Ponyshock: "Raven" Squad

Holotape:

"Hello honey...I don't know whats going on....Filthy Rich ordered me here and told me to keep tight watch on the rest of the power supplies, ...I don't why me, some of Agent's bucks found me and told me I was needed...and I went with them....Oh Celestia its all bucked to shit now...I can see the lights blinking out in some parts of the city, Its a war out there....I'm safe here, Agent's buck's are guarding the entrance....*sobbing* I love you, please remember that. I'll be home soon, whatever you do...stay safe.....

Oh....and Happy New Year...*Explosions and gunshots followed by screams*"

"Great we are in the middle of a damn faction war" Kes thought to himself walking over to the computers on the walls and using his basic understanding of the units to get the data he needed from them.

He decided to look over the data first before he left the room though.

/File/Application/Program/DEL_SELEC/
-Download Only-

Account Name: Dr_Gene
Password Required: ********
-Download completed, please see an administrator to access the file on your pipbuck and/or mobile storage unit-

Kes scoffed silently and then turned and left the room he was in, returning back to the main room and holding up his Pipbuck. He deactivated the personal speaker and turned on the normal on.

The sounds of the Holotape began to fill the room.

"Hello honey...I don't know whats going on....Filthy Rich ordered me here and told me to keep tight watch on the rest of the power supplies, ...I don't why me, some of Agent's bucks found me and told me I was needed...and I went with them....Oh Celestia its all bucked to shit now...I can see the lights blinking out in some parts of the city, Its a war out there....I'm safe here, Agent's buck's are guarding the entrance....*sobbing* I love you, please remember that. I'll be home soon, whatever you do...stay safe.....

Oh....and Happy New Year...*Explosions and gunshots followed by screams*"

He then shut it off and let the words soak in. Letting the others get their opinions formed and such.

"Looks like we're in a war."

If Zestari could look any more crestfallen as she listened to the recording, she did.

"In the middle of a war? It seems so," she said sadly in response to Kestrel.

She tapped a hoof to her chin. "So how does Dr. Gene factor into all this, then? I don't want to go picking sides unless we know what we're getting ourselves in for."

She peeked in the room Kestrel had returned from and grabbed the two bottles of beer. She had no interest in them personally, but they might come in useful bribing for information, or as a light alcoholic anaesthesia.

"Are we able to contact this Dr. Gene? Perhaps get some more details about who he is, what he wants and how he's connected to the others?" She asked, walking up beside Kestrel, and peering at his Pipbuck.

Mona would turn to look at Kestrel as he started the holotape playing, listening intently to the message. Once it was over and Kestrel had spoken, she did little more then nod.

"Indeed. That's just going to make it harder to escape."

She mumbled...another mention of Filthy Rich, and now someone called Agent...while it would never show on her face, Moa was almost worried to ask Kestrel if there was a way to know when that holotape was recorded. If that freakshow was right, and this Filthy Rich pony was still alive...then she didn't know what to think.

Then again, they had been attacked by several of these twisted monstrosities, and still had no real answers for what they were either...maybe they were focusing on the wrong questions...

"Asking for just his life story isn't nessecary. If we can contact him, we also need to ask other questions. Namely, what is this Arcana he supposedly invented, is it why these dwellers are so twisted, and what exactly his plan is for how we're all supposed to escape this vault and it's freakshow?"

----Radio Call: Dr. Gene-----

"Alright, thanks ponies, you got the power back on, now...next step is all of you head to the control room, in the corner there is a secret escape hatch that will lead to the main generator room, and from there you can find some executive tunnels that very few individuals have access to....I'm almost done preparing my equipment and notes for transport....hang in there, one minor detail, however, is that the hatch will close as you go down the ladder...so there's no going back and my data indicates hordes of splicers heading your way....you have.....5 minutes....as by now I noticed you've seen the effects of Arcana, its horrible, it was suppose to be basic cures with stem cells...but my research was stolen by Colt Johnson and he and his 'science' got a hold of it...please don't judge me too harshly by it....*static*...."

Kes grabbed the radio and held it up, pressing in the send button and starting to talk.

"We got a few questions first..." Kes started holding the radio out so the others could speak into it if they so wished.

"What did I just download? What is happening to the kid? And what happened down here?" Kes asked his questions, letting off the transmitter so that the doctor could reply.

"You downloaded some Stable files....I'm not sure if you noticed, but this is Stable Eight Two 'O', it was outsourced to Filthy Rich before the war...more of his creation than Stable-Tec, I mean....the sheer size of it...its unlike any other Stable on record....it could hardly be called one...and the files, they contain records of everything that occurred within the city's infrastructure as recorded by the console...as for the kid, I assume he took Arcana, he'll be knocked out for a couple of hours, his limb is becoming restructured and his brain is rewiring itself to adapt to a foreign genetic code...sadly in the future this will gurantee some cancerous growths....he might be able to operate for now but if he was foalish enough to take some, heed my advice and leave him...hes dead weight......As for what happened to the city....all I can explain over the radio is greed and Arcana.....sad though, used to hold such promise....."

