Days of Wasp and Spider
by Luna-tic Scientist
=== Chapter 26 (remastered): ...after the horse has barricaded itself inside ===
The Institute facility was now under the complete control of its resident servitors. These ponies, all medical research subjects now the accelerator was out of action and all the techs had been reassigned, had rapidly cleared the facility of Masters. Shouts, curses, entreaties and threats were all ignored; those who didn't move rapidly enough for the ponies escorting them were lifted bodily and floated at a full gallop to the muster station near the upper level transit hub.
The only remaining Master was the site safety manager -- a slightly overweight but heavily built individual by the name of Orch -- who they'd reluctantly allowed to stay at one of the doors to the surface shaft. There he'd remained, directing operations within the Institute as best he could, prevented from physically interfering by a pair of ponies ready to evacuate him in an instant if the mad mare came in this direction. Orch had long since stopped trying to convince the ponies to let him pass and instead paced the bottom of the shaft under the watchful eyes of his guardians, waiting for Security to arrive.
A few levels further down, Lilac studied the activity in the medical lab through his shadow sight, trying to identify the spells the blue mare was using. There was the familiar haze of telekinesis and the glowing threads that connected the pony to her force field, but alongside that was something more subtle, something delicate and complex that wove itself between the two ponies.
The stallion started to cast out his own magic, treating this like it was yet another session with his head clamped into one of the lab's machines, delicately picking apart some experimental enchantment without disrupting it. There was a faint whisper of sound and his ears twitched and swivelled, hunting for the source. It was a matter of moments before he realised that the noise was speech and that it pulsed and varied in time with his own efforts to understand the magic being used. It's like a clairvoyance signal, he thought, if I just...
The little voice at the centre of his head grew stronger and abruptly became perfectly clear. He listened, mystified at most of the subject matter, but catching the anger in one voice and the worry in a second. There was a feeling of urgency and questions about the beam chamber. Involuntarily, he focused his shadow sight downwards, staring at the glowing cube at the bottom of the Institute facility. Then the little voice disappeared and was replaced by a surge of telekinesis magic; looking back at the lab he could see the mare had dropped into the dark tunnel she'd created, the other pony and the Masters in tow.
"They're leaving the lab," announced the peach stallion, "thank the Maker the lower levels are clear. Now where the hay do they think they are going?"
Lilac opened his mouth to answer, but thought better of it. The blue mare is going to be in a lot of trouble. She's scared, but I know she likes me. If I can convince her to just talk to Security when they arrive, she'll realise she's made a mistake in trying to rescue her friend, and we can sort all this out. Somewhere deep inside he remembered how he'd felt those first few megaseconds after he'd been selected to help the Master's research. I wish somepony had come for me, he thought, then winced at a sudden spike of pain that made the breath hiss through his teeth.
"I'm going to check the lower levels again," Lilac announced, receiving a distracted grunt of acknowledgement from the peach stallion, obviously still focused on his own shadow sight view. He hesitated, staring nervously at the other pony, then, receiving no command to the contrary, wheeled and cantered down the spiral access ramp.
At the bottom of the ramp Lilac trotted down the corridor, paying more attention to his shadow sight than normal vision. Deft touches of telekinesis stopped him from bouncing off the walls, but he'd already slowed from his earlier headlong gallop, after tripping over an equipment trolley that had been abandoned in the middle of the walkway.
The sharp metal edge had scored a long, bloody scratch down one flank, but the pain was subsumed by the excitement of the chase and the urgency of his self-imposed mission. High over head, but getting closer every second, was the bright flare of the blue mare, her shape outlined by a complex and shifting pattern of magic. Lilac could see the perfect spheres of force fields flickering briefly in front of her, boiling and churning like foam, the magic changing to a powerful and pervasive telekinesis that ran along her flanks and lined the walls of the tunnel she was carving.
Finally he reached his target, the main equipment corridor leading up to the chamber. Turning to face her approach, Lilac stared up into the approaching maelstrom of magic, already the brightest thing in the shadow universe. He could actually hear it now; the high pitched, atonal warble of force fields being formed and collapsed, overlain with a bass rumble and the noise of heavy objects being crushed.
In the dim emergency lighting, Lilac opened his real eyes and looked up at the ceiling. The floor was vibrating now, little runnels of dust sifting down from where the dead light fittings joined the concrete slab ceiling. Soon, he thought, his excitement building. Almost directly overhead a perfect half dome of violet light flashed into being for an instant, then vanished to be replaced by another and another, so fast that his eyes couldn't keep up with them.
