E.S.S: 22 - Brother's Business
Alloy trotted along the familiar streets of the financial district of Canterlot. With the late evening now shading into night, he walks into a larger building co-owned by his father. The secretary at the front desk recognizes him and greets.
“Mr. Alloy Atomms. Your father is expecting you. He's on the fifth floor in his office” He tells Alloy.
“Thanks Greg.” Alloy says, entering the elevator. Pushing the fifth floor button, he waits as it rises up. Followed by a ding, the doors open. Several office blocks were on that floor with some late shift worker beginning their work. Alloy passes them all and knocks at the door of his father.
“Come in Alloy” His father says through a small speaker outside the office. A little buzzing noise is heard and the door unlocks. Alloy enters and sits.
“Hello Father. Business going well?” Alloy starts.
“As always” His father smiles, “I've heard you've been busy yourself with E.S.S still?”
“I know you know now, forgive me for not telling you. It had to remain secret, you understand”
Mr. Atomms sighs, “Yes, I just don't like you getting into danger son..”
“It comes with the job, was there something you wanted to see me for?”
“Yes, to see you alive and well..and to tell you that I've already found a place to relocate your construction workers.”
“Thank you, I was going to ask about that.” Alloy smiles he goes up to his father and hugs him.
“I'm so glad to see you're back, even your mother appeared to be worried.” Father says with a little bit of tearing up in his eyes. Alloy sits back down.
“Is mother back at the nursing home still?”
“Yes, I visited her today before I ran into Sugar and Sweetie at the old E.S.S building. I noticed the new kid, looks like you're growing”
“Heh, seems like it. I assume Celestia has spoken to you about the agency?”
“Not directly, but I've gotten back all the money I invested into the building. That new E.S.S place is now owned by her.” He chuckles a bit.
“I saw the paperwork on my desk on it. Very good, now I don't have to leach” Alloy smirks, “I don't mean to cut our talk short, but I'd like to go see mother”
“Not at all, I understand. I need to leave the office now as well, a lot of new things have popped up and have kept me busy” His father says, standing up.
Alloy stands as well, “Same for me. Good bye Father” Alloy leaves the office.
The nursing home, usually for the older folks, had his mother there as well. Alloy walked in, signed the paperwork and went to a housing room where his mother stayed under care of a nurse.
“Alloy, my little boy! Come give mother a hug!” His mother stands up quickly, hugging Alloy before he can.
“Mom..it's so good to see you again” Alloy says. The nurse leaves the room.
“How's the job with your father going?”
“It's pretty well, you know him, always keeps me busy” Alloy smiles and sits on the couch with mother.
“Tell him that I want to go out and work. I still need to check and see if the Gala designers get there in time”
“Oh mother, the Gala's already passed this year” Alloy says with a shy smile.
“It has..? Oh, hehe my mistake. Can you pass the tea dear?”
“You have some coffee, would you like me to make you a cup of tea?” Alloy says looking at a cup near her bed that's filled with coffee.
“Um, nah the coffee is fine Alloy. Have you grown your hair longer? And when's the last time you've shaved hon?” She moves his hair.
“It's been a week or so, I should probably get to that.” He feels his own rough beard. He starts to think about what Dr. Flower Pot had done to her and starts to hug her tightly.
“Is everything okay son?” She asks. Alloy starts to tear up, eventually crying on her shoulder, “There there..it'll all be fine you'll find your brother..”
Alloy wipes his tears, “My..what..?”
“Oh wait, sorry you don't have a brother.” She chuckles.
“Mom, wait, yes I do have a brother...do you know anything about him?” Alloy asks, he had triggered something in her memory.
“A brother..yes..gray coat..” She stares off into space.
“That's the one, can you tell me anymore?”
She looks blankly at him, “Sorry dear, I can't remember to well, have you gotten me the tea?”
“Oh, right here's the um..coffee” Alloy levitates the cup over to her.
“Thanks dear, hmm where are we?” She asks as she sips.
Alloy sighs a bit and smiles, “We're at a nursing home. I love you mom, I have to go now” Alloy gets up and heads to the door. She stands as well.
