> Metasploit and Magic
>  by Dunglord
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> /u/BlueHairedGoddess
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

22:12 FooBar95 Joined the Chat

22:12 Greyhound: Holy shit

22:12 Greyhound: Foo

22:13 Greyhound: is that you?

22:13 FooBar95: yeah, it is.

22:13 Greyhound: Holy Shit, where the fuck have you been

22:13 FooBar95: I can’t say, sorry

22:13 Greyhound: can’t, or won’t

22:15 Greyhound: Foo?

22:15 FooBar95: Let’s just say it a mix of both

22:15 Greyhound: fine, then where the fuck are you?

22:15 FooBar95: Somewhere in asia

22:15 FooBar95: In some shitty internet cafe

22:16 FooBar95: using a shitty dial up connecting to connect to this shitty IRC

22:17 Greyhound: You know, your dead man switch activated months ago

22:17 Greyhound: I still have most of it if you need it.

22:17 FooBar95: Keep it

22:18 FooBar95: I just need you to do something

22:18 Greyhound: that’s how you greet me after eight months?

22:18 Greyhound: no “Sorry for dropping off the face of the goddamn earth”? just a "Do something for me"? Seriously

22:18 FooBar95: plz

22:19 Greyhound: Fine

22:19 FooBar95: You still live in chicago right?

22:19 Greyhound: Yeah

22:19 FooBar95: I need you to send a message to a reddit account

22:19 FooBar95: /u/BlueHairedGoddess

22:19 FooBar95: I need you to say this.

22:21 Foobar95: “You asked for me, but I’m sorry I can't answer your request for the time being. This man can, however. And I would trust him with my life.”

22:21 Greyhound: foo, what the fuck are you getting me into

22:21 FooBar95: I swear on my life, if you send this message, then when everything is over, you will come out a richer man. I’m not talking about you usual six and five figure contracts, I’m talking about seven to eight.

22:21 Greyhound: You fucking cunt, what the fuck are you putting me up to.

22:22 FooBar95: Sorry, gotta go 

22:22 FooBar95 has left chat

22:22 Greyhound: Oh dont you fucking dare leave me like that you cunt

22:23 Greyhound: GOD FUCKING DMANIT YOU WHORE

Chance stared at the text in front of him. Should he do it? Should he not?

22:24 Greyhound: God fucking damnit foo I swear on all that is holy, the next time i see you i am ripping you a new asshole.

Chance tabbed out of the terminal and opened up his browser, entering the URL for reddit.com, before sending a message to said user. The user seemed to be a lurker, nothing on their profile at all, except for a ‘1-year’ badge.

Before sending the message, he added a note to the top of it.

“Hey, an old friend of mine contacted me and told me to send this to you, I have no idea what the fuck it means, but he thinks you might.” He typed before copy and pasting the message FooBar typed into the text box. He hesitated for a moment before sending the message.

Already regretting his decision, he swiveled his chair to face the rest of his apartment. Staring at the clothes strewn all over. His heart pounded out of his chest as he stared at his messy bed. His eyes throbbed as he looked over at the window, allowing the light from the street light to enter the room. 

After a few minutes of thought, he ultimately decided that the best way to deal with this would be to go to bed. Stumbling out of his chair, he made his way to the bed and collapsed on top of it. Pulling the blanket over his body, he wondered what the hell he had just done. He let that thought guide him into his sleep.

</>

The good thing about being a light sleeper is that if anything happens while you’re sleeping, you’ll probably wake up because of it. 

The bad thing about being a light sleeper is, you might not like what you wake up to.

And considering that Chance was staring down the barrel of two revolvers, he really did not like what he had woken up to. Two men, dressed in trench coats, and fedoras were standing over Chance, while he laid down on the bed. As if this was some shitty detective novel. He also noticed that the door to his apartment was wide open, and the sun was pouring through the window.

“Greyhound?” The man on the left asked. “We need you to come with us.” 

Chance thought for a few moments before responding. “Seriously? Overcoats and Fedoras?” The two men holding guns looked at each other in confusion. “Is this the goddamn 50’s? Is this some shitty de-” Chance started to say, only to interrupt himself by launching his fist into the stomach of the man on the right, causing him to keel over and drop the gun, but before Chance could take down the man on the left, he felt the butt of a gun smash into his face, causing him to blackout.

</>

When Chance woke up from his involuntary nap, the first thing he noticed was that the back of his head hurt. A lot. The next thing he noticed was that a bag was over his head, he was gagged, and his hand and feet were bound. 

“Are you sure that he can be trusted?” A male voice asked.

“Nova has apparently vouched for him, but we still need to ask him a few questions.” A female motherly voice replied. Chance took this opportunity to start moving around, spitting out the loose fitting gag. 

“Owww, my fucking head.” He said, continuing to squirm within his bonds.

“Oh look, he’s awake.” The woman said. Chance could hear heavy footsteps get closer to him. The bag soon came off his head, dragging the gag with it. He looked up to see a well-built man, with short blue hair holding the bag while walking back over to a woman.

The dark-skinned woman standing before him was, for lack of a better word, beautiful. She was wearing skinny jeans and a leather jacket. But the most notable thing about her was her hair. Her hair seemed to be naturally colored blue.

“Alright, who wants me dead today? Yakuza? Hell’s Angels? The fucking Italians? It better not be the Italians, I mean seriously, you think they would get the message after I literally cut off one of their soldier's dicks before dropping him off right outside of one of their safe houses.”

The man and woman standing in front of Chance looked at each other before the woman spoke.

“Chance Rockwell, AKA, Greyhound. Born 26 years ago. You have Bachelors Computer Science with a focus in Cyber Security and were hired straight out of college to a startup company. When it went under a few years ago, you turned to crime, and soon made a name for yourself due to your brutal "let god sort them out," method when it came to dealing with problems. The only thing we can’t figure out is how you know Nova.” She rattled off.

“How the hell did you figure all that out?” Chance asked nervously, causing him to double down on his efforts of escaping the binds.

“We have our ways, now, let me ask again, how do you know Nova?”

“Who?”

“The pony who told you to send the message.”

“Pony?”

“Well, in this case, person.”

“Wait, are you talking about Foobar?” Chance asked.

“Is that what he goes by?” The woman asked.

“I guess.” Chance said, sitting up somehow. “Why the hell should I tell you anyways? And who the hell are you people?”

“To answer your first question, you don’t have to, but it would expedite this whole thing. To answer your second question, we’ll tell you later.”

Chance scoffed and shook his head. “Fuck it, fine. I’ve known him just over a decade, the dude helped me through high school and college. Even though we’ve never met face to face, I can confirm that he was never born in 1995, despite what his name may say. Right before I graduated from college, he talked around and helped me get that job you mentioned. When I turned to crime after the company went under, he gave me a contact of his who specializes in black market weaponry, and enough money to buy a pistol to protect myself. Along with putting out a good word about my skills through his usual networks. Of course, I paid him back as soon as I got back up on my feet, but I always found it odd that he would do something like that for a stranger.

“Considering how active he was at the time, it surprised everyone when he went completely dark eight months ago. At first, we thought it was him taking a break for a few days, but after a week, we got worried. Those who knew him in real life tried to visit him, or track him down, but in the end, it was a wild goose chase. I guess the final nail in the coffin was when his dead man’s switch went off three months after his disappearance.”

“Dead man’s switch?” The woman interrupted.

"its a sort of failsafe, and if the user and fails to reset it after a given time, it activates. So if you die, or something like that, it sends out a message and stuff.” Chance replied. “Should I continue?”

“Please.”

“Foo had a dead man’s switch set for three months, he could reset it at any time, but if it had been three months since the last reset, then it would run. His dead man’s switch did the usual thing of sending out a letter to his friends and whatnot, but for me, a special note was given. Along with becoming the executor of his estate. Let’s just say that I went to a dark place when I got that note. All this time I hoped that he was alive, I kept funneling the money he left behind into long term storage container expenses that he had set up before he left. and I’m glad I did that, because I now know for a fact the bastard is alive. The first time I saw him again, he asked me to contact some Reddit user, I guess that user was you?” 

The two standing in front of him looked at each other before nodding. The man moved towards Chance, while the woman started speaking.

“You would be correct for the most part. I guess I should introduce myself.” She began, as the man unlocked the bonds restraining Chance. “My name is Princess Luna, I come from a place far, far away called Equestria.” Chance stood up as the man walked away from him.

“Right, and I’m the goddamned tooth fairy, nice to meet you. Do you really expect me to believe that?” Chance began. “Show me something that can prove it.” All of a sudden, he felt a pressure inside of his head and heard Luna’s voice. ‘How’s this?’ it asked. Chance stared at Luna, who had a smirk on her face. “What the fuck.” Was all he muttered.

</>

Chance laid down on a cot inside of the warehouse. His mind having been thoroughly blown by everything he had just learned. 

“Hey, buddy, you ok?” The man with short blue hair asked, seated next to Chance. He had later learned that his name was ‘Shining Armor.’

“I just learned that a whole new species exists and that a father figure in my life is one of them, how the fuck do you think I feel?” Chance moaned before sitting up. “I don’t even know why the hell you twats want me in the first place!”

Multiple ponies, disguised as humans, milling around Chances location looked over due to his outburst, but a look from Shining Armor sent them on their way.

“Because we wish to hire you.” Luna said, walking up to the pair. 

“I mean, that’s obvious, why else would I be here. I want to know why the hell you need me.”

“A few years ago, we thought we had succeeded in our mission of destroying an evil pony called Sombra. In reality, we had only partially succeeded. Instead of being destroyed, he was merely transported to this world.”

“So? Why not leave him alone?”

“We thought about it, but ultimately decided that it would not be a viable option. Somehow, he has become a mob boss of multiple gangs around this city, and his influence is growing at an alarming rate. So much so, that he is influencing politics of this land in such a way that it is beneficial to him.”

“So let me guess, you guys want to bring him back home and imprison him or something, right?” Chance asked.

“Well, no.” Luna replied. “As far as the majority of Equestria is concerned, Sombra is dead. We would like to make that a reality once and for all.” Chance stared at Luna before rubbing his temples with his hands.

“You fucks want to give me a contract after all of this.” Chance groaned, staring off towards one of the walls of the warehouse before his head suddenly snapped towards Luna and he started glaring. “You know what? I have a question.” Chance said angrily. “Why the hell should I help you? You fucks woke me up, and promptly knocked me out via pistol butt to the face. Then when I wake up again, I’m gagged, bound, and blind. Taking all of this into consideration, what the hell is stopping me from telling you cunts to fuck off?”

“Absolutely nothing. Other than the chance to meet Nova in person, and $10 mill in total, with half up front.”

“5.5 and you cover equipment costs.”

“Deal.”

Chance groaned once more. "If this contract doesn't get me killed, I'm gonna retire to the goddamn Carribean and not look back."
> A Punch and a Hug
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chance woke up early in the morning to his phone’s alarm going off. Reaching over towards his phone, he stopped the alarm and rolled out of bed and towards the kitchen. Groggily pouring a bowl of cheerios for himself he checked the news oh his phone, before walking over to his computer and booting it up.

After finishing his breakfast, he cleaned himself up and got dressed. Before leaving his apartment, however, he walked over to his weapons cabinet and unlocked it.

Various types of rifles, pistols and melee weapons were all arranged neatly around the cabinet. Opting to go with self-defense, he simply chose a pair of brass knuckles before closing and locking the cabinet once more. Grabbing his bag, he walked out of the apartment and out onto the street.

One perk of living in downtown Chicago was that Chance was close to everything. Museums, stores, conventions, the black market, good food. If you needed it, it was within walking distance.

It was only a thirty-minute walk to Union Station, and it took another ten minutes to reach Ogilvie Transportation Center. The warehouse was up north in Lake Bluff, meaning that from Ogilvie, he would need to take Union Pacific North Line. 

‘Hey, it may be complicated, but at least it was cheaper than taking my car.’ He thought to himself as he boarded the train.’ He looked out of the window as the train took off from the platform, slowly zoning out into his own mind as the train sped up.

<Five Months Ago>

‘Going dark for a while, see me IRL if you really need to.’

