Chapter 2-

Heat

‘Three weeks and thirty-two hours. Three weeks and thirty-two hours I’ve been in this world now.’ Lynette stared straight ahead even as her thoughts swam, eyes scanning about. An ability she’d picked up very quickly in the Service. Dawn was breaking, and she’d been up all night keeping watch.

‘I honestly hoped I’d be out of here before now. Guess I should keep to the old doctrines more strictly.’ She frowned. ‘Laurette would’ve thrown a barb at me for that…’ She shook her head, mane shaking with the action. ‘Forget it. Don’t dwell on it, Lynette. Just don’t.’

She kept her AWM sniper rifle trained on the cityscape, not letting a single thing pass her by despite her swimming thoughts. A good number of coffee mugs sat on a crate near her, having kept her fueled the entire night. ‘I’ll need to find more coffee later. Last night forced me to go through it all.’ Frown deepening, she swept her sights across the area once more.

A loud rock song started to play in the air, loudly enough to echo down the halls. It wasn’t long after that a small groan followed, signaling Sunset sitting up in her sleeping bag. She blearily rubbed her eyes, her hand mindlessly sliding her alarm off. Her eyes opened, landing on Lynette at the window. Several seconds passed before a single word escaped her. “...Buck.”

“Morning to you too,” Lynette replied with dry wit. She glanced to Sunset. “Head downstairs. Bob should have gotten up by now. He can take you somewhere to get food.”

Sunset blinked at her, the words slowly processing. Without warning, her eyes flew open. “Buck, I gotta get home!” She screamed, throwing the bag off of her before rushing through the building and downstairs. “BOOOB!!!” A loud crash shook the building, followed by a pained roar and enough expletives to sink a battleship.

Lynette sighed, picking up her rifle, slinging it on her back, and calmly following after the girl. Downstairs, she found Bob rubbing the back of his neck, flakes of the ceiling still falling from above while Sunset was in full panic mode. “Hurry up, hurry up! I got to get home and change or else the principle’s going to kill me!”

Lynette rolled her eyes. “Just use my clothes, girl.” She walked over to where her military hardware was, then opened a trunk under the desk that held all the equipment, pulling out a v-neck hoodie from it that was obviously way too baggy for Sunset.

Sunset inspected the garment, her nose scrunching a little. “Can’t you guys just take me home?” She asked, practically bouncing from foot to foot. “It won’t take more than five minutes, tops.”

“Not gonna happen this time around,” Bob grumbled lowly, dropping back down to all fours. “Too many cameras and not nearly enough time.” The girl groaned and looked back to Lynette, practically begging with her eyes.

Lynette shook her head. “He’s right. You can’t go home, not with things as they are.”

Sunset groaned out again, putting her face in her hands and scratching at the border of her hair out of frustration. "Fine," the girl stated in exasperation, looking up from her hands. "What do you have?"

Lynette shook the hoodie in her grasp. “This and everything else in the trunk.” She gestured to said trunk. “Take your pick.”

Sunset made her way to the trunk and looked down into it. She drummed her fingers against the edge for a moment, her lips pouting towards one side as she thought. A moment more and she threw her hair back out of her eyes and looked around the garage. Her eyes lit up when they met the far wall. "Bob," she barked, causing the beast to jump a bit. "Grab those old elastics and cut the hooks off."

"Um…" the titan murmured, glancing at Lynette a moment before doing as he was told. He held them out to the redhead who quickly snatched them before rushing up the stairs with an armful of clothes.

"...What is she planning?" He asked out loud, looking towards the lioness again.

Lynette shrugged, placing the hoodie back where it belonged. “A new look, I’d wager.”

Bob grunted at that, turning to watch the stairs once more. It wasn't very long before thumping signified the return of the teenager. Sunset came down the stairs sporting a much different look from before. She'd taken the elastics and used them to tie up the legs of the pants, leaving her ankles bare and puffing up the base of the tan cargo pants. She'd gone for a white tank top that was covered mostly by a large leather jacket. Her thumbs stuck out of the holes where the cuffs buttoned, but just behind the wrist, she used more elastics on the inside to tighten them up, making it look like the jacket had been made that way.

"What do you think?" The girl asked with a grin, holding onto the half-zipped opening of the jacket.

Lynette hummed, then looked to Bob, as if in query.

"It's cute enough," the creature answered with a small shrug. "So long as the elastic can hold up to the ride."

