//------------------------------// // 16 - Nothing Gets Out of Naraka // Story: Final Solution // by Luna-tic Scientist //------------------------------// === Chapter 16: Nothing gets out of Naraka === Pain. Salrath wanted to curl her body around the zone of pulsing, burning pain that extended from claws to elbow, but the sheath of golden magic held her as rigid as if her muscles were sculpted metal. Why can Salrath still feel her fingers? Out of the corner of one eye -- it was also impossible to turn her head -- she could see the stump, jagged splinters of bloody bone poking out from the cap of light that gripped her wrist like a band of hot iron. The amputated paw lay discarded, thrown against the wall by a flick of the gryphon's head. In the distance, many hundreds of lengths away, if she could trust the muffled and distorted sounds, were voices. Some melodic, others harsh and grating, but all were equally unintelligible. In time with the distortion, the lights in the corridor seemed to flicker and surge with great waves of colour, like paws were pressing on her eyes. Why can this one still feel her fingers? The thought came again, as a particularly sharp spike of pain made all the muscles of her chest convulse, driving the air from her lungs. It didn't seem fair to have lost the paw, yet still feel the agony from the crushed and twisted fingers. Gaze flicking forward, she felt an unfamiliar wash of fear at the expression in that long, white face with its overly large and moist eyes. Eye, singular. One of the violet eyes was gone, replaced with a smooth globe of white plastic, and Salrath focused on it, grinding her teeth and imagining that the pony's soft muzzle was in her jaws. It was enough to push away the fear, and almost enough to damp down the pain, so she grabbed hold of the thought, using it to drag her mind back to the here-and-now. "--freedom. Yes, I can understand that," Fusion said, holding Salrath's gaze. Never. The People will never let the client species go. Salrath tried to spit the words, but the same force that held her head still kept her jaws closed, and all that emerged was a pained, unintelligible, grunt. Some of the sentiment must have come across, because the pony's ears flattened and her eyes grew wild. The glimmer of active magic about the creature's horn grew fractionally brighter and the pressure across her whole body abruptly jumped. Breathing became impossible in any direction other than out as, in moments, Salrath felt a great weight settle on her chest. There was an irresistible force to the touch, like she was laid out between the jaws of some industrial press, one able to shape the toughest alloys, and she twitched helplessly as her bones started to bend. Something went snap, down between belly and ribs, driving hooked claws up into her left lung. She tried to cough, but there was no air left. === It would take so very little extra pressure to crush Salrath. A twitch of effort and her body would be smeared like an insect against a sheet of invisible glass, crushed into something unrecognizable and far beyond repair. There was a voice talking to her, harsh and so unlike a pony; it must have been from the gryphoness she'd run into in the corridor. The conversation had been the first part of a negotiation, with the grey cat-bird Ellisif trying to convince Fusion of her good intentions, and that she wasn't a threat to her nebulous plans. Then there was the noise that had penetrated her precautionary sound dampening field, and she'd gone to check. ...and there she was. Her magic had reached out, almost without volition, and separated the three combatants, but it was Salrath that captured her attention and held it. She'd gripped the Agent gently, like she would a disobedient foal -- until she'd tried to speak. Then the fury had come, and it was a constant battle to not just squeeze. Breath coming hard and fast, she stared at the Agent's bulging eyes, seeing only the vindictive malice that face had worn so often. Flesh was infinitely malleable under her grip, and even the bones within flexed and strained as her magic closed in on all sides. "Do it! Kill her; I don't want to waste any time on this… this creature, when we could be looking for our foals," Redshift said, his words thick with hate and nearly meaningless against the roaring in her head. His horn lit, wrapping a contracting circlet of violet light about Salrath's throat. It wasn't the words, but the touch of his magic that distracted her. She could be useful. With an effort of will, Fusion pushed back at her hate, the desire to crush and maim, pushing it into the future and away from the now. The complex and shifting structure of her plans clamoured for her attention, and she dragged the analytical part of herself to the forefront, looking at the Agent as another asset she could use in this mission. She must know things about this place. Fusion felt her face go blank as she pushed aside Red's magic and relaxed her own. Salrath inhaled and coughed violently, trying to curl into a ball in her grip. "No," Fusion said, her voice dead and distant, "this Master could be useful." And if I killed you without telling Gravity... Despite everything, Fusion shivered at the idea, which conjured a vision of Gravity jumping straight here as soon as she knew. I think she might hate you even more than I do... perhaps it would be better if she doesn't know, for now. Still watching the Agent, Fusion turned to the gryphoness once more. "What would you do with your freedom, Ellisif, if I gave it to you?" The magic holding the trooper faded, allowing her to settle to the floor. She seemed to shrink slightly, then took a few little steps sideways to get further away from Fusion. "The same as I think you are doing. My Masters have betrayed me and everyone else in my team; we're brought up to fight and die for the Hive, but..." "You don't want to die for them anymore?" Fusion cocked her head, studying the bulkier gryphoness. "I want to live, but that's probably not going to be an option." Ellisif ruffled her feathers and snapped her beak sharply. "I will settle for dying for me, and the rest of my kind, if that gives us a chance to snap the collars that bind us." She tapped a claw against the smooth white band that encircled her throat. Fusion nodded, relaxing her hold on everyone except Salrath. "An alliance, despite the fact my sister probably killed half your team?" The gryphoness froze, beak half agape and head-feathers raised. "Yes, she did. More were maimed, and are no doubt either here or already dead... but that was war, and something else I can blame the dogboys for. I am dead to them. What loyalty do I owe them now?" Her gaze lowered, and she sagged slightly. "Especially now that I have seen this place." Fusion nodded again, then made a sweeping gesture with one wing, momentarily extending it from beneath its armour carapace. "Very well, I agree. If there is anything of the Agent's equipment that you want, feel free to take it. We need to get moving." She held out Salrath's stump of a wrist; Redshift