Chapter 3: How it Goes Wrong
Chapter 3: How it Goes Wrong
Lyra Heartstrings knew she was breaking one of her fundamental rules of shadowrunning; when the job goes south, pull out. No amount of creds or hits to her rep was worth putting her team’s lives at unneeded risk. Sure, risk was part of the biz, but as the team’s leader the others trusted her to decide when the risk was worth the reward, and when it wasn’t.
Right now she was all too aware she was tilting over the line of ‘acceptable risk’ and into ‘getting your friends geeked’ territory. This run against A.H.I was going to be a tough one to begin with, but with a rival team of runners on site shooting the place up with zero subtlety, calling down who knew what kinds of heavily armed backup down on the site, things just got far dicier. Lyra and her team would need to get in and out fast, avoid getting shot to pieces themselves, and be clear before A.H.I could bring in reinforcements. Her knowledge of corporate security procedures told her they had ten minutes, tops, before whatever alarms that were going off here got swarms of additional security screaming in on VTOLs.
So far none of her team had questioned her on why they were pushing forward, instead of aborting the run. That was for the best, because she wasn’t sure how well she could explain herself on the fly, and wouldn’t have tired even if pressed. She had to do this, and just hoped her team could understand why, when the time came.
The sound of the unmarked VTOL that had dropped off the other runner team could still be heard, circling nearby. Over the high whine of the VTOL’s engines Lyra heard the rough, rhythmic bark of heavy gunfire; probably that minotaur’s rotary shotgun if she was guessing right. That sound was joined soon by the lighter sporadic popcorn cracks of sub-machine guns and pistols. The A.H.I facility’s security was fighting back. Lyra hoped she and her team would be able to take advantage of the confusion.
Cheerilee was first to reach the wall, the magenta mare whipping out a small black device that she aimed upward. With a soft puff of air that only Lyra probably heard the device fired a hook trailing a black silk rope. The hook attached to the top of the wall as the rest of the team stacked up against the wall. Trixie gave the rope a look as if to say, ‘Seriously?’, her breathing erratic, eyes wide, and with an expression that suggested she was seriously reconsidering her reasons for being here. Lyra felt a jolt of guilt but quickly shoved it aside. Trixie knew the job could be dangerous. Lyra wanted to have faith the other unicorn mare could hold up.
“Ditzy, we clear?” asked Lyra.
Ditzy, her wall-eyed look staring off into cyberspace, gave a smile and a fast nod, “Wall had some nasty surprises but I’ve shut them down; no electrocutions for us today! Camera’s are down too, at least for the courtyard. Haven’t been spotted yet but they’ve got a spider in the web looking for me.”
Spider, hacker slang for their corporate counterparts who specialized in system security. While Lyra and the others fought their battle physically, and Trixie would be their counter to threats of the astral plane, it would be Ditzy who’d fight a war of cat and mouse across a digital battlefield, with programs being her guns and the system’ ICE being her foes, and the corporate hacker directing them. There wasn’t a shadowrunner team out there that didn’t at least have a competent hacker on standby, and Ditzy had proved herself as being more than merely competent. Lyra knew she could trust Ditzy to take care of her end of things.
“Alright,” she said, “Raindrops and I will go over first. Cheerilee, help Trixie up next. Ditzy, you’re last. We make for the main facility the second we’re over; no side tracking, no slowing down. Only shoot if you have to, we’re not here to leave bodies.”
“B-bodies?” Trixie gulped, eyes widening slightly.
Raindrops rolled her eyes, already flying up the wall, “These things don’t shoot candy,” she said while hefting her machine gun.
Lyra sighed, sliding over and putting a hoof on Trixie’s leg, “Yours is loaded with gel rounds. Didn’t think you’d want to worry about hurting anypony.”
Trixie gave her gun a look, expression slightly queasy, then looked to Lyra, “But... the rest of you aren’t?”
Ditzy smiled, raising her taser, “I use this!”
Cheerilee sighed, hefting her own compact machine pistol, “Modern armor is too effective against most non-lethal ordinance. We carry some, just in case, but we always start out packing live rounds. Don’t sweat it, though, Trixie, we tend to only aim for legs. Mostly. Raindrops, kind of not set up for precision shooting. Which reminds me, Raindrops, please try not to go full-auto with that cannon of yours this time! Do you have any idea how difficult it is to wash blood out of a mane!?”
“...Yes,” said Raindrops with a thin scowl, but flicked a switch on her machine gun that Lyra knew would set it to three-round bursts rather than full-auto.
~As for me, I prefer to keep my babies loaded with ammo for every occasion!~, said Carrot Top’s cheerful voice over the AR link shared between all of the team. A small roto-drone, no larger than a basketball, floated by Trixie.
“CT, you holding up alright?” asked Lyra.
~Right as fresh carrots Lyra. Running my babies quiet, and no sign anypony’s caught my signal. I’m sending this medi-drone with you guys for a little backup. Got Rabbit Buster on standby, and our perimeter is as secure as I can make it. Stay frosty in there, ‘kay?~
“We’ll be good,” Lyra said, then looked at everypony, “Right, up and over.”
