A Lone Ranger

by Fresnor

Chapter 5

“No way! I know that voice. But that means...” Spike turned to look at the mouse as she looked over the gemstone the voice had come from and the objects around it. She was surprised to find that it was still working, as well as the fact that nothing seemed to have been done to disable it. The dragon cared little for that as his mind tried to compute his realizations.

“You're THAT Lady Hackwrench!? One of the Big Ten!? Owner of Gadget, Co.!? One of the largest and oldest companies in Maretropolis!?” Gadget glanced over at the costumed dragon with a raised eyebrow before shrugging and turning back to examine the gem.

“Maybe? I mean I did start a toy company by that name with help from Gerald, but everything should have all gone to Gerald and his family after I disappeared. It is still run by the Brightfeather family, right?” She got a nod in response which caused her to rub at her chin before shaking her head in annoyance.

“Good old stubborn griffon loyalty. I guess it would have been too much to expect him to actually listen to me for once when I wasn't there, let alone when I am. Still, if they still claim that I own it, then that might make things easier depending on what all has changed over the years.” The mouse looked thoughtful while looking around at her lab and everything that was cobbled together for it. While she was distracted the voice on the other end continued.

“I guess that this was all pointless, just like I thought. It's not like some stupid rock is going to help me save the company.” The sound of an object impacting something at high speed came through the gem before a thumping sound followed it. Spike looked worried at the sounds before he turned to the mouse.

“Um, Gadget? Shouldn't you say something to her?” Hearing his voice, the mouse looked up in confusion before a look of understanding came over her.

“Oh right, that would probably be a good thing to do, wouldn't it.” She took a moment to compose her thoughts before she realized that she needed more information, and had the perfect way to get it. With a nod, she reached over to the gem and touched a mark engraved on a side facet before speaking.

“Ms. Brightfeather, please bring The Doll and all documents to the base of...” She glanced up at Spike for directions to where they were.

“Oh, right. We're at the top of the Harmony Tower.” With a nod, Gadget turned back to the gem.

“Bring it all to the base of the Harmony Tower, my associate and I will meet you there. Be sure to bring a vehicle so that we have privacy to speak.” There was only silence from the other side of the gem at first, but soon the two heard the sound of claws scrabbling over a wooden surface. Moments later the voice from the other side was back once again.

“Is that you, boss!? Oh, please tell me that this isn't a joke of some kind! You know what, screw it. I'm desperate enough to go, but if this turns out to be a joke then you dweebs are going to regret it!” The mouse blinked as the connection cut out as what she just heard sounded familiar for some reason. Shaking her head she turned towards Humdrum and raised an eyebrow when she found him staring at her in shock.

“Well? Aren't you going to go get changed? I don't think that you'd want to be going around in disguise for something like this.” Spike blinked a couple of times before he ran a claw over the back of his head.

“Um, are you sure that it's a good idea for me to come with you? I'm probably not going to be very welcome there since I'm seen with Twilight all the time.” Gadget nodded, before looking thoughtful.

“It should be fine, and I could use the help since I don't know the area very well. Also, you might want to grab a big hat or something to hide me with. It would probably be strange for you to be seen carrying me around.” The dragon opened his mouth to respond before looking down at his outfit. With a sigh, he shrugged as he ran off towards his room before pausing.

“Actually, you'd better come with since I have an exit in my room. All of the Power Ponies do so that we can come and go without our disguises being spoiled. It's even part of why Harmony Tower is so well known in Maretropolis. Whoever owns the place went through a lot of effort to make sure that nobody knows who comes and goes here, and there are even spells to hide the identity of anyone coming and going from here. The castle wasn't even here for a week before it was connected to the transfer spells.” The mouse raised an eyebrow at this and was somewhat impressed, though had to wonder about the spells being used. She was so distracted by her thoughts that she didn't notice that she was following the dragon and had entered his room until he tapped her on the shoulder, causing her to look up.

“So, do you think that this will be good enough to hide you?” She looked at the dragon, now divested of his hero costume, as he brandished a black top hat with a silver band.

“Hmm, that should be perfect. How long do you think it should take for her to get here?” Spike twirled the hat on a claw as he tried to imagine a map of the city.

“Well, if she started at your company and took a car it would take maybe fifteen minutes? So maybe twice that considering the time of day. It's still probably best to wait out there for her since she won't be able to enter the building unless she is escorted in or has a room here.” With a nod, Gadget scampered up his body to settle onto his head before he placed the hat over her. He tilted it back slightly which allowed her to peer under it if she bent down.