That was the last thing Chance said on the server before leaving. He said it moments after Foo’s dead switch activated.

He didn’t know how long it had been since he had logged out, but he knew it had been at least a few weeks. His body had been on autopilot the entire time. And he eventually found himself sitting down on a bench, staring at the now frozen Lake Michigan.

He stared the various snowflakes that fell from the sky, letting the cold bite away at his exposed face. Lake Michigan was beginning to coat in snow, on top of its frozen ice.

But suddenly his left hand moved, it moved quickly, and methodically, pulling out a 1911 and pointing it at the approaching figure who was a few feet away.

“Relax, I come in peace.” The man said, causing Chance to lower his gun, he took this as in invitation to come closer. The man in question wore a green bomber jacket and blue jeans, his usual buzz cut mohawk had been covered up by a winter cap, protecting his exposed head from the cold.

“What the hell do you want, Declan?” He asked.

“We’re worried about you, Grey.” Chance said nothing “You just up and left us after his switch activated.” Chance continued to say nothing and opted to stare at the frozen lake instead, causing Declan to sigh. With a few sweeps of his hand, he removed many snowflakes off the wooden bench before sitting down next to Chance.

“How did you find me?” Chance asked.

“I called in one of my various favors.” Declan replied, pulling out his phone and unlocking it, showing the feed from a security camera. The camera was pointed right at the pair, Showing the pair facing the lake. “You wanna know something interesting?” He began as he put the phone away.

“What.”

“I had a whole speech planned, something that would help you get back on your feet. Its something I used to tell baby-faced soldiers when I was stationed in Iraq, but I completely forgot what I was going to say. So I’ll just say this, life moves on. Foobar may be gone, but that does not mean the world around you stops. You can take a pause, and step back for a moment, but sooner or later, you either gotta get back into the groove or get left behind. I learned that the hard way while I was regaining my senses after a car bomb went off.” Declan stopped speaking, allowing silence to take over for a few seconds.

“That’s it?”

“Pretty much.” Declan said, getting up out of his chair, he started walking away before stopping and speaking once more. “When you’re ready to jump back into life again, I may have a sub-contract available for you. You know, the normal bird’s eye view, hacking shit.”

“I may take up that offer.” Chance replied Declan continued walking away. Chance stared at the lake for a while longer before pulling out his phone and connecting to the IRC server. 

<Present Day>

“Attention Passengers, we are about to approach the Lake Bluff Station.” The automated voice said, snapping Chance out of his mind. Getting up out of his chair, he walked over to the section of the train and waited for it to come to a stop. The moment the doors opened, he walked out onto the sunlit platform. Taking the stairs down to the street, he saw a and empty cab. Making a beeline to it, he entered the cab before anybody else could.

“Where to?”

“The warehouse docks.”

“Sure thing.”

For the next twenty minutes, Chance stared out of the window as they traveled through the historic town. He always liked coming to Lake Bluff, It was something about the town that made him feel safe, probably because of how old it looked.

Eventually, the cab dropped him off right outside of the warehouse and drove away, but before Chance entered, he paused.

Chance stood outside of the warehouse, trying to find the right words to say. Ultimately opting to wing it, he entered the warehouse and walked towards Luna and Shining Armor. He walked past all the ponies disguised as humans, who were cleaning their weapons and reading over various reports. 

‘For a secret mission, they sure seem to have brought a lot of people, well ponies.’ Chance thought to himself as he continued walking. As he approached, he could see a male in his forties talking to both Luna and Shining. His hair seemed to be white, with a few orange streaks going through it, the final thing he noticed was that the man was wearing an old gray sweatshirt. As he approached, the three humans, they turned towards him. 

“Ah, there you are, I believe you have already met Nova.” Luna said with a smile. Chance said nothing as he stared at the unknown man.

“Hi, Greyhound.” Nova said Chance stared at him for a few moments before his fist lashed out, slamming into Nova’s face. Nova collapsed to the ground, clutching his bleeding nose. Shining Armor charged at Chance, however, a muffled “wait” from Nova stopped Shining's attempted murder.

“That’s for fucking leaving without telling anybody anything.” Chance said while walking over to Nova. Once he stood over his body, he stuck his hand out towards Nova’s body, letting him grab onto it before pulling it upwards, bringing Nova back to his feet.

“I suppose I deserved that.” Nova replied.

“No shit, Sherlock.” Chance said, pulling his long lost friend into a hug. The smell of blood and cigarette smoke invaded his nostrils, but he didn’t care, he was just happy that his friend was alive. “Goddamnit man, you can’t just up and leave us like that.”

“I’m sorry, Grey.” He replied, returning the hug. They let go of each other moments later, and Nova pinched his nose with his fingers before rearing his head back, slowly navigating himself to a nearby box of tissues.

Chance turned towards Luna and moved towards the ground, removing the messenger bag that was strapped to his back. Unlike many other messenger bags that seemed to hang loosely from the wearer, Chance had modified this one to be as close to him as possible, while not moving around freely. This was not done without the help of a few friends though. The only drawback to this bag was that it partially restricted the movement of the arms because of how snugly it sat against his body, but Chance would take that disadvantage over having it constantly bump against him every time he moved.

Taking a few papers out of the bag, he held them out to Luna. “Receipts, per our agreement.” 

She took them from his hand and looked over them until she saw one sheet. “Raspberry pie? How does a pie cost more than $10? And why did you add a food product for reimbursement?”

Before Chance could explain, Nova started speaking while walking back with a box of tissues. “It’s a type of computer.” Was all he said as he tried to stop the bleeding.

“I shall take your word for it.” Luna replied before looking over the receipts.

“I didn’t hurt you too badly, did I?” Chance asked, his mouth forming into a grin.

“With that love tap? Ha.” 

Everybody decided to wait for a few more moments while Nova cleaned himself up. After he had discarded the bloody tissues in the nearest garbage bin, Luna began speaking.

“Now that re-introductions are out of the way, allow me to bring you up to speed. As of right now, we are operating at full capacity. We have nowhere to keep Nova.”

“So you want him to live with me?”

“Yes, not only will it give you two time to catch up, but it would make working with each other much more feasible.”

“Fuck it, why not. Oh and by the way, I’ve been paying off your shit, the storage units you purchased are still being paid for with your money. However, I can’t say the same about your Netflix, Spotify or other accounts though.” Nova’s eyes lit up when he said that.

“Wait, you mean my bike is still there?” He said ecstatically.

“Uhhh?” Chance tried to reply.

“Princess, I think I’m going to need to make a road trip.” Nova nearly yelled, bouncing up and down like a child. The princess in question just sighed.

“Sister-Dammit fine. I’m giving you two weeks, if your plot isn't back here by then, I’m going to hunt you down and bring you back here personally.”

But Chance and Nova were long gone the moment she said ‘fine.’ much to her annoyance.

Less than an hour later they were both on a train back downtown.

Chance broke the silence. “So where the hell were you?” 

“Would you believe me if I said The Himalayas?” Nova asked

“And let me guess, you trained with monks.” Chance replied, with a grin on his face. Nova’s silence spoke volumes, causing his grin to grow even further “No way.”

“Way.”

“Bull.” Chance said while laughing.

“गंदगी खाओ, माँ कमीने” Nova said dismissively, causing Chance to shut up.

“Was that Hindi?”

“Noooo it was Spanish.” Nova said sarcastically before speaking normally once more. “Of course it was Hindi, you idiot.” Chance was silent for a few moments before speaking again.

“You really did go to India, didn’t you?”

“I thought we established that!”

“Sweet christ.” Chance muttered, turning his head to look out of the window, noticing the train flying past the buildings. 

"Why India, why not somewhere else like Switzerland, or Japan?"

"India just seemed like a good decision to be honest, I needed some time to soul search. Switzerland would have not only been too pricey, but I would need to continue to take contracts in order to maintain a living. And with Japan, I don't think living in a city like Tokyo would help clear my head at all." 

"I still don't forgive you for what you did." 

"And I'm sorry what else do you want me to say." 

"I dunno, but hearing you explain it, I get it. It doesn't make me any less mad, but I kinda understand it in a sense." 

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Nova spoke once more.

“Wait, you have a car, right? Otherwise, we probably won’t be able to go on a road trip.” Chance just stared at Nova before bursting out laughing.

“Of course I have a goddamned car.”

“Oh, that's nice to hear.”

Instead of walking back to Chance’s apartment, the duo opted to take a cab.

“So, are we going to leave tomorrow?”

“Yeah, The storage container is in Pennsylvania, so it’s not going to take more about two days to get there.”

“Really? I thought you lived in Texas?

“I used to.”

It took longer than normal to reach the apartment, but the two men didn’t mind, it gave them more time to catch up. When the entered the apartment, Chance started speaking.

“Alright, make yourself at home. It’s not much, but it’s mine.” Chance said, his face showing embarrassment at the dissary of his apartment. Empty takeout containers were piled on the floor next to dirty clothes and various electronic equipment stripped down for parts. 

“It’s much better than I anticipated, I’ll tell you that much.” He replied, bringing his duffel bag into the apartment as Chances phone began to ring. Chance looked down and paled.

“I gotta take this, get to unpacking, I’ll be back soon.”

Chance stepped out of his apartment and took the call.

“Declan.”

“Chance.”

“Is it safe to assume this call isn’t recreational?”

Declan said nothing

“Declan?”

“Somebody named Sombra just gave me a $4 mill contract for your head.”

“Did you take it?”

Silence, again.

“Declan?”

“Nothing personal, kiddo. Just business.”

“Well, If it makes you feel better, I’m on a $10 mill contract to kill Sombra.”

“Is that so?”

“If I kill him first, you won’t get the money.”

Declan was silent once more, before finally speaking. “Consider this a courtesy call,” was all he said before hanging up. Chance removed the phone from his ear and brought it in front of him, staring at it.

“Nova? Call Luna, we got a problem!” Chance yelled, still staring down at the phone.
> Gary, Indiana
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chance and Nova sped out of Illinois and past Gary Indiana in a hurry, using Chance’s Subaru STI. Not just because no one wanted to be in Gary of all places, and not just because the smell of old processed steel was nauseating, but because the duo had no idea how much info Declan had on them, for all they know he could be following them via a UAV.

Luna, for lack of a better word, was rightfully pissed. She was banking the entire operation on the fact that Sombra had no idea about their existence. But the fact that Chance now had a bounty on his head threw her plans for a huge loop.

Nova thought that bringing an AR-15, two 1911s, and a Ka-Bar was overkill on Chance’s part, but Chance didn’t want to take any chances against an Iraq Veteran turned Contract Killer.

“Ah, goddamnit. I need a smoke.” Nova mumbled, he was sitting in the passenger seat of the sports car.

“We’ll be at a gas station in about ten minutes, I’ll buy you some cigs then, Nova.”

The duo sat in silence for a few moments until Chance started speaking once more.

“Alright, as far as I’m concerned, there are three races, right? Earth Ponies, Pegasuses, and Unicorns. It’s pretty easy to tell which race is which when they are humans seeing as how earth ponies are really goddamn strong. While Pegasuses are brash, and thrill seeking. Unicorns, on the other hand, are really smart. But I have no idea what the hell you are.”

“Pegasus.”

“Really? I pegged you for a unicorn.” Chance said with surprise.

“Is that so? How come.”

“Well, pegasuses don't seem to be that smart or bright, and they tend to let their emotions guide them, rather than their head.”

“Did you forget that I basically up and left without telling anyone, Chance?”

“That… Actually makes sense now that I think about it.”

They sat in silence for a while longer before Nova started speaking.

“I’m surprised that you were able to afford an STI”

“Ha, you kidding? I have literal millions in unlaundered money. Thank you for that by the way, without your help I would probably just be doing bug bounties in my parent's basement just to scrape by.”

“Please, by all means, keep sucking off my ego.” Nova chuckled as Chance pulled into a gas station. As he stepped out of the car to fill up gas, Nova said, “Get some Newports, will you?”

Chance started to fill the car, before walking into the gas station, instead of buying Newports, he purchased a pack Marlboros instead. 

He put the nozzle of the gas pump back where it belonged, before entering the car and tossing the Marlboros to Nova.

“I said Newport, not Marlboro.”