Above him the ceiling dissolved in a roar of light and sound.
===
Unlike the streamlined arrow head of a Military attack carrier, the Security dropship was a blunt cone designed to get into dangerous places as fast as possible. It sacrificed stealth and endurance for armour and a speed that could match an air superiority fighter, at least over short distances. With a booster system it could carry out a ballistic insertion across half a continent, yet was still compact enough to fit down any tunnel big enough for two lanes of traffic.
They didn't do that very often, though, as it was very hard on any vehicle coming the other way.
This time the fastest route was a short, low level dash to the Institute's entrance shaft, followed by immediate deployment from the big cargo dock at the very bottom. Rthar lay in his armour suit, reading the latest intelligence updates while listening to the whispered readiness reports of the rest of his strike team and their associated support animals. The clamps holding him to the wall panel gave a groan as the dropship deployed its aerobrakes and thrust diverters to drop from near Mach two to a landing configuration in less than twenty seconds; the forces pulled the blood to his head and made him wrinkle his muzzle in an effort not to sneeze. Another pawfull of seconds was consumed by queasy shifts in down, before the welcome jolt of landing.
"Maker-damned dropship pilots are all mad," Rthar muttered, staggering upright as the clamps released his suit. For a moment he almost envied the servitors in their gimballed, padded cocoons. Deployment patterns bloomed on his HUD's inset map display; the two gryphon squads splitting into fireteams of three and moving to secure the area. One team went aloft, circling the entrance shaft to provide overwatch, while the other three took position around the dropship and at the exits to the bay.
"Area secure, Sir," said the sersjant from her position in fireteam one. "One civilian and two servitors."
"Acknowledged. Hold position." Rthar gave the signal to the rest of his team, and they all fanned out from the dropship to get the rest of the operation underway. Rthar strode over to where one of the People was cowering on the floor, paws over his head and trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. "Carry on, sersjant," he said to the gryphon NCO, currently covering the frightened member of the Master race with her smartgun.
"Sir," she said, snapping her beak in salute and trotting off to rejoin her fireteam, currently clearing one of the entrance points.
Rthar reached down and used his suit's scanner to interrogate the civilian's comms bracer, using its biometric interface to verify his identity. "This one offers his apologies, Safety Manager Orch. Standard procedure is to restrain all civilians until they can be identified." The other SOP was anonymity for Security's operatives, so Rthar kept his visor opaqued, ignoring Orch's stammered acceptance of his rote phrase. "Are any of the People left inside the facility, and where is the Agent?"
Orch cleared his throat. "With the exception of the hostages, no. All the staff are at the muster station, have been ever since the alarms went off." Here Orch's voice took on a disbelieving tone. "Our own servitors evacuated us and they won't let us back in, not even our own 'seek and search' teams; they keep saying it's too dangerous."
"It sounds like the servitors are smarter than Orch is. The Agent, Safety Manager Orch. Where is the Agent?"
"Agent... Salrath, was it?" he said, pausing until Rthar made an impatient gesture. "Salrath is en route to the nearest emergency centre, this one thought it would be quicker if she was sent with two of our more mobile servitors--"
"So, after she was apparently assaulted by one of Orch's experimental subjects, Orch left her in the care of two other ponies, who had also been experimented upon?"
Orch sagged under Rthar's sarcasm, the disproval obvious even through the suit's speaker and its deliberate distortion. "There was little choice, without constant medical intervention by our in-house medic, she wouldn't have made it, and the centre is only a few hundred seconds flight time away." Orch rubbed his paws nervously. "This one apologises if he made the wrong decision, but--"
Rthar made a cutting gesture. "Your actions will be reviewed later." He switched back to the internal comms circuit. "Sersjant, escort the Safety Manager to the blockade group at the upper transit hub."
"Yessir," came the reply, then the gryphoness trotted forward, extending one wing to firmly push Orch in the right direction. "This way, Master, we'll see you to a safe place." The words were polite, but the tone brooked no argument, coming from a soldier used to getting her way with the aggressive and independent recruits of her own species.
Orch flinched back from the touch; the gryphoness probably outweighed him by a factor of three, as well as having the build of an apex predator in its prime. "B-but there's a lot of delicate thaumic hardware here, this one can't have a repeat of what happened at the other site," he said, trying to stand his ground against the sersjant's rapidly strengthening push.
