//------------------------------//
// In Plain Sight 
// Story: Detour: The Road to Uprise 
// by Jetset0099 
//------------------------------//

       Jake sat down and tightened the black tie on his uniform. Any means of keeping in heat was worth it. His crew stood beside him, eager to hear what Sienna had to say. 
Condensation formed before their faces as they breathed, an obvious sign that the temperature was dropping quickly. The silence between them created tension, which didn't help any of their moods. 
"Well?" Klauss asked sternly. "What about the lightning bolt? You must've seen something."
Sienna closed her eyes and drew in a breath. 
"The lightning bolt that crippled your aircraft...was our fault." 
Klauss lunged for her, hooves stretched out aiming for her neck. Jake and Sleethoof grabbed the enraged stallion, keeping him at bay. 
"I'll kill you! I swear! You do this to us and expect us to save your life too?! I'm gonna-" 
He was silenced by a hoof to the nose from the pilot. 
"Shut the hell up, Klauss!"
Kline examined his twin and nodded. 
"It's the cold air and confinement. I learned about this in school. He's gone mad. Normally this sort of thing sets in when temperatures are much colder than what they are now." 
Klauss looked over at him with rage in his eyes, and, despite the cold, sweat forming on his brow. 
"Shut up, Kline." He pointed at Sienna. "This bitch-"

"THATS ENOUGH!!!" Jake shouted. "What in the hell is wrong with you, Klauss!? You were fine a minute ago! Sure we're all confused right now as to why this whole incident is her fault, but let's listen and get the flipping details before you pop off and strangle her! Jeez." He let go of the unicorn, and sat back down, shaking his head in disappointment. "You think you know somepony, then shit like this goes down, and they're total strangers again."
Sienna, tears streaking her face from the incident, attempted to gather herself and explain. 
"I...I expected a reaction like that. But...I..."
Jake held a hoof to her shoulder and calmed her down. 
"It's ok. I'm sure that there's an explanation for all of this, and that you didn't intentionally shoot our plane down. We're all listening. So just take your time, and we'll-"
Everything stopped as a long metal rod shot through the right side of the fuselage, missing Kline by a couple feet. Jake narrowed his eyes to get a look at it in the dim light. 
"What the?"
Suddenly, the end sprang out into four long tips forming a harpoon. Jake reared up and grabbed Sienna. 
"Get back!"
The harpoon pulled back out, taking a chunk of the fuselage with it forming a hole about six feet in diameter. The wind whipped around the interior as the elements were no longer held back. Sleethoof, Kline and Klauss immediately ran to the back of the plane to take cover from whatever was outside. Jake held Sienna back, but was still in plain view of the opening. 
Before he could say anything, ten stallions dressed in white camouflage ran in wielding knives and surrounded them. They made no sounds, and gave no orders. They simply stood there. Their white goggles tinted over their eyes, making them appear as if they were lifeless. Then, a large stallion, obviously their leader from his poise and presence, made his way in. He walked right up to Jake and glared at him. Jake opened his mouth to speak but was silenced by the leader's katana blade flying out of its sheath and resting on the pilots neck. 
"Don't...speak." He growled in a baritone voice. 
The other stallions that followed him instantly grabbed Sienna, rendering her motionless. The leader looked at Jake, narrowed his eyes and spoke soft yet menacingly. 
"Judging by your captains clothing, I assume you're in command here. So I ask you; where is Macluma Watts?"
Without hesitation, Jake responded. 
"He died."
The mystery stallion raised his head in surprise, then got angry. He paused in silence for a few seconds, then stomped his foot in rage, pacing all about the plane. 
"No! That can't be! We need him!" He stopped and whisked back over to Jake, putting his blade to his neck once more. 
"You're lying! I know it!"
Jake shook his head. 
"I'm not. He died in the lightning bolt shock. I'm assuming that's how you found us, right?"
Binary, who trailed in with Hertz, spoke up. 
"Indeed! Our eyes and ears in various places around the nation picked up a pulse coming from this exact location. So we set course for this spot. Sure enough, here you are." He looked over at Sienna and donned a devious smile. "It's so nice to see you again, Sienna. I've been so worried looking for you. You know it's rude to just run off without telling us where you're going."
She cringed upon seeing his face and hearing his menacing voice once more. Binary walked up to his leader to get caught up. 
"What's he saying, Slinger?"
The massive stallion closed his eyes in frustration. 
"Search this machine end to end. Now."
Hertz and Binary nodded. 
"Yes sir."
They checked the cockpit. Nothing. They walked back and opened a compartment in the floor. It wasn't big enough for Macluma to even fit. There really weren't many places to look on the inside of a hollow aircraft. Then, as Jake suspected, they aimed for the compartment the missing pony was in. The pilot thought quickly.
"Don't open that!"
Hertz snapped back. "Why shouldn't we?!"

