Blindsided

Lazuli and Cirrus ended up spending more time at the party than either of them expected. It was nearly dark out when Cirrus finally mentioned her desire to leave, and Lazuli was more than willing to go when she was. The two of them caught a taxi to get back to their hotel, where Cirrus quickly went to bed, leaving Lazuli to sit out on the balcony speaking to Steel, who had been listening through her earpiece the whole time.

“Your meeting with Kiama was the only highlight,” Steel said. “While she was talking, I ran it back alongside the recordings of Ayize from when you were in her office, and…it’s definitely not her. The voice is way different, and you said there weren’t any signs of makeup or fake fur covering a scar.” He admitted.

“Yeah, so basically I went for nothing.”

“You enjoyed yourself, right?”

“It’s kind of hard to fully enjoy it when your boss is listening to everything you do and say, Steel.”

“Alright…point taken. There’s something I wanted to ask you to do, though.”

“What is it? Because if anything, I’d like to follow up on the warehouse that was cleared out before your raid, which you’re kind of ignoring it looks like.”

“I’m trying not to worry you, Lazuli. I can’t really figure out how they would have known, or if it was simple coincidence that they moved. What I want you to do is related, though.”

“Okay…what is it?” Lazuli leaned on the railing, her back up against the hoof-rail.

“I need you to get into Kiama’s office.”

“…Wait, why? I thought you just said she’s not Ayize.”

“Well she isn’t.” Steel said. “But I’m still suspicious about her. Remember in the office, Ayize mentioned needing to build up their ‘public face’ before they expanded their operation?”

“Uh huh…you think Green Motors is part of that? Wouldn’t that be easy to check? Like…demanding records and stuff?”

“Not that simple.” Steel grunted. “Just like with the warehouse, we need at least some evidence before we can do anything. The fact that they both deal with cybernetics isn’t enough. We need something like schematics that match the ones from the warehouse, or even a recorded conversation mentioning it, or something like that.”

“Right…well I guess it’s worth a try.”

“Probably best if you go now, actually. The party will be wrapping up soon, and she’ll be heading back. Plus the building won’t be too busy right now.”

“You…know I can’t just sneak in there super easily, right? I can’t crawl through a vent like an action movie, and even if I took her up on that experiment offer she wouldn’t talk about stuff like that in front of me.”

“True…you’d need a proper way in. Okay, here’s what I’ll do. I’ll pull up the schematics of the building – those are public domain. The building just finished construction a few months ago so they’re not fully settled in yet – security should be low. Switch your earpiece to the camera mode and I can watch the feed.”

“Then you can’t talk to me, genius. And the feed would be absolutely terrible quality.”

“Not if- ah…right. Okay.” Steel paused, then spoke again. “Hold on. I’m going to have the R&D department send something over.”

“How are they going to get it to me in t- and you’re muted.” She grumbled, then leaned all the way back on the balcony again and waited for him to come back.

A minute later, his microphone switched back on. “Okay, it’ll be there any second.”

“I swear on Onir, if you’re having them teleport the thing right in front of me, I’m standing on a balcon-“ Lazuli nearly had a heart attack as a bright flash of white light appeared in front of her, half blinding her. If she hadn’t been expecting it, it would have knocked her off the edge, but she just stood still and waited for the light to fade, catching the teleported object in her hoof. It was a camera, a tiny one, no bigger than her pupil. “I absolutely despise you right now.”

“Calm down. This’ll help me guide you through the building. Stick it to the front of your suit.”

“Is it on already?”

“Should be. I can see the sky, the way you’re holding it.”

“Kay…give me a second.” Lazuli opened the door, stepping back into the room and pulling her suit off of the wall. She stepped into each of the four hooves, pulling the suit tight on her body and zipping it up. Once it was secure, she picked up the camera and tried to figure out how to fit it on. She ended up having to use magic, her hooves glowing slightly as the device levitated onto her chest and clipped firmly in the middle of it.

“There you go. Now I can see what you see.”

“This is extremely creepy. I can turn it off, right?”

“Yeah, just hit the button on the back. Just…don’t do that right now, kay?”

