Chapter 9: Into the storm

After all this, the ponies spent their time relaxing to be ready for the next big step, playing a round of Mau Mau each. Around half an hour, the kids had finished a round, with Tungsten seeing Moira passing by, lost in thought.

“Are you okay?” He asked, tearing her out.

“Ah, just thought about home.” she smiled weakly.” Got a son you know.”

“Do you miss him?” It felt so stupid to ask her this, yet she nodded. “More than anything, he’s everything to me, ever since I was in the SAS…Funny how life can turn out to be.”

“What do you mean?” Dinky was confused and the sniper sat down on a chair.

Why do you think I took Blue as my appearance base?” Moira asked the ponies, I was an orphan like you.” The portly mare just nodded and they started to listen to the soldier’s tale. “I grew up in an abusive orphanage…”

Moira dreaded to get up from her bed as she heard what sounded like a plate crashing on the floor, followed by yelling. “You stupid brat! Can’t you get anything right!?” Then the sound of beating followed by young screams.

She flinched, yet did not hesitate to check on her fellow orphan, he was lying on the ground, sobbing and bruised. “It's okay, it's okay.” The young girl tried to comfort him, getting a first aid kit she had hidden in her room to take care of the bruises.

“Th-thanks…” The boy hugged her in return.

As he slowly calmed down and cleared up the mess, she started at the same angry voice coming from behind. “Working together with the brat I see!” Not on my watch!”

“W-wait!” She pleaded but it didn’t help as he slapped her across the face, causing her cheek to bleed.

“Let that be a lesson to you! No dinner tonight!”

Tears of pain and frustration left her eyes, going back to her room to treat her wound. “I can’t take it anymore…I need to run…” She buried her face into her hands.

When night came, she packed some supplies into a backpack, opened the window and got out, not looking back, wandering through the streets.

Losing count, the young girl could not tell how much time had passed before it started to rain, and she sought center in an abandoned, ruined building she spotted nearby.

Feeling her emotions swell up, a tear left her eyes as she huddled under the roof. “I was so stupid…Baily will kill me for this…

“Hello?” A voice called out, startling her. “Someone there?” It sounded friendly, worried.

Before she could react, a man came into view, casual clothing with an umbrella, an expression of surprise of his face, before it changed to a weak smile. “Are you lost?”

“Y-yes…” She stuttered from the cold.

“Then, let me help you.” He offered a hand. She knew she should not trust a stranger but something told her he was honest.

Her helper took her to a house and made her some tea to warm her up, appreciating it.

She then got a good look at her savior and could not believe her eyes when she recognized him. Jessie “James” Günther, the very leader of the Harmonious Guard himself. “You look hungry too, let me make you something.” He said with a smile, she could only nod.

The mean he prepared tasted way better than Moira could have imagined under Baily, enjoying every bite, happy to have something good in her stomach.

“Now, get some rest, we can find your family tomorrow.” He said, only for her to sob.

“I…don’t have one and I can’t go back….” Her head was lowered, only for him to hug her. “Baily beats us and barely feeds us…”

As the girl buried her head into him, he gently rubbed her back. “Shh, calm down, I will take of this, don’t worry. Now, get some sleep, you need it.”

Moira sobbed again she carried her to the guest room, yet fell asleep fast at the comfort of the bed.

The next morning, she breakfasted, feeling somewhat happy to have met him as he came into the room to check on her. “I hope it was to your liking. Let’s go confronting Baily now, shall we?” He had a confident smile and somewhat told her he was honest.

And so, she got into his car, driving towards the orphanage, soon joined by another one. She could not help but steel herself as they arrived, with him knocking on the door.

Baily opened with a forced smile. “Yes?”

“Hello, I think you missed one of your residents?” Günther asked friendly and he nodded.

“Ah, thank you, it’s always troublesome with the paperwork if they go missing.” Her caretaker gestured her to come inside and she did so, feeling sure James had a plan.

Baily watched until James seemed far away, then slapped her across the face. “Thought of running away, brat?! Now you’ve done it!”

