private B.E.T.A. (Bringing Equality To All)

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Clockwork stepped in behind Media, and breathed in deep. "Ah, the smell of knowledge.. I haven't been inside an old bookstore in many years. This is quite a find, Media. I can't believe it's been left derelict like this." He glanced around at the selection in his immediate surroundings.

 

Nova stumbled in, missing the top step. It was a rather decrepit building, the footing wasn't as it would have been years ago. She smiled when she caught sight of the array of books within. "Magnificent.." The only word she could say for the sight she held before her. She loved books, and this place was full of them.

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Media couldn't help but grin like an idiot. Seeing them gaze upon the old books in approval made him forget the screw up he could have caused earlier. "Yeah, it was quite the find. Like I said, this is the less popular section of Manehatten, why, I have no idea. All I know talking from the, well...homeless ponies around here, is that this part used to have a high crime rate back in the day. Now it's just closed off to the rest of the city...." Media looked around the room for a few more seconds. "Well, make yourselves comfortable, I guess we're gonna be here for a while. There's two bedrooms upstairs, I'll sleep on the futon in the den."

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Clockwork smiled, feeling they'd found an adequate safe house. This would be the perfect place to orchestrate their plans to sabotage B.E.T.A.'s plans. He unloaded his saddlebag, leaving his battery pack on his back, and stretched out a little. It had been a long walk up the tunnel, and the bag was getting heavy with everything he had in it. This place was safe enough, he thought, to let his guard down a slight amount. Who would come looking for them in a place like this? Where technology was nearly non existent.

Nova had already dropped her bags and was nose first into a Daring Doo book. Clockwork pulled out a roll of paper from a corner in the library, and located his ink and quill. "Right then.. We need to make some plans. First.. We need to map out our surroundings, and have routes planned out in case of emergency. Then.. We begin to plot the downfall of.. B.E.T.A." He said the last word in a venomous tone, filled with bitterness, and loathing for the organization.

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"Um...yes, downfall....plotting..." He knew they couldn't just not do something about B.E.T.A., but he just hoped he didn't have any parts involving any physical conflict. He had never hit anypony in his life, he never had anything to do with a fight, and he'd kept it that way his entire life. He had been told not everypony was out to befriend him, and be he knew that, he just didn't want to be enemies with them. Media took in a big sigh, then let it out. "Well, ok then, what do you suppose we do?" Media waited for Clockworks orders.

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Clockwork was already on his way to having a fully detailed map of the tunnel from memory, and the route from the house. He glanced up to Media Snap with a ponderous look. "You mentioned there was an access tunnel in the basement of this building, leading to the subway tunnels?" He asked, and continued sketching out the map.

Nova was lost in her book now, not even paying attention. She knew it would take some time before Clockwork would have his map made, and would likely shoot orders to her when he needed to.

 

The map slowly expanded, including the blocks between the station, Media's apartment, and the place where the diner and the protests had taken place. A question loomed in Clockwork's mind. Who was BETA? Who was their leader? Once he knew this, the rest would be simple.. at least in theory.

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Media turned around to Clockwork. He had found himself looking around for a good book to read after he saw Nova face first in a decent Daring Do story herself. "Huh? Oh, yeah, it's more of a secret hole in the wall, but it's big enough to fit a whole pony." He continued his quest on finding a book. There was a certain series he had found himself addicted to, and he was trying to remember where it was located.

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Clockwork got up from his map, leaving his quill in the ink pot. "Show us, we should both know where it's located. In case we have to escape from here, it would be wise to know the way out.. Nova.. We'll have time for that later, come along now."

 

Nova finished the paragraph she was on, folding the page corner to keep where she left off, and stood up. "Yeah yeah.. Alright. Let's see it then." She trotted over to Media and Clockwork. "The plan for now is.. We must figure out who the leader of BETA is. If we can do that, then I have ways of.. Making a change." He grinned with a sinister tone, which Nova noticed. She looked uneasy, knowing full well what he meant by this.

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"Um....ok then, it should be down here." Media Snap gulped. With the way Clockwork worded it, & the look on Novas face, he felt this wasn't going to end pretty. He trotted over into a short hallway leading to a door. Media opened it, and went down the stairs that led to the basement. It was lit up with a few lightbulbs, similar to the ones in the tunnel, but fully operational. It was filled with random boxes of other crap. Off to the side was a decently sized hole that seemed to go on a ways. On the other side shone a few other lights, which came from, of course, the subway tunnels. Media had picked up a little bit his first visit, but he had never really picked up a habit of nitpicking. He could go maybe a day or two without cleaning up a bit, and even then it didn't buy him that much, as long as it didn't pile up on him.

