Blindsided

Lazuli was glad to see that there was no big story on the news about Kiama being taken from her building, or of her being shot or something similarly disheartening. Instead, she received a report from Steel that everything was going smoothly and Kiama would be escorted by armoured carriage to Canterlot, just in case. Lazuli, meanwhile, would head home with Cirrus on the train, and arrive in the city hours after Kiama had gotten there.

Cirrus was filled in when she woke up that morning, but Lazuli left out some of the more specific details. Cirrus was just happy to hear that Kiama was safe, it seemed, and Lazuli was as well in all honesty. They had to take some extra time to put away Cirrus’ dresses, at which point Lazuli briefly questioned why the dress she wore to the party had fit her perfectly. Cirrus bashfully explained that it was designed for her, but she was waiting for the right time to give it to her as a gift. In return she got a loving kiss and a snide remark about how it looked better on her than on any of the models at the show, which she wholeheartedly agreed with.

The train ride home was mostly Lazuli sleeping, since she barely slept a wink during the night. When they got home, Lazuli made sure they were settled in and Cirrus was unpacked before she flew off to the military base, narrowly remembering to bring her suit with her before she left.

Getting in was quick, she went through the checkpoint, greeted the guard as always, then flew up to the command center where Steel would be. As she landed on the platform meant for pegasi and other flying operatives, Steel was already there to greet her, wearing his black and heavily decorated uniform as usual.

“Laz, glad you came as soon as you could.”

“Yeah, I came as soon as I c- oh.” Lazuli scrunched her muzzle slightly as she looked up to meet his gaze.

“I’d love to do small talk and whatnot, but I need you to come down to where we’ve got Kiama. Don’t worry, she’s not in a cell, but…I think you should talk to her.”

“Why’s that?” Lazuli looked up again, already starting to walk beside him as they headed inside, with Steel leading her down a flight of stairs and into a hallway comprised mainly of soundproofed rooms they used for briefings.

“She just seems more comfortable with you, probably because you were the one who stopped her from uh…you know.” He tried to gesture it without being inconsiderate, then gave up. “Ahem…but we think if anyone will get the most information out of her, it’s you. We don’t want to interrogate her – as far as we know right now, she’s a victim, not a criminal.”

“Right. So…what should I ask her about?”

“Mainly Ayize, and what she’s got on her. Er…what Ayize has on Kiama, I mean. We need to know what she’s blackmailing her with.”

“Right…and anything else she knows too, I assume.”

“Yes, get what you can. She’s really worried about her uh…business…” He scratched his chin with a wing. “Trouble is though, based on what we’ve heard I’m not really sure if her business will be able to stay around much longer.”

“Eesh…criminal ties?”

“A lot, we think.” Steel nodded slowly. “It’s a shame, she actually seems to believe in the core of her own message, but…looks like she went the wrong ways to get the funding. Or…she funded the wrong scientists.”

“Alright, I’ll find out what I can.” Lazuli stopped at the door that Steel indicated, nodding her head at it. “Is this the one?”

“Yeah. She’s mostly calm right now, but be gentle. I know you’re uh…not the greatest conversationalist, but try not to come off as overbearing. And if you’re wondering why she still has her metal hoof in, we thought it was a good idea to remove it but…it’s connected at the nerves, can’t remove it without surgery and well…we can’t exactly do that for a civilian we’re only questioning for information.”

“I’ll be fine.” Lazuli assured him, then slowly pushed open the door and stepped inside. She allowed it to close behind her before she turned to look around.

The room was blank, but she found that it often worked to calm ponies down when they weren’t military personnel. Kiama was sitting at a table at the back, looking down into her lap as she idly traced her left hoof over the surface of her metal one. At the sound of the door closing, she looked up.

“Hey, Kiama.” Lazuli smiled, this time genuinely.

“Lazuli?” Kiama stood up, also smiling. “Oh, by the gods, I’m glad to see you.” She closed the distance between them quite quickly, rearing up on her hinds to wrap her forelegs around Lazuli in a tight hug. “I can’t thank you enough for this. I don’t know what they would have done to me if I…” She trailed off. Lazuli gave her a reassuring squeeze, then nodded.

