Digital Waltz

Oboro ignored the glaring girl, as she kept her focus on the bouncers. She showed a badge, not a police badge, but a proof of something else.

"I'm of the imperial guard of Equestria, arresting her for an attempted assault at my liege and civilians. You've heard the news, right? I thought people would be informed on that."

(Moon, Oboro, Violet, Naomi, Serena)


The bouncer frowned at the badge, then looked at you:

"...you're a part of the royal retinue. Not law enforcement. You have no legal rights to arrest anyone.
But fine. We don't want to cause an international incident. We'll let you take the... 'suspect'..."

The bouncer frowned:
"But know, that you are grossly overstepping your authority, and if you're wrong, it will have grave ramifications for your boss. And tomorrows news headline will be:

'Princess Twilight's Retinue - Violently Assault Club Security, Illegally Detain The Wrong Suspect, Without Evidence.'

Then, you can wish your boss some 'Good Luck' in her political career. Because my guess, its won't last very long.


You can't just do whatever you like. Not even when chasing suspects.
No one is above the law"

The bouncer quietly said and stepped aside.



Amy scowled but stopped struggling. She looked at you and quietly muttered: "...by this time tomorrow, every news outlet on the internet, will hear about this. I'll make sure of it"






Serena's radio went off and you heard the officer from the Council Building:

"Agent, there's no way to know if she's our target, until we get a look at her computer.

It looks like the hacking assault on the Council building has ceased. But it doesn't say much. The hacker managed to complete his objective..

If you grabbed a suspect, scan her computer. If she's really our target, then get back to the Council Building and bring her with you, asap... there's been a... serious development... over."




As you scan the room again for additional suspects, you can't seem to find anyone else with a background in programming, apart from the people you've seen before.



Mira and Noel seem to be chatting with Aviv Atyah, the man you spotted spazzing out on the dance floor earlier. According to the glasses, Aviv had a job as a cybernetics diagnostic software developer.

After a moment, you notice Mira and Noel nod to him, then leave him back to his dancing.

The two mares are now slowly heading in your direction.












(Arnold)


A heavy police van slowly rolled up to the sidewalk.
It was heavily armored. A strange logo was drawn on its side - A wolf with wings.

The words under the logo read:
ZERBER
Speacial Tactics Police Unit


Two police officers in tactical vests slowly climbed out and approached you. One of them gestured to the bouncer to lift you up and release you.

"...Arnold.. Johnson?.." one of the officers called, looking at your badge: "...we've been briefed on the situation at the Council Building" he said, returning the badge to you:

"...we asked for you help... but this isn't what we had in mind" one of them tilted his head towards the bouncers. One of the bouncers had a big bruise under his eye.


"Where are you colleagues?" The second officer asked: "We've been tasked to.. assist you.. in whatever legal obstacle you might have to deal with"

Moon overheard the commotion and tried to hide herself away, watching the dancing silently as she observed the situation as quietly as possible. Though at the same time, she idly wondered where the bar was.

Violet begins to leave the club not before spotting moon. She slowly approches, "s-so... Y-you are an actual vampony?" she says nervously, "l-like... Not a batpony like me b-but... An actual... Vampire..." shs says. It was clear she was somewhat bothered by the term 'bloodsucker'

(Oboro)

"A discussion of what I can and can't do in the name of protecting my liege will take too long. Not like dance clubs would care." She then mutters under her breath. "Fucking Artemissans."

She begins to carry her outside, giving a single call to the others. "Bring the laptop along."

(Arnold)

After he got free, he shook his head to get out some of the dizziness. Being tazed just now didn't give him the clearest thinking and standing. He pinches the bridge of his nose with his eyes closed.

"I'm... Not sure. We've split up. I'm the only one here. The only thing that can be done is to give a proper explaination to the chief there. But I doubt most of this info can be told freely."

He stretched what he could, to get back feeling in his body. "Luckily no permanent damage."

(Naomi)
Naomi picked up the laptop tucking it under her arm and followed Oboro. She kept pace slightly behind keeping one eye on Amy and the other on the surrounding area.

(Serena)
Serena made her way through the rest of the crowd and exited the club. Spotting the ZERBER van and the officer's speaking with Arnold she headed over to them.

