//------------------------------//
// E.S.S: 24 – Double Menace 
// Story: E.S.S (Equestria's Secret Service) 
// by Power Hors3 
//------------------------------//

E.S.S: 24 – Double Menace

Alloy and Jackson rested and spent time at his home for most of the day.
“Are you moving out of here?” Jackson looks at the bullet holes left from the assault on his house.
“I like Canterlot a lot, this house is nice...minus the wreck made by Notts' goons” He turns on the T.V. “I'd probably be best for me to leave this place temporarily; I'll move into an apartment in Ponyville.”
“I figure I should to, want to be roommates?” Ice drinks some beer from the fridge.
“It'd be more convenient and safe. Yes, don't see why not.” Alloy flips to the weather channel. “Maybe an extended stay hotel would be good.”
“Sounds expensive” Ice says.
“You get paid well enough, beyond well enough. What do you even do with your money?” Alloy asks, he shuts down the T.V.
“I send some to my less fortunate family members, sometimes.” Jackson finishes his beer.
“Hmm, I've always wanted to ask you; why do you dress the way you do?”
“Dunno, I guess it's because it feels right, before I had this job I was, as you know, fairly poor. I was a guy who needed money and couldn't keep a job. I dressed like this daily, so I thought, why not stay that way. It's like a sort of reminder...” Jackson smiles a little, “How about you, fancy vest, tie, suit.”
“Professionalism, and my...father” He turns around to face the broken front window, “Feels right too”
“What's going to happen to all the junk you have around here? Like in your garage.” Jackson asks, in an almost teasing way.
“My inventions?” Alloy stands up, and goes to the storage area. Ice follows; when Alloy opens the door Ice chuckles.
“Yep, junk”
“Maybe to you, but most of this stuff can be useful someday.” He picks up a glove like item that has some things attached to it.
“What the hell's that suppose' to be?” Ice sits on a stool, messing with some other things in his reach.
“It's supposed to make you jump higher, if you wear all four on each hoof. I only ave that one though.” He moves it around showing the spring and hydraulics on it.
“Looks like that thing will kill you before you can get off the ground” Ice snickers, he levitates another thing to Alloy, “And this? Looks like a flap of plastic and cables”
“I'm not a good clothes maker, but it's meant to absorb most of a magical attack and transfer to the user, or use the magic to generate a shield.”
“Woah, I thought it was one of those blanket warmers for when it's cold!” Ice laughs some more. Alloy takes it away from him,
“Just wait till I finish it; it'll be good for the agency.” Alloy says.
“You know what would be cool? Full rounded metal armor. Like that knight stuff we saw in the castle, but bigger and stronger.”
“I've been thinking about it, but we're not really heavy combatants.”
“We will be soon if we're dealing with Notts” Ice reminds him.
Alloy looks at the magic absorbing vest, “The knight armor from the castle has some sort of magical spell on it that makes the armor nearly unbreakable. If we could find what spell that is, we could use it for anything, including your hoodie.”
“A bullet and magic proof hoodie?? Count me in!” Ice smiles and hops off the stool. “Let's get started now, I'll carry some of that stuff for you!”
“Didn't expect you to get that excited, take my tool boxes, don't flip them around. I have thing with wheels to carry everything. Be careful with them.” Alloy says.
Jackson had already started packing up everything on it, “If you're going to make stuff, maybe we should rent a house instead.”
“Yea, alright. Meanwhile I'll stuff all this in my office.” Alloy opens the garage door. He himself, grabs some stuff to carry out. He closes it once they're out, carrying all the things, they board it at the train station, on course to Ponyville.

“Sweetie, do you think they're okay...?” Sugar asks as they sort through files.
“Yes, they seemed to be prepared enough” Sweetie replies, “Besides, if anything goes wrong, we have agents in the area to support them.”
“Is there anyways we can check...?” Sugar nearly begs.
“Yep” Sweetie says casually.
“There is...?” Sugar moves to Sweetie.
“Mhm, all we have to do is contact look at a monitor and check on their location. We have chips on them now”
“We…do? Do I have one?”
“Not yet, so want to check?”
“Yes!” Sugar drops a box of files. Sweetie smiles and goes into her office; Sugar following closely behind.
Sweetie turns on the primitive looking computer. Computers were never widely used, only by E.S.S usually; it was a light gray screen with only a few options. “Let's see...um, yeah I never learned to use these things. Let me make a quick call.” Sweetie picks up her office phone. “Hello Sean, this is Sweetie, how do I check on agents' location on this thing, yes the computer or whatever it's called. Move the knobs to...check? Okay it opens more things. Down to Agents, okay. Oh I got it, so if I press enter there it opens up a file on them? Thanks I got it now.” She hangs up after opening Alloy's file.
