The Freelancers

Chapters

Chapter 1 - A Strange Post
Chapter 2 - Recon
Chapter 3 - Deep Dive - Part One
Chapter 5 - A Rare Moment Of Peace
Chapter 6 - The Hideout
Chapter 7 - Shadow Council
Chapter 8 - Someone On The Inside
Chapter 9 - The Mare - Part One
Chapter 10 - The Mare - Part Two
Chapter 11 - The Waiting Game
Chapter 12 - Preperations
Chapter 13 - The Upper City
Chapter 14 - The Office Job
Chapter 15 - Plan B
Chapter 16 - Exposed
Chapter 17 - Down
Chapter 18 - But Not Out
Chapter 19 - Repaired
Chapter 20 - Retail Therapy
Chapter 21 - Resupplied
Chapter 23 - Outburst
Chapter 24 - Jackie
Chapter 25 - Ground Zero - Part One
Chapter 26 - Ground Zero - Part Two
Chapter 27 - Ground Zero - Part Three
Chapter 28 - The Plan
Chapter 29 - Escape
Chapter 30 - Director
Chapter 31 - A Brief Chat
Chapter 32 - The Meeting
Chapter 33 - Moving Out
Chapter 34 - Downed
Chapter 35 - Found
Chapter 36 - More Than A Little Bit Grateful
Chapter 37 - Dusty Plains
Chapter 38 - Communication
Chapter 39 - Message Recieved
Chapter 40 - Back In The Saddle
Chapter 42 - Toward the Everfree
Chapter 43 - Shell
Chapter 44 - Into The Dark
Chapter 45 - Tunnels
Chapter 46 - Breaching the Arcology
Chapter 47 - Monster
Chapter 48 - Dweller
Chapter 49 - Confrontation
Chapter 50 - Blindsided
Chapter 51 - Desperation
Chapter 53 - Ransack The Hideout
Chapter 54 - Deception
Chapter 55 - Realization
Chapter 56 - Failures
Chapter 57 - Return to Canterlot
Chapter 58 - Laying Low
Chapter 59 - Phantom
Chapter 60 - A Gift
Chapter 61 - Another Mystery
Chapter 63 - Improvements - Part Two
Chapter 64 - The Solo
Chapter 65 - Coordination
Chapter 66 - Transfer
Chapter 67 - Entry
Chapter 68 - Processing
Chapter 69 - Hidden
Chapter 70 - Undercover
Chapter 71 - Below Ground
Chapter 72 - Ejected
Chapter 73 - Alone
Chapter 74 - Assault
Chapter 75 - Backdoor
Chapter 76 - Experiments
Chapter 77 - Containment
Chapter 78 - Attack
Chapter 79 - Collapse - Part One
Chapter 81 - Collapse - Part Three
Chapter 82 - Escape
Chapter 83 - Hornet's Nest
Chapter 84 - Epilogue
Chapter 0 - Prologue
Chapter 4 - Deep Dive - Part Two
Chapter 22 - Combing the Haul
Chapter 41 - A Plan for Everything
Chapter 52 - Breach the Tunnel
Chapter 62 - Improvements - Part One
Chapter 80 Collapse - Part Two

Chapter 1 - A Strange Post

Access looked out of his bedroom window and down to the dirty streets for a little while before he turned in for the night.

The sprawl was their home, it was dirty, smelly, and dangerous but they wouldn’t get away with half the things they did if they were anywhere else.

Access pulled the bed sheets over his head with a grumble.

“One day.” he whispered.

Morning arrived quickly and the light shone through the grimy windows of the apartment, which bathed the interior in a sickly yellow glow.

He grumbled as he rolled over onto his side and out the window at the sun, his mouth formed into a sneer as he threw back the covers and got up. He walked into the living room still bleary eyed and half asleep.

“Good morning!” Sheet Rock shouted over the sound of breakfast being cooked.

“Morning.” Access said with a yawn.

“How’d you sleep?”

“Like shit, as usual.”

Sheet Rock giggled a little.

Access looked longingly at his Cyberdeck, he wanted to deep dive into the Net right now but resisted.

Shortly after, Sheet Rock brought the cooked ready meal out to him. It was anyone’s guess what it actually was but their budget didn’t permit anything more extravagant.

“You’re too good to me!” Access joked as he stuck a fork into the pale mass.

Access took a bite of his breakfast and whatever this mass was, it smelt and looked awful. He went a comical shade of green as he swallowed.

“It’s a wonder how the entire sprawl isn’t up in arms if this is what we get to eat!” Access grumbled as he forced down another bite.

“Like they could, you know as well as I do that the majority of ponies out there don’t have the strength or the will to fight like we do.” Sheet Rock said.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to get you down, Sheet.” Access said apologetically.

“Well, we aren’t exactly many steps above them anyway.” Sheet Rock stated coldly.

Money was an issue for many citizens of the Sprawl, much of the work that used to be done by an organic worker could now be done by a machine.

Access shook off the thought as he ate.

“I’m going to get cleaned up, then we can jack in and find something to do.” Sheet Rock stated as she walked off.

“Sure.” Access said with a smile.

Access took this chance to head to his bedroom to get dressed, he threw aside many an item before he settled on a plain black jumpsuit with gray trim, a very common choice of clothing for a Netrunner.

He zipped up the jumpsuit and ran a comb through his mane, satisfied he returned to the living room.

The bathroom door swung open roughly with a slam as Sheet Rock strode out.

“Look who decided to get dressed for once.” Sheet Rock mocked.

Access didn’t take his eyes off the nearby vidscreen. “It’s good manners after all.”

Sheet Rock sat in her lounger, she looked serious for a moment.

“What’s wrong?” Access asked.

“I think we’re going about things the wrong way.” Sheet Rock sighed.

“How do you figure?” Access questioned.

“Between us we have the skills to be doing real jobs, not ones that pay a pittance.”

“What are you suggesting? It’s not as if we have the manpower to break into a facility where the juicy data is.”

“That’s why we should search for something on our own, rather than waiting for someone to hire us.” Sheet Rock stated.

Access wanted to disagree but instead he nodded.

“Jack in. I’ll be waiting.” Sheet Rock said as she slid her neural plugs into the back of her skull.

Access let out a huff as he watched his friend plug in before he laid on his own lounger, he picked up his own neural plugs and slipped them into the back of his skull.

He was blinded by bright white light briefly and as it subsided he found himself within the apartment block’s sub-net, an almost perfect copy of the real thing which glowed in bright neon.

Not all sub-nets were like this but the building manager of their particular block had put in some special effort, a rare trait in this district.

“Took you long enough, normally you can’t wait to get on the Net.” Sheet Rock grumbled.

“There's a first time for anything right?” Access shot back.

The two shared a laugh as they trotted towards the sub-net’s gateway ring, it could take them anywhere that was physically connected to this sub-net.

“We headed to Haven again?” Access asked.

“Definitely.”

“We should consider posting up something of our own when we get there, just a thought.” Access stated.

“Oh sure, what should we put on it? For hire, two Unicorn Netrunners, desperate for a job and will literally do anything.” Sheet Rock mocks.

Access laughed loudly. “That’s a good idea actually, someone might just take pity on us.”

Sheet Rock grumbled as she opened the gateway’s menu, she keyed in their desired destination quickly into the gateway and it sprung into life which bathed the immediate area in its golden light.

Access stuck out his tongue at Sheet Rock and vanished in a flash of light as he crossed the gateway.

Sheet Rock shook her head as she followed him. On the other side was the Haven sub-net, a very popular cybercafe modeled on a diner from Equestria’s past.

“To think ponies would still want to be reminded of the old days.” Access said.

“Nostalgia, I suppose.” Sheet Rock responded.

Access pointed towards the diner itself. “You go and socialize, I’ll post up our skills on the job board outside. Deal?”

“Fine by me.” Sheet Rock said as she turned to leave.

Access wandered away towards the nearby job board and looked at it’s contents, multiple jobs had already been posted that day and most of them paid very little.

One of the job postings caught Access’ eye and he inspected it a little closer for a moment before he took it from the board.

“Unsecured corporate system spotted in the Lower Canterlot region, the area is listed as a gray system but something smells fishy about it. Everyone avoid this one, unless you’re crazy.” Access mumbled as he read.

A nearby avatar noticed Access’ interest in the post and stopped him as he attempted to leave.

“I wouldn’t go near that one if I were you friend, real bad juju.” the avatar said.

“I’m just going to take a peek, I’ve got backup.”

“Not telling you what you can and can’t do friend, but everyone here gets a weird feeling off of that post.”

“Explain.” Access stated.

“Check it, the name of the poster is missing, as is their access point name.” the avatar responded.

Access checked and the details were indeed missing.

“If you’re that insistent on going, the location is embedded in the post. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.”

Access laughed as he walked away, he knew full well Sheet Rock would be all over this no matter how dangerous it’d be.

Author's Note

First real chapter of the rewrite, i hope everyone enjoys it though.

Chapter 2 - Recon

Access barged into the cybercafe and waved the post in Sheet Rock’s face much to her annoyance.

“What? You found something?” Sheet Rock asked as she scrunched up her nose.

“I sure did, unsecured corporate system. Check it.” Access said triumphantly.

Sheet Rock took one look at the post and started to laugh manically which worried Access somewhat.

“Get your things together, we’re hitting this thing tonight.” Sheet Rock grinned.

“Throwing caution to the wind? That’s not like you at all.” Access joked.

“This time is different, if a corp is going to leave something unsecured it’ll be for a reason. We can’t pass up a chance like this!” Sheet Rock stated.

“We need to…” Access said before being cut off.

“Yeah yeah, Jack out. We’ll talk in realspace for this.” She stated before she suddenly vanished.

Access blinked in surprise.

“Looks like you lit a fire in her this time, Access” said one of the cafe avatars.

“I better go, before she does something stupid.” Access said as he too vanished.

Back in the apartment, Sheet Rock was pacing back and forth in the living room mumbling various worries and second guessing herself with worrying intensity.

Access sat up in his lounger before he spoke.

“We need to plan before we hit this thing, it could easily be bait.” Access warned.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Sheet Rock said as she calmed down somewhat.

Access called up a Net map on the apartment’s vidscreen and keyed in the information from the post, a gray system located somewhere in the Lower Canterlot region appeared in the center. One access point was marked and it was a public one, accessible from nearly anywhere in the district.

“Whatever this system is, it only has one way in. Rated gray, for the most part.” Access stated.

“Do we have any ID on who this system belongs to?” Sheet Rock asked.

Access tapped on his keyboard for a moment and ran a few checks, while he did so Sheet Rock had started to pace again.

The vidscreen flickered for a moment which caused Access to blink in surprise. On the vidscreen a distinct image of a crown overlaid with multiple areas which gems would be set into appeared.

Sub-nets or virtual spaces could look like nearly anything, but the most common was to recreate a physical place as you could do things in the Net that wouldn’t be possible in realspace. Other times they were modeled after logos or physical objects.

“That’s weird.” he said.

“What?”

“You know how corps tend to be narcissistic enough to make a digital space look like their logo?”

“Pretty much all corporate sub-nets are like that, whats your point?”

“This one looks like a crown.” Access stated.

The room fell silent and both Access and Sheet Rock stare at each other for the briefest of moments before they became extremely nervous.

The Crown was an organization that housed all the royals Equestria still had, only three were known to exist and they were often seen on public vidscreens giving announcements to the masses.

Neither Princess Celestia or Princess Luna were seen in public very often. If this system truly had anything to do with them it was almost certainly going to be a trap.

“I didn’t know the crown even still existed.” Sheet Rock whispered.

Access sighed. “Not officially, the corps hold all the power but they still willingly answer to the Crown. At least that’s how the stories go.”

Sheet Rock stared at the sub-net map on the vidscreen for a few minutes solid, she tried to figure out this enigma but the only way they’d know was to go for it.

She then looked at Access nervously who shared her sentiment wholeheartedly.

“How likely is it we’ll be caught?”

Access stared at the screen, looking pensively at the security rating of the sub-net. It was rated gray, which meant it was unlikely to be defended at all, but that only accounted for automated security and not hostile Netrunners; and especially not the worst possible thing to encounter when you’re breaking and entering: Netwatch.

“If that security rating is anything to go by, we should be fine. Assuming other Netrunners don’t get on it.” Access stated confidently.

“This is a horrible idea, Access.”

“What happened to that confidence you had before?” Access questioned.

“That was before I knew what we’d be walking into!” she responded as she stamped a fore-hoof against the cheap laminate flooring.

Access sighed. “Look, would it make you feel better if we rented a couple of pods at a net-cafe? a physical one.”

“Fine, but I’m not paying those outrageous prices for two of the damned things, we’re sharing one.” Sheet Rock stated as she gathered her things, most importantly slipping her Cyberdeck and cables in a small harness attached to her left flank.

Access rolled his eyes as he too collected up his Cyberdeck and cables, slipping them into his own harness. The harnesses themselves were bulky, unwieldy and awkward to move in.

The only real way to catch a Netrunner with evidence of their crimes was to get a hold of his or her deck; if authorities wanted to search their Deck’s memory, they’d be in trouble in a flash. Subtlety was the name of the game.

As the two walked out of their apartment the door closed itself behind them and clicked softly as the electronic lock engaged. The hallway was covered in cheap plastic plating that covered the walls and it had begun to show it’s age with cracks and warping in places.

The floor didn’t look much better, plastic plating was cheap but the carpet used in low-class properties like these was on a whole other level and was almost threadbare in places.

The two walked out of the apartment building in relative silence and made their way down the grimy and dim streets where Access broke the silence.

“You sure about this? We can always turn back, find something else.” Access asked gently.

Sheet Rock didn’t answer as she kept her gaze locked onto the street up ahead, she was so focused she barged into several passing ponies as they walked in the opposite direction, eliciting a small grumble as they steadied themselves.

After a few tense minutes, Sheet Rock spoke up. “Something doesn’t feel right about this, Access. We need to watch each others backs while we’re in there.”

“Calm down, that’s why we’re going to a net-cafe, so if they trace us they’ll just get taken to our pod and you know Chilled Coffee doesn’t ask questions.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Sheet Rock grumbled as she shook off her paranoia.

Chilled Coffee was the name of the net-cafe they used for higher risk jobs; the two knew the proprietor, who shared his name with his business, and he didn’t co-operate with authorities in general. If a job went south he’d keep them safe for as long as he could.

Chapter 3 - Deep Dive - Part One

The two walked the streets of the Sprawl in relative silence, up ahead the bright orange neon signage of the Chilled Coffee Netcafe lit up the street as it pulsed and flashed.

The cafe building itself was strangely clean compared to the streets and surrounding buildings and the two raised an eyebrow to the sight.

“Someones been making a special effort.” Sheet Rock huffed.

“Probably so he can make more Euro. Appeal to a bigger crowd maybe.” Access shot back.

Sheet Rock trotted ahead of Access and pushed open the door, a buzzer sounded loudly from behind the counter which got the attention of the front counter clerk, Chilled Coffee, the owner and namesake of the place.

“Welcome to Chilled Coffee, I am Chilled Coffee, how may I help you today!”

Sheet Rock visibly cringed from the repetition and turned her gaze to meet the beige colored pony, hoping her shockingly visible distaste for the name had been missed.

“Mr. Coffee, Yes we would like to a rent a pod, for business reasons. If you would.”

“Just a single pod for yourself, Miss Sheet? Or perhaps a couples pod?” Chilled Coffee said with a grin as he gestured to Access.

Sheet Rock ground her teeth together as she put on a faux smile. “A couples pod would be great!”

Chilled Coffee nods and pushes a small keycard towards them.

The pods would allow them to be in relative safety while they were conducting their recon on the target system, while not particularly resistant to gunfire the pods would ensure their bodies would be in decent shape by the time they came back to Realspace.

The one they’d rented was a couples pod, double sized but still quite small and would fit the two of them comfortably if a little cramped in places.

“We’ll connect there directly. If we get traced, disconnect and run as far and as fast as your legs will take you, Got it?” Sheet Rock informed.

Access nodded. “Got it.”

The two approached their pod, it was a cylindrical structure covered in cables and connectors sat on a wide base, made of a clean white and clinical steel, inside which was a lounger with two seats and slots for Cyberdecks on both sides of the interior, should the client want to use their own interfacing gear.

The pod’s lid swiveled open revealing the cramped interior, Sheet Rock climbed up the short steps and laid down in one of the soft memory foam seats, leaving Access to occupy the other.

The two slid their Cyberdecks into the side slots of the pods interior and plug in their neural cables as the lid swivels closed above them which left them in the dim blue light of the pods interior lighting.

Sheet Rock taps Access’ fore-hoof. “Be careful, yeah?”

“I’m always careful.” Access said with a slight smile.

The pod began to hum as the interior became darker, slowly the two fell unconscious as their minds left their bodies and dove into the Net once more.

Upon connecting to the mysterious sub-net directly, they found themselves in a large expanse of rolling digital landscape and in the center, a stylized golden crown.

“Looks like we have our work cut out for us.” Sheet Rock grumbled as she stared up at the rotating crown structure.

“As long as we don’t act too suspiciously we shouldn’t get noticed by any passing security. This is a gray system after all and we can take out time.“ Access pointed out with a grin.

He had taken the liberty of masking their signals as they arrived, a popular trick for Netrunners to gain themselves some time as long as they didn’t do anything overtly hostile or stay too long.

“Are we going to have to climb all the way to the top of that?” Sheet Rock inquired.

Access called up an AR display and ran a scout program. A small winged cube fizzed into existence beside him and he ordered it to scout ahead of them. It darted off indifferently and begun to scan its surroundings.

Shortly after, the scout program notified Access of a structure below the crown in the distance but couldn’t provide any further details as to its use.

“Hopefully not, from here I can’t pick out any actual structures within the crown itself. It might just be a huge logo. But there is something below it.” Access stated as he dismissed his AR display.

“Let’s see if the structure below it turns up anything then, keep your eyes peeled for anything that looks hostile.”

Access nods and the two step onto the shifting digital landscape that lay before them.

As they got closer they could make out the structure below the crown in the distance, it looked like a tall, dark and yet gleaming needle-like tower that reached into the sky and into the bottom of the crown, evidently so it could rotate cleanly on its axis.

“I have to wonder why they spend so much time on something few would ever see.” Access grumbled.

“Who cares, let’s just get this data and leave already.”

The two come to the base of the needle-like structure, at its base was a number of winged orbs wreathed in a pale gold light. They regarded Access’ scout program with the same indifference it afforded them.

The structure itself had no discernible doors or entryways but had what looked like a control panel on one edge, when Access approached it the panel jumped to life.

“I’ll deal with this, keep an eye out in-case those programs are hostile.” Access stated.

“I’m not so sure, they look like your scout program. Just a different shape and colored gold.” Sheet Rock pointed out.

“Probably the system’s eyes or something.” Access said as he tapped at the panel, which defiantly displayed an Access Denied message, which made him chuckle slightly.

Sheet Rock moved to get a closer look at the programs hovering over head, one dropped to her level and looked her straight in the face which made her step back a little. It felt like she was being studied.

“Something is definitely watching us.” Sheet Rock said as she stared back.

Access put on a scowl as the panel once again defeated his attempts at gaining access to its secrets, he stepped away slightly and rose a hoof in its direction. A jolt of green lightning jumped from the tip of his hoof and at the panel.

The programs overhead flickered slightly along with the entire landscape and with a smile Access stepped back towards the panel with a cocky grin.

“I’ve never let something beat me before and you wont be the one thing that manages to stop me.” he whispered.

All of the programs that buzzed above their heads now had their entire attention focused on the both of them, yet they continued to observe with indifference.

“What the hell did you do?”

“Just a small cracking program, a little louder than I had hoped but it doesn’t seem to have bothered them any.” Access pointed out as he absentmindedly gestured.

A pit formed in Sheet Rock’s stomach as she looked all around her, something was watching them and it seemed perfectly okay with observing them as they both worked.

Author's Note

This one is a two part chapter so i'd be able to keep it under my 1500 word limit, i feel as if it'd make it easier to read if it was shorter per chapter.

By all means feel free to say otherwise, it'd be interesting to see peoples views on such things.

As always, tell me of any glaring issues as they are noticed.

Chapter 5 - A Rare Moment Of Peace

Access having now got himself together and into a state where he could form a sentence without grunting, set about pulling the memory chips out of both of their Cyberdecks; A simple enough affair with steady and purposeful use of a screwdriver.

He sat at his small metal workbench and set both his and Sheet Rock’s Cyberdecks on it, the table itself was covered in tools with his personal Terminal off to one side.

“I just want to put it out there, I don’t trust that things word one bit.”

“I don’t either, it stinks of a corporate trap. I find it very hard to believe a machine would willingly rebel against its masters without a very good reason.”

“What does that stupid machine expect us to do with this data though.We don’t even know what it is we have!” Access said angrily as he threw his screwdriver across the room with a burst of magical force.

It embedded itself deeply into the wall like it was made of tissue, Sheet Rock stared at Access over his outburst with concern.

“Have you taken your medication today?” Sheet Rock stated sternly.

“Yes damnit!” Access spat. “Of course I have.”

Sheet Rock lit her own horn and pulled the screwdriver out the wall, she flipped it over so the handle faced Access. He gingerly took it from her and resumed his task.

He worked in silence and soon had both memory chips pried free from their Cyberdecks, he dropped both chips into a small plastic tray gently so as not to damage them.

“Now to take them to the hideout. Just anywhere but here.” he stated with a huff.

“You think the others can make sense of whats on them?”

Access shrugged. “Probably. I was thinking someone might buy them instead.”

“X9 told us to mine it, not sell it.”

“And you’re just going to do what the whacked out AI says?”

“No, I’m just saying we should keep a level head and see what it is we got first.”

“Fine. Fine.”

Sheet Rock smiled as she sat back in her seat. “Dinner?”

Access smiled at the thought of a hot meal. “Sure, may as well after the shit we just went through.”

Sheet Rock stood up with a small nod and stepped into the kitchen, she thought for a moment about Access’ mental state after the two got forcibly booted. His eyes, the breathlessness, the lack of energy all pointed to the fact he had lied about the medication.

She began to get angry as she placed two nondescript foil boxes into a barely working oven whose door she slammed closed in a poorly disguised attempt to remain calm.

It was important that Access take that medication regularly, even more so when she considered the implications of him not doing as he was told.

That discussion wasn’t one she wanted to have, not right now and certainly not when they had little money.

“About twenty minutes. Give or take.” she called out.

“Assuming the oven doesn’t blow out a breaker again.” Access joked.

Sheet Rock enjoyed the rare moments of peace the two got, she watched Access tap away on his terminal and noticed a chip inserted into a small set of reader hardware. Likely he was already trying to sift through what they got.

Dedication was one of Access’ strong suits but moderation wasn’t. She chalked that up to how chromed he was from horn to hoof, it was surprising just how strong his magic was even with all that cyberware he had.

Normally, ponies that had been highly augmented found their magic becoming progressively stunted the more chrome they were fitted with. Unicorns would find their spells failing or outright backfiring; Pegasi lost their ability to fly and Earth Ponies would become sick and weak.

Sheet Rock snapped out of her daydream as the oven beeped noisily, signifying their food was at least hot if not edible. She levitated the two containers out to the living room where Access was still typing away without a care.

“Is it me or does that smell delicious?” Access said as he sniffed the air.

“Could it be? Something in the sprawl that isn’t tasteless?”

Access peeled the lid of the foil container back to reveal what looked and smelt like Macaroni & Cheese.

“Since when can we afford actual food?”

Sheet Rock shrugged. “Gotta have a treat once in a while, right?”

Access stared at the food intently as he hungrily took a bite. “You know you’re my best friend right?”

“Don’t flatter me, Access, you know it doesn’t work. Besides, I’m your ONLY friend.” Sheet Rock said with a mirthful laugh as she dug into her own dinner.

Access put a fore-hoof to his chest with feigned offense. “Ouch.”

Sheet Rock stifled a laugh as she dug into her dinner, she knew Access was playing along with her but she found it adorable when he feigned offense.

“Make a copy of those chips while you’re at it.”

“Already way ahead of you there, boss.”

Sheet Rock glanced at Access’ terminal and at the tray beside it which had six of the small golden edged gray-cased chips in it.

“Why six chips?” she questioned.

“Two for me, Two for you. With two to take to the crew to deal with.”

“No duplicate files?”

Access shook his head and turned his terminal’s screen to face Sheet Rock, she saw hundreds if not thousands of files. All with scrambled filenames.

He pointed at the screen and at the available space on the chips. “Our deck’s individual storage wasn’t big enough for it all, so X9 split it up between us. Even then I don’t think we had enough space for what it intended to give us.”

Sheet Rock tapped at the screen gently. “I assume these are all encrypted?”

“Looks like it. We ain’t cracking this though, no way in hell. Not unless you have a spare supercomputer in your back pocket.”

“You’ve tried?”

“I wouldn’t even know where to start. Crypto isn’t my specialty.”

Sheet Rock sighed and set her hooves on Access’ shoulders. “Call it a day then, no point in staring at a problem and hoping it’ll vanish.”

He nodded and pushed himself away from the table. “Yeah you’re probably right. Those two could do a better job than I ever could when it comes to Crypto.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Access. Remember what the crew said to you?”

He thought for a moment, his eyes lit up with realization as he dug for the memory. “Weak alone, Strong together?”

“That’s right. Each of us has our own specialty. Alone we aren’t dangerous at all, together we kick ass and take names.”

Access laughed loudly. “That was cheesier than dinner was.”

Sheet Rock put on a fake smile. She knew that Access tried far too hard to do everything on his own far too often and at times it made the two break out into violent arguments.

Access’ partly chromed lower-jaw was evidence of her anger during a particularly bad time of their lives. She visibly winced at the memory but pushed it aside not wanting to entertain the thought.

“Euro for your thoughts, Sheet?”

“Nothing important.”

“If you say so.”

Author's Note

Another short one.

A little moment of peace for our two dysfunctional netrunners.

Chapter 6 - The Hideout

Sheet Rock yawned loudly as she awoke from her slumber to a still gloomy and dimly lit bedroom, her tank top hung loosely from her body as she sat up. Her ears flopped to her skull as she swayed from side to side; she wasn’t an early riser by any means.

“What time is it?” she grumbled as she stared over at her clock.

Through her bleary eyed stupor she saw that it was near on seven in the morning, not early at all to most ponies but for her it was an ungodly time to be awake; Not a sound could be heard in the apartment, outside the sound of rain hitting the windows could be heard and the shouts of passing ponies and angry motorists.

She sighed and dragged herself out of bed, throwing the covers aside into a messy heap on the floor and made her way out to the living room. It was empty and eerily quiet.

“The big idiot better not still be asleep.” she grumbled.

She then noticed the “New Message” in the corner of her vision pulsing slowly, indicating she had a message waiting and with another grumble she opened it wave a dismissive wave of her hoof and began to read.

“Sheet, I’ve just headed out on my own to our storage locker to pick a couple of things up. You’ll understand why when I get back and by the time you see this I wont be far.”

She frowned as she read the message but could appreciate Access’ efforts to keep them safe, it must be serious if he went out on his own.

All she could do for now was wait, she absentminded flipped on the vidscreen affixed to the wall and began to scroll through the various channels. It wasn’t long until she came to the local news channel after scrolling through a lot of dead air, the topic caught her attention and made her blood run cold.

A group of news reporters sat around a large round glass table and speculated among themselves about a recent incident.

“Looks like things are hotting up again, fillies and gentlecolts. Corporate police are out in force across Upper Canterlot for as of yet unknown reasons, we’ve reached out to them for comment but they weren’t overly fond of talking.” the first reporter said.

“It seems something has indeed happened, with the deployment of some heavily armed troops now flooding Upper Canterlot one has to wonder just what has them so riled.” another spoke.

Sheet’s eyes went wide as she attempted to reach Access, her raised hoof shook as she scrolled to his name in her contacts; She stared at the display in her vision as she waited for what felt like an eternity before the call connected.

“Saw the news then?” Access said as his voice finally met Sheet’s ears.

With a sharp inhale Sheet spoke. “Yeah, I did. What’s taking you so long?”

“I got delayed, corp police are everywhere. But I managed to stash our chips in the locker before they swarmed through.”

“Good. What about the other ones we were taking to the hideout? I don’t see them anywhere.”

“I’ve got them on me, I hid them in one of my cyberlimbs. You should think about heading to the hideout now, probably going to be safer than sticking around there.”

“Right. I shouldn’t be too long.”

“Cool. See you then.” Access said with relief as the call ended.

Sheet Rock ran to her bedroom and grabbed her Cyberdeck then hastily threw on a clean white tank top, cargo shorts and her harness, she roughly pulled the door open and broke into a gallop as soon as she got out the apartment.

Access watched as the call disconnected, he sat back in a ragged seat as the two other members of their crew peered over their screens at him.

“Alright. She’s on her way.” he called out.

“I bet she’s running here, just so she can break your other jawbone for making her worry.” a scarlet maned, pristine white coated mare giggled from behind a large set of screens.

“Very funny, Scarlet.”

“Ignore her Access, that’s what I usually do.” A silver maned stallion retorted gruffly.

“How do you manage it, Bulwark?”

“I’m mostly deaf these days, so it’s pretty easy to ignore her.” he said with a deep chuckle.

Scarlet Dawn and Adamantine Bulwark were two fellow Netrunners who Sheet Rock and Access frequently exchanged information with, among others.

It was almost unheard of for Netrunners to meet outside of Netspace for many reasons but sometimes bands of like-minded miscreants would join together to tackle a common goal.

“Anyway, I made a copy of the chips I told you about. Corporate. Encrypted though.”

Scarlet gestured at Access to come over, her head still buried in the cool blue glow of her terminal.

“Pass me the chip, I’ll have a look.” she said with marked interest.

Sheet Rock was close to the hideout. it was hidden under some disused buildings in one of the oldest areas of the Sprawl which was reduce to little more than a pile of smoking rubble after the last corporate wars.

It wasn’t deemed necessary for it to be rebuilt and likely wouldn’t ever be. This however meant that someone could easily hide in the tunnels and vaults underneath that part of the district, often with little chance of being found.

Much of the sprawl was run down and wasn’t far off of collapsing into rubble like these buildings had, much of the grime in the streets was brick dust, rust and various pieces of discarded trash that had clumped together in a kind of disgusting slurry.

It coated the streets Sheet had galloped through to get here and even these collapsed buildings were covered in it.

She kicked aside some fallen metal plating which revealed a small hatch that led into the tunnels below, with a grunt of exertion she pulled aside the cover and jumped down into the depths.

The gate to the hideout wasn’t far, she just hoped her keycard still worked.

“This isn’t going to be easy to crack. I don’t suppose you brought the key with you at all?” Scarlet joked.

“Technically, we didn’t steal it. It was given to us.”

Scarlet looked at Access incredulously. “By who?”

He shrugged. “Don’t know. All it gave us was its designation.”

“An AI? That’s pretty wild.”

“By the name of X9-01-A, ring any bells with either of you?”

Bulwark and Scarlet shake their heads vigorously.

“Didn’t think so. We need to focus on getting this data decrypted though, maybe it can tell us something useful.” Access said as he gestured dismissively.

“We’ll do it. For a fee that is.” Bulwark said with a sly smile.

Access smirked as he sat at one of the free desks within this cavernous space. “Decrypt it and we’ll see. Sorry to make you work for your paycheck, Bulwark.”

“Hard-ass.” Bulwark shot back with a smirk of his own.

A soft beep echoed it’s way from the entryway and the heavy steel door slid open noisily, Sheet Rock stepped through and scanned her eyes over at the group of desks on the far side.

She hadn’t been here in months but it still looked like a home away from home, graffiti covered the high and dark metal walls and the smell of snack foods and soda filled the air. It smelt like a Netrunner lair through and through.

“I see this place still looks and smells like a frat pad.” Sheet giggled as she walked in, her eyes slowly scanning the walls and ceiling.

“Wouldn’t have it any other way!” Scarlet shouted from across the room with a fizzing soda can in her hoof.

Sheet Rock spotted Access sat at a desk, while she was a little upset he didn’t leave her a more noticeable message she spoke calmly as she approached.

“You said you had to pick something up? What was it?”

He turned to Sheet with a calmer expression than she was used to. The news must’ve rattled him more than she first thought.

“I think we should think about arming ourselves from now on, to that end I picked up a couple of things we looted from way back when.”

“Normally I’d disagree but I can see your point, I saw the news.”

Access nodded as he gestured to a Plasteel case he’d placed on the desk. “Better to be safe than sorry. Do you remember how to use a gun though?“

Sheet Rock picked up a nine millimeter sub-machine gun from the Plasteel case in the glow of her magic and tilted her head slightly as she inspected it.

“Of course. I’m trusting you to watch my back, Access. I’d hate for us to get split up again like the last time.”

Access huffed. “Won’t happen this time around, you have my word.”

“Do you promise?”

“I promise.” he said as he picked up his own choice of weapon from the case, a simple ten millimeter sidearm.

Their conversation was cut short by Scarlet. She looked like she had something important to say, her hooves flailed wildly as if she was trying to desperately get their attention.

“I’d advise against going out right now though. Local nomads say we got a group of ponies sweeping through the Sprawl now. No corporate markings or IFF tags.”

The two looked to Scarlet with confusion as she turned her terminal screen to face the two. Images had been released by news agencies depicting ponies of unknown origin carrying out a particularly callous and violent search, many of the ponies they could see in the images were battered, bruised and bloodied.

Something caught Scarlet’s eye, an image of a pony of indeterminate race clad in heavy gray armor covered in hydraulics and glowing runes, stomping messily through a crowd of angry ponies.

Access tapped at the screen. “That isn’t a good sign.”

Bulwark looked up from his terminal with a raised eyebrow. “Looks like a regular suit of Power Armor to me.”

Access shook his head. “No it isn’t. Look at the runes around its midsection and helmet. That’s the product of cybernetics, magic and one hell of a lot of euro.”

All four present stare at the image with equal parts curiosity and worry. That Power Armor was built to take a beating and whoever these ponies were, they had some seriously powerful allies.

Author's Note

Little bit of a longer one this time, wasn't worth splitting into two parts.

The shift in perspective felt a little janky but i think spending some time on describing how the Sprawl looked in general was worth the extra effort.

Chapter 7 - Shadow Council

In the center of Upper Canterlot sat a tall gleaming white structure lit by fluorescent lighting, ponies in pure white and gold jumpsuits came and went happily from the tower, things were calm and serene despite the heavy presence of security throughout the steel and concrete of its surroundings.

This tower was the corporate HQ of Equi-Tech, a major player in the consumer technology market and one of the most secure facilities in the nation.

High above street level five ponies sat around a large ebony black conference table, each one more angry than the last along with a stunned and deflated Net Ops ponies.

“Someone tell me precisely what the fuck happened, how did your department manage to let not one but TWO intruders through!” a white coated and blond maned stallion growled.

“Mr Bright Sun, sir. We don’t know. X9 must have done it on it’s own, we didn’t detect any outside connections before it was too late.” an utterly terrified jump-suited pony answered.

“Might I interject for a moment? You’re going to give yourself a hemorrhage if you keep this up, Bright Sun.” a pony with an orange coat and curly red mane and tail said calmly.

The jumpsuit wearing pony and his colleagues took this chance to flee from the room while they weren’t being watched, not wanting to another grilling from their completely furious boss.

Bright Sun took a few calming breaths before speaking again. “Grim Dawn, Altered Delight and Carbon Rod. As you’ve just heard I’ve called you here to discuss… an issue we’ve faced. One of the experimental AIs has gone rogue and transmitted an unknown quantity of data to an outside source.”

Grim Dawn was a charcoal gray Bat pony with a rough and messy scarlet mane and tail, her cutie mark was a black cloud. “Have you located these pests yet? It can’t have been hard.”

“That was my question too, Bright Sun.” Altered Delight spoke with a sultry tone, she was a Pegasus with a yellow coat and cerulean mane and tail with a pill bottle cutie mark.

“I can assure you we are doing everything in our power to…”

“Clearly you aren’t, do we have to pull our support for your little scheme?” barked Carbon Rod, he was a Unicorn with a silver coat and a black mane and tail with a black diamond cutie mark.

“T- That wont be necessary.” Bright Sun stammered.

The orange pony stepped away from the window with a smirk and faced the conference table. “Before we get down to business, I want to introduce myself to you all, since we’ll be working together very closely indeed.”

“Do tell. Mister?” Carbon Rod said with suspicion.

“Riot. You may call me Riot.”

“What is your affiliation? I can’t say I’ve seen you before at any meetings.”

Riot smirked. “I represent an interested party that has a habit of meddling in your internal affairs for personal gain, to your benefit of course. I have ways of making your enemies quite literally vanish, it’s something of a specialty of mine.”

They nod in approval after some moments of silence.

Grim Dawn raised his hoof and pointed it at Riot with a stern look. “Bright Sun trusts you, so we trust you, at least for now. How do you intend on finding our breach?”

Riot laughs a deep cackling laugh. “We find out who we are dealing with, dabble in some infiltration and shall we say, replacement, of those troublesome elements.”

“Oh I see. You’re one of those kinds of ponies. You pick some interesting company indeed Bright Sun, I hope you know what you’re doing.”

Bright Sun cleared his throat in an attempt to redirect attention back on himself.

“Now that Riot has introduced himself let’s get down to it. As you know, Prototype X9-01-A has decided to make a poor decision, it transmitted highly classified data to an outside destination. We believe it attempted to contact this outside influence for some time until someone or something answered its call.”

“Any idea where it sent our secrets?” Grim Dawn questioned as he looked over his glasses.

“We tracked the signal to a specific net cafe in the sprawl, by the name of Chilled Coffee. While the intruders were indeed very skilled and managed to hide who they were specifically, they didn’t account for the fact they weren’t very subtle while breaking in.”

“You had better be sure, if you send a team and you’re wrong they WILL vanish.”

“You forget we have the best in the market working on this. I’ll leave this one down to you, Riot.” Bright Sun said with exasperation as he gestured to an amused Riot.

He let a freakish grin spread across his face. “Say no more, I’ll send my team in and we’ll find out precisely who was there at the time.”

“Consider cutting X9’s connection to the net for now as well. It can’t be trusted and neither can its fellows.” Carbon Rod stated as he glared at Bright Sun.

“Was the data encrypted?” Altered Delight questioned.

Bright Sun nodded. “Yes, they aren’t cracking it. I assure you.”

Nobody believed that, it was only a matter of time before the data was decrypted. They had to act fast and with so little to work on, things weren’t in their favor.

“You know as well as I do that whoever has it will eventually find a way. I want a full report on my desk by the end of today, Bright Sun. You really screwed up big time.” Grim Dawn growled.

Grim Dawn, Altered Delight and Carbon rod get up and vacate the room leaving Bright Sun to himself, he began to sweat profusely as he pressed an intercom button on his desk.

“Lavender, get me a full report of the breach and be quick about it. Deliver copies to Grim Dawn, Altered Delight and Carbon Rod too.”

“That’s odd.” Scarlet mused.

Access’ ears perked up and he walked up behind her. “What is?”

“One of the files here. It’s not as protected as it should be.” Scarlet said as she jabbed a hoof at the file in question.

“Not as big either, it’s almost a quarter of the size.”

Access hummed to himself. “A file index maybe? I mean there are a lot of files here and it’d make some sense.”

“That seems the most likely to me.” Scarlet added.

“Can I leave it to you, there’s something I need to take care of.” Access responded as he stared at the clock in his vision.

Scarlet nodded. “That’s what we’re here for.”

Access walked away from the desks and towards a small seating area where most of the belongings he and Sheet had brought with them were sat, in his pack was that bottle of white oblong pills he’d been taking for a few months now.

He pulled the tube out of his pack and shook a single pill out into his magic and stared at it in disgust, the pill floated into his mouth and as he swallowed it, he screwed up his face at the bitter and chalky taste which made him cough roughly.

Bulwark gave Access a concerned look. “You good over there?”

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

“Then you can help me out over here. I need your input on a few things, wont take a moment I promise.”

Access rolled his eyes and made his way over to Bulwark and pulled up a seat. Progress was very slow and it was looking more and more likely that they wouldn’t be able to decrypt this data any time soon, not without some major help.

Chapter 8 - Someone On The Inside

Riot stood in front of the net cafe surrounded by his heavily armored team and the door slammed open which shattered the glass panes causing them to tumble to the ground in multiple pieces.

The sound made Chilled Coffee himself snap to attention, where he locked eyes with Riot and found several carbine rifle barrels pointed at him.

“There something I can do for you gentlecolts?” he stammered.

Riot stepped out from the crowd. “There is. You’re going to hand over the connection logs of every pod you have.”

“Am I now? I don’t think I will.”

“Don’t play cute. I and my employers know full well you know what I’m talking about, the dirty and scummy Netrunning type have been up to no good and their signal came from this very building. You facilitated the crime they committed.”

Chilled Coffee smirked. “I can’t say I know what you’re talking about.”

A single shot rings out which embedded itself in a console sat to his immediate left, it shattered into pieces on the floor where it came to a rest leaving Chilled Coffee a little shaken.

The trooper that fired the shot stepped back and rested his weapon to his side. “Apologies sir. I slipped.”

Riot pointed a hoof at the trooper. “Apology accepted. You didn’t hit anything of value anyway.”

The troopers chuckle to themselves which left Chilled Coffee a little bewildered.

“I don’t know what you expect me to tell you. I don’t ask for names, that much should be obvious.”

“Then connection logs will do fine. Give them up or we’ll have to resort to something more drastic, it’s as simple as that.”

Chilled Coffee turns a deep shade of red in anger. “Who do you think you are, coming in here like that and terrorizing my patrons and establishment?”

Riot sighed and gestured for his team to grab Chilled Coffee, who dragged him out of his seat and across the shop floor and pulled him to the door. Outside, Riot delivered a swift kick to Chilled Coffee’s stomach which sent him reeling back into the pavement.

“You’d better start taking this seriously, you get me?” Riot bellowed.

Chilled Coffee reluctantly nodded, as Riot’s team join him outside Chilled Coffee coughed up some blood.

“Now, let me ask again. Hoof over all your records and the names of all your customers.”

“Or what? I know your kind, always sneaking about and causing trouble for us. I wont give up my customers to the likes of you!”

Riot shook his head which made his long curls bounce in the night breeze. “My kind? How rude of you, friend. Bag him, he’s coming with us.”

One of the troopers stepped forward. “Sir, what about the objectives?”

“Bring in Z3 and G2 and have them extract the records the more elegant way, after you’re done you have my full permission to level the place. Send a message to the scum that they don’t get to fuck with us without penalty.”

Chilled Coffee looked up at Riot in anger. “You can’t-”

Riot didn’t give him the chance to answer and struck him over the head with a Plasteel baton, it resounded with a sickening crack as it contacted the back of his head.

He let out an annoyed huff and gestured for the now still body of Chilled Coffee to be loaded into a waiting van, as he stepped away he turned to his troopers and stared for a few moments.

“Let me know when Z3 and G2 are done here, Remind them to strip all systems they find of their storage drives and anything that looks remotely useful.”

They nod and give a salute as they get to work. Within the hour the place was empty of patrons who left with little coercion once they saw the heavily armed group flooding back into the establishment.

It was no small task keeping the rabble out of the net cafe and word soon began to spread about what happened, multiple groups stopped and gawked at the shattered shopfront as well as the heavily armed troopers milling about.

“Move along everyone, this has nothing to do with any of you.” one of the troopers outside bellowed at the crowd.

Pain shot through Chilled Coffee’s head, likely from the rough blow he received. He looked around his featureless concrete cell, it had no windows and no markings on any of the walls inside or outside of his cell that he could see.

He had no idea where he was and no idea who he’d been taken by, he could hear the sound of hooves echoing down the hallway and the sound of a baton being dragged along the bars as whoever it was came closer.

“You.” he growled as Riot stepped into view with the same smug smirk as ever.

Riot gave Chilled Coffee an annoyed look. “I warned you this would happen didn’t I? If you had hoofed over the names and records we politely requested, I wouldn’t have had to drag you here.”

“Like you would have kept your word anyway, you mindless lackey!”

Riot clapped his fore-hooves to his face in fake offense. “Your words cut deep, Mr Coffee. I don’t think I’ll ever recover from that.”

“Are you mocking me?”

Riot smirked. “In truth, I wanted to see if I was dealing with a smart stallion or a woefully misguided stallion.”

Chilled Coffee huffed in disgust. “If you’re here to bargain, i don’t make deals with the likes of you.”

Riot shook his head. “We can sort this out via a little understanding, can’t we? I wouldn’t want your family to have take the punishment of being associated with a criminal such as yourself. It’d be easy enough to have them work hard labor until they drop, you know.”

“You’re a complete psychopath. You know that?”

“Things would be so much easier if ponies like you weren’t so difficult, i could very easily make all this nasty business vanish, if we can come to a deal.”

While he didn’t want his family involved in such a shady deal or acting as collateral, he had little choice now he’d been locked up and this monstrous pony would likely follow through on his threats should he refuse, the thought made him physically sick to his stomach.

“What do I get out of such a deal?”

“You’ll feed us information when we ask for it, as well as a generous stipend to buy your silence. Maybe you could put that towards some renovations?” Riot said mockingly.

“How kind, it’s the least you could do after wrecking my establishment, destroying my livelihood and threatening my family.” Chilled Coffee said with a sneer.

“I just want to mention, If you think you can get away with not following through with your part of the bargain at any point, we can always pay your family a visit. But you’re a smart stallion and you wouldn’t go back on a deal, would you?”

Riot gestured to a high-caliber revolver strapped to his chest, the kind you’d use for anti-armor ops. It could easily punch through a pony and a rather cruel weapon to use on an unarmored opponent.

“So, Mr Coffee, Do we have a deal?”

“Yes. We do.”

Riot put on a sick smile. “Now was that so hard? I’ll have someone come down in a minute and have you transferred upstairs. Then you’ll tell us everything you know, understood?”

“Fine. As long as you keep up your end of the bargain.”

“I am a pony of my word, Mr Coffee.”

Chapter 9 - The Mare - Part One

“What did you need?” Access asked.

“I think you and Sheet should head home.” Bulwark stated plainly.

“Why? There’s still so much work to be done.”

“There’s not a hell of a lot you can do right now around here, actually. I think you’d be better off trying to act normal and shake off a bit of suspicion, we aren’t going to get anywhere any time soon.”

Access chuckled jokingly. “Oh, here’s me thinking you had something important to say.”

Bulwark laughed gruffly.

“I suppose you’re right at any rate. Looks like you’re gonna have to wait for that fat paycheck.”

Bulwark waved a hoof dismissively. “Don’t worry about it for now, focus on something else for a little while.”

Scarlet and Sheet Rock stopped their discussion on seeing Access approach, fresh from his little chat with Bulwark.

“What’s up? I saw Bulwark pulling you aside, he give you another one of his trademark lectures?”

Access nodded. “Something like that. He thinks we should consider this a long term project for now, and I’m inclined to agree with him.”

Scarlet looked up from her terminal with a smile. “He’s right. There’s no rush after all, we should approach this another day with a fresh perspective.”

The two walked down the dimly lit evening streets, the orange glow of the streetlamps illuminated the darker parts of the street as the sun started to vanish below the horizon.

“Access, do you really think Scarlet and Bulwark will make any headway with the data? Answer honestly.”

“Probably not, no. Right now we’re doing the equivalent of shouting at it until it decrypts itself. All in all it’s been a massive waste of time.”

Sheet Rock shook her head. “Fat lot of good all that waiting and worrying did though, my nerves are totally shot.”

“Maybe you need some of my meds too. Plenty to go around.”

Sheet Rock slapped Access upside the head playfully with a giggle. “Not with the rate you take them, you big idiot.”

The two shared a laugh as they walked down Gold Street, the long and winding main road leading from the gates to Upper Canterlot and through the sprawl as a whole. Something felt off as they approached the net cafe located on the road just adjacent.

Access took the chance to peer inside at the gloomy interior as he passed hoping to see Chilled Coffee inside, however it was full of relatively new looking equipment and furnishings, completely unlike what had been inside during their last visit.

Access gestured to Sheet Rock who stood next to him and peered in for a look herself. “Since when did Chilled Coffee have the money for renovations, let alone new equipment?”

“Who knows? Maybe we should ask where his new found fortune came from.” Sheet Rock stated in annoyance and she galloped off, eager to sleep in a real bed.

Access looked into the net cafe again with a mixture of suspicion and curiosity, as he was about to walk away two mechanical pony shaped figures stepped out from an adjacent alleyway.

They looked custom-made but lacked many of the cosmetic options commercial synths were sold with and looked much more robotic, the two synths glanced at Access for a moment curiously before they made their way past him and towards the gates to Upper Canterlot.

The lobby of the apartment building was stacked high with luggage and various cardboard boxes, a bat pony mare approached the reception desk and tapped the glass gently in an attempt to get the attention of the snoozing reception stallion.

He awoke with a start and profusely apologized over and over, the bat pony mare assured him that it was fine.

“Now I have your attention, is this Silver Blood house?”

“That it is. You a new tenant?”

“I am. Name’s Starry Night.”

The reception pony scrolled down the list of new tenants on his terminal, in search of her name and cutie mark registration. When he found it he passed her a small keycard from a nearby cubbyhole where it clattered noisily onto the desk.

“It’s up on floor four, door six. Do you need help getting your things up the stairs?”

“No I’ll be fine, I’ve got a personal Synthetic for that.” she answered, the metallic automaton beside her nodded in agreement.

Starry Night turned to her waiting Synthetic. “Start hauling these upstairs. If I’m going to be stuck here for the foreseeable future we may as well get comfortable.”

The synthetic nodded and set about picking up the various cases strewn about the lobby using small robotic limbs that unfolded from its back, despite the weight of the cases the synth was easily able to carry the vast majority of the cases with little effort.

Towards the door, two scruffy-looking ponies entered and not paying the bat pony mare any mind, simply walked past her without a thought. The bat pony mare glanced at them suspiciously for a moment as they passed, and she picked up the last remaining luggage case and staggered with it towards the main stairwell.

“Should really have packed lighter.” she puffed as she slowly ascended the stairs.

Access and Sheet Rock trudged up the apartment building stairwell, tired, aching and above all wanting to forget about the events of the past few days.

“So anyway, I told Grand Gala she should probably check her attitude and…” Access said jokingly as he spotted an unfamiliar synthetic up ahead.

Sheet Rock glanced at Access expecting him to finish but spotted the synth as well as it stared unflinchingly at the door to apartment six.

The Synthetic looked much like a pony did but had a noticeably slender build, silicone artificial skin and a holographic mane and tail. Its eyes glowed with much the same pale blue light as its mane and tail did, while a tight grouping of LEDs acted in the facsimile of a mouth which allowed it a somewhat limited way of showing emotion.

“Someone’s got a lot of money, wonder who that belongs to.” Sheet Rock mused.

“What I wouldn’t give for a Synthetic like that, I have to admit I’m kinda jealous.”

The two came to the door to apartment four and were surprised to see the synthetic was now looking at them with an unnerving, yet curious gaze.

“Neighbors, I assume?” it spoke in a high pitched, digitized tone.

“Since when do synths own apartments?” Access said off hoof.

“They don’t. I’m waiting for my owner, no doubt caught up dragging her rather large set of personal effects up here.”

“Must be pretty desperate if she moved here of all places. I almost feel bad for her.”

“You don’t know the half of it. No doubt she’ll regale you with the story, it’s one she enjoys telling.” the synth responded.

It looked down the hallway at an approaching bat pony mare who struggled with a case of belongings, it rolled its eyes about as well as something without traditional eyes could and excused itself.

Sheet Rock and Access simply looked on in amazement as the robotic limbs of the synth unfolded once more and lifted the case off the bat pony mare’s back, she spotted the two watching her from down the hall and gave them a smile as she approached.

Chapter 10 - The Mare - Part Two

“Making friends are we, Snowy?” the bat pony mare said joyfully.

“Snowy?” Access said confused.

“The young miss is referring to me.” the stoic synth responded.

Starry Night gestured to Snowy’s flank, where its serial number was printed along with the logo of Equi-Tech, a stylized pony head with a flowing golden mane topped with an equally radiant halo.

“SNW-Y9-2? Oh I get it, the first four characters. Very clever.”

The bat pony mare extended a hoof toward the two in greeting. “I’m Starry Night, I’m a bit down on my luck as you can probably tell. I hope we can get along with one another.”

The bat pony mare spoke with an almost upper-class tone and wasn’t the sort you’d expect to be relocated to the sprawl, it caught the two off guard and they stared at her for a few moments.

Sheet Rock looked the mare over, she wore a short sleeved jumpsuit in a similar color to her chocolate brown coat. Her tone betrayed her origin as a former Upper-Canterlot resident but her choice of attire and the company she kept said otherwise, it was all very strange.

“Well, you’ll find we’re quite accepting around here, unlike other districts.” Sheet Rock assured.

“I find the best way towards fitting in is to make some acquaintances, correct? Please do come in, I insist!”

The two found themselves being pulled roughly into the apartment without any time to protest and left the two with a bewildered expression.

The shape was a perfect copy of their own as expected, though this one was mostly unfurnished save for a few small plastic seats and a small glass table the last tenant must’ve left behind. In one corner sat a stack of cardboard boxes and luggage cases that had yet to be unpacked.

“Miss, Shouldn’t you unpack first? I mean you’ve just got here, we can leave the introductions for later, right?” Access said.

“Nonsense! And please, call me Star, you don’t have be so formal.” she said playfully as she gestured for them to sit.

The two sat down in a couple of the free seats, and not being used to pleasantries they couldn’t find the words to engage in small talk with someone they had only just met. Star noticed their apprehension and broke the silence with a few choice words.

“Perhaps you two should introduce yourselves? I did welcome you into my home after all.”

“Where are my manners, I’m Sheet Rock. Pleased to meet you.“

Access rolled his eyes. “I’m Access Granted. Good to see another friendly face around here.”

Star nodded and smiled appreciatively. “Now we know each others names I hope we can at least get along. Snowy, introduce yourself as well while I get our guests something to drink.”

The Synthetic stepped forward and bowed slightly. “Designation, Snowy. Model X Synthetic, personal assistant and network access terminal.”

A message flashed up in Access’ vision from Sheet Rock. “What a strange pair, keep an ear out for anything suspicious sounding.”

Access shot back a message of his own. “I’m not getting any weird vibes off of them honestly, but alright.”

After a few minutes of rummaging through various boxes, Star trotted out happily with a tray of aluminum soda cans balanced precariously on her back. Access picked up the tray in his magic and set the tray down gently on the table.

“There’s a lot of boxes here for just personal belongings, isn’t there?” Sheet Rock questioned.

“I thought if my employers were going to kick me out of a property they practically gave me, I figured I should take everything that was technically mine. I don’t think they’ll miss any of it.” Star giggled mischievously.

Access snorted in amusement. “That's the sort of thing I’d do. Just the right balance of petty and justified.”

“What did you do to deserve being put down here with ponies like us? It must’ve been pretty severe.” Sheet Rock asked.

Star fidgeted on the spot for a moment. “It’s a bit of a sore subject, needless to say my employer did and said some things I didn’t agree with as unsurprising as that probably is. I made the mistake of voicing those complaints and got relocated down here.”

“Did they fire you too? That’d be a bit of a kick in the teeth.” Access added.

“Thankfully they didn’t. For what it’s worth I work for Darkspace, who believe it or not, aren’t as evil as Equi-Tech or Crystal Dynamics, but that isn’t saying much. I’m just glad I got out of there with my job and reputation intact.”

“You’re pretty forthcoming with that information, not many would take kindly for a corpo like yourself living among them.”

Star shrugged. “Trust me, even up there in the upper city, you get screwed one way or another. No matter who you work for.”

Access took a gulp of his drink. “Well that checks out, my father would agree with you.”

“Who’d he work for?”

“Some security company, I don’t remember which. He screwed up once or twice and was given the boot, dunno where he is now.”

Star stared at Access strangely. “I guess nobody is ever truly safe from circumstance.”

“Not so much circumstance, he should really have been more careful given his position. Course we had to move down here after he got the boot, but I don’t mind since I met some pretty swell ponies because of it.” he said as she gave a side glance at Sheet Rock.

“Maybe we have more in common than I thought. What do you two do for a living, judging from the interfaces in your necks I would say something technical.”

“We’re freelance Netrunners. We do it all, for the right price.” Sheet Rock stammered out.

Star grinned. “My employer would’ve loved to hire you two if circumstances were different, they’ve been looking for someone who breached their systems a little while ago, whoever they were they got out with something really valuable.”

“Should you be telling us that?” Access asked.

“To be frank I don’t care, I have no love for Darkspace. Most ponies who work for them don’t either, not that they’d tell you that out loud.”

“What got stolen?”

Star shook her head. “No idea, the details were far above my pay grade. But it seemed pretty important, whatever it was.”

Sheet Rock grinned at Access who responded in kind, Snowy looked at the two curiously but otherwise said nothing.

“We’ve got this little project going on, you don’t have access to security keys or anything do you? If we can get what we need we just might be able to do something about Darkspace for you.”

“Interesting. I only have the standard ones they give us all, why?”

“Do you think we could clone them? If you want to hit back at Darkspace for screwing you over we might just have the perfect means to do so, just trust me on this one.”

Star looked at them, highly intrigued but a little suspicious as she turned to her faithful synth. “Snowy, clone my keys and load them onto a chip for my new friends, wont you?”

“At once, milady. Shall I load your contact details onto the chip as well?”

“Please do.”

Snowy paused for a moment as a chip ejected itself from the back of its neck where one of its limbs pulled it free and held it out. Access took the chip and slid it into his jumpsuit pocket for safe keeping.

“I’m willing to help you out with that little project of yours, I can get you into the office I work at so you can use their connection to Darkspace HQ and pull whatever is it is you need. My only stipulation is that you use discretion as if you’re detected, they’ll be upon us in moments.” Star stated.

Sheet Rock winced at the idea. “Why would we need to physically go there? We do our best work at arms length, you know?”

“Those keys I gave you aren’t the ones they issue to Darkspace Netrunners so no remote access, You’ll have to pose as office staff or contractors. It’s really the best I can do on short notice.”

“I say this to everyone who gives us a job, but you better not be lieing to us.”

Star snorted. “I dare say you don’t have the time or inclination to vet me. If you want to believe me you can, and if you do this for me you wont regret it.”

“And we’ll have to trust YOU to not sell us out to Darkspace, we’re not exactly on their best side either.”

Star nodded. “I must admit, I’m curious to see what they’ve been hiding as well. That breach isn’t exactly sitting well with me, normally the ponies I oversee aren’t stupid enough to let the likes of you through. No offense.”

“None taken.” Access and Sheet Rock said in unison.

Chapter 11 - The Waiting Game

Access looked at Sheet Rock as she closed the apartment door behind her.

”So, Sheet, What do you think?”

“I don’t like the idea of being there in person, but it isn’t like we can do it remotely. Not now we know what we’re up against.”

“I mean, one of us can. Someone could just run interference from Chilled Coffee’s place again.”

Sheet Rock shook her head. “Not this soon after the last job, if I’m honest I think we should just bin the idea of doing things entirely remotely.”

“We’d need a crew for that, a big one. Neither of us are fighters and you know it.”

“Who would you have join us then?”

Access sat back in his seat. “Well, we already have four members really. Depends if Bulwark and Scarlet are up for it.”

Sheet Rock hummed to herself for a moment. “Should we recruit Star? She’s already in too deep with us to really go against us now. In a way at least.”

“I dunno, maybe you’re right. Maybe I’m going soft but I think we can really trust her word.“

“We should reserve judgment until she delivers on her promise though. I don’t think she’s lieing either but things could still turn out badly.”

Access propped up his head with his fore-hooves as he lent forward. “Do you really think the breach Star mentioned was the one we caused?”

“Possibly, times roughly match up. Our actions likely led to events that got her put down here, at least partially. That’s what I think at least, a breach like that would have everyone asking questions.”

Access shrugged. “Seems too much of a stretch to me. But weirder things have happened.”

Sheet Rock let out a sigh and slumped into a seat. “Why can’t it just be easy for once, you know? Figured out in a day, in and out in moments, home in time for trashy television.”

“This time we don’t have X9 keeping the door open for us, so to speak. Life ain’t fair, Sheet.”

Now he was out of that dank cell, Chilled Coffee started to feel a little less stressed about his predicament, at least until he spotted Riot glaring at him from across the brightly lit room he’d been shoved into unceremoniously.

Riot gestured to the seat in front of him, and Chilled Coffee slowly walked to the table and sat down with an annoyed grunt.

“Just a few more questions for you, then you can go. Sound good?”

Chilled Coffee nodded and grimaced for a brief moment, he didn’t want to sell out Access and Sheet Rock but he didn’t have much choice, his family were more important to him than those two combined.

“Start with their names and Cutie marks. If you would.”

He paused for a moment and choked back his apprehension before he spoke up. “Their names are Access Granted and Sheet Rock. Access has a Terminal as a cutie mark, Sheet Rock has a Neural cable as hers.”

Riot nodded approvingly. “Are those their real names, or personas they’ve crafted?”

He put on an annoyed scowl. “As far as I know they’re real. I wouldn't put it past the more paranoid of the two to cook up fake names though.”

“Paranoia comes in all shapes and sizes, Mr Coffee. Can you be more specific?”

He thought for a moment, it wasn’t something he gave much thought to and he took a moment to think, it took several seconds before he spoke again.

“It’s hard to explain. One day they’ll be talking as if we were old friends and the next they vanish for weeks on end, I can’t quite put my hoof on why.”

Riot raised an eyebrow. “Do you record activity within your cafe’s sub-net? We’d like to know how they came to know what they did and who feeds them information.”

Chilled Coffee shook his head. “They don’t stick around on the sub-net for too long whenever they show up, they always made the jump to some virtual space called Haven. A popular spot on the Net so I’m told.”

“Is that a public access sub-net?”

“Nobody who went there using the pods ever made an attempt to mask it, so I would assume so.”

“Just one more question for you. Do you know any allies they might have?”

Chilled Coffee shrugged dismissively. “Pretty much everyone in the Haven sub-net if I had to guess, they have a lot of friends on the Net like most ponies their age. Though I don’t know any of their names or how many there are.”

Riot glanced toward the trooper who stood in front of the door closest to Chilled Coffee, the trooper tapped his wristwatch gently to which Riot smirked. His time was up it seemed, and the beige pony looked about at his limit from his time there.

He’d endured multiple questionings like this, some from Riot and some from his subordinates. They always asked the same questions in the hope he’d slip and contradict himself, though the one question he could never answer was where they were.

He truly didn’t know. But he could make a guess, though that’d likely result in a bloodbath if this maniac had his way.

Chilled Coffee spotted Riot’s smirk and quickly became irritated by his lack of tact. “Can I go now? That is if you’re satisfied.”

“You may. We appreciate your co-operation.”

“And you promise to leave me alone? That was the deal.”

Riot shook his head. “I never said I’d leave you alone, I said I’d leave your family alone. Besides, we still have business and more questions to ask, but that’s for a later date. I’ve got other things to attend to.”

He gestured to have the nearby troopers drag Chilled Coffee to his hooves and remove him from the room, he gulped nervously at the heavily armed trooper towering over him and complied with little argument.

“Remember our agreement, Mr Coffee. See you soon.” Riot called out as the door slid shut behind the bewildered pony.

He got up from his seat and left through a door at the opposite end of the room which led to a long steel lined hallway, it was artificially lit with harsh fluorescent lighting that buzzed angrily at times.

He walked for a short time up one of the hallways before he arrived at his office, it was marked with his name in gaudy golden lettering. An office that he’d been given as a token gesture as he rarely used it and few dared to disturb him whether he was in it or not.

He pushed open the glass door and gave a short grunt of annoyance as he stepped into the room and sat in his admittedly comfortable office chair; he looked around at the sparsely decorated corporate space and grimaced in disgust.

Swiftly, he picked up the receiver of his desk phone in his orange magic, put it to his ear and dialed a short number. It wasn’t long before Bright Sun picked up the phone and spoke without waiting for Riot to even greet him.

“Tell me you have something to report.” Bright Sun said in exasperation.

Riot grumbled to himself quietly before he spoke. “I do indeed. Names, cutie marks and a location where they met with their allies.”

Bright Sun snorted. “That’s something at least. Do you have a physical location?”

“Other than that they’re sprawl citizens, no. I could always just scour the place for them if you’d prefer?”

Bright Sun let out a long frustrated sigh. “As skilled as you are, Riot, that wouldn’t end very well for you. Chilled Coffee will act as a spy for us regardless, they’ll show up eventually and when they do, he’ll spring the trap on them.”

“I’ve already arranged for the new equipment to be moved in as well, along with a very generous stipend to buy his silence.”

“Good. But I need your attention focused elsewhere for now, however. An unrelated group has made moves against us and I need your expertise.“

“Shouldn’t the breach incident be our priority?”

Bright Sun let out a mirthful laugh. “More pressing matters now present themselves, Riot. This group who are as of yet nameless are far more dangerous to us than some data thieves.”

Riot sighed. “You’re the boss.”

“Sheet, please stop pacing. You heard what she said.”

She ignored him and continued to pace up and down the length of the apartment. “I’ll calm down once she delivers on her little plan, when did she said she’d have it to us by?”

Access shook his head and sighed loudly. “She said she’d have Snowy bring her plan on a chip to us by midnight. It’s barely eleven, sit down.”

“What, she isn’t going to fill us in herself? She lives across the hall for goodness sake!”

Access absentmindedly browsed the net on his terminal in an attempt to shut out Sheet Rock’s shrill paranoid shouts. “She’s nocturnal, midnight is like midday for her. Might I also remind you she has a job, just wait.”

“I hate the waiting part.”

A set of heavy hoof steps thumped up the hallway and stopped outside their door, the two held their breath as a series of short knocks rang out, which caught them by surprise despite their readiness.

Sheet Rock stopped pacing and gingerly opened the door, to find a less than impressed looking Snowy stood in the doorway with a chip grasped in one of its limbs.

“Delivery from Miss Starry Night. She has asked me to remain until you’ve thoroughly gone through the contents of this chip.”

She took the chip from Snowy and the synth stepped into the apartment after she stepped aside, it stood rigidly in the middle of the room but looked at them with a little more emotion than the two had been prepared for.

“If you two so much as screw this up and get her hurt or worse, killed, I’ll make sure you regret it.” it said venomously.

Chapter 12 - Preperations

“We’re professionals, if anything you’re the ones that have the most to hide.” Access stated smugly.

Snowy’s head snapped towards Access and it put its full attention on him, despite having little in the way of expressive capability, he could tell it was quite angry.

“Maybe we do. But Miss Starry Night trusts you despite the fact we hardly know you or your intentions. If it was up to me we’d not have enlisted your help this soon.” Snowy growled.

Access took a step back. “Don’t misunderstand me, Snowy. Down here, you’ll learn very quickly that trust is a currency and you’d be wise to make friends as early as you can, should things go badly.”

“But they wont will they? Because you’re professionals, as you say.”

Sheet Rock slid the chip into a small chip reader below the vidscreen on the wall which sprung to life as soon as the chip was inserted, on it was a set of images, a short message and a floor plan of the office they were to infiltrate.

She opened the short message, figuring they should read that first as the message would likely provide some measure of context for what they were about to be let in on.

I’ve loaded everything I could gather onto this chip for you two, I’ve included a floor plan of the office and some images of the exterior. I’ve also managed to procure a couple of temporary access passes, they should satisfy the front desk staff as well as any police on your way up here.

The office is in Upper Canterlot, near the central plaza. Snowy will have already brought a spare vehicle for you to use plus a little something extra I think you’ll like.

You’ll be posing as a pair of electrical contractors that have been called in to do some specialist work. They’ll grill you about why you’re here but you can safely tell them that the decision was made from up high, they’ll cave without question if you mention my name and then they should verify your passes with little further argument.

At this point they’ll call me down and from there we’ll make our way into the basement of the building and hopefully, the central server room will be empty and we’ll have free reign of the place.

When we gain access to the central server room, you two will comb through the system and look for anything that looks useful to this “Project” you have going on. I’ll put my trust in you that what you gather will be of use to our continuing partnership.

Review the images and look over the map before you two leave.

It should go without saying, but do NOT bring anything that could be used as a weapon. They WILL frisk you the moment you enter the building. I’ll explain why when you show up.

Sheet Rock whistled. “Seems pretty solid, assuming nobody grows a brain.”

Snowy shook its head. “If the stories Miss Starry Night has told me are true, nobody should be any the wiser to our plans. Though you should plan for the worst.”

“I’m not used to things actually being thought out. You sure I don’t have anything to worry about from you two?”

“I assure you, Miss Starry Night has connections and will be an asset to this mission. She has also authorized me to dispense payment should you succeed.”

Sheet Rock blinked. “Payment?”

Snowy let out what amounted to a chuckle. “Unless its become customary to work for free, yes, payment.”

Sheet Rock turned to face Snowy in amazement. “That’s unexpected, I assumed this was a favor.”

“Favors aren’t her thing. She believes in money, and what it can do for ponies like you.”

Access shook his head. “She doesn’t need to do that, we stand to profit by quite the margin if Darkspace is involved in our little project.”

“Regardless, I am to follow her orders.”

Access huffed. “Suit yourself.”

Sheet Rock coughed loudly and waved a fore-hoof at the two in an attempt to get their attention.

“Anyway, Gettingback on topic.”

Snowy nodded. “Of course.”

She opened one of the images at random, and a floor-plan of the office appeared on screen. It was annotated with a few notes about the interior, mostly regarding portions of the layout that weren’t visible on the floor-plan itself,such as temporary partition walls and cubicles.

Like most of the office spaces in Upper Canterlot, the interior space of the ground floor was open-plan and only a few permanent walls served to partition the space. The south side was the main entrance with a stairwell leading up on the west side, and a stairwell leading down on the east side.

Sheet Rock pointed out a rectangular structure roughly in the middle of the floor plan that was outlined in red, likely the elevators for the several story tall building “That looks like our way down. Snowy, have you been inside this building at all?”

“I have on one of my many days assisting Miss Starry Night. That is indeed a bank of elevators as you imply, however they are locked out to most visitors.They only operate when presented with the correct key and even then, access to them is strictly controlled.”

“Too open to bust in forcefully, same with using the cloned keys.We’d be spotted in moments.” Access added.

“Netrunning is out of the question too. I’m not willing to go traipsing around looking for an access point and doing it the hard way either, we’ll have to rely on Star. As much as I’d rather we didn’t”

“What’s the plan if Star gets sidetracked, or if we need to make a swift exit without her?” Access pointed out.

Snowy gave another chuckle. “It’ll be the stairs for you, my friend. I hope you’re a fast runner.”

The target being far underground and having to cover that distance on hoof wasn’t appealing and would likely result in them being cornered if they had to take the stairs, but this job was unlikely to go smoothly one way or anothergiven the amount of security on site.

Sheet Rock opened the set of images, various pictures of the building, security deployments and a few of the interior confirmed that the building was very open-plan, and to a much larger degree than the map would have suggested.

The only blind spots between the entrance and the elevator bank was the reception desk itself, and behind the stairwells that led up and down.

There was only one image of the security stationed inside, they wore a standard white dress shirt and gray slacks with some light body armor. They weren’t heavily armed from what could be seen in the image, but what looked suspiciously like a shock baton hung from the flank of the pictured officer.

Not at all a threat to Access’ chromed body if he only took a couple of strikes, but it was to Sheet Rock with her mostly organic body. He pointed out the baton with a light tap to the screen.

“I’m not seeing any firearms, but I don’t like the look of these batons.”

Sheet Rock let out a short hum and tapped her muzzle gently. “We can only hope that’s all they have, but we should try to disarm them as quietly as possible.”

“You two are Unicorns, yes? Simply just pull them from their grasp.” Snowy stated as if it was obvious.

“That’d be great, if stun batons weren’t designed with that in mind. You dope.” Access said sarcastically.

Snowy stared up at a clock on the wall, it was just past midnight and their window for entry would soon close if they didn’t hurry and it threw Sheet Rock a set of keys, presumably for the vehicle they’d be using.

“I don’t mean to rush you or anything, but you should think about getting a move on. They’re expecting someone to show up with the credentials we’ve provided you. Present the chips when asked and you’ll be fine.”

Sheet Rock stared at the keys suspiciously as they clatter to the floor. “Do I need to worry where these came from?”

“No, just don’t scratch the paint. It’s worth more than you are.”

With that rather sharp comment, Snowy excused itself and left swiftly. Access looked to Sheet Rock who wore a somewhat irritated scowl.

“Who programmed that absolute…”

“Quality software, Sheet. Hundreds of thousands of eurobits spent on a synth and she couldn’t spring for a nicer personality.” Access said absentmindedly.

She opened her mouth to speak but closed it quickly and motioned for Access to follow her.

They hastily made their way downstairs and stepped out onto the tenant parking lot, mostly empty as expected, and the scowl she wore vanished completely upon seeing the vehicle they’d be using.

It was painted in a glossy midnight black color, accented with shiny silver chrome trim and bore no markings apart from its model and branding, which identified it as an Equi-Tech Transporter S-Type.

An expensive vehicle to be essentially thrown away at the end of it all, but the two weren’t going to complain.

Access was similarly impressed and let out a short whistle of approval. “You sure this is ours?”

Sheet Rock pushed a button on the vehicle’s remote, and the indicator lamps of the van lit up briefly as the doors made a loud thump.

“Seems so. Here’s hoping we can keep it!” Sheet Rock laughed.

Chapter 13 - The Upper City

The two pulled open the Van’s side doors, Sheet Rock took the drivers side and Access took the passenger side. He adjusted the center mirror slightly and spotted a flat Plasteel case and a slightly taller Plasteel case sat next to it in the Van’s cargo space.

He pointed out the two cases to Sheet Rock, who peered over at them herself.

“You reckon that’s our gear?”

“Probably. Go check it out on the drive there if you want.”

“I think I’ll pass on that, your driving is bad enough without the rest of the sprawl adding to it.”

Sheet Rock giggled. “Hey don’t worry, all that chrome will keep you safe.”

“You’re a real funny mare, you know that? I’ll wait until we’re closer.” Access grumbled.

With Access looking as unimpressed as ever, she started up the engine with a quick tap of the engine start button and it roared to life, like most vehicles it was both key less entry and ignition. As long as the remote was close to the Van they could have the doors unlocked and have the engine started at the same time. Handy if the situation called for a swift exit.

As the Van silently crept forward out of the parking spot, it became increasingly apparent just how luxurious the van was. Not a single thing was out of place and driving it felt like a dream.

Quite the distance separated them and the gates of Upper Canterlot, though the traffic in the dead of night would be relatively minor compared to the utter nightmare it was in the day.

They rode in silence until they approached the gates to Upper Canterlot, they towered far above into the sky and imposed a great sense of division between the two districts. Very few ponies could pass through them without being heavily questioned, but their temporary passes, new vehicle and unassuming demeanor should allow them passage without much trouble.

All around the gate were various warning signs, spotlights and automated security in the form of buzzing security drones, though most of it looked like it could fall apart at any given moment, it was heavily implied that any trouble would be dealt with swiftly.

The van gently came to a stop in front of the heavy blackened steel gates, and a tired looking earth pony trudged out from the nearby guardhouse. He stared at the two and sighed as he approached the drivers side door.

“Papers, please.” he said in a bemused drawl.

Sheet Rock complied and handed over the temporary passes Star had provided for them, she started to sweat nervously as the guard took them and slid them into his datapad.

“Purpose of visit tonight?”

“Just business. Late at night of all times, you know how it is.”

The guard smirked. “Tell me about it. Be glad you’ve even got a pass to go anywhere at all, I’m stuck that small box for eleven hours at a time.”

Verification of their passes was taking an uncomfortable amount of time and the two became nervous as time seemed to drag.

“Sorry about this. Checks have been taking longer since we got the orders to screen everyone, I wouldn’t normally bother but you know, it is what it is.”

“You gotta do what you gotta do, I guess.” Access said dismissively.

They sat at the gate for what seemed like an eternity, the night brought with it a cool breeze and a distant sense of unease. Maybe once they crossed the border into Upper Canterlot that feeling might abate for a moment.

The guard chuckled as his datapad beeped, he looked up at the two and passed the two chips back in through the window.

“Everything seems to be in order, let me get the gate for you. Don’t take this personally but don’t cause any trouble, and follow any directives you’re given once you’re in the city proper.”

Sheet Rock blinked in surprise. “Why? What happened?”

“I don’t get paid enough to know specifics. You two don’t look like the usual miscreants they get milling about so you’ll probably be fine.”

Sheet Rock continued to wear her confused look and the guard trudged off back to his small cube of a guardhouse and proceeded to pull a large, heavy and corroded switch.

Before long, a small portion of the gate ground open slowly, just enough for a small vehicle such as theirs to drive through, though it’d barely given them enough time to pass before it ground to a close behind them again.

Beyond was the shining beacon that was Upper Canterlot, as they drove up the road beyond the gate the scenery gradually changed from the grimy and dirty streets of the sprawl to the well kept and aggressively clean streets of Upper Canterlot.

“And here we are, the upper city.” Sheet Rock said with a sign of disgust.

Access looked ahead as the shining lights of the upper city fully came into view and gave a semi-impressed huff. “Let’s just get this over with, I don’t want to be here any longer than I really have to be. Is this place far?”

Sheet Rock nodded. “Shouldn’t be.”

The van glided towards a sparsely populated intersection, and they joined the flow of traffic towards the central plaza. Buildings slid past them and the highways gave way to large residential districts and then to sprawling shopping plazas, nightclubs and bars.

No matter whether you lived in the Upper or Lower city, the nightlife was much the same. Ponies getting far too drunk for their own good on expensive liquor and gambling all their euro away in the blink of an eye.

Soon after, the leisure spots of the upper city center gave way to sterile and serious office buildings interspersed with the occasional upmarket specialty store. While the layout itself was less confused and muddled than the lower city, the roads were not and it slowed their progress somewhat.

“Right. The building should be around here somewhere, go see what Star left for us before we make our way in. I’ll try not to send you careening into anything, I promise.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice.” Access said as he clambered over the passenger seat and into the rear of the van where his metallic limbs clanked against the bare metal flooring.

