Of Blood and Iron(Closed)

Zestari would quickly find the medical box was clearly not just hung on the wall, but apparantly went a bit into the wall itself. While this meant it probably wouldn't be possible to pry the thing out of the wall without extreme force (If at all...), it would probably raisse hopes that there could be something useful stashed inside of it.

Bakewell, on the other hand, would be able to harvest a large amount of chunks from the radroaches. Due to the melee combat, there was very little damage to the fleshy parts, and so nearly every single radroach was able to give her a slab of disgusting roach meat. Bon Appetit...

25 x Slabs of Radroach Meat

[/i]’Delicious’[/i] Bakewell thought dryly to herself as she harvested the insect meat.

“That’s okay.” Bakewell assured her zebra friend. “The bites just smart a bit, I don’t think they’re anything to worry about.”

She turned to the bins and regarded them curiously for a moment. Rooting through a grummy pre-war garbage can didn’t really seem all that disgusting considering what nauseous acts she had just been committing. The earth pony obeyed Zestari and moved to the rubbish bins, checking through them for anything useful. She didn't want to take too long, but it looked like Zestari wasn't done with the medical box anyway.

Ashen made a small note of Mona’s hesitation, it appeared that the mare wasn’t as emotionless as he thought, although he doubted such moments were common.

“Agreed. I would rather not test my theory without sufficient support in the event it is proven incorrect."

The unicorn followed Mona upstairs, keeping an eye on his EFS in the event more hostiles appeared. While they were walking he pulled out one of the cards, looking for any indication of...Well, anything. Anything that he could of missed before. An indicator of what ‘rank’ the card was, if his theory about the cards was correct.

Zestari frowned at the medicine box, it was well secured. This left her with a dilemma. To try and break the lock off and hope that anything within would be durable enough to survive the force, or see if one of the others was unoccupied and knew a thing or two about locks.

She turned and looked over at Bakewell as she finished up her gory task, “Bakewell this appears to be locked, do you think it might be possible to get open? Or perhaps one of other two might know anything about locks?”

Mona would trot up the staircase, her Firearm at the ready, just in case. She would take note of the clanking footsteps in the room opposite the restrooms.

"Sounds like more robots. Be careful."

She would state back to Ashen, giving him that quick warning before approaching the slightly open 'mare's restroom' door.

"Zestari, Bakewell, are you in here?"

The garbage bin would prove to be quite empty, it's contents having either eroded due to time, or been eaten by the roach populace.

------------

Ashen would find his EFS proving fairly uneventful, The only warning being two red dots that scurried quickly out of range, moving much too fast to be the source of the metal footsteps.

Empty. Oh well, it was worth a shot. Bakewell was about to answer Zestari’s question when Mona’s voice came through the restroom’s door.

“Yeah. We’re here.” She replied back, pulling room’s door as open as possible and holding it there for the others to enter if they wanted. The mare’s mind quickly settled on a small joke.

If Ashen chose to enter, Bakewell would block his path with a hoof.

“Where do you think you’re going, Mister?” She would ask, as sternly and she could manage. “This is the mare’s restroo- nah.” And here her face would light up with a smile. “Just picking. Come on in.”


Regardless of whether or not the above happened, there would be one constant question she posed to both flat voiced ponies. “We’ve got a locked medical box thing. Either of you know how to lockpick? Oh, and mind the radroaches.”

Ashen ignored the two hostiles, hypothesizing that they were simply radroaches or some such, at the very least they were much too fast for any robot, even a spritebot would have trouble reaching those speeds in the factory without crashing into everything.

When he followed Mona Tones into the bathroom, he was blocked by Bakewell Tart, who proceeded to make a joke about the bathroom being off-limits for obvious reasons or some such, which was met with a flat stare from Ashen before the unicorn walked past her, saying nothing. If he was in anyway effected by the numerous radroach corpses on the floor, he didn't show it, and of course he wasn't.

When Bakewell Tart asked if anyone had any lockpicking experience, the unicorn finally said something. "I am not experienced with such things, but I'm familiar enough with the concept that I may be able to do something if the lock isn't particularly complex. However, I lack any bobby pins, or more specialized lockpicking equipment."

