Chapters I woke up with a startle and I thought the past events have been a dream. I sat up in my bed and my friends aroused from their beds. I let out a groan as I all of a sudden realized that I didn't have my outfit nor weapons on. Where am I?
"Did we just die?" Xerxes asked me. "I died but you all probably don't know me. This may sound strange to you so I won't continue, my name is Xerxes everypony." Awkward...
"I'm sure than I've NEVER seen your face before Xerxes." I said sarcastically. "Come on Xerxes, I think we all know you... I hope. Why are we not dead? This happened to me when I was transferred to Equestria."
"So we still know each other right?" Marnix asked us. "Hey why can't I move? What's going on?" I said as I tried to move around. I looked down to find some sort of machine on me. I yelled in fright and I yelled "Get it off! Get it off!"
I frantically moved around, slamming my body into a wall and I accidentally pressed the release button, sending me forward onto my face. I got up and looked around the place. Seems like a bunker. I looked around for a few moments when I spotted a small box saying Ray's Stuff DON'T TOUCH .
I then heard a voice saying "Planting a mute charge!" Then all of a sudden I could not hear my own voice. I used my enhanced hearing and I heard "Go! Go! Go!" as the wall blew open and I opened the box with my items. I put on my hidden blades and a pony came in front of me with a gun to my head and my hidden blade to her neck. She looked in fear as I scanned her face. Familiar... wait... is this Twilight? There were also two more ponies with a mask on their face.
"Twilight?" I asked and I retracted my hidden blades. She regained a serious state as she kept the gun to my head. "Twilight, what are you doing?" I asked to her. "Hello?" I asked her in a louder tone.
Then Rainbow Dash came down, saying "Do not challenge us Ray. We don't have much time." Her hoof went to her ear. I heard a "Bravo Actual, this is Bravo One, we got the package. Bringing it to extraction point now." I was confused, her name was Rainbow Dash, not Bravo One.
"Who is Bravo One? Your name is Rainbow Dash." I asked her. She whipped a gun out of her suit and said to me, "How do you know my name? That's classified information."
"What do you mean? Why do you-" I said as I was cut off by the sight of her. She was in a suit like I was in before and she had weapons. She seemed to have more authority here.
Of course... they don't know me. This is a different world, nopony except my friends knows me yet.
"Never mind, it's not important." I said and Rainbow attempted to hit me in the back of the head with the gun. Probably to knock me out. I rolled under the gun and delivered a potent strike to her wrist. When the group aimed their guns at me I put my hidden blades to Rainbow's neck.
"One of you shoots, it's the end for your teammate. You got that?" I said as my friends used their hidden blades and was about to kill them. "Wait don't kill them!" I yelled at them. I hope they don't shoot for if they shoot I don't have the willpower to kill her.
My friends looked at me and probably wondered why. "They are still close to me, even if they don't know who I am in this world." With that Twilight asked me "In this world? What are you talking about? How do you know US or at least our names?" she asked her hostile profile being revealed. She aimed her gun at me.
"You probably shouldn't shoot me for doing this." I aimed my hidden blades at Twilight and shot at her. The blade hit a shocked guard behind her. She ducked and gasped. "A sharpshooter..."
Rainbow turned to me and examined my wrist. "We have to go, I'll be taking this though." she said to me as she tried to take my hidden blades. I denied this by twisting her wrist. "I. Don't. Think. So."
Looking in the box of items, I put on my outfit, without the hood on yet. I equipped myself with all my tools and equipment. I looked at the big hole in the wall that was blasted open by the mute charge it seemed.
Rainbow quickly snatched me and she flew to something she called an extraction point. "Bravo Actual, this is Bravo One, reached extraction point, multiple hostiles at our location."
I heard a voice responding, "Bravo One you are clear to engage, Razorback VTOL sent to your location, ETA 10 minutes, hold your position." I quickly scanned with my Eagle Vision and rolled into cover. My friends did the same. "Seems like we still have our telepathic communications huh? I'll take the ponies in front of my cover." I thought to my friends as I lunged over my cover and cut the stallion's throat. I brought him over to my side and sliced his throat again just in case.
Rainbow Dash hissed at me "Get OVER HERE." I smirked and shook my head. I heard a faint "Of course we have a pony who doesn't follow orders." I quickly jumped onto two ponies and snapped one neck while slicing the others throat. A mare turned to me and was about to shoot if I hadn't shot a hidden blade into her neck.
My hidden blade started to reload as I whipped around and sliced a stallion's throat. As he fell to the ground for some reason I heard a loud bang from him. I realized that he fired his gun before he fell to the ground.
"Dang." I muttered to myself as Rainbow's team fired at a group of Atlas members. I found this out by finding some tag that said Atlas Corporation. I took the fallen stallions gun and shot one stallion. The gun smashed into my chest and I clutched my chest. "Ow!" I watched Rainbow look at me and I was sure she was fighting a smile. She held the gun to her chest and put her cheek onto the side of the gun. Her other hoof went to the very near end of the gun.
I did the exact same thing and shot bullet after bullet, each hitting the enemy in the head. This gun is definitely more efficient though. I like it. I kept doing this until I heard a click. I kept pushing the trigger button and after a while the enemy noticed that I did not know how to reload a gun.
They started firing at me and I heard bullets whiz by my head as I went into cover. "This world is crazy!"
"Bringing the package in!" Rainbow yelled as I saw a giant machine in the sky. Wow... how is this possible? Twilight rushed over to me and snatched me. She flew over to the big machine. Me and my friends were thrown in as Rainbow's team resumed shooting at the enemy. I was then hit hard and everything went black.
I awoke to somepony throwing water on me. "Alright, ALRIGHT, I'm awake!" I yelled at them, wiping the water off my face. The pony giggled and with that giggle I was able to tell that this was a mare.
Opening my eyes I realized that this was Twilight. She didn't seem as hostile as before though, she seemed like the Twilight I knew. "Where am I?" I asked, which may have been a stupid question.
"You are in the Sentinel HQ or Headquarters. We are currently in your new bunker right now. Your friends are getting up, using the same method I was using." Twilight responded.
Not too long after that I heard a voice yell and some fighting. I heard a pony repeatedly saying to calm down. I got up and pushed opened a curtain, revealing a grand city with many ponies armed with weapons. I backed up into cover immediately. I used my Eagle Vision to find a gun.
"Who are those ponies outside?" I asked. It would be bad to shoot ponies who were not going to harm me. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, Ray, calm down. They are on our side." Twilight said in alarm.
I reluctantly got out of cover and put the gun on a desk. Then I heard tons of shooting and bullet holes went through the walls. I took the gun and asked "THEY ARE ON OUR SIDE? Then why are they SHOOTING AT US?"
Using my Eagle Vision I detected the pony shooting at us. But it wasn't a pony, it was a machine. Or it seemed that way. I pulled Twilight down into cover and I jumped out, firing at the machine using one hoof to fire. Big mistake. Very soon after the third shot I felt the gun all of a sudden not work and the trigger was very spongy like.
I looked at the gun and I used my Eagle Vision to detect the problem. I threw the gun away and just decided to wing it. With my Eagle Vision still enabled I looked for weak points in the machine. I shot a hidden blade into the machine, right through a small hole and into some weak spot which made it fall to the ground.
Climbing a tower is not a good idea right now... but if I fell it wouldn't be so bad. I quickly jumped onto one of the machines and started tearing out the things inside it. It soon stopped flying and fell to the ground. It wasn't the same feeling as killing nor fighting. I feel like I'm just breaking a toy. I fired a hidden blade into the last machine, the machine falling and I heard more gunshots.
There were gunshots all around me as I barged into a door to find Marnix with his hidden blades at my throat. He quickly retracted his hidden blades. "Ray! Thank Celestia you are okay! There were gunshots, we ran into this building for cover."
I nodded and surveyed the area, now we have real ponies shooting. "Use your Eagle Vision, find the shooters we'll take them out, I've already marked the target which is the farthest one from us.
When we all had our targets. We got into position. Marnix used his hoof to pretend to slash his knees, Xerxes pretended to slashed his torso, Kyros pretended to slash his chest and I pretended to slash my throat. At that moment we all jumped from the rooftops from which we were on and leaped onto our target.
Before I reached my target his wrist showed words which was threat above and he rolled out of the way. He pointed his gun at me but I back-hoofed the gun out of their hoof. I swiped at their face, not knowing that my hidden blades weren't with me anymore. When I realized that the shooter bucked me in the stomach.
I delivered a jab to the jaw and a buck to the jaw. I rolled backwards to avoid a knife blow. I rolled forwards and bucked the shooter in the waist. They sliced at my chest but I ran towards the knife and slid under it. I whipped around and twisted their arm, disarming them. I delivered merciless punches to the face. I finished them off with a roundhouse kick into the temple.