While crying in pain, Moira managed to stay brave. “This is the end for you, Baily.” She spit him in the face, only for him to slam against the wall, choking her.

“What did you say?!”

Despite struggling to breath, she managed to say, “You heard me right…”

Just then, the door got kicked open, surprising him and he let go of Moira, who coughed.

“That’s right, you are under arrest for child abuse.” As the girl’s vision became clear again, she saw James and 2 of his soldiers holding Bailey at gunpoint. He attempted to run but James quickly tackled him to the ground, cuffing him. “We got everything on tape.” Only now, she noticed a camera in the car that had followed them.

“Thanks to him, Bailey got exposed and arrested, with me getting eventually adopted. I felt inspired by him, so when I came of age, I joined the SAS, becoming the best of my class.” Morrison told with pride in her voice, leaving the ponies speechless.

“Then…how come you joined him?” Dinky managed to ask with dread, as the Brite’s expression became slightly sad again.

“One of my comrades betrayed me…”

It was another mission, nothing special for the now grown woman, reading for herself for it as her squad reported to her, 3 men “What is our objective for this mission, Jasper?” She asked one of them with a smile.

“Our mission is to kill or capture an arms dealer in the Middle East.” He showed her a picture of a bald man with grey beard “Asif Ayad.”

She just nodded and they all prepared to go. On their way via chopper, HQ radioed in. “Intel reports a munitions convoy moving towards the target, take it out before it arrives.”

“Copy that.”

They landed on a hill, overlooking the road, Jasper was her spotter the others secured the rear, as they went prone. “There they are.” Her comrade reported not long after. “Two trucks, escorted by six technical. Distance, 600 meters.”

Moira took aim, inhaling deeply, having the leading vehicle in her sight and pulled the trigger.

After a short delay, the lead vehicle stopped dead right in its tracks, driver dead as blood splattered on the windshield. Then she did the same with the technical in the back, stopping it as well as she shot the driver.

However, the other insurgents quickly jumped into action, firing towards her position, yet could not hit her from that distance.

Adjusting aim, she fired at the gunner of the lead vehicle. Blood splattering from his head, he was thrown backward into the dusty road.

Noticing the hostiles were close to the trucks, the sniper fired at the cargo of the second vehicle. In a cloud of smoke, the entire convoy lit up, killing everyone before a shocking bang followed.

“Convoy destroyed, nice shooting!” Jasper praised her before moving on, landing at a hill

“Okay, Asif is a half a click north, I’ll cover you.” Moira ordered as she overlooked the house and her squad mates moved down.

A single guard was in front of the house and she took aim, firing a shot. Blood splattered against the wall as the insurgent stumbled before falling dead to the ground.

“Can you cover me when I breach?” Jasper requested and she switched to a SMG, moving down too, while the others covered the back door.

“Righto.”

Upon in position, Jasper kicked the door down and moved in, followed by his squad mates. They encountered no resistance, which the woman found strange, as Jasper pointed to a closed door “Check that room.”

She did as told but the moment she opened it and stepped in, something hit her head hard and she fell to the ground, crying in pain. As her vision became clear, she found herself at gunpoint by an insurgent, unable to get up as he put a boot on her arm.

“I trust my shipment is on schedule, Mr. Jasper.” A new voice in Arabic sounded and the SAS member could not believe her eyes.

Their target was personally walking in, escorted by her squad mates as he eyed her with surprise. “Who is this?”

“My squad leader. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.” Jasper assured but his partner had doubts.

“I hope for your sake you’re correct.”

She tensed herself as her fellow soldier walked up to her, a slight hint of regret in his expression. “Sorry, Moira, nothing personal. I send your son my condolences.” Then the insurgent knocked her out.

When she came to with an aching head, vision blurry, she had to blink several times to clear it. With slight fear, the woman noticed she was retrained on a chair, facing a camera, surrounded by several insurgents. She could not understand a word but they sounded happy, like a child in a candy store.