"It should," the girl answered, becoming a bit smugger. "I don't think even that wannabe Rarity could do better."

Lynette frowned. “Don’t get a big head, girl. You do, and you’ll only fall harder.”

Sunset scoffed a bit and rolled her eyes. "Can't fall much further," she muttered before starting to walk towards Bob, backpack thrown over her shoulder. "Let's go."

"You should listen to Lynette on this one," the creature rumbled as the girl climbed onto his back. "Trust me."

Lynette shrugged, heading towards the stairs leading up. “I’m not her parent. If she doesn’t want to listen, then alright. I only care about her safety because she’s important to my objective.” She waved half-heartedly as she walked up the steps. “I’m off for some sleep. Stay safe.”

"At last, someone who isn't trying to run my life," Sunset muttered.

Unbeknownst to her, this drew a worried look from the creature underneath her. Sighing, he trudged his way out of the door. In no time at all, he raced off towards the inner city.

The feeling of a closed fist meeting his jaw was the first thing Tempered Print woke up to. The second was a sword-butt to the gut, knocking the wind out of him.

“Wake up, shithead,” a low baritone ordered.

A low groan that tried to be a growl escaped the large man. He looked up with his golden eyes, trying to give his best look of intimidation.

The guard simply smirked and stepped back, looking to a very familiar man off to the side. “He’s all yours, boss.”

"Thank you, Thrifty," Silver Stream replied, stepping into the light, his maroon eyes glinting. "Prepare our guest’s next party game."

“Got it, boss,” ‘Thrifty’ replied, turning to a cart laden with the obvious ‘party game’ equipment. Picking up a set of pliers, Thrifty squeezed them threateningly with a huge grin, his green eyes seeming to sparkle. He wore a dress suit and slacks, all in deep purple, though it had many heinous red stains. He didn’t seem to mind.

Print looked cautiously at the pliers before his attention was torn away by Silver slamming his hands down onto his chair-bound wrists. “I’m going to ask one god damn time,” the defined man sneered, maroon eyes glinting dangerously. “Where’s the girl?”

Tempered winced as the more fit gangster squeezed his wrists even tighter. “Gh, I got no idea what yer on about, mate,” the emerald green captive answered in his disguised accent.

“Thrifty.”

Thrifty’s grin grew as he walked up and roughly latched the pliers onto Tempered’s fingernail, and with expertise, ripped an entire fingernail off of one of the man’s fingers in one swift motion.

“GAAAH! FUCK!” The stout man cried out, throwing his head back. The ginger clenched his teeth as he growled out the pain. “Ya fuckin’ bi- MMF!” He was cut off as his jaw was snatched into the tight grip of Silver Stream.

“I’m not gonna ask again!” The man shouted, shaking his prisoner’s face roughly. “Where is Sunset Shimmer!”

Silver released the older man’s face, Print coughing. The overweight mob boss was silent for another few moments before he looked up at his captors, letting out a hot breath. “I… don’t have… the fuckin-”

“Thrifty, next party game!”

“No, wait-”

Thrifty wasted no time, and, having been heating an obvious brand in the background via a blow torch, walked over with the smoking, red hot brand and tore Tempered’s shirt’s back off before pressing the brand firmly into his skin.

Tempered Print screamed in agony, the acrid scent of melting flesh filling the air with an insidious hiss. “We don’t have her!” He wailed, gripping the chair he was bound to with his head thrown back. “We don’t have her, I swear!”

Silver Stream held his hand up to his faithful right-hand man.

Nodding, Thrifty pulled the brand back, though the frown on his face told that he was sad to have to stop. The wound sizzled as the victim panted through gritted teeth. Gold eyes slowly looked up from the floor into the unforgiving rubies of his rival.

“...Speak.”

Tempered Print winced at the sharp bark, teeth trying to close tighter. “We didn’t get’er,” he grunted painfully, wincing with every intake of breath. “According to what few of my guys got out and the video we could get back from our dashcams,” he began to explain, “the girl was saved by some… monsters. We thought they were yers….” The mobster slumped in his chair, breaking eye contact. “That’s all I’ve got, I swear.”

Maroon eyes narrowed dangerously, taking in every inch of the man’s body language. “...Thrifty Shifty,” Silver announced, drawing the younger man’s attention to him. “Show our guest the way out.” With that, he turned on his heel and started on his way out only to stop at the door. “But… take ten minutes to enjoy the party before you do.”

