Horizon Falls

Horizon.
1098 ATR.

Time Turner groaned as he hauled himself up the ladder back into the surface. He rolled onto the cool concrete surface and vomited up a collection of sea water and supper. He coughed and rotated his head staring back out at sea.

There was nothing but the faint glow of reactor coolant slowly dissipating into the water on a starless night sky.

He clamped his jaw down in pain as he pulled himself up onto his hooves and began limping. He glanced around at his surroundings. He was in a shipyard. The tall stacks of containers gave the entire complex a maze like feel. He began to feel like a mouse in a cage as he scampered along as fast as he could. Tall cranes for moving the cargo stood over watch like sentinels.

Behind him a large cargo airship hovered just above the surface of the water. He heard the fading voices of dock workers and crew mingling as the ship’s payload was unloaded.

He stumbled to the edge of the shipyard. A tall fence blocked his path. He sighed and climbed over it as quietly as he could before flopping over the edge and back into city life.

Bright lights; one thing Horizon had plenty of was lights. He couldn’t tell what district he was in but judging by the activity it probably wasn’t his neighborhood. Various vehicles zoomed down the street, kicking up a faint wind trail as they passed. He waited for a lull in the traffic and bolted across the street.

There were a few apartment building/business hybrid structures on this side of the street as well as few plain old apartments. The buildings were dirty. Clothing hung off the edges of balconies as well as the occasional pony. Between the alley ways was where most of the action here was happening. A few mares and stallions were sitting around an old liquor barrel burning Celestia knows what, warming themselves around the green flame. Various other items were scattered in the alley way ranging from old crates to the dilapidated couch half of them were sitting on. None of the ponies looked like the type of characters Time Turner wanted to deal with. Their outfits said it all as well as the attitude they carried. One stallion wearing a pair of sunglasses gave him a glare followed by the unicorn mare that was rather enthusiastically enjoying herself on his lap.

Her glare disappeared rather quickly and she gave the doctor a grin before licking her lips and tossing her spiky neon blue mane and continuing with her previous activities.

Replicants; he’d seen them before. That would explain the rather promiscuous behavior as well as the nonchalant attitude of everyone else around them. Basic model, almost anyone could own one. All you needed was the bits. Capable of learning and improving, minimal nutrition required, depending on programing it would obey a set of behaviors and commands.

Problematic; not all replicants were as mindless and good many were quite independent.

Time Turner turned with sigh of disgust, squashing his previous train of thought. Still didn’t stop things like that from happening. A loud shrill laugh echoed out of the alley was as he continued down the street.

He looked up. Parking garage, though something told him that wasn’t its current function; unofficially of course. Loud electronic music echoed out of the fifth floor as well as various neon strobe lights and lasers. Cheers and screams of laughter came down with the electronic racket as well as the occasional moan.

A car drove by, its spherical wheels squeaking at an unnatural tone. It approached an intersection and continued on.

Time Turner approached the street corner. He glanced left. Various ponies were walking down the streets though not many. All hardened by living in Horizon. To his right was nothing but the road and the sea beyond.

The street gave an unobstructed view of the higher levels of the city; level 3 Residential districts followed by Level 2 and finally the Level 1; playgrounds of the rich. Strobe lights from the entertainment districts spilled up into the night. Somewhere deeper inside the city was the Horizon Police station.

The Doctor sighed. While the Captain was a nice mare she would not be able to protect him from these ponies. They’d make sure of that, if not through direct contact, through so many legal codes and regulations that it would be cheaper to let him die rather than sort through the mess.

The only safe place now was District 56. Not his home, safe.

Judging by his current surroundings he’d say he was in Section 134, part of the outer ring, Level 4 Residential District number whatever the fuck. Even though his apartment was out of the question there were still several items he needed to retrieve. He sighed. His apartment was still kilometers away.

Sitting there and complaining about it wouldn’t change anything. He sighed and started walking deeper into Horizon…

«««✧✦✧»»»

Two Weeks Later.

“Sixteen are dead; twelve others suffered serious injury…”

Gears sighed as he watched the new feed from the street. One thing the Canterlot Police Department was never prepared for was hostage situations. It was a city with almost no crime so whenever something did happen, no one really have any fuckin’ clue what they were doing.

And the few that did were almost never nearby to make any difference.

“…Medic. Twenty seven year old…” the large video screen said.

