Swift in the Chaos

Swift, Sapphire and the colt who's name was found to be Jake, exit the front doors of the police station together. Swift continues walking but Sapphire and Jake stop behind him. To see why, Swift turns around.

"So, what next?" Sapphire asks.

"Well, I was going to let you two come by my place for while and talk," Swift says coolly.

"That sounds boring," Jake pipes up.

Swift hasn't ever really dealt with children before so his puzzled reaction to the comment isn't really surprising.

"Oh come on, buddy," Swift says while desperately searching for something to convince them. "I live on the top floor and there's a pool up there, too."

"I'll believe it when I see it," Jake responds, barely hiding his excitement.

"You'll have to come with me to see it."

Jake thinks over it for a second before saying, "I guess I can come with you."

"Alright, that's one onboard," Swift says looking over at Sapphire. He too is thinking over it. "Hey, I got you out of there, the least you could do is come over and chat."

That is all it took to convince Sapphire. "I suppose you're right. Thank you for getting me out. I should have known those lying crooks would do something like that."

"Hey, not all of them are bad," Swift says as he turns around and continues walking. The police line that roped off the block is now gone and much of the activity is gone.

They continue the long walk down Canterlot's big city sidewalks. "So, how old are you Jake?" Swift asks.

"I'm twelve but I'll be thirteen soon," he replies eagerly.

"What are you doing getting sent to jail at such a young age?" Swift says with concern but also with a smile because the colt reminded him of himself at a younger age.

"I don't like my foster parents because they are abusive so I ran away. I've got to eat somehow," Jake responds without remorse.

"Have you ever thought you could be better than this? Better than stealing from the nearest corner store?" Swift asks.

The colt thinks for a moment before answering. "I don't guess I have."

"There is a lot more to life than just surviving, Jake. Everything is an opportunity if you just take it."

The group rounds a corner in silence, Jake taking in what he was just told and Sapphire making a mental note as well.

"Here we are," Swift says while crossing the street to the entrance of the massive forty-four story luxury apartment.

"Whoa, you live here?" Jake asks in amazement and Sapphire to looking at the building in awe.

"Sure do, kid," Swift responds, opening the door and letting them walk in ahead of them.

When Swift enters, Gemma sitting at her desk looks up and greets him. "Welcome home, Mr. Swift," she says enthusiastically. "You have guests, I see."

"Hello, Gemma," Swift stops for a second, Jake is still taking in the elegance of the lobby and Sapphire looks a bit nervous. "Gemma, this is Sapphire," Swift points to the blue unicorn and then at the colt pegasus, "and that's Jake."

"Hey guys," she responds as Swift starts walking off.

Once he stops at the elevators on the far side of the lobby and calls back, "Gemma, no visitors until I say other wise."

"I've got you covered, Mr. Swift," she assures him.

The elevator opens and Jake and Sapphire enter it and then Swift. The elevator doors close and Jake says, "I thought your name was Shock Wave."

"I'll tell you all about it in a moment," Swift responds.

About a minute passes and the elevator stops and they all step out. The door is about ten feet in front of the elevator, only two other doors in the hallway but both are just utility closets. The entire top two floors are Swift's apartment.

He puts his key card through the door and a metal panel slides up on the wall to the left. Swift looks straight into the magical device that is the retina scanner and the metal cover over the door knob's key hole opens. Swift pulls the key from his coat pocket and inserts the key with his muzzle and opens the door.

Sapphire says, "That's a large amount of security." Swift ignores the statement knowing that as soon as he steps inside, he will know why.

Swift walks in and steps behind the door, allowing them to come in. Neither says anything, only jaws dropped in wonder adorn their faces as they glance around the expensive and opulent apartment.

"Celestia, this is beautiful," Sapphire says.

