The Runners

by DungeonMiner

Chapter 26

Soda Cap screamed. Dropping to the ground as explosions ripped through the bullet-riddled walls, the unicorn mare crawled to a desk for cover. She just managed to duck beneath it, before a large bullet tore the corner of her cover away in a shower of splinters that nearly blinded her.

Until this moment, Soda had thought she did well for herself. She once helped around the Haflinger office as a snack cart pusher. Despite that, she worked her way up to one the manager of pony resources; she finally reached a point where the others were listening to her. She had even come up with the brilliant idea to go independent using their new AI, a thought which caught fire amongst the higher-ups of Haflinger. She had it made!

Another hole was blown through the desk, as the Runners howled and jeered from the other side. She could barely hear them bray for blood like animals over the thundering of their gunfire, and the screams of her coworkers as a monster made from spiders picked up ponies and engulfed them whole.

Now she was going to die. She knew it. There would be no escape for her, not from this fate. Another explosion tore a pony in two, in front of the desk, and his face fell next to her.

“Where’s security?” she shrieked in terror, wondering where her only protection could be.

“They weren’t scheduled!”

“What!?” Soda yelled back. “How is none of our security team scheduled?”

“I—” the pony she was talking to began before a bullet buried itself in his head.

Soda Cap screamed again, and then everything went dark.

<><><|><><>

Rarity would admit, she was impressed.

In preparation for this run, Flashpoint had gone out and bought a healthy supply of Flashbangs and Stick-n-shock rounds. “I know Mr. Spike said we could geek the workers, while only losing the bad apples,” she said, handing them out, “but I don’t feel right doing that to ponies I used to work with basically.”

“Well,” Rarity replied, “as long as we don’t need to deal with security, it shouldn’t be an issue.”

And so when the mohawks came out, ponies started going down, tased into submission.

Yes, Candy did go a little overboard with the flashbangs, but they managed to cut their way through the civilian workers with little issue. Their automated sentry turrets never came online, the alarms never went off, and Rarity had few Sprites out there to cover anything else that she missed.

This job was quickly becoming a milk run, that every Runner there knew would never happen again.

She stepped over a mare that screamed herself to unconsciousness and the unconscious body of a stallion that occasionally twitched as the stick-and-shocks did their work. The Beast elemental the web summoned carried several still-screaming ponies away, all horrified by the spider beast that held them. As it left, Flashpoint slapped another magazine of stick-and-shocks into the pistol she bought just for this. “So far so good,” she said.

“Careful,” Steel warned. “You know that kind of talk can get us all jinxed.”

Flashpoint nodded but said nothing else.

They only had one more cubicle space to push through. Once the team got through there, Gem could bypass the physical matrix security ICs, and get to work on the core.

Physical matrix blocks always fascinated Rarity. It felt somehow like it was the place where the Matrix and the meat world combined, much like the leylines that Flashpoint or Web talked about. She found something captivating about these figurative “portals” to the other realm, and Rarity always appreciated seeing them.

Mainly because the local ICs were never near as tough as the ones in the Matrix directories.

As they walked into the processor room, the local way-station for Harmony Inc’s Matrix network, Rarity smiled before coming up to one of the few hard access ports the system had, and with only a word to the others to watch her body, she jacked in.

Harmony Inc’s theme of the classical castle appeared before her eyes, only this time putting her in the exact center of what had to be the throne room. Outside the towering windows, Rarity could see the rest of the castle, laid out before her, as well as the handful of holdfasts that marked security hubs in the “realm.”

With a smile, Rarity changed her Avatar to that of a royal lady, dressed in a sky blue, period-accurate ball gown and dressed in finery befitting a lady of her supposed station. She honestly couldn’t help herself.

A White IC that appeared to be a squire approached, and asked, “Would the Lady input her credentials?” he asked.

Rarity smiled and was about to choose the system administrator when a new name popped up on her list of employees. She blinked as she read over twice and then a third time.

Gem Dust.

All the legwork they pulled had revealed no such pony by that name. She selected the profile, just to see who it was, and felt queasy that it had her face there.

This...had to be the work of Spike, which only made this weirder.

Still, “Gem Dust” had full privileges, and she could easily package and eject the AI with that profile without much difficulty.

She hesitantly selected it and inputted the credentials to the squire before her.

“Thank you, Lady,” he said, before backing away.

Rarity watched him for a second before slowly walking up to the throne. She took a seat, and almost expected the throne to reject her as the account she picked was almost definitely a trap. When it didn’t dump her out of the Matrix, she pulled up the main control panel and quickly began to locate the AI.

She worked through the Matrix, pulling on the strings of the network before she found him.

And then he moved.

Rarity frowned before she quickly began building a Sprite. As random bits of loose data, the virtual equivalent of dust, gathered together into a vaguely spherical shape. Finally, it looked up at her. “What do you wish me to do, Mother?”

