Chapter 14 - Wrongs of the Past
Sometime later that night Arc and Rose return to the Jeep. Sliding into her seat Rose smiles.
“That was rather enjoyable.”
Arc yawns. “That was exhausting.”
Rose giggles. “Says the one whom got to just sit there and watch someone sleep?”
“It was hard work keeping my eyes open!”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
Arc sighs as he starts the vehicle. “Let’s just hope next time I’ll have a more interesting job to do.”
Rose raises an eyebrow. “You believe there will be a next time?”
“I can almost guarantee it, Rose.”
Xenos chuckles. Yeah. After all, this was just intel gathering.
Hugh nods. “Hopefully Doctor Knowles can actually do something with what you two found in there.”
Viktor groans. “If not, we’re back to square one.”
Max shudders. “Not a good place to be.”
Rose leans back in the seat. “Agreed.”
Arriving back at the house, Arc backs the Jeep into the driveway and lowers the garage door. Sighing, he turns off the engine as Rose looks to him, confused.
“Is something wrong, Arc?”
“I just… I don’t know.”
“Your plan worked perfectly though.”
“In and out without incident. Just like I wanted, yes. But… I still feel…”
Opening the door Arc gets out of the vehicle without another word. Rose follows him inside and down to the basement. The squad stands and salutes as Arc approaches them.
“How’d it go on this end?”
Viktor grins. “Perfect, sir.”
Hugh nods. “Couldn’t have been better.”
Xenos gestures to his monitor. “Other than the picture getting a bit dicey when you two went to the basement anyways.”
Max shrugs. “That couldn’t really be helped though.”
Rose pulls the flash drive from her pocket. “And I got this too.”
“Can you guys look it over?”
Rose appears confused. “Um… begging your pardon, Arc. But I don’t think that will be helpful.”
“Why not?”
“It’s medical readings. And as capable as they are, your team is not trained in such things.”
Max steps forward. “We’d be willing to give it a try though.”
Xenos grins. “Yeah. Worst thing that could happen is that we fail.”
Hugh motions to the printer. “Shall I print these documents up for you first, sir?”
“Please do. I’ll need to bring hard copies to Auriel’s mother back in Equestria.”
Rose sighs. “A shame their computers and ours aren’t compatible.”
Viktor nods as he and Hugh head over to the printer. “Can’t have everything.”
A few minutes later Arc takes two stacks of papers from Hugh.
“This one is everything on Miss Shelly, sir.”
Viktor points to the other stack. “And this is what we got on Bloodletter.”
“Thank you. I’ll run this back to Equestria. All of you get some rest now.”
They salute as Arc turns to Rose.
“Good work back there.”
“It was your plan that made this happen.”
“And you did your part perfectly.”
“Just trying to be helpful.”
Arc calls forth the Rainbow of Light and looks back to her. “Want a lift?”
“Um… if it’s all the same to you I think I’ll stay here and rest.”
“Suit yourself.”
Opening a portal back to Equestria, Arc steps through and vanishes from sight. Rose turns to Max.
“You didn’t say anything.”
Max looks away nervously. “He seemed to be in a hurry.”
“Are you sure that’s all?”
“I don’t know what you’re…”
Viktor narrows his eyes as he interrupts. “Really, Max?”
Hugh frowns. “We all saw what Rose did back there.”
Xenos folds his arms over his chest. “Yeah. And I get the feeling that was your idea.”
Max sighs. “That it was.”
Rose turns to the others. “Please don’t judge Max too harshly, everyone. He merely asked me to do something for him and I agreed.”
Viktor groans. “But the commander should know about it.”
Hugh nods. “After all, Miss Shelly and Miss Lily are his family.”
Max looks to Rose. “I’ll tell him when I can. Promise.”
“See to it that you do. Arc is a very understanding person. But less so if you keep things from him.”
Meanwhile, Arc reappears on the sigil in his quarters in Canterlot Castle. Heading for the door he hurries down the corridor toward Auriel’s room. Knocking lightly he waits to be admitted. A few moments later Auriel answers the door and smiles at him.
“Won’t you come in?”
Arc nods and steps inside. Auriel closes the door behind him as he looks around.
“Where’s your father?”
“He’s going over the daily reports with the palace staff in the Conference Room at the moment. As the king he still needs to take care of his duties before retiring for the night, after all.”
“That much I do understand.”
Auriel leads Arc over to her bed where Maria is resting peacefully propped up by pillows. A single light on the nightstand illuminates the dark room along with a roaring fire in the fireplace. Maria looks up from her book as Arc approaches with the papers.
