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Double Agent
Topic Started: Aug 29 2014, 03:09 PM (530 Views)
Silent Wit
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[ *  *  * ]
Wit had been showing a very surprising amount of restraint given the amount of arguing, and if anyone had been paying attention to Wit, a clear distaste for Silent Step. After Step's last words, he let out a heavy sigh, leaned forward, and put a hoof to his temple. "This... No. This stops. We were having a good, solid discussion with planning, and talking, and then you show up." He pointed a hoof accusingly at Step.

"Let me be clear. I don't care who you are, I don't care what rank you hold in EI. But, if I may, and I may, you're speaking out of your ass. Twenty-Five has been, and still is, our best bet. Your entire reasoning for wanting her off this mission is that you think she's been emotionally compromised. Your reasoning for that is the fact she fucks Protocol." He paused, "Do you know what the fuck spying is?"

"She did and still does that to maintain a working relationship with Protocol. It happens often because that's what Protocol has come to expect and he's always on for it. She's doing that to get the vital information we desperately need. At first, I thought she might have been compromised as well, but the fact that she's here and with so much information inclines me to believe otherwise."

"The whole point of spying is lying, I thought. If that's the case, then she's convinced another spy of her lies. I think that's pretty damn good spywork."

Wit sat back and let out a breath. "All that aside, which, you're welcome," he nods to Jane, "my main point is this. If you're going to sit at this table you're going to be productive about it. Why? Because you owe it to the rest of us not to waste our time, and you owe it to the tree which is tirelessly producing oxygen for you."

"You should apologize to the tree." It might become clear by this point that Wit has an issue with self-important ponies in authority. Clearly that restraint had gone out the window.
Edited by Silent Wit, Aug 30 2014, 06:33 PM.
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Sir Solaris Strike
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[ *  *  * ]
Solaris stayed quiet through Step's and Jane's argument only to stand up and walk around the table, unsheathing his shardblade. He levitated the parts to float above the table, each giving off a slight rainbow light. He also levitated the books off of the table and kept them suspended in mid air.

It was only after Wit said his piece did Solaris take his turn. "I'm inclined to agree with Twenty Five and the Inspector." He said keeping his voice at a polite volume. "Observe." The gem-shards that hovered around the table seemed to shoot a beam of light into one another at many many different angels. Eventually a to scale 3d hologram of Equestria's territory formed on the table.

"Diamond Dogs are raiding and pillaging in the south, this I knew. However, it would appear that mercenaries hired by Clandestine are planning on attack from the east." As he spoke of each faction a large Red dot appeared on the hologram, a blue one inside of Canterlot.

"I do not have the horsepower to properly defend from both fronts. The issue I have is that the only reason I have any information of the mercenaries is because of Twenty Five." He explained still pacing around the table.

"Twenty Five also understands what exactly is at stake. It isn't merely civilian lives, or a country's identity. Understand that these are things I hold very close to my heart." He paused looking to Silent Step. "No, whats at stake is everything. Dream Deciever will not stop until the entire world is a burning sea of Balefire." To accentuate his point the map turned Balefire green and Mount Avalon, the mountain Canterlot was built on melted.

"The only beings capable of fighting back against the Void are our Princesses and perhaps the Elements. I don't think that Dream Deciever can directly fight Celestia and Luna, let alone all four Alicorns at once. Their plan is obviously to undermine their power base, their defenses and then striking when they are vulnerable, leaving the entire country in anarchy."

The hologram seemed to zoom out to show the rest of the Equestrian continent. "Without Equestria there will be a power vacuum: one which the Griffons will no doubt try and take advantage of. The result is more fighting, more bloodshed... The death of harmony as we know it." He paused again, stopping his circling and faced to regard Silent Step directly.

"Equestria is the only thing standing in the void's way. Our strength keeps their darkness at bay. If we fall, so does the rest of the world." He tilted his head a small bit.

