Strange Circumstances
Luna snapped awake. Something felt strange.
She looked around her room, searching for something. The tall armoire against the wall glistened around its gilding in the sunlight, which was normal.
The drapes, bed curtains and bed covers were a somber midnight blue, slightly cast in shadow, which was also normal.
The glittering chandelier, rows of books, writing desk, dresser drawers, tea table, numerous chests, balcony windows, stand mirror and punching bag all stood idle and as they had been before she had fallen asleep. Everything, it seemed, was normal.
Luna rolled out of bed. It was still daylight out; so why, she wondered, had she awoken? She hadn't awoken for the recent insurrection, much to her embarrassment, so why had she stirred from her slumber now? Had it been a nightmare? Tsk, that seems highly unlikely, she thought.
Though drowsy, Luna felt something.
A knock sounded at Princess Luna's door. Who could that be at this ungodly hour? She grumbled, she had already been awake however, so she wasn't angry per se.
Princess Luna responded to the knock while donning her regalia. "YES WHO IS-?" She coughed, having nearly burst into the traditional Royal Canterlot tone. Abandoning the old habits was slow going for her. "I mean, yes who is it? Tia?"
A muffled voice came through the door. Even unopened she knew as they spoke that it was not her sister. "Your Highness! Princess Celestia beckons you to make haste; she awaits you at the royal observatory!"
Luna blinked and a frown creased her face.
The observatory?
The odd feeling was forgotten.
***
I'm an astronomer for pities sake, I'm not built of very sturdy stuff. Professor Lense wrung his hooves over one another nervously as his thoughts sought, and failed to calm himself down. The Princess had been peering through the royal telescope the last several minutes, after rushing in with a full squad of guardsponies and scaring him half way to an early grave. Keep it together Brass Lense, she's obviously not here to arrest you. Oh, I knew sea otter fights were a bad hobby to start-
The nervous stallion's eyes darted to a guard in worry as he coughed. I'm too old for scares like this. Surprising as all this was, that also paled next to how odd it was for him. He had to wonder, why does she even have need of Canterlot's largest telescope during the day time?
Without looking from the astronomical tool, the princess spoke suddenly and sternly. "Professor Lense."
"Oh! Uhm, yes my lady Princess?" Well that was eloquent; I am no good with formalities! Professor Lense had never seen her act this deadly serious. Point in fact, Celestia’s eyes were stern and cold as she turned to face him; the old stallion froze under their scrutiny and gulped audibly.
Without responding to his obvious nervousness she looked away from him once again and back to the massive telescope. "...Just Princess will do my little pony." She replied in a taciturn voice. "Please, tell me what you see."
Hesitantly, he shuffled over to the viewer of the scope and peered through. It takes a moment before it focuses, and when it does, his jaw drops out of pure disbelief. What is that!?
"Well?" Celestia prompts the old stallion.
"I... I don't know my Princess, it's... it's a moon I believe, during the day. Has Princess Luna turned o-?"
Princess Celestia answered him swiftly. "No, this is not my sister's doing. It is something far worse, judging from what I've already gathered..." She sighed, and inhaled deeply before staring up at the sky towards the barely visible celestial outline of a foreign sphere, hanging in her dear Equestrian sky. The sight barely peeked through the roof's opening.
After a moment, Celestia spoke once more. "And that, is no moon." She stated dramatically.
......
Professor Lense shifted his eyes uneasily at the guards, then back to her. For some reason he couldn't quite put his hoof on things, but it had felt like that statement was building up to something... But the Princess just stood there, watching the orb... So, he prepared to say something. "Princess, I-"
Instead, the door burst open suddenly, admitting an out of breath Princess Luna to the room.
"Actually sister, I'm afraid it is a moon."
The unicorn's eyes shot open. She couldn't move. There were lights, so many lights all around. She tried squinting against them to see where she was, but still could not make out the surroundings. After a moment, she realized there was oddly no pain in keeping her eyes open against the brightness.
They took in the white light, bright as a sun and from a dozen separate sources with ease. Am I...dead? Could this be the afterlife? I've always pondered what that might be, exactly. It was, after all, one of life's great mysteries. Even Celestia had admitted to not knowing to her, once. The mare couldn't remember, but that thought about death in and of itself did not seem normal to her at all. Why am I considering that I could be dead? The last thing I remember is...is... She tried to scrunch her face while thinking, and it felt incredibly stiff and uncomfortable, adding onto the mystery.
