The Lab's Sinister Secretsby FandomPlays1234ChaptersPrologue: The 5 incidentsChapter 1: Starlight and SpikeChapter 2: Blair Research LabPrologue: The 5 incidentsThe date was September 13, 2025, another rainy day as usual and Chief Hopper sped through the streets of Washington D.C. with investigator Finn Duke in the passenger seat. They have been asked to meet with the President of the United States personally ever since the fifth incident near the island of Japan after a huge wildfire broke out near a small Japanese village burning the entire forest including the village and killing over 100 people. For the past 25 days incidents had been occurring in certain parts of the world, specifically in Canada, near the beach in California, Mauna Loa Hawaii, the Philippine sea and North Pacific Ocean area, and now in Japan. All these incidents, not including the one in Mauna Loa, had involved the weather in some way. "Strange don't you think?" Finn finally asked after the silent drive. "What is?" asked Hopper. "Why are these incidents happening near Japan and North America and why now of all times?" asked Finn. "Who knows, weather here's been pretty wonky too," answered Hopper. "True, true," Finn agreed taking a bite out of his Mcmuffin breakfast. "Hey is my hash brown cold?" asked Hopper. "Should be at this point," answered Finn. "Shit, I knew I should've eaten before we started driving," cursed Hopper. "It can't be helped, Cornwell has a tight schedule," said Finn. "Must be hard being President," said Hopper. Finn didn't say anything and neither did Hopper. Fortunately they arrived in front of the white house within minutes. They got out of their car and began walking up the steps to the white house. They were greeted and lead in by government officials that led them to the president's office. "Chief Austin Hopper and Private Investigator Finn Duke, welcome," said Cornwell. President Bruce Cornwell was just like he was on television. A white man in his 40s wearing a suit and red necktie. He had a bowlcut and his brown eyes sparkled with glee as he greeted the two men. "It's an honor to meet you person Mr. Cornwell," said Finn shaking his hand. "As for me," laughed Cornwell. "Ah, Hopper how's the boy doing?" "Fine, he hasn't had another monster episode in years, practically a grown adult now," answered Hopper. "Haha, that's what I'd expect from the son of Jim Hopper, that jolly old chap," laughed Cornwell. "And El?" "21, surprisingly she grew her hair back, to be honest she looks better with it," answered Hopper. "Ah, young Jane really has grown has she?" asked Cornwell. "Yes, she's dating Mike Wheeler now," answered Hopper. "Ooh I bet she'd make a wonderful spouse, you wouldn't mind showing me a picture of her would you?" asked Cornwell. Austin sighed as he pulled out a photo of a young woman with long silky brown hair wearing a yellow jacket denim jeans, a red scarf, and a beret cap that the french normally wear. "Oh my, what a cute young lady she's grown into," laughed Cornwell. "That's my sister for you," sighed Austin. "Ahem, I hate to interrupt but can we get to the point?" Finn asked impatiently. "Ah yes sorry, I seem to have driven us off track," said Cornwell. "So what was it about the incidents you wanted to talk to us about sir?" asked Finn. "Well you see, our government has been trying to deal with these incidents because of the concern for the nation, the problem is this, they managed to track the source all the way to Blair Laboratory in Kansas," explained Cornwell. "Kansas, but that's like in the middle of the U.S.," said Austin. "That's the problem, the government had contacted Kansas police and asked them to investigate but they have been told that there were no disturbances in Kansas and well the government couldn't send anybody there because nobody wanted to get involved in these cases," said Cornwell. "So they turned to us?" asked Finn. "I know this is crazy, but the government needs someone to look into these cases, so please will you?" asked Cornwell. Finn and Austin looked at each other and nodded. 'Alright we'll do it," said Finn. "Excellent, now I know this is sudden but you'll need to head out starting tomorrow morning," said Cornwell. "Tomorrow morning!?" asked Austin. "Yes, oh but of course we won't be asking you to do this for free," said Cornwell. "How much?" asked Finn. "Well let's see the government has rented out a five class hotel for you for at least a week plus a 5 course meal during your stay and since you accepted this case, you'll be paid at least, $230,000 for your cooperation," answered Cornwell. "Hmm not a bad deal if you ask me," said Austin. "Indeed, but remember you'll only be having fun because the government is paying for it, don't get off track too much alright?" asked Cornwell. "Yes sir," they both answered in unison. "Good now you'll need to take this," said Cornwell passing Austin a folder. "What's this?" asked Finn. "It's files on the cases, from the Earthquake in Canada all the way to the wildfire in Japan," answered Cornwell. "You might want to hold onto this in case you want to it over," "Anything else?" asked Austin flipping through the files. "That's all, thanks for stopping by gentlemen," said Cornwell. The two were about to head when Cornwell stopped them. "Oh and Austin, do say hi to El for me will you?" Cornwell asked passing him the photo. "Sure thing Mr. Cornwell," said Austin taking the photo. The three exchanged goodbyes as the government official escorted Austin and Finn back to their car. When they got int Austin quickly ate his breakfast as Finn looked through the files. "The Earthquake in Canada, the Tornado/ Twister in California, the murders in Mauna Lao Hawaii, the Storm that Sunk the Cargo Ship in the Philippine Sea, and the Wildfire in Japan," read Finn. "Geez is it just me or is mother nature getting more violent?" asked Austin. "I think the second one buddy, all of these incidents have occurred within a 5 day span of each other according to reports," answered Finn. "What did we do to deserve this?" Austin asked munching on his hash brown. "I don't know but if this lab in Kansas really had some sort of connection with these