Taking the knife, I ran to Marnix's target and jumped on him, sticking the knife into their neck. Blood erupted from the knife stab and they fell over. Xerxes was just finishing his target with a neck snap, leaving the pony down for good. Kyros' target was still armed as Kyros jumped around, jumping around and avoiding the shots. He quickly crippled the shooter and punched him in the jaw.
Kyros went under his opponent and kicked his stomach. The shooter was breathless as Kyros picked him up and threw him down on the ground, finishing him off with a choke.
Two shooters dead and two unconscious. Not too bad. I quickly threw a knife which went straight past Xerxes' head and hit a pony trying to steal under this chaos. Xerxes didn't even blink. We've been trained to be like this, we will not react to this sort of stuff, we will never betray each other.
All of a sudden we were applauded I turned around to see Rainbow Dash and all my old friends. It seems that those two ponies that were masked before were Rarity and Applejack. Should have known.
"What the hay was that?" I asked to nopony in particular. "Well Ray, this is what we call a simulation, where you get put into an artificial world with some sort of situation. We put new ponies here for seeing their reaction to a situation." Twilight answered me.
"What happens if we actually got shot here though?" I asked, will I still feel the pain? "If you got shot or hurt in a fatal area you will just have failed the simulation. You may take these back." Rainbow Dash answered me and threw me my sword and hidden blades back. "You might want to consider using guns, not swords. Using some technology, we've discovered that your brain cells have actually changed drastically. You don't know how to reload guns anymore. Mute charges and tools like that are now foreign to you."
"Mute charges?" I asked. "I don't use mute charges or any kind of technology. I usually don't depend on technology." It was true, last time that I depended on technology I had nearly failed an assassination.
"Very well, but you must admit that technology DOES, come in handy sometimes." Rarity giggled, pointing to my hidden blades. I drew my hidden blades to examine them. It does, but I don't use too much technology. I've noticed that they all seem like the same ponies I knew in Equestria before I came to this world.
"We'll teach y'all how to use them there guns." Applejack said, pointing to the guns on the ground which once belonged to the shooters that we took down. "We usually don't use guns though." Marnix said to them.
"In this world, you'll have to use guns to survive." Twilight responded to Marnix. "Exo-suits will also prove extremely useful." Rarity added. "Welcome to New Baghdad."
Today as an Assassin, we fight a war.
"We already know how to use knives professionally. So what we need to know is how to use a gun." I said to Twilight. Me and my friends just learned that extracting us was Rainbow and her friends' first mission.
They were still cadets for now. We were just rookies currently, we have no idea how to use these new advanced guns, the only thing we did know was a few military terms. We were going to be taught how to use some guns by Fluttershy. I was surprised at first how such a shy and timid pony could be teaching us how to use guns. For all I know being timid and loud sounds don't exactly match.
When Twilight dropped us off at the shooting range, I saw Fluttershy start testing out some guns out by shooting one after the other. The guns were very loud and even I could barely take it. I had to flatten my ears to block out most of the sound. Fluttershy just casually walked around, correcting some shooters now and then.
"Ah, you must be the new shooters that were assigned to me." she said to us. I introduced myself and my friends. "My name is Fluttershy, I am the the shooting range supervisor." I already knew her name but I did not want to be ill-mannered as to cut her introduction.
"Let's get started shall we?" Fluttershy asked us. We nodded in reply. "We'll start with the Atlas 45, we normally don't associate the Atlas group but there is nothing wrong in using their weapon."
She handed each of us a gun and I put my hoof on the trigger button. Fluttershy stiffened and I said to her, "Et cessabit, calm down, it's not the first time I've fired a gun, only difference is that the guns back then weren't exactly the same.
I saw Fluttershy relax a bit, but she stood a defensive position. She nodded and moved on. We never had experience with shooting ranges, so my greatest challenge was to not whip around to a gunshot and fire at that direction.
Using my Eagle Vision I saw the targets that were behind walls as I shot round after round, hitting those targets. After I shot a few more rounds I heard the click in the simulation. I shook the gun and tapped it again the floor. Fluttershy could see my struggling with reloading and she came to assist me.
"Here Ray, to reload, you press this button here, and the thing that falls out is called a clip. When it falls out you can take another clip and load it back in like this." she said, showing me how it works. I saw the clip go in, heard a click and she pulled back on what is called a hammer. I wasn't sure how this was a hammer for I knew that hammers were much bigger and heavier.
"Thank you Fluttershy." I said to her as I retrieved the gun and continued shooting. I went round after round, clip after clip, until I ran out of clips. I got up and turned to everyone staring at me.
"Marnix, help me out here, why is everypony staring at me like this?" I said to Marnix. Marnix pointed at the scoreboard. I saw my score and was surprised. I got a very high score for a first shooter.
But right then I realized I was first in the leaderboards. The top five consisted of me, Marnix, Xerxes, Kyros and Fluttershy. That is amazing, how did I get such a high score?
Some ponies congratulated me after that and some gave me a look of pure hatred. I'm not sure how the rivalry works here but I may have a small clue. Some did look at me with envy though.
"Seems like you are a sharpshooter like Twilight said to me. How did you get all those digital ponies though? Some weren't revealed yet, they were still in their cloaking state." Fluttershy asked me. I told her about Eagle Vision and how my friends had it too.
I left out a part about being an Assassin, that would be hard to understand. She nodded and we left, waving good bye in the process. We also got ourselves an Atlas 45 in the process.
It was ours to keep, it seemed like a fitting thing to show the start of a new Assassin age. I examined it and almost got hit by a car. It startled me and I almost shot the driver but luckily I didn't.
There were many interesting things about the place here and I enabled my Eagle Vision to see if I could find any more interesting things. But as I did this four Atlas members immediately tackled us and they stripped me of my gun. Too bad I don't use only guns.
I looked at my friends and we nodded to each other. I rolled to the side, slashing out their throat in the process. I pushed the body off me as I grabbed me gun and shot two Atlas members.
The bullets went straight through their heads like it was nothing. I blew the smoke from the gun. The third Atlas member was sliced by Marnix's hidden blade. "Are we being attacked by Atlas? Or do you think this is some simulation again?" I thought to my friends. I was replied by Marnix saying, "I highly doubt that this is a simulation."
Not too long after that I heard many footsteps again and we all went behind cover to hide. I used my Eagle Vision and saw that these may be more Atlas members. We needed to take them out, for we were cornered.
"Everypony mark a target and do a mental broadcast." I said to my friends, for the mental broadcast reveals which pony one of my friends marked. We developed it after the simulation, it's still not working the best but there isn't really a bad consequence if it doesn't work.
I concentrated on my target and felt the strange watery feeling in my brain as I mentally broadcasted my target to my friends. Very soon I saw the ponies that were marked by my friends.
"Seems like we don't need our engage sign anymore, we are safe in our thoughts, nopony can hear us in our thoughts. Engage in 3, 2, 1. Go! I thought to my friends as they emerged from cover and took out their targets. I used my sword and impaled my target's throat.
My other target all of a sudden turned invisible though, I never doubt my eyes and I used my Eagle Vision to find them. They drew a knife and nearly got my throat if I hadn't backed up and put a bullet into their head.
I panted in fear. This wasn't the same as killing someone with my hidden blades. Marnix grabbed me and we started running down the alleyway, along with me, not fully recovered from the shock.
"Ow, OW! MARNIX STOP!" I yelled at Marnix as he repeatedly threw flashbangs at me over and over. He was laughing so hard that I'll bet he fell over on his back. "That is not healthy for my eyes!" Fine Marnix you want to play it that way? I used my Eagle Vision to find him and I knocked him over. I took his flashbangs and threw it at him as he got flashed. He was backing up, blinded with the flashbangs. If we were caught, we were in so much trouble.
Not too long after we were caught by Xerxes who backed away awfully quickly from this. I remember him saying that when it comes to me and flashbangs, it creates a big red flag for him.
I smile at the thought right now. "HAVE A TASTE OF YOUR OWN MEDICINE MARNIX." I said to him as I continued flashbanging him till I ran out. I grinned and he was trying to grab me while he was blinded. I unsheathed my sword and softly poked him in the torso. He jumped back and I laughed at this. He was still recovering from the flashbang. When he recovered I was lucky and we were reported for duty.
"You are so lucky... I'll get you back one day, mark my words Ray..." Marnix muttered to me, showing his grin. I nudged his shoulder and said "Then I'll get you back double."
We reached a room called the 'Briefing Room' where we discussed on a mission. The past few days, we've been taught Type 1, 2 and 3 errors in a gun along with how to fix them. We learned how to use grenades not too long ago which when we discovered what a flashbang does, it was total chaos for Marnix and I. We also learned some terms, how to respond to radio chatter. Along with code names.
My call sign was Gunpony. Marnix's callsign was Pagan. Xerxes' callsign was Panther and Kyros' callsign was Mongo.
We were advised to leave our swords back but I can not imagine leaving my sword behind. I would probably lose some of my sanity if I have left one of my ancestors behind me.