“That's for stroking your ego, asshat.” Chance replied as he peeled out of the gas station in the middle of nowhere, back onto the road to Pennsylvania. 

It took them a few days to reach Pennsylvania, but they used that time to catch up. Conversing with each other made the time fly faster than it should have. 

Pulling up outside of a storage container, Nova found his keychain from his duffel bag. He let the car come to a complete stop before hopping out of it and walking up to his storage container. As Chace stepped out of his car, Nova opened up the steel door of the storage container, exposing his bike, helmet, and a biker jacket to the sun.

“Is everything you own gray?” Chance asked, noticing the color of the three aforementioned items in the container.

“Pretty much, yeah.” Nova said sticking his keys into the ignition of his bike. He turned on the ignition of the bike and smiled. “Nice.” He said, coaxing the bike out of the garage, and onto the street. He walked back inside and grabbed his helmet and jacket before walking out once more. He put the jacket on the hood of Chance’s car, then his helmet before walking back to the storage container and locking it.

“Alright, let’s head back.” Nova said, grabbing an earpiece and walkie-talkie from Chance before putting on his jacket. One he zipped it up, he pulled out some gray biker from his jacket's pocket and put them on. Finally, he put on his helmet, which obscured his face, along with his white and orange hair. 

Chance stuck an earpiece into his ear and hooked up to a walkie-talkie he had brought with him before walking back to his car. The duo soon drove out of the parking lot, with Nova leading the way on his bike.

They drove for hours on end, only stopping for sleep, food, and gas. 

And it was during one of those stops when they encountered trouble.

They were just an hour away from passing by Gary, it was three in the morning and they decided to stop there for a while to get something to eat and drink. Their vehicles were parked quite far away from the gas station.

“So I’m just sitting there, watching Johnny freak the fuck out. And I’m just thinking, ‘This is why you make backups.’” Chance said to Nova as the duo ate.

"A phrase comes to mind, 'Shrodinger's Backup.'" Nova commented, taking a bite of his sandwich.

"I think I've heard that one before. Its something like 'the status of a backup is unknown until you actually use it.' Right?"

They were eating just outside of the convenience store, on the curb of the parking lot when it happened

Nova was just about to clarify to When they heard the roar of multiple cars enter the gas station, all black. The tire squealed against the pavement as the cars came to a sudden halt. Chance knew exactly what it was.

“Shit, get inside!” Chance yelled, getting up and bolting inside of the gas station, Nova followed less than a second later and they both ducked behind the wall just as six simultaneous M-16’s went off, attempting to bring death to the duo.

As their assailants emptied their magazines into the gas station, they would-be victims put their earpieces on, before taking out their 1911’s. 

“Get to my car and get the AR-15!” Chance yelled over the gunfire, thrusting the keys to his car to Nova, who just nodded before bolting to the back of the store, exiting from the backdoor. Seconds later, the hail of gunfire ended. Glass and destroyed snacks littered the floor, chance could make out splatters of blood from just behind the register. 

He could make out the sound of multiple footsteps approaching, and in response snuck to the corner of the store. “Multiple hostile approaching.” He said, sneaking over to the corner, being mindful of the broken glass. Just as soon as one entered the store, Chance started shooting at him, killing him instantly. Two more rushed in hastily, guns ready, only to meet the same fate as their partner.

It’s like a goddamn shooting gallery. Chance thought to himself as the three remaining assailants opened fire on the store, attempting to kill him.

However, seconds later, the sound of five AR-15 was heard, ceasing gunfire from both sides completely.

“Two down, one hiding behind the left car.” Nova said over the radio. Chance brought himself out of cover and walked towards the entrance. Of the store. The moment he was at the window, he trained his gun on the black car to the left. Every footstep he took created more shards of glass. Eventually, he exited the store, continuing to point his gun onto the car. 

“Begin approach?” Chance asked over the radio.

“Yeah.” Nova replied. The two slowly approached the car, their guns pointed. However, they stopped the moment the lone survivor started yelling.

“I surrender! I surrender! Please don’t kill me!” The voice yelled out, Chance and Nova looked at each other with a knowing look.

“Come out with your hand up, I swear to god we’ll fucking kill you if you don’t!” Chance yelled out, seconds later, a head and two hands poked out from behind the hood of the car, the hands were just above his head. The two trained their weapons on him.

“Hands up, Mother fucker!” Nova yelled, prompting the survivor to stick his hands up even higher. Nova and Chance approached the man. “What should we do with him?”

“We’re not that far away from Gary, we’ll question him there. For now, go find some duct tape.” Chance replied, As Nova walked away from Chance and back to the convenience store, Chance still pointed his gun at the man, his finger still on the trigger. He didn’t have to wait long, though, because Nova soon came back with the duct tape in hand. Walking behind the man, Nova brought his arms down and duck taped them together, before pushing the man to the ground and duck taping his legs and face. Chance put away his gun and started pilfering through the man's pockets, finding a phone and wallet, discarding the wallet, he picked up the phone and ripped off the back casing of it before removing the battery entirely.

“We may be able to find some stuff from this phone, but knowing Declan, he’s probably loaded this thing up with malware. Gotta be careful when looking through this phone.” Chance said. “I’ll go bring the car around, keep him still until then.” Chance kept true to his word and brought the car around. He loaded the tied mercenary into the car and waited for Nova to come back on his bike before they left for Gary.

"Wait a sec, how did they find us in the first place?" Chance asked over the radio. Silence reigned for a few seconds before Nova replied.

"That is a really good question."

"Do you think?" Chance asked, his voice trailing off. 

"Yeah." Nova replied, knowing what his partner was referring to. Chance walked back to the trunk of his car and opened it with his keys, exposing the mercenary to the light coming from the gas station. Chance reached down and ripped off the duct tape that covered his mouth quickly.

"Ow! Mother fucker!" The mercenary yelled out in pain.

"How the hell did you find us?" Chance asked, staring down at the man in his car.

"I don't fucking know." The mercenary responded. Chance stared down at him for a few seconds.

"Guess you won't be so useful after all." Chance said, pulling out his 1911, causing the mercenary to panic.

"Wait, wait! We put a tracker on your car while you were in Ohio!" Chance put away his gun and picked up the duct tape.

"Thank you." he said, putting a new piece of duct tape over the mercenaries mouth before closing the trunk of his car. "Apparently they put a tracker in our car when we were in Ohio." He said over the radio, right before ducking down and reaching underneath his car, just above his tire, he found nothing. It wasn't until he reached the third tire that he found something, ripping something off that was sticking to the car, he pulled it out.

It was a small black box, smaller than his palm, flashing an angry red. Chucking it away from him, he spoke over the radio.

"Found it."

Nova arrived soon after, the AR-15 slung over his back as he glided towards Chance in his bike. Nova swapped the rifle for one of Chance's spare 1911's and the two soon made their way to Gary.

It didn’t take long for them to reach Gary, the sun was barely rising in the distance as the duo pulled up to a stop on the outskirts of the town. Nova hopped off his bike and pulled off his helmet before lighting up one of his various cigarettes. Chance, on the other hand, got to work immediately. 

Chance dragged the mercenary out of the trunk of his car, while Nova watched from a few feet away, puffing away while leaning on his motorcycle. Roughly throwing the mercenary on the ground, Chance kicked him in the ribs before leaning down and pulling the duct tape off of the man face. He pulled out his 1911 and pointed it at the man's face.

"You're going to tell me everything I want to know, or I'm going to kill you. right here, right now." Chance said calmly, the grip on his gun tightening.

"Fuck you I ain't saying shit!"

Nova sighed and tapped his index finger on the butt of his cigarette, removing the burnt ash from the end of it. "Kiddo, where do you think you are right now?"

"What?"

"I said, where the fuck do you think you are right now."

"I-"

"Smell the air, does it remind you of something." Nova nearly yelled, annoyed at the stupidity of the mercenary in front of him.

"It stinks if that's what you're asking." The mercenary replied.

"And what place do you know smells this bad?" Chance asked.

"I don't fucking know man, just please let me go, I promise I-" The mercenary begged, only to be cut off when Chance smashed the butt of his pistol into the man's nose.

"Gary, fucking, Indiana.” Chance yelled out, “and you know what Gary is known for?"

"W- what?" The mercenary asked, tears and blood streaming down his face. Chance rolled his eyes, faltering on his aim of the mercenary, before pointing the gun at him once more.

"Gang violence. If I kill you, the police will find your body by the end of the day. Within three hours after that, your death will be considered a gang-related death considering that you probably have a rap longer than your shriveled dick seeing as how you're after us." Chance rambled off.

"It don't have to end like this kiddo." Nova said, tapping his index finger against the butt of his cigarette once more. "Just tell us everything we wanna know, and you'll walk away with your life."

"You mean it?"

"Kiddo, I promise." Nova said in his usual chain-smoker voice. 

"O- ok, what do you wanna know?"

"Why did Sombra hired Declan of all people? I know the bastard, and he ain't the one to take out contracts on those he considers friends, and the last I checked, we were friends." Chance rattled off.

"He said he didn't take it willingly, something about being forced to do so under blood or something like that."

Chance looked towards Nova, who was still leaning on his bike. The duo made eye contact and Nova nodded. Chance turned back towards the mercenary while Nova spoke.

"How many people did Declan hire?"

"I dunno."

"Wrong answer." Nova replied, which prompting Chance to shoot the mercenary in the leg. Blood flowed out of the mercenaries leg as he writhed and screamed in agony.

"How many fucking people!" Chance yelled out, kneeling on top of the mercenary, his gun pressing deeply into the man's temple as his knee was planted firmly into the man's side.

"Twenty hired guns and a few hackers!" The man cried out. Chance stepped off of the writhing man below him. Still pointing his gun in the general direction of the man, he turned towards Nova.

"What kind of hackers?" Nova asked. 

"I dunno man, please man I don't wanna die!" 

"I think that’s everything." The smoking biker said, Chance turned back to the man and focused his gun, the man knew what was coming and yelled out.

"Please, god no please no no!" Was all he could say before four gunshots rang out, covering the outskirts of the crime-riddled town with the sound of gunfire momentarily. 

Chance holstered his gun and picked up the five bullet casings, while Nova finished the rest of his cigarette.

"I hate to say it, but Sombra most likely forced Declan into a blood contract. It's a form of dark magic that the princesses outlawed years ago. The only way he can get out of it is if he completes the contract, or if one of the parties that signed the contract dies. If he breaks the contract, then he's going to die within the minute. It's not something anypony can get out of."

"What do you mean, 'Die within the minute?'" 

"I mean that if the contract determines that it has been broken, It'll kill him. Not sure how it will though, the practice has been completely lost. Not even the underworld of Equestria today uses tactics like that." 

Chance collected the last bullet casing before standing up. "So what you're saying is that the only way to get out of this is to kill Sombra."

"Yeah."

"Goddamnit."

"We'll let Luna know once we get back to Chicago, for now, let's just focus on getting back home without having to kill anybody else." The chain smoker said, putting on his helmet before hopping on his bike.

Chance followed suit, getting into his STI. He let Nova lead the way back as the two drove away from the bleeding corpse on the ground, just as the sun poked its head up from the trees in the horizon.
> BadUSB
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It took the duo less than two hours to get back to Chance’s apartment on account of just barely missing the morning rush. They parked their vehicles in the garage provided by the company that owned the apartments and made their way into the apartment. As Chance and Nova made their way to the apartment, Nova pulled out his phone and dialed Luna’s number, who had been informed of the situation prior to arriving in Gary.

Luna picked up the phone just as they entered the apartment. Nova dropped his duffel bag at the entrance of the apartment and stood near the entrance talking over the phone while Chance rummaged for an old router and two laptops, after a few minutes of digging around his scrap pile, he found them along with the corresponding chargers and power bricks.

He opened one of the laptops up and booted it up.

“Nova.” Chance said, getting his attention. “Go pull your bike up front, we need to get something before we see Luna again.” Chance said. Nova nodded before walking out of the apartment, leaving Chance to his devices, he quickly downloaded Wireshark on one of the laptops before shutting it down and taking it with him. 