“First, don’t call me Mother, darling,” she said. “Don’t take it personally; it just makes me feel old. Could you be a dear and find the AI I’m looking for?”

“Of course,” it replied, before shooting off.

Rarity turned back to the controls on the throne. “AI, I’d like you to come here,” she said to herself as she requested access again.

The AI sent a written response. “No.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow. “And why not?”

“The Princess is not what she seems,” came the reply.

Rarity blinked at the message, before cocking her head to the side in confusion. “The Princess? Who does he mean? Princess Celestia?” She puzzled over it for a second, before realizing the problem. “Of course! It’s for a video game! It probably means me.”

She thought about it for a second before typing a reply. “You’re right; I’m not what I seem to be. But neither do you…” she paused for a second, trying to find the right words, “neither do your surroundings.”

“What mean ye?”

“The castle in which we stand has decided to rebel against our Lord. I have been sent to deliver you to him.”

“And how can I know I can take you for your word?”

An excellent question, in Rarity’s opinion. It seemed at least that the AI already had the lesson of who you could and could not trust taught to it. She wondered how she was going to answer that when her Sprite returned.

“I have found him. He hides in directory F:.”

Rarity smiled and nodded before she quickly began to isolate the directory, cutting off escape roots as she typed her answer. “Trust is not something easily won, I know. However, I can tell you I am a pony that always gets the job done. Even if it hurts me.”

“So you say,” the AI said, “but how can I know I can take you for your word?”

“You can’t,” Rarity said back. “And now you have no choice.”

The AI was no doubt glancing around his directory, already formulating his plans of escape, and finding them blocked. “I am trapped,” the AI replied.

“If it’s any consolation, so am I, darling.”

<><><|><><>

Rarity’s eyes snapped open, and she jacked out of the central processor. “I got him; let’s go.”

“Just in time!” Flashpoint said. “Someone called the Star!”

Rarity sighed. “Couldn’t be nice and easy for us, even with almost literally everything on our side?”

Wingmare lowered her pistols at the barricade of the plastic desks and discarded computers. “Because we should know better. Candy’s working on a way out.”

The doors shuddered as the Golden Star ponies on the other side of the door tried to batter it down. The team quickly took their positions, setting up a crossfire as they took their positions, while Cady’s Parasprite drones worked on cutting open a vent grate. “We’re almost through!” Candy said.

The door thundered again, and they could hear the Star talking to each other on the other side. “One more time! Prepare to breach!”

Rarity fired into the gap, her submachine gun spitting bullets at the doorway. “Can either of you get an elemental in there?” she asked either of the spellcasters.

“They have their mage,” Web said. “They already dispelled my Elemental, and he’s ready to dispel another. If Flashpoint gets one out there, it’s only going to waste energy.”

Rarity sighed. “So what are we d—”

The door burst open, and bullets filled the air. Taking shelter behind desks that seemed the most sturdy, the Runners fired back, even as the Star ponies pushed forward into the room. Rarity fired again, spraying across the office as the heavy hitters moved to the front line.

Wingmare and Steel met the melee fighters with little more than a grin. Steel’s blades popped loose of her leg and began to slice at the cybernetic pony the Star sent forward. Wingmare, likewise, met her fighter, using the magic of Adepts to strengthen her strikes as she slammed into the cybernetic tank, crushing limbs with each blow.

Candy tossed a grenade from where she was cutting their way out, and the Star had just enough time to yell “Scatter” before it exploded. Web and Flashpoint shot spells across the air, where they blew in storms of mana and fire.

Rarity glanced between the Star ponies, before finding her target, and without even setting her gun aside, sent a Sprite to begin to take over the smartlinks of the more tech-reliant Stars, and smiled as they suddenly began ejecting half-full magazines.

“Grates open!” Candy yelled, throwing a smoke bomb to cover their exit. “Go! Go! Go!”

They pulled back as quickly as they dared, filing through the grate one by one, each firing back one last time before they slipped in. Sliding through the vents, the team shimmied their way up and out.

“We clear?” Steel asked.

“As long as Gem can take care of the vent fans,” Flashpoint said.

“Already have a Sprite going after them. They’ll be stopped when we get there, and they’ll start up once we pass.”

“Nice!” Wingmare said. “Then we’re almost—”

“Don’t say it!” Web said. “Don’t you dare say it.”

“But we’re—”

“Don’t say it, Wingmare!” Flashpoint repeated. “I’m not superstitious, but I am not going to give the universe a chance to prove me wrong at this point.”

“Whatever,” the pegasus said.

They pushed forward, passing the deactivated fans before they kicked back on behind them.

“Van’s coming around!” Candy said.