The feeling that a lot of time had passed since she was last awake, was also unmistakable, even to her dazed mind.
Focusing, the immobile pony concentrated on recent events, trying to remember back to just before she'd been awake. She thought of Ponyville, what she'd had for breakfast last...her friends and family. While trying to remember something, anything, she tested her limbs, they remained in front of her and restrained despite her best efforts. In fact, her body was actually lying on its back—the realization of that had taken a moment. As she was, she unable to do much of anything—her head couldn't even move.
"My, oh my!" Her ears managed to twitch towards the voice, this was also the first response she had gotten out of her body.
"It's awake, Georges, take a look at this, the specimen's awake." The lights dimmed significantly as the voice spoke.
The restrained pony blinked, and looked up into the face of the strangest thing she had ever seen. Its eyes were not of any creature she was familiar with, they were smooth and unmoving, without any pupils. In addition, it had strange ridges and ribbed tubes running all along its head. Its mouth...? Well it had no mouth, it spoke without moving anything.
Another creature entered her field of vision... This one wore a thin cloth mask and its eyes were normal, like a pony's, although they were very small she thought.
"Hm, get the TS5-serum, would you?" It seemed to tap what passed for its chin in thought.
Serum? The mare considered what it had said blearily. Making out the room was now possible, and she took in her surroundings. They were entirely foreign to her.
The second creature walked back out of sight then.
The pony inhaled deeply, nervousness building. Her throat felt ragged and sore, but she tried to speak to them. I'm going to get to the bottom of this, now!
"Who are you?" Her voice was little more than a croak, but she pressed on. "Where am Iiiiii-iiieee!" The words became a waning shriek. The attempt at communication was immediately forestalled by some horrible pain. Her body went rigid and jumped, interrupting her entirely. She felt her muscles cramp and her body stiffen even more, despite being held down as she was by the restraints. Torturous agony coursed through her body just after she had felt a sharp pinch and a shock in her right side.
"What was tha-AAH?!" The pain returned, just as unrelenting.
"Hurry up with that, Georges, it's talking... I don't approve of that. Now, now little creature, just relax. You'll be fine in just a moment, we're putting you back to sleep is all." Its voice was sickeningly mocking in tone. The creature made settling motions with its...claws she guessed. It didn't matter, these things had obviously foal-napped her and meant anything but kindness towards her. She had to escape. Concentrating, she pulled on her magic and weaved a spell.
Trapped. I'm trapped. Gotta free myself!
"Georges, bring my super sized cattle prod over here would you? Its doing that thing we were warned about, and I don't like it... Gah!" The man took account of what he'd just seen. A bright, colorful flash and then his subject had disappeared into thin air. He had somehow just witnessed the impossible.
"Dammit, it's gone! It's just gone! Where could it have gone!? Georges!" It slammed the metal table, which, in turn caused a clatter from various surrounding tools.
He heard a grunt behind himself. Georges was pointing to the specimen lying sprawled on the ground in front of him. "Ah, I see—good work, now hurry and stab it repeatedly with that needle. I don't want our employers to get upset over a scratch or something... A deal like this spoiled by a naughty experiment wouldn't be kosher."
The mare had managed to teleport a short distance across the room and out of her restraints successfully, but she hadn't gotten far. In addition, despite freeing herself, she still couldn't move her body. Gotta run...! Uhm. Why can't I move my legs!? She looked at herself, panicking, and tried with all her might to gallop to the open doorway. It was to no avail—her whole body was entirely unresponsive, except her head, which she at least seemed able to move freely, if groggily.
I gotta— Oh, that is a big needle... The unicorn was too confused and shaken to change her expression over the approaching creature, armed with what was without a doubt a frighteningly large syringe. Without waiting, she readied her magic in response to its approach.
It worked just how she wanted it to. Both creatures lifted up into the air, then started shouting incomprehensibly. Well, one of them started shouting, anyway.
Becoming increasingly irate, the pony answered in kind, her emotions building from the fear, confusion, and vertigo of waking up foal-napped.
"Be! Quiet!" the mare shouted. She tried stomping a hoof for punctuation, but her leg refused even a twitch.
The smaller of the two strange creatures ceased its protest, but continued to struggle against her magic, albeit without results.
She continued once she'd gotten their full attention. "I don't know who either of you are, or even what either of you are, or what's going on, but I want some explanations! Right now!" She gave a snort for emphasis in order to get her seriousness across.
