The door shut behind them, all of them breathing heavily.

"W-What was that...?" Applebloom asked.

"How should I know!?" Isaac yelled.

"Well, why did it just get back up?" She asked.

"I-I don't know..." He sighed. "This thing, whatever it is. Is like a Necromorph I fought back on the Ishimura. That was called a Hunter, this," he jabbed a thumb at the door. "Is something else entirely."

"Well, how do we kill something that isn't even alive?" Scootaloo asked.

"Like we've been doing." He brought out his Pulse rifle. "Keep shooting. Unfortunately, with this thing, that won't do. We need to throw it off course or just obliterate it from existence. And when I say obliterate, I mean leave no fucking trace of it even existing."

"So, do we keep running?" Sweetiebelle asked. "Because I just pumped a good dose of magic into it and it just shrugged it off."

"We're not running," he started walking and went around the corner, the crusaders following him. "We're going to sprint a marathon."

They went through a door, down a ramp and went into a room with a Puker lumbering around, trying to get to the marker.

There was a corpse lying on the keyboard of a large screen facing towards the Marker. Numerous supplies lining a counter to the right and small supports all the way to the door ahead.

The Puker took no notice of them as it desperately clawed at the glass, occasionally trying to melt it with acid.

"Look at the door," Sweetiebelle said. "It has another scanner on it."

"And I doubt Isaac can get through." Scootaloo whispered.

"Maybe he can though." Isaac pointed to the corpse. "I say, we jump the Puker, grab the body and run like hell if it works."

"And if it doesn't?" Applebloom asked.

"Then we're in for the fight of our lives." He said coldly and bluntly.

"Scootaloo, you grab the body and go over the rails. Me, Applebloom and Sweetiebelle will go around and as your scanning it, well kill it."

"Right." She nodded. "Just start running and I'll go."

Isaac nudged the other two as Scootaloo crouched. They all took off running; Scootaloo bolted forward and grabbed the body as the Puker turned around.

It gave a wet growl and was about to shoot out a glob of acid but was killed by a barrage of bullets from Sweetiebelle's Seeker rifle.

Scootaloo raised the corps up; as it was scanning, blackened Slasher's came from the other vents and right next to them, came the Ubermorph.

She swung out with a tentacle and sent it into the rails, as it was getting up the door had opened and the engineer's ran in.

They ran down the corridor, the light from the Marker making their shadows stretch. The smell of copper and into was heavy in the air as it was filtered through their suit's vents.

Isaac looked back for a second and saw the Necromorph's from before following them, with the Ubermorph in the lead.

He opened the door ahead, fired off a bolt of stasis into the Necromorph’s and looked back to the crusaders as they killed a Puker.

"Keep running!" He yelled.

Scootaloo tore off the door and wedged it in side-ways at the corners, slowing down the Necromorph's.

"Turn to the right!" Isaac yelled, as the all went down a small a hallway.

When they turned the second corner, the Swarm jumped Isaac. He swatted the off as he brushed past a blackened Slasher.

The crusaders jumped over small piles of junk. Sweetiebelle heard the sound of metal hitting metal and guessed the door had come out.

Isaac shoved the next Slasher into the wall as he went to the elevator. He pushed the holo-button the door and turned back to see the other two Slasher’s plus the additional Necromorph’s squeezing into the hall.

He took out his Line gun and sent bolt after bolt into the small swarm, cutting off arms and heads in the doubles.

As the blood pooled he was pulled back into the elevator by the crusaders. Just as the Ubermorph made its way to them.

Before the doors closed it reached in with a bladed arm and scratched the floor as it withdrew, missing Isaac's chest by inches.

"Were safe, for now." Isaac breathed out. "So, what do we call this thing? It's not a Hunter but it can regenerate faster."

"How about, we call it an Ubermorph?" Sweetiebelle suggested.

"Alright, Ubermorph it is. Now," the doors opened. "Let's hope we can atleast make it to the Marker before any of us die."

The room was empty, a set of window's on the side leading to another room. The door ahead, locked by a fuse.

"This feels like a trap." Isaac said.

"Ya think?" Applebloom said. "This whole place is nothin' but a trap."

"Only this one," Isaac shot the fuse from afar. "Is a deathtrap."

When they got to the door, the vent above burst open and down came the Ubermorph. Still hot on their trail.

