//------------------------------// // Part One // Story: Unchanging Loyalties // by Goldfur //------------------------------// Crimson Blaze finished his warm-up exercises and paused to watch his squad-mates performing theirs. As captain of Squad Thirteen, he always took it upon himself to ensure that his fellow Wonderbolts were at their peak readiness, but today was one of the more important times. A full rehearsal of their stunt show was just as difficult and dangerous as the real thing, and unless he was satisfied that they were all one hundred percent in form, he was not going to allow it to go ahead. Their squad had been nicknamed ‘The Impossibles’ for their stage magic, but the impossible was not achieved without hard work and calculated risk. A stupid thing like a wing cramp was not an acceptable factor! He checked out Rocky first. The son of an earth pony father and a pegasus mother, the golden-furred and brown-maned stallion was only of average pegasus size, but his earth pony heritage manifested in his exceptionally dense bones and musculature, with strength and endurance vastly belying his lean athletic stature. However, he had a tendency to take those abilities for granted, and occasionally needed prodding to keep up his discipline. Today though, he was taking things seriously enough, as he normally did when doing their special stunt show, so Crimson turned his attention to the next. Dazzler was a mare of many deceptions. The beauty of her light blue coat and long silvery mane made her look like a fashion model rather than the skilled aerial artiste that she actually was, but it also belied her exceptional talent for sleight of hoof and misdirection. Her exercises were dedicated to loosening her up and achieving a Zen-like focus that enabled her to pull off her part with superlative timing. Next was Sylph. She was a small and lithe mare, as graceful a pegasus as you might have ever seen. Keeping supple was not only her desire, but the root of her talent. Her pale brown fur and light green mane reminded him of a willow branch, as did the way she could contort her body to dodge and weave with elegance and finesse. What she lacked in power, she more than made up for in precision. Crimson’s final squad-mate was Cutting Edge, a hoof-weapon specialist. If it had a blade, he was an expert in it, and he had won several fencing tournaments before he had turned his attention to joining the Wonderbolts. The black-coated thestral stallion cut a dashing figure also, and tended to draw the eyes of mares who liked the more exotic looks of the bat-ponies. Edge had completed his warm-up exercises also, and was now strapping on belts that were filled with a plethora of small throwing knives. Crimson nodded in satisfaction and trotted over to a small yellow pegasus stallion who had been supervising the installation of various props used for this performance. “Is everything ready for us, Rivet?” The little engineer nodded. “Everything is tested and ready for you. I don’t understand why you insist on me making this even harder for you though. It’s not as if your performances aren’t breathtaking enough already.” Crimson grinned. “You gotta stretch yourself if you’re going to improve. We were getting too comfortable with the existing routine. Besides, just look at the rest of the squads.” He swept an arm around the arena indicating the other Wonderbolts who had gathered to watch the rehearsal. “They want to see something spectacular, and we can’t just keep giving them the same thing all the time.” “They haven’t even figured out how you do the old version yet!” Rivet protested. “And if I keep stepping it up, they never will,” Crimson replied with a laugh. Rivet just shook his head in resignation and walked away. Turning to his squad-mates, Crimson said, “Okay, Impossibles, show time! One Special Delivery coming up!” “Aw yeah, let’s do this!” Rocky said, taking to the air, closely followed by the others. Crimson followed suit, and they all took up their positions in the arena. He let them take in the slightly revised set-up, fixing in their minds a mental map. Each arena where the Wonderbolts held a show had differences that meant that their equipment set-up always had to be arranged to suit, so the unique lay-out had to be fully comprehended before the start of every performance. When they were ready, they each gave him a nod. He returned the nod when all the others had done so, and looked to the sidelines where a Wonderbolt from another squad was waiting with a baton in his hoof. At this point in the show, the support staff would have selected a young filly or colt in the audience, and the MC would prompt the foal to call for help to deliver an urgent message to the Princess. Then the MC would ask, “Who can deliver this message through the dangers between us and the Princess?” Then the foal would hold up the baton and shout, “The Wonderbolts!” which was Squad Thirteen’s cue. Today’s rehearsal though, the foal was being played by a smirking member of Squad