Verbosity had been standing there at the end of the thirtieth floor hallway for some time, and he was starting to get restless. It took all of his mental strength to keep himself composed and still, waiting right outside that door, attempting to keep up a good impression for his four subordinates that were waiting alongside him. Any minute now, the two escapees would come barging through the metal door for them to apprehend.

For the time being, though... the seconds wore on, and all Verbosity had to focus on were the sounds of the other guards, inhaling and exhaling out their mouths. Eugh. Mouthbreathers. He looked up at the ceiling to try to distract himself, but it didn't really help. Succumbing to his desires, the stallion leaned against the wall.

"How much longer do you think it's gonna be, sir?" Verbosity turned his head to look at the stallion who had spoken, one of the newer recruits whose name he couldn't remember.

Verbosity put a hoof to his lips. "Shh, keep it down," he whispered. "We don't want them to hear us if they are coming. But to answer your question... I don't know yet. Mr. Velvet said that he would send a comlink message as soon as they're within a few floors, so we can get ready. Unless we hear otherwise, that's what we're waiting for."

A mare with a deep blue coat to the stallion's right—Swift Run, maybe—groaned. "I'm friggin' bored of just standing around waiting for crap to happen... I wish something exciting would go down for once."

Verbosity frowned. "Now, now, please—we have our royal duty and duty to the Bureau to do what we're needed to do. This might not be fun, but Mr. Velvet has been granted with the authority to have us do what he needs. Plus, these escapees aren't any normal prisoners—you know they're important cases to planet and Bureau security."

"Nnngh... okay, whatever." The mare leaned against the other wall and the other guards, who had been watching the whole interaction, did the same thing. At the end of that hallway, then, were five ponies leaning against the walls, staring at the door with the little black placard next to it with an upward-facing white arrow.

A few minutes later, somewhere distant beyond the wall, they began to hear the faint yet unmistakeable tones of voices. These came along with the clinking of hooves on metal. Verbosity took a long, deep breath in through his nose and then let it go.

"Sir?" one of the stallions behind him asked. Verbosity turned his head.

"Yes?"

"Is that them?"

Verbosity sighed. "I... I don't know. I don't think so, though, since Mr. Velvet said that he would send a message." The stallion raised his front foreleg that had an object strapped to it which resembled a watch, albeit bulkier. He looked at the tiny screen atop its surface. "And, indeed, I have received no messages," he whispered.

"Then what's that sound? Whose voices are those?"

"Unless we get a message from Mr. Velvet, I think we're going to have to assume that it's ponies working in the floors below, since ponies do work down there. I mean, obviously, we're going to know if the escapees come through here since they're gonna open the door. We'll be prepared though."

"O-oh, um, okay." Both Verbosity and the other guard looked at each other for another moment before Verbosity turned back to gaze at the door.

Sure enough, the voices began to grow closer and more obviously within the staircase before them. Verbosity still couldn't quite make out what the voices were saying, but he was able to make out a few words here and there, parts about being 'almost there' and 'look up at the numbers' and other bits that he couldn't really make sense of on their own.

"Sir?"

Verbosity sighed. "Okay, okay, I'll send a message to Velvet." He lay down on the floor so he could use both his forelegs, and then he tapped out a short message on the on-screen keyboard of the comlink on his wrist. He pressed send and watched as the little grey circle spun and then turned blue, showing that his message had been sent and received. Verbosity looked up from the device, though, for something very odd had just happened; the voices, instead of coming closer to the door to the stairs, had moved below them.

A few seconds later, Verbosity's comlink beeped. He looked down at the screen.

Okay I just woke up and I just checked the cam and they're not in the stairwell.

It beeped again.

Are you sure you're on 30th floor?

Verbosity started to type a response but the comlink beeped once more before he was able to press send.

Aeneus below, they're on 29. Go down.

Verbosity tapped out a quick affirmation, sent it, and then clambered to his hooves. His subordinates were looking at him expectantly.

"Alright, we've had a change of plans. For some reason, the escapees have decided to go on the twenty-ninth floor, so we've gotta go down there and apprehend them." He paused, looked at the ponies before him, and then pointed at the three stallions to his left. "You three, come with me. We're going down the stairs."

"And me?" the mare who was probably named Swift Run asked.

"Go the other way... the elevator's out of order, but you know what to do."

The mare nodded. "Got it." She trotted off in the other direction as Verbosity pushed down on the handle and pushed inwards, leading the other stallions into the stairway.