“Obviously. So should I go now?”

“You’re all suited up, so I don’t see why not.”

Lazuli nodded slowly. Before she left, though, she quickly used her tail to scribble down a note for Cirrus explaining she went out, just in case she woke up in the middle of the night looking for her. She slipped into the bedroom, put the note on the bedside table and slipped back out, then flew off from the balcony.

“Okay, so you know where the building is, right?” Steel asked her.

“Yeah, the big new one up near the industrial sector.” She replied, able to see it once she was high enough in the air. Beating her wings against the wind, she started flying towards it. “And her office is on the fifteenth floor, right?”

“Try twenty-second.” Steel corrected. “Looks like…your best way in is from the roof, actually. Then you’ve only got to go down two floors to get there.”

“Right…okay.” Lazuli kept flapping, keeping herself level with the roof of the office building in the distance. If she flew much higher she risked getting hit by clouds, which she was still painfully susceptible to, being a flying creature. “And, you wouldn’t happen to be able to tell me if it’s guarded, right?”

“Nope, can’t say that…but I know where the cameras are. Keep in mind she knows what you look like.”

“Even more reason I shouldn’t have gone to that party.”

“Shh. Just put on your hood.”

Lazuli grumbled under her breath, still flapping her wings as she reached back and pulled her hood out of her suit, dragging it over her head. It was solid black, covering most of her head while leaving her eyes and nose uncovered. “I’d rather just not get seen.”

“Precautions, Laz.” Steel said, going quiet as she slowed herself down and landed behind the door that led to the staircase off the roof. The rest of it was flat, and just to be safe, she peeked around the corner to see if anyone was on the roof. No one was, so she went around to the door and kneeled down to open it.

The door was locked. Lazuli growled, starting to push her hoof up against the lock.

“What’re you doing? Just cut the lock.”

“I cut the lock and they’ll know someone broke in.” Lazuli explained, activating the magnetic implants in her hoof. “If I unlock it, it’ll look like some idiot just didn’t do their job. Speaking of which, it’s probably better if you don’t tell me how to do mine.” She slowly twisted her hoof to the side. The movement made the metal groan as she twisted it, moving the lock forcefully out – it would mess up the inner workings of the door somewhat, but it still would continue to function. Once the door was unlocked, she pulled the handle and opened it, disengaging the magnets.

“Okay.” Steel began. “Now don’t go down until I’ve given you the full instructions. Head down those stairs, then down the hall and make a right. There should be a maintenance stairway there – less traffic, easier to get down. Then you’re going to take the stairs down two floors.”

“Got it.” Lazuli started down the stairs, pulling the door shut behind her with her tail and peeking to both sides to make sure no one was coming. She then stepped into the hallway, crouching low to the ground as she made her way down the corridor, ensuring her head was below the windows on each of the office doors. Luckily, at this time of night she was unlikely to run into anyone.

She was glad, she realized, for the special design of her suit’s hooves. It hadn’t been considered by Cirrus when she initially made the outfit, but the development team put in special foam pads that helped to make her steps almost completely silent. It did dampen the impact of her hooves when fighting, but she usually hit hard enough to negate that effect anyway. The tile floor of the hall made no noise as she hurried along, quickly peeking around the corner to check if anyone was nearby before she headed to the right and opened the door to the stairs.

“Okay, now head down two floors and go through the door – but careful, there’s a camera right outside the door to the floor below you.”

“Only there?”

“Yeah, looks like.”

“That’s…weird.”

“The building was hastily designed, I think. Lots of holes in the design, but…yeah.”

Lazuli scampered down one flight of stairs, stopping to take a look at where the camera was. It was an old style swiveling one, moving back and forth in a pattern, so when it was turned away she ducked underneath it, then waited for it to turn back to the stairs leading up before she ran down the next flight. “Probably didn’t see me,” She muttered.

“Probably.” Steel agreed. “Now head through the next door down and then turn left.”

Lazuli followed his instructions, poking her head through the door and looking from side to side as she turned to the left, briskly walking down the hall. “Now you’re looking for office number 1. The door should be the biggest.”