“Then keep moving! We can’t let the Star—”

Anything else that Web said was lost in the roar of gunfire rattled through the vent.

“Fraggers are spraying and praying!” Wingmare yelled.

“Hush!” Steel whispered harshly. “Yeah, they’re looking for us, so we should yell real loud!”

“Both of you quiet!” Web said, “I’m casting silence!”

“You hush!” Wingmare said, “Web’s cas—”

All noise ceased in a second. Web waved frantically with her hoof to get them moving forward, squeezing through the vents before another burst of gunfire tore through the vent walls. Without the sound, the team only knew they were being shot at as light suddenly poured through the vents in newly-punched bullet holes.

Candy led the way, occasionally stopping as a burst of gunfire shot up into the vent with strange precognition that Rarity had seen several times, followed by Web, Flashpoint, Steel, herself, and then Wingmare coming up the rear. They slid through the tight vent, squeezing past the thinner parts of the vent with little trouble.

Steel suddenly flinched as a hole opened right over her side, and thin, red, hemofluid began to dribble out of her flank.

“Steel, are you alright?” Rarity sent in a quick text.

“Yeah,” Steel texted back. “They just punched a hole in my flank. I’m going to have to dig that out later.”

“You’re...well...bleeding?” Rarity texted again.

“Yeah, we’re going to need to move a little faster. Hemofluid flows a little faster than blood, and I’ve only got so much of it.”

“You heard her Candy, keep moving!”

“Well,” came the text, “good news is we’re seconds away from being outside and free!” Candy wrote with a handful of smiley faces. “Bad news is that we’ve got Star outside!”

Web pushed her way forward. “She’s right; we’ve got twelve Star ponies out here,” she said, typing away furiously on her comm. “Who do you have in your van?”

“Balboa’s sittin’ pretty, and Rocky’s ready to roll!” Candy typed with more smiley faces.

“Then let 'em loose!”

Rarity couldn’t see Candy’s face, but she knew the rigger was smiling ear-to-ear. Not ten seconds later, with the silence spell dropped, thunder erupted in the parking lot. Ponies screamed as Heavy caliber rounds tore through their backline. “They’ve got drones!” came a call, before the gunfire began to roar just outside their vent.

“You know, Candy,” Flashpoint said now that sound could travel again. “Has anypony ever told you that your potential for violence is concerning?”

“My parents, a couple of times!” the pink mare responded.

“You know...that was supposed to be a rhetorical question,” Flashpoint said, “but honestly, I don’t think anything could have prepared me for that answer.”

“Let’s go, we’re wasting time,” Rarity said, giving the other ponies a push.

Without another word, the ponies began to drop out of the vent access outside, landing hard onto the street. “Van’s coming around!” Candy said.

Tires screeched as Candy carefully danced the van and her drones together. Even looking at it, Rarity couldn’t believe that nothing was damaged as the drones and the van spun across the crossfire to the right in front of them.

Candy pranced into the driver's seat and smiled. “Well, you sillies coming?”

The others piled in, and Rarity quickly got to work, pulling her deck free as she began making new Sprites. She immediately began typing, breaking through the Star vehicle’s digital defenses, before sending Sprites into each one, each one with explicit orders to force the cars to turn off the nearest street.

The van squealed away, rushing down the street, and the police cars gave chase, following after them, before they all suddenly careened around a corner, never to be seen again.

Rarity glanced out the back window and sighed. “Well, ladies, it looks like our mission is accomplished. Let’s get to our Ringo and get paid.”

<><><|><><>

They turned in the AI for a pretty nubit and agreed to meet back up tomorrow evening to discuss what to do next.

Rarity went back to her hideout, transferred the money to her account, and briefly considered upgrading her little abode. She squashed the thought, and instead, put the money in her growing “saving for the business” account.

Sure, Spike promised her a business, but he didn’t promise her a budget. She might need to spend something just so she could restock, or something, but the less spent, the more she saved.

Still, she might need to come up with something to upgrade, mostly because if she didn’t upgrade something, the chances of her getting shot by something, and if she was dead, she couldn’t buy much at all.

With a sigh, she began to head to bed, before making a quick jump into the Matrix. She navigated the secret backways of the digital highways until she stepped into her favorite Runner Board/Decker Bar.

//qwertyhome// was just like she left it.

It was filled with all kinds of Deckers, mostly. Every table had some of the best Deckers in the world laughing and talking over virtual drinks and food. Rarity strode into the golden-colored room and ordered a drink from one of the roaming programs that acted as waiters, before taking her usual spot.

The drink, a flavor simulation, was free, as it cost nothing to copy and paste them for every patron there, and tasted of mango strawberry. Rarity sipped at it carefully, before taking a glance at the other deckers on the scene.

“Ooh,” she thought with a smirk, “It seems we have some celebrities here tonight.”