"It is my opinion that Twenty Five is our single best hope from keeping this from happening. You will never get anypony near Alpha again and we will be flying blind. Can you take that risk? Can you honestly say that by removing Twenty Five we are better off? Can you shoulder the responsibility of having a world's blood on your hooves?
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Jane Doe
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Equestrian Spy
[ *  *  * ]
Silent Step sat there and listened, his stoic and stern front slowly chipped away at by the other two stallions and eventually smashed with Solaris’ final words. His expression by now was a worried one as his gaze was distant and darted around the room. Jane’s expression showed that she was in a bit of an improved mood. Sure, she liked seeing her handler get berated, criticized and ridiculed, but she was much more appreciative of the support the two stallions had given her. Then, after Solaris had spoken, she saw the opportunity to play upon this.

“Silent Step, if there’s one decision you ever make right in your career, make it this one. Their words are true, though Silent Wit’s words may be aimed to add insult to injury. He’s also stated, that yes, I’ve lowered my pride to bring us this information. Currently the four of us collectively are the most well-prepared ponies to handle this issue. I’m no believer in coincidence and meeting Silent Wit, directly connect to an Equestrian Marshal, may have been the greatest stroke of luck for us both, despite the… inconvenient timing.” she explained to Silent Step. Her handler seemed to be coming to terms with the reality of the situation and placed his hooves on the table, looking at Jane.

“But I’m not afraid to lower my pride further to ask you for help, sir. We have a stressed working relationship at best but I still need you and you still need me. More so, these two stallions need you and so does your nation that we work night and day all year, no off-time, proactively defending. When I can get your cooperation you’re the first person to get in touch with any contact, amass any resource and you surprised the buck out of me when you found me on my last vacation.” she stated, accentuating the word so it was common knowledge that ‘vacation’ was a lie. “You have the management skills to maximize the effectiveness of everyone here. That’s why you’re a handler and I’m a field agent. I might off myself if I was behind a desk. Silent Step, we need your help.”

Silent Step sat there for a moment, staring at Jane before giving a deep inhale and rubbing a hoof through his mane. “Okay. I apologize for my steadfast hold to your dismissal from the mission. Agent I… saw what happened on that scrying crystal and I… didn’t want you to continue that. I’ve never… seen you like that--

“Don’t. Don’t mention that. Focus on the now, not then. These ponies need you now.” She stopped Silent, the moment she realized what he was talking about. She had thought that he didn’t care for her, but that had completely flipped the table on her.

Right, what do you need from me, Agent?” Step asked, now looking Jane in the eye and sitting up straight.

“I need you to give these two stallions unhindered access to the mission. When they need to contact me, it is an absolute need. I’ll be inciting chaos throughout the various cities of Equestria again and I need the stories to be wildly exaggerated. It won’t be anything Equestria can’t control, but we need to convince Clandestine and Alpha Protocol that the Equestrian world is starting to spark and burn. I’ll keep you informed of my every move and every intel-drop I make. I need as much dirt as you can dig up on these public officials.” she stated, sliding a list across the table, including her targets designated by Alpha. “The proverb here is that the end justifies the means.”

Silent Step took the list, looked up and nodded. “Gentlecolts. Is there anything I can do to immediately assist?” he asked Wit and Solaris.
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Silent Wit
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Wit raised a brow. He remembered the audio from the crystals. Clearly they had recovered the video. The tone of his voice, and what I heard the day before the penthouse burned... And this power Protocol has... Unsettling prospect, but the pieces fit together, my logic isn't flawed. I'm starting to understand why he was so adamant.

Despite this newfound understanding, Wit didn't remove his mask of general annoyance. He still didn't fully warm to Silent Step, but that was a personal dilemma and would have to be set aside, unfortunately.

"I'm going to need everything you've collected up to this point. Even before you decided to send Twnety-Five in. My profile of Protocol has been incomplete up to this point and it would be best if that was rectified. Other than that I can only ask that you be prompt with whatever information you collect from here on in, whether it be from the agent here, or any other sources you have."