She kept walking until she reached a corner, slowly peeking around the edge. There was one door at the far end of the hallway with a guard stationed near it. “There’s a guard.” She said bluntly.

“I can see that…okay, how accurate are you with that tail blade?”

“You want me to kill them? Steel, we don’t know if they’re doing anything illegal. We can’t kill a security guard.”

“That’s why I asked. Can you hit him with the blunt end?”

“That’s like, a hundred to one chances. I’m not risking it.”

“Okay…how about a distraction?”

“And how am I supposed to distract him?”

“Hm…” He paused, then grunted in annoyance. “Nothing. Okay…it looks like there’s a ventilation shaft near you. Think you can fit?”

“That is ridiculously dangerous, but let me see.” Lazuli looked up, searching along the wall for the vent. She pried off the cover with her tail and peeked inside. “…Okay…I could probably fit. Would it lead to the office?”

“Yep. In fact if you go straight ahead it should end there.”

“Kay…” Lazuli looked back around the corner. The guard didn’t move. She slowly climbed up, grunting with exertion as she pulled herself into the vent, then used her tail to pick up the cover and pull it back into place, just in case. She started to drag herself along the shaft, which was extremely claustrophobic, but spacious enough that she could move. The cool breeze was nice, too.

Luckily the CEO’s office was only a few dozen metres down, and the vent was solid enough that she didn’t fall right through. She shimmied up to the near end of the shaft, where she could see the night sky and traces of other buildings, then whispered to her earpiece, “Looks like the end leads outside.”

“Hm…uh…yeah. Actually the entrance to the office should be below you.”

Lazuli looked down, having to move back slightly to look through the vent below her. Unfortunately, as she looked, she could also see a familiar braided mane and striped coat sitting behind a desk, working at a computer with a lab coat around her. She seemed to have a phone up to her ear, so Lazuli pressed her own to the grate to listen.

“I told you a dozen times I’ll fucking do whatever, just don’t.” Kiama growled.

“That’s uncharacteristic of her.” Steel muttered. Lazuli tried to ignore him.

“No, I said not. I can’t just give you money whenever you fuck- what? No, I’m not.” There was a pause, then Kiama pushed her chair back and stood up, the phone clipping to the side of her head so she could walk. It looked silly, but wasn’t too uncommon for equines. She started pacing back and forth – Lazuli could barely see her face, but she could tell she was anxious about something. “Okay, just- no, listen, please, I need it. You can’t just- no, listen to me- LISTEN!”

There was another pause. Kiama started to breathe heavily, Lazuli could hear it getting more frantic. “I’ll- okay, okay, just…okay, fine. I’ll get you the money- what? No, I’m not wired, what the fuck do you think I am, a cop?”

Another brief lull, then some garbled speech that Lazuli couldn’t make out, but was quite obviously yelling over the phone. “What, you think I did that?! I was on TV, promoting your shit! MY shit!”

Lazuli shifted, moving her ear so it wouldn’t press so firmly against the metal. “You-“ Kiama stopped, and Lazuli could hear her voice catch in her throat. “You f- you wouldn’t.”

More angry yelling on the phone. “I- there- y-you can’t do that, not when we- wh…what do you mean, take over?”

This time Lazuli couldn’t hear the other end’s words, but she could see Kiama physically stagger at whatever was said. “Y- n-no, wait, I- I’ll- I’ll do it, I said I’ll do it! Just- just don’t- you know you need me!”

“Blackmail?” Steel said. Lazuli made the quietest shushing sound that she could.

“F-fuck, I- whatever I did, I’m sorry!” Kiama swallowed, sitting back in her chair. “I- I didn’t- that wasn’t me, I didn’t call anyone! Y-you- you know you’re the supplier, it’d be s-suicide for me!”

Lazuli turned her muzzle away from the vent, covering it with her hoof and whispering. “The camera’s picking this up, right?”

“Yeah. Turn your mic back.” Steel muttered.