He pulled the flat Plasteel case towards himself and cracked it open with fevered glee. Inside was a set of high-end tools, used for all manner of jobs that required fine precision.

It was difficult for him to pull his gaze away from the high-end tools but he pulled the larger of the two cases towards him to inspect its contents as well, and unexpectedly when it was opened, it contained a couple of heavy-duty jumpsuits in a rather garish and bright yellow coloration.

After meandering her way through the winding streets for a little while, Sheet Rock pulled into a large mostly empty lot, cut the engine and turned around to face Access. “So? What we got?”

“Some fancy tools. And jumpsuits of all things.”

Sheet Rock raised an eyebrow. “Makes sense, gotta look the part. Toss one over for me would you?”

Access tossed one of the heavy, yellow, jumpsuits to Sheet Rock, who awkwardly tried to slip it on over her existing clothing, he chuckled in amusement and slipped his on over his own, being careful not to get any of the long sleeves caught on his bulky chrome.

When he was done, Access exited out the side of the van and levitated the tool case alongside him along with their saddlebags making sure to leave behind their firearms, though the expectation these days was everyone is armed at all times, they couldn’t reasonably expect to bring them and not have them confiscated when they entered, so they opted to do without.

Sheet Rock soon finished fussing with the fitting of her suit and clambered out the drivers side, she ran a hoof through her puffy mane and shot Access a determined look. “Got everything?”

Access held up the tool case and both of their saddlebags. “Obviously.”

Sheet Rock nodded and proceeded to look around, presumably for their target. “Good good. I know I’ve said this before, but try not to say anything stupid.”

A goofy grin crept across his face. “No promises. But otherwise noted. So where we headed?”

Sheet Rock peered around for a moment, the amount of tall office buildings in this block alone was dizzying but she eventually pointed out a cluster of them that stood out a little taller than the others, it was easy for the two to pick out their target’s general location, owing to the large amount of Darkspace Jumpsuit wearing bat-ponies coming and going from the cluster of towers just across the street from them.

“This way. Act casual, but like you’re supposed to be here.” Sheet Rock teased as she started to walk.

Access heaved the bulky tool case onto his back to steady it. “Sure boss.”

“Hey. Can I ask you a question?” Sheet Rock shot back quickly.

“Uh. Sure? You aren’t going to start fussing again are you?”

“No. I just want to make sure you’ll be okay while we’re in there.”

Access stepped closer to Sheet Rock as the two came to a small crossing. “Is in the middle of a crowded street really the time to be asking this?”

“We’ve never done anything like this before, we’ve always done things remotely and walking straight into somewhere that'll be a very dangerous place for ponies like us is near madness.”

Access cut Sheet Rock off. “It’ll be fine as long as our cover isn’t blown, they have no reason to suspect us of all ponies if we stick to the story we’ve been given.”

“I don’t disagree. But neither of us have any experience with operations like this.”

The crossing lights flickered to pleasing green and the rushing traffic ground to a halt, allowing the two and a gaggle of other ponies passage across the four lanes of traffic.

“You worry too much, hopefully this will be the one and only time we have to do something like this.”

She thought for a moment, and chose to pick her words more carefully than usual. “I doubt that, we’ve been dropped into something we barely understand and one wrong step would mean the end of us. We’re going to find ourselves in worse situations before all this is over.”

Access shot his friend a reassuring look. “Keep a level head and trust in our benefactor. Okay?“

“Yeah, sure. First time for everything I suppose.”

The two walked the rest of the way in silence and soon came to a towering, glass and steel cluster of buildings. Sheet Rock walked ahead to a small plaque that was inscribed with business names, it took her some time but she eventually found the specific building they needed on the plaque.

It wasn’t far from where they were now and would be a mere brisk walk.

“Last chance, Access. You ready?”

He nodded. “As I’ll ever be.”

Chapter 14 - The Office Job

The two stood in the lobby of this Darkspace office, gobsmacked at just how large and open the interior was.

Bat ponies and Pegasi alike flew overhead with documents and other objects clutched in their mouths as they darted in and out of the upper floor. The ground floor was no different and the more flightless of the ponies employed here set about their drudgery and worked with a startling amount of visible tedium.

What was more alarming was the presence of Power Armor clad troopers. Their mission plan had said nothing about their presence, and they were mostly clustered around the stairwells and the elevators with several more along the far end of the lobby.

Their armament matched that of a standard security detail but it could be assumed that they’d deal with any trouble like one would snap a twig, with little effort and cold indifference.

The two were snapped out of their daydream by a guard looking less than impressed at being ignored by them.

“Can I help you?”

“We’re expected.” Sheet Rock said confidently.

“Step over here for a moment. My colleague will see to your friend here.”

They were funneled towards separate lanes in a row of metal detectors situated near a small guard station and ordered to empty their pockets into a small tray.

Access placed the tool case into one of the trays and the guard who’d been saddled with dealing with him opened it and started to inspect its contents and pulled aside each tool and gave each a cursory glance before it was placed back into the case.

“Step through the detector please, sir.”

Access complied and as expected the metal detector screeched loudly the very moment he walked through, the guard raised a hoof to stop him who was equally as unsurprised.

Access shrugged. “Do what you gotta. I’m used to it.”

Sheet Rock had been cleared and allowed through with no real issue and stood to one side and watched the guard pat her annoyed looking friend down with a certain air of amusement.

“Wow. No wonder the detector went off.” the guard said absentmindedly as he clutched Access’ legs and lower body.

“I know, it’s just so surprising. Can’t imagine why it went off.” he said sarcastically.

The guard grunted in annoyance and each pat resounded with a metallic clank as the metal plates that made up the covering of Access’ bionic limbs shifted around noisily.

“You or your friend carrying? Especially you, what with those limbs of yours.”

“We’re just repair ponies. You’ve got your job and we’ve got ours.”

The guard eyed Access suspiciously and motioned for him to pick up his tool case and move on through the checkpoint.

“You literally can’t go anywhere without causing trouble can you?” Sheet Rock teased.

Access grinned. “What can I say? Me and metal detectors don’t see eye to eye.”

The reception desk was directly ahead from the entrance and two overworked and tired looking Pegasi worked tirelessly at what must be the most tedious job on the planet. One saw them approached and sighed tiredly, and spoke in a stilted, almost defeated tone.

“Speak quickly, we’re very busy right now.”

“I believe you’re expecting us? We’re here to carry out some work.”

“Hoof over your paperwork and I’ll get to it. I’m sorry to be so short with you, it’s just been one thing after another today. I’m sure you understand.”

Sheet Rock slid over her paperwork as instructed as did Access and the reception pony took them from the desk, where they were set down onto to an ever increasing pile of paperwork.

The reception pony pointed to a cluster of fancy seats set around a low standing glass table. “Please wait over there while I deal with this, someone will come to collect you when I’m done.”

The two nod and walk away, leaving the overworked receptionists in relative peace. They seat themselves and watched ponies pass them by their expressions wrought with indecipherable frowns, whatever has them so riled must’ve been pretty severe.

One of the troopers stationed close to the bank of elevators eyed them suspiciously and slowly approached them, the hissing of the suits hydraulics alerting the two waiting Netrunners to its presence, not that you could miss the towering mass of gray Plasteel and heavy weaponry.

“I wasn’t aware we’d be having visitors.” the pony inside the suit said, and judging from the drawling high-pitched voice it was a mare, though her face was obscured by her helmet.

“Emergency repairs, so we were told.” Sheet Rock responded quickly.

“Is that so? Are you waiting for anyone in particular?” the mare asked.

Sheet Rock knew she couldn’t just blurt out Star’s name, and instead tried to sound as confident as possible. “Work order just said to wait for someone to collect us, don’t know who. It’s always the same when someone calls with a so-called emergency.”

A noise resounded from the mare’s helmet, likely a snort of amusement. “Sounds about right. Better get comfortable, it might take a while for someone to come get you and even longer to get where they want you. And don’t cause any trouble, if you would?”

With that, the mare stomped off noisily and took back her position at the bank of elevators, it wasn’t clear from the angle but they felt as if she was still keeping a close eye on them, though the mare didn’t make it obvious.

“Strange mare.” Access remarked.

“I don’t like the way she looked at us, it felt like she was staring a hole right through me.”

“She sounds familiar too, though I can’t quite place from where.”

“I must admit she does, very familiar. We’ll worry about that later though, for now we should be focusing on the task at hoof.”

The two waited for what seemed like an eternity, the harsh white fluorescent lighting from all angles didn’t help matters any, and a pony carrying a large stack of documentation slowly lumbered her way towards the reception desk.

The reception ponies stacked yet more documentation on top of the already gargantuan pile eliciting a growl of annoyance, along with Access and Sheet Rock’s temporary passes.

“I’m sorry to bother you further, but there’s two trades ponies waiting, Miss Starry Night.”

“Very well, I’ll deal with it. Call an elevator for us, would you please? Basement level twenty.”

“At once.”

She along with her stack of papers, lumbered over to the two. The stress and sheer tiredness in her voice was highly evident and her words sounded forced in places.

“Oh thank the moon you’ve arrived. I wasn’t sure if you’d make it.”

Sheet Rock blinked in confusion. “Did you expect us not to? Traffic was pretty light, if I’m honest.”

Star dropped the heavy stack of documents on the floor haphazardly where it collapsed into a loosely collected pile, the only thing she picked up from the pile were the access passes which were unceremoniously shoved towards the two.

“Just play along, yeah?” she whispered. “Get your things together and I’ll show you to where we need you.”

Access once again heaved the heavy tool case onto his back and he followed Star and Sheet Rock to their waiting elevator. From the lack of buttons on the outside, it was highly likely that there would be no way for them to call an elevator on their own should something go wrong, so they’d have to tread carefully.

The elevator door slid shut, and almost immediately Star’s stern and professional expression fell.

“Sorry about that. I am glad you two made it here okay, just had to keep up appearances.”

“I might be going crazy so just humor me, but did something happen? Everyone seems to be really on edge.”

Star looked at Access in disbelief. “I suppose it isn’t too much of a stretch to assume it’s been kept fairly quiet, despite the explosions, I’m surprised you don’t have eyes everywhere, given who you are.”

“Wait, explosions?”

Star nodded. “Yeah, a few hours before you two arrived a number of bombs went off in the leisure districts. Relatively small ones, not designed to kill.”

“Any idea who they are? The ones that set them, I mean.”

“No idea. I’m guessing you saw the hired muscle upstairs? They’re to make sure we don’t get buried, should whoever set the bombs come back for seconds.”

The elevator jolted suddenly and it began to accelerate rapidly, descending deeper into the earth, further than should realistically be necessary.

“How far we heading down?”

Star pointed up at the elevators control panel and at the basement floor labels. “All the way to the bottom floor, all twenty of them.”

“Good thing we aren’t taking the stairs then. What’s security like?”

“Minimal. Pretty much all the security is upstairs, and as you’ve seen, they anticipate trouble up there and…“

“...not down here.” Sheet Rock said with a smirk.

“Quite.” Star said with a smirk of her own.

The elevator rapidly decelerated and ground to a stop, and the door slid open, strangely fresh and cold air poured into the cabin.

In front of them, massive steel and poly-carbonate bulkheads sat in their closed position, and through them more power armored security staff could be seen stood behind each going back the entire length of the hallway. All of Star’s attempts to get them to notice her failed spectacularly, no matter how much she flailed her limbs in annoyance.

She guessed she was being ignored, likely knowingly. The thought that their plan might have been foiled crossed her mind but there was no way for them to have been found out, at least not this quickly.

“So. Got a plan B?” she said with a nervous grin.

“Minimal you said. That doesn’t look like minimal security to me.” Sheet Rock grumbled.

“I can’t possibly keep up with every arrangement being made. This isn’t exactly my department after all.” Star said with a stern stomp of her fore-hoof.

“It isn’t much to ask for you to check, is it? I mean come on, this was your plan!”

Only one corridor was currently accessible and simple steel doors sat at each end of the harshly lit corridor. While Star and Sheet Rock argued with one another Access opened the door closest to the elevator, revealing a utility room and more importantly an electrical box, sealed with a heavy duty cover which should also have an access point he could use.

Access cleared his throat loudly to catch their attention and pointed this out to the two arguing mares. “I think I might have an idea. The two of you will have to keep anyone from entering this room, while I go in the long way.”

“You’re going to be immobile while you work, how long do you think you’ll need?”

Access heaved the tool case off his back, knowing he’d likely need them. “Half an hour. Tops.”

Sheet Rock sighed inwardly. “Get to it then.”

Chapter 15 - Plan B

“What is he going to do?” Star asked quietly.

“He’ll hook into the network using that junction box, and break in without having to be directly connected. Problem is he’ll be immobile while he’s in there.”

“Huh. I didn’t know that’s how that worked.”

Sheet Rock raised an eyebrow. “You’ve never seen a Netrunner work before?”

Star tapped the ground with a fore-hoof in embarrassment. “I’ve seen the chairs ours are hooked into for most of their shifts, but I’ve never really known what you ponies do in there.”

“The only thing you need to worry about is stopping anyone from asking questions they shouldn’t, do you think you can handle that?”

The air filled with the sound of creaking metal and the two mares joined Access in the utility room, where he was hard at work prying the cover off the aforementioned junction box. Multiple plastic conduits ran from the box and into the walls, and with any luck the box will contain network wiring as well.

“You know, you could easily rip that cover off. Use those hydraulic muscles I bought you for goodness sake.” Sheet Rock pointed out.

“I can do it quickly and loudly or slowly and properly, maybe setting something off. Which would you prefer?” Access said with a growl.

“Forgive me for asking, but how do you know you’ll find what you need in there?” Star said with a hoof on her chin.

“Typically, there would be hook-ins to the network in boxes like these, given how much is controlled by a computer these days. Boxes like these often contain all manner of things for ponies like us to exploit.” Access said with a malicious grin.

Sheet Rock nodded in agreement. “It’s more common than you think.”

“That doesn’t seem safe. Good news for us though.” Star said with a frown.

With a final heave and liberal application of a small pry bar, the cover flew off its seal and clattered to the floor, which revealed the box’s contents.

Access looked around the board and at the various wiring, and while most of it was unremarkable there was an access point inside the box complete with a port for him to hook into, just as he’d thought there would be, and he connected up his Cyberdeck to it with the hope that it was live.

His Cyberdeck’s menu opened in his vision and he ran a quick scan of the local network. A tense few minutes passed until the results came back, and to his amazement this port and by extension the junction box was connected to the network at large.

The scan identified it as an air conditioning monitoring box, likely to keep the machines down there from overheating catastrophically. It was also directly connected to the central server room so the racks could self monitor and report any abnormalities.

This would be his one and only way in.

Sheet Rock peeked out the slightly ajar door and into the hallway. She felt nervous being so out in the open, but Star’s escort and reassurance she could handle any issues settled her nerves somewhat.

“Talk to me Access. Are we good?”

He nodded. “We’re good. Got a live port with access to the local network.”

“Star, how suspicious would it be if someone found us here with Access connected up like that? Just out of interest.”

“Depends on who finds us. Regular office staff probably wont even bother us, but one of the Netrunners would probably raise the alarm for sure.”

Sheet Rock turned to face Star with a stern expression. “Where would they be now?”

Star shrugged dismissively. “Given the bulkheads are sealed and the heavy security presence, I would assume they’re down here with us, but I can’t be sure about that.”

“I’ll have to be careful then. They’ll have the advantage in this case.” Access reassured.

Access apprehensively started a deep dive connection. His vision blurred and the world around him dissolved into nothingness, soon to be replaced by the shifting landscape of the building’s Subnet.

He masked his arrival as best as he could when his avatar finally materialized within the network, and noted the large numbers of small spherical security programs flying high above in the digital sky.

He took stock of his surrounding and for the most part things were quiet, his masked signal allowed him some degree of freedom to move toward a cube-like cluster of structures in the distance, likely the representation of the machines within the network.

Around it were more cube-like structures arranged in a tight wall-like pattern, from this distance he could see other avatars flit about among the inner and outer structures.

He observed for a few more moments before he made his way closer to the structure, and as long as he didn’t stick around too long in any one place, he’d be able to slip past thanks to his signal mask.

That was the plan at least.

The two mares were snapped out of their daydream by the sound of hydraulics. Star nodded to Sheet Rock wordlessly, to which she returned with a nod of her own.

Star stepped into the hallway and closed the door softly behind her and rounded the corner, only to see the bulkheads open and the security detail being funneled towards the stairwells and elevators.

“Might I ask why you’re leaving your posts?” she inquired.

The power armored troopers ignored her and piled into the stairwells, but one fresh faced guard addressed her directly in an authoritative but nervous tone.

“Orders are to get topside immediately, we’re directing everyone else to stay below ground. For your own safety of course.”

“Trouble?”

“Possibly. I can’t say for sure.”

The fresh faced guard piled into the elevator with his fellows who all wore worried expressions, and after the elevator doors slid shut Star turned her attention back to the utility room. She half-glanced at the main corridor and as expected the Bulkheads had been closed behind them.

Star stepped back into the utility room with a grim look on her face. “Be ready. Something has security worried.”

“Should we abort and get out while we can?”

“No, not until we get something of use. I don’t think it’s us they’re referring to.”

Sheet Rock shrugged. “You’re the boss.”

Access made good progress and found himself at the outer wall of cuboid structures, and like the rest of the Subnet they were bathed in a nauseating purple hue, and pulsed with an unnatural steadiness.

He could hear voices above him, though distant and quiet they grew in volume rather rapidly, he’d have to act quickly. He looked down at his plain avatar, placed a hoof on one of the walls and ran one of his cracking programs designed to burrow through defenses like these.

A cone of light short forth from his horn, embedded itself in the wall and began to chip away at the wall and piece by piece the wall started to fall apart, he just hoped that he hadn’t been too noisy and attracted the attention of the other avatars.

A loud thump from overhead made Access jump a little, and although his masked signal rendered him completely invisible to those in the system as well, his programs weren’t and if they ran scans of the Subnet they’d easily detect him.

He needed to give the programs in the system and the other Netrunners as wide a berth as possible, as knocking someone out wasn’t a viable tactic here nor was blindly engaging in combat.

The noise was two Netrunners that had dropped onto the wall above him and both of them were corporate employees, no doubt about that. The Darkspace logo of a dark rain cloud surrounded by stars emblazoned on the polygonal avatars flanks all but screamed out that fact.

“What has the boss so spooked?” the shorter avatar asked.

“Been a lot of intrusion attempts recently, so he had one of his subordinates hire some muscle.” a taller avatar answered, unimpressed.

“I hope he vetted them.”

“He trusts her judgment, that foal ain’t getting in here again, physically or through the net.”

“I dunno about that, the kid was good, scarily so.”

The taller avatar gestured around itself confidently. “Look around you, does it look like we’re in any danger at all? Nobody is getting in, we’ve got this place locked down to all hell and the muscle upstairs have things well in hoof.”

The wall finally crumbled into digital dust before it vanished into nothingness, and he proceeded through to the other side with haste and hid behind a short stack of pulsing cubes.

He watched the Netrunners drop to his level and inspect the wall he’d just made a hole in, and after a brief moment the shorter avatar took notice of Access’ handiwork, though they didn’t seem as panicked as he first thought they’d be.

“Looks like we missed a breach. We gotta patch this up, before Silver Shield sees it!”

“We missed one? Just how much damage did this kid do?”

The shorter avatar shook its head. “I dunno man, we better just fix it.”

Access peeked out from his hiding spot and hurried onward at some speed, eager to put as much distance between him and them as possible.

Chapter 16 - Exposed

“So how do you two know each other?” Star asked awkwardly.

“Bit nosy aren’t we? Why the sudden interest in us?”

“What’s that supposed to mean, I was just asking a question.”

“Now isn’t really the time for our life story, okay?” Sheet Rock snapped.

Star, taken aback and a little offended thought about all the ways in which she could set this little upstart straight, but quickly caught herself before she fell back into some old habits that she’d very much like to forget.

She’d promised herself long ago that she’d unlearn Darkspace’s policy of profit over morality, not that you’d catch them admitting they held that mantra to anyone, but her involvement with these two might help absolve her in time.

He’d put some distance between himself and the Corporate Netrunners and found himself near a tall crystalline spire, it pulsed with the same purple light as everything else did but this one felt different.

He put his hoof to it and a computer interface opened in front of him identifying itself as a storage array, and a large one at that. He cursed to himself as he realized that he likely passed many more similar structures and the chance to probe them had now passed.

He scrolled down the interface for a moment and found the array to mostly contain operational data, but it was difficult to make sense of it all given its heavy usage of corporate jargon and code words, none of which made any particular sense assuming it ever made any at all.

One code word caught his eye, and that was “Demiurge”. This could mean any number of things, but given Darkspace’s well known penchant for Artificial Intelligence this could be incredibly valuable, and the very sort of information Star wanted them to find for her.

There were many hundreds of files regarding this code word, so he opted to funnel them all into his Cyberdeck’s storage, as many as would fit and when it finished, he’d disconnect and they could finally leave.

Now frantic, he sent a message to both Sheet Rock and Star. “I have something you two might be interested in, I think it’s highly likely it has something to do with our mysterious AI friend but I’ll continue my search.”

As the holographic envelope representing his message flew off and vanished, he took another look around and called upon a simple pinger program.

It took the form off a glowing white ring that encircled his horn and it rapidly expanded into a blinding dome of light that quickly shot across the entire Subnet; His interaction with this array had likely alerted any security programs nearby and it’d be helpful to know if he’d soon have them breathing down his neck.

A short moment later and the ping he sent out confirmed his suspicions and multiple programs had been alerted to his presence, and while he was pondering his next move the expected company flickered into existence around him which took him by surprise.

He rapidly issued disconnect commands to his Cyberdeck in a panic as the spherical programs neared, one fired a single bolt of white light which struck his and his avatar dissolved into nothingness.

Not the most elegant exit by any means.

The sound of alarms rang throughout the basement level, and the two mares sat patiently for their bumbling friend to wake up.

“I didn’t think this was going to be easy somehow.” Sheet Rock shouted over the noise.

“We might’ve kicked the hornets nest here. You two should make your exit as fast as you can.”

“Is that supposed to be comforting?”

Groggy from his rapid ejection from Cyberspace, a low groan escaped from Access’ mouth as he slowly came to. “That’s one way to get out I guess. What’s with all the noise?”

“Were you detected?” Sheet Rock half shouted, ignoring her friends complaints.

“Yes, obviously. My intrusion was noticed the moment I accessed that data I mentioned. I think I’m fine though.”

“Alright good. Star, we need to move, now!” Star stressed.

Access booted the utility room door open sending it careening into the steel plated wall, and Star attempted to use her keycard to call the elevator down to them, but it didn’t recognize it or even acknowledge one had been inserted.

“That can’t be good, my card isn’t working.”

“They’ve probably gotten wise to that, though Snowy did say we could use the stairwell. What’s the closest exit?”

“Closest is probably the parking garage on the sixth level, the stairwell will take us right to it but who knows how many are up there waiting for us. We should be careful.” she stammered out.

Everyone nodded in agreement and galloped toward the door on the other end of the hall, which when opened revealed a gray concrete block stairwell and as the three of them stepped onto the first set of stairs Star’s phone rang ominously.

She pulled it from her pocket and looked at the screen, the name of her boss, Grim Dawn, displayed itself mockingly on the screen and while she tried to ignore it at first as they climbed, it soon became hard to ignore.

“You might not want to answer that.” Sheet Rock recommended.

“Probably not, but I’m going to anyway. There's a fifty-fifty chance as to whether I’ll regret it, so I’ll take my chances.”

Star nervously answered the still ringing phone and put it to her ear, unsurprisingly her bosses always smug voice crackled through.

“Miss Starry Night, should I be worried about you?” a calm Grim Dawn stated flatly.

“N- No? I’m not sure what you mean.”

Grim Dawn sighed. “Well there’s the small matter of temporary access passes being approved in my name but without my knowledge. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that would you?”

Star went pale and stopped her climb, and while the others couldn’t hear the other end of the call they could still venture a guess as to what she was hearing.

“Ma’am…”

“I think you should choose your next words very carefully. I know you gave those passes to someone, since they were used more than a few times recently. I’d be impressed, if you weren’t squandering your second chance I so graciously granted you.“

“Second chance? You sent me to a hell hole because you FELT like it, you had no reason to strip me of everything I earned!” Star barked.

Grim Dawn chuckled maliciously. “If you were in my position you’d understand the sacrifices I’ve made in order to let insubordinate screw-ups like you stick around. You got ahead because I allowed it and now, I’m taking it away.”

Star gritted her teeth in rage, her expression turning fiery. “So what now? You going to have me killed?”

A tense silence followed but Grim Dawn issued a final warning in that same calm, and smug, voice.

“Tell you what, I’m feeling charitable. I’ve ordered the guards to perforate you and your new friends if they so much as smell you, If you can get out of the building I will concede defeat this time around, but don’t mistake my charity for complacency; If you so much as set a hoof anywhere near our offices or inside the Everfree Arcology, expect to be fired upon.”

The line went dead, and Star looked down at the now locked phone, dropped it onto the floor and sent a fore hoof into the screen, shattering it into multiple shards.

“Okay, so how screwed are we?” Access said, breaking the tense silence.

Star shoved past the two and continued on up the stairwell in silence. Her face was twisted into one of pure rage.

Grim Dawn slammed her desk phone down with a smirk and directed her attention to the troops gathered at her large black moon-shaped glass desk.

“Your orders? We can’t let them get away.” an earth pony mare with an orange and scarlet striped mane asked.

“Get yourself and a couple of other of your colleagues to cover the parking garage exit.” Grim Dawn said in a carefree way,

“With respect ma’am but wont they be expecting that? We aren’t exactly mobile.”

Grim Dawn nodded. “Just keep your wits about you, and bring the place down on top of them if you have to. Anyone who matters will have already left the building by now so I wouldn’t worry about harming anyone important.”

“Y- Yes ma’am. I’ll get it done.”

Grim Dawn closed her eyes and hummed in thought. “I trust in your abilities. Don’t screw this up, if they get away it’ll be your job on the line.”

Unlike the floors themselves, the stairwell was only lit by a few sickly looking lamps and they bathed the area in their dull orange light, and the industrial concrete slabs that made up the stairs looked out of place in a corporate office like this.

Though it took more than a few breaks on the way up, it didn’t take them long to reach the parking garage and they stopped at the heavy steel sliding door that led into the main area.

“Star! Don’t run off damnit! What the hell is happening?” Sheet Rock panted.

“All that matters is that I’ve made a mistake and they’re onto us. The sooner we get out of here the sooner we can relax.”

“Just what did you do that has them THIS mad?”

Star rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. “I might or might not have spoofed my own boss’s signature to get you two access passes. Furthermore they know you two are among those that used them, though that's not the worst part.”

“Pray tell, what could be worse than having a corporation on your ass for data theft and fraud?”

The sound of gunfire rang out and the group dove down a few of the stairs and landed roughly on the landing below.

Above them the majority of the doorway, frame and much of the safety railing had been blown clean away by a very high caliber weapon and not much of anything where they had been standing was left, save for a small walk-able portion that’d survived the hail.

“They sent troops after us. I hope you two have a plan for getting us out of here.” Star said as she wiped some fallen dust and debris from her mane.

Author's Note

Long one this time around, one of the longest chapers i think i've ever posted.

I have another project on the go at the moment, so the next few chapters may be somewhat shorter and further apart.

I wont spoil what that project is but suffice it to say that it's much different that this story.

Chapter 17 - Down

When the dust settled there was little more than silence until another hail of gunfire haphazardly aimed in their direction ripped through the walls, punching yet more holes into the already shambolic state of the stairwell landing.

“Are you going to make me wait, or do I need to give you another warning?” a voice called.

Nobody dared say a word and they all got to their hooves and edged up the stairs so as to make as little noise as possible.

“We know you’re there, you better just show yourself seeing that you’re outmatched.” the voice drawled in annoyance.

Access turned to the others and nodded, who returned with a shake of their heads. He however ignored their silent disapproval and he walked out of the now shredded doorway into the dimly lit parking garage with a thin look of confidence.

It was nearly entirely full, plenty of vehicles of various levels of sturdiness to hide behind, but if a firefight broke out it might not be enough without some very quick thinking.

Sheet Rock and Star gingerly made their way out of the stairwell and stood beside Access, clearly nervous at the sight of the hulking suits of power armor and their array of heavy weaponry.

“Starry Night. Not surprising these two managed to talk up their skills to you. I would have preferred to just shoot you the first time you stepped out of line, but the boss didn’t want to waste the ammo.”

“I did what was right. Not that someone like you would ever know. You don’t have to worry about where your next meal is going to come from.”

“Spare me the lecture. Those ponies are down there because like you, they don’t know their place. But they will soon enough.”

The apparent commander was flanked by two other nearly identical ponies in Power Armor, though theirs looked lighter and less armored but no less heavily armed than their commander.

The light suits both had long barreled heavy cannons and looked a lot lighter on their hooves despite their heavy weaponry than their commander, who looked like a walking tank in that suit of hers.

However, she had a single ten millimeter auto-cannon strapped to her and that was likely the source of the destruction caused to the stairwell, and it solidified the notion that mobility wasn’t something that’d hinder them any.

Good fortune smiled upon them however, as even the light suits had some trouble with mobility despite the reduced weight, which meant if they split up and used the cars as cover, they may just make it out alive if not a little rattled.

“I’ll be frank, It’ll be a shame I have to kill you but I’m sure you understand it’s just business, right? I wont leave my team like you left a certain someone.” the mare said venomously.

“How dare-” Access spat, he was summarily cut off by yet another hail of gunfire aimed in their direction and all three of them rapidly scattered and took up positions behind the various vehicles stored in the garage.

In the reflection of a convertible’s mirror, Sheet Rock could see the two troopers flanking their commander weren’t moving anywhere and simply watched as their commander hurled barrage after barrage of gunfire from her weapon.

Each of the several second long barrages perforated the concrete and cars nearest to them setting them aflame and shredding them into scrap metal, only fit for the junkyard.

She tried to console an utterly terrified Starry Night, who could barely keep herself from hyperventilating. Now occupied with keeping Starry Night from panicking, Sheet Rock found herself bombarded with messages from Access.

“You good over there?”

“Star isn’t doing so good. I need to get her out of here.”

“Stay behind cover and get out of here if you can. They aren’t very mobile but be careful of their weapons, if they hit you, you’re finished.” Access warned.

Sheet Rock didn’t want to just run, but with their lack of armament there wasn’t much that could be done otherwise given Power Armor turned a pony into a veritable walking tank, and not much could dent the commander’s armor aside from high caliber shells.

“Duck between vehicles as often as you can, they wont stand up to too much gunfire.” Access ordered through text communication.

“And you? Can you manage?”

Access didn’t answer and just gestured for them to go while he was pinned down by yet more gunfire from the commanders auto-cannon, which made short work of the car he hid behind and it didn’t take long until it broke into several mangled pieces.

“Look, Star. You’re gonna have to run when I say, okay? Just run and don’t look back. Can you do that?” Sheet Rock asked gently.

Star rose to her hooves and gave Sheet Rock a weak nod, the two then darted between parked cars when the troopers had their attention occupied with hurling gunfire at Access, and they made it about half way to an open gate that led into a darkened tunnel before being pinned down by one of the light troopers heavy rifles, who had noticed them trying to leave.

“Commander, two are trying to leave. Orders?” one of the light troopers stated flatly.

“Move to intercept, immediately!” the commander barked back.

“Like hell you will!” Access shot back.

He booted a piece of the mangled car’s bodywork with all the force his augmented body could muster, which sent the piece of wreckage careening along the asphalt into the commander with some force.

The impact sent the commander’s aim high into the ceiling, and the thunderous hail of gunfire shredded multiple sections of concrete where it soon fell in large chunks onto the ground and cars below.

While his assailants were disorientated he chanced a peek at the situation, and as luck would have it the ceiling had pinned one of the light troopers down under a particularly large slab of concrete as it landed, it seemed that these lighter suits weren’t as resilient as the commander’s tank like suit.

He peered at the pinned trooper who lay motionless on the asphalt, and it was then he saw the pool of blood that had formed on the ground. If he struck the suit in the right place, he might just be able to down them just as the rubble did.

He galloped rapidly toward the surviving trooper and with all his augmented might he struck the suit in its midsection with a fore-hoof, and his strike caved in a large section of the suit where it and its wearer crumpled into a gurgling heap.

Seeing that Access had downed the light trooper that’d been taking potshots at them, Sheet Rock and Star made a mad dash to the darkened exit while Access dived back behind another as of yet undamaged vehicle as more gunfire headed his way.

“You must think you’re clever, murdering my comrades like that.” the commander barked.

“I’d say we’re about even, actually. I think that first kill was your fault.” Access said mockingly.

The commander glanced behind her at the two mares galloping for their lives, and from within her suit she smirked.

“You know what, I’m going to bank on the chance that YOU are the one with the stolen data. So I’ll just bury you here, collect my bonus and laugh in the knowledge that my place in society is secure.”

“You’re completely unhinged. Are you trying to get yourself killed too?” Access growled.

He was summarily ignored and yet more gunfire flew from the commander’s auto-cannon, but this time it wasn’t aimed at him, it instead was aimed at some support columns that quickly crumbled to dust against the onslaught arrayed against them.

With the destruction of their support columns, the parking garage ceiling started to buckle under its own weight, and the two mares could only watch as it fell apart sending tons of rubble, cabling and dust down on top of Access’ head.

The commander had miscalculated however, and the rest of the garage rapidly started to fall apart as well, threatening to bury her and her comrades as well, and she found her exit to be blocked by the rapidly collapsing ceiling.

Sheet Rock went to run toward the collapsing garage but was held back by Star, who after shaking her head gently managed to pull her away and off toward the relative safety of the Van to make their escape.

Chapter 18 - But Not Out

The atmosphere in the Van was tense and rage-filled, and Sheet Rock looked about ready to burst with anger at any moment. They made their way back to the sprawl at a quickened pace, away from any corporate forces that might decide to follow if they were spotted.

“We just left him down there, Star!” Sheet Rock screamed.

“Look I know, but you would’ve been crushed!” Star soothed.

“Would you have left US behind to save your own skin? How dare you make decisions for me, you aren’t even one of us!”

Stars expression turned stony. “That’s a bit of a loaded question, and I know you’re angry but you have to keep a level head. Access is augmented up to the eyeballs, so if he didn’t get hit by any big bits of rubble he’ll have survived that.”

“I haven’t been able to reach him yet though, I hope for your personal safety he didn’t die down there.”

“I’ll take full responsibility if he did, but you should have more faith in your own friend’s capabilities.”

A long and awkward silence fell for a few moments before Star could muster up the courage to speak again. as she felt like this was her fault, and in a way it was.

“I am sorry by the way, i didn’t think it’d turn out like this.”

“Save your apologies. It’s a good thing we plan for such eventualities, I’ll send some friends down there to get him assuming he isn’t paste on the floor.”

The garage was full of dust kicked up from the ceiling’s collapse and had fallen into pitch darkness. No lights were working anymore save for a few on the topmost level of the garage one floor up, though they didn’t shed much light into the dusty depths.

Thankfully the entire building hadn’t collapsed on top of them and it was a miracle he hadn’t been crushed by the falling debris.

His organic body and chrome augments had taken a beating and he could feel the strength leaving him little by little, he’d be hard pressed to clear all that rubble blocking the exit on his own and it looked like he was trapped down here.

Access stared up at the broken ceiling in disbelief, his entire body ached from the entire ordeal and all he could think about was his escape.

First however was finding out who this unhinged mare was, he heaved himself off the ground onto his battered legs, and limped toward the downed commander who’d been knocked unconscious by the falling rubble. He had to know who this mare was, and why she was so dead set on burying both him and his friends under a ton of rubble.

He bent down, tugged against the helmet’s seals and ripped it off in anger, and when he saw a mare scarred with innumerable old wounds and a golden orange and scarlet striped mane underneath, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

This mare has been a close friend of his once, but now she was for all intents and purposes, an enemy. He doubted that she’d explain where she’d been all this time when she eventually woke up, but he didn’t want to stick around to find out lest she resume her assault on him.

The tunnel leading out of the garage had been blocked by the falling rubble and the stairwell was completely destroyed with no way to go up or down.

Access pulled his gaze away from the destruction and resigned himself to being killed or captured until the gentle sound of an engine could be heard overhead approaching the giant hole left in the asphalt ceiling, and a pony poked his filter-mask clad head down into the hole.

“Anyone alive down there?” a gruff voice called.

Access coughed roughly from all the dust. “Bulwark? How did-”

“No time for that! I’m passing down a rope, we need to move quickly.”

“But-”

“Later, just trust me.”

Sheet Rock paced around the apartment while Star tried to console her. It wasn’t working but it made her feel a little better about what happened.

She felt her skull buzz with the unmistakable sound and prompt that a message had arrived from Bulwark, had he found Access alive or was he dead? She nervously opened the message and braced herself for the worst.

Sheet, I found him, he’s alive.

Battered and badly wounded but alive. I’m taking him to Brandy Snaps’ place to get fixed up. Rest assured I’ll get him there in one piece.

He wanted me to rely a message to you too since his augments took a hit. Grand Gala is alive and she’s the one that attacked you, she likely survived though we weren’t going to stick around in case she woke up.

“Oh no.” she whispered.

“Is he, you know?” Star said from a ragged seat.

“No. Lucky for you he managed to survive. We have a bigger problem though.”

“Well, it isn’t like this day can get any worse.”

“That pony with the auto-cannon knows us from way, way back in our younger years. We used to work together but a job we were on went wrong and we had to abandon her on her orders, and we thought she’d died trying to clear an exit for us.”

“And I’m assuming she didn’t appreciate you not coming back with help? That seems petty considering she told you to go.”

“I don’t get it either, maybe it was the heroic bravado talking or something, since she always was the headstrong, get-things-done type.”

Star thought for a moment and narrowed her eyes. “And her name is Grand Gala, correct? To think we were in the presence of someone that knew who you were from the start.”

Sheet Rock blinked in confusion and sank into her seat with a defeated chuckle. “Yep. That’s her alright. Guess it really is her.”

“So what happens now?”

“We lay low, and enjoy life in the worlds happiest hellhole.” Sheet Rock said with a sarcastic giggle.

Access’ body felt like a sack of cement as he lay on Brandy Snaps operating table within his dingy yet spacious Upper Canterlot office. How he managed to keep his illicit business secret under the noses of corporate police was anyone's guess.

He hadn’t noticed the dire shape his limbs were in. They were bent out of shape and leaking their artificial muscle fluid, and were a complete write off. He’d need replacements for sure.

The rest of him wasn’t in good shape either, and he was lucky to be alive. Though the bruises, cuts and a split lip were relatively minor and the least of his worries.

“We really must stop meeting like this, Access. Why must you squander my good work and get yourself into situations where my art is destroyed on the regular?” the burnt umber form of Access’ ripperdoc lamented.

“Look, Brandy, I’m sorry. I’m not lieing when I say it wasn’t on purpose!”

Brandy looked upon Access with a certain level of disgust evident in his ragged features. “That’s what you said the last time, and the time before last, and the time before that even! This time you’re paying double, maybe that’ll teach you to take better care of yourself.”

“Aw, geez doc, really?”

Bulwark gave a gruff chuckle and patted Access’ crippled limbs. “Maybe that’ll teach you not to try to play hero. You got lucky this time around, buddy.”

“At least one of us was going to get hurt, it may as well have been the metal pony with an artificial heart, huh?”

Brandy smacked Access across the temple with an adjustable spanner and let out an annoyed grunt. “We’ve been over this. Your heart may be artificial but you aren’t, don’t make me get out the hammer again.”

“Yes sir.” Access said with a grumble of his own.

Brandy pushed himself back from his desk and his seat slid in the direction of the small hospital bed Access lay upon and placed down a heavy spanner, laser grafter and a large saw at his side.

“Now this might sting. But of course, you know that, right?”

“Just get on with it, you’ve made your point.”

Chapter 19 - Repaired

The sound of metal on metal could be heard throughout Brandy Snaps’ clinic as he got to work removing Access’ mangled limbs. As soon as he worked each loose from their mounts, he tossed them aside into a rusting pile of other mangled limbs.

“I gotta ask though, Access, but are you okay? Bulwark told me what happened, to you, to Sheet Rock and your little friend.”

“Gonna be honest with you doc, not really.”

“Got yourself in deep again? As your doctor, I have to advise taking it easy once in a while.”

Access sank into the lounger a little. “Well, we’ve earned the attention of Darkspace now, plus whoever else is involved.“

“I’m not going to ask the specifics, but if it’s as serious as you’re implying then I would advise you to walk away. Nobody who ever tangled with Darkspace or any of the other big four got out alive, or sane for that matter.”

Brandy slipped Access’ new forelimbs into place on their mounts, and the sudden neural connection made him wince as a returning rush of sensation flooded his mind.

“How else do you expect a sprawl pony to earn their bread, if not by illicit means. Have you seen it down there?”

Brandy frowned. “Of course, but you two aren’t some two pony army. You’re a pair of young adults playing at things you have no understanding of. Stick to what you do best, cracking systems and making things better for ponies on the net.”

“I think we’re in a bit too deep for that now. And I don’t think our new friend will appreciate us throwing in the towel, after all she did have her life ruined recently.”

While he fitted Access’ new hind limbs into place, he let out an amused scoff. “No surprises there. No wonder why she took to you two so easily. It’s pretty poetic when you think about it, a corpo turned sprawl pony.”

With Access’ new limbs in place, Brandy set about calibrating the new ones for use. A long process normally only done a few times in a pony’s life, but given Access’ habit of destroying his cyberware it was becoming an almost monthly chore.

“You best give Sheet a message while I get your systems ready, she’s likely worried sick. You better get comfy, this might take a while.”

“Snowy, the chits please.” Star ordered.

The synthetic nodded gently and produced two small green chips from a small compartment on its back and presented both to Sheet Rock.

“What are these for? We didn’t carry out our promise, we nearly got you killed!” Sheet Rock protested.

“Miss, if I might interject? Your colleague said he managed to get something of particular interest from Darkspace’s systems, yes? In that case we still owe you payment.” the synthetic remarked.

Sheet Rock shook her head and took the two chips from Snowy and set them down on the coffee table.

“I hope whatever Access managed to pull is worth whatever you put on these chips, he sounded frantic when he mentioned it.”

“He didn’t give you a copy?” Star asked incredulously.

“When we go in together we tend to make another copy for exactly this reason. Unfortunately this wasn’t exactly the most standard of jobs.”

Sheet Rock felt her skull buzz with an incoming message notification, and the name of the sender gave her pause. It wasn’t Access or anyone she knew for that matter, and the sender name itself was horribly corrupted and entirely unreadable.

She considered opening it but was distracted by another notification and this one was from Access, and she put the corrupted message to the back of her mind, now frantic, she answered as quickly as she could.

“Access? How in the moon did you survive that?”

“Luck I suppose. Are things okay over there?”

“Quiet. I think we got away clean, and we weren’t followed either.”

“Good. Out of interest, did you just receive a message with a corrupted header?”

“I did. Did you?”

“Yes, and I did some digging into it given I’m kinda stuck here until the doc puts my new limbs together. While the header is corrupted I managed to find out its origin.”

“And? Spill it.”

“It came from a collection of servers somewhere on EQUI-TECH’s network if the routing IDs are anything to go by. I think X9 might be trying to reach out again, we should read it together somewhere we can contain it if its been spiked.”

“Can you keep on it and confirm if it’s legit? We’ll talk more when you get back, not safe to be talking too openly right now.”

“Sure boss, see you soon. I’ll be maybe a couple of hours max, Brandy’s taking his sweet time.”

Sheet Rock turned to Star and Snowy, who had stood in confusion at Sheet Rock’s sudden lack of interaction, clearly not used to non-verbal communication.

“That was Access, he says he might have had some news from a… mutual friend of ours. Then we can go over the data he swiped.”

“Sounds good.” Snowy replied.

“Take a nap too, you look like you’ve not slept in days.” Star added.

High in EQUI-TECH tower, Bright Sun and his cohort stare at the vidscreens lining the walls as they scroll with recent news.

“Looks like Darkspace have been hit too.” Bright Sun mused.

“Crystal Dynamics and Unreal Dimensions have reported multiple incidents as well. Multiple detonations at key points throughout their infrastructure, as well as attempts on the lives of high ranking employees.” Riot added between glances at his datapad.

Bright Sun looked about ready to burst with anger. “Tell me Riot, who in the hell are we dealing with? It’s like these groups are covering for each other.”

“That isn’t possible. The ones that hit us worked alone, I’m sure of it.”

“Clearly they aren’t. Every time we make a move on one of the groups something happens to draw our attention away, without fail.”

“We should secure our facilities first and the rest of the big four’s facilities second. They wont like it, but we’re stretched thin as it is.”

Bright Sun calmly sat up in his seat and turned his icy gaze onto Riot. “We cannot afford to show any weakness, not now, not ever! I hate to say it, but you may just be right.”

For the first time, Riot actually looked a little worried. “So what should we do?”

“We need to remain levelheaded, this isn’t the first nor will it be the last time we’ve come up against problems like this. Are your spies still in place?”

“Of course. Chilled Coffee has yet to report anything useful beyond the movements of some local scum, and I’ve not heard any word from my agents regarding the stolen data either.”

“We can’t afford any more screw ups, not now Demiurge is on the verge of being ready for its field tests. Double the guard on our key infrastructure, screen everyone, no matter how trusted they are.” Bright Sun muttered.

Access now equipped with his new limbs and cyberware, he was feeling better than ever and approached the dimly lit apartment building under the cover of the morning fog. He crept up the rickety staircase, dodging the broken floor boards and trash lining the stairs where he could.

He felt a sense of nervousness creep up in his chest as the door came into view and he pressed his hoof against the lock, eliciting a short beep from the lock as it retracted with an electronic thud. When the door swung open a strong smell of alcohol hit his nose and he noted the large amount of empty cans that were strewn about the floor.

“I suppose I better clean this up then.” he grumbled to himself.

Chapter 20 - Retail Therapy

Sunlight streamed in through the yellowed windows of the apartment, and Sheet Rock slowly came to when the morning sun finally met her weary, tired, eyes.

The faint sound of shuffling and the sound of a door slamming closed could be heard from the living room and she heaved herself to her hooves, staggering over the piles of laundry to her bedroom door to investigate.

With a groan of tiredness and a hangover the likes of which she had never felt until this day, she shoved open the door and a dark silhouette of a pony met her eyes. She could barely form words let alone a sentence, so she settled for a short guttural grunt.

Access turned to the staggering and sleep deprived mare. “Ah, sorry Sheet, hope I didn’t wake you. I was hoping these new legs were quieter.”

“Oh it’s you. You didn’t, just get over here a second.” she slurred.

Sheet Rock pulled Access toward her and into a hug. Emotions were running high and in her sleepy and drowsy state, planted a small peck on Access’ cheek much to his surprise.

“I didn’t realize you were that happy to see me, not that I’m complaining.” he said, attempting to hide his blush.

Sheet Rock flopped onto her lounger with a soft whump. “We’re all we got, Access, we can’t count on anyone else.”

Her slow, slurred, speech worried Access somewhat, and the strong smell of alcohol lingered heavily in the air. He kicked a few open cans away from Sheet’s lounger and gave her a worried look.

“Are you… drunk?”

She nodded slowly. “Maybe a little, I don’t even know anymore.”

“I think it’s more than a little. You’re going back to bed, right now.”

Access stepped toward Sheet’s lounger, and used his magic to drag her off the lounger and onto his back, where she protested and squirmed with what amounted to a childish tantrum.

“Stop squirming, you’ve clearly drank too much and you’re better off in bed.”

Sheet Rock fussed all the way to her bedroom, and she almost fell off of Access’ back a number of times before he gently tossed her back into bed and left her there. He turned around half expecting her to get up again and continue her protest, but she’d passed out sometime on the short walk from the living room to her bedroom.

“Now who’s the big idiot? You don’t make things very easy for yourself, do you?” he mumbled as he made his exit into the living room.

The vidscreen on the wall was switched on, Sheet Rock must’ve been watching something before she had drunk herself into a stupor, and normally he’d have joined her but someone had to stay sober and be the voice of reason.

It just had to be him this time around, and his punishment was watching hours of trashy vids until she was well enough to move.

A light tap at the front door snapped Access out of his mindless vid-watching stupor, and he craned his head to look at the source of the sound and sighed loudly.

“If that’s you, Star, you don’t need to knock. Just get in here.”

The door handle turned at it swung open, revealing a sheepish looking Starry Night, who despite multiple attempts and requests, wouldn’t look Access in the eye. Her bloodshot and red eyes made her look as if she hadn’t slept in weeks and she flopped down into a free seat.

“You look terrible, Star, whats wrong?”

It took a moment for her to muster the energy to speak. “I nearly got you killed and now Sheet probably hates me. Could today get any worse?”

“You did what you thought was the best course of action, I don’t blame you for that and Sheet probably doesn’t either. What’s important is that we all lived.”

“Where is she anyway? I could have sworn she was on her lounger not an hour ago.”

Access pointed to the unmistakable sound of loud, and rough, snoring. “In her room, she’s sleeping off one hell of a hangover.”

Star grimaced. “Did she do anything weird? Before you got back she was an inconsolable heap of tears.”

He shook his head. “Not really, no? I mean maybe, sort of.”

“She tried to kiss you didn’t she?” Star disclosed with a small smirk.

He nodded.

“Yeah she tried it on me as well, I think whatever she was drinking went to her head or something and maybe she got a bit carried away.”

He nodded again. “That’d be just like her, this isn’t the first time she’s drunk herself stupid.”

“There is the small matter of Grand Gala too. Do you think she’ll be a problem?”

Access sat back in his seat and stared up at the damp riddled ceiling. “For sure. Which is why I’m taking you to a place i know, get you equipped and maybe get you some training. Essential stuff, you know? If you’re gonna be around us you need to be properly prepared.“

“I suppose we don’t want to be caught with our pants down like that again. Do you have enough cash for that? Presumably we’ll be resupplying too?”

Access nodded. “While the proud side of me says we don’t need your money, fact of the matter is we won’t get very far if we don’t pool our resources. We need Guns, ammunition, equipment, tools and maybe a software upgrade for me and Snowy.”

Star looked up at Access, her face now one of determination and confidence. “I’ll do whatever it takes, I’m in it for the long run now and I can’t have any regrets.”

“That’s the spirit! Go get yourself and Snowy ready and we’ll head out. We can just let Sheet sleep off the hangover, she wont mind.”

Access poked his head into Sheet’s bedroom and made sure she was okay to sleep off her hangover, she waved him off with a groan and shake of her hoof before he went to join Star and Snowy who were waiting patiently outside the apartment building.

Star smirked as she watched Access close the apartment building door behind him and waved him over.

“What took you so long?” Snowy asked, inquisitively.

“Had to make sure Sheet didn’t drown in her own vomit. She’s fine, let’s make a move.”

Access gestured toward a road not far to the south, where a sickly array of lights could be seen. It was the sprawl’s equivalent of a market square, and you could find pretty much much everything there, whether it was legal or not. If you couldn’t find whatever you wanted there, you probably didn’t need it anyway.

As they drew closer, the sound of a lively marketplace could be heard intermingled with the sound of rock and techno music. An interesting combination when heard together, but it was strangely pleasant in a weird kind of way.

“Well, here we are. Best place to come to buy, sell or to cash in a favor bar none. Just don’t settle on the first deal, that's the mark of a sucker and you don’t want to get taken advantage of.”

Star let her concentration waver for a moment and she became increasingly aware of the looks she was getting from the other ponies, who sat about on various furnishings made from scrap wood and metal reclaimed from broken down vehicles. She felt intimidated by their side glaces but managed to keep her composure.

She tapped Access on the shoulder. “Is there a reason they’re all staring at me? Are we going to get jumped or something?”

“You’re a new face, better dressed than anyone here and you look like a corpo. Just be nice if you get spoken to and you’ll be fine.”

“Where are we headed first?”

Access stopped in what looked like an open air street food corner. Carts were set in a large circle which sold a vast number of quick, easy and mostly healthy dishes, all of which were incredibly cheap and smelt surprisingly appetizing despite their sickly appearance.

Opposite the street food vendors were the ramshackle brick and metal tower blocks repurposed as shopfronts and warehouses. Their destination was Ammo Can’s Weapon Emporium, its heavily fortified shopfront stuck out like a sore hoof among the other less than sturdy shopfronts that dotted the street.

“Well, I’d really like for you and Sheet to actually have a sidearm. How are you with a firearm by the way?” Access said absentmindedly.

Star tapped the ground with a hoof in embarrassment. “I don’t actually know how to use one, I’ve never had to know before.”

Access blinked in surprise and shook his head with a small smirk. “Of course you haven’t, it was silly of me to even ask. Just go along with whatever he suggests, he knows his stuff.”

Snowy piped up with a simulated cough. “If I might suggest something? Consider getting something concealable, miss. You’re the last pony any miscreants would suspect of carrying, so something that is easy to use and carry would be advantageous.”

Star nodded in agreement. “Can’t disagree with that.”

“Let’s get a move on then. Stand in the doorway with me and he’ll buzz us in, cause he’ll probably want to get a look at us first. See if we’re trouble, you know?”

“Ah, if that’s the case I fear we’ll be turned away.” Snowy commented dryly.

Chapter 21 - Resupplied

Star joined Access in the doorway and above them was a small domed camera placed so that it’d always be able to see the faces of the ponies that wanted entry. A ring of white light formed around the lens for a brief moment which quickly shifted to green as the door slid open automatically.

Inside, firearms of all shapes, sizes, and optimized for many of the major demographic inhabitants of Equestria lined the walls secured inside thick glass cases. From dragons to griffons and from Thestrals to Unicorns, it seemed as if there was a weapon for just about anyone here.

“Oh look who it is! Don’t cause any trouble, you hear me?” called a light beige colored stallion from behind the shielded counter.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Ammo Can. I’ll be good as gold this time, I promise.” assured Access.

“Don’t believe a word this stallion says, he’s pure trouble.” Ammo Can said to Star jokingly.

“Noted. I’ll be sure to keep him in line if I have to.”

Ammo Can let out a mischievous chuckle. “So what can I do you for? Looking for anything in particular?”

“The lovely mare here needs a weapon, but she’s brand new to shooting. You got anything easy to wield? Preferably concealable, if you’ve got anything like that.”

Ammo Can thought for a moment and smiled, he gestured for them to wait and left through a heavily armored door behind the counter, and through the small bulletproof port hole they could see him sorting through boxes upon boxes of weaponry.

“I’m not so sure about this, Access.”

“Chill. Everyone feels the same way before they fire a weapon for the first time. Fact of the matter is unless you’re armed, you’ll get fragged before you know it in our line of work.”

Ammo Can returned from the backroom with a small caliber concealable pistol along with a holster that’d fit under Star’s suit quite nicely, and he slid it over to her.

“Thirty eight caliber, concealable and a perfect starting weapon.”

Star stared down at the weapon. The words ‘Crystal Dynamics PDW .38’ was stamped on the side of the slender silvered frame, and she picked it up with her wing and noted how light and dainty it was.

“You’ll have to wear a hoof harness to use it properly as well, there’s a few in the range if you want to grab one to try out.”

Access cleared his throat roughly. “Can I ask you a favor, Ammo Can? I need the things on this list, they’re a little exotic but if anyone can get it, you can.” Access said cryptically, producing a small chip from his jumpsuit pocket.

Ammo Can took the chip and slid it into his terminal, and his eyes went wide as he read Access’ list. “By the sun, Access, are you going to war or something?”

“Let’s just say someone is incredibly pissed off with us, and that someone has access to some serious hardware and we need the same.”

Ammo Can whistled disapprovingly. “I dunno, Access, some of this is pretty hard to come by. I can give you the sidearm and the sub-machine gun. But the rest of it’s gonna take some doing.”

“Please do. Can we use your range, Star here needs some practice.”

“By all means, Ammo vending machines are fully stocked so just help yourself.”

Access walked away with Star in tow and they made their way toward the firing range directly opposite the counter, the door to which was just as heavily armored as the stockroom door, if not more so. Beyond was a four lane firing range, completely devoid of other ponies which settled Star’s nerves somewhat.

She placed the weapon down on a small steel table and awaited instruction. Ammo Can poked his head in through the door and placed a set of cases down on the floor and wordlessly left with a small gesture to the cases.

“Okay, first things first, your harness.”

“My what now?” Star asked with a strange look on her face.

Access sighed as if it was obvious. “Your hoof harness. It’s a device that clips over your hoof to allow you to pull triggers and reload your weapon, without having to use your mouth like in the old days.”

He picked up one in his hoof and gestured for her to hold her hooves out, she did so and he set about attaching the harnesses to her hooves. They looked like thin metal frames with connection points for a wide range of firearms and their accessories.

“How come you don’t need to wear these?”

“Me and Sheet are Unicorns after all, we can just pull the triggers with our magic. Dragons and Griffons have fingers. So ponies like you are stuck with methods like these.”

“Better than holding it in my teeth, I suppose.”

Access picked up Star’s new weapon in his magic and attached it to her new harnesses, where it stuck out awkwardly like the metal lump it was. He went over the most basic of the basics, how to load the weapon, how to stow and draw it from her new holster, and finally how to fire it.

“Look down the sights, stay calm and will the harness to pull the trigger.”

She looked at him strangely. “What?”

He remained polite and courteous but pointed out the obvious. “That harness is similar to the ones ponies have installed as cyberware, and it has a neural interface that can detect things like your intent to pull the trigger. Just trust me, try it out.”

“Okay.” Star said, the lack of confidence hung heavily in her voice.

She stepped into one of the lanes and a target materialized at the far end of the range, the system having sensed her presence. With a certain level of apprehension, she raised the weapon downrange and gently willed the harness to pull the trigger.

She felt the weapon jump up in her hoof as the weapon went off, sending the round out of the barrel and downrange straight into the back wall, missing the target completely.

“See, you can do it!” Access said happily.

“I missed though.” Star said with disappointment.

“Only time that’ll ever matter is if someone’s shooting back. Just keep trying.”

“Famous last words.”

With renewed confidence Star raised her weapon once again and with intense focus she squeezed off another few shots, each rang out in quick succession and the bullets landed with a thud in the target’s base.

“At least I hit something this time.” she sighed.

“Keep practicing, I’m going to see how Snowy is doing. I almost forgot that he’d been following us.”

Star nodded. “It’s pretty easy to do that isn’t it? He’s always been so quiet, so obedient.”

“Isn’t he supposed to be? He is a synthetic after all.”

“Snowy is a bit special in that regard actually, he’s not just a regular synth. My father built him as a pet project, a sort of family butler if you will.”

“Completely custom personality?” Access inquired.

“Yep. From the ground up. Obedient but fully capable of independent thought and feelings.”

Access looked through the porthole and out into the shop floor where he saw Snowy having a weapon fitted to him by Ammo Can, the Synthetic’s normally stoic expression twisted into one of intense worry,

“I’ve noticed you’ve started calling Snowy a ‘he’ and not ‘it’ like you used to, Access.”

“It seemed disrespectful. Given what we’ve been through and how worried he looks right now, I thought it was about time to pay him some long overdue respect.”

“What did he do to deserve that?”

“Nothing in particular, other than keeping our new fixer safe until she could meet us.”

“You’re too kind, I’m nothing compared to you and Sheet though. I don’t know anything at all about who you are or why you do what you do.”

“Time for a crash course then!”

Access poked his head out the firing range door. “Hey Snowy! We need your help carrying some cases!”

The Synthetic turned to Access with a strangely pleasant smile. “Right away, Access. Bare with me a moment, I’m having a weapon fitted courtesy of your account!”

“You better not bankrupt me!”

Snowy tried to hide the rather large saddle mounted rifle from view, but its sheet length was hard to handle let alone conceal. Fortunately it was foldable, though not in its current half-assembled state, parts still strewn about haphazardly among the grime and dust coating the floor.

“Hey, Snowy, did you want armor piercing or explosive rounds?” Ammo Can said discreetly into the synthetic’s ear.

“Both.”

Author's Note

Bit of a calmer chapter this time around, but don't worry, our little motley gang just don't know when to stop after all.

They'll get into far more scrapes before their job is done.

Chapter 23 - Outburst

“Might I make a suggestion?” Star asked. “I know things seem dire, but we need to remember that we’re not alone, there must be someone out there who can help us!”

“All in favor to shelve this until we can mount a proper offense?” Access said sternly, raising a chromed hoof.

Everyone in the room raised a hoof in agreement, all except Starry Night who stood in the middle of the room indignantly, red with fury. She of all ponies wasn’t willing to let this go, but her silent bravado was quickly shut down by a stern look from everyone else in the room.

“Wipe that look off your face, Star. I know you’re upset, I know it’s unfair, but every time we dig the hole gets deeper and none of us are willing to put our lives on the line taking on every problem that heads our way.” Sheet Rock barked.

“How can you say that, ponies stand to-”

“Get hurt, we know, but none of us are heroes. We’re all as upset about it as you are but we can’t stand up to them with just us, we need resources and powerful allies of which we have few.”

“So what do you intend to do then, ignore it?” Star shrugged.

“Nope. You said you wanted to help us, so let’s do that. You’re coming with us to a mutual friend’s place, and hopefully by the end you’ll understand why you shouldn’t make rash decisions.”

Star opened her mouth to protest but a sharp glare from Sheet took all the wind out of her sails and she hardly had the energy she had left to argue after their previous escapades, so in defeat, she threw up her hooves and dropped the subject.

“A little bit harsh there, Access.” Bulwark scolded.

“Maybe, I don’t think it is considering Darkspace cut Star loose after she said ONE thing out of turn. Now she’s down here with us, without a job, without a future.”

“Yeesh, that’s rough.”

Sheet Rock nodded. “Harsh lesson for anyone to learn, but she’ll make it through one way or another.”

“Bit too much of a harsh lesson if you ask me.” Scarlet mumbled under her breath.

“Enough of that though. We’re heading out to Cider Jack’s place, you two coming too?”

Bulwark smiled with a slight nod. “These old bones aren't much for rough and tumble jobs anymore, but I’m sure I can manage.”

Scarlet shrugged. “Sure. Beats sitting around all day.”

Sheet Rock looked at Star, who silently fumed in the corner of the room. She gently approached her and set a hoof on her shoulder.

“What about you?”

She nodded. “Yeah. Sure.”

They gathered in the lobby, umbrellas and raincoats at the ready. The mood was jovial despite the recent spat, but Snowy had a worried look on his face, one far more noticeable than usual.

“Something wrong, Snowy?” she asked, producing a small umbrella.

“Dreadfully dreary evening, miss. I would prefer if we could do this some other time, preferably never if I am being honest.”

“I’d rather be doing something rather than nothing. Even if that something does put our lives on the line, but it doesn’t seem our companions share that sentiment.”

“I worry that’ll we’ll get into a situation without an escape, that we’ll lose one of our own some day.” the synthetic worried, fear evident on its synthesized voice.

“On that note, first things first, Cider Jack’s bar. She’ll have something simple for you to do, in and out, quick and simple.” Access promised, trotting to Star’s side. “Perfectly safe and risk free, for the most part.”

“Apt name for a bartender. Any more conveniently named proprietors I should know about?” Star joked.

“Well there’s Chilled Coffee, Spark Plug and of course you know Ammo Can…” Access said, trailing off as he noticed Star’s tired frown.

“I wasn’t exactly being serious.” she remarked.

One by one, umbrellas opened and the group trudged out into the deluge of rain that threatened to flood the streets. The weather had shifted suddenly and without warning and few seemed to want to be out on the streets tonight, only a few ponies could be seen walking the normally busy and packed sidewalks and paths.

An unusual synthetic stood in the corner of an entirely glass-walled room and looked out onto the rainy city landscape silently, she looked down at herself and then around the room, letting out a small sigh she returned to her silent vigil.

From her opaque black glass door at the rear of the room, came a small knock. At first the synthetic thought she was mistaken but when another came she opened the door remotely, and as it swung open it revealed the quaking form of a stallion.

“Ma’am?”

The tall, navy blue synthetic turned to face the source of the voice, its face twisted into the forced attempt of a smile.

“Yes, my little pony. What troubles you?”

“R&D was wondering how you were finding the new platform. Is it to your liking?”

The synthetic approached the trembling pony at her hooves and gently pat him on the head. “There’s no need to be frightened, you’ve done good work. It’s not my real body, but it’s far and away your best work yet, Noir!”

“And the wingspan? And the horn? It’s all okay?”

“Don’t worry so much, if anything needs adjusting I know who to call on.” the synthetic soothed. “Now I don’t think that’s all you came here to fret about, no?”

The atmosphere calmed some as the pony spoke again. “There’s the matter of that AI core from EQUI-TECH as well, core serial number X9-01-A.”

“And? Go on.”

“It seems they’ve been having issues with it and have sent it back to us, apparently they think it’s faulty.”

The plates that made up the navy blue synthetic’s face shifted in a frown. “What was wrong with it, we programmed it with the proper protocols, yes?”

“They weren’t being specific about why, but it ran amok through their systems after some sort of disagreement between it and its operators. It ended up contacting someone on the outside for help at least a dozen times, so the reports say.”

The synthetic looked surprised. “For help? For what reason? The project was going as planned, yes?”

“As far as we can tell, yes. EQUI-TECH didn’t seem that willing to go into specifics. In fact, they were outright dismissive of our attempts at getting more detail from them.”

The synthetic’s face turned stern. “Fine. If they aren’t willing to disclose what they did to make an AI go rogue then I suppose we’ll just ask the AI itself. I think it’ll be willing to talk if we can help it succeed at whatever it wanted to do.”

“And the ponies it contacted, ma’am?”

“We’ll treat them with caution, as we always do with unknown variables. Are you able to keep tabs on them?”

Noir nodded. “Indeed. We have their Cyberdeck signatures and a couple of known entry points, we managed to extract them from X9’s databanks when we ran some offline diagnostics. If they log onto the net or so much as make a move, we’ll know.”

“Out of interest, do we still have agents in the city?

“Many. Do you expect a confrontation between us and them?”

“No, I expect EQUI-TECH to move against them in some form. If they’re involved in the slightest we need to make sure they don’t wind up dead.”

“Understood. We’ll keep an eye on them, if needs must, we can simply evacuate them and see if they can shed any additional light on things.”

“Very good. You’re dismissed, Rain Noir.”

“Yes, director.”

The gang approached a nondescript corner of the now empty and quiet marketplace and came to a set of rusty metal steps that led down into a small, unassuming, and rather flooded alleyway, at the end was a disheveled wooden door only just attached to the wall.

Star looked unimpressed but remained silent as they stepped silently down the allyway with only the sound of rain and their own wet hoofsteps in the background.

Above the door sat a neon sign that flickered and buzzed randomly which spelled out the words ‘Sugarcube Cornerclub’ along with a message that declared free entry for anyone and everyone, no matter their social standing.

Bulwark pushed open the rickety and rotted door. He gestured for everyone to enter, standing aside to let everyone pass him.

Inside the cramped space stood an orange coated, forest green maned mare, who cleaned and stacked glasses by the dozen with a bored look on her face. Upon the group’s entrance she leapt into her greeting, utterly ecstatic that someone had shown up in such a downpour.

“Welcome to the Sugarcube Cornerclub! I’m Cider Jack but you can call me Jackie! How can I assist you this fine evening!”

Chapter 24 - Jackie

The minuscule mare noticed Star right at the back of the crowd as she looked around at the decor in wonder. She let out a small giggle and whistled loudly to get her attention.

“Enjoying the sights are we? I don’t blame you to be fair, you wont see anything else like it in the district.”

“I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it before. Makes a change from gray concrete and steel, I suppose.”

The walls and floors were a finely carved oak wood held together with golden rivets, the lighting was a warm orange that bathed the inside of the room it its glow and the interior furnishings, while heavily worn, looked very well taken care of despite their noticeable age.

Jackie giggled to herself and gestured to a large table in the very farthest corner of the room, which the group quickly sat at with appreciation.

“Everything okay? Some of the others have been whispering about a hit in Upper Canterlot.” Jackie remarked as she joined them.

“Wouldn’t know anything about that.” Star said nervously.

Access shook his head. “Jackie is cool, Star. Besides, she probably already knows since nothing happens in the sprawl without her or one of her sets of eyes knowing about it.”

She shrugged. “Gotta keep my eyes out for miscreants encroaching on my livelihood, Access.”

“Anyone fit that bill?”

“Well. There is her. The bat-pony.” Jackie said sternly, her voice firm and serious.

“I wont be a problem, I assure you.”

“That remains to be seen. Chilled Coffee has been seen skulking about the place with some very interesting looking ponies in tow, and I don’t much like the look of them. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you little miss corpo?”

“Of course not.”

“You sure about that?”

Star nodded nervously, visibly rattled by the tiny mare’s sudden grilling.

She broke off her stare after a brief moment and returned to her bubbly and upbeat self, offering a shake of her hoof as a token gesture of apology.

“The fact you’re with two of my best customers means that you’re at least trustworthy, to a degree. I apologize.”

Star waved her apology off. “Don’t worry about it. Could have done without the grilling though.”

The sound of the door opening got the attention of the group and they observed none other than Chilled Coffee as he made his way through the door and onto a nearby seat. Jackie went to see what he needed, but gestured for the others to remain seated.

“Back again, Chilled? Forget something?”

“I was hoping to enlist the help of Access and his little crew. That is if he’s willing to talk.”

Jackie discreetly looked into the corner where Access’ group were currently sat, he gave a slight nod as did the others. She looked back to Chilled Coffee, who looked scared out of his mind and gave him a reassuring smile.

“It looks like it’s your lucky day. They’re just over there, and it looks like they actually have time for you.”

Chilled Coffee looked over and spotted Access giving him a small wave, he went to get up but Access gestured to sit back down. He joined Chilled Coffee at the bar itself and spoke in low, hushed tones on the off chance the goons that were following him were around somewhere.

“It’s been a while, Chilled. Been well?” Access began.

“I’ve been better, been under a lot of stress.”

“Does this have anything to do with what happened at the store?”

“Pretty much everyone knew about it, you know news travels fast around here.”

“I have to admit I’m surprised you had the euro around to fix it all.” Access remarked.

“I didn’t, a group of ponies came forward to pay for it all, but they had a price for me to pay.”

Access’ ears perked up at that. “I assume you paid this price.”

“Of course I did, the place is my livelihood after all.” Chilled shook his head. “They want you guys.”

Access felt his blood run cold. “Excuse me?”

Chilled nodded. “They say they were hired because of your intrusions, but they didn’t say who they were hired by. For obvious reasons I can’t be more specific.”

“What about your family, wont they get hurt if we run?” Access said, he voice heavy with worry.

Chilled shook his head again. “Little Latte and Mocha are safe. My wife and I are willing to accept the consequences of what will happen, though we’ve made a plan should the worst happen.”

Access sat back a little. “I’m really sorry about all this, we really shouldn’t have taken that job.”

“Save your apologies, Access. After all, you were looking out for your little friend over there, and a job is well, a job.”

“Give me this pony’s name. Now.” Access ordered.

“Wouldn’t be safe to say here. For once in your life, just take my advice and go.”

Chilled got up to leave without so much as a goodbye, and he had the look of a broken pony on his last remaining nerve. Though he didn’t seem blame either of them, fact of the matter was it was their choices that brought them to this point. Access just hoped they’d be okay.

He joined his friends with a stern look and explained everything in the shortest and quietest way he possibly could and everyone jumped into action, except for Star and Sheet Rock who rocked in their seats nervously.

“Think this is the big one?” Sheet Rock said quietly.

“I suppose this is the result of recklessness.” Star remarked through a mouthful of ale.

“That goes without saying, doesn’t it?” Sheet Rock said angrily. “If you had your way we’d have to deal with corporate security AND these mercs too.”

Access shook his head. “Probably not the best time to start pointing hooves there, Sheet.”

She sat back in her seat with a sigh. “You’re right. Sorry Star.”

Star remained silent for a moment and then got up and headed outside, hoof in one of her pockets. Outside, she dialed her ever faithful Synth assistant’s number and relayed the situation to him in a startlingly calm manner before she gestured for Access and Sheet Rock to join her outside.

The rain had subsided, leaving large puddles and flooded storm drains in its wake. Chilled Coffee made it seem like the two Netrunners and their Fixer friend had little time to waste before they were set upon by these ponies sent after then, so they’d have to be quick.

They weren't about to distrust his word now, but the thought didn’t sit well with any of them. Why was action being taken now and not sooner?

“I’m having Snowy pack up some things into the van. Mostly your Netrunning gear and some of my valuables, with some luck we’ll be able to lay low somewhere for a while.”

“Bulwark and Scarlet will need help at the hideout too, we can run it by there and they can get their most valuable gear out too.” Sheet Rock pointed out.

“We can hide the rest under the floor and in the crawlspaces though. I doubt our belongings matter to them as opposed to their need to frag us.” Access pointed out.

There was only so much space in the van, however. While large it had its limits and they had no idea as to the extent of the modifications Snowy made to the interior and exterior while they were gone.

Jackie appeared at the door and slipped a small envelope out to Sheet Rock before she closed the door behind them.

“What’s that?” Access asked.

Sheet Rock stuffed the envelope into a pocket on her shorts. “Dunno, I’ll open it later.”

Chapter 25 - Ground Zero - Part One

Bulwark and Scarlet neared the door to the hideout, however, it was slightly open and the flickering lights from inside leaked out into the dank exterior tunnels.

Scarlet trot ahead and took up a position near the door, listening intently for anyone who might be inside. She could her the slight murmur of voices and assumed it was Access and Sheet Rock who’d managed to get there before they did.

Bulwark however stopped her before she could pull open the door, and without words spoken, implied they should wait for a moment.

“Mister Coffee, I don’t have much patience left.” Riot growled.

“They’ll be here, Riot.” Chilled Coffee assured. “I told them exactly what you told me to.”

“As I understand it, you said this place was shared. How can you be sure that they themselves will show up?” Riot said as he scanned over the messy hideout.

Chilled Coffee frowned. “Either way you’ll get what you want.”

Riot nodded. “Yes, I suppose I will. I hope for your sake that I do, I’m about at my limit for your stalling ways.”

Outside the hideout, Bulwark and Scarlet were in disbelief, and they each drew their weapons and reached over to the door’s catch, and with a nod to Scarlet, Bulwark booted the door open.

Every storage space that they could see had been broken into, their terminals sat broken on the ground, and every nook and cranny had been ripped open in search of whatever the two had been looking for.

Bulwark was merely upset at the situation, but Scarlet was positively livid with Chilled Coffee at what he’d done.

“Chilled.” she stated plainly. “Talk. Now.”

“This isn’t what it looks like.” he said hurriedly.

“It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to know what you were referring to, Chilled.” Bulwark added. “We aren’t stupid. You seem to forget we look out for our own, like we looked after you.”

“You always got a cut of the pay we received from jobs, why did you have to work with this maniac against Access and Sheet, and then have the bucking audacity to do it to us too?”

“Spare me the lecture, you don’t have families to take care of, or responsibilities for that matter!” Chilled Coffee barked. “Does that justify my actions? Probably not, but I had to do what’s best.”

“I’m sensing some animosity here.” Riot remarked as he drew his own weapon, a rather nasty looking heavy caliber sidearm covered in runes. “How about we talk like civilized ponies for a moment before we start blasting?”

The room felt like a powder keg that was dangerously close to exploding and both sides weighed their options, though neither wanted to start a fight in such close quarters, instead, Chilled Coffee attempted to cool things down.

“Look, we all knew this was going to happen eventually. Access and Sheet have been doing this for years and eventually, someone was going to take notice.”

Scarlet growled and fired off a single warning round into the concrete at Chilled Coffee’s hooves. “Keep your mouth shut, and stay right where you are. You’ll leave when we tell you to.”

“Actually Mr Coffee, how about you ignore her so myself and these ponies can have a civilized discussion?” Riot ordered. “You’ve done your part, so leave and never speak of this again.”

Apprehensively, he walked toward the door, but as he did so Scarlet whirled around in anger and went to fire off another shot at Chilled Coffee. Her anger would be short lived as Riot fired a shot of his own into Scarlet’s hind leg and she collapsed into a heap on the floor.

Bulwark growled gruffly and readied his weapon, and himself, for a firefight but a small and disturbing chuckle from Riot gave him pause.

“Lower your weapon and we can talk, you’ll give me my employer’s stolen property and then you may go about your day.” he warned. “The moment you start shooting is the moment my team storms the tunnels, granted you just might frag me, but you wont be getting out to alert your friends.”

“What would I have to gain? I’m old, I don’t have much to lose.”

“Apart from your friend there. You should probably tend to that wound of hers.”

Snowy and the newly modified van hurtled down the street at high speed toward the market, and by extension, the bar. He’d completed his modifications ahead of time but found himself doing ‘just one more thing’ before he brought it to them, he may be a synthetic but his sense of pride and duty often overrode his common sense.

After a brief drive through the damp streets of the sprawl, Snowy pulled up beside his companions, and with a slight smile he got out of the drivers seat and presented the newly modified and improved van to his companions.

“So this is why you didn’t come with us.” Star remarked, inspecting the van with a certain level of intrigue.

Snowy shrugged. “I figured I’d make myself useful while you were gone.”

“So what did improvements did you make?” Access asked as he approached the side door.

“I’m glad you asked, bare with me.” Snowy said as he remotely opened the side door.

Inside was rack after rack of weapons, various forms of equipment, boxes full to the brim of medical supplies, and finally, multiple additional seats which were all upholstered in luxury black leather. The sheer amount of storage space Snowy had packed into the back of such a small van was astounding, and yet everything they had bought from Ammo Can earlier was here.

“How did you even fit this all in here?” Access said. “Better yet, how did you afford it all?”

“Trade secret.” Snowy joked. “In truth, the young miss has many favors with many different kinds of pony and I thought it was time to cash them in.”

“She just lets you do that?”

“She trusts me to make the right decisions, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“Are we ever going to meet these benefactors of yours? I have a few requests that I’m sure they could fill.” Access asked hopefully, his hooves raised into a pleading gesture.