Watching through the gap between the dragon and his hat, she saw him walk towards a runic circle inscribed onto a metal plate. As soon as he stepped onto it, there was a flash of light and the two were no longer inside of the castle, but in a room full of metal plates on the ground floor. One of Gadget's eyebrows rose as she looked out from under Spike's hat as a transport system like this was not in use when she had vanished and wasn't on the show either. As she pondered the ramifications of such magi-tech, a disturbing thought came to mind.

“Um, Spike? If this place has an enchantment that makes it where you can't recognize others while here, how will we know when she gets here? In fact, how did I even recognize you up in the castle if it is there?” The dragon glances up at the brim of his hat before finding a bench outside of the building to take a seat on.

“I'm actually not sure about your second question. The castle probably isn't included in it, maybe? As for how we will recognize her, from what Twilight tells me there are a few different ways around it. She was getting a bit long-winded about it though so I mostly tuned her out, but I remember something about names and territory that can cancel it out.” The mouse frowned as she considered this as cars came and went, picking up and leaving passengers. She observed that there obviously was something to what he said as the blurred figures around them effortlessly traveled around with little hesitation. The mouse sighed as yet another thing was added to her list of things to research. She was starting to think that it was going to take months for her to catch up with what she had missed over the last thousand years. She was deep in thought when a black limo pulled up and a blurry figure stepped out. There was nothing special about either, yet unlike all the other figures, its voice rang out clearly across the area.

“Transportation for Lady Hackwrench!” With those words, the license plates on the vehicle became visible and the blurriness around the figure faded away revealing a female griffin that was familiar to the mouse. Tapping the dragon on the head, she called down to him quietly.

“Our ride is here, the black limo there on the left.” With a slight nod, Spike made his way over to the vehicle before opening the back door and climbing in. The griffoness noticed the figure move towards her vehicle and, after looking around to make sure nobody else was heading towards her ride, made her way around to the driver's side once again. Climbing in she prepared to leave with a sigh before glancing into the rear-view mirror and let out a squawk of surprise.

“You!? What are you doing here you little twerp!? What, trying and failing to buy her way into the company wasn't enough that she has to try and send her servant as a spy now!?” Spike just glared at her for the servant comment as he noticed her eyes in the mirror before grunting.

“Hey, it's not like I wanted to be here, Gilda. Twilight isn't even in Maretropolis right now. I'm here because of her.” The dragon pointed a claw to the side to another figure that was in the car, one he only now noticed, and the smaller one crawling all over it. The avian-hybrid with the purple-tipped feathers looked over and her jaw dropped at what she was seeing.

“Um, Gadget? Should you really be crawling all over that mare?” While the griffoness was distracted by the dragon, Gadget had scurried over and was examining the earth pony sitting in a seat in the corner opposite Spike. The mare's mane and fur just happened to match Gadget's, and Spike had to admit that she almost looked like the mouse in pony form somehow. Yet, through it all the tiny furry femme ignored the others as she examined the mare.

“Yes. Yes, this is perfect. Just like how I designed it, I think. Now, where did they hide the access trigger.” As she poked around the motionless pony, Gilda stared in shock between the two in the back seat before pointing a talon at the mouse.

“I'm really seeing that right? Please tell me you were lying and that your annoying mistress is hiding somewhere nearby?” Her words earned another glare from the purple dragon until he shook his head.

“Nope, she's not here and there really is a talking mouse there.” His response caused the griffoness to run her claws through her purple-tipped feathers before she slammed her head onto the steering wheel of the limo. The noise broke the mouse out of her fixation causing her to look between the two others in the vehicle.

“Um, did I miss something?” Gilda groaned at the sound of her voice as she threw her head and body back into her seat.

“Oh, nothing much. Just the fact that you being here just proves that my mother was right and she is probably laughing at me from wherever she is now. Ugh, she even had old blurry pictures with what I thought was a purple smudge on them but actually could have been you. She just wouldn't stop talking about those or the secret messages she kept finding in some dusty old journals which were marked by the secret maker's mark that are in all the Hackwrench designs. I never believed her since I never could find anything like the mouse symbol we found on all of the plans.” The mouse smiled as she heard that her little trick had only been partially discovered.