“I’ve-…” Kiama stopped, clearing her throat. “…Okay. I…y-yeah, I’ll be there. Yes, I have the money…” She shakily switched the phone to her other ear as she started typing on the keyboard with her metal hoof. Lazuli couldn’t see it, though. “M-mhm.” Lazuli could tell Kiama was either on the verge of or currently in tears. She felt bad, but she wasn’t about to go down and console her. “I-…Y-yeah, I’ll do it. J-just, don’t…you know…”

A much longer pause, this time. Lazuli was sitting in silence for half a minute, listening to Kiama gently sniffling. “Y-yeah.” Kiama finally said. “I uh…I-I can cover that too. And the- what? They got the- sh-shit…none of it had my name on it, right? …R-right, yeah, I understand, sorry…”

Lazuli gritted her teeth. Kiama stood back up again. “Okay, I’ll, uh…I-I’ll meet you there um…t-tomorrow, right? Okay…good, yeah.” Kiama slowly removed the phone from her ear, then placed it down on the desk. Once the connection was severed, she fell back in her chair, covering her face with her hooves and openly starting to sob.

“Gods…” Lazuli murmured.

“Okay. You’re probably not going to get anything from the actual office…” Steel said slowly. “But the recordings should be enough. Unless you want to risk talking to her.”

“That’s literally the worst idea.” Lazuli said as quietly as she could. “I’m going now.”

“Wait.” Steel stopped her before she started to move again. “Is there any way you could get her to maybe…alert the authorities about whatever it is she’s doing? Clearly it’s not willing.”

“Is this really the time to formulate a plan?” Lazuli whispered angrily, backing up a bit so her muzzle wasn’t right near the grate. “If I drop down there she’ll call security. If I drop a note she’ll call security. If I do anything except leave the building she’ll call security.”

“She’d recognize you, though…”

“Ohhhh no. Don’t even go down that road. I’m not dropping down and just casually starting up a conversation hoping she doesn’t hit the security button just because she sees I have pretty eyes.”

“Well I’d call them terrifying, but whatever Cirrus says.”

“Shut your mouth. I’m leav…” Lazuli said, then slowly looked down through the grate again. She saw Kiama pulling open the drawer of her desk, her metal hoof grasping an L-shaped black object.

“Fuck.” Lazuli said out loud, then kicked down with her forelegs. The vent cover fell, she caught it with her hoof, and dropped down on top of it. The floor was carpeted, so she didn’t need to worry about noise as she dropped, knocked the firearm out of Kiama’s hand and tightly wrapped one leg around her mouth so she wouldn’t scream while she pulled the chair away from the desk to stop any alarms from being triggered. While she held her, Lazuli pulled her mask away with her tail.

Kiama tried to bite down on Lazuli’s leg, but the fabric of her suit made it impossible for it to do anything. Lazuli made sure to hold down her metal leg, which was easier said than done. “Lazuli, that was stupid, but you can work with this.” Steel said.

Lazuli tightened her grip. “Just calm down, I’m not gonna hurt you.” She said quietly. At the sound of her voice, Kiama’s struggling slowed, then came to a stop, her ear twitching. She muffled something into Lazuli’s suit, but of course she couldn’t hear it. “Now I’m going to let go of your head. Don’t try to yell or hit any buttons, I’m not here to hurt you.” Lazuli said as firmly as she could. “Understand?”

Kiama nodded her head. Lazuli slowly released her grip, and the zebra gasped openly as she took in fresh air. Almost immediately, she looked back over her shoulder with a look of disbelief. “…I- wait, Lazuli?” Her cheeks were stained with tears, and as her left leg was released, she started to wipe her eyes clean.

“Yeah, that’s me.” Lazuli said begrudgingly. “You did give me your office card.” She tried to quip, but it didn’t quite resonate with Kiama, who still looked bewildered.

“But- how did- were you in the ceiling?”

“The vent.” She nodded.

“And- wait, you- did you hear-“

Lazuli nodded again.

“And…a-and you’re with the-“

Though she wasn’t exactly sure what she was going to say, she nodded again.

Kiama paused…and her eyes trailed to the gun that had been knocked away in the corner. Lazuli used her tail to turn it away from there. “Not an option.” Lazuli said firmly. “Listen. Whatever’s going on, I can help keep you safe. I just need you to tell me exactly what’s happening. If it’s serious enough that you’d rather die than keep going on with it, clearly you need help.”

