//------------------------------//
// E.S.S: 12 - A Mission with a Shadow 
// Story: E.S.S (Equestria's Secret Service) 
// by Power Hors3 
//------------------------------//

E.S.S: 12
A Mission with a Shadow

Muffins and Sugar arrive at Sweetie's staying place at the hospital. She seems okay, she has on bandages where her cuts and bruises were made.
“Sweetie are you alright??” Both Muffins and Sugar say to her as they run up to the bed she's in.	“I'm quite alright, just a little injured is all.” Sweetie replies, “Call me BonBon around public places please.” 
“Heh, yeah she's alright!” Muffins hugs her. Sweetie holds back a little pain from the hug.
“How about you two?” She asks them.
“We're good.” Sugar says.
“We went to Celestia, Max showed up and tried to kill us both but Celestia stopped him and imprisoned him.” Muffins smiles.
“Good, he's dealt with, we'll have to notify Alloy and Jackson about this as soon as we can” She starts to get off her bed, “We should go now”
“Celestia wants us to meet with her too!” Muffins adds.
“More reason to hurry up, come let's go” She starts to hop towards the door.
“Do you need some help walking?” Sugar asks.
“We'll get a wheelchair at the entrance and one of you two can push me along if you can” Sweetie hops along to the front counter.
“I'll do it” Sugar says. Sweetie nods and asks for a wheelchair. A nurse takes out a chair for her, Sweetie sits down in it.
They make their way to the train stop and board it, it is now late afternoon.

Alloy himself is boarding a train to Cantorlot, he had received a short notice message from Notts to come as soon as possible. He got off the train at the same train station Muffins and the rest had just boarded. Quickly he makes his way to the wine cellar base, the door opens for him granting him entrance. 
“Blur you made it. To bad it's over already, but I have something new for you.” Notts greets, “Take a seat if you'd like”
“What did I miss?” Alloy asks him sitting down.
“You do remember agent Sweetie Drops and Muffins correct?” Notts starts. Alloy becomes a little uneasy on the inside but replies casually.
“Yes, of course, what are they joining up too?” Alloy leans in his chair a little.
“Not at all, in fact they're aiding the enemy, and they seem to have a new recruit. One of our agents spotted them with Celestia, no doubt they're working together. The agent I sent was close to ridding of them but failed somehow and is currently imprisoned in the Cantorlot underground prison.” Notts summarizes. 
“What's this you want me to do? Get him out or take care of the old agents?”
“Already ahead of me I see. Firstly is our agent, Max. He's not so good at keeping his mouth shut. Max isn't his real name. He's one of our old agents,  Wild Berrie.” 
“Wild Berrie? You're telling me that bloke joined you?” Alloy laughs, “No wonder he failed the mission” 
“Heh, yes he's not so good in acting. Still we either get him out or kill him. Those are your two choices, oh and I'm appointing you with Silent Death.” Notts leaves Alloy. Silent Death approaches him like a shadow and sits with him.
“Looks like we're in this together” He smiles.
“Let's see what you got” Alloy says. He and Silent both leave the wine basement. 
“The sun is going down, thankfully. It hurt my...complexion.” Silent smiles.
“A little vitamin D hurts you?” Alloy asks the being. 
“It does. I like working in the dark, it helps me do my things.” 
“What things?” 
Silent Death vanishes in a shadow and appears a few buildings down in another shadow. Alloy goes to him, “Impressive I'll admit. How do you do it?”
“This little beauty” Silent shows him an amulet, “Full of what you folks call ' dark magic' it's really...helpful” He chuckles darkly. 
“Ah yes the amulets, they aren't good for your health, that's why I've never used them.”
“Tis a little sacrifice I can assure you Mr. Alloy...Alloy Atomms” Silent chuckles a little more. 
“So you know my name, yours can't be really Silent Death either.” Alloy says.
