The Conversion Bureau: The Madman

by Astral Spark

Chapter One: Close But No Cigar

“Caroline, change my meeting to 11:30.”

“Yes, Delvin.” Caroline intoned with a relaxing but mechanical voice. I still don’t know why I named her Caroline, but it stuck. Out of all the names I could’ve picked, I named her Caroline. I sipped on my coffee as I looked through my datapad.

“Caroline, add these names to my Datapad’s Lexicon.”

“Certainly, Delvin.”

“Gerald Withers: Caucasian male. Age 23. HLF activist and a messenger within the area.

Mikail Rosen: Caucasian male. Age 41. HLF lieutenant and drug operations. High value target.

Marcus Deran: African American male. Age 36. HLF lieutenant, terrorist. High value target. Get that, Caroline?”

“Of course, Delvin. Uploading to Datapad Lexicon.” I lazily stood from my seated position and walked over to my balcony. The doors slid open with a swish, and I stepped out into the cool, black moonlight. I proceeded to look out over the city below. New Roanoke’s lights could be viewed from a hundred miles away, it would seem. Not that anyone would want to go outside of the city that far. There wasn’t much beyond the city, just countryside. Sure, there were still many population centers scattered about, but this city was the largest hub of life for hundreds of miles. The city of New Roanoke provided opportunity.

By 2042, the world’s population soared to a staggering 15 billion. It wasn’t much of a problem, considering we had already built massive arcologies for the increasing human population. We also had discovered interplanetary travel by 2030, allowing us to travel to distant planets to mine for building materials. We had it good here on good ol' planet Earth, oh yes we did.

I gazed across the slightly orange sky, and into the not so distant Appalachian mountains. Forty years ago, this city was only but a shadow of what it is today. The pioneering of interplanetary travel gave birth to a whole new city, one that would lead mankind into a prosperous future. Martin was a brilliant mind, able to complete that legendary vessel in only 2 years like that was remarkable. Everyone thought that it would happen much later than 2030, and we definitely surprised ourselves. It didn't take long for this city to grow from the effects of the Space Renaissance.

Life wasn’t all that bad, especially due to my adventurous life as a freelancer. I lent my skills to whomever needed them, except the PER or the HLF. Those people are all insane. However, I would gladly kill one. My friends and family don’t care much for my line of work, but hey, Money’s money.

More than a year back, some sort of ‘portal’ opened in the Pacific. It was basically a 100 mile bubble, expanding ever so slightly every day. The United Earth Government attempted to blow it up, realizing that it would eventually expand to North American Shores. San Francisco, Los Angeles, Vancouver… All of these megacities would be destroyed, and billions would be lost. On this random day, May 14th I believe, all of a sudden this beautiful creature emerges from behind the iron barrier. This was considered first contact with a sentient species not of our own. She announced that she was in fact the ruler of an entire country of beings like herself, and her name was Celestia. She resembled the form of a horse, but retained a fictional and alien quality. She also possessed wings and a single horn upon her head. At first, it was considered to be a hoax, due to the fairytale-esque element, but soon proved to be the truth. She announced that she had limited to no control over the expanding bubble, and revealed the land inside to be a separate universe, or cosmos, named Equestria. For a time, nothing was done. For 2 whole months, nothing was done to combat this slowly expanding malevolence. Upon discovering that the portal gave off extremely high amounts of Thaumatic radiation, or "magic", enabling widespread panic to envelop the west coast of North America and the east coast of Asia. Revealing herself a second time, in a desperate attempt to save humanity from their extermination, she offered to attend a conference with the leaders of the United Nations and the UEG. The convention lasted for about a week, and when they finally revealed their intentions, Humanity was a bit uneasy, to say the least. A solution, a medical treatment involving the combined efforts of the Equestrians and the UEG would be implemented to save humanity. This treatment would transform humans into the Equestrian race in order to withstand the portal’s influence. A combined effort between the two, the Conversion Bureaus were created. This office would oversee the ultimate salvation of mankind. At first, many Humans rejected this treatment, and the centers remained empty. 3 months after the convention and the establishment of the Bureaus, The bubble proceeded to engulf the islands of Hawaii. Many a mind was changed after this event.