“B- how did you get here? Where did- what’s the suit for? I-…I’m so confused…”

“Kiama, this is important. Are you in danger?”

“I-…”

“Are you in danger, right now? If you stayed here, or if you went to whatever meeting you were talking about, would you be in danger?”

“I-…” Kiama swallowed, then slowly nodded. “Y-yes.”

“Bring her to Canterlot.” Steel said firmly.

“Wh- hold on a second, Kiama.” Lazuli leaned away slightly, though she kept hold of her metal limb. “What are you talking about? You expect me to fly from Manehatten to Canterlot with a mare on my back?”

“Well you can’t leave her here. Regardless of if she’s involved in what’s going on at the warehouse or not, she’s clearly tied up with some kind of criminal activity and needs to be protected.”

“I can’t take her to Canterlot without going through the train, and that’s in public.”

“Okay…okay. Lazuli, take her to your hotel room.”

“Your ideas are getting worse every time you speak.”

“Take her to your hotel room. No one will know she’s there. Just keep her there until I can send a few ponies to safely escort her to Canterlot. Okay?”

“What about just-“ Lazuli inhaled deeply. “No. Fucking- no. I’m not bringing her, when she’s in danger, to a place where my civilian wife is.”

“Lazuli, you have to. Actually…ask her when that meeting of hers is.”

“Kiama,” Lazuli turned to the zebra. “When is that meeting?”

“Wh- oh, you heard…um…w-well it’s tomorrow. Some time after 5…”

“PM?”

“Y-yeah. PM.”

“Okay. Here’s what you do, Lazuli. Leave her here now, take that gun away from her so she doesn’t try to do anything stupid. I’ll send that team out right now, so they can get there before noon tomorrow and get her out of there safely. Can you tell her that?”

“Kiama.” Lazuli said again. “Listen to me. I can get you away from all this, but you need to do exactly as I say.”

“Y-you can?” Kiama seemed to perk up.

“I can. But here’s what I need you to do. Act like none of this happened. Do your work, go home, whatever it is you do every night, but make sure you’re here in this office before noon. We’re going to have some ponies sent up here to get you out safely, and put into…”

“Protective custody, call it protective custody.” Steel said.

“Protective custody.” Lazuli repeated. “You’ll be safe. Publicity will be taken care of, your company will go to the second in command. You have one, right?”

Kiama just nodded.

“Okay, good. So do you understand me? None of this,” She said, picking up the gun and unloading the magazine, pulling back the barrel to unload the bullet in the chamber before tucking it into one of her pockets. “You’ll be safe. I promise, nothing bad will happen to you.”

“O-okay…” Kiama swallowed shakily. Lazuli knew what a terrified mare looked like, and Kiama fit the bill perfectly. “I-…I don’t really know why you’re d-doing this, but thank you, Lazuli…”

“I just want you to be safe.” Lazuli smiled gently, then looked towards the window. “I’m going to go now, okay? Remember, just…do what you normally do, but do not go to that meeting. Just stay here, and everything will be taken care of.”

Kiama nodded again. “Th…thank you.”

“I would say you should guard her until then,” Steel said, “But that’s risky. As long as she doesn’t arouse suspicion until tomorrow, we’ll be fine.”

“No problem.” Lazuli gently placed a hoof on Kiama’s shoulder. “I’ll see to it personally that you’re safe and sound. Okay?”

“O-okay.” Kiama nodded for a third time. “I…I’ll hold you to that.” She tried to joke, sniffling and rubbing her eye with a hoof.

Lazuli walked over to the spot below the vent, stepping up onto the desk with her forelegs. “Stay safe, Kiama.” She smiled, then hopped back into the opening and crawled into the ceiling in a way that probably wouldn’t have been nearly as awkward if she had gone out the window, but that wasn’t an option.

“You did good there, Laz.” Steel commended her. “Saving her was the right move. We’ll make sure she’s okay, and hopefully she might lead us somewhere.”

“Make the first part the priority.” Lazuli said, climbing through the vent so she could get back to the roof and fly to Bronclyn.