Trixie controlled her breathing and reminded herself she was a professional. Not a professional like these girls were, technically, but she wasn’t a stranger to dangerous situations. She’d been accosted by muggers, and gangers, and even dealt with a few supernatural critters during her short and rocky career as a private investigator. Of course there was a world of difference between those occasional scrapes and what she was about to do; break into a heavily guarded corporate research facility that was already under fire by another team of heavily armed and cybered-up shadowrunners... but this was nothing a pony of Trixie’s talent shouldn’t be able to handle.
Lyra and Raindrops went up first, the pegasus flying right over the wall while Lyra climbed the synth-rope Cheerilee had deployed with remarkable agility, making the ascent look as natural as walking up a set of stairs. Trixie was assisted by Cheerilee, who showed her how to properly wrap her hoof around the synth-rope and brace her hindlegs to climb up the wall. Trixie had trouble with it, her back legs burning before she got even halfway up, but she grit her teeth and pushed on through, determined not to slow the team down. At the top of the wall she passed by what looked to be a set of electrical wires that had already been cut, probably by Raindrops. She hesitated a moment at seeing the drop down to the compound floor, but another rope had already been set up and the descent wasn’t as tough as the ascent had been. Only now, as she climbed down, she could clearly see the carnage already wrecked on the AHI compound and hear the still ongoing firefight, and her nerves started to rattle at the sound of pony’s shouting, and screaming in pain.
Two of the small dome shaped buildings nearby were cracked open like eggs from the VTOLs missile barrage, and flames and smoke poured forth in billowing gouts. Trixie could see the front of the main facility, where already a few dozen ponies in red and black security barding were piled around various pillars and columns that lined the overhang of the first floor of the building. The cover was scant against what was a relentless barrage of fire from the hulking minotaur that seemed to shrug off return fire like a knot of stone in a river. The security ponies weren’t lightly armed by any means, many of them wielding assault rifles and heavy pistols in levitation fields or gripped with their forehooves. That giant dark blue minotaur just didn’t seem to give a drek about the heavy fire pouring over him, his barrel chest seeming to shrug off the slugs as only a heavily cyber augmented individual can.
“Iron Will says you try to bring on the pain; I hit back like a train!” the minotaur, Iron Will apparently, roared and aimed his massive many barreled weapon at the security forces.
The minotaur’s rotary shotgun blasted chunks of concrete and steel out from the security pony’s cover, and Trixie felt sick to her stomach as one mare was sent spinning away with an arm sheared clean off by the flechet storm, her piercing scream making Trixie shiver to her very bones.
What in Luna’s shiny tail-hole am I doing here!? No amount of credits is worth this! Trixie nearly panicked, but Cheerilee was already descending above her and she couldn’t just go back. Closing her eyes and breathing hard, Trixie concentrated on just getting to the ground.
Raindrops and Lyra had taken cover by one of the intact domed buildings that was just a short distance from the wall and Lyra waved Trixie over the moment she hit the ground. Trixie came over with an unsteady trot, wincing as she saw the griffin from the rival team dive-bomb a AHI security mare who was pulling out a grenade launcher. Monoblade’s flashed and Trixie gulped, trying to ignore how easily armor had parted under those blade’s edge, and sent a silent prayer that the security pony hadn’t felt much pain before... coming apart.
If we have to fight those maniacs, what am I going to do!?, she thought, but glancing at her own team, she wondered how much she needed to worry. They did outnumber the other team two to one.
“Right,” said Lyra, now that Ditzy flew over the wall and landed with the rest of the group, “Make for this entrance,” a pair of side doors along the south end of the facility lit up in Trixie’s AR display, “Fast. Ditzy, I want those doors cracked before we hit them.”
“Done and done,” Ditzy chirped with a smile.
Raindrops was frowning at the carnage at the front of the facility, “Sloppy work out there. Those idiots are trying to bash through the entire security force here.”
“Looks like they’re succeeding,” said Trixie.
“Only in tying themselves up out front. Amateurish. Childish,” Raindrops growled, “Gangers and slot-heads can act this way, but teams like that are what give shadowrunner’s a bad rep!”
Cheerilee was giving the scene a scrutinizing gaze herself, rubbing a hoof to her chin, “I think I may have heard of this group, now that I’m getting a good look at them. Iron Will, that’s ringing a few bells upstairs.”
“If its important, feel free to tell us,” said Lyra curtly, “But we got to move. Everypony stick close. Go!”
With that they were off and Trixie could only concentrating on taking one breath after the other as she galloped alongside her fellow teammates. The few dozen yards to the main facility’s side door felt like miles to her, stretching out and making every second feel excruciatingly long to Trixie. Any second she expected to feel the pain of a gunshot blasted through her all but unarmored body, and fear lent strength to her tired hooves.
When a gruff, feminine voice filled with attitude called out, Trixie nearly felt her heart jump into her throat.
“Hey, hey, hey! Now where’re you dweebs going? Wasn’t expecting any extra rats scurrying around here.”
It was the griffin from the other team, who had banked up around the roof and been preparing to dive down onto the regrouping security forces, but had spotted Lyra’s team running across the open area. The griffin had purple shades to the tips of her feathers, and around her bright yellow eyes, eyes that narrowed at the team of shadowrunner ponies that she clearly hadn’t expected to see. She dove down with remarkable speed, her swings snapping in against her side until she was at ground level, upon which they snapped back open to send her into a sharp turn that took her in front of the team’s path, Lyra in the lead.
