“Directly ahead of you is a security door, it should be open, you’re going to want to ignore it and take the door to your left.”
“And from there?” Matterhorn remarked.
“It looks like the entire floor loops back on itself, so I don’t think it matters whether you go left or right, just avoid the direct route and go the long way around.”
The hallway was dimly lit by some recessed light fixtures in the floor, making navigation somewhat difficult. Star seemed unbothered by the lack of light, and it quickly became apparent as to why.
The lack of light was intentional, Bat Ponies had fantastic low-light vision, so the fixtures were to provide the bare minimum light needed for their night vision to work effectively. Matterhorn lacked this ability, so he hoped that the choke was still disabled on his horn.
To his surprise, it was, and he lit his horn successfully and started to focus his magic into his eyes, hoping that his current reserves were enough to cast something useful. A simple night vision spell wouldn’t last long, but it was all he could muster at short notice.
He didn’t want to admit it, but he was a little rusty having gone without his powers for a while.
Sheet Rock had transmitted a floor plan to them before going quiet again, and as expected, the floor was shaped like a huge ring, with rooms spaced along the inner and outer edges of the ring.
In the middle down a long corridor that stretched between the security door on their side, and the other on the other side, was a set of emergency stairs, no doubt blocked off until an emergency situation was declared
“Got any idea where we should head first?”
“Start with the closest room, I suppose.”
The room closest to them could be seen from the elevator. A small frosted-glass door separated it and the hallway, and from where they were stood it looked to be unguarded, though the sound of hooves on metal echoed down the hallway.
The sound became more distant for a while, before it started to get louder again. Someone was about to walk through the opposite hallway, and Matterhorn darted toward the little room, leaving Star to scramble after him.
Just as he pushed the door open, the source of the noise came into view, an earth pony stallion in a navy blue security uniform wearing heavy combat boots.
It wasn’t odd that ponies besides Bat Ponies worked within the Arcology, but it wasn’t particularly common either. His uniform didn’t match that of Arcology Security though, so it was likely that he worked for a private entity.
“Take a look around while I keep an eye on this guy.” Matterhorn ordered. “I know it goes without saying, but we can’t afford the alarm being raised this early on.”
The room was a small office with a couple of desks and computers lit by harsh florescent tubes, buzzing harshly as if they were on their last leg. Star tried the drawers of the desks in the hope they were open and contained something useful.
Random paperwork, office supplies, pens and pencils, nothing of any real use or consequence, at least until Star happened upon a flat rectangular object right at the very rear of the drawer underneath a pile of discarded reports.
When Star pulled it free of its papery prison, it bore the name and photo of a Bat Pony mare named Shadow Wing. Presumably, this was her desk and what Star had found was a company ID card of sorts, possibly one that could allow them access to other rooms.
“ID Card, might open a door or two.”
“Sure hope so, because we’ve got company.” Matterhorn replied, watching a Bat Pony mare and stallion walking toward them from down the hallway. “I’ll pin them down, you do the talking since you’re so fond of it.”
Star hadn’t ever pointed a gun at someone before, at least not intentionally, but she wouldn’t have time to contemplate the ethical issues of doing so before their company walked in.
Despite Star’s obvious reluctance to hold someone at gunpoint, Matterhorn swiftly brought them to the ground with a concussive blast from his horn and pinned them down with a ring of magic around their necks before they could even tell what was happening to them.
One of them looked remarkably like the pony on the ID card found in the desk.
“I assume you’re Shadow Wing, yes?”
“Who are you ponies?”
“We’re looking for someone, she got taken for medical care not long ago.” Star said, ignoring the mare’s question. “Where would she have been taken?”
“You’re floors too low if you’re looking for public medical services.” the stallion said sarcastically before Matterhorn drove his hoof into the stallion’s sternum.
“She’s an associate of ours, she was on a job, you understand?” Star said sternly. “Or does my friend here need to break a bone or two?”
As if to prove a point, Matterhorn tightened his grip on their captive’s necks.
“There was talk of security detaining someone a little while ago, they took her below, but that was all I heard.”
“Shadow Wing are you really gonna tell these brutes-” the stallion barked before being summarily knocked out by a swift blow to the back of his skull. Matterhorn tossed the stallion aside, where he landed in a heap at the foot of his desk.
“I don’t believe you.” Star remarked. “Seems your friend gave away the fact you know more than you’re letting on.”
The sound of combat boots on metal gave them pause as they slowly approached the office, stopped, then continued on to fade away down the hallway with the sound of an electronic lock and a door opening.
“I can get you to where you need to go, but you’ll have to avoid the guards.” Shadow Wing said, bargaining for her life. “I have access, but I can’t explain away your presence, you don’t look anything like GeneTech’s security detail.”
“This is their floor?”
“One of them.” Shadow Wing corrected. “There’s a few floors above and below this one, all those are their property. I’m just a liaison, I handle the communications between them and the Arcology’s staff.”
“Matterhorn, let her go.” Star ordered. “And you, stand up.”
Reluctantly, Matterhorn did as he was told, and the ring of magic around Shadow Wing’s neck vanished.
“You are going to get us where we need to go.” Star stated, returning the mare’s ID card. “I know for a fact your locks have a biometric aspect to them, they check the identity of the pony opening the door with the data on the card.”
“So you’re not stupid like the ponies that normally try and break in here.” Shadow Wing admitted, trying to mask a nervous smile. “There aren’t many ways out of a place like this if you get caught.”
Neither of them found that statement particularly flattering, but Star gave Shadow Wing the benefit of the doubt, for now. She disliked acting in such a cold and detached way, but the alternatives were abandoning the job, failing to get anywhere, or screwing up and getting them all killed.
She’d never be able to show her face again if that happened.
“Can I ask you something?” Shadow Wing asked. “Don’t rough my friend over there up too much, he’s just a loudmouth, he isn’t a threat.”
“You do your part and nobody has to get hurt.”