As I carefully lowered my charges to the ground, their hooves lightly giving out a series of clops as they came in contact with the mail room's wooden floor, they smiled to me, giving me their silent thanks as they did so. I returned the smile, having been more than willing to assist them,

Shortly after though, I took yet another wary glance around the room, ensuring that everything was still in order. The small moments I had with the two were great, don't get me wrong, but they would likely be decreased in number in our time here. We were in Lower Rapture now, after all, and we couldn't afford to make any mistakes, or get too distracted.

Turning to one of the two doorways that lead to the sealed halls around the room, I reached for my rivet gun, pulling the release and extending it to it's full size. I glanced to the loaded clip, making sure that everything was as it needed to be, before gesturing for Fluttershy and Rarity to follow. They nodded, taking a few steps closer to me before keeping a similar distance as I began I began to walk ahead, my shoes tamping against the floor, and their hooves clopping, as I did so.

Rounding the corner of the room entrance, the three of us entered the small, debris filled hallway, dust shifting beneath my feet as I and my charges made our way in front of the gated door out of here. With a grunt, I began to move aside some of the other debris and filth that blocked our path, pushing it off to the side where it collapsed itself into a bigger pile.

"My word. This place could certainly use a cleaning pony of some sort." Rarity said, stepping back slightly as the mess spread itself outwards slightly, coming awfully close to her. As I have her a short glance of amusement, I felt myself mentally roll my eyes at this. "Believe me, I know." I thought to myself as the last of the obstructions in front of us were moved aside, giving a clear walk to the door now. Adjusting the bandaging on my head, I used my other arm to press the opening mechanism for the door, aka, the red button to the wall adjacent of it, and took a small step back as it began to whir to life.

Almost instantly, a loud, though thankfully short, buzz filled the room as the gate began to creak open, layers of rust falling away as the long unused gate began to move once again. It was tedious to watch it rise, moving at an agonizingly slow rate as it would soon reveal our first step into the dangers of Lower Rapture.

Eventually though, the gate finally came to its final position of rest, the door just beyond it sliding open automatically, with a much more quick and clean motion. Within a few seconds, I had my rivet gun raised as the three of us entered the room, poised and prepared to punch a hole through someone's skull if they threatened us.

I scanned the room once, twice, three times, before letting out a sigh, slightly my rivet gun as a sense if relief hit me.

Thankfully , there was no one here, the door instead having revealed an empty room, full of cabinets and desks. An office area, basically. Again, I'm happy that we're being given a break, but, how long exactly will it last?

The three of us slowly entered the room, my charges staying close to me as we started to make our way through the small office. We circled around corpses in the room, and, time and time again, I would check the cabinets to see if there was anything I could use. Anything at all, really.

I knew that I could, and probably should, check the bodies as well, but... Well, that's seems a bit macabre to me, and I doubt that Fluttershy and Rarity had any need to watch me look through the bodies of the dead. I digress though.

As I looked through the various drawers of the room, I did happen find a few items of interest. A few rivets, about seven to be exact, another medkit, and, much to my surprise, a proximity mine. Geez, what kind of business were these people running down here anyhow?

Shaking my head as I put the items in the burlap sack of supplies that I still had tightly fastened around me, I put the weight of my rivet gun to my shoulders again as I let out a prolonged sigh, looking through the glass walls of the room and out into the ocean.

... You know, I still can't believe that such a beautiful place had such a twisted way of life within it's walls... The sea, in my eyes, was stained red by this city. More blood had been spilled here than anywhere else in the world, though I don't really remember the outside world in the first place. Still... It makes me wonder sometimes...

A soft tap on my leg drew my attention, my eyes shifting their attention to the yellow mare who was looking up to me with both concern and curiosity. Smiling, I patted her head, silently assuring her that it was nothing, before I turned myself to my other charge as well.

She was currently looking over a photo on one of the many desks of the office area, it's glass portrait casing cracked, but the image still clearly visible. Curious, I made my way over to her, standing myself at her side as I looked to the image as well, my arms crossed as I did so.

A father, his son, and a mother. A regular family photo. From what I could surmise, at least by the clothing that he was wearing, the father had probably worked down here before Rapture had gone to hell, and had long brought this portrait to remind him of his family whenever he went off to provide for them.

Looking to Rarity, I noticed a saddened look about her. She let out a sigh as she put the portrait down, looking to me instead. "... Do you suppose they made it out?"

I... Asked myself that question all the time in Rapture. Upper, and lower. I would always see photos, remnants, recordings, of family and loved ones who, of my knowledge, may or may not have died some time ago. I couldn't bring myself to really answer yes or no, nor could I not respond at all, so, instead, I shrugged, unsure of how else to answer.

"... I see..." Rarity's gaze was pointed at the desk again, now solemn as she looked to nothing in particular. Fluttershy quickly made her way over to her friend as she noticed her sadness, placing her hoof on her shoulder in a small gesture of comfort.

Rarity, in return, glanced to Fluttershy at the feeling, giving a small smile of thanks before she, and Fluttershy, once again moved their gazes to me, their blue and teal eyes looking to me for guidance. To lead them on.

I gave another quick look around us, turning my head side to side as I looked and listened for anything out of the ordinary. Satisfied, I began to exit out of the office, Rarity and Fluttershy, of course, following shortly behind me.

Shortly down the hall, there was a small flight of stairs that lead upwards, it's wooden steps inviting us to climb it with a sort of... Intent. Of course, I was probably just being paranoid. The three of us carefully climbed these stairs, each step followed by an almost deafening creak, as we made our way upwards. At the end of the flight, in the wall to our left, there was a single door, which slid itself open quickly after realizing that there others before it. Glancing to the floor, I noticed that the doorway seemed to cause a clean split, one side, where the girls and I were, being comprised I of a wooden floor, while the other was of a metal floor. Taking in a breath, I entered the large room, quickly taking in it's surroundings as I did so.

To the left, there were several wooden cabinets, and boards with blueprints on them, seeming to show parts ranging from engines to pistons. The room was lit by a linear series of suspended bulbs, providing it with just enough visibility to get a look around. To my right, I could see that we were on heightened ground, a slightly limited veiw of the area showing a suspended rail car of familiar model, along with speakers that were built into the wall, many more suspended and colored lights, and a series of glass windows built along the top of the room, providing a large, open view of the ocean outside. In my mind, this was a good thing, likely meaning that we were arriving to our first destination in Lower Rapture. The Atlantic Express Depot. The maintenance area, to be accurate.

