New Baghdad, Iraq
Atlas Headquarters

Twilight watched as Irons walked slowly in front of her, camera drones surrounding him and a reporter, as they discussed the recent killing of KVA leader, Hades.

However, Twilight didn't pay much attention to the actual conversation. She was still processing what Hades had told her in his final words and handing over a data chip before dying. Even though it was a while back and in a different continent than to where she was now, what the terrorist had said before giving in to death.

Twilight was still confused by it. She trusted Irons with her life, just like everyone at Atlas. What did he know that she didn't? was the thought that continued to ring in her mind. Hades, the chip and her thought clouded her mind, making her lose focus.

But as Twi still thought, she felt someone shoulder her. She turned towards Mitchell, for he was the one standing on the side that she was shouldered on. "Hey, you alright?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just... confused," She replied.

"It's about the thing with Hades, yes?" Mitchell also asked. Twilight only nodded to him. "Don't worry about it too much. Ilona is going over that chip. You'll get your answers soon enough,"

Twilight just smiled and turned her attention back to Irons, who was now stepping into an elevator, joined by the reporter. The doors closed and her, Mitchell and Gideon broke from attention and stood at ease. Gideon then turned towards the two others. "How does it feel to be the hero of the world? Don't let it go to your..."

But before Gideon finished what he was saying, Ilona's voice came over their radios. "Gideon, Mitchell, Twilight. I need to see you. Right now."

Gideon keyed his radio. "Ilona? What is is?"

"Meet me in maintenance room 6A. Don't bring anyone else."

"Alright, we're moving," Gideon replied, before speaking to Mitchell and Twilight. "Let's find out what the hell she wants."

"Allow me," Twilight stated, as she charged up her magic for a teleportation. Mitchell and Gideon grabbed on and Twilight cast the spell. Almost instantaneously, all three arrived at the maintenance room in a bright flash. Ilona was already there and had a look of concern and urgency on her face.

"Did you tell anyone you were coming?" The ex-Spetsnaz immediately asked.

"I teleported us here after receiving your message. No-one knows that we are here," Twilight immediately explained.

"What's going..." Gideon tried to ask, but was cut off by Ilona.

"The scrambler will only buy us a few minutes. Sync to my HUD. I have to show you something," She quickly explained.

"What the bloody hell's going on?" Gideon asked again.

"Just watch this," She said, as she activated a holographic video. And it showed Irons sitting in a chair, with a familiar individual sitting in another chair. "That's Irons with the technologist you saved in Nigeria,"

"The guy I saved from the truck before it went into the river?" Twilight asked, more confused.

"He never made it back to Nigeria," Ilona explained, before playing the video.

"The KVA are planning an attack...they told me everything," The technologist explained, his voice filled with panic.

"What kind of attack?" Irons asked, trying to keep his guest calm.

"Power plants, all over the world. They wanted me to compromise the security systems,"

"Where are they planning on hitting?"

"Seattle, Paris, Tokyo...thousands will die! We have to tell someone!"

"No. We have to tell everybody!" Irons stated, as he got up from his seat. "It's okay, it's alright. I'm gonna take care of this right now," After he said that, he pulled an MP-443 and shot the technologist in the side of the head. And that was where the video ended.

Everyone was in shock. The man they had put their trust in for years, had just killed an innocent person. "Fuck me," Was all that Gideon could say.

"He knew it. He knew and he let it happen. All those people dead, and he fucking profited from it!" Ilona stated, her tone rising in frustration.

"Where did you get this?" Gideon asked, not believing that his boss would do something like what he had just seen.

"Hades. His last act before he died was giving us this," Ilona explained.

But Gideon still wasn't buying it and asked, "How do you know it's not fake?"

"It was coded and encrypted in our own algorithm!" She immediately replied, "It's from Atlas. No one has seen this but us. We need to get out of here! Now!"

But before anything could be done, a flashbang went off in the room. Twilight's vision was filled with white and a ringing in her ears, before it subsided. The white was replaced with an Atlas MP soldier forcing her onto the ground, holding her at gunpoint with an SN6. Two more MPs were watching over Mitchell and Ilona, holding them at gunpoint as well.

Just moments later, Irons walked in. Immediately, Mitchell pulled his Atlas 45 on him. However, the MP holding him kicked the gun out of his hands before any shots were fired.

"We saw it. We saw everything." Ilona stated, knowing what Irons had done.

"You saw what?" Irons questioned, trying to deny what had happened.

"You knew about the attacks. All those innocent people--dead!" Ilona told him.