incidents then I hope I did the right thing cause now I have to cancel my date," said Finn. "Well tough luck," said Austin. "Yeah, she was a pretty cute girl too," sighed Finn. "What's her name?" asked Austin. "Veronica Cream," answered Finn. "Cream as in like ice cream?" asked Austin. "Yeah, something like that," answered Finn. "How old is she?" asked Austin. "20," answered Finn. "Damn, for a 21 year old like you, you sure are lucky to have girls coming for you," said Austin. "That's not funny, besides she has a younger brother named Cody, I'm sure if he found out I was going out with his sister, he would kill me," said Finn. "Really," said Austin taking a sip of his expresso. "How old is he?" "18," answered Finn. Austin quickly poked his head out the window and spit out his expresso. "18!?" asked Austin. "Yeah," answered Finn. "You can't be serious," said Austin. "You want proof?" asked Finn. "Hell yeah I do," answered Austin. Finn pulled out his phone and showed Austin a picture of a young male wearing a suit standing next a slightly older woman with blonde hair and a white dress and blue slippers. Both were white and had brown eyes but the boy had black hair unlike the woman. "That's Cody?" asked Austin. "Yeah, I know he looks like a midget compared to Veronica. "And I assume that's her next to him," said Austin. "Yep," answered Finn. "Damn, she's got a nice face, I wonder if I got a shot with her?" asked Austin. 'Maybe, but we won't be going out with anyone until we solve these cases," said Finn. "Shit you're right," said Austin. He put his expresso in the cup holder and threw the trash in the McDonald's bag. "Well let's hit the road, we got a big day tomorrow, let's rest up for the rest of the day," said Finn. "Agreed," said Austin as he hit the accelerator. Author's Note Prologue complete. Well here we are in the future. I wonder why Austin is still driving a car instead of other vehicles. Well that's not important. But what could be the cause of these incidents do you think? Maybe you'll find out if you keep reading. Chapter 1: Starlight and SpikeAustin drove up to the Blair Research Lab and showed his badge to the guard at the gate. The guard gave Austin a look of uncertainty as he opened the gates and allowed entry to the cop. Austin parked his car near a large white van with the words Blair Lab printed on the side doors in large blue letters. He placed the walkie talkie over his mouth and spoke into it. "Alright, I've arrived," said Austin. "Do you notice anything strange?" asked Finn. "Duke, I've just arrived, I haven't even entered the building yet," said Austin. "Ok, ok sorry," said Finn. "How does it look though?" "Like a research laboratory," answered Austin. "Wow, as if that wasn't obvious," Finn said sarcastically. "Look, I'm about to head in, just let me know if you've found anything," said Austin. "Gotcha chief," said Finn. Austin placed the walkie talkie back onto it's hook and exited the vehicle. "Woo," Austin said sarcastically as he walked towards the entrance. He was just about to enter the building when he heard the bush nearby rustling. Looking over he slowly and cautiously approached the bush. With his hand over his gun pouch he pulled the bush back only to find a unicorn with a slight mixture of pink and purple overcoat. Her mane was a mixture of purple and turquoise and a small glimmer mark on her flank. However she wasn't alone, a small purple dragon with green scales on it's back was also with her. The two stared at Austin with a nervous look. "Oh it's just a pony," sighed Austin. "And a quite unusual one too," "Is that a compliment or an insult?" asked the pony. "Well that's-" Austin stopped. He looked around to see if anybody else was around. "Strange I thought I heard someone talking. "Um down here," the pony said. Austin looked down at the pony. "Ha, no way, there's no way a pony could talk, someone must be pulling a prank on me," Austin laughed nervously. "Nope nobody's pulling a prank," answered the dragon. "And now I'm really going crazy now that I heard a dragon talk," said Austin. "Afraid not, we're really talking," said the pony. "No way, no way am I going to believe it, ponies can't talk, or dragons," said Austin. "But we're talking to you right now," said the dragon. "No way, I'm trippin," said Austin. "You're what?" asked the dragon. Austin pinched himself on the cheek to check he wasn't dreaming. "Nope not dreaming," said Austin rubbing his cheek. "Of course not," said the pony. Austin sighed finally giving in. "Alright you win," sighed Austin. "But aside from the fact that you two can talk, who are you and where did you come from?" The two looked at each other as if they knew he was going to ask them that. "Alright, so starting from the beginning," started the pony. Finn flipped through the files while he sipped his cup of coffee. "Storm Sinks Cargo Ship in the Philippines," Finn read. He looked at the date. "September 3rd, 2025 5:50 P.M.," He flipped to the most recent and the fifth incident. "Wildfire Burns Down Forest and Kills Over 100 in Nearby Village," he looked at the date. "September 8th, 2025 5:55 P.M.," He flipped to the third incident that had taken place on Hawaii. "5 Murders Leaves Hawaii in Terror," he once again looked at the top of the files for the date. "August 29th, 2025," This time however there were five different times. The first murder had taken place 5:25 P.M, the second 5:30 P.M. The third had taken place at 5:35 P.M and the fourth at 5:40 P.M. The fifth and final murder had taken place at 5:45 P.M. The thing that Finn noticed was all of these murders occurred exactly 5 miles from the last murder. He flipped to the 2nd incident. "Tornado Strikes California Town," The date and time read, "August 24th 2025 at 5:20 P.M." Finally, he flipped to the very first incident,"Earthquake Strikes Canadian Neighborhood, Leaves Houses in Ruins," the date and time read,"August 19th 2025 at 5:15 P.M." According to professionals the magnitude of this earthquake was 10, which meant it was strong enough to destroy everything. Suddenly, Finn's walkie talkie went off interrupting his thoughts. He picked it up and spoke into the