Just then, Ayad came into the room and looked into her eyes with a neutral expression. “Your son will miss you, it will be hard for him. But that is part of growing up, just like you mourned your husband.” That surprised her as he continued, “it’s accepting the inevitability of death. The inevitability, Mrs. Morrison, of death. I hope that gives you comfort.”

A chill went through her body as the mother realized her situation, heart racing, knowing there was no way out, no rescue team or anything, as the arms dealer turned towards the camera.

“You come to our country to murder us, yet we are the bad guys if we try to protect ourselves? This is the price you pay.” He reached for a knife and she instinctively struggled as he brought it close to her throat.

Her life flashed before her eyes.

A loud bang rang in her ears.

The arms dealer flinched and stumbled. His body hit the ground in a puddle of blood.

Another bang and another body hit the ground, followed by screams from below. Her captors looked around in alert and panic before being riddled by bullets, the light was shot out as well.

“Hostiles neutralized.” A new, English voice announced and she saw several soldiers, but the darkness made it impossible to recognize them. They cut her retrains and escorted her out of the building.

Just in front of it was a chopper, a man with a sniper rifle waiting for her, smiling. “Glad we managed to save you in the nick of time.” It was James, much to her surprise.

“B-but…why?” She could only stutter as he helped her into the chopper.

“It’s the right thing to do, Moira, and my job. After all you achieved, I could not let you suffer like that.”

“Wow…he went so far to save you?” Dinky could not believe it.

“Yes. He was curious about what I would do once grown up and was proud. As such, it felt most natural to join him after Jasper’s betrayal.“ Moira sighed. “You see, Jasper made it look like I was the one who was working with the enemy. James did prove my innocence and yet this all was denied publicly by the government.

They did not even compensate me. Years of service and I was not cared for. As such, I lost faith, yet did not know where to go. A life of SAS training isn’t worth much in the civilian job market. But James…I had the same purpose as in SAS. Get my hands dirty, so the world stays clean.”

Her interlocutors tried to process everything before Clive walked up to them. “Sorry to interrupt but call for you, Moira.” He pointed to a tent and she nodded.

“Excuse me a minute.” As she walked towards it, the group could not help but follow, listing in at the entrance.

“Hey, sweetie, how are you?” she asked, it dawned on them she was talking to her son. “Nah, don’t worry, it’s just another training, you know? Yeah, we’ll be on the safe side, as always. Yeah, I’ll be fine. I call you back later. Gotta go now, bye. Love you.”

As she came back, Tungsten could not help but ask, “What happened to your husband?”

A sigh escaped her mouth. “Officially, he died in a traffic accident. Unofficially, he was killed by Jasper in an attempt to make me quit my job and cover his shady deals but carried on. I found out after James saved my life. And Jasper got what he deserved…”

With James’ help, the traitor was tracked down to a hidden safe house, using the cover of the night to move in. Once in position at the door, Moira breached it, seeing all her former comrades, except for Jasper, completely surprised, and caught off guard. She did not hesitate to shoot them with the entry team, taking them down before they could react.

“Guys, what’s going on?!” Jasper yelled as he ran down some stairs, his expression shocked to see his former squad leader. He attempted to draw a pistol but she was faster, shooting him in the arm and leg.

The man yelled in pain, dropping to the ground, with his former collogue kicking the gun away. M-Moira…” his voice was one of fear. “I never wanted anything of this to you…you gotta believe me…It was Ayad, who wanted the death of you and your husband, not me...I had no choice…I never wanted to harm you like this…”

“Sorry, mate, but you should have thought about it before making deals with the enemy. You ruined my life. And our government wants you dead.”

With a fearful look, he stared into her eyes before she pulled the trigger, blood splattered from his head.

“I felt no remorse for this, he betrayed me and robbed me of my love and job, he should have thought twice about this…” Her voice was cold, as if she would do it again without a second thought.

Before they could say a word, Moira’s radioman walked up to them. “We are ready to assault Zona Dos. Also, I shall inform you from Anna, Shadowplay, that your wing should be healed well enough by now.”

He nodded and Blue used her magic to remove the bandage, with him doing a brief flap, happy that he could fly again, as Clive led them to the docks.