“Don’t know who you ponies are, but this is our gig, so how ‘bout you all buzz off!?”
Lyra didn’t even slow her stride, and flying beside her Raindrops lined up her machine gun. The griffin spat, bringing her sword to bear. Trixie’s teeth rattled as Raindrop’s machine gun let loose with a thunderous three round burst. The griffin, with speed that couldn’t be natural, twisted in the air and flowed around the bright orange tracer rounds that stitched through the air. Charging in, the griffin made for Raindrops, angling in from above to swipe at the jasmine pegasus’ head. Raindrops jerked back, not a fast flier, but with powerful wings that could easily shift her momentum in flight, pulling her up short of where she would’ve been. The griffin’s monoblades sliced through thin air and Raindrops held her machine gun aloft with one hoof, raising another and snapping one of her large caliber semi-automatic pistols from its sheath and firing off a quick triple tap of shots. The griffin growled, throwing herself to the side, spinning as one round caught her side, but the thick black padded body armor she wore seemed to absorb the blow.
“Yo, G, you starting a party over here without us!?” cried another female voice, and Trixie looked up to see the very light blue pegasus with the orange and yellow toned mane streaking in away from the firefight with the security guards and head for them.
“Oh, yeah, a party,” drawled the griffin with sarcasm gushing in her voice, “How about you try getting your slowpoke flank over here to give me a hand!?”
“Ya mean hoof, right? Who’re you’re buds, anyway?” asked the pegasus as she did a flyby of the team, bringing up a pair of blocky SMGs in her hoofs with red laser sights that danced over the team. Trixie yelped as she saw one of those red lines cross over her and heard the rapid staccato burst of fire as the pegasus opened fire.She felt something hit her on the side, pushing her into a roll as the sound of more gunfire from all around made her flinch. However, aside from losing a bit of breath, she was unharmed. Blinking, Trixie looked up to see Cheerilee had tackled her out of the line of fire, and the magenta mare was returning fire with her machine pistol. The enemy pegasus zipped about with insane speed, leaving that blue and yellow lightning bolt trail as she went.
“Hit?” asked Cheeerilee as she emptied her clip, and swifly reloaded while pulling Trixie up.
“N-no... no, I’m fine.”
“Good, back to running, unless you want to be our rear guard,” Cheerilee said with a wink. Trixie gave the other mare an incredulous look, but spotted the SMG wielding pegasus coming around for another pass and decided that her time and energy would be better spent running. She didn’t even consider trying to cast a spell, unicorn or mage based. There just wasn’t enough time, and any spellcasting would mark her out as a target. Trixie prefered to get the drop on her opponents. This kind of open fight was not playing to her strengths.
As she ran for the doors she caught sight of Raindrops and the griffin dueling it out in the air, the griffin constantly trying to close the distance on the slower flier to get in range with her blades, and Raindrops just staying ahead and returning fire, only to have trouble hitting the much more speedy and nimble griffin.
“Slippery for such a slow-flank piece of drek,” said the griffin as she swung with both blades in a scissors cut that took a little of Raindrops’ mane off.
Raindrops’ face was a cold steel mask as she rolled upside down and flew close to the ground, letting loose with a rattling stream of gunfire that forced the griffin and the other pegasus alike to have to fall back. Raindrops was now taking up the rear of the group, with Lyra having already reached the doors along with Cheerilee, Trixie, and Ditzy.
“Ditzy. Doors,” said Lyra, lining up a shot with her sniper rifle, aiming for the other team’s pegasus, her breathing slow and calm. With a surprisingly subdued sound the rifle let out a dry, muffled ‘Pfft’ and Trixie winced as she saw the orange maned pegasus jerk in the air. There was no spray of blood or anything to indicate a fatal hit, but the pegasus was clearly rocked by something, as she staggered in the air and halted the attack run she’d been lining up on those at the door.
“Got it, welcome to Aurora Heavy Industries Research Facility: Everfree Site,” Ditzy said and made an ‘after you’ gesture as the metal doors hissed open. Trixie hadn’t seen the hacker do anything, but that was to be expected, given the gray pegasus was doing all her work in AR. Trixie was a little impressed. To hack systems effectively many hackers tended to dive into full VR, but Ditzy was handling things with just the Augmented Reality icons that allowed her to move her body while hacking.
Lyra waved Cheerilee, Ditzy, and Trixie in first, and Trixie didn’t hesitate to rush through the doors, instantly feeling better to have the sterile white washed walls of the small hallway they entered surround her. Raindrops came in next, with Lyra coming in last alongside Carrot Top’s little rotor-drone. The doors sealed shut behind them and Ditzy narrowed her eyes in concentration for a second before grinning, “Locks scrambled. Ought to hold them for a bit if they try to follow.”
“You losing your edge Lyra?” asked Raindrops, “Did that pegasus actually dodge a shot from you?”
Lyra gave Raindrops a sidelong look as she racked the bolt on her rifle, “Just gave her a warning graze. We’re not here to rack up bodies Raindrops. I’d rather get this done bloodless if we can... a sentiment our rivals clearly aren’t sharing.”
~I don’t get it, why are they causing such havoc out there anyway. It’s completely outside normal runner SOP to hit a facility like this. It’s called shadowrunning for a reason.~, said Carrot Top over the AR com-link, and Trixie didn’t envy the earth pony having to still be outside and watching the firefight.
