Chapter 10
Before her, the metal crate thrashed and rocked on its wheels. Agent Elise Avery continued pushing as though she couldn’t hear it, her steps smooth and confident. There were no others in the deserted corridor, and nothing to slow her down other than the occasional crack in the concrete. Thick cables had been tucked away along one side, broken only with the occasional makeshift light strip bolted to the wall. The further she got the more dilapidated things became, with whole sections of steel bulkhead half-rusted-away from the water they had found dripping through the bunker when they arrived. The only other movement Avery saw were the occasional scurrying rats, darting out of sight as she made her way past their hiding spots.
Activity echoed somewhere ahead of her, the sound of many voices and machines and something even stranger. Avery approached with confident professionalism, something she had learned in her decade of service.
Men waited at a blast door up ahead, men with plain uniforms and very large guns. Neither one had name-patches, unit insignia, or anything else that might hint at what branch they had come from. “ID.” The taller of the two, with arms as thick as her neck and short black hair, lowered his weapon and extended one hand.
Avery stopped, though the crate she carried on its steel roller kept rocking back and forth under internal pressure. The box itself was made from near-solid quarter inch steel, except for a locking mechanism and some air holes. It was starting to deform from internal force, buckling along one of the welds. It was a good thing she was almost there.
Avery removed a plastic card from her pocket. The guard took it and started fumbling with a reader he had been carrying.
The other one, with slightly longer blond hair and a slightly more human build, leaned a little closer to try and peer into the crate. The holes were all too small to show him much, by design. “You people must have a hell of a time catching those things.”
She shrugged. “It gets easier.” Was the other guard purposefully fumbling with the scanner so his companion could get a longer look? Eventually she heard the unmistakable tone of the portable scanner as it approved her ID.
The other guard handed it back, even as the huge door unlocked. His companion began the tedious job of drawing it open, old steel creaking and shuddering under the strain. “Welcome back, Agent Avery.” He saluted.
She straightened, returned the salute, then continued pushing. The crate wasn’t shaking nearly as much as it had been earlier—maybe its occupant was finally exhausting his inhuman stamina and wouldn’t give her any more trouble through the rest of the night. She could hope, anyway.
The transition from ruined test bunker to active laboratory came instantly, with swept floors, bright lights, and new furniture. There were armed guards in every room, standing alert with high-powered taser rifles instead of conventional weapons.
The time each new live subject was a fascinating curiosity to be studied (sometimes dissected) was long gone. Whatever could be safely learned from those who had succumbed to the infection had all been learned by now. She could’ve passed off her capture to an orderly, as most of her fellow agents did.
Instead, Avery checked out a protective mask, which she strapped on over glasses and face as she continued rolling her cargo through to containment. The mask did no more to filter the air than civilian-grade surgical masks, though that was not its main function. Instead of showing her the real world, the facility around her was represented with a close visual approximation. Furniture and other objects (such as her cart) were also represented there, while people were no more than reddish blobs that warned her not to collide with them.
Thousands and thousands of cells had been built into a cavern large and deep enough to have once contained nuclear tests. Despite the vastness of the space, each cell was barely large enough for its occupant, and many produced foul smells indicative of no recent cleanings. Yet to her eyes she passed only walls with a slightly different pattern, without having to see the occupants inside. The mask covered her ears as well, though not well enough to block out some of the noise.
Instead of the catcalls or anger she might’ve expected in a prison for humans, the containment facility held only sounds of misery. What little she heard sounded so pathetic, so helpless, that it tore her up each and every time she came here. Sixteen of those voices are here because of you.
Eventually she found the waiting cell, about halfway to the end. A large apparatus had been affixed to the front in place of the thick resin that served as a cell door to the occupied sections. It was perhaps the size of a small car, and made of alloys far sturdier than steel. The pushcart’s clips attached automatically, and a few more gentle nudges caused it to attach to the crate as well. The sound of rushing air heralded the crate opening, followed by clicking as the internal restraints were loosened.
Even by the standards of the most dutiful agents, Avery was done. Yet she insisted on one final procedure, one entirely her own. Indeed, removing the mask while in containment was a violation of protocol that would have put any of its wardens under immediate investigation. She was no warden.
As she lifted her mask, Avery was assaulted by the familiar barrage of sensations. Wails, moans, and despairing cries echoed all around the vast space. Barnyard was the least offensive odor that she detected, no longer contained by the mask. Even the worst of the smells couldn’t prepare an observer for what she saw.