“The Black Hand are setting up patrols all along the Rio Wanay. They are putting the pieces together, time is running out.” James was already waiting with Rico, Mira and Sheldon, a small fleet of Stormwater Patrol Boat docked, each having an ion coil and mortar mounted on the back.

“Good, you are there, let's move out!” Blue, Fletcher, Dinky and Tungsten joined James in one of the boats, the siblings with Tybalt and Shadow on the other, driven by Kyle. The adults mounted the machine guns, while the kids took cover in the cabin.

“Mind some music?” James asked before the radio started to play an odd song to the ponies. It lyrics focused on atrocities in mankind's history from Satan's point of view, like the violence of the Russian Revolution of 1917 or WW2, wondering how one could get up with such a song. But didn’t really mind it.

Shortly after departing, the clouds in the sky became darker and it started to rain. “Enemy boats, incoming!” Dinky warned as she spotted several in the distance, ready to incept.

The kids pressed themselves against the metal as both sides exchanged fire, hoping it would hold. It was a short and one-decided fight, as the attackers fired their mortars, sinking the enemy ships in big explosions.

“Watch out, minefield!” Blau warned, yet their caretakers were quick on the draw, opening the way with the MGs.

After that, the water led to what looked a small base with a floodgate blocking the way, causing Sheldon to comment, “That’s a big door. You, uh, brought the giant key, right kid?” Rico just groaned at the joke.

Fletcher and Blue teleported to the left side of the base, Shadow and Tybalt the right with their grappling hooks, keeping the defenders distracted as the kids took care of the generators.

Dinky ripped the cover off the left generator through her hook, allowing Tungsten to see his hook to rip it out. Rico covered the siblings as Katja aimed at the generator’s cover and removed it, with her brother ripping its internal parts out.

Having no power supply, the gate unlocked, its passengers getting back on board and Rico’s boat pushed the gate open.

Just after passing through, the group heard the sound of a rippling flow up ahead.

“You hear that? The falls are coming up!” Tom warned, sounding nervous, and as Rico asked if he was, the former agency member just replied, “Yeah, a little. That’s what makes it fun, though!”

Wait, waterfall?! The ponies thought before letting out a mixed scream of fear and excitement, holding on as the boats drove over the edge, falling towards the water down below, grunting in pain upon impact.

“You’re okay?” Dinky asked concerned as she helped Tungsten up.

“I am fine.” He nodded, seeing how Tybalt helped the siblings up from the other boat.

“Before we hit this storm, listen up:” We figured out a way to connect the Ion coil to the Thunderbarge’s mortar.“ Sheldon interrupted, causing Rico to raise an eyebrow.

“We?”

“It was my idea. Mira and James’ technical expert Crispin just did the grunt work of hooking everything up.”

“So how’s it work?” Rico was curious.

“Heck if I know. Positivity streams or something”

“Mira?” Rodriguez asked his second-in-command on the radio.

“Your Ion coil absorbs the lightning. When it’s charged, whatever you hit, lightning strikes.” She explained.

“I call it the ‘Thundergun,” Sheldon announced proudly.

“More boats ahead, together with infantry at the coastal village!” Blue’s son warned.

The MGs suppressed the infantry as well as they could in response, while their mortar gunners aimed.

It was fascinating and quite…freighting as the lighting hit with the mortar strikes, easily destroying every enemy resistance in big, electrical explosions. It made the ponies understand why James aimed to stop this weapon attempt.

Every further intercept attempt was futile, the base becoming visible shorty and the eyes of the pones went wide.

In the center of the base, was a giant ball, crackling with electricity, raised into the air by 3 cranes on each side.

”Hold on!” James warned as the boats drove over the ramp-like edge of the base, entering it.

“Bring down the lightning rods protecting Zona Dos. It’s our best shot to neutralize the core.” Their female ally advised them and they saw the targets in their HUDS, 3 turbines were marked where the cranes

“Careful, not that you get fried!” Tybalt warned his batpony friend was about to take to the skies.

“I got this!” Shadowplay assured him.