“It could be they’re getting paid to make a scene,” mused Raindrops with a shrug, “Not like the shadows don’t got plenty of jerks who’ll go in guns blazing for the right price.”
“I don’t know,” said Cheerilee, brow furrowed, “More I think about it, the more I’m sure. I remember Iron Will from my early days hitting the shadows up in the Hoofington Metroplex. Taur with a serious rep for destruction, even back then. Hmm... might’ve actually done a run or two with him, now that I think of it, but can’t be sure... heheh.”
“Can’t be sure?” asked Raindrops.
“Yeah, well, who didn’t get into a lot of drugs and alcohol during that phase?” said the magenta mare with a waving hoof, “I don’t remember every gun-totting minotaur I may or may not have had a sordid affair with while committing grand larceny for fun and profit?”
Raindrops hung her head with a groan and Lyra gave Cheerilee a level look, “Can you tell us anything concrete?”
Cheerilee shrugged, “Expect what you’ve seen; lots of testosterone and firepower. He’ll blast a path through this place, but he’ll grandstand a lot, and take his time to smell the smoke and gunpowder. We got some time to get in and do what we need to do. We run into him, well, I’d rather run than fight. I’m not geared for rotary shotguns with what looks like high-velocity flechette rounds that’d shred even Rains toughened hide.”
Lyra nodded while Raindrops muttered, “I can take him.”
Meanwhile Ditzy was looking down the hallway, frowning, and Trixie was the first to speak up, asking, “Something wrong?”
“Weeeeel, some systems I had shut down are turning back on, and I got lots of Sniffer ICE floating around my tail. I think the systems local Spider is getting onto me. I might have to do a full dive before long. Might want to find a nice cubby hole to take care of the grid end of things while you fleshy types run around and grab our package.”
“You got a spot in mind?” asked Lyra.
Ditzy nodded, and in an instant Trixie noticed a complex three dimensional map of the facility scroll across her AR shade’s display, and imagined the same was happening with the others.
“Yeah, I’ll hole up in this utility room on the main floor, just two hallways down,” a green muffin popped into being inside the room in question, “I’ll keep the facility systems in check from there and link up with you guys once we figure our route of egress after you snatch our package. As for where that is, main lab is accessed by an elevator here,” a bright yellow muffin appeared by an elevator shaft along with a line that showed a route from where they were to that location, “Lab is on the second floor.”
“Right, let’s move then. Trixie, you sensing anything on the astral front?”
Trixie jumped a bit at Lyra’s question and quickly shifted her sight to the astral plane, gazing over the mostly faded blue and dead hallway, “No... nothing yet. Could be all their magic defenses were on the perimeter. But there is another mage here, or at least some kind of magic user. There would have to be if they summoned an Air spirit. If they show up, rest assured I will handle it.”
I hope. Trixie added silently. She was a tad intimidated at the prospect of battling another mage, but she found she liked the notion that the team was relying on her for this. This wasn’t the kind of stage she would’ve prefered to stand on, but she’d do her level best to rise to the challenge. Or at least make it look like she knew what she was doing.
The team set out down the hallways of the A.H.I facility, following the route Ditzy had set out on the map. Ditzy herself split up from them to head for her hidey hole, while the rest of them made their way towards the elevator that’d take them to the lab. Trixie found it a little odd that she wasn’t seeing any alarm icons popping up on her AR display from the facility, but if their comlinks weren’t being challenged by the local system then she imagined they had Ditzy to thank for it. Chances were the systems of the building were ignoring the unidentified comlinks, perhaps their signals being masked, or otherwise given false passcodes to let them through. Trixie found she could still access local AR icons, and knew they were passing by the first floor maintenance and employee lounge area from the floating icons identifying rooms helpfully for them.
They encountered no security forces through the first few sets of doors they passed, in all likelihood the majority of the security teams engaged with Iron Will’s team outside. Coming past a cafeteria area the team had to pause as a trio of ponies in plain office clothes were arguing in the hallway over whether to go try fleeing the building, or to just take shelter in their offices. Raindrops and Lyra both moved fast to knock these ponies unconscious with swift, smooth knocks to the back of the head, after which Trixie was enlisted to help drag the unconscious ponies into a nearby set of restroom across from the cafeteria.
“Aside from the mess outside, things are going surprisingly smooth,” muttered Raindrops.
“Why don’t you sound happier about this?” asked Trixie, against her better judgement.
Much as Trixie expected the pegasus glared at her and said, “Because that generally means something is about to get slotted up.”
As if Raindrops’ words had acted as a summons there was the sound of pounding hooves on tiles from outside the restroom and Trixie heard a stallion’s voice shout, “Lay down your weapons and lay face down on the ground, now!”
The voice came from outside the restroom, and Trixie heard Cheerilee’s coy reply, “Do you want me to ‘spread ‘em’ too, boys? Or is that in poor taste?”
Lyra gave Trixie a look that seemed to say ‘stay back’ and then she and Raindrops went charging out into the hallway. Trixie heard gunfire and shouts of surprise, and for a second or two hesitated there in the restroom, wondering if she should stay put or try going out to help. Against her better judgement she decided to take a peek, using her horn to weave a unicorn spell of invisibility around herself as she did so. She had to jerk her head back almost instantly as bullets ricocheted across the doorway, spraying chips of plaster and tile across her face.
