In the Days That Followed

by shallow15

STORM Warning

“Is it contained?” asked the tall, regal looking purple woman in the slim black suit. A bright red crest of hair sprouting from the center of her skull flopped over one eye, looking incongruous with the rest of her head, which was closely shaved on both sides.

Across the way, several men and women dressed in black combat fatigues stood guard around a large truck. One of them slid a restraining bar across the door in the back of the truck. He turned and nodded. One of the women nodded in return and faced the woman in the suit.

“Secured and ready for transport, Agent Shadow.”

Tempest Shadow, senior field agent for the Specialized Taskforce Overseeing Remarkable Matters, nodded. “Good. Transport it to the Vanhoover station. We can relocate it to the Arctic from there.”

The woman saluted and barked orders for the team to move out. Tempest straightened her jacket and walked back to her car. As she thumbed the key fob to unlock the doors, a slow cello rhythm began emanating from her pocket. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, and sighed when she saw the name on the caller ID. She swiped the screen to answer.

“Tempest Shadow,” she said.

“Tempest!” The voice was angry, male, and had a faint tinge of whining. Tempest rolled her eyes. While she appreciated the relative freedom she had to operate thanks to him, actually talking to Director Stormking put her teeth on edge,every time.

“Yes, Director. I'm here.”

“Are you in Canterlot City? Because I got your latest report, and you know what I'm not seeing? You anywhere near Canterlot City! What the hell are you doing?”

“Finishing up my current case in Caneighda, sir,” Tempest answered. “I've already started making calls to Canterlot and I'll be heading down there in the next couple of days.”

“When I gave you this assignment, I expected it to be your top priority, agent!”

“Yes, sir, but then we had this come up and you wanted me to help with the clean up here.”

There was a moment of silence, then: “Right. Yeah. I did say that, didn't I?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Fine fine fine,” the director said dismissively. “Finish up, but then get your ass down there. According to our intel, things have been quiet for almost a week. If we don't get on this now, the trail's going to go cold.”

“Like I said, sir, I've made some calls. No bites yet, but I'll keep on it until I can get there.”

“Good. One thing. We got more on one of the tall chicks with the laser hands.”

Tempest's teeth clenched and she rubbed the bridge of her nose. Do not correct him. That is not your job. That is HR's job. Just let him talk, and then you can go find something to punch.

“What's that, sir?”

She heard the sound of pages being turned. The Director hated computers and insisted on getting hard copies of everything. Yet another thing that made life difficult for everyone who served under him.

“Ah, here we go. Last Saturday, reports of laser woman blasting the hell out of a dress shop. And guess who witnesses also said were there?”

“The girls with the horse ears.”

“Bingo! Witnesses also reported weird lights behind the high school later that night. Odds are pretty good they're related. Get me answers, Tempest.”

There was a pause and Tempest swore she could hear the grin spreading across her superior's face

“And I'll get you the answers you want,” he finished. Tempest unconsciously raised a hand to the eye hidden by her hair. Her fingers traced the scar that cut across it, feeling the dry and coarse skin.

“I'll be there in two days, sir. Just need to finish up the paperwork here.”

“Good. I want a preliminary report by Monday. Don't disappoint me, Tempest. I don't like being disappointed.”

The call ended. Tempest frowned at the screen, then dialed another number. Another male voice answered. This one much more casual, and with a pronounced lisp.

“THTORM Intel. ID and Thecurity Clearanthe, pleath.”

“Senior field agent Tempest Shadow. Security clearance: violet.”

“Oh, hey, Tempetht! How'th it goin' up there?”

Tempest suppressed a sigh. How Grubber was still part of the intel department was beyond her. He never seemed to do much but sit at his desk, downing sweets all day.

“Fine, Grubber. Things are wrapped up here, but then I'm moving onto Canterlot City. Any pings in that area?”

“One thecond.” She heard keys typing, Grubber humming some formless tune, and then some kind of squelching noise. “Aw, darn it. Hang on, I dropped my donut. Jelly all over the keyth... ew.”

Tempest's lip curled up in disgust. She was so glad he wasn't the anchor around her neck in the field anymore. She considered it a minor miracle his transfer to a desk job came before she strangled him.

“Any time, Grubber.”

“Well, nothin' here that the Director hathn't already told you. But, thomething interethting happened here.”

“Yeah?” Tempest quirked an eyebrow.

“We came up on a dark web chat room. Thomebody wath athking questhtionth about uth. Thomebody everybody from the NSA to the FBI thought wath long gone.”

“Who?”

“We haven't confirmed, but the handle wath 'NightmareMoon.'”

Tempest frowned. “Remind me why I know that name?”

“The ForeverNight viruth. The one that cauthed the Manehattan blackout about fifteen or tho yearth ago.”

“Right. And they run the risk of getting caught to ask about us?”

“Lookth like it. Dunno why, though. One of the NSA guyth was in the room undercover, but they kicked him. By the time he wath able to get back, NightmareMoon wath gone.”

Tempest frowned. A mall rampage, then the new sightings at the dress shop. Unusual lights behind the high school. And now, just after she had begun making phone calls, a legendary hacker suddenly reappears, asking about STORM.

Tempest had seen plenty of strange and unusual things in her career, and as such, she liked to believe she had an open mind and was willing to entertain just about any possibility. One of the few things she did not believe in was coincidence.

Her phone calls had sent up a warning flag to someone. Maybe NightmareMoon themselves. If someone was trying to get information on STORM, then that meant they had something to hide. Something involving a group of girls with horse ears and wings, perhaps?

Tempest smiled. A slow, sinister smile that had made many of STORM's enemies and more than one of her fellow agents cringe in fear. Someone was opposing her, and Tempest was never happier than when she faced opposition.

This is going to be fun.

Comments

[Speedy Silverstreak]

This is seriously gonna bite STORM in the ass when this is over.

And to think S.H.E.I.L.D had a better job with Robbie Reyes.

[Machine]

You got that right.

[MrAskAPirate]

Welp, now we know Luna's hacker contact sold her out; the 'NSA guy that got kicked' never saw her mention STORM,

[reboot-this-pc]

Oooooohhh did gon be gud
*pulls popcorn from portal dimenton*

[Csquared08]

Oh man, this is gonna be a fun time.

[SilverDiamond]

8764850
Nevermind that NOBODY ELSE knew about NMM's question. It was in PRIVATE CHAT with... Let me check... "CacoPhonee". The only one, who KNOWS what NMM was ASKING about. Either that, or he, himself was careless, but extremely not likely. Seems like he sold her out. Welp, not good.