Defenders Assemble

by Maxis122

Chapter Two : Getting Plasma

Once again, the team and Luna were back around the main table. But this time Derpy had decided to join them. With the two new ponies still being a little bemused by all of the new things, Luna decided that she should get their minds off it.

“I presume all of this is quite mind blowing to you two” Luna suggested, causing the two mares to jump little.

“Just a bit” Lyra admitted, while Twilight was still a little dazed.

“With the pleasantries out of the way” Luna said as she pressed the screen in front of her, causing each of their screens to show a profile.

“I was wondering when this was going to come up” Twilight said as she looked at the profile, being familiar with it.

“Why didn’t you approach him earlier like us?” Lyra asked as she flipped through her document on the screen.

“Well, you see...” Whooves tried to begin, but he wasn’t sure how to put it. “He...”

“If we were to approach him like we did with you two...” Luna began.

“Then things could get a little messy” Derpy finished, receiving looks from the senior members. “What?”

“Anyway, we don’t think he will be too happy with us doing that” Luna explained.

“And if we get him angry...” Whooves began.

“Then all hell breaks loose” Derpy finished, receiving the annoyed looks again. “Aw, come on!”

“So we decided that if we already had a team, he might be a bit more accepting to the idea” Whooves explained. “And then we could perhaps bring him in”

“Are you sure it’s a risk worth taking” Lyra said loudly, probably a bit too loud.

“In the end, yes” Luna replied. “You have your doubts?”

“If this guy is so temperamental and dangerous, then why are we trying to take him in?” Lyra asked. “Why don’t we just leave him be?”

“A good question” Luna nodded and then turned to Whooves, waiting for the answer.

“We think we might be able to help him control his power” Whooves explained. “He is trying to do it himself, but it doesn’t seem to be working. So if we intervene, then we could potentially solve his problem”

“Right” Lyra accepted as she went back to looking at the file.

“So how is this going to be done?” Twilight asked.

“Agent Hooves will be talking to him” Whooves answered, “And we will be waiting if she needs any backup”

“Alright” Twilight said. A sudden thought hit her head at that moment as she realised something. “Wait! We haven’t even been trained yet!” Twilight suddenly blurted out.

“True” Whooves admitted, “But its unlikely that you will need any training”

“Don’t worry Twilight” Luna said calmingly over to Twilight, “The other agents will be around you”

“That comforting” Twilight said in a near sarcastic voice.

“Thanks...” Hooves sighed as she let her head rest on one of her hooves.

“But in all seriousness” Twilight began again, “If he does get angry and change. What can we do?”

“Trust me Twilight” Luna said calmly, “We’re not going to let that happen”

“Fine” Twilight let out hesitantly. Out of all of them, Twilight had the least combat experience. They all knew this, but her time would come eventually. After the team was ready, they all disembarked for the location of their target. Trottingham.

The quiet streets of Trottingham were covered in darkness from the luna night. The peaceful serenity of the city was sustained by the empty streets. So that made it a even better place to settle down. Most likely for one who wants to avoid stress.

A blue pegasus made his way through the streets, wearing a black hoodie to conceal his identity. Every now and again he would stop to check his back. Then once he was satisfied he would continue. Being alone on the streets was not the best idea at night, but this pony knew what he was doing.

Eventually he came to a building, in which he called home. After opening the door and shutting it behind him, he deadlocked the door with a bolt. Then he pulled his hoodie off and threw it onto a pile of clothing that he needed to clean. He then checked if he had any mail that would interest him, but after seeing that it was the usual boring stuff - he threw it aside.

He then walked into the main room of his home, taking a second to wait and think. He then felt the back of his throat have some dryness in it, so he got a glass of water and sat down on his sofa. After his eyes adjusted he took the entire drink down in one and he sat there, in the darkness.

His ears pricked up as he heard something out of the usual in his home. Something that shouldn’t be in his home. He held his breath for a couple of seconds and waited so he could hear it clearly. Sighing, he walked over to the wall with a switch on it and flipped the switch. The lights flickered to life and abolished the darkness.

