//------------------------------// // Chapter 77 - Containment // Story: The Freelancers // by OverHeart //------------------------------// “I have checked the hallways, and there’s a security door over there that looks like it could use your touch.” Snowy remarked as he watched Access pull a metal plate off the wall near the elevator. “What are you doing?” “Trying to get this elevator to work.” Access answered, fiddling around inside a corroded service box. “It should let us get back upstairs, hopefully somewhere we can get out without being seen.” “Assuming it doesn’t deliver us into the hooves of Genetech, you mean.” “It’s a cargo elevator, it probably opens up to a warehouse on the upper level, you know, where they deliver goods?” Access pointed out. “For all their self-sufficiency, I’d be surprised if they didn’t import some kind of luxury from the outside world.” Someone had at one point or another, intentionally damaged the elevator’s control circuitry in an attempt to stop it being called to the floor they were on, but it appeared that the elevator itself still functioned, as they could hear the elevator traveling between floors on occasion. The call button’s lighting sprang to life almost as soon as Access had finished fiddling with the wires inside the box. He closed the panel back up again after a few finishing touches, and hit the call button gently to see if it’d actually work. There was an almighty grinding noise as the cargo elevator started to move as expected, which turned into a low whine as it gathered speed. “Can’t you can’t work your magic to make it a little faster?” Snowy said with a hint of dissatisfaction. “Cargo elevators aren’t really built for speed.” Access said plainly. “We should be glad that the damage wasn’t more permanent.” “Now start work on that security door, but be careful.” “Yeah yeah, I will.” Access groaned “You sound like my mom, she fussed over me whenever I did anything slightly dangerous too.” While Access was just making a joke at Snowy’s expense, there was actually cause for a little caution, as a slight scratching sound could be heard on other side of the door, amplified by the otherwise dead silent tunnels. It sounded like something sharp or heavy was being drawn across it lazily. He scraped his own hoof against the door, purely to test something, and the sound stopped for a moment before resuming shortly afterwards. “Rifle at the ready, I’m going to open the door.” Access said. “The button’s corroded to shit, but I can just bridge the contacts with my hoof, be ready.” The rifle Snowy was equipped with popped out from his side, unfolding into a firing position as it went. A rifle like that could’ve easily punched through the door, but they didn’t know who, or what, was on the other side and would run the risk of hitting something important. The bottom half of the door fell into the floor, while the top half remained in place, with the resulting gap being just large enough to crawl underneath. A strange dark furred mass that had been laying against the door suddenly sprang to its hooves and went to sprint down the hallway toward them, but a single thunderous shot from Snowy’s rifle soon put an end to that plan. The shot tore through the creature and liberated its front left hoof from the rest of its body, and it crumpled to the floor into a growling heap. Despite the pain it must’ve felt in that moment, it was still trying to get to them, but wasn’t going anywhere in a hurry. “Shoot first, ask question later is it?” “My cognitive capability far outclasses yours, Access, look closer.” The creature’s coloration was almost entirely dark blues, grays, and earthy greens, the traditional color palette for a bat pony, but its overall body shape was far too thin and rake-like for one. If this was indeed a Bat Pony and not someone gene-modded to look like one in a superficial manner, it raised some question. Shadows seemed to cling unnaturally to the creature’s emaciated frame and it was hard to concentrate on it for any length of time, almost as if something was trying to actively dissuade onlookers from acknowledging the creature’s existence. “I don’t think this thing was friendly, just looking at it makes my head hurt.” “Given the nature of where we are, are you surprised?” Snowy remarked before he suddenly peered into the darkness. “There is movement nearby, we should tread lightly.” “That rifle is far from quiet, what makes you think that’ll help now?” Snowy sighed, or a close approximation thereof. “Bat Ponies are sensitive to sudden bright lights and loud noises, so if these really are Bat Ponies, the gunshot alone echoing off the walls should stun them even if the shot misses.” Access pointed down the hall. “Would you stake your life on it?” There were more of the