//------------------------------//
// Chapter 14: In the Heat of the Night 
// Story: Daring Do & The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well: Canterlot Crisis 
// by Canon Fodder 
//------------------------------//

Spectrum Incorporated: Cloudsdale Headquarters, 3:09 am, September 29th

Time was running out, tensions were at an all-time high, the fate of Equestria’s future was left hanging in the balance, and Daring Do managed to finally locate the heart of operations. After an hour of careful, high-risk infiltration, the archaeologist found herself on the factory floor of a humungous production room, with numerous assembly lines, conveyer belts, bulky and complicated weather machinery. However, none of those pieces of equipment were more noticeable than the complex design of the Parasprite Distributor everypony was gazing at. A dozen cylindrical glass canisters were docked around the base of their larger brother which hummed deeply as H.U.R.R.I.C.A.N.E. scientists were inspecting the engine and taking notes on their respective clipboards. Daring could only guess she would find the abortion option somewhere on that panel.

The inconspicuous mare nonchalantly made her way over to the interesting device and sneaked around the scientists, trying to catch a glimpse of what they were writing down in their notes. One scientist even left the room, leaving his clipboard behind atop the distributor. Whistling a care-free tune, Daring Do past, swiped it, tucking it out of sight. When she knew it was clear, Daring trotted over to behind one of the clunky pieces of factory machines and ducked under a conveyer belt. There, she took out the clipboard and ran through the scientists’ examination. 

From what she could gather, the controls could only be accessed by a passcode…Which didn’t seem to be anywhere in the notes, much to Daring’s disappointment. Then as she read on, she learned about the nature of the machine, what it did and how it incubated the spores as it developed them. There were a set of blueprints behind the pages of detailed notes in the clipboard, outlaying the design of not only the innards and the exterior of the distributor, but its glass chambers as well. Each one inhabited parasprite spores and were programmed to be heated to a certain degree, and have their cap lift open from the main console…But the bottom portion, on the other hoof, served a different purpose. In the blueprints, there were two ducts stationed on the bottom of each chamber. One was an air exchanger; the other, was labelled the ‘Emergency Pesticide Ventilation Unit’. “Bingo,” the mare whispered to herself.  At last, she had found a way to shut the project down; but just as she went to scavenge through the notes some more, Daring heard a familiar, pompous voice shout from above.

“Ahem, attention everypony!” Union Jack announced powerfully as he and Stratus strolled into the factory.

Better get up before I’m spotted down here, Daring thought to herself. After tucking the clipboard back beneath her wing, the undercover pegasus cautiously reappeared from underneath the conveyer belt. Luckily for her, most of the ponies were preoccupied by Union’s appearance. The look on his face was serious, as serious as she’d ever seen him. Daring watched him approach the distributor as the busy roar of ponies at work gradually lowered to dull whispers as the Spectrum President exchanged words with the scientists; and off to the side was Nimble Stratus, the very pony that took the life of Daring’s friend, White Collar.

After he had finished going over a brief inspection, the charming unicorn turned to the crowd and grinned. “Well, it appears after many rigorous tests, the distributor is cleared for activation. However, that is the least of my concerns at the moment. It has come to my attention that the efforts of Commander Mistral and Alpha Team were futile in disposing of Daring Do and the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well.”

A pleased looking Daring chuckled quietly to herself as the room grew louder with the crowd of ponies expressing shock and concern over the situation.

“Therefore!” he shouted over the crowd, drawing them in again, “No. 9 and I have ordered a lockdown, effective immediately! Until the Spectrum Notus docks, nopony gets in, nopony gets out…You!”

Daring jumped, Union Jack practically threw his hoof in her direction. She thought then for sure that her cover was blown. But to her relief, he was addressing the stallion next to her. He saluted to his superior and then flew over the other guards and scientists to land in front of him. “Yes, Sir?”

“You know where the Outer Communications office is located, right?” Union asked him.

The guard nodded, “I do, Sir.”

“You can operate a telegraph and understand Horse code, correct?”

“Of course, sir,” he confirmed. 

Union Jack nodded back, “Excellent. Then I want you to make your way over there and relay a message to No. 7 and No. 12. Inform them of the lockdown and warn them to proceed with extreme caution. The lockdown will be lifted after they dock. If a problem arises, let them know that Beta Team will be on standby. Can you handle that?”

