> Deus Exquestria > by Lmeddy247 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This chapter is due for a re-write. Deus Exquestria: 1 Chapter 1 Twilight's Library - Ponyville - Equestria 'Just this one section, then I'll get some sleep.' Twilight told herself for the 5th time that evening. She glanced at the clock. 1:04 it read, the purple mare sighed, her book being the only thing keeping her awake, it's only this one section. Her pupils wandered over the title of the next page. 'Okay... Trans-Dimensional Travel.' her eyelids shot up with sudden newfound energy, 'The night's still young,' she reasoned to herself as she continued reading, 'Inter-dimensional travel is a old yet highly exciting form of magic being researched at...' Outside The Hide Nightclub - Boston - United States of America It was another mundane night for Wade Adams. Business was slow with the only part of the night worth a mention being a stag night that was evidently too drunk for 8pm. One of the group had vomited by his feet and were sent on their way shortly afterwards. He was thankful that there wasn't that many people wanting in however, it gave him chance to finish his ebook. 'A Hat Full of Sky' by Terry Pratchett. He glanced up from his vu phone to see potential customers. Two men, one short and stocky, the other the polar opposite. Wade silently chuckled at the comparison, a thin smile snuck onto his freckled face. "You have a problem dude?" the short one said. Wade pocketed the phone in his waistcoat. "Nope. I'm just the bouncer." Wade replied. "Some bouncer you are. You only have one arm." he was referring to the fact only the left arm of his shirt was in use. "Rest assured. I can still kick you out with maybe a trip to ER too." Wade growled, "I assume you both want in?" He said switching back to his normal tone, glaring at them from behind his pitch black shades. "Y-yeah." The tall one stammered, blinking rapidly and refraining eye contact as much as possible. Wade noticed this, as did the stocky bloke. 'New visual augs perhaps?' Wade thought. "How much?" the shorter one asked, a little too quickly. Wade turned his head back to the short man. "Ten quid each." there was a brief pause. "Ten dollars..." Wade corrected himself. The taller one opened his jacket to get his wallet. Wade saw the shape of a handgun. This wasn't exactly unusual, Wade himself had a gun of his own in a leg holster. A Zenith, perfectly legal with a noise suppressor, won't make his shots silent, just so they only disturb the building next door as opposed to the precinct down the street. "There." the taller one said thrusting the notes into the bouncer's hand like he was glad to be rid of them. "Have a nice day, sirs." Wade replied, exaggerating his accent and putting on his trademark smile, made the men uneasy and often earned a slap from the ladies. "Whatever, limey." the short one barged ahead, his jacket temporarily flapped open and revealed his gun. Wade recognised it as a Hurricane machine pistol, very illegal. The tall man with a nervous disposition followed close behind him. 'This night's turning out rather interesting after all.' Wade thought as he followed them in after a few moments. Sweet Apple Acres - Ponyville - Equestria "Hey! Applejack!" Twilight hissed as loud as she dared to the second floor window. No response as expected. She saw a few small stones and decided to throw them at the bedroom window instead. Her horn glowed a lilac colour and soon three of the fragments of rock were engulfed in the same glow as they levitated. She 'threw' one and got a satisfying "plink" in response, nopony came to the window. She threw another. She threw the third as an orange mare began opening the window, the stone sailed through the air and bopped her on the nose. "Ah-!... What is it Twi?" Applejack whispered, stifling a yawn. "I want to show you something." "Now? It's one in th'a mornin'. Can it wait?" "No, now come on! It's exciting stuff, you'll love it!" Twilight replied, bouncing up and down. Applejack doubted that highly, but her friend wanted her for something this early so it was probably important. She grabbed her hat from the peg by her door and made her way downstairs, careful as to not wake up anyone else. Granny Smith would have her hide if she woke her up at this hour, Big Macintosh wouldn't be all that pleased either now that Applejack thought about it. Applebloom would probably be giddy with excitement, maybe see if she could get her cutie mark as an insomniac with the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. She could picture it now, a full moon appearing on her sisters flank. Applejack shuddered at the thought. "Are ya' goin' to explain why I'm awake at this here hour?" She asked after closing the door behind her. "Well I threw a stone at your window." Twilight said. "An' wah was that?" Applejack yawned. "To get you up?" Applejack facehooved. Despite being easily the smartest pony she knew, Twilight could be so clueless. "You want to see what I found?" Twilight asked. Applejack nodded, she figured it was best to stay quiet. The Hide Nightclub - Boston - United States of America The Hide wasn't exactly the best of places to be in Boston. It wasn't the worst by a long shot either though. Here the tables were clean and you had a sixty percent chance of not running into one of the more dodgy folk that inhabited the city's slums. Wade wasn't so sure of the men he was tailing were part of the forty percent, although based on the gun that the shorter man was carrying he wasn't one of the pleasant kind. It wasn't hard to spot them, there was only ten or so people besides staff there. "You doing okay tonight?" a woman asked. She was behind the bar, wiping it down. "Yeah. Just going to deal with a bloke in the possession of a Hurricane. Mind starting to get some of the less sober people out just in case he starts shooting?" She nodded and began to usher the people by the bar out. The two men were sat at one of the tables and were talking to another set of individuals at the opposite side of the table. Three other men, all in suits, only one had any visible augments they most likely had firearms too, legal or not Wade didn't know yet. He blinked through his various vision modes till he got to what he dubbed as his 'X-ray vision'. Standard issue for law enforcement and the military, basically it highlighted bones and anything else metal, firearms labelled in red, augments in amber and bone as blue. From this new perspective he saw that all of the suits had an augment of some kind, only two of them had ones that would help in a combat situation, the two men that Wade admitted earlier had no augments at all. All of them had a firearm of some sort. Only the tall man's gun was legal. 'Yay... More trouble.' Wade thought as he decided to break the get-together up. "Closing time gents." he said, approaching the table. "Pack up and go please." "Oh great the limey's back." the short man muttered. Wade frowned. One of the suits spoke up. "We're attending business here, shove off." "Oh well that's me told." Wade said, sarcasm dripping from every word. "I repeat. Leave. Now." "I see two options here." a second suit said, one of the ones with combat augments, "Either A) you leave us to business or B) I put a bullet in your head. You pick." he stood right in front of Wade, sizing him up and obviously going to make good on option B given half the chance. The suit was at least a head taller. "I like option C," Wade said as he brought his fist up and into the suits jaw. He fell back into the table and whacked his skull on the edge, rendering him unconscious. "you all getting the hell out." the tall man ran for the door. One of the suits drew their weapon. Twilight's Library - Ponyville - Equestria "So Twi," Applejack said, "Explain wah I'm here again?" "You're going to help me with a spell. I have all the elements needed, it's just that the spell allows two ponies travel to another dimension, and Spike is in Canterlot. Besides, you like travelling to new places right?" "Ah guess." Applejack said. "Great!" Twilight said with a smile on her face. "Just stand there and we'll begin." "Okay then, ah trust ya." Applejack began to have second thoughts as soon as she said it. "Don't look so tense Applejack," Twilight said, "I'm pretty sure we'll be fine." "Pretty sure?" Applejack repeated. Twilight ignored her and began casting the spell. To anypony outside the library they'll have witnessed a spectacular purple light show emitting from the library windows to end in a brilliant flash of white light and then darkness. The Hide Nightclub - Boston - United States of America Wade dove behind the bar as the suit opened fire, tearing the place apart. Bottles and glasses shattering under the hail of bullets, spilling their contents out and showering Wade in all sorts of liquors. Wade pulled out his sidearm and thumbed off the safety. After 10 seconds the fire died down and Wade popped out from behind the bar, the pistol almost spluttering as each bullet left the chamber. Despite the rather pitiful sound the bullets still tore through the cover that the short man was using. A red spurt erupted from behind the table. Nobody else decided to try and discharge ammunition in his general direction. "I surrender man! Don't shoot!" the second suit came out from behind a different table with his hands up. Wade had to be careful since the suit's arms were augmented. Metal where there was once flesh. 'If he swung a fist and it connected then it's night night Wade.' he thought as he approached slowly, looking out for anyone to come out from behind any of the other tables. Thankfully no one did, although that didn't stop the man with his hands up bringing a fist down when Wade was in striking distance, he stepped back and the suit's arm collided with the table instead, smashing it into pieces. Wade ducked under the next swing and grabbing a table leg as he came up so he could smash the suit in the nuts with it. The suit fell to the floor, winded and gasping for air. 'Idiot.' Wade thought kicking the Suit in the face for good measure, knocking him out. Nobody else was around or conscious to try and attack him. "Damn it." Wade said, realising that the last suit had probably bolted out of the door too. Then he realised what the manager would say when he saw this mess. "Damn it!" Unknown Location - Unknown Location - Unknown Location "What in tarnation's happening Twilight?!" "I don't know! Can you see anything?" "Just white... Wah? What d'you see?" "The same... I'm a bit scared AJ." "Same here Twi." Applejack responded. "Do yah feel like we're fallin'?" "Now you mention it yeah... wait. We're falling?!" Twilight screamed. Applejack screamed as well. The Hide Nightclub - Boston - United States of America "Let's see that's... three wrecked tables, countless bottles and glasses, some of those drinks were 150 a bottle Wade! One-Fifty! Then we, no I need to get the bar re-surfaced... again... Do I even need to mention that this'll be coming out of your pay-check?" "No Geoff." Wade said solemnly. Geoff paced up and down between Wade and the wrecked bar, hands repeatedly running through his hair in frustration. "I'm not normally an angry man Wade, but this... how am I supposed to stay calm about this!?" he sighed, "This is the straw that broke the camel's back. Forget about this coming out of your pay-check, you're fired." Wade expected the words 'you're fired' to pass his boss's lips sooner or later. Although he didn't expect it to hurt that much, or was that just the adrenaline wearing off? He couldn't tell. "You're entitled to one last drink at what's left of the bar. Company policy and all. I've got to make some calls about replacing all this... collateral damage. I expect you gone when I get back." "Okay Geoff." "I heard that 'Shoal' were looking for a bouncer. You're a good kid, maybe look there before word gets round eh?" Geoff said as he closed the door to his office. Wade grabbed one of the only remaining bottles standing. "Jack Daniels." He read the label out loud to nobody. It was unopened so Wade decided to take it back to his apartment. He opened to door to the cloakroom, grabbed his bag and stuffed the whiskey inside. He took one last look at The Hide before opening the door to leave. 'Rain... How cliched.' Wade thought as he trudged out into the street. Outside Wade's Apartment Block - Boston - United States of America After five minutes of walking and moping and walking some more Wade was approaching his apartment block when he caught sight of a man in a suit down an alley, the same man who was at the shoot-out and bolted when Wade was behind the bar. "You." Wade growled, pointing at the man. The suit looked up and his face turned as white as a sheet. "You cost me my job you bastard." The suit turned on his heels and ran. Wade gave chase through the alleyway. Wade reached out and grabbed the suits suit. they responded by slipping out of the jacket, punching Wade in the nose, thus stunning him and running away again. "You son of a-" Wade started before a large white orb of crackling energy materialised in between him and the suit, floating just above the floor. 'What the-?' Wade reached out to touch it, he received a blast of electrical energy from it, thrusting him to the floor 'Ouch, not getting through that.' "Wait. We're falling!?" screamed a voice, female. 'What the-? Did the ball just talk?' the sphere was large, Wade could have fit in it if he wanted to, after the experience of almost touching it he didn't want to, but if he did, he'd be able to fit inside. A second scream was heard alongside the first. The screams were getting closer. Wade stepped back, a little fearful as to what would come out. "Who's there?" he asked. Sure enough his answer was delivered when both of the 'whos' flew out with the force of a cannonball. 