They came in every color, more vivid than ever van Gogh had painted. Where her mask represented them only as gray blobs, her real eyes gave her no such mercy. Metal ground mechanically as the apparatus pulled in the containment crate, then dumped its occupant into the cage. It pulled the proper door into place even as it ground sideways along its track to the next one, giving Avery an unobstructed view of her “rescue.”
He looked almost like a horse, if a horse was scaled down smaller than most dogs. No horse ever lived with a coat as orange as this one, or with bright red stripes in its violet mane. None ever lived with a tattoo-like marking of a controller on either flank. Of course, the worst part was the eyes. Despite a much reduced size, there was apparently no reduction in intelligence. Avery’s job would have been far easier if she was just capturing dangerous animals for the pound.
This one had been a fighter. His eyes were a little glazed from the nitrous oxide that had been blasted at him during the opening procedure. Yet somehow he managed to stand anyway, and face her through the foot-thick acrylic. “Celestia will come for me.” His voice was higher than an average human’s, though not as high as her own.
“You stay here until we find a cure,” Avery met his eyes for a solid second, before fumbling with her mask again. “Then you can go back to your life.”
“This doesn’t seem like a very nice hospital,” the little horse said. She ignored him, replacing the mask and turning away again. Her duty was done. If these poor souls weren’t going to get a trial, then the least she could do was give them their sentence in person. It only seemed fair.
She expected to be back out within the hour and on a plane to the next contamination site by nightfall. What she didn’t expect was the gentle tapping of someone’s hand as she finished filling out her paperwork.
Avery looked up and found the site director standing beside her. The man was more than double her age, though she almost couldn’t tell from looking at him. His hair had a little gray, but that had been there the day she had seen him lecture in the academy ten years ago. Agents joked that Director Lee was too tough for age to sneak up on him. Any attempt time made to weaken him had been met only with laughter.
“Welcome back, Avery.” He was the only one in uniform, suit precise enough that it might have been ironed twenty minutes ago for as sharp as it looked. It was matched by similar sharpness in his face. He had a salt-and-pepper beard, and smelled a little of chemical sterilizer. A likely symptom of too much time spent in the lab. “I see you’ve brought back another patient without injury.”
Things were generally informal with the site director. He wasn’t her direct superior after all, only someone with which she frequently interacted. There was no need to waste time with petty formality where their organization was concerned. “We’re developing new techniques,” she answered, glancing uneasily around the shared office space. She discovered as she did that the pair of scientists eating lunch in one corner had gone, along with the guards. If Lee had cleared the room, he meant to talk. “I didn’t even have to touch the last one. Far more effective than a physical confrontation.”
“I’m very glad.” He pulled a chair from the table next to hers and slid it nearby, seating himself. He set a tablet down on the table’s surface beside him as he did, though Avery didn’t so much as glance at it. “Six months ago and we were lucky to get a few refrigerated… pieces back from what you had to leave. I can’t say I never felt we might be doing a poor job protecting the American people when we could only study and incinerate the infected.”
Avery shivered, remembering the aftermath of those initial encounters. Her organization had lost a third of its field agents during that time, either to violent injury or… worse. “The little purge was harder on us than it was on them,” she replied, her voice quiet. “You can’t spend six years training someone who won’t survive six months in the field. It wasn’t sustainable. That’s why new strategies are so important. So far as I know, Colorado Springs is the first time we’ve had a better than fifty percent containment rate. We still have a lot of learning to do if we’re going to keep this from spreading.”
Lee looked grim. “What happens when we get a breach in India, or the Philippines, or anywhere else with a high population and no strong national defense?”
There was a brief silence. Avery didn’t return to her form, though she was almost done and was very eager to get out of the Containment Center. Even if it might mean flying off to some unknown location, to face death all over again. “I think that’s a question above my pay grade, sir. Maybe your boss has an answer to that.”
“I’m sure she does.” Eventually Lee slid the tablet across the table between them, clearing his throat. “Director Pierce asked me to give this to you.” He scanned one thumb on the reader, then pushed the tablet the rest of the way over to her. Government logos filled the screen, along with a prompt to scan her own finger. She did, and immediately the screen filled with briefing information. She read quickly, committing each screen to memory.