“I trust you were successful?”
Arc nods as he holds out the first stack. “You tell me.”
Accepting the papers, Maria looks them over for a few moments wordlessly as she reads silently. Looking up, she turns back to Arc.
“Good work getting these. Can I assume there were no… complications.”
“No one questioned us, no. However there was one issue that you might be able to help me understand.”
Ariel appears confused. “Arc?”
He holds up the second stack of papers as he speaks.
“I saw another patient in there whom I’ve run into a couple times in the past.”
Maria frowns. “What does this have to do with Shelly?”
“Directly, nothing. However…”
Maria interrupts him. “Then let’s stay focused on the task at hand, shall we?”
Auriel clears her throat loudly. “Mother, if Arc viewed this as being important enough to risk blowing his cover to get these it’s worth looking into.”
“Very well. Tell me of this… subject.”
“He was injected with a strange substance by an agent of The Organization.”
“And?”
“It turned him into what I can only describe as… a werewolf.”
Maria frowns as she ponders this for a moment.
“A wolfman of sorts?”
Arc nods. “Yes.”
“Describe his human form.”
“Stereotypical biker leader. Hairy, wore leather, thought we was above the law, that sort of thing.”
“And after being exposed to this contagion?”
“He doubled in height, grew insane amounts of body hair, massive strength increase, canine teeth, eyes glowed slightly, claws...”
“So something out of a movie then.”
“Right.”
Auriel gasps. “Do you know how The Organization did such a thing, mother?”
Maria clutches a fist. “Rieper, that fool.”
Arc frowns. “Doctor Rieper?”
“You’re familiar with him?”
“Indirectly, yes.”
Auriel nods. “Arc outsmarted him when he attacked Damocles Base.”
Maria gasps. “You did WHAT?!”
Arc shrugs. “They were holding someone very important to this land. My team and I went in there to break them out.”
Maria raises an eyebrow. “Princess Celestia?”
Auriel smiles nervously. “I… told her the cliff notes.”
Arc sighs. “Yes.”
Maria bows her head. “How many… ponies did you lose doing that?”
“Several severe injuries, but no fatalities fortunately.”
“Impressive. That place is a fortress.”
Auriel grins. “Arc is VERY resourceful.”
“It was a team effort. One Auriel was an integral part of. But we’re getting off topic here. I believe you were saying something about Doctor Rieper, ma’am.”
“Yes indeed. But first you’ll need some backstory on that. You see… many years ago I was Rieper’s assistant. However I was soon given my own projects by the base commander, General Mustang.”
“Rieper was working on something called ‘Ascension’, right?”
“It’s a long, drawn out process by which a human can be infused with magical powers.”
“Things like telekinesis, flames, teleportation.”
Maria nods, clearly impressed. “You already know about that too?”
Arc Blinks to the other side of the bed before continuing.
“I’m familiar with magic, yes.”
Maria frowns. “Are you now?”
Auriel looks to her mother. “It was bestowed upon him by the Dragon Lord.”
“We’ll come back to that explanation another time then. In any case, Rieper was experimenting with different methods. At the time I was there it was a very crude process that took many long years of infusions to produce the vaguest hint of magical ability in a subject. However the general was very interested in other subjects he deemed of mutual importance to the Ascension Project.”
“So he put you in charge of them?”
“Yes. I made a number of advancements in both nanotechnology and DNA research. My idea was to create microscopic machines that could be injected into a subject’s body. Once inside they could be programmed to perform various medical tasks. Fighting bacteria and viruses alongside the white blood cells, destroying cancerous tissue, and even potentially being able to help the body maintain itself at the cellular level.”
Arc grins. “That would certainly be of great interest to both Earth and Equestria.”
Auriel nods. “And all the nations within!”
“So what stopped you?”
Maria sighs. “My sudden departure to the land know as Tartarus.”
“Where you met father. But how did you get there?”
“I was in Rieper’s lab one day at the behest of General Mustang. Believe me, back then an order was the only way to get me to help that cretin. Anyways, he had locked onto a source of magical energy with some kind of strange device. Unable to figure it out himself, he had asked the general to provide more... academic help to unravel the mystery. I was looking through his notes on the source when suddenly there was a strange hum. Somehow he had locked onto the source and was trying to open some kind of wormhole. Unfortunately that was right behind where I was working.”
Auriel gasps. “So he was trying to get rid of you, mother?!”
Maria nods angrily. “Yes. The last thing I saw before I was pulled into the energies was him grinning from the safety of the observation cell.”
