Everything hurt, an after effect of being shocked with near lethal amounts of electricity. It was no surprise that everything was numb as well, but what was surprising was that I was no longer where I was, laying down in the middle of a metallic floor, but rather in an old musty but still miraculously comforting bed. As I sat up, rubbing my eyes with my previously bad hoof, I spotted a change in it now that it was unbandaged. For one, a spiderweb shaped pattern had taken hold, and expanded until it crossed around my hoof to either side of it, and the lines had taken on a similar texture to my own chitin, Upon touch it was sensitive, but not overly so, and had an eerily smooth texture in comparison to the rest of my leg. It was almost like a tattoo only it had come from an Aqualight that seemed like a lifetime ago.

As I dragged myself out of bed, I reviewed my other hoof, it had been treated it seemed while I was out, did Trixie do that? I was surprised it hadn't been replaced with a metal limb for what this place had already shown me in way of medical care. Nearby I saw a small pile of gear and odds and ends that had been left nearby, more stuff that had been collected probably by the same bot who had treated my leg. I'd have to thank her for saving my life, that and Roggar too. On that thought, just how had he been able to use my leg to do that anyway? More questions for another time, if he ever spoke up in my mind again. I swore to myself to thank him as soon as possible. But first things first, training indicated that I should get a bearing on the situation first, and that I did.

I was in a barracks of some sort, proof being the large amount of bunk beds that filled the room, all of the lockers for each bed having been emptied and put on the ground in the same pile near me. Gradually I moved over to sift through the pile until I found something that made me feel much safer, if albeit temporarily, I pulled out a revolver from the pile, its owner having heavily modded the gun until its barrel had been extended an extra half of a foot and been given a scope that was poorly set, alongside it I also managed to dig out two loaders that fit it each loaded with ammunition built for it. It was something, at least. Though I had to wonder who had owned the gun beforehand. I made a note to pass it along to Grey if I got the chance.

I'd leave searching the rest of the pile for later, as a familiar sound of metal against metal resounded outside. Leaving the room I was welcomed with the sight of a strange flooring, blue glowing circuitry lead down the hallway, the only barrier between me and it being a thick glass that acted as a musty barrier of sorts. As I trod upon it I had to avoid the dozens of small holes in the glass that would spark occasionally. At the end of the hallway, Trixie was beating on a large metal door, the nearby terminal reading that she was locked out of it. Her hooves were leaving orange glowing marks upon the door, but the door itself refused to budge. I managed to hear her talking to herself as she beat at it, "Open up you confounded V.I. This unit has section S clearance!"

A metallic drone of noise repeated with a heavy static, "Your r-r-r-registration d-d-d-doesn't match an-an-any on r-r-r-record. Lock down is s-s-s-still in e-e-e-effect until D-D-Director Smiles states oth-otherwise..."

"Director Smiles?" I asked, "Don't you mean-"

Trixie continued to wail on the door, "There is no operative underneath that name, V.I. Search directive protocol 83."

"Protocol not found." the V.I. retorted, resulting in more cursing from Trixie. "Please cease and desist from assaulting the secure laboratory standard security door, or we will be forced to register you as an active threat within the facility."

Quickly, I closed the distance, tripping over various odds and ends that consisted primarily of either bones or discarded scrap electronics, "Trixie, wait!"

Almost immediately the mechanical mare halted in her beat-down on the door, which almost seemed to give a groan of relief as slowly the glowing orange spot returned to its dull grey coloration. "Commander Aria," she nodded, "This unit is trying to acquire your pipbuck's objectives but this V.I. is being increasingly frustrating, as though its been hacked."

I sighed, "It's probably either corrupted, hacked, or both. Like just about everything else that's been active since the bombs fell." I nudged her to follow me and we left the door to its subtle protesting as we went back to where I had awoken from, "You do know there is more than one way into most places, right?" I asked Trixie.

"Standard protocol would dictate that the easiest most accessible route would be through the chamber doors that should be accessible for someone of this units clearance." Trixie noted, and I agreed.

"Should, but as of currently that clearance seems invalid, for this purpose, no?"

"Agreed. What do you suggest then commander?"

"Just Aria," I reminded it, "And either to figure out a way to bypass the... V.I.?"

"Virtual intelligence." Trixie elaborated, "Means it is a pseudo intelligence that follows orders as dictated by a superior officer, unlike this unit who is fully automated and able to learn as well of determine its own choices."

