Torchwood IV 'Missing' Branch
Last of the Decoded Torchwood IV Records. Recovered on the 8th of October 1941. - Philipa Grace, First Branch.
Torchwood Branch IV
These are the orders for immediate feild testing prototype duplicate Vortex Manipulators by the First Branch
We await for you reports on the devices to be delivered on the 16th of August 1938.
-Torchwood I
1938
Torchwood Branch IV
URGENT!!!
DO NOT TEST THE MANIPULATORS!
Treachery and alien infiltration has resulted wit tampering with the devices, they are to be considered unstable, highly dangerous and UNSAFE.
We request for the immediate return of the devices, there is no knowing what the devices are rewired to do.
-Torchwood I
1938
Torchwood Branch IV
Come in! I repeat, come in! Requesting immediate reply and report from Fourth Branch! Come in! Karlton, Amanda, Gerald, Imira, Dean, anyone!
-
ALL TORCHWOOD IV RECORDS BEYOND THIS POINT HAVE CEASED AND ARE TO BE DELETED OR DISPOSED TO CONTINUE THE SAFETY AND DISCRETION OF THE TORCHWOOD INSTITUTES ON BEHALF OF THE FIRST BRANCH. THE FOURTH BRANCH HQ LOCATION IS COMPLETELY DECIMATED, RESULTING IN A DEATH TOLL OF 48 and 67 WOUNDED. THE HQ ITSELF IS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND. THE FOURTH BRANCH IS NOW OFFICIALLY DETERMINED MIA.
END TORCHWOOD IV FILES.
1941
~-.-.-.-.-.-.-.*.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.~
Year: ???
Enter: Havoc
1st Person POV
Owwww ... first sense I felt; pain. Okay so I wasn't dead. That was more or less good. There was a dullish searing at my eyelids and a mother of all headaches at the front of my head. I felt like someone had stuffed me in a blender, pushed puree for only three seconds and left my rearranged, splattered organ-y mess on the sidewalk. I inhaled the scent of freshly grown spring grass as I realised my face was kissing the dirt in a very uncomfortable position.
"Mother fu-ff!"
I grunted between my teeth as my attempt to swear ended in a mouthful of said vegetation, which was oddly tasted more appealing than the last time I swallowed the common green weed. Not a delicacy by a long stretch but slightly sweeter, and more bearable flavor. And I spat it out again in disgust. Pah! The sudden realisation that what I was lying on might not actually be grass but some result of a Torchwood experiment made me cringe at disgust and thoroughly spit upon the vegetation. After all, grass wasn't meant to taste that good.
Ahh! ... My jaw muscles ached with the sudden action. I think this is one of the rougher places I've been knocked unconscious. Oh god I hope I'm not in enemy and/or alien soil this time passed out from alcoholic gases.
At least it's one of the better smelling unknown locations I've slept on.
Oh right! We were performing a field test for the prototype Vortex Manipulators! The squad were all doing feild tests, on the orders of the First Branch, which I transferred from around a year ago. Me and Fury had finished the teleport function testing and were recording our results behind the observation screen. The next pair were Dean and Amanda testing out teleportation and time transport when there was a great flash of bluish red light enveloping the entire vicinity and we tried to teleport out of the line of danger at the last second, I heard a chaos of screaming and sirens and a call for abort, and ... I had blacked out. What happened after that?
Yowch! I think I'm just bruised up, I don't think there are any broken bones. Oooh my head hurts like a Actepoleon split my skull and made a nest inside my brains.
Are those birds chirping? Maybe I should dispell my personal darkness in case the Chief sees me lazing around and makes me run five miles on the spot.
I cracked open my eyelids and saw the grass. Very, very bright green grass. Okay, that wasn't so bad, so something was somewhat familiar, it didn't seem to have been tampered with. At least not visually.
'Ow!'
The sudden brightness of the grass and light was too much for my retinas at the moment, which felt like lizardworms were eating at the skin. They must still be recovering from the flash of light before. Okay, while I wait for my eyesight to get up to scratch, I should perform a basic mental check according to protocol.
My name is Imira 'Havoc' Clarkson, and I work for Torchwood Four. My useless brother is Jon 'Fury' Clarkson, also with the Torchwood Fourth branch. Twenty four years of age, tactics specialist, sniper shot, scientist, among other Torchwood professions.
Okay, checks done. I don't give a shit if I didn't complete the entire mental check criteria.
No one really completes it anyway, it was just another thing for rookies to remember on the Torchwood recruitment test.
As I lay there, waiting for the dull throbbing to finish, I took in my situation via touch. The prototype vortex manipulator seemed physically undamaged, still strapped to my left arm, all motor functions were operational, excluding eyesight. There seemed to be no immediate danger, or approaching persons as the ground seemed relatively still. I wasn't bleeding to death at the moment. That was a nice change.
Maybe my eyes are better now.
Opening my lids again, it was definitely less painful this time. Pulling myself away from the surprisingly comfortable greenery that had sent pleasant perfumes to my nostrils, I instantly instead inhaled the pungent odor of charred flesh and vegetation.
Ash fluttered from my pale blonde, ashen hair as I sat up, wrinkling my nose. Ugh, that stink of a burning death, you never get used to it, even after frying aliens in Torchwood for four years.
I observed the scene before me. It seemed as though I was thrown several meters from the main wreckage of whatever explosive was let off burning everything. There was an unmistakable metallic tang of blood in the air and scorch marks were all around. Littered across the grass imperfecting the green carpet was shrapnel, puddles of blood, ash, and bones.
Lots of unidentifiable bones. The closest body had half it's flesh melted off and a skeleton that was twisted into near shapeless blobs. Disgusting. A small body of wood was close by. That's where the bird songs were coming from, so out of place in this scene of gorey faceless corpses. Whatever that had caused the explosion, it was must've been bad.
