When Lightning Strikes- Answers
Power Pony HQ
This was not exactly the best of times to have old demons emerge from nowhere to come haunt you. For Lance, Equilis… Now known as Equinox, just forced himself to appear in front of him and making it look like he tore off Aurora’s face to replace it with his own.
“What the hell is your problem!?” He snarled at the digital construct. “Ever since you showed up, you’ve been tormenting Aurora! What is this suppose to be, payback!?”
The morbid filly glared, “You ju-just killed-ed the la-last Marionette-ette! Purp-Purple Mare wasn-n’t as dan-dangerous as you sai-said.” Lance thought about it for a moment. Before looking back at the construct, with a new look in his eyes.
“You expect me to believe you? I’m not convinced.” He told Equinox, getting out the manila folder he was hiding under his clothes and slamming it down on the table. “With what you are doing to Aurora, I am not going to believe an entire word of anything you tell me. Maybe I should peak through this folder to find out the truth. It is about you after all.”
“Go ah-ahead.” Equinox dared.
Lance, listening to his words, opened the file. “Let’s see now… here’s something for you. “Romantically attached to Joking,” Whoever the hell she is… “Patient's parents were killed by a SWAT team due to a resistance in Prance.”...” Lance soon moved through the reports, reading each of them one by one very descriptively. “Shall I continue or get to the main point?”
Equinox just glared, almost frozen in lag. “Gooooooooooo ahhhhead-d-d-d-d, call me a-ycho. You’ve’ve’ve’ve already-eeeeeeeee thrown every insulllllllt possible-le.”
“Tell me why I would find this in a building that belonged to Lauren Order.”
“Missssssszzzzzz-z-z-z Orderer was the-the mare who-ho covered up Project Marionette. She made-ade us disappear, who caused us to-to run-n and hi-i-i-i-i-i-ide...” Equinox laughed.
“Son of a b*tch…” Lance cursed. “Tell me something… this isn’t the only file there is of this project now… is it?” The Adept was thinking in terms with what was going on presently and what could’ve happened. She was the one who was keeping the Suicide Squad out of the eyes of the media, so the same thing must’ve happened with the Marionettes. Then, he noticed one thing he overlooked.
“With the personality you have now… Why did you free another test subject?”
“What?” Equinox asked, confused.
“Page 2 out of 4 on the report by Cleaver Lever on you says and I quote “freed a future test subject named Steam Show”. Why would someone as heartless as you free a subject of the same tests you were going through?”
“This isn’t some fairy tale W-walker, I wasn’t born heartless as you say… I was molded…”
“That is what I thought… The Black Tar that was pouring out of you… The substance was turning you into something that you are not. You weren’t born heartless, I understand that. You were made into something that you despised. Your free of your body now… so why still act like you’re bound to it.”
“The black tar isn’t corruption, it’s the beginning. The project would start at a young age. They’d give you a chemical, and that would give you the powers. They train you, mold you into a killer. After you were thirteen, they’d send you to assassinate targets. After some time, the original Marionette’s, myself included, tried to stop it. We didn’t know what we were fighting for… Then, the next step began.”
“Next step?” Lance asked, listening to the projection carefully.
“We wanted freedom. We wanted to have a normal life, to meet our family’s… Even if they hated us… They decided to cut off that desire, as well as add to our power. They wanted to kill our mercy, our innocence, our… Humanity, you’d call it. Around that time, Purple and Lash heard what they’d done to Joking and I, so they sent their filly off to be safe. It gave them what they wanted… More than that.”
“ … So you were forced to fight without a purpose… Equinox, listen… I believe you on that, but it still feels like you are hiding something from me… I found out about the Purple Mare through Roach, so unless you want me to ask him for something, tell me now. I have a feeling that there was more than just the four of you. If I remember correctly with the Puppets, you had five subjects. If you applied the same fundamentals from Marionette to the Puppets, then there is a fifth marionette…” He told Equinox, his gaze unchanged. “Would you want me to make this easy and have you tell me… Or do I have to take you with me to go meet him personally?”
