Neon Rainbow

If you lie awake at night, they say you can hear the city breathe.

The city is our haven, our home, our jungle.

The City. Capitalize it if you want. City doesn't care.

City is the past, where the old is devoured by the new, like a carbon steel ouroboros.

City is the future, where the corporations and the media steer us towards a brave new world.

City is the edge, where the outcasts scrape by in the shadows.

The edge is a dangerous place to be, but sometimes its all you've got.

Welcome to the edge.

Don't look down.

The rain pounds on the roof of our van as it speeds down the street.

“Right, let's go over this again.” Vigil says.

“For buck's sake, Vigil, we've been over the plan five times already,” Wire complains. “I think we've got it down by now.”

“When we arrive, Poise and Littlefeather go in through the front,” Vigil continues, ignoring his outburst. “They scope the place while Wire knocks out security. Steel and I go in through the service entrance with the heavy ordinance once we get the green light. We meet Poise and Littlefeather upstairs and secure the package. We go out the back, and we're gone in ten minutes, no more.”

“Good to know nothing's changed in the past five minutes.” Poise snarks, securing her pistol under her iridescent evening gown. Her clinging dress contrasts with the rest of our clothing: black armorweave under gel-polymer assault vests. Wrong dress for a party, perfect for a gunfight.

“We're here.” Littlefeather says from the front seat. Like Poise, he's dressed for the occasion in the finest designer wear. Except for the handgun tucked inside his jacket, he could pass for one of the rich and famous already partying inside the club. The van eases up to the curb behind a massive limousine. A group of mares climb out, their clothing pulsing to the beat of the music inside.

I glance over at Vigil.

He nods. "Let's move."

Poise and Littlefeather slide out and head inside while Vigil takes the wheel.

“Right," Vigil says as the van pulls into an empty loading dock behind the club. “Kill the security systems ahead of us, but don't raise any alarms.”

“No problem,” Wire grins, slouching in his chair. “I've got a little surprise ready for the first responders.”

“Don't get carried away,” Vigil warns, checking the magazine on the submachine gun slung across his chest.

“Don't worry.” Wire says absently from behind his goggles, his hooves blurring over the keyboard as he penetrates the outer layers of club security.

“Sure.” Vigil shuts the van door and heads into the loading dock. I pop the bay door and we slip inside, dodging a service drone as it comes out to investigate the occupied loading bay.

“Wire, you've got a drone coming outside.” I warn him as I follow Vigil into a back hallway.

“Low priority.” the hacker's voice says in my earpiece. “I'll send it back to its charging station in a sec.”

We work our way up the back stairs to a fire door. From the other side we hear the pounding bass of the club music system, drowning out every other sound.

“Quite a party.” Vigil grunts.

“You think? I could pop a whole clip through this door and no one would hear a thing.”

We crouch by the door for another minute.

“Wire, what's our status?” Vigil finally demands.

“Just about there, boss. Littlefeather and Poise are on the top floor now. Cameras and automated systems are mine, anything left is physical.”

Either Poise or Littlefeather tries to say something. There's a low buzz in my ear and a few garbled words, our comms vainly trying to filter the speaker's words out of the aural mayhem inside.

“Wire, you copy that?” Vigil asks

“Neg, hang on, lemme clear it up.”

A line of text from Poise's comm pops up on the bottom of my glasses.

8 gds. Dmd dgs.

Buck.

We wait in the dim stairwell for another thirty seconds. It feels like thirty minutes.

Finally Littlefeather makes contact.

With target. Hit it.

“You heard the pony, Wire.” Vigil says. “Execute on my mark.” My earpieces clamp down, filtering out noise above a certain decibel. The music cuts out to a whisper of white noise.

“Execute.”

Every light in the building goes out. The music volume kicks up from deafening to apocalyptic. It's only a whisper in my ears, but the bass feels like someone punching me in the chest. I yank open the door and Vigil charges into the room. I follow.

