//------------------------------// // The Package // Story: Cracks in the Mirror // by Ginger Pony //------------------------------// Faith dropped through the hatch in the ceiling of the AC vent, breathing heavily as she looked around Mercury’s lair. A single room, and no windows, but rather narrow horizontal slits on the walls running all around. A large proportion was taken up by electronic equipment, creating a low-level buzz that melded into the background after a few minutes. Three single beds inhabited another corner; one made, two not, with dirty laundry strewn across the other two. The remainder of the room consisted of white chairs and a sofa, a knee-high coffee table, and a small kitchen. In all honesty, it looked like a single-room apartment, although one design flaw was the lack of a toilet; runners had to use public ones whenever they could, and washing normally consisted of either rain, or a bucket of water. Mercury was sat by the array of gadgets and desktops, with his back to Faith, occasionally uttering a sentence or two to another runner through his headset that sat on his cropped brown hair. He didn’t turn around when Faith entered, but rather threw a packet of peanuts blindly over his shoulder, which Faith deftly caught, ripping it open with a grin and snacking on the treat. “Thought you could do with a snack, Faith.” He said, his voice carrying late over Faith’s still-active headset, which she turned off to avoid the nuisance. He finished typing what appeared to be an email, before swivelling on his chair to face Faith. His features were strong and defined; a heavy jawline and thick brows that dwarfed Faith’s more slender features and eyes. Rolled-up sleeves on his white shirt revealed the ‘track’ tattoo’s on both his muscular arms. Even though he had suffered near-fatal injuries, he had still retained majority of his physical strength and stamina, although it looked like the years were catching up to him, and Faith swore she saw a glint of silver on his scalp last week. “Hey, Effie.” Faith turned to see Kate stand up from her usual chair to greet her younger sister. Just like Faith, Kate was of mixed decent, primarily Asian genes. Her facial features were slightly more stoic than Faith’s, although were nearly identical. She was slightly fairer than Faith, and she had her jet-black hair held up in its customary bun, rather than the shoulder-length hair Faith had. Their eyes were what set them apart though; whilst Kate had brilliant green irises, Faith’s darker hazel sometimes appeared dull in comparison. Runners normally had a ‘look’ to them. Whilst many, including Faith, wore red, white, and black, Kate had had chosen blue. She had decided, ever since she had started running, to wear her issued officer’s uniform, despite not being part of the forces anymore. It was restrictive in her movements to start with, although over time, slight changes were made, such as the sleeves being cut short, and her trousers changed to three-quarter lengths. She had to ditch her boots though; during a training exercise, she had slipped midway in a wallrun, and had nearly broken her ankle due to the heavy footwear. She now wore running shoes identical to Faiths, but pure black. Her badge had changed from metal to fabric, and despite’s Faith’s arguments about remaining passive, Kate had kept her issued pistol strapped to her belt; although thankfully, she had yet to use it. “Hey, Kate.” Faith greeted in return, hugging her older sister. “Good run?” She asked as she broke the embrace, hazel looking into green. “It went well enough; had some help from Kreeg though when the wires started buzzing.” She brushed past Faith to pick up a cola, the can hissing as it opened. Kreeg was another runner, and one that Faith and Kate met with on a regular basis. Some could say that they we’re nearly friends; such commodities were scarce on the canopy of the concrete jungle. “Still couldn’t make that jump on Reynolds Street; had to take the back route around Eden Mall, and nearly got jumped by a Pursuit Cop.” Kate took a sip of her drink, brushing off the event as though it was merely an inconvenience. The creations of Project Icarus, created by Pirandello Kruger, were becoming more and more common within recent months; the death of Jacknife had done little to stop them in their tracks. Faith blinked, the other tattoo on her eye forming a whole for a moment, as she took in what Kate had said. Since the event on the Shard, and Jacknife’s proclamation, Faith, and other runners, had been trying to track down there ‘bigger fish’, yet they were always drawing up a blank. Leads emptied, contacts sometimes wound up dead, and this mysterious person still eluded them. “You’ll get there eventually, Kate; it’s not like you’ve been doing this for long.” Faith commented, finishing off her packet of nuts and reaching for a can. Her eyes caught sight of a package left on the table, surrounded by pieces of paper, empty pizza boxes, and a few gizmos that Merc