Kes saw that even the doctor believed in leaving the kid behind. Heh, Doc was smarter than he thought. The gryphon looked around at the others in his group and asked the radio another simple question.

"We were on a boat, it sank, we woke up here. Where are the others that were with us?" the gryphon inquired motioning for the team to start moving out.

No reason they couldn't talk and walk at the same time.

Dash maintained his position at the rear, leaving what was going on up ahead to those who were more qualified to know what was going on. The red cylinder of the fire extinguisher caught his eye, however, although it seemed like a moot point in an environment like this, he picked it up and tucked between a strap on his vest. One could never be too careful...

Fire Extinguisher (100%)

He then got his pistol at the ready once again and maintained his vigil, paying attention to what was going on up ahead just so he would know if he was needed or not.

"I- I- really have no idea actually, all I know is I detected you in the bathysphere heading to the maintenance under-district and you're not from you....I guess logically if you survived there's a good chance others any others might've as well I don't want to give you false hope but there's been an increase in activity in some other parts of the city so ....it might just be Heartrose's Pride trying to push the Agent's back though so y- *Breaking Static*........"

-Signal lost-

Kes scoffed quietly and put the radio away, nodding to the others and then starting the trek towards the hatch that would supposedly get them out of here.

He didn't like this, but he disliked the idea of more splicers even more. So for now, Kes would play along. He would obey his orders like a good solider and get his team out of here.

Then, whenever he met this Dr. Gene, he would work on getting some answers.

"Les' Move"

Splicers. Right, she had a name now for the deformed monsters that attacked them down here. This was a stable as well?! How fascinating. She frowned morosely when Dr Gene, over the radio, also recommended that they leave Blazen, the explanation of cancerous growths and genetic rewriting made her genuinely concerned. Was she actually putting the group at risk if they took Blazen along? Would he awaken and be a raving monster like the other splicers they'd seen?

"Perhaps we should ll...." no, there had to be an alternative that would keep the group safe. “Could we bind his hooves and mouth shut?" she asked looking at Blazen, "Just in case he wakes up and isn't himself."

Kestrel had already started moving towards the door, and if he said no, she wasn't sure what she would do. She didn't want to think about leaving him here alone, but the group's safety took priority, despite her opinion on the matter.

She looked imploringly at Kestrel.

Dash blinked as he listened to them talk farther about Blazen, personally, he thought there could be any number of explanations to the distorted visage and behavior of the splicers, not necessarily centerered around the needle he had just injected himself with. He hadn't seen any of the deformed ponies attacking them with the sort of powers the syringe label had promised. With the signs of power Blazen had exhibited earlier, he felt he could safely say that the particular powers Blazen had just given himself did not necessarily mean he was going to turn into one of those things. He couldn't be absolutely sure, however. But like somepony who wanted to stay on the good side of his CO's he kept his personal feelings personal and kept quiet and remained at his assigned position.

"Bring him, bind him. But the first sign of change, I put a bullet through his head." Kes explained, not even bothering to turn around and speak directly to Zestari.

No time for that. They needed to move.

Zestari nodded at Kestrel retreated out the door and tore some fabric from one of the dead splicers and made a crude binding for Blazen’s hooves and muzzle. She gave a smile at Dae and nodded at her handiwork.

She quickly trotted after Kes and the rest. She didn’t like the possibility of the idea that the group might have to fight a horde of splicers in a few minutes time.

Seeing that the group had begun to move up, Amity trotted up and followed Kestrel with his sword drawn and at the ready. Speaking about anything was not his forte so Amity opted yet again to keep his mouth shut about Blazen who still lay unconscious. He did however agree with Kestrel. At the first sign of trouble, there would be an immediate reaction if not sooner. So he kept his knives at the ready as well.

Hearing talk though about escaping so soon though sort of frightened him a bit. And although he didn't show it through his stoic expression that he usually wore on his face, he couldn't help but think that escaping like that would be to easy.

And experience has taught him that the easiest way may not turn out to be such in the end. All they could hope for now is that they would finally leave this Stable and its horribly mutilated splicers. Amity would be ready to face what may lay ahead.

Seeing everyone was ready Kes moved out to their final destination. Reaching over to the hatch on the Floor Kes pulled it open and held it aloft.

"I'll go first." Kes said, moving to start down the ladder into the tunnels below.