“I know, Kiama. I couldn’t let anything happen to you, you’ve already been through enough, it looks like.”

“Could say that…” Kiama nodded, sighing heavily. “I uh…I guess they want you to talk to me about um…her, right?”

“It’s not so much what they want me to talk to you about,” Lazuli said, sitting down on the chair on the other side of the table and letting Kiama sit down across from her. “It’s what I need to know. I want to help you, and to do that I need information.”

“I- I’ll tell you whatever you need.” Kiama said right away. “Just ask.”

“Okay.” Lazuli leaned back, gently placing her forelegs on the table. “The most important thing, I think, is…what does Ayize have on you?”

“Wh- um…what do you mean?”

“Well…on the phone, you were scared. She was threatening you with something. What does she know that makes you loyal to her, or at least…made you loyal to her?”

Kiama shifted nervously in her seat. “I-…um…”

“Take your time.” Lazuli said softly, or as soft as her naturally gruff voice allowed.

“She…well uh…” Kiama took a deep, shaky breath. “The uh…the most obvious one was she threatened to kill me.”

“She did?” Lazuli furrowed her brow. “That’s…wow. Okay…and what else?”

“Well I-…” She darted her gaze to the door, then around the room. “I’m not going to get arrested for any of this, right?”

“I’m going to make sure you’re treated fairly, Kiama. Just tell me, and it’ll be fine.”

“I-…okay, well…I didn’t- I didn’t come up with any of these designs.” She lifted her metal leg, shaking her head. “Not a single one. I just…when I was a filly, I lost this leg, and…I dunno, being young and stupid, I thought I could make some difference…I tried starting all these charities for disabled ponies and zebras but…I knew all the donations were just out of pity. I didn’t have solutions, I didn’t have…” She grimaced. “What Ayize had.”

Lazuli noticed she was wringing her hooves together a lot, and reached across the table to console her. “It’s okay, it’s okay. I’m not judging anything.”

“I…” Kiama clenched her eyes shut. “Ayize came to me after a while…she told me…we were so alike,” She said through gritted teeth. “Both lost our limbs…and we were both orphans, but, I mean, at this time we were just past adulthood so we were just adults without families. I…I fell for it, too. I mean, she wasn’t lying, just…”

“She used you.” Lazuli inferred.

“I thought I was using her, if anything. She was…a genius when it came to cybernetics. Her leg…it was metal and wood at the time, but it still worked super well. She told me she could get me one so…of course I said yes, but…”

“It came with strings attached?” Lazuli wondered if she should keep pushing, but it seemed to help Kiama along.

“In both ways.” The zebra nodded. “She- she installed it in her workshop…but um…since she wasn’t a doctor, or even an official scientist, she didn’t have…” Kiama gritted her teeth again. “Anaesthetic…so…I was there for eight hours. I lost my voice screaming after half of one…” Lazuli remained quiet, letting her speak at her own pace. “But…I mean…that much, I got past. It was…excruciating, but…after she was finished, she told me…that she could make the pain go away, or she could make it ten times worse, and she could keep making it worse till I submitted. She said she needed me…but she was the one in charge.”

“Needed a public face.” Lazuli said, moreso reminding herself of what Ayize had said, rather than pushing Kiama along.

“M-mhm.” Kiama nodded. “I made the company. It started out as a charity, but it turned into a for-profit marketing project. Ayize made the schematics, she built the things, she employed the workers and ran the warehouse…I was all about handling the money and publicity. But…Ayize doesn’t want to actually help ponies. She wants the money to further her own research for…other reasons.”

“What reasons?” Lazuli leaned in a bit closer.

“She’s…” Kiama faltered, swallowing nervously. “S-she…she wants to…create the perfect machine. A pony, but…made of metal and nearly unstoppable power. Artificial intelligence, a pony created entirely by her…and entirely subservient to her, while being twice the pony any biological one could ever be.”

“For what purpose?”

