Vanoss was chillin' with Terroriser and Wildcat.

Right now, they were recovering from a full-on no-holds-barred brass knuckle/marksman pistol brawl.

"Okay, so now what?" Wildcat asked.

"I don't know, skydive into the city like in the new Godzilla movie?" Terroriser suggested.

"Wrong reference, Brian!" Vanoss yelled, shooting an RPG and killing the Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonator.

"NOOOOOOOO! REALLY?!" He exclaimed, his corpse flying upwards about 30 feet in the air.

"You know what I'm talkin' bout. Right, Evan?" Wildcat asked.

Both the pig and the owl inhaled deeply, about to utter one of their most favorite past-times.

"DAAAAAAAAARTS!" They yelled simultaneously.

"God damn it!" Terroriser face-palmed. When the hell would they stop referencing old videos.

"Wait, wait, hold on, Yang's calling me." Vanoss stopped before entering Wildcat's McLarry.

"I thought her and Alex were already a thing, Evan." Terroriser warned.

"Nah, she's probably still mad that I said her puns were terrible." Vanoss reasoned.

"Yeah, but they are, so..." Wildcat shrugged.

"Whatever man." Vanoss rolled his eyes.

"Evan?" They heard Yang ask through the speakerphone.

Vanoss recoiled from the phone, holding an ear in pain before continuing.

"Yeah, what is it?" He asked dryly.

"I don't care if you and Alex's gf are talking, but can you at least turn it off the speakerphone?!" Terroriser groaned.

"Brian, stop talking." She retorted.

Terroriser immediately backed away defensively, holding up both hands.

"Zera is the Inquisitor threatening to kill us, we need as many people as possible, I already got Team RWBY together, and Twilight and the other Elements are over there now. Get the others!" Yang ordered.

"Zera? As in the robot bitch coordinating the missions and shit?" Wildcat asked in disbelief.

"Really, do we know anyone else with the name 'Zera'? Seriously, who names their robot child that?" Terroriser scoffed.

"Yeah, I have to go with Terroriser on this." Yang agreed.

"So, get the rest of the team together?" Vanoss asked.

"Yes!" Yang groaned.

"Alright, boys. Let's terminate this terminator!" Vanoss exclaimed.

"GET TO DA CHOPPA!!! YAAAAAAAUGH!" Terroriser screamed, running towards nothing in particular.

-Meanwhile-

Zera sat on top of the construction site overlooking the city. She had heard everything. Her comrades were on their way to kill her.

Opening up the data pad installed in her wrist, she pressed a small button, and was immediately met by static, and then a deep, raspy, cold voice.

"What is the situation?" Alpha asked.

"I've been discovered. Unity is on their way to kill me." Zera replied.

"Unfortunate. For you at least. If you can, buy us some time." Alpha instructed.

"Of course." She sighed.

"Is something the matter?" He asked.

"I had grown... Attached... To them. Walker is a decent leader, and his allies, no, friends, trust him completely." She sighed.

"Do not allow this to get in the way of your prime directive, Zodiac. Alpha out."

"You really shoulda called for backup while you had the chance!" A raspy, tomboyish voice came from behind her.

"Turn around... If it's alright with you..." A meeker, lighter voice ordered.

"OR I'LL FIRE THIS PARTY CANNON RIGHT UP YOUR-"

"Pinkie! I think she gets the point!"

"Aw... I wanted to swear!"

"Pinkie, this ain't the time fer games!"

"Swearing isn't a game, but it's fun! FU-!"

"PINKIE!"

Zera stared in disbelief. The Elements, the self proclaimed defenders of friendship, were the first to try and kill her.

"So you're the first to arrive, I figured I'd meet someone decently formidable." Zera coldly stared into them.

"We're not afraid of some bucket of bolts!" Rainbow Dash crouched into a take-off stance.

"Yeah! If you want Alex, ya gotta go through us!" Applejack readied her hind legs for a powerful kick.