Rthar watched the unequal contest for a second, wondering how long it would be before his sersjant lost her patience. "Don't worry, Security won't let that happen," he said, waving one armoured paw over his shoulder to where the small herd of servitors were finally coming down the dropship's ramp. Huh, they're probably the most valuable part of this mission, Rthar thought, there's a first time for everything. At least we're allowed to armour them. Their stated job was the suppression of any civilian ponies or disarming crystal thaumic booby-traps, but they also had a more prosaic purpose -- pack animals.
Each pony was laden down with the seemingly endless amount of gear even quick operations needed; packed among the spine and slung beneath the belly, over hips and withers, slung around necks. Only their midsections were kept free of equipment, and then only to allow them to fly. Under the packs, from bug-eyed helmet to high traction rubber horseshoes, each servitor was covered fullerene ceramic scales. Their wings were hidden behind curved plates of the same material, able to be opened at a moment's notice.
For a moment Rthar wondered what it would be like if he could actually use them offensively, then dismissed the idea. The World Court's rules on servitors were almost as arcane and complex as the creatures themselves, but it boiled down to 'no military use' -- and the Court treated People who tried to subvert the rules extremely harshly. He grinned wolfishly inside his helmet; of course Security wasn't technically part of the Hive's external defences, so they could get away with rather more.
"Shouldn't this one stay, just in case there are any issues?" Orch said plaintively.
Rthar has wasted too much time on Orch already, the Captain thought. "No. These ones are behind schedule. The sersjant will carry out her orders."
"Yessir," the gryphoness said, then lunged forward to wrap one set of talons around Orch's upper arm, pulling him across the landing bay at an uneven trot. Even though she was only on three legs, the Master still had trouble keeping up. Not that she gave him much choice.
Rthar watched his sersjant go, grinning at the Safety Manager's complaints, clearly audible even over the dropship's idling engines. Turning back, he surveyed the organised chaos of the teams assembling themselves for entering the Institute, nodding in satisfaction.
Time to go to work.
===
Gravity dropped down her original tunnel and aligned herself with the glowing cube of the beamline chamber. "This is going to get loud," she announced, looking over her shoulder and relaxing her grip on the Master's arms so they could cover their ears. None of them did, just looked back at her with a mixture of fear and confusion. She shrugged and gently shut Fusion's eyes and folded her ears flat, keeping them closed with a light touch of telekinesis. And dusty, she thought, conjuring up a small scale version of the same spell she'd used to deflect bullets.
Around her were the gutted remains of an office area; desks, chairs and storage units smashed and thrown against the outer walls of the space, others crushed into mangled piles of wreckage that she'd forced into any openings in the room. Gravity switched back to normal vision, contemplating the ruin while she hovered over the dark pit she'd excavated on her way up. Most of her route had been near vertical; this time, as well as descending half a dozen floors, she needed to skip sideways almost a hundred lengths.
The blue mare shook herself and laughed quietly. As if this property damage would matter if they caught up with her. They can only kill me once, she thought, gathering her strength. She took a moment to organise the magic flow in her head; this would take some good timing if she wasn't going to bring the structure down on top of herself. Slowly at first, then with ever greater speed, Gravity started to work. Make a force field there, grab the sharp edged fragments with her telekinesis and shunt them around her body to wedge them in the hole behind her. Repeat, then repeat again, faster and faster, the bell-like sound of each field merging into a rising warble, almost drowned out by the noise of concrete and metal being smashed into the excavated volume as she moved forwards.
Gravity started to accelerate, the choreography of energy and mass as smooth as a well designed machine. Every sense except her shadow sight was useless, so she flew with her eyes shut at the calm centre of a maelstrom of activity. For the first time since her... awakening, she started to feel a hint that her new power might have limits; a light sweat began to run under her fur, just like she was going for a gallop.
Within a few seconds she was moving as fast as a pony could trot, cutting through light partition walls and heavy, load bearing floors like they were made of the same stuff. Gravity moved like a high velocity bullet through flesh; a temporary cavity surrounded by a travelling zone of destruction, leaving shredded matter in her wake. Although each spell was simple, she was casting them many times every second, leaving no time for much in the way of actual thinking. Gravity very quickly entered an almost trance-like state, her whole being reduced to an arcane machine.
