Hitmare: Retribution

In other news, the mayor of Ponyville was brutally murdered last night along with her accountant and five members of a private security company. Police currently have no leads on the assailant but they're working diligently to bring them to justice. The only clue they could uncover was quite disturbing and confusing. Of all the bodies, one was hidden behind a filing cabinet for some reason. Upon further investigation, officials believe it was a was a political assassination due to the questionable ties the major has to Marsanto, a major player in the biotech field. A review of her records showed that the mayor and her accountant have been embezzling large amounts of bits from the city over the last eight years.

I sat in my dark one-room apartment with a smoke hanging out of my mouth, listening to the news go on about my latest job. In front of me floated my pride and joy, two stainless steel AMT hardballers. Many would call them a hiccup in the M1911 series of pistols, but i can tell you first hoof that they're ignorant to their true beauty. One major defect in their design was that the lubrication technology at the time of development was not up to par. This would cause excessive jamming and was a nightmare when using hollow points. Mine were custom models with a polished nickel finish along with a polished feed ramp making use of hollow points a breeze. They both featured silencers and required very tedious upkeep; some parts were prone to breaking and not interchangeable with other M1911s. After each job, I completely stripped them down, cleaned and lubricated them, and replaced any part that looked too worn. Never want to chance having a gun fail in the middle of a fire fight. Better safe than sorry.

My apartment was compact, only featuring a T.V., refrigerator, and my wall of toys. A dark gray rack hung from the wall adorned with a few masterpieces of gunsmithing ingenuity. Over the years I had amassed enough submachine guns and assault rifles to support a small army, but only the best of the best make the rack. My M4A1 was one that made the cut. Back when I started out I had a job up in Marealand that didn't go so well. Long story short I had to shoot my way out of a heavily fortified C.O.L.E. base. I found it hanging on a post outside the little bucks room. Without it I never would have made it out and since then I've had a special connection with it. Come to think of it I'm more attached to my guns then I've ever been to another pony. The closest thing I ever had was Diana and I've never even seen her.

From across the room, my laptop started beeping signifying an incoming transmission. I sat down and hit a couple buttons and the room filled with Diana's sensual voice.

"Good morning 47. After watching the news I see everything didn't go according to plan last night?"

"Negative. The whole op was blown. How did your informant forget to mention the mayor had a panic button? And what of the security? This was supposed to be a quick get in, get out deal." She could probably feel my anger pouring through the screen.

"It appears as though the Intel was compromised. We're not sure if they found out and bumped up security or somepony on our end tipped them off. I've been investigating into our own agency for sometime but haven't found anything substantial. The payment from your last job has been wired into your account and I have a new job if you're ready."

"Patch me through."

"Okay. Your target is on the board of directors for the Marsanto Biotech research company. Our client has provided us with blueprints to the building and a full security outline. Our client is being strong-armed into a business deal with your mark and needs him dealt with. The client doesn't care how you do it as long as it's not too quick. As always you will receive a bonus for being discreet. Good luck 47."

With a short buzz the transmission ended.

***

Ding. Every few seconds the room would chime as we passed another floor. Ding. In front of me was a cart with rubber gloves and an assortment of cleaning supplies. Ding. The janitor made it too easy. He even had a key card with the second highest level security clearance for the building. I gave him some sleepy serum and tossed him in the dumpster. Hope he wakes up before he gets thrown in the compactor tomorrow morning. That would be a shame. I pulled out my PDA to take one last look at the floor plan. Only security detail had clearance for the top floor so I needed one of their cards or to find another way up. The IT office was down the hall so that might be a better option. The final ding sounded as the doors slid open to the twenty second floor. I slowly pushed my cart out into the hall and surveyed the floor. Everything looked clear but my Intel clearly noted that two patrols made their way along this floor.

I pulled my baseball cap down over my face and started off towards the server room. It was late so most of the cubicles on this floor were empty, aside from a small mare tapping feverishly on her computer in the corner. I reached the server room without seeing any guards but I was sure that wouldn't last long. I pushed the door open to find a massive buck playing some shooting game on his computer. His desk was covered in empty soda cans and his keyboard had a thick coat of orange cheese on it. "Damn engineers!" he shouted before realizing my presence. "O hey Barry, what are you doing here? Need a new GPS tracker for your broom?" He joked before before being knocked out by the butt my pistol. Thank Celestia for his rolling chair, without it I wouldn't have had a chance at moving him.

I exited his game and searched for the key card program. After a few minutes I found it and slid mine into the port on his machine. A slight buzz came from the machine and a 'success' message appeared on the screen. Wasting no time I pushed the buck into the far corner and started off toward stop number two, the fuse box. On the way I ran into a patrol of security mares.

"Hey Barry, how's it going?" One asked.

"It's going I guess," I replied.

As I passed by the group one mare stared me down. I had fooled the other two but I think he knew something was up. I turned the corner and got to the stairs as fast as I could. Before I went in I waited to see if the mare was following me. After a few seconds of nothing I slid inside and closed the door behind me. There was no way this cart was gonna make it upstairs and it wouldn't help anyway, Barry didn't have clearance. I retrieved my pistols and M4 from inside the cart and screwed a silencer on the rifle. My M4 wasn't very subtle but the silencer helped conceal its bang. This baby was a work of art. On the side was a dual Tac light/laser sight for target acquisition along with a red dot sight on top. A flip-up rifle sight was on the other side for Mid-to-Long range combat. This bad boy isn't a sniper rifle but it can definitely reach out and touch somepony.

Being extra careful I peeked my head out and checked for guards. With the coast clear, I made the short trip from here to the fuse box. With my multi-tool, I pried the fuse box open and located the set for this floor. I placed a little piece of tech I had created myself over the fuses, a timed fuse disruptor. It could be used on virtually anything electronic and gave me a unique tactical advantage. With the device in place, I turned my attention to my PDA. This thing was pure genius. It worked off the heat signatures that everypony gave off and gave me a rough map of their locations. From the looks of it, my mark was in a room with four other ponies in close proximity.

The last thing on my agenda was my escape route. With great care, I moved through the top floor, dodging patrols left and right. From the map, I saw the room I was in now had a balcony right beside my mark's office. When the coast was clear I moved toward the door and went outside. The rain was pouring down; since this bullshit started it seemed to rain all the time. I looked at my watch and attached a fast rope to the adjacent balcony. Three, two, one, buzzzzz! The lights flickered for a moment then went out completely. From the other room, the terrified screech of mares filled the air.

"Calm down girls. I'll figure out what’s going on." From the sound of his voice that was my mark. From the other room the guards had turned on their Tac lights and were searching for me. The buck went over to his desk and pushed a button near the top. "Chief, what's going on down there?" No response. I got myself hooked into my fast rope and climbed out onto his balcony. While hanging over the edge I tossed a couple coins up and they made a loud *ting* as each hit the ground. "What was that?" The buck said before going to investigate.

As soon as I felt him close enough I shot up and wrapped my hooves around his neck. With a quick jerk, I tossed him and myself off the balcony and quickly started falling towards the ground. I released him a few floors down and started to slow myself. He hit a few seconds before me but exponentially harder. His crumpled up body didn't look much different but I was sure he'd broke every bone in his body. I made my way to the extraction point but stopped short. I passed by the dumpster that I threw Barry in and decided to lift him out and set him on the loading dock. He didn't deserve being crushed to death.