Swift smiles, "Sure is. And I busted my flank for a long time to achieve it and still do sometimes." Swift turns to Jake who still has a look of wonder on his face and says, "This is what I mean when I say to take every opportunity you can. Jake, I used to be just like you. Running away from foster homes, stealing, living on the streets and the list goes on," Swift turns around and looks outside at the now afternoon sun that's beating down from above and into the apartment. "An opportunity presented itself to me and I took it," he turns back around. "Now, ponies run away from me, ponies want to steal from me, I live in a half of a million bit hotel room and the list goes on." Swift then realizing that he sounds like a braggart, shortens down to the point. "I see potential in you because basically, you are what I was and I know you can do better, because I did better."

Jake only looks at the floor not knowing what to say and a few moments pass in silence.

"I don't mean to barge in on your moment," Sapphire says. "What is your name?"

Swift knew he wasn't going to get out of this situation. He didn't mind if anypony knew his real name, he just keeps a false alias for, well, breaking out a couple of fugitives without lawful resistance. "I'll start with the fact that I do not work for the EBI at all. My name is not Shock Wave, it's Swift Wind."

"If you don't work for the EBI, then how did you get us out?" Sapphire asks, Jake now paying full attention as well.

"Connections and social engineering," Swift responds with a smile.

"Social engineering?" Jake asks inquisitively.

"Yes, it's a method that is easily the biggest threat to every security protocol in existence. It's a form of manipulation, causing the pony you're using it on to involuntarily skip normal security procedures," Swift says, knowing that he has peaked there interest. "Basically tricking them into saying something they wouldn't normally tell you."

A few moments pass as they take in what the mysterious pony is saying to them. Jake thinks it's really cool and is thinking of ways that knowing how to be a social engineer could benefit him.

Sapphire is now a little nervous at the prospect that ponies can get away with such things like what was just described to him. Now he wants to know what Swift wants out of them.

"So, why'd you do it?" Sapphire asks Swift.

Swift responds with a question. "Do what?"

"Why'd you break us out? Why are we enough trouble to go through?"

"I'll tell you the reason I broke you out in a moment, but Jake I can tell both of you," Swift waits for a moment before continuing. "When I passed by Jake's cell on the way to yours, I saw myself in him. I was just like him." Jake's head slowly droops down and Swift notices this. "Don't get down about it; I didn't say it was a bad thing." Jake relaxes slightly and looks up to see Swift's confident smile. "Just remember what I told you."

"What about me?" Sapphire asks impatiently.

"Follow me," Swift replies and starts heading up the stairs, "Jake, stay down here. I'll be back down in a minute."

Sapphire follows him up the stairs although a little reluctantly, still kind of skittish of the myterious pony.

Once on the landing, Swift turns around and waits for Sapphire. Sapphire climbs up the last step and keeps a distance from Swift.

Swift walks to the large windows that look out over the swimming pool, the evening sun beginning to set, glistening bright orange off the blue ripples.

"You were given the word of one of the officers that you would be released and all charges dropped, correct?"

"Yeah," Sapphire replies.

"Now, I know you stole thag crate of drugs during the chaos of the police showing up and the gangs fighting with each other."

"What?! No I did not!" Sapphire is shocked by Swift's quick assumption but Swift is too confident in the fact.

"I'm afraid you did. Did you hear about those ponies that attempted to break you out?"

"Break me out?"

"Yes, a group of ponies by the gang that was going to buy those drugs came after you, because you know where they are."

"No, I don't," Sapphire replies nervously.

Sift raises his voice, now angry at him lying, "Yes you do! You wonder why the police didn't keep their promise? Because you didn't uphold your end of the deal, which was for them to get a hold of the narcotics that were being sold."

Sapphire doesn't say anything for a moment, "I don't know where they are!"

Swift has had enough. His hoof connects with Sapphire's muzzle, knocking him off his hooves. Swift steps over him and hits him again with practiced coordination, knocking Sapphire out cold.

Swift goes to his closet and pulls a rope from the back along with a gag. Swift ties Sapphire's fore hooves together and his back hooves together, and puts the gag on him.

Swift looks at the pile of work and sees something is missing. He goes back to his closet and looks around. A horn lock goes right on a unicorns horn and are universally sized. With one on, the unicorn cannot use their magic at all.

Putting the horn lock on Sapphire, Swift walks back downstairs, leaving the unconscious pony in the middle of the floor.

