Slavegear - Part 4

Twilight looked silently at the device as it's message was played.

".... Oooooh, shIT!"

She ran out, looking around. She then tried to use a telepathy spell, hoping to reach someone.

"Hello?! Mercer?! Fluttershy?! Anyone?! I found out what's going on, and what's planned!"

She nodded and got down onto the ground. Moon took a deep breath and stretched her arm through, before attempting to half crawl half climb into the other room.

Rain huffs and pats down the guards to see if they had useful information.

(Omega)
Omega approached the blocked door. Placing his shoulder to the side of the cabinet he slides the large metal piece of furniture to the side. Using the jabs of pain to fuel his adrenaline.

(Radiance)
Radiance nodded cracking both his knuckles and neck.

// Hey guys, sorry for the delays, college dropped another project on me >.<



(Twilight)

After a moment, you hear Harlequins confused voice in your mind:

"..T-Twilight?... I can barely hear you.. Hang on, we're almost done with the jammer. Radio's should be coming back online any second now-"


As you run outside of the building and look around, you notice a massive tower at the center of the base. Five bodies of soldiers with horrible injuries, laid just at the tower entrance.

Most had visible sword injuries. One was severely burned. Whoever killed them, wasn't worried about subtly anymore.

You note that the soldiers were wearing Mother Base uniform. But another thing caught your eye and you slowly notice that all of them were batponies. Judging by their positions, they tried to prevent someone from entering the tower.


A few moments later, you notice Rain Runner. She approached the bodies and began patting them down.













(Rain, Moon, Tarmikos)


As Moon entered the room, slowly bypassing the lasers, a set of grenades became visible, glued to the door frame, on the inner side of the room.

Harlequin slightly inched forward, noticing them as well and gasped:

"...those are gas grenades... some kind of deadly chemical... smart. If someone triggered the lasers, it would kill them, without harming the jammer.."


You suddenly heard Twilight's voice, speaking inside your mind: "Hello?! Mercer?! Fluttershy?! Anyone?! I found out what's going on, and what's planned!"


"..T-Twilight?" Harlequin asked aloud in confusion: "I can barely hear you.. Hang on, we're almost done with the jammer. Radio's should be coming back online any second now-" she looked at Moon:


"Moon! Hit it! If you can't see an 'off' button, just smash it apart! Pull the wires out!" Harlequin called.

As you look at the jammer, you notice some sort of keyboard and numerous other flashing buttons, across the devices surface. Dozens of wires ran across its higher section and the entire device looked extremely delicate.



As Rain pats down the bodies, you notice an alarming number of concealed knives of various sizes.

Then you suddenly notice an ear piece radio. All of them were wearing very small, barely noticeable earpieces, much smaller than your own.
As you look closer at one, you hear muffled voice chatter.

Their radios seem to be working just fine, even with the jammer active.





















(Omega)

As soon as slid the cabinet aside, the door burst open and Dr. Riza with Fluttershy ran out of the med-bay.

"You got to-... uuhh.. who are you?" Riza called, looking at you in confusion: "Never mind. Listen! They stormed into the med-bay and taken a single canister of the Gene Virus!
They didn't open it, but they planned to use it for something! You have to stop them! No matter the cost! That canister cannot leave Mother Base!"











(Radiance)

"There's four new Slavegear prototypes in the hangar bay" Kaylee called in alarm: "Can they activate them?"

"No chance" Mercer shook her head: "The pilot hatches of the four mini-robots are sealed off. You can't crack into that security without proper clearance. Not in the time frame they have.
Its the main Slavegear machine we have to worry about"


"But, didn't we destroy that thing?" Kaylee asked, beads of sweat forming on her forehead.

"You destroyed its cooling system" Mercer said, grimacing slightly.

"What does.. what does that mean?" Kaylee asked in anxiety: "Is it still operational?"