Gears let a grin sneak onto his face. Canterlot; they called it the Green City for a few reasons. But he did have to admit the day was a clusterfuck to begin with. Another Princess coronation had spread the local police force thin, allowing for this even larger mess to take place. He sighed. Bad days happened to everyone.

“… Suspect was shot to death by police…”

He turned away from large screen displaying the story above the street and resumed his walk. The rain from the day’s storm rolled off his waterproof jacket easily. The only real crime was his hat had been forgotten at home. Not that it really went well with his current look anyway. Oh well, he had a black jacket to match the hat back at the apartment. His mane, meanwhile, would soak up the water.

He began heading downtown towards the station. This was the fifth time in a month he’d been called down there. Not that he had been doing anything but there were a stack of colds sitting on his desk that he did want to get to at SOME point. Still, this city was just so… he couldn’t find the words for it. Everyone had felt that feeling.

He trotted across a bridge and stopped at the railing before staring down. A river ran under him down and it and a few others like it, cut through the city leading right down the ocean below. The ocean; he laughed. The city was situated just above the water. A massive sea wall was built to separate the cold ocean from the glistening metropolis. Still, if the right kind of storm came along, not even the massive wall would be able to stop it.

Gears grinned before turning and continuing on his route. He soon approached his destination deep inside the city. A tall concrete and glass structure that looked more like it was created by a mathematician than an architect stood before him. He quickly entered it, getting out of the rain.

Canterlot Police Station; desks with dispatchers, offices and officers, typical police business all arranged in a massive information grid. Gears walked over to an empty desk and flopped down in the chair. A sign that read Independent Investigator sat on his rather Spartan desk. The only possession on it was a picture of a young mare flashing a confident grin.

He sighed and turned to his monitor, pulling up an article about the earlier situation that had taken up most of the news so far and began reading through the data. He grinned; typical Green City.

“Detective.”

Gears’ ears flicked and flexed his grey wings. His feathers had an odd blue glow emanating from them though it was nothing uncommon. Almost everyone had implants these days.

“Yes, what is it?” he asked.

A police lieutenant stood before him, pawing the ground impatiently with his hoof, “Sir, the commissioner would like to see you. He’s been climbing my ass for the last ten minutes while you’ve been staring mindlessly at that screen.”

Gears sighed and turned to follow the lieutenant, “If you officers did your jobs correctly I wouldn’t need to stare at pictures of ponies slaughtered on the city streets.”

“The shit I put up with,” the lieutenant muttered.

“What was that asshole?”

“Nothing detective.”

The office was something modern. Various desks sat in a grid like pattern all over the floor marked by modern computer tech all networked together. Various voices were all speaking about the same thing; the botched hostage situation in district 13. As Gears trotted up the stairs a smile crossed him. Unlike most independent contractors in the city he’d actually bothered to leave the accursed place. And the world was a lot different that the Empyreus that had been built here on this island.

The lieutenant led him to the commissioner’s office. The commissioner was a larger unicorn with a buzzed black tuff of mane on his head to go with his brown coat. He was talking with someone only heard by him. The face on the smart glass screen however could be seen.

Gears’ stoic face bent slightly to a grin. Hello Sun Princess.

“Yes ma’am. I understand perfectly. I will. Okay. Good-bye,” he said tapping the implant on the side of his head killing the link.

The lieutenant straightened, “Sir, your Detective Boxer is here.”

“Yes… Thank you lieutenant, you may go.”

He saluted and trotted off. The door closed behind him. The commissioner tapped an icon on his desk and watched as a blue field surrounded the glass room. Gears sat in a nearby chair staring at the environment of the office, giving little attention to its occupant.

“Whadda ya need, Commissioner?” he asked nonchalantly.

He turned and spoke with a deep voice, “Two weeks ago, a yacht for the AnovCorp CEO went down just off the coast of Horizon. Most of the bodies were recovered, the others are assumed to have gone down with the ship.”

He turned rather suddenly, “Horizon?”

“Yes, Horizon.”

“So why are you telling me this?” Gears asked, flipping his mane.

“Because, I said the others were ‘assumed’ to have gone down with the yacht. It’s being kept quiet but there are a number of ponies that are not accounted for.”

He tapped an icon on his desk and the faces of three ponies appeared hovering in 2D in the center of the room. One was a white unicorn with a formally styled blue mane, another was a tan colored earth pony with an uneventful spiky brown mane, and the last was a pale blue pegasus mare with a silky white mane. Gears studied each face.