“Bye bye son, say hello to the office people for me” She smiles, the nurse comes in the door as Alloy leaves.
He went home to find a little notice paper on his front door. Alloy grabs the paper and enters; the place smelled fresh due to little automatic scent sprays. He quickly shaves, takes off his work clothes and hops into bed. “Poor Mrs. Atomms...she must have suffered so much when the doctor did that to her..And Mr. Atomms isn't even aware of all that happened..” He rolls over on his bed. He starts to close his eyes when the phone near his bed stand rings. “Alloy speaking?”
“Alloy! They know! I'm at the national archives, they haven't gotten to me but they're heading to your house!” Jackson blurts out. Alloy gets up quickly.
“I'll go there as soon as possible!” Alloy says.
“Careful as you do, I have to go now!” He hangs up. Alloy puts on his clean suit and tie. He grabs his gun, putting it in a holster. There's a loud knock at his door.
“Shoot..” Alloy takes out his gun and makes his way to the door, he peeks out the window to see five stallions outside, one crashes into the window, nearly knocking Alloy back. The stallion in a mask shoots at Alloy. Alloy teleports behind a kitchen counter and shoots a large fan above the stallion causing it to crash on him. The door is crashed down, the other four enter, shooting automatic weapons in Alloy's direction. “Can't take them all like this...” Alloy teleports to the back yard and jumps over the fence, once the goons realize Alloy's gone, they chase after him.
“Traitor!” A pegasus on yells out from above, raining down bullets. He forms a temporary shield above himself. Bullets ricksha off and hit the pegasus' vest he gets injured and makes a crash landing. Two more pegasus fly by Alloy, knocking him down, he gets hit in the face. Alloy uses his magic to grab the left wing of one of them, causing him to slam into the other flier.
“Ha.” Alloy laughs a bit and pants, he jumps over several more fences before falling into a small swimming pool. The last goon picks Alloy up and punches him several times in the stomach and face. He was an earth pony. Alloy back up, wiping away blood. “Notts send you!?”
“A stallion working for Notts did traitor, and he wants you dead!” He throws a punch which Alloy dodges. Alloy grabs the goon's shoulder and throws him into the pool. Another stallion, the owner of that house comes out and starts to yell.
“What in Celestia's name's going on here!??” He demands. Alloy picks up the goon with his magic.
“You can tell that other guy who sent you to shove it!” Alloy throws the goon away onto the roof of the house. It knocks him out. The owner runs up to Alloy.
“Explain yourself!” He demands.
“E.S.S this is a government situation. Call the police.” Alloy shows his badge and walks away, opening the fence and leaving.
In a hurry, Alloy runs into the Nation Archives. The place was well guarded, so he knew he was safe there. Quickly he makes a call on one of the pay phone.
“Yes..?” Sweetie answers.
“Sweetie, alert the agents in Canterlot that we have a hostile situation. My cover has been blown..” Alloy catches his breath.
“I'll do that right away Alloy! Are you safe??”
“Yes, for now. I'm meeting up with Jackson here in the Nation Archives. Make the calls, bye” He hangs up and searches for Ice.
“Right here Alloy!” Jackson runs up to him, “You're good, let's go to the back, I've already notified the security here to lock down this place.
“Great..,what happened?” Alloy cleans off some more blood off his face.
“I was finding out more about the bombing plans, it was going good but when I mentioned that you were back, Notts flipped out and said he thought Dr. Flower Pot had killed you!”
“So..he sent me there to die..how did he know I was E.S.S…?” Alloy takes a first aid kit from a wall and sits.
“I don't know, but he ordered some guy to hunt you down and told me to run and soon the ponies there started to chase after me..I shot back at them. I reckon I might of injured a few of those bastards!” Jackson laughs. Alloy smiles just a bit, he disinfects his wounds, “And you got beat pretty good.”
“Yeah...They were all using automatics..” Alloy says, he places a bandage on his cheek.
“Damn, then I suppose you're lucky you didn't get hit...” Jackson leans back in his chair, “Oh yeah, what now?”