"I don't know the full extent of the damage" Mercer shook her head: "We didn't have time to fully analyze its carcass. The only thing I can say for sure, is that, if someone tries to pilot that thing, they will be cooked alive within five minutes"

"...that still leaves them five minutes of operational time..." Kaylee bit her lip: "..if Slavegear is still able to function.. how far will they go to use it?.."

Moon nodded and took her sword before slicing through the wires, smashing the machine with her fists from time to time. She had no idea how it worked, so this was the next best thing.
"I think that should cover it" she called.

(Omega)
"You can call me Omega. We already know what Chamber's is up to," Omega said "She's going to reverse engineer the contents of the canister to only target bat ponies. And with Marek having escaped he's going to try and kill her. Which means, that everyone associated with Marek and or the Garren people on this base are going to die."

(Radiance)
"Then we need to get moving" Radiance bent down retrieving a knife and sword from two of the fallen opponents. "Though out of curiosity, would the original Slavegear have the strength to pull open the cockpits to the other four robots?"

(Tarmikos)
Tarmikos briefly glanced at the body he had burned mixed feelings of regret and satisfaction washed over him. He watched the area in front of him, scanning for anything anyone approaching.

(Everyone)


Your earpieces crackled with deafening static for a second, before all interference faded and Harlequins clear voice came over the airwaves:



"All units! We are under attack! Mother Base is under attack!

The enemy is impersonating Union personnel! They are disguised as Mother Base soldiers! Stay on your guard!


To everyone who can hear me, this is agent Harlequin. If you discovered any vital information about the enemies plans, broadcast it over the radio immediately!
We have to compare our information, to get a full picture of whats going on! Over"

"Ok, I have to get out again" Moon said and looked at the doorway again. "We best be careful though."

Twilight stop the spell, and turns back to the earpiece.

"Okay, so in the elevator I found a recorded message with some disturbing news. The short version of that is that the radio signals and video footage were tampered a bit before, as at least forty people came from underwater onto this base. Judging by the corpses, batponies. Marek did have a plan up his sleeve. What that plan is, I'm not sure. But it seems they had a missile with them. This means they want to blow something up. Probably the island."

Her tone became heavier. "Who was able to lure them here? Is our position public? And one more question..." ... "Are we all on our side?"

(Omega)
Omega speaks into the radio "Chamber's has secured the canister of the virus for her own plan. I found Fluttershy and one other medical personal trapped behind a door. Marek is also free from his cell and is fully hostile."

(Everyone)


"Moon, please exit carefully" Harlequin called: "We'll disarm the trap later" she said and returned her attention to the radio:


"Batponies.. I think its safe to say we're dealing with the Vampire Unit.
And did you say a missile?... That complicates things... but, why bring a missile here? Mother Base isn't that important a target.

There's no islands in the vicinity. Mother Base is just a platform, built in the middle of the ocean"


She briefly fell into thought, before continuing:
"The location of Mother Base is definitely known to the Vampire Unit.
Do you remember Tony? The Raiden mercenary we interrogated here? Marek sent a mind controlled assassin to kill Tony. When the assassin arrived at Mother Base, she must have relayed the Bases location to the Vampire Unit. That's how they found this base."



Mercer's voice echoed inside the radio after a moment: "So, Marek has already been freed by his people.
And Chambers took the Gene Virus? Are you sure it was her? Last time I checked, she and her staff were close to the hangar bay. The med-bay is relatively far from there... did she really have the audacity to take the virus in the middle of all this?"



"The hangar bay is the real problem.." Kaylee's voice echoed in as well: "It seems a hostile force has taken complete control of it. All the Slavegears are there.

They can't get inside the smaller models. The hatches are sealed and you need special clearance to activate the controls.

