Butch hid behind a pile of rubble at the edge of the crater. From what he could see as he raised his head to take a peek, the entrance was not heavily guarded, and the drop-off was nowhere near as daunting as it was in the middle of Dallas Avenue where they were before. The backdoor only had a few skeletons guarding it, but there was a camera just above the locked metal door, which would be a problem for him and the rest of his strike team.

Butch thought back to before when he fixed Evelyn's EMP device. "Eve, remember that grenade I fixed for you?"

"Yes, what do you need it-?" Evelyn caught on before she finished the sentence. "Ah, here. Careful, though, it's just a prototype so it won't disable electronics completely, it will just temporarily stun them."

"How long will we have before that thing wears off?" Gin asked as she loaded up some of her flintlocks.

"Approximately... two minutes." Evelyn guessed off the top of her head. "Maybe three..."

"Maybe three?" Liazo questioned Evelyn's estimation skills as he fiddled with his lighter.

"Let's make that two minutes just to be safe, okay? We'll have to break open the lock on that door before it wears off. Who can lock-pick here?" Butch wondered, inviting the other members of the strike team to speak up.

Liazo spotted the lock from behind the pile of rubble. "That lock is ancient, metal. I was only trained to crack magnetic locks that run on electronics. I haven't got a clue when it comes to mechanical locks."

Everypony but Gin paused for a moment and calmly directed their gaze at the silver-haired pirate, subtly hinting to her that she was an expert at lock-picking, and she was the perfect candidate. It took her a moment to realize why they were staring at her, and her expression contorted into a bitter one. "Oh, I see! You all think I'm a master lock-picker because I'm a pirate and I steal things!" Gin huffed as she pulled out a bag of lock-picks from her pocket in an impatient manner, guilt-tripping the others. Her expression went from offended to gleeful in a matter of a half a second as she opened the bag and grabbed one, revealing to the others that her reaction before was nothing but a ruse. "Well, I am! That lock'll be open in no time at all!"

"Spare me the jovial attitude, Gin. This is serious." Evelyn sighed, a little annoyed by Gin's carefree demeanor.

"Yeah, I'm just... trying to lighten the mood, you know?" Gin chuckled lightly as her smirk faded for a moment, but returned when she rifled through the bag of lock-picks. "Sorry."

Gin often joked around too much in the eyes of Evelyn. She was never serious, she often facetiously laughed at dire matters, and she treated most things like a game, which irked her beyond belief. However, what agitated Evelyn the most was the way she ended every sentence, with a small laugh. Perhaps it was her coping mechanism? Her way of dismissing a bad mood or thought? Whatever the reason, it still bothered Evelyn. Although she hated to admit it, Evelyn also harbored a degree of jealousy for Gin. Evelyn was so very tired of treating every situation in her world like it was a matter of life and death, and she wished to relieve herself of the mask she wore daily.

What saddened her, though, was the fact that her serious attitude often disappointed Butch, jabbed away a little at his already damaged soul. Evelyn didn't want to accept the fact that every day she was becoming more and more like him. Never happy, always angry, bitter with the hand she was dealt in life. Butch grew happier when the two joined together on Task Force One three years prior, his dismay and dread seemed to be swept away whenever he saw her. However, Butch only saw a happy, carefree child whenever he looked at her, only seeing with his old eyes that grew so accustomed to her young, smiling face. She wanted him to tear away the act, tear away the illusion that she was six again. Evelyn wanted Butch to see her as she was; a mare who's only experience being a filly was when he came to visit her at her mansion or her boarding school.

"Evelyn, what's got you down?" Butch took off his helmet as he noticed Evelyn, who sat down on the other side of the pile of rubble on the sidewalk, staring at the ground, lost in her own thoughts.

"Nothing, Butch... nothing." Evelyn snapped out of her internal crisis and returned to the matter at hand, still feeling a sharp pain in the back of her head; a desperate cry from a foal trapped within her head. She stood up and joined them on the other side of the mound of concrete. "Let's get back to work."

"Alright, let me run this by you all one more time." Butch prepared his explanation, directing his eyes towards the back door of the radio station. "Once we hear the signal, I'll toss this grenade at the door, and Gin'll break the lock."

"Wait, what's the signal?" Gin wondered.

"Masami is a wiz at timing. Once we hear a railgun shot, we go for it, okay?" Butch instructed them, and they all nodded. "I assume she gave us... thirty minutes. So that leaves us with less than a minute to spare."

"How do you know that?" Gin inquired once more.