The hill I found myself upon, apart from the singed grass had a smattering of shrubs that were still burning, while others showed various stages of atomisation or disintegration. The wood seemed earthly enough. Nothing took me as alien about it, HQ was no where to be found, and the smoke was sure to raise the attention of any nearby civilians eventually. Especially with how perfect and serene the skies and surroundings seemed to be, anything like an explosion would stick out like an eyesore.
Then, I heard an unmistakable groan of my deplorable brother.
'Mother fu-'
'Fury! Report!' I yelled. I had high-mid ranking seniority, but it was still more authority than Fury did, so he'd have to answer to my orders.
'Present, reasonably unharmed and sore Havoc-sis ma'am'
'Don't call me that!' I snapped.'Don't move, I'll come to you!'
I got up and attempted to walk to the source of Fury's voice, Attempted being the key word, but my limbs seemed weird and awkward when I stood, and jerked spasmodically as if they were confused with my intentions and I fell flat on my face ... again kissing the dirt.
'What the hell?'
I looked down at myself to assess the problem with my limbs and saw ... hooves. Very ... dark blue ... hooves.
' ... THE FUCK WAS IN MY MORNING COFFEE?!'
A steady rhythm was heard across the land as birds within a fifty kilometer radius fled to the skies in a frightful flight.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
3rd Person POV.
'SHIIIIIIT'
After that loud outburst, a dark blue Earth Pony with a pale, ashen blonde mane and tail stared unbelievingly at her hooves. She was of average height, more athletically built and lean than the average mare. In a blackened and burnt, formerly crisp white shirt that was missing two buttons, square half rimmed glasses, and black slacks she sat in the devastated green hills and rubbed her bright cyan coloured eyes, which had smaller pupils and slightly narrower irises than normal ponies were associated with.
'Okay, you've seen weirder things, right now, concentrate on the job. Puzzle this out later and focus, accept first, ask questions later Havoc.'
Havoc got unsteadily on all fours and weaved her way past the steaming corpses and burning shrubbery to the source of her brother's moaning.
'Will you shut UP Fury? You're not hurt that badly and we need all the minds we can get to focus on this predicament'
'Ah, Imira-sis am I hallucinating or is there a horse who looks remarkably like you (not that there's a long stretch- Ow that plasma stings you know!) looking crossly at me with your compact plasma blaster attached to your prototype vortex manipula- ohhhh' Dawning on his eyes, the slightly lighter shade of blue stallion noticed his change of appearance. He was noticeably taller for a unicorn, with a browner shade of hair than his sister for his mane and tail. His eyes were a more purple shade and he own clothes were now more like rags than ever.
'So ... where's the war?' Fury asked in a weak attempt to joke.
'Honestly Fury, this is no time to joke. I haven't found any of our team other than you and I'd like to find out what exactly transpired here and why the hell we're equine' Honestly, her brother wasn't the professionally trained team mate she had hoped to work with, but because they were so different, and close as siblings, Karlton had thought it was a good idea at the time, Havoc and Fury. It just rolled off the tongue. How very much he regretted pairing the two. Their conflicting personalities and heated sibling rivalry jeapardised more missions than any other team in the Fourth Branch, yet their successful missions far outweighed the failures, that is to say zero.
'Have you found the Chief?' Fury got unsteadily onto his own hooves and started picking up useful debris.
'No, Karlton is nowhere to be found. I was hoping to track him using the signature tracking device we had to track down the rest of the branch. Luck seems to be on our side as it seems to have survived whatever conflict happened here and is perfectly intact.'
Havoc pointed to a slowly blinking device with a black screen that poked from a bush that Fury had just uncovered.
Fury slid the device out with his hoof, not being able to physically possible to actually grip anything after all, and Havoc picked it up with her teeth and set it on a nearby white stone, poking at the controls with a stick.
'Hang on, it's a bit buggy. A few whacks here and- There!'
Displayed on the screen, were two white dots in the center, surrounded by clumpings of orange coloured dots. Havoc drew in her breath as Fury, unfamiliar with said device, asked 'Well, where are they?'
The technology was clearly alien, but adapted to Torchwood use, a white symbol looking like a stylizes omega with a triangle in the middle had a small digital two, while the small, simple upside down triangle had the number twenty three displayed beside it.
'Fury, how many members are in the Fourth Branch'
The blue unicorn thought for a moment, only joining Torchwood seven months ago he still had basic information stamped into his brain from the grueling tour.
'Twenty five'
'There are twenty five persons accounted for on screen,'
'That's good right? It means they're all here!' He began looking around, as if expecting to see a small party of familliar faces turning around the corner any moment.
'Only two are accounted for as alive.'
'What?'
'Look at the screen.' She insisted 'The nearest traced body is less than five meters away in a thirty three degree bearing.'
Looking five meters and thirty three degrees from the north, as the excellently trained soldiers they are, they saw a bubbling, acidic mess of flesh, peeling away to reveal a vaguely equine like skull. A quick glance to the body and you could easily identify a signature green jacket, of a very dead Chief Karlton.
Fury and Havoc looked at each corpse with new realisation in their eyes, each of the twenty three bodies surrounding them, before seemingly pointless pony carnage, with a new light. There was no more Torchwood IV, they WERE Torchwood IV. And the metal scarring the land, was their blown up HQ.
'... We should be dead.' It was not a question, it was a fact. Havoc peeled away from a carcass she was examining for answers. Yes, their team was gone. Yes, everyone was dead. Yes they once knew each of these people. But dead bodies were just that. The Dead. They no longer had any significance to the trained Branch of Torchwood Four. They were dead weight. To be fed back to nature and forgotten before memories of them hold you back. At least that was the Torchwood belief, and she was Torchwood. Their mother had meant nothing to her since she was twenty. But Jon had much to learn.
The pathetic fool. Jon 'Fury' was preparing proper graves like a civilian.
She unceremoniously ripped the rest of the flesh from a leg of one of the unnamed carcasses and popped out the bones, studying them.
'They're gone Fury, they don't matter anymore. They'll only hold you back' She coldly scolded and brought the bone close to her eye for easier inspection.
