Blindsided

At this point Lazuli wondered if she should have taken a break between trips. She had flown to Manehatten from Canterlot, then flown around the city itself quite a bit, and now she was flying there again. By the time she reached the city her wings were aching, but she was at least glad to have not run into any bad weather. Then again, she would have been a fool to let weather catch her off guard, given it was entirely predictable all the time.

Her flight took her to Bronclyn, just as before. Her earpiece was in, but she had it muted so she could concentrate. Given she was going into an apartment building with closed quarters, she imagined she would need to keep an ear out for any movement. As she landed on top of the apartment building – which was only eight stories high in total, she realized – she noticed that the building had a landing pad on top. Immediately that set off alarms in her head. It wasn’t normal, and none of the buildings nearby had one…especially not with an airship, its dual rotors sitting still, already landed on it. She made a note to keep an eye out when she was leaving before she opened the door on the rooftop and ducked inside.

Lazuli’s earpiece buzzed. Before she stepped out of the stairwell, she unmuted it. “Yeah?”

“Listen, I’m not gonna say anything more ‘cause I know you need quiet, but Kiama told me that it’s possible Ayize might not be there. If she isn’t, just try to see what you can find.”

“Got it.” Lazuli tapped the side of her earpiece to mute it once more, leaving her in silence.

It was nighttime again, so she supposed it made sense that there was no noise in the building, but it still unnerved her. Even though her suit silenced the sound of her hooves against the wood floor, it still creaked beneath her weight. The building was old, the walls cracked and moldy – in fact, it looked as though the building was abandoned, but they had checked it out in advance and found it was still active. Just not maintained, Lazuli thought to herself.

She began to move down the hallway as slowly and quietly as possible. 345…346…347… Lazuli counted the rooms mentally, then stopped at 348. The door was heavily bolted, she could tell, with one deadbolt and another lock that looked like something from a bank vault. “Shit…” She muttered to herself, then looked up and down the hall. She slowly kneeled down, working her tail into the space between the door and the frame, her tail blade slowly working to cut through the first deadbolt. The blade was sharp enough to cut metal, but not too much, or it would break from how thin it was. She managed to cut through the first lock, but the second one, which was secured with three separate bolts, would be more of an issue.

Lazuli frowned, then slowly worked her tail back into the space, turning her body to the side. She stared to push as hard as she could, shifting the door just enough that the bolts slid out of place. Then she pushed the door back, letting it swing inwards with a gentle but audible creaking sound. Immediately she cocked an ear, listening for any signs of movement or attempts at escape.

Hearing none, she pushed it open just enough to slide in. She unlocked the door and closed it, just in case anyone walked by, before looking around. There was no sign of movement, but the room was…excessively cluttered. What should have been a living room had been turned into a tech hub, with one main computer sitting at the far end along with a series of workbenches. Hanging over the desks were diagrams and cork boards filled with papers, and littering the floor and virtually every surface were metal contraptions – some obviously prosthetics, some more complex or not even close to finished.

The walls seemed to have been knocked away, as well, to open the room entirely. The only sign that it was a living space at all was the small bed way in the back, and the kitchen, which was only somewhat separate. Lazuli wouldn’t have been surprised if the cutting board was used to slice metal.

As she shut the door behind her, she became aware of how hot it was. There had to be a ten degree difference between the outside and the room, but for Lazuli it wasn’t much of an issue. She was cold-blooded, so more heat was good, really.

Determining that Ayize wasn’t in the room, she straightened up and began to search it properly, while always keeping an ear out for any movement that wasn’t hers. She walked over to the workbenches, and started looking through the diagrams and plans that were laid out.

Picking up one paper, scrawled in hoofwriting that definitely looked like a madmare’s, she started to read through it.

3:42 AM. Made enormous discovery. Prototype appears to show mental activity while deactivated – neural waves consistent with dreaming. Reminder to ask him about dreams when he is activated again.

“Research notes…” Lazuli mumbled out loud. Probably has to do with that AI…

Another paper had a longer entry.

8:47 PM. Subject appears to understand humour, though he can’t reciprocate it. His mannerisms are still completely robotic and subservient – shows no sign of resistance or internal questioning at all. I’ll need to see if I can train him, and if not, I’ll need to re-work his programming so he’s less…programmed.

Lazuli used her earpiece to take pictures of everything on the desk, and on the wall. She didn’t have the time, she imagined, to look through each one, but she saw all kinds of diagrams that looked even more frightening each time she looked at them. One of them even looked like a very intricate sketch of the robotic leg she had seen on one of the guards at the warehouse, with a built-in shotgun that was loaded with shells through the elbow. Another showed a terrifying looking contraption attached to a hoof, comprised of two sparkling prongs that seemed to rotate in circles to generate electricity in the air before firing it at a target.