James and Kyle gave suppressive fire with the mortars as the pones disembarked, the kids, covered by Fletcher and Blue, going for the 2 neatest rods, while Tybalt and Shadow made their way to the farthest.

It was not long until he felt a tingle in his mane, together with a shower of sparks crackling above him, causing the stallion to dive towards the ground. As lightning struck, it dazed an enemy squad on the ground, twitching and letting out random gibberish. Shadowplay quickly dispatched them with headshots and noticed he was just in front of the target.

Tybalt then caught up, having torn through the defenders with ease as the orange-dappled pony opened the turbine with the grabbling hook. His comrade fired a shot with his revolver, causing the turbine to spark before exploding.

Fletcher with Blue had, despite the weather, little trouble covering the children as they moved towards the other turbines, keeping the defender easily suppressed.

When Tungsten reached the left machine, he fired his hook at it to open it, allowing Dinky to fire a spell at it. In a small cloud of smoke, the turbine melted. Katja did the same with the right Turbine, her brother used his to hold it open. Blue fired a shot at it, making it explode.

Suddenly, there was a loud whine and their eyes went small to see four drones taking to the sky. The first 2 were shaped like a trapezoid. 2 tiny rotators on either side. Much smaller in size but of the same design, the other drones started to fire bullets.

Not wasting any time, the ponies scrambled to cover but the kids had an idea. Firing their grappling hooks, the siblings reeled the smaller drones to the ground, exploding in a small fireball.

Tungsten and Dinky had an idea of their own. Firing the hooks at the bigger drones, they reeled them together, making both explode in a fireball.

“Good thinking, son!” Tungsten's mother praised him,

“All that’s left are the maglocks holding the Core’s shielding in place, leave it to us,” James informed, his allies going to cover as they saw the boats firing at red glowing parts of the cranes.

As soon as they exploded, the middle of the machine blew up, shedding its outer layer, revealing a rotating brightly colored eye-like ball.

With the core exposed, the mortars fired with everything they had and after just a few hits, the structure collapsed into the water, with a flat, circle-like device briefly visible in the middle.

Almost instantly, the weather cleared up and the enemy retreated at the sight, the kids cheered at their success.

With Mira inbound, Sheldon told Rico he had something to show them, adding on the radio, “General, you might want to see this too.”

“Understood. Fletcher, I think you should come too.” He sounded unsurprised, and while taken back, the ponies did as told, wondering what it could be.

Tom led the group to a very nearby set of ruins, on a hill next to the base as he explained to his friend, “When I was researching Solis, and your father’s situation, I heard about an old Agency outpost that used to be near here.

“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” Rico asked surprised and his older friend shrugged.

“Well, I didn’t want to get your hopes up, but I thought we might find something out about your old man. This was his project, after all.

It made the ponies wonder how Rico’s father could have worked on this, as Sheldon touched a rock in a stone column. Causing the ground to shake briefly and he laughed.

One of the ground plates moved into the ground, revealing a big elevator platform and everyone got on it. After a short ride, 2 doors slid open to reveal a big room with computers, which were of an older design, causing the rebel leader to comment, “This place has been here for a while”

“At least thirty years I’d reckon.” Sheldon suspected and Rico put it together.

“A surveillance outpost.”

“This must’ve been where they kept tabs on the Illapa Project. Espinosa, your dad and the weather technology”.

“How long has the Agency known about this?” Rico sounded confused, only for his friend to laugh as he started one of the computers.

“Here, looks like a good place to start.” As he did so, the ponies and James took noticed how Rico looked at an old photograph of 4 men and possibly recognized his father in it. “This is interesting.” The former agency member tore everyone out, “Your dad’s name is in the file.”

Pressing a button, the computer showed an old security camera recording of a man in a white coat talking to a man in a suit and a woman, but the quality was too low to make out any details.

“Do you have any idea what I’ve sacrificed for Project Illapa?” The coated man sounded angry, it was clear this was Rico’s father.

“Miguel-“ the suited man, which they assumed to be Espinosa, started but was cut off.

