We don't go to Sub-Level Five

by RadBunny

Chapter Twelve: Who's Who?

“What? What did he say?” Sassi asked immediately as she sat up, dark violet eyes wide with concern, “he’s a really close friend of mine; is he ok?”

“I assume he’s alright,” Astral said, “all the important ponies got teleported out. That meant pretty much everyone except for me. He just gave me a code that has so far opened every single door I’ve come across.”

“Wait, really?” she asked curiously, “that shouldn’t be possible. We may want to try that code. There are some supply rooms nearby I can’t get into.”

“Sure thing. Honestly, I’m in no condition to argue. It’s paired with my badge. So, you’ll need me alive for the code, and then the badge.”

Sassi shot him a fairly unimpressed gaze, Astral raising a hoof in defeat.
“You can’t blame me for being careful. For all I know you want to eat my insides when I sleep. Everything else alive I’ve seen so far wants to.”

“Hey, I wouldn’t-” Sassi said indignantly with an admittedly adorable pout, “I wouldn’t go to the trouble of saving your exhausted rear end just to hurt you. My job revolves around helping creatures.”

“Sorry, I meant no offense. I’m a bit of a jumbled mess right now.”

“No kidding. So how did you manage to get down here?” she asked, “you must have taken a dozen stimulants just to keep going. Either that or had an IV of energy drinks.”

The stallion laughed at that, the action making him grab his sides in pain as the mare watched him with an oddly careful gaze.

“Oh, that’d be awful!” he managed to say. “I saw those in the first aid kit and immediately put them in a deep pouch where I wouldn’t accidentally take them. I can’t even tolerate caffeine in a soda, let alone a full-blown stimulant pill!”

Sassi’s gaze shone with genuine confusion, the stallion not picking up how her gaze dropped, the mare in deep thought.

“Seriously?” she finally asked.

“Seriously,” he said firmly, “Caffeine makes me loopy, and energy drinks ten times that. So, any sort of drug or alcohol I stay faaaaaar away from. The only time I had an energy drink I sang non-stop for thirty minutes before passing out. So, never again.”

“You can sing?” Sassi asked.

“I didn’t think I could,” Astral admitted, “but yeah. Thankfully I haven’t broken a bone or anything that requires heavy-duty drugs. That would be bad. I honestly got this far with a lot of luck, and the security code that let me keep moving.”

“Hmm. I saw you when you entered SL-Five, but before that, the camera system isn’t networked to the station,” Sassi mused.

“Until then I basically just moved slowly, grabbed supplies, and hid in closets while shelving units barricaded the door.”

Sassi’s eyes widened at seeing the serious reply.
“Wow. That’s rather impressive actually, especially for somepony with little training.”

“Thanks!” Astral said happily, gladly taking the compliment (especially from a mare who clearly could snap him in half without thinking.) “Honestly, I’ve always enjoyed sparring and weapons and stuff, just, not the stress of the actual situation. I don’t do so well when my life is on the line.” The stallion’s ears flattened at that, the Thestral’s gaze drifting to the simple dark-wood coffee table between the couches. “If not for you, I’d be dead. I’ve frozen multiple times fighting those Skitters.”

“Well, flight or fright response can be a finicky thing,” Sassi said with a shrug, “I’ve had years of training. You’ve had…”

“Not nearly that long.”

“Exactly. My point is that you’re still here, and that’s impressive.”

He managed a weak smile at that.
“Where do I go from here, Sassi?” Astral asked honestly, “I just want to get out of this place. I don’t know what you’re still doing here.”

“I’m preparing to do that same thing,” she said firmly, “but sheltering in place for a bit until things settle down was the first goal. Trying to be open about sheltering ponies was the previous plan from my supervisor. That went about as well as you expected outside. It was just a giant beacon for a buffet. Most of the security forces aren’t enhanced, nor heavily armed.”

A green tint returned to Astral’s cheeks as he recalled the stacks of gore and bodies on the main station.