“I have...no idea actually” Alloy sighs. He stands, “Now that I'm here I'm going to do some research”
“Go ahead, I'll be here” Jackson flips on his hood and closes his eyes. Alloy nods and goes to search for Hertz' name under the letter H. He didn't know the last name so it made it difficult to look.
“No reference to him here..” Alloy says as he finishes the H names labeled: He. Alloy starts to go back to Jackson, the power goes out in the building.
“Guess we have company” Jackson opens his eyes, taking out his pistol. Alloy stands next to Jackson.
“Figure so..” Alloy takes out his gun as well. A sudden flash of light occurs. Smoke fills the area. Jackson passes out in front of Alloy, and soon, he too falls on the floor, passed out.
Alloy opens his eyes, he looks around. He is tied up in a room, his horn has a little strap on it that renders his magic useless. Jackson is on the other side of the room he is awake, with the same things Alloy has. Alloy feels a little muff on his mouth so that he can't yell or speak. The room itself looks rather comfortable, it has a nice sofa, beautiful pictures, and a light blue color. The only door in that room swings opens. In steps two masked ponies and the one they're following, a light gray stallion in a nice dark suit.
“Awake at last the both of you” He speaks. Alloy's head suddenly feels as if it were being fried, he cringes closing his eyes. The stallion in the suit is a little confused as is Jackson. “Ahem, you guys don't know why you're here, so I'll remove your muffs as long as you two agree not to yell. Agreed?” Alloy and Jackson nod. He smiles and removes the muffs, “One at a time, ask your questions E.S.S agents”
Jackson nods to Alloy for him to talk. “Who are you with?” Alloy asks in calm manner.
“We are with the Information Freedom of Equestria. Or, IFE for short.” The pony in the suit replies, he takes a seat.
“So...you're not with Notts?” Jackson asks.
“Notts? I have no idea who that may be.” The guy says.
“Well, that's comforting, why do you have us here for then?” Alloy asks.
“Simple, I just want the files you guys have locked away to be released to the public”
“What files?” Alloy asks.
“All of the ones E.S.S has.” He answers with a chuckle.
“How did you know we were in the Nation Archives?” Jackson asks.
“It was a complete coincidence”
“Whatever it was, we were there because my partner and I were being persecuted by a terrorist organization” Jackson frowns.
“That's not a problem of mine” He says.
“And you want to release all these files out because..?” Jackson questions.
“It's in the name, Information Freedom.”
“How exactly do you think we'll do that tied up here? And even if we did agree, the only thing it would cause is mass panic” Alloy starts.
“Indeed it might, but you've been holding back things for much too long” He stands up walking over to them.
“This isn't the way to do things. Kidnapping two E.S.S agents, that won't do anything.” Alloy smirks.
“It might not right away, but you'll have to stay here for a while until we come to an agreement.” He puts the muffs back on them and exits the room with the others. Alloy and Jackson sigh and remain there as time passes. The ceiling starts to cave in suddenly, it breaks open, two of E.S.S enter, guns loaded. They quickly untie Alloy and Jackson, removing the muffs and magic disabling devices.
“Thanks you two..” Alloy coughs a bit.
“Agents Anderson and Susy Splitter reporting in. Rescue mission of you two” Anderson takes off his mask.
“Took you guys a while” Jackson smirks.
“We have little time to talk, let's go now. We're in a warehouse.” Susy says. Anderson puts his mask back on. “Let's head out. Hold onto one of us, both of you” Alloy holds onto Anderson, Jackson with Susy. The two agents press a button on their belts, causing them to go back up through a zip line attachment. They zip up to the roof.
“Looks like we got some attention.” Alloy says, he looks down the hole and sees as five masked ponies enter the room below. The one in the suit shouts out orders to “Find them”. He then looks up and sees Alloy and the other atop the roof, he yells and points up.
“Teleporting, let's go as far as we can. We're near Cake Road. Meet us in the main market area!” Anderson and Susy teleport away. Jackson and Alloy do the same.
In a fraction of a second, they're all teleported at semi-random spots on Cake Road. Quickly, they find each other, “This should be far enough sir.” Anderson says. He and Susy teleport their armor, masks, and guns away.
“Good work as always.” Alloy smiles.
