Broken Worlds: Age of Ruin

I looked around wildly as the party exploded in a panic. Wayne had vanished, leaving the unconscious man leaning over the punch table he had just been standing by. The soldiers were gathered around their fallen ally as the guests all scrambled for the exit, and a few guards stood by the doorway, most likely keeping an eye out for Wayne, who had been last seen with the drunken, white-haired man.

“This is not good, this is not good,” I muttered, deciding to blend in with the crowd as they frantically scrambled out the doors; maybe Wayne and Drayke had already escaped and were waiting for me outside?

“Stop right there, miss,” one of the guards said quickly just as I reached the exit, and grabbed me by the shoulder. “You were seen with the man who has been linked to tonight’s attack. You’ll have to come with us for questioning.”

I struggled to think of an excuse, but nothing would come to mind as I was quickly escorted to the back of the restaurant through the screaming crowd. I knew Joseph couldn’t save me without risking a shot on a civilian or hitting me by mistake. The man roughly sat me down in a steel folding chair in the kitchen as a pair of guards blocked each of the two exits.

“Alright, I’m going to ask you once: who was the man that fled once the shooting started?” he asked, pulling his coat to the side to reveal a military-grade pistol fastened to his belt.

I gave him a confused look. “What do you mean? Everyone was running for the exit when the shot was fired,” I replied innocently. “If you are talking about my husband, he must have been swept up in the crowd.”

The man nodded, a smirk stretching the corner of his mouth. “Right. We had guards posted at every exit, and they would have been able to stop him before he could escape. Your ‘husband’ is still in the building somewhere, and we’re going to hang on to you until he shows up again.”

I glanced around nervously. “My family is going to wonder where I’ve gone,” I said, still ad-libbing excuses to buy time for… what? Joseph was probably the only one who knew where I was, and the room was guarded, so my chances of rescue were pretty slim. “My mother is ill and is depending on me to take care of her; if I don’t return right now, something could happen to her!”

The soldier gave me a dismissive wave as he began to pace impatiently in front of me. “The party still had another couple of hours before it was scheduled to end; your mother won’t miss anything.”

Just then, one of the guards by the door to my right stepped into the room and cleared his throat loudly, and my interrogator gave him an impatient look. “Yes?” he asked angrily.

The guard shuffled his feet awkwardly. “Uh, sir? The man you were looking for is standing outside, and is demanding we let him in to see his wife,” he said, sounding thoroughly confused.

The soldier held his arms at his sides hopelessly. “Well, let him in, then!” he snapped. “If the person we’re looking for turns himself in, then you’re supposed to take him in immediately, not wait around for orders!”

The guard nodded quickly and exited the room, returning moments later with his partner and Wayne, with an arm being tightly gripped by each guard.

“Let my wife go!” Wayne growled, and one of the guards elbowed him in the side, causing him to double over and fall to his knees. My interrogator slowly walked over and smiled smugly at Wayne.

“So, tell me, sir, what is your name?” he asked with false kindness.

Wayne glared up at him. “Jason Richards,” he growled his fake identity numbly, giving the guards at his sides angry glances.

“Tell me, Mr. Richards,” the soldier began slowly, “why is it you had the unconscious body of Cyrus Anderson lying on you moments before a sniper shot and killed one of our guards?”

Wayne shrugged. “Because I’m a member of a secret resistance that aims to unite human and Equestrian societies peacefully,” he said openly. “I came to this party in hopes of gathering information so my organization can plan our next move.”

The soldier frowned. “Huh. why’d you tell me so quickly? I was looking forward to beating the information out of you. I’m pretty sure that my men were looking forward to it, too,” he added, gesturing to the armored figures beside Wayne.

The boy smirked suddenly. “I’m not so sure about that,” he said slowly, glancing smugly at the armored guards. “You see, the men that you posted outside this door a few minutes ago, when you first took this girl captive? They’ve been dead since they left the kitchen,” he explained as the two guards removed their helmets, revealing that it was actually Drayke and Joseph underneath the armor. “When you get to Hell, tell your buddies I said ‘hey’,” he added, and my brother and mentor unleashed a spray of bullets from their assault rifles, killing the soldier in seconds. The guards by the other entrance ran to investigate, but they were met with a similar fate.

“That was a pretty decent nudge,” Wayne complemented Joseph as he and Drayke led us out of the building. “I know we were going for authenticity, but did it really need to be so hard?”