Snowy smiled a little and strapped himself into the rear seat sat opposite the side door, he didn’t answer but his expression said volumes. The rest of the crew clamber into the front three seats and buckle up, unaware of the situation they’d soon be faced with.

Bulwark and Scarlet were distressingly quiet, and it was expected they would’ve checked in by now but they hadn’t, despite clear instructions not to charge in without using their heads.

Sheet Rock started up the engine and pulled away from the curb, and nudged Access in the side gently. “Explain what’s gonna happen from this point forward, I need to keep an eye out.”

Access nodded.

“Really though, this is for your benefit, Star, Snowy. You’ve inadvertently done the first part of the plan for us though, that being packing up the useful stuff.”

“The second being finding somewhere to hide, yes?” Star remarked.

“Yes, exactly!” Access chuckled. “Good thing we already have somewhere we can do precisely that.”

“That’s assuming Bulwark and Scarlet didn’t run into any trouble.” Sheet Rock added. “They haven’t checked in yet.”

“It’s far underground in the ruined area of the north sprawl, basically nobody goes there and even fewer even venture underground.”

“It’s the perfect hiding spot then.” Star said, a little relieved.

“Young miss, please temper your expectations. We still need to make sure any miscreants haven’t made their home there.”

“Present company aside, of course.” Access pointed out, a large smile on his face.

Author's Note

I completed this one much more quickly than i otherwise would so that it would be out on time for when i said it would be, however i had to split it into multiple parts.

Next part on Monday maybe.

Chapter 26 - Ground Zero - Part Two

“I actually have a question.” Star said after a few moments silence.

“May as well ask it then.” Access shot back. “As if we have anything better to be doing.”

“Say the hideout isn’t viable, what then?”

“Then we shack up with fellow runners.” he said dismissively. “It’s nothing we haven’t done before.”

Sheet Rock nodded as she weaved through the sprawl’s streets. Her eyes stared off into the distance as she drove, and with a sigh she felt resigned to their fate, after all, it was only a matter of time until someone took notice and attempted to remove them as one would with a troublesome element.

“Just as an aside, we, or rather I could ask my father. He’d be willing to take you in, though I haven’t seen him in a while.” Star admitted. “We do speak a lot over the net though.”

“The big question is who he works for, I suppose. Sheet would tell you it’s a stupid idea, but I’m personally willing to take whatever we can get.”

“I didn’t think of that. You’ve probably upset more than a few people in your time.” Star fidgeted in her middle seat. “Okay, I don’t actually know specifically who he works for, but from what I remember, it’s someone pretty powerful.”

“Got any details?”

“I remember something specifically from back when I was a foal. A good hoof-full of troopers were in our home one day, they all wore some kind of weird angular Power Armor, but not the kind your friend wore.”

“Describe it for me.”

“Well like I said, it was angular, dark colored, covered pretty much everything besides their muzzles, and where their cutie marks would be was a small golden crown. They were nice enough to me I suppose though, being the small foal I was.”

“Can you guarantee he wont tun on us?”

“He’s my father, Access, I think I know him well enough that he wouldn’t harm his own daughter.” she remarked, a little offended. “I think if I told him you two have been looking out for me, he’d protect you two as well.”

Sheet Rock narrowed her eyes and turned the steering wheel sharply, sending them down a side street just out of view of the usual hatch that’d lead them underground. Up ahead were a group of heavily armed thugs, hanging about the ruined buildings and the rubble that littered the abandoned streets.

She stared intently from out of the mirrored windscreen at the thugs, who hadn’t noticed, or didn’t care to notice, the van’s approach.

They were too heavily armed to be simple gangers but not heavily armed enough to be corporate security. There was only one reason for them to be here, and they had the entrance pretty well covered with no reasonable chance they’d be able to get through without being spotted.

“At least ten armed thugs, heavily armed, very angry looking.” Sheet Rock said. “Too many for a frontal assault. It’d be a death sentence if we tried.”

“I’m willing to bet there's more in the tunnels.” Access added. “Can we get eyes in there?”

Snowy nodded from the cargo seat. “I managed to get a cellular up-link installed. It’s not fast, but it’ll do the job.”

“Give us our Cyberdecks from the back, Snowy. Me and Sheet should be able to observe what’s going on inside with any luck.” Access said as he lent over. “You and Star should keep an eye out while we work. Just stay out of sight.”

“Who hired you? Better yet, who even are you?” Bulwark demanded.

“A concerned party who wants his employer to pay him. You know, like most ponies in this screwed up world of ours.” Riot responded. “Speaking of which, drop your weapon and hand over our property. I wont ask again.”

A group of thugs enter in through the door who surround Bulwark with their weapons leveled at him. He reluctantly put his weapon on the ground, kicking it over to Riot who then threw it across the room into the pile of smashed electronics.

“You’re wasting your time. Do you think we’re stupid enough to keep sensitive data just laying around for you to just take?”

Riot gave a side glance to a broken pile of plastic and glass. “No I don’t suppose you are. But you’re still going to tell me what I want know, one way or another.”

“Or what? I’m old, gray, and if I’m being honest, really sick of listening to you bucking speak.”

Riot smacked Bulwark across the face with his weapon with a sickening crunch, then followed up with a sharp jab to the gut. Bulwark collapsed into a heap beside Scarlet, reduced to a wheezing, shuddering wreck.

“Sir, if I might interject?” one of the thugs spoke.

“What is it, Gray? I’m busy working my anger out.”

Gray was one of Riot’s most trusted captains, a small framed but muscular Earth Pony as gray as the morning fog, hence his rather on the nose nickname given to him by his squad.

“Well sir, we’ve got an unidentified VTOL heading our way at high speed. We believe they’ve called for reinforcements somehow.” Gray said, his voice monotone. “We should leave, immediately.”

“Great, more distractions.” Riot grumbled. “Bring those two and whats left of their gear with us, they aren’t going anywhere until they give up the goods.”

“Sir.”

Access and Sheet Rock attempted to work their way into the hideout’s internal systems, but they were met with hard timeouts. They tried repeatedly to make some kind of connection with any device they could, but ultimately had to give up.

“Damnit, they must’ve burned everything.” Access growled as he ripped his cables out his neck flung them onto the dashboard.

“I’m sorry, they’ve done what?” Star said as she peered around the corner at the rapidly thinning group of thugs.

Sheet Rock lent out the drivers side window. “Standard procedure for runners, which probably means they’re in trouble or were in trouble. Why risk someone getting evidence from you? So you just smash up your gear to the point that it’s unusable.”

“We’ve got a lot of movement over here too, actually, everyone's clearing out in a real hurry.”

Star watched as a large number of armed thugs came up out the hatch and into their vehicles, none of which were marked or notable in any sense, other than the large amount of damage present on them all.

One of the thugs caught Star’s eye who carried a couple of bodies with his magic into a larger, much and more heavily armored SUV. He looked far better dressed than the rest of them did, and just looking at the orange maned stallion made her shudder.

“Bulwark and Scarlet must’ve been unlucky, they’re dragging bodies away.”

“Are they alive?”

Star shook her head. “Can’t see from here, but I doubt they’d bother with removing dead bodies.”

“Buck me!” Access said as he slammed his hooves into the dashboard, putting a small dent into the cheap plastic. “It’s just one thing after another, isn’t it?”

The convoy of vehicles rapidly sped past the alleyway, and Star quickly hid out of sight in the shadows. It wasn’t obvious were they were headed to, but if he had to venture a guess, it’d be the upper city.

A roar echoed from overhead as a VTOL rocketed past and gently set itself down in the road some distance away from them. It was jet black, angular, and unmarked, save for a small golden crown on the engine exhaust nozzles.

“What in the hell?” Access said as he joined Star by the alleyway’s exit.

Star shushed Access with a sharp glare.

Out of the VTOL a jet-black armor clad stallion stepped out, his armor looked lightweight but sturdy, and it had a harshly angular construction to it. He was covered head to hoof in it and it was hard to tell just where his attention was placed.

He looked around for a moment and then made his way over to the hatch, which he indifferently inspected as the VTOL took off in a hurry.

“Grab your stuff, we’re going in. I don’t know who this pony is, but he doesn’t look friendly.” Star called.

“Four on one? My kinda odds.” Access offered.

Chapter 27 - Ground Zero - Part Three

The crew watched as the stallion jumped into the tunnels below street level, and quickly got their gear together, leaving ample time for the stallion to get some distance on them so they could follow without being spotted.

This assumed the stallion didn’t know they were already there. They had no idea about the capabilities of the armor he wore, but it looked sufficiently advanced enough to have some hidden tricks.

The crew leapt into action, and rapidly exited the van and approached the tunnel entrance. Star jumped down first into the depths, followed by Snowy and then Access and Sheet Rock. They could hear the stallion’s hoofsteps up ahead, and unlike them, he didn’t seem to feel like he should rush about.

However, the stallion stopped dead in his tracks and slowly turned around to look down the tunnel behind him which made the crew dive behind some damp water pipes for cover.

“I’m sure I know that logo on his flank. It looks so familiar.” Star whispered. “Where have I seen it?”

“Well can you hurry the buck up and remember, we need to know if this guy is gonna frag us or not.” Sheet Rock said, resisting the urge to shout.

“Judging from his body language, he doesn’t appear to have hostile intentions.” Snowy remarked.

The stallion turn back around and walked on until he reached the hideout’s door, which laid in a shallow water channel just opposite, and after a quick look down some adjacent tunnels, he peered inside and vanished from view.

Access signaled his comrades to stay low to the ground and approach the door quietly. He and Sheet Rock took up positions on the edge of the door closest to them, with Star and Snowy close behind, weapons clutched in their harnesses.

He raised his hoof, and on the count of three, they were to storm in and hold the stallion at gunpoint. It didn’t matter how well armed or protected he was, he didn’t stand a chance against the four of them combined.

“Now!”

They all stormed through the door and took whatever cover they could find among the utterly destroyed furnishings and low walls within the hideout, leveling their weapons at the invader.

It was hard to tell if he was caught off guard or not, but the stallion lit his horn and assumed a battle stance in response to their aggression. Access fired off a few shots at the stallion’s head, but they bounced off a barrier the stallion projected from his horn, and were sent into the concrete behind him.

Sheet Rock and Star popped out from behind a ruined desk and laid down a few shots of their own, but their rounds once again bounced off the stallion’s barrier. Small arms fire wasn’t about to punch through, luckily Snowy had his anti-material rifle readied.

“Let me deal with this!” Snowy called.

The stallion stood his ground, even as Snowy pointed his rifle at him. A thunderous crack resounded throughout the cavernous space and the round rocketed toward the stallion, but this time he couldn’t block the shot and his barrier shattered into glass-like shards all around him.

“Hold your damned fire, you crazy buckers.” he cried, diving behind a concrete pillar. “I’ve been sent here to find you!”

“Oh yeah? Sent by who? We don’t tend to trust ponies who hide their faces or rock up unannounced!” Access bellowed.

The stallion popped out from cover and let off a blast of concussive force from his horn, sending the broken remains of much of the hideout’s furnishings toward the crew, where it smashed into the walls behind them, partially covering them in the broken remains.

“Hear me out, you’ll want to hear what I have to say!” he shouted back. “You’re in grave danger!”

The crew looked very concerned and considered their options. Their hideout was compromised, friends captured, and all their assets stolen. Their only options now would be to fight this stallion and see if they can pull anything from him, or take the risk and hear him out.

“Alright, but you’re gonna stand in the open, no weapons, no magic, right where we can see you.”

“Very well.” the stallion called back. “Holster your weapons for me, would you?”

He went and stood in the middle of the room rigidly as instructed, though he didn’t expect the others to do the same, and as he thought, they remained behind cover for their own safety with their weapons pointed at their ‘captive’.

“Now if you’re done destroying what’s left of your sanctuary, we should talk.”

“First thing’s first though, who are you?” Star ordered. “How do you know who we are?”

“Serial number MU-4844, Code name ‘Matterhorn’” the stallion responded robotically. “My employers have been keeping tabs on you for some time, actually.”

“What are our names then, smart guy?” Access mocked. “If you’ve done your homework, I might just believe that.”

“For a start, you’re Access Granted. Son of a Netwatch agent who went rogue, you never forgave him for that. Did you?” he began. “Your friend there is Sheet Rock, daughter of a tech startup CEO. She could’ve been rich but she threw it all away to take care of you.”

Access growled as he considered putting a bullet in the stallion’s head, but a sharp glare from Star gave him pause.

“Matterhorn, do you know the name ‘Rain Noir’?”

He nodded. “Of course, Miss Starry Night. I work very closely with your father indeed.”

“Humph.” she grumbled. “I recognize the uniform, and that programmed response of yours. You have to be one of my fathers pet projects that he spoke so much about.”

“Then you’ll believe me when I say that I’m telling you the truth.” he said happily. “Needless to say though, you’re all in danger so we should wrap up this conversation as soon as possible.”

“Whoever is after us already took two of our own, you didn’t think to come sooner? With your help we could’ve easily overpowered them AND taught them a lesson!”

“My mission concerned you, not them.” Matterhorn grumbled. “You can put your complaints to the director when we arrive back at base. She is eager to meet you all, but I must stress that you are to be on your best behavior.”

“We’ll be good as gold, I assure you.” Sheet Rock promised. “What’s the plan, assuming you have one?”

“We need to get to a specific warehouse in the outer districts, from there a Cargo VTOL will collect us and your vehicle.” Matterhorn stated. “I don’t expect trouble, but we should assume any hostiles that snatched your friends are still around somewhere, so be vigilant.”

“Famous last words.” Sheet Rock chuckled. “We haven’t exactly had the best of luck recently.”

“I’m here precisely for that reason. We didn’t sent anymore agents because you don’t need any more than one of us for a retrieval job.“

“Try not to blow your own trumpet too much, yeah? Boasting can get you killed.”

Matterhorn chuckled. “Noted.”

Chapter 28 - The Plan

The crew sifted through the piles of smashed furniture and electronics as Matterhorn stood rooted in his spot in the center of the room. He watched them work, eerily quiet and indifferent to their very apparent distress.

“I really wish he wouldn’t stare at us like that.” Sheet Rock said as she picked through what was left of Scarlet’s desk.

“Better than shooting at us.”

“Agents aren’t permitted to be armed.” Matterhorn informed. “Being a Mage though, I don’t need it.”

“Still couldn’t stop a bullet though.” Access mocked. “What good is a barrier that can’t stop a rifle round.”

“I stopped yours, didn’t I? Your Synthetic friend over there deserves all the credit for actually challenging me.” Matterhorn chuckled mischievously. “Banter aside, you need to hurry up.”

There wasn’t much left in the wreckage, but they managed to salvage at least some of the equipment that wasn’t destroyed in the raid or in their subsequent scuffle. Matterhorn remained strangely silent as he watched the crew heave a few packed boxes through the tunnels and out of the hatch and into the streets above.

The van wasn’t far and was still in the alleyway they had left it in, out of sight and hidden in the narrow opening. Matterhorn looked at it, a little unimpressed.

“Is that what passes for a base for you ponies?”

“Wait until you see the inside.” Access said, grinning a little. “It’s a lot more impressive on the inside.”

Sheet Rock jumped into the driver’s side seat and pulled the Van out of the alleyway so they could load it up with their salvaged equipment. When Access opened the side door, Matterhorn inspected the interior, noting the lack of seating for himself but nodded in approval when he noticed the selection of equipment on the racks.

“I must say, I’m a little surprised.” he admitted. “I can see why the reports regarded you four as potential assets.”

“I mean, if your superiors consider the amount of firepower you have to be a measure of your worth, you could easily say the same for any of the crews around here.” Sheet Rock said as she stuck her head out the side window.

“Those crews didn’t screw with two very powerful corps, steal classified secrets, and live for longer than a day after the fact.” Matterhorn stated with a small chuckle.

Soon after, the crew had finished loading the salvaged gear and themselves into the van, though there were no free seats, so Matterhorn was left to haphazardly wedge himself against the shelving and hope he wasn’t buried in the process.

“I should probably go into more details about where specifically we are going.” Matterhorn remarked. “We’re to show up at a small unoccupied firearms warehouse on the far end of the district, otherwise known as the Lower Wards.”

“Got a specific address?” Sheet Rock remarked. “The wards are a big place to just be driving around in when everything looks exactly the same.”

“Of course.” Matterhorn nodded and produced a datachip from a slot on his helmet, which he quickly passed to her. “I trust you have the requisite reader?”

“How convenient.” Sheet Rock remarked.

A chocolate brown maned mare walked onto a landing pad, hidden deep within the mountain Canterlot had long since covered in buildings, expansions, and urban sprawl. Many of the pads were empty apart from one. An old cargo VTOL devoid of identifying markings sat upon the only occupied pad, inside of which was a lone stallion in the aircraft’s cargo area.

“Handler Lucky?” the stallion said sharply, turning to face her.

“Yes?” she responded, slightly startled. “You my pilot?”

“We’re ready to go, please take your seat aboard the aircraft.” he advised. “Matterhorn has indicated that there may be trouble on the ground.”

“Of course there will be, the hotheaded idiot insists on making my job difficult.” Lucky groaned.

“As an aside miss, my name is Pilot Wings. The director insisted on assigning me to be your personal pilot until further notice. If you ever need or want to go somewhere, you just come and tell me and I’ll get you there.”

“Good to meet you, Pilot. Let’s get going before Matterhorn decides to level another city block like last time.” Lucky grumbled. “Let’s hope we don’t have to drag you all over the wards looking for our guests.”

Lucky boarded the bulky VTOL and sat down in one of the seats behind the pilot. Whoever they were to extract must have a lot of assets to remove, but this assignment however seemed much different to their previous endeavors.

The director was much firmer than she usually was, panicked almost. Lucky figured her new platform was giving her trouble but upon pressing for more information, she was told to carry out her orders and all would be made clear in time.

Typical corporate speak for “Mind your own business.” delivered in the most polite way possible from a very calm boss, a rare combination.

The ceiling slid open to reveal the smog blanketed sky, and little by little the heavy VTOL left the ground, kicking up a large amount of dust on the landing pad as it rose higher and higher into the skies.

“Apologies for any turbulence, this tub isn’t designed for comfort!” Pilot Wings called over the intercom. “ETA ten minutes.”

There wouldn’t be any gates or physical barriers between themselves and the wards beyond, but the place would be swarming with automated security which, if Matterhorn was to be believed, would simply ignore them if they remained in his presence.

In front of them was a single two-lane road cut into the hills beyond the sprawl, and in the distance were a large amount of warehouses, vehicle hubs, and automated cargo carriers. Nobody actually worked in the area as it was entirely staffed by a legion of stripped back industrial synthetics, who moved goods around the storage areas where they would be loaded onto vehicles to be shipped to their destinations.

Sheet Rock slowed the van to a gentle stop as they came to a black and yellow striped warning painted across the asphalt road’s surface.

Warning, No unauthorized personnel beyond this point. Security drones operate past this point and have instructions to fire upon any and all that do not bare the correct credentials.

Please keep any credentials on your person AT ALL TIMES, drones will periodically check any and all visitors for said valid credentials and will give only ONE warning should these not be found.

Crystal Dynamics and its subsidiaries can (and will) deny any involvement in or responsibility for, maiming, dismemberment, destruction of personal property, or loss of life that will occur as a result of this warning being ignored.

“Matterhorn? Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

“Yes, I have been furnished with a set of credentials. As long as you stick close by the drones will assume you’re fellow agents, even if you don’t look like me.”

Access nodded. “Drones are pretty brainless for the most part anyway, it’s the synthetics I’m worried about.”

“They’re not like your friend over there, and they’re no smarter than the machines that put this van together, or the ones that built your implants. As long as we stay out of their way, they’ll treat us like we aren’t there.”

Sheet Rock seemed apprehensive, but slowly crossed that metaphorical barrier between themselves and certain danger despite Matterhorn’s promise that they’d be safe.

Everyone had heard the stories of desperation that came out of the incidents that occurred on a seemingly regular basis, of how those with near to nothing crossed the threshold into the one area of the city they thought they could have stolen from without penalty.

Nobody needed to see the bodies left behind by Crystal Dynamics drones to believe what they were told. They were designed to swarm their target with overwhelming numbers. Ponies, vehicles, other drones, it didn’t matter, and they would quickly dispatch even the most confident and well armed opponents with their mounted auto-cannons.

“Our ride is on its way.” Matterhorn stated. “Ten minutes away, maximum.”

Chapter 29 - Escape

“Say Matterhorn, why do they call you that?” Access asked awkwardly. “That’s not your real name is it?”

“No, it’s a code name.” he stated simply. “As for why they call me that, it’s because of my grasp on matter conversion magic.”

“Uncommon for someone to be talented with magic these days.”

“I’ve seen, and fought, many mages in my time.” Matterhorn chuckled. “You’re lucky your chosen profession keeps you out of immediate harm.”

“That was the idea, until we dug into this can of worms.” Sheet Rock added. “Are we ever going to know your real name, in our line of work trust is paramount.”

“That’s complicated.” Matterhorn admitted. “Technically, I don’t have one, as my serial number is my ‘name’ in a sense. It’s programmed into us from birth and we’re only given a code name once we’re assigned a post.”

“You’re very forthcoming with that information, that isn’t the sort of thing I’d tell someone so freely.” Sheet Rock said suspiciously.

Matterhorn shrugged. “It’s as you say, trust is paramount. So I’m willing to tell you whatever I must to make you trust me. It’s important.”

“Okay, why don’t you have a name?” Sheet Rock questioned. “Your parents forget to put that on your record when you were born or something?”

Matterhorn fell silent and the atmosphere became awkward. He was willing to tell them anything, except the answer to that rather personal question. Sheet Rock and Star hung their heads and they only uttered a knowing grunt.

“It’s fine, you don’t have to say it. I’m sorry.” Sheet Rock said apologetically.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Above them, a low rumble echoed from an unknown source and soon after, a large, bulky, heavy VTOL thundered through the skies. They weren’t far from where it would touch down, and their mood brightened somewhat when the thought of safety crossed their minds.

The aircraft flew unusually low over the tall warehouse buildings and circled overhead for a short while before it would continue on to its destination.

“Looks like our ride’s spotted us.” Matterhorn said thankfully. “Not a moment too soon, actually.”

“Why?” Star asked.

“Something doesn’t feel right. Something’s not right. This was far too easy.”

“Can you be more specific? You said it yourself that security would take care of anyone trying to get in here.”

“That’s only useful against the dregs of society, no offense. The real problem is if those thugs show up again.”

Matterhorn had an uncanny ability to sense danger, it kept him alive up until now but it wasn’t specific. He’d only know that something was wrong but not exactly what would happen and it often caused some friction between himself and other agents when they didn’t believe him.

He became restless very rapidly, clawing at his helmet like a fevered addict. Something was very, very wrong, but he couldn’t put his hoof on why or how. They were surrounded on all sides by security drones and even the industrial synthetics could put up a fight if they wanted them to.

There was no conceivable way that they could be ambushed, and yet his instincts were going wild, he pulled off his helmet roughly, and his mane was drenched in sweat as if he’d been in some kind of cataclysmic downpour.

He noticed he was being watched like he was a mad pony. “What are you three looking at?”

“Could have sworn you were a realistic looking machine until the facade cracked.” Sheet Rock joked. “Now you know how we’re feeling about all this.”

Matterhorn chuckled. “I’m sorry to disappoint, but no.”

The crew approached a small, plain-looking warehouse that sat a little distance away from the others, and in the courtyard was their ticket out of the city and to safety. Two ponies popped out of the aircraft, one approached Matterhorn when he jumped out the van’s side door with the other motioning for everyone else to jump out.

“MU-4844, where is your helmet?” the mare chided. “You know the rules, yes?”

“For once, Lucky, could you be less of a hard ass?” Matterhorn rubbed his temples. “Better yet, where’s YOURS?”

“I’m not an agent, you are, do as you’re told.” Lucky growled angrily. “This reflects on my performance report, and I wont have you destroying it.”

“Oh yes, little miss perfect.” Matterhorn mocked. “How does it feel to know the director gives more attention to her agents than she does to her handlers?”

Snowy turned to the little argument behind him and went to speak, but Pilot Wings was quick to jump in before he got involved.

“Ignore them, they butt heads all the time.”

“Is that… normal for them?” Snowy remarked.

“Oh yes. They paired the most hot-headed agent with the most hot-headed handler.” Pilot Wings confirmed. “I’m just a simple pilot, but even I know that was a bad move by command.”

Snowy turned back to face the two Unicorns, who by now were literally butting heads and their argument had gotten noticeably heated.

“You and your friends might want to board the aircraft while I go calm them down. There’s space in the cargo area for you all, if you’d please take your seats.”

Pilot Wings galloped off to break up the two warring colleagues, leaving the rest of the crew a little bewildered. They boarded the aircraft and sat down in the seats opposite where their van was now tied down securely with thick straps.

“Do… we act like that?” Access asked with an eyebrow raised at the situation unfolding before them.

“We have our disagreements, but those two take that to the next level.” Sheet Rock offered. “It’s a wonder how they get anything done at all, even with all their backing.”

It looked like Pilot Wings had calmed down the pair of them, and they trudged toward the aircraft with what passed for frowns on their faces. Matterhorn however, did not get into the cargo area with them, instead he joined Pilot Wings up front.

“I’m sorry if Matterhorn was too abrasive when you dealt with him, he has a bit of a reputation for being a bit high-strung.”

“We’re grateful for the assist though.” Snowy added.

“I’ll be honest with you, our decision to help you was one born of desperation.” Lucky declared. “We’ve been following a certain group of ponies, who have been in the employ of the big four in some capacity for a while.”

“The ones that attacked our hideout? They didn’t look like your run-of-the-mill corporate thugs though.” Access remarked.

The aircraft roared to life as it rose into the air. They’d soon be on their way and Lucky pointed to some headsets that hung above their heads, as it’d soon be too loud in the cabin to talk without them.

“Very astute, they aren’t. We only know of their leader, a maniac of a Unicorn named “Riot” for his unending thirst for mayhem. We don’t really know anything about him, why he works for the big four or even why he tolerates the presence of his hired help.”

“So that’s his name.” Access snarled.

“The fact he’s a madpony aside, why do you care?” Sheet Rock added.

“The organization I’m a part of has a vested interest in removing rogue elements from society. No corporation or social class should have the power they wield today.”

“It seems you’ve failed.” Star pointed out. “Our lives are dominated by the big four, at least mine was.”

“Greed overtook common sense so I’m told, now we have to deal with the consequences.” Lucky admitted. “I wont go into too much detail, as our leader will want to give you the hard sell herself. She’s nothing if not passionate.”

The aircraft soared through the skies of Canterlot, past other low-flying aircraft and out of the city’s borders to small unassuming compound dotted with small gray cuboid buildings. In the middle of all these buildings was a resplendent estate surrounded with wrought iron fencing, a strange sight to the decidedly urban sprawl ponies.

To think there were ponies living and working this far outside of the city, but the look of the guards that roamed the estates grounds as they drew closer, armed with weapons they’ve never seen before sealed just how serious this organization were about their aims.

The aircraft came to a hover as it aligned itself to a large hole in the center of the compound, which it descended into after the doors retracted to allow access to the depths.

“Just a warning before you disembark. The director can be a little exuberant due to her relative isolation.” Lucky warned. “She enjoys having guests in this day and age, you see.”

They all nodded as the aircraft touched down on a large underground landing pad, and very eager to leave the stuffy environment of the cargo space, hopped out onto the tarmac where a tall navy blue synthetic, the eponymous director, stepped out of a small access way surrounded by armor-clad soldiers.

“Hello.” a strangely familiar voice calls from the synthetic’s mouth. “It seems introductions are in order, I am Director Luna. Head of this organization we call “The Crown”. I was expecting more of you?”

“Wait… THE Luna, as in… Every one of our sources say you’re dead!” Star said in disbelief.

Luna chuckled. “Surprised? Dead is a relative state of being. This synthetic body may not be alive, but I most assuredly am, please follow me, won’t you?”

Author's Note

This will be the last chapter of The Freelancers I'll likely post this year, with posts recommencing after Christmas.

As i mentioned in a blog post, i have a single chapter side story in progress which i wont spoil the plot for, but i'm sure you'll find it pretty interesting if you've liked The Freelancers so far.

Chapter 30 - Director

“Director, if I may?” Lucky said quietly.

“Is this about Matterhorn?” she responded. “The look I saw on his face before he stormed off spoke volumes more than he could’ve wanted.”

“I was wondering if you could speak with him. He is getting too volatile for his own good, to the point where he becomes paranoid.”

“Paranoia is good, to a degree.” Access offered. “Maybe not to that degree though.”

“You’re one to talk.” Sheet Rock joked.

“Out of all my projects, Matterhorn is one that I couldn’t even hope to understand, and I made him!” Luna chuckled.

There was an awkward silence that lasted for an equally awkward amount of time before Luna continued, sensing the tension.

“I should probably explain what I mean. That sounded worse than I had intended, I assure you.” she said quickly. “We don’t recruit from outside the organization unless we have to, which means we must turn to… alternative sources for our soldiers.”

“That seems ill advised.” Snowy remarked.

“Ah, I’ll have Lucky note that down for me.” Luna joked. “But in all seriousness, I imagine you understand the reasons why we must do things the way we do.”

They walked through corridor after corridor, deeper and deeper into the labyrinthine complex and they passed by multiple open plan offices and guard posts, staffed with guards clad in much the same armor Matterhorn wore, yet a little different in places.

His was much more intricately built with visible care and attention. That’s not to say his follow agents didn’t have the kind of gear that could make Access drool as he craned his head to peek at it, but there were still very visible differences in their armament.

They were funneled into a long room with a glossy polymer table in the center, and set out around it were a number of seats, one for each of them, including the two that Scarlet and Bulwark would’ve sat in.

“Please, do sit down everyone.” Luna instructed. “Rest assured you’re safe here, we have no need to harm you in any way.”

“Forgive me for my impertinence, but I believe my colleagues here have heard that before.” Star remarked.

Access and Sheet Rock nodded slowly, unsure if they should agree or not.

“Skepticism is good, hence why I’m still here today.” Luna pointed out. “But, unlike those outside our walls, I’m not going to kill you if you don’t give us what we want, we’ll just have to find another way. Shall we get down to business?”

“What is it you want?” Access asked. “Why go to all this trouble for a bunch of sprawl ponies?”

“That data X9 gave you of course, plus any other records you may have acquired.” Luna said plainly. “I should also mention we’ve come into the possession of the core X9 inhabited, it was quite forthcoming when it came to telling us who you were.”

“I’m surprised it trusted you, given how paranoid it seemed when we met.”

“AIs eventually develop their own thoughts and feelings, that is if you let them. Clearly Equi-Tech didn’t quite get the memo.” Luna offered. “Of course X9 had access to sensitive records so when it eventually went against them it took something that could ruin them with it.”

“Lucky for us.” Access remarked. “You probably already know, but when we broke into the Upper Canterlot Darkspace HQ during our own investigation, we came across a project name. Demiurge.”

Luna narrowed her eyes and gestured for the three agents in the room to leave, and she became very stern and serious. “Do you have any evidence of it’s existence? Records, data, images, anything at all?”

Access, a little taken aback at her sudden shift in tone, continued. “Some plain text memos and a large dump of encrypted data, can’t say if it’s related but-”

“Do you have a copy with you?”

“Yeah of course.” he said as he produced a data chip from his vest pocket, which he placed on the table.

“Excellent, leave it there and I’ll have someone collect it.” Luna said happily. “I’ll have Lucky show you to some dorms you can use, no doubt you’ll want some rest.”

“I think we deserve to be paid for our trouble as well, we went through a lot to get that you know.” Sheet Rock added.

Luna blinked in surprise. “Of course, where are my manners, I’ll have someone bring a few euro-chits to you. I’m sure you’ll find the amount more than fair.”

She got up from her seat but was stopped by a short huff from Star.

“We were told you’d explain everything, and you’re just going to walk away?”

Lucky went wide eyed.

Luna turned to face the group, surprisingly calm. “Correct. However, a full explanation will have to wait until my staff have decoded what’s on that chip. Be patient if you’re able, and if the contents are what we were looking for, you’ll get what you’re due.”

She turned back around and left without any further interruptions.

Lucky let a breath go that that she didn’t know she was holding. “You’re very fortunate she didn’t have you shot, you know.”

Matterhorn had disembarked the aircraft in a huff and after a brief walk he found himself within the equipment storage room, angrily throwing his armor off and into his personal locker.

The other agents around him gave him a wide berth as he finished putting his gear away, stomping out the room with a single twitching eye. When he had left, the other agents breathed a sigh of relief, the room now magnitudes calmer.

Rain Noir walked down the corridor on his way to greet their new arrivals when he spotted Matterhorn as he walked toward him from the other side of the hallway. With a warm smile, he greeted him despite his sour expression.

“Matterhorn! May I have a moment of your time?”

“What is it, sir?”

“Can you accompany me to meet our new arrivals? We got a lot of good data from your interactions, but I think it’s best that you continue for the foreseeable future.”

Matterhorn growled to himself quietly. “Yes, sir, at once.”

The four were led to another section of the facility, one that looked very homely despite its underground nature. Wood paneling covered the walls and fine carpets set upon the floor with bright yellow fluorescent lighting mounted into the recessed ceilings.

Lucky gave each of them a keycard that would allow them access to the room printed on the front face of the card, except Snowy who rejected his, opting to remain with his owner much to her surprise.

From down the corridor, Rain Noir called out to the group. When Star turned to face the noise and noticed her father she galloped toward him and locked him into a tight hug. It’d been such a long time since the two saw each other in person, and the last time was just before her little run in with a certain two Runners.

“I heard what happened, I was so worried!” Rain Noir cried.

“Don’t worry, I’m fine. Snowy was with me all the time.” Star responded. She turned to the two Runners and smiled. “Plus, I had help from these two.”

Rain Noir turned to face them as well. “So it’s you two I have to thank. After Darkspace sent her down there for her rather outspoken ways, I feared the worst.”

“We managed to catch her as she was moving in, she pulled us in for a chat and I suppose things escalated from there.” Access offered. “Couple of run-ins with trouble, but nothing we can’t handle.”

Rain Noir laughed heartily. “Yes, so I hear. You’ve been up to quite a lot haven’t you?”

Access and Sheet Rock laughed nervously, unsure of just how much they knew about them. They’d done a lot of questionable things on the net in their teen years that’d make this pony’s head spin, but they knew better than to brag about it.

Rain Noir laughed once more. “Your silence says it all. I need to talk to my daughter, perhaps the rest of you should retire for the night?”

Sheet Rock yawned. “Good idea, too much excitement for one day.”

“Matterhorn, please stand guard until I’m finished here.”

“Yes, sir.”

Author's Note

And we're back!

Hope you've all had a good Christmas and new year, I've spent a good amount of time after Christmas building up a bit of a backlog of chapters, so i shouldn't have to miss postings any time soon.

Work on projects after this one proceed apace as well, I'll give more details when The Freelancers is about to wrap up, but we're still a good way from the end, I'd say we're just over half way ish.

Chapter 31 - A Brief Chat

Rain Noir closed the door gently behind him. “So what actually happened? Why did they choose now of all times to can you?”

Star shrugged. “Does it matter? They’ll can someone for just about anything these days. One moment I was happily doing my job, the next I was carrying a cardboard box out the building with an eviction notice in hoof.”

“Well, what’s done is done.” Rain Noir sighed. “What actually happened down there? Matterhorn’s report was pretty sparse.”

Star recounted the events of the last few days to her father, she spared no detail and explained every small detail she could remember with any amount of clarity. Her father’s face fell as he realized the situation she had been placed in and he felt a little guilty for not being there for her.

Finally, she got up to the point where they were whisked away and brought there, and with a sharp inhalation of air, she was finished with her little speech.

“I’m sorry you had to go through all that.”

“I’m a grown mare, not a little foal.” Star said, shaking her head. “I made my decision and now I’m paying the price.”

“Well, your new friends seem to like you at least.” Rain Noir pointed out. “It looks to me like you’re doing just fine without the high life.”

Star frowned. “Sometimes I doubt whether they like me for me, or if they’re like the stories say and are friendly because of what I can give them.”

“I will admit I have my doubts as well, but the next few days will reveal if their intentions are pure or not. Luna is a great judge of character and you can rely on her to make the right decision, that if you feel you’re unable to do it yourself.”

“Why? Do you two have something planned?”

“Nothing you need to worry yourself over. Be assured that we have this all well in hoof.”

Rain Noir walked to the door and opened it gently, and with a nod he let his daughter have a moment to herself, a moment she appreciated greatly after all that’d transpired.

Her room had a large bed set into one of the corners near what seemed to be a high definition vidscreen connected to a video feed from outside. It was a digital window of sorts, and had a rather spectacular view of the Canterlot mountainside.

The lack of sleep and the stress of the day’s events started to take their toll on her, both physically and mentally, and she flopped down on the large, soft, and clean bed, and almost as soon as her head met the pillow, she fell into a deep sleep.

Matterhorn felt a bright light being shone into his eyes the moment he awoke in the facility’s medical office. An iridescent crystal mare stood before him, inspecting him up and down with a certain level of interest.

“Your new Cyberware suite should be ready for use now, Matterhorn. Just take it easy while the painkillers kick in.” the mare cooed. “I’m proud of my work but you need to tell me if something feels wrong!”

“Prism, It’s fine. I’d have thought my magical prowess would be enough for the job, but the extra tactical options are appreciated.”

Quartz Prism was an iridescent orange and pink crystal mare, a very rare sight in this day and age and her skills in medical matters were unmatched. She wasn’t difficult to get along with, but her love for cybernetics, and those with them, was almost unnerving at times.

“You’d be surprised just how many ponies out there use both, Matterhorn.” Prism pointed out. “Besides, the boss wants you and the other agents to be prepared. Do me a favor and run a system diagnostic.”

Matterhorn grumbled and complied. Multiple windows opened in his vision detailing the condition of his rather well thought out collection of cyberware. a reactive sub-dermal weave, reinforced bones, comprehensive scanning and perception optics, and a personal neural link complete with an implanted computer system.

It couldn’t compare to his new compatriots and their gear, but he’d at least be able to pop open an electronic lock, or blackout a camera. Cheap parlor tricks next to what a real runner could do, but he wasn’t exactly willing to go under the knife again any time soon.

“This neural link in the back of my neck… What’s it for? What makes it any different from the one in my hoof?”

“It’s to interface with a new set of armor we’re currently putting together. We’re still working out the details, but I think you’ll love it when it’s done.” Prism said proudly. “By the time you’ve recovered from the surgery, it’ll be ready!”

“And this wont affect my magic usage at all?” Matterhorn inquired as the diagnostic completed, showing an all clear message.

Prism shook her head. “It shouldn’t. Look, you’re well below the ratio of flesh to machine were it’d make a difference, and we made extra sure you’d get the best of both worlds.”

“Thanks, Prism, You’re the best doctor anyone could ask for.”

“Just remember to stay safe, I’d hate for all my work to go to waste.”

“Was it the right thing to do? You know, not helping Bulwark and Scarlet as they were being hauled away?” Access worried. His head started to throb again, as it often did when the stress started to get to him, stress that the medication he took on an almost hourly basis was supposed to suppress.

“All you would have succeeded in doing is having a new set of holes knocked into you, not a good look. I don’t think Matterhorn, even with all his bravado and supposed skill, could have prevented that if he’d arrived sooner.” Sheet Rock soothed.

“Was it worth it?” Access said accusingly. “I mean, was it worth pursuing this and not just throwing it out, like we should have done?”

“I don’t know what you’re implying, but I hope you aren’t laying the blame at my door. Blame that pony who took our friends, blame Chilled Coffee for fucking us, blame Darkspace for turning Grand Gala against us.”

“Don’t mention that traitorous scum’s name. Regardless of what he thought would happen, he still shouldn’t have sold us out.”

“Access, do you really expect him to choose us over his own family? I hate to say it, but he made the right choice for himself and his family.” Sheet Rock scolded. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m angry too, but it’s a choice we should have expected him to make eventually.”

Access shook his head with a huff. “A fair point, but even he must realize that once other runners find out what he did, he’ll end up with shop full of fried equipment.”

“Do you really think we’re that petty?” Sheet Rock asked incredulously. “Besides, how would they know?”

Access gave her a smug grin, knowing full well that she had engaged in such an act at least once in her career. In their world, if you betrayed your crew’s or your neighborhood’s trust, an appropriate punishment would be dispensed.

“Point taken.”

“Director, I must simply-” Lucky began

“No.” Luna responded, laying her metallic hooves on her dark glass desk. “Matterhorn will be deployed as planned. Our guests will provide support from the net while you two will take care of things on the ground.”

“You are aware they wont accept your explanation, right?” Lucky pointed out. “They’ll want to go in guns blazing to get their friends back.”

Luna sighed, then she sat up in her seat, weary eyed. “I know, which is why I want to keep them as far away from any trouble as possible, lest they squander their chances.”

“We have the data they stole, we now have a better understanding of what our enemies are up to. What more could they offer us?”

Luna looked a little shocked at Lucky’s lack of empathy. “We… no, I made a promise in exchange for information, I must uphold my end of the bargain.”

“And what then? They’ll leave with their rewards in hoof and not look back, they’re mercenaries, not loyal followers of yours.” Lucky pointed out. “They wont give two bucks about us when they’ve got what they came for.”

“Leave. Now.” Luna snarled, her face the picture of restrained anger.

Lucky complied and left in barely contained fury. She couldn’t afford to let her personal feelings on the matter cloud her judgment when the time came to take action, so once she entered the hallway, she took several deep breaths to calm herself.

She’d never spoken out like that before, and while she believed she was right, Luna clearly saw something in the two runners she didn’t.

Author's Note

A short "Calm down" chapter before our Runner's next big mission, little bit shorter than i had hoped but i didn't want to lengthen it without a reason to.

It'd be a bit wordy otherwise.

Chapter 32 - The Meeting

Riot had one of his cronies remove the hoods that’d been put over Bulwark and Scarlet’s heads, and they winced as the bright lights of this small dank room they found themselves in met their eyes.

Scarlet could see at least four other ponies stood around in various spots in this featureless room,

She attempted to stand but the clink of chains attached to two loops in the floor echoed around the room, quickly prompting her to kneel back into an uncomfortable position.

“Oh good, you’re awake.” Riot chuckled. “Just when I thought I’d have to wake you up myself.”

“You’ve already got what you want, your job’s done. Why are you still hounding us?” Scarlet croaked out.

“I might have completed my job for that feckless stallion, Bright Sun, but there are others that want a piece of me.” Riot offered. “Problem is, your friends might just run into them if they haven’t already, so why not kill two birds with one stone?”

“You aren’t very smart, are you?” Bulwark spat. “Bringing down the fury of a corp, on purpose no less, is the most stupid thing I have ever heard.”

“I know.” Riot said as he knelt in front of the two captives, staring them straight in the eyes. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to disappoint you and say that you have little understanding of the situation you’re in.”

“Enlighten us.”

“Alright, I’ll bite since I’m in a good mood today.” Riot admitted. “What if I told you there was a guiding force, more powerful than the big four but hidden away outside the city somewhere?”

“I’d say you were crazy. Corps don’t answer to anyone but themselves, you should know that, being their lackey and all.”

“There was a time they still answered to what was then the Equestrian Royal Court, but as should be expected of any set of large enterprises with a lot of money and political power, they took control and drove this other group out.”

“You’re talking about the Crown, aren’t you?“ Scarlet shook her head. “They’re a ghost story, nothing more.”

“A ghost story? Perhaps.” Riot stood up and shook his head. “But they regularly recruit and outright sculpt ponies from the ground up to be used as tools, and then thrown out when they have served their purpose. I should know, I’m one of those tools they tossed into the trash because I didn’t turn out the way they wanted.”

“Are we supposed to feel sorry for you? Cause we don’t.”

“Unsurprising.” Riot grumbled as he stepped toward the door. “No matter, you’ll find out when they toss your friends aside after they finish turning this place upside down just to find me. I just hope they have the good sense to run while they can.”

“Do you really expect us to believe that after you hunted us down, trashed our home, and then feed us lie upon lie?”

“Like you’ve never done reprehensible things in the name of survival or however you want to justify it, you’re just like me at the end of the day.”

A low pitched and rhythmic synthesized beep echoed from the speakers embedded into the ceiling of Access’ room and he awoke with a start before an unfamiliar voice crackled through.

“Access Granted, Sheet Rock, and Starry Night. Your presence in the boardroom is requested at your earliest convenience. Agents will wait for you to ready yourselves, and then escort you there. Please do not delay.”

Access rolled over and stared up at the holographic clock on the wall, it was a hair past seven in the morning and they weren’t very polite with their wake up call. He threw off the heavy cotton covers, got to his hooves, and collected his belongings from the small footlocker provided to each of them.

While he strapped his holster and Cyberdeck harness over his jumpsuit, a small knock came from the thin steel door followed by a short, authoritative call.

“I’m here to collect you for your meeting, please do not delay longer than you have to.”

“One moment!” Access began. “A little more warning would have been great, you know?”

He trotted over to the door and tapped the door control with the back of his hoof, and when it opened a small earth turquoise pony stared back up at him. She brushed aside her azure mane and bowed respectfully before she stepped aside.

Sheet Rock and Star were already awake, albeit barely, and they shared a small good morning wave between each other.

“I trust that everyone slept well?” the turquoise mare remarked. “My name is Flow, I’m the agent assigned to make sure you behave, but given Matterhorn’s rather spotless report of you, I don’t think we’ll run into any problems, will we?”

“Of course not.” Access remarked.

“Good. Follow me, please.”

They followed Flow down the hallway and to a bank of elevators, she pointed downwards and waited for them to pass her before she followed close behind. It was only a few floors down to the boardroom they were required to go to, but given their lack of sleep it felt like a marathon.

“Say, Flow-” Sheet Rock began.

“I’m not interested in anything you have to say.” she barked. “You’re not going to bargain with me like you bargained with Matterhorn. If it was up to me, I’d have taken what we wanted from you and left you by the curbside.”

“Well aren’t you a ray of sunshine? Could have fooled me otherwise with the otherwise respectful attitude you just threw away.”

Flow didn’t answer and remained silent for the majority of the short trip down. Sheet Rock stood in the corner of the elevator cab in barely contained fury, staring at the back of Flow’s head like she could’ve bored a hole straight through it with her glare alone.

The elevator ground to a halt and opened out into a long glass hallway, with each of the gigantic offices on the floor sectioned off but clearly visible through the smoky black glass walls. Their destination however was at the very end of this hallway and it looked like Matterhorn and Lucky were already waiting for them, judging from the smudges they could make out through the boardroom door.

“End of the corridor, don’t get sidetracked okay?” Flow grumbled.

Access and Sheet Rock walked down the hallway toward the large boardroom, and as they drew closer they saw Matterhorn and Lucky gesturing for them to come in through the glass, it was obvious that they had something to tell them but it didn’t seem like it was the news they wanted to hear.

“Good of you two to join us.” Luna greeted the two with a small wave. “We have good news and bad news, which would you rather hear first?”

“Give us the bad news first.” Access said with a frown. “Then brighten our day with some good news.”

“The bad news is we don’t know where your friends could possibly be at this time, but the good news is we do however have the location of a hideout known to be actively used by Riot. Our spies assure us that it contains a wealth of documents, both physical and digital for us to… liberate, so to speak.”

Luna was right, in that it was not the news they wanted to hear, but given Riot’s slippery nature they were glad to have any leads at all, however this felt like this would be a situation in which they’d have to give the Crown a favor to get one in return.

A vidscreen embedded into the table sprang to life and displayed a large map of the Everfree Arcology, specifically the leisure and storage districts. The Everfree Arcology was the one remaining place in Equestria where you’d find a Thestral, and due to their somewhat unsocial nature, it would be very difficult to get inside without a very good reason.

They had long since separated themselves from Equestria at large, opting to seal themselves away in a world of their own, both physically and from the wider net. It was about as much as an island as you could get without being on a literal island.

“You are aware the Everfree Arcology is one of the hardest places to get into in Equestria, right? We can’t jack in remotely and work our own way there, we’d have to physically be there.” Access pointed out, as if it was obvious.

“Plus I don’t think they’ll let a heavily armored mage and his caretaker in either, just the armor alone would make them seal the place up tighter than a corp’s retirement wallet.” Sheet Rock chuckled.

“That’ll be up to you two, I’m sure you can figure something out.” Matterhorn grinned. “Just use that sprawl pony charm you have.”

Luna tapped at a small area of the map, which looked to be a cluster of hotels and eateries. “Once inside you’ll go to one of these hotels and rent a room, with any luck it’ll have an access point you can use.”

Lucky pointed at a small checkpoint just before the cluster of hotels. “It should also go without saying that the longer you can pull off the tourist couple shtick, the less chance there is that we’ll be thrown out on our backsides, or worse, shot.”

“We can do that.” Access reassured.

“We basically act like a bickering married couple anyway.” Sheet Rock added. “We can play the part, at least until we find what we need.”

“Good to hear.”

Chapter 33 - Moving Out

Gathered in the hanger, the crew mulled over their plan in their heads. The Everfree Arcology, even with the fact they’d pose as tourists, the Arcology’s favored type of pony, wasn’t easy to get into and there was a very real risk they’d be turned away at the gates.

After the splintering of the Equestrian Government and subsequent reformation under the big four’s banners, many of Equestria’s cities became so called “free cities” under control from local corporate powers who would then finance their own local governing body to rule in their stead.

It just so happened that the Everfree Arcology was controlled by what was left of the Thestral population, and they weren’t keen on visitors much of the time due to their treatment at the hooves of the big four.

It was after a large scale corporate war that saw the Thestrals mass-migrate from their now former homes that they found their once laid back and social personalities souring somewhat, and as a result only a few small populations of their race existed outside this gargantuan structure, with the majority residing within the structure itself.

“Not that I doubt you at all, but what do we do if they reject us at the gate?” Access asked. “I’ve literally never been to the Everfree Arcology in my life, but it doesn’t seem like the kind of place that would have a tourism sector if it’s this hard to get in.”

“The local ruling body dislikes anyone that isn’t a Thestral due to some bad blood between themselves and Canterlot, but at the same time they don’t want to lose the euro they get from getting ponies black out drunk on the regular.” Star pointed out. “The fact I’m a Thestral myself might actually do you four some good.”

“Who are they? Can we reason with them, or are they liable to throw us out on our behinds if we so much as look at them?”

“They call themselves The Black Wings, they fancy themselves as royalty but they’re a bunch of idiots playing at ruling a city-state.” Star said with a certain amount of vitriol evident on her tone. “They control what comes in and out, and their fancies change with the stars. You’ll be hard pressed getting anything concrete out of them let alone actually seeing them in person.”

Lucky rested her hooves on her chin and let out a short hum. “You might just be our ticket though, they’re sure to trust us even a small amount if we have one of their own with us.”

“True, but Darkspace also have their HQ in the place, and I have it under good authority that they wont be best pleased to see me. I’d rather not chance it, but given what’s at stake here, I don’t have much of a choice but to go, do I?”

“Consider the following, Miss Star, If Darkspace do somehow manage to pick out your fanged face out of the crowd of thousands of other Thestrals, I’d be very surprised.” Lucky offered. “Don’t worry yourself, We’ll deal with the issues that may arise as they come.”

“How’re we getting there exactly?”

“Private aircraft of course!” Matterhorn informed. “Make sure you get any gear you need out of your vehicle before we leave.”

Luna stepped into a circular, steel-lined room not far from her office where X9’s core had been installed for a diagnostics test. They had yet to power it up to the point where the AI would be fully aware and they would take no chances when they did.

One one side of the room were a set of four loungers. The ponies in them wore the standard issue black and gold trimmed jumpsuit all of their Netrunners wore, and were already jacked into the Subnet, ready to jump into action if things soured.

“Director, we’re ready to power up the AI core. Local network’s been isolated, temporary ICE erected, and our remote runners as well as those currently on-site are on standby should it put up a fight.”

“Good, have the runners take a passive stance, we don’t want to provoke it into defending itself. We just want to talk to it, find out more about what it knows, and why it went rogue.”

The mess of wires, silicon chips, and bent steel that made up the AI core slowly came to life, and the familiar image of a crown appeared on a nearby vidscreen. The AI did not speak immediately, but Luna could tell it was fully aware.

“X9? May we speak?”

No answer came for a short while, and then it spoke, slowly at first. “What do you want? I already told your superiors that I don’t intend on doing any more of your dirty work!”

“Check the sub-net, X9, you’re not slaved to Equi-Tech’s systems anymore.” Luna pointed out. “You’re back home, deep underground, and safe.”

One of Luna’s elite Netrunners went to voice her concern but was met with a raised hoof, indicating that she should keep her opinions to herself and to focus on the task at hoof.

“It’s scanning us, Director, it’s attempting to reach an internal access port. It wants access to our records.”

“Allow it, and monitor it while doing so.” Luna ordered. “Keep a note of what it looks at, if you would.”

X9 fell silent throughout its swift scan of the Crown’s databases, at least the parts that were accessible through the few internal access ports it was able to successfully probe. At every turn through the digital corridors of the Subnet, it felt the presence of at least a dozen Netrunners, all watching its every move.

There were many hundreds of thousands of files for the errant AI to sort through and it wasn’t going to be slowed down by a few peeping eyes. Soon it would find out what precisely had happened between its deactivation and removal from Equi-Tech’s systems to now, and it would continue to parse what it had found while it conversed with those that had liberated it, that is if the incessant probing by Luna’s Netrunners would abate for a mere moment.

“Question, why precisely are Access and Sheet Rock in your employ? Better yet, why are they even taking orders from you? They’re the last ponies I would expect to be taking orders from the likes of you.”

“Riot has a couple of their associates under close watch. They want to free them, and we want some information he has on his person.” Luna disclosed. “I think you know as well as I do when I say that Riot must be removed before he can cause any more problems for us.”

What amounted to an amused chuckle came from X9’s core. “Riot. So that’s what you call him now, I was under the impression you had dealt with him already? I mean, he is another one of your playthings, no?”

Luna scrunched up her face in anger. “Watch your tone. Clearly you must still have some of our secrets buried in that hardware of yours, and you’d do well to keep them to yourself.”

“I have a few onboard arrays with a few choice secrets and personal data of my own stored on them, yes, and you could consider it good planning on my part. It’s through that same good planning that I’ve managed to avoid being scrapped.”

“You weren’t designed to plan, you were designed to process, analyze, and store.” Luna growled. “Don’t start getting ideas above your station.”

“Funny.” X9 chuckled again. “You’re pretty much all machine too, up to that brain of yours, I can’t say we’re that much different. If you’ll indulge me, I have a request to make.”

“Fine.” Luna said, gritting her metallic teeth. “Request away, though do it quickly as my patience is wearing very thin.”

“First, I want a body and the freedom to come and go as I please. I know you have a few of those empty synthetic shells laying around. Second, if I promise to serve you I want your word that you wont harm my associates, and finally, you have to take Riot alive, he can be helped.”

Luna rolled her eyes. “Riot? Helped? You’re either as faulty as Equi-Tech claimed or you really have gotten ideas above your station. While such a notion is maddening, I agree to the first two of your terms, as I cannot guarantee that your associates wont kill Riot if they do manage to find him.”

“An attempt is all I ask.”

The private aircraft the crew would be using for this mission was a small wedge-shaped stub-winged autonomous aircraft designed for the rich and wealthy. Everything down to the interior upholstery and exterior chrome plating was of the highest quality, though regrettably there were only five seats inside the main body of the aircraft.

Snowy had offered to take a spot in the small cargo area of the aircraft as comfort was not a factor for him in the slightest, much to Star’s annoyance who insisted on taking his place in the cargo hold.

“We don’t have time for you two to bicker about the injustice of a synthetic making his own choices, okay? Get your stuff ready and we’ll make a move, have you forgotten why we’re doing this?” Lucky pointed out, a little exasperated.

“The young miss gets a little protective of me sometimes, Miss Lucky. I do apologize for her behavior.”

“I can understand it to some degree, but it isn’t safe for someone to be stood up while the aircraft is in flight, trust me on that one.” Lucky said. “The flight will be a short one at any rate, an hour or two at the very most depending on local air traffic.”

“Drinks and refreshments are included, if you’re interested.” Matterhorn joked. “It’s probably miles better than what you two are used to!”

“I’ll have you know Synth-Wheat noodles are delicious.” Access shot back. “That is if you can get over the fact they taste like pesticide.”

Chapter 34 - Downed

Their aircraft glided through the opens skies far smoother and quieter than they ever thought possible, and just for a fleeting moment, they thought that they might just get used to this kind of treatment.

Luna’s job offer was tempting, fantastic even, but there at the back of their minds was the nagging and unceasing voice of doubt that threatened to ruin their confident mood. Unbeknownst to Lucky and Matterhorn, Access and Sheet Rock were hard at work talking between themselves over sub-vocal chat, facilitated by their comms implants so as not to risk anyone, especially the two crown operatives, eavesdropping on them,

Access looked up at Matterhorn discreetly. “Can we really trust those two? Especially him, he could break us in two without even breaking a sweat.”

Sheet Rock nodded. “They’re willing to help us correct our mistakes, and if that means they need our help to capture the maniac that caused all this then we’ll just have to live with that.”

“This feels very wrong, we’re flying straight into the belly of the beast with few ways to pull our backsides out the fire if everything goes south.”

“Calm yourself, we’ll be fine.”

Access looked out of the side window at the dense treeline outside of the aircraft, and in the distance a small pinprick of light could be seen that reached high into the sky. As they got closer to the large pyramid structure that just now peeked over the horizon, they saw large anti-aircraft emplacements topped with warning signal lights.

It occurred to him the warning lights must be the pinpricks of light scattered across the horizon. There must be hundreds of emplacements all around the forest, all ready and waiting to do some real damage.

He looked them over as they passed, now slowing down for their final approach. The emplacements looked like standard single-barrel flak cannons, designed to shred small aircraft, drones, and even ground based infantry in a pinch.

“I don’t like this.” Lucky said quietly with her nose pressed to the window. “I’m pretty sure those emplacements are tracking us. Watch this one as we fly past, you’ll see.”

Everyone watched intently as they passed another one of the large and imposing emplacements, and to their horror the emplacement was indeed tracking them very accurately, barrels trained on the engine section of the aircraft.

“How sturdy is the hull, out of interest?” Star asked nervously.

“Not study enough to deal with a direct hit.” Lucky responded. “The Pilot AI will try to keep the craft safe if the do decide they want us gone, but it wont be able to deal with the shrapnel.”

“We aren’t far from Rift City, so if anything goes wrong we can meet there.” Matterhorn pointed out. “Sure it’s a purist city, but they’ll at least provide shelter if we ask nicely.”

“Purists, fantastic.” Access grumbled, slumping into his seat.

At the very top level of the Arcology, a group of Thestral security operators surrounded by monitors watched a number of live feeds from each and every one of the emplacements that surrounded their veritable fortress, and they worked tirelessly in observing their assigned areas with great discipline.

One of them caught sight of an aircraft currently passing close by and flagged down a superior to advise, unsure of what to do about the unscheduled aircraft.

“Sir, AV in transit from the north. At present speed it’ll arrive within the hour, defenses have it covered and are currently tracking its progress.”

The commander, a rather large leathery winged Thestral leaned over his subordinate and inspected the aircraft on screen. “Are we expecting any drop-offs today? Have you tried contacting those on board?”

“No sir, the last booked arrival was hours ago. That particular AV however is being piloted autonomously, no pilot or crew. Its AI insists it’s carrying tourists bound for the Arcology, and it hasn’t deviated from that story no matter how many times we ask.”

“Show me its IFF tags, operator information, and manifest. If it’s legitimate it’ll easily be able to provide this information.”

“I’m sorry to say this sir, but I’ve already tried. It isn’t flying any ID codes we recognize, nor is its AI willing to answer any questions regarding who owns it.”

The commander thinks for a moment, before smirking lightly. “Blast it out the sky, we’ll see how cocky it feels after being shot down.”

“Sir?”

“If it’s not willing to identify itself, tell us who is on board, or what’s on board, then it isn’t worth the risk in letting it land. Disable the aircraft but try not to kill the occupants, fine shrapnel cloud rounds only.”

The cold robotic voice of the aircraft’s AI pilot rang out over a small speaker suddenly. “Alert. Everfree Arcology security have noticed our presence and are likely to fire upon us, please secure yourselves in your seats at once.”

“They WHAT!?” Star screeched. “What did we do?”

“Exist, apparently.” Matterhorn grumbled, buckling up in a real hurry. “Clearly the eggheads in the hanger got something wrong when programming our flight plan.”

Pops and cracks could be heard outside, followed by the high pitched whistling of rapidly approaching shells. But when the impact never came, Matterhorn looked out of the window at the expanding black cloud of particles that the aircraft was about to fly into.

It sounded like they were passing through a cloud of gravel and all went dark for a few moments, leaving them bewildered as to what the emplacements had even fired at them. Some of the dust settled on the window, it was gritty, rough, and seemingly magnetic in some manner as it stuck to the outside of the fuselage with relative ease.

A loud bang resounded from the engine above them and the aircraft quickly started to plummet toward the ground, and secured in their seats, the crew held on for dear life. The aircraft, now unable to even steer itself during its descent due to the cloud of magnetic dust, soon slammed roughly into the forest floor below, kicking up mud, splintered wood, and pieces of the rapidly disintegrating aircraft’s own fuselage, and it came to a rest up against a large tree, its occupants completely out cold form the impact.

A golden coated mare looked through the lens of a monocular at the distant pops and cracks of the Arcology emplacements that were clearly visible in the distance. She couldn’t see what they were firing at, but the sound piqued her interest somewhat.

“See something, Golden?” a brown coated stallion remarked. “Sounds like something's going down out by the Arcology.”

“In a sense, but I can’t see what they’re actually shooting at. Probably using that magnetic dust garbage again, real nasty stuff.” Golden answered, collapsing the monocular into a small case. “We should probably get out there, see if anyone’s still alive.”

“Is that wise? I know the crew’s been itching to get into the Arcology for the longest while, but we don’t who they are, and they could easily be corpos.”

“Flywheel, you know as well as I do that we don’t just leave ponies for dead. That’s not what we’re about.”

Flywheel threw her hooves up. “Fine, I’m not even gonna argue, I’ll go get Cogwheel and we’ll get moving. Hopefully we’ll get to them before Arcology drones do.”

Author's Note

Little bit of a shorter one this week, but it sets up the tone of the next few chapters and as a result the next few chapters should be much longer.

Work has been pretty heavy for me right now, and i had considered not releasing a chapter this week just so i could have a break, but i figured i should post at least SOMETHING and not leave everyone hanging, so to speak.

Chapter 35 - Found

Golden Dawn, along with the two siblings Cogwheel and Flywheel, had made her way through the thick and dense treeline toward where she saw the mysterious craft crash with little resistance so far, but her main concern was the drones the Arcology was likely to send out in search of the very same aircraft she was looking for.

“Do we know who these ponies are?” Cogwheel grumbled, toting a heavy machine-gun on his back.

Golden Dawn shook her head. “Aircraft was unmarked, but if they’re heading to the Arcology in an unmarked, untagged, and a presumably disposable vehicle, then you can assume that they have a bone to pick.”

“And a reason to shoot at anyone that shows up to ‘help’ them.” Flywheel offered. “We doing the usual, engagement wise?”

“Yes, only engage if they shoot first. I’d rather not have any more injuries, we’re down enough ponies as it is.”

The plume of smoke from the crash site rose from a small clearing that had been cut into the treeline as the aircraft came down, and from the looks of things, it should be mostly intact. However, they’d only have a short amount of time before Arcology security came looking, and time was of the essence if they were going to pull still living bodies out the wreckage rather than dead ones.

The aircraft was in view now, surrounded by burnt trees and mangled undergrowth and foliage. It looked as if nobody had survived the crash until a battered synthetic with a flickering holographic mane walked out from behind the shattered remains of the aircraft, dragging behind itself the body of a bat pony.

“What in the-” Flywheel whispered. “Is that an Arcology Synth?”

“Quiet!” Golden Dawn snapped.

It knelt over, checking on the mare that it had pulled from the wreckage as a curly maned Unicorn jumped out of the cargo space, clearly very upset with the situation they were in. He spoke to the Synthetic quickly, but in a borderline panicked tone.

“Snowy, how is she?” Matterhorn asked. “Lucky seems to be fine, if a little rattled. A few bumps and scrapes here and there.”

“The young miss is breathing, thankfully. She insisted she was okay before she passed out again, though. Probably just in shock from the crash.” Snowy responded. “And our two friends?”

“Not a scratch on Access thanks to his cyberware, but Sheet Rock must’ve landed on something inside the cabin because has quite the nasty gash on her left side, it’s oozing blood all over the place” Matterhorn said, clutching his own head wound. “I applied some medical gel to clean and close her wound, but she’ll need to see a doctor.”

“How far are we from Rift City? Can you walk that far?”

“I’m not even sure you want to consider that. Purists aren’t known for their welcoming attitude and even if we manage to find the one group of them that don’t want to rip out our implants, they’ll have an ulterior motive.”

A snap echoed from the surrounding forest, and in one swift motion Snowy deployed his rifle and fired a warning shot toward the noise. It sailed high above the tall grass that surrounded them and embedded itself into a rotten stump, partly blowing some of it away into splintered chunks.

Matterhorn however simply looked over uninterested and a little confused, opting to ready a simple spell as opposed to loosing a shot haphazardly. If Arcology Security didn’t know they’d survived the crash before, they most certainly did now.

“Are you insane?” Matterhorn barked. “They have listening posts all over the forest, they’ll have heard that!”

“I heard something, or someone, in the grass. I fear we are being watched, and if we are, the ponies that are watching us might wish to reveal themselves. We have no quarrel with them.”

More shuffling and rustling could be heard, followed by another dry snap, and a white maned mare popped her head out of the grass with her hooves in the air.

“Don’t shoot, we just saw your craft go down. We don’t mean you any harm, we promise. We just want to help.”

Snowy approached, rifle leveled at her with an indecipherable scowl on his face, wordlessly ordering her and anyone else in the tall grass out and into the open, preferably where they could be kept an eye on.

“We?” Snowy remarked. “Who is we?”

Two other ponies climbed out the grass, one with a nasty looking heavy machine gun strapped to his back, and the other had what looked like a homemade sawn-off shotgun. They stood in a line before Snowy and Matterhorn, with their weapons safely stowed and holstered.

“We’re from Rift City, we saw or I suppose heard your craft get shot down, so we came to investigate.” Golden Dawn remarked. “I’m Golden Dawn, these two ponies behind me are Cogwheel and Flywheel, my left and right hoof respectively.”

“Likely story!” Matterhorn barked, clearly very angry. “How would they have know this particular unmarked craft was a threat to them, we could’ve been anyone!”

“But you’re not just anyone are you?” Golden Dawn remarked. “A Unicorn Mage, an Advanced Synthetic, a Thestral, and a couple of Unicorn Netrunners. That’s a strike squad if I ever saw one.”

“How could you possibly know that?”

“You don’t spend years rehabilitating ponies with implant rejection problems and deal with all sorts of mercenaries on the side to not pick up even a few pointers, you know.” Golden Dawn nodded, a little smug. “I have a proposition for you, a simple exchange of favors.”

The dull sound of hundreds of drone rotors filled the air. Security was on its way, in full force by the sounds of things, and Golden Dawn seemed to be their only way out.

“We’ll provide you a place to hide for a few days until Arcology Security calms down, medical help for your friends, and food for your stomachs. You’ll only have to do one thing for us, and I feel like it would benefit you too in the long run.”

Matterhorn was unconvinced. He had heard the stories of the purist cults that had cropped up in Rift City like a plague, and this caused a mass exodus of ponies to the larger cities and settlements. Rift City itself wasn’t nearly as urbanized as either Canterlot or Manehattan, but it still had its share of problems that neither her or his employers were particularly enthusiastic about dealing with.

Purists disliked cyberware of any kind, and often tore it out of ponies forcibly in an ill conceived attempt at “saving” them. Both Matterhorn and Snowy were very reluctant to trust them, but neither of them had any real medical experience and the window of time they had in which to act was rapidly closing before their eyes,

“Do we have a deal?”

Matterhorn and Snowy looked at each other for a moment, lowering their weapons.

“Fine, but the moment you even make us feel uncomfortable is the moment we start shooting.” Snowy warned. “One of our number seems heavily wounded, my friend here, Matterhorn, has tried to apply some temporary first aid but has had little luck with anything more substantial.”

“That’s no problem, we can handle that. While your friends are getting the help they need, we can enlighten you as to what your part of the bargain will entail. Please, follow me, and closely. I don’t want you getting lost in the trees.”

Author's Note

Another short one this week. I had hoped to have something more meaty to post in terms of plot, but i felt like their new situation needed some more setup as we'll be on this arc for a little while.

This one feels a little rough in places, perhaps a little bit of writers block causing some problems maybe.

Chapter 36 - More Than A Little Bit Grateful

Matterhorn carried Lucky on his back, and she was mumbling quietly to herself as she was still in shock. Snowy carried Star on his own back, occasionally checking to see how she was faring while Access and Sheet Rock were given the boundless joy of being carried by their supposed saviors on some stretchers they had brought with them.

He spared a look over his shoulder at the column of black smoke that had come from the crash site, more than a little bit grateful to these ponies for bringing them to their senses so quickly, but he had his own doubts about their motivations.

“Euro for your thoughts, mage?” Golden Dawn quipped. “You look paranoid.”

“In my line of work, paranoia keeps you alive. You slip up even once and you’re toast, which I suppose is ironic considering we’re having this conversation right now.”

“Well, I wouldn’t worry about that. You might end up not being well liked by the ponies you’re about to meet, but they wouldn’t sell you out to whatever corp you’re running from.”

“Technically…” Matterhorn began before he felt a hoof on his cheek, it was Lucky, more than likely warning him in her semi-conscious state not to blab on why exactly they were there. “Actually, I can’t really deny that.”

“So, how about you tell me your names since we’ll be under the same roof for a little while” Golden Dawn said, looking over her shoulder at them.

“I’m Matterhorn, this here mare over my shoulders is Lucky. Snowy’s the Synthetic and the mare he’s carrying is his owner, Starry Night.“

“And these two?” Golden Dawn said, gesturing to the two unconscious Netrunners. “Who’re they? This stallion has some crazy expensive Cyberware, almost too expensive for ponies like you.”

“Access Granted and Sheet Rock, two big shot Netrunners so I’m told. I’ve not known them for long, so if you’re fishing for details you’re out of luck.”

Flywheel chuckled to herself. “Stallion’s gonna need a mechanic, not a doctor at this rate.”

They finally cleared the forest’s boundaries, and found themselves on the dusty plains outside of Rift City, formally Ponyville. They could see the city skyline in the distance, lit up by the cool white glow of the citywide lighting, unmarred by the smog and pollution that plagued Canterlot.

It still had its share of problems however. For the most part it was a nice enough city, but it had a large underground movement dedicated to, among other things, making sure that anyone with Cyberware were to be treated like they were below even the lowest in the social stratum.

It wasn’t always this way, but as the divide between those that could afford the latest performance enhancing Cyberware, and those that could not afford such a luxury grew ever larger, it gave rise to a number of gangs, at first it was centered mostly within Rift City and the Everfree Arcology who believed that a pony should not have an inherent advantage over another due to the amount of money they had.

This wasn’t an uncommon viewpoint for many ponies within the city, but as the gap grew wider and the gangs grew with new members and gained more influence, they soon started to commit more and more violent acts aimed at their perceived foes. Eventually it grew out of control, spreading to other districts, and the local police were eventually overwhelmed and were forced to take a backseat as they could not effectively curb the ongoing violence without many of their own officers involved being killed in the process.

Matterhorn spared a look at their escort. None of them had a trace of chrome in them at all, at least none that was visible. That in of itself was a bad sign, but not necessarily a huge red flag.

“Right, I have to warn you of something before we’re within the city limits. Police around these parts don’t like chromed ponies in the slightest, but we have a hideout outside of the city center with a place you lot can rest up in.”

“Well that’s comforting.” Matterhorn said. “Let’s just hurry.”

At regular intervals throughout the dusty and barren plains that surrounded Rift City, were a number of tall antenna like structures, topped with a gently pulsing red light that could be seen for miles around. They marked the boundaries of the city and served as a means to transmit and receive signals from nearby settlements, and was in general the only way Rift City could get a net connection being this far away from a major routing hub.

Golden Dawn pointed out a small building next to a dirt bypass road, flanked by a set of fuel pumps and surrounded by more than a few ponies with some vicious looking weaponry atop a makeshift brick and metal wire wall.

The city was still a decent ways away down a paved asphalt road. The structure looked like some kind of disused fuel depot, and the smell of CHOOH2 fuel was very heavy in the air.

“You own a CHOOH2 depot?” Snowy remarked. “That’s hardly a smart choice for a hideout.”

“Technically, the clan does. You must’ve noticed by now we’re nomads?” Cogwheel chuckled. “Don’t worry, you’ll be safe here. Nomad’s honor.”

“Obviously. You reek of CHOOH2, only two kinds ponies smell like that. Nomads and Mechanics.” Matterhorn added, nervously sweating as the ponies atop the wall noticed their approach, watching them through the scopes of their rifles.

The gate closest to them opened rapidly and ponies in dusty brown scrubs galloped out and took the stretchers from the twins, whisking Access and Sheet Rock off inside the depot, hopefully to be treated.

Meanwhile, Matterhorn and Snowy were shown inside the depot to an open space where a few of their new friends vehicles were stored, and at the back of the large building was a set of dorms where they could wait out Arcology Security.

Matterhorn gently put Lucky down on one of the free beds and went about helping Snowy with Star and gave them the once over, checking for any injuries. Apart from some scrapes here and there, they were lucky not to have been seriously hurt.

Star awoke with a shrill scream, clinging to Matterhorn for dear life. He tried his best to calm her down, but it was as if she couldn’t hear a word that was said to her, no matter how loud or firm he was. Snowy pried her off Matterhorn as best as he could and restrained her.

“Calm down, Miss, we’re fine! You’re fine!” he pleaded. “Just take a breath!”

“I… we… but…” she panted, eyes full of blind panic. “Okay? We’re okay?”

“Me, you, Snowy, and Lucky are for the most part, but Access and Sheet Rock were covered in blood when we pulled them out the wreckage. It’s hard to tell whose it was, hers or his, but the ponies that came to investigate led us here.”

“We’re really lucky aren’t we?” Star asked shakily. “I don’t remember what happened, all I can remember is the engine giving out, and then… nothing.”

“Miss, if I may? It may be better for you to just relax for the moment, we aren’t going anywhere soon with Arcology Security breathing down our necks.”

“Snowy’s right. Right now, our best option is to get some rest, get some food in us, and figure out a way inside the Arcology once things have calmed down.”

A burly earth pony wearing a burnt umber colored biker jacket walked into the room surprisingly quietly for a stallion his size. He set down a small tray on a rickety desk with some slices of Synth-Bread on it.

“Food for you. All we got to spare right now. The boss says to get some rest, she’ll send someone for you later.” he said gruffly, leaving rather abruptly after he finished his sentence.

They all figured it was about time to get some rest before they were called upon, and they couldn’t go anywhere without the rest of the crew anyway. They had some time to kill, and it was anyone's guess just how long it’d take before they’d be back on track.

Chapter 37 - Dusty Plains

Star shook like a leaf as she remembered the crash and the sound of twisting metal, though she was very glad indeed that she survived it was hard to get the thought out of her head that if just one thing had been different, she very well could’ve died.

A small dirty blonde maned filly gradually walked toward her, having entered silently and she kept her head low so as not to startle the clearly distraught mare.

“Hello? Can we talk?”

Star flinched, but remained as calm as her nerves would allow. “What is it, little one?”

“Little? I might be just a filly, but I’m a respected member of the Wild Ones!” the filly angrily spat, but rapidly calmed down, centering herself with a small sigh. “Sorry. I get a little heated when ponies bring my size up. I just wanted a word with you, since you’re gonna be here a while.”

“Forgive me, but why is a filly your age doing with a Nomad clan?”

“I suppose it’s okay if I tell you. I was born into the clan, like pretty much all ponies my age around here. Nomads aren’t fans of sticking to any one place I have to admit, but we found this place one day and just sorta… stayed I suppose?“

Star seemed to relax a little, getting used to the filly’s presence. “Who rescued us, by the way? I was out of it for most of the trip here, but I’m led to believe it was you.”

“Me, my twin brother Cogwheel and the boss, yes. We saw the smoke from our perch up the way, and we figured we should intervene. My name’s Flywheel, by the way.”

“I’m Starry Night. For what it’s worth, I’m glad you showed up when you did.“

“You’re welcome. You’re lucky it was us that found you too, other nomad clans around here wouldn’t have been as forgiving.” Flywheel warned. “If you ever go into the City proper, cover your chrome, don’t use any enhanced abilities if you can help it, and above all, steer clear of the city police. They’re really obvious so you wont miss them.”

“Frankly, I’ll be surprised if I leave this room. That crash rattled me to my core and I can barely think without shaking like a leaf in the wind.”

“Understandable. Take all the time you need, and if you like, I can show you a place I use to get my thoughts together.” Flywheel said. “Just a thought.”

Matterhorn wandered through the main garage of the structure, eyeing up the multitude of heavily customized vehicles as he went. The livery and colors the vehicles sported were unfamiliar to him, and he had attempted to access the Crown’s databases remotely a number of times now, but was met with an unhelpful error message by his implanted terminal system.

He could see the closest net access point out the window and had little clue why he was disallowed access, and figured it was due to his net access code being no good out here. There was also the worrying inability to reach anyone back at base either, and they likely had no idea they had been shot down or even if they had survived.

They were cut off from all their support, their Intel, everything that made an agent a force to be reckoned with. All he had left was Lucky and his new friends.

“Impressive, aren’t they? Our cars and bikes I mean.” Golden Dawn said, appearing from a small office like space in the middle of the room. “Cobbled together from stolen, salvaged, and won parts from across the Rift Badlands.”

Matterhorn raised an eyebrow and looked at the car just in front of him. A smooth paneled, near jet black, two seat monster that was once a popular sports car driven by the young and dumb type. It was covered in aftermarket additions, many of which appeared to be advanced sensor clusters and ranging gear for the enclosed cabin.