'Don't do that! We need the whole body intact and put them to a good resting place!'
'Pitiful ideals Jon' Fury suddenly gave her his full attention. She hardly ever called him by his birth name anymore, when she did that he knew to listen, as she was treating him like a brother again.
'When they're dead, they're gone. Literally and metaphorically. They will eventually be erased from your mind and if you hold onto them they may cloud your better judgement. The only thing we must rememebr are facts and information. Forgetwho they were, remember what they have done.The most they could give us now is further insight into the situation before us and feed the earth. So man up and stop pointlessly wasting your energy with making graves and finish the hole instead!'
'They were people Imira, how could you forget them so quickly-'
'I forgot Jasmine' was the icy, clipped reply.
Jasmine, was their mother. To Havoc, she was the deceased forty three year old single mother who was killed in a ruthless alien search of a wanted criminal from their home planet. To her, she was a woman who had borne two children, now members of Torchwood IV. To Fury, she was still their mother. Torchwood seemed to strip away what really defined 'human' once you worked there too long. He joined to keep the only family he had from forgetting that she was human too.
'By studying these bones of five bodies, we can see that though the Tracer defines them as members of Torchwood IV, despite the obvious mutilation of bones, they are all recognizably equine. It wasn't just us that has changed Fury, it's everyone. The energy readings suggest that nothing is abnormal about the bodies, save for their states of decomposition and the fact they are dead. Meaning that this altered form registers as 'normal' in this universe, as this device is meant to adjust to any place in the known universes. Just like the homosapien shape is dominant throughout the galaxies and expressed in many sentient beings back home, this equine shape seems to be dominant in this ... world. For lack of better word. Therefore, I think it is safe to conclude, we have shifted into some place, some dimension, perhaps some universe where the dominant and base form of creatures is equine via the vortex manipulator, as they seem to be at the root of all this.' Havoc summarized,
'If ... we're all horses, how can we talk?'
'A better question would be why do you have a horn?'
'You're not horses silly, you're ponies!' A happy, bubbly, and very unexpected voice interrupted, having popped in sometime during Havoc's speech, breaking the serious, heavy atmosphere of death.
'Wow, you all seem really smart. What are you doing in such a revolting place like this?'
Havoc and Fury turned to a mint green unicorn with flourishing flowers decorating her lavender mane, obviously female and very ... nude.
'Ack! Ever heard of decency?' Fury exclaimed, turning slightly pink, though he didn't know why. He had seen plenty of horses naked before. In fact, when was a horse not naked on Earth? Aside from his sister right beside him as of now. He had even seen aliens naked for crying out loud,
Havoc brushed off her shock quickly and pointed her compact plasma blaster mounted manipulator at the mare, not sure if the device would work after an interdimensional hop. With the state all her companions were in though, she highly doubted it. But the power of a clever bluff was always handy if you pulled it off right.
'Who the hell are you?'
'Huh? Who the hay am I? I'm Fawna Flora, and you two are really strange. I came up here to make sure all the animals near the wood were unharmed by this huge flash of light. And the birds flew off in alarm some time ago, I came all the way out here to see what startled them.'
'Last I checked ponies weren't green' Fury muttered.
'Are you two related?'
'Yes'
'No'
The two, strikingly similar coloured ponies eyed each other disdainfully and as one, looked to the confused mare, who could have had large question marks popping out of her head by now.
'No'
'Oookay then.' She said uncertainly.
Fury and Havoc had exchanged a brief, only-siblings-can-manage conversation during the eye contact.
'Citizen'
'Yup'
'Clearly unarmed'
'How do you know?'
'She's naked!'
'Last time I checked, Jack managed to hide a laser in his-'
'Ugh! Don't bring up that jackass'
'... was that pun intended'
'Indeed'
'I never knew you still had it in you sis.'
'Shut up'
Havoc lowered her hoof which the mare wasn't sure what was meant to do but clearly knew when she was being threatened with a weapon.
'So, I gave you my name, wouldn't it be common courtesy to give me yours?' She asked, shy, in case the scary earth pony decided to bring up her glowy pen thing.
'Imira Havoc'
'Jon Fury'
The siblings easily concealing their similar last name. Everyone called them their codenames though, so when one team member yells Clarkson! There would two replies, so everyone called them Havoc and Fury.
The ponies in question had replied in a very stern, trained manner, reminding Fawna of the Selenial Guards,
'Excuse me, judging by your coats, are you per chance part of the Selenial Guards miss?'
'The who now?' Havoc asked, not wanting to get tangled up in the authorities. It was much better in Torchwood when the Fourth Branch WERE the higher authority. Except maybe for the First Branch and leading commanders of the other branches,
'The Selenial Guards are the personal, all female warrior attendants of the Lunar Princess Selena, sister of Solaris, Princess of the Sun. You're not from around here are you if you don't know them.'
'Clearly.'
'Now that I have answered your questions, I have but one more.' The gentle green mare seemed to shift into a different personality altogether.
'If you aren't with the Selenial Guard, then WHAT THE HAY ARE THERE DEAD PONIES DOING THERE?!' She screamed.
Havoc had forgotten to push the examined bodies into the hole that Fury had recently filled in, burying the rest of the deceased team.
'Uhhhh ... we were framed?'
Goddamnit. Sometimes Havoc swore she had the stupidest brother in the world as she mentally facepalmed (facehoofed? This world seemed to have it's own lingo as the mare before them used 'Hay' in a fashion that was it not used for in their world). It wasn't that he wasn't intelligent, he certainly was. It was just he didn't know when to use his brain. Or when to show he had the slightest signs of possessing a functional brain.
Torchwood IV 'Missing' Branch
Okay, so maybe that improvisation was not the best in the world, Fury decided. Havoc seemed to be refraining from adding him to the list of dead as she threw dagger glares at him.
'I'll ask again. What. Happened?'