After being briefed on a mission, we found out who we were assigned to. We were assigned Rainbow Dash and Twilight. Rainbow Dash's callsign was Zoltan and Twilight's callsign was Network.
In about 3 and a half hours we were up and ready on a plane. I had a HBRA3 in a holster on my back. There was a RW1 in my belt holster at my waist area. I kept my sword at the ready too. I refused an exo-suit not knowing how it works just yet. One day, one day.
I chatted with Rainbow and Twilight about their lives. Their life as a foal. How they came to what they were today. I got to know them better than when I knew them in the other world.
It was actually refreshing for me at least. I talked about my past too but I didn't think that they understood too much about it. Being an Assassin isn't easy to explain. Leaps of Faith are very unrealistic or at least in this world. I'll have to show them one day.
We arrived to our destination, we were to either steal documents from the Atlas corporation that may ruin the Sentinel group till the very end. Something about Atlas trying to frame Sentinel for a death of their employe who had information that Atlas was about to enslave the public. We have to take those files and hope that they weren't released to the public yet.
Sounds somewhat familiar to a situation I had. When I thought about it I concluded that Atlas may be rewriting the files so that it seems that the Sentinel was going to enslave the public somehow. By getting these files, not only can we reveal them if they are not edited but we can find out what Atlas is up to along with saving the Sentinel's reputation. Which is doing very well due to the defeat of former CEO and founder of Atlas, Jonathan Irons.
We Assassins jumped and enabled our parachute that we recently learned how to use and on our decent we cut the parachute short 7/8 of the way down to land on some ponies, assassinating them. We had the full authority to use lethal force so we Assassins will use that to our advantage. Nice kills Assassins.
I heard Rainbow say into her communication device. We nodded at Rainbow to show thanks. It wasn't much but I'd prefer to go with a simple method of saying thanks. I went by another guard and sliced their throat. Big mistake in working here buddy.
The defense outside was awfully scarce... very suspicious. I used my Eagle Pulse and scanned the area. Nopony there... but there were many enemies in the building. That's not good.
"Group of guards! Mark your targets using Eagle Vision and use your mental broadcast we'll take them down quickly." I thought to my friends and in three seconds we struck. I jumped from the tree I climbed and kicked one in the jaw with a slice at the throat to the guard on my right. I turned to my left and sliced their throat out. Quick and easy.
"Gosh you Assassins really are efficient." Twilight said into the mic. I looked to where Rainbow and Twilight were, who just got onto the ground. I spotted two more guards and I ducked into a bush. I threw a rock into a bush, making it seem that somepony was in the bushes. As soon as the front guard turned his back to the other guard I made my move.
I sliced the guard's throat and swiped the other guard's throat, creating a streak of red as my hidden blade retracted back into it's spot.
"Alright, there are too many guards to play it smart or stealthy and there isn't any way to get up by climbing. We have to bust through the front door." I said to everypony on the mic. Mongo, Pagan, you stick with Network and Zoltan. Panther, with me."
I threw a threat grenade and it sensed the guards in the vicinity easily like my Eagle Vision. I was able to mark the guards without enabling my Eagle Vision. That's pretty cool.
"Me, Mongo, Network and Zolton are going to flank the enemy from their left side. Gunpony and Panther, you're going to attack them straight on." Marnix said to us. Of course, the pony with the plan. "They'll be cornered, they won't even know what hit them."
I counted down. "Engaging in three, two, one."
I kicked opened the door and slid into the first cover I found I aimed but couldn't get a clear shot. "Flashbang out!" I yelled as I threw a flashbang to the enemy position. I rolled towards a desk and flipped it over, providing me cover. I aimed and squeezed off a carefully aimed shot at a guard, my reticule going straight to the other guard's head. Bang. One shot one kill.
Using my Eagle Vision I detected no more guards until one burst into the room and fired everywhere with a gun that I identified as the PYTAEK. I heard a faint "I'm hit!" as I shot the guard into the chest. He fell to the ground but I realized he was still alive and conscious.
I checked the pony who was hit and I realized that it was Rainbow Dash. Rushing over to her was the only thing I could do to stop the wound in her own chest. It did not penetrate the heart but it was still a bad hit. I used my hoof to stop the bleeding hopefully. My body shivered and I could not do anything but to try to stop the wound.
"Stay with me, stay with me!" I yelled to her as another guard burst in and with one shot from my pistol I ended their life. I holstered the pistol and attempted to stop the bleeding.
"Stay on the mission! Forget about me, I'm a goner." she said as her eyes fluttered and closed. I let go of the wound and put my head on her chest. I was for some reason breathless and it pained me to already have lost a teammate.
The pony who shot her got up and I stopped my teammates from shooting him. "Ei fili mulieris virum canis!" I yelled as I kicked him in the stomach. I stabbed him in the stomach, promising a slow end to him. I punched him across the jaw, making him stumble towards a wall. "You guys can go! I need to take this filius canis to the deepest level of pain possible." I said as I broke his arm, making him scream in pain.
I elbowed his throat, probably crushing his windpipe as I pounded his face endlessly with punch after punch. I stabbed his arm, giving him two still bleeding wounds to worry about.
I kicked his jaw hard but not hard enough to knock him out. He's going to pay. I pulled him up by his body armor and asked Twilight to punch him through the wall. I was aware of the super strength that was given with an exo-suit.
"It'll be my pleasure." she said as she hit him in the chest, smashing him through the wall. I saw his condition and it was terrible. Just the way I wanted it to be. I picked him up and threw him back into the room. I slowly put my hidden blade to his neck and entered it slowly. Giving him the pain of a knife and the thought of death. I retracted my hidden blades so that he just had a knife mark in his neck.
I slammed him onto a desk and that's when my teammates broke from their state of shock and went to complete the mission. Great, they might have gotten away. I weighed the options as I delivered another set of punches to his face. Do I just give this stallion a finish and be done with it? Might as well.
"Requiscat in pace..." I spat at him as I slowly entered the blade into his neck. "You filius canis." he let out a gurgling sound as I threw his body outside. I walked upstairs with my gun in hand as I used my Eagle Vision to detect if the documents were still here.
Bene.
The documents were still here, probably just more security. Enclosed space... one grenade should do it. I told everypony to get back as I threw one grenade upstairs, it bouncing off a wall and hitting a group of guards. I waited about two seconds and threw a second grenade, finishing off most of them. I burst into the room and shot the ones still alive. I retrieved the documents and took some photos of it just in case we lose it. I took several pictures of each pages and within 3 mikes we were out and ready for extraction.
It was painful, to even catch a glimpse of the cyan colored Pegasus' body. Come on Ray, soldier on. I let out a small tear and walked past the body. I was angry now it wasn't fair to the guards, they were just doing their jobs but I could not help but be furious at them. It wasn't fair to take my anger out on other guards but I couldn't help it.
The guards that arrived I pulled out my pistol and in my anger, shot about four shots which wiped the group out. As a guard disarmed me I yelled and I slammed my hoof into their nose, and I forcefully shoved my hidden blades into their neck.
I pushed their body off me, retrieving my gun again. I reloaded and heard the satisfying click of a clip going in. I sighed and shot another guard in the head. The weight on my chest increased as I thought about how I could have made such a loss happen.
She died, on her second mission too.
Why?
"Alright team, we've made it to the extraction point." I said with a heavy heart. She's not dead, she's not dead, still alive, nopony died, at all. "HQ Actual to Alpha Actual, do you copy?"
I heard on my communication device, and I responded "Alpha Actual to HQ Actual, we copy." I copy loud and clear... but Rainbow Dash isn't going to be copying anytime soon.
"Alpha Actual, you've got multiple hostile coming to your location, you have permission to engage. Razorback VTOL is taking heavy fire, ETA 12 mikes. Over." Isn't that splendid? Way to ruin my day. Twice.
"10-4" I said and we got into cover. We all heard the transmission, it was not hard to miss. I heard car tires and lights after that. I heard ponies with their gear coming out of the cars. Looking at my team, I repeatedly put my hoof to my neck, pretending to slash my throat. For some reason, here in this world it means pretty much to not do what you're about to do.
I used my Eagle Vision to mark them. As a stallion approached the rock we took cover on, I waited for the correct moment... As he approached the rock, his teammates turned away for a second, which didn't end well for him. I skewered his throat with my hidden blades and kneed his stomach, proving a faster death.
His teammates just turned back in time to NOT see me throw his body into the rocks. But they heard the sound of his gear that hit the floor. Great, now they are on alert.
I signaled Twilight to take the pony in the very middle. That will make four ponies left then. Four Assassins, four guards, perfect. We approached the ponies we were going to take out and executed them. I heard a loud bang and a flash of red to the last pony which probably meant a bullet to their head.
I wonder what these ponies have in the truck. I took some pictures inside the truck and outside the truck. I will review them later. Right now I just dragged my dead prey into the truck's trunk.
Is that all? Nopony else to challenge us? Alright then. Right after that I heard on one of the ponies' communication's device who I deemed now were Atlas ponies, "We've got the plans of Jonathan Irons! Come back to HQ."
