Jesse locked the door to her shop as she left, then went and sat on a nearby bench to wait for her boyfriend to pick her up. She wrapped her coat a little tighter around herself, then searched through her purse until she found a small bottle of pepper spray.

Vegas was a dangerous place to be, especially at night. Jesse had found that out firsthand shortly after moving here, when she’d been forced down an alleyway by a man wielding a knife. She’d gotten lucky that time, however, as a nearby police officer had seen the two of them walk into the alleyway. He’d arrested the would-be rapist on the spot and advised that she take a self-defense course. Along with taking his advice, she’d begun carrying around a bottle of spray everywhere she went. She was as prepared as anyone could possibly be without carrying a firearm. Even so, late night in Vegas still scared her.

She hummed quietly as she sat there, trying to dispel the nervousness she felt as she sat waiting. She worked as a florist, and had received a rather large order for a wedding earlier that day. The money made the job well worth it, as well as the fact that she really enjoyed working with flowers. But neither made it easier to endure the fear that gripped her after the sun went down.

She suddenly tensed up as an odd rumbling noise met her ears. She looked down the road in the direction of the sound, gripping the bottle tightly as she realized it was an engine. No, wait…several engines. She stood up, squinting through the darkness as she tried to make out the source of the commotion.

Said source was revealed as a jet-black muscle car came sliding around the bend and flew past her, catching her long hair in its tailwind. She looked back the way it had come and bolted for the cover of her store as about a dozen other cars flew like jets after the muscle car, their occupants leaning out of windows and firing guns at it. A few lost control and spun out, one taking out the bench she’d been sitting on. They quickly recovered, though, and resumed their pursuit.

Jesse cautiously peeked out of the door. She watched the cars as they disappeared around another corner, silently wondering what the driver of the muscle car had done to piss off so many people.

((((((*******))))))

“Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh, OHMYGOSH!!” Twilight screamed in terror, furiously gripping her seat as Allen drifted around a corner.

Allen said nothing, as he was too busy trying to keep the two of them alive. He looked behind them to see how many were still on their tail.

“Dammit.” he growled.

“What!?” Twilight said in a panicky voice.

“Well, I was trying to lose some of them in that turn we just took, but all I did was slow them down a bit.”

“You can do this, right?” she asked hopefully. “I mean, you must have done this a million times before. Right?”

“Wrong. I do my best to avoid situations like this. Sure, I can drive better than a majority of Vegas, but I’ve only been in a situation like this one other time.”

“Great! How did you survive?”

He sighed heavily. “Not right now.”

“What did you do?” Twilight asked again, slightly more insistent. She was tired of him not telling her things.

“I’ll explain it when-”

He was interrupted as the rear window suddenly shattered into a million pieces, causing both of the car’s occupants to jump almost a foot out of their seats.

“SHIT!” he yelled, picking up the pistol he’d looted from Simmons and firing behind them. Twilight heard a few screeches and crashes from her position below the window as his bullets popped the tires of any enemies who got too close. “You know, it would have been nice if you had at least let me know you were leaving!” he yelled angrily.

Twilight rounded on him in an instant. “Yeah!? Well it would’ve also been nice if I’d found out about your ‘job’ from you instead of the local news network!

“How long are you gonna keep playing that card, huh!? Allen retorted.

“UNTIL YOU EXPLAIN TO ME HOW IN EQUESTRIA YOU BECAME A HIRED KILLER!!” she raged.

“I TOLD YOU I’D EXPLAIN EVERYTHING WHEN-!!”

Their bickering was abruptly cut off by a bullet slicing through his left cheek. Twilight began leaning away from him as he looked past her at the Lamborghini to their right, his left eye twitching.

“PISS OFF AND STOP SHOOTING UP MY CAR!!” he roared as he swerved into the Lamborghini and sent it smashing into a light pole. He then slammed on the brakes, allowing two more of their pursuers to shoot past him. Before they could react, he slammed into the right one’s rear tire and popped the left one’s tire with the pistol. He turned to watch with an angry grin as they swerved and slammed into each other, one spinning out and the other completely flipping over.

“Fucking assholes…” he fumed, turning back around.