The pegasus then turned around to see what he could hear. Another pegasus stood in the shadows, looking at him. For a moment they shared a staring contest, until the other pegasus closed their eyes and walked out of the shadows to reveal themselves. It was a grey pegasus mare with blond hair.

“You know” the blue pegasus began as he narrowed his eyes. “It’s not polite to break into somepony’s house”

“I know” the grey pegasus replied as she returned a evenly narrow look. They continued to be locked in a staring contest. Neither one wanting to look away, unless the other one tried something. The grey pegasus broke the link as she looked over at the door and then walked forwards.

“Who are you?” the blue pegasus asked as he backed away a little.

“Agent Derpy Hooves, from SHIELD” Derpy said as she then pulled a file from under her wing. The blue pegasus continued to lock his eyes on Derpy as she moved around. Being completely cautious of her movement. He then took a few seconds to look out of the window, looking out onto the pitch black streets.

“I’m guessing you’ve got the entire place surrounded” he remarked as he then looked back to Derpy.

“It’s just me and you” She said pleasantly as she then sat down on a chair, facing the blue pegasus as he awkwardly stood away from her.

“We’ve been tracking you for a while now” She explained as she pulled Max Plasma’s document out of the file. The blue pegasus then flinched a little as he caught sight of the document, with a picture of him on it.

“Why me?” He asked as he kept his distance.

“You’ve got some desirable skills” She stated as she then began to read from the document. “High agility, very fast, maybe not so good at defence though”

“Figures” He chuckled as he heard his own description.

“We’re looking to have you in the Defenders Program” She added. Max then froze as he listened to the word. Defenders...

“Is that all you need me for?” He asked, listening carefully for the next few words.

“That’s all that the director has told me” After she said that Max’s mind suddenly picked up on something. A slight twitch, as if she wasn’t telling the truth. He centered in on it and gave her a long hard look.

“You sure about that?” He asked. She frowned at him for a second as she took in his last question.

“Yeah...” She said, almost hesitantly.

“I don’t think so...” He said, a little darkly as he backed away into the shadows.

“What?” She spat as she watched him back towards the door.

“Don’t what me!” He shouted. “Empty streets, tower glimmers, the door”

“What are you ranting about?” She questioned, but knowing inside that he was completely right.

“These streets aren’t normally that empty, there are at least a few ponies who haven’t walked by. Those tower glimmers are your area recons and this door has just been unlocked...” Max then suddenly stopped as he looked over at the door, seeing that it had indeed been unlocked.

“Crap...” Derpy breathed as she shot a look at the agent at the door.

“All alone, huh?” Max then dashed away from the door and bolted through the window, shattering it instantly. After the initial shock of the event, Derpy quickly ran over to the window and looked out of it to see Max beginning to run.

“BOW!” She yelled at the agent, receiving a nod as he threw her bow and arrows to her. With that she jumped out of the window as well and began her pursuit. This could get out of hand really quickly. Really quickly.

A great tower stood above Trottingham, acting as a light for the town. Near the top was a setup of the other team members and Whooves. They all listened in on the conversation between Derpy and Max. Listening intently for any signs that could suggest that this was going to go wrong. It was then when Max stated the phrase “Empty streets, tower glimmers, the door”.

“He knows” Whooves huffed as he then turned to the two other agents with him. “You two, the chase is on”

“What about us?” Twilight asked.

“Feeling like running?” Whooves replied with his question as he watched the two other agents begin to descend the tower.

“I’ve got a better idea” Lyra smirked as her horn lit up. Within an instant she and Twilight teleported to the bottom of the tower. Whooves was quick to get a glimpse of them before they began to run.

“Good luck” He mumbled.

Max was at his full running speed now, with his heart pounding and blood running thick through his veins. He wasn’t ready to stop for anything. Knowing that an entire agency was now on his tail, he didn’t want to find out what they had in store for him. Or his curse.