“That's true, but let's say you won't be finding out my real name anytime soon.” He grins. Alloy follows Silent to a cave that supposedly leads to the prisons.
“This place looks old, are there any traps?” Alloy asks.
“I took care of them a while ago, maybe you should loose those...nice clothes, as you call them. It's dirty down here” 
“To late for that now, what's with your apparel? I assume it shades you from the sun.”
“Correct but it does much more than that.” He lifts a layer of clothing to reveal knives, potions, and other random items, “You see it can pack quite the tools!” 
“It's like carrying your own laboratory on you”  
“Precisely!” His laughs echo throughout the cave. “Wait, hmm I'm starting to..sense something...piecing together a few things!” 
“What is it?” Alloy keeps following him until he stops randomly and turns to Alloy.
“You. Your name is Alloy Atomms!” 
“Yes…?”
“But, it isn't!” 
“Wait what?”
“Your name..it doesn't..match! That's it. I know an Atomms, a business stallion”
“That would be my father.” Alloy states. Silent stares at him and shakes his head.
“No, not your father” Silent smirks and continues on deeper into the cave. Alloy wanted to ask him what the hell he was going on about, but felt it strange. Silent knew something he didn't, his amulet must have given him other senses. Whatever the case was Silent was a creep, his dark magic had definitely given him both mental and physical scaring. He was probably just rambling and didn't know what he was talking about, thought Alloy. Silent's very presence made him feel uncomfortable, but Alloy had to keep up his nonchalant act.
“You know these two other ponies. Muffins and Sweetie Drops am I right?” Silent randomly asks. 
“Yes, not sure how well anymore since our split.”	
“You” He sniffs the air, “Smell like you've been around them” He sniffs again, “Recently..”
“Probably because I'm wearing the same clothes I did back at the agency” Alloy states, “How much further do we have till we get there?” 
“..Just a little more. I'll scout ahead” He vanishes before his eyes. Alloy tries to track the different shadows he hops too, but the cave's darkness makes it hard to.
“This guy knows too much. I might have to get rid of him.” Alloy thinks to himself. 
“No ones ahead!” Silent appears five feet in front of him. It startles alloy a bit making Silent laugh a little.
“Good, but it seems to easy. They might be suspecting something” Alloy says. They walk till they reach a barred off area. Silent moves to the other side but when Alloy tries to teleport it cancels out his spell.
“Hahaha...oh right your regular magic isn't going to get you past this magic barricade!” Silent laughs, “But you have to get past somehow” He takes off his necklace and tosses it to him, “Be quick or it'll...start to do things!” 
Alloy looks at the markings and puts it on. Instantly he feels a rapid growth of his magic, it felt good.
“I said quick Alloy, it'll start to make you...addicted!” Silent scares. Alloy flashes over quickly to the other side and takes off the necklace right away, a sudden drain of power makes him fall to his knees. 
“Thanks for that back!” Silent grabs the amulet back, rapidly putting it back on, “Ahh...much better.” 
“Yeah..right...” Alloy stands up, he is still a little hazy.
“Yes it's like that at first, but if you use it more, you'll get used to it!” Silent says. Alloy simply nods and they continue. The prison is generally empty. There is rooms for maybe 1000s but only about 20-50 are actually used. Few guards are on duty, Silent detects them right away and stops, “Do you want to kill them...or wait?” 
“A mix of both and knock them out” Alloy states, his head is still aching. Silent senses he is weak. 
“I'll do it fast.” Silents moves stealthily, shooting a few darts making them pass out. A few prisoners look at the fallen guards then see Alloy and Silent walk along.
“Hey! Get us out!” One says. 
“Yeah do us a favor will ya??” Another starts. Silent goes up the cage and does something to suddenly cause one of them to fall down and weep. Other prisoners shut their mouths after seeing that.
Alloy whispers to him, “What did you do?” 