"Get to the other door!" Isaac yelled. "Keep it open!"

It swung down; he rolled to the side before upper-cutting it. It stumbled back but only blinked in curiosity. It surged forward and swung to the side.

He jumped back, avoiding the blow. He shot off a bolt of stasis before going to run out the doorway. Only to come face to face with a Blackened Slasher.

He tackled it to the ground before getting up and running through to safety with the crusaders. He looked back to see, as the door closed with a hiss, the Ubermorph standing there, behind a window staring at him.

"Entering Vacuum." An electronic voice said from the speakers.

"A-Are we safe here?" Scootaloo asked taking a few breathes in. "I've never run that fast in my life."

"I... have." Isaac said. "Now, we go through here." He lifted off the floor. "Into the darkness."

The others followed him closely; the sound of machinery was close. Multiple large pipes and tanks lined the walls, ceiling and floor.

They went above the large tube in front and saw another machine, going back and forth rapidly against a wall.

"Just slow it down and fly through." Isaac said.

He shot out a bolt of stasis and hit it as it was hitting the wall. He cursed as it came out as it was going forward again. He tried again two more times only to get the same result.

"I can't just waste all of my stasis on this!" He yelled frustrated. "We need to go to the Marker you piece of scrap!"

The crusaders looked at him uneasily, questioning his sanity, or what was left of it.

"Here," Scootaloo grabbed him by the waist. "Why don't I just teleport us through?"

"If I end up in a wall, I'm coming back to haunt you." He said simply before Him, Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetiebelle disappeared and reappeared on the other side. "Oh thank god..." He sighed. "That scared me."

They flew over the next pipe and Isaac nearly blew a gasket.

"Are you fucking kidding me...?" He said clenching his fists. He glared coldly at the large machine as it went back and forth. "Think you can do it again?" He asked.

"It makes me dizzy when I have to do it with more than two ponies. And that's counting me. Sorry."

"I've got this one." Sweetiebelle said flying down. She landed on the floor, took off her suit and handed it to Isaac.

Her skin started to ripple, in bursts her limbs started to grow, thicken and lengthen. Her back bubble and spine came out accompanied by five Drag Tentacles. Her tail fell off and in a bloody spurt her spine shot out.

Her head cracked as the skull was forced through the skull, another crack was heard when her bottom jaw snapped in two. Sharpened teeth sprouted out from the mandibles.

Her legs thickened and cracked as the bone spread out from the inside. It split in jagged holes as Cyst's came up, waving their small tentacles.

Her hooves sprouted Stalker claws, blood dripping down them as the wounds closed. She stood there for a second, her breathing heavy and ragged as it echoed off the walls. Her ribs split, going through the silence, and with a few final cracks she raised her head.

As the machine was going back, she went forward and put herself between the machine and the wall. It went surged forward and she held it there, the gears groaning in protest.

She sunk her back hooves into the floor and began to push forward. Smoke started to build up as she did so, and with one final push, she tilted herself just so that it was bent and broken. She nodded at the damage and fell into bloody slices, the smaller bits and globs of blood floating around as she came out.

"I wish I could do that..." Isaac muttered handing her suit back.

"No you wouldn't." She said. "It hurts a little when my bones snap and crack, your whole body sort of stiffens and then you relax. And then theirs my joints popping out of place and readjusting. It's not comfortable."

"Forget I said anything." He said as they all went ahead. "Oh god dammit."

Jets of concentrated fire went from the left to the right in thin lines. There were two more ahead, killing the jellyfish like Necromorph's as a Nest shot them out.

"Do we just rush it?" Sweetiebelle asked knocking aside a lone tail. "If we get to close, shouldn't it just close up?"

"Hell if I know, it hasn't happened yet. But yeah, let's rush it." Isaac said going forward as the flames went out in front of him.

As they waited for the flames to pass, Isaac was firing off shots from his Line gun. When they got to him, he'd already gotten rid of two of the three bulbs. Sweetiebelle shot out a stream of Plasma from her horn and burned the rest.

Isaac gave her a look of approval before they all flew forward.

They passed the flaming liquid Nest as it glowed a bright blue. Isaac and the others had latched onto the floor behind it and restored the air and gravity.

They entered the room ahead, the door closing with an unheard hiss as Nicole spoke, images of Marker symbols flashing through all of their minds.

