Twilight still seemed mad at me for letting Moondancer live. She constantly shook her head at me whenever she thought I wasn’t looking, but I didn’t care. Moondancer, and I had been through a lot over the course of the X.X.X. Plague outbreak. I couldn’t help but feel that Moondancer being corrupted was my fault. We had been separated in the middle of the outbreak and I just assumed she had died, but now I know that wasn’t the case.

Twilight, Sunset, Moondancer, and I were now journeying to the Psychological Industrial Complex. It was the last of the Black Plaguelands and our last stop before fighting Gloriosa Daisy. After all the fighting was done, the only thing left to do would be to escape. Discord had told me that he was working for another medical company with much less evil plans than the Umbrella Yutani Corporation that was responsible for all of this. He had called the benevolent corporation Chrysalis Medical. I wasn’t looking forward to trusting another organization, but they were the only ones with a way out of the Black Plaguelands.

“So what power do the Xenomorphs at the Psychological Industral Complex have?” Sunset asked.

“I haven’t really seen their powers,” Moondancer replied. “I have sent people over there to talk to the leader, but none of them have ever returned. I suspect that they are stronger than any of the other Black Plagueland Xenomorphs.”

“I suspected the same thing,” I said. “Which group of the Veltromites are under your command anyway?”

“The ones with normal eye colors,” she replied.

“What?” Sunset asked with a look of confusion on her face. “I thought that the Veltromites with the dark electric blue eyes were supposed to be loyal to you. The others have free will, why would they join you?”

“The others joined me because they had free will,” she answered. “The Veltromites with dark electric blue eyes only want destruction and cause mass chaos. They only follow me so long as I provide them with carnage. The Veltromites with free will follow me because I don’t follow the will of the X.X.X. Plague.”

“Great story,” Twilight said apathetically. “How long until we kill the last Chimera? Or are we just going to let it join us too?”

“The Psychological Industrial Complex isn’t very far,” I said completely ignoring Twilight’s last question. “We should reach the entrance soon.”

“Does Discord have another safe house in this Black Plagueland too?” Sunset asked.

“Thankfully he does,” I replied.

“Convenient,” Sunset said happily.

“We should split up,” I suggested.

“Good idea,” Twilight said.

“Glad you think so,” I said. “You and Moondancer are going to make sure that the safe house is open while Sunset and I explore.”

“What!?” Twilight and Moondancer shouted in unison.

“Sunset and I are better suited for exploring,” I said. “Plus, I also need to talk to Sunset about her abilities.”
Moondancer looked annoyed at me. She held the glare for a few seconds then sighed. “Fine,” she finally said, “it really feels like a big mistake to me, but I’ll trust your judgment Octavia.”

“Whatever,” Twilight said with an edge in her voice. They both began to walk away from us.

“Do you even know where you’re going?” I asked.

“Yeah, yeah, I have your map,” Twilight replied.

“How do we keep in contact?” Moondancer said.

“I don’t know,” I replied. I still had the walkie-talkies from before, but I didn’t want to give mine away.

“I’ll send a signal fire and we’ll meet there,” Sunset suggested.

“That sounds like a terrible idea,” Twilight interjected. “You don’t think they’re going to notice a signal fire?”

“Actually, I highly doubt they’ll notice,” Moondancer said. “The normal corrupted creatures don’t really notice anything other than intruders and things like that. So I would say that a signal fire should be safe.”

“Aright then, we’ll be on our way,” Twilight said as she walked away with Moondancer.

I waited until Twilight and Moondancer were out of sight before I began to speak. “Sunset,” I said. “There are a few things you should know about your powers.”

“Is that all your going to talk about?” Sunset asked with a serious tone.

I sighed in frustration. I understood what she wanted to talk about. She wanted me to explain my role in everything in the Black Plaguelands. I knew it was best to keep her in the dark befor we fought Gloriosa, but it was starting to look like that wasn’t an option anymore. “Okay,” I finally said. “I have a feeling I know what you're talking about. I should ask you what we want to talk about first.”

“Okay,” Sunset said. “First, are you in anyway responsible for the X.X.X. Plague?”

