Chaser

Chaser

Story 3

Chapter 4: Sprint

By: SleeplessScribe

It didn’t take too much time getting the two back to the base. After we had them both securely tied to columns inside the theater, it was time to get to work. All of us, except Sprint, were there, and we didn’t bother with names.

“Alright, here’s how this is going to work. You talk, we listen. If the first step is too hard, we have plenty of ways to make it… easier.”

I decided to simply name them by color: Grey, on the left, and Blue, on the right. It took a few minutes and a kick to the stomach from Jackhammer to make Blue speak, and Grey stayed silent. “Do what you want, even if we knew anything useful, we wouldn’t tell you nothing. All we do is follow Firecracker around and take orders.”

It was my turn to kick him. I have to be honest, it felt kind of good just to hit these guys for being involved with something that was taking our lives away. “You know what those orders were. You know where you went with her. Those two things alone make you useful.”

Their silence persisted, and even after half an hour of punching and kicking, they both sat there, keeping their lips sealed.

Finally, the farm pony had had enough, letting out a frustrated grunt. “All right, y’all move aside!” She pushed between Jack and myself, staring down Grey and Blue as she stomped on the floor. “I don’t think you realize what your boss is doing to the lives of all these ponies. You two are on the wrong side, and that means you don’t get any mercy from me. You’re gonna tell us exactly what you’re after, and where you were going right now, or I’m gonna show you what years of bucking apples can do to a pony’s kicks!”

Grey blew a raspberry, spitting in AJ’s face. “You really think we’re afraid of country bumpkin like you? A little hayseed like you couldn’t hurt a fly, no matter how hard you tried.”

There was definitely blood, and I think I saw a tooth fly out of Grey’s mouth as the hoof collided with his lip. I knew she was tough, but I had no idea she had the guts to make blood leak out of a pony’s mouth like water from a cracked faucet. “Who’s the scared one now, huh? How about I ask again: where were you?” Her next hit slammed right into Blue’s jaw, resulting in an audible crack, bleeding gums, and a bleeding lip.

After spitting out some blood, Blue turned back to her with a cocky grin. “Gonna have to do better than that, you ornery bitch!”

Now I had had enough. By the time my front hoof was back on the ground, there was already a bruise underneath his eye, and now blood was coming out of one of his nostrils. “First off, don’t be using that kind of language around here, you got that? Second, never insult Applejack and expect me not to respond!”

My words brought both a small blush on Applejack’s face and a scoff from Quick behind us, but I really didn’t care. I don’t know why, but hearing him insult AJ just really, really pissed me off. It took a couple more good hits from both of us, but finally Blue cracked, shaking frantically.

“Alright, alright, you psychos! Stop, stop, I’ll tell you what we know!” He spoke hurriedly, but we could still understand him. “Monopoly told us it was time to make a move on the Oranges, so Firecracker went to the Orange Industries building to plant explosives at key points in the basement but you Chasers found us so we took off and then you came along and she can’t go and do it herself because we dropped the bombs and I know you all aren’t stupid enough to just leave them there!”

“Good golly, he talks faster than Pinkie Pie.” Applejack shook her head quickly, wiping the little bit of blood on her hoof of on the floor. “Does that help you at all?”

I gave her a nod. “It does. If we know who they’re targeting, we know where to go to stop them.”

Dust poked his head between us, looking at our prisoners. “Do we get rid of them now? Don’t want them running off and tattle tailing.”

Giving Dust another angry stare, I pushed him back. “We let them go. They’ve served their purpose, and now we let them go.”

Both Jack and Dust shook their heads quickly, their mouths agape. “Let them go? Are you nuts, Jet?” They both were speaking in unison, but that was apparently all Dust had to say. “Jet, if we let them go then they’re going to run back and tell TimeTech our counterplans and where we’re based. They’ll no doubt break in here and turn this theater into a slaughterhouse! I say we kill them.”

Jack and Dust both raised their hooves, knowing that decisions like this always ended in a vote.

Quick Fix raised the opposite hoof, as did I. “I’ve already said this: you can either save lives, or you can take them. The Chasers are dedicated to doing the first, we are not killers.”

Dust looked at Applejack, scoffing at me. “Well, looks like you’re our tiebreaker Applejack. Do we kill them, or do we let them go?”