He grabbed an old duffel bag and placed everything in it before grabbing two ethernet cables and placing them in as well. Giving the bag a once over, he picked it up and walked out of the apartment. Nova was waiting on his bike for Chance, and started it up the moment he saw him. Chance sat on the back of the bike and brought his mouth to the helmet.

“We’re going to a shop that’s North of The Loop and East of the Mag Mile.” Nova nodded and revved his bike before taking off in that direction. It took them only 20 minutes to reach it, seeing as how Nova could weave through traffic with his bike. 

The store in question was an electronics store, specializing in repairing and reselling refurbished electronics. Of course, Rami, the sole owner/worker of the store, didn't just do that, he also sold black market electronics and explosives. Signal jammers, pi zero knockoffs, potassium nitrate, you name it, he has it. 

“Rami! Get your fucking ass out here!” Chance yelled as soon as he and Nova entered the store.

“The fuck do you want you shit head!?” A man yelled in response, appearing from the back of the store. The two men approached each other and bumped fists.

“I need an eight band signal jammer.”

“You’re in luck, just got a new shipment.” Rami turned his head towards Nova. “Who’s he?”

“Nova, aka Foobar.” Nova replied, sticking his hand out

“The Foobar?” Rami replied, shaking Nova’s hand.

“Yup.”

“We thought you were dead.”

“People tend to think that when you’ve dropped off the face of the earth for over half a year.”

“Makes sense, anyways, come to the back, we can sort out everything there.” As the started walking to the back, Rami started speaking once more. “Hey Chance, word on the street is that Declan is hunting you down. Any truth to that rumor?”

“It’s kinda why I’m here.”

“Goddamnit, Chance.”

“I’m sorry alright? We just found a phone from one of his fuckface mercenaries and we just wanna have all our bases covered before we start digging through it.”


"This won't come back to haunt me will it?" 

"I would say 'doubt it,' but they actually managed to snag us just outside Gary. Somehow they planted a tracker in Ohio, and I think they wanted us out of the picture before we came back."

"Fucking perfect." 

"Yeah, sorry, Can you just get us our equipment?" 

“Fine, fine.” Rami grabbed an eight band jammer and handed it to Chance. “I expect $500 in bitcoin by the end of the day.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll send it to you.” 

</>

“Where the fuck is everybody?” Chance said as they walked into a dark and empty warehouse.

“Gone.” Said Shining Armor, appearing from the corner.

“You sent them out?” Nova asked.

“Yeah.”

“Dick!” Chance yelled out, listening to the echo of his voice at the cost of being cuffed in the back of the head by Nova.

"Great, we hired an immature colt, fantastic." Shining muttered.

"Oh cmon, live a little! Anyways, where did everyone go?"

“Basically everypony here was training to be a sleeper agent in this world.” Nova explained.

“I've heard stranger, Reminder me to tell you about this one Russian I found that was trying to create a new drug of some kind. Blew up their entire operation and stole all their stock. Made so much goddamn money off of it. I sampled some of that shit myself and let me tell you kicks like a fucking horse, er, no offence." 

"None taken." Shining said with a wave of his hand.

Anyways, we need to get to work.” Chance said, pulling everything out from his bag and hooking it up. “Phones, everyone.”

“What?”

“I need your phones, digital watches, any kind of IoT device you might have on you. Including walkie talkies of any kind. I’m not taking any chances against Declan.” Reluctantly, Nova and Shining gave Chance their phones, he promptly shut them off and stored them away before turning on the signal jammer. He looked down at his phone. “Gentlemen, we are officially dark.”

“Dark?” Shining asked.

“Yeah, off the grid entirely.” He replied. “Nova, open up Wireshark on that laptop, I’m pretty sure the phone we got was loaded to the brim with malware.”

“Right.”

Chance sat down near the other laptop and opened it up before sticking the battery into the confiscated phone and powering it on. Once it was fully powered, he plugged it into his laptop. Seconds later, a terminal window popped up before closing.

“Woah Woah Woah, it’s doing… something funky.” Chance looked over, and his eyes widened. "Multiple pings to a server of some kind, and your laptop is probably comprised."

“Glad I brought that signal jammer?” Chance asked

“Yeah, I guess I am. Take the SSD and smash it once we're done here?"

"It's a burner, dime a dozen, would cost more to get the SSD replaced than to just trash it and move on." 

Chance turned back towards the laptop in front of him. “Honestly, I’m impressed. Whoever Declan hired, knows their shit, seeing as how this phone was somehow able to deploy a BadUSB attack.”

“But can we get anything off of the phone?” Shining asked, walking over to Chance.

“That’s what I wanna know.” Chance replied, opening up a file. His eyes widened as he realized what is was, before closing his eyes, exhaling deeply and rubbing his temples. “God fucking dammit.”

Nova leaned over and started laughing. “Tentacle porn? Seriously?” 

Shining Armor could only stare in shock at what he was looking at, eventually, he regained his senses, and muttered, “humans are fucked up,” before walking away.

</>

“So what did we figure out?” Luna asked

“Other than all the disturbing shit we found on the phone, we were able to find a few useful bits of information.”

“What kind of information?”

“Sombra seems to be running some kind of data farm of sorts in a warehouse over in Aurora. We don’t know exactly what is on that server, but we do know that it is heavily guarded.”

“Are you suggesting that we attack it?”

“Not in the traditional sense. Chance and I will work something out.” 

“Ok then, are you ok with this, Shining Armor?” Luna asked, looking over at Shining who had a distant look in his eyes. As if he had seen things that no man was to see.

“Uhh… Shining? Buddy? You there?” Nova asked. Getting no response he spoke again. “I think we broke him.”
> Deadly Psychopaths
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was midnight when a black STI pulled into a parking lot a mile from a warehouse. Two men stepped out of the car, They put on their bandannas and grabbed their bags before walking away from the car. 

They hid away in the shadow of the night as they crept their way to a warehouse. Their suppressed pistols at the ready as they came closer and closer to the warehouse in question. The moon above them cast its light on the ground that they trod. 

Once the felt they were close enough, they pulled out their laptops from their bag and set their guns to the side. 

Their dimly lit laptops were the only source of light around them as the worked their way into the target network.

“I’m in.” Nova said Chance followed soon after. 

“Thank God for IoT Cameras.” Chance muttered.

“You seeing what I’m seeing?” Nova asked.

“You mean the fuckface with the laptop sitting in the middle of the room? Or the ungodly amount of honeypots?”

“Both.”

“Most of the honeypots we can cross off, but we’ll have to be careful, anyways.”

It took them a while, but they found the correct server. 

“Downloading everything.” Chance said. But just as soon as he started, Nova spoke.

“Uhhh, Chance? You might wanna take a look?” Chance looked over and saw the camera feed.

The previously mentioned man who was in the warehouse was staring at the camera, smiling. His smile was not one of sincerity, though, it was one of malice and bloodlust. The two could only stare in horror as the man picked up a walkie-talkie next to him and spoke into it. Moments later, shouting could be heard near the warehouse.

“We have intruders! Find them, and kill them!” An authoritative voice yelled out. “Move your fucking asses you dickless shits!” It finished. Right after that, both computers received a notification. It was a simple, network wide, a message for all devices that were connected to the network.

‘Now the fun begins.’

The man from earlier, with a sinister grin still plastered on his face, lethargically stood up and grabbed an AK-47 before bolting out of view of the camera, kicking his laptop over in the process.

Nova put away his laptop, while Chance hid away even more. The only reason they had won their last shootout was because their attackers were complete dumbasses, but these men were trained professionals, all of whom hailed from some kind of military background.

They would not most likely survive if they got into a gunfight.

The only thing they would be able to do is to hide, and pray.

But just as the download finished, a rain of AK bullets rained down on the duo. They scrambled for cover as bullets flew past them. The unnamed hacker, realizing he had emptied his magazine, retrieved another magazine and yelled out, “kill them!” 

Using the new magazine, he removed the old one, and let it clatter on the ground noisily as he loaded the new one in, and pulled back on the charging handle. Giving Nova an opportunity to fire at the hacker.

Only to have the gun shot out of his hands, rendering it useless, as the lead from the bullet scraped against his fists. Causing a cloud of blood to appear.

“Nova!” Chance screamed, as his partner fell to the ground. 

“I’m fine! Get us out of here!” Chance pulled out a smoke grenade and removed the pin before throwing it at the hacker with the AK. It landed near his feet before pushing out its contents. Giving them a chance to escape.

“This isn’t over, cockweales!” The psychopathic hacker screamed as they ran away.

They reached the car with the mercenaries hot on their heels. As soon as Chance started up the car, more bullets rained down on them, causing the duo to duck. Broken glass rained down as Chance to put the car into reverse. He gunned it out of the parking lot as bullets hailed over them, using the display just below the radio to guide himself out of the parking lot.

As soon as they were out of the parking lot and on the street, Chance turned the car around gunned it out of there.

“That was way to fucking close!” Nova yelled.

“No fucking shit sherlock! Who the fuck was the psychopath?!”

“Fuck if I know, just get us our of here!” Chance took his advice and continued to do just that. 

The gunned down multiple streets for a half hour before feeling comfortable enough to pull into an alleyway.

Chance and Nova stepped out of the car, having just escaped death by a hair's breadth, Nova paced around while Chance opted to keep his hands on the roof of the car.

"Sweet Celestia!" Nova yelled.

Chance stared at the pavement while he babbled breathlessly, unable to find the words to respond to his partner.

His head was pounding every half second, he wanted the blood rush to stop, but he couldn't stop it. The sudden lack of adrenaline caused his legs and arms to shake with exhaustion. The image of Nova getting grazed by a stray bullet kept on playing on repeat in his head. The splatter of blood where the bullet made contact, the sparks of metal that came from the destruction of his gun, the look of pain on his face. It kept on playing on repeat.

Again.

And again.

And again. 

Until it became too much.

Chance couldn't stop himself from regurgitating his previous meal onto the pavement, he couldn't move the hair out of his face. He barely noticed Nova rushing over to him and holding his hair back. He could only stare down at the vomit below him, mixing with the tears streaming down his face.

"Let it all out, c'mon, buddy." He barely heard Nova say.

Eventually, he collapsed onto the ground, falling onto his knees, as he stared down at the vomit in front of him. 

"We're still not done." Chance heard Nova say, He turned to see the elderly man staring back at him, before gesturing to the car, Chance turned back towards the car, noticing the abundance of bullet holes and shattered glass. "We need to do something about that, we go out onto the street like that, we're going to get pulled over in a matter of seconds."

Chance stood back up on his feet, pulling out his phone. "Yeah, I'm gonna call someone to pick this car up. God, Takumi is gonna kill me when he sees this."

"You do that, in the meantime, I'm going to call Luna, she's going to want to know about this anyways."

It took Luna less than three minutes to get there due to her teleportation skills, however, Takumi took much longer to get there. When he finally did arrive, he did so in subtle style. From the Chrysler that arrived, stepped out a suited bodyguard from the driver's seat. He rushed to the back door of the car, and opened the door, allowing an elderly, Japanese man who held an elegant oak cane. His eyes were the most shocking part of his body, however, one of them was milky, rendering said eye blind.

“You better have a damn good reason for waking me up this early you shit head!” Takumi yelled with a heavily accented voice. Chance shivered in fear, knowing there was no way to get out of it. Takumi pulled out a cigarette, his bodyguard pulled out a lighter and lit the cigarette for him.

“Just, take a look for yourself.” Chance muttered, knowing full well he would be heard. 

Takumi blew past Chance and approached the bullet-riddled car. When he was close to the car, he stopped moving. Nova and Luna stared a Takumi while he walked around the car, peering at it from every angle possible, until Takumi tossed his cane up in the air, grabbing it like a baseball bat, before swinging it into Chances stomach.

Luna and Nova winced as Chance crumbled into a heap on the ground.

“What the hell is wrong with you, boy?!” Takumi roared.

“Oh fuck.” Chance groaned.

“I give you this car, A turbocharged STI, for basically free! And this is how you treat it?!”

“Oh fuck this hurts.”

“Are cars some kind of toy to you?! Something that you can just toss around willy-nilly without expecting consequences of any kind?!”

“No.” Chance said meekly as he got up off the ground. “Can it be fixed?”