On entering the restroom, Mona would raise an eyebrow at the incredible number of radroach corpses, narrowly avoiding a sigh as she saw the blood and chitin coating Zestari's hooves and Bakewell's knife. She was just glad it had only been radroaches that had nested here. Anything bigger, and the two would no doubt have not been so lucky...

"We should not split up again."

She would state, not as a request, but more like a fact. If there were this many radroaches in just a bathroom, then there could be even more danger elsewhere...

Upon hearing about the lock issue though, Mona would trot over to the medical box, and lean down to get a better look at the lock. She was no lockpicker, but right now, she wanted to just see if the lock looked particulary damaged or not.

Upon seeing that the lock still seemed in okay condition, she would straighten back up, before looking at her squadmates.

"I am afraid I do not have much experience with locks either, but the lock does not seem rusted. If there is a key in this facility somewhere, then it might be possible to simply unlock it."

Swing and a miss. Darn. Bakewell hadn’t really been expecting much of a reaction from Ashen, but there had still been the faint hope of even a glimpse of mirth. That was okay, though. The mare was sure she would have many, many more chances to try and become closer friends with the ashen unicorn. He was from her stable, after all, and that meant that he was one of the many ponies that she had to make up her old behavior to.

“Yes, Ma’am. Sorry.” The mare replied to Mona’s statement, which the mare took as an order.

“I guess we’re done here for now, then? We’ll just have to keep our eyes out for a key somewhere in here. It’s a shame we can’t pick it, though… What did you two find downstairs?”

Zestari had stood back to allow Mona to take a closer look at the lock on the medicine box. Secretly she was hoping that Mona would turn out to be some sort of lock cracking expert and would have the thing open in a jiffy. Her response however didn’t particularly encourage Zestari, and the zebra's ears drooped a little.

“A key? Of course, but this is a large building, it could take a long time to find it, assuming we even knew where to look.” She leaned forwards. “What do you think the chances are of… I don’t know… levering the door off it so we can get inside?” She looked at Bakewell in a ‘think you’re up to the challenge’ kind of way, before turning back to the locked cabinet, “Who locks medical equipment up anyway? What would happen if somepony was hurt 200 years ago?”

With another sigh she stepped back again and nodded at Bakewell, “Yes, what did you find downstairs? All we’ve found is radroaches and an unfortunate visitor.” She pointed at the corpse.

Looking back at the lock, Mona would just stare it it for a few moments in responce to Zestari's question as to why it would be locked, a reason quickly entering her head.

"Perhaps there are chems inside of it? Aside from the usual application today, some chems could be used as Painkillers or antiseptic, if I recall. It would make sense to put it under lock and key then to discourage thieves."

She offered. She didn't know if it was true, and it could simply be a strange leftover of the pre-war times...no doubt with an amusing story as to why it's kept locked...but it was a possibility anyway.

'As for downstairs, we didn't risk exploring too much without the rest of the group, but Ashen here has a theory that those cards we found could be used with the robots around the facility to possibly identify us as employees, and let us pass without incident. We haven't tested it yet though."

Tilting her head, Zestari slowly nodded her head. “I guess that might be right. Still, strange that they would store chems here.” She shrugged. “Still…” she tapped the cabinet, “Think you might be able to force this open, Bakewell?”

“And how exactly do you think the cards will help identify us?” She directed at Ashen. “It doesn’t seem that the robots ask to see ID before shooting at us. Or at least the turrets didn’t.”

“Or maybe it’s not medicine at all!” Bakewell suggested, hurling her own unlikely theory to the mix. “What if somepony was trying to survive here after the war, and was using the medical box to store their supplies?” the earth pony of the group asked eagerly, allowing her eyes to drift to the pony skeleton in the room.

“Um, I don’t know, Zestari...” She responded thoughtfully as her zebra friend asked the mare to try and force the locked container open. “I wouldn’t even know where to start. I don’t really have something to try and force it with unless I want to risk breaking my knife, which might be too thick anyway. Maybe we’re better off looking for the key? I’m sure there are other locked medical cabinets in the building, there’s probably an identical one in the stallion’s room at the least. I don’t think I’m capable of forcing them all open without messing up, but I’m sure they would all have the same lock! We’ll just have to keep our eyes peeled! It’s probably just sitting in a desk somewhere or on a body or something.”

