//------------------------------// // Seeking the Unseen // Story: Equestria Girls: The Spider Seven // by Alphamon_Ouryuken //------------------------------// In a secluded location, a lone woman sat in a chair surrounded by several computer monitors arranged in a circular pattern, each one labeled with a particular number, signifying their connection to one of the many drones she had planted throughout the city. The women's focus remained on one of the bigger monitors, which was replaying footage of Spider-Girl swinging from building to building as she chased after a helicopter. “Hmmm… interesting how well she's adapting to these powers.” She exclaimed as she turned her attention to the monitor behind her, displaying footage from the next drone, the screen shifted to what could only be described as a boxing arena with a giant cage around it… which was slowly being lifted up as an unconscious individual was dragged out of the ring on a stretcher. The audience roared with applause as the victor: the Scarlet Spider, paced around the ring with her arms spread, basking in the glory of her most recent victory. “This one seems to be holding back a bit more… then again how much is debatable…” She mumbled to herself as she turned to a console and pressed a few buttons, shifting her attention to another drone. When the process was completed, the monitor showed none other than Spider 2099 storming through an abandoned warehouse, leaving what the woman could only assume was the aftermath of a rather brutal fight. Several of the thugs were knocked out… at the very least the lucky ones were, the rest of them were writhing in pain over a nasty injury and in certain cases a broken body part, she almost turned green upon seeing one of the thugs holding his arm in pain… which was bent at an angle it definitely wasn't supposed to be. “Not bad, but a little too brutish for my tastes…” The woman mused to herself, saving the recorded footage for later as she turned her attention to another one of her monitors… which was replaying footage from yesterday within the local bank. "ALRIGHT, EVERYONE ON THE GROUND NOW!" One of the robbers yelled as she shoved an accountant to the floor. All of them were dressed in dark blue shirts, black jeans, gloves, and ski masks that kept their faces hidden... but the most notable thing was that their weapons seemed to be more hi-tech than any normal firearm. Everyone else was on the ground, covering their heads or protecting their loved ones. Another robber walked up to the receptionist while the first one pointed his gun, making sure no one attempted anything. The second robber pointed his weapon. "Alright, put everything in the bag! I don't wanna see a single air bubble!" "R-Right away!" The receptionist started filling the bag up as much as she could. Smirking, he briefly turned his attention to the rest of his associates. "The cops'll be here any minute! Keep an eye on the hostages and make sure no one tries to be a hero!" "You got it boss!" One of the thugs shouted back as she and her partners carefully spread out, keeping track of any civilians while searching the area to make sure no one had tried to hide… However the moment one of them strayed a little too far from the group, a sticky substance shot down from the ceiling, latching onto him and yanking him upwards before he even had a chance to scream, leaving only his weapon behind. The main thug pointed his weapon, discovering the dropped device. "What the...? Where'd he go?!" The remaining one looked upward for just a brief second. "Uh...boss? You might wanna look..." Above them was their team member, suspended in midair on a giant spider web. "What the...? Show yourself, whoever...or WHATEVER you are!" The boss shouted as he and the rest of the robbers aimed their guns in several different directions, but none of them could see their uninvited guest. "Th-this wasn't part of the plan, boss!" One of the robbers complained. "Shut up, I know that! Just find some way to stick together! This freak can't get all of us!" He snapped at them before looking around. "Ya hear that?! You aren't getting the rest of us! We are leaving with the money!" However, mere seconds after he spoke, the lights suddenly went out, followed by three large globs of white fluid shooting out from the shadows, bursting into a large webs and completely clogging up their firearms. Seconds later two of the thugs screamed in terror as they were dragged into the shadows by an unseen force, the hidden assailant then leaped down between two other thugs and grabbed both of their heads, slamming them together and knocking them out. Turning around she then quickly kicked one of the clogged guns out of another thug's hand before shooting a thick glob of webbing at her and pinning her to the wall. As the emergency power came back on, the lights flickered to life, revealing several of the robbers either unconscious, webbed to the wall, or hanging from the ceiling in a web cocoon. All but one thug was left… one who’d drawn her handgun and had taken a hostage. "N-Now listen here freak, you're gonna show yourself and get those weird web... thingies off my crew!" She shouted, her tone a mixture of anger and stress as she pressed the barrel of her gun up against the side of the man's sweating head. "Otherwise I put a bullet right through this guy's graymatter!” There was a long, tense silence, with the stunned citizens nervously glancing around as they waited for the unseen assailant to show themselves… *THWIP* *BANG* The sound of a gunshot echoed throughout the entire room, causing everyone to flinch in horror. The final thugs arm was now outstretched, aiming at a corner of the room where the sound came from. Then the robber suddenly flinched as her arms limply fell to her sides… followed by her dropping the gun, her eyes rolling back as she fell to her knees and the hostage quickly ran off… just as the Police stormed the building. “HANDS WHERE I CAN SEE THEM RIGHT NOW-” The lead Officer began to shout, only to look around and