“No.”

“Then what’s your involvement with it?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure. I don’t have much memory of anything past a few years.”

“What happened to your memory? What do you remember?”

“I remember being stuck in a Celestia damn container on the underground prison floor of a corporation you might know. It’s called Umbrella Yutani Corporation. That place was crawling with their precious Blackguard soldiers.” My last few words were full of resentment.

“The Umbrella Yutani Corporation’s prison floor?” Sunset asked surprised.

The Umbrella Yutani Corporation was a corporation that was dedicated to the advancement of science and genetics. They always seemed noble in their principle of advancing human life, but I had no idea they were capable of doing something like this.

“That’s right,” I replied. I began walking forward towards the Psychological Industrial Complex. “The prison was full of experiments they had created. Most of them were X.X.X. Plague related.”

“Why did they have you there?” Sunset asked.

“As a fucking test experiment. They injected me with a prototype of the X.X.X. Plague. It was watered down, so when I didn’t ‘evolve’ or whatever they called it, I figured it was just a small dose, but then the Pyronock infected me and the Cryo Spider after that. I guess that I was immune to the infection because I was a pony, but I don’t know why. Then there’s the other stuff.”

“What other stuff?” Sunset asked. “I think you should just start from the beginning.”

I sighed. “Fine, I’ll start from the beginning. I’ll start from my prison cell...”

---

I had been stuck in this Celestia damn cell for a good five years. The Blackguard was a group of elite soldiers and combat androids under the Umbrella Yutani Corporation’s command. They were charged with making sure none of the test subjects or experiments became a problem for the scientists. I didn’t know what the point of their research was at the time, but it was obviously bad.

Being stuck in one place for so long was driving me insane. I wasn’t some kind of common animal like the rest of the things imprisoned. I was a civilized pony of Equestria. I didn’t deserve to be treated like that.

I spent my time waiting in my cell. Every day was the same. I stood in my cell and watched as the Blackguard patrolled the prison. Some were human, but others were androids. I saw them drag out old test subjects, subjects that I never saw again afterwards. I saw them bring in new and normal human test subjects and I watched as they slowly became the demons in black. They gave me books and let me watch movies every now and again, but that was only because one of the scientists pitied me——— but not enough to let me out.

I watched the cycle repeat itself every few days from my glass prison. Nothing ever changed, until something odd happened one day. The Blackguard soldiers and androids that were supposed to be taking care of the experiments were gone, but what was odder was the fact that the prison floor was completely quiet. None of the experiments were making any noise.

“Hello?” I called out. “Is there anypony here?” The floor remained silent. “Anypony? What’s going on here? Where is everypony?” Usually somepony would respond even with just a demon’s hiss or a scientist’s threat, but this time there was only silence.

A spark of anger suddenly ignited in my mind, “Why the Tartarus am I here!?” I shouted. “Who the Tartarus are you humans!?” I had asked the same questions over and over again before this. It was foolish for me to think that I would get an answer this time.

I heard the sound of footsteps and immediately stopped talking. I listened closely for the source, but the room was too dark to see who made the sound. I stayed completely still with a mix of relief and resentment as the figure approached the cell block. It stopped at my cell. “Do you want to escape this place?” he asked barely audible.

“Yeah,” I replied. “You have a way out?”

“I do.”

“Why should I trust you?” I asked.

He moved his head as if he was looking around my cell. “Do you really have anything to lose?” he asked.

I didn’t want to get myself killed, but I couldn’t stand being in this prison any longer. “What do I have to do?”

He began pushing buttons on the side of my container. “You have a few minutes before the lock in your container releases you. After that, you’ll have a little over ten minutes to escape.” He placed a flash drive on the ground in front of my cell. “This will help you from here on out.” He turned around and began to walk away.

“Wait, where is the exit?” I asked unsure if my rescuer had really thought the situation through.

“That you’ll have find on your own,” he said. “I want to see if you’re worth the trouble.” He walked out of the room and the room became silent again.

”Wait?” Sunset asked. ”Did you figure out who set you free?”

”To this point I have my suspicions, but I can’t be sure.”