"I timed our walk from the middle of Dallas Avenue to here," Butch explained, lifting up his arm to show her his electronic watch that read 29:35 which was a number that then proceeded to rise like the second-hand on a clock. Gin was surprised by how attuned the members of Task Force One were. Every action; attacking, defending, retrieving anything, it was all instinctual. She figured it was because of their years of experience together, being on every mission with each other.

"Alright..." Butch kept his eyes on his watch, looking over at the back door and raising his left ear to listen for the Masami's first railgun shot. He raised his hand, urging the others to be ready. "Steady..." His left ear twitched in anticipation, and just as his clock hit 30:00, an electric crack sounded in the distance, followed by a small explosion. "Go!" Butch put his helmet back on; the ensuing cacophony almost drowned his voice out.

A Butch tossed the EMP grenade towards the group of skeletons by the door. At first, Gin thought the throw was going to be too short, but as the grenade made its way down, it redirected itself and zoomed towards the robots like an eagle going in for the kill. As it made contact with the closest skeleton, the grenade detonated, disabling all electronics within the fifty-meter blast radius. The cyborgs fell to the ground, writhing in pain as their systems failed. Butch vaulted over the mound of rubble and made his way down the gradual slope to the back entrance; the others followed, and they all arrived in less than thirty seconds. Gin began to crack the lock.

"Be careful, Gin. There are pressure sensors on the door. Tearing it open or shooting the door will set off an alarm." Evelyn

"How long, Gin?" Liazo tapped the wall in a panic, worried that the robot would awaken.

"Damn..." Gin tried forcing the lock, but it wouldn't budge. She groaned and turned to Evelyn "This is rusted. Can we open the lock any other way?"

"We need some kind of acid, heat would trigger an alarm as well." Evelyn thought hard as she tried formulating a method to melt the lock. "I know! Butch, do you have gas grenades on your suit?"

"Yes, I think so." Butch searched his bandolier for the grenade. "Yes, here it is!"

Evelyn grabbed the grenade and pulled a screwdriver out of the holster in her utility belt. She began loosening the bolts around the grenade, weakening the bond that held the grenade together. "There's acid in this gas grenade. It should be able to melt the lock off!" Evelyn took off the last bolt and tossed the top part aside, holding the bottom of the grenade filled with acid in her hand. She gently lifted it just above the lock and poured it on slowly. The acid fizzed and bubbled as it ate away at the rusty lock. "Yes! It's working!"

"We've got thirty seconds..." Liazo gritted his teeth, counting the time.

The lock fell off and withered, allowing them access to the radio station. Evelyn was the first inside, and she opened the door quietly as she entered. "Come on!"

"What about the skeletons? Don't you think they'll notice the lock is missing?" Gin asked Evelyn as she went inside.

"No, I've studied them. The control chips in their brains are cheap, non-advanced. They only follow a single specific order. If I'm right –and I am right– they won't notice the lock as long as the door is shut." Evelyn explained frantically as she shut the door behind them.

****

Winslow and Edgar led the charge, cleaving and tearing numerous cyborgs apart. Draven blew apart scores of skeletons, chaining lightning through multiple targets. Spike had a harder time fending off the robots, due to his lack of experience in facing multiple opponents, and he sought help from Fluttershy, who protected him with a shield whenever a skeleton got too close. Spike managed to blow apart a few, and Fluttershy pushed a few back, but one got through their combined defense and charged towards Spike with malicious fury, screeching and wailing as it drew closer. But before it could reach out and grab him, a round from Masami's railgun traveled through the metal beast's head, causing it to fall to the ground, dead.

"Boom." Masami grinned as she pulled her eye away from the scope on her railgun. She reloaded, watching the dampfriesen sniper's display of astounding marksmanship. He hit a skeleton between the eyes in mid-jump, he hit another through the head by ricocheting it off a nearby piece of scrap metal, and he even managed to shoot multiple targets through the head using only one round. Masami scoffed, feeling drastically outmatched by the beyond accurate sniper. "Show-off..."

The giant cyborg near the station raved and roared like a maniac as it stomped towards Edgar, ready to face-off against the brute. Edgar urged the others to stay behind him, and he prepared to defend against the titanic metal beast, who was readying a hard punch. "Plug your ears!"