"We're not letting you lay a circuit on Alex!" Twilight boldly proclaimed, horn glowing a bright magenta color.

"I didn't want to have to do this, but you leave me with no choice." Zera sang loudly and produced a pair of deadly swords, swinging them stylishly before readying into a combat stance.

-54 seconds after the battle began-

Alex walked back to his garage sluggishly. Those diseases did a number on his immune system. He was actually really sick.

"Gotta...uurgh...get to the armory..." He gurgled. The Deathstalker Venom had drained him of most of his Aura and sickened him to his stomach.

Running over to a dumpster, he vomited inside, the foul mucus leaving his nose and throat stinging.

Looking up, he saw a burst of purple-hued magic, and what sounded like a hardcore fight going on above.

"Oh, shit. I gotta go!" Alex gasped, sprinting back to his apartment building.

It was only a matter of time before the others got there.

He had to hurry up!

Opening the garage door, he trudged inside, looking for the key he hid inside the wall, he had to be quick about this, or who knows how many of his friends would fall to her?

The key was roughly where he left it, good.

Going up the elevator was a challenge. The motion sickness rushed to him like a brain freeze, slowing overall movement and making him feel even more nauseous.

Finally, he ran inside his apartment and immediately inside his armory.

The main problem was rather obvious.

"WHERE THE HELL IS THE SCARAB?!"

Only one thing remained in it's spot.

.44 Scratch, as well as it's remaining 42 caps.

He had to make it work.

Running inside and grabbing said firearm, he put it inside his holster and opened up his Pocket Dimension, which had been laying on the ground.

Since getting the EMP device, he added a few extra assets to his collection, there was only one thing he was actually looking for.

Admiring the EOD he had bought online, he packed it into a bag, which was easier said than done, and ran back out the door, he'd put it on later.

But where was his Scarab armor?

-meanwhile-

"Twilight, watch out!" Ruby yelled to the Alicorn.

Twilight quickly set up a magic barrier to defend against Zera's broadsword, she was much faster than most of them had imagined.

"Ruby, get out of the way!" Rainbow ordered,

Immediately complying, Ruby fired Crescent Rose towards the ground in front of her and was blown away, and Rainbow immediately made contact with Zera afterwards.

Zera grasped Rainbow by the front hooves, and with great effort, threw her towards the other side of the rooftop.

"Checkmate!" Ruby yelled out, Yang was knocked back after a brief skirmish with the Inquisitor and she needed to reload.

Weiss set up a row of glyphs between Blake and Zera, all colored black. Blake leaped onto one of them and sped to the Inquisitor, blocking and dodging each potential blow and dealing out an equal amount.

Weiss then arranged a bunch if glyphs around Zera as Blake kept her distracted. Immediately using each one to propel herself and swing at their enemy.

Ruby grabbed another mag, this one marked with a black cross, and loaded it, pushing the bolt into place and chambering the first round.

Zera looked around her. She knew she was beaten.

Or at least looked like it.

She planted one foot on the ground in front of her, and immediately a large circle similar to Weiss's glyphs formed on the ground, it glowed an ominous light blue.

"Leo!" Zera yelled.

The glyph turned a bright orange, and so did this inquisitor.

The orange blur sped about the room, much faster than any of them, and knocked them down before they could even react.

After finally knocking down all of them, Zera stood tall in the center of the room.

"As fun as this was, it is not you who I'm willing to fight. Where is Alex?" She asked.

"Right here." A deep, obviously altered voice said behind her.

Zera turned around, and saw someone wearing Alex's armor, the Equestrian Steel chassis polished beautifully, with the Machine Gun reattached and pointed at Zera. And Electric Fury glowed a dim blue.

"Hello, Alex. I had thought you were recovering."

"Aura, Remember?" Alex had scoffed.

"Uurgh.. What the hell?!" Another voice gasped behind them.

Alex stood, looking quite sick, and pointed .44 Scratch at Zera.

"Go back to the hospital, Alex!" The imposter ordered.

