Slavegear - Part 2

Twilight, again, doesn't seem to pay attention to her, focussing more on her conversation with Al about nothing much in particular. It's olny when she forces the attention herself that Twilight even turn her head. She rolls her eyes, with only one response. "Oh, hello, didn't really see you there. How's life treating you? Got anything to say that hasn't been said before? Oh, next time, shall we talk about ourselves instead of just pointing fingers?"

After Fire leaves she looks again at Al, who looks like she's gone crazy. Which, might not be too far off.
"What's the matter?"
"Why were you suddenly talking to yourself?"

Twilight began to ponder on that question. When she does begin to explain, she uses hand gestures to explain it better.
"That's difficult to explain. But it seems some of us are haunted by the "ghost" of someone who died before and had joined the raid we were forced into. The "ghost" mostly makes accusations and tries to make us feel bad about ourselves, but when it first began to speak it tried to turn us against the world more and close our group off to anyone. Seeing these actions, and that her fact checking is entirely wrong, I do have a theory."

Al does not look like he believes it. He looks at her like Someone had vomited up a clown that began to whack people with balloon sabres.
"And that would be that you all went completely off to the deep end?"

"Close, but not completely. Because there's something odd about the collective hallucination of one pony. It's based on two things. So far, the only ponies I know that saw her were part of the traumatizing raid that got us in this situation in the first place. I'll have to ask the ones I don't know it off. Second, the first thing she told me to do was to not trust anyone I didn't know. Which, considdering I was never in Nyx before, was essentially everyone. This was to throw doubt at the underworld broker Wrecker, who may had the ability to help us in other ways. So my theory for now, based on these two facts, is that she's created by Marek's henchman in an attempt to throw our party into doubt and self loathing."

Al just raises an eyebrow.

And Twilight says one more thing. "Or we are indeed spontaneously clinically insane."

Al shakes his head. "I should not have come here..."

(Tarmikos)
Tarmikos sighed at Fire. Rage wouldn't help him, it had nearly gotten him killed. This Fire imposter would have to do better if she wanted to set him off. The forced sleep from Eva had helped but Tarmikos suspected that his bodies emotional instability was a result of his terminal illness. Right now it was best to stay silent.

(Radiance)
Radiance chimes in after Twilight "There is also the possibility these mental assaults are the ghost of our formerly living friend. Perhaps only her negative and judgmental personality traits made it back. They could have manifested into something of a poltergeist for the group." he thinks for a moment "Kaylee, do you still have that book Fire gave you before her, passing?"

"OH FOR F***S SAKE!! Why won't she go away???!" Moon yelled before immediately going silent and rubbing the gash on her neck.

Kaylee Brown wrote:"Were almost there" Eva's voice echoed through the helicopter and she pointed outside the window:
"Look... isn't it pretty.. our mother base"


At first, you only saw an endless ocean in every direction, slightly lit up by the mornings sun. Then slowly, on the horizon, you began to make out a silhouette of a large complex.

A base, built entirely above water. Standing on massive and strong columns, it was divided into several sections, connected by long bridges. From up here you could see a massive satellite dish, a large helicopter landing pad, a closed dock for the ships and numerous buildings.


The helicopter made a circle around the base and began its descent.

"We should be landing in a minute or two" Eva called, over the helicopters roaring engines:
"Do you guys have any questions before we land?"

"And the locals haven't discovered this place how?" Lord Wyvern asks.

"Our base is located in the ocean" Eva replied: "Far off from any shipping lanes and kilometers away from the coast. Fortunately the Verrian ocean is an extremely vast place. Over fourteen million square kilometers. Stumbling upon us by accident is statistically next to impossible"




After Moons scream, Johan looked at her with concern and quietly asked:
"M-Moon?.. are you alright?"




After Firewing's remark, Kaylee scowled in her direction and whispered: "..leave my sister out of this, before I kill you myself"

After Radiance called her name, Kaylee turned around and slightly nodded: "Y-yes, I still have the book.." she looked at the floor, visibly feeling down: "..I was thinking of using it only if things got real bad.."





After Tarmikos had woken up, Eva looked at him and smiled:
"Hey, you" she took a hold of his wrist, checking his heart rate: "How are you feeling?"










The helicopter slightly tilted, slowing down and began its final descent onto the landing platform. A few moments later, it heavily touched down and Shadow pulled the doors open, helping everyone climb down.