Thus it was Fusion, still looking out through Gravity's senses, who saw the faint shape of horn and wing through the chaotic mass of magic busy slicing through the steel and concrete in front of them. Stop! she cried inside her sister's head, traces of panic leaking back along the sharing link.
Gravity came to her senses immediately, freezing all of her active magic and carefully pulling away the last of the ceiling so she could fit into the corridor. The other pony just stood there, nervously shifting his weight from hoof to hoof. "Lilac?" the mare said. "What are you doing here? I told the ponies topside that we weren't to be followed." Gravity pulled a dazed looking Vanca forward, giving her a slight squeeze to attract her attention. "Didn't you hear the Master's instructions that we were to be left alone?"
"No, please, no more," Vanca moaned, trembling in Gravity's grasp, then gasped as the mare gave her a warning shake. "T-the servitor is correct, this one gave orders that we were not to be disturbed," she said weakly.
Lilac blinked, tearing his eyes away from Gravity's gently flowing mane, then gasped in pain as Vanca's words sank in. He fell to his knees, wings coming up to cover his head. "Forgive me, Master," he said miserably, "I wasn't told."
Gravity cleared her throat and Vanca twitched. "The pony is forgiven; this is not its fault," she said quickly.
The young stallion climbed to his hooves, breathing heavily. "Thank you, Master." He looked at Gravity, then back at the little group she was still holding with her magic. "Master," he said tentatively, "I think you are injured, do you need any help?"
===
Fusion looked out through Gravity's eyes at the pony her sister had called 'Lilac'.
What are we going to do with him? Gravity thought.
The words seemed to jump out of the general stream of emotions and half vocalised internal dialogue that was like a dull white noise to Fusion. Every so often something would get 'loud' enough to hear, even when her sister wasn't deliberately sending thoughts her way, but that was rare and limited to the strongest emotions. With her view of Lilac came little flashes of Gravity's memories; horror and a blurred image of the young pony's face, the only thing in focus the layers of ridged scar tissue on the side of his head, and guilt with a vision of Lilac falling to the ground, his magic failing under Gravity's onslaught.
Fusion remembered what her own head had looked like from the little glances Gravity had cast in her direction. Would this have been me in a few megaseconds, or would they have just kept cutting until there was nothing left? she thought, keeping that to herself for fear of distracting Gravity with more guilt. She heard Lilac ask another question, but didn't catch the words.
We can't leave him here; even without the extra suspicion he'll be under, his future looks bleak, she said to Gravity.
Certainty flowed through Gravity's mind, decisions solidifying as Fusion watched. Show me how to break the Blessing as soon as we have a moment spare, she thought, I'll control him until we can trust him. The mare smiled down at Lilac and opened her mouth, but it was Korn who replied first.
"There was an accident," he said, glancing sidelong at Vanca, whose mouth was opening and shutting like a fish gasping for air. "This pony has been helping these ones to avoid any further harm." Vanca looked relieved, nodding vigorously. Officer Largorth glared at Korn, but didn't say anything.
"I knew that you must have had a good reason to do all that!" Lilac said happily, then looked uncertainly at Gravity and Korn. "But what about the gryphons, what did they do that was so bad?"
Well, it's nearly true, the mare thought, then had a flash of inspiration. "Master, with your permission, I think this pony needs to know the truth," she said, looking hard at Korn, who waved his paw in a vague 'go ahead' manner. Gravity nodded at Lilac, letting her ears droop. "The Master just wants to protect you, but the truth is that we think they might be agents of another Hive. Somehow they've found out that my Master has discovered how to make ponies even stronger, and they want to steal the secret and kill us all." There was a choking noise from the police officer, but he fell silent at a glance from Gravity. Korn just nodded in response, looking unhappy.
Lilac's ears folded flat and his mouth moved like he was muttering something under his breath, then his gaze went to Largorth. "So is he not one of our Masters?" he said slowly, brow furrowed in concentration.
A ghost of a smile twitched Gravity's lips. "You are a very smart pony, Lilac. Yes, we need to keep him safe until our own Masters rescue us, but it's very important you don't listen to him if he asks you to do anything to stop me."
"I don't really understand what is going on, but is there anything I can do to help?"
"Yes, there is," Gravity said, trying to give the stallion a convincing smile while stepping forward and gesturing for him to start walking.
