End of time

by Rotorix

Transition

Previous ChapterNext Chapter

End of Time

________________________________________________________________________________

Agent Twenty four watched New York from the window of one of the last standing human landmarks - the Empire State Building. He watched as small spots of gunfire flashed across the once-grand city, lighting up the twilight. Suddenly, off in the distance, he saw a flash of golden magic, followed by a larger explosion - one that could have only come from a explosive of some kind. He pitied the fact the humanity had lost. Certainly, he had done his part for the war. Recon, assassination, sabotage; the basics. He knew that he had killed many ponies - and before that he had specialized in killing people, and had been one of the very best. He was glad that he had been able help in the effort, but it had come to this. He knew what he had to do. He had been brought here for that very purpose. He turned and walked to the elevator, and waited. The doors opened and a unimpressive man stepped out. Short, a small patch of gray hair on his otherwise bald head, and wearing a suit that, seemed completely unnecessary at the end of humanity, was the last president of the United Sates. "Hello, Agent Twenty four," the President called him by his number simply because there was no need for names in this type of business; no one would have wanted to be associated with death.

"Hello, Mr. President," Twenty four said, no emotion in his voice. Emotion was something that Twenty four liked to avoid when speaking with employers - even if he was one as important as the President.

"We have lost," the President said simply, and gestured toward the open elevator . "You know what we have to do, Twenty four," he said as they both stepped into the elevator.

"Yes, I know," Twenty four responded. They started moving downward, past the first floor, and beyond. The Agent knew that the generators underground would be producing power, and that nothing could cut off it's supply. But nevertheless, time was of the essence, as it would only be a matter of time before the ponies reached the building. The doors finally opened to reveal a large, somewhat rectangular room. The walls were unfinished - and most likely would never be - and were the gray color of stone lit only by lights that hung from the ceiling. The wall facing them a small, square metal plate, made of two halves.  The floor was mostly taken up by computers and large wires that ran to center of the room, and connected to a small, raised metallic disk. On that disk stood a large black suit made of some kind of metal, wires running from the neck and along the back to the head. In its hand was a extremely advanced-looking sniper rifle. This was the reason that he was here. This was the reason that they were all here.

A man in a generic white lab coat, spectacles, and unremarkable face walked up to them. His badge read, Lester Henforth, Lead technician "Hello Mr. President... Hello Agent Twenty four."

They each said their greetings in return, and the head scientist lead them to the suit. "This is it?" The President asked, appearing unimpressed.

"It may not look like much, but it's the most advanced thing humanity has ever built. This suit has been in development for the past ten years, Mr. President, as you well know, right before the war started."

"What does it do?" Twenty four asked.

"Many... many things. But I can explain after you're in it, sir," He paused and turned to a monitor on a far side of the room. "There is not much time left."

Agent Twenty four stepped up to the platform, behind the suit. He waited as Lester pressed a few buttons, and the entire back of the suit, from the feet and legs to the back of the head opened up. "Now, you're not going in there dress like that, Agent Twenty four," Lester said, walking to him. "You can't be wearing that when... well you'll see for yourself."

The scientist handed him a large, one-piece article of clothing, some kind of thin, heavy fabric. The Agent stripped off his clothes and donned the strange clothing quickly, for they had wasted too much time already. He stepped into the suit and he felt as the back of it closed around him, encasing him in metal. Light came extremely faintly through the dark view screen.  his vision turned from darkness, to a red-tinted vision screen and a Heads-Up-Display. "Brace yourself, Agent, this will hurt," Lester's voice came through extremely faintly. A few moments later, Twenty four felt small pricks on various parts of his body, and a terrible shock afterwards. A few moments later, a faint humming started, and the suit came to life. "There. It should be online. Twenty four, can you hear me? Please respond if you can." Agent Twenty four did as asked.

"Good. Sorry for the shock, that was for the suit to be able to match your movements easier. This is our kind's final invention. A super-suit, if you wish to put such a bland title on it. This suit increases your strength, vision, it even grants you the power to be invisible for a short time. The gun you are holding uses magnetism to fire the bullets, which include; incendiary, explosive, or a bullet that sends out a large amount of electricity that knocks a target unconscious, and all of them are fired completely silently. There is also a similar handgun magnetized into the holster on your right side. The whole suit is powered by solar panels installed in the shoulders and head, and has a small battery to release you in case of power failure."

"And how is this supposed to stop that war? Everything's already gone to far to rebuild even if we do win," Twenty four asked the technician.

"Well... this suit, with you in it-"

"We are going to send you back in time, Twenty four, to kill Princess Celestia," The President said, as if he was simply stating the weather.

"And just how do you expect to do that?" Twenty four asked. "Unless you're telling me that this suit has time travel built in?"

"No," Lester answered. "Twenty four, the answer is, ironically, magic." As soon as the sentence left his mouth, the two metal plates on the far side of the wall slid open to reveal a glass plate, and behind it, were two unicorn ponies - small wires strapped onto their horns, and larger ones strapped onto their bodies. "You see, Twenty four, while we can't use magic ourselves, we can get others to do it for us," Lester said, gesturing to the two ponies. "Due to our research on the basics of time travel, we can be certain that this suit can withstand one travel through time," Lester explained.

The President spoke up then, "Twenty four, you know that there is no going back from this once it has started. You will succeed in your mission, or humanity is doomed."

"And just how is it that you know that if I do kill Celestia, that it won't destroy time, or some other shit like that?"

"We can not," the President answered. "We have the location of where the ponies came from, and our... guests will provide you the means of transportation."

A quiet beeping started then. "Sir! It is time we send him off!" Lester seemed worried. An explosion rang from above, the lights shook, and small pebbles rained down.

"Agreed. Twenty four, you are our best and last agent. This is the most important mission anyone has undertaken. For all of humanity, you must succeed. Farewell." Twenty four looked up to the two unicorns -no sound came, but they appeared to be screaming - their horns glowed, and the wires attached to their horns glowed the same color. The large wires that connected to the disk Twenty four was on began to glow the same color as the magic of the ponies. He felt as the suit began to vibrate and a strange, low hum began to resound inside of his head.

Then a flash of white consumed him, and Agent Twenty four was no more.

Next Chapter