The thin streets acted as perfect cover for the pegasus as he ran. He didn’t fly as he didn’t want to become a bigger target. And after taking a glimpse back he saw the other pegasus hot on his tail. She was now in the possession of a bow. Celestia knows what she’s going to do with that.

He took a sudden left turning down another street, causing the other pegasus to miss him. But she quickly turned around and got back on track. He then grabbed a pipe and swung into the air, using the wall and his wings to get higher. When he got to the top he ran across the building and jumped down onto the next one.

When he landed, two agents were there holding some kind of electrical devices. They both took a swipe at him but he was quicker than them. He blocked the first one with his forehoof and pushed his device into the other agent. He then hit the agent in the head with his elbow, causing both of the agents to fall unconscious. After the swift movement was done, he then continued his run.

Derpy caught sight of the two unconscious agents and she put her hoof to her ear, “We have two agents down, over”

“Right” Whooves replied through the earpiece.

Derpy then continued to chase the pegasus until she saw that she had a clear shot of him. Knowing that she could paralyse him, she pressed a button on her bow and the arrow changed. Drawing the arrow, she aimed at the escaping pegasus. She then drew her bow back ever so slightly more and was about to fire. But then he jumped back down onto the street.

“Damn” She huffed as she began to run again.

Twilight and Lyra were running to where they thought the pegasus would be, using the information that they were receiving through their earpieces. He was close, they could hear the disturbance throughout the neighbouring street as he moved as quickly as possible. They had to catch up with him.

Twilight’s horn then lit up and teleported the two in front of where Max was running to. When they came out of the teleport they were running in front of Max. Lyra then took the opportunity to suddenly stop and let her hoof fly back. Max attempted to lay back and slide under the attacking hoof, but he was too late and got it in his head. Then sudden stop was a bit too quick for Twilight, so she was a good few meters away from the action.

Lyra then attempted to restrain his hooves, but Max bucked her away and jumped back onto his hooves. They then began to look into each others eyes as they stood in front of each other. A locked stalemate. But it wasn’t to last as Max shot out and bolted over to Lyra. She responded by sliding her food on the ground to trip Max up.

The bedazzled pegasus was then thrown back by the unicorns magic. She wasn’t going to let him pass by. Not that easily. The pegasus took a few more seconds to recover this time. He knew she was wasting his time. If he spent any more time here the other pegasus would immobilise him. That wasn’t to say that this unicorn could do the same.

Max attempted one last attack, resulting in him being thrown back by the superior pony. He stumbled back as he tried to see what was going on. His vision became blurry as he looked around. A dizzy feeling came upon him as he felt a warm liquid drip from his forehead. He put his hoof to his head to see what it was, only to see a red mess appear on his hoof.

He then closed his eyes and blacked out. Then the other agents came out of their hiding places and slowly approached the stallion, being ever so careful as they did. Lyra walked a few meters away, not want to get involved any more than she already had. Twilight then began to approach the pegasus. After seeing the condition he was in, she thought that they might have been too rough.

“Will he be alright?” She questioned as she saw the slight amount of blood.

“He’ll be fine” Twilight jumped as the familiar Whooves stood next to her.

“You really need to stop sneaking up on me” Twilight hissed.

“I’ll work on it” Whooves smirked as he watched the agents put the pegasus on a chariot and then fly him away.

“What happens now?” Twilight asked as she watched after the chariot.

“Now?” Whooves then walked in front of her. “We get back to base, and help this Max Plasma”

“I don’t think he’s going to be terribly happy when we wake him” Lyra cut in as she walked along side the two.

“He’ll warm up” Whooves chuckled as he then whistled over another two chariots. The team then got back on the chariots and they began to fly away, but then a thought hit Twilight.

“Wait! Where’s Derpy?” Twilight asked.

“Deadeye?” The chariot pulled said. “In her nest” He then gestured his head over to a small area on top of a building. There Derpy was waiting, but now that the mission was over she gathered her things and began to fly. They really did have the entire place under lock down. And if Max somehow got past he would have been stopped by one of Derpy’s arrows. Crazy.