"Because that compartment is the only thing keeping this fuselage liveable. If you'd even call it that."
Slinger looked irritated. 
"What do you mean? Explain yourself before I cut you open and get on with my day!"
Jake sighed. 
"When we crashed we blew out all the hydraulics in the plane. The pumps exploded and blast through the side walls of the compartment. In that very compartment is a mix of highly toxic chemicals we were transporting. All the containers are shattered to bits, and the chemicals are scattered within. If you open that door everypony here dies within a minute. It doesn't even matter if you run outside. Once you're exposed, it's in your system. Trust me, if I was going to hide a body in this plane, I sure as hell wouldn't put it in there. He's dead. The shock was too much for him according to Sienna. We crashed here because of it and found her laying in the snow. She said his body vaporized in the bolt. Not a trace of anything whatsoever."
Slinger thought this over for a minute, staring into the abyss. After a moment, he raised his hoof at Binary. 
"He's lying. Open it."

"NO!" Klauss jumped towards the orange pegasus, and stomped on the door. "You'll kill us along with yourselves! Think about the logic behind this. You completely snuck up on us without a clue. How would we have time to hide a body down there? Jake isn't lying. There's deadly chemicals below us, and that door is the only thing between life and death."
There was an eerie silence inside the plane. Beads of sweat began forming on Jake's brow as Slinger stared him down. 
"Please." the pilot begged, "nopony has to get hurt here."
Slinger growled under his breath and raised his hoof once more at Binary. 
"Don't open it. Take Sienna and let's go."
Klauss stepped up to the black stallion and stared him down, standing maybe a couple inches shorter than him. 
"You're not taking her."
Slinger began laughing. It boomed throughout the plane and made Sienna cringe. She remembered him all too well from previous years. The devious stallion glared at Klauss. 
"Listen here. We can do this one of two ways. We can take Sienna, and leave in peace, or we kill you all and take her anyways. I have six guards here," he pointed to the six stallions in white camouflage that had been standing at the ready the whole time," and they can take you all down before you can blink. I suggest we go with the first one, don't you think?"
The guards raised miniature harpoons, small enough to carry but powerful enough to stop anything they hit, at Jake and his crew. Sienna gasped as one of them seized her and cuffed her hooves. 
Klauss, filled with anger and rage, lost his head and lunged at her captor without a word. "Klauss stop!" Sleethoof yelled. Before he knew it, he was standing still between his starting point and the green pegasus, unable to move. He was confused as to why he couldn't walk or run forward, which made him angrier. The unicorn was anchored to his spot. He whipped his head around to see Kline, Jake and Sleethoof screaming at the top of their lungs, yet no sound was projecting. Then he felt a tingling sensation slither down his chest to his legs. He gazed down to see what it was, and finally noticed the harpoon sticking out of his chest, causing blood to run down his legs. He trailed the harpoon rope back over to the guard standing behind Sienna. He looked over to her one last time, a blank expression on his face, before he blacked out and dropped to the ground. Klauss was dead. 
"No! Klauss no!" Kline broke away and ran to his twin brother in tears, Sleethoof following. Slinger held the fire of the guard's harpoons and ushered for Binary and Hertz to come over. 
"Grab her. Let's get out of here."
Sienna was gagged so she couldn't scream, not that anyone would hear her out in the barren wasteland anyways. They drug her out, followed by the other guards, then Binary and Hertz. Kline was too busy in shock over Klauss' death to even notice anything happening, and Sleethoof wasn't too far behind. 
Slinger looked over to the body, then back to Jake, who was almost in shock as well. 
"Who are you?" he quietly asked. Slinger smirked. 
"We, Jake, are what you see when you think of evil. We are who you hear when there is talk of war and disaster. We are everything and everywhere. Hidden for years right under your nose. Macluma's death may put us at a setback, but we shall prevail. And soon, with Sienna at our disposal, we will be finished."
Jake eyed him down, sweat pouring down his forehead by now. He could still hear Kline sobbing up front by his brother.
"Finished with what?"
Slinger walked up to him to the point where their noses almost touched, making Jake coil back ever so slightly. He whispered. 
"If you by some miracle survive this snowy wasteland, and make it back to wherever you came from, I suggest you and your friends live the rest of your lives to the fullest...because they won't last much longer."
He backed away and whisked over to the hole in the wall. The wind picked up and rattled the fuselage furiously. Slinger looked back, his black coat flapping in the gale. 
"Oh, and don't think about reporting us! You never know who could be an Insider. It could very well be the last thing you do."
With that, he disappeared into the snowy vortex, leaving Jake alone with a broken plane, freezing temperatures, a dead body, an injured stallion, and two crew members in shock. The pilot sat down on the cold metal floor, and for the first time since he could remember, started crying. For once in his life, Jake Weston didn't know what to do.