The group came to another set of access shafts, one on each side of the mangled and rusted heap the rails in the center of the tunnel had become over years of neglect. It looked like the shafts themselves both lead to the same spots more or less, but they’d only know for sure if they looked.
Lucky looked to Matterhorn, who with the map in his AR display nodded in confirmation. She then looked to Access, who mirrored Matterhorn’s nod. If the map was correct, they were directly underneath their target, but there was no way of telling just where they’d pop out or even if it was safe to do so.
“Everyone, check weapons and have them to hoof.” Lucky ordered, taking charge. “Matterhorn, ready a spell for immediate use, and keep a few in reserve should we be set upon.”
Everyone drew their weapons, Sheet Rock her SMG, Access his Shotgun, and Star her personal sidearm. Lucky drew her own sidearm and directed Matterhorn to open the manhole closest to him while they remained on the other side, out of view.
With his magic, Matterhorn gripped the release latch on the cover and pushed it up and out of the way. Light streamed into the tunnels below as he climbed up the ladder and poked his head out of the manhole, into the area above.
He looked around slowly for a short while, looking for anyone who might walk by. He called down to the others that the coast was clear for the moment, and that it was safe to come up. One by one, they each came up the ladder, weapons in hoof, into the enclosed space.
It was quiet, eerily quiet, and the group had little idea where their search should start.
“So this is what the inside of the Arcology looks like.” Access said. “It’s not as big as I thought it would be.”
“This isn’t half the size of the actual Arcology, Access, this place is much more of an eyesore, mostly because of their living arrangements.” Star remarked, keeping her sidearm close to her chest. “I’m guessing this one was mostly used as a garden before these ponies moved in.”
“That’s a good point actually, everything here looks like it was welded together out of scrap metal.” Sheet Rock pointed out. “Quite the contrast with the greenery, and if I’m honest, I’m actually a little jealous.”
The group moved as one down the streets of the Arcology, past some smaller buildings on their way toward a larger one, roughly at the center of the area. One top of the largest building among a cluster of smaller ones was a tall radio tower, topped with a multitude of dishes with large bundles of cable that protruded from a large box next to it.
The cables led up high into the sky, slowly converging on one another until they vanished into a large metal conduit that jutted haphazardly out of the ceiling high above. This must’ve been the area’s way of getting net access given that they were deep underground.
“That’s mine and Sheet’s way into their network, over there, by that radio tower.” Access pointed out. “If there really are documents worth taking, that’s how we’ll get in, I recognize the box next to it, it’s a communications hub.”
“You two make your way over to it then. Matterhorn, Star, and myself will keep looking around for Riot. Deal?”
Access nodded and scuttled off toward the tower with little regard for stealth, but as there seemed to be few ponies around, and even fewer paying attention to their surroundings anyway, he saw little need for it and opted to simply draw as little attention as possible.
“Are you actually going to do what Luna wants?” Sheet Rock asked as she rushed to Access’ side. “I have a real bad feeling about this, something about this feels really off.”
“The sooner we finish up here, the sooner we can find our friends and go home, Sheet. Besides, a little money goes a long way when you don’t really have any.”
She grabbed Access’ hoof with one of her own and looked at him with a worried expression, far more worried than he’d ever seen her. It was almost unnerving just how concerned she looked, perhaps the past few days and weeks had finally taken their toll on her, and only now did the facade crack wide open.
“Let’s just hurry, okay?” Sheet said, letting Access’ hoof fall to the floor.
“Uh, yeah.” Access blinked. “Are you okay, you’ve been acting weird for ages now?”
Sheet Rock rolled her eyes and trotted ahead of Access a short way, peeping around corners as she was about to pass them. Access wasn’t a thinking pony at the best of times, but even he could see Sheet Rock was clearly upset.
She was often the voice of reason during missions, and now wasn’t any different. As he thought more and more about the situation they were in, and what they had been asked to do, the reality that they might being played again rose to the top of his mind, and he suddenly started to understand how she felt at this moment.
Sheet Rock held up her hoof, and pointed ahead of them. There was a cluster of ponies between them and the rear of the largest building.
“Hold up, ponies ahead, five of them maybe.”
“We should wait for them to go away, there’s not much point causing a ruckus this early on.”
“Agreed, try that door behind you. If it’s open we can hide in there for a bit.”
Access tugged at the door behind him gently. The flimsy scrap door eased open, revealing a cramped interior space with a few cardboard boxes stacked in one corner. Evidently this shed was used for storage, what for wasn’t obvious but it was practically empty, more than large enough for the two Netrunners.
Not a perfect place to hide, but it was better than nothing.
“What exactly are you two looking for?” Star inquired. “What good does splitting up do us?”
“When things go loud, those of us with the least training will be out of the crossfire.” Matterhorn said darkly. “In a way, I suppose it’s because neither me or Lucky want your two friends to end up in an emergency room again.”