Thrifty’s grin could only be called unholy as he leveled the pliers in one hand and the brand in another. “I’ll get right on that boss,” he purred. Thrifty patted the portly man’s head. “Ohoho, just wait ‘till you see the new pipe cleaner I made out of bamboo~!”

Silver gave a small ‘hmph’ before he turned and left the room, not bothering to look back as the door closed. He had some security footage to get a hold of….

High heeled shoes clacked against linoleum floor tiles, causing a certain redhead’s brow to twitch with every step. She really hated the pair of heels on her feet. She let out a breath as she tried to let go of some of her anger. It wasn’t like she’d had any other choices to pick from, seeing as any of Lynette’s shoes would have been way too big for her.

Her brow only twitched more as she walked, as she could feel the lecherous ogling of the two boys behind her. Snails was less adept at hiding his drooling at what exposed flesh she had than his friend, Snips. Though Snails being less adept, in her mind, wasn’t too big of a shock.

Sunset let out a quiet ‘tsk’ as she walked, her fists clenched inside the pockets of her borrowed jacket. If it wasn’t for how useful they were, she’d have kicked them to the curb long ago. However, their ability to go unnoticed by, not only the student body, but most of the general public was uncanny. It also didn’t help that it had been drilled into her head just how much you needed to have eyes and ears everywhere….

“Well?” She barked, never looking back at the two boys. “Do you two have anything for me or are you just going to follow me around like dumb puppies all day?”

“Right!” Snails saluted, as did his friend. “We, uh…” He looked to Snips.

“We caught sight of those three girls again!” The chubbier boy spoke up excitedly. “They were making a real mess of one of the walls behind the school. They said something about getting famous off their wall morals.”

Sunset tsk’d again, the image of the three lower classmen jumping to her mind, reminding her further of each of their older siblings and idols. “What’s that matter to me?” She snarked, hunching her shoulders a bit. “Those ‘crusaders’ are always up to some kind of get fame quick scheme. Do you have anything that’s, I don’t know, useful!?” She stopped to turn a piercing glare at the two, stopping them dead in their tracks.

“U-um,” Snips began, bringing his hands up to his chest as if to ward off a blow. “We-we didn’t really, uh- Snails?” The shorter boy looked desperately to his taller companion.

“We don’t have anything else,” Snails said ‘helpfully’, still saluting dutifully.

The girl let her lip curl up, displacing her displeasure for the first time in a while. “Then get lost,” she ordered, not taking her narrowed eyes off of them. “I’m not in the mood to have you two tripping over my heels all day.”

Snips swallowed the lump in his throat as he looked into the killer emerald eyes. “R-right,” he stuttered, grabbing his friend by the sleeve before turning and quickly scampering away.

Sunset watched them go, her eyes not leaving their backs until they rounded a corner. She let out an angry breath before facing forward and starting off again. She didn’t need any more annoyances today, especially not from those pests. Of course, she knew it wasn’t bound to last before someone else came along and continued to wreck her already troubled mood.

“Well, that’s...a surprisingly good makeshift outfit,” came the posh tones of a certain alabaster fashionista who was by her locker, filing her nails.

The fiery teen stifled a growl, wishing she still had the ears to pull back threateningly. “Better than any of the dresses you’ve cobbled together, princess,” Sunset sniped back, almost snapping her teeth at the purple-haired girl.

Rarity gasped. “Why, I never!” Furrowing her brows at Sunset, Rarity snapped back with, “At least I have more style than someone who pulls rags out of a can and calls it clothing!”

A nasty smirk lit up Sunset’s green eyes dangerously. “Is that right?” She taunted, straightening her shoulders a bit. “If that were true, you’d have taken the gala no problem, right?”

Rarity stepped back, gritting her teeth before she ultimately turned her nose up and closed her locker. “Hmph! I don’t have to listen to this. I have classes to attend.” With that, Rarity began to walk off.

“Better watch your feet!” Sunset called after her, a victorious sneer on her face. “Wouldn’t want you to get tripped up again!”

The only reply she got was another, “Hmph!”

Sunset let her smirk remain for a few moments more before it slowly faded away, leaving her with a look of dejection on her face. She bowed her head a bit, her nose scrunched up as she began to walk towards her class once again. She tried to concentrate on the test ahead but the only thing her mind seemed to pick up on was the clicking of her heels.

Author's Note

I should have uploaded this a while ago, but... things have happened. I'll make a blog about it....