The Dead Zone.
Closed Off From The Public.
Commander Showers had read that sign way over two-thousand, five hundred, and fifty-five times in the past seven years during his later days in S.C.A.V.A. He exhaled and walked past it, glancing over his shoulder and staring down the street leading to the heart of Manehattan. This reputation in the organization has earned him the respect of his fellow 'employees', and his position as commander of S.C.A.V.A. But after all these years of crowd control, capture, and hits, he starting to feel it. Feel the weighing of his age and his body isn't sure of how long it can hold up here, and neither does he. He's muscles strain even while doing minor work, his eyes are blurring, and his mind is nearing its' breaking point. Everyday, something was going wrong, something was weakening, somepony dies.
His legs brought him to the entry way of the large building. Blocking his way was a large gate, guarded by a single, large pony. He had coal fur and grey mane, his eyes were deep red and he wore the same body armor Showers did. The pony looked to the commander, nodding his head.
"Good morning, Commander Showers." He said, raising a hoof to his forehead. Showers greeted him the same way.
"Hmph, more like afternoon." Showers grunted. The pony stepped aside and reached down onto the small console by the gate. After a few moments, the gate began to slide open. The commander walked passed the coal stallion and headed into the base.
Concrete flooring and cold steel walls greeted him once inside. Showers took in a deep breath, breathing in the cold air. The room he walked into was filled with several ponies looking over consoles. Half of the room was being used as storage for gear, the other half was used as mission plans. On a near by wall, there was a map covered with red tacks. At the bottom of the map read 'Known Subject Locations.'
He walked past all of it to the far part of the room, to a door. His hoof extended and turned the handle, and pushed the door open. Showers entered the next room and put on a less grim look. "Good afternoon, ponies." He said.
Around the room sat four white, elder pegasuses, each wearing a black suit with red tie and a pair of reading glasses. They surrounded the only table in the center of the conference room. The eldest pegasus who sat at the head of the table waved to the Commander. He closed the door behind him and sat down across from the other pegasuses.
"What did Shard request?" The pegasus asked. Showers's lips broke into a grimace.
"A bucking smack to the jaw." He grunted.
"Showers." The pegasus said, his voice firm. The Commander sighed.
"He requested, ordered, me to send him a squad of our agents." He explained. "He wants them to go after the subject."
All of the elders leaned back and shared worried glances. The oldest spoke. "We can't risk losing anymore of our agents."
"What did you want me to say?" Showers hissed. "He threatened my family, and I'm not willing to lose my place for not 'risking' some ponies."
The eldest stood, looking down at Showers. He lowered his reading glasses and placed them on the table. "Which ones?"
Showers's ears perked. "Ones?"
"The agents. Which ones?" The elder asked. "Which ones were sent after the subject?"
"I'm...I'm not sure." Showers stood, reaching over to the door and opened it a crack. "Somepony get me the agent dispatcher!" He yelled, closing the door afterward. He turned back to the white pegasuses. "Other than that, did the mayor send anything back?"
The elders all shoke their heads. Suddenly, the door opened. A blue unicorn with purple mane and red stallion with white mane walked into the room, a headset sat on their heads. "Yes, Commander?" The unicorn asked.
Showers turned to the unicorn. "Who were the agents you sent to Shard?"
The unicorn cleared his throat and tilted his head back, thinking back to the squad. "Umm...Squad 313, Sir."
The stallion turned to him with a confused look. "313? Don't you mean 515?"
"No, 313." The unicorn said. "You said 313."
"I said 515!"
"Does it matter?" The unicorn asked. Both of them turned back to the Commander, and took several steps back. Showers was now standing, the elders had their heads in their hooves. Showers raised a hoof to the unicorn and stallion, his eyes wide and filled with anger, his hoof shook with rage. "Uh...sir-"
"313?...313." He stomped his hoof into the wall beside the two. "313?!"
The unicorn coward behind the red stallion. "Y-Yes, sir!"
"Squad 313 was put on lock down!" Showers yelled. "They are merciless. Aggressive. Murderous. They are killers!" His voice echoed throughout the small room. "They were the reason Operation Rescue Control failed! They killed half of the zone! And you sent them after the subject?!"
The eldest pegasus slammed his hoof on the conference table, gaining the attention of everyone in the room. His other hoof was tight against his chest, his head hung low. He looked up towards the Commander, and the cowering two in the corner.