I used the new thing that a few ponies made for my team which did something called 'hacking'. So it says to place here and make the person talk more. "Perfect." I muttered to myself.
Not very good with communications so I decided maybe casual talk, they can be annoyed with me but it's not my problem. It's the dead Atlas member's problem.
"HQ Actual do you copy?" I said into the device hoping that HQ Actual was an actual thing. "HQ Actual speaking, copy loud and clear." I sighed in relief at this.
"HQ Actual, this is Atlas One, coming to HQ now." Come on hacking device, WORK FASTER! "Atlas One? We don't have a group that's named Atlas One..." Merda, busted.
"What do you mean? Atlas One was a group made this morning. You should have heard of us, we're the best of the best." I said, trying to sound very cocky and over confident.
"We were dispatched to eliminate the team of intruders trying to break into an Atlas buildi-, we're taking FIRE! I have to call back later!" I yelled into the communications device when the hacking was finished and shot into the air multiple times with my pistol. Wasting bullets.
The hacking device showed me a location on my radar. Does it pinpoint where the call came from? Might as well keep it just in case. I heard the loud wind around me as the Razorback VTOL came to our position. It's about time.
"Where's Rainbow Dash?" Applejack yelled to us. I shook my head, the grief coming back to me again. Right at that moment I heard a gunshot hitting me in the leg. The pain coursed through from my leg to my chest.
Why? Why do I have to be the one that gets shot? I quickly fell into cover, taking some leaves and wrapping the bullet wound up. When I finished a ran to the Razorback VTOL and collapsed when I got on the ship. The back of the ship closed and I was given cover. I groaned with pain as I looked at my wound. My blood bled through the leaves I patched it up with. It was a temporary fix to my wound but I didn't think that it would have failed me that quickly.
I removed the leaves to get some proper medical treatment, starting with the pony running towards me with a first aid kit. The pain was agonizing for what felt like an eternity. I looked to the wound to see somepony using a cotton swab to clean the wound with an antiseptic.
I just gritted my teeth and went through with it. It wasn't very fun to get the bullet removed either, but by that time, I had already passed out by that point. Fortunately I awoke after I was patched up, so I didn't feel any pain. Either that or I don't remember the pain, either way works.
Getting up was a severe problem for when I put pressure on the leg, it provided me with intense pain. The first time I tried getting up involved me falling and groaning in pain on the floor.
I used a table to get back up, my injured leg shaking. Why was this so different to the other gun wounds I had? I could shake those off a ton more easier than this. At least I still have my weapons.
Using my Eagle Vision was still a skill at my command, which gave me relief. But having a wound didn't help my Eagle Vision, for once I leaned even the slightest bit on the wound, my Eagle Vision went blurry and I couldn't hold the Eagle Vision anymore.
That was a big problem. In a battle I can't depend on 'threat' grenades, I have to something that is renewable, not something that will be gone to me the second I use it. I shakily got up and limped over to the door.
My leg held but I could not run. If I tried to run the area above my legs will start hurting at unbearable levels. This is bad, I have to be able to run in a battle too. I never had something so bad as like this.
I opened the door and walked down a hallway towards an exit. When I reached the world outside, I was greeted by the great morning sun. Was I out for such a long time?
The heat shone over my coat, making me feel warm in this great day. I looked back and saw the familiar body that I had. Good shape. I assumed as I looked over my body to find the blue coat I possessed.
Wait blue coat? Oh snap! My Assassin outfit! I thought as I frantically rushed back into the room I resided a few minutes ago. On my way there I fell due to the immense pain that overcame me. That does not feel good.
I entered the room and looked around for my outfit. WHERE IS IT? I searched frantically and even with my Eagle Vision. Oh it's in the next room, my bad.
But as I was leaving in the corner of my eye, I saw a screen that said classified files on it. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to take a peek. I drew my hacking device and plugged it into this thing called a computer. Something about a USB slot? Oh well, this looks like it fits. I thought as I put the device into a small rectangle inside the computer. "Bingo..." I muttered to myself as I saw the computer go through password after password.
I looked around to find any viable hiding spots, there was one but this put me in a bad position though. It was under a large desk and with the lights turned off, I'll bet I was harder to see. Maybe I should make a small mess, just in case. I thought as I carefully removed the objects that the table held. I put them all in a messy order, making it look like they fell.
After that I flipped the table over slowly, making sure that I didn't create a large sound as I did this. I heard a small thud but that was it. I looked back to the computer to find that the password was gone and I had access to all the files.
"Project AD1034?" I muttered to myself. I put a towel over the 'mouse' and I used it to suppress the sound. I clicked the file and it showed me plans that Atlas had. Were these the plans that were contained in the document me and my team retrieved?
I took some pictures of this and locked the computer yet again. Alright we're done. I carefully put up the table again, this time causing some sort of noise, due to the sense of a presence behind me.
"Who are you?" a mare asked me. I replied with a grunt, "I'm the janitor, leave me alone." I seemed like a grumpy guy who wants to be left alone along with disguising my voice. I snickered as I heard her footsteps down the hall. I put everything back on the desk, just in a different order than before.
I left the room and went to the next room, making sure that I wasn't followed and put on my outfit. This will probably bite me in the back though.
I awoke, my eyes flashing open, in a small state of fear paralysis. I realized that I was just dreaming but her voice... it keeps coming to me. Was that death really inevitable?
Each time I hear a shot I remember her, the stallion, who shot into her chest. Why did it happen? I'm so sure I could have stopped it.
I went out the door and into the light. The sun went over my coat quite nicely. Using my Eagle Vision, I felt the familiar rush of it, a small tingle every time it marked a target. Looking around, the unmarked things were left blank in the blueish view, I looked for my friends. Trying to run was not going to work out, it will just cause me pain.
Not being able to find them, I resorted to Eagle Pulse, which was able to mark targets as far as a the eye could see. The feeling of the Eagle Pulse was strange, it was unlike my Eagle Vision. It felt like my brain released some sort of energy out of my head. You get used to it.
There... in that building there. When I took a look at the sign it said Technology Lab Now why would my friends be there? I thought as I walked over to the lab. I walked the torturous stairs of pain. When I reached the floor they were on, my leg was in serious pain. I limped over to the room they were in and greeted them.
"Ray, these engineers made an artificial like leg for you, it works like an exo-suit but we know how uncomfortable you are with an exo-suit," Xerxes said, snickering. "It's right here, you can try it out now if you want."
I rolled my eyes and walked over to the leg. I guess I just put it on? I slowly put my leg in but I didn't have to worry about that, the leg opened up for me, probably making sure that it will fit tight. I was nervous as I put my leg in how will I get it off me if I need it to be off.
I tried walking and surprisingly it didn't hurt or anything like that than before. I ran and did not feel pain. How? It's just a machine, it doesn't heal my legs, does it?
"Ray, there's also one more thing, the engineers made a pair of grappling hooks for you, it's different that the other grappling hooks, for it works the same way but the approach time is faster. Along with the power so it'll be easier to aim. You can fire by using just mental will. The unicorns here managed to bind magic with technology to allow this. Whoever wears this will have that ability to do so."
That's pretty cool, I don't need to climb up on rope darts anymore. I thought as I nodded goodbye and thanks to my friends as I walked down the stair once again. It didn't hurt not feel uncomfortable, it felt like a boot, strangely. I took aim at a building and fired. So how do I get up, do you press this button? I thought as I pressed the button that said, RETRACT.
The grappling hook then returned to me again. Alright, not that button. I fired once again, hitting the same building and I tried pulling. The minute I used some force in my pull, I was sent flying to the air. It felt amazing, yet terrifying. As I shot past the building, the wind going through my mane and through my outfit. I hook onto a sturdy looking ledge, which sent me flying under it and into the air, gaining altitude at the minute. It removed the guilt and thought from Rainbow's death.
"This is amazing!" I yelled as as ponies from below me started staring at me, as I went from building to building, hearing the a similar sound of a zip-line. Which I did learn here.
I was doing this for a few minutes before I realized I was gaining too much height. I focused on a haystack from below and used a ledge to turn my acceleration to the sky so I flew up and didn't go forward. As I fell I looked down and found myself about to land in the haystack. I closed my eyes and felt the soft landing, which I would imagine would be like landing in feathers.
Ponies gathered around the haystack, and I hopped out, leaving them wondering how I survived such a fall.
"What a day!" I exclaimed in my room, which I had entered through the window. Grappling hooks are REALLY fun and great. I wanted to modify it but one, I was having too much fun, two, it's technology I don't yet know anything about, and three, I don't have the proper tools.
Suddenly, I heard a small creaking in the room. I whipped to the direction to the sound, I was so sure that there was somepony there. I drew my hidden blades, waiting for the intruder. Who could possibly be there? I used my Eagle Vision and my mind felt like it expanded around the room.
Nopony... or are there other Assassins in this world? Possibly.
