The Division-Lost Hope

As Twilight sat in a chair, inside an interrogation room at the Griffonstone Base of Operations, she looked at her shoulder tag, which displayed a vibrant red skull. Celestia and Nick watched her be interrogated by Kestrel.

"Isn't there anything you can do?" Celestia asked.

"Not a thing." Nick said. "Unless Lau can convince Division Command to exonerate her, she's rogue for good."

The two of them sighed and looked back at Twilight, who was answering Kestrel's questions quickly and curtly.

"Alright, we're done." Kestrel replied. "Remain here."

Kestrel slipped into the viewing room and sighed.

"She's going by the protocols, but even with that, we can't lift her status. Executing a SHD asset...that's one of the worst ways to go Rogue. The only other one that's worse is killing another agent without provocation."

"Fuck." Nick said. "Get me on the line with Lau."

"Already on it." Logan said. After a few minutes, Lau spoke.

"I know what's happened, Nick. SHD command's deliberating her case from ISAC's evidence and Kestrel's testimony. We have to wait."

"We can't wait. The LMB still has a foothold here, and they have this "Spike" as a hostage." Nick growled.

"I know, Nick." Lau replied. "Just hang on. I'll see if I can sway their opinions towards lifting her status."

"Roger that." Nick said. Then, Riley walked in.

"We've cleaned up the LMB's mess at the gate." He reported. "Plus we've cleaned up the poison in the water."

"Good." Nick said. "Keep at it."

"Roger that."

Riley departed, and Nick turned back to a rather despondent looking Twilight. After ten more minutes, Lau spoke again.

"Put me on the line with Agent Twilight."

"Yes ma'am."

Twilight opened the comms channel and sighed.

"Lau."

"Agent, I have good news and bad news. Good news is your Rogue status is being lifted. The bad news is what you have to do."

"Go on."

"This Spike is now an SHD asset. You recover him, Division Command will lift your Rogue Status and reinstate you in the SHD. However, you don't get him out alive, we will have to...well, I think you know. Get this Spike back to safety, agent. We've located a subterrene LMB complex to the south. He's most likely there. Get moving."

"Yes, ma'am." Twilight replied. "We'll get going immediately."

"One more thing. This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. You go Rogue again, and we will be forced to neutralize you, no matter the consequences. You've been warned." Lau said. "Good luck, agent."

"Roger that." Twilight said as the red skull on her shoulder turned into a orange phoenix.

======

Spike groaned and woke up to a dreary white cell. Then, he remembered the LMB squad leaders that kidnapped him. The dragon shivered and curled into a ball.

"Hey, you okay, son?"

Spike saw a human clad in rather worn clothing sitting across from him.

"Who are you?" Spike asked, in a fearful tone.

"Easy, son. I'm not going to hurt you. What's your name?"

"Spike. You?"

"Me? My name...is Amherst. Gordon Amherst." The man said, coming into the light. Spike saw a ruddy brown beard and glasses on a worn, ragged face.

"Amherst." Spike said. "Wait, didn't you…"

"Infect 95 percent of humanity with my Green Poison?" Amherst said. "Yes. Yes, I did. And frankly, now I see that we're both in the same situation. Keener wants me to further upgrade the Green Poison using this world's magic, which is to say...insane. Even I didn't have that scale planned out."

Spike was unsure, but he nodded.

"Well, Keener's went and gone power-mad with rebuilding the world with the virus as his main tool." Amherst said. "Lucky everyone think's i'm dead. Body doubles work wonders."

Spike nodded once more and lowered his head.

"Get here soon, Twilight." he murmured.

==============

The SHD Agents and Hunter walked into the command center alongside Twilight.

"We've located an LMB complex that we believe they're holding several SHD assets at." Nick reported to Razor Wind. "We need some skimmers to take us there."

"I'll get them ready." Razor said. "Also, we've found out the last faction's goals. They're former Griffon Army, now out for vengeance. We're calling them the Raiders."

"Roger that." Logan said.

"Before you go, Agents…" Lau spoke suddenly over the comms. "I've received a data packet from Division command. They believe that the LMB base is holding four First Wave Agents there."

"What's so special about them?" Nick asked.

"They were the ones that found the experimental antivirals first in the Dark Zone pullout." Lau said. "They're called Midnight Team. Callsigns are Virgo, Aquarius, Scorpio, and Libra. They're armed with First Wave SHD tech, and they went missing during the pullout."

"How do you know these agents are there?" Nick asked.
"Thanks to the SHD watches we recovered from Agent Traver, we found an ECHO that revealed they were ambushed by LMB on extraction. Recover those Agents and Spike, however you see fit."

"Roger that." Twilight said. "Let's go."

As the Agents and Hunter departed, back at the LMB base, in a cell next to Amherst and Spike's, four humans, two males and one female, crouched against the wall.

"Virgo?" one asked.

"Yeah?" Virgo replied. "What's up, Libra?"

"I think we've got some friends." Libra replied, pulling a brick out of the wall, revealing Spike and Amherst. Spike heard the noise and looked at Virgo.

"Hey." Virgo said.

"Hey." Spike said. "Who are you?"

"Name's Virgo. And if you want out of here, we've got a plan."

"All ears." Amherst said.

"Roger that. Here's how it's going to go…" Virgo said as she drew Spike and Amherst into the conversation.