James blocked the door with his body as he checked the hallway, then he gave a nod and we quietly followed him, Mia pulling the door shut behind us, which re-armed with a curt buzz. Sandra had drawn her pistol, and although it was easy to see her fear, she was holding it in a way that inspired me with a degree of confidence in her ability. ProteC made certain that everyone out here could handle themselves in an emergency, and I was thankful I probably wouldn't have to worry about getting shot in the back by accident .

As we proceeded carefully down the hall, I could hear the faint sounds of commotion from beyond the far door.

"Okay," I said softly as we neared the door. "First order of business is to get Nichols to safety, then we'll go from there."

"Got it," Mia affirmed. James just nodded, fetching up against the door. The chaotic sounds of shouting seemed to be intermingled with heavy smashing and scraping.

I could feel the adrenaline making me tremble, and Sandra's breath was short and fast beside me.

"You know what we're up against?" I asked her.

"I don't. I haven't worked with any of the ones with this kind of ability. I just know they are usually brought in under sedation."

A particularly loud crash came from outside. "I don't hear any gunfire," I commented.

"It's the Menagerie, not the slaughterhouse. These specimens are needed alive, if possible," Sandra explained, her voice nervous. "Capturing replacements is dangerous. Unless someone is in immediate danger, they'll try to contain them again."

"Allright," I bobbed my head curtly. "James, let's proceed. Carefully."

"Affirmative." He carefully unlatched the door and leaned out. "Looks oka- Shit!" He jerked back as a metal pushcart full of equipment slammed into the wall next to the doorway, sending tools and electronic devices clattering across the floor. Yelling and the sound of running feet came immediately after, as well as a peculiar chirruping noise followed by a pulsing sound.

REDEEP! WHABOOM! REDEEP! WHAAAAABOOM! The sound of objects clattering and smashing came after each repetition.

"Any other projectiles?" I asked. "And what the hay is that noise?"

"Hell if I know. Watch out for flying shit," James hissed, carefully stepping out of the door. As he cleared the doorway, I could see out into the huge room a bit.

REDEEP! WHAAAAAAAAABOOOOM!

A wave of some kind of energy shot across the section of the room I could see through the doorway, followed by a crash and loud cursing.

I carefully slipped out and looked around, my view into the wide area blocked by a number of cages, warning signs, and safety fences. I could see several of the safety fences had been knocked down, while others were partially flung over the cages they were supposed to be warning about, leaving only colored lines taped on the floor itself to mark hazardous area boundaries. I could see a lot of personnel on the overhead catwalks, aiming weapons down at the room below.

I couldn't see what they were aiming at, but I could hear soft chittering noises.

"Try and sneak up on it," someone called.

"Shut up, they can hear-It's turning around!"

REEEDEEEEP! WHAAAAAAAABOOM!

Angry curses filled the air. A net on a long handle flew past at high velocity, bouncing along the floor until it vanished somewhere off to the right.

"Let's head for the exit fast," I said. "Then we'll come back to this madness."

We slid along the wall under the catwalk in single file, heading towards the door.

James twitching his head about alertly, my ears doing the same as I listened and looked for movement. Pattering sounds from the grid of cages came to my ears, but I didn't see anything more than an occasional flash of something large, black, and chitinous scurrying past too quickly to be recognized. The frequency of blasts had become very low, apparently the ProteC personnel sneaking around the edge of the pens had figured out that if they were sneaky enough, they wouldn't get fired upon.

"Ugly little bastards," one of the men nearby hissed, trying to peek around a corner. "Someone get me a rolled-up newspaper and I'll take care of this shit right now."

"Shut the fuck up, they'll hear you," his partner hissed.

They both quickly dropped into silence as the chittering sound rose again from the nearby rows of monster-filled cages. The unpleasant sound of many feet pattering along followed soon after.

"They're just walking around," someone said in a stage-whisper from the catwalk above. "They don't seem to care that we're up here."

"Good for you, maybe you could tell us where they're at?"

"Uh, it's like, two rows away from you? To the right. No, the other right."

"Fucking hell man, which is it?"

The frustrated conversation faded as we continued past and neared the exit doorway. James quickly scanned it open and shoved Nichols in, where two security personnel pulled her back away from the entry.

"Good luck," Sandra said, looking back at us while holstering her pistol.