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Clockwork stuck his head through the hole, peering down the tunnel, then turned around. "Good, good. This is perfect. We should find a way to cover this hole behind us though, when we go through. This will cover our tracks long enough to escape if we need to get out quickly. The longer the head start, the better. We can't afford to leave anything to chance. This is our future, we need to take every precaution in order to secure it." He glanced over to Nova. "Perhaps you could come up with something, Nova? I believe this is within your abilities."

Nova blinked, not expecting to have a task dropped on her head yet. She nodded and looked around for something to use. "Oh.. uh, yeah. I'll see what I can do, I guess." "Good, thank you. I'll leave you to this, while I finish the map, and come up with a plan of action."

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Media shuffled around, not sure what to do at this point to help out. "Um, well...it was nice to be of service. Just let me know if you need any additional info." He started to go back upstairs, thinking about his current situation. Sure, he had a nice place to stay with a good exit & plenty of reading material, but he felt extremely bored without his laptop, or his camera. He's always had them around, and now they're underground in somepony's workshop. He sighed, and then went back to looking for his series.

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Clockwork followed Media upstairs and returned to his map, sketching away, while Nova began working on a way to make the hole in the wall more hidden. Clockwork glanced up from his map, peering over at Media as he searched through the books. "What talents do you possess, Media? Perhaps there is something you will be most suited to in this whole endeavor. There may come a point when we need to work with some computer technology. You have sufficient knowledge of that, yes?" He returned to scribbling lines and notes, waiting for media to respond.

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Media's head snapped to Clockworks general direction upon hearing his profession being brought up. "Uh, yeah, I know almost everything of what's to know about computers. I usually just use it for my editing program among other things, but I do know a lot if that's helpful info. As far as other talents go, I've always been a keen observer. Growing up, I've heard & seen things, and I thought it was just my imagination. Getting older, though, I realized I wasn't making stuff up in my head, I just happened to notice things that weren't normally easy to notice." He made another note to remember to use this on anymore train rides that were to come. "So there's that...."

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Clockwork smiled at his enthusiasm for computers. "Good, then perhaps our next move should be to get hold of a computer. Perhaps we should have hung onto yours.. An oversight." He frowned at the thought. "We may yet need to go back though.. BETA may be headed out of Canterlot, and if we intend to take them down.. We must take the king out from under his pawns." Clockwork shot a knowing grin to Media. "We must act like cancer, and work from the inside.. But we need to be linked, it will be risky. I won't be able to be the one who does the infiltration though, not with these.." He said, fanning a brass wing out, then folding it back to his side. "We need to figure out who runs BETA, that is our number one goal for now. Until we know, we have no target."

 

Nova cursed from the basement, having dropped something, the sound of something clattering to the floor rattled up from the stairway. Shortly after, she emerged from the basement. "It's done.. We should be able to make a good escape now without being followed. I doubt anypony will ever think to check the wall there, and even if they do, they'll be hard pressed to find the switch that opens it." She had used her magic to finely mask the hole with a piece that had fallen out, and made a latch and hinges. Her work was, as always, ingenious.

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Media listened intently to Clockworks plan. "Hmm....ok, well how do you suppose we figure out who leads BETA? I mean, even if we did get a hold of my laptop, there's only so much info on the internet, considering I'm one of only a few ponies who even have access to it...."

 

His thought process was interrupted by Nova, emerging from the basement. "Oh, um, that's good to hear. Where's the lever located?"

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Clockwork was about to respond until Nova emerged, and broke his train of thought. She sighed and trotted over to them. "It's hard to see.. but it's just a little button in the wall which will release it. Pretty easy to miss.. which is precisely what we want."

 

Clockwork smiled at her "Very good Nova, thank you. We can all sleep easier now with an escape route like that." He took a moment to collect his thoughts. "Ah, yes.. The internet? Oh, no, no. We won't be needing it for that. What we will be needing it for on the other hoof, is for programming these.." He reached into his bag, revealing a couple of small chip devices. Each had needle like protrusions on one side, capped with a rubber plug to prevent accidental injury. He uncovered one, and held it out to Media to see. "Jam this into somepony's head, and they'll do exactly what you want them to. As for figuring out who's behind BETA.. Well, that we will have to do the old fashioned way." He grinned.