pulled off the comms bracer and started to examine it. Ellisif picked up the little pistol in one set of talons then, with a grunt, snapped off the trigger guard. "Better than nothing, I suppose. Have to try and rig a holster," she grumbled, half to herself. Sitting back on her haunches, she cocked her head, beak half opening in an avian smile as she lifted the severed paw and held it out to Salrath. "You look like you could use a paw, Agent. You know we live to serve." Salrath wriggled, violently enough that Fusion’s magical grasp momentarily faltered. "This one will make the gryphon's death slo--" she got out, but the force returned and Fusion gave her a shake, hard enough that her teeth rattled. They'd passed through another set of doors when Redshift snorted, muttering under his breath, then sighed. "It's no good; I can't get anything from this," he said, waving Salrath's comms bracer in the air. "I stopped it from calling for help, but I was too late to remove the anti-tamper mechanism... the insides are nothing but junk now." He looked at her mournfully. "Must have been related to her injury and me taking the thing off." Fusion clenched her teeth, then forced her jaw to relax. "That's okay, you'll know for next time. I'll just have to ask nicely." "The pony isn't going to get anythi--" "I think I will," Fusion said, using the cadence of her trot to maintain her icy calm. Without slowing, she moved the Agent around so she could get a better view. "You only live because you might be of use, Salrath. How does Security intend to trap us?" The Dog just clenched her teeth, so Fusion sighed, feeling something cold settle in her stomach. "This is obviously a trap, Agent." She pulled a set of wrist restraints, simple grooved metal bands with a non-return mechanism, from Red's floating cloud of purloined hardware, snapping them about Salrath's wrists. She relaxed her magical grip on the Agent's stump at the same time as cinching the ratchet tourniquet tight. Salrath made a quiet hissing noise, like air leaking out under pressure. "Everypony I know wants you dead, some in more gruesome ways than others. I've seen in the mind of the medic whose filly you had tortured; I'll give you to her. Spiral will be able to keep you alive for a very long time." Salrath narrowed her eyes. "Go on then. Where is this other servitor?" She made a show of trying to think, then laughed. "Salrath remembers that one; does the pony want to know why it was done?" She grinned bloodily at Fusion's sudden change in rhythm. "Yes, it was all the pony's fault. This one suspected the pony and wanted to force it to act... instead it just sat back and let its friend suffer." And what would have happened if I did do something? Fusion wanted to scream it in Salrath's face, but one look at her sneering expression and her mouth clamped shut. I will not give you the satisfaction. "If that's the way you want it," she said, cursing the tremble in her voice. Magic reached out and plucked a metal fastening from the Agent's discarded equipment vest, then heated it to molten incandescence. She brought the blob of yellow-hot metal closer, the heat making the exposed skin on the tip of her muzzle tingle. Salrath's ears went back and she glared at Fusion. "Salrath doesn't think the pony has the guts to do anything," she spat, "and every second it wastes on this one, means another of its kin is dead. Security is taking revenge for--" The words sent a chill down Fusion's spine, and she dropped the hot metal, letting it splash sparks across the floor. She pushed Salrath sideways, slamming her into the wall; the Agent grunted in pain, but then just snarled. A moment to check on Lilac and the rest of her friends, and some of the cold was replaced with anger. Of course she lies! It's all she ever does... in that case, what's the point in keeping her alive at all? Fusion looked into that bloody, grinning face and started to feel sick. She might know things that could help, but... I can't do it. I can't match this monster, death for death, even if it might save somepony. She'd find it easy; torture and maim or kill. Her ears went back. I can't. It's what she would do. She will be nothing but a distraction. Breathing hard, Fusion stopped, then closed her eye and took a firm grip on Salrath's head. I must have killed dozens or hundreds already, so why is this so hard? In her grip the Agent twitched, muscles fighting the magic. Quick and clean, then it will all be over. The deer; think of the deer. Fusion took one deep breath and held it, then-- "If you want her to talk, give her to me," Ellisif said quietly. "There's no shame in not being able to torture." Fusion gasped, her magic going out and dropping Salrath to the floor. The Agent hit the ground running, but a lunge by Svartr knocked her sprawling. The dog tried to curl protectively about her chest but, with a hiss, the gryphoness planted talons on shoulder and pelvis, beak opening and dipping towards Salrath's throat. "Svartr, no!" Adigard grabbed her by the wingshoulders, hauling back and making her growl in frustration. Svartr shrugged him off, but didn't try to bite Salrath again. "Yes, there is!" she hissed at Fusion, slapping the Agent's head with the back of one foreclaw. Fusion flinched and hung her head, unable to look Svartr in the eye. Gravity was right; I am weak. Slinking away, she stood close to Redshift, then nodded to Ellisif. "Back off," Ellisif said warningly to Svartr, beak snapping shut with a gunshot crack. She stepped forwards, pulling Salrath from Svartr's grip. Glancing sideways into the nearest window, she glared at the pair of gryphons inside, who were watching the action with interest, then dragged the Agent to the blank space between two cells. Sitting back on her haunches, she pinned Salrath against the wall with one large set of talons, grabbing hold of her good paw with the other. "Agent, you may have good reason to doubt the pony's resolve, but you shouldn't doubt mine." The gryphoness' tone was disinterested, and she looked at Salrath like she was a piece of malfunctioning machinery. "I have been in Security for over a gigasecond, and I know how this works. The only person here who can stop this is you." Salrath glared back, but was silent. "Suit yourself." Ellisif worked her beak between the digits of the paw, separating out the smallest one, and started to apply pressure. "Stop!" The word seemed to force its way out of Salrath's throat, but Ellisif just closed her beak a little more. She cocked her head slightly and made a questioning noise. There was a nasty green-twig snap from inside Ellisif's beak. "Powered troops in the deep tunnels, at the lower transit hub," Salrath said with a gasp. Ellisif released her paw and let her draw it back. "Don't know the numbers, but at least six reaction teams with heavy weapons," she said quickly. "There were more at the Pit, but..." Her gaze flicked to Fusion. Reflexively, Fusion looked down, sweeping the darkness beneath with her shadow sight. There, past the ranks of caged gryphons and ponies, were