I disabled my Eagle Vision and looked around the room, still on guard. Then I realized that the images of the classified files were gone. "Irrumabo..." I muttered to myself. "Great, gone." I sighed as I sat onto my bed. Where could it have gone? I tried finding some footprints with my Eagle Vision. None
I stomped my hoof on the ground in frustration. I leaned back on my bed and stared at the ceiling. Who would want or need these documents more? Atlas or Sentinel? There was a mare that caught me but I was putting the desk upright... nothing suspicious about that. Can they track log in times? That's bad.
Looking outside, I found it to still be daylight, maybe not the best thing to go to sleep yet. Not tired but it may help solve my problems. Perhaps. I closed my eyes and went to sleep.
In about three hours, I woke up, thankfully nightmare-free. I opened my window to find the beautiful night greeting me. I smiled and looked at the stars. Does Princess Luna raise the moon in this world?
A bit action was required, my legs are KILLING me. I stretched for a few minutes and jumped to a rooftop, closing my window in the process. I shot my new grappling guns to the top of a tower, where a nice ledge was just waiting to be perched on.
Wow! This technology is truly amazing! I could not get up so fast! I thought as I was brought from the ground to the tower's top. An amazing view as always, but it looks so much better without the sun.
New Baghdad truly looked amazing, Or at least I'm pretty sure that's what this place is called. , there were lights from any color you can name was emitting from most of the windows I laid my eyes on. As much as I wanted to view more of this city, something else caught my attention. A poor mare, who managed to save enough for a meal, that recently bought her food, was being probably threatened by some 'putemus', who was looking for trouble.
These ponies just make me sick. The anger within me started to grow, and I grappled all the way down, landing on ledge after ledge, to ensure a safer descent. When I reached ground level, the pony drew a knife and I heard conversation.
"Give me the food! You lowlife! You don't deserve any of this! You should get out of this city, you don't belong here." he sneered as he snatched the bag of food out of the poor pony's hooves. He looked through it and threw it on the floor, stomping on it.
I gritted my teeth and focused on controlling myself, I was about a few seconds from throwing a knife at this pony's head. I took a deep breath and went to the rooftops. As the pony with the knife, drew it back, I jumped down, surprising him. He stopped himself from shoving it down into my heart. You wouldn't.
"Move out of the way you fo- urgh!" he attempted to say as I stomped on his knee, forcing the knee inwards just the slightest bit. I punched him across the face, making him stumble back. His friend drew a gun and I drew mine. I had the reticule on his buddy and my other hoof on the beggar.
"Please, don't do this for me." he said to me, her voice raspy probably from lack of water. It was too late, I made my move. Now I either run away or end this, now. I quickly pushed the mare into cover as the pony shot. I went prone and the bullet whizzed past my ear and I rolled behind the cover next to the beggar.
I emerged from my cover and took one shot into the shooter's arm. A loud bang emitted from the gun as I slid towards him, bucking his head as I approached him. He groaned in pain but drew a knife, settling it in his mouth. Two attackers with knives, normally I should be worried but this is nothing.
I drew my sword, pointing the blade straight at them. Doing this only made them laugh. "Swords? What are you? From the 18th century?" they mocked. I was not about to skewer their throats but I need some form of a blade that's more safe than my hidden blades.
All I gave them was just silence as I slowly backed up, moving the pistol away from them. When I reached the beggar, I said to her, "Get out of here, meet me at that house, right over there, with the red roof and blue door." She nodded and started running, I heard her footsteps grow softer and soon disappeared.
The ponies yelled in rage and one of them said to me "You're going to pay! We don't allow ponies like them! They are peasants, they don't deserve to have life! There's no point for survival for them! They'll just die out anyways you stupid fool!" You raptus foal!
I breathed coolly, making sure that they were unaware of the rage twisting and turning inside me, waiting to come out and slash both their throats out. I kept a straight expression as one lunged at me with their knife.
Using my sword, I parried his attack, jumping at the wall to my left and doing a 45 degree spin, kicking his jaw. I knelt down as he did a careless swipe with his knife, allowing me to quickly pull his hoof into a 90 degree angle, making the knife go straight into the air as I sheathed my sword, grabbed the knife and threw it far away from him.
The other attacked me the minute I threw the knife away and I knelt down to sweep kicked the unarmed attacker, making him fall along with letting me avoid the knife. I stopped his hoof as he swung at me again with the knife. I twisted the hoof, causing him to yell with agony, as I pushed beyond his hoof's capacity for turning. He dropped the knife and I picked it up, slamming the hilt into his temple.
I slammed hoof into the fallen threat in the temple, making him a threat no longer. I dropped the knife and took some ropes that held a sign together to tie up these crooks. After that I checked the bag containing food, a nice sandwich that may have cost many bits which I learned was the currency here.
Now to meet the mare, please don't have run off.
I reached the house and I saw her lying down, a worried look on his face. I smiled at this, a stranger that cared about my safety. "Hey, you alright?" I asked. She immediately got up, ready to run, but was settled down by the sight of me.
"You really didn't have to do that for me you know. I'm nopony special. My name is Lorani Stars, if you care at all." she said. L-Lorani? My blood froze at this, I gulped before responding.
"My name is Ray... Longfellow. You must be hungry, I have plenty bits I don't know what do to with. Here, get yourself a home, try to get your life together." I said to her, handing her a thousand bits. Her eyes widened at this. I saw tears in her eyes and she came forward, crying. She repeatedly thanked me as she hugged me.
"Wait here, Lorani." I said to her as I backed out of her strong embrace, going to the same place where she bought her sandwich and bought an identical sandwich to the one she bought.
I held the bag in my mouth as I returned to Lorani, which wasn't very far. I dropped the bag in front of her and signaled her to open it.
"Enjoy." I said to her as she thanked me once again, a smile going to my face. What could ponies like those possibly want with a pony like Lorani? The other world, she was executed for some reason. Now I have to know. Criminals don't go after ponies like Lorani, but there must be something special about Lorani, I have to find out. Or maybe they're just being like foals.
Isn't the morning amazing? The heat of the sun going over your body and warmth spreading at the same moment. At the moment I sit at my bed, thinking. Some free time, why not? I'm feeling a bit lazy today though.
"Come in!" I said as I heard the knock. Xerxes entered the room and looked around. "You sure are being lazy today. What's up?" he asked, leaning on the open door.
"Not much, except that last night I've met a mare who I had met once in the other Equestria but never got to know her. Now's my chance to get to know this mare, I'm going to take it."
Xerxes snickered at this. He fought the urge to grin but he provided a small smile. I replied to this with a face-hoof. But I could not keep the smile off my face either.
"Don't you dare." I said, with a small smirk. He just shrugged and left. "Don't be TOO lazy now Ray. We're still Assassins!" I heard him say. I stayed in my bed, just thinking some more before I put on a small frown and got bored.
I smiled once again and jumped out of the open window. My back facing the ground during my descent, I shot a hooks into the air, penetrating a stone building as I was brought up at amazing speed. Never gets old.
I landed on the building with a soft thud. Now's probably a good time for breakfast, I'm starving. I surveyed the area, looking for a place to eat. Rooftops provide me this with ease. Still had bits that were given to me as starter money, not exactly in a job, but this whole army thing works.
Maybe I should go street level... I thought as I jumped down from the rooftop, and into an alleyway. Not too bad of a landing. I threw ten bits to a beggar and walked out of the alleyway. Still early in the day, fantastic.
I trotted down the street, not sure where I was but I knew how to get home no matter what. My very late acquired phone tells me how to get home. I've never actually seen anything like this to be honest.
This fact actually surprised most ponies but I had already realized that a lot of things that seems impossible to me is possible now. While walking through a thick crowd, I used the grappling gun to hook onto a thief's hoof and pulled it, making them trip.
Some ponies jumped and some probably just thought that he tripped somehow. These peop- I mean ponies are really bad at pickpocketing. I may be an Assassin but I'd prefer not to steal unless I have to.
When I reached my destination, I seem to have not been able to find a name. It was just the images and the menu that actually attracted my attention. But talking to random ponies may be dangerous, for my hood is down, revealing my face. But if my hood is up, I may seem like an actual target. I just want to have one day where I can truly relax.
New Baghdad is a dangerous place, not sure if Atlas still lurks around these corners or not. While looking up the history of New Baghdad during the time when Jonathan
Irons was alive and was the CEO of Atlas Corporation.
He was killed apparently by Sentinel soldier Jack Mitchell. Ever since, New Baghdad was controlled by the Sentinel Corporation. So far I haven't really studied too much on it, should probably do so. Ever since the death of Irons, some Atlas members has made their peace with the Sentinel Corporation but the others? The whole Atlas company loathes Sentinel. A war has already broken loose but the battles has not been too major.
As a member of Sentinel Corporation, I am a target to all Atlas members everywhere. Or at least most of them. Have to keep my guard up.
Atlas wouldn't attack you in public would they?