Its the main Slavegear monster that we have to worry about. Anyone can pilot that thing now.
Last time we fought with it, we destroyed its cooling system. But whether it can still move, that's unknown.
The only thing we know for sure is, if anyone tries to pilot that wreck, they will be cooked alive within 5 minutes--"




Her voice got cut out by a parallel transmission and somebodies haggard voice suddenly screamed through the radios:


"THIS IS GERRAN SECURITY FORCE! REQUESTING BACKUP! WE'RE UNDER ATTACK BY AN UNKNOWN ELEMENT! THEY'RE SLAUGHTERING US! WE CAN'T STOP THEM! WE NEED BACKUP NOW!!!

THE COUNCILOR OF GERRA IS WITH US! REPEAT! THE COUNCILOR OF GERRA IS WITH US!!! WE'RE IN THE CORRIDOR OF THE HANGAR BAY! REQUESTING BACKUP, NOW! NOW DAMN IT NOW AAAAAAAAAGGGHGHHHH--"


The transmission was briefly cut, before another voice cut in: "...I see two batponies.. moving along the hangar bay corridor!... one of them... he's drenched in blood! He's butchering the Gerran security! He's.. dismembering them! ... a fucking monster! We need back- FUCK!! - GET.. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHH!!" His blood chilling scream pierced your ears, before the transmission cut off.


Kaylee slowly turned pale and clicked on her earpiece: "...Everyone, head to the hangar bay, now!"

(Omega)
"They only took one canister and kept it closed. it may have not been her in person, but based on what we know about her plans. Chamber's needs a sealed canister of the stuff to alter in order to enact her plan." Omega responded, sprinting back up the stairs he had come down "Marek's forces would have more than likely taken opened up one of the canisters before taking the rest."

Mercer, Kaylee and Eva broke into a sprint.

As you run down hallways of Mother Base, another quiet voice began to echo over the radio. Judging by the incredible noise in the background and distance of voices, the radio has been turned on by accident:


"-...Drasko... Drasko, you need to stop now okay?"

"- Get off MY BACK JOHAN!" someone barked in response.


Kaylee gasped: "...Johan? And Drasko? Drasko is here!?"



The transmission continued:
"-...Drasko, please! That's enough!" Johan's scared voice echoed over the airwaves.

"-IT WILL BE ENOUGH ONCE THEY'RE DEAD!" Drasko barked. You heard the clash of metal and someone's piercing shriek, before everything died down again.

"-Drasko! You're hurting them!!"

"-I'll do more than that Johan!"

"-Drasko!! You're killing them!" Johan's panicked voice echoed in, before a third party cut through the transmission:


"...-I see two batponies moving down the hallway!... take them out!"



"NO! STOP!" Kaylee screamed into the radio: "JOHAN IS GONNA GET CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE!
EVERYONE! HEAD FOR THE HANGAR BAY NOW!!!"

Moon crawled out of the doorway, being very careful before she dashed down the corridor, looking about frantically. She spoke into her radio "Kaylee, I'm heading to the hangar now, please don't get hurt!"

Rain quickly takes out the batponys radio and puts it in her other ear she listens close to the chatter and breaks into a run as she starts making her way to the hanger, she keeps her breathing under control, she looks around for rope or zip ties as she makes her way down (If she does find any she grabs however much or many there is. She drapes it over her shoulders or stuffs them in her pockets.)

(Tarmikos)
Tarmikos waits a brief moment before heading off towards the hanger. His movement speed more or a power walk taking a moment as he passed any corpses to see if any one side was winning this fight.

(Omega)
Now back on the upper floor and sprinting towards the hanger Omega chimes back into the radio "On my way as well"

(Radiance)
Radiance followed the group he was with. Mentally preparing for what was to come next.

On the way here, Rain noticed several zip ties, hanging from the belts of several bodies. A total of 5 zip ties could be collected there.



As you reach the corridor that led to the hangar bay, a blood chilling scene came into view.

Massive red smears covered the walls and floor.
The entire corridor was littered with bodies. The golden insignias on their chests, marked them as the Gerran Honor Guard.

The battle was very one sided. Someone had passed through here, massacring the Gerran soldiers with unnecessary brutality.