The first was the west coast, who proceeded to lose about a half of their human population. After word got out about the wonders of conversion, the rest of the world followed. A steady decline over several months was observed, and now only about 15 billion humans remain. About 1 billion humans have been lost to the wonders of conversion.

New Roanoke has observed a population decline of about a ninth of its Human population. New Roanoke is a human city, based on human ideals. Hell, it’s the birthplace of the FTL drive, the next step into human exploration. The future of humanity is what this city’s all about. You will rarely find any “ponies” (The name stuck because of their equine-esque form) in New Roanoke. The majority of those converted moved to Equestria, anyway. I mean, why the hell not? The place is apparently like a paradise. The only notable pony worth knowing in New Roanoke is Dr. Martin’s colleague, Walter Verga, who is his top researcher. Verga notably designed, along with Martin, the Centurion Power Armor, Soaren Power Armor, the Brutus Cloak, and many other combat oriented devices. I mention this mostly because I have, let’s say, ’special’ connections with Martin Industries, and being one of their most useful resources has granted me much.

I proceeded to whip out my pack, and light one up. I wasn’t a big smoker, mostly because I had to stay pretty healthy in my line of work, but today was just one of those days. My cousin dropped by this morning, which he rarely does. Even more unusual was the fact that it was 7 AM on a Saturday.
******

“Delvin!” He wrapped his skinny arms around me.

“John? The fuck you doing here, man? Thought you got that news gig out in LA!!”

“Well, I don’t know.” He walked into my sunlit living room. “In a year, it’ll be consumed by another universe. Besides, it’s too hot.” He replied with a hint of sarcasm.

“I mean, I’m always open to the job. That’s kind of why I came here. We need to talk.” A bit of worry seeped into my nerves, causing my limbs to feel like they were dipped into cold water.

“What’s on your mind?” I sat down on my leather couch.

“Well, I’ve been thinking.”

“Oh, here it comes…” I thought to myself.

“Maybe Ponification isn’t such a bad idea after all. That job could mean a lot of things for me, and if it’s swallowed up into Equestria, at least I won’t have any worries about not getting out in time.” John said solemnly.

“John, you do realize that this means giving up your humanity, right? You won’t be able to eat meat anymore, sex will come on four legs, and if someone gets mad at you, it just hurts. You can’t say fuck, shit, or even damn without feeling like you’re about to get punched in the face. I mean, when someone picks a fight with you, can all you do is love the shit out of ‘em? They’re fucking horses!” I was pretty satisfied with the last few words that came out of my mouth.

“Delvin, I’ve never been one for aggression. It ruins people. It ruins lives. And they’re called Ponies, not Horses.” John replied matter-of-factly.

“I’m not much for aggression either, but… It’s part of humanity. My humanity is important to me. And being one of… Them, would take it away from me.”

“Bro, you kill people for a living. Aggression would seem to be your thing.” He retorted with an amused smile on his clean shaven muzzle.

“Bad people. Terrorists. Drug runners. Corrupt Big Wigs. I don’t kill out of hate, I kill… To save lives.”

“I’m glad to hear that. You know, being a pony doesn’t take away your aggression. But being given a new beginning like that just changes you.” He stood up and looked down into my weary eyes.

“I’ll see you in a week. Don’t expect a human.” He turned and hastily walked out my door.
******

Ever since early this morning, I’ve been lying in bed, thinking. Tonight I was gunning for a man named Marcus Deran, a terrorist that had enough money to fund the colonization of fucking Pluto. That said, he typically went a bit crazy with his money. Most recently, his involvement with the Human Liberation Front escalated to a terrorist attack on a Bureau in Miami, killing 18 people. He wasn’t there when it happened, but he certainly orchestrated it. He lives in the penthouse of a suave hotel downtown, and that’s where I plan to take the shot. I flicked my cancer stick off the balcony and walked back inside.

