The security guard had never shut the door, but he had backed away from it. Lauren stayed at least five steps behind me the entire way up the stairwell, whimpering the whole way. I paused and looked back at her.
She stared up at me with wide eyes. "Why did you stop? Are you going to do something to me?"
"I'm going to restress to you that there are armed police officers through that door," I replied. "I wouldn't be shocked for an instant if they all have weapons drawn and treat you as if you are still armed and dangerous. It will be frightening, I'm sure. You mustn't panic, and you must follow their instructions without a fuss. This is imperative for your sake and the sake of your family. I will advocate for you, but it becomes tough to do that if you make a commotion or assault anyone. Can I count on you to keep it together?"
"Are they going to try to arrest me?" Lauren asked.
I frowned and raised my phone. "Are you there, chief? Can you tell us what to expect?"
"I'm still here and still listening," the police chief replied. "I have already ordered my officers to lower their weapons. The woman will—Lauren, I believe her name is— will be asked to sit in the open, with hands raised, and allow herself to be searched for weapons. If no weapon is found, she will remain sitting, and an officer will proceed to question her. At the same time, you will be questioned and checked for injury. If no injury or weapon is found, she makes no verbal or physical threats, and her children show no sign of abuse, then she will be free, and the officers will withdraw."
I nodded and put my leg down. "You hear that? Can you deal with that?"
Lauren's eyes drifted warily to my leg. "You have an injury… I think. Is that a burn?"
I looked down at the spot just above where the phone where my previous phone had been. I had adjusted the strap for this new one to sit a little lower and not irritate the spot. The fur was still slightly blackened, and it was somewhat sensitive to touch. I knew the flesh below my coat there was puffy.
"I got this injury before I even arrived at this house, and it is healing," I replied. "Don't worry; you won't be blamed for it. Anyone checking it should be able to tell it's a few days old. I'd largely forgotten it until you mentioned it."
Lauren licked her lips nervously. "I can avoid causing a commotion."
"Good," I said in a tone that said I expected no nonsense.
I continued up the stairs and paused in the doorway. The entry hall was filled with police, over a dozen officers, and I saw no sign of the SPEC security guards. Some of the officers were on the staircase. Over half of the officers were human, but there were also two earth ponies, a unicorn, and a crystal pony—no pegasi or night ponies. Night ponies would likely be asleep around this time of day. The lack of pegasi could be just the random luck of the draw, or perhaps they were used in more specialized positions that took advantage of their flight. None of the officers had weapons drawn, but I saw all the humans had their hands on their holsters. I wondered how close the station was if they were able to get so many here so quickly. Maybe they teleported.
"I'm unharmed!" I announced. "Lauren, the human woman who you had reports about threatening me, is right behind me and completely unarmed. She's rather skittish and has never spoken to a pony before today, so you might want to keep your pony officers at bay. She is willing to submit to a search and questioning without giving you any trouble. Her husband, kids, and Starlight Glimmer should all be up shortly as well."
"Thank you for informing us," one of the officers, a human man, closest to me, replied. He gestured to his right, towards the dining room. "Please step aside and allow her to exit the stairwell."
I did as instructed, and another officer gestured for me to get behind him. A human paramedic was there, previously out of my view, and she went to work silently checking me over for injuries. I didn't say anything. I just tried to stand where I could see what was happening as she worked.
"Lauren Young! This is officer Higgins from the Denver City Police. For your safety, please come into view slowly with your hands raised. We thank you in advance for your cooperation."
I guessed they already knew who they were dealing with. Maybe Wild Growth researched it and provided the last name? That was not an important detail. What was important was whether Lauren would do as she was told.
For several seconds it seemed like she wouldn't, but then she slowly emerged from the door with her arms held high. She was trembling violently and looked ready to turn around at any second to retreat. She was crying, but not outright sobbing like she had been earlier. Her eyes flicked from the humans to the ponies, and stayed latched on the ponies. No one drew a weapon, but hands remained in place on them.
The human who seemed to be in charge made a calming motion with his hands. "Thank you, Mrs. Young. We will try to make this as easy as possible. I need you to get down on your knees, and put your hands on the ground, spread as far apart from one another and your body as you can comfortably manage."
Lauren got down on her knees and started sobbing again, but completed the instructions.
"Good," the officer said. "I know this is a frightening situation for you, but I need to have one of my officers frisk you. Once she has confirmed you have no weapons on you, you can stand back up, and we can all relax. I know Miss Blessing says you're unarmed, and I have no reason to doubt her, but we're required to confirm that after a report like the one we received. It is just a procedure."
Lauren continued to whimper, but nodded. A policewoman walked cautiously over to her and, upon reaching her, knelt and began patting down Lauren. After a few seconds, the officer stood back up and gave the one in charge a thumbs up.
"Alright, Mrs. Young, you can stand up and relax," the officer said. "An officer will be asking you a few questions privately. After that, we'll check out your family. Once everything is done, barring any complications or anyone pressing charges, we will call this a false alarm and get out of your hair."
"Giant waste of time and resources," I heard one of the officers near me mutter.
"Did you want there to be an actual hostage situation?" the officer beside him whispered.
"Would break up the monotony," the first one replied. "Violent crime rate has plummeted the past few years. It's mostly just shoplifting, breaking and entering, and a few domestic disputes we get called for anymore. I'm glad, but I would like a bit more excitement."
I rolled my eyes. I would take a dull day rather than have violent crime. The decline was probably because ponies tended to be more pacifist by nature, but that didn't mean they never got violent. I had a burn on my leg that was a testament to what a pony could do when they got violent, and I had a history of violent outbursts in my past.