A team of ponies was already waiting for you at the landing pad. One of them approached with a clipboard, gave a respectful bow and smiled:
"Good morning, welcome to Mother Base"

She was a mare, yellowish coat and pink hair. It takes you a moment to recognize her as Fluttershy.


"The medical wing is ready for you" she nodded with an encouraging smile: "..we received reports that you were possibly poisoned.. we have a team standing by, to begin analysis and provide immediate treatment, and-... Twilight!" she happily exclaimed, ran up to Twilight and locked her in a tight hug:

"I was so worried!.." she stood like that, hugging Twilight for a moment, before awkwardly stepping away and releasing a shy smile: "U-um.. anyway-"






"Fluttershy, I think we were mind controlled" Kaylee called out in concern: "We believe it had something to do with the Neurochips in our heads. Is there something you can do to remove them?"


Dr. Zarovee suddenly jolted, seemingly stunned and bewildered:
"..mind control?.. via Neurochip?.. is that..... possible?"


Fluttershy looked at everything with concern and slowly nodded: "I.. I see... it makes sense now... Doctor Zarovee, we may need your help"

Dr. Zarovee nodded: "Of.. of course! I.. we'll um... need a proper facility, a sterile environment, equipment, support medical staffs, surgeons, nurses, bio-chemists.. there's several factors we need to analyze to determine how this was possible.... and, how to prevent it in the future...
Thousands of people already have a Neurochip installed! If they're vulnerable to mind control!...we have to get to the bottom of this"



"Right this way doctor, everyone" Fluttershy motioned everyone to follow: "Our medical wing has everything prepared. We'll have to run several medical examinations to help you... I.. hope that's okay with you..... um... I hope your not afraid needles....."

She motioned you to follow and began walking through the landing pad, toward one of the large structures at the base.

Kaylee Brown wrote:"Our base is located in the ocean" Eva replied: "Far off from any shipping lanes and kilometers away from the coast. Fortunately the Verrian ocean is an extremely vast place. Over fourteen million square kilometers. Stumbling upon us by accident is statistically next to impossible"

"So was this place purpose-built, or constructed on top of an pre-existing structure?" Lord Wyvern asks.

"A poltergeist... I'm not sure, I'll have to do research on that..."

As the plane lands, she gets ready to step out. Once she sees Fluttershy however, she freezes in surprise, then runs to her almost violently before returning the hug.
"FLUTTERSHY! I'm so happy to see you! What are you doing here? Are the others fine? Where are they?"

She does let go when Fluttershy does, but still seems very glad to see an old friend. "Hmm, let's go."

When the walk starts, Al decides to toss in his two cents. "So, who says they won't flip when they touch those things?"

"I don't like needles" Moon mumbled quietly as she followed, looking about as she did so.

"No one.." Fluttershy replied to Al. She kept looking forward with a determined stare, as she walked:
"We will take several precautions to safeguard you and the medical staff, before we begin working on your Neurochips..

Everything will depend on our initial analysis but, we could do a variety of things, starting from... strapping the patients.. to the operating tables... or even general anesthesia... its when a patient is put fully to sleep, his muscles won't work and he won't feel any pain. Its something that's done before surgery.


We'll have to put you through general anesthesia eventually though. Removing those chips from your heads will require a full surgical operation. You'll have to be unconscious for that...

Please do not worry. We have a professional medical staff and top of the line equipment...... we wouldn't mind help from a cybernetics cranial surgeon though.." she subtly looked at Dr. Zarovee.




"Why uh.. of course!.." Dr. Zarovee nodded, slightly consumed by his own thoughts: "Its.. been a while since I installed one of those chips myself though... mm.. I suppose I could help take them out.."







Fluttershy led you into a large building and began making her way through several wide corridors:
"....everyone's fine Twilight" she nodded after a moment: "They're all back in Equestria, doing what they can to help from there..."

She looked at the floor, becoming visibly saddened: "Its.. been rough..... after your ship exploded over the skies of Adelheid... you all fell into a coma... you've been asleep for so long..."


She turned away, wiping her eyes: "... we found you the best medical care.. but it didn't matter... we couldn't help you... the part of your brain that's responsible for keeping you conscious, was damaged... that's why you entered a coma...

The doctors said its hopeless... they wanted to unplug you from life support... I said no..."
She shivered, gripped by the memories:



"...they said I'm just a naïve girl who doesn't understand anything..  that I know nothing of medicine and I was just prolonging your suffering... I felt so useless..."

