//------------------------------// // Thief // Story: TEK: The Series // by Jet Fly //------------------------------// As time passed, the basement under Vinyl's club that served as TEK's base of operations continued to be renovated and updated with additional rooms and furniture, as well the latest technology, alongside Vinyl and Judy's own inventions. The base now had everything TEK needed to do... absolutely nothing. "Ugh, I'm so BORED..." Judy groaned as she laid sprawled out on the floor. Currently she, Bulk, Zecora, and Kae'lik were the only ones in the base at the time, with the others on a mission directly assigned by the Princess. Each of them sat around the base trying to find ways to keep themselves occupied, usually unsuccessfully. "Did Jet say when they'd be back?" "They did not give an hour or date. It seems we'll simply have to wait." Zecora answered from the small couch she rested on. Judy groaned again. "Nothing to do... So boring..." Bulk agreed with a weak "yeah." "How about we make ourselves productive?" Judy and the others looked to Kae'lik with raised eyebrows. Kae'lik, who had been sitting at Vinyl's work desk, pulled out a file folder from the desk drawer. "When Jet and Shade got their current mission, the Princesses gave them this folder of cases for later investigation. What do you say we make ourselves useful and check out a few of these?" "Beats sitting around doing nothing." Kae'lik turned to his right to see Judy, who was somehow already looking through the assignments. "How did you-" "Ooh! How about this one?" Kae'lik recovered from his confusion and observed the case. Bulk and Zecora joined them at the desk. "Hmm... 'A string of related thefts in Manehattan... Unknown thief stealing artifacts and textbooks'... Yada yada yada... Huh. Seems like an interesting case. You think the four of us could handle it?" Judy of course nodded enthusiastically. Kae'lik looked to Bulk and Zecora, who shared Judy's answer. "Alright then. Looks like we're off to Manehattan." ___________________ Getting to Manehattan had been a rather slow process. Without Shade to teleport them around, the remaining TEK members had to take the long way by train. It was a fairly lengthy trip, so TEK had plenty of time for conversation. Kae'lik, under his Burst Hurricane disguise, made use of this time to learn more about his teammates and how to fit into Equestrian society. However, it didn't quite prepare him for the city life of Manehattan. "I don't understand it... I thought you ponies were a loving and peaceful kind? Why do I sense so much negativity here?" "Eh, city ponies are a bit rougher around the edges than everypony else. All these big businesses and industries put a lot of stress on 'em. The whole city's pretty much in one giant bad mood most of the time. Isn't that right Bulk?" A firm "YEAAHH" was Judy's answer. "Their stress and anger makes them hot. But let that bother us, we will not." The four of them journeyed through the streets of Manehattan to find their first lead. According to the file records, the most recent theft occurred at a fairly well-known museum. "So what's this museum called again? I'm not too familiar with Equestrian culture and history." Kae'lik asked as they turned a corner and crossed a street. "We're heading to the Museum of Equestrian History. My parents used to take me here all the time when I was a little filly." Kae'lik looked at Judy before nearly bursting out laughing. "What's so funny?" Kae'lik recovered, although still giggling, before looking Judy in the eyes and saying: "They literally named it 'MEH...' It's like the founders themselves weren't all that impressed with it..." Chuckling more uncontrollably, the silver pegasus eventually found himself on the concrete ground, laughing hysterically. Judy simply rolled her eyes as she and the rest of the group continued on. "ANYway, this museum used to be a main attraction in Manehattan. But ponies just don't seem to appreciate it as much anymore..." "....They just look at it now and say: 'meh.' Hehehehe..." Judy ignored Kae'lik. _________________ The afternoon light of the sun broke into multiple thin rays through the window blinds. The cloaked stallion kept his apartment lights off as he worked, out of paranoid thoughts that somepony outside might see him. Not that it mattered anyway, no-pony seemed to notice or pay any attention to him nowadays. For now, that was for the best. Nothing could interfere with his plans. He smiled deviously as he gathered all of his "acquired" artifacts and read through all of his gathered texts and journals on powerful spells. If he wanted his "reunion" to go exactly as planned, he needed to be at the top of his game... __________________ It didn't take long for the remaining TEK members to get an investigation underway. Being the most recent scene of theft, there was still quite a bit of commotion between the security ponies at the Museum of Equestrian History. Speaking with a few of the guards informed TEK on exactly what had been stolen: the Pakari Stone, an ancient stone amulet rumored to increase a pony's physical strength; and an