"Sunset," Wild prompted over my phone. I raised my leg to hear her better. "Things seem to be going smoothly. I'll be disconnecting this call and making preparations to be there tomorrow to talk with the Youngs and figure out how to integrate them back into society. I don't plan on staying more than an hour or two, so do your best to put them at ease."
"Join the crowded house," I grumbled. "I need to figure out where they are sleeping tonight. I don't want them crawling back into their bunker, but it might be the only sleeping area available. At least until we start doing something with the other half of the house."
I could hear her teeth grind over the phone. "As long as they come back out. I'm sure it will be fine. Call me if there are any problems. The chief has already signed off. Take care, Sunset."
"God bless, Wild."
Lauren was still being questioned. She had gone up against the wall and was sitting with her back against it, and arms clutched around herself as she was asked questions. My physician had gotten up and left at some point without saying anything to me.
Starlight came into view in the doorway and looked around. "Hey, I've got five people behind me. Most of them are pretty spooked, but none of them are armed. They are primarily concerned about Lauren's. Am I clear to let them in to see her?"
Higgins looked over to the officer questioning Lauren and that officer nodded and backed away. "I think most of us can exit the house now. Jones, you stay to question and help take statements, and the attending paramedics can finish checking people over. Everyone else, give them space. Miss Blessing and Miss Glimmer, you need to stay for questioning."
Starlight looked behind her. "We're giving the police a moment to clear most of their officers out. I know you aren't used to being around many people, so this is good for you. There's still going to be some paramedics, two officers, and Sunset Blessing present. No one is going to hurt you. You don't need to be afraid."
Lauren was staring at Starlight nervously and inched further away. "That...pony… she's an alien."
"I'm well aware of that, Mrs. Young. I was in the military when ETS was happening and saw firsthand her working on a cure for the pandemic," Higgins replied as the room emptied. "I fully trust her. You, me, Jones, those paramedics over there, we're all still human because of Starlight's work. I trust her more than any other pony in this house. She may be an alien, but she's a hero for Earth."
I wondered if that was an off-handed way of him saying he didn't trust me. Not being trusted would be entirely fair, given my track record. He also had every reason not to trust Trixie, given what she had done. Everyone else were unknowns to him.
Starlight looked behind her. "I'm not sure how much you heard, but most of the police have cleared out. I think everything is going to be alright. Thank you for being patient and being brave. I'll step out of the way and join Sunset on the far side of the room. Some paramedics will want to check you out, and the remaining officers might have some questions. You can come on up. Your mother is waiting for you."
I jumped when Starlight did a blink teleport right next to me. She immediately whispered in my ear. "We'll need to talk later about the eldest son and daughter. I have concerns, lots of them."
Great, as if Lauren wasn't enough of a loose cannon. Were her kids worse than her? It would make sense. They spent their formative years growing up in a fallout shelter with a high level of paranoia. I nodded and kept my attention focused on the basement door.
John was the first to appear. He did a quick look around, noting each of the humans, as well as me and Starlight. He then hurried over to his wife and knelt beside her, and then the two embraced.
The teen girl was the next to appear. She stood at the doorway and spent longer looking around. She was trembling, and seemed just as scared of the humans as Starlight and me. John and Lauren motioned her to come to them, but she continued to hesitate.
"Bring everyone over here," John instructed his daughter. "Don't look at anyone but us. Come out holding hands like we agreed."
The girl hesitated another second before turning to whisper to whoever was behind her. I couldn't make out what was being said, only stray words here and there, but it seemed like she was trying to reassure and give a child instructions.
She came through the door in a rush, going to her parents. Dragged along in a daisy chain were two younger children and a man who had to have been a teen when they went into that bunker. The youngest child looked young enough to have been born in the bunker.
Even if they stayed with their parents, these four were going to need a lot of social work and therapy to get to where they could have normal lives. There was an argument to be made that their parents committed child abuse by locking them away from the world as they did. The situation was a mess, and I was privately glad that from here on out the majority of decisions would be made by Wild instead of me. Social services might generally be taking the lead, but Wild had a lot of pull and influence—the perks of being rich, having the power of SPEC behind her, and being a beloved national hero.
The family embraced, but the children all continued to look at all the people as if they would be attacked at any moment. The younger children may not recall ever seeing any other people before this.
Higgins walked over to Starlight and me. "This is going to be a social worker's nightmare," he said in agreement with what I had already been thinking. "I'm not going to try to remove anyone from the house. Chief feels like that would only cause them to panic more, and I agree. This needs to be taken one step at a time. We're going to be ordering some social workers to start tomorrow to assess the situation. I don't think I can even let the paramedics at them today with the way they are. These people have a long road ahead."
"So, what's going to happen today?" I asked.
He shook his head. "Leave them in your care and hope you can ease them up some?"
"I can go into their bunker and get their things out," Starlight said thoughtfully. "That takes away any reason for them to go back in."
"I'll need to clear some rooms out of the other wing to give them somewhere to sleep," I said. "It is already late, so that's going to be a pain."
Starlight waved a hoof. "Oh, I can take care of that too."
I flicked an ear. "Are you sure? You are already doing a lot."
Starlight chuckled. "If I can reshelf every book in Twilight's library and put everything back in order after a magic duel, all in a few seconds, I can clear a few rooms and put their belongings in them in no time at all. It's no trouble."
I smiled in gratitude. "Thank you. I don't know what I would do without you here to help."
She raised an eyebrow at me. "Let's not get into that right now. Today could have gone much worse if I hadn't been here. We have a lot to talk about later."
"If anything comes up, call us immediately. I'll have some officers stationed outside," Higgins said. He then turned and looked around. "Okay, people, let's head out for today. There is no emergency. Miss Blessing and Miss Glimmer will take things from here."
I looked over at the terrified humans still huddled against the wall holding each other. I hoped I had everything under control.