Joseph looked at him, the BlackTech mask hiding his emotions. “Sorry, it was a reflex,” he apologized, not sounding very meaningful. “You said ‘wife’, and I kinda forgot that this was all pretend for a moment.”

Joseph and Drayke led us out of the kitchen and into a nearby alleyway. where our limo was waiting for us with the engine still running. When we got inside, he handed Wayne and me each a small, white pill. “It’ll force the disguise spell to wear off, instead of having to wait for it to end,” he explained as he swallowed a pill of his own. The effects took hold almost immediately, and his grey hair regained its shiny blondness, and the wrinkles and pockmarks that covered his face smoothed out; the only blemish left was the scar over his left eye.

Wayne glanced up as his own changes faded away, and he slowly began to return to his 16-year-old self. “How long was the spell supposed to last?” he inquired, glancing at me curiously as my own changes vanished.

Drayke laughed nervously. “Uh, permanently?” he replied. “I probably should have told you that before, huh?”

Wayne rolled his eyes. “Yeah, probably,” he agreed, annoyed.

~-~-~-~-~

“Drayke, I’m really sorry I jumped the gun back there,” Joseph apologized as we entered the stronghold, “I just panicked when I saw all those guys heading for Wayne; I thought we’d been found out.”

Drayke nodded understandingly. “Hey, it’s alright,” Drayke said forgivingly, “Nobody was hurt, and we got plenty of intel. Wayne, what was it that white-haired guy told you before everything went crazy?”

Wayne cleared his throat from behind his mask, having put it on along with his jacket and sunglasses on the way back. “He said BlackTech was getting ready to launch an automated army,” he explained worriedly. “He also said his father was a geneticist, working on the more ‘human-oriented’ projects,” the boy added.

Drayke raised an eyebrow. “I thought BlackTech was already using automated soldiers,” he wondered aloud. “In any case, we’ll have to look into sabotaging another one of their production facilities. There was one on the other side of Ponyville that got hit a few weeks ago, but the attackers just liberated the slaves. We’ll have to make sure that factory doesn’t produce any more parts for a long time,” he said mischievously.

Joseph grinned proudly. “It’s good to see that we and the Equestrian Empire aren’t the only ones fighting BlackTech,” he said with a laugh. “Who do you think it was?”

Drayke shrugged as we continued to walk through the hallways in the direction of his office. “It could be anyone; I haven’t heard from any of my contacts from around the area about an assault operation, so it must be somebody we haven't met yet.”

I looked up suddenly. "Drayke, what about those blueprints you stole during the raid a few days ago?" I asked curiously,"Couldn't you make an exo-suit using the files and the equipment at the factory?"

Drayke nodded slowly. "I'll admit, we can use all the help we can get, but I don't want to take any unnecessary risks," he explained as we reached the doors to his office. "I'll tell you all what; go get some grub at the mess hall and relax for the rest of the night, take tomorrow off, and I'll work on our plan. After tonight's mission, you've earned some free time." With that, he closed the doors to his office, leaving the rest of us in the brightly-lit hallway.

I looked around, noticing Joseph was the only person standing next to me. "Where'd Wayne go?" I asked, looking up and down the hall for any sign of the mysterious boy.

Joseph shrugged. "Who cares? He wants to be a lone wolf, that's fine by me," he said hotly as he stormed off for the mess hall.

I jogged to catch up with my estranged brother."Why are you so mad at him?" I asked gently. "He's the one who found out BlackTech's next plan, and I hate to point this out, but you did almost get us captured tonight," I added cautiously.

Joseph stopped walking and sighed heavily. "I know, and I'm sorry," he said softly. "You know I'd never do anything to intentionally put you in danger. It was my first time on a recon mission, and I panicked when I saw the guards running toward that drunk guy." Joseph laughed emptily. "I bet the night would have gone without any snags if I hadn't taken that shot," he sighed regretfully.

I patted him on the shoulder comfortingly. "You don't know that," I said reassuringly. "Come on; let's go grab a bite to eat," I smiled, and started walking toward the mess hall. "Other than getting me detained, your little stunt cost me my dinner," I added teasingly.

Joseph looked up at me sadly for a moment, but a grin slowly stretched across his face. "I cost you dinner? In case you've forgotten, I was gonna be stuck eating a sandwich on a rooftop while you ate fancy-feast with the upper crust of New Phoenix!" he laughed as he ran to catch up with me.