Cheerilee had dove into the cafeteria doorway and was exchanging fire with a quartet of security guards who had come around the bend of the hallway they’d been heading down to reach the elevator. The magenta mare move with smooth precision, spraying rounds from her machine pistol at the guards taking cover at what looked to be a four-way junction ahead, and pulling back before return fire could do more than chew up the wall next to her.
Lyra had taken up a position by a marble vase in the hallway, standing at a strange angle on her hindlegs as she worked the bolt on her sniper rifle with her hooves, and gripped the firing bit with her mouth. Bullets flew around her, but Lyra moved with soft, subtle, small movements of her lithe body that let the rounds slip by by centimeters. As one security pony poked his body around his cover and aimed his assault rifle, Lyra’s rifle made its oddly quiet ‘pfft’ sound and the rifle flew out of the stallion’s grip. A follow up shot caught the stallion in his hindleg and sent him tumbling to the ground with a spray of red cating the white tiled floor.
Raindrops was hovering in the air, filling up most of the hallway and strafing left and right with her machine gun. She’d clearly switched to full-auto and the weapon was belting out a steady stream of fire that kept most of the security ponies ahead keeping their heads down. What few return bursts went the pegasus’ way either grazed her armor, or sparked off her heavy cybernetic limbs with little visible effect.
Trixie licked her dry lips. She didn’t really want to wait for this firefight to resolve. She didn’t want to wait for those crazy rival shadowrunners to show up behind them and make things complicated. She certainly didn’t want a stray bullet to find its way to her very pretty and well maintained face. She liked living, in general, and was wondering just what insanity possessed her to agree to come with Lyra on this job. Now, now Trixie wanted things to go smooth, and for the shooting to stop.
She didn’t know any unicorn spells that would do the trick, but fortunately she was an Awakened mage and had other tricks up her proverbial sleeve. Taking a deep breath and concentrating she focused on the arcane gestures and words she’d need to perform. Being invisible didn’t change anything, the types of magic so separate she could maintain her invisibility with her horn while drawing upon the astral plane with equal ease.
Words of power flowed from her lips, ritualized and hermetic lingo that through will and belief called to the mana of the astral plane, magic new and fresh in Equestria for only seven decades yet integrated into every facet of what was now the Awakened Equestria; the Sixth World. Her left hoof moved, forming symbols in the air with patterns of light that formed from mana, and acted as conduits for the energy pulling through Trixie’s body, both physical and astral, and shaping into the form of a magic spell.
Trixie let loose with the spell, sending a trail of dancing blue and green sparks flying through the air to burst among the security guards like little specks of star dust. Of the four, two of them shook their heads, groggy, and one fell over entirely, thoroughly unconscious. The others were disoriented enough that the rest of the team had an opening to take advantage of. All three mares charged forward, each taking a security pony apiece. Lyra was there first, bursting across the distance in an eye-blink, and slamming her guard with a two hoofed punch to the barrel that lifted the poor stallion bodily off the ground and slammed him hard into the opposite wall; out cold before he slowly slid to the floor. Raindrops twisted in the air and struck her opponent with a nasty axle kick that broke the security mare’s gun and her jaw, sending the poor mare sprawling to the ground like a rag doll. Cheerilee was... gentler, with her target, sliding up to them and flipping them head over tail with a solid body throw, followed by a choke hold that slowly put the stallion out like a light.
Trixie just slowly trotted up and let her invisibility drop. The others looked at her and Lyra smiled slightly, giving Trixie a nod, “That bit of spellwork was you I’m assuming.”
“Sleep spell,” Trixie confirmed, “Great for extricating oneself from a bar room brawl or keeping overly friendly alley dwellers from getting too rambunctious. Might not put somepony out instantly, but at the very least it’ll make them feel like they haven’t slept in days.”
“Nice,” said Cheerilee, stretching her hooves and giving one of the unconscious guards a friendly pat on the cheek, “Lucky you, and here I was fearing I’d have to start playing all rough with you, and here our newbie spares me the trouble.”
Carrot Top’s roto-drone popped up out of the cafeteria, suddenly, Carrot Top’s voice cheerful over the comlinks.
~Everypony okay? No injuries?~
“Nah, but where were you? Could’ve used a little extra firepower just then,” said Raindrops, checking one of her cyber-legs, rubbing at one of the scuffs a bullet had creased in the metal.
~Looked like you guys had it! Don’t want to risk my little floating med-kit here, otherwise I won’t be able to patch you guys up if you get hurt.~
“C’mon, we need to move on. Listen,” said Lyra, and everypony tilted their ears, listening for whatever the mint unicorn was acting them to listen to. Trixie frowned, head tilting.
“I’m not hearing anything,” she said, then her body froze, “Uh-oh, I don’t hear anything.”
“Which means our friends outside are done with the security forces out there and are on their way in,” said Cheerilee with a sigh, “This’ll end well.”
“Move,” said Lyra, and as one the team got a move on, galloping along the hallways, rapidly turning right, then left down the junctions as they came, following Ditzy’s map. They passed shining office suites with angular new age decor, and blacked tinted windows showing large spaces of interlinked cubicles, but nothing that looked like a research lab. It seemed everything on the first floor was administration. Trixie found herself wondering just what this facility was really setup for. What were they researching? Why even build a place like this out in the Everfree?