'What the he-' and collided with Wade, 'ck?' Him and the whos slid along the ground for a little. Stopping just shy of the road. Wade sat up and shrugged them off of him. They were women, one had blond hair tied in some kind of two stage ponytail and wore a cowboy hat. The other lay curled into a ball with purple hair with two distinct pink streaks in it. Both of them were buck bare and had scratches and some definite bruises come morning. > Chapter 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This chapter is due for a re-write. Deus Exquestria: 2 Chapter 2 Outside Wade's Apartment Block - Boston - United States of America Two thoughts were passing through Wade's head as he looked at the ladies. One came from his analytical side, 'Who are these people, what the hell was that orb they came out of and what the hell just happened?' his other thought came straight from his libido. 'Hothothothothothothot.' The lady with the purple hair came to first. "What just happened?" she said rubbing her head, she froze and stared at her hands, hands. She shrieked. "What in Equestria are these things!?" "Hands." Wade said. The lady temporarily stopped staring at her newfound appendages in a stupor to look at him. She shrieked again. "What are you!? Where am I!? What happened to me!?" she screamed. "Woah lady, slow down a second. Let's start with names. I'm Wade Adams. You are?" "You can talk!?" "Yes...?" Wade replied slowly. 'She must have really hit her head hard when she came out of that.' "Your name?" He repeated. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, and she's Applejack." Twilight said, nodding towards Applejack. "Unusual names." Wade laughed. "Where we're from so's 'Wade Adams'." Twilight retorted. 'Touche' "Sweet Celestia it's cold." "I think it's best if we continued this conversation in my apartment. Maybe be able to fix you both up with some clothes too." Wade suggested, handing Twilight the suit jacket that he 'borrowed' from the (now de-)suited character earlier. As Twilight tried to put it on, Wade attempted to lift Applejack onto his shoulder. "This would be a lot easier if I had that replacement arm." he muttered as he started shuffling Applejack up his arm and onto his shoulder. "Got it." she slipped off his shoulder and down his arm again. "Maybe not... little help would be nice." "My magic is doing nothing." Twilight said, face screwed up in a look of concentration, willing it to levitate the farmhand. "Magic... Really?" He said turning to Twilight. She was still sat on the pavement trying to thread her other arm through the sleeve, look of concentration still there. Wade raised an eyebrow. "What?" Twilight said blushing, "I haven't tried this before." "Wait... You're always... Nude?" "About ninety percent of the time yeah, we only wear clothes for special occasions, and nothing as complicated as this... Is something wrong? You look distracted." 'That's complicated? Wait... Their nudists?' Wade's thoughts drifted into things not suitable for a 'teen' rated fan-fiction before snapping back into focus. Twilight was glaring at him. "What? I find it hard to believe that a suit jacket is so difficult to put on, even if you are a nudist." "Well I'm not used to... well the body I'm in either. I am, sorry was a pony before I came flying out of that thing." She said, waving the arm in the direction of the white energy ball. 'Pony!? Okay Wade, just go with it for now. You can always find more out later.' "Can you stand?" Wade asked. "I think so." Twilight went onto all fours and tried to rock herself to a standing position. After about ten seconds of trying to gain momentum she managed to stay upright. "Great," said Wade, "now try walking. Just one foot in front of the other, like so." Wade walked forward a couple of paces to demonstrate. Twilight attempted the same but tripped over her feet and stumbled into Wade. "Easy does it." He said. "It'll probably be a good idea to lean on me or a wall till we get to my apartment." Twilight chose to lean on Wade. "Everything feels so much smaller from up here." Twilight commented out loud. After shuffling the last fifty metres to the main doors Wade was welcomed by a confused looking doorman. "This isn't what you think." Wade said. "Can you help me with this lady in bringing her up to my apartment? I'm trying to help this one up too and it's hard to carry her really." "S-sure... You didn't...?" "They were like this through no fault of my own." the doorman acknowledged this with a nod and began carrying Applejack upstairs, Wade following close behind with Twilight. Apartment 404 - Boston - United States of America "Thanks man," Wade said to the doorman, "I owe you one." "No problem, some warning the next time you want to bring people home with you. The landlord isn't going to like it." "I'll burn that bridge when I get to it. Thanks again." "Anytime." the doorman said, closing the door. Wade flicked on the light, casting a dim glow over the apartment. It wasn't particularly spacious but it was good for the low rent. The light blinked, Wade had always considered changing the bulb but just never gotten round to it. The doorman had lain Applejack on the sofa bed that dominated the centre and most of the surrounding area of the living space. Wade flicked on the television. "Breaking news, just come in," droned a newsreader in the traditional drone that newsreaders have, "what appears to have been a shoot-out in the well-known Boston nightclub 'The Hide' has left one dead and two severally injured. The assailant has yet to be identified. The manager of the establishment 'Geoff Hurst' had this to say." the screen then displayed a shot of Geoff talking into a microphone, the scene of the fight in the background, minus the bodies. "All I can say is that this will be looked into by the authorities and The Hide will be back up and running sometime by the end of this w-." Wade turned off the television. "That sounded horrible." Twilight gasped. Wade shrugged. "Typical media." he sighed, he didn't want to say he was responsible for it. "It's getting really late," he glanced at his watch. "1:14 to be exact." as if on cue Twilight started yawning. "So where am I sleeping?" Twilight asked, deciding to browse the bookshelves. "Well the sofa bed occupies two so you're welcome to share with Applejack. I'll just sleep in a chair." "But it's your home. I don't really want to make you feel uncomfortable." "Seriously, it's fine. I'll set some clothes out that I think will fit you and Applejack for morning. We can go out and get some proper fitting clothes tomorrow after I've got my augmented arm." "Augmented arm?" Twilight asked. "I'll explain everything tomorrow, just fill Applejack in if she wakes up and get some sleep okay?" "Okay. Goodnight Wade, don't let the Parasprites bite." 'Parasprites? What the heck are those?' Unknown Location - Boston - United States of America The suit, with the absence of his jacket stepped into view. "So," said a man in the shadows, "you're the nitwit responsible for the failure of our deal. Your name?" "Suit 13 boss." "13... figures." Boss muttered. "Where's your jacket? We have a dress code here." he snapped his fingers and another suit came out of the shadows with another jacket and handed it to Suit 13. "It was taken boss." He said, putting on the jacket. "Taken?" Asked Boss. "Yeah taken, as in no longer in my po-" "I know what taken means you buffoon! Who by?" "The same palooka responsible for the failure of the deal boss." "And where are the two suits I assigned to you?" "Suit 12 and 14 were taken out boss." "By the palooka I assume?" "You assume correctly boss." "Drat..." He turned to the Suit on his left. "Send Suit 47 out to do some info grabbin' on this guy, maybe take him out of the picture entirely, make sure it's done discreetly though. We don't want any of the fuzz catching wind of this." "Okay boss." The Suit turned to leave. "And come back with a cigar for me too." "Got it boss." "47 boss?" Asked Suit 13, "Isn't that a little extreme?" "You don't get to my position without knowing that loose ends can be the worst thing to clean up." Boss said, cracking a smile. "Once we have him marked, then we'll snuff him out, like a candle." > Chapter 3 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This chapter is due for a re-write. Deus Exquestria: 3 Chapter 3 Apartment 404 – Boston – United States of America *Beep beep* *Beep beep* *Beep be- click* Wade groaned. Sleeping in the chair didn't do his back any good, as shown when it popped as soon as he stood up. He looked over in the direction of the sofa bed. Neither of the girls was in it. 'So they're up? Great...' Wade thought. "Is that Wade fella up yet?" came a voice, southern accent. "I think so; I'll go have a look." said Twilight. 'The other voice must be Applejack.' "Great detective skills there brain. Well done." Wade muttered. 'Don't mention it.' "You're up then?" Twilight said smiling. She was wearing a white t-shirt and trousers that were too long in the leg. "I assume you've filled Applejack in on the situation then?" Twilight nodded. "It was a lot to take in but I think she understands. We have breakfast ready. Luckily the kitchen here is a lot like the one in my library back in Equestria." "Err… Thanks I guess." Wade said walking into the kitchen. On the worktop was apple pie. Wade sat down and started to eat. "Mah speciality." Applejack said, tipping her hat. Wade almost chocked when he realised that Applejack was only wearing an apron. "Clo- *cough* clothes?" he spluttered. "Twi, what's he babbling about garments for?" "In this world clothes are worn as a necessity, instead of just formal events." Twilight explained. "I thought you already told her this?" Wade said after getting over his coughing fit. Twilight shrugged apologetically. "I forgot?" 'Yeah right.' New Eden Mall - Boston - United States of America New Eden Mall, one of the newest in a long line of developments as part of the mayor's campaign to 'bring in the new to Boston'. Since the place was part of 'the new' and it was a weekend, it meant a lot of people were doing their shopping. Amongst the crowds was Wade, trying to guide a rather worried Twilight and Applejack. Thankfully they were both competent with walking, with only the occasional trip from Twilight. "Why w'all ere' sugarcube?" Applejack asked, now dressed in a blue vest top and jeans. "I'm getting an arm and getting you two some clothing that fits, maybe some other things too." "You still never explained what an augmented arm is." Twilight said over the dull roar of the crowds of people, all having separate conversations. "A what?" Applejack asked. "Ah ha! Found it, finally. Come on!" Wade said, seeming not to have heard. They entered the L.I.M.B clinic The clinic was (as expected) a clinically clean place with bleached white walls and furniture, the only thing not white was the grey desk with a receptionist sat behind it in black. "I'll explain once we've sat down." "Welcome sir." said the receptionist. "Do you have an appointment?" "Yes. Should be under the name 'Adams'." Wade said. The receptionist checked the data slate on her desk for appointments under 'Adams'. "Would that be 'Douglas' or 'Wade Adams'." "Wade." the receptionist tapped the slate again. "Ah yes, Wade Adams. Arm augmentation. Scheduled in for 10:30?" "That'd be it." "Please take a seat and wait for the doctor to come and collect you for the bio-weld." Wade and the girls sat down on one of the few white couches. "Now augmentation," Wade began, "or 'cybernetic enhancements' are where an individual, such as myself is able to... improve the abilities of a limb or organ beyond what the original was ever capable of." "Ah don't get it." Applejack said. Wade thought for a second before delivering his response. "Okay... Imagine you have someone who's blind or deaf. A blind person would be able to replace their eyes with artificial ones so they could see again. Similar thing if it was a deaf person, slap on some new ears and bob's your uncle they can hear... Do you get it now?" Applejack nodded. An old looking man in a white lab coat came into the room through the door behind the reception desk. "Wade Adams?" He called. Despite being the only person in the room apart from the girls and the receptionist Wade called anyway. "Here." "If you like to follow me to theatre so we can begin the procedure." the doctor said. "Have you had any augments before?" "Yes. This is just to replace my previous arm." "Terrific. No need to use the anaesthetic or any of the messy flesh cutting. Follow me if you please?" "How long will he be?" Twilight asked. "Half an hour perhaps." the doctor said. "You can watch the procedure on one of the monitors outside of theatre if you'd like?" "This don't sound like a good id-" Applejack whispered to Twilight. "Yes please." Twilight said, grinning. "Twi, back at the farm you wanted to see one the pigs give birth fer some study. Ya needed a bucket by the end of it so ya could vomit in it. This ere'? Ah think ah'd need a bucket." Applejack said. "This is different," Twilight reasoned, "this could be a unique learning experience. Think of how this could benefit Equestria." she was giddy with excitement. "No 'fence, but I'd rather stick to mah hooves to get me out of a jam than a cyberwhojamawhatzit." Joe's Doughnuts - Boston - United States of America Suit 47 observed the target he'd been tailing all morning entering the L.I.M.B clinic from the doughnut vendor opposite. He had two females with him. 47 noted it down with a pen and paper. He preferred it this way, with most data slates able to use Wi-Fi and other connection methods, traditional pen and paper was one of the best ways to keep information from being stolen. 