Dallas took his time walking to the dance club where Amy went, as he walked he wrote down the relevant notes down in a beat up notepad. Soo, the riot seems like it's unrelated but it merits a look to; possibly looking into the original thefts, he thought as he glanced up just in time to avoid a young couple walking in the opposite direction. Dallas made the relevant notes in his pad and moved to the next thought, but the more pressing thing is that the hacker managed to block and scramble his image on all the security systems, which is impressive to say the least. this should take first priority.He thought and wrote down the relevant notes dodging another group of giggling teens walking drunkenly back from the club.

He stopped a few feet from the front door he took a moment and surveyed the scene before him. Dallas took note of the bouncers and security measures, he made sure to stand in a blind spot before he booted his computer up. Dallas pushed through the laughable firewall and logged onto the guest list. He took a screen shot of the list before adding himself to the VIP guest list. he then sweeped the internal network and did a data dump of some the computers that were used in the past few hours. He navigated his way past the bouncers pretty easily, leaving some shocked and outraged people in the line outside.
The club seemed pretty quite, people dancing there cares away on the floor bumping and grinding, patrons drinking at the bar talking and flirting or just trying to forget about there current problems, but there was a glaring issue of the fight breaking out in the lounge He pulled out his phone and took some pictures of the unfolding scene, trying to get all of the faces. Dallas then donned the glasses he got from the reporter and surveyed the room he was in. He took several long sweeps on the room and wrote down the necessary information on the people who had the necessary background to hack the building.

Dallas heaved a heavy sigh and approached the unfolding fight, I really don't want to do this but I have no choice I suppose this is how you make friends right, he thought as he straightened himself and approached the group "hello nice to meet you all, I'm Dallas courtright, private PI" he said and handed the group one business card each"I noticed you were shouting quite loudly and grabbing that woman's computer. Do you mind if I take a look at it? he asked as he pinned his badge on his left part of his jacket.

(Everyone)


"Yes, please" Amy exhaled with a small level of relief, as she looked at Dallas: "Take a look at my computer, so I can finally go home. I could really do without being dragged around all day" she frowned at Oboro:


"By the way, the bouncers were Soren. Not Artemis. Seeing as Adelheid is located in the country of Soren. Not the country of Artemis. Just a minor detail. Nothing important.

You know. Just like proper arresting procedure isn't important" Amy shook her head and looked away.



As you walk outside of the club, you notice a police van and two gloomy officers in tactical gear, standing next to Arnold.

"Is that the suspect?" one of them asked, looking at Amy: "...check her computer quickly. Then board the van. We need to drive back to the Council Building. There's been a... very bad development."



The crowd around the club began to thin out.
The guests must have sensed something off and a lot of them started to leave.

In the brief moment of spare time, Dallas could look at the pictures he took in the club, using his cellphone.

None of the guests had a 'Scrambled Face' in the pictures.

Amy's appearance was seen clearly in them.




Noel and Mira spotted Moon and Violet, then slowly approached:

"Hey.. you guys doing alright? Things got a little heated back there.." Mira said, scratching the back of her head.

"Yeah, not a big fan of busy clubs. Quiet puns are more my thing." Her hand was nervously resting on where her sword was hidden under her long coat, and she was looking around. "I sense something is wrong."

(Everyone)


One of the police officers entered the club and waved everyone to follow him.

His partner was standing by the police van outside, leaning against the car and gloomily staring into space:



"...We have a hostage situation, inside the Council Building.
At least, that's what we're hoping for" the cop looked away:


"Our opponent carried out a very bold plan.
First, they hacked the Council Building during the riots. They forged a fake ID for a janitor, inserted his credentials into our computer database. Then, they blinded our Cybernetic Detectors, the ones we have at the entrance to the building.


Result: an elderly man, posing as a janitor, peacefully walked through every security checkpoint we had, simply entered the Council Building and started mopping up floors.
And since the hacker blinded the Cybernetic Detectors, I believe its safe to assume that this 'Janitor' was heavily augmented with Cybernetics.


The Janitor waited, mopping the floors. And the hacker waited, fleeing the riots.


Then, once things calmed down, the hacker walked into this dance club, and unleashed an incomprehensible attack on our computer systems.
She shut down our cameras, our automated defenses, opened every door in the building. And once we were blind and disoriented, the Janitor finally made his move.


