As the cruiser approached sector 188 he encountered a problem, there was no place to land. The streets were filled and bustling with ponies, griffins, and changelings. And from what he could see, none of them were up to any good. The streets were dark, the streetlights in disrepair. The many shops lining the avenue were also in need of fixing, with broken and boarded windows, faintly glowing neon signs, and litter scattered everywhere. In addition to the thieves and bandits that populated the area of course. He spotted a building, black, glassy and generic, guiding the car over and hovering over it. He jerked his cyber-blade out of the control panel and prepared to make another jump. The craft immediately lost power and Spark was thrown back into it's cockpit, cracking it’s windows.
It slowly dive bombed out of the sky and several locals came to watch the impending crash. With a blue flash of light Spark escaped yet again. He joined the ponies, changelings and griffins and watched the ship collide with the ground. The force of the crash created a temporary breeze that washed over everypony's garments, and Spark felt rather odd being the only one naked.
“Hey where did that pony go?” Somepony in the crowd asked.
He was gone. Not on his own accord, but due to the actions of another being.
Incoming Message - Establishing Connection...Connection Established!
Whatever you do, don’t move, make a sound, nothing. They should start raiding that cruiser any moment now. And, yes I’m cloaking you. I’ll explain that another time.
He was right. A small fight had already broken out over who would get what part of the hover craft, where it was going to be sold. Useless details in Spark’s mind.
Good. I’m uploading a safe- ..well I wouldn’t call it that...a hideout yes. I’m uploading the coordinates to your nervous-system.
As Spark headed off in the opposite direction there was a small fizz, and his invisibility wore off. According to his display, the building was just a couple steps away. It loomed over him, despite it’s broken windows and fading exterior, and he felt as if somepony somewhere was watching him...
Knock on that door, it’s not as modern as yours but it does the job. A red pony with a white mane should should answer. Before he asks who you are mention my name at least twice. Clockwork out.
Connection Terminated.
Spark rapped at the door, and left two small dents. A slide opened up in the door, and just like his brown friend Clockwork predicted, there was a red pony with a rather long white mane. He had some cybernetics himself, a golden set of cy-wings, it's mechanical mesh giving off a rainbow of colors.
"Clockwork led me here. Said for me to mention Clockwork twice." Spark said.
"He did mention somepony would be coming sooner or later." He unlocked at least twelve different locks, and opened the door. The inside of the building looked just as pathetic as the outside. The floors were carpeted with an unsightly brown, the walls were stained with various substances and had cracks running through.
In the midst of this was a couch, a few windows, and three more inhabitants. There was a white unicorn disassembling a rifle of some sort with his magic, and several magazines filled with bullets surrounded him on the floor. Laying on the floor with him was a black cybernetic pony, it was unclear if it was a male or female. The shell was scratched however, revealing it's underlying metallic color. There was a griffon outstretched along the couch, with a sawed off white revolver in his hands, and a cigarette in his mouth. After hearing the door creak open they both began eying their visitor.
"Who's this cy-tech? Is he a server?" Asked the unicorn.
"No he's not. Just ran a scan." Said the black cybernetic, who happened to be female.
"So then you're clean. Clockwork did send ya here after all so I guess your not here to kill us. Why are you here then?" The griffon questioned, getting off the couch.
"Because some brown pony told me to." Spark replied rather snarkly.
"In that case we're in charge of you." Answered the red pony.
"What do you mean you're in charge of me?"
"In charge as in you work for us." The red pony grinned. "My name is Skyfall, that black pony is Dawn, the unicorn's name is Sharpshot, and the griffin is-"
"Arthur. Pleasure to meet you." Arthur smirked at Skyfall. "I think I'm more than capable of introducing myself." He placed the revolver in a leather brown holster. "Do come in, you will be staying here from now on so you might as well get used to it."
It wasn't nearly as good as his old residence but based on the rest of the sector, it might’ve just be a first class hotel.
"Bathroom is upstairs, although I doubt you'll be needing it. What you see is what you get down here, the fun stuff is up on top. C'mon kiddies," Dawn raised an electronic eyebrow at Arthur's remark and Sharpshot snickered. "let's give you a tour."
Arthur led the way to the building's only elevator, which as hidden inside a false wall. Much like the other elevators of Subscape it was entirely glass, and somehow all five of them managed to fit inside it.
"I'm not bothering to stop the elevator, it's much easier to show the floors like this." Arthur pointed to the first floor. It was barren, except for a few targets several hundred yards away from the elevator.
"That's my target range. Test my skills and weapons down there." Sharpshot said proudly. "Gonna have to take you through it later on."
The floor faded away, and was replaced by a much wider space, with what appeared to be several turrets. The barrels were in various sizes, and were scattered about the floor.
"This is my training ground, I fly here. Pretty basic. You don't have any wings so we'll have to make it adaptable for you to work in."
"The next floor you're about to see is my floor," Dawn began. "I do whatever I want in it. The end."
Dawn's floor was a cacophony of dummies, weapons, and general litter. One thing stood out explicitly in the room, a single black box. It didn't appear to be connected to anything else.
The elevator finally stopped on the rooftop, and Spark stepped out first. It was starting to get dark, and the sector had a faint neon blue glow. He could see the various stores that were closing for the day and the nightclubs that were just opening up. The streets were gradually filling up, he had never seen that back in sector 86, usally night was the quietest time.
"What sector are you from?" Arthur asked.
"86."
"So this is foreign to you?" Dawn suggested.
Spark nodded and she smiled.
"Well then, let's see the nightlife."
"You're bringing him out at night already?" Sharpshot looked at her skeptically.
"Let them go, I want to hear some stories when you get back." Skyfall remarked.
"Come on." She said from the elevator. "Night doesn't last forever."
Spark walked inside and the glass doors closed.
"I don't know how good you are at defending yourself," She looked at the various floors with admiration as they passed by. "so if something goes wrong you do as I say; alright?"
"Right." He sighed and already felt that something was going to happen.