However, Irons quickly butted in. "You saw a forged recording from a terrorist,"

Twilight was shocked and disgusted with Irons, the man that she had trusted with her life after first arriving in Equestria was nothing more than a monster. "HOW COULD YOU?!" She cried out at him, "I TRUSTED YOU WITH MY LIFE AND YOU BETRAYED ME!!!!! YOU'RE A MONSTER!!!! YOU'RE NO BETTER THAN CADANCE!!!!!"

Irons simply looked at the human-disguised unicorn with a look that didn't show any emotion and said to her, "You could've been my greatest achievement, Twilight. I'm very disappointed in you," Having said everything he needed to say, he begn to leave. Ilona turned to Gideon and cried out to him, "Gideon! You know what you saw!"

The squad commander just stared at her, then went over to Irons and said, "He said it was a fake,"

"He's made his choice," And with that, Irons and Gideon left.

With all three of them being watched over, there was no way that they were getting out of there. However, a scrambled voice came over all of their radios. "Listen, we've hacked into your exo system. I need you to trust me. In three seconds, the fire suppression system will be activated. Get ready to run,"

Whoever that voice was, it was clear that he or she wasn't making things up. Seconds after he/she spoke, the fire suppression system went off. This gave the MPs a shock, which was enough of a distraction for the others to make a move. Mitchell immediately kicked his MP in the leg, causing him to fall over. When the MP tried to get back up, Mitchell used his Exo's extra strength and pushed him into the rails, knocking the MP out. Mitchell picked up the enemie's SN6 and used it to shoot down the MP holding Ilona at gunpoint.

At the same time, Twilight used her magic to grab her captor by the throat and slammed him down into the metal floor, killing the MP. Once all of the MPs were dead, Ilona and Twilight grabbed the other weapons for themselves. All three of them were now armed with an SN6 each.

"We need to get out of here!" Twilight stated, staring to rush for the nearest exit. Mitchell and Ilona followed.

"Head towards the nearby elevator," The mysterious voice told them.

"Who are you?" Twilight questioned, wanting to know who was helping them.

"You may call me X. I need you to keep moving!"

There was no time to question this person. All three knew was that he was helping them escape and that was enough for them. A squad of Atlas troops emerged behind the trio, but a safety door shut behind the group. Thsi cut the Atlas troops from pursuing the group.

Within seconds, the three arrived at the elevator. However, the doors were all shut and there was nowhere to go.

"Dammit! Dead end!" Ilona swore.

"Hold on. I'm going to open the doors that lead to the roof," X stated. And a few seconds later, the doors to the elevator opened. All three jumped onto the roof of the elevator, as the main door shut behind them.

"Start climbing and get to the roof," X ordered.

"Let me make this easier," Twilight stated, charging up another teleportation spell. Mitchell and Ilona grabbed on and Twilight cast the spell, instantly getting the three to the roof. But once they were on the roof, a vent opened and a Drone Swarm took to the air.

"Swarm! Run for it!" Mitchell cried out. Soon, all three of them were sprinting across the roof, ducking under vents and jumping over AC boxes. The swarm opened fire at them, trying to gun them down. Eventually, the group reached a balcony. However, the edge was quickly blocked by security gates.

Thankfully, X had planned for that. "I'm overriding the gates. Get across the roof and jump the rail at the opening,"

"Are you crazy?! We're five stories up!" Twilight cried out, as a gap opened in the gates.

"Do it now, trust me!" X stated. There was nowhere else to go, so they rushed to the gap. Mitchell was the first over the railing, followed by Twilight and Ilona. As Ilona jumped the rail, she fired a burst at the glass panel below, shattering it. Just as this happened, an Atlas soldier jumped the rail in pursuit. However, he ended up jumping into the hole that Ilona had just created.

All three tumbled down the panel and into the river, the Drone Swarm buzzing around the river trying to find them, joined by a Warbird that fired aimlessly into the river. But once all three of them hit the water, Twilight cast a spell that surrounded all three of them with a bubble that allowed them to breathe.

"Sewer access is directly ahead of you. Move," X ordered, as the group swam as fast as they could towards a massive hole in the concrete that led to the sewers. And after a quick swim in the river, the group emerged in the sewers of New Baghdad. But they still had a long way to go, before they could reach safety.

Author's Note

This is the first of the newly rewritten chapters. And now that the story is under my care, I will be making some changes to the way it is written.

For one thing, I will not be adding in parts where the moment skips back to Equestria to see how things are doing with Luna, Shining, Cadance and Spike. No, the story will remain on the Earth side, until Twilight manages to get back home (That is, unless you guys have some ideas for me to use about that).

Aside from that, nothing much will change. Hope you enjoy my new chapters and stick around for more!