“How thoughtful of you, but what about when they’ve outlived their usefulness? Snowy and I have been mostly silent throughout all the exchanges between you four, and it seems like you’re no closer to telling them what you really want.”
Star didn’t get an answer, and was pulled back behind a particularly rickety building just as group of disheveled, and rather suspicious looking ponies trudged past. They didn’t know if their presence would frighten them into action or otherwise raise suspicions, but it was best to stay out of sight just in case.
“We should pull one of those ponies aside, quietly. If Riot is even half as important as the director made him out to be, he’ll have enough of a following around here that one of those ponies will know where he is for sure.” Star remarked quietly.
“Good idea.” Matterhorn said, darting out from cover.
Star watched him move from building to building until he was just behind the group of ponies with a dangerous glow about his horn. In the blink of an eye he’d levitated the three of them off the ground and buried their noses in the dirt before they even had a chance to make a sound.
Lucky leveled the barrel of her sidearm at one of the pony’s heads, much to Star’s horror.
“Pony by the name of Riot.” she said, levitating a photo of Riot extracted from the Crown’s old records. “Know him? Wrong answers will earn you a new breathing hole, so do think carefully.”
“He-” the pony said, before earning an annoyed hiss from his fellows.
“Don’t tell them a word! They’re bluffing, it’s obvious!”
“They won’t hurt us, they’re just as soft as all the others they send down here!”
Lucky chuckled darkly. “Matterhorn, twist this stallion’s leg a bit would you? Not too hard, we don’t want him to get hurt too badly.”
He nodded, and shifted his spell’s grip to one of the stallion’s legs and gently started to twist it in an unnatural direction. He did this slowly, so that the discomfort would build gradually until it became too much to bear.
Star however looked on in horror at what she was witnessing, she understood the need to find Riot as soon as possible but she couldn’t condone torture. She was about to protest when Snowy gestured to Matterhorn, who was barely twisting the stallion’s limb and yet he was wailing like it was the worst pain he’d ever felt.
“They aren’t actually going to hurt them, not permanently. See the way he’s twisting?” Snowy said almost inaudibly. “To the stallion, it feels like he’s having his leg torn off, when really, it’s just bent weirdly.”
“I wonder if it’ll actually work though.”
Lucky brought the grip of her sidearm down on the heads of the other two ponies, knocking them out cold and knelt down at the stallion’s side. “You seem like a reasonable pony. The sooner you talk, the sooner you can go about your business. We want Riot, not you. When your friends wake up, you can just tell them we left peacefully, deal?”
“What did he do this time?”
“We’re not at liberty to say, but suffice it to say, he needs to be stopped.” Matterhorn said, releasing his grip on the stallion’s leg, but kept him pinned to the dirt. “The sooner you tell us, the sooner you can go free.”
The stallion, now able to get a good look at his captors, looked up at Matterhorn with a sneer and chuckled. “You’re one of them aren’t you? A corporate lapdog without a family to speak of, just like Riot. You’d be welcomed down here if you weren’t so fixated on pleasing your masters and thought for yourself.”
Matterhorn brought a hoof down roughly into the stallion’s face with a sickening crack. “Talk. I won’t ask again.”
The stallion spat out some blood from his broken nose onto the grass with a mad chuckle. “You’re just like him, violent and bad-tempered, but at least he protects ponies from monsters like the ones that made you. He might’ve come out of the same vat you did, but he has more integrity, honor, and freedom than you ever will, beast!”
With all sense of restraint gone, Matterhorn shifted his grip to the stallion’s neck and roughly twisted it until it snapped with an audible crunch. He let the body drop to the grass into a bloody heap and turned to face away from the two shocked mares, they noticed his was breathing was irregular, rough, and very shallow.
Lucky stepped closer to him cautiously, her training kicking into effect. “Matterhorn? Are you okay, do you need a moment?”
“I will not be reminded of that room, not now, not ever, and especially not by scum like that!” he growled maliciously. “I’m going to scout around, hopefully nobody heard that little exchange.”
Matterhorn stormed off, leaving Star, Lucky, and even Snowy in stunned silence at what they had just witnessed.
“What in the hell was that?” Star said fearfully. “I never seen a pony just flip from calm to angry that quickly before!”
“It seems these ponies knew just which of Matterhorn’s buttons to push, it’s as I feared.” Lucky replied. “It’s likely these ponies know what Riot, and by extension Matterhorn are, and this stallion just had to keep pushing the point knowing what would happen.”
“He didn’t mean to kill this stallion? Could’ve fooled me with how much force he put on his neck!”
“It has a lot to do with how they were made, it’s a sensitive subject for most agents but especially Matterhorn. I can tell you why, but given its sensitive nature you have to promise me you wont let him know that you know, and especially not your friends.”
“I promise.”
“While you two are chatting, I’ll clean up here, we don’t want to alert anyone to our presence just yet.” Snowy said as calmly as he could. “Don’t mind me.”