Stranded

It was a promising day.

A man walked outside his house and looked at the blue sky over the city. With a smile on his lips he turned to see his wife at the door with a small leather case.

“I made your favorite lunch for today.” She told him with a smile that reflected the one he had.

The man gave a step ahead and planted a kiss on his wife's lips. Both were in his 60’s or 70’s, their gray hair and wrinkled faces showed the past of the time and yet they seemed to love each other with a fierce force.

“Today is the great day, my love; wait for me with a bottle of the best wine we have and big steak at the table, we need to celebrate.” He told her while walking away and waving a hand.

“I’ll do, take care, I’ll be expecting you.” She waved back before he disappeared in the distance.

The man walked down the street whistling a tune, he tilted his hat every time he wished a good day for the people he found on his way. He was happy and everyone seemed to notice it. They may not know it but today was the day that he would retire, after a life of hard work his time has finally come, he worked and saw his sons grow and became successful men, all of them had their own families now and of course that ended with him and his wife alone in their house, yes, their sons and grandchildren came often to visit them but it was just for a couple of days at most and then, they returned to the embrace of the loneliness.

Still, they didn't complain and lived their lives the best they could. That's why today, after he signed his retirement, he would give the big news to her wife; they would leave the city and settle in the outskirts of a rural village in a little house he had built a year ago. They would leave behind the chaos of the city and its stress to live in peace for the rest of their lives. After some minutes, he stopped in front of a great black door, raising his sight; his tired eyes looked at the big letters above the door.

“Remington Industries.”

He tilted his hat once more before entering the building, he felt proud, he was one the oldest workers of the factory and also one of the few that saw it grow since the beginning. He still remembered his first day as it has been just yesterday and as he passed through the many sections of the factory, his mind brought images of those first days. He could see to Gerard Remington working side by side with his employees, hitting red hot steel with a hammer or working in the furnaces. He considered Gerard not as his boss but as a friend. He saw him work hard to reach his dreams and he felt pain and sadness the day that man left this world, but his son, Jack Remington, took what his father left and continue to develop the factory into one of the most important business in London.

His thoughts were cut when someone gave him a pat on his tired back. He turned his head to one side and smiled at the young man that was walking at his side.

“Today is your big day, Jerome, are you ready?” The man asked him.

“What can I say; I think my time has finally come, Peter.”

“I know, still, we’re going to miss you, old man, you’re like a father to many of us.”

“Kid, is too soon to start with sentimentalisms, don’t you think?” Jerome told him with a chuckle. ”However, yes, I’m going to miss all of you too, but everything has an end and today I reached mine, one day you too will walk the same line, never forget that.”

“I won’t, hey, I need to grab some things, I’ll catch you in a moment.”

Jerome nodded and saw Peter enter into a warehouse. He kept walking until he reached a far side of the factory were two big turbines were at maximum speed creating and spreading electricity to all the parts of the building. Jerome left his suitcase over a table and took his tools but something called his attention. A man he didn’t recognize was standing in front of one of the turbines with what seemed as a small mechanical device in his hands.

“Good morning my friend you must be new, am I correct?” Jerome asked but the man didn’t give him an answer. Peter appeared some moments later with a box of tools in his hand.

“Peter, do you know him?” Asked Jerome while pointing towards the other guy.

Peter looked at the man. “No, I’ve never seen him before, he must be new, but I can’t remember if there was any hiring of personal this month.”

“Neither I, anyway, we will have to ask Jack later today, let’s get started we need to calibrate turbines three and four, and the Betsy is making a lot of noise too.”

“Okay, you can see Betsy while I…”

Peter’s words were interrupted by a metallic sound at his back, he and Jerome turned around and with fear they saw that the man had taken away the cover of the controls of the turbine. The man then placed the strange device inside and was ready to activate it when a voice behind him stopped him.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Shouted Jerome. “The turbine must be inactive in order to open the controls.”

He walked towards the man but this one turned around with a gun in his hand, Jerome stopped just centimeters away from him. There was a gunshot and the old man felt a burning sensation in his chest, his white shirt turned red as blood poured from the wound and Jerome fell to his knees. His vision started to blur but he was able to see Peter tackling the man to the ground and hitting him in the face. Jerome looked at the sky one last time and uttered his last words before all turned black.

“… This was… such a promising day…”

******

“Son of a bitch!”

Peter kept punching the man’s face until it became a bloody mess, suddenly; the sound of an explosion in the other side of the factory and the fire alarm startled him. The man took the opportunity to punch Peter’s face making him fall to the ground. Peter spitted blood and stood up ready to finish with him, but he man placed something in his mouth and just some seconds later he clutched his neck with both hands, his face showed desperation and turned red due to the lack of oxygen, his mouth was filled with white froth and soon fell to the ground dead.

