“Shit shit shit shit!” Morgana ran back from her office, swinging a new coat around herself. Really, though, her sudden motion was just glorified pacing, and she continued to walk forward and back across the main office, swearing to herself angrily for not having seen this coming.

“Something’s wrong,” said Twilight, her voice shaking. “Something’s wrong and I don’t understand what’s going on!”

“We’re surrounded is what’s going on!” shouted Morgana. “And I’m trying to think of a way out of here that will end with at least ME being alive!”

“It’s only you they’re hunting,” said Elrod, looking around nervously. “Sorry, but this is deeper than I wanted to get. I’m out. Thanks for the help.”

He took a long step toward the door, butMorgana cut him off, nearly tripping him in the process. “Where do you think you’re going?” she demanded.

“Anywhere that is not here.”

“Really?” Morgana pointed. “Because by now the hallways of this place will be crawling with cloaked agents, and the whole place is surrounded by snipers who could hit us from goddamned Massachusetts! How far do you think you’ll get?”

Elrod leaned in close. “Far enough. I’m not you.”

“So what? The only reason you managed to get this far is because you were never important enough for anyone to take a close look at. Those guys?” She pointed. “They have medical-grade scanners that can hear the pulse of a fieldhouse through half a mile of concrete! What do you think they’re going to do when they see a man walk out with no vital signs whatsoever?” She paused and then spoke to herself. “No vital signs…”

Elrod became somewhat more pale. “I didn’t think of that. Crap.”

“Crap indeed,” said Forth. She turned to Morgana. “However, his logic is not completely incorrect. They want to eliminate you. I will be taken as well, and Mr. Jameson because of his nature. But her…” She pointed at Twilight. “She is not involved in this.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “Me? You can’t just leave mehere!”

“No, we can’t,” sighed Morgana. “They know I’m a technomancer, and they know I can switch out our metadata. They won’t take chances. Any Twilight unit that takes a step out of here gets dropped. They’ll confirm if it was me later.”

Twilight gasped. “But that means- -”

“It means they’re trying to kill you too.”

Twilight looked to be on the verge of tears. “But…but why? Ponies don’t die, we can’t…”

“If only.” Twilight looked around the room and then marched to a closet. “Great. If there was a time to use this, then I guess this is it.” She tore open the closet and pulled out all of its contents: spare coats, clothing, office supplies, a dirty vacuum cleaner- -until she reached the rear. With one swift impact, she then punched through the wood of the rear and pulled down the thin wood. Behind it was a utilitarian metal cabinet.

“Jameson, Forth, you’re up.”

Morgana stepped out of the closet and Elrod went in. With some fumbling he opened the doors and revealed an array of various weapons and ammunition. His eyes went wide.

“Guns!” he cried, immediately grabbing them and stuffing them into his trenchcoat without any regard for what he was actually picking up. “So many guns! Ooh, look!” He pulled out an enormous suppressor and started screwing it onto his .700 pistol. “Now it will be silent!”

“The emergency stash,” said Forth, somewhat in awe. “This is indeed a dire situation.”

“Take all the ammo you can,” said Morgana. “It won’t be much, but it will be enough. And yes. This is about as dire as it gets.”

“I still don’t understand!” cried Twilight.

“You don’t need to! Just do what I say!” Morgana took a step back and sat down. “Okay. I can’t hack any tech that Aetna-Cross is using. They would have thought of that.”

“None?” asked Forth.

Morgana shook her head. “No. Not without their access codes or about twelve-thousand years of processing to brute-force it. And we don’t really have that time.” She inhaled deeply and reached for a cigarette. “Right. But I thought something like this might happen, so I have a plan. There’s a reason I’m in this building. The landlord modified the building to steal heat from the one below us. Our basement mechanical floor is contiguous to their upper storage space. The gap is well hidden but I know where it is.”

“That will get us one building down, but how does that help?” asked Elrod, his coat now heavily laden with various weapons.

“Every little bit helps. I’ll deploy every car I can from up here on autopilot as a distraction, and we get out from the lower building and take the road by the old substation.”

“And how do we get through the building without perforation?”

“Like this.” Morgana closed her eyes, and the lights in the building suddenly flickered and went out. When she opened her eyes, she could see the glow of Twilight and Forth’s irises while Elrod was completely obscured.

“You can see in the dark,” she said.

“I think it’s more olfactory, but yes,” replied Elrod.

“Good. Because I just shut down power to the entire district.

“Why can I see our eyes?” asked Twilight. “That isn’t supposed to happen.”

“Then keep your damn eyes closed!”

“But I can’t see! Oh, wait. It’s dark anyway. Sorry.”

Morgana sighed. “Aetna-Cross uses Thor Optics headsets. They use a combination ofultrasound and passive IR. I can interfere with both. But they also detect lifesigns, pony or human.”

“But I don’t have those,” said Elrod.

“I know. Meaning we have an advantage if you go first.”

“M- -me? But what if they shoot me? I’ll die!”

“Do you even think before you open your mouth?”

Elrod paused. “Oh. Apparently not.”

“I’m ready,” said Forth as her irises powered down. Morgana grabbed Twilight.

“You both need to cover me. I have no gun. I’ll provide tech cover when I can.”

“What about me?” asked Twilight.

“Stay close. Don’t die.” Morgana nodded to Elrod. “Open the door.”

Elrod nodded and walked to the outer door. He did as he was told. As soon as he opened it, though, a black-clad soldier lunged at him. Elrod was knocked back as a large knife pierced his body and emerged from his back.

Twilight screamed, but Elrod was largely unfazed. He lifted his suppressed .700 and put it against the man’s temple. He pulled the trigger at point-blank range. Even with the suppressor, the sound was deafening in a closed room. The soldier’s head was reduced to red liquid in an instant.

“Damn!” cried Elrod, stepping back with the long blade still sticking out of both his chest and back. “This suppressor doesn’t work! That was still loud!”

“You can’t suppress a .700, idiot!” snapped Morgana. “And for the love of Celestia’s fat plot, don’t waste the big rounds on soft targets! Save them for when you need them!” Morgana signed. “And trust me, trench. Before this is done, you’re going to need them.”