//------------------------------//
// Strike 37- Blindsided Part 2 of 3 
// Story: When lightning strikes... 
// by FrostTheWolf 
//------------------------------//


When Lightning Strikes- Blindsided Part 2




Power Pony HQ (Early morning)

        It was only a few hours after he left Chrysalis’ hideout that Lance was able to return back to base, but in that time frame, he learned about many things that had been going on under the noses of both the Power Ponies and the general public. Things that were downright uncalled for and too cruel to go unnoticed. Something had to be done about it and the Adept knew that the first step in doing so was to let Twilight know. Even though she had her own personal feelings regarding the changeling, Lance was going to make sure that her personal beliefs would not stop them with having to do the right thing.

        As he got into the control room, he found Twilight in there, looking through files of old cases that had been done before. Mostly though, it seemed that a lot of them were in relationship to Stopwatch before he was banished. The Adept carefully stepped inside, approaching cautiously as he said a brief statement to catch her attention. “You’re up early… Couldn’t sleep?”

        “Something like that,” The mare retorted. “Where have you been though? We were trying to look into the whereabouts of the other Power Copies and was going to ask for your help, but we didn’t find you when we came back.”

        “I was busy doing some things. Speaking of which though, we need to talk.” He replied, going up to her. “While you were out, I had a run in with the League.”

        Twilight looked at Lance with a raised eyebrow. The mentioning of the league had caught the mare’s attention and now, she was fully focused on what he had to say. “Was this about Kaoru again? Or was it something else.”

        “Something else… Completely,” The Adept told her. “I talked with Chrysalis and-.” The mare then shot an angered glare towards the Azure Striker. The changeling was one subject she would rather forget, especially after the damage that she had done.

        “What does she have to do with any of this?” Twilight growled in anger as she looked at the adept. “Need I remind you that she killed three of my teammates-!”

        “Twilight, hear me out please,” Lance ushered the Alicorn. “The league has been going through it’s own set of problems on it’s own and now, Chrysalis has a target on her back. The ponies she knew in the Zero Zone and had once considered family are now trying to kill her. I ran into them tonight and after what happened, she was not like the Chrysalis you remember. She was an emotional wreck and had bad memories that she was trying to forget. But there’s something else as well that I found out.” With that, the teen took in a deep breath as he looked back at the Alicorn. This time with a serious look in his eyes as he spoke once more. What he had to say though took the leader of the power ponies by complete surprise.

        “She’s an adept. Like me.”

        “Really? How’s that possible?”

        “I might be the first human like adept, but that does not rule out the possibility for an equestrian life form to be one,” He explained to her carefully so the pony wouldn’t jump the gun on anything. “Furthermore, her energy signature is similar to mine and also, looking back on what happened three years ago like you had told me before, Adept’s are affected a lot by their emotions and if their emotions aren’t in check, the Adept can lose control of themselves and their powers. The Zero Zone broke her and what happened afterwards was the results of it.”

        “But her powers were awakened after an accident… Wait, what do you mean the Zero Zone broke her, it’s just a prison run by a jerk.”

        “Yeah well that jerk has turned a blind eye on what is actually happening in there.” Lance told her, taking something out of his pocket as he walked over to the computer and pulled out the disk tray. “Chrysalis though, gave me this. It’s a disk containing damning evidence of what was done to not just her, but other prisoners in the Zero Zone. She told me herself of just some of the things that broke her in there. She warned though that this shouldn’t be seen by the faint of heart.”

        “I’ll watch it later.” Twilight took it in her magic. However, Lance wasn’t satisfied with that.

        “Is that so…? Twilight, I just told you of something that is happening inside a place where we’re suppose to be locking up villains, only to find out that it’s much worse than we thought and you are just putting it off?” Lance retorted, “With all due respect, I thought you would be a little more concerned about this than how you are acting right now.”

        “Right now, all the prisoners that don’t deserve those things happening to them are out… All of them… The Zero Zone is the only thing keeping Roach in right now, and I doubt any of us want him to speed up whatever plan he has. I’ll look at it to see the crimes.”

        “Twilight, this isn’t about Roach. This is about making sure that when we do capture them, we don’t unknowingly send them to a place where they are going to get abused and raped!!” He snapped, catching the Alicorn’s attention. “Chrysalis was tortured, tormented and forced by the guards of the damned prison to be used for their own pleasure! I don’t want what happened to her to happen to anypony else we capture like the Mane-iac or Anti-Zapp. I want them to be treated fairly. Just because they are villains doesn’t mean they don’t have a voice. They have rights too.”

        “I know that!” Twilight yelled. “That prison took a friend of mine, two in fact, and made one bitter at me and the other one evil!”

        “And WHAT DID YOU DO ABOUT IT?!” The Adept shouted. “They needed help, but from what I know, you couldn’t do anything to get them out sooner and when you did do something, it was too late. The Twilight I know would not stop fighting for a friend until she was able to help them the best she could. So my question is, what happened to you!?”

        “I’M DOING WHAT STOPWATCH TOLD ME TO DO!!!” Twilight screamed at the top of her lungs. “Save the innocent, stop the bad guys, and make sure to be a good role model! To do that, I need to keep with the law! Clayton has friends in high places, judges, other wardens, heck, even the mayor of New Yoke! If I attack him again in court without the proper evidence to-”

        “Wait… Again?” Lance stopped her with the single phrase. “You mean this is happened before?”