"What is it?" he said, nearly tripping up in his eagerness to keep the blue mare in sight while trotting down the corridor. "And I don't know your names."
"I'm Gravity, this is Fusion. We're very pleased to meet you, Lilac. Stay with me, I'll have something for you when we get where we are going." Gravity accelerated to a canter, forcing Lilac into a full gallop, his clipped wings making little flapping motions in an unconscious desire for flight. At this speed it was only a matter of seconds before the disparate group arrived at the end of the corridor and the door to the beam chamber.
"Here we are." Gravity eyed the door. The thing was massive; a heavy-looking curved plate that filled the whole end of the corridor. Is this it? How do we get it open? she thought at Fusion.
I think it opens under remote control. It's like a big cylinder, it will rotate on the vertical axis. It would be best if you can keep it intact, I don't know how important it is to have the shielding complete if they turn on the suppressor. Turn it to the right, I think, at least ninety degrees.
Gravity reached out, trying to grip the door with her magic, but found the surface slick and somehow resistant to her efforts. "At least we know the shielding works," she said. "I need to poke a hole in it." More out of curiosity than any real hope, the mare tried to cut the door with a force field, only to receive a blinding flash of pain that made her legs wobble. "Definitely works," she grumbled, quickly trotting back to the tunnel she'd dug and removing a twisted length of steel reinforcing beam half as long as she was. Two quick force field cuts and some telekinesis later, she was ready.
Lilac, who'd been watching this with wide eyes, suddenly realised what was about to happen and took a few steps backward. Gravity nodded approvingly at him, hefting the now sharply pointed bar. "Eyes and ears, everypony," she called out with a grin, conjuring a force field wall as a shield, then thrust her improvised battering ram forward as hard as she could.
The bar vanished and the floor jumped under Gravity's hooves, the deafening crack of impact deadened by the force field. The door disappeared behind an explosion of dust and concrete fragments, blasting back down the corridor and filling the space in front of the violet field wall with an impenetrable haze. Gravity switched to magic sight, pulling back the bar and jabbing at the door again, pushing it deep into the fractured outer layers and disrupting the carefully designed array of magically active gems and crystals. A section of the door went dark, so the mare reached out again, this time able to get a good grip.
Something moaned with metallic distress, the sound rising to a muffled scream, then the door started to move, reluctantly revolving with a great deal of vibration. The opening arch came into view just as the damaged section was disappearing and Gravity used that to pull the cylinder around the rest of the way. She floated the Masters and Fusion into the radiation lock's interior, then took one look back down the devastated corridor. "No point in making life easy for them," she muttered, cutting the walls with short-lived force field bubbles and packing the resultant wreckage into the space in front of the door.
As she dragged the drum around again, aligning the opening with the beamline chamber on the other side, Gravity took one last look back the way she'd come. It was all perfect edges and points, every one sharper than a razor or a needle and glittering under the violet glow of her horn light, the mirrored surfaces making it look like the corridor had been packed with broken glass.
===
Gravity trotted into the almost dark beamline chamber, looking around at the hulking machinery hanging off the ceiling and walls. Everything was arranged in concentric circles around a central platform, currently occupied by a complex and delicate looking mechanism that was all fine coils of silvery wire and blood red crystals.
You'll need to block off the control room, that's the other entrance, Fusion said at the back of Gravity's head. Behind that line of windows. There are some big armoured shutters that slide over the windows; use them.
Gravity grunted a reply, staring thoughtfully at the Masters. "Lilac," she said, "can you look after my sister please? I need somepony responsible to take care of her while I do something else, and until we get things sorted out and get rescued."
The stallion, who had been wandering between the arrays of machines, trotted back to the mare's side. "I can. It's a shame her experiment was interrupted before the surgeon put her back together -- do you want me to help her heal?" Seeing Gravity's hesitant look, he twisted slightly to show her the old scars on the side of his head. "I've done it plenty of times on myself; my Masters had me learn so they could do their experiments more frequently."
Gravity's heart lurched and she fought to hold back the tears. "That would be very kind. My sister and I would really appreciate that," she said in a choked voice, watching as Lilac sat down next to Fusion, his horn starting to glow.
"I'm glad to help, science is very important. Will your sister be doing any more experiments soon?"
"No, I don't think so," Gravity said, ears folding flat at the trace of jealousy in Lilac's voice. She walked over to where the Masters were huddled against the wall, staring down at them. Are you okay with that? she thought to Fusion, slightly concerned about her sister's silence.