He walked into a special conference room, set up for emergency meetings, killed a security officer, and threw in a flashbang, effectively stunning everyone inside.


Then, the Janitor locked himself inside the room, together with the 25 people who attended that meeting.


Among the attendants... were Councilor Mercer, Twilight Sparkle, and Kaylee Brown..."

Violet recognizes kaylee and twilight but not mercer, "excuse me... Uh... S-sir... Who is Mrs.Mercer" she asks frowning a bit. If she was stuck doing this she had to at least know who is who, "can i also get a colapsible baton mabye? I mean... Please..." she whispers

(Everyone)


"...I'll get you one later" Mira quietly whispered.


"Councilor Katherin Mercer is the leader of a country named Equestria" The officer replied: "Having a Councilor as a hostage... I don't need to say how grave this situation is.."

"I'm going and beating that bastard up.....now....." Moon barked, looking towards the floor. Her face had gone pale, her hands shaking.

"If only we could.." the officer heavily sighed:


"The meeting took place inside a 'Councilor Safe Room'.

It is a very special room.
Reinforced walls. Magic resistant alloy. Almost completely impregnable to artillery fire.
The Safe Room can take a direct hit from Slavegear's main cannon and withstand the impact.

Complete and total protection of its occupants.


The Safe Room has a special sealing mechanism. If the Council Building ever come under attack, the occupants of the room only had to press one button, and the room would be completely sealed off from outside.

Both physically and environmentally.
Its own oxygen supply can keep its occupants safe and healthy for 24 hours.


Without a doubt, this room is the most secure and safest place in Adelheid...


Who could have predicted, that a Janitor would seal himself inside that room, together with 25 other people, effectively taking them hostage and isolating himself from the world.


We can't get in there. We can't even see what's happening inside.."

(Arnold)

He blinked a few times, as he processed the information.
"So while we were out here, several go ernments have been taken hostage?! And there is nothing we can do about it?!"

He slammed his fist against the wall, strong enough to bust his glove and draw blood, as pieces of the wall chipped off.
"... Put that on my bill, please."

(Oboro)

With Amy next to her, she had exited the building as she heard the news. At first, she was shocked. As if she had something was over her. Then, in her ensueing rage, she grabbed the poor girl she harrassed before, pulling her close to a newlymade war face.

"Look at what you've done now, bitch! You're endangering the fucking planet with this act! If you don't help us fix this right now, then don't you ever type one letter on a computer again! YOU GOT THAT?!"

Arnold heard the outburst of his colleague, and went over to her, holding a hand on her shoulder. "Oboro! Compose yourself! If you lose your head now, we may not be able to do anything anymore!"

The blue pegasus gave him a glance, and her war face, made her fellow worker reel back. "I KNOW ALREADY! What do you think I'm doing?!"

"Harrasing a college student?" He put on the glasses and checkedfor a moment. "Hmmm... I suppose a fair decision, but maybe you jumped to conclusions too fast."

Oboro let Amy go, as she stood in front of her colleague, who was a head taller. Despite that, she was far more intimidating in aura. "What did you say?"

Arnold frowned, his normal smile gone. "Her credentials say student at electronics. That wouldn't be enough. If she was far better at it then that through some means, maybe. But I suppose that if you stretch it further, it would be possible to fool these and say other information. So why merely downplay it, if you can make a completely different person?"

Oboro tries to fume at him, but she seems to lose it in a different way. She thought his reasoning was sound. While some things still didn't add up, it did convince her to broaden her suspicion, instead of pinning down one person.
"I... Uh... Damn it..."

Arnold gave a deep sigh. "How bad did you handle it?"

Oboro just looked down. "No matter the outcome, we may need a new job..."

"There must be a way to get through that. What about my sword, it was enchanted with enough power to kill an alicorn? Or there must an override or something, a way in." She seemed to visibly be panicked.

"Moon dear. If slavegear cant bust through it your sword cant either." she frowns, "technology these days doesnt rely on enchantments anymore. We rely on the tech we carry in our arms and hands." she looks down in sudden thought, "maybe there is a way to shrink down slavegears cannon into a smaller more mobile cannon... Something that fits in the hand... Anypony got a pen and paper?"

Mira pulled out a small notepad and passed it to Violet.


The officer grimly sighed: "There's no override switch, outside of the room. We were afraid it would be exploited, if an enemy attacked the building and the Council would hide in the room.