"So the Mister Handy and Ponytrons are V.I. like robots while you are an A.I.?" I asked, and Trixie nodded.

"That is correct. Though there may doubtless be one or two units from the experimental stages of A.I. programming that are still in operational condition." Trixie waved a hoof to dismiss the subject, "You said earlier about alternative methods of accessing the compound?"

I nodded, the last two times I had done this was in the stable and another science facility, hopefully it would prove useful again. Looking up, I could spot the same type of ventilation system that would lead primary currents of air throughout the entire facility, "How big are the vents here?"

"shoe-box size, why?"

Darn it. Looks like somepony caught on at least that having vents large enough to crawl through was ridiculous. My mind searched for alternative options, "Well there goes crawling through the vents... Hmm, is there anything that can trick a V.I.?"

"Well if this unit had access to the server room there would be a possibility of reprogramming it..." Trixie started, "But that room is locked behind several layers of security doors, and would be pointless to do such by the time we reached it. Some have the ability to ponder and answer questions and will crash if unable to complete it, but this is a security V.I. rather than a science built one so that method would prove ineffective."

"If its a security V.I. what does one need to pass clearance?" I asked.

"Usually one would need a security chip and to undergo facial and Id recognition. But its scanner is busted as well as communications judging from the outside wreckage upon the room."

"Can we bluff it?"

"It is a V.I. it is very literal minded, and won't disobey its objectives." Trixie made a negative gesture with her head, shaking it left and right, "Even if it means refusing a superior officer if its systems are broken."

My mind drew a few more blanks before I got an idea, "What sort of weaponry did you find while I was unconscious?"

Trixie raised an eyebrow, "This unit dismantled the saber tooth tigers for parts as well as a number of small weapons."

"Anything explosive?" I asked.

"This unit has found three pulse grenades as well as two fragmentation grenades within the nearby armory in emergency munitions closet of the quarters room you awoke inside of."

"I have an idea then." I told her, and I began to explain.

Once we had set up, Trixie had begun to approach the door again, still dented and worn from its previous encounter. The V.I. warned once more as she pressed her glowing robotic claw arm against the door, "Cease and desist attempted breaching of the door or security will be deployed."

Nearby I waited with an impromptu weapon on each of my front hooves and the laser pistol in my mouth, I would help take care of 'security' if my plan failed or if there was more of them than the number of grenades allowed. Trixie kept on battering the door and slowly a warbled alarm sounded, dim red lights crackling to life as security started up. false walls within the building grinding open as several security variants of the handy robots, deemed Mr.Gutsy flooding out into the hallway, screaming anti zebra sentiment and rushing down it. Pulling against several taunt strings that had been pulled from a blanket prior. Their body weight nearly effortlessly causing the strings to come loose, with the stems of several metal apples still tied to them.

The hallway was engulfed in majestic light, and I took shelter behind the metal door that lead back into the barracks as sound and heat drowned out my other senses for a few seconds. Once it had vanished I reopened the door to find that the incoming row of hovering robots was now just a pile of scrap metal in a heavily charred hallway, with only but one survivor whose had its engine sputtering as it crashed to the floor in front of me. Neatly, I activated one set of laser claws we had re purposed from a set of fangs and put a silence to its anti Zebra babble.

Trixie continued to pound on the door and with her continued attacks, the door finally gave way, crashing to the ground and revealing the room beyond. It was startling to say the least, seeing as the floor was layered with dozens of examples of circuitry alone, as well as the walls lined with empty pods large enough to hold somepony and mechanical parts as well as fabric scattered around the room as though a tornado had blasted through it. Oddly enough, however, there was not a single skeleton in sight. Giving no sign that somepony was working inside it when the bombs fell. That or somepony had moved them, my non existent brain chided.

The alarms were still warbling, their aged speakers screeching and announcing our presence with every step. Oddly enough, however, there was not a single additional security measure in sight, but Trixie was still on guard. "The primary directive on your current objective points this way." she said, as she marched forward, and I followed eagerly, my mood improved significantly after the trap had worked and managed to destroy most of our opposition before it had even a chance to get started.

"D-d-dirreecccting security failure to ddddddirector Bu- the audio cut out as the V.I.'s speakers broke down smoking, and its silence of words causing it to be probably focused on something elsewhere, the alarms continued.