”Who do you think it is?” Sunset asked.

”Discord, or somepony who works for him,” I said. I sighed heavily not wanting to continue, but I knew it would be best to finish quickly.

The man that freed me had used the few minutes before the door opened to leave the area. I was impatiently waiting for my five years of hell to be over. My time in the cell seemed to be at its end. I heard a beeping sound, and the container opened. I cautiously stepped out and picked up the flash drive. I wasn’t sure what was happening, or why that mysterious man had freed me, and I wasn’t going to let my guard down only to get myself recaptured.

I walked towards the door I saw the figure leave from. Before I left, I noticed something displayed on one of the computers. It was a file on one of the test subjects that was in a container near me. As I saw it, an idea sparked in my mind. They must have information on me too.

I took the flash drive the man had left for me and plugged it into the computer. I spent the next two minutes downloading all the data I could find. As soon as the download was complete, I began focusing on my escape again.

I ran out of the room and into a dimly lit hallway. I could see six doors; three had thin lines of red lights around them, the other two had blue lights it and one of them looked like an elevator door, and the final two doors had green lights around them. I ran to the first blue door. It had a sign on it that read, “Main Elevator.” I decided it would be best to travel incogtto to keep me safe, so I was going to look around before using the elevator.

Five minutes had passed since I was released from my container. I walked to the middle red door. It had a sign that read, “Blackguard.” If I could disguise myself as a Blackguard soldier, I would be able to escape easily. I opened the door and walked inside.

The room was full of lockers. I could hear the faint sound of running water nearby. It sounded like somepony was taking a shower, so I would have to be extra careful. I rushed to the only open locker in the room and began taking equipment. I put on all the clothing the locker had. By the end I was completely disguised as a soldier. The gear covered up most of my body and face, so nopony would recognize that I was a prisoner.

Clunk. I accidentally dropped a nearby soda can. I was sure that the noise would cause whoever was in the shower to approach, but I heard no change. I walked to the direction of the showers but stopped before reaching them. I decided not to investigate. I didn’t have the time.

Seven minutes had passed since I was released from my container. I walked back to the locker and took the last of the supplies I would need. I went to the Blackguard locker room entrance and ran out.

Eight minutes had passed since I was released from my container. I walked back to the blue elevator door. I took a deep breath and pushed the elevator button. It didn’t take long for the elevator door to open and to my relief, the elevator was empty. I quickly walked inside and began scanning the elevator buttons. There were about a hundred floors to this building. I pushed the first floor button and waited for the elevator to ascended out of the underground prison.

Nine minutes had passed since I was released from my container. The doors slowly closed. I impatiently waited for the elevator to rise to the main floor so that I could leave. I was gettin anxious. The man that had released me had told me that I only had ten minutes to escape. That time was over, and the only thing left to do was hope I still had a chance.

Ten minutes had passed since I was released from my container. The doors opened and to my horror four other Blackguard soldiers walked into the elevator. They pushed the button to the lowest floor. I was sure that that was the floor I had been held captive in.

“So what’s the problem?” one of the Blackguard soldiers asked. “What’s so fucking important now?”

“Security breach,” another soldier replied.

“Security breach?” the first soldier asked. “What happened to the guard that was supposed to be taking care of the prisons?”

“I don’t know,” the second soldier replied, “but she isn’t at her post, so we need to investigate.”

“What about the cameras?” the third guard asked. “What did they pick up?”

“Your guess is good as mine,” the second replied. “I wasn’t given a lot of intel on this breach. I was told to only investigate, report, and wait for orders.”

“I always knew that rookie was useless,” said the third soldier. “Seventy seven bucks says he got himself eaten by one of the experiments.”

“Oh you’re on,” replied the first soldier.

“Be professional,” the second soldier ordered. “A few more soldiers and some synths will be joining us soon, so don’t do anything you’ll regret, or else.”

“Yeah, yeah,” the first soldier said dismissively.

“The five of us will have to split up in pairs,” the second soldier said. “You,” he spoke to me, “drop whatever you were doing and follow us.”

I nodded nervously.