The Atlantic Express was the previous means of transportation in Rapture, before bathysphere's came along and put it out of business. People would pay a few bucks for a ticket, climb aboard the machine, and, within a few hours, they could be halfway across Rapture... Not very efficient sounding, is it? It's for that reason that the bathysphere won over the public, rather than the Atlantic Express. 'Why travel with lots of strangers for hours at a time, when I can go around Rapture on my own, with only minutes of wait?' That was what everyone said when the bathysphere was introduced into the Rapturian populace, and the rest, as they say, was history.

A smirk came to my face as I stepped further ahead, glancing around the small metallic balcony that we were standing on and making my way to its edge on the- Oh shit!

Quickly after looking to the rest of large room to the right of us, just beyond the metal balcony floor, I scrambled to hide behind one of the metallic support beams of the balcony, my rivet gun held close to me as I sat myself down against the large pole. Looking to my charges, I felt myself give a silent thanks as I saw that they hadn't moved for their previous positions at the doorway.

They glanced between one another as they caught sight of my panicked run for cover, Fluttershy about to take another step forward, her mouth opening to say something, before I quickly rose my hand and signaled for her to stop. She complied quickly, her hoof retreating at a much greater speed than it had gone out and her mouth closing shut as she backed away slightly from the door, Rarity following shortly after.

Nodding at their compliance, I slowly peeked my head around the metal beam that separated the heightened ground that I was on, from the ground that the current threats were.

Twelve splicers, easily, were spread about the room below us, either individually acting in nonsensical manners, or talking to one another in pairs, or groups. I hadn't seen them before purely because of the angle of view that I had. Now that I was near the edge of the balcony though, I could see them clearly.

They were all leadheads, three of them having machine guns, rather than pistols like the rest. The worst part? There were probably more just out of my sight. Maybe they were behind the suspended Atlantic Express car, or behind one of the walls of the many smaller sections of the depot; I couldn't tell.

Christ. I knew that things wouldn't be easy for long, but this was a hell of a difficulty spike! I had enough ammo to take these guys out, sure. Problem was though, that the same thing probably applied vice-versa. Even if I managed to take a few of these guys out, the rest would just pepper me with bullets.

Not good... But, maybe not impossible? Taking in a breath, I tried to calm my slightly panicked mind as I began to look around the area, hoping to see something of use. Anything that could assist me in this situation.

In the far corner, there was an EVE dispenser, though that wouldn't really prove useful in any way, at the moment. Alongside that, there was also a first aid machine, firmly planted against the further off wall in the corner. Anything else that I saw in the room was useless, made up of junk, and, for some reason, remnants of blown incendiary canisters. Too bad too. I could've really used those.

Crap, there really wasn't anything I could use, was there? The only thing that would even be slightly helpful is the medical unit, but that wouldn't really shoot the splicers for me now, would it?

... Would it?

An idea slowly started to spring into mind as a smile formed on my face, though it was also shadowed by a large portion of doubt. Really, It was a longshot, but... Reaching into the supply bag, I pulled out the remote hack tool that I had just recently found, loading in a dart and taking aim at the machine.

Now, here's where a normal person would think, 'what exactly do I plan to do with a hacked first aid machine'? Well, the answer is simple, really... Fail the hack.

It sounds nonsensical, I know, but there's behind my madness. See, if a splicer gets close enough to the machine, and I set off a security alarm, the machine may scan the splicer's genetic information, rather than mine. Security bots would be sent over to take down as many splicers as they possibly could, and, while they're doing that, I could provide support, occasionally taking down a spare splicer every once in a while, whenever I would get a clear shot.

... The other possible outcome of this plan though, is that I could mistime it, have the genetic code of the security system set to mine, and the security bots would go after me instead... It was a 50-50 chance... Okay, 70-30 chance, that it would work. Not the kind of odds a person would normally bet on, but it was the only option. Otherwise, my journey to help Fluttershy and Rarity out of Rapture would end before it even began, and I couldn't let that happen.

Glancing to my charges, who were both looking to me nervously, I let out a long breath, taking aim with the small golden projectile launcher, and pulling the trigger. With a near silent burst of air, the dart was launched across the room, not seeming to attract the attention of the splicers as it came in contact with the first aid machine. Quickly after, the hack tool opened a small screen, signaling that it had begun its hacking process.

It's a little known fact, but there's actually a difference between hacking a machine normally, and using a hack tool... Aside from the obvious, that is. Hack tools don't need any rewiring or the like to turn a machine for your favor. Rather, they used a sort of timing system. Giving a spark of electricity, the hack tool uses that energy to change a machines programming, be it for a set amount of time, or permanently, depending on the circumstances.

When the spark goes off, the user would click a button on the hacker, sending it into its next phase. Every now and then, a stronger spark would pop up, meaning that the machine had not only moved onto its next stage if you clicked it, but that it was also likely to give you a little bonus. If the button was clocked when there was no spark, it meant that the hack was failed, and finally, if clicked during a red spark... Well, you'd be in trouble. The red spark would work similarly to an alarm chip on a vending machine, alerting the nearest security system on a search and destroy basis. The same kind of alert that I was trying to use to my advantage.

It was a pretty bad bug in this thing's design, and it usually made hacking tools a much more risky device, which is why I personally preferred manual hacking, but, if this is what I needed to do, then so be it. I waited as time clicked by, myself watching the hack tool as it continually let out sparks for me to systematically act upon.

Stage after stage, I waited for even a hint of a red to appear, signaling an alarm bug in the hack. At first, nothing came up, and I began to worry that my plan would be a flop. But, finally, at the last possible stage, it came up, my eyes widening slightly as it passed through the tool. It only lasted for a split second, meaning that the time interval was extremely short, but it was there nonetheless. All I'd have to do now, was wait for a splicer to get close enough... This is going to take a whil-

"Ey... 'Ang on a sec 'ere..." I heard a male splicer mutter to himself loudly. "Anyone else see that?" My eyes widened as he said this, along with those of my charges, who were anxiously watching as I continued in my ministrations. Gulping at the thought that the splicer may have somehow spotted us, I risked a peek around the balcony support once more, hoping that I wouldn't be met with an angry looking splicer...