“What does it say?” Sugar asks impatiently.
“It says they're on the train on his way here, look” Sweetie show Sugar two little dots that represent Alloy and Jackson. It has a line that show the direction the train is traveling.
“Yes! They're coming back!” Sugar hugs Sweetie briefly, “How does that work?”
“The tracking? I have no idea” Sweetie chuckles, “I bet Sean Gas could explain it to you, though honestly I have a hard time understanding him myself.” Alloy's phone rings in his office.
“A call, should we pick up?” Sugar asks, heading to his office room. Sweetie nods, going ahead of her.
Sweetie pick up, “E.S.S”
“Er, this is ahem, Blind Spot”
“Who? Do we know you?”
“One of you ponies must, his name is Alloy Red, uh, Blur Red? Alloy. Yeah, Alloy.” Blind Spot coughs.
“Alloy isn't available at the moment, want to call him back later?”
“No, I don't get access to one of these phone things often, this is the only time I can tell him.”
“Tell me then, I'm an agent here.” Sweetie sits.
“I have no choice, it's about Notts.” He says. Sugar's ears perk up.
“Go on...” Sweetie says.
“We're going to Canterlot soon, a week. I can't do anything but warn you. Our numbers on our side are thirty-two...all armed. We're coming in from the tunnels east of Canterlot...I got to-” Blind hangs up.
Sugar looks worriedly at Sweetie, who’s writing down the information given. “I don't know who that was, but he gave us information, I hope Alloy knows what it means.” Sweetie says.
“It must have been one of his contacts...but from where?” Sugar sits.
“We’ll ask him when he’s here.” Sweetie sits back in the chair, yawning.
Dotted enters the office, “Something the matter?” 
“Don’t concern yourself with this business, I’ll inform you if we need you” Sweetie says, her eyes are now closed. “Oh and, shut the door on your way out.”
“Yes ma’am” He habitually salutes and leaves, closing the door.
“Why don’t we tell him?” Sugar asks.
“It’s all about ranks...” Sweetie yawns again.
Sugar lays on all fours, “What are these ranks anyways? What rank even am I?”
“I’ve been meaning to explain it to you…” Sweetie starts, “basically there are five main ranks, each having two sub ranks in them. For example, Prestarter, the first rank, has Prestarter 1 and 2. Next ranks are, Associate, Senior, Senior Knight, and Director. 	
“Sweet, what am I?” Sugar asks.
“With the level of information you’ve been granted, you’re 2nd level Senior. I’m 2nd level Senior Knight, and Alloy is Director even though he doesn’t like being called that. Jackson is the same as me, most of the agency we have is either 1st rank Senior Knight, or 2nd rank Senior Knight, with the exception of you and Dotted Field who is a 2nd rand Prestarter.”
“Ooh okay, so that’s why badge has that on it. I’m pretty high ranked” Sugar smiles.
“Hehe, yep, usually it doesn’t happen that fast, even for Dotted field’s 2nd rank in Prestarter.” Sweetie gets up, stretches and starts heading out the office door, “Come along”
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see” Sweetie smiles. They walk out to the construction zone, the walls and floor is being set up for the bottom level. Alloy and Jackson are seen off in the distance trotting towards the office.
“Ohhh I see what you mean!” Sugar dashes off towards them, she teleports herself onto Alloy’s back. He nearly falls, but catches his balance.
“Oof! Heh, hello Sugar” Alloy grins; Jackson smirks and goes on ahead of them.
She hugs Alloy tightly, “How’d it go? You didn’t get hurt did you?”
“Not at all, it went by really smoothly” he replies.
“What went down?”
“We got the IFE leader; Hertz in custody. We had…a little resistance. Nothing major.”
Sugar hops off his back, “I’m glad you’re okay” She kisses him and giggles.
“What have you gals been up to here?”
“Just as you assigned, file organization” Sugars says; they walk into the office building.
“Be back in a bit, I want I check out some things with the construction, he leaves before Sugar says another word.
Going up to his assigned manager, Alloy talks to him, “Can I see the blueprints please?”
“Yes, of course sir” The manager passes him the layouts. Alloy walks around the area, looking at details in the walls and floors. “Something’s…missing.” Alloy traces around a line on the blueprint. 
“What’s wrong Sir?” His manager asks, having overheard Alloy.
“I screwed up on something” Alloy spawns a pencil, drawing some new room in the blueprints, “I’m adding this room here, for machinery to power the bottom floor.”