old journal that once belonged to Starswirl the Bearded. While in the museum's small cafe, TEK went over the gathered information. "So what have we learned so far?" Kae'lik addressed his teammates as they finished their brief lunch. Judy finished her daisy sandwich with one final bite and swallowed before sharing. "Well, I talked to a few of the guards, and it turns out that the items stolen from other museums and shops were very similar: artifacts of rumored power, ancient texts, and advanced spell books." "Interesting... So there's definitely a pattern in what our thief is stealing, now we just need to figure out how they're stealing it..." Bulk suddenly surprised the group with an idea. "Maybe we could look over the security footage from the night of the robbery?" "That's a great idea, Bulk! Not only would we see how they're pulling off the thefts, but we may even get an idea of what they look like. Let's just hope they didn't think to take out any cameras..." _________________ Convincing the museum's head of security to allow TEK to view their security footage turned out to be easier than they thought. The royal guards stationed there vouched for them as "hired investigators," and the museum's head was eager to accept any help in trying to catch the culprit. TEK was led down a gray hallway behind the main service desk towards a door on their right. They entered into a dark room filled with bright screens that displayed images of various areas of the museum. "Why are surveillance rooms always dark?" Judy asked as everypony entered into the room. "You try looking at screens clearly when there's a bunch of bright lights on." The security officer remarked as he moved to the control desk. "Now, when the theft occurred, we pretty much captured everything on video. All of our cameras are hidden precisely so they can't easily be taken out." TEK watched as he switched to the footage from the night of the theft. The officer then gestured to the screen surveying the Ancient Artifacts exhibit. In the center of a room was a single pedestal with a glass casing over it. Inside it was a small, hexagonal grey stone attached to a necklace on an angled base. "Here's where they stole the Pakari Stone..." Almost immediately after speaking, a black-cloaked pony appeared on-screen from the left, walking up towards said stone. They slowly pried the glass casing off of the pedestal with telekinesis and simultaneously lifted the Pakari Stone into their cloak pocket. They placed the casing back onto the pedestal before leaving the room. "So they're obviously a unicorn if they can use telekinesis. It's too dark to really gain a more detailed description, especially with that black cloak." The officer nodded at the silver pegasus' observation, and moved to the screen focusing on the Starswirl exhibit. "...And here's where they stole Starswirl's journal." Again TEK turned their attention to the video screen. The journal was behind a large window alongside other items and findings of the legendary unicorn. That window was then magically unlocked as the thief slid it open and claimed the journal for themself. Sliding the window closed, they quickly turned around, turning their head side to side as if checking their surroundings, then vanished in a bright flash. "They can teleport..." The rest of TEK shared Judy's surprised expression. "So there's your culprit. It's not really much to go off of." "We can take it from here. Thank you for your assistance." "Burst" stated as he motioned for the others to join him in the hallway. "So... did you see something in that footage? 'Cause I didn't really get much aside from 'teleporting unicorn.'" "I saw a bit of his face, Judy. In that split second when he turned around. He looked pale yellow with a blue mane, which had some yellow streaks in it." Judy, Bulk, and Zecora all shared the same dumbfounded expression. "...And you saw all that, how?" To answer Judy's question, Kae'lik motioned for them to move closer so he could speak at a lower volume. "Changelings have natural night vision, as we usually dwell in dark caves or underground. I could see very clearly in that room, and I've also been trained to pay close attention to detail." There was a brief pause, and almost simultaneously, Bulk, Zecora, and Judy nodded in understanding. "So what is our next move, now that we have more clues?" "Burst" smirked before answering Zecora. "I think it's time we did some shopping." ________________ TEK put their new details to good use. As was Kae'lik's suggestion, the small team of investigators went from shop to shop asking about the cloaked yellow stallion. Each shop confirmed the description as the same stallion who had either bought or visibly stole from them and teleported away. They even got a clear screenshot of his image from one of their surveillance cameras. The next step was to find him. From the shops that he'd bought from, TEK learned the general direction the stallion headed after leaving. They were eventually led to an aged apartment building, with the help of Kae'lik's ability to sense the growing negativity the closer they got to