The formerly friendly unicorn whom Fury was sure was minty green before suddenly seemed to be a dark, frosted foliage green and her purple mane looked like acid that could wilt the flowers decorating it. Her harsh eyes eyed them suspiciously and accusingly.
Fury was going to answer again ( with a much better and well though out explanation mind you) when Havoc shoved a hoof over his mouth and answered instead.
'An accident, we didn't cause it.' She said with an air of command, assertively taking control of the situation Fury and plundered them into.
'How do I know you didn't kill these poor ponies? You're not Strangers are you?'
'Of course we're strangers, we only just met' Havoc didn't notice the unicorn's terrified flinch when she said 'We're strangers,'
'Also because we knew them' Fury batted away his sister's hoof, deciding that coming off as an innocent civilian would be less suspect than two Torchwood officers stumbling on the scene. Innocent was something human, that he could pull off far better than his sister.
'That was our friend, Dean' He gestured to the mess of a pony that Imira was examining a few moments ago, genuine sadness in his voice
'We were trying to figure out what happened to them' Okay, technically this was true. Yes, they knew what killed their friends, but they didn't really know why they were suddenly equine.
'You're not Strangers? You really can't guess how they were killed?' Fawna dropped her defensive stance and looked sadly at them in understanding pity, which was far preferable to aggressiveness. Really, she knew she should have still grilled them more about the situation and kept up her suspicions, but her friends had always told her she was too nice. And with the recent deaths in her life, she shouldn't really trust anypony on the streets anymore, but death was a subject she was familiar with. She felt sorry for them, it would hurt to have just lost a friend to the Stranger and be accused of their death,
'There have been other deaths like this?' Havoc asked skeptically. She was seriously doubting that. Sure, it wasn't impossible that another renegade group of aliens had sabotaged some Time Agents and they all died getting interdimesionally hopped from one universe to another, but the odds were astronomically small that this particular scenario, could happen again in this particular universe, of all the universes available to hop in on. She sat back on her hind legs and folded her hooves. Which Fury found hilarious and suppressed a giggl- I mean chuckle while Havoc balanced unfamilliarly on equine hindquarters
'I'm sorry, not specifically like this, but they were probably killed by a Stranger, with how things are recently, it'd be no surprise if they changed their calling card. In fact, that's why I have flowers in my hair. I was visiting Precious' grave when I saw some disturbances'
'Calling card? What?' Jon noticed that the flowers in her mane were weaved into a ceremonial wreath, one that could be laid down and left to wilt on a tombstone.
'More importantly, who are the Strangers?' Havoc inquired 'With the way you say the name, I take it you don't mean someone you don't know hitchhiking on the side of some road.'
'What's hitchhiking?'
'Nevermind' Havoc muttered, realising with a lack of opposable thumbs, or any digits at all really, these equines were unlikely to understand the concept of hitchhiking, let alone automobiles and driving. 'Who are they?'
'How could you not know about it? It's been going on for weeks! Oh, unless you're REALLY not from around here, people don't visit here anymore because of the rumors' Fawna visibly slumped as she revisited the days of uneasiness as Ponyville suffered the first victims, the very idea of ruthless murder was very new back then.
'It started out as a rumor, a pony, who looked just like any other ordinary pony at a hospital had been checked in after passing out on the edges of Everfree and had a suffered from a lack of blood supply. That night, her nurse pony was found sucked dry of any blood, left a fleshy mess, and so was the mare next to her room! The pony who was under the nurse's care wasn't seen after that night. Vanished. Then a pegasus, a stranger, who nopony had seen before that morning checked into the hospital for the same problems, and the very same thing happened. Then the incidents spread from the hospital, rumors about strange ponies no one knew around Ponyville who might visit somepony, stay the night after a welcome party, and vanish without a trace, with at most three sucked dry the next morning. Since then, ponies never trusted strangers, in fear that it might be one of THOSE Strangers. He's probably the one behind your friend's death.'
Fawna looked at them with pity. "You shouldn't have come here.'
'How are you so sure we're not Strangers?' Jon asked the filly.
'Because the Stranger wouldn't ever feel sorry his victims' She nodded to the soft mounds of fresh earth that Havoc finished and unfortunately left five bodies out of.
'See? It's good to be human sometimes' Jon muttered to the stoic mare that was his sister,
'Shut up Fury'
'Do ... you want help burying them?' Fawna asked shyly. She nervously dug a forehoof into the ground
'I understand if this is a personal thing, but things would be a lot easier with magic'
'Come again?' Jon perked up
'You ... You don't know about magic?! But you're a unicorn!' she spluttered. 'What di you think that growth on your face was? A decoration? Didn't your teacher ever tell you about magic?'
'We ... come from a place. A faraway place. A very very faraway place where magic .... isn't accepted in society.' Havoc improvised
'Well, our horns are used for tuning magic, which is very accepted in Ponyville. You focus on channeling the energies of nature around you, think carefully about the spell to cast and-'
Fawna Flora's horn started giving off a greyish green light as she made the earth seemingly move itself in a form of telekinesis. Not unheard of, but rare. Not many species of alien were born with that power to this extent.
'That's amazing!' Jon, who had yet to witness aliens with telekinetic powers gaped at the dirt, which had opened up five six foot deep graves.
'It's inhuman' Havoc commented, gritting her teeth. 'It reminds me of an alien capability we dealt with in Torchwood I.'
'You could try ... if you don't want to i's fine, you don't have to use magic on your friends' She gestured sadly at the stripped corpses.
'Oh he won't mind' Havoc glared at Fury. 'Get over it' she conveyed through eyesight alone.
'It'll be good practice, and we need every tool we've got,'
Fawna shook her head in slight confusion at the way these two interacted with one another as she coached Jon through the stages of magic while Havoc observed.
Fury tried to sense the 'energies of nature' around them as Fawna had called it, but all her felt was slight breezes licking his face and feeling foolish as Havoc smugly commented that at one point he looked constipated
'Try understanding that everything around you has some degree of life. Everything has some level of magic, that we can interact with.'