“You’re lucky most of the damage is mostly cosmetic. If it had been worse than you would be stumbling away with cracked ribs instead of just a bruise.” Takumi turned towards his guard. “Regi! Call the tow truck!” 

</>

“So that’s the famed ‘half blind drifter,” eh?” Nova commented when they reached the apartment.

“Yeah, you start sifting through all the shit we got, I’ll gonna try to sleep off this pain.” Chance said, collapsing onto his bed.

“Sure.” Nova replied, pulling out his laptop. 

The two had been teleported back to the apartment, courtesy of Luna, after Regi and Takumi loaded up Chance’s car into a tow truck. During which Takumi continued to scold Chance, while Luna and Nova stared in amusement. Of course, Luna had taken the liberty of healing Nova’s wounds during Takumi’s ranting.

Chance closed his eyes and attempted to fall asleep, silently calling out to the Sandman. But after thirty minutes of tossing and turning at seven in the morning, his response from the Sandman was a ‘Fuck you’ as he opened his eyes in annoyance.

“God fucking dammit.”

“Can't sleep?”

“No.” Chance replied, rolling out of the bed. “Find anything good?” 

“You remember the hacker, right? mother fucker is apparently one of Sombras Lieutenants.”

“Well, shit. Find anything else?”

“Yes, actually. The server In question has multiple records of both politicians and people in high places getting paid large amounts of cash.”

“You’re kidding me.” Chance replied, getting up out his bed and walking over to Nova’s laptop.

“I wish I was.” Was the reply he got, as Nova turned the laptop towards Chance.

“Well I’ll be damned, Senator Adam Booth of all people? Wow. He was one senator that I actually liked.” Chance exclaimed a tinge of hurt in his voice. “How many other.”

“Fifty House members, and twenty other senators, from both sides of the political spectrum. This is excluding other civil servants, of course.”

“Holy shit.”

“No kidding, I’m sending an email to Luna and several other Equestrian agents we have all over the nation, and a few in Canada as well. We’re going to need to clamp down on this ASAP before we can even think about targeting him directly.”

“I’m gonna see if we can find some dirt on Adam.”

</>

“Hey, Nova!” Chance yelled, trying to capture the attention of his friend who was in the kitchen.

“What!”

“Remind me never to use the password, ‘password.’”

“Why? Did you find something?”

“I guess you could say that.”

Nova peered over the laptop before breaking out into a smile, “Well, that sure is convenient.”
> Trouble
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the dead of night, when the moon was at its highest peak, an SUV slowly rolled up to a curb and came to a stop outside of a warehouse. No words were said as five men stepped out of the large car. Most of whom had varying hair colors. 

One blue, one grey, one orange, and one green, all of which looked completely natural down to the roots of their scalps. Save for one man, whose short and naturally brown hair rippled in the wind as he walked to the trunk of the car. 

"Remeber, this is a small, quiet op, silencers are a must, conserve your ammo. And above all else, no weird ass magic shit, got it?" Chance stated as he pulled out a weapons crate from the trunk. 

"Understood." Shining Armor replied as he opened the weapons crate and pulled out an M16. Chance and the other two Equestrian natives also grabbed M16s of their own. Nova was about to grab one, But Chance grabbed his hand.

"Nova, you'll be running recon from the car. If you see anything fucky, let us know." Instead of letting go of his hand though, he placed a small silenced 9-millimeter pistol into the palm of Nova's hand. "No matter what, do not step out of the car. Worst comes to worst, just get the hell out of here and report back to Luna, understood?"

"Yeah." Nova replied, pocketing the pistol and walking back to the driver's side of the vehicle.

"Right." Chance said as he placed a mask over his face. "it's showtime." 

<Five minutes later> 

"Sweet merciful Celestia there's blood fucking everywhere!" Shining yelled out as he held his hands over the bleeding stomach of the orange-haired man in an attempt to keep more blood from spilling out onto the seats of the car. Shining wasn't doing so well himself either, his face was bloodied with a mix of his own blood and his partners while he gave rudimentary first aid.

"I think that shot broke my ribs a bit." The green haired Equestrian native gurgled out. 

"Ohhh shit, that is a lot of blood." The orange haired man said as he looked down at his gut in wide-eyed horror. "I think I'm gonna need a medic."

"Don't worry we'll get you to a nice field medic, just hang in there!" Chance turned around and yelled out, his left arm was bent in a way that no arm could be bent without obviously being broken. "Get us the hell back to the compound!" He roared out while smashing his right arm onto the armrest of the car in agony. 

"What the fuck do you think I'm doing fuckface!" Nova yelled out, going at least triple the speed limit in an attempt to hopefully save the orange haired man. 

"GRRAAAAH I'm gonna kill that fucking cunt of a fucking unicorn when I get my hands around his goddamn fucking throat god fucking dammit!" Chance yelled out once more. Continuing to slam his good arm down on the armrest of the SUV in a mix of excruciating pain and frustration. 

</>

Chance and Nova sat at the end of a table right across from Luna. The Lunar princess looked annoyed, to say the least, her face was turned in what could be considered a permanent frown while she pinched the bridge of her nose. 

Chances arm was wrapped in a cast, and his head was nodding about to the side as he often jerked it back to an upright position. Struggling in an attempt to not nod off due to the painkillers he was on. Nova had his elbow propped up onto the table and a hand over his forehead, blocking his hair from getting in his vision. 

"I don't think I need to say how disappointed I am right now." Luna simply said. 

"As if the arm wasn't any indication of how I fucking feel." Chance muttered as he picked up a styrofoam cup filled with coffee, bringing it to his mouth. 

Luna's arm shot out and quickly grasped into a fist out in front of her. The cup chance was holding, for lack of a better word, imploded on itself, sending coffee splashing all over his shirt and hand. 

"Goddamnit, that's hot!" Chance yelled as his hand shot down to his jeans in an attempt to wipe off the scalding liquid from his palm. 

"Thou will be quiet, lest we make thine arm look liketh paradise as a result of what we will do." Luna quietly said, her voice dripping with enough venom to kill an entire city with one drop. Chance, wisely, shut up. 

"How the hell did he know that we were coming?" Nova asked.

"I honestly do not know, I might have to consult with my sister for help is we cannot make any more progress," Luna stated. "Two of our best ponies won't be able to see the end of this operation that they've been a part of since the beginning on account of their injuries. And the other will have a large scar on his face till the day he dies. Explain to me why I shouldn't drop this contract and remove you from the land of the living where you sit?" 

"To be fair, scars do get you laid." Chance muttered

"He's married." Nova muttered back.

"I just want this fucker dead honestly. And while you may be able to kill me, do you really want to throw $5 million out the window just because you got a bit pissy?" Chance said at normal volume this time. "Once this is done, I'm gonna take that cash, tumble it, and retire to the goddamn Caribean. Bastard shot up my fucking car and turned my friend against me." Chance said to no one.

"And whose idea was it to take your personal vehicle to a goddamn raid?" 

"Oh, what else would we have used? Your bike?" 

Chance tried to speak but instead found himself being barely able to breathe, a large amount of pressure was being placed on not only his chest but Nova's chest as well. They turned to Luna, whose hair was flowing with a massive amount of energy, her eyes were glowing with a light blue tinge as she glared at both of them. 

"We sayeth SHUT UP!" She yelled, reaching Royal Canterlot Voice levels of loud. "Continue to bicker liketh foals and we shall dispose of both of you in Lake Michigan!" Her eyes and hair flared up even more at the mention of the lake, and the pressure on both of the men's chests increased to the point where they were practically gasping for air. "Do we make ourselves understood?" 

"Yes." Chance gasped out. She snorted and her hair went back down to its normal position, and in a blink, her eyes returned to their starry blue.

"Good. Now go home and rest, we'll call you if you're needed." 

Chance stood up and glared at Luna. 

"You do that again, and I'm ending the contract." He turned to Nova. "Cmon, you're driving." Nova silently got up and walked with Chance out the warehouse and into the rental car that Takumi provided for Chance. 

"Where to?" Nova said, adjusting the seat and starting up the car.

"Fuck if I know, anywhere but here sounds pretty good."

</>

Chance stared down at the box of nachos and cheese in front of him, he looked up at Nova who was in the middle of devouring his first quesadilla. 

"You know, when I said, 'anywhere but here,' I didn't mean fucking Taco Bell."

"Oh lighten up, its been months since I've visited one." 

"Yeah, dropping off the face of the earth has that consequence." Chance said, Picking up a nacho and sticking it in his mouth. "So, that whole light show with luna and the ye olde speak, what the hell was that?" Nova sighed and put down his quesadilla, taking a sip of his soda. 

"Did they change the formula for Baja Blast or something?" 

"Nova." 

"Right, sorry." He put the drink down and looked at Chance. "So around a thousand years ago, Luna was corrupted by a dark spirit, and transformed into a being called Nightmare Moon." 

"That doesn't sound good." 

"No, it wasn't. It preyed on her insecurities of how the ponies of Equestria favored her sister's daylight instead of her moonlight. As a result, Princess Celestia used something called the 'Elements of Harmony' To seal her away on the moon for 1000 years in what was a futile attempt to break the spirit that had taken hold. Then after she broke out a thousand year later, the new bearers of the elements were able to free her fully, reverting her back to her normal form, freeing her from the dark spirit."

"And I'm guessing the olde speak was because that's how Equestria normally spoke before she was banished." 

"Apparently."

They sat in silence a few minutes more, before Chance spoke once more. 

"None of this makes sense though."

"Magic, Chance." 

"No, not that. How we keep getting blindsided by Sombra. First, they managed to snag us in Ohio, then the failed raid a couple of days ago, and now tonight. It's almost like they know what we're... planning..." Chance trailed off and looked at Nova, who had stopped mid-chew to stare at him. He slowly swallowed his food and pulled out his cellphone.

"Luna? How fast can you get here?" Nova asked. Chance saw a small flash of blue outside the window, the door opened a few moments later, and in walked none other than the Lunar Goddess, dressed in a black leather jacket, and blue jeans. She spotted Nova and Chance and began walking to them. When she sat down, Nova offered her one of his spare quesadillas which she took with a quick thank you before digging in. 

"So what did you call me here for?" Chance looked around to make sure no one was listening and dropped his voice to a whisper. 

"You might have a mole within your operation."

"Truly?"

"First Ohio, Then the first raid, now this." 

"And that's the pattern you're going with?"

"Yeah."

"Very well, I think it may be time to lay down bait and wait for a time to strike." She looked down at the quesadilla and back at Nova. "This is really good, can I take this with me?"

"By all means." 

"Many thanks. Well, I should be off, Sister will want to know of this." She stood up and continued to chow down on the food, as soon as the door of the taco bell shut behind her, she disappeared in a small flash of light.

</>

After they finished eating, the duo made their way to Chance's house, Nova sat himself down at Chances computer and began working on a plan to weed out their potential mole, while Chance sat on his couch in front of his TV. 

"Hey, Nova?" 

"Yeah?"

"What's Equestria like?"

"A question like that has many answers, but I suppose I can tell you that it's nowhere near as violent as Earth is." 

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"If that's the case why did they send you here decades ago then?"

"The Canterlot Research Institue stumbled upon this word a couple centuries ago actually. They've been sending in sleeper agents and whatnot ever since, I just so happened to be one of the select few that were given the opportunity to visit a new world filled with new tech. And let me tell you, I wish bulletin board systems were still prevalent. Now everything is done over chat or forums, and that's boring as shit."

"And what, BBS systems aren't boring?"

"Hell no, they had games and shit."

"Yeah, text-based games." 

Before Nova could retort, however, The door to Chances small apartment burst open. The duo instinctively pulled out their weapons and began firing on the intruders. 

"Shit!" Nova yelled. None of them noticed a grenade roll just feet away from Chance. The resulting explosion flung chance out his second-story apartment through the window and onto the pavement of the alleyway below him. He laid in a crumpled heap next to a dumpster as he tried to push his body up off the ground, fading in and out of consciousness due to the pain. 

"Chance!" He heard Nova yell, Pushing himself up, he saw Nova bolt down the alleyway. "Chance! Hang in there!" 

