Pinkie tapped her chin with a hoof, several questions having been brewing amongst the many thoughts that went through her head while Twilight was talking just now. Now that the lavender alicorn had paused for a moment, she decided this was the best time to ask her. She tapped her friend on the shoulder, asking, “Twilight?”
Twilight looked at the pink pony and asked, “Yes, Pinkie?”
Pinkie gave her a curious look, “I’m just wondering…” Her expression shifted to a rather intense questioning stare that brought back memories of the Traders Exchange for Twilight. “How do you know what The Boss said? You weren’t there! Unless you used that memory spell of yours on Snake or Big Boss or whatever cool codename he goes by now. And speaking of which, you said he was against you learning anything from him and helping his army. Why did he change his mind?” she asked, suspicion entering and leaving her voice as she spoke.
Despite being intimidated by the look on Pinkie’s face, Twilight managed a shaky smile as she said, “I’m getting to the part about The Boss, Pinkie. It’s not going to be much longer now. As for why Snake included the Combat Unit as part of my rotations when he made me an official staff member… well, when it became clear that I wasn’t as good at defending myself as I could be, he decided it would be best to fix that.”
Celestia listened to Twilight’s tone as she spoke, an idea of what must’ve happened beginning to form in her mind. “Did something happen to you, Twilight?” she asked.
Twilight looked at her former mentor, surprised she wasn’t feeling surprised at how easily she figured it out, and said, “Yes… Let me back up a bit before that. It had been a couple days since Amanda and I made our deal. In that time, in addition to putting me on a workout schedule every day, she’d also gotten me better acquainted with the other soldiers at Mother Base and we were all getting along pretty good, though some still couldn’t get over the fact that they had a real live pony at their base. In addition to being with them in the Kill House, they roped me into helping them with the base’s construction. Miller wasn’t consulted first, but I don’t think he minded that the plant was being converted to hexagons earlier than he expected.”
Luna tilted her head, “Hexagons?”
Twilight nodded, “Right. Part of the plans for expanding Mother Base involved building new struts that were bigger and would make it easier to build future expansions. The R&D Team made up the blueprints for the hexagon-based design.”
Applejack asked, “Why hexagons?”
Twilight explained, “Well, aside from the ease in adding new additions, Miller reasoned that the honeycomb design was one of the strongest in the world, especially since certain militaries were planning to use it in their tank armor. The downside was that it was an expensive change and it required a lot of extra labor to build it up. I was able to help with the latter while Snake was sending back more new recruits.”
Shining asked, “They had to move and build up a lot of heavy materials, huh Twily?”
Twilight replied, “Yep, especially with us being in the middle of the ocean, essentially. There’s a lot of extra work involved with that.”
Shining smiled, “I can imagine.”
Twilight continued, “I really only played a small part in it. The R&D Team deserves all the credit. Once they started building, they really worked hard. Mother Base grew fast once they had everything they needed.”
Cadance asked, “How big was it when you left, Twilight?”
Twilight thought for a moment before replying, “I’d say, overall, it was about the size of a small city.”
Mr. Sparkle let out a chuckle before asking, “I know you said small, but isn’t that awfully big for something built on the water, Twilight?”
The lavender alicorn replied, “Well, you tell me.” She reached down and grabbed her iDroid with her hoof, unclipping it and bringing it up in front of her, clicking it on.
“What’s that?” Rainbow asked as she saw it light up.
“iDroid. They started making these after the incident. Everyone eventually got one,” Twilight replied absently as she flipped through the menus. She soon found what she was looking for and said, “Ah, here.” She called up a picture on the device showing three square-shaped struts in the water and turned it around to show everyone, saying, “This is what Mother Base looked like when they first acquired it.” After a few seconds, she turned it around and, after fiddling with it for a moment, called up a picture showing many closely-knit honeycomb-shaped struts. Even without the first picture next to it, it was clear that the second design dwarfed the first. “And this is about where we were.”
Everyone was pretty surprised when they saw the second picture. “Uh, wow. Yeah, I’d call that about the size of a city,” Rainbow commented.
Rarity asked, “It had grown that much after only a few months?”
Twilight nodded, “Yeah. The Living Quarters were the first section to start undergoing expansion in order to keep up with the rising recruit numbers.”