speaker. "Hello?" "Finn, glad you came on," said Austin. "What's up chief?" asked Finn. "Listen I'm outside the lab right now and talking with a pony and her dragon," answered Austin. "A pony and her dragon?" Finn asked confused. "I'm just as dumbfounded as you are, but it seems these two were brought against their own will by some sort of experiment that the lab was performing," answered Austin. "The pony's name is Starlight Glimmer and the dragon is Spike, they claim that their friends had been taken by the lab," "Ok?" asked Finn. "What do you plan to do?" asked Finn. "What do you think?" asked Austin. "I'm planning to see if I can find any clues to what is going on while saving Starlight's friends at the same time," "Uh chief not a good idea," said Finn. "Why not?" asked Austin. "While I mean just going in and investigating sounds good enough, but it sounds like you're going to pull your gun on somebody," said Finn. "Can we just keep the violence level low for now until we learn more?" "Fine," Austin grunted disappointed. "Wait so you WERE going to pull out your gun!?" Finn heard a voice say from the other side. "Shut up Spike," hissed Austin. "Oh by the way chief, I think I figured some things out while you were gone," announced Finn. "Really great for you," said Austin. "Yeah I'll tell you more once you get back," said Finn. "Until then please go easy on everyone," "Yeah, yeah sure whatever," said Austin hanging up. "I hope he goes easy on everyone," said Finn taking another sip of coffee. "I'm not going easy on everyone," said Austin walking into the building. "You pull your gun, then I'll report you to your friend," Starlight said seriously. "Starlight were you always this cynical?" asked Austin. "No, and to be perfectly blunt, you're the one being cynical," Starlight bragged. "Wow Starlight since when did you start becoming a smart ass?" asked Austin. "My friend is a bookworm," answered Starlight. "Oh so she's a nerd?" asked Austin. "Not exactly," answered Starlight. "She's a student actually," added Spike. "A student to your friend, I bet she's a great mentor to date ahem hang out with," Austin commented before fixing his vocabulary. "Um sorry did I just hear-" Starlight began before Austin quickly interrupted. "Let's just get this over with," Austin said quickly as he walked down the halls of the facility. The three continued to make their way through the building not noticing the figure wearing the black cloak Author's Note Chapter 1 complete. Ok so here we're introduced to Starlight and Spike who will soon be joining Austin Hopper and Finn Duke's investigation. Also Austin seems a little more selfish than his father. But wait who's that figure in the black cloak? Keep reading to find out Chapter 2: Blair Research LabFinn got out of the taxi and walked up to the guard who was standing in front of the gate. He pulled out his I.D. and presented it to the guard with a serious look on his face. The guard checked the I.D. and looked back at Finn. He looked down at the black briefcase he held in his hand with a confused look on his face. "Something wrong?" asked Finn. "Uh what no, nothing's wrong, welcome to Blair Research Lab Mr. Duke," stuttered the guard opening the gate. Finn tilted his hat over his eyes and stared at the badge pinned to the guards chest as he walked past him. "Donnell Grey," Finn muttered to himself. He quickly lowered his head as he made his way towards the facility. He entered the building and saw Austin, Starlight, and Spike waiting for him along with a man in his 50s with a white lab coat. "Sorry for the wait," apologized Finn. "You sure took your sweet time," said Austin. "Taxi didn't come on time," said Finn. "I presume those two are Starlight Glimmer and Spike?" asked Finn looking at the unicorn and dragon. "Yep," answered Spike. "He wasn't kidding," Finn muttered to himself. "And who's that?" he asked looking at the man. "Finn Duke, it's an honor having you here, welcome to Blair Research Laboratory, I'm it's head president Connor J. Wells is my name," said the man. "Yeah same," Finn added sarcastically. "I've heard a lot about you from Officer Hopper here, please allow me to give a tour of the facility," said Wells. Finn looked at the three as they nodded their head. Finn and the three followed after him as he lead them down the lab's hall. "Here at Blair Research Lab, our objective is to research and understand the lifestyles of abnormal species, whether it's supernatural, only depicted in myths, and vice versa," explained Wells. "I believe that if we get to understand these creatures more, then we won't have to fear them," As Conner Wells continued his explanation, Finn kept his attention on some of the rooms where scientists were experimenting on different animals such as piranhas, snakes, and alligators. "Uh sorry to interrupt but what reason do you have for experimenting on live animals?" asked Finn looking through the glass. "Oh that, we scientists hope that here at Blair Lab we can create and evolve certain animals in hopes that they can interact with these abnormal creatures to help us better understand what kinds of species they're comfortable being with," answered Wells. "Ok and how does that benefit us?" asked Austin as he scribbled down everything Wells just explained in his notebook. "We as humans will want trustful animals to protect us if these creatures were to ever escape, I believe that Blair Lab has the capability to do so," answered Connor. "Anymore questions?" Finn, Starlight, and Spike shook their heads as Austin placed the notebook into his pant's pocket. "Very well then moving on," said Wells continuing down the hall. As the four continued to follow Wells, they passed by five more rooms, two of which were doing experiments on animals, while one of them had scientists testing different kinds of chemicals and looking through microscopes while taking notes. The fourth room had different equipment with multiple graphs hanging on the walls. The fifth and final room was the lab's cafeteria. "Um excuse me, but what's that door?" Starlight asked pointing to a single metallic door that slid shut as an employee entered the room. "Oh that, that's the