She imagined answers would be forthcoming soon, as the team came across the bright bank of doors that was no doubt the elevators. There was a soft ping of sound and the doors opened for them before they hit the buttons. Trixie suppressed a small chuckle at the icon of a grinning muffin that waved at them from the open doors. Ditzy, whatever problems she might have been having of her own in cyberspace, still had her team’s back.
Inside the elevator they had a second to catch their breath, and Trixie took a moment to glance at Lyra, “Is it always like this?”
Lyra’s gold eyes remained focused ahead on the elevator doors, her body tense, but her voice was calm enough, “Not always, but... most the time, yeah.”
“Why do it? If I’m remembering right, weren’t you going for a degree in Musical Arts, back in college?” asked Trixie, just not able to reconcile her fuzzy memories of the unicorn she knew back at school with the mare beside her. Lyra made a small, barely perceptible shake of her head.
“A lot can change, Trixie. Not just over time, but in an instant. In one instant... everything in your life can change.”
“Not polite, to ask that kind of question, newbie,” said Raindrops.
“Yeah, because you’re so obsessed with politeness,” sniped Trixie with a small huff, and gulped as she saw the pegasus mare slowly turn towards her, those eyes shining with malice. A spell was halfway to Trixie’s lip before the situation was diffused by the soft chime of the elevator doors opening.
The doors opened onto a steel balcony that wrapped around a huge lowered chamber. A single, spanning laboratory was filled to the brim with stations loaded with arcano-tech devices and lab equipment. The center of the room was dominated by a large spherical device about four or five pony-lengths wide, suspended in the air over a circular platform that Trixie recognized as a containing multiple layers of arcane script that formed a protection barrier.
As the four mares and one remote controlled roto-drone made their way onto the walkway surrounding the lab nearly a dozen ponies looked up at them from the lab below, all of them in white lab coats. These ponies looked like they’d been hurriedly grabbing equipment and papers, shoving them into cases, probably in preparation to evacuate. Before anything could be said, a gunshot rang out and Trixie yelped as she felt a sharp pain tear through her right hindleg.
There were security guards here as well, half a dozen watching the scientists from various positions along the surrounding walkway, and they’d opened fire the instant they caught sight of the team. Trixie hit the steel floor, hooves going to the hole in her leg that was already bleeding profusely and crying out in pain as Lyra, Raindrops, and Cheerilee burst into action around her.
In a single bound Raindrops went to the air and flew over the lab, letting loose with a thorough cloud of suppression fire that sent guards scrambling for cover. Lyra took a deep breath and slung her sniper rifle, galloping with breakneck speed down and around the left side of the balcony, closing the distance to the guards at a ridiculous pace. Cheerilee took cover at the railing of the walkway near Trixie, firing over the top, but mostly keeping her head down.
“Stay still there, hun, and do try to put a lid on the screaming,” said Cheerilee with a sympathetic smile, “You’re going to just draw more fire on us.”
“Grraaaah!” Trixie said, providing her own opinion on the matter. She’d been hurt before in her life, but this was her first time being shot. Not an experience she’s ever recommend to anypony. Blinding pain plus horrifying fear. Just not a fun time. Also, was it supposed to bleed this much!? Some part of her was telling her to calm down, breath, and try not to go into shock, because she was totally going into shock, and spellcasting, not something that worked well while in shock. The other part of her mind was in agreement with her mouth; screaming.
~I got ya, don’t worry. Carrot Top’s Mechanical Medical Miracle is here to save the day!~
Carrot Top’s roto-drone floated down around Trixie, its small turbine engines creating a constant soft buzzing sound as it started sweeping Trixie’s body with a small green light. With smooth movement the drone hovered over the leg wound and lowered towards it, somewhat to Trixie’s horror because, well, to be honest she didn’t exactly trust some machine built by a mare in a garage to treat severe bullet trauma. Trixie was really a mare who figured this kind of thing should be left to trained medical professionals. She didn’t Carrot Top, nor her whacky arcane-tech drone, had their licence to practice... but then again she didn’t have much choice in the matter. As Trixie watched, the drone went to work.
The bottom of the drone opened up with various tools of dubious looking nature, and Trixie would’ve imagined what was about to happen to her would be even more painful than the initial shot, but a syringe injected something into her and in seconds Trixie found herself not only not in pain, but generally feeling... rather good about herself, life, and the situation in the general.
She watched Raindrops beat a guard over the head with her machine gun and thought to herself that the pegasus mare, for all her surliness, had a very nice mane. And hooves, what’s up with those? How do ponies even hold things with them. And why does Trixie not have her hat and cape? She ought to have brought them, and then she could show all these ponies her magic show that she never got around to taking on the road. Then they’d be all happy and not so loud and screaming. And Lyra sure could bend. And bending apparently led to lots and lots of hitting. Poor guards, unable to hit bendy Lyra, and getting tossed around like pillows at a slumber party. Trixie never had a slumber party before but she was pretty sure pillow fights were involve-
“OW!” Trixie blinked as pain returned, and with it lucidity, and she glared at the drone as it floated away from her now bandaged leg.