On the subject of cards, Bakewell stayed quiet. She didn’t know enough about robots to guess how the cards would work. For all she knew the robots might have x-ray cardseeking vision. She quietly trotted into the doorframe and waited. She trusted Ashen and Mona to know what they were talking about, but there would be time to test the theory soon enough.

Ashen's goggle-covered eyes shifted towards Zestari as she questioned him. He promptly, and flatly, replied.

"The protectrons in the room following the metal door are all presently non-hostile according to my Eyes Forward Sparkle. That either means that the robots there are simply non-combat models and are programmed to simply maintain the factory floor or a similar maintenance task, or that they only respond with violence against unauthorized personal. I suspect that the latter is the case and that they'll respond in a positive manner to at least one of these cards, although which one we'll have to discover, as beyond the codes on the cards that the robots themselves identify the only distinguished feature is the different colors of the card, which is hardly indicative of the rankings or such of the cards without a guide of some kind. As for why the turrets were immediately hostile, most likely because that part of the security system was not designed to accept employee input, or that it was damaged and any recognition systems were no longer functioning."

As Bakewell revealed her theory, Zestari likewise looked towards the skeleton, before shaking her head. It seemed very unlikely; still, she narrowed her eyes, “You don’t think so, do you?”

Turning back to the earth pony, she frowned as Bakewell revealed that she didn’t think that breaking into the cabinet was likely to be possible or even a good idea, and with a solemn nod, she conceded. “I guess so, but I don’t like the idea of medical supplies going to waste because we want to find a key, that may not be here.”

She gave a slightly lopsided look at Ashen as he explained the use of the cards. “That doesn’t sound very convincing, is there some way we can be more sure? I don’t think it would be good to walk into a room of robots that might just go hostile at any moment, with the hope that some cards will protect us.”

Ashen turned to Zestari. "There is no way to confirm that my theory is correct, unless we found surviving documentation on the purpose of these cards. However, we do not have much of a choice in the matter if we wish to continue on into the facility. Either the cards work as I suspect, and we can get past many of the robots, or they don't, and we have to fight them. The most we can do, besides aborting the mission which I doubt anypony is considering, is test my theory, and prepare for the hostilities in the event that I am incorrect." he explained monotonously.

Mona would listen to Ashen and Zes, and while she could understand the Zebra's doubts as to the possibility that this would work, Ashen certaintly sounded like he knew what he was talking about. However, they needed to test this first.

"I will test this theory."

With that, Mona would levitate one of the cards out of Ashen's bag, before she continued speaking.

"We will head to one of these guarded rooms, where you three can wait by the doorway, ready to assist if it dosn't work. If it does, then we should be able to save a lot of time. If it dosn't, then you can cover me as I retreat out of harms way to cover, and then we can remove the robots as an obstacle the old fashioned way.

Any objections?"

“Ashen made the cards sound different. So you should take them all, right? Not just that one? Otherwise you might take the wrong one and we won’t learn anything.” Bakewell asked when the subject of objections arose. She backed fully out of the restroom door to allow the others room.

“I think there’s some robots behind this door, actually.” She said, pointing a radroach-soaked hoof towards the third (and only non-restroom related) door on the current floor. “Saves you a bit of a walk compared to stairs, and also if something happens we’ve got a locked medical kit right here as well as a perhaps unlocked one in the stallion's room, if we need extra medical supplies to save your life after this 'test' then hopefully I can force it open. It’s a better shot than the alternative, right?”

Zestari nodded with Bakewell. “Yes, take all of the cards. Even if you have the correct one, it may prove to be an opportunity to see if the different cards can be used with the robots in some manner, or cause them to react somehow.” She smiled at Bakewell’s closer door suggestion, “A good idea, but I certainly hope we won’t require the use of any medical supplies.”

Making her way towards the door, Zestari sized it up. “How many robots are behind here, Bakewell? We don’t really want to open the door to a lot of them if these card things don’t work out. Once you’re sure it’s not too dangerous, when Mona enters, we’ll wait here and prepare ourselves in case things go badly.”

I don’t know, Zestari.” Bakewell admitted sheepishly ”I wasn’t able to pick them up on my EFS. I just heard these kinda metal hoofstep noises from behind the door. I figured that’s what robots would sound like, since they’re metal and all. It can’t be too many though, right? How many were there downstairs do you think?”