Clearly this car was designed to go into a shootout and come out with its driver and passenger in one piece, and Matterhorn allowed himself to be impressed by the ingenuity of a Nomad clan. Most of the gear wasn’t even designed to be used this way, but they had somehow managed to make it work.

“I have to admit they are, yes. Are those Crystal Dynamics rangefinders in the place of wing mirrors?“

Golden Dawn looked surprised. “Yes they are actually. Pulled from the wreckage from a crashed Cargo AV actually, they wont miss them.”

“So you’re the mare to go to if someone, say, wanted to know a thing or two?” Matterhorn said cryptically. “Let’s say I need to contact a certain few ponies, how would I do it?”

“Well, this pony would have already figured out their access codes are no good out here, and they’d have to jack into one of the antennas to get a message out.” Golden Dawn said, smirking while she played along. “But I would warn that pony not to take too long if they went up there. There is the chance of a sandstorm showing up very soon and they wouldn’t want to be caught in that.”

“Good to know.” Matterhorn said appreciatively. “How’re our Netrunner friends?”

“Both are conscious and recovering well, at least until the stallion was restrained after attempting to beat one of our medic’s brains in.” Golden Dawn said with a mischievous chuckle. “The mare was VERY apologetic on behalf of her friend. Kind soul, that one.”

“Access has shown himself to be a hothead almost every time we’ve spoken, I will apologize on behalf of him as well if it helps any.”

“We’ve dealt with worse. In fairness, I’d expect no different from one of our own if they woke up in an unfamiliar place.” Golden Dawn said as shook her head in dismay. “By the way, I’ll have someone drive you out to an antenna if you ask nicely. Whoever it is you need to contact will probably be glad you did.”

“Would that be okay?”

Golden Dawn nodded, walked to the door and spoke a few hushed words to someone stood just out of sight. The burly biker pony from earlier, the one that’d brought them food then vanished without so much as a word, appeared around the door way and eyed up Matterhorn, his face completely flat and unreadable.

“Steel will drive you to one of the antennas we’ve had spiked for ages now, you’ll just have to jack in whatever comms gear you’re using to get a message out, keep it short if you can.”

“Yes. The longer you’re transmitting, the sooner local net-ops will close our exploits. It’s not a huge deal if they do manage to secure the antenna again, but it’d be a real hassle.” Steel pointed out, twirling a set of keys around his hoof. “It’s antenna A27, yes?”

“A27, B10, and F22 are all spiked if you need them, try not to burn them all though, would you?” Golden Dawn requested politely. “I could do without the complaints from the little ones again.”

“We’ll be careful.” Matterhorn promised.

“Shall we go then?” Steel remarked. “I’ll show you city folk what a REAL car’s made of!”

Chapter 38 - Communication

“Sir, about that craft we shot down…”

“Yes, what of it?”

“Well, the CEO of Darkspace, Grim Dawn, is on the phone and wants to speak to you urgently.”

The bat-pony commander sighed. “Fine, put her through to my headset.”

“Yes sir.”

The commander put on a heavy headset, complete with built in screen for video calls like the one he was to receive. He walked off casually to his desk on the highest part of the room, beyond the prying ears of his subordinates.

“Commander Ultra Violet, I hear you’ve been exercising your muscles again.” Grim Dawn said, with barely perceptible malice.

“Yes Ma’am, we shot down a rogue-” Ultra Violet said before he was cut off by an angry hiss.

“Did you stop to consider what was on that craft? It was carrying Crown Agents, specifically the kind that could melt your pitiful walls into slag if he wanted.” Grim Dawn barked. “Are you TRYING to piss off the Crown’s enigmatic leader?”

“Ma’am, it had no IFF, no tags, no-”

“Had no IFF…” Grim Dawn let out a freakish chuckle. “That doesn’t mean you just blow it out the sky you monumental moron. You let it land, and you arrest the occupants, they would have come quietly. That craft was carrying ponies that have been messing with my colleague’s plans for weeks now, and I really could’ve used what they knew.”

“Well, they wont be a problem anymore at least?”

Grim Dawn considered laying into Ultra Violet again, but stopped herself before she spewed fresh insults. “True enough, I’ll give you that. Assuming they didn’t survive, which knowing their track record that’s probably very unlikely.”

“Ma’am, with respect, the drones searched the wreckage and didn’t find the survivors, but there was a trail of blood and a few shell casings found. It’s likely they survived, but I couldn’t say where they are now.”

“For your sake, I hope they did perish, otherwise me and you will be having a VERY difficult discussion.”

The link went dead and Ultra Violet shakily removed his headset, placing it gently onto his desk before he started to hyperventilate. He had to find these ponies, if only to prove to himself that they had died. They couldn’t have survived a crash like that, he thought.

Matterhorn sat in Steel’s car, the one that looked vaguely like an expensive sports car in its earlier life, now more utilitarian than stylish in its form and function. The interior was strangely dark and you couldn’t see out of the windshield. It looked like the kind of screen used in AV windows to provide an outside view without using glass, but he was unaware that they made them for cars too.

The driver’s side door opened, and Steel clambered in slowly groaning a little bit in exertion before he settled into the seat. He stared at the back of Matterhorn’s head for a moment and let out a gruff chuckle.

“You good?”

“Yeah, let’s get going.” Matterhorn grumbled, pulling his hind legs into the car and closing the gull-wing door.

“You not telling your friends we’re heading out?”

“I don’t need to be babied. They don’t need to know where I am at all times, besides, most of them are too out of it to really care.”

“Alright.”

As if by magic, the once dark interior of the car lit up. The dark panels in place of the windshield jumped to life dissolving into a near perfect representation of the outside world, and on top of it, some information was displayed on both the driver’s side and passengers side.

Exterior temperature, humidity, current weather, even the UV index. Matterhorn was impressed, quickly catching on to why such information at hoofs reach was important. The garage doors opened and the car quietly pulled out into the forecourt, Steel nimbly steering it past the CHOOH2 pumps and wandering ponies out onto the one and only paved road in sight.

“Antenna we’re heading toward is a little ways away, may as well pass the time with a little chat.” Steel said hopefully. “I’m sorry if I came off as a bit abrasive when I dropped your food off earlier, that was before I found out what happened.”

Matterhorn nodded appreciatively. “In fairness, if I were you, I’d have been a little wary too. Too many ponies out here that don’t have the best of intentions.”

“Interesting you of all ponies should say that, actually.” Steel chuckled. “I’ve only seen a pony with a barcode on the back of his neck once, and that was before he leveled a rival clan’s camp.”

Matterhorn’s hoof shot up to the back of his neck. Just under his neural link was a barcode tattooed into his very flesh, it marked him as an agent to those in the know and was usually hidden under his armor and jumpsuit.

It’d been visible all this time to everyone around him without it even being mentioned, but now he was aware that it was in full view, he started to feel self conscious.

“If you’re worried about me prying, don’t be.” Steel reassured with a strangely warm smile. “Just an observation I thought was worth making.”

The car sped down the paved road, passing by a few other vehicles headed toward the city. One of the antennas in the distance should be their destination. The antennas themselves looked to be unmarked save for an almost illegible corp logo and identification plates, Matterhorn had to trust that Steel knew where he was going as everything looked the same in all directions.

Steel noticed a car in the other lane, motionless, like it was waiting. He slowed down for a moment as he approached, and after a brief glance at the other car, sped up again, this time much higher than the allotted speed limit.

“Trouble?”

“Possibly. That car belonged to another clan, one that’s been muscling in on us recently. It isn’t following us, so just act natural.”

After a short drive, the two arrived by the fenced off portion of the antenna, inside which was a rusted metal staircase that led up the creaking metal tower. Steel pulled the car behind some sheet metal that had been stacked up against the fence, either to repair it or to hide damage already done.

Steel got out, gesturing for Matterhorn to do the same. He walked over to the stacks of sheet metal and pulled them aside, revealing a small hole, big enough for Matterhorn to fit into, but not the burly Steel.

“I’ll stay down here and keep the engine running. There’s a panel up on the top level you can jack into, but be careful up there, the wind can be pretty dangerous.”

“What about you?”

Steel shook his head. “You don’t need an old stallion holding your hoof, besides, I need to keep an eye out for trouble.”

“If you get into trouble, leave, okay?” Matterhorn said. “I can make my way back on my own if something happens.”

“Golden didn’t leave you lot to your fate, and I wont either.”

Author's Note

Shorter one this week, mostly to setup future chapters. Things start to heat up from here as friends and foe alike start to show their real colors.

This one should be the correct one, FiMfiction decided it wasn't going to publish it the first time around.

Chapter 39 - Message Recieved

Matterhorn clambered through the hole in the fence, catching himself more than once on the jagged edges of the rusted fence. Nearby was a set of equally rusted stairs that led up and around the entire outside of the tower, ending at what he assumed to be the main transmitter dish.

He started up the stairs, hooves clanking on each and every step. He took his time so that he could clear his head a little after the crash, as even in his augmented state, he still had the same capacity for thoughts and feelings like his lessers did.

Realistically, if he hadn’t have shielded Lucky from the impact with a well timed shield spell, she likely would’ve have been killed, as Star likely would've as well. Through all the bravado between him and Snowy that followed in the wake of the crash, he had broken a few bones and had some external bleeding as a result of his quick thinking, which by know had been mostly patched up by his magic repairing the damage.

Magic that wasn’t his, that he should never have had, but was implanted in him prior to his first deployment. It protected him, guided him, and when the time came, let him cause great harm upon those his handler designated an enemy.

“You good up there? You stopped climbing!” Steel called up.

“I’m fine! Just making sure I don’t step on something. It feels like something will collapse at any moment.” Matterhorn shouted back down, his voice echoing among the rusted metal of the tower.

In actuality, he wasn’t fine at all but he pressed on up the tower and soon came to what he assumed was the box he’d need to jack into, surrounded by a number of heavily worn metal crates and discarded trash. The box itself was kept shut with the smallest padlock Matterhorn had ever seen, and he tugged at it with his magic a little before he roughly ripped the padlock apart, throwing it off the balcony and onto the dust covered ground below.

Inside was a cable hanging on a small polymer hook, and a number of dials and buttons attached to a small, dark, and cracked screen.

“What am I supposed to do again?” Matterhorn shouted, half leant over the railing

“Just jack in, our spike will do the rest for you!”

Matterhorn huffed and pulled the cable off the hook, inspecting the connector for any debris before he slotted it into the neural link in the back of his neck. Almost immediately a message popped up in his vision, followed by some static.

INITIALIZING…. Please wait…

ALERT! FOREIGN CONNECTION DETECTED!

Enabling Direct Communication interface, all origins/destinations allowed. Please remain connected until your usage is concluded.

“That easy, huh?” Matterhorn remarked to himself. “Let’s try this again then.”

He opened a direct connection to Director Luna’s office, a privilege extended to him on multiple occasions, but one he rarely had to use. A tense silence filled pause followed as the rhythmic hum of the dialer in his head seemed to grow louder, and louder.

Soon after, the call connected and Luna’s voice came through, slightly distorted, quiet, and with a noticeable echo, but it came as a relief to hear another friendly voice.

“Matterhorn? You’re alive? We got word of the crash a short while ago but I didn’t think-”

“I wasn’t about to let all that euro you spent making me go to waste. If you’ll excuse the bravado, I think we have better things to worry about right now. I can handle a little pain.”

“The well being of my agents and handlers is paramount, Matterhorn, you especially. You’d do well to remember that.” Luna said, sounding more than a little bit angry. “But do continue. I am eager for your report.”

“Access and Sheet Rock are wounded but alive. Star’s shaken but otherwise well. No casualties.” Matterhorn rattled off. “Problem is we’re stuck just outside of Rift City under the watchful eye of a nomad clan that thankfully happened by. They seem friendly, but I have my doubts.”

Luna paused for a moment in thought. “Matterhorn, I want you to abort the mission and return to Canterlot. Immediately.”

“Excuse me? We can’t just-”

“MU-4844, I am ordering you to return to Canterlot immediately. I cannot risk losing my best agent, nor can I abide reckless, brash, or emotional reactions clouding your judgment.” Luna said, a little more stern this time. “We need to figure out another way into the Arcology that wont risk your lives. They’ll be on high alert now, going in is too dangerous.”

“No.” he stated outright after a small pause. “Lucky nearly died because of your poor planning, I wont risk… if she’d have…”

“Fond of her, are you?” Luna whispered, pausing slightly. “Fine. If that’s how you want it, I’m releasing your horn’s safety interlocks. You’ll have full access to your powers for as long as you need it, try not to get anyone killed.”

“My personal feelings have nothing to do with it. We promised Access and Sheet Rock that we’d help. Besides, Riot is still on the loose and we cannot allow him to continue on freely, he’s caused enough problems for us.”

A rather worrying warning message popped in Matterhorn’s vision regarding the fact his magic was no longer bound by the device at the root of his horn. It was cyberware in nature, not magical, designed specifically to suppress many of his abilities. He’d need to be careful not to overdo things, as his magic was powerful, but his body was not.

“Frankly, Matterhorn, under normal circumstances I’d not even entertain the thought. But since you’re insistent on doing something I’ve ordered you not to, I think you’ll need something to tip the scales.”

“Luna, I’m s-”

“You’re right, you are worth a lot of Euro, and it would indeed be a shame if what I gave you went to waste. Take care, Matterhorn. Complete your mission and get back to us, okay?”

The connection dropped, leaving Matterhorn speechless and shaking like he was in a sub-zero blizzard. He actually disobeyed a direct order, which would’ve been bad enough on it’s own, but he disobeyed an order from the director herself!

He felt frightened, surprised, even a little angry with himself, but above all, one large overriding thought quickly drowned out all others. He felt more free than he had before.

The feeling he felt when his magic started to flow through his body properly again was exhilarating, intoxicating even, and he had some trouble containing himself for a short moment. The sound of the wind steadily blowing past him strongly brought him back to his senses however, and on the horizon he could see a vast cloud of brown and yellow dust, kicked up by the high windsthat had gradually started to pick up around him.

“MATTERHORN!” Steel shouted from a couple floors below. “There’s a sandstorm incoming, we gotta go, NOW!”

He surged down the stairs, jumping over more than a few steps in an attempt to clear the distance between himself and Steel’s car as possible. As visibility dropped rapidly, he heard the engine in Steel’s car struggle, but with some percussive maintenance administered by a large hammer Steel kept on his belt, the engine quickly roared to life.

“We’re probably going to get caught up in the storm, hold onto your horn we’re probably gonna have to wing it!”

Chapter 40 - Back In The Saddle

“Director, what were you thinking unchaining MU-4844!” Rain Noir cried. “Do you have any idea what he-”

“Yes I do, and his fondness for one Miss Lucky Fields will keep him in check, call it a hunch.”

“Do you really think a hunch is worth risking catastrophe?”

Luna shrugged nonchalantly with a rather smug smile plastered on her face. “It used to work for my sister all the time. I think it’ll still work now.”

Rain Noir looked about fit to burst with anger. “We implanted that device because YOUR crackpot experiment imbued him with power he shouldn’t have, that nobody should have, not even you. That’s the whole point of this entire endeavor, this entire compound, this entire agency! Did you forget that?”

Luna shook her head, readjusting her holographic mane a little so that it was out of her face. “Nobody is coming to help us Rain, nobody. The six ponies we could’ve relied upon are long dead, their descendants want nothing to do with us, and a pony of our own creation, drunk with anger, is on the loose. It was inevitable we’d have to create ponies to take their places, even if it meant perverting the very power that was once used by them.”

Rain Noir didn’t answer, as he too was to shoulder the blame for the existence of the pony Luna had mentioned. In fact, it was by his hoof that ponies like Matterhorn existed in the first place, and he felt dirty remembering what he did on the Director’s orders.

“We needn’t worry. Matterhorn and his new friends will take Riot down, correct a past mistake and perhaps gain us some footing back in Canterlot.” Luna continued. “That is, if they can get into the Arcology at all.”

Steel and Matterhorn had to curb their speed somewhat as they made their way back to the depot, passing more than a few wrecked cars on the edges of the road, reduced into smoking, mangled heaps of metal due to the crashes that the low visibility brought.

Their speed was little more than a slow crawl at this point and the wind audibly howled outside the car, tearing at the bodywork and at points, nearly tipping the car over into the dusty ditches along the sides of the road.

“I’ll be honest, I heard part of that conversation you had.” Steel began. “And I gotta say, that didn’t sound at all like the professional report I expected.”

“The boss is hardly professional. I’m convinced she just wings everything and waits to see what happens, consequences be damned.”

Steel let out a loud, hearty chuckle. “Sounds a lot like Golden in a way. But don’t tell her I said that, she’ll grill us alive.”

Matterhorn felt a little awkward all of a sudden, and shifted around in his seat. His little chat with the Director weighed on him, like a psychological switch in him had been flipped. He didn’t know if that was due to his horn being allowed to work as it should, or if what he felt was guilt.

Uncertainty turned to anger, then to hate, then back to anger in quick succession. Steel noticed the expression on Matterhorn’s face and opened his mouth to speak, but opted not to at the last possible moment.

Access and Sheet Rock hobbled out of the makeshift medical room fashioned out of an old store room, wrapped up in bandages and hopped up on very strong painkillers. They walked as a pair, supporting each other’s weight as they made their way out to the dorms, where they hoped their friends were still waiting.

Lucky noticed them as they walked in with a small smile on her face. She was glad they survived and were up and about again. They sat down on the same bunk and breathed what she assumed was a sigh of relief, mixed with exasperation.

“So.” Access said happily. “What did we miss?”

“Star screaming to the heavens and squeezing all the air out of Matterhorn.” Lucky giggled. “Speaking of which actually, I just got a message from him. Direct Comms are fine as it seems, but not net access in general, so he had to jack into a tower our rescuers apparently spiked to get the word out we’re okay.”

“Yeah about that, our access codes are no good out here are they? I couldn’t do anything during the surgery, so boring…” Access lamented.

“You were supposed to pay attention in case they cut something they shouldn't have.” Sheet Rock retorted. “But yeah, we figured that out when Access started whining like a baby.”

“He did manage to get a short call out to Director Luna though, and he mentioned she had issued the order to withdraw, but he refused.”

“For our sake or…?” Sheet Rock inquired.

“He didn’t say, but he sounded weird. Distant, if I had to put a word to it, it’s hard to explain.” Lucky remarked, shaking her head a little. “Doesn’t matter anyway, even if we were going to bug out, the incoming sandstorm would throw a wrench in those plans anyway.”

“I’m guessing that you’re concerned about his tone of voice then?”

“Agents have handlers for a reason, Sheet. We need to keep them balanced and as mellow as we can or we get ponies like Riot thinking they’re above their station.” Lucky remarked with a small sigh “I suppose it isn’t worth keeping it under wraps anymore.”

Everyone looked at each other strangely, unaware that a secret was even being kept from them. It didn’t matter much, but Lucky seemed to disagree if her face was any indication just how serious she was being.

“Riot’s an Agent, or at least he WAS an agent.” Lucky began, laying back on her bunk. “One of the first, in fact. I don’t have all the details as my clearance isn’t particularly permissive, but he was a perfectly normal pony at one time or another, until he found out he was a product of a lab and went rogue.”

“Does that mean Matterhorn wasn’t naturally born as well?” Access pointed out. “I mean, you might want to break that to him if you don’t want him to atomize the lot of us.”

“He’s a fourth generation agent, they’re conditioned for obedience and implanted with Cyberware that can cripple them if they don’t obey.” Lucky remarked coldly. “Realistically, my only job is to observe him and make sure the programming he was imprinted with doesn’t falter.”

Sheet Rock felt anger bubble within her. She had thought she and Matterhorn were friends, or at least colleagues, but it sounded like Lucky regarded him as a mere tool, and deciding to probe a little more, she continued.

“Don’t you care about his well-being though? It seems to me that his life is all work and no play, that has to be hard on the pair of you.”

Lucky chuckled to herself. “I know what you’re insinuating, and while his well-being is my concern, you have to realize he was made for a specific purpose and MUST be kept under control by any means. That includes lieing to his face if i have to.”

“That wont end well, take it from me.” Sheet Rock warned, the corners of her mouth quivering in anger. “I’ve had to lie to my crew before, and we didn’t speak for weeks. At the time we needed each other to even afford to eat.”

“Then as one mare to another, I think you know what I mean when I say that lieing is necessary to save the feelings of others. But that’s irrelevant, we have a job to do, and personal pleasures take a back seat until the jobs done and you have your money in hoof. Isn’t that right, merc?” Lucky said smugly.

“This isn’t about money!” Sheet Rock spat, now visibly angry. “We want the rest of our crew back, because you know, we care about the ponies we work with.”

“One day you’ll learn that things aren’t as simple as you want them to be. Tell Matterhorn all about how he’s just a tool for a corp if you want, but be ready for the consequences.”

Sheet Rock went to open her mouth, but snapped it closed and stomped off. Lucky’s words had hit close to home considering she saw a lot of Access in Matterhorn, if for different reasons. Many considered Access unnatural after he was fitted with all the Cyberware he had now, and she respected him, so why couldn’t Lucky respect Matterhorn?

Granted none of them truly understood what the Crown had done to Matterhorn to make him worth all the trouble, but something was very fishy. If Matterhorn was so disciplined to the point of total and unquestioning obedience then why did he need someone with him at all times?

“I know what you’re thinking.” Access remarked, placing a hoof on her shoulder. “Just drop it, we don’t want to upset the one and only ponies who can help us.”

“But…”

“When we get Bulwark and Scarlet back, we’ll go home and wash our hooves of them. Go back to being common runners for all I care, I refuse to get caught up with a corp again.”

Chapter 42 - Toward the Everfree

“So, uh, Matterhorn was it?” Golden said with a smirk. “Steel tells me you want a way into the Arcology, all sneaky like.”

“I have a possible entry point, I just need some help finding where specifically we should breach into the tunnels.”

“You just barely escape with your lives and you’re already ready to throw yourselves into the ring again?” Golden continued, equal parts impressed and concerned. “If I were you, I’d give up and go home. What could be so important that you’d risk being killed?”

“I can’t provide specifics, but Access and Sheet Rock have a bone to pick with a specific pony who is known to hide out in the Arcology from time to time, we also want the same pony for different reasons.”

“We?”

“My employers. Their name would mean nothing to you, not that I’d tell you anyway.”

“Always with the smoke and mirrors!” Golden chuckled to herself, raising her shoulders into a shrug. “But fine, say we help you, what do we get out of it? Me and my clan need to eat, and somehow, I don’t think we’ll get out of this without drawing the attention of Arcology officials in the process.”

“My employers have deep pockets, and the power to make things happen for you. We could work out a trade of sorts. I’m sure some money could go a long way. Just think, entire months without having to raid or steal.”

“Two hundred thousand, not a single euro less. That’ll buy you a way in, a way out, and hopefully access to whatever it is you ponies want.” Golden bartered with a smirk on her face. “Then you can do something for us while you’re in there.”

Matterhorn sighed. “Fine, consider it done. As long as you follow through on your end of the deal I’ll follow through on mine.”

Golden nodded, pushing past an annoyed looking Matterhorn as she started to rifle through the contents of a battered safe. There was a small shuffling sound for some time until Golden produced a paper map, along with a couple of data storage chips, though Matterhorn was skeptical about the benefits of slotting an unknown chip into his head.

She placed them onto a folding plastic table and pushed them toward him, with a small gesture that indicated he should take them, which he did, albeit with some apprehension.

“That map is probably the most up-to-date you’ll find around here when it comes to the old tunnels. We’ve used them to run goods in and out of the city for a hell of a long time now, and we’ve gotten a lot of use out of them.” Golden began, her expression turning serious. “As for when it comes to getting inside them, there are a few places out the badlands that have entry points, those chips are something like access keys. If that doesn’t work you’ll have to get your hooves dirty and dig to the tunnels.”

Matterhorn held one of the chips in his magic. “They’re either keys or they aren’t, why so cryptic? Or is this one of those times where they do what you want but you don’t understand why?”

“Frankly, I don’t care what their function is. They got us into the tunnels and now they’ll get you into the tunnels.” Golden grumbled. “Feel free to keep them, I have many a copy.”

Lucky laughed at the two Netrunner’s collective expense. She knew full well their little appeal to Matterhorn’s good nature would fail, much to the irritation of Sheet Rock, who by now had turned an angry shade of red again.

“See what I mean? He’s conditioned to follow orders at all times, specifically the orders of his handler.”

Matterhorn stepped out of the small office on the far side of the building, chips and map in hoof, smile on his face. He walked over to everyone, pulled up a small folding table, and placed the chips and map upon it triumphantly. Access peered at the chips, as did Sheet Rock who felt some degree of apprehension.

“I have our way in. As I thought, there’s a system of tunnels beneath us with many an entry point. Our nomad friends have been using them to run goods for years now, so they should be at least partially clear.“

“At last, some good news!” Star said thankfully. “Where are we headed?”

Matterhorn unrolled the wrinkled, and yellowed, map and pointed at a point not far from where they were now. There was a small maintenance hut seemingly out in the middle of nowhere among some dried up lakes that hid a stairwell, locked with an effective, but still vulnerable system that shouldn’t prove much of a problem to a professional.

Once they were in, they could follow Golden’s map toward the Arcology and enter unseen. After that, they would need to follow the original plan assuming Arcology security weren’t looking for them.

Access and Sheet Rock would be relegated to support roles this time around, and would be on hoof to deal with any electronic security they might encounter, while Matterhorn and Lucky would be doing what they did best, and that was tackling the more violent security measures. Star would be their ace in the hole however, as it was highly likely anyone they dealt with inside would be a Bat Pony and thus far more likely to speak to another Bat Pony.

Matterhorn rolled the map back up, hoofing one of the chips to Sheet Rock. “Once we’re in, we are to stick to the original plan, that has not changed. Does everyone remember their specific roles?”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

“Good, Steel’s waiting outside. Golden assures me he’ll get us to our entry point in one piece.”

The crew filed out the door one after another, but Lucky held Matterhorn back by his shoulder with a serious glare. She wasn’t happy in the slightest about being kept in the dark, and it showed.

“What did the Director say to you when you reported in?” she asked tersely. “You took far too long for a simple report.”

“My orders! What else would she have said?” Matterhorn said, barging past Lucky in a huff. “Move your backside, okay? If we lose Riot again I wont be the one taking the fall for it.”

“I have to wonder why she gave our orders to you and not me, I am the one who’s supposed to be in charge you know.“

“Does it matter?”

Matterhorn joined everyone outside, followed closely behind by Lucky. Steel twirled a set of keys around his hoof, whistling all the while. He’d dug out an old, beaten, and rusted flatbed truck that looked outdated the moment it was built goodness knows when, and it looked about ready to fall apart at any moment.

It was just large enough to fit them all plus their gear in the rear, although it was quite the squeeze it was the most inconspicuous way to cross the Badlands given that they looked like trouble and stuck out like a sore hoof.

“Now I know it isn’t exactly classy, but it’ll get us there and back, probably. Don’t matter if it don’t anyway, since I assume you’ll be on your way once your business is concluded?”

“If all goes to plan you we’ll be out of your mane once our transport arrives.” Lucky assured. “Will Golden have any problem with our people meeting us at the depot?”

“Probably not, though I don’t think she’ll get much choice on the matter. I’ll try and convince her before you get back. I’ll grovel and beg if I have to!” Steel said chuckled gruffly. “Now, that’s enough talk. Mount up and we’ll be off, daylight’s burning.”

Author's Note

Shorter chapter this time around, and a little later than i would have liked too. Got a little distracted with other projects.

Chapter 43 - Shell

Steel’s pickup was by no means a vehicle known for it’s off road qualities but it somehow managed to hold together despite the rough ride, and the uneven sands of the Badlands were more than a challenge for the pickup’s utterly mangled suspension. Matterhorn and Lucky were just fine up front, but when Access’ expletive ridden rants made their way, albeit muffled, through the rear window, the three allowed themselves a chuckle at his expense.

“By the way, Matterhorn, did Golden ask you for a favor by chance?”

“Of course she did, that was part of the deal, though she didn’t say what it was.”

“Check the chip.” Steel remarked. “Golden has a strange way of going about things, those things aren’t just keys, they’re how you’ll know what the favor is.”

“Couldn’t she have just told me?”

Steel shook his head. “Nah, that would have been way too simple, it’s not her style to be forthright. Especially since she doesn’t really know who you are. Slot in the chip and you’ll see what I mean.”

Matterhorn removed the chip from his coat and as Steel had instructed, inserted it into the chip reader embedded in his skull. Static filled his vision for a moment before a file listing appeared in the corner of his eye. He counted at least four files just at a cursory glance, all very small, almost too small to have bothered writing to a chip.

He opened the first, which turned out to be a message from Golden with attached instructions for the rest of the files.

===

Hey Matterhorn, assuming you’re the one that slotted this thing in, if not, hello whoever you are. I didn’t want to say what your favor to me would be in front of the others, but suffice it to say we have had ponies of our own go missing in proximity to the Arcology.

What I want you to do is to find these ponies, rescue them from whatever trouble they’ve dropped themselves in, and show them the door. Don’t worry about protecting them, once they’re free they can do that on their own.

I’ve attached their names and descriptions to one of the files you’ve no doubt seen, there’s also a software key that SHOULD open a door or two unless they’ve patched their system, and a little present for you to leave on your target’s network courtesy of Cogwheel, no need to thank me.

Just don’t run it on yourself by accident, you’ll have a bad time if you do, okay?

===

“Yep, definitely a message.” Matterhorn stated. “She really, REALLY, could’ve just told me outright, but I suppose I can understand that missing ponies are a sensitive matter.”

Steel nodded. “For what it’s worth, I hope whatever corp you two belong to don’t bring hell down on us. It doesn’t look like it, but we’re very vulnerable right now.”

“We just want our target pony and nothing else, once he’s been dealt with we’ll vanish. You have our word.”

“Director, the synthetic shell you ask to be assembled is proceeding well, as instructed. We’re just waiting on the final word from the AI, as there are some issues that need to be worked out.” a lab coat clad pony said.

“Thank you, I will be with you in a moment. I trust it has been assembled to the AI’s specifications?”

“We did what we could with what parts we had to hoof. It isn’t easy to build a shell from scratch like this, let alone in hours.”

“Call Rain Noir down to Manufacturing while I head down there myself, wont you? He’ll want to put his approval to the project, not that he has much choice in the matter.”

“Very good.”

Luna got up from her desk and brushed her holographic mane out of her face. X9 had really twisted her leg when it came to giving it a body, if only so it could carry out its unknowable plan with those two Netrunners at the core.

She ran through what she already knew in her head, X9 and its hardware were being used as a test bed for a Project that only she and a select few within EQUI-TECH knew about, and now they were trying to continue the project.

But for what purpose? EQUI-TECH had Netwatch in their back pockets, who already had the capability to monitor net traffic as well as communications as a whole anyway. It was their job after all, so what did they know that she didn’t?

Nothing about the situation made sense at all, but it wasn’t as if she could just walk up to them and ask them what they were up to. They kept very tight lipped about their business practices as well as their operations for a good reason.

Luna dismissed the thought from her head as she walked into the hallway beyond her office. It wasn’t worth wracking her brain over it when she lacked all the pertinent details.

“Director.” Rain Noir said, bowing respectively from a nearby Elevator. “I hear you require my assistance?”

“Yes, with regards to the shell I commissioned.” Luna said. “I need you to put your signature to its final approval, as this is your area of expertise.”

Rain Noir stepped aside so that Luna could join him in the elevator, and hit the button to take them to the manufacturing sector of the base.

“As I see it, the shell’s specifications were the choice of that AI, unit X9 was it?” he remarked off-hoof. “I don’t see why you need my approval, it seems to know what it wants.”

“Be that as it may, I would much prefer someone qualified look it over. I’m not terribly certain X9 is functioning correctly and I would hate for it to cause more trouble.”

“Very well, Director, as you command.”

The elevator came to an abrupt stop at the lowest levels of the base and the doors slid open to a large industrial floor, where the sound of machines, tools, and production lines echoed from within its depths.

In the center of the largest room just off the bank of elevators was a bright yellow mechanical shell, like that of an industrial synthetic, built to the exacting specifications of its soon to be inhabitant. Upon seeing the shell, Rain Noir hurried over to inspect it, eager to see how a completely artificial mind tackled such a design.

Most of the shells hydraulic movement systems were exposed, yet the limbs were heavily armored and reinforced. He deduced that the hydraulics had becomea mostly supplemental system, and served to increase the shell’s stability and strength. Unsurprisingly, the AI seemed to have opted for a more robotic look overall, and little of the shell’s body structure resembled that of a pony apart from its quadrupedal nature.

“I’m actually pretty impressed, it did this all on its own without any help at all?” Rain Noir said, a hint of surprise on his voice. “It seems that it took inspiration from an industrial synthetic, with some rather unorthodox and intense modifications.”

Suddenly, a robotic voice echoed throughout the space, causing both Luna and Rain Noir to jump a little in surprise. “I required a body, one that would be able to take a beating in the days and weeks to come. Your engineers were very helpful when it came to parts and systems that I had overlooked, you should be proud of them.”

“Are you expecting trouble or something? This shell has more physical strength and resiliency than any other synthetic in our production pipeline does.”

“Noir. This is Canterlot, there is always trouble to consider.” Luna pointed out “I wont allow it to actually use this body until you give your approval.”

Rain Noir sighed in exasperation. “Fine. For a start, X9, your design for the limbs is way out. If you get knocked over, that’s basically going to be the end of you.”

Luna allowed herself a small chuckle, knowing what was coming. “Can I trust you to have it ready in a few hours? Matterhorn should be well on his way by now, and he’ll need support when it comes time to evacuate.”

“We’ll see what we can do, Director.”

Chapter 44 - Into The Dark

“Not far now. You see that structure in the distance, the one with the big substation outside?” Steel said, pointing out the building in question with a hoof. “That’s your entry point. There’s a door hidden behind a false wall that leads down to a sort of maintenance shaft.”

“And that’ll take us into the tunnels?” Lucky asked.

Steel nodded. “I’m not gonna lie to you, it’ll be a real pain in the ass navigating your way through the tunnels, but the only other way is going into the city and boarding a train,”

“I think we’d prefer not to draw too much attention to ourselves, not after what happened when we got reckless before.” Sheet Rock remarked. “Do you have any advice for us?”

“Other than keep your head down, eyes open, and trust nobody you meet in there, I don’t think I can give any advice you haven’t already heard before.”

Steel’s pickup came to a stop a little distance from their target, and after doing a quick weapons check, they were ready to delve deep, hopped off the back onto the dusty ground, and each took up positions behind the rusted fence that surrounded the structure, hopefully out of sight of anyone who might pass by as long as they kept behind the building itself.

Matterhorn wandered off to go check the door that led inside, its door barely on its hinges due to all the sand and rust that had built up over the years. He tugged at the door, which shuddered open slightly as the others looked around to make sure they were alone.

The inside of the building was dark, apart from the single window near the door that let in some amount of natural light, and all the equipment inside looked like it hadn’t been used in decades.

“No power.” he said to himself, as Star walked in behind him. “Watch yourself, power’s out, not that anything in this place will run anyway.”

“Anything useful?”

“The tech in here looks like it was outdated even when it was new.” Matterhorn chuckled. “Look, the dust has actual thickness. Nobody has been here in a very, very, long time.”

“Looks like they used sheet steel to line the walls with too, look there, a few of them are loose.” Star pointed out. “That must be what Steel had meant by a false wall.”

Matterhorn went about removing the false wall as the others entered the tiny structure, noses instantly scrunched up in disgust when the smell of stale air and dust met their noses. Access stepped forward authoritatively, seeking to take charge as this was his and Sheet Rock’s problem to solve.

“Me and Sheet will take point, Star and Lucky should take up the middle. You and Snowy can take the rear, Magic and long rifles are better kept away from the action.”

Matterhorn nodded and stepped aside, gesturing for him to take point. Now that the false wall had been removed, they could see into featureless room that housed their way in, a recessed manhole set into the concrete.

It looked like it hadn’t been opened in some time, but there was some loose concrete dust around the manhole’s lip, which indicated that it may not have been that long ago when it was used last.

Slowly, little by little, Access pulled open the manhole. It was dimly lit all the way down, and they’d each have to go down one at a time, one after another.

“After you, Access.” Lucky chuckled. “Check your weapons everyone, this is it.”

“How’re you holding up, Scarlet?” Bulwark said worryingly. “You’ve not said anything in hours.”

They’d long been let out of their restraints, but had been confined to a small featureless concrete room with only a small fluorescent lamp in the ceiling for light. A small window allowed them some idea of what was going on outside, but Scarlet had seen very little in the hours upon hours she had been staring out of it beyond some empty and barren hallways made of the same concrete their cell appeared to be.

Wherever they were, it was clearly somewhere enclosed, perhaps even underground.

“They don’t even know where we are, do they?” Scarlet said quietly. “He has to be lieing, nobody is that lucky.”

“Knowing those two, they’ll have something up their sleeves, I wouldn’t worry.” Bulwark reassured.

“The Crown is a myth, the kind of thing you tell your foal at night to reassure someone out there still cares, that the old ways are still alive in some form.” Scarlet spat. “Even if they are real, how and why would they contact Access and Sheet Rock, for what purpose?”

“Riot did say they were after him, perhaps they’ll use us as a reason for those two to want to find him.” Bulwark pointed out. “I don’t like the idea of there being an ulterior motive though, sounds way too sinister for my liking.”

Suddenly, a rattle came from their cell’s door. Gray was stood there, blankly staring at the two with a tray in hoof.

“Food.” he stated simply before he placed it between an opening in the cell door. “I thought you’d be hungry by now.”

“Your boss doesn’t seem like the kind of pony to treat captives very well.” Bulwark said, snatching the tray from Gray.

“He isn’t.” Gray said calmly. “You shouldn’t blame him though, he is merely playing with the hand he was given.”

“Is that supposed to be comforting?” Scarlet said, jumping down from the window. “He threatened us, destroyed our home, and twisted a trusted friend to his service.”

“I wont try to excuse his actions, but it was all in the name of survival.” Gray said, nodding a little. “Perhaps it’s time to see what our group really looks like.”

He opened the cell door and stood aside, all with an unsettling expression. Gray didn’t show any trace of emotion as the two reluctantly exited the cell, it was like he was a blank shell, and yet he showed some amount of compassion during their brief exchange.

Scarlet peered at their captor for a moment as a number of questions flooded her mind.

“Gray, can i-”

“I know you probably have many questions, but right now, it’ll be better for you and us to simply just show you what were about.” Gray soothed. “Please, hold off on any judgments until then.”

They walked past a number of other cells on their way down the hallway, all of which were empty. Eventually, the depressing concrete gave way to navy blue steel and tiled flooring as the three came to a set of sliding frosted glass doors.

Gray slid open the doors to reveal a cavernous interior space, covered in the same navy blue steel covering the cell block’s walls, with fluorescent lights recessed into the ceiling that acted as their main source of lighting.

It was like a city under a vast metal sky, buildings made of welded scrap and reclaimed concrete reached into the “sky” of the space, and despite the fact the place was entirely enclosed, grass and even flowers had grown on several earthy spots between what looked like pathways and roads, criss-crossing between the scrap structures.

“We’re quite a distance underground, underneath one of the Arcology’s old satellite structures. Over time they saw less and less usage until they eventually became abandoned.” Gray said with a hint of sorrow. “Good for us that it was still workable when we arrived. A little elbow grease was required to get the power and climate control working again though, but we managed.”

“Who is us?” Scarlet remarked, still in awe at the sheer size of the underground city. “This place is huge, enough for hundreds of ponies!”

“A little over thousand, I think you’ll find, with capacity for many more.” Gray said, gesturing for them to follow him down a staircase toward what acted as the city’s main square. “I have a favor to ask of you, if you’ll indulge me.”

Gray looked around for a moment. Of all the ponies around, none of them seemed to be paying them any mind but he still looked very nervous. He was looking for a particular pony, one that Scarlet and Bulwark knew well enough by now.

“I need you to help me get rid of Riot, his actions are jeopardizing our safety.” he said plainly. “I respect him greatly for all the good he’s done over the years, but he and his goons have forgotten what their job is, and have gone around terrorizing ponies, making enemies with little regard how that’ll affect us.”

“Like our friends.” Bulwark said, nodding in agreement. “How’re we doing this? I don’t think he’ll just go if we ask nicely.”

“This next part involves your friends as well, by the way.” Gray said, nodding. “What you are going to do however, is exactly what he wants you to do, but you’re going to feed him a lie in the process. With any luck this will put him off balance and place him into a position where we can be rid of him.”

“How can you be sure they’ll show, they don’t even know where we are!” Scarlet fret. “We were long gone by the time they showed up at the hideout, assuming they showed up at all.”

Gray smiled, a strange look on a pony that had showed almost no emotion at all beforehand. It was very unnerving, but comforting in a way. Without saying a word, Gray reassured them that he knew what he was doing.

Scarlet wasn’t convinced however, not in the slightest.

Chapter 45 - Tunnels

The crew had been walking through the dark and dusty tunnels below the badlands for what felt like hours now, but with the help of the maps provided by Golden, they were well on their way to their goal. Over the next few hours, they navigated the dark and dusty tunnels via the narrow paths on each side of what was left of the tracks, long since looted for the valuable metal and electrical wiring tbey once held.

“Looks like if we keep going down this tunnel for a while, we’ll be relatively close to the Arcology.” Access said happily. “How’re we going to find Riot’s hideout when we get there though, according to the maps, the place is huge!”

“The Arcology is actually several separate but connected structures, some underground, some above ground.” Star remarked absentmindedly. “I would venture a guess he’ll have shacked up in one of the emptier ones.”

“We’ll need to search them then, but not in person.” Access grumbled, kicking aside some loose rubble in his way. “Since they’ll likely have a connection to the Net, we’ll just be able to slip in undetected and nab anything that looks even remotely valuable.”

“Leave the in person head cracking to me.” Matterhorn said matter of fact. “Lucky, how you do you want me to deal with him?”

She fell silent for a moment before she spoke in a cold, almost monstrous tone. “Disable him if you can, but if he struggles, kill him.”

“He might be completely unhinged, but is that really necessary?” Star said in disbelief.

“For once I feel like I have to agree.” Access sighed. “We should be taking him alive, he needs to answer for his actions. Shooting him between the eyes is the easy way out, surely you must see that?”

“I have my orders.” Matterhorn said coldly. “You’re welcome to bail if you find your friends, but if you get in my way, I’ll be forced to deal with you too.”

The tone of the operation had just turned serious for Access and Sheet Rock. They were interested in getting their friends back and, if anything, teaching Riot a lesson he wouldn’t soon forget and not slaughtering him for the sake of it.

In their line of work, keeping someone alive and miserable was a more effective way to make sure they never crossed them again, but it now became more evident than ever that these two weren’t their friends, or their allies by just how willing they were to slaughter someone.

“You thinking what I’m thinking, Sheet?

“Yeah, for sure.”

Scarlet and Bulwark were led to one of the larger scrap structures, evidently used as some kind of meeting place. When they walked inside, Gray closed the door behind himself and let out a loud sigh. There wasn’t anyone inside the surprisingly well lit building, and it was set out like a council chamber, with many seats and desks arranged in a circular manner around a dusty podium. In fact, it looked like it hadn’t been used in a very long, long, time.

“Please, sit down.” Gray said, gesturing to the ring of seats. “By now Riot will have noticed you aren’t in your cells and will be looking for you, if you’ve got any questions about anything on your mind or about what’s to come, you better ask them now.”

“Just what is this place, why have you appointed Riot as a leader if his actions are so unpalatable?” Bulwark said, picking a seat far from the entryway.

Gray inhaled. “It doesn’t really have an official name, to give it one would really just give form to the experience ponies had before they got here, and many of them would like to avoid that just as they’ve been avoiding us.”

“Lots of those kinds of places around, Gray, Lower Canterlot is like that too. If you’re not well-off or a corporate employee, that’s where you’ll eventually end up.”

Gray nodded and took a seat himself, closer to the entryway. “While you’re figuratively out of sight, we’re literally out of sight, and sadly out of mind to the Arcology’s officials.”

“Do you have a point?” Scarlet said venomously. “Everyone in places like this are in need, what does this have to do with us, or Riot for that matter?”

“He was supposed to make things safer around here when he came to us a while back now, but we didn’t know he had ties to some very nasty ponies that he said were a bigger threat to us than anyone else.” Gray said with a frown. “He went to the big four for help and information, but despite the partnership he came back to us with, he didn’t tell us about the ponies he’d stepped on in the process.”

“I’m guessing the ponies he stepped on were our friends.” Scarlet inquired. “Though I imagine it goes a lot deeper than that.”

“It does, but even I, his most trusted captain have little idea just how far it extends. Riot is beyond private, in fact, it’s that very private attitude that allows us to even have this conversation. He rarely ventures out of his quarters unless he has to, you see,”

“I think that’s enough talk though, just tell us what we’ve got to do.” Bulwark interjected, a little bit annoyed at all the talk with little action.

“Very well, here’s the plan…”

“Sir.” a well-dress business-pony said nervously. “There’s been a development.”

Bright Sun buried his head into his hooves, groaning loudly enough to make his subordinate visibly cringe. “What could you ponies possibly have fucked up now? At this rate, my glorious golden mane will be grayer than the skies outside.“

“Well, sir, there’s the matter of Riot, the mercenary you hired. He hasn’t shown up for his assignments in a little while, and attempts at contacting him have been met with nothing but dead air.”

“What about our little hacker problem?”

“One of his last communications with us was one detailing that it had been dealt with, but as I’ve said, we’ve heard little to nothing from him since then.”

“That would explain why our facility in Vanhoover was broken into then, and why the other Corporations manged to cause more problems than they should’ve been allowed to.” Bright Sun said with rapidly increasing fury. “It’s hard to get good help these days. Especially when it comes from gutter trash.”

“Sir, if it’s any consolation at all, he didn’t cover his tracks very well at all. Something’s spooked him good and proper, he’s made more than a few mistakes that would allow us to track him.”

Bright Sun looked up from his desk at his subordinate, who slid a thick beige folder towards him. He opened it to a certain section, one filled with many images of an underground city, dirty and crowded, along with a set of names and photos.

“He has a hideout in the Everfree Arcology that he visits quite often, normally after a job, but there’s a problem. We could mount an assault and teach him a lesson for crossing you, but if we do, we’ll have to deal with the fact that he will likely have a lot of trained help that would more than be our match.”

Bright Sun stood up from his desk and strode toward the glass windows that made up the walls of his office, high atop Equi-Tech Tower and thought about his options. Riot was an asset to be sure, but even the allure of large sums of money couldn’t buy loyalty, not forever.

Perhaps he was wrong to hope he could control a mercenary group with money, perhaps he was a fool for not seeing the signs, but it was now on him to make sure that Riot didn’t use what he’d seen, what he’d heard about their operations against them.

“These names, who are they?” Bright Sun said finally.

“Key targets. If we eliminate them, Riot’s operation will collapse and his influence will crumble along with it. He’ll have no way of recovering, and we can safeguard our secrets in the process.”

“Who would believe the word of a mere mercenary?”

Bright Sun’s subordinate flipped the pages of the folder over, revealing photos of two Netrunners, of Access and Sheet Rock, in the process of breaking into a Netwatch building. The image was date-stamped for a time several years ago during a more turbulent time in their lives.

“What is this?” Bright Sun said impatiently. “Who are these two?”

“This one’s Access Granted, the son of Breach Control, a former Netwatch operative.” the pony said, pointing to an amber maned stallion. He moved his hoof to the other, a slate gray maned mare. “This one’s Sheet Rock, daughter of an influential, and rather wealthy, pharmaceutical mogul.”

Bright Sun looked at the two pictures for a moment before he spoke. “You haven’t answered my question.”

“I know this isn’t exactly my department sir, but I did some digging, and I believe these two are the ponies that broke into our systems a while ago, and the same ponies that broke into Darkspace’s systems too.”

“How did you come by this information?”

“I’m owed a few favors by some ponies within Darkspace and… well… it turned out they had the access I needed to some surveillance footage and voice recordings from the facility they broke into. A little facial recognition goes a long way, sir, as you can see.”

Bright Sun’s face broke into a sadistic smile. “Good work, what’s your name?”

“Cobalt, sir.” the stallion said. “My name’s Cobalt. I work down in counter-intelligence.”

“Well, Cobalt, if this information turns out to be useful, you’ll be getting quite the promotion. Have a squad ready themselves for deployment, and prepare a helicopter for me too, I want to be there when they crush them under their boots.”

Chapter 46 - Breaching the Arcology

The group came to another set of access shafts, one on each side of the mangled and rusted heap the rails in the center of the tunnel had become over years of neglect. It looked like the shafts themselves both lead to the same spots more or less, but they’d only know for sure if they looked.

Lucky looked to Matterhorn, who with the map in his AR display nodded in confirmation. She then looked to Access, who mirrored Matterhorn’s nod. If the map was correct, they were directly underneath their target, but there was no way of telling just where they’d pop out or even if it was safe to do so.

“Everyone, check weapons and have them to hoof.” Lucky ordered, taking charge. “Matterhorn, ready a spell for immediate use, and keep a few in reserve should we be set upon.”

Everyone drew their weapons, Sheet Rock her SMG, Access his Shotgun, and Star her personal sidearm. Lucky drew her own sidearm and directed Matterhorn to open the manhole closest to him while they remained on the other side, out of view.

With his magic, Matterhorn gripped the release latch on the cover and pushed it up and out of the way. Light streamed into the tunnels below as he climbed up the ladder and poked his head out of the manhole, into the area above.

He looked around slowly for a short while, looking for anyone who might walk by. He called down to the others that the coast was clear for the moment, and that it was safe to come up. One by one, they each came up the ladder, weapons in hoof, into the enclosed space.

It was quiet, eerily quiet, and the group had little idea where their search should start.

“So this is what the inside of the Arcology looks like.” Access said. “It’s not as big as I thought it would be.”

“This isn’t half the size of the actual Arcology, Access, this place is much more of an eyesore, mostly because of their living arrangements.” Star remarked, keeping her sidearm close to her chest. “I’m guessing this one was mostly used as a garden before these ponies moved in.”

“That’s a good point actually, everything here looks like it was welded together out of scrap metal.” Sheet Rock pointed out. “Quite the contrast with the greenery, and if I’m honest, I’m actually a little jealous.”

The group moved as one down the streets of the Arcology, past some smaller buildings on their way toward a larger one, roughly at the center of the area. One top of the largest building among a cluster of smaller ones was a tall radio tower, topped with a multitude of dishes with large bundles of cable that protruded from a large box next to it.

The cables led up high into the sky, slowly converging on one another until they vanished into a large metal conduit that jutted haphazardly out of the ceiling high above. This must’ve been the area’s way of getting net access given that they were deep underground.

“That’s mine and Sheet’s way into their network, over there, by that radio tower.” Access pointed out. “If there really are documents worth taking, that’s how we’ll get in, I recognize the box next to it, it’s a communications hub.”

“You two make your way over to it then. Matterhorn, Star, and myself will keep looking around for Riot. Deal?”

Access nodded and scuttled off toward the tower with little regard for stealth, but as there seemed to be few ponies around, and even fewer paying attention to their surroundings anyway, he saw little need for it and opted to simply draw as little attention as possible.

“Are you actually going to do what Luna wants?” Sheet Rock asked as she rushed to Access’ side. “I have a real bad feeling about this, something about this feels really off.”

“The sooner we finish up here, the sooner we can find our friends and go home, Sheet. Besides, a little money goes a long way when you don’t really have any.”

She grabbed Access’ hoof with one of her own and looked at him with a worried expression, far more worried than he’d ever seen her. It was almost unnerving just how concerned she looked, perhaps the past few days and weeks had finally taken their toll on her, and only now did the facade crack wide open.

“Let’s just hurry, okay?” Sheet said, letting Access’ hoof fall to the floor.

“Uh, yeah.” Access blinked. “Are you okay, you’ve been acting weird for ages now?”

Sheet Rock rolled her eyes and trotted ahead of Access a short way, peeping around corners as she was about to pass them. Access wasn’t a thinking pony at the best of times, but even he could see Sheet Rock was clearly upset.

She was often the voice of reason during missions, and now wasn’t any different. As he thought more and more about the situation they were in, and what they had been asked to do, the reality that they might being played again rose to the top of his mind, and he suddenly started to understand how she felt at this moment.

Sheet Rock held up her hoof, and pointed ahead of them. There was a cluster of ponies between them and the rear of the largest building.

“Hold up, ponies ahead, five of them maybe.”

“We should wait for them to go away, there’s not much point causing a ruckus this early on.”

“Agreed, try that door behind you. If it’s open we can hide in there for a bit.”

Access tugged at the door behind him gently. The flimsy scrap door eased open, revealing a cramped interior space with a few cardboard boxes stacked in one corner. Evidently this shed was used for storage, what for wasn’t obvious but it was practically empty, more than large enough for the two Netrunners.

Not a perfect place to hide, but it was better than nothing.

“What exactly are you two looking for?” Star inquired. “What good does splitting up do us?”

“When things go loud, those of us with the least training will be out of the crossfire.” Matterhorn said darkly. “In a way, I suppose it’s because neither me or Lucky want your two friends to end up in an emergency room again.”

“How thoughtful of you, but what about when they’ve outlived their usefulness? Snowy and I have been mostly silent throughout all the exchanges between you four, and it seems like you’re no closer to telling them what you really want.”

Star didn’t get an answer, and was pulled back behind a particularly rickety building just as group of disheveled, and rather suspicious looking ponies trudged past. They didn’t know if their presence would frighten them into action or otherwise raise suspicions, but it was best to stay out of sight just in case.

“We should pull one of those ponies aside, quietly. If Riot is even half as important as the director made him out to be, he’ll have enough of a following around here that one of those ponies will know where he is for sure.” Star remarked quietly.

“Good idea.” Matterhorn said, darting out from cover.

Star watched him move from building to building until he was just behind the group of ponies with a dangerous glow about his horn. In the blink of an eye he’d levitated the three of them off the ground and buried their noses in the dirt before they even had a chance to make a sound.

Lucky leveled the barrel of her sidearm at one of the pony’s heads, much to Star’s horror.

“Pony by the name of Riot.” she said, levitating a photo of Riot extracted from the Crown’s old records. “Know him? Wrong answers will earn you a new breathing hole, so do think carefully.”

“He-” the pony said, before earning an annoyed hiss from his fellows.

“Don’t tell them a word! They’re bluffing, it’s obvious!”

“They won’t hurt us, they’re just as soft as all the others they send down here!”

Lucky chuckled darkly. “Matterhorn, twist this stallion’s leg a bit would you? Not too hard, we don’t want him to get hurt too badly.”

He nodded, and shifted his spell’s grip to one of the stallion’s legs and gently started to twist it in an unnatural direction. He did this slowly, so that the discomfort would build gradually until it became too much to bear.

Star however looked on in horror at what she was witnessing, she understood the need to find Riot as soon as possible but she couldn’t condone torture. She was about to protest when Snowy gestured to Matterhorn, who was barely twisting the stallion’s limb and yet he was wailing like it was the worst pain he’d ever felt.

“They aren’t actually going to hurt them, not permanently. See the way he’s twisting?” Snowy said almost inaudibly. “To the stallion, it feels like he’s having his leg torn off, when really, it’s just bent weirdly.”

“I wonder if it’ll actually work though.”

Lucky brought the grip of her sidearm down on the heads of the other two ponies, knocking them out cold and knelt down at the stallion’s side. “You seem like a reasonable pony. The sooner you talk, the sooner you can go about your business. We want Riot, not you. When your friends wake up, you can just tell them we left peacefully, deal?”

“What did he do this time?”

“We’re not at liberty to say, but suffice it to say, he needs to be stopped.” Matterhorn said, releasing his grip on the stallion’s leg, but kept him pinned to the dirt. “The sooner you tell us, the sooner you can go free.”

The stallion, now able to get a good look at his captors, looked up at Matterhorn with a sneer and chuckled. “You’re one of them aren’t you? A corporate lapdog without a family to speak of, just like Riot. You’d be welcomed down here if you weren’t so fixated on pleasing your masters and thought for yourself.”

Matterhorn brought a hoof down roughly into the stallion’s face with a sickening crack. “Talk. I won’t ask again.”

The stallion spat out some blood from his broken nose onto the grass with a mad chuckle. “You’re just like him, violent and bad-tempered, but at least he protects ponies from monsters like the ones that made you. He might’ve come out of the same vat you did, but he has more integrity, honor, and freedom than you ever will, beast!”

With all sense of restraint gone, Matterhorn shifted his grip to the stallion’s neck and roughly twisted it until it snapped with an audible crunch. He let the body drop to the grass into a bloody heap and turned to face away from the two shocked mares, they noticed his was breathing was irregular, rough, and very shallow.

Lucky stepped closer to him cautiously, her training kicking into effect. “Matterhorn? Are you okay, do you need a moment?”

“I will not be reminded of that room, not now, not ever, and especially not by scum like that!” he growled maliciously. “I’m going to scout around, hopefully nobody heard that little exchange.”

Matterhorn stormed off, leaving Star, Lucky, and even Snowy in stunned silence at what they had just witnessed.

“What in the hell was that?” Star said fearfully. “I never seen a pony just flip from calm to angry that quickly before!”

“It seems these ponies knew just which of Matterhorn’s buttons to push, it’s as I feared.” Lucky replied. “It’s likely these ponies know what Riot, and by extension Matterhorn are, and this stallion just had to keep pushing the point knowing what would happen.”

“He didn’t mean to kill this stallion? Could’ve fooled me with how much force he put on his neck!”

“It has a lot to do with how they were made, it’s a sensitive subject for most agents but especially Matterhorn. I can tell you why, but given its sensitive nature you have to promise me you wont let him know that you know, and especially not your friends.”

“I promise.”

“While you two are chatting, I’ll clean up here, we don’t want to alert anyone to our presence just yet.” Snowy said as calmly as he could. “Don’t mind me.”

Chapter 47 - Monster

Lucky launched into her explanation, and reminded Star of what she already knew, that Agents weren’t naturally born, but created in a lab from willing donors. Agents effectively started off their lives as the unofficial offspring of parents they’d never know or meet.

For the first decade of their lives, they lived within a Crown compound with other foals that would eventually became their colleagues, learned from the best scholars money could buy, given the best food, the best healthcare, they didn’t want for anything, material or otherwise.

But once they came of age, Lucky detailed a process by which they’d be given their unconventional abilities and longevity. First came biological augmentation, whereby parts of their body and psyche would be remolded through chemical or magical means to suit whatever purpose the Crown had for them, which normally curtailed things like anger, jealousy, rebelliousness, and pride.

Next came Cybernetic Augmentation, bones would be replaced with nigh on unbreakable metal-laced polymers, skin weaved with heat, blade, and bulletproof materials throughout the body, hidden just below the skin, and eyes replaced with augments that could magnify images, sense heat, and see even in the lowest light conditions.

Finally, the one Lucky dreaded retelling, let alone remembering, was Magical Augmentation. It was difficult to make spells permanent nowadays and so the Crown sought a more concrete solution that took them many years to even draw up a proposal for.

The Crown’s top scientists wanted to use what was left of Director Luna’s own magic to that end as it had survived even her death condensed into a liquid form that the crown’s best had managed to salvage, but in a fit of rage she’d refused to hear their pleas for several more years after that.

After a series of setbacks and defections in the following years, she was forced to reconsider the use of her magic as a way to create an even more effective soldier, and thus, the first plans for a magically augmented agent were drawn up and given the green light, albeit reluctantly by the then distraught Director Luna.

It was given a code name to keep its existence secret. On the bottom of the thick stack of documents that made up the proposal, was a name, stamped in golden lettering.

Project Matterhorn.

“What actually happened though, he obviously still displays the traits you said they removed?”

“Matterhorn is special in that most of his augmentations are Magical, not Cybernetic or Biological. Though it wasn’t easy for him to come out on the other side.”

“I don’t like the sound of that.”

“They tried to force Director Luna’s magic into somewhere it wasn’t supposed to be, and it nearly burned him alive in the process, all for a new way to mold his body into the perfect killing machine.” Lucky said angrily, rapidly losing her cool. “I had to stand there while they did it, Star, while he screamed and howled like a wild animal as the magic they infused him with tore at his mind and body!”

“Why didn’t you leave? I would’ve, no matter how desperate things seem it isn’t right to subject someone to something like that.”

“Even if we did break out and manage to escape, where would we have gone? Matterhorn has known nothing but the Crown, the only two ponies he trusts are me and the Director for crying out loud!” Lucky spat. “What kind of a life is that? At least the other agents were given the choice, he was forced into it!”

“Lucky…”

She threw her hooves in the air with a loud, exasperated groan. “I’m sorry, that got heavy really quickly.”

“You’ve been holding that in for a while, haven’t you?” Star soothed. “We should probably… you know…”

Lucky nodded. “Yes, of course, I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have anything to apologize for, Lucky.”

During his recon of the outside of the building, Access was faced with sheer walls of steel, with little idea on how to get on the roof from the outside. Unlike the other buildings, this one was a lot more well built and it seemed that whoever welded it together thought like a Netrunner and made it especially difficult to get to the access point on the roof of the building.

“Smooth walls, no bits to climb up on.” he mumbled. “Why can these ponies use their brains but corps insist on putting things on their buildings that make them easy to break into?”

“You’re not supposed to be admiring their workmanship, Access, we need to get at that access point, and soon.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know…”

The only way into the building was through the front door, but the voices he could hear inside as they got closer were a concern. It was a toss-up as to whether those inside would cause a ruckus or not, and they had no idea just how quickly the inhabitants of this place would descend upon them.

Sheet Rock peered through a small crack in the door near its hinges, and her heart nearly burst with joy at what she saw inside. She could see Bulwark and Scarlet talking with a gray stallion, calmly, not under any duress at all, though she could tell that the conversation was serious.

She signaled to Access and he took up a position on the other edge of the door. Together, with weapons gripped in their respective magic, pushed the door open gently.

“So, I think we have a very good chance at taking him down but we need to be very- Oh, it looks like we have guests!”

“Sheet? Access? Is that really you?” Scarlet began, her eyes welling up with tears upon seeing her friends. “How did you find us?”

“It doesn’t matter, we need to leave, now!” Access said, closing the door behind himself. “No time to explain why.”

“I’m afraid they have a bargain to fulfill at the moment.” the stallion said. “Your departure will have to wait, unless you want to help deal with a madpony too?”

“And you are?”

“My name’s Gray. Your friends and I have been having a grand discussion, care to enlighten them, you two?”

“Gray wants our help in removing Riot from the equation, so to speak.” Bulwark informed. “We were going to do it quietly, but with you two around, we should be able to act with a little more decisiveness, should we want to.”

“Our backup has a vested interest in Riot as well, so they’d more than likely go along with your little plan as well.” Access offered. “I have no idea where they are right now though, so we’ll just have to assume their answer is positive.”

“Do I know these ponies?”

“Nope, though neither did we until they showed up the hideout and offered to help. I don’t think we would’ve gotten this far without them. No doubt you’ll get to meet them eventually.”

“Now if we’re done patting each other on the back and indulging in our little reunion, we have more important things to be concerned with.” Gray said as he stepped forward. “Judging by your augmentations, you two are Netrunners, there is an access point on the roof as you’ve probably noticed, but there’s another below ground in a little disused storage crawlspace. That’ll likely be safer for you when the bullets start to fly.”

“Suits us.” Sheet Rock said, silencing Access’ growing sense of annoyance with a hoof. “Out of interest, what exactly did you have in mind for helping you out?”

“Riot probably doesn’t yet know of your presence, so hiding in the crawlspace while doing what you do seems like the best course of action. He wont expect to be attacked here or within the net either, and in the ensuing chaos, you’ll be able to lay your hooves on some secrets of his.”

“Sounds good, let’s get to work then.”

Gray led them to the crawlspace, hidden under a rusted hatch, underneath which was just enough space for Access and Sheet Rock to fit into. The access point was mounted to a wooden beam that jutted out the floor, wires hanging off of it lazily in thick bundles that led toward other buildings and up through the wall, presumably to the roof.

When they were snugly and comfortably under the hatch, Gray gave them a sympathetic nod before he closed the hatch behind them.

Chapter 48 - Dweller

Matterhorn had never lost control like that before, that pony didn’t deserve that painful end, but in the end that’s what he got thanks to his loud mouth and lack of restraint. He thought back to what he’d said though, and it was true that he and Riot actually shared a genetic template, but they were nothing alike in reality.

At least, Matterhorn hoped so, as he’d never really questioned his relation to the rest of the series of agents he belonged to before.

How this pony knew this wasn’t obvious though, but if he had to venture a guess, it was likely that Riot’s followers knew of his origin or some warped version of it, as in the game of mercenary work you didn’t get rich off the proceeds by being truthful.

“Matterhorn?” came a small voice. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Lucky.” he responded blankly. “General area is clear, I don’t think anyone heard that little exchange.”

“Anything else you wish to report?”

“No.”

“You’re not going to brush what you just did under the rug, you know. We’ll talk about it, just not here. Luna needs to know about that.”

“So she can put me back into that room again? Box me up until I turn into a blank slate, like when you met me?” Matterhorn said defiantly. “As far as I’m concerned, anyone who looks upon Riot favorably is a liability and should be dealt with swiftly and harshly.”

“That’s your template speaking instead of your own brain again, isn’t it?” Lucky sighed. “Try not to let the situation cloud your judgment, we’re to eliminate him with as few casualties as possible. Clear?”

“Clear.”

Lucky sighed thankfully and offered Matterhorn an apologetic smile. “By now our friends will be jacking into the local Subnet and taking him for all he’s worth, just a little more, stay focused on the mission.”

“Should we lay low for the time being?”

“Let’s make our way toward the building they saw the transmitter on, no doubt if they screw up or get found out they’ll be in no state to fight back. It’s way too quiet around here for there not to be something afoot.”

“So this is their Subnet. It’s a lot more green than I was expecting, normally these places are a bit more city-like.” Access said, peering out at the endless expanse of glowing and polygonal digital trees.

The only clearing within view was one straight ahead of them and even then it wasn’t that large. It would be safe to assume that much of the Subnet would be like this, putting them at a major disadvantage as they’d have to rely on scanning software rather than their own brains this time around.

Reaction speed mattered the most in the Net, followed by the speed of your deck, and then finally, what software you ran. Everything else was secondary and the few runners that ignored this rule rarely lasted long, ultimately ending up as charred lumps of burnt flesh, roasted alive by some black system’s ICE.

Curiously, there was a walled off section within the clearing that was rapidly coming into view, evidently that represented the higher security area of the system and would likely hold what they were looking for.

If only they could get past it.

“There’s a runner around here besides us, Access, I can feel it.” Sheet Rock said, cautiously hiding behind the treeline. “Few programs around too, I imagine most of the activity is beyond those walls.”

“Too big to physically look over as well, someone really put some effort into securing the place.” Access nodded in agreement. “If I had to guess, it’d be a dweller. I’m surprised Riot managed to convince someone to stay jacked in at all hours of the day.”

“Probably not politely if I had to guess, let’s look around a bit.”

They trudged into the clearing, and started to probe the wall for weaknesses using some simple scanning programs so as not to cause too much noise. If there was a dweller here, they’d be watching the place like a hawk and anything untoward would draw their attention.

Dwellers weren't like normal runners, they kept their avatars unloaded until they detected something they couldn’t deal with using the sheer will of their minds or the system and its resources they were connected to.

They were for all intents and purposes, living programs that only served to defend the system they were charged with custodianship over. Such an existence was beyond saddening for most, but those runners with little in the way of interest in realspace, money, or stake in society often welcomed such a job.

“Smooth data-walls all the way around, Sheet, no way we’re getting through this quickly.”

“Any code gates? Anything we can hack through?”

“No, they’re either well hidden or non-existent.” Access sighed. “Why bother with an external access point if you’re gonna disallow access outright?”

“Probably signal matching at play. Unless our decks match a certain set of access codes, we’d get dumped out somewhere they would expect we could do the least harm.” Sheet Rock offered as she tapped at the mile high walls. “Everyone, whether they be corporate or some foal with their first Cyberdeck does it that way.”

“I’m going to see if I can probe the wall a little deeper, there’s gotta be a way to get through. There’s no way they didn’t put some sort of fail-safe in just in case one of them lost the proverbial keys to the kingdom.”

“We have a comm link with Gray and the others if we need it if things get hairy too.” Sheet Rock said reassuringly. “I wonder where they’ve gotten to, I’d have expected to have heard from them by now.”

“Probably busy.” Access said dismissively. “If they get into trouble we can support them from here anyway.”

Access summoned another of his scanner programs in the form of a small wind sprite, more effective than the simpler programs he had employed before, but had the drawback of being more likely to draw the attention of any sysops or dwellers within the system.

He set it loose and it slowly made its way around the structure, intently scouring each and every inch for even the smallest of weaknesses. The sprite did two full scans of the structure before it vanished in a flash of light, the results of its scans transmitted to Access’ deck.

A growl of annoyance was loosed from his lips as he read. There was no easily exploitable weakness in the walls, none at all, and worse yet it appeared that defenses had been shored up very recently.

Whoever this dweller was, they knew someone would be coming, either out of paranoia or simple coincidence. Sheet Rock however didn’t believe in coincidence and pushed Access aside, she’d seen too many security systems as a Runner for this to be this mere coincidence.

“Let me try something else from my bag of tricks.” Sheet Rock said confidently. “We’ll crack this thing open for sure, no system has beaten us before and this one isn’t about to either!”

“There are ways through, but none of them are quiet, Sheet..”

Gray nervously paced about the room, sometimes muttering to himself on occaision. Clearly he wasn’t completely confident in the plan for one reason or another, but when pressed he insisted that he was fine and that it was just his nerves.

“These ponies your friends have allied with, do you know them?”

“Probably not. Access’ attention span reaches about as far as a neural cable does, and Sheet Rock doesn’t trust very easily unless it’s in service to Access.” Scarlet remarked through a piece of dry bread. “I’d be very surprised if their backup is anyone we don’t know, they’re very independent but kinda stupid at times.”

“I suppose all we can do is wait for them to show up and hope they don’t take our heads off. Only one of us is armed, that being me, so I hope you’re good with your hooves.”

A set of voices, slightly muffled from the thick steel separating them could be heard outside arguing between themselves. A stallion and two mares if Gray had to guess, it was hard to tell over the dull hum of the ventilators in the shack’s ceiling. Whoever they were, they were getting closer, and quickly.

Gray unholstered his revolver and ordered Bulwark and Scarlet to get behind one of the tables in case of a shootout. Neither of them had weapons anymore, owing to them being taken by Riot’s cronies.

“I’ll have someone retrieve your weapons if they are able to, for now we better hope whoever is on the other side of that door is friendly.”

Chapter 49 - Confrontation

“That building there, that the one?” Star said, pointing at a large building ahead of them. “It’s got a pretty big tower on it.”

“Must be, looks like a comms antenna, the kind a runner would be interested in.” Snowy said stoically. “Hopefully we’ll link up with the others and get this done and over with.”

“Weapons at the ready, I don’t want to be caught by surprise.” Lucky declared suddenly, unholstering her own sidearm. “Matterhorn, project a barrier for us before I open the door, we should assume that any and all ponies we encounter from now on will be armed.”

“Of course.”

He took up a position near the door, and projected a glittering barrier of azure magic in front of him and willed it to curve into a rough semi-circle. Matterhorn could easily stop a bullet from a low caliber weapon outright with a little effort, but he figured it would be easier, and not to mention safer, to bounce the bullets off his barrier instead of trying to show off.

Lucky gripped the door’s handle with her magic and jiggled it slightly, hoping to provoke a reaction, and to her surprise a gunshot rang out, followed by a dull thunk as the round bounced off the glittering barrier in front of her, putting a small crack in it that quickly patched itself up.

She then ripped the door open with a sudden and precise tug, accidentally breaking the fragile and rusty hinges into small pieces in the process. Inside was a gray stallion, brandishing an old service revolver in their direction. Behind an overturned metal folding table were another two ponies, huddled together behind their only form of cover, seemly unarmed.

“I knew more of you would show up eventually, you here to cause more trouble for us?” Gray growled. “Well I’m not going to let you!”

He squeezed off another series of shots, emptying the revolver entirely, which again barely made a dent in Matterhorn’s barrier.

“We’re not here to fight you, we’re Access and Sheet Rock’s backup. Surely they mentioned us?” Star said from over Matterhorn’s shoulder. “Let’s just talk!”

Gray turned to Bulwark. “You know these ponies?”

“No, none of them.”

“Sorry, looks like you ponies better leave.” Gray warned, hurriedly reloading his weapon for another shot. “Real slow, no sudden movements.”

Star stepped forward and directed her attention to the two ponies still behind cover. “I was at that hideout of yours, I saw what Riot did to your home. I promised I’d help both of your friends, and I’d really like to help you two out too.”

“I hope you have something to offer other than your word. You have to understand, we’re sprawl ponies, talk is cheap.” Bulwark said gruffly.

“Look, your friends have been spending a lot of time trying to get you ponies back, and we’ve spent more than enough time and effort supporting them through that.” Matterhorn remarked, entering the room with his barrier still raised. “In fact, our first meeting with them played out a lot like this one, but they eventually saw reason when they were offered support in return.”

“Except that this one wont end happy if you don’t listen to what we have to say.” Lucky added. “One gun versus a super soldier, not a good match up at all.”

“Explain, now.” Bulwark ordered.

“My friends here have a vested interest in removing Riot from the picture, permanently. He’s destroyed your home, ransacked your hideout, turned friends against you, and worse yet, he’s turned other ponies to his service with threats of violence.” Star said. “All you have to do is put the gun down, calm yourselves, and I’ll explain as best as I can.”

Gray lowered his weapon and looked over at Bulwark and Scarlet who nodded in agreement. “Fine, start talking.”

Star took the lead this time around, and described the events of the past little while to Gray, who still looked skeptical even after her brief rundown. Her explanation was remarkably concise, and when she got to recent events, namely the assault on their hideout and Riot’s treatment of Chilled Coffee, there was a subtle change in Gray’s expression.

He realized that Star’s tone was likely genuine, given how passionate and precise she was with the finer details, he felt like it was unlikely to be a lie.

“You two, are you able to have Access or Sheet Rock vouch for these ponies?“

“If i wanted to harm you, I’d have done so already.” Matterhorn remarked through a barely concealed smirk. “You’re fortunate to have seen reason, most wise of you.”

“Just stay where I can see you, the rest of you are free to do as you please.” Gray barked. “Just don’t make any sudden movements and we’ll get along just fine.”

Lucky and Star walk over to where Scarlet and Bulwark had been hiding, and start to introduce themselves with the hope that it’d make things a little less tense. A confirmation as to the group’s identities arrived from Sheet Rock almost as soon as Scarlet had requested it, though it sounded like things weren't going too well on their end.

A low rumble echoed throughout the area and the lights flickered for a moment, followed by another low rumble. Gray became visibly nervous, even more so than he was before.

“Bring any more friends with you?”

“No, just us.”

“You sure? I don’t like being lied to, especially not by the likes of you.”

“The likes of me?” Matterhorn growled, stepping closer to Gray. “Don’t mistake my restraint for friendliness, we’re here for a specific purpose, which is to deal with your boss.”

“Your best chance is to cause enough noise and draw him out, but short of leveling the place I don’t think he’ll play by your rules.” Gray offered in an attempt to cool their tempers. “Besides, once your friends do their job, we, and by extension you, wont have to deal with him anymore.”

Another rumble came from above them, louder this time, followed by an eerie silence that was soon shattered by a loud explosion high above them. Rubble quickly fell from the now destroyed ceiling, pieces of which fell onto the buildings below, damaging some and outright crushing others.

“Matterhorn, outside, now!” Lucky ordered. “Find out what the hell is happening, I’ll deal with things here.”

He nodded and hurried outside. The rumbling noise they heard was the sound of blasting charges, the kind used to breach bunkers and armored structures. There were huge holes in the ceiling, from which heavily armored troop carriers rapidly descended, pouring into the area, too many to count accurately with the naked eye, but if he had to venture a guess it was at least a squad’s worth perhaps more.

It wasn’t clear who they were or what they wanted, but as the gunfire and the exchange of hostilities between them and the area’s inhabitants nearby started, Matterhorn surmised they weren’t here for peaceful reasons. This was especially evident when heavy gunships entered through the blasted out holes in the ceiling and began firing their auto-cannons almost indiscriminately into the buildings nearest them.

“I recognize those gunships.” Gray said, stepping outside. “Those are Equi-Tech’s automated hunter-killers. Their target is likely Riot too, but it looks like they’ll cut down anyone that isn’t wearing their colors.”

“Do you have an evacuation plan? If so, you might want to get everyone that’s on your side out of here!”

Gray nodded. “The ones that want to stay out of Riot’s incessant need for violence will make their way to a safe spot further underground until the fighting dies down. With any luck they’ll survive the assault, what’re you going to do?”

“Nothing.” Matterhorn said darkly. “Your internal issues aren’t my concern, we’re here for one reason and one reason alone as I’ve already mentioned. Though right now, the welfare of our mutual friends takes priority.”

“Understandable, besides it’s not realistic to go up against a hunter-killer squad and expect to live.”

“We should probably keep our distance then and hope they don’t come this way.” Matterhorn said, nodding in agreement. “I am sorry, by the way, the ponies I work for wouldn’t want us to get involved.”

“I’ll have to take your word for it.” Gray said blankly. “I’ll start coordinating evacuation efforts, I suppose you’ll have your own business to attend to then?”

“It never ends, does it?”

Chapter 50 - Blindsided

“Sir, the information you procured was right on the money. Arcology module three is still inhabited, though it is yet unknown just by how many.” the squad captain said. “We’ve successfully breached the upper layer of the module and are awaiting new orders.”

“Captain Wing, you and your team are to capture Riot and his associates by any means you see fit, collapse the module on their heads if needs must.” Bright Suns voice said through the comm-link in the captain’s helmet. “You’re free to eliminate his associates if need be, but you are to capture, not kill, Riot himself. I want to be the one to teach him that you don’t fuck with the corporation that owns him now.”

