Cyberpony Y2K

by J3sterking

Fight at the Flight

"I do think there's an awful lot of rumors flying around that organization. Surely not all of them are true, don't you think?"

"Parsing rumor from truth is always difficult," Fancy said casually.

"I take it most of it is false, or exaggerated," Octavia said simply, hoping her tone was neutral. Damn you, Fleur! Damn you to Tartarus and back again, you stupid--

"I mean, yeah," Vinyl agreed. "Lots of it sounds farfetched."

"Indeed? Well, are there any you worry about?" Fleur asked demurely, turning to Vinyl.

"Well, let's see," Vinyl considered that for a moment. "Okay, I don't really worry about any of them because--" She gestured at herself, then at her empty glass. "—Wobot. But if I were a pony, then definitely up on top would be Rainbow Dash."

"Rainbow Dash?" Octavia couldn't help herself. All eyes turned to her, as she cleared her throat and blushed. "I-I mean, surely you don't think the rumors about some prettied up renegade Wonderbolt unit are true."

"Legally speaking, I don't 'think' anything," Vinyl said dryly. "Otherwise, yeah, I think so. I mean, look at it this way—their entire purpose is killing. Come off the factory line, load up on bullets, ship out to action, then wait in stasis until they need to kill again. It's killing all the way down. Factor that in with the fact that every factory occasionally sends out faulty materials, and we have a recipe for one renegade Wonderbolt. I think it is all too likely that one went rogue at some point—it's been, what, seventy years since the first ones were made? So, yeah, Rainbow Dash is not only believable, but...heh...terrifying." She shuddered. "Seriously. Have you seen Wonderbolts?"

"Thankfully, no," Octavia lied easily. "But I suppose I can see what you mean."

"Yes, running into Rainbow Dash alone at night makes for a terrifying scenario," Fleur said, setting down her own empty glass before straightening in her seat. "Hmm. What about the Behemoth?

"Eh...probably a seven or eight on 'danger', but only a 'two' on the 'believable side," Vinyl said. "Sure, it's a giant, scary robot. But, like...what is it? Where'd it come from? All these rumors just say different things. Entertainer, miner, calculator—why build such a massive robot, and how did they do it while not maintaining any sort of consistent--" Vinyl paused, meeting Fleur's gaze.

"Do go on," Fleur said.

Octavia shared a look with Fancy, but the noblecolt nodded, and gestured for Octavia to stay quiet.

"Well, um--" Vinyl seemed to get over her fluster rather quickly. "Anyway, there's just too many different stories about Behemoth. It's most likely all made up. Right?"

"I'd say," Fancy said slowly.

Octavia nodded in the interest of keeping her secrets to herself. Thankfully, Applejack was still keeping quiet, because both of them knew she was an absolutely terrible liar.

"Hmm...Diamond Duster?" Fleur questioned with a smile.

"Pass."

Appleajck looked up in confusion shared by Octavia and Fancy. "Pardon?" Applejack asked.

"I mean...look, I can literally look it up--" Vinyl rapped her knuckles against the side of her head. "Ignoring the questionable science of an android that someone added a human heart to, you...you still didn't make it any scarier? Yeah, that mask looks creepy, from the pictures I've seen, but...you just...installed a weak point onto an android. Not to mention all it has are two pistols—which I'm certain are not diamond, no matter what people say. Diamonds would shatter even if you were just firing lead."

"Don't I know it," Fleur lamented. "Dropped a diamond ring once, and it cracked right away." She reached over, cupping Vinyl's face. "You are a fine model, aren't you?" she added.

"Eeeeeeyup," Vinyl said, her 'eyes' bouncing up and down. While Octavia couldn't hear any music playing, she was certain that the android was playing something to herself as a means of keeping calm.

"Fancy, have you ever considered selling?" Fleur asked calmly, eyes not leaving Vinyl.

"This one? I'm afraid not," Fancy said, keeping his voice neutral. "She was, in every way, worth the bits I spent, and I'm not sure she'd even be partial to leaving."

"I'm good," Vinyl said with a shrug.