confusion upon taking in the situation. “...the hell?” “Okay now… just who are you…?” The woman mused out loud and she went over the footage again. After a third playback she noticed a figure sneaking down the hall through the shadows out of the corner of her eye. As soon as she zoomed in on it, however, the figure seemed to vanish from sight. "Was… was that a malfunction just now...?" She blinked as she tried to enhance the image, sure the resolution was improved as much as it could without becoming too pixelated, but unfortunately it wasn't enough to get a good look at the escaping individual. Suddenly, one of her topmost screens started beeping, displaying an aerial map of the city as well as the location of one of her drones. “Looks like we're getting a live feed today!” She exclaimed in a more giddy tone as she manually took control of the drone. As the camera focused however, this drone in particular seemed to display a rather... perplexing location. '...a construction site?' As the camera zoomed in, she noticed several crooks holding a woman hostage, who was tied to a beam and had her mouth gagged shut. Judging by the flashing blue and red lights from the windows, the police were apparently already on the scene, while the leader of the group was apparently negotiating the terms of her release on the phone. "You know the drill, donut boy! Either your friend over there forks over the money or the broad dies!" But as the thug said this, the drone turned its attention to one of the hostage takers who looked like they were watching the windows. And in the same instance… they were yanked back into the shadows, barely a sound heard as he seemingly vanished! "Oh? What have we here?" After typing in some commands, the woman patiently waited as the remaining thugs began to spread out… only for another one of them to suddenly disappear behind a support beam! "There it is again!" The woman exclaimed as her drone silently crawled along the walls, only to be greeted by the sight of another unconscious thug by the time it arrived. "Fascinating… whoever this is they must be experts when it comes to stealth-" Just then, the drone picked up movement from the right, shifting its focus just in time to see a thug being knocked on his back by seemingly nothing at all. "Just like the bank heist, nothing hit him and he still fell!" She said as she turned the resolution up, but all she saw was nothing… at least, for that time being. "Okay there HAS to be something going on here." The woman groaned and she had her drone start crawling around the area, carefully planting smaller cameras in each corner in an attempt to cover every other angle. "Come on… maybe I should-wait. Cameras, shift imagery to Infrared." With a swift command the images all shift to another type of imagery. [COMMAND COMPLETE MA'AM] "Keep this setting… and scan for all heat signatures." She added, hoping this would clear things up… Suddenly, her drone focused on the heat signature of a figure carefully sneaking up right behind one of the thugs. However instead of moving with the swiftness and grace of a trained fighter as she expected, this individual was… awkwardly tiptoeing towards him like a child sneaking away with an ill-gotten snack. The figure then carefully picked up a thick plank of wood and abruptly slammed it on top of the thug's head, knocking him out in one strike. "Sorry, sorry, sorry…" The figure whispered timidly as the thug's body slumped to the ground like a sack of potatoes, quickly dragging the man behind another support beam and sneaking away before his comrades could notice. "No… no no no. Are you… are you serious?" The woman mumbled, her eye twitching slightly as she switched to another camera just in time to see the figure stuck out their leg just as the thug rounded a corner, tripping him. The poor man didn't have a chance to react as he tumbled down some stairs leading to the basement, a loud crash was heard from the darkness followed by the sound of something rather heavy toppling over... followed by yet another crash. The figure could only wince before sneaking off again, a low groan of pain being the only sign that the thug was still alive. "This feels less than a proper crime scene and more like a Home Alone movie..." The woman sighed in irritation. "I guess she's getting the job done, but...I must say I'm a little bit disappointed.” "Oh dear. Oh my." The invisible figure whispered as she kept getting closer to the lead kidnapper… but as she did it seemed like her hands had started glowing through the thermal imaging. And the woman couldn't help but be rather interested in that little curiosity. "Well hello there. What's this?” "I'M MAKING THE DEMANDS HERE PIG!!" He screamed nervously, frantically looking around with his gun drawn. "I SWEAR IF THAT MONEY ISN'T HERE THE NEXT TEN MINUTES THE HOSTAGE IS-" "Please don't yell..." The figure whispered as she lightly tapped him on the shoulder, with the glow from her hand suddenly shooting through the thug's entire body like electricity. The woman could only watch in astonishment as the man let out a scream of pain as his entire body spasmed and jerked, his knees then went weak as he slumped to the floor, completely unconscious like the rest of his gang. The figure, having finished their work, carefully ran over to the bound captive and undid the ropes, quickly running off and diving out the window before the girl could remove her blindfold. The captive in turn can only look around in confusion at the unconscious thugs before quickly rushing down the stairs and out the doors… "Well… not the most… spectacular outcome I could have hoped for, but at least he kept the hostage safe…" The woman mused as she pressed a few buttons on the keyboard, playing the footage on loop a few times. "And I must say I never expected that these specimens would have yielded such positive and… impressive results." However, during one such looped footage an alert flashed across her screens. Something she had set up in case someone tried anything funny around