“There were f-five of us. Lash committed suicide after he realized what was happening, Joking was murdered by your predecessor, I… Broke, Purple was just killed… Only one I can think of is Cupcake, but she was supposed to be dead…”
Now he was getting somewhere. “Suppose to is not the same as actually. When I defeated the purple mare, something broke the soulstone I used to beat her with and whatever it was felt like the curved blade of a knife… What powers did Cupcake have. I’m asking this because I’m not going to make the same mistake my predecessor once did.”
“I’m… Not gonna tell you in great d-detail, but she has the powers of whoever she kills… More than that, I cannot say. She’s my last sibling.”
“Thank you. Equinox… I’m not going to harm her. What happened to you and the other marionettes is wrong and cruel. With Cupcake though… I want to give her a second chance.”
“That may be easier said than done. She’s the most violent of us, and, in your terms, the craziest of us. If you won’t kill her, I’ll say that her power absorbing is triggered through… Eating flesh…”
“Like cannibalism? Eating the flesh of her victims?”
“Indeed. She also steals the wings and horns of the normal ones to gain the elements of other races for a limited time.” Equinox explained, “Now I must b-be going. There is nothing more to discuss, correct?”
“Not for now… Just please… don’t scare or harm Aurora. She’s family to me and really important.” Lance told the construct before sighing. “If I need to talk to you, what should I do?”
“Say my name. I’m n-not in control, so don’t bring my new name up to the child… And I haven’t scared her since the sewers.”
“That doesn’t make sense… she said your new name seconds before you popped in. Also, she says that what use to be her safe haven now haunts her ever since you… broke.”
“I can safely say, we share this mind. Only one of us can be awake. We share some memories, but that lasts all but a few seconds. As for the haven, it’s most likely my second treatment getting into her system. She’s becoming like me while I’m becoming ‘purified’. This is all a theory.” Equinox said as Aurora’s face began to heal, “It’s all her…”
“P-purified?” Lance asked himself softly, before he noticed the filly being fully healed. She heard him groan, looking back at her with a look of concern. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah… What were we talking about?” Aurora asked.
“I was beginning to think that I would let you rest here.” He told her, not wanting to tell her about the conversation he had with Equinox. “I’ve been having you help me the last few days and I was thinking that you deserved a break. Let you get some sleep.”
“I can’t sleep… No matter how tired I am, all I can do is fake sleep and gain energy through electricity.”
“Well, It is getting late. I was going to get some sleep before checking in on the new guests back in the infirmary.” He replied, walking his way back to his room as he closed the door behind him. “Can you wake me up if Twilight and the others need me?”
“Sure thing.” The soul said. With that, Lance laid his head on the bedrest and closed his eyes. Tomorrow was a new day. And hopefully, it’ll be a lot better than what happened tonight.
Unfortunately for Lance, the Adept was unable to get all the sleep he needed. He was rudely awakened by a loud crashing noise that ran throughout the entire floor. As he got up and briefly put some clothes, the only thing that he was wearing was his pants and a sleeveless shirt. He was surprised when he noticed that no one else was awake. But that’s when he remembered that everypony else was sleeping on the floors below him. Not wanting to disturb Aurora, he quietly opened the door to his room and began to slowly make his way through the hall. Tip toeing across the floor.
The Azure Striker treated the current situation like a stealth exercise. Whoever was awake was completely aware of their surroundings, so he needed to approach wherever the noise came from quietly and with the utmost of caution. In addition, he had his weapons clip be switched back to Cerberus, the standard clip for when having to deal with certain opponents. As he creeped through the hallway, he soon came to realize that the sound came from one of the infirmary rooms that was farther down the hall.
He first entered the room, but could not feel any presence of life in there. He could however, make out what looked like hoofprints. Quietly, he followed the tracks, which surprisingly lead him to the kitchen.