security office," answered Wells. "Security office?" asked Spike. "Well we call it a security office, but really it's just a large room where our employees and guards go to keep an eye on our abnormal species that we have in this facility," answered Wells. "I'm sorry, but can you go in depth to what you mean?" asked Finn. "Ah right, you see there is an underground bunker beneath this lab where we keep all the abnormal creatures we have captured, locked up in special indestructible glass cases," explained Wells. "However we have to make sure that none of these creatures tries to escape, so we have cameras observing these creatures at all times," "And I assume that's the room your employees and guards go in to keep an eye on these beings?" asked Austin. "Very clever, I like you, you catch on quick Officer," said Wells. "Ok so then what's that?" asked Spike pointing to a pair of double doors with the toxic logo imprinted on it. "That elevator is what we use to go down to the bunker where the creatures are held," answered Wells. Just as he said that a scientist escorted by two guards walked up to the double metal doors. The scientist took out his I.D. and scanned it over a single pad on the wall. After 5 seconds, the green light over the elevator flashed as the doors slid open. The scientist and the two guards entered the elevator and closed the door as it started descending into the earth. "Cool," said Spike. "Follow me, we're almost to my office," said Wells continuing. The group followed after Wells as he lead the group past a set of double metal doors. "What's in here doc?" asked Austin. Wells stopped and turned around. "In there, we have our little library where we keep all the information of each and every abnormal creature we have here at Blair Lab," answered Wells. "Interesting," said Austin scribbling it down in his little notebook. "Now then, we're almost there, let's keep going!" announced Wells. As the group lead by Wells turned the left corner, they soon entered a narrow hallway and continued straight forward until they stopped at the very last door to the left at the end of the hallway. "Here we are," said Wells unlocking the door. "Please make yourself at home," he said letting the four in. They all took a seat while Wells went to his desk. "Now that you had your wonderful little tour, what is it that you wanted to share with us Mr Duke?" "Right," sighed Finn. He pulled the desk closer to the group and placed his briefcase on the table. "As I was doing my research back at our hotel, I found some quite interesting things regarding the 5 mysterious incidents," He opened the briefcase and pulled out the folder containing the files. "But first, Starlight Spike I think you should read these to understand a little about what's going on," Starlight and Spike looked at each other as Starlight took the folder from Finn. "Ok then," said Starlight. She opened the folder and pulled out the files. "Um should I just read these out loud?" she asked. "Go ahead," said Austin. Both Austin and Finn listened as Starlight read the files out loud to Wells, Spike and herself. By the end of it, she was clearly shocked. "O-oh my," she gasped dropping the files onto the table. "So you agree that these incidents are indeed terrifying," said Finn. "Yeah but why?" asked Spike. "You two don't know this, but the sites where these incidents took place, they are all relatively close to one another if you were to look on a map," said Austin. "However we still don't know why it's these areas," "But because I did my homework, I was able to dig up some pretty interesting information," said Finn. "First of all the five murders on Hawaii, they all took place 5 miles from another," "Five miles from each other," Starlight repeated. 'That's right," said Finn. "Next thing, what do you guys notice about the dates?" Spike took the articles and stared at the top of each one for a while. "I don't know," he answered. "They all took place 5 days after each other," answered Finn. "Now what do you notice about the time?" "They all took place five minutes after each other," answered Austin. "And there are five incidents," added Starlight. "As you can tell, the number 5 is significant in these cases," said Finn. "But why the number five?" asked Spike. "That's what we came to find out," answered Finn looking at Wells. The other three turned towards him. "Wait no just wait a minute, what does these incidents have to do with me?" he asked. "These cases were traced by the U.S. government, and according to them it led them straight here to this lab," answered Finn. "Tell us, what are you hiding?" asked Austin. "Whoa, whoa now wait a minute, just because these cases were connected to our facility doesn't mean I'm responsible for them, please don't jump to conclusions like that," laughed Wells. "That's what you say, but you sure you aren't hiding some abnormal species that can some how control mother nature?" asked Finn. "Whoa now, just wait a minute, our lab's goals are trying to improve the relationships between abnormal species and humans, we would do nothing to create a fuss," said wells holding up his hands in surrender. "And besides you say mother nature, but how do you explain the murders?" "That's why we're asking you," said Austin. "No, we don't know anything I swear!" said Wells. "Fine, you don't have to say anything now, but just you wait, once the government starts up an investigation, your identity won't be hidden from the public much longer," said Finn. He began to collect the files and placed them back into the folder and placed the folder back into his briefcase. "Now if you'll excuse us, we have work to do, thanks for the tour," said Finn putting on his hat. Austin glared at Wells as he followed after Finn with Starlight and Spike tagging along behind them leaving Wells at his desk alone. "Well, this isn't good, if our lab becomes a major suspect, my career is over!" gasped Wells. "I'll have to stand up for the company even it means being thrown into prison," Author's Note Chapter 2 complete. So now we're introduced to the head president of Blair Research Lab, Connor J. Wells. He seems like a nice guy but still pretty suspicious, don't you agree. But hey at least he gave them a nice tour.