creatures peering at them from the ceiling a little way down the hall, hiding behind bundles of cables and lighting fixtures long since burnt out from overuse. While they considered how to proceed, Access noticed something peculiar about the individual Snowy had disabled and knelt down to take a closer look. He had a GeneTech logo branded onto his neck, followed by a faded barcode. “Snowy, does this look like it could mean something?” “I can try and decode it.” “Do it quickly please, they don’t look happy.” Access urged. “I don’t think we have enough bullets between us to take them all down.” The barcode was faded with age but there was enough of it intact to reveal a few things about the individual it was on. It combined a serial code and medical data into one long string of data, though much of the latter was illegible. “I wouldn’t like to speculate for what purpose, but this may have been a test subject of sorts.” “GeneTech are experimenting on live subjects?” “It wouldn’t be much of a stretch to assume that they were doing just that, given we know of one other corporate entity who have done something similar.” Snowy pointed out. “You see what I’m getting at, don’t you?” “Loud and clear.” Access answered. “There’s another thing that’s been bugging me about this job too actually, didn’t Phantom say that the place we were hitting was on the UPPER levels?” Snowy twitched, like he malfunctioned for a moment. “I don’t recall.” “You’re a Synthetic.” Access stated. “You don’t forget, not like organics do.” “Are you implying someone intentionally tampered with my databanks?” Snowy said indignantly. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not pointing hooves here, but the only pony that’s been in my core recently was you.” A low growl brought their attention to the creatures, some of which were getting increasingly agitated with their presence. Access unholstered his shotgun and pointed it up at the ceiling, which made some of the creatures recede into the darkness, growling as they went. “How many shots you got left?” “Including the one in the barrel, nine.” “There’s maybe twenty of them in total, better make those shots count.” Suddenly, the creatures began to leave until only one of the more curious and least aggressive individuals remained, It dropped to the ground a little distance from Access, who responded by aiming his shotgun at the creature’s chest. What occurred next was something of a surprise, given that these creatures had done little more than growl at them. It spoke. “Don’t… harm…” It said in a low, barely audible rasp. “Not… dangerous…” “Come any closer and you’ll be breathing through a new hole in your chest.” Access promised. “I mean it.” “You shot… first.” the creature said. “You, danger.” “In our line of work, the pony that shoots last is a dead pony.” Snowy rebutted. “Maybe we can calm down a little, apologize maybe.” “One you shot, bad.” the creature said. “Don’t care, for him.” “Why are you talking like that?” “Long time, not talk, difficult.” “We’re looking for some ponies, ones like us, they need our help.” Access pointed out. “Will you be a problem?” “Not me, others, maybe.” “Do you know where they might be?” The creature thought for a moment before it produced a worn marker from under its wing. It drew a symbol on the wall, then drew an arrow pointing at it. “Look here, find symbol, maybe there.” The creature seemed to meld into the shadows as it finished its sentence, but not before it left a chip on the floor where it once stood which Snowy collected. When he looked around, there was nothing left of the creature’s presence except small wisps of smoky shadow. Snowy studied the logo and surmised that the crudely drawn symbol, a rounded box with a gear inside, might’ve once been a symbol on a map. It was little to go on, but short of scouring every single square inch of the place, it would have to do. They got the sense that the creature hadn’t left and was just hidden from view, but they had nothing to back that suspicion up with, so they had to operate under the assumption that it was at least not hostile for the moment. “Any idea where to start?” Access asked. “A symbol isn’t really that helpful without a way to know where we actually are or what it means.” “I think I saw a floor plan back toward the elevator, maybe check that first just to be sure.” Snowy answered. “Something tells me that there is more to these creatures, so we should try to avoid provoking them anymore than we already have.” “I mean, you were lucky the one you shot wasn’t held in higher regard, what if we killed mole pony royalty or something?” “Joking aside, I doubt it’s quite that deep.” Snowy answered, unamused. “They didn’t seem all that bothered about it.” “You’re probably right, let’s get to it then.”