the high-speed tunnels that linked various parts of the Hive. Lights, the characteristic colours of crystal thaumic mechanisms, flowed in both directions, but there was a faint, almost invisible, static haze. That's not magic, Fusion thought, that's charged superconductors. "There's certainly something there... I think it's true, but they are not moving yet." She shook herself, then picked up Salrath and broke into a rapid trot. === "This one can help," Korn said, from his floating perch behind and to the right of Fusion. She ignored him, intent on hunting for the next down ramp that would take them to the primary comms suite, somewhere on the lower levels. They were back in the 'pony' zone of the subterranean areas, another level lower down. While they moved, Fusion was questioning the gryphon soldiers, trying to gain some insight into the strength of their motives, but the effort of not interfering with Gravity's mission by telling her about Salrath was becoming trying. The other mare, currently sandwiched between two immensely heavy layers of armourcrete in the distant Security base, would no doubt find the news highly distracting. Redshift had spent much of the time going through Salrath's equipment vest and its collection of small and interesting devices. Now they all floated in a halo about his head, some flickering with faint glimmers of his violet magic, and he was deep in conversation with the male gryphon, a red-brown individual called 'Adigard'. Long strips of fabric had been cut from the Agent's vest and were in the process of being converted to a kind of harness that held Salrath's backup weapon close to the gryphon's chest. "--nasty. We'd never been trained on how to deal with ponies -- Maker, I'd never even seen more than one at once. If it hadn't been for that idiot Gunnulf, none of that would have happened. I hope he ended up in here somewhere, because there are things I'd like to take out of his hide," Adigard said, snapping his beak in an expression Fusion was starting to associate with anger. "...but I hear from Korn that he ended up as an assistant to that... Dog. It sounds like they should have been mates, they were so well matched." Fusion nodded; the gryphons had their own term for the People's soldiers -- 'dogboys' -- and had liked the ponies more general term. "You won't get the chance... my sister killed him while breaking me out of the Institute." "Magic sounds like it was too quick," Adigard grumbled. "She stabbed him--" Fusion waggled her head, waving the sharp point of her horn in quick arcs. "--I was told he bled to death." Adigard stared at her for a moment, then nodded his head in apparent approval. "I had no idea you ponies had it in you... it takes something to get that close to death. Even some gryphons will hesitate the first time." "You didn't see her at the Institute. For someone not trained for battle, she certainly showed enough enthusiasm," Ellisif muttered, twisting her neck to try and settle the feathers under her own makeshift harness. "It helps when the person at the other end is trying to kill you," Fusion said softly, studying Salrath out of the corner of her eye. The Agent was blank-faced and seemed relaxed and watchful. Somehow I expected more from you... you gave in too easily, she thought. The Dog's calm was unsettling in its own way, and Fusion sighed silently. What did I expect, an indestructible fire-breathing monster? Grav will see to it that you hold nothing back from us. They trotted in silence for a while, the only sound the quiet thump and scratch of hoof and claw on stone. "I'll get over it," Ellisif said finally, as they reached the door at the end of the corridor, "especially if something good comes of it. Your sister didn't go out of her way to kill us, and she certainly could have." "All clear," Redshift whispered, taking a few moments to fit Adigard with his improvised weapon harness. The springy straps held the undersized pistol at the centre of his chest, dangling just behind his forelegs. The gryphon nodded his thanks and, balanced on three legs, practiced reaching for the gun. They also know they are trapped by the Dogs... how much would it take to start a general rebellion? Fusion ruffled her wings within the confines of her armour, sweeping the surroundings with her shadow sight as the rest of the group came through. "Ellisif... there is no Blessing for gryphons. Why have you not rebelled already, if you don't want to be the Dog's slaves?" The grey gryphoness laughed quietly, a single harsh caw of sound. "There have been rebellions, some large and some small, but they don't last long. As you will find out, our Masters don't take kindly to threats to their power." "How do they stop you? Gryphons seem to be the majority of the military forces." The space they had entered was another of the shallow spiral ramps, and they all started downwards. "We are." She nodded, and there was genuine pride in her voice. "They built us for war, and we are good at it. They don't tell us the details, obviously, but when you are on deployment you wear a command collar, and that ties into your armour and weapons. They have full remote override... rumour is that it has a self-destruct, too." "No, it doesn't," Redshift said, pausing from where he was inspecting Salrath's comms bracer. "Fusion, that makes a lot of sense. I had to defeat a whole mess of security systems to get that gun to work." "Wait, you have gryphon weapons? You didn't bring any with you, did you?" Svartr said suddenly, a gleam in her dark eyes. "I want something I can use to make them suffer for what they have done--" Adigard laid a claw carefully on her shoulder and she went silent, beak clicking shut. "We do -- we took all the equipment we could carry when we left the Institute..." She trailed off, staring at the three gryphons. Do I trust them enough? I know nothing of war, and I think that lack will get ponies killed. She stole a glance at Salrath, who stared mutely back at her. Adigard bit off her paw... if this is a trap, then the Agent can't have known about it. Fusion bit her lips. Can she? "Trust," she muttered, then sighed. "I will bring them here, right now. We have magic that allows instantaneous transportation." Ellisif looked uncertain. "Is the pony serious? Such things cannot--" Fusion smiled. "The ceiling here is high enough, so I can show you." Lilac, she thought, into the sharing, can you move to where you can see the equipment we took, please? Out of the corner of her eye she saw Korn shift uncomfortably, mouth open as if he was about to say something. She paused, but he stayed silent, so she closed her eyes and focused on the sharing. The remote tunnels of their refuge were still and cold, and the only sounds were the ragged breathing of Ogive and the irregular cadence of Lilac's clumsy steps. It took only moments for the young stallion to reach the store, and Fusion had him pull out one of the clawed armour gloves to act as a test. I think I have the velocity vector worked out, but... She built the pattern, gently steering