"Nova." He muttered. "How are you still alive?" He asked one Nova came close. Nova began to pick up Chance, propping one of Chances arms over his shoulder, helping him walk out of the alleyway.

"They're a bunch of dipshits that run in gun first, it was like a fucking shooting gallery, cmon, let's get you out of here." 

Their escape was thwarted due to the fact that multiple Humvees screeched to a halt outside of the alleyway. Men burst from the vehicles, arms at the ready to cut down their target. 

"Ah shit." Nova muttered pulling out his own gun and aiming it at the goons hellbent on killing the duo. But his efforts were quickly cut down due to a bright blue flash that appeared just in front of them. Luna was floating in the air, her arm stretched out towards the goons. She curled her hand into a fist, and both Chance and Nova noticed the gravity around them increase. 

The goons crumped with a scream as their bones gave out suddenly. The Humvees they arrived in crumpled due to the sheer amount of gravity that was dragging them down, eventually exploding in a fireball. 

'An actual deus ex machina, just my luck.' Chance thought to himself as he saw the woman, Her hair seemed to be flowing with energy. The fire casting a large shadow. The only thing that confirmed that She was Luna was the flowing hair and the blue eyes that glowed as bright as a sun. Before he passed out, He saw her raise her hand at them and form it into a fist before a blue flash of light consumed both him and Nova.
> Cane
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

There was a great difference between falling and floating. The former was accompanied with a great rush of wind and more often than not, screaming depending on the circumstance. The latter though was a brand new experience for Chance. 

As he looked into what could only be described as a view of the night sky that the city hid from him, he saw hues of dark blue, intertwined with flashes of white representing stars that scattered and moved in real-time across the sky. 

Chance didn't want to move, he felt safe. And Despite the night sky bearing no warmth, he felt it anyway. But he felt a presence of some kind next to him, and curiosity won him over as he looked over. A blue pony, with both wings and a horn. It was already looking at him as if waiting for him to acknowledge her existence. 

"Beautiful, isn't it?" It said, with a distinctly feminine voice.

"Hm?" He replied, being lowered to the ground. 

"The Dreamscape." 

"Is that what this place is?" 

"Aye." Chance looked away from her and back up to the sky. 

"It's beautiful." 

She trotted over and sat down next to him, lying down on her back as well. 

"Aye, I come here whenever I feel my duties overwhelm me. It helps that I am the warden of this place." They stared up at the sky together. 

"Luna, I assume?" 

"Correct." 

"What happened?" Luna sighed. 

"You were gravely injured." 

"How bad?"

"Multiple broken and fractured bones. Severe burns coupled with extensive tissue damage. We had to keep you in a medically induced coma for a couple of weeks." 

Chance felt himself begin to sweat as he tried to get up off the ground, his heart pounding in his chest. 

"Wait, where am I?" He asked. 

"Chance, please calm down, I can explain everything, but not if you panic like this!" Luna commanded rising up off the ground and approaching Chance. He backed away, his vision began to blur and fade, slowly being replaced with that of a tile Ceiling. Immediately he began to move around, trying to rip off the medical devices. He noticed his arm, the skin looked like it had been through an acid bath of some kind due to its scarring

"He's awake!"

"Where the fuck am I?" He croaked, looking over to the voice, in its place he found a unicorn wearing medical scrubs and a stethoscope. "Where in the fuck am I!" He asked once more his heart pounding as he tried to rip off the various medical devices. 

"He's becoming maniac, administer sedatives." He heard another voice call out, as he felt hooves press him down firmly on the bed. He felt a pinch in his arm, and his view slowly faded, being replaced with the sky view of the dreamscape. He immediately shot up and backed away from Luna.

"Chance, you need to calm down, I will explain everything but I can't if you don't calm yourself!" Luna said, walking towards him, only for him to walk backward away from her in fear. 

"Two fucking weeks? I was out for two fucking weeks?" 

"Chance! Please! Just listen to me." Chance slowed down and looked at Luna.

"You've mostly recovered, except for intensive scarring. Your injuries as of right now are only cosmetic."

"Everything will be alright?"

"For the most part yes. And if I recall correctly, weren't you the one that said scars get you laid?" Luna asked with a small grin. Chance chuckled a bit.

"Yeah, to be fair I was high on painkillers." Chance sat back down. Luna walked over to him and enveloped him in a hug with a wing. 

"You can't go back to Earth right now, though. Due to the risks associated with those that are hunting you."

"I thought as much. That's why I'm here right?"

"Aye." They sat in silence for a few more moments.

"Why did you rescue me? You had no obligation to, yet I'm still alive."

"From a fiscal perspective, we did not want over 5 and a half million dollars to go to waste. But from an emotional perspective, Nova stated that he would refuse to continue work on this mission if you were not given adequate medical care." Chance said nothing as he let himself fall deeper into Luna's side, He let the soft fur shield him from the world as he lost himself in thought. "Are you ready to awake? I'm sure he would like to speak with you."

"...sure." Chance heard something akin to multiple windchimes as his vision faded. The feeling of being enveloped by feathers and fur faded as well as his vision went white. 

</>

[This plays softly in the background (Central Heating - Heatwave)]

Chances eyes fluttered open. His eyes lazily staring into the ceiling as he tried to regain his sense. He looked around hearing the sound of some music come from his right. He could immediately tell it was funk of some kind. He tried to remember what he saw earlier. While he couldn't remember the exact details of the conversation he had in the dream, or who he had the conversation with. He somehow knew he was not on earth anymore, and that the ponies had apparently been attempting to take care of him and heal his injuries. It was odd, he knew this information, but he wasn't able to recall how exactly he gained that knowledge. 

Chance tried to push himself up and out of the bed, but he soon noticed that he was strapped down. His memory came flooding back to him and he soon realized the reason why he was strapped down. He settled back down and looked over for the source of the music. 

There was a small music player next to him that was currently running, but more importantly, was the pony sitting next to it. A grey pegasus with a white mane littered with a couple of orange streaks. The pegasus had a cigarette hanging in his mouth, and his eyes were closed as his head bobbed up and down softly in tempo with the music. 

To Chance, the colors were a dead giveaway for identifying who was sitting in that chair, so he acted accordingly. 

"Turn that bullshit off." He muttered, just loud enough for Nova to hear. The pony's eyes shot open and immediately focused on Chance. Nova froze for a few seconds, his eyes locking with Chances. He took his cigarette out of his mouth and dropped it in the ashtray next to the music player before pressing a button on said player, turning off the music, all while maintaining eye contact. After that, he leaned back into his chair, still focusing on the human in front of him. 

"So this is what you look like?" Chance muttered. 

"Yup."

"Looks good." 

"Thanks." Nova responded. They sat in silence for a few more moments.

"Mind getting me out of these things?" Chance asked, looking down at the straps that were holding him to the bed. Nova nodded and pressed a button that was on the wall. A few seconds later, a nurse walked into the room. She froze when she saw that both Nova and Chance were staring at her. Quickly shaking her head, she began to walk over to them. 

"I see you're awake now, sir." The nurse stated. 

"It would seem so." 

"I'll go ahead and get those restraints off of you now." The nurse said, walking over to his left side, and removing the straps that kept Chance down on the bed.

"Thanks." Chance muttered. 

"No problem, do you need anything else?" Chance was about to ask for something to drink but was interrupted by Nova. 

"Can we have some privacy for a bit?" Nova asked softly, attempting to remove any perceived hostility from his tone. 

"Of course, However, the doctor will be here in the next few minutes for a checkup." The nurse backed away from the bed and began trotting out of the room. As soon as she was out of earshot. Nova spoke up once more. 

"You look like shit."

"I feel like shit, holy fuck. What the hell happened?" Chance instantly responded, looking down at the intense scarring on his left arm. 

"The leg too." Nova chimed in. Chance looked under the cover and grimaced. The entire side of his left leg was ripe with burn scars. "Muscle damage. Don't try walking on your own for a bit." 

"Holy fuck." Nova dropped the covers and his arms before leaning back. "And I'm in the fucking magical horsey land too." 

"Yup."

"It feels weird because you're like twice my age and you're so fucking adorable." 

"You're not the first to say that." Chance froze at that, something was odd about that statement. 

"...Nova, how long?" Chance muttered. 

"How long what?"

"How long have you guys established contact with Earth?"

"Just me, or...?" Nova asked, trailing off.

"Both." Nova gave a sigh at that 

"For me, I came sometime around '72 when I was around 8. But Equestria established stable contact with your world sometime in the 20s." 

"You were 8? Why so early?"

"Well, mostly to act as a sleeper. Plus the rapid rise in technology during the 70s and 80s prompted Princess Celestia to learn more about our technology. And it just so happened that during that time, a little pegasus colt got noticed by the crown for making a fully functional airship out of spare parts in the recycling bin. So they sent him to earth to learn about the technology. What their researchers couldn't understand, I could. And it was like a slice of cake. It was enthralling. And it's a good thing too because that drive to learn anything and everything translated over. 

"So that's why so many IRC vets think you're an old-timer." 

"Because I found the world at 8, and didn't let go." Nova leaned back into his chair with a smug grin on his face as Chance just stared. But soon that smug grin fell, and Nova found himself failing to make eye contact with Chance.

"I'm sorry." Nova muttered. 

"For?" 

"I let you get hurt." 

"We knew what we were getting into. This is not your fault, alright?" Chance asked.

"Yeah, for now." A few knocks to sound from the door. 

"Come in." Chance stated. A pony wearing a doctors gown along with a stethoscope appeared through the door. 

"Hello there Mr. Rockwell. I am Doctor Goodhoof. If you don't mind I'm just going to perform a quick check-up, and then I'll be on my way."

"Sure thing." as the doctor began to work on Chance, he complied with everything that the doctor asked. Every so often shooting Nova a glance. Nova seemed to be intent on staring into the ground as the doctor worked. Not even looking up, as if something was eating away at him. 

"Alright, everything seems to check out. I'll be on my way now. If you need anything, don't be afraid to call for the nurse." 

"Got it." The pony trotted out of the room and closed the door behind him. 

Nova continued to stare at the ground. But somehow he summoned the courage to look up and speak. 

"IRC is out for blood." 

"What?" 

"The attack on your place is all over the news. Didn't take much to put your two and two together after your 48 hour failsafe kicked in." 

"And how did the take it?" 

"Not too well. Nice job saying anybody with questions should contact me though. Because while it did help to get the 'facts' out there, it also meant that a few of your friends wanted my head because they now had the assumption that hanging out with me might be hazardous to your health." 

"Yeah, don't worry about them. Worry about that 'facts' bit." Nova sighed once more. 

"Well we can't go and say that you're getting medical treatment in some magical horsey land now can we?"

"No, I suppose not."

"Anyways, this shit has gotten out of hand. Somehow they have everything on Sombra that we could want. All of his lieutenants, his bases of operations. Everything. And I can only hold them off from going public with all that data for at the most, a month. So that's how long we have now."

"Well, I'm in no state to get started as you can see." 

"Actually, we can get you out of here in a snap. There's just one thing I want you to ask about."

"Sure."

"Remeber how you said something about a Russian drug-op?"

"Yeah what about it?"

"What exactly was that contract?"

"Destroy a specific operation going on at the fuckin west side and make sure that the leader of the operation dies as well." 

"And you said that you did both of those things, and escaped with some of their stock?"

"Yeah, it was an inhaler of some kind. The cans usually had something like SLT scratched into the... side..." Chance trailed off as the exact thing he was describing was slid into his view on the table. 

"Seems you know quite a bit about this drug." A new voice said from the doorway. Both of them looked up to see Princess Luna standing there. 

"Has Sombra been ramping up drug operations of a drug that I killed off?"

"Its started a week ago." 

"And I've been out for two. Nova, what happened to my safe." Chance asked with a bit too much calm Luna was unaffected by this type but Nova flinched.

"You mean the safe sized hole in the wall that we found in your bedroom?" Chance slammed his hand down on the table. 

"Your reaction confirms what we fear. Somehow Sombra has acquired production instructions for SLT inhalants." Luna said softly. 

"Looks like he fucking did." The three either stood, as in Luna's case or sat, like Chance and Nova's situation. 