Prologue: The 5 incidentsThe date was September 13, 2025, another rainy day as usual and Chief Hopper sped through the streets of Washington D.C. with investigator Finn Duke in the passenger seat. They have been asked to meet with the President of the United States personally ever since the fifth incident near the island of Japan after a huge wildfire broke out near a small Japanese village burning the entire forest including the village and killing over 100 people. For the past 25 days incidents had been occurring in certain parts of the world, specifically in Canada, near the beach in California, Mauna Loa Hawaii, the Philippine sea and North Pacific Ocean area, and now in Japan. All these incidents, not including the one in Mauna Loa, had involved the weather in some way. "Strange don't you think?" Finn finally asked after the silent drive. "What is?" asked Hopper. "Why are these incidents happening near Japan and North America and why now of all times?" asked Finn. "Who knows, weather here's been pretty wonky too," answered Hopper. "True, true," Finn agreed taking a bite out of his Mcmuffin breakfast. "Hey is my hash brown cold?" asked Hopper. "Should be at this point," answered Finn. "Shit, I knew I should've eaten before we started driving," cursed Hopper. "It can't be helped, Cornwell has a tight schedule," said Finn. "Must be hard being President," said Hopper. Finn didn't say anything and neither did Hopper. Fortunately they arrived in front of the white house within minutes. They got out of their car and began walking up the steps to the white house. They were greeted and lead in by government officials that led them to the president's office. "Chief Austin Hopper and Private Investigator Finn Duke, welcome," said Cornwell. President Bruce Cornwell was just like he was on television. A white man in his 40s wearing a suit and red necktie. He had a bowlcut and his brown eyes sparkled with glee as he greeted the two men. "It's an honor to meet you person Mr. Cornwell," said Finn shaking his hand. "As for me," laughed Cornwell. "Ah, Hopper how's the boy doing?" "Fine, he hasn't had another monster episode in years, practically a grown adult now," answered Hopper. "Haha, that's what I'd expect from the son of Jim Hopper, that jolly old chap," laughed Cornwell. "And El?" "21, surprisingly she grew her hair back, to be honest she looks better with it," answered Hopper. "Ah, young Jane really has grown has she?" asked Cornwell. "Yes, she's dating Mike Wheeler now," answered Hopper. "Ooh I bet she'd make a wonderful spouse, you wouldn't mind showing me a picture of her would you?" asked Cornwell. Austin sighed as he pulled out a photo of a young woman with long silky brown hair wearing a yellow jacket denim jeans, a red scarf, and a beret cap that the french normally wear. "Oh my, what a cute young lady she's grown into," laughed Cornwell. "That's my sister for you," sighed Austin. "Ahem, I hate to interrupt but can we get to the point?" Finn asked impatiently. "Ah yes sorry, I seem to have driven us off track," said Cornwell. "So what was it about the incidents you wanted to talk to us about sir?" asked Finn. "Well you see, our government has been trying to deal with these incidents because of the concern for the nation, the problem is this, they managed to track the source all the way to Blair Laboratory in Kansas," explained Cornwell. "Kansas, but that's like in the middle of the U.S.," said Austin. "That's the problem, the government had contacted Kansas police and asked them to investigate but they have been told that there were no disturbances in Kansas and well the government couldn't send anybody there because nobody wanted to get involved in these cases," said Cornwell. "So they turned to us?" asked Finn. "I know this is crazy, but the government needs someone to look into these cases, so please will you?" asked Cornwell. Finn and Austin looked at each other and nodded. 'Alright we'll do it," said Finn. "Excellent, now I know this is sudden but you'll need to head out starting tomorrow morning," said Cornwell. "Tomorrow morning!?" asked Austin. "Yes, oh but of course we won't be asking you to do this for free," said Cornwell. "How much?" asked Finn. "Well let's see the government has rented out a five class hotel for you for at least a week plus a 5 course meal during your stay and since you accepted this case, you'll be paid at least, $230,000 for your cooperation," answered Cornwell. "Hmm not a bad deal if you ask me," said Austin. "Indeed, but remember you'll only be having fun because the government is paying for it, don't get off track too much alright?" asked Cornwell. "Yes sir," they both answered in unison. "Good now you'll need to take this," said Cornwell passing Austin a folder. "What's this?" asked Finn. "It's files on the cases, from the Earthquake in Canada all the way to the wildfire in Japan," answered Cornwell. "You might want to hold onto this in case you want to it over," "Anything else?" asked Austin flipping through the files. "That's all, thanks for stopping by gentlemen," said Cornwell. The two were about to head when Cornwell stopped them. "Oh and Austin, do say hi to El for me will you?" Cornwell asked passing him the photo. "Sure thing Mr. Cornwell," said Austin taking the photo. The three exchanged goodbyes as the government official escorted Austin and Finn back to their car. When they got int Austin quickly ate his breakfast as Finn looked through the files. "The Earthquake in Canada, the Tornado/ Twister in California, the murders in Mauna Lao Hawaii, the Storm that Sunk the Cargo Ship in the Philippine Sea, and the Wildfire in Japan," read Finn. "Geez is it just me or is mother nature getting more violent?" asked Austin. "I think the second one buddy, all of these incidents have occurred within a 5 day span of each other according to reports," answered Finn. "What did we do to deserve this?" Austin asked munching on his hash brown. "I don't know but if this lab in Kansas really had some sort of connection with these incidents then I hope I did the right thing cause now I have to