More alarms went on and soon all the workers started to leave the factory in a rush. Peter turned around and looked at his friend who was still kneeled with his head hanging.

“J-Jerome… c’mon… wake up…” Peter pleaded but it was too late. Another of his co-workers came running and took him by the shoulders.

“We need to get the hell out of here, I don’t know what happened but the south side is on fire.” He told him with despair.

Peter stood up. “Go get the firefighters; I need to be sure that no one is still inside, and be sure to get Sir. Remington here, now!”

His friend nodded and ran towards the exit while Peter gave one last sight at Jerome’s body before he turned to ran deeper into the building.

“… What the hell is going on?...” He thought.

***---***---***

The machine vibrated and gave several beeps while issuing a new reading. Tiberius took the slip of paper and began to study it while drinking some coffee. He turned walking to a table where the map of the city was and where he kept the track of the sites that had showed various anomalies.

When trying to locate the point of the most recent concentration of foreign element, the old scientist realized that coordinates didn’t look anything like the previous ones and even seemed to him that they were not within the city. He left the cup aside the map, took a protractor and began to draw lines on the paper, it took him several minutes but eventually a triumphant smile graced his lips. He opened a drawer of the shelf and took a photograph, looked at it for a moment and used a tack to pin it on the blackboard in front of him.

“Hey Doc, what are you doing?” Luna asked cheerfully.

Tiberius gave a not so very masculine scream and jumped backward. "Luna!? Don’t you ever do that again! You almost gave me a heart attack, my dear."

She smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, I went to drink some water in the kitchen and saw the door open so I thought in coming down and say good morning to you."

Tiberius approached her and scratched behind her ear making Luna laugh. "Don't worry, it was just the impression."

She took a moment to admire the place, three big machines with lights and sounds were placed on the walls, everywhere there were sheets of paper with scratches, numbers or letters, there were books piled on the table and on the floor, all that accompanied with the strong smell of recent brewed coffee. Seeing the mess reminded her of the laboratory and research room of Starswirl the Bearded. That unicorn was something special, he was like a grandfather for Celestia and Luna and he loved them like so, it was a very sad day when he gave his last breath, but it was something that both sisters had learned to accept, that was the price of being almost immortal.

“"Do you feel better?" Tiberius asked cutting her ideas.

Luna looked at him and nodded. "Yes, what happened yesterday was not a very nice experience, that woman has poison instead of blood."

"You don't say, anyway it's good to see that you have recovered your good humor." Tiberius laughed. "However, I think there's something more, it was not only the way Elena acted what made you feel bad."

"I d-don't know what y-you're t-talking about." Luna stuttered, her eyes were wide open.

Tiberius leaned on the table with a knowing smile. "You don't have to be so modest, even a blind man could have seen that jealousy was consuming you, to be fair, Jack really seemed to be swimming in sadness and defeat after you didn't spoke with him."

Luna hang her head but smiled anyway. "Yeah, I know, I could hear it in his voice last night."

"Wait." Tiberius looked at her in amazement. "Last night? But I saw him enter his room followed by Elena after..."

Luna lifted her face and he could see that her cheeks were red, he realized instantly showing a gesture of understanding.

She nodded. "I think he also feels the same for me."

"Wow, what can I say? Everyone deserves to be happy and if you come to fulfil what you have started, I think everything will be fine."

"I hope so, Tiberius, I really want to believe it."

In that moment, something on the wall caught her attention. Luna got closer and looked at the photograph that Tiberius had put on the blackboard minutes earlier. Something about that place looked familiar, but she could not know why.

"What is this place?" She asked.

Tiberius realized that Luna was looking at the photograph of a group of stones placed in a more than peculiar pattern.

"That, my dear, is Stonehenge, is a set of monoliths and archaeological site in Wilsthire, the last coordinates I got signal to that place." Tiberius noticed that Luna seemed to be thinking about something. "Does it look familiar to you?"

"Yes... and no ... I do not know, I don't have a clear image, but I can swear I've seen that place before."

"Interesting." Tiberius said.

Before he could say something else, the phone rang catching their attention and Tiberius raised the speaker, "Remington Residence."

Luna remained in silence and looked how the face of the old scientist went from surprised to worried in seconds.

"Yeah! Give me a moment; he will be there as soon as possible." Tiberius quickly hung up and started running towards the door.

"Wait, Tiberius, what's happening?" Luna asked exalted.

"We need to wake Jack up, something really bad happened in the factory." He said and exited the room.

