Will To Survive

Chapter Five: Sending a Message

Ever sense Sparky and I had gotten a hold of Genocides files, Black Mail has been working nonstop to find ways to cut down Unity and Vimont. Only once have I gone on one of those little attacks. It was too easy, which was a bit strange.

Of the coast about a mile a boat called The Mocking Bird was coming in. Mercurial and I had tracked its location and found it was offloading near the Pave Hotel on the east side of the city. It was a good dropping point because the docks near there were generally dark and only the moon illuminated the area. Once the boat had landed Mercurial and I made our move. We snuck onto the crooked wooden docks and got on the boat. Inside was a something we didn’t expect.

First, the captain was drunk, no wasted, far gone beyond any possibilities of mental thinking. When we walked in on him he just looked at us, laughed, and went on with his measly little song he was humming swaying the steering wheel back and forth, even though the boat was docked. Mercurial just walked up and hit him on top of the head knocking him out, leaving the captain sleeping like a child on the ground next so some rum bottles.

Second, half the crew had left leaving the boat open. The few guards who were still around were either asleep, not paying attention, or talking so loud we knew where they were at. It was easy to get around them and into the lower deck. We managed to find the storage room, but instead of weaponry and money like Black Mail had told us, it was filled with a bunch of parts for factory equipment. We left them and went onto another room which was a small closet filled with the some money. We packed them in our bags and began searching for the weapons, nothing.

It was a quick jump off the boat and we headed back to Sparky’s Den to drop off the stash. Afterwards, Mercurial and I went to a local bar to grab a drink. It wasn’t much to celebrate about, but it didn’t matter. We snagged about five hundred bits so we're not complaining.

However, our retaliation hasn’t gone unnoticed and the two have been hitting back, and just as hard. At Mezzo Park, three of our dealers were on the bridge going across the park. They got into a shootout with some of the boys from Vimont. The fight was quickly over when they were gunned down from both the front and back. On the same day, one of our boats was heading down south to Fillydelphia to create a new trade route. The boat however, was rigged, and when it was about two miles off the coast the boat was demolished into a large fireball.

We’re not the only ones taking a hit here. The Havenruns lost their mob boss. He was killed in his house yesterday night; his wife is now in witness protection for she saw the two who assassinated him. The police know who did it, but they have yet to find them.

The Diamond Havocs, who are mostly thieves, have taken a heavy loss as Vimont cut off one of their raids. The Diamond Havocs, were trying to break into the Equestrian National Bank in attempts to get in the vault which was storing some jewelry for Filthy Rich’s wife, it was his birthday gift to her and they were holding on to it until it would be sent off to Ponyville the next morning. Halfway through they were ambushed by Vimont who went in, killed all seven of the thieves including the five security guards in the bank. They grabbed the jewels and some bits and bailed from the bank, only one was caught a day later and she is now in a federal prison near Canterlot.

Over all, it’s been a back and forth slaughter and steal between each other. The police and Royal Guard have enhanced their appearance in the city, but have done very little stop the violence. Shining Armor has called in an elite squad of ponies who train in undercover operations, and some other government agencies have also come in. So far three undercover agents had been caught. It should be safe to say what has happened to them.

Even though the police are trying their best, the bloodshed continues uninterrupted.

=========

Black Mail had asked me to meet him, so we’re meeting at nearby café. I have been sitting up on the loft waiting for about twenty minutes and he still hasn’t arrived. So within the twenty minutes I have had two cappuccinos, going for a third, watched people walk in and out, and listen to the unfitting music on the radio. The café has a more relaxed theme, nice comfy seats, stained wooden and glass tables, and some abstract art, but the radio is playing heavy metal. It’s a very interesting choice never the less.

Out the window I see Black Mail walking across the street and into the café. When he walks in I wave my hoof so he sees me. He walks up to the loft, sits down and places a folder on the square glass table.

“How’ve you been?”

I just nod my head as a response. “Well, good to know,” he leans his head in closer, “I’m surprised you’re still alive.”

I chuckled a little although it was true. “Likewise,”

He opens the folder, inside showed a picture of a stallion, medium sized with whitish coat with a light green mane. Standing next to him were three ponies that looked like bodyguards.

