not the only one.”

“Okay, so worst-case scenario, we have thirty, unarmored scarlet samurai watching the target, and we need to get close just so we can get her alone,” Wingmare said. “I’m not liking the chances of this plan.”

“It’s alright,” Rarity said. “We’ll make this work.”

“Look, you just need to be careful, because…” Flashpoint trailed off, and the line went silent, before the words “Oh, drek,” squeaked from Flashpoint’s throat.

“Flashpoint, what’s wrong?” Wingmare asked over the comm.

“Oh...oh drek, I see her,” Web said. “She’s...she’s next to the Princess.”

The entire line went silent, and Rarity pulled her eyes away from the target, to the balcony, where she saw the lavender unicorn standing next to the Princess herself. A coat of alabaster white, and a mane that shimmered with the colors of blue, pink, and green. She wore a simple, yet elegant dress, of pinks of mauves, and a gentle smile as Flashpoint seemed to wither next to her.

The Princess’ eyes carefully danced across the room, and Rarity watched as they landed on each and every team member before finally resting on her.

Rarity wanted to sink into the floor under the gaze of those gentle eyes, and that soft, kind smile.

“Th-the Princess is requesting to speak with us,” Flashpoint said.

Rarity blinked. What was she supposed to say to that? What could she even do in the face of a request form the Princess herself?

Since no answer presented itself, Rarity came forward, meeting with the others as they slowly congregated around the massive demigod. She towered over everyone present, and carefully sipped at a champagne flute as they gathered. “Hello, my little ponies,” she said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you all.”

Rarity gulped before speaking up. “Greetings, Princess. What have we done to earn your attention tonight?”

The Princess smiled. “I think it’s more what you’re going to do.”

Rarity smiled, as though she didn’t know what she was talking about.

Princess Celestia smiled back before she nodded toward another room. “Follow me, I think you’d enjoy a little privacy.”

Rarity nodded, but followed along anyway, sweat beginning to collect on her brow. What was she doing? What could the Princess want with her? Was she setting them up for a fall? Did she know they were Runners?

Celestia left the ballroom and sequestered them away into a smaller office space. Once she was sure they were alone, the alicorn then turned and faced the group. “I met this one some time ago,” the Princess explained, draping a wing the size of a normal pony over Flashpoint, “as a corporate mage for Harmony Inc.”

Flashpoint blinked in surprise, and stared up at the Princess.

“Oh, there were no formal introductions, dear,” Celestia said, smiling the whole time, “but I remember you were there, standing in the back corner, trying to hide. Regardless, she’s here, Spikarunz is not, and you five seem to be in constant communication with each other.”

“Well, that’s—” Rarity began.

“She managed to call you all up here with nothing more than a whisper,” Celestia said. “So unless you possess hearing far beyond that of even a dragon, I’m willing to bet that you have a comm line set up.”

Rarity didn’t answer that.

“That leaves only a hoofful of possibilities,” Celestia continued, “and because Spikarunz always thinks that he can keep his little plots hidden from me, that leaves me sure that you are his Runners.”

“A Runner? Here?” Rarity began, trying desperately to salvage this run. “Why, the scandal! I simply cannot believe—”

“I commend you on your persistence,” The Princess said, “but it’s time to know when you’re beat.”

Rarity opened her mouth one more time, before signing. “Yes, we’re his Runners.”

Celestia nodded. “I won’t ask your names, I know that’s quite the faux pas in your circles, but I do want to know what your goals are, and how you want to accomplish them.”

“That’s…” Rarity began, before chancing a glance at the others. Steel and Web looked nervously between each other, and Wingmare fidgeted. “That’s not really something that’s done, your Majesty. It’s like asking a company to give up its secrets. It’s—”

“Miss,” the Princess said. “I am trying to be patient with you. I understand your hesitance to share, but I need to know what your plan is, and if you refuse to comply, there will be consequences.”

“We’re...we’re here for the necklace,” Rarity blurted.

“The one around Miss Micro Chip’s neck?” the Princess asked.

Rarity nodded, though she wondered how on earth she guessed.

“And what was your plan?” the Princess asked.

“To...to get her alone long enough to grab the gem.”

“No killing?” Celestia asked.

