Chapter 19
The roof of the warehouse factory was about three stories tall and standing atop it, Holly suffered a curious sensation when she stood near the edge. Her mind raced with memories of her long distance jump and her several story plummet. She felt queasy, dizzy even, a feeling that she had never felt before. She went cross eyed, her knees wobbled, and she wanted nothing more than to be away from the edge of the building. She backed into Knock Knock and then saw through blurry vision that he was giving her a curious look.
“Don’t think about it Holly. Just try not to think about it. You’re safe up here, you can’t fall because I’ll catch you,” Knock Knock said to Holly in a low, reassuring voice.
Holly glanced at the edge, her vision going from bad to worse as she did so, and there was a rushing sound in her ears. She closed her eyes, shook her head, causing her ears to flop around, and then when she opened her eyes once more, she looked at something other than the edge.
“She okay?” Officer Cornflower asked.
“She’s fine,” Knock Knock replied. “She jumped out of a twenty third story window and then made an almost forty foot drop to the roof of the building next door with two passengers on her back.”
“Oh, I read about that… saw the pictures too… That was quite a leap.” Cornflower peered off the edge of the warehouse factory and glanced at other buildings that were nearby, not certain of what he was looking for, but just looking on the odd chance that he might see something.
“I’m fine… it’s nothing.” Holly’s lips curled into a scowl and with a defiant stare, she peered at the edge for a moment, ignoring the feeling of vertigo, and then began to look around the roof and take stock of her surroundings.
“Come on, let’s have a look around.” Knock Knock reached out and gave Holly a gentle, reassuring prod.
There were three big steel water tanks in the center of the roof. One tank had the word ‘potable’ on it, it took Holly a moment to think of what that meant, as she was still somewhat distracted by the sense of vertigo that kept plaguing her. The potable tank was rusty looking, as were all three tanks, and there were several holes rusted through the metal.
So much for drinking water for the workers.
The other two tanks had patches on them, newer sheets of metal that had been welded over rusted holes. Knock Knock was examining these, and after a time spent looking them over, he knocked on them with his hoof. They were empty, completely empty, which caused Knock Knock to swear.
“No drinkable water and the two tanks to feed the sprinkler system are empty. Great, just great. This place is not up to code. Shouldn't a building this size have what… four tanks on the roof to feed the sprinklers?” Cornflower knocked on the metal tanks himself.
“For a building this size?” Knock Knock shook his head. “At least five or maybe six.”
“Damn.” Cornflower began to look around, checking out the tanks, trying to figure out why they were empty. A cold wind gusted and blew his mane around his face and neck.
“So, you think they held water at all or have they just been up here empty and used for decoration?” Holly asked.
Knock Knock followed a series of large pipes to a junction in the roof. The water main had been jury rigged to feed all three tanks, not just the potable water one. Not a legal move, as the sprinkler tanks were supposed to have their own separate water line. He peered at the tanks through narrowed eyes, his mustache quivering as he chewed on his lip.
Saying nothing, he stood near the tanks, dropped down onto his belly, stretched out his neck, and looked beneath the tanks. His horn began to glow as he stared into the dim, shadowy darkness, and then Knock Knock began to curse and mutter below his breath.
“What’s up, Knocker?” Holly asked.
“The fronking water pipes that drop down and feed into the system.” Knock Knock let out a snort and then got back up on his hooves, his breathing heavy. “Somepony ripped the pipes out. They're all broke and bent. Looks fresh too, there isn’t any rust on the exposed edges. My guess… they never fixed the potable water tank, too rusty, too expensive, and then jury rigged the sprinkler feed tanks to the drinking water system… but the sprinklers never went off during the fire because somepony ripped the pipes out.”
“Somepony?” Officer Cornflower shook his head. “Unicorn. There is no way to reach those pipes, which means a unicorn had to rip them out, if that is what happened. I wonder if we can get a magical signature?”
“We should try,” Knock Knock replied. “So… the fire goes off, the door is chained shut, the workers are trapped, and the sprinklers never go off as the fire begins to rage. Meanwhile, there is a pony tied up in the back office. All of the important stuff in the hidden basement has been moved out. I think we’re looking at a premeditated arson, among other things.”
“And evidence of something larger, something bigger, connections to other criminal activity,” Officer Cornflower added. “This is the kinda thing that keeps me up at night… I have a niece and a nephew now. I have half a mind to tell my sister and my brother in law to get out of this wretched hole of a city.”
“What’s that?” Holly asked as she pointed to what appeared to be a shack on the roof.
“Forepony’s shack. See how it overlooks what used to be the loading docks? It’s all boarded up… we should have a look inside of it though,” Knock Knock replied.
“But it’s all boarded up. The door has been nailed shut.” Holly tilted her head. “The windows have plywood over them.”
“Holly, a unicorn could wink inside of there no problem. I could wink inside of there.” Knock Knock shook his head. “Not going to though. Might be trapped. Might wink into a mess of spikes or who knows what. Don’t want to wind up like Blinky.”