cancel my date," said Finn. "Well tough luck," said Austin. "Yeah, she was a pretty cute girl too," sighed Finn. "What's her name?" asked Austin. "Veronica Cream," answered Finn. "Cream as in like ice cream?" asked Austin. "Yeah, something like that," answered Finn. "How old is she?" asked Austin. "20," answered Finn. "Damn, for a 21 year old like you, you sure are lucky to have girls coming for you," said Austin. "That's not funny, besides she has a younger brother named Cody, I'm sure if he found out I was going out with his sister, he would kill me," said Finn. "Really," said Austin taking a sip of his expresso. "How old is he?" "18," answered Finn. Austin quickly poked his head out the window and spit out his expresso. "18!?" asked Austin. "Yeah," answered Finn. "You can't be serious," said Austin. "You want proof?" asked Finn. "Hell yeah I do," answered Austin. Finn pulled out his phone and showed Austin a picture of a young male wearing a suit standing next a slightly older woman with blonde hair and a white dress and blue slippers. Both were white and had brown eyes but the boy had black hair unlike the woman. "That's Cody?" asked Austin. "Yeah, I know he looks like a midget compared to Veronica. "And I assume that's her next to him," said Austin. "Yep," answered Finn. "Damn, she's got a nice face, I wonder if I got a shot with her?" asked Austin. 'Maybe, but we won't be going out with anyone until we solve these cases," said Finn. "Shit you're right," said Austin. He put his expresso in the cup holder and threw the trash in the McDonald's bag. "Well let's hit the road, we got a big day tomorrow, let's rest up for the rest of the day," said Finn. "Agreed," said Austin as he hit the accelerator. Author's Note Prologue complete. Well here we are in the future. I wonder why Austin is still driving a car instead of other vehicles. Well that's not important. But what could be the cause of these incidents do you think? Maybe you'll find out if you keep reading.
Chapter 1: Starlight and SpikeAustin drove up to the Blair Research Lab and showed his badge to the guard at the gate. The guard gave Austin a look of uncertainty as he opened the gates and allowed entry to the cop. Austin parked his car near a large white van with the words Blair Lab printed on the side doors in large blue letters. He placed the walkie talkie over his mouth and spoke into it. "Alright, I've arrived," said Austin. "Do you notice anything strange?" asked Finn. "Duke, I've just arrived, I haven't even entered the building yet," said Austin. "Ok, ok sorry," said Finn. "How does it look though?" "Like a research laboratory," answered Austin. "Wow, as if that wasn't obvious," Finn said sarcastically. "Look, I'm about to head in, just let me know if you've found anything," said Austin. "Gotcha chief," said Finn. Austin placed the walkie talkie back onto it's hook and exited the vehicle. "Woo," Austin said sarcastically as he walked towards the entrance. He was just about to enter the building when he heard the bush nearby rustling. Looking over he slowly and cautiously approached the bush. With his hand over his gun pouch he pulled the bush back only to find a unicorn with a slight mixture of pink and purple overcoat. Her mane was a mixture of purple and turquoise and a small glimmer mark on her flank. However she wasn't alone, a small purple dragon with green scales on it's back was also with her. The two stared at Austin with a nervous look. "Oh it's just a pony," sighed Austin. "And a quite unusual one too," "Is that a compliment or an insult?" asked the pony. "Well that's-" Austin stopped. He looked around to see if anybody else was around. "Strange I thought I heard someone talking. "Um down here," the pony said. Austin looked down at the pony. "Ha, no way, there's no way a pony could talk, someone must be pulling a prank on me," Austin laughed nervously. "Nope nobody's pulling a prank," answered the dragon. "And now I'm really going crazy now that I heard a dragon talk," said Austin. "Afraid not, we're really talking," said the pony. "No way, no way am I going to believe it, ponies can't talk, or dragons," said Austin. "But we're talking to you right now," said the dragon. "No way, I'm trippin," said Austin. "You're what?" asked the dragon. Austin pinched himself on the cheek to check he wasn't dreaming. "Nope not dreaming," said Austin rubbing his cheek. "Of course not," said the pony. Austin sighed finally giving in. "Alright you win," sighed Austin. "But aside from the fact that you two can talk, who are you and where did you come from?" The two looked at each other as if they knew he was going to ask them that. "Alright, so starting from the beginning," started the pony. Finn flipped through the files while he sipped his cup of coffee. "Storm Sinks Cargo Ship in the Philippines," Finn read. He looked at the date. "September 3rd, 2025 5:50 P.M.," He flipped to the most recent and the fifth incident. "Wildfire Burns Down Forest and Kills Over 100 in Nearby Village," he looked at the date. "September 8th, 2025 5:55 P.M.," He flipped to the third incident that had taken place on Hawaii. "5 Murders Leaves Hawaii in Terror," he once again looked at the top of the files for the date. "August 29th, 2025," This time however there were five different times. The first murder had taken place 5:25 P.M, the second 5:30 P.M. The third had taken place at 5:35 P.M and the fourth at 5:40 P.M. The fifth and final murder had taken place at 5:45 P.M. The thing that Finn noticed was all of these murders occurred exactly 5 miles from the last murder. He flipped to the 2nd incident. "Tornado Strikes California Town," The date and time read, "August 24th 2025 at 5:20 P.M." Finally, he flipped to the very first incident,"Earthquake Strikes Canadian Neighborhood, Leaves Houses in Ruins," the date and time read,"August 19th 2025 at 5:15 P.M." According to professionals the magnitude of this earthquake was 10, which meant it was strong enough to destroy everything. Suddenly, Finn's walkie talkie went off interrupting his thoughts. He picked it up and spoke into the speaker. "Hello?" "Finn, glad you came on," said Austin. "What's up chief?" asked