Again, the eager guard threw his hoof up in a salute, “You got it!”

When the minion departed, Union quickly scanned the crowd and then walked over to a muscular-looking turquoise stallion that Daring recognized from a while ago. “Commander Jet Stream!” Jack addressed, “You heard what I said. I want you and the rest of Beta Team ready. You will escort No. 7 and No. 12 here after they arrive. As for now, however, I estimate that my message will not reach them for about ten to fifteen minutes. So in the meantime, I trust you and Beta Team can handle the locking of all doors leading to the outside?”

“Of course, No. 4,” the Commander assured confidently, “I’ll get on it right away.”

Union patted the pegasus on his shoulder and then began to walk back towards the center of the room where the Parasprite Distributor sat, “Now, let me make this perfectly clear. If any of you see anything suspicious, report it at once. I will be monitoring this project from here on in, so any and all suspicious activity will come to me…Is that understood?”

“Yes, No. 4!” everypony answered.

Daring watched on as everypony dispersed from the factory, leaving about twenty guards in the room. Then one of the factory hands was waiting at the side of the door, holding his hoof to a lever. As soon as they were out of sight, the pony threw the switch, sounding an alarm as a large metal slab began to lower from the top of the threshold, sealing off the factory floor from entry. Across the large room was another door where there was a second pony waiting at the side of it, and as soon as the first gate was shut, he flicked his lever and down came another slab to close the factory…Daring looked all around…She was trapped with no way out except for a sole door at the top of the room where a balcony was stationed. But that too was soon locked off as she watched a pegasus fly up and lock the door with a key.

“Hey! You!” somepony shouted.

The archaeologist tuned back into the sound of somepony calling after her. She spun around and there was the Factory Chief giving her a busy glare. “This isn’t the time to be standing around…Walk around and patrol like you’re being paid to!”

Without another word, the supervisor left and Daring Do shrugged and started making her way around the hectic factory. As she walked, she decided to take another look at the notes tucked beneath her wings. She skimmed through the bulk of writing until she came across a segment on the pesticide feature she discovered. It read that the pesticides could only be triggered if something called a PS-X Canister was inserted. If only she had that item in her hooves right now, she’d take action right this minute. But when she continued reading, the notes told her that the canister could only be inserted if the Abortion Hatch was open which could only be unlocked from the main console. And after she read that…the notes ended. Daring’s eyes went wide as she flicked through the pages in vain, “No, no, no, that can-NOT be the end of it. How do I even navigate through the main console?” she asked herself.

“Hey, can you give me a hoof?” somepony asked.

The archaeologist swiftly tore out the most useful pages of the notes and stuffed them in her uniform and discarded the clipboard to the side. She looked up…And then down to see a mechanic examining some sort of major contraption, “Yes I can!”

The mechanic was down on the ground, half of his body exposed through an open panel in the machine of which he was working on. “There should be an oil can in my toolbox, could ya give it to me?” he asked, his voice muffled from the inside.

Daring looked to the side and saw the item in question. She gave the oil can to the stallion and a few moments later he emerged from the hull of the machine’s dashboard and closed the panel door. He put all of the tools he had strewn about back in his toolbox and then wiped himself down with a rag, nodding to the adventuress, “Thanks.”

“No problem!” she replied, turning her head back at the device, “What is this thing anyway?”  

“Hehe, this here is the Cloud Cannon 3000!” he proclaimed proudly, “This baby is the latest technology in weather control, generating up to and over two hundred clouds an hour!”

“Interesting,” Daring replied as she studied the titan of a machine. Essentially it appeared to be a massive drum bolted down with two large pipes extending up through the ceiling and supposedly acting as the exit for the clouds to the outside; and of course, there was the dashboard set down at the base where the mechanic was operating on its innards.

“I just finished working on it. Can you do me one more favor? I’ve been running without a break since I came on. I don’t give a damn what that airhead Union Jack says, I need a break. Just find the Factory Chief and give him a message.” Just then, the mechanic led Daring to the dashboard and pointed to a dial, “When you go to turn on the machine, for the sake of Celestia, make sure that the two lights on either side of the dial are green before activating it, not red.”

“What happens if they’re red?” she asked curiously.