        “Twice, and if the jury are friends with him they’ll call my claim false and our team will be investigated. When Stopwatch got back from Wonderland with Zapp, him and I tried to lessen Chrysalis’ sentence to a minimal of a week and get transferred to a normal jail. Clayton stopped our plea with some half assed excuse and threatened Stop. We tried again after he attacked and killed the Fallen Angels without reason, but he somehow turned it into a trial for Stopwatch.”

        Lance took the words into deep thought as he began to think. It was around then that he noticed something. Clayton thought of this as a game. A game he was familiar with. Therefore, the rules needed to change. That way, the odds were in their favor instead of his. Still though, there was one thing that he had to say to her.

        “Twilight… I’m sorry… for what I said. I didn’t know about what happened and… I personally took it too far.” He apologized, getting down on one of his knees in front of her like a man trying to beg a priest for forgiveness.

        “It’s fine, just don’t get that mad at me again.” Twilight said. Her ears perked up as she heard an odd sound. “What the-? Why do I hear a ringing noise?” In turn, the Adept soon looked up, turning towards where he was hearing it from. Pressing a button, he soon realized what it was.

        “Hey… Did you realize that Humdrum put Skype on here? Because right now… Someone’s calling us.”

        Twilight looked closely. “TSIM235? Who’d use that name?”

        Lance looked at it, before deeply sighing. “I have a guess. Tell me… What do you get when you spell TSIM backwards?” It only took Twilight a few moments to realize where he was getting at before she caught on. TSIM backwards spelled out MIST. Which meant that the call they were getting was from the M.I.S.T. base in New Yoke. And with the residential time difference between Maretropolis and New Yoke, it was already sunrise for the team and most of them might have been up bright and early. Soon, Lance answered the call and soon, saw a familiar face on the facecam.

        “Good morning to you too, Firefly.”

        “Oh… Uh, h-hey!” The pink pegasus said. “Why’re you on our supercomputers monitor?”

        “Fire! It’s Skype! It’s not a computer game!” Three’s voice shouted out in the background. “It’s some kinda communicator, like Holochat back home!”

        “Oh crap, I’m sorry guys!” Firefly blushed.

        “It’s alright. We just finished with an important discussion, so it’s cool.” Lance assured her on the other end of the call. “How’s everything going on in New Yoke?”

        “Oh! It’s doing great! We caught the Pyromaniac and we’re getting minor funding, met the League, and even got a sidekick! Aya’s not here right now, she’s been investigating some Displaced weirdos that are connected to the Pyromaniac… Something about another Asylum.”

        “Right, well, I’m not planning on interfering with her investigation. Though, I think Twilight and I are a little curious to know about what you mean by sidekick.” He said, looking back at the mare as she nodded her head.

        “Oh, yeah. Banana Fluff lost her mom in the cathedral fire and we’re taking care of her. She seems to like it here, and AJ3 thinks her mom was a metapony.” Firefly replied. The name rang a bell in Lance’s head. His brief encounter with Monochrome the other night and everything then lead to one pony mentioning that same name. It was something he needed to talk about with Chrysalis another time.

        “I see… Speaking of which, have you seen Mist? I wanted to get the chance to talk to her if she’s available.” The Adept asked. However, his question did not get him the response he was looking for.

        “Uh, she’s out. She usually takes a walk when she can’t sleep…” Firefly froze up a bit before the image resumed with Posey next to Firefly.

        “She’s b-been ac-acting odd… I-I don’t th-think she’s had a-a-a decent n-nights s-sleep f-for… E-ever since y-you g-guy-guy’s came.” Posey stuttered. The Adept looked back at Twilight, who had an expression of concern and worry on her face as the two of them looked back at Posey.

        “Where is she right now?” Lance asked, offering his help. “I can go talk to her and try my best to help her.”

        “She’s walking around- -ke harbor.” Firefly said, getting cut out slightly.

        “She must mean New Yoke Harbor.” The Alicorn next to Lance assumed. “Am I right?”

        “... Yeah.” Firefly nodded. “We could have Surprise blink you guys here.”

        “Don’t worry about that, I’ll be there soon.” Lance assured them, finishing the call. Before he left though, he turned to Twilight, walking over to her a little and patting her on the shoulder. “Sorry about before… You guys are like family to me and fighting with family is the last thing I want to do.” With that though, he placed two fingers on his forehead as he soon disappeared.



M.I.S.T. Base

        The morning so far for Firefly had been filled with surprises. The first surprise for her this morning was discovering the computer program called Skype. The second surprise though was a lot more shock and awe when the Adept she was talking too was standing right behind her.

        “Hello.” He replied, spooking her a little as she turned around.

        “Uh…” Firefly shook her head. “How… Nevermind… Thought Surprise was the only teleporter.”

        “A Displaced a while back taught me some tricks… You familiar with something called Dragon Ball Z?” He asked her, thinking that there was a pony variant of the anime series.

        “That ancient thing that didn’t age well? It was banned when I was born for having a bad word in the title.” Firefly grinned. “Balls… Pfft!”

        “Right… Well, remind me sometime and I can show you the series. The point being is that a lot of the characters in the series use energy based attacks, but some, like the guy who taught me this, can use their energy to teleport. Trust me, I think you might like to see it sometime.” The Adept told her, channeling a ball of energy in his hands. Which in turn caused the mare to look back at him in awe and wonder for a few seconds.