I wasn't, instead catching sight of a leadhead splicer as he made his way across the room, his eyes squinted slightly as he looked to the first aid machine. Had he seen the dart?

A sense of disbelief, and slight amusement, passed through me as he made his way over to the machine, leaning his head in as close to the dart as possible, as it continued to work it's magic, with me behind it's controls. "Was this always here?" That would do it.

The moment a red spark appeared on the hack tool, I mashed the button to confirm the hack, the tool quickly shutting itself down as I caught sight of the dart imploding itself, it's job now done. "What th-" The splicer exclaimed as he recoiled from the blown dart, before his head started to spin again and again as loud series of blares filled the room, the splicers beginning to grow antsy at the sudden noise.

Soon after, I heard a series of whirs and beeps come from the hall that Fluttershy and Rarity were currently in, the two letting out near silent sounds of surprise as two security bots flew over their heads and into the room. I gulped again as the security bots made their way over to me, their lights aimed in my direction, seeming to scan for genetic information.

Now was the moment of truth. If the plan had worked, the bots would move on, going in after the splicers below me... If not...

Seconds felt like years as the security bots continued to stare at me, splicers beginning to sound off wildly behind me as they caught sight of the flying automatons. "Wha's those two doin' ther'?"

"Well, that ain't right."

"They know somthin'! Somethin' that we lot don't!"

Oh great. If these security bots wouldn't be the end of me now, the splicers may. Attracted by the two machines, I heard the clanging of one of the splicer's footsteps as he made his way up the stairs to this balcony, myself looking to the girls and gesturing for them to hide. They didn't go far though, instead simply hiding a small portion of themselves behind the doorframe and wall as they continued to look in towards me.

Turning my view back, the splicer made his way into my line of sight, a revolver in his hands as he turned his view over to the direction of the bots. Then, in correlation, he turned his sight to me. His eyes widened as he raised his revolver up, myself pointing my rivet gun at him as I put my finger to the trigger, mentally cursing my luck as I prepared for what would likely be a tough battle.

"There's one over he- Argghhhh!" I didn't even get the chance to fire as the security bots unleashed a series of bullets onto the splicer, the two letting out a series of beeps as the splicer was turned into a bloody mess. Glancing, to my charges as this happened, I noticed Fluttershy and Rarity clench their eyes shut, thankfully saving themselves of such a horrid sight.

"Charlie, what's wrong?!" Another splicer yelled, this one female. In response to it's cries, the bots quickly sprang into action, flying themselves completely over the balcony, and opening fire on the unsuspecting gene mutants

I... Honestly can't believe it was working. The security systems were fighting against the splicers!

As the loud series of bullets being fired echoed in the room, I took action as well. Aiming around the metal beam, I took a few pot shots on the distracted splicers, who, may I add, were horrible shots on their own. The security bots flew around them faster than they could aim, turning themselves mid-flight and taking down splicers with little to no trouble as the fight went on.

The ADAM crazed lunatics didn't even seem to notice me as I blasted their heads open from behind, too distracted by the blinking, colorful lights of their current intent to kill for them to turn around. Not that I was complaining.

As the fight continued, Fluttershy and Rarity both having their heads down as they awaited for the chaos to end, I found my previous assumption to be true, as more and more splicers came into sight to help destroy the security bots.

First it was three, then five, and eventually, up to eighteen more splicers fell along with the previous group, their arms -- and by that I mean both their weapons and limbs, falling to their sides as they were all torn apart.

It was after a two full clips of rivets, and about ten minutes of fighting, that the splicers finally stopped coming, the security bots scanning the room once more, along with me from above, before letting out several beeps and whirs of satisfaction. It was over... Thank god.

The two flying weapons ascended themselves higher into the room, turning themselves in my direction again and beginning to return to their previous positions before the security alert had gone off... Yeah, not gonna happen.

As the two floated towards me, their rotors whirring loudly above them, I stood myself on my feet, crouching down slightly as I readied myself. The moment I saw the lights of one of the two, I jumped, grabbing hold of the bot, who noisily complained as I did so, and quickly shutting it down through it's maintenance slot.

Before I could start to hack it though, I heard a familiar pair of grunts come from nearby, turning my head to my charges out of reflex. It was easy to see that they were the sources of the grunts, but the reason... Well, it surprised the heck out of me.

The two were currently holding down the other security bot! They must have caught it while I was preoccupied with the first. Rarity was holding the machine by its center, her forelegs tightly circled around it as she struggled to keep it still, while Fluttershy was doing her best to steady the two, using her head and legs to keep the security bot from causing Rarity to fall over.

"Um... Darling..." Rarity grunted as the security bot wriggled in her grip again. "If you would be so kind... As to hurry... That would be wonderful..." My momentary shock being pushed away with a shake of my head, I stood myself from the ground and made my way over to the two, the shut down security bot in my arm as I did so.

As I reached the two, I quickly opened the maintenence slot on the security bot that my charges were keeping restrained, initiating it's shut down process and watching as it's whirring rotors came to a halt, it's built in lights fading to black.

As soon as the machine stopped, both Rarity and Fluttershy both ended what they were doing, panting slightly as they released the now non-struggling machine from their grips, allowing it to drop to the floor.

I picked it up quickly after, placing it, and it's other, on one of the nearby wooden drawers before making my way back to my charges and kneeling in front of them.

As their panting slowly subsided, the two of them looked to me as I gave them a small, thankful smile, and a rub on their heads for their helpfulness.

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Now with two security bots by our sides, of which I had individually named Edward and Auburn, the three of us made our way through the large workshop of the Atlantic Depot. I had set the security bots to protect Fluttershy and Rarity, rather than myself, and it was for that reason that they were staying so close to the two of them. They didn't seem to mind the proximity if the machines either, Fluttershy even going so far as to talk to it in an... Odd voice. The kind I would hear a mother talking to a baby in, or a girl with a kitten... Cute.

As we passed the metal carcass of an unfinished Atlantic Express car, it's engine having been separated from it by a large, and strong, series of ropes and pulleys, we came across one of my more hated pieces of machinery in the room. A Circus of Values machine.

It was just next to the doorway that led to the next room over, its clown face giving me the chills as my charges and I approached it. Truthfully though, the only reason I was even coming close to this thing was because I was running low on rivets.