The smaller of the two stopped flailing, finally, and crossed its arms. "How about this, Miss Specimen; ow- was that necessary?"
She had knocked the thing’s metal head against the wall, not appreciating the way it talked to her.
"My name... Is Twilight. Twilight. Sparkle." Twilight spoke calmly, though with some difficulty. The creature stared back at her a moment, then let out a raucous stream of laughter. She could feel her eye begin to twitch; in the back of her mind though, past the frustration, she was getting a little worried, and maybe even scared.
"Oh, well, isn't that just the most adorable name. I would expect that of an adorable little creature like you, though... Twilight... Now look, I'll be completely and totally honest with you, since you seem sooo, so, so smart." It took off its head, chuckling.
No... Twilight realized it was a helmet. It looked the same as the bigger strange creature, actually, except that it had a red colored mane, where the other had no mane hair at all. Its skin looked very... stretched. Overall, the mystery creature was a tad scary looking, more so from the lack of a fur coat and the creased smile which it wore.
"Security has been called automatically and quite frankly this is all very embarrassing for me, but this will only turn out very badly, and very painfully for you. Especially, if you do not let us down to administer something that will simply help you rest." He wagged a finger at her tauntingly.
How did I get here? What is going on? Twilight's mind raced for answers, even more so after the creature's threats and attempt at deal brokering. Her attention was only half on him speaking. She was in danger, she knew that now. Escape was her only option, but how would she? She couldn't move, so she needed time... Think, Twilight, think. Something glinted in the bright lights that caught her eye. That glint formed into an idea and one of the things the creature had threatened her with.
"You mean... this something?" She grinned up at them, lifting the syringe in her magic. If it was an anesthetic, then this may buy her the time she needed in order to think.
The creature’s eyes bulged at what she levitated past his eyes. It was a very large, viciously pointed needle, filled to the end with a strange liquid.
"Georges! Why did you— OW! Why you! Da—"
Twilight glowered as the positively callous monster exploded into a fit of what she guessed were expletives. She got the distinct feeling they were far more serious and base in their nature then those she was familiar with, too. He never once used anything savory like horse apples. The other one said nothing as its partner slowly fell unconscious.
"Well, how about you, going to give me the explanation I asked for, big guy?" Twilight asked the question calmly. Her other captor didn't respond, however. Or perhaps it was a he, Twilight guessed. The other one had sounded male and looked very similar to this one. "Look, I need answers, please... I don't know where I am or..." She sighed, it was unlikely to give her help; it just stared at her. Still, she didn't take any chances and administered what had put the other one to sleep. It stared at the needle, eyes wide, and then looked back at her with...
It looked happy of all things. Its face had not changed much, but it or he or whatever, was obviously contented.
How odd. Twilight let her aura of telekinesis fade from them, and took stock of her present situation. It was hard to see a little bit, her vision spotted with blurry spots. She blinked repeatedly and tried to rub her eyes before realizing she couldn't—obviously with her body still immobile it wouldn't be that easy. Whatever was causing her paralysis felt a bit strange, rather than nothing at all, as she would have expected. That, she decided, was either a good sign or a very bad one.
Inspecting herself and whatever might be the cause of her body's problem, gave her pause.
"What in the name of Equestria?" Twilight squinted at herself, perplexed.
Around her forelegs and running up to her front was a strange gray covering, it was metal she observed. Looking back, it seemed to continue. Thick protrusions at odd spots dotted the apparently plate-mail armor that encased most of her body. Legs, body, back... Why had they dressed her up like this? She should be able to at least move a little.
Still, even after concentrating for several minutes her limbs failed to respond.
She decided that perhaps she was under the effects of something they'd given her. Despite all her wiggling and stretching, she couldn't even get her tail to move. The realization that she couldn't feel her tail, either, crept up on her, and she craned her head around.
Phew... Twilight found her tail was still there, although they must have given her a haircut. It was a great deal shorter now, and her mane as well. Oooh, whatever or whoever is responsible for all this is going to get it now. She was already considering revenge when something dawned on her.
Oh, oh no they'd said security, meaning guards. Twilight's eyes widened from the revelation.
Her mind raced again to think of something she could do. She could teleport away, but that was really no good means of getting around in unfamiliar territory. Even if she could do it more than a couple dozen or so times without strain, she was entirely immobile!
With some effort, Twilight took a calming breath and looked around the room.