The elevator came to an abrupt stop, and the five of us exited. I had no idea why the fifth and final soldier remained silent throughout the whole thing, but I had a feeling that this one was a synthetic. We entered the hall cautiously and walked to a door with a white light lining around it. It had the sign that read, “Storage.” It was the place I had originally escaped from. It seemed like I would have to follow the soldiers until an opportunity to escape arose.

The third soldier opened the door. The four soldiers entered cautiously. I imitated their movements and did the same. The second and third soldier moved to the left, while the first, the synthetic, and I moved to the right. “This dumbass rookie better be alive,” the first soldier whispered to me.

“You really care about him?” I asked with a little surprise in my voice.

“Hell no,” she replied. “If he’s dead, then I won’t get my fucking money.” That repsonse seemed more like what I expected to hear from the Blackguard. “He’s a rookie you know, just like you.”

I nodded. It looked like I was lucky enough to wear clothes that belonged to somepony who just joined the Blackguard. Hopefully, this would allow me to go undetected among the Blackguard even if I had to take off the head piece. But then again, I had no idea if ponies were even working for this corporation, so maybe I would have to be extra careful than I thought I would.

The three of us made our way to the main computer. The same computer I had taken information from earlier. “I’m going to check the computer to see what happened here. I need you two to cover me in case something escaped and tries to kill us,” the first soldier said.

I nodded and began to look around. I didn’t know for sure that I was the only thing that escaped from the prison. I had only assumed I was the only thing that escaped. I searched around as my partner looked through the files. I was a little nervous that she would find something on me, but that was a risk I had no choice but to take.

“Everything appears to be in order, except one escaped test subject,” the first soldier said.

“Any idea where it is?” I asked as nonchalant as possible.

“No,” she replied. “The cameras were down, but that shouldn’t have been a problem if that fucking rookie was doing his job.”

“Any idea what the test subject looked like?” I asked.

“No,” she replied. “All the data on this subject has been erased. I don’t even know it’s gender. The only info here is its code name.”

“What is it?” I asked curiously.

“Code name: EQUESTRIA,” she replied.

That name didn’t mean anything to me, but it was the closest thing I had to a real identity.

“This is useless.”

From the corner of my eye, I saw the two other soldiers walking back to us in an eased fashion. “The area is clear,” the second soldier said. “There isn’t any hostiles. Did you find the missing soldier or any clues about what happened?”

“No to both,” the first soldier replied. “The rookie and I will check the container that held the test subject and assemble back in the main hall.”

“What about Mr. Synth?” the second soldier asked.

“I told it to report back to the main hall.”

“Understood,” the third soldier replied.

The first soldier and I walked to my container. It was just as neat as I left it. It wasn’t very furnished. The only thing in the room was a white bed, a dark gray desk, a black table with a few books on it, and a television that turned on from the outside the prison cell. “What the hell?” she blurted out.

“What is it?” I asked curiously.

“This container is different than the rest,” she replied. “It doesn’t look like a hostile infected ever lived in here.”

“What does that mean?” I asked trying to keep my fear under control.

“I don’t know,” she replied. “It could just be nothing, but it’s worth reporting.” We began to walk to the door. The first soldier seemed like she was trying to figure something out. We reached the door and entered back into the hall. The two other soldiers were just casually waiting for us.

“Find anything?” the second soldier asked.

“I believe the missing test subject might have been uninflected,” the first soldier replied. “Her container looked like it belonged to a human but I saw a bail of hay so I believe it might have been a horse. Kept human I mean.” A shiver ran down my spine at her words.

“Maybe our missing guard will know something,” the third soldier said. “Now if only we can find him.”

“We don’t need to carry too many weapons if the missing test subject is still just human,” the second soldier said. He opened the door to the Blackguard locker room. We all heard the sound of running water from the shower. “Weapons ready.” The second soldier took point and led the rest of us to the showers. He signaled for us to stay right outside the door as he entered.

“Wha- stop! Don’t shoot!” the man in the shower shouted with a Russian accent. The rest of us ran into the room. There we saw the second soldier aiming his gun towards a man and anthro mare completely naked. That confirmed my theory that there were ponies working here after all. “I’m part of the Blackguard!”