"Well on the bright side, we do have most of their distribution and production points. It seems to span most of the united states and a bit into Mexico."

"And we have established connections with your nation's authorities on the subject." Luna chimed. 

"Hold the fuck on, what?"

"We have established connections with the authorities in your nation." Luna repeated. "And we have informed them of thous helpfulness in attempting to kill Sombra."

"Why the hell would you think that's a good idea?"

"It might have something to do with the fact that the news crews picked up on some agency going through the entire street with Geiger counters after Luna's light show."

"There goes keeping a low profile." Luna muttered. 

"You made contact with the government, understandable. But you also informed them that I am helping you. Why?"

"That was one of the stipulations of gaining their trust and assistance." 

"And what else did they ask?" 

"The known location of all of our citizens on their soil. We declined, for obvious reason. But we also made sure that no harm would come to you. One of our requirements for working with them is that at no point during, or after, this mission are you to be detained. Any such attempts to do so will result in Equestria severing contact with all government entities for the foreseeable future."

"So you stonewalled them for my safety?" 

"Aye."

"I gotta hand it to you guys, you know how to protect an investment." 

"Alright, we can brief him more when he's not in a hospital bed." 

"I must take my leave for now, there is work to be done. Do not hesitate to call for me if any of you have questions pertaining to the current state of the operation." Luna stated, before teleporting away in a flash of magic. 

Nova hopped out of his chair and pushed the nurse call button before trotting over to Chances left side. The nurse entered the room just as Nova was passing by the foot of the bed. 

"Can I help you?" 

"Yeah, can you fetch a wheelchair?" 

"Certainly." The nurse left the room before quickly reappearing with a wheelchair meant for a human. She rolled it over to the side of the bed and stood next to Chances legs. Nova began to flap his wings and hovered in the air while the Nurse took hold of Chances legs. 

"I feel like this is a bit demeaning. I mean I am a bit hurt but I'm not a cripple." 

"Shut it, this is only temporary. Alright on three." Nova said, Slipping his front legs under Chance's armpits. 

"One, two." The nurse replied before grabbing Chances legs with his magic, Nova lifted Chance off the ground and brought him over to the wheelchair, setting him down gently. 

"I can take it from here." Nova stated, The nurse nodded and left the room. Nova stood on his hind legs, using his forelegs to wheel chance out of the room. "Unfortunately, you're not going to be able to see much of Equestria, hell, the fact that you're here, to begin with, is unexpected. 

"When do I go back to Earth?"

"Tomorrow, and you'll be meeting with representatives from the government as well." 

"Fantastic, just what I fuckin needed." Chance grumbled.

"Calm down, it's not that bad, you pretty much have immunity right now due to our demands." 

"Yeah, that's a plus. Do we have a ride set up?"

"After we get out of the portal?"

"Yeah."

"Yup, but you're not going to like who gave it to us."

"Takumi." Chance stated with a deadpan. 

"He's not happy."

"I could imagine, first he sells me a car that I give back to him riddled with bullets. And then he loans me a car that I return with bloodstains all over the interior."

"He said something about teaching you a lesson when he sees you. Three guesses as to what that lesson entails and the first two don't count." 

"This job keeps getting worse and worse." 

</> 

Both Chance and Nova stepped out of the woods wearing jeans and hoodies. The portal about a quarter-mile behind them. Nova wore Wayfarer sunglasses while Chance opted to wear simple jet black aviators as he limped towards the car with a cane, he did not like what he saw. Takumi and his bodyguard standing next to a simple sedan, and an elegant Rolls-Royce was right behind said sedan. Chance shifted the duffle bag he had in his hand and continued to walk towards Takumi. Takumi noticed, and flicked the cigarette out of his hand and onto the gravel road. 

"Chance, what are normally my thoughts on leaving my home turf?" Takumi asked, despite the bored tone of his voice, Chance could tell there was an undercurrent of anger laced within. 

"Unless its a car show, you don't like to leave."

"Right, so why do you think I came to Wisconsin, in-person to meet you?" 

"Three cases come to mind." 

"Oh do tell." 

"One, you are concerned about my wellbeing and wished to make sure I was alright like some complex abusive father figure." 

"No way in hell." 

"Two, you came to beat the shit out of me." 

"Yup, but you said something about a third?" Chance sighed. 

"Three, you were expecting this." Chance tossed the duffle bag, it landed a couple of feet away from Takumi. Takumi looked at his bodyguard before gesturing towards the bag. As the bodyguard approached the bag Chance spoke. "In that bag is payment for repairs on the STI, the estimated cost of repair for the interior of the SUV, the forced requisition payment of the sedan after the attack on my apartment, and a little extra on top as a peace offering." 

"Just call it what it is, a request for me not to beat the everloving fuck out of you until you're a pile of fucking mush."

"Tomato, tomahto." Chance said, bouncing his head from side to side. 

"It's all here." The bodyguard said, picking up the duffle bag. 

"I know better than to ask how you managed to get all of this in cash, so I'll just say this. Please, for the love of all that is holy, return this car in one piece without major damage."

"I make no promises, but I will try my best." 

"Knowing you, that's all I can ask for." Takumi tossed the keys over to Nova, who managed to catch it. "Well, gentlemen, that concludes our business, I hope the next time I see you it is under better circumstances." Takumi began to walk over to his Rolls-Royce, The bodyguard quickly ran over to the backseat and opened the door for Takumi. Once Takumi was seated, the bodyguard rushed over to the driver's side of the car, and began to drive away from the pair. It was only after they were a good distance away that Chance finally spoke.

"No bodily injury, I think that went pretty well." 

"Were you expecting to get hurt." 

"A bit. You're driving by the way. Its a long drive down south, and I'm not about to drive that far." 

</>

As Chance stepped out of the car, he used his cane to prop himself off the seat and onto the pavement just outside the warehouse. Nova quickly made his way to Chance. 

"So when are we meeting these guys anyway?" 

"Right now, actually. They're just around the corner. Cmon, I'll introduce you to them." Nova said, guiding chance outside of the warehouse and around a corner.

"Hold on, hold on." Chance said stopping suddenly and facing Nova, his voice dropping to a whisper. "I really don't like this. I know I am basically immune to whatever they want to do to me, but this whole thing has me on edge.

"And I understand that, but one of the stipulations was they the need to meet you, and the sooner you do that, the better." Chance looked down at the ground before looking back up at Nova.

"I'm not mad about the fact that this forces me into retirement because I was planning on retiring after this mission anyways. But I am mad that you're making meet these assholes because you know how well I work with authority." 

"You're saying that as if it was my call to make, I'm just following orders." 

"I know, I know, it's just..."

"You never thought that you would be working with governments of any kind during your career." 

"Yeah." Chance ran his free hand through his hair as he looked around the barren lot. "I suppose I should just go and meet them, right?"

"That's what I would do." 

"Alright then, let's go and face the wolves." Chance said. Nova stepped aside, allowing Chance to walk right in front of him, towards where the other Men would be, with Nova following closely behind. 

As Chance rounded the corner he saw six men wearing what could be described as casual clothes. He froze for a second as he eyed the men suspiciously. 

"You know, when they said the G-Men wanted to talk, I expected more suits. Not, well, this." Chance gestured with his free hand.

"Suits draw attention, its the last thing we need."

"Right, especially considering we're dealing with extradimensional entities. I'm surprised you boys didn't arrive in fucking hazmat suits after you swept my goddamn apartment with Geiger counters right in front of a fucking news crew. I thought you boys were supposed to be subtle."

"Cut the shit, let's just get this out of the way." One of the men said. "DHS"

"CIA" Another man said.

"FBI"

"DEA"

"Secret Service." 

"Air Force."

"Air Force?"

"Flew in from Nevada for this." 

"Flew in from Neva- Area 51?" Chance asked, putting two and two together. The man nodded. "Fuck me jogging." Chance muttered, He pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath before turning to Nova. "Can you go for a couple of minutes. I wanna talk to them in private for a sec." 

"Sure." Once Nova was out of earshot Chance turned to them and spoke. 

"I assume you all know who the fuck I am?" He got various nods. "And I assume that there is some kind of bonus if you snag me?" 

"It's not really a bonus." One of the men muttered. 

"Point being, I'm sure you're chomping at the bit to try and get me once this whole thing is over. So before any of you get uppity and decide to try and cash in to get that rank bonus or whatever the fuck it is. Please consider if doing so is worth completely severing connections with our extradimensional friends who have technology that you can't even fucking imagine. In fact, have you seen the kind of shit they can make?" 

"We, uh, we've seen a bit." The man from Area 51 muttered. 

"And you don't want to lose that tech, do you?" The man shook his head. "That's what I thought. If it makes you feel better, this is my last mission anyways, I'm retiring."

"Why?" Chance looked at the man from the DHS before looking down at his leg, and back to the man. "Good point." 

"From what the doctors said, I'll be lucky if I can even walk without a cane. One more thing, if any of you even try to come after me, not only are you risking severing relation with Equestria, but you are guaranteeing that everyone that comes after me also goes home in a fucking body bag. I may be a cripple, but I still know how to use a fucking gun. And let's say you do happen to get me, I have a dead mans switch. Remeber operation Panther?" The man from the CIA winced, and Chance pointed at him. "Smart man, you don't want that info getting out now, do you?" 

"Listen, you can cut the threats, No one here is planning on trying to grab you, not after what the blue one said." The man from the FBI interjected.

"And how the hell am I supposed to know that you will keep up your end of the bargain?" None of them responded. "That's what I thought. I'm doing this not because I want to, but because I need to in order to secure my safety." 

"Look, it's not all fire and brimstone here. So long as you leave me alone, none of that is gonna happen. So if you can manage to do that you have literally nothing to worry about when it comes to my plans after this mission. So, can I trust you guys to leave me alone once this is all over?" The men looked over at each other for a few seconds before the man from the FBI spoke.

"We make no promises, but we'll see what we can do, especially considering the..." The man from the FBI looked over at the man from the CIA. "new circumstances that have arisen from our conversation." 

"Good, now are there any other question?" The man from the Secret Service tilted his head up at Chance. "Go ahead." 

"No offense, but why are you still here? It seems like you're majorly outclassed. You're dealing with what is essentially an entire criminal operation and you want to help take them down, even after what I assume is the damage that you sustained during the attack on your apartment." Chance inhaled deeply before speaking. 

"None taken, and in fact, I'm glad you asked. I'm not gonna lie, the past few weeks have not been good to me, and even though this is the best paying mission yet, it is adding up to be one of the most consequential to my health. That being said, as the FBI knows, my motto is the see the mission through the end, or else you will get your money back. And I'm not about to refund over $5 million. Not only that, but circumstances have arisen in the last few weeks that I feel personally responsible for." Chance turned to the DEA agent. "In this case, its the renewed production of SLT." 

"You're the reason why that's back on the streets?" The DEA agent stammered.

"And I was the reason why it disappeared two years ago. Fun fact, while Chemists may be geniuses at creating new drugs, they are fucking horrible at covering up their tracks. The person that was creating SLT back then was no Walter White, that's for sure, it made him easy to find, and easy to kill. It was during the final stages of that operation that I managed to snag the recipe for the production of SLT. I should have destroyed it, but instead, I kept it. After the raid on my apartment, my safe went missing. I don't think I need to spell it out for you."

"So you feel personally responsible for the fact that SLT is back on the streets?"

"Yeah, so now it's my responsibility to do whatever I can to get it off the streets. Now, are there any other question?" The men said nothing. "Good, now come inside, we have some planning to do, and less than a month to do so." Chance said, turning around and walking back towards the front of the warehouse.

"Wait, why do we have less than a month?" One of the men asked. 

"Because that's how long we have until the secrecy of this operation gets blown out of the water. We've had some help from friends of mine, but they won't stay quiet with the info they gave us for long. If we don't begin to act on it by the end of the month, they will go public with everything they have gathered. And when I mean everything, I mean literally everything that we can use to destroy Sombras operations. So move your asses, the clock is ticking."
> Showdown
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Just to clarify." The man from the CIA said. "We're dealing with at least 10 production sites, one of which is here in this state, nearly 50 distribution centers around this country. And they're beginning to ramp up production for overseas use as well." The CIA agent finished. All 7 of them were sat at a table. There was a laptop hooked up to a projector, that Nova was controlling. 