She could see stands of what looked like more of the armor stuck to her legs. Tools and instruments of a dubious and threatening nature, which made her uneasy just to look at them, dotted the walls. She focused her magic and picked herself up off the ground, using her telekinesis to see more.
Twilight grunted, noting that with the armor she had become a great deal heavier. She moved about the room, which was small despite its tall ceiling. Not far away was a wide doorway, where there was a larger adjoining room. There wasn't much to it all besides that, just some strange lights and the stranger glass screens that covered much of the walls.
It's all too strange! Twilight set herself down and began to pace, thinking about what her options were.
"Nonononono-no! Oh what should I do? I don't understand any of this... Last I knew I was in the library, wasn't I? Who are these things? Where am I? Okay Twilight, just keep calm, breath... There has to be an explanation for this, first thing I need to do is... Wait, what the hay?" She looked down at herself, and nearly stumbled in surprise. "I can walk now!"
She was indeed walking, or at the moment, standing.
Once Twilight had noticed that much, she also noted how heavy her limbs and back felt. Of course the strange armor... she thought tiredly. Heaviness not withstanding, her limbs also felt weak and unresponsive.
As Twilight struggled to lift one hoof to her face, a queasy feeling rose in her stomach. She froze as it began to build faster.
"Oh, Celestia... What is— Uh oh." Twilight held a hoof to her mouth as the feeling got worse in mere seconds. ”What's been done to me?" She cut off and retched across the floor.
Darkness followed, and she felt herself collapse on the floor.
Twilight Sparkle awoke slowly, and in spurts. She didn't know she was even awake, at first, nor did it feel like much time had passed.
A groan escaped her. "What— What happened?"
It took a moment, but her memory returned as her thoughts started moving, fueled by the awful taste in her mouth and the strange surroundings she found herself in. The room was the same as before.
Twilight stared around herself, then panicked and jumped to her hooves. After that, she settled back down, finding that the two creatures still lay asleep. She sighed, deciding she needed a plan, in addition to figuring things out.
"Think... Think. What would Celestia do if— Huh, that's..." Twilight had held a hoof to her muzzle in thought, only to stop and stare at it. "That's... not right." After noticing some odd inconsistencies with her strange body covering, she began looking at it. The metal seemed to simply lay over her, and although she didn't feel any different, it should surely be stifling. But what had caught her eye was the lack of any visible open segmentation. She'd never seen armor so complete. With how thin the covering appeared, her fur should have been visible through the joints.
"This is too much, it's too much..." Twilight held her hooves to her head in defeat, feeling a horn splitting headache come on from the stress.
She gasped as her right hoof bounced off something metallic. It wasn't the force of her blow that had surprised her, but rather the contact of it on her scalp. Her skull had clinked.
Gingerly, Twilight raised her hoof back to her brow and felt around the crown of her head and down her back. Do I have a helmet on? The metal went on to join the rest, but seemed to be one single piece.
At the same time, Twilight glanced back at the two unconscious bodies, returning to the thought she remembered having before her impromptu nap. Why put me in strange armor?
"There's gotta be a clue around here." Deciding to find out, she began looking around the rooms for a journal, books, information or anything that could clue her in. She was beginning to regret knocking those two out, leaving her alone. As a bit of insurance, she tied them up hastily—using their own clothes—and resumed her search. She was surprised to be panting by the end of that. Surely her little magic use couldn't be the cause; it must be the stress draining her, she decided.
Twilight continued her search for an hour, or what she guessed must have been close to an hour, she had developed a very good sense of time due to her aptitude for scheduling. So long as she didn't get distracted anyways...
Which was usually where Spike would come in.
Oooh, I hope Spike's okay... She searched on.
Nothing! Not so much as a note pad or single solitary inkwell anywhere. She harrumphed in frustration and glanced to her side. She... noticed something strange on one of the glass panels encircling one corner of the room. Certain letters and characters caught her attention. Augmentation 43: surgery successful. That didn't sound very reassuring or helpful, but it was a start. She looked around at the other panes of glass now curious knowing that they held information. Most of the screens were just completely alien and filled with charts and graphs and random computations which held no immediate meaning to even her.
Twilight's eyes fell on one screen at least that was unmistakably familiar. It was a clock, or at least it said that it was. It read Digital Clock across its top.
What could “digital” possibly mean? It's odd, their language is almost identical to Equestrian and yet...
The numbers displayed 13:01. That struck her as strange too; there was no 13th hour...