it. "You sure this is the place?" "I can't say for certain, Judy. There's definitely a hotspot of negativity here, but it may just be the combined negativity of all the residents here. It can't hurt to check, though." "If our culprit resides beyond this door, we shall find him here for sure." With that, the four of them entered into the apartment. The place itself wasn't all that impressive, not that TEK expected much. The lobby was pretty generic, the service desk to their left, a few chairs and tables in the center, a couple doors leading to other rooms ahead, and a staircase to the right leading to the other floors. The group headed towards the service desk to find out if their culprit was listed among the residents. The attendant, a tan-coated earth pony mare with a pink mane, looked up from her magazine to address them. "Can I help you four?" "We're on a bit of an investigation..." Judy said as she levitated the picture of the culprit from out of nowhere. "Do you know if this stallion lives here?" The attendant squinted at the image briefly. "Give me a moment." She then opened her drawer and pulled out a thick folder. TEK waited as she went through the files to find a matching image among the residents. "Let's see... Yep, here he is. His name's Nova Orbit. Always thought he seemed a bit shady, always wearing that dark cloak around. His room's 23 on the second floor." "Thank you, miss." Kae'lik said before he again led the group to their destination. Heading to the right and up the stairs, TEK slowly approached the door of Nova Orbit. "Well, this is it. I'm not sensing anything strong, though. Maybe he's not home yet. That'll make investigating a bit easier." "You've led us this far, Kae'lik, but answer me this: how do we get in?" Kae'lik almost laughed at Judy's remark. Locked doors were never a problem for him. "Like this." Instantly, Kae'lik shifted his signature disguise from a pegasus to a unicorn, then surrounded the group in a dome of bright green flames. When the flames faded, TEK was inside Nova's room. "Oh yeah... Flame portal thingy." "Let's get to work." TEK moved swiftly. They found nearly every item that was reported stolen. Artifacts were piled up in a heap on one of the desks, and the texts, including Starswirl's journal, were laid out on a table with numerous sheets of paper with notes written on them. "This guy's clearly up to something big, and I doubt it's any good." "What should we do with all this stuff?" Kae'lik pondered briefly as he looked at all of the stolen items. "Confiscate it. We'll return them to their proper places later." Suddenly the remaining TEK members stopped when they heard the sound of the door unlocking. Within seconds, the cloaked Nova Orbit opened the door. They all met eyes with him and there was a brief pause, and it was in that moment that Nova realized he messed up. Quickly, he turned and ran. "Oh no you don't!" Kae'lik shouted as he chased after him, the rest of TEK immediately following. The rushing ponies, Changeling, and Zebra almost blew the attendant's magazine out of her hooves. Nova rushed out the door and down the right of the sidewalk, TEK not far behind. They wouldn't lose him. They couldn't lose him. And yet, they did. They followed him around a corner into an alleyway, but when they reached it, he was nowhere in sight. Vanished. "He... teleported..." Judy barely got the words out as she and the others were breathing heavily from the intense pursuit. The four of them all sat down to take a moment to catch their breath. Kae'lik sat against a wall, taking breaths in between his speech. "Well... we may have lost him for now... but now we know who he is, what he looks like, and what's he's after... This isn't over just yet..." ________________ TEK spent the rest of the fading daylight orchestrating their plan to catch Nova before more Equestrian relics could fall into his grasp. Kae'lik, having past experience as a commander, seemed to be taking charge as the mission progressed. The false pegasus made sure everything was in order and that each of his fellow teammates carried out their part of the plan. At the moment, they had returned to the museum to discuss their next plan of action, specifically at the cafe so they could do so over a second lunch. "Alright team, we gotta figure out how to catch this guy. Let's review what we already know." Kae'lik kicked off the review of the collected information with these words. Piecing together what they knew about Nova Orbit - what he was after and what he was capable of - they had began to finally formulate a surefire way to catch him. But the day had already begun to end, so they decided to return home for the time being and put their plan into action the next day, fully equipped and supplied. _______________ TEK returned to Manehattan the next day, fully refreshed and prepared to resume their mission. They had consulted with the Museum of Equestrian History's head of security and informed them of their plan to finally catch Nova. The museum had a new installment it had been planning to add to the Ancient Artifacts exhibit, but it had been holding on to it