I had shot a grand total of 24 rivets into that crowd of splicers from before, leaving me with only seven in a partially filled clip. Plus, I did have some money for the thing now. 112 dollars may not exactly get me far, but it would work for the time being.

Reaching into the bag of supplies, I fished out the money in handfuls, placing it on the machine before, with a grunt as I closed the bag up again, looking over the clown's many selections.

Rivets were among its listings, sold at 28 dollars per clip. I groaned as I saw this price, an idea quickly coming to mind as I crouched next to the machine and opened its maintenence slot. Within a few short seconds, I had the machine working to my will, the hack proving to have been child's play as the machine adjusted to it's new format.

Glancing back to the 'vendor', I saw the price of rivets go down to 22 dollars, along with a new listing appearing near the bottom for heavy rivets. Eight for 25 dollars. Plus, as if only to add to this small bounty, the machine let out a loud clunk as it released a free product into its metal tray for use, slightly surprising my charges as it them dropped onto the floor in front of them.

I smiled as I recognized what it was, resembling the many darts that I had collected for my hack tool, only it was red in color, and more sleek. An auto-hack dart.

I smirked as I picked the dart up, giving it a quick once over before putting it with the rest of the ammunition. It was quickly joined by three more clips of rivets, some more heavy rivets, which I transferred into the container with the other few I had, and even a medkit that I had managed to get for only 20 dollars.

Grabbing what little change I had left over after my purchases, I gave the bag on my back a good shake, allowing for the objects inside to settle. As they did so, I turned to my charges, ignoring the automated farewells that the creepy machine gave as I gestured to the doorway next to it, indicating that it was where we had to go next.

They nodded in understanding, the security bots, oddly enough, seeming to do the same shortly after.

Making our way through the doorway, and up another flight of stairs, we entered a large room, dome-like in its overall shape, with two colossal metal structures resembling men holding up the roof of the large chamber. Large wiring could be seen on the ceiling, now loosened from it's previous holdings as the gears and machinery from above continued to work and move in vain. From that machinery, there hung a crane, swinging slightly in its place from the movement above.

The room was filled with several Atlantic Express carts. One was sitting in the middle, awaiting maintenance that would never come, and several more came from the walls, stacked upon each other as they awaited their turns.

Near the side of the room there was a single open path, with nothing more than some wooden boxes, and loose furniture, providing some slight, if not easily avoidable, obstructions. Likely, this was the cargo that the Atlantic Express was meant to take with it.

Along with that, the path had a broken down camera, just barely hanging off from a small series of cables in the wall, a few sparsely spread lights, and a far off service elevator at the end, a label reading 'Train Platform', placed above it, it's light flickering from age.

Keeping my rivet gun raised, the girls and I made our way down the eerily empty room, with our programmed assistants following shortly behind, passing several misplaced oddities of cargo, including a stray sink, and a body bag.

We ignored this to the best of our ability though, soon reaching the small service elevator that awaited us at the end of the path. Pushing a green button that was placed near the elevator, my charges and I waited as the machine let out a wide series of clunks and whirs, meaning that the elevator was coming down.

Along with this though, we also heard the sound of grinding metal, and laughter. Splicers were nearby, by my guess, but they hadn't really noticed the elevator yet, or, as result, us. Nonetheless, I rose my rivet gun towards the metal and cargo that seperated us from the other half of the room, waiting for any signs of unwanted guests.

Fortunately however, as the many minutes passed, we didn't receive any, the elevator letting out a ding behind me as it arrived to our floor, the gate that was keeping the shaft closed off moving to the side, allowing for people to come on board.

Gesturing for Fluttershy and Rarity to enter with a bob of my head, I grabbed hold of Edward and Auburn again, temporarily shutting them down for the elevator ride up... What? I said it was a small elevator, and I wasn't kidding. Last thing I needed was for one of these things to get too close with one of their rotors and give me an unwanted haircut.

Listening as the girls entered the elevator, with the now shut down security bots in my arms, I walked into the moving platform after them, the two having to scooch over slightly to make room for me. It was a tight fit, but it was forgivable. Reaching behind me, my hand fumbled for a button, missing a few times before, finally, I managed to press the elevator button, the gates closing before us as the elevator began to rise.

Fluttershy and Rarity seemed... Surprised by this, the two gripping onto me as the elevator began to move, their eyes scanning the room as we rose up. First time on an elevator? It would make sense, considering the fact that, from what I saw from their world, they weren't that technologically advanced.

Either way, as the two shakily held onto me, I groaned, meaning to tell them that everything was fine, and that this was normal. They couldn't understand me, of course, but they at least seemed slightly calmed by my 'words', their grips easing by a bit.

As the elavator rose, we lost sight of the previous room we were in, instead being given sight of the upper workings of the dome. Pumps, pistons, and steel girders were easily seen, along with with several suspended Atlantic Express carts, sparking slightly from disrepair. In the distance, I could see a large steel sign, the words 'ATLANTIC EXPRESS' emblazoned into the metal in all caps, as if adding to it's own title. Gears spun, and the shadows moved with them as we rose, the true engineering ingenuity of Rapture being visible before our eyes as we rose further still, eventually moving onto yet another floor.

This was where we stopped, a glass door in front of us sliding open with relative ease, lifting itself up into its slot as it gave us sight of our current location.

Upon exiting, we were greeted by a much more well designed room, of which Rarity practically gushed over. The paint was in a shell pattern, using a combination of pale gray and black to add to it. The ocean's light, or at least the city's light, came in through a glass wall behind us, shaped to allow the fitting of the elevator.

As the girls spread out slightly into the room, though no more than a few feet away from me, I activated the security bots again, Edward and Auburn whirring back to life with several beeps and hums. I looked around the room as the two claimed their individual masters, the only particularly 'bad' thing I could see being a vita-chamber to our right, pretty much mocking me.

The room had several pieces of luggage, through which I quickly began to search through for anything of use.

There was little to nothing as I made my way further into the small checkpoint area for the tram service, passing under the half raised metal shutters of the place as I took another glance around.

In front of us was a wooden door, with a gold plated 'R' on it, likely from Ryan's design. In large and showy lights above this door was the individual letters that spelled out, you guessed it, Atlantic Express, a smaller, less flashy, sign below it reading 'Ryan Amusements'.