Edgar's fist collided with the giant skeleton's, sending out a concussive wave of energy that blew back dozens of other skeletons. The sound that reverberated was akin to a bell that had been struck by a piece of solid metal. Spike and the others shielded their faces from debris that was kicked up by the blast, and as the thunderous crack of power subsided, they all felt a loud ring in their ears. The giant skeleton stepped back and looked down at its hand; it was almost blown to pieces by its own attack. It was clear that while the giant skeleton had the size advantage, Edgar was still far stronger and much more durable than his opposition, and he hadn't even deactivated any of the markings on his neck that restricted his power.

However, the giant skeleton was intellectually incapable of using logic, and it continued its attack, kicking Edgar across the jaw and sending him flying into a pile of concrete and metal. Before it could even follow-up, Edgar sprang from the mass of rubble like a jack in the box. His powerful legs propelled him into the air, and he threw a hard right cross that shattered the jaw of the giant skeleton like a piece of porcelain. The creature fell over, and Edgar tore off its head as if it was as flimsy and frail as the head of a dandelion. He lifted high into the air with two hands and tossed it into a mob of approaching skeleton's, flattening about a dozen more.

"Hate to get into a bar fight with him..." Draven chuckled to himself as he disintegrated another skeleton with a surging torrent of lightning.

Rainbow Dash attracted the attention of numerous skeletons, and they pursued her like a pack of starving dogs, clumping up into tight packs that chased her relentlessly. Spike took advantage of their closeness and clapped his hands together, unleashing a fiery blast that blew them all apart "Dragon King's Fiery Explosion!" Spike was unsure how he knew such a phrase. He didn't seem to even recall learning such a technique. It simply came to him instinctually.

"Thanks, Spike! I owe ya one!" Rainbow Dash gave him a quick and playful salute as she kicked a skeleton through the chest. She shook it off, and she joined Spike and Fluttershy, who were both huddled together. "Wow, they don't stop, do they?"

"More are coming," Winslow said as he pulled his sword out of a skeleton's head and readied his blade. "Be prepared..."

****

The strike team raced down the long corridor to the reactor of the radio station. Gin tagged along with Liazo and stayed behind Butch and Evelyn, looking around for some kind of arrow or directive symbol. "Are You sure we're headed the right way, Evelyn?" Gin asked as she ran after her.

"I'm positive that this is the correct path. Dr. Gearza knows the main reactor of the radio station is what keeps this thing running. He'll be protecting it, along with any remaining skeletons within this facility." Evelyn reassured Gin as they made their way to an elevator shaft. "Here. This should take us down to the reactor level." Evelyn attempted to hack the terminal beside the elevator, but to her surprise, there was no need. The terminal was already unlocked. "Odd..."

"What? What is it?" Liazo wondered, tucking his hands into the pockets of his black leather pants.

"This control terminal is already unlocked," Evelyn answered him as the doors opened. "This must be a trap then..."

"Well, is there another way down?" Gin suggested.

"No, I'm afraid not." Evelyn tapped on the rim of her round glasses, darkening the lenses to appear as if they were sunglasses.

"Umm, Eve... it's not really that bright in here, is it?" Gin joked as she watched Evelyn step inside the elevator and look down towards the ground, looking at something invisible to the others. "What is it?"

"I can't see any sign of explosives or other devices at the bottom of this shaft," Evelyn concluded as she tapped the rim of her glasses once more to deactivate them. "It should be safe to go down, but I not sure what we'll face once we get down there."

"We better be ready then," Butch said as pinned few grenades to his belt, ready for use. He stepped into the elevator along with Evelyn, and Liazo and Gin followed.

The elevator ride was choppy, but without serious malfunctions, which was surprising considering the elevator hadn't been properly maintained for over fifteen years. There was a sharp jerk at the end that off balanced all but Butch, and the doors struggled to open due to all the rust and wear on the mechanisms. Butch grabbed the doors with his cybernetic arms and forced them open, he was able to easily overpower the rusty elevator with the strength of his synthetic limbs.

"Remind me to call you whenever I need a jar opened, huh?" Gin joked, to which the gritty soldier replied with a momentary grin and a nod as he stepped out first.

As Butch got out, he drew his revolver, aiming it into the blackness around him. It was extremely dark –darker than the hallways leading up to the elevator– and he couldn't see a thing, on his left or right. He could only see the faint blue glow of the reactor core ahead. As the others exited the elevator, they raised their weapons, ready for whatever was in the blanket of shadows that surrounded them.

Suddenly and without warning, a record player began to hum a tune that was familiar to Butch. The location of the record player was unknown, as the sound seemed to bounce off of the metal walls of the great chamber. The tune was an old war tune, sung by Helga, Dr. Gearza's late wife who died of lung cancer. It was soft and heavy. It was slow and moving like a ballad, yet hardy and strong like a march. The song made Butch recall cherished memories of Christoph and Helga. However, at the same time, the song felt empty, without a soul.