        “Fire’s a bit… New tech over old. Things like Filly Fantasy 7, Yoshi’s Island and Transformares didn’t suit her…” Three said, not looking at the Adept but instead focusing on helping Radiance.

        “Hey, sometimes, nothing can beat the classics. One day, I’m going to have to teach you these extra perks.” The Adept sighed, looking around a little before speaking again. “Anyways, we’re getting a little off topic. I was going to ask about how to get to New Yoke harbor so I can check on Mist? Anypony know the way?”

        “Oh, oh! Me, pick me!” Surprise screamed, flailing her hooves. “I know the way!”

        Lance chuckled at the mare as he looked at her. “Okay, but I just need you to drop me off there. When I find Mist, I was going to talk to her on my own for a bit if that’s okay.”

        “Sure thing!” Surprise… Surprised Lance by appearing right next to him and blinking away. When he opened his eyes, he saw he was looking over the rails of a lighthouse right by the harbor. It was also raining lightly. “She’ll be wearing a black hoodie with blue stripes and a pair of odd light green headphones. Need anything else?”

        “That’ll be all. Thanks Surprise.” The Adept told her, tickling her a little bit by messing with her mane before she blinked away. Leaving him to wander the harbor and look for her. When he did, he saw she was sitting in a puddle of water in the middle of a sidewalk that was not far from the edge of the harbor. Her hood was up, and her eyes were closed as she hummed a tune to herself. When he walked over to her, he did the only thing that at the time he thought was polite. 

        “Hey,” He spoke calmly. “Can I join you?”

        Mist jumped slightly and took her ‘set off. “Lance? What are you doing here?”

        “I wanted to talk with you a bit,” He told her. “Is something wrong?”

        “N-no, just thought you were in Maretropolis with your team…” Mist thought for a moment. “Sure, you can join me I guess.”

        “Thank you.” He told her. He wanted to make sure the mare felt comfortable while he was with her. Especially with everything that was going on. “Can I trust you with a secret? There’s something I want to tell you, but I haven’t told the others or the rest of the Power Ponies yet.”

        “Uh… Yeah. I’m good with secrets.” Twilight nodded.

        “Good, because this is a big one,” The Adept sighed. “Pinkie was able to see Stopwatch again and now…… She’s pregnant.”

        Twilight’s eyes widened. “Wh-what!? Y-you’re serious!?”

        “Dead serious. I met Time two days ago and with it, I was able to bring Pinkie to him. The next day, Ash found her giggling to herself and when I came to check on her, she showed me the pregnancy test. She’s going to be a mother.”

        Mist stood up and started pumping her hooves in happiness. “Yes, yes, YES!!! Surprise is going to be born!” The Adept felt happy for Twilight Mist as she was celebrating her happiness.

        “Yup.” He told her, his expression though soon changing from glad to normal. “Speaking of Surprise though, I needed to talk to you on something else.”

        Immediately, Twilight went back into a sitting position, trying not to smile and be serious. “Go on.”

        “Mist, your friends are worried about you.” Lance told her, recalling what Posey told him. “And in turn, you’re making me worried about you. I was told that ever since we met, you’ve been acting odd around your teammates… Twilight… is something wrong?”

        “It’s nothing. I’ve just been thinking about my life decisions. Good and… Well, mostly bad. Meeting you again was… Rough on me. You and I were close after… Stuff…”

        “It’s okay, Twilight. You can tell me.” He assured her. “I’m only trying to help you. Trust me… We’ve all made mistakes.”

        Mist sighed. “Guess it doesn’t matter. Anything I tell you is gonna mean moot.” Twilight stretched a bit. “Might take a bit…”

        “I got time. Go ahead.” He told her, assuring her that he was here to help her. 

        “To start, I never met my mom and dad. My mom, Twinkle, died during childbirth due to her getting hurt by Delirious, Pinkie’s father.”

        “That… almost sounds like me. My mother died during childbirth. But her reason was due to blood loss.”

        “Technically the same. Internal damage almost killed me, so they cut me out without trying to save her…” Twilight sighed. “My father joined a group dedicated to taking down Delirious… Needless to say, he was killed a year later.”

        “So that left you with Spike?” The Adept asked. “My apologies, I mean Humdrum.”

        “I knew him as Spikey… Heh, he always got annoyed… When I was older, seven or ten, somewhere around then… He was killed too… I joined a group just after that and we stopped Delirious for good… Same team I have now...”

        “I’m sorry to hear about Humdrum. He must have been very important to you.”

        “I had been like Twilight was when she was younger. A bookworm who loved the written word. Spike tried his hardest, and he was even able to get me to like others a bit more. I never appreciated him…” Mist placed her hoof to her chest. “After that, you, or the future you, took me in… And no, you weren’t an old fart. You were given Surge’s powers and Immortality.”

        That… caught Lance by surprise. “Wow… Right now, only my Fiance’s Max and Seph are that.” Realizing that he interrupted Mist, he apologized again. “Oh, sorry. Please continue.”

        “You took me in and became my guardian...” She said to him. The Unicorn then began to go into detail about what kind of person he was and the way that she knew him from the timeline she was familiar with. Despite hearing these good things however, the Adept noticed Mist’s expression change. It was one of sorrow. One of sadness. Something did not feel right.

