//------------------------------// // 609 - Black as Pitch // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// The factory! He’s heading for that old factory! Speedy Delivery’s eyes widened as Lex made his way toward the worn-down old building. That letter must have told him to go there! Finding that out had been extraordinarily difficult. While it would have been simplicity itself to simply tear open the envelope and examine its contents, that would have made for some rather awkward questions upon delivering it. Steaming it open hadn’t been an option either, since there weren’t any convenient pots of water or stoves just sitting around waiting to be put to use. Ultimately, the only option had been to turn the letter over to its intended recipient and watch how Lex reacted when opening it. Of course, the stallion in question had done his best to stymie that, refusing to open the letter until he thought he was alone. That had left Speedy Delivery with no choice but to pretend to leave, flying at a level below the rooftops for a few blocks – a plausible enough action given that the massive clouds that Vanhoover’s glamorous upper city sat on were dense enough that pegasi couldn’t simply fly through them – before winging around a building and out of sight. Fortunately, Lex had taken the exit at face value, not realizing that the courier had frantically winged back around to peer at him from atop a nearby roof. The entire thing had been a major gamble, but one that had ultimately paid off. And this isn’t even the hard part yet. Heaving a sigh at how something so simple had proven to be so much effort, Speedy Delivery heaved a sigh, flopping back down onto the roof. …and changed back into Thermal Draft. I still think this is a bad idea, sweetheart, came the voice of Kara a moment later, renewing her reservations about the current course of action. This is likely to be dangerous, and you’re not a fighter. Remember how poorly your last sojourn into danger turned out? “I can’t just do nothing,” muttered Drafty, staring up at the heavy clouds that kept the lower part of Las Pegasus in perpetual shadow. “I know I can help.” How? Drafty didn’t answer right away, instead lifting her head up to peek back over the edge of the roof. Lex had stopped in front of the large double doors at the front of the factory, looking them over carefully. As she watched, his horn lit up, a matching aura springing to life around the doors as he pulled them open. He regarded the open entrance for just a moment, and then strode inside, out of sight. It would probably be at least a few minutes until he met with whoever had kidnapped Feather Duster; the place looked pretty big. “I don’t know yet,” she answered at last, standing upright as she vaulted over the side of the building – a crumbling schoolhouse down the block from the factory that Lex had just entered – opening her wings to slow her fall a few seconds before she touched down, making her way to the building’s back entrance. “That’s why I brought backup.” She’d barely set hoof inside the building before said backup rounded on her. “Lex met with some courier while you were out,” blurted Nosey Newsy, standing up from where she’d been peering out between the slats of a boarded-up window. “They were too far away for me to eavesdrop, and the entrance to that apartment building isn’t in my line of sight, but I saw Lex approach him – the courier I mean – and then head down the street a minute later. There aren’t too many buildings in that direction, so if we hurry-” “He’s heading for that old factory,” interrupted Thermal Draft flatly. Although she knew that the four-eyed pegasus wasn't responsible for having killed her, the memory of the attack that had ended her life wasn't something easily forgotten. Nor was the fact that this mare had thrown away Lex's love, hurting him terribly in the process. “The one at the end of the block.” Nosey’s eyes widened just a little as she tilted her head. “Where were you hiding that you were able to see that?” Drafty couldn’t help the smug expression that crossed her face then. I was hiding in plain sight, rather than in some ramshackle hole, you dolt. But she kept that thought to herself, shrugging. “Splitting up so that we’d have better vantage points to see what was going on was your idea, remember? I just picked a better one,” she finished, giving her wings a flap. Nosey frowned. “It must be nice being a pegasus,” she muttered, before shaking her head. “Okay, so we know where he’s headed. That means that’s where Feather Duster and the kidnapper are, so then…” When she didn’t complete her sentence immediately, Thermal Draft stomped a hoof. “Look, maybe those dramatic pauses make for sensational reading in the newspaper, but Lex is already inside the building! If all those years of investigate journalism that you were bragging about have given you some sort of insight whoever’s holding Feather Duster for ransom, now’s the time to share it!” “…It’s not a ransom.” “Huh?” “It’s not a ransom,” repeated Nosey after a moment, her expression grave. “Think about it. Whoever did this was smart enough to cover their tracks. They only sent messages through couriers, and made sure to direct Lex to a location that wasn’t their hideout, not giving him the real address until the last minute so he couldn’t investigate the place ahead of time.” She pushed her glasses up her face then. “So why don’t they have a way out prepared?” Thermal Draft blinked. “What do you mean?” “Look at it from the kidnapper’s point of view,” explained Nosey. “They’re in an empty building at the edge of the city, surrounded by desert in every direction. There’s no train station nearby, no hot air balloons, and I’m pretty sure we would have seen it if there was an airship parked somewhere around here. So once they get the money, where are they going to go? They can’t possibly think that once they turn Feather Duster over, they’ll just be allowed to walk out of there.” “Well…maybe she’s not in the factory with them,” ventured Drafty, feeling a chill run down her spine. “Maybe they stashed her someplace else, and plan on giving Lex the address in exchange for the money.” But Nosey was already shaking her head. “Look, we both know Lex. Do you really think he’s just going to let whoever did this get away with it?” She let that hang in the air for a moment before continuing. “No, as soon as he sees them face to face, he’ll capture them and make them tell him where Feather Duster is. And I’m betting that whoever did this knows that, so the lack of a quick getaway method is odd. Not to mention how suspicious their demands are.” Not liking where this was going, Thermal Draft raised a brow. “Suspicious how?” “Ten thousand bits isn’t that much,” muttered Nosey, seemingly speaking to herself as much as the other mare. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while now, and it just doesn’t make sense. This is Las Pegasus; you can win more than that if you hit it big at one of the casinos in the upper city. Plus, everypony knows that royalty can get all the money they want, and the newspapers here are all talking about how Lex has the city’s richest ponies funding his recovery initiative for Vanhoover to the tune of millions and millions of bits. So why go to all this trouble just to ask for pocket change?” Thermal Draft shifted her hooves, biting her lip as she digested all of that. “So, if this isn’t a ransom, then what is it?” “A trap.” The interior of the factory was pitch black, with the distant streetlights barely able to send more than a tendril of illumination in through the open doors. Lex briefly considered opening them wider, allowing more light to spill inward, but discarded the idea as futile. The entrance to the factory was set back from the street, leaving a sprawling yard that had likely once been a flurry of activity as whatever was manufactured here was loaded onto carts and shipped out. Now, the extra space between the building and the streetlights made the latter’s radiance more diffuse, as though struggling to bridge the distance. But despite how dim the light was, it was enough for Lex to see the tendril of smoke curling through the air in front of him. The sight made him narrow his eyes, wary. The vapor was thin and wispy, more hazy than anything substantial. There was no unusual odor accompanying whatever was in the air either, or at least none that he could detect, which along with the lack of any sort of temperature fluctuations ruled out a fire having been set. Some sort of toxic substance, then? The thought made Lex uneasy. While the Night Mare had given him only a single, weak healing spell, she’d been far more forthcoming when it came to other types of curative magic. He could reduce strain on the body, cure blindness or deafness, and banish disease, among other palliative spells. Poison, however, was an area where his goddess had been less generous. The one spell she’d given him in that regard would merely delay the onset of any poison the recipients came in contact with, rather than neutralizing it…and even then, not for very long; a few hours at most. Of course, such a threat would have meant nothing to him if he’d been able to turn incorporeal with impunity the way he was accustomed to. But just like the prospect of enhancing his senses to see through the darkness, that option was useless now, thanks to the botched ritual he’d performed. Which meant whatever vapor was in the air was something he’d have to endure; if it was toxic, then Feather Duster was likely already exposed to it, and so he’d need to save his poison-retarding spell for when he’d be able to use it on her as well as himself. And whoever had set up this trap – which it absolutely was; the paltry sum demanded, lack of viable escape vectors, and what was looking more and more like a deliberate attempt to separate him from Sonata and Aria, all pointed to that inescapable conclusion – was plainly signaling that Feather Duster was here. The single yellow feather lying inside the factory entrance made that very clear. The sight was enough to make Lex abandon his hesitation, lest the kidnapper – whether it was Silhouette or somepony else entirely – use it as an excuse to make good on their threat against her life. Even so, Lex chose his steps with caution as he walked into the haze-filled factory, looking in every direction as he moved. A thought was all it took to pick up the single piece of plumage, and Lex kept it in his telekinetic grip, the aura surrounding it, along with the matching one around his horn and the soft glow from his eyes, managing to push back the darkness just a little. Further in, just at the edge of the dim light he was making, another feather could be seen, and Lex knew that he was being led. But there was nothing he could do about it, save to see where the path went. The seconds crept by as he ventured deeper into the abandoned building. The trail of feathers led him on a zigzagging route, winding around stacks of steel barrels, the metal frames of disassembled conveyor belts and freestanding machines, and support columns that stretched upward. Several times he caught glimpses of chains hanging down from somewhere above, often with hooks on the ends, and the glimpse of metal stairs heading upward suggested that there were catwalks crisscrossing the place. And then he found her. Bound in chains and hanging from her forelegs – the metal links binding them together having been laid over a hook hanging from above – the pegasus mare was blindfolded and gagged, and a spike of apprehension shot through Lex as he saw that she wasn’t moving. But he stifled the urge to rush over and check on her condition, fully aware that she was the bait for this trap, which meant that this was where it would be sprung. Instead, he looked around, doing his best to pay attention to what little he could make out of his surroundings. But in no matter where he looked, there was only blackness and silence. Slowly, his every nerve on edge, Lex crept closer to Feather Duster, ready to make spikes of black crystal erupt from the ground at the slightest hint of an ambush. But when he got to within hooves’ reach of her, he couldn’t help but feel a trickle of relief: she was alive. He could just barely make out her chest expanding and contracting, the motion almost impossible to make out in the dim light, especially with the way the omnipresent haze was swirling around her- Lex’s eyes widened in alarm. Moving. The smoke was moving, despite the air being completely still! Which meant something-, no, someone was- He didn’t have time to finish the thought before a dagger plunged into his back.