Applejack asked, “How many of y’all were livin’ there last time ya checked, Twilight?”
Twilight gave it some thought as she pulled her iDroid back, holding it near her chest as she looked up at the ceiling. “Um… I think we came to realize we could comfortably house up to three hundred staff members once the last addition was finished,” she said after a moment.
Applejack whistled, “That’s a lotta beds. And mouths ta feed.”
Spike commented, “I bet sleeping was awkward with that many people.”
Twilight said, “Not really. It wasn’t bad for us since Snake didn’t recruit a lot of women staff members, and besides, everyone got their own room.”
Rainbow asked, “And you were still able to have three hundred max?”
Twilight replied, “Well, we could manage to stretch it up to fifty more, though not as well. And after that point, we were all falling over each other… when we weren’t falling into the ocean, that is. Learned that the hard way when Snake was busy capturing new vehicles and didn’t have time to come back to Mother Base and sort through the patrols he captured.” Shining made a face at that, but Twilight didn’t seem to notice.
Luna spoke, “I believe we’re getting off topic again.”
Twilight nodded, “Right, okay. So, let’s see… Cécile had arrived at Mother Base a few days prior after Snake found and rescued her in the rainforest on his way to Strangelove’s lab. Like I said, Mother Base’s remodeling was just starting. And it was the day Amanda’s cast came off…”
________________________________________
Twilight watched intently as Miller ran a small power saw down the front of Amanda’s right leg, bisecting the cast as it moved. Amanda was looking down at it as she sat up in her Sick Bay bed, commenting, “Increíble. It’s amazing what the Boss is able to get this far from Costa Rica.”
Miller replied while he continued to work, “Well, we have the growth of MSF to thank for us being able to have nice toys like this. If we still just had the place on the beach, we’d probably be using a knife for this.” Both Amanda and Twilight looked up at him in alarm at that, the man pausing when he glanced up and saw their surprised expressions. He stood straight up, bringing the saw with him as he held his hands up, “Hey, I say that because we’ve done it before! It’s not like we liked doing it, but we had to make do with what we had!”
Amanda relaxed a bit at that, saying, “Well, I can’t really argue with that. After all, that’s what we did with the KGB’s drug plant before Snake came along. We took the money they paid us to help keep pressing back towards Nica, but we’re not going to fight for them anymore.”
Twilight asked, “The KGB?”
Miller looked at her and said, “Basically, Twilight, it’s the major security and intelligence organization in the East. One of their agents approached us with this job in Costa Rica, wanting us to drive the CIA out of Costa Rica for them.”
Twilight tilted her head, “Why’d you agree to help them? I mean…”
Miller explained, “The CIA is based in America and they’ve been after us for a while, so there’s no love lost there. And Snake wasn’t for it at all; I helped change his mind after it was mentioned that we would be getting this plant in exchange for our services, and I managed to get our first chopper thrown into the deal too.”
Amanda commented, “Pretty shrewd, Miller.”
The man replied, “Hey, even when we just moved in, it was already an upgrade. And we didn’t know about the nukes until Snake started his mission. That information changed everything.”
Amanda nodded, “It sure did.”
Twilight looked at Miller and asked, “Where’s Snake now?”
The man replied, “He should be closing in on the facility where Peace Walker’s final test is supposedly being held. He wasn’t able to destroy the Mammal Pod AI at the facility that Huey told you and him about, so this is going to be the last chance to stop it before the system is completed and activated.” Twilight nodded quietly and looked down in thought while Miller resumed cutting off Amanda’s cast.
After a minute, he reached the bottom of the cast and both halves fell to the sides, revealing Amanda’s leg beneath. Almost immediately, she asked, “So can I have my pants back now?”
Miller reached over to the cart next to him, putting the saw down and picking up the folded-up article of clothing in question as he said, “Yes, Amanda. Sorry about making you wear that old, torn up pair we had lying around, but they were easier to fit around your cast.” He held her green pants out to her and she immediately snatched them from him, turning to the side and dangling her legs over the side of the bed as she pulled them on. Once they were on, she reached down and grabbed her boots, sliding her legs into them.
She stood up when her boots on were on and almost immediately lost her balance, falling forward with a surprised cry. She managed to catch herself on the bed next to her, pressing her hands against the mattress to keep herself from hitting the frame, but she still ended up on the floor on her knees. Twilight immediately moved to her side and asked, “Amanda, are you alright?”