since the string of robberies started occurring. TEK formulated a plan to use this new artifact as bait to draw Nova out and catch him in the act of theft. If they couldn't find him, they'd just lead him to them. News of the museum's new release spread quickly throughout the press and the media, not so much because it was anything special, but because of the commotion over the museum risking any new releases so quickly after recently being stolen from. TEK waited for a couple days for the news to fully reach all of Manehattan and frequently, patiently waited at the museum for Nova to take the bait. Currently, it was the third day since the new addition, and the museum had recently reached its closing hours. Kae'lik, Judy, Zecora, and Bulk waited in the shadows for something to happen. "You really think he'll take the bait?" Judy asked as she and the other three huddled in the dark a reasonable distance from the new artifact's display case. "This darkness puts up a thick illusion... What if we cannot see this Nova's intrusion?" "Not gonna happen, Zecora. My night vision will see to that." "I *see* what you did there, Kae'lik." "This is no time for puns, Judy. Now everypony quiet, you'll give us away." Kae'lik had silenced the group just in time, for within seconds Nova teleported into the museum, and could be heard making his way to the exhibit. He approached the display case with the stealth he thought he still possessed, and TEK watched as his shadowy cloaked figure telekinetically slid the glass wall of the display case open. What he didn't expect was for this to trigger TEK's trap. Almost immediately Nova was assaulted by a cloud of spores. He began swatting and coughing for a few short seconds before collapsing, for the spores rendered him temporarily paralyzed. "NOW!" On Kae'lik's cue the hiding TEK members rushed to Nova's position and tied his hooves up with a rope. "Ha! Got 'em!" "YEAAHH!" _______________ TEK had taken Nova to a makeshift interrogation room they had made from a small, empty storage room in the museum. It was practically entirely gray, with a black and white tiled floor similar to a chess board. Being that it was midnight, very few guards were on duty to be present for the interrogation. There was only the four TEK members and three security guards. Nova was still under the effects of the paralysis spores, but could now fully communicate. Despite this and the fact that he was tied up, the guards still remained unsure as to their ability to keep him detained. "How do we know he won't just... poof outta here?" One of the guards had asked before they had entered the room to begin the interrogation. "Based on the moves I've observed him make, I've wagered that he's only an amateur teleporter, and that he needs time to 'recharge' if you will. Even if he somehow recharges in time, we can still get some info out of him, figure out what he's up to." Kae'lik knew they probably wouldn't be able to hold him forever, at least not now. Their resources were limited and they didn't yet know enough about their new prisoner. But with this interrogation, the false pegasus hoped to change that. TEK entered Nova's "cell" as the guards stood, well, guard, by the door. Nova eyed the silver stallion's wings curiously. "I thought you were a unicorn?" "I'll ask the questions here, Nova Orbit. I'll start with what you intend to do with all the items you've stolen. Sell them? Personal gain?" Nova smirked. "It's a hobby. I'm a big fan of historical relics." "Wise guy, eh?" Kae'lik chuckled as he paced shortly from side to side. "You know, we could drag this interrogation straight into the morning. But we're on a bit of a time table here, so I'll cut straight to the chase. Either you can tell us what you're up to..." Kae'lik stopped and gestured to Bulk. "...or my associate here can result to more... primitive methods of interrogation." Bulk flared his nostrils before standing and flexing his ridiculous biceps. "The choice is yours, Nova. I suggest you make the right one." "Alright alright, no need for the scare tactics, not that you intimidate me anyway." Kae'lik raised an eye while the rest of TEK gathered closer. If Nova was about to start talking, they didn't want to miss any crucial information. "I can definitely tell you this: I have no intention of selling any of the relics. Most of them are useless anyway and are of little value. Their powers are myths and nothing more." Judy, not unlike the others, seemed confused at this. "Then why steal 'em if you don't plan on selling 'em? Isn't that the whole point of stealing?" "I had planned to use the relics and Starswirl's notes to aid in my revenge against a certain gray unicorn, and his stupid spiky mane..." The four TEK members' eyes simultaneously widened a bit. They all knew exactly whom Nova was referring to. "That sounds like Shade! Oh wait-" Judy blurted out before immediately realizing her mistake. Kae'lik only facehoofed. *...I swear to Luna, Judy...