//------------------------------// // Chapter 45 - Tunnels // Story: The Freelancers // by OverHeart //------------------------------// The crew had been walking through the dark and dusty tunnels below the badlands for what felt like hours now, but with the help of the maps provided by Golden, they were well on their way to their goal. Over the next few hours, they navigated the dark and dusty tunnels via the narrow paths on each side of what was left of the tracks, long since looted for the valuable metal and electrical wiring tbey once held. “Looks like if we keep going down this tunnel for a while, we’ll be relatively close to the Arcology.” Access said happily. “How’re we going to find Riot’s hideout when we get there though, according to the maps, the place is huge!” “The Arcology is actually several separate but connected structures, some underground, some above ground.” Star remarked absentmindedly. “I would venture a guess he’ll have shacked up in one of the emptier ones.” “We’ll need to search them then, but not in person.” Access grumbled, kicking aside some loose rubble in his way. “Since they’ll likely have a connection to the Net, we’ll just be able to slip in undetected and nab anything that looks even remotely valuable.” “Leave the in person head cracking to me.” Matterhorn said matter of fact. “Lucky, how you do you want me to deal with him?” She fell silent for a moment before she spoke in a cold, almost monstrous tone. “Disable him if you can, but if he struggles, kill him.” “He might be completely unhinged, but is that really necessary?” Star said in disbelief. “For once I feel like I have to agree.” Access sighed. “We should be taking him alive, he needs to answer for his actions. Shooting him between the eyes is the easy way out, surely you must see that?” “I have my orders.” Matterhorn said coldly. “You’re welcome to bail if you find your friends, but if you get in my way, I’ll be forced to deal with you too.” The tone of the operation had just turned serious for Access and Sheet Rock. They were interested in getting their friends back and, if anything, teaching Riot a lesson he wouldn’t soon forget and not slaughtering him for the sake of it. In their line of work, keeping someone alive and miserable was a more effective way to make sure they never crossed them again, but it now became more evident than ever that these two weren’t their friends, or their allies by just how willing they were to slaughter someone. “You thinking what I’m thinking, Sheet? “Yeah, for sure.” Scarlet and Bulwark were led to one of the larger scrap structures, evidently used as some kind of meeting place. When they walked inside, Gray closed the door behind himself and let out a loud sigh. There wasn’t anyone inside the surprisingly well lit building, and it was set out like a council chamber, with many seats and desks arranged in a circular manner around a dusty podium. In fact, it looked like it hadn’t been used in a very long, long, time. “Please, sit down.” Gray said, gesturing to the ring of seats. “By now Riot will have noticed you aren’t in your cells and will be looking for you, if you’ve got any questions about anything on your mind or about what’s to come, you better ask them now.” “Just what is this place, why have you appointed Riot as a leader if his actions are so unpalatable?” Bulwark said, picking a seat far from the entryway. Gray inhaled. “It doesn’t really have an official name, to give it one would really just give form to the experience ponies had before they got here, and many of them would like to avoid that just as they’ve been avoiding us.” “Lots of those kinds of places around, Gray, Lower Canterlot is like that too. If you’re not well-off or a corporate employee, that’s where you’ll eventually end up.” Gray nodded and took a seat himself, closer to the entryway. “While you’re figuratively out of sight, we’re literally out of sight, and sadly out of mind to the Arcology’s officials.” “Do you have a point?” Scarlet said venomously. “Everyone in places like this are in need, what does this have to do with us, or Riot for that matter?” “He was supposed to make things safer around here when he came to us a while back now, but we didn’t know he had ties to some very nasty ponies that he said were a bigger threat to us than anyone else.” Gray said with a frown. “He went to the big four for help and information, but despite the partnership he came back to us with, he didn’t tell us about the ponies he’d stepped on in the process.” “I’m guessing the ponies he stepped on were our friends.” Scarlet inquired. “Though I imagine it goes a lot deeper than that.” “It does, but