Despite the comfort, the Dazzlings were starting to go a bit stir crazy being stuck in a hotel room. Sonata kept mostly in front of the television while Aria whiled away the time on her phone. Adagio, for the most part, was happy that they kept themselves pacified and out of her hair; even so, her own patience was rapidly reaching its limit as anxiousness about their situation constantly crept into her mind. As they continued their wait, the three of them quickly whipped their attention towards the door as a pair of knocks sounded.
“Did one of you order something?” Adagio asked.
“Nope.” Aria answered dryly.
“Not me.” Sonata shook her head.
Adagio went to the door and laid her hand on the knob. “Who’s there?”
“Ben.”
“Ben who?” She asked insistently.
“Ben wondering if you missed me?”
“Ugh…” Adagio jerked the door open to find Hunter on the other side. “Cute.”
“You’re not so bad yourself.” He stepped in and closed the door. “How you holding up?”
“Bored.” Aria said without hesitation.
“It hasn’t been so bad.” Sonata left the T.V. to join them.
“I hope you came with news.” Adagio fell back into the chair.
“Not much.” He admitted. “I’m working on tracking them down, they’ve been quiet so far.”
“Any idea what she’s planning?” Adagio asked.
“Well, Twilight threw out the best guess that she’s looking for a way to broadcast herself. She gained the ability to sing Mortem, but the fact that she hasn’t made a move yet supports that idea.”
“She wants to wipe out the entire city?” Sonata fearfully queried.
“Or at least a chunk of it.” He shrugged. “I don’t know how the song works.”
“We’ve never even heard of it.” Aria noted.
“There’s no record of such a song in Equestrian siren history.” Adagio added.
“Yeah.” He nodded. “Your world doesn’t sound like the kind of place that would come up with that type of thing.”
“The human world continues to impress.” Aria sarcastically toned.
“You have no idea.” Hunter smiled at her. “Trust me, something like this isn’t even close to the worst.”
“That doesn’t make me feel much better.” Sonata frowned.
“Sorry.” Hunter laughed. “Hey, you want to get out of here for a bit?”
“I thought that was dangerous.” Adagio reminded.
“It is.” He confessed. “But I know that you three can’t sit in here forever without a break. Just cover up, keep a low profile, let me handle any public engaging and we should be OK.” He stood and lifted his shirt, revealing the grip of a pistol. “And if anything does show up, I’ll handle it.”
“I’m in.” Aria put her phone away. “I’ll risk it just to get some fresh air.”
“Alright.” Adagio agreed.
Donning their hoodies and shades, Hunter escorted them from the room and out into the city for a few hours. He took them uptown into a quieter area of the city where they were able to walk around more freely and treated them to lunch and coffee at an outdoor cafe. Adagio and Aria slowly started to come around to him as he told them about his life and job, already past the point of feeling the need to keep his identity from the otherworldly trio. They, in turn, told him about their life in Equestria before winding up in the human world and the ups and downs of their own existences. After the fact, he took them back to the hotel and got them safely into the room.
“That was nice.” Sonata pulled her hoodie off. “Thank you.”
“Yes.” Adagio pulled her shades off. “I… appreciate what you’ve done.” She glanced at Aria.
“What?” Aria eyed her back. “I do too.”
Hunter chuckled. “Thanks, don’t hurt yourself though.” He followed Adagio into the kitchenette. “Hey, I need to ask you something. Something I couldn’t while Sunny was with me.”
“What?” She rested on the counter.
“I know you’re looking to get your pendants back if we’re able to beat Melodiam.” He began. “I need to know what you plan on doing if you’re able to get your magic back.”
Adagio paused at the question. “I take it you’re wondering if we’ll go back to using it against humans?”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “Look, you’re a straight shooter and so am I. I meant what I said about not seeing you as the same monsters that went up against Sunny; but I can’t ignore the fact that the change was made out of necessity and not choice.”
“I suppose it was.” She admitted.
“You know what I do now.” He continued. “I’m not going to lecture you or tell you what to do, at the end of the day it’s your choice. But, I have to be honest and tell you that if you get your magic back and attempt to use it to get revenge on Sunny or against humanity… I’m the one you’re going to have to deal with.” He looked at her with honest but stern eyes. “And as much as I like you, I won’t hesitate to do what I have to do to keep this world safe.”