Eleven. “I’m going to figure out how you do it today, Crimson Blaze!” Crimson laughed. “You said that the last dozen times, Stratus. I still haven’t had to pay for those dinners at Rusty’s!” Stratus Cloud held up the baton. “Always a first time!” Rocky dived from his high vantage point to snatch the baton from Stratus’ hoof, and he hurtled into the arena. Large columns shot up from the floor with a pneumatic hiss, blocking his path, but he curled up into a ball and ricocheted from one column to the next like a billiard ball, sometimes backtracking as new columns popped up to block his new path, but still making steady progress. Rivet had programmed the columns to pop up randomly, so it was impossible to memorize a path, but Rocky still navigated them with deceptive ease. Although it seemed that he was simply bouncing off the columns, in fact each strike had to be precisely timed so that his hooves absorbed the impact and he could spring off again. Mistiming could mean as little as a failed take-off from the column, or as much as broken bones or worse. At the speed Rocky was bouncing between the columns, even his toughness would be tested. Rocky exited from the forest of columns to pass the baton on to the next squad member. Sylph took off, but immediately ran into a storm of icicles pelting down from a dark cloud that had been parked overhead. The props department didn’t stint on the icicles, and flying through them was virtually impossible without getting struck, and yet that’s exactly what Sylph did. With the grace of a dancer, she spun and weaved her way through the ice storm without a feather being touched, and she made it look easy. Only fellow Wonderbolts knew how long it had taken her to perfect that dance, and more than once had been struck before she mastered the timing. Sylph exited the storm and passed the baton on to Edge. Immediately, small cannons started firing spheres at him from several directions, filling the air with dozens of missiles all hurtling towards him. A broad sweep of his wings made a gust that forced several of the spheres together, and they exploded upon impact. This maneuver was done to demonstrate the secondary danger of the spheres to the audience; Edge’s real performance was yet to start. With each forehoof, he drew a knife from his belts and threw them with deadly precision. The targeted spheres exploded harmlessly a safe distance from him, but by this time he had already drawn more knives and thrown them at new targets. Edge’s progress was measured by a line of smoke puffs from the exploded spheres, only ending when the storm of spheres had ended, by which time he had but two knives left. Some performances he got down to only one, but on the one occasion where he had finished with none, Crimson had later berated him for cutting it too fine. It was Crimson’s turn to take the baton, and he lined himself up with his obstacles. Several large discs on columns were set up between him and his target, and each disc had a small hole in it. Edge had come to a halt right next to the first of those discs for the purpose of the audience getting a true idea of the size of that hole. It was blatantly far too small for Crimson to go through, and he was a little bit bigger than Edge. Nevertheless he beat his deep-red wings hard and rapidly picked up speed, aiming for the hole. Despite the incredible displays of skill that his teammates had displayed, this was where they earned their nickname of The Impossibles. Without hesitation, Crimson dived for the ridiculously small hole… and passed through unscathed! His special talent that enabled him to do that could not help with the next part though. The discs were closely spaced, and the holes were eccentrically placed. Additionally, the discs rotated in their brackets so that there was no way of him knowing where the hole would be until he passed through the previous disc and sighted it. In a fraction of a second, he had to spot the hole, flick out his wings to adjust his trajectory while adding thrust, refold his wings, and make another impossible passage in a crimson blur. He did this six times before the final target. Dazzler awaited Crimson, hovering before the final disc. This one was not rotating, but Dazzler was directly in front of the hole, waiting for him. He put on a burst of speed, not hesitating in the slightest to dive for the hole in the disc. At this point, the audience inevitably gasped as they realised that he was going to slam into the blockading pegasus mare. Then there was a cry of astonishment as Crimson seemed to pass through the mare and out the other side. Dazzler would then hold up the baton and rise triumphantly into the sky. That maneuver had taken Crimson and Dazzler months to perfect. It relied heavily on her ability to misdirect and create the illusion that she was in his path. At the same time, he had to pass on the baton and complete his impossible passage. It required incredibly fine timing, and the two had been frustrated many times before they