'Rather ironic really' 47 thought as he jotted down a description of the targets facial features. Hair: Collar length, brown. Eyes: Cybernetic implants, often hidden behind a pair of shades. Other facial features: Freckles and thin lips. In addition to this he did a rough sketch of the targets face. "Would that be 'Douglas' or 'Wade Adams'?" said a voice picked up through 47's hyper-sensitive augmented ears. "Wade." said the target. 47 wrote down: Targets name: Wade Adams, British accent. "Excuse me." said the owner of the vendor, Joe. "Are you here to buy a doughnut? If not may you leave? I have customers who'd like to use those seats." 47 torn out a page of the notebook scribbled on it and presented it to Joe. 'One jam doughnut if it means I can loiter here for the next hour.' "One jam coming up." he said after reading the note. "Say, if you don't mind me asking. Are you a mute?" 47 took the piece of paper back and scribbled his response. 'No. I just prefer to communicate this way. No more questions.' "Okay then... That'll be forty-nine cents." 47 took the paper back and scribbled a reply. 'Do you have sufficient change for a ten dollar note?' L.I.M.B Clinic - Boston - United States of America "The operation seems to be successful. All that's left is some diagnostic checks and you'll be free to leave. Now, if you could just move the arm please?" the doctor asked. Wade responded by moving the bone white, carbon plated limb round in a big circle. "You seem to be getting a small twinge at the central shoulder gyroscope at the 44 degree angle." he muttered, observing the data slate. Wade had very little clue as to what that meant. "I'll fix that now so it doesn't cause any more problems later. With all the nerve endings hooked up properly this may feel a little uncomfortable for a moment or two." The doctor popped open the plate protecting the shoulder gyros and tweaked with the problematic gyroscope. Wade responded with a yelp and jerking the mechanical elbow out. "Well at least we know the elbow works. Try again please." Wade moved the arm again. "Excellent, now please flex some fingers so we know the hand is fully functional." Wade made a fist, crossed his fingers and finally, a Vulcan salute. "Very good." the doctor said, chuckling at the last hand gesture. "Very good indeed, I think you're free to go Mr Adams. Do come back if you're experiencing any problems." "Will do, thank you doctor." Wade said, slipping on his shirt, being careful not catch it on his cyberarm. He pulled his jacket on over the top and walked back into the reception area. "You're back." Twilight said smiling. Applejack's face looked a pale shade of green. "That was very interesting to watch, especially when they were connecting the wires to-" "Oh sweet Celestia! Not that!" Applejack cried as she ran to the nearest bin to be reunited with her breakfast. Wade and Twilight giggled at her expense. "I believe clothes are the next thing on the agenda." Wade announced as they made their way out, after Applejack had stopped being sick. Joe’s Doughnuts - Boston - United States of America 'I can't take him out now, too many witnesses.' 47 thought as he saw Wade leave the clinic. In the half hour Wade was in there 47 had eaten one frosted doughnut, two yum yums and several jam doughnuts, one of which he saved for later when he went to leave. "Pleasure doing business with you." Joe said as 47 left his table. 'Thank you for the savoury goods.' was the written reply. 47 contemplated eliminating the target when he was inside the next outlet, but in doing so he'd also have to take out the two ever present girls too. 'Consider it collateral damage.' 47 reasoned as he approached the target. 1337 Fashion - Boston - United States of America "Find something you like," Wade said to Twilight and Applejack, "then we'll meet back here so I can pay for it." "You got it mister." Applejack said as her and Twilight walked deeper into the store. Wade sat by the tills trying to make sense of the events of the last 12 hours when he noticed a bald man in a suit making a beeline for him. He man pulled out a knife. 'Well... This was unexpected.' Wade thought as the suited figure drove the blade forward, heading for his heart. 'This is very different to Carousel Boutique.' Twilight thought as she sifted through some sweaters. "I wonder what Rarity would think of this place." Applejack said. "Not enough gems?" Twilight suggested. Applejack snorted a laugh. "Probably." "What do you think of Wade?" Twilight asked. "He sounds like a nice fella. Though ah don't like the new cyber... thingy he as, and 'ardly understand his technical talk. What 'bout you?" "I like him, he's a nice guy." Twilight said. "Nothing else?" Applejack said. "Well..." "Well what Twi? Don't leave me in the dark here." a yell, followed by a crash erupted from the store. "What in tarnation's that!?" "I dunno. Come on!" Twilight said, grabbing Applejack's arm and pulling her towards the sound. They saw a bald man with a grin on his face on their left and a pile of racks and shirts in an undignified heap to their right, Wade lying on top of them. "That... that hurt." he said. The bald man advanced towards Wade. "Did he just-?" Twilight asked. "Don't care. Get im'!" Applejack charged at the suit and planted a kick in his stomach. The suit grabbed her ankle. "Aww horseapp-. Whoa!" and was hammer-tossed over a mass of t-shirt racks, disappearing from view. 'So much for subtle.' 47 thought as he turned to look at a purple haired girl cowering behind a rack of floral dresses. Her eyes were widened in fear. 'Not worth the trouble.' he thought turning to Wade. He stepped towards him. Twilight's thoughts were conflicted. 'You should help.' she mentally told herself. 'But without my magic to defend myself I'm useless in a fight, and Applejack was thrown about like she was Winona's chew toy.' she looked back at Wade again, 'and if you don't do something then Wade will die and Applejack's attempt will have been for nothing!' that decided it. Twilight crept out from behind the clothes sneaked behind the suited assailant and struck. 'That's annoying.' 47 thought as he turned to see the annoyance was the purple haired girl feebly flailing her arms and beating his chest. "Don't you hurt my friend!" she yelled in time with her hits. 'How quaint.' he thought. He grabbed her neck with his gloved hands and began to squeeze. "No..." she gasped. "You... you..." "Oi! Leave the girl alone." 47 turned to the owner of the voice. He possessed an augmented right arm and a very pissed off expression on his face. "Very well." he replied, his voice smooth like melted chocolate. He pushed Twilight up and away from him, sending her crashing into some more clothing. The fight had gathered a crowd of people, a few of them were recording it on their phones and one or two had a camcorder. "Keep it clean, no hits below the belt yeah?" Wade said. He couldn't resist smiling at that. 47 shrugged which seemed to say 'Sure. Why not? I'm going to kill you anyway.' "On three?" Wade suggested. "Three!" yelled a member of the crowd. 47 stepped in and threw a punch in Wade's midriff. "Ack... good one." he wheezed. 'Holy crap this guy can punch.' "You don't say?" Wade muttered. 47 went for another punch into Wade's stomach, Wade deflected it and shoulder barged him, creating some breathing room. The suit immediately tried to close the gap with a side kick to the ribs. Wade grabbed the foot and did something similar to what 47 did to Applejack a few paragraphs ago, only with less finesse and it only served to give 47 a friction burn as he skidded along the waxed floor. The crowd hastily parted to let 47 skid past them and stop a little before the far wall. The suit stood back up, dusted himself down and whipped out a baton out of his sleeve. Wade blinked to his 'X-ray scan' mode. The suit's body screamed back amber. All of his limbs had some form of augmentation. Only part of his head and chest seemed to be untouched by the medical scalpel. 'Well great... What you gonna do now?' "I'm working on it." Wade grumbled. 'You ever imagine how it looks when you talk to yourself?' "Not really." Wade said, confusing the crowd. 'You may want to concentrate on the rapidly approaching madman... Maybe grab a weapon to defend yourself?' "Good idea." He replied, grabbing the nearest thing to his right. "Ah haaaa-! Oh." When he realised what he had grabbed was a wire coat-hanger. 47 sprinted forward with almost lightning speed, holding the baton high ready to strike down. Wade considered himself lucky to have dodged it by a hairs breadth and smashed the coat-hanger down on the Suit's skull, the wire frame warping around and sticking to his head like a botched up hat, much to Wade's amusement. Suddenly, much to Wade and 47’s surprise, Applejack burst out from a nearby rack and flung herself on the suit, clinging onto his back. "What the-?" Wade started. "Oh shut yer pie 'ole and 'it 'im already!" Wade obliged by flinging his metal fist at 47 very fleshy face with the explosive force of a cannon, 47 (with Applejack) flew with all the grace of a toilet brush into a display of cardboard boxes holding shoes, causing them to tumble down on top of them both. After a few moments of silence Applejack dug her way out of the mound and saw a pair of walking boots inside an open box. “Oooo. These look dandy.” Unknown Location - Boston - United States of America "What do you mean 'He's got no face'?" Boss asked. "Well... the palooka. He err... caved it in?" Suit 13 said feebly. "WHAT?!” Boss yelled, startling 13. After a moment they both regained their composure. “At least tell me he was able to document some reconnaissance on the guy." "Yes boss. One of the boys was able to get his notebook before the paramedics arrived and took the unconscious body, how he was still alive is anyone’s guess." 13 said handing Boss the aforementioned notebook. “And our problem?” Boss asked as he flicked through it absent-mindedly. “Was taken in shortly afterwards by the cops.” "Pretty drawings…" Boss commented, "so our... loose end is this 'Wade Adams' then?" "Yes Boss." "Well then I think it's fine time we sent out the order for a manhunt." Boss said decisively. > Chapter 4 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This chapter is due for a re-write. Deus Exquestria: 4 Chapter 4 Interrogation Room Two – Boston – United States of America Wade drummed his fingers on the table impatiently. He hated waiting, especially when he didn’t have anything to occupy him. Whenever he was waiting for customers at the nightclub he’d look at whatever book he was reading at the time. With his phone taken from him when he was brought in for questioning he had no such luxury right now. After the brawl at the mall, the suit that attacked him and the girls was brought into custody but being held on a medical ward, Twilight is currently being seen medical attention for the wounds on her neck. Most likely to be questioned when she can talk in anything above a hoarse whisper and Applejack was being interrogated now in room one. Wade lent back in his chair and sighed. ‘These last two days were certainly interesting.’ he thought, putting his feet up on the table in front of him, rocking softly on the hind legs of his chair. He did find Twilight’s choice of words interesting when she was hitting (admittedly rather feebly) the suit’s chest. ‘Don't you hurt my friend!’ “Friend.” Wade said aloud. He smiled at that. He hadn’t that many friends really, he considered all the regulars and staff at The Hide as ‘acquaintances’ or ‘people he worked with’, never ‘friends’. To call someone a friend required a level of trust, the fact that Twilight considered Wade as one in such a short space of time was quite touching to him. He wondered if he was considered as a friend by Applejack as well. She was handy in a fight that much Wade knew. That and she couldn’t be separated from her hat. He never saw a moment where it wasn’t on her head, even when they met when she had flown out of the sphere. The hat still rested on her cranium. Wade’s thoughts were brought to an abrupt stop when the door to the interrogation room suddenly opened with a loud bang. “Ah!” Wade yelled, losing his balance and falling off of the back of his chair, whacking his head on the floor. “Owch.” “Smooth,” said a deep voice, "like sand paper." When the stars had finally vacated Wade’s vision he sat up and looked at the man who made the remark. Since the table was blocking most of the man from Wade’s current diminutive perspective he could only gather that the man has broad shoulders and he was dark skinned. "Mr Adams?" he said in an indoor voice that made the coffee in his hand make ripples. "Yarp?" Wade replied after picking himself and his chair up and sitting at the table. By this time the black detective had also sat and was waiting impatiently. "You do realise the gravity of the situation you're in right?" a different voice said. Wade looked beyond the man and saw a woman. She had red tied-back hair, brown coat and a black sweater. "Gravity?" Wade asked. "What gravity? There was a fight, and I won. What else is there? The only 'gravity' that occurred was when he hit the floor unconscious." "You think you're here because of the fight?" she laughed. "Cute, but no. We're here because of The Hide incident," 'Oh crap.' Wade thought, trying not to let any expression slip his face. "I'm sure you've heard about it on the news." she had Wade by the balls and they both knew it, metaphorically of course. It'd be plain weird if she actually did. "We can take you for the shooting," the man took over. "your friend in the next room gave us all we need." Wade's panicked expression quickly turned to a thin smile. "Okay then. What else then?" Wade said, calling the bluff. "Oh that's easy." the woman replied without hesitation. "We have more than just her testament. "Like what?" Wade said, panic creeping back onto his face. "This, taken from the CCTV." the man said. He slid a file over to Wade. Interrogation Room One - Boston - United States of America "We'll go and begin questioning your friend now." the red haired woman said. "Thank you for your time, you're free to go." "No problem." Applejack smiled. The two people that were questioning her left. Applejack saw their silhouettes through the frosted glass move to the next room where Wade was waiting. She didn't know what to think of this place really. Like Equestria there were good and bad people alike and a degree of variety in the people too. She found some human customs weird though, having to wear clothes all the time for a start, at least she found some clothing she liked to an extent before they were whisked away to the police station. A brown duster, orange t-shirt, jeans and some walking boots. She did come across a new problem with the boots. Laces. At this current stage they were in a tangled heap tucked into the back of the shoe. 