She took pictures of as many as she could, before moving along to the corner where things seemed more scattered. There was an unfinished prosthetic leg, one that was open and showing the circuitry – she took a picture of that too, before looking up at the diagram and notes above it.

This one is for Kiama. Hopefully she understands the opportunity I’m giving her, but if she doesn’t…this’ll let me keep tabs on her, at least.

“Keep tabs on her…” Lazuli said out loud, again. Tracking device? She started looking through the plans for it, before her eyes focused in on one part of it, right in the middle of the hoof.

Microphone + video camera.

Lazuli blinked, then looked down at the prototype on the table. There was the little pinprick in the middle, with a camera…but it didn’t quite make sense. It was silly to put the camera in her hoof, then most of the footage would just be glimpses of the ground as she walked, or her desk when she was sitting down. On closer inspection, though, the camera was actually in the knee, and the microphone was the one under the hoof.

She shook her head. It looked like she had pulled Kiama out at the right time…

But then she looked down at another note. These ones are higher quality than the ones her current model has.

Lazuli’s ears pinned back slightly. Was that implying she already had a microphone and a video camera in her hoof? But there was no way Ayize had the technology to receive a live feed…the military could barely do it as it was.

It was at that moment that Lazuli’s ear wiggled, and she just barely moved in time.

She felt the whistle of air past her head as a heavy object smashed into the table in front of her, and she ducked out of the way, rolling upright to face what she presumed would be Ayize – but it wasn’t. Instead she found herself staring at the zebra she had seen her with in the warehouse, the male, with his heavy metal wings and glowing green eyes.

“You.” The zebra growled. His heavily synthesized voice was even more overbearing in the closed quarters of the apartment. Lazuli watched him pull his hoof back, his head turning to fully look at her, meeting her gaze with a scowl. “You’ve poked your nose into the wrong place, Dracony.”

“Stand down.” Lazuli demanded, lifting her tail over her head like a scorpion’s, ready to strike. “This doesn’t need to get bloody.”

“The only one in this room who bleeds is you.” The zebra stepped forward with a menacing thunk of a hoof that was far too heavy landing on the wood floor. “And I’ll ask you to stand down.”

“That’s not happening.” Lazuli backed up slightly. Apparently, the zebra didn’t see the need for any further attempts at coercion, so he simply charged at her. Based on the sheer intensity of his steps she could tell he would hit hard, so she dodged to the side as he tried to ram into her. the one window in the room was right behind her, so she could see what he was trying to do.

The zebra stopped at the window, then reached down and grabbed hold of a wrench in his hoof. He swung his leg forward, hurling it towards Lazuli, and she narrowly avoided it as it shot past her head and embedded itself halfway in a wall. She suddenly felt much more uneasy as he came in for another hit, this time rearing up on his hinds and swinging at her face.

Lazuli dodged one, but was forced to bring her front hooves up to block the second hit. Immediately a wave of pain shuddered through her legs, his hoof feeling like solid steel smashing into her. She managed to push him back, then jumped back a bit herself to avoid him. She knew fighting him in closed quarters like this was almost definitely a losing battle, so she ran for the door and threw it open, dashing out into the hallway.

Her opponent was quick on her tail – literally, as she felt his teeth bite down on her tail and swing her into the wall. She got the air knocked out of her lungs as her back hit the concrete, coughing out a fair amount of saliva and dropping to the ground. She recovered as quick as she could, moving her head to the side to avoid another powerful kick from his front leg.

“I could crush your skull easily.” The zebra taunted, his eyes whirring and spinning like a camera lens as they focused on her when she started to stand up. “Give up, and maybe Ayize will let you live when she returns.”

“Where is she now?” Lazuli wiped her mouth with the back of her hoof. She quickly rubbed it on her suit to hide the face that she had spat up blood.

“Leaving. The airship will be taking off soon.”

“Airs-“ Lazuli’s head whipped around to look at the staircase leading to the roof. She started to run for it, but the zebra grabbed her tail again. This time, though, she used it to her advantage, catching him off balance and yanking her tail forward. She pulled him through the air, lifting up both hind legs and slamming them into the zebra’s chest with as much strength as she could. She imagined if he was as heavily augmented as he looked, it wouldn’t keep him down long, but she didn’t need long.