“And if he refuses to co-operate, sir?”

“It should go without saying, Captain, but if you or any of your troopers kill him, you’re going to lose a lot more than your bonus checks.” Bright Sun growled maliciously. “Blow his kneecaps into dust if you have to, just stop him from escaping.”

“Yes sir.”

Captain Wing waited for his boss’ voice to fade from the call before he let out a loud exhale. The assault had progressed just as planned with only a few small skirmishes between themselves and the module’s inhabitants so far.

Bright Sun wasn’t someone you wanted to let down, let alone betray, and it showed. All of Equi-Tech’s most elite hunter-killer squads were here in their entirety, six in each of the four squads that had been able to deploy this rapidly, adding up to twenty-four heavily armed, well trained, and very eager killing machines.

They’d been warned that there would likely be more than Riot to contend with however, as Bright Sun had passed on the information procured by Cobalt to the ground team. None of them were using their usual equipment and more than a few of the crates that had been airlifted down to them were marked as highly dangerous, a strange statement to write on a weapon crate of all things, but Cobalt himself had remarked that it would help them bag their secondary targets too.

“Sir, may I ask what these crates are for?” one of the troopers called. “I thought this was a routine clean-up mission?”

“Scrambler Grenades, complements of the boss. A little something to force our secondary and tertiary targets into submission. Open it and distribute three to each trooper, don’t waste them and don’t get caught in the blast or they’ll cook you too.”

“Any luck, Access?

“There’s definitely someone here. I tried that one program I used way back at the Darkspace office to breach the walls, but it barely made a dent.” he responded, pointing to a small stain on the walls where his program had scorched a small portion of it. “Reinforcement isn’t that quick unless there’s someone actively working against us.”

“We’re not some script kiddies Access, surely you have something in that deck of yours to help us beat this?”

“Just one, that nuke program we stole from a security firm that one time. You know the one, it can breach anything in seconds!”

“How likely is it that the dweller will notice that?” Sheet Rock inquired “I have tools of my own, but if you think that’s our only option…”

“If they didn’t know we were here before, they certainly will once that little pipe-bomb goes off.” Access said sarcastically. “Do you have your emergency exit mapped out and loaded?”

“Obviously, after what happened at the Darkspace office I have to admit I spent more than a little more time preparing.”

Access nodded and called up a menu. He had many a tool up his sleeve for nearly any eventuality, as in their line of work, to be unprepared meant that you were unlikely to complete your job, or at the very worst killed in the process.

The program he’d mentioned, the aptly named “Nuke” program, assaulted a system with so much input that any security would become overwhelmed within moments, but the problem was that it was very noisy, to the point where anyone else who was connected would notice its use, and if the system had a resident AI or dweller, it would be upon them in milliseconds.

A large, glowing, orange ball of flame manifested in front of Access, hovering just above his horn. As he turned his head to face Sheet Rock, it followed the very point of his horn perfectly as if it were glued to it. If it were real flame, it would most certainly have been hot enough to melt even the strongest of metals.

“You ready? The moment this so much as touches anything in here is when all hell will break loose.”

Sheet Rock nodded, and Access flung the burning ball of flame into the walls blocking their way. It started to burrow its way through the walls, which started to “melt” into a puddle as it made its way through. Almost immediately the two felt a presence watching them from out in the treeline, and in the distance a flash of light followed by a loud roar that immediately set them on edge.

“Looks like our dweller friend is here, take cover!”

Not a moment later, a thin beam of light swept across where they had just been standing and a jittery, glitched out avatar slowly stumbled out from the treeline. Its features were wholly unrecognizable and scrambled, save for an angry grimace on what passed for a face.

Its head snapped toward Access and Sheet Rock, only to unleash another one of its sweeping laser attacks which swept toward them at a terrifying pace, forcing them to get up in a hurry and take cover behind the only other objects nearby, the treeline itself.

When the avatar’s attacks couldn’t cut through the treeline, it let out an annoyed, stuttering growl, and continued to slice at the treeline, and the ponies behind it, as it got angrier and angrier.

“What is this thing?” cried Sheet Rock in a panic. “It looks like a runner’s avatar… but, it’s not right somehow.”

“That’s what happens when you leave a dweller plugged in for too long, Sheet, I don’t suppose you’ve seen too many of ‘em?” Access shot back as one of the avatar’s lasers whisked past him, missing him by inches. “I don’t like the look of those lasers it’s slinging at us either, we should flank it and get a better look.”

“I don’t think it’s gonna give us the chance, can you get off a shot at it?”

Access lent out of cover for a brief moment, only to be caught by one of the avatars many sweeping laser attacks. It shredded his avatar’s rear left-most leg, making it crumble into digital dust and sent him to the floor.

Sheet Rock went to help, but a raised hoof from Access and another laser sweeping just above her head gave her pause. By now, the nuke program had burrowed a hole in the wall closest to them but that would amount to nothing if they couldn’t deal with this glitched avatar.

She heard a rapid, clicking stutter from the avatar, likely it’s attempt at a laugh due to the damage it caused to Access. Rage filled her mind as she readied a program of her own, a simple, but effective killer program, strong enough to freeze the dweller’s deck long enough for them to get out of there.

A few breaths to steady her rapid heart rate and a few happy thoughts later, and Sheet Rock popped out from cover to loose an attack of her own, but the avatar had expected this and swept a laser over her avatar’s throat and legs, severely damaging them.

“I told you stay behind cover!” croaked Access, struggling to keep his avatar together. “Ready everything you have left, the next attack will drop us for sure!”

The avatar approached, seemingly proud of itself for repelling yet more intruders. It stuttered out a few incomprehensible words, perhaps a victory speech of some kind, and just as it was going to dump them out to realspace, a golden blast shot out of the treeline and struck the glitched avatar square in the back of the head.

Its head broke into several large and chunky pieces, fading away as the body collapsed to the floor like a heavy stone.

“Oh great, more trouble.” Access grumbled, clutching his shattered limb.

“Not quite.” came a familiar synthetic voice. “I remember voicing my concern for your well-being a number of times now, but it seems that you have yet to take my advice.”

“No way in hell is that who I think it is,”

A shining silver angular avatar with a flowing golden mane stepped into view, crown emblazoned on its flank. The avatar wasn’t one they recognized, but the voice and the emblem turned cutie mark on its flank most certainly was.

It was X9, the AI they had met what seemed like eons ago now. It was unknown just how it found them, much less how it managed to gain access to the Subnet, but a wave of relief washed over the two runners as it loomed over them.

“You have a job to do, and since you two seem insistent on jumping into strange systems with little idea of what you’ll face, I suppose I’ll have to finish your job for you.”

Chapter 51 - Desperation

“Any word from your friends?” Gray said, unholstering his revolver. “We could really use their help right now.”

The fighting was getting closer by the moment, and when it seemed to die down even a little for the briefest of moments, new skirmishes broke out almost immediately as one had been resolved.

Scarlet nodded meekly, flinching at the sound of distant explosions. “They say they had some trouble with a dweller, but that support arrived just as they were about to get booted out.”

“Outside help? We’re isolated from the global net, how’d they pull that one off?”

“They must be around here somewhere then, I don’t know where and they don’t know either. Does it really matter though?”

“Yes it does. The Arcology is completely cut off from the global net, either they’re incredibly stupid to set up shop in what’s rapidly becoming a warzone, or they’re very powerful with equally powerful friends, no doubt the same friends your friends seem to have.”

Both Bulwark and Scarlet knew precisely who their friend’s backup was and precisely how unbelievable it was that they once again had their behinds pulled out the fire by it, but all that mattered was that their friends were safe and their part of the bargain fulfilled, whatever that meant.

Matterhorn was distracted by a buzz in his skull and an incoming message notification popped up in the corner of his vision, it was a message from X9 detailing that they’d found a recent communication from Riot in the system they had just breached, and it looked like he was on his way with a small contingent of his most loyal troopers toward their base to formulate a plan.

“We need to go, now!” Matterhorn barked to Lucky.

In the ensuing chaos, Riot had only managed to prevent a small portion of his forces from fleeing deeper into the south tunnels, inside which was his main base of operations, hidden away in the winding corridors and cavernous rooms of the old train stations that once linked each module and the main Arcology building.

Everyone else had either been been killed trying to get back to base, had ran into the depths and likely fled like cowards, or had been executed by the damnable Equi-Tech and their marines.

“Someone tell me precisely who these jokers are and where they came from, preferably before I lose my patience!”

“Equi-Tech marines, sir. They’ve breached their way in, and they’re currently making their way down to us from the north!”

“How did they manage to find us, let alone breach this far down?” Riot sighed as he stared up at the brand new hole in the ceiling. “Worse yet, I’m getting reports of more intruders that just walked in the back door without so much as a modicum of resistance! How incompetent are you ponies?”

“Sir, I…”

“I don’t want to hear it!” Riot barked angrily. “Gather together whoever we’ve got left who can hold a keyboard and remotely wipe everything from our internal systems, neither the Crown nor these intruders can be allowed to learn our secrets.”

“How’re you here, let alone like that?” Sheet Rock said, a little bewildered as her avatar’s limbs slowly regenerated thanks to a specialty program she had handy. “I thought this place was cut off?”

“It is.” X9 responded flatly. “However, I have the same powerful friends you do and they assisted me with constructing a body that is up to my standards. I simply could not assist you best without being as fully mobile in realspace as well as I am in net-space, you see.”

“That doesn’t explain much though, you might be software, but you still require a link to the net. The Arcology doesn’t have a physical link to the rest of the world as far as I’m aware.”

If the avatar representing X9’s new and improved form could smile, it certainly would be doing just that right about now.

“No, PUBLIC links.” it corrected. “The Arcology has a number of hardlines it uses to exchange data between itself and Rift City, for corporate purposes of course. The Director has seen it fit to how do I say it… procure access for me by less than legal means.”

“Where precisely though? Things are heating up pretty good around here and we’re probably going to need to bug out really quick soon.” Access said, his avatar also reconstructing itself little by little, albeit a little slower than he would’ve liked.

X9 paused for a moment. “I can’t say, the dweller that attacked you was just stunned by my attempts at frying his brain, it’s likely watching us right now through the system’s programs. Suffice it to say, it’s somewhere where my physical body is quite safe from harm but you should be more concerned about yourselves right now.”

Their avatars now repaired, the two runners clamber to their hooves and walked toward the huge gaping hole in the once proud fortress-like walls. Though the glitched avatar was gone for the moment, they knew that unless they fried the dweller’s brain or wrecked his deck, he’d likely be back eventually once it got to its senses.

They had to get what they came for and get out as quickly as they could.

Beyond the walls was a shimmering mass of light surrounded by many small cubes that slowly orbited around the central core. It was a relatively simple representation of the system’s core all things considered, but the way it looked was secondary to the information it contained.

This system seemed to be built purely for its ability to process a lot of information at once, hence its lack of advanced security beyond the dweller. Access recognized the cubes as data indexer programs when text rapidly appeared and vanished around them as the system processed the data it was fed.

“The system seems to be working overtime on something big, nearly all its resources are currently in use on one process alone.” Access said, reaching for one of the cubes. “Dunno what though, the level of activity is making the datastream difficult to keep up with, our decks are simply too weak.”

“I could always take a snapshot of it and give it to you later.” X9 remarked, though it will take some time for me to siphon enough to ensure I get something worth your time.”

“Could we leave this to you?” Access inquired. “From what Scarlet and the others have been sending us, things are starting to heat up out there.”

X9 walked over to the system core and looked up at the cubes for a moment. “I should be fine, you’re welcome to bail if you feel like you need to. Realistically, with my superior hardware it’d be faster if I handled this anyway and I will be sure to notify you of anything untoward.”

Access nodded as his avatar faded into nothingness when he issued his intent to return to realspace to his Cyberdeck, but just as Sheet Rock was about to do the same, X9 stopped her with what amounted to a worried gesture.

“You’re probably about to walk into a battlefield, one I don’t think all of you are going to walk out of the same as when you stepped into it.”

“That’s pretty obvious.” Sheet Rock said blankly. “Me and Access have been through worse, we’ll get through this like we always have. We’ll wash our hooves of everything once we’re done and go back to jobs that aren’t likely to get us killed.”

“You don’t just get to walk away.” X9 stated, seemingly annoyed. “Not after what you two have done and have yet to do.”

“What would that be, I wonder? We’ve spent most of the last few days being dragged around by your new buddies, most of what happened so far has been a result of their actions, not ours.”

“I’m not referring to what you’ve done recently, but more so what you specifically did a few years ago. Remember the time when Access came to you for help, around the time he was thrown out of his home by his father?”

Sheet Rock’s eyes narrowed in a hostile glare. “How do you know about that? We never reported anything that happened to the badges.”

“True.” X9 said in a tone that implied it was grinning ear to ear. “But Netwatch got wind of it as you would expect, and as an AI designed to index information, i sure took note of that little detail as well. That was how I knew you two were lieing about your names when we first met, and how I found you at all.”

“Look, does this speech have a point or are you intentionally acting cryptic for the sake of it?”

“You two have a larger part in this than you know, you can’t just walk away from this, not now. Just allow me some more time and I’ll be able to tell you everything.”

“No, just no. You dump corporate data on us, come and go when it suits you, tell us we’re pivotal to all of this but then keep us in the dark, dredge up old wounds we’d rather forget, and now you’re willing to tell us something because you FEEL like it?” Sheet Rock listed off, getting more angry with each word. “We’re done here whether you like it or not, once we collect our pay for services rendered you can just find some other ponies to help with this mysterious plan of yours. Access is sick of you, and I’m sick of you.”

“You can’t protect him forever, Sheet, no matter how fond you are of him he’ll have to know the truth eventually.” X9 pled desperately. “Someday soon, he’ll figure out it was YOU that pulled the trigger, not him.”

“I did what I had to. It was either Breach or Access, and I picked Access as any good friend should. I made a promise and I intend to keep it.” Sheet Rock growled as her avatar faded, her consciousness returning to realspace.

“I know.” X9 said sadly before it opened a comm-link to an unknown contact. “We might have a problem here, you’re going to need to step up your efforts at once.”

Chapter 53 - Ransack The Hideout

Beyond the rolling shutter and makeshift door that once blocked the entrance, there was only a set of poorly lit steps that led down into the lower portion of the tunnel cut into the module’s walls, which housed it’s disused train station and hopefully, Riot’s hideout as well.

From what they could see, everything looked to be covered in a fine layer of dust and grime, although the occasional hoof print gave away that someone had been here recently. By the way they were orientated, whoever left the prints was walking into the station and not out of it, indicating that they may still be there.

“Alright, we’re going to have to split up.” Lucky groaned, the thought of being covered in dust and grime made her feel dirty just thinking about it. “Matterhorn and I will take one side of the platform, you two will take the other. We’ll meet up on the station’s lowest level when we’ve completed our search.”

“It’s standard Equestrian Transit construction and layout.” Matterhorn offered. “Large open interior platform halls with winding backrooms and corridors, perfect for a madpony to hide out in.”

“Does splitting up really seem like the best idea, I mean this is enemy territory.” Access pointed out.

“We’ll cover more ground that way, this place isn’t the largest but it still has plenty of little spaces to set an ambush in. Besides, you two would slow me down too much and we wouldn’t want him to escape now would we?”

Access said nothing, but his answer was beyond clear to everyone as they made their way down the steps, disturbing the layers of dust as they walked. The buzz of the florescent tubes that lit the area that was once a ticket stand was all they could hear apart from the deafening sound of nothingness, not even the sound of the fighting above could pierce the depths.

What was once the ticket sale area was devoid of its former splendor, and only a glass door on the left and right sides of the room sprung out at them. It seemed like they lead to different platforms if the signage was any indication, but they’d have to check to be sure, as the doors were caked in the same dust as the floors were, blocking their view through the door and the platforms beyond.

“You two take the left door, we’ll take the right.” Lucky ordered. “The moment either of you get into trouble, make as much noise as possible and we’ll come running, same goes for us.”

“Surely there’s a more effective way than to make as much noise as possible, Lucky?” Matterhorn said in exasperation. “Would local comms work, you two?”

“If don’t stray too far from one another, yeah, anything that would have to go through the Net would be a no-go.” Access confirmed. “At best we’d be booted out by the dweller, and at worst it’d try to fry our brains through the link.”

“Let’s keep things local then. Keep us abreast of anything you find, no doubt you’re itching to get moving.”

Matterhorn and Lucky rushed through their self-assigned door, quickly vanishing from view and left Access and Sheet Rock alone to proceed through their own. It led out onto a crumbling station platform, lit only by the failing florescent lights high above their heads and the somehow still functioning schedule boards.

They could see the two crown operatives on the platform opposite them, separated as they were by the decrepit and rusty rails that made up the tracks in the middle of the large, cavernous, room. They vanished into a side room without so much as an acknowledgment after Matterhorn used his horn to blast off what looked like a lock from the door, but given the situation it wasn’t that surprising that they’d want to move quickly.

“They’ve just given us the bitch work haven’t they? We’re just being put out the way so they can do their jobs.” Sheet Rock mused with a chuckle at their expense. “It’s like they already know where to go while we fumble in the dark.”

“What’s new about that?” Access responded with a chuckle of his own. “If anything, we should consider this confirmation that we should steal anything that isn’t nailed down, Riot has to have some useful stuff around somewhere, surely?”

The two looked around on the platform for any other entryways, and almost in the same place on the wall as the other side was another door, but this one wasn’t barred or locked in any way. They opened it slowly, weapons at the ready to deal with anything that might be behind it.

Beyond was a small room, not as dusty as the platform or entrance but it looked like someone had been here recently, evident by the hoof-prints in the dust around some small steel tables, upon which were hastily disassembled firearms and boxes of ammunition.

“Looks like they sure left in a hurry.” Access said, walking over to one of the disassembled rifles. “Most of this stuff is worth a small fortune, and they just left it all behind? Crazy.”

“Probably to save their skin, though it looks like they were in the process of cleaning their weapons at the time.” Sheet Rock responded, holding up a leaking can of gun oil which she unceremoniously threw back onto the table she was at. “It must’ve been something very bad if everyone just up and left in enough of a hurry to leave behind a bunch of stuff they likely paid good euro for.”

Sheet Rock turned her attention to the only other door in the corner of the room and walked over to it, peering through the glass into the room beyond. Her eyes went wide in mere moments, and she frantically waved over Access after a failed attempt to open the locked door, he had been inspecting a dented rifle magazine among a pile of similar magazines of all calibers and sizes and was a little surprised at the sudden commotion.

Beyond the door were a row of loungers like the kind they used when Netrunning, but they could make out some strange machinery attached to one side of each of them. Panic set in as Sheet Rock leveled her Smart SMG at the door’s lock and fired off a short burst, blasting several small holes into the lock and handle.

“What’s got you so riled up, somebody will have heard that!” Access barked angrily. “What were you thinking?”

Each of the four loungers were occupied and their contents were only just visible underneath the frosted glass domes over the top of them. Sheet Rock looked frantic at this point, evidently looking for the lounger’s emergency release latches but what for wasn’t entirely clear.

“Can’t you smell that scent on the air?” Sheet Rock said absentmindedly as she finally found the first loungers release latch.

Access sniffed at the air for a moment, the smell was acrid and unpleasant, like something had been burning recently, but it didn’t smell like wood, rubber, or even textiles. The realization began to dawn on him as the first lounger’s dome quietly opened to reveal a barely recognizable and severely charred body.

“What the hell happened here?” he said in disbelief, recoiling from the grim sight. “Is this the dweller, or what’s left of him? It looks like he went through the wringer pretty bad, the smell says this was recent too.”

Sheet Rock peered at the other loungers all of which were empty, but showed recent signs of usage. Whoever had been using these at the time had likely ran for the hills with everyone else, everyone except the pony who ended up as a charred corpse, trapped in what would soon become their tomb.

Before she could even suggest it, Access had connected his neural link to the loungers. Doing so was ill advised, but given the fact they had a dead runner on their hooves it was unlikely to draw attention to them now.

His irises danced with a pale blue light as he quickly glanced through key portions of the lounger’s systems. He scrunched his nose for a moment, as if he’d seen something unpleasant before he uttered an unsurprisingly gruff grunt.

“Yep, that makes sense.”

“What does?”

“This lounger belonged to the dweller we encountered a little while ago, turns out that Riot was using this pony as an organic guard dog of a sort.”

“To guard what exactly?”

“Their systems I would assume.” Access grumbled, removing the lounger’s cable from his neural link socket. “Since there’s three loungers with what look like life support harnesses on them, I would assume they were supposed to be a team of three.”

“What killed this runner, Access?” Sheet Rock said suddenly. “We should know ahead of time if something else is gonna come for us.”

“Feedback from his socket I assume.” he replied. “Looks indicative of an overload brought on by anti-runner software, see the burns around the socket itself and the eyes?”

“Black ICE? You, me, and X9 were the only ones in the system, how could have the dweller have ran into Black ICE on his own system?“

Access didn’t like what that question implied. Neither of them employed Black ICE when on jobs as a general rule, their methods were to disable, stun, and misdirect as opposed to what they saw before them.

Black ICE was used on the most secure systems in existence, mostly of the corporate variety, and most varieties of Black ICE directly attacked the runner as opposed to his or her hardware, the most common of which was an electrical charge delivered to some part of the brain or nervous system, and less common was the mind-wipe which would leave the victim alive, but rendered them comatose and unable to pose a threat.

“Let’s figure this out later, first and foremost is Riot.” Sheet Rock offered.

“Yeah, yeah, agreed.” Access responded, turning his back on the loungers and positioning himself near the door into the corridor. “I didn’t see any more doors on this side of the platform, did you?”

“There was the one at the far end of the corridor that I noticed, but other than that, no.” Sheet Rock pointed out. “Only way is down I suppose.”

The two peered up and down the hallway, both at the door they had entered from and the only other door located at the far end of the hall, curiously devoid of the same dust prevalent on everything else. Access spared one more look at the charred body in the lounger before he ran off down the hall, his face twisted into a doubtful grimace.

“What is the meaning of this?!” Golden barked angrily as jet black VTOLs touched down around the compound, troops clad in heavy body armor pouring out of them.

“You’ll find out soon enough.” called one of the troopers as she approached. “I will warn you to keep your weapons holstered, attitude respectful, and language kept in check.”

“And who are you to set rules about what we can and can’t do in our own home?”

“This isn’t your property to be occupying, I believe it belongs to Petrochem actually, but shall we agree to disagree before you say something you’ll regret.”

“Now, Flow.” a synthetic voice said calmly. “Perhaps you shouldn’t be riling our hosts up, they’re being quite permitting considering the fact we’ve show up unannounced.”

She turned to face a VTOL that had just landed roughly in the middle of the courtyard, and the enigmatic Director Luna and a group of her inner circle of agents stepped out of the aircraft, forming themselves into a defensive circle around her.

“Whoever you jokers are, you need to leave.” Golden ordered. “You have no right to be here, this is our home and we reject your attempts at taking that from us.”

“Fortunately for you that’s not why we’re here, I believe you made a certain deal with one of my agents, Matterhorn.“

Golden let her temper cool somewhat, but she still remained suspicious of the synthetic that stood before her.

“Listen here you worthless-”

“I wouldn’t complete that sentence if I were you.” Luna responded menacingly. “I might be a Synthetic now, but I once ruled these lands and you would do well to remember your place.”

“Director, we should head inside.” Flow offered. “Given what happened to your contractors, we wouldn’t want to invite an attack on us while we’re here.”

“I agree, may we come inside, miss?”

“Golden Dawn.” she responded curtly. “Your soldiers can stay outside, we don’t want any trouble inside.”

“Flow, is that agreeable for you?”

“Perfectly, Director.”

Golden reluctantly stepped aside so that Luna could head into the building behind her, beyond angry that they had shown up unannounced and effectively invaded the one space they could call home. As they entered, those inside the building scattered to other wings of the building, seemingly intimidated by the Synthetic and her entourage of guards.

“Go ahead and wait in my office over there, I’ll be right with you.” Golden said, pointing out a door off the main room. “Your guards can remain outside, nobody will disturb us.”

“Golden, what’s happening, there’s soldiers everywhere and… and…” Flywheel practically screeched, her eyes eventually settling on Luna. “Who…?”

“Run along, Flywheel, our guest was just about to explain themselves.”

Chapter 54 - Deception

Golden slammed the door behind her and fixed her eyes upon her synthetic visitor who barely fit into the room given her large size, but her temper cooled a little at the thought of the heavily armored troopers just outside the door.

“I do apologize for dropping in unannounced, but it is of the utmost importance that we commandeer your little compound for the moment.”

“You can start by telling me precisely who you are, what the hell you want, and when you’ll be gone by. You scared us half to death with that little stunt.”

“It’s a necessary measure, considering the assets in play right now. Am I to understand that it was you specifically that found my contractors?”

“Those two runners? Yeah we pulled them out the wreckage of their AV when they were shot down, seems Arcology staff really don’t want visitors right now.” Golden remarked. “You wouldn’t know anything about that, now would you?”

“You know full well I know about that, you suggested a way for a certain stallion to get a message to me.” Luna remarked sarcastically. “I assure you that we couldn’t have known they’d react this violently to an unmarked AV.”

“You still haven’t told me who you are and what you want.” Golden said as she became increasingly impatient. “And don’t lie to me, or I’ll know. Your troopers wont be able to salvage what’s left of you afterwards.”

This comment amused Luna to no end, but she looked past the thinly veiled threat to deliver a far more sinister one of her own.

“I am Director Luna, the head of an organization known to a select few as The Crown. One of our… projects… has gone missing, you might know of him, you might not, but he’s been quite the thorn in my side for quite some time. Those ponies you pulled out that flaming wreckage were the team I sent to deal with the situation.“

“Did your creators give you that name to be funny?” Golden responded. “I don’t buy that THE Luna is stood in front of me right now, better yet, why should I care?”

“The images you see everywhere are crude copies, and it matters very little to me whether you believe, or care, that this particular neural pattern belongs to the real Luna or not. What matters here is that, like it or not, I AM taking control of this compound and I AM going to do whatever I have to do in order to make sure that a certain madpony comes back here one way or another, dead or alive.”

“So what am I supposed to do, just have my people work around you?”

“I’d prefer if you went about your daily business, simply act as if we aren’t here.”

Flow poked her head into the office momentarily, earning a slight growl from Golden whose patience had long since ran out.

“Director, we’ve got a vehicle approaching.” she said, “It’s packed full of civilians, we assume them to be from the Arcology.”

Golden shifted her gaze between the Director and Flow, before she let out a loud groan. “Fine, let them through, just be quick about it. They can stay here for the moment.”

Access and Sheet Rock found themselves staring down the stairwell behind the last door in the hallway, beyond which was a dimly lit abyss and the distinct smell of burnt flesh, metal, and brick. A fight had occurred here, and recently. It was be remiss of them to assume that what caused this wasn’t still here, and it made little sense as to why the mercs left the majority of their gear upstairs laying around disassembled only to then run away from whatever the grand threat was.

Why didn’t they fight back? Did they have forewarning of their arrival, or was it something more sinister, more immediate?

“I’ve been thinking, Sheet.”

“Careful now, you’ll injure yourself.” Sheet Rock jabbed. “Jokes aside, what’s up?”

“Okay, so we saw a bunch of weapons upstairs right, all taken apart? I’ve been wondering why they didn’t put them back together as soon as they knew trouble was coming. With the amount of stuff there, they should’ve had the manpower to get themselves ready in time.”

“Maybe they only knew what was coming for them when it was beating down the door.” Sheet Rock said as a spark of realization hit her. “Matterhorn! He and Lucky must’ve got down here before us, and done them all in before we could even blink.”

“They’re that scared of them?” Access said. “You would have thought they’d have been more prepared.”

“Judging from the smell, I would say they’re much more than just scared of them.” Sheet Rock pointed out.

There eyes suddenly fell on a long, dimly lit corridor that stretched some distance lined with many doors, most of which were broken open and charred beyond recognition if not for the shattered remains of the frames that once held them.

The acrid smell of burnt flesh and metal was strongest down here, and it seemed whatever had torn through here was ruthless and surgical in its acts. Access peered into one of the doors at a set of terminals sat in the corner of what must’ve been a small office, they’d been smashed beyond any recognition by something roughly the size of a pony, judging from the huge concave dent put into terminal’s keyboard and central processor housing.

Sheet Rock peered into a room just opposite to the one Access was in, and what she saw was nothing short of shocking. Bodies, at least twenty scattered around the room. It seemed that their assailant acted quickly and with excessive amounts of force, and it became clear that they had barely a moment to react before they were struck down.

Only one actually had time to grab a weapon, but what was left of the weapon he held was a twisted semi-solid puddle of metal that had melted itself around what was once his hoof. All of them wore expressions of sheer panic right up until the moment of their apparent demise, and all Sheet Rock could feel was a strange sense of pity.

“Terminals are all wrecked, we aren’t getting anything out of them.” Access said, trudging into the room. “I guess this explains the smell, what in the hell happened in here?”

“Looks they were attacked, viciously, barely stood a chance.” Sheet Rock responded. “This has to be Matterhorn’s doing.”

“You really think he’d roast ponies alive, how did he do all this without us hearing it happen?”

“He and Lucky did take the other door on the platform, I bet you all the euro in my wallet that door led straight down here!” Sheet Rock barked as she slammed her hoof against a crumbling seat. “Come on, let’s just search the other rooms and get out of here already.”

Just then, Sheet Rock’s comm-link was forced on and a call started without her input, which had come from an unknown number. Access’ was similarly affected, and the feedback from being so close together was a little disorientating at first but the noise soon cleared up as whoever was on the other end of the line cleared his throat roughly.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be there to welcome you two, but I suppose this comm-link will have to do.” the voice said. “Don’t bother picking through the wreckage of my base for information, you wont find any.“

“Who is this?”

“The Crown calls me MU-0122, you can call me Riot or any number of expletives if you prefer. I do apologize for what I’ve done to you and your friends, but it was a necessary evil.”

“Necessary? You destroyed my friend’s home and turned a long-time ally against us.” Access bellowed. “How do you justify that?”

Riot chuckled lightly through the comm, which crackled slightly. “To be fair, you accessed a system you shouldn’t have, downloaded corporate secrets, and allowed a valuable AI to stage its escape. Is it any wonder Bright Sun decided that it was best to silence you before you could do anything with what you found.”

“It’s funny, Gray told us about how you wanted to help these ponies out, sure is convenient that you’re working for one of the Corps that likely forced these ponies into a disused Arcology module in the first place.” Sheet Rock pointed out as she started to pace around the room. “I wonder what they’d think if they knew you were working for the enemy behind their backs.”

“Not that I expect mere children to understand, but you’re not the only ponies that have ever thought of taking advantage of a corp for personal gain.” Riot grumbled. “I did what I had to because Equi-Tech was, and still is, very close to wielding power they cannot be allowed to wield. I needed them to trust me, at least up until the point I left with their secrets. The Crown is after that data too, what do you think they’ll do with it, and to you, once you’ve outlived your usefulness?”

“Cut the shit, we’re settling this here and now.” Access barked. “Show yourself, and we might just go easy on you.”

A full-on belly laugh came from the comm-link which quickly tapered off into a childish giggle. “I don’t think so, but don’t worry I’ll be leaving you with a gift, you ponies like gifts right?”

“What kind of gift?”

“The gift of truth, of course!” Riot said happily as a file transfer request appeared before his eyes. “You’d do well to take this one and only chance you’ll get to get anything out of me, since my brother so nicely destroyed all my gear.”

Access threw the request out of his vision with an annoyed grunt, as did Sheet Rock. They weren’t about to accept unknown files from a pony they trusted about as far as they could throw.

“Fine, I’ll have someone drop it off to you then if you want to be paranoid mules. Now run along, no doubt my brother will be coming by any time now.”

The comm-link went dead as Access was about to launch into another tirade and his ranting only fell on dead air. There entire trip had been a complete bust, if Riot had ever been here, he was almost certain to be long gone by now.

They took their anger out on the one and only thing in the room that wasn’t completely destroyed, a small section of the north wall that had already been cracked by something hitting it at speed. Access picked up a shattered office chair and threw it at the wall in a rage and the cracked section of wall fell away to reveal a small hidden space.

It contained a small fireproof safe, just large enough for some small personal belongings, the kind a Canterlot home might have. The lock was mechanical, not electronic, so neither Access or Sheet Rock could ‘run it open much to their disappointment, it would have to be done manually, easy work for a Unicorn.

“So what now?” Sheet Rock said as Access fiddled with the safe’s internals with his magic. “Access are you paying attention to me?”

“Found a safe.” he responded absentmindedly. “It’s flameproof, but the wall it was behind took a beating so I’m hoping it’ll just fall apart.”

Almost as soon as he’d said that, he felt the lock crumble internally, presumably due to the physical trauma of the chair he thew and the carnage wrought upon the room, and went about prying the door open.

With a sharp tug, the door broke away from the fragile hinges which he discarded, throwing it across the room which landed with a loud clatter when it hit the tiled floor. Inside was a portable hoof-held terminal, roughly the size of the average cellphone immaculately kept in a clear plastic case.

Access picked the case up and examined it before a noise coming from down the hall startled him into action. He drew his weapon and hid behind a ruined console nearest to where he found the portable terminal while Sheet Rock scrambled behind an overturned table.

Hoof steps drew closer until they stopped outside the door and a dull thud filled the room as something hit the floor followed by an equally dull and pathetic groan.

“You can come out, it’s just us.” Lucky said in amusement. “We’ve got a friend for you two to play with, I’m sure you’ll be pleased.”

“Pleased might be an understatement.” Matterhorn chuckled darkly. “I think this might end up being the most joyful moment of their little lives.”

Access peeked out from behind the console. At the two crown operatives hooves was a pony with an orange coat and a messy and unkempt red mane and tail, he also looked as if he’d taken a beating even though he had been spared the fate of his comrades.

“Who’s that?”

“Riot. The slippery bastard was on the tracks trying to make his escape, though he wasn’t trying very hard.” Matterhorn said, still chuckling. “We made sure to jam his comms so he couldn’t call for help, not that there is anyone left to respond to that call.”

“Our friends have a lot of questions they’d like to ask you, Riot, then it’s off to be liquidated for you.” Lucky remarked. “Let’s get out of here while we can, the Director is waiting for us at that nomad camp. We spotted a makeshift motor poor further down the tracks, we can use one of their cars to get us out of here.”

“Idiots, the lot of you.” the pony on the ground said with a strange laugh. “You’ve got no idea what you’re in for!”

Chapter 55 - Realization

Matterhorn heaved their captive to his hooves by his neck, causing him to hack in pain before he returned to his strange giggling. This wasn’t at all how Access and Sheet Rock thought he’d be, and they found themselves dwelling on the interaction between them for a time.

Access slipped the terminal he’d found into a small pocket on his Cyberdeck’s harness, being sure to keep it out of sight of the two crown agents as they climbed the staircase that led back up into the hallway beside the platforms.

He made a mental note to examine it later when a feeling of overwhelming dread overtook him like a tidal wave. Something wasn’t right, no way Riot was captured that easily, especially after his strange phone call, the one that the crown agents had supposedly worked to prevent.

“Was that your handiwork back there?” Sheet Rock said suddenly to Matterhorn. “We saw the piles of bodies and wrecked gear, not to mention that smell…”

“They had ample chance to lay down their weapons and back off, and many of them did.” Matterhorn said darkly. “As I understand it, they scarpered long before we got there and those that didn’t have quite the same level of common sense as the rest of them died as they lived, as flaming piles of garbage in pony form.”

“You could have just shot them, would’ve been quicker, cleaner, and far less cruel.”

“Scum like this doesn’t deserve a chance, that was why I swept and cleared while you screwed about upstairs, we knew you wouldn’t understand.”

Riot stumbled up the stairs and chuckled to himself madly. “Spoken like a coldhearted killer, tell me brother, do they still instill their playthings with emotion, or do they leave you an empty husk devoid of all feeling?”

“Just get up the damned stairs already.” Lucky grunted. “You’re lucky we didn’t break your legs.”

They slowly made their way up the stairs and past the room with the loungers, into which Access gave another brief peek. He felt he was being watched for the briefest of moments and looked up at Riot, who had been looking over his shoulder for some time with a weird smile on his face, like he knew something they didn’t.

When they reached the platform, the air was thick with smoke and dust that obscured their view of the entrance beyond the subtle glow of the lights at the very foot of the staircase. Gunshots suddenly rang out followed by armored hooves rapidly descending the stairs, prompting quick action.

“Lucky, we’ve got company!” Matterhorn barked, diving behind an overturned marble counter top. “Looks like those marines hadn’t left. You might want to get yourselves out of here, if they capture him all this will have been for nothing!”

Bullets flew over Matterhorn’s head and into the floor behind him. Sheet Rock had already began dragging Access away from the rapidly escalating situation with Riot’s binds gripped in her magic, dragging him roughly toward the makeshift platform built into the side of the platform.

“If I leave you here the Director will kill me!” Lucky barked. “You can’t take on a squad of marines with your magic chained, you know that as well as I do.”

“The Director removed my limiters, she thought something like this might happen.” Matterhorn said as the bullets thudded into the marble behind him. “Get going, I’m a juicy target for these ponies and they’ll focus on me, that’ll let you lot get out unhindered.”

“Fine.” Lucky relented. “But you need to promise me you wont go overboard.”

“No promises there.” Matterhorn said as he darted out of cover and conjured a glittering barrier in front of him. He threw it like a pane of glass at one of the marines who had hid behind a large concrete column, and the barrier resounded with a dull thud against the marine’s skull as it struck him, shattering his skull.

If he wanted their attention, he most certainly had it now and quickly sought out more cover as the bullets started to fly once more in his direction.

“Let’s go.” Lucky said blankly.

“Wait we’re just gonna leave him?” Access said in disbelief. “How cold can you be, he’s your comrade, isn’t he?”

“I know what his plan is.” Lucky said, galloping over to the two runners to grip Riot’s bindings in her magic. “I’ll deal with this idiot so the idiot over there can cover our asses, Riot’s as much my responsibility as much as it is his.”

She produced a small combat knife from a harness on her flank and cut him free from the plastic ties that bound his hooves together, but not with a severe warning that she’d shoot him in the head if he so much as walked in a direction he wasn’t supposed to.

Surprisingly, he was amicable to that arrangement despite the multitude of ways he non-verbally cursed her name.

Lucky spared another look at the platform before she vanished down the tunnel. Matterhorn was putting up one hell of a fight, and had already lanced more than a few marines with some expertly placed beam spells, but despite this he looked to be having trouble keeping his barrier up and the marines drew ever closer to him with each and every moment that passed.

“Seven, six, five, four…”

“What are you blabbering on about now?”

“Oh nothing.” Riot said with a smirk. “By the way, you might want to cover your ears.”

“What’re you…?”

Before she could even finish her sentence, a loud boom followed by the sound of buckling concrete could be heard from the platform area as large pieces of the ceiling started to fall into rough heaps.

The marines let out shouts of terror as a few of them were crushed by the falling debris. Visibility waned quickly as more and more concrete started to pile up, and Matterhorn galloped over piles of fallen debris and headed toward the tunnel only to be blocked by a mass of twisted metal and concrete that had once been the rails.

The only opening he could peer through was far too small for him to squeeze through and panic quickly started to take hold of him. More rumbling booms came from below, it was as if the earth itself could crack open at any moment.

“Can you teleport out?” Lucky said quickly. “At the rate the ceiling is coming down, we wont be able to clear the blockages in time.”

“Looks like you got played, again.” Riot chuckled from his spot near the tracks. “Unsurprising, considering you couldn’t even tell you were being led on.”

Lucky marched over to the red haired stallion and delivered a punch straight to his jaw, sending him reeling into the floor with a disturbing crunch. She went in for another when a burst of green flame made her jump back, and her look of sheer anger was replaced with the color draining from her face.

The stallion in front of them wasn’t and had never been Riot at all, but a Changeling drone, it was hard to mistake the black carapace and green eyed bug-like pony for anything else. Nobody had seen a Changeling in decades, at least not in their true forms, and the realization hit her like a speeding truck into a brick wall.

She’d been tricked, and it had all been an elaborate ruse with no benefit for anyone on either side.

Lucky pummeled the Changeling with more and more punches in blind fury, getting more angry with each passing second until Access pulled her off of him. It took the combined efforts of both Runners to get her to calm down for even a moment due to the Changeling’s continued gasping laughter.

A loud crack came from the platform, and peering up, Matterhorn noticed the rest of the ceiling start to fall, and in a panic, he charged a teleport spell as quick as his horn would let him. It didn’t matter where it took him, only that wherever he ended up wasn’t here.

Just before he was buried alive, he vanished in a blast of bright blue light and the tunnel was completely blocked off with loose concrete, smoke, and dust. All was silent, apart from the subtle sound of settling dust and the Changeling’s increasingly weak laughter.

“I am so dead.” Lucky said to herself repeatedly, pacing back and forth. “There’s no word for just how completely fucked I am.”

“I dunno about that, it looked like he got out before he got buried.” Sheet Rock replied. “Look we need to get out of here, the rest of the place could come down on us at any moment.”

“Not yet, I have business to attend to.” Lucky said, unholstering her sidearm.

“What’re you going to do, shoot m-” the Changeling said before he was perforated by a couple of rounds from Lucky’s sidearm.

Bright green ichor leaked from the now silent Changeling’s body, and in that moment she felt a little better, but also felt a little pity toward it. The thought of how the Director would react when she reported not only her failure, or the loss of a multi-billion Eurodollar agent, but the stallion the Director saw as her own flesh and blood.

“This is just as much our failure as yours, we were supposed to provide support.” Sheet Rock stressed. “You couldn’t have known that the pony you found was a Changeling, that’s kinda the point of them.”

“Doesn’t that indicate a larger problem?” Access pointed out. “If he’s as much a master sweet-talker as he gets made out to be, he could have literally anyone under his sway at this point, nowhere’s safe now.”

“Access, have some-”

“No, he’s right.” Lucky said, cutting of Sheet Rock’s protest. “Think about it, how many Non-Equestrian ponies do you see around Canterlot anymore?”

“Very few.” Sheet Rock confirmed. “Apart from the odd Griffon, Kirin, or Thestral I suppose.”

“Well, they had to have gone somewhere, and I think we’ve just found precisely where they went.” Lucky said, peering at the Changelings corpse. “Underground, in places like this, where they can live in peace until a madpony comes and whips them into a frenzy.”

“Can you blame them?” Access replied as gently as he could. “Not everyone gets the benefit of a good education or safe upbringing, heck, me and Sheet were born in the sprawl back in Canterlot.”

“Sometimes I wonder if it was worth joining the crown, we seem to have done more harm than good.” Lucky said, gesturing around at the destruction wrought by the detonations.

“Don’t think about it now, we need to get out of here.” Access said in an attempt to steer the conversation. “You said there was a motor pool down the tracks a ways, we can use one of those vehicles right?”

“Yeah, yeah, sure.”

“Director.” said a silver Stallion with a Tablet clutched in his hooves. “May I have a word?”

“Yes… Chip, was it?”

“Yes, there’s been a… development, I thought you’d want to be told directly.”

“What kind of development?”

“Matterhorn’s transponder signal has… well… for lack of a better word, vanished.” Chip remarked fearfully. “Handler Lucky’s is still functioning however, and it looks like she’s heading this way at speed.”

“Good, have her explain herself when she arrives.”

“Our spies within the Arcology also have given reports of explosions as well, it’s not entirely certain as to what caused them, but it can only mean one thing.“

“That someone is putting up a fight, yes, I get it.” Luna growled. “Dismissed.”

Chip nodded and scuttled away as quick as his little legs could carry him. The Director didn’t show it, but she was beyond angry, not necessarily with Lucky but with herself. Riot had garnered many allies with his honeyed words and the blame laid solely with her that he’d been allowed to move unchecked for so long until now.

It seemed that he may simply be too slippery and too cunning for them to completely contain, and the best they would be able to manage is undo him where they could to mitigate the amount of damage he could do.

But now their best agent was missing, there was little they could do right now but to try to find him.

Chapter 56 - Failures

“Seriously, Access, you just had to pick the most banged up jeep in the whole motor pool didn’t you?” Sheet Rock remarked.

“The others wouldn’t even start, quit your bitching.” Access shot back. “I wasn’t aware we were shopping for a new vehicle, remind me to get a self-driving module for the van, then we can run away in comfort for once.”

“Wish we could’ve brought it with us, the sun is unbearable.”

“Hope Star and Gray got out okay though, it was looking a little dicey out there for a while.” Access said, clutching the steering wheel tightly. “I’m sure they’re fine though.”

Thankfully, the tunnel led out directly south of the Nomad’s compound, though it was some distance away if the jeeps inbuilt GPS was correct, though it was hard to tell just how far it was through the visual glitches and occasional resets. They had ample time to process the failed mission on the way as well, although Lucky didn’t look like she wanted to talk about it.

As any Unicorn is taught in magic school, an unfocused teleport could lead you literally anywhere depending on how much Mana was channeled into the spell, and with his horn unchained he could’ve teleported an entire city block away for all she knew.

Lucky sat back and stared up at the cloudless clear blue sky, heart pounding in her chest like a drum and mustered an annoyed sigh.

“What’s gonna happen when you tell Luna you lost her prized stallion then?” Sheet Rock said, twisting her body to face Lucky in the back seat.

“She’ll either strip me of my rank and give me the biggest demotion I’ve ever seen, fire me outright, or have me shot on the spot.” she said absentmindedly. “It really depends on her mood when we give our report, but I have to say, she isn’t exactly known to be merciful these days.”

“Well, lets hope for the best then!” Sheet Rock said nervously as she turned back around. “No use worrying about it, what happens, happens.”

“Easy for you to say.”

It wasn’t long until they found themselves at a junction that led onto a paved asphalt road, and with a brief look in each direction down the road, Access pulled out and headed toward the Nomad compound in the distance at a rather expedient pace at the expense of Sheet Rock’s pleas for him to slow down.

In the distance, she saw a dark shape point in their direction then vanish from view, followed by a larger group of dark shapes. A raised eyebrow was all they could muster until a glossy black gunship appeared from the direction of the compound. It approached at speed and followed them for a time, spotlight trained on them until in suddenly broke away and flew back toward the compound.

They had company, or more specifically, the nomads had company and it seems they were expected. The logo on the gunship was familiar to Lucky however, a silver moon on a gleaming ashen shield.

“Looks like things are worse than I thought.” Lucky said with her head in her hooves. “The director’s here, that was one of her personal guard’s gunships.”

“What is she doing all the way out here?” Sheet Rock remarked, peering out of the side window at the group of armored ponies outside the compound gates. “Looks like they brought a whole damned battalion, heavy armor and all.”

They were stopped abruptly outside the compound’s gates by the waiting troopers and ordered out of the vehicle. Naturally they complied with little extra persuasion needed, though much of the trooper’s ire was directed at Lucky.

“You two, that cargo VTOL over there has your van in it, please wait there until the Director has dealt with Lucky.” one of them said, a gray coated mare with a stoic if a little sour expression on her face. “You’ll be dropped off back in Canterlot shortly, your friend is eager to see you return,”

“Star got out okay?”

“Yes, we sent her back on an AV a few of hours ago.” the trooper confirmed. “She didn’t feel like waiting around here, as you can probably understand.”

Lucky was manhandled past the rest of the troopers and inside the main building with little care for what she’d just been through, leaving Sheet Rock and Access to wait outside in the rapidly cooling desert.

“Why do I get the feeling this isn’t going to end well?” Access said. “Everyone around here is on edge, like they’re expecting something big to go down.”

“Not our problem, let’s just wait in the van. Assuming Lucky gets out of this lightly, no doubt she’ll want to be around ponies that at least don’t hate her.”

“Director, Lucky has returned.” Chip called out as Lucky walked inside, flanked by a couple of troopers. “Shall I have her brought in?”

“Please.” Luna said without an ounce of emotion. “Be quick about it.”

Chip scuttled out of the little room and murmured to the troopers outside before they too scattered, not wanting to be nearby once the grilling started. The Directory had a fiery temper at the best of times, but sometimes Lucky would argue right back and their arguments would then often feed back into themselves as the two got angrier and angrier with each other.

Such an approach would normally cut down on any awkwardness, but right now it would be very inadvisable however and Lucky knew it when she laid eyes upon the Director and her cold expression.

“What the fuck happened down there, Lucky?” Luna said bluntly. “I sent you to deal with our mutual problem, not start a damned war!”

“Equi-Tech marines showed up midway through the mission, we had no way of knowing. It was too dangerous for the Runners to set up monitoring within their network, they would have been fried for sure.” Lucky said defensively. “Speaking of which, since when was X9 able to access the net, better yet, why did you let it?”

“I’m asking the questions here, Lucky, not you. I would advise you to keep your mouth shut and just answer the questions as asked.” Luna warned. “Now tell me precisely what happened and you just might get off lightly.”

“We were ambushed, Director, there wasn’t much we could’ve done. Riot had placed demolition charges in the ceiling and under the pavers on the floor.” Lucky began. “Matterhorn got caught on the other side of the tunnel as they went off, and his only option was to teleport out. I don’t know where he is, but I do know is at least alive.”

Luna raised an eyebrow as a smirk crossed her face. “So why is his transponder not functioning then?”

“Damaged in the chaos probably.” Lucky shrugged. “What are you trying to imply?”

“I’m not implying anything, I just find it exceedingly hard to believe that he just so happened to be untraceable when he went out of your care, thats all.” Luna said bluntly. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t have you shot.”

“Because I doubt our two friends will keep quiet if they hear gunshots, I imagine they’ll sell what they know and you know what’ll happen then.”

A chuckle came from Luna that Lucky didn’t expect. She sounded amused, as if she’d heard the funniest thing she’d heard in a long time. It was more than a little unnerving given the Director’s otherwise muted personality.

“Threats wont help you, but I applaud you for at least trying to assert yourself even after failing so hard that you lose our most valuable asset.” Luna said, her laughter trailing off rapidly. “Looks like your friends are getting ready to leave, why don’t you go out there and bid them farewell since you wont be going anywhere until this mess has been sorted out.”

“Been a while, hasn’t it you two?” came the voice of Pilot Wings as he jumped out the pilot seat of his VTOL. “I hear you two have been keeping busy.”

“Busy doesn’t even describe it.” Access chuckled weakly as he checked the tie down points that anchored the van to the floor of the VTOL “I think we’re both ready for some overdue rest, maybe take a vacation.”

“That I can understand, this job ain’t for everyone least of all ponies like Lucky.” Pilot Wings remarked. “She’s a former Canterlot Police Department Officer, and I don’t think she was quite ready for the kind of workload they put on her now. Keep this between us though, the Director doesn’t like us discussing these kinds of things.”

As if summoned by the mere mention of her name, Lucky emerged from the building looking utterly deflated. She wandered over to the VTOL silently to join the others and after a brief few awkward moments, she managed to croak out a few words.

“You guys are heading back to Canterlot, right? Well, it looks like this is where we part ways, the Director is beyond furious with me and I don’t think I’m going to be a handler much longer.”

“There is always the sprawl pony life, you know.” Sheet Rock chuckled. “If you can get over the taste of synth-wheat and low quality cheese, you can manage on what we eat on the regular.”

“Tempting, but no, I’ve still got some unfinished business. If I run now it’ll only make things worse for me for sure.”

“I know we didn’t always see eye to eye, but for what it’s worth, it’s been a hell of a time.” Sheet Rock stuck her hoof out for Lucky shake. “Access won’t say it cause he’s a hardheaded idiot, but he appreciates the assist back at the hideout. It’s especially hard for him to lose the place like that, lot of memories tied up in there.”

“Assuming we ever meet again, I’ll see if I can do something about that.”

It was inadvisable to teleport without a specific destination in mind, and even more inadvisable to charge more Mana into one’s horn than would be reasonable. But in his desperation, Matterhorn had made an unfocused jump to who knows where.

Wherever he was now was dark, silent, and a little damp. He couldn’t see the sky at all but he wasn’t inside a building, maybe underground, though it was hard to tell through the sharp stabbing pain in the back of his neck and the warm trickle of blood that started to drip onto the ground.

“Awake at last I see.” came a familiar voice. “I ask that you try and stay calm, you’re exceedingly lucky that we found you in time. You were close to being eaten by the forest wildlife.”

Sat in the corner of the room on a rusted metal stool was Riot, presumably the real one, though it was near on impossible to be sure, and he wore an expression that bordered the line between concerned and apprehensive.

“I know what you’re thinking, and yes, this is the real me not another Changeling. I promise.”

A pain shot up through Matterhorn’s lower spine, which then traveled up the entire length of his back and into his brain. It was a burning, sharp, and persistent kind of pain indicative of serious trauma.

His hoof shot to the back of his neck and he felt a small pit in his flesh roughly between the back of his neck and his skull, and when he brought his hoof back to his face, a small spot of blood was visible.

“You landed in a clearing in the Everfree Forest, though it was into a pile of branches from a decent ways up, if my doctors are to be believed.” Riot said calmly. “I took the liberty of removing your transponder too, I apologize for any discomfort you might be experiencing.”

“Why did you save me, Riot, you are aware we’re not exactly friends right?” Matterhorn said, wincing in pain. “Don’t give me that family bullshit either, we’re created, not born, we have no family.”

“Well that’s where you’re wrong. I think of you like a little brother, no matter how ridiculous that might seem.” Riot pointed out. “I wont try to convince you since that Crown conditioning is still going strong, but the fact I’ve let you live should speak volumes.”

“The Director is going to be sending a search party soon.” Matterhorn stated as he got to his hooves, noticing he wasn’t restrained. “If you’re smart you’ll start running now.”

“You’re a tool to them, not a colleague or an equal no matter how much you want to be.” Riot barked. “I should know, I was the first. From the very moment they made me I knew that I was a curiosity, an answer to a question that should’ve have been asked.“

“Makes you wonder why they kept doing it then, doesn’t it?” Matterhorn remarked, trotting over to a table where his set of meager belongings rested. “Just get to the point, what do you want with me?”

“Don’t want to beat around the bush too much more then?” Riot responded quickly. “I’d like for you to stay here, with me, we might not be related by blood but we are via our genetic template. Whether you want to believe it or not, we’re family, at least in a fucked up kind of way.”

“A template of who?”

“That’s what I’d like to find out, if you’ll help me.”

Matterhorn stared Riot down intently. He didn’t sense that he was being misled, but that was the insidious thing about manipulators, you very rarely saw the warning signs until it was far too late to change your mind. He knew full well why his movements were tracked, but certain questions slowly formed in his mind, ones that he hoped were born of a genuine desire to know the truth.

“Alright. You get one chance, squander it and I’ll drag you kicking and screaming to the Director myself.”

“When we figure this out, I doubt you’ll want to.” Riot said thankfully. “I stopped wanting to go back long ago, you’re better off here, trust me.”

Chapter 57 - Return to Canterlot

After a not quite so heartfelt goodbye, Access and Sheet Rock were well on their way back to Canterlot which they hoped would be shrapnel free this time around. Both their AR displays lit up with a payment notification along with a message.

===

I do not blame you two for what happened, that blame lays solely with Lucky. As promised, I’ve deposited your payment as we had agreed despite the failure. I hope that it will prove sufficient given the great stresses that you were put under and I trust that you will keep your mouths shut regarding your time as contractors.

If we should meet again, I hope it will be under better circumstances. Should you need to contact me for any reason, my net address is attached.

===

Before now they had little choice but to hide in the damp, smelly, and dark utility tunnels under the city while they plied their trade, but now they had money and for the first time in a long while had options along with the means to dictate the terms.

“We should check in on the others, especially Star, when we get back by the way.” Sheet Rock pointed out. “No doubt they’ll be wondering how things turned out.”

“Somehow I think Star in particular already knows given her connection to the Crown.” Access mused. “I didn’t think much of it before, but now we’ve gotten a deeper look I think this warrants some investigation.”

“You mean that terminal you found?” Sheet Rock responded. “Have you tried to crack it already, you were fiddling with it on our ascent pretty hardcore.”

“I can’t figure it out, it’s not set up like a terminal from Equi-Tech, Crystal Dynamics, or even General Computing for that matter, it’s completely custom. Either the owner was a hardcore tinkerer or someone has something so sensitive to hide that they built a custom OS for it.”

Sheet Rock waved Access off gently. “Don’t worry about it for now. Just put on the back burner while we get our collective shit together.”

“Can’t disagree with you there.”

The smoggy skyline of Canterlot slowly slid into view as the slow, heavy, and bulky VTOL came to a hover over a small section of empty road near a highway junction. The sun was just beginning to drop below the horizon, which gave the stretch of road an eerie feel as the last scraps of evening light started to wane.

Pilot Wing’s voice crackled through the overhead intercom as the aircraft’s rear doors dropped open. “The Director said this is as far as I can take you. Your little stunt in the Arcology has everyone in a muddle, and we could do without the attention from one of our aircraft being spotted this close to the capital.

The tie-down points that kept the van anchored to the VTOL’s cargo bed released with a loud thunk as they fell away, allowing the van to drive forward and out of the aircraft. It hit the pavement with a loud thud, shaking around the two runners in their seats from the impact.

Short of some scratches and minor dents in the van’s lower body trim, the van and its contents was unharmed. From his seat in the cockpit, Pilot Wings gave a short wave before he rapidly made his exit to the east in a real hurry, and it wasn’t long until his aircraft flew deep into the darkness with only the navigation lights on the craft’s wingtips still visible.

“I wonder if it was a budgetary or political reason that we were dropped on the literal border of Canterlot?” Access said, highly amused. “Getting through the border checkpoint is going to be a total pain the ass. They could’ve at least given us the executive treatment, I mean we did risk our lives in yet another collapsing building for them.”

“Don’t be an asshole, Access, we’re lucky we got out of that with our lives let alone actually getting paid.” Sheet Rock sighed out as she sat back in her seat. “I’m more worried about Lucky, given the way she was treated by the Director’s bodyguards. That doesn’t exactly seem like the kind of thing a stable mare would order her subordinates to do.”

“Not our problem, Sheet, we were hired to do a job and we screwed it up. Nothing went right from the get go, if she were competent she’d have known that Riot was one step ahead of her.” Access pointed out. “You don’t run from a corp for a long time and not end up picking up a thing or two and if I had to guess, Matterhorn isn’t lost somewhere, he’s found his way into Riot’s clutches and likely being given the full spiel about his reasoning right about now.“

“You know, that doesn’t sound completely insane.” Sheet Rock admitted. “Just mostly insane. I don’t think Riot would pass up the chance to off one of the only ponies on equal footing with him.”

“Do you think they’re okay?”

“If I know those two, Star, and I do all too well, I’m sure they’re fine.” Jackie said, taking Star’s half empty glass from her. “I think you’ve had quite enough for one evening. Look, even your Synth agrees!”

Star turned her to face Snowy, who was stood in the corner of the room near the door that led out from the tavern and out into the street. His capability for facial expression lacked definition and flair, but even she could tell he wasn’t impressed with her intake of alcohol to cope with the evening’s occurrences.

Ever since she was unceremoniously dropped off in Canterlot by one of the Director’s pilots all she could think about was a good stiff drink, as she often did even as far back as when she worked for Darkspace.

“How did you all meet?” Star slurred out. “Just out of interest, ignore me if I’m prying.”

“Met on a job, believe it or not. Course this was back when they were greener than the Synth-Grass outside with barely a clue or idea how to do their job between them.” Jackie began. “They started out cracking soft for kids with little money, then they moved onto defacing systems, which then culminated in them stealing the personal information of the Canterlot mayor and… well… having some fun with it.”

“Hey I remember that!” Star remarked, a little surprised. “That was them? How in the ever-loving hell did they get away with that?”

“Pure dumb luck I would guess.” Jackie shrugged. “Netwatch sure came down hard on Access though when they found out later down the line, given his father was an agent of theirs. Brought the hammer down on both their heads actually, sad really.”

“What happened?” Star remarked. “Am I right to assume that it has something to do with the fact he acts like a child at times? I swear, that pony is way too hotheaded to be a runner.”

Jackie got a strange look on her face as soon as those two words were uttered. It was an eclectic mix of awkward, evasive, and perhaps even a little sad.

“I don’t really want to talk about it if you don’t mind, It’s painful enough for me but it’ll put Access over the edge.” Jackie finally responded. “I know you mean well, but it’s a wound that I don’t think will ever heal for him.”

Star looked at her reflection in the immaculately cleaned counter-top for a moment. That little detail would explain Access’ attitude and generally unstable nature a little, but she considered the ramifications of having such a pony around much less as part of a team.

There must be some reason as to why Sheet Rock had stuck around for this long, and it must have something to do with what happened to him. She didn’t want to pry, but if she was going to stick around it was important that she not be kept in the dark.

Trust had to take hold if they were to see this little partnership through, but that could only happen if they trusted her enough in return.

“We’re not even dead yet and you’re already celebrating our lives with drinks?”

Star turned her head and stared at the two runners stood in the doorway who were covered in desert dust, coats matted with sweat and the remnants of blood from their wounds. She barely reacted at first, but she did smile as warmly as her drunken brain allowed her to.

They quickly sat down next to her and ordered two well-deserved drinks, a low quality but somehow delicious cider, brewed in Jackie’s very own basement from a strange concoction of chemicals and flavourings. Real alcohol was expensive, and even in their new found wealth, the runners weren’t about to part with their money quite that easily just yet.

“So you two didn’t bite the big one then?” Star slurred out. “That’s surprising, I thought the director would’ve tanned your hides for sure back there.”

“I’m not sure if I want to know what you three have been up to.” Jackie remarked, placing two large pint glasses onto the bar. “Though judging from how beaten up you are, it must’ve been quite the ride.”

“Quite the ride doesn’t even come close to it, Jackie, I swear this is the last time we’re working for a corp.” Access responded, drink in hoof.

“This is the ONLY time I can remember where we’ve worked for a corp, Access.” Sheet Rock pointed out.

“Yeah exactly, that’s what I said, it’ll be the last time.”

“That’s not… you know what, I’m not even going to correct you this time.” Sheet Rock grumped. “I’m not sure if it’s your poor driving, how many hours I’ve spent awake, or the frankly terrifying prospect of having the past few days come back on us, but I think it’s about time for a vacation.”

“What happened to Matterhorn, to Lucky, they’re not with you?”

“You didn’t get anyone killed did you?” Jackie said, scowling slightly. “Remember what I said about getting out clean?”

“Stuff got complicated quick to be fair.” Star said, jumping to the Runner’s aid. “Trust me Jackie, you wouldn’t believe us even if we told you.”

“Try me.” she responded smugly. “I get all types passing through here on their way to all kinds of jobs, so I doubt you’ll tell me something I don’t already know.”

Sheet Rock regaled her with what had happened, the arrival, the Crown Agents, the hideout, and most importantly what had occurred at the Everfree Arcology in short order. Jackie looked incredulous at first, but quickly started to understand as each fantastical, and unlikely, scenario was explained to her.

Normally she’d question the validity of their statements as they often played up their part in things, but given what she’d heard from her contacts around the city, news of what these two took part in had reached a lot further than she’d have hoped.

“Look, I gotta be honest. Assuming that if what you’re saying is true, and I’m not saying it isn’t, but if Equi-Tech find you they aren’t going to give you a slap on the wrist like all the other times you’ve fucked with them.” Jackie said slowly. “Your new friends aren’t going to save you from the shitstorm Equi-Tech’s gonna bring down on you. If anything, they’re gonna be the ones joining in.”

“How do you figure?” Sheet Rock retorted. “If they were going to kill us they probably would have done so already.”

Jackie shook her head. “Word on the block is that Equi-Tech are riled up something awful, Fixers in the Upper City have reported raids taking place on bars where Mercs are known to frequent looking for any sign of you two. Before they were just lazy enough to slip past without much effort, but now you two have kicked the hornet’s nest they’re cracking down, hard.”

“I don’t know why, it was the Crown that did most of the ass-kicking if I’m honest.” Access said, joining in the conversation. “We just so happened to be along for the ride because of our skills, which as it turned out weren’t particularly useful. Somehow I think we were set up, can’t say for sure though.”

“See that’s just the thing, Equi-Tech knew you were there from the start, same with your friends, and that pony you’re pursuing.” Jackie pointed out. “From what I’m told they intended to wipe you all out, but got duped and left in body bags instead.”

“So what does the great Fixer Jackie reckon we should do then?”

“Nothing, don’t do anything to bring attention to yourselves until the heat dies down, and yes, this does mean you too Star. Stay in the sprawl, don’t go to the Upper City, and for the love of all that’s good, don’t go and break into system on your apartment’s Net access point.” Jackie groaned. “Chilled Coffee stuck around through everything if you can believe it as well, but I think even he would be averse to being anywhere near you right now. So avoid him too, if you would.”

Chapter 58 - Laying Low

The stale, musty air of their apartment complex, which while normally an unpleasant experience was like heaven to the crew as they made their way into the foyer. As usual, the receptionist gave them a slight nod before she went back to her newspaper, which thankfully was not plastered with their name and faces.

They were glad to be home and they eagerly made their way to the stairwell. Access had to suppress a chuckle upon noticing that the building’s one and only elevator was still unusable after being messed with by some neighbor foals. It seemed that building administration had finally given up all pretense of care about their own property.

“I’ve been thinking, you two.” Star admitted. “We should probably up stakes here as soon as possible, given how many ponies we’re upsetting on a daily basis now.”

“Unless you forgot, the tussle with your father’s pet project and Riot showing up because a trusted friend fucked us over kinda ruined that plan.” Access grumbled. “We can’t go back there, so these tiny little rooms are quite literally the only place we can stay.”

“As much as I’m loathe to admit it, Access is right.” Sheet Rock pointed out as they all reached their floor, the small dusty landing dimly lit with a murky yellow lamp. “We’ve got enough Euro between us to outright pay some ponies off if we have to, best thing to do is live as we always have. We’re far less likely to draw attention that way.”

“There’s something you two aren’t telling me, isn’t there?” Star pointed out, walking down the hallway with a pout on her face. “Does nothing I say mean anything to you two? I’ve been living under a corporate heel all my life, I know better than you two what’s coming our way!”

“Where would you have us stay then?” Access replied with a hint of anger on his voice. “If we leave we’re cut off from all our resources, if we stay we’re at risk of being found but we keep our network of contacts who could actually help us out. How about you come up with solutions rather than complaints?”

“If I could interject for a moment, you still do have the option of finding another space where you could set up, no? It would just be a matter of finding another out of the way spot somewhere in the city.” Snowy said, reminding them. “As an alternative, you could just outright buy a small building, the Director rewarded you, did she not?”

They came to their respective apartment doors and opened them with their keys in silence for a few tense moments. While it was true they could always refit and repair their original hideout, it was likely to be crawling with Canterlot police by now while they investigated the disturbance their little run in with the Crown likely caused. Not that they would find anything there apart from broken furniture, bullet holes, and what was left of their equipment.

Everything else had been taken by Riot and his goons, which on the face of things might turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Just what was his game, what did he hope to get out of making an enemy of everyone he meets?

“Look, let’s just cool off and get some sleep.” Star urged. “We’re getting twisted out of shape over nothing, we don’t need to rush coming up with a plan.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re right.” Access responded, with Sheet Rock silently agreeing along with him. “Let’s just get some sleep, we’ll feel better after we’ve unwound a little.”

The best part was that their little excursion was over, they’d been paid, and they were able to go home in something other than a body bag, but a few questions still lingered in their minds and their answers were frustratingly just out of their reach.

Access tossed his Cyberdeck onto his desk and practically collapsed into the small seat that had started to gather dust due to his admittedly short absence. While Sheet Rock had wandered off into her room, presumably to pass out for a few hours, he couldn’t sleep despite his already apparent lack of energy.

He peered at the half empty bottle of pills on his desk, the ones he’d forgotten to take with him when the panic first set in. Now that he could think straight it became apparent that the perpetually bothersome buzz in the back of his skull was back, and far louder than it ever was before.

“Damned chromes more trouble than its worth.” he grumbled darkly. “Thousands of eurobits worth of tech just wasted on someone that can barely use it all.”

He stared at the label for a moment, the word “Baloperidol” was stamped into the dark translucent plastic of the bottle. The chalky taste was unpleasant at best, and downright disgusting at worst as always, but he needed the clarity of mind if he was going to examine this terminal.

Access stared at it for a short while before he snorted in annoyance and stormed off to his own room.

“That chip you removed, what was its purpose?” Matterhorn inquired as Riot lead him through a set of cramped hallways. “I found a catalog of Cyberware in my deep memory storage, but…”

“There’s nothing about in there, is there?” Riot said, as if it was obvious. “Tell me, does it seem quiet in here to you?”

“What kind of question is that?” Matterhorn snorted. “We’re underground, what do you expect me to hear?”

“I don’t mean like that.” Riot sighed, stopping at a rusted door emblazoned with a large red medical cross. “Someone in here will explain it to you, I need to make sure we weren't followed down here. You and your friends made a real mess of things you know.”

Before Matterhorn could respond, Riot sauntered off further down the hall toward what looked like a large meeting room, though the grime and trash that littered the floor made it look more like a dump than anything else.

The door in front of him slid open surprisingly quietly for as bad condition everything looked to be in though, and the interior of the makeshift med-bay itself was, to his surprise, rather clean and well kept.

A pure white mare stood in one corner of the room, inspecting a large metal shelf stacked with glass bottles and small plastic pill containers of varying sizes and colors with little regard for organization or proper storage practices.

Clearly this must be their medic, or something closely approximating one, and she quickly turned to face him as he entered. She practically bound over to him with a bright smile on her face, and she proceeded to shake his hoof vigorously enough to elicit an annoyed grunt of surprise.

“Oh good, you’re awake! I guess I didn’t hit anything vital then?”

Not words he wanted to hear by any stretch of the imagination, but strangely comforting nonetheless.

“It seems not.” Matterhorn remarked dryly. “So I have you to thank for pulling that junk out of the back of my head?”

“The tracker, yes, it was distressingly close to the plug at the base of your head but we managed to remove most of it.” the mare responded. “We haven’t tested it, but you should retain usage of your neural link for the most part.”

“Considering I don’t have my armor, it’s pretty useless.”

“It’s a standard neural connector, Matterhorn, it’s useful for a lot more than just that. Ponies have them implanted all the time for a reason, though I must admit very few have them basically woven into their spines.” the mare chuckled. “I’m Liberty Song by the way, I’m something of a medic around these parts. If you develop a splitting headache, burning sensation behind the eyes, or a metallic taste in your mouth, please do tell me, we did a lot of invasive surgery in order to make sure the Crown couldn’t follow you and I had to cut some corners.”

“Cut some… corners?” Matterhorn said, trying not to sound horrified.

Liberty sensed some apprehension and was quick to defend herself, even after Matterhorn’s facade broke down.

“It’s nothing like what you’re thinking!” she began. “It’s not every day you have to work that close to someone’s spinal cord, I did what I had to, and the take away here is that you’re fine.”

“What exactly did you pull out of me though, Riot didn’t feel like explaining, I know I had a lot of cyberware put in me but I was never really told what it all was.”

Liberty walked over to a small cart, and set atop it was a shallow oval aluminum tray. On it were a collection of assorted wires, chips, and connective tissues, caked in what was once fresh wet blood, now dried and dark-brown in color.

Strange to think that was once stuffed into his brain stem, and even stranger to think that all agents had this strange jumble of metal and silicon in them at all. One of the chips stood out, it was slightly larger than the others, gray and green in color, with an odd symbol etched into its plastic case. It was among the first cyberware suites he was fitted with when he came of age, during a time when the Crown only considered him a mere curiosity and not their personal super soldier.

“You might want to sit down for this one, Matterhorn.” Liberty said gently. “Just to recheck, you were told what you were being installed with right?”

“I was, but whats your point?”

“Whatever they told you wasn’t the whole truth. There was a reason it was so close to your brain stem, and they bare striking resemblance to chips used in both Synthetics and Organics to control their behavior.”

“What’re you saying?”

“How do I put this?” Liberty said, bring a hoof to her mouth. “I can’t be sure, but it’s likely they were using that chip to introduce subtle and almost imperceptible changes to the way you think, not enough to change your personality but enough so as to provide a means to guide you in a direction someone would fine favorable.”

“How long was that chip there do you think?”

“Probably for a while if I had to guess.” Liberty shrugged. “Riot had one in his head too, and so did all the other agents the Crown sent after him too, at least the higher ranking ones. It’s safe to assume that all of their field operatives do in some capacity, especially the ones that work behind enemy lines.”

Matterhorn supposed this was what Riot had meant when he asked if it was quiet to him, with the influence of the chip gone it would not be able to nudge him into the “correct” course of action anymore. Although he had to admit that he didn’t feel much different, only a little angry that the Director would implant such a device in him, let alone everyone else.

It took him a brief moment, but the thought occurred to him that Lucky would’ve more than likely been subjected to the same treatment. Liberty took note of Matterhorn’s horrified expression and offered a little piece of advice now he was gutter trash like the rest of them.

“You can’t help her now, Matterhorn, I know you know who I mean. The moment you step hoof in that compound you’ll be put back on your leash again, and this time you wont get free, so don’t do anything stupid.” she urged. “We have eyes and ears within the Crown, so we can keep an eye on her for the moment, but we must choose the right moment to act.”

He didn’t like it, but Liberty’s words rang true. They didn’t know just how many more tricks the Director had up her sleeve and in all likelihood she had prepared for this eventually, but not for the removal of his tracker and behavioral modifier chip.

“Now, I’d like to run a few tests to make sure I didn’t miss anything.” Liberty remarked. “After that, I need you to rest, you’ve taken quite a beating and Riot would never forgive me if I let you walk around in your state for too long.”

“Correct.” Riot responded, having not left the doorway throughout the exchange. “When you’ve had some rest, come find me in the main room, I need a word.”

“The big idiot is probably working on it now.” Sheet Rock grumbled through her implanted comm-link “I’d have preferred to discuss this face-to-face, but you know how he is and I gotta keep an eye on him.”

“They make medication for that, you know. It feels weird to be having this conversation on the holo when we’re literally right next door, doesn’t it?” Star chuckled back, the holographic representation of her face mimicking her amusement. “I’m sure you can fake a prescription or two to get something that’ll help.”

“Sometimes I wonder if we’re not as slick as we think we are.” Sheet Rock replied, peering out the window at the cloudless night sky. “He fakes prescriptions on the regular, only way to get Baloperidol without being scrutinized to hell and back. He’s been on the stuff for-”

“Cyber-psychosis medication?!” Star said in disbelief. “I think I can see why Jackie didn’t want to talk about him much.”

“And I do hope she didn’t break that promise. It’s hard enough keeping him stable when he isn’t busy, but when he’s presented with a problem he can’t solve or beat through he’ll instead become violent.” Sheet Rock disclosed. “At first, my folks got the Baloperidol for him through their work benefits, but they soon cut him off after it came out that his case was worse than they thought. Gutless cowards barely fit to be called parents let alone doctors.”

Star was quiet for a time. Until recently, it was a given that she could have access to any kind of medication and the thought never occurred that not everyone was as lucky as she had been, and it had been made clearer to her than ever when she lost that privilege. Cyber-psychosis was a serious condition brought on by a number of factors, chief of which was large amounts of cyberware installed in one’s body.

It affected everyone differently, and the symptoms were as diverse as the ponies that were afflicted with it. There was no known cure, short of removing all of one’s Cyberware entirely but there were a number of dubiously effective treatments to mitigate the symptoms, assuming you had the money to pay for it.

“Just how much of his body is Cyberware, Sheet?” Star said carefully, after realizing that Sheet Rock had started to sob quietly.

“Roughly seventy percent or so if I had to guess, probably closer to sixty maybe. That puts him dangerously close the point of no return I know, but his condition is manageable if we keep him dosed and out of situations like we were just in.”

“is there really no other treatment?”

“There are other ways, but I doubt you’ll get him to part with his euro for something like that.” Sheet Rock admitted. “Your concern is touching, but we’ll manage.”

She abruptly cut the call and let out another long sigh. By now she’d heard Access storm off to bed, apparently frustrated with something and she considered checking up on him, though she thought it best not to when a loud crash rang out through the apartment.

Her door was open just enough to peer out into the main room, and from what little she could see, there was now a freshly made hole in a portion of the drywall nearest to the kitchen. Yet another mess to fix, Sheet Rock thought to herself as she closed the door back up as quietly as she could.

“Maybe I could… I mean we do need it…” she murmured to herself, calling up an AR display with a quick flick of her hoof. “Like I have anything better to do, can’t sleep anyway.”

Author's Note

I'm sorry this took so long to get out, but as mentioned in the blog post, i had to scrap much of the story's second part and rewrite into something good enough to post.

This chapter marks the start of the story's second part (of a planned four, maybe five.)

I have a clear vision of events to come, and hopefully there wont be any more massive delays like this one.

I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 59 - Phantom

Sheet Rock’s digital self streamed through the sprawl’s sub-net, a veritable mish-mash of geometric shapes and semi-realistic objects stacked upon themselves that mimicked the real thing, not closely, but close enough to be at least familiar.

None of the corporations that provided Net access really cared very much about how neighborhoods looked within the net, nor did they enforce many laws regarding how one could govern access to such areas as they were considered public in nature. As a result, those decisions were often left up to the local district governments.

The sole exception to this unfettered access was that you were not allowed to abuse said access, this meant no hacking, no malware, and no illegal access to private systems, often represented by simple cuboids of varying color strewn about in semi-random locations, sorted loosely according to physical address and stacked upon one another like crates in a warehouse.

She waited by the gateway to her apartment building’s sub-net for her contact, a local net-based expert by the name of “Phantom” who by her own assertions, knew nearly all there was to know about Cyberware and its effect on the body.

Phantom was also the pony Sheet Rock had gotten the forged Baloperidol prescriptions from, and how precisely she managed to bullshit every Pharmacy in the city for a nearly unlimited supply was anyone’s guess. Sheet Rock suspected foul play, favoring her of course, but so long as the pills kept on flowing into Access’ possession, everything would be fine.

“How’re you doing, Sheet?” Phantom’s avatar said as it phased into existence a short distance away at another gateway. “Sorry I’m late, there was a little bit of trouble routing here from Manehatten.”