Yes, of course. If his healing magic is anything like Spiral's, then it will need all his concentration. It will keep him occupied.
I'll talk with the Masters, make sure they don't try to take advantage of him, she thought, lowering her head to study each Master in turn. Vanca seemed to have retreated from the world, her eyes looking anywhere but back at the mare. Korn was almost calm, meeting her gaze briefly, then casting his eyes downwards. The Officer... This one might still do something stupid, Gravity thought, as Largorth stared at her, lips peeled slightly back to show his teeth. She narrowed her eyes, then started to whisper, voice made harsh with anger. "You will not order that pony to do anything. If he talks to you, you will tell him to leave you alone. He cannot stop me... and if I have to knock him out, I'll- I'll--" She broke off, breathing hard.
"This one saw you in the lab, he understands," Korn said, "these ones won't do anything." He turned to the Officer. "This servitor is the strongest Korn has ever seen, and she has no obedience conditioning at all. If Largorth wants to get out of this alive, he will do exactly as she says."
Largorth sneered at Korn. "This one will not take orders from a servitor--" he started, then went silent with a strained choking sound as a band of force contracted around his throat.
"I have no more time to waste on any of you," Gravity said in a fierce whisper, shoving him back against the wall, and banging his head in time with the words. "Do not test me!" The violet light faded and Largorth slumped, one paw coming up to massage his neck.
“This one underst--,” he said, then started to cough. Seeing Gravity’s narrowed eyes, Largorth’s ears flattened and he shrank away from her continued scrutiny, only relaxing when the mare finally snorted and stepped away.
When she was sure none of the Masters could see her face, Gravity took a deep breath and clenched her jaws in an effort to stop her teeth from chattering. This is only going to get worse, I can’t see any way out of this, she thought to Fusion, crouching down and flaring her wings. One jump and she was hovering next to the long window, horn glowing as she probed the retracted shutters.
Yes, Fusion said, it will get worse. The Masters won’t let us go easily -- I had wanted to try and free as many ponies as possible in secret before going against them, but that’s not an option now.
Tears welled up in Gravity’s eyes, but had no effect on the clarity of her shadow sight. I’ve ruined everything, haven’t I? Giving up any pretence of subtlety, the mare pulled the shutters off the wall by their non-shielded frames, then cut a hole in the glass and pushed them through. Flicking her wings, she glided into the control deck, using more magic to rip the consoles and desks off the floor and push them against the walls.
Fusion's silence was worse than being kicked in the chest, and the blue mare felt the tears run down the sides of her muzzle and dampen the fur on her neck. She bit her lip, walking unsteadily to the room's exit. Say something, sister, even if it's just to tell me what a foal I've been, she thought, very nearly turning back to rush to Fusion's side. She wanted more than anything to worm her way under that white wing like she had when she was a filly, to bask in her sister's love and be told that everything was going to be okay. Heart breaking as the silence lengthened, she busied herself collecting the heavy metal frame from the windows and cutting it into bars.
I've lost you, she thought in the deepest part of her mind, protected from the sharing spell. My stupidity and blindness nearly got you killed and I've lost you.
No, I don't think so, Fusion said, almost as if she'd heard Gravity's private thoughts. Her mental voice was slow and faint, like a pony puzzling through a difficult problem. Something like this would have happened sooner rather than later; I hadn't quite understood how strong a hold the Blessing has on a pony's thoughts. I should have been easier on you, but I had just come back from seeing what they were doing to Random, and-- Fusion broke off, her voice becoming firmer. --I was afraid she wouldn't last much longer. I didn't think what it would do to you.
But I should have at least listened, instead I--, the metal bar she was cutting fell to the floor with a clang as her magic flickered. The memory surged up, as clear as anything in her life. That look of surprise on Fusion's face as the magic struck, the way her body seemed to fold up as it was thrown into the trees.
I'll admit, I could have done without that, Fusion broke in, a wry amusement colouring her thoughts, but I'll forgive you, on one condition.
Eyes still closed, the mare fumbled for the bar with her magic, the ache in her chest easing slightly. "Anything," she said out loud, "I'll do anything to make this up to you." The hope filled her with as much fear as anything else she'd experienced this day.
Fusion's mental voice became tentative. ...if you'll forgive me for putting you in this terrible situation?
