The approach to the complex was a simple affair as was cutting the unmaintained and rusting chain-link fence, a more careful pony would question why it’d been so easy to even get close but the desperate crew had been blinded with promises of fortune.

Past the fencing were four off-white windowless buildings that housed the hub’s servers, power distribution systems and hard-lines out to the rest of the city, three of the buildings were situated in a ring around the central fourth building.

One long main road winds its way around the entire ring of building with the roads themselves were surrounded on each side with short concrete barriers with a total of four guard posts spaced out evenly throughout the ring.

At the end of the asphalt was the largest building and their target, inside was a complex and power-hungry system that recorded all information that passed through the hub in either direction, it had flagged some anomalous data and had held it for inspection and would soon discard it. All they had to do was get in and snag the data before the system deleted it.

Nodding to each other the three split up and began to make their way to the first guard post ducking behind some low walls to avoid being seen, Rider spreads her wings and flies to a point just above the post and lands roughly on its flimsy steel roof, startling the guard inside who grabs his sidearm and begins to back out of the post.

Despite no words being spoken among any of them Titus moves into position behind the closest guard and grabs him around the neck, dragging him over the wall he had previously been hiding behind and delivering a rough blow to the guards stomach which incapacitates him.

“Rider, can you see the other guards from up there?” Titus whispers through his comm.

Cloud Rider was no Bat-pony, but from her vantage point she could clearly see up much of the asphalt road leading towards the central structure and into the other guard posts.

“One at the second post and a few others gathered around the third, though we should look for another way into the central structure rather than going that far around” Rider responds.

Dropping back to the asphalt from her perch above the guard post Rider rejoins her comrades and they begin to move up the path towards the second post, its careless occupant fast asleep who Titus quickly grabs and lands a sharp strike with the grip of his sidearm to the back of the guards skull.

Meanwhile, Access was sifting through the hub’s systems with the limited access he had as well as looking over the maps again in hopes of finding some easier way through.

He noted that the complex had a series of utility tunnels that wound their way under the asphalt roads and paths of the complex and they had access points to every building in the complex, they were likely to be locked but he could take care of that.

“Where are you guys, There's a hatch just beyond the second guard post that leads into some utility tunnels” Access’ voice crackled through the comm.

“We’re at the second post, where is this hatch?” Red Star inquired.

“You can’t miss it, should be covered in painted markings.”

Getting the attention of the team Red Star looks towards the road; In the middle just after the guard post’s barricade was a hatch cover marked with yellow warning paint. She waves a fore-hoof getting the attention of Titus and Rider who nod in agreement.

Keeping close to the ground they make their way over to it, upon tugging on the handle it opens with a smooth hiss. They look into the darkness for a moment then begin to make their way down into the depths.

Titus being the last to enter closes it back up behind them, they dive behind some water pipes with weapons drawn and stare up at the hatch in case they had been seen entering.

After what seemed like hours they started to relax and laughed nervously between themselves at the sheer luck they were having.

“No security down here, we should be good” Titus states turning on a small flashlight which he shines down the tunnel.

“Good, We can relax for a little while then.” Rider says thankfully.

The three start to walk down the tunnel occasionally stopping to read direction labels on the walls, one of these would lead to their target but it may take some time finding the right one in these winding tunnels.

Unlike the clean and sparkling steel and concrete of the complex above the tunnels below looked like they had entered another world, dust, oil and water covered the smooth stone flooring. It was eerily quiet with the only sounds they could hear being their own breath and hoof-steps.

While his comrades were navigating the tunnels Access took the liberty of making sure all the hatches they came to would be unlocked and any security systems would ignore them, upon doing so he stepped his avatar back a little and took stock of his surroundings.

Normally conditions in the Net would be reflected in the sub-grid’s landscape, but this one was almost entirely flat with no indication of any traffic flow and the defensive programs hadn’t given him much trouble at all. Things were far too easy, something was very wrong.

Stepping back inside the tower Access just briefly thought he saw a flicker of light in his peripheral vision, turning around to look out of the entryway he looks around the area for a second time. Paranoia was surely setting in.

He started to feel as if he wasn’t alone in the system and the feeling grew and grew the more he stared out at the sub-grid before him. It was easy to hide your signal once you were connected but it was quite a lot harder to simply not show any indication you had connected in the first place.

“Hey guys, I think something’s in here with me I swear I saw something jack in” Access said with worry.

The team’s nervous laughs could be heard through the comm.

“You’re paranoid, just relax!” Titus says mockingly.

Access turns around and starts to trot back into the tower but spares a glance over his back to look at where he thought he saw the flickering.

Something had in fact just connected and somehow managed to do so without being detected, It’s avatar was glitched and erratic, it looked in on Access from around the corner of the entryway. Malicious intent clear on its features.

“I know you’re there, show yourself!” Access shouts.

The glitched avatar steps out from the corner and stares into Access’ eyes, whatever this thing was it had known he was here from the very start. Access didn’t care what this thing was but he knew it was trouble, before he could launch an attack against the avatar, it spoke.

“You shouldn’t be here, intruder.“

It sounded menacing and robotic but it didn’t seem like a program, it moved too fluidly and too much with a purpose to be one.

“Don’t threaten me, Just who are you?”

“You aren’t in a position to be making demands, Leave while you can”

Access reached for his comm but was stopped midway by an attack from the avatar, a beam of red light sprang from its body striking just below Access’ hooves.

The avatar spoke one more word with much more malice in its words, “Leave.”

Access didn’t know what to do, if he warned his friends he would likely end up on the receiving end of a painful ejection, if he didn’t they’d likely be stuck in those tunnels. He thought for a moment and looked as if he was about to jack out but launched an attack of his own against his aggressor.