Luna wasted no time and immediately teleported herself to the room she had shared with Jack, but what she found she didn't like at all. Elena was on the bed and was crawling towards Jack in a more than sensual way.

The sudden appearance of the night goddess in the room alerted Jack who raised his hands and made gestures trying to tell her not to move, but Luna didn't thought the same and to his surprise, she turned invisible.

"If you felt bad you should have told me, I could have helped you." Elena told him with a sultry tone.

"I d-didn't want to d-disturb you; you were sleeping so p-peacefully." He replied.

Jack was moving his eyes in all directions trying to locate a trace of the alicorn when Elena, who was just a few centimeters away from him, jumped or rather said was pushed out of bed and fell to the ground with a thud.

"What the hell!?"

Elena cursed while Jack tried to contain his laughter. Luna turned visible for a moment and winked at him just before Tiberius entered the room.

“Doc, you looked a little spooked.” Jack told him.

“Jack.” The tone of Tiberius’s voice alerted him. “You better hurry up, someone called from the factory, something really bad just happened there.”

***

Getting off the car, Jack felt as if his heart was pierced by a sword, all his workers were on the street in front of the factory, some of them showed wounds were that were already being attended to by emergency services while others gave instructions to firefighters that were entering and leaving the building.

Peter left the building following a stretcher on which lay a man whom I recognized instantly.

"J-Jerome..." Jack whispered as he saw how the doctors put the body into the ambulance and covered it with a white blanket. "Peter, what happened?"

"Sir. Remington, someone attacked us, they blew two of the furnaces, and they caused a fire that consumed the whole south site and...."

Peter was cut off by a constable that looked intently at Jack.

“Lord Remington.” Said the constable.

Jack looked at him. “Yes?”

“My name is Samuel Stark, I am the commissioner of the constabulary, I need to talk with you, in private."

"Of course, let's go to my office, if it is still on foot, Peter, please, try to help as much as you can here, after that, come search for me." Jack told to the boy.

"Yes, Sir. Remington."

Jack looked at Samuel again. "Please, follow me."

***

The hours passed, at Jack's house, Luna was desperate and pleaded to Tiberius that he took her to the factory, at the end, he agreed because he was also concerned, moreover, Elena left the house wordlessly shortly after Jack.

Tiberius and Luna, who had used the Invisibility spell again, moved through the streets of the city in one of Jack's car, the alicorn looked around trying to occupy her mind to capture every detail of the outside world that she was admiring for the first time since she had arrived to London, but her worries made it almost impossible.

When they reached the facility, Tiberius waited till they were alone in the street to let her exit from the car. At the door they saw a young man with a small briefcase in his hand and a box of tools in the other.

"Excuse, my friend, I'm looking for Jack Remington." Tiberius told him. "I'm a good friend of him and after I heard the news, I decided to pay him a visit."

The man turned around. "He... he is at his office, the commissioner is still with him."

"Son, what's the matter? You don't look so good." The scientist continued.

"I saw my friend die in front of me today, I just lost my job, my way of life, how would you feel about it if you were in my shoes?" Peter told him angered and turned around to walk away from the place.

Tiberius saw him go and then walked inside the factory followed by Luna. It didn't take them so much to find the office building and while climbing the stairs, the commissioner passed at their side without saying a word. They finally reached the third floor and were received by a woman who was packing some things into boxes.

"Good afternoon, my dear, I'm looking for Sir. Remington." Tiberius told her.

"He's inside his office, but I don't know if he would receive you, it's not the best of the moments." Marie answered.

"Don't worry; I'm a good friend, seeing me will help him." The old man insisted.

"Okay, just give me a moment." Marie told him and went into the big office behind the double doors.

"Sir. Remington."

"Yes? Marie."

I packed what you asked me, do you need something else?"

"No, that's all, thank you, Marie, for everything." Jack told her and gave her a kiss on her cheek that was wet due to the tears falling from her eyes.

Marie hugged him. "I'm sorry, Sir. Remington."

"Hey, stop crying, is not the end of the world, I also sent that letter to one of my friends, he will help you." He told her with a sad smile on his lips.

Marie wiped her tears with her hand. "Thank you so much for all these years, Jack, I'll never forget them."

"Go home, Marie, you need to rest, it was a hard day for everyone."

"Yes, Jack, oh, there's someone in the lobby; he said he's a friend of you."

"Let him pass, I'll stay here a little longer."

Marie nodded and walked outside, a moment later Jack was surprised when Tiberius entered in his office, more so when he closed the doors with secure and Luna dispelled the enchantment.

"What are you doing here?" Jack told them.

