The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

Inspection, Two

Silently, Selma led the procession back to the elevator, where they continued to ascend. As it rose, Gerardo tried to force his thoughts onto a productive track. There was a security camera, and they were going to inspect the feed. Evidently, Selma didn't care much that he was showing it off for free... even though with access to such a monitoring system, Gerardo could see veritably everything in the facility. Then again, the unicorn didn't seem much for secrecy in general, since his meeting with Herman.

What was it that had caused him to reveal such apparently-sensitive information? He had dramatized it even more than some of Arambai's non-secrets, and been fairly thorough in his explanations... as far as Gerardo could tell, at least. But why had he revealed them in the first place? For a cold, threatening officer-type, a simple 'You won't find your crates' would have sufficed as a warning. Why explain why...?

His best two guesses on the matter were either that Selma sought to have him as an ally... questionable, given their brief history and Gerardo's own limited utility... or that he had panicked and not chosen his strategy with sound mind. Down his weapon and weighted with numerous obligations, Gerardo would be the first to admit that he was a borderline liability even without his limited knowledge of the situation. If Ironridge was one massive, ruleless game, as had been stated at the embassy, then he was playing with an empty deck.

The elevator slid to a stop before he could reach a satisfying conclusion, its doors cleaving open with a whoosh. Selma stepped out, taking the lead once again, and beckoned for them to follow.

At least Howe was holding his tongue, Gerardo thought, walking past walls laden with data displays and instrument panels that glowed electric blue on black. The silence was both welcome and unprecedented, and he half-wondered if Sharpie had said something to convince him to shut up.

...No, not unprecedented, he realized. For the entirety of their Sky District sojurn the previous night, Howe had been mute to the point of resorting to mime. While he had left strict silence behind, he was also no longer risking his life to fill dead air. It was as if he had... listened.

Gerardo found a slight rush of appreciation for the pegasus, which he immediately regretted. Howe was still responsible for getting them into their predicament in the first place... only he wasn't that, either. Selma had openly admitted to ambushing Gerardo with intent of stealing his crates, regardless of Howe's intervention. He certainly hadn't made matters better, but it was fully possible that the incident wasn't his fault.

Blinking, Gerardo resolved that some time, once their present danger was resolved and his friends, sword and delivery reward were safely by his side, he might owe the pegasus a second chance.

"Here we are," Selma announced, rounding a corner into a circular, dimly-lit room ringed by chairs and stools all facing console screens. Each and every one of them was further subdivided into windows, and each of those showed a single video feed, positioned through awkwardly blown-up lenses and showing abandoned metal corridors, blank stone walls and rooms, guards occasionally pacing or lounging about.

He walked to a slightly larger screen directly across from the entrance and knelt down, inserting his long horn into a hole directly beneath it. "Job security," he muttered as it pulsed, evidently anticipating a question. "Nopony in a high enough position to benefit from usurping me would want to deal with all the personal locks I'd leave behind."

Gerardo shrugged as the screen flickered to life. "I wouldn't put it past you."

Nodding, Selma stepped back. "Sit. Give me rooms and times and I can connect to any camera in the Water District. It also accesses those in the Flame and Sky Districts, but your clearance does not cover those."

"Fair enough," Gerardo answered. "Take me to that storage room where my friends were housed, around dusk of last evening."

Selma's hoof flew against a flat, sensitive surface, and images flickered by like mismatching bandwidths. Eventually, a red-on-black image appeared, showing what Gerardo quickly realized was a high-up view of the entrance to the captive room, several other pipes stretching vertically to the side.

"Is it... are the colors...?" Gerardo asked, pointing a talon.

"Because there are no lights in that room," Selma coolly said. "I presume you want me to fast-forward until I arrive with your friend?"

"Friend, yes..." Gerardo muttered. "Friends. There were two of them. Didn't you say as much earlier? I have a distinct recollection of..."

"See for yourself." The red flickered out of the image as the door slid open, and two grainy pegasi strolled in, crates balanced on their backs. Gerardo leaned forward eagerly.

Behind them, Maple followed, floating in Selma's icy aura. She looked limp and defeated, though the recording's resolution wasn't enough to make out her finer details, and the only source of light being behind her made the problem even worse. Still, there was no doubt it was her, her messy, half-braided mane hanging off to one side and her brand briefly glinting as she turned.

They watched as Selma's video self stepped up to a pipe and forced Maple up against it, ropes streaming out to wrap around her in his aura. In the background, the guards set their crates aside, bowed, and left. Selma's mouth moved, uttering some command at them, but the feed was silent.

"...There's no audio?" Gerardo asked, headcrest drooping.

"There is not," Selma answered, standing stock-still. "Adding such was deemed unnecessary, as the purpose of this system is to monitor hypothetical invasions and search for slackers. The recording functionality was added later, and the cameras lacked sound receivers."

On the screen, Selma prodded Maple's belly with a hoof, and Gerardo's eyes narrowed. Several more wordless phrases were exchanged, before he turned tail, marching out and sliding the door closed behind him. Plunged into darkness, the room turned pitch-black for several seconds, before the red lines resumed.

"Well," Gerardo began, watching Maple's upright form tied prone against a pipe, "I believe we should continue our fast-forward until-"

Suddenly, Maple dropped free, landing shakily on her hooves, her bindings seeming to have disappeared. Gerardo leaned forward, and even Selma gasped in surprise. At that, Sharpie raised an eyebrow. "You didn't watch your own security tapes before showing them to two inspectors?"

Selma growled, head low. "I was too preoccupied sleeping off a headache from a certain brick of metal..."

Gerardo's interest redoubled. If Selma hadn't seen the recordings, and his admittance was almost certainly candid, that meant they were guaranteed not to be screened... and could contain any amount of valuable, verifiably-true information. If Ironridge was a game, he might have just found his first card.

Just as abruptly as Maple had freed herself, there was a bright blast of teal, and the camera's night vision switched itself off. Several more seconds elapsed, during which the screen maintained its pitch-black uselessness, occasionally teased by a faint teal flicker... and eventually, the red light turned on again, revealing the mare leaning down and hugging a small, possibly-horned filly.

"Where did...?" Gerardo blinked. "Where did she come from?"

Selma didn't answer, and neither did Sharpie. Howe was leaning toward the screen with almost as much interest as Gerardo's own, eyes constantly flickering around the virtual room.

The room was still dark, Maple and Starlight largely unmoving as the minutes ticked by. As Gerardo continued to baffle over Starlight's appearance, pondering if a filly could really teleport that far, and if so how she would target it, a slow tapping began, intensifying in speed.

"They've got your crates, brother bird..." Howe said nervously, craning his neck, leg twitching against the floor to create the din. "Those are the ones I totally owe you a hoof getting back!"

"I'm well aware," Gerardo whispered back, waiting for Selma to move forward. He didn't, and time continued to flow by at a snail's pace.

Just when it got to the point where Gerardo began wondering if Selma was deliberately stalling for time, the screen lit teal again, Starlight's horn glowing. "Hmm," the griffon muttered. "I was under the impression you said you released them, yet they look like they're about to try something escapeish."

Selma massaged his temple. "I was briefed on their whereabouts during my morning Where's Valey report. She was seen with them leaving the Flame District. I assumed she let them out..."

Suddenly, the screen flared brightly with magic, and with a wave of telekinesis, the top of one of Gerardo's crates popped clean off.

Comments

[Boopers]

Oh, Selma will not like what he sees next at all...

[RoboRed]

[Hap]

8483275
I think he'll be fine with it. He wants the "Plan B" device out of play anyway.

[Quinch]

8498250
Ostensibly.