Yes they would, a simple sniper is all that's needed, nopony would know who shot me.
Thoughts raged in my mind and I just blocked them out. I finally ordered some food, which I had an oat burger. Not sure what oat is, but it tastes really good! If I ever return to the human world, I have to get this.
10:49 A.M. Not too bad to have what they call brunch. The oat burger was finished within a few bites, satisfying my stomach within a few seconds. I got up and threw the bag that contained the oat burger into the trash.
Not a good idea but I decided to climb a building, wanting to scout the area as much as possible. I put up my hood and prepared my self. Looking back, I jumped and used my grappling hooks to latch onto something called a crane. It looks like it carries some big boxes, what could they contain in there? Weapons?
You've got enough blood and weapons use for a lifetime Ray.
I pulled my hoof and instantaneously, I was shot forward, the familiar feeling of wind rushing through my mane, as I was sent onto the crane. Ponies below me watched as this happened. But some pulled out a phone and I'll bet they started recording me. I immediately turned away from the phone and started running across the crane. This can be bad, I don't need someone identifying me as an Assassin.
I ran to the very end of the crane and shot a hook at a parallel building to my left but there wasn't any time to waste waiting for the hook to latch on. I jumped and spread my hooves. When I reached near ground level, I tugged my hoof back and I was sent into the air once again, but for some reason I shot past the building.
I flailed in the air, quickly looking around me to detect something to land on or grapple on.
Taking aim at another building which I just passed on my descent, I fired. The hook went through the stone but pulled the stone down with me. Small pebbles landed on my head as I fell, trying to slow my descent.
Only one idea but it may kill me. I crossed my hooves into an 'X' and shot two grappling hooks into two walls on my left and right. I heard the familiar sound of my hooks hitting stone as I came to an abrupt stop.
Just in time before I crashed into a building. I let out a breath as I retracted my grappling hooks, and rolled as I landed onto the building. I stayed in a prone state as I marked civilians with their phones pointed at my direction.
I backed up slowly, reaching the end of the building as I shot a grappling hook into the brick wall at my right and slowly made my way down. I landed onto the ground with a hard thud.
Looking around, I deemed the place clear and I dusted myself off. So much for relaxation.
Once again, I looked for a place that I could look throughout most of the city or at least in this sector. After looking at many buildings big and small, I decided I would use a building that was at least 100 stories high.
This will suck if I fall. I took aim and shot a grappling hook at a full ledge of stone surrounding the building. I repeatedly did this while using the force of my ascend to soar into the sky even faster.
As I did this, I saw myself get even closer to the top, but the near top had quite an amount of interruptions, such as ledges and air conditioners. Just now I barely managed to avoid a ledge as I climbed. But something I noticed is that my injured leg had a lot more strength, it was based off the exo-suit after all.
It did hurt a bit if I put a lot of pressure on my leg though. As I went past another ten floors, I looked down. Big mistake. The shock of how high I was made my blood freeze and I recovered from this shock too late. I started falling and I desperately shot a hook which just bounced off the glass, leaving a small crack.
I stole a glance down, the wind blowing into my eyes and making it feel extremely uncomfortable. As I neared a ledge, I shot my right hoofed hook around it as I swung below it and continued my ascent. The minute I did this, my hoof's muscles were pulled too hard and I felt extreme pain in my hoof as I used my left hoof to fire at the stone, it was too late to back down.
As the hook penetrated the stone, I pulled my hoof and it sent me flying up. I weakly pulled up my right hoof and shot another grapple hook, this time, my hoof going too weak to pull. Due to the failure of immediately launching myself up once again, my body weight pulled me down.
My right hoof was too weak and in pain to even yank the hook. I flailed in the air a bit, trying to get a good shot with my left hook, as I heard a small crackling sound of pebbles and rocks.
"Errh..." I groaned as I struggled to get a shot. It was now or never. I concentrated and willed the grapple gun to fire. I heard the small bang as it launched and hit my target. I reluctantly stepped on the building and tugged with my left hoof. In an instant I was sent flying up again.
Around probably the 92nd floor, the air around me started to become more thicker. My breathing was more heavier as I went up again. I panted and perched on a ledge for some time, regaining my breath.
But when I scaled past the next floor, my lungs were desperate for air. Nope, I'm not going any further. I'm probably going to die of oxygen loss or go unconscious which is also bad.
I shot another hook and looked around the city of New Baghdad. Using my Eagle Pulse, when high enough, was able to find shops, enemies, you name it. I used my Eagle Pulse and it marked all the shops, found doctors, key buildings but I blocked out hostiles.
This section of the beautiful city of New Baghdad was fully revealed to me.
View Online
A Mare To Relate To and Cherish (Third-Person Start)
The Assassin stayed on the viewpoint, admiring the ponies down below, just working in their hopefully normal lives. Ray had an opportunity to become an Assassin and he took it. But the choice still occurred to him now and then. He would usually wonder what would his life be like if he wasn't an Assassin. 'Probably be just down in the crowd, working for small money, or bits, each day.' he thought as he continued watching the ponies below. He smiled and jumped.
Ray loved the feel of rushing wind as it was a terrifying but also exhilarating experience. When he hit the haystack targeted below, he immediately leaped out, pulling down his hood. There was no way that he regretted being an Assassin, but he wondered if he should have. He trotted down a road, leading to a certain somepony he was looking for.
He looked around for Lorani Stars, a mare that he met not very long ago, but had many questions. She was recently attacked, but the attack was interrupted by yours truly. Ray spotted Lorani by using his Eagle Vision when he was on top of the viewpoint, or at least her home. She worked fast with her bits, he was going to check up on her, see if she was okay, then maybe get some answers on why those punks attacked her.
Ray frowned at the thought of that night, it certainly was great to teach those foals a lesson, but it didn't exactly help him on why they attacked her. Currently, he still had some free time, so he just wandered around the city, looking for some interesting places and some crimes.
Thieves were not very common in this world, nor were shootouts. He was still concerned about the pictures of classified files being stolen and the more he thought about it, the more it concerned him.
Finding Lorani wasn't really top priority for him right now so he casually walked down a street, still keeping his guard up but relaxing a bit. There wasn't any need to attract any attention so walking on ground level wasn't the worse thing to do at the time.
He reached his destination in about 24 minutes, he made good time from the viewpoint to his destination. 'Not here' he thought as he walked within the perimeter of the building that Lorani resided in.
Soon after, he was jumped and he fell to the ground, another weight on top of him. He shoved his attacker off him and drew his weapon. The button which served as the trigger was nearly pressed if he did not identify his attacker. "Lorani! Why WOULD YOU DO THAT?" he yelled, half scolding. "I almost shot you!"
Lorani burst into a fit of laughter while he said this. "Ah... you should have seen your face, you were so shocked. But you didn't shoot me, I was very sure of that."
Ray just rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I was looking for you, did you just happen to follow me or did you just stumble upon my location and play a frightening trick on me?"
"I was just following you, you really don't seem to be very vigilant with stalkers or even the fact that somepony was following you. I learned to parkour from rooftop to rooftop when I was a foal. You sometimes have to run from ponies you know? Either way, you have to be vigilant around these areas, you never know who will attack you from above. Never let your guard down, EVER. Not many ponies know how to parkour though, I wouldn't be surprised that you could not parkour like some of the really good ponies."
As he listened to this, the word parkour made his ears perk up. This was a skill that had to be learned when you became an Assassin, if you couldn't parkour, you were no Assassin.
Ray just rolled his eyes in a playful manner and managed a small smirk. "So you think I cannot parkour? Please, I can parkour just fine. You have to learn this when you become a-an Assassin." he said in a hushed voice.
"Sorry, what was that last word?" Lorani asked, for Ray did not say the word Assassin around new ponies. Nor people for that matter. He repeated himself, "Assassin." Lorani widened her eyes at this, and she rapidly pulled out a notebook, looking through what seemed to be random notes.
"An Assassin... Assassin... Assassin... Ah, here it is!" she said, all of a sudden her demeanor changing from happy to shocked to curious. "I've done some research on Assassins, I hope you don't think I'm crazy for saying this, but do you possess something in history called, hidden blades?"
Ray smiled at this, but inside was a bit curious. 'How much does Lorani know about Assassins? Do I show her my hidden blades? Why the heck not?' "So by hidden blades, do you mean... this?" he asked as he twisted the fetlock on his hoof, causing the hidden blade to emerge within his outfit. Lorani was completely aghast.
"I... cannot believe this... Assassins were real! Assassins were real!" she said, jumping around him like he was some sort of savior. She was definitely excited and most likely filled with questions.
Ray quickly brought his hoof to her muzzle, silencing her. "I'd rather not have this information out around Equestria, you know?" he said a bit worried. "The statement Assassins were real is not really true. Assassins ARE real. I mean, I am an Assassin. But this isn't information I can just tell anypony you know."
