Things were not going how Zipporwhill had hoped. The good news was that she had found a map of the center, and it let her know where the central air control system was. The bad news was that she had not managed to escape the closet and race there, stopping the criminal. Further good news, Zipporwhill discovered that The Baltimare Civic Center had a sprinkler system installed. Further bad news, however, was the fact that she had damaged one of the pipes, causing water to pour into the room.
Whether the fact the door was holding the water in was good or bad seemed up to debate, but she was not happy about it at the moment.
"Zipporwhill?" someone called out. "Are you in there?"
The voice sounded familiar, but was hard to place. More so since it was distorted by the walls and door of the room, and probably the water as well.
"Yeah," Zipporwhill called back. "Can you get me out of here?"
No response came immediately. Hopefully it was because there was more than one creature out there, and they were coming up with the fast way to get her out.
"Move away from the door," ordered another voice.
Shifting, Zipporwhill looked at her spot, up on the topmost shelf, pressed against the far wall.
"That's... not really an issue!" she announced.
A golden aura slid around the door, encompassing it. There was a groan of metal and wood straining. Then...
Well...
It was hard to tell exactly what happened from her position. Either the spellcaster ripped the door out completely, and the water started pouring out, or she (the voice was definitely female) had loosened it, and the pressure threw the door the rest of the way off as it escaped. Whichever was the case, the door was open, and the water was dropping fast.
Hopefully no one got caught up in the wave and washed away or something.
Once most of the water had poured out, Zipporwhill launched herself from the shelf and flew through the opening. Not far away stood Celestia, Zerrin and Shadow. Celestia's golden magic still encompassed the former door, holding it in front of the group lengthwise, redirecting the water away from them.
"Thanks," Zipporwhill said as she flew toward them. "And sorry about... uhm..." A small cough escaped her as she motioned at the water with one hoof. "...that..." Straightening up, she turned her full attention to them. "But I think I know where the suspect is, and what she is going to do. If we hurry, we might just be able to catch them in the act, and stop them."
The pegasus took off, making her way through the halls and toward the HVAC room. She flew as fast as she dared, wanting to get there as soon as she could, but not wanting to leave the others behind either. Although, in truth, a part of her was tempted. The suspect had escaped her twice already, and while the first had been more public, the second was more embarrassing professionally. As such, Zipporwhill really wanted to stop the mare.
Except she had already been outwitted twice, and this could be her last chance. If Zipporwhill failed to catch the suspect altogether, it would be quite a mark on her barely existent record. She could probably come back from it, eventually, but would take months or years to do so. Years of following spouses accused of cheating, of finding debtors who do not really want to be found, or -- worst of all -- having some rich pony who misplaced something in their drunken stupor hire her to investigate "the help" for "stealing" it.
The group reached a set of steel double-doors. It would be a great moment for Zipporwhill to speed up and slam into the doors, throwing them open to dramatically reveal her and the others. It could even surprise the suspect, catching her off-guard, and giving the group the opportunity to take her right quickly. To stop the whole plot.
Too bad the doors opened in the wrong direction. Which meant that flying into it would do nothing but hurt.
Zipporwhill came to a stop, landing in front of the double doors and waiting for the others to catch up. As they gathered, she reached out, gripped the handles, and pulled the doors open.
Inside was what must have been the HVAC system and control. It was like nothing that she had seen before. A massive metal device, with gauges, knobs, and switches on the front of it. A large square duct rose up from the top, splitting off into two more before disappearing into the ceiling.
There were no other creatures in the room, zebra in janitor clothes or not.
With Zipporwhill in the lead, the small group made their way into the room. Ears were perked up and twitching, trying to catch any sounds. Eyes moved back and forth, scanning the room for anything that stuck out or did not look like it belonged.
"I could have sworn she would be here," Zipporwhill whispered. it had not been a conscious choice, there was just something about the room that made it seem like she should not be too loud. On silent hooves, she walked further into the room, making her way toward the right and around the machine.
Just as she was about to ask if any of them saw anything odd, something caught her eye. Something attached to the backside of the machine.
On closer inspection, the object looked to be based on a sand timer of some sort. The thing could not accurately be called a "sand timer" as it did not have sand, but some sort of liquid. Not water. It was too thick, and poured too slowly for that. Something more along the lines of honey, but green. The framework was made of wood, with the supports made to look like trees where the roots and branches could not be told apart. A ring of gold had been built into the glass, not far from where it started to bell outwards, and gold wires were wrapped around the lower one. Said wires spread out from the timer, slipping into the metal of the control system before disappearing from sight.
"I found something," Zipporwhill called out. She pointed at the device with a wing. "It looks to be a timer, but I don't know how it's going to do anything."
"Pull the wires off!" Zerrin ordered. "Pull it now!"
Zipporwhill reached out and grabbed one of the wires. It took some twisting, bending, and a hard yank, but she was able to break one. Once that was done, the other seemed to come free quicker. With the wires broken, she took a hold of the timer and pulled it away from the rest, holding it out to the zebra.
"What is it?" asked Zipporwhill.
"Zebra alchemical technology," Zerrin answered as she took the timer. "I can fill you in on the specifics later. For now, what matters is that I believe I know who is responsible for the attempted sabotage." Her eyes narrowed as her ears pulled back and lips pressed thin. "And, I think I know where she will be."