Vinyl Scratch - Napalm Nanokiller

Chapter 7

The Maid and the Pocket Watch of Blood.

The scene was in an uproar. Blueblood was dead, and the Maid Corps knew where the assassin was, due to the very loud noise. Some reporters were taking cover, some were running from the garden, and some from the more seedy tabloids were recording the corpse for their newspapers.

Despite this, one maid stood over her former master's corpse. She felt her heart break with grief, before she looked up at the shooter's position. She saw the white unicorn, and she pointed at her.

"Up there! That building! Tenth floor!" the maid shouted. "Fuck her up!"

The other maids went into formation and began sprinting for the garden exit, while the maid-captain knelt by her master's side. She noticed a glint of gold in his pocket, and she took it out; a blood-stained pocket watch.

"My name is Maid-Captain Violet Trois. I served in the Princess' Own Third Spell Card Division. I am the ninety-ninth member of the Blueblood Maid Corps. Assassin, you done fucked up." Violet whispered, holding the pocket watch. The minute hand ticked past three in the afternoon. "I will find you, and I will kill you."

Violet looked back to her Cutie Insignias. She thought about removing them, before deciding against it. Looking at Blueblood, her last personal memory of him being delivering him scotch, she ran for the assassin, her purple mane flowing behind her.

Vinyl kicked open the door away from the vantage point. She ran for the staircase, only to see what she exactly didn't want to see: Three Blueblood maids in full murderboner mode.

Vinyl looked at the staircase.

"Shit...the only way out is up."

Vinyl could hear the hoofsteps of the maids as she ascended the stairs. Eventually reaching a door, she slammed it open, before looking around. The rooftop had some building supplies on it. Vinyl picked up two cinderblocks with her magic and blocked the door with them. She listened as she heard the maids start attacking the door.

Vinyl sighed in relief, before looking for a neighboring rooftop to jump onto. Backing up for a running start, Vinyl sprinted towards the lower rooftop. She jumped and with a roll, landed safely. She caught her breath before seeing exactly what she didn't want to see.

A pegasus maid.

"Oh fuck." Vinyl said, locking eyes with the Blueblood Maid.

The maid smiled maliciously, before holding a spell card in front of herself.

"Maid Skill: Thousand Needles!" she declared, as the spell card began firing knives at a straight line at Vinyl. Her eyes narrowed as she rolled out of the way of the knifefire. Vinyl focused and aimed at her target.

"Destroy Sign: Spark Light!" Vinyl shouted, as a large white energy beam fired at the pegasus. She failed to avoid it before her wing was amputated by the searing beam. The wing was completely destroyed, but the wound was cauterized by the heat, meaning that the maid was still alive as she hit the ground. The impact shattered many bones and destroyed most of the maid's organs, causing death.

Vinyl hoof-pumped in victory, before looking for the roof access. Kicking the door down, she descended down the staircase, to the shocked expressions of the building occupants. Reaching the first floor, she bolted at full speed out of the building, and as far away as the maids as she could.

Except that one spotted her, and was now giving chase.

Violet stared at the assassin, taking in all her features. Vinyl looked behind her, and saw the maid was slowly catching up.

"Vinyl!" Strike cried, from inside her head. "The bomb in the sniper point has just detonated!  Are you alright?"

"Yeah, but there's a maid after me!" Vinyl said, breathlessly, gasping as a knife flew past her head. "Fucking...she isn't giving up easily!"

"Get back here so I can kill you and your fucking family!" Violet screamed after Vinyl. "I will burn your fucking bloodline!"

"Fuck you!" Vinyl replied to the determined maid, eyeing a market stall. Vinyl picked up the stall with her magic and threw it at Violet.

Violet saw the stall coming and dropped to the floor. Vinyl laughed as she thought the maid was out of action, before feeling her stomach drop as the maid got back up and continued the chase. Vinyl looked at her legs. Wait. I'm a freaking nanotech cyborg. Why the heck am I running?!