This was true but Ray did feel some sort of strange connection towards Lorani. It was unthinkable, a former beggar and an Assassin? Along with Sentinel soldier? It was a strange fuzzy sensation in his chest, almost like his heart may explode. It was strange, he never felt like this with any mare, ever.
"Your secret is safe with me Ray." she said softly. Now came the question Ray was waiting to ask. "Why did those stallions pick you as a target? I know that you may have not been close to their rank, but why would they target a pony like you? Especially at your state currently."
Lorani recoiled a bit, she was not expecting this. "Well... when I was young, I made stupid mistakes. Ah God, where to begin? Well, when I was younger, I was part of the Atlas Corporation, I was currently in a war with some terrorists that killed my mother. They still exist nowadays, what are they called? Uh... Sentenals? No wait, Sentinel, yeah that's the group name, Sentinel!"
Ray quickly noticed that the ponies around here did not say 'Sweet Celestia' or anything of the sort. But for now, it wasn't the topic on his mind, but right now was the fact that the Sentinel Task Force, killed her mother. It was his turn to recoil.
"Um... did I say something wrong?" she asked timidly. Ray recovered and shook his head. "Continue on please." was all he could say. It would be a big problem to show her his identification right now.
"Anyways, so what happened was that during that gunfight, one of the members that was about to die, threw a device at me which hit me in the head. At first well, I thought I was shot, but when I saw that, I quickly grabbed the device and stored it into one of my pockets. We were forced to retreat but I managed to keep the device with me till we reached Headquarters. After examining it..." she explained, trailing off, obviously experiencing a flashback. Ray had some of these moments and let this flashback occur uninterrupted.
Lorani shook her head a bit and continued, "After examining it, it revealed that Atlas was planning something big. Since the fall of Irons, which had ended about two months ago, if you didn't know, Atlas was planning a big weapon against Sentinel. At first I was happy to exact my revenge, but I realized that this was going to happen to innocent ponies who had probably nothing to do with my mother's death. Not too long after, I was caught, and the device was destroyed. I was set to be in prison, probably so that the information would never leak out if not for an Atlas rebel who helped me escape. He was killed after that." she said while biting her lip. "He died freeing me from the prison which withheld me."
The memories of Ray's family all of a sudden came to his mind. The times that they spent together, the conversations that they had, the laughter of their voices, the gurgling in their throat as they died. He cherished most of these moments and for the first time in a long time, he wanted to cry. Last words that his family ever gave him was "We love you..." as their eyes went lifeless, staring into the sky endlessly. The last words of wisdom from his father was to never abuse life, to cherish it for as long as possible, never give up hope no matter how hopeless the situation became. To respect the life of others, to never kill without reason, all these became one saying. "Life is the most important thing in the world, respect it, do not abuse it and never give up hope."
He closed his eyes and withheld his tears. There were many times that he wanted just to end his life right there and then. But, his parents would never have wanted that. They would want him to become the person/pony he was today, to stand up to things that others did not dare to even associate with.
That was what made him the Assassin he was today.
A Start Towards The Truth
"To be a little more s-specific, we started running as fast as possible as we were shot at by Atlas soldiers." Lorani sniffled, tears threatening to leave her eyes. "But he was shot. I went back t-to help him but he u-urged me to r-run away, to leave h-him behind." she choked out. The mood in the room of her abode turned very depressing and the story-telling did not help.
Ray wrapped his hoof around her shoulders, giving her a pitiful look, it was a small action but it affected Lorani greatly. She started blushing furiously and turned her head away from Ray. Oblivious to her blush, Ray just simply let out a small smile. The mare carefully leaned against his chest, letting a small portion of her tears pour out. The tears soaked into Ray's coat but he didn't mind.
All he did was let out a sad breath, his eyes closed as he remembered once again his family's death. He believed that it was his fault. When he was young, he was stupid, gambling, doing business with wrong people, and he was not as vigilant about himself like today. There was a chance that due to his actions, somehow he gave away his father's location and his mother was killed to remove trace of the death. The Assassins knew that Ray would not know what to do but to run.
Lorani sniffled for a moment and fought the urge to let out a few more tears but she knew that she would just look weak to the stallion, who made her feel extremely nervous, yet comforted. It was certainly a strange sensation, for nervousness and comfort did not exactly mix. She let out a breath and continued, "That stallion, was my b-brother. Ever since, I tried to lay low, but I needed bits so I had to get a job, which didn't take long for Atlas to find me." Ray only tightened his embrace but not so tight that the embrace became uncomfortable.
Ray then whispered into her ear, "I'm sorry for your loss, I too had my mother taken away from me. But the difference is that they took my father too." she gasped at this. "I know how much it hurts to remember what happened, but is there anything that you can tell me about the Atlas plans, a number, serial code, shape, anything. It would help greatly."
Lorani took a moment to wipe the tears on her cheek with her hoof, memories resurfacing like water breaking through a dam. "I-It had a serial code, I assume for the plans, it was a number I could never forget. The code was AD1034... I think Atlas still has it though."
Ray was surprised at this, for this was a file he found about two days ago. 'So are Sentinel planning to use those document that we retrieved to attack Atlas? Are we seriously about to do this?'
"Thank you." Ray said softly to the mare. He seemed calm but inside his mind, there were thoughts raging through his mind. Lorani started thinking about the past and she started sobbing, not uncontrollably but she was letting out the tears that she had been trying so hard to contain. A few minutes of this was bared as the saddened mare cried herself out. The pace of her breathing told Ray that she was asleep, hopefully in a peaceful slumber.
The stallion smiled at the sight of this. She looks so cute like this... he thought as he looked over her as the light from the street reflected over her body as if she was an angel. The light made it clear that her mane was dark blue with a touch of purple. The light complimenting her body and showed the muscles that she hid from the public. The dark blue mare was still asleep as Ray brought her over to what seemed to be her bed. After this, he trotted out of the room, escaping through a window.
He jumped and rolled when he hit the ground, removing any danger of permanent damage. The realization hit him just then what he had thought a few seconds ago. His cheeks flooded with light red as he trotted down the street, his gaze unfocused. 'Why am I feeling so many strange feelings in my chest?'
'Well, there's the alarm. Well, I should head back to the room, I should get some sleep soon. Ray thought as he quickly put his hood up and shot a grappling hook onto a rooftop ledge, startling some ponies. It really was not a sight you see everyday, a pony randomly shooting some sort of hook out of their wrist and randomly flying when they lack wings.
He was launched up and past the rooftop ledge as he hooked onto another ledge, pulling him from his previous position. The minute he reached the wall that the ledge was held firm by, he quickly put both his hind hooves onto the wall, pushing him off the wall and into the sky once again. Ray fell into a free-fall and before he hit the ground, shot a rope dart from his hidden blades that allowed him to swing just past a stray ledge on a shop.
Ponies looked up, and some took photos, which did not help him. He landed on a ledge and started jumping from ledge to ledge for his Assassin parkour skills cannot be weakened or that may end to his demise if he lost his equipment.
Ray barely missed the window that opened right in front of him along with a shocked pony that turned into an angry one. 'Sheesh, I didn't hit your window.' he was thinking as he jumped a large gap between ledges, barely able to make contact with the ledge as he pulled himself up. With a small huff, the situation was dealt with. He yawned as he quickly opened his window with his grappling hooks, opening so fast that he was afraid that they would break. Immediately he jumped right through, closing his window in the process and leaping onto his bed, falling into a deep slumber.
Fall of The Sentinel Force: Part I
"Shut up..." Ray moaned as his alarm clock awoke him from his peaceful slumber. "Alright! Alright! Fine." He gritted his teeth and got up, still a bit weary. He slammed his hoof on the off button on the alarm. Once again, he forgot to take off his hidden blades and weapons. He looked for them and panicked when he couldn't find them. "Damn. Where could they have gone?" That's when he realized that he was wearing his weapons, due to the clanging of metal against metal. "I'm such an idiot." He deserved a face-hoof and he got one.
His phone beeped, a message from Twilight telling him to reach HQ. "Oh shoot." Ray instantly bolted to the bathroom and splashed some cold water onto his face, erasing any trace of his fatigue. 'Am I late for something? That would be so embarrassing.' he thought as he burst through the front door, actually the first time he's ever gone through the front door. 'Well, there's a first time for everything I guess.'
Grappling hooks were probably the fastest way to go at the moment and HQ isn't too far away but still quite some distance away from Ray's location. He slammed his door shut and shot a hook into the sky, towards the nearest building.
Ray was instantly shot forward and into the sky as he made his way towards Headquarters, ledge by ledge. There were ponies below him still marveling over this fact but some seem to have recognized him. Faint murmurs of a 'flying pony' was heard as he zipped through the city. The stallion's eyebrow rose and he wondered what that was all about.
Now the thing is that when you are flying through the city at a high speed, you can't really allow yourself to get distracted, but this is what just happened to Ray. As he thought about this for just a second, he accidentally slammed into a ledge and it made contact with his waist. The caused him to lose the momentum and crash to the ground which fortunately was not too far of a fall.