“Blinky?” Holly asked.
“Firefighter. One of my mentors. Made a blind teleport to get himself and two foals out of a burning building. The foals were fine, but Blinky was half in and half out of a fountain that he didn’t know had been installed down in the lobby of the building he was working in. He thought he had a clear spot to materialise.”
“Ew.” Cornflower flapped his wings and stomped his hoof. “That’s uglified.” The pegasus eyed the door and then looked at Holly. “I’ll be right back. I’m gonna go get a pry bar from the supply wagon so yous can get that open.”
Using the pry bar, Holly opened up the door with minimal effort, the wood was old, rotten, and rather flimsy. The foreman’s shack smelled horrible; it was mildewy, musty, and something… foul was in the air. It was filled with old magazines. Holly peered inside the dim room and when Knock Knock’s horn illuminated the space, she got a much better look at one of the magazine covers. It had a mare dressed in a black body suit having her hooves licked by a blindfolded and trussed up stallion.
Holly found herself blushing furiously because of the image, which left her flustered.
“Ugh, smells like the peep show theatres off in the redlight district,” Cornflower muttered as he stood outside. “Did we just stumble into somepony’s masturbatorium?”
Looking up from the magazine on the floor, Holly saw that the walls were wallpapered with pornographic images and pages taken from magazines. And this wasn’t good old fashioned stallion-on-top-get-it-over-with-quick—oh no. Some of this stuff on the walls was weird.
Staring at one picture in particular, Holly’s thoughts slipped from her mouth unbidden. “You know, I’ve always wondered if I could lick myself… she’s doing it, I wonder if I can reach?”
“Holly… don’t be weird. We’re professionals,” Knock Knock said as his eyes were drawn to a picture of two stallions modeling a lot of heavy bondage gear. A pegasus had his wings bound and blinders over his eyes.
“Some unicorn is living here,” Officer Cornflower said as he pointed at an almost empty bottle of beer sitting on a shelf by the filthy mattress. “The beer hasn’t evapourated away yet.”
Holly pushed her way into the one room shack and began to look around, trying to ignore the lewd images plastered everywhere. She didn’t even want to think about how the magazine pages might be glued to the wall. Nope, she didn’t want to think about that at all.
There was a hot plate connected to several batteries, an electric kettle, a toaster, and along the shelf against one wall there was food. A loaf of bread, boxes of macaroni and cheese, bottles of beer, a bottle of wine, several industrial sized tubs of lotion, a jar of peanut butter, a jar of jam, and a jumbo economy sized package of paper towels.
In the corner, there was a pile of wadded up paper towels that had a horrible glaze that left them shiny and reminded Holly of fresh glazed donuts—they glistened in Knock Knock’s horn light in the most disturbing manner. Stunned, Knock Knock stood in the middle of the room, not knowing where to begin looking for potential clues.
“Hey, that looks familiar,” Holly said as she pointed to some photographs on the wall.
“Um, Holly, we… uh—”
“Knock Knock, shut up and have a look at this, this is pretty bad,” Holly said, cutting Knock Knock off. “Officer Cornflower, we have a pervert.”
Both stallions moved closer and had a look at what Holly was pointing at. There were photographs here. Some of the backgrounds were familiar. In one photo, there were sewing machines. In another photo, metal shelves and filing cabinets. Several photos appeared to be in the secret basement.
Each and every photograph had something in common though. A blindfolded and somewhat bound mare… or filly. Tails were lifted, sometimes forcibly, secured and held in place with rope around the neck. Some of the photos showed sex in graphic detail, and none of the mares seemed like willing partners. As for the fillies—
“I can’t look at this any more. Excuse me.”
Holly backed out of the shack, went out onto the roof, and then stayed away from the edge of the building. She stood with her sides heaving, she closed her eyes, and then tried to make the horrible images vanish from her mind.
Knock Knock also exited the shack and came out onto the roof. He joined Holly, standing beside her, and not knowing what else to do, he nosed her neck, trying to comfort her.
“It was all pretty funny until I saw the photos… gross, but funny. Knock Knock, I don’t feel good,” Holly said in a low voice.
“Deep breaths, take deep breaths,” Knock Knock replied.
Holly took a deep breath, following Knock Knock’s advice, and then took another. After her third deep breath, she puked, vomiting up the remains of her breakfast. The sour taste of stomach bile coated her tongue, making her gag, and causing her to continue throwing up, doing so with such force that it shot out of her nose, until at last her stomach had been emptied and she stood there dry heaving.
“Holly, this city is rotten.” Knock Knock’s voice was soft, kind, reassuring, almost like a father speaking to his daughter. “There’s a lot of bad things in this city. I’ve seen a lot of bad things. Sometimes, ponies do awful things and then they try to burn away evidence of their guilt with fire, but the Beast is a terrible demon to make a deal with. Ponies like me know his tricks. Ponies like me find the secrets that other ponies try to hide.”
Holly coughed, gagged, then spit out stringy blobs of bile and drool.