had left lying around. “Is that the package?” Faith asked Merc, raising an eyebrow. She’d expected it to look unrecognisable, but the bag was nearly identical to what runners commonly used to transport data or laptops from one place to another; although this one was pitch black instead of the customary yellow. And instead of a zip, four sets of buttons ran around it. It certainly looked suspicious, but it wasn’t intimidating. “Sure is, Faith.” Mercury had risen to his feet whilst she’d been talking to Kate, also looking at the package. Faith took a sideways glance at Mercury; more a sideways and upwards glance, as he stood over six foot tall, compared to Faith’s 5’9’’. He seemed to be both worried about the bag, yet slightly amused, as though this was a practical joke or a private gag that no one else would understand. “Like I said; clean as a whistle, but you see these buttons?” He walked over to the table, inviting Faith to look closer. A set of buttons were on all four sides of the bag, and were that far apart that it would take a hand per side to open it. Now she knew why Merc said it required two people. “You haven’t opened it yet, have you Merc?” Faith asked. She’d told him to wait before retuning, and normally he followed many of Faith’s wishes; but Mercury could be impatient at the best of times, and could have demanded Kate to help him open it, just to sneak a peek. “Ah promise you, girl; it’s been there since I finished testing it, I haven’t opened it.” Mercury sat down by the bag, leaning over to grab a discarded slice of pepperoni pizza, the cheese having solidified after being left overnight. Faith gagged a little as Mercury appeared unfazed by the cold slice, deciding to dive straight into it, devouring it in causal seconds, before grabbing a second. “You know you disgust me, Merc.” Faith shook her head, chuckling as she caught sight of Kate’s expression, that was mixed between amusement and understanding. Kate noticed her sister was looking at her, and gave her a dead-pan look. “What?” she said, putting her hands on her hips, her right palm on the handle of her gun. “You need to leave it to mature, tastes better the day after.” She saw the mildly disgusted and incredulous expression that Faith wore, and Kate read what she tried to convey. Kate chuckled herself, and leant over to grab herself a slice, earning a reproachful glare from Mercury. “If you must know, I normally lived off this stuff when I had night shifts back in the CPF.” Her speech slightly muffled by the pizza in her mouth. Faith just shook her head with a faint smile, and downed the rest of her drink, throwing the can in an overflowing bin in the corner. Mercury finished his meal, and addressed the other two. “Okay, girls. Time to find out what’s in this thing.” He beckoned Faith over to the bag, brushing away the debris off food and technology. Kate stood by her sister, watching with anticipation, as equally curious at what was in there. “I need you to press the buttons on these two sides, whilst I press the other two.” Mercury indicated to where Faith needed to be, and she grabbed the bag on the sides, her thumbs hovering over the buttons. Now she was closer, she could see a small tag on the front, not unlike one would find in a Christmas present. “To: Faith Love: D” Faith read aloud. She never heard of this ‘D’, and by the understanding look Mercury was giving her, he didn’t either. “I did some questioning; no one knows who he, or she, is.” Mercury bent down to the table, mirroring Faith’s pose, but on the other two sides of the case. “I’ve taken a look at it, and it’s a simple latch system; the whole top should pop off.” He said, pointing to the buttons, then the face-up side of the bag. Faith nodded in understanding, and quickly dried her palms on her waist, her fingers sweating from fear and anticipation. “Ready?” He asked Faith, looking her in the eye. Faith nodded again, and slowly counted down in barely a whisper. “Three… two… one…” Click! … “Well that was anti-climactic” Mercury commented dryly, causing the sisters to simultaneously release their breath they didn’t realise they were holding and laugh, the tension ebbing from their body as they looked at the case. The broad side had popped of, half of it resting loosely on the released latches on the inside. Mercury, still chuckling lightly, reached and removed the lid, revealing the mystery contents. Mercury had been right; all that was in there was a single slip of paper, with a few lines of writing on it. The scrawl was nearly identical to the tag in the lid; so it was sent by the same person. No evidence of explosives, booby-traps or tracking devices could be seen. Only a patch of white against the black of the bag’s interior. Faith, Kate, and Mercury all looked at each other with bemused expressions. Wordlessly, Mercury reached in and plucked the sheet of A4 from the bag, and handed it to Faith. “It’s addressed to you, remember?” He said as Faith took the sheet, and read it out loud. “Faithy, If you’re reading this, then the first stage of my plan is in motion.