He pointed to the left of the dial, “See this switch over here? It says: ‘Ventilation and Cap Control’. This allows the system to breathe when it’s operating and it opens the end of the barrel for the clouds to pass through. The only reason we’ll close it is to prevent interference with other uninvited particles or chemicals travelling through the air to get stuck into the shaft, possibly causing undetected acid rain clouds. However, they must be opened when in use or else the built-up clouds and unprocessed steam will have nowhere to escape and what we’ll have is one massive pressure cooker of a steam bomb waiting for us.”

“I see…”Daring said, dragging the words slowly as she churned an idea around in her head, “I’ll certainly be sure to tell him,” she confirmed with a smirk. Then the mechanic acknowledged her with a nod and left shortly after. As the archaeologist watched him leave, she thought about what he had said, and at that moment a keen smile spread across Daring’s face. She gave a quick glance around to make sure nopony was looking at her, and then she focused back at the dashboard. The two light indicators the mechanic mentioned were currently red, meaning the hatches were closed. Then she studied the dial; the needle was set to off, and following levels that ranged from low to high power. Daring also took notice of a gauge that measured the water level and found the capacity was a little less than a quarter full which should produce enough steam and pressure to cause some damage if the machine were to malfunction. So with that in mind, the adventuress threw the dial into high and then walked away like nothing happened. 

Spectrum Incorporated: Cloudsdale HQ Docking Pad, 3:30 am, September 29th

Atop the roof of the Spectrum complex, the long awaited arrival of the Spectrum Notus was coming to a close. Waiting patiently below the airship was Commander Jet Stream as he ordered a few of his ponies to catch mooring ropes as they were lowered. The Spectrum Notus was nowhere near as massive as its flagship brother, Spectrum Zephyrus, perhaps only large enough to hold around thirty of forty ponies. It was a white and black aircraft with ‘Notus’ written along its side and the Spectrum emblem printed on the face of the balloon. As the ship hummed loudly as it came in for a landing, Jet continued to look on as a pegasus pony exited the small zeppelin. He was a tan stallion with a brown crew-cut mane and he was dressed in a windbreaker jacket and sunglasses, despite it being the middle of the night.  

The pegasus fluttered to a landing and trotted up to the Commander, shaking his hoof, “Jet…”

The Commander smiled at him, patting his back, “No. 12…”

“So, you’ve been expecting us?” the Hurricane agent mused with a smirk.

Stream scoffed with a shake of his head, “You could say that. How was the flight?” he asked back.

“Fair,” No. 12 answered quickly, “If we act fast, with any luck we could be in Canterlot by day break.”

Commander Jet Stream nodded in agreement then took a moment to look up at the Spectrum Notus which was now descending as the mooring ropes were secured to the building. He, No. 12 and the rest of Beta Team moved aside as the airship started to touchdown. While it was landing, the ship was rotated so its rear was exposed. From behind, its large cargo door opened up and a ramp lowered down. There was another pony standing in the doorway, this one wearing the same windbreaker jacket, except in black. He was white unicorn with his dark-green mane kept in a ponytail.

Finally the Spectrum Notus touch ground and the stallion stepped off the ship and onto the roof where he met up with his colleagues, also shaking hooves with the Commander, “Morning, Commander,” he greeted hastily, sounding rushed and peeved, “We got the telegraph…You mind telling me what’s going on here? How is it that Union Jack allowed those two to get so close to the project? We’re too close for this nonsense!”

“No. 7 I assure you, I’ll explain everything on the way down to the factory,” he replied confidently, “Come along, we better make this quick. Don’t worry my team’s staying with the ship to make sure there are no stowaways.”

Back down below, Union Jack continued to oversee the last steps of the phase, conversing with the scientists as the adventuress watched from across the room where she noticed three maintenance ponies gallop over pushing a trolley with an open crate on top of it. It wouldn’t be long until they were ready to transport it, but Daring wasn’t about to let that happen. She continued on nonchalantly, patrolling the area and remaining a good distance from the cycloptic unicorn. Eventually her focus turned to the green pegasus trotting around and being followed by two other guards; the deadly Nimble Stratus, looking just as stone-cold as ever. Daring wanted nothing more than to lay her hooves into him but it still wasn’t the time. Suddenly she wondered what Mare-Do-Well was up to. Was she safe? What did she find? Did she find anything? With a lockdown in place, Daring had no clue whether her friend was trapped or not. Then, as if the adventuress didn’t have enough to worry about, she suddenly remembered Mare-Do-Well was magically impotent and the thought of such made the undercover Daring Do even more nervous. She decided to take a couple deep breaths to relax, this was the last place she needed to have a breakdown. 