"Um... Omega?" I heard Fluttershy call, her security bot, Edward, beeping for my attention as well. Turning to her, I saw her looking into a small room behind me, the words 'manager's office' clear in my mind as I looked it over. "Would anything in here help?"

Smiling, I gave her a nod, Rarity quickly make her way over to her friend and giving her praise for noticing this. Fluttershy just bashfuly looked downwards, saying that 'it was nothing'.

As I entered, I saw the two move to a couple of nearby small couches, made to be what I would assume was a waiting area for patrons of the transportation service. They made small talk as I searched the small room, though I didn't pay any mind to it, not wanting to eavesdrop.

I pushed aside a wooden chair and opened up the desk that it led to, revealing about 12 dollars worth of cash, and some bandages. Next, I searched the wooden filing cabinets of the room, this time finding a couple of spare rivets, and a bottle of water.

A relatively good find, sure... But not as good as what else I saw. Off to the side of the small room, there were several wooden crates, most of them broken apart, aside a single, certain one. Picking it up, I noted the weight it had to it as I looked it over for some sort of indicative text.

Sure enough, it was along the bottom of the crate, written in a bold, black, and faded text. 'Handle With Care. 60mm Sensor-Released Trap Rivets'. My eyes widened as I read this, a feeling of glee coming to me as I quickly began to peel the box open.

I noticed Fluttershy and Rarity stop talking as I did so, likely interupted by -- and to this I apologize to them, the amount of noise I was making. Soon, the wooden casing of the crate was no more, revealing two filled rivet containers, painted a light green color, rather than its usual light orange, or a heavy rivet's red, as indication of its different function.

"Did you find anything, darling?" Rarity asked. Turning to her, I nodded, momentarily switching out my normal rivets for the trap rivets as I did so. I wanted to test them out. To see if I still knew how to use them correctly.

So, making my way out of the office, I aimed my rivet gun to the floor, Fluttershy and Rarity watching from the sidelines with raised brows of interest. Without even hesitating, I pulled the trigger, launching one of the rivets into the the ground.

Almost instantly, the rivet initiated a system of machinery, spreading itself further out on the floor and making a miniscule circular platform, with a small laser coming up from it. Fluttershy, Rarity, Edward, and Auburn all watched as I grabbed hold of a random piece of rubble on the floor, giving it a light underhand toss over the rivet.

The moment it came in contact with the laser, the rivet fired again, this time upwards, breaking apart the small piece of rubble as it planted itself firmly in the ceiling, this time staying there. I noticed Fluttershy and Rarity flinch slightly as they saw this, either from surprise or purely from the rather violent mechanics behind this form of ammunition, but they still had a look of wonder and amazement to them.

This ammo would definitely prove useful, I could tell.

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

The five of us were currently looking over the route that the 'train' of this city took, following the dotted and lit up lines from stop to stop, as we neared the end.

We had left the waiting room from before moments ago, continuing down another hall before, having made our way down another flight of stairs, we made our way to the ticket booth area, just next to the train's stop.

The shutters of each and every booth were closed, giving us a clear view of the bronze metallic pattern that they had been given as design. The walls of the room shared the same shell design as the previous one, giving a more homely feel to the setting.

Seats of both wood and cushioning were to our left, lined against the wall, and the center of the room, for it's station's customers to rest as they waited for their trains.

In the middle of the room was the board of locations and stops that the girls and I were currently looking at, some of the bulbs made to turn red and green, differing the current location of the train. The issue, however, was that none of them were green at the moment.

Scratching my head in confusion, I looked around the room again, putting my attention to the closed ticket booth in front of me as a guess came to mind.

"... Where do you suppose the train i-" Before Rarity could finish, I had already slammed my hand into the metal shutters of the ticket booth, causing both her and Fluttershy to jump as I punched a hole through it, and some protective glass.

Pulling my hand out again, and shaking the slight sense of soreness from it, I pulled the shutters up all the way, giving myself a full view of the inside of the small square booth.

A screen, no bigger than an average sized board, was there, flashing an error message over and over again in a repeated fashion. Below it, there was an image of the map that the train followed, the line between Ryan Amusements and here flashing wildly.

The train must have stopped itself in between tracks. I sighed as I saw this, but not out of frustration, so much as it was relief. This wasn't even something you had to fix, really. These trains were old, and, from what I could remember, would jam up like this every now and then. All you had to do was call it back, and it'd be good as new.

Putting my hands against the glass window that separated me from the inside of the booth, I pushed against it, slowly adding more and more force until, with a satisfying sound to add to it, it began to crack. It was then that I stepped back from the thing and raised my rivet gun, preferring to take out the rest of the glass from afar so that I wouldn't hurt myself. I had gotten lucky with my hand when I punched a hole through the shutters, and personally, I didn't want to take that risk again.

Two shots to the top corners was all it took for the glass to finally give way, and for me to enter. Placing my hands on the relatively emptied window, watching out for the loose shards of glass that remained, I hopped myself into the ticket counter, looking over the control panel there for any familiar looking switches.

Lets see... Ticket Ejector, Security, Management -- Ah-ha! 'Call Train'!

... Well, at least they made things relatively easy to find, eh?

Rolling my eyes at the thought, I pushed the button inwards, the machine giving a small ring of confirmation before the error message on the screen in front of me disappeared, now showing the image of a small, digital train moving backwards along the 'track', to where we were.

I gave a silent nod of satisfaction as I noticed this, jumping myself back out the ticket booth window, and quickly being met by my waiting charges. "Did you find anything?" Rarity asked. In return, I nodded, pointing to the gate where the train would come through and surface from as response.

She and Fluttershy looked to the gate in confusion, obviously unsure of what I meant, but, rather than voice this, they just nodded. It was nice to know that they trusted me so much.

Gesturing for the two to follow, I sat down on one of the many seating areas for the ticket booth, my arms crossed behind my head as I patiently began to wait for the train to come. My charges followed my example, sitting themselves at both of my sides as they began to wait as well, though, it was obvious that they were unsure as to what they were waiting for.

I have to say that I'm pretty surprised. I mean, sure, we had gotten a bit of trouble earlier, but, aside from that, this portion of the trip was going relatively simply.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He continued to watch from their first few moments being here, to now. Since Jet Postal, where he had decided to keep an eye on them, all the way to the train station. He watched as they, more specifically the splicer, managed to take down an entire room of other splicers, using nothing more than a glitch in the security systems, and some ingenuity.