Arc frowns. “I bet the general wasn’t too happy about that.”
“Probably not. At least he wouldn’t have been if he had learned the truth.”
“Mother?”
“Rieper has always been a slippery one. He’s easily been able to deflect blame for his mistakes onto someone else many times in the past. I can’t tell you how often I was blamed as his assistant when an experiment failed.”
Arc nods soberly. “So you think he blamed you for your own disappearance?”
“Most likely. The general was probably aware that he was lying, of course. However he couldn’t exactly get rid of Rieper with me gone. He’d have lost all of his research talent.”
Auriel grits her teeth. “You were removed from the equation and he became number one.”
Maria nods. “Clever of him, don’t you think?”
Arc frowns. “But how did you end up in Tartarus?”
“Some kind of magical experiment the demons of Tartarus were running at the time would be my guess. Rieper’s machine wasn’t very precise, so it just teleported me to the general area of the energy source. That was, fortunately for me, near the city of Vengeance. That was where I spent my time, and the king’s resources, trying to build a device that would allow me to return to Earth. As you can see I wasn’t able to do it. However with me gone Rieper had access to all my research data. He must’ve used my nanotechnology to somehow alter that biker’s body chemistry.”
Auriel gasps. “But how could small machines do that?!”
“My guess is that he combined them with some kind of magical essences to achieve his goals.”
Arc puts a hand to his chin thoughtfully. “What would they have used as a power source?”
“The body’s own resources most likely, as you described this change to be semi-permanent or ongoing. Either that or they contained a substance that was released into specific tissues to achieve the desired effect.”
“A chilling thought.”
Auriel appears relieved. “At least it’s not contagious though.”
Maria nods. “Not without a sizable blood transfusion, no. However I don’t have any clue how to help him as of now.”
Arc clenches a fist. “And Shelly?! Remember, I went in there to help HER! Not try to save Bloodletter!”
Maria pats the stack of papers as she speaks. “I’ll have to go over her files before I can answer that definitively.”
“How long will that take?”
“A couple of days. I’ll get started on it right away.”
Auriel narrows her eyes. “First thing in the morning you mean, mother.”
“I can do a bit more reading before we go to sleep, Auriel. Besides, Doctor Whooves told me I’d be out of this bed in a few days anyway.”
“Not if you set your recovery time back by not resting properly!”
Maria sighs. “Auriel…”
Auriel interrupts her. “That and father will be back soon. He doesn’t want you staying up too late either.”
“Then I shall just read until he comes back.”
“And if he is detained by a complicated matter? Please mother. These papers will still be here in the morning.”
Maria groans as she sets the papers on the nightstand next to her. “Very well. I’ll wait then.”
Auriel smiles as she picks up the stacks and heads for a nearby table. “Then you won’t mind these being over here.”
“Whatever for, Auriel?”
“So you won’t be tempted to get too early of a start. You can get to work after breakfast, and not a second sooner.”
Arc chuckles. “I’ll let you get your mother bedded down for the night then, Auriel.”
“Would you like to join us for breakfast, Arc?”
“Normally I would. However I already made plans to head over to Ponyville and inspect the town.”
“Twilight’s been wanting to do that for a while now. She just hasn’t had the time though.”
“That’s why I volunteered. It’ll give me a chance to spend the day with Derpy and Dinky while still taking some of the weight off of Twilight’s duty list.”
“And the others?”
“Probably not. After all, they’re all pretty busy helping get the town put in order. A million bugs to stomp as Rainbow Dash put it.”
Maria smirks. “Another town?”
“Yes, mother. It’s where Arc used to live with his family.”
Arc nods. “True. And hope to again soon. Well, goodnight Auriel. Rest well, ma’am.”
Maria nods silently as Auriel escorts Arc to the door. Laying back on the pillows she muses to herself silently.
“Arc’s… family? With ponies? Genetically that doesn’t make sense.”
She yawns and drifts off to sleep with one final thought.
“I’ll have to add it to the list of things to study. When I’m stronger, that is.”
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11428107
jeez, that was fast.
11428122
Translating is much faster than writing from scratch.
If she asked about that one she would learn a lot. And now I wonder if in some way she was connected to Celestia kidnapping. At least Celestia has play nice around her least she start a war upon the other soon to be wars that they have going. I wish she give up her grudge.
Poor Maria, she's just like Twilight (but without the Twilighting)
I wonder which bus Rieper is going to be thrown under?
Congratulations on reaching 3 million words
11428337
Screw the bus. Throw him under a train!