~Sorry, sorry. Flushed the pain meds once we got the wound sutured up, and just added some localized anthestic. Need you functioning for magic stuff and all. Should be able to walk and move now. Threw some synth-skin over there, and the muscle tissue is mostly reconnected. I can finish up proper once the job’s done but that’ll hold you for now.~
Carrot Top’s digitized voice sounded apologetic, and Trixie experimentally moved her leg, surprised at its general lack of pain, at least in comparison to just moments ago.
“I... I think this’ll do. Thank you.”
“Wish we’d gotten warning about these guards being here,” said Cheerilee as Raindrops swooped in and body slammed the last remaining guard, “Has anypony heard from Ditzy since the elevator? I can’t contact her.”
Lyra spoke quickly over the team’s comlink, “Ditzy? Respond... blast it all, she must have gone into full dive. Raindrops, let’s secure the package. Cheerilee, keep the elevator covered. Trixie, you good?”
“More or less.”
“Be on the watch for any magic defenses,” the mint unicorn said as she and Raindrops descended into the lab space where the various researchers had either taken cover during the fight or just cowered in the open.
Trixie found a set of stairs leading down and joined Lyra and Raindrops, letting her view slip into the astral plane. Some of the lab stations appeared to be researching objects of an Awakened origin... in fact most of them were. Trixie saw old stone tablets, slabs of what might have been ancient masonry, strange jars, fetishes, a blade or two, and all manner of other artifacts, all being subjected to one degree or another to modern arcane research techniques.
Most the objects radiated power of the astral plane, and Trixie felt a strong urge to indulge in some looting. However any of these objects were probably covered in spells to track or otherwise protect against just that kind of tampering, at least without the right magical keys and spells to counter that. Trixie suppressed her inner thief and trotted, gingerly due to her leg, to where Lyra and Raindrops had corralled the researchers into a cluster.
Trixie cocked her head as she noticed Lyra was looking particularly... intense.
“We’re here for the mare in charge of this laboratory,” Lyra said, “Where is she?”
“You d-don’t scare us, criminal!” said one of the scientists, a mousy looking orange mare with a poofy blue mane, “Our team leader isn’t here! She’s on vacation.”
“Drops, on the count of tree, start breaking somepony’s limbs. I don’t care which.”
Trixie blinked, “Isn’t that a little extreme?”
Lyra didn’t look Trixie’s way, but her tail flicked about in a sense of clear irritation that wasn’t present in her otherwise stone cold, still features as she began to count, “One... two... thr-”
“There is no need for that,” said a feminine, cultured voice from around the side of the spherical object in the middle of the room. A pony trotted around into view, having apparently been hiding back there, “I think we can resolve this without any further barbarity... wait... Lyra?”
The pony in question wore a similar white laboratory coat as the other researchers, though she wore it fully buttoned up and with great poise and a sense of cleanliness. She was a gray mare, with a dark mane and tail that Trixie had to admit were impeccably kept. Violet eyes looked at Lyra with clear recognition and surprise, the mare’s voice still with that cultured tone that Trixie now recognized as pure high-society Canterlot, but now also filled with shock and wonder.
“Lyra? That is you isn’t it, what are you doing-”
The mare didn’t get to finish, as Lyra was on her in a flash. Trixie blinked, Raindrops just sort of dropping her jaw in confusion and surprise. Lyra was hugging the gray mare, her cool, calm demeanor suddenly shattered as she wrapped her forehooves around the confused looking scientists. Trixie could have sworn she heard Lyra sob a little bit before she spoke.
“Octy... Luna’s tears, it is you. I wasn’t sure. Couldn’t be sure, but the description in the job, it thought maybe it... are you okay? You’re not hurt? Don’t worry, I’m getting you out of here.”
The gray mare, Octy (?), hugged Lyra back, though more in bemused confusion than anything else as she looked at Trixie, and Raindrops with a shrewd look before addressing Lyra.
“Lyra, dear, what are you going on about? Get me out of here? Lyra, you’ve broken into an Aurora Heavy Industries research lab, injured guards, destroyed property... what is this all about? You’re supposed to be in Canterlot, pursuing a musical career.”
Lyra was now the one sporting a confused look, looking at the mare in front of her with utter bewilderment, “What...? Octavia, that’s... you and Bon Bon... you both went missing two years ago!”
“Missing? I never went missing,” said Octavia, putting a hoof on Lyra’s shoulder, “Lyra, I’ve been in contact with you through messages and trid-calls for all these past two years. I took a job with Aurora Heavy Industries to assist in researching sound harmonics, to help develop my musical resonance theory. You’re... you’re still with Bon Bon, right? I saw pictures of the two of you, you sent them to me, just prior to the engagement!”
Lyra shook her head, and a slow, horrified look was crossing over her face, “That’s impossible. Trixie, Trixie I need you over here, now!”
“Lyra, who is this mare? I demand to know what is happening! You’ve hurt friends of mine, and are acting ridiculous! You cant-”
Octavia was cut off by Lyra putting a hoof up and Trixie trotted over. Raindrops was keeping watch on the other researchers, and Cheerilee was still watching the elevators, calling over to them, “I don’t know what drama is happening down there but you might want to hurry up! I still can’t contact Ditzy and I’m starting to feel like a young mare at her first time at the bar, with her tail hiked up for all the boys to see. I.E, exposed.”
Trixie flushed that mental image quickly and approached Lyra and Octavia, giving Lyra a questioning look, “What do you want me to do, exactly?”