“Are all the chambers set at the right temperature?” Union asked the scientist as he circled the distributor with a curious eye, scanning for imperfections, “Also we must assure there will be no damage on delivery; the last thing we needed is one of these to be cracked.”

The scientist pony looked about 70-years old and was following him levitating a clipboard and while he shifted his eyes back and forth between the machine and paper, he wrote notes with his quill. Momentarily he broke pace to look up at his boss, “No. 4 all chambers have been adjusted to the proper degree and they’re constructed out of a super-glass so I can almost guarantee, with a 1% margin of error that we have no worries about the parasprites being harmed or escaping through any fissures in the chamber.”

“Excellent, then I guess it’s all ready to go.” Union then looked around to find the maintenance ponies waiting patiently with the empty crate, “Alright, start loading her in…But you bloody yanks can all kiss your ass good-bye if you damage that machine. Get to it.”

“Yes, No. 4!” they saluted.

Just then, there was a loud click that sounded like a latch opening and Union Jack looked across the factory to discover one of the metal slab doors retracting to signal the arrival of Jet Stream accompanying No. 7 and No. 12. The relieved Union Jack wiped the stress sweat from his forehead and brushed his blond mane with his hoof to hide his troubled nerves. When they met halfway, Jack shook hooves with the stallion with his mane in a ponytail, “Ah! At last! No. 7, glad you and No. 12 could make it.”

A stern and impatient No. 7 exhaled through his nose, “No. 4, No. 9, we heard you’re having a little trouble keeping out the unwanted pests. I think we should cut the small talk and make haste. As foolishly brave as that archaeologist and vigilante are, it’s unpredictable when they’ll strike.”

He paused for a moment, but then Union nodded and offered to lead the way, “Certainly, come and let me show you the fruits of our labor.”

No. 7 and 12 followed. Nimble was about to join the entourage as well until Commander Jet Stream halted him, “No. 9, can I take you aside for a minute?”

“Hmm?” Stratus uttered with a curious look on his face.

The muscular Jet put his hoof around No. 9 and turned him away from Union and the other agents so he could speak to Stratus quietly, “While we were making our way down, I was stopped by one of the security guards and got word that two guards were found outside the front doors on the ground. One of them was impaled with a spear and the other hasn’t come to yet…he was stripped of his uniform.”

Nimble looked up at the Commander in alarm. Jet nodded and continued on, “I bet you any money that one of those runts is disguised as one of the guards. In fact, I was probably talking to one of them; I met a guard tonight that I never recognized before…”

Stratus looked expressionless, he pushed Stream’s hoof away from him and began trotting around the factory floor, slowly scanning the faces of ponies he passed.

“…You’re welcome!” the Commander hollered back. Then he turned to rejoin Union and mumbled, “Ungrateful silent stiff…”

No. 9 stalked and slithered through the room like a snake ready to strike its prey. He knew many of the guards; what they looked like, sounded like, and even how they acted. If he could make one guess, he knew which pony was hidden in disguise. He examined the likes of a dozen guards before he had almost circled the entire factory…Until he spotted a suspicious, ‘oddly’ shaped stallion peeking at the distributor from behind one of the many weather machines. By the looks of the tail and color of the wings, he had found his imposter.

Daring was watching the arrival of No. 7 and No. 12 from afar, trying to listen in on what they were saying. Suddenly, she was yanked from behind and before she knew it, Nimble Stratus had his foreleg around her neck. Daring attempted to struggle her way out but Stratus continued to apply and chuckled for he knew he had her subdued in a tight grip. Knowingly beaten and exposed, Daring Do laughed hoarsely and smirked. “Stratus…What took you so long?”

A couple of other guards saw the commotion and rushed over to assist No. 9.

Meanwhile, Union Jack was proudly showcasing his scientists’ creation to his fellow agents when he felt a prodding on his shoulder. He ignored it for the time being but became weary when it happened again, “-and as you can see, it’s all a matter of inputting the passcode-…” He turned around quickly to find Stratus, two guards…and the mare they were holding, “No. 9 what is the meaning of…this…Professor Do!” he exclaimed in shock.