Throwing open the door at the top of the stairs, she nearly skidded to a halt when she saw the airship taking off. It was small, and she hadn’t fully taken in the size when she had landed. Clearly it was only meant for a few ponies, and given that the pony in the cockpit didn’t look like Ayize, she knew she had to be in the back. She stopped herself from losing her momentum, kicking off the ground with her hind legs and spreading her wings to take off after it, but as she launched into the air she felt a heavy weight strike her in the stomach.

Lazuli was knocked off course, tumbling from the air and back onto the roof with a wheeze. The synthetic zebra had struck her with his head, but seemed unfazed as he charged at her again. This time, though, since they weren’t in such an enclosed space, she found it much easier to counter him.

With a growl in the depths of her throat, she twisted herself onto her back. As he swung his hoof to strike her, she locked her hind legs around his foreleg and heaved him overtop of her, slamming him onto the ground and rolling on top of him. He quickly turned to throw her off, but she landed firmly on all fours by the time he had picked himself back up. He went in to attack her again, but she ducked to the side, her tail swinging forward and plunging itself deep into the core of his body, a fatal blow for any normal pony.

But Lazuli hadn’t realized that her opponent was entirely synthetic. If she had, she might have tried aiming for the head, but instead she just got a powerful jolt of electricity through her body. She yanked her tail back, watching as the zebra jerked and spasmed, his circuitry heavily damaged.

Her attention turned back to the airship. It was already quite a distance away, but she knew she could catch up with it. Spreading her wings, she took off again, putting enough distance between herself and the struggling synthetic zebra that she didn’t have to worry about him grabbing her. She kept heavily pumping her wings as she flew to meet it, already activating the magnets on her hooves as she approached. Once she was close enough she latched onto the side, stabbing her tail into the handle of the door and wrenching it open. Briefly, she was overcome with a sense of deja-vu, before she swung into the airship itself.

Lazuli was both surprised and not at all surprised to see that it was only Ayize in the back of the vessel. The zebra sat at the very back, idly running a hoof along her metal limb, her mane still styled in her messy mohawk and her eyes slowly turning towards Lazuli. “I was wondering how long it would take you.” She said, locking her gaze with Lazuli’s.

“Don’t try anything.” Lazuli growled, slowly stepping forward. The wind outside the airship was whipping past, the makings of a storm, Lazuli realized – so she dragged the door shut behind her, both to stop the wind and to keep Ayize from running. “You’re coming with me.”

Ayize threw both hooves up in the air in an exaggerated gesture. “Oh no, please don’t hurt me, I’ve done nothing!”

“Yeah, okay.” Lazuli reached forward to take hold of the zebra’s leg.

As her hoof made contact with Ayize, though, it phased right through her. Ayize’s form rippled, bright blue glitching appearing in her body was Lazuli pulled back, staring incredulously. She only then realized there were projectors in all four corners of the ship, pointed at the spot Ayize was sitting.

“Aw…poor pony didn’t get there in time, I’m already a ghost.” Ayize’s hologram gave her a cocky smirk, then put both hooves out to the sides and shrugged. “By the way, you might want to turn around.”

Lazuli blinked, and glanced over her shoulder. The door to the cockpit was open, and as she poked her head through, she saw there was no pilot in the seat – in fact there wasn’t a seat at all. She saw two more projectors, presumably they had been projecting the image of the pilot in the window so she thought there had been one.

She looked back. Ayize’s hologram just sat there, suddenly flickering to a different position with herself lying flat on the seats, idly fiddling with her leg. Pre-recorded? Lazuli thought to herself, then slipped into the cockpit to look around.

The controls were being handled by the computer, it looked like. She tried holding the joystick, just to see, but it was completely under the control of the vessel itself. “But where’s it going to…” Lazuli thought out loud, searching the console for some kind of indication.

She didn’t find any, but she did find a countdown, nearing 15 seconds. “Hope you got here in time, or this is a huge waste of an airship.” Ayize’s hologram said.

Her eyes blinked several times to take in what that meant – and then she immediately bolted. Mentally, she counted down – ten seconds, now, as she exited the cockpit and pulled open the door. Five seconds. She stumbled as the harsh weather buffeted her face, spreading her wings and nearly getting thrown back into the airship in the process. Two seconds. She finally forced herself out the door…

And she barely got five feet away from the ship before it exploded. The heat was what hit her first, then the sound, then the blast itself. The heat from the explosion seared the back of her suit almost entirely off, and her wings faltered at the force of it. She was thrown several dozen feet through the air, her vision swimming and her senses dulled from the impact and the sheer noise. She tried to right herself, but now she couldn’t even figure out which way was up or where the ground was. Sent into a tumbling freefall from a height that only the computer on the ship knew, she blacked out entirely from the spinning motions.