The woman looked up at her, “I think so, Twilight. I just… lost my balance for some reason.”
Miller spoke, “That doesn’t surprise me. You’ve been off that leg for a while. It did heal pretty fast, thanks in no small part to our new magically-inclined friend,” he nodded in Twilight’s direction as he spoke, “but you still haven’t been using it for support. It’s probably gotten a bit weak.”
Amanda looked back at him with an upset expression, “So what, I STILL have to be confined to that bed? Is that what you’re saying, Miller?”
The man replied, “No, no, you don’t have to be in the Sick Bay anymore, Amanda. We definitely want you out there using that leg. Just… We do have a few walking canes here. You can take one and use it until your leg is strong enough to support you. Or you can keep having Twilight support you, whichever you prefer.” Amanda didn’t look happy about this, but she nodded in reply. “Good. All right, you two, get out of here. I’ve got work to do.” With that, he turned and walked away, leaving them alone.
As Amanda used the bed in front of her to stand up, Twilight asked, “You want me to go grab you one of those canes Miller was talking about, Amanda?”
The Sandinista woman turned and sat on the bed before she replied, “No, you’ll do just fine, Twilight. I’ve actually gotten used to following or walking alongside you these last few days. A little longer won’t be so bad.”
Twilight blushed, “Yeah, the last couple of days have been interesting, I can’t deny that.”
Amanda asked, “But they’ve been good, haven’t they?”
Twilight nodded, “Yeah…”
Amanda spoke, “So why stop now? Let’s take care of your routine for today, but with one minor addition.” She reached over and placed her right hand on Twilight’s back, “You get to support me every step of the way.”
Before the alicorn could say anything, Amanda pressed her hand down, causing Twilight to exhale sharply. Her legs shook a bit as she stood, Amanda grunting as she raised herself up again. Once she was standing, Twilight looked up at her and asked, “Did you have to press so hard?”
Amanda smirked down at her, “What’s wrong? I thought horses, no matter how old they were, could support weight on their backs. You’re only supporting part of me, you know. Does that make you feel anything?”
Twilight looked off to the side and muttered, “It makes me feel glad that canes typically don’t feel anything…”
Amanda said, “Yeah, yeah. Now come on, walk!” Twilight let out an annoyed sigh before she turned and started walking towards the Sick Bay exit, Amanda half-walking, half-hobbling close behind and beside her.
Unbeknownst to either of them, Miller was looking at them from across the room, the man spending some extra time in front of one of the medicine cabinets as he looked at them through his dark sunglasses. Once they left, he excused himself from the Sick Bay citing second-in-command responsibilities to the staff. Outside, he carefully followed after Twilight and Amanda, observing their routine. The details had changed as Mother Base’s expansion continued, but they had always started with Twilight doing a jog through Mother Base. The main difference this time around was Amanda. She would do her usual of letting Twilight run on ahead and ordering her to stop and keep moving in place while she caught up, but in addition to that, she also alternated to moving with the pony while using her for support and moving on her own, the latter becoming more frequent as they continued.
It was a little difficult keeping up with them since he came across other Mother Base staff and he had to come up with excuses to avoid telling them what he was really doing, but Miller was able to carefully follow the two through Mother Base, their light exercise ending outside of the new Living Quarters strut. There, Miller watched from afar with a pair of binoculars as Amanda, now better able to stand on her own two feet, made Twilight perform less movement-based exercises. Stretches, sit-ups, push-ups both with her forelegs and her wings, using her wings to push her back up off the ground… it was all pretty typical stuff, but Miller was bothered by Twilight’s performance through it all. He didn’t know how good she was when she started doing this and it surely wouldn’t be a bad thing if she was more active, but it further reinforced his theory that her magic break was causing her to get used to living at Mother Base.
After a little while, Twilight let herself fall to the ground on her front, sweat running down her brow as she tried to catch her breath. As she began to pick herself up, Amanda spoke, “You’ve still got a long way to go, Twilight… but you are getting better.”
Twilight sat back on her haunches and looked up at her before replying while panting slightly, “Well, I hope I’m improving, Amanda. I’d hate to have agreed to this and have nothing to show for it, especially after the first day.”
