There was a menacing clanking noise that sounded in the distance as Spike and the rest of the group drew closer to the radio tower. They hid behind a dilapidated police station and prepared their weapons. Butch loaded his massive, cannon-like shotgun with three gigantic flak shells and filled his revolver with armor-piercing rounds. He lit another cigar as he peaked around a back alleyway that came to an abrupt end at a drop-off; he looked down into the ravine ahead. The radio tower was much taller than expected, and it actually was rooted into the ground at the bottom of crater. the ground shook and trembled as the clanking noise grew louder, and more robotic sounds joined in, turning the single crank into a symphony of metallic chaos. Butch saw hundreds of skeletons at the bottom of the crater, and one towering, fifty-meter skeleton protecting the complex attached to the tower. He ran back behind the cover of the police station and relayed the information.

"There's a whole damn army down there..." Butch said with a slight groan. "We'll have to surprise them, hit them with a single, hard attack to scatter their ranks."

"What kind of attack are we talking about?" Edgar wondered, hinting at his desire to tear them apart with one of his nuclear blasts.

"Can you take that big one down there?" Masami pointed at the giant skeleton as they both took a peek.

"I'll try." Edgar nodded as he cracked the knuckles of his right hand.

"Alright, we need a strike team to sneak around the crater using this avenue," Masami pointed at the sign on a nearby street corner that read Dallas Avenue. "You'll enter the complex through the back, and hit em' where it hurts. You'll take that cyborg bastard down, Dr. Gearza. Who's game for being part of the strike team?"

"I'm in." Liazo volunteered

"Same. I won't be too helpful out there in the fray anyways." Gin admitted, knowing full-well that she was just an earth pony without the adequate firepower to deal with the threatening group of mechanical monsters.

"I'll go," Butch said as he holstered his pistol.

"Me too." Evelyn stepped closer to Butch, signifying her unwillingness to let him go without her. She fabricated a reason to join them in her haste. "I might be able to shut the facility down permanently from the inside."

"Sounds like a plan." Masami nodded as she peaked around her corner again. "You guys get moving, get inside, and find a way to shut it down. We'll take the bots. Go."

The strike team began their march north around the crater, and Masami turned to face the remaining members of their group. She brought out another black sphere, similar to the one that generated the elastic armour that everypony else was coated in. It buzzed and whirred a few times before liquefying and morphing into a piece of technology. It appeared to be a musket, but it was unlike anything Spike or Draven had seen before.

"What in Leere's name is that?" Draven raised an eyebrow at the strange, alien weapon.

"A LRHPR or a Long Range High-Power Railgun to be exact. I utilizes magnetism to propel a bullet to hypersonic-..." Masami realized she was rambling and cleared her throat awkwardly to break the boredom-laced silence she created. Masami could tell the others were pretending they knew what she was talking about. "Never mind. Let's just scout for a while." Masami strapped the rifle to her back and stepped into the old police station, making her way up the stairs to the roof and urging the others to follow. "Come on."

As soon as they reached the top– save for Edgar who stayed at ground level, worried the whole structure would crumble under his crushing weight– they began surveying the area. Edgar tried leaning against the side of the building to get a better view, but the brick outer wall of the station groaned and crackled as he pressed his back against the building. He recoiled as soon as he heard the noise, and retreated to the sidewalk, sighing as he hung his head with a mixed expression of embarrassment and relief on his face.

"Poor guy..." Masami shook her head as she peered through her scope to get a better view of the radio station's defences. "Nothin' but robots thankfully, no cultists. Winny, how good are you at clearing a path?" Masami asked the stoic paladin, who was leaning up against the closed door that led to the spiral staircase they all took to reach the roof.

"I have experience with such a task." Winslow replied as he drew his sword, inspecting the edge of the blade. "I fear my sword may dull, however, those metal creatures do a number on the sharpness of its edge. I will try to slay as many as I can."

"That's a promise he can keep, I'll tell you that!" Draven assured Masami, but she still remained sceptical of paladins who jumped into modern battlefields with claymores and outdated armour.

"I'll... have to see it to believe it." Masami tried to place her judgement lightly, but it was hard for her not to criticize his choice of weaponry.

"What'll I do?" Rainbow Dash interjected as she crouched down to look at whatever Masami was aiming her scope at.

"You're more than fast enough to distract them without taking any hits, you'll be makin' em'-..." Masami trailed off as raised her scope just enough to see the other side of the crater. "What the hell?" It took her a moment to realize what was on the other side of the ravine. "Shit! Everypony get down!"