“These are First Officer Spike Wind, Doctor Time Turner, and Ruby Carver. None were accounted for when the yacht went down.”

“Has the cause of the sinking been determined?”

“Do you want the explanation the City put out or the actual one?”

“Both.”

“Officially, the ship suffered a reactor failure. In reality, the ship was scuttled.”

Gears gave a smirk, “Tell me about the mare.”

The commissioner raised an eyebrow, “Catching on?”

“You tell me.”

“Ruby Carver: daughter to Jewels Carver, CEO of AnovCorp. I assume you can guess the rest.”

“She’s the only one worth anything in terms of leverage.”

“There’s more. She suffers from a rare genetic abnormality where her immune system is completely inactive. Her implants can take care of most of it but her condition is still incredibly rare.”

“How rare?”

“One in a billion.”

“So we have a filly with a rare genetic abnormality who just happens to be the daughter of a powerful CEO. Nothing suspicious here.”

“Just what I was thinking. So here’s the deal: I’m sending you to Horizon.”

“I’m not one of your cops. Why not send one of them?”

“I’m tied with cleaning up the hostage situation. And you’re on my payroll as an independent. So it’s my job to tell you what to do. That… and this one is a personal favor.”

“A favor?”

“Commissioner for Horizon is a personal friend of mine. He’s asked for outside help on this.”

“So you’re sending me?”

“Look, you’re the best detective I have. You’ve seen more than most of these cops here will ever see in their entire time on the force. For this one, experience is one thing that others here don’t have.”

Gears turned and glanced out the window of the office.

“You know Horizon. You know what the city is like. I need a pony with knowledge of the terrain as well as the sense not to get himself killed.”

He turned, “So what’s my job?”

“Get in, find the filly, get out. You’ll be working with the police captain in District 9. She’s like you, a hardass who’s seen far too much. She’s knows better than most. Play nice.”

“No promises. When do I leave?”

“Today. You have two hours to pack your things. I don’t think I need to tell you to watch your back, Boxer.”

“Hardly.”

“Day with the psycho squad, terrorists on the mag lev, the Carvers, you seem to get all the easy assignments.”

“You gave me this one sir; as with the others, just lucky.”

He gave a small grin, “Let’s hope that luck holds. Good luck.”

“Never needed it.”

Two hours later Gears had his saddle bags packed with his necessities and was on an airship out of Canterlot heading south west for Horizon. Below him was a vast unending ocean. Stories were still told even to this modern day of a time when the water was lower. Life had flourished in places just like the one he was flying over. Trenches were once valleys and valleys like this once held life.

But the ‘what ifs’ were things he couldn’t be worrying about now. Dreaming of worlds that never were in times that couldn’t be could get you killed in Horizon; time to focus on the here and now. And more importantly, his destination.

Horizon was an enigma in itself. Once upon a time it had been the picture perfect metropolis it had been designed to be. Built as a self-sufficient abode out at sea to escape the rising tides, for a time it was a utopia. But as conditions worsened, so did everyone else. The city fell into decay. Decadence, technology run amuck, crime, corruption, if you could dream up a social problem you could probably find it in Horizon. Politicians were bought off by corporations. CEOs held all the real power and sometimes even they were merely puppets to the machine.

He checked his implants and weapons. Horizon was not the city where one wanted to be caught without some means of defense. It was a city where the inhabitants would probably kill you for the money in your pocket and then eat your body for the calories if they couldn’t find anything else to do with it.

He laughed at that prospect. One thing the people in Canterlot, even the Sun Princess to a degree, had was a large sense of disconnection. None of them really had any semblance of an idea of what the world outside of Canterlot was really like. Even the cops were rather sheltered. Gears’ only excuse was that he’d been rented out by a bunch of different police forces all over the planet to do odd jobs for them. Work was slow recently so he’d booked himself as a consultant for the Canterlot PD. He figured it’d only be a matter of time before he’d be called back to see something really ugly.

And Horizon was ugly.

Ugly as fuck.

His problem was not unfamiliarity. His boss knew that and felt it a useful thing to have. His problem was the familiarity. He knew Horizon. He knew it all too well…

«««✧✦✧»»»

Horizon from above didn’t look all that different from within the walls. The foundry district glowed with the orange fires of a thousand different hells all producing some product for some city somewhere else in the world. Even in the rain the occasional orange flame from a vent could be seen.