“I…I don’t even know. She’s obsessed with robotics. Her own skeleton is lined with metal, she spent twenty years getting that completed. Both of her eyes are cybernetic. Her muscles are strengthened with electrodes to overload them constantly. She’s just…she’s insane. I don’t even know why she wants to create AI, I don’t know. You could tell me she wanted them for world domination, but…knowing her she’d want them just as soon to be a hoof stool. I think she just wants to make them to prove that she can. But…I…know that she wants to use it to increase her funding…”

“What do you mean by that?” Lazuli tilted her head.

“Stealing money. A machine like the one she wants to make, it could do it easily. Break open the vault to a bank and absorb any attempts to take it down while it runs away, untraceable. Then…I don’t even know what she’d do with the money. Probably make an army of them, or create some megaweapon that blows up in her face. I can’t even predict her anymore…”

“Alright. Now…where were you planning to meet her, when I came to your office?” Lazuli asked.

“I-…I don’t know if she’ll be there now, it’s long past the time we agreed but…she was supposed to come to my office. If I wasn’t there, though, I’d imagine she would go to her house…”

“She has a house?” Lazuli sat upright.

“Well…if you want to call it that. It’s a run-down apartment near the warehouse, building 217. I think the room is…348, on the eighth floor.”

“That- that’s extremely helpful.” Lazuli nodded. “Thank you.”

“M-mhm…” Kiama nibbled her hoof.

“Okay…another question.” Lazuli altered her position, leaning in more formally. “Why is it you two look so…”

“Similar?” Kiama finished for her, suddenly locking eyes with Lazuli. “She had surgery done on me.”

“What…?” Lazuli blinked incredulously, the intensity in Kiama’s eyes making her slightly uneasy.

“Laser eye correction to change my eye colour. She cut off the stump of my right leg so that our legs would look just about the same. Made sure I braided my hair the same way, made sure we had the same eyelashes, the same build…”

“But…why?” Lazuli asked, bewildered.

“Two reasons. One, she has a scapegoat. If she gets caught, she tosses me under the bus and runs me over while she drives away with all of my money and my reputation. Two…” She angrily clenched her jaw, her metal leg almost slamming on the table, but she stopped herself. “So she can kill me and take my place if I get out of line.”

“Gods…” Lazuli shook her head. “So…she forcefully altered you to look like her?”

“Mhm.” Kiama nodded. “I even have the scar…” She reached up, extending one of the ‘fingers’ from her leg and pulling the fur on her left cheek apart, revealing pink flesh grown over with fur. “Just a bit more covered up, since she sliced my face herself.”

“I’m…so sorry.” Lazuli bowed her head gently, looking down at the table. “Though…no offense, but you certainly don’t look like a dead ringer for her.”

“I never said she did a good job.” Kiama grumbled.

Kiama was silent. So was Lazuli. She wasn’t sure what else to say – or if there even was anything to say.

“You’re going to kill her, right?”

“What?” Lazuli looked up. Kiama’s face was stern.

“Ayize. You’re going to kill her, right?”

“Kiama…that’s not how it works. We don’t just kill someone because they’ve committed a crime. I know what she did to you is horrible, but she needs to be treated fairly.”

“Killing her is the only fair treatment.” Kiama said, staring emptily at the table.

“I understand you feel that way.” Lazuli placed a hoof on Kiama’s. “But that’s not my call to make, okay? Right now it’s out of my hooves.”

Kiama didn’t respond for a few seconds. “…Thank you.” She finally murmured. Lazuli could tell from the way she retracted that she wasn’t going to get anything more out of her.

As Lazuli exited the room, she found Steel leaning against the wall. He almost looked comical, with his back to the wall and even sitting down Lazuli only reached his neck.

“You were listening, right?” Lazuli asked.

“Yeah.” Steel nodded slowly. “Too bad you didn’t get anything about any other hideouts, but…”

“Yeah.” Lazuli shrugged. “But we’ve got enough.”

“Yeah. You know what to do.”

“You’re sending me to check out the apartment?”

“You snuck past her once. You can do it again, right?”

“Mmmh…alright.” Lazuli grumbled to herself. “Could’ve stayed in Manehatten…”