"I'll be staying here for the duration of this situation... I hope that will make it easier on you in terms of keeping both I and the marshal informed." Perhaps the way he could lessen the sting of his earlier words was to simply act professional. That would be for the best, he thought.
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Sir Solaris Strike
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Solaris simply shook his head "Nothing from me at the moment. To ensure I don't step on your hooves, I'll correspond with you well before I make a move. As for what I want, for now, merely that Inspector Silent Wit gets everything he needs."

Solaris raised his chin a bit "In the spirit of cooperation: Do you need anything from me?"
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Jane Doe
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Silent Step nodded his head. "You have it, Mister Silent Wit. Anything that I have access to can be considered open knowledge. I'll be in touch and I'll seek to answer your questions to the best of my abilities." he explained to Wit before turning to Solaris. "We at EI-6 require nothing at the moment, but your support is fully appreciated, sir." he thanked the noble. He then turned to Jane. "I'll begin processing your report now. Agent... stay safe. Good hunting." he stated to Jane before turning and walking out of the room, his invisibility spell activating before he even reached the door.

Jane looked between the two stallions that remained. "Thank you for your support on my second request gentlecolts. Now that my handler is gone, do either of you have questions for me?" she asked the two.
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Silent Wit
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Wit watched Step leave and he made a face. He should apologize later, that would be for the best, he thought. Later, though. Much later, probably. He didn't want to deal with swallowing what he said now.

"Your name would be a good start. I like to know who I'm working with. Second, how easy is it to keep tabs on Protocol and Clandestine? Third, do you have any idea how we might be able to secure Protocol in one place if we were able to capture him? Is there any magic that seems to work on him?"
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Jane Doe
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Jane nervously looked around a moment before answering Wit. “I’m going to appear the hypocrite when I state that my name is obscured for security reasons and plausible deniability. Forgive me if that’s a personal question that I don’t feel comfortable answering. Second, Protocol and Clandestine are capricious in their operating methods. The only method I’ve devised on keeping track of them is to be nigh-inseparable from them. Alpha has the ability to respawn seemingly at his location of choice and quite possibly the ability to do so without dying, so tracking his movement is very, very difficult. I believe he travelled with from Fillydelphia by train solely for the purpose of not initially revealing that ability.” she explained.

Her thoughts drifted to restraining Alpha and the interesting method she was using to attempt to discover a method. She seemed less uncomfortable about answering that question that question than her name, though. “As for restraining him… I’m devising a method. The hardest part about the entire concept is that I believe Dream Deceiver can recall him at any point she wishes. The other problem is on-demand suicide is a standard among Equestrian Agents. Which, when you ask my handler about Alpha Protocol, back when he was Agent Fifty-Two, you’ll find that he has been implanted with a cyanide tooth. Given that his scars exist post-respawn I can only assume that such is true as well. A magical method to restrain him and disconnect him from Dream Deceiver is the probable path, but that lies far outside the realm of my expertise. What we truly need is to identify another voidling and test methods on them.” she suggested.
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Sir Solaris Strike
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Solaris looked at Jane Dead-Pan "Plausible Deniability isn't something you're worried about though. You took it upon yourself to track down an extremely dangerous rogue spy and continued to do so even after you found out he was empowered by some otherworldly magic." He tilted his head with a cocked eyebrow "You weren't thinking of your well being then."

Solaris sighed a bit "What you did was courageous and selfless. There aren't many ponies I know that would lay their head on the chopping block like you have" He walked over and ended up a little closer to Jane.

"Think from my perspective. You're an unknown... And I must admit, I agreed with a lot of what Silent Step had said in his reasoning to take you off of the case. The only reason I said what I said was because you show resolve so rare and are sacrificing so much to protect this country." he paused again looking at the table again.

"I'm putting my trust in you. Can you not trust me?"