They all ducked, including Edgar, and held their breath as Masami peaked over the edge of the building to catch a glimpse of the other side. Rainbow Dash covered her ears and tucked her head into her chest as she awaited an imminent attack, but no such attack was heard. "What's going on, Masami? Are there bandits?"

"Not sure..." Masami zoomed in on her scope to get a better view. "There's a sniper on the other side of the crater. It's not a bandit..."

"What could it be?" Fluttershy whispered as she tried looking, but she was stopped by Winslow.

"Careful," He warned the curious pegasus, placing a hand on her back to keep her behind cover.

"Could it be a cultist?" Spike suggested.

"No. That scope emits a blue light, meaning that weapon's a standard issue rifle, spec ops. Maybe it's a member of some lost patrol? No, that's not right... they were all equipped with heart-rate monitoring implants. They're all dead..." Masami talked to herself as she tried piecing it together. "It can't be a cultist or a bandit, only trained spec ops can use that rifle. Or maybe..."

Masami set her rifle on the edge of the rooftop and directed it towards the mystery sniper. She flicked a dial on and off on her scope, turning the blue light on and off in a pattern that was unrecognizable to Spike and the others. However, they were too worried about Masami's safety to care, and Draven grabbed her shoulder to try and pull her back down.

"No, it's fine," Masami insisted as she pushed Draven's hand away. "Looks like we've got an ally... see?" Masami pointed over to the other side, and Draven looked down the scope. The sniper was repeating the same pattern, turning their light on and off. "I asked that pony if he was peaceful, and it looks like he is."

"How do you know for sure?" Spike wondered.

"I'm pretty sure... the only kind of ponies I know that can use scope-communication are ex-military, but that makes no sense. Surely most of the residents of this hellhole are all crazy, there's no way. There's something else to this." Masami was still gobsmacked by the situation, and she flicked her scope on and off again to send a new message.

"What are you doing?" Draven asked as he watched her turn it on and off, counting seconds every time she turned it off.

"I just asked he, or she their purpose here," Masami explained as she kept tinkering with her scope. "Maybe if I adjust the scope a little I can get a view of the sniper..." She fiddled with a few screws in the internal mechanism of the rifle scope, and she peered through it once more, closing her left eye tightly and focusing her sight. "What the hell?"

"What is it?" Draven was intrigued by Masami's shocked expression as she zoomed in on the sniper.

"Well... our mystery ally isn't ex-military, that much I can say..." Masami answered him as she gawked at the strange pony.

The pony holding the rifle was no pony at all. Granted, its shape and mannerisms resembled that of a regular stallion. It was clear the creature was made of a metal based on the golden chrome designs of the robot. Its facial expressions were lifelike, its cheeks and muscles made of overlapping, intricate plates of metal animated by articulate gears and cogs that were barely visible between the cracks in the smooth plating. It was definitely an android, but more advanced than anything she had seen before. The robot had thin strips of wire for hair, which formed a mane made of thin metal strands. It wore a leather trench coat and a bandolier over its metal torso. The android's visible, camera-like eyes were cyan blue, and it even had mechanized eyelids that squinted as it peered into its rifle

"This is incredible. Evelyn would be losing it right now." Masami communicated with the robotic stallion again, and sent the message "What–are–you?"

"Not–one–of–them." The android replied through its scope, realizing that Masami was zooming in on him. "I–am–a–dampfriesen."

Masami lowered her rifle for a moment and began to evaluate the weight of her discovery. The creature she was talking to was a dampfriesen. A highly advanced and intelligent, android, dampfriesen. "Wow..." Masami took a deep breath and replied again. "How–can–we–trust–you?"

"What is it, Masami?" Spike inquired.

"I... I have no idea." Masami was positively gobsmacked by the mechanical marvel. She zoomed in on the sniper. He was writing down something on a piece of paper with a piece of charcoal. As he finished, he raised it up high for her to read and saluted. "By the founders..."

UICTORIAM, IUSTITIAM, AD SECURITATEM

"What did the sniper say?" Spike asked as he stood up.

"He said, 'Uictoriam, Iustitiam, Ad Securitatem'. It means, 'To Victory, To Justice, To Security'." Masami beamed as she waved to the sniper. He waved back. "It's the oath every dampfriesen knows and recites once it leaves the Ministry of Security. It's hard-wired into their AI mainframe; Archibald Mason's Oath to a Secure Ausrüstung." Masami laughed joyously as she spread the news to Edgar, who– to her surprise– was saluting to the sniper on the other side. Did he see him? "Edgar, what's up?"

"Oh, what?" Edgar shook his head; he was daydreaming. "Apologies... I spaced out for a moment."