Twilight sat up. “So, are you just going to keep driving and shooting or do you actually have a plan?”

Allen took another sharp turn onto a highway, causing her to grip the seat in terror. She then glared at him accusingly. He did that on purpose.

He continued on as though he hadn’t noticed her reaction. “I’m taking us to the northern district.” he explained. “It’s practically a maze in there, what with all the back alleys and side streets and everything. If we make it there, I might be able to lose these guys.”

His tone made her nervous. “You don’t sound too confident about that plan.”

He gave her a worried look. “It’s a really big ‘if’. First we have to-”

Suddenly an explosion rocked the car, and the whole thing began leaning heavily to the right.

“God dammit! Can’t I finish a damn sentence tonight!?” he raged as he fought to control the unstable muscle car.

“What just happened!?” Twilight asked, panic growing.

“They popped one of my rear tires!” he yelled, now just as panicky. “We’ll never make it to financial this way!”

She peeked through her window at the back tire. Sure enough, there was a double trail of sparks coming from the now exposed rim, swinging back and forth like a fish tail as Allen fought to maintain control of the metal beast.

Twilight considered the wheel for a moment, then stretched her hand out towards it. A smile crossed her face as the pink aura surrounded her hand, then disappeared as the aura flickered like a candle about to go out. I hope I have enough magic for this. she thought to herself.

Allen dropped the empty pistol, extracted his own, and turned to aim out the back window in preparation for a desperate last stand against the army of federal agents behind them.

Suddenly, the whole car lurched and sped up, and Allen found it much easier to control. He looked first at the road before them, then at Twilight.

“Did you just…?” He trailed off as he noticed how exhausted she was. “Jesus Christ! Are you alright!?”

“I’ll be fine. Just…try not to lose…another tire.” she said, then immediately passed out.

Allen turned back to the road. Think man, THINK!

There was still another couple miles of highway to go, during which they would be completely exposed. He looked in his mirror and saw the vast federal armada speeding down the narrow highway, ready to tear the Mach 1 to pieces. One of them tried to pit him, and he gently braked and shoved him into an exit.

He looked back into the mirror at their pursuers. If he could create a pileup, they might be able to make it to financial in one piece. But he needed a lot of cars for that, and the feds were only coming at him two or three cars at a time, obviously trying to avoid the very situation that he wanted to create.

“That’s fine. You won’t come to me, so I’ll have to come to you.” Allen said, dropping the pistol and gripping the wheel with both hands.

The feds behind him swerved out of the way as he suddenly slammed on the brakes, allowing them to shoot past. He started to rapidly swerve left and right, trying to cause as much chaos as possible. The cars surrounding him tried to avoid being rammed, but there was no avoiding the speeding Mustang or the force behind it. Cars were slammed into walls, into each other, and a few even made it over the divide into the oncoming lane.

After a few seconds of this, Allen shifted gears and quickly pulled out of the rapidly-forming junk heap before it could sweep them up. He took a look behind them and slapped the wheel triumphantly, grinning ear-to-ear behind his mask as he watched the feds repeatedly crash into each other far behind them, cars flipping over and flying through the air in a beautifully choreographed display of destruction.

He admired the scene for another few seconds, then turned back to the road and sped off toward the main city. The feds wouldn’t stay down for long, but Allen would be well hidden by the time they resumed the chase.

((((((*******))))))

Jeff sat up, holding his head. He’d realized too late what the Ghost was about to do, and had been forced to endure the experience of having five cars doing one-twenty each slam into his car at almost the exact same time.

He looked over at the driver’s side and found Carl slumped over the steering wheel, unconscious. He reached over and gave him a gentle shake.

“Carl! Carl, wake up!” he said loudly.

“Ugghhhh…” Carl groaned weakly. “I can’t feel anything below my neck.”

“What!?” Jeff said, instantly panicking.

“Oooowwwwwwwww.” Carl continued with a pained hiss. “Never mind.”

Jeff sighed in relief. “Don’t fucking do that.”

“Sorry.”

Jeff shook his head to clear it and reached for the radio on the floor. “Team one is down. Team two, move to intercept target in the financial district. Refer to Avalon for exact location. And medical team, rendezvous at my position on highway twelve.”