Something else caught her eye when she'd blinked, and looked closer at the screen. She could see her reflection, only it wasn't her reflection. She blinked again, catching this time that only her left eye did as she'd commanded. Astounded she stepped back and closed her eyes, yep couldn't see a thing.
Twilight looked back at the screen and frowned at the difficulty of making anything out. She spotted a mirror on a counter top then levitated it towards her.
She gasped and let loose the mirror of her magic grip. It shattered on the floor. Twilight stared into space blankly, her mind reeling.
She thought of the threat of impending security once more while she stood stunned, she'd forgotten about the creature's threat. But she quickly forgot it again—her thoughts were simply retracing themselves out of sheer shock. She thought of everything that had happened, trying to make sense of it and on top of it all, this...
Picking up a larger piece of the broken mirror, she looked again at her reflection.
Twilight's face was a bloody mess—part of her coat had been shaved bare to the skin over her right brow, and was covered in what looked to be incisions repaired with sloppy stitch work. This made a grisly sight, but that wasn't even the most disturbing part. Metal rivets were imbedded into her face. Encircling it they held down... She gulped—some kind of glass lens rimmed in metal over her eye. It hadn't been a helmet.
Twilight felt dizzy from the sight, the mirror began to blur in her vision and her head swam. She fell unconscious again, and the room was left silent for a long time. Her body collapsed with dull, metal thud to the floor.
While asleep she dreamed.
Elsewhere, several miles away...the man known as Karlisle walked slowly through the stark tiled corridors, panel lights beamed at him from above giving the hallways a relaxing office like atmosphere. The target was on the move, as expected it was randomly tearing through subsection after laboratory seeking either sanctuary or escape. Cases and events such as this were not unheard of, but were hardly common. As an Enforcer he dealt with such things swiftly and without fail, his only directive was to uphold and protect his law, and subsequently his people. His comm relay blipped twice, red, for critically urgent mission oriented. He held up his left wrist to his face already knowing from the same integrated system that it was his partnered Enforcer Cynthia, she was new to her position but a veteran he supposed by some standards.
They all had an unspoken pecking order in the administration. As Enforcers go, her place was near the bottom. Furthermore she was his subordinate, Karlisle had been an Enforcer a much longer time; his record was also perfect. Hers did not reciprocate such perfection. Besides she was merely 135 years old.
"Report."
"Karl, the target moves toward your position through the fourth sub-tier of level D, Block 141. It's an unused reserve relaxation section, residential, the Block schematics sho-"
"Mission. Imperative. Details." He didn't have time for superfluous information about a sub-tier's fore given prerogative or intended purpose, only mission critical data concerning terrain. It was her worst trait as he saw it, getting hung up as young people do on silly nuances or frivolous details. It was even worse than her idiotic blood lust.
Cynthia blinked but didn't hesitate to respond, she knew his wrath at being made to wait.
"None sir, the sub-tier is a room that's abandoned and contains only level 1 haz-mat and level 2 power grid ratings. Furthermore it's cut off from all standard points of entry. The target has boxed itself in." A wicked grin had grown on her face with each word. Expression of emotion during standard protocol; how immature. But such was her chosen way.
"Understood, proceed then to..." Karlisle had been watching the surveillance but the target was exceptionally wily, staying out of sight, remaining hidden, destroying any power circuitry and cameras as it went often. All to mislead them, its misguided trek through the infrastructure was proving destructive. "Here, Lobby 3c. We'll set our capture point here."
"Yes sir." Cynthia acknowledged, her pace had blasted into a dead sprint, the hallways blurring through the comm now that she had her destination to reach. He too had begun to move through the halls at a steady 78 kph.
"Utilize tactical deception Cynthia, standard protocol nothing else, set up the detainment perimeter upon arrival."
"Yes sir." He lowered the comm.
The target was an escaped prototype from the public contribution and bio-cyber kinetics ward, meaning it could have been a battle unit for some such purpose given time, no telling really. The staff representative however had called for its destruction and a performance evaluation should it resist... It must be defective beyond being worth intact recovery in some way.
He moved through the sub-tier's hatch which gave way to marble floor and a wide entry hall, an empty fountain made of the white-hued stone centered the expansive room.
They had been informed the subject possessed some impressive experimental electronics. Judging by its actions thus far it could certainly access nearby terminals and security. If the subject had patched itself into the areas surveillance itself then it knew Karlisle was here now. Anticipated and expected.