“Exactly. The ponies you saw were part of the containment team, and that clearly didn’t work. So, my plan is to gather supplies, lay low for a bit, and then see about getting out of this place.”

“Is there a way out?” he asked, “Part of Silo One has collapsed, right? That was the above-ground entrance.”

“That was one of the entrances,” Sassi clarified, “and I have no doubt the primary entrances have been sealed. But there are other emergency exits. The problem is getting to them, and then seeing if they aren’t sealed too. I was going to be hard-pressed to do it on my own,” she then smirked, gesturing to the stallion, “but I’m not alone anymore, am I?”

Astral couldn’t help but grin at that.
“I’d be happy to serve under your command, Security-Officer Sassi.”

“Welcome aboard, Security Guard Astral,” Sassi chuckled, reaching over to bump his hoof with hers. “For now, our mission is to lay low.” Her gaze grew a bit darker at that. “There aren’t any survivors nearby, none that we want to save. Anyone left…the more they fight the Skitters, the better.”

Swallowing nervously at that, Astral’s ears pinned back.
“The ‘volunteers?’” he asked, receiving a firm nod.

“Exactly. They’ll be organized fairly quickly. If we can wait for the Skitters to be fighting them primarily, we can slip out amid the chaos, and that’s assuming the self-destruct of the facility doesn’t kick on.”

“The what!?”

Sassi raised an eyebrow, gesturing around.
“What? After all you’ve seen and I’ve said, are you that surprised by a giant bomb being underneath this place?”

He raised a hoof in objection, then slowly lowering it.

“Exactly,” Sassi continued, “but with that code you have, we may be able to override it, or at least delay it if it ever activates. I doubt it will though. The Skitter Queen is a smart cookie; she may have cut the remote lines to it.”

“The Queen? The…Ook, we’re…um…” Astral stammered, reaching up to hold his head with a hoof.

“Oh, sorry. Too much?”

“A bit.”

“Well, you rest and recover. There are a few more supply areas I want to check before the big supply room that uses your code if you’re still set of keeping that a secret.”

“It’s just useless without the card,” he said, Sassi letting out a hum.

“Actually, I have an idea. Would it make you feel better to have it paired with your biometrics? So, then this scary mare can’t steal the code and card, leaving you behind?”

Astral glared at her, but there was no venom behind his gaze as he nodded.
“That would make me feel a lot better.”

“Well, let’s go do that now!” she proclaimed. “a short walk up to the security booth will do it. If it has as high a clearance as you say, it’ll be a pinch! We pair that to you, and then you can tell me the code so I can get us supplies while you recover.”

Sassi strapped on a single breastplate; a large knife angled across the chest as she led the way back to the elevator, the stallion snagging his ID card from beside the bed. Astral trotted along as best he could, limbs still aching quite a bit. It was rather embarrassing on multiple levels to feel so blasted fragile.

A quick miniature elevator flight up to the booth, and Sassi gestured to what Astral assumed was a hoofprint scanner.

Truthfully, it looked like a sideways, open metal lunchbox.

“Just put your card on top, type the code, and stick your hoof inside,” she said casually.

Doing as she said, Astral typed in the code and abruptly let out a yelp. A small microneedle poked his forelimb, the screens lighting up with various readings.

“Administrator access biometrics paired. Astral. Sentinel.” The cheerful voice echoed out.

“Wow, administrator access is…I don’t even know how high that goes,” Sassi admitted, “that’s above any clearance I’ve ever heard about. But there you go! she said happily. “There’s a locked supply closet in the main kitchen we can try. You can just put your hoof up to any old ID card scanner, and that will work now with your code.”

“Wait, the ID card readers double as that?” he asked, Sassi nodding, looking at him curiously.

“Yeah? From floor Four downwards. Wow, you didn’t know that? They kept everything from you, huh?”

“Evidently.”

The trip back down was uneventful, the two trotting into the very empty kitchen which could have housed a good bakers-dozen ponies.