“There were five Protectron Model Robots in the room downstairs. The room appeared to be either one of, or the main, manufacturing area of the facility. Because of that there would likely be larger numbers of robots there than in other parts of the facility, meaning that unless the following room is also one of those areas there are likely less robots in it, making it a more suitable area for the test.” Ashen explained.

“Furthermore, Bakewell Tart is correct. Taking all the cards instead of just one is the most logical choice.” Ashen said as he pulled the rest out of his bags. “If the first one does not work, simply switch to another one until either one works, or it’s determined that aggressive action will need to be taken.”

Mona would give a nod to Ashen, before levitating the rest of the cards away from him, before trotting out of the bathroom and over to the room opposite of the two facilities, giving the rest of the group some time to build up on the doorway before she would enter.

The room would turn out to be a room filled with several cubicles, computers either broken or barely flickering ue to their wear. However, Mona attention was more focused on the protectrons that were wandering the room. Two of them, to be exact, which both turned to look at her.

"EQUINE LIFEFORM DETECTED. SCANNING RACE."

Suddenly, a green light flashed from their viewport, as they scanned Mona, much to her surprise. She hadn't seen protectrons do this before in the wastes, and she worried for a moment that they might have a database of faces, rather then ID cards. However, what was said next allivated this fear slightly.

"RACE CONFIRMED TO BE Unicorn. PLEASE PRESENT EMPLOYEE ID."

In her mind, Mona let out a sigh of relief, before presenting one of the ID Cards.

"EMPLOYEE ID CONFIRMED. WELCOME BACK Summer Breeze. YOU ARE 198 years LATE FROM YOUR DESIGNATED RETURN TO WORK. YOUR PAY HAS BEEN DEDUCTED ACCORDINGLY. CONGRATULATION ON your new foal."

With that, the protectrons would return to clanking about, ignoring Mona. It appeared Ashen's idea had worked perfectly, and she trotted back over to the group.

"It would appear the plan worked. However, I've never seen a Protectron scan race before."

Zestari followed and stood at the door, her breath held as Mona entered. She initially reached for her .45, drawing the weapon from its holster to hold in her mouth, before changing her mind when she wondered if somehow the robots would detect the wielding of the weapon and turn hostile. So she spat the weapon back into its holster and just stood there and watched.

She watched wide-eyed as Mona was suddenly struck by a green light, and had to hold herself back from springing into action and barrelling towards one of them. Seeing that they didn’t and the light was some sort of scanner, she resumed her intense scrutiny of the event. As it became clear that the ID cards were only part of the requirement to keep the robots passive, the other component being race, her ears began to slowly slump against her head. If they were scanning for race then they were looking for something in particular. Given these robots were built during the war it wasn’t hard to determine what they might be checking for.

As Mona stepped back through the doorway, Zestari backed up and nodded at Mona, “Me either, I would have said it was an odd thing to scan for, but probably effective. They’re checking that none of us are filthy, evil, invading zebras. Because we’re still at war with you, as far as these machines are concerned.” She sighed. “How should we proceed from here? It would seem most prudent for me to wait in the lobby and let the rest of you search the place for valuable salvage and the items required from the place. Those cards would seem to make the whole thing very easy for us – you.” She corrected.

She looked about, “Perhaps in the meantime I can keep busy looking in the stallion’s room. And maybe there’s still something we can salvage off those turrets in the lobby.” It was hard for her to hide the mild disappointment in her voice.

Mona would silently listen to Zestari as she spoke, her emotionless face making it impossible to really see her reaction to Zestari's comments. But inside, she was worried for her companion. It was easy to tell Zestari was disappointed at this development, and she felt for the Zebra, since it sounded like she almost seemed used to this kind of treatment.

When she looked around, Mona though for a second she was about to wander off, and she quickly reached out with a hoof, resting it on Zestari's shoulder to stop her should she have tried to walk away.

"No. I don't leave my partners behind, especially not due to old world prejudice."

With that, she would turn to Ashen.

"Ashen, you clearly have a lot of knowledge about computer systems and the like. Is there possibly a way to fool a detection system like that, or to shut it off entirely? if not, I'm fine with us going in and gunning down both of those tinheads before they even realize what's hit them."

She would state, somehow remaining completely emotionless even as she referred to the robots as 'tinheads'.