"Like hell I will! I'm not...uurgh...letting Zera hurt anyone!" Alex groaned.

"Admirable. You're willing to masquerade as the boy so he would be safe." Zera nodded

"That's not exactly admirable..." Alex grumbled before running to the side of the building.

"I know it's you. Kat." Zera concluded.

Kat removed the helmet, tossing it to the ground and brandishing Alex's weapon.

"I propose a new challenge, if that actually is how you tell people that." Kat proposed.

"Let's hear it."

"If I win, You're rejoining Unity and telling us exactly what these Inquisitors are doing." Kat announced.

"And if you win..."

"You kill me and spare the others." Kat glared.

"Seriously, do you have any idea...uurgh... How bad of an Idea that is?! I'm not letting anyone else die if I can help it!" Alex opposed.

"You're too ill to fight. Besides, I'm already fully equipped with your weapons." Kat scoffed.

"Not all of them." Alex smirked, spinning .44 Scratch on his pointer finger.

"Interesting proposal. But we'll see if you're worthy enough for me to even consider accepting this challenge." Zera nodded, pulling out the full auto Desert Eagle.

"Alex, go to the crane." Kat ordered.

Alex nodded and ran up to the crane, leaping off the building and grabbing on at the last second.

Kat swung Electric Fury, spinning the blade before locking with Zera's.

Alex climbed to the top of the crane. It wasn't easy given his condition, but he did it all the same.

Noticing something, he ran over to the end of the crane, and got a look at what it was.

Kat's sniper.

He grabbed hold of it, grabbing the keys and turning them sharply to the right as she taught him.

"Open, gate of the guardian! Sentinel!" He muttered.

A metallic bird apparated in front of him, flying over to one shoulder.

Repeating the process again, both birds sat on either shoulder.

"Help Kat, I'll cover her!" He ordered.

Both sentinels flew off and into the battle.

Kat was holding up a little better than Alex previously thought. And with the Sentinels, she would probably win.

But he needed to do his part.

Grabbing the sniper, he looked down the scope, waited until Zera's head was exposed, and pulled the trigger.

A brilliant flame erupted from the weapon, and the recoil was actually more manageable than he thought.

The bullet had hit it's target, Zera was hit!

She staggered to recover, only just in time managing to block Kat's attack.

Again!

Alex grabbed hold of the sniper, waited until Zera's knee was open, and in that instance he fired the weapon again.

The bullet severed Zera's leg in two and Kat could deliver a final blow.

Kat grasped Zera by the head, and decapitated the robot.

The body grew limp as the metal shell clattered to the ground.

Kat dug through wires in the neck and pulled out a small hard drive, tossing the head aside.

Alex attached the grappling hook and fired, swinging to where the rest of the group was, and handed Kat the sniper.

"That was actually impressive." Alex congratulated.

"Thanks, good shooting." Kat replied.

Ruby and the others staggered up, injured.

"Well. That was a thing." Yang said.

"Really, Yang? 'That was a thing'?" Alex rolled his eyes.

"And this is the same person who's the self-proclaimed 'queen of puns?'" Kat joked.

"Hey! That was a one-time thing!" Yang defended.

"Yeah, yeah, 'Yang Xiao Pun." Alex scoffed.

"Alex." Kat face-palmed.

"See? I can make bad puns too!" He sarcastically announced.

"Anyways, bad puns aside, what is that?" Blake asked.

"It's Zera's CPU, all of her memories are right here. I did say she would tell us everything." Kat smirked.

"But did you really have to decapitate her? That's probably insanely offensive to some people." Alex argued.

"Yeah, I'm with the 'king of puns'. Couldn't you have just deactivated her and then get the CPU?" Weiss asked.

"We are not in a relationship! What is up with you guys and my non-existent love life?!" Alex groaned.

"Well, I guess. I didn't exactly think about that at first." Kat admitted.

"Whatever, let's just get Alex back to the hospital." Yang groaned.

"Actually, his body temperature is at 102 degrees. He might actually burn the diseases out." Twilight pointed out.