“I showed him a vision from a possible future.  I don't know what it was but it was meant to scar him. We don't want them all making a lot of noise so I used him as an example for them not to bother us.” He smirks. As they go along, Silent works his way taking out any guard in his sensing range till they arrive at the prison cage they're looking for. 
Wild Berrie looks up in shackles, “Alloy? Silent?..you guys came to take me out??” 
“Depends...did you say anything?” Silent asks.
“Um, no. Why would I?” Berrie asks. Silent looks at Alloy and smiles.
“Watch this Alloy” Silent says. He goes into Berrie's cell and makes Berrie go suddenly blank he falls as Silent does something to him.
“What are you doing?” Alloy observes.
“Scanning his memory, he's easy to read...so...naive. He spoke” Silent stops. Berrie falls to the floor and rubs his head. “You spoke Berrie…” Silent takes out a curved knife.
“No..wait! Alloy do something!” Berrie begs.
“The mission was to get rid of you or get you out, but since you spoke, you're a traitor.” Alloy says pretending to be heartless, “Why should Silent spare you?” Silent glares at Berrie, wanting to just hear the word and end him.
“I..I have family! And..and I know you Alloy! We worked together, you wouldn't kill you own would you??” Berrie tries to be spared.
“Funny, I heard you went after Muffins and Sweetie Drops, weren't they our workers too?” Alloy recalls. Berries eyes widen.
“B-But I was just following orders!” Berrie says.
“And so are we” Alloy smirks. He had found a way to condemn Berrie. He had tried to kill his friends, why shouldn't he die? Or maybe it was that amulet, had it made his heart harden in that little time. Alloy suddenly hesitates, “...Silent, wait. Perhaps Notts has other plans, after all he got close to killing them. Knock him out, and we'll leave.”
Silent stares at Berrie, but obeys and put away his weapon, he cast a spell knocking Berrie out, “You're in charge of this mission...so you make the calls” Silent takes Berrie on his shoulder, and teleports next to Alloy, “Let's go, those darts I used on the guards aren't going to last forever!” 

Alloy and Silent make it back to HQ with Berrie knocked out.  Notts stands and goes to them. “Well done. Did he squeal?” Notts asks.
“Yes...” Silent hisses. 
“You may leave Silent. I need to speak with Alloy alone, take Berrie and chain him up” Notts says. Silent nods and leaves. 
“So you spared Berrie.” Notts states.
“Yes. I wasn't aware that I was in charge of the mission” Alloy says.
“Ha, well good job. We'll question Berrie. He might still be useful, and with our organization being limited, it's wise to not kill them off right away. Good call.” Notts says and starts to walk away, “You can leave now if you want, I'm sure working with Silent Death created a little more experience for you.”
“Right...experience..” Alloy heads out. 

He arrives at his house, feeds the cat, and sits on his couch pondering about the amulet. He starts to fall asleep but a knock at the door prevents that. He opens the door, Sugar is there.
“Alloy! Are you okay??” She quickly comes in and examines him.
“Um..yes, I'm okay.” He says.
“Oh thank goodness! You left a note in your office saying you left on a mission, why didn't you tell us sooner??” 
“There was no quicker way to, plus I couldn't wait for you guys to return” 
“What about Jackson? Wasn't he at the office?” 
“No, he was out looking for employes so I had to go solo” 
“Then..you don't know what happened do you?” 
“Your mission, I was about to ask” Alloy goes to the kitchen and serves himself water, “Want some?”
“Yes please. The mission..well it was interesting, Rainbow Dash was the one responsible..” She says. Alloy chuckles a little.
“Well what do you know? Did you inform Celestia about that?”
“Yes, she said Twilight would take care of Miss Dash.” 
“I hope so. What else happened? Wait I remember now...” Alloy hits his head. He passes Sugar the drink, “You gals were attacked...weren't you?” 
“Yes. Hold on...how did you know??”
“Sorry I nearly forgot that I met the guy who tried to do it. I aided in his escape...I had a chance to kill him..” Alloy reaches for a bottle of wine but puts it back. 