The only way to open the door, is from the inside. And the occupants can stay sealed up in there, up to 24 hours, until their oxygen supply runs out.


....we can try drilling through the armored door with a heavy drill, but it will take hours to drill through that armor and the racket and vibration will be felt in the room.
The hostage taker will realize what's happening and will likely kill all the hostages, long before we get inside.
We can't risk it.



The only option we have now, is try and establish contact with him. Understand what he wants. And try to talk him down"





After Oboro's outburst, Amy took a step back. She was terrified, her hands shaking. But at the same time, her eyes burned with cold anger:

"...you're done... You hear me?" She quietly said in a shaking voice, pointing at Oboro:

"You are, done. I will sue you, so hard, you'll forget what your name is.
I will go after your badge. I'll press the court, to ban you from ever working in this type of job again!

Aggressively harassing a suspect. Defaming me in public, claiming with certainty, that I am guilty of a heinous crime, without a single shred of evidence...

How dare you... how dare you, do this to me...

A civilian, who you were supposed to 'Guard'.

Need I remind, that a suspect is considered innocent, until proven guilty. And you've proven nothing."




Amy slowly looked at those around her. Angry and scared:

"...why the hell should I help any of you. You've treated me like dirt.

You could have been polite. You could have followed procedure. You could have, at the very least, introduced yourselves, showed me your name and ID badge, so I would know, that I'm not being kidnapped by thugs, or assaulted by an angry mob.
At least, I'd know that I'm being questioned by government agents.


You could have asked me to cooperate. You could have talked to me, like a person.

But you chose to start with aggression and when you do that, people tend to respond in kind.
You can't always steamroll through every obstacle.


You've given me no reason to help you"

Oboro gave a cold look back.

"Would you have even helped us, even if we asked politely? If we wasted even more time to do everything by the book, would you then say "oh sure, here's everything about me."?"

Arnold pulled her back. "That's enough out of you, Oboro. I doubt she would listen to a word you say right now. Go vent somewhere else."

She gave a dark look, but complied. She headed into the alley from before. Arnold in the meantime turned to Amy, with a friendlier face. "Look, I dunno what my colleague has done inside, but she only tried what was best for the situation. Unfortunately, emotion from a recent past tends to cloud her judgement. But I doubt you care about that now."

He then scraped his throat, and looked at her with a more serious gaze. "I'm not going to ask you to cooperate with us. It wouldn't be right to ask you politely now just to get us to join. But as for a reason, I can give two. The first is..." He does a cheesy grin and pose. "For JUSTICE! To strike at the evildoers so they won't get away with their crimes!" He stands there looking silly, and after a moment of not getting a reply he drops the dumb act, continueing more professionally.

"The second reason I can give is less comical. See, as the situation is now, it will be less then a day before several important figures of the Union will die. The same could happen as with the Slavegear incident, where the "Heroes of Adelheid" had killed thousands of civilians, like you and me. And at the same time, many members of the Union council had been blown up as well, leaving the affected nations without a ruler for a long time. If the situation wasn't dispersed as it was, war may have broken out from that, maybe even worse."

He hunched a bit, so he could look in her eyes. "If this isn't resolved soon, a world war is bound to come, and then nothing is safe anymore. The life you have now will be gone, replaced by one of day-to-day survival. And that's in the country of Soren. A nation that's less secure, like Nyx, will suffer even more then that."

He let out a sigh, then looked at her again. "So I ask you, politely, are you willing to help? It will put you at some risk, but the reward of a free world is worth it. Hey, you can even join for less altruistic reasons, like a large sum of money or an official degree. If you say yes, it would help us, but if you say no, I will understand completely."

(Moon)

She scowled "There must be a way in. How does the air get in there? Are there any sort of vents? Weak points? Is the floor protected?" She asked hurriedly, looking about.

(???)

A lone figure watched quietly, standing on the street and leaning against the wall. A lit cigarette was in her mouth, but the rest of her body remained a mystery. They listened, not too close but not too far away to be spotted.

Violet Falls silent as she begins scribling away at the notepad her face showing deep thought.

"That's the thing" the officer sighed, looking at Moon: "The air doesn't get in there. There are no vents.

Once the room is sealed, it breaks any connection with outside environment and begins using its own oxygen supply. Several tanks of oxygen, sitting inside the room itself, can keep the occupants alive for up to 24 hours.

