//------------------------------// // Chapter Seventeen: Back to the Mall // Story: Gleaner Chronicles // by sevenofeleven //------------------------------// FBI Offices Mark was at his desk going through the info he had on the bug ponies. It seemed that they knew the native languages of the regions they attacked. One of the first things the D-core staff did was to make the ponies shift back to their natural forms. Mark looked over photos of male and female ponies. It was easy to tell which was which, they weren’t too different from regular ponies and horses. Some of the ponies talked about their names and the different clans. The Nga clan were super spies while the Chr clan were great planners. Mark hoped that the spy ponies were not going to make trouble. Something about the bug pony’s multifaceted eyes gave him a chill. The autopsy pictures showed that the pony’s brains were larger than human brains. Part of that was the strange bundle of nerves and blood vessels going into the horn. Of course, no one could explain why. While Mark looked through the different reports Jerome sauntered up to his desk. “How would you like to go on a road trip?” Jerome asked with a smile. Mark’s eyes narrowed. “Where?” Jerome made a theatrical sigh. “I was talking with some friends and I saw something interesting in the photos.” “What?” “Did you notice that the bug ponies seemed pretty scrawny when they got caught? The holes in their legs were pretty deep. Now the holes are barely visible and the ponies look almost fat.” “Yeah, they haven’t been exercising so they’re getting fat. Maybe they’re being fed vegetarian Beltway Burgers?” Jerome sighed. “Let’s take a ride down to the Mall of America. I have a hunch about something. If it doesn’t pan out, at least I checked.” “You know something about the fat bug ponies?” Mark said. “Yeah, but let’s get going. I don’t want to be in that mall at night,” Jerome said. Mark almost wanted to ask about Jerome’s fear, but he decided to not bother. Route 494 “What about the fat bug ponies?” Mark asked. “Well, it seems that they were feeding off of more than just food. Did you hear the rumors about Agent Spivak?” Jerome said with a knowing smile. “No,” Mark said. “Well, she was found in a compromising position with a male bug pony,” Jerome said with a wink. “Really?” Mark said with a disgusted look. “Yeah. I checked her out and the pony. It seems that the pony was picking up her emotions and feeding off of them. Then it would emit other emotions to get the interrogator flustered and more,” Jerome said. “Let me guess, magic?” Mark said. “Yes,” Jerome said while watching the scenery roll by. “Wait, you guys put those doughnut things on their horns. Someone told me that stopped them from doing magical stuff,” Mark said then looked at Jerome. Jerome sighed. “Enchanters are kinda rare at D-core, at least at the field agent level. Most of them do interrogation and other areas. If we had more, some of this could have been caught earlier. I think that the inhibiting rings don’t stop all magic. They started looking into that. It’s quite possible that Ms. Spivak really likes ponies.” Jerome broke into song. “Blue bug eyes in a pony face! Your inhibitions will melt without a trace!” “Seriously? She had a bug pony fetish?” Mark said with disgust. “Dude, it’s not bestiality if it can say her name! Of course there isn’t too much we can learn now. They’re out of touch with their home world, so we don’t know when the next attack will happen,” Jerome said. “What will happen to them now?” Mark asked. “Maybe D-core could get them jobs at a petting zoo?” Jerome said with a smile. “I’m not petting anything with fangs that also set off bombs that killed people,” Mark said. “Your loss!” Jerome said. He laughed when Mark gave him a nasty look. At that moment, Jerome’s phone tweeted. “Gimme a sec. What? DOD are going to take everything over? I thought we were equal partners? Yeah, good luck explaining magic to that crowd. What? I gotta do it? You know you hurt me really deeply. Okay. Whatever. Bye,” Jerome said into his phone. “It seems like the Department of Defense is taking over. They want possession of the ponies and the FBI will be going back to its normal duties. I have a bad feeling about this. Anyway, we need to get to that mall so I can do my tests,” Jerome said while staring out the window. “What is at the mall?” Mark asked. “Something important or not,” Jerome said. Checkpoint 64 Jerome faced Mark. “I’m going to give the guards a little mental push so they’ll forget we were here.” “What? Why can’t we go in and leave the guards’ minds alone?” Mark asked. “The DOD is taking over now and they think that things are done. I don’t want to waste time justifying my presence here. It’s bad enough that my boss doesn’t know I’m here. I just have to test my hunch. It might give us more info on why the bug ponies exploded their bombs. To be honest, I’m not sure they were bombs. There was so little damage done. The ponies wanted something from those people. I am guessing their emotions. That would be good enough, but I just have this nagging feeling there’s something more going on. “Let me persuade the guards we weren’t here. It will make things easier for us,” Jerome said. Mark sighed. “Yeah, love that enthusiasm!” Jerome said. The car pulled up to the checkpoint. The guard just waved them through. When they reached the empty mall, it was late afternoon. Jerome figured he had at least two or three hours to do his tests. Mark again wondered if Margot suffered when the alien bomb or whatever it was went off. Jerome stepped into the empty mall with Mark close behind. It was deathly quiet inside. “I don’t know what we’ll find but can you watch my back?” Jerome said. Mark nodded. Jerome just started walking around. He expected something to happen, but all Jerome did was walk around, stand still for a few minutes then walk somewhere else. Mark toyed with asking Jerome what he was doing but then again