Lilac's magic into the correct conformation. "The pony must not use that magic!" Korn burst out. Fusion's concentration slipped and the pattern disappeared, wiped away by a near-instinctive obedience. He'd barked out the order, and there was such urgency in his tone that her mind effectively froze for an instant. The insistent need to obey an order from the Dog who'd been her Master ever since she'd entered their service was very strong, and she took a deep breath, feeling some of her anger return. "I am not your servitor any more, Student Korn!" she snapped, ears folding back as she pulled him around and glared at him, muzzle to muzzle. He gave a little cry, shrinking back as far as her confining magic would allow. "T-there is a machine... Korn helped to build--" "Korn is a traitor to the People; he will--" The glow of magic about Salrath's chest and head intensified and her words cut off, eyes bulging like they were trying to burst free of her skull. Her jaws twitched against Fusion's telekinesis, unsettling choking sounds escaping from between her teeth. "Salrath tried to have this one eaten!" Korn shouted at the Agent, voice ending in a squeak as Fusion frowned in his direction. "Korn just wants to go home," he whimpered, hanging limply in her grip. None of us can go home. Fusion stared at Korn, an odd tightness in her chest. Lilac, we need to do something first, she sent, then gently let him stand on his own paws. He staggered, sagging to the floor. "Tell me, Student," she said softly, features relaxing, "what machine?" "Korn and Vanca have been working with Security--" He paused, watching Fusion with frightened eyes as her ears folded back briefly. "There was no choice! Korn was kept in isolation until Vanca convinced Security that this one would be useful. There were threats..." He tried to move, tried to reach out, but the telekinetic field prevented it. Fusion relented, relaxing her grip about his upper body. "I know all about Security's way of working. What do you think you can do, Korn?" "Vanca solved it... there were unexplained signals from the accelerator's gravity wave suite, matching the time the ponies escaped from the Institute." His speech accelerated, the words tumbling over one another. "These ones designed a machine; a collection of interferometers sensitive to short wavelength disturbances in space-time, distortions produced when the exotic matter at the throat of a wormhole manifests. All theoretical, but--" "You can detect the teleport jumps." It wasn't a question, but Korn gave a jerky nod. Maker, and we've been using that spell to travel everywhere! Do they know about our refuge in the mountain--? Fusion started to breathe fast, attracting worried glances from Redshift; out of the corner of her good eye, she saw Salrath smile, a nasty, vindictive thing that vanished with a gasp when she gave her a squeeze. The faint mutter of Lilac's mental efforts expanded and leapt into focus, and Fusion spent a few moments watching through Trocar's eyes as pony after pony materialised in the cold glacial valley, deep in the mountains. Nothing... not yet, anyway. "What is the range?" she snapped. "D-don't really know," Korn squeaked, "never had a chance to test--" "Guess!" Fusion growled, the magic that held the Dog shifting to harder colours, "my friend's lives depend on this!" "Maybe as much as twenty kilolengths, but it depends on the amount of exotic matter--" He gave a gasp, paws scrabbling at his chest as if to relieve some crushing weight. "Please, this one cannot breathe." Fusion relaxed, letting Korn gasp and shudder in her arcane grip. That is something, at least. Wormholes... yes that makes sense, she thought, rooting through what little she had been allowed to learn. Just enough to do what was asked, and no more. It could be worse... at least there will be no easy global surveillance. "Where is this device?" "There are three t-to get full location. Korn only helped install the first, but he knows where the others are. The pony needs to go to the primary and secondary communications hubs, on the lower levels, and the satellite antenna farm on the top floor." === They bypassed the three remaining levels, gliding rapidly down to the bottom of the spiral ramp. Here were high-ceilinged spaces used for bulk storage and the machines to retrieve whatever was needed from the shelves. The majority of the free volume was given over to the automated retrieval system; levitation-drive platforms, each two lengths on a side and equipped with thaumic machinery showing the simple colours of kinetic manipulators, moved in three dimensions around towering stacks of crates and modules. The air was filled with the scent of food, mostly the vague, musty smell of the Master's pellet-supplement, and Fusion found herself salivating at the prospect. Along with the nondescript supplies were big insulated boxes the size of shipping containers, finned with heat sinks and humming with the quiet flow of coolant. From these came the odour of multiple species: mostly sheep, rabbit and cow, but there was a faint hint of pony and even gryphon, hard to pick out amid the scents of their companions. "What do they feed you?" Fusion said to Ellisif, eyeing the nearest refrigerated container as they trotted past. The gryphoness seemed oblivious to the odour. "Meat. Raw... stuff that looks like it was blasted off a carcass by a pressure hose. It's not exactly the best, but there was enough. Why?" "You can't smell that? I mean, do you know what kind of... meat." The word stuck in her throat and her stomach lurched. They come in but they don't come out... and why waste the protein? The smell did something to her legs, and she accelerated into a canter, running away from the idea. Fresh anger started to bloom, igniting into a point of heat that flooded her body and made the world swim. No, it should be no surprise that they would do this. We are animals to them. "I don't have your long nose, Fusion," Ellisif said, beak twitching in what Fusion was beginning to recognise as a smile. "I can," Redshift said in a small voice. "I can smell pony and gryphon in with the cows and sheep. Fusion, we can't leave anypony here if this is their ultimate fate." "We won't, Red." Although quite what I'm going to do with so many ponies and gryphons... Ellisif, wings half open and taking low gliding leaps to keep up with the longer-legged ponies, narrowed her eyes. "Every time I think I have come to grips with the level of this betrayal--" Her beak snapped shut, and she exchanged glances with the other two gryphons. === "The camera says no movement," Redshift said, his horn glowing faintly, "I've looped the buffer like all the others, so we should be okay for a while." Fusion studied the room with her own shadow sight. It was at the end of a long and twisting maintenance corridor, far enough from the core of Naraka that she thought they'd have had trouble finding it at all in the uncertain time they had available. Have I been too hasty with Korn? He can scarcely be completely trusted, but for as long as we keep