had gotten it down pat. Dazzler had been the fortunate one because she was able to wear padding as a precaution until then, whereas Crimson had only been able to use padding until they were confident that their timing was right, and they added the disc. As he could not perform his impossible passage while wearing the padding, he had to forego it. The extra time that they had spent together while working on it had resulted in one unexpected side-effect though – a quietly blossoming relationship between them. The watching Wonderbolts burst into applause at the flawless execution of their performance, and Crimson glided down to Stratus. “So, did you figure it out?” Stratus grimaced. “No, damn it, and I even checked out those discs to look for any tricks.” He sighed. “Usual time at Rusty’s when this security lock-down is over?” “That’ll be fine,” Crimson replied with a smirk. “I honestly don’t know why you keep doing this to yourself, but I’m happy to keep taking advantage of the free meals.” The rest of Squad Thirteen joined him, Edge being the last as he had paused to gather his knives first. Crimson spread his wings to gather them all together and said, “Great work, guys! I’m proud of you. We’re ready to wow the audience at the next performance. Maybe even get further up the billing.” “If this doesn’t do that, I’ll eat my sword!” Edge declared. “Sword-swallowing is your party trick,” Rocky pointed out. “Then I won’t have any problem, will I?” The others chuckled and then Crimson said, “Okay, post-rehearsal report. Anyone have any problems with the new set-up?” “Not enough columns,” Rocky grumped. “You always say that,” Crimson replied. “And there’s always not enough. Too easy still.” Crimson just rolled his eyes. The equine billiard ball was never satisfied. “Okay, I’ll ask Rivet if he can add more when he has a chance. Anypony else?” Edge nodded and said, “I would like it if they turn down the amount of smoke that the spheres emit. I notice that in the still air inside this arena, the smoke hangs around and can obscure oncoming spheres. If weather conditions are similar at one of the shows, it could cause me to miss one. I suggest compensating with a brighter flash. It would look more impressive anyway.” “The flashes won’t be too distracting?” “I’m used to light reflecting off blades, so a few more flashes won’t matter.” “Okay, that will go into the report. Sylph?” “No problems. I enjoyed myself.” “Good to hear. Dazzler, how about you?” Dazzler put one hoof on Crimson’s chest and rubbed it softly. “I think I could use a bit more practice.” “Yeah,” Edge commented with a grin. “We all know what sort of practice you want.” Crimson blushed a little as his teammates laughed. “Not now, Daz!” he whispered urgently, fooling absolutely no one. “Alright, if you’ve had your laughs, head off to the showers!” he ordered. “Just what I had in mind,” Dazzler said, provoking another round of chuckles. Crimson bolted for the stallions’ change rooms before he could insert his other hoof into his mouth. # # # After breakfast the next morning, Crimson Blaze took his squad to the gymnasium to do a light workout, with the exception of Rocky whose physique barely noticed anything less than a full-on weights session. He was nowhere near the strongest Wonderbolt in absolute terms, but size-for-size, he ranked near the top, and he intended to keep it that way. They were all engrossed in their workouts when the public address system unexpectedly crackled to life. “ATTENTION ALL WONDERBOLTS!” Spitfire’s voice blared over the P.A. “THIS IS NOT A DRILL. ANY AND ALL WONDERBOLTS, REPORT TO THE LOBBY FOR IMMEDIATE DISPATCH TO INTERCEPT INCOMING HOSTILES! REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL! ALL WONDERBOLT STAFF ASIDE FROM SECURITY ARE TO REPORT TO THE BASEMENT FOR SHELTER! I WANT SQUADS NINETEEN AND TWENTY TO REMAIN IN THE COMPOUND AND HELP ME DIRECT THE STAFF IN AN ORDERLY MANNER! MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!” All the Wonderbolts in the gym were startled for only a moment before they hastily dropped what they were doing and headed for the exit. Crimson snatched up his goggles that he had left next to his water bottle and looked for his squad members. Dazzler was already almost by his side, while Edge and Sylph pulled on their masks and put their goggles around their necks before joining them. Speed wasn’t Rocky’s forte and he had to disengage himself from the weight machine before snatching up his goggles and finally joined them. “Okay, Squad Thirteen, let’s move it!” Crimson ordered. They raced as a group for the lobby, jostling with other squads who were also hastening there. They arrived at a scene of organised chaos as each squad arrived and found itself a position in the rapidly crowding area. When it became apparent that all the squads had arrived, Soarin yelled from up front, “ALL SQUADS READY?!” All the present Wonderbolts grabbed their goggles. “AYE!” they replied while pushing their goggles down. The large window