The room was encircled on the second level by a landing 18 meters from the floor level and contained two semi circle stairways leading up. A small staff desk centered at the back wall made the room appear larger, and a massive glass chandelier added a feeling of sophistication to the over elaborately decorated space.
Karlisle slowly took in his surroundings, it was always better to do so with your own perceptions then those of schematics. Cynthia arrived behind him, the ornate portcullis closing behind her, but the locking mechanisms remaining green, signifying they were left unlocked by the two Enforcers.
"Begin." he stated without turning around. She would perform the grunt work, he was almost an overseer for such operations being the senior agent; which he took pride in.
Cynthia knew as well that he was a fail safe... She nodded obediently and began hurriedly planting the devices, known as Aegis-51 detainment pods, around nooks inside potted plants and at the edges of the room, the fist sized devices would activate on proximity or by their command, and disable the target... Painfully, she grinned in her contemplation.
It was a routine task for her, the escape of a subject didn't happen often so to speak but in their pursuits of cybernetic perfection and military advancement the scientists were given all the free reign over their experimentations that they asked for. Such was what the over-minds of science and other various bureaucrats determined was the most efficient.
Cynthia agreed to a point, with Enforcers like her that were nearly flawless in their re-subjugation and capture of specimen it was obvious they could afford to be so passionate in their tests.
'But could they really not risk a few vessel-borne fail safes, or better containment?' She grudgingly mused as she set the last pod.
Not for the first time she thought if she suggested better security standards such things would happen less. Cynthia knew better though then to ever pretend her input would be heard without punishment however. Besides... she enjoyed this.
Cynthia grinned again at a thought. That Mechgineer, Skrikes, he probably let his specimen go himself just to let it run amok. She wouldn't put it past the insane man to risk his own execution just for a thrill.
"Execution complete, beginning tactical deception protocol, security level delta." She stated nonchalantly and began to...
Just stand there.
Max, or he thought that was his name anyway, stared at the slender woman and dark skinned man waiting 4 rooms from him. They were the first people he'd run into thus far. Max couldn't remember much but he knew that these people were here for him. He considered making his way back to the bulkhead which he'd used to breach the area.
But... he'd learned once now that backtracking was a terrible idea. His right arm fingered the blast wound in his left. No blood poured from his skin however—there was only synthetic material and plastic there. Still, it hurt; why did it hurt?
He'd only just begun his escape—internally he knew he'd avoided capture for two hours. His body... If it even was his anymore, he didn't even know THAT, had all kinds of loopy gizmos in it.
They told him things, like the temperature, details about the areas he went through, they scrolled placidly across his vision.
Security levels were something he'd become painfully familiar with after he was first forced to tear through several passageways and the walls between then to get to where he was now. He had no clue where here even was...
The last thing he'd remembered was going to sleep... after his academy graduation... His family had held a reunion just for him, it hadn't been anything breathtaking but it was a happy memory. Why couldn't he remember anything after that? Was there anything to remember? He felt like there was.
All he knew was that he had to escape, these people meant him harm he... could feel it. What had been done to him? Besides his arm he wasn't in any pain... Twice now though he'd encountered strange machines, like the ones that took the trash or cleaned streets, except they had... well weapons. But he'd only ever seen those in history class, or in holo-vids and data games. These caused real destruction though; they were what he now had.
The first had been when he had awoke, he hadn't known what he'd done at the time, but he had...destroyed the machine almost without thinking. The second had been after he left that room, it had tried to shoot him as he retraced his path for an easier route, and was the reason his arm was so burned now. He discovered that time that he possessed great strength, and still other devices of his own.
"Well, that's the way out..." Max had been following a utility map to escape, looking for weak points and structural faults by sight as he went. But he saw now that this place only had two exits; the door that these people had come through... and the way he'd come. Outside that was solid bulkhead or rock.
Max stood at the door, the data in his head showing the two people just standing in the next room, perhaps they were just there by happenstance? No, he'd seen the woman do something and they looked dangerous; but unarmed...
He took several deep breaths and made his way towards that room. He didn't know where he was going exactly, just that he had to get home... To his family.
Karlisle leaned nonchalantly against the wall on the walkway above floor level inspecting his fingernails, they weren't really fingernails but they looked it. Suddenly a door opened and heated plasma seared through the air, several feet in front of him. He looked up and gave the man before him a wide eyed look of terror.