Her heart sank. “Why is it always the college towns?” She never would’ve dared be so frank with her own commanding officer, but Lee was not. “I know it’s a tragedy no matter who they target… our citizens are important no matter who they are… but one of these days couldn’t they go after a prison or something?”
Lee shook his head wistfully. “It’s a matter of demographics, Agent. So long as our enemy restrict themselves based on the interests of their victims, every attack is going to start around young people.”
“You don’t think…” She lowered her voice a little; after all, Avery knew full well she was treading into dangerous territory. Even thinking about extranormal events could be hostile to the mind, which was why they went to such lengths. “Maybe it isn’t a causal link? Sometimes it feels like we’re coming at this backwards. They aren’t targeting people to contaminate, they’re going after the ones that already are.”
Lee stiffened. “It’s been explored. About a year ago. We used a representative sample, and only 1% later developed signs of degradation. Not significantly greater than the population as a whole.” He sighed. “Whatever might be said of our understanding, we can be confident exposure to existing anomalies is the most likely mechanism of transmission. That’s why us here in Containment are very eager for you agents to track down where this whole mess is coming from. We can only build so many cells before we run out of space.”
“I’m not part of that conversation.” Avery rose, taking the pad under one arm, and gathering up the finished paperwork. “Talk to Director Pierce about it. I mostly just save kids.” Well, I try to save them. I don’t always succeed. She had only failed once on her last mission, when a terrified boy was snatched away from her near-rescue only feet from the admin building. There was no telling what had happened to him—there were far too many others for any of them to laser-focus on a single individual. She still wondered what the enemy did with the people they stole, wondered what their lives might be like. So far as she knew, in the year since the first incursion, not a single one had ever been recovered. God rest their souls. “If there’s nothing else, Lee, I suppose I have a plane to catch.”
“No.” He rose as well, and saluted. She returned the gesture. “Keep doing good work, Avery. You’ve already saved more lives than most of us. See if you can save a few more.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.037 seconds
Total duration
756 users online
944,752 hits today, 1,822,946 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
An interesting view from the government's perspective. One that doesn't make me hate their guts, to boot. They're trying to deal with something that they've never had to deal with before. Yeah, there might be better ways, but then we wouldn't have a story, now would we?
As I said. Government thinks that Equestrians are "bad guys" who steal "contaminated" people right out of the hands of the Agency.
Whatever people here might say, I'm on the side of the Government. Yes, Equestrians might have better understanding and captured by them may have better quality of life, but Equstrians want to break Earth, while government tries to save it, to maintain peace and order.
"Is bringing magic to Earth a bad thing?", Some may ask.
Yes, it is. Earth wasn't in contact with magic for thousands of years, we built oud civilization without magic and bringing it to a system where magic is not required will cause the system to go BOOOM, especially with modern people of Western Europe and North America. Earth doesn't need magic and government tries to hide existence of magic from the public.
Unfortunatly, ponies want to bring magic " 'cause it will make the world better". And a little spoiler: It won't.
Also, I already know who will be responsible for attacks in Casualties.
Equestrians
You're more right than you know, Agent Avery. Not sure exactly how Director Lee dismissed that theory.
Thinking about magic (or even seeing captured ponies without those peril-sensitive sunglasses) are risk factors to developing magic yourself? Damn, but that must make it pretty tricky to come up with a way to counter it! Their organisation has some real X-COM vibes going too.
Interesting that she doesn't think any captured people have ever been heard from again, while the pony side mentioned some people returning but usually not being heard from again from their side. Maybe anyone identified by agents before being picked up just assume they'd be in danger if they return, so they're never the ones who return?
Not everyone is bad....
This doesn't sound right...
Interesting...and it reminds me that we really don't know much about this story's Equestria yet, especially given that it seems to be established already that the show that aired in this universe, which I'm going to assume was more or less the same as in ours until shown otherwise, was launched from the Equestrian side as what could be uncharitably called propaganda on purpose.
I mean, just for starters, it sure so far sounds like these ponies discovered Earth at some point, felt sorry for us having to live without magic, and without so much as asking our permission decided to do something about that. Which if true -- and I am reserving the right to be way off target here -- would start faint Conversion Bureau warning klaxons in my head whether they "only" did it with the best of intentions (I mean, we all know where that particular road leads...) or not.
man... this gives a whole new perspective... but it looks like there wasn't even a chance at negotiations. Or, at least, with no one that would listen.