"Yes, and I'm certain we've butted into enough of her free time as it is," Fancy said. "So, how about we leave her to go enjoy some quality time with her fellows?"

Fleur pouted. "Are you certain? I could--"

"Fleur," Octavia said, patience snapping.

Fancy, Fleur, and Vinyl all turned to look at her. Octavia narrowed her eyes so that they were almost slits, then hissed, "I have spent these past few years fighting for android rights. At Everfree--" She spat the name to remind Fleur that they both knew that wasn't the organization she worked for. "--We've managed to go so far as to make it to outlaw the use of androids as broodmares in places like Cloudsdale and Vanhoover. Kindly take my position, and hers, with the respect that it is due."

The glass in her hands shattered, glass breaking into her skin, as she took a few, deep breaths. Jiffy appeared at her side, holding a cloth, and she took it without removing her eyes from Fleur.

Fleur, looking considerably distressed, leaned back in her seat. "A thousand pardons, I'm—I--" She sighed, then tapped the implant in her forehead. "My body's still acclimating to this. I'm afraid it's leaving me not wholly in my right mind, and I'm terribly sorry if I caused you discomfort."

"We're cool," Vinyl said slowly. "Seriously, you were creepin' me out a little, but with Fancy here, I wasn't too concerned." She shrugged. "Don't worry about it."

"And you're not just saying that because I'm your owner's friend?" Fleur asked with a smile.

"Nope! In fact, knowing you're his friend means a lot to me," Vinyl said. "That little, uh, display aside, I think I'd have a humongous preference to being sold to you over Filthy Rich. At least you have an excuse." She rapped her knuckles against the side of her head, where Fleur's implant was.

"I thought you were supposed to be acclimated by now," Fancy asked, looking Fleur up and down. "I've been meaning to ask this entire time...Fleur, my dear...are you alright?"

"Of course I am. It's just...taking me a little longer to acclimate than it does for most ponies," Fleur said, levitating her glass. "It'll only be another week or so. I can feel it. The doctors said that this is perfectly normal, too."

Octavia sighed. "You've seen the Alicorns, right? I'm assuming you saw at least one at the Grand Galloping Gala."

"Of course! She was majestic, beautiful...it was actually under her suggestion that I got this," Fleur said, tapping the implant.

"Did she seem entirely in her right mind to you?" Octavia asked. She removed the rag from her hand. "The bleeding's stopped, but I seemed to have ruined one of your towels, Fancy."

"An ounce of your blood is worth more to me than a hundred of those," Fancy proclaimed, and anyone who knew him could see that she meant it. "That aside, what do you mean about the Alicorns?"

"Anypony whose talked to one knows that they're a little...off, wouldn't you say?" Octavia met Fleur's eyes.

"I...suppose," Fleur said. "Miss Cadenza seemed fine enough..."

"You drilled a piece of metal into your skull with the intention of using it to apply an electrical current to your brain," Octavia said simply. "Does that sound 'fine enough'?"

"Hmm. I guess you're right...just look at what happened a few decades ago. That one Alicorn up and disappeared, didn't she?"

"Have you met Alicorns?" Fancy asked, turning his gaze to Octavia.

"Once, at Everfree's main office," Octavia replied—truthfully, actually. "They like to check up on the android rights movements, let them know that their complaints are heard." And normally, feed them some garbage about how things would change as the nation wanted, as if 'the nation' could better decide what was morally right.

Fancy gave her a look. "Miss Melody," he began, in a tone that made her aware her little feud with Fleur had not gone unnoticed.

The door to the room burst open, and a pegasus bolted into the room. "Fancy, sir! The club's under attack!"

A silence fell amongst the people in the room. "By whom?" Fancy demanded, rising.

"Unknown, sir. They're armed members of some gang."

"Filthy's," Octavia growled, jumping to her feet. "I'm so stupid. It's obvious to anypony who knows Fancy he wouldn't sell to Filthy, so he skipped a step. And you can't even link this to him legally, so he can't get in trouble with it."

"Mount the defense, keep the patrons safe and prevent them from getting access to any of the androids," Fancy said. "I'll trust you to handle how to best deal with this."