She wrapped her arms around herself and looked forward, as tears appeared in her eyes:





"I was useless... that's why... " she gritted her teeth: "I had to do something.

I took a crash course in nursing. Its supposed to take at least two years but I did it in one and a half.
I am a certified nurse now. And I understand better how medicine works" she was staring ahead with determination:


"You've woken up now. And you're here.
When I heard about this base being assembled, this black ops unit being formed here, I volunteered. I will be working in the medical wing, should you ever need me. I will do everything in my power to help you."

Lord Wyvern wrote:"So was this place purpose-built, or constructed on top of an pre-existing structure?" Lord Wyvern asks.

"This facility was originally constructed by an Equestrian University, some thirty years ago" Fluttershy nodded: "
It was originally planned to be a research facility for oceanic study, but the project went bankrupt before they could finish, and it just kind of stood there, for a while.

We.. secretly took hold of this base, removed it from the official records and settled here. We've been expanding it ever since"

"How come no one has noticed this place yet? What's to stop a local from stumbling across it?"

Kaylee Brown wrote:"This facility was originally constructed by an Equestrian University, some thirty years ago" Fluttershy nodded: "
It was originally planned to be a research facility for oceanic study, but the project went bankrupt before they could finish, and it just kind of stood there, for a while.

We.. secretly took hold of this base, removed it from the official records and settled here. We've been expanding it ever since"

"And you're sure you got rid of every reference to it?" Lord Wyvern asks.

"We're located relatively far into the ocean" Fluttershy said: "Away from any aircraft flight paths, shipping lanes, fishing areas, and were kilometers away from the coast.
There's nothing of value in this area, just, open waters, so no one has any real reason to explore this area.

Relative to our base, the Verrian ocean is really big, almost fourteen million square kilometers. Stumbling upon us by accident is statistically very unlikely"




She entered through a set of doors, into something that looked like a large research station. You notice peculiar medical equipment dispersed throughout the room and medical staff working on something in small groups.

"There's a bed prepared for each of you" Fluttershy motioned inside: "Please lie down and we'll begin the medical exam. Its not that bad.. really... you can just close your eyes and try to sleep or relax.

While you rest, we'll analyze the poison in your bodies and try to figure out how the mind control worked"

Lord Wyvern wrote:"And you're sure you got rid of every reference to it?" Lord Wyvern asks.

"We have a counter intelligence team, specifically assigned to information control" Fluttershy nodded to Wyvern Lord: "All the references to this base, are methodically looked for and redacted. All rumors of its existence are slowly discredited.

I know it may sound a bit drastic, but its the only way to ensure our safety.




This black ops unit was created to work under the radar, during emergencies, and in case we couldn't take any official action.

Like, right now..." Fluttershy sighed, staring ahead:

"Officially, you're considered fugitives by the Union. It means the Equestrian government is legally bound to capture you on sight.
It doesn't matter how loud we will scream, that the evidence against you is false. The Union wants to arrest you all the same. They don't know you like we do. They won't believe you were framed. Not without evidence... and.. we don't have it yet...


So, officially, even though this facility is run by the Equestrian Councilor herself, Equestria never saw you, and never took you to this place. We're not having this conversation right now, because you were never here and this place doesn't exist"


Fluttershy nodded to herself and motioned you toward the beds: "Please have a seat"

Moon sighed and looked about before sitting down on one of the beds. She was clearly nervous, Moon didn't like places like this.

Lord Wyvern examines one of the beds.

Twilight rubs her chin. "So, we do have brain damage... That's not good..."

She looks down, then towards Fluttershy. "Is it possible we can talk after I wake up again? Since we've lost all this time, I want to catch up. And... You know... Have a casual conversation with someone again...."

Rain raises her hand, "May i speak to the equestrian running this base, I have some questions..."

"Of course" Fluttershy nodded to Rain: "She will be arriving at the base via helicopter in a few hours. I believe she wanted to speak with you as well"

She looked at Twilight and smiled: "..I would very much like to catch up. We can talk at any time, but, lets get your health fixed up first"

As you examine the beds, they seem to be the standard type that's used in most hospitals. The room itself is filled with various high tech equipment and ponies in snow white uniforms, walking about.




The medical examinations slowly began and took several hours. The doctors were making various scans, with the help of peculiar medical devices or magic. Fluttershy herself walked throughout the room and collected blood samples from everyone. Then she began monitoring your vital sings.