above the doors leading into the courtyard slowly opened and small bits of glass chipped and fell from the pane that had been shattered by the new Shadowbolt that sneaked in the day before. “ALL PONIES SET?!” Soarin continued. “AYE!” The Wonderbolts all opened their wings. “WONDERBOLTS! GO! GO! GO!” Soarin yelled out as he, Fleetfoot, and Air Mach all sprang up and flew through the hangar window. “HOO-RAH!” One by one, the rows of Wonderbolts stepped forward and leaped up, taking flight in the full formation and emerging out over the large courtyard of the compound approach. Crimson’s squad was the seventh out, and they finally were able to see their approaching foes. The Shadowbolts! At a glance, Crimson estimated there to be four or five dozen, and he was quietly confident that the entire complement of Wonderbolts would have no trouble dealing with the situation, despite the warnings about the Shadowbolts’ new abilities. Training and discipline could overcome those liabilities. The enemy pegasi were almost upon them when the unbelievable happened. The number of Shadowbolts suddenly doubled, then doubled once more, and then again and again. Suddenly they were faced with a cloud of hundreds of their foe. Where did they all come from? Were they illusions? Crimson could not tell from this distance, but it was a discouraging sight anyway. “STEADY!” Soarin yelled. “DON’T BACK DOWN! STAY STRONG!” he encouraged. “FULL FORMATION BURST! ON MY MARK!” They closed in on the enormous cloud of Shadowbolts and Crimson could taste the tension of his teammates rapidly rising. They drew closer and closer, until finally Soarin at last yelled “BURST!” when they were mere yards from colliding. The entirety of the Wonderbolts suddenly broke formation and scattered randomly, taking the Shadowbolts by surprise, exactly as was intended. Crimson dealt his first foe a fierce uppercut that snapped her head back. He did not pause before following up with a stiff arm punch to the belly that dropped the mare. He could not wait to see if she stayed out of the action though because another two Shadowbolts were already upon him. They tried to block his flight path, but he used the same technique that enabled him to pass through the tiny hole in the discs to slip past them, and then snapped his wings open to chop them behind the neck. One was stunned, but the other rounded on him to attack, only to be met with a full-on buck from Crimson’s hoof. Although he turned his attention back to the stunned one, he was hardly able to miss it when the bucked one suddenly burst in flash of pink light. The Shadowbolt used his surprise to get in a couple of blows before Crimson recovered and blocked further attacks. With his concentration restored, there was no way that the Shadowbolt could land a blow. Timing was the hallmark of his entire squad and Crimson’s particular talent. He had honed it to the ultimate degree, and one-on-one, no pony could get through his defenses. Unfortunately it was not a one-on-one situation. Three more Shadowbolts dived at him even as he dispatched his current foe, and he had to resort to his native ability to once again slip past them and choose a foe to attack. Again it exploded in a flash of pink that had no shock-wave. Crimson could tell now that he was facing soul-less doppelgangers, products of some bizarre magic. They were passionless automatons bent on the destruction of the Wonderbolts. He smiled. Good. It meant that he no longer had to worry about killing and he could use his abilities to the best degree. “GROUP UP! SQUAD TACTICS!” he heard Soarin yell at the top of his lungs. “GROUP UP! SQUAD TACTICS!” ‘Excellent. My squad works best that way,’ he thought as he dispassionately dispatched his current opponents and cast around for his squad-mates. He found Edge first. “Edge! They’re not real, so don’t hold back!” Edge glanced at him for confirmation and then grinned widely. Until then, Edge had been using typical hoof-to-hoof fighting techniques, but released from the concerns of murdering pegasi, he reached for his hoof knives. He was never without some kind of knife with him, but these were his favorite for battle purposes. They snapped securely around his forearms, and the blades extended a good fifteen inches past his hoof, giving him a deadly reach advantage. With a fierce scream, he dived into a group of Shadowbolts closing on them, his blades whirling in a lethal dance. In his wake there were a series of pink explosions as the clones burst. Crimson guarded his back even as he looked around for the others. Sylph joined them, virtually dancing through a cloud of Shadowbolts. Just as with the icicle storm, none of them could lay a hoof on her. She, however, had no such problem. Long before she joined the Wonderbolts, Sylph had trained in martial arts, and was a master in more than one discipline, much to the surprise of the recruit trainers when she joined. Her party trick was breaking a brick with a wing-chop. Sylph was a deadly beauty, and Shadowbolts