The stress was evident in her expression as she bit her lip. Her ears fell flat as she looked from me to Dust and back again, circling her hoof on the floor. After about a minute, she looked up at our prisoners and untied them. “We let them go.”

Both the guys clicked their tongues at her, but AJ spun around like someone had stepped on her tail. “Don’t you give me that, you two! Maybe they are a couple of no good thugs, but what good would killing them do? What would doing that make us, huh?”

I set my hoof on her shoulder and Grey and Blue ran off, nodding at our friends. “She’s right. Look, guys, I understand why you think killing them is the best option, but we are not TimeTech, and we’re not going to lower ourselves to their standards.”

They both rolled their eyes and left, grumbling. Quick came over, her gaze focused on the floor. Her glasses were slid down a bit, but I’m pretty sure I saw a blush. “Thanks, Applejack… for being on our side.”

AJ waved her hoof at the shy mare, patting her shoulder. “Ah, shucks, it ain’t nothing, Quick Fix! It was the right thing to do, I wasn’t about to let those guys die for no reason.

Quick gave me a small smile before walking off, and before I could say anything, I had two big grey forelegs around my neck. “I knew I was right about you, Applejack. You’ve got a sense of justice about you that I really admire.” He smiled at me, patting my back before he let me go. “I’ve gotta go talk to the team that found those bombs, alright? Take a look around, talk to some ponies, and I’ll meet up with you later so we can practice more, alright?”

I gave him a nod as he walked off, but a small little voice kept me from moving.

“He’s totally smitten, you know that?” The little filly hopped up on one of the bench presses and sat down on it. Sprint swished her tail, giving me a sweet smile.

As sweet as she was, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. “Aw, Sprint, were you eavesdropping?”

She shook her head quickly, hopping off the bench press. “No! I just… overheard, is all.”

“Uh huh. Anyway, Jet’s just being friendly. I mean, we barely know each other, sugar cube. I highly doubt he’s ‘smitten’ with my just after a few hours.” I teasingly ruffled up her mane, causing it to fall over her eyes.

“So you don’t believe in love at first sight?”

I was actually really glad she couldn’t see right now; it gave me the chance to roll my eyes. Was I really having this discussion with a filly about as old as my little sister? “Sprint, it takes more than a first glance for something like love. It’s a big pony thing, and it takes time for a relationship like that to form. I’ll admit, your brother’s a nice guy, but I really don’t think he’s in love with my like you say.”

The little filly swatted my hoof away, giving a small grown. “I am a big pony! Has he told you about his problems yet?”

I shook my head slowly, returning my hoof to the ground. “He hasn’t. Your brother told me that he’d tell me when he felt comfortable, and if he was ‘in love’ with me, you’d think that he’d feel pretty comfortable telling me anything, right?”

Her ears fell flat as she backed away a little. “I thought for sure he’d have already said something….”

My hoof was just all over the place today as I rubbed the girl’s head again. “See, Sprint? You’re just a little too young to understand things like this right now, and-“

She swatted me away again, turning away. “Applejack! Stop talking to me like I’m a baby! I’m a big pony, and I’m gonna prove it!”

Sprint was gone before I could even say anything, though I must admit, she was a quick little filly. If she was anything like Applebloom, all she needed was a little time to think and she’d come back, we’d both apologize, and share a sweet and fun hug. After a few minutes, Jet tipped my hat over my eyes and chuckled.

“Boo!”

Lifting my hat up, I have him a teasing wink. “I don’t scare that easily, sugar cube. So, what’cha got?”

“Well, we’ve all decided that those explosives will be our weapon to bring down TimeTech Tower once we get clearance from the royalty. All we need now is proof of his transgressions, and we’ll be good to go! So, are you ready to get back out there?”

I found myself thinking about what Sprint said, but also, oddly enough, about Jet’s Assault failure. “Hey Jet, mind if I ask you some things before we go?”

He spun around lickety-split shaking his head with a grin. “Nope! You only get one, and that was it.” Jet stuck his tongue out after he saw my face, laughing a little. “Just kidding, what’s on your mind?”

Twilight would’ve been nice to have around, seeing as she’s so organized, but I was still able to explain what I was thinking well enough. “Well, you know how you were talking about this being… what was it? The fourth time this week an Assault team was outrun? Well, I’ve been thinking of an idea.”