Amanda smiled, “Hey, we had a good heart-to-heart at dinner that day, didn’t we?”
Twilight smiled back, “Yeah. That was the day you told me why you’re so tough. I don’t know if I would’ve been able to put up with any more if you hadn’t done that.”
Amanda said, “I think you would’ve with the right push. You have a tenaciousness about you. There’s a fight in you… hidden underneath that overly worrying personality that you typically show.”
Twilight blushed in embarrassment, “Amanda!”
The woman replied, “Hey, it’s not a bad thing to have, so long as you realize that there are times where you have to act rather than think.”
Twilight glanced down, “Yeah, I’ve… I’ve been told that before.”
Amanda said, “Well, to be honest, I’m glad Snake sent you back here instead of making you follow him. I’m not really sure this is the best place to be learning more about that.”
While the two kept talking, Miller listened in on them with the aid of a Directional Microphone, which the man had been using for the last several days to listen in on Twilight whenever he’d had the chance while working. He had overheard Twilight getting along with the other staff members, and now it sounded like Amanda was admitting that she was getting fond of the pony, and that was something he hadn’t thought would happen.
He soon took off his headphones and slid them down around his neck, having heard enough. This was not good; he wanted to keep Twilight safe from the rest of the world of course, but he didn’t want her developing any attachments to Mother Base either. A world in the midst of the Cold War wasn’t exactly the type of world he’d recommend to her kind. After making sure it was safe, he turned and snuck away, deciding it was time to put his plan in action.
A short while later, Miller was wandering Mother Base looking for Twilight. He eventually found her coming in for a landing near the new Living Quarters, the pony evidently having been aiding the staff with making the new additions to the new workplaces for the Intel and R&D Units. He began making his way over to her, soon finding her talking with Cécile outside. He heard Twilight saying as he got closer, “No, really, Cécile, there’s no need for that.”
The blonde woman replied, “Nonsense! You have such beautiful wings! Nothing is too good for you or them, mon petit poney!” She looked up a moment later and saw Miller approaching, prompting her to say, “Oh! Hello, Commander Miller!”
Twilight turned to look at the man as he said, “Hello, Cécile. Everything okay here?”
Cécile replied, “Oui! I was just talking to Twilight about preening her wings for her! They are so beautiful; it would be awful if they were to get dirty!”
Twilight started to protest again, only for Miller to speak up first. “Indeed, it would. However, it might have to wait. If you don’t mind, Cécile, I’d like to talk to Twilight about something,” he said.
Cécile smiled, “Of course you may! I don’t have a problem with that at all!”
There was a moment of silence before Miller hinted, “I mean… more in private, Cécile.”
Cécile replied, “Oh. Of course. My mistake.” She turned and left the two alone, waving back to them as she walked away, heading for the inside of the Living Quarters.
Miller’s gaze followed her form longer than it should have, a number of French-related thoughts passing through his head. He managed to bring himself back to reality fairly quickly, though, and he turned to look down at Twilight, the lavender pony looking up at him curiously. “Uh, sorry about that, Twilight,” he said.
She didn’t know what he was apologizing about, so she simply replied, “That’s okay, Miller. So, what did you want to talk to me about?”
Miller hesitated for a second, trying to decide the best way to phrase what he was about to say next. He soon settled on saying, “Well, I haven’t really had a chance to say it since we’ve both been pretty busy these last few days, but you’ve really done a lot of work around here, Twilight. Since I’ve been moving around and helping the different units adjust to the new staff members that have been joining them, I’ve seen you getting along with them and helping them with expanding Mother Base. I’m not sure we could’ve grown this fast without your help.”
Twilight blushed and held up a hoof behind her head as she said, “Yeah, well… it’s mostly been moving materials around and helping them with getting everything in its right place and getting it secured quickly. I’m good at organizing things like that.”
Miller replied, “And believe me, we’re all grateful to you for helping us turn this place into something livable. It’s just… well, there’s not much for you to see around here, is there?”
Twilight looked up at him, a confused look on her face as she lowered her hoof. “Um, I guess not. I mean, the R&D and Intel Units are off-limits to me, and I’ve kind of seen everything that I’m allowed to in the other Units,” she said.
Miller interjected, “But I mean aside from that, there’s nothing but water to see, right?”