“This is Daring Do?” No. 12 pointed at her.

Then out of the blue, everything stopped. Everypony in the factory shifted their attention to the mention of the name of the archaeologist. Even the mechanic she shared a conversation with seemed boggled. All eyes were on her, the room was silent; for several seconds, nopony heard anything but the dull hum of the air exchangers until Daring laughed at them, “What? Haven’t seen an actual mare in a while?”

“Hmph, the one and only Daring Do!” Union announced to the crowd, “I was wondering when you were going join us, my dear.”

The adventuress lifted her brow. “Oh I wouldn’t miss this world, Union Jack. You know me, I live for the moment.”

“For once you are right. You live…for the moment,” he mused laughingly.

Daring rolled her eyes and sighed, “Alright enough smack talk; you got me, now tell me what’s in it for you?”

“What’s in it for me?” Union was puzzled by the question, but understood when he saw her staring at the stallions loading in Stockholder’s doomsday device, “Oh you must be talking about the distributor. Well not much, just a hefty, sizable amount of a paycheck and a numerical promotion to No. 2 when D’Angelo steps down after our mission is complete.”

“Hmm, very good,” she added, “And how much is he paying you?”

“Who, No.1? Why does that matter to you?” Union asked.

“We’ll double it,” Daring answered confidently.

The pompous and jeering Union Jack burst out laughing, prompting the other Hurricane agents to also crack a smile, “We? Who is ‘We’? You and the government that abandoned you? Besides, I have pledged my loyalty to the Hierarchy. Canterlot Crisis will go ahead as planned.”

A look of fright and despondence came over the archaeologist, “So, you’re actually going through with this chaotic ransom of yours?”

He looked at her in a gaze as if she suddenly sprouted a second head. “Chaotic ransom? Why whatever do you mean Miss Do? Yes, even though we do work for an organization that promotes the very thing you speak of, chaos, in the end we all want peace, isn’t that right my fellow Hurricane agents?” The three other Numbers nodded in agreement. 

“And what if you fail? Say this parasprite pandemic is set loose; does your great leader have a plan for that as well?” she interrogated.

Union smirked and held his nose in the air, “We executives have been piecing this operation for over five years. We have prepared for every natural contingency, win or lose.”

“Natural contingency?” a puzzled Daring repeated, “What in the hay does that mean?”

Her question prompted a long stare from the extortionist, “Well needless to say, interference from a lone vigilante and archaeologist aren’t exactly natural events. When did you decide to get yourself involved in the first place? What was your motive in your attempt to derail us?”

Daring Do shot a loathing glare at No. 9, “That stallion took the life of a close friend that I considered family…I’ve sworn to make him pay and considering what I’ve learned since then, me and Mare-Do-Well WILL derail you, Stockholder and the rest of this thoughtless colt cult.”

“What we are doing is not thoughtless, you damn bloody yank!” a furious Union shouted, shoving his hoof in her face, “We have thought long and hard on our plan and it is the only way for us to achieve power and control, even if it means plunging the economy and normal life as we know it into darkness. United we will stand, and together the H.U.R.R.I.C.A.N.E. shall storm the country. You cannot stop us now. What Equestria is about to witness, Professor, is not so much ecological and financial warfare, but the launch of a new world order.”

“And can you fathom the thought that for the rest of your natural born lives, you will potentially be at fault for endless suffering and the mass loss of innocent lives?” Daring asked, turning to Stratus next, “Casualties upon casualties? Is this mission all worth a paycheck? Shyster Stockholder has got you all brainwashed!”

“Enough!” Union snapped, slapping Do across the face and then holding her chin up with his hoof, “I think about that every bloody day of my life, but in the end, it is what we must do to control the pendulum that guides our fate.”

“We’ve loaded the distributor into the crate, No. 4,” one of the maintenance ponies called, “Phase 4 is ready at your command.”

The vexed unicorn withdrew his hoof from her and walked over to the Commander, taking the spear gun from the holster on his back and pointing at the heart of Daring Do. He stared at her with cold eyes and wrapped his hoof snug around the trigger, “As by order of No. 1, you and your accomplice are to be killed on sight. Enough of my time has been wasted on you. I’ll be sure to give regards to your other half.”