"Whoa! Whoa son calm down look I'm a friend, there's been a huge misunderstanding alright, let us explain."
"EXPLAIN WHAT! That I've been abducted! Shot! Experimented on!? Don't move or I swear I'll.... I'll end you." Max had never been a violent person even when he was younger, he hated fights. But he knew right from wrong and everything was wrong wrong...
"You're wrong, kid, you'd volunteered for this." Karlisle stood slightly hunched, his gaze not leaving the man even for a second. "Look you weren't supposed to wake up when you did and you have some memory loss, come with us and we'll explain everything."
Max stood his right arm still raised at the man. It was hard to explain how he used the thing he had shot he just knew how and it had been his best means of getting around until now. He shook, becoming more unsure than anything, he couldn't just kill the guy... If what he said was true. How would he live with himself after? He lowered the device, and half expected an attack right then and there. They didn't feel right though.
He cast a guarded look to the woman on the lower floor; she stood with her arms crossed staring up at him. She had a half surprised look on her face, was it genuine?
"There, all good see." The man's hands were still spread wide to his sides, empty. A relaxed smile had ebbed onto his face slowly when Max had stopped. "Let's go downstairs now huh? We'll explain everything."
"Not until I know exactly what's going on, why I'm like this now, and where my family is." Max stared at the man with burning conviction.
"You'd graduated from Lunar Academy, and were selected for a kind of super soldier program, and well you woke up after the last augmentation... You don't seem to remember anything based from your actions as you destroyed two security mecha trying to detain you and ripped through several sections of our facility."
All the while Karlisle had paced down the stairs while motioning the man to follow, this routine was getting old for him but it was protocol for coherent specimen.
"I..." Max didn't know how to respond, his left arm hung limply at his side and he began following the man. It made sense, kind of, he hadn't known of anything this advanced but he did know the government had a great many secrets kept from public eye.
Humanity still had its enemies on occasion from what he knew, even in this era of peace...
"I have a bad feeling about this, I don't trust you." Max re-raised his arm to the man and woman both of which were more or less still in front of him.
"I want to see my family, now, I have an information up-link... in me, tell me how to call them." Max stood waiting.
Karlisle sighed inwardly, this man was insufferable... He could feel the tension in his subordinate; she wanted to rip him apart. She would not however; it was clear this man would fall for their ploy. He also knew this aggravated her to no end as well. "Yeah, that isn't a problem," He motioned to the door. "But we can't get a call out here; we're hundreds of meters below the surface we'll have to use a dedicated up-link... Come on son throw us a bone here." He watched the young man relax with every word.
"Okay..." Max kept his apparent weapon ready though. "You lead the way though."
Karlisle smiled, it was empty of course merely protocol used to put specimen at ease. He didn't smile anymore otherwise. "Certainly, follow us please." Cynthia turned and exited the room, Karlisle behind her, of course leaving their backs exposed was foolish, but the specimen had already demonstrated its unwillingness to harm; which disappointed him immensely, as he'd wished to see what improvements may have been made on the old plasma technology... He honestly hadn't seen its like in such a small unit in centuries.
Upon exiting the lobby the dodgy detainment devices unused and apparently unneeded Karlisle watched as the specimen walked into the hallway after him, he half expected it to attack and attempt a second get away. It did not though and Karlisle proceeded to put it more at ease, in accordance of course with protocol.
"It's fortunate we found you again when we di-".
"I saw hundreds of them; people with... these things coming out..." Max gestured to a conduit running the length of his arm.
"More soldiers and volunteers Max," Karlisle used its name after reading it from the specimen's digital dossier.
"That is my name?"
"Sure is, and look if it comforts you, you won't be put back under; we'll bring you up to speed on everything once we've reached the lab." Karl said everything he needed to put the man off guard.
Cynthia smirked as the two walked passed her and turned down the hall, 'Max' enraptured by Karlisle's explanations. She half thought to miss, stir up some fun. But that would never fly.
"Okay, but where is this pla-" Max never finished his sentence. He plummeted to the ground all of his strength leaving his body, his vision went dark, his body felt heavy and stocky mysteriously, and he screamed without making a sound.
Cynthia had stayed at the door, and fired a kinetic rod through the specimen's spine, centering on its power control. Being located behind his spine like that must have caused a great deal of pain. It was just below and between his lungs. Max groped emptily at the ground and air with a hand.