“Alright, we’ll get started on that. One thing tough, one of our workers, Cara, hasn’t showed up to work in two days. Do you want me to send someone to check up on her?”
“That’d be the best thing to do” Alloy hands him back the blueprints, “Good work” He leaves him.
Alloy returns to his still crowded office, he sits on the rolling chair, “Finally…” He closes his eyes, but is interrupted a few seconds later.
“Alloy” Sweetie enters. 
“Yes…?” Alloy opens an eye. 
“I got an invitation from Muffins today for a wedding. I’ll be taking the day off, going with Lyra. Is that okay with you?” 
“Who’s wedding?” He closes his eye.
“Cranky and Matilda’s, they’re the donkey residents here in Ponyville.”
“Go ahead, take the day off, you deserve it” Alloy smiles. 
“Thank you, hehe I’ll let you rest now” Sweetie leaves. Alloy adjust himself in his chair, getting comfortable. Sweetie rushes back in, “Alloy! I nearly forgot, you go a call from a Gryphon, it seemed important, I wrote what he said and left it on your desk” 
“Gryphon! Thanks!” Alloy look upon his desk, grabbing the note. Reading it briefly, he frowns, “We need to warn the agents”
“Now Alloy?” Sweetie asks.
“As soon as possible. Contact Anderson in Canterlot, let him know to scout the tunnels below the castle and around the Canterlot area. They may arrive sooner than a week”
“On it, anything else?” 
“Just letting you know, that’s one of my contacts, he took a big risk letting us know” Alloy rubs his eyes.
“Perhaps we could save him?”
“If it was possible, I’d have him captured during their attack…I’ll sketch how he looks and send it to Anderson.”
“Good idea, I’ll go make the calls now” She rushes out.
“Perfect…” Alloy sits back again, his heavy eyelids closing. It is not to long before his phone rings, alerting him to wake up, “E.S.S. Alloy talking.”
“H-hello, this is…um Philip” A shaky voice says from the other end.  
“Oh it’s you” Alloy chuckles, “You got fortunate enough to use a phone I hear.”
“I’ve never used one of these in my life! I had to go to a city to get this thing and even then it costed several bits to call and-”  
“Great, something you need?” Alloy rubs his eyebrows.
“Yeah, get me out of here already!” Philip says with a half-hearted chuckle.
“Okay. Where are you specifically?”
“I’m at a place called Saint C’s, it’s an orphanage in the city of GoldenClaw.”
“Sit tight, I’ll have someone get you, if not, myself. It may take a while”
“O-Okay, I got myself into some trouble, come armed” Philip hangs up before Alloy can ask. He redials but gets no pick up.
“Dammit” Alloy stands up, makes coffee and thinks of his options. “Go by myself and save resources, send someone over there, have him come over here, hire…someone. Ranna…she may still be there.” He leaves the room, going over to Jackson, who is chilling by some weapons conversing with Dotted. 
Ice notices Alloy right away and turns pointing a pistol, “And there, a quick draw” Ice chuckles.
“Stop fooling around” Alloy says, using his magic to take the pistol apart, “I need to talk to you, in private.”
“I just put that back together!” Ice chuckles and tosses the pieces to Dotted, “See if you can do it” 
“Yes sir!” Dotted says, looking down at it.
Alloy and Jackson go to his office, Alloy closes the door, “While at Notts’ place, did you by any chance hear anything in A? Besides him being dead?”
“I don’t think so man” Ice sits.
“A has a sister who lives in the Gryphon Kingdom. She was going to go search for him, but I need to go back to the kingdom to pick up one of my contacts.”
Jackson rubs his head, “How many things did you do over there??”
“Focus Ice, do you recall anyone mentioning A’s sister?”
“Eh, maybe…what’s her name?”
“Ranna”
“Yea I think so, but it was just a sorta random thing when they talked about A’s death.”
“It’s not enough…” Alloy stomps his hooves and sits at his desk. 
Ice yawns a little, “So, are you actually going back?”
“I don’t have much of a choice, but this time, you’re coming with me” 
“Hell yea! When do we go?” Ice springs up, already spawning equipment.
Alloy thinks, “On second thought, I may take Dotted”
“What? Him?? He’s just a Prestarter! He can’t handle that sorta mission” Ice complains.
“True, but he’ll be with me”
“It’s doesn’t line up with the rules Alloy.”
Alloy snickers, “I’m Director level, so I can change that.” 
“Oh BS!”