'Even rocks?'
'Especially rocks. Once you accept they also have magic, it's easy to imagine a bird to be full of it, and another pony filled to the brim with magic!'
Okay, so a rock is magical apparently. It's slightly alive, filled with energy, but not enough energy to move on it's own, so it just sits there. To make it move, I need to supply some of my own energy. Movement requires energy from some source, I could supply some of the energy myself, or channel energies around it. Grass is alive, it's very alive. It grows at a reasonably fast speed. It uses a lot of energy to do this, by channeling some energy from the grass, conducting it with my horn, the rock should be able to receive enough energy to move to my will ... right? And besides, how different is an inanimate rock to an inanimate body?
At last, Fury's horn started to give off blue sparks that danced as they levitated the bodies into their graves, gently if not a little shakily, and slowly pushed the earth back into place as Havoc watched in awe.
'You actually did it.' She said softly. 'Luckily I didn't bet five shillings you were the only non-magical unicorn in the world, I was about to'
'... do you want some flowers to leave for your friends?' Fawna asked, offering an orange lily that she pulled from her wreath.
'I know it's not much, but do you want to leave this here?'
Havoc looked to the sun, it was well on it's way to sunset, the grass was already tinted orange and wild purple swirled across the sky, the faint outline of the moon was starting to show.
'No, we've used enough time'
Fawna looked in shock, as this seemingly indifferent pony looked away from the graves.
'Hey now, thank you, you're very kind' Fury gently levitated the flower from her, and set it on the ground in front of the graves.
'Don't worry about her, she appreciates it, just never shows emotions in in case they're 'distracting' anymore'
'Weren't you going to your own friend's grave?' Havoc asked, still not making eye contact with them.
'Oh y-yes, would you come with m-me?' Fawna stuttered. 'I was going to go alone, but because you're not Strangers, could you accompany me?'
'Sure, we'd love to' Fury replied
'Besides, we should look up on these 'Strangers'' Havoc sighed.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Picking out the remains of HQ on the way to the local graveyard, Havoc and Fury found the burnt remains of the storage vault from HQ.
'What is that?!' Fawna exclaimed when they came across it.
The singed cube vault of dwarf star alloy confiscated from the ship of Rakjors some two hundred years ago was otherwise unblemished, and the contents inside undoubtedly unharmed. Havoc expected no less from this near indestructible metal. The vault contained alien devices that were stored until Torchwood understood their properties better, at least that was the original reason. After identifying multiple bits of alien junk that was completely pointless, as aliens seemed as fond of frivolities and entertainment as the next human, it became a sort of basement for spare supplies and the such.
Havoc looked at Fawna as if she had asked a stupid question. 'This,' she said, 'contains what we need. Come on, help me with it Fury.'
'I could help too,' Fauna suggested
'Sorry, we don't accept outside help' The way Havoc said 'outside' implied to Fawna she was suggesting something else besides not being part of whatever group she and her now dead friends had been in.
Fury levitated the black, heavy cube, that was the size of a small bunker out of the crater it had created when it materialized into this dimension.
Predictably, the security coded lock to open the vault was fried and testing out her compact plasma blaster for the first time, Havoc blasted it off.
'Various weapons, a Plasma emitting globe, I'll need to recharge the blaster with this, psychic paper, no doubt left over from basic psychic training, alien tools, retcon pills, and so on.' Havoc backed out with a new lock in hoof, installed it quickly and sealed the vault once more. 'And classifieds' she finished, eyeing Fawna coldly.
'I set a perception filter from inside the vault, and it's heavy enough we won't need to worry about anyone running off with it.'
'You mean anypony' Fawna intetrupted
'Yeeeah ... that.' Havoc looked at Fury going 'is she serious?' look on her face.
'So let's get on to the graveyard. The sooner you pay your respects, the sooner we can talk more about the Strangers.'
'You ... might want to leave your clothes in that ... vault' Fawna suggested, blushing slightly at the way she was trying desperately not to sound suggestive
'Excuse me?'
'Well, ponies normally don't wear clothes, and when they do, they're often not rags. No offense, but you would attract a lot of attention the way you are now.'
'You heard the mare! This psycho about to go local!' And with that, Fury ducked into the vault, coming out later with only an improvised, not too tacky saddlebag he had made from the remains of his jacket.
Havoc soon followed his lead, muttering about local customs being completely alien as she came out with her own saddlebag, which they had both filled with mysterious devices from the vault that still puzzled Fawna.
'I hate aliens and their silly customs.' grumbled Havoc
'What does your cutie mark mean?'
'... What?' Havoc deadpanned, as Fawna stared at her rump.
'It's none of my business really, but why could you have a red circle with a cross in the middle as you're special talent?'
Havoc shifted her saddlebag to get a better view. A target, a common targeting symbol for sharpshooting decorated her rump.
'As I understand it, this mark represents one of my more distinctive 'talents'?'
Fawna nodded.
'Then It means I aim well' She responded simply, not elaborating on what she aimed with, and exactly what she sniped off in her dealings with Torchwood.
'Okay then, why does Jon have a blooming flower on his? It's kind of pretty.'
examining the yellow and orange flower surrounded by smoke, Havoc turned to Fury, who understood completely.
The marks represented their specialties in the Torchwood IV squad. Havoc handled the sharpshooting, Fury handled the explosives.
'Yeah, he made flowers bloom alright, sometimes they were wonderful, and other times deadly' Havoc muttered the last part so that Fawna wouldn't hear.