Dr. Zarovee feverishly worked in the corner, staring at a computer screen and typing something on the keyboard with extreme determination.

Its unclear whether it was the medication or general exhaustion, but you remember drifting to sleep and waking up several times. Until you're suddenly startled by Dr. Zarovee's cheerful screem:



"I GOT IT!" he jumped from his seat, staring at his computer:
"I figured it out! The mind control. This 'poison' in your bloodstream. Everything!"

"I bet your glad we kidnapped you now eh doctor?" Rain chuckles, "if i were a scientist I would be having a hayday... Kinda like you are... I guess its not a kidnapping... More like getting a very important doctor to do some really important research..." she smirks, "Id say it was worth the trouble would you not?"

Kaylee Brown wrote:"Of course" Fluttershy nodded to Rain: "She will be arriving at the base via helicopter in a few hours. I believe she wanted to speak with you as well"

She looked at Twilight and smiled: "..I would very much like to catch up. We can talk at any time, but, lets get your health fixed up first"

As you examine the beds, they seem to be the standard type that's used in most hospitals. The room itself is filled with various high tech equipment and ponies in snow white uniforms, walking about.




The medical examinations slowly began and took several hours. The doctors were making various scans, with the help of peculiar medical devices or magic. Fluttershy herself walked throughout the room and collected blood samples from everyone. Then she began monitoring your vital sings.

Dr. Zarovee feverishly worked in the corner, staring at a computer screen and typing something on the keyboard with extreme determination.

Its unclear whether it was the medication or general exhaustion, but you remember drifting to sleep and waking up several times. Until you're suddenly startled by Dr. Zarovee's cheerful screem:



"I GOT IT!" he jumped from his seat, staring at his computer:
"I figured it out! The mind control. This 'poison' in your bloodstream. Everything!"

"The way you said poison..." Lord Wyvern asks Dr. Zarovee "... Do you mean it isn't poison?"

"Not exactly" Dr. Zarovee stood up from his chair and walked closer to you: "We discovered some very startling things... its.. disconcerting"

He collected himself and looked at you:



"As we initially thought, the Neurochip, on its own, is perfectly harmless.

But, after we ran a thorough analysis of your bodies, we discovered a highly toxic substance in your blood.
At first, we thought it was poison, aimed to kill its victim. But that is not the case. Its toxic properties are a side effect, not the main goal.
This substance is very unique, highly complex and most likely pony made.. engineered inside a lab.


The purpose of this substance, is to interact with the Neurochip. This interaction makes the patient susceptible to mind control.




In other words, the combination of a Neurochip and this Substance, is required to achieve mind control. This combination is vital.
Separately, the two components are useless"




"So.. " Kaylee thought for a moment: "The thousands of people, that already have a Neurochip installed-"

"Cannot be mind controlled. Correct" Dr. Zarovee nodded: "Unless they are injected with the same substance, that we found in your blood"


"Marek" Kaylee scowled at the floor: "He injected us with something, right after we woke up at the hospital. It must have been this Substance"



"Quite possibly so" Dr. Zarovee nodded: "I'm afraid whoever designed this thing, had no consideration for his victims. It allows mind control, yes, but the substance will likely kill its victim, within a week.
Now, the medical team stands ready to remove this Substance from your blood, and surgically remove the Neurochip from your heads, but before that, I must ask you, are you sure you want the chip removed?"




"What?!" Kaylee exclaimed: "Why the hell would we want to keep that thing in our skulls?"



"Because you need the chip to control Slavegear" Dr. Zarovee replied and sighed: "I.. understand this must be difficult for you. You never asked for this chip in the first place. But I foresee a possible future, where you will assault Marek's lair, and you will find the Slavegear inside.

It is a massive, multi ton weighing machine. Carrying it out would be extremely hard, perhaps even impossible. The quickest way to liberate it from Mareks hands, is to pilot it.




You need a Neurochip, to operate Slavegear. At least one pilot is needed to operate that machine.


As I said before, the Neurochip, on its own, cannot cause mind control. Its perfectly safe.
We will pump the toxic Substance out of your blood, but I urge you to think twice about removing the Neurochip.

At least one of you needs to have it, in case you need to operate Slavegear in the future.



So I must ask you, all of you. Do you want your Neurochip removed?"

Kaylee Brown wrote:"Not exactly" Dr. Zarovee stood up from his chair and walked closer to you: "We discovered some very startling things...  its.. disconcerting"

He collected himself and looked at you:



"As we initially thought, the Neurochip, on its own, is perfectly harmless.