Finn. "Listen I'm outside the lab right now and talking with a pony and her dragon," answered Austin. "A pony and her dragon?" Finn asked confused. "I'm just as dumbfounded as you are, but it seems these two were brought against their own will by some sort of experiment that the lab was performing," answered Austin. "The pony's name is Starlight Glimmer and the dragon is Spike, they claim that their friends had been taken by the lab," "Ok?" asked Finn. "What do you plan to do?" asked Finn. "What do you think?" asked Austin. "I'm planning to see if I can find any clues to what is going on while saving Starlight's friends at the same time," "Uh chief not a good idea," said Finn. "Why not?" asked Austin. "While I mean just going in and investigating sounds good enough, but it sounds like you're going to pull your gun on somebody," said Finn. "Can we just keep the violence level low for now until we learn more?" "Fine," Austin grunted disappointed. "Wait so you WERE going to pull out your gun!?" Finn heard a voice say from the other side. "Shut up Spike," hissed Austin. "Oh by the way chief, I think I figured some things out while you were gone," announced Finn. "Really great for you," said Austin. "Yeah I'll tell you more once you get back," said Finn. "Until then please go easy on everyone," "Yeah, yeah sure whatever," said Austin hanging up. "I hope he goes easy on everyone," said Finn taking another sip of coffee. "I'm not going easy on everyone," said Austin walking into the building. "You pull your gun, then I'll report you to your friend," Starlight said seriously. "Starlight were you always this cynical?" asked Austin. "No, and to be perfectly blunt, you're the one being cynical," Starlight bragged. "Wow Starlight since when did you start becoming a smart ass?" asked Austin. "My friend is a bookworm," answered Starlight. "Oh so she's a nerd?" asked Austin. "Not exactly," answered Starlight. "She's a student actually," added Spike. "A student to your friend, I bet she's a great mentor to date ahem hang out with," Austin commented before fixing his vocabulary. "Um sorry did I just hear-" Starlight began before Austin quickly interrupted. "Let's just get this over with," Austin said quickly as he walked down the halls of the facility. The three continued to make their way through the building not noticing the figure wearing the black cloak Author's Note Chapter 1 complete. Ok so here we're introduced to Starlight and Spike who will soon be joining Austin Hopper and Finn Duke's investigation. Also Austin seems a little more selfish than his father. But wait who's that figure in the black cloak? Keep reading to find out
Chapter 2: Blair Research LabFinn got out of the taxi and walked up to the guard who was standing in front of the gate. He pulled out his I.D. and presented it to the guard with a serious look on his face. The guard checked the I.D. and looked back at Finn. He looked down at the black briefcase he held in his hand with a confused look on his face. "Something wrong?" asked Finn. "Uh what no, nothing's wrong, welcome to Blair Research Lab Mr. Duke," stuttered the guard opening the gate. Finn tilted his hat over his eyes and stared at the badge pinned to the guards chest as he walked past him. "Donnell Grey," Finn muttered to himself. He quickly lowered his head as he made his way towards the facility. He entered the building and saw Austin, Starlight, and Spike waiting for him along with a man in his 50s with a white lab coat. "Sorry for the wait," apologized Finn. "You sure took your sweet time," said Austin. "Taxi didn't come on time," said Finn. "I presume those two are Starlight Glimmer and Spike?" asked Finn looking at the unicorn and dragon. "Yep," answered Spike. "He wasn't kidding," Finn muttered to himself. "And who's that?" he asked looking at the man. "Finn Duke, it's an honor having you here, welcome to Blair Research Laboratory, I'm it's head president Connor J. Wells is my name," said the man. "Yeah same," Finn added sarcastically. "I've heard a lot about you from Officer Hopper here, please allow me to give a tour of the facility," said Wells. Finn looked at the three as they nodded their head. Finn and the three followed after him as he lead them down the lab's hall. "Here at Blair Research Lab, our objective is to research and understand the lifestyles of abnormal species, whether it's supernatural, only depicted in myths, and vice versa," explained Wells. "I believe that if we get to understand these creatures more, then we won't have to fear them," As Conner Wells continued his explanation, Finn kept his attention on some of the rooms where scientists were experimenting on different animals such as piranhas, snakes, and alligators. "Uh sorry to interrupt but what reason do you have for experimenting on live animals?" asked Finn looking through the glass. "Oh that, we scientists hope that here at Blair Lab we can create and evolve certain animals in hopes that they can interact with these abnormal creatures to help us better understand what kinds of species they're comfortable being with," answered Wells. "Ok and how does that benefit us?" asked Austin as he scribbled down everything Wells just explained in his notebook. "We as humans will want trustful animals to protect us if these creatures were to ever escape, I believe that Blair Lab has the capability to do so," answered Connor. "Anymore questions?" Finn, Starlight, and Spike shook their heads as Austin placed the notebook into his pant's pocket. "Very well then moving on," said Wells continuing down the hall. As the four continued to follow Wells, they passed by five more rooms, two of which were doing experiments on animals, while one of them had scientists testing different kinds of chemicals and looking through microscopes while taking notes. The fourth room had different equipment with multiple graphs hanging on the walls. The fifth and final room was the lab's cafeteria. "Um excuse me, but what's that door?" Starlight asked pointing to a single metallic door that slid shut as an employee entered the room. "Oh that, that's the security office," answered Wells. "Security office?" asked Spike. "Well