How stands the glass around?
For shame you take no care, my colts,
How stands the glass around?
Let wine and mirth abound;
The trumpet sound,
The colors they do fly my colts;
To fight, kill or wound;
As you would be found,
Contented with hard fare, my colts
On the cold ground

O why, soldiers why?
O why should we be melancholy colts,
O why soldiers why?
Whose bus'ness is to die;
What? sighing? Fye!
Drink on, drown fear, be jolly colts;
'Tis he, you or I, wet, hot, cold or dry;
We're always bound to follow colts,
And scorn to fly.

'Tis but vain;
I mean not to upbraid you colts,
'Tis but vain;
For a soldier to complain;
Should next campaign,
Send us to him that made us colts;
We're free from pain,
But should we remain,
A bottle and kind landlady
Cures all again–.

The record cut off abruptly as four figures stepped out of the shadows. There were three that appeared first, each an android of somepony whom Butch thought he'd never see again. Before him were three androids of Helga, clanking, and twitching like spastic toy soldiers. They had her long and flowing blonde hair, her green eyes, her white coat. Besides their mechanical movements, they appeared lifelike. They stepped towards the strike team with cold unblinking eyes and wide smiles, their arms and legs transforming into various bladed weapons. Dr. Gearza followed them, and the lights blinked spastically, turning on completely after Dr. Gearza clapped his hands.

"What the bloody hell is this?!" Gin looked at the robotic mares in horror.

"This is vare I end you." Dr. Gearza clapped again, and the androids sprang into action, sprinting towards them.

"I'll take Gearza! You take the androids!" Butch shouted as he fired his revolver at Dr. Gearza, who dodged with blinding speed and retaliated in an instant, slamming Butch in the chest with a firm palm strike and winding him.

"Butch!" Evelyn cried out to him as she fought a Helga android.

"I'll be fine! Worry about yourself!" Butch insisted as he got back on his feet. He stood before Dr. Gearza in silence, staring at him with a serious expression. "I don't want to hurt you, Christoph."

"Zat name has no meaning." Dr. Gearza said coldly as he swiped at Butch, who dodged. "You have no meaning to me."

Dr. Gearza slammed his fist into Butch's face, but it had little effect. Butch replied to his attack with a firm knee to the cyborg's face, causing him to stumble back. "Do you even remember who Helga was?"

"No. I have erased all knowledge of such an individual from my mind exactly eight years, six months, three days, eight hours, and sixteen minutes ago." The soulless machine said with little pause in his speech. "Your efforts to persvade me are trivial and illogical, and should you should not continue zis if your goal is victory."

Butch clenched his fist and gave Dr. Gearza a strong uppercut as he grit his teeth in anger, which dented Gearza's metal head severely. "Why did you do it, Christoph?! Why did you do that to yourself?!"

"Das stallion named Dr. Christoph Kaiber transferred his mind into zis body in order to ovacome death and continue his research. However, ze lack of an endocrine system left ze emotional centas of his limbic system permanently damaged." Dr. Gearza explained as he continued to attack Butch, analyzing him to spot a weak point. "Zis exposition displeases me... die."

Dr. Gearza's eyes shone a purple light, and a ray of purple energy escaped his eyes. Butch dodged, circling around him as he drew closer, getting close enough to land a round kick to Gearza's sound. Yet again Gearza stumbled back, black, oily lubricant leaking from his chest. He growled and lashed out at him in a furious rage, delivering fierce blows to Butch's sides. The hits did not crush his armor or metal bones, but the force carried through his body and rattled his organs. Butch coughed up blue fluid as he stepped back.

"Butch, these androids keep regenerating every time we kill em'! You can't keep stalling! You've got to take out Gearza, now!" Liazo shouted at Butch as he held the jaw of the Helga android open with his bare hands.

"I'm sorry, Christoph..." Butch swallowed hard as he pulled out his shotgun aiming it at his legs. The blast from his gun shattered the cyborg's legs like weak matchsticks, and Gearza fell forward onto his stomach. He wanted to fire his last shot to end it, but his own conscious prevented him from applying pressure to the trigger. It had been a long time since Butch felt that kind of restraint, he didn't want to lose a piece of his past all over again, a piece of his life before the war. In that moment, Butch only had two things worth living for in his life, and that was the battered cyborg before him, and Evelyn, who watched him struggle as she fought the android Helga.

