The Conversion Bureau: The Last Job
By Da Bunnana King
Chapter Eight: Data feed
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The squad waited there in the acidic rain, most of them had made a break for cover while Ulysses stood there waiting for the Princess. He had his rifle slung on his back and scanned the rooftops for any movement. He only saw some shadows that gave him the feeling of something was watching him, and waiting for the perfect time to strike.
“Ulysses get under cover before you catch a cold.” Jack said over the static filled radio,
He heard Jack but motioned them to be silent with a flick of his hand. He knew this was a trap, but who was it set for? Was it for Celestia, the HLF that he would attract or was it for him and his squad of Marines that he commanded.
A small cloud of grey smoke began to form in front of him and along with golden strings of magic. They twisted around each other until it created a strong impenetrable field of smoke.
“You must enjoy having grand entrances.” the grizzled soldier asked,
“No my little one, it is just the way the teleportation spell works.” the Princess regally replied, as her majestic white coat still glissaded even though it was raining.
“Anyway I got the intel you wanted, but it seems to me someone wants you dead real good.” Ulysses replied removing the small pile of folders from behind his tactical vest. “If I were you I would stay on your side of the border and keep your head down.”
“Lt. Velera I assure you that nothing can get through that barrier.” she said confidently,
“Trust me, if I know anything about human history is that if there is a problem, humanity will find a way to get around it.” Ulysses said as some shadows began to move on the roof tops.
“Ulysses nothing can get through the barrier becau-” she said before a bullet whizzed past her head and into the ground next to her.
“Fuck,” he said pulling his sniper out as he began to cover her from anymore sniper rounds, “Princess get to the Humvee and we’ll see you to safety.”
“I can take care of myself you know.” she said sounding like she was a god,
“The last VIP that said that to me ended up being shot in the chest when he wandered too far from me.” he said as he forced the Princess behind the Humvee,
“Shit Ulysses, what the fuck was that?” asked James as he was scanning the rooftops with his rifle,
“An assassin with a .404 Cheytac.” he replied as he looked through the sights to see a lone Intervention rifle bipod down still with gun smoke spewing from its barrel.
“Well aren’t you going to shoot him?” asked James,
“No because he’s gone, but anyway.” he said turning towards the Princess,
“ Well we held up our deal of the bargain so are we free to go?” he asked as he motioned the squad to pack up,
“Sadly no, we still have much to learn about the HLF and their operations because if your speculations are true then we have a device that can enter Equestria and destroy it from within.”
“Yeah... got any leads or do we have to start from square one?” he asked packing up his rifle as the rest of the squad began to disarm the explosives that surrounded the perimeter.
“Well I don’t but there is a HLF forward base not too far from here. They should have a hypernet terminal so you could hack into it and recover the locations.” she said as her horn lit up.
“Yes ma’am,” he said as she disappeared in a puff of smoke,
“God dammit, it’s always having to start from square one with every single raid.” Ulysses complained as he entered into the jeep where the rest of the squad was.
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“So are we free to become ponies now?” asked Rafael,
“No we still have more work to do.” replied Ulysses,
“Awww,” moaned James,
“Yeah I know but hopefully this will be the end of it and we can all go home... that is if we have a place to go home to.” he replied putting his sniper rifle down,
“Alright, well where are we heading to anyway?” asked Rafael as he started up the Humvee,
“A HLF forward base to grab some intel then to the next HLF headquarters that has the most intel in it.” Ulysses replied as he checked the ammo in his rifle,
“Well do you have any idea where it could be?”
“Give me the spare radio and a few minutes.” Ulysses said taking the small CB radio from Jack,
“Sure but I don’t think that they would broadcast messages this far out from their base.” Jack said as Ulysses began to sweep through the radio searching for any radio chatter.
“-How many got out?” asked a static filled voice,
“Just me and three others sir.” responded the voice which began to clear out through the static.
“Alright then, report back to the forward base on 6th street. Just tell the guards the password and we’ll let you in. Over and out.” said what must of been an officer in the HLF. The three Marines began to wonder why the HLF would broadcast over radios their location.
“I think it’s a trap.” James spoke up as he began to load rounds into an empty magazine.
“I’m with James, the HLF would never do something as stupid as that.” Jack added,
“Well then. Looks like we have to do something stealthy for once without having to burn down the building.” Ulysses gruffly said as he began to screw on a silencer to one of the M16.
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The guards stood in the destroyed plaza surrounded by old burnt out cars and office buildings in a darkened part of the still raining Dallas city. There were twelve guards there, most of which wore the same grey uniform and held an automatic rifle of some sort.
Two guards in particular seemed to be making small conversation with each other on the far side of the plaza near a darkened alleyway covered by a destroyed office block.
“So did you hear about that old story of the PER attack in Australia?” one guard said as he puffed away on a cigarette.
“No, why? Were y’all gonna tell me a story so y’all can scare me tonight by dumping grape soda on me?” asked the southern sounding man who leaned against a metal fence.
“Naaa, we don’t do that to people who’ve been in the HLF for that long. We keep that reserved for the newbies that rock up.” he said as he blew a puff of smoke into the air.
“Well, tell me this tale because ya got me hooked like a catfish.”
“Well one day in that backwards country of Australia, there was a town called Brisbane. It was similar to Dallas. Huge city, destroyed old town and a fuck ton of HLF wondering around the place.” he spoke again as a shadowy figure appeared behind them, “So one day a kid rocks up with two ponies and they get inside the building and open up the sewers and let the whole entire PER chapter that was their and ponified the place. Heck they even had gas bottle with the pony soup in them.”
“Well, thats one hell of a story. Sounds like the ones my grandpappy told me when I was a little boy.”
“Well have you heard about the two guards that walked away with their lives?” asked Ulysses as he and James put the guards in a headlock and dragged them into the dark alley.
“Oh dear lord this is the end of the line, ain’t it?” asked the terrified southern,
“It won’t be if you tell us the password and run as fast as you can in the opposite direction.” said Ulysses, as he pressed his pistol against the chest of the terrified man.
“The password for the door is Revelations. Please don’t kill us.” he said as a muffled click was heard from the pistol right before the man began to bleed slowly from his chest.
“Right you heard him, now let's clear a path there with minimum casualties. I don’t want them to find bodies so drag them off into a dark corner.” he said, as he put his side arm away and took out a M16 with a long black silencer attached to the end.
“Roger, and once inside?” asked James, who was the only one accompanying the commando.
“We find the main server hub and it’s a grab and smash then we move to the evac zone and get out.”
“Right, lets do this.” James said as he pulled the bolt back on his silence M4 carbine.
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Author’s note: I’m back... did you miss me? But moving on to more important matters, yes I shall be writing this but no like what it used to be, but it will tie into that Ten Rounds fic that I will get to eventually.