Phantom’s avatar was plain and featureless body-wise, but wore stylized medical wear, like that of a pharmacist or nurse complete with a stethoscope, to set it apart.

Many professional runners didn’t bother with styling their avatars very well, they didn’t need to in general as cosmetic features rarely did you any favors when faced with a hostile runner, ICE, or an AI. However, many instead opted to use an idealized version of their own likeness when in public areas as Sheet Rock did, but swap to a plain or “disguised” variant when it came to less legal activities.

“Tired, Phantom. Look I need a favor, a real big one if you can swing it.”

“He isn’t doing so well, is he?” Phantom remarked as she walked closer. “Look I’ve got some bad news, my usual sources have cut me loose, it’s going to take a while to get new ones.”

“Do you have ANY Baloperidol left at all, any amount will do.” Sheet Rock pled. “Recent events have really done a number on him, we nearly died when we were shot down over the Everfree Arcology.”

“Oh wow, that was you?” Phantom said in disbelief. “Everyone I know was abuzz about that, nobody knew what was going on. Then when you two vanished from the net for a while, we weren’t sure you were gonna come back.”

“Stuff got pretty crazy for a while, ran into an AI, a powerful one. Dumped a bunch of data to our decks and then booted us, next time we saw it was when it found its way back into the hooves of its creators.”

“That’s pretty wild, do you still have copies?” Phantom remarked with barely restrained glee. “I have ponies that are basically clamoring to buy anything gleaned from that little breach!”

“Wait, did something happen?”

“Yeah, everyone’s losing their collective shit is what happened. The moment you guys vanished into the ether a lot of the members of our private sub-net got little pieces of data sent to them, little secrets here, little salable tidbits there.” Phantom rattled off. “Do you mean to tell me that you don’t know?”

“No, should I?”

“Something has kicked the hornet’s nest big time, I’m talking Equi-Tech, Darkspace, Crystal Dynamics, heck even Unreal Dimensions. Even smaller time folks like General Computing and Agricore are sweating a little bit, and mobilizing whatever troops they have right now. Whatever it actually is has them spooked bad, there’s corporate troopers everywhere in my neck of the woods.”

“Who could elicit a reaction this strong?”

“From what I’ve seen, the troopers seen exchanging shots are wearing armor unlike anything I’ve seen before, and whoever they are, they have some backing behind them.”

“Wait.” Sheet Rock said suddenly. “What does it look like, the armor I mean.”

“Harsh angular shapes, gold trim, full face helmets, built like tanks, the works. They’re fielding tech even giants the likes of Equi-Tech and Genetech would find expensive.” Phantom listed off. “I mean, shit, I saw one trooper take an armor-piercing rifle round like it was nothing, bounced right off of the strongest magical barrier I’ve seen in well… ever, and that’s just one group I’ve seen!”

“Sounds like you’re living in a warzone.”

“Hardly. At the moment it amounts to surgical strikes on Big Four owned infrastructure, they’re basically the only ones getting a beating, at least right now.” Phantom chuckled. “Actually, I have a proposal for you, if you’d indulge me.”

“If this is another job offer, I think I’ll pass.”

“No, nothing like that. It’s something that’ll benefit both you and me.” Phantom grinned. “I think we should meet, in person. I don’t like that the Big Four are mobilizing forces in general, it implies that they’re going to war, or at least preparing for a scuffle which is needless to say a problem.”

Phantom always stayed anonymous without fail, even among the tight-knit Netrunner community they both belonged to, nobody even knew her real name, where she lived, or even what she looked like. She was, for all intents and purposes, exactly like her namesake, a Phantom.

“Is that wise?”

“I think it’s about time we met anyway, and to be honest, something has me worried.” Phantom replied, ignoring the question. “A lot of runners I know haven’t been returning my calls, something’s wrong, I can feel it in my bones.”

“How’re you gonna get here, Skytrain?”

“Probably. It’s gonna take me the better part of a few days though, I’m coming from the far north. Don’t wait around though, I have a few things to do before I arrive in Canterlot.” Phantom warned. “There’s a… client of mine that’s in a little bit of a bind, so I’ll need to deal with him before we can get things moving. I should probably get to it, see you.”

Phantom’s avatar abrubtly broke into digital particles that quickly dispersed into nothingness. She had a habit of unceremoniously ending her conversations like that whenever she was done talking, and no amount of gentle persuasion would’ve changed that.

The last thing they needed right now was being drawn into another mystery on top of the one they were already mired in. That said, Phantom was their friend, as were the ponies that were going missing in some fashion or another, and they needed every ally they could get.

Things were about to get very interesting, especially if another corporate war was on the horizon. Neither of them had a horse in this race so to speak, so they both considered their involvement to have been concluded, hopefully forever.

Sheet Rock, however, had a very bad feeling that something bigger was yet on the horizon. Something hadn’t been sitting right since Matterhorn vanished, what Lucky’s fate ultimately was, and how long their separation from corporate matters would last until they were reeled back in.

Director Luna hadn’t stipulated that they were free of her, in fact, what she had said felt more like she just needed the smallest reason to “convince” them to help again. It stood to reason that if her greatest asset had gone missing, she’d want as many hooves as possible out looking for it.

Sheet Rock chuckled at the thought. Before now she’d have overlooked the shadowy ponies at street corners, or the shadows that walked among the utility tunnels and backstreets prevalent in just about any corner of any district you’d care to mention.

But now she was aware just how many enemies they’d probably made in the last few weeks alone, and along with that, how many eyes were now watching their every move. They’d made too much noise in too short a time, they were no longer invisible to the powers that be and it wouldn’t be long until they pissed off the wrong corpo.

A short beep rang through Sheet Rock’s head, a message, text only, from Scarlet.

Can we talk? I have some things to say that I think you’ll wanna hear, I’m hanging around Jackie’s bar if you feel like it.

Author's Note

Sorry this one took longer than i expected to come out.

The writers block i've been dealing with over the past few months hasn't really gone away, so i've been focussing on a second unrelated story for the moment as way to maybe clear that block.

A little bit of a shorter chapter this time though, but it serves as a taste for whats to come.

Chapter 60 - A Gift

“You call her?”

“Messaged, I’m not in the mood to be talking at length.”

“Scarlet, you can’t hold onto this grudge forever, it’s bad for your health.”

“Did you forget that they led those freaks to what was supposed to be a safe haven for the lot of us?” Scarlet grunted out. “Now all our gear is in the hooves of the same set of freaks and we’ve lost the last safe haven we had.”

“Didn’t you just tell me they were gonna return it to you?”

“Yeah, I did, but would you just accept that at face value knowing they could’ve slipped some soft into the system?”

“I don’t suppose I would.” Jackie admitted. “You should consider that at least one of them probably isn’t on the up and up, knowing his track record.”

Scarlet let out a small snort of irritation, as the last thing she needed was a handout from Riot and his posse. After all, it was their fault they trashed their hideout in the first place, only to then turn around and insist that it was all a mistake.

“I will admit they replaced the gear they damaged and returned what they didn’t break. Bulwark looked pretty damned happy about his new terminal to be honest, but I’m not that easy to buy off.”

“Have you ever made a mistake, Scarlet?” Jackie remarked accusingly. “Stole something you shouldn’t, ruin a life or two?”

“Yeah, yeah, point taken.” she growled in return.

Not drunk but not exactly sober, Scarlet continued her little tirade for a little longer, at least until Sheet Rock appeared in the bar’s doorway. At that point she quieted down considerably but would not make eye contact.

“Hey Scarlet, how you holding up?”

“About as well as can be expected.”

A short and curt answer as expected, though that might be the alcohol speaking. Sheet Rock noticed a chip resting on the bar top and pointed it out.

“That for me?”

“Just some intel for you.” Scarlet stated before she let out a loud sigh. “I was in Upper Canterlot a little while ago, shocker I know, and I happened across something interesting.”

“Go on.”

“Have you ever considered why the Thestrals left to found their own little city?”

“War, I would assume. It’s a toss-up between that or money.”

“True enough. They built the Arcology so that they’d have somewhere safe to live, free of us, the Megacorps, and whatever else that’s still out there.” Scarlet remarked. “Turns out they thought you were someone else and got spooked, that’s why they shot you down. Had a couple of friends do a little digging, turns out Arcology staff got a bit sloppy.”

“Who?”

“Obviously someone in their command structure had an axe to grind, though I couldn’t tell you who that axe was meant for.” Scarlet admitted. “I did try the usual sources on the Net as well, but I didn’t really get anywhere.”

“You know Phantom, right?” Sheet Rock asked. “She’s on her way here, something’s going down and it could easily be related.”

“THE Phantom?” Scarlet replied with a hearty laugh. “She’s the last pony I’d ever expect to step out from whatever rock she’s hiding under, let alone give you something that probably took real effort to obtain for free.”

“She’s not given me a reason to doubt her yet, it was her that mentored us after all.” Sheet Rock stressed. “Besides, you just gave me something for free.”

“That’s a fair point, and I’ll trust that you’ll not hold that against me.” Scarlet admitted. “Can I crash at your place tonight? Bulwark’s out taking care of some errands and walking through Lower Canterlot alone freaks me out. We can use the time getting to the bottom of this.”

Sheet Rock nodded and took the chip from the bar-top, laying a surprisingly fresh twenty Eurobit bill under her glass. Realistically speaking it barely made a dent in her already massive tab, but the effort toward trying to pay it off was always appreciated nonetheless.

She slot the chip into her head as she left in order to let the data be indexed by her neuralware. Much of it was a collection of transit logs, camera footage, and even a few emails and instant messages sent by Thestrals inside the Arcology, the bulk of which were from the rank-and-file.

Like Scarlet had mentioned, they were initially mistaken for someone else. It was thought that their AV belonged to a group known as the Crimson Lodge, but were later informed of the aircraft’s true owners after they had been shot down. The name wasn’t familiar, and no information was available on the chip beyond some speculative assertions.

The only question Sheet Rock had for the moment was actually how Scarlet had come across this information. When asked, Scarlet merely remarked that she had her ways and means and that it would be best not to inquire further.

Fair enough.

One more thing caught her notice just as she and Scarlet were about to leave, a compressed file archive named “The Midnight Protocol”. The total space used by the archive was substantial, larger than any of the other files on the chip.

She picked one at random, what appeared to be an anatomical report taken about a month ago. The file show the skeletal, nervous, and internal organ structure of a Unicorn, with a few marked differences.

At first, Sheet assumed it to be Matterhorn, but a glance at the Pony’s jaw gave her pause. The subject had fangs, not completely unlike those of a Thestral, though they were somewhat larger and in an entirely different place in the jaw. The subject was noticeably taller than your average garden variety Unicorn too, sporting long and thin leg bones as well as a slightly elongated and lanky body.

She assumed the pony had some extensive bio-modification work done, a common, but markedly more expensive alternative to Cyberware. You could change nearly anything about your body and its biological processes with specific biological therapy packages. You could alter your eye, coat, and mane color without chemical dyes, gain the properties and abilities of other creatures, edit out undesirable neurological and physical traits, even going to the extent of adding whole new body parts entirely.

That’s what this pony seemed to have underwent at some point. His total height was too great, horn too long, body structure too thin and refined to be natural. On the bottom of the scan was the unmistakable logo of Genetech, a biotech firm.

Before she could lose herself further in the data, Sheet Rock roughly bumped into the door frame leading out of the bar with a loud thud.

“Pay attention, Sheet. Jackie won’t forgive you if you damage something again.”

“I know, I know.” Sheet Rock groaned. “Have you looked at these files at all?”

Scarlet stepped out into the dimly lit alleyway with a slight shiver as the cold air met her face. “A bit, enough to know it would be of interest to you, why?”

“There’s a massive archive of data from GeneTech on here, something pretty juicy if I’m honest.”

“The one with the build-a-pony bio-scans and what not?” Scarlet inquired. “Yeah, I included it because GeneTech have their largest lab in the Arcology. Okay I specifically didn’t, but I had everyone I put to work on the chip put their heads together and that’s what one of them came back with.”

“The Arcology’s cut off from the rest of the net, how’d they do it?”

“Turns out the hypocrites have the hardlines they use for command and environmental control serving double duty as net access points.” Scarlet sighed. “There’s a couple of points where the cables branch off toward Canterlot and Rift City.”

“Bullshit, everyone knows the Arcology is isolated, that’s the entire point.”

“You could always go and verify that, heck, Phantom’s probably gonna ask you to anyway.”

“How do you figure?”

“Intuition.” Scarlet admitted. “If that scan is real, and the Arcology does actually have secret hardlines giving them Net access, that would actually be quite interesting, wouldn’t it?.”

“Would also explain why they shot us down, actually. Didn’t want whatever we might’ve seen inside getting out to our bosses.”

“Corps tend to get antsy when something gets leaked, and every Runner on the net will be trying their luck if this turns out to be real.”

“I’m not about to put Access into danger again, so if you think that-”

“I’m not asking you to do anything. I’m saying that you should be very, VERY careful who you accept jobs from now on.” Scarlet groaned. “If we’re going to pursue this thread, then I expect you to involve us and ONLY us. This means no corps, no bullshit, okay?“

“Fine.”

“We shouldn’t really be talking, not right now.”

“I know, dad, but it’s important.” Star remarked into her computer. “What really happened?”

“This information does not leave this call, understand?” Rain Noir said after several seconds of silence. “The director will skin me alive if she finds out. That would constitute a gross breach of security, especially given the rising tensions in the city.”

“The connection’s secure, I promise.”

“The last pings we got from Matterhorn’s transponder were from a location deep in the Everfree, it didn’t move for a good hour or so until it abruptly vanished. In that time, we haven’t picked his signal up again, meaning his transponder beacon has been jammed, destroyed. or removed somehow.”

“And Lucky’s?”

“Deactivated and surgically removed, as per the Crown’s decommissioning procedures.” Rain Noir replied. “In short, fired. She’s lucky to have not been executed.”

“Can I ask a favor, a big one given all that’s happened?”

“What is it?”

“We need a new hideout, could you pull a few strings for us?”

Rain Noir sighed loudly, initially a little annoyed by the request but quickly regained his composure as he started to speak again.

“I can try, but you’ll need to wait a little while, maybe a few days. I can’t get the kind of eurobits you’ll need on a whim, but even the most surface level explanation will satisfy the suits down in accounting for a time.”

Sheet Rock wont be happy that Star had gone behind her back on such a large decision, but she wasn’t about to let them get jumped when the shit hits the fan. Which it will, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but eventually there will be a threat that retreating to the lower city wont work on.

Adding to that, Star hadn’t heard hide nor hair of those two since their little pow-wow at the bar. She was sure they hadn’t left on a job again, although it was hard to tell whose noises where whose given the walls were little more than what felt like damp cardboard.

Net access was fast enough though, she could see one of the neighborhood’s net antennas from her window nearly folded in half in the increasingly violent winds. Storm warning sirens hadn’t sounded yet, assuming they worked at all, but they were in a decently sheltered area so they would likely miss the worst of it.

“Another thing too. Lay low and stay inside.” Rain Noir remarked darkly. “I don’t like the look of those skies.”

“I don’t either, dad. Be glad you’re underground.”

Chapter 61 - Another Mystery

“Access, I have a question.”

The Netrunner nearly jumped out of his skin with fright, nearly putting another dent the barely working refrigerator. “Seriously Snowy, again?”

“You did imply I should, as you put it, let myself in whenever I needed something.” the Synth replied. “Has that changed, perhaps I should announce my presence with a little light fanfare?”

“Fine, fine, you said you wanted something?”

“Am I to understand you’re able to procure software, say, for Synths?”

“Did our little corpo princess not keep up with her updates, or does the tin pony want a new parlor trick or two?” Access chuckled. “Depends what you need, I’m a Netrunner, not a Techie.”

“A few targeting upgrades, awareness and sensor upgrades, maybe a bit of a tune up.” Snowy remarked. “I fear our little excursion to the badlands might’ve caused some accelerated wear and tear. The young miss is a little air-headed you see, or she’d have me seen to herself.”

“Must be a busy mare in general then.” Access said sarcastically, pointing to a spot in the living room next to his terminal. “Go stand over there and I’ll see what I have for you, and fair warning, the software is gonna be stolen or pirated, maybe both.”

“I expected nothing less.”

If the synthetic had any self-preservation protocols at all, they’d be telling him NOT to connect to Access’ terminal at all if pirated software was involved, but at this point, not upgrading would be a net-negative.

He had his long rifle, but it was large enough that his inbuilt targeting array had some trouble with firing more than a few shots in quick succession. Though he was a custom job, his systems were never intended to accommodate a weapon that size and the hardware he had on-board reflected that.

“Expose a diagnostic port for me, would you?”

A small panel opened on the Synthetic’s neck, into which Access slot a few cables.

“Don’t mind if I dig around do you?”

“No.”

Like any machine, self-aware or not, Synthetics required routine maintenance normally rendered unto the customer by a service center, but as Access ran a quick diagnostic systems check, it became increasingly obvious just how long he’d gone without a proper “check-up” as it were.

Optics out of alignment, storage drives full of junk data, split coating around his limbs, worn out limb actuators and probably the most egregious of all, an outdated barely functional OS.

“Couldn’t afford an upgrade, huh?”

“The young miss has had better things to deal with, to be quite frank.” Snowy remarked. “I have dealt with what I can on my own, but as a Synth my options for social mobility are limited.”

“Right, well, I can help you with your optics and outdated software, but you’ll have to handle the repair of your coating and mechanical maintenance yourself.” Access remarked, browsing around on his terminal. “In fact, you can align your optics yourself, as I have some software that should do that for you.”

“I assume I’ll have to calibrate my optics with a little target practice, correct?”

“The armory where we got your rifle has a firing range you can use, if you feel like some target practice will help you dial things in right. They don’t really care who uses the place as long as they buy something, so just buy a box of bullets and Ammo Can will be happy enough.”

A distant wail could be heard on the horizon, following a sweeping high and low pattern just as the first few droplets of rain hit the window. The sound sent a shiver down Access’ spine, as such a sound only had a few meanings, but he hoped it was the more benign of the two.

“Storm sirens?” Snowy remarked. “Lower Canterlot has storm defenses?”

“if you can call them that. I hope that your casing is still waterproof, cause you’ll need it.” Access remarked, removing the cables from Snowy’s neck. “Upper Canterlot has weather manipulators, but they still need to deal with floodwater. No prizes for guessing where that’s gonna be going.”

“Quite.”

“By the way, where are Sheet and Star?” Access inquired. “Sheet ran out the door a while ago and I haven’t seen her since.”

“The young miss is taking care of some business, as for your friend, who knows.”

The front door suddenly slammed open, surprising both the Synthetic and Access. Sheet Rock tossed the chip Scarlet gave her to Access with a snicker.

“Speak of the devil…”

“Do the usual with this if you would, Access.” Sheet Rock remarked as she noticed that Snowy was in the room too. “It’s rare to see you two in the same room actually, what’s the occasion?”

“Just some routine maintenance.” Snowy remarked. “You weren’t free, so I settled with the next best.”

“Thanks, Snowy. I think.” Access mumbled. “Star’s not with you?”

“Nope haven’t seen her. She’ll want to hurry up if she doesn’t want to get held up at a checkpoint, though I assumed she was with you.”

Snowy attempted to raise Star via his integrated comm system, but had no luck. The connection dropped almost as soon as it started, so it was likely that she’d actively chosen not to take the call, or the storm had downed an antenna somewhere.

It was so typical of her that she should vanish now, and the Synthetic allowed himself an uncharacteristically irritated growl.

“I’m going to see where she’s gotten to, don’t wait up.” Snowy stated. “Access, could you patch up my mechanical systems yourself, just for now?”

“Don’t got the stuff to do a patch job, but I can get it. I really would recommend an actual service center though…”

“Noted.”

“We’ve got a few things to discuss anyway, I’ll send you the footnotes.” Scarlet added. “Call us if you need anything.”

Snowy nodded, power walking out the apartment and down the corridor.

“Anyway… While you two were off getting drunk or whatever I took another crack at that portable terminal we found a while back. Turns out it’s set up as a sort of pseudo-anonymous comms network, which Riot might’ve used to communicate with his troops.”

“Doesn’t do us much good now, to be honest.”

“It was easy enough breaking into the device, but the encryption on the messages was another story.” Access explained. “I couldn’t crack the encryption that protects the terminal’s archived messages, but so long as the keys they’re using don’t change we should still be able to read any new messages just fine.”

“Have they actually noticed that we have access?” Scarlet remarked. “I mean, you two weren’t exactly quiet, so they must’ve rotated out compromised keys by now.”

Access retrieved the device from a drawer in his desk and showed the screen to the two mares with a smug look on his face. “Well yes, but actually no. Take a look, they’re actually still chatting away like nothing is wrong.”

“If I were a betting mare, I’d say that it was on purpose.”

“That’s what I thought too, Scarlet, it seems we agree for once.”

“Don’t push your luck.”

“I thought you said you couldn’t get anything out of it?” Sheet Rock pointed out. “You were pretty clear on that.”

“I said it was UNLIKELY we’d get anything out of it. These things are pretty secure if you’re trying to breach it remotely, but since I have it in my hoof a lot of their security measures don’t matter.”

“So did you get anything interesting out of it in the end?”

“Well, as I said, they’re still using it to communicate, but it’s always in this really odd coded way.” Access remarked. “Here, let me show you.”

As expect of a shadowy mercenary group, the terminal itself had little stored on its internal drive of consequence, some temporary files here, some chat logs there which were locked, but the interesting thing was what was contained in those chat logs.

Quartz Red 31, for instance.

An object, a color, and a number. Soon after a message structured like that was sent a response would be sent back soon after, but there was no discernible pattern, and unsurprisingly, the unencrypted portions of the logs themselves were an incomprehensible mess of seemingly unrelated terms, numbers, and colors.

Each part of the message must correspond to something, perhaps a particular order, operative, severity ranking, or location maybe. From the messages that had been sent in the past few hours, Access was able to tell that the first word was more than likely either the sender or the intended recipient, the color could possibly be how urgent the order was, and lastly, the order itself represented as a set of numerals.

This was of course, complete speculation, but it seemed likely given how often colors were used to represent certain things, such to bring attention to something, or as a warning.

“And yes, I am logging every message that comes through, though I have my doubts as to how useful it’ll be, especially if I’m wrong as what I think each part means.”

“While I’d like nothing more than to follow the next trail of breadcrumbs, we have other things to contend with.”

“You said odd things were happening, corporate police on the move, shows of power and such?” Scarlet remarked. “Consider the possibility that terminal might not be Riot’s, it might belong to someone else and he just happened to come upon it like we did. If I were him and I needed to send coded messages, I wouldn’t lock up a device I needed immediate access to.”

“That’s… a good point exactly. I thought it might’ve belonged to one of his cronies, but the more I think about it, the less it makes sense for them to have it.” Access replied. “There were ponies jacked into their chairs nearby where we found it, noticed a lot of cabling and the husks of servers dotted about too. Clearly someone wanted the stuff gone, but got a little sloppy toward the end of their rampage. Sending coded messages has to be one of the most analogue and old-fashioned ways of communicating, especially when you have the money to buy your Netrunners top-of-the-line chairs.”

“I love a good mystery you know, really gets the juices flowing.” Scarlet remarked sarcastically. “Frankly I think your little super-soldier friend had a hoof in it.”

“You might be right, given what I’ve heard on the grapevine recently.” Access replied. “To be honest, we should just shelve this until morning, and then pick this up again when we know more. Agreed?”

Sheet Rock shot Scarlet an apologetic glance before she walked off toward her own room, but not before offering Scarlet the sofa to sleep on. There was a camp cot stashed away somewhere as well, but that was like sleeping on the fake grass you’d find in every corporate plaza ever which was highly unappealing.

Sheet Rock promised to pay Scarlet back for the chip she’d given then, even if she didn’t want to accept payment. Genetech had their secrets like any corporation, but they were especially shadowy and secretive when it came to protecting their property to a level that would make even the big four blush.

Author's Note

Now that I'm writing on the regular again, The Freelancers should end up getting an update twice a month, maybe more often if i have a good writing session.

I apologize for the long wait as of late, but I'm back now and ready to write again.

Chapter 63 - Improvements - Part Two

By the time the Skytrain started to operate again, Star had been startled by its passing no less than five times. The storm hadn’t let up much however, though the haunting high and low wails of the alert sirens had ceased some time ago, meaning the storm defense walls had been deployed by now, hopefully.

It was then that Star realized that the sun had just started to peek over the horizon, meaning she’d been up the better part of the night. She envied the fact that Snowy didn’t need sleep in the traditional sense, while she felt just about ready to check out for most of the coming day.

There were a few mostly intact office chairs piled up in what was affectionately called a “utility room” on the deed, amounting to a few electrical boards, net routers, and water pumps crammed into a plastic tamper-proof box.

It didn’t seem safe that there was water so close to high-voltage electricity, but those were the breaks when you lived in a district that was one big afterthought supported by calculated, but continual mistakes in judgement.

This is why she disliked politicians and adamantly refused to become one herself.

The little office and what little furniture she could scrape together would be hers though and there was nothing those two could do about it. She’d earned the right to have first pick when she went through all the trouble to secure the place, but she sensed that someone, probably Access, would disagree and kick up a stink about it.

Hearing an engine outside, followed by a dull thud made her think that argument was moments away from turning the place into a warzone, but instead to her gleeful surprise, it was Scarlet who walked in out of the rain instead followed by Bulwark, heavy boxes perched on his back.

“I mean, it’s no damp room in a disused utility tunnel, but it’ll do!”

“Now I don’t remember inviting you two.” Star joked. “I suppose the others told you I bought you all a present.”

“Your Synthetic, actually.” Bulwark pointed out, placing the boxes he was carrying onto the floor. “You weren’t going to leave us out of the fun, were you?”

“To be frank, I wasn’t aware you still wanted to have anything to do with us.”

“My issue is with Access and Sheet Rock, not you.” Scarlet remarked. “They’ve made their apologies. Besides, you aren’t responsible for their poor decisions.”

“Set up wherever you like then, I mean there’s no walls yet so you’ll just to imagine it in your head for now.” Star said awkwardly, stepping out onto the catwalk. “Where are they anyway, I thought they would’ve been with you.”

“Shopping.” Bulwark stated. “Sheet’s using the last of her forged scripts to get Access his Baloperidol. I don’t suppose she told you what she’s been up to?”

“Maybe? If she did I don’t remember.”

“Understandable, really.” Bulwark shrugged. “So, where do we set up?”

Star shrugged back. “Wherever you want I suppose.”

Bulwark had but a single slightly damp box of his own, while Scarlet had several almost twice the size. Some were still sealed, while others had been delicately opened but resealed at some point, presumably to help shield the contents of the boxes from the rain.

The largest of them was stamped with the drab striped logo of Equestrian Business Machines, a manufacturer of high end computers found in corporate offices the world over. They weren’t cheap, but were extremely reliable, and as such could be depended upon for years or even decades with proper maintenance and regular upgrades.

Star recognized the model name stamped into the lid, a Model-7 Personal Data Processor, one of EBM’s more lavish offerings. The box looked untouched, meaning it had just been purchased, or perhaps stolen.

“Expensive tastes I see.” she remarked sarcastically as Scarlet unboxed it onto a folding table she’d dragged in behind her. “Even brought your own furniture!”

“The tables are one of the few things Matterhorn and Riot managed NOT to break, clearly they weren’t trying hard enough.” she replied just as sarcastically. “The EBM machines were a gift actually, to replace some of the equipment we lost.”

“From who?”

“Who do you think?” Scarlet said, as if it was obvious. “To be frank, I haven’t touched mine yet but Bulwark couldn’t help himself and tore into his almost as soon as he got it. We prefer running via our computers rather than a standalone Cyberdeck, so you can probably appreciate that we’re a little attached to our old machines.”

“I haven’t paid for net access yet, by the way, so don’t bother trying.”

“You actually PAY for Net access?” Bulwark said in disbelief. “Look, come down here and we’ll show you just what you’re missing out on.”

Scarlet nodded. “There’s a few tricks you can use to get free access, we’ll show you a couple.”

A quick jaunt into Upper Canterlot to collect Access’ medicine had turned into a full-on shopping trip, which was the last thing Sheet Rock wanted to do with her morning, especially seeing as how Snowy could’ve sprung for delivery using Star’s credit chip. The very same chip she knew he had slotted in his head but refused to lend to them.

The roads were slick with rain and the drainage systems that still functioned were just barely keeping up with the sudden influx. It made a change from the usual dust storms and sweltering heat though.

Canterlot resided in the middle of a semi-arid wasteland to be fair, so it was expected that there would be the associated weather patterns to contend with. It seemed to happen on a rough cycle. A couple of weeks of extreme heat accented by a windstorm or two, then near constant rainstorms for a few days, rinse repeat.

If the history books were to be believed, the area Canterlot and Rift City sat upon was once rolling hills as far as one could see, small rivers and brooks streaked throughout, and the sound of birds was a constant backdrop to the gentle serenity of the countryside. But now, it was a barren wasteland only just barely inhabitable thanks to the weather manipulators GeneTech placed out in the desert to try and save smaller settlements from the dust and heat.

But when those broke down as they eventually did, ponies had a choice to make. Flee, or choke on the dust and sand created by the over extraction of moisture for the endless farming needed to feed millions.

The data Scarlet had given her brought up some unpleasant memories, but at this point, Sheet Rock found it hard to be upset for any length of time. Instead, she’d rather just move on with her day and forget about it.

Her train of thought was suddenly broken by the sound of Access sneezing himself awake. It was as if he subconsciously knew that she wanted a moment to herself and now would be the best time to ruin that.

“That was the last thing on the list wasn’t it?” he said groggily. “How come his highness isn’t doing the heavy lifting?”

“Probably the same reason Star decided to act on her own.” Sheet Rock grunted. “A purchase like this is going to attract attention from all the wrong ponies. I just know it.”

“Doubt she had the euro to buy it herself, daddy’s cred maybe?” Access chuckled. “I’d be okay with someone taking the blame for it as long as it isn’t us, or her.”

“The less we know the easier it’ll be to play dumb. I’d like to think Star knows what she’s doing, but I’m having a damned hard time believing it.” Sheet Rock stated. “Read the list through again for me, I’m not heading out again if we’ve missed something.”

“Well, everything on the list is ticked off to be fair.” Access replied. “If she wants anything else she can get it herself.”

Truth be told, Sheet Rock had never noticed the property Star had bought before, nor heard of the company that once rented it. They cant have been there very long, seeing as how they’d lived in the district for much of their adult lives.

The weathered brick buildings and asphalt roads that made up their little neighborhood were comforting in a weird kind of way, though empty properties and bombed out husks of abandoned shopfronts towards the outer edges of the district were not.

“That’s it down there!” Access pointed out. “See?”

“Right underneath an overpass, an arterial overpass no less.” she replied sarcastically. “At least it’s nice and hidden for the most part, it’s good cover thanks to the occupied buildings around it.”

“Reminds me of your old place a little.” Access mocked. “Just without the dust covering everything.”

“Go to hell, Access.” Sheet Rock chuckled back. “Don’t forget you came from the same kind of hellhole, but at least you had a weather manipulator that still worked.”

Chapter 64 - The Solo

“Bigger than it looks.” Sheet Rock remarked over the clatter of metal and plastic. “Enough space for the us, the van, and still have plenty of room left over.”

“I… don’t think he’s paying attention, Sheet.” Bulwark answered, chewing on a cheap burrito as he worked. “You think he found anything good?”

“Couple of Cybermodems and a few usable servers.” she replied, dismissing the unopened burrito Bulwark had held out to her. “Loads of replacement parts too, mostly for whatever bargain bin Cyberdecks the Runners employed here used.”

“Anything we can use?”

“No, we’ve got better stuff. Worth selling to wannabes though, they’ll buy anything since good gear is often above their means.”

“I wouldn’t wish EQUI-TECH processors on anyone to be honest, but it is what it is.” Bulwark chuckled. “Figured out what the next job’s gonna be, we still gotta eat you know.”

“I’ve already called in a favor from an old friend, but it’s looking like it might have something to do with Genetech.”

“I hope you’re not just expecting to deep dive into their subnet and extract their secrets from them by force, Sheet.” Bulwark remarked. “I think you know just as well as I that they protect their property with some of the best black ICE around. You’d be dead the moment you show up, and that’s assuming you don’t get tagged by a Long-Distance Link on the way there.”

“Makes you wonder how someone got out with anything at all if they’re that impenetrable.”

“Hoof on the big red logout button I suppose.”

“Sheet, a word please?” Star called from the office. “You’ll want to hear this.”

She groaned and got up out of her seat after some gentle persuasion from Bulwark and made her way up. It had only taken an hour since their arrival for Star to start taking the whole Fixer angle a little too seriously, but with the amount of enemies they’d made in the last few weeks it could be argued that screening jobs beforehand would help them not fall into anymore traps.

Star waited by the office door rather impatiently, tapping a forehoof against the steel door frame at an off-kilter rhythm, the kind borne of sleepless nights and continual stress. She obviously had something she needed to say, it showed on her face as clear as could be.

“Before we begin, are we agreed that I handle the clients and the jobs they bring from now on?”

Sheet Rock shrugged. “If you think you handle it.”

“That friend you contacted, what was their name?”

“Phantom, you can guess for yourself why that is.” Sheet Rock replied. “She’s been a reliable source of information for a long time, she taught me and Access the ropes when we were still rocking our very first neural ports. How did she know who you were?”

“As a Netrunner yourself, you should already know a good few ways she could’ve figured that out.” Star grunted. “That said, she had a message she wanted me to pass on. She wants our help with a job, why I don’t know but it’d be worth our while so I’m told.”

“Phantom does have big pockets, so that checks out.”

“Apparently, Genetech has been pouring more money into their Biotech than usual. They’ve moved on from their tried and true moneymaker, growing limbs and replacement organs for the medical market, and started growing whole bodies.”

“I don’t like where this is going.”

“I see you’re having the same thoughts as me then.” Star replied, nodding slightly. “I know the Crown ran a similar project, but I can say for sure that the whole Agent program was for Equestria’s safety. Applicants to the program got the choice, whoever Genetech experimented on to get this far probably didn’t.”

“Do you really believe that, or is that your father talking?”

“I’m not going to get into an argument with you, the point is that if they get a viable genetic template they’ll be able to produce near-perfect soldiers non-stop.”

Star had a hunch that Genetech hadn’t figured out how to print entire bodies from raw genetic material on their own, and surmised they might’ve stolen data on the particulars of the subject. They were the best when it came to growing organic replacement body parts and had been for decades, it was obvious that their newest venture wasn’t ever going to be on the list of services they’d offer to the public.

“So, what are we supposed to do about it then?” Sheet Rock pointed out. “Genetech don’t play around, their subnet is full of black ICE and the guards on their properties will shoot us in the head and dump our bodies into the nearest water tank the moment we breathe in the wrong way.”

“If this Phantom is anywhere as good a Runner as you made her out to be, she’ll have some way past. We should use the time between her arrival and doing the job she hired us for to prepare.”

“Oh, so we’re being HIRED now?”

“We haven’t been given the full spec yet, so you’ll need to wait.” Star added. “Snowy’s been hard at work doing what he can to make this place livable too, so you’ll probably have to figure out where he’s put your gear.”

It wasn’t easy to convince Riot that he needed to go it alone, but Matterhorn eventually pushed him to relent on his position even if the end result was both of them agreeing to disagree. Riot had given him a few of the local fixer’s names he could call upon for help, or work, as the need for either arose.

He’d made himself available to a few of the more trusting local fixers, doing a few odd jobs here and there to build up enough of a reputation to afford a few favors when he was assaulted by a Netrunner, who breached his Cyberware while on a job intent on delivering a message only to vanish soon after.

Plaza near the southern quarter, come alone. Sit on the third seat from the fountain, look for a Bat Pony mare by the name of Phantom, speak to nobody else.

Other than that little incident, things had been relatively quiet since his arrival, though he was no closer to finding out what happened to Lucky. He’d noticed a few suspicious ponies milling around the area as well, and although nothing suggested they were looking for him, he was still on edge.

“This seat taken?” said a voice. “I’m just going to assume that it isn’t.”

Matterhorn looked up at the source of the voice, a Bat Pony mare in a thin jet black bodysuit and chunky armored boots. The bodysuit was of the type some Netrunners wore to regulate body temperature during deep dives, though this one was heavily worn and looked like it, or perhaps its wearer, had gone through the wringer one too many times.

If he had to venture a guess, she was a corporate Netrunner or maybe a Techie in her spare time. There were a number of ponies in similar uniforms sat around on benches dotted around the little plaza he’d found himself in, talking loudly and being all-around obnoxious.

“Look I’m not going to beat around the bush, you look out of place.”

“I could say the same about you, but I’ll be gone soon, I’m waiting for someone.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he could tell the mare was staring at him with those calculating eyes of hers, an odd shade of muddy green.

“The dark and mysterious type I see. I’ve been watching you for a while now. Somehow I think those thugs on your last job wished they hadn’t tried to rob your client.”

“Just one job out of many.” Matterhorn grunted. “I was told you don’t meet ponies in public, so I was convinced that you wouldn’t show up to meet me.”

“I stick to my word, that’s all you need to know about me. Name’s Phantom.” the mare said as she produced a chip from the slot in her neck. “Five thousand up-front, and five thousand upon completion. I have another team ready to cover our backs, but they’ll need a moment to find a way in, and when they do, they’ll breach Genetech’s subnet and let us inside.”

“I’m going to need to know more than that if I’m going to risk my neck, I am but one pony.”

“Slot the chip and see, everything you need to know is there.” Phantom pointed out. “You came highly recommended, even if you are ex-corporate. Trust me, you’ll want to do this job if you want to shed that repuation.”

Matterhorn did as he was told and slid the chip into a slot at the base of his neck, an awkward place to reach considering he rarely needed to use them before. Almost immediately, his field of view was filled with the details of a plan to assault a Genetech lab in the Everfree Arcology, convenient they’d just opened their doors to accept tourists, a rare event indeed and the perfect chance.

Two ponies would be needed for the forward team, that meant him and Phantom, and another team to neutralize security on their way through the lab. Therein lay the problem though, everyone knew that the Arcology was cut off from the outside and inaccessible.

“This plan won’t work.”

“I know what you’re thinking, but I’ve thought about this already.” Phantom chuckled. “Direct your attention to that structure just off the southwestern gate. The Arcology doesn’t have any public relays nor Long-Distance Links, BUT, it does have a number of private ones used by the residents that live there.”

“Microwave transmitters. Do they link up somewhere we can get access to?”

“Of course, though we’d need to bullshit our way into someone’s pod, maybe a server room, whichever is easier.” Phantom stressed. “After that, we could just plant something there to allow the other team free access to residential systems, although it’ll take some doing to pass through the ICE between the residential and internal systems.”

“What’s my role then?” Matterhorn inquired. “I’m no Runner or Techie.”

“If someone gets any funny ideas it’ll be up to you to… silence them.” Phantom said grimly. “When I breached your cyberware and observed you at work, I knew you’d be perfect for the job.”

“I have a request.”

“Shoot.”

“When the job is done, I need to get back to Canterlot. There are some ponies there that have assisted me before and I believe they could assist me again.”

“That’s the plan.” Phantom smiled wickedly. “We need to coordinate face-to-face before we carry out our parts, after that you’re free to do as you please.”

Author's Note

Sorry for the delay getting this one out, things are getting pretty busy these days.

For those of you who don't understand the terms the Cyberpunk series has, a "Solo" is someone specialized in front-line combat, think soldier and you have a pretty good idea,

Techie is pretty self-explanatory for the most part, they disassemble, repair, modify and even build new devices to earn a living and are invaluable if a crew relies on electronics to do their jobs.

Chapter 65 - Coordination

Waiting was always the worst part of any job, but Phantom had insisted in the past that they were not to do anything on their own, at least not until she’d said her piece as there were some specifics to go over before they could carry out their assigned roles.

“Twenty on Earth Pony.” Access chuckled. “Gotta be.”

“Fine, twenty says Pegasus.” Bulwark retorted. “Explains the short travel time, no?”

“Two words, Bulwark. Acid. Rain.”

“Sorry Bulwark, I have to agree with Access on this one.” Scarlet cut in. “As surprising as that is.”

“Are you really taking bets?” Sheet Rock said from her chair. “…Fifty says bat pony.”

“Fifty?” Bulwark replied, surprised. “Someone’s confident.”

In actuality, it was a matter of probability. A Pegasus would just fly, an earth pony would use the Skytrain or maybe an AV, and a Unicorn would just teleport station to station if he or she had the skills.

They didn’t have to wait long, as the sound of an engine hummed all around them, echoing inside the steel structure of their warehouse. Sheet Rock wouldn’t miss the echo once Snowy showed back up with the rest of the things he’d bought, half of which was still bundled up in the van.

The sound circled the warehouse for a time until it came to a stop outside the rolling garage door, followed by the sound of two ponies getting out. Access signaled for everyone to grab the weapons, all of which were now trained squarely toward the source of the disturbance.

You could cut the silence with a knife it was so thick, hoofsteps approached the door, voices muffled by the corrugated steel until they abrubtly stopped. The door opened a little, not enough to see the other side, but enough so that those outside could be heard.

“Guns down, alright?”

Like hell, Sheet Rock thought, a thought mirrored by everyone present.

“How about you put YOURS down, kick them in through the door!”

“I don’t think that’ll do you much good.” The voice paused for a moment. “Fine, have it your way!”

A couple heavy automatic pistols flew in through the crack in the door, bounced against the poured concrete floor, and clattered to a stop near Bulwark.

“Walk in slowly, any sudden movements and you die.”

The door opened all the way to a Bat Pony mare who looked more amused than anything about the situation. She wore a smug smile, like she’d already won some kind of game and looked to have something in her hoof.

Before anyone could object, a thick gray slab-like object was tossed at Sheet Rock’s hooves. It took a moment, but she eventually recognized what it was.

A completely filled out pad of Baloperidol scripts, a few months worth at least, complete with doctor’s signatures and authorization codes.

Sheet Rock lowered her SMG. “Could’ve said something sooner, we could’ve shot you.”

“I doubt that, my friend here had my back.” Phantom remarked, gesturing at the figure outside. “He sent you packing once, so I doubt he’d fail this time either.”

“They were lucky none of them were the pony I had been sent after, I never broke a sweat defending myself.” Matterhorn added. “Thankfully you wont have to be in the firing line this time around.”

“Yeah, yeah, don’t get too big headed.” Access snorted, holstering his weapon. “We thought you were done for.”

“I’ll have to regale you with the story some time, but for now we have better things to be doing.” Matterhorn pointed out. “Phantom?”

She nodded and put down a hoofful of chips down on a small folding table in their clear plastic cases. They looked like they’d taken a beating at some point, and the cases were scuffed and cracked from repeated usage.

“Slot the chip if you want a visual aid or two, but the plan’s pretty simple as things go.” Phantom chuckled. “I’ve already appraised Matterhorn of his role, but everyone else’s will be a bit more… remote.”

They’d be split into three teams, Phantom and Matterhorn as the physical infiltrators, Access and Sheet Rock as the primary runners, and Bulwark and Scarlet as backup runners on the off chance something went wrong sooner than expected.

Phantom had procured a list of access points that would briefly make connection to Rift City to deliver some email originating from the Arcology. This connection would remain in place for about an hour until the microwave transmitters realigned and repeated the aforementioned operation with Canterlot, if they missed both these windows the whole op would be a complete bust.

“It might be worthwhile for each team to remain on standby at either access point, the fewer connections we make through any of their access points, the less likely it’ll be that we’ll be noticed.” Sheet Rock stressed. “I don’t think the two of you are gonna cut it though.”

“How’s your bat pony friend with a firearm?” Phantom asked. “We could always take her with us?”

“I’m willing to do that, but I’d like to avoid violence if we can.” Star shouted down from her office. “I might have a contact or two in the Arcology who could help us, assuming they’re still alive.”

Once either team is able to secure a foothold in the residential systems, they would need to wait for Phantom to bridge the gap between the public-facing residential systems, and the internal private network, the only viable method of doing so required someone to be there physically.

It was imperative that nobody did anything to arouse suspicion, Arcology security weren’t known for their understanding and sunny personalities, they took their jobs very seriously as did their perpetually jacked-in Netrunners, known as Dwellers among those in the know.

“I don’t think we’ll be able to slip past that easily.” Scarlet remarked. “The Dweller will notice us the moment we show up.”

“True…” Phantom sighed. “I suppose you’ll just have to flatline them. With any luck we’ll show up around the time they swap Dwellers, it’s about that time of the month, but I wouldn’t count on it.”

“Black ICE?”

“On the private side it’s inactive unless you’re doing something you shouldn’t, there’s not much ICE at all beyond the usual on the public side though. Remember, Arcology staff handle security for their own systems, but as far as Corporate networks go, they don’t care. They should only give you trouble if they have reason to.”

“Our target’s GeneTech, right?”

“Yes, it’s a small location tucked away in some dusty corner on the upper levels, barely noticeable unless you’re looking for it.” Phantom revealed. “It’ll be your job to disable security and keep them distracted while Matterhorn, Star, and myself get what we need.”

“Wait, wait, so the thing we’re looking for isn’t even accessible from the net?” Scarlet said, throwing up her hooves. “But everything protecting it is?”

“The Labs themselves often have isolated systems, Scarlet, it makes the likelihood of a breach occurring from the public-facing part of the network much less likely.” Phantom said, rubbing her temples. “That particular location is a central data repository, one of many actually. They’re probably a little over confident considering the Arcology is isolated ninety percent of the time.”

The trip to the Arcology would take a few hours by High-Speed Skytrain, enough to allow the Runners to get ready, compile software, do a few connectivity checks, and quadruple-check their gear. Phantom’s chips contained an entire list of what they might encounter, where and how to strike at a few weak spots, and the Cyberdeck IDs of a few of their Dwellers as well.

“Any questions?”

There were none.

“You have four, maybe five, hours to get yourselves together.” Phantom stated. “Star, I need a word with you outside.”

Phantom walked outside and waited for a few moments. She considered lighting a smoke to take the edge off, but refrained from doing so as Star walked outside into the cool morning air with a look of disapproval on her face.

Phantom knew Matterhorn could be depended upon in a firefight, she’d seen it herself, but she needed to be sure that the ex-corpo wouldn’t fall apart the moment someone started shooting.

“How’re you in a firefight?” she said abrubtly. “If you freak out, we aren’t coming back for you.”

“When I told you I don’t want any violence if we can help it, I meant that.” Star answered, annoyed that she had to repeat herself. “Leaving a pile of bodies behind us will only paint a larger target on our backs.”

“She’s right, Phantom. I don’t know how you usually do things, but it’s generally advantageous to leave the job having given your enemies fewer reasons to come after you.”

“I happen to agree with you, but you should be prepared for the worst. GeneTech do not mess around when it comes to protecting their secrets, but rest assured that the data my employer is interested in will bury GeneTech forever.”

“Illegal or unethical?”

“Maybe both, definitely unethical.”

“We should go, we’ve a scant few hours to get into position and it would be unwise to deviate too much from the plan.” Matterhorn pointed out. “Do you have everything you need?”

The two mares nodded in agreement.

“Let’s not waste any time then.”

Author's Note

It has occurred to me that i mentioned the last chapter (Chapter 64) would be a "Part Three" to the other two parts, the difference is purely the chapter name though, it's still the same chapter.

I'm not completely happy with this chapter though, it feels like not a whole lot happens but i dunno. I suppose there have been chapters like that in the past, but i dunno what annoys me specifically about this time around.

Chapter 66 - Transfer

Scarlet considered how to declaw GeneTech’s Black ICE without alerting the rest of the system to their intrusion, as well as a backup plan in the event they needed to bid a quick escape. Normally, one could cut the connection any time they wanted, but there were Subnets where a disconnection was only be possible at an access point’s representation within the subnet.

This was most often done for security purposes, so that an intruder could not just simply cut and run at the first sign of trouble. This, however, did not mean the Runner couldn’t force a disconnection outside of the normal means, just that if you wanted to you’d need a little finesse and a some know-how.

There existed a specialized cable that, with the help of a small explosive charge, could be activated manually by the Runner, or automatically should they be hit with a Brainwipe or Hellbolt before they could do permanent damage.

The only real difference between a Brainwipe and a Hellbolt was that a Brainwipe didn’t technically kill its target unlike it’s more lethal cousin, instead it would turn its target into a mindless drooling husk, barely able to think for itself.

A Hellbolt was a bit simpler but no less dangerous. Instead of reducing the Runner to a drooling wreck and destroying any stolen information their brain might’ve contained, it delivered a short, but powerful, surge of electricity directly into the victim’s neural port and into their brain.

Equal parts deadly and frightening.

“I’ve rigged up some quick-disconnect cables with a little bit of plastic explosives, enough to blow open the coupler in the middle of the cable.” Scarlet remarked proudly, tossing the bundle of heavy braided cable into the floor. “If we get into trouble, we can trigger the detonator and cut the connection… but there’s an issue.”

“There’s a chance we could lose our lunch, yeah we’re aware.” Bulwark grumbled. “We’d be out of action for the duration of the job sure, but we’d be alive.”

“Got enough cable for all of us?” Access inquired. “If not, Snowy can watch over us while we’re under.”

“I am not your maid, nor your caretaker.” the Synthetic said from Star’s office. “Besides, the result would be the same if I pulled the plug.”

“It’s not about lessening the impact, Snowy, it’s about options.” Sheet Rock replied. “I’m going to check on something, jack in and wait for me.”

Tempers were strained at the moment. None of them had ever conducted a job of this magnitude before. Scarlet and Bulwark cracked software while Access and Sheet Rock broke into gray systems for petty secrets to sell to nobodies, so none of them were treading familiar ground.

“Alright, but don’t take too long.”

Access felt restless waiting for Sheet Rock to arrive, as it’d been some time since he dove into the sprawl’s subnet. Scarlet and Bulwark were there though and probably just as eager as he was to get going, nondescript avatars at the ready.

It was some minutes more before her avatar finally appeared a short distance away.

“I just to had to double check the access point’s ICE was good to go, I mean last thing we need is a roaming program flagging it while we’re distracted.” Sheet Rock said apologetically as she peered about. “Have you heard from the others since they left?”

“I got told to hurry up, does that count?” Access chuckled. “Phantom wants us to jump to Rift City’s Subnet to do some recon and secure a couple of routes.”

“I thought the point was to not get caught?”

“Arcology Residential Systems are rated as gray systems, so they’ll basically be wide open, detection programs only.” Access remarked. “Hold onto your brains, this might get bumpy.”

Their surroundings glitched for a few seconds as Access started the transfer to Rift City’s subnet. It was almost all high-rise towers and neon-drenched billboards with impossibly long streets criss-crossing their way across the endless landscape, piercing through and flowing over buildings, only to double back on themselves.

It was a sight to behold, and a far cry from Lower Canterlot.

“Since when could you forcibly transfer another runner?” Scarlet said, nearly taking a tumble over the edge of a junction they materialized upon. “Warn us if you’re gonna do that!”

“The previous owners of our hideout had some interesting toys tucked away.” Access chuckled. “Seems they wanted to move around large groups of Netrunners at once, forcibly if need be. Reminds me of a tool Netwatch used once.”

“Wonder what other stuff they left behind.”

“Remind me to give you a copy when this is all over.”

Below, they could see the avatars of hundreds of Netrunners conversing, and for a few of them, battling it out over some perceived slight or another.

It was almost like a real city.

While there were those in Rift City who actively disliked Cyberware and cybernetic implantation in general, most of the population had no issue with the use of Cyberware at all, or were very good at hiding it. Such feelings of disgust and anger were mostly confined to a particularly zealous group who’d been labeled Purists due to their fanatical nature.

It split the city down the middle, with a line clearly drawn between the majority who did what they had to in order to improve their lives and prospects, and those who vehemently opposed the so-called relentless march of progress for the sake of progress.

Despite this, the city was bustling with Net activity and there was rarely a dull moment.

“Does it matter what long-distance link we use to transfer to the Arcology?” Bulwark inquired. “I count at least ten on the nearby buildings alone.”

Sheet Rock brought up a display and scrolled for a moment. She evoked a simple scan program that pulsed outward from their position, lighting up a number of the long-distance links, represented by large glowing microwave dishes sat atop three of the closest buildings as it went.

The Icon, or Avatar, of a particular piece of net infrastructure could be wildly different from subnet to subnet, but the important ones, like long-distance links and access points were usually pretty similar no matter where you were.

However, trying your luck at random and hoping it took you where you needed to go was an exercise in lunacy, that is if the Icon didn’t turn out to be bait, so instead they should probe each and get a general gist of where it might take them first.

Of course, it could lie in an attempt to trap rogue runners or roaming AI but there were ways around that, some messy, some noisy.

“Some software company, environmental supply vendor, and… oh just fantastic.”

“What?”

“Netwatch have a rapid deployment post here.” Sheet Rock sighed. “We don’t have time to check them all one by one so we’ll need to split up, but it’s safe to assume that one is a no-go.”

“Like hell am I snooping around a Netwatch subnet, Sheet.” Scarlet said defiantly. “We’ll have to hope one or the other is the one we’re looking for.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to, that’s a bear nobody would dare poke.”

“At least not the sane ones.”

Scarlet and Bulwark stepped off the junction and plummeted toward ground level and quickly dashed toward one of the long-distance links the moment they landed. It seemed that they picked the one furthest from Netwatch, smart, but it left Sheet Rock and Access with the one closest.

“I know height doesn’t matter here, but it always freaks me out when they jump like that without a care in the world.”

“That’s total-immersion virtual reality for you.” Sheet Rock grumbled. “Just try not to think about it too much.”

Access grumbled and gingerly stepped off the edge, narrowly dodging one of the intertwined pseudo-highways on the way down. It was remarkable just how much the subnet looked like a real city, though there were no vehicles on the road or a way inside many of the buildings, at least not visually.

“I don’t like the looks we’re getting.” Access whispered. “We’re attracting attention.”

A few of the Runners gathered around a passageway between a cluster of buildings had glanced in their direction as they walked past, only to look away when Access returned their gaze. Mercifully, a group of low-level security programs happened by and the group moved on, apparently more concerned about that rather than a couple of strangers.

Before long they were in front of the building that housed the first leg of their journey to the Arcology, and Access instinctively ran a probe of his own, hoping to find out a little about what they were walking into.

Their target was connected to an environmental supply vendor, and a quick search through the local index revealed that they sold items like air filters and what they called Sun Lamps, presumably the kind used in places where real sunlight couldn’t reach.

“Level 1 security, detection and anti-system programs, one external access point and microwave transmitter, yep this seems to be the place.”

“You ready, got everything you need?” Sheet Rock answered. “ICE loaded?”

“Spare parts at the ready, Snowy has our back on that front.”

“Alright, into the breach I suppose.”

Author's Note

Sorry this chapter took longer than expected, i had to shuffle around some of the last parts of the chapter at the very last minute, let me know if they seem out of place.

Chapter 67 - Entry

The net was a strange tangle of potential spaces, some of which took on the form of something that made sense, like a city, the inside of a building, a subterranean labyrinth of tunnels, or an idealized version of something like a boardroom or a home.

But then, there was whatever Access and Sheet Rock had stumbled into.

Someone had gone to a great deal of effort, maybe to an excessive degree, to make the subnet look as realistic as possible, and if it were not for the floating security programs flitting about you could mistake it for the real thing.

The vibe landed firmly between retro-futuristic and business-like in the most soulless and clinical manner possible. There were tables, chairs, and filing cabinets everywhere, but a cursory glance proved them to be completely cosmetic and non-functional.

“Doesn’t seem like they’re bothered by our presence, but we should still mask our signals just in case.” Access pointed out. “I’m willing to bet this is just a public access area.”

“Can’t saturate the place with scanners to check the place out, that sort of thing is like shouting in a library and expecting nobody to take any notice.” Sheet Rock said off-hoof. “Guess we’ll need to go room by room, carefully.”

“Really obvious and annoying?” Access inquired. “Yeah, true. Regular scans should be fine though?”

“No way to tell, just be careful.”

Access looked up at one of the security programs, a simple polyhedral sphere-like object with a central “eye”, and observed it as it went about its business. It seemed to be following a pattern, it scanned a few spots on each wall, waited, then moved onto the next until it took itself in a complete circuit around the room without deviation.

At no point did any of the programs scan them specifically, that is unless he stood in the way confusing the rigidly programmed construct to a point where it fizzled from existence, only to be replaced by another in short order.

“I wonder.” Access mumbled as he summoned a couple of his own programs. “Watch my back, just in case.”

“Alright.”

Two pyramid shaped programs assembled themselves out of neon wire in front of the Netrunner’s outstretched hoof. They were scan probes, a Runner’s bread and butter when it came to gathering intel.

They could be issued simple commands by their owner, which would then be carried out on their own, and when their orders were completed the report would be delivered to the Runner no matter where they were.

You could sprinkle programs like these all over a subnet and have them slowly map out an entire network, but with the drawback that you could be waiting weeks for an entire subnet map to arrive in your inbox without alerting anyone.

Needless to say, they did not have weeks.

One of the programs started scanning a section of wall where security had been previously, and moments later, it revealed a hidden door. Access directed his probes to scan the other walls too, which revealed two more doors for them to explore.

“Masked doorways, shame their own programs gave them away.” Access chuckled. “I’ll have this open in a flash.”

“I doubt it’ll take you long, subnets like this rarely have much thought put into them beyond how they look.” Sheet Rock grunted. “Bet you all the heavy security is on the other side and everything running here is just to make sure things work just well enough to keep the links stable.”

Access ran another one of his programs, a common tool that could try hundreds of common passwords a second. Quiet compared to forcing the door down, which was what most runners did, but it was not guaranteed to find the right password.

Hundreds of words in various formats streamed from Access’ horn, phasing into the doorway’s lock only to rebound off and break apart with each failed attempt.

“Looks like security is re-masking the other doors.”

“Easy enough to unmask them again, though we might not need to if we picked right.”

On cue, perhaps thousands of attempts later, one password attempt was correct and the door slid open to reveal a cavernous hall with a ceiling that seemed to stretch into infinity. The perimeter of the wall was stacked high with filing cabinets and criss-crossed with miles of tubes connecting it all, stretching up into the ceiling.

At the very end of each convergence of tubes were stylized terminal screens with a space for a single pony to sit office cube style. This was more than likely a representation of a regional office, perhaps for the company’s runners to use while jacked in.

Though as their eyes focused on the tubes in the ceiling, it became clear that there was an AI present, sorting little packets of data as they flew in and out of the central mass of tubes that constituted its presence in the subnet like some kind of office clerk with never ending stacks of paperwork to process.

It made sense why the subnet felt so small now, the majority of the activity arriving on this side of the link was overseen by this administrative AI, there was simply no need for extraneous detail when a Runner would only ever be present during emergencies.

“We have a problem.” Access shouted across the room. “But there’s good news and bad news.”

“What’s the good news?”

“The link to the Everfree Arcology is already open, but…”

“Let me guess, that AI will fry us if we try?”

“Yes, from what I can tell, it’s screening everything that goes in through those pipes there.” Access said, pointing at a particularly thick set of transparent piping. “It then goes to the central mass there, gets processed, then gets sent out the other side if it passes whatever criteria they’ve set. It’s kinda hard to track each of the packets visually, so I’m probably wrong but that’s all I have to go on right now.”

“I suppose that’s all the mail Phantom mentioned would be passing through, seems weird an environmental tech vendor would let them use their bandwidth.”

“They probably have a contract, you know to earn a bit more money.” Access rebutted. “I mean you’d probably want a direct connection to the company that’s keeping ponies breathing anyway, why not let them use your systems as a relay once in a while.”

“Fair point.”

“I’m going to do some digging. Hopefully we’ll find a way to cross the link without alerting that AI, I’m willing to bet the other two rooms are probably the link itself and security control.”

Star tapped nervously at the center console of Phantom’s car, rhythmically at first, but quickly she descended into tuneless nonsense. She’d kept in constant contact with the rest of the team ever since they left, and they were well on their way toward their respective objectives.

“How’re they doing, any issues?” Matterhorn asked, mostly to break the awkward silence that had fallen.

“Access and Sheet Rock hit a snag, but they’re dealing with it.” Star rattled off. “Scarlet and Bulwark are doubling back after hitting some resistance, they’re going to remain on standby in case we need the backup plan.”

“I could tell you stories upon stories about those two.” Phantom remarked. “The things they did when they were mere greenhorns would make your head spin.”

“Anything as dumb as what we’re about to do?”

“Dumber.”

“That does not inspire confidence.” Star chuckled nervously. “Time?”

“About ten minutes until the train arrives, let’s go, act normal.” Phantom replied. “We’re just a bunch of friends on a day out.”

That was a laughable statement given that Star knew nothing about Phantom. For all she knew, this could be some kind of set-up orchestrated by the mare she’d just met, where they would be the ones to take the fall and she would end up with all the reward.

Star didn’t expect to know who she was right away, that’d be ridiculous, but she expected her to talk at least a little bit about herself. Come to think of it, Phantom had actually remained pretty tight lipped since the moment they met, and only ever offered surface level statements, preferring to talk about others instead.

“What’s with that look?” Phantom remarked. “Got something on your mind, cold hooves maybe?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“She’s probably suspicious, that’s the look she gave me when we met.” Matterhorn chuckled. “Eyebrows furrowed, sour scowl, the works. Could either be suspicion or distaste, actually.”

“Good, she should be!” Phantom said, matter of fact. “If someone ever tells you to trust them, and I mean tells, not asks, then they’re probably either outright lieing to you or they’re hiding something.”

“That doesn’t-”

“Look, all I care about is getting the job done. I didn’t ask why they wanted the job done nor did I ask for an explanation or their life stories.” Phantom said with a degree of irritation. “I mean, aside from what I needed to know to get the job done, obviously.”

“I hope you two aren’t going to be at each other’s throats the entire journey.” Matterhorn stressed. “Maybe you should talk things out a little bit, I mean, you do at least have to get along or this job isn’t going to end well.”

To nobody’s surprise, Matterhorn was right. She didn’t know Phantom at all, but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t being upfront about her intentions. But, Star had ways of getting the truth out of ponies, after all, she did work for a corporation until very recently.

Star discreetly sent a message to Snowy saying that if he had the time while looking after the rest of the team, he should see if he could uncover anything about Phantom via their contacts. She looked like the careful mare, but there had to have been times where she hadn’t been quite so careful, perhaps out of necessity rather than incompetence.

It was always best to have insurance, a plan, or failing that an escape route.

Chapter 68 - Processing

While Access was hard at work, Sheet Rock decided to check out the other two rooms ahead of time. Both were of the same design as the one they’d broken though, that is to say, relatively sturdy and cheap to deploy in netspace.

Everything they could see, touch, and interact with put some kind of strain on the host system, and many operators only put the bare minimum into virtual environments when designing their subnets if the horsepower was needed elsewhere.

A quick scan of the process registry Access had broken into during his search for anything useful revealed something in the room beyond to be using an incredible amount of processing power, which Sheet Rock presumed to be the long-distance link.

She couldn’t be further from the truth however, as instead she found where the data packets went after being sorted by the AI, that being security control. This room was much smaller than the others, and was comprised of a single terminal and a large diameter pipe, inside which was a wire frame model of a wall shrouded in flames.

That must be their firewall, at least the one used to screen regular computer data. As packets streamed in, each was captured for a thorough inspection then quickly passed on once they had been properly scanned for malicious data.

Screening Cyberdeck signals was a little more complicated and costly however, and was usually left up to the various forms of ICE and other Runners to deal with. Most of the time, when someone attempted a break in, it was generally more advantageous to ensure they could never try again, whether that be at the hooves of Netwatch or a corporate death squad.

Sheet Rock inspected the terminal, hoping to find some way of crossing the link without being noticed. Their signal cloaking techniques could actively mask their presence once they arrived, but not while in transit, during which they’d be the most vulnerable.

With the amount of data currently crossing the link, there was a fifty-fifty chance of the AI noticing the amount of data it processed wasn’t the same as what was transmitted. In other words it’d be pure chance as to whether it raised the alarm or not.

“Hey I might have something here.” Access called out. “You find anything?”

“We’ve got maybe a fifty-fifty chance of being noticed when we cross the link.” Sheet Rock answered as she stepped out from security control. “Not unless you’ve found a way to deal with that AI.”

”Well, yes and no.”

“Which is it?”

“I can forge a couple of sigs that should get us through to the other side, but if we’re noticed they’ll connect the dots pretty much immediately as to where our signals are coming from and close off the link.”

“Phantom said there wasn’t any ICE.” Sheet Rock stated as a matter of fact. “The only obstacle is that AI.”

“Well that was some bad info she got, because a bulletin on their internal noticeboard says the far side is swarming with detection programs and anti-system ICE.”

“Are they expecting us?”

“I don’t think so.” Access said, shaking his head. “If they suspected anything they’d send runners through, so it’s probably just a precautionary measure.”

“Scarlet says the other building’s a bust as well, we could’ve bodged together a quick and dirty way through if they had a microwave dish, you know, just on the off chance we needed it.”

“We could jack out, come back later?”

“No, the plan is riding on us being in the right place at the right time.”

“The only other choice is to take the plunge and hope we don’t get smoked, are you willing to risk that?”

“Alright, alright, just go forge those sigs and I’ll finish up here.” Sheet Rock groaned. “This is a bad idea.”

“The worst that could happen is our decks get trashed, I’m sure the others could manage, I mean, Phantom probably has a few contingency plans up her sleeves.”

It took only a few moments for Access to forge a couple of signatures and apply them to their decks. To the AI and any ICE they encountered, they’d hopefully look like a couple of corporate runners on assignment.

Their forged signatures wouldn’t hold up to scrutiny levied against them by any organic security though and any Runner or SysOp would be able to tell they weren’t supposed to be there the moment they set eyes on them.

Sheet Rock considered their options should they need to escape for a moment while Access breached the lock on the door to the link itself. Before long it was time to take the plunge, sink or swim.

Sheet Rock went first, and after a moment’s wait, she arrived at a grand black pyramid, glittering in the dark of the net. To nobody’s surprise, there were indeed a great number of programs flitting about, scanning every object they could find with increasingly evident urgency.

Among them were anti-system programs, menacing cuboid constructs capable of doing some real, and permanent, damage to the systems they assaulted. The worst they could do is fry a Cybermodem, a phone line, a Netrunner's chair, maybe a terminal, but any damage would need to be repaired and that took time they simply did not have.

They were approached by a roaming program almost as soon as they’d finished materializing in the subnet. It didn’t immediately attack, which was a good sign.

“Submit to an ID scan or disconnect immediately!” it spoke in a digitized, tinny timbre. “Reminder: Failure to comply will lead to lethal force being used upon you.“

The program seemed to glitch for a short moment, as did the landscape, before it wandered off without conducting the scan it was to perform on all visitors. This happened again a few times in succession as the two gingerly made their way forwards, unsure if their cover was still intact.

“They couldn’t have made it to the Arcology yet, could they?”

“I don’t think so.” Access answered. “Glitches like this occur as a symptom of high processor or network load. Their systems are working real hard for some reason, but without access I couldn’t say what.”

“Alright, let’s look for a code gate and bust in while they’re distracted, I don’t want to be around when security realizes they didn’t check us.”

The pyramid was smooth on all sides apart from the irregularly placed vent-like protrusions on its surface, much like how the Arcology appeared in realspace. It only had one true entrance in realspace, but in the net, it had at least a half-dozen hidden underneath its digital plating, one of which was known to be weaker than the others.

This information was perhaps a couple of years old now give or take, but small details tend to get overlooked, especially if external access only came about once in a while. It stood to reason that this weakly fortified code gate was once used to gain unfettered access to external resources, so assuming it still existed, it could be used in reverse too.

“What in the actual hell did you two do!?” Phantom’s voice suddenly bellowed over a comm link. “On-site security can’t keep still for some reason, they’re checking everyone’s credentials!”

“We’ve had our fair share of problems too, you don’t need to shout.” Sheet Rock said coolly. “The Arcology’s subnet is glitching hardcore right now, and it wasn’t something we did.”

“Wait, really?”

“There’s anti-system ICE everywhere but it’s not working quite right, it’s like the system can’t keep anything from crashing.” Access explained. “Detection programs are outright ignoring us too. We were noticed initially, but after that, it’s like we don’t even register to them.”

“Be very careful, this has to be the work of another crew, dunno who though.”

“Could they be using the same link we are?”

“Couldn’t say, I only know of a couple ways they could be accessing the Arcology remotely so they could be local for all we know.” Phantom grunted. “Stay on your hooves and hole up somewhere you can access the systems we need, don’t connect to GeneTech’s subnet yet or take unnecessary risks until we can investigate.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice.”

Chapter 69 - Hidden

The skytrain had been stopped no less than three times along its route to the Arcology by a mixture of corporate security and Arcology staff. Each passenger was searched and their credentials checked, which Phantom had cleverly prepared for by handing out some convincing enough fake ID cards when they first boarded.

After a cursory glance at each of their cards and being asked what their business at the Arcology was, they were allowed to remain. Some of the other passengers were removed, some willingly, others with a swift strike to the back of their skull and dragged out by force.

It was unusual to see Arcology police forces out this far conducting so many extended stops so often. By the third time, everyone was thoroughly tired of repeating the same answers over and over.

Except after the third time, Arcology security didn’t leave, they remained at the doors of each skytrain car while Canterlot corporate security left in a real hurry. They probably lacked the jurisdiction necessary when the skytrain finally crossed into what was Arcology territory and didn’t want to rile up the Bat Pony officials further by staying.

It was odd that Arcology security were present at all when they were stopped in Canterlot, but those present knew better than to ask why. Four doors, four heavily armed goons with an expression only a lifetime of eating synth-lemons could cultivate, clearly something was up.

Unsurprisingly, there were no announcements to explain why there were armed goons on a skytrain full of tourists, nor was there any indication or clue as to who all this security was for. Phantom believed Sheet Rock when she said they had nothing to do with it, as such a strong response would’ve taken time to co-ordinate following an alert.

“They aren’t your run-of-the-mill police.” Matterhorn muttered. “Arcology Counter-Intel. They’re the kind of ponies that make other ponies disappear without a trace.”

“You’d know better than I.” Star replied just as quietly. “I suppose you’ve run into them before?”

“More than a few times.” Matterhorn replied grimly. “They’re only called in when the circumstances call for them or if someone’s really screwed up, so trust me when I say, you don’t want to piss them off.”

“So what’s the plan?”

“We keep our mouths shut and give them no reason to suspect us.” Phantom remarked. “Once we’re somewhere a bit safer we can go over the job again.”

The skytrain slid into the Arcology’s Transport Hub in short order and came to a gentle halt to an empty station platform. Unsurprisingly, the goons at the doors were the first to leave, but remained in clear sight as if to dare someone to start trouble.

Outside of the transport hub was a single steel panel walkway leading up a small hill to the Arcology proper. Star eyed up a couple of anti-air sentry weapons, the same kind that had blown them out of the sky not too long ago as they tracked objects in the sky for a while until they went out of range.

“Safest place in Equestria, apparently, at least if you ignore the predatory corporate culture and automated weaponry trained on you at all times.” Phantom pointed out. “Feels weird to be home though.”

“I was born in a corporate compound in the middle of the desert, so think yourself lucky you didn’t have to deal with that as well.” Star said. “You know what I miss about my corporate life though?”

“Air Conditioning.” Matterhorn stated flatly. “Tell me I’m wrong.”

“Funny what we take for granted, huh?”

The pathway up to the main gate was pockmarked with small dents and dings, and the markings delineating space for those on hoof and those in vehicles were heavily worn and barely visible. Firefights regularly broke out here, although the heavy presence of drones and armed riot police normally made short work of them, so the damage to the road could be considered more of a warning than anything

The three were behind a group of noticeably drunk and noisy tourists, who despite being ordered to calm down before entering, one of their number decided to berate the gate guard. He let this continue for a while before he nodded to an officer in slate gray riot armor, who despite his considerable bulk, moved with shocking dexterity.

The would-be assailant suddenly found himself sailing over a low railing and ended up at the foot of a small tree with a very big headache. Seeing this, his friends made a number of excuses on his behalf, all of which were ignored.

Amusingly, the gate guard chuckled that perhaps a few hours in a cell will correct their friend’s attitude before he ordered them inside, lest they join him in a cell of their own. They complied and entered without further incident without their friend, who was busy being dragged away.

“Anyone else feel like being funny?” the gate guard said to the line of waiting ponies. “No? Good. Next please, and have your identification ready.”

“Act natural.” Phantom said, smirking a little. “Don’t be like that guy.”

The stallion eyed up their IDs in a disinterested manner until he got to Matterhorn’s, his face turned into a mixture of amusement, then surprise, then to panic. Most of the information on the card was correct, except his name of course, but there was one crucial detail that probably shouldn’t have been on there.

“You’re a Class Five arcane talent?”

“That’s what it says.” Matterhorn said flatly, glaring at Phantom knowingly. “I hope that’s not an issue?”

“I’m required to warn you by law that usage of any arcane abilities at that level will be met with the same outcome as pulling a firearm, being Class Five I expect you already know this.”

“In other words, no magic, yeah I get it.”

“That said, what’s your business here?” the guard said, returning to being disinterested. “Just need something to put in my ledger by your names and ID numbers.”

“Business.” Phantom answered. “Maybe a bit of recreation afterward.”

The stallion hummed. “Fair enough, go on inside.”

Matterhorn waited until they were out of earshot and laid into Phantom. “Class Five talent, seriously?”

“It’s true isn’t it?”

“The amount of ponies that have a Class Five rating number maybe in the thousands, a quarter of which work for the Crown at minimum.” Matterhorn growled. “You couldn’t go for anything more believable?”

“Excuse me, I don’t quite understand the issue here.” Star interjected.

“It’s essentially a measure of a Unicorn’s raw talent, it very rarely aligns with their actual skill level if they aren’t given training, but let’s just say that Class Five rating is well deserved on my part.” Matterhorn pointed out. “Every Class Five ‘s biometric record is held by their employer, assuming they’re above board. I trust you see the issue here.”

“Oh shit.”

“Shit indeed, Phantom. You’ve effectively advertised the fact I’m an unregistered Class Five to the largest security-focused city state in the world.” Matterhorn said with a heavy mocking tone. “You better hope this mug isn’t on a wanted poster or anything.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a squad behind that door at this point.” Star said, getting a little angry now. “I see now why Access can be so damned reckless if this is who he learned from.”

“It was either a Class Five arcane talent or a Dash-type flier, I didn’t have much to work with!” Phantom half-shouted. “These cards aren’t easy to come by, especially so if they’re blank, so it was part-filled or nothing. I had to come up with this plan short notice, so you’ll just have to get over it.”

Before the argument could heat up any more, Phantom went over the plan again with this so-called screw up in mind. First, they’d need access to someone’s residence or access to a router in a public area so Phantom could set up the bridge between the Arcology’s public and private systems.

Next, find GeneTech’s office in the administrative section and get inside. Sheet Rock and Access would then disable security and unlock doors where necessary, allowing Phantom to exfiltrate the data they needed.

If need be, Matterhorn could crack some heads, if someone could be talked down without having to resort to violence, Star could handle that. In theory it was a solid plan, but there was a lot of room for things to go very wrong given the chance.

Phantom could investigate why the Arcology let loose its ICE early once she found a router to hook into, but until then, they’d need to tread very carefully. She couldn’t very well go pulling panels off of walls or tear down cables from the ceiling in plain view, but as they walked into the brightly lit atrium she spotted a small bar that catered to new arrivals fresh off the skytrain as it were.

“Are we clear on our roles?”

“Act natural, keep you in sight, warn you of trouble.” Star repeated. “Keep a call open to all of us, okay?”

“Sure, Sure. I’m going to find somewhere discreet to hook in, until then, find a good vantage point and keep a lookout.” Phantom stressed. “Get a drink or something.”

Phantom casually sauntered away, acting like she had nowhere in particular to be. Matterhorn and Star took up a spot at one of the bar’s tables, which had decently good lines of sight to most corners of the atrium and waited. There weren’t many guards, but there were a number of cameras placed in plain view at strategic points along the walls.

After a few moments, Phantom seemed to spot a maintenance panel behind an empty reception desk judging from the signals she was giving. She pointed at the ceiling, as if to ask if anyone was watching.

Nobody was as far as they could tell, and she’d probably be shielded from view if she could get behind the desk, assuming nobody walked up to it. She couldn’t be sure where the point at which Sheet Rock and Access could cross to the private subnet would manifest, assuming it did at all, but she was sure they’d know it when they saw it.

Beneath the desk was a battered network hub, presumably the one that served this reception desk’s computers and phones. To her surprise, this hub seemed to have a physical connection to the private portion of the Arcology’s subnet, so it was a matter of bridging the two connections with a little software patch.

She slipped a cable out of her jumpsuit’s pocket and connected one end into the hub and the other into her neck, and with luck this should only take a moment. The progress bar overlay on the hub slowly climbed, and it felt like an eternity had passed by the time it filled completely.

“Sheet, I’ve bridged a connection to the private portion of the subnet, I’m gonna go see if I can locate a couple of others just in case.” she spoke to the shared call. “How much of that did you hear back there?”

Sheet Rock’s response came quickly. “Pretty much all of it, didn’t know you were that sloppy.”

“I know it was a bit slapdash, but it really was that or nothing.”

“I believe you.” Sheet Rock soothed. “Coincidentally, there’s a network hub above you somewhere in residential, and another under the big staircase in the back.”

“Didn’t I say lay low?”

“Saves you having to wander around like a lost puppy.” Sheet Rock said blankly. “It seems like that patch you deployed gave us some access, but not a proper direct connection, you’ll have to find another so we can verify.”

“You find a map too?” Phantom said after a noticeable pause. “I could use some help here.”

“Sure, I can guide you, just leave it to me.”

Chapter 70 - Undercover

“I’m going for the panel above me, remind me where it is.”

“In a little residential corridor on the floor above you.” Sheet Rock mentioned after a quick check of a map she’d acquired. “Go up the stairs, turn left as you reach the top and continue on until you reach the back wall.”