“This is Spearmint Trail, he’s like me. He plans out operations for Unity’s west and north cliques. The goons in the picture are as you probably already have guessed are his body guards. They never leave his side, even when he’s sleeping.”

“That’s a bit creepy.”

“No kidding, anyway, they hang out at a bar called Siamese near Victory Boulevard, it's on the other side of the river of the old casino that Vimont blew up.”

Nodding my head as a response he continues. “We need him gone, if his goonies go down with him so be it. You will be paid handsomely for this one.”

I look away from the papers up at him, “Wasn’t I just some drug maker not more than a few weeks ago, and at the same time you didn’t like me?”

He laughs with a smile, which he rarely did. “You’re moving up the ladder my friend.” He taps my shoulder as he stands up. “You’ve done good for us, and this little thing will show Unity were not messing around.”

“Alright, but I don’t have a weapon.”

“You don’t? I thought you did. Well then, talk to Mercurial and he’ll introduce you to our arms dealer. See you around.” He then walks out of the café.

I chug down my coffee and head out the door, time to meet this arms dealer.

===

When I walked into Sparky’s Den, Sparky was doing something a little bit, unusual, even for her. She was sitting next to the radio in the kitchen with a large creepy smile calmly bobbing her head to the rhythm of the music on the radio. No humming, no dancing, nothing, just bobbing her head calmly. Is this what she is like if she’s high?

“Hey Blue, Black Mail said you need a weapon.” Mercurial said while slowly boiling the chemical mixture over a fire. This is the step before the last one, where you boil the water out of the chemical mixture before putting it in the heated compressing part, where it’s likely to explode.

“Yeah, I’m supposed to meet some gun dealer.”

“Yep, I’ll take you to her. Sparky; take over for me while I’m gone.” He gets up, grabs a flashlight off the table and heads over to the door towards me. Sparky’s eyes open to show them slightly bloodshot. She calmly nods her head and walks over to the seat were Mercurial was just sitting in with the smile still locked on her face.

Mercurial and I walked out and head about a mile down the street to a stairwell heading into an out-of-service part of a subway line. We walk down and jump onto the tracks and begin heading into the dark graffiti filled tunnel. Through the dark with only Mercurial flashlight to guide the way, we get to a large green metal door; this wasn’t put here by the construction crew. Along the sides of the door were cracks and new cement where the original had been removed. It wasn’t until then I saw the original door rusted and bent slightly lodged in the corner. Mercurial bangs on the door in a rhythm similar to the one used on Sparky's den. Slowly, a small slit in the doorway opens up to show a pair of red eyes staring at me, they glance at Mercurial then the slit closed shut. With a loud bang of the gears moving inside the door, it opens up to reveal a light green mare with a red and purple mane which was partially cover by brown beany over her head.

“Hey Mercurial, who’s your friend?” she said in slightly pointing at me. Her voice is a bit lively, but her appearance isn't, eyes half shut and her ears are down a little.

“His name is Blue Sparks.” He looks over to me, “Blue, this is Roseberry Bud. She sells and fixes our weapons, reloads shells, all that good stuff.”

She gets a small cocky grin, “Yeah, just somepony with a weapon craze." She walks in leaving the door wide open. "Come on in guys, I need some company."

The inside of this subway room was immense. The grey brick walls were aligned with a large number of different weapons ranging between carbines and high powered automatic rifles. Over near the corner was a glass counter filled with a multitude of pistols and smaller SMG’s. In a room behind the counter there was a stack of boxes labeled C-4 with to RPG-7’s leaning up against them.

Roseberry stops and looks at me. “So what are you lookin’ for?”

“I’m supposed to kill some guy at a bar, not really sure how I want to do this.”

She puts on a sarcastic tone. “Well, obviously a nicely placed grenade could do the trick.”

“Uhh, something a little bit, smaller.”

She laughs as she goes over to a glass counter and looks at some different pistols that filled the inside. It was a few seconds before she does an overdramatic roll over the counter to pull one of them out.

“Here, its .40 caliber, ten round mag, and it’s the perfect size for you,” she jumps back over the counter to me.  “Here hold it.”

I grab a hold of the weapon and look down the iron sights pointing towards the wall. It was a nice size, weight, and the grip worked well. “Can I test fire this?”