"You won't believe it, Eddie! That sniper is a dampfriesen, but way more than that!" Masami informed the giant, who tried getting a closer view of the sniper by standing up on a nearby dumpster. That failed miserably, and Edgar crushed the steel dumpster beneath his hooves like a tin can.

"Damn." Edgar cursed under his breath as he stepped off of the crumpled slab of metal squished by his gigantic hooves. He became so caught up in his blunder that he forgot about the topic entirely, but he returned to the conversation at hand once he tried (and failed) to bend the dumpster back to normal. "So, you said the sniper is a dampfriesen? I thought they were supposed to be malfunctioning brutes...?"

"So did I," Masami said as she zoomed in to look at the sniper again, "But it looks like I was wrong. I wonder if there are more of them?"

"There's no time for inquiries, Masami. We've got to formulate a plan of attack." Draven reminded her of the original mission, and Masami nodded back to him in agreement. "If that sniper's on our side, surely he'd be willing to help?"

"Let's see," Masami said as she sent the sniper another message via scope sight. "Can–you–help–us–take–the–station?"

"That–was–my–plan." The robot stallion replied.

"Looks like this dampfriesen knows about our plan..." Masami concluded as she raised her hand in the air to give the sniper a thumbs-up, and the robot stallion reciprocated the gesture. "No time to ask any more questions. Let's get back to the plan."

"So, where shall Spike and I attack?" Draven asked Masami, who was still scouting the area with her rifle.

"You two have got the firepower for crowd-control." Masami watched some of the skeletons in the ravine bunch up into separate squads. "I think you'll be able to take more of em' out if they huddle together like that." Masami pointed down into the crater, directing Spike and Draven's eyes to the packs of skeletons. "Try hitting them from a distance with that magic of yours."

"Sounds like a plan." Draven agreed wholeheartedly.

"What about me?" Fluttershy said with her usual timid tone of voice. "What will I do...?"

"That drone has a built-in themosonic barrier generator. It should provide adequate protection for you and anypony else you wish to shield. Just point at your desired target, and the drone will take care of the rest." Masami explained as she fiddled with Fluttershy's drone. "There. The barrier won't harm living things now, only mechanical constructs."

"Alright, so now what? Will there be a signal, or...?" Draven looked around for some kind of sign that gave him an answer.

"I'll give the word. It'll take around thirty minutes for them to get to that end of the crater." Masami instructed them as she looked down at the watch on her left hand that she set to go off at thirty minutes. "Until then, I suggest you all stick around. I get lonely all by myself!"

"Alright then," Rainbow Dash hummed as she picked up an old wooden stool leaning up against a rusty air conditioning unit and propped it up. "So, why is this thing in a crater anyways? I thought you guys uses that... 'Guava Device' or whatever."

"It's 'Guiver', and yeah we did. I think this was just caused by erosion." Masami explained as she zoomed in to get a better view of the edges of the crater. The broken pipes jutting out of the landscape confirmed her theory. "Yep, I'm right. The sewer system must've gone to shit after so many years of improper maintenance. The pipes probably all burst due to environmental conditions, eating away at the landscape until this whole section of Schlüssel sank. I'm surprised that the radio station survived, after all these years."

"Who's this automation we're fighting with, Dr. Gearza? The one that leads these monstrous mechanical constructs?" Winslow inquired, looking down into the crater. "What are his intentions?"

"No idea. All I know is that he's crazy..." Masami scoffed and shrugged her shoulders.

Rainbow Dash thought back to Chesterfield Manor when Agent Golde and Amos were showing them the files regarding the members of Infernalgear. She remembered the concerned look on Butch's face when Dr. Gearza's name was mentioned. "I think Butch might know him..."

"Oh? How did you come to that conclusion?" Masami raised an eyebrow as she continued to survey the ravine.

"Well, he looked worried when those agents talked about him. Maybe he knew him?" Rainbow Dash didn't have any other evidence to support her claim.

"It's possible. Perhaps that's why he decided to be a part of the strike team. Maybe he has a vendetta or something?" Masami laughed and shook her head. "If I was Gearza, I'd turn tail and run. There's nothing more frightening than having Butch breathe down your neck. Well, maybe Eddie's a little scarier..."

"Thanks, Masami..." Edgar rolled his eyes as he sat down on the crumpled dumpster like a tree stump.

"Love you too, buddy!" Masami chuckled as she looked down at her watch. "Twenty-seven minutes left..."

Author's Notes:

The battle for the tower's gonna start soon! I'm getting excited! As always, I hope you enjoyed! See you in the next chapter!