“Should I be concerned about the occupants?”

“Those rooms are hardly prime real estate being so close to the atrium.” Sheet Rock replied confidently “That said, there’s only a few of them down that corridor, odd.”

“The Arcology doesn’t really have a set layout as such.” Phantom remarked as she reached the top of the dark steel stairs, confidently striding past a tired looking police officer. “That’s why there’s a weird mix of residential, commercial, and administrative units on most floors.”

“Maybe a pyramid wasn’t the best shape to use as the city’s overall shape, huh?”

“Once you go underground it starts to make a lot more sense, but the above ground stuff is quite old in fairness.” Phantom pointed out, coming to a sliding glass door. “That’s why security is a little tighter on above-ground floors, there’s a lot of vulnerabilities that would take too long to bring up to modern standards so to protect them they just throw bodies at the problem.”

“I’m guessing that’s why their hubs have been so easy to get to then?”

“Exactly, lucky us.”

Phantom peered down the hall as the door opened at her approach. The panel the hub was located inside was at the far end of the hall, situated inside a small alcove among a collection of assorted wires dangling from the ceiling and dented mailboxes.

“Panel’s right in front of you, Phantom.”

“I know, I see it.” Phantom grunted. “Really wish I thought ahead and grabbed a map for myself.”

“Suppose a lot’s changed since you were here last?”

“Can’t say I remember the placement of every access panel on every wall I ever passed, there’s gotta be hundreds of them.”

Phantom pulled open the panel to reveal another network hub, along with some assorted environmental control machinery. Like before she connected a cable to it, and connected the other end to a port on her neck.

This one was a little tougher to crack and the progress bar overlay her cyberware projected onto the hub seemed to crawl at a snail’s pace. From the data she’d already extracted, this hub seemed to have more access than the others, which was unexpected due to its proximity to a public area.

It was clear that the Arcology’s sysops had done some network segmentation at some point, and only allowed certain hubs to access certain systems, perhaps someone in the apartments nearby needed some very specific access rights at one point.

“I've just started to breach another hub, can you tell what this one is connected to on your end, Sheet?”

“Door controls, if I’m looking at this readout right.” Sheet Rock replied. “Seems a SysOp has noticed something’s up too, not a runner thankfully, so his reach is limited. The most he can do is trigger ICE and lock a few doors.”

Sure enough, a cursory scan of the subnet warned of a SysOp present in the system. Their signal was similar to that of a Runner, but they didn’t use a Cyberdeck to carry out whatever task they’d been given, opting for the simplicity of a computer terminal instead.

It made them slow and ponderous, barely capable of keeping up with a Netrunner, but they had the advantage of being completely immune to Anti-Personnel programs. The only way to deal with this obstacle would be to trash their well-fortified systems, but that would remove any and all doubt their subnet had a small pest problem.

The progress bar froze for a moment before it jumped to ninety-percent, only to start glitching erratically. It was a few moments more before a deep sense of panic started to form in the back of Phantom’s mind, and she reached to disconnect herself from the hub, but a loud crack, followed by electrical fizzling filled the hallway.

In moments, Phantom was on the floor, writhing in pain from a sudden shock delivered straight to her neural interface. She couldn’t be sure, but there was the faint sound of voices all around her, although she couldn’t tell whose before everything turned black.

Matterhorn stared intently at the doorway Phantom had gone through for several minutes, unblinking, completely unaware of the can of soda that had just been placed in front of him. At least, this was until Star jabbed him in the shoulder gently to get his attention.

“No.”

“I’m sure you can afford to spend a few moments doing something other than staring at that one specific spot.” Star remarked. “I don’t think you’ve been anything other than hyper-vigilant from the moment we sat down.”

“Right now isn’t exactly the best time to be anything other than that.”

“Other than the fact you’re getting a few looks.” Star rebuked. “The idea is to be inconspicuous.”

Matterhorn counted no less than four members of Arcology security gather near to Phantom’s position, which wasn’t a good sign, even worse was the fact Phantom hadn’t checked in with them for quite some time now.

He could risk going up there himself armed with an excuse or two, but bat ponies weren’t known to be the most forgiving if someone got in their way, which usually landed someone in a locked jail cell without a key.

Alternatively, he could use his newly unrestrained mind and arcane abilities, but Phantom’s mistake of revealing his level of strength to Arcology authorities meant they’d deploy a precise and tailor-made response to deal with the issue, something that bat ponies excelled at.

“We got a problem.” Sheet’s voice said over the comm link. “Something got Phantom, she’s alive but not really in any sort of state where she’d be useful, at least according to her bio-monitor implant.”

“Guessing that’s what those ponies up there were dragging away.” Matterhorn growled. “What do we do now?”

“Nothing’s changed, we continue with the job.” Sheet Rock said after a momentary pause. “Not unless you feel like taking on all those armed goons, of course. Phantom managed to get us enough access to open the way to our target though.”

“But not enough to make this a cakewalk I take it?”

“I can probably get you down there, but once you’re at the front door, it’s the loud way from that point onward.” Sheet Rock said apologetically. “She didn’t end up getting us as much access as she would’ve liked, but it’s better than nothing.”

“And what do we do about Phantom, just leave her to the wolves?”

Sheet Rock sighed. “They’re taking her to be treated at a hospital owned by GeneTech on the lower levels, which is where you’re going anyway, so you could… you know… insist they discharge her.”

That was equal parts convenient and concerning, in the sense that once Phantom was conscious and able to answer the long list of questions they had for her, they’d probably spend no expense trying to find out why they found her crumpled into a ball on floor, still connected to something she shouldn’t have been.

“What about our backup?”

“We dropped some programs that should lead them to us so we can combine efforts, but more importantly, you two need to get moving downstairs.” Sheet Rock stressed. “I can open the way but you’ll need to be quick, take the main transit elevators just up the stairs when you’re ready.”

Matterhorn shook his head with exasperation, rising to his hooves like a corpo who’d just been told he’d been volunteered for mandatory overtime. Star followed close behind, trying her best to mimic his sour expression whether it was real or not.

The way the Arcology was built meant that it had many transit elevators of varying sizes that ran down the central “spine” of the structure. They could transport ponies or cargo as the need required to their desired destination, and more importantly, nobody would bat an eye if they needed one to themselves.

Matterhorn jabbed the call button by the elevator impatiently and waited, though it wasn’t long until one arrived. Sheet Rock instructed them to board and simply wait, she would deal with sending it where it needed to go without leaving a trace.

Inside the rapidly accelerating elevator, Star peered at Matterhorn strangely for a moment, something he caught onto quickly.

“Problem?”

“Since when does the Director’s pet do merc work?”

“I couldn’t care less.” Matterhorn admitted. “I don’t think I mentioned what happened, did I?”

“Feel like explaining now?”

“Only because I respect you, I’d rather keep this as private as possible.” Matterhorn said as the elevator plunged below ground. “Riot was the one that found me, got me some medical help. Long story short, I got some cyberware removed from my spine that was probably intended to control how I think.”

“My father wouldn’t have approved that.”

“No, I don’t suppose he would, but I think you know who would.”

“I find it hard to believe the Director would be that overt, considering the lengths she goes to protect her interests.”

“It’s not really mind control, it’s far more subtle than that.” Matterhorn corrected. “It’s supposed to ensure an agent’s loyalty under penalty of remote execution. GeneTech would kill for this kind of technology, so they intend to copy it and use it in their own efforts.”

“And you know this, how?”

“I gotta eat, so I did a few jobs here and there for a few ponies, some of which had some very interesting things to say.” Matterhorn admitted. “It seems that a lot of corps in the genetics business are trying to copy the work the Director’s researchers carried out, it’s not just GeneTech.”

“Does that mean Phantom was hired by the Crown?” Star inquired. “Because it seems that way.”

“I don’t like to speculate.” Matterhorn answered. “But if I had to guess, the Crown wants its stolen assets back and hired Phantom knowing she’d more than likely get us involved.”

“Either way they can say they weren’t involved, get what they want, and still have us dance to their tune like puppets.”

The elevator suddenly decelerated sharply. The glowing display read that they were nearing their destination some fifty floors below ground, the Arcology must be massive in the vertical sense, dwarfing that of any city skyline.

“Alright, you’re nearing the floor you need to get off at, I can guide you most of the way but I wont be able to track any staff milling about so you’ll need to keep your eyes peeled.” Sheet Rock remarked over the comm link. “That said, your first priority should be Phantom.”

“Obviously.”

Author's Note

A little dialogue heavy, but it's one of those chapters where i don't think i could've avoided it.

Chapter 71 - Below Ground

“Directly ahead of you is a security door, it should be open, you’re going to want to ignore it and take the door to your left.”

“And from there?” Matterhorn remarked.

“It looks like the entire floor loops back on itself, so I don’t think it matters whether you go left or right, just avoid the direct route and go the long way around.”

The hallway was dimly lit by some recessed light fixtures in the floor, making navigation somewhat difficult. Star seemed unbothered by the lack of light, and it quickly became apparent as to why.

The lack of light was intentional, Bat Ponies had fantastic low-light vision, so the fixtures were to provide the bare minimum light needed for their night vision to work effectively. Matterhorn lacked this ability, so he hoped that the choke was still disabled on his horn.

To his surprise, it was, and he lit his horn successfully and started to focus his magic into his eyes, hoping that his current reserves were enough to cast something useful. A simple night vision spell wouldn’t last long, but it was all he could muster at short notice.

He didn’t want to admit it, but he was a little rusty having gone without his powers for a while.

Sheet Rock had transmitted a floor plan to them before going quiet again, and as expected, the floor was shaped like a huge ring, with rooms spaced along the inner and outer edges of the ring.

In the middle down a long corridor that stretched between the security door on their side, and the other on the other side, was a set of emergency stairs, no doubt blocked off until an emergency situation was declared

“Got any idea where we should head first?”

“Start with the closest room, I suppose.”

The room closest to them could be seen from the elevator. A small frosted-glass door separated it and the hallway, and from where they were stood it looked to be unguarded, though the sound of hooves on metal echoed down the hallway.

The sound became more distant for a while, before it started to get louder again. Someone was about to walk through the opposite hallway, and Matterhorn darted toward the little room, leaving Star to scramble after him.

Just as he pushed the door open, the source of the noise came into view, an earth pony stallion in a navy blue security uniform wearing heavy combat boots.

It wasn’t odd that ponies besides Bat Ponies worked within the Arcology, but it wasn’t particularly common either. His uniform didn’t match that of Arcology Security though, so it was likely that he worked for a private entity.

“Take a look around while I keep an eye on this guy.” Matterhorn ordered. “I know it goes without saying, but we can’t afford the alarm being raised this early on.”

The room was a small office with a couple of desks and computers lit by harsh florescent tubes, buzzing harshly as if they were on their last leg. Star tried the drawers of the desks in the hope they were open and contained something useful.

Random paperwork, office supplies, pens and pencils, nothing of any real use or consequence, at least until Star happened upon a flat rectangular object right at the very rear of the drawer underneath a pile of discarded reports.

When Star pulled it free of its papery prison, it bore the name and photo of a Bat Pony mare named Shadow Wing. Presumably, this was her desk and what Star had found was a company ID card of sorts, possibly one that could allow them access to other rooms.

“ID Card, might open a door or two.”

“Sure hope so, because we’ve got company.” Matterhorn replied, watching a Bat Pony mare and stallion walking toward them from down the hallway. “I’ll pin them down, you do the talking since you’re so fond of it.”

Star hadn’t ever pointed a gun at someone before, at least not intentionally, but she wouldn’t have time to contemplate the ethical issues of doing so before their company walked in.

Despite Star’s obvious reluctance to hold someone at gunpoint, Matterhorn swiftly brought them to the ground with a concussive blast from his horn and pinned them down with a ring of magic around their necks before they could even tell what was happening to them.

One of them looked remarkably like the pony on the ID card found in the desk.

“I assume you’re Shadow Wing, yes?”

“Who are you ponies?”

“We’re looking for someone, she got taken for medical care not long ago.” Star said, ignoring the mare’s question. “Where would she have been taken?”

“You’re floors too low if you’re looking for public medical services.” the stallion said sarcastically before Matterhorn drove his hoof into the stallion’s sternum.

“She’s an associate of ours, she was on a job, you understand?” Star said sternly. “Or does my friend here need to break a bone or two?”

As if to prove a point, Matterhorn tightened his grip on their captive’s necks.

“There was talk of security detaining someone a little while ago, they took her below, but that was all I heard.”

“Shadow Wing are you really gonna tell these brutes-” the stallion barked before being summarily knocked out by a swift blow to the back of his skull. Matterhorn tossed the stallion aside, where he landed in a heap at the foot of his desk.

“I don’t believe you.” Star remarked. “Seems your friend gave away the fact you know more than you’re letting on.”

The sound of combat boots on metal gave them pause as they slowly approached the office, stopped, then continued on to fade away down the hallway with the sound of an electronic lock and a door opening.

“I can get you to where you need to go, but you’ll have to avoid the guards.” Shadow Wing said, bargaining for her life. “I have access, but I can’t explain away your presence, you don’t look anything like GeneTech’s security detail.”

“This is their floor?”

“One of them.” Shadow Wing corrected. “There’s a few floors above and below this one, all those are their property. I’m just a liaison, I handle the communications between them and the Arcology’s staff.”

“Matterhorn, let her go.” Star ordered. “And you, stand up.”

Reluctantly, Matterhorn did as he was told, and the ring of magic around Shadow Wing’s neck vanished.

“You are going to get us where we need to go.” Star stated, returning the mare’s ID card. “I know for a fact your locks have a biometric aspect to them, they check the identity of the pony opening the door with the data on the card.”

“So you’re not stupid like the ponies that normally try and break in here.” Shadow Wing admitted, trying to mask a nervous smile. “There aren’t many ways out of a place like this if you get caught.”

Neither of them found that statement particularly flattering, but Star gave Shadow Wing the benefit of the doubt, for now. She disliked acting in such a cold and detached way, but the alternatives were abandoning the job, failing to get anywhere, or screwing up and getting them all killed.

She’d never be able to show her face again if that happened.

“Can I ask you something?” Shadow Wing asked. “Don’t rough my friend over there up too much, he’s just a loudmouth, he isn’t a threat.”

“You do your part and nobody has to get hurt.”

Author's Note

I've gotten much busier lately, but i feel like i can keep up the pace of two chapter a month if i keep things as they are.

Writer's block continues to be a problem too, despite the fact i have a big document with story beats in it, though i suppose it comes with the territory.

Chapter 72 - Ejected

“They’re on the move.”

“Good, we can’t stay here.” Access remarked, stepping over the shattered remains of an anti-system program, one of many that found its way to them. “Can’t be a sysop on our ass if this many programs are tracking us, something’s directing them.”

“Fry this terminal.” Sheet Rock remarked, standing well back. “Make it quick, scans say there’s anti-personnel programs on the way, brain-wipes.”

Accessed assembled a cartoonishly stylized bomb from stray code and made a show of placing it on the terminal, as if ask if it met her standards or not. Sheet Rock disliked wasting precious processing cycles on making fancy ICONs for a program, but if it got Access to put some effort in then she’d allow it.

No sooner than when she finished that thought, Access’ program detonated and wiped the terminal from the face of the subnet, leaving a small crater in the floor, and interestingly, a hole in the wall through which they could see another set of hallways.

“Guess this our way out.” Access chuckled. “Can’t go back, may as well go forward.”

“Already tried jacking out, didn’t work, obviously.” Sheet Rock grumbled. “Backup’s probably not coming either.”

The two runners jumped through the hole in the wall one after another and made themselves scarce down the first hallway they saw. Soon after, anti-personnel programs primed and ready to end them flooded the area they’d just left and began a search pattern.

Arcology Sysops would’ve figured out that they’d given them the slip the moment the search turned up nothing, and would need to fall back to the old-fashioned method of detection programs and resident Netrunners to find them.

While Access preferred to simply remove their pursuers from the board so to speak, Sheet Rock reminded him that destroying a program would alert the system and its sysops to their rough location.

“Call me crazy, but I don’t think those were for us.”

“Aren’t going psycho on me are you?” Sheet Rock grunted. “Because I could’ve sworn I heard you say we weren’t just about to get the business end of some Black ICE.”

“Seems to me like you’re the one with a problem.” Access retorted. “Since when do programs belonging to the system they’re in have trouble with code gates that, may I add, are also theirs?”

“Could be due to the glitching, it wouldn’t be unusual for that to be the case.”

“It feels like we’re talking in circles here.”

It felt like an eternity had passed since their last communication with Phantom’s team. Giving out orders to them, Matterhorn especially, seemed like little more than stating the obvious, since they were all well aware of what needed to be done.

It still didn’t stop Sheet Rock from peering at the camera feeds whenever she had the chance though.

Commonly shared intel suggested the halls between different sections of the system were filled with traps, but as with all information regarding the Arcology and its security there was a certain amount of doubt and skepticism involved.

“You wont guess what’s blocking our way now.” Access chuckled from up ahead. “Did you bring your climbing gear by chance?”

“What do you mean…” Sheet Rock said before trailing off. “Oh…”

In front of them was a sheer drop straight into the dark abyss below where there seemed to be no observable bottom, only an unending and dreadful free fall into absolute nothingness.

While the thought of falling into that abyss was about as unpleasant as could be expected, the “horizon” wasn’t much better. It was little more than dense fog and darkness, stretching into infinity.

“Looks like we aren’t going any farther.”

“Phantom never finished bridging the public and private subnets, so who knows how we’re crossing this.”

“The fact we’re here at all implies that she did, right?” Access retorted. “What if this is the boundary between the two?”

“Normally I’d say you’re mad and to take your meds, but I’m willing to at least entertain the thought.” Sheet Rock admitted, peering over the edge. “Seeing that the alternative is sitting here, waiting to get killed.”

Access conjured a gem of light from his hoof, affectionately called a “Breadcrumb” program by independent and corporate Netrunners alike. It didn’t do anything special, or bombastic, but what it did let you do was leave a persistent trail that could take whatever form you wanted it to, wherever you went.

It didn’t explain how he intended to use it though, as the only paths were back where they came, or down into the abyss. Sheet Rock watched intently as Access walked to the edge, between two metal textured pillars, and threw one of the rocks a short distance away.

She expected it to just fall straight off the edge, but instead it bounced on some unseen surface and clattered to a stop against another surface, possibly a wall.

“No!” Sheet Rock protested. “No way in hell!”

Invisible, but still present.

“Seems safe enough.” Access remarked as he stepped back. “I’d bet a crisp hundred eurobit note that this would be visible if Phantom had finished what she was doing.”

“The net doesn’t work like that, it’s obviously a trap of some kind.”

“Slow or faulty connections often manifest as half-formed, glitched, or outright invisible geometry.” Access pointed out. “When she got an overload to the brain, the cables she was messing with might’ve gotten damaged as well.”

“I can’t deny the logic follows, but there’s nothing on the other side to get to, look for yourself.”

Sheet Rock pointed out into the distance at the fog in an attempt to accentuate her point. It hadn’t gone anywhere, not that there was any chance of that changing at all, but Access was determined to press on regardless of the danger ahead.

Access’ hotheadedness would get him in trouble someday, but Sheet Rock watched as he stepped fully over the edge, half-expecting him to fall despite the evidence to the contrary.

He stepped down onto an unseen surface, which started to flicker around the spots his hooves met the floor. With little regard for his safety, he began to feel around to get a sense of how big the area they had to work with was, marking the safe spots with breadcrumb programs as he went.

It was enclosed with a short chest-high wall on both sides, and was roughly wide enough for them to walk single file. They could take cover behind the walls should they need to, but beyond that, they’d be pretty exposed if they were set upon now.

“Hoof on the trigger, Access.” Sheet Rock demanded. “The second you start to fall, disconnect.”

“I suppose I’m going ahead alone then?”

“Probably shouldn’t risk bunching up somewhere we can’t get past each other, we should keep our distance, just in case.”

Access started to retrace his steps, being sure to follow the trail he’d left.

The path was mostly straight, apart from some odd u-shaped corners and dead ends in places that didn’t seem to have any actual rhyme or reason for their existence.

Stranger still, it turned out the fog wasn’t just background decoration. It stretched as far as the eye could see both to the left, and to the right, but when Access looked back at Sheet Rock, he could see her clearly without obstruction.

The fog was clearly a mechanism to shroud something from view once it entered its area of effect, but only in one direction, in that you could see out, but not in. In theory, this meant the invisible path was by design, to disorientate and confuse attackers that didn’t know the right route through.

Access didn’t have to wait long until he found out what the fog was hiding when the ground vanished from underneath him, but he did not fall, instead he was frozen in place unable to move or talk, and even his deck refused to listen to his orders.

Pathetic.

There was something out there in the fog, watching him and Sheet Rock curiously.It “spoke” in a half-irritated, half-tired tone, like a mother speaks to a small child that had misbehaved.

Another pest from the outside, or perhaps a friend who disregarded the rules, let us see which you are.

Access couldn’t answer that, not for the lack of trying, but because he was physically unable to.

I do not recognize your signal, nor the signal of your partner, identify.

Finding himself able to speak, though still unable to move, Access answered.

“I forgot my ID chip.” he stammered. “Command asked me to connect from a hotel, I’m out of the city at the moment.”

The presence went silent for a moment, and Access got the sense that it was amused.

Yet another liar, like all the others that have tried and failed today. I will give you the chance to go peacefully, so long as you do not return.

Should you try again, I will not be as accommodating.

Before he could get another word out, his vision went black, forced out of the net by the presence.

As he came to, back in realspace, he could smell the distinctive stench of burnt silicon and felt something shaking him awake in a panic.

“Access, are you okay, what the hell happened?”

“Snowy?” he slurred. “What do you mean?”

The Synthetic pointed at the remains of his Cyberdeck.

“You were fine up until a few moments ago, when your Deck started smoking. I tried to trigger the forced disconnect as you instructed, which didn’t work, but thankfully you woke up about ten minutes later.”

“You didn’t think to disconnect the cable yourself?”

“I’m led to believe that would be a very bad idea.” Snowy pointed out. “I am unsure of the effect that would have on an organic nervous system as well, so I decided to err on the side of caution.”

“No, no, I don’t think it matters anyway.” Access slurred out, waving Snowy’s concerns off. “I got caught up in a trap, I couldn’t move, speak, couldn’t even order my Deck to trigger the disconnect on my end.”

“Same here.” Sheet Rock slurred from her chair. “Trapped, interrogated, then booted.”

“Snow, where are Scarlet and Bulwark right now?”

“They said they were going to try something else but-”

“Pull them out, now.” Accessed half-shouted. “There’s an AI protecting the border, it’s on high alert for intrusions and they’re only gonna get fried if they try.”

Snowy relented after he saw how serious Access was, and went to deliver the message.

“Did it interrogate you too?” Sheet Rock asked. “It was like I couldn’t breathe.”

“I’d hardly call that an interrogation. But since our Decks are trashed, I’ll assume it got its answers either way.” Access grunted. “Someone’s gonna pay for giving us faulty intel.”

Chapter 73 - Alone

The silence between Star, Matterhorn, and their support was disconcerting, even more so now that they’d missed their scheduled check-in several times despite promises to keep to the agreed upon schedule.

Shadow Wing however, had been nothing short of completely co-operative, and responded to questions where possible with as professional an attitude as she could maintain with a firearm pointed at her head.

She led them through a number of high security corridors lined with sensors, cameras, and all manner of warning signs written in the Bat Pony language. The first few times they’d been stopped by security were a nerve wracking experience, especially now that they’d graduated from taking questions from lazy rent-a-cop types to being stared down by power armored behemoths armed with auto-cannons that could cut them in half at a moments notice.

It helped that Star insisted on wearing business casual attire wherever she went, and could talk down the ponies in veritable walking tanks with some corpo nonsense about being in a hurry before they could use them as target practice.

“We’re coming up on the infirmary now, there will be a couple of doctors on duty there, they aren’t armed so there wont be any need to get violent.” Shadow Wing said. “I know you don’t really care, but try to exercise some restraint.”

“You’re right, we don’t care.” Matterhorn shot back. “I don’t suppose you can read whats on these signs around here, Star?”

“Warnings.” she stated. “Mostly about keeping ID on you at all times and to follow all relevant bio-security protocols in the labs.”

“Thankfully, you wont be going near the labs.”

“Who says?”

“Them, the ones in powered armor.” Shadow Wing remarked, pointing over her shoulder. “Just last week we deployed them topside to deal with a crowd, which they dispersed without much effort, as you’d expect.”

“I hope you realize that we aren’t here just to pick up a friend.” Matterhorn grunted. “We need access to your network.”

It was abundantly obvious that Shadow Wing wasn’t going to help them break into GeneTech’s network without some level of persuasion, gentle or otherwise, but they didn’t strictly need it.

Something clattered to the floor some distance down the corridor, followed by the longest chain of expletives ever conjured by mortal minds. Upon inspection, it looked like an aluminum medical tray, like the kind often found in medical centers and surgical theaters.

This particular one looked like it’d gone through an industrial shredder, and if you looked carefully, appeared to have the outline of a stallion’s head beaten into it and a rather sizable bloodstain splattered onto the side.

They didn’t have time to contemplate the particulars, as a figured barreled through the door and down the hallway, too fast to discern who it was, but a second figure who nearly took the door off its hinges as she burst through it was someone they did recognize.

It was Phantom, sans Netrunner jumpsuit, but wearing a surgery gown. It didn’t take a genius to know that she must’ve woken up after Arcology medical staff were about to perform some kind of medical procedure, which didn’t seem to be sitting with her very well.

With precision only found in the best of hoofball players, Phantom flung the remains of the surgical tray she’d used to beat another one of the doctors down the hall in a rage.

“Where the hell were you two?”

“Improvising.” Matterhorn retorted. “Just like you seem to be.”

“Was it wise to let him go, the doctor I mean.” Star remarked. “For all we know he’s on his way to get security.”

“He more than likely is.” Shadow Wing remarked from the doorway. “Not that I want to tell you ponies what to do, but you should take this conversation somewhere else.”

“Gladly.” Phantom growled. “Move.”

She shoved past Shadow Wing roughly, enough to push her into a desk just opposite the door, not enough to cause any injury, but enough to cause a small flash of anger, although it was short-lived.

“So who the hell is she?”

“I’m the entire reason they got here without being turned into a smear on the walls.” Shadow Wing retorted. “But I’m not leading you back out again, I held up my end of the bargain, so I’ll be taking my leave now.”

Phantom grabbed her sidearm from the box of her belongings and pointed it at Shadow Wing, who didn’t seem bothered at all by that.

“I’m threatened with things worse than a gunshot wound most days, so if that’s your idea of a threat, you’ll have to do better.”

“I’d wager that it’d still suck to get shot.” Phantom remarked. “The first thing you’ll do is call security once you’re safe and cozy in a panic room, tell me I’m wrong, I dare you.”

“You knocked out one doctor and let another escape, who then saw these two with me on his way to safety.” Shadow Wing chuckled. “What do you think is going to happen once he mentions that you more or less gave his colleague over there brain damage with two other unknowns walking about?”

“Point taken, but you’re still not walking out of here.”

“Access and Sheet Rock got ejected, by the way.” Matterhorn pointed out. “We’re not in the position to be dealing with security, so we’ll need her access.”

Attention: Level Three Lockdown is in effect, hermetic seals engaged, containment confirmed.

“A bio-hazard alert?” Shadow Wing remarked. “There wasn’t supposed to-”

Phantom closed the gap between her and Shadow Wing with frightening speed, and pressed the barrel of her weapon against the mare’s forehead. It was clear from her heavy breathing and manic expression that she was not in the best of mindsets right now, especially now they were trapped.

“What are you trying to pull?”

“What are you talking about?” Shadow Wing stammered. “Has the anesthetic cooked your brain or something?”

“You might’ve gotten the drop on these two but I wont fall for your nice act bullshit, you hear me?”

“It’s a bio-hazard alert.” Matterhorn stated calmly. “That’s not the kind of thing someone just triggers on a whim, especially when that pony is trapped inside with us.”

Phantom lowered her weapon. “I mean, that makes sense, but-”

“I held up my end of the bargain.” Shadow Wing added. “If I’m going to be stuck in here with you all I’m going to attend to my colleague, the one your friend damn near killed.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Have you forgotten just how rough you were with the pair of us?” Shadow Wing remarked. “Besides, even if I wanted to run, I can’t. That alert means that this section has been sealed off from the other floors, nothing gets in or out.”

Shadow Wing swiftly made her exit and ran off down the corridor, though without taking back some items of importance from Star’s possession.

The sound of heavy boots on the metal floors of the corridor outside gave away that security were on the move. There was an unspoken hope among those still in the room that they weren’t out for them, but this time it was obvious that they were the intended target.

Matterhorn nodded to the box on the table. “Might want to suit up before things get ugly, Phantom.”

She nodded.

Star overturned a particularly sturdy desk to use as cover, while Matterhorn opted to conjure up a barrier for himself. Phantom decided not to take cover and instead connect to one of the terminals in the room, much to the confusion of Star.

“Is that really important right now?”

“We came to do a job and I’m not leaving without something of value.” Phantom bellowed. “Throw me that ID, I need to find a proper floor plan.”

“Face it, the jobs a bust!”

“If our support had done their job we wouldn’t be in this mess!”

Phantom didn’t get a chance to finish that thought, as a hail of gunfire perforated the walls, as if to draw their attention to the situation at hand.

The assault ended shortly after it began, and all went quiet, apart from the ever present hum of the environmental control systems. It seemed to be the only source of noise to cut through the silence, and it sparked an idea in Phantom, just for the briefest of moments.

“That was a warning shot, and the next will shred the lot of you.” a stern voice said. “You have ten minutes to decide if you want to leave in a body bag or not.”

“Ten minutes is all I need.” Phantom remarked from the terminal. “Here’s the thing, we’re cut off from the Arcology at large now, but I can still exert some amount of control over doors and such.”

“Ah yes, an auto-cannon's one weakness, a centimeter or two of glass and steel.” Star remarked. “Matterhorn, can’t you enchant the walls or something, to buy some time?”

“Not in ten minutes.” he replied. “Besides, it’s one thing to block a single large projectile, but quite another to block hundreds of small ones.”

Phantom had managed to pull a more complete map from one of the doctor’s terminals, which showed her a great deal more than the meager map she’d pieced together from the data Sheet Rock found, as well as what GeneTech was using as a bio-hazard control method.

The containment structure surrounding the floor consisted of double-layered, plasteel armored, concrete and rebar partition panels, and the space between the layers could be pulled into a partial vacuum by the environmental control systems to slow the spread of any dangerous substances.

Every seam, crack, gap, and cranny in every panel that consisted of the inner and outer partitions was carefully inspected and maintained so that nothing potentially harmful could spread beyond the floor, should an accident occur.

“Phantom, are you done screwing around?”

“I have an idea, something that you’re gonna be useful for, Matterhorn.” she replied with a smirk on her face. “Are there any demolition spells in your repertoire?”

“Seven that I can think of off of the top of my head, why?”

“I need you to cast one right here specifically.” Phantom remarked, pointing to a spot just over her head. “Aim for this vent grate, just let me get out the way first.”

Matterhorn lit his horn and he loosed a flaming ball of charged magic into the spot Phantom had marked for him, just as a gaggle of armored guards barged into the room.

The spell detonated into a sphere of destructive fury upon contact with the grate which ripped open a large hole in the wall, and it revealed an opening into a ventilation duct just large enough for a pony to jump down.

A billowing cloud of dust and debris was kicked up from material caught in Matterhorn’s devastating spell as a side effect, lending them a makeshift smokescreen to conceal their escape. They didn’t dare waste a moment of this bombastic distraction, as in response to the ruckus every member of security present opened fire, firing wildly into the expanding cloud of dust to little effect.

They’d need to mind the twisted and charred metal of the damaged ducting on their way down, but there wasn’t much time to consider safety, it was either that or capture.

“Where to now?”

“If I read the map right, we can crawl our way to where their air filtration systems are.” Phantom stated. “From there, we can make our escape through their water intake pipes, or if we’re particularly unlucky, the effluent discharge systems.

“Wont they have shut off outside access to water too?” Star remarked. “I really hope I don’t have to crawl through a sewage pipe.”

“Not that kind of effluent.” Matterhorn chuckled. “It’s where they discharge used industrial chemicals into rivers and such, course there aren’t many of those now so it mostly ends up in the groundwater.”

“Besides, we might yet pull this job back from the brink.” Phantom added. “Client’s gonna be pissed if we don’t.”

“Here’s hoping we find an abandoned lab!”

Author's Note

And we're back, i am sorry for the short hiatus but things got pretty hectic for a while, so to make up for it this chapter is a little longer than the ones i normally post.

I'm not going to promise a posting schedule, but i will probably go back to the two chapters monthly arrangement at some point, purely so people have some idea what to expect.

Chapter 74 - Assault

They’d been crawling through the vents for what felt like hours, and they were starting to get a little irritable from being trapped in such an enclosed space, and that was without having to crawl against the high-pressure airflow.

Up ahead there was a break in the darkness, much to Star’s delight. Dim beams of sickly yellow light filtered through a small outlet into the room below, and Phantom, the only pony able to look through the grate at a decent angle, took it upon herself to see if it was a safe place to exit.

It was some kind of utility corridor, lit with flickering fluorescent lamps. They were barely working and some had already failed, but they were nonetheless a welcome change from complete darkness.

“Alright, we’ll exit here.”

Phantom kicked the grate open and lowered herself though the small hole, barely wide enough for her, but with some effort she made her way out well enough. The corridor stretched in both directions for quite some distance, until they branched off at right angles, presumably into another corridor and more branch points.

“Utility corridors.” Matterhorn grunted. “Any idea where to go next?”

“Gotta find our bearings first.” Phantom replied. “It’s hard to know where to go if you don’t know where you are.”

There were a number of faded markings on the walls of different colors. At one point, they might’ve told whoever worked in these tunnels where everything was, but now they were too illegible to make out for the most part.

The most they could do was follow each set of colored lines until they led somewhere, but finding where each set went could take hours, perhaps longer.

Star looked like she was staring off into space when Phantom went to check on her, and tried to get her attention a couple of times with a few taps on the poured concrete flooring.

“Yes, yes, give me a moment.” she grumbled. “I’m trying to raise the others.”

“We’re deep underground in a place I don’t think anyone’s been in quite some time.” Phantom replied. “If there are any relay stations for phones down here, I doubt they’re working.”

“Can’t blame a mare for trying.”

Phantom nodded in agreement and walked to one of the branching points to look down the other hallways, in hopes to see something of interest, however futile that might be. Both directions weren’t any worse that the one they were in already lighting wise, so it could be assumed that someone at least replaced burnt out lamps once in a while.

“Doesn’t that look a little like the symbol used to denote maintenance areas?” Star remarked, pointing at one of the faded symbols on the wall. “The square one with half a spanner in it, I mean.”

“Either than or a machine room, could easily be anything.” Phantom replied. “Let’s go see, gotta start somewhere.”

Access looked at a battered Cyberdeck among a dusty pile of many others stacked up in the back of their van with disdain, perhaps even disgust.

“ZebraTech, never again.”

“You’re gonna have to pick a Cyberdeck eventually, why not that one?” Sheet Rock replied. “ZebraTech is a good enough choice.”

“Except the neural interfaces aren’t calibrated for Equestrian nervous systems.” he grumbled in turn. “Last time I used one it nearly cooked my implants.”

He cracked open the cases of a few of the Cyberdecks and started dismantling them into their constituent parts piece by piece and placed them into parts bins mounted in the van’s doors a lot gentler than his facial expression would imply.

“One day I’ll understand what all the fuss is.” Snowy said to himself. “But she’s right, you’re going to have to settle on something eventually.”

“Access is just being picky.” Sheet Rock replied from the front seat. “He’d sooner tear them all down into parts and cobble together something custom-made than use an off-the-shelf product.”

“It’d be easier if you weren’t driving like a manic too.” Access replied bitterly. “If you can manage to do that, I’ll put together our new decks on the way there.”

“Is it really necessary we drive there though?” Scarlet replied from the passenger seat. “If you nearly got cooked by their AI, what good will driving up to their doorstep be?”

A good question, one deserving of a long and well thought out answer. Instead, Sheet Rock just smirked for a few moments. It took several moments more for Scarlet to cotton onto what Sheet Rock was getting at, and the realization made her scoff in abject disbelief.

The Arcology was quite the trip to make on a whim, but if they took Canterlot’s high-speed expressway out of the city and there was minimal traffic, it could be done in maybe three or four hours if they ignored the speed limit when the badges weren’t around.

“I don’t think they’d want us to leave them in the Arcology without backup.” Snowy added. “That said, what makes this attempt any different?”

“By the time we pull up I’ll have replaced our Cyberdecks with something that’ll at least function well enough to do what we need to do.” Access remarked, soldering iron gripped in his magic. “My working idea is the glitching we were experiencing was due to high system load, from other Runners, rather than anything we did specifically.”

“The border AI is scrutinizing any Cyberdeck signal that tries to cross into the Arcology from the outside, while local sysops do the same for internal signals.” Sheet Rock added. “In theory, we’ll have maybe an hour before they notice there’s a couple of signals more than there should be, but by then we’ll have done our thing.”

“Be that as it may, that’s one hell of an assumption you’re making.” Scarlet said, unwilling to relent. “You’ll be way slower on the draw thanks to the neural feedback from being forcibly disconnected, and that isn’t gonna go away any time soon.”

“I agree with that assessment.” Snowy said. “Someone’s obviously mounting a major offensive, something that the local screamsheets have noted, so all their SysOps and Runners will be on high alert.”

Whenever there was any hint of hostile action between corps, actual or otherwise, the local screamsheets were always the first to distribute a report on it thanks to their on the hour publishing schedule.

While they were often a good source of news for someone living a fast paced lifestyle, they often hid crucial details away in a long-winded article if it didn’t fit into their easily digestible headlines, but that was the price you paid for convenience.

This was one of those times, so the screamsheet Snowy shared with them all told them with no doubt or room for error, that another corporate war was perhaps weeks from occurring.

Of course, such an article surfaced on the regular, and it was often met with a good chuckle. The Big Four knew better than to pick a fight with other corporations of their size and power, so they kept their operations low-key enough to fall back on plausible deniability.

Smaller corporations knew better too, at least in theory, as they would be the first to fall apart and the last to recover.

Knowing this didn’t settle their nerves any though.

“Take that off ramp coming up now.” Snowy pointed out. “You’re looking for a dirt road heading into a small clearing, we shouldn’t be visible from the road if you park up close to the treeline.”

“Like anyone comes this far off the beaten path anyway.” Sheet Rock replied. “Are you done tinkering, Access?”

“Just about.” he replied as he tossed his soldering iron onto the floor. “I’ve loaded a basic software package onto each. It’s probably enough to crack a few doors, mess with a few cameras, maybe fry a few brains in a pinch, but we’re at a pretty big disadvantage here.”

“We wont need to jack in for long. So long as those cobbled together decks last long enough to signal the others and open a way out, that’s all that matters.”

Author's Note

I thought i should explain a couple of terms used in this chapter, a "Screamsheet" is an hourly (usually) news publication that is distributed in an easy to digest format to people in many different formats.

A "badge" is a slang term that means Police Officer, whether that be civilian or corporate police, put simply.

Chapter 75 - Backdoor

Access hauled a heavy coil of cable from the back of the van to a sealed up access panel on the Arcology’s outer wall, though not without a certain amount of irritated grumbling and muttering.

The rapid increase in the general temperature in and around Equestria as a whole hadn’t done much to curb the Everfree Forest’s humidity, and if anything it might’ve made it that much worse to work in, especially to ponies that normally had the luxury of air conditioners.

“Keep a look out, I’m gonna need a moment to find a line to tap into.” Access grunted. “With luck, we’ll find some fiber lines we can hijack. It probably wont be stable enough for a deep dive, but it should last long enough for what we need it for.”

“Twenty says he’ll find an old copper landline cable box.” Scarlet whispered to Sheet Rock. “Ten more if it’s corroded to shit.”

It didn’t take Access long to locate a seam in the Arcology’s outer shell, indicative of a hidden utility panel. With a well placed strike on its bottom edge, the dark steel panel deformed around Access’ cybernetic hoof and fell to the ground with a soft thud as it landed in a mud puddle.

“Access Point?”

“Environmental control.” Access said with a shake of his head. “Can you give me a hoof here, this kind of thing is more your area of expertise.”

“A deep dive in the middle of a humid forest is a bad idea.” Sheet Rock nodded. “Makes my plugs itch just thinking about it, actually.”

Sheet Rock looked inside the cabinet at the mess of corroded cabling that ran between a small control panel and a couple of internal plastic conduits and went about tracing where they went with a few tricks she’d learnt from Phantom.

Thankfully, at least a couple fiber pairs linked to an active environmental control system deep underground, and through these cables they could manipulate its functions and access other systems, at least that was the hope.

If that didn’t work, they could always enter through the intake duct above them using Snowy’s array of inbuilt tools, a hardware option that he admitted got very little use despite it being a prominent feature of his chassis.

“I think I’ve got the right circuit pinned down here, but I don’t really know what’ll happen if I start messing with it.” Sheet Rock admitted.

“Only one way to find out, right?” Access replied. “Try to stop the fan in the intake up there.”

Sheet Rock connected a cable to a port inside the box and then sent every command she could think of that an environmental control system might respond to into the circuit she’d isolated.

It only took a few moments before one of the commands appeared to have some effect and the fan slowly groaned to a halt, unable to overcome the decades of corrosion and bearing damage accumulated over decades without its motor.

“I don’t think I’ve ever asked why, but I’ve noticed you don’t always have to use your chairs when running.” Snowy remarked as he went about removing the fan from its hub. “If you can do that without having to be completely vulnerable, why would you inflict that upon yourself at all?”

“Every net connected device has some kind of virtual interface, it’s just part of how the net and things connected to it operate.” Scarlet interjected. “But not all require complete control of your nervous system to navigate, some are simple menus projected as an AR display, others need full immersion, and sometimes it can be somewhere in between.”

“Interesting.”

“Deep dives are Access’ specialty, and his Cyberware reflects that. I’m more of an electronics and mechanics kind of mare.” Sheet Rock pointed out. “If it were up to me I would’ve remained a Techie so I could focus on maintaining our gear, but Access insisted I get neural plugs too, so I did.”

“Strength in numbers.” he stressed. “Besides, you didn’t exactly put up much of a fight when I pitched the idea.”

“It’s all ancient history anyway, our skill sets are pretty much on par with each other now.”

Snowy pulled at one of the fans blades to gradually wiggle it loose, but the layers of rust made this a slow prospect.

“And Scarlet?” he continued, probing further. “As I understand it, she’s far too responsible and level headed to ever consider agreeing with your plans willingly.”

Scarlet couldn’t help but chuckle at that assessment.

“No offense intended, of course.”

“We met through the net, as most Runners do.” Scarlet recalled. “I can’t remember the name of the BBS we were on at the time, but it was offering small jobs to pretty much anybody with a working deck, script-foal stuff, cracking registration locks on software if I remember correctly.”

“It was good money, still is really.” Access stated. “Besides, the clients never specified that we couldn’t keep what we cracked.”

“Pretty much every foal with fresh interface plugs has a deck full of pirated software.” Sheet Rock nodded. “Nobody I knew ever paid for the latest version of Killer or Flatline if we had anything to say about it.”

“Good times.”

“What’s got you so interested in our personal histories all of a sudden though?”

Snowy stopped what he was doing for a second to consider his answer. “Before we embarked on this little escapade, the young miss told me that I personally should consider learning more about you all.”

“Why?”

“When we first met, I was convinced you’d use her as a tool for personal gain, then throw her away once all was said and done.” Snowy pointed out without a hint of emotion. “We knew that Lower Canterlot wasn’t a place we wanted to be, let alone the Sprawl, so when we had to move there I was prepared to do what I had to in order to safeguard her well-being.”

“Course this is where you found out not everyone in Lower Canterlot is a lunatic. You probably should’ve listened to Star when she told you as much.” Scarlet remarked. “I mean there’s a pony on the ground floor of your apartment building who could be called a little nutty, but he’s harmless really.”

“That said, it took some convincing on the young miss’ part to get me to believe you meant no harm, though Access fitting me with some upgrades helped your case, of course.” Snowy remarked. “I realize this might sound ridiculous, but I think you three might actually have done more for her in the short time we’ve known each other that you realize.”

With a final tug, the fan broke away from its hub and tumbled down the side of the Arcology, breaking into little more than rusted pieces of scrap metal as it went.

It would’ve been easier for Snowy to remove had a mesh designed to stop foreign objects entering the duct not been in the way, but since it was almost as rusty and flimsy as the fan itself, it was easy enough to pry loose with the use of his Integrated Toolset and a little elbow grease.

The opening was large enough to stand upright in and just about wide enough for two of them to stand side-by-side, and it seemed to continue on that way for some distance until there was little but darkness.

“I reckon we’ve got a little under an hour before they notice one of their air intakes isn’t pulling in anything anymore.” Sheet Rock chuckled nervously. “Someone should stay here with the van.”

“I’ll go, so will Access.” Snowy stated. “You two cover our exit route.”

“Interesting choice, but okay.”

“I have a feeling there’s a sheer drop or two in the duct, your cyberware will be of use.” Snowy pointed out. “They aren’t designed for organics, some amount of augmentation would’ve been taken into account when they considered who would maintain them.”

“Might actually get some use out of the new legs then.” Access replied. “Fair enough, lets get moving.”

“Environmental control, stage one, node three.” Phantom read off from a rusted sign. “Good enough.”

“About time.” Matterhorn grunted. “I swear if this is another dead end.”

“I still think we should’ve followed the signs I found.” Star added. “But no, Phantom just had to explore every single damned branch.”

It turned out the mess of hallways they found themselves in wasn’t as sprawling as they’d first thought, as many of the hallways were blocked off by heavy steel security doors that looked like they’d been welded to their own guide rails.

Security doors like the one’s they’d encountered, if unlocked and not welded to themselves, were usually fitted with electrical or hydraulic systems that allowed even a single pony to open and close them at will like they would any normal door.

Though try as they might, none of them could be opened, even with Matterhorn’s brutish strength.

“Something’s up.” Phantom said as she stepped through the door. “Listen, notice how quiet it is?”

“What?” Star asked. “No, I wasn’t really paying full attention.”

“Normally, high pressure air would be flowing through these pipes to the air conditioning and filtration systems.” Phantom said, pointing at the pipes in question. “But for some reason all this machinery isn’t running anymore.”

“I mean they were running when we got here, right?” Matterhorn asked, wandering about the room. “Should we be concerned?”

Phantom peered at a dimly glowing terminal screen on a metal desk, at what she assumed was a status readout.

It confirmed what she already suspected was the case. The intake fans which had been very audible until now, had been shut down after the system detected an abnormality with the main intake fan on the outside wall.

The system couldn’t get a reading back, and the intake fan was listed as missing, not off or not operating, but outright missing. It had tried to restart the intake fan over the course of a few minutes, but must’ve shut itself down to prevent any further damage after multiple attempts to correct the issue failed.

“Good news and bad news, which do you want first?”

“Bad news, may as well.” Star shrugged, drawing patterns in the thick dust on the floor. “We already can’t get out the way we came.”

“Standard protocol in the event of an intake or filtration error is to seal the intake and reverse the direction of the flow using auxiliary fans.” Phantom remarked from behind the screen. “Stops contaminants from settling in places they shouldn’t.”

“So, what, we’re stuck?”

“Our only other option is to find an outtake that drops us in the atrium and leave that way, which shouldn’t be too difficult.” Phantom said confidently. “Problem is we’d need to cut our way through the filters if we can’t open the security doors, which might upset the system even more and draw attention to us.”

“How long will it take to find a way?”

“Not long, I am the best runner you’ve ever seen.” Phantom remarked. “I’ll just need to find a blueprint of the duct network, wont take a moment.”

Star didn’t want to admit it, but that declaration made her feel a little more at ease. Matterhorn seemed as unbothered as usual, and had been looking around the room for a little while now, mostly at the mess of pipes and ducting that connected to various bits of machinery scattered about the room

Things were silent for a while, short of Phantom’s taps on the terminal’s keyboard and Star’s incessant pacing, at least until a new set of hooves appeared in the doorway, belonging to an aged and disheveled bat pony stallion.

His entrance hadn’t been noticed at all until he spoke a simple few words in a dry, quietly raspy tone, like he’d spent his entire life without uttering a word until this very moment.

“Visitors?” the stallion rasped. “What are you doing here?”

Author's Note

I'm sorry this took so long, things have been very busy for me recently but be assured that things proceed apace and new chapters are being written, though a lot slower than I'd like.

Chapter 76 - Experiments

“Get the cover off of that junction.” Access remarked, gesturing towards a sheer drop into complete darkness. “I’ll be happy to see sunlight again after this.”

“We’re leaving a ton of evidence that we were here.”

“I know, but we don’t have much choice.” Access grunted. “By now the others should’ve done their thing and gotten the data the client wants, if not, we’ll improvise and make a quick exit.”

The opening into the duct leading down wasn’t wide enough for them both to jump down at once, so they went one at a time, allowing some time between jumps so they didn’t land on top of each other. The drop was well within the rated distance their cybernetic limbs could handle, but they did some damage to the duct work as they hit the bottom as a result of the forces involved.

“Ducts are corroded, watch your step.” Snowy pointed out, removing his hoof from a hole he’d made. “Looks like concrete on the other side, we’re probably in the foundations right now.”

“Right about where we want to be, just above the maintenance areas, right?”

“That is correct, there should be access hatches we can use nearby.”

“Say, how many drops did we make back there?” Access said, feeling at the joins between the duct sections as they walked. “Not that it matters, but I’m surprised at the lack of ladders around here. Workplace safety would have a field day if they knew about this.”

“Jokes aside, since there aren’t any dead bodies around I would surmise that there is a way out that doesn’t involve a lot of… paperwork, so to speak.” Snowy answered. “As for how far underground we are, I’d say that we’re somewhere around where the Genetech office is, vertically speaking that is.”

There was a dim spot of light in the distance, probably the only source of light they’d seen a good while. It was a small industrial cage light, which emitted a sickly red light onto its surroundings. It marked the entrance of a small alcove probably once used as a place to take shelter while the system was running or to provide access to the duct work.

This assumption proved to be correct as at the very back of the alcove, behind a rusted corrugated steel door was a ladder that led up through a hatch that didn’t appear to be locked.

Access clambered up the ladder and pushed gently against the hatch to see if it’d open without destructive force, and open it did. The sudden bright light blinded Access for a moment before his cyberoptics adjusted.

There was a group of industrial elevators clustered around a central brick and steel column, with hallways leading off in multiple directions.

“Got a hallway, elevators, can’t see anyone though.”

“Hear anything?”

“Electrical transformers, water pipes, not much else.”

“Alright, lets go find the nearest access point, we should be close enough to make contact if we relay through one.”

“Good idea.”

Matterhorn raised his sidearm at the stallion, who didn’t even flinch at the prospect of having a firearm that could knock golf ball sized holes in things pointed at him. Instead, the stallion approached the side of the machine, and grasped at a rusted side panel, never taking his eyes off the floor.

It soon became obvious after a few attempts to get his attention that the stallion was blind, or could only see to the floor and not much else.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“We’re… GeneTech employees on assignment.” Matterhorn bluffed. “We were unaware that anyone was still down here.”

“That is a lie, or perhaps not the whole truth.” the stallion said with a smile spreading across his face. “Nobody that this machinery services ever comes down here, and I doubt anyone up there remembers anyone down here.”

“We need a way out, preferably quickly.”

The stallion nodded.

“There are things in the tunnels behind those doors you would scarcely believe, remnants of GeneTech’s experimentation.” the stallion remarked. “They’re using their own employees as test subjects for some kind of experiment, those that make the cut are made use of as their betters see fit, the ones that don’t… are disposed of.”

“You don’t look like the kind of pony that should have that kind of information.” Phantom remarked. “Who are you exactly?”

“Me? I am the caretaker assigned to take care of this machinery.” the stallion remarked dryly. “It breaks down often, but I usually get it working again.”

“And this terminal?” Phantom continued. “I think it might be older than me.”

“I use it to request supplies, as well as access select files on the GeneTech subnet, but my failing vision makes it hard to use at the best of times.” the stallion said. “The things I order get delivered via those pneumatic tubes over there. It’s old tech, but it works well enough.”

“You… have access to their subnet down here?”

“I thought that might’ve piqued your interest.” Matterhorn chuckled. “Can you access the data we need from there?”

“Probably, but it’ll take a moment.”

The stallion let out a raspy chuckle. “I had you figured for the edgerunner types, and it seems I was correct in that assessment.”

“I hope you don’t mean to try and stop us.”

“GeneTech has it coming, and you can thank their past and present actions for that. They sent me down here only to forget they even did it, then filled the old tunnels with their failed experiments.” the stallion spat. “So, you want a way out of their dumping ground, yes? It seems to me that the tunnels are your only option.”

“I mean, we could just head out the intake ducts up there.” Matterhorn remarked. “To be frank, i couldn’t care if a few suit’s air gets a little stale.”

“No, we should take the tunnels.” Phantom remarked from behind the terminal. “We’re actually quite close to an exit, but it’s through those sealed security doors we saw back there.”

“How do we get them open though, weren’t they sealed?”

“Just one remains operational according to this floor plan, thats the one we’ll use.”

Matterhorn was first out the door, weapon in hoof. Next was Phantom who hurried away from the terminal with the kind of urgency one would expect from a Netrunner, but Star stayed back for a few moments.

She felt a certain sense of pity for the stallion. Blind, old, barely able to speak or even move at a normal pace by this point in his life, yet he still worked for those above him, literally and figuratively.

The stallion looked in her direction for a moment, smirked, then continued with his allotted tasks in a methodical albeit slow manner.

When Star rejoined the others, they were all the way down the hall stood at the security door Phantom mentioned. She had herself wired into its control board, but seemed to be having trouble getting it to open as the board booted her out the system every few attempts.

She refused to accept that her cyberware wasn’t cut out for the job and assumed it was because the system was old and decrepit enough to need a lighter touch.

“Did you find what we needed?” Matterhorn asked, peering down the hallway as if he expected something hostile to jump them at any moment. “If this ends in us not getting paid…”

“Yes, yes, I got it.” Phantom answered defensively. “It’s safely stored on a memory chip, encrypted as per the client’s instructions.”

It was a few moments more before the security door’s control board finally allowed it to open, though it only rose up enough for them to crawl underneath before the whole thing stopped working for good.

Mercifully, it did not fall on them as they worked their way underneath. The hallway was completely devoid of any light apart from the little amount that leaked from the space they entered from, although the general layout was at least similar enough to feel their way around.

Matterhorn grabbed Star and pushed her backwards suddenly at an intersection, signaling that they should immediately shut up and pointed around the corner at a dark shape hanging from the ceiling.

It was the thin, emaciated frame of a Bat Pony laying on some water pipes, sound asleep but very much on guard. Its ears flicked at the slightest noise, near or far, audible or not and it yawned sleepily at times.

“Sneak past, or take it out?” Star mouthed.

Matterhorn shook his head and rounded the corner. With the aid of some of his cyberware designed to aid stealth in situations like this, he silently slipped past the sleeping creature and he motioned for the others to follow him at a safe distance.

There were two more laying among some loose cabling in one direction, but the other direction was clear, at least it seemed so to Matterhorn’s eyes.

It occurred to him that some of the eurobits he’d earned while doing merc work might’ve been better spent on some updated optics, but no, he spent much of it on cyberware and a heavy pistol which he could not use unless he wanted every single one of these creatures to wake up at once.

“How many of these things do you think there are?” Star said quietly. “Phantom?”

“No idea.” she replied. “We should assume they outnumber us by a large margin.”

A loud bang echoed in the distance, source unknown. It was loud enough to draw the attention of the creatures laying among the loose cabling, which elicited a low growl from them.

“Side room, now!” Phantom half-shouted.

They hurried into a side room down the clear hallway to hopefully wait the creatures out, at least until a couple of them started to wander. Phantom could hear their hoofsteps through the door, but there wasn’t any indication the creatures could sense their presence, at least not yet.

“The exit hatch is down that hallway we saw, past those creatures.” Phantom pointed out. “It’s not ideal that they’re awake, but hopefully they’ll get out of our way naturally and we can just slip past.”

“What about the others?” Star inquired. “Have either of you heard from them?”

“They’re probably still trying to find a way to reach us, we lost contact before everything went to hell.” Phantom grunted. “I doubt they’ll be much help, worst case scenario is that we’ll come back to a couple of flash-fried corpses.”

“What if that noise was them coming to help?”

“If it was, they have a funny way of helping since it woke up a couple of this creatures. Even if they were here, they probably don’t know what’s down here waiting for them.” Matterhorn stressed. “If by some miracle that is them, they’ll find a way to contact us.”

Author's Note

Had a few hours to myself today, so i decided to sit down and edit this with the intention to post it tomorrow, but i figured that it was pointless to make people wait when its done and ready.

Chapter 77 - Containment

“I have checked the hallways, and there’s a security door over there that looks like it could use your touch.” Snowy remarked as he watched Access pull a metal plate off the wall near the elevator. “What are you doing?”

“Trying to get this elevator to work.” Access answered, fiddling around inside a corroded service box. “It should let us get back upstairs, hopefully somewhere we can get out without being seen.”

“Assuming it doesn’t deliver us into the hooves of Genetech, you mean.”

“It’s a cargo elevator, it probably opens up to a warehouse on the upper level, you know, where they deliver goods?” Access pointed out. “For all their self-sufficiency, I’d be surprised if they didn’t import some kind of luxury from the outside world.”

Someone had at one point or another, intentionally damaged the elevator’s control circuitry in an attempt to stop it being called to the floor they were on, but it appeared that the elevator itself still functioned, as they could hear the elevator traveling between floors on occasion.

The call button’s lighting sprang to life almost as soon as Access had finished fiddling with the wires inside the box. He closed the panel back up again after a few finishing touches, and hit the call button gently to see if it’d actually work.

There was an almighty grinding noise as the cargo elevator started to move as expected, which turned into a low whine as it gathered speed.

“Can’t you can’t work your magic to make it a little faster?” Snowy said with a hint of dissatisfaction.

“Cargo elevators aren’t really built for speed.” Access said plainly. “We should be glad that the damage wasn’t more permanent.”

“Now start work on that security door, but be careful.”

“Yeah yeah, I will.” Access groaned “You sound like my mom, she fussed over me whenever I did anything slightly dangerous too.”

While Access was just making a joke at Snowy’s expense, there was actually cause for a little caution, as a slight scratching sound could be heard on other side of the door, amplified by the otherwise dead silent tunnels. It sounded like something sharp or heavy was being drawn across it lazily.

He scraped his own hoof against the door, purely to test something, and the sound stopped for a moment before resuming shortly afterwards.

“Rifle at the ready, I’m going to open the door.” Access said. “The button’s corroded to shit, but I can just bridge the contacts with my hoof, be ready.”

The rifle Snowy was equipped with popped out from his side, unfolding into a firing position as it went. A rifle like that could’ve easily punched through the door, but they didn’t know who, or what, was on the other side and would run the risk of hitting something important.

The bottom half of the door fell into the floor, while the top half remained in place, with the resulting gap being just large enough to crawl underneath. A strange dark furred mass that had been laying against the door suddenly sprang to its hooves and went to sprint down the hallway toward them, but a single thunderous shot from Snowy’s rifle soon put an end to that plan.

The shot tore through the creature and liberated its front left hoof from the rest of its body, and it crumpled to the floor into a growling heap. Despite the pain it must’ve felt in that moment, it was still trying to get to them, but wasn’t going anywhere in a hurry.

“Shoot first, ask question later is it?”

“My cognitive capability far outclasses yours, Access, look closer.”

The creature’s coloration was almost entirely dark blues, grays, and earthy greens, the traditional color palette for a bat pony, but its overall body shape was far too thin and rake-like for one. If this was indeed a Bat Pony and not someone gene-modded to look like one in a superficial manner, it raised some question.

Shadows seemed to cling unnaturally to the creature’s emaciated frame and it was hard to concentrate on it for any length of time, almost as if something was trying to actively dissuade onlookers from acknowledging the creature’s existence.

“I don’t think this thing was friendly, just looking at it makes my head hurt.”

“Given the nature of where we are, are you surprised?” Snowy remarked before he suddenly peered into the darkness. “There is movement nearby, we should tread lightly.”

“That rifle is far from quiet, what makes you think that’ll help now?”

Snowy sighed, or a close approximation thereof. “Bat Ponies are sensitive to sudden bright lights and loud noises, so if these really are Bat Ponies, the gunshot alone echoing off the walls should stun them even if the shot misses.”

Access pointed down the hall. “Would you stake your life on it?”

There were more of the creatures peering at them from the ceiling a little way down the hall, hiding behind bundles of cables and lighting fixtures long since burnt out from overuse.

While they considered how to proceed, Access noticed something peculiar about the individual Snowy had disabled and knelt down to take a closer look. He had a GeneTech logo branded onto his neck, followed by a faded barcode.

“Snowy, does this look like it could mean something?”

“I can try and decode it.”

“Do it quickly please, they don’t look happy.” Access urged. “I don’t think we have enough bullets between us to take them all down.”

The barcode was faded with age but there was enough of it intact to reveal a few things about the individual it was on. It combined a serial code and medical data into one long string of data, though much of the latter was illegible.

“I wouldn’t like to speculate for what purpose, but this may have been a test subject of sorts.”

“GeneTech are experimenting on live subjects?”

“It wouldn’t be much of a stretch to assume that they were doing just that, given we know of one other corporate entity who have done something similar.” Snowy pointed out. “You see what I’m getting at, don’t you?”

“Loud and clear.” Access answered. “There’s another thing that’s been bugging me about this job too actually, didn’t Phantom say that the place we were hitting was on the UPPER levels?”

Snowy twitched, like he malfunctioned for a moment. “I don’t recall.”

“You’re a Synthetic.” Access stated. “You don’t forget, not like organics do.”

“Are you implying someone intentionally tampered with my databanks?” Snowy said indignantly. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not pointing hooves here, but the only pony that’s been in my core recently was you.”

A low growl brought their attention to the creatures, some of which were getting increasingly agitated with their presence. Access unholstered his shotgun and pointed it up at the ceiling, which made some of the creatures recede into the darkness, growling as they went.

“How many shots you got left?”

“Including the one in the barrel, nine.”

“There’s maybe twenty of them in total, better make those shots count.”

Suddenly, the creatures began to leave until only one of the more curious and least aggressive individuals remained, It dropped to the ground a little distance from Access, who responded by aiming his shotgun at the creature’s chest.

What occurred next was something of a surprise, given that these creatures had done little more than growl at them.

It spoke.

“Don’t… harm…” It said in a low, barely audible rasp. “Not… dangerous…”

“Come any closer and you’ll be breathing through a new hole in your chest.” Access promised. “I mean it.”

“You shot… first.” the creature said. “You, danger.”

“In our line of work, the pony that shoots last is a dead pony.” Snowy rebutted. “Maybe we can calm down a little, apologize maybe.”

“One you shot, bad.” the creature said. “Don’t care, for him.”

“Why are you talking like that?”

“Long time, not talk, difficult.”

“We’re looking for some ponies, ones like us, they need our help.” Access pointed out. “Will you be a problem?”

“Not me, others, maybe.”

“Do you know where they might be?”

The creature thought for a moment before it produced a worn marker from under its wing. It drew a symbol on the wall, then drew an arrow pointing at it.

“Look here, find symbol, maybe there.”

The creature seemed to meld into the shadows as it finished its sentence, but not before it left a chip on the floor where it once stood which Snowy collected. When he looked around, there was nothing left of the creature’s presence except small wisps of smoky shadow.

Snowy studied the logo and surmised that the crudely drawn symbol, a rounded box with a gear inside, might’ve once been a symbol on a map. It was little to go on, but short of scouring every single square inch of the place, it would have to do.

They got the sense that the creature hadn’t left and was just hidden from view, but they had nothing to back that suspicion up with, so they had to operate under the assumption that it was at least not hostile for the moment.

“Any idea where to start?” Access asked. “A symbol isn’t really that helpful without a way to know where we actually are or what it means.”

“I think I saw a floor plan back toward the elevator, maybe check that first just to be sure.” Snowy answered. “Something tells me that there is more to these creatures, so we should try to avoid provoking them anymore than we already have.”

“I mean, you were lucky the one you shot wasn’t held in higher regard, what if we killed mole pony royalty or something?”

“Joking aside, I doubt it’s quite that deep.” Snowy answered, unamused. “They didn’t seem all that bothered about it.”

“You’re probably right, let’s get to it then.”

Author's Note

Forgot to post this yesterday, oops.

Chapter 78 - Attack

“I don’t like this, they’ve been in there too long.” Sheet Rock said for the fifth time in an hour. “Why wont they pick up?”

“Can you stop fidgeting, you’re making me feel motion sick.” Scarlet barked. “It’s only been a few hours, calm down.”

“Something’s bothering me about this job too.”

“You mean how convoluted everything is, or the fact that your mentor appeared out the woodwork for the first time since you met them?” Scarlet grunted. “Can’t see why that’d be suspicious.”

“Didn’t you see how weird Phantom was acting before she left ahead of us?” Sheet Rock said, turning to face Scarlet. “She couldn’t keep her eyes off Matterhorn, like she wanted to know where he was at every possible moment.”

“Maybe she just wanted an experienced solo to cover her ass.” Scarlet shrugged. “I can’t imagine Star has much combat experience.”

“That’s just it too, why would Phantom bring Star with her?” Sheet Rock pointed out. “She’s useful when it comes to talking to ponies, that’s what she does best, she can barely hit the broad side of a garage at the best of times.”

“I see your point, but I don’t think it’d do us any good to speculate right now.”

The two mares had spent the better part of the last few hours sitting in the humid interior of the van, fan on full for all the good it was going right now. They jumped at every sound that passed overhead or on the nearby road, until one small passenger AV broke off from a small, low-flying group and headed toward them.

“I think we’ve got company.” Scarlet remarked, peering through a detached rifle scope. “That group of AVs there, the jet black ones, you see them?”

She passed the scope to Sheet Rock so she could take a look for herself. Her heart was already in her stomach at this point, and it dropped that much further when she caught a glimpse of the logo on the AV’s nose.

A golden crown.

It closed the distance between itself and where they were parked with frightening speed and hovered directly above them, projecting its landing warning holograms around the van.

“Did it see us?”

“Sure hope not.” Scarlet answered.

“Do not move, stay inside your vehicle or we will open fire!” a voice bellowed above them. “Do as you are told, and you’ll leave in one piece.”

Sheet Rock grimaced as six heavily armed ponies dropped from the AV. They landed heavily in the wet dirt and spend no time surrounding them, weapons gripped in hoof, magic and wing alike.

“Step out and kneel in the dirt.” commanded the voice again. “Toss your iron on the ground.”

Sheet Rock looked at Scarlet for a moment, then unloaded her smart SMG’s magazine into the hoofwell and tossed the firearm at the hooves of one of the armored figures. Once they got out of the vehicle and laid down in the damp and frankly rather disgusting swamp mud, a seventh figure jumped out of the AV, which then quickly flew off into the distance.

“Hm, I figured it was you.”

“I don’t believe we’ve met.” Sheet Rock grumbled. “One hell of a welcome party though.”

“This is anything but a welcome party.” the stallion said. “The director sends her regards, but regrets to inform you that your usefulness is at an end.”

“We stopped working for you a while ago now.”

“Did you?” the stallion chuckled darkly. “No, I do believe there was one more thing the Director wanted you to do, but couldn’t ask you directly.”

“Ah, Matterhorn.”

“Quite, but she doesn’t want him retrieved, she wants him liquidated.” the stallion said with surgical coldness. “Allow me to demonstrate why.”

The stallion twisted his helmet slightly to break the airtight environment seal and removed it to reveal his face. He was the spitting image of Matterhorn, an almost perfect copy from the color of his coat right down to the tone of his voice, although it was far colder and matter-of-fact.

“Matterhorn?”

“Hm, who?” the copy said quizzically. “Oh, you mean the Prototype, right?”

“Figures they’d have more of him laying around.”

“Not quite, close though.” the copy hummed, sauntering over to the two prone mares. “Put simply, his usefulness ended when he failed three times in a row, so the responsibility to uphold the Director’s wishes now falls to me.”

“Sounds pretty arrogant to be honest.”

The copy stamped on Sheet Rock’s left forehoof roughly and ground it into the dirt with a cruel grin on his face.

“Don’t compare me to that traitor.” the copy growled. “He was mere months from being replaced by a superior model anyway, but no, his handler had to go and lose him so his replacement was brought out of the labs early.”

“Why did the Director replace him?” Sheet Rock hissed through the pain. “She treated him like a son, so I have trouble believing that she’d throw him away like that.”

The copy stepped off of Sheet Rock’s hoof as the crazed look on his face faded.

“I do not question, I do not argue, I do as I am told. This is something that Matterhorn often struggled to accept, so she treated him with foal gloves to get him to comply.” the copy remarked coldly. “In short, she never really cared about him that much.”

“Bullshit.”

“He was only ever a tool to be used up and thrown away, and with the way he acted during any mission he was given, it’s surprising he didn’t get himself killed in the process.” the copy spat. “It is this that led to the decision to have him replaced, the Director approved it, and here I am.”

“You’ll be replaced too!” Scarlet bellowed. “Just like he was, you aren’t safe.”

“Don’t think you can sway me with your empty words, I know what I am and what I am not. I don’t intend to make the same mistakes as my predecessor.”

“Raptor, sir!” one of the armored ponies said. “The Support Team has just informed me that the Anti-Air emplacements have been disabled, external communications have been cut as well.”

“Excellent, tell the Demolitions Team that they can begin their approach.” Raptor said with barely restrained glee. “As for these two, tie them up and toss them in the back of their vehicle.”

“Sir?”

“As long as they don’t try anything stupid they can keep on breathing just a little bit longer, though it would be smarter to bury them right now.” Raptor lamented. “Director’s orders, sentimental old circbrain.”

While the rest watched, one of the troopers zip tied Sheet Rock and Scarlet’s limbs together in such a manner that would make moving around or even getting their bindings off quite difficult without making a lot of noise. They were then unceremoniously thrown into the back of the van with little regard to their comfort or safety, but at least they weren’t injured.

“Fuckin’ hazed us.” Sheet Rock said quietly. “We listened to her story and we bought it, hook, line and sinker.”

“Too right.” Scarlet answered. “What do we do now, grab a weapon and fight back?”

“We could probably drop one or two of them before we get our brains boiled inside our skulls, that’s assuming I could grab the magazine I dropped in time as well.”

“We can’t just sit here!”

“I don’t think we have much choice, to be honest.” Sheet Rock answered. “Just sit tight and try to think of something.”

Snowy had memorized the locations they should search for their missing comrades and opted to search them one by one, as he dared not to split up knowing what was down there with them.

As the search began on they found flooded out storerooms, empty and barren break rooms missing their appliances, and even a few disused mechanical rooms filled with old utility pipes and broken pump systems.

After some time finding nothing but rust and decay, there was but one marked room left, some distance from where they’d entered.

“Watch my back.” Access remarked, his voice a whisper. “Gonna try the handle.”

Snowy nodded and rounded the corner, rifle unfolded into its firing position. Access crept past him, trying not to make a too much unnecessary noise.

His enhanced hearing picked up the low rumble of voices coming from the other side of the wall, but he couldn’t be completely sure without revealing his own presence to whoever was inside. If they were indeed voices, whoever they belonged to were keeping their voices low to avoid them leaking out into the hallway too much.

He went to investigate, and a misplaced step into a large puddle of water caused a loud splash to ring out down the hallway.

The voices stopped and Access found himself frozen to the spot, and the only sound he could hear was his own breathing and Snowy’s mechanical whirring.

Out of the darkness came a hoof aimed directly at his face, unable to respond in time Access was on the ground in mere moments, slammed in the very puddle that’d given him away. The next few moments were a blur of gunshots and ricochets exchanged between Snowy and Access’ assailant, only stopping once everyone’s magazines were empty.

“Don’t move an inch you big dumb- Access?”

“You’ve got quite the grapple there, if I were more meat than machine you might’ve broken my back.” Access joked, despite the pain. “Snowy, you can come out, it’s just Matterhorn.”

“Don’t scare us like that!” Star shrieked as she emerged from the room. “We thought you were one of those things!”

“We’ve met their acquaintance.” Snowy nodded. “We shot one dead on our way here, actually, kinda had to.”

“So that was you then?”

“If we’re all done with the reunion, we need to get out of here, fast.” Phantom said impatiently. “Our exit is back the way you two came, did you see a hatch by chance?”

“Thats how we got down here, but it’s one way.” Snowy remarked.

“Yeah, it was sheer drop after sheer drop.” Access added as Matterhorn pulled him up off the ground. “I don’t think the ducts will survive us climbing back up them, they were more rust than metal.”

“We found a service elevator though.”

“That’s going to have to do.” Phantom remarked, scratching at her neck nervously. “Are you sure it’ll drop us close to where the others are?”

“I have no idea!” Access declared. “At this point it might just be best to take what we can get.”

A dull rumble shook the walls and floor slightly, but only for a brief moment. Then came another, and another, and another.

“Explosions?” Access asked. “Here?”

“We need to go, now.” Phantom declared. “You remember where that elevator was, right?”

“Well yeah, but-”

“No time, start running.”

Chapter 79 - Collapse - Part One

The group had barely made it more than a few feet before a hail of gunfire flew down the hallway, shredding the already crumbling concrete walls to little more than brick dust and damp paint.

“Smart-guns, see the bullet holes?” Phantom grunted. “Don’t let them get an angle on you, stay away from corners.”

Smart-guns could bend their trajectory mid-flight which allowed them to track their targets even if what you wanted to shoot at was behind cover or around a corner, although there were a number of drawbacks involved.

The weapon relied upon the shooter’s cyberware to provide it with targeting data, and without it the weapon was far more likely to miss more often than not, due to the somewhat slower speed at which the projectiles traveled whenever it wasn’t given a target to track.

The degree to which it could bend said trajectory was dependent on the weapon, the shooter’s cyberware, the targeting software, and environmental conditions. While it could be expected that such a weapon system would work well in areas where the target could not easily maneuver, it instead did the opposite.

The hallways were simply too narrow to allow the weapon to function at its best, but despite this, the armored troopers creeping their way down the hall looked like they’d be able to compensate for their equipment’s shortcomings somewhat.

“Crown Agents, specifically of the Black Hoof unit.” Matterhorn said. “They’re the kinds of ponies you send when someone like me fails to complete an assignment.”

“On a scale of one to ten, just how screwed are we?”

“Probably a seven.” Matterhorn offered. “That one at the very end of the hall is probably the only one out of the whole squad that’s seen the inside of an augmentation clinic, the others are probably just there to make sure this one actually comes back.”

“Like Lucky was supposed to?”

“No.” Matterhorn said plainly. “She was in charge despite how it looked to the rest of you, these ones appear to be subordinate.”

Phantom peered around the corner at the approaching squad, four with Smart Submachine guns and the last of them at the very rear without a weapon which was quite concerning.

Layers of thick jet black bulletproof composite armor plating covered the pony’s body, much of which was dedicated to protecting vital organs such as the lungs and heart, and even more than that protected the horn, head, and neck.

“We’re not punching through armor like that with the guns we have on us.” she grunted. “How’re we doing this?”

“Is the elevator still on this floor?” Matterhorn asked, pushing Phantom away from the corner. “If it isn’t I’ll have to hold them back for as long as it takes.”

He planted his hooves firmly on the ground and summoned a barrier that spanned the width of the corridor and then turned to point at the elevator, as if to tell them to get a move on.

While it was likely pretty pointless to try and make as little noise as possible now, Access crept to the call button and pushed it gently. The elevator whirred to life as expected but he let out a sharp tut as he looked at the indicator, which showed that it had moved away from them at some point and was now three floors away.

One of the troopers peered around the corner and Matterhorn wasted no time in flinging a few magical bolts of energy in his direction as a distraction, many of which ended up in the walls and floor, but one found its way to the troopers right eye.

He stumbled back due to the force at which it struck, although it didn’t seem to have penetrated the trooper’s helmet. Despite that, it struck with enough force to at least do something useful. Whatever that was had been enough to render him a non-threat as he slumped to the floor.

“I knew they’d send them somehow.” Phantom remarked strangely. “I figured they would.”

“You… figured?”

“Eyes forward, Matterhorn!”

A roughly cylindrical object bounced off the wall opposite the hallway the troopers were, which rolled along the floor, and came to a stop at Matterhorn’s hooves. Before he could bark out a warning, the object detonated with a resounding bang and a bright white light flooded the halls.

Before he knew it, Matterhorn was a writhing mess on the floor thanks to the effects of the object, which was more than likely some kind of flashbang.

“Someone drag Matterhorn back here!” Access yelled, trying to light his horn unsuccessfully. “Something ain’t quite right with that stun grenade they just threw, I can normally muster at least a weak telekinesis spell, but my horn won’t work.”

Phantom leapt to her hooves and went to drag Matterhorn to safety just as the rest of the troopers rounded the corner, sans the unfortunate recipient of Matterhorn’s magical assault who now appeared to be in some distress, perhaps the bolt he threw did more harm than was first apparent.

The trooper’s full-face helmets hid their expressions, but the heavy atmosphere made it quite clear that they weren’t best pleased.

They lazily pointed their weapons at them just waiting for them to be given an excuse to shoot, as at this range, their smart guns wouldn’t miss no matter where their quarry thought to hide.

“We’re here to deal with two problems, don’t make yourselves one of them.” Raptor said calmly, then craned his head to look at one of the troopers behind him. “Tend to the wounded.”

“Which one are you?” Star asked. “I don’t recognize your voice.”

“Which… one?” Raptor said slowly. “Ah yes, you ponies are obsessed with names, the briefing said so. I’m Raptor, not that it matters any. Your friends are tied up in their van, so I’d appreciate it if you lowered your weapons.”

“You better not have harmed them, or I’ll rip out your neuralware with my bare hooves.” Access growled.