"Thanks." I backed away from the door. "We'll take all the luck we can get."

"We got it from here, watch your asses." The guards shut the door again, and the three of us placed our backs to it, creeping carefully towards the dim containment zone. The cages and pens placed in rows made it difficult to see, not to mention many of them were cordoned off for some distance due to the hazards they contained.

"There! See it?" James pointed down the row before us. The image-enhancing ARHUD function picked up the creature as it stood facing away from us. It was pretty big, maybe the size of a wolf, but wider and flatter. I could see wings twitching, and multiple legs shifting about underneath. It rotated slightly to the side, and gave me a view of large black compound eyes glinting soullessly above a dangerous-looking mandible mouth. Two antennae waved about from the top of the head.

EMPEROR CRICKET, the ARHUD tagged it after some latency. I took a quick moment to pull up more data.

KNOWN ABILITIES: Psionic blast, medium range jump w/ brief flight at apex, bite force 750 PSI.

"Try not to get bit," I suggested helpfully. "They're pretty strong."

"I'll keep that in mind," James whispered back dryly.

The cricket ahead of us perked up, twitching towards one of the other rows. It abruptly lifted its wings, and rubbed the transparent edges together.

REDEEP! A crackle of energy formed, pulsing rapidly down the wings. It coursed over the head, growing brighter and faster, then shooting down the outstretched antennae like the spark gap of a Jacob's Ladder.

WHAAAABOOOM! The energy discharge reached the end of the antennae, then flashed forward in a wave, dust and small objects flying up from in front of it. It impacted somewhere out of sight. More cursing rose from the area of impact.

Three more security employees approached us, one carrying a net gun. "Is it down there?" he asked in a stage whisper, standing right in the middle of the path.

"Shush!" I hissed, backing away from him. "It'll hear-"

REDEEEEEP! WHAAABOOOM!

"AAAIIEEEEEE!" The guy with the net gun went flying as the blast wave slammed into him squishily, as if he'd been hit by a giant trampoline. The energy dissipated while he described a high arc through the air. The gun slid low and fast along the ground, clattering to a stop against the wall behind us. I quickly threw a cushioning spell below, catching him before he smacked the hard floor. His two buddies ran to help him up, and I took the opportunity to telekinetically swipe the net gun. I latched my shotgun on my back, and levered the nonlethal device in my forehooves. "From what I'm seeing, we haven't had any serious injuries, even from direct impacts," I commented. "I think we can give this 'bring-em-back-alive' thing a try." I peeked back down the row; the monster cricket had apparently scampered off after sending us his little psionic gift.

James came up beside me. "Be careful, boss lady. We'll cover you. If you're in trouble, we'll use the shotguns."

Mia came up on my other side, scanning alertly, but humming softly to me. I have no idea what she was humming or why, but I liked it. It made me feel the tiniest bit calmer.

"You've got a pretty voice," I whispered,

She didn't look at me or stop scanning the area, but I could see she her smiling out of the corner of my eye.

I quickly whispered a general text message to the other personnel's ARHUDS in the area, letting them know we were going to make an attempt to capture the fugitive insects. I didn't feel like getting shot, even though we'd show as friendlies in their ARHUDS the moment they looked at us.

"Okay, let's do this." I said, stepping carefully along the row of containment units. These were creatures that didn't require a stand-off distance from their cage,, and it was rather disconcerting to see the arrays of tentacles, eyes, and claws pressed up against the thick transparent armor of the cage walls. Hisses, sighs, and other strange noises chuffed longingly from terrifying, half-hidden monsters as we passed. I felt like the new girl in prison, being sized up and eye-raped, except these creatures definitely wanted to do more to my body than simple sexual assault. I struggled to keep my eyes scanning, avoiding looking at the nightmare things only a few feet away from me. They were too distracting, and I needed to stay focused on the insectile ones pattering about on this side of the glass with me.

"There." James pointed ahead.

I squinted, making out a brushy foot protruding from between two cages.

I aimed the boxy net gun at it. "I can't get a shot like this. I need it out so the net can wrap it."

"I'll get it out," Mia said. "Now?"

I aimed carefully where i thought it would come out to. "Okay. Go."

"Here buggy, buggy, buggy!"

The cricket scampered back out of the gap and faced away from us, evidently confused.