        “I went to a school for gifted individuals. Me and the girls were put into a six member team. I became more reclusive, focussing on my studies… I got the position of team leader, you… he was proud of me. Said Sparkle, Twinkle and Spike would be proud of me…” She chuckled darkly. “I could see his worry… And his lie was seethrough. They wouldn’t have been proud of me, I wasn’t ever right in the head. Everything was magic and missions with me… I didn’t care about others, only myself, how could great heroes be proud of that?”

        “You were still young,” Lance spoke. “Many of us, even when we're older, still learn new things everyday.”

        “Yeah, well I’ve only fixed the greed thing… Mostly…” Mist sighed. “Anyway, I heard you had a timetravel spell that I could use to come here and kill Delirious permanently and undo all the damage he’d done. Spike, Dad… Mom… I could have all that back. I could live the perfect childhood. To me, it was what I thought I deserved… I tricked everypony to come back with me, and… Well, chickened out. Didn’t kill him, but helped in his capture… Which never happened in history.”

        One thing in that sentence though, confused Lance. “The spell… How did you hear about it?”

        “Some human told me. She wanted me to help Roach when I got back… Which I did without knowing who he was. And with that, I ruined the birth of Surprise and the adoption of Posey.” Mist sighed again. “Now you see why I was thinking ever since you and granny convinced me and M.I.S.T. to return.”

        “Yes… but about this human… who were they? How did they know Roach?”

        “I don’t remember her name, but she was Roach’s sister.”

        That, in turn, triggered something in Lance’s mind. He remembered Time mentioning Roach, Killjoy and Warzone having one. And he remembered the name. “Izra… ” He said to himself before looking at Mist. He didn’t want to explain what was going on involving Time right now, so he personally thought to change the topic to something else. Something that had been on his mind for a while.

        “Mist… Can I ask you something else? You told me Twilight was your Grandmother… Who’s your grandfather?” He asked her.

        “Comet Tail. You probably know him better as Reaper.” Mist replied.

        That, caught Lance completely off guard. Because that meant one thing. “No way… You’re part… undead?”

        Mist winced. “I don’t like that word...”

        “Sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you… Is there something you would prefer for me to say instead?” He asked.

        “Pony… In my time, undead ponies, griffons and minotaurs destroyed Detrot. After that, they were all hunted down except for me.” Mist stated. “I don’t like talking about that side of me though…”

        “Okay… Still… It’s okay. I actually think that’s kind of… well… awesome.” He told her. “I don’t care what you are. You are still Mist to me and that’s what matters.”

        “Okay… Oh, and I heard you found him.”

        “I did actually… He’s recovering after an encounter we had with Blaster and Anti-Zapp.” He told her. “If you want… I can take you to him.”

        “No, I already hate that I’m related to him. He’s lost his mind because of me, do you really think I’d want to see him? And as a bonus, he was a d*ck… Guess granny’s death hit him hard…” That… surprised the Adept. It was unexpected to hear that from Mist. But then again, the part with Reaper being hit hard was actually… seen before. Right now, in the present, Reaper was being hit the same way when Time had been banished.

        “Okay, I was just wondering… Hey, I’m a little curious on something else though… what were some of the things you borrowed from the Lance you knew. I’m kind of curious to see them.” He told her as he looked back at some of the things he had on him.

        “Borrowed? I take offence from that. The only thing I took from you was the book and the sniper I used to stop Delirious, but it was technically ours since we both made it.” Twilight grumbled.

        “Oh… Well I wasn’t aware of that,” He insisted. “Do you still have the rifle by any chance?”

        “Yeah, but it’s back at base.” Mist replied. “It’s yours if you want, I don’t care much for it anymore.”

        “Hey, it’s alright. I just wanted to see how it works and all that. Sometimes, simple things are more than meets the eye.” He told her, looking out onto the ocean. Only to notice something… off. He was seeing a ship of sorts heading towards the harbor. Sinking. But the captain of the ship… That was something else entirely. 

        “Mist, do you have a pair of binoculars or something?” Lance asked the unicorn, looking back at her before returning his attention to the ship out on the sea. “Something about that ship over there seems… off.”

        Mist didn’t respond, she just lit her horn and a pair that matched Twilight’s eye color appeared in front of Lance. Taking the pair of binoculars, Lance zoomed it in towards the ship, only to be baffled by what he was seeing. 

        The captain of the ship turned out to be none other than the well known Merc with the Mouth. Deadpool. How he was here… that was unknown. But, it wasn’t their major concern as he approached land while singing a jolly jingle and having a spring in his step.

        “LAND HO!!” He shouted, hopping onto the docks and leaving the boat that he was using to sink in the waters of the harbor. Looking at Lance and Mist, the masked mercenary said the first thing that came to his head. “A-Hoy Ye Scallywags! The name be Deadpool, Captain of me valiant ship, the Chimichanga!... Which is sinking… Any of you have boat insurance or similar? Eh, nevermind, I never use anything but my guns. SO!!! I'm a crossover character in this other Fanfic? Sweet!”

        Lance just stared at the merc before looking back at Mist. A confused expression on both their faces. “Uhh…”

        Looking at the two of them, the Merc just stared at them. If they could only see the face under his mask, then they would know that he was deep in thought. “So… let me guess…” He began to speak, looking at the Adept first. “You’re some Anime wackjob and you’re… hmm…” He stopped again, pulling out a book the size of a textbook and skimming through the pages until he looked back at Mist with an apologetic expression under his mask. “… Who are you again? It seems like the Author forgot to update my character dictionary.”