Adagio stared into his eyes, seeing how sincere and serious he was being at that moment.
“Hey.” Sonata wandered in. “I’m going to order some ice cream, you want some?”
“Absolutely.” Hunter’s seriousness instantly faded. “Do they have sour apple? I bet that’s Aria’s favorite.”
“Shut up.” Aria scowled. “It’s mint, chocolate chip.”
Hunter looked back to Adagio as Sonata headed for the phone. “I’m not trying to threaten you or scare you, I’m just being real.” He gave her a quiet smile. “I genuinely hope that when this is over we’re all still on the same side.”
Adagio watched him head out into the room and return to being playful. She hadn’t spent much time thinking about what would happen should they win their magic back, but she definitely was now.”
After dessert, Hunter left them and started driving home. His mind wandered as he drove, playing with all the information he had acquired so far. Stopping at a red light, he looked over and saw a military surplus store that was advertising a sale. As he stared at the sign, a hole in his recent thought process suddenly became apparent and he perked up in the seat. He sped back to his complex and hurried up to his apartment. The computer was as he left it, opened up to commercial real estate sales; he redirected his search to industrial buildings and began combing through recently closed listings. One in particular caught his eye and he logged into the account he had made to see the details of the sale, smiling as he saw the stated buyer.
“There you are.” He muttered to himself as he picked up his phone and hit the contact for Sunset. “Hey Sunny.” He spoke as she picked up. “Listen, I think I might have found them. I’m going to head there tonight and check it out.” He paused as she responded. “No, I’m going to go alone. This is purely recon and if I’m wrong then you’d just be wasting your time. If I’m right though, I’ll find out what I can and call you in the morning.” He smiled as she made a lovingly insistent demand. “OK, I’ll call you as soon as I’m back here. I’ll be in touch.” He ended the call, setting his phone aside and heading into his bedroom to start getting ready. Three metal storage boxes, each sealed with a different combination lock, held the most often used tools of his trade. Dressing in black jeans with matching turtleneck and shoes, he loaded up a small duffle bag with what he needed and waited until nearly midnight to move out.
The target was a building in the western industrial district which was one of Canterlot’s oldest areas. He parked a mile away from his intended destination and stepped out into the eerie quiet of the rows of warehouses and manufacturing facilities. Donning black gloves and a ski mask, he began making his way through the back lots until he discovered an active parking lot. Swapping to a crawl, he made his way closer by moving between the chain link fencing of the lot and the line of shrubbery that accented it; once at a decent distance he slowly unzipped his bag and pulled out a pair of binoculars. He closely eyed the people that were moving in and out of the building, their blank faces dimly illuminated by the old flood lights that hung over the parking lot. He committed himself to a pattern of observation and movement, working his way across the entirety of area; he took down all the licence plate numbers he could as well as noted the company’s to which the commercial trucks belonged, he also used his phone to capture images of what was being moved in and out as well as the building itself. From his vantage, he could not make out much through the available windows but saw a woman that matched the traffic light photo he had seen before. Crawling his way around to the front of the building he was able to get a better look at what caught his eye about the property in the first place, a old but still standing tower that was set up with an air raid siren from decades ago. The sky above the roof lit up from time to time which let him know that they were working on some type of repair or modification to the existing equipment. After a few more photos, he fled the scene and returned to his car.
“Phew.” He pulled off the mask as he got into the driver’s seat, quickly leaving the area and getting back onto a main road into the heart of the city. Once safely back at his apartment, he checked the clock and saw that it was nearly two thirty in the morning; but as promised he called Sunset and the other end picked up just barely after one ring. “Hey.” He sat back. “Yeah, I’m okay and back and my place. They’re there alright and they’re working on something, which means that whatever she’s planning they aren’t ready yet; which is good. I still have some work to do here, but have everyone meet up at your place tomorrow morning and I’ll be by to share.” He paused and listened. “Okay, get some sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow… goodnight, Sunny.” He ended the call and laid back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling as he psyched himself up for another few hours of computer work.
With it being the start of the weekend, the girls were free to gather at Sunset’s as she requested. Hunter arrived at around ten with a folder of information and a large iced coffee.
“Morning, Sunny.” He greeted with a sleepy smile as she let him in.
“You okay?” She asked after a kiss.