him from Security's clutches... She frowned, muzzle wrinkling. Having a tame Master might be just what we need to prevent panic. She sighed, then realised everyone was staring at her. Pushing away the desire to pick through the implications of that idea, she closed her eye and really looked. Her first impression was of a small room cluttered still further by masses of equipment. Ordered arrays of crystal thaumic devices were stacked up and down the walls and in columns around the perimeter. The hazy glow of electrical, rather than thaumic, power flooded the spaces between, resulting in a chaotic spider's web of connections that came in from all over the complex before merging into a single, brilliant line that descended into the depths to join the deep tunnel network that connected Naraka to the rest of the Hive. Hasty work had obviously been carried out: the ordered spacing of the machines was disrupted to make way for something large and angular, a tetrahedral shape that was taller than she was, with the impression of a device constructed with speed, rather than beauty, in mind. Just like Korn described. Next to that was something she'd never seen before. A compact ovoid, only a quarter length along its longest dimension, and half that wide, it contained mostly material dark to her energy-sensitive shadow sight, except for at one end. There, at a spot that was exactly aligned with one of the egg's foci, was a point of extreme brilliance, but one that was vanishingly small. How did I miss that? The answer was obvious; even at this distance the radiant object was tiny to the point of being nearly dimensionless. Vague memories from her training at the Institute tickled the back of her mind, but nothing surfaced. "Go," she whispered, nodding to Redshift. The other pony's horn glowed again, and the door retracted silently into its frame. The room was exactly as she'd imagined, lined with racks of instrumentation that glowed softly with electronic and thaumic light, all bound together in a loom of optical cables. Despite the quiet hum of ventilation, it was very warm, and the equipment was covered with arterial networks of brightly coloured liquid coolant lines, all pulsing like they were connected to a giant heart. In addition to all that, were two Dogs. The first, a mid-brown male, had his back to them and was leaning against a panel halfway into the room; the Master's eye' Security decal was a discrete grey-on-black pattern on the rear of his equipment harness. The other, dark-furred and wearing next to nothing in the close warmth, was head and shoulders under the tetrahedral teleport detector, and paused to look over at the door when it opened. He froze, staring up at Fusion, shock written across every whisker on his face. No no no-- With a shout of warning, the Dog rolled out from under the tetrahedral device, reaching for a comms bracer that was laying on a discarded equipment harness. Still locked in a kind of paralysis, Fusion felt all her thoughts move in slow motion as she fumbled with her magic to grasp him, but just managed to drop Salrath and Korn instead. The first Dog flinched as if the cry had been a shot, paw reaching for something on his belt; Fusion watched the movement and knew what was going to happen next, but there was almost a barrier between her mind and body. She scrabbled for her power, but its effects came with aching slowness. Grey feathers and fur pushed between Redshift and herself, hard enough that she staggered and fell into the door frame. Svartr leapt across the cluttered space, mantled wings brushing the bright web of coolant lines, flicking and twisting with millisecond adjustments of her trajectory. There was no snarl, no battle cry, just an impression of a terrible eagerness in her expression as she surged past and collided with the Dog, right at the same moment as his paws closed around his bracer. Talons, lacking their needle points where they had been cropped for her confinement, closed with crushing force on the Dog's upper body and knocked the bracer from his grasp. Her head dipped, and there was a sudden, convulsive, movement from his legs, then nothing. The rush of motion shattered the glass wall in Fusion's head, and she grabbed for the second Dog in clumsy panic. The blaze of magic filled the room, and she knew that she'd put far too much power into the grip; his body collapsed with a multitude of snapping sounds. She dropped the corpse, now lumpy and jointed in far too many places, captivated by the surprise in the crushed Dog's eyes and the red stains covering his white teeth. There was a roaring in her head and shadows collected in the corners of her vision, and it suddenly became hard to breathe. "I thought you ponies were supposed to be efficient." The words came from Svartr; still crouched over the body of the dark-furred Dog, the gryphoness had twisted to stare at Fusion. Blood was smeared across her beak and had stained the grey and black feathers of her chest. "I..." Fusion said, then swallowed, pushing back the whirl of thoughts and images. Is this what it was like for Grav, after she broke me out of the Institute? I need to be better than this. "No, she actually seemed to enjoy hitting back," she murmured, then shook her head, finally noticing the stares she was getting from everyone else. "No time for this. Redshift, you--" "I've done it, Fusion," he said meekly. "Communications will be accepted without errors, but won't actually be sent on. I can even reach the secondary and satellite comms rooms from here... they are all linked together and I can force them to all work through this one." He nodded his head at the tetrahedral machine. "This thing is tied into the comms, and I can see another two like it... they still work, but can no longer talk to the outside world." "They will get suspicious," Ellisif said to Red, but her gaze stayed fixed on Fusion. "Yes, but..." He shrugged. "I left the low level stuff alone -- it's easier to fool the cameras and let this room just send on the looped feeds. Everything coming in is unaffected; it's just the outgoing 'person to person' stuff that is actively blocked. I'm surprised we've not been discovered already, to be honest." He bent forward, brushing the unknown ovoid with his muzzle. "I don't know what this thing is, though." It was sitting on a small wheeled trolley, and looked like it was supposed to be moved somewhere. "This one does," Salrath said, in a strangled tone. Fusion wheeled about, realising that she'd completely forgotten about the Agent, then relaxed. Salrath had not gone far, and was being watched by Adigard a little way down the corridor. The immediate urge to grab the Dog and wrap her in bands of force and squeeze until there was nothing left came back, so strong that the power rose almost without conscious thought. She has never said anything that was without malice, but this... The tone of the Agent's voice was something she'd rarely heard: fear. "What is it?" ...and why should I believe a word you say? "That is a nuke; a megatonne or more." She was