The pegasus saluted, then disappeared.

"Oh, no," Vinyl whispered. "Um—what do we do? How do I help? Can I help?"

"No, you can't," Fancy answered. "Stay here, we'll wait this out. There won't be so many that the Flash-points can't handle it, or at least, hold them off until the Wonderbolts arrive."

Octavia firmly decided that she needed to be out by that point, but another worry crossed her mind. "If Filthy knows you better than we'd assumed, he'll know you won't bow to this," Octavia said, pulling her gun from its holster.

Fleur let out a squawk. "You were armed?" she burst out.

"I told you I manage security, didn't I?" Octavia said, stepping right over to the servant's door Jiffy had used repeatedly. "For example, this room has two entrances, and the building itself has plenty." She opened the door, peaking outside.

Two armed thugs—both Earth ponies stopped, standing over an unconscious butler and staring at Octavia.

Octavia didn't give them a chance. The first went down to a heashot, but the other ducked behind a doorframe as the jeweled bullet soared past.

"He's got a bodyguard!" the thug shouted.

"Son of a bitch," Octavia muttered, ducking around the doorframe. She ejected the spent casings, loading in two extra bullets. "Fancy, we need to be on the move. Check the other door--" Bits of plaster exploded from the doorframe near her head, and she winced, ducking away from it. "Applejack, a hand, would you kindly?"

Applejack stood up, taking off her hat and putting it on the table. "Keep yer heads down, and hold onto yer manes," she told Vinyl and Fleur. "This might get a touch hairy." She charged the wall, smashing through it and colliding with the crook who'd been creeping up to the doorway.

Knowing he was dealt with, Octavia shot past Applejack, hitting another one. "There aren't many coming from that path," she said. "Still, we should--" She ducked back, feeling a stinging across her cheek. She wiped the blood away, as Applejack cursed. "You alright?" she asked, ducking back inside the room.

"Sorry, one of 'em ricocheted off me--"

"I'd rather deal with a paper cut than you getting pumped full of holes," Octavia said. "Fancy!"

"Path's clear, Miss Melody!" one of the Flash-points shouted.

Melody let out a silent prayer of thanks. "Applejack, watch our flanks!" she ordered. "Fleur, Vinyl, get up and move! We don't have time!"

Fleur, more from panic than anything else, rushed to obey, letting Fancy usher her out the door.

"I-I-I—" Vinyl stammered, then began to play a quiet musical track.

Octavia grabbed her by the back of her coat and gave her a rough shove in the direction of the door. "Your life is important, Vinyl, don't let me catch you wasting it," she ordered.

She turned just in time to see Applejack throwing a punch, with the servos in her wrist and arm working full throttle under the jacket sleeve. She watched as the fist extended forward several inches, and heard the bang not unlike a gunshot, followed by a cracking sound, and a spray of blood going up the wall besides her.

Applejack retreated into the room again, retrieving her hat and putting it on top of her faux-mane. "There's still another one back there, but he's hidin' around the corner. He didn't wanna come up and say hi."

"You just killed that guy," Vinyl whispered in shock.

Applejack didn't seem to have any sort of response prepared.

"No, don't think about that, Vinyl," Fleur said. "Everything's going to be okay, alright?" She put her hands on Vinyl's shoulders. "Octavia and her friend are protecting us. Stopping the bad guys, alright? Everything is fine."

Vinyl nodded dumbly.

Octavia beckoned them to follow, hoping Vinyl would be alright. Androids that still had all the chips added by Canterlot tended to struggle in combat scenarios. Hopefully, she could get Vinyl through this...

"Fancy, do you have a saferoom?" Octavia asked.

"This way," Fancy said, ducking into a light sprint. "I--"

A burst of machine gun fire interrupted him. They turned as one of the Flash-points fell away from the staircase back to the bottom floor, gun arm pointed at the open doorway.

Instead of a thug, a small, round ball flung through the doorway, landing at the Flash-point's feet.

"GRENADE!" she screamed, throwing Fleur and Vinyl away.

She turned out to be half-right. With an echoing boom, the grenade flashed bright white. Octavia stumbled, rolling away and ducking behind the first object she could use as cover while cursing. Her ears were ringing, but she thought she heard some gunfire.