-” Faith paused and looked at the other two with worry, but Kate urged her to continue reading the letter. “Don’t worry; none of your little runner friends are going to be hurt. I’ve been watching you for a while, Faith. And you’re sister, who I must say is following in your footsteps remarkably.” Kate felt a small sense of confused pride tinged with paranoia; someone had been watching them, for a while at least. He diverted her attention back to Faith, who had continued reading again. “I’d assume that all three of you are in your lair, yes? I hope so; I want this vacation to be for all three of you, and you’re going to need everything in there. Wait, what?” Faith questioned aloud, “Vacation? What’s this guy on about?” “I don’t know, Faith. But keep reading.” Mercury sounded paranoid, but had his gaze set on Faith and the letter. Kate was too, although her hand had subconsciously rested on her holster, her finger hovering over the safety. None of them noticed that it was getting slowly lighter outside through the slits in the walls, despite it being near evening. “You can thank me for supplying that equipment to you, Mercury; the gear you had earlier would have been useless for your journey.” Now Faith looked anxious too, pausing in her reading again to look at Mercury. “What exactly did you get off the market?” She asked which surprised Mercury. “Just some better versions of what we had before.” He paused, and then listed through his expenditure from the last few months. “New headsets and they run on their own signal, generators, solar panels, and some new gadgets.” He looked confused, eyeing the letter with apprehension. “Keep reading.” Faith nodded, and returned to the slip of paper that was creeping her out more and more by the second. “I suppose you could count this as a ticket to a permanent holiday; you’ve deserved it at least. And some say that all I do is spread chaos around, but look at me, I’m being nice, yes?” Faith now looked downright disturbed; this person seemed to be mentally insane, and was trying to give these three a holiday! She wasn’t sure if she wanted to keep reading, but something urged her on. “So here it is; one ticket (1) for Ms Connors, Ms Connors, and Mr. Mercury, who even through countless hours, I cannot find your last name. Everypo Everyone has to have a last name, so why not you? I’m getting side-tracked again. This ticket grants you a one-way journey to; Equestria!” Faith actually laughed out loud; this person was evidently mentally unstable. Faith never heard of such a place, much less been there. “Don’t bother packing anything, you’ll realise that you’ve don’t that already. Sit back, enjoy the ride, and see you soon! D.” Faith dropped the letter, laughing as she did so. “OK, which one of you pulled this prank?” She chuckled, tears in her eyes. “Taunting me with unknown answers and promises of holidays.” She turned away from the other two, looking out the slits in the walls, her face falling as she saw what was going on. “Guys, what’s happening?” She asked. Mercury and Kate looked at each other, then to the light now near blinding through the AC vent’s walls. “What the-? That can’t be a chopper; I can’t hear any rotor… Am I the only one that can feel shaking?” Mercury’s eyes widened in fear, the thoughts of the letter all gone. “Is it an earthquake?” Kate asked, grabbing onto the wall; only for her hand to pull away, red and blistered. “Shit! What’s going on, Faith?!” Faith backed away from the searing wall, the edges visibly reddening as heat radiated from outside, the white light blinding and loose objects falling to the ground from the increasing severe tremors. “I don’t know! I don’t…” her eyes showed the panic she portrayed, from the blinding light, to the seismic activates rocking the AC vent. Along with the rumbling from the vibrations, a high-pitched whine could be heard, growing in volume until it dominated everyone’s hearing. Time seemed to slow for Faith. She saw the shadow of Mercury raise an arm painfully slowly, pointing towards her, Kate, then to the floor. Kate had already huddled into a ball, hands above her head as everything not tied down flew across the room. Then her vision went black. The three humans lay unconscious on the floor of the lair, papers floating to the ground as smoke drifted off the cooling walls. Light came from outside, but natural, tinged yellow and orange from a setting sun. Birds could be heard, along with a faint wind that tussled the singed grass in the field that the AC vent now inhabited. A single sheet of paper fell behind the sofa, the letter facing down. A small post-script could be seen on the rear, something that would have seemed bizarre, but would have made sense when the trio eventually wake up. P.S. Did I tell you you’re going to leave Earth entirely, and become the only humans on a planet occupied my magic wielding, flying, multicoloured ponies? I guess I didn’t.