trying to back away, only to be shoved forwards by the gryphon. "These ones have to get away from here; Orgon won't wait to fire it if he thinks Naraka has been compromised." Her muzzle twisted, like she had bitten into something rotten. "This is the Sector Chief's way of removing inconvenient loose ends." Everyone, gryphons included, flinched. "It can't be triggered now," Redshift said. "Although I suppose it could have a timer." He frowned, glimmers of light condensing about his horn. "Oh!" His eyes went wide, wings flicking out, and he inhaled sharply. "Something just tried to turn off... right here." He tapped the casing with a hoof, just over the point of light. "I think it's a magnetic trap for antimatter." "It tried to detonate?" Fusion said faintly. "I can see the trigger pathways... no, just the superconductors in the trap." Legs flexing, he gave a little stationary jog, then looked over at her. "It was just an anti-tamper mechanism, I think. That wouldn't be so bad, right?" "Bad enough for everyone in the room," she muttered. "Is it safe for us to leave it, or...?" Fusion stared at the smooth-shelled machine, studying that point of energy-dense brilliance. Antimatter... makes perfect sense. She'd never seen the stuff before, but it was obviously nothing like the small blocks of uranium-235 she'd used in training. "I put a temporary block on the firing circuit before I did anything else... now, though, only a pony with my speciality could fix what I've done." He started to calm down, making a conscious effort to refold his wings. "...or someone with the tools and spares to replace the modified computronium. I must have done something that the machine didn't like, and it decided to self-destruct." He looked doubtful, then his gaze went distant. "No, that must be it. Makes sense; you'd want a way to disable a weapon like this... and nothing is reaching it from the outside." We caught them before they were ready... if I had waited, or if Grav hadn't pushed so hard for this attack, this weapon would have been hidden away... "There would have been nothing left of me or any of our foals." She gently picked the weapon up and gave it a careful shake; the spot of antimatter stayed in the same relative position. That's something... after all, this is designed to go into battle. "Right. Let's get you those guns," she said, passing the bomb to Redshift with a nod. "See what you can do with this... carefully." If Red can make it work, would I have the nerve to send it somewhere? === They used the central spaces as a receiving point. High-ceilinged and dimly lit with only a few of the lights active, this large room was outfitted like a section of desert, full of sand, gravel and rocks, with complex-looking exercise equipment around the perimeter. Doors led off at intervals, likely to the corridors containing the stalls for the experimental subjects, something confirmed by the gryphons. "They just let you mingle?" Fusion said, while expanding her link to Lilac. The distant pony was still next to the pile of weapons, and he quickly rebuilt the teleport pattern she'd aborted earlier. "The times are staggered, so contacts are controlled. You could refuse to return to your cell, but that is what the collars are for." Lilac's magic pulsed, sending a distortion through the sharing, and the claw-glove she'd selected arrived with a thump of displaced air, slamming into the ground hard enough to kick up a deep crater in the gravel. The gryphons flinched, wings flicking out, and Fusion grinned at their shocked expressions. Of the Dogs, Korn seemed fascinated, the look of fear that had settled on his features ever since they'd met was gone and had been replaced with curiosity. Salrath, though, was preternaturally calm again, her face a still and smooth as if she was asleep; the only hint of deep emotion were the tremors of her paws and the racing thunder of her heart, made obvious by vibrations transmitted through her telekinesis. "...and that's why we do test shots." Shifting the teleport terminus, she asked Lilac to cast again. The mass of disparate equipment appeared with a bang and a flash, but this time Fusion caught it, decelerating the weapons and armour to a relatively soft landing amid the rocks. The gryphons fell upon the pile with soft, delighted little bird noises and, with Redshift adding everything to his orbiting cloud of mechanisms, started to don the hardware of their trade as they walked. Ahead was the central core with its odd collection of soft pastels that they'd seen earlier, visible here as a wide column embedded in the tip of the wedge-shaped exercise room. Those lights, now discernable as close-spaced triplets embedded in a matrix of harder magical glows, filled the core, reaching nearly to the surface. There was a door in the partial column, and that too yielded under Redshift's influence. The circular chamber inside looked, for a moment, like a collection of more specialised exercise machines. A second's more inspection and Fusion froze, breath stuck in her throat. There were a dozen square lifter platforms spaced around the perimeter, each supporting a shallow perforated trough about the size of a pony's torso. Armatures supported the metal at body height, descending not as straight columns, but in shapes that mimicked the profile of fore- and hind leg. Clamps of the same polished metal were mounted on the armatures, halfway between where the joints would be on a living limb. The place was spotless, bar a few strands of purple hair caught in one of the mechanisms. At the centre of the ring of platforms was a lift shaft, going both up and down, flanked by a pair of robotic surgeons, much like the one she'd been fed into. The ceiling in this room was significantly lower than the one in the exercise chamber behind them; the extra space above was occupied by the pastel glows in their regular grid. Fusion walked in, stomach churning, and looked down the central shaft. "We are above the food storage level," she said softly, half to herself. There were shadowy mechanisms below the floor, a tangle of conveyors and transport tubes that fanned out from this central point. "I didn't believe it, but it's true, isn't it? How many meals did we have, Ellisif?" Svartr said in a strangled tone that was more squawk than speech. "Don't think about it," the gryphoness said grimly, "just add it to the list of reasons to fight. You know the stories... nothing comes out of Naraka." She turned to Fusion, who was peering up the empty shaft. "Tell me you will get them all out." That wasn't a question. Fusion twitched, wings brushing the insides of her armour's carapace panels. "I've known for a long time, ever since I saw this place in Spiral's memories, that I'd never be able to stop at just my kin," she whispered, voice sounding hollow in the empty shaft. "We need to get to the central controls; it will take too long to open the cells one at a time." Her wings came out, and in short, quick strokes she leapt to the level above. The first impression was of being encased in a pointillist