I lined up the perfect shot, and pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened.

"Oh crap," I pulled the trigger again and again. "Is there a safety or something?"

James kept his shotgun on the cricket. "Do you see a green light?"

"Yes. I mean no. It's yellow now."

The cricket finally heard us and turned to face us.

"Slap the net cartridge cylinder!"

I fumbled with the net gun, trying to get a hoof on the cartridge.

The cricket's wings popped up. REDEEP!

James shot the cricket.

Mia shot the cricket.

WHABOOOM! The cricket's energy blast hurtled towards us anyway. I squeaked and threw up a magic barrier, catching the psionic wave at the last moment. It rebounded off my shield and flew back, knocking over the injured cricket and sweeping it off across the floor towards the opposite wall. Seconds later a message went out on the ARHUDS.

EMPEROR CRICKET CAPTURED, USED DUCT TAPE ON WINGS TO TEMPORARILY PREVENT PSIONIC DISCHARGE. ONE CRICKET STILL AT LARGE.

"I'm hearing the second one is several rows away from us, and It's not doing anything much," Mia told us after a moment, listening to a conversation in her ARHUD.

"James, can you help me with this stupid thing?" I begged, holding out the net gun. "Please."

He sighed. "Did you slap the cartridge?"

"I think so. I'm sorry. I thought I knew how to use it."

"Give it here."

I handed him the device, and dropped back on all fours, watching him while he messed with it. He checked the switches, then pulled the cartridge out. "Oh," he finally said, then dropped the canister on the ground. He pulled a new cartridge cylinder from a clamp on the side and slid it into place, nodding at the green light that came on. "It wasn't your fault. The impact broke the connector on that one. Want to try again?"

"Yeah, thanks." I accepted the thing back. "Let's go get the other one."

We crept down the row, Mia directing us based upon what someone on top was feeding her. We soon came up behind the second cricket, which was simply sitting in the middle of the floor, both antennae mildly twitching.

I once again carefully lifted the net gun, carefully sighted, and pulled the trigger.

WOOOMPH! The net flew out the front, spreading in the air, and the mesh thoroughly entangled the unsuspecting cricket. ProteC security personnel swiftly descended upon the thrashing bundle, dragging it unceremoniously towards the same cage that the unhappy duct-taped cricket was already being shoved into.

"Alright!" I cheered, putting down the net gun and looking elatedly at James and Mia. I dropped back to all fours, then held up a hoof for a fist bump with both of them. None of us noticed the sudden furor of activity by the cage, where the second giant cricket had managed to slip out of the net again and was engaged in an awkward tussle with several security personnel.

"Good job with the net," James grinned down at me.

"We did it again!" I enthused. "Yay, teamwo-"

REDEEP! WHAAAABOOOM!

I flew sideways through the air, knocked almost unconscious by the unexpected psionic blast, my limbs flopping around randomly. Then I landed face first on the concrete with a bone-jarring thud, my neck twisting and my body folding over me as I somersaulted painfully to a stop. I lay still for a moment in a heap, stunned and confused. We ponies may be a lot tougher than humans physically, but let me tell you, being tossed around like that really, really hurts.

"Eris! NO! Come here!" Mia shrieked, her voice suddenly breaking with desperation.

I tried to tell her I was okay, that I'd just had the wind knocked out of me, but I couldn't speak. I couldn't move at all. Terror washed over me as i realized that I might have broken my neck in my messy landing. But wouldn't I be able to use magic in that case? My horn was attached to my head after all, yet it was just as useless and unresponsive as the rest of my body.

Then, suddenly, I stood up, gracelessly and awkwardly, like a marionette being jerked about by an inexperienced puppeteer. I heard Mia wailing my name, I saw her reaching out to me. Iron fear squeezed my heart as I stood for a moment, frozen in place. I wanted to go to her with every fiber of my being, wanted to feel her arms around me, wanted to hear her telling me everything would be okay. I strained until my eyes teared up, but although I could feel my body, it refused to respond to me. I was a prisoner inside myself, screaming silently against the unyielding walls of a waking nightmare. Then, as the tears rolled down my muzzle, I turned shufflingly away from Mia, and began to stiffly walk forwards.

Towards the looming, shifting darkness of the goatlicker's cage.