'Let''s just get to the graveyard' Fury replied, suddenly not his usual joking self. Together on their missions they really did create havoc and fury in the fray.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Opening the creaking gate, the local pony graveyard was dotted with weeping willows, memorial pedestals, a mural, and a few simple graves. The gravedigger's house was located just outside the cemetery. Ivy crawled it's way up the fences and birds flew silently to their nests as the sun began to set. The sound of several hoofsteps alerted the young colt playing with his father's tools of visitors. He knew his father had sent him out to play while he chatted with a pony interested in his business. He wasn't very happy that some snooty pegasus from Canterlot was suddenly interested in buying his business, but the colt knew his father had sent him out before he could hear any bad words. Not that he didn't already pick them up from school, and the bad habit of eavesdropping, and the habit of stealing. In fact, the real reason he had obeyed his father instead of rebelling as most colts do at his age was because he had recognised the visiting pegasus stallion. He was playing with this new stick that he had nicked from the uptight stallion and quickly scarpered before the hoofs started flying. He was pretty sure the pony hadn't seen him; He didn't see what was so special about the stick, yet the stallion had been awfully fond when cradling it while flirting with his teacher on their field trip to Canterlot.
'Dad! There's visitors!' He called, reluctant to show his face in case the Canterlot pegasus recognised him.
'Ahh you have a son? You never mentioned that!' a domesticated voice came from the door'
'Look, I'm not interested in selling, and I don't know anything about your tube. I was never even in Canterlot today! I don't need to sell to you because business is booming with the Strangers and all, so I think it'd be best if you leave!'
'Might I have a word with your boy while you chat up a storm with your visitors who are now at the door?'
The young colt jumped as he turned around and stepped aside as a trio of ponies walked up to the door and knocked.
Cursing under his breath, the colt's father turned away from the rude pegasus and went to talk with Fawna and Havoc, asking about the victims of the Strangers he must have buried while his son reluctantly trotted up to the snotty pegasus, who called him over.
Fury meanwhile, was bored with investigations. Action was more his thing, so he took the liberty of drifting away and looking around the place. In the very next room, the colt he had seen by the door was shaking his head violently to a white pegasus, who seemed to be pressuring him.
'I didn't take it! I swear!'
'Don't lie to me foal, I followed the trail here and it lead me to this house. I felt the geezer was telling the truth, and I was about to give up when I find you, that brat with Miss Joyavor this afternoon at Canterlot. Now I know it was you, now GIVE ME IT!'
'Oi, lay off the kid. What he doesn't wanna do, you can't make him do. He's not your kid last I checked.' Fury announced by the door
The duo turned to him,
'He's not your kid either last I checked, now bugger off, I'm hungry, I can't eat and no mood to chat.' the pegasus sneered before backing off, muttering something about tea. heading to the next room, probably to bother Havoc, Fawna, and Tombstone.
'You okay kid?' Jon asked
'Why did you help!' the colt rudely snapped.
'That's rude, considering I saved your bacon kid'
'Well I didn't need your help, and my name's not Kid!'
'Okay then, what do I call you?'
'Dampe Nick'
'How about I just call you Nickers?'
'NO!;'
'Alright then Nick, I know why they call you that now, mind giving me back my special pen?' Jon smirked.and held out his hoof, as the colt turned slightly red and emptied out his saddlebag, revealing several lollies, a red pen, and a white tube..
'You can call me Fury. And what's this?' He asked, holding up the ivory white tube with faint markings along it
'Nicked it from the snooty pegasus, he wanted it back,' Dampe replied in false shame. He was good at faking that.
'He was a pegasus?' Fury said aloud in wonder.
Dampe rolled his eyes as one would around an ignorant foal, 'well duh'
'Well, Nick, I think he's still around, so why don't you make things alright with him and return his tube?'
'He was rude! He said that he was going to get his straw, whether I was willing to give it up or not, and if I didn't give it to him he was going to do something bad to me and my dad! I don't know about you, but I'm not returning it after that!' He shouted, rebellious to grown ups.
'Oh come on Nick, he's a rich guy right? The worst he could probably do is run you out of business. And with this Stranger thing going on it doesn't seem to be a problem you're going to encounter' Jon laughed. This pegasus dude sounded like a rich, pompous politician they had confiscated alien technology off once. He had threatened to tell all their secrets (like he knew even 2% of them HA!) to their government who would surely expose them and return his rightful property ... yeah that didn't go anywhere. 'BUT,' he continued 'even if I'd like you to show him who's the man- er, pony, you should do what's right and give it back to him'
'Sure mister Fury, I don't see what's so special about it anyways, it's just a piece of junk' Nick muttered, bit sorry that he had lost two of his prizes.
'Just Fury. But Nick, you should know that some things that mean nothing to somebody, might mean a great deal to someone else. Like you really don't like giving back your 'prizes' right?' Fury winked at the expression of shock Nick gave him, that he knew exactly why he didn't want to return the seemingly meaningless objects.
'Even though those lollies might mean nothing to anybody, you want to keep it to yourself, because it's the fruits of your labor, it was won, and you don't want to give up the prize, now what if Mr Pompous Pegasus over there really didn't want to give up that tube?'
Fury looked into Nick's eyes as the small colt realised he probably should have though of that sooner, lost for words. He thought this guy was an arrogant asshole a few moments earlier.
'You mean anypony?' Nick said, breaking the silence
'Did you get anything I said to you kid?'
'Yes, I got it, and my name's not Kid!' Nick yelled angrily, as he snatched up the white tube and rushed out of the house, looking for the stupid rich pegasus it belonged to.
________________________________________________________________________________________
'Did the vic'ims show any distinckive patterns in deir deahs?' Havoc inquired the gravedigger Tombstone, pen in mouth.
'Well, normally coffins and burial preparations aren't me, but with the Strangers coming in, we were a bit short on staff and I was called in, so I've seen my share of victims' Tombstone grumbled, already having relayed his story to the investigators Selenial Guard about three days ago. Fawna meanwhile, had gone off with a white pegasus who had come barging in, to calm him down and talk while they visited her friend's grave.
'They were usually sucked bone dry, looked about a thousand years older than they should have, and if they weren't they were a bloody mess.' Tombstone replied.
'Any shmaller dedails?'
'Well, the corpses always showed signs of puncture wound, usually on, if not near the neck and major arteries. They weren't bite marks though, contrary to the popular fanciful tale that Strangers are vamponies. Just a small circle that pierces the skin.'