“So you never found the double-R that I hid in everything I created as well? The mouse was really just an accident that my friends told me to keep using. I think Gerald was the only one to even notice the one I intentionally used, but then he was obsessed with secret codes and spy games.” Gilda looked thoughtful as she remembered an oddity she had seen in the old family journals. While she had never been able to find a mouse of any sort in it, she did remember seeing typos in it, almost all of them being extra 'r's. At the moment, Gadget leaned against the mare and felt the flesh give a little under her shoulder. Looking back she noticed the indent with a smile.

“Ahh, there it is.” Turning around, the mouse placed both hands on the depression and began to push on it. While Gilda knew the secret, Spike was curious about what was going on with the mare and when her chest started to pop open his jaw dropped. Folding outwards from the top, just below the neck, a set of stairs was revealed leading up to a small chamber full of gears, levers, and wheels.

“What in the world?! Is that a robot?!” Glancing over as she ascended the stairs, Gadget pulled herself into the chamber and began to strap herself into the seat inside of it.

“Well you could call it that, but it is closer to a clockwork doll than anything, hence why I asked for Gilda to bring the doll with her. From what I can see here, everything is just like I designed it. I just hope it is as easy to pilot as I hoped it was.” Pulling on a lever the mouse set the entrance to close up, leaving her inside of the mechanical pony and the other two in the car to themselves as the body slowly started to twitch and slowly move around. While she was getting used to moving in it, Gilda glanced at the young dragon before she sighed and started to drive the vehicle off towards their destination.

“Well once you are done with that, everything else you asked for is in the briefcase on the floor. I still can't believe that that thing is almost a thousand years old. The family always called him Crazy Gerald for building that, but I always thought that it was some prototype of a giant mech or something. It's kind of scary how close I actually am, just only for a smaller creature.” The griffoness glanced up at her rear-view mirror at her boss before focusing back on the road. Spike was busy gaping at the pony before he shook his head and looked between the driver and the other passenger.

“Soooo. Just what is it that you need help with, anyways? I mean, Twilight has always been trying to get something on your company but I've never heard anything about you having any sort of problems.” He leaned back in his seat when he heard Gilda begin to growl before she slammed one of her claws onto the steering wheel.

“It's those feathering pluckers that make up the current board of directors. Ever since I took over the company those jerks have been undercutting every order I've given but it wasn't until recently that they started to actively work against me. It was only a couple days ago that I was informed that I was being removed from my position as head of the company despite it being against everything the company was built around. They claim that because the Hackwrench's have not contacted the company in decades that their control of the company means nothing. None of this would have happened if mom was still around.” Spike frowns as he hears this and looks out the window, his thoughts drifting back in time.

“Right, I read about that incident a couple years back and how you managed to find who did it. Better than being responsible for killing your parents.” He hadn't meant to say the last part too loudly, but it was still high enough for the griffin to hear.

“What do you mean by that, huh? I don't remember hearing anything like that and I've had some of the best look into you and your handlers past.” He winced at the question before glancing over to the disguised mouse, who had managed to control the doll enough to start going through the briefcase, before sighing.

“You wouldn't have found anything since everything about the incident was sealed. It was a few years back when we were all on a camping trip out in the mountains. They never told me what exactly happened after I blacked out, but when I came to Twilight was holding me and both of our parents were dead with our older brother was heavily injured. Whatever happened though, I know it was all my fault as I could still smell the blood on my hands. They tell me it wasn't my fault, but I could tell that I was the one to kill them from how they looked at me ever since then.” Gilda was speechless at hearing this as she didn't know how to respond to something like that. Sure she had gotten justice for her own parents, but to hear someone actually killing their own and not knowing how? It was nearly unthinkable.

“I would guess that Celestia had something to do with why nothing about that had gotten out.” The voice surprised the dragon as he looked over towards the mechanical pony as it sounded just like Gadget, just from the large body.

“Um, yeah. But how did you know that?” The pony form imitated a shrug, after a few attempts to get it right, as she flipped over a page.

“Mostly a guess, but it makes sense. She may not be a princess anymore, but she still has been around for a long time so who knows what all she has control of or who she has contacts with. Still not sure what all is going on in this timeline, but there seem to be at least a few things that match up and I'd bet that Twilight being one of Celestia's students would be one of them.” Spike stared at her for a moment before he slowly shook his head in exasperation.

“You know, for someone that has been gone for over a thousand years you sure do know a lot about the personal lives of others. It's actually kind of creepy.” While they couldn't see it, Gadget blushed out of embarrassment and made a note to try and not make note of what she knew until she had more of a grasp on what the current history really was.