“Just remember, Union Jack,” Daring muttered, “the Good will always triumph over the Evil…”

“We’re not evil, Professor…We’re revolutionists,” he corrected proudly. “Farewell, Daring D-“

In the heat of confrontation, the Cloud Cannon 3000 suddenly exploded from the side, sending a plume of smoke and steam throughout the factory. The explosion brought nearly everypony to the ground, including the guards who restrained Daring, allowing her scurry away. Meanwhile there was a cascade of debris that flew all around the room, killing a dozen guards in its path. Shortly following the blast, the lack of water running through the machine began to overheat the system, starting a fire that began to slowly engulf the cloud making machine. A couple of the frightened maintenance ponies immediately lifted the lever to reopen the factory gates to prevent mass suffocation. The smell of burning plastics and metal wafted through the air. Union Jack and the other Hurricane agents quickly rose to their hooves and they noticed that Daring had gotten loose again.

Amidst the chaos of smoke and fleeing ponies, Union Jack was swift to scope out the monochromatic mane of a flying brown pegasus. He called to Stratus and pointed in her direction, “She’s down there! Get her!”

“What about the Parasprite Distributor?” No. 12 pointed out, “We have to get that to the ship, and fast!”

“Right, you and No. 7 get Phase 4 underway,” Union ordered, turning to the Commander, “Jet Stream, you go with them.”

The angered No. 7 shook his head, “This means we’ll have to lift the lockdown from the building!”

“Only from within the facility,” Union was quick to correct, “There are still guards surrounding each exit and patrolling every window.” 

“And what are you going to do?” No. 7 asked harshly.

Union gave No. 7 a stern look and started to approach him, “Excuse me? I have to stay and try to regain control of this bloody factory! Now move it, all of you!”

Everypony complied with Union’s orders, however before No. 7 broke away from his fellow agent, he cracked a cocky smile. “This part of the mission may be completed, but let me assure you Mr. Head of Extortion, No. 1 will be hearing about Daring Do’s latest escape.”

As No. 7 walked away chuckling, Union Jack paused on his words. Suddenly the flash of another fearful glimpse of death plagued his mind. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, Union had fallen victim to his own mercy rule which aided the dynamic duo once again. However, dealing with No. 1 would have to wait as another burst of flames exploded from the clearly unrepairable Cloud Cannon 3000 which frightened many of the maintenance and security ponies trying to fight it. After shaking his head at the sight, Jack rushed inside the Factory Chief’s office and returned with a megaphone. “Alright you bloody yanks, put that fire out at once!”

Stratus wasted no time galloping into action. He saw the streak of the mare’s tail just before she dashed into the hall. The green pegasus took flight, propelling himself over the dozens of ponies to reach the door. He glided to the floor and performed a sharp turn into Daring’s direction.

Moments later, Daring Do heard the sound of galloping behind her, and sure enough she was being pursued by Nimble Stratus. She broke into a sprint to lose the stallion, flapping her wings to lend herself a boost. She let a wide adrenaline-fueled grin shine across her face, she knew the explosion was going to be big but she never anticipated to throw everypony into a panic like that. 

Behind her, the Hurricane agent took deep breaths and pushed himself to gallop faster, coming closer to the adventuress.

As Daring Do galloped down the corridors, she took a brief glance back to find Nimble Stratus hot on her tail. The pegasus was athletic as they came and speed alone was not going to do the trick. If she didn’t shake up the game, Stratus was going to catch her. “Is that all you got, Nimble?” In a split-second decision, the adventuress made an immediate right, corralling into another corridor, throwing the stallion slightly off as he almost skidded trying to catch the sharp turn. Daring noticed this and swiftly made another turn into another adjacent hallway, and again Stratus was forced into another unanticipated swerve. Her heart was racing, her mane was soaked with sweat and adrenaline ran wild throughout the mare’s body, cascading like the sunlight piercing through the cloud barrier. This tactic allowed the adventuress to gain a wider gap, however she knew the Hurricane agent would eventually catch on.

As the chase rolled on, the two had ran through hallways, lobbies, and stairwells with a few attempts of other security interceptions here and there, but while she could shake off the normal guards, Stratus was impossible to lose, almost as if the stallion was a robotic being homed in on taking her out.