fell like rain around her. “Crimson! These weird clones have a weak spot between the eyes. Try to hit them there!” Trust Sylph to spot that. He used his timing technique to get within the guard of the next clone and dealt it a firm blow between the eyes, and was gratified to see it instantly explode. Suddenly he was shoved to one side and he had to hastily flap to recover. “Pay attention, boss!” Rocky said as he dealt with the Shadowbolt that had almost taken Crimson in the back. The stocky pegasus had his own technique for dealing with the enemy, once again drawing on skills practiced in their stunt show. He charged at a group of Shadowbolts rolling up into a ball, and then caroming from one to another, just as he had from the pillars. The same hidden thrust from his hooves that guided his flight, also dealt each Shadowbolt a huge blow, causing most of them to blow up immediately. The dense numbers of the enemy were actually helping him put that technique to use. ‘More pillars’ indeed! Crimson spotted Dazzler above them. Her image seemed to flicker and dance about, making it impossible for the Shadowbolts to lay a hoof on her. Misdirection and illusion were her forte, and she was putting it good use. However, she was not being as effective at actually dispatching them. That’s why she had a team though. “Sylph – go help Dazzler. Edge – run interference! Rocky – let’s thin out the numbers!” Crimson called out. With Edge in the vanguard, the squad dived into a dense knot of Shadowbolts. The thestral cleared a path while Crimson and Rocky cut down the numbers that flowed in from the sides. Dazzler distracted a number of those that got through, giving Sylph the opportunity to dispatch them with deadly precision. Squad Thirteen left a trail of pink explosions wherever they went, and Crimson was suddenly optimistic about dealing with the overwhelming numbers. Crimson lost track of the amount of time that they spent fighting this way, but he abruptly realized that the Shadowbolt numbers had significantly depleted. He had hardly paid much attention to how the other squads had been doing, but it was obvious that they had been holding their own, as they should have as elite fighters. It looked like that the Wonderbolts were on the verge of winning this battle. Suddenly the Shadowbolts backed off and regrouped. Crimson watched them suspiciously, wondering if they had a new plan of attack. Then he gasped as a series of pink flashes revealed yet more Shadowbolts. The flashes continued until their enemy’s numbers were restored, and Crimson’s heart sank. How could they win if the Shadowbolts kept doing that? He did not have too much time to worry about that as the Wonderbolts rallied to meet the new challenge. Then something new caught his attention. While the Shadowbolts made no move to attack, pink light started to exude from their goggles. It grew in intensity until suddenly pink beams of magic began shooting from their eyes, peppering the Wonderbolts. Cries of pain came from everyone struck by the barrage. One struck Crimson on his chest and another on a hind leg, forcing him down. The storm of magic bolts continued, and he desperately tried to defend himself against them. He focused his magic into his hooves to harden them against the pink magic and started deflecting the beams. It stung, but nowhere near as badly as being struck elsewhere. Most of the other Wonderbolts were far worse off and they were all being forced downwards. Even Sylph was having difficulty dodging the beams, but she had nowhere else to go and was being forced down with the rest of them. Rocky was grunting at each hit, but his extraordinarily body density was scarcely affected, and he was trying to protect Dazzler whose distraction techniques were useless against the magic bolts. Edge’s glittering blades seemed to be able to deflect the bolts, and he tried to make a charge, but the Shadowbolts concentrated more on him, and overwhelmed his ability to cope, forcing him back down. Eventually, every Wonderbolt was grounded but the merciless rain of magic continued. Their flight suits were being ripped apart, leaving stinging burns. They had nowhere to go and no defense, and things were looking hopeless. Suddenly Crimson’s attention was drawn up to the sky by a yell. “YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” Crimson belatedly recognized the tan Wonderbolt diving from above as his enormous black-tipped wings swatted a dozen Shadowbolts out of the air. Then a dark blue stallion that was hard to spot among the Shadowbolts started taking out more of them as a very large blue Wonderbolt dropped through the hole made in the Shadowbolts’ offensive dome. He hit the ground running and used his flight speed to break through the surrounding foes. “GUYS! Quick!” Crimson saw Shine Struck gesturing in the opening. “You heard the lady!” Soarin yelled as he galloped towards the escape avenue. Crimson hastened to follow, as did the rest of the Wonderbolts, and soon they were able to take