Twilight’s confusion didn’t dissipate as she answered, “Well, yeah. Why?”
Miller said, “Because I was thinking maybe you’d like to get out for a bit, see something a little different, do something a little different.”
Twilight tilted her head, “Like what?”
Miller turned and looked back at her, “Come on, let’s take a walk, Twilight. It’ll be easier this way.” Twilight wasn’t sure she understood, but she moved to walk beside him as he started walking down the connecting bridge, moving away from the Living Quarters.
For a minute, the two walked in silence. Finally, Twilight broke the silence, “So… what’s this about, Miller?”
The man replied with a question, “Remember how we were talking about the KGB earlier, about one of their agents approaching us with this job?”
Twilight nodded, “Yeah…?”
Miller continued, “Well, he didn’t come to us alone. He brought a girl with him.”
Twilight asked, “A girl?”
Miller nodded, “A young girl. Her name is Paz. She calls him ‘professor’. According to him, the CIA captured her and did horrible things to her. Now she apparently lives at the ‘school’ he ‘teaches’ at.”
Twilight nodded, “Okay.”
Miller went on, “She’s the rest of the reason why we’re in Costa Rica, to free her country from the CIA. Since we agreed to take the job, she’s been keeping in touch with us with a radio in the ‘professor’s’ office, but here’s the thing: we haven’t been able to get in contact with her recently.”
Twilight looked up at him, “Really? No answer at all?”
Miller replied, “No. We’re not sure if this ‘school’ Paz attends is even real.”
Twilight came to a stop and Miller did too after a second, turning around to face her. By now, they had reached Mother Base’s central strut and were along the outside of it. “So why are you specifically talking to me about this instead of with, I don’t know, Snake?” Twilight asked.
Miller answered, “The Boss is a bit busy with stopping Peace Walker at the moment, so I’d rather have something more substantial than my suspicions to report to him. That’s why I’m going to send you to investigate this ‘school’.”
Twilight looked surprised at this. “What, me?!” she asked.
“Not all by yourself, of course. You’ll have someone with you,” Miller said.
Twilight’s face brightened, “Well, of course I’ll do it! While I’m here, I want to help!” Her expression faltered a bit, “But I thought Snake didn’t want me getting involved in your, uh, business.”
Miller said, “This isn’t like that. You can call it an unofficial mission if you want, but really all that’s going to happen could be considered reconnaissance. We need to confirm if there’s any truth to what we were told, and if any of it is, we need to know why Paz hasn’t been answering our calls. We’ll get you something to hide that bright coat of yours. All the people that know about your existence should be right here in Mother Base. As long as we keep your, ah, ‘features’ hidden, there shouldn’t be any problem with you stepping out for a while.”
Twilight asked, “And what if what you were told was true?”
Miller replied, “Well, then you can meet Paz for yourself. It’d probably be nice to meet someone closer to your age besides Chico, right?”
Twilight said, “I don’t know. I mean, would she be okay with meeting somepony like me?”
Miller answered, “I think she would be, and I think you two would get along great. You have a lot in common. You’re both students learning about peaceful resolutions, you both like to see new places… Come to think of it, if Paz didn’t have an accent, you two would probably sound alike.”
Twilight started, “Well, if you really think so…”
Miller nodded, “I’m positive. Why don’t you head over to the helipad while I go get the man I had in mind and something for you? It shouldn’t take me too long.” With that, he turned and walked in the direction of the new Shooting Range and Kill House, Twilight spreading her wing and flying towards the base’s control tower a few seconds later.
After waiting for several minutes near the helipad, Twilight turned to see Miller walking towards her with what looked like a dark blue blanket slung over his shoulder. He also had a soldier with him, the man walking beside him looking a bit underdressed at the moment. Twilight had noticed that the staff normally wore the combat fatigues they were provided all the time, even when they were in the Living Quarters; while the man did have the pants and boots on, it was a little unusual for her to see someone in a white T-shirt like the one he currently had on. He was also wearing black sunglasses instead of a balaclava, allowing her to see his well combed brown hair.
As they reached Twilight, Miller spoke, “Twilight. I don’t know if you recognize him now, but this is Wolf. He’ll be going with you.” Wolf and Twilight greeted each other before Miller held out the blanket he was carrying. “Here, take this with you. I know it’s a blanket, but it’s all the guys could find on such short notice,” he said.