“What was your first assignment?” the first soldier asked.

“I am assigned guard duty over in lab,” he said.

“Why the hell aren't you there?” the second soldier asked.

The Russian man smiled and threw a glance towards the mare. “Obvious reasons,” he said smugly. The third soldier grabbed two towels from a locker and threw them towards the naked couple. They took the towels and covered themselves.

“You’re obviously unaware of what happened in the lab dumbass,” the second soldier said.

“What are you talking about?” the Russian man said. “What happened?”

“One of the test subjects escaped from the lab on your watch,” the first soldier said. “The information on it was erased too.”

“What? How the fuck was I supposed to know that would happen?” he asked defensively.

“You were supposed to guard the area you fucking idiot,” the third guard said calmly. “Failure to do so deserves action.”

“What the fuck are you talking about? I’m in the Blackguard,” the Russian man said. “I am above normal soldiers. The Blackguard is above threats.”

“We’re Blackguard too!” the second soldier shouted out. “You are not above us.” She turned to the third soldier. “Surprise, get rid of the witness.”

Surprise pointed her gun towards the naked mare and fired. Bang. She fell to the floor and didn’t move.

The second soldier pointed to the Russian man. “Him too,” he said.

Bang. Surprise shot and killed the Russian without hesitation. “Prick,” Surprise said harshly.

The second soldier turned to me. “Let this be a lesson to you rookie. Don’t ever think you’re above our orders.”

“No ma’am,” I said as calmly as possible.

“Stupid asshole,” Surprise said as she kicked the Russian man’s body.

“How do you propose we dispose of the bodies?” the first soldier asked.

“We’ll let the scientists deal with that,” the second soldier replied. “I’m sure they’d enjoy having these two, even if it is just to feed the test subjects. For now, we need to search for the missing test subject. I don’t think it couldn’t have gotten too far.”

”A group of soldiers took me outside to continue searching,” I said. ”There were more of them waiting outside for us. The moment I was alone, I took off the Blackguard uniform and ran.”

”What happened?” Sunset asked. ”Where did you go?”

”One of the Blackguard androids saw me taking off the headpiece. Unfortunately, it recognized me. It was on guard duty before the rookie, so it didn’t take too long for it to realize who I was. I thought that I could easily blend in as a normal human, but I was wrong.”

Twenty soldiers had convened outside the building to search outside for the missing prisoner. To search for me. The first soldier and I had gone outside first. I tried to slowly sneak away from the rest of the soldiers and synthetics. I took off my head piece wjen I thought I was out of sight from the rest of the Blackguard, but there was a synthetic I hadn’t seen. I was immediately fired upon by it. It fired several shots in my direction, but I was able to avoid them by hiding behind a wall.

I ran through the streets as fast as I could, but other Blackguard combat androids and soldiers were already following me. I was able to climb a few fences and ran through a few yards before I realized I was alone. I walked through the dark areas of the alley and streets. I stoped at every sound I heard in fear that it was a Blackguard android or a soldier.

I took off all of the Blackguard uniform and walked back into the street. I was wearing black clothes underneath the uniform, so I wasn’t very conspicuous. After a few seconds I realized that nopony was around. The street was completely empty. There was an ominous silence in the air. It almost felt unnatural. I slowly walked forward. I wasn’t sure what my next move would be. I had nowhere to go, and I didn’t even know anypony in the city. After a moment of thought, I decided that it would be best if I left the city altogether and try to find a way to get back to Equestria away from those loathsome humans.

I was, without warning, tackled by an overgrown soldier wearing the Blackguard uniform. I struggled to get him off of me. He was stronger than I was, but with careful maneuvering, I was able to escape his grasp. I was able to outrun him, but now there were other soldiers gathering around. I ran away and took cover behind walls. I had no choice but to continue running through the streets and hope that ther was somewhere to hide nearby.

The only light source I saw in the street was a light inside a library. I ran to it and opened the door. There was only one person in the library at the time, and she looked startled by my sudden intrusion.