How he reprogrammed the two robots, and sent them to protect his two strange companions. How he actually continued to show care for the two, unlike most other splicers he had seen over the years.

He simply couldn't figure it out. Why would this splicer do this? How was he such a good fighter?

His inner frustration growing, he felt himself begin to tremble in annoyance.

It didn't make sense!

Raising himself up, he slammed down again in frustration, his place of hiding shaking and sparking slightly in response... And accidentally breaking apart a pair of wires below him.

His eyes widening as he realized what he had done, a single thought came to mind as he saw the splicer, and the two with him, jump in surprise, looking around the room in confusion as a loud alarm began to blare.

"Oops."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, what the fuck!?!

How did that even happen?! One second, I'm trying to calmly wait for the time to pass along with Fluttershy and Rarity, the next, some random alarm starts blaring? Seriously universe, what the fuck did I do to you?!

"O-Omega? What's going on?" Fluttershy asked, a tone of fear and worry in her voice. Looking to her and Rarity, I made to answer, but was quickly interupted as the far off sound of screaming and whooping splicers began to flood the room, my eyes widening as I glanced to the door of the station.

Without a second thought, I grabbed hold of both Rarity and Fluttershy, moving further into the train station and placing the two behind cover. They looked to me in concern, but I just gestured for them to stay where they were, not wanting them to get hurt.

They were hesitant, glancing to one another before answering, but they eventually nodded.

Satisfied by this answer, if only for the moment, I gestured for the two security bots to follow me, the two letting out a series of beeps in response before doing just that.

Moving to the inside of the ticket booth again, Edward and Auburn took positions to the walls around the corners of the doorway, while I began to set up a perimeter.

I lined a wall of trap rivets along the bottom of the staircase, making a barred of wall for any splicers that would come too close. Along with that, I placed a couple on the walls near the middle, having them positioned in slightly different distances. Satisfied with this, I switched back to my normal rivets, taking aim down the doorway as I crouched myself down, giving myself as much cover as possible.

The sound of the several arriving splicers on the other side of the door caused me to tense as I placed my finger on the trigger... Bring it, you fucks.

Almost as if on que, the door to the room was blasted open, a plume of smoke hiding the splicers as I, and my security bots, awaited for a clear shot.

There was a tense moment of silence as the smoke began to clear, the footsteps of a single splicer soon reaching my ears as he stepped through the smoke. He held a wrench in his hand, moving his gaze to me and giving a smile.

"... Someone new, eh?" Before I could groan or do anything in response, the splicer let out a loud yell, which seemed to echo from behind him. Only, it wasn't an actual echo. Rather, it was the sound of several other splicers yelling along with him.

Out of annoyance, I fired, punching a rivet through the splicers neck and splattering his blood onto the wall and floor behind him. This seemed to be the pebble for the avalanche, as it were, as an instant surge of splicers began to come through the door.

Several kinds of splicers were there, ranging from thuggish to spider, as they stampeded through the door. There were about thirty, from first glance, made up of twelve thuggish splicers, five leadheads with machine guns, nine more with revolvers, and three spider splicers.

Letting out a yell, I opened fire on the group, Edward and Auburn reacting by coming out from behind their corners and unleashing their own hell storm of lead. Within seconds, we took out about half of their numbers, including two of the spider splicers which had come too close to the trap rivets, thankfully.

The splicers with firearms peppered the three of us, occasionally hitting Edward and Auburn, but not doing any serious damage as the bullets pinged off of their metal coverings.

Pulling the trigger again, I felt my eyes widen as a small click came from it, rather than a fired rivet. I quickly removed the emptied container, reaching behind my back for another clip of rivets.

As I grabbed hold of the container, I pulled it out from my bag and quickly moved for my rivet gun in an attempt to attach it. Before I could do so though, the third spider splicer decided to make himself known, having avoided the trap rivets by using the cieling above, before pouncing into the ticket booth and knocking me down to the ground. Laughing crazily, he raised his meat hooks into the air, bringing them down repeatedly in an attempt to end my life.

I managed to avoid these slashes, though just barely, with a few movements of my head, before, giving an angered growl, I pushed the splicer off of me, crashing him into the side of the booth.

I stood myself before he could recover, grabbing hold of his head and pushing it back, making sure that his lower body would stay where it was as his upper body was bent backwards over the side of the booth. He screamed and struggled, but I eventually shut him up as his back was broken with a loud snap, not killing him, but paralyzing him.

I dropped his unresponsive body into the booth as I finished loading my rivet gun, aiming it back at the doorway before-

"Oy! 'Ave a taste of this den!" A loud clanging sound inside of the booth I took cover in drew my attention, my eyes widening as I spotted a lit explosive along the floor, landing next to the paralyzed splicer's face. Fucking brilliant.

Grunting, I quickly jumped out of the booth as it blew, all of its shutters and glass flying outwards as I hit the floor with an 'oomph'.

Shaking my head, I looked upwards to the doorway again, watching as several more of the splicers were massacred by Edward and Auburn, who kept their fire on them. Two of them ran back for the door, though only one managed to get there, the other taking a shot to the back of the head from my rivet gun as I fired from my prone position.

"Oh crap!" I heard the splicer yell as I stood myself up, the weapons of the security bots cocking again as they prepared to go after and finish off the splicer. "Sen' in Bruno! Sen' in Bruno!"

Bruno? My brow rose as he yelled this Auburn beginning to float up the stairway to finish off the splicer before he stopped in place, a loud, familiar roar echoing into the room. A brute splicer.

Narrowing my eyes, I groaned for the security bot to get back. It did so reluctantly, its gaze focused on the door as it floated backwards to Edward.

As the sound of heavy footsteps began to fill the room, I reached into my bag again, pulling out a proximity mine and arming it. Honestly, I wanted to end this as soon as possible at this point.

I waited and listened as the footsteps and grunts of the brute splicer came closer and closer, before, with a grunt of my own, I threw the mine into the doorway. My throw ended up being right on target, a series of beeps echoing through the door before the explosive went off, followed by the loud yell of both the cowardly leadhead, and the brute that had thought himself to be tough.