Eventually after several minutes of non-stop galloping, Stratus tried to take in his surroundings. The corridor they were galloping through now was much narrower than the previous ones. He knew for a fact they were far from the factory at this point, but then it suddenly hit him and he knew exactly where they were heading. 

Coming to the end of the next hall, Daring noticed she only had one option as the corridor lead to the left, but when she made the turn the archaeologist found herself running towards a lone door at the end. As she ran past a sign hanging above the ceiling, she caught a glimpse of the words ‘Boiler Room’. A U-Turn was out of the question, she was going through that door and the only thing she could hope for was a way out. With that in mind, Daring burst through the door and found exactly what the sign offered. 

There was a dimly-lit, steep, metal stairwell that followed into a large open basement of the Spectrum building. The boiler room was dark, humid and had an endless maze of pipes all connected to their respective drums and breaking off into the floors above. There were pressure gauges, steam-powered engines, electrical panels, but…no other way out. Daring found herself cornered at last. She turned around to see a very satisfied Stratus laughing his way down the stairs.

He stopped at the bottom and took in the sight of his prey: sweating, poised to strike, and as dangerous as a caged tiger. Nimble gave her an insolent gaze, sizing her up. At last he smiled at her and prepared a fighting stance, gesturing with his hoof to come at him.

Daring Do smiled back at him. “So this is how it all ends between me and you?”

The silent steed nodded with confidence.

“White Collar was a very good friend of mine, Nimble,” she iterated sincerely, “You could have done a lot with the Royal Guard but instead, like many talented ponies before, you throw your lives away to be reincarnated as rats…Let’s end this.”

Meanwhile, every maintenance pony in the Spectrum Headquarters was frantically rushing to the aide of the factory with fire extinguishers gripped between teeth and hardhats equipped to fight the blaze. The scientists had fled and a furious Union Jack was calling orders left right and centre. Even the headstrong Factory Chief was in a panic; nearly the entire populous of the room was on edge but the Head of Extortion remained the calmest despite the situation. 

He was angry, but still able to keep his train of thought, “We almost have it contained, hurry up!” he ordered in an aggressive tone, “You two, join the search for that runt! …Don’t just stand there you fool, help the others put out that blaze! …I want all of you bloody guards to find that mare and get RID of her once and for all! Don’t take any mercy, just dispatch the target!”

“Number…4!” one guard huffed as he approached him.

Jack shot his focus to the guard as he lowered the bullhorn from his mouth, “What is it?” he asked in a hasty tone.

The fatigued guard was panting and looked as if her had galloped five miles, “I…just…ran from…Outer Communications…The stallion you sent down earlier just received an important telegraph. You might want to read this, Sir…”

Union quirked an eyebrow as he is given a lengthy piece of paper. He glanced over the message and read it aloud: “Calling any station, emergency message from Equestrian Royal Guard…Captain Shining Armor issuing warrant for the arrest of Daring Do.” Suddenly the unicorn’s eye widened with shock and a smile began to form across his lips as he read on, “Described as greenish-brown pegasus mare, magenta eyes, carelessly kept greyscale mane, compass rose as cutie-mark, archaeologist. Report any and all suspicious sightings to the Royal Guard or local law enforcement immediately...Guard, I want you to return to Outer Communications and have a distress signal sent to the Cloudsdale Royal Guard HQ at once.”

“…Sir?” the puzzled guard looked at him, “I thought we didn’t want to draw outside attention, especially the Royal Guard?”

At first Union didn’t reply, yet he simply continued to stare at the message with a wide and rather manic grin as he reread it. When he had finished a second time, he turned to the guard and gave him a tap on the shoulder, “Don’t you get it, you moron? Shining Armor wants Daring Do arrested! She could burn this bloody facility down for all I care because it’ll be on her head! It’ll get her out of our hair at last! Besides, I’ve done my part for Phase 3; the rest is on No. 7 and 12’s shoulders. Now, get to it!”

The guard was hesitant by the unexpected new elation by his superior, but soon thought nothing of it and saluted to his leader with a returned smile, “Yes, Sir!”

After the guard had left, Union retreated to his thoughts. Betrayed by your own government and now on the run from the Guard. Well you have met with a terrible fate haven’t you, my dear?”

To be continued…