“No, I refuse to take part in this any longer. Good luck finishing Illapa without me or my work.” Miguel stomped off, out of sight.

“If Miguel Rodriguez is allowed to leave this project, he will be a serious liability.” The man warned but Espinosa seemed unbothered by it.

“If we were to take care of that liability now, Lanza Morales’ work on Zona Uno would suffer. No, let Miguel leave, let Lanza hear that he reunited with his family.”

“Then what?”

“I have Black Hand in Medici under the command of Sebastiano Di Ravello. Who, last I checked, is in the agency’s pocket.

The woman pulled out a phone. “I need to speak to General Di Ravello.

Espinosa let out a sigh. “Thank you for your contribution to Project Illapa, Miguel.”

With that, the video ended and the ponies startled as Rico grunted angrily, kicking a table as his friend held up his hands defensively. “Rico, I had no idea. You gotta believe me!”

“It never made any sense why Di Ravello killed my parents.” He paced around, breathing heavily, “It was the Agency and Espinosa, using that idiot dictator’s coup as a cover. How could you not know anything about this?” His eyes blazed with anger as he accused Sheldon, who kept his hands up.

“I didn’t know anything about Project Illapa or your parents or any of this back then. I was brand new at the Agency. This sort of thing was way above my pay grade! I only had orders to save YOU.” He then sighed and picked up the picture. “I’ll tell you this, kid. You and me? We’re going to end Espinosa and take out Project Illapa together. I knew the Agency was dirty, but…” Sheldon trailed off, putting an arm around his friend.

“Look, why don’t you head topside, get some fresh air? I’ll keep snooping around here, ok?”

“You let me know if you find anything else.” Keeping his upset expression, the leader of the rebels left.

Dinky and her friends wanted to comfort him, but they knew it was best to let him cool off on his own.

But still…

“How could they do this to him?” Tungsten wondered, it was beyond his imagination.

That is the way of the CIA, to do its country’s bidding by whatever means necessary.” James told the kids with his head lowered, as if ashamed, “during the Cold War, they did covert operations throughout the world in support of the USA foreign policy, fermenting, supporting or inciting coups and regime changes, whenever it was a regime or revolution that befitted their anti-communist or democratic ways. Even suppressing the latter to ensure communism is kept from spreading.”

“Speaking of, you should take a look at this.” Sheldon got their attention as he pointed at the screen, showing another recording of 2, a man and woman in suits talking.

“Espinosa has been a valuable asset so far to us, but what if he becomes a liability?” Worry was in the woman’s voice.

“Then we do as we have done before, get rid of him and replace him with a more useful puppet.” Her fellow agency member stated calmly.

“And how? Our top agent, Rico Rodriguez left us. He was our most reliable agent for this kind of mission.”

“That is not a problem. We can always rely on non-American help from the outside. That German PMC, the Harmonious Guard, we could trick it into doing our bidding, abusing their case to help others for our goals.” The man sounded rather confident, as his colleague thought for a moment.

“That…sounds very good, actually. I see what we can get up with.”

“So the agency hired secretly me to get rid of Espinosa…” James mumbled, his hand wandering to his chin as he processed it with an unimpressed expression. “I figured as much. Who else could have enough intel to know about it and to hire me?”

“B-but…that doesn’t make any sense.” Dinky mumbled, “If they support this project, why take it down?”

“Oh, it does, Dinky, as much as it pains me to admit. The CIA supported dictators when they fit their goals but turned on them once they threatened American interests. Saddam Hussein was a good example of this. His regime was seen as an indispensable ally in the Iran-Iraq war, only to turn on him as soon as he threatened US interests in the Middle East. And using rebels or mercs to do the dirty work is not uncommon for them. But since I now know who really hired me…” He chuckled briefly, “I can bend the game to my rules. In any case, get some rest now, we still have a long way ahead of us.”

Everyone nodded and went to the elevator, seeing night had arrived as it reached the top. They could briefly see a raging explosion far away in the distance, the defensive node they assumed.

One down, two to go.

Author's Note

Moira's background, got it kinda from this