What he found though was quite surprising. It was Blaster, the clone of Zapp that was trying to kill him earlier, trying to drink directly out of the milk carton that was in the fridge like a filly trying to not get caught by their parents. When the mare saw him, her face began to blush due to outright embarrassment.
“Um… Hi?” She giggled nervously. “Do you know where I am? I’m supposed to be at Locust Labs. My designation is RD-17.”
“RD-17…?” Lance asked, thinking this was some kind of mental hallucination or that she was somehow seeing things. He needed to call Sparkler, but couldn’t just straight up alarm the pony in front of him. “Miss, I think you’re mistaken. I’m not sure that I’m familiar about this Locust Labs that you are talking about. Would you mind if I make a quick phone call so I can try to help you the best I can?”
“Okay…” Blaster said. With that, the Adept excuse himself briefly to return to his room, grab his communicator and call Sparkler. However, when he heard the phone pick up, he was surprised at who he was talking too.
“Lance? Why are you calling at four in the morning?”
“Oh, My apologies Derpy. Is Sparkler there?” He asked. “Something important came up. You know… Hero stuff?”
“Oh I see, hang on a sec, I’ll get her for you.” The Mare replied, letting Lance wait for a little bit as he walked back through the hallway. Soon, Sparkler picked up and wasn’t really happy to be disturbed from her sleep.
“What is it? I have a migraine right now and I was just about to save the day from a group of space raiders…”
“It’s Blaster. She’s walking around and acting like she is some sort of robot. I know she’s a cyborg, but she’s now calling herself RD-17. Can you come here and take a look?”
“I got her earliest memories available. Her real name is RD-17. Zapp told me she named RD Blaster because she disliked her having the first two letters of Rainbow Dash as Blaster’s name… I’ll be there in a bit…” Sparkler grumbled.
“Thank you. I’ll just keep her occupied until you’re here.” Lance told the Unicorn as he ended the call and walked back into the room. “Miss? I believe I have some good news… and some bad news.”
“What?” Blaster asked, tilting her head.
“I don’t know about the place you were mentioning or your designation. But the good news is that somepony I know might help you.” Lance told her briefly. “She’ll be here as soon as she can. For now though, just sit down and relax.”
“I’m not allowed to relax. My creators will punish me if I do!” Blaster began to panic, “They’ll take me apart!”
“E-easy there… Calm yourself… This is a safe place…” Lance tried to calm down the scared mare. “No one is going to punish you or harm you. We want to do everything we can in order to help you, okay?”
Blaster was hyperventilating, but nodded. She sat down and opened a compartment in her only foreleg, “Why are my programs missing?”
Lance assumed to himself that by programs, she meant the mechanics in her equipment that she could interact with. Trying to act professional, he responded to her the best we could. “You were injured when you were brought into the emergency room. We had to shut down some programs so the doctors could help treat you effectively. Honestly, I did not expect you to recover so quickly.”
“I was created to heal quickly due to my rapid aging. My metabolism is all wonky, so I heal faster than you naturals.”
“Naturals?” Now that caught Lance by surprise. “I’m sorry, but could you please explain what you mean by that? I’m a little confused.”
“I’m a clone… A test tube baby, if you will. My template is Zapp of the Power Ponies.” Blaster explained.
“Would that explain your codename? RD-17?” Lance asked, looking back at the mare for a brief moment. He soon realized that RD must’ve been off of Rainbow Dash’s initials, but wasn’t sure what 17 meant. Did it mean that they tried multiple experiments that had previously failed? “Do you have an actual name?”
“RD-17 is my name. I was given it at birth, same as the other ten clones.” Blaster said. Now that surprised Lance for a different reason. He remembered that Blaster and the other clones, but that only added up to six. Who were the other four? Maybe it would be something that he would ask later.
“Is there a name that you would prefer to be called?” He asked, kindly.
“I don’t have a prefered name. I was given RD-17 for a reason, but if you wish to give me a nickname, I’m fine with that.” Blaster said.