A plume of smoke and fire came through the door as the explosive went off, ending the life of the two threats in mere seconds. Just in case, I waited a few moments, listening in silence as the smoke continued to clear from the explosion sight, an echo of quiet going through the room.

... Sighing, I allowed myself to lower my rivet gun again, turning myself around and beginning to make my way back to my charges... But then... I noticed that neither Edward, nor Auburn, had left their spots.

Turning my head to them, I groaned for them to follow. Rather than do so though, they just cocked their guns again, keeping themselves aimed at the doorway.

What were they doing? No splicer, brute or otherwise, could survive a proximity mine to the face! It was impossible! They would've been killed by the explosion, or the fire it had caused!

"That all you got, li'l poppit?"

What the-

I had no time to react as an entire cabinet was thrown at me through the door, my arms basically acting as a miniature cushion for the impact, but still not softening its blow enough to stop it from sending me flying.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fluttershy and Rarity waited and listened as the several death screams and sounds of violence echoed their whereabouts. They tried to think of otherwise as the violence went on, but they also couldn't help but to silently hope that Omega was doing well.

Time dragged by as the sounds of death went on. An explosion caused them to flinch from it's loud sound and intensity, and eventually doing so again as yet another echoed down the station.

A moment of silence came as the two slowly opened their eyes, peering their heads over the cover that Omega had so caringly placed them behind.

The two glanced around the room, looking for some sort of indication for their friend, Omega's location. Within a few short moments, Rarity caught sight of him, tapping Fluttershy's side for her attention before pointing next to the ticket booth.

Omega was barely visible off to the side of the booth, seeming to be heading towards them, a look of slight exhaustion to him.

Fluttershy let out a breath she hadn't been aware of holding, while Rarity smiled at the sight, the two being more than glad to see that Omega was unharmed.

However, they both rose a brow as Omega came to a stop, turning himself again and giving a groan. For a moment, they couldn't hear anything, wondering to themselves as to what could be stopping him. Within mere moments though-

"That all you got, li'l poppit?" The two gasped as Omega was all but launched towards their location, crashing into a nearby wall with a grunt and a painful sounding crash.

Omega groaned as he removed the wooden cabinet from himself, shakily getting to his feet as he heard the gunfire of the security bots from before, along with, much to his confusion, the clanging of metal. "Omega! A-Are you okay?" Glancing behind him, Omega gave Fluttershy a nod, before just as quickly turning himself forward again, raising his rivet gun in front of him.

The brute laughed as he made his way into the view of Omega, and his charges, their eyes widening in a combination of surprise, shock, and fear as they noticed something... Different about the splicer.

It was obviously a brute splicer, as could be told from the over-muscled build, and his voice, but it could also be seen that he was still much more different than any brute splicer that they had seen before.

The bullets of the security bots, which the splicer seemed to ignore, impacted harmlessly into the splicer as he looked to the three with a twisted smile. Most of his head was surrounded by bent metal, a familiar shape to it, aside from a missing porthole. His body had metal plates and parts about it, surrounding all of his previously exposed vital parts, while still allowing him a fair amount of movement.

"Oh mother fu- This is what happened to all the armor?!?" Omega thought to himself in a shocked frustration, raising his rivet gun and quickly opening fire. Like the bullets of the security bots though, the rivets just ricocheted off his armor, only a few making any solid hits.

The splicer laughed at Omega's attempts, slowly stepping forward again as Omega reached into his bag once more, pulling out another container of rivets, though this time of a different color, and attaching it to the rivet gun before he once again aimed to the splicer.

"Hahaha! Really? Again den? Right den, tell y' what. I'll let y' git a free shot den." At this, Omega's brow rose, himself honestly in disbelief that the splicer would say such a thing. He had often referred to them as idiots, but they couldn't possibly be this idioti- "Go on. Try it."

"... If you say so... Dumb ass." With a smirk on his face, Omega fired three shots in rapid succession, each of them aimed at the splicers chest plate. The splicer's eyes widened as pain shot through him, himself recoiling back as the heavy rivets punched straight through his armor.

His face contorted in anger and pain as he began to charge at Omega, who kept on firing in response. A good five more heavy rivets were shot into the splicer before he came too close for Omega's comfort, causing him to jump to the side as the splicer foolishly ended up crashing into a nearby pile of rubble.

Omega took the opportunity to take potshots at the splicers back, just as the security bots continued to do, his yells of pain growing as he struggled to stand himself up.

Growling, Omega raised the aim of his rivet gun, hoping to end this chaos with a well placed head shot. Before he could do so though...

"Omega, look out!" Rarity shouted, much to Omega's dismay. Suddenly, Omega found himself kneeling as a sharp, white hot pain shot through his leg and mind, bringing about a roar from him. Turning his head, he caught sight of the leadhead splicer from before, part of his face and body severely burned as he looked to Omega with a twisted smile, his partially melted revolver still in his hand.

Narrowing his eyes in annoyance, Omega quickly reacted, raising his rivet gun to the splicer with a growl and firing a series of shots. The splicer's leg was the first to go, as a sense of 'eye for an eye', before the next to go was his head, splattered into a bloody mess with a well-placed shot down the middle.

Among this, Omega also attempted to fire once more, if only purely out of spite, before a clicking sound came out instead... It was only then that Omega realized his mistake. He hadn't switched out the heavy rivets for regular rivets.

He was barely able to turn himself around before he felt a strong impact on his chest, the armored splicer, having had enough, managing to have closed the distance between the two of them, before, with a loud roar, sending Omega flying back.

Omega hit the far wall, the force behind his impact not yet being deterred as he soon broke through even that, the wall crumbling as he was sent through, Omega now completely disappearing from the sight of his charges, security bots, and attacker.

"Omega!" Fluttershy yelled, gasping as the splicer made his way in front of her and Rarity, a sick smile on his face.

"Oh, don' worry. You'll join 'm soon 'nuf." The splicer raised his arm up into the air, but, before he could bring it down again, the security bots began to fire again. This time, they actually were able to injure him though, purposely aiming for the openings in the splicer's armor as had been opened by Omega.

The splicer yet again recoiled back, giving out a growl as he looked to the two piece of machinery, and then to the ponies.

"Alright. I'll leave y' two for last." As he said this, he let out a yell, Edward and Auburn attempting to protect their remaining programmed masters to the best of their ability while the splicer charged them in his attempts to destroy them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

... That hurt... A lot... Ugh...