“It’s not enough that we fight the Beast Holly… but we gotta go after all those who serve him. Still want to learn? Still want to help me? Because there is gonna be a lotta days like this one.” Knock Knock patted Holly on her withers, trying to give her some comfort as she tried to catch her breath.
Panting, Holly wanted to shout. She wanted to scream. She wanted to yell. She wanted to tell Knock Knock that she would jump down the very throat of the Beast if that is what it took—but she said none of these things. She was too hurt, too winded, and still too nauseous. She nodded her head, then tried to swallow the lump of bile and phlegm in her throat.
“You know, what you need is an officer working with you, pooling some resources.” Officer Cornflower approached Knock Knock and Holly, a disgusted expression upon his face.
“I’ve tried… I’ve petitioned the city I don’t know how many times trying to get some help.” Knock Knock looked up from Holly and glanced at the approaching pegasus. “It’s like they don’t want criminals being caught.”
Officer Cornflower’s eyes narrowed and he nodded. “I’m gonna talk to a few ponies I know. We’re dealing with something big here… not just here, but all over this damn city. Not only do we have arson, but we have evidence of organised crime.” The blue pegasus’ ears splayed out sideways, he looked at Holly with some concern, and his scowl softened into a worried frown. “You know, we’re going to make enemies.”
“I already have enemies,” Knock Knock said in a soft voice.
“I’ve had plenty of heels that tried to juice me for personal reasons, kayfabe be damned.” Holly sucked in a deep breath and then continued in a raspy, growling voice. “Something needs to be done. What can we do about it?”
“We push back the darkness and we go after those who serve the Beast. It’s all we can do, Holly,” Knock Knock replied.
“Well, I’m in. After everything I saw today, I’m in. For realsies.” Holly coughed and spat out a chunky blob of phlegm.
“And I’ll see what I can do about having us work together. I know a few ponies. I can’t make any promises though.” Cornflower’s ears perked up as the wind gusted and blew his blue mane back from his face. He extended his hoof and looked at his two companions.
Nodding, Knock Knock reached out bumped the offered hoof and then watched as Holly did the same. He cleared his throat. “We can’t win you know. This is a club for losers.”
“Well then, we need a face to break the C-show script and start pounding on the heels.” Holly met with Knock Knock’s eyes and then Cornflower’s. “I like being an against all odds face.”
“Let’s go get a bite to eat and talk this over… I think we’re done here.” Knock Knock looked over at the water tanks and the busted pipes. “I wonder if the pony who busted the pipe is the same pony living in the spunk shack. If so… he’s in a world of trouble if they can track down his magical signature.”
Holly took a deep breath. “I hope so. Those pictures made me sick…”
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Your description of the pervert's den left me sick. Bravo. I wonder how long it will take Holly to make the connection that the head honchos downtown might be involved. Or it could just be overtaxed resources not getting everywhere they need to. Either way, good chapter! I love me some Homewrecker!
Oh-ho. Cornflower... joins the party?
That's not really as appropriate in a not-adventure story, but yeah! Cornflower!
"Out of nowhere, a pegasus, in a black suit, appears:
You will be the this city protectors, you will be its palladins, its white knights.
He turns around, walking with precise stepds towards the edge of the roof.
´Who are you ?´, Molly asks.
´I´m gonna be its secret protector. I´m going to reach where you can´t and do what you are not allowed...´
´I´m gonna be...its Dark Knight` and, with this final words, he jumped through the city´s night, flying without effort or noise."
Pervert Den... how, nice.
bleagh.
Awesome job dude, awesome job on this.
Nice to see a new chapter, hehee. And Cornflower joins the party, nice nice nice!
I wonder what will happen next chapter
Keep it up!
Incidentally I went and watched a roller derby game. It was neet
I noticed, in many of Kudz's stories, tribal unity is a big thing. We now have a unified team, associated with a fire house that has a dragon. All we need now is a shady secret-agent-type batpony, maybe a diamond dog, a minotaur, and we'll be good!
Another thought that popped into my head: I wonder if Holly would ever thing of leveraging her (admittedly distant) relationship to Applejack to get in contact with Princess Twilight. I mean, if it ever came to that.
I have a feeling that somepony is getting piledrived before going on trial.
Geeez! I would not have the stomache to work like Holly.
Mmm... Donuts...
What needs to happen to the bastard: gelded with a rusty butter knife, the wound cauterized, and then go vlad the impaler on him with a rusty iron cactus that's been dipped in highly concentrated sulfuric acid
It was one thing when he was just a weird pervert....but it was another thing ENTIRELY when it turned out he was a SICK PEDOPHILE!! I really hope Holly manages to hunt this bastard down, because I am now filled with all KINDS of righteous fury. An also tears of sadness for those poor victims. I know about what it's like...I've known people who were sexually abused as kids and it's something that affects them for the rest of their lives
Cornflower's(flour) honorary firey name could be Custard?
Wonder if they have DNA testing, plenty big sample with those paper towels.