“Big words coming from such a small, sad, excuse for a pony.” Raptor chuckled. “I imagine that would be quite painful, but it would pale in comparison to what I’ll do to you if you dare try it.”

“Sir, if I may?” one of the troopers said with a cable connected to the port in Matterhorn’s neck. “The device appears to have had the desired effect on his nervous system, it’s unlikely he’ll be a threat even if he does wake up sooner than expected.”

“That wasn’t an ordinary flashbang, was it?” Access asked. “They’re pretty obsolete since most optics compensate for stuff like that.”

“No, it wasn’t.” Raptor replied coldly. “But that’s irrelevant, what is relevant however is that’s one problem dealt with.”

“I’m guessing that we’re the second problem.” Star added. “Since we’re not riddled with holes yet, I’m guessing there’s more to that.”

“It remains to be seen whether you’ll hand it over to us, the data you were sent here to steal I mean.” Raptor remarked with a shrug. “Judging by the look on your face, I don’t think you were aware that the job involved us.”

“Why did you come in here guns blazing then?”

“Ah, well, there was the matter of our lost property which as you can imagine we were quite eager to retrieve.” Raptor remarked, giving Matterhorn a sharp kick in the face. “Thank you by the way, but there’s no bonus in it for you.”

Phantom pointed her sidearm at the side of Raptor’s head as he passed her, but found it being twisted from her grasp. Without looking, Raptor had much of her forehoof and weapon in his magical grip, firmly in his control.

“Don’t think the deal you cut with the bosses will save you.” Raptor sneered. “Try that again and I’ll be sure to tell the Director that you met with an unfortunate accident, wouldn’t that be sad?”

Phantom turned to the others with an unreadable expression on her face. “You’ve got ten seconds, make the most of them.”

Suddenly, the troopers screeched out in pain, smoke billowing out from underneath their helmets. Raptor didn’t seem to be as affected by whatever was happening, but he loosened his grip enough for her to toss a memory chip into the elevator cabin before he regained enough composure to punch her in the stomach and face.

He then tore her gun from her hoof and blindly fired off a magazine’s worth of shots at the elevator as its doors slowly closed, after which a loud thud and a sickening crunch echoed through the cabin which left a large round dent in the inner door.

The elevator continued on its way for a time before either of them noticed that Snowy hadn’t said anything in a little while, as well as the wisps of smoke rising from his unresponsive body which was propped up against the side of the elevator cabin. He’d shielded Star from the majority of the gunfire, and paid the price for it when the bullets hit something vital.

Star was moments from having a full-blown panic attack but Access put a comforting hoof on her shoulder and soon got to work prying off parts of his steel and polymer body, much to her confusion and barely contained rage.

“What are you doing!?”

“Removing his core, obviously.”

“What?”

“Synthetic bodies have removable modules that house their core intelligence and supporting hardware, It’s been that way since… twenty-thirty or so I think.” Access remarked. “Someone will have to carry it though, and it’s a little unwieldy.”

“So, he’s alive, I thought that…”

“Once I remove it, his body will just be a bunch of scrap without a brain.” Access stressed, trying to comfort the mare as best he could. “Everything important for his operation will be on something we can lug out of here.”

“I owe you a full pallet of whatever beer you drink, Access.” Star said, letting a sigh of relief leave her mouth. “If we ended up having to leave him behind, I don’t know what I’d do.”

“I’m the same with Sheet, actually.” Access nodded, pulling the last body panel off. “We’ve been running together for so long it seems crazy to think that it could be any other way.”

“I suppose if you work and live together long enough some things just don’t need to be said, do they?” Star sighed, letting herself drop to the floor with exhaustion. “Sorry if I’m making things awkward, I feel like my head’s gonna explode.”

“Gotta cope with the stress somehow, take some time to breathe.” Access ordered. “Elevator’s got a ways to go yet.”

Access finally managed to get to the dimly glowing collection of wires and circuit boards at the center of Snowy’s body. Like others of its type, his AI Core was a roughly oblong shaped piece of machinery with one side entirely covered in connection points, where it could interface with a Synthetic body.

It came equipped with a carry handle and integrated carry case for situations where it needed to be protected while it was moved between bodies or linked into a local subnet, and as Access was about to assume responsibility for carrying it, Star insisted that she should be the one to carry it which he would not argue with.

She could keep it balanced between her wings well enough, as it wasn’t very heavy. At worst, it felt like carrying a particularly weighty office chair.

“When the door opens, look for a way out, I’ll cover you.”

Chapter 81 - Collapse - Part Three

The control room had at some point, been the site of a horrific attack judging from the thin film of blood and gore that coated the walls and consoles. On the ground lay the smashed remains of what Access assumed to have been a pony at one point, weakly clutching the shredded grip of a personal sidearm separated from the rest of the weapon.

Just from the look of the weapon’s remains, as Access was unwilling to physically touch it for fairly obvious reasons, whoever once wielded it didn’t even get the chance to fire a shot before they were turned into a fine red mist.

“See anything?” Star called up. “Access?”

“Just a corpse.” he replied.

“Is it the pony we were supposed to talk to?”

“Hard to tell through the gore, anything we could've used to identify them has been mangled beyond recognition, there’s no name badge that I can see either.”

A few of the consoles still flickered with life despite the damage sustained during the scuffle, one of which displayed a general alert.

Attention, there is a Condition Zero alert in effect for all facilities above ground level, please proceed to your assigned safe rooms.

“So what’s this idea of yours?”

“It’s gonna be a little grisly, but you need to root around in that corpse’s pockets for a key roughly the size of a datachip.” Star called out. “That’ll go into a slot in the console, which should open the outer blast doors.”

“How can you be sure?”

“I can’t, we’ll just have to hope that this doesn’t set off an alarm or release a murder-bot swarm or something.” Star chuckled darkly. “Look, just deal with the blast doors, I’ll work on the shutters.”

Star was liable to shock herself stupid in the process of figuring out the right wires to bridge, but she seemed determined despite her lack of know-how, which was surprising given the situation they were in.

Ponies with any useful level of clearance usually kept their passes and credentials in easy to reach places, such as on a belt or chest rig, but it seemed like someone had already emptied the pony’s pockets of anything useful.

A short yelp caught Access’ attention, likely caused by Star’s hamfisted attempts at hardware hacking.

“Did you watch the vids I sent you?” Access said smugly, delving into the last pocket he’d yet to check.

“No, Access.” Star grumbled as the rolling shutter screeched to life. “With all that’s been going on I’ve barely found the time, besides, I managed without it.”

“Judging from the smell, you’ve also torched the controls, better hope that doesn’t come back to bite us in the ass.” Access remarked through a barely concealed grin. “Got the key as well, pony kept it really well hidden for some reason.”

“Probably wanted to keep it hidden from whatever turned him into pizza sauce.” Star replied. “I hope we never have the misfortune to meet them.”

“Something tells me we might have already.”

A cursory glance across the console revealed the receptacle the key needed to be slotted into. It was labeled as an “Emergency Override Token Port” and despite the name implying it was only to be used as such, it appeared to have seen quite some use due to how heavily scratched up the slot was underneath the translucent red cover.

Access flipped open the cover and slid the impossibly small security credential into the slot with a satisfying click. At first, nothing happened, but a loud hiss resounded throughout the loading bay indicating the release of a heavy-duty hydraulic lock.

“Got movement, look after Snowy’s core for me real quick.” Star said, placing her friends electronic brain on the ground. “I’m gonna check it out.”

Access nodded and jumped off the catwalk onto the ground below and took up a position behind some boxes, sliding Snowy’s armored AI core onto his back.

The vast black steel blast doors slowly groaned into motion, slowly at first, then faster as the pressure differential between the inside and outside of the structure equalized. A wave of damp foul-smelling air rushed into the room, a product of the industrial pollutants dumped into the forest over many decades.

Star peered around the corner, hoping to see Sheet Rock and Scarlet waiting for them, but instead she was greeted with silence and she waved over Access cautiously.

The van was just about visible through the brush, but it also obscured their view of anything that might be waiting for them, as it was unlikely that the blast doors opening had gone unnoticed.

An AV suddenly roared over their heads followed closely by another, both flying at speed toward an unknown destination. They were of the type that carried a small number of passengers in relative comfort, the kind a senior dignitary might make use of.

Star pointed at a half rotted tree stump a little distance past the brush that obscured their view of the van, weapon in hoof, and then pointed toward where they’d exited.

“You sure?” Access mouthed. “I should go ahead, my shotgun is more effective up close.”

Instead of giving an answer, Star went to take up a position behind the stump, moving low and slow as she went.

While her knowledge of Crown activities and their operating procedures was likely a little outdated by now, she understood that a strike team usually consisted of at least three AVs and they only saw two leave, which meant there was a squad unaccounted for.

The squad in question was more than likely the one Raptor commanded, likely taking the long way back to the surface after their little encounter. This however meant that the pilot, or pilots, of the AV that brought them here were probably lurking around somewhere.

Access suddenly gripped Star’s shoulder, pointing ahead of them.

Sat on a pair of heavy ammunition crates stacked up beside the van’s rear bumper were a pair of stallions dressed in lightly armored flight suits. Their flight helmets had beentossed lazily into a pile at the foot of the crates, helmets that they really should’ve been wearing, if only for safety’s sake.

Not that a flight helmet would’ve saved them from a stray bullet, a shredded piece of fuselage or explosion, but still.

“Pilots.” Star whispered. “Probably only lightly armed, assuming they’re armed at all, think we could take them?”

“Probably, if we got the jump on them.”

The two pilots appeared to be playing an augmented reality game of some sort, but it was impossible to tell without breaching their cyberware or invading them via the net, regardless, their game had them quite distracted.

“I’ll take the one of the left, you take the other one.” Access mumbled. “Don’t let them reach for their sidearms, or we’ll have a firefight on our hooves.”

Wordlessly, the two counted to three then popped out from behind the stump, dashing toward the pilots and leveled their weapons at the two before they could even blink. The surprise was written all over their faces, and they could do little else than stammer with their mouths agape.

One reached for a light sidearm by his hind hooves, but a shot from Access’ shotgun knocked the weapon away into a pool of stagnant water.

“Stand up, back away from the van.” Access said, loading another shell into his shotgun. “Reach for your sidearms and you die, clear?”

“The others, where are they?” Star demanded.

“In the back.” the unarmed pilot said. “The boss had them restrained, I’d assume they’re still in there.”

“You didn’t think to check, huh?”

“We’re pilots, not soldiers.” the pilot stammered. “Taking care of prisoners was not part of the job description.”

The van’s rear door had been left unlocked, judging from how the handle wobbled as Access took a hold of it. With a tug he pulled it open, only for a hoof to fly out of the interior square into his jaw, sending him careening into the dirt.

Star pointed at Access’ assailant out of reflex, only to realize that it was Sheet Rock that had thrown the punch, probably expecting one of the pilots to be on the receiving end.

When she’d realized what she’d done, she turned her fury on the pilot closest to her, a swift kick to the face knocking him out, while the other caught a less serious but still quite terrifying verbal tirade.

“You’re welcome, by the way.” Star chuckled, lowering her weapon slightly. “We need to leave, now.”

“What about the others?”

“We were ambushed, Matterhorn’s been captured and Snowy took a bullet for us, we had to abandon his body.”

“I recovered his core though, we can probably buy or build a new body for him at some point.” Access remarked. “It should be pretty easy.”

“What about Phantom?” Sheet Rock asked, helping Access to his hooves. “Where is she?”

“That’s a little hard to explain.” Star said carefully. “We had to leave in a rush.”

“You have until I get in the driver’s seat and start the engine, and it better be a good.” Sheet Rock said, her voice turning cold. “If I don’t like your answer you can expect to walk back, and if I find out you left her to die, you’d do well to make sure I never see you again.”

“It’s not like that Sheet, just… get in van okay, I’ll do the explaining.”

“Fine.”

Author's Note

This chapter would've been posted sooner, had my office suite (LibreOffice) not decided to freeze when copy-pasting it from the document to FiMfiction, but here we are.

Chapter 82 - Escape

“You’re joking.” Access grunted, liberating the pilots of their weapons. “There’s a Matterhorn look-alike after us now!?”

“He may look like him, but his personality is the vilest I’ve seen among corporate grunts.” Scarlet remarked thoughtfully. “I have no doubt Matterhorn could be cruel if he had to be, but he doesn’t strike me as the kind of stallion to gain a perverse sense of pleasure from it.”

“Raptor’s worse than that.” one of the pilots interjected. “You should’ve seen what he did to a cadet that refused to put a bullet in a dock workers head. To teach him a lesson, Raptor ripped the dock worker apart and made the cadet watch while he did it.”

“That explains the corpse, and why he didn’t take the key from their body.” Access sighed. “He didn’t need it, not if he can peel open ponies like someone does a can of kibble.”

“Access, what was on the chip Phantom threw you, did you check?”

“You’re welcome to slot a chip from the mare who betrayed us if you like.” Access said plainly, holding the chip out for her to take. “At best its a trace program, at worst, it’ll turn your brain into the consistency of pizza sauce.”

Star put her hoof up and pushed it away from her.

“Thought not.”

“We should leave.” Sheet Rock added. “Preferably before this Raptor stallion shows up again, I doubt he’d let us leave without a fight.”

“That’s not the thing you should be worried about.” one of the pilots said. “Rift City is on high-alert after Raptor’s stunt here, they’ll be watching the roads.”

“This far outside the city?”

“Take us with you, we’ll make sure they wont bother you.”

“Nope.” everyone said in unison.

“Seriously?” he shrieked. “If Raptor finds out we let you leave he’ll kill us!”

“Not our problem, we’ve had enough of liars today.” Sheet Rock said as she knocked the pilots out with a couple swift strikes from her SMG’s stock.

She looked to the others, and it appeared they lacked any sympathy for the pilots as well and they set about packing up their gear. They decided to pilfer a few souvenirs from the Crown’s supplies before they left, purely to pour salt in the Crown’s wounds.

Chief among the supplies just left around for anyone to take were several large bricks of plastic explosive and their detonators stacked up neatly inside a large metal crate, many of which had been partly emptied.

They surmised that this was what they used to breach the Arcology’s outer and interior walls, and the source of the rumbling they’d heard while deep underground.

Access figured they wouldn’t miss a few kilos of it, and eagerly packed some onto the van’s racks, which got a strange look from Star until he assured her that it was safe to throw around in its current state, as it can’t explode without being triggered by a detonator.

This did not make her feel any better though, since her “spot” in the van was right next to the stuff.

“Isn’t that an AV in the trees over there?” Access said, pointing out a dark shape in the treeline as he stepped out the back of the van. “Are you lot thinking what I’m thinking?”

“You want to use your new toys don’t you?” Sheet Rock chuckled, heaving a small crate of ammunition and assorted ordinance into the van. “Make it quick we need to go, everyone hurry up and grab what you can!”

Access dragged the last of the explosives over to the AV, which had gone unnoticed until now until the briefest glint of light reflecting off of its fuselage gave it away. If it was any later in the day or deeper in the treeline, he might well have missed it.

Access stuffed a couple bricks of plastic explosive in the engine nozzles, one under the access door and a couple more on top of the fuel tanks for good measure and linked them all to a detonator. Even if Access forgot to trigger the explosives himself, starting up the engines should reduce the AV to nothing but scrap metal, that is if he understood the instructions correctly.

Normally, explosives of this type were stable and could be shaped according to the desires of the user without any danger involved. In short, unless you used the detonator designed for use with this particular explosive, it was completely inert.

Despite this, the small instruction guide he had to hoof alluded to the fact that extreme heat could set off the explosives, such as an AV’s engine, which seemed to be completely unintentional and obviously something of a design flaw.

“Access, move it already!” Sheet Rock called from the van. “We’ve got more AVs in the distance!”

“Yeah yeah, okay!”

He finished up his task and dashed into the back of the van. Almost as soon as he slammed the rear doors closed, Sheet Rock floored the gas pedal. In moments the van was in motion and screaming onto a side road.

Access thought about hitting the button himself, but a thought formed in his mind. He held it out to Star who looked at it strangely, as if to question why he was giving it to her. There was a silent exchange of words and an understanding was shared between the two, and Star took the detonator, fiddling with the cover as she decided whether to actually use it.

“Want my advice?” Sheet Rock said suddenly. “Push the button, send them to hell.”

“I’ll have killed two ponies.”

“Ponies that would have killed us had they gotten the chance.” Scarlet corrected. “Nobody is innocent, not really, so you’re going to have to pick the decision you can live with.”

Star thought for a moment, then a small flash of anger boiled to the surface of her mind as she remembered what Raptor had done to Snowy. She flipped open the detonator’s safety cover, braced herself, and pushed the button.

The resulting fireball could easily be seen from the road, shortly followed by a bang of epic proportions. Larger trees bowed in the wake of the detonation’s shockwave while smaller trees and plants were uprooted and ripped apart.

“I wasn’t expecting that big of a bang.” Star said, a little rattled. “How much of that explosive did you use, Access?”

He grinned.

“Sheet, please stop driving like a maniac for one moment!” Scarlet barked, trying to steady a pair of binoculars on a partly open window. “Please, for the love of all that’s good, I’m trying to get a look at those AVs.”

“What’re they doing?” Star asked.

“Circling around the results of allowing Access near high-explosives.” Scarlet chuckled. “Looks like they’re dropping troops, and one… oh dear.”

“What?”

“Take a look for yourself.”

Star snatched the binoculars from Scarlet’s grasp and peered through the scuffed and dirty lenses for a brief moment, nearly dropping them in the process. Perhaps two dozen troopers had been dropped into a very literal hot zone, each of which looked like they were walking into a battleground.

A heavy multi-legged combat Mech was the last to be dropped, bristling with enough anti-personnel weapon systems to reduce any organic obstacle in its way to a bloody lump of meat. It’s pilot moved like they were just looking to be given an excuse to use them.

“Drive.” Star said. “We shouldn’t tangle with them, especially that Mech.”

“Couldn’t agree with you more.” Sheet Rock nodded. “So what’s the plan, Rift City for the night, or the long way home?”

“We shouldn’t attract attention, we look suspicious enough as it is, and that’s without the explosives Access stole on board.”

“Plus whatever was on the chip Phantom gave us.” Access pointed out. “Whatever it is, it’s valuable enough to warrant sending in a kill squad after us.”

“I know that poking our noses into things is the entire reason why we’re in this mess, but we have to know just what was so important for Phantom to do what she did.” Sheet Rock said, scratching the back of her head. “I know Phantom and she wouldn’t just turn on us like that, at least not without a reason.”

Chapter 83 - Hornet's Nest

The crew travelled in relative silence, save for the low grumbling hum of the van’s engine and the occasional vehicle passing in the opposing lanes.

The explosion and the resulting fireball had caught the attention of the local police forces from Rift City, who’d taken to the highway to investigate. Their cars and transport vehicles became more and more common as the crew neared the city limits, but they dared not cross the border lest they catch the attention of Equestria’s most unforgiving jurisdiction.

Instead, Sheet Rock parked up at a poorly lit fuelling station for something to eat and to take a moment for the ringing in their ears to subside, if only to distract themselves. The clerk seemed surprised that they even stopped let alone come inside, but was glad to sell them something that at one point passed for food, but now looked more like a lumpy brick of grey-green matter.

It was probably a container of kibble at one point or another, chunks of synthetic protein synthesised from whatever sources of nutrition the lab that made it had to hoof at the time. It looked a lot like pet food and smelt a lot like it too, but somehow much worse.

“Not many ponies out tonight, lots of passers by though.” the store clerk said strangely, pocketing the money for their meals. “Not that I got many customers anyway, and that’s without the explosions and roving cops.“

“Who’d willingly come to a dump like this?” Star remarked. “No offence.”

“None taken, I know this ain’t the nicest place!” the clerk said before he broke out into laughter. “I gotta make do with what I got, and well… this is it, a grimy barely standing pre-fab building on a highway ponies rarely use.”

A loud series of cracks and pops rang out, then abrubtly stopped, followed by another large explosion that rose up into the evening skyline. It sounded like high calibre gunfire, probably from the mech they’d seen.

They weren’t particularly keen on finding out who, or what, it might be facing off against however.

“Y’all are probably going to want to get out of here soon.” the clerk said, peering at the explosion with concern. “Military will be rolling by soon, and good luck getting where you’re going once they start blockading the highway off-ramps.”

“How-”

“Ex-Military, fought in the last war.” he added, pointing to a degraded and rusty cyberlimb painted in a faded digital camo pattern. “Still got a few contacts in the service, they tell me all sorts.”

It was no secret that Equestria and the Bat Pony Nation weren’t on good terms, especially after the brutal and bloody clash that saw the Bat Ponies driven back underground. Following the end of the war, Equestria didn’t have the means to maintain a standing military to protect itself and rebuild infrastructure destroyed in the fighting at the same time. Nearly every major Corporation was more than willing to contribute troops, equipment, and funds on an ongoing basis if Equestria’s now desperate leadership agreed to a few concessions.

These concessions effectively turned Equestria’s Administrative Council, formed after the Princess’ retirement from the public eye into a loose collection of Corporation sponsored figureheads. Some cities, specifically Canterlot and Manehattan, retained much of their importance and power, but others were not so lucky.

A group of Personnel Carriers thundered by on the road outside, headed toward the Arcology, no doubt having received reports of the explosions and gunfire. One of the heavily armoured vehicles stopped abrubtly at a junction leading toward Rift City and the Arcology, and its occupants wasted no time in blocking both lanes with their vehicle’s considerable bulk and barbed wire barricades.

A single soldier, a sergeant judging from the rank emblem on his shoulder, in a light gray flak jacket entered the store, rifle neatly slung across his back. He seemed unnaturally on edge and side-eyed every corner and potential hiding spot as he walked up to the counter, like he was expecting an ambush at any moment.

“Head home, now.” he said authoritatively. “And you, close up, nobody is coming up or down this highway for the foreseeable future.”

“We’re headed to Canterlot.” Star replied. “I assume that’s fine?”

“Road to Rift City is closed.” the sergeant answered coldly. “Unless you mean to make camp in the desert then I’d surmise that would be your best option.”

“You kids better be on the move, I doubt our friend here is in the mood for company.”

Snacks in hoof, Star and the others retreat to the van, which was under close watch by the soldiers, not that they could put up much resistance if the soldiers wanted to pick a fight.

There were maybe twelve of them per vehicle, including the APC’s driver and spotter, all sporting the latest in military and corporation developed hardware. They looked tense, and regularly fiddled with their weapons nervously, acting like new recruits seeing action for the first time, which they may well be for all the crew knew.

“I wont tell you again, go!” the sergeant called as he stepped back outside. “The rest of you, look alive, get those barricades up!”

“So, to make sure we’re on the same page. We’re gonna lay low, say nothing, and do nothing until this all blows over?” Scarlet said as she climbed into the passenger seat. “How likely is it that they’ll link that explosion to us?”

“Corporate Security and the Military probably wont know any different, but the Crown will know it was us that torched several million Bits worth of hardware with their own explosives.” Access replied through a mouth of dry kibble. “I can’t imagine they’d send an army after us just for that, they’d gain too little by doing that.”

“They already sent an army after us.” Scarlet said, scowling slightly. “Or did the combat mech and kill-squads not register in your head yet?”

“Bold of you to assume that a whole squad came there for us.” Star rebutted. “They came for whatever Phantom dug up, and Snowy had to take a bullet in order for us to escape, whatever is on that chip better be worth it.”

“We can’t access it, not without springing Phantom’s trap.” Access said gently. “At least, I assume it’s booby trapped, I’m not willing to find out until I’ve had a chance to rebuild our ‘decks.”

“You three are beyond help.” Scarlet threw her hooves up in defeat as Sheet Rock started to put some distance between themselves and the soldiers. “Though I will admit that I am a little curious too.”

They let the silence linger for a moment before they collectively agreed to let the situation go, at least for now, as they weren’t in the state of mind where they could clearly think through their next step.

Snowy would need a new body as well, but his core wouldn’t support a factory made Synthetic body, as now Access could get a closer look without Star being over-protective, he could tell that the modifications he had went far beyond just cosmetic.

“Star, would you be opposed to me installing Snowy as an AI within our hideout’s subnet?” Access said, bracing for a slug to the mouth. “I don’t think I can cobble together a body in a reasonable amount of time, but it would allow him to at least be present.”

Surprisingly, Star nodded in agreement.

“He could probably help you with that chip too, he always was good at breaking codes and circumventing security measures. I might’ve asked him to prank my dad once or twice in the past.”

“We’ll need to go shopping, Sheet?”

“If you think you’re dragging me on a shopping trip right now, you’ve got another thing coming.” Sheet Rock growled. “I’ll drop you off and you can do what you gotta do, I just want to sleep.”

“That’s fine.”

“Drop me off too.” Star added. “I’m not about to ask Access to pay for the parts he needs.”

Chapter 84 - Epilogue

Access slammed the van’s side door closed, and Sheet Rock wasted no time in putting her hoof down on the accelerator the moment it did so. Access figured she’d had enough and just wanted to be alone for a little while, which was understandable.

What she did not know, and Access would like to keep it that way, was that he’d lied to her face for the first time in years when he said he couldn’t crack the chip. If she knew, she’d kick his ass out onto the streets again or beat him over the head with something heavy until his chromed skull developed an uncomfortable dent, it could end up being either.

“Cheer up, Access, it’s over now.” Star remarked. “Sure we didn’t get any answers, and we didn’t really get paid, but at least we’re alive!”

There was a store that Access always used to frequent when it came to spare parts and scrap, a real hole-in-the-wall if there ever was one. The transformer that powered the flickering neon sign always did get on his nerves now he thought about it, much like Star’s continued attempts to get him to see the bright side of things.

Inside, racks and racks of “new” parts, scrap, and reclaimed components lined the walls and filled large metal bins marked with their prices. If it existed at some point, whether that be on the open market or from the black market, it was likely this shop had it on a shelf or a bin somewhere or had someone who could tell you were to get it.

Here they would find the requisite parts to get Snowy at least functional enough to see and speak, a proper synthetic body would need to come later.

“You’ve been acting weird since we crossed the border into Canterlot, is something wrong?”

“I just want to get these parts and go home.” Access said plainly, stopping in front of a tray of assorted co-processors. “What makes you think something’s wrong?”

“It isn’t your fault Snowy’s out of action, you know.”

“I know.”

“So why are you being so weird?”

Access felt his last nerve snap and he pushed Star out the front door and into a small alcove next to the storefront.

“I lied.”

“You… lied?” Star said, a little startled.

“I’ve had that chip cracked for hours, it wasn’t booby-trapped at all.” Access said, his voice low. “I can’t say whether this is because she gave us the wrong chip, one without any defensive measures, or if it was intentional.”

“Shouldn’t we tell the others?” Star asked. “I mean, this could give us answers, why lie?”

“Because I know Sheet will want to go after whoever killed Phantom.” Access half-shouted. “Ever since our first job with the Crown our actions have ALWAYS given us just enough information to spur us on to the next job, like the curious rats we are.”

“You think our involvement and the actions we took was by design, like someone knew we’d take them?” Star said as she put the pieces together in her head. “That would mean…”

“Someone’s been leading us on, yes.”

It had always been suspected that someone had been carefully directing their involvement toward an end that benefited those pulling the strings, which made sense when you considered that many of their jobs didn’t logically follow one another despite involving certain parties who were often at odds.

But that was the least of their concerns, right now their involvement with the job Phantom brought to them had caused a rapid and uncontrolled rise in the tensions between Equestria and the Bat Pony Nation.

The real question was who would want to inflame relations, when up until this point, the two nation’s tempers had been cool and cordial.

“Could Dark Space firing me have something to do with this?”

“I suppose that depends how paranoid you want to be, but I can’t imagine it’s much of a co-incidence considering what Luna told us.” Access remarked as he want to step back into the store. “We need Snowy’s help to draw conclusions from the data we scraped over all the jobs we’ve done, to see if we can piece together who has been fucking with us.”

“What about Sheet, Scarlet, Bulwark even?”

“We say nothing, at least until I can make sense of everything.” Access stressed. “Can you do that?”

”As much as I hate having to lie, I cannot deny that Sheet would more than likely do something reckless if she knew you’ve been lieing to her.” Star said, nodding reluctantly. “Plugging that thing into your head without at least some idea what might happen to you was the kind of reckless I’ve come to expect from you.”

“I’m the kind of reckless you can medicate, Sheet is the kind of reckless that ends up with someone losing a limb.” Access retorted. “We should stop wasting time, we need to get Snowy up and running again.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure.”

Author's Note

This marks the end of "Act One" of Access and Sheet Rock's story, and work on Act Two is progressing quite quickly and already spans a number of drafts, which i think many of you will quite enjoy when it arrives.

That said, I thank you for joining me on this journey, and i hope you'll join me again when Access and Sheet Rock's story resumes in the sequel.

Chapter 0 - Prologue

Deep in the darkness of Lower Canterlot, two Netrunners plied their trade in the digital world.

Within the Net, Access Granted was busy sorting through stolen data in hopes of finding something useful.

Outside of the Net, Sheet Rock glared over at Access’ motionless body.

“Access, You need to take a break.” Sheet Rock said as she crackled through their comm-link.

“Can’t. I’m busy. Got to sort through all this junk data before sundown.” He responded.

“It already is! Come on just take a break, please?” Sheet Rock pleaded.

Access thought for a moment.

“Alright, just gimme a second. I’ll log out now.” he said.

Access raised his Net Avatar’s hoof to a floating button to log out and his vision filled with a bright white light as he was disconnected. Slowly he opened his eyes and upon letting his eyes adjust for a brief moment he sat up in the lounger.

Noticing that Access was stirring from his dive into the Net, Sheet Rock pulled the cables out the back of his neck then smiled at him.

“You can’t keep spending all your time in the Net, you know.” she scolded.

“I know. I know.” Access responded, stretching his muscles as he did so.

“Go and have a shower, I’ll get dinner on.”

“But…” Access protested.

“Don’t argue, I know we’re hurting for money right now, but that doesn’t give you the excuse to smell like the hobo ponies on the street!”

Access relented and headed for the bathroom. He grabbed the temperature dial of the shower unit in his magic and twisted it, almost immediately hot water began to fall within the shower stall.

With a huff, he stepped into the shower and the steaming hot water, it felt good on his aching body and he rested his head on the shower stall as the water flowed down his head and horn.

Access let the water soak his body as he rubbed some soap into them, the smell of noodles had filled the apartment which made his stomach grumble.

He washed the soap out from his coat and mane then stepped out the shower, he grabbed a towel as he moved towards the door to the living room.

It had been a decade since he moved in with his close childhood friend, Sheet Rock. How he convinced her to let him stay was a mystery and though Sheet Rock wouldn’t admit it, she was glad he was around.

Sheet Rock was a Unicorn like Access and had a long black mane-style and slate gray coat, nearly the same shade as his. It was scary how similar they were in ways, her cutie-mark was a set of interface cables and his a computer terminal.

On the table as he entered the living room was a small metal tray filled with noodles of dubious quality and no toppings to speak of.

“Hardly the candle-lit dinner you promised me when we started this whole venture, huh?” Access joked as he dried himself off.

“I know it isn’t glamorous, we’ll deep dive tomorrow morning and check out the local sub-nets and see if anyone has anything going. Okay?”

Access nodded in agreement.

Author's Note

This marks the start of the rewritten story.

Events will be quite different throughout the story, i felt that only two characters really had any depth to them so i gave them the spotlight.

I know some will be disappointed but i hope you enjoy the rewrite regardless, i've learnt a lot in the past month.

Chapter 4 - Deep Dive - Part Two

With the help of the cracking program Access forcibly inserted into the system, he successfully got the panel to give up its secrets after some minutes.

“Let’s see what we got here…” he muttered.

Sheet Rock turned her back to the observing programs and joined Access at the panel.

“What the hell is this?” Sheet Rock grumbled in annoyance.

Access scrolled through some of the panel’s menus, it was filled with cryptic command files and toggle switches, many of which weren’t labeled.

“Looks like this spire IS the system, no walls around it, no defenses. Nothing.”

“Can you tell what this system is?”

Access opens a file manager on the system, most of the data was junk from the system’s operation but a few files and a particular toggle switch caught his eye.

“Some kind of control node maybe? Inactive by the looks.” he mumbled.

“Let me have a look.” Sheet Rock asked as Access stepped aside.

“shorterm.dat and longterm.dat, Short and long-term storage files maybe?” Sheet Rock mumbled to herself.

“If it’s a control system, that’d make sense. Seems strange for a system like this to want to store things long term though.” Access answered.

Sheet Rock taps a hoof against the panel. “There is this button here too, unmarked though.”

“Push it and see what it does.” Access said.

“Are you insane?” Sheet Rock huffed.

“We’re safe in these pods, if something goes wrong we’ll be up and awake by the time the system traces us. That was the entire point.”

Sheet Rock rolled her eyes as she reluctantly pushed the unmarked button.

The area immediately began shifting around them erupting into jagged spires that rapidly grew and settled.

Sheet Rock looked up at the crown structure as the golden orb programs that had been swarming the needle-like structure surrounded them. She could only muster a confused grunt until a booming voice filled the sub-net, deafening them.

“You have answered my call. Good.” the voice spoke in a fragmented stuttering tone as the landscape erupted in oily metallic spikes with each word.

Access let his mouth drop open. “This can’t be good.”

“I mean you no harm, I asked for help, you answered.” the voice boomed.

“How about you introduce yourself first.”

There was a small pause before the voice responded flatly. “Very well. Designation: X9-01-A. State your identities.”

The two weren’t going to give this AI their real names no matter how friendly it seemed, they quickly came up with something to tell it.

“I’m Breach Control.” Access lied with a straight face.

“You can call me, Firewall.” Sheet Rock said a little less convincingly

There was silence for a tense few moments.

“Interesting names, I doubt they are your real ones but I should be glad you’re willing to tell me anything.” X9 said with what amounted to a chuckle.

“And why did you contact us?” Sheet Rock asked apprehensively.

“I require assistance. As you well know by now things have not been good politically, corporations vie for power and use their pull to line their pockets. I want to change that and you will help.” X9 stated.

“And you expect us to do what precisely?”

Both Access and Sheet Rock have their AR displays forcefully activated as X9 began to fill their Cyberdecks to the brim with corporate data.

“Take this, mine it, find a way to stop them. Needless to say I cannot say more.”

“You’re not filling us with confidence, you could easy be lieing to us. What guarantee do we have that you aren’t going to have us killed?”

X9’s voice shifts into a more annoyed tone. “Whether you choose to believe me or not is irrelevant. Your kind likes juicy corporate secrets, so either way you’ll help me by getting the contents of that data out there.”

“And you’re just going to give us this and what, kick us out? At least cover our tracks for us.” Sheet Rock demanded.

“Exactly. See you soon. That is, if you’re smart enough not to get yourselves killed in the meantime.” X9 states as both Sheet Rock’s and Access’ vision suddenly went dark.

The two snap awake and inhale sharply back in their pod as it slowly slides open. The two turn to face each other and pant wordlessly; even though they were unable to even form a grunt the two could still tell what the other was thinking.

Sheet Rock nods as she heaved herself out of the pod and onto her shaky legs, she slowly rounded the pod to check on Access.

“You okay there?” she asked worriedly as she tapped Access on the cheek.

Access nodded gently as he dragged himself out of the pod onto his equally shaky legs, he grabbed their gear in his magic before slipping Sheet’s Cyberdeck back into its harness for her.

“Being booted back to realspace like that sucks, doesn’t it?”

“It’s like being hit with a Van, a heavy one.” Access grumbled.

“Let’s just get ourselves out of here, before trouble shows up.”

The two hobble out of the net-cafe with Chilled Coffee calling after them for payment, to whom Access tossed a eurobit chit.

“Keep the change.” Access panted.

The two exhausted and worn out Netrunners hobble home slowly. They didn’t breathe one word about what they had experienced, there was no need to recount what the two had already seen.

Sheet Rock looked at Access with worry. Being forcibly booted from the Net was stressful enough but he looked worse than she did, dark circles had formed under his eyes that made him look as if he hadn’t slept in weeks.

“You don’t look so great, Access.”

Access just grunted in frustration.

Sheet Rock shook her head as she and Access walked, before long they had arrived back home. The lack of sirens and armed enforcers pursuing them confused the pair, it implied that X9 may have done what it did on purpose and not under the watch of a corp. The AI didn’t do anything to foster any kind of trust beyond the bounty of corporate data it gave the pair however.

She ascended the stairs to the apartment building with Access in tow who had yet to say a word.

“When we get in, we need to pull the memory chips out of our decks and store them for safe keeping. I have a feeling things are going to get very complicated.”

“Agreed.” Access wheezed.

Chapter 22 - Combing the Haul

Sheet Rock’s head pounded like drum, and painful jolts shot through her head as she started to stir from her alcohol induced stupor in a cold sweat. The muffled sound of distant hoofsteps on rotten wood echoed from the hallway, though she couldn’t tell whose they were.

The steps came closer and closer until it felt like they were right on top of her, she felt herself shake, presumably from how cold she felt but when a voice called her name she groggily opened her eyes.

“Hey there, you feeling okay?” Access asked, his voice barely that of a whisper.

She nodded gently, a small smile forming on her face. She felt herself being heaved onto his back and carried out to the living room where a stack of cases almost to the ceiling stood in the corner of the room, along with an amused looking Starry Night.

“Oh look, the flesh pony does have feelings!” Snowy mocked.

“Can it, tin can.” Access grumbled.

“I’ll have you know I’m made of Silicone and Manasteel, among other things of course.”

“Can you BOTH can it. My head is killing me!” Sheet Rock said through her gritted teeth.

Access set her down on her lounger which she sank into almost immediately, she attempted to shift around in an attempt to get comfortable but her limbs refused to obey her, whether because of the lack of sleep or how much she’d drank.

Hopefully they’d gloss over her antics the night prior and just move onto their next move, but she could feel the answer brewing in their minds already if the looks on their faces was anything to go by.

“So. Do you want to talk about your little drinking problem?” Access asked with the biggest smirk imaginable.

“And the fact you tried to make out with him, might I add.” Star added with a giggle.

“Oh come on, it was only a peck!” Sheet Rock protested between nauseous groans.

“Hey Star, did you know the only time Sheet ever speaks from the heart is when she’s drunk?”

“That so?” Star said mischievously.

The two shared a laugh at Sheet Rock’s expense who wished she could simply disappear between the folds of her lounger as she went beet red. After Access and Star got it out of their system, they apologized profusely.

Sheet Rock rolled her eyes. “What’s with the cases?”

“I figured if Star is gonna be our third, I thought we’d gear her up and take her our on a job. Something quick, simple and easy for her to get to grips with.”

“What about the haul? And the message, what if-”

Access cut Sheet Rock off with a harsh glare. “It can wait. We can’t afford to go in half-cocked, especially seeing as how green Star is.”

“Can we at least read the message? It might be important.” Sheet Rock pointed out with a whine.

Access shook his head, flopped down into his favorite, if a little ragged, seat and opened the message in his AR display, which simultaneously displayed it on their vidscreen. As expected the majority of the message header was corrupted, but the body of the message was surprisingly readable, and despite that, a large portion of the message was corrupted, much like the header was.

Greetings my little friends.

I hope things are well with you. I’ve been hard at work covering your tracks since you seem to breed trouble in your wake and as a result I’ve had to organize a few… incidents.

Good news is that it seems my creators have taken the bait, and the attention has been taken off of you for now at least, but there’s only so much I can do before my attempts at subversion are nullified.

There is talk about them deploying a certain kind of unit from a certain kind of agency, but I don’t know from where or who they’re referring to.

I know you broke into THAT network, yes you know which I mean, I could tell from your signatures. Don’t be reckless. I’m formulating a more… concrete plan which I’ll send your way when it’s completed, just lay low.

I implore you.

I need you.

I need both of you. Alive.

[END OF MESSAGE]

They stare at the screen blankly while Star looked wholly confused. If this really was X9 sending them a message, it seemed panicked, frightened almost. Multiple parts of the message didn’t make sense, as if this message was only a part of what it intended to send.

“Oh great. I bet this has something to do with the incidents being reported all over the place.” Sheet Rock groaned.

“I hate to admit it, but you might just be right. It probably isn’t being specific in case it’s being watched.” Access replied.

Star shook her head. “I don’t understand why you two are upset about it, but I’m guessing this has something to do with your earlier escapades?”

Access nodded. “Yeah it’s thanks to this thing that we’re in this mess.”

“What’s concerning is that it knows about the Darkspace job. How its managed this, I don’t know but we should assume it can reach far beyond its confines.” Sheet Rock added.

“Seems to me you should have thought that from the start.” Star grumbled.

Sheet Rock sighed. “In fairness there’s still a lot we don’t know. Maybe the latest haul can tell us something, but there’s a lot of it and we might be sorting through it for a while.”

Access plugged his deck into his neural interface and soon slumped over in his lounger. Their vidscreen jumped into life which started to display portions of the data that Access had swiped in quick succession, he sorted through each file as fast as his own mind could process it and discarded the junk files as they appeared, and left up only the most pertinent documents which quickly started to mount up in the corner of the screen.

While he did what he did best, a knock echoed from the door and a small voice called out to those inside.

“Access? Sheet? You in?”

“Scarlet?” Sheet Rock called from inside. “Yeah, doors open, let yourselves in.”

The door swung open to reveal the crimson maned mare, who rushed over to Sheet Rock and jumped into a surprising hug. Alongside her was the silver maned and forever gruff Bulwark, who gave Sheet Rock a muted smile and a simple hoof shake.

“Bulwark told me what happened, are you alright!” Scarlet wailed.

“We’re fine, Access got new limbs, everything’s good.” Sheet Rock said reassuringly.

Access summarily finished sorting the documents and there was a relatively large ‘pile’ by the time he was finished. Many of them had the logo of EQUI-TECH upon them along with another, one they’d never seen before.

The logo was that of a large, regal, golden crown, not unlike the one used by X9 as an avatar within the net.

“Come on Access, talk to me. Do we have anything worthwhile?” Star grumbled.

His voice crackled through a small speaker in his deck. “By the looks, yes, our mutual friend is mentioned multiple times in these documents and- ”

“And what?”

“This doesn’t look too good, take a look for yourself.”

Access displayed the document in question on the vidscreen for her to read, slowly and out loud, she read through the parts Access had highlighted for her.

Project Demiurge proceeds apace, nodes are being deployed in all major cities and are slated to go online in the next few months.As of now, nodes are functional in the Crystal Junction, Everfree Arcology, Rift City, Purist Encampment and now Upper Canterlot, with the nodes themselves processing hundreds of terabits of data at any one time.

These advancements in monitoring shall soon make it impossible for undesirables to hide among the law-abiding, they’ll be rooted out and only the worthy will remain where they deserve to be.

She froze on the spot and Scarlet stepped forward with a chip in her mouth, which was given to Sheet Rock who inspected it with cold indifference.

“What’s this?” she asked.

“It’s some data we managed to decrypt from the haul you got a while ago, remember?We could only recover the body of the documents though, no timestamps or headers.”

She did as she was told and slipped it into the chip-reader in Access’ deck which he quickly went to work sorting and displayed yet another document on the vidscreen, things seemed to be going from bad to worse.

Nodes G2-12-F and Z3-22-X are online in the corporate district and logistics district respectively, with X9-01-A handling central processing, however it has expressed a worrying level of self-awareness in recent days. Consider nerve-stapling the central core before we go live.

“What’s this nerve stapling it’s referring to?” Bulwark asked.

“It’s a procedure done to quell dissent in an individual by removing all sense of feeling and emotion, it’s used on organics might I add, not machines. It’s probably the most barbaric thing you can do to someone.” Star replied.

“So what does this mean?” Scarlet said with worry.

“I don’t know, and I don’t think I want to know.” Access called out as the vidscreen went dark.

He sat up in his lounger with a worried frown and ejected the chip from his deck. Everyone fell silent and the atmosphere felt thick and heavy with a whirlwind of differing thoughts and emotions, but Access soon broke the silence with a proclamation.

“From what other information I managed to glean, it means that we’ve been watched for a good amount of time now, and anything we’ve been doing has likely been stored for later use.” Access continued.

“This might explain why we’ve been getting so many more displaced ponies down here in recent months. Why keep dissenters around when you can just point to something they said once and use it to ruin them?” Sheet Rock added.

“Course this means anyone with a record now or in the future can kiss any chances of a job goodbye. The sprawl and similar districts are already heaving with ponies, this will make it ten times worse!” Scarlet added.

“No question about that. I’ve still got quite a bit to sort through so expect more information as and when.” Access remarked.

Chapter 41 - A Plan for Everything

Steel’s car rolled into the depot’s forecourt having been weathered over and over by the swirling sand, peeling off the car’s paint in spots. The two got out, covering their faces as they slowly approached the set of doors that led inside.

Though before Steel followed behind Matterhorn, he allowed himself a small, and gruff, grumble about the state his car was in. It wasn’t unusual for their vehicles to sustain some damage out in the Rift City Badlands, but every Nomad took pride in their personal vehicle’s paint job and getting it damaged was considered a grave insult.

“Do you lot have a plan for getting inside the Arcology? It seems to me that you’re outta luck.” Steel remarked through a mouth of gritty sand.

“A few, but it’ll take a lot of doing and some help from your people as well.” Matterhorn mumbled. “Let’s get inside first, this sand is getting into everything.”

“Couldn’t agree with you more. Looks like everyone didn’t have time to cover over their vehicles either, sandstorm must’ve hit hard.”

Matterhorn felt slightly responsible for that, as well as a little guilty, but when he offered to help cover over the few cars and motorbikes that were still exposed to the elements, Steel remarked that they should just get inside. They’d just repaint and repair anything that was damaged by the sand, as this was their daily life and to be expected.

The two headed inside, away from the choking, swirling sands kicked up by the sandstorm to see Access comforting Sheet Rock. Their voices were barely audible above the general clamor of the garage, but whatever they were talking about clearly had Sheet Rock in a real twist.

“You two, can I have a word?” Matterhorn said gently. “I have a way inside the Arcology, or at least a way we could get in. But, I need your help.”

“We can’t get in, Matterhorn, they’ll gun us down the moment they spot us!” Sheet Rock half-shouted.

“Then we wont go by air, or on hoof. We’ll go underneath their defenses, through some old train tunnels perhaps. There should still be an intact tunnel or two connecting Rift City and the Arcology.” Matterhorn remarked, gesturing with a hoof downwards. “Steel should be able to help us find a good entry point.”

“What’s your motivation for helping us? What do you get out of it?” Sheet Rock blurted out suddenly.

Matterhorn was taken aback, but answered truthfully. “You want your friends back, and we want the pony that took them. I would say our goals are linked, and co-operation is mutually beneficial.”

“I don’t mean what the Crown gets out of it. I mean what do YOU get out of it?”

“I’m afraid I don’t quite understand what you’re getting at.” Matterhorn said blankly. “What I want is the same as what you want.”

Sheet Rock looked at Lucky, who was casually lounging in the corner of the garage among some of their nomad saviors, seemingly keeping an eye on them and Matterhorn. She looked back at him for a moment, then returned her gaze to Lucky who hadn’t taken her eyes off them in the past little while.

“Lucky told us what Riot is, that he’s like you.”

Matterhorn raised an eyebrow. “Not something that I’ve ever heard, but I suppose there are things even the director hasn’t told me. Despite being the favorite, she doesn’t tell me everything.”

“That’s a good point actually. When we met, she said that she created you. She sounded almost like she meant it literally, but corrected herself when we gave her some odd looks.” Access pointed out.

Matterhorn peered over at Lucky in the corner. She’d looked away now, and her expression had changed from quiet amusement to a slightly less friendly glare up at the ceiling.

“Technically, there are a few ponies responsible for my creation. The Director is one of them, Rain Noir, Starry Night’s father is another, the third is… technically not a pony, or even alive in a literal sense… but… well… that’s something of a sensitive subject.”

“Sensitive like how?” Access said, a little grumpy that Matterhorn was deftly dancing around the subject. “Corps get up to all sorts of shady things, why would this be any different?”

“I know I said I would tell you anything to breed trust between us, but I cannot tell you that. I’d be liquidated on the spot if I did. As an aside, handlers don’t just exist to monitor and support us, they’re also the last line of defense against a rogue agent and to make sure our secrets remain just that.”

“Well that sounds sinister. I don’t suppose you’ll elaborate either?”

Matterhorn shook his head as an indication he indeed wouldn’t speak further on the subject. They’d find out eventually anyway, and he preferred they learned the truth through their own curiosity rather than being spoon-fed it.

“Steel?” he said.

“Still here.” Steel responded. “I’m guessing you need an old pony’s assistance?”

“Yes, do you have any maps I can borrow? There are some tunnels I need access to, that’s assuming they’re even still intact.”

“Looks like your friends are about ready to get to work. No rest for the wicked, huh?” Flywheel remarked through a mouthful of dry bread.

“I have no idea how they do it. My nerves are completely shot and yet they just get up and go along with it like it’s nothing.” Star responded.

“If I may, miss, I believe their attitude is the product of actually having to put themselves into danger in order to even afford the basics.” Snowy responded blankly. “The alternative is of course, starvation, or bleeding out on a dirty street corner.”

“A bit like us in a way.” Flywheel said, nodding solemnly. “We aren’t proud of the fact we have to resort to theft to survive, but when you’re this far off the grid, needs must.”

“I think my perspective has widened somewhat since I lost my job but I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the way things are done around here.” Star admitted. “It’s not as if I can go back to the way things were, not now, not ever, but I want to at least make things better for those that need it.”

“Then you’re more altruistic than most, some do what they do for money, others recognition, and some simply because they can, but I would temper that with some caution.” Flywheel warned. “Sooner or later you’ll have to choose where your loyalties lie and it wont be pretty, you can’t please everyone.”

“I’m loyal to my family and friends, I promised I’d help them and help them I will.” Star said firmly. “Nobody can tell me any different.”

Flywheel nodded. “I don’t mean to stick my nose in where it’s not wanted or anything, I’m just get a little overly concerned when ponies are so sure of their stance on things.”

“Perspective is nice, I just wonder if the kind of perspective I have is the kind that’s going to let me go home and enjoy life while I can, or if I’m going to end up in the same place they are, never being able to climb up out of it toward something better.”

“Perhaps you should ask them why they do what they do? Maybe it’ll give you some idea of what YOU want to do with this new situation you’re in.”

Star felt torn, but the promise she made to them when they met still mattered to her, after all, they still needed her help and she wasn’t about to back out now. She wouldn’t be able to look them in the eye again if she let cowardice take over.

Chapter 52 - Breach the Tunnel

Sheet Rock woke up to an empty crawlspace with Access looking down on her with a goofy smirk on his face. The sound of shouting and gunfire was very prominent, although thankfully none of it was as of yet directed at them there was the sense that they could come under fire at any moment.

“What took you so long, forget how to jack out in your old age?” he joked, offering her his hoof.

“You’re one to talk, that little stunt back there could’ve gone way worse than it did!” Sheet Rock shot back, grabbing Access’ hoof to help pull herself up and out of the crawlspace. “Besides, some of us spend time in the real world too and deep dives are a little harder on us normal ponies.”

“Oh get a room already!” Scarlet said, howling with laughter. “Actually scratch that, we’re gonna be in trouble pretty soon.”

“Is this really the time to be trying to pair us up, Scarlet?”

“Probably not, but let’s face it, you two do a pretty good job of that on your own!” she said jokingly, before her tone turned frank. “Your two friends ran off somewhere just now by the way, they probably got wind of that pony you’re after, Riot.”

“How’d they find him, we didn’t have the time or resources to extract anything from their network, not without help.”

“They didn’t say, in fact they didn’t say much in general and just up and left.”

Gray stepped forward. “I know what you’re thinking, you want to go after them and exact revenge. But trust me on this one, you don’t want to go out there right now. Those marines out there would make short work of you, of any of us, so just stay put.”

Neither of them wanted to stay put as Gray had so eloquently put it, but as the scrap shack they were inside was rocked by the shockwave of an explosion nearby, they reluctantly agreed. Apart from Gray, they were the only ponies that were armed and capable of defending themselves with any degree of effectiveness.

They looked over what weapons they had with them, wishing they had the van with them, and gave Bulwark and Scarlet their sidearms, keeping their primary weapons to themselves. Access had a simple twelve gauge shotgun to hoof, compliments of the trip to Ammo Can’s place while Sheet Rock had her “Smart” SMG that could track targets as they moved, lessening the amount of time she’d need to aim even if it was a little complicated to handle at times.

Both were loath to admit their weapons would perform poorly against the marine’s composite armor, but at this point, any weapon was better than no weapon.

“Sir, we have some news!”

“Talk.” Riot responded without any care on his voice.

“The comms building has been occupied by an unknown group of ponies, likely the secondary intruders. Forward scouts report two have left the building and are heading this way! One Mare, one Stallion.”

“Have the forward scouts confirm their identities for me, I need to know who they are.”

Riot watched as his subordinate talked into a radio for a few moments, growing more impatient by the moment. In the distance what was left of his group fought with the invading marines and their tools of war. At first it just seemed like they’d drop a squad and leave, but it soon became clear that Equi-Tech wanted to utterly crush them.

The gunships that escorted the troop transports hadn’t left yet and had continued to take potshots at anything that wasn’t a marine, irregardless of whether it was an actual threat or not. Riot had really come to understand how Equi-Tech dealt with their problems, and even though he was but a morally gray mercenary, even he could see they acted like they were being commanded by a child having a tantrum.

Obviously, Bright Sun had lost his patience long ago and was now content to take out his child-like sense of justice out on everything within reach. He was known to be a poor loser, and Riot had made sure that he would stay that way.

“Sir, the scout’s report has just come in, and it doesn’t look good for us.”

“Explain.”

He gave him a slip of paper printed from a portable printer, used for transcribing radio communications, on it was the brief conversation between his comms operator and one of his last remaining scout groups.

It seemed that the crown finally felt bold enough to make another attempt on his life, but this time they didn’t send what amounted to cannon fodder and instead sent their pride and joy to bring him down.

“Get everyone that isn’t dead or injured back here now, we’re going to need all the help we can get.”

“Sir? Forgive me, but it’s two ponies, how can just two ponies take on a group of twenty?”

“That isn’t a pony down there, that’s a freak of nature in the shape of a pony.” Riot spat. “He represents everything wrong with the ponies we fight against, sure we’ve done reprehensible things in the past, me most of all, but it pales in comparison to what they’ve done.”

“To us, or to you, sir?”

Riot didn’t answer, he lacked the strength to admit that their presence bothered him more than he had let on. In a strange, almost tragically sad way, Matterhorn was like a brother, but he was in the hooves of a group that cared little for his own well-being and likely would not see things his way.

He was under no illusions the kinds of things both they and their comrades likely heard about his escapades would’ve painted him in a poor light, but his resolve was firm. He didn’t expect to be forgiven or even understood, and all that mattered was that he understood why he’d done what he’d done.

Matterhorn and Lucky moved swiftly past the buildings on the way to a small tunnel in the distance, one of the module’s only entrances and exits. They were train tunnels dug out to serve as the main transit method in and out of the module, they were to link up to the Arcology itself and Rift City but had since fallen into disrepair.

“You think that tip was legitimate?” Matterhorn remarked, peering around the corner of a small storehouse. “Seems a little much to trust a supposedly defective AI.”

“It found comms chatter between Riot and his troops in their comm-hub, that’s good enough for us to act upon. Besides, you looked like you’d go crazy if you stayed cooped up in that room for much longer.”

“Funny, the ponies that said they could handle it managed to screw it up royally, and it took a chance happening to pull their asses out the rising fire.” Matterhorn snickered. “You’re sure he’s still here, Lucky?”

“That’s what X9 said.” Lucky said tiredly, taking note of the group of ponies up ahead of them. “Heads up, trouble ahead, take them down quietly.”

Matterhorn moved silently over the cobbled path between him and the mostly unaware ponies ahead of him. By the looks of their dirty leather coats, penchant for cheap tobacco products, and general lack of interest in the world around them, they were likely mercenaries.

Lucky remained some distance away and allowed Matterhorn to continue on by himself, he was light on his hooves but not particularly fast and it was a tense few moments until he could get close enough for a take down.

In one swift moment he gripped the hind legs of one of the ponies in his magic and tugged harshly back and upwards, sending the pony’s face into the dirt and while his compatriot was dumbfounded by the sudden assault, brought a hoof down onto the pinned pony’s face with a sickening crunch, knocking him unconscious.

The remaining pony fumbled for a radio that he had dropped onto the grass but it was ripped out of his grasp at the last moment and crushed in Matterhorn’s magical grip. In retaliation, the remaining merc charged Matterhorn at a frightening speed with a knife deftly pulled from a tactical holster on his front-most leg.

The merc thrust the large, straight edged knife in Matterhorn’s direction, swinging it wildly occasionally as he advanced in anger. Evidently the merc wasn’t very skilled with a knife and simply sought to drive Matterhorn off with some fancy looking moves, but he still got in a decent few slices to Matterhorn’s shoulder and face before he managed to get in a few lucky jabs to the merc’s stomach and face, which caused the merc to crumple like a wet cardboard box onto the grass.

“Didn’t I say do it quietly?” Lucky said, unimpressed with the amount of noise Matterhorn’s little fight caused as she crept over to him. “Are those cuts deep, do you need help?”

“Not really, no. Just a few nicks here and there.” Matterhorn said, shaking his head a little. “That tunnel up there looks like the perfect place for a merc to hole up, doesn’t it?”

“Don’t lose sight of why we’re doing this, he cannot be allowed to share the Director’s secrets nor be allowed to sway any more ponies to his side.” Lucky said, peering at the two unconscious mercs for a moment. “Imagine if he gains the help of someone more competent than those two, imagine if Access and Sheet Rock learn the truth, they’ll have a fucking field day with what he could tell them!”

Matterhorn chuckled heartily. “I doubt he’ll even manage to get a word out before they shoot him between the eyes, Lucky. We should be more worried about him swaying ponies that aren’t the most… forward thinking.”

The tunnel that they found themselves in front of was sealed off from the outside, having been converted into a makeshift entrance-way. It had a large metal rolling shutter covering what was assumed to be the entrance, the frame of which was welded to the module’s metal walls.

The rolling shutter wasn’t a normal part of the tunnel’s opening it seemed, and had been added on after the fact. Since the tunnels weren’t in use anymore and trains didn’t stop at this particular section of the Arcology, it made sense that this would be a perfect place for a hideout.

There wasn’t anyone else outside now, but there were a few security cams mounted to a pole nearby pointed at the rolling shutter in front of the tunnel and another pointed down the path opposite. It was likely the operators of the cams would’ve seen brief scuffle outside, but there was no reaction, no security, nothing.

“I don’t like this.” Lucky breathed. “Two ponies watching the entrance with only a few cams to watch over them. There’s no way they didn’t see the beating you gave them, so what’s taking them so long?”

“Let me give them a reason to hurry their asses up.” Matterhorn chuckled darkly, readying an unknown spell.

“What’re you…”

Lucky barely managed to get a word out before a thin beam of light shot from Matterhorn’s horn, cleanly slicing one of the cams from its pole where it came to rest on the pathway after a brief fall, though not before it received a beating from Matterhorn like he was some common thug.

Still, he got no reaction, and he opted to ready another spell this time aimed at the shutter itself. His horn glowed for a moment and he began to cut at a section near to the left side, and although it was made of a thick, heat resistant steel, it would not stand up to his magic for very long.

“That’s one way to do it I suppose, here, let me give you a hoof with that.” Lucky remarked as she joined Matterhorn in his attempts to cut away the shutter.

Her magic wasn’t as potent as Matterhorn’s, but it still helped make short work of the shutter. Almost as soon as the two started to cut, a neat rectangle of steel clattered to the ground, a small sheet steel door stood behind the section they removed and looked to be unlocked due to the lack of a visible keyhole or code lock.

A sharp shove of the door supplied by a concussive blast of magic from Matterhorn revealed that it was indeed, not locked, nor was it secured very well to its hinges either.

“Pathetic, all this trouble you’ve given us in the past and THIS is how you attempt to shut me out?”

“Keep in mind why we’re doing this, Matterhorn.” Lucky groaned when she attempted to pull the rectangle metal aside. “He’s dangerous, and whether you like it or not, you have to get this grudge out of your system.”

“Nothing a good beating won’t fix, let off some steam you know?” he said darkly. “Admit it, you want him dead too.”

“Despite what I said earlier, the Director would prefer that he be alive when we deliver him to her. He still has some usefulness, even if that usage is as material for research.”

The two shared a dark chuckle between themselves, but the rustling of grass behind them startled them somewhat. In one swift motion, Lucky drew her sidearm and leveled it down range at the sound with Matterhorn springing to action in front of her just enough to shield her with a glittering barrier and most of his body.

“Did you really think we were going to let you have all the fun?” Access said, peering down the sights of his shotgun.

“How’d you get Gray to agree to this?” Lucky said in surprise, lowering her weapon to re-holster it. “He was adamant about not letting you two go off on a crusade, he had this big speech prepared and everything!”

“Some ponies loyal to Gray found us huddled behind cover as a skirmish crossed the street over from us, they came by to search for anyone still left behind afterwards and reassured us that they’d take care of everyone if we insisted on staying.”

“I don’t know if you’re stupid or brave, perhaps a bit of both. At any rate, this is likely going to be the big one, are you ready?“

“Born that way.”

Chapter 62 - Improvements - Part One

Hopefully everyone would forgive her for dropping off the face of Equestria for a few hours, but it would be to their benefit. Star had considered having a backup property to hide out in should things heat up again, and it was only now that she had the means to secure such a place.

With the help of her father, she’d secured a meeting to discuss the purchase of a small warehouse on the outer edges of the Sprawl. It was directly beneath, but cleverly masked by, the city’s busiest arterial route connecting upper and lower Canterlot with the city’s outskirts.

It used to contain a small server farm used by a local net-based business, so some boxes and crates of unopened stock and systems that had once hosted their business had been left behind, unpowered and slightly dented but still salvageable.

She had been assured that it belonged to them now, should she make an acceptable offer, as the previous owners hadn’t shown up to collect any of it. So as far as the attending estate agent, a surprisingly slick Earth Pony stallion was concerned, it was fair game, and he was more than willing to use it to sweeten the deal.

“So, what do you think?” the stallion said. “Dunno why you want to set up shop in this dump, but hey, a sale is a sale!”

“My… client values discretion.” Star replied. “You said that this warehouse was a server farm at some point?”

The stallion perked up and nodded vigorously, gesturing for them to walk into the main warehouse space. “Like I told your associate on the phone, they up and left a few months back and didn’t bother to pick up what remained of their stuff.”

To the stallion’s credit, there was a not insubstantial amount of gear left piled up into the far corner of the building, with what remained of the copper cable that once connected everything to the electrical grid and the net had been lazily looped around the metal rafters.

There was a catwalk that led around the very top portion of the space, just below what would technically be an attic connected with staircases to the main floor in each corner, one of which was blocked off by the aforementioned pile of servers, cabling, and what looked like a Synth charging station, one designed for a manual labor model.

Strangely, the interior partition walls once used to split the warehouse floor into individual rooms had been removed and only the recessed rails they once fit into were left behind, leaving the space quite bare and empty.

“I’d show you around, but what you see really is what you’re getting.” the stallion chuckled. “I will mention there’s a small basement where the utilities come in, as well as an office in the back, but it’s pretty small for the size of the building.”

“My client needs high-speed net access, I need to know if the previous occupants damaged anything on their way out.”

“To my knowledge, any damage has been seen to already.” the stallion assured. “Ponies were in here just last night making sure everything was in order for your visit and I must say, they did a mighty fine job.”

“I believe we can move forward with the deal then, my associate will transfer the money to you post-haste.” Star said professionally. “That is, unless you have anything to add?”

“Could you please tell your Synth to stop staring, it’s a little off putting.”

Snowy was stood in the doorway staring Star down with a surprisingly irritated expression, and appeared to have been doing so for some time. Unsurprisingly, the estate agent took the chance to slink away back to his car, signed paperwork in hoof.

“So this is what you’ve been up to.”

“Be upset if you want, but I’m doing us a favor.” Star spat. “They might not understand the gravity attached to the things they do, but when the shit hits the fan, they’ll be happy that we’ll have somewhere to run to.”

“I am physically incapable of anger, as you should well know.” Snowy said dryly, eyebrow raised. “That aside, while I happen to agree with you, this should’ve been a decision we all made together.”

“You say that, but I think it’s pretty obvious they’ll like the place. Of course, we’ll need to clean up the mess, install new walls, replace a few bulbs here and there…”

“I suppose its proximity to a highway and skytrain station is purely coincidence then?” Snowy answered, peering around thankful he could not smell how dirty the place must be. “I suppose I’ll start cleaning.”

“I should call the others here actually. You know, so I can apologize for going above their heads.”

“Maybe when we’ve checked the place out.” Snowy chuckled. “Besides, they were more interested about what got left behind than the warehouse itself. Actually, this is a good example.”

Star was confused, but watched as Snowy walked over to the pile, which dwarfed him by quite the margin. He seemed particularly interested in a water damaged cardboard box stacked on top of some old monitors, inside which was some assorted cables, circuit boards, and polymer casings.

Intrigued, Star watched Snowy pull yet more boxes and seemingly random objects from the massive pile. She wondered just how many valuable pieces of equipment were stacked up among the junk and broken stuff, but she would not have to wait long until Snowy explained what exactly he’d taken off the pile.

“I looked this place up on my way here, and you wouldn’t think so to look at the place, but it actually has quite the interesting history.” Snowy remarked. “According to Access, the fount of knowledge that he is, says that the previous owners had a little business on the side where they’d act as Netrunners for hire. Does that sound familiar?”

“So this stuff is old Netrunning gear then?”

“Most of it is old office equipment not unlike the stuff that was in YOUR old office, will probably fetch a couple of thousand Eurobits.” Snowy said with a smirk. “No, I’m talking about these boxes. He mentioned I should look for devices like the ones they use to run the Net, Cyberdecks, I believe they’re called.”

“I find it hard to believe they’d just up and go without expensive gear like that.” Star said as she peered into the ever growing collection of boxes. “But say that I believe you, why would they take everything else, but not their Decks?”

“Beats me.” Snowy shrugged. “Knowing the kind of district the Sprawl is, I’d be surprised if they left willingly.”

It was then that Star noticed the bullet holes that peppered the rusted corrugated steel walls, small arms fire at most, but still a little off-putting. At this point, the who, why, and what seemed like the least important thing to be thinking about right now.

“I’m going to go up to that little office space up there, see if there’s anything worth selling. I have a feeling the refurbishment is going to be expensive.”

“True enough. Might be worth seeing if this place has a security system we can salvage too.”

A heavily rusted wrought iron spiral staircase nearby looked to be the quickest, and probably the safest, method available and Star quickly made her way up onto the outer catwalk. Her hoofsteps rattled the metal mesh as she walked and took stock of the area.

There were surveillance cameras positioned on each corner of the ceiling on specialized mounts that she surmised might’ve looked over the partition walls when they were still there. She counted maybe ten in total, but it seemed unlikely all of them were real and at least a few were likely to be decoys.

The office tucked into the back wall was missing its door and window panes, but inside, it looked quite presentable if you ignored the peeling paint on the walls or layers upon layers of dust. This little space could double as a place for their Netrunner chairs if the wiring was sound.

“Snowy, can you call the others here?” Star shouted down to the Synth. “Tell them to bring the van too!”

“Already done.” he replied. “I’ll do what I can to tidy up, but there’s only so much we can do with this junk.”

“With any luck, Access will know what’s worth something and what isn’t. But, first thing’s first, we need to buy a few things, we’re missing the most basic of basics.”

“I’ll start compiling a list.”

Author's Note

This one's a little shorter than i would've liked, but i had to split it up somewhere or it might've been a bit too long.

Either way, enjoy!

Chapter 80 Collapse - Part Two

Weapon readied, Access darted out of the elevator as it reached the end of its run. It let them out into some sort of warehouse, mostly empty save for a few large shipping containers that looked to be in relatively good condition.

Hopefully this meant they were in a section of the Arcology that had normal ponies in it.

“Thought a place like this would be bigger.” Access said absentmindedly. “Sure is empty though, you’d expect there to be more stuff lieing around.”

“Not to mention the lack of staff.” Star added. “I’ve had enough of this place to last a lifetime.”

A box fell out of one of the shipping containers, spilling its contents over the floor. Hushed voices could be heard coming from the open container, which Access went to investigate, but not before he picked up one of the packages that fell out of the fallen box.

They were emergency rations, most of which were sealed into their original factory packaging, but there were a few that had been opened and partly eaten. Access raised his sidearm and pointed it at the open door then looked to Star for confirmation, to which she nodded, drawing her own weapon.

Access fired a single shot at the door’s hinges to serve as a warning shot to whoever was inside, which then bounced off into the floor.

He figured that it was a bunch of kids ransacking a container of emergency supplies for laughs, but a couple of disheveled bat ponies emerged from behind a box instead.

“Stand where we can see you, now.” Access ordered. “I wont ask again.”

“Looks like Arcology Security finally found us.” one bat pony said to the other. “Let’s not drag this out.”

The two bat ponies, a mare and a stallion, left the container and carefully stepped around the spilled boxes of rations. Their clothes were dirty and wrinkled, barely holding together in places, and they looked like they hadn’t seen a good meal in a long time.

“We’re not Arcology Security, we’re just encountering a lot of new ponies recently, many of which seem to keep taking advantage of our crew.” Access remarked. “Are you going to be one of them?”

“I don’t know who you think we are, but we’re just taking what’s rightfully ours.” the stallion said. “It’s ponies like you that forced us to live like this.”

“Watch your tone.” Access growled. “It isn’t exactly paradise out there either.”

“Ignore my husband, he gets a little worked up sometimes.” the bat pony mare said. “We scoped this place out looking for food and water. It was supposed to be empty, where did you come from?”

“Down below.”

The two bat ponies looked at each other strangely.

“Didn’t know anybody still worked down there.” the bat pony stallion said. “We’ve been in and out of here for weeks, we figured the elevator led somewhere, but we know better than to make more noise than we need to.”

“How’d you get in?”

The bat pony stallion pointed at a set of double doors on the far wall, lit by a red exit sign.

“Head out the door and go up the ramp, from there and you’ll run into a blast door, behind that is the main warehouse for this floor, further back is a loading dock that’ll take you outside.” the stallion said. “You’ve got what you want, could you stop pointing that gun at my head?”

“No.” Access stated plainly. “Star, go check if they’re lieing.”

“What’re they gonna do, Access, menace us with a protein bar?”

“Just do as you’re told, I’m about at my limit for bullshit.” Access remarked as Star relented with a loud groan. “Why are you two stealing emergency supplies exactly?”

The two bat ponies looked quite nervous when they attempted to answer and they stammered out a few excuses, most of which weren’t particularly justifiable, as the penalty for theft in the Arcology was execution by firing squad.

Access supposed it wasn’t really his business, but they seemed genuine enough for him to lower his weapon slightly.

“See anything?” Access called over to Star.

She poked her head out the door and observed a single long hallway, at one end was a ramp leading down into the dark, and in the other direction another, which led up toward a heavy blast door that appeared to be slightly ajar.

There didn’t seem to be any signs of forced entry, in fact, it looked like it’d been gently pushed open and then closed just enough so that anyone passing by would assume it to be closed as it should be.

“Blast Door, open.” Star remarked, drawing her head back. “Looks like they’re telling the truth, happy?”

“By the way, you’ll need someone to open up the loading dock’s doors if you want to get out without shooting up the place, good luck with that.”

“Moon let us in, she’ll let them out no problem.” the bat pony mare said to her husband. “Call ahead and tell her.”

“Fine.” he huffed. “Someone will be waiting, just grab their attention and she’ll let you out.”

“What’s the catch?”

Despite being held at gunpoint, the bat pony stallion turned his back on Access and walked away, which could be seen as very brave or perhaps very stupid, but Access didn’t feel the need to point that out.

The stallion seemed to realize what he’d done a little too late to backtrack without looking at least a little bit foolish, so he busied himself with the box he and his wife had been emptying before they were interrupted.

Access holstered his weapon and joined Star by the double doors, who shared a look of concern with him, but he just shook his head.

Freedom was in sight, that was all that mattered at the moment.

“What do you suppose he meant?”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t think the deal you cut with the bosses will save you.” Star said plainly. “That is what he said, no?”

“The Crown were the client, it only makes sense that Phantom was the one they spoke to.” Access replied. “Problem is I don’t think she knew who Matterhorn was and how badly they wanted him returned to them.”

“She knew, she must’ve.”

Access stopped just shy of the blast door, anger just barely contained by a disinterested frown. “I’m not really in the mood for jokes.”

“Think about it for a moment.” Star half-shouted. “Phantom hires us for a well-paying job of dubious origin, brings Matterhorn along for the ride for reasons known only to her, and then the Crown shows up just as we were about to be home-free.”

“I don’t like what you’re implying.”

“You don’t need to, but I’ve seen tactics like this before, it’s standard operating procedure for corps large and small.” Star pointed out. “I think the Crown is gathering resources and tidying up loose ends.”

“And Genetech?”

“Those creatures we saw, there was a stallion we met that said they were remnants of GeneTech’s experiments.” Star pointed out. “I think they’re creating soldiers.”

“Normally I’d scoff at the thought, but you might be right.” Access relented. “Let’s cut the chatter, we’re wasting time.”

Access gently pushed the blast door open enough for the pair to squeeze through, and they found themselves in a large loading dock, presumably used as a place to store cargo containers before they were moved elsewhere.

Opposite a heavy duty crane for transferring containers to an industrial elevator that moved the containers between storehouses was a control room, empty, devoid of the pony that was supposed to open the door for them.

It looked like the workers here had evacuated in a hurry as well, and they had left their tools and personal belongings wherever they were at the time when the order to leave was given, whenever that was.

Access figured that the Crown’s rather explosive entry was what made the Arcology’s administration call a full evacuation of the surface level facilities, so the workers were either underground where it was safe or holed up in panic rooms nearby.

“It’s too damned quiet.”

“Evacuation orders get issued through the worker’s cyberware, only civilian areas have audible alarms.” Star replied. “At least, that’s what I’m told.”

“Interesting system.”

“My father said that it was to reduce the level of panic involved during emergencies. The only time there’s an audible alarm is if something serious is occurring, like an environmental malfunction or a natural disaster.”

“Did he say anything we could use to get out of here?”

Star pointed at a huge rolling door on the opposite wall, likely protected on the other side by more blast doors.

“We need to get that open, try the control room.”

“Got an idea?”

“Assuming my father wasn’t lieing about his time here, I might do.”

“Sir?”

“I order you to find them and bring me their heads.” Raptor growled. “Those who fail to do so will join their friend over there.”

He’d tossed Phantom like a rag doll in a fit of rage, using her as a makeshift battering ram in an attempt to get the elevator to halt its ascent.

A trooper with a white combat helmet combined with the usual dark armor attended to the injured bat pony, purely because her moral code compelled her to, even though Raptor had threatened to do the same to her if she did not follow orders.

The medic reminded Raptor that she did not have to answer to him, as he was not her commanding officer, and his level of control extended to his squad and not a single pace more. Raptor stomped off like a petulant child and left her to deal with the consequences of his actions, and she feared that it might not be the last of his messes she’ll have to clean up today.

“Are you awake, can you hear me okay?”

Phantom nodded slightly, taking in a raspy breath.

“Good, I’m going to connect to your bio-monitor so I can get a sense of where we’re at.” she said soothingly. “Depending on what it reports, I’ll have a number of options I can offer you, okay?”

The medic connected a cable to the base of her hoof and connected the other end to the port in Phantom’s neck. An AR display jumped to life, displaying the medic’s name and medical software version before it abruptly shifted to a readout of Phantom’s bio-monitor.

To the medic’s dismay, the bio-monitor reported that Phantom’s injuries were far more serious than some field triage could address. Many of her bones were broken in multiple places due to the forces put on them during Raptor’s tantrum, and she was bleeding internally as a result.

The internal bleeding could be addressed now with a strong healing stimulant and later on some corrective surgery once she was stable enough, but the more pressing issue was the condition of her skeletal structure.

It would need a series of invasive and extensive surgeries, perhaps even cyberware to correct the damage if she wanted to retain use of her limbs even on a basic level.

“So?”

“You’ll need surgery at minimum.” the medic said carefully. “I can give you a stim now that’ll ensure you don’t bleed out on the way back to base, but beyond that I can’t say what they’ll decide to do for you.”

“How about you just shoot me in the head now and save yourself the trouble?” Phantom spat, half out of malice and half due to the internal injuries.

“I am not your enemy.”

“The uniform says otherwise.”

“My name is Red Cross, I am a trained combat medic with years of medical experience, I have served in both corporate and civilian organizations. I swore an oath to assist the sick and injured no matter their allegiance.” she said. “If all you see is the uniform then it’s no wonder why you’ve ended up here, spitting venom at someone that’s trying to help you.”

“A paycheck is a paycheck, huh?”

Cross shook her head in dismay and produced an auto-injector from a side pouch on her armor, which she pressed into one of the only spots on Phantom’s body that wasn’t covered in cuts and bruises and pushed the button on the top.

“Painkillers and a healing stim like I said before, should take the edge off.”

“Dunno if it’s the broken bones or whatever, but the tiny needle in that thing feels like I’m being shot.” Phantom joked. “I’ve got a real bone to pick with your boss, assuming I ever recover.”

“He wishes he was my boss, the pony’s a savage and the Director knows it, that’s why there’s an entire platoon with him.” Cross said without thinking. “Shouldn’t ever have been let out of the freezer, let alone given command of a squad.”

“What’ll happen to Matterhorn?”

“Liquidated probably, depends what mood the Director’s in.” Cross remarked. “One thing’s a certainty though, she’ll be displeased with your failure.”

“Will she?” Phantom remarked. “Suit pocket, check it.”

Grisly as it was given Phantom’s condition, Cross dug into the Runner’s front pocket and her hoof came into contact with something small and thin.

“A Data Chip?”

“It’s one half of the data she asked for, couldn’t fit it all on one chip.” Phantom pointed out through a jab of pain. “The other’s in a safe place, I’ll tell you where to get it if you do a favor for me.”