I had a tendency to talk with my hooves when I had a point to make, and this was no exception. Those things were flying around like the Dash siblings in a race. “See, on the farm, we split the work between the three of us: There’s me, and I normally kick the apples off of the trees, my little sister Applebloom, who normally picks up the apples and loads ‘em into the buckets since she’s so, and my brother, Big Macintosh, who’s the only one strong enough to carry the buckets all the way from the orchard to the barn. We each have our own specialties, but we work together to get things done. See what I’m saying?”

He rubbed his chin a bit, his face morphed into a purse-lipped, goofy thinking expression. “I think so. Are you suggesting we kind of merge the teams?”

Shaking my head a bit, I tapped my hoof on the floor like it was actually going to help me explain myself. “Not really merge them all, but what if, instead of entire teams built for one thing, you make teams with a combination? For example, let’s have Quick Fix, Dust Devil, and Jackhammer all on one team. Dust and Jack can go around patrolling the streets while Quick keeps them updates one what’s going on with her fancy cameras. So, we make up teams of at least one Assault and one Recon with a Tech keeping them posted on what’s what.”

He gave me a smile, ruffling up my mane a bit. “I like that idea! Pretty and smart! AJ, you’re a mare after my own heart. I’ll tell everyone to get fixed up right away.”

I couldn’t help but blush just a little at the comment. “That’s… something else I wanted to talk to you about.” Mentioning the subject was a might embarrassing, but for the life of me I just couldn’t think of some kind of cover. It took at least five minutes of thinking before I just spat it out. “Oh, I can’t lie to save my life! Jet, your sister was talking to me earlier, and got me to thinking. Are you… in love with me? Even in the slightest? Little Sprint insisted that you were, and I tried to tell her that love takes time, and we’ve only been together for a day.”

Anypony would’ve blushed as his lips came real close to mine. However, he drew back quickly and let out a laugh. “Haha, just kiddin’. Applejack, you’re sweet and all, and I really admire your moral code, but you’re right, stuff like that takes time. Though, I wouldn’t mind hanging out with you some more after we kick Monopoly’s as- I mean, tail.” He gave me a nervous grin, chuckling as he almost let out one of those words.

I, however, returned his grin. “Nice save, Jet. Almost made me slap you again.”

My friend walked off to, I assume, tell the gang about my idea. “Glad I pulled it off. AJ, you hit hard, girl. And I mean it, you hurt.”

*---*---*

Returning to the boss empty-hooved was, for most ordinary underlings, a death sentence, but Monopoly absolutely loved me, regardless of little failures. As I made me way to his office on the top floor of the bright, bustling tower, I honestly wondered how he managed to stay in that dark, dank room. Knocking on the door, I readied myself for an explanation.

“It’s open.” His voice was low and raspy, as usual. I told him to lay off those cigars, but he never listened. Sure enough, the sunlight from his massive window illuminated the room enough for me to see the fat roll of tobacco in his mouth in the reflection of the glass. That nasty habit of his made me really glad I wasn’t his wife… if he even had a wife.

The back of his chair was facing me, as usual, but his face was still somewhat visible in his reflection. “So, Orange Industries still stands, Hardhat and Stone were taken by the Chasers, and you left those bombs out in the streets. Not to mention almost losing your life. Firecracker, you’re lucky you’ve served me so well thus far, especially considering your history with their leader.”

I shook my head, giving him a frown. “That’s old history. Even if I still felt anything, it wouldn’t get in the way of my duty.”

A grin formed in the glass; I was surprised his teeth weren’t yellow from his chain smoking. “Good, good, you’ve always had a way with words, my dear. Had this failure not included the loss of very expensive, military-grade explosives that could blow through steel, I’d simply let you go. Unfortunately, it has, and unless something miraculous happens to get you off the fence between my good and bad graces, you will be punished.”

Those two idiots couldn’t have had better timing. Their faces looked like someone had used them for kickboxing practice, but the first thing my eyes were drawn to was the little surprise they were both carrying. “Boss! Look at what we got!”

“Ah, you two lunkheads. Go on, tell me.”

The hankie they had used as a gag muffled every noise, and the grins on both their faces told me they wanted to surprise him. “I think you might want to see for yourself!”

