“We should get out of here before anyone comes,” said Fluttershy.
“We should at least take the laptop and documents,” said Spike. “Intel is what we came for, after all.”
“But it would look suspicious if that’s all we took,” Twilight noted. “You have a camera in your spy gear, right? Let’s photograph the papers and take the laptop, along with a few other expensive items.”
“And then we can burn down the building along with a bunch of nearby shops and homes so nobody is sure that this specific place was targeted,” suggested Pinkie.
“While I enjoy arson as much as anyone else, maybe that’s a little too much,” said Rainbow.
“Yeah, I’m right there with you,” agreed Applejack. “Maybe this ain’t the time or place for wanton pyrotechnics. We should still rough up the place, though.”
“Well, if we’re going to stage a robbery, then we should get started and be gone before anyone shows up,” said Rarity. She picked up the laptop and carefully tucked it under her arm. “I’ve got this.”
“Dibs on the cash register,” said Rainbow.
Spike took pictures of all the papers on the desk and gleefully scattered them around. The rest of them spread out, grabbing at shiny objects. Pinkie pushed over a rack of pet supplies and it dominoed into the rest.
“It will also look suspicious if we just opened the front door with a key,” said Twilight. “We should find a way to break open the back door.”
“Using the truck is still an option,” said Spike.
“So’s the shotgun!” added Pinkie.
“I have a better idea,” said Applejack.
“I’m going to kick it down.” Applejack directed Spike to roll the d20.
“Twenty!”
The door exploded off its hinges as if hit by a missile. There was no way it could have been less subtle, and perhaps the raw, intimidating force with which it had been destroyed would give pause to whoever came to investigate.
“We could have just kicked it together,” muttered Rainbow. “I’m the strongest after you.”
Applejack shrugged. “I’m my own air support.”
They all loaded up with their purloined goods and headed back to the hotel. Rainbow drove them on a detour along the way and they threw the things they didn’t intend to keep into the ocean. The cash register sailed out the window after being emptied.
“I wonder if we have enough for an RPG now?” Pinkie wondered, counting the cash.
“I wonder what else we could spend it on,” said Rarity.
“We could try the alcoholic activity again,” said Rainbow. “It got us a lead last time.”
“Only if we have to,” said Twilight. “I get the feeling this intel will be pretty valuable, so everyone will want to be fully rested tonight. Tomorrow might be a big day.”
“Yes mom,” said Spike, rolling his eyes.
“Except for you. You get to stay up late and process the intel.”
Spike sighed this time. “Okay.”
“Wow, even in a game,” muttered Spike.
“Hey, you wanted this,” Twilight reminded him. “You were the one who got the spy gear. I know you’re game master, but you might as well do something useful if you’ve got a functioning character.”
“At least I’m not a functioning alcoholic,” Spike shot back.
“Hey!” exclaimed Rainbow and Applejack. Pinkie giggled.
The group of them, save for Spike, settled in for a good night’s rest.
In the morning, Spike had managed to pick through the copied documents and examine the contents of the computer. He wasn’t exactly rested, but coherent enough to present what he had collected.
“Anything interesting?” Twilight asked as the group of them met for coffee in the morning.
“Well, I noticed that if you stay awake long enough, things start to make less sense. Like the five daily prayers the people here in Dubai do. I mean, what’s up with that? Why not just do it continuously throughout the day? That way, you’re not only getting more prayer but you don’t have to remember the designated times to do it.”
“I meant the intel,” clarified Twilight.
Spike yawned. “Oh, right. So this Sombrero guy has been making a lot of waves recently. We don’t have any GSM COMINT from him directly, but based on his network that we’ve been able to discover, I ran it through Palantir for correlation and narrowed down the circular error of probability of the phones to about five miles.”
“I understood some of those words,” Applejack deadpanned.
“We tracked his friends’ cell phones, including the guy who owns the pet shop,” said Spike. He showed them a map of Dubai with a circle drawn on it. “He’s somewhere in here.”
Spike paused for another yawn. “Boy, I’m beat.” He turned to a piece of equipment resembling a radio beside him. “If you drive around there with this, it can home in on certain signals and maybe we can narrow it down.”
“Do you know how to use it?” Pinkie asked.
“Of course.” Spike nodded.
“Well, it’s way easier for you to just do it than trying to give us gun toters a crash course,” said Pinkie. “We aren’t what you call smart on science.”
“Speak for yourself!” protested Twilight.
The others, however, were nodding. “I’m all for letting the expert do his work,” said Rarity.
Spike flushed. “Well, okay. I guess maybe I could go with you guys instead of sleeping.”
“What if he slips up and gets shot in the face?” asked Rainbow.
That wiped off Spike’s expression.
“Calculated risk,” said Twilight. “They shouldn’t know we’re here yet, so there shouldn’t be much danger.”
They loaded up into the Suburban. Spike ended up sandwiched between Applejack and Pinkie Pie in the middle seat. Fluttershy and Rarity took the back. Rainbow drove, and Twilight held the passenger seat.
“Um, is that a gun in your pocket or are you happy to see me?” Spike joked.
Applejack looked at him. “It’s a gun.”
“Okay.”
They headed to the uncertainty zone, as Spike termed it. He passed a power cord up front. “Could you plug this into the cigarette lighter?” He fiddled with his gear, looking at codes and signals.
Rainbow stopped for a red light. Spike said, “I might have something. Could you go left?”
Punching the gas, Rainbow cut across oncoming traffic. “I meant when you got a chance!” Spike amended.
“Remember that we’re here covertly!” Twilight shouted. “The point is not to make a scene.”
“Yeah, yeah,” muttered Rainbow.
As they headed down the new street, Spike kept fiddling with knobs and switches. “I think I have something. Stop at the next block.”
In another minute, Spike was sure. “I think we’ve got a high value individual in the building to our right.”
“Who’s the HVI?” asked Twilight.
“We’ve got his info here. He’s suspected of being one of Sombra’s lieutenants.”
“Then let’s go get him,” said Rainbow.
“Why don’t we circle the building?” suggested Twilight quickly. “Look for a loading dock or something.”
They found an inconspicuous back door and Rainbow stopped the truck. Pinkie racked her shotgun beside Spike’s face. “Let’s do this!”
“Whoa, dial the gung-ho back a notch,” said Applejack. “We don’t know anything about that building. We need some recon first.”
“We're lucky that their cameras are on an unsecured network and I was able to hack them,” said Spike. “It’s full of bad dudes.” He showed them the video. Sure enough, most of the occupants carried AK-47’s and seemed to be protecting the HVI.
“Well, I think that establishes that,” said Rarity.
“Do we want to do this now?” said Applejack. “We could use some of that money to get bulletproof vests.”
“Or an RPG,” countered Pinkie.
Twilight frowned. “I don’t know if we can do both.”
“We can hit them hard and fast now,” said Rarity. “Or we could go gear up and come back. No telling what this place will be like when we return, however.”
“Could we maybe stay out here and hack the system some more to gather intel so we don’t have to go in?” Fluttershy asked.
“Maybe,” said Spike. “Sitting here could make us look suspicious and blow our surprise, though. But if you do go in, what am I supposed to do? Sit out here all alone? I would sure feel better if someone stayed here.”
Twilight looked at the rest of them. “Do we think we can do this now? Do we want to risk going to get more gear? Who wants to babysit Spike?”