Gravity sniffed loudly, smiling into the violet tinged darkness. It's a deal, but I want you to show me everything you've been through.
I promise, Fusion said solemnly, as soon as we get out of here.
Gravity's smile turned sad, and she stacked the final bar with the rest. Yes, as soon as we have a moment of peace.
A quick probe of the door mechanism found the manual override, and within moments she had the door open. The corridor beyond was dark apart from the scattered emergency lights; a dip into shadow sight showed nothing moving on this level, but higher up... A dark bulk had landed in the Institute's surface access shaft, occupying most of the cargo bay at the very bottom. Little clusters of light moved from it, only really made visible at this distance by the purple polygons that surrounded them. Many of the lights came in pairs, showing the characteristic golden glows of gryphon wings; others came in triplets, each cluster a different pastel colour.
We should get started, Fusion said, it won't take them long to get here.
They've got ponies with them; I won't be able to scare these ones off! Gravity thought back, her stomach clenching and bile rising in her throat. The darkened corridor suddenly seemed to be filled with predatory shapes, and she quickly pulled down the walls and ceiling to block it with razor edged fragments. The blaze of magic lit the closest spaces, leaving the far end a deeper black that seemed still more foreboding.
Thankful when her view was blocked with jagged stone teeth, the mare pushed some of the undamaged shutter panels into the remaining space, then used a spell normally designed to heat food to randomly weld metal wreckage over the whole mess. Finally she pulled the door closed and melted the mechanism into a single lump. Part of her was gibbering at the amount of damage she'd just done, but the rest just wanted to pull the whole place down.
===
Captain Rthar flicked open his visor and muzzle guard to scowl at the servitor, causing the unfortunate creature to fall awkwardly to its knees on the concrete, cringing away from his displeasure. "Where did the pony say they were?"
"I'm sorry, Master, t-they have barricaded themselves inside one of the beam chambers. We saw them go in, and I've seen them use magic, but I couldn't tell what sort, the shielding--" The pony talked rapidly, voice high and thin with fear, the white and brown fur on her flanks growing damp with sweat.
"Why were they not stopped?" Rthar said, unable to stop himself from staring at the shaved patch on the skewbald mare's side.
She shrank away from his gaze, lowering herself until she was flat to the ground, wings unfolding slightly to wrap around her swollen belly. "I'm sorry, Master, we didn't know what to do. She threatened to hurt them, I don't understand how--"
Rthar cut her off with a sharp wave of his paw. "That is enough. Get out of this one's sight."
"Yes, Master, thank you Master," the mare babbled, hooves scrabbling against the concrete in her haste to obey the order. She galloped off, head held low, disappearing into the back of the large airtruck that had been commandeered to transport the remaining servitors back to the Pit for testing.
"How bad is it?" the Captain said to Agon, his breaching specialist.
"Bad enough. One length of fullerene fibre concrete loaded with boron and a set of thaumic shielding crystals, a tenth of a length of depleted uranium, then a second length of concrete holding another layer of anti-magic crystals." Agon had his visor up and was carefully scratching behind one scarred ear with the fighting claws on the outside of his suit gloves.
Rthar resisted the urge to tell him to stop. Someday that one is going to forget and do that when the claws are powered up, he thought. "By the Maker! There's less armour on a command bunker. What are they doing down there?" He shook his head. Scientists, more trouble than they are worth -- although this one must be pretty valuable, to hear command yammer on about her, he thought. "Options?"
"Tricky. The servitor will see this circus a kilolength off -- is command sure about it being the problem?" Agon shrugged at his Captain's weary nod. "One for the history files then. The doors are still our best bet; send in the gryphs with the servitors suppressing any magic, then these ones can try to flank it. Do it fast enough and we might even get the hostages back." He paused, contemplating the crystalline tip of one fighting claw, before retracting it into its housing. "Did they tell the Captain why the team needs to go straight in?"
"No, but this one has heard rumours. We go in; save the hostages if possible, but killing the servitors is the priority."
"Why not just frag them from the outset, if the hostages are expendable?"
"Relatively expendable, we need to at least try -- and they also want identifiable bodies, not scorched DNA." Rthar sucked air in through his teeth. "Pack the thermobarics anyway."
Agon grinned, a wide smile that wasn't wholly sane. "That's what this one likes to hear."