Until then, nothing gets in or out. Not even air.

The safe room has no weak point. We made sure of that, when we built it..."




Amy looked at Arnold, crossing her arms and frowning slightly:

"The life I have now, is already unsafe.


Ever since the Slavegear incident, some people look upon batponies with suspicion. Baseless, mindless suspicion.
People who were my colleagues, my classmates, suddenly grew cold to me.

Strangers on the street, watch me with hidden fear and anger, expecting me to lash out. Expecting me to plot something against them. Against the Union.


You know, I was born in this city. I grew up in it. Its as much my home, as it is theirs! But some began seeing me as a bloodsucker. They judge me, before they even talk to me.
Just like Oboro assumed I would turn her down, even if she would be nice to me, even if she would ask for my help.


Amy frowned: "You don't know me. You know nothing about me"



She turned away: "...I want to apprehend the people who hacked the Council Building, as much as you do, trust me. They're not doing me any favors by painting a target on my back.
These 'Disciples of Marek', what a sick joke. I can't believe anyone bought that nonsense"



Mira looked up, the words visibly caught her attention: "...you don't believe the Disciples exist?"


"Of course not" Amy shook her head: "The batponies are under a magnifying glass right now. And everything we do, eventually has consequences for Nyx.
Who in their right mind, would ever think of attacking the Union? The Union covers 99% of the world.
If these Disciples continue pissing off the Union Council, the Union will up and hammer Nyx into oblivion!

These Disciples are goddamn idiots! If they even exist" Amy looked away, still holding her arms crossed:



"...besides... you need my help. The opposition has a skilled hacker on their side, someone good enough to hack one of the most important buildings in Adelheid. You need someone to match their skill.

I'm not just an electronics student. I study computer programming at the Adelheid's University of Technology.



Adelheid is not only the capital city of Soren. It is the capital city of the Union. The whole world, you could say.
Therefore, the Adelheid's University is considered one of the most prestigious in the world. Getting admitted to it, is extremely hard. Neigh impossible.

But not only am I studying there now, I am registered as an honor student. Top of my class"



Amy released a small, cocky smile: "...I'm not just good. I'm very good.


... and I want in on your mission. Whoever is making up stories about the Disciples, has to be stopped"




One of the police officers was carefully scanning Amy's computer, during this time. He finally raised his head and called:

"The computer is completely clean. No illegal software or forbidden activity. This computer wasn't used to hack the Council Building. It appears Miss Moore was designing a money banking program, during her arrest"



"Good" Amy nodded with a satisfied smile and looked at you: "If you want my help, I'm up for it"


The officers started heading toward the police van: "If we've settled everything here, we need to head back to the Council Building. Try to establish contact with the hostage taker. Make sure the hostages are unharmed"

(Moon)

"And then what? We can't let them get away with it...." she mumbled, looking rather angry. In fact, her hand was clenched into a fist and she was looking around at everything in sight with a panicked expression.

(???)

The figure continued to observe quietly, seemingly recording the whole conversation on her phone while she idly smoked her cigarette.

(Arnold)

He gave a welcoming grin. "Welcome aboard then! You won't regret helping us! Besides, if we can prove there are no batpony groups or so called "disciples" involved, but there was one that helped the heroes that saved the council, surely the opinion on them will improve!"

He then looked a bit more subdued. "As for Oboro, well... I'll try to keep you two from fighting with eachother. We don't want that to happen during this day. Besides, I know for a fact she isn't against batponies, but against the Artemis military. So if she senses something from Artemis, she gets antsy and agressive."

He then ponders. "Should've realized that before sending her into a danceclub with god knows how many people in it."

(Oboro)

She was just sitting in the alleyway, mulling things over.

"... It's all his fault... Dakova... If you..." She let out a deep sigh. "Maybe I should go to therapy for that... But that will have to wait until we've saved the boss."

She gets up, and walks back out. She looked like she burned through her anger, though the wrong spark could set her off again.

(Serena)
"The Disciples may be fake," Serena said "but planting an idea like that can go far these days. It's like every single person is so paranoid that they start overthinking and it either ends with thousands dead or scapegoat levels of racism."

(Naomi)
"I'm sorry about how things were handled back there" Naomi spoke directly to Amy