'I wonder if Twilight's doing okay.' Applejack thought as she opened the door to wait for Wade's exit. Ward 3 - Boston - United States of America Twilight lay on the mattress and quietly mulled over everything that had happened since Applejack and herself teleported to the place that Wade calls 'Boston'. The ventilator limiting her movement to only her eyes and anything that didn't involve moving her head. After the initial shock of realising she had a 'human' body Twilight had quickly come to terms with it. Having to quickly adapt to not being able to use her magic was as much of an inconvenience as it sounded. She occasionally stumbled when walking still, how Wade managed it without the balancing aid of a tail she'll never know. Applejack seemed to be able to master the art of bipedal movement rather quickly and was competent enough with her 'hands' to make a simple pie within a few hours. Both of which annoyed Twilight greatly since in the same amount of time she'd only just managed to hold and failed to read a cookbook. Despite having the same language of speaking, human writing was very different to Equestrian. Twilight began to compile a to-do list in her head: Main objective: 1) Find some way to be able to use my magic. 2) Use said magic to get home. 3) Send a report to Celestia about the experience. Other: 1) Record human life for study in Equestria. 2) Look more into 'augmentation' and the science behind it. 'Seems to be about it.' Twilight thought as she mentally double-checked everything. She was instructed to stay in the bed and if possible answer any questions asked. Until then she had something that resembled a moving picture box for companionship. What was being shown was a supposed 'classic' according to the staff. It involved vehicles that could travel the stars, huge glowing rods that seemed to cut through solid steel and (what Twilight found most interesting) was that all the ones with the glowing sticks had to do was splay their hand out and an object or person would be flung towards or away from them. Unknown to Twilight it was the film 'Star Wars - Return of the Jedi'. Despite not realising that it was fictional, the film did give Twilight an idea on how her magic could be used. Normally her power resided in her horn and therefore only through her horn (and a varying degree of concentration) could her magic be used. With the absence of a horn the magic must have gone elsewhere, she just had to figure out where and try and urge it out. She knew that it was no longer in her horn since that didn't exist anymore and screwing her face in concentration did nothing when she tried to lift Applejack when they arrived so that ruled out the head in general. The film opened up another suggestion. Her hands. She figured a small levitation spell would be a good place to start. She singled out a small item that was in the room, a chess piece (A rook) that was discarded from the game in the bed next to her. She wearily raised her arm and pointed her hand in the piece's direction. Twilight visualised lifting the chess piece in her mind and tried to somehow channel those thoughts to her hand, she was taught the same process from Celestia when she was just a filly in Canterlot, only she had to transfer those thoughts to her horn. Twilight figured the only logical solution would have been to do the same but 'move' the thoughts to a different part of her body. 'Come on. You can do it, lift for Celestia's sake!' she thought. After a few seconds had passed she saw a familiar lavender aura surround her hand and the chess piece. She raised her hand slightly, the chess piece followed suit. "Yes!" She croaked, causing the ventilator to beep loudly and a cough erupt from her throat. She shifted her gaze away from the machine and back to the rook again, spinning it around making it do flips and twists through the curtain loops, giggling like she was a filly again. Twilight was experiencing the rush of her first controlled use of magic again. The previous time many moons ago in 'Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.' "Miss Sp... arkle?" a nurse said, mouth agape, staring at the chess piece in disbelief. Twilight squeaked and let the rook drop where it rolled under the bed. "Yes?" she said, her voice still hoarse. "Y- you have a visitor." the dumbstruck nurse said. Moving out of the way for a man to enter. He was wearing khaki trousers, and a green shirt. He was also carrying a large plastic bag. "May you leave us in private please?" he asked quietly to the nurse. "Sure." she said, still not quite sure of what she saw earlier. "Hello Twilight," he said, "or can I call you 'Twi'? I feel we've really bonded in these last few seconds." he ended with a very wide grin, showing his almost bleached white teeth. "S-sure I guess." it was now Twilight's turn to be confused. "Who are you?" Interrogation Room Two - Boston - United States of America "Well." Wade said finally after viewing the file. "You are in deep shit Mr Adams." the man said. 'Gee. You don't say?' "I am claiming self-defense. That and doing my job." "Does your job involve getting violent towards the nightclubs patrons Mr Adams?" the redhead retorted. "If they become troublesome then yes." Wade snapped back. "Especially if they are carrying illegal weaponry, you can see that in your file." "I see you made the first punch." the man said. "Not half bad either." that mutter earned him a clip on the ear by the woman. Wade smirked only for it to recede when he received an icy stare from them both. "Only after I was threatened." Wade said meekly. The woman sighed. "Okay. We will be talking to other witnesses and getting statements. You are not to leave the city until you are cleared of any suspicion in regards to this case. If you do, you will be apprehended and jailed. Are we clear?" Wade nodded. "You may leave Mr Adams." > Chapter 5 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This chapter is due for a re-write. Deus Exquestria Chapter 5: Ward 3 - Boston - United States of America "Joseph Me." He said. "Annoying surname really, my parents were rather narcissistic people, I guess with a surname like that you would be." He giggled slightly. "Oh, silly me I almost forgot! I have some clothing for you; you looked like you needed it. I assumed you like the colour purple so I got a purple dress for you." Throwing the bag at twilight like it was a bomb. The respirator beeped again. "Th- Thank you." Twilight said as she browsed through the items in the bag, a purple dress, a black jacket and black trousers. She hadn't much of an idea what to think of this sudden visitor. He reminded her of Pinkie Pie with his outbursts of fifty mile an hour talk speed and going off on tangents mid-sentence, either that or he was just on a permanent sugar high, could humans even get sugar rushes? Twilight was going to have to ask Wade that the next time she saw him. 'Well as long as he doesn't break out onto song.' Twilight thought. She pulled out an envelope from the bag and opened it. "Thanks." She said with a nervous smile, after reading the 'get well soon' card, written in handwriting almost as erratic as his speech. 'Who is this person?' Waiting Room - Boston - United States of America "So let me get this straight," Applejack said, "We can't visit Twi cause somepony-" "Someone." Wade corrected. "Y'ah... Someone, is already seeing her?" Wade nodded. "How in tarnation is that possible? We're the only ones who know she's here, except 'thorities." "It's them then, she's probably being asked about earlier." "The fight?" "Probably. That was what they asked you, right?" "Yeah. They also asked about some..." She strained for the correct word, "nightclub incident and how I knew y'all, thought me insane when 'ah mentioned Equestria. They let me go anyway since ‘ah answered their questions." "I still find a land of ponies a little extreme," Wade said, "you know anything of 'magic' where you're from? Twilight keeps insisting that she has it." "Only a unicorn can use it, well the princesses can too but that there's a 'ole different story." Applejack said casually. Wade saw no change in facial expression, she was serious. "Unicorn? As in the mythical unicorn?" "What do you mean the? Unicorns are a mite common, like magic. Do y'all have magic around these parts?" "Only for entertainment, it's all illusions, smoke and mirrors and the like." Applejack huffed. "What, Did I say something wrong?" "Nah. Just reminds me of some sour time s'all." "Okay." Wade said, bringing the conversation to an abrupt halt. Some silence passed for what felt like hours, in reality it was only about twenty minutes. Applejack kept her hat low, Wade suspected she was asleep. Those suspicions were confirmed when he heard faint snoring. Ward 3 - Boston - United States of America "I don't mean to sound rude," Twilight began, "but why are you doing this? I don't even know who you are." "Good question." Joseph said, "The answer I can't really reveal yet but I do need to you to trust me." "Wha-? Can't you at least explain yourself?" "Can you show me the elevating chess piece again?" He deflected, scooping up the chess piece in his hand and placing it on the end of the bed, by Twilight's feet. "If I do this, will you at least explain?" She asked. Joshua nodded enthusiastically. 'I swear he couldn't look more like a begging puppy if he tried.' She thought. Twilight raised her palm and used the same process as before to levitate the chess piece, it was getting easier to use her magic now. 'All it took was that first step.' She thought, smiling. Joseph sat crossed legged on the floor, cross-legged, eyes wide in amazement. "That's so cool." He said in a voice just barely louder than a whisper. Twilight stifled a giggle. In Equestria nopony was really impressed by a simple levitation spell, probably because it was so common. Here however, Joseph had a similar face to one Twilight had herself when she first saw Celestia raise the sun on the earliest summer sun celebration that she could remember. "I guess it is pretty cool, isn't it?" Twilight smiled after a short silence. Joseph simply nodded. Twilight set the rook down on the bedside table. Joseph slowly got to his feet and smiled at Twilight. "I - I guess I should explain my end of things." He stammered, scratching the back of his skull. "What is it you wanted to know?" 'Oh don't get me started.' "I'd like to know..." She pondered the thought for a moment. "Why you've came to see me, how you know about me and what you want." She deadpanned. "Sounds fair," Joseph said, his voice becoming much quieter now, "I came to see you because of what I want. You... 'piqued my interest' from the moment you arrived actually, or more specifically the method of your transport. I have been working on matter transportation for a while-" "Wait... You're a scientist?" Twilight asked, the rate she caught on surprised Joseph, "You certainly don't look or act it." "All part of the guise my dear, people trying to kill me and whatnot," He responded, keeping his voice low, "although yes, my name is still Joseph Me, I didn't lie about that and your... telekinesis was indeed cool." "Why the guise in the first place?" "I can explain later, just please go along with it, please." He glanced in the direction of the door. A different nurse stood there, drumming at her clipboard, looking bored. "Well okay then." Twilight said, not really thinking of much else to say. "I have a feeling my time is up, I'll be in touch." He gave her a slip of paper. It had a series of numbers on it. "What's this?" She asked. "A phone number." He replied. "Call that when you're out of the hospital. I'll talk to your companions in due course. Goodbye Miss Sparkle." Waiting Room - Boston - United States of America Joseph wandered out of the ward, Wade looked up from his phone and they made eye contact, Joseph gave a passing nod and left, Applejack was still asleep. A few moments later a nurse came into the room and spoke to Wade. "You may see Miss Sparkle now." She said. Wade prodded Applejack's arm. "W'ah-!? I wa'nt asleep!" Applejack sprang up. Ward 3 - Boston - United States of America "Hi." Twilight said. "S'up Twi." Wade smiled. "I've been better." She coughed. "Who was the man that was visiting you?" Wade asked. "He... I don't know actually." Twilight said. "He gave me this though." She handed Wade the phone number. Wade glanced at it and stuffed it in his pocket. "We should see who that is after you've gotten out of here." Wade suggested. "How long will that be exactly?" Applejack piped in. "Most of the staff has said I should be free to go later today. If not I'll certainly be off of this thing before then." She gestured to the ventilator. An uncomfortable silence passed. "I managed to get my magic to work." Twilight said, trying to kick-start the conversation again. "Really? Do yah think we can get home?" "Not right now, I need a little time to assure my confidence in my abilities. I can only just manage a simple bit of levitation." "Levitation?" Wade asked. "Could you show us?" Twilight nodded, the ventilator beeped and Twilight winced a little. "Owch... Forgot about that for a second." She chuckled quietly. "Take yer time sugarcube. Don't go an’ be strainin' yerself now." Twilight smiled at her friends concern and reached out to the book on the nightstand, it was very quickly surrounded by the familiar lilac aura and floating towards her. "I seem to be getting the hang of it." Twilight noted aloud. Wade stood there slack-jawed. "Holy sh- er I mean... wow." He said. "It's not that big of a deal." Twilight said. Applejack replied for Wade. "Fer 'im it is." She chuckled. A doctor walked in, bringing the conversation to an abrupt halt. "Miss Sparkle?" He asked. She raised a hand "How are you feeling?" "My..." She struggled to find the right words so she just pointed at her neck." "Throat?" Wade suggested. "Yes, that. It's still a little sore. Other than that I feel fine. I just want to be out of this bed." The doctor laughed. "If I had a penny..." He smiled. "Good news is that you can be let out as soon as we remove the ventilator." "And the bad?" Applejack asked. "No bad news." He replied. "Why? Is there supposed to?" Wade sighed. 