Once he gets downstairs, Swift looks around to find Jake but doesn't see him anywhere. "Jake?" Swift hears something break in the kitchen. Swift enters the kitchen and sees Jake standing there with a halfway worried look and a glass in pieces on the floor.

"I am re..really sorry Mr. Shock-...Swift, I didn't means too," Jake says shakily and with a slur.

Swift notices his demeanor, then looks around the kitchen and sees an open bottle of scotch with a little bit of it spilled on the counter.

Realizing now what is going on, Swift says, "Did you drink some of that?"

"Y-yess, but I wush really thirsty, Swift," he replies.

Swift doesn't know what to do. He has a slightly drunk twelve year old on his hooves and a pony bound and gagged upstairs.

"You ar-aren't mad are you?" Jake asks.

Swift decides to keep it cool, he isn't mad. Still a little rushed from the event upstairs but he found this situation rather amusing.

"No, I'm not mad," Swift assures the little colt. It's soon going to be dark and he planned on letting the colt leave pretty soon but he couldn't let him leave like this. He'd just get arrested again and if he did it could cause Swift some unwanted attention if they found out where he got the booze from. "Okay, do you have anypony who would be looking for you?"

"No," he says stumbling a little bit. Not wanting him to step on the glass Swift moves it all to the side carefully with one of his wings and helps him over to one of the couches in the living room.

"Okay, you don't go outside this room. Don't go upstairs at all ever and don't go near the pool unless I'm there watching," Swift tells him after he sits down. "Promise?"

"Promise."

Swift nods and goes back to the kitchen and cleans up the glass on the floor. This is going to be a long night, Swift thinks to himself. A beep from the intercom in the living room grabs his attention. Swift walks back to the living room towards the door and answers the intercom, "Yes?"

"Mr. Swift, sorry to disturb you. It's Mr. Zephyr again, he says he wants to talk with you," Gemma says.

"I said no visitors," Swift says irritably.

"He refuses to leave, sir."

Swift sighs. These big shots and their ignorance, Swift thinks to himself before replying, "I'll be right down."

Swift scowls and flies up to the second floor, passing the unconscious pony and into the walk-in closet next to the bathroom. He walks through the clothes to a secret room hidden behind them and puts his eye up to the magical scanner to the right. The light turns green and the door splits in two and retracts into the wall on either side.

The room is a solid steel, explosive resistant box. It has many tools and weapons in it. An assortment of crossbows hang on the wall, many of them customized for different environments. Several explosives of many types lay in ordinance crates on metal shelves. A box full of unused arrow-proof vests sits in the corner and a wide selection of knives lay inside one of the glass see-through cases mounted on the wall. Swift grabs a crossbow from the wall to his left and reaches down to the box of arrows beneath them and pulls out a quiver full of grapple tips and throws them on his shoulder.

He closes the door behind him as he leaves and floats down over the balcony and to the front door. He turns around to face Jake who is still sitting on the couch and says, "I'll be back. Remember what I told you."

"You can...can count on me!" He says, hiccuping afterwards. Swift chuckles and opens the door to leave when Jake asks, "Where did Sapphire g-go?"

"He said he had to leave," Swift lies. "Something about a marefriend."

"Eww."