“You can’t be here,” she said. “The library is closed.”

“Just let me stay here for a few minutes,” I said. “There are,” I paused for a brief moment to choose my words carefully. “There are thugs around. I don’t feel safe.”

“So?” she responded. “That’s not my problem.”

“You can’t kick me out, they’ll murder me,” I walked towards her and tripped.

She laughed softly and looked to the door. Her expression changed. Fear and uncertainty replaced the amusement. She looked at me and softened her face. “Quick hide,” she whispered to me.

I crawled under a desk and stayed there completely motionless. I heard somepony open the door. “Have you seen an anthro horse dressed in black?” he asked. He sounded exhausted.

I waited for her to respond. “No,” she finally said much to my relief. “I haven’t seen anyone.”

“Are you sure?” he asked leaning on the corner. “She’s a very dangerous creature.”

“I’m sorry, but I haven’t seen her.”

“Very well. Keep an eye out and yell if you see her.”

She took another pause. “I’ll be careful.” The Blackguard soldier left moments later. “It’s safe. You can come out now.” I crawled out from under the desk and cautiously got back up. “Why is the Blackguard after you?”

“You know about them?” I asked.

“Everyone in Canterlot knows about the Blackguard,” she responded. “They’re basically over-glorified, well equipped thugs. They work for the Umbrella Yutani Corporation. Why were they after you?”

I wasn’t sure what to say, so I decided to tell her the truth and hope that I wouldn’t pay for it. “I was a prisoner in the Umbrella Yutani lab for as long as I could remember, I’m not sure why they were holding me, but I escaped.” I decided to leave out the part of the story with all the black demons around my cell as to keep her from freaking out.

“So you don’t have anywhere to go?” she asked.

“I don’t.”

‘You can stay with me for a few days,” she said much to my surprise. “What’s your name anyway?”

“I don’t remember,” I answered truthfully.

“That’s alright,” she said. “You can call me Moondancer.

”Thats How you met Moondancer?” Sunset asked.

”Yeah, for the next few days she let me stay in her house. She wanted me around because she didn’t feel safe around the city anymore.”

”Why do you think that?” Sunset asked.

”She told me, I answered. ”I’m not sure why, but for some reason she trusted me, which made what happened next all the more painful for the both of us.”

I had been staying with Moondancer for the past few days. I tried to help her with all of the chores and jobs around the house in order to try and repay her for her kindness. We had left her apartment after the first large scale outbreak because there were Xenomorphs in the building. When we went outside, it looked like the whole city was on fire. I didn’t know it at the time, but this section of Canterlot would later become the Infernoland.

“Hurry up!” I yelled to Moondancer. “Theses Xenomorphs will overrun us, we need to leave the city or at least find a safe place.”

“Where can we go?” Moondancer asked exhaustedly. “Nowhere is safe now.”

“The police station!” I exclaimed. “There must be something useful there.”

“Good idea,” she said. “You have to lead.”

“I’ve been studying the city streets whenever I had a chance, so I know where to go.” Moondancer and I traveled through the flame covered roads in hopes of reaching the police station as soon as possible. I had to keep Moondancer safe. I owed her that much.”

I didn’t notice we weren’t alone in the street until it was almost too late. There were several Xenomorphs lurking in the shadows and blocking the road. I quickly grabbed a steel pipe that was lying near one of the bodies on the street and swung it at the Xenomorphs. I struck two of the Xenomorphs at once, but the other four quickly advanced. I took another swing with my steel pipe and was able to knock another one down giving us an opportunity to run. We escaped the rest of the demons with ease.

We continued running for another few city blocks, but I stopped when I noticed that Moondancer was out of breath. “Let’s slow down,” I suggested. “You’re way too out of breath to continue on like this.”

She nodded; too exhausted to say anything. We walked slowly for the next block. The next intersection was covered in a mount of cars and debris. I climbed it and pulled Moondancer up. “Look!” she exclaimed. I looked forward and saw a car speeding towards us. “Maybe they’re here to rescue people.”