“We're glad to see you both again, it's been a while” Susy hugs them both.
“We'll keep moving, where to is your choice Alloy” Anderson says.
“The safe houses we have aren't safe anymore. It's likely Notts is over-watching them; the Canterlot castle is okay, but drawing attention there is not a good thing. You guys can go back to your post, Anderson and Susy. Jackson and I will head back to Ponyville”Alloy says.s They nod and leave.
“The IFE, now we got them to worry about.” Jackson groans.
“They seem less hostile, but will likely...” Alloy touches his own head having random flashes, “Yeah, let's return to Ponyville..”
“Everything okay Alloy?” They start to walk.
“Mhmm, just a migraine” Alloy says. After some time they reach the train station without further delay. Alloy sits back and let's out a long yawn.
“Dang, I wonder..if. Alloy, we need to go back to my apartment! What if they got my girl man??” Jackson panics, he rushes off the train, Alloy follows quickly behind him.
“Jackson! Hold up, we'll call some of the agents here to get her.” Alloy shouts out, running.
“Nah man, who knows if they'll get there in time.”
“I'll call right now, you're in danger just being here. We don't have the resources to have you here Ice.”
Jackson stops and sighs, “I know..call Susy and Anderson then..” Alloy nods and makes a quick call on a pay phone near the station, after which they re-board the train.
“They'll take her to the Canterlot Castle where she'll be protected better than we can”
“Yeah...I guess. Heh..I don't really care about her that much but I don't want to ruin someone else's life because of myself” Jackson laughs and coughs. Alloy shakes his head.
“Well at least you care enough to seek her protection. You never do last long in relationships” Alloy smirks.
“Yeah I know, and it's the way I like it.” Jackson crosses his hooves, “Can't get too attached”
“If you say so” Alloy sits back and closes his eyes.
“What are you planning on staying with Sugar for a while?” Jackson asks.
“Yes, as long as I can..” Alloy says, “Who knows for sure though...with my lifestyle you may be right by me putting her into danger..”
“Yep, risky risky man. Say if those IFE guys come after us again I'ma punch that sucka in the black suit.” Jackson chuckles, “I'll be ready this time. I'm going to gear up once we're in Ponyville”
“I think I'll do the same, we can't be getting one up'd like this anymore” Alloy says, he starts to doze off. Jackson nods and stays aware of the surrounding while they ride.
When they arrive Jackson wakes Alloy up. “Jackson! It was him!” Alloy suddenly says.
“Wha..? Come on let's get off” Jackson steps off. Alloy does the same, but has a dumbfounded expression.
“Jackson..it was him..”
“Da hell you going on about?” Ice asks.
“That guy from the IFE...”
“Yeah? Who was he?” Jackson presses.
“No one. Heh..” Alloy smiles in an odd way.
“I have no idea what you're talking about, are you still in dream land? This is real life” Jackson chuckles. Alloy nods randomly.
“Yea...so the office, hmm it must be closed. Good thing I have the keys”
“Well, there is a giant hole in the front, I don't think we'll be needing them” Jackson recalls.
“Right, um you're right” Alloy says. They reach the office and enter. “We'll be sleeping here tonight, I'll be in my office researching”
“Yeah, I'll sleep on this couch, want me to take watch?”
“Won't be necessary, I'll be up for a long time. I'll wake you up if I need you” Alloy says, he goes in his office, leaving the door open. He stays up late, he opens up E.S.S files on Hertz, apparently he was a lawyer working in Canterlot. He had a good record in cases. Why then did the IFE guy look the same as Hertz? It couldn't be the same stallion, but the guy from the profile looked just like the pony he had meet in the warehouse. As he read on and flipped through pages it became more and more apparent that they were the same person. E.S.S had it's own files on civilians, but sometimes feel short. He had gotten lucky finding these files, that would mean the files on Hertz in the library might have been purposely taken away. “So much for Freedom of information” Alloy smirks. After a few more hours he falls asleep without warning to Jackson.
In the morning Alloy wakes up before Jackson and looks over the office. The other agents hadn't arrived yet. “Hey Jackson” Alloy walks to him”
“Ye man..?” Jackson asks, eyes still closed.