Applejack wouldn't have been blinded, and neither would the Flash-Point—their optics were too good. They'd shut out the flash so as to avoid damage. Their hearing systems were potentially compromised, but that was a secondary concern.

Perhaps too late, she pulled her goggles back over her eyes, gun lifted. She shook her head, trying in vain to clear her eyesight.

Another bang came, followed by a metalic pinging sound as she felt her cover rattle against her. She winced, but without knowing if it was a gunshot aimed at her or friendly fire, she avoided shooting back.

Her vision began coming into focus again as she heard the sound of Applejack punching someone. Octavia turned slightly, looking out from behind her cover.

Her 'cover' turned out to be Vinyl Scratch.

"Oh, my God, are you alright?" Octavia burst out. "You were shot--"

Vinyl shrugged helplessly. She said something, but all Octavia caught was a light buzzing sound.

"Damn Rich," Octavia snarled, pulling out her gun. She shot the first thug she saw coming through the door, who fell back, clutching his shoulder.

The sound of Applejack grunting caught her attention. She turned, to see her friend wrestling with an Earth pony. She blinked in surprise, seeing the Earth pony actually lift Applejack into the air, throwing her to the side.

The pony wore a brown, dusted vest, with his red mane short-cropped, and he spat out to the side before wiping his mouth on his sleeve. He turned to Octavia, then narrowed his eyes.

Applejack tackled him, sending the two of them rolling in an open brawl as she punched the Earth pony in the face. Applejack's hat was missing, and she was covered in numerous dents from punches.

Octavia gulped, but didn't risk opening fire. Her handgun was certainly high enough caliber to break through Applejack's armor, and she didn't want to risk shooting her friend.

Instead, she turned her attention on the doorway. Her aim was somewhat unsteady, but as long as she was careful, she could keep the enemy at bay.

Someone tackled her from behind.

Octavia cursed, gun falling from her hand, as she fell into a brawl with a pegasus. He swung a fist at her face, missing narrowly, as she thought back to all of those ponies who'd been sneaking up the backway to Fancy's office, and how stupid she was for forgetting them.

Octavia slammed her knee into his stomach, leveraging her Earth pony magic to shove him off of her. He rolled back, then ducked in quickly. He caught her around the waist, wings propelling them both into a wall.

Octavia brought her fists down on the small of his back, inciting a cry of pain. She kneed him in the stomach, then brought her fist into the side of his skull. He spun around, before falling unconscious to the floor.

The Flash-Point that had fallen a the start shouted out, "Behind you!"

Octavia spun just in time to see yet another thug climb out of the stairwell, pointing a machine gun directly at her. The pegasus had—intentionally, no doubt—carried her to the staircase, perhaps envisioning that a brawl with an Earth pony was a bad idea.

Octavia ducked slightly to the side, just as Vinyl collided with the gun. Vinyl was an android, and thus, a small chip in her head prevented her from directly harming her opponent. However, nothing stopped her from wrestling with his gun, making sure the spray of bullets hit the wall besides Octavia, with only a single one pegging her jacket sleeve.

She mentally promised to give Rarity thanks for the sturdy vest, before rolling over to snatch her fallen pistol. She rolled onto her feet, shooting at her newest attacker.

She missed by inches, the bullet going between his and Vinyl's heads with a green trail.

The unicorn jerked his gun away from Vinyl, sending her sprawling against the wall, before swiveling to face Octavia. Octavia fired again, but a shimmering forcefield materialized in the air in front of him. The bullet broke through anyway, but the impact sent it careening off course. He ducked to the side of her second shot, gun training on her, as she leapt to the side.

Vinyl, for the second time, saved her life by tackling him. She grabbed the gun as it opened fire, a few shots going into her side but the majority hitting the wall again before the machine gun made a few, half-hearted clicking sounds. The unicorn wrestled with her, shouting, "Damn 'droid! Le'go!" He punched her in the face, then shoved hard against Vinyl.