'Has anythink like dis happen'd before?'
'No, nothing like this, before this, gravedigging business was in a poor state indeed'
'Heard any shtories relading to th' Strangers?'
'Oh plenty. Most are warped through gossip though, you can't trust anything these days' The old man's eyes averted uneasily at this, Havoc noticed, having been familiar with investigations and questioning before. She spat out her pen, and looked directly in Tombstone's eye, glaring. After all, it was difficult to sound imposing with a marker sticking between your teeth while you talked.
'Stop dodging the question Tombstone, answer me' said Havoc in a dangerous tone.
'Well, there are tales that the Strangers aren't really a group of ponies, but really one pony. One that can change form from a pegasus, Earth pony, and a unicorn at will.' He said hesitantly, then continued.
'But that's ridiculous. The only creatures known to Equestria with the power to change their shape are Changelings, and they certainly don't feed off blood. Why would they desire to kill ponies?'
'Do you shee any pa'ern in the locations and vic'ims of these attacksh?'
'From what I heard the victims are from, the attacks seem to be climbing up the political chain, and starting to occur in Canterlot. There's an attack every second day.'
Havoc was having trouble keeping up with the details, writing with one's mouth was a useful skill she had perfected in an alien prison cell back in her days in the First branch. Unfortunately, this skill was unused for the past three and a half years and was a little rusty. It didn't help that she couldn't see half of what she wrote down as her vision was impaired with a giant freaking horse snozz!
'Anyting elsh?'
'I don't think so, nothing, no'
'Thank you' Havoc gratefully spat out the pen again as she put her new information files away in her saddlebag.
'By the way, you seem awfully calm about this, how do you know I wasn't a Stranger? You know, before I showed you my credentials'
Tombstone gave a booming laugh 'Now why would a Stranger be interested in an old goat like me? I told you, the victims seem to be more abmong the higher ups! I'm just a nopony gravedigger!'
Tombstone wiped a nonexisting tear from his eye, and his face turned serious again
'If you don't mind we asking, what is a personal champion warrior of the great Selena doing investigating such petty crimes as this?' Tombstone asked
Havoc cringed a bit. Okay, maybe she should have been more specific on what the psychic paper showed him. She didn't really know the positions in this world, so she had just projected 'Anything with high authority' to the slip of paper and let the poor bloke's imagination run wild. She didn't expect poor Tombstone to go slackjawed and trip over his coffee table getting into a hasty bow.
'I chose this mission out of the interest of the safety of the great Queen's citizens'
'You mean princess'
'Selena isn't the highest authority?'
'Oh no, she most definitely is, well her and her younger sisters Princess' Celestia and Luna,'
'... And there isn't a queen?'
'No, should there be?'
'Never mind, thank you for your time good sir'
'You're most welcome gracious champion of the stars'
Havoc would have rolled her eyes right now if she wasn't knocked back by a foal barging out of the inner rooms who threw open the doors galloping out.
'Dampe Nick! Get back here and apologize! Do you KNOW who this IS?' Tombstone shouted angrily.
'Oh no need to make a fuss Tombstone, there was no damage done,' Havoc waved off, spotting Fury in the doorframe which the kid had come bursting through seconds ago.
'Ah, I assume this is your squire?'
'Ye- wait, squire?!' Fury looked offended at her sister, giving off a message of 'really sis?' which she mouthed back' psychic paper'
Fury nodded and looked at Tombstone 'That;s me! ... squire Fury. Yup! Absotively! Affirmalutely!' His false enthusiasm was going to give Havoc a migraine, she decided.
Just then, the door which had been so recently abused opened again, this time, Fawna was in the doorway, her mane now absent of flowers.
'Fawna? I though you were stationed with the ... pegasus' Havoc had to bite her lip before saying that word. It was one thing for alien psychic fields, but another thing entirely to even consider those meager wings lifting anything short of a pigeon from the ground. Yet alone the stallion whom they belonged to.
'Oh, he said he wanted a private chat with that colt, I think his name was Dampe? So I gave them some privacy'
'Oh, I see.' Fury didn't look happy about that. He would've liked it if Fawna was still with the pompous pony. That way he couldn't be too rude. But he seriously doubted he would hurt the poor colt. After all, he was giving him back that tube, and that should resolve all conflict between the pair.
'Do any of you nobleponies want tea?' offered Tombstone
'I think that would be a great idea' said Havoc, wanting to get the civilians out before she shared her information with her brother, which she wouldn't have to do if he had just stayed in the room in the first place.
'Since when were we nobleponies?' Havoc ignored Fawna's question, but glared at her to take the hint and go help Tombstone.
When Fawna made it obvious she didn't catch Havoc's hinting glare, she sighed in defeat and just moved closer to her brother and muttered somewhat quietly.
'Fury, the Strangers are definitely not from around here. Nothing like them has ever been heard of before, according to Tombstone anyway. He apparently took 'Equestrian History' in university, but dropped out to join the family business. So we know this place is named' Havoc paused, obviously disliking the name of this place greatly 'Equestria.' Fury snorted. Loudly.
They both looked up but Fawna seemed thoroughly engrossed in a book she was magically flipping through.
Havoc continued, 'The Strangers are either a group of disappearance act assassin ponies, or, according to rumor, a shapeshifter. That could be a problem. But it's not certain, just a debatable option. Their motives are unclear, but they seem interested in moving up the political chains in their victims. Most victims end up like mummies, the rest look something like our comrades'
'Well, if it is a group of ponies, where do they disappear to? The Strangers that meet the victims aren't proven to be the killers, because they disappear that very night. They aren't proven to be killers' Jon added
'Yes, this is true, but you must admit, this doesn't look good for them. And the Strangers are always someone that has never set foot in' Havoc grimaced, really, why was everything named after a horse pun in this world was beyond her. 'Ponyvile before, no one every knows them, yet they disappear without a trace, and the ones they come in contact with end up dead.'