“Yeah… just… long night.” He wandered in, finding the others seated about the living room. “Morning ladies. Look, I’m a little tired so I’m going to need you to be smart-asses towards each other to pinch hit for me.” He fell to the couch. “Rare, if you could be flirty with AJ for me I’d really appreciate it.”
“OK, we’re going to do none of that.” Rarity said plainly. “What were you able to find out?”
“Alright.” He sat forward and laid his folder on the table. “She’s holed up in an old building on the west side. I was working with what Twi said and at first I focused on commercial properties that fit the bill. But, I remembered that some older buildings that had military use were sold off as industrial properties. Looking for anything that might have had some form of broadcast equipment, I eventually found one with an old air raid tower.” He opened the folder, pulling out the listing and sale information. “I checked the buyer and found it listed as a company purchase through Melody LLC, and the sale price was just below what was taken from the bank.”
“Clever.” Twilight admitted. “I never would have thought of something like an air raid siren.”
“Well, it does have siren in the name.” Rainbow Dash pointed out.
“So what, she’s going to use the set up to play her song?” Applejack asked.
“In a sense.” Hunter continued. “I don’t know what they’re doing, but she’s got at least thirty hostages working day and night doing something to the tower.”
“Those old sirens can be heard up to twenty five miles away.” Twilight noted. “If she amplifies its capability then even from the west side of the city she could be heard across all of Canterlot.”
“So we just need to stop her before they finish, right?” Pinkie asked.
“What about the people?” Fluttershy added. “We need to save them from Melodiam’s control.”
“We need to do both.” Hunter stated. “Which… is going to be tricky. Our priority has to be disabling that tower; I know the hostages are in danger but if she gets that song out over the city then everyone is dead.”
“Just get me close and I’ll rip it right off the dang roof.” Applejack promised.
“The first thing we need to worry about is protecting ourselves from Melodiam’s songs.” Sunset reminded.
“That’s true, and I have a way around that.” Hunter leaned back and looked up at her. “But the problem is the control she has over the hostages.”
“I can take care of that.” Twilight assured. “That is, if you have another of those high decibel emitters that you used on me before.”
“I do.” Hunter smiled at her. “What do you have in mind?”
“A hand held LRAD.” She answered.
The girls looked at each other in confusion while Hunter bristled with excitement. “Nice.” He said approvingly.
“What is that?” Sunset inquired.
“LRAD stands for Long Range Acoustic Device.” Twilight explained. “They are non-lethal and use focused, high decibel sound to incapacitate people. I can use Hunter’s weapon to make one of our own; if we use it on the workers it should shock them free from her control.” She set her thumb to her chin. “They won’t be happy when they come too though.”
“How long will it take you to whip one up?” Hunter asked.
“I can have one ready by tomorrow.” She nodded. "I basically have all the parts I need."
“That just leaves Cobalt.” Fluttershy came in. “What do we do about his golems? They’re just dirt and rock and as long as he has that armlet he can keep making more.”
“Leave them to me.” Hunter thumbed his chest. “Explosive rounds should be able to drop them pretty quick.”
“If we do this in teams, we should be able to hit them fast.” Sunset sat on the back of the couch. “I’ll work with Twilight and Fluttershy to save the hostages. Rainbow Dash can help Applejack can rush the tower; and Pinkie’s explosive magic and Rarity’s defensive magic can help Hunter deal with the golems.”
“That sounds like a plan to me.” Hunter reached over his head and took her hand. “Good call, General Sunny.”
"Thank all those battles in Equestria." She patted his shoulder.
“Alright, let’s take them down hard.” Rainbow Dash said eagerly.
“First things first.” Hunter stood and looked to Twilight. “Come with me and I’ll get you that decibel emitter. I’ll take you home and then focus on getting the gear we’ll need.”
“You mean we get to use real army stuff again?” Pinkie asked with wide eyes.
“Of course.” He smiled. “We need to match after all, makes us look like a team.”
“How exciting” Fluttershy clapped her hands together.
“I have everyone’s measurements committed to memory.” Rarity noted.
“Aw, I was hoping to take them myself.” He frowned, jumping as Sunset pinched the back of his neck.
“Get moving.” She toned with a smile.
Hunter took Twilight and headed back to his apartment, the other girls choosing to remain with Sunset for the time being to further discuss the impending battle.