You noticed Kaylee, Mercer and Eva, standing in front of this scene.
Unable to bear the sight, Kaylee haphazardly leaned against the wall and began throwing up.





The radio went live again, and this time, you heard the voice of the Gerran Councilor:

"-..I didn't think it'd be you" she quietly said to someone.

"-..why? Because I'm just some yokel, born in a ditch?" Drasko's crazed voice echoed in response: "Its the little people you should be afraid of"

"-..hardly. Your combat experience is almost null. I have nothing to fear" Chambers coldly replied.

"-..is that why you hid behind your men?" Drasko released a quiet, crazed giggle: "You know... everything that has happened, was a direct consequence of your actions. All you had to do, was leave us alone. But your hunger for Tilerium ultimately caused the deaths of thousands. All because of a stupid rock... And now, you're going to die, because of a stupid rock... you started this... I'll end it"

"-..do your worst, vampire" Chambers' quiet voice echoed: "I can hardly expect much from trash"

"-..that's why I didn't come alone, did I?" Drasko released a long, quiet giggle.


You heard Chamber's slightly gasp, before the transmission cut off.




Mercer shouted for everyone to run forward and the mad sprint across the corridor continued.

Kaylee stared straight ahead, horrified and trying not to look at the bodies around her. Distant sounds of battle came from somewhere ahead and the sound of heavy machinery echoed from the hangar bay.


It was about a minute later, when you finally reached the doors to the hangar bay.

Councilor Chambers was laying on the floor.
No obvious signs of trauma. No blood.
Her hands, collected over her stomach.
In a different circumstance, one could think she was sleeping.

The blade incision on her neck was so small, you only noticed it by accident.
She was dead.

A small, blue, Tilerium Crystal was placed in her hands. Its dim light casting small shadows over the corridor.




As you look passed the door frame and into the hangar bay, you noticed over a dozen batponies, scattered around the area.

One had already crawled into the pilots cockpit of Slavegear and had turned the machine on.

Several others were working a loading crane, carefully placing a large missile, into the Slavegears rocket compartment. Just before they fully loaded it, one of them popped open a small hatch on the missile, and placed a familiar looking canister inside, before sealing the hatch shut, and letting the missile load into Slavegear.



Off to the side, you noticed Johan's blue shirt. He was sitting in the middle of the floor, his eyes hazed, unseeing. He emptily stared into space, leaning against a wooden crate.
His shirt dirty and bloodied, he must have recently fell on the floor, somewhere in the corridor earlier.

Next to him, sat one of the batponies, gently holding Johans shoulder. You couldn't see who it was, but it seems he tried to calm Johan down.


Marek and Drasko were nowhere in sight.



Just before you were noticed, just before Mercer shrieked a battle cry and charged towards Slavegear, a squad of Union soldiers materialized on one of the catwalks above, and hurled a set of grenades at every batpony they saw.


One of the grenades landed close to Johan and his companion.


Johan's eyes briefly caught focus, widening for a second in horror, before the grenade went off.
The explosion hurling his body into the ocean bay and making him disappear under the waves.

"JOHAN!!!" Moon screamed, watching in horror. Her breath quickened and her eyes glowed red with fury. And suddenly, only one thing was in her head.

~Kill everything~

She drew her sword and walked forward. And instants later, she was attacking everyone she saw. Union, batpony, she didn't care. Moon just went forth into a murdering frenzy.

A deafening racket boomed over the hangar bay, as the Slavegear finished loading the missile and turned in place, sending waves to crash over the pier.
It roared, slowly rising to full height and attempted to tear its way through the walls, attempting escape.

The batponies on the loading crane, jumped down and sprinted towards Moon, raising their swords and attempting to block her path to Slavegear.



Seemingly oblivious to her surroundings, Kaylee sprinted towards the edge of the pier, desperation and horror reflecting in her eyes.
Mercer had to run after her and slam her greatsword into an enemy that almost cut Kaylee's head off:
"KAYLEE GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF!" Mercer barked over the racket, attempting to grab Kaylee's hand and force her to stop: "THIS IS STILL A BATTLEFIELD!"