“Hmm… would Blaster work for you? Your regalia reminds me of MegaMane and the first thing that came to mind was his blaster.” He replied. “However, if you aren’t a fan of it, I can suggest something else.”
“I’m okay with that. It sounds nice.” Blaster smiled. “I think I’ll do that relaxing thing now.” Lance smiled, watching as she just continued to sit there. He offered her a drink and poured her what remained of the milk in the carton and gave her a plate of cookies to go with it to give her a nice treat. Something to keep her calm and relaxed while he waited on Sparkler’s arrival. Soon, he noticed the Unicorn arrive in the hall outside, getting up from his position. “Excuse me for a moment.” He told her, closing the door behind her as the Adept met up with the unicorn.
“I better get something out of this…” Sparkler grumbled, “I was having one of my favorite dreams…”
“I’m glad you came. Blaster was freaking out earlier, saying that her creators were going to punish her and asking about why her programs are missing. She also kept mentioning about this… Locust Labs a few times. Right now, I’ve done everything I could to keep her calm, but I’m afraid that if she freaks out again, she’ll wake everyone in the entire building.” He explained, recalling everything that she told him. Also, he mentioned about the whole thing with ten clones and him only knowing about six of them. “Have any idea what that means?”
“I’ll check her mind, but I do remember there being a clone of Stopwatch and a Hybrid, the last two are a mystery to me until I check her mind… I think Entropy was another clone, but she was made after the memories I retrieved. As for everything else, I remember seeing her creators abuse her and even forced her into the cybernetic experiment after they figured her heart was too small… The programs were gone after she was zapped… Locust Labs was the group the created the clones and from what mom told me about the whole Equilis situation, they’re the remaining members of Project Double, a sequel to Marionette’s if you wanna think like that.”
“Marionette again?” Lance groaned, “And just when I thought that dealing with the Purple Mare would put my mind at ease…… Hey, can I ask for your opinion on something?”
“Sure…” Sparkler nodded, yawning, “Anything… Except about sexual things, mom said I shouldn’t talk about that.”
“Well, when you were explaining to me about the clones and marionette, it made me think of Blaster and the rest of them like Ash and you guys when I first saw them… Do you think we can give them a second chance just like you guys?”
“Dunno. Masked Matterhorn said they gave them a second chance already, but Blaster and Fili-Minute went nuts and brought the others down with them. And you still haven’t actually met any of the clones besides Blaster… It all depends…”
“I see your point,” Lance acknowledged her words of wisdom as she looked back at her. “Something about the clones just makes me feel… uneasy. Shortly after I woke up after being thrashed by the Purple Mare, Rainbow was telling me of her brief encounter with her and she said something that caught my attention.” He soon turned back to Blaster, watching her as she chewed on the cookies he gave her earlier.
“She said something about being framed. Being framed for something they didn’t do and that was why they were forced to be in the Zero Zone. Did you find any memories that match something like that?” He then asked Sparkler.
“I’ve only been able to piece together a few memories as well as something messing with her head. It could just be her insanity you saw when she fought you in Paradise Tower, or… Something saboteur… It’s too early to tell. What I gathered from the database after checking Blaster’s memories was that she and Fili-Minute, as well as their team of reformed villain known as the Fallen Angels killed an officer as well as twenty-two civilians.”
“That doesn’t add up.” Lance told Sparkler. “She did not look like she was insane when she was fighting Anti-Zapp. I saw that she looked scared. Fighting to protect herself. Insanity is doing the same damn thing over and over again, but expecting a different result to come out of it…” But then, he remembered something. When Sparkler described the events that unfolded, it was reminding him of when he encountered Cody the first time, only for him to try and attack him. It wasn’t until later that Twilight discovered that he was being controlled by somepony called the Puppeteer. “Did you see anything unusual when you were helping her yesterday?”