===
The view through the little drone was surprisingly good for such a small camera. Captain Rthar watched as the insect sized robot -- one of a swarm currently spreading out through the complex, mapping as they went -- crawled through a narrow opening between two blade-like shards of concrete. The extent of the barricade had come as a nasty surprise, as had the level of destruction inside the complex.
Parts of the structure had been almost completely gutted; something that must have worked like one of the big thaumic bores had cut corkscrew tunnels through the various levels, slicing indiscriminately through supports and work areas alike. The whole place was probably highly unstable and would be cheaper to demolish and rebuild than repair. Nice, Rthar thought sourly, trust a servitor to never do half a job. The creatures were appallingly efficient; the Captain began to get a bad feeling about this mission.
Has the Pit underestimated this creature? he thought. The last moments of data from the autosurgeon were clear; the over-powered servitor that had been a problem last time was well on its way to being euthanized, there was no way it could have caused this. Everyone is gearing up for another thaumomagnetic pulse, what if that's not what's happening here? If the other servitor has been sent mad by whatever has been done to it, where is the panic? Rthar probed the unpleasant idea a little more, a sudden realisation making his hackles rise.
This feels like it's planned, like this one is dancing to someone else's tune. Why would the servitor-- He bit at the end of his tongue, trying to draw out the thought, trying to imagine what he could have done differently. What does it think it knows that Rthar doesn't? It would be five on one, complete with all the firepower his gryphon units could apply. Too late now. Even if command had thought it necessary to request one of the Military's 'Arclight' suppressor units it wouldn't have helped.
The mapping was nearly done, all those little drones having found places to attach themselves -- in cracks, under furniture, on the tops of light fittings -- providing a combination sensor and communications network that guaranteed nothing would move inside the complex without the Captain knowing about it. Rthar then spent the half kilosecond or so it had taken his various teams to get into position thrashing out the basics of their entry plan.
Currently he was crouched with three other People at the far end of the small corridor leading to the control deck, watching Agon set up the Bore Snake while he monitored the Handler's efforts at organizing one of the distractions. The radiation lock with its oversized equipment access would be perfect for a frontal assault, once the servitors finished clearing the wreckage. This is never going to work, the Captain thought, privately writing off the hostages in his mind. If that pony wants them dead, then this one can't stop it. He hated this kind of attack; massive pressure from the Pit and no time to prepare.
"Ready to breach in two hundred seconds," the Handler said, relaying an image of a corridor now free of razor edged stone and metal. He wasn't that close, of course, but hunkered down with the servitors behind the T-junction at the end of the corridor; the creatures were skittish enough that the Handler really needed to be physically close to get their best performance under these stressful conditions. The imposing bulk of the radiation lock was stark in the ring of temporary lighting shining on it; everyone had low light gear, but there was still something to be said for attacking with the light behind you -- especially for this kind of distraction.
Big though the corridor was, there still wasn't room for all four fireteams to play a useful part in the attack, so the Captain had placed one fireteam -- three gryphons and a single pony to transport all the gear -- in the equipment space above the beamline chamber. They were busy drilling through the thick concrete, rigging the ceiling with demolition charges to provide another direction of threat for the targets to worry about.
All of this -- servitors ordered to be magically noisy clearing the tunnel, the sounds of drilling from above, and the massed formation of gryphons and associated magically active hardware -- was a feint and should have focused the rogue servitor's attention wonderfully. Meanwhile, the Captain and remaining three People had hauled the Bore Snake to the far end of their corridor and were working to set the thing up.
This was a calculated risk; the power suits his team wore were essentially invisible to a servitor's magic senses, as long as their antimagic defences were off. The Bore Snake was loaded with thaumic systems, but it should just look like any other bit of complex scientific equipment, especially in this magically cluttered environment. The anonymous grey box, only a quarter of a length on a side, but very heavy, was being anchored to the floor with rock bolts and a spray adhesive so strong that it would be easier to rip up the floor than shift it.
The Captain ran through the plan in his head once more; as all the best plans were, it was simple, but provided plenty of flexibility if one part should fail. The intention was that the power suited People would make the kill, but each element of the assault presented a credible threat. In the mind of the target, all would have to be countered -- and if it went to plan, the Captain and his team would be able to strike while the rogue was occupied at the radiation lock. Agon started on the last bolt, taking it slow to reduce the risk of noise giving them away.
The pony thinks it is safe behind all that rubble, the Captain thought, connecting to the Bore Snake's targeting array, time to prove it wrong.