even I, his most trusted captain have little idea just how far it extends. Riot is beyond private, in fact, it’s that very private attitude that allows us to even have this conversation. He rarely ventures out of his quarters unless he has to, you see,” “I think that’s enough talk though, just tell us what we’ve got to do.” Bulwark interjected, a little bit annoyed at all the talk with little action. “Very well, here’s the plan…” “Sir.” a well-dress business-pony said nervously. “There’s been a development.” Bright Sun buried his head into his hooves, groaning loudly enough to make his subordinate visibly cringe. “What could you ponies possibly have fucked up now? At this rate, my glorious golden mane will be grayer than the skies outside.“ “Well, sir, there’s the matter of Riot, the mercenary you hired. He hasn’t shown up for his assignments in a little while, and attempts at contacting him have been met with nothing but dead air.” “What about our little hacker problem?” “One of his last communications with us was one detailing that it had been dealt with, but as I’ve said, we’ve heard little to nothing from him since then.” “That would explain why our facility in Vanhoover was broken into then, and why the other Corporations manged to cause more problems than they should’ve been allowed to.” Bright Sun said with rapidly increasing fury. “It’s hard to get good help these days. Especially when it comes from gutter trash.” “Sir, if it’s any consolation at all, he didn’t cover his tracks very well at all. Something’s spooked him good and proper, he’s made more than a few mistakes that would allow us to track him.” Bright Sun looked up from his desk at his subordinate, who slid a thick beige folder towards him. He opened it to a certain section, one filled with many images of an underground city, dirty and crowded, along with a set of names and photos. “He has a hideout in the Everfree Arcology that he visits quite often, normally after a job, but there’s a problem. We could mount an assault and teach him a lesson for crossing you, but if we do, we’ll have to deal with the fact that he will likely have a lot of trained help that would more than be our match.” Bright Sun stood up from his desk and strode toward the glass windows that made up the walls of his office, high atop Equi-Tech Tower and thought about his options. Riot was an asset to be sure, but even the allure of large sums of money couldn’t buy loyalty, not forever. Perhaps he was wrong to hope he could control a mercenary group with money, perhaps he was a fool for not seeing the signs, but it was now on him to make sure that Riot didn’t use what he’d seen, what he’d heard about their operations against them. “These names, who are they?” Bright Sun said finally. “Key targets. If we eliminate them, Riot’s operation will collapse and his influence will crumble along with it. He’ll have no way of recovering, and we can safeguard our secrets in the process.” “Who would believe the word of a mere mercenary?” Bright Sun’s subordinate flipped the pages of the folder over, revealing photos of two Netrunners, of Access and Sheet Rock, in the process of breaking into a Netwatch building. The image was date-stamped for a time several years ago during a more turbulent time in their lives. “What is this?” Bright Sun said impatiently. “Who are these two?” “This one’s Access Granted, the son of Breach Control, a former Netwatch operative.” the pony said, pointing to an amber maned stallion. He moved his hoof to the other, a slate gray maned mare. “This one’s Sheet Rock, daughter of an influential, and rather wealthy, pharmaceutical mogul.” Bright Sun looked at the two pictures for a moment before he spoke. “You haven’t answered my question.” “I know this isn’t exactly my department sir, but I did some digging, and I believe these two are the ponies that broke into our systems a while ago, and the same ponies that broke into Darkspace’s systems too.” “How did you come by this information?” “I’m owed a few favors by some ponies within Darkspace and… well… it turned out they had the access I needed to some surveillance footage and voice recordings from the facility they broke into. A little facial recognition goes a long way, sir, as you can see.” Bright Sun’s face broke into a sadistic smile. “Good work, what’s your name?” “Cobalt, sir.” the stallion said. “My name’s Cobalt. I work down in counter-intelligence.” “Well, Cobalt, if this information turns out to be useful, you’ll be getting quite the promotion. Have a squad ready themselves for deployment, and prepare a helicopter for me too, I want to be there when they crush them under their boots.”