        The Adept himself decided that instead of questioning the Merc’s logic, he instead try to communicate the best he could. Without trying to expose his identity to him. “The name is Gunvolt, mind you.” He told him as the Merc now noticed the weapons that he had holstered and the little sparks of lightning that was being released from his fingertips. “Now, what business do you have here in New Yoke?”

        “New Yoke? That’s what this place is called?” Deadpool asked as he pulled out a roadmap from out of nowhere before crumpling it up into bits. “I thought it was called Manehattan.”

        “That’s a city in New Yoke.” The Adept deadpanned.

        “Oh well, different authors have different concepts then. Still though, who’s the little pony next to you?” The Merc than said. “If she isn’t yours, can I keep her.”

        “No Deadpool, you aren’t keeping her.” One of the voices inside his head informed him. “She’s important to the story's plot development.” The other one just snickered to himself as it then spoke in turn.

        “Hehe… you said plot.”

        All Lance could do was facepalm to himself as he heard the mercenary talk to himself. In the craziness, Mist just looked back at Lance in confusion.

        “Who’s this whackjob? He a friend of yours?”

        He shook his head as he looked back at her. “I wouldn’t really say that… I just have seen him before back home. Just in the media, but I didn’t expect this… Think Pinkie’s level of Randomness and then add two voices stuck in his head called Stuffy and Crazy. With that, you get Deadpool… Also known as the Merc with the mouth. But I think you can tell that for yourself.”

        Mist looked Deadpool up and down, shaking her head. “I already don’t like him…”

        “Right now, just don’t try to question anything that he says. I’ve already had enough trouble trying to figure out Hodgepodge.” He told her, remembering when Jason was here a few months ago. It was only then that Deadpool turned back around.

        “Sorry about that, I was just talking to Stuffy and Crazy. The two voices that live inside my head.”

        “… Wonderful.” Lance sighed. But the Merc’s attention was back on Mist as he tried picking her up with his hands after teleporting behind her. Causing Mist to squeak as it looked like Deadpool was trying to reenact the Lion King when Rashiki was lifting Cub Simba.

        “Aww, She squeaks!” Crazy said mentally.

        “Well played. The rising sun even adds to the reference.” Stuffy commented in Deadpool’s head. Leading the merc to almost throw Mist into the ocean. If Lance didn’t tap him on the shoulder and sent lightning through his system, causing him to drop the unicorn into a ball pit that came out of nowhere..

        “You okay there, Mist?” He asked her, ignoring the Anti-Hero.

        “I… Think…” Twilight replied, her right eye twitching. Lance sighed, turning back around to look back at Deadpool. Who was right now playing inside the same ball pit that came out of nowhere.

        “Ey yo girl, you enjoy balls as I do? I love balls all over me; red balls, green balls, black balls, I love 'em all but Blue balls.”

        “Hehehe! Blue!” went Crazy.

        “So stupid.” Stuffy groaned internally.

        “Okay, that’s it,” Lance gritted his teeth, channeling his powers as he looked at the merc. “Your shenanigans end now. I’m not letting you cause anymore trouble-.”

        “But trouble is my name… Actually, it’s Wade. But I prefer trouble.”

        Twilight teleported onto a storage building nearby and laid down, watching the Displaced with unamusement. Lance struck first, firing two bolts at the anti hero before shocking him with a healthy dose of lightning. But all that did for the Merc was to have him stand back upright as he saw Lance draw both of his guns in his hands.

        “YOU BROUGHT ME A PRESENT!?” The Anti-hero shouted, taking out his own weapons. But when he tried to fire them, confetti burst out of the guns instead of bullets. “Whoops, hang on… Here we are-!”

        Another snap of Lance’s finger and Deadpool was electrocuted again. “Oh come on, Electro!! I wasn’t ready!!!”

        “You know… if you actually started taking this seriously…” Lance sighed. “You wouldn’t be so… predictable.”

        That, got Deadpool back on his feet in a heartbeat. “Whoa buddy!? I’M PREDICTABLE!?! Oh that’s it!! You're gonna go down faster than Jamie Foxx in The Amazing Spider-Man 2!!” He shouted, landing a pre-emptive strike on Lance’s face, almost breaking his nose in the process.

        “Cue the theme music.” said Stuffy.

        “It’s FIGHTING TIME!!” added on Crazy. In that moment, Deadpool teleported behind the Azure Striker, unsheathing his two Katana blades as he tried to slash at Lance’s head. The Adept ducked mere seconds before the two swords could hit him, taking out his own energy blade in order to combat them.

        “Whoa kid. You didn’t tell me that this was a lightsaber fight!?”

        “This isn’t a lightsaber…” The Adept deadpanned

        Both blades collided as Twilight Mist tried to make sense of what was happening. However, the one thing that kept annoying the Adept was that Deadpool kept teleporting every so often in order to blindside him with another attack from his swords. It was then that Lance used his Dullahan energy clip to blast Deadpool in the face. To Mist, it looked like the merc was down for the count. Only to be rising from the grave, unharmed.

        “Owchy, that hurt!” He snapped, only to see the Adept nowhere to be found. “Hunh? Did I win? Do I keep Non-Moondancer now!?” His question was answered once he felt a tapping on the shoulder, causing him to turn around and see the Adept. Unimpressed.

        “You are not the only one who can teleport,” He sighed. “Sorry to sound rude, but I would see this as checkmate.”

        “But we weren’t playing chess!”