“I already said, there was interference. I’ll let you know if I find anything else. I’ve got two patients to work on and the mind is a delicate thing.” Sparkler stated. “Am I going to have to work overtime tonight...?”
“No, but how about this. I’ll go check on Reaper. You help Blaster. I’m getting a weird case of Deja’ vu when hearing about Blasters story. Give me some time to find out some information before I get back to you on that… Also…” Lance told her, tossing a pouch with a bunch of bits inside. “Consider this as a bonus. It’s a way for me to say thanks.”
“Thanks…” Sparkler said as she walked over to the cyborg. Lance smiled a little, but as he turned around, he personally felt a chill down his spine as he went back into the medical room. After his creepy encounter with Reaper the first time they’ve met, something told him that trying to help him now would be just as hard. Especially if we was still just as crazy.
When he reopened the door, the light from the moon was glowing through the room, drifting over to where the Undead pony was resting. Or in Lance’s mind, waiting. He wasn’t sure if someone like him would be able to sleep, but nonetheless, did everything he could not to disturb him as he walked over quietly. Only to be startled by his red eyes giving off a fierce glare at him, almost having the Adept trip and fall on the floor.
“What do you want?” Reaper asked, “You’ve captured me, now what?”
“Captured would not be the right word.” The Adept told her, sitting in a chair. “You had a sword pierced through your chest and was on the verge of passing out. I had Twilight help you because of your condition. Now… I just wanted to check on you. Possibly talk. I’m not here to harm you.”
“Not like I care. I’m already dead.” The stallion said, “What do you hope to accomplish? Having me rejoin you so Twilight and the others would praise you for returning their lost comrade?”
“I do not need any praise. You made a significant impact on all of them,” He told them. “I don’t do things for any rewards or a purpose. I just believe that what I need to do is the right thing. I wouldn’t leave anypony to sit there and die, even if they couldn’t die. It would reflect badly on my personal conscience.”
“So it’s a moral gain… I don’t suppose if I told you it was futile, you’d let me return to Paradise Tower…”
“No, because… I believe you can help me and I can help you… Hearing what you were saying earlier made me think about one of my own personal fears. If I wasn’t strong enough to protect those I cared for.” Lance told him. “If I wasn’t able to protect what I saw as important to me… then who am I really?”
“You’re a man who’s lost everything… Sound familiar? It should…” Reaper stated. “You’d lose everything important… Maybe even yourself… You fear this, but it’s apart of life…”
“I know… I don’t want my fears to haunt me. I want to learn how to overcome them. I believe that there could be something I can learn from you.” Lance had been in this scenario before. Before being Displaced, his mother died during childbirth and his father committed suicide. Leaving him to live all alone and to fend for himself while trying to stay strong and educated. Now though, ghosts of the past might come back to haunt him. So learning from Reaper could help prepare him for what was to come.
“I hope you don’t think I’ll tell you everything’ll be alright… Everything fades… But, what my past self would tell you is that heroes have a way of coming back. You said Stopwatch is alive? Well, then nopony has died yet. Good for you… What do you hope to gain from talking to me?”
“A reason to stay strong. You refer to yourself as your past self. But I don’t believe that. Your body may be dead, but your soul is still alive.”
Reaper laughed hollowly. “When I was revived, my soul had already passed a month prior… I’m just a recreation of a dead assassin.”
“So you’re a zombie… a philosophical one?”
“Yeah, that’s what I gathered. If you want words of encouragement, here. You’ve got a filly who needs you. Aurora, if I’m not mistaken. You’ve also got friends who can take care of themselves. You don’t need to take all of the trophy’s, it’s a team sport…” Reaper said.
Lance thought of it for a minute, then realized what he meant. “Thank you… that means a lot. Ironically, you remind me Twilight when you speak like that.”
“Her and I spent quite a bit of time together. She was my mentor.” Reaper said, laying down on his back. “Do they still do that? Mentors, I mean.”
“Yeah. Solaria was mine and Twilight helped too,”
“Just wondering…” Reaper sighed, “Will that be all Gunvolt?”