Twilight looked at it for a moment before saying, “A blanket? Uh… I guess I could use it to cover myself. Not sure how well I’ll be able to blend in, though.”
Miller replied, “I know, but it’ll have to do. The point is hiding your horn, wings, and coat from outside observers. Paint can hide the color of your coat, but it’s not going to cover up anything else. You shouldn’t run into any trouble where you’re going, so blending in shouldn’t be an issue. And if you do, it’ll be easy to take off.” Twilight could see he did have a point and so she used her magic to take the blanket, holding it up to examine for a moment before looking back up at Miller. “You can do whatever you need to with it, as long as it covers you up.”
Twilight nodded and looked back at the blanket. “I think I have an idea what to do,” she said after a moment.
Miller turned to Wolf and said to him, “The chopper will drop you two off a safe distance from the school Professor Galvez described to us. It’ll be a bit of a hike, but it’s better this way. If the school is there, they probably don’t want a military helicopter landing on their front lawn. If it’s something that’s not so safe… well, we don’t want anything happening to either of you or the chopper. I’ll give you directions once you’re on the ground. Find out why we haven’t been able to contact Paz, and make sure nothing happens to Twilight.” Wolf nodded and saluted in reply. A minute later, Miller watched as the chopper lifted up and flew off towards its destination, hoping to himself this wasn’t a bad idea.
A while later, the chopper touched down at its intended LZ, a fairly flat spot with mostly dirt that was surrounded by trees, and Wolf and Twilight climbed out. Once she had all four hooves on the ground, Twilight raised her right hoof to adjust the cloak she had made out of the blanket. It had taken some help from Wolf to get it right and it certainly wasn’t anything Rarity would praise her for other than the fact that she was able to make it at all, but the blanket was good enough for what she had had in mind. Only a little bit of her muzzle, legs, and tail really stuck out from underneath it.
As the chopper flew away, Twilight looked around at her surroundings. Like Huey had said, it looked like they had landed in a clearing in a tropical rainforest, the foliage she could see much different from what she had seen on the island where she’d first woken up. She turned to look at Wolf when he spoke to her, “Come on, Twilight. Stay close to me.” She nodded and trotted after him as he started walking towards the trees, not sure which direction they were going and hoping that Wolf knew where he was going.
While walking through the rainforest, Wolf listened to Miller as he gave directions over the radio and looked back every couple of seconds to make sure Twilight was still following him. The lavender alicorn was able to keep up with him, but she also looked around curiously, taking in everything that she could see. “This is amazing. So, this is what a tropical rainforest really looks like. It’s so pretty, like Whitetail Wood in the fall… but I’m sure it has its share of dangers like the Everfree Forest,” she thought to herself.
After a while, they exited the rainforest and continued following Miller’s directions, passing through flatter, slightly less wild areas. Eventually, they found what they were hoping to find: a fairly sizable school in a more developed location, complete with dormitories for the young adults that attended and were able to afford it. Twilight was surprised by the size of the school, noticing how much bigger it was than Canterlot High as she closely followed Wolf along the outside of the campus grounds.
They soon found what appeared to be the main building and walked up to the main entrance. Wolf held a hand up in front of Twilight to stop her when they were standing in front of the doors and then took off his sunglasses, tucking them into the collar of his shirt. He then looked down at the pony and said, “Stay out here and stay alert, Twilight. Everything seems to be okay here, but be on lookout anyway. I’ll see if I can find out where Paz and Professor Galvez are and be right back.” Twilight nodded in reply and turned around to look around while Wolf stepped inside and headed for the front desk.
Twilight spent the next several minutes keeping an eye out for anything that might indicate something wasn’t right while occasionally looking back over her shoulder to see if Wolf was back yet. She wasn’t comfortable being out in front of the school by herself, but she knew that if she went inside, even if she was able to successfully able to keep her appearance concealed, there could be complications, so she tried to keep her nerves under control while she waited for Wolf to return.
Suddenly, she heard one of the front doors opening behind her and she whirled around to see Wolf coming out, his sunglasses once again hiding his eyes. Twilight gave a sigh of relief and asked, “Well? Are they here?”
Wolf let out a sigh of his own before replying, “Well, from what I’ve been told, the answer is no, Twilight. Paz and the professor ARE supposed to be here, but get this: no one’s seen either of them in weeks.”