'You're the doctor here, you tell us.' The doctor brought his attention to Wade and Applejack. "If you would be so kind as to just leave the room for now while I remove it. It can be unsettling for some." Applejack immediately started dragging Wade from the room from the word 'remove'. > Chapter 6 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This chapter is due a re-write. Deus Exquestria: 6 Chapter 6: - 5 minutes later - Waiting Room - Boston - United States of America "All done." The doctor said to Wade and Applejack. "You may see your friend now." Wade shook hands with the doctor and thanked him, then went to see Twilight. Twilight was sat on the end of her bed, legs dangling over the sides and still dressed in the hospital gown. The bag of clothes was sat on her lap. "Feeling better?" Wade asked. "Definitely. I can actually move again!" Twilight beamed. "What's in the bag?" Applejack asked. "Some clothes. Speaking of which, can somepony help me with getting them on?" Wade looked at Applejack, she shrugged. "Oh come on!" "Sorry pard'ner, don't know how. I only got these on 'cause of you an' guesswork." She gestured to her clothes. "Please don't remind me of that," Wade muttered. "I feel like a pervert just thinking about it." "Off you go cowboy." Applejack said, ignoring Wade's protests and pushing him in Twilight's direction. 'Damn, she's strong.' Wade thought, he scowled at Applejack who only smiled in response. 'Well there's no getting out of this one.' "Thanks." Twilight said after Wade closed the wrap-around curtain for privacy. "Don't mention it. You're gonna need to take the gown off first." He said, turning away, wanting it over as quickly as possible. 'Giggity.' 'No! Naughty brain!' Apartment 404 - Boston - United States of America After the whole scenario was over, Twilight was discharged from hospital and the three of them left for the apartment. By the time they had arrived the sun had dipped under the horizon. "I still feel dirty you know." Wade said to Applejack, who was still in fits of giggles. Twilight couldn't decide whether to smirk or blush. Desperate to change the subject Wade pulled out the phone number and began to input the number. Twilight and Applejack stared at the vu phone in bewilderment. "What? It's a phone," Wade received blank stares, "you talk to people through it?" "You communicate through that?" Twilight asked. "What we're you expecting? I write a letter?" Wade said as he resumed to punching in the number. "Yes, actually." Twilight mumbled quietly. Wade hit the 'call' button. The response was almost instant. "Hello?" Wade asked. "Hello, this is Me." "Who?" "Joseph, Me..." "Oh..." "Who would you be?" "Wade. You gave my friend your number?" "Ah yes, I was wondering when she'd get in contact. I assume she's out of hospital now then?" "Yes, her throat is still sore but she's well." “Great!” Joseph yelled. Wade put the phone away from his ear for a few moments. ‘Owch… Do you mind hurrying up with this? I’m worried about the microwaves and sense of hearing if this keeps up.’ “Yeah, yeah.” “What was that?” Joseph asked. “Nothing.” Wade replied, “What is your fixation with her anyways?” “I’ll explain in due course Wade,” Joshua said, “I need you to meet with me at my place; I’ll text you the address, be there at 11:27am. Goodbye Wade.” “Wait! Why the-.” Joseph hung up, before he could finish the sentence. Outside Wade’s Apartment Block – Boston – United States of America “So, you’re sure he’s in that building?” “Yes, I’ve been tailing him since he left the police station.” “Are you sure you’re sure?” “Positive.” “Call it in then, get some backup.” “Why would we need backup? We can take him.” “Yes but he took out 47.” “Bullshit.” “Not kidding man. He’s hospitalised with a busted face. Hell, he’ll almost be a frickin’ cyborg when he’s out, that much metal in him.” “Yikes… I’ll get some backup then.” Apartment 404 – Boston – United States of America Wade was confused and wanted answers. He turned to Twilight. “Who is this Joseph?” “I already said I don’t know. All I know is he’s a scientist and that…” She trailed off, staring at the floor. “Tha’ what?” Applejack asked, “It could be important.” “That people were trying to kill him.” She said. Applejack gasped. “Okaaaay…” Wade said, “I think we should get some sleep and have some sort of plan for morning. You two can sleep on the sofa bed again.” “Goodnight Wade.” Applejack said before falling onto the bed and begins snoring. ‘Damn, she must be really tired.’ Twilight pulled a book from the bookshelf. “You should be getting some sleep, not reading.” “Some light reading will help me sleep.” Twilight protested. Wade sighed. “Just promise me you’ll get some sleep, okay?” “I will. Goodnight Wade.” -2 Hours Later- Apartment Lobby - Boston - United States of America A man in a suit approached the front desk, on either side of him were three other men, all seven of them wore suits and had weapons. "You!" The lead man barked pointing a gun at the receptionist. "Y-yes?" She squeaked. "What room is this man in!?" He yelled, holding up the drawing of Wade. "F-fourth floor. Not sure what room." She stammered. "Thanks lady." He said before putting a round in her skull. After a short stair climb they reached the first room, 401. "We'll go room to room." The leader said in a hushed tone. "We find the guy and kill him, anyone tries to stop you, kill them too." All the suits nodded in response. "You three take this room, the other three take the next room and I’ll watch the hallway." The men nodded again. "Kick the doors in gentlemen." Apartment 404 - Boston - United States of America Twilight was still reading despite promising Wade she'd get some sleep. The book was a dictionary, trying to figure out what form human words took. She found out that several Equestrian letters were similar to that of humans; she also found that there was also the same amount of letters in both of their alphabets. She made a note of it with a pen and paper. Trying to grip the pen was difficult; she managed it after adopting a similar hand position to Spike when he wrote her letters to Celestia. She glanced at the clock, 12:23. 'It probably would be good if I got some sleep.' She thought as she closed the book. Suddenly two huge bangs emitted from the hallway. 'What in Equestria was that!?' Twilight scurried to Wade, "Wade." She hissed, shaking his arm, the fleshy one. "What?" He mumbled eyes still closed. "I heard a couple of banging noises." "So did I. What exactly does that have to do with you waking me up?" He rubbed his eyelids. "Can you check it out? Just to be sure it isn't anything dangerous?" "Fine." Wade sighed. He didn't see what she was getting so worked up about, it was probably just one of the heating generators backfiring, as they did every so often. Regardless he pulled on a t-shirt and shorts, if he met anyone in the hallway he didn't want to be doing it in his underwear. He opened the door and poked his head out. He saw two doors kicked off of their hinges and a man stood in the middle of the hall, eyes on him. "There he is!" The man yelled, drawing his pistol. "No he isn't!" Wade yelled popping his head back inside. He bolted the door shut. "Wha's going on?" Applejack groaned. "Lemme sleep." "Get up!" Wade yelled. 'You didn't see this coming did ya?' "Now is not a good time for this brain." He muttered. "Wha's wrong?" She said, still groggy. "No time!" Wade barked, "Twilight! You. AJ. Kitchen. Now!" He scurried to get his Zenith. Twilight complied and hurriedly dragged Applejack into the kitchen. 'Shitshitshitshit.' Wade thought. He grabbed his handgun from the side table by his chair, checked his ammo and flicked the safety off. 'Okay, five rounds, one in the chamber, more than one hostile... this is going great!' "Oh shut up." Wade hissed. "Come on out!" A muffled voiced yelled, "Make it easy on us and die willingly." "No thanks! I like life!" Wade yelled in response, taking cover behind the bookcase. "Kick the door in and kill him." A boom was heard and the door exploded into the room, crashing into the wall on the back wall. Twilight let out a short scream. 'Definitely augments.' Wade thought. He fired a couple of shots blindly round the corner. 'Three rounds left.' "I can count!" "Shit, 28's down. Shoot damnit!" Bullets ripped into the room, peppering the walls with bullet holes and destroying furnishings. After a few seconds the firing stopped. "You, go in and get him." "Why me?" "Because we can't all fit in there, anything happens and we'll shoot him okay?" Wade heard the sound of approaching footsteps. Then saw the barrel of a Widowmaker shotgun poke around the corner. He grabbed it with his human hand and pulled it towards him, dragging the unaware man's stomach into Wade's knee and stunning him. Then he grabbed the suit's throat with his metal hand and threw him across the room, crashing into the wall at the far end of the apartment. The suit didn't get up. Now with a shotgun in his hands Wade fired another blind shot, a short scream of pain and another volley of bullets tearing the place apart. Once again the fire died down quickly. "I'm out!" Yelled multiple voices, in the brief silence it took for them to reload Wade emptied the remaining rounds of his pistol. No screams this time. "Damn." Although he still had the shotgun and however many slugs that had. "Twi?" Wade asked. "Y-yes?" She whimpered, almost on the verge of tears. "Can you use your... magic to help out?" "What can I do though?" "I dunno, a shield? Throw something at them? You're the one with the power!" "I can do a protection spell?" Twilight suggested. "Do that then. Just distract them long enough for me to get to the other side of the room, I can take cover behind the couch and keep them suppressed long enough for you and AJ to climb down from the balcony and get out of here." "Are y'all crazy!" Applejack yelled. More bullets spewed into the apartment, destroying whatever was left of the front room. The fire died down again. "Yes, very. Please do it, I'm sure the guttering can take your weight." "If we die, ah'm haunting you in the afterlife." "Deal." Wade nodded to Twilight. Twilight splayed her hand out to the space between Wade and the sofa. She focused long enough for a bright purple wall of transparent light to form. "The hell?" Wade stuck a book out on the barrel of the shotgun. A shot was fired and it ricocheted off of the wall and made a small hole in the ceiling. 'Hey look! It worked!' "Can't you shut up for ten seconds?" Wade muttered. 'Okay, one... two...' "I hate you." "Go for Celestia's sake," Twilight said, "I have no idea how long it'll hold." Wade ran for the far end where the sofa was, propping his gun on the armrest, all while bullets were raining down on the protection spell. Twilight and AJ ran for the balcony, Twilight trying to keep the spell up for as long as possible. "AJ, go now. Twilight, as soon as the shield's gone, get climbing." Wade said, not taking his eyes off the door. The bullets stopped as did the shield. 'Impeccable timing.' Wade thought as he fired back, sending one of the goons flipping back. "Out." Another suit said, stepping back. 'Out of ammo? Great, one less guy to shoot.' "For something that doesn't have vocal chords you sure gob a lot..." Wade fired again, keeping them back a little longer. 'Hey, I'm your brain. Maybe you should see a shrink.' "If you don't shut up I'll see a brain surgeon." Wade fired another shot. Another suit down. 'I'll shut up now.' "Good." "Is he fucking talking to himself?" One of the three remaining suits said. "Yes. Yes he is." Wade sighed, he pulled the trigger again. 'Click' "Oh cock." Apartment 304's Balcony - Boston - United States of America While the fight raged on upstairs, Applejack had managed to clamber down to the floor below. Twilight zapped into view shortly after. "So we just go through 'ere and ger out the building... Right?" She asked. "I think," Twilight said, "shouldn't we be helping Wade?" "He told us to run an' that's wha' we're doin'." "But-" "No buts. Wade's a tough cookie, he'll be fine." Applejack said. "So what do we do then? Wait in the lobby?" "Ah' guess." A knocking on the glass pane got the two girls' attention. "Whatchoo doing on my balcony?" Apartment 404 - Boston - United States of America "Oh cock." 'Out of ammo? Well I saw this coming.' One of the suits laughed, pistol aimed at Wade. The other two suits stood back, presumably out of ammo. 