“Yeah, I believe so.” He replied, getting up from his seat. “I’ll not disturb you. You look like you need some much needed rest.”
“I was stabbed through the chest, so yes.” Reaper deadpanned. “If you have any questions, I’ll be here.” Lance himself nodded his head, leaving the undead pony be as he closed the blinds and left the room. Reaper and Sparkler gave him some much needed advice and right now, he was glad that he had the chance to talk to them. As he walked back to his room and put on his jacket and the communicator he kept on him, he felt a surge of confidence in himself. Thanks to them, he now had some answers to questions that have been confusing him. It was an effective start, that was for sure.
As time slowly ticked away, The Adept began to focus on clearing up some of the things inside his room. With all the Displaced he had been meeting and all the other things going on in his life, the Azure Strikers room was a total mess. He kept most of his tokens on his bookcase along with any other items he might’ve needed along with his equipment. This included the modified secondary that he tweaked and fixed so it resembled the Magnum Pistol from Halo and also Kai’s Pokeball. He thought that it would be a good time to get the chance to work with him again after the storm of events that him him like a freight train. After holstering his weapons though, he felt something in his pocket that he previously forgot to put away.
Time Spinner’s eye.
“Damn, I almost forgot about you…” He thought to himself. Carefully, he channeled a little bit of energy into the eye and opened a portal into the void. With a twist of his wrist, a barrier of energy protected the eye from harm. Calmly, he began to speak.
“Time, it’s me, Lance. I want to talk to you on some things that have been coming up recently. Ghosts of the past that you might know more than me have begun to roam around Equestria and I need your advice on how to handle them. I can’t say much, but if you do receive this, it means that I need to talk to you. I hope this finds you well. It is your eye after all.”
After he was finished, the Adept tossed the protected eye into the small void pocket and closed the tear in space. Afterwards, he picked up what remained of his gear and began to step out. That was, until he ran into someone he knew in the hallway.
“Hey there, Geeves.” A familiar voice teased. Looking up, Lance groaned to see a cheerful Cody in front of him.
“Cody, I’m not one for that Nickname after Dash used it too many times before I got her to trust me.” Lance deadpanned. “Besides, what are you doing here? I thought you were working with Detective Hooves.”
“Had to stop by here to pick up some equipment that I left behind this morning,” His friend explained to him before grabbing something out of his back pocket. “Oh and before I forget, I found something for you that might interest you.” The Adept Hunter then tossed something towards the Azure Striker, who soon caught it with both hands before inspecting what exactly he caught. It was a curved piece of metal with two ends and a grip piece in the middle. Two sets of symbols were on the knobs as Lance looked at it closely.
“Hang on… is this what I think it is?”
“The Energy Sword from Halo? Yeah, I uncovered it while the Detective and I were cleaning out a few storage facilities after arresting some ponies on suspicion of selling narcotics and illegally storing weapons.” Cody explained. “I found it as odd for one of these to be showing up in a not so futuristic world as ours, so I thought it would be a Displaced’s token.”
“Not a bad though,” The Adept replied, clipping the hilt to his belt. “I’m going to look into it. Rather not delay you if you were going to grab your tools.” His friend chuckled, walking past him as the Azure Striker walked to the roof of Power Pony HQ. Once he had some space, he unclipped the hilt from his belt.
“Hmm… I wonder…” He spoke to himself, firmly gripping the device. With an outward swing, the blade burst to life, stunning him at first. “Okay, that’s just f***ing awesome.” He smirked before having the sword disappear. Still, this didn’t answer his question about if the weapon was indeed a token or not. For him though, there was only one way in order to find out.
Holding the weapon in hand, he began to channel energy to open a gate to the void like before. But, there was a difference between the previous method and what he was doing now. Right now, he was holding onto the hilt of the weapon so that way, this opening in the void would lead to its plane of origin. Once the Azure Striker found it, he leaped inside without a second thought.
End Strike 35