“I already cleared out all the obvious food. But this supply closet miiiight have some decent stuff in it. Give it a shot!” Sassi proclaimed, gesturing to what appeared to be an ordinary door set in the side of the cafeteria wall.

Putting his hoof up to the ID card scanner, Astral typed in the code- and the door opened.

“Woohoo!” Sassi said, trotting in and looking around, “not much here. Some canned stuff, candy, oh! Fruit jerky! Looks like your biometrics work!”

He walked into the freezer, taking a look at the various items. There was a decent amount of food here, not a bad find.

“I guess they do. Well, fairs fair,” Astral said. “Flask Heat told me that this code would help me if anything went wrong. It’s zero, three, two, four, zero.”

Sassi abruptly froze, her eyes looking over to Astral’s, gaze locked onto him.

“What?”

“Zero, three, two, four, zero?” Astral said again, shrinking slightly.

The mare shook her head, eyes watering as she looked away.

“He said that it could help you?” Sassi asked.

“Yeah? If anything went wrong and I didn’t know what to do, the code would help,” Astral said in confusion, “he said it can get me out of trouble and into a lot of other places.”

To his shock, Sassi let out a soft sniffle, wiping her eyes on a forelimb before going back to rummaging through the supplies, still not looking at Astral.

“Did I say something-”

“No, it’s not you, Astral,” Sassi interrupted, “that code that Flask gave you? It means…it just means that he trusts you a lot, ok? It’s a bit of a gut-punch to hear it. I’ll tell you later.”

The stallion didn’t say anything for a while, the bat-pony finally shrugging.

“I always saw him as a mentor when I worked there,” he admitted, “I talked to him more than my blood parents these past few years. He was certainly more supportive.”

“Well, that wasn’t without reason. If Flask trusted you with that code, then I have every reason to,” Sassi said firmly.

“You trust him that much?” Astral asked in genuine surprise.

“Yes. Now, let’s get this stuff back to my kitchen. Unlike you, I haven’t slept in about ten hours,” Sassi said, a final sniffle fading as she wiped her eyes again. She seemed much more cheerful now, but that could just be Astral’s tired brain making it up.

“Yes M’-”

“Call me ‘M’am’ and I’ll lock you in the freezer.”

“Right away, Armored Princess.”

An exasperated sigh met Astral’s ears, Sassi letting out a groan as she smacked a hoof to her face.

“So, help me, Astral.”

He decided not to push his luck, carrying out the boxes as best he could before taking a break, limbs starting to tremble.

“Sorry. Just, I’m having trouble standing,” he admitted.

“Just take a breather. I’ll ferry these back inside,” Sassi replied, Astral eventually recovering enough to help with the last few boxes.

“You go rest. I’ll organize this stuff and then check the security monitors. I’ve set alarms to sound if there’s a ton of movement, so at least we’ll have some warning,” Sassi explained. “I’ll put your stuff next to the door.

Astral nodded, slowly plodding to flop down onto the couch.
“Thank you, Sassi. Sorry I can’t be of more use,” he said, genuine regret tinging his voice.

“You’ve done plenty. Just recover, and I’ll be back in a few.”

As the stallion dozed, Sassi subtly double-checked to make sure she had unloaded the stallion’s saddle-guns, setting the armor aside before heading up to the security booth.
Once there, she pulled out a picture, lips quivering as she looked at it.

“You trust him that much, Flask?” she asked to herself, the mare seeming to shrink slightly. “I don’t know if I can, not yet. I need some answers first. But I get the message. I’ll help him.”

Cradled in her hooves, the picture portrayed a smiling, younger Flask Heat, a small Thestral filly riding on his shoulders.

Comments

[Schwabauer]

Man, I hope Twilight sends in some sort of rescue squad to retrieve any survivors before detonating the warheads.

[Teraunce]

Huh so Sassi is Flask's adopted daughter? interesting.

[RadBunny]

11048432
Interesting indeed....

[Question_Mark]

Well, now it certainly makes sense why Sassi wouldn’t know about a good fruit combination for a smoothie.

[RadBunny]

11608003
Indeed