“I’m only kidding, I’m not taking him. Stay here and prep the gear, I’m telling Drops.” Alloy laughs as he leaves the room. Ice sighs in relief, starting to go through the gear.
Alloy knocks on Sweetie’s door. “Come in” She says.
“Drops, I’m going out on another mission with Ice, it’s a recovery.” He says, taking a seat.
“Another one already, what are we recovering, where, how long?”
“It’s a who, a gryphon kid I met, so that leads me back to the Gryphon kingdom. As for hoe long, maybe a day or two.”
Sweetie sighs, “At least you’re not going alone this time. How about EFI? And I won’t be here tomorrow, who’s next in command in this area?” She asks and looks through some files, “The next in line is Rosey Chairman. Shall I call her here?”
“Yes, she’s stationed here in town correct?”
“Yeah, but what about Sugar Belle? She missed you so much when you left last time…”
“I know she’ll understand…besides, she’s safe here.”
“Yes, but you’ll be in danger. I know this may sound crazy, but what if she went with you?”
“That’s out of the question.” Alloy frowns, “I don’t want her in danger.”
“I know, but she needs to learn doesn’t she? You can’t just keep her sheltered here forever, she’s E.S.S. and as such she should have the opportunity to act and learn”
“It’s just…I-I…”
“I know, you care about her a lot, but if you didn’t want her in danger, you shouldn’t have let her join the agency…”
Alloy looks away, he has a few tears forming, “I know…okay…” He stands up turning his body, facing the door, “Not this mission…” He leaves.
Sweetie nods, “Okay…”
Ice comes up to him, wearing his gear already. “And here’s yours” He poofs gear onto Alloy.
“Almost. I have to tell Sugar a few things”
“Tell me what?” Sugar step up to him.
“Sugar…I’m going on a journey with Jackson.” Alloy says.
Sugar gazes into his eyes worriedly, “You just came from a mission…where are you going?”
“Back to the Gryphon Kingdom, I’m picking up a kid that wants a better life.” 
“Okay…do be careful” She kisses him.
“Nothing to worry about, Alloy and I can do this mission really quick.” Jackson comments, he goes outside.
“He’s right Sugar, this shouldn’t take as long as last time.” He hugs her, she hugs tighter.
“Bye Alloy…” She lets go of him; he smiles and goes. 

Outside, Jackson is waiting for him outside by a bulldozer, “Ready?”
“Definitely” Alloy picks up a bag had packed for him. “What’d you pack?” He asks as the walk towards the train station. 
“Dry foods, maps, mountain gear, guns, tents, that sorta stuff” Ice says.
“No wonder this is so heavy; we may go on a side mission to find Ranna” 
“For all we know she might already be back in Equestria’s lands.”
“We’ll ask around if anyone’s willing to help” Alloy says.
“I don’t like the idea of being around so many Gryphons, what’s the situation?”
“I know the Gryphon kid, Philip, said to come armed, so we may encounter resistance of some kind”
“Why are we getting this guy again?”
“I told him I’d help him get a better life here” Alloy recalls. 
“Better be worth it, you said the place was a dump right? I’m not so sure anymore…” Ice says.
“Worrying already? Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash went there too. Who knows, maybe they did something”
“I haven’t heard anything about them being dead so I’ll take that as a plus” Ice snickers. They walk on for a few more minutes, purchase tickets and board the train.

At the office, Sweetie has just finished making the calls to the other agents, she begins to pack up some things in a bag. Dotted peers in.
“Excuse me ma’am” He starts.
“Yes Mr. Dotted? Come in if you need to” Drops says.
Dotted enters, “I was thinking, should I have a code name?”
“It’s recommended that you have one in use of missions. You can use your real name if you’d like. I personally use BonBon as my code name, Alloy uses Blur, and other agents use whatever they feel like.”
“It can be anything right?”
“Anything you wish.” Drops, steps out of her room, Dotted follows her out, “Anything else?”
“Yes, I wanted to comment that the top half that was removed during the construction is being added back on today, would you like me to guard the area in front?”
“Continue your normal perimeter sweep, but yes, add more focus and time looking over the front” Drops moves past to Sugar’s office, where she can see through the small window on her door that she was inside. She knocks, Sugar quickly opens up.
“Something the matter?” Sugar asks.
“I wanted to tell both you and Dotted that tomorrow I will be attending a wedding and will not be coming in for work.” Drops states. 
“Who’ll take command ma’am?” Dotted asks. Sugar was thinking the same thing.
“Rosey Chairman, she’s coming in just a bit to introduce herself to you two. I’ll also be showing her around this place, she came here during the agent meeting. She’s an interesting mare, very strict like me, so I expect you to treat her with the same respect understood?”