'Looks like this is it eh? It was a good run; less alcohol would have been nice though. Brain cells don't grow on trees you know.' "Any last words?" The suit asked. "That is so cliched." Wade moaned. The suit rolled his eyes and pulled the trigger. Click. "What-?" 'What luck, now quick! Punch him before he realises you aren’t dead.' "Can't argue with that." Wade surged forward the few spaced between him and the suit, grabbed the pistol with his augmented hand and hit the suit square on the jaw with the other, wrenching the pistol from his grip when he staggered backwards and fell to the floor. Wade unclenched the pistol, letting it drop to the floor; his grip had warped the metal so much the weapon was almost unrecognisable. "Cool." He smirked. The other two suits approached Wade and raised their fists, one aug-d, one not. 'Hey look! It's Meaty and... Metal-y. I'll get back to you on that.' "Two on one? Hardly fair." Wade said, raising his fists. "There were more of us." Said the suit on Wade's left, Meaty, nodding towards the men Wade had shot. "Touché." Wade said, he swung a wild right hook that both men dodged. Metal-y aimed a punch in Wade's midriff. He quickly blocked with his right and swung his leg into his solar-plexus, knocking him to the floor; meaty came flying forward with a flurry of kicks, driving Wade back to the wall. As soon as his back brushed the wall he fell left just as a front kick drove into the wall, smashing through the thin wall separating the living room from the kitchen, where it got stuck. Wade drove his leg upwards and right into Meaty's groin. Causing Meaty to fall backwards, bringing bits of plaster to come off of the wall. 'Despite your resentment of me, don't you find it funny that I am responsible for your ability to fight properly?' "Reflexes are down to the spinal cord." Wade pointed out as Metal-y rose to his feet. 'Okay not all of your ability. My point is still valid!' "No it isn't." "Shut up!" yelled the suits in unison. Meaty clutching his pride, Metal-y throwing a straight punch at Wade's face. He ducked and came back with a savage carbon uppercut that felled the grunt in a matter of moments. 'Jesus, I thought you'd take his head off with that one.' Wade rolled his eyes and walked over to Meaty. "Hey," Wade pulled him up by the scruff of his shirt and pressed him against the bookcase, "what do you assholes have against me?" "I was given a name and assigned to the hit squad with my associates. I don't know what you did to tick the boss off so badly." "Boss?" "Yeah, you know... calls the shots, leader." "I know what boss means... who?" "Very few know who he is. Only his bodyguards and 47 have seen his face." "47?" "Bald guy, lots of augments, some guy caved his face in so he's in hospital. Whoever did that must have been badass." "Appreciate the compliment." "Th-that was you?" The suit's voice broke, a dark patch formed by his groin. 'Ewww!' "Yes." The suit's eyes widened. "Don't worry though, I'm not going to kill you. As cliched as it sounds you're gonna be passing on a little message to your little group." Wade cleared his throat. "Ahehehehem... If your task was to anger me, you've succeeded and I will come after you." "Th-that's it?" "Short and sweet, just how I like it… Run along now." He dropped the suit out into the hall and saw him scuttle away, down the stairs and out of the building. 'Wade.' "What?" Wade sighed. 'Something tells me insurance won't cover this.' Wade looked back at the devastation of the apartment; everything had either a huge crack or a bullet hole in it. Cushions were shredded, the television was obliterated and the kitchen had a substantial sized hole in its wall but remained reasonably untouched. "I think I'll have to agree with you there." 'So... Find the girls?' "Find the girls." > Chapter 7 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This chapter is due a re-write. Deus Exquestria: 7 Chapter 7 Apartment 404 – Boston - United States of America The rest of the night was stressful to say the least for both Wade and the girls. After convincing the man on the third floor that they had climbed down onto his balcony, so they could leave and after realising that the apartment was no longer suitable for sleeping in, they looked elsewhere to spend the night. Trying to convince a neighbour to accommodate them after the 'horrible racket' they inadvertently caused was easier said than done. In the end only the girls were able to sleep in any comfort while Wade slept on the kitchen table. Because of this Wade was more than irritable. 'You could have always harassed a different neighbour to sleep in an actual bed but no, you had to be the big man in front of the girls didn't you?' "Like it matters to you... When did my physical health concern you anyway?" Wade grumbled. 'Because, when it slacks you get punched in the noggin' and I get bruises.' "I can always get hit deliberately if that's what it takes for you to hush." 'You're cold.' "Damn straight." Wade mumbled before sleep took him. Twilight and Applejack had a better night. They slept on the sofa of number 416 and were woken up by Wade when he knocked on the door the following morning. “Hello?” The owner of the apartment asked, an elderly lady who went by the name Beryl. “Hi, it's Wade. I’m here to get the girls.” “Howdy Wade!” Applejack yelled from inside. Wade waved to her. “I’m sorry for asking and I don’t want to feel like I’m prying but, how do you know these girls? They’re very sweet ladies and I don’t want them being brought into any trouble because of you.” “They’re new here.” Beryl raised an eyebrow. “Surely there’s more to it than that. There are better places for people to be. They’re not… ‘Working Girls’ are they?” “What!? No!” Wade’s eyes widened and his face turned red. ‘Phahahahahaha! If only I could see the look on your face.’ “Relax Wade, I’m only teasing you. My, you young ns’ sure are fun to talk to.” She chuckled. ‘Especially when they crap themselves.’ “It’s okay. I’ll admit though, you had me good.” He laughed. “So they are-?” “No. They’re friends.” Wade replied quickly. “We’ll be out in a second!” Applejack said from the hallway. Pier 43 – Boston – United States of America Wade was sat at the edge of the pier with the girls. He looked at his watch. “11:14. Seems we still have some time to kill.” “Can I ask you something Wade? About the… arm.” Twilight asked. “Sure.” “Why did you even have it in the first place?” “I did say this was a replacement didn’t I?” “Yes, but before that. Why would you give up your arm willingly?” “Because I didn’t…” Wade sighed, “I take it you want to know how I lost my real arm then huh?” “If y’all don’t mind…” Applejack said. ‘Why not? We do have some time to kill.’ “Sure. Quite a long time ago, must have been 5-6 years ago at the time. I was a fresh recruit in the British army, being shipped off to the latest warzone in ‘The War on Terror’. I say war, the fighting was basically over. All that was left was keeping hold of the towns we’d secured from the enemy. I was assigned on checkpoints, checking vehicles for drugs, explosives, that sort of thing…” Checkpoint Lima – Outskirts of Kabul – Afghanistan – 2015 “Man this heat is gonna kill me.” “Suck it up Wade. It’s only your third week; you have just over five months of this left.” The man next to him chuckled. He had a stocky build, black hair and a small scar just above his right eyebrow where a bullet grazed him, kept his helmet on ever since. “Whereas you’ve only got a couple of months left eh?” “Darn right I have… Car’s coming; you check it while I question the driver.” “Got it sir.” “I keep telling you, only call me ‘sir’ in front of the other men.” “Sorry Jackson.” Jackson flagged down the car and began questioning the driver of their business as Wade opened the boot. Inside were some plastic bags. ‘Milk, cheese, some meat and whoa.’ Wade thought as he found a packet of condoms. “Clear.” He closed the boot and crawled under the car for any explosives attached underneath. “Anything?” Jackson asked. “Nope!” Wade yelled form under the car, “kinda smells down here!” Wade got out from under the car and the driver was told they were free to go. “’Kinda smells down here.’ of course it does, it’s a fucking car. What were you expecting it to smell of, lavender?” “Yeah actually.” Wade smiled. Jackson rolled his eyes. “I’m gonna be glad when I’m off this shift and have a nice glass of water in my hands.” He muttered. Another hour passed, only two other cars had come in that time, both was searched and cleared for travel. One had a considerable amount of cocaine in the trunk. “We have a car at checkpoint Lima with a block of cocaine in the back; send in a car for pick up and arrest over.” A few minutes later another car turned up at the checkpoint. “Wade. Can you stop the car while I get this guy detained? I’ll be out in a moment.” “Yes sir.” “Jackson, damn it.” “Sorry.” Wade flagged the car down and made a gesture to roll down the window. The afghan man complied. “Sorry about this but we need to check your vehicle.” Wade was responded by a lot of angry Arabic. “Jackson. Need you for this one. I don’t know Arabic.” Jackson stepped outside as a Humvee rolled into the checkpoint. Two American soldiers climbed out. “Bloody perfect timing.” Jackson muttered. “The guy’s in there.” He said, pointing inside the concrete booth. “Thanks.” One of the Americans said as they went inside. Jackson began to calm the man in the car down while Wade looked inside the car through the dusty windows. On the back seat was something in a plastic bag, metal with wires sticking out of it. “Shit, IED!” Wade yelled. Jackson dived into the concrete booth and the car exploded. Everything went black. Pier 43 – Boston – United States of America – Present Day “… I woke up in hospital sometime later and found out that I lost most of my arm and my sight was considerably damaged, I couldn’t tell I’d lost any of my eyesight since they had replaced them with these augmented ones.” Wade tapped the rim of his glasses. “The funding couldn’t afford for my arm to be replaced as easily though so I was told to leave once I was well enough since I was ‘unfit for duty’. A couple of weeks later of me being stuck in a bed I left. Then I moved to the states, scraped enough money for my arm and replaced my stump with something similar to this. That one gotten busted after a pretty big brawl with a guy twice my size. Although since I had paid my insurance fees I was able to get it replaced with this model. Much better I must say.” “I’m… I’m sorry for asking.” Twilight said. “Ah’m sorry too Wade. We didn’t expect y’ah to have gone through that, nopony; I mean nobody should be made go through that.” “Hakkuna mattata, it seems to be easier for me to come to terms with it the more I tell the story anyway.” “Hakkuna mawhata?” Twilight asked. “Hakkuna mattata, it means ‘no worries’.” ‘For the rest of your days! You really need to stop making me watch these kiddie films with you… It’s having an adverse effect on me. Also its kinda sad a guy at your age is watching ‘The Lion King’, it’s probably the reason you haven’t been laid yet.’ “I resent that.” Wade muttered. “Pardon?” Applejack said. “What? Nothing.” Wade replied quickly. He looked at his watch again. 11:26. “Your friend was okay? Jackson I mean.” “He lived. Burn on his arm and maybe another scar to add to his collection but he was fine for active service. He lived out his tour and retired from the army when Belltower gave him a job opportu-.” “Ah, Twilight!” A voice said from behind them. Wade turned to see the man he saw from the hospital, this time he was dressed in a dark buttoned jacket and jeans. “You must be Me.” “I am, although I’m afraid that pun has gotten very old over the years Mr Adams.” Joseph said as he shook hands with Wade. “You said we’d be meeting at your place. I doubt you actually live on a pier.” “Don’t be silly, I live under it.” He clicked a button from a device he pulled from his pocket. A low rumbling sound was heard. “Step back from the edge if you would please.” Joseph said. Applejack and Twilight stepped back shortly before a wide capsule broke the surface. "That... is very cool." Wade said. *Ding!* “An elevator… you have to be kidding me.” He sighed, effectively taking it back. Unknown Location – Boston – United States of America “This had better be good news.” “If only Boss.” The suit muttered. “You’re 13, right?” Boss said. The suit nodded. “Wade has once again taken out some of our boys.” “Please tell me this is some sick joke.” “It isn’t boss. Sorry.” “You will be.” Boss growled. > Chapter 8 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This chapter is due a rewrite. Deus Exquestria: 8 Chapter 8 Under Pier 43 – Boston – United States of America As the elevator descended, Twilight and AJ were dumbstruck. Looking through the reinforced glass they saw the ocean beyond them, sunlight puncturing through the top of the water and illuminating the rock formations that were spread along the ocean floor several hundred feet below. “I can honestly say that I never expected this.” Wade said to Joseph. “Well I wasn’t expecting you to expect this.” Joseph replied. “I’d be a little worried if you did expect this.” “Wha’ is this place anyways?” Applejack asked. “My lab and hideaway from the world, in light of recent events it is now also my home.” “What ‘recent events’?” Wade asked. Before Joshua could answer the elevator came to an abrupt stop, a hiss was heard and after a few moments the door finally opened. “What was that?” Twilight asked. “Airlock,” Joseph explained, “it lets the water out so we don’t get flooded when the doors open.” “I see.” They stepped out of the elevator and along the metal walkway. “And to answer your question Wade,” Joshua continued, “‘recent events’ being that my actual home was ransacked last week and I narrowly avoided an assassination attempt the day before yesterday. I have a hunch on who’s behind it, but it has yet to be confirmed.” “Then why risk your neck to see Twi?” Wade asked. “The risk was worth the reward.” They came to a second door which slid open. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he paused for dramatic effect, “welcome to my lab.” Holding Cell – Boston – United States of America ‘Three hours in this cesspit so far.’ 47 thought. After a lot of surgery and more augments to save his face, his face consisted of dermal armour and a lot of implants, making him rather unsightly, the scarring on his face from the scalpel a constant reminder that he lost. Wade was going to pay dearly for what he did. Revenge would have to wait though; first he needed to get out. He could try subtle but with a building full of cops it would be hard to get out without being seen. Alternatively he could just smash his way out but that would cause issues and was probably harder in the short term. Regardless his only way out of his cell was getting through the bars. A guard came out if the room opposite the cells, on its wall facing the cells it had a one way mirror, 47 assumed that there was at least one other guard in there, watching his colleague and 47’s every move no doubt. The police officer approached 47’s cell. “You feel like talking now?” He asked. He was tall, well built, could have been popular with the ladies if it wasn’t for the huge scar adorning his left cheek. 47 just looked at him; he noticed a key chain on the policeman’s belt. 47 smiled a thin smile. “Is the smile a yes?” The guard asked 47 who was still sat there, staring at him accompanied by the smile. The policeman sighed and went back into the adjacent room. “I don’t know about you but that guy gives me the creeps.” His partner said after they closed the door. “He’s certainly an odd one,” the other guard replied, “He hasn't said a single word since he was put in there. I wonder where he got those augments; over half of the ones registered on him were illegal.” “So remind me why we haven’t turned them off then?” “The station doesn’t have the equipment, that’s the prison’s job. Plus he’s got so many that we risk killing him if we shut them down.” He sighed, “I take it he’s still not going to discuss what happened?” “He won’t, he smiling now though. Goddamn creepy.” They both looked through the glass at 47. The suit raised his hand and waved. A yellow glow enveloped his body and disappeared. “What the f-.” “Escape attempt in the holding cells! Repeat, escape attempt in the holding cells!” The scarred guard ran to 47’s cell and unlocked the cell. He stepped inside and brought out a stun gun. Suddenly the guard’s feet were lifted off of the floor and he began emitting a chocking noise. The yellow glow re-appeared again to see 47’s hand clasped around the guard’s throat. “Idiot.” The suit muttered and then he threw the guard into the glass, cracking it and rendering the policeman unconscious. “Officer down! Send ba- *Bzzzzzzttt*!” 47 reloaded another stun gun dart. He noticed an air vent to the left of the room, swiftly opened it and crawled inside. Moments later a team of six policemen stormed into the observation room, FR-27 assault rifles primed and suited in body armour. “We have two officers down, no sight of the suspect yet, over.” A couple of policemen tended to their unconscious colleagues. “Okay, the whole station is now under immediate lockdown! Nobody comes in or out until we find this guy and put him back in a cell.” ‘Brilliant.’ 47 thought, scowling. He crawled through the vent, trying to find a way out, he figured the best course of action would be to take a guards uniform, preferably one with a helmet, and try to sneak out. He reached the end of the vent. He peeked through it into the office ahead of him. He saw an officer at his computer. “We’re getting nothing on the intellicams sir… yes sir, I’ll keep looking,” He sighed, “god he’s a dick.” 47 silently opened the vent cover and snuck behind the man. Before he knew what was happening 47 grabbed the back of the policeman’s skull and slammed it into the desk in front of him. Blood trickled out of the gash on the man’s forehead as he hit the floor. ‘Now to get out of here,’ 47 thought as he began changing into the deceased officer’s uniform, ‘thankfully he’s about my size.’ Joseph’s Lab – Boston – United States of America “Nice place.” Wade commented. “Thank you, there’s the living quarters over here,” Joshua pointed to the left wall where there was a sofa, fridge and television, “beds are to the left of that, and the lab is through that door there.” He pointed to the far door; Twilight was the first through it. She was immediately taken back by it all. There were tables with sheets of paper strewn all over them, flash drives scattered haphazardly, a computer with a mug with pens inside on a far table and a single office chair. “So… whadda ya think?” Joseph asked. “It’s nice.” Wade said. “Not bad at all fella.” Applejack said, “Twi?” Twilight looked like she’d pop a vein in her brain. ‘Well… we’re screwed.’ “So disorganised…” She growled. > Chapter 9 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Deux Exquestria: 9 Chapter 9 Boston PD Building – Boston – United States of America 47 was pleasantly surprised at what little resistance he’d had so far as he made his way up the stairs, moving calmly to the door, now dressed into the guards uniform nobody took notice of him. As his feet hit the ground floor his radio beeped into life. “We’ve found a man dead at his desk; he’s been stripped of his uniform. We have reason to believe the escapee may be in uniform. Run an identity check on all people leaving the building.” ‘Damn it.’ 47 thought as he approached the exit. “Stop right there!” barked a voice behind him, 47 sighed and clicked off the safety on the stun gun. Joseph’s Lab – Boston – United States of America “Errr… don’t you think we should stop her?” Wade whispered to Applejack. “It’s impossible I tell ya. Believe me, ah’ve tried.” She replied. “Why is this place so messy!?” Twilight yelled as she bundled a bunch of papers together. “It’s not mess, it’s organised chaos!” Joseph retorted, desperately trying to save what he could from Twilight’s whirlwind of orderly-ness. While the cleaning carnage went on in the background, Twilight snatching up papers and Joseph defending them with vigor and a sadly futile effort against the female’s blisteringly quick retrieval of items. After watching for a few moments, Wade turned to Applejack. "Let's go clubbing." "Clubbin'?" Applejack asked, "Lahk with bats n' stuff?" "Bats shouldn't be required." Wade said, trying to suppress his laughter. "I think you've been misinformed." 'She's a smart girlie. Keep an eye on her.' Wade paused, frowning for a split second, "What I mean is we're going to go out, have a bit of fun. It'd be nice to kick back after a couple of days of being shot at." "So ya'll not afraid of them coming back?" Wade frowned. "Not for a little while at least, I sent the last lot packing didn't I?" "Ah guess," Applejack trailed off, her emerald green eyes cast to the floor, a heavy breath escaping her mouth. "What's wrong?" Wade asked. "Ah'm worried that we're gonna get ambushed or somethin'. I don't wanna see you or Twi get hurt." Wade put a reassuring hand on Applejack's shoulder and put on the warmest smile his face would muster. "I promise that for as long as you two are with me, no harm will ever come to you or Twilight." "Ya promise?" Applejack asked, perking up a bit. "Pinkie promise." Wade said, waggling his little finger. For a few moments Applejack just stared at the digit, then looked at Wade. "Go on." She said bluntly. Wade frowned, "What'd you mean 'go on'? That's a pinkie promise. Just interlock your pinkie finger with mine." "Then yar def... def..." Applejack frowned, mouth contorting in as many shapes as she could, trying to find the right sound. "Definition?" Wade suggested. 'Like I said, smart girlie...' "That... of a pinkie promise an’ mine are very different; tha's not a pinkie promise." Wade cocked an eyebrow, "Okay, pray tell, what a pinkie promise is? According to you." "Cross mah heart an’ hope to flah. Stick a cupcake in mah- ow!" Applejack yelled, face screwed up in pain, rubbing her eyelid, cheeks flushing a scarlet hue. "Okay, I cross my heart, hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye," Wade repeated, silently thankful that his glasses stopped him from slapping his optics out. "that nothing will happen to you or Twilight." “There ya go. Nah, if you break a pinkie promise you have to live with the guilt. Fah’ever." 'Always a catch… so she is actually a smart girlie, next she'll con you out of your millions. Oh wait, you don't have millions. Get some millions damn it!' "I understand." Wade said, trying to ignore his brain's rant about Wade's lack of millions and how he could get some. 'It's so simple! All you need is a screwdriver, a block of that explosive stuff, some duct tape and a banana!' "Why would I need a banana to rob a bank?" Wade hissed. Applejack stepped back, brow furrowed. Wade didn't notice, he was staring at his forehead and frowning. 'To feed the monkey, duh!' "Wha- What's the monkey gonna do?" 'Drive the getaway vehicle of course! Geez, do I have to think of everything?' Applejack tapped Wade's shoulder, giving a concerned frown. "Are you talking to yerself?" "Errm..." Wade paused, still looking at his forehead. He looked down to see Applejack still frowning. "Yes... yes I was. Just... just ignore me when I do that, my brain has a mind of its own... quite literally." Applejack nodded. "Ah see..." She said slowly. Applejack looked past Wade to see Twilight's 'sorting cyclone' had died down; she stood there leaning against the far wall, panting for breath with a satisfied smile adorning her face. Joseph however was anything but satisfied. He hugged the few sheets he had managed to save close to his chest before Twilight could snap them up and place them in a draw of some description. "Twilight. What. Did. You. Do!?" The scientist shrieked. Looking like he was about to either rip his hair out, Twilight’s head off or both. "I was just sorting-" Twilight protested. "But I didn't ask!" Me squeaked. "I suggest leaving Twilight and Me alone for a little." Wade whispered to Applejack, beginning to step backwards out of the room. "Ah agree." The debate between Twilight and Me seemed to have their full attention, not even giving signs of registering Wade and Applejack leaving the room, nor did they notice the elevator doors close and begin ascending. Boston PD Building – Boston – United States of America 47 sighed, turning around, stun gun in hand and saw a young police officer that was manning the front desk shakily aim a pistol at him. “I-I’ll shoot!” He barked, sweating slightly and his breathing erratic. The suit smiled pocketing his weapon and turning back round to exit, knowing full well the officer wouldn’t carry out the threat, probably never shot at something that wasn’t a paper target before. He walked out into the street, taking in the night time bustle and quickly being lost to the crowds of people that populated the street. ‘Ditch this uniform and head back to Boss.’ 47 thought as he spotted a young person in a leaf green hoodie emerge from a nearby alley, hood put up to cover their head, a few hairs of a beard poking out the bottom, he looked roughly 47's height. He walked up to the man, tapping his shoulder from behind. "Excuse me sir?" 47 said. The man looked back, eyeing 47 the circuitry behind the man's eyelids whirring quietly. "Yeah? What you want?" He said with an edge of hostility, his eyes darting back to the alley. 47 raised an eyebrow. “Something interesting about that side street, sir?” he asked, looking over to it, frowning. ‘Could be somewhere for me to relieve this man of his clothing without any public suspicion.’ “N-No officer. I was jus-” The hooded man was cut off by 47 forcefully pushing him towards the alley. “H-Hey! What are you doin’!” “Taking a look in this alley with you, you sure there’s nothing interesting about it?” 47 sneered, the man’s head was focused ahead, moving into the alley under the prodding of the ‘officer’s’ nightstick. The alley was a even more gloomy and dark place than the rest of the city’s usual grittiness, worn brickwork and a rusty fire escape hung down from a derelict building, nothing seemed out of place enough for the bearded man to be hostile about, panic spread onto the man’s face when 47 looked over to an open manhole cover, leading into the sewers below, looking inside he saw a cardboard box with a credit chip and packets of some white substance, 47 didn't need to guess what was inside. “Huh, I thought nothing interesting was here?” he said coldly, placing handcuffs on the man. “Shame really, such potential. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for what’s about to happen to you.” “Wh-wha-?!” 47 pushed the man down the manhole, the handcuffs not allowing him to grasp the ladder, hitting the floor with a crunch. 