"LET ME GO!" Kaylee shrieked, wiggling out of Mercers grasp and sprinting towards the ocean again: "HE MAY STILL BE ALIVE! IF THE EXPLOSION KNOCKED HIM OUT, THEN JOHAN WILL DROWN! WE HAVE TO GET HIM OUT OF THERE NOW!!!"


"CAPTAIN! Shit-" Mercer turned away from Kaylee to swing her sword in a broad arc, discouraging the enemy from approaching.


"SOMEONE HELP ME GET JOHAN! PLEASE!" Kaylee screamed, as she sprinted towards the water line.

Johan's body could not be seen through the murky waves of the ocean.





As you listen in on the enemy radio's, several transmissions came through:
"-...locking coordinates... targeting, Gerran capital city... final check before missile launch... damn, its getting too hot in here!"
"..Bravo One! Slavegear's cooling is shot! Get out of there before its too late!"
"-No! I have to finish uploading coordinates!... I have to--- aaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!"


The Slavegear machine suddenly roared and seized up, as if wrecked by agony. Its hands rose up and it stopped moving, as large columns of steam shot out between its joints.
After the steam had faded, the machine remained unmoving.

Moon walked towards the batponies, sword in hand. And then she screamed, an insane cry "JUST DIE"

And she swiped her sword towards them. She was outnumbered, but wasn't in the state of mind to care.

Twilight ran into the room, just in time to see what the hell was going on.

"Okay, NOW it makes sense what's going on!"

She turned to the group, a fierce look in her eyes.

"Everyone, we need to make sure the missile is removed without damaging it! If that thing goes off, we're all dead! One of you, wake Moon up or knock her out! The rest, distract the batponies somehow! I'll take care of the missile! Got it? Go!"

She slammed her knuckles together, a brief surge of purple energy surrounding her body. She then ran towards the behemoth of metal, intending to get rid of it's danger once and for all.

She WAS going to nutralize slavegear but clearly that wasnt needed. She shakes her head and makes a dash to the ocean... She dives in and uses her wings and her arms to make her way to johan faster she takes a deep breath and dives, useing every limb of her body to catch up to the batpony under the waves.

Moon looked at Twilight "You don't need to wake me up, IM WIDE AWAKE" she screamed wildly as she laughed, bent on attacking everything in sight.

As Twilight sprinted towards the robot, you notice that the missile compartment was closed, shielded from the outside by a thick metal plate. The missile was hidden beneath it.

In the next second however, one of the batponies who was still hiding inside the loading crane, suddenly swooped down and slammed into Twilight, knocking her off her feet.
He immediately drew his sword and flew up, before homing in on Twilight and flying directly at her, his sword aimed at her head.



Mercer and Eva began pushing towards the robot as well. Mercer slowly marched forward, each step accompanied by a massive swing of her greatsword. She swung in a wide arc, discouraging any attempt at approach, and cutting through the unlucky that didn't dodge in time.

Eva followed her close behind, watching her back and making sure no one attacked Mercer, during the time delay between the swings of the greatsword.



"Moon Dusts!" Harlequin called, running towards Moon: "Please! You must calm yourself!" She tried to get closer, but her path was cut off by a group of hostiles.


The two batponies who attacked Moon, split up and charged at her from different directions. One flying up and attacking from directly above. The other one sprinted around and attacked from the left. Their swords dangerously dancing across the air.



As Rain dived into the ocean, the sounds of battle became slightly muffled. The water was incredibly dark and murky here. All you could see was shapes and outlines. Strange mist swirled around and it was hard to see further than a few meters ahead.

A moment passed, then another.
You heard Kaylee dive into the water above you and swim along side you in a parallel direction.

Then, you finally saw him. Johan's body was floating about a meter below you. His bright blue shirt giving him away.