“Caroline. Open the ‘hidey hole’.” I chuckled at the name I had given my armory. A hidden door painted the same color as the wall hissed open as the trapped air inside was released. Since this was a stealth operation, I adorned some advanced Mk. IV Soaren Armor with a built in Brutus Cloak. The cloak would provide me with some enhanced stealth. It seemed to do the job with sensors and things of that nature, but sound was still an issue. My armor had some built-in muffling capabilities, along with a helmet that eliminated the sound of breath. I could be pretty much undetectable if I used the equipment the right way. I opted for my Mantis Sniper rifle along with my silenced Remus magnum. To be honest, I looked like a badass, and for all intents and purposes, I was. As a final touch, I adorned a jet black trench coat over my armor. I exchanged the helmet for a pair of HUD glasses very similar to Adam Jensen’s glasses from the Deus Ex video games. When I was a kid, I took an interest in old video games. Having my father been a large gamer when he was a kid, he shared his treasures with me. When I adorned my shades, my armory lit up with my current health figures, compass, and motion tracker. I linked my weapons to the device so I could see my ammunition and weapon condition as well. I was geared up, and ready for a night on the town. Only I would be killing a millionaire inside his penthouse that was likely heavily guarded and fortified. However, I was pretty sure I knew what I was doing. I uploaded the blueprints to my HUD and could access them whenever I wanted. As for the guards, I would just have to observe their movements.

“Caroline, Security protocol 4.”

“Yes, Delvin.” I stepped out into the polished wooden hallway of my apartment. I took the middle elevator to the Lobby, and walked meaningfully through the sliding doors which led to the now wet sidewalk. Finally realizing the harms of fossil fuel, humanity started to use Hydrogen fuel in their vehicles. Though highly flammable, the only product is pure water. I drive a Saraph, myself. They’re fast and reliable, just like me. Also surprisingly quiet.

When I drive through the city, it calms me a bit. Seeing the looming skyscrapers and magnificent architecture of the new age buildings has always mystified me since I was little. My dad took me to New York City when I was 10, and I loved every bit of it. Tonight, however, I couldn’t take in the sights and sounds, I had to focus. The building was near the Old Roanoke District in the very center of the city. Raining quite heavily now, I stepped out of my car and into the dark alley I had parked it in. The old part of Roanoke had architecture dating back to the early 1900’s, which provided a great contrast within the city. A lot of people liked it here. They liked to meet, and go to fancy restaurants and bars where they would hang out and talk about stupid shit that didn’t even matter. I wasn’t exactly up for it right now, however. The striking hotel building easily dwarfed the other smaller buildings in the center city, and it was easy to plot my exits. I planned to parachute out of the top floor and land upon one of the older buildings below. Anyway, I was in.

“Excuse me sir, how may I help you?” The timid young bellhop asked as I entered the elevator.

“Penthouse.” I chose to say it with as much seriousness as I could to deter him from asking any questions.

“Y-Yes sir.” As we reached the top floor, I pulled up my transparent layout on my HUD. Deran’s Penthouse was easily the biggest one here. I decided to expect resistance at the door.

Just as I expected, I rounded the corner to find two armed guards. I quickly reminded myself of my knife inside my coat.

“Gentlemen, I was wondering if you could help me find this room here.” As I pretended to search for the fake note to show them, I latched onto my knife and aimed for their necks. Before they could even make a sound, they clutched their necks and went down. I grabbed one of their pass cards and used it to open the door. I activated my cloak and crouched down a bit to avoid making too much noise. I watched my motion sensor to detect guard shifts, and in truth, the place wasn’t heavily guarded. Maybe about 2 guards patrolled, but other than that, he had pretty limited security. I pulled out and unfolded my Mantis, and used its infrared sights to pick up any other guards that could possibly be stationary. I confirmed my suspicions of a limited security force, and proceeded to take out the two remaining guards. Only then I realized that Deran had company. Presumably male, I could hear the two in the distant lounge arguing about something. I turned on my audio link and sent the incoming audio back to Caroline’s Data core.

