//------------------------------//
// Corporate Summit (Mal) 
// Story: Earning Freedom 
// by Daxisle 
//------------------------------//








Corporate Summit








"Could it really be true?"

"How could this have happened?"

"My reports suggest no possible escape from the Hades gate, it must have happened at the Tartarus Gate."

His icy blue eyes shifted around the dimly lit meeting room, Malich took stock of the ponies, griffons, dogs, and minataur present, about fifteen in total. Small murmurs and whispers could be heard among almost all of them, discussing the validity of the meeting and if the reason for it's call was true.

Every single high ranking Triple M. official and administrator from the entire country was present, all called together by Gemini himself in an emergency meeting to discuss some very disturbing news.

The Dark Centaur was upon the earth once more.

Had the news not come from Sparhawk himself, who called in the vice president and his father to his private chambers, Malich wouldn't have believed it. Tirek, a name taboo and unspoken within the Federation, had somehow escaped the confines of Tartarus and was now running about somewhere on the planet. 

They all knew the stories of the dark half breeds' might. How it took the combined efforts of both the Alicorn sisters as well as Tapio himself in order to render and banish Tirek. Luckily, the god's power was very weak, weak enough to go undetected by most organization looking to capture him, though, that also meant he would accumulate magic without disturbance with each passing day.

While he could be anywhere, Malich suspected the fell god to be in the one place where his displaced magic was in abundance, the pony homeland of Equestria.

Equestria was not friendly to the corporation, especially after that little stint with the Judgement entering the country's air space. Of course they had secret operatives all over the world, spying on all governments in the Federation's defensive interests. However, thanks to a mass letter memo, each and every single operative would be pulled from their assignments and, with absolute discretion, informed to hunt down the centaur.

According to Sparhawk, Tirek's power had been drained to lock him away. His power too great for even the powers of all three layers to hold at full. Unicorn magic was his primary power source, so each unicorn operative was to carry a dragon scale and ordered to not engage. Unconventional magics, like Pegasus flight, and the aura weren't able to be collected, though caution was still advised.

"Mr. Vice President." Whispered a suite clad husky-esqu diamond dog the pony recognized as the chief executive of the Canim branch. "Is it true? Does the Dark One walk among us again?"

Silence descended upon the entire room, the attention of the entirety of the Corporate heads turning to listen to the pony's answer, despite the fact said dog's words could barely be heard.

Malich pressed his lips and let the tension build for a moment as he looked around. The degrees varied from citizen to citizen, but there was one common theme between each and every one of them. 

Fear. Fear ranging from moderate concern to muted terror. 

All of them had seen the street preachers before, individuals holding signs, proclaiming the end of times coming, professing that the fall of the earth would come upon the Dark One's return. Doom Sayers proudly pontificating that avarice and indulgence of the Federation and the world would resurrect his wrath to punish and condemn the entirety of sentience for their hubris. That all the governments of the world would be powerless to stop him, and even the powerful immortals themselves would fall to apocalyptic catastrophe that would be his reckoning.

Of course, Malich didn't believe in such things, but he knew that some of the ponies and minotaur did. Potential fanatics and splinter risks who might just use the power of Triple M. against itself out of fear, or maybe even the misguided belief they may curry favor with Tirek by aiding him. He needed to take stock and plot around that, and the first step to halt any potential rebellions within his ranks started her and now.

"Yes."

In a split second, Malich's eyes took in the entire room's reaction. The dogs didn't react much outside of the understandable fear, the griffons acted more defeated than anything, but the centaur and ponies were his primary interest. Only one acted suspiciously, a Vain minatuar who's eyes continually shifted from side to side, the gesture of quick analysis and decision making.

Malich made a mental not to have her followed and looked into a little more closely than the others.

The Dark One, while not currently present in the Federation, was a powerful force, even without his being here. While Malich didn't believe in prophetic and religious non-sense, he couldn't deny the psychological influence of the god's mere existance. 

Tirek was a capable foe, but through Project Mortality Malich was reasonably confident that he might just have the solution to handling the centaur. He hoped he would, anyways. 

Truth of the matter was that Malich wanted to be somewhere else, away from these horror filled cowards and corperate leeches. He wanted to be back at the research facility with the changeling queen: Imperatrix.

Despite Elsa's continuous demand for her owed payment, Malich wasn't about to give up the changeling queen. He said she was necessary for the scientists to tap into her magical communicative wave length, but the truth was that the executive was growing... fond of the changeling.