The VIP lounge is full of ponies. Most of them are on the floor, holding their ears. They're probably screaming too, but no one can hear them. Hay, they can't hear themselves. Their outfits pulse and glow to the beat like a phosphorescent carpet. My glasses pick out two upright figures and mark them as Poise and Littlefeather. Their guns are out, firing. The muzzle flashes are little white blinks in the cool gray wash of my augmented vision.

Motion.

I fire a burst, catching the bodyguard in the neck and face. He goes down. Another one claws his way out from under a pair of writhing party-goers. My glasses helpfully bracket him in red. Another burst.

Poise has somepony by the collar, dragging him towards the stair exit. My comm reads his chip and throws up a yellow bracket.

Helix, Dex. Labyrinth Industries.

Our target.

Vigil and I cover the others while they drag our captive down the stairs. Two more guards pop up and go down.

We're down the stairs and through the loading bay. Poise and Littlefeather heave our capture into the back of the van and climb in after him. I slam the door shut as Littlefeather floors it down the alley.

Poise zip ties Helix and rolls him into what looks like a wire mesh suitcase. Littlefeather and I put it together. Should keep the Nightwings from tracking his chip.

“I've got two 'wing units diverting to the club now.” Wire reports.

Wouldn't you know it.

We roar out of the alley and onto a main street. Wire finds the promised hole in security coverage and directs us through it.

Helix starts making noises until Poise hits his cage with a stun gun.

“ETA to safe house is five minutes.” Littlefeather flashes a grin at us in the rearview mirror.

Wire sits bolt upright and starts hammering at his keyboard. “No-no-no-no.”

“What's up?” Vigil asks.

“Nothing too major, but ah, I've got two helos inbound at high speed showing Labyrinth ID tags. Looks like they're heading straight for the club.”

I chuckle. “Too late.”

“Still, that's good reaction time for heavy units.” Wire comments.

“Hey Helix, looks like someone wants you back.” Poise raps the stun gun on the cage again.

The rest of the drive is quiet. Wire gives a running report on the 'wings and Labyrinth units, which converge on the club in a snarl of conflicting force. They never head our way though, and soon enough we're rolling down the ramp to our safe house.

Our safe house is a sub-level of an abandoned parking garage. It was right on the edge of a HyGen office park that was halfway through renovations when the company got its throat slit by Applecorp International. We've had the place to ourselves ever since.

We strap Helix to a chair, throw a bag over his head, and wait for Wire to contact our buyers.

Two hours later, Vigil and I are back on the streets, rolling towards a meeting with our employer. We're in street clothes, looking like a couple of late-drinking salaryponies heading back to our corporate enclave. The adrenaline has burned off, and the bone-deep exhaustion adds to the verisimilitude.

Helix is in the trunk, secure in his faraday suitcase.

The automated gate systems emblazoned with the Zephyr Global logo roll aside as we rumble up. Vigil and I exchange glances. We're on corp turf now. Short of the princess herself showing up, royal law can't touch us now. On the flip side, if a corp kill team decides to turn our SUV into a smoking shell, there's buck all anyone can do about it.

Our nav system guides us around several turns and down a delivery ramp into a sub-level garage. As we pull up to an entryway, a suit and two security personnel roll out in a little motorized cart. The suit steps off, comes around to the driver's side. Vigil rolls down his window.

“Mr. Smith!” The suit smiles, all slick mane and perfect dental.

“Mr. Johnson.” Vigil nods curtly in return.

“I must say, I was delighted to receive your call,” Mr. Johnson continues, still smiling broadly. “I don't need to tell you that your success was of great importance to me. And your professionalism! Nothing like the last team I hired, sadly.”

“Sorry to hear that.” Vigil nods solemnly. He's faking sincerity almost as hard as the suit.

“Well, no need to dwell on the past!” the suit says briskly, bouncing up on his hooves. “Where is my package?”

Vigil pops the trunk. The two corp goons drag Helix out of his box and onto the waiting cart.

“Excellent!” The suit keys his comm. “Payment has been transferred. I must say, it has been a pleasure working with you gentleponies. If you ever find yourself in need of employment-”

“We'll call you.” Vigil interrupts.