* "Hmph... So you know Shade Vortex, do you?" "Maybe so, maybe not, Nova. And exactly what business do you have with him?" Kae'lik made sure to quickly turn the focus of the interrogation back on Nova. "Well you see, I used to be one of Celestia's top students... until Shade Vortex ruined my life. He took EVERYTHING from me, and soon I will return the favor..." "So you two clearly have some history together... My question is, why tell us all this?" Nova's smile grew bigger and more devious. "Because..." To everypony's surprise, Nova telekinetically tore apart the ropes that bound his legs together, and rose up to his hooves. His paralysis has obviously worn off. "...This information I've given you won't do you any good... Once my plans have reached their completion, none of you fools will be able to stop me!" And with that, there was a bright flash, and Nova Orbit was gone. The remaining ponies, zebra, and disguised Changeling were left with a look of both shock and fear on their faces. Kae'lik slowly turned to face his teammates. "Guys... We may have a problem on our hooves..." ________________________ TEK base of operations, 'The Vine' basement ________________________ "You mean to tell us that not only did you irresponsibly take on a mission you didn't fully know about, but you also did so without supervision or permission?" It was midnight by the time Kae'lik, Judy, Zecora, and Bulk had returned to their base in Ponyville. By now, Jet and the rest of TEK had returned from their own mission. Jet and Shade weren't particularly happy about the four members' little adventure in Manehattan. "Anything could've gone wrong out there. You endangered yourselves and could've possibly jeopardized all of TEK!" The four hung their heads low as Jet scolded them. Vinyl and Ditzy just sort of hung back silently, not used to seeing Jet so, disciplinary. "...And, you also saved priceless articles of Equestrian history from falling into the wrong hooves." Everypony's heads snapped up at the sudden change in tone of Jet's words. "So... you're not mad at us?" Judy fearfully asked. Shade stepped in to answer. "While it was extremely risky and reckless of you to take on a mission by yourselves without first telling us, you did recover all that was stolen. In my book, that's a successful mission." The sudden commendation put everypony at ease, and brought a feeling of relief to the four members receiving it. "You all still need a bit of training and a little discipline, but you've clearly demonstrated you can handle yourselves on your own. Just, next time at least notify us before leaving on another mission." "Yes sir!" "Thank you..." "YEAAHH!" One by one, Judy, Kae'lik, and Bulk sounded off, while Zecora simply nodded with a sigh of relief. "Well, I don't know about you guys, but it's super late and I'm tired as mess. I'm going home. Probably crash on the couch or something." And with that, Shade was gone in a bright flash, which only reminded the four TEK members standing side-by-side of Nova Orbit. A subject they needed to bring up but were afraid to while Shade was present. "Guess I'll be doing the same. Good night, guys. We've all earned much needed rest." "...Jet, wait." Kae'lik stopped Jet just before he started to leave. "What is it?" The entire group hesitated before anypony found the courage to say anything. "...About the thief... We managed to identify him." Jet tilted his head in confusion. "I thought you said you couldn't catch him?" Judy nervously rubbed the back of her neck. "Well, the thing is... We actually did..." "And we got quite a bit of info out of him too, but then he teleported away." Jet didn't know what to think of Kae'lik and Judy's responses. On one hoof, he was mad they hadn't said this earlier. Yet, he was also confused as to why they would hide this information in the first place, but reveal it now. "...Who was it?" Zecora gulped before answering. "The name of the culprit is... Nova Orbit." Jet's eyes widened in disbelief. "Nova Orbit... Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time..." "So you know him too... He said he was planning some revenge plot against Shade for whatever reason." "Yeah... Nova and Shade have a bit of... history, together, none of it good." Jet paced back and forth as he tried to process this information and think it over. "I can see why you waited until after Shade left to tell me this. And it might be best if we kept this to ourselves, at least for now. I know Shade has been working on controlling his anger, but there's still no way of knowing how he'd react to this..." ___________________ Unknown location ___________________ "Hehehehe... Those fools... They think just because they've recovered their precious pieces of history that they've set my plans back..." Nova chuckled to himself as he stood in the center of his current, dimly lit hideout. "Well none of that matters. I don't need them anymore..." Nova's horn began to glow with a bright, golden aura, and instantly projected a series of images circling all around him. "...for I have perfectly memorized and recorded Starswirl's notes! Everything I need to destroy Shade Vortex and his pathetic friends is right here!" Nova's smile grew more sinister until his maniacal laughter echoed throughout the night.