Swift chuckles a second time and closes the door behind him.

~~~~~~~~

The elevator opens with a ding and Swift continues out into the main lobby, the marble tiled floor cool to the touch. "What can I do for you Mr. Zephyr?"

Zephyr has two body guards with him, both of them levitating crossbows above their heads at Swift. "When do you plan on giving me the information? Or are you going to steal the product for yourself?"

"I'm insulted that you would think of me as someone who would indulge in such petty things like narcotics, first of all," Zephyr's nostrils flare at Swift's statement. "Second of all, a rule of agreement was that you do not interfere, as I can handle the job myself, as I always have."

"Do you even know where the target is?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," Swift says nonchalantly. "I even know his full name, an extensive background check on file, and his current location."

"Tell me where he is then," Zephyr says trying to test Swift's knowledge.

"The precinct four blocks from here in a holding cell," Swift lies.

The guard to the right whispers to the guard on the left, "I told you."

"I assume you are the one behind the attack at the P.D.?" Swift asks Zephyr, truly hoping he won't lie to him.

"Indeed," Zephyr says confidently.

"I told you not to interfere!"

"I don't think you know who's calling the shots here, Shock Wave." Swift laughs at the ignorance in his statement. He thinks he calls the shots but he doesn't even know his real name. Zephyr nods his head sideways at the guard on his right. The guard turns his bow and his gaze to Gemma. The sliding sound of wood on metal and a small splatter sound resonates in the lobby. Gemma's body slumps to the floor and out of sight behind the desk.

"Son of a-" Swift begins as he pulls his own loaded bow around to point at the pony who is now reloading his but is quickly interrupted by Zephyr.

"Let's simmer down for a moment," Zephyr says. "Come on now, lower your weapon, it's not going to do you any good." Swift's breathing now quickened, he looks over his options. Realizing he has no other move, he lowers his bow but still keeps it at the ready. "You've got til end of day tomorrow to finish what I tasked you with or our agreement is void. You know, if you think you can handle it."

Swift only stares him down, "I still call the shots, bud. Whether you believe it or not, whether you like it or not. Just remember I know where Sapphire is and you don't. Sapphire knows where your drugs are, I don't. You take me out of the equation, you are still left with the nothing you came to me with." Swift doesn't stay to get a reaction out of him because has seen and heard enough. Swift gets to the elevator and opens it before turning around and pointing a hoof at the receptionists' desk. "Oh, and you are cleaning that up or by end of day tomorrow, your little peasants will be cleaning you up off the floor," Swift finishes coldly before pressing the elevator to go back up.

~~~~~~~~

Swift goes through the security procedures on the door and walks back inside his suite, closing the door behind.

He looks over to the couch to check on Jake but the young stallion is out cold. Soft snores emit from that side of the living room and Swift sneaks by, flying up to the second floor and back to the weapon closet.  He returns the crossbow to its mount on the wall and the quiver to the box below it.

He walks out of the closet and into the loft that is his bedroom. The bound pony is still there not having moved an inch and still unconscious. He loads the pony on a luggage cart that he normally keeps in his room in case of situations like this and drags the pony onto it.

He slowly eases it down the stairs carefully to not wake Jake and continues through the front door and back into the elevator. He presses the elevator button for the second floor and descends.

The door opens and he carts through the second floor to another elevator that will take him to the basement.

The door opens and he continues his descent and once at the bottom, walks out into the dark room that is the basement. A single light from the ceiling illuminates a small area that has a small table of tools and a chair with metal cuff restraints.

A hat and coat rack sits to the side and Swift takes his expensive coat and fedora off, leaving it on the rack.

He brings the pony over to the table and drags him up on the table with only a little bit of trouble. He unties Sapphire who is still knocked out and straps each hoof in with the metal cuff on the four corners of the rectangular slab.

Swift set his head in a metal brace that keeps him looking forward at all times and Swift takes the gag off of him.

Swift taps his hoof against Sapphire faces and nudges him until he awakes.

"Gah, shit," Sapphire slurs looking around blinking a couple of times. His eyes go wide upon seeing Swift. "No, no-"

"Okay before you start screaming senselessly, let me explain-" Swift starts before being interrupted.

"Help! Somepony help me!" Sapphire yells before Swift punches him straight in the muzzle again.

"I said shut up and listen," Swift begins, giving a moment to see if he would respond. After keeping quiet and just wimpering softly, Swift continues, "I've been tasked by an employer, the same one who sent those ponies to break you out of jail to get information that only you know to him."

"Please, I don't know anything! Please," Swift punches him in the muzzle again, Sapphire emitting a pained gasp.

"Shut up and listen or I will make this night a lot more painful than it has to be," Swift growls lowly. "The employer just killed one of my employees, so his agenda  is not of my concern any longer. I will get him that information, however. This can be as painless as you want it to be. You hold more power than you would think being bound to a chair can give you."