        “...... Did you even look at what you’re standing on?” He asked, pointing out the energy created land mine that was at the Merc’s feet. When it went off, it sent him flying. Only for Deadpool to be yelling out one last thing as he was leaving.

        “TEAM DEADPOOL IS BLASTING OFF AGAIN!!”

        The Adept just facepalmed, looking back at Mist as he turned around. “You’re clear to come out now. The idiots gone.”

        “Thank the ancestors…” Mist sighed. “But I’m staying up her until I’m 100% sure he’s gone.”

        “Trust me… He has a habit of leaving in the most dramatic of fashions when he’s bored. I think that one fit the bill for him… If he does show up though, I’m giving you permission to shoot him on sight.” The Adept told her.

        Mist nodded and hopped down, teleporting herself the rest of the way and slamming her hind legs on the ground. Lance then smiled, looking back at the unicorn. “Want to go back to your base? I’m eager to see the stuff I helped you make.”

        “Sure. Transport, bring us home.” Twilight said plainly as Surprise appeared and blinked the three of them away.

        “I’m sorry for snooping…” Surprise mumbled.

        “Knowing you, I don’t think you paid much attention until Deadpool came ‘round.” Mist replied, to which Surprise just blushed. Lance just chuckled himself, waiting on Mist to lead the way since he didn’t know where her quarters were in this facility.

        The three froze when they saw the state of the base.

        “What the hell…” Mist murmured, seeing everything smashed. Firefly, Radiance and AJ3 were in the middle, looking like their flanks were handed to them.

        “Guys! Are you okay?” Lance asked them, trying to rush and help them up.

        “Oh, they’re fine…” A dark stallion chuckled, making Surprise and Twilight yelp in shock and fear.

        “How’re you here!?” Twilight screamed. “You should’ve vanished along with the timeline!”

        Now Lance was more cautious, arming himself as he drawed his weapon. “Who the hell are you?”

        The stallion chuckled darkly. “Oh, I’ve been waiting for this forever… My name is Judgement, the ex-principal of dear Misty and Surprise’s school for the gifted. Pleasure to meet you again, Mr. Walker.”

        “Pleasure!? Is he serious!?” Surprise scoffed.

        “Look, I don’t know who the hell you are or what the hell you want, but if you dare try to lay another hoof on them, you got another thing coming.” He threatened, arming his weapon as he aimed it towards him.

        “Lay a hoof on anypony? Please! Do you think so lowly of me, Walker?” He laughed. “They fought each other! I merely gave them… a push…”

        Lance felt a shift. His pulse shifted slightly before returning to normal. It was then that he saw a glint in the room and saw a single string, followed by more. “You're more than lowly, you lying piece of sh*t. You’re sinister. I trust Mist more than I trust you.”

        “That doesn’t change the fact that I didn’t touch them… Not that I need to…” Judgement said, shining his hoof with his chest.

        “My point exactly. You caused this, but you didn’t need to touch them because you did something else.” With a quick snap, Lance grabbed what looked like air for a second, before lightly channeling electricity into the set of strings he had. “Strings. Like fishing wire and invisible to the naked eye. However, my eyes are not like anyone else's.”

        “Oh, I know…” Judgement smirked, seeing the lightning go into the two other ponies. And with that, Surprise passed out. Mist moaned in pain, dark blood trickling out of her mouth. “I’ve been studying how you fight for years.”

        Seeing this, Lance cut the surge of electricity. “Yeah… But your acting too overconfident. And that… is why I will not let you hurt them anymore… Asshole.”

        Two more ponies trotted out. One was a unicorn with a white coat, green and red mane, silver/blue eyes and a cutie mark of three orange leaves. The other was a pegasus with a pink mane, blue coat, pink eyes, and multiple whistlers on her flank. The sight made Mist fall to her haunches.

        “So… You’re still alive…” The unicorn said venomously. “Thought you and the little wretch would've died trying to get a snickers bar out of a vending machine.”

        “G-Gusty…? W-Whistler? H-how…?” Mist sputtered. Now Lance was beginning to grow cautious. He wanted to subdue them and take them into custody. But after seeing what Judgement pulled with the strings on Surprise and Mist, he feared that lashing out at them would put the others in danger.

        “Yeah… I’m alive… No thanks to you… And don’t call me Gusty, it’s Airblast to you!” The unicorn shouted.

        Lance just snickered at the nickname. Seemed like this one had an attitude. That… could be useful. “I don’t know about you, but that just sounds like somepony has a gas problem.”

        Airblast growled. “Don’t talk down to me… I’m Zapp’s eldest granddaughter.”

        “I don’t care if you are or not. All I know is that you have a problem controlling your temper… Gutsy… Heh… That suits you.”

        “I’ll kill you, then I’ll kill my sister, and then I’ll wipe out Aurora and Lumen… How does that sound?”

        “I think that just sounds like you’re making the biggest mistake of your life.” The Adept shot back. “Besides… Aurora isn’t here…” 

        “... Something’s wrong…” Whistler said monotonly.

        Lance just smirked. “There’s two sides to every coin. Yet… you only know one side of me… Mist… get your friends out of here. Keep them safe.” He gritted his teeth, letting a bit of blood drip from biting into his tongue as he said one single work.

        “Eq-” Lance was cut off as the roof came crashing down. A silver figure landed in between the two sides. It was narrow, and looked to be human in shape.