It was unethical and unprofessional, but Imperatrix... knew things about him. With her telepathic prowess, which had concerned him, and rightfully so, the changeling queen had grown to understand him in a way that the executive was terrified of. She knew his pain, the pain he felt when his brother had proclaimed his misplaced hatred, she said that he didn't mean it, and that Sin would see his way of things in the end.

Affirmation. Something Malich had so little of, it made him feel happy that somebody believed in him. Yea, sure, she may just have been feeding him what he wanted to hear, manipulating his emotions to farther her own better interests, but he didn't believe that. Somehow, it just felt like Imperatrix was... genuine in her affections for the stallion. 

'She's prodding in your head, I've felt her in here. I'm telling you, be weary.' His inner critic warned.

Malich understood that it was likely the changeling was only playing on his emotional isolation, but still... it felt good to be reaffirmed, especially when those closest to you beat you down, either physically or emotionally. 

The door to the office opened, revealing the dark brown, black suited president of the Triple M. corperation himself. "Gentle-cens." Gemini declaired with confidence as he marched to his seat at the head of the table beside his son. "Thank you all for coming."

Light murmors answered the stallion, the tense air around redoubling itself in anticipation for his coming briefing.

"As you have no doubt heard, Tirek, the Dark Centaur, has returned." Gemini stated gravely, eliciting complete and total silence. "According to our investigation and recon teams, we believe we have found the venue and time in which the Dark One had escaped the bowls of his imprisonment."

The name drew hisses of pain and fright from all around the room. 

"Where?" The female minitaur from before asked a little too hastily.

Gemini regarded her for a moment, no doubt having the same train of thought Malich himself had for her.

"Some time ago, the guardian of the Tartarus Gate in Equestria, the three headed giant dog, Cerberus, had abandoned his post and besieged a small village of the nation. While his capture and return to his post was swift, we believe that it was during his absence that Tirek had escaped."

Another bout of hisses and cringing. Malich found it rather immature, but some believed that just saying the name was enough to give power to the being.

"So, the Equestrians were responsible!" A unicorn proclaimed. "I should have known, we must-"

"Consider the possibilities and consequences of any action. Mr. Valentine." Gemini interjected, giving the outspoken stallion a disapproving glare. "Granted, the pony motherland has played host to many international issues over the past year, but we must bare in mind that Equestria's military and defensive capabilities surpass our own for the time being. We would be better served to offer peaceful and diplomatic relations with Canterlot, at least until the problem has been dealt with."

Small murmurs of agreement followed, shaming that unicorn stallion into silence.

"Mr. President." Said another pony, this one a pegasus stallion. "There are rumors that the Centaur themselves will be handling this matter, can you substantiate this?"

Gemini nodded and elaborated that during his meeting with Sparhawk, it was learned that an entire legion of centaur had been dispatched to Equestria upon a small frigate on loan from the Triple M. Corporation. Tapio Bearking himself would be leading the search, but no other information on the centaur's actions were known at the current point in time.

Malich was disappointed to hear this, he knew that there was a ship on loan, but he didn't know the extent of Triple M's knowledge on their tactics. 

"Though, this may be a centaurian matter, The Dark One is a threat, not only to the Federation, but to the world as a whole. A co-op coalition between the Centaur, the Liberty Syndicate, the Triple M. Corperation and smaller groups has been established for the time being, with couriers being sent to the other nation's leaders and immortals to inform them of the threat. It is our hope that Tirek will be dealt with without involving the international community aside from those already gathered, but the option is still open if necessity calls."

That didn't sit well with most present at the table. Both the syndicate and Centauren had been at odds with the corporation for a long time. The liberty organization leading multiple lawsuites and demonstrations against their board members for years, while the elder beings did little to nothing to hold their charges accountable when violence on their part came to pass. Allying with them to combat the undead was one thing, the results readily observable, but a foreign threat that none of them could see? That was another matter.

The meeting continued on, questions being asked about if Princess Celestia and the newly returned Princess Luna were informed, the actions of Crown itself, if there was any cooperative measures between they and Triple M or the Federal Government to investigate and capture Tirek and so on. With all of the nuances and collaborative bull shit that went with it, dragging out, what should have been a fifteen minute lecture, into a full hour and a half question and answer session.

"That will conclude this meeting, a more comprehensive action plan will be sent to all of you as soon as more details come to light. This meeting is adjourned." Gemini declared. Slowly, the administrators made way out of the board room and pooled outside. Malich was the last to stand, but was called to stay his place.