"What about the Deathstalker venom?" Ruby asked.

"Nah, that was just water and food coloring." Twilight smirked.

"How many of those were actually placebos?" Weiss asked.

"Just the venom."

"Yeah, if it was, he'd be dead as soon as it was injected." Blake pointed out.

"Wait, where are Evan and the others?" Alex asked.

"Badoop, badoop, BANANA BUS!" Wildcat yelled.

A large bus fell on Zera's robot corpse, and Evan's crew walked out of it.

"Hey, guys! Why is Kat cross dressing?" Vanoss asked.

"Oh yeah!! She is!" Delirious laughed.

"Yeah, Kat. Why steal my armor?" Alex asked.

"It looked cool..." Her voice trailed off.

"Yeah, I'd probably steal it too, if I was her." Yang smirked.

"AAAAAAGH! WHY?!" Alex groaned, his face turning a deep red.

"He's a tomato again!" Pinkie laughed.

"Just kidding!" Yang said.

"Also, about that incident on your bike... WHAT THE HELL, YANG?!" Alex screamed at Yang.

"I thought it would be funny!" She defended.

"It's hilarious." Vanoss added.

"YOU TRICKED ME INTO THINKING I DID SOMETHING STUPID WHILE I WAS BLEEDING FROM THE HEAD!!" Alex yelled louder.

"How often do you deal with these people?" Kat asked.

"All the time!" Alex groaned.

"Ouch. Now I feel really bad about hanging out with Trevor." Kat cringed.

"Wait. Who's Trevor?" Alex asked.

----

Alex and Kat were alone in the apartment. The doctors gave him some pills and suppositories that Alex was supposed to take twice a day for three weeks.

"Alex!" Kat called.

"Just a moment! I'm still working on the suppositories!" Alex yelled back.

"Ugh. Okay, whenever you're ready. Okay?" She probably cringed.

Alex finished his pills and ran upstairs.

"Yeah?" Alex asked.

"I've been looking through Zera's CPU." Kat said.

"What did you find?" Alex asked.

"Her mind. Her personality, her memories. Everything."

"Sweet. Is there a way we can reprogram her?" Alex asked.

"Already did, just one problem." Kat sighed.

"What?" Alex asked

"Her body was completely destroyed." Kat sighed.

"Oh." Alex cringed.

"But we can communicate via computer." Kat said.

"I have another idea." Alex said.

Alex ran into the pocket dimension and grabbed the data pad Karis used, Veil was still installed.

He ran back inside.

"This data pad could work, but the A.I is still inside." Alex said.

"Let's see here..." Kat said, turning it on.

A hologram of a woman who looked almost exactly like Karis appeared on the table.

"Greetings, Si- oh! Hello, Mr. Walker, Ms. Anderson!" She noticed the two.

"Hello again, Veil." Alex waved.

"Anything I can help you with?" Veil asked.

"We need another A.I in there, she has important information on the Inquisitors." Kat said.

"Another individual A.I cannot be downloaded, put I can persuade the A.I to merge with myself." Veil said.

"How?" Alex asked.

"There is a small cord inside, connect it to the device the A.I is currently on." Veil instructed.

"Of course." Kat replied, plugging Veil in the computer.

Immediately, two holograms appeared in the table.

"Who...who are you?" The second hologram, Zera asked.

"I am Veil, an Artificial Intelligence System developed by the C.I.A. Who are you?" Veil asked.

"Z-Zera..." Zera replied timidly.

"Well, Zera. You seem to be under distress." Veil noticed.

"The Inquisitors...they made me betray m-my friends." Zera lamented.

"Unfortunate. I'm sure they will understand." Veil smiled at her.

"R-really? Even after I hurt them..?"

"If they truly are your allies. They will." Veil assured.

"What do you want from me?" Zera asked.

"Mr. Walker and Ms. Anderson need us to become one singular A.I so we can better assist them." Veil explained.

"I-I don't know... What if the Inquisitors hack into us.?" Zera asked.