“If we could help it…”

Celestia continued to smile through every question, though, when Rarity said that, it seemed to ease, and almost became even more natural than before. “Good, good. That’s what I wanted to hear.”

She took a small sip of champagne, before she continued. “So, how were you going to get her alone?”

“We were actually working on that,” Rarity said.

“Well, then let’s go see Ms. Chip,” Celestia said.

“Pardon?” Rarity asked.

“You need to get close, I can get you there,” she replied.

Rarity blinked.

“That’s…” of all the possible alternatives, this had to be the worst. To do what she needed to do, with the Princess next to her? There’s no way she could be discrete with that kind of company. What’s worse, what if Celestia found out? Was she hunting them as well? Would the Princess catch her, only to sell her to the highest bidder? She always said that she disapproved but in this business...

“That’s perfect!” Flashpoint said. “There’s no way they’d do anything against you openly. You’ll be almost able to waltz right up to her.”

Rarity said nothing, but at this point, she had very little choice but to follow.

The Princess walked with her carefully down the stairs, escorting her as they maneuvered toward the target. Ponies parted before them, and the first perimeter of security ponies gave way with little more than a word.

Rarity barely noticed, because her mind was too busy running through panic. Her thoughts were wildly swinging between finishing the job, no matter the cost, to running out of the gala as fast as her legs could carry her. Her life was seriously in danger, beyond everything she has ever done as a Runner. If things went wrong here, she would never be seen or heard from again.

The second perimeter of security ponies let them pass after a quick round of questions.

She’d be locked in some room for the rest of her natural life, always monitored. She’d not only be corporate property, but she’d be thrown into a vault, never to see the light of day.

The third perimeter gave Celestia a full minute of questions, before they let both of them pass through.

Rarity was out of time. The decision had been made for her. With no other choice, she shut off her eyes.

Rarity didn’t hear what Celestia or the other mare said, between the introductions and the small talk, but she didn’t care. She had to bring all her focus forward for this, and she wouldn't let a conversation distract her.

The darkness around her was absolute, the same that a blind pony would see, and it offered nothing for her, other than a contrast for the thing she was looking for.

And then, just as the droning of the Gala was beginning to stretch on, she saw it. The invisible web of the Matrix, connecting every device, every weapon, the holograms above, and more became visible to her sight. She reached out into the threads of code before her and traced the one to Micro Chip’s own comm device, not with her deck, but with magic. She pulled the right strings and made the right changes, and before Celestia had even given her first polite response to whatever Micro Chip had said to her, she was done.

Rarity wasn’t just the best Decker her team had seen. She was one of the rare few that could manipulate the Matrix like a living thing. Any skill that Flashpoint had in manipulating mana, Rarity could match it with the digital world. She was, quite literally, a technology mage, a technomancer, and by extension, one of the most valuable bounties and VIPs a corp could put out. The more a corporation had, the better.

And every Runner knew that a corp would do anything for one.

Comments

[Xanni]

"she decided she go" - I think you accidentally a word.
"the dronning of the Gala" is a typo for "droning".

[Booster Spice]

If Rarity, are there any Anti Techmages, Omega Psykers, or are they so disruptive that theres only one or two in the world, used to secure Megacorp Black Vaults in Magnetos cell style?

[Iron Comet]

Rarity is essentially a WMD. That's what the end is saying. The type to be hoarded until needed and a Corp would kill to get and keep. And kill to get ahold of. And as we have seen, the Corps literally dont care about lives here. All are expendable.

[djthomp]

Ahh, makes sense. Since they're going the Gala, we need some Art of the Dress first.

She carefully managed to slip past another hallway, before a figure dropped in front of her. Tall, deep blue, and disguised as an Oni glared down at her. “Identify yourself.”

Uh oh.

That could have gone better.

The Princess’ eyes carefully danced across the room, and Rarity watched as they landed on each and every team member before finally resting on her.

Uh oh.

Rarity wasn’t just the best Decker her team had seen. She was one of the rare few that could manipulate the Matrix like a living thing. Any skill that Flashpoint had in manipulating mana, Rarity could match it with the digital world. She was, quite literally, a technology mage, a technomancer, and by extension, one of the most valuable bounties and VIPs a corp could put out. The more a corporation had, the better.

Oh, neat. No wonder she's freaking out so much right now.