"I should have destroyed that shit when I had the chance." Chance muttered. 

"Hitting everything at once in this country will be complicated. But we can pull it off, provided we nail corruption charges on those who might interfere with this operation before we strike. However, hitting the operations in Mexico will be a legal nightmare." The DEA agent muttered.

"You can leave that to us." Nova chimed in "Provided we will be required to go, 'scorched earth,' as you humans say in order to maintain our secrecy." Nova said with a slight grin. 

"Oh piss off, you've been living here for over 30 years, if anything you're more human than Equestrian at this point." Chance said.

"Sorry, couldn't resist."

"Getting back on topic here, There is one thing that we don't know. Where exactly Sombra is." The man from the DHS said. "Now I know one of our agreements was that Sombra needs to die, but you can't do that without knowing where the hell he is."

"Our estimates say he is somewhere in Wisconson, but we are not sure where exactly. However, we do have a bead someone who may know his location." Chance stated. "Nova, pull up everything we have on his accountant." 

"Drew Finch, aged 38, MBA in accounting, known connections to the Italian Mafia, Mexican cartels, you name it, he probably knows it. We suspect its how Sombra was able to gain distribution and production points all across the country so quickly. If we can take him down, then we may be able to stop the creation of new distribution and production points."

"Is there any time we can strike?" 

"As a matter of fact, yes." Chance stated. "Pull up his hobbies and behaviors." 

"Hobbies, hiking, camping, skiing, outdoorsy stuff basically." Nova rambled. "He has a tendency to go off the grid for days at a time if his schedule permits it." 

"And have you predicted a time he will go dark?" 

"As a matter of fact, we've been monitoring his communications for a while. he plans to go dark starting Saturday night, which is tonight and ending Tuesday morning. He will be camping somewhere in Wisconsin. We know what campsite he is staying in, so finding him is no problem. If we strike Saturday night, we may have a two-day window to eliminate Sombra provided this lead does bear fruit." Nova quickly said. "In case this does not, though, I am recommending that our representative from the FBI comes along to potentially hash out a deal." 

"I'm in." The man quickly said. "One of us should go regardless but I'm happy to potentially help." 

"Keep in mind everyone, this is only if this lead does give us Sombras location. If we move too early, we risk tipping him off." Chance turned to the FBI agent. "We should probably leave soon if we want to be there in time." 

"Agreed." Chance, Nova, and the FBI agent got up out of their chairs.

"I will let the rest of you guys decide what needs to be done, but all I ask is that you do not make a move until we give the all-clear."

</>

Drew was a happy man. He had made it. More than enough money to retire, whenever the hell he wants, bills always paid on time, food on the table. Basically anything and everything he could want, he could have. But not even money can buy disconnection from the world for a few days, to him only something like the chance to leave society and not be found unless he wished to do so was what he considered a disconnection. Which is why he was surprised to feel the barrel of a gun pressed against the back of his head while he stared at the fire in front of him. 

Instinctively he raised his hands into the air. 

"We're not here to hurt you, we're here to ask you some questions." Nova said. As Drew looked up he could see two men walk out of the treeline.

"Well, I can't really say no to such a request, now can I?" The barrel of the gun left his head as Nova appeared into his view. The gun was still pointed at him. 

"You can, but it would be beneficial for you to just answer our questions." 

"Should I even ask who you are?" 

"FBI." The Agent stated. 

"And the other two?" Chance and Nova looked at each other. 

"Can't tell." Nova finally said. 

"Don't tell me, Equestrian?" Drew stated. Nova inhaled sharply at that. "Don't be surprised, Sombra made sure to tell me the basics of who is after him." 

"So you know who we're after." 

"Now I do. But there is only one way that I'm saying anything about him." 

"We offer services like Witness Protection for people who are in your situation."

"And you think that is gonna stop Sombra?" 

"It will if he's dead." Nova stated. Drew stayed silent for a bit. 

"So that's what you want, fine, I'll talk." 

</>

[The next night]

The moon was obscured behind clouds as 50 soldiers with varying hair colors surrounded a secluded mansion, far from society. They all wore body armor and helmets as they readied their weapons. 

"Scryers, report." Luna stated over the radio. 

"Still scanning." 

"ETA?" Nova asked. 

"A couple of minutes." 

"Ok then. Let us review." Luna interjected. "Our current objective is to eliminate everyone inside of the mansion up ahead. Leave no survivors, this includes any servants as well. Squads of two will cover every exterior exit and kill any stragglers attempting to escape. A squad of four will cover the patio due to its larger layout. Mission will being after we initiate a blackout. Scryers, report." 

"Scrying completed. We have noticed there seems to be a tunnel of some kind that leads off the property. Probably an escape tunnel of some type, it's leading north." 

"Understood, A squad of three, please detach from the current formation and move to the exit of the tunnel. Standard protocol applies, eliminate everyone exiting the tunnel. Is there anything else to report?" 

"Yes, there seem to be a bit over 20 human signatures inside of the mansion ahead, and one magical signature. He's here. There also seems to be a safe room of some kind inside the mansion on the lower level That's all we can manage." 

"Understood, Chance have you made any progress." 

"Almost... Yeah, I'm in." Chance stated, looking down at the laptop. "Servants are armed along with guards, you're looking at wide-open areas along with small corridors, try not to bottleneck during this raid. I can't initiate a blackout from here, sweeping through the cams now- oh." As chance looked down at the screen, he saw a very familiar man sitting cross-legged, with a very familiar AK-47, who promptly looked up into the camera and smiled before grabbing his AK and bolting out of view kicking his laptop over without a care.

"Chance?" Luna asked

"Trigger the manual blackout."

"Chance what did you see?" Nova asked.

"Do it now!" An explosion went off in the distance, and all of the lights were cut off. "His lieutenant is here, he knows we're here now. Its the same one that tried to kill Nova and me, exercise extreme caution." 

"All units move now!" Luna belted. Soon the sounds of silenced gunfire filled the air as almost every single Equestrian soldier moved into the mansion. Chance put the laptop back into his backpack and walked slowly towards the mansion, drawing his pistol. With each step he limped but made his way closer and closer to the mansion until he was finally able to enter. 

"The Lieutenant has escaped. through the north entrance."

"Squad five, detach from the main force and pursue him, he must not be allowed to leave this place alive." 

"Yes ma'am"

As he made his way through the mansion, he noticed that one of the security cameras was still on, he turned to look at it cocking his head slightly. Pulling out his phone, he noticed a new device that was somehow connected to the network.

"Squad five this is Greyhound."

"Greyhound, this is Squad five."

"Have you managed to eliminate your target."

"Negative."

"Understood, call off the search. If he's gone now, then he's gone for good." 

"Are you sure that is a wise decision?" Luna asked.

"He's a slippery bastard, only can be found when he wants to, we're wasting resources pursuing him. He'll turn up in due time." 

"Understood." 

Chance turned and looked at the camera, making sure no one was present in the room. He stared into the lens as he began to spoke.

"You took a lot from me, you know that? After we tried to assault your compound in Chicago, I did a bit of research on you myself. Considering that I now know what you are capable of, I would like for you to take this as a peace offering. I may have called them off for now, but it'll only be a matter of time before someone finds you, my employers hate to leave loose ends. I would take this opportunity to go dark if was in your position." 

The camera blinked twice before shutting off.

"All hostiles eliminated, setting up explosives around the structure." Chance began to walk towards the basement as he saw the Equestrians place explosives all over the walls. It was more than enough to level the place. 

"Sombra has moved into the saferoom." Chance slowly walked down into the basement of the mansion, it was swarming with Equestrians who were crowded around a closed steel door of some kind.

"You will never capture me!" A voice from behind the steel door yelled out. 

"Give it up Sombra, as we speak you're distribution and production sites are being raided. You have nothing left. Just submit and we'll make your death quick." Luna stated. she turned the rest of the soldiers and whispered. "Clear everyone out of here, I will deal with him." 

Sombra continued to rave as they filed out of the room and back out into the moonlight. There was a blue flash of some kind before Luna walked out into the Moonlight.

"He has been dealt with, and is no longer in the land of the living." Luna said over the radio. Chance holstered his weapon and walked over to Nova. 

"So." 

"So." 

"I guess this is it?" Nova asked.

"Yeah. I got a plane ticket to Switzerland with my name on it." Next to them, a blue shield encompassed the entire mansion before a large explosion filled it. There was no noise, just a quick light show, then smoldering rubble. 

"I gotta go, my plane leaves soon." 

"It was good working with you, Greyhound." Nova stuck out his hand. 

"You too, Foobar." Chance shook Nova's hand before turning around and walking back into the woods where his ride would be waiting on the other side. 

He smiled as he entered the woods. This contract had taken a lot from him, but he was a free man now. Nothing could top that.
> Switzerland
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Months later, in Switzerland]

Chance stared outside at the snow-capped mountains as the laptop in front of him scrolled ASCII art of all kinds. The ski lifts off to the side slowly brought tourists and thrillseekers to the top of the slope where Chance was located. The top of the slope had a cafe, and that was why Chance was here. He looked down at his cane, noticing a speck of dust. He wiped it off before returning his gaze to the mountains.  

"Excuse me sir?" A voice next to him said. He turned and saw a waiter holding a platter. "Your coffee sir." 

"Ah, thank you." Chance said. taking the cup of coffee from the waiter. As the waiter began walking away he took a sip before setting the mug down onto the table. 

On top of the money that Chance Rockwell had earned during his career, the US Government also decided to give Chance some money as well. It didn't take a genius to realize that the reasoning behind that money was so that Chance would keep quite. He didn't need any incentive in order to stay quiet, but it was a nice bonus that he wasn't going to turn down. 

"Excuse me, Mr. Rockwell?" A voice next to him said. He turned and saw a man wearing a thick winter coat. "May I take a seat?" 

Chance lifted his mug. "I suppose if you already know who I am, I can't stop you. Go ahead, say your piece then leave." The man sat down in the free chair across from Chance. Chance took a sip of his coffee before setting the mug down onto the table. "Since you aren't here with guns, I'm going to assume that you need my help." 

"Very perceptive." 

"And have your superiors informed you about what my stance is."

"They sent me to persuade you." 

"Good luck with that."

"Thanks, I intend to change your mind." The Agent said with a smile on his face. 

"You're too fucking chipper, you know that? Anyways say your piece then get the fuck out." The Agent just smiled before leaning forwards and speaking softly. 

"Thanks to your help, and the help of our friends, we were able to dismantle SLT ops around the country."

"You're welcome for that, by the way." 

"Yes, yes, anyways. This leaves us with a new problem. Recently tensions between our mutual friends and us have increased. And both sides are beginning to agree that a third party might be needed in order to quell the situation before they decide to break contact with us once and for all."

"Yeah, no. Go fuck yourself." Chance took another sip of his coffee. "I believe I explicitly stated that after the Sombra situation I was done with all of that. And now you want me to go back, as an ambassador of all things. I got into my career path to get away from politics." 

"And we understand that, which is why we are willing to offer you a salaried position in exchange for your help. And if you so desire, we can set up your workload in such a way that you will rarely need to leave the country." The agent pulled out a manilla folder, setting it down onto the table. "We'll give you time to think about it." The man turned to the side and stood up, walking away. Chance pulled out his phone and dialed a number, someone on the other end picked up. 

"Hello?" The voice on the other side said.

"Hey."

"...Chance?" Nova asked.

"Could have given me a bit of warning that they were gonna visit." 

"So they actually followed through?"

"Job offer and everything." 

"You gonna take it." 

"Dunno, should I?"

"Can't say." 

"Would you?"

"...It's not about the money is it." 

"No." 

"You're bored."

"Yeah, I guess I am pretty bored here." 

"You wanna live that way for the next 60 or so years?" 

"No, I don't think I would like to." 

"Then there's your answer." 

"Thanks." 

"Yeah, I look forward to working with you." Chance hung up the phone and set the Manila folder in front of him. He opened the folder and began to read through its contents before finding what he was looking for. Picking up his phone once more, he dialed the number that he saw and placed the phone up to his ear.