"Luna just wanted to know that you were okay." Tiberius answered.

The alicorn saw sadness in his eyes. "Jack..."

"The factory will be closed and evicted." Jack tried to contain his tears. "Two men die here today, one of the attackers and a friend of mine, the place is considered as a crime scene and after the investigations are concluded, it will be demolished."

"Is there nothing you can do?" Asked the old man.

"Even if I tried to recover the factory, the damage is bigger than what I expected, also, the time that the investigations need will also affect the value, Industries Remington will never recuperate, I've lost everything."

Jack fell in the couch with his face buried in his hands and sobbing silently. Luna walked towards him and took his face gently with her hoof.

"Jack, please, don't let yourself fall, you need to be strong... I need you..." She told him.

He looked at her blue eyes and understood that she was right; he needed to remain in calm and think in the future, even when it was unclear at the moment.

"Thanks, Luna." He said and kissed her on the cheek. "You need to go, the constable will come soon to put the seals at the doors, I'll wait for him, I'll see you later at home."

"Are you sure, we can wait with you if you need company." Offered Tiberius.

"No, I'm fine, I also need to go and see Mrs. Delacroix, her husband was his world, the news will be devastating for her."

Tiberius nodded. "Okay, Jack, we'll see you later. C'mon Luna, you heard the man, we need to go."

Luna turned around, but a moment later she returned to Jack and standing in her hind legs with her front hooves around his neck she kissed him, it was both, a love gesture and a promise that the things would get better. Her heart fluttered in the moment Jack embraced her with one hand and used the other to grab her neck gently to keep her in place. It was with that third Kiss that Luna understood that she had found what she longed for.

When they parted both were panting, but a smile lingered in their faces.

"See you at home, Jack." She told him and then walked away from him.

Jack looked at Tiberius who had a mischievous smile; the Doctor gave him two thumbs up and laughed.

Jack didn't have to wait too long, the constable returned with yellow tape and two posters with red letters. For the last time, Jack placed the padlocks in the doors that he and his father before him walked through every morning. The pain in his chest returned in the moment the constable placed the yellow tape and the posters on the doors.

"I really sorry, Sir. Remington." Said Samuel Stark.

"Me too, officer, me too." Jack placed a hand over the door and caressed it.

"I almost forgot, we found this in the pockets of the attacker, it is sealed and has your name in it." Stark gave him a small envelope.

"I... I'll open it later, I need to do something else now, I'll be at my home if you need anything." Jack told him and then entered in his car.

The night was painting the sky with her dark hues, Jack waved goodbye to Samuel and drove away from the factory. An instant later Stark did the same. From an alley at the other side of the street, a man wearing a military suit walked out and stood under the light of the lamp. Krause Ornstein looked at the gates of Remington Industries and smiled wickedly.

“Mit diesem, bricht die Hölle los.” He said and then started to walk while reciting and old song.

“London brücke fällt nach unten,

Unten fallen, unten fallen,

London brücke fällt nach unten,

Mein schöne Dame.”

***---***---***

It was past midnight when Jack returned home. He felt glad that Elena wasn't there, he went to the kitchen, ate an apple and walked towards his room, passing in front of one of the doors he was able to hear Tiberius's snoring, it sounded like a truck with an old engine.

He laughed and continued walking, he stopped at the half-closed door of the room were Luna was sleeping and gave it a quick view, the dim light of the lamp let him saw her face, she was smiling.

He decided to sleep in his own room to avoid disturb her, once inside he closed the door and laid back on the bed, the light of the moon gave him a ghostly view of his bedroom, he felt inside a wolf's den and that made him feel lost and desperate, he was about to stand up to grab a bottle when the sound of thousands small bells got his attention.

He incorporated a little on the bed and saw Luna walking towards him. He felt the shift of the weight in the bed when the alicorn climbed it. Luna stretched her body over his and used her hoof to gently put Jack back on the pillow.

"I thought you might like some company tonight." Luna said shyly.

Jack looked at her and smiled. He caressed her face and the joined his lips with those soft and warm of hers. There was no doubt in his mind, he loved her and he would prove it. Without parting away from the kiss, he embraced her and turned around for her to be with her back over the mattress, finally, the lack of oxygen forced them to part from the other. Jack looked at Luna, her cheeks were red and her half lidded eyes showed desire, something he was sure his own eyes were showing too.

"... I love you, Jack Remington..." The alicorn whispered.

"And I love you too, my goddess of the night." Jack told her and Luna's heart started to beat faster.

Jack kissed her again and Luna moaned. With a spark of her magic she placed the safe in the door...

... And the night went on…