He heard a loud groan from his left.

“Bring a couple boxes of aspirin, please.”

((((((*******))))))

Allen heard a groan from his right and looked over to see Twilight sitting up and holding her head.

“So how was your nap?” he asked.

Twilight ignored the joke as she held her head. “Why does the right side of my head hurt so much?”

Allen scratched the back of his neck. “I, uh…I made a pileup to stop the feds. I was swerving all over the place, so your head might have hit the doorframe a few times.”

“Oh, alright.” she said, too concerned with her slowly-dying headache to even care.

Allen looked back at her.

“You feeling any better?” he asked.

“A little, except for my head. Why?”

“Because right after you fixed my tire you passed out cold. I’m not exactly sure what happens when you run out of magic, but that did not look healthy. At all.”

“I’m fine, thank you.” she said with a small smile.

Allen smiled back behind his mask, then noticed movement in his rear-view mirror. He turned around to look behind them and noticed an SUV turning onto the street behind them.

“What’s wrong?” asked Twilight, also looking back and noticing the large armored vehicle. “Is that them?”

“Yeah, but how did they find us that fast? Wait, what the hell is-?” He suddenly cut himself off as a man rose through the sunroof aimed his LMG at them. “SHIT!!”

Twilight suddenly found herself pressed flat against the seat as Allen bolted down a side street to avoid the sudden burst of machine gun fire that lit up the area where they’d been a second before.

“I thought you lost them!” Twilight said loudly.

“So did I!” Allen replied, then facepalmed. “Oh fuck, I’m an idiot.”

“What?” Twilight asked.

“They have a hacker with them. That’s the only way they could have known exactly where we were.”

“Alright, what’s a hacker?” asked a confused Twilight.

“They’re computer junkies who know how to bypass the security for the operating systems of all kinds of technology. Data archives, electric generators, private computers, cameras…nothing is safe from a professional hacker. They’re watching us through the street cameras.” He turned onto another street, and they were met by more Lamborghinis. “God dammit!” he said angrily, quickly turning and speeding off with the feds in hot pursuit.

The SUV suddenly pulled out up ahead. Allen pulled his pistol back out and fired three shots at the tires. His jaw dropped when nothing happened, then the soldier with the machine gun opened fire, forcing him to turn down another side street.

“Dammit!” Allen said again. “They’re herding me toward that SUV!”

“Why didn’t your gun do anything?” Twilight asked.

“Their tires must be bulletproof.” Noticing the confused look on her face, he elaborated. “Normal tires are basically rubber tubes filled with air, which are easy to puncture. Bulletproof tires are just solid rubber, which makes blowouts almost impossible. I’m willing to bet the windows are bulletproof, too.”

“Great…so what do we do?”

“I’m thinking, I’m thinking…” he said. Suddenly the SUV popped up on their left, close enough for Allen to get a good look at it. The cocky bastard in the gunner’s port was now waving at him, machine gun aimed at his head.

For a moment, Allen simply stared back. He knew exactly how to take care of the SUV’s occupants, but it was a risky maneuver which could very well end in him dying horribly. That’s been happening way too often lately.

He pulled right up next to the larger machine and holstered his pistol. “Hey, Twilight?”

“What?” she asked.

This makes the top of the list of things I never thought I’d say to her. “Take the wheel.”

“What!?” she exclaimed. Allen said nothing else, instead opening his door and leaping onto the side of the SUV.

“WHAT THE HAY DO YOU THINK YOU’RE-EEEEEK!!” Twilight suddenly screamed and grabbed the wheel to keep the car from smashing into a building, then scrambled into the driver’s seat.

“Okay, okay…nothing to worry about. How hard could driving this thing be?” she said, attempting to calm down enough to figure out how to operate the giant hunk of metal on wheels. She stared in confusion at the pedals by her feet. Why are there three pedals if it only goes backwards and forwards!?

“Nothing to worry about.” she said, confidence returning as she cautiously stepped on one of the pedals. “So…this makes it go for-”

The tires screeched and she abruptly began to lose speed, one of the feds behind her swerving to avoid her maniacal driving. She immediately took her foot off the brake and floored the accelerator.