rainbow. The hard colours of the Dog's crystal thaumic machines surrounded her in a regular grid, stacked cubes of lights each containing three pastel glows with disturbingly familiar shapes. Two were gently curved, mirror images of each other, the last a stubby cone with hints of spiral detail in the hazy colours. Breath caught in her throat and she shut off her shadow sight. Feeling weak, she stared at the rows of grey metal boxes, piled in columns throughout the circular space. Little indicator lights glowed on each, a collection of red and green points. At her side, Redshift moaned. "I thought I was seeing things..." he said, voice trailing off into a whimper. "Do you think they are still alive in there?" Maker, I hope not. Ignoring the confused glances from the gryphons and dogs, now crowded in the narrow spaces around them, she fumbled with the front panel of the closest box. "Don't... please don't," Redshift said in agonised tones, "what else could it be?" "Got to know; got to be sure." Fusion's tongue felt heavy in her mouth, and the words were barely recognisable. The panel came free, folding down on silent hinges. Within, there was a mass of thaumically active mechanisms, all crystals and ordered splinters of computronium, linked to liquid feeds that vanished into one wall of the container. At the centre of all that was a cylindrical tank of clear liquid, perhaps a tenth of a length across. A horn and two lengths of slender bone floated in the little tank. Fusion made a strangled hissing sound, leaning forwards to brush the glass surface with the tip of her muzzle. The horn was small and stubby; the kind of shape found on a foal no more than two tenths of a gigasecond old. Wrapped around the horn, like it had been driven through it, was a small disk of bone, capped with a layer of fine orange fur. Tubes, branched things that were obviously natural blood vessels and nerves, extended from the rear of the skull fragment to join with an isolated lump of material, all covered with complex folds. Brain tissue, but not a whole brain... just some small fragment needed to keep the horn and wings active. The air grew hot, and Fusion struggled to hold back a flood of sick rage that threatened to submerge any desire to stay covert. Shadows moved and formed, spreading out fan-like, centred in Fusion's body, as a golden haze condensed from the air. Korn and Salrath fell to the floor, not dropped but pushed down and held there by the thickening magic. There was the faint odour of burning fur, but neither Dog made a sound. Fusion stumbled backwards, rump striking another of the pillars, and she wheeled, shaking her head violently to try and lose the pictures her mind was throwing up. There was a touch on her cheek, something hard and curved that still managed to seem gentle. "Come back," Ellisif said, "don't let this-this--" The gryphoness' beak opened and closed, but whatever word she was looking for wouldn't be found, and she settled for gesturing with one wing at the silent pillars. "Don't let this divert you." Fusion closed her eyes, and took a deep breath, fighting back the fury and trying to recapture the state of cold calculation she'd had before they'd started this expedition, but it wouldn't come. Gently, she closed the hatch, then nodded to the gryphoness. "A friend once told my sister that it's okay to get angry, just so long as you direct your anger at the right place." She lifted her head and opened her shadow sight once more, trying to estimate the number of the pastel lights. Before this, it was just life and the cruelty of one Dog, but this is death... this is murder on an industrial scale. "By the time we've finished here there will be nothing left." === They passed through floors packed with more medical storage, many containing horn and wing samples, others packed with little packets of tissue or fluids marked with cryptic codes and stored in heavily insulated compartments. At the highest level of these, just below where the ground would be and right under the centre of the pyramid-building, was a compact room filled with computronium. Redshift, silent and withdrawn after their passage through the biological stores, seemed to come alive in the presence of so many machines. "So complex," he breathed, shifting violet hornlight playing across his face. His eyes closed and he turned full circle, trying to take it all in. "Can you--" Fusion, there are Dogs and gryphons at the corral. I think they will know where you are very soon. The thought burst from the sharing, along with images of dead and wounded ponies, all surrounded by Dogs and their gryphon forces. Fusion stared at them silently for a moment, unable to really comprehend what was happening at the distant corral. Buck up, filly, she thought privately, what did you think was going to happen? Along with the second-hoof images, obviously from some unfortunate still at the corral, were flashes of Gravity's own situation; the mare was in the middle of a pitched battle and tangled in some vehicle's antimagic field. That she wouldn't be able to teleport was obvious. I'll go, I can see you are-- No! You must not leave without our foals. The visual feed from Gravity died, but the other mare's mind was still there. Probably means she's doing something I'd object to. That thought should have brought worry, but the horror from below was still fresh and strong. But they'll slaughter half the corral -- what's the point in saving a few if the rest die? Fusion reached for her magic, assembling the required pattern and holding it in her mind. Redshift paused whatever he was doing and stared at her, surprise on his face. If you go, they will move the foals and any future trap would be that much harder to circumvent. More to the point, to come home without them... Fusion let out an involuntary whinny. Very well, but if you don't get out soon... I will. I've got a plan. A glimmer of a smile stole down the link, then it cut off as Gravity jumped. You'd better. Fusion sent the thought out into the void, knowing full well that the message wasn't going to be heard, then nodded to Redshift. "Well? Can you do it?" "From here I can do anything..." His voice trailed off, and he did another slow circle. "Good, because Security is at the corral; they did not manage to get everypony out in time." She ignored his sharp inhalation, turning to the gryphons. "Security will be here in force very soon, so there is no time left to be subtle. What will happen if Redshift lets out all your people?" Ellisif exchanged glances with the other two. "Violence, I'd think. There is a lot of pent-up anger here, only held in check by the collars and segregation. You are going to get a lot of 'settling of old scores', real or imagined." Fusion looked down, past the ordered ranks of the tissue banks and past the cells containing ponies and gryphons. There, in the deep tunnels, was the shifting haze she'd seen before, like a mass of vehicles or other non-magical power sources. Unlike the traffic in the big transport tunnels, it didn't move in regular