“You have no Idea what you’re doing Kaleth. What if it’s not safe? What if it affected Humans?”

“Oh Mark, always lacking in good judgement!”

I proceeded to sneak into the lounge, where the two men were speaking. I spotted Deran sitting on a luxurious white sofa while a tall, eccentric looking man with greying hair spoke down to him as he paced about the floor. I decided to hold out a bit longer before I attacked the two lone men. Whatever they were talking about could be important.

“Dear Marcus, I come to you at a time of need. A time of salvation! A time of action! Isn’t this what we’ve strived to do? This… Plague cannot last. It must be exterminated.”

“Kaleth, what if we can’t stop it? What if it spreads to fast, and we can’t contain it?”

“YOU WILL DO AS I SAY, DAMMIT! We will reach our goal! It is only a matter of time! Now, I’ve decided not to raze this place to the ground. A month, Marcus, a MONTH! Or… Maybe a week. No, no, no that won’t do. A month! Guards, bring me that wretched rat listening to us. Don’t want him to reveal our ‘secret’ plans, eh? EH? HAHA! More tea, Marcus my dear?” Suddenly, two gigantic arms lifted me off my feet and brought me over to the madman.

“Now who, are you? Nope, don’t answer that. My son? No, no, don’t have a son anymore. Killed him! HA!! Are you… Mah brother?!?! Nope! Can’t be! Threw him off the Eifel tower, that one! HO, ho!! A fun one, he was. Ahh yes. You… You don’t know who ya are, do ya? Do you have any idea what you’ve stumbled into? That little brain of yours can only handle so much! Ah well, I suppose I’ll tear out your intestines, and hang ya with ‘em!! Or… Better yet…” The homicidally insane man exposed a small cylindrical can from his coat, opened it, and pulled out a small white capsule.

“This should be fun!” The two guards held my mouth open with an amazing amount of force, while the man dropped the capsule into the back of my throat. I struggled to get out of the grasp of the formerly hidden guardsmen, only to find out that they had dropped me already. It still felt like they were clutching me…

“IIIIII’ve been known to change my mind…. SO! I’ve changed my mind! Burn it to the ground! I’m deeply sorry, Marcus, my boy, but my mind is a bit hard to control. Ta-TA!” The man strutted oddly out of the room, and presumably exited the building. The guards however, stayed behind and planted explosives throughout the Penthouse.

“You should probably get out… The building will be set ablaze from below as well.” Marcus ran for the door. I couldn’t speak, nor could I see straight, but I had to manage on my own. I made it back to the Elevator, which I knew was not an option. I headed for the stairs, the blueprint barely visible through my blurry vision. Everything I touched had an after effect, like it was still there in my grasp. I struggled to make it down the stairs without falling over myself. I don’t know when I started to smell the smoke, but it soon flooded the stairway. The fire was already in action below me. I knew I had to continue on even through the smoke, as it was the only way to hopefully survive. I surmised that ‘Kaleth’ had given me a neurotoxin of some sort. I was able to make out my floor, 5, as the fire came into view. I had to sprint through it, knowing the possible consequences. By the time I had reached the second level, the smoke and fire became thick. This level was a restaurant, and I knew big picture windows were probably prominent here. I waded through debris the best I could, and found the perfect window to leap out of. By now, my hair, skin, and lungs were already pretty much ruined. The fire was raging, and by the time I geared up to jump, I heard probably the loudest thing I have ever heard, and considering whatever the madman gave me, it was probably enhanced by the effects of the toxin. The explosives were detonated, and the building started crashing down above me. In my fading consciousness, I sprinted to the window, and dived. I had made a leap of faith, and the building sent out a plume of dust as it came down upon the age old streets of Old Roanoke, and more importantly, me.

Comments

[iFiredone]

awsome so far

[SteampunkBrony]

heh, following this one.

[Captain Chaos]

Impressive, sir.