“Never mind. That makes it go forward.” She corrected herself, panting slightly. “Alright, and now gently left-AAAAAAAGH!!”

She screamed as she suddenly swung left and collided with a car full of feds who had tried to take advantage of Allen’s absence by snatching her out of the car. “GENTLER!!” she screeched as she straightened out. She looked back at her pursuer spinning out behind her and grinned sheepishly.

“Sorry!” she said with a wave, before hastily putting her other hand back on the wheel and searching for Allen.

The SUV had made considerable headway while she’d been busy learning how to control the car and, although the massive vehicle had begun to swerve slightly, she’d never catch up at the speed she was going right now. As she tried to figure out how to go faster, she became aware of a loud rumbling coming from up front. Her eyes shot wide open in realization as she looked down at stick beside her, remembering that Allen would reposition it whenever the car started making that noise.

She attempted to emulate his actions, and was rewarded as the Mach 1 lurched slightly and sped up, eating up the distance between her and the SUV.

Her hands tightened on the wheel and stick, and she did it again. She grinned with delight as the car roared and sped after the enemy vehicle.

“Ohmygosh! Ohmygosh! I’m driving! I’M DRIVING!” she shrieked excitedly.

((((((*******))))))

Allen landed on the SUV and immediately raised his hand to catch the butt of the machine gun as the gunner tried to knock him off. The passenger door ahead of him swung open and he kicked the soldier in the head before he could point a gun at him. He turned back to the gunner and, bracing himself against the side of the van, yanked the machine gun away and let it fall to the rapidly moving road beneath him with a clatter.

He noticed the soldier in the passenger seat coming back for another go, and immediately grabbed the gunner by the neck with his left hand and drew his knife with the other. He aimed a light slash at the soldier’s neck, where there was a gap between the helmet and shoulder armor, and was rewarded with a scream of pain from the man.

He turned back to the struggling gunner, brought the knife up, and sliced through the strap securing his helmet to his head. He pulled the helmet off and let it disappear behind them, then reversed his grip on the knife.

“NOT SO COCKY NOW, ARE YOU!?” he yelled over the sound of rushing air, then slammed the brass into the man’s temple. As he slumped over the top of the car, Allen sheathed the knife and brought his pistol back out.

Just as he was about to engage the driver, he heard a loud smash behind him and turned to see a dark green Cadillac spinning away, the Mach 1 quickly recovering from its attack.

He stared for a moment, stunned. Where the hell did she learn how to drive like that?

He shook his head and turned back to the SUV, leaning into the passenger door. The driver took out his pistol too late, and Allen shot both of his forearms. “Where’s your bullet-proof glass now, buddy?” he jeered.

He holstered the gun and waited for Twilight to pull even with them, then hopped onto the door. She scooted back into the passenger seat, and he slid back into the driver seat and quickly turned down an alleyway.

He turned to Twilight. “How the hell did you learn how to drive like that?” he asked, still amazed.

“Mostly trial and error. By the way, if you ever throw me into the deep end like that again, I’ll turn you into an orange and eat you.”

He gave her a look. “Oh please, you can’t tell me that wasn’t fun.”

“It most certainly was not!” she said angrily.

He continued to stare at her disbelievingly.

“At least not at first.” she said after a moment.

He shifted gears as he turned back to the road. “Uh-huh…”

“Back to the matter at hand, how do we escape someone who can see our every move?”

Allen didn’t answer, instead retrieving his phone from his coat pocket.

“Allen?” Twilight asked.

“There’s only one person in all of Vegas who can help us right now, and I was hoping I wouldn’t have to talk to them until Monday.” Allen answered as he put the phone to his ear.

“Who?”

“My boss.”

The dial tone only rang once before the Administrator’s artificial voice answered. “I was wondering when you were going to call me.”

“Cram the jokes, because we have a huge problem.”

“Yeah, you’re playing chauffer to a chick that can turn armed thugs into farm animals.”

“And the feds are after her. They have a hacker and they’re watching my every move through the street cameras. How strong a jam can you make without breaking my phone?”

“How strong do you need it?” they asked.

“Honestly, I need you to shut down the financial district, at minimum.” Allen replied.