Nova had an uneasy look on her face as the chips were brought out. She reached behind her ear, scratching at it lightly. "Are.. you sure this is a good idea? I mean.. how are we going to get one on the head of BETA? We'll be caught for sure.." She had a look of slight fear in her eye. "Nonsense.. We'll be fine. We just have to get somepony close to them.. And it can't be me, not with these wings.."

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"Wait...so you're saying we're gonna use.....mind control?" Media was awestruck. Never had he thought of such a device could do.....that. Media stammered a bit. "I-I agree with Nova, I mean, how would we even get the chance? Do you just....stick it on there, or is it more complicated, or....what?" Media was full of questions on how exactly they were to pull this off, and with Clockworks wings preventing him from sneaking around, he had a good idea who would end up doing all the secretive work....

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Clockwork sighed. "Your lack of confidence speaks for it's self. If that is your attitude, then we will be caught.. Nova here would be the one planting the device, as she knows how they work. We would need to figure out who it is first, then get friendly with them. The closer the better.. Then when their back is turned, all we have to do is slap the thing on them, and they'll forget everything that happened in the last day. Once we have it planted, we can control them and make turn their plans upside down. Once we create enough chaos, we can start an uprising and overthrow the bastards." He glanced down to the map he'd made, then back to Media. "Are you in? Or no?"

 

Nova shuffled uncomfortably at the notion of her being put into the hot seat once again. She didn't say anything further against Clockwork's plan, she knew if it worked, they'd be free to return to normal once again, and she wanted that, badly. "Alright.. I-I will do it.. Just.. I hope we can make this work without a hitch. There's so much at stake here.. I shouldn't carry the devices until we're sure we'll have the chance. Once I'm close enough to the leader for them to trust me, we should be able to pull this off."

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Media mentally panicked, but didn't show it. If his profession weren't threatened, would have just tried to back out, especially if it was anything like that royal wedding. However, something snapped in him that gave him some kind of motivation. He knew tons of ponies were going to be labeled jobless, maybe even homeless, and who knew what B.E.T.A could do after they took over the freedom of tech users. It was time to put his hoof down. Media looked straight at Clockwork, slightly more confident in the situation. "I'm in, I suppose."

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A serpentine smile slowly crept across Clockwork's face. "Good.. good. I'm glad you chose to stay with me in this battle. After all.. What we do to them will be far less than they will do to us, should we fail. The more hooves I have, the better the chances we all have at regaining control over our beloved jobs." He replaced the chips back into his bag. "Now.. does anypony have any ideas on where we might start to look? I'm guessing BETA must be based in Canterlot, seeing as how it spread so quickly. They must be well organized."

Nova nodded in agreement, but said nothing. If she knew, Clockwork would too.

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Media scratched his head. "Well, he did mention working for the government…..so it has something to do in Canterlot, definitely. I doubt Celestia would approve of such a thing though……do you think this Crimson guy is trying to start some kind of revolution? I may be jumping to conclusions or nonsense, probably nonsense, but if he's part of any royal business, and they're spreading their campaign publicly, I seriously doubt he still has whatever position he works in." 

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Clockwork raised a brow. "Crimson? I must have blanked.. Where have I heard the name?" "Forgive me, you'll have to jog my memory.. But who is this Crimson? If you're right though, we should even be able to go to the royal palace and go above them. They may be unaware of this situation.. Although.. I won't be able to enter there.. I'm not very.. how shall I say.. Welcome, at the royal palace." He looked ponderous, as though looking back through time to some distant memory.

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"Crimson? Crimson Cloud I think it was, he said his name when he was up on the podium." Media reminded Clockwork. "Now that I think about it, he could be a major factor in this. Considering he was the one giving the motivational speech, I think we could possibly start with him if we were to choose somepony now. 

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Clockwork nodded, seeing this as the most logical point. "Yes.. yes you are right. He seems to be the most likely.. yet still, we must proceed with caution. He may be a front for somepony else. We can't take any chances and ruin our plan by acting too hastily. We must be absolutely sure of our target before we plant the chip. If we mess this up, we could not only be stripped of all titles and place in society, but we would serve to fuel their backwards campaign into the dark ages. That would be most unworthy of our efforts."

 

Nova nodded again. "You know me.. I have my way with the Stallions." She gave a suggestive smile, and winked. "There won't be any problems getting into their inner sanctum, I'm sure. I just have to find a way to befriend the right ones, and get into their personal lives. From there, it should be an easy affair."

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Media really felt the consequences sink in the way Clockwork worded it. "Right...."

 

The blush showed right through Media's coat when Nova gave a suggestive look. "Heheh...um, I suppose our next stop in the near future would be Manehatten for the laptop, then Canterlot?"