“What?? So that's what your Notts mission was then??”
“Let me explain. I was sent to either kill him or take him back to base. I went with a stallion named Silent Death...we made it to where he was, and Silent had him in his grip ready to end him but...I just couldn't do it...sorry..”
Sugar hugs him, “Don't be sorry Alloy...it was the right thing to do”
“Was it..? He nearly killed you all..if he had maybe..maybe I would've done it..” He clenches his teeth and sits down releasing himself of Sugar's hug.
“Don't be so hard on yourself..we're all okay and the missions were completed right?” She smiles a little, “My first successful mission.” 
“You're..right we're all alive. I was just..never-mind it's nothing” He smiles.
“Are you sure?” She asks, leaning closer.
“Ahem, yeah, so it's getting late. Are you going to stay, or do you want me to call a cabby?” 
“I'll stay, if it's not to much trouble for you..” 
“Of course you can stay, heh you know the place, I'll be in the garage I'm going to work on something” He quickly leaves. 
Sugar watches as he leaves. “I wonder what's up with him..” The cat looks up to her and meows. “Maybe he just wants to be alone, I shouldn't have come..” She sits on the couch. 
In the garage he takes a seat on a rolling chair and takes out a small stone that is filled with some magic from the shelf. He grabs a microscope and looks at it. He then stops, he was angry at himself, he had been so caught up in what Silent said that he had forgotten that his friends had been in danger. And now Sugar was there in the living room trying to see if something was wrong with him. Today he almost lost them, maybe he should've ended Wild Berrie but it was a test from Silent wasn't it? He was seeing if he was willing to kill out of revenge. Alloy couldn't do it...but what was Silent talking about? Alloy was just too curious he had to find out. Sugar was going to bed soon so he'd sneak out and leave to search for answers. 
And so he did, he manually opened the garage, took a gun with him, put a hoodie over his clothes and left. Sugar, sitting in the chair hears the garage and looks out the window. She looks at a hooded pony run from the house, “A thief!” Sugar jumps up and rushes to the garage. It is locked, “Dammit! Alloy!! Are you in there??” She knocks but hears no one and panics. She opens the front door and looks at the garage and goes to it and lifts it. No one was inside, “What..was that Alloy in the hoodie..?” She views to the direction he had run off to and goes that way.   
Meanwhile Alloy made his way to the wine cellar, and went inside. “Well if it isn't Blur” Two eyes greets.
“We heard about your mission earlier today with that shadow guy” Snow adds.
“Ah hu, where is he?” Alloy asks quickly. 
“I believe he out in the night doing things- woah!” Snow jumps up as a shadow takes form into Silent.
“Who me..?” He smiles mischievously.
“Ugh don't do that” Snow says with disgust.
“No need to be rude dear. Now Blur you wanted to speak with me?”  
“Yes, outside” Alloy says. Silent follows him.
“Have. Questions?” Silents asks, well knowing. They start to walk, “It explains why you're in that clothing”
“Yes.” Alloy states. Sugar happens to be close by when she sees them walking and begins to stalk them from a distance.
“It's about you right?” 
“Yes. What you didn't continue in the cave..something I didn't understand.” 
“About your father” He chuckles, “Yeah sorry to be the one to tell you but he's not”
“What do you mean?? I've known him all my life!” Alloy suddenly gets defensive, “Excuse my tone..”
“Hahaha, it's okay to react that way” Silent says, “This amulet as you know enhances my abilities to sense certain things, or spells. It seems you've had one on you for a long time. Once I saw you, I knew who you were, and then I took it upon myself to research a little. There aren't any accurate records of your date of birth.”
“That's not enough evidence...what do you mean a spell?” 
“A brain wash one. Seems you haven't always been Mr. Alloy Atomms” Silent says. Alloy stays silent for a while. Many thoughts shoot through his head. Was Silent telling the truth? He couldn't possibly know this is all true, he was Alloy. Alloy Atomms. But why was there doubt?