        “What the-!?” Airblast shouted just before the silver figure punched her into a support pillar, and kicked Whistler into a wall. Lance didn’t know what this thing was, but he had a feeling that it wasn’t going to be on there side as it unfolded a hidden set of wings on it’s back and in doing so, tore apart every string in the room. Given the chance, the Adept warped over and grabbed the rest of Mist’s team before getting out of the way as the figure went for both Whistler and Judgement.

        The figure picked up Judgement, and was about to speak before he vanished, replaced by smoke. He reappeared behind her and tried to use more strings, only for one swish of it’s wings to tear them to pieces… and slice up Judgement’s hooves as he screamed in pain.

        It turned around, and Lance was able to see it’s face. It looked human, but was more… Metallic. He also realized ‘it’ was a ‘her’, and she had glowing red eyes that seemed to pierce Judgement. She quickly grabbed his foreleg and kicked him, separating him from his limb. The stallion screamed in pain. He vanished again, and so did his foreleg. Lance recognized the voice as it spoke briefly.

        “I hate strings…” The female grumbled. Hearing the Adept moved his leg though caught her attention though as he just stared at her.

        “W-who… are you?” He asked, startled.

        “I’m… Not too sure…” She said, looking around. “It’s all a bit… Hazy… Had to kill that other guy…”

        “Do you have a name-? Wait… Other guy?”

        “Yeah… You wouldn’t miss him though, he tangled me in… Strings… Just like that poor excuse of a stallion.”

        Lance realized something, and went with instinct. “You hate strings… don’t you?”

        “I thought it was obvious after I said it!” She said, smiling and holding back laughter. She suddenly frowned. “What about it…?”

        “I was just making sure… Now, back to what I asked you… do you have a name?”

        The woman laughed, “Of course I have a name, what do I look like, a robot?” She was obviously joking.

        “I get that… But you said you weren’t sure about who you are. A name is part of that…” The Adept waited for a bit, before he came with a response. “What do you want me to call you?”

        “Hmm… Kerrigan sounds good… Much better than what I was called.”

        “What were you called…?” Lance asked. “I don’t mean to be rude… I’m just… curious.”

        “Sandy or something like that…” Kerrigan said. “So you’re Lance Walker the Gunvolt…?”

        “Gunvolt is just a codename, but yes. I am Lance.” The Adept told him. He was still processing everything, barely remembering when Aurora told him that someone had stolen the last Sandy unit. Now he knew what happened to it. “I’m an Adept… But if you want a title, you can call me “The Azure Striker”.”

        “Okay Azure Striker, tell me… Have you ever watched Terminator or any of it’s sequels?” Kerrigan asked as she circled Lance.

        “A bit...” He asked, tensing up a little. “What are you trying to imply?”

        “Don’t you think it’s a bit over exaggerated? It’s always an AI taking over the world, or at least, that’s how they put it. I think you’re thinking me like Skynet.” Kerrigan stated calmly.

        “Not really actually. I don’t know much about you… Are you trying to help? Because I thought that what you said earlier, you don’t sound like you want to be bound by rules.” He said. “But please, continue. I didn’t mean to interject.”

        “There you go again, placing me in a category. I can follow rules, just not other peoples. I’m a… Free spirited individual…” Kerrigan gestured towards Lance.

        “Oh, my apologies… I didn’t mean to be placing you in anything.” He apologized, not trying to make Kerrigan angry. “It’s good to be free spirited… Tell me though… how much do you know about me?”

        “I know the basics. Age. Appearance. Occupation. But besides that, I only know bits and pieces.”

        “Well… I want to get the chance to know you a little bit more… maybe we can help each other out sometime… is there a way I can reach you?”

        “Heheheh-e-e-e-e-e-e…” She chuckled, glitching out a bit. “I doubt you would help me… Not like you did when I was crippled and hurt…” Kerrigan’s voice audio deepened slightly with slight static.

        “Wait…” Now everything was coming to picture. “Oh my god… Are you okay?”

        “Funny you say that, especially after I was left to rot. Not that I blame you, back then I was nothing more than a simple AI, no real reason to exist. Besides, you already have another AI. And no, I’m not being sarcastic.”

        “But it doesn’t mean I can’t help another one. I did not know a lot about you back then… but now, I think I can help you… If you gave me the chance.” The Adept was trying to be sincere with what he was saying. He really did want to help her. Because unlike other AI, she was given a chance to become something more. She got a second chance at life. Something no one would ever had the chance to get.

        “You may not see it, but I’m really helping you all.” Kerrigan said, walking around the area in an odd manner, touching everything that came to her interest. “The other guy gave me so much… A new body, a better processing chip… A new way of thinking… And a soul…”

        “I do see it. I can’t see what you look on the inside, but I can tell that you have a soul. A soul that belongs to you. That’s what makes you special.” The Adept told her. “I’m being serious when I tell you this, but I really want to help you. If you don’t want my help, that’s okay. I’m not stopping you.”

        “Heh… I see what you’re trying to do…” Kerrigan nodded her head, as if to affirm herself. “Help… How can you? You’re a killer. I’m sorry, I know you mean well, but you just didn’t think it through…”

        Lance thought it through. But then realized what she means. She meant Equilis and the Purple Mare. “I know… a part of being who I am is that I make mistakes. I did not plan for these outcomes to happen… Can I ask you something? You say that about me… What can I do to change that? I don’t want to kill others, but the only two times that I tried to do something right it ends up blowing up in my face. What can I do to make things right?”