The city itself was roughly circular in shape, the outer districts being more poverty stricken and dedicated more to industry and residence for the poor rather than the more central areas where everything corporate happened from business to residence. The city’s entertainment district and administrative services were also located among the tall spires.

Gears glared down at it all out the rain soaked window. The airship was heading towards one of the outer districts where the city’s main airport was located.

The jets on the old airship rotated to bring the blimp in for a slow decent as the gas was vented out of the main bags and into storage tanks. Landing gear extended as the ship descended.

The airport was a large tower structure made up of a series of large hexangular panels stacked atop each other. They were spaced out so that large aircraft could fit comfortably between them with room to spare. Several large pillars connected the different levels that ran all the way down to the street level and then some. Various aircraft were either docked, arriving, or leaving as the airship approached.

The engines rotated and brought the ship down for a smooth landing.

The ship shook mildly from the impact. Gears unstrapped himself and stood up and donned his hat. He checked his bags and other gear. Hidden underneath one of his wings was a long rifle that could be operated with his hooves. Attached to his right hoof was a small hoof mounted pistol with a drum magazine. With hooves the options were limited for what a pony could use.

“Welcome to Horizon. You may begin to disembark,” an automated voice said. Gears and the other passengers on the shuttle stood up and began to file off the craft. Fortunately Gears had been situated near the front of the ship and was one of the first to get to the gangplank.

He trotted down the stairs, out of the nose of the airship. There were two other ponies in front of him; a mare and a stallion in uniform: guards. He smiled. He always could appreciate the guards. Up ahead, behind a series of concrete barriers and locks that held and separated the airship in its berth from the rest of the port were large homogeneous mixture of races all spread about going about their business. Cargo was being unloaded from a variety of transports all around the port. The smell of synthetic and biological fuels was fresh in the air as well as the occasional whiff of coolant. The port was bustling with activity.

And it still looked and smelled like shit.

He stepped onto the cool tarmac of the airport just as a loud boom split his eardrums and threw him to the ground.

«««✧✦✧»»»

The control tower of the HIA suddenly shook, throwing its occupants to the ground. The glass of the control tower shattered all over the floor as sparks from the various screens and controls flew through the room. Wires and equipment fell to the floor as various ponies, griffons, and other creatures screamed.

Sentinel pulled himself back into his chair and stared out the broken glass windows. Several of the upper levels had large holes in them where a column of black smoke billowed up into the dark sky. Screams could be heard from the tarmac.

Behind him were cries of his coworkers, many cut by the glass or burned when a console exploded in their faces. Blood coated the far wall near the door to the stair well…

«««✧✦✧»»»

Gears burst through the door of his home. A figure was trotting down the hill toward a waiting shuttle. Gears shook his head with a look of worry on his face before bolting down the hill after the figure.

The sounds of his mother’s sobbing faded away into the background as he galloped down the path.

The figure boarded the shuttle. The door closed behind it. He said something unheard before turning to another figure and kissing her.

Gears couldn’t believe his eyes as the shuttle began to rise into the sky. The pegasus unfurled his wings and attempted to catch up to the craft. A jet of CO2 blew the young flier to the ground as the craft accelerated out of the city.

Gears landed with a thud. His vision was blurred by tears as he angrily watched the ship sail away into the sky.

«««✧✦✧»»»

A loud ringing of the ears was all he heard. There was no sound other than the ringing. Slowly his vision returned. A blurry collection of colors slowly focused into a clear image. A charred body was lying right in front of his eyes. The smell of burnt flesh and fuel hit his nostrils.

Vaguely his hearing returned to him in the form of more explosions in the background followed by more screaming added to the racket already going on around him. The vague whirring of the engines on the propellers of the destroyed ship could be heard just barely beneath the blaring of alarms and sirens of the airport’s emergency services. The detective groaned and rolled over. Up above him the nose of the airship was burning. The fires burned as the metal of holding up the nose began to glow red and groan under the stress.

Gears gasped and rolled over onto his hooves and pushed himself away just as the metal frame snapped causing a hulking wreck of metal to collapse down onto the deck. A sway of blood accompanied the brutal crunch of the metal. Even in the chaos following the explosion something registered in the delirious mind of the pegasus; he never could recall what happened to the two guards that had been in front of him.