I'm getting some Human Preservation Initiative vibe from this chapter (did I remember that right?)
I just realised that Jacob and his friends hang out playing on computers. Me and my friends hang out at school and play on computers. But that's not all, one of my friends are named Eric!
Wait, they're imprisoning ponies until they find a cure? Are these ponies they captured humans turned into ponies, or ponies they simply think are humans turned into ponies? Are humans exposed actually turning into ponies, or is it simply a manifestation of magic and a few extra goodies they'll get, like their powers? The answer to that question is very important. One is significantly worse than the other.
I figured this was the government's stance on the issue. They're trying to fight back foreign invaders and keep the populace safe. They're worried these powers are an infection that's transforming humans. I agree with what they're doing to an extent. To them, keeping people safe is the priority, and apparently neither side has made contact with the other to discuss just what the hell is going on, which is a serious issue and is an increasing concern of mine. Why haven't they made contact with Earth? The fighting is only escalating and the further this goes the less each side will be willing to trust the other. That said, I can understand what the Equestrians are trying to do too. They're trying to keep their new people safe. However, I do think more of the blame falls on them than on Earth's government.
I really want to see an explanation from the Equestrian side of things. I can't imagine they did this without some forethought and no attempt to contact Earth. That seems way too stupid a move. I give them more credit than that.
7436089
And yet it also leads me to wonder if this whole situation could be resolved simply by Celestia showing up to formally establish diplomatic relations. Like Dash said, it seems to be their fault. They covertly altered the development of another species "for their own good" and kept themselves hidden.
There are a lot of ways for that to go wrong.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you How to Botch a First Contact Scenario #5: Secret Experiments on the General Population. This classic series will tell you everything you need to know to start your very own interstellar or interdimensional incident. Is the peaceful approach putting you to sleep? Tired of all those boring diplomats? Do you live for action and drama? Then get ready to start a war for the fate of the universe! Order yours today!
All sales are final. No warranties express or implied. Use of this product may cause headaches, nausea, vomiting, internal bleeding, external bleeding, or irreversible damage to your world, galaxy, universe, or the structure of reality. Do not use if you are pregnant or may become pregnant. Consult your doctor before using this product.
7582633 Meh. Frankly the whole situation could be resolved by nudging the orbit of the planet a few degrees off kilter and waiting. The thing about resolutions is, you never know if it's being resolved the best way it could be. A full-on first contact is irrevocable, so you have to be damn sure about how you do it. Also (since I'm still reading through) didn't Dash say "Bring magic back" or something to that effect? Seems more like they tried to fix something that went wrong and use that over a bonding point for a first contact. Enter on a high note, one might say. Apparently they didn't realize how xenophobic, hateful, and trigger-happy humanity is. I mean they sent ponies into combat without researching guns for goddsakes.
Something is getting very lost in the translation here. On one side, we have the Equestrians trying to keep their people alive and CLEARLY the feds are shooting to kill in pretty much every case, and then we have this one REALLY out of place scene with Avery acting like a human being. Avery has clearly killed people and seems to have few, if any, qualms about the fact they she and the other feds have brought innocent people to a facility where they were subjected to inhumane tests, disection, and death. What right does she have acting like she has a conscience? If she actually felt anything, she would fucking do something about it.
Hang on, something isn't right here. They said 'infected', but the only ponies we've seen are fresh from Equestria. So they must be imprisoning ponies who they've shed of their disguise. Not humans. Or I'm wrong.
7638260
Ponies are too happy for their own good
7816443
Fuckk youuuu
8881962
If you’re such a bicth about this then SHUT UP
Rereading through this, and duelling X-COMS is still a great hook.
9348477
Exactly what I thought. This chapter in particular reminded me a lot of Stardust.
7816443
Thats not how the government works one act of insubordination can have you fired and your drilled through bootcamp to listen to your commanders and i would assume in a secret facility like this to not think about it too much there are tons of willing recruits only the ones willing to submit get through which is most as those government benefits though
So, zero communication on both sides somehow. Scenario like this requires third side which prevents proper communication and hates magic in general (church)... orponies (changelings). But hell, they should be more secret service than government's secret service. Also Celly and Lulu being either retarded or MIA.
Mm, mm! Can you smell that fascism cooking.