"I don't know anything!" Sapphire yells again, "Somepony help me!"

"Wrong answer!" Swift says and punches the pony in the face two more times. Sapphire starts to cry a little bit and let's out a loud wimper. To prove Swift's point he yells loudly, "Nopony can hear you! Tell me where that crate is!

"I don't know where it! I swear!" Sapphire cries.

"I'm a bodyguard, an assassin, an informant...you think I can't tell if somepony is lying to me?!"

Swift grabs a potion that is sitting on the table next to him and pours the white liquid into a small cup and forces open Sapphire's quivering mouth and pours the liquid in.

"I'm telling you, this is as easy as YOU make it." The pony stays quiet. "What are you going to do? Sell it? Is going through what I'm about to do to you really worth the money?" Once again silence. "I gave you a chance."

Swift walks over to the metal table, the various instruments reflecting the light of the bulb above them. Swift looks over them, surveying which one he'll start with. "You know, I don't feel like getting bloody tonight, so let's keep that to a minimal," Swift says as he walks off into the darkness that it the area where the bulb's light doesn't reach.

Swift returns and stops right in front of Sapphire, hovering slightly above the ground with a wooden baseball bat in hoof. Sapphire whimpers softly and Swift says, "Last chance. Where is the crate?"

"I'm telling you I don't know-"

"Wrong!" Swift brings down the bat with a hard swing and hit Sapphire straight in the lower front part of his back leg. He screams out in pain and starts sobbing and struggling in the restraints to no avail. "I told you that this can be as painless as you make it! Where is the crate?!"

"I-I d-don't know," Sapphire forces out, biting his lip and grunting loudly in pain.

"Swing batter batter, sw-" The last part is inaudible over the sound of bat on bone and Sapphire's agonizing screams as Swift brought the bat back down on the same leg. "Do you think I like torturing people? Do you think I get off on this shit? Cooperation is key! The faster you cooperate, the sooner this is all over!" Swift yells at the heavy-breathing pony hoping to convince him to spill the beans. Swift doesn't like yelling a lot, but during jobs like these yelling makes him look insane, which is good when dealing with these types of situations. If people assume he won't stop at anything then maybe they will cooperate.

Which isn't working.

"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know!" Sapphire screams out to the darkness.

"Why won't you just tell me? Why make this hard?"

"Because I don't know!"

Swift brings the bat down on the same leg for a third time with full force. A loud smack sound and screaming ensues and Swift throws the bat across the room in a fit of rage.

He flips the table that Sapphire is strapped to until it's horizontal and he grabs the roll of saran wrap under the table of tools and rips a decent sized square of the plastic off.

Swift walks into the darkness and returns with a water hose in his mouth. He wraps the saran wrap around Sapphire's head and turns the water hose on.

Letting the water poor right next to Sapphire's, Swift says, "That baseball bat is zero compared to what I'm about to do. You sure you don't want to give it up?"

Sapphire just sits there, staring at the ceiling. His neck musles are twitching and his whole demeanor is as if he doesn't care at all. Swift is about the change that.

Swift drags the hose over and the water begins pouring on Sapphire's head. He doesn't react much at first but as a few seconds pass he begins struggling. "Hard to breathe?" Swift asks nonchalantly.

Sapphire begins attempting to pull his legs free of the restraints with an obvious flinch on his back righ leg. Swift let's the water pour for a bit longer and when Sapphire starts struggling less he stops the water and pulls the plastic off his face.

Sapphire starts desperately taking in breath trying to regain lost oxygen. His chest heaving with every breath and coughing.

"So, about that crate?"

"O-okay!" Sapphire sobs between breaths and coughs. "It''s stored in a wareho-house in the industrial area of C-Canterlot!"

"I need more than that!"

"It's..." Sapphire stops and Swift takes immidiate notice.

"That's good! It's almost over, just spit it out!"

"It's on P.V. Drive, th-third one on the left. The crate is inside of a blue shipping container. It's the only one without a label."

Swift turns the table upright and begins walking towards the elevator and says in a rough tone, "You'd better not be lying."