But, after we ran a thorough analysis of your bodies, we discovered a highly toxic substance in your blood.
At first, we thought it was poison, aimed to kill its victim. But that is not the case. Its toxic properties are a side effect, not the main goal.
This substance is very unique, highly complex and most likely pony made.. engineered inside a lab.


The purpose of this substance, is to interact with the Neurochip. This interaction makes the patient susceptible to mind control.




In other words, the combination of a Neurochip and this Substance, is required to achieve mind control. This combination is vital.
Separately, the two components are useless"




"So.. " Kaylee thought for a moment: "The thousands of people, that already have a Neurochip installed-"

"Cannot be mind controlled. Correct" Dr. Zarovee nodded: "Unless they are injected with the same substance, that we found in your blood"


"Marek" Kaylee scowled at the floor: "He injected us with something, right after we woke up at the hospital. It must have been this Substance"



"Quite possibly so" Dr. Zarovee nodded: "I'm afraid whoever designed this thing, had no consideration for his victims. It allows mind control, yes, but the substance will likely kill its victim, within a week.
Now, the medical team stands ready to remove this Substance from your blood, and surgically remove the Neurochip from your heads, but before that, I must ask you, are you sure you want the chip removed?"




"What?!" Kaylee exclaimed: "Why the hell would we want to keep that thing in our skulls?"



"Because you need the chip to control Slavegear" Dr. Zarovee replied and sighed: "I.. understand this must be difficult for you. You never asked for this chip in the first place. But I foresee a possible future, where you will assault Marek's lair, and you will find the Slavegear inside.

It is a massive, multi ton weighing machine. Carrying it out would be extremely hard, perhaps even impossible. The quickest way to liberate it from Mareks hands, is to pilot it.




You need a Neurochip, to operate Slavegear. At least one pilot is needed to operate that machine.


As I said before, the Neurochip, on its own, cannot cause mind control. Its perfectly safe.
We will pump the toxic Substance out of your blood, but I urge you to think twice about removing the Neurochip.

At least one of you needs to have it, in case you need to operate Slavegear in the future.



So I must ask you, all of you. Do you want your Neurochip removed?"

"That's a tough choice..." Lord Wyvern muses "If all of us were to remove them, could we bring along a trained pilot to control Slavegear for us?"

"I.. suppose.. mm" Zarovee fell into thought: "All the pilots are located in the country named Gerra. There's not many of them, maybe 15 pilots in total.
The trick is to get them to cooperate.. they might see you as fugitives, looking to exploit them.. this could be a bit tricky.... what if-"



"I want the chip" Kaylee called out flatly. Her colorless voice echoed across the room for a second:
"...you said you only need one pilot to operate Slavegear. I'll be the pilot"
The color was draining from her face as she spoke, but her words sounded firm.

Kaylee Brown wrote:"I.. suppose.. mm" Zarovee fell into thought: "All the pilots are located in the country named Gerra. There's not many of them, maybe 15 pilots in total.
The trick is to get them to cooperate.. they might see you as fugitives, looking to exploit them.. this could be a bit tricky.... what if-"



"I want the chip" Kaylee called out flatly. Her colorless voice echoed across the room for a second:
"...you said you only need one pilot to operate Slavegear. I'll be the pilot"
The color was draining from her face as she spoke, but her words sounded firm.

"Are you sure?" Lord Wyvern asks Kaylee "There's no need to make a snap decision here; I don't think Gerra is that long a walk from here..."

"Id say you all keep the chip, and just have the substance removed..." Rain puts her hands in her pockets, "persay kaylee falls... Not that it will happen but persay ot does... Wouldnt it ne more benificial to all have the chips apart from one or two? I mean...after they pull that substance out of you, there will be no mind control... Yet you will still have the benifit of having a massive advantage against mirek with any slavegear tech... And seeing the destruction and weaponry they have from guns to giant fucking robots.... I'd say that once you get you hands on slavegear tech and start using it for GOOD... You might just turn the tide of your situation... I know if I was Mirek I would be terrorfied knowing that the people i used were coming for me... Using the chips I installed, and I no longer have no control over them..."

Rain pauses and looks away showing she didnt have a chip, "god knows id love to have that tech... To be one with my bow and just... Never miss a shot... But its all your choice not mine... Just keep in mind your probably missing out on some top quality protection..."