Twilight asked, “Weeks?! But Snake was approached by the professor with the situation in Costa Rica like a week ago, right?”
Wolf nodded and said, “And Commander Miller said that Paz has been keeping in touch with MSF with the radio in the professor’s office. The woman at the front desk did tell me where his office is, so we should go check it out before we report back.” The two made their way across the campus to one of the smaller buildings and found Professor Galvez’s office exactly where it was said to be. Wolf ended up picking the lock on the door to get into the office when knocking and listening yielded no results, but all they found was a mostly empty room on the other side. There were some books on a small set of shelves, one of which was written by Galvez himself and had his picture on it, and there were some brown folders on the desk, but there wasn’t much else, not even any spy tools. It really did seem like it hadn’t been used in weeks.
After leaving the office and trying to get the door back to the way they found it, the two exited the building and left the campus before Wolf used his radio to contact Miller and report their findings. Twilight looked up at him anxiously, listening to what he was saying and watching his face for any hints as to what Miller might be saying. About a minute later, he clicked off his radio and looked down at Twilight, saying, “Commander Miller says we’ve done all we can. We should head back to the LZ and get back to Mother Base.”
Twilight asked, “But what about Paz? And the professor?”
Wolf replied, “Commander Miller says he’ll talk to the Boss about it the next time he gets in touch with him, but with nothing to go on, there’s nothing more we can do here. For now, all we can do is wait and hope that they turn up soon.” He took a glance around before saying, “We should get going, Twilight, before we attract any unwanted attention.” Twilight let out a sigh, obviously not feeling pleased with what they managed to learn at the school, but she walked beside Wolf as they headed back the way they came.
They soon left the developed areas behind and reentered the rainforest. As they were walking, however, a sudden rustling nearby caused them both to stop. They both looked around for any sign of what had made the noise, but before they could relax, they heard more rustling. Wolf reached back with his right hand for the bag on his hips while glancing around, Twilight looking around wildly as she tried to focus on where just one of the sounds was coming from.
Suddenly a group of six soldiers revealed themselves all at once, all of them pointing assault rifles at Twilight and Wolf as one of them yelled, “Don’t move!” Twilight let out a gasp while Wolf tried to keep calm, his hand pausing inside his bag at the command.
After a tense moment of silence, a new voice spoke up behind Wolf and Twilight, “I had a feeling you wouldn’t be able to stay there forever. You had to come out sooner or later, though sooner would’ve been preferable.” The two turned and saw a man walking towards them, his attire much different from the soldiers that surrounded them. He wore a light brown overcoat over a darker brown suit and tie and black dress shoes. He had black-gray hair and a red metallic right hand. Twilight initially thought he was wearing a glove, but the more she looked at it, the more it looked like it was actually his hand.
“Who are you?” Wolf demanded, not recognizing the man.
“I believe Big Boss knows me as Professor Galvez,” he replied as he came to a stop, standing farther away from the two than the soldiers around them.
Wolf’s eyes widened behind his sunglasses, his hand stopping short inside his pack. “What?!” he asked.
Twilight peered at the man from under her hood, “You’re the professor?”
Professor Galvez looked at Twilight with a smile. “Ah, the anomaly herself. I don’t believe we’ve been properly introduced.” Wolf glared down at Twilight and she shrunk down into her cloak, knowing it was too late to take back what she said. “There’s no need to hide yourself around me, horse. Your secret isn’t safe anymore,” Galvez said.
Twilight looked up at the man, “What? You know about me?”
Galvez kept his smug smile as he said, “Of course I know about you, silly creature. You’ve been creating quite a stir and I’m sure you don’t even know it. La CIA has been especially interested in your connection to Big Boss since the AI pod returned to them.”
Twilight’s eyes widened as she remembered the Pupa, how its AI pod detached and flew off after the fight. If it went back to the CIA’s main base, they would’ve had someone recover any images and data it had stored. Considering it attacked her a few times, it had to have gotten some shots of her, and Hot Coldman had probably been planning to take advantage of what he had seen the entire time she’d been at Mother Base… Her horror was pushed to the side for a moment as a thought entered her mind: how could Professor Galvez know what the CIA knew? Unless… “If you know what’s going on in the CIA, that means…” she started.