Vinyl turned around, something Violet didn't predict. Violet also didn't predict the hoof to the throat Vinyl inflicted.

"Yeah, bitch!" Vinyl said, standing over Violet. "Vinyl Scratch! Remember the name!"

"Vinnie, why the fuck did you just say that!?" Strike said, angry.

Vinyl realised the depth of her mistake. Violet got up from the ground, spluttering.

"Thanks for the name." Violet said, coughing lightly. "Now you're fucked."

"I am a Goddess-damned cyborg badass motherfucker. What are your knives gonna do!?"

"Everything." Violet said. "I am a maid. I find a way. That is my job."

"Is that so?" Vinyl said.

"Ceux qui cherchent notre perte sera seulement trouver la mort." Violet said. "Fitting, don't you think?"

"What the shit was that?"

"The motto of the Blueblood Maid Corps, in the language of our betters."

"My betters?"

"The Royal Family, you uncultured twat."

"Eh." Vinyl grunted.

"I give you one chance, Scratch. If you surrender, then I personally assure you will live long enough to be executed."

"That's a poor trade." Vinyl replied.

"You may run, and spend the rest of your life fearing the Maid Corps, or you may surrender, and get a fair trial."

"I say..." Vinyl said. She lit up her horn. "Party Time: Ballroom Blitz!"

"Maid Skill: Death Spin!" Violet said, activating her spell card. Violet's bullets shot Vinyl's from the sky. Some maids arrived, but Violet ordered them to stay out of the fight.

The two continued trading spell card attacks; Vinyl attacked, and Violet defended. The other maids watched silently in formation as their captain continued to battle the traitor. The traitor seemed to have unnatural spell card speed, but it still couldn't beat Violet Trois' own ability.

"Hit her with the right!" a Canterlot citizen yelled at the maid. "She's a big jessie!"

"Kick that flank!" a trader shouted to the maid. "Don't let her get away!"

"Once I kill her, you're all next!" Vinyl shouted back. "Melody Sign: Isomeric Relation!"

"Guard Skill: Aegis of the Goddess!"

The magic continued to illuminate the street in various colors of light. Eventually, both fighters stood staring at each other.

"This is getting nowhere!" Violet said.

"You're damn right it is." Vinyl replied. She turned around and began sprinting away.

"After her!" the maids shouted, before seeing Vinyl jump from a bridge into a river.

The maids stared at the water, waiting for the traitor to surface for air. They prepared their spell cards for when Vinyl surfaced. They saw the white unicorn's head.

"Illusion Sign: Phantom Shock!" Vinyl declared, before a bright light obscured the maids' vision.

"Hold your fire!" Violet ordered. "Hold your fucking fire!"

The maids did what was ordered. When their vision returned, the traitor was gone.

"Dammit!" Violet shouted, kicking a trashcan over. "Fucking dammit!"

"Captain?" a maid asked, concerned.

"What?! We've lost!" Violet screamed. "Our master is dead, and we just lost the assassin!"

"Captain...there's always the Lunar Maid Corps."

"But I want to kill her! You hear that?! Nopony else gets the kill but me!" Violet said. "That's an order!"

The other maids saluted, before leaving to return to their previous posts. Violet knelt in the street, as a few civilians went to check on her.

Surgical Strike watched the footage of the shot through Vinyl's eyecamera. She replayed the head explosion over and over again.

Eventually growing bored of watching the gruesome death over and over again, she picked up a clipboard on her desk, and marked off a second name.

"Blueblood, you were a beautiful stallion. Now a beautiful stain." Strike laughed to herself. She looked over the list again. Melody...Blueblood...

...Fancy Pants.

His death will surely destabilize the economy. The bit will fall...and the Strikebuck will rise.

Surgical Strike could already feel the crown of Equestria on her head. It was heavy. Not with responsibility, but with power.

"I almost feel sorry for you, Scratch." Strike said. "I really do..."