A “Flatline” program was often employed by Netrunners and Systems alike in Net combat, its main function was to directly attack the CPU of a system in an attempt to render it inoperable.

The Flatline fired by Access struck the avatar square in its head before it could dodge chipping off a large piece of itself which shattered on the ground as if it were glass.

“Fine, I suppose I’ll have to remove you myself!” The avatar booms before launching itself at Access sending multiple unknown programs in succession at him with reckless abandon.

Access attempts to dodge out of the way of the shots but multiple hit his body and head leaving substantial holes in his own avatar. This thing wasn’t fighting him with strategy but brute force which worked annoyingly well in the confined spaces of the tower.

“Guys, I was right something was here!” Access urgently says through his comm.

Outside the Net, the team had found the hatch to the archive building when Access’ message got to them. Titus opens the hatch slightly to check the area while his comrades respond.

“Jack out, before it frags you!” Rider says, the worry on her voice evident.

“I’m trying, I think one of its attacks is stopping me from leaving” Access states before getting hit with another one of the avatar’s attacks this one making him grunt in annoyance as his vision wavered.

He was knocked to the ground by this attack, whatever the avatar had hit him with was interfering with his connection removing much of his ability to move or even fight back.

The avatar stood over him before launching one more attack at him destroying his avatar and causing him to scream in pain as his Cyberdeck overloaded causing burns and electrical damage to his neural plugs, painfully dumping him back to Realspace.

When access awoke to his dingy Canterlot apartment he struggled to speak for a moment, attempting to stand he goes to warn his friends before he passes out. It was hard to stay coherent, whatever the glitched avatar hit him with before he was booted scrambled his brain somewhat.

“Whatever… that was… it got me, I got ejected...” Access manages to slur before falling backwards onto the floor and passing out into a convulsing heap.

From what memory he could recall at the time, it was unlike any program currently in use and certainly nothing like the kinds of defenses that systems like the one he was in use. He was lucky to be alive after that encounter, very few tangle with an enemy like that and get out of it with their lives.

Titus bashes open the hatch to the archive building leading out to a large room filled with whirring and clicking storage devices, whatever they were looking for had to be here. But before he could climb the ladder both Red Star and Rider stop him.

“Whatever Access was fighting in the Net got to him, all I heard was a scream before the link went dead” worried Rider.

“What do we do now then?” Titus and Red Star say in unison.

“Well, whatever he saw doesn’t seem to have been affiliated with the Crown or Netwatch, so I think it’s safe to say we can finish up here and make sure Access is okay” Rider says with an air of forced leadership.

Rider, Titus and Red Star climb the ladder in silence and enter the archival building in what appears to be the main storage room.

“Give me a moment, I’ll have to extract the data myself” Rider states flatly.

“It better not be locked” Titus jokes trying to lighten the mood.

“Thanks to Access’ efforts, it isn’t.”

The others nod, taking up positions behind the doorway. The atmosphere had become very heavy and many questions were being asked in the heads of the team, the prevailing ones were “Who or what was that avatar?” and “Who was controlling it?”.

“Right… So this should be it” Rider mutters to herself tapping on the terminals keyboard.

She puts a storage device into the side of the terminal and begins to retrieve the target data when Titus points a hoof towards the door urgently, a couple of guards were walking towards the buildings main door.

“Guys move, get some cover!”

Rider takes a spot next to Titus and draws her weapon, she waits for the guards to enter before pointing her weapon at the back of one of their heads. Red Star points her weapon at the other.

One of the guards stop dead and put their hooves into the air having been caught by surprise but the other opts to try to land a punch on Red Star who just barely moves out of the way in time, before striking the guard in the chin with her sidearm which sends him to the floor.

“Who are you ponies?” the first guard asks wincing in pain from the strike.

“None of your business, we’ll be out of your hair soon” Titus responds.

“Just don’t shoot us!” the second begs.

The terminal beeps indicating the transfer has completed, Titus trots over and grabs the storage drive from the terminal.

“Alright ladies, lets bail!” Titus booms. “But first a parting gift.”

Titus fires a single shot into each of the guards hind legs, making them yelp in pain and ensuring that they wouldn’t be able to follow them out.

Red Star and Rider both shake their heads and glare at Titus for his use of unnecessary force but follow him back into the tunnels while keeping their weapons trained on the guards as they leave.

Closing the hatch back behind them they gallop full speed back down the tunnels almost tripping over their own hooves, with adrenaline pumping and reaching the hatch leading to the second guard post all pretenses of stealth are dropped there and then as they burst out the hatch and begin to gallop down the asphalt road leading out the complex.

Their escape concludes without incident, after regrouping at a street corner some distance away from the complex they catch their breath while glancing at each other.

The tension of the op starts to lift as they start to laugh like mad-ponies.

“Holy shit, I can’t believe that actually worked!” Titus wheezed.

“I know right!” Red Star giggles.

“Guys we should check on Access, See if he is okay” Rider states in an annoyed tone.

They all nod and start to trot back to the van, upon reaching it Titus starts its engine and begins the drive back to their apartment. The mood now much lighter at the anticipation of their incoming payday.

In the distance a car bearing the logo of Equi-Tech watches them leave, its driver lighting up a cigarette before driving off in the opposite direction towards Equi-Tech Tower.

“Reporting in sir, Operation appears to have been successful. Returning to base.”

Author's Note

The gang manage to pull together and complete the op, but have many questions for their employer though with some luck they might get a straight answer.

As always notify me of any issues in the comments or PM.