Roseberry’s eyes go wide open and her ears perk up, “Hell yeah you can try it out!” She runs behind the counter once more and pulls out a box of ammunition, a paper target, and some earphones. “Come on, follow me.”

Inside the gun range Roseberry hooks a poster of Sapphire Short and reels it out about thirty feet out into the hallway. I look at her with a confused look.

“Bitch insulted me a few years ago over my appearance, so this is how I cope with it.”

I don’t think she realizes that buying that poster helps Sapphire’s profit.

Roseberry loads up one of the clips and hands it to me. I load the gun and cock it getting it ready. I had aimed down the sights and was about to shoot before Roseberry stopped me.

“The gun won’t be accurate sense it’s not set to you eyesight. Just shoot so you get a feel for it.”

I nod my head and begin to fire the ten rounds with the best of my accuracy, miserably missing a lot of the shots. The recoil was very low; it felt much like shooting a one-hoof potato gun back when I was elementary school, which got me suspended. Once the clip was finished I look over my shoulder to see Roseberry walk back in the room with three other .40 caliber pistols.

“Try these ones out.”

For the next half hour we spent shooting a multitude of guns. Finally, I made my decision, a Colt .40 with a wood finish. Then for another hour and a half was spent sighting the weapon in. She put the iron sights to a six o’clock hold. When I finally finished, we walked out of the shooting ranged, tired and half deaf, to the counter to purchase the weapon. I look around for Mercurial, he must've left a while ago.

“Alright, that’s going to be three hundred bits for the gun and a box of fifty rounds.”

“Hey, could I get a silencer for this?”

She gave a bit off a confused look. “Sure, but why?”

“Just in case.”

“Uhh, sure, then it’ll be five fifty. Sorry for the huge jump in the price, but where having a shortage on them.”

“It’s fine,” I place the bits on the table and grab the merchandise and began walking out the door.

Her slightly nervous tone quickly changes back to her lively attitude. “See you later Blue! Come back sometime A’ight!”

=====

I’m inside Sparky’s Den alone in the dark with only the kitchen ceiling lamp lighting up the table, loading the magazines for my newly purchased pistol. The front door closes, over my shoulder Cosmic Joy walking in hovering a paper bag from a restaurant. She pulls out two takeout boxes and hands one to me.

“I heard you’re about to assassinate some guy, thought you might want something before going.” She opened her box and began to eat while I finish loading the last clip and placing it inside the gun.

“That’s sounds good,” I grab the box and began to eat the noodles inside. “I just wish I could do it a bit more, stealthy, instead of charging right in.”

Cosmic mumbles with the food in her mouth before putting the box-of-noodles on the table and walking into the living room. She comes back holding a circular devise with a knife attached to the side.

“Hidden blade, may come in handy. Wear some hooded sweatshirt or any long sleeved shirt and hide this in your sleeve and if they come close,” the knife slides forward, “click.” She spent the next minute showing me how to use it. The blade can move in and out so fast you can't even see its transition between hidden and out. It sits tightly and comfortably around my hoof and is lightweight.

I hid the knife inside the sleeve of the black hoody and with a nylon strap, hid the pistol on my left side. When I was about to head out the door, Cosmic stopped me and does something she's never done before, she embraces me in a hug.

I just hug her back and once we were finished I headed off to Siamese to find Spearmint.

=====

I hitch a monorail ride over to Victory Boulevard and begin looking for the Siamese bar. After walking for about ten minutes I spot it next to a laundromat on a corner of a street. The M on the neon sign was out and the windows had metals bars over them. I head inside to see it was like a usual bar, creaky wooden floors, mahogany bar counter, and dark green tint for the seat colors. There was a light drinking music playing, a guy playing darts alone and another one in a fancy business suit drinking heavily. I spot Spearmint with two of his bodyguards; they were in the corner booth. Instead of opening fire I decide to play it casual and slid my way over to the bar and sit down on the velvet chairs.

“What’ll ya have?” The bartender asks walking over to me while cleaning a mug with a white rag.

“Anything, I don’t care.” The bartender walks off to get my drink. It wasn’t really my intention to get it but I needed it to blend in to the scene. I peer over my shoulder to see Spearmint in the corner staring back at me along with the bodyguards. The bartender walks back over and places the cup filled with the brown liquid in a glass with ice in front of me.