“I don’t know, just... scan her. Look her over. Tell me if something’s wrong. There’s no way Octavia could have been in touch with me for two years, because her, and another close friend, went missing without a trace back then.”
“And I’m telling you that’s impossible, Lyra. I’ve been in touch with you the entire time!”
“Then why did I abandoned everything in my life and spend the past two years running the shadows to find you two!?” shouted Lyra, body shaking.
Trixie gulped, wishing the shouting wasn’t taking place quite so close to her ears, and looked over Octavia in the astral plane. Immediately she noticed the bright glow coming off the mare, including several complex strings of energy around her heart and head, connected by a lattice word of spellcraft that Trixie, to her chagrin, couldn’t begin to decipher or figure out.
“Okay, well, first off, there are spells on her,” Trixie said.
“What spells?” asked Lyra.
“What spells!?” asked Octavia, louder.
“I... well I don’t know. I don’t recognize the patterns at all. I’d need time to really decipher any of it, but you’ve got spells on you, powerful ones. Also... um, do you know you’re a mage?”
Lyra rolled her eyes, “What? Octavia isn’t Awakened.”
“Of course I am Lyra,” said Octavia, “I told you this last year when it happened. I was called to by Owl. I’m a shaman. It’s been an interesting experience to adapt to, but Owl has helped guide my muse in developing my music and assist in my research.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” said Trixie, “Was that your Air spirit out there?”
Octavia nodded once, then frowned, a hard looking aimed at Trixie, “Yes. Was it you who destroyed my Air spirit!? You absolute brute! I’ve worked with that spirit all year on analyzing sound patterns and their effect on astral forms!”
“Guys?” said Cheerilee from the elevator.
“Hey!” said Trixie, still focused on Octavia, “I was just doing a job. I’m hardly a brute! In fact I used all sorts of finesse and skill to take that spirit out. It was elegant, and impressive, and certainly deserves more than a ‘brute’ tag!”
“Hmph, I doubt there was much ‘finesse’ involved with anything you do, you little blue trollop. Lyra, what are you doing with this creature?”
“Seriously, guys, might want to hurry this up,” Cheerilee continued to go unheard.
“Octavia, Trixie helped my team get in here. We wouldn’t have gotten past the outer defenses without here. Now I need you to just trust me a bit and don’t resist, we’re going to take you away from here,” said Lyra, putting a hoof on Octavia’s leg, but Octavia pulled away.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with your memory Lyra, but I’m certainly not going anywhere, even with you. I work here, and have no desire to leave. I... have to finish my work... its important... to finish work...”
“Something's definitely up with those spells, “ said Trixie, “I just saw them flare up.”
“Guys! Now!” yelled Cheerilee, finally getting everypony’s attention.
Trixie and the others looked over there just in time to see Cheerilee run from the elevator and leap over the side of the walkway and into the lab area, Carrot Top’s drone following her. The elevator doors chimed... then blasted open to the sound of a rotary shotgun. Trixie grimaced as she heard a loud, boisterous voice shout, “Nopony move, ‘cause Iron Will’s in the groove! Everypony stays down and there won’t be any need for somepony to be put down!”
“Oh, for the love of, will you stop rhyming!? What are you, a fraggin’ zebra!?”
“Quit whining, G, let’s just get this job done already.”
In short order a giant blue minotaur, a griffin, and a pegasus entered the scene, fresh from a bloodbath down below, armed to the teeth, and leaving Trixie with the distinct impression that her day was going to get a whole lot worse before it got better.
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In my head there is a scene with Iron Will standing amidst flaming wreckage, taking in a deep breath, and saying "I love the smell of burning oil in the morning. Smells like victory."
Money, dear mare!
By the way, what exactly does this mean?
Bon Bon? Aw...
Octavia! What are you doing here?
Hmm. So she's been brainwashed. Or more likely just had her memory rewritten. Man, I've never played Shadowrun but I have watched Ghost in the Shell, the original movie plus both seasons of Stand Alone Complex. It's enough to make me neve want a cyber-brain...not that that would exactly help in a world with mind controll magic on top of it.
Is it? Are they even here for the same thing?
Yay, this updated.
3545338
The sixth world is the name for the age of magic Shadowrun is set in. In Shadowrun the level of magic goes up and down over time, I don't remember exactly how they set it up but I think the current magic less age is the fifth world and Earthdawn was the previous age of magic the fourth world before that is ancient prehistory and the time when dragons ruled the world (Like they don't now a days, I'm looking at you Lofwry).
Looks like Octys got some spells on her keeping control but it may not entirely be brainwashing, she could be being sent fake letters from Lyra and Bon Bon, As for her being a Owl Sharman, it sort of works although I could see her more as one of the European totem worshipers, there's probably a music based on somewhere.
Tripping Trixie is best Trixie. Carrot Top's flying medkit's a handy tool to have about, where can I got one?
So, Iron Will's heavily cybered and Glida's probably a physical adept if she can dodge bullets, not sure what Lightning is, could just be normal or maybe another phys ad.
Stoned Trixie is best Trixie
And oh lordy, magic to enforce obedience, magic (and probably mundane trickery) to make her think everything is fine with her friends ... someone is taking major steps to keep Octy controlled.
(And Bon Bon is probably in the same boat, wherever she is ...)