Gears groaned and pulled himself up onto his hooves, shakily attempting to walk away from the carnage. A loud banging crunch behind him got his attention enough to get him to turn around. A piece of the upper levels had collapsed down onto the remains of the airship.

In his disoriented state the event barely registered as the remaining fuel in the tanks exploded. More screams. He blinked and turned and felt the top of his head. Wait a minute, something wasn’t right here. His hat was missing. Fuck this wouldn’t do one bit. He took a step forward and kicked a small object forward. He looked down. Oh… there it was.

He picked it up and placed it back on his head. He looked around. Ah, the terminal was still a little walk away; past all the wrecked cargo, debris and bodies. All he needed to do was just walk through the gate and then he could get in his taxi and head over to the police station to meet his counterpart. Ah, yes, the one the old commissioner wanted him to see.

He began to haphazardly trot over to the terminal. His saddle bags bounced up against his body as he went. His gun swung on its strap back and forth almost melodiously as he walked.

Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his leg and turned. A bloodied claw had attached itself to his back leg. The griffin it belonged to did not look to be in too good shape. Half of its face, its gender unreadable at the moment was burned, the other half had a series of small cuts in it from the shrapnel from the explosions.

“Alright,” Gears said hefting the creature up onto his shoulder and walking with the barely alive griffin, “Here we go. Come on, you’re gonna be fine.”

The terminal was still a little ways away in the center of the port. Even through it he could see everyone scrambling away from the scene as emergency officials tried to get into one of the terminals, their emergency codes failing or the door holding up against the meager tools they had brought with them. Unfortunately the one they were trying to open was on the other side of the berth. And it was what just behind the doors of the nearest one that got his attention.

A white van with a black medical cross on it pulled up a little too close to the glass for comfort. Its occupants got out. A group of unicorns dressed in all black suits and… a dragon?

The glass doors to the terminal shattered as a heavy reptilian fist punched through them. Two unicorns trotted through the opening. Two small objects were levitated into the air, surrounded by a colorful aura. One of the blackly dressed unicorns turned and focused on Gears. The device in his aura glowed and fired off a bolt of energy.

The griffon’s head exploded in a cloud blood and skull fragments. Pieces of the previously alive griffon’s skull flew everywhere, a few shredding Gears’ right ear while globs of grey matter sprayed the remainder of his face. Gears barely registered what had happened as the newly dead body fell to the floor in a disgusting heap.

He blinked. Suddenly a few things began to click as the recent gory mess next to him jarred him out of his stupor. The airship he’d moments before just been on exploded, taking most of the berth with it, killing most of the passengers and crew aboard. At the moment there didn’t really seem to be anything other than him, and the ponies plus the dragon in front of him, alive.

Oh, and then something else clicked with him.

He quickly dove out of the way behind a fallen cargo container just as another bolt of light flew past him, heating up the air nearby. An odd smell was in the air that the detective easily recognized: plasma. So these weren’t offensive spells being used on him, of course. No unicorn could generate plasma no matter how hard they tried; and the odds of him running into someone who knew offensive magic, here of all places was slim to none.

“Damn it! He’s still alive!” a voice shouted, “Cook him!”

A powerful, throaty male voice responded, “With pleasure.”

Gears looked up as a sheet of fire shot over his head. He ducked down and felt around his saddle bags praying to whatever gods that might exist in the universe that his rifle was still there. He sighed in relief when he felt the nice smooth carbon grip of the gun. He lay back against the crate and pulled the weapon into his lap and tapped his hoof against the side of the butt. Full magazine, just what he needed.

The flame began to retreat away and soon he was free. He jumped up and looked over the glowing hot top of the cargo container and took a brief moment to note that the entire front of it had melted as well as its contents inside of it, whatever they used to be. He closed his right eye, aimed the weapon at the nearest unicorn and squeezed the lever with his hoof.

Recoil never used to be a problem but considering recent events it didn’t really surprise him when he felt a rather tough kick to his shoulder as a bolt of what looked like lightning arced over to his target. The dark clothed unicorn barely even had time to utter a brief cry of surprise when he exploded in a cloud of red, painting the floor with a crimson paint of blood and other bits and pieces of equine. The dragon raised and arm and covered his eyes as pieces of his compatriot flew in all directions.