He heard what sounded like a snort on the other end. “Yeah. Right. You’d probably lose your ear if I tried that.”

“Dammit. Then we only have one other op-”

“No.” The Administrator answered before he could finish.

“Admin-”

“Absolutely fucking not!” they interrupted again, anger slipping past the voice morpher.

“Listen to me-”

“No, you listen to me!” they interjected angrily. “I’m still having nightmares about the last time we used it! Do you have any idea what it’s like to hear hundreds of people screaming out in pain, all accusing you of murdering them!?”

Allen remained silent for a moment, then replied in deceptively calm voice, “Who do you think you’re talking to?”

They instantly fell silent. “I’m sorry.”

“You should be.” Allen replied coldly as he made a sharp turn onto the main road. “It’s different this time. There’s a lot more at stake than just my identity. If the feds catch her, there's a good chance that they'll start a war they can't win."

The Administrator sighed resignedly. “Fine. I’ll do it.”

“Let me know when you’re ready.” Allen said, then hung up and set the phone on the dashboard.

“What’s going on?” asked Twilight.

“We’re losing the feds.” he replied shortly. Twilight watched as he turned off the headlights.

“How is-” she was interrupted as the mirror to her right exploded. Allen shot down another alley in an attempt to dodge the hailstorm of bullets. Twilight looked behind them, paling as she counted all of the cars currently chasing them. “Um…Allen!?” she warned, voice shaking from fear.

“I know. Just hang on.” Allen said calmly. She turned to look at him, wondering how he could be so calm all of a sudden, and noted the look of pained determination he now wore.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, suddenly concerned.

He hesitated before answering. “Do you know why I didn’t tell you about how I escaped last time? Or, as a matter of fact, how I became a fixer to begin with?”

“Why?” she asked, wondering why he was bringing this up now of all times.

“Because what I did brought about the deaths of several hundred innocent people, and for the past three years, I’ve been trying my hardest to forget that fact.”

Twilight stared at him, not sure how to respond.

Suddenly his phone rang again, and he quickly snatched it up and answered. “Is it ready?”

“God forgive us.” The Administrator replied sadly.

“It won’t be as bad as last time.” Allen reassured them as he turned back onto the main road. “You know they took precautions against it in case it happened again.”

“Yeah. Precautions for hospitals and other inpatient facilities. Not people stuck in their homes.”

“We can’t ask for much more right now.” Allen replied.

Suddenly a fed slammed into their rear and sent them fishtailing all over the road. Allen managed to recover and rammed the enemy car in return, sending it careening into a shop. He looked back and noticed two more SUVs behind the army of smaller cars.

“We’re out of time, Admin! Is it ready or not!?” Allen asked in a panic.

“Standing by.” they replied.

He took a deep breath. “Then throw it.”

At first Twilight didn’t notice anything other than a distant ‘boom’, and started to wonder what Allen and his boss were so afraid of. Then the lights started to flicker all around them.

“What’s-” she began, but fell silent just as quickly.

((((((*******))))))

Jeff was sitting in the back of a large van letting a medic attend to a nasty gash on his forehead. All around him, fellow agents were either attending to each other’s wounds or being carried out on stretchers. A few were even trying to drive whatever cars still worked away from the pileup.

Suddenly he heard what sounded like a distant explosion.

“Did you hear that?” he asked the medic.

“Yeah, what was-” she suddenly stopped. “Holy crap! Look at the city!”

Jeff looked and saw every light in the city flicking on and off at random. “What the hell is-” he started.

And then he heard it.

He heard the sound that had marked the deaths of over five hundred people three years ago.

It was a sound unlike any he had ever heard before, one that made his blood run cold and made every heart in or near the city forget to beat.

It was the sound of Las Vegas screaming in agony.

Author's Note

Happy Holidays! Have another long chapter!
I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far, because apparently some people aren't as I recently hit 7 dislikes. I don't get what the deal is, but I won't let it bother me.
Next chapter will probably come after Christmas/Hanukkah/whatever the heck you're celebrating at this time of year.
Remember to comment, give me a thumbs-up, and to have a merry holiday and a happy New Year's.
Peace!
P.S.- Did you guess the reference?