Ghost in the shell: Equestrian architecture

“They must be trying to escape via a boat or something.” Osborn said.

“There´re gonna need a fast boat in order to escape the helicopter.” Twilight replied.

The vehicle drove into a storage facility and stopped inside. The helicopter hovered about forty meters over the ground next to the building.

“Should we wait for backup?” Osborn asked.

“No.” Twilight unbuckled herself and opened the side door. The sound of blades cutting through the wind, pressed against her ears. “They might get away before they arrive.”

“Alright.” Osborn put the trigger for his EMP charge in one of his chest pockets and walked to the open door.

“I´ll jump down and get in close before they can make a move.”

“I´ll try to keep up.” Osborn hooked up to a line to his belt.

Twilight jumped out. The wind sang in her ears and the pavement rushed up to greet her. With a graceful movement she flipped over and meet the ground with the hell of her boot. The pavement cracked, bits of gravel and drops of black water spread from the point where her boot slammed down. There was a jolt of pain echoing through her but she ignored it. She ran forward, towards the storage. For a brief moment she considered going in through the door. No, they´ll be expecting that. Instead she ran up to the door and jumped to the rooftop. She saw roof window and slowly walked up to it.

There was nothing the warehouse but the car parked in the middle. She could see a clear pattern of wet water marks leading up to the car but there was no sign of anyone climbing in or out.

The Major turned on her camouflage and slowly opened the window. The assault rifle didn´t have the same thermo-optic fibers as her skin and armor. She had to leave it on the roof in order to keep hidden. The rest of her weapons were hidden beneath the armor. With slow and measured movements she climbed into the warehouse and dropped onto the floor with a soft, almost silent thud.

A clanking metallic sound filled the room. It was followed by sharp buzzing noise and then bright yellow flashes appeared seemingly out of thin air. White darts flashed by her.

Twilight threw herself to the ground and rolled towards a nearby pillar. The brown metal was peeled away by the flashing darts but it soon stopped. The skin on her left arm was broken and warm blood flowed from the broken arteries along with white cooling liquid. The fluids mixed and became a pink puddle on the floor. It ached with pain before she turned off the pain receptors. “Osborn; status?” She pulled out her hand gun took a grenade out of her pocket.

“I´m outside the front door.”

“They´ve got a tank in here.”

“Shit. What type?”

“A tachikoma, with mini gun at least. Do you still have the armor piercing ammo?”

“Yeah, but I don´t even that will be able to get through that armor.”

“It won´t. But it will destroy the joints and the mini gun itself.” She turned off the camouflage. “Listen I´ll draw the fire and you shoot for the source of the fire.”

“Alright.” He paused for a moment. “Ready when you are, Major.”

Twilight changed the clip in her gun to armor piercing has well and removed the cap on the grenade. She pressed down button. “On three. One.” She released the button. “Two.” She waited another second. “Three.” She threw the grenade out and felt the vibration and the shock wave of the explosion behind her. The Major ran out of her cover and fired at what she thought was the tank.

The camouflage broke as the bullets scraped the armor, revealing the black, spider legged machine that was hidden underneath. It seemed to flinch for a moment has the camouflage disappeared but it quickly regained its poise and started spinning the multi-piped mini gun. The muzzle flashed and Twilight could feel at least one of the bullets tearing through her left leg. Twilight could feel herself losing her balance.

Despite the deafening noise of the mini gun, Twilight could hear the bark of another gun and in the corner of her eye she could see a small yellow flash.

The spinning red hot muzzle stopped moving. It twitched and slammed against a twisted piece of metal sticking out of the joint at the base.

Twilight stopped her fall by leaning onto a crate. She shoot for the legs on the tank, aiming for the opening between the joints. The armor piercing rounds tore through the combination of rubber and metal. A thick, oily liquid leaked from the crack.

The tachikoma shifted its weight in order to compensate for the broken leg. She could see both men from the car getting out of the car. Both of them had small hand guns. Before they could even raise them Osborn shoot them both down. The tachikoma turned to face Twilight and two grenades came flying out of the back of the tank.

The Major shoot both of the grenades midair with ease. The explosions covered the tank in a thin blanket of grey smoke.

“I´m shooting out it´s legs, Major.” Osborn´s rifle barked again.

A large, thundering, metallic bang came from the grey cloud. The smoke was pushed away and the tachikoma laid limbless on the ground, only one of it´s legs still moved.

Twilight ran up to the broken machine and pushed her fingers into the opening next to the hatch. The metal bend and winced before she tore it clean of. There was no one inside. Twilight paused for a moment.

“You okay, Twilight?” Osborn asked.

She smashed her fist into the control panel, the plastic shell bend inwards and she pulled out the cables. The wires snapped and she slammed her fist down again, this time tearing a control core out. She crushed it against the tanks own armor.

“I guess not.” He walked up to her.

“I´m fine.” Twilight grunted. “The damn thing was remotely controlled. Is the android in the car?”

Osborn walked over and cheeked. “Yeah, it´s in the back seat.”

“Good. I`m diving into it.”

“Now?”

“If either side gets the android now it will be stuck in court as they decided what is more important for them. Meanwhile Trixie runs free and we´ll lose all leads.”

“Alright. But it might be a little risky without the proper gear.” Osborn took the android out of the backseat.

Twilight took a wire out of her pocket, plugged one end into the socket in the back of her neck and plugged the other end into the android back sockets. She laid down on the ground.

“Just a heads-up, Twilight.” Osborn took the trigger for his EMP out of his pocket. “The foreign ministry is probably sending backup to get this android has we speak.” He switched the clip in his assault rifle. “I´ll hold them of for as long as I can but, if they get to close I´m gonna pull the plug and blow the EMP so we can get away.”

“Okay.”

“Good luck in there.”