I take a sip, shortly after there was a tap on my shoulder. To the left of me was Spearmint sitting with anger in his eyes. I just glance at him for a moment before going back to my drink.

“What are you doing here?” He grabs my shoulder and pushes to look at me again.

“Just here for a drink, nothing more.” I do my best to act innocent.

“Yeah, I know who you are.” he leans in closer. “You’ve killed many of my friends.”

“Hmm, must’ve been an accident.”

“Yeah, nice try, here, I’m going to make you an offer.” He points to the door. “You just fuck off outta here and I’ll let you live another day.”

I just look away, “I’m not leaving here, just got my drink.”

He grabs ahold of my shoulder to try and push me once again, but I don’t move.

“Looks like we’re going to have a pro…” Quickly, I pop the hidden blade out of my sleeve and impale it into his chest straight threw his heart. I move him out of the way as to get a clear shot on the other two still sitting in the corner that were getting up and reaching for their weapons. Once in sight, I slide out my pistol and began opening fire at them. One was hit in the back of the head while the other was hit in the side and in his right arm. He falls to the ground and didn’t move, but he was still breathing. I aim once more and take one last shot hitting him in the side of his head.

It was silent in the bar except the music playing lightly on the ceiling stereo. The bartender hadn’t moved from his spot, he just stood there staring at me. I place five bits on the counter and nod my head at him, in which he did the same. I was about to run out until the bartender yells out to me.

“Hey, use the back exit.” He waves to me to get me to follow. I run into the back of the bar and began to head out.

I started running down a nearby alleyway, already you could hear the sounds of the police sirens going to the bar, which is the fastest they’ve ever responded to a shootout. I ditched my hoody and weapons in a dumpster and began walking casually back to Sparky’s Den.  About halfway, the police had gone right pass me, not even recognizing who they had passed.

When I got back to Sparky’s, I walk into the front door to see Sparky lying on her back on  the couch waving her hooves lightly around in the air. Again, no sound, humming, or any other body movement besides her eyes following her hooves. In the kitchen sitting at the table listening to some music on the radio with a little static, Roseberry Bud and Cosmic Joy are drinking some coffee and reloading some shells. As I walk into the kitchen they both look up at me.

Roseberry was the first to speak. “Hey again Blue Spark, how’d the gun work for you?”

“Good, and so did Cosmic’s blade, but it’s in an alleyway where I ditched the stuff so I could be hidden from the cops.”

They just nod their heads in agreement. “We’ll just pick it up tomorrow morning.” Cosmic said waving me over to the table and placing a cup and a coffee pot where I’d be sitting. “Hope you don’t mind, but Sparky said you’d been using this and we wanted to give it a try.”

I just chuckle as I pick up the coffee pot and pour myself some. “Speaking of Sparky, what the hell is wrong with her?”

“New medication the doctor prescribed her. It’s making her hallucinate a little bit.” Roseberry explained rolling the pill bottle over to me.

“Then why is she using them?”

“I don’t know, but she is a lot more relaxed.”

I lean my chair back and look into the living room. Sparky had stopped moving her hooves around and was now asleep, but her hooves were still up in the air. “I don’t like it.”

“Neither do we, we’re cutting off her supply.”

“Good,” Down at the end of the table there’s a white envelope with my name on it. “What is that?”

Roseberry slides it across the table over to me. Inside was a letter.

Blue Sparks,

Here is the pay for a job well done. Cash the check at the Eastern Equestrian Bank, talk to Rhinestone Ruby, she’ll cash it out for you.

-The Boss

At the bottom of the paper was the check, written out to me for ten thousand. My eyes go wide open and my jaw drops. Roseberry and Cosmic look over to me.

“How much?” Cosmic asks stopping her work.

“Ten,” I folded the paper back up and stick it back in the envelope.

“Damn, I guess that pays for your pistol, huh?” Roseberry adds in a sarcastic tone pulling down on a lever reloading another shell.

I sit down and stare blankly at the coffee on the table. All this money, just to kill some guy, this could possibly be the easiest line of business I have ever been in. The radio’s music fades off into static as it loses signal. It wasn’t long before my eyes close and I fell asleep.