“I want to see the records.” Alloy says.
“We'll have to sneak into the National Archives” Silent says.
“Let's do it. I need to know” Alloy says firmly. Silent smiles and nods. They both start to gallop to the building. Sugar only overhears parts of what they had conversation but was now concerned for Alloy. Things about spells, births, and breaking into places? Was this another Notts mission? She picks up her pace, still remaining silent. There were now fewer ponies on the streets, mostly last minute things, jobs, some police, and few shops. 
Alloy and Silent stand before the building. “We could take turns with my amulet or you can hang onto me as we jump from shadow to shadow”
“I'll hold on” Alloy says. 
“Then hold on tight, if you let go...well I don't actually know what will happen!” He laughs. Alloy holds on, “This is my first time trying this!” 
“Wait- whaaaa!” Alloy shouts but is muffled as Silent jumps in and out of shadows till before he realizes what is happening, they are inside a random room in the building. 
Sugar sees what happens and is shocked, “Wha...what..?” She steps into the shadow, nothing happens. The building itself is close to closing down, so Sugar gets in and searches.
“That was...crazy!” Alloy says to Silent.
“It was better than walking.” He says.
“Whatever, we're here for my records” He looks at the tons of scrolls, “They're all organized..right..?” 
“Sure are. You're 'name' is Alloy, so the A section, should have it” Silent says, he goes ahead of Alloy to the section. Alloy starts to catch up but sees Sugar watching him, “Silent I'll catch up with you” He shouts to Silent's way.
“Alloy!” She whispers. Alloy goes to her.
“What are you doing here?” They both say together. She smiles a little.
“Hehe, I'll go first, I'm following you!” Sugar says.
“Why? I'm on a...research mission” Alloy says.
“You should've told me! Who's that guy your with?” 
“Look, you need to go back home, this guy, he can sense things. He could be hostile towards you...you need to leave” Alloy says.
“But..”
“He knows me, I'm safe with him. You might not be, leave before he finds out, you could blow my cover” 
“S-Sorry..” Sugar quivers.
“Sugar..don't be sad. Be quick, I'll be with you soon” Alloy smiles. Sugar looks at him, nods and leaves. 
“Ah found it! Alloy!” Silent shouts. Alloy goes to him and takes the records, he reads them. 
“This..doesn't make sense...” Alloy flips through, “It's only showing my father, no son. Are you sure these are all of the papers?” 
“You're free to check” Silent says, he sits on a chair. Alloy looks through the other papers. Nothing. His name doesn't appear on births, he only finds them dated starting 4 years back. 
“There's really..nothing. I don't understand. I went to school for a few years...there are no education papers about me either.” 
“Four years only hu? What did I tell you? Your past is off the grid!” Silent chuckles a little. Alloy grabs him.
“Then who am I??” He says furiously. Silent vanishes before his eyes with a smile of sharp teeth saying as he goes, 
“You'll just have to figure that out for yourself...Alloy” 
“Damn you come back!” Alloy yells out. There is no reply, only his voice echos. He sits there and goes through the papers again and again. A janitor comes up to him.
“Hey mate, the place is closed” 
“I'll leave.” Alloy stands and exits.

Alloy takes his time walking home. He is in a constant flurry of ideas. Who was he..? Maybe the records were just..missing right?? He laughs a little. It was all just a mistake! That's it. But if it wasn't then what? How would he figure out who he was and why this had happened? Silent didn't know anymore than he had told Alloy but at least he had been of some help. 
Alloy came home and found Sugar asleep on his couch. He looks sadly at her. Should he then leave E.S.S? He had ponies who cared for him, well for 'Alloy' anyways. If he found out he had been someone else, a bad thing, then would he accept it or take his leave? Alloy takes a few sheets from the closet and covers Sugar, then heads to bed. 

End of Chapter 12.