“That I’m collaborating with them?” Galvez finished for her. A moment of silence passed before he answered, “Whether it was a lucky guess or you actually put the pieces together, it’s clear that your intelligence goes beyond being able to speak properly. You become more intriguing by the minute.” He looked at Wolf and said, “Have her come to me and stand down. Do it and I will let you walk away. Resist… and face the consequences.”
Twilight looked up at Wolf nervously as he finished reaching for the Smoke Grenade inside his pack, popping the pin as he wrapped his hand around it. A second passed before he responded, “I don’t answer to Soviet spies!” He then quickly pulled the grenade out and threw it straight down at the ground, an explosion sounding as it hit and a cloud of smoke spreading out from it. The soldiers were thrown off by the smokescreen, Wolf and Twilight taking advantage of the confusion to make a run for the LZ, but they soon spotted them once they were out of the smoke and opened fire, forcing the two to duck into the trees to avoid being shot.
Galvez ordered, “Kill him, but capture the horse alive. Kill her and I’ll kill all of you and spare Coldman the trouble.” The soldiers complied, all of them running towards the trees.
Twilight and Wolf had run through the trees for several seconds before they stopped and each hid behind a tree, Twilight panting slightly while Wolf peered out, scanning for the soldiers. He soon saw movement and grunted, “Damn it, they’re coming this way.”
Twilight looked over at him and asked in a whisper, “Can we call the helicopter in? Make a run for it?”
Wolf whispered back, “They’ll hear it, and there’s no cover at the LZ. They might not be able to shoot it down, but they can shoot at us. We have to do something about them before we can call for evac.”
Twilight asked, “Did you have something in mind?”
Wolf thought for a moment before saying, “I might. Do you think maybe you can distract them, use your magic to draw their attention?” Twilight glanced towards the soldiers nervously, knowing they would find them soon.
Several soldiers looked up in front of them when they heard the leaves rustling overhead and saw Twilight weaving around trees as she flew towards them. They put their rifles away and readied themselves for close-range fighting, but before she could reach them, her horn began to glow and created a bright flash a second later, causing them to cry out in shock as their eyes were overloaded. While they were stunned, Twilight kept flying for a few more moments before dropping behind another tree. Wolf, meanwhile, pulled out the tranquilizer gun he’d packed and began to shoot at the soldiers, putting them to sleep. He managed to put two down before the other two recovered and grabbed their guns, shooting at him and forcing him to duck back behind the tree again.
Twilight peered out from her hiding spot in Wolf’s direction, trying to think of a way to help him. Suddenly she heard a crunch nearby and whirled around to see one of the soldiers apparently trying to sneak up on her, holding a thread between his hands. As soon as she turned to see him, he started running at her to close the gap and Twilight, acting on impulse out of fear, filled her horn with magic and shot it at him. It was evidently a little more powerful than she had intended since he was sent flopping backwards, landing on his front with steam rising up from him. Twilight’s eyes widened, “No, no! I didn’t mean to do that! That was… I just…”
Despite her panic, she heard Galvez when he called, “Rocket Peace!” She turned in enough time to see his mechanical hand flying towards her propelled by a small rocket, the index and middle fingers held up while the rest were folded. It made for such a bizarre sight that Twilight didn’t try to get out of the way and ended up with the fingers around her horn, the force from its flight almost pushing her back a bit. Still addled and not thinking clearly at the moment, she failed to hear the sound of footsteps behind her as she looked up at the hand. Her mind did snap back to full awareness when she felt a hard blow against the back of her head, though it faded quickly as she lost consciousness almost immediately afterwards.
The soldier that had knocked Twilight out was shot with a tranquilizer dart before he could react, falling onto his back with a groan. Wolf had managed to deal with the rest of the soldiers and turned to see Twilight falling onto her side. With the last soldier down, he hurried to her side and knelt down, pulling the hand off of her horn and throwing it to the side before leaning forward for a better look.
A loud gunshot sounded a second later.
Some time later, Wolf’s radio buzzed with a call, Miller, on the other end, saying, “Wolf, what’s wrong? Why aren’t you responding?! Requesting status report!” But the radio would continue to go unanswered. Wolf was lying on his side, precious life fluid leaking from the bullet hole in his head, and there was no one else around to hear it.