Chapter 4
“Yeah?” She glared at him. “I’d like to see you do better with five hundred cash and two hours’ notice!” She parked abruptly, then gestured at the circle of chairs. “You wait here, it’s safe. I have to go out and rescue more of you clueless ponies.”
He didn’t open the door, instead glaring up at her. “I think I’m owed a little more than that. After… possibly looking like an accomplice to… whatever you’re doing.” It wasn’t that he believed anything Agent Avery had said, not yet. This warehouse might be shady, but it didn’t look that secure. He could probably knock down several sections of wall if he shoved hard enough.
“Yeah.” Harley rolled her eyes. “How about this: play dumb. If they catch you, the only thing that will keep you safe is not claiming you saw anything you shouldn’t have. Act shocked, act afraid and confused, and do more of that vomiting stuff. If you can convince them you’re not ‘contaminated’ then you’re not in danger.” She revved the engine, flicking one hand towards the door again. “Now, get out. I’ve got six more names on my list here, and they aren’t going to save themselves.”
He didn’t get out. Not that he wasn’t tempted. Maybe complying would mean he would be safe in the next few hours. It might even protect him from legal liability, since so far he hadn’t actually done anything. He could very well claim he had been kidnapped if he got caught now. This was the moment of decision: he could either help the ones who had (so far) shown him literal magic, or the ones who claimed to be protecting him from them. He didn’t take very long to make up his mind. “I could help you. So I can’t fight, and I can’t do… magic. Obviously not. But I know the people you’re trying to save. Go alone, and there’s a good chance they won’t cooperate. Bring me, though…” He shrugged one shoulder. “They’ll cooperate. Plus you can explain what’s actually happening on the way.”
Harley didn’t look annoyed. If anything, she seemed impressed. “You sure about this, kid? Ponies get killed doing this. You’ve got no obligation to help when you don’t even understand.”
He nodded. “When you got me away from the admin building, about a dozen people pulled guns and started shooting at us. Both of us. That’s a pretty funny way of protecting me, like they claimed. I guess… I guess what I’m saying is I believe you. You’ve shown me things I can’t explain, they only tried to arrest me. I think I know who’s side I’m on.”
“Alright kid, let’s save some lives.” She held up a phone for him to see. “You know any of these names?”
He took it, scrolling through half a dozen pictures. They had names and some had addresses, though not all. “Yeah, I know all of them. Since… they’re my friends and all.” He dug out his own phone, holding it vaguely up in her direction. “I have most of their numbers in here, and quite a few addresses, but I don’t know where all of them live.” Like any club, Jacob was closer to some of its members than others. None of his closest friends in the club were in the file, and neither was his own name. Why did she rescue me if I wasn’t on her list?
“Who do you think would be up this early?”
He held up the screen, showing the face of an older member without an address. “This guy lives in a complex near mine, and he’s always up. Probably studying something by now.”
“Good. Give me directions.” She swerved back around, to the automatic door, and slipped back out onto the road. He started to direct her, pulling out his phone as he did so. Grab supplies for an adventure and be ready to leave in ten, he sent.
Eric’s response came in seconds. You want to go downtown again before club?
Sortof, he responded. It’s more serious. If you have anything super important, bring it.
Is Danielle coming?
She hadn’t been on Harley’s list. She’s invited. You should text her, she’ll probably be more willing to come if you do. She seriously needs to be ready, though. This is urgent.
Ok.
Jacob looked up from his texting. “You know, I could send out a message to the whole group with this. If we’re in danger, I could warn everybody all at the same time. Maybe send out a notification to come to that warehouse…”
“No!” Harley pushed the phone violently down into his lap. “I promise they’re watching everything to do with your ‘club.’ We don’t need an army waiting for everyone we try to rescue.”
“Hmm.” Jacob frowned, then fiddled with his phone, switching off his GPS. Just in case. “What about… I could tell them the meeting was canceled. Warn them not to come to campus. Maybe… let them know to get away from home and act inconspicuous. Something like that.”
Harley looked contemplative. “Would they believe you?”
He wouldn’t have believed himself if he had heard the full story of what he had experienced. “No. But… I bet I could get the president to cancel the meeting. Tell him… our room’s taken by a conference on campus, or something. He’d believe me about that. Wouldn’t it be better if people stayed home instead of wandering into danger like I did?”
She nodded. “Sounds like a smart lie to me. You sure there aren’t holes in your legs I can’t see?”
He rolled his eyes and got to work with his message, though it only took some of his concentration. With the rest of it he kept focused on Harley and her driving. “So, you call everything ‘ponies.’ Even people who clearly aren’t.”
“I knoooooowww.” Her words stretched with exasperation. “It’s infuriating, isn’t it? Live around them long enough and they’ll get you doing it, even though you know it doesn’t make sense. Less now than ever.”
He grunted in response at the unhelpful answer, then pressed the “send” button to President Tim, then looked up again. They were almost to where Eric lived, already passing through residential areas where speed was restricted to half of the usual. He kept his eye out for more of those unmarked, black cars, but couldn’t see any. Thank God. “So where did you people come from, anyway? Please don’t say Equestria.”
“I’m not from Equestria.” Harley’s hand tightened on the wheel, her movements becoming a little more jerky. “I’d rather not explain the whole thing right now, kid. I’ll just have to do it again once we find the rest of our names.”