Vinyl fell back, but so did the unicorn. Balance lost, he stumbled, foot slipping off the staircase. His eyes went wide, and then fell.

The stairs were large enough so that Octavia couldn't hear him hit the bottom. But she knew enough to know what was happening next.

Vinyl stared after him a minute, in mute shock, before she realized that she'd just killed him. And as soon as she did, the violence inhibitor sent a signal to kill her.

Vinyl fell limp, head hitting the ground with a thud, as Octavia cursed. Thankfully, there didn't seem to be any other ponies rushing up to shoot at them, so she holstered her gun as she rushed to Vinyl's side.

"Fancy, I need help!" she called out.

Fancy looked out from the doorframe he'd pulled Fleur behind, then blanched. He rushed over, falling to a crouch besides Octavia. "What happened?"

"She accidentally killed that unicorn," Octavia said. "Meaning she's dying." She rolled Vinyl over, looking at the back of her head, before taking a deep breath. "I'm going to try and save her, but I'll need a hand."

"I'm here," Applejack said, landing besides her. Her opponent was nowhere to be seen, presumably having run off rather than die in battle.

"Where's the service plate? Damned custom models—here!" Octavia pointed to the specifically marked metal plate on the back of Vinyls neck, adding, "Remove it."

Applejack, none to gently, ripped the plate off and threw it to the side.

Octavia looked inside, to the various blinking lights, and sure enough, found the violence inhibitor with its blinking red light. She gulped, then reached into her coat pocket. She pulled out a needle, then took a deep breath. "Here we go," she said, plunging it in. Delicate precision was required. One wrong move and she could seriously hurt Vinyl, potentially, irreparably. But all she needed to do was sever one wire, and push one button.

A click and a beep were her reward. She let out her breath, long and slow, as the red light faded to green.

"She's alright, then?" Fancy asked.

"She's stable," Octavia corrected. "I only knew one or two things. This is my first time dong this in the field, and I don't know how to remove it entirely."

"Even if ya did, Canterlot wouldn't accept it if they ever learn what happened," Applejack commented. "If people learn that an android hurt another pony and didn't die, as Canterlot says'll happen, then they might start to question the things Canterlot's sayin'. They can't allow that."

"What are you saying?" Fancy demanded.

"I need to remove the violence inhibitor, but there's no one in Manehattan I can particularly trust this to," Octavia said, "because if people learn that I did that, then she will be killed."

Fancy stared at her. "And you're suggesting that I do what?"

"Give her to them," Fleur answered.

Fancy stared at her. Fleur stepped out of the doorway, wobbled, then fell to her knees, leaning against the doorframe. She shuddered. "She's right, Fancy. Canterlot will not permit her to survive, at this point. But they can keep her alive, and hidden."

Fancy turned his gaze back to Octavia. "Don't think I don't know who you really work for," he said. "You don't plan on throwing her into the fire just to prove a point?"

"No," Octavia said. "She's a victim. She won't have to fight if she doesn't want to, Fancy. Though if she so chooses, then we'll allow her the chance to make a change. Same as we did with Applejack, and Rainbow Dash."

Fancy stared at her for another moment. Then he sighed. "People will talk if I just give her away," he said calmly. "She got damaged in the fight, so I sold her to you, to take care of her."

"How much?"

"Fifteen hundred," Fancy said. "Anything less and it won't be believable."

Octavia winced, but nodded. "Done. I'll have it sent within a week."

Fancy nodded. "And Octavia?"

Octavia looked up from the hole in Vinyl's neck, looking towards Fancy.

Fancy met her gaze. "Don't come back."

Author's Note:

Author's Notes: Violence Inhibitors

As this was a little hard to explain in this rather hectic chapter, I decided to put a little information about it here. The violence inhibitor is a device added into an android that serves many functions. Namely, it prevents androids from physically harming ponies, and in the event of accidental death, kills the android. It also links the android to the web, allowing instant online searches, and forces the android to follow commands.

Disabling the inhibitor is a short-term solution, as the device has to be fully removed to prevent the possibility of it coming back on.

Hope that explains it well enough, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Stay tuned for a new one next week!

Comments

[bahatumay]

I like where this is going!