As his chair turned, his grin got even wider when he saw their little “gift”. “Well, well, well, what do we have here? You boys might’ve just given us the tools to win this little war.”

They both gave him stupid nods, laughing like the idiots they were.

“Tie up our little present and get it sent to the Chasers. They won’t be able to refuse this.”

Stone gave another stupid laugh. “That’s more good news! We know where they’re base is!”

Monopoly let out a loud laugh, the cigar almost falling out of his mouth. “Excellent! Give Firecracker the location as soon as you finish taking care of our bargaining chip.”

He turned around again, and that was our cue to leave. The two dumbos made their way into the basement, while I took the elevator to the first floor and left, eager for something to drink to calm my nerves. As I thought about how close our victory was, I couldn’t help but grin. “You won’t be worming your way out of this one, Jet.”

Applejack was amazing! After just a few days of practice, she was already climbing like a pro. She had trouble sliding under things and jumping over obstacles quickly, but when it came to climbing, my little farm pony had it down pat. Her final test was a race up the wall of an apartment complex to the fourth floor and then back down via the fire escape, and she managed to stay even with me for the entire thing!

About midway through our practice, Quick got a hold of me and guided me through the list of newly made teams, and after I had approved them, we figured up a dispatch schedule and resumed freerunning practice. I took advantage of Sprint’s little “talk” with my friend, teasingly flirting with her, resulting in rather fun banter between us two. Maybe Sprint was right; maybe I did have a little crush on AJ, but I wasn’t about to just jump the gun and say I loved her. Actually, the more I thought about Sprint, the more concerned I got.

I was sure AJ noticed too, as I stopped making comments about how she kept bumping the crates she was supposed to jump over. She came over to me, nudging my shoulder with a forlorn look on her face. “Hey Jet, what’s up? You look like something’s bothering you.”

A nod and a sigh was my response. “Have you seen Sprint anywhere in the last two days? I know she might be upset, but I just kind of assumed she was hanging out with someone at the base these last two days. She has done that before and asked the others not to say anything, but it’s never lasted this long.”

Before Applejack could even say anything, Quick came back on my headset. “Jet, drop whatever you’re doing and get over here now! I don’t care if you’re in the middle of an arrest, get the fu-“ I heard her clear her throat before resuming; Applejack had made her dislike of swear words clear to everyone in the gang. “Get here as fast as you can.”

My friend was already on her way to the theater, and I followed suit. We were fairly close to one of its side entrances, and Jack was already waiting for us when we got in. AJ and I both were out of breath, but Applejack got the words out before me.

“What was so important that we had to get here so fast?”

“Me.” You know, had I not known the mare as well as I did, I’d say there was nothing but evil in her voice. However, I knew her better than I wanted to right now, and that was probably what kept me from slamming Firecracker square in the face with both hooves.

Instead, I just stared at her, and then turned my focus to Jackhammer. “One: Why is she here? Two: Why is she not in cuffs?”

Jack didn’t even try to speak. Firecracker herself let out a small giggle, tossing me a few photos. “Don’t worry, I’m not here to start a fight. I’m just here to propose a deal.”

My eyes widened at the pictures of my sister, tied up inside of TimeTech Tower with Monopoly, Blue, and Grey smiling at the camera, before returning to the smug mare, glaring at her with more anger than I realized was possible. “What do you want?”

“You. Monopoly offers this proposal: You surrender now, and your sister is released. Not only that, but he will have mercy on you and allow you Chaser to work as his private police force. He’ll let little hayseed here go home scot free, and give your father quite the high position at TimeTech.”

This is the first time in quite a while I actually felt an overwhelming desire to hit a mare. Seriously, I wanted to see her on the ground, bleeding. However, I fought back my anger and tossed the photos to the ground. “Fine. Take me to her.”

She gave me a wide grin, wrapping her foreleg around mine as she made her way to the exit. “Splendid! I promise, Jet, Monopoly is really a nice guy when you’re on his side.”

“Hold on there, rodeo clown!” Applejack pushed her off of me, giving her a similar glare to the one I was. “If Jet is going, I’m going. Somepony’s gotta make sure you varmints keep your end of the deal.”

Firecracker smacked AJ’s muzzle with her tail, opening the door for us. “Whatever, it really doesn’t matter. The more the merrier, I guess. Let’s get going, the boss really doesn’t like waiting.”