"You’re fighting it, Isaac. You can't fight it. You have to let me go." She said.

"But I'll never see you again!" He said desperately not wanting to admit she was right.

"Isaac stop it. There is no other way. You have to do this." With those final words the yellowish light filling their vision, vanished.

He shook his head clear, an internal struggle building higher than the Marker he wanted to destroy.

'If I let her go, then I'll never see her again.' His emotional side thought. 'No! That's just selfish!' His smarter side chastised. 'If I don't then I'll be no better than terrorist. I'd sentence everybody to a painful, hell-filled death. Even Ellie...' He thought. 'I'm sorry Nicole...'

"Isaac? Hello Isaac?" Applebloom said. "Were almost at the Marker! We're gonna make it!"

He nodded numbly.

He went through the door Scootaloo was at and proceeded down the hall.

The room ahead had a store to the left, a Work Bench to the right and the door to the 'INNER MARKER CHAMBER.' a sign read above the door.

"Let's reload, stock up and kick ass." Isaac said checking his weapons. "I'm good for ammo, but not health packs and canisters." He went over to the store as the others checked their weapons.

He opened the store and a look of confusion crossed his face.

“The hell is a foam finger gonna do?” He mused.

"I need some Force gun ammo, maybe two should do." Scootaloo said. "How about you two?" She asked as she went to the store. ‘And download some suit, door, tool, comm’s, camera, video and A.I. blue prints. ’ She smirked lightly.

"Ah need some health packs, what bout' you Sweetie?” Applebloom asked. “Sweetie?"

Sweetiebelle was standing there, staring off at the wall, her eyes glazed over. Applebloom waved a hoof in front of her; she blinked rapidly and shot a worried glance at her friends.

"I just spoke with Nicole..." She said. "She said... there's a small horde right past that door, including the Ubermorph. She said for me to cover you all while you run."

"Well that's fucking dandy." Isaac said. "That fucker is out there and who knows how many Necro's. Or even the evolved ones!"

"It could be worse." Applebloom said.

"How...?" He asked in more of a groan than an actual voice. “How could it be worse?”

"There could be Tripods. Or a Hive Mind or even another Slug." She shrugged. "How are you on ammo Sweetie?"

"Oh," She looked at her inventory. "Good, good. I'm set."

They all walked in front of the door.

"Before we go, does anyone have any famous last words? Because when you all jumped ship, you dammed each other here with me to die."

"Ah... ah have something." Applebloom said, her helmet unfolding to reveal a deep blush. "Ah might have a crush on a colt in my class... Pipsqeak."

"Anything else?" Isaac asked.

"When ah took the blame for when Applejack accidentally," She made quote gesture with her front hooves. "Ate Big Mac's last apple dumpling."

"Alright, Scootaloo? Sweetiebelle?"

"I beat up Discord one time." Scootaloo sighed. "He dumped exploding chocolate milk on me, while I was taking a nap!"

"He dumped explosive dairy on you? As a prank?" Isaac asked incredulously. "He sounds like a real douche if I've ever heard of one."

"He can be at times. But he's tolerable. Sweetiebelle, do you have anything to share?" Scootaloo asked.

"I never liked my sisters cooking, I loathe that blue dress I had to wear for school pictures, I loathe the color green, I ate the last cookie before dinner last week, I turned Opal purple one time after I accidentally knocked over some ink, I accidentally turned her invisible when I spilled invisible ink on her, I actually like techno music instead of classical, I read four or five books at night, I open the window in winter so I don't get to hot under the covers, I actually like to stargaze as a hobby, I've written four books, my author name is Jinglebells, I'm a cover DJ for DJ Pon-3, my DJ name is Sw33ti3 and I have a crush on Thunderlane's brother." She said; at the end, stopping to take a deep breath. "That was a muzzle full."

The others just stared at her in shock, Isaac especially.

"Ok, you need less sugar." He said. "As for me..." He thought hard. "I do think Ellie is hot, I always thought the crotch plate on this suit is always too tight, I hate Unitology but I can write in it and read it and lastly," He folded his helmet back up. "I hate Pukers and vomit. Mainly equine vomit. Yes, even more than acidic Puker vomit."

"Now," He took out his Plasma cutter. "Who's ready to kick ass, look awesome and live for a few moments longer?"

The crusaders got ready, he put his hand to the door, it opened and all hell really did break loose this time.