Edited by Sir Solaris Strike, Aug 31 2014, 09:31 PM.
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Jane Doe
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Equestrian Spy
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Jane returned Solaris’ gaze with some scrutiny. This faded to an almost scorned expression and she felt guilty for not disclosing her name. She broke his gaze for a moment and looked that at the table. “Jane.” she finally said. “My name is Jane Doe.” she added and then went about correcting her pose to look professional once more. She was now realizing that she was going to have a serious problem with Solaris; she can’t manipulate him. He had made it evident he was that sort of altruistic, humble good that you only hear about in fairy tales. Yet here he stood, seeing through even her most faint attempt of a lie. “Do you need anything else… Strike?” she asked, still pausing a moment to avoid saying sir.
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Sir Solaris Strike
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Solaris looked back to Jane and smiled "Well then, Jane. Its good to finally meet you." He said as he bowed his head respectfully.

"I'm satisfied as far as questions go for the time being... Wit?" He turned to ask "Anything further for you?"
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Silent Wit
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"It's the hair, isn't it? And the eyes, and the smile. I just can't get to ponies like he does." Wit snarked, noticing that Jane was quite willing to answer the personal question when Solaris had asked it. That was a telling piece of information about Jane's character, but for now he would use it to amuse himself as opposed to do anything important with it.

"I have nothing further, Doe. You've already proven an apt field agent and assured EI's continuing assistance with this matter. I'm thoroughly satisfied." Wit nodded concisely to accentuate his point, and stood. It was clear the meeting was coming to a close and he was anxious to get to his temporary quarters and begin his research.
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Jane Doe
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"The hair maybe. But your attitude takes some getting used to." Jane joked back to Wit with his comment. She sat pulled her hooves a bit closer to her chest as she sat, looking between the two. "I would only like to compile our knowledge on Dream Deceiver. I know that she controls Alpha against his will which means she has some way of retaining this control. The powers of the Void are not limited to just Balefire, as proven by Alpha's ability, which I've been... testing the effects of. I'm curious what powers otherVoidlings possess. Balefire is seemingly a combustion-free magical fire that removes anything it touches. My experiences with it have luckily been explosion free though we can all attest that until we understand it, the effects of a Balefire bomb should be expected. Recovery of one of those bombs to study it should be a high priority for the Equestrian military and any who have built it should be questioned. I assume that Dream Deceiver produces this magical fire. I also assume that the Void is where she lives, but I've yet to discover exactly where that is. Alpha has been quite forthcoming with information on the Void, but I must pace the rate at which I inquire about it. Especially the in-depth questions that we need answers to. I'm under the suspicion that even he doesn't understand it fully. I do suspect however that capturing another Voidling and devising a method to restrain them will greatly aid in our information on them. This is my current limit of knowledge on the subject." she explained to both of them.
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Sir Solaris Strike
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Solaris chuckled at both of their comments about his hair, somethings never changed it seemed.

Solaris waited for Jane to finish speaking before he got to answer her "What I've told so far is what I know of the Void... Which is very little. Even Tinago isn't a full on 'voidling' hes only strengthened by the void... Like a blessing." He explained shrugging.

"I also had the idea that maybe somewhere in Zebra history something like this was recorded... It was there I learned that Zebra history is only recorded through word of mouth and what we have written down is a drop in the bucket. None of it even vaguely references what we're facing." he scratched his head a bit with a hoof.

"We're dealing with an enemy that either hides its tracks incredibly well... Or it never left tracks to begin with."
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Silent Wit
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"You're not wrong." Wit said aside in retort to Jane's claim about his personality.

"I don't know if we can even find another voidling. Sure, they're likely out there, but how can we track them down? And, let's say we do find one, how do we capture or contain it? It seems likely they would all have whatever abilities Protocol has, up to, including, but not limited to strange powers, seeming immortality, and spontaneous combustion."

"I don't think finding a voidling is possible or advisable, as even if we find one, who's to say it can't communicate with Protocol, or through another intermediary via the void... Whatever the void is."
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