Gears took advantage their momentary surprise and bolted from behind his now melted piece of cover towards a sturdier looking concrete barricade. He also took a chance and briefly glanced at his attackers. Minus the dead unicorn there were still four others to deal with as well as that dragon.

The remaining five of his attackers were still in a bit of shock before one of the unicorns barked out an order.

“Forget him! Kill the fucker and let’s move!”

Gears grimaced as he suddenly felt the impacts of weapons against his concrete shield, slowly withering away at it with each hit. He couldn’t stay here forever even unless he wanted to get killed. But if he bolted that damn dragon would certainly burn him to death. Hmm.

He leaned back and scooted himself up against another cargo container that the barricade leaned against. Gears scanned the area looking for anything that could be used. Any opportunity of any kind would be appreciated.

Even in his mildly disoriented state his mind still managed to work something and he gave a small grin. A tank marked with an odd icon of a match inside of a circle with a slash through it was just a few meters away. A few caps were all along the bottom, ready to be hooked up to a waiting airship. And two of his attackers were standing near it.

He readied his rifle, aimed it at the loosened caps and fired his rifle before diving back behind the concrete barricade. A large, deafening boom was heard followed by two screams as the fuel tank detonated, ripping apart a few nearby crates and throwing pieces of sharpened metal into the terminal walls.

He quickly poked himself up over the top of the concrete block and aimed at the head of the dragon that had been punishing him earlier and fired. The bolt arced across the deck and impacted the beast right in its right eye before causing the entire right side of its to explode outward in a pink and red cloud of brains and scales.

While the fires from the destroyed fuel tank burned, Gears got up onto his hooves and galloped away into the maze of wreckage and fire.

«««✧✦✧»»»

Glistening Blade moved through the wrecked port. His magic aura held a small pistol as he hunted for his prey. Things had not gone according to plan.

And now four of his team was dead and the target was still alive.

“B-boss, are you sure we should stay here?” Blast Shield asked.

“What do you mean? We have a fuckin’ job to do. So do it!”

“But b-boss he-”

“Need I remind you what you’re getting paid for this?”

“No b-boss but it’s just that-urgh!” he was cut off as the butt of a rifle smacked into his head, knocking him to the ground.

«««✧✦✧»»»

Gears hugged his wings to his side and dove off the crate. In his front hooves he held the butt of his rifle out. He heard a sickening crack as the carbon fiber stock impacted the head of one of his attackers. His victim fell to the deck like a doll.

The detective put his hooves out, using the fallen body as a cushion to slow his fall. He landed with a jarring impact and staggered to the ground, rolling on his back. A discomforting popping sensation in his right wing alerted him that something was wrong.

“Aagh!” he cried out as he quickly tried to roll over onto his back.

The remaining unicorn turned in surprise and raised his weapon. Gears gasped and raised his rifle just a plasma bolt splashed across the stock of his weapon. The pegasus heard a click as the ebony clothed unicorn squeezed the trigger on his weapon again. At least something fortunate had happened; an empty magazine.

Gears smiled and threw his gun into the unicorn’s muzzle.

“Ugh!” the agent grunted as the weapon smacked him across the face. Gears hopped up onto his hooves and tackled the pony to the ground. He raised his left hoof to strike and thrust down, punching him right in the nose.

Suddenly a jarring impact to the gut sent him rolling. He landed on his injured wing and cried out before rolling onto his back again just as a growl got his attention. A black shape encased in a green aura had launched itself into the air and was descending on him. Gears grunted and raised his right hoof, tapping the device on his wrist and fired.

A quick spray of blue bolts shot up at his attacker, each one splashing over the green aura encasing him.

“Damn,” Gears grunted as he rolled out of the way and onto his hooves just as a heavy weight impacted the deck right where he had previously situated himself. He heard the ground crack under the force of the impact.

His opponent turned to face him and snarled. Gears blinked as he saw the unicorn lower his head and aim his horn at him for a charge.

“Mother-” Gears jumped back as the unicorn kicked his back legs and rapidly accelerated towards him. Gears held up his front hooves and caught the unicorn’s head just centimeters away from impaling him, pushing him back.

“Gah!” he grunted as his back smacked up against the side of a piece of a wrecked airship. He tightened his grip on unicorn’s cranium and began trying to twist and turn it an effort to either break his neck or divert the sharp end of his horn away from his body.