As I came to, I could feel the world spinning around me, a loud series of clangs and crumbles sounding out from behind me as I struggled to pick myself up. My mind was swimming, but I was still partially aware of what was going on, and what had happened.

That armored brute splicer had gotten a good hit on me, from what I could remember. I recall hitting some drywall, it crumbling as I was launched through with considerable force. I also remember the fact that the fucker had hit me while I wasn't paying attention. Just like a splicer to do that kind of thing. Though... Despite this, I felt... Fine? That hit... Should have hurt me pretty badly, at least.

As the ringing in my ears began to fade, along with the dull throbbing in my head and back, I grew more aware of my surroundings.

A soggy feeling was the first thing to register in my mind, my eyes closing themselves as they were continually flooded with water that leaked in a continual stream from above. My legs and waist were below water, splashing as I bent and moved them about.

No pain there, that's good... I was sure it was worse though. I pulled up my pant leg up and, much to my surprise, I didn't see any sort of injury on my leg, where I was almost sure I was shot... I guess that the bullet just grazed me. It had even left a couple of holes in my pant leg from the bullet's entry and exit... Lucky, huh?

My hands sloshed in the fairly shallow water below me as I started to pick myself up, reaching behind me before, just as quickly, flinching back as I felt a sharp sting of pain. I let out a short groan as I put my hand before my face, quickly gaining notice of the cut across my palm, slowly releasing a small amount of crimson down to my wrist.

Grunting, I dove my hand back into the water again, my currently inactive ESU and rivet gun lightly hitting the ground below the water as I did so. The clear liquid was given a small mist of red as I turned my head behind me, to see exactly what I had ended up crashing into.

I nearly fell forward as I was quickly met with the bent, shining metal face of a caricature girl. It's paint was chipped off in various places, the little sister look-alike staring me down with its bent and broken face.

I recognized these machines, if only because of how much I hated them. It was a Gatherer's Garden machine. This was the result of a twisted man's aim for ADAM. It was because of this machine that ADAM was so important. If you get ADAM, you can give it to these machines to get plasmids, or gene tonics. And, to get ADAM... Well, lets just say that one of my daughters could have easily ended up being used in these machines.

The thought made me sick to my stomach really, almost enough to make me gag, but I pushed it aside as I slowly slid myself forward, away from the machine. The reason I had cut my hand, apparently, was because the glass display case of the machine had broken when I had hit it, and I had been unfortunate enough to come in contact with it when I tried to pick myself up.

The machine itself, by the way, was empty; Likely having been removed of it's stock as ADAM obsessed splicers continued to abuse it's inventory. As I continued to slide myself forward though, I felt my foot come in contact with something, a loud clang, followed by the sound of rolling glass, causing me to quickly turn my head to the source.

There, I saw a colored glass container, lying next to a smaller, differently colored object. The color, though, wasn't from the container itself. But, rather, from its contents.

One of the two was a vivid red, a wider design to it, and a small face-like figure on the top. A plasmid, with it's label worn out, though I could still barely make out it's image. The other was smaller in size, with a bright yellow to it. A gene tonic, this one's label completely worn beyond recognition.

I looked to the objects of Rapture's downfall in disgust, sneering as I stood myself from the wet floor and looked to the crumbled drywall in front of me, determined to get back to my charges as soon as possible. Edward and Auburn would only hold out for so long against that armored son of a bitch. I needed to get back to Fluttershy and Rarity as soon as possible. They would need all the help they could get!

Reaching the debris that blocked off my path, my eyes narrowed as I reeled my arm back, and launched it forward with as much force as I could muster... Before I found myself stopping...

Despite my annoyance and disgust at the subject, I found myself slowly glancing back to the two objects on the floor behind me... I was out of heavy rivets... That armored fuck was still out there... And I wasn't really collecting all of those EVE hypos for the hell of it, was I?...

Sighing, I made my way to the gene tonic and plasmid, giving the two another scowl before I reluctantly picked them up. I had collected those EVE containers because... well, a part of me knew that this was always a viable option, despite my distaste for it. I made my way to the gatherers garden machine, reaching my arm into its open slot, feeling around for something of use. Eventually, after what felt like an eternity, I found it, pulling it out of the machine and looking it over with a cringe.

An empty hypo, used to inject plasmids and gene tonics, though they could only be used once before they had to be disposed of. Holding it with my left arm to my chest, along with the glowing glass container's, I continued to search the inside of the machine. Nothing more came up. There was only the one.

Rolling my eyes as I pulled my arm out from the machine, I grabbed hold of the plasmid again, looking it over, from the very symbol on it to the overall shape... Was I really willing to do this? To just give up what little humanity I had left over from the protector program?

My eyes widened as a faint explosion came through the debris of drywall, followed by a loud scream. To hell with my humanity, they needed me!

Without another thought, I grabbed hold of the empty hypo with my left hand, and the plasmid in my right, placing the gene tonic with the rest of my supplies. I injected the hypo into the top of the plasmid container, pulling the plunger back and allowing for the gene altering liquid to enter into the needle before I carelessly dropped the now emptied glass container to the floor.

Holding the hypo in my left hand, I shakily raised it over my right arm, exposing my wrist for what was to come. Now, normally, a person is supposed to inject a plasmid or tonic into their left arm, due to the fact that the arteries and veins there are usually more pronounced; Considering the fact that I have most of my weaponry is already on my left arm though...

As another faint explosion came through the debris, likely signaling the end of the other security bot that I had hacked, my eyes narrowed. I pulled back the hypo with my arm and, bracing for what was to come, jammed it into my wrist with a pained grunt, before then slowly pushing down on the plunger, and watching as its contents were emptied... Into me.

Author's Notes:

M-m-m- MEGA CHAPTER!

Whoo! That's right everyone! Commemorating both the five hundred like mark, and the whole '4th of July' tradition, I've made this chapter exceptionally longer than the previous ones, with lots of butt kicking fun... And an interesting end. :D

Full Rapture Experience everybody! Yeah!

Now, this was actually another interactive thing... Sort of, to determine what plasmid I would give Omega to start him up.

And, judging from what I learned from your guys' answers in the previous chapter, I've already figured out what, and am sure you will agree when you see it... Next chapter.

C: Hope you enjoy!