he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear Jerome talk mumbo jumbo. Finally after a few hours of watching Jerome stalk around inside the totally quiet and somewhat creepy empty mall, Jerome said something. Jerome looked at the setting sun and cursed. “Damn, I wanted to find something before dark.” “Well, I guess your hunch didn’t pan out,” Mark said. The automatic lights outside came on. Pinkish orange light flooded the room. “I’ll try one more thing. If it fails, we get a nice dinner. My treat,” Jerome said. “Sounds good. Wait, why?” Mark said while peering at Jerome. “Heck, why not? You’ve been a good partner. Gimme a sec while I concentrate,” Jerome said then he closed his eyes. Mark had an urge to grab his gun. His neck hairs bristled like someone or something was watching him with malicious intent. Again, Mark looked around. No one was there except for Jerome. The feeling of being in imminent danger increased. Mark felt that he was in danger, but there wasn’t anything in the area that supported his feelings. Finally, he followed his gut and got his gun ready. Jerome scanned the room where the bomb went off. Again he felt nothing. Jerome focused on another frequency, again there was nothing. Then he thought about the bug pony’s magic. Jerome did another scan. Nothing. He thought about surf and turf, then his stomach rumbled. Jerome focused and tried a different approach. There, something moved away from his probing. It was so brief, he wasn’t sure he really sensed it. Jerome adjusted his probing and tried again. Mark looked around again then he saw a green glowing figure come out of the ceiling. It looked wispy and had dark eyes. Acting on instinct, Mark aimed and fired. The creature flew apart. He glanced at Jerome. He was still staring at the ceiling. It started glowing green again as more figures appeared. “Was this what you were looking for?” Mark said while firing at the glowing creatures. “Nope, but I now know more about the bug pony’s bombs. The ponies didn’t intend for this to happen though. Let’s get out of here,” Jerome said while watching the figures float up to them. He stuck out his right hand and threw together a quick spell. Several creatures faded away. More creatures came out of the ceiling. Jerome panted while they ran toward the exit while the creatures floated right behind them. Mark wondered how floating creatures could move so fast. Mark glanced at the door, it was several steps away. “What? The bug ponies didn’t intend this? What are you talking about?” “I can sense that these creatures aren’t friendly to us or anything else,” Jerome said while they headed toward the door. Jerome stopped as more of the glowing creatures moved up on them. “Hey, I’m going to hold them off. You have to warn the guards!” Jerome said while he looked around in panic. “No way, I’m not going to leave you to them!” Mark replied. “Go!” Jerome screamed as the figures closed in on him. A green glow started to surface in Jerome’s eyes. Mark turned and ran to the car. Behind him he could hear Jerome curse. Mark did not turn around. Something about that didn’t feel right. He stomped on the gas. The mall was now so full of green glowing creatures it was like a beacon shining in the night. Again Mark wondered what was wrong with him, he wasn’t the type to abandon partners. That thought was overwhelmed by a need to get to the checkpoint and alert the guards. That desire faded away as he stopped the car in front of the checkpoint. This time the guards were alert and had guns pointed at him. One of them walked over to the driver’s side and motioned to Mark to get out. Mark left the car with his hands up. “What the hell did you guys do in there?” The guard shouted. Mark couldn’t answer. It felt like his mind was frozen, locked on getting to the checkpoint. Now he was there, his thoughts were coming back. He left someone to die. He left Jerome to be killed by green ghost creatures. Mark wondered how he could be so heartless, then it hit him. Jerome used his mind magic stuff to force Mark to leave and alert the guards. “Put your hands down and get into the car and DRIVE!” One of the guards said and pointed away from the mall. In the distance, there was a bright green glow. Mark was torn out of his thoughts. He got into the car and unlocked the other doors. “Sergeant Phipps, we should stay here and defend this post! It is our duty!” One of the soldiers said. “Are you blind and deaf Corporal Hicks? Did you not hear the reports from the other checkpoints or even see the videos?” Sergeant Phipps said while casting a fear filled glance down the road. “Our sacrifice here is needless. There are too many!” Phipps turned to Mark “What is your name?” “My name is Mark Strickland-” “What do you know about the green glow?” “I shot one, but the other ones ignored my later shots.” “Great.” Phipps faced Hicks. “Do you want to stay?” Hicks looked down. “No Sir.” One of the soldiers said, “Game over man!” That earned him an angry glare from Phipps. Mark looked at the rear view mirror and saw one of the soldiers standing next to the rear of the car with some equipment in his hands. Mark hit the button that opened the trunk. “I don’t want to be here when those things arrive. Get the lead out and get in the car!” Phipps said and then raised his assault rifle as the first glowing figure floated into view. He fired a shot at it and it flew apart. Mark had been too distracted to notice but now he could hear panicked voices coming out of Phipp’s headset as he walked around the car to get to the passenger side. Mark glanced at the rear view mirror and saw the panicked eyes of three soldiers looking back at him. Then Mark realized he had no idea where to go other than away from the green glow. He figured that once they were some distance away, someone would suggest a destination. Phipps tapped Mark on the shoulder. “WE ARE LEAVING!” The car sped away from the doomed checkpoint as more green glowing figures floated up.