off into the air and regain a favorable position from which to resume the fight. “GET IN YOUR FORMATIONS!” Soarin yelled out above him. “Squads one through ten – high altitude! Everypony else – low altitude! GO! GO!” That suited Crimson and his squad because they could take advantage of poles and trees along the perimeter. He signaled his squad to take up position. “Edge! How effective are your blades against those magic blasts?” “They were crafted to deal with unicorn horn blasts. Seems just as good against those eye blasts.” “Great! You and I will provide cover for the others. Those eye beams aren’t as effective at short range, so we’ll get them in close to a group of Shadowbolts and take them all out at once.” Edge frowned. “How do you expect to deflect those beams?” Crimson held up his forehooves which glinted metallically. “Same way you will.” “Huh? How did you do that?” “Time for explanations later. We have company!” Crimson turned to face an oncoming pack of Shadowbolts, mirrored by Edge. They accelerated towards their foes, almost immediately having to deflect the pink magic beams. A couple were bounced back at the Shadowbolts, causing them to explode. “They’re not immune to their own magic,” Edge called out as he was swarmed. “I noticed!” Crimson replied, although he wasn’t in position to do much about it. “Comin' through!” Rocky yelled. He barreled into the Shadowbolts, oblivious to the eye beams, and began his usual ricochet technique, taking the strain off Crimson and Edge. Some Shadowbolts managed to get past, but they weren’t given a chance to attack from behind as Dazzler and Sylph were able to come into play, picking them off at will. Crimson steered the fighting towards a copse of trees at the perimeter. This almost totally stopped the Shadowbolts from firing upon them from a distance, but Squad Thirteen was in its element, dodging and weaving between the obstacles. More than once, pursuing Shadowbolts crashed into trees or poles as the Impossibles did their thing. Occasionally Crimson had a moment to take in the fighting around them. He spotted Calm Wind pushing through a barrage of eye beams much like Rocky, but whereas Crimson’s squad-mate took on one at a time, Calm crashed into no less than five, taking them all out at once. There were obviously great advantages to sheer size, but there wasn’t any way that the giant pegasus could match Rocky’s agility. Other glimpses showed him that the lead team seemed to be on top of the situation, and the other squads holding their own, so Crimson returned his full attention to his squad’s immediate foes. The fighting continued in this vein for what seemed ages before Crimson noticed growing cries of alarm and concern. At his first opportunity, he took a look around and gaped in shock. Suddenly the Wonderbolts were facing yet another threat as a few of the Shadowbolts with three pink crystals were pressing new attacks. He saw several Wonderbolts being mercilessly pounded by eye beams as they struggled in the invisible grasp of a blue stallion. A yellow stallion was peppering Wonderbolts with exploding pink spheres, and another stallion was fighting Soarin with a sword! “EDGE!” Crimson yelled to get his attention. As soon as he looked, Crimson pointed towards the action. “Can you help Soarin with the sword-guy?” Edge nodded and started toward the fight, only to be brought to a stop again as the melee with the yellow stallion encroached on their area, and suddenly they were dodging exploding pink balls also. With their opposition virtually doubled, helping Soarin suddenly became a moot point, and they struggled to deal with the new situation. Unfortunately, Dazzler was at a disadvantage with the new addition because misdirection and illusion had no effect on the spheres, and she dodged frantically. Crimson fought to get between Dazzler and the oncoming barrage to stop them with his hooves, only to have them concentrate on him. Even with his exquisite timing and reflexes, two finally managed to get past him, one exploding on his left shoulder, but the other striking him on the temple. His head felt as if it had exploded also and he blacked out. Crimson’s body fluttered lifelessly to the ground. # # # “I’ve found one!” someone yelled. The Wonderbolts searching for victims hastened up to their fallen comrade, only to stop and stare in shock. Certainly that was a Wonderbolt uniform, but the person wearing it was not anything like what they expected to find. A gleaming reddish-brown carapace, holey legs, red insectile wings and crest, a notched horn, and fangs showed without a doubt that this was not a pegasus. “Is that… a changeling?” one asked. “If it is, it’s not like the ones we fought at the royal wedding a while back.” “What do we do with it then?” “It’s wearing our uniform, so until we know more, for now we treat it as a victim, but take it to a secure room and have it guarded. I’ll inform the lead team of this. They can figure out if we have an impostor or infiltrator in our midst.”