47 sighed as he shimmied down the ladder after him. A quick change later 47 began walking through the streets once again. After a short while of walking he spotted a familiar looking stetson. Intrigued he focused his vision in, sure enough he saw the blonde cowgirl in a line to get into the ‘Shoal Nightclub’, a new joint that had opened that week, she was talking to someone. He focused in further as a familiar freckled face started laughing. “Wade.” He growled quietly, pulling his hood up and moving to the back of the line, strategising on when best to strike him. Shoal Nightclub - Boston - United States of America The Shoal nightclub was, in comparison to The Hide, one of the better places to spend a night out. The music was blaring, the drinks were flowing and a greater percentage of the patrons are more inclined to be friendly than they were to stab you. The illuminated dancefloor took up most of the floorspace it being one of the few sources of light, the glass tiles flashing into many coloured patterns and shapes, the colours they emitted bouncing off the navy walls, Wade noticed a few people dancing and others sat at simple, but polished, wooden tables, drinking and enjoying themselves, in some cases... ‘Okay... bit too much fun there. This is so much nicer than the dump you used to work in, no wait, used to work outside of.' Wade scowled, "Haha." "Wha's so funny?" Applejack asked. Head cocked to one side, eyeing Wade curiously. "Nothing," Wade sighed, "let's try to enjoy ourselves shall we? Who knows, I may even get lucky." 'Ha!' Applejack was slightly bewildered, a musky smell invaded her nostrils and the place was almost jam-packed with people of all shapes and sizes, some had robotic limbs like Wade's, and others had none at all. Their skin tones were brown, peach or some degree in-between; there was even someone who was orange. After snapping out of her trance Applejack followed Wade to the bar. The woman working behind the marble bar-top had her back turned, long brown hair braided into a single plait, tied at the end with a soft blue ribbon. She gently rubbing a dishcloth inside one of the drinking glasses. 'Remember, Wade, tact. Tact and a good pick up line and all will go well.' "Well, it appears I've shat my pants, can I get into yours?" He said to the woman, mentally slapping himself immediately afterward. The bartender stopped wiping, Applejack giving Wade a dumbfounded stare. 'Tact Wade! I said tact!' "Excuse me!?" The woman blared, turning round, "If you think tha- Oh...” She blinked. “Wade?" Tami's cheeks flushed bright red, though she tried to keep a stern face. "Ah..." Wade squeaked, face almost matching the shade of Tami's. "Tami... what a...errr..." 'Surprise.' "Surprise... to... see you here." Wade's voiced refused to lower, he cleared his throat. "An ah though' you couldn't get any weirder..." Applejack muttered. "I-I thought you were still working at The Hide." Wade stammered, desperate to divert the conversation away from his blunder. "I quit the day after the phone call I left you," she said, pausing at Wade's fallen face at its mention, "Geoff thought it was for the best too, figured I’d be safer if I was away from the club. Shoal was looking for some new staff, someone to pour the drinks and 'look pretty' or to stand at the door and look intimidating. I fitted the former so I applied. Since then I've just been getting nothing but assholes hitting on me." "Sorry about that," Wade murmured, boring a hole in the floor by his feet. "You're not an asshole though," She laughed, placing a delicate hand on his shoulder, "and I have to admit. That was the funniest and most disgusting pick up line I've heard yet." "Tha was a pick up line!" Applejack blurted. Tami turned her head to Applejack, only just registering her presence. "ah though' Spahk's ahtempts to flirt with Rarity were bad, but tha' just takes the whole pie right thar'." She snorted a laugh before quickly failing to suppress it with her hand. "I'm sorry... who're you?" Tami asked, frowning a little. "I must have forgotten to introduce you. Tami, this is Applejack. Applejack, Tami." Wade said. Applejack had calmed down enough to tip her hat. "Pleasure to meet you ma'am." She said, still smirking. Tami smiled, "Nice to meet you too." She says, frowning in confusion at the odd name for a moment but her expression went as soon as it came, falling back into the smile, presumably thinking nothing else of it. "Actually, Tami. Do you know if the bouncer job is still open?" Wade asked. “Should be, I think the guy at the door is only a temp. You can always check with the Manager, she should be the one in the room up there." She said, pointing up at a large wooden booth. The wooden box elevated on two marble pillars, a spiral staircase leading up to them and supported by steel cable attaching the edges to the roof. "Got it." Wade said as he scurried off. 'Wadda ya know? No tact and you still managed to win her over... sort of. I swear all around the world there must be thousands of people violently swearing at you right now.' "But I don't even know a thousand people." 'Okay... maybe a hundred.' "A hundred?" 'Okay, fifty.' "Really?" 'Oh alright... ten.’ “There ya go.” Shoal Nightclub - Boston - United States of America He'd been tailing his man for about ten minutes now. Although after entering he’d lost them in the throng of people. You would have thought a man accompanied by a lady in a cowboy hat would be easy to find. He sighed and began making his way to the bar. As he approached it he overheard a snippet of a conversation. "So, Applejack," the bartender said, "what do you do for a living?" "Ah work on the family's apple farm." She replied, adjusting the hat on her head. Jackson observed the lady in the cowboy hat, Applejack. ‘Hmmm, if she’s here then Wade can’t be that far away, I’ll wait at the bar for him to show up or just follow this Applejack till she leads me to him.’ "That idea sounds attractive," the bartender mused, "I like the outdoors, makes me hate being cooped up in here on a nine at night to five in the morning shift." "Ah can't say ah'd know what that shift would be lahk, Tahmi." Applejack said. Tami’s lip curled into a smile. He sat down at the bar. "Can I get a pint?" he asked. "One beer coming right up." Tami replied, swiftly plucking a glass from under the worktop. Applejack waved to the man. "Hello mister." "Hi..." "Wha's your name? Ah'm Applejack." she extended her hand. "Err... Jackson." he replied, wearily accepting the handshake. "Jackson... sounds familiar." Applejack said, seeming to mull the thought for a moment before dismissing it with a roll of the eyes. A few moments later, Tami placed the frothing beverage onto the bar-top. “Your beer,” she turned to Applejack, “do you fancy anything, Applejack?” “D’ya ave any apple cider?” Applejack replied. Tami’s fingers rested on her chin, “Hmmm, I’m not sure… I’ll have a look for you.” She ducked down and began looking in the coolers under the bar. Manager’s Office – Boston – United States of America Wade exhaled as he rapped on the door to the office. After a few moments the door opened, the sight greeting Wade was a tall woman, the grey suit jacket she was wearing was buttoned up, smoothing over her slight curves, her blond hair tied back into a bun and high heels that put her nose level with Wade’s scalp. She looked unamused as she eyed Wade up and down, casually assessing him with piercing brown eyes. “What is it?” She said with a sigh. “My name’s Wade Adams. I’m here about the bouncer position.” He replied simply. The woman said nothing and walked back to her desk. Wade stood in the doorway, taking note of the bare walls and unsure whether he was supposed to follow or not. She sat down at her desk, looking up at Wade. “You coming in?” she asked, frowning and tapping the glass desk with her fingertips. Wade obliged, the door closing behind him and sitting down after he was gestured to do so. Shoal Nightclub - Boston - United States of America 47 entered the club, rapidly scanning the room for Wade. A few of the nightclubs customers who were dancing bumped into him, quickly apologising to him and scampering off when he frowned and growled at them. He looked back around and spotted a familiar waistcoated figure ascend up the metal staircase. ‘Got you now.’ 47 grinned as he made his way through the ground floor, heading for the stairs. Manager’s Office - Boston - United States of America “Right, well, thank you.” Wade said, standing up. “It’s a pleasure to have you working with us, Wade.” The lady replied, shaking Wade’s hand. Wade broke the shake and pushed against the door to exit. The door rattled but refused to open, Wade pushed again. “What?” He muttered in disbelief as he tried again. ‘It’s a pull, Wade.’ Wade pulled the door; it opened to a bald man in jeans and a hoodie, he had a scowl on his scarred face. “Hello again, Mr Adams.” 47 said calmly as he thrust his metal palm into Wade’s chest. The Manager let out a short scream, ducking down behind her desk as wade sailed over the top, hitting the wall behind her and sliding down it into a sitting position. ‘Owch...’ Shoal Nightclub – Boston – United States of America “Wadda ya do, Jackson?” Applejack asked as her drink was served, “Thank ya.” She took a swig. “Odd jobs, freelance.” Jackson said, taking a drink. Applejack raised an eyebrow but didn’t ask any more on it, looking back to her cider. She raised her glass. “Cheers, Jackson.” She said, smiling slightly. “Sure I guess.” Jackson replied, smirking. Manager’s Office – Boston – United States of America Wade staggered upright, pain shooting up his spine, squinting his eyes as he saw a blurred 47 walked into the room, casually leaning his side against the wall. Taking no mind of the Manager who was still cowering behind her desk. “Take your time, Wade.” 47 said, “I’ll certainly be taking mine when I’m killing you.” Wade groaned, coughing as he raised his fists, teetering a little before walking from behind the desk, his breathing a little heavy. “I’m surprised you’ve came to see me so soon. Last I saw your face I had put my fist through it.” 47 placed a digit over the small ridge in his cheek, running it down to just under his chin. “I had some work done. Dermal armour amongst other things.” He replied, his expression apathetic. “Saw you were in the neighbourhood, thought I’d drop by and kill you. Nothing personal.” ‘Yeah, sure, you caved his face in Wade, it’s obviously personal.’ “Actually... It's maybe a little personal.” ‘Told you.’ Wade rolled his eyes. “Can we just get on with it? I was making headway with a nice lady earlier.” ‘As if…’ 47 sighed. “As you wish.” He said as he lunged forward with a vicious strike. Wade parried, grabbing 47’s head and driving it into the wall. Wade smirked. The bald man growled as he pushed himself from the wall. ‘Oh shit.’ He grabbed Wade’s collar and threw him at the opposite wall with incredible force. Wade braced for impact. “Son of a bi-!” Shoal Nightclub – Boston – United States of America “I don’t think farmwork is really my thi-” Jackson was cut off by an almighty crash. He stood up trying to catch a better look from the bar, Applejack shifted in her seat and Tami looked in the direction of the sound. The three of them saw a man in a shirt and waistcoat fly through the manager’s office wall, “-iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitch!” pieces of the wooden structure raining down on the club’s patrons below, the man fell, slamming onto a table and bouncing off it onto the floor, landing with an audible thud. A few moments passed and he shakily stood up, placing a hand on his ribcage. A bald man emerged from the hole where he’d thrown the other man through, smiling wickedly as he dropped down, a sphere of orange light slowing his descent. The faint crackle of electricity heard as his feet made contact with the floor. “Wade!” Tami yelled, quickly moving out from behind the bar and pushing her way through the crowd. Applejack held her head in her hands. “You promised me, Wade.” She muttered. Jackson frowned as he made his way over to the fight. ‘What have you done now?’ Over on the other side of the club, Wade struggled to stand after being thrown through the wall. He was pretty sure he’d broken a rib or two but the adrenaline pumping through his bloodstream wasn’t going to make him aware of it anytime soon. ‘Wade, I think it’s in our best interests to make a tactical withdrawal.’ “So you want me to run?” Wade said. ‘Tactical withdrawal, run away, you say ‘tomato’ I say ‘tamata’.’ Wade rolled his eyes as he saw 47 advance, then disappear in a yellow glow. Wade frowned, keeping his fists up, scanning the room. Feeling a sudden, massive impact in his chest he was sent flying backwards several feet, sprawling onto the dance floor. Wade groaned, lying face down onto the glass of the illuminated dance floor, he tried to push himself up before his arm got swept out from under him and he crashed to the floor again. He was immediately yanked up by his scraggy hair, the pain leaving for a split second only for pressure to be almost immediately applied to his neck. Wade probed with his augmented arm a little in front of his throat, feeling resistance he slammed his fist down on it to no avail. He punched in front of him with his other arm, abruptly stopping midair, feeling immense pressure in his knuckles, Wade yelled in anger and then in torment as a sickening ‘snap’ filled the air. Several members of the crowd gasped. At the edge of his vision he spotted Tami, just managing to break through to the front of the crowd, watching in horror as he feebly battled what looked an invisible force. “Wade!” She yelled, running towards him. She was only inches away before the hold on Wade’s neck shifted a little, Tami being struck out of nowhere, sending her flying back into the crowd, the people immediately behind her acting as a cushion as she bowled into them. Wade cried in pain as his lower arm was held in a vice before another snap was heard, the bones crumbling to powder. His arms went limp, the hold on him released as he slumped to the floor, whimpering and barely conscious; he could feel warm breath inches from his face. “As much as my boss may want me to, I’m not going to kill you... yet,” 47 hissed, “No. I’m going to reach out and crush everything you have, much like your arm and then, when you crawl to me and beg for me to end your life. Then I will kill you.” The breath was gone and Wade lay there for a moment, hazily seeing Tami run towards him before he blacked out.