"Have a seat, we need to talk." The president told his son, retaking his own seat.

Malich did so and watched nervously as his father pulled out a briefcase and opened it. "I must say, son, I'm a little surprised at you." He declared, pulling out a few sheets of paper. "I didn't think you believed in these superstitions."

Quirking a brow, Malich asked what the dark brown pony was talking about. To his utter surprise, Gemini smiled at him and produced documents pertaining to Project Mortality.

"I was wondering why you would be delving into ways to kill immortal beings, wasting over a billion bits of money on the endeavor, but I believe I've finally figured it out." He smirked. "The changelings, your grown obsession with dragons and larger and less conventional means of combat, finding ways to subdue immortals... It all makes sense now. You were preparing to go to war with Tirek."

Malich's eyes widened, completely caught off guard at both the problem of his father finding out about yet another of his secret projects, and the unintended solution to not only that problem, but the other.

"You're lucky you were right." Gemini continued, looking over the paper work once again. "The labs say they haven't perfected the potency or mixture to kill the immortals completely, but they are making leaps and jumps in progress. Though, I am a little concerned, did you have... alternative uses for this?"

Malich pressed his lips. "It would be a lie to say it's uses were purely for Tirek." he admitted. "The same with the changelings."

"Oh?" Gemini quirked a brow. 

Malich nodded and built the narrative in his head. Fact of the matter was that the Federation had no real way of dealing with the immortals or semi-immortals like the centaur. Should Celestia or Ario or Tapio himself declare war upon them, the entire Federation would be at the beings mercy. Malich found investment into combating these deities to be of interest to national security.

"And the changelings?"

"The changelings were... to be used in place of actual Triple M. agents." 

Gemini's eyes widened with interest. "Really?"

Seeing his chance, Malich connected the changelings having no autonomy to that of automated arms in the slowly creeping automotive industry. Automotive arms were a promising prospect, where engineers used magic and proper proportions to create arms and other mechanism to do the work of actual individuals and replace them with a more efficient and, often more accurate, machine that came with a myriad of superior benefits. 

The automation didn't need breaks, it didn't need pay, and most importantly, it wasn't alive.

Changelings were similar. They followed the orders of the queen with absolutely no regard for their personal autonomy or detriment. To fight Tirek head on with Triple M. agents could be expensive in terms of capital and life, to mitigate the life aspect by controling and using the queen to distract the immortal would save real life agents.

Gemini frowned and placed down the documents before walking forward and doing something he hadn't done in years. He hugged his son. "Malich, you are a fucking GENIUS!"

Malich sat in shock. Praise? Honest praise? And affection? From his father? From Gemini Islander? The stallion of stone? The most cut throat of busienss ponies? What?

"Th-Thanks, dad." He managed, roboticly lifting a foreleg and returning the hug.

Just as he was starting to really appriciate the first sign of love he'd ever recieved from his father, Gemini pulled away and gave the pony a smile. "It's been a long time since I've been proud of you, but you've done it, my boy."

Malich bit his tongue to make sure it was real, that this wasn't just a dream. 

It was real, this was really happening! 

All the resentment, all of the anger, all of the hatred he had for Gemini evaporated in that moment of love and Malich returned the smile, constructing yet another narrative. "Thank you, father. The... the queen is cooperating now, and we're working on means to ensure that cooperation continue."

"Hmm, I suppose ending her life would be detrimental." Gemini mused thoughtfully before giving his son yet another smile. "However, I suspect you already have an idea on what you plan to do to ensure her cooperation, so I'll leave you to it."

Nodding once, two pairs of blue eyes met in mutual respect and admiration. Gemini walked past, pausing to place a proud hoof on Malich's shoulder with yet another few words of praise.

"I expect great things from you." Gemini proclaimed as he walked out the door.

Malich slumped a little, remembering the real plan he had for the changelings. Assuming things went as he hoped they would, Gemini was probably the biggest threat to his over all plans. He needed his father alive for the current time, but... if he ever discovered what Malich was truly planning, the vice president would have no choice but to end the stallion's life before he had a chance to expose him.

Though, in the end, the result would be the same anyways. 

It wasn't something Malich was keen on thinking about, after all, he owed his father a great deal. Gemini was there for him, he cared for both Sin and himself after their mother had abandoned them. It was selfish and ungrateful on so many levels, but if vice president was to attain his goals, there was no help for it.

Gemini Islander needed to die.