'Well, if they're interested in politics, who's the highest authority figure here? Maybe they're the target'
'Somebody named Princess Selena. Just below her are princesses Celestia and Luna, their parents seem fond of extraterrestrial names. I wonder if they were called Astrolliam and Solaris?' Havoc asked sarcastically.
'They were.' Fawna interrupted their intense conversation.
Havoc and Fury instantly stopped muttering and looked at her in silence.
'Oh don't let me stop you. Continue to think I can't hear every word you're saying. By the way, it's SOMEPONY' she said.
'I thought we were friends, FRIENDS would include other friends in their conversations, not try block each other out!'
'Oh I KNEW I should have thrown you out too!' Havoc shouted, finally snapping after putting up with her brother, stupid horse puns, and stupid emotions she had kept suppressed when working for Torchwood for more years than she would have liked to have them suppressed.
'You ponies and you stupid pony lingo. It's everyPONY, it's somePONY, it's anyPONY, it's Imira Havtrot right? Well I'm sick of it. What are you going to do when you talk to, I don't know with this world anymore, say, talking dragons? Are you still going to say everyPONY? Or are you going to say everyDRAGON? Everyone has a bloody body so why can't it stay everyBODY?! AnyBODY? SomeBODY? I should have shot you full of plasma when we met, butt now because we dealt with that lock at the vaults my plasma blaster is dead. just BUCKING PERFECT!' Havoc bucked the wall in anger, two perfectly sized hoof holes appeared there.
'Sis, you don't have to explode on her like that, it was a bit rude you know-'
'Oh don't get me started on YOU. HOW did we end up here in HOOVES? They could have at least developed mechanical hand attachments for their hooves and make me not have to taste everything I wouldn't have tasted otherwise myself! Your stupid morals that always seem to work in your favor, despite them being considered worthless and unhelpful back home! Then this bitch here wants to involve herself and get killed!'
'Well YOU'VE been treating me like scum all day! You act like ponies are something that needs to be shoved off your plate!'
Fawna retaliated
'That's because you're not bucking humans! We serve mankind, not you chumps!' Imira yelled right back
'I'm only doing this because there's obviously extraterrestrials at work here, aliens are Torchwood's top priority, I am NOT doing this for YOU because we're FRIENDS or anything! I don't CARE that you're friend died, I'm interested in what KILLED her!'
'IMIRA!' Jon shouted. He grabbed her and yanked her head to face him. 'You're stressed, I get that! I'm stressed too! We're in a way different dimension, nothing is the same, even WE'RE not the same. THIS is why I kept casual and kept my morals, this is why I kept my petty emotions. You're exploding, remember how psychologists say you''ll explode if you bottle up your emotions? You HAVE to keep these things, they keep us HUMAN, that's something Torchwood IV never understood!'
'Is this a bad time?' Tombstone had reentered the living room, looking concerned at his damaged wall, and at the furious mares bellowing at each other.
'No,' Havoc quickly recovered her composure and eyed Fawna sourly. 'We're done. The tea please, I'm sure that will calm me down'
Havoc poured out the tea, holding the kettle in her mouth. The mare headed back to her saddlebags, bringing out 'a special blend' as she called it. In truth, it was a tasteless alien tea blend she had brought out for cooling nerves. It was tasteless so it wouldn't ruin the taste of the tea itself. Clicking a red pen in hoof, she slit open the packet and poured the mixture into four cups.
'Why in Equis did you bring out that pen for?' queried Fawna
Havoc stared uncharacteristically confused at her hoof
'I'm not entirely sure actually'.
she tapped the pen at mug and returned it to her saddlebag.
There was a pregnant silence as the two quarreling mares now sat at opposite ends of the table, sipping the scalding hot tea casually in the tense atmosphere as the stallions looked on nervously.
'So, you kept complaining about our 'pony lingo', like you're not really a pony yourself. Why is that?' Fawna asked civilly.
Havoc was about to reply with a competent lie when-
THUMP!
ARRRRGH!
Then there was a yell and a scream from outside.
Jon and Tombstone looked at each other in panic.
'That sounded like-'
'NICKERS!' Finished Fury.
This time, Havoc actually facehoofed as Tombstone blinked a few times. 'His name is Dampe, and he sounds like he's in trouble, I have to help him!'
'Tombstone wait!' Fury shouted, but Tombstone had run at full gallop out the door.
'Fawna! You stay-' Fury was cut off as he saw Fawna slumped over the coffee table slightly snoring.
'You're KIDDING ME!' He exclaimed.
'Retcon' Havoc announced, holding up her red pen, which was actually a disguised dispenser of retcon pills.
'You didn't really think I'd bring out a pen for no reason right?'
'Well, it's something I might've done' Fury admitted
'Exactly, now lets save .... you called him Knickers?'
'No' Fury quickly denied, as Havoc shook her head at her childish brother.
'Let' go, we've got an alien pony to save'
The pair galloped out the door.
Imira magnetized the vortex manipulator still on her foreleg, reached into her saddlebag with her mouth and slapped on a good old fashioned pistol that was rigged up to a pressure plate on her opposite forehoof. All she had to do was tap twice and the mechanism would send a signal to the pistol causing it to fire. She handed another pistol to Havoc who easily levitated it now.
'You had pistols in there?'
'What did you put in your bag? Food?'
'Maybe ...'
'Typical'
'So that's why?' Fury asked
'Huh?' Havoc replied, confused that they were having a conversation headed towards a potentially hazardous threat
'That's why you didn't like every pony we met? Because you think they're aliens?'
'Well they're not human are they?' She retorted
'If it's alien, it's ours'
'You know to them WE'RE the aliens.'
'Torchwood is for the people. The people are humans. We may be the aliens to THEM, but they're not who we swore to protect.'
'Then why are we fighting off their aliens?'
'Because that's what we do, Defenders of the Earth.'
'This isn't Earth, why are we REALLY protecting them?'
'...'