I waved my hands to get the car’s attention, but they didn’t seem to slow down. They veered to the left of us and sped away, I shook my head in irritation. Suddenly, I heard something. It sounded like someone calling out for help. “Do you hear that?” I asked. Moondancer stood silently and listened closely to the sounds around us. Bang-Bang. We both jumped at the sound of gunfire and rushed towards it.

Normally I would think that rushing towards the sound of gunfire was a stupid idea, I said to Sunset, ”but views tend to change in the middle of something like this.

When we reached the source of the sound, we were relived to see groups of survivors running together. “Oh thank God,” Moondancer said, but our relief didn’t last long. Moments after we reached the group, a horde of Xenomorphs rushed towards us, most likely attracted by the same pleas for help that attracted us. The group of survivors was relatively large, but scattered quickly at the sight of the oncoming horde. Some ran away while others fought. In the confusion, more Xenomorphs flanked us from an almost completely unnoticeable alley. Many humans were taken by surprise.

I grabbed Moondancer’s hand and pulled her to another alley. We rushed towards the other side as quickly as possible. “Wait, Wait,” Moondancer said. I stopped and turned towards her. “Shouldn’t we go help the others?”

I couldn’t think. I wasn’t sure what I should do. I knew that helping the others would greatly decrease the chance of Moondancer and me surviving, but if she really wanted to help them, there would be no way for me to stop her. “Are you sure that—“ Thump. “What was that?” I asked with caution in my voice. Thump. I looked around, but didn’t see anything move. “We should get moving.

“We can’t just leave them there,” she said.

Thump-Crack. I began backing away from the area, but Moondancer stood her ground. “We should go,” I said as I backed up further away from Moondancer. She began walking towards the other survivors. “Moon, it’s the smart thing to do.”

Crack. My warning was lost as a door to my right burst open and a flood of Xenomorphs poured out. I was forced to back away from them and Moondancer. “Moon!” I yelled.

“I’ll be fine,” she shouted back. “Just get out of here and find help.”

“Celestia damn it!” I shouted. “I told you this would happen!”

“Really!?” she shouted back. “You’re doing this now?!” I saw a few Xenomorphs getting closer to her. They didn’t seem to be too interested in me.

“I’m sorry!” I finally said. I knew that she wasn’t going to survive and there wasn’t anything I could do against so many Xenomorphs, so I just ran away. I didn’t feel right about it, but I knew it was something I had to do. It was the only thing I could do.

---

“Wow,” Sunset said in shock as we both continued walking. “What happened after that?”

“I went into the street and got picked up by my Vinyl,” I answered. “She used some kind of memory spell with everything that happened before I ended up in your world and she suggested that I dress up as a cop so that people at the police station would feel more comfortable about being here. They’d feel safer. You know? Strength in numbers I guess.”

“Alright, but how did you figure out all that fighting shit and everything else you know.”

“I read throug the data I stole from the Umbrella Yutani Corporation’s main databanks,” I answered. “The rest I got from memories that I could suddenly recall and training I had time to do.”

“Training?” Sunset said in shock. “You learned all that assassin stuff from training in like a week?”

“These weird memories that just randomly popped into my head gave me the fundamentals,” I answered. “The training refined them, and you perfected them.”

“Me?” Sunset asked. “How did I help you?”

“I’m still not completely sure, but I know that thanks to you I have powers. My stealth ability is ridiculously strong now.”

“You’re welcome, but did you read anything on me? Is there some clue about what I’m infected with?”

“There was something,” I said unsure if this was significant. “Some of the data spoke of the source of the XXX Plague and all of its variations. I’m not sure, but I think you have one of the variations.”

“How can we know for sure?” Sunset asked.

“Nothing short of reading Gloriosa’s research data will answer that, and for that we need to make you stronger.” I stopped right before hitting the barrier to the Psychological Industrial Complex.

“That was quick,” Sunset commented. We both climbed the barricade and looked back towards the inner Black Plagueland as we did with every arrival to another Black Plagueland. “You really like doing this don’t you.”

“You know me well,” I smiled. I took a deep breathe and exhaled. We both turned around. “Welcome to the Psychological Industrial Complex.”

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