lines, but rather stayed in one place. At most of the Dog's large installations, this was the interface to the main transit network, and there was normally something visible there, even if just in passing. There's more there than Salrath said... what a surprise. That faint haze of stored power, all recognizably from superconductor banks, and no thaumic signature at all. Just like back at the training centre, that first time. The view changed, a ripple of bright pinpoints appearing amid the haze. They were a deep violet in colour, and again only apparent because of her energy sensitivity. That colour meant something, and she suddenly remembered where she'd seen it before: specks of deuterium plasma in the backpacks of the Dog's powered armour. "What if I gave them a target and a chance to get even?" === Ellisif dropped down the central shaft and into the surgical suite. The sound from outside, just through the door, was already loud, a screeching and shouting that she'd not heard outside a food hall riot being put down by the military police. The door itself already bore a number of deep dents, and rattled in its frame from another impact even as she watched. Well, I see they have figured out the collars are not working. She glanced at Adigard and Svartr; their faces were unreadable behind the armour, but there was a set to their stance that spoke of readiness. The other two moved forward slightly, guns in their close-quarters 'locked' positions, placing her at the rear point of a triangle. A twitch of her beak opened the local command interface, a simplified version of the systems that Redshift had been messing with, the context-sensitive tactical software highlighting the networked devices visible that she could command. There was far more than the occasional security camera or door she was used to seeing, and it took a moment to identify what she needed amidst the visual clutter. A glance and a squint flicked the door from locked to open, and it popped inwards, damaged hinges squealing. The gryphon on the other side was sitting back on his haunches, a rock the size of his head held in both claws. He was obviously just about to bring it down on the door, and fell forward to sprawl in the dust at her forepaws. Behind him was a varicoloured mass of fur and feathers, all in shades of brown, grey and black, and mostly in motion. There were the inevitable fights, rapid swirls of movement that propagated through the crowd, jumping from gryphon to gryphon like a wave across water. Along with these were islands of stability; rings of gryphonesses surrounding the small shapes of their chicks, snapping and hissing at any male who came near. Oh, Maker, this is going to be fun. Ellisif tapped an armoured talon against the stone floor, staring down at the fallen male. He looked up at her with wide eyes, a hint of fear just starting to replace the shock in his expression, and silence rippled out from the doorway. Every head turned in their direction, fights and screeching arguments forgotten. Here it comes... "Kill them!" he screamed, jumping to his paws and lunging at her, a cry that was echoed by the hundred nearest throats. She stepped into his charge, dipping her shoulder to get beneath his gaping beak and knock his forelegs out from under him. A quick twist and she slammed a fist into the side of his head, and he fell at her paws, only moving weakly. An instant later the air was filled with thunder as Adigard and Svartr's guns fired. Explosions stitched the air above the crowd's heads, pale dust cored with bright flame, shocking them into immobility. The echoes died and left the big room in silence. "Is that it? Is that the best you can do?" Ellisif shouted, her time as a training sersjant for new recruits coming to the fore. It was easy to pull up the synthetic, overblown rage, and she marched into the crowd, shoving aside any who didn't move fast enough. "You are gryphons, Maker dammit, built as soldiers, not rabble." "Easy for you to say, flysoldat, behind those guns and without a collar." The voice came from somewhere in the crowd and was full of resentment. Inside, Ellisif smiled. "I can't get you any armour, but how about I get rid of the collars?" She tapped twice on her communicator, then held her breath. You better be able to do this, Redshift. From somewhere nearby, there was a quiet click, then another and another, rippling across the assembled flock. The silence, hostile with the sharp stares of many aggressive eyes, became filled with little gasps and inhalations. A white and tan gryphon, only a few paces from her, lifted a foreclaw to his throat, pulling away his collar with a sudden, sharp, tug. "There's no way you are Naraka Security," he said with a disbelieving tone, "they'd never--" He looked from her to the collar, then threw the thing away. "What does this mean?" Behind him, others were doing the same. Ellisif half opened her beak in an avian smile. "We have a chance at freedom," she shouted, picking up his discarded collar and waving it above her head. "I have friends who broke me out, but if we want to stay free, we are going to have to fight. Security is coming, and they are going to kill every gryphon, every pony, in this place." The white-and-tan snarled something, snapping his beak loudly. "They will slaughter us; we wouldn't stand a chanc--" "Coward's talk! They are coming up through the tunnels; sight lines are short and there are many chances for ambush. Besides..." Ellisif stared at him and laughed. "...I told you I had a friend." With a thunderous crack and a flash like the roof had been ripped off to let the sun in, Fusion appeared above her. Hot air blasted down from her rapidly stroking wings, and she glowed with an internal radiance, random sparks and spidery flickers of lightning dancing from her primary feathers. Her mane and tail streamed in the downdraft, coiling and twisting like ink dripped into water. She dropped, and the gryphons fell back, those that were not fast enough being pushed away by irresistible pulses of magic, landing with a solid thump in the sand and dust. "The rule of the Masters can be broken." Remember, keep it simple, Ellisif thought, then flinched as a twist of blue-white light materialised above Fusion's head. "They are coming to kill us all; I will help you, but I must see to my own people. They are not as strong as you." The twist collapsed to a star-like point, then blurred forwards to strike one of the large boulders that littered the false desert floor. It exploded with enough violence to make Ellisif's ears ring and she dived to the floor with the instinctive motions of long experience, but the perfect dome of a force field caught all the razor-edged rock fragments and dropped them in a neat circlearound the fresh crater. "If you want it, there can be no more Masters!" Fusion's voice, already a shout, grew louder, bellowing out like a jet-engine at full power. "Do you want to fight, or do you just want to die?" Probably both, Ellisif thought, but she flared her wings and roared her reply along with the crowd.