"Vhat are you vaiting for? I have been defeated." Dr. Gearza groaned as he crawled towards Butch. "Free Dr. Christoph from zis fate-." Dr. Gearza was cut off by the roar of Butch's shotgun as it tore open a gaping hole in his metal skull. His eyes flickered for a moment before finally shutting off for good.

"Goodbye, Christoph." Butch nodded to the dead doctor as he made his way to the whirring reactor core at the end of the room. He tossed a fragmentation grenade down the hatch of the reactor, and he ordered the others to find cover. "Get down, now!"

Without hesitation they all obeyed, and they all took cover behind a stack of metal supply crates. The blast rocked the ground beneath them, and it kicked up a large amount of dust and smoke, obscuring their view for a brief moment. The lights shut off for a moment just as the dust cleared, and when the effects of the blast subsided, a select few fluorescent lights turned back on.

"That's just the backup generator," Evelyn assured them as she inspected the lifeless androids and the dead reactor. "It doesn't generate enough power to even get close to turning the tower back on."

"So... is that it?" Gin scratched the back of her head as she looked up at the ceiling.

"I assume so. The rest of the skeletons will turn off shortly without the direction of Dr. Gearza and the tower." Evelyn assured her as she looked over at Butch, who stood silently as he bowed his head before the corpse of his fallen friend. She moved over to him slowly and patted him on the back to comfort him. "Did you... know him?"

"Yeah. He was a friend of mine..." Butch replied as he continued to stare at the empty metal shell on the concrete floor. "A good friend."

The two remained silent for what seemed like the longest time as they both paid their respects. As they did so, Gearza's eyes filled with a gentle yellow glow, and a message began to play. Butch smiled as he heard the voice of Christoph, and he took off his helmet to hear the voice recording better.

*Hello, um... hello is zis sing on? Oh-... zare we go. Hello, Butch, zis is Christoph, and if you're hearing zis message, vell... somesing has happened to me, I suppose. I know sings may seem dark and hopeless at times, but I don't vant you to be sad, Butch. Don't treat this like Rosie's death... you have been through too much already. Please, you may be filled vith anguish and dread, but I don't vant you to hold onto ze past too long. You're ze bravest stallion I know. You're my friend, my partner, ze brother I never had, and I vant you to remember all that we did together, the good times. I vant you to know that no matter vhat happens. Ve'll alvays be vith you; Rosie, Elliot, me. Ve're there, you just need to look.*

*Christy, diner!*

*Coming, Helga! Oops, I'm sorry... I have to end it here! See you later, Captain Ausrüstung!*

As the message ended, Gearza's eyes faded to black once more. Evelyn paused for a moment as she heard a word escape Butch's mouth, too small to hear. Although he tried to hide it, a tear rolled down his cheek silently, shamefully, and his face darkened as he clenched his teeth. Evelyn felt his arms hug her tightly to his chest, and she comforted him as best as she could as he quivered, trying to hold back the urge to cry. Evelyn didn't say a word, she didn't speak, as she felt it would only make him worse.

"I'm sorry, Christoph..." Butch muttered as he dropped his helmet.

****

As the last cyborg fell to the ground, Edgar cracked his knuckles and neck. "Damn, all that fighting put a strain on my back!"

"Hate to find out what kind of back pain you're experiencing." Draven joked as he dusted off his captain's coat. "So, have they disabled the tower?"

"They destroyed the reactor core, yes." Masami nodded as she slid down the steep slope to the others inside the crater, unloading her rifle and strapping it to her back. "A reactor can't be repaired without arcanium, and there isn't a scrap of it in this whole district! So, that's that!"

"Where are the others?" Fluttershy wondered as she looked around for the strike team.

"Right here," Butch grunted in the distance, stepping over the piles of deactivated skeletons. "Dr. Gearza's taken care of..."

Masami saw the pain in his eyes and was immediately concerned. "Butch, are you-?"

"I'm fine." Butch replied before she could finish her sentence, and he began to climb the rough slope back to Dallas Avenue. "Let's get moving. Don't you want to have a little chat with your android friend over there, Masami?"

"Yeah..." Masami accepted Butch's unwillingness to talk about whatever was bothering him, and she followed, urging the others to do the same. "Come on, guys."

As they made their way back up, Spike whispered to Gin. "Hey, what happened in there?"

"I have no idea..." Gin shrugged slowly as she shook her head.

Author's Notes:

That was sad. Sorry about all the emotion! I get too caught up in what I do! As always, I hope you enjoyed! See you in the next chapter!