“Creepy or not, do you think that any of that knowledge will help out with those ponies trying to steal your company? There's a profile on each of them in those documents but any little secrets you know about them could help.” Gadget paused for a moment before she shuffled through the papers until she found the list of all the members of the company. Running a hoof down the page she scanned through it all carefully with a frown.

“Hmm, unfortunately none of the names are familiar for the board members. Though the head of the accounting department is one I recognize.” Her hoof had stopped on the name which only happened to appear in one episode that she could remember, yet was a decently important character for the time.

“What? You mean Silver Shill? Not sure why you would know that dweeb. I would say he was completely harmless after meeting him. If I didn't know that he had been convicted of a bunch of crimes in the past and was chosen specifically by one of the board members. Not sure how he even did all those crimes with how timid he is.” Inside her doll, the mouse smiled in thought as a small plan began to form in her mind.

“In the timeline I remember, he was just a pawn for a pair of con-artists before they were caught. I'd be willing to bet it was much the same here, or at least be worth taking a look at. It's hard to say what transfers over and what doesn't really. For example, I knew of Gilda, but not much beyond her going to school with Rainbow Dash, and most likely Fluttershy, before something caused them to split up for a long while.” At hearing the names, the griffoness jerked and swerved the vehicle a bit before regaining control once more. She glanced back at her boss in the mirror with a quirked eyebrow once she was back on course.

“You know, the little dweeb is right about that being creepy. I haven't seen Dash for a few years now, not since her accident at the plant that paralyzed her. After that, she didn't really want to see anyone, not even her friends. As for Fluttershy, I wish I didn't see her as often as I did. She's one of the biggest pains that your company has to deal with.” Spike snorts as he crosses his arms in front of him.

“What, you too? You wouldn't believe all the projects Twilight had to shut down because of her, not that that was always a bad thing. I still think the whole shy routine she puts on most of the time is an act, nobody that shy would go of like she does.” As the two began swapping stories about the problems that crop up within the respective company they work for, Gadget started to organize the documents before her while coming up with a plan to deal with the problems she heard of and was seeing. Soon the limo pulled into an underground garage of a large building before stopping in a wide space meant for the vehicle they were in. Once it stopped, and the griffon had turned off the engine, she turned back to her passengers.

“Well, here we are. I honestly didn't think you were going to answer as fast as you did, or at all really, so we still have a couple hours until those leeches gather for the meeting. So, what's the plan?” Gadget finished organizing everything and put all of the paperwork back into the briefcase before looking up at Gilda with a smile.

“That's perfect then. I'll fill you in as we go up but there is one last thing I need to do once we're inside before everything is ready.” She may have been out of action for a thousand years, and much of her knowledge was now out of date, but there was one thing that didn't change. When the Rescue Rangers were called, Gadget would be there to find a way, no matter what.

Author's Note:

Hey, look at that. A new chapter. I planned to go a bit further than this, but this feels like a good point to split the chapter.

Comments

[HeroOfVillians]

... I mean, It's a Displaced fic, so previous experience says I should stay away from it since it will probably be incredibly cliche with Mary Sue/Gary Stu characters, bad grammar, needless crossovers with other Displaced fics, and will probably never be finished.

On the other hand, I HAVE read a few pretty good Displaced fics in the past, even if they are incredibly rare, and this one has Gadget Hackwrench in it...

What the hell, I'll give it a shot.

Edit: Have now read the story, and I can honestly say that I am pleasantly surprised. The only issues I have are that it is sometimes hard to tell who is talking, and at times there is not a lot of detail. How big is the tree the Ranger's headquarters is built into? How big is the interior of the base, and what does it look like? What does the still functional equipment in the base look like/what do they do/how do they work? Also, you seem to gloss over the characters moving from one area to another. If I skim or otherwise don't fully read one or two sentences they seem to teleport, and I can quickly become lost as to what is happening (or I'm just really tired, that could be a contributing factor as well).

Still an enjoyable story though even with those issues, definitely gonna be following this.

[Fresnor]

9523629
I'll have to look into some of those issues, but as for everything dealing with the headquarters? Well, that will be coming up in a future chapter, especially as there is another name the building has gone by which will explain quite a bit.

[Asolem2]

Author's Note:

Hey, look at that. A new chapter. I planned to go a bit further than this, but this feels like a good point to split the chapter.

Looking forward to seeing where this goes

[Twilight_Shimmer]

very interesting, i look forward to more!