"Gimme the kid." he said bracing himself to grab Blazen and carry him down with him. Once he got the kid he would start down the ladder. It was a royal pain in the ass to have to carry him, Kes would have preferred to put a damn bullet in his head and left his body to rot. But if he did that he lost the team medic, and that was NOT what he needed right now.

Near the bottom of the ladder, about 8 feet up Kes slipped and lost his grip. In his efforts to regain his foot hold he accidentally dropped Blazen down. Lucky for the buck it was a short fall and all that would be left are bruises. He missed hitting his head anyway so no major damage.

Kes left his body where it hit and quickly pulled out his gun, setting up a perimeter and scanning for hostiles as he waited on the rest of the team to join him.

*THUMP* with a loud bump in the darkness, Blazen had fallen to the generator room floor, loud humming filled the void. Once to the bottom, a switch turned on some low guide lights, they didn't do much but they showed the path, regardless, a huge winter lining along with the generators ran down the room, filling the niche with the city's luminance. Strangely, this room seemed to have been unoccupied for some time, mold and dust seemingly the only in habitants.

Once the hatch had been closed, the group notices in the far side of the room agaisnt the glass what appeared to be a glass-domed path heading into the city, however, the ocean obscured most of the details of where it lead, only that it appeared to have alot of airlocks built in along the path.

Searching the room revealed few useful items.
-1x Sword Mare
-2x Wrenches
-5x Beer
-1x Reinforced Leather Armor

Zestari followed the group until Kes opened a grate and taking Blazen dropped out of sight. The group waited a moment in case Kestrel ran into anything nasty, but after a moment of silence followed him.

Zestari climbed down the ladder and when she reached the bottom, saw Blazen lying still unconscious; obviously Kestrel had placed him there after climbing down. She smiled and looked around.

Looking over the room, there was more beer, which she left for one of the others. She didn't want to fill her bags with the watery alcohol. A couple of wrenches in good condition, that were probably heavy enough and had the right heft to use as weapons a Sword Mare's magazine, which she had no interest in, and a set of reinforced leather armour. Double layered in crucial areas, and padded for comfort when wearing for extended periods. It was much better than the ordinary leather barding she currently wore, and picking it up, she turned to the others. "Is it okay if I take this to wear?"

Once the moment of silence was over, Mona followed Zestari when they went down the ladder, strapping the rifle to her back to give her telekinesis a short break.
Once she had reached the bottom, she gave the surroundings a glance, as she took in the few useful things...The wrenches would be solid melee weapons, but they weren't her style, and she would be better off sticking with the Machete. The Sword Mares magazine could be handy though, especially as a potential distraction.

As for the reinforced leather armour, she could use it...however, it would be better that Zestari got it. Mona's armour would work for now, and the medic needed to survive, if the group was to make it through this place.

"You may as well. Any objections?"

"None from me, if anypony, or anyzebra in this case, should get more armor, then it should be the team's medic.", said Arc as hed descended into the room.

Arc looked around on the yet unclaimed equipment laying around. He decided to pick one wrench and two beers.
"Anyone minds if i take a spare wrench? These things tend to get lost and they have more uses that just violence. As for the beer, i think we should distribute proportionally items medically and nutritionally valuable in case we get separated, and beer falls into both categories."

Kes just nodded towards Arc to give him permission to take the wrench, and Zesty a nod for taking the armor. She would need it, protecting the medic was one of Kestrels TOP priorities.

Upon hearing Arc's suggestion about healing items Kes gave another silent nod, but the mention of carrying beer earned an actual response.

"Leave the beer."

His orders given, and seeing as they group seemed to be alone down here, Kes began to make his way over to the Glass domed walkway. He was careful not to enter it, but he wanted a better idea of where he was going to be heading.

What he could see of the walkway did not easy his guard much at all. That was a lot of airlocks.

*Hrrmmmmmm* A loud echo rang down the hallway, a monstrous groan... Kes's eyes focused and down the hallway he could see a massive figure quickly approaching. Metal clanging upon itself with every earth-shaking step... on its sides, each harness bore huge guns that appeared almost as large as a small pony. The figure self wore a large suit, nearly a bit larger than Kestrel himself.

His body covered, his face was masked with a deep diving helmet that had a thick panel over it, an eerie yellow glow filling the hallway. As soon as the entrance came into view, he increased his speed, Guns bumping up and down as he doubled -time towards the end of the hallway where Kes was standing...

*BOOM* a loud crack was heard in behind the generators, from some far-off corner of the room, water began to pour in, soaking the ponies hooves.

"....*static* An explosion a- *Static*, needs manuel *Static* -tdown, from *Static* -ernal control...*static*..." A call came on the radio but it didn't sound like Dr. Gene.