        “Hehaha! It’s an endless cycle of death… You want to save the world, but you don’t want it to change… How is Equestria saved if it isn’t allowed to evolve?” Kerrigan smiled darkly.

        “Evolve… Hmm… That… is one way…” He said. This meant to him that he needed to think outside of the box. But not as far as to physically hurt someone.

        “Wait… You were stolen by the bad guys! You were reprogrammed and you even admitted to killing someone!” Mist shouted.

        “Mist, please… I’ll explain later. Just bear with me.” Lance replied, turning back to Kerrigan. “I like your thinking, but I’m a little worried. I’m going to guess that I’ll be seeing you around?”

        “I’m on a mission…”

        “What mission?” Mist asked.

        “... Peace in our time…” Kerrigan replied, red eyes glowing brighter.

        “And how’re you planning on doing that…?” Twilight Mist asked, fearing she knew the answer.

        “You’ll see…” Kerrigan then jumped out of the hole. Lance then sighed, looking back at Mist as she was trying to leave.

        “What were you trying to do?” he asked her. “I was trying to get information from her. Do you even know who that was?”

        “I assume she was Silver Spanner’s AI, Sandy.”

        “You are right but let me ask you this… are you familiar with Ultron or anything regarding that?”

        “Pony version is Coltron, but yes. That’s why I was freaking out!”

        “Mist… I know you're scared… but at times, even though you are scared and have to stare death in the face, you need to stay strong and brave.” He then showed his gauntlet, where there was a single bit of info there. “When I was talking to her, I was recording what she was saying… I know Silver Spanner, so I can address it to her. I’m sorry about what happened, but when it comes to collecting information, the longer you have the other guy talk… the more ammunition you can use to defeating him when the time comes.” He then got down on the same level as Mist, putting a hand on her shoulder. “I may not be like what you're Lance was… But I will do everything I can to help you and care for you in the same way.”

        “Thanks, but I’m not a foal. And if you need anylist, AJ3 can do it.” Mist said. “She’s awake, just help her up. I’ll go get the rifle.”

        “Help would be mighty nice.” Applejack the Third said.

        “Sorry AJ, something came up.” He said, offering a hand. “Are the rest of the girls okay. We need to tell you something. Well… Mist and I need to tell you something.”

        “We all heard and saw everythin’. Firefly’s a bit shaken from seein’ her sister again… Ah’ll get my computer up’n runnin. Call me Three, it helps with the whole double AJ’s.”

        “Sorry, it’s just confusing at times. Should I go though and give you time to process? I don’t want to be the cause of any more problems for you girls today.”

        “Problem? Ah see no problem. You saved us, calling that a problem?”

        “Well… I should let Mist explain that part.”

        Posey trotted in, groceries in her forelegs. When she saw the mess, she dropped the back. “What th-the f*ck ha-happened!?” Lance sighed, looking back at the others before looking at her.

        “Posey, can you come with me for a moment please?” He asked. She nodded, coming with Lance into a separate room before he sat down. “Posey… Mist and I came back to find out something… big. You six weren’t the only ones who came here.”

        “Team Windrush was here! As well as Judgement! I thought he was going to manipulate me and Fly again!” Surprise screamed. The others just ignored her.

        Posey heard the first part though. “Windrush? How?”

        “We don’t know.” Lance told her. “Right now though, we should consider ourselves lucky. Though… Surprise, can you give Posey and I a little privacy?” With that, he looked at the earth pony. “Posey, can I ask you a favor? If anything else happens, let me know. I want to help you guys as much as possible, but I want you to make sure you girls look out for one another okay?”

        “O-Okay. N-now th-that we h-have Skype, w-we can c-call you easier.” Posey said. “I-I’m s-so glad Aya’s-s not h-home.”

        “Right… Just please look out for Mist though… At times, I worry for her when she’s not at her best.” He finished the statement by patting her on the shoulder and turning to Mist, who was holding the rifle for him. “Thanks Mist. Are you guys okay for now? I can go if you want.”

        “We’ve got some cleanup to do here. You go do your thing.” Mist said simply. “Oh, and Aya said the next time you came around to give you this…” Mist levitated a pure white scarf. “Christmas thing happened and she couldn’t find anything.”

        “Tell her I said thanks… If I had something, I would give it to her. Tell her that next time we meet, I’ll have that gift for her.”

        “Okay.” Mist said. She then zoned out for a second. “Hey, maybe we should get all of the heroes on Skype… Like, multiple groups meeting or something.”

        “I’ll talk with Twilight about it and see what she thinks.” He said, before teleporting away back to base. Once he got back, he began to inspect the gun. Wanting to know the ins and outs of the newly acquired rifle before possibly using it in the field. It was then thought that he noticed something slip out onto the floor. Something that looked like… his token. Only difference was that it was a bit beaten and worn. But when he picked it up, he then saw what looked like a holograph of… himself, just with paler skin and yellow eyes instead of blue.

        “Mist… Just remember… You girls are family. Stick together… United we stand, divided we fall. Not everything is easy, but the most important thing you girls you have is each other.”

        Lance paused for a minute. Looking back at the clip, he inspected the item, but then decided to put it back in his coat pocket. He would save the rest for later. Right now, all he could think about for right now was to just rest his tired head.

        But before he did, he thought that he heard his daughter, Rainbow Dash, scream.




End Part 2