Gears grunted and pushed heavily with one of his hooves, holding the head in place before raising his other hoof and punching the belligerent across the face. His head flew right, missing Gears’ abdomen and smacking into the side of the destroyed ship.

The aura around the unicorn’s body flickered as he held his head and attempted to focus back on his target.

Gears bolted towards another damaged ship. Hoses that connected to the ship were dangling loosely from the side of the wrecked craft of were flopped on the ground like dead snakes. Metal support cables used to anchor the ship dangled all over, some were thick enough like ropes while others had more subtle purposes.

“Ragh!” a voice screamed behind him. Gears turned and sighed.

“Can’t catch a break.”

Glancing up he quickly jumped up and grabbed one of the hoses hanging out of the side of the airship. A cold white gas was spraying out of it. He aimed it right at the face.

“Gah! Aaahh!” came a scream from behind the cloud. Gears dropped the hose and rushed into the cloud of clearing vapor. The temperature suddenly dropped around him. He barely registered this drop before he stopped and turned and bucked out with his back legs, striking the reeling unicorn in the chest, knocking him back.

The cold vapor began to clear as Gears wearily trotted towards the enigmatic assaulter. The unicorn was rubbing his face. Though Gears couldn’t see much of it, the parts he did see were red with what looked like an extreme case of freezer burn.

“Who the fuck are you?” he asked, panting.

“Grrr, the kind of guy you don’t fuck with,” the agent growled.

Gears laughed before coughing. A few drops of blood fell onto the already messy tarmac. He’d inhaled some of the gas.

“And I’m the kind of guy who hunts guys like you,” Gears said walking over towards the still blinded unicorn, “You attacked me first. And I take it you had something to do with the explosion of my ride back there. So why don’t you save me the extra paperwork I’m gonna have to do if I kill you and tell me what you’re fuckin’ doing.”

The unicorn suddenly dropped his hooves. His face was red but not nearly as burned as Gears thought it was. And his eyes were functioning perfectly.

“A job!”

A green aura engulfed Gears and hurled him back towards the airship. Gears landed with a thud on his back in a pile of cables. The unicorn lowered his head and stared poison at him as he prepared another magically fueled charge.

Gears looked around him. Hoses, cables, metal shards, metal wires, baggage, debris in general; there had to be something he could use. A glint in his peripheral vision got his attention. He had it now.

“Rargh!” The unicorn growled and kicked his hooves out as he launched himself at an unnatural velocity, his hooves not even touching the ground. Gears bolted, grabbing one of the nearby metal wires in his mouth and pulling it taught between himself and a heavy crate, hanging out of the cargo hatch of the blimp.

The laws of physics would refuse to be altered now as the belligerent unicorn realized his mistake far too late to correct for it.

Gears closed his eyes as he heard a scream that was quickly cut off by a disgusting squelching and slicing noise. The dull skipping and rolling of a dead body came next that itself was followed by the bouncing of a severed head.

He remained there for a few more seconds before he opened his eyes and releasing the wire. It fell to the floor with a small splash of blood. Gears held a hoof up to his mouth. The wire had cut into his edge of his mouth giving him a small Glasgow smile. He grimaced in pain but decided to survey the situation.

He glanced over at his handy work. The severed head of a unicorn was lying a few meters away, red splashes giving markers for where the head had bounced. A little closer was the body itself, lying limply in a pool of red.

Gears sighed as a dull wind flowed through the port. His hat was missing. He sighed and searched for it. It was lying near the severed body; the lip of it was just barely touching the red that painted the ground. The detective begrudgingly picked it up, ignoring the shock of pain that ran through his wing as he leaned down to life it. He barely even registered the drops of blood that flew up when he set it down on his head.

His gaze returned to the body. He hated this part of the job. He quickly began to rummage through the black suit of his once alive adversary. Pockets filled with extra magazines for a weapon lost during the battle. A small emergency weapon that had never been used and a small ID card.

After carefully inventorying all the items as well as their locations on the body he glanced at the ID.

Agent: Glistening Blade
Access: Tier 3 Clearance
ID: 492920-4934
ASSOCIATED: STAIRWAY
TriTECH Affinity

He cocked his head; interesting. He blinked as the sounds of sirens that weren’t medical reached his ears. Police.

He sighed and glanced at the situation behind him. Dead bodies.

“Paperwork…” he muttered, pocketing the ID and limping over to the still locked terminals.