“It's morning bud.”
“We working on something..?” He gets up and yawns.
“Heh, yeah all the time.” Alloy goes back to his office, “Say could you search this place for any armor? Maybe some heavier weapons?”
“Finally something good I can do that doesn't involve assorting files for Notts” Jackson happily begins to search through the many boxes of files and things from the old E.S.S building. Soon, within the hour, Sugar, Sweetie, and Dotted come into the office and see that Alloy and Jackson are there.
“Who are they?” Dotted asks Sugar.
“That's the guy in charge, Alloy.” She points to Alloy's direction.
“And I'm his partner Jackson” Jackson interrupts, Dotted looks at Jackson's appearance, a dirty hoodie, a rough shave, and overall thugish look.
“Nice to meet you Mr. Jackson.” Dotted and him shake hooves.
“Yeah, say do any of you two know where the weapons are stashed?” Ice asks.
“I packed a few over here” Dotted takes him to the boxes. Sugar goes to Alloy's office, Sweetie and Alloy were discussing last night's events.
“Alloy...you're alright..” Sugar starts. Alloy and Sweetie looks over.
“Yes, it was a close call but here I am thanks to our agents” He says.
“It was, I'd like also to say that Jackson's mare-friend is secure at the castle.” Sweetie comments and leaves the room.
“Perfect, we got things situated.” Alloy sits back and yawns.
“What's going to happen?” Sugar takes a seat.
“Construction will go on, we'll start figure out ways to tackle the Notts issue, and as for the new threat of the IFE, well I don't know I think I may be able to shut down whatever they're doing on my own” He replies.
“By yourself..?”
“Yes, the other agents we have are specialist and can handle Notts, and the IFE is...simple for me”
“But..they're armed.” Sugar says worriedly.
“And I'll be armed.”
“At least take Jackson...” Sugar says, her voice quivering.
“Okay, I'll do it” Alloy says, he opens some files.
“Anything you want me to do Alloy?”
“Oh yes, there are a lot of files here that need to be organized. Sweetie will be here with you and of course Dotted.” He gets up, heading to the door.
“Where are you going?” Sugar follows.
“I'm getting with Jackson and heading out now” Alloy states.
“N-now? And breakfast?” Sugar asks.
“Quick okay? Breakfast.” Alloy goes to the kitchen.
“I'll make you something real quick, oh and for Jackson too” Sugar rushes and starts making pancakes.
“Yo Alloy. Look here” Jackson says, he is wearing combat armor and has a sub-machine gun hanging from his right side. A few combat knives are stored on his person, a few different grenade types, and a back up pistol.
“Looks threatening, we need a way to cloak that all before we arrive at their warehouse.” Alloy remarks.
“And we'll need to arm you up too bro” Jackson teleports over some heavy armor.
“I'll go light, vest under my suit, two pistols packed in” Alloy says, “I don't expect much combat”
“Now that's a test of your luck, you sure?”
“Yes” Alloy says.
“Done, here you go guys!” Sugar says placing two large plates of pancakes on a table.
“Yes!” Jackson sits down and starts right away. Alloy takes a seat and eats slowly.
“Thanks Sugar” Alloy smiles. Sugar nods and makes some more for her and the other agents.
After a small time, Alloy and Jackson finish up and head out. “Stash all our armor and supply in a suit case. We can't be carrying it around.”
“Got you covered” Jackson poofs over an empty suit case. “Then when we're close, we'll teleport them onto us”
“That's the plan”
“Speaking of plans, what exactly are we doing?” They start walking out. Sugar jumps on Alloy's back, giving him a little kiss.
“Byeee!” Sugar hugs him. Alloy smiles.
“I'll be back soon, take care of the office” Alloy says.
“Will do, and you be careful on your mission!” Sugar gets off and leaves the two.
“Ahem, so what we're doing is convincing them to stop their actions.” Alloy says.
“And if they don't?” Ice asks.
“We convince them harder a different way” Alloy smirks. They continue to the train station.
“This will be fun” Jackson says as they board and head towards the mission’s challenges.
End of Chapter 22.