we call it a security office, but really it's just a large room where our employees and guards go to keep an eye on our abnormal species that we have in this facility," answered Wells. "I'm sorry, but can you go in depth to what you mean?" asked Finn. "Ah right, you see there is an underground bunker beneath this lab where we keep all the abnormal creatures we have captured, locked up in special indestructible glass cases," explained Wells. "However we have to make sure that none of these creatures tries to escape, so we have cameras observing these creatures at all times," "And I assume that's the room your employees and guards go in to keep an eye on these beings?" asked Austin. "Very clever, I like you, you catch on quick Officer," said Wells. "Ok so then what's that?" asked Spike pointing to a pair of double doors with the toxic logo imprinted on it. "That elevator is what we use to go down to the bunker where the creatures are held," answered Wells. Just as he said that a scientist escorted by two guards walked up to the double metal doors. The scientist took out his I.D. and scanned it over a single pad on the wall. After 5 seconds, the green light over the elevator flashed as the doors slid open. The scientist and the two guards entered the elevator and closed the door as it started descending into the earth. "Cool," said Spike. "Follow me, we're almost to my office," said Wells continuing. The group followed after Wells as he lead the group past a set of double metal doors. "What's in here doc?" asked Austin. Wells stopped and turned around. "In there, we have our little library where we keep all the information of each and every abnormal creature we have here at Blair Lab," answered Wells. "Interesting," said Austin scribbling it down in his little notebook. "Now then, we're almost there, let's keep going!" announced Wells. As the group lead by Wells turned the left corner, they soon entered a narrow hallway and continued straight forward until they stopped at the very last door to the left at the end of the hallway. "Here we are," said Wells unlocking the door. "Please make yourself at home," he said letting the four in. They all took a seat while Wells went to his desk. "Now that you had your wonderful little tour, what is it that you wanted to share with us Mr Duke?" "Right," sighed Finn. He pulled the desk closer to the group and placed his briefcase on the table. "As I was doing my research back at our hotel, I found some quite interesting things regarding the 5 mysterious incidents," He opened the briefcase and pulled out the folder containing the files. "But first, Starlight Spike I think you should read these to understand a little about what's going on," Starlight and Spike looked at each other as Starlight took the folder from Finn. "Ok then," said Starlight. She opened the folder and pulled out the files. "Um should I just read these out loud?" she asked. "Go ahead," said Austin. Both Austin and Finn listened as Starlight read the files out loud to Wells, Spike and herself. By the end of it, she was clearly shocked. "O-oh my," she gasped dropping the files onto the table. "So you agree that these incidents are indeed terrifying," said Finn. "Yeah but why?" asked Spike. "You two don't know this, but the sites where these incidents took place, they are all relatively close to one another if you were to look on a map," said Austin. "However we still don't know why it's these areas," "But because I did my homework, I was able to dig up some pretty interesting information," said Finn. "First of all the five murders on Hawaii, they all took place 5 miles from another," "Five miles from each other," Starlight repeated. 'That's right," said Finn. "Next thing, what do you guys notice about the dates?" Spike took the articles and stared at the top of each one for a while. "I don't know," he answered. "They all took place 5 days after each other," answered Finn. "Now what do you notice about the time?" "They all took place five minutes after each other," answered Austin. "And there are five incidents," added Starlight. "As you can tell, the number 5 is significant in these cases," said Finn. "But why the number five?" asked Spike. "That's what we came to find out," answered Finn looking at Wells. The other three turned towards him. "Wait no just wait a minute, what does these incidents have to do with me?" he asked. "These cases were traced by the U.S. government, and according to them it led them straight here to this lab," answered Finn. "Tell us, what are you hiding?" asked Austin. "Whoa, whoa now wait a minute, just because these cases were connected to our facility doesn't mean I'm responsible for them, please don't jump to conclusions like that," laughed Wells. "That's what you say, but you sure you aren't hiding some abnormal species that can some how control mother nature?" asked Finn. "Whoa now, just wait a minute, our lab's goals are trying to improve the relationships between abnormal species and humans, we would do nothing to create a fuss," said wells holding up his hands in surrender. "And besides you say mother nature, but how do you explain the murders?" "That's why we're asking you," said Austin. "No, we don't know anything I swear!" said Wells. "Fine, you don't have to say anything now, but just you wait, once the government starts up an investigation, your identity won't be hidden from the public much longer," said Finn. He began to collect the files and placed them back into the folder and placed the folder back into his briefcase. "Now if you'll excuse us, we have work to do, thanks for the tour," said Finn putting on his hat. Austin glared at Wells as he followed after Finn with Starlight and Spike tagging along behind them leaving Wells at his desk alone. "Well, this isn't good, if our lab becomes a major suspect, my career is over!" gasped Wells. "I'll have to stand up for the company even it means being thrown into prison," Author's Note Chapter 2 complete. So now we're introduced to the head president of Blair Research Lab, Connor J. Wells. He seems like a nice guy but still pretty suspicious, don't you agree. But hey at least he gave them a nice tour.