"This unit detects movement ahead." Trixie motioned for me to stay put, and marched onward, I took the chance to loot the nearby lockers and storage cabinets but was disappointed again to only find the occasional tool kit or moldy book. Just what had they been building in here?

I managed to find a terminal that was still on near one of the tubes, but I was unable to hack it, which left my previous feeling of accomplishment in destroying the machines overshadowed with my uselessness in hacking even the simplest of terminals. So I kicked it. Surprisingly enough a line of text appeared on the screen reading, 'Prototype survival suit 001-C still in operation.'

"What?" I asked to the open air, and I kicked it again, hoping to get some more information out of it, but instead I got an error screen. Darn it. I kicked it again for good measure before turning back to the rest of the room. Sighing, I scanned over it once more, digging through the odd desk that smelt of mold and ancient sweat and managing to pry open a left over journal. Most of it was unreadable but there was an entry that was mostly intact, one that I read over with mild haste.

Log Entry 3-13:
The survival suits technology make an interesting adaption when its applied to the experimental stealth suit technologies. For one they are quite adaptive to the situations they are presented, but the suits themselves seem to find the stealth variant of their types almost worship worthy in a way. They listen to it more often than the actual wearer, which presents a problem itself since we want them listening to their wearer rather than the status updates of the stealth suit. We still haven't found out how to successfully solve the design glitch though. Putting the suits on are easy enough, but first thing it enters emergency mode, Ie: when the wearer can no longer physically operate due to injuries, these suits still take control and try and fulfill their purpose almost too well, ignoring their E.F.S. and going after anyone not wearing a suit, and some that are. Short of physically prying the suit off with a laser cutter, none can be recovered at this point either. It doesn't help that they don't have a default place to return to as all allusions of this exact locations where about's can't be written down as of the founder's protocol. A protocol which is to protect the location of this secondary government research facility.

Doctor Scarlet, or Ms. Kindness as shes being called now seems obsessed with the technology, though. Shes still scanning the technological advances in the spell matrix, claiming that she can figure out a way to turn dead tissue back into living tissue with just a few more days of research and a pony cadaver, like always she was rejected from continuing this line, despite both plenty of cadavers and worse experiments being performed across the facility. Its surprising enough that we managed to revive an ancient species, but it seems inhumane that we are also upgrading these long dead species into cybernetic guard dogs rather than trying to teach them to become truly sentient like us. Instead we have an race of extraordinarily intelligent soldier cats wandering around now. These suits, however, are getting on my nerves more than the cats. Its one thing to use these suits to return the wounded back to a medical tent, or the dead back to be buried, but to use them to fight long after the occupant died, is another matter entirely. I will see to it that I get a sector change into the plant research division here. Surely they have much more beneficial research that I can help with than seeing a bunch of idiots walk around by V.I. driven suits.

-Doctor Smiles

I shut the book, it was an interesting read, that was to be sure. Though I had found it down right creepy, i could see the use of such a suit despite its evil intentions. To have a soldier be able to fight long after its death was a way to save future lives or the lives of the soldiers who would of died next, but that was also a bit of a moral grey zone where I was concerned. Just where did war draw the line on what was okay and what wasn't okay to do in a war zone? Cloning, rising the dead, genetic modification, cybernetics, robots built to kill ponies and zebras alike? None of these existed before the great war started, and it was getting more and more unnerving with just how military focused science had become during the war. I, myself was an direct example of military technology put to use, and it only made my grudge against scientists stronger the more I learned about their experiments.

How many more needed to suffer in order to fight this damned war in the past? How many more lives had been ruined in pursuit of weapons to end it? Bale fire bombs, mega spells, power armor, guns, cyborg saber-tooth tigers, super sentinels. I thought over to Maul, and how much he must of been altered, and the countless changelings that were being made from tanks back in my stable only to weed out the strongest of them. I glared at the stupid book and kicked it against the wall. Stupid science. Why did it have to be so evil?

I sighed, taking a deep breathe and trying to calm down. There was too many lines being crossed, and so far not one of them had been really good. From a medical standpoint, I could see the use of cybernetics in replacing missing limbs, but to modify healthy creatures into machines of war? Roggar was oddly silent, as if waiting out my mental tantrum.

I barely noticed as a red suited pony whose head was a skull wandered over, and as decrepit speakers whispered to me, "Who turned out the lights?"

Xp Footnote: 75% left until level up.

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