her family business. "Oh really now how annoying.... well, let's see what the issue is." The woman grumbled as she swiftly inputted a few commands. "Pull up cameras from shell company Belle Records. Let's see what the problem is here. It better not be something to waste my time on.” The image on the screen swiftly changed to reveal a secure vault several levels beneath the surface. Narrowing her eyes, she paid close attention to the various armed guards patrolling the area, it certainly seemed heavily guarded... and yet something felt off. “...rewind past the last five minutes.” Rarity asked the computer. In the blink of an eye the screens started to rewind to before her alarm was tripped. Once more everything looked normal… but this time Rarity saw the real issue on two of her screens. It was very brief, but for but a moment, just as one of the guards walked offscreen... there was a movement just out of frame, only noticeable by the guard's shadow moving rather sporadically for a few seconds... followed by the same guard walking back into the next camera's field of vision. The woman then glanced over to the second guard as he passed by his 'comrade', approaching the edge of the camera's field of vision yet again... Another sporadic shadow movement, almost completely unnoticeable to the untrained eye, right before he walked back into the view of the next camera. "...wait…" She whispered to herself as she backed up the footage a bit more. The sporadic shadow movement was already evidence enough, but this time she also noticed how they moved. Guard 01 had a very relaxed and chill movement but after going off camera and reappearing his movements were very stiff and straight forward. Guard 02 was much the same way though with another difference... he was now 2 or 3 inches shorter than he was before. 'The security systems have been compromised.' Clenching her fists, the woman quickly pulled up footage from inside the vault, a sense of nervousness taking hold as she quickly started going through the inventory. Whoever these intruders were, they knew how to replicate the company's guards to the letter, even taking advantage of a blind spot within their security system! Rapidly typing down several commands she quickly scrolled through the list, mentally praying that whatever they may have lost was still salvageable… "Please, please, please don't tell me we lost something valuable." She began to pray. Each command she punched in showing more of the list yet it didn't seem like anything was stolen. She almost felt relief until the fifth list popped up… and an item started blinking red; Several files had been stolen from the record room… with which she could only deduce was a trojan virus left in its place. "Of all the worst possible things to happen..." She mumbled to herself as she quickly leaped out of her chair and stormed towards a large metal cylinder twice her size attached to the wall of the room. Pulling out a communicator she quickly called up her... associate. "Sweetie dear, I'm going to need you to triple encrypt any and all files... I might have to take a personal approach after tonight..." She explained as she leaned her face close to the retinal scanner, after about a few seconds the cylinder slowly slid up, revealing one of her own long-term projects... Meanwhile, atop one of the many rooftops the silent, unseen girl who had formed on both the bank robbery and the hostage situation now laid on her back, gazing up at the night sky. She couldn't really remember the last time she could look up at the sky and just breathe. The stars shining brightly down on her and kissing her form with their light. The simple joys of life that she oftentimes took for granted back home. ‘Home…’ A small yet slightly more cynical side of herself couldn't help but scoff at that. Sure she did have an emotional attachment to that place, but at the same time she found it hard to ignore how hard it was to grow up there, especially when she spent a fair amount of that talk learning to hide like her life depended on it... mainly because it did. And yet, her thoughts drifted to the faces of those who had taken her in when she had nothing, who worked with her through thick and thin, and had her back when she was in a bad place and headed for a worse one… "It doesn't seem real here half the time." She told herself. "This place... these people... I mean bad guys are here but they all don't know how... lucky they have it." "AWWWW ISN'T THAT SWEEEEEEET?" For a brief moment, her very surroundings were engulfed by a red tint, the sound of that horrid, maniacal laughter echoing through her mind as a chill ran down her spine. A wave of terror eclipsed all other senses as she looked around, fearful that an attack could come from any direction… or worse, all at once without a single chance to save herself… “Hey, are you ok?” There was a hand on her shoulder, and just like that, everything snapped back to normal as she sank down to her knees, as if it were nothing more than a bad dream. But she knew better… she knew… “Oh dear, what happened?” The sound of a reassuring voice was the only source of comfort that brought her down to Earth. Turning around, she found herself gazing into the eyes of an older woman with curly deep violet hair and pale skin approaching her… the very lady who had been kind enough to take her in. "Oh. Sorry I wasn't… I mean I'm fine. Thank you." She said with a smile. She then adjusted herself and soon went from laying down to just sitting. "I just was… thinking again." "Bad dreams again?" The lady asked as she walked up and sat beside her. "About your home?" "Y-Yeah..." She mumbled as the lady wrapped her arms around her, a gesture she was all too eager to return. "It's just... everything's so different from what I'm used to..." She tried to explain, her body shivering at that... unpleasant memory "I can only imagine... and I can feel your worries... but you're safe here. With us." The lady said with a warm smile. "You don't have to be scared anymore… Fluttershy.”