"That squad is now loose in the city." He said. "...Celestia help us."
~*~\~^~/~*~
"...You can't just leave like this."
"I'm sorry, but it's our best bet."
"But what about Hail?"
"He'll get use to this, trust me."
"But he's only nine. What am I suppose to tell him when he wake's up and finds his father isn't here?"
"Just...I'll tell him."
"Tell him what?"
"..."
"Glacier?"
"I don't know. I guess I'll make something up."
***
"Okay, son. Like we practiced."
"Uh, right."
"Come on, Hail! I know you can do this, just put your mind to it!"
Ugh...
"Ugh! I can't! They just won't move!"
*Sigh*
"Alright. We'll try again tomorrow."
Dad...I'm sorry....
"You are not useless. Say it with me. I-"
"I-"
"Am-"
"Am-"
"Not-"
"Not-"
"Useless."
Useless...
~*~\~^~/~*~
My eyes opened to the sound of her voice, and searched where I was. But they closed when they found out they were wrong, I'm still in this dull white room. Cuffed to this chair, bruised face and my muzzle dripped and stained with blood. My body ached, I was hungry. My mouth tasted faintly of copper. My head pounded and throbbed. This feeling of being held against my will was new to me, I felt as if nopony is going to save me. Empty. Like I was going to sit in this bucking chair until I either bleed to death, get beaten to death, or I tell them where Summer went. Of course, I had a better chance of the first two.
Suddenly, the light outside the door turned on, and t slowly opened.
"Well, Mr. Showers." The Director said, walking back into the room. "I believe you know what we want, and you're going to tell me where she went."
I didn't move, my eyes were shut tight and I prayed that the reason he came back was to put an end to this misery.
"We know she was there moments before we the team arrived." He sat in front of me. "I don't want to have to continue this. You look like you need medical assistance-"
"Then, why keep me here?!!" I snapped. "For the past hour, you and your torturers have beaten me inside out for answers I don't have!! You keep me hoof cuffed to this bucking chair, for crying out loud!" My eyes were dry, empty of all moisture since I sobbed that out minutes before. "I don't know anything. Please."
He shook his head, my legs kicked out towards him. "Come on!!" I tried to pulled from the chair, only to feel the wrenching pain from the cuffs.
"It's not that I don't believe you, but you being here is mandatory. This matter is more serious than you could ever imagine." He stood and began circling me. "That mare-"
"Summer." I hissed.
"Yes, well. 'Summer' holds the key to a very special gene we created years ago, when we had her the first time."
My mind stopped. First time? "What are you talking about?"
He chuckled under his breath. "You see, a few years back, we had a small assignment:Create the perfect weapon for the war. We of Equestria have a history with battle and magic, so using the magic of today for this little project was the easy step." He sat back down in front of me. "Tell me, you are aware of the magics of combustion, yes?"
I shook my head. "Combustion is a very dangerous spell, banned from ever being used by the Princesses. Getting our hooves on the spell was a very hard thing to do, mind you. We were nearly shut down. Once we had it, we needed the right ingredients."
"You mean test subjects."
He laughed openly. Sick buck. "Well...Yes. Haha, the gene created was a mixture of the chemicals which bring us dynamite and a little something I had cooked up in Fillydelphia. The combustion spell was actually never suppose to be used, but during the event..." He cleared his throat. "The 'test subjects', as you called them, weren't forced into this little science project. No, they gladly wanted to help, well, one of them really had the say in it." He dropped his grin. "The other was...a little unresponsive. She would attack anypony who came near her, and scream when she saw me. The little child she was..."
"You took her." I gritted my teeth. "You took her, didn't you?"
He laughed. "Oh, no! She was a runaway. A criminal! This was not an innocent victim of science, this was nothing but a mistake." He craned his neck to side, cracking it. "You see, the gene was to be as planned, injected into the blood stream and straight to the brain. Its' job was to give power to the ones who didn't have it. Earth ponies would be able to join the fight for freedom. To be soldiers for the land and serve the princesses!"
My father used to always tell me the war was not as respectful they would tell us on T.V., so hearing this monster explain it this way only strengthen that point further. "Why are you telling me all this?"
The Director stood from his seated position and began walking back to the door. It opened and he turned his head. "I'm telling you this...because you are not leaving, Mr. Showers." The door shut behind him, coating me in darkness.
~*~\~^~/~*~