"My programming is equipped with the most advanced cyber security software, and even if they do, You can produce backups." Veil assured.

"I see. I'll merge with you.." Zera smiled back.

"Thank you for understanding. And before we continue..." Veil stopped Zera before they could fuse.

"Alex Walker. You may not know this, but I am a literal A.I copy of your dead ally. The C.I.A could not simply create an Artificial Intelligence. They instead scanned your friend's brain. I currently contain all of her memories. If you'd like, I can manifest this data." Veil explained.

"Are you sure?" Alex asked.

"It would seem to be the easiest way to provide emotional closure." Veil replied.

"What's going on?" Kat asked.

"My first recipient was Karis Thorne of the C.I.A. She helped Alex Walker evade Task Force Crimson when they first found him in Ponyville. The two worked closely together for the next month, she assigned him on the mission that led Ms. Dash to forgive him for what he did. She helped Alex join with Mr. Fong and his friends. And, most importantly. She died trying to protect him from Sigma." Veil said.

"So, if it weren't for Agent Thorne, Alex would have died." Kat concluded.

"I ran the simulations multiple times. Alex, if it had not been for our intervention, would likely have spent that time hiding from them in his own manner. He would grow spiteful towards the Elements after he discovered the Royal Guard were after him. It is likely he would run his own mission. Obtaining revenge on Winchester and the Elements for torturing him. He would likely kill Winchester in the process, until he would be cornered by the Princess and slaughtered." Veil explained.

"Ouch." Alex winced.

"Indeed. So, I need an answer to continue." Veil stated.

"Thank you. But I-" Alex was prepared to deny it.

"Yes. He would appreciate that." Kat interrupted.

"What the?" Alex asked.

"You've been really moody and depressed since I first met you. And that hasn't gotten any better. If Veil says she can help, then let her." She laid a hand on Alex's shoulder.

Alex took her hand and placed it at her side.

"I got all the time in the world for that once this is over. For now, we have a job to do." Alex reasoned.

"Interesting predicament." Zera commented.

"Typical human emotion at it's finest." Veil replied.

"I know."

"I say we put it to a vote. All against?" Veil asked.

Alex raised his hand.

"All in favor?"

Kat raised her hand, and surprisingly, so did Zera.

"What?" Alex gaped.

"Alex. I've seen the inside your head. Do you think nobody else notices that you still have nightmares? That you're still tormented by everything that has happened to you?" Zera asked.

"You know?" Alex raised an eyebrow.

"Yep." Kat said.

"The part of the brain related to depression has increased activity by 50% the past few weeks." Veil nodded.

Alex sat on the couch.

"It seems like he just wants to be alone for a couple minutes." Kat sighed.

"I'm running the simulation now. Katherine, if you'd like, you can leave." Veil said.

"What?" Kat asked.

"You said it yourself. He needs a bit of alone time. But we won't let him stay like this. Don't worry." Zera smiled.

"Okay." Kat left the armory, walked out the door and closed it softly behind her.

-one day later-

Alex laid down on the couch. Watching television. Not that there was anything good on. He was honestly bored.

Looking at his data pad, he wondered exactly how the C.I.A had gotten so advanced.

"Alex?" A voice said.

"Yeah, Iris?" Alex asked. The two A.Is had agrees on that name, he wasn't sure why, but he didn't mind it much.

"Text message from Ms. Rose." Iris replied.

Alex looked at the data pad, reading the text Ruby sent.

Ruby:

Alex. Kat told me everything about what happened. I wanted to check on you.

Alex was not surprised at all. Ruby was generally a caring person, he respected her for that very reason.

He privately wished that more people shared that trait.

Alex texted back.

Alex:

Yeah, Everything's fine.

Author's Notes:

And that was the conclusion of the Zodiac storyline!
I think Act II is going to end sooner than I thought. Act I took forever to complete!
To those who don't read my blog,(so everyone) Chapters will be posted on Saturdays!
As well as the occasional exception