Jacob really wanted to argue. Harley’s angry expression convinced him not to, in the end. He had never seen her look this angry before, not even when she had got them away from the agents. He didn’t probe. “More practical question, then.” He dug out the wand, holding it up for her to see. “Twilight called this a wand. I saw you use one earlier, too. I didn’t think it worked that way.”
“She gave you one?” Harley softened immediately once he changed subjects, staring openly at it. “Shit, you must be way less pathetic than you look.”
He folded his arms. “That doesn’t really answer the question.”
Harley rolled her eyes. “You see a horn on either of us? No. That’s why.”
“Oh.” He turned it over in his fingers, observing again how much like a horn the wand really looked. It was clearly made of wood, yet it could’ve come off the head of a unicorn. Or… well, no. Maybe an Alicorn’s horn. “I guess things are more egalitarian than the TV show? If anyone can just use one of these…”
“Unfortunately not. That propaganda you’ve been watching all this time got plenty wrong, but none of the basics. If a pony can’t cast spells, giving them a wand won’t let them.” He opened his mouth to question, but she shushed him before he could get any words out. “You’re human, kid. Your rules are different. Generally your rules are not doing magic ever.”
“I think I did some last night.”
“Really?”
He nodded. “I think I lit a Timberwolf on fire. I think it was me, anyway.”
Harley looked sidelong at him from the driver’s seat, then nodded. “I could see it. The princess could’ve been leading you on, but that isn’t really her style. She wouldn’t have a reason to get you thinking you can do things you can’t. Maybe that means you can pull your weight on this rescue team after all!”
He pocketed the wand again, glaring. “Whatever. See if I don’t save the whole club by getting the meeting canceled. Save them from… something.” He gestured to a set of apartments. “That’s the one, Harley! Get us to the building by the pool.” He fumbled with the phone again, texting, I’m waiting with a friend in a Beetle by the curb. Get out here ASAP.
Harley pulled the car up along the red curb, though she didn’t put it into park. She raised her hands defensively. “I wasn’t being serious, kid. Honestly, you’ve already done more than several of the ponies I’ve been partnered with. Just keep the trend going until we’re riding home safe.”
She jerked suddenly on the wheel, with such force that he found the fear returning. They didn’t actually go anywhere though, and as he looked around he could see only Eric coming down the sidewalk towards them, rolling a suitcase along behind him. “Does this guy own a general store or something?”
“No, but he usually brings board games to the club. Guess he assumed we were still going to make it.”
“I thought you said you could get the meeting cance—” She didn’t finish, because at that moment Eric pulled the door open and clambered in. Eric looked like someone who had been bullied in high school, skinny and dark-haired and short. He still had that sound to him, like he hadn’t quite learned how to make ordinary conversation.
“Hey Jacob.” He shoved the suitcase in in front of him, then snapped the door shut. “Who’s your friend?”
“Harley,” she answered for herself, before revving violently backward. So much that Eric looked a little uncomfortable. He was too shy to actually protest. “Welcome to the escape van.”
“This isn’t a van,” he responded, as though he might genuinely believe she didn’t know. Jacob caught a confused glance, as though he were trying to ask: “Should we be here?”
Jacob nodded as emphatically as he could. “Will Danielle be ready?” They started driving again, and he resumed giving directions, pointing Harley towards the other end of town.
“Yeah.” Eric frowned at the messy car all around them, with its ripped fabric seats and questionable stains. “What’s this adventure about, anyway?”
“You didn’t even tell him?” Harley glared sidelong at him. “Seriously?”
He shook his head, then looked back. “We’re, uh…”
“Saving your damn lives from lifetime imprisonment or maybe outright dissection,” Harley finished, speeding a little in her annoyance as they got back onto a main road. “You know, not like you should’ve been told how important it was or anything.”
“You didn’t even tell me that.” He matched her glare without nervousness or shame, then looked back. Poor Eric looked like a mouse with nowhere to run. “Look, it would be crazy to explain right now. It’s… there was a shooting on campus, okay? The bad guys are targeting us. Like, our club specifically. I still don’t know why… but Harley here saved me. They might know where we live, so we’re trying to get as far away as possible.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” He looked back, meeting Eric’s eyes. There was no need to lie or even stretch the truth after getting shot at himself back on campus. “Unfortunately.”
“Was that so hard?” Harley shoved him, so hard he almost dropped his phone. “If you’re going to join a rescue team, you’ll have to get used to giving ponies bad news.”
“Ponies,” Eric repeated, and they both ignored him.
“I didn’t say anything about joining.” He rolled his eyes. “We’re almost there. See those identical gray houses coming up? She lives in the last one in line. The one with… six police cars out front…”
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The buildup in this story is very nice. We're getting just the right bits of additional info to keep me interested without making it frustrating and let's me wild-ass guess as to what's really going on.
Nice to see you still have that unhealthy obsession with cliff hangers...
nooooooooooooooo.com/vader.jpg
Hmm, interspecies alliance then.
I actually flashed back to the climax of your FIO story. You really do this on the run thing well.
7413486
With the bad attitude, my money's on her being a griffon.
Wait. I miscounted. It's actually 60 police cars.
...
Curse you cliffhanger.
I'm just constructing a headcanon, and you can't stop me!
7413810
Gilda? Gilda.
7413810 Ten bits on her being human.
7412365
I'm glad I waited till the complete tag before starting this one
They're after him and he was just in a shoot out. Ofcourse they'd check any outgoing messages from his phone! You can tell he's new at this whole staying hidden thing
This is fascinating to read in the wake of Child of the Invasion. Glad I'm finally taking the time to get through it.