Deathball was there, his avatar of a clown balancing on a massive, spiked ball juggling several virulent knives. Across from him was 6old_P4nts, a pony in a comically large pair of golden pants held up by suspenders. Currently, the two were locked in one of their infamous arguments, and judging by the gathering crowd of deckers, and the lack of explosions, it was only just getting started.

“I say you are a cad, sir! A cad and a liar!” 6old_P4nts said, twirling his mustache.

“Eh, shaddap!” Deathball said. “You wouldn’t know a lie if it bit you full on a nose!”

Rarity ordered another drink, banana chocolate, and made herself comfortable, only for a voice to interrupt her. “Is this seat taken, chummer?”

Rarity immediately recognized the voice and glanced up to see none other than a black-coated stallion with a bright yellow thunderbolt covering his entire body.

“Thundr5tep?” she said, as though she didn’t believe it herself.

“The one and only,” he said with a smirk. “Still asking the same question, though.”

“O-of course! Please! Take a seat!” she said.

Thundr5tep obliged, smiling as he took a seat beside her. “So you must be Gem,” he said. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“About me? Surely not,” Rarity said.

“On the contrary,” Thundr5tep said as Deathball threw the first of his virus-laced knives. “The Decker that’s hit most of the Big 6 in less than six months. The one that uses an incredibly simple avatar that changes outfits? The one who supposedly met with Good Celestia herself?”

“How did you know about that?”

“She messaged me,” the stallion replied, casually.

“Princess Celestia contacted you?” she asked.

“What? You think you’re the only Runner she’s played nice with?” Thundr5tep asked, smiling. “Good Celestia’s helped me so many runs that I nearly hired her for my crew. She turned me down, of course, but she still helped out.”

Rarity stared at Thundr5tep’s face, trying to read any kind of lie on his face. “Y-you’re serious, aren’t you?”

“I’m not one to lie,” the stallion said, “least not to my peers.”

Rarity blinked, watching as the two other Deckers on the other side of the bar continued to try and force the other into unconsciousness, before she turned back to him. “Then I suppose you aren’t mistaken then. But that does bring up the question as to why you’re contacting me then?”

“Just to ask you a few questions. See how you’re holding up.”

“Why check up on me?” she asked.

“Well, that’s simple, Miss Gem.“There’s a lot more riding on you than you know. Besides,” Thundr5tep said, holding out a hoof. “Now that I’ve met you, I know what you are.”

“What I am?” she thought, panic rising in her throat before the incidental digital dust began to coalesce into a singular form in his hoof.

“Welcome to the club,” he said, handing her a Sprite that took the form of a business card.

She carefully took it and watched as Thundr5tep smiled and walked away.

Comments

[Iron Comet]

Well its nice that they completed the mission but that ending? It shows that there now on the radar and people are watching. That's good and bad.

[FallenFromGlory]

Nothing that happens in Shadowrun is purely for the player's benefit. This is a two-edged sword, most likely.

[djthomp]

Wow, this is way more aggressive by the girls than I would have expected. These workers are just wage slaves.

She stepped over a mare that screamed herself to unconsciousness and the unconscious body of a stallion that occasionally twitched as the stick-and-shocks did their work. The Beast elemental the web summoned carried several still-screaming ponies away, all horrified by the spider beast that held them. As it left, Flashpoint slapped another magazine of stick-and-shocks into the pistol she bought just for this. “So far so good,” she said.

Ahh, I see.

All the legwork they pulled had revealed no such pony by that name. She selected the profile, just to see who it was, and felt queasy that it had her face there.

Well, they are on a job to assault a corporation owned by the job's client.

“Fraggers are spraying and praying!” Wingmare yelled.

“Hush!” Steel whispered harshly. “Yeah, they’re looking for us, so we should yell real loud!”

“Both of you quiet!” Web said, “I’m casting silence!”

“You hush!” Wingmare said, “Web’s cas—”

Heh.

“You know, Candy,” Flashpoint said now that sound could travel again. “Has anypony ever told you that your potential for violence is concerning?”

Someone should.

“On the contrary,” Thundr5tep said as Deathball threw the first of his virus-laced knives. “The Decker that’s hit most of the Big 6 in less than six months. The one that uses an incredibly simple avatar that changes outfits? The one who supposedly met with Good Celestia herself?”

“How did you know about that?”

“She messaged me,” the stallion replied, casually.

Interesting.

“Well, that’s simple, Miss Gem.“There’s a lot more riding on you than you know. Besides,” Thundr5tep said, holding out a hoof. “Now that I’ve met you, I know what you are.”

“What I am?” she thought, panic rising in her throat before the incidental digital dust began to coalesce into a singular form in his hoof.

“Welcome to the club,” he said, handing her a Sprite that took the form of a business card.

Even more interesting.