//------------------------------// // A Punch and a Hug // Story: Metasploit and Magic // by Dunglord //------------------------------// 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. ‘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. “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.