“Yes ma’am” They simultaneously say.
“Good we’ll all wait for her here in the lobby.” Drops sits, adjusting her hair and straightening her tie. 
Within a few minutes, a large mare walks in past the construction workers, and up to Sweetie Drops. She has a netural expression as she addresses herself to her, “Senior Knight Sweetie Drops.” 
“Senior Knight Rosey Chairman, glad you could make it on this short notice.” Drops states.
“The feeling is mutual, what am I working with?” Rosey asks, already strolling around the office. “Civilian construction workers in front, agents at base, two.” She says to herself.
“Yes, the civilians shouldn’t become a problem.” Sweetie says.
“Yes…of course. Alloy’s in charge as you stated at the meeting, where’d that stallion run off to this time?” Rosey asks, turning on the faucet and switching lights off and on.
Sweetie goes up to here, “A mission in the Gryphon Kingdom, to retrieve a contact.”
“He’s getting a gryphon kid” Sugar interrupts. Rosey looks at her and lifts an eyebrow.
“A gryphon kid…? What’s the importance of this kid to us? Does he have valuable information?”
“I…uh don’t know.” Sugar says shyly. “He said he was trying to get him a better life”
Rosey shakes her head and pulls Drops aside, “We’re wasting time with the kid, we’re not a charity Drops.”
“Rosey, I know, but he’s the Director, if he feels it’s necessary then it is.” Drops states, maintaining a monotone voice.
“Very well, I shall have to have a word with him upon his arrival” Rosey whispers. Dotted and Sugar are a little behind, wondering what they were speaking about. “And with these new agents. I’ve seen the files; their promotions are too ambiguous”    
“Alright Rosey, shall I give you a further tour?” 
“Not necessary Drops, I think I can acquaint myself just fine. Enjoy your day off” Rosey walks along, “Actually, yes one thing. Will I be taking your office or Alloy’s?”
“Mine, Alloy didn’t leave me any instructions on lending his.” 
“Very well. Thank you.” She finds the one marked with Sweetie’s name and enters.
Sugar speaks up, “So, will we need to introduce ourselves?”
“Later, she has a folder on both of you. Just listen to what she has to say and everything should go perfect.” Drops heads out. 
“Oh, uh okay. Have a good day off tomorrow!” Sugar says.
“Yep, and you two too” Drops leaves.
Sugar turns to Dotted, “So what do you think?”
“Simple, we do as Rosey says and everything goes as planned.”
“She seemed stricter than Drops” Sugar says.
“I like her, reminds me of the army” Dotted says, resuming his post around the building. Sugar smiles a bit, but feels something wrong. Returning to her own office, she finds she has nothing to do. 
There’s a knock at the door. “Sugar, it’s Rosey. Come to my office”
“Y-yes ma’am” Sugar quickly opens the door, following her to the office room. “Something you need?”
“Yes. Take a seat.” Rosey says, waiting for her to do so. Sugar sits, “You’re a newer agent here. A few weeks into this organization. Tell me, how did you get into this organization? I’m afraid the records aren’t clear.”
Sugar feels uneasy, “Well I um…Alloy came to my village and I added him on his mission. We talked and I ended up coming here…”
“Yes, that’s as much as the records say, in Alloy’s words: I found her ability to help me on my mission exceptionable to consider her as a potential member of E.S.S” 
“He wrote that…?” She blushes. Rosey takes notices of Sugar’s redness. 
“Miss Sugar, I’m not one to usually intrude in personal affairs, but from the little time I’ve seen you with Director Alloy, it has become clear to me that you two are together?” 
“Y-yes…?”
Rosey smirks a bit and sighs, “What I’m going for here is, your records show no experience in combat, any schooling that would prepare you for E.S.S. Do you feel as if there is another reason you joined…?” 
“I…um…maybe”
“Alloy?”
“…yeah…” Sugar says, “But I really like it here, I’ve been learning a lot over these weeks.
“Yes, that is true, your help during the Gala was exceptional.” Rosey smiles, “I don’t mean to doubt your…abilities, so I’ll have you run a little errand for me.”
“Yes ma’am?”
“Check in on all our agents in Ponyville. I have a list where they’ll be posted. Usually I’d be doing this, but I have to be here. I leave it up to you” Rosey passes her a list. 
“I’ll check right away Rosey.” Sugar leaves, Rosey nods and smirks.

Sugar walks away from the building, “My very own mission. By myself…wow…” She thinks to herself, going on into Ponyville.

End of Chapter 24.