Karlisle turned and regarded the thing on the floor. He pitied such stupidity. He knelt down to the specimen and did a quick scan, all its cybernetic motor functions had been suspended without power, and it was as a result of the extent of its modifications also temporarily blind. It was helpless. He wondered if it could still hear. Karlisle realized it had started yelling.
"-lp! Ah merciful regulation, hello!? What's going on!!?? Please anyone! Dammit, I knew it I just knew something wa- GAAAAH!"
Karlisle lifted his boot from the subject's now pulverized, pulpy leg. Interesting, it could still feel, some of its nervous system had been left natural... He knelt beside it again.
"You know nothing... and I tell you this only for my own satisfaction, you are a fool, a blind, young, naive, ignorant fool. Quite literally now as well. Funny that you made it so far on your own, 5 square miles in fact of maintenance shaft and utility corridor but once we caught up to you, you fell for our very first ploy. But that's why protocol exists, so that we without fail can detain with ease, you pitiful things."
"I prefer having more fun detaining them though..." Cynthia smirked at Karlisle.
"We adhere to protocol to show we're above our peers and prove our flawlessness; imperfection is something we seek to eliminate, in all things, my dear associate." Karlisle had begun walking down the corridor leaving, Cynthia followed behind him rolling her eyes.
"Wa-wait! What about me? You're leaving?" The man's head twitched up slightly from the ground. The visor covering its eyes was dark, a transparent blind fold in appearance.
"Yes, your heart will stop soon, a unit has been sent to retrieve the body. Ciao..." The pair left him then, Max heard their footsteps echo down the hall, painfully he felt his eyesight return to him, it was dark here. The dark brown skinned, bald man and mysterious pale slick haired woman left through a small hatch, and he was alone.
He tried to roll over, strangely he couldn't feel any pain anymore, his leg was numb and the rest of his body felt like it had junk all over inside of it. He hadn't noticed that feeling before. He felt sick. Leaning against the wall he wondered if what the man said was true, he didn't feel like he was dying.
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one more to add to Read Later? sure, why not. (writing a story for Peregrine Caged right now, which is the only reason why I'm not reading it right this second. it does look intriguing.)
1881162
Aw thanks CG, that means a lot comin' from you.
I'll give you the vip down low on the story if you ever get overly curious. By the by any suggestions on posting rates? I have chapters finished quite into the story I'm just unsure of how many cards to throw on the table right away.
1881217
I'd do at least a day or two in between chapter posting. Give 'em enough time to read one chapter and give their thoughts on it before throwing another one at them. Ponies get overwhelmed a bit easily, you know. Except Applejack. She's a bit more resilient than most.
1881229
Haha suuure sure, never mind that Twilight's the one who marathons entire encyclopedias.
I'd like to assert that Twilight is our star right now as well, not your so called best pony. 
Doth thou I should wait a week or so for folks to take notice?
1881255
more like three or four days. good thing for you to do would be to find a few sci-fi themed groups here on the site, join them and submit your story to them. that'll ensure you get a bigger audience than just your regular watchers and maybe a random passerpony or two.
also, what's wrong with Derpy?
A story that made me go 'Hmm.'
Prediction engine states that Twilight will save Max.
I don't get what that picture refers to though.
Also "Cynthia grinned again at a thought. 'That Mechgineer, Skrikes, he probably let his specimen go himself just to test the specimen"
Is incredibly clunky. I'd have gone with either "Let his little experiment go..." or "Just to test it/The damn thing"
Fav'd anyway.
1881305
Thanks!
I rewrote that line like 8 times too haha. Guess I botched it, fixed.
1881266
Hoho, touche, I love Derpy the most too....
"YES WHO IS-?" *cough* "I mean, yes who is it? Tia?"
Don't do this, don't use asterisks to denote actions by a character, instead, the previous sentence could have been something like this:
"YES WHO IS-" She coughed, lowering the volume of her voice, "I mean, yes who is it? Tia?"
Yah doesn't look all that great does it? But, asterisks are nice for keeping things shorter and less distracting, lengthy exposition can hurt or detract from the emotions you're trying to communicate after all.
I'm fiddling with how in depth I want to describe things or expose rather then simply say them. I may be trying to streamline to much.
Looks...nice.
Also I bet that we will never hear about Max again and Twilight will be turned into a cyborg and help Humanity defeat the ponies right?
Right?
1891489
Haha, cease your speculation and stick around, I shall reveal all.
Very interesting! I am excited to see where this goes, hopefully somewhere awesome