The pain coursed over his body as he attempted to get up again, sure that something was broken in his body. He stole a look at his body before shooting into the sky once again. The pain rose to extreme levels as he went up, forcing him to land onto a rooftop, dust everywhere as he collapsed. The stallion let out some weak coughs and pulled out his phone. He pulled up his texting software and quickly shot off a message to Twilight, saying that he may be late.
He hissed as he got up, pain still having it's effect on Ray as he quickly examined his wounds. 'Not too bad, just some scrapes.' The pain was slowly subsiding, but Ray was still having a bit of trouble getting up.
When he was back on his hooves, he tried grappling once again, which still was possible with his injuries but his attempt to roll did not work as well though. During his attempt to roll, he felt an enormous amount of pain in his back and screwed up the roll.
"Is this really going to be the way I get out of commission?" He groaned as he flattened his mane out. Checking his phone, it showed where he was in the world at the moment and it showed that HQ wasn't too far away. 'A few minutes to walk won't kill you...' It showed Equestria on the map, but for the strangest reason, all these unknown places appear on the map. 'When did these places come into place?'
Ray simply shrugged this off and he returned to ground level, which was literally painfully slow. The fact that he fell at the last second did not help either. "Buck this..." he muttered, slightly annoyed with himself.
Walking was now the only thing Ray could do until he got some real medical attention and he was NOT going to some random hospital nor doctor. The fact that he could barely run really put a knife in his potentially good day. During the walking, he was allowed to truly examine the city from ground level, which surprisingly was just as great as a view from the sky.
After a while of walking, he reached HQ which was encircled by some armed ponies. At first this seemed like regular entrance guards if they have not pointed their guns at the stallion. This sudden action made Ray quickly bolt towards the nearest cover, aggravating his injuries in the process.
As the adrenaline coursed through out his body he drew his gun and blindly emptied his clip into the small crowd of guards. 'Has the building been overrun with Atlas? What is this about?'
He reloaded as he heard the click, indicating an empty clip. He spotted another viable cover but when he poked his head out of his cover, a storm of bullets attacked him, causing the stallion to stay in his cover. After a while, the guards thought he was dead and at that moment, he made his move, running towards that cover as loud crackling sounds emitted from the guards' guns.
This caused extreme aggravation to his injuries and he stumbled into the cover instead of a simple slide. He gritted his teeth as he used one hoof to wrap his chest, while using the other hoof to fire at the attackers. Dirt and bricks flew into the air as a grenade exploded near the stallion, causing him to flinch and cover his ears. As he finished another clip, he reloaded, shot a few more shots and found that he had two clips left. Oh no...
He threw a smoke grenade, which would cover his cover swap. While Ray ran through the smoke, he realized that his Eagle Vision was not working at it's finest, as it was so blurry that it was impossible to see anything. When the smoke started to clear, Ray took careful aim and let out three precise shots to the guards, killing three as the last guard started aiming his gun. As Ray pulled the trigger, expecting the bang but received a clicking sound. After this happened, the guard started firing at Ray, Who was hoping that he would run out of ammunition soon. When the guard continued shooting, he obviously failed to check his ammunition which eventually let to his gun going click and the faint sound of a clip falling to the ground was heard.
Ray took this opportunity to lunge out of his cover and the Assassin attempted to draw his hidden blades but heard a small 'chink' as the blade failed to draw. "What?" was the only thing the stallion could say in his moment of confusion. The guard took this moment to kick the stallion in the chest, sending him stumbling back. Ray blocked the next attack and drove his hoof into the guard's face making the guard's head whip to the right. Normally this would have been nothing but it caused extreme pain due to his already injured body.
The Assassin delivered a kick which should have slammed into the guard's temple but as he did this, his hoof went weak and unbalanced, causing him to be unbalanced. This was a small error but the guard took advantage of this and grabbed the leg to slam Ray onto the ground. Pain coursed throughout his body as he struggled to avoid the guard's flurry of punches to the head.
One of the punches were careless and the Assassin made sure that this opportunity was not wasted, quickly twisting the hoof and kicked the attacker off. He did a spin, delivering a potent blow to the stomach and a back-hoof to the cheek. After this, he delivered a devastating blow to the nose as he bent his hoof, doing what should have been an elbow as a human.
The guard stumbled back and carelessly swiped at the Assassin but he ducked under this and he picked up his victim then smashed the guard into the ground, leaving the guard breathless. A quick blow to the neck was needed as the kick destroyed the guard's windpipe.
Ray took in a few gulps of breath as he struggled to regain his breath. When he recovered, he quickly reloaded his gun, giving him one last clip to use. He checked the machinery of the hidden blades and found pebbles making the gears stuck. 'How is this even possible? Both my hidden blades stuck by some pebbles? That's next to impossible...'
He took a small but sturdy stick and took a moment to push the rocks out of the gears. 'There we go.' He examined the door that was used to enter HQ. 'Seems sturdy, but it wouldn't hurt to try kicking it down now would it?'
Ray took a step back and bucked the door as hard as possible which led to a loud crash, signaling that the door flew back into the vast room. 'Could there be more to my artificial leg than I know about?' he thought as he stepped into the dimly lit room. The minute he passed the entrance he was hit in the head with a baseball bat. He fell to the ground but he wasn't down yet.
The baseball bat went down towards the Assassin's head but he quickly rolled out of the way and got back on his hooves. 'You want to fight? Let's fight.' he thought as he spun, kicking the attacker right in the nose, sending him stumbling into a wall. Ray jumped onto him and delivered a quick punch to the temple, knocking him out as another attacker emerged from the darkness, nearly cutting Ray with his knife as he attacked. The stallion blocked the blow and ducked under the knife as he twisted the attacker's hoof.
Ray used one of his hooves to push the hoof with the knife to the ground and quickly broke his assailant's hoof. Before he could scream in pain, Ray delivered a kick to the temple, knocking him out. He quickly executed a backflip to evade another knife. As he landed, a mare stepped out of the darkness and used a hoof-held taser, zapping Ray in the neck. As the pony with the knife lunged, he rolled to the right, while shooting a hidden blade into the stallion with the knife and using the taser against the mare, electrocuting her till she went unconscious. Another pony emerged as Ray quickly threw this pony over his back and onto the ground. He was about to drive his hidden blades into the mare's neck if he had not identified her. "Twilight, don't do that to me!" he exclaimed, helping her up.
"Sorry Ray, but I wasn't sure if it was really you." she said, breathless from the impact. He simply gave her an amused expression, "Really? You can't tell it was really me? Same outfit, probably the only outfit in Equestria. But let's get back on the issue at hand here. What's going on?"
Twilight gave him a strange look when he said hand but she simply shrugged and replied, "There's been some soldiers in the Sentinel Task Force attacking us from inside HQ and some other buildings, but we were not able to identify them. We've already lost over half our data and we can't win a war with dysfunctional vehicles. We suspect that it's Atlas but many of our own soldiers have been attacking us. Over 89% of Sentinel soldiers started attacking us."
Ray's eyebrows furrowed at the word 'we'. "Who is 'we' exactly? Who are you working with at this moment?"
"Ray, I'd like you to meet Captain 'Alpha' Gideon and First Lieutenant Jack 'Badger-Two' Mitchell. Currently these are the only ponies I know at the moment who hasn't betrayed Sentinel yet. They've been loyal to Sentinel ever since they were rank Private all the way to their current ranks." she answered, addressing to two ponies who stepped out from the dark. "Power has also been running low for some reason, causing most systems to shut down automatically, which one of them is connection to anything. So is our radar, maps, radio, etc. We're fighting a blind war right now. Currently Fluttershy, Applejack and Pinkie Pie have been missing for some time since the blackout which we think made this happen."
"So you're the stallion Twilight's been talking about? Good to have you on board mate. As the pretty mare there said, we do have no connection to radio, so we have no connection to any of our soldiers. We currently rely on these earpieces," Gideon stated, giving an earpiece to Ray. "Which broadcast on a whole different channel, so we can communicate from nearly anywhere in Equestria." Ray put in the earpiece and it surprisingly was pretty comfortable.
Ray tried finding his friends using his telepathic connection but he just heard a scrambling sound which made it impossible to hear anything. 'Are they dead? Would this happen if they are dead?'
"Right, so you appear low on soldiers, I currently know a former Atlas soldier who ran from the corporation, and is now laying low, trying to keep a low profile. She viewed some classified files which motivated her to run. She gave me a serial code, AD1034, I'm not sure what it was but I tried to find out what it was. No luck." Ray lied, the file was not clear, it had just some unrecognizable mechanics in it. It seemed like a blueprint though.
Mitchell perked up at the number and asked, "Mare? So we have a former Atlas soldier with valuable intel... we'll see."
"Right so what's happening now is that the Sentinel Task Force is crumbling and we are the only ones who have a shot at stopping this at the moment? Are you all sure?" Ray asked. 'Will this really be how Sentinel falls?'