“Very well. Good night.”

The suit hops on the cart and the four of them zip back inside.

Vigil shakes his head as he steers us back up and out. The rain crashes into our windshield like its been waiting for us. I get on the comm with Wire.

“Payment just came in.” he assures me.

“All of it?”

“Every bit, big guy.”

“Thanks. We're on our way.”

“So,” Vigil says, merging into the superhighway feeder system as the rain-washed neon blurs around us. “Coffee?”

“Vigil, Steel, you guys there?”

“What's up, Wire?”

“Got some Nightwings nosing around the park. Looks like a random sweep, but be careful coming in.”

“Copy. We're there in ten.”

I take a sip of coffee. “So what now?”

“Dunno. Got a call from Booker yesterday. He might have something lined up for us.”

“Hope its not another foalnapping. I bucking hate escort missions.”

“Nah. Said something about an internal investigation in his company. Might need some records disappeared.”

“Well, that's his business. Me, I might just take my cut from this job and disappear for a few weeks.”

Vigil gives me a look. “Watch yourself. You disappear into a bar, that's your business. I have to drag you out again, that's mine.”

“Yeah.” I slouch in my seat. Not my proudest moment, even if I told myself I had an excuse.

Vigil clears his throat. “Look, I didn't mean it like that. We were all shaken up after Satin-”

“Its fine.” I stare out the window at the buildings flashing by.

Vigil steers us inside the office complex, wary of lurking Nightwings.

“Wire, we clear?”

“Clear as can be, boss! Lowering the barricade now.”

“He's never this chipper when we're not on a job.” Vigil mumbles. “If he's got another heist lined up already, I'm going to kick his flank.”

We roll up to the pile of rubble and support beams blocking the entrance to our safe house. It doesn't move. We stare at it.

Vigil keys his comm. “Hey Wire, gate's still up.”

“Yeah, gimme a sec. Having some, uh, trouble with the system. Come on you piece of-”

Something large and heavy smashes into the SUV's hood. I see my reflection. It turns towards me. I'm staring into the reflective visor of a suit of Eclipse power armor.

Which means we're bucked.

“Shit!” Vigil scrambles into the back seat, reaching for the heavy artillery. I kick away the crumpled passenger door and do a belly flop onto the concrete. I'm screaming at Wire to activate the defenses while I scramble behind the vehicle. Part of my mind is calmly repeating: You are so dead. You are so dead. You are so dead.

“Well you see, its like this.” Wire's voice says in my ear. His voice is calm, and suddenly I know with absolute certainty that Littlefeather and Poise are already dead.

“I'm tired of this life, Steel.”

I yank out my sidearm, for all the good it'll do me. Eclipse suits can take a cannon shell and keep coming.

“I mean, do you have any idea how much we're worth to the 'wings?”

I do, because I'm vain like that.

Vigil's assault rifle rattles from the front of the SUV, his last scream of defiance.

The vehicle groans as the Eclipse shifts its weight. There's a whine-crack and half the vehicle vaporizes into its component atoms. The explosion picks me up and tosses me halfway across the parking lot.

The world goes black as my head hits concrete.

“Full amnesty.” a distant voice says in my head. “That's what you bought me, Steel.”

I struggle, try to sit up, but the world keeps spinning sideways. My gun's gone.

A shadow slides into view overhead. Airship. Reinforcements.

The Eclipse kicks aside the twisted, burning remains of the SUV and strides towards me.

Don't know why. Could just blast me from there. I cough and taste copper.

Above the looming bulk of the airship, I see an expanding ring of light. Not light. Color.

A rainbow.

The rainbow stabs down, impaling the airship. Flames belch from the top like jets of blood. The airship wobbles.

The